SuperLutheran

17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. -Philemon vs.17-20

Let's say you have a friend who gets addicted to some injurious drug like heroin. You care about your friend and want him off of it, and so you set out to help. Do you demand he quit cold turkey? Do you threaten him with calling law enforcement if he doesn't stop? Or do you offer to help care for him while he's going through withdrawals or drive him to the rehab clinic every day?

Or let's say your friend's marriage is on the rocks. She is inattentive as a wife and she has had a hard time seeing her husband as being worthy of her submission. Do you throw Ephesians 5 at her and demand she go against her feelings? Do you tell her she'll go to hell if she doesn't immediately become a champion of a wife? Or do you offer to watch the kids so the two can go out on a date and hash things out?

My point is, repentance is easier when there is someone to help with our anxieties. Many a man would repent, but does not out of fear that he will lose something or that it will be too costly. Many a woman shacks up with some man in a fornicating relationship, and though she knows it is wrong she is terrified of losing him. Many a man ends up a wreck after stealing or lying on the job, wanting to make amends but not spend time in jail or get fired. Our job as Christians who hate sin and love righteousness is to help others in their weakness - the same way Jesus helps us in our weakness.

St. Paul understands that Philemon's negligence in evangelizing Onesimus was economically motivated. Philemon knew in the back of his mind that converting Onesimus meant potentially having to free him and pay him a wage. Even if he stayed on board as a slave willingly, there is still time being taken to catechize him, let him attend Sunday services and prayer meetings, and a whole host of other Christian activities that cut into the crucial time for work that makes Philemon's life possible. So St. Paul addresses these fears and makes the offer: "I'll pay for everything."

May we have the same heart for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Let us quit it with the melodramatic screech of "repent!" or relying on throwing nothing but guilt in our brothers' faces. Let us build up the Body in real and tangible ways my friends.

The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop roleplaying games online makes me feel nauseous, but seeing these videos recommended on my youtube feed is instructive about human nature.

Back in the day, you played stuff like D&D because you couldn't go on big adventures in real life with your friends. When I was in my teenage years, that was the main reason we played it. Can't go do cool stuff while on summer vacation? Well here's an alternative for you and your buddies. Even as we grew up and went to college or got jobs and had kids, we still made time for it because it was an easy and free way to have fun. A couple hours of imagining monsters and rolling dice is much easier than making a camping trip happen after all. But I noticed that there were people in our friend group who didn't want to do any IRL fun stuff, they just wanted the tabletop games. No hikes, no sports, no outdoorsy stuff or sparring, just playing the game. Water goes to the level and they took the path of least resistance.

When COVID happened, these same friends ended up playing tabletop games online. They'd go on zoom or skype meetings with friends and play the game for a bit. When the lockdowns were done I'd invite some of them to play, but they ended up preferring the online version. The water went to the new, lower level and the path of least resistance got greased some more.

A couple years later they had stopped playing altogether, and exclusively watched things like critical role on youtube. They haven't played the game in years, because it is easier to watch people play a game than it is to play the game online, which is easier than playing it in real life, which is easier than going out and having real adventures. At this rate, with the slide of effort going down even further I imagine they'll watch compilation clips online instead of tuning in to the livestream. But on the other hand they all complain about feeling unfulfilled.

People are like that in all sorts of ways aren't they? Us sinners can be insanely slothful, but then we all turn around and look back and complain about our quality of life. Joy belongs to the one who does stuff, it seems. God designed us for active lives, while the devil wants us melting into the floor.

The riots in France, like all the terror attacks, grooming gangs, mass fraud, etc. is yet another reason that inviting mass immigration into your country is a sin against your neighbor. "Let's invite a bunch of foreigners who hate our people and give them money" is a statement of hate no matter how much it is dressed up in love. The officials who don't put that nonsense down like a rabid dog are complicit in the consequences.

Meanwhile here's Luther on what to do with rioters and uprisings. If it were today he would say "Just shoot them already!"

Editing David Goggins thumbnails to start with "Hey Liberal" groyper

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP!

For this week's homily, let's talk about trusting the Word over our own personal religious experiences:

Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/word-over-vision-1...

Video:

And for the LEVITICUS BIBLE STUDY, let's chat about Moses' writing style and the Lex Talionis.

Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/leviticus-pt-29-an

Video:

PDF manuscripts can be found here:

https://verylutheran.biz/resources

Support the VLP! If you can't, please let someone know about us, it helps to spread the word!

https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/

https://verylutheran.biz/contact

God bless your weekend everyone!

