~ a brief history of the ILC

~ list of ILC churches

(each congregation has its own section under this heading)

~ list of ILC pastors

~ 2 years worth of online ILC Journal issues

~ list of free publications offered by the ILC

~ information about the Lutheran Reformation Hour

~ a "feedback" link for comments and/or suggestions.

This year, we have added a 9th heading - a DAILY MEDITATIONS directory so that everyone on the internet may enjoy short orthodox devotions each day right from our website.

By the Lord's continued grace, we plan to keep His True Word on the Web and, if He enables us, we are planning to add more information and more features to the site as occasion provides.

Please include the ILC site in your prayers : that God would use it to His glory; that it will reach many, many lost and erring souls with the Truth of His holy, inspired, and preserved Word; that many may become strong in the one saving faith, in Jesus Christ our Lord, the only Saviour of the world.

In Christ's service,

Dave - ILC Secretary

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"...blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

(Luke 11:28)

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How blest are they who hear God's Word

And keep and heed what they have heard!

They wisdom daily gather;

Their light shines brighter day by day,

And while they tread life's weary way,

They have the oil of gladness

To soothe their pain and sadness.

TLH #48, v.1

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"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."

(Psalm 12:6)

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God's Word a treasure is to me,

Thro' sorrow's night my sun shall be,

The shield of faith in battle.

The Father's hand hath written there

My title as His child and heir,

"The kingdom's thine forever."

That promise faileth never.

TLH #48, v.2

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"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

(Isaiah 40:8)

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(from Luther: on God's Word by The Lutheran Reformation Hour)

That one should diligently read the text of the Bible and stick to it as to the only true foundation.

There was at Dr. Martin Luther's house the son of a well-known doctor who was an honorable, modest and industrious student, one who did not hanker after big things or run around with his head in the clouds. He was content to be found among the lowly and was satisfied to hold fast to the first and basic principles of his "Institutionibus Juris" (concerning the Rudiments of the Law). This he studied eagerly. One day, as Luther's table companions were highly commending him to the Doctor, Dr. Martin said: Without doubt he's doing this because of his father's advice and command. For whoever has laid firm ground work and is well-versed in the text has something solid and basic on which to stand and will not easily be misled into error.

This very thing is also of utmost importance to a theologian. I have managed to silence and defeat all my opponents on the basis of texts drawn from Holy Scripture. Our adversaries ply the Scriptures in a sleepy headed way, teach and write whatever comes out of their head and agrees with reason and they imagine it's the easiest thing in the world to handle Scripture. Just as the Pharisees thought they could soon accomplish what the Lord Christ said to them in Luke 10:28, "Do this and thou shalt live".

The fluttering spirits and fanatics understand nothing in the Scripture but wander around in error following the wavering, fickle and doubt-filled books they've invented.

To be sure, he who is well grounded in the text is a true and proper preacher. And the soundest Christian advice I can give is that a person draw water directly out of the well and fountain, that is, read the Bible diligently. For whoever is anchored and skillful in the text is bound to be a fine, first-rate theologian since one passage or text from the Bible is worth more than many comments and glosses which generally are weak and half-baked and don't wear well either.

Let's say I have the passage of St. Paul in I Timothy 4:4 before me which says:

"For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving."

This text tells us that whatever God has created is good. So it follows that eating, drinking, marrying etc., are good since they are God's Creation. The glosses are opposed to this, however, for Sts. Bernard, Basil, Dominic, Jerome and other beloved fathers and teachers have taught and done far differently. But the text takes precedence over every gloss and commentary. Yet, under the papacy the blessed fathers and their glosses were held in higher repute than clear passages from the Bible. Because of this the Bible has suffered great abuse for a long time and even the blessed fathers such as Ambrose, Basil and Gregory often enough wrote coldly concerning it.

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CHILDREN ARE THEIR OPPRESSORS

(a timely reprint from May/June 1995 ILC Journal issue)

Forcing itself upon the national consciousness is the heinous crime of parricide -- the murder of one's parents. And, sad to say, the civil law seems absolutely powerless to obtain justice for those who have died in their own blood at the hand of their bloody, murderous children. Throughout the land "...judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." (Isaiah 59:14).

