Please allow me to share some of my favorite words with you along with what they mean to me. I an not trying to be exhaustive; my main purpose is to give you a foundation and whet your appetite. These are seed thoughts to incite you. I love you.

Ambition: Admired by the world, but only an excuse to rape this world and impose one's will upon it. The ambitious person flaunts his gifts and calling. All people are secretly ambitious-it is just that life has not made it easy or convenient for their ambition to be exposed.

Anger: Anger lives in the heart of a fool; see God in the circumstances of life and these same circumstances which once brought anger over you will then bring peace and a smile over you. Be angry with your kids once in awhile and be angry with today's damned preachers; otherwise, see God.

Anticipation: We move toward what we anticipate. If you live waiting for your "ship to come in" you will move toward the Ocean of Insanity. If you live anticipating Christ's coming, He will come very quickly for you.

Angels: They are around you—say hello once in awhile to them. You may even have met one in the very flesh.

Anxiety: This is what you deserve when you blaspheme God. Anxiety is a temper tantrum when you don't get your own way in life and is an excuse not to be useful.

Alcohol: I hate the damned stuff which so destroyed our family, but I drink a little of it for you, so you won't be afraid of it. Of course, the material is not damned, just those who misuse and abuse it.

Authority: You will never be wise and at peace until you see the finger and heart of God in those who are in authority over and around you. You fight authority and you fight God Himself.

Animals: Creatures of God here to serve us and which we should respect and be thankful for.

Boredom: This is part of our shared emptiness; fill some of it with meditation on the Word. Do not let it drive you to the poor house, to another lover, or to new and thrilling doctrines.

Baptism: The Gateway of Heaven. Remember your baptism often and the Promise the Father makes to you. If you drift away from the Father, return to His Promise to you in your baptism. This is true "rededication" for which you can take no credit for. A proper understanding of baptism is so very important. Here's why: we are selfish and make everything about us; but the righteousness of God comes to us completely outside of ourselves, just as Baptism is outside of us. We are completely unrighteous and must be taught to look beyond ourselves to He Who is completely righteous. Baptism begins this outward look and communion continues this most mysterious, outward, and spiritual look.

Blasphemy: You must believe you are, in fact, a habitual blasphemer of God until this fact turns into the feeling of needing forgiveness and then be fed by the Meal. Anytime you don't crave the Meal, you are living in blasphemy: that is, you think little of it. A blasphemer is one who thinks little of that which God thinks much.

Conversion: The act of God choosing you for His own purpose and according to His own counsels, then drawing you to Himself through the Spirit and the Word connected to water, wine, and bread.

Ceremonies: A fitting adornment for the Word and worthy things, but becomes an end in themselves. A twenty-one gun salute is impressive but blinds people to the reason for the gathering—the soldiers due honor for being blown to bits—which is lost in the seeing.

Children: God's reward and the only reason for having sex and baptizing.

Church: What I and My Friend love the most. The place where the Word is believed and the sacraments are properly administered.

Cross: Something which pierces you as you carry it on your heart, which is there because, and only because, of the Word of God. There are sorrows which we all have in common such as the death of a loved one, but a cross is a sorrow carried because of Christ and the Word.

Christ: The One anointed and prepared before the foundation of the world to rid you of sin, thereby providing the means of having peace in your conscience.

Communion: A life-giving Meal which only the hungry should eat. Communion is the very mystery of Godliness.

Conscience: There are lots of pills and philosophies for the cure of a bad conscience today, but they can never rid the conscience of sin. Only Christ belongs in the conscience and He only gets there via the Meal and Baptism.

Creation: God created Adam 6,000 years ago and placed him on a mature earth. God's work of creation continues as He upholds His Creation by the Word of His power.

Curiosity: Be curious; it is a gift to propel you to explore God's Work of Creation. But put most of your curiosity to rest when it comes to God's Work of salvation. In heavenly things curiosity will eternally kill you just as it kills the cat in earthly things.

