What Would Luther Buy?NPH Sale Only Through Saturday

Could you announce that NPH has a 40% to 60% off sale--including on their Pietism and UOJ-related books, but its (sic) only through Saturday either online or at their store:
STOCK-UP SALE

http://online.nph.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?10435&categoryID=4339


Here a list of just a few books your blog readers might be interested in obtaining:


1. Our Great Heritage Volume 3
Catalog Item Number: OL-150483
Sale Price: $28.50
http://online.nph.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?10418&productID=150483



2. The Complete Timotheus Verinus (excellent choice)

Catalog Item Number: OL-150594 Sale Price: $24.30

http://online.nph.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?10406



3. The History of Pietism
(excellent choice) Catalog Item Number: OL-150743

Sale Price: $24.30

http://online.nph.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?10406

Thanks much!

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What Would Luther Buy?NPH Sale Only Through Saturd...":

Remember the Eight (sic) Commandment

What Would Luther Do? Part 2

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fifty WELS Pastors Still Think Highly of Luther":

Is it appropriate to offer a motion at the next congregation voters' meeting restricting our offerings down to Synod until the apostates are driven out? How does one phrase such a resolution?

***

GJ - Any written memorial passed by a congregation is very powerful, especially if it is circulated around the circuit, conference, and district. I will be glad to post anything, whether Anonymously, Anonymousely, or Nonymously.

The Church and Chicaneries have laid down their cudgels lately. I believe they finally realized they were drawing attention to their repugnant doctrine and personalities. When things are quiet, a lot is happening. Beware - They will not give up their power and purloined loot with grace and dignity.

On the positive side, I suggest writing individual letters of support for the Synod President, plus whatever can be mustered by the council or voters. Those letters should be widely circulated and mailed to President Schroeder. One letter is worth 10, because for every letter actually written, 9 people think about doing so and do not.

What Would Luther Do?

Martin Luther

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Concerned Laity in WELS Cannot Get a Break":

I've already quietly put my hat the ring to go the convention this summer.

It's up to you other men to man up to your responsibilities to your faith. Go ahead and watch the movie, "Luther" then try to complain about having to spend a few days in Saginaw.

Good men and women *died* to build the Lutheran church and proclaim the Gospel message. Keep that in mind as you plan your relaxing summer vacation.

***

GJ - The Saginaw convention will be packed with Church and Chicanery supporters: its odious board, The Love Shack staff, and covert operatives like Don Patterson. They were once led by Wayne Mueller, but he fled the scene. Alas, Wayne is forgotten but not gone.

If the pastors and laity cannot stand up to blatant false doctrine, they will continue to reap the price of their apathy. The Church and Chicaneries have bled the synod dry with their special projects, meeting, and over-priced staff.

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Sound Doctrine


"Since now, in the sight of God and of all Christendom [the entire Church of Christ], we wish to testify to those now living and those who shall come after us that this declaration herewith presented concerning all the controverted articles aforementioned and explained, and no other, is our faith, doctrine, and confession, in which we are also willing, by God's grace, to appear with intrepid hearts before the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, and give an account of it; and that we will neither privately nor publicly speak or write anything contrary to it, but, by the help of God's grace, intend to abide thereby: therefore, after mature deliberation, we have, in God's fear and with the invocation of His name, attached our signatures with our own hands."
Thorough Declaration, Of Other Factions and Sects, Formula of Concord, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1103.



"'If there ever was a strictly conservative body, it surely is the Missouri Synod. Nevertheless, this growth!...It is a mark of the pastors and leaders of the Missouri Synod that they never, aye, never, tire of discussing doctrine on the basis of Scripture and the Confessions. That is one trait that may be called the spirit of Missouri. People who thus cling to doctrine and contend for its purity are of an entirely different nature from the superficial unionists who in the critical moment will declare five to be an even number. God will bless all who value His Word so highly.'" (Dr. Lenski, Kirchenzeitung, May 20, 1922)
cited in W. A. Baepler, "Doctrine, True and False," The Abiding Word, ed., Theodore Laetsch, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, II, p. 515f.

"We should not consider the slightest error against the Word of God unimportant."
What Luther Says , An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 637.

