Monday, July 6, 2009

Joe Krohn - The Bitter Fruit of Church and Chicanery



Rock and the Cradle Roll at Christ The Rock Lutheran Church


Joe Krohn has left another Enthusiastic comment on your post "Try To Keep Up with The Finkelsteinery":

TWANG!!!!!

You are are a legend in your own mind.

There's only one thing worse than a snooty theologian and that's a snooty music buff. Your put down of anything that you don't like means:

a. You compensate for your insecurities by dissing 'bad' music and hopefully make yourself feel better. How's that workin' for ya?

b. You are obviously a non-musician. Go and tell Joe Satriani that anybody can do what he does. Stick to what you know, bad theology. Go here for good theology:

http://ichabodthegloryisdeparted.blogspot.com/

c. You are a frustrated musician who realizes you just can't hack it. I have heard you sing. I don't think you could carry a tune in a bucket. :)

Joe Krohn, VP Patterson's buddy, former member of CrossWalk, Phoenix (fading, fading), currently a member of Rock N Roll in Round Rock (fading, fading), ex-blogger for Rock N Roll.

***

GJ - Where's the love, Joe? I am glad Chicaneries know so much about everyone, without meeting them, without asking questions, or without being polite. I enjoy featuring caustic and erroneous remarks from their hive. Joe is the only one who signs his name or initials. He may have posted anonymously besides. He did a lot of bragging on the C and C listserve, not realizing my stupendous sigint operation.

My did the Chicaneries howl about being quoted! I would be ashamed too, if I got caught being so Schwaermer.

I realize that Chicaneries are jealous because I can enjoy world outreach without fat grants. Meanwhile, they fail with fat grants and excessive CG training. Maybe they should trust the Word and have their ministers give original sermons.

At least I have Joe exposed to a good blog with excellent Lutheran quotations, fine Christian hymns, and original sermons. We even celebrate Lent, Advent, and Ascension Day with worship services.

Joe has listened to our services, too. He has correctly stated that my singing voice is terrible. That is because I almost lost my voice completely at one time. The Cleveland Clinic doctor was not sure I would even talk again. But being a bad singer does not keep me from a long history of studying music, playing classical music, and appreciating good music.

I have yet to see Joe's qualifications for judging Lutheran worship or theology. Perhaps the Holy Spirit enlightens him directly.

I suspected that Joe set up the fake Ichabod blog, but the format is so poor that I am wavering. Clearly someone with bruised toes about UOJ and CG has chosen to expose his dreadful training to the world - but anonymously. Ha.


This Fuller-trained Church Shrinker Could Be the Next First Veep of WELS



Second VP of the Synod, James Huebner is surrounded by a cloud of witnesses - all the Church Growth gurus followed by Church and Change. As a long-term CG Enthusiast, would Huebner be a faithful Lutheran leader?

ID of false teachers who are outside the framework of fellowship and therefore good to pay for books, videos, sermons, conferences, and joint worship - Top row from left: The mask is Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill, Seattle; then Okie Craig Groeschel of Life Church; the cheerful Babtist is Ed Stetzer, now much slimmer; the white-haired guy with the goatee is Pentecostal Babtist C. Peter Wagner; the black and white goatee photo is Donald McGavran, Disciples of Christ, Planned Parenthood advocate; to his right is another goatee - Leonard Newman, New Age Methodist and C/C keynoter; Snuggling Huebner's face is Bill Hybels, Willow Creek, where many WELS pastors have been trained with mission funds; Below McGavran and Hybels is Andy Stanley, Babtist leader of Drive 09, 10, etc - trainer of champeens like Ski, Glende, Katie, and many more WELS workers. Obscured by Huebner is Catholic Archbishop R. Weakland, featured speaker at Wisconsin Lutheran College, home of Church and Chicanery.


Ichabodians may recall that James Huebner, Paul Calvin Kelm, and Larry (Our Staph Infection) Olson have served a Church Growth consultants throughout WELS. Huebner even brags about it on his websty.

Jackson: "Where were you trained to be a consultant?"

Huebner, gulping: "Fuller Seminary."

I remember a pastor advising me that Larry Olson was a harmless heretic and Huebner was in a position without power. Unfortunately, clever apostates drift into place over the years. Some may think they can beat up the Shrinkers and let Huebner have a position as a sop to apostates' wounded feelings. The Shrinkers do howl so fearsomely.

But that would be a mistake, telling the fed-up laity that doctrine does not matter after all. Huebner's anti-Lutheran statements have been overshadowed by the ridiculous errors of Kelm, Olson, Valleskey, and Radloff, but Huebner is just as toxic.

Here is a sample:

"'Church growth.' I've seen people cringe when they hear those words. I think I know why. They react negatively because they feel 'church growth' implies an obsessive fixation with numbers and statistics."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p. 178.

"We can't do a thing to make his Word more effective. But surely we can detract from its effectiveness by careless errors and poor judgment. It just makes good sense to utilize all of our God-given talents, to scour the field for appropriate ideas, concepts, and material (sic), to implement programs, methods, and techniques so that we do not detract from the effectiveness of the gospel we proclaim. Church growth articles, books, seminars, and conferences can offer such ideas and programs."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p 178.



Are words necessary?


Try To Keep Up with The Finkelsteinery



Wanted - real church musicians.


The Finkelsteinery is very active in providing worship and music insights.

I do not know who he is. I judge contributors by their writing. I was impressed with his work on Bailing Water and quoted him often. I am happy about his blogging.

We should not be shocked that the Chicaneries who promote bad theology would also feature bad music.

I was teaching a humanities course and growing weary of the promotion of rock music by some members of the class. I told them rock was a field where little talent was required. I did my imitation of a rock musician, with a loud "Twang!" and a scream. They asked for repeats and laughed.

They had to agree that most members of a symphony orchestra could play rock if they wanted. They also admitted that very few rock musicians could join a symphony orchestra.

The next week I brought my Bose radio-CD player to class. We were on the second floor, accessible only by elevator. I put Pachebel's Canon on, very loud. A Bose unit can easily push sound through walls without distorting the music. The rock fans walked into class in shock. They heard the music inside the elevator. "What is that?" Many members of the class wrote down the name so they could obtain a copy. They loved it.

Click here for a serious version of the Canon.

Click here for a funny rant about the Canon.

I like popular music, from country to bubble gum, but the greatest music is classical, 95% of my diet. Lutherans are letting go of a great hymn tradition - orthodox hymns of praise wedded to music Bach chose to feature in many of his works.

Freddy Finkelsteinis posting hymns on his blog. Norman Teigen got me posting the embed code. Thanks to You Tube, we can watch the most dreadful music videos - or the best.


Anonymice Plan Next Morale Boosting Conference - Pietism Reignited



Those who "get it" will meet at the
Drive 10 Babtist Worship Conference.
Eight WELS pastors and Katie attended the last one.
Who paid the bill?