Choice: An illusion.

Chance: An illusion.

Contentment: Comes when you understand that choice and chance are an illusion.

Conflict: Necessary to life because Satan is always biting at the heel of God's Work.

Contrition: As Luther says, "It is the thunder and lightning of God's wrath in the conscience when man sees the Law of God," and what God expects. Contrition is necessary for salvation but one should never trust his contrition and certainly should never boast of it.

Cause and Effect: God is the cause; we are the effect.

Doctrine: The true doctrine of God is absolutely all-important. Don't worry much if your ass drags a thousand miles behind it, just cling by faith to the doctrine. One small seed of faith and simple belief is worth more to God than a world full of good works and virtues. But one small deviation from true doctrine is worse than Hell itself.

Despair: The worst sin—pure blasphemy. Cling to the Promise in Baptism and Communion despite all feelings of unworthiness. These feelings aid your salvation, for this is the process whereby God kills and makes alive—truly alive through His Word.

Divorce: Has never happened, except on paper.

Doubt: You must take the time and make the prayerful effort to be sure of what you do and what you believe. Having done this, DO IT. Every right thing to do comes with its own doubts; just be certain there was a moment of pure certainty.

Dress: Hypocrites emphasize it, but it does say much about you.

Death: All death is good and a graceful release to experience better things. The death of a cherished idea is painful, but allows you to go beyond immaturity. The death of the body is… what I long for.

Dreams: Some are from God; some work out problems; most keep you on your own particular way in life.

Dissemble: Something I don't do very well because I am so exacting for justice. This word means to overlook, pretend not to see, problems, which is necessary in any human industry, be it home or government office. Trying to make all things right and fair does more harm than good. Pick your battles carefully and prayerfully.

Devils: Each minister who does not fully agree with Luther has several animating and driving him. Demons love perverting the truth of God more than anything, then filling the mouths of men with their invented shit.

Decisions: Over-rated. Do what your hand "finds" to do. Do your own experiment: take some bad habit or flaw and just decide…

Depravity: Eternal wickedness and rebellion against God. You still have it, if a Christian, but God no longer holds it against you.

Discipline: Simple belief in the Meal is the best spiritual discipline. Discipline is the oil in the machinery of social intercourse. Be disciplined—just don't think God is impressed with it, or God will show you His discipline.

Driven: Never good to be aware of being driven. "Find" (as in "whatever your hand finds to do") and "driven" are incompatible. It is okay to look back on your life, or segment thereof, and realize that God had "driven" you without you even knowing it.

Eternal Life: Hold the Meal in your hand by faith and you hold eternal life in your very hand.

Election: A true Christian would be most pleased if God had elected him to hell, if this is what God wanted and brought glory to His name. If you believe in the Promise God makes to you in Baptism and Communion, and continue to barely cling to this Promise until you die, you are elected.

Emptiness: An inner void which God filled before Adam cast Him out. Now, only Christ can begin to be the firstfruits of filling this chasm so filled with loneliness, boredom, hopelessness, and… emptiness. You know the experience of emptiness, don't you?

Early Memories: Early memories are filled with what you believe about this life and in detail reveal where you are headed in life. They keep you on course toward the supreme act/fulfillment/conclusion/pinnacle/fictional final goal of your life. If you don't have anyone in your life who will be honest with you about where you are headed and why you do what you do, you have your early memories.

Esteem: Psychological esteem comes only—ONLY—from fighting and winning difficult, arduous inner battles; this esteem can never come from without piggybacked on a car, house, dress or promotion. Spiritual esteem comes only from a simple belief in the Word of God and a waiting on This Word to work Itself out in your life.

Experience: Talk is cheap. Get off your physical and spiritual ass and jump into what you believe and have been trained to do and you will have experience—the best teacher and confirmation of what you really are.

Expectation: A relationship killer. When you expect a friend or God to act in accordance with your way and will, you are living in insanity which will destroy you over time and past time. Expectation keeps you stilted and inflexible—un-human and ungodly.

