Separating the Holy Spirit from the Word

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Calvin Gave Us Pietism, UOJ, and Church Growth: Cr...":

Much is becoming clearer. Could you please explain further the meaning of "separating the Holy Spirit from the Word" along with some examples. Thank you.

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I am going to link some posts below. You can also use the search function on the blog. Understanding Enthusiasm is essential for dealing with CG, Pietism, and UOJ.

Enthusiasm - Grants


Smalcald Articles, Enthusiasm, Church and Chicanery

Briefly, Zwingli and Calvin separated the Holy Spirit from the Word by teaching the Holy Spirit is "sovereign" and can operated with or without the Word and Sacraments. If you look for Calvin quotations on this blog, you will find plenty of examples.

Jeske as the Last Lutheran in Broadcasting

Here is the link.

Listen in awe as he traces his family tree. Bow in humility as he lists himself as the last Lutheran left in broadcasting. Seriously, Mark, when was the last time you let the word Lutheran pass through your lips on Time of Generic Grace?

Get out your clickers and add up the times he uses the word change, extolling change the way Luther praised the Word of God. Could Jeske be the man who named Church and Change?

Mark loves the city, he says, and mocks "the sticks," where nothing changes.

In grantsmanship, rural areas are not fruitful for foundation and Thrivent grants. But urban areas are good for shaking the tree of liberal white guilt.

Fuller Pietism and Anti-Inerrancy

Fuller Pietism

Fuller Seminary in Pasadena was formed to teach inerrancy, although its initial position was really quite soft. Nevertheless, the faculty went through a revolution and Fuller adopted an anti-inerrancy statement. When The Battle for the Bible, about Fuller, was published, Harold Lindsell, the author, was attacked by Fuller for being “bitter and jealous” that he did not become president. In fact, the author was offered the position and turned it down. Notice how the amazingly successful president of Fuller Seminary, the late David Hubbard, defined the problem of inerrancy. Like most liberals in the driver’s seat, his words drip with sarcasm and scorn. The words are taken directly from the brochure Fuller mailed the author during a vain effort to recruit him.[52]

Fuller: The Bible Does Not Consider God’s Word Inerrant

J-773

"Were we to distinguish our position from that of some of our brothers and sisters who perceive their view of Scripture as more orthodox than ours, several points could be made: 1) we would stress the need to be aware of the historical and literary process by which God brought the Word to us...4) we would urge that the emphasis be placed where the Bible itself places it - on its message of salvation and its instruction for living, not on its details of geography or science, though we acknowledge the wonderful reliability of the Bible as a historical source book; 5) we would strive to develop our doctrine of Scripture by hearing all that the Bible says, rather than by imposing on the Bible a philosophical judgment of our own as to how God ought to have inspired the Word."  

David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1-800-235-2222 Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]

Inerrancy Misleading and Inappropriate

J-774

"Where inerrancy refers to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches through the biblical writers, we support its use. Where the focus switches to an undue emphasis on matters like chronological details, the precise sequence of events, and numerical allusions, we would consider the term misleading and inappropriate. Its dangers, when improperly defined, are: 1) that it implies a precision alien to the minds of the Bible writers and their own use of Scriptures; 2) that it diverts attention from the message of salvation and the instruction in righteousness which are the Bible's key themes;...5) that too often it has undermined our confidence in the Bible we have... 6)that it prompts us to an inordinate defensiveness of Scripture which seems out of keeping with the bold confidence with which the prophets, the apostles and our Lord proclaimed it."

            David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1-800-235-2222 Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]

Inerrancy Advocates Are Against the Bible and Tick Me Off

J-775

"We resent unnecessary distractions; we resist unbiblical diversions… Can anyone believe that all other activities should be suspended until all evangelicals agree on precise doctrinal statements? We certainly cannot."