Pieper on Pietism

J-756

"In so far as Pietism did not point poor sinners directly to the means of grace, but led them to reflect on their own inward state to determine whether their contrition was profound enough and their faith of the right caliber, it actually denied the complete reconciliation by Christ (the satisfactio vicaria), robbed justifying faith of its true object, and thus injured personal Christianity in its foundation and Christian piety in its very essence."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 175.

Hoenecke on Pietism

J-757

"Wohl scheint auf den ersten Blick die ganze Differenz recht unbedeutend; aber in Wahrheit gibt sich hier die gefaehrliche Richtung der Pietisten zu erkennen, das Leben ueber die Lehre, die Heiligung ueber die Rechtfertigung und die Froemmigkeit nicht als Folge, sondern als Bedingung der Erleuchtung zu setzen also eine Art Synergismus und Pelagianismus einzufuehren. (At first glance, the total difference seems absolutely paltry, but in truth the dangerous direction of Pietism is made apparent: life over doctrine, sanctification over justification, and piety not as a consequence but declared as a stipulation of enlightenment, leading to a kind of synergism and Pelagianism.)"
Adolf Hoenecke, Evangelische-Lutherische Dogmatik, 4 vols., ed., Walter and Otto Hoenecke, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1912, III, p. 253.

Walther on Pietism

J-758

"What may be the reason why the Pietists, who were really well-intentioned people, hit upon the doctrine that no one could be a Christian unless he had ascertained the exact day and hour of his conversion? The reason is that they imagined a person must suddenly experience a heavenly joy and hear an inner voice telling him that he had been received into grace and had become a child of God. Having conceived this notion of the mode and manner of conversion, they were forced to declare that a person must be able to name the day and hour when he was converted, became a new creature, received forgiveness of sins, and was robed in the righteousness of Christ. However, we have already come to understand in part what a great, dangerous, and fatal error this is."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 194f. Thesis IX.

"'Pay more attention to pure life, and you will raise a growth of genuine Christianity.' That is exactly like saying to a farmer: 'Do not worry forever about good seed; worry about good fruits.' Is not a farmer properly concerned about good fruit when he is solicitous about getting good seed? Just so a concern about pure doctrine is the proper concern about genuine Christianity and a sincere Christian life. False doctrine is noxious seed, sown by the enemy to produce a progeny of wickedness. The pure doctrine is wheat-seed; from it spring the children of the Kingdom, who even in the present life belong in the kingdom of Jesus Christ and in the life to come will be received into the Kingdom of Glory."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 21.

J-759

"Meanwhile, back in Europe the corrosive effects of Pietism in blurring doctrinal distinctions had left much of Lutheranism defenseless against the devastating onslaught of Rationalism which engulfed the continent at the beginning of the 19th century. With human reason set up as the supreme authority for determining truth, it became an easy matter to disregard doctrinal differences and strive for a 'reasonable' union of Lutherans and Reformed."
Martin W. Lutz, "God the Holy Spirit Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 176.

GJ - If the reader has a good grasp of the Reformed rejection of the Means of Grace, then this section will explain how Pietism served as the midwife to deliver Reformed doctrines into the Lutheran Church. This is a key area, because the Church Growth serpents use Pietism as their litmus test. If a Lutheran has a favorable view of Pietism, he can be depended upon to be a supporter of cell groups, subjectivism, heart religion (with no connection to the brain), revivals, lay or staff ministers, Seeker Services, unionism, and judging success by outward appearances. All positive references to a heart religion are a signal that the speaker has a heart and is loving, in contrast with the cold, heartless orthodox who make sound doctrine the priority. If a Lutheran criticizes Pietism, then he can be safely described as an enemy of the Church Growth Movement.

Characteristics of Lutheran Pietism:

The characteristics of Lutheran Pietism are:

1. Doctrinal indifference. Pietists are annoyed and infuriated by doctrinal discernment.

2. Unionism. We find an unseemly zeal in Pietists to have all manner of denominations in religious projects together. Some examples are James Tiefel’s pan-denominational worship conference, Bethany College having a Roman Catholic bishop as a featured speaker, and Wisconsin Lutheran College aping Bethany by promoting Roman Catholic Archbishop Weakland as a special speaker, along with other Roman Catholic priests![34] The Missouri Synod has featured ELCA women pastors preaching in their pulpits, always with a feeble and toothless response.

3. Lay led cell groups. According to Pietists, this is the real church. They feverishly promote cell groups under a variety of names: home Bible study, prayer, koinonia, care or share groups. Lutheran Pietists need congregations to support their work, but they regard those who attend cell group meetings as the only genuine members. Waldo Werning and Kent Hunter, both listed in Who’s Who in Church Growth, heavily promoted cell groups in the Missouri Synod and WELS. Cell groups manufacture disciples, they claim.

4. The ordination of women. Cell groups have by-passed normal synodical restrictions on women teaching men and usurping authority. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, introduced Serendipity cell groups in the 1980s with a husband and wife leading the sessions. Soon the husband disappeared. Then, when a man questioned how the group was being managed, the woman snarled at him, “I’m in charge here.”

5. Promotion of Reformed publications. Look up the Northwestern Publishing House website and look at the evangelism books. Examine the reading list for the Missouri Synod’s evangelism committees and synodical commission. Read the Church of the Lutheran Confession’s While There Is Day. Study footnotes in evangelism books. You will find the muddy footprints of the Reformed. You will not find these characters promoting orthodox Lutheran authors.[35]

6. Spiritual gifts inventory. Lutheran leaders borrowed this from the Pentecostals, dreaming that it would beef up their congregation’s size.[36]

7. Denigration of the ministry, worship, and the Sacraments. Everyone is a minister, so the divinely called pastor becomes a hireling to manage cell groups. Worship must generate fuzzy feelings, so the Law/Gospel sermon, the liturgy, creeds, pipe organ, and vestments must go. Baptism can remain for now, but Holy Communion is pushed into the background as an obstacle.

Reading Habits:

Recently, someone took an informal survey about the reading habits of Lutheran clergy. The pastors who hated the Church Growth Movement read the Triglotta, the King James Version, Luther, Walther, and other confessional writers. The pastors who loved the Church Growth Movement read the NIV and books by Reformed authors. The genius of Pietism is that it can inject itself into a Lutheran body slowly while allowing the membership to think they are still Lutherans. When one WELS pastor was newly ordained in WELS, he looked at my library in astonishment. He said, “You really have a Lutheran library. Most of us have lots of Reformed books.” I asked why. “Because they were required reading at Mequon.” For that reason I have tried to get pastors to read kosher, to expend energy on Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Chytraeus, and to sing kosher, using hymns by Luther, Selnecker, Jacobs, Loy, Gerhardt, and Nicolai.

I would like to take credit for inventing one new doctrinal term in the Lutheran Church: the non-reciprocity of false teachers. The Reformed do not promote Lutheran books and Lutheran doctrine at their seminaries, headquarters, and congregations, so Lutherans should not promote Reformed doctrine and books at any time. If Lutherans enforced this one rule, God would bless their work once again. I am outraged when so-called Lutheran presses publish and promote Reformed works.[37] Lutherans must also write in such a way that no one doubts their trust in the Means of Grace, even when they happen to publish with non-Lutheran presses. I understand the temptation to submerge Lutheran doctrine, because I could publish books in Grand Rapids and make a lot of money if I only suppressed infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, the Real Presence, and the efficacy of the Word. I could write around these subjects if I wanted to follow the example of Lutheran leaders today. However, I cannot write anything religious and surgically remove those doctrines that give eternal life to me and my family.

