Trains, Evocation, Training and Vocation

Living on a street in which freight trains literally run down the middle of the road, clacking and whistling, evokes a lot of memories: our honeymoon train trip that covered almost the entire east coast and deep South, our recent adventure on the City of New Orleans to Chicago and onward to Milwaukee, childhood memories of the sparky old Lionel model train at Christmas, riding the rails in New York and Connecticut, and even a poem of sorts from my high school days.

The latter popped into my mind after not thinking about it for many years. It was on the wall of the office of my high school band instructor, the legendary Nelson Gorbach of Walsh Jesuit High School (who is still there and in his 42nd year at his post). I first saw it some 31 years ago, and somehow, it seared itself into my memory:

It's not my job to run the train,
The whistle I can't blow.
It's not for me to say how far
The train's allowed to go.
I'm not allowed to blow off steam
Or even clang the bell.
But let the damn thing jump the track
And see who catches hell!

I think anyone who has ever worked for a living anywhere can relate!

"Uncle Nels" was (and obviously is) a remarkable musician and teacher who taught me to play the saxophone and who made music fun and interesting - and somehow managed to get a commitment to excellence and dedication out of a scrappy crew of high school boys. I had an absolute blast playing in the concert band under his direction - even playing a $5,000 bari sax that was nearly as big as I was. Of course, reading and playing music has been of remarkable help to me in the ministry, as the Lord used Mr. Gorbach in his vocation to help "train" (get it?) me for my vocation.

I wonder if Mr. Gorbach still has that "poem" on his wall?

Don't these guys have e-mail?

Here is an article from the October 2009 Missouri Synod newspaper the Reporter.

The good news is that the ILC - an international association of 34 Lutheran church bodies worldwide, of which the LCMS is a member - unanimously voted to uphold the biblical doctrine of human sexuality - even as many so-called Lutheran bodies around the world have adopted an anything-goes paradigm.

The bad news is that dozens of bishops, presidents, and bureaucrats, and in some cases, their wives and friends, were flown to "a resort outside of Seoul, South Korea" for the nearly week long meeting. In fact, 81 people were registered for this event.

Was it really necessary to fly all these people there, put them up, feed them for nearly a week, and fly them all back home - in order to adopt a statement that the Bible is right and that homosexuality is a sin?

I mean, don't these guys have e-mail?

I just watched a heart-rending video sent by the Siberian Lutheran Mission Society that shows the unbelievably stark conditions Lutheran pastors in Russia are working under. The images from their work and their stories are haunting. And they are certainly not alone around the world. The heroic work of these pastors and missionaries who labor tirelessly in the Lord's kingdom under conditions of poverty puts us all to shame. Maybe it is an oversimplification on my part, but I can't help but wonder if there should be such extravagance in the church at the same time there is such want.

And while it is commendable that we are part of a worldwide association of confessing Lutheran church bodies, and such a confession is necessary - it does seem to be quite a malinvestment of resources to fly these guys (and their wives and pals) all over the world and put them up in resorts. These are churchmen, not heads of state or CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

I'm honestly not opposed to spending money for the Lord's kingdom. We should have beautiful church buildings and holy vessels for worship. We should invest in seminary education. We should build school buildings and staff our schools and universities with top-notch faculty. These things do indeed cost money. But such expenditures are generational in nature. They are true investments. By contrast, the resources spent on this ILC meeting were literally burned up as jet fuel, digested in the intestines of the attendees, and spent in the form of tourism. All that the kingdom of God has to show for all these efforts is a document - one that could have been drafted and approved via e-mail.

Maybe I'm all wet on this, but this just strikes me as a remarkably callous, frivolous, and myopic display of stewardship.

"It just takes some time... all shall be well"

At the risk of making everyone except Deacon Latif Gaba think I have lost my mind, this joyful and encouraging 2002 alternative pop song "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World reminds me of a famous quote from St. Julian of Norwich (1342-1416):

All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.

One of my parishioners reminds me greatly of St. Julian, praying in her tiny "anchorage" positioning her breviary around the cat on her lap.


As a postscript: a string quartet version of "The Middle" is available here.

Instruments of Peace

October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), has gone by largely unnoticed by American Lutherans yet another year. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that our Lutheran confessions explicitly recognize Francis as a "saint" (Ap 24:7), "holy man" (Ap 27:21) and "holy father" (Ap 4:211), our hymnals, service books, and prayer treasuries today largely ignore him.

Francis was a thorn in the side of the papacy and of the corrupt medieval church bureaucracy. In fact, some members of the religious order founded by Francis were the first to refer to the medieval papacy as "antichrist" - two centuries before Martin Luther began sparring with the Bishop of Rome. To this day, men and women in the Franciscan order - both within and without the Roman Catholic Church - are beggars for Christ, are interested in peace and serving the poor, and make it a priority to show compassion for all of God's creatures.

Artwork of St. Francis often depicts him surrounded by animals.

So, in memory of the gentle preaching of Deacon Francis, as a witness to his implementation of our Lord's call to compassion, as a tribute to the affection and respect shown to this "holy father" by our Lutheran confessions and the entire western church, here is something you can do on a daily basis as a small act of compassion to the creatures over which we have been given dominion:

You can visit The Animal Rescue Site every day and click on the purple button that says "click here to give, it's free." With each such click, the sponsors donate money. The organization donates 100% of ad revenues to their charitable work to feed animals in need. These are domesticated creatures that serve mankind, and they are our responsibility, we having been given dominion over them, and we having removed them from the wild. Clicking on the button costs nothing, and yet each click donates .6 of a bowl of food for animal shelters to feed these creatures pending their adoptions. You can even click on "get a daily reminder to click" and you'll get an automated e-mail every day with a link to click the button. It takes five seconds, and costs nothing.

Animals are an integral part of the Lord's creation. And before the Fall, man and animals had a peaceful, harmonious, non-predatory relationship. The gift and the blessing of domestic animals is a vestige, a little window looking back, a tiny glimpse of happier times in the garden of Eden, as well as a peek into eternity yet to come in which this pacific bestial harmony will be restored.