The little boy who was dropped to his death from a high-rise in Chicago by teenage children for not stealing proves dramatically the truth of the following words:

"Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey:" (Isaiah 59:15).

Now, beloved fellow Christians, you will notice that all these God-inspired passages are written by Isaiah the prophet. This lack of "natural affection" is summed up best -- and certainly is descriptive of our day -- in Isaiah 3:12:

"As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths."

The words in the above passage for us Christians particularly to note are "My people", "O My people". This tragic reversal of all order, stations and relationships among men with children over parents, women over men, was taking place not in Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Egypt, Greece, or Rome but among "My (God's) people". And the grief of the Holy Spirit, manifested through the heart of His loyal and faithful prophet, Isaiah, tugs at the heart of everyone who still has a heart for the truth as the Lord cries out "O My people."

It is this cry of grief from the Holy Spirit at the wholesale sell-out of ancient Israel to the godless of the age that signals that divine punishment cannot be far away. What has this to do with us, someone might ask?

Well, the Church, the believers in Christ Jesus, are called God's "people" down through the New Testament times to this very day. And even as such perversion of God's Ten Commandments was rampant in Israel, God's own people, even so among many Christians today there is very little difference in their manner of life from the godless around them.

For the first time in 1900 years of church history women are preachers and rulers in so called "Christian" churches. Many doctrines of God's Word are watered down today to appease the contempt and scorn of the younger generation, children, who have assumed a god-like status among many even in the "church."

Truly it is a time to "watch and pray" for the Lord's silence is deafening. The Lord is silent when He finally closes the Book, the Bible, in disgust and leaves men, yes, even churches desolate of God's pure Word, sound doctrine, and divine admonition and comfort. It could bring us to the point of crying out: "Lord, save us, we perish." Come to think of it, these perverse times not only bring us to the point of crying out, but actually to crying out right now loudly and insistently: "Lord, save us, we perish."

May the Lord Jesus, the Son of the living God, strengthen this little faith of ours by assuring us again and again through His dear Word and Sacraments that "I have saved you, you shall not perish." This perverted world, yes, the very gates of hell shall not prevail against this Gospel, of this we can be sure.

r.w.s.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

(Romans 12:2)

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What's Wrong With Gambling?

(reprinted from Sept/Oct 1994 ILC Journal)

Gambling goes against the Seventh Commandment.

It is a form of robbery that appears to be right in the eyes of the world and in the reason of man. After Adam sinned against God's Law, God cursed the ground that yielded and gave to man generously of its gifts, saying in Genesis 3:17:

"...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;"

and Genesis 3:19:

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;"

We are, then, to work in order to have the needs for sustaining ourselves and our family. God forbids every kind of robbery, theft, and fraud, as well as sinful longing for anything that belongs to our neighbor. That is where it starts, our desire to have and to take that which is our neighbor's. Luther writes concerning the Seventh Commandment; "What does this mean? - We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or goods, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business." Ask yourself this question: Are you fulfilling this law of God or is it just the opposite? When we seek to get something for nothing or by chance it is tempting God and trusting in uncertain things for we do not know the outcome of such an adventure. God says, James 4:13-15:

"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. ... For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."

It is GREED and OUR LUST that motivate our hearts for our self gain and our self good rather than that of our neighbor's. We violate the commandment of love to our neighbor and fulfill the selfishness of our heart when we seek to get something by not working with our hands the thing that is good to have for our family and to give to the poor.

God says in Ephesians 4:28:

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."

How can we with a right conscience before our Holy God justify ourselves when we are seeking to get someone else's money from him and not helping him to improve and keep that which is his? It is our love for money and the things that we can purchase and the things that we can do or think we do if only we have a lot of money.

But God says concerning this [in] 1 Timothy 6:10:

"For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil:" [emphasis added - r.r.f.]