            David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]

The downhill doctrinal slide of Pietism begins with placing the good works of man above the truth of God’s Word. At every stage of the decline, the Pietists firmly believe that they must tolerate doctrinal laxity in the name of getting more done, for the glory of God, of course. Soon they find themselves helpless to stop the radicalism of the next generation. The last bishop of the Lutheran Church in America, James Crumley, begged his extremely liberal staff not to succumb to the radicalism of the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Soon, those same staff-members were ousted for being too conservative by ELCA Bishop Herb Chilstrom’s network.

Road to Unitarianism.

From anti-creed to anti-Trinity

Pietism begins with the slogan of “deeds, not creeds.” In every case, Pietism has spawned Unitarianism in the next generation or two. The University of Halle was the mecca of Pietism in one generation and the headquarters for apostasy in the next. The American Lutheran congregations most devoted to unionism in the 19^th century became Congregational or worse in the next. Fuller Seminary, somewhat conservative but ecumenical to a fault, became an anti-inerrancy school in only one generation. The Augustana Synod blended Pietism from the old country with orthodoxy from Capital Seminary (now Trinity, ELCA, in Columbus, Ohio). Lutheran orthodoxy was taught at Augustana Seminary until the 1930s, and then the old faculty was removed at once. The Pietists at Augustana were instrumental in bringing the Social Gospel Movement into their seminary, by calling A. D. Mattson to the faculty.

The original Wisconsin Synod was as Pietistic and unionistic as a Lutheran group might be. Many congregations offered both Reformed and Lutheran communion, both Reformed and Lutheran catechism.[53] Some congregations, like St. Paul’s in Columbus, were named “German Lutheran and Reformed.” Many congregations, like old St. John’s in Milwaukee, had Reformed splits in their early days. The Wisconsin Synod, later influenced by the great theologian Adolph Hoenecke and the synodical leaders Bading and Brenner, who rejected Pietism and unionism, joined the Synodical Conference. However, the Pietists within the Wisconsin Synod were beaten down but not conquered. They lost, too, when the Wisconsin Synod finally voted to break with the Missouri Synod after two decades of dithering. However, the Pietists did not give up. They quietly networked and got their men into key positions, using training at Fuller Seminary as their uniting force. After years of denying that anyone ever went to Fuller Seminary, even though their own Lawrence Otto Olson bragged up his D. Min. degree from Fuller, the Church Growth advocates finally came out of the closet and said, “Yes, we love Church Growth. Yes, we love religious projects with ELCA. Yes, we want women to be ordained. Now try to stop us.”

Ordination of Women

The ordination of women is a natural step for Pietists, a necessary outgrowth of the cell group. In the cell group, which is anti-Means of Grace and anti-confessional, anyone may serve as the leader. In general, women tend to be more spiritual than men and enjoy taking these positions. Cell group method books call them “lay pastors” so there is little difference between serving as a pastor in a cell group and serving as one in the congregation. Although ordination is far more important than the Pietists allow, they have already accomplished their goal when they have women teaching men and women in authority over men in the church.

Historically, women’s ordination has begun with the anti-Christian cults, whenever an alpha female can gather a group together. The Pentecostal groups follow, since they believe the Holy Spirit calls them directly in their dreams and visions. One Pentecostal woman baptized herself in a bathtub, got her tongue-speaking going by saying “yabba-dabba-doo” repeatedly, and announced she had the gift of preaching, according to her submissive husband.

If we concede that the Confessions are old-fashioned, boring, and irrevelant, even though they are not, and we claim that doctrine is divisive, then there is no particular reason why women should not be ordained and called to serve as pastors of congregations. The Lutheran Church in America took the lead in dismissing the inerrancy of the Scriptures and in teaching the flexibility of the Confessions, so they naturally, as liberal Pietists, ordained the first women pastors in America, in 1970.[54] The American Lutheran Church followed. Acknowledging the ordination of known lesbians and homosexuals followed soon after.

