Brett Meyer Quotes the Illiterate UOJ Stormtroopers

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "The Entire World To Acquit? Does Not Fit":

Quotes from those who promote the false gospel of UOJ.

Pastor Rolf Preus, “God has, for Christ’s sake, absolved the entire world of sinners” And also, “Forgiveness and justification in God’s sight is NOT granted because of the work of faith created by the Holy Spirit. Rather, the Holy Spirit creates faith by means of the granting of the forgiveness of sins and justification, that is, by means of the proclamation of the gospel.”

Dick Rockenbach, “I might use the term Objective Reconciliation as Mueller does. Whether you use the Term OJ or OR the net is the same. The Cross can never be undone, It is indeed finished. Every human for all times has been forgiven.”

Dennis Boettcher, “With the whole human race, Jesus dying on the cross declared the whole human race pardoned from their sin.” “Christ said "It is finished." The work of justification is done. The sins of the whole world (John 1:29) have been taken away.”

A. Shuetze, "The Gospel is the Good News that every sin is forgiven, every transgression blotted out.”

Dr. Becker, "We are not pressing the word beyond what it can bear if we say that, when Paul says that God justifies the ungodly, he is asserting that God declares the unbeliever just.”

M. Zarling states, "On the basis of this brief overview of passages, what then is the Scriptural truth called universal justification? Simply this: In Christ, God has forgiven the sins of all men. By reason of Christ's perfect life of obedience and perfect sacrifice for all sins, Cod declares the world, believer and unbeliever alike, totally innocent.

Rev. Guillaume Williams, “People go to hell b/s they don't believe the objective truth of Christ's saving work not b/s they haven't been saved by Christ.”

David Jay Webber, “The terminology of "Objective Justification" might be new - dating from the 19th century - but the concept behind the terminology has always been a part of the Gospel as confessed in the Lutheran Church”

H.A. Preus, “On the other hand, this, that God forgives sin, signifies only the action of God that he proclaims to the sinner that his sin is taken away by the death of Christ and that he therefore gives him forgiveness so that he is to believe it, but without regard to whether he has already believed it or not, so that this act of forgiving sin by God cannot only happen without faith being there but first must occur without faith being there since faith cannot be worked otherwise, or know what it is to believe."



Those who promote the new gospel of UOJ have, with their doctrine, given the righteousness of Christ to the whole world. Those in the world who are servants to sin and death. Unbelievers who are not of the body of Christ, are at enmity with God and decaying with the stench of death caused by sin.
Scripture declares that if those who are servants of sin have inherited Christ’s righteousness then faith is no longer required and the true Gospel Promise is mute.

Romans 4:14, “For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:”

Scripture teaches that those who are under grace through faith worked by the Holy Ghost are the children of the Promise, receiving through faith the adoption and are the children of God. Thus it is only through faith that we are given and receive Christ’s righteousness.

Romans 7:4, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

Galations 3:22, "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

Galations 3:24-27, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

Romans 8:17, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Justification: 86] But since we receive remission of sins and the Holy Ghost by faith alone, faith alone justifies, because those reconciled are accounted righteous and children of God, not on account of their own purity, but through mercy for Christ's sake, provided only they by faith apprehend this mercy.”
And here too: “The wrath of God cannot be appeased if we set against it our own works, because Christ has been set forth as a Propitiator, so that for His sake, the Father may become reconciled to us. But Christ is not apprehended as a Mediator except by faith. Therefore, by faith alone we obtain remission of sins, when we comfort our hearts with confidence in the mercy promised for 81] Christ's sake.”

Brett Meyer

Rev. Mouse Needs De-Caff

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "Rev. Mouse Misses the Boat on Jonah":

BTW, you've never answered the question in the Jonah post that asked how many years you served as a parish pastor, compared to the number of years you spent in an academic setting, gathering a number of degrees. Full disclosure - what is the answer? The point is that cogitating on these matters is not the same as living among a congregation and carrying out ministry. It is hard, imprecise work - often rewarding, but sometimes frustrating. How much experience do you have on the front lines, compared to sheltering in the rear guard, out of any real danger, lobbing smart bombs at a distant enemy?

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GJ - Answered in the autobiography. Please take time to read before posting another unseemly hissy-fit. As anyone can tell, I provide 50 plus sermons per year plus 26 live Holy Communion services. One clear indication of a live service is the worship bulletin. A little math will show that I have served 35 years as a pastor.

Shrove Tuesday: Thanks to Kurtzahn

"No one would accept the pancake, so it was given to the dogs."

We had a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper in New Ulm. The CLC (sic) pastors got behind two laymen to charge that Shrove Tuesday promoted Roman Catholicism and immorality.