Excommunication: An extreme act of the Church whereby It refuses Communion to an individual in hopes it will create a proper sense of fear in the individual and drive him to his senses.

Faith: A gift from God which comes through HEARING the Word. This HEARING of the Word kills reason, Satan's whore, and resurrects reason as the Word's handmaid. I emphasize HEARING because all false Christians consume themselves with much doing after they have heard but a little.

Fear: The exact opposite of faith and destroyer of faith. Fear is a great lie: God says, "You can grow up, get a job, get married, have children, and enjoy life." Satan sneaks into the heart of man and questions, "Can you really?" Faith is the ability to do work; fear is the excuse to be useless.

Firstfruits: An exceedingly important Christian concept. The "firstfruit" is a fraction of a tithe—an offering from the very beginning of a harvest. Human nature is not content with giving such a small amount to God, but becomes quite zealous and presumptuously believes it is giving so much more to God. God is content with just barely changing you here in this life—are you content with that, or do you need to be a superchristian?

Factions: The fruit of reason and disbelief in the simple Word of God. Each of these small and large groups of idolaters have their own choice reasonings for splintering off from the tree of faith.

Fasting: An expression of religious intensity and quite appropriate when your heart is burdened for the Word and Truth of God; you are showing your heart is set on things above and not on the things of this earth. Fasting is an extreme form of moderation; moderation should define your whole life as a Christian. To be immoderate shows your eyes are too much on the things of this world.

Flesh: Not just your eyes and arm, but also your inner desires, will, intellect and reason. Most so-called Christians impress themselves that they have not killed anyone or had sex with anyone they should not, but gloss over the murderous hatred and sexual lust in their hearts. As Christ said, "What good does it do to wash the outside when the inside is so full of filth."

Forgiveness: What the Christian lives in and under and what the Christian easily gives to others.

Food: Necessary in small amounts to sustain life.

Five Senses: As Luther says, "Five mighty kingdoms seeking to take you from Christ." As Solomon says, "The eye is never satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing." Technology proves him right. To make room for Christ, you must turn away from technology as much as possible.

Family: A group of people committed to an ideal beyond themselves for the benefit of others outside themselves.

Flaming Darts: An arrow of doubt shot by Satan into your very heart, making you question God's attitude toward you; the only defense is a clinging to the simple promise of Christ made to you in Communion.

Fruit: A natural consequence of all living things. If your faith is alive, you will bear fruit according to God's will, not necessarily your will. You do not have to say and preach to an apple tree, "Bear fruit!"

Feelings: They are neither good nor bad—they just are. They indicate who you are at a given point in time. Do not be afraid of them, rather, learn from them. Do not be led by them, but take cues from them. They are your friends who visit with you to teach and instruct you.

Forms: God will always come to you in a form which does not make sense to you, such as water, wine and bread.

Gospel: The True Gospel is nothing but GOOD NEWS. Why? Because your sins are forgiven, not because God has blessed you in some physical way. No sin… no good news.

Gift: Whatever you have you have been given. Your giving to others should reflect God's generosity toward you. You have been given spiritual gifts by Christ Himself which you should use in the Church.

Government: Instituted by God and flows from the commandment, "Honor your father and your mother." It is always wrong to disobey government unless they request you to disregard a true article of faith. Do not speak evil of or belittle your leaders and be glad to pay their taxes.

Goodness: Your "goodness" which spurs you to be a good person, a good citizen, etc., and which you do for selfish reasons—if you are honest—is pure evil in God's sight. Only God is good.

Greed: What nature thinks will cure lust and fill emptiness. The religion of today. The greatest enemy of the Church.

Gratitude: Dr. Bob, Sr.: "When the coals of gratitude die out in a man's heart, that man is well nigh hopeless."

