Gibbon and Matthew 18

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Learning from Cicero: The Decline and Fall of the ...":

Gibbons.... hmmm...

Of course he was the author whose main premise of the entire work "Decline and Fall..." was that the Christians weakened the Empire -- pacifists, lovers of all people, etc. -- to such an extent that it fell. No friend to Christianity was Gibbons.

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GJ - Have you actually read Gibbons? I read the entire set twice and repeated some volumes after that. That is definitely the lamest review of Gibbons I have seen, as if a sophomore read some reviews on the Net and decided to parrot them. The main premise of the entire work? Spare me.

UOJ Starting To Fade Somewhat

"The fields are white unto harvest," CG Guru Donald McGavran explained to a star-struck Larry Olson, astride his Schwin bike, "but you must harvest with a sickle, not with a penknife."

Someone asked about Koehler and UOJ. The synodical conference began recycling the same old Pietistic bromides for decades, and that set the stage for the attack on the Bible's authority, unionism, and Church Growth. UOJ is a symptom of Lutheran avoidance or denial of the efficacy of the Word.

Read Reu on Luther and the Scriptures. Reu was dealing with the inerrancy issue, which the proto-LCA leaders were promoting (Franklin C. Fry, ULCA president, then LCA president, LWF president, Mr. Protestant). Inerrancy and efficacy overlap so much that one is necessarily the mother or daughter of the other.

Following Zwingli and Calvin, the Reformed deny the efficacy of the Word but assert its inerrancy - at least, at first. Fuller Seminary, where so many ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS pastors studied, began with a weak statement on inerrancy. They up and tossed that out, just when Olson's hero, Donald McGavran, stepped in with his statistics and his famous book, Misunderstanding Church Growth.

Synodical Conference Lutherans felt comfortable studying at Fuller Seminary because Holy Mother Synod failed to teach the efficacy of the Word. Their Pietism gave them all a conjoined status with the Reformed. They shared the same denial of efficacy, just as conjoined twins share a leg, liver, or heart.

How did the Synodical conference invent Receptionism, the cracked notion that the elements of Holy Communion become the Body and Blood of Christ once they are received? (Did they jingle a bell every time someone touched the elements?)

Sig Becker loved Receptionism and UOJ. QED - he pioneered Church Growth at the Sausage Factory.

Robert Preus promoted UOJ and Church Growth at the same time. Unlike his unscholarly sons, he continued to study and repudiated UOJ in his last book. Dan and Rolf are so dense that they edited his book, so we are told, and failed to understand what their daddy wrote.

The same bad theology and lazy exegesis of Receptionism allowed Lutherans to teach, covertly, that everyone in the world was already forgiven, without the efficacious Word: Universal Objective Justification.

How did hundreds of Lutheran clergy listen to marketing advice, without running out the door screaming? The first time I wrote "Questions and Answers about Church Growth" in Christian News, about 100 letters came pouring in, when normally a letter or two was unusual.

Receptionism, UOJ, and Church Growth all represent an implicit denial of the efficacy of the Word. All three are pure Enthusiasm, the separation of the Word from the Holy Spirit, the basis for all false doctrine.

UOJ and Receptionism once had the advantage of being a secretive doctrine known only to clergy. How could anyone remember the idiotic arguments long enough to refute them? That changed when the Internet allowed people to read the offensive arguments 24/7. One pastor said he identified UOJ wrongly with the Atonement and changed his language when he read Chapter Five of Thy Strong Word.

Likewise, the B. Teigen book against Receptionism awakened Lutherans from their doctrinal slumber. The synodical reaction to Teigen's book was just as hostile as WELS-ELS-LCMS reaction to my criticisms of CG doctrine.

When the ELS-WELS leaders said, "We don't know the Moment of Consecration," they should have been drop-kicked into Willow Creek.

That is also why women's ordination is promoted in the ELS, WELS, and LCMS. Given the denial of the Biblical doctrine of the Word, anyone in a robe will do. Fighting against women's ordination is foolish when the same spineless leaders will not fight for the most basic doctrine of the Bible, a doctrine clearly taught by Luther, Chemnitz, and the Book of Concord.

Obama's Book Sounds Just Like Bomber Ayers' Writing, Because...