Method Actors

Since Pietism rejects the Confessions, the efficacy of the Word, and the Means of Grace, advocates of Enthusiasm must trust in methods. The key to understanding the Enthusiasts is not only in realizing their separation of the Holy Spirit from the Word but also in seeing the implication of that concept. The Reformed do more than imply what their Enthusiasm means. They teach it quite openly – The Word of God is dead and lifeless without human aid. Here is the secret to cell groups, tongue speaking, the seeker service, entertainment evangelism, friendship evangelism, child evangelism, mission vision statements, and all the flotsam of the Reformed. Why must the ministers pretend to be used car salesmen, talk show hosts, or stand-up comedians? In their eyes, God’s Word is dead without a boost from them to make it appealing and get results. Since they have no faith in the Holy Spirit working through the Word alone, they measure their success by visible results they can put on a graph. They take people out to their parking lots and tell them how many acres they have paved. That is good news for the National Asphalt Paving Association,[55] but it means nothing to God to watch these people clown around and carry on to win the approval of people, who are not even given the chance to hear the saving Word of Truth. In a word, these men are ashamed of the Gospel.

Pietistic Methods

J-776

"Pietist preachers were anxious to discover and in a certain sense to separate the invisible congregation from the visible congregation. They had to meet demands different than those of the preceding period: they were expected to witness, not in the objective sense, as Luther did, to God's saving acts toward all men, but in a subjective sense of faith, as they themselves had experienced it. In this way Pietism introduced a tendency toward the dissolution of the concept of the ministry in the Lutheran Church."

Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.

J-777

"All those doctrinal questions which were not immediately connected with the personal life of faith were avoided. The standard for the interpretation of Scripture thus became the need of the individual for awakening, consolation, and exhortation. The congregation as a totality was lost from view; in fact, pietistic preaching was (and is) more apt to divide the congregation than to hold it together."

            Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.

We might as well start on the bottom of Pietistic practices with the “holy laughter movement,” also known as the “Toronto Blessing.” Pentecostals wore out speaking in tongues, singing in tongues, as well as dancing and being slain in the spirit. They have done every rock version of every spiritual ditty one could imagine. What was left? Holy laughter! (They are actually reviving an old Pentecostal fad.) The minister begins a Toronto Blessing service by telling some lame jokes. People are already set to laugh their heads off. After a few jokes, people begin falling out of their chairs laughing. It helps if the minister does this too, as Richard Roberts, son of Oral Roberts, has done on television. Instead of piping their eyes with tears of contrition, yelling “Glory, glory, glory” on their backs on the floor, the Pentecostals now howl and bellow with laughter, with their backs on the floor. This too will fade and become wearisome. In contrast, the historic Lutheran liturgy is always uplifting to man because the worship service glorifies God, always emphasizing His grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Promise Keepers, a cancerous growth from cell groups and Pentecostalism, has also run through its time of excitement, its “movement of the Spirit,” and its roaringly high income. Wildly ecumenical and emotional, it offered to bring Protestants, Catholics, and Mormon men together in one big hug and cry. Stadiums were filled. Now they are not. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Visible and Invisible Church

J-778

"No one will open his eyes to the fact that mere human devices and doctrines are ensnaring souls, weakening consciences, dissipating Christian liberty and faith, and replenishing hell. Wolves! Wolves! How abominably, awfully, murderous, how harassing and destructive, are these things the world over!"

            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 32. Second Sunday in Advent Romans 15:4-13.

Divisive Preaching

J-779

"All those doctrinal questions which were not immediately connected with the personal life of faith were avoided. The standard for the interpretation of Scripture thus became the need of the individual for awakening, consolation, and exhortation. The congregation as a totality was lost from view; in fact, pietistic preaching was (and is) more apt to divide the congregation than to hold it together."

Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.

Mark Jeske, Church and Change Guru, Ready to Change to LCMS

 

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.... [GJ - So far, so good.]