Also, 1 Timothy 6:9:

"... they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." [emphasis added - r.r.f.]

Paul E. Kretzmann in Commentary says:

Note that [the Apostle] Paul does not condemn riches in themselves, not the fact that a person is rich, his having received an unusual amount of God's blessings, although it remains true that such people are exposed to very great temptations. He is speaking of such as make it their object and goal to be rich at all costs, that have no other interest in the world than to heap up riches to themselves. People of this kind deliberately court temptation and therefore find little difficulty in finding it, in fact, they readily fall into temptation, they find cause and inspiration for many sins, they find many sins beckoning them on to which they, in their former less prosperous state, never gave a second thought. Following the lure of riches, they fall into the snares of sins, of intemperance, of dissipation, of voluptuousness, and many other vices. Every new day provides further food for the lust of their heart and eyes; with ever greater eagerness they strive after the flimsy hollowness of this world's gifts. Foolish the apostle calls these desires, since they take away all decent reasoning, all moral common sense, causing people to be drowned, to be dragged down into ruin and destruction, into moral and spiritual bankruptcy. So immeasurably deep is this perdition that it includes bodily ruin as well as intellectual, spiritual, and eternal condemnation. At present all the nations of the world seem to have been caught up in the vortex of a wild whirlpool, as the mania for amusements and luxuries indicates all too plainly.

In conclusion, the apostle characterizes this insane desire for money: For a root of all evils is the eagerness for money, which some coveting after have erred from the faith and have transfixed themselves with many sorrows. So dangerous is avarice, the love of money, the desire for riches, that St. Paul expressly says there is no evil in the world which cannot grow and receive its nourishment from this terrible vice. Every sin in the Decalogue may directly or indirectly be traced back to avarice. Those are the fruits which a person harvests if he permits this root to obtain a firm hold in his heart. From his experience of many years, gained in many countries, the apostle is able to add that such people as did covet after money, as did desire it with all the eagerness of their foolish mind, lost the spiritual life given them by faith with this gift itself. They have gone aside, they have erred from the right way. They may not have felt the danger of the situation at first, but the more their love for money grew, the more their love for their neighbor, for Christ, was stifled. They made Mammon their god, and that made them unhappy. They are plagued with many sorrows and restless thoughts, not only thoughts of remorse, but also internal torments of various kinds: worry for the future, apprehension for the safety of all the money and goods that they have accumulated, fear on the account of the uncertainty of investments. Thus Paul characterizes the foolishness, the sinfulness, the damnableness of the love of money. All the more should Christians be found willing to heed his warning to flee the vice of covetousness. From Kretzmann Vol. II (N.T.), page 394-395 C.P.H. (emphasis added)

So everyone should resist the beginnings. As with drunkenness, Proverbs 23:31-32:

"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder,"

- so it is with the lust of avarice. We are to fight the first impulse of temptation before we come under its power and then suffer the bitter consequences when we are snared by it. Also it can be thought of as with the magnetic pull of a magnet on iron filings, at first the attraction is very slight, hardly even noticeable, then it becomes stronger and stronger until they are snared and caught in its power and held fast until a power greater than that which holds them bound sets them free. We are to resist the temptation of covetousness as did the Prophet Elisha when he resisted the temptation of taking gifts for healing Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy, but Gehazi the servant of Elisha lusted after the silver and fine garments that were offered to his master Elisha. The sin of covetousness overcame him and led him into a lie and he employed deception to get the things that his master refused even as a free gift. Sin's penalty was rewarded quickly for Elisha said the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and thy seed for ever. [2 Kings chapter 5] We might ask ourselves this question: What was wrong with receiving a gift? Our Lord teaches us that there is a time and a way to receive even a gift, for if Elisha were to accept these gifts, others that heard of it would say that one can buy the grace of God. This is the way that even the thought of gambling or taking from our neighbor anything that is his and not ours is reprehensible. As God's people, we should be on our good behavior before the world that men might see our good works and thank their Father which is in heaven.

God says in Exodus 23:4:

"If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again."