Generactivity: This is a term designating what the Bible calls "natural affection." You have a civil and heavenly duty to provide many things for all your family for as long as you live. To do less is to cheat and steal from them.

Guilt: Make no mistake about it, you are guilty and more guilty than you can ever imagine. The feeling or sense of guilt is slight and comes from the back of your head. The feeling of guilt should not be confused with the feeling of shame. When you go against your conscience you will have a feeling of guilt that can be suppressed by your conscious mind, but the guilt will work its way out in your life in many ways. Guilt is also what I call a mini-atonement for sins and prepares one to continue to sin in the same way.

Goals: If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Goals should be relative and flexible, though. Man proposes; God disposes.

Grace: Unmerited favor which you desperately need because of the unlimited and unimaginable amount of sin you have within you. God's grace comes through means such as Baptism, Communion, reading the Word, prayer, etc.

Hypocrisy: A simple, one word definition of mankind which is only changed as a man or a woman simply and prayerfully believes the simple, pure Word of God. If you are honest, you hate God; this is a true expression of yourself, yet you hide and run from this fact; you are living a double life—hypocrisy. God and society have expectations of you; when you secretly or openly live a double life, you are being hypocritical.

Hell: A place specifically prepared for the devil and his angels, but where most people want to go because they do NOT want to be with God. Hell will be filled with people hating and eternally running away from God.

Holiness: If you believe the Word of Christ, "This is My body, this is My blood given to you for the forgiveness of sin," you are holy. Outward holiness will follow this inward holiness gradually here in this life, but completely in Eternity.

Humility: Luther says that this is just another word for "Christian." A Christian listens and is teachable and does not puff himself up against what the Word is trying to teach. If a teacher has to tell you the same things twice, you need to find another teacher, or repent of your stubbornness.

Hope: Christian hope is a certainty: "I know God forgives me my sins because He said so through the words of Baptism and Communion." Worldly hope springs eternal in the sense that they hope they will luck out and find happiness or whatever they want some morning. Under the right circumstances everyone would lose hope and cast themselves over a cliff.

Heretic: A self-professed Christian who follows his reason instead of the Word and so disregards and denies important articles of faith.

Hardness: One's false opinions and resentments about life make one hard, unteachable and cold.

History: A diary of God's grace and wrath.

Honor: Let another man praise thee, and not thine own lips.

Help: Another name for God is "Helper." We all need help and He is all the time providing help for us. Fact is, people only want help to get what they want. The boastful puff out the chest and say, "God helps those who help themselves." Make sure you don't help your children too much—this is highly disrespectful and on some level they will pick up and react to the disrespect.

Homosexuality: A crutch and excuse for those who are afraid of having a significant relationship with the opposite sex. It is the easy way out for some who are afraid, for they may see more than most how difficult it is to get along with the opposite sex.

Health: Overrated but a blessing.

Hidden: God hides Himself behind many things. He is even hidden in the bread and wine of Communion. Simple believe He is there and He will be less and less hidden to you. The more you look for Him where He does not want to be found, the more hidden He will be to you.

Intentions: If you are honest—and it takes great honesty and moral courage-you will see that you have no good intentions, but only intentions that serve your own self interest. If you can turn selfishness into goodness, then you have good intentions. Even when a Christian has a genuine prompting from the Spirit to do something, the Christian will soon see what good can come from the act the Spirit was prompting. This is why Augustine said, "Even our good works need God's pardoning mercy," and Job feared for all his works.

Imagination: We follow our imaginations and what we imagine deep within ourselves gives us hope for the future; but what we imagine is pure evil because we and not God are at the center of what we imagine. Of course, God can turn our imaginations into pure goodness—and does.

Itchy ears: A perversion of the sense of hearing brought on by boredom and rebellion against the Word of God. Nature always needs to hear something new. You are living in the very age of ITCHY EARS.

Introspection: You must have the courage and take the time to examine and know yourself. But these times should be an exception and not the rule. Our focus should be primarily outward; this outward focus makes even a non-Christian mentally healthier.