"Error and heresy must come into the world so that the elect may become approved and manifest. Their coming is in the best interests of Christians if they take the proper attitude toward it. St. Augustine, who certainly was sufficiently annoyed by wretched sectaries, says that when heresy and offense come, they produce much benefit in Christendom; for they cause Christians industriously to read Holy Scriptures and with diligence to pursue it and persevere in its study. Otherwise they might let it lie on the shelf, become very secure, and say: Why, God's Word and the text of Scripture are current and in our midst; it is not necessary for us to read Holy Scripture."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 639.

“You cannot of a truth be for true doctrine without being unalterably opposed to false doctrine. There can be no 'positive theology' where the God-given negatives have been eliminated from the Decalog."
Norman A. Madson, Preaching to Preachers, Mankato: Lutheran Synod Book Company, 1952. Preface.

Catastrophic Decline in Income - WELS SP

Everyone thought SecTreas Paulson was an idiot, but the new Secretary is a tax cheat who will raise everyone's taxes.

The financial challenge before us
From the office of President Mark Schroeder

"I will be with you, to the very end of the age." With those words, Jesus gave his sure and unchanging promise that he would be with his people as they carry out the mission he had just given them. Those words, as familiar as they are, need to fill our thoughts and hearts as our nation and the world struggle with growing economic problems, and as we address some of the most difficult financial challenges our synod has faced in many years.


This newsletter was begun 18 months ago as a way to provide information to you that is both current and accurate. As we've tried to share with you both the good news and the bad, the information has changed rapidly and repeatedly. In recent weeks, the latest information of one week became outdated by the next. Plans based on yesterday's information have had to be adjusted to fit today's new realities.

The new reality is, by any measure, very difficult. We are faced with the simple and painful fact that the level of funding available to support our synod's mission and ministry will be significantly less in the next two years than it is today. While support from congregations has been commendable and steady in these difficult times, expected support from other sources has dropped significantly. The blunt reality is that we will need to reduce our synod's budget by approximately $8 million, from about $38 million today to approximately $30 million in the next fiscal year. When the Synodical Council presents a balanced budget to the convention in July, which it is required by the constitution to do, significant reductions will need to be made in all areas of our synod's work.

All areas of ministry have been asked to determine and describe how reductions will be made and the impact they will have. We will begin by sharply reducing the administrative costs across the synod, including significant staffing reductions. We are working to identify one-time expenditures that can be delayed, reduced, or eliminated. From there, areas of ministry will also need to plan for significant reductions in the size and scope of their ministries. There is no sugar-coating this situation. The reductions will be deep and they will be painful; all areas will be affected. The current situation will require us to evaluate everything we do, determine our programs in keeping with expected funding and the synod's stated priorities, and focus on the essential programs that can be retained. We will need to do less than we are doing now; whatever we continue to do, we will need to do it better and more efficiently.

Our desire to proclaim the gospel to more and more people has led us to adopt ambitious plans across the synod. That is a noble goal, but we have often looked to support those plans on anticipated gifts from foundations, individuals, and other sources. We are now in a situation where some of those large gifts have been suddenly reduced. As commendable as our plans may have been, we simply do not have the financial means to continue at the same level as before.

Determining where those reductions in mission and ministry are to be made will be extremely difficult, since every current program is valuable and important. On the positive side of this, the cuts—while very difficult and painful—will require us to plan our mission and ministry at a level that is sustainable with the ongoing funding available to us. Faithful stewardship of God's resources demands that we plan in this way.

For that reason, the Synodical Council will not simply be wrestling with the short-term reduction in the budget. It will also be looking to the need for providing long-term stability to our finances. The Synodical Council will be considering at least one proposal to achieve this goal. This proposal for long-term stability will not enable us to avoid difficult cuts now, but it will seek to provide a new approach to budgeting and planning that will greatly reduce the likelihood of a similar situation occurring in the future. One main element of the proposal is a commitment to planning our ongoing ministry based primarily on our most stable source of funding (Congregation Mission Offerings) and using large donations from other sources for one-time or limited-time programs. All ideas to provide long-term financial stability will be explored.

Because the funding situation changed so suddenly, the Synodical Council will not be able to adopt a complete budget recommendation at its February meeting. Adoption of a final budget and the reductions it will require will need to wait until April, in order to give areas of ministry the time to adjust their plans and programs. For that reason, the Conference of Presidents has agreed that the Book of Reports and Memorials, which contains the budget recommendation and all other business that will be considered at the synod convention in July, will be published somewhat later than normal. The plan is to have the information in the Book of Reports and Memorials available electronically in time for district conferences in June. The published book will be in the hands of convention delegates a few weeks later.