Until that time, we can only do what we can in this fallen world to alleviate suffering and strive to create an ethos of mercy for all of the Lord's creatures, as we pray in the words of the prayer attributed to Francis: "Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace."

Sermon: Trinity 18

11 Oct 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Matt 22:34-46 (Deut 10:21-21, 1 Cor 1:1-9)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Our Blessed Lord compresses the entire Law into two simple statements: “love God” and “love your neighbor.” For “on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

In other words, divorced from the idea of love, the faith of Holy Scripture, the Christian faith, makes no sense at all. Apart from love, the holy faith is nothing more than a bloodless to-do list, a series of mind-numbingly arbitrary tasks and burdens. And this is exactly how many unbelievers see the Christian faith. This loveless and dour religion of the legalistic Pharisees and the wishy-washy Sadducees is exactly the kind of faith the haters of Christianity describe the Church to be.

This is one reason that it is fair to say that if we really care about evangelism, the best way to spread the faith is not a canned series of talking points about Jesus or a synodical program of tallying “critical events,” but rather in showing love to those around us: both our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as the unbelievers the Lord places into our lives.

For the love that our Blessed Lord speaks of – which is the very beating heart of the holy faith – is the kind of love the unbelieving world craves, but seeks in vain to find. It is Christlike love. It is godly love. It is self-sacrificial love. It is the love that St. Paul speaks of in his beautiful discourse to the Corinthians. It is a love that is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, and is neither arrogant nor rude. It is a love that is not self-seeking, irritable, or resentful. It does not take pleasure in the tearing of others down, but rejoices in truth. This kind of love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. This kind of love is eternal.

And as St. Paul tells us, a religion without this kind of love – indeed a faith of prophetic powers, of miraculous preaching, and even of martyrdom itself – is as worthless and unfulfilling as a pointless noisemaker.

For even if we can recite the Small Catechism perfectly from memory, even if we practice closed communion and do not bless gay unions, even if we uphold the six literal days of creation and cling without compromise to the virgin birth and resurrection, we accomplish nothing for the Lord’s Kingdom if we do so without love. And in fact, we may do more harm than good to the kingdom.

Our Lord Jesus says as much when he says: “On these two commandments” concerning love “depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Without understanding this holy, divine, and unconditional love, the Law and the Prophets are meaningless scribbles in a dusty, irrelevant book. However, comprehending the Holy Scriptures in light of this love, and being embraced by this love from the Most Holy Trinity, the Word of God gives life, fills our hearts with the Holy Spirit, saves us from sin and death, and brings us into fruitful labor for the kingdom.

And it is crucial to understand that this kind of love is not merely a warm feeling or a passing and self-serving lust. It is, rather, the kind of love that drives one to subordinate oneself to the beloved. It is the kind of love that impels our almighty God to humble Himself into taking human flesh. And it is the kind of love that impels humanity to humble himself unto submission to the almighty God. It is the kind of love that fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things to the point of genuine obedience of the commandments, not merely the outward compliance for the sake of appearances that is inwardly grudging and resentful.

This is what Moses means by the circumcision of the heart.

The outward ritual of the covenant is of no value without inward submission. That submission is the kind of love that causes the Lord to go to the cross for His beloved, the kind of love that bids us to repent and believe the Gospel for the sake of our eternal salvation, or in the simple language of Moses: “for your good.”

For the Lord’s love – demonstrated by His birth, proved on the cross, and confirmed in the tomb – is in no way self-serving. This holy love is given to us who are “by nature sinful and unclean” as a free gift, gratis, all by grace, and flowing from the generous and boundless love and mercy of our ever-loving Father. As Moses teaches: “the Lord set His heart in love on your fathers, and chose their offspring after them.”

And we Christians seek this love when we “call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” – which St. Paul teaches us is the work of the “Church of God,” as she has first “been called to be saints.” In being “called to be saints,” we are able to “call upon the name” – the Most Holy Name of the Lord Jesus, the name that is above every name, and yet the name that was nailed to a cross above the One bearing that name. It is the calling of the called to call upon the one who calls.

Though all people experience love – only the love of Christ, the One who “sits at God’s right hand,” brings us into the fullness of love: the perfect love the Father has for the Son, the love the Triune God has for His creation. Apart from Jesus Christ, proclaimed by His Church, experienced in her proclamation of the Word and her administration of the sacraments – this love is always just out of reach.

This is why the Lord Jesus follows up His discourse on understanding the faith in terms of love with an immediate lesson on who He is. He asks them pointedly: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” For they know the doctrinally correct and biblical answer: “The Son of David.” But when the Lord Jesus cites Scripture to support His claim to the Davidic Sonship, to being the Christ, to being the Lord God in the flesh, the Pharisees are not only dumbfounded, they stop asking questions.

Their line of interrogation ends because they don’t like where the answers are leading. The unbelief of the Pharisees is not borne of ignorance, but rather of stubbornness. They are not simply missing the point, rather they are rejecting the point. It’s not that they are having trouble understanding who Jesus is, but rather they do not want to know the truth of who Jesus is. For that would require submission, humility, and obedience.

It is precisely in this context that Moses, hundreds of years before there was a faction of Judaism known as Pharisees, called the stiff-necked Israelites to repentance. And in calling for this circumcision of the heart, Moses bids the people of God to “be no longer stubborn.”

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”

He is the loving God who is love. He is “gracious and merciful.” He is the one who calls us to repentance, and also calls us “saints” and invites us to “call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And He “will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Breaking News!

HT: Greg at Holy Cause.

Biblical Greek

This is how I wish we could learn Greek at the seminary - as a living language, the way ordinary 1st century Greco-Roman families spoke it, the way the apostles preached it, the way the evangelists and St. Paul wrote it, and the way ordinary Christians heard it. All translations lose something in the process - which is why many church bodies (my own LCMS included) has a history of requiring Biblical Greek (and often Hebrew) to be studied right off the bat for seminarians.