Inconsistencies: Life and God are full of apparent inconsistencies. Follow the simple and pure Word of God and they will fall into place—the picture will develop before your eyes. Reason, the devil's whore, makes us focus on apparent inconsistencies instead of the Word.

Jealousy: Hatred and resentment of what God has, for reasons known only to Himself, given to another. It is a usurpation of God Himself.

Justification: The act of God whereby He declares you righteous through absolutely NO MERIT of your own. If you find a person preoccupied with working, you have found a person who seeks to justify himself.

Jews: Once the people of God who are now not the people of God, but who could become the people of God in the future.

Judgment: A natural action of the human spirit whenever it sees something acting contrary to what the mind believes. A relationship killer. The basis upon which God will judge mankind. A usurping of God's job. If you want to judge somebody, judge yourself, then fall on your face before God pleading for forgiveness for who and what you are. It is one thing to say, "That man is acting wrongly;" and quite another to curse and hate that man from your heart because of his actions.

Knowledge: Knowledge puffs up. Most people mistake knowledge for faith; the more knowledge they have the more faith they have. These people, says Paul, are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Their knowledge gets in the way of the true knowledge of the Word.

Kingdom: The true and proper Kingdom of Christ is right in your very heart if you believe the simple Word of God and cling to it in faith. Christ rules and overrules everywhere, but His only Kingdom is in your heart and in the midst of those with like precious faith.

Life: Loss and losing; allow faith to destroy your (love for) life and you will win eternal life—true life.

Love: An expression of true faith and an outgrowth of true faith, even though love will last for eternity and faith will be done away with. Human love only loves when it sees itself.

Listen: Christ said, "He who hears you hears Me." Whether you want to listen to Christ or to Caesar, the self must be put behind you with all its opinions, presuppositions and predictions of what is going to be said. Your ability and desire to LISTEN indicates your earthly and spiritual maturity.

Luther: The greatest teacher of Christ since the Apostle Paul; the greatest explainer of Christ except Christ; the most written-about man in the last 1,000 years; the History Channel's third most important person of the last 1,000 years; my best friend because he faithfully teaches me and takes me to Christ.

Liberty: Faith Itself. If you believe the simple, pure Word of God, you are freedom itself, despite all outward evidence to the contrary. If someone tells you you aren't a good Christian for drinking a beer, drink another to their chagrin and to God's honor.

Legalism: Pure hell and dis-ease of conscience. A groups opinion of what one must do and leave undone in order to be a good christian. A substitute for true and genuine spirituality and an attempt to fill emptiness. This makes, as Luther says, people double martyrs because they make their lives miserable down here and still spend eternity in hell.

Law: Given to prove to mankind they cannot measure up to what God wants; designed to humiliate and bring to shame and repentance—complete helplessness. The only law a Christian is under is the law of faith, though the Law will evidence Itself in the life of a Christian. A Christian is not preoccupied with obeying the Law, but in following faith. The human mind naturally understands Law, loves Law, and loves to live its life by laws. But the human mind and heart would never have conceived of grace, hates grace and does not want to be obligated to grace and help.

Lust: The most honest expression of human nature. An eternal love for the creature rather than the Creator.

Minister: God's gift to you to help ensure your faithful journey to Christ; he should be deeply respected and obeyed. If he has to tell you something twice, there is a serious problem somewhere and the problem is probably with you. If you don't believe your minister speaks the very Word of God to you, you should find another or admit you want to be your very own minister.

Moses: The Lawgiver. God buried Moses in the mountains, though most so-called Christians want to resurrect him and live by his ten words, rather than by the living Word of God. These people seek to make Christ Himself a Second Moses, because Law is all they know and they honestly believe they measure up to enough of the Law. It is NOT Good News if being a Christian means completing another list of do's and don'ts; the Jews had this under Moses and failed miserably even though they were quite zealous.