Weaknesses of Pietism:

J-760

"Pietism greatly weakened the confessional consciousness which was characteristic of orthodox Lutheranism."
Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1945.

Jacob Spener published his Pia Desideria (Pious Wishes) in 1675 when he was 40 years old. The famous book was simply an essay, published as a preface to one of J. Arndt’s sermon books. Spener had the advantage of a free promotional ride in a very popular and respected book. Much later, Arndt was still regarded as highly as Luther, so Spener had the benefit of this association. The Muhlenberg tradition regarded Pietism favorably, but the Missouri Synod did not. Nevertheless, for all the sound criticism aimed at Pietists by name in Law and Gospel, Walther did not name Spener in his classic work. Although I am guessing, I believe that Walther spared Spener because of the man’s iconic stature in the Lutheran Church. Spener’s proposals in Pia Desideria are summarized by Heick below.

J-761

“It contains six proposals for a reformation of the Church:

(1) a more diligent study of the Bible;

(2) a more serious application of Luther’s doctrine of the general priesthood of all believers;

(3) confession of Christ by deed rather than a fruitless search after theological knowledge;

(4) prayer for unbelievers and erring Christians rather than useless dogmatic disputations;

(5) reform of the theological curriculum with emphasis on personal piety;

(6) devotional arrangement of sermons instead of formal arrangement after the manner of rhetoric.”

Otto W. Heick, A History of Christian Thought, two volumes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, II, p. 21f.



Pastor Mark Jeske offered almost the same program of Pietistic reform in the Wisconsin Synod, when he addressed a conference:

J-762

Here are the top ten areas of our ministries in which I would like to see changed.

1. Myself. I trust God too little....

2. We don't prize our synod and our ministry relationships enough....Our called workers at 2929 will tell you that they take a lot more abuse than encouragement.

3. We need to loosen up....Our public worship/praise/prayer style seems stiff, overly formal, unemotional, smotheringly doctrinal. I personally do not think that our synod in general has a good balance of head & heart in our worship life. There. I said it.

4. Our schools are not being fully utilized to draw unchurched people into the fellowship.

5. We need to love cities more.

6. We need to welcome diversity, prize new racial groups and the cultural and ministry treasures that they bring. New people groups coming in to the WELS will not pollute our "pure" (quotation marks in the original) Lutheran practices. but enrich them.

7. We need a little more sanity and calm in our discussions of church fellowship. Things I can't stand:

· Assigning a seminary professor a paper and then letting all applications and conclusions become canon law instead of each of us getting into Word [sic] personally.

· passing off crude oversimplification as WELS canon law, such as, "You can't pray with anybody who is not WELS," or "if anyone rejects a clear word of God, he is in rebellion against the most High God and you can't be sure that he/she is really saved.

· We have a very highly developed sense of what we can't do with other Christians, to the point that it is safer to have nothing to do with other Christians. We lack the positive side of dealing with other Christians in practical ways.

8. I think we need a little more sanity in dealing with men/women role issues in the church....sometimes the WELS position is described as asserting male headship in all relationships: in family, church and society. Scripture speaks only of the first two areas, and so should we.

9. We need to declare a moratorium on negative comments about public schools. It is possible to be proud of our WELS system without running down Milwaukee Public Schools. There are many wonderful educational programs and innovations happening in MPS that we would do well to study and learn from.

10. There is a price that we have paid for our unity of practice in the WELS, and that is we have only each other as ministry models. We have many weak areas of ministry, such as in cities, and need to get around more to learn from other successful ministries even if they're not WELS. It is not helpful if our attempts to learn from other Christians is ridiculed as "sitting at the feet of the Reformed" or "capitulating to the papacy.”

Remarks delivered at a conference on March 3, 2000 by Rev. Mark Jeske, vice-president of WELS' Southeastern Wisconsin District.

Heick called Spener the “first union theologian.”[38] Spener rejected Calvin’s double predestination but accepted his view of the Lord’s Supper. The Pietists also rejected baptismal regeneration so the effect of the movement was to keep Lutherans as nominal Lutherans while they embraced Enthusiasm and worked actively with the Reformed.[39] Some people will argue with this claim, but I am willing to say that American Christianity is inherently the religion of Pietism and that includes Roman Catholicism as well. True, one can find all kinds of distinctions that fill the pages of dissertations and journal articles. However, look at the history of American Christianity in the last two centuries and see if it is not within the pattern of Pietism, a fact which will become more obvious when this section is studied. As Patsy Leppien observed when writing What’s Going on Among the Lutherans?, it is difficult to describe Pietism and what is wrong with the movement. When Lutherans try to start a mission in the South, they are forced into this kind of argument, “The Southern Baptists are for prayer and against whiskey. We are for whiskey and against prayer.” That explains why Lutherans would rather join the Pietists than fight them. This is our history, America:

A. The German Lutherans and German Reformed tried to create a merger based on nationality rather than doctrine. Many congregations, including the Wisconsin Synod, began in this fashion.

B. The German merger failed to take place on a national scale, but the Evangelical Alliance sought to bring all Protestants together in the 19th century.

C. Revivalism has marked the American scene from the days of Whitefield.[40] The 20th century saw the hollow successes of Billy Sunday and Billy Graham.

D. American Pietism in the 19th century led to the union efforts of the more liberal denominations through the Federal Council of Churches, reorganized as the National Council of Churches when the FCC became too overtly Marxist.

E. Lutheran groups have often been as Pietistic as the Methodists, banning card playing, dancing, alcohol consumption, tobacco, theatre, movies, and insurance.

F. The most Pietistic groups in one generation become the most Unitarian in the next. ELCA’s Muhlenberg roots and Midwestern Scandinavian Pietism have collapsed into mindless activism.

G. All the mergers and pan-Christian efforts have been based upon teary-eyed emotional appeals. The American Lutheran Church Bishop David Preus, who established Holy Communion with the Reformed, admonished his audience not to “major in the minors.” He used the example of Lincoln telling his quarreling generals, “Gentleman, the enemy is over THERE.” One Lutheran leader used this story, full of enough holes to make a city slicker wonder: A little boy was lost in the fields. The entire town was called out and they could not find him in the tall rows of corn. Finally they joined hands and went down the rows together. They found him, too late. He was dead. The town leader cried out, “Why didn’t we join hands earlier?” The necessary, moist, heart-pounding conclusion was that Lutherans had to merge before someone died.[41] It is ironic that David Preus joined a host of former synod officials in howling about how the new ELCA leaders ruined their synod.

