The Nihil Rule

  "For the past few years, Immanuel Lutheran School piloted a Christ-centered social-emotional learning curriculum, but it has fallen short philosophically and theologically. The “Christ-centered” part was more of an add-on than a foundation. We needed something better for our students and families. There were many practical and psychological strategies that can help students and families healthily manage their time, talents, and treasures; however, to what end? The end was human flourishing through psychological means, not by Scripture alone. It is a secular curriculum, imbedded with Woke Marxism, that perpetuates an Anti-Christ agenda" God be praised! A reader of the blog, with permission, shared with me Immanuel Lutheran  School's plans to ditch "Christianized" SEL for a home-grown curriculum: "This curriculum will begin this year (2025-2026) with grades 3-8 with the plan that next year it will include all grades. There are five key units that follow th...

  A fantastic presentation by Rev. Karl Hess and the Bugenhagen conference. Pastor Hess  compares our current existence as a Lutheran church in a modern, enlightened, socially liberal society to that of the Lutheran church under the Augsburg Interim. Thank God for pastors who can speak clearly on these issues and let us pray for / encourage those who have succumbed to the interim.

As reported by a convention attendee... Convention Whitepill: An attendee of the convention reported that St Mark's in Watertown WI, announced that the school will be transitioning to a classical school, is apparently not taking vouchers , and the enrollment page lists options for "St Mark's Members" and Non-Member (WELS)". The explanation was that they believed that Lutheran education is primarily for raising Lutherans, and if outsiders valued their education they would need to go through membership classes in order to attend. Very Wauwatosa of them! I was able to confirm that every Sunday  church attendance  is part of their covenant: "St. Mark’s new campaign is titled Forward— Together in Christ, Forward in Faith. When we enroll our children at St. Mark’s school, we are creating a school-family partnership in Jesus. The clearest way we show this is gathering for worship every week to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we wrap up this school year...

Joshua Nelson - Reflections on the Convention Additional commentary to follow in the coming week...

  altarandhearth.com " My goal is to reprint a selection of wonderful articles, poems, and more from old Lutheran church magazines and other sources that are now in the public domain but are still locked away in PDF scans, and make them more readily available today on a nice website with topical tagging and the ability to browse by source, author, or year. The focus will especially be on Christian life, family, vocation, and courtship and marriage. The Lutheran church and the Synodical Conference of a century ago was gifted with many faithful pastors, men like Carl Manthey-Zorn, Hans Manthey Zorn, Walter A. Maier, and many others, who spoke with boldness and faithfulness as they saw the sins and dangers facing America and the Church, and their voices are still needed just as much today if not more so. God grant that the church today might learn from their bold witness and still speak with the same faithfulness to the pure teachings of Holy Scripture, no matter what the culture aro...

A guest post... you, too, can submit a guest post to layman@nihilrule.com Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and WELS Teaching Standards   Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has made a wide beachhead in the WELS, from high school (e.g. Wisconsin Lutheran High School delivers it “at each grade level”) to elementary schools, and even in Early Childhood Education . What is driving this campaign, in a documentary sense? What rule or mission statement has set the WELS on a seemingly-inevitable journey into SEL? The answer appears to be WELS Teaching Standard Two:     In particular, Standard Two states, "The teacher understands how students learn and develop and provides instruction that supports their spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional growth." This would strongly imply that WELS schools must provide “instruction that supports [students’] … social, and emotional growth” as a matter of conformity to the Teaching Standard. From this perspective, the...

  in which I try the video blogger thing

Empathy has an interesting history , first appearing in 1908 as the German word Einfühlung , literally "in-feeling" and described the concept of projecting ones own imagined feelings and movements into objects, a concept which has since expanded to include "the emotional understanding of others’ feelings, sometimes describes a cognitive grasp of another’s thinking processes and at other times means acting in a caring manner to others." Because of the multifaceted use of this word "scientific studies of empathy now specify at the outset the type of empathy under examination." The original meaning is referred to as the aesthetic meaning and I think it has some great explanatory power. Perhaps as you read the word "in-feeling" you thought of  incurvatus in se , this idea originally from Augustine and expanded on by Luther, of man being curved in on himself. We become so focused on ourselves we don't just look in on ourselves but we project ours...