She 8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. 10 My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, 11 for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. 17 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains. -Song of Solomon 2:8-17

In the first seven verses of this chapter, the man and woman had a "close call" where they almost fell into sin. The woman made a run for it, and some time passed before they saw each other again. It could be that the man had to go on a journey after their last meeting, perhaps for work or war. But now that his trip is over, he returns - and he returns by running. For a moment, the woman stares at him awestruck as he runs to her. The last time they were together, she ran like a deer from the danger of sin; this time, he runs to her like a rutting buck ready to take his prize.

But while the man is full of determination, he has not forgotten the lesson from their "close call" either. He stays outside of her family's house, desiring to do things God's way. With a bit more maturity, he proposes to her. Spring has arrived, and as the land becomes verdant with fruit and grass and vines, so too is it time to prepare for a wedding together so they can soon have a harvest of love. While he organizes the event, he asks only that she catch foxes - that is, any distraction or drama that could muck up the nuptial process, she can spend her time nipping such issues in the bud.

She accepts his proposal enthusiastically, declaring their belonging one to the other. He may be grazing among the lilies, but she is the one he chooses to be with. Only she has this request for him: that he go out like a stag once more. She wants him to keep enough distance to preserve their virtue, yet also for him to keep his confidence and enthusiasm. And since Solomon shows these two doing things the way God wants, he happily obliges.

Oh hey my wife is pregnant by the way. Number four is on their way.

12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all. -Titus 3:12-15

While it is full of instructions and wisdom, the Epistle of Titus is still a letter. St. Paul is a busy man with lots of plans, and pastor Titus fits into the equation. The Apostle needs a lawyer and a fellow minister there, and Titus is in their vicinity to update them on everything.

Note that as a final matter he still tells pastor Titus to urge the people to do good works. This is connected to his ministerial needs, including the funding for the trips, but more importantly it is about the Church itself. If the Body of Christ is full of men and women who are faithful and zealous to do good, then the leaders of the Church have a strong foundation to continue their missionary labors. This gives us the order of operations for ministry: first salvation, then good deeds and personal sanctification, then the Great Commission.

We will move forward to another short book of the Bible starting tomorrow!

90% of atheist arguments our there (h/t Tortuga)

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. -Matthew 24:45-51

The moment a man decides to stop believing in Christ's Return, he invites a flood of sin in his life. This is especially so for clergy, who will inevitably destroy many within our Lord's flocks. If Jesus isn't going to return, then man's fate is to become either a happy ghost or a sad ghost and nothing more, or worse yet a permanent resident of the shadowy depths of Sheol. In other words, the minister who denies the Return denies a final judgment and puts one foot in the door to nihilism.

Christ's Return means everything to us. It means a bodily Resurrection like unto His own, with the faithful enjoying this world as it is made new, free from sin and pain and evil. A man who faithfully teaches this as he faithfully executes his pastoral office can expect to have an even better eternity than the normal saint, for in our reading Christ promises as much.

The man who denies the Return on the other hand wants his heaven now. He begins abusing Christians to get worldly advantages, fleshly pleasures, wealth and reputation. He may not deny Judgment Day on paper, but his heart says it even if his mind does not. Here Christ predicts the wicked priests of history, the papal mafia, the child molesters, the prosperity hucksters, and more. He lumps these open villains with those who hide their sin in hypocrisy, for their veneer of holiness draws people to ignore their sins.

At Judgment Day we will find this tension to be finally resolved; Christ is a pious Sacerdotalist when it comes to good ministers, but fiercely anticlerical when it comes to the bad ones. And everyone in the pastoral office must fear and love Christ all the more on that account.

32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. -Matthew 24:32-35

Jesus instructs the Apostles to observe the signs of the times. Having given them plenty to work with, they should be able to see the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy at its very beginnings - and then take appropriate action. Regarding the near fulfillment, this means that they should be able to get out of Jerusalem the moment it becomes obvious that the jews will revolt against Rome. The wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, etc., will all start to lurch forward in history and the Church led by the Apostles will know it is time to flee.

When it comes to the far fulfillment, the return of Christ in glory, we too must watch for the signs. They have been given to us as well, with the world being in a constant state of nearness to Judgment Day. Only the practical response is quite different my friends. As believers, we are best prepared for the coming Day of the Lord by doing our best to live holy lives. As St. Peter says in 2 Peter 3:11-13

"Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

The Apostolic era Church fled to the wilderness during the first jewish war. We flee worldliness and unrighteousness, staying as aloof as possible from the degenerate cultures around us. Yet they also stressed having a strong moral compass, living as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven rather than the kingdoms of the world; awaiting the same hope, we take the same emphasis. Let us focus less on the signs of politics or world events, and more on being the most virtuous, faithful and God-pleasing Christians we could possibly be.

