Spiritual Warfare

My friend Lulu has a powerful post up about spiritual warfare.

She is right. We Lutherans often do not acknowledge the reality of spiritual warfare in our lives. We confess "the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh," but often what we see is "the world and our sinful flesh." Satan likes it that way. He doesn't care that we acknowledge his existence, as long as we are fooled by the lies that he tells. As a matter of fact, it often suits him just fine that we don't actually SEE him doing his work.

But he does work, terribly hard. And he loves to draw us away from the Word. It doesn't matter whether it is just introducing little ideas that create doubt or cause pride, or pander to our Old Adam's desire to just jump right into sin and wallow in it.

We like to enjoy mythological stories in our house. In fact, we are reading Homer's "The Odyssey" right now. We think those stories are just interesting stories...but Satan worked through those stories, he did magic that made those gods real to the people in Greece. He encouraged witchcraft, debauchery, and devotion to different gods. I'm sure people really saw nymphs and fawns and such....demons can do that, you know. Justin Martyr writes of the reality of demons behind the false gods, and the Early Church took the satanic influence behind them as a reality.

But for pagans today -- witches, animists, nature worshippers Satanists, and others of the occult . are in Satan's grasp...and Satan does not hide from them. He presents himself as an ally to their cause, lures them with a tiny bit of his power and holds on...sometimes feeling free to be cruel and torturing because he knows that he has them.

But Jesus has defeated Satan, and as much as Satan tries, Christ is victorious. But we need to not be scared of that, and we need to know that he is real, and the Church needs to be a place of comfort and power for those that are fleeing him. Because Satan will try to get them back, and he does. Her call for us to be aware of this, because there are more and more entering the occult constantly -- and there will be those who need Christ and His Church.

My Apologies to Most of You

I just went through and cleaned out my Bloglines. With my vacation, I had over 2000 posts to read, not to mention how I have been falling behind anyway. So if you mention you wrote about something and I look at you with glazed eyes, it isn't because I don't love you....it's because I just couldn't do it. I'm starting fresh.

Write away!

Brenda Chryst posted this one the role of pastors wife while I was on vacation. I think she makes some very valid points about how we reflect on our husbands, for better or worse, and is pretty blunt about what place the pastor's wife has in it. From my 12 years experience, she's right on.

Garden Thoughts

Since I got back from California, the garden has been keeping me busy. When I left, I was not sure anything but the squash was ever going to go ripe, but heat and rain did their magic, and my itty bitty tomato plants, sunflowers, beans, etc. are huge and burgeoning. Along with them, so are the weeds. I weeded the beds right before I left but they were a mess when I got back...correction ARE a mess.

I doubt that I'll come close to recouping the cost of the garden this year. We've had some lettuce, some squash, and will have some tomatoes and other things...but it has been a mild supplement to our diet, and not a huge one, even though its a big one.

But I have learned a ton. I've learned about how to do it next y

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ear, I've learned about heirloom seeds and their benefits over hybrids. I've learned even more about companion planting and that the powdery mildew that is killing my squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers (please God, not the watermelons!) and did so last year as well is caused by heat and humidity (and cucumber bugs that carry it from plant to plant), and that I need to start spraying neem oil or another antifungal BEFORE it starts.

I also think I am figuring out how to plan it all so that I can get it more productive next year...and hopefully how to do subsequent plantings until so we can eat certain things all through the season.

And I'm having fun. A ton of fun. That is definitely worth something.

What it Really Boils Down To

I'm in limbo....nothing else to say about it.

A few months ago, I started a blog over at Wordpress, and I kind of like it. I can occasionally post one of my hubby's sermons there if I want to, and I like the look -- its clean and crisp.

But I LIKE Blogger, too. I especially like my cat. He's a copyrighted Blogger skin, though, so he can't go with me, and I feel guilty for abandoning him. (I know...I used to have a hard time getting rid of stuffed animals, too. I was afraid I'd hurt their feelings).

So...what say you? I'm going to have you decide. The other blog is www.rebelliouspastorswife.wordpress.com I'd like to do a food one, too, since I keep getting further and further into the Nourishing Traditions/locovore type stuff. I can't decide whether that should be seperate or worked into one site. So just take the poll on the side please :)