Walk Humbly with God  (youtube) ( auto-generated transcript )- "Juneteenth celebration weekend" Today we'll take a brief respite from Pride Month and discuss a sermon preached by Pastor James Hein, lead pastor at St Marcus , in Milwaukee, WI. This sermon was preached on June 15, the weekend before Juneteenth, which on the liturgical church calendar is reserved for Holy Trinity Sunday. Hold that thought...  The basis for this sermon is Micah 6:6-8     6 With what am I to appear before the LORD?      How should I bow down to God on high?      Should I appear before him with burnt offerings,      with one-year-old calves?      7 Will the LORD be delighted with thousands of rams,      with tens of thousands of streams of oil?      Should I give my firstborn for my rebellion,      the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?      8 He has told you, ma...

  From the BORAM , page 62: bullet point 4 of the 20-point WELS long-range strategic plan. "4. Encourage cross-bearing discipleship The call to serve as Christ’s ambassadors is a high privilege, but it is not an easy path. Jesus himself warned that following him demands self-denial and cross bearing—sacrifices that challenge our natural inclination to seek comfort and security  over the costly demands of the gospel. It is tempting to embrace a discipleship that avoids risk , staying within familiar routines rather than risking discomfort for the gospel . Yet the ministry of reconciliation requires believers who are willing to embrace the challenges and hardships inherent in this calling, reflecting the same love that led Christ to the cross. Our goal is to help congregations shape a culture of cross-bearing discipleship, where members are moved beyond their comfort zones , not out of obligation but out of a Spirit-fueled passion for Christ’s mission. Through encourage...

If you recall, last fall the WELS released a Bible study called "An Honest Conversation about Sexuality" focusing on LGBTQ+ topics. Video three used the conversation of the woman at the well in John 4 as an example where the specious claim that Jesus "heard her story", "wins her over with love", "gives her the Gospel" and "then points out her need." If you recall, I then walked through the story of the woman at the well and showed how this absolutely was not the case. In fact, it violates the Lutheran understanding of the law and gospel. https://www.nihilrule.com/2024/08/woke-in-wels-honest-conversation-about_01418767192.html Let's consider a superior exegete, Paul Kretzmann, from his "Popular Commentary of the Bible": A disconcerting request :  V. 16. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. V. 17. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husba...

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1051189103110684%2F "The blood of Christ is not going to be an ally to the sin it crushes on the cross!"

  ... I hesitated to post this because I know the winsome police will clutch pearls; but let me explain. Certainly, there's no false doctrine in  what was written . The quote is the theme for the WELS Foundations Sermon Series  for this week, the seventh Sunday of Easter, eyeing up the celebration of Pentecost on the following Sunday, following our liturgical calendar. Certainly, we do not follow the liturgical calendar of the world. But as Christ chided the Pharisees who did not know the sign of the times, we also need to be able to recognize the sign of our times. The graphic absent any context - "Christ creates unity within diversity, the Church's unity is built on truths that transcend those differences" - are words that could be spoken from any rainbow-flag-waving ELCA pulpit on the opening day of Pride Month. To the casual Facebook reader, who  spends about 1.7 seconds on a post while doomscrolling on their mobile device, this fits into the bevy of advertiseme...

  Tuberville, Cruz Introduce Resolution to Officially Name June “Life Month” » Coach Tommy Tuberville ... WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and 25 senate colleagues in introducing a resolution declaring June as “Life Month” to recognize the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022. “Ever since I got to Washington, I have been a champion for the unborn,” said Senator Tuberville. “If we are going to dedicate entire months to recognizing every group under the sun, the least we can do is dedicate June to protecting the most vulnerable among us. Now that Republicans control the White House, Senate, and House, we have to send a strong message: Republicans are the party that stands up for life.” Joining Senators Tuberville and Cruz in introducing the resolution are U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ted Budd (R-NC), Pete ...

  Pride month is upon us, and it is a doctrine of demons. Many of us will not hear anything of it from our pulpits this month. Some might get vague references curbed by the caveats that "all sins are equal" and "look at the plank in your own eye before the spec in theirs." Very few will have a Pastor willing to speak against these sins as being distinctively evil and damaging to both body and soul.  This month I intend to be being laser-focused on the cultural sins of our age. To start - let us make it abundantly clear that pride month is a doctrine of demons. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9 calls out both the "active" and "passive" participants in homosexual relationships, using the sexual slang of his day. A chapter earlier he tells the Corinthian congregation to "deliver over to Satan" a man in the congregation who was having sex with his stepmother. Such sexual relations were considered unnatural even by the Romans: you didn't have to...