I'm not complaining about my seminary education. I believe it was (and is) top-notch. But if I could change anything about it, I would extend it a year and focus on languages - especially Biblical Greek and Hebrew and ecclesiastical Latin, and some German for good measure. Maybe this would add a couple years. But the more time I put in preaching and teaching, the more I lament that I am not more literate in the classical languages.

If I were the pontifex maximus of the Missouri Synod and our seminaries had no financial woes, I would add at least one year to the M.Div. program for training pastors (perhaps by cutting out vicarage and replacing it with an optional post-ordination curacy). In so doing, we could have men reading New Testament Greek much more fluently and having to struggle with it less during exegetical classes. I believe we would also see a lot more pastors continuing to study the Bible in Greek instead of completely falling away and relying on English translations and perhaps a study Bible or commentary.

I teach Latin to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. My first two years, we used Latina Christiana - a beginner's course developed for much younger kids. It is rooted in memorizing endings and paradigms - and was just plain tedious for middle schoolers. It was a flop. It was boring, and unsuited to the middle school mind. I changed over to Hans Oeberg's Lingua Latina - a brilliant "natural method" approach to the language. It is not only more interesting and fun, it does not involve the rote memorization of paradigms. My students continue to impress me as the pick up Latin through reading and using the language.

The way Greek is taught at seminary is (of necessity) a ten-week crash course based on large amounts of memorization and parsing. It is a completely unnatural way to learn. I wonder if any seminaries have adopted Polis as an alternative way to learn the language. Reading and understanding any language in its native setting is far better than painstakingly hacking and parsing as a means to translating it into English. Such an approach bleeds the life out of the text - which is especially unfortunate when the text happens to be God's Word.

Readers of Koine (Biblical) Greek might want to look into Polis. I do not have the book, nor do I know anyone personally who has taken it. However, it has been recommended by fellow Latin teachers who use the Oerberg method. So, I'm reasonably confident that this approach could work in a seminary setting, or among pastors and lay people wishing to read, or improve their ability, to read Koine Greek.

Here is a video showing the course being used in the classroom. Can you imagine if our pastors were this fluent in Biblical Greek? I know I would love to have that kind of fluency. It would sure save a lot of time digging in lexicons and dictionaries, and it would bring the living Word of God into the realm of living language. Here is a sample chapter.

Classical Accordion?

Wow. Just wow. HT: Lew Rockwell.

Who is Destroying the Dollar?

The Drudge Report has a most interesting headline for this article: "Arabs Plot to Drop Dollar."

Basically, what is happening is that the world has been doing business in U.S. dollars for a long time. In fact, the dollar has been the world standard currency since WW2, according to the Bretton Woods agreement. In a nutshell, after the war, the U.S. economy was the most stable, and the U.S. dollar - still given full gold backing for foreigners (but not for American citizens, who were not allowed to own gold per decree by President Franklin Roosevelt) - became the global standard for cash reserves and international transactions.

Any time the world needed to convert dollars into gold coins, they could do it, as the American dollar was (again, for foreigners) fully backed by gold. This gave international bankers great confidence in the dollar, as the gold backing acted as insurance for their deposits.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon abolished this feature (he "closed the gold window"), which left the value of the world's savings accounts to the tender mercies of the Federal Reserve Bank. If the Americans so chose, they could print dollars to infinity and pay their bills with it, and thus destroy the value of nearly every dollar in the world. After Nixon closed the gold window, that's what the Fed did - sending the world economy into the 1970s "stagflation" tailspin.

Fast forward to today.

The Obama government (following the lead of President George W. Bush) is printing money in record numbers. The effect on the purchasing power of each dollar is starting to become clear: the U.S. dollar is plummeting compared to world currencies, and gold is trading in dollar amounts never before seen in history.

China and the Arab world (who hold billions of American dollars due to selling to the Americans) are not happy to see the value of each dollar drop as the Fed prints more and more dollars to be used to "bail out" American banks and businesses.

It would be like running up a huge Visa bill, and then paying it off with monopoly money - with Visa being forced to accept it! Imagine how much stuff you could "buy" if you could simply run copies of Monopoly money on the photocopier and pay your bills with it. Eventually, Visa would want payment in something other than Monopoly money (which becomes worth less as more copies enter circulation). And when that happens, just imagine how painful it will be to pay back these huge debts in real money instead of play money!

In the U.S., we are stuck with the U.S. dollar. By law, dollars ("Federal Reserve Notes") are "legal tender for all debts, public and private." This means if you have a contract, it must be honored in U.S. dollars - even if the government irresponsibly drives the value of the dollar down to a penny each. We Americans, in essence, have no choice but to accept Monopoly money - and the government has the monopoly power (however unconstitutional) of causing an infinite number of Monopoly-style bills to be printed and circulated.

But China and the rest of the world are not obliged to trade in dollars any more than they must take Monopoly money in payment of cheap Walmart goods or petroleum. And it is their right to insist on payment in some other currency. It is their right to seek a reserve currency that the Americans can't simply run off a printing press - paying their debts in counterfeit scrip while stealing from those who have been frugal and saved their money by devaluing that money.

However, the article is spun as some kind of "Arab plot." The article's last paragraph correctly points out that the American invasion of Iraq came immediately after Saddam Hussein threatened to no longer accept U.S. dollars in payment for oil - thus potentially ending America's use of the Xerox machine to pay its bills. Many of the comments at the end of the article are also illustrative. A lot of folks seem to think the Americans are the "good guys" in all of this, that the rest of the world should somehow be compelled to accept endless amounts of Monopoly money for goods and services, as though legal tender laws to which we are subject are somehow binding on other countries.

The wisest thing Americans can do right now is get out of the dollar. Convert your savings into gold, foreign currencies, commodities, or investments not denominated in American dollars. The printing press may well be the ruination of the United States economic infrastructure - as it was receptly in Zimbabwe, as it was in the 1980s in Argentina, as well as the post WW1 German Weimar Republic. Once the rest of the world no longer feels bullied into using American money, when they feel they can no longer trust it, when they can safely divest themselves of dollars without a panic selloff, and when a new international standard is put in place - then the real value of the dollar will become clear to us back home, as trillions of increasingly worthless IOUs from China and the Arab world find their way back to our shores, flooding the country with money that buys less and less with each passing day. This could get very ugly.

