First Cartoon

An American Supreme Court justice died.  His name was Scalia.

I had never heard of him, before.  My ignorance is profound, sometimes.

Judging by Facebook posts about the kinds of things he said, how he said them and the principles he stood for, he seems to be a man worthy of admiration and approval.  You can google it for yourself.

But, on the other hand, the BBC simply reports how sarcastic he often was. Then there also was a report listing all the mean-spirited tweets and responses from very famous people in arts and entertainment and where ever, who were imagining him in hell having various conversations with the devil.  

Now, that is that something that strikes you as strange:  the very people who do not wish to abide by, honor, or even discuss, conservative ideas such as marriage, prohibition of abortion, upholding of constitutional rights, and so on, who would not care for the teaching of the Bible, the law or the gospel, now, in their fertile imagination wish him to be in hell.  They even feel free to say so, practically on the day of his demise.  With glee, their rub their hands saying one more for the hell fire.

What is says to me, is that they feel that they have been condemned to hell by those who profess conservative ideas.  What they should realize that the religious conservatives are on a mission to save them, in God's name, not to condemn them:  as Jesus said, I have come to save not to judge. 

In honor of this man Scalia, of whom I had not heard and because of my sadness to the responses to his passing from some quarters, I drew my first ever cartoon, for the blog and the internet.  I did not spend enough time on it, and it is not pretty.  (From here, they can only get better, if I make any more.)

I hope I see him in heaven.  Rest in peace.  

The Devil is closer than our shirt.

"The Devil is closer than our shirt"

A Christian should know that he is sitting among devils and that he devil is closer to him than his coat or shirt, nay, closer than his own skin.  He should know that the devil is about us everywhere;  he and we are constantly in one another's hair, and we must fight with him, testifies the proverb:  It is not necessary to draw a picture over the door.--The first thing, then, is to hold firmly that the devil exists and that he is much closer to us than the shirt on our body.

From Scripture it is clear that the devil sends evil thoughts into the heart of a man and holds minds captive.  Of Judas it is said:  "Satan entered into him"  (John 13:27).  And he not only knew the thoughts of Cain but also suggested to him that he murder his brother.  However, he does not know all the thoughts of the pious until they come out into the open.  For Christ is too strong for him.  As he does not know what is in the heart of Christ, so he cannot penetrate into the souls of the pious, where Christ dwells.  But he is a powerful spirit, whom Christ even calls the prince of this world.  He shoots terrible thoughts into the heart:  hatred of God, blasphemy, and despair.  These are his "fiery darts."  St. Paul realized to some extent what these darts are when he felt the thorn in his flesh.

(What Luther says.  Anthology.  "Devil". )



"Jesus, hilf siegen. wenn in mir die Suende,
Eigenlieb, Hoffart und Missgunst sich regt,
Wenn ich die Last der Begierden empfinde
und sich mein tiefes Verderben darlegt:
hilf mir, dass ich vor mir selbst mag erroeten
und durch dein Leiden
mein suendlich Fleisch toeten."

(Johann Heinrich Schroeder)

In English:

"Jesus, give victory, when I am attacked by sin,
love of self, pride and jealousy,
when I feel the load of desires,
and my deep depravity becomes revealed to myself:
help, that I may blush to myself,
and that I may mortify the flesh,
through Your suffering."

Superb commentary by Cosh on United Church Minister

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/colby-cosh-the-heretical-minister-to-help-her-flock-evolve-out-of-the-need-for-church

What chills me is his referring to Satanist literature.  My husband read this article out loud to me over breakfast.  When it began with something about atheism, I said to him, this is not atheism, this is Gnosticism, and so since Gnosticism elevates Satan, I am not surprised to have the atheist critique finishing with a comment on Satanism.  Still it is interesting.