J-763

“Spener maintained that the doctrinal difference between the two churches of the Reformation, the Lutheran and the Reformed, was such that it should no longer exclude a mutual recognition in the faith. In this manner Spener and the Pietists in general did the spade work for the church unions of the nineteenth century.”
Otto W. Heick, A History of Christian Thought, two volumes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, II, p. 21f.

Got Grants?




Enthusiasm:

J-701

“And in those things which concern the spoken, outward Word, we must firmly hold that God grants His Spirit or grace to no one, except through or with the preceding outward Word, in order that we may [thus] be protected against the enthusiasts, i. e., spirits who boast that they have the Spirit without and before the Word, and accordingly judge Scripture or the spoken Word, and explain and stretch it at their pleasure, as Muenzer did, and many still do at the present day, who wish to be acute judges between the Spirit and the letter, and yet know not what they say or declare. For [indeed] the Papacy also is nothing but sheer enthusiasm, by which the Pope boasts that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart, and whatever he decides and commands with [in] his church is spirit and right, even though it is above and contrary to Scripture and the spoken Word."
Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, #3-4, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312. Heiser, p. 147.

J-702

"All this is the old devil and old serpent, who also converted Adam and Eve into enthusiasts, and led them from the outward Word of God to spiritualizing and self-conceit, and nevertheless he accomplished this through other outward words. Just as also our enthusiasts [at the present day] condemn the outward Word, and nevertheless they themselves are not silent, but they fill the world with their pratings and writings, as though, indeed, the Spirit could not come through the writings and spoken word of the apostles, but [first] through their writings and words he must come. Why [then] do not they also omit their own sermons and writings, until the Spirit Himself come to men, without their writings and before them, as they boast that He has come into them without the preaching of the Scriptures?"
Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, #5-6. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312f. Heiser, p. 147.

J-703

"In a word, enthusiasm inheres in Adam and his children from the beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin, power [life], and strength of all heresy, especially of that of the Papacy and Mahomet. Therefore we ought and must constantly maintain this point, that God does not wish to deal with us otherwise than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. It is the devil himself whatsoever is extolled as Spirit without the Word and Sacraments. For God wished to appear even to Moses through the burning bush and spoken Word; and no prophet, neither Elijah nor Elisha, received the Spirit without the Ten Commandments [or spoken Word]. Neither was John the Baptist conceived without the preceding word of Gabriel, nor did he leap in his mother's womb without the voice of Mary."
Smalcald Articles, VIII. Confession, #9-10 Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 497. Tappert, p. 313. Heiser, p. 147.

J-704

"Also, we reject and condemn the error of the Enthusiasts, who imagine that God without means, without the hearing of God's Word, also without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws men to Himself, and enlightens, justifies, and saves them."
Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article II, Free Will, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 789. Tappert, p. 471. Heiser, p. 219.

J-706

"He wants to teach you, not how the Spirit is to come to you but how you are to come to the Spirit, so that you learn how to float on the clouds and ride on the wind."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 916.

J-707

"Moreover, the declaration, John 6:44, that 'no one can come to Christ except the Father draw him,' is right and true. However, the Father will not do this without means, but has ordained for this purpose His Word and Sacraments as ordinary means and instruments; and it is the will neither of the Father nor of the Son that a man should not hear or should despise the preaching of His Word, and wait for the drawing of the Father without the Word and Sacraments."
Solid Declaration, Article XI, Election, #76, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1087. Tappert, p. 628f. Heiser, p. 292f.

John Calvin:

J-723

“Wherefore, with regard to the increase and confirmation of faith, I would remind the reader (though I think I have already expressed it in unambiguous terms), that in assigning this office to the sacraments, it is not as if I thought that there is a kind of secret efficacy perpetually inherent in them, by which they can of themselves promote or strengthen faith, but because our Lord has instituted them for the express purpose of helping to establish and increase our faith. The sacraments duly perform their office only when accompanied by the Spirit, the internal Master, whose energy alone penetrates the heart, stirs up the affections, and procures access for the sacraments into our souls. If He is wanting, the sacraments can avail us no more than the sun shining on the eyeballs of the blind, or sounds uttered in the ears of the deaf. Wherefore, in distributing between the Spirit and the sacraments, I ascribe the whole energy to Him, and leave only a ministry to them; this ministry, without the agency of the Spirit, is empty and frivolous, but when He acts within, and exerts His power, it is replete with energy. ..then, it follows, both that the sacraments do not avail one iota without the energy of the Holy Spirit; and that yet in hearts previously taught by that preceptor, there is nothing to prevent the sacraments from strengthening and increasing faith.”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970, I, p. 497. Also cited in Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 119. Institutes. IV.xiv.9.

J-724

“We must not suppose that there is some latent virtue inherent in the sacraments by which they, in themselves, confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon us, in the same way in which wine is drunk out of a cup, since the only office divinely assigned them is to attest and ratify the benevolence of the Lord towards us; and they avail no farther than accompanied by the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts, and make us capable of receiving this testimony, in which various distinguished graces are clearly manifested…They [the sacraments] do not of themselves bestow any grace, but they announce and manifest it, and, like earnests and badges, give a ratification of the gifts which the divine liberality has bestowed upon us.”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970, I, p. 503. Institutes, IV, XIV, 17.

Crypto-Calvinists:


J-738

"To all practical purposes the University of Wittenberg was already Calvinized. Calvinistic books appeared and were popular. Even the work of a Jesuit against the book of Jacob Andreae on the Majesty of the Person of Christ was published at Wittenberg. The same was done with a treatise of Beza, although, in order to deceive the public, the title-page gave Geneva as the place of publication. Hans Lufft, the Wittenberg printer, later declared that during this time he did not know how to dispose of the books of Luther which he still had in stock, but that, if he had printed twenty or thirty times as many Calvinistic books, he would have sold all of them very rapidly."
F. Bente, Concordia Triglotta, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 189.

J-739

"By mistake the letter was delivered to the wife of the court-preacher Lysthenius....After opening the letter and finding it to be written in Latin, she gave it to her husband, who, in turn, delivered it to the Elector. In it Peucer requested Schuetze dexterously to slip into the hands of Anna, the wife of the Elector, a Calvinistic prayer-book which he had sent with the letter. Peucer added: 'If first we have Mother Anna on our side, there will be no difficulty in winning His Lordship [her husband] too.' Additional implicating material was discovered when Augustus now confiscated the correspondence of Peucer, Schuetze, Stoessel, and Cracow. The letters found revealed the consummate perfidy, dishonesty, cunning, and treachery of the men who had been the trusted advisers of the Elector, who had enjoyed his implicit confidence, and who by their falsehoods had caused him to persecuted hundreds of innocent and faithful Lutheran ministers. The fact was clearly established that these Philippists had been systematically plotting to Calvinize Saxony. The very arguments with which Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper and the Person of Christ might best be refuted were enumerated in these letters. However, when asked by the Elector whether they were Calvinists, these self-convicted deceivers are said to have answered that 'they would not see the face of God in eternity if in any point they were addicted to the doctrines of the Sacramentarians or deviated in the least from Dr. Luther's teaching.' (Walther, 56.)"
F. Bente, Concordia Triglotta, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 190

GJ - The sly letter enclosed with the book from Melanchthon's son-in-law, suggested that Elector August be converted through his wife Anna. August ordered an investigation, which revealed even more intrigue. The Crypto-Calvinists were thrown into prison. August took on a leadership role in restoring genuine Lutheran doctrine. Martin Chemnitz, Jacob Andreae, and Nicholas Selnecker were made trusted advisors to August.[26]

Crypto-Calvinists Overturned:

J-740

"What really gave Andreae a break and promoted his unity endeavors was the exposure of the Crypto-Calvinists in Wittenberg in 1574. Thus all three groups of true Lutherans were for the first time in many years to sit down at the table and devote their efforts to their internal problems. Just about this time Andreae providentially published his Six Christian Sermons. At this point and on these sermons Chemnitz was willing to talk."
J. A. O. Preus, The Second Martin, The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1994, p. 183.