Mind: A terrible thing to waste by filling it with puny thoughts.

Manhood: The embracing of responsibility.

Money: The love of it is the root of all evil, which while many covet after lose eternal salvation. Money should be used, not excessively gathered. Money was never intended by God to beget money; God wants you to provide for yourself with your hands and your sweat, not by your money making more money for you.

Mood: Sustained emotion. Moods are a decision of the will which serve the purpose of the individual. When a person is depressed—sustained sadness—the person has decided to be depressed rather than assume responsibility. This does not mean one should say to such a person, "Get your ass out of bed and stop depressing yourself." One should gently help him or her explore what purpose the depression is serving.

Morality: There is not one good, no not one; they have all together gone out of the way; they have all together become unprofitable. Morality is treating another with respect and honor. How can one be moral and respectful who disbelieves God's own verdict and judgment about them? Is this respect? God says, "You are evil and need My Son and only My Son to put you in proper standing with Me." We say by our actions, "No, I am quite impressed with my own works, zeal, decisions, and judgment of my self."

Mask: We fear being known; therefore we put on many masks to hide from others and ourselves. The "normal" socialization process is nothing more than lessons in how to make masks. "Don't touch yourself, Johnny." "Promise never to lie to me again!" "You shouldn't be that way." Thus, Johnny learns that if he is going to survive in this world, he must go undercover. I am 50 years old and just today told my mother something about me and she said, "That is over the top." I am mature enough to understand and look past it, but my natural tendency is to try and take it back off the table and go into hiding.

New: Human nature's favorite word. Like my animals, man seeks anything that is new, no matter how good they have it where they are.

Opinion: What we die for and ruin our lives for to make sure we don't have to change any or many of them.

Obedience: A natural consequence of sound training in children; children want to fit in and go along by nature, but resist strong-arm tactics. Spiritual obedience is a "natural" consequence of faith. Hypocrites stress obedience because they think it is the best way to please the god of their opinions.

Penalty: This whole life is nothing but a penalty for sin; this is harmless to the Christian but a reason to fear and tremble for the faithless but don't because of their false confidence in the correctness of their wisdom. Christ paid the penalty for our sin, but it is still sound for the Christian to view negative circumstances as a just penalty for our sinfulness. This attitude fights against self-righteousness and presumptuousness.

Parents: The glasses through whom you learn to view the world. Your parents will always know you better than anyone else and probably better than you know yourself. When older you are not obligated to take their advice, but you should respectfully disregard it when necessary with fear and trepidation.

Pride: Empty boasting about something you have been given.

Promise: The only promise you can believe is one God makes-man's promises are more often than not curses. God can be trusted, man cannot. The Christian looks only at the promise of God though heavily weighed down by sin. Parents should rather die than break a promise to a child.

Pills: The easy way out for an empty, faithless generation.

Prayer: If you ask for something in Jesus' name you will receive whatever you ask for. We have a God Who is near and craves to help and deliver us.

Perseverance: "He who endures to the end will be saved." Because He knows the presumptuousness of our nature, God does not want us to be "set for life." He knows we need to be momentarily dependent upon His grace and mercy. Perseverance is nothing more than clinging to the promise of Baptism and Communion despite heavy, heavy sins hanging from your back.

Pope: The greatest devil on earth. Totally without Scriptural warrant.

Predestination: God's business. If you cling long enough you will find you are predestined.

Pleasure: The sum total of what people live for; like animals they only want the next pleasure; but they want the pleasure—a gift from God—without the burden of having the true God.

Presumption: The consequence of God's blessing: God blesses and we assume He is most pleased with us. But as Solomon states, "Based on the circumstances of life, one does not know whether God hates or loves you." Human nature moves along a continuum between presumption and despair—both cardinal sins.

Presupposition: The destroyer of the mind's capabilities.

Reason: The devil's whore whom he sends to lure us away from the Word. When the Word truly enters the heart and mind, reason is a great ally of Truth.

