The Nihil Rule

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...

"Greater love hath no one than this, that he would lay down His life for his friend" - John 15:13 But the second greatest love is the one a grandma has for her grandson - who left a specific directive in her funeral plans to have an alternative to the traditional ham sandwich "because my grandson Philip doesn't like ham" Love you, Grandma.

https://www.stpaulhw.com/blog/sanctuary-screens This is really good.  A WELS church is backing away from using screens in worship, and for all the right reasons. I was tempted to read and react or highlight a few key points, but the whole thing is gold. Read it!

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/parishes-preparing-their-people-for-what-exactly "[S]erious talk about serious topics would work against Fr. Cheerful’s commitment to forming “a welcoming community”; trying to prepare people for martyrdom would fail to “meet people where they’re at.” (Does Fr. Cheerful see that as a—or the—sin against the Holy Spirit, i.e., the unforgivable sin?) Worst of all, such grim talk might generate complaints—and in Fr. Cheerful’s book, generating complaints certainly constitutes a sin against the Holy Spirit..."

Lord keep us in thy word and work Restrain the murd'rous pope and turk Who fain would tear from off Thy throne Christ Jesus Thy beloved Son Destroy their counsels, Lord our God And smite them with an iron rod And let them fall into the snare Which for your Christian they prepare So then at last they may perceive That Lord our God, thou still dost live And dost deliver mightily All those who put their trust in Thee

The Lutheran History Podcast On a recent episode of The Lutheran History Project, host Pastor Benjamin Phelps interviews Pastor Joel Otto about changes in worship over the 175 years of the WELS' existence. At the 32-minute mark, the question is posed "Why a new hymnal" and Otto responds "Yeah, I think maybe two things were driving it. There has been an increase in hymn writing which has occurred from the late twentieth century into the first decade of the twenty-first, both by Lutheran sources but also the broader Christian world, and a recognition of trying to produce music that has got a more modern feel but also congregational, congregational singing in nature, I'm thinking of the Keith Getty hymns, Stuart Townsend and those hymns... but also the recognition that not every WELS congregation anymore is just leading worship with an organ... and online resources..." 

( ~1h15m timestamp ) The Sign of Jonah is more than resurrection. ... I mean, we're going to go into deep weeds here if you let me, you know, this is, I'm not filibustering like President Putin did, but, right, you look at the book Jonah in particular: he flees not because he's afraid of the Assyrians, right? Like that's what people think, is like he's scared to go there? No. Like you read the end of the Book of Jonah, and he's arguing with God at the end, and He's saying, I knew that you would show mercy on these people, right? I knew you would the mercy, that's why I didn't want to go, right. He was out with God, like trick God into not being gracious to these Gentiles, because he knows in the law, right, in Deuteronomy, right, one of the signs that Israel is about to be cursed is that he is going to call nations, the Gentiles, nations that do not know him to himself. He's going to go to the Gentiles and away from Israel. And that means judgmen...

  (camera angle was too narrow to capture the hand motions, we'll get it right next time!) Good afternoon.\! This is Philip Hahn. I am the layman behind the Nihil Rule blog. It is nice to meet you face to face. So, those of you that have been following me for a while will remember that last summer we did a blog post on a video by WELS Southerner , who has been quiet recently, my friend. You should speak up more. But at the end of that blog post, I mentioned that if I ever got doxed, I was totally going to go to the comfy chair and talk to the camera mode. So, here's my first stab at it. I want to give you a bit of update on what's going on with the blog now and in the near future. Um so as I mentioned a month ago, I have a Substack with my own name on it. It's at The Other Dr. Phil . And over there I will be focusing more on the synthesis of things. Combining ideas, evaluating external ideas to the wells and trying to kind of build using the mind of Christ, build up a C...

( ~1h10m timestamp ): Christ, the true Israel, lives the history of Israel ... [the Gospel of] Matthew in particular is so cool to me because like you read it and the way it's organized is Jesus is recapitulating the entire history of Israel, right? So, right in the very beginning, he goes out into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, right, just like Israel's in the wilderness for 40 years is tempted by Satan. He comes, right after he is baptized in the Jordan, is like [Israel] crossing the Red Sea, goes into the wilderness, then after that, right he is, he's preaching a sermon on a mountain, expounding the law, which is Moses on Sinai, right? And after this, he is telling parables of the kingdom, like he's David, or like he's Solomon, writing Proverbs, writing Psalms. And then begins all of these excoriations of the high priesthood and the Pharisees and all the leaders of Israel, well, what's that like? It's like the prophets, right? So, he's reli...