We should not even take from our enemy by chance any thing that is his, but return to him what is his for God says thou shalt bring it back to him again. If God so tells how we must treat our enemy then it is even more important that we know, do, and show our love to our friends or strangers. It is abundantly clear from God's Word that we are not to take uncertain chances or to trust in the possible gain or loss of the things that God has given unto us for our use, nor are we to tempt Him by showing our lack of love to Him, our good and gracious Lord, and our lack of [love] for our neighbor as well. We are to do just the opposite of gambling - we are to be good Stewards of His. Luke 12:42-43 says:

"And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing."

How can we then waste those precious gifts that the Lord has given to us as stewards and fail to use them according to the law of love to our neighbor, for they are entrusted to us as servants of the Lord.

Also, from a translation of writings by LUTHER on this subject:

It is clear that gamblers gamble in order to win and thus sin by their lust and greed. Therefore they are thieves in the eyes of God and crave someone else's goods. For no one gambles with another in order to give him his money and goods as he might be inclined to do if gambling were not involved. Similarly, one does not gamble in order to lose or to seek someone else's advantage rather than his own. Therefore gambling is always against love and stems from sheer greed; for a gambler always seeks to win at his neighbor's expense or at least he never looks after his neighbor's welfare the way he does his own. Yet a gambler is never obliged to restore his ill-gotten gains for he is not really robbing his neighbor, because he is not taking his tainted gains against the will of the owner of these goods who gladly entered into a bet with him in the first place. For both of them wholeheartedly agreed to put their goods at risk. Therefore, whoever loses, loses his goods with his eyes wide open, that is, with his own full knowledge and will. For it is fitting and right that whoever loves to live dangerously perishes by it. It is obvious, then that they have been deceived by their gambling. That is why it is the most equitable punishment of all that they lose everything they own by their gambling. For it is, as it were, a rule and law of gambling that both parties, the one as well as the other, with great personal danger, pit their greed against their neighbor. It would also be fitting if the government were to step in and take their winnings from both of them and use them for the common good because by their gambling they are always acting contrary to the command of the Christian church. From: Geist Aus Luther's Schriften #8651 Darmstadt - translated by R.W. Shekner.

But thus it is even a greater evil when the government, whether it be of the state or city, promotes, sponsors, and endorses gambling with lotteries, bingo, or whatever it might be, and uses these evil devices under false pretenses, such as saying that the money is to be used for schooling and helping the poor, while most of it goes into special projects and not for the use originally intended. It is still wrong in the sight of God and therefore will not be blessed by Him. Jeremiah 22:13 says:

"Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong;"

Upon many states that have government sponsored gambling, God's wrath has been poured out by floods, tornado's, hurricane's, and earthquakes [and droughts] these last several years and yet the people refuse to wake up and repent. Their ill-gotten gain is taken by the Lord and yet they do not see what is happening. I can understand that the unbelievers do not understand this, but what is a mystery to me is that the people in the church do not even understand what God is doing, they say that it is just nature acting up or misbehaving.

So then let us pray to our gracious God that He will guide and keep us from doing all these things that are contrary to His will.

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

r.r.f.

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(from Luther: on God's Word by The Lutheran Reformation Hour)

The Bible is at the head of all skills and arts.

Let us, said Dr. Martin Luther, not only not lose the Bible but, in the fear of God and with much prayer, read and preach it energetically.

As long as the Bible remains and is expounded correctly everything will go well and succeed. For it is head and empress of all disciplines and arts.