J-741

"The Exegesis perspicua [1573] marked the end of the hidden and underhanded efforts of those within Saxony who had espoused Calvinism. Everything was out in the open. These men repudiated the sacramental union, the oral eating of the body of Christ, and the eating of the body by the wicked. They held that Christ's body is enclosed in heaven and Christ is present in the Supper only in His power. There is no union of the body of Christ with the bread. The ubiquity doctrine of Brenz is repudiated as Eutychianism, and ancient heresy that asserted that after the union of the divine and human natures in Christ only one nature remained. Believers who participated in the Supper, the Wittenbergers asserted, become members of Christ who is present and efficacious through the symbols of bread and wine. They lavished praise on the Reformed and urged immediate union with them in opposition to the papacy."
J. A. O. Preus, The Second Martin, The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1994, p. 175f.

J-750

"This downplaying of the importance of the means of grace on the part of many in the Church Growth Movement would seem to stem from several factors."[28]
David J. Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement: An Evaluation," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1991 88, p. 105. Holidaysburg, 10-15-90.[29] [emphasis added]

[28] Theses very close to Valleskey's Quarterly article (Spring, 1991, p. 117). Questionnaire mentions CG "underemphasizing the Means of Grace as the power of the Holy Spirit." David J. Valleskey, P.T. 418, The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation, Summer Quarter, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, June 23-July 11, 1986.

GJ - At Hollidaysburg, Valleskey pretended to be studying Church Growth for the first time! His maidenly modesty about CG was clearly revealed as a sham when he quoted Fuller fave Larry Crab about "spoiling the Egyptians" in copying the vast treasures of the Church Shrinkage Movement. When I asked him, Valleskey denied studying at Fuller Seminary. However, he admitted going to Fuller when CLC pastor David Koenig asked the same question.

In the paper and article, Valleskey mentioned me by name and seemd to endorse my caution about false doctrine. Behind my back, he called me a legalist. Does that mean he endorsed legalism or that he was using flattery to deceive?

WELS loved Valleskey's spoilage and made him The Sausage Factory president soon after.

Clouds Without Rain Complain




I have had many interesting exchanges with Lutherans in the last month. In the 1980s, I heard from older women who had no trouble seeing the errors, but wondered where the men were - especially the clergy.

Now I hear from younger men, mostly laity but also clergy. The Shrinkers have done everyone a favor by proving how bad their theology is. The Shrinkers tried to silence all the clergy, but some survived and now want the boil lanced for good. The laity are angry about the money wasted on these sinecures, but furious about the doctrinal apostasy and plagiarism of the Church and Chicanery lazybones.

WELS created an odd situation - with a reform Synod President elected to fix the problems generated by 30 years of Love Shack incompetence, with the ruffians still drawing a salary and seething for revenge. The previous convention had a body of men who wanted to replace everyone at once, whether their terms were up or not. That is a measure of the disgust felt about the Gurgle administration.

After the convention, the Shrinkers at WELS headquarters worked hard to highlight their insubordination, surliness, and Calvinism. FIC continued to feature Shrinkers as authors and subjects. Lavish praise fell upon Latte Lutheran Church, the outpost with a cross in a cup of coffee. WELS responded by giving the church a vicar, a sure sign of District Pussycat endorsement.

Thanks to a ream of information supplied by Internet research, the odious Patterson Church and Chicanery network was exposed. The response? Patterson hired Gurgle, the ex-SP in charge of the WELS meltdown. VP Patterson also applied for two free staff members and got one - a free vicar. WELS members can thank DP Glaeske for giving his VP buddy a free vicar. One way or another, WELS members are propping up Patterson financially while prep school teachers are being fired for lack of money.

A Lutheran strategist would have suggested that the Church and Chicaneries tone down their agenda since they were clearly losing. But no, several incidents proved the utter cluelessness of the bunch.



  1. Item: Kudu Don Patterson organized a group of WELS workers to attend the 2008 Exponential pan-denominational CG conference in Orlando. Some of them immediately began yelping that they were not there. Babtist Stetzer spoke at the conference and found himself signed up to speak at the 2009 Church and Chicanery shindig. He bragged about it on his Twitter account and his blog, where he listed the conference while making fun of Lutheran doctrine. Chicaneries went into loud yelping about this not being so, never admitted their apostasy. Finally the Doctrinal Pussycats showed some claw and ordered the Chicaneries to un-invite Stetzer, the same Babtist who had never been invited, we are expected to believe. I also understand that several Chicanery leaders had a Come-To-Jesus meeting with the SP, leading to loud howling and clucking on the Shrinkers' network.

  2. Item: In the fullness of time, God revealed to Church and Chicanery the need for a downtown mission in A-town, one block from a well established WELS congregation with an active downtown ministry. In fact, one can hardly find a region in the US where WELS members are denser than in Fox Valley. The Enthusiasts took Ski and Katie, who were working together at Jeske's St. Marcus, and moved them to the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock in Appleton, an Imax Movie Theater. Ski and Katie were not yet Schwaermer enough from working at St. Marcus, so one or both of them trained at Drive 08 and 09 (Babtist Stanley), Catalyst (Stanley and Groeschel), Granger Community Church (Beeson), and Mars Hill (Driscoll). Once again, the smokescreen of deceit has been raised around the work of Church and Chicanery. St. Peter in Freedom issued the call and installed Ski, even listing him on their clergy staff, but St. Peter does not want to claim their own baby - The CORE. Ski bragged that he worshiped with the Babtists at Drive 08, and 7 other WELS clergy joined him for Drive 09, but now the mountain has come to Mohammed. Ski gives Groeschel sermons (in the same order) each week, as revealed by his own websty. The Doctrinal Pussycat approves, Ski says.

  3. Item: VP Patterson got behind Rock N Roll Lutheran Church in Round Rock, Texas, which began by consciously aping false teachers with the website Church From Scratch. That address now directs traffic to the main URL, but the substance of Old Scratch remains. Three years of rock music, huge grants, and plagiarized sermons have seen attendance soar to 30. It's a good thing they had a second staffer (like CORE and Latte) and their own blogmeister Joe Krohn, or attendance might have been much smaller. Once again, the Doctrinal Pussycats met--at Patterson's church no less--raising their consecrated and consecrating hands to bless Doebler's methods. Rock N Roll got another grant, albeit smaller than the $200k they wanted, and more time to drain the resources of WELS.