15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. -Matthew 24:15-22

The abomination of desolation hearkens back to Daniel's prophecy of an antichrist figure who defiles the Temple and stops the sacrifices (Daniel 12:11). This prophecy was first fulfilled when Antiochus Epiphanes banned jewish sacrifices, slaughtered pigs for zeus on the Temple altar, and went so far as to ban circumcision as well. Christ tells the Apostles here that the same thing will happen.

Indeed it did. The Romans arrived, destroyed the Temple, and brought their pagan standards into the holy place with no regard for the God who once dwelt there. Some historians have tried to identify the abomination as a jewish man, namely john of Giscala; during the siege of Jerusalem he and his men performed grave atrocities in the Temple grounds, which he used as a fortress. The problem though is that john was a jew, while Daniel's prophecy speaks of a Gentile abomination. This is much more broadly applicable to what the Romans did.

Regardless of how Christ's prophecy was immediately fulfilled, the application remains the same: when they go after believers, run. Jesus does not want Christians to seek tribulation in some pseudo-pious virtue signaling moment. He never told believers to embrace persecution or martyrdom, but instead to flee. Just as this was the proper response during the jewish war, it stayed being the best course of action for the persecutions that occurred afterwards.

We never should have permitted a cult of martyrs. The martyrs who bore witness of the faith even to the point of being beheaded are celebrated as heroes, and rightly so. But it is those Christians who fled and went underground who spread the faith. They made more Christians, the martyrs did not. The Gospel is preached by people with breath in their lungs, who endure the short days of persecution to proclaim the Word during long periods of calm. As Jesus instructs, let us not chase execution, but instead stay faithful to Him while preserving life.

Another happy accident on the tl

It's real, holy moly https://www.appenmedia.com/opinion/letter-to-the-edito...

Latest polygamy dumbass just dropped. Apparently marrying a bunch of roasties saves their souls or something.

Find out why polygamy sucks here: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/sexmarriage-the-po...

NEW SPIRITUAL WARFARE POST NOW UP! We've identified the devil and his angels, and talked about the first steps in mounting a defense. Now let's chat about how exactly someone can know that an evil spirit is up to something nearby (or has been recently). Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/lutheran-warfare-3... Video:

Support the VLP! We've got a lot of ground to cover, especially as more and more demonic stuff comes to light in the news.

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I was asked about my thoughts on this video right here: youtube.com/watch?v=AOybOfZCIPA

First off, he rambles too much and should have written up manuscript. Oh well.

Second, he's correct to say that too many of our guys are renouncing everything to go live like they're monks. One of the reasons for this is that these guys are looking for authenticity and thinking they found it in Trad (tm) denominations with monastic writers. In their minds, the more ancient sounding and profound, the more authentic; nothing could be further from the truth, as they ought to be spending lots of time with the LAITY and their irl priests instead of going down rabbit holes and arguments online.

Alas, the problem is that they want to renounce and they're looking for whatever thing will permit that renunciation. Trad (tm) denoms appeal to that by storing up writings and practices that let them do that. Let me put it more succinctly. You want more knights instead of monks? Go to the Protestants. You want radtrads and orthobros to go in the direction of knights? Have them spend more time with laity and less time online.

Lightning round at the Godcast, one of my favorite clips of

New Evaluating Gnosticism now up! Let's check out what happens when a gnostic tries to write a neurotypical sounding love story, and watch as he falls flat on his face while his little booklet devolves into genderbending, Divine Gangbangs and monastic recruitment.

soundcloud.com/verylutheran/evaluating-gnosticism-pt42-dumpster-diving-for-romance-gnovels

Preview for this week's new arc in the Gnosticism series.

https://i.poastcdn.org/99d30e33958af275e422969b8bbd9d46fad407ca3cd86e1db11591fa8ccada08.mp3

Let's kick off a different VLP series for your morning commute. How did the Church drift leftward? We all get the feeling that it was intentional, but who was behind it? With the Modern Theology series, let's do a deep dive on one of the principle authors behind the leftification of Christianity, Paul Tillich - a non-Christian marxist who trained tens of thousands of ignorant seminarians to corrupt their churches.

youtu.be/iqrPJON7eaw

Bros I am more excited to start this coming week than the Mauritanian army is excited to defend their borders. New CONTENT comes out tomorrow!

Her outfit: unique take on central African military fatigues. Sensible all terrain footwear.

His outfit: gay pajama pants and a half tucked t shirt. Big pink socks for his basketball shoes.

When blake lively joins the armed forces of Sierra Leone, don't say I didn't warn you.