The U.S. has been running a scam on the rest of the world since 1971, and it has especially kicked in over the last year (there are videos on youtube showing the spike in money printing since 2008, but all I can find right now is this cheesy Glen Beck illustration). It was a good run for a criminal enterprise, I suppose. But even Bernie Madoff couldn't keep the scam going forever. The sad part is that we will all be stuck holding the hot potato, and we've been so poorly educated about economics that the politicians will likely successfully convince us that the Arabs and the Chinese have somehow "done this to us," rather than our real enemy: our own Federal Reserve system and its bought-and-paid-for surrogates from both parties in Washington, DC.

To learn more about the Federal Reserve scam, I recommend this video and this book. To learn what can be done about it now (assuming it isn't too late), I recommend this book.

Sermon: Trinity 17

4 Oct 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 14:1-11 ( Prov 25:6-14, Eph 4:1-6)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

One Sabbath day, our Lord Jesus Christ went to a meal. The lawyers and Pharisees, we are told, “were watching Him carefully.”

Surely, they must have been keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, so they could learn from Him. But sadly, this was not the case.

The lawyers and Pharisees were interested in Jesus, to be sure. Not to learn from Him, mind you, but to try to trap Him. They often flattered Him to His face, but behind His back, they were plotting. They asked questions of Him – not to genuinely learn, but to try to trip Him up, to use His own words out of context later on, and in some cases, outright lying about Him to other people in order to hurt His reputation and to get Him into trouble with the authorities.

This Sabbath was no different. They “were watching Him carefully” for the sole purpose of seeking to destroy Him and the Prophetic Word that offended them. And worst of all – they did not even realize that what they were doing was sinful. They convinced themselves that their sins were virtues, and that they were acting in the best interest of the people.

To us today, their level of self-delusion seems almost unbelievable. For who among us would ever witness our Lord perform a miracle, using the proclamation of God’s healing Word in the service of the Kingdom – and then complain that some human regulation or bureaucratic procedure had been violated? Separated by two thousand years from this scene, we almost want to yell into our Bibles and ask: “What are you people thinking? Jesus has come to you, forgiven your sins, and is bringing the kingdom to you, all by grace, all as a free gift, all by His own mercy and sacrifice – and you’re thanking Him by charging Him with violating the Sabbath?” It boggles the mind.

Worst of all, in addition to their seemingly endless intrigue and plotting against Jesus, they are missing the entire point.

There is only one explanation for their baffling behavior: unbelief. They have become so self-centered, so worldly, so used to being puffed up for their religiosity and standing in the community that when our Blessed Lord, God Himself, calls them to repent, rather than do so, they go on the offensive. Rather than heed the message, they seek to crucify the messenger. Their hearts are hardened, and unless they do repent, they will lose their seat of honor by the hand of the Lord Himself who will humble them.

Our Lord warns the lawyers and Pharisees gently with a story. He tells a parable about the seating arrangements of a meal – much like the one they are at. Those who think too highly of themselves, are ultimately embarrassed, being removed from their self-chosen important seats by the host, and instead ordered to give their seat to someone of lower social rank – thus humbling the self-important. By contrast, those who conduct themselves with humility will be removed from their lowly estate and exalted by the Lord, who sees their good deeds in secret, and yet rewards them in public.

The unbelief of the lawyers and Pharisees was closely tied to their haughtiness. They thought so highly of themselves that they refused to submit to the Lord and His Word – especially when He called them to repentance and preached the law to them. Instead, they gossiped, plotted, tricked, and betrayed Him. And as our Lord elsewhere pointed out to them, they are acting no differently than their own ancestors who persecuted the prophets who spoke unpopular words to them.

For the Word of the Lord is not soothsaying. It is not designed to make us leave church with a song in our heart and a bloated sense of self-esteem. We are to be cut to the quick because of our sins, and then and only then, restored by the balm of the Good News. Such preaching is not only hard for the hearer, but hard for the preacher. And yet this is what we are all called to do: to be the people of God, to hear the law, confess, to hear the Gospel, and be absolved.

Had Jesus simply preached more Gospel and less Law, had Jesus simply stroked the egos of his hearers, had Jesus simply done everything by the book and thrown compassion and a concern for the kingdom to the wind, had Jesus simply done what the Very Important People told Him to do, no-one would have gotten hurt. But then again, no-one would have gotten redeemed, either.

For the plotting of the lawyers and the Pharisees, as evil as it was, as disastrous as their unbelief was to them unless they repented – their actions were used by the Lord for good, on a Friday we now call “Good.” The lawyers and Pharisees who demanded that Jesus do things their way on the Sabbath, were shocked to find an empty tomb on the morning after the Sabbath.

For in his own humiliation, our Lord exalted the lowly. And in His own exaltation, our Lord humbled the haughty. And in so doing, our Lord calls all of us from the prison of unbelief and bids us to join Him in the freedom of faith. He sends forth His Word to convict all men of their guilt, calling us to repentance, to confession, to true contrition, and ultimately, to belief that the One harassed by the lawyers and Pharisees has died for all of us lawyers and Pharisees.

St. Paul, languishing in prison, teaches us how to live out this freedom won for us by Christ: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

True humility does not consist of giving lip-service to the abstract theological assertion that we are all sinners. True humility is demonstrated in real confession of real sins – and the blessing of being absolved by a real pastor with real words from the Lord. True humility seeks to serve the Lord and is not interested in social rank or dragging others down – whether through prejudice and looking down on those of a lesser standing, or by plotting and seeking to raise our own reputations at the expense of others.

The Lord is not interested in lip-service. He could not care less how religious we are. He does not kowtow to how much money we give to the church nor how many hours we put in for the sake of the kingdom. He is not impressed that we are pastors, elders, big wheels in the parish or movers and shakers in the local community, or that we are the grandchildren of such people. King Solomon says as much when he exhorts us: “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.’”