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Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 ¶ The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

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The Proper order of Divine Worship

(A timely reprint from the Nov-Dec 1994 ILC Journal)

- Acts 2:42 -

"They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and Fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

If you will notice, in many churches of a confessional, orthodox persuasion the emphasis has been shifting from the insistence on pure doctrine in church worship to the manner of worship carried on by the people in the churches. This is not a healthy sign of Christian life. For example, many Lutherans have been upset, and rightly so, over glitzy new hymnbooks and guided "missals" put forth by avant-garde preachers each according to his own eclectic taste. These Christians see the change, know it is unsound and protest against it and that is fine. However, what about the changes in God's Word, the Bible? For almost thirty years [now forty] we have been warning Lutherans and others of the satanic changes imported by the higher textual critical scholars into their new bible translations -- and few have paid any attention at all. People are more excited over a change in the liturgy than over the polluting of God's Holy Word and sound doctrine. Now a hymnbook is a hymnbook, it is not the Holy Scripture. It is a fruit of Christian devotion and a response to God's grace. Similarly the liturgy, the hymnology, the traditions, the fellowship, the prayers, the chanting, etc., are also responses by Christians to God's grace. Now indeed this human response to God's grace is a part of worship, but it is the LESSER PART of worship by far. Pure doctrine drawn from God's Word and the hearing and learning of it is the absolute requirement of all true worship for without it all such things as singing, liturgy and other accouterments are mere babbling. The proper order is plainly shown us in Acts 2:42 above.

Let's look at the word "worship". Just what is worship? And before we can answer that properly we should ask WHO WORSHIPS WHOM? Does God worship man or does man worship God? Once that is settled (for even the devil per force must worship the Lord His God, Matthew 4:10) we can continue. Since it is obviously man who is to worship his God we ask then what is involved in this worship of man toward his God? Well, the worship of God, either the true God or a false god, is a spiritual exercise. That the worship of the true God is a spiritual exercise our Lord makes clear when He says to the Samaritan woman:

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
(John 4:24)

The worship of God therefore takes place in the heart, soul and spirit of a man otherwise how could such a clod of clay like ourselves ever come into the presence of the true God who is and remains a Spirit if it were not via our spirit or soul that He has given us? A dog cannot give God spiritual worship, "his reasonable service," since he has no spirit or soul in him. But now there is a problem: man's sin. Sin blinds all the children of men to the true God for when "The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." the answer was NO: "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:2-3).

Someone will say, but do not all men seek God? The answer is no, not really. For when they say they seek God they are seeking only their own advantage, honor and glory in that which they are pleased to call God --- whether it be the Buddha, Allah, Money, Sports, Pleasure, Jai-Alai or the Lottery where the liturgy chants: "may the odds be with you". The children of men can do nothing else - for man's heart, being bent on itself, is blind to the true God and therefore constantly constructs false gods to meet the needs of the day.

The Lord Jesus says: "worship God in spirit" indeed, but He adds "and in TRUTH". Unless a man knows the true God he cannot possibly worship the true God but only himself in the things he looks upon as "god", that is, in those things that make him happy in spirit or those things or persons that make him sad and miserable in spirit. Luther indeed brings out this matter very well in the first paragraph of his explanation of the First Commandment in the Large Catechism:

"What does it mean to have a god? Or what is God?

Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress so that to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him from the whole heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both god and an idol. If your faith and trust be right then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true god; for these two belong together, faith and god. That now, I say upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god."

Consequently, the most important thing for the worship of God is truth. And what is truth? The Savior says (John 17:17):

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

True worship of God then, involves two things: hearing the true doctrine drawn from Moses and the Prophets, Christ and His Disciples. Without this there can be no true faith for the Scripture alone reveals the true God to be the Triune God. When that true doctrine drawn from God's Word is in place in the heart (and it is in the heart alone through faith worked by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9) then comes the response of the believing child of God to that Word such as the liturgy, singing, fellowship, praises, etc. That is why Acts 2:42 is written the way it is. The Apostles' doctrine always comes first.

In Ecclesiates 5:1, the Preacher says:

"Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil."

Yes, indeed, keep your foot -- that is, watch your step when you come to worship your God in church. Let the first, prime and most important thing of your worship be: to keep your mouth shut and listen to God's Word with the ears of faith. That is by far the greatest part of Christian worship.

Then, after that, open your mouth and sing a hymn of praise to Him for His great salvation provided for you by the blood and merit of His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let this be the order of your service of worship and it will be ordered well.

r.w.s.

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"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
(2 Timothy 1:13)