Obama's Middle Finger, Bomber Bill Ayers,

Bomber Bernadine Dohrn Ayres, Michelle Obama

Another Story Involving Ayres' Confession

There I was, sitting in Reagan National Monday morning, sipping a Starbucks by the United counter before going through security. I had a little time, so I was browsing through the news. Some military guys had borrowed a chair from my table. I looked up from time to time to enjoy the sun streaming through. That's when I saw Bill Ayers, an instant blight. Scruffy, thinning beard, dippy earring, and the wirerims, heading to order. I gathered my things, got my camera ready, and snapped a shot right when he got his coffee.




I asked--what are you doing in D.C. Mr. Ayers?



For a moment I thought he might be on my flight back to Chicago. Charming. Initially I guess he thought I was laying claim to his coffee or something. He gave me an uneasy cheesy smile when he realized I was taking his picture. I asked him if he was speaking at GW? (Only I said GFW, guess I had the VFW on my mind) He said oh you mean GW, he said no...was trying to decide if I was a fan, then said he was giving a lecture in Arlington to a Renaissance group on education--that's what I do, education--you shouldn't believe everything you hear about me, you know nothing about me. I said, I know plenty--I'm from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I'll post this. (Oh, yeah, Bill Ayers, quite the Renaissance man, nail-bomber extraordinaire. Gee, I see another friend of Barack, U.S. Sec. of Education Arne Duncan was there too. "The conference theme is “A Time for Reflection, Celebration and Rebirth.” How touching. At best, useless, at worst, so wrong.)



Then, unprompted he said--I wrote Dreams From My Father. I said, oh, so you admit it. He said--Michelle asked me to. I looked at him. He seemed eager. He's about my height, short. He went on to say--and if you can prove it, we can split the royalties. So I said, stop pulling my leg. Horrible thought. But he came again--I really wrote it, the wording was similar. I said I believe you probably heavily edited it. He said--I wrote it. I said--why would I believe you, you're a liar.



He had no answer to that. Just looked at me. Then he turned and walked off, and said again his bit about my proving it and splitting the proceeds.



But the question remains--is Barack Obama a fraud? Is his myth-making creation and only major accomplishment a product of Bill Ayers' imagination? (or his own) Is our President Barack Obama's biography written by an unrepentant domestic terrorist?



Perhaps I'll become Bill Ayers' favorite conservative blogger and he can prove his authorship himself--turn over your notes Bill. And how about turning yourself in for your crimes.



I remember that era, Mr. Ayers. People died because of your actions, including your girlfriend. More would have if you had been more successful. And yet you have the gall to teach the teachers of our young. I won't forget your murderous intent, your shameful acts, your contemptible lies and evasions. And when history is written, I hope you'll be reviled--or forgotten.



As for our President, the verdict is still out. But Barack Obama called Bill Ayers friend and colleague for years. That in itself makes a damning statement.



UPDATE: My friend John Ruberry, Marathon Pundit links with remarks. Chicago News Bench links as well. If I ever write a book (of my own), I will love Tom Mannis to do a blurb for the jacket.



UPDATE: Jack Cashill, who first fleshed out the theory that Ayers ghostwrote Obama's book, on the new unofficial bio of Barack and Michelle, at the end of September:



In his new book, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," Best-selling celebrity journalist, Christopher Andersen, has blown a huge hole in the Obama genius myth without intending to do so.



Relying on inside sources, quite possibly Michelle Obama herself, Andersen describes how Dreams came to be published -- just as I had envisioned it in my articles on the authorship of Dreams. With the deadline pressing, Michelle recommended that Barack seek advice from "his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers."



Read it all. Cashill's site here. Professor Ron Radosh with comments as well. James Simpson, DC Independent Examiner on the media silence.



UPDATE: Just so readers know, I have been tracking Ayers for some time. I have an MBA from the University of Chicago. I've lived in the Chicago area for 30 years, so I know the Hyde Park and Chicago radical leftie milieu. And I first noted the release of his flag-stomping photo from the Hillary blog back during the campaign. My earliest posts on Ayers: Barack's Bomber Buddy, Taking Stock of Barack: A Radical Primer, Obama Responds on Che Flag, Judging Barack Obama, Clout List: Rezko Realtor on Obama Sale, Ayers-Dohrn SDS Reunion Tapes, Whiner Ayers, Ayers' Murderous Intent, The Trouble with Ayers, Fascist Obama Campaign, Obama's Founding Brothers, Subversives for Obama, Obama Ayers Khalidi

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Bill Ayers claims he wrote Obama's "Dreams From My Father"

Dennis Byrne on 10.06.09 | 4 comments |

In a chance meeting with conservative blogger Anne Leary, Bill Ayers makes a stunning claim that he wrote--not just edited--President Barack Obama's autobiography, Dreams from my Father."