In all of these challenges, we remain confident that God is using these circumstances somehow to bless his believers and to benefit his church. We continue to place our trust in him, and we pray that God would use these difficult times to unite us more closely with him and with each other.

Serving in Christ,
Mark Schroeder

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GJ - Early 2009 will look good compared to the end of the year. The house of cards is still falling down. Everyone in retirement age or nearing retirement has lost a ton of money from the global financial meltdown. Therefore, giving will be much weaker from now on. I think synods will have to prepare Depression-era budgets: no frills, no junkets, no Church and Changers.

Luther on Justification by Faith

The Church of Rome hated justification by faith, so they liked portraying Luther as a seven-headed monster. Church Shrinkers always begin by attacking Lutheran doctrine and worship. They love justification without faith (UOJ) because it serves their apostate, market-driven ideology.

From the Baker Book House set of Luther’s Sermons – 8 volumes.

Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 5, p.211 Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity, (p.222) “25. Therefore it is necessary that we rightly learn to know this treasure, and seek forgiveness where it may be found; that is, that we thoroughly learn to know, comprehend, and keep the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is ordained that no one shall come into God’s presence, find grace, nor obtain forgiveness of the least sin except through Christ. Because you are a sinner, and will always remain one, your conscience is ever present, condemns and threatens you with God’s wrath and punishment, so that you cannot see the grace of God.”

“28. The third thought is how and by what means we may appropriate such righteousness, so that we may receive the treasure acquired by Christ. Here also we need to give heed that we take the right way, and not make the mistake, which certain heretics have made in times past, and many erroneous minds still set forth, who think that God ought to do something special with them. These imagine that God will deal separately with each one by some special internal light and mysterious revelation, and give him the Holy Ghost, as though there was no need of the written Word or the external sermon. Consequently we are to know that God has ordained that no one shall come to the knowledge of Christ, nor obtain the forgiveness acquired by him, nor receive the Holy Ghost, without the use of external and public means; but God has embraced this treasure in the oral word or public ministry, and will not perform his work in a corner or mysteriously in the heart, but will have it heralded and distributed openly among the people, even as Christ commands, Mark 16,15: Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, etc.”

“30. Therefore this part also, namely the external word or preaching, belongs to Christianity as a channel or means through which we attain unto forgiveness of sins, or the righteousness of Christ, with which Christ reveals and offers us his grace or lays it into our bosom, and without which no one would ever come to a knowledge of this treasure. For whence should any man know, or in what man’s heart would it ever come, that Christ, the Son of God, came from heaven for our sake, died for us, and rose from the dead, acquired the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and offers the same to us, without publicly having it announced and preached? And although he acquired this treasure for us through his suffering and death, no one could obtain or receive it, if Christ did not have it offered, presented and applied. And al that he had done and suffered would be to no purpose, but would be like some great and precious treasure buried in the earth, which no one could find or make use of. “

“31. Therefore I have always taught that the oral word must precede every thing else, must be comprehended with the ears, if the Holy Ghost is to enter the heart, who through the Word enlightens it and works faith. Consequently faith does not come except through the hearing and oral preaching of the Gospel, in which it has its beginning, growth and strength. For this reason the Word must not be despised, but held in honor. We must familiarize and acquaint ourselves with it, and constantly practice it, so that it never ceases to bear fruit; for it can never be understood and learned too well. Let every man beware of the shameless fellows who have no more respect for the Word than if it were unnecessary for faith; or of those who think they know it all, become tired of it, eventually fall from it, and retain nothing of faith or of Christ.”

“32. Behold, here you have all that belongs to this article of the righteousness of Christ. It consists in the forgiveness of sins, offered to us through Christ, and received by faith in and through the Word, purely and simply without any works on our part. Yet I do not mean that Christians should not and must not do good works, but that they are not to be mingled and entwined in the doctrine of faith, and decorated with the shameless delusion that they avail before God as righteousness, whereby both the doctrine of works and of faith are besmirched and destroyed. For everything possible must be done to keep this article pure, unadulterated and separate from all our own doings. But after we have this righteousness by faith, works are to follow and continue here on earth, so that there may be civil righteousness, and that both be maintained, each in its proper place, but separate in their nature and efficacy, -- the former before God in faith over and above all works, the latter works in love to our neighbor, as we said plainly enough above and always taught.”