Rebuke: Be thankful if you have someone in your life who tells you, even roughly, that your shit stinks. Faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Royal Road: A favorite phrase of Luther. A pathway between the cliffs of presumption and despair, and all other spiritual extremes which capture so many.

Revenge: The Lord's. A desire one has because his dignity has been insulted.

Retrospection: Take an honest, occasional accounting of where you have been to make sure you don't keep going too far on the wrong road.

Responsibility: Faithfulness to whatever your hand has "found" to do. What you "find" is what God has ordained for you. No need to look for responsibility, God has already sent it to you. Be faithful by God's grace and you will "find" more. Of course, we always want other responsibilities than those God has sent to us.

Sex: If Adam had not sinned man would have "known" woman when, and only when, it was time to have a child. The pop songwriter who said, "When you see children in her eyes you know you have really loved a woman." Even the world has more sense than most christians and often see the truth of God more clearly than so-called Christians.

Saint: You are one if you believe the simple and pure Word of God, even though you feel more like a sinner than a saint, you are in reality completely saint and no sinner whatsoever.

Suffering: Rejoice in it, embrace it as a wonderful gift of God which teaches you to love, depend, and wait on Him.

Salvation: Salvation is of the Lord—need I say more.

Satan: He walks about seeking whom he may devour and he devours those who deviate from the simple and pure Word of God.

Should: Really, should not be part of a Christian's vocabulary. Don't should on yourself.

Shipwreck: What your life will become when you turn from the Word. You may not realize this until it is too late.

Sickness: A blessing. An opportunity to experience special grace from Christ.

Superiority: What ALL people are fervently striving for in a way that makes sense to them—and maybe ONLY to them.

Spirit: The Word of God creates true, genuine, hearty, and faithful spirit. A Christian is pure, uncorrupted spirit, despite much evidence to the contrary. The Word of Christ is pure Spirit which feeds your spirit.

Soul: In my opinion, our feelings, will and mind.

Sin: Any deviation from the will of God, as revealed in the Word of God. Properly understood, the Law teaches us what sin is.

Sanctification: The work of the Spirit and the Word whereby your cleansed spirit works its way out into your mind and flesh. Hypocrites think they must help God out in this process.

Secular: That which has to do with society. There is no secular to the Christian, for all is sacred to him.

Sacred: That which is set apart specifically for the service and worship of God.

Seduction: Satan seduces us away from the Truth just as a man seduces a woman of her virtue by half-truths, feigned love, etc. The seduced want it.

Separation: The main thing you want to separate yourself from is lies regarding the Word. I would rather you work in a bar or be a whore than let anyone think you believe "is" means "signifies."

Sleep: A gift of refreshment from God. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. God may awake you to pray and you may awake yourself to worry.

Satiety: When your stomach is full does food interest you? So, when you are full of yourself the Meal is of little interest to you.

Shame: A moderate feeling of embarrassment; a wonderful gift from God to remind us of our sin and need for Him. This is a shameless generation; shame is pure sin to this people.

Serious: I am too serious-minded, but it is good to be serious-minded. We talk too much and make light of too much.

Spoiling: Pure curse and misery and a lifelong weight. Anytime you do for someone what they could do for themselves you have not helped them, but rather have weakened them—especially if you do it habitually. They learn not to trust themselves or have confidence in themselves—though you get quite a feeling of superiority from helping them.

Spontaneity: Genuine, unfiltered responses of the mind, soul, spirit and heart. Refreshing. Guileless. Courageous.

Sacrament: A word not found in the Bible but used to describe the act of God whereby He joins physical elements to His Word as a means of grace for us. The false church loves the word "rapture" which is also not in the Bible.

Sorrow: A major part of a Christian when he sees his sinfulness and the world's rejection of God's Truth. The Christian is described as a turtledove in Scripture because his song sounds mournful.