The lawyers and Pharisees and all unbelievers will be humbled eternally and the seats they think are theirs in the Great Banquet Hall will be taken from them and given to the thieves and tax collectors who do hear the law, repent, hear the Gospel, and believe. The thieves and tax collectors will be elevated from their lowliness and will be received into the king’s presence.

And it all boils down to this: the lawyers and Pharisees did their good deeds to be seen by men, to be exalted by their peers. They had their reward already when their gossip and plotting and self-exaltation landed their Lord on a cross. They had their reward, but their unbelief brought them a different kind of reward: the humiliation of condemnation. By contrast, our Lord’s good deeds were done out of compassion, like a farmer who tends a fallen ox on the Sabbath. The compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ is so great that He even went to the cross for the sins of the world: including the sins of all of us lawyers and Pharisees.

The Lord bids us all to repent, to be hearers of the Word, and doers of the same. He implores us to stop foolishly putting our trust in our reputations, and to stop savaging the reputations of others. He calls upon us to be compassionate and forbearing, not self-righteous and manipulative.

And in such humble pursuit, the people of God, the Church, so despised by the unbelieving world, will be raised from her lowliness and rewarded at the Great Banquet in eternity. The Church is to be busy with works of compassion, to be about the Kingdom, and tirelessly pushing forgiveness. She is not about self-promotion and getting over on someone. We Christians have been forgiven. We have been given the kingdom by grace. We have no reason to glorify ourselves, as we have already been glorified by Him. To Him alone be the glory! The Church is His holy bride, and thus she is exalted to the side of her Bridegroom, showing honor to Him by her compassion and humility.

For “there is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

And this is why the Church “watches Him carefully” and pays heed to His words. Let us all be listening to the Lord so intently in order to learn, in order to be called to repentance, and to be forgiven, so that we learn to crucify our inner lawyer and Pharisee while the Crucified One Himself compassionately exalts us to be with Him in eternity. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Rio de Janeiro

While everyone is focusing on the presidential politics regarding the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the cite of the 2016 Olympics, there is a bigger story: the shameless iconography of our Blessed Lord being used as a symbol of the city - and the fact that this did not dissuade the committee from selecting Rio!

Chicago wouldn't have dared to embrace any symbol of the Christian faith - nor would any American city.

Two years before I moved there, the City of Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympics. While other past Olympic mascots from other countries reflected symbols of cultural, national or civic identity, Atlanta became a laughingstock for their Olympic symbol "Izzy" - which was short for "What is it?" - a blue cartoonish figure purposely designed to be devoid of meaning, to recall no history, nor to conjure up any civic or national devotion. Atlanta, Georgia had become so beaten down by the forces of political correctness, that while tourists routinely flock to the city quoting lines from Gone With the Wind and wanting to see Confederate reenactors and ladies in hoop-skirts, the Olympic planners wanted nothing to do with anything remotely historical. Hence: "What is it?"

Needless to say, "Izzy" was a total flop.

By contrast, how refreshing to see politically incorrect Christian imagery unapologetically displayed without handwringing, threats of lawsuits, or businessmen running scared of boycotts and protest marches.

The 130 foot statue of Christ the Redeemer is so physically imposing and identified with Rio de Janeiro (which becomes the first South American city to host the Olympics) that it is going to be difficult for TV coverage of the games, t-shirts, postcards, souvenirs, and news pictures to censor out this vast artistic rendering of our Blessed Lord that has been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.


I've never been to Rio de Janeiro, but it looks like a stunningly beautiful place with a culture, climate, and people to match.

Yo! Gotta Gaba!

I got a Gaba. A Gaba Psalter.

Actually, I have two: a rare first edition of The Book of Psalms in English and Latin, edited by the Reverend Deacon Latif Gaba, and a new and improved second edition, given to me as a gift by the editor. The latter came in the mail today as we were on our way out the door as a part of a care package from the Milwaukee deacon, which included a note from our dear friend and brother in Christ, along with three (count 'em!) three CDs by the Milwaukee bluesman Lil' Rev.

Lil' Rev. is known and loved in Milwaukee for his eclectic mix of traditional American blues, both vocal and instrumental (e.g. harmonica, guitar, ukulele) as well as old Yiddish folk tunes. Crazy, joyful, and unique stuff. In fact, one of Lil' Rev's bandmates was known as Big Rev - whose real name was Father Stephen Wiest. Fr. Wiest (of blessed memory) was a beloved LCMS campus pastor and college professor, whose proclivities for wearing a cassock, hanging out with non-Christians in blues bars, playing harmonica, and actually believing in Christianity got him removed from his ministry by vengeful bureaucrats (you know, the ones who tell us that traditionalist Lutherans cannot "relate to youth"). Wiest's ministry inspired a good number of men to attend seminary to devote their lives to preaching the Gospel, and probably more than a few to take up the mouth organ.

What a treat to be cruising around Gretna (insofar as "cruising" is an appropriate gerund for being transported in a white Toyota mini-van) on this the first day of the Gretna Heritage Festival actually listening to a digital recording of Fr. Wiest making his harmonica soar with both masterful virtuosity and spontaneous elan. You can hear him play on the 1996 album "Uke Town" by Lil' Rev. The liner notes thank Wiest with the tribute: "It should be known that no other mouth organ player has taught me more than big rev from folksongs to blues... a true blessing."

In fulfillment of an overdue promise, Mrs. H. and I were taking Leonidas Hollywood to the local Barnes & Noble. After leaving the cruising vessel, we found that Leo was singing Lil' Rev's "Old Milwaukee Runaround" after just one listen.

Before heading to the children's section, we stopped at the cafe for a bite. Being the liturgical rigorist that he is, Leo insisted on prayers before snack. He always leads the table grace in our house, and as he has done since about age two, he makes the sign of the cross, invokes the Most Holy Trinity, and prays the table prayer from Luther's Small Catechism. In imitation of me, he holds up two fingers and sweeps his hand in the form of a cross over the victuals at the words "these your gifts." At the prayer's termination: "through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen," he has picked up a curious rubric (maybe from Sunday School) in which he holds his hands together, and with his index fingers held together and extended, points to each person present. I have never seen this digito monstrare gesture in prayer before. But it has become his ritual. I'll have to check back issues of Gottesdienst for more information...