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. [GJ - The Shrinkers at the Love Shack are victims of abuse!]

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. [GJ - Ordination vows about sound doctrine forgotten in a call for more Contempt Services?]

4.     Our schools are not being fully utilized to draw unchurched people into the fellowship. [GJ - I need more grants and subsidies.]

5.     We need to love cities more. [GJ - And sound doctrine less.]

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. [GJ - Liberal white guilt will unite us in an orgy of love and diversity.]

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. [GJ - Unionism thrills, but closed communion kills.]

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. [GJ - Meanwhile, Chicaneries support women's ordination.]

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. [GJ - More grants and subsidies, please.]

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.” [GJ - No, thanks to your bunch, there are Fuller, Willow Creek, Granger, Stetzer, Sweet, and Groeschel models. Wait, you are right - there is just one model, yours - Enthusiasm.]

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

Characteristics of Pietism

Part Three: Jacob Spener and Pietism

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.

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 Pietism

The Lutheran Pietists of today do not necessarily call themselves Pietists. They may even use the term Pietist in a disparaging way, a common occurrence in the Wisconsin Synod, where Pietism dominates.[31] I told one young pastor who woke up to the Confessions and phoned me, years after I left the synod, “You are not in a Lutheran Synod. You are in a Pietistic Reformed sect that has some Lutherans in it.” In fact, the Lutheran Church Growth Pietists are so burdened with self-loathing that they accuse their opponents of being Church Growth advocates, a logical short-circuit if there ever was one.[32] It goes like this, “We hate you because you criticize the Church Growth Movement. You actually support the Church Growth Movement, so you cannot say anything against us.”[33] Nevertheless, it is not difficult to detect the Lutheran Pietists, even if they throw out a smoke screen and a few stink bombs to avoid being spotted. 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.

Crypto-Calvinism, Then and Now

The Crypto-Calvinists Self-Destruct

After Luther's death in 1546, Melanchthon's followers, with his help, conspired to replace Luther's doctrine with Calvin's at Wittenberg, Leipzig, and across Germany. Their stealth book, Exegesis Perspicua, revealed their dishonesty and allegiance to Calvin. Elector August, a faithful Lutheran who had been deceived by the Crypto-Calvinists, was angered and humiliated. The Crypto-Calvinists added to their fame as liars in 1574, when a Calvinist devotional book was delivered to the wrong person.

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

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]

As horrible as the Crypto-Calvinist reign appeared at the time, their excesses and sudden collapse provided a God-given way to unite Lutherans in a common confession. At the Colloquy of Worms in 1557, the Lutherans were divided, thanks to Melanchthon, and the Romanists refused to negotiate with them. Many unity efforts failed, until Jacob Andreae published his Six Christian Sermons in 1573. Andreae's sermons, the collapse of the Crypto-Calvinists, and Martin Chemnitz' leadership all combined to generate movement toward the Formula of Concord.

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.

The Formula of Concord required the cooperation of Andreae, Chemnitz, Selnecker, David Chytraeus, Musculus, and Cornerus.[27] Most people could not abide Andreae, because of his tactless, overbearing, and self-willed nature, but he was crucial in getting the work started and completed. Chemnitz was the dominant theologian, but the others all contributed significant insights to the Formula, which was signed in 1577. The Book of Concord, which includes the Ecumenical Creeds, the Augsburg Confession, the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, was completed in 1580.

J-742

"Such was the manner in which the Elector allowed himself to be duped by the Philippists who surrounded him, —men who gradually developed the art of dissimulation to premeditated deceit, falsehood, and perjury. Even the Reformed theologian Simon Stenius, a student at Wittenberg during the Crypto-Calvinistic period, charges the Wittenbergers with dishonesty and systematic dissimulation."

F. Bente, Concordia Triglotta, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 188.

Crypto-Calvinism Now

J-743

"In other words, Zwingli and his numerous adherents declare that the means God has ordained are unnecessary and hinder true piety."

Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 104.

J-744

"Calvinism rejects the means of grace as unnecessary; it holds that the Holy Spirit requires no escort or vehicle by which to enter human hearts."

John T. Mueller, "Grace, Means of," Lutheran Cyclopedia, Erwin L. Lueker, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1975, p. 344.

J-745

"The Christian doctrine of the means of grace is abolished by all 'enthusiasts,' all who assume a revealing and effective operation of the Holy Spirit without and alongside the divinely ordained means of grace."

Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 127.

J-746

"Our opponents hold that saving faith must be founded on Christ Himself, not on the means of grace. This reasoning, common to the Reformed, the 'enthusiasts' of all shades, and modern 'experience' theologians, assumes that faith can and should be based on Christ to the exclusion of the means of grace."

Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 152.

J-747

"The specific Reformed cultus, due to the Reformed denial of the efficacy and objective nature of the Means of Grace, represents a quest after the grace of God revolving around human agency and subjective experience. The Lutheran cultus places the grace of God nigh unto the sinner in the Means of Grace."

Th. Engelder, W. Arndt, Th. Graebner, F. E. Mayer, Popular Symbolics, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 21.

J-748

"The Reformed are simply deluding themselves in claiming Scripture support for their teaching regarding the means of grace. Their teaching is not derived from the Bible."

Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 150.

J-749

"The doctrine of salvation through the Means of Grace is distinctive of Lutheranism. The Catholic churches have no use for means of grace, for a Gospel and for Sacraments which offer salvation as a free gift. And the Reformed churches, while they hold, in general, that salvation is by grace, repudiate the Gospel and the Sacraments as the means of grace. It is clear that matters of fundamental importance are involved. The chief article of the Christian religion, justification by faith, stands and falls with the article of the Means of Grace. Justification by faith means absolutely nothing without the Means of Grace, whereby the righteousness gained by Christ is bestowed and faith, which appropriates the gift, is created."

The. Engelder, W. Arndt, Th. Graebner, F. E. Mayer, Popular Symbolics, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 4f.

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]

J-751

"Observe, then, the depreciative, contemptuous, and scorning ring in the words of the Reformed when they speak of the sacred Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, and the grand majestic ring in the words of the Lord and the apostles when they speak of these matters...The true reason for the Reformed view is this: They do not know how a person is to come into possession of the divine grace, the forgiveness of sin, righteousness in the sight of God, and eternal salvation. Spurning the way which God has appointed, they are pointing another way, in accordance with new devices which they have invented."

C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 152f.

J-752

Luther: "True, the enthusiasts confess that Christ died on the cross and saved us; but they repudiate that by which we obtain Him; that is, the means, the way, the bridge, the approach to Him they destroy...They lock up the treasure which they should place before us and lead me a fool's chase; they refuse to admit me to it; they refuse to transmit it; they deny me its possession and use." (III, 1692)

The. Engelder, W. Arndt, Th. Graebner, F. E. Mayer, Popular Symbolics, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 5.

J-753

"On the other hand, the enthusiasts should be rebuked with great earnestness and zeal, and should in no way be tolerated in the Church of God, who imagine [dream] that God, without any means, without the hearing of the divine Word, and without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws men to Himself, and enlightens, justifies, and saves them." [30]

Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article II, Free Will, 80, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 911. Tappert, p. 536. Heiser, p. 249. Heiser, p. 249.

J-754

"And it is of advantage, so far as can be done, to adorn the ministry of the Word with every kind of praise against fanatical men, who dream that the Holy Ghost is given not through the Word, but because of certain preparations of their own, if they sit unoccupied and silent in obscure places, waiting for illumination, as the Enthusiasts formerly taught, and the Anabaptists now teach."

Article XIII, The Sacraments, 13, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 311. Tappert, p. 213. Heiser, p. 95.