Pastor Andrew Isker - author of The Boniface Option , co-host of the Contra Mundum podcast - was interviewed by Tucker Carlson about a month ago (I'm fashionably late, as always - had three weeks of leading a test campaign in Buffalo at a facility that runs 24/7) which had a number of relevant insights. Let's start with the disconnect between the clergy and the laity, which I believe find application in our little Wisconsin synod. First, we have a description ( ~23m timestamp ) of figures like Tim Keller and the idea of "whispered/shouted sins": ... Isker: "And you had figures like Rick Warren or Tim Keller who sort of adapted these things. So Tim Keller is in New York City and he tries to adapt Christianity to your upper middle class, striver people in New York City, or to make it easy for them to come to church. So, he wouldn't ever talk about homosexuality or if he did, it would be, well, that's not so good for human flourishing, but we're not re...

"In other words, people do not like to offend anybody . They flatter and speak to gain favor, money, prospects, or friendship [Proverbs 26:28]. As a result, a poor man and his cause must be oppressed, denounced as wrong, and suffer punishment. It is a common disaster in the world that in courts of justice godly men seldom preside. To be a judge required above all things a godly man, and not only a godly man, but aslo a wise, modest, indeed, a brave and bold man. Likewise, to be a witness requires a fearlessness and especially godly man. For a person who is to judge all matters rightly and carry them through with his decision will often offend good friends, relatives, neighbors, and the rich and powerful, who may greatly serve or inure him." - Luther's explanation of the 8th commandment in his Large Catechism

  (Text from AnglicansOnline.org ) Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward; If any have come after the third hour, let him with gratitude join in the Feast! And he that arrived after the sixth hour, let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss. And if any delayed until the ninth hour, let him not hesitate; but let him come too. And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay. For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first. To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows. He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor. The deed He h...

( source )   If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.   If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a sol...

Pastor Johann Cauuwe has done us a great service by putting Dr. Siegbert Becker's Revelation lecture series online . This lecture series took place in the early 1980's, and he authored the book Revelation: The Distant Triumph Song , Dr. Becker wrote a paper on the book of Revelation which, on the very last page, lays out his seven-fold division of the book he describes in his lectures, including the seven visions which he noted can be difficult to discern in modern translations. During Lecture 2 around the 28-minute mark, while discussing the letter to the book of Ephesus in Revelation 2, Dr. Becker muses on the breakup of the synodical conference, saying that the WELS rightly left the synodical conference and that some pastors had to make the difficult decision to move from Missouri to Wisconsin. "But I wonder whether the Lord wouldn't also say about the Wisconsin synod, 'thou hast left thy first love' Are we as earnest and devoted to the Gospel as we aught t...

  LCMS President Matthew Harrison was the keynote speaker at the Southern District LCMS convention . The comments above occurred at roughly the one hour and forty-three minute mark, discussing relations with the WELS. Two big takeaways from this brief clip: 1. "The LCMS is never going to give up women's suffrage, nor should we": LCMS, Inc. has bought into the lies of the feminist movement. LCMS, Inc. is apostate. That doesn't mean there aren't individual LCMS churches that have better practices on the books or wish to operate in a more faithful manner - but the managerial overlords have spoken. 2. "They [WELS] are trying to find ways in which forms of government don't require much voting or any voting at all... structures that give women clear input." President Harrison is referring to consensus governance models which reduce the male-lead council and elders to a bare skeleton and instead form Ministry Action Teams and reduce or eliminate congregati...

  MLC's  InFocus Magazine , page 22 (and 10) ... Life imitates parody: check out  Ｐｈｉｌｉｐ　Ｄｅｒｒｉｄａ 's "Gospeling in the Current Year" artwork on X, including:

... a guest post... you, too, can submit a guest post to layman@nihilrule.com ... I just read your "Merge for Mission" article, a week after watching the WELS Connection for February 2025, which featured the WELS 100 in 10 initiative ( https://wels100in10.net/ ). I told my wife at the time that it seemed odd to me that they would take young guys right out of the seminary to do these church plants. Why not look at guys who have already been in a parish for a few years and gotten some measure of experience under their belts on the day-to-day stuff, rather than throwing a raw seminary graduate into both trying to pick up that experience and simultaneously undertake the mission thing? Is it because they think inexperienced men will be more pliable with regard to perceived mission needs? Is it because they think there will be fewer consequences for men who don't yet have families -- or that such a perception will make family men proportionately less likely to take such calls u...