Gottesblog

The Book of Concord is descriptive, not prescriptive. It is not a book of rules. It is a confession. Confessions cannot be prescribed. As Professor Marquart said so eloquently: “One believes something because one is convinced that it is true.”

In this day and age of secularism and social media, one of the most countercultural acts a Christian can do is to send Christmas cards - real cards in real envelopes that end up in the real hands of loved ones, colleagues, friends, and those with whom we come into contact throughout the year.

On Reformation Day, even as we focus on Luther and the 95 Theses, let us never forget the martyrs who offered up their lives for the sake of the Gospel - especially the Belgian Augustinian monks Heinrich Voes and Johann Esch, who were burned at the stake in Brussels, July 1, 1523.

In years and cultures past, society valued young men. There was a common-sense realization that strong men meant a strong fabric of society. Christianity recognized the divinely-ordered family structure of the godly leadership of husbands and fathers, as well as masculine leadership in society.

In a previous post, I reviewed a random book from a local Little Free Library - a bestselling Christian book - and a quick scan through the book made it clear that this was a Trojan Horse to wheel Gnosticism into the sanctuary.

In my neighborhood, there are several little free libraries where people exchange books. These are a great window into what people are reading. There is a lot of targeted proselytism by Seventh Day Adventists, lots of fiction involving witchcraft and the occult (much of it targeted to young women and girls), and a good bit of popular Christian literature - which I’m finding to be increasingly not really Christian at all.