Wow. He makes this claim to a  stranger who approaches him in Reagan National Airport. Can you believe anything this man says? Or, should I say, either man?

Bill Ayers: Obama's ghostwriter?

This is no small matter. We have been lead to believe that Obama's eloquence is his strength, his trump card. Is it possible that all of this is a charade? A gigantic lie?

Does this suggest an answer to the question: Did Obama himself write his keynote speech to the 2004 Democratic convention that shot him into orbit as The One? Does Obama think so much like Ayers that what we've seen coming out of the White House during the first months of the Obama administration is a reflection of Ayers' point of view?

Americans have been more than pummeled during the Clinton, G. W. Bush and now the Obama administrations with charges that the chief executive is a liar. How much longer will this continue?

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October 07, 2009

Ayers admits writing Dreams

By James Simpson

Last Friday we posted an article on these pages asserting Bill Ayers' authorship of President Barack Obama's 'Dreams From My Father,' based on claims made by Obama biographer Christopher Andersen. It is possible that we have now gotten direct confirmation of this from Bill Ayers himself.

Anne Leary of Back Yard Conservative was passing through Washington, DC's Reagan National Airport yesterday, and was surprised to come across Bill Ayers at Starbucks: "scruffy, thinning beard, dippy earring, and the wire rims, heading to order."

She struck up a conversation with him and snapped the accompanying photo. (I interviewed Anne about it, and thank her for permission to run the photo she took.)

Ayers was in Washington, he told her, for a conference on education.

"That's what I do, education," he said. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear about me... You know nothing about me."

To which she responded, "I said, I know plenty--I'm from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I'll post this."

I bet his heart skipped a beat on that one.

But he didn't scowl, and didn't run off as he has been known to do. Instead, unprompted, he blurted out: "I wrote ‘Dreams From My Father... Michelle asked me to." Then he added "And if you can prove it we can split the royalties."

Anne responded, "Stop pulling my leg!"

But he repeated insistently, "I wrote it, the wording was similar [to Ayers' other writing.]"

Anne responded, "I believe you probably heavily edited it."

Ayers stated firmly, "I wrote it."

Anne ended the conversation by saying "why would I believe you? You're a liar."

Good for her. But we are left to wonder. Despite her parting shot, Anne was convinced Ayers was in earnest. He was making a public statement. He wanted this news out there.

Was he, as she had asked, pulling our collective legs? Other sources report rumors that Ayers is very upset both about not getting any credit for helping Obama on ‘Dreams,' and may also be put off by being summarily thrown under the bus along with Rev. Wright and everyone else who becomes an inconvenience to this President.
My understanding of communists is that most would know better and keep their mouths shut. But Ayers is a bit different. He is, as he says, a "small ‘c' communist," but he is also, in a certain, slimy way, an entrepreneur, as we explained in Monday's post. (Apologies in advance to entrepreneurs everywhere.) He grew up a very rich kid, used to getting everything he wanted. Even as an adult his career has relied on a hand up from his wealthy father. His past statements and radical activities also mark him as a megalomaniac. In youth he drew attention to himself by blowing things up. As an adult "educator" he merely attempts to subvert children. But that doesn't seem to be going so well.

He is under a lot of pressure, too. Ayers and his horrid wife Bernardine Dohrn are believed to have planned and executed the San Francisco Park Police Station bombing in 1970 that killed police sergeant Brian V. McDonnell and wounded several others. Efforts to bring them to justice have been underway for some time, as brought to light this past March in a National Press Club conference put on by Cliff Kincaid of America's Survival.

Cliff's guests included Larry Grathwohl, the FBI's undercover agent who penetrated Ayers' Weather Underground and produced this stunning testimony about Ayers' plan to massacre 25 million Americans, retired S.F. policeman James Pera, first on the scene at the bombing, and veteran researcher Trevor Loudon. 

Now, a recent exposé by San Francisco reporter Peter Jamison has revealed additional evidence, including testimony from other Weather Underground members, that Dohrn planted the bomb that killed Sgt. McDonnell.

Maybe in his overstressed state Bill's megalomania has just gotten the better of him.