I know what you are thinking: CLC pastors outside the International House of Pancakes, warning young girls that pancakes lead to--shudder--name it not.

One line was that the first ST pancake was given to the most immoral woman in town, so no one would accept. This was said with a red face, trembling voice, "So it was given to the dogs." I think I found a CLC dog picture above.

Circuit pastor Steve Kurtzahn got himself involved, along with David Koenig, Paul Tiefel (aka Teufel), Dale Redlin and his brother-in-law Keith Olmanson. Of course the CLC president meddled at full speed.

Why pancakes? The conflict was just a smokescreen. Tiefel and Koenig hated my criticisms of their beloved Church Growth Movement. Both of them promoted Reformed doctrine and Roman Catholic doctrine.

Kurtzahn moved from a very small CLC church to a very large WELS congregation, Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Ask him if he thinks incest is a sin. Pancakes eaten on Shrove Tuesday are definitely sinful, but....

Today Mrs. Ichabod and I will eat pancakes without a trace of guilt. I would like to thank the usual suspects for landing me in the Valley of the Sun.

The Entire World To Acquit? Does Not Fit

This truck driver has made a symbolic statement about UOJ fantasies.

J-504 - 2 Corinthians 5:19 - Ask Lenski

"We do not find the idea that Paul here says that when Christ died, when in and by His death God reconciled the world objectively, He then and there (or at the time of Christ's resurrection) forgave all sins to the whole world. Autois (Autois) = individuals and refers to their subjective reconciliation. The use so often made of this passage should be modified. On the question of universal and personal justification consult the author's Interpretation of Romans, 5:10, also 1:17.”
R. C. H. Lenski, Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1946, p. 1048. 2 Corinthians 5:19; Romans 5:10; Romans 1:17. [GJ - This explains Stormtrooper animosity toward Lenski, a genuine Biblical scholar. WELS, LCMS, and ELS seminary students are encouraged to use Lenski, properly so. But how can Lenski be so accurate and reliable about the entire New Testament and get justification wrong? Perhaps he is consistent and the old Synodical Conference is wrong.]

J-505 - Raised for Our Justification: Ask Luther

“The resurrection and life of Jesus Christ is a cause, that is, an efficacious means of our spiritual resurrection and spiritual life; for it causes us to believe and to rise (from sin), as we read in 10:9: ‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ In Christ’s death we die unto spiritual life, as we read in 6:3-4: ‘So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death (that) we also should walk in newness of life.’”
Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, trans. J. Theodore Mueller, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1954, p. 93. Romans 5:10.

J-509 - UOJ Missing in Romans, Too

"Nowhere in the Bible is any man constituted or declared righteous ‘without faith, before faith.’”
R. C. H. Lenski, Romans, Augsburg Publishing House: Minneapolis, 1963, p. 382. Romans 5:19-20.

J-510 - The Apology - To Justify Believers

"The Third Article the adversaries approve, in which we confess that there are in Christ two natures, namely, a human nature, assumed by the Word into the unity of His person; and that the same Christ suffered and died to reconcile the Father to us; and that He was raised again to reign, and to justify and sanctify believers, etc., according to the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, III. #52. Of Christ, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 119. Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19ff. Tappert, p. 107. Heiser, p. 32.

J-514 - Stormtroopers' Colored Glasses See UOJ Everywhere

"They [the false teachers] fared like a man who looks through a colored glass. Put before such a man whatever color you please, he sees no other color than that of the glass. The fault is not that the right color is not put before him but that his glass is colored differently, as the word of Is. 6:9 puts it: You will see, he says, and yet you will not see it."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 644. Isaiah 6:9.

J-515 - Kelm's Upside Down Gospel Is Wrong

"In like manner Moses must precede and teach people to feel their sins in order that grace may be sweet and welcome to them. Therefore all is in vain, however friendly and lovely Christ may be pictured, if man is not first humbled by a knowledge of himself and he possesses no longing for Christ, as Mary's Song says, 'The hungry he hath filled with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away,' Luke 1:53."
Sermons of Martin Luther, ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 149. Matthew 15:21-28; Luke 1:53. [GJ - Paul Kelm starts with the Gospel and moves to the Law, calling it Upside Down Evangelism. Wayne Mueller advocates the same nonsense.]

J-516 - Luther Wiser Than Kelm and Mueller

"The apostle says 'our,' 'our sins;' not his own sin, not the sins of unbelievers. Purification is not for, and cannot profit, him who does not believe. Nor did Christ effect the cleansing by our free-will, our reason or power, our works, our contrition or repentance, these all being worthless in the sight of God; he effects it by himself. And how? By taking our sins upon himself on the holy cross, as Isaiah 53:6 tells us."
Sermons of Martin Luther, ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 180. Hebrews 1:1-12; Hebrews 1:3.