  4. Item: For a long time the Chicaneries bragged on their non-WELS mission, CrossWalk in Phoenix. WELS pastor Jeff Gunn was the bomb, they said. Now the free money is gone and Gunn wants to reload at Wisconsin Lutheran College, the love nest where Church and Chicanery was born.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Anonymous Clown Tries Hand at Ichabod



Baby Bee is not happy with the real Ichabod.


Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

Someone has anonymousely started a fake Ichabod blog, with a slightly different name.

Click here for a few laughs.

Bad formatting.

Copying my copyrighted Photoshops. Did I give permission in writing? I don't think so.

Very touchy about the rollicking good humor on this blog.

Yes, of course - calling me a terrible sinner for publishing satire. He has his facts wrong, but thinks he can publish deliberate slander while invoking the Eighth Commandment.

Big, bad defense of Universal Objective Justification. This girly-man fraidy cat is already forgiven, according to his Enthusiastic opinion, so anything he does anonymousely is absolved in advance. His adulterous Church Shrinker friends have comforted themselves with the same spiritual advice.

Maybe after the Saginaw convention this soldier of the cross will be so angry he will actually sign his name.

Can the Shrinkers ever get away from their need to copy, to ape, to be what they can never be? They make terrible Babtists, so they are necessarily going to be even worse Lutherans.

The Church and Chicaneries are worried sick. That is clear. They know everyone is reading the real Ichabod, so they think a little sissy sniping will serve their needs. This is just a foretaste of the upcoming convention, folks.


Mark Jeske's Pietistic Program



Do not offend the great and terrible Oz.


J-762

Here are the top ten areas of our ministries in which I would like to see changed.

1. Myself. I trust God too little....

2. We don't prize our synod and our ministry relationships enough....Our called workers at 2929 will tell you that they take a lot more abuse than encouragement.

3. We need to loosen up....Our public worship/praise/prayer style seems stiff, overly formal, unemotional, smotheringly doctrinal. I personally do not think that our synod in general has a good balance of head & heart in our worship life. There. I said it.

4. Our schools are not being fully utilized to draw unchurched people into the fellowship.

5. We need to love cities more.

6. We need to welcome diversity, prize new racial groups and the cultural and ministry treasures that they bring. New people groups coming in to the WELS will not pollute our "pure" (quotation marks in the original) Lutheran practices. but enrich them.

7. We need a little more sanity and calm in our discussions of church fellowship. Things I can't stand:

· Assigning a seminary professor a paper and then letting all applications and conclusions become canon law instead of each of us getting into Word [sic] personally.

· passing off crude oversimplification as WELS canon law, such as, "You can't pray with anybody who is not WELS," or "if anyone rejects a clear word of God, he is in rebellion against the most High God and you can't be sure that he/she is really saved.

· We have a very highly developed sense of what we can't do with other Christians, to the point that it is safer to have nothing to do with other Christians. We lack the positive side of dealing with other Christians in practical ways.

8. I think we need a little more sanity in dealing with men/women role issues in the church....sometimes the WELS position is described as asserting male headship in all relationships: in family, church and society. Scripture speaks only of the first two areas, and so should we.

9. We need to declare a moratorium on negative comments about public schools. It is possible to be proud of our WELS system without running down Milwaukee Public Schools. There are many wonderful educational programs and innovations happening in MPS that we would do well to study and learn from.

10. There is a price that we have paid for our unity of practice in the WELS, and that is we have only each other as ministry models. We have many weak areas of ministry, such as in cities, and need to get around more to learn from other successful ministries even if they're not WELS. It is not helpful if our attempts to learn from other Christians is ridiculed as "sitting at the feet of the Reformed" or "capitulating to the papacy.”

Remarks delivered at a conference on March 3, 2000 by Rev. Mark Jeske, vice-president of WELS' Southeastern Wisconsin District.

***

GJ - Mark is one of the main leaders in Church and Chicanery. Three of his staff have been bored (of Lutheran doctrine) members of the secretive sect.


The Fourth Sunday after Trinity



The Holy Spirit never works apart from the Word and Sacraments.
Art by Norma Boeckler.


The Fourth Sunday after Trinity

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 8 AM Phoenix Time


The Hymn #260 O Lord Look Down 1.4
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Romans 8:18-23
The Gospel Luke 6:36-42
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #225 Come Holy Spirit 1.39

The Bridge to God’s Gracious Love

The Hymn #261 Lord Keep Us 1.93
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #452 The Son of God 1.10

KJV Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
KJV Luke 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. 41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

Fourth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father, who art merciful, and through Christ didst promise us, that Thou wilt neither judge nor condemn us, but graciously forgive us all our sins, and abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul: We pray Thee, that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou wilt establish in our hearts a confident faith in Thy mercy, and teach us also to be merciful to our neighbor, that we may not judge or condemn others, but willingly forgive all men, and, Judging only ourselves, lead blessed lives in Thy fear, through Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

The Bridge to God’s Gracious Love

Every Scripture lesson is a opportunity to dwell on some aspect of God’s gracious love for us.

The opening of today’s Gospel is a good example. We normally associate commands with the Law.

One person asked a boy, “What does it mean when your parents say – Share?”

The boy said, “That means – give it to your brother – right now.”
Today’s lesson begins another way – Be merciful, even as your heavenly Father is merciful.

KJV Luke 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

This spiritual advice is based upon the Gospel of forgiveness, which permeates all of Scripture. There are six items in all:

1. Be merciful, as your Father is.
2. Judge not, and you will not be judged.
3. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned.
4. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
5. Give and it will be given to you in overflowing amounts.
6. The measure you use is the measure used for you.

Luther has many good comments on this passage in the low-cost sermon set. This lesson concerns faith and works, so Luther said we ascend to God with Christ alone, through faith.

So many people begin with justification by works – and that is especially true of the clergy. “I did this” and “I did that.” Even worse – “My family did this or that.” One person went even further by excusing bad leadership this way – “Her family has done so much for the synod.”

Christianity is the only religion where God serves man instead of the reverse. The sheep do not seek a shepherd. The Shepherd seeks them. Isaiah says:

KJV Isaiah 65:1 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

Justification by our works only leads to all the sins of the flesh, often begun with covetousness, evil thoughts and malice. Since we cannot do anything for God, who does everything for us, works are directed toward our neighbor.

Mercy is not godly mercy when we do good things for our friends and those who can return our favors. Mercy is defined by patience during difficulties, by forbearance toward the shortcomings for others, since we deserve nothing but condemnation from God, who shows us mercy through Christ. If mothers gave out equal justice, for example, children would not be fed, clothed, and delivered to their appointments because children are never as thankful as they might be for all the benefits they take for granted.