From eternity past, God knew that on this very day I would have a chili dog and diet pepsi for lunch. He knew that He would provide the $4.25 that I needed to afford my chili dog and diet pepsi, and He knew that I would find it a delightful experience, eating that chili dog and diet pepsi. The little blessings become big blessings the more you think about them.

Had a chili dog and diet pepsi for lunch

I'm watching the Lifetime movie based on taylor swift right now, and the cringe - which is lasting the entire flick - is so thick you could cut it with a butterknife.

and I will have a fantastic time recording on it.

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP!

This week's homily is a meditation on the importance of believers having harmony - not just harmony as in getting along, but as a specific blend of virtues that belong to each individual believer. Audio: soundcloud.com/verylutheran/harmonious-christians-make-harmonious-churches-26jan2025 Video: youtu.be/O2JybpYyZqw

PDF manuscripts can be found here: verylutheran.biz/resources

Announcement! Though I was too messed up from sickness to do much with my voice, I DID get busy with putting a year's worth of sermons into a single PDF. The 2023 collection is now a free 200 page book of sermons for your benefit: verylutheran.biz/sermon-archive

Support the VLP! verylutheran.gumroad.com/ verylutheran.biz/contact

God bless your weekend everyone!

Good morning and happy Friday to everyone except the people I dislike

amerikaner.org/twr-14-god-with-us-with-super-lutheran-of-the-godcast/

I was a guest on a le podcast, just came out.

For those wondering why I'm so excited to do a series on this. You do realize that we're still in the English Civil War, right anon? The American Revolution was just a continuation of it, with Jefferson quoting the Levellers on the 50th anniversary of this country's Independence. Religiously, we're still there as well, with the same exact divisions along very similar lines. We live in the world the Anglos gave us, and we will live to see the rebirth of Ranters among us. And no, we haven't seen them already. Not quite anyway.

It finally got here. Now the real prep begins

Thinking about all that rage bait I see online, now wondering how much of it is meant for this fat homo's department quotas.

From Mona Lisa to Trolla Lisa

My wife made a stuffed water bear with her crochet skills. 10/10, will stay married to her forever.

This week's installment of the Sex&Marriage series is now up on youtube! Let's talk about sexually immoral women and the fornicationreich that protects them.

youtu.be/qcy9YmMjMMM

Hey Pope LIBTARD, Trump was just sworn in today and there ain't a thing you can do about it neener neener ☝️🤣😵‍💫😏

Today's CONTENT is delayed due to having to shovel my walk and take my kid to a doctor's appointment.

catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/261645/pope-francis-condemns-us-mass-deportation-plans-under-donald-trump-appoints-woman-to-lead-vatican-governorate

A female president of the Vatican? I predict Catholic apologists will deal with this by claiming the female Vatican president can be seen as a sort of "queen mother," and say that it's a wonderful typological connection to their Marian doctrines.

I'm calling it. The Pope is called the vicar of Christ, this woman will be called the vicar of Mary. Hilarity will ensue.

I made another video on the Great Killing, or the idea that all political persuasions are relying on an assumption that mass killing is necessary: youtu.be/Dw14GzFshfU

Pub night at the Very Lutheran house. I've got Boddingtons ale, lectures on the English Commonwealth, and stuff to keep my hands busy while doing prep on the Ranters series. Oh yeah, morale is going to be higher than ever.

Good morning everyone, happy Friday

David Lynch has died. "Would you care to elaborate on that?" No.

The Church Fathers series is BACK! After taking a month off, let's dive into Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho once more and find out that translation arguments are nothing new. Like, seriously, the arguments he's making are the exact same as how people argue today lol

soundcloud.com/verylutheran/reading-the-church-fathers-dialogue-with-trypho-pt10

Here's what people are saying about the Dimond Brothers series. Glowing reviews!

theredarchive.com/blog/Dalrock/the-problem-that-has-noname.12302

Pertinent to this week's sermon.

I get to preach on Ephesians 5:22-33 this week, and we're gonna make it fun. It doesn't really have to be the battle that people make it out to be.

New Catacomb Catechesis now up! Let's have a whirlwind conversation on Infant Baptism, why we do it, and how the Baptists were not the first to try demoting this Sacrament. Oh also conversation on what happens to unbaptized infants who pass away, Baptism as state of being versus event, and more!

soundcloud.com/verylutheran/catacomb-catechesis-the-sacrament-of-baptism-pt2

Good morning everyone! Let's start the day with Bible 😎 Don't forget to like, share, subscribe, tell a friend, write your congressman, get as many people enjoying BIBLE study as possible!

youtu.be/YE2AYor4F14

ATTENTION Since some people were made VERY UPSET by my smuggie, I have edited it for clarity.