J-518 - Forgiveness Requires Faith

"To this incline your ears, and be persuaded that God speaks through men and forgives you your sins; this, of course, requires faith."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 200.

J-519 - Illiterate Stormtroopers Get This Part Mixed Up

"If I do not believe it, I will not receive its benefits; but that neither renders it false nor proves that anything is lacking in Christ."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 258. Easter, Third Sermon. Mark 16:1-8. [GJ - This statement is trustworthy, but UOJ Stormtroopers twist it into universalism. They want everyone declared--without the Word--forgiven of their sins. Their position is Universalism tempered by Enthusiasm.]

J-520 - Worth Memorizing

"It is a faithful saying that Christ has accomplished everything, has removed sin and overcome every enemy, so that through Him we are lords over all things. But the treasure lies yet in one pile; it is not yet distributed nor invested. Consequently, if we are to possess it, the Holy Spirit must come and teach our hearts to believe and say: I, too, am one of those who are to have this treasure. When we feel that God has thus helped us and given the treasure to us, everything goes well, and it cannot be otherwise than that man's heart rejoices in God and lifts itself up, saying: Dear Father, if it is Thy will to show toward me such great love and faithfulness, which I cannot fully fathom, then will I also love Thee with all my heart and be joyful, and cheerfully do what pleases Thee. Thus, the heart does not now look at God with evil eyes, does not imagine He will cast us into hell, as it did before the HS came...."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 279. Pentecost Sunday. John 14:23-31.

J-528 - Melanchthon in Harmony with Luther

"Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #48. Of Justification. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 135. Heiser, p. 36.

J-545 - Formula of Concord in Harmony with Luther

"These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves. This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the Father, and are eternally saved."
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. #10. Of the Righteousness of Faith before God. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 919. Tappert, p. 541. Heiser, p. 250.



J-523 - Luther Not a UOJ Advocate

"Christ did indeed suffer for the whole world; but how many are there who believe and cherish this fact? Therefore, although the work of redemption itself has been accomplished, it still cannot help and benefit a man unless he believes it and experiences its saving power in his heart."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 705f. Smalcald, 1537.

J-524 - Walther Contradicts Himself

"If remission of sins without repentance is preached, the people imagine that they have already forgiveness of sins, and thereby they are made secure and unconcerned. This is a greater error and sin than all error of former times, and it is verily to be feared that we are in that danger which Christ points out when He says, Matthew 12:45: 'The last state of that man shall be worse than the first.'"
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 123. Matthew 12:45. [GJ - Augustine was not always correct. Neither was Luther - when he prayed to Mary. Walther is correct here but wrong in his Easter absolution sermon. The old Synodical Conference follows Walther only when he is in error.]

J-527 Apology: Justification by Faith

"The Third Article the adversaries approve, in which we confess that there are in Christ two natures, namely, a human nature, assumed by the Word into the unity of His person; and that the same Christ suffered and died to reconcile the Father to us; and that He was raised again to reign, and to justify and sanctify believers, etc., according to the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, III. #52. Of Christ, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 119. Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19ff. Tapper, p. 107. Heiser, p. 32.

J-529 Connecting Promise and Faith

"Now, that faith signifies, not only a knowledge of the history, but such faith as assents to the promise, Paul plainly testifies when he says, Romans 4:16: 'Therefore it is of faith, to the end the promise might be sure.' For he judges that the promise cannot be received unless by faith. Wherefore he puts them together as things that belong to one another, and connects promise and faith."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV. #51. Of Justification, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 135. Romans 4:16. Tappert, p. 114. Heiser, p. 36.

J-530

"This faith, encouraging and consoling in these fears, receives remission of sins, justifies and quickens. For this consolation is a new and spiritual life [a new birth and a new life]. These things are plain and clear, and can be understood by the pious, and have testimonies of the Church [as is to be seen in the conversion of Paul and Augustine]. The adversaries nowhere can say how the Holy Ghost is given. They imagine that the Sacraments confer the Holy Ghost ex opere operato, without a good emotion in the recipient, as though, indeed, the gift of the Holy Ghost were an idle matter."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV. #63. Of Justification,, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 139. Tappert, p. 115. Heiser, p. 37.

J-531 Faith Alone Justifies

"Now we will show that faith [and nothing else] justifies."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #69. Of Justification. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 141. Tappert, p. 116. Heiser, p. 37.

