America, Build with the Bible!

 

So for us today, in Scripture our Heavenly Father Himself speaks to us directly, personally, infallibly. His Word pulls down all pride and pretense to show that no matter how good you may think you are, how outwardly respectable your life may appear, without Jesus, you are lost in your sin.

In the Scriptures we find the most magnificent love the world will ever witness is that marvel of mercy whereby Jesus became the Savior and Substitute for sinful mankind. There on Calvary, and the cross of curse and shame, He paid the penalty for our sins, suffering punishment for our iniquities. There He shed His blood to cleanse us and then He died to give us life. Three days later He rose again to assure us of our own future resurrection, ascending to the Father to guarantee us the glories of heaven.

In and through the risen Redeemer, God's precious Volume gives you peace for your soul. In God's saving, comforting Word, by the Holy Spirit's power, you can find strength to conquer evil habits, reform your life, and return to your Heavenly Father. Between the covers of Scripture you'll discover God's truth, the divine lamp unto your feet, His guidance for every problem, and the Holy Spirit's regenerating force to make you a new creature in Christ.

May every one of you take time to pause and hear the Savior's special appeal to you: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28). May the Holy Spirit fill your hearts with the love of Jesus, who first loved you. With your whole being may you revere and lift up God's sacred Word, taking it wholly and wholeheartedly, and receive Christ Jesus as your Lord.

From “America, Build with the Bible!” a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. Walter A. Maier, the first Speaker of The Lutheran Hour

Saint Francis of Assisi's warning to rulers

Image: Frater Franciscus, anonymous fresco, before 1228

We have from Francis one other letter written in 1220, an appeal to the very rulers to whom his friars were to preach repentance and devotion to the Eucharist. Addressed “to the podestas, consuls, and other rulers” of cities, the letter is short and stern, a reminder of death and judgement:

Reflect and see that the day of death is approaching. With all possible respect, therefore, I beg you not to forget the Lord because of the world’s cares and preoccupations and not to turn away from his commandments, for those who leave him in oblivion and turn away from his commandments are cursed and will be left in oblivion by him. When the day of death does come, everything they have will be taken from them. The wiser and more powerful they were in the world, the greater will be the punishment they will endure in Hell.

He then turned to his favorite topic in this period, the Eucharist, writing that “therefore” they should receive communion with fervor and foster honor to the Lord among those they rule. “If you do not do this, know that, on the day of judgement, you must render an account before the Lord your God, Jesus Christ.”

Augustine Thompson, Francis of Assisi: A New Biography (pp. 84-5)

God’s goodness and the permission of evil

God’s permission of evil in the things governed by Him is not inconsistent with the divine goodness. For, in the first place, the function of providence is not to destroy but to save the nature of the beings governed. The perfection of the universe requires the existence of some beings that are not subject to evil, and of other beings that can suffer the defect of evil in keeping with their nature. If evil were completely eliminated from things, they would not be governed by divine providence in accord with their nature; and this would be a greater defect than the particular defects eradicated.

Secondly, the good of one cannot be realized without the suffering of evil by another. For instance, we find that the generation of one being does not take place without the corruption of another being, and that the nourishment of a lion is impossible without the destruction of some other animal, and that the patient endurance of the just involves persecution by the unjust. If evil were completely excluded from things, much good would be rendered impossible. Consequently it is the concern of divine providence, not to safeguard all beings from evil, but to see to it that the evil which arises is ordained to some good.

Thirdly, good is rendered more estimable when compared with particular evils. For example, the brilliance of white is brought out more clearly when set off by the dinginess of black. And so, by permitting the existence of evil in the world, the divine goodness is more emphatically asserted in the good, just as is the divine wisdom when it forces evil to promote good.

Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology (Chapter 142)