A Luther Christmas Sermon as Read by Rod Rosenbladt

If you listen to the White Horse Inn and have come to love "Dad Rod" then you'll love this.

Rod reads one of Martin Luther's Christmas sermons as compiled by Roland Bainton. 

This sermon ((along with listening to Handel's Messiah) are two of my favorite advent traditions.  Doesn't seem like Christmas until Dad Rod reads Luther!

Luther sure had a way with words and illustrations.

Rod reads a Luther Christmas sermon

"The Son of the Most High" -- Isaiah 9:1-7

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent:

Click here

This Week's White Horse Inn

The Great Commission Survey

Is it more important to "be the gospel" to others or to "preach the gospel"? To our surprise, 69 percent of the Christians we polled sided with the idea of "being the gospel." On this broadcast, the hosts continue to interact with the results from our recent survey of Christians at a conservative evangelical convention; this time dealing with issues relating to the theme of the Great Commission.

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

"The Pope would have an easier job than the President of the United States in adopting a change of course. He has no Congress alongside him as a legislative body nor a Supreme Court as a judiciary. He is absolute head of government, legislator and supreme judge in the church. If he wanted to, he could authorize contraception over night, permit the marriage of priests, make possible the ordination of women and allow eucharistic fellowship with this Protestant churches. What would a Pope do who acted in the spirit of Obama?"

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  I'll post the answer when I post the next quote.

Update on Friday, December 17, 2010 at 01:43PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is a quote from Hans Kung, Pope Benedict's favorite theologian.  If Obama were Pope

Miss Velma's "Christmas In America"

It doesn't get "kitschier"  than this.  Frankly, there are not words.

Some of you who live in So Cal might remember this. 

Every Christmas, the "Universal World Church" ran their "Christmas in America" special featuring "Miss Velma" (who was a crack shot).  Miss Velma's husband was Dr. O. L. Jaggers, who was some sort of Pentecostal evangelist with a gazillion fake degrees, and an act like Elvis. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jaggers claimed to have discovered the secret to eternal youth (of course, both looked haggard and old, and are now dead and gone).  They built the "Golden Altar of Incense Prayer" in their church in downtown LA and for a time attracted a large following.

For many years, Miss Velma's "Christmas in America" special ran late at night on Christmas Eve.  An employee of mine video taped it.  The old CURE gang watched it after a White Horse Inn taping to howls of laughter.  Nothing like explaining Miss Velma to Rod.

Someone at church mentioned it on Sunday, and since it is available on YouTube, I couldn't resist.

Be sure to watch some of the other snippets of Miss Velma's "Christmas in America" on YouTube as well ("Christmas in America").  The Christmas turtle is my favorite.

I've Got "Issues" Today . . .

I'll be on "Issues, Etc." later today (2:20 PST) talking about Harold Campings' goofy prediction that Jesus is coming back in May of 2011.

Update on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 03:28PM by Kim Riddlebarger

Heres' the link to the broadcast:  On Harold Camping's date setting

"The Lord Is Our Righteousness" -- Jeremiah 23:1-8

Here's the audio from today's sermon for the third Sunday in Advent (based on Jeremiah 23:1-8 and John 10:1-30).

Click here

This Week's White Horse Inn

A Survey of Biblical Literacy

On this program, the hosts interact with the results of a recent survey of general Bible knowledge taken at a Christian convention. In this survey, Christians were asked whether or not they agreed with various ideas such as, "There is no one who does good, not even one, there is no one who seeks God." Though this is a famous Bible verse from Romans 3, half the people we surveyed failed to recognize it, and ended up disagreeing with the theology that it puts forth.

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

"The [judicial branch of government] from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them."

OK, who said that?  Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  The whole point is to guess!

Update on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 10:42AM by Kim Riddlebarger

As a number of you guessed, this is from Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers:  http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa78.htm

This Hamilton's lame defense against the anti-federalist accusation that under the US Constitution, judges will end-up legislating from the bench.  Hamilton sure got this one wrong.

Thanks to the Folks at Desiring God!

The following (including the picture) was posted on the Desiring God blog today.

"During the our 2010 National Conference, the White Horse Inn recorded a live broadcast for future release which has now posted on their site. The title of the show is `Textual Narcissim' as it features a discussion on how 'me-centeredness' dominates biblical interpretation in our day.

Attendees were encouraged to grab their dinner and listen in as they had `Dinner with the White Horse Inn.' The show was hosted by the regulars Michael Horton, Rod Rosenbladt, and Kim Riddlebarger, along with guest Stephen Nichols who sat in for Ken Jones. Their conversation was a highlight for those who attended this packed out session."

Thanks much!