So are we in our relationship to God. We are never as thankful to Him as we might be, and that is often the root of our problems. We ascribe all benefits to our virtue and hard work, all difficulties as the fault of God for being lax in His duties. Luther called the cross (hardship from faithfulness to the Word) – the precious, holy cross. That is difficult to comprehend; yet it is true. Bearing the cross is God’s plan to purify our faith, so we see the cross of Christ more clearly.

In struggling to explain the problems with Pietism, I keep coming back to the brief definition from Hoenecke: “They confuse sanctification (good works) with justification and make sanctification the cause of justification.” That is so concise and accurate that it requires explanation.

Pietism came from a Reformed concept which Spener (a Lutheran) copied – having groups where piety was encouraged through prayer and Bible study. The diagnosis was accurate – Lutherans had plenty of problems at that time, including a lack of Scriptural understanding. If accounts are accurate, the clergy barely studied the Scriptures at seminary. Instead they focused on philosophy and scholarly disputes. One man lectured on Isaiah and quit after the first chapter (Schmid) because no one was interested.

They lost track of the bridge – the Means of Grace – as the way in which Christ comes to us. Instead they taught others to rely on the experience of God’s grace, without the bridge. So they looked to themselves and their emotions as the test. Oh yes, now I feel forgiven and I am secure in the faith. In contrast, the Word is our foundation and its truth remains, no matter how we feel at the emotions. If we are saved by our emotional experience of joy then we are also condemned by our emotional experience of dread, condemnation, and guilt.

Losing the Biblical Means will always multiple the false bridges – such as the cell group, the amount of prayer, the agony of prayer, the “breakthrough of grace” and the good works. Pietism caused people to leave the church because the local congregation was “full of hypocrites.” One man told me that, so I asked him, “What is a hypocrite?” He said, “Someone who says one thing and does another.” I said, “That makes me a hypocrite.” He said, lowering his head, “I guess I am too.” He came to church from that time on, with his wife.

The separatism of Pietism was—and is--really spiritual pride, as if belonging to the conventicle made people free from sin (sanctification causing justification). My theology professor belonged to one such group and to a Lutheran church. The group was called, in German, Separated Christianity. He would say things like, “Most churches have trouble raising money. We just raised $40,000 without any effort.” The superior attitude just oozed.

This may sound like condemning the faults we all have, but I am trying to show how taking away the bridge to Christ magnifies those problems. If someone is superior from being in a cell group, then that superior attitude is going to come through in malicious gossip and arrogance toward neighbors.

This is what Jesus is aiming at in His spiritual advice. Since we cannot give good works to God, our good works are the fruits of faith in Christ and directed toward our neighbor.

We have all had experiences of never doing anything right, having someone ready to pounce, even if their condemnation is a figment of their imagination. That is what happens when people rest on their own good works and righteousness and do not rely on the mercy of God in Christ.

The opposite is patience, forbearance, and understanding. When people are motivated by the Gospel, these fruits are abundant.

KJV John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The purpose of the Bible is to produce faith in what God has already done. That takes people from a state of condemnation to one in which God declares they are justified by faith.

The importance of faith has been misunderstood by those who do not grasp the order of salvation. The Biblical meaning of faith is trust in the Promises of God, specifically in the crucifixion of Christ as the atoning sacrifice, the reconciliation.

The question is not whether this is true, but whether someone continues to trust in it. Therefore, God provided a variety of ways to build that trust, the visible and invisible Word. He also lays the cross on each believer, to purify faith, remove the dross, and remind us of how much the Old Adam still reigns in us.

Blind Guides
At first the second part of this lesson seems to be taking off in another direction, but it is connected with the first part. When people trust in their own merit instead of Christ, they glory in their works and become blind guides. Several ministers tried to verify their worth this way:

1. “My congregation quadrupled in size while I was there.” (The Church Doctor)
2. “My congregation doubled its income in a few years.”
My question in each case was – “Then why aren’t you still there?” The missing statement was – God has worked through the faithful application of the Word. Paul did not count members or income. He said the only requirement was that a steward be found faithful.

KJV 1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

If a church sees its worth in material terms, it will not value spiritual treasure. Any metro area will reveal glorious church structures built during the glory days of that neighborhood. Doubtless the dedication day was full of grand feelings of permanent glory, never dreaming that the structure would become an albatross for 60 members years later. Other dangers lurk in worshiping material success, such as having millions in endowment funds.

One of the rich congregations, Glide Memorial, became famous for its outrages, some of which cannot be listed. An innovative minister there removed the cross from the sanctuary – certainly symbolic of where that church was headed.

http://www.glide.org/Timeline.aspx

Blind guides include those outwardly successful ministers who say they are blessed because of large movie screens, expensive sound systems, and short-term memberships among the hordes of people who flock for the entertainment. These members are called “scaffolding” because they help the superstar minister reach a higher level.

Blind guides point toward themselves rather than Christ. They may talk about Jesus, but they take away the bridge to Him, leaving everyone confused. They offer a Christian life but one built around idols.

The treasures of the Gospel are constantly available through the Word and Sacraments.

Quotations

"Whoever comes to faith can only say that the Holy Spirit comes when and where and to whom He pleases at the time He pleases. He comes when and where He pleases, and also gives a person as many gifts as He pleases." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 665.

"That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith, where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ's sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ's sake. They condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that the Holy Ghost comes to men without the external Word, through their own preparation and works." Augsburg Confession, V. #1-2. The Ministry. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 45. Tappert, p. 31. Heiser, p. 13.

"He [Paul] thus extols co-laborers that they [the Corinthians] may not despise the external Word as if they were not in need of it or knew it well enough. For although God might accomplish all things inwardly by the Spirit, without the external Word, He has no intention of doing so. He wants to employ preachers as assistants and co-laborers and to accomplish His purposes through their word when and where it pleases Him. Since, then, preachers have the office, name, and honor of being God's assistants, no man is so learned or holy that he may neglect or despise the poorest preaching; for he does not know when the hour will come in which God will perform His work in him through the preachers." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed. Ewald M. Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House 1959 III, p. 1118. W 17, II, 179; SL 12, 436; sermon #3572; 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Our Declaration





IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Schmid's History of Pietism



I found a Hoenecke graphic being used by NPH for displaying this book online, so I offered to post the right picture when they fixed it. NPH said, "Fourth of July weekend. Feel free to scan the cover on your own." I did.

The History of Pietism, by Heinrich Schmid, translated by James L. Langebartels. Northwestern Publishing House. Click here to order. $40.50. 400 pages with index.

From the same translator - The Complete Timotheus Verinus, by Loescher - also about Pietism.

Potential audience: Any pastor or informed layman will gain from studying this book. If Pietism is a new topic, additional background reading may help, such as:


  1. The Means of Grace in Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant.
  2. Zwingli, Calvin, Pietism in Thy Strong Word.


Schmid compiled the great Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, a book commonly used by ALC clergy. Click here. That particular book gave orthodox Lutheran quotations from a whole range of European authors, on each area of systematic theology. No UOJ can be found in the book.

Introduction
The introduction of Pietism describes how the princes took over control of the Lutheran Church after the Reformation. Although this caesaropapism was a problem, I have difficulty seeing this as a prime cause for Pietism's growth.