We were about to eat when our little traditionalist informed us that we would now pray in Latin.

With bellies rumbling, we patiently folded our hands again, and began anew ("In nomine Patris et filii and Spiritus Sancti, Amen."). He prayed the collect flawlessly, and we were about to dig into our pretzels, when the celebrant announced a tertiary oration in French. So, we thrice-blessed the repas in the language of Leo's Gallic ancestors, and at last, we able to dig in.

While sitting in the children's section with my Gaba Psalter, I ran across a Yo Gabba Gabba backpack. The above picture just sums up the kind of day we're having: Blues, books, Latin, prayers, Gretna, Gaba, and Yo Gabba Gabba. Later this afternoon, we will join a hundred thousand of our best friends a half block from the front door for seven music stages, carnival rides, and Louisiana cuisine. Maybe there will even be a daiquiri for Father Hollywood tonight (update: repeated rides on the Tilt-A-Whirl with Laughing Leo made even the thought of any kind of "Lutheran Beverage" not the best idea in the world).

Our gloriously unpredictable day in the life reminds me of a droll comment from Deacon Gaba: "Imagine an Albanian Lutheran son of a Muslim driving around Milwaukee with Yiddish folk songs blasting on the CD player. There oughta be a law against people like that."

And there probably is! Thanks again to Brother Latif for his kindness, generosity, Christian fellowship, and friendship.

And if you pray the Psalter, and would like to have a bilingual edition with both the Luther-influenced Coverdale translation (in glorious 1928 black and white) and the Gallican Psalter (as Luther actually memorized it) from the Clementine Vulgate in a side by side ready-to-pray format, well, (get ready for it...): You Gotta Getta Gaba! Click here.

Brobee prepares to pray the Preface

Real Men

Here is a great blogpost by Pr. Peters about what it means to be a real man.

Here is a little teaser...

Real men... Real men are spiritual leaders and role models for their household. This is not about ruling the roost or barking orders but embodying the faith for the rest of those within the household. Real men love the Lord, they worship the Lord in the Lord's House, they sing out the hymns, they bow their heads in prayer, they listen intently to the sermon, they bring tithes and offerings to the Lord, they kneel at the table of the Lord... and they live out what begins here in their homes, workplaces, neighborhoods and communities.

Religion is not for sissies. Faith is not a crutch for the weak. It is the call of the Lord who is strong enough to suffer to those who would take up their cross, deny themselves, and follow Him. His work has born the fruit that enables us to hear and heed this call, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The love which Scripture talks about is not some passive acceptance but the active and strong love that redeems. This is the love real men show to their wives, children, parents, friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers on the street corners.

Real men... Real men talk about the Lord -- not so much in the context of feelings but as voices that tell the story of the cross and empty tomb and the gifts that flow from Jesus' Passion and Resurrection... Real men pray -- not just when they have no where else to turn but all the time... from the table at mealtime to the morning hours before the day fully begins to last fleeting moments before sleep claims us. Real men know what they believe -- they know the catechism, the know the voice of Scripture as the familiar voice of THEIR Shepherd Lord speaking to them... Real men make no apology for the faith but defend their faith in workplace conversations and when the challenges of life and people press down upon the power of belief.

Again, click here to read more, and feel free to browse around for some thought-provoking work.

Sermon: St. Jerome

30 Sept 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 24:44-48 (Joshua 24:14-27, 2 Tim 3:14-17)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Today the Church honors St. Jerome, a doctor of the Church. And like all saints, Jerome’s greatness is not of himself, but of the Lord he served with his life and work.

For thanks to St. Jerome, a priest and monk, the churches and the people had Bibles in their own common language. Jerome’s translation of the Old and New Testaments from Hebrew and Greek into the common, popular Latin restored the Bible to the Western Church for a thousand years, when another doctor of the church, also a priest and monk, named Martin Luther, gave the German people a Bible in their own common, popular language.

Without the miracle of tongues, the Lord, in His grace and mercy, provided doctors of the Church and scholars of Scripture who have made the Word of God available in nearly every one of the world’s languages and dialects spoken today.

And this is indeed part of the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations,” building up the Church into the beautiful picture in the Book of Revelation of myriads from every tribe and tongue singing praises to the Lamb.

For that is the point of Scripture.

The Lamb Himself opens His mouth to give us His Word in the Scriptures, saying: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

The Word of Jesus testifies to the Word of God, and even the Lord’s Words about Scripture are the Word of God. This is the Word who was with God, and who yet was God, the Word by whom all things were made. This is the Word of the Lord, the very same that endureth forever.

Jerome’s work was not just a scholarly triumph. It was rather the tool by which the very Gospel spread across the known world, in what was at the time the closest thing to a universal language that there was. And even after the Roman Empire was nothing but a faded memory, the Word of God in Jerome’s simple Latin was being preached, sung, chanted, memorized, read, and shouted from the rooftops all across Europe, Asia, and Africa. And as the New World was being discovered, Christian pastors equipped with Jerome’s Latin Bible made their way to the Americas, with the Church being spread to places St. Jerome never even knew existed.

For the Scriptures are not merely read, but are absorbed by the believer’s heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. Understanding of things by faith and not merely by sight comes through the hearing of the Word. Even as the Word teaches us: “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”

The Holy Word opens our unholy minds to the reality, the good news that Jesus has died and has risen. The Scriptures proclaim both “repentance” – that is the Law – and “forgiveness” – that is the Gospel. The Scriptures are effective not because preachers preach it, but rather because it is God’s Word that preachers preach. And that Word works miracles on us, as “faith comes by hearing.”

Our Lord “opens our minds” and shows Himself in the written Word. And that Word gives us life.

And the Lord tells the apostles that they shall be witnesses, testifiers of the Gospel recorded in Holy Scripture, as their proclamation would begin in Jerusalem, and extend throughout the ends of the earth.