J-534

"But since we receive remission of sins and the Holy Ghost by faith alone, faith alone justifies, because those reconciled are accounted righteous and children of God, not on account of their own purity, but through mercy for Christ's sake, provided only they by faith apprehend this mercy."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #86. Of Justification. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 147. Tappert, p. 119. Heiser, p. 39.

J-539 - Walther, ELS, WELS, LCMS - Gravely Mistaken

“That absolutionhowever, is not received except by faith, can be proved from Paul, who teaches, Romans 4:16, that the promise cannot be received except by faith. But absolution is the promise of the remission of sins [nothing else than the Gospel, the divine promise of God’s grace and favor]. Therefore, it necessarily requires faith. Neither do we see how he who does not assent to it may be said to receive absolution.”
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XII. #61-62. Of Repentance. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 269. Romans 4:16. Tappert, p. 190. Heiser, p. 83.

J-549 Formula of Concord, Faith Alone

"Moreover, neither contrition nor love or any other virtue, but faith alone is the sole means and instrument by which and through which we can receive and accept the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and the forgiveness of sins, which are offered us in the promise of the Gospel."
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. #31. Of the Righteous of Faith before God. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 925. Tappert, p. 544. Heiser, p. 252.

J-554 - Chytraeus, Concordist, By Faith Alone

"Christian righteousness is the forgiveness of sin, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and acceptance to eternal life. It is free, not the result of any virtues or works but is given solely because of Christ, the Mediator, and apprehended by faith alone."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith (1568), trans., Richard Dinda, Decatur: Repristination Press, 1994. p. 106.

J-555 Chemnitz, Concordist, Explains Faith to the Stormtroopers

"We must note the foundations. For we are justified by faith, not because it is so firm, robust, and perfect a virtue, but because of the object on which it lays hold, namely Christ, who is the Mediator in the promise of grace. Therefore when faith does not err in its object, but lays hold on that true object, although with a weak faith, or at least tries and wants to lay hold on Christ, then there is true faith, and it justifies. The reason for this is demonstrated in those lovely statements in Philippians 3:12: 'I apprehend, or rather I am apprehended by Christ' and Galatians 4:9: 'You have known God, or rather have been known by God.' Scripture shows a beautiful example of this in Mark 9:24: 'I believe; help my unbelief.'"
Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 2 vols., trans. J. A. O. Preus, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989, II, p. 503. Philippians 3:12; Galatians 4:9; Mark 9:24.

"For we are not justified because of our faith (propter fidem), in the sense of faith being a virtue or good work on our part. Thus we pray, as did the man in Mark 9:24: 'I believe, Lord; help my unbelief'; and with the apostles: 'Lord, increase our faith,' Luke 17:5."
Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 2 vols., trans. J. A. O. Preus, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989, II, p. 506 Mark 9:24; Luke 17:5.

Andreae, Concordist, Absolution Only Through Faith

"Concerning the article on the justification of the poor sinner in God's sight, we believe, teach, and confess on the basis of God's Word and the position of our Christian Augsburg Confession that the poor, sinful person is justified in God's sight—that is, he is pronounced free and absolved of his sins and receives forgiveness for them—only through faith, because of the innocent, complete, and unique obedience and the bitter sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, not because of the indwelling, essential righteousness of God or because of his own good works, which either precede or result from faith. We reject all doctrines contrary to this belief and confession."
Jacob Andreae, Confession and Brief Explanation of Certain Disputed Articles. Cited in Robert Kolb, Andreae and the Formula of Concord, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977, p. 58.

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GJ - Cracks are starting to appear in the UOJ fantasy world of WELS-ELS-LCMS. The clergy are too timid to deal with these issues, but the laity are asking questions. Every so often WELS has to publish another version of their doctrinal error - The Two Justifications.

The problem with heresy comes from clever men handing it down to the semi-literate. Walther invented UOJ for America, although he surely got it from the Pietism of Europe. UOJ slowly penetrated the LCMS, reaching canonical status in the Brief Statement, the swan song of F. Pieper.

The foundational error of UOJ is Synodical-Conference-Worship. If they could study documents earlier than Walther and accept the Word of God rather than Walther as the ruling norm (norma normans) of faith, they could deal with UOJ.

Now politicians are handling UOJ, making matters even worse. They do not have enough training to keep UOJ from morphing into something worse than it is already. Thus we see the ELS--with no theologians in charge--proclaiming that Christ saved the entire world. They would be laughed out of a serious theological conference, not for being Lutheran (which they are not) but for being Universalists without admitting it.

Dr. Robert Preus once taught UOJ in all its glory. He jumped off that runaway train in his last book, Justification and Rome.

If Pope John the Malefactor could write a whole book, it would be called Just a Vacation in Rome.