Another cause, also mentioned, was the tendency toward scholasticism, disputing minor philosophical points without mining the Scriptures. This problem prevails today, with Lutheran clergy arguing over non-essentials while ignoring the apostasy around them.

The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) disrupted Europe and added to the problems of the Lutheran Church. The Peace of Westphalia established the principle of the ruler's faith determining the Christian confession of all his subjects: Cuius regio, eius religio.

Spener
Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) created the movement called Pietism, which grew from two things done by its founder. One was the establishment of Colleges of Piety (collegia pietatis), cell groups or conventicles, to promote the Christian faith. The second was his piggy-back introduction to Arndt's True Christianity, Pia Desideria.

As Otto Heick wrote, Spener was the first union theologian. Schmid gives plenty of evidence of Spener's deliberate leadership in creating conventicles, which were almost identical to that urged by the Reformed leader Labadie. What Labadie suggested became Spener's program. "Thus the only means Spener taught for curing the conditions in the church had its root in the Reformed church!" (Schmid, p. 304)

August Hermann Francke
Francke (1663-1727) began the second generation of Pietism, greatly encouraged by Spener. The saddest pages of Schmid record how little the Scriptures were studied. Future ministers were not trained in exegesis at this time, so Francke's circle filled a void. They were also quite earnest in serving the needs of the poor, so Pietism at this stage still had a positive influence, although conflicts were growing.

Francke was appointed to teach at Halle University, which quickly became the center of Pietism in Europe. In the next generation, Halle became Unitarian. Many of the key Lutheran leaders in America came from Halle: Muhlenberg, Hoenecke, etc.

Valentin Ernst Löscher

Löscher (1673-1749) changed the doctrinal discussions by defending Lutheran orthodoxy against the errors of Pietism. His Timotheus Verinus is worth studying to see how Pietism degenerated.

Why Read This Book?
Pietism is not light reading. The book is more of an encyclopedia of the various early movements of Pietism and their leaders.
Those who pay attention to hymn authors will say "Ah!" when they see certain names. Since all the Lutheran groups in America were profoundly influenced by Pietism, all pastors should study this work and keep it as a reference.

Pastor Langebartels has done a fine job translating this book. He and NPH are to be commended for this effort in providing it in English.

I will write more for future adult study classes in Pietism. Use the Pietism label to find what has already been posted on Ichabod.

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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Schmid's History of Pietism":

For what it is worth, I heartily recommend all three of the books mentioned by Dr. Jackson in this blog entry. NPH's first printing of Timotheus Verinus was 1998, but by the time this title came to my attention in 2003, it was unavailable. I understand that some folks petitioned NPH to reprint it, which they did in 2006, followed shortly thereafter by publication of Langebartel's translation of Schmid's work on Pietism.

I've read Timotheus Verinus, and scanned Schmid's Pietism -- though I haven't given Pietism a close read. Schmid's Doctrinal Theology, however, is what made me a Lutheran. Browsing a used bookstore many years ago -- still a pop-church Evangelical, though by then a bit disenfranchised -- I saw the title, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. I was intrigued, because I didn't realize there was a such a thing as Lutherans who were "Evangelical," but more importantly, that such were Evangelicals with a fully-worked-out system of theology (something that pop-church Evangelicals are still waiting for). I didn't realize the significance when I bought it, but that copy was the Second English edition -- the final English edition to be printed before Schmid's death. Beginning with the Third edition, the editors (Hay and Jacobs) began redacting content -- though, as the editors pointed out, most Lutherans probably wouldn't miss the redacted material. I think the Augsburg Publishing House reprint from back in the 1960's was from the Third or Fourth edition.

Anyway, Dr. Jackson, I look forward to your future posts regarding Schmid's Pietism. Will you be doing a video commentary, such as your overview series on the Book of Concord?

Freddy Finkelstein

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GJ - That is a good idea, to do more on video with Pietism. Perhaps with Verinus, too.

The Fourth of July




The Fourth of July was enlivened by the resignation of Sarah Palin, who will now be free to travel and speak throughout the US, no longer held captive by the paradoxically large land mass and small population State of Alaska.

Palin's team lost to a man whose executive experience was nil, whose citizenship was debatable, and whose ideology was extreme Left. He even referred to "my Muslim faith" in an interview. Palin has inspired virulent hatred against every member of her family and constant attacks on her ability to govern, often by journalists who should have been glad she went back to Alaska.

Yesterday we finally got some relief from the Michael Jackson hagiographies. Palin owned all the news coverage by resigning when the senior journalists were partying at Martha's Vinyard and other luxury venues.

Our situation in America reminds me of Imperial Russia, when people overthrew the government of the Tsar because they suspected he was a agent of the Germans. This happened during WWI.

Queen Victoria is to blame. She married her first cousin and had a bunch of children who married into the royal families of Europe and afflicted some of them with hemophilia, a failure of the blood to clot properly. Her granddaughter married the future Tsar of Russia, and the heir presumptive, the only male child, had hemophilia.

There are two theories about the influence of Rasputin, the mad monk. One is that he stopped the Tsar's family from giving the British miracle drug, Aspirin, to their son. Aspirin would have made the disease far worse, so the boy got better. The other theory attributes special powers to Rasputin, who was famous for bewitching women.

Rasputin drank heavily and spouted a lot of information in taverns. Apparently German agents used his rants to inform their leaders. Increasingly, Russia suspected the Tsar. They also thought the Tsar's wife was having an affair with Rasputin.

Meanwhile, a paid German agent, Lenin, was shipped by the Germans into Russia with a pile of gold. The goal was to replace the Tsar with their agent and take Russia out of WWI. That plan worked too well, and Lenin became the new Tsar. His men murdered the Tsar's entire family, who were defenseless.

How many millions of Russians died from Lenin and Stalin? The truth is being acknowledged now. Mao murdered even more of his own people, but we seldom hear of the deliberate Chinese slaughter. Some estimate that 40 to 100 million Chinese were killed by Mao, to maintain his power.

The US government now controls the financial system and General Motors, itching to dominate medical care (14% of the GNP). The House of Representatives passed a bill, with GOP help, which will multiply all energy costs and reduce America to the economic status of Bosnia. I wonder when Americans will remember why we have an Independence Day. We turned away from the bad leadership of Bush-McCain to be held in bondage by the Anointed (by Oprah) One.



Anonymous has left another ignorant comment on your post "The Fourth of July":

Spoken like a true right-wing fanatic.

Proof please, of Lenin being an agent of the Kaiser?

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GJ - Many history buffs have read To the Finland Station, about Lenin being smuggled into Russian by the Germans. Here is a summary from World Net Daily. Imperial Germany wanted to close down their second front. Lenin signed the treaty soon after taking power.

This well known episode should remind readers that complicated enterprises are state-sponsored, requiring large sums of money and special expertise.

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Kenneth J. Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "The Fourth of July":

The fact that the Germans put Lenin on a sealed train back to Russia to help destabilize the Kerensky Regime is something that every high schooler should know. No historians deny it as a fact of history.