And what a tragedy it is that we treat this gift of God so shabbily. How often we neglect reading, studying, praying, and teaching the Word of God. Too often, the “family Bible” is a pristine decoration in the living room or a cluttered place to keep family records. Even churches that uphold the inerrancy of the Bible and have multiple Bible studies each week struggle with a lack of zeal for God’s Word and a failure to apply Holy Scripture in our lives – as our actions often reflect a knowledge about Scripture while our sinful nature causes us to ignore God’s Word as we live out our everyday lives.

This is why our blessed Lord points us to “repentance.” For as St. Paul points out to the well-versed Timothy, whose mother and grandmother taught him the Bible from his own childhood: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

The beauty of God’s Word lies not only in its poetry, its explanations of our origin, in the historical records of ancient peoples, and in its literature, but much more deeply as the very means by which the living God speaks to us, calling us to repent, delivering to us the very forgiveness of sin, and encouraging us in our lifelong war with Satan.

St. Paul tells the younger pastor Timothy, that through the Word of God, “the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

The Bible is “equipment.” It is gear. It is a weapon. It is our defense. And it endures forever – for it is the Word of the Lord.

We give thanks for Jerome, for Martin Luther, for the many who translated the Bible into English, for all doctors of the Church, and for the countless chain of scribes and monks who copied the Lord’s Word with no acclaim or thanks from the world. We give thanks for the men and women who have risked their lives to preserve the Scriptures. But most of all, we give thanks to our Blessed Lord, whose Word is our very life, who calls us to repentance as well as proclaims the forgiveness of sins – all through the Word of God and its preaching.

And we, like the people who submitted to Joshua, have been made free by the gospel to confess with the people of Israel: “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey.”

Thanks be to God. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

More Good News!

Bob Breck is willing to declare New Orleans' hurricane season to be over. It doesn't mean we can't get one, but by this time and according to the current air flows, the threat of a big hurricane (and having to evacuate) seems to be over for this year.

Iterum Deo gratias!

Good News!

Sermon: Trinity 16

27 Sept 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 7:11-17 (1 Kings 17:17-24, Eph 3:13-21)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Death is part of life, right? It is a natural part of our existence, and in fact, forms a great circle of life. The lions die and become grass. The antelopes eat the grass. The lions eat the antelopes. It’s all good. Walt Disney tells me so. And to further make the point, Walt Disney was long dead when the Lion King came out, but nevertheless he is still telling us how wonderful death is, and has even gotten Elton John to sing it to us.

But it is a great lie. The originator of this Circle of Life myth is not the Lion King, but rather the Lying prince of darkness, the father of lies, the one described in Scripture as a “roaring lion seeking someone to devour.”

Rather than accept the lie of the movies we confess the truth of the Scriptures.

Death is not a part of life, rather it is the end of life of the body. Death is not constructive, rather it is destructive. Death is not natural, rather it is contrary to all that is both “good” and “very good” in God’s creation and plan for humanity made in His own image and likeness. Death was never meant to be. Death is the wages of sin. But you won’t learn that from a Disney cartoon.

Nor will you learn that from well-intentioned funeral directors, Hallmark cards, or non-Christian religions. You won’t learn that from an evolutionist biology textbook nor on TV shows. In this culture, you will not hear that death is evil, it is the enemy, or that it is the result of our sinfulness and the rebellion of our ancestors. You will not hear this truth proclaimed anywhere else but from the mouth of the Church, for she and she alone speaks the Word of God, the only True God, the Creator of all things and the Lord and Giver of life.

All of the platitudes and jingles about death come crashing down when someone actually dies.

In Nain, the only son of a widow had died. And in the jaws of this tragedy, there was no catchy Elton John tune or postmodern philosophizing about the food chain to bring comfort to his mother. Nor did the people of the town simply go about their business as if death were simply a natural event and nothing to make a fuss over. No indeed. This was anything but a normal, natural Circle of Life being played out.

The young man who had died was being carried out of his home to be taken out of the city to the cemetery. This was anything but natural. Women created by God are not meant to be widows, and young men created by God are not meant to be carried to their graves. The devastated widow walked in the procession with a “considerable crowd” of mourners, showing both respect for the deceased son and compassion for his grieving mother.

And one Man in the crowd not only had compassion on her, but also held the keys of life and death. Our Lord’s compassion for the widow did not bring about a clever speech, nor a show tune, nor blather about food chains. The Lord Jesus did not try to rationalize death or make it out to be a good thing. Instead, He implored the widow “Do not weep,” for he was about to turn her mourning into joy and her helplessness into victory over death and the grave.

By His touch and by His Word, our blessed Lord commands the spirit to return to the widow’s son’s lifeless body. He touches the open casket and commands the man: “Young man, I say to you, arise.”

Immediately, the dead young man became yet again a living young man. He “sat up and began to speak.” And instead of disappointment that the Circle of Life had been broken, instead of environmental outrage that the food chain was interrupted, there was joy that life overcame death. “Jesus gave him to his mother.”

And not only was their great happiness, there was also fear. For Jesus had not simply worked a miracle, he demonstrated His divine power as well as the impotence of death in the face of God’s will that death be overcome, and that the grave lose its sting. There is fear because all of their own assumptions about death have not only been challenged, but disproved and rendered as useless as the coffin the widow’s son had been lying in.

For indeed, “God has visited His people!” A “great Prophet has arisen among us!”

This Prophet is even greater than Elijah, who centuries before had prayed to the Lord to restore the life to another widow’s son, presenting him living and breathing to his mother. For this Pophet does not have to pray for the resurrection of the son, for He is the Son, He is the Resurrection, and He is the Life. He is “very God of very God.”

God did not come bringing a rationalization of death, nor to merely preach a message of niceness. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, took flesh in order to die. And He died in order that we might live. He rose in order that we, like the widow’s son, will likewise rise. And we confess with Job: “In my flesh I shall see God.”

For the Incarnate Lord Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it.