Simplicity: As Paul says, "Let no man take you from the simplicity which is in Christ." Just as unbelievers make the world quite complex by the teaching of evolution—rather than believing God created the world, they add complexity to complexity; each step from genus to genus is essentially a miracle and one they cannot prove because they just cannot seem to find that "missing link." So Protestants make salvation complex because they just cannot believe that Christ is in and under the Meal—just does not make sense to them. They would rather work their fingers to the bone and always journey for peace of conscience instead of believing the simple Word of God.

Synergism: A term for those who believe they cooperate with God in the salvation process.

Turk: Next to the Jew, the worst enemy of Christ. They are warmongers from their very beginning.

Temptation: An enticement from Satan or your flesh to lure you away from God to things seen.

Talk: Let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak.

Technology: A wonderful gift from God which we use to fill ourselves, occupy ourselves and pleasure ourselves instead of being filled, occupied and pleased with the Lord.

Teachable: The greatest trait of a true Christian.

Ungodliness: The worst ungodliness is unbelief in the simple, clear Word of God. This is the first and worst step toward all other ungodliness such as homosexuality and murder.

Unbelief: The worst sin and beginning of all other sins. There is no greater example of unbelief than a person who claims to be a Christian and says that "is" means "signifies."

Uniqueness: We are all unique but the quest to be unique is pure self-centeredness and must not be taught to our children.

Useful: Another name for love and serving others. You are here to be useful to others whether you are a Christian or not. Able-bodied people who just take up space should be done away with.

Unity: We are to be of one mind with one another; the more churches there are, the more proof we have fallen away from the Word. The innate desire to be of one mind with one another is maybe one of man's greatest desires.

Unworthiness: You are not worthy of Christ in and of yourself, but Christ makes you worthy because of His Work on your behalf. If, when you take communion, you look at your unworthiness or worthiness, you have blasphemed God.

Virtue: You should strive to be a virtuous citizen, but as a Christian the only virtue you have is Christ.

Voluntary: The Christian is truly a voluntary person. That is, he freely gives of himself without having to be begged; he spends what he has and spends himself for the cause of Christ. He who gives early gives double.

The Word: Life itself. David craved God's Word more than physical nourishment.

Woman: The weaker sex who should be honored if for no other reason than the fact that she brings children into this world. Their mission is to be about their man, serve him, support him and minister to him. Yet, she is truly man's equal and should be treated as such.

Weakness: We are all weak in one way or another and our weaknesses must not be used against one another. Let him who thinks he is strong take heed lest he fall.

Wisdom: Putting your hand over your mouth and listening to the Word.

World: Not evil in itself, but used by us in an evil way. A Christian is not of this world, but must not be afraid to function in this world.

Wrath: Look around you; the wrath of God is being revealed, so says Paul in Romans. God's wrath is revealed right before our eyes when we realize Luther's writings are so invaluable to the church—even to his own people, the Lutherans. The Bible is evil itself without the proper understanding of It.

Worry: Deserved punishment for those who don't trust Christ, committing their way to Him.

Wounds: A necessary aspect of life and living. Be thankful for your wounds and do not pity yourself because of them. You deserve whatever wound you received and is potentially a wonderfull blessing and teacher for you.

Worship: Mental and vocal assent to the simple, clear Word of God. There is no higher worship of God. You can add singing and ceremony, but these are just adornments to the worship.

Works: When you look at what you do you have lost Christ.

Zeal: Human zeal must be replaced and transformed by the Word. Zeal impresses people because most people are too afraid to chase after what they want with such intensity. But in the church of God, this natural intensity must be extinguished by the Word and raised up to a newness in the Spirit. Zeal must act according to the knowledge of the Word.

I would do nothing to lead you astray; I have given you a strong springboard from which to launch your spiritual and natural curiosity. I urge you to submit yourself to this curiosity and follow it as far as your desire and your gifts take you. Though skeletal, everything I have told you here is more true than not—it is all true as far as the definition goes.

Love, Dad
September 27, 2006