Memorials for Robert Marshall, LCA President

Left to right: LCMS President Jack Preus, some other guy, LCA President Robert Marshall, Jack Preus' first cousin - ALC President David Preus.
The Preus clan originated in Berlin, Prussia,
but one branch moved to Scandihoovia.


ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 6, 2009

Lutheran Memorials Celebrate the Life of Former President Robert Marshall
09-038-FI

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Memorials have been planned to celebrate the life of the Rev. Robert J. Marshall, biblical scholar and president of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), who died Dec. 22 in Allentown, Pa. He was 90. A funeral was held Jan. in Burlington, Iowa.

In 1962 Marshall was elected president of the LCA Illinois Synod, and six years later he was elected president of the LCA. During his decade as LCA president, groundwork was set for that church's merger with the American Lutheran Church and Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1987 to form the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

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CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert J. Marshall, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), biblical scholar and president of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), died Dec. 22 in Allentown, Pa. He was 90.

Funeral plans are being made in Burlington, Iowa, and memorials are being planned for 2009 in Allentown and across the United States.

In 1962 Marshall was elected president of the LCA Illinois Synod, and six years later he was elected president of the LCA. During his decade as LCA president, the groundwork was set for that church's merger with the American Lutheran Church and Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1987 to form the ELCA.

Marshall "became one of those giants among Lutheran leaders who served in the 20th century," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop.

"The years do pass quickly. Leaders are called by the church and serve during their particular time, but their contributions should not be forgotten. We now remember such a leader -- a leader who showed grace, dignity, dedication, courage and vision as a faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ," Hanson said in a tribute to Marshall.

Born in Burlington, Marshall graduated from Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, and the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary, Maywood, Ill. He earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago and, during his professional life, received 15 honorary doctorates.

Ordained in 1944 in the Wartburg Synod of the former United Lutheran Church in America, he served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Alhambra, Calif.

One of Marshall's confirmands in Alhambra went on to become the ELCA's second presiding bishop. "I will always remember him as 'Pastor Marshall,'" said the Rev. H. George Anderson, Decorah, Iowa.

"He was indeed a shepherd -- vigilant, hard-working and always accountable to his Master. He led, he taught, he challenged," Anderson said. "I am grateful for all he gave to me and to this church."

In 1947 Marshall joined the faculty of Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., as an instructor in religion. He became head of the religion department in 1952. From 1953 to 1962 he was a professor of Old Testament at Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary (now the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago), and he served as a visiting professor at the American School of Oriental Research, Jerusalem, before his election as LCA Illinois Synod president.

Marshall was director of the Office on Mission, Service and Development, Lutheran World Ministries, New York. After his service as LCA Illinois Synod president and LCA president, from 1981 to 1988 Marshall was professor of Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., before returning to LSTC as an adjunct professor of Old Testament. Marshall also served LSTC as senior scholar in residence and director for its Center for Global Ministries.

"Dr. Marshall was a faithful, impressive and skilled Lutheran leader as a pastor, seminary professor, synod president, and as president of the LCA. Perhaps less well known is that Dr. Marshall was both a son of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and a steadfast supporter," said the Rev. James K. Echols, LSTC president.

"Throughout his life he gave consistently to The Annual Fund, even as several endowed student scholarships were established in his honor," Echols said of Marshall. In 2001 LSTC established the Robert J. Marshall Graduate Fellowship to create an endowment in the master of theology and doctor of philosophy degree programs.

Marshall served as vice president of the Lutheran World Federation, as chairman of Lutheran World Relief and Church World Service, and as a member of the Commission for a New Lutheran Church and the ELCA Church Council, the board of the Wheat Ridge Foundation and the executive committee of the World Council of Churches.

Marshall is preceded in death by his wife Alice Hepner Marshall. He is survived by their two children: Robert E. Marshall and the Rev. Margaret A. (Peggy) Niederer, Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Leonia, N.J.

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GJ - I met David Preus and Jack Preus, but I knew Robert Preus best of those pictured above. Robert Mashall sat next to me at a Michigan Synod, LCA convention. He offered constant patter about his favorite left-wing causes. Marshall was the Illinois president who asked me years before if Salem, Moline, used the Votum. I was new to the Lutheran liturgy and had no idea what the Votum was.