J-755

"Dr. Luther, who, above others, certainly understood the true and proper meaning of the Augsburg Confession, and who constantly remained steadfast thereto till his end, and defended it, shortly before his death repeated his faith concerning this article with great zeal in his last Confession, where he writes thus: 'I rate as one concoction, namely, as Sacramentarians and fanatics, which they also are, all who will not believe that the Lord's bread in the Supper is His true natural body, which the godless or Judas received with the mouth, as well as did St. Peter and all [other] saints; he who will not believe this (I say) should let me alone, and hope for no fellowship with me; this is not going to be altered [thus my opinion stands, which I am not going to change]."

Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article VII, Lord's Supper, #33. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 983. Tappert, p. 575. Heiser, p. 267.

Calvin and Enthusiasm

J-719

"The means of grace are thus limited for Barth. The preacher descending from the pulpit can never quote Luther and say with joyful assurance that he has preached the Word of God. Of course, he can hope and pray; but he can never know whether the Holy Spirit has accompanied the preached Word, and hence whether his words were the Word of God. To know this, or even to wish to know it, would be a presumptuous encroachment of man upon the sovereign freedom of God."

Hermann Sasse, Here We Stand, trans. Theodore G. Tappert, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1946, p. 161.



J-720

"The Sacraments are not mere symbolic expressions by which faith is strengthened (Calvin), nor are they mere acts of confession of faith (notae professionis, Zwingli), but are effective means by which God sows faith in the hearts of men."

Walter G. Tillmanns, "Means of Grace: Use of," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, II, p. 1506.



Barth, the official theologian of Fuller Seminary, was an apostate who rejected the doctrines of the Christian faith while making a tidy profit from his publication efforts, aided by his mistress, Charlotte Kirschbaum.[21] He moved her into his house over the strenuous objections of his wife and also lived with Charlotte in a mountain cabin every summer. Barth is the epitome of the Church Growth expert: unfaithful to God, unfaithful in marriage, treacherous, vain, boastful, and eager to impose silence on his critics. After opposing the Nazis from the safety of Switzerland during WWII, Barth betrayed his loyal followers in Eastern Europe and told them to submit to the authority of the Communists. He and his lovely assistant, Charlotte, had been reds all along, as the historical documents show.[22]



J-721

"When intent upon establishing their peculiar tenets, Calvin and Zwingli likewise preferred rational argumentation to the plain proofs of Holy Writ. Their interpretation of the words of the Sacrament is but one glaring instance; but there are many more. The schools and the denominations which they founded became infected with this same disease of theology."

Martin S. Sommer, Concordia Pulpit for 1932, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1931, p. iii.



J-722

John Calvin, Commentaries, Amos 8:11-12: "...we are touched with some desire for strong doctrine, it evidently appears that there is some piety in us; we are not destitute of the Spirit of God, although destitute of the outward means."

Benjamin Milner, Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Heicko A.Oberman, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 109. CO, XLIII, 153.



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.



J-725

“But assuming that the body and blood of Christ are attached to the bread and wine, then the one must necessarily be disservered from the other. For the bread is given separately from the cup, so the body, united to the bread, must be separated from the blood, included in the cup.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970, I, p. 570. Institutes, IV, XVII, 18.



J-726

John Calvin, Institutes IV.xvii.19: "We must establish such a presence of Christ in the supper as may neither fasten Him to the element of bread, not enclose Him in bread, not circumscribe Him in any way (all of which clearly derogate from His heavenly glory)...."

Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 128.



J-727

John Calvin, True Method of Reforming the Church: "The offspring of believers are born holy, because their children, while yet in the womb, before they breathe the vital air, have been adopted into the covenant of eternal life."

Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 123.





J-728

"To remain properly humble while firmly rejecting all erroneous teachings regarding the means of grace, we should remind ourselves how even Christians who teach and, as a rule, also believe, the correct doctrine of the means of grace, in their personal practice very often lose sight of the means of grace. This is done whenever they base the certainty of grace, or of the forgiveness of sin, on their feeling of grace or the gratia infusa, instead of on God's promise in the objective means of grace. All of us are by nature 'enthusiasts.'"

Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 131.

J-729

"...it is exceedingly difficult to prevent this low view from running out into Socinianism, as, indeed, it actually has run in Calvinistic lands, so that it became a proverb, often met with in the older theological writers—'A young Calvinist, an old Socinian.' This peril is confessed and mourned over by great Calvinistic divines. New England is an illustration of it on an immense scale, in our own land." [GJ - Socian = Unitarian. How many WELS CG gurus are now atheists?]

Charles P. Krauth, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication House, 1871, p. 489.

J-732

"Reformed ministers make the impression that they are trying to talk people into something instead of telling their people that they have a message from God, a 'Thus saith the Lord,' which is to be accepted without argumentation upon the authority of God's Word. This weakens their preaching."

Martin S. Sommer, Concordia Pulpit for 1932, Martin S. Sommer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1931, p. v.

J-733

"The crudest extravagances of revivalism (Methodism, Pentecostalism, Holy Rollerism) have their root in this specifically Reformed doctrine of the immediate working of the Holy Spirit.”

"Grace, Means of," The Concordia Cyclopedia, L. Fuerbringer, Th. Engelder, P. E. Kretzmann, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1927, p. 299.

J-734

"Zwingli, Calvin, and their adherents denied that the Word of God always possesses the same efficacy, and that God always operates through the Word."

E. Hove, Christian Doctrine, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1930, p. 27. 

The Sausage Factory and Two Concordias, FIC, Purple Palace:

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.

Calvin Gave Us Pietism, UOJ, and Church Growth: Crypto-Calvinists and Overt Calvinists in Lutherdom

John Calvin rewrote, elegantly, H. Zwingli's false doctrine
Both were Enthusiasts, separating the Holy Spirit from the Word.

Spener's carefully organized Pietism, copying the conventicles of Labadie, infused the Lutheran Church with Reformed doctrine. Pietism was born in unionism and continues to thrive among Lutherans under the guise of being more loving, more spiritual, and more evangelistic.

UOJ (justification without the Word, without faith, without the Means of Grace) comes directly from two Pietistic sources: Boehm's son-in-law (Burk), and Knapp at Halle University. UOJ and the Church Growth Movement are the bitter, sterile fruits of Calvinism.

Reverse-engineering Church Growth in WELS/LCMS/ELS/ELCA, the synods have the same doctrinal foundation - Calvinistic Enthusiasm expressed in UOJ, a cowardly form of Universalism. Everyone is forgiven already (a basic UOJ and Gospel Reductionist motto) so evangelism means simply gathering them in.

Pietism has always been unionistic and Law-centered because the movement seeks methods to produce the desired spiritual results. In trusting methods, they reject the efficacy of the Word. Notice how Kelm and Parlow dance around the subject. WELS VP Huebner has openly mocked the efficacy of the Word - in print.

Naturally, the Calvinists gather at Calvinistic schools. Shrinkers cannot get themselves admitted into real graduate schools, so they study at Pietistic-Calvinistic seminaries. They even flock to and join Willow Creek for training. The Shrinkage leaders in LCMS/ELCA/WELS/ELS are Fuller or Willow Creek trained. And what is that training? Some form of Calvinism.

So many Lutheran clergy are trained in Calvinistic Church Growth Enthusiasm that they can wear their collars, flash their ordination papers, and serve as overt diciples (Stetzer spelling) of their master from Geneva.

All is not lost. I see the WELS leadership, in spite of Huebner, turning away from the hazy, schmoozy, unionistic Pietism of Fuller. The real antidote is Biblical study combined with serious Book of Concord research.

Some long neglected gems to study are:

1. The Large Catechism of Luther.
   
2. The Smalcald Articles of Luther.
   
3. The Formula of Concord.