The Nihil Rule

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...