Various articles say Marshall earned a PhD from the University of Chicago. I think that is an error. Wikipedia even changes his last name to Kaufman midway in their article. I wrote to Marshall when I was working on my dissertation. His letter hinted that the dissertation was the point where his degree stopped. He never used PhD on his letterhead and no one claimed he had one during his active career, as far as I know. Did he go back and finish? That is possible but unlikely.

Marshall's devotion to social activism doomed the LCA. His next-in-command considered Marshall an idiot who destroyed the synod in 10 years. Marshall chose not to run again because he would have been defeated. His next gig was working with WELS and Missouri as head of Lutheran World Relief, which also got involved in social activism. Imagine that.

Franklin C. Fry (ULCA, then LCA president - Mr. Lutheran) chose Marshall as his successor. Fry would not even discuss women's ordination. As soon as Marshall took over, he changed the LCA constitution to allow women's ordination. That opened the doors for abortion and gay activism. Mrs. Ichabod and I knew Franklin D. Fry (President Fry's son) fairly well from his connections with the Michigan Synod, attendance at retreats.

Franklin C. Fry led a constant campaign against the inerrancy of the Bible in his ULCA days. He was very effective. The ALC did the same as soon as they were formed in the 1960s. Franklin D. Fry was a liberal social activist, using old Social Gospel bromides, but he refused to let his congregation sponsor a Masonic Lodge meeting. He said, "If it is held here, I will resign as pastor." The congregation withdrew its sponsorship of the lodge gathering.

Let Me Guess What ELCA Will Say

John Travolta congratulted Kirk Douglas on a recent award.
Imagine future ELCA ordinations.

ELCA ready to issue stance on gay ordination

By JEFF STRICKLER, Star Tribune

Last update: February 13, 2009 - 2:47 PM

The battle lines are about to be drawn for this summer's confrontation over the ordination of gay people by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

With the matter scheduled for a vote at the biannual national convention in Minneapolis in August, church leaders will release a position paper Thursday that is expected to indicate their stance on the issue.

This is the second public step in a process that began in 2001 when the ELCA Churchwide Assembly commissioned a social statement on human sexuality.

A draft version of that study, "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust," was released last March and distributed to congregations for reaction. That report, which did not take a stand on gay ordination, also will be released in a revised version that incorporates members' comments.

But the main focus is going to be on the second document, which will address recommendations for possible changes in the standards for clergy and professional lay workers in the ELCA.

Fifty WELS Pastors Still Think Highly of Luther

Remember me from catechism class?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Review of Deutschlander's The Theology of the Cros...":

Perhaps it might warm your heart to know that there are roughly 50 or so pastors attending a 1 1/2 day seminar by Professor Deutschlander on the topic "How Luther Became Lutheran". Even though you may not think so, there are still many pastors who think highly of Luther and his works.

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GJ - This two-sentence response to a long, thoughtful, and positive review of Deutschlander has two snide remarks in it. Too bad the author forgot to sign his name.

I post material for the pastors and laity who do appreciate Luther. Unfortunately, WELS provides a lot of comic relief. For example, since we are on the subject, Pastor James Skorzewski (aka Ski) bragged in his blog that he saw Deutschlander in Atlanta. The professor emeritus was there to speak at a WELS conference. Ski was there to kneel at the feet of Babtist Andy Stanley. Ski even admitted to Deutschlander that he chose whoopee-worship over a gathering of his fellow pastors.

If 50 WELS pastors applied the lessons of Luther and rebuked false doctrine, there would be a dramatic change in the synod. There is something in Paul about that too, usually read at ordinations. Paul does not say - rebuke those who think Holy Mother Synod is less than perfect.

KJV 2 Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.


Ski: "Wait til I tell Andy Stanley I have 20 sub-woofers
behind the movie screen!"

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fifty WELS Pastors Still Think Highly of Luther":

So it's acceptable for you to include snide remarks in your postings, but it is somehow unacceptable for people who comment to include snide remarks? Makes perfect sense...

And let me guess...you're going to pull out the "They don't have the right to post snide remarks because they don't publish their name" card.

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GJ - Somebody has tender toes.

The laity are seeing what the pastors are like when they can hide behind anonymity. I eager to see the fruit of Deutschlander's labors in the work of the pastors, as they finally bring an end to the Emergent Church apostasy promoted by WELS officials at The Love Shack. Remember, folks, Church and Change was funded by your offering money.