And in this fallen, sinful, and death-ridden world, there is no Circle of Life, but only an ever-perishing Circle of Death, and it is unnatural and evil. It is an evil that has become so common for us that we no longer smell its stench and see it for the evil that it is. It has gotten to the point where we actually sing its praises in cartoon form for children to embrace.

But the good news is this, dear Christians, the Circle of Death has been trodden upon, along with the wicked serpent’s head, by the Crucified One, who instead removes us from the vicious cycle of decay and disorder, placing us instead into the true Circle of Life, an eternity with no beginning and no end, in which we live, literally and physically, body and soul, in perfection, world without end.

This, dear brothers and sisters, is how St. Paul, facing his own death, can encourage all of us not to lose heart in the midst of our mortal suffering. For “strengthened with power through His Spirit,” we are “filled with all the fullness of God.” And this divine fullness has already destroyed death and given us the “love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” – exposing the lie that death has dominion over any of us and showing us that the so-called Circle of Life is nothing more than a paper tiger that has been crushed at the cross, washed away at baptism, overcome at the empty tomb, and is ultimately as helpless to contain us as death was able to hold the widow’s son confronted by the touch and Word of Jesus.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.” Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

North Wisconsin District and Women's Ordination

It's not every day that you read a pro-women's ordination article in an official synodical publication. But you can do so here in the NWD's October 2009 newsletter. Scroll down to pages 12 and 13.

Wow.

I don't believe the North Wisconsin District is actually campaigning to promote women's "ordination" in the LCMS - though there is a very small (and shrinking) minority of aging LCMS feminists devoted to that cause. But the problem with the NWD is confessional clarity. We should not be sending mixed signals as to what we confess and teach - whether to our pastors and laypeople, or to the world.

The above newsletter is available to anyone on the planet with the internet - and it gives the strong impression that the LCMS has capitulated to the world and turned its back on Holy Scripture. It is a terrible witness to the Church and world - especially in this day and age of confusion as to where "Lutherans" stand on many issues - even as our brothers and sisters around the world are persecuted for their faithfulness to the Word of God.

And this is precisely the danger in subscribing to, and printing under our own letterhead, publications by non-Lutheran church bodies. Isn't it odd that books published by CPH are subjected to a rigorous doctrinal review process, all the while districts (however well-intentioned) can, and do, promote and even publish materials from other church bodies that contain rank heresy?

For some reason, The Parish Paper is very popular with the higher-ups in our synod. My own district subscribes to it and in turn sends it out to us in the parishes, and encouraging us to print it in our church newsletters. Usually, they are rather tepid and banal - simply worthy of the delete key without comment. But the topics quite often deal with the need to "change" the way we worship and proclaim the Gospel, all based on numbers and pragmatism - a theology alien to our own Lutheran confessions.

A year ago, I blogged about my own district's use of The Parish Paper:

"My own ecclesiastical district has been rigorously advocating an agenda of change over the past couple years. Almost every communication that comes from our district involves explicit pushes and shoves to "change" - to abandon our traditions, to embrace popular culture, to follow in the footsteps of the latest "gurus" and the trendiest religious fads. Our district has subscribed to an ecumenical Protestant publication (The Parish Paper) that is sent to every parish pastor with copyright permission (and encouragement) to reprint it in church newsletters and the like (though, as far as I can tell, I'm not permitted to reproduce it electronically here). I do not know whether or not these publications are subjected to doctrinal review - though I suspect it hardly matters."

Maybe the this district's inclusion (however accidental it may be) of an open and unrepentant endorsement of women's ordination in the current issue will be the impetus to drive the stake through this thing's heart. How much heresy are we to tolerate from our districts? Is it really too much to ask of our synodical bureaucracies to cut our ties with this publication?

Anyway, the NWD's contact information is here. Maybe they would appreciate some (polite but firm) input from the people of our church body to help them discern the best way to deal with this issue.

You can also e-mail NWD President Rev. Joel Hoelter here: joel@nwdlcms.org.

Two Great Secession Songs at the Same Time

I saw Jim Stafford do this (probably on Hee Haw) when I was a kid. I wish it existed on YouTube.

But here's a little video of Jim Stafford on Johnnie Carson.

Invest an hour...

...and watch this speech (with a little debate at the end) by economist Peter Schiff, dated November 2006 - two full years before the Wall Street Meltdown, and precisely owing to the real estate bubble he predicted here. Schiff is a gifted speaker who can explain economics in ways we can all understand. History has borne him out so far, and there seems to be no reason his forecasting will not continue to prove true.

Compare what you hear to what actually happened last year, and what is happening in the mainstream news right now:

• The End of Dollar Supremacy
• Dollar Under Scrutiny at G20
• Massive Inflation If China & Japan Balk at U.S. Debt

Peter Schiff (and the free market approach to economics known as the Austrian School to which he holds) has been predicting exactly this scenario for many years - in spite of being scoffed at by central economic planning Keynsian School economists. Schiff has been advising investment clients based on these Austrian School market principles for more than a decade - much to the derision of establishment politicians, academicians, and con-men in the investment and banking industries.

In fact, there is a compilation video on YouTube of snippets of Peter Schiff making predictions considered outrageous at the time (2006-2007), even being openly scoffed and laughed at in TV studios of news programs. No-one is scoffing today. Click here for the video, called Peter Schiff Was Right - which is now been viewed 1.5 million times. Some of the people who scoffed at Schiff have taken a lot of heat, including conservative economist Arthur Laffer, and conservative commentator Ben Stein, who actually made a public apology to him.

When you hear anyone say: "Nobody saw this coming," direct them to the above videos. And if you would like to help save them from ruin as the economy gets worse, encourage them to read Schiff's book Crash Proof. If you want to find a way to protect your savings from theft by inflation and the sticky fingers of the federal government, you might also want to look into Euro Pacific Capital.

There is still time to protect yourself and your families from the collapse of the dollar that is becoming more and more inevitable as Capitol Hill does exactly the opposite of what guys like Peter Schiff, Lew Rockwell, Ron Paul, Tom Woods, and the Von Mises Institute have been saying is needed for many years.

Consider this hour an investment opportunity that won't cost you anything but your time.