Church Lady Question

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Trinity":

Beautiful sermon Pastor GJ! I have a question. "The invitations of the marriage feast were sent out again and again, the humblest gathered to fill the halls. The great, noble, learned, and foolish are too busy, too important, or too hedonistic to accept the gracious invitation."

Is this what some pastors may be expressing when using the "free turkeys at the supermarket" analagy? Both you and Brett called this synergism. Perhaps I am missing someting. I would appreciate some help. Thank you.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

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GJ - That is a good question. First of all I would say that the original Gospel messages get converted into secular analogies that do not fit. I have heard UOJ defended thus:
1. Everyone is in a prison cell but the door is not locked (universal forgiveness).
2. Money is placed in every single bank account but not always realized.
3. Poultry day is announced at the grocery store - everyone gets a free goose (your example).
4. Someone inherits a vast estate, but it has to be claimed (attributed to Luther).

The comparison I used was from the Scriptures, the invitation to the marriage feast. The invitation is the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel Promises. Christ has indeed died for the sins of the world, an objective truth whether anyone believes it or not. However, the righteousness He has earned is not imputed except through faith.

The free poultry analogy is loaded with traps. First of all, it suggests that we seek Christ or cooperate (synergism). Not so - Christ goes looking for us (Luke 15) and rejoices with His angels over one lost sinner found. The poultry analogy is used to claim everyone is already forgiven, without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace.

Jesus has many examples to show how people receive the Gospel invitation but turn away - have to test-drive my oxen, just got married, gotta big funeral. Another set of comparisons is found in Mark 4/Matthew 13 in the Parable of the Sower. The sowing of the Word is universal, but various complications lead to no yield in three circumstances, overwhelming results in another.

Luther emphasized two aspects of Christian doctrine  - the efficacy of the Word and the Means of Grace. Both are missing in UOJ.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Church Lady Question":

Rev. Jackson, does the following properly express what you are saying?

Christ conquered sin, death and the Devil on the cross for all and for all time. This fact is there for all in the Word, and has absolutely nothing to do with any action on the part of man in order to be true.

This conquering of sin, death and the Devil by Christ, comes to you and to me only by Grace, through Faith, which Faith, likewise comes only by The Holy Spirit through the Word.

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GJ - Yes, that is another way of stating what is expressed by Luther in the treasure analogy. The Atonement is the treasure but it lies in one heap until it is distributed by the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Word.

The UOJ Stormtroopers parrot their favorite little sentence in The Brief Statement, which has no basis in the Scriptures or Confessions: "Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25..."

The UOJ fanatics cannot deal with Robert Preus' basic statements and quotations in Justification and Rome. To do so would be admitting that Missouri - gasp - was fallible, that J. P. Meyer and Sig Becker - double-gasp - erred in their Human Natures.

Are Hottentots Justified, As E. Preuss Claimed in His Famous Book?

Cowardly Lion: Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman: Courage!
From Quotes

J-578

"So, then, we are reconciled; however, not only we, but also Hindus, and Hottentots and Kafirs, yes, the world. 'Reconciled', says our translation; the Greek original says: 'placed in the right relation to God'. Because before the Fall we, together with the whole creation, were in the right relation to God, therefore Scripture teaches that Christ, through His death, restored all things to the former right relation to God."

F. R. Eduard Preuss, 1834-1904, Die Rechtfertigung der Suender vor Gott. Cited in Rick Nicholas Curia, The Significant History of the Doctrine of Objective or Universal Justification, Alpine, California: California Pastoral Conference, WELS. January 24-25, 1983. p. 24. [GJ - This restoration of all is used by Karl Barth, official theologian for Fuller, to promote Universalism.]

Dr. Robert Preus, Justification and Rome:

"But the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner takes place when the Holy Spirit brings him to faith through Baptism and the Word of the Gospel. Our sins were imputed to Christ at His suffering and death, imputed objectively after He, by His active and passive obedience, fulfilled and procured all righteousness for us. But the imputation of His righteousness to us takes place when we are brought to faith." [procured in italics in text]
Robert D. Preus, Justification and Rome, St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press 1997, p. 72.

Abraham Calov: "Although Christ has acquired for us the remission of sins, justification, and sonship, God just the same does not justify us prior to our faith. Nor do we become God's children in Christ in such a way that justification in the mind of God takes place before we believe." [Apodixis Articulorum Fide, Lueneburg, 1684]
Robert D. Preus, Justification and Rome, St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press 1997, p. 131n.

Lenski

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


Basic Errors of UOJ

I want to keep this basic. The UOJ fanatics like to tie up people in terminology while ignoring the catastrophic errors in their own thinking. For instance, Dan and Rolph Preus continue to promote a position contrary to what their father repudiated in his final book - and they edited it. (Old writer's joke - An editor is someone whose belt size is bigger than his IQ.)

There is only one justification - not two.
Justification is used in the Scriptures and the Book of Concord only in the context of justification by faith apart from the works of the Law. Sig Becker admitted that in his essay - UOJ, OJ, and General Justification are new terms. In German, as Kurt Marquart observed, "general" means universal.

The first recorded use of General Justification is from Burk, cited in Hoenecke, long after the Reformation and Book of Concord. Note that Hoenecke was trained at the center of Pietism, Halle University, as a student of Tholuck, a Universalist. Burk was the son-in-law of Bengel, a very strange Pietist indeed. The double-justification scheme came from the Pietist Knapp, who preceded Tholuck at Halle University. Knapp's lectures were widely available in English and German, in America and Europe, before Walther (a Pietist) began promoting it.

Hoenecke:

And Ph. D. Burk (Rechtfertigung und Versicherung, p. 41) rightly said:

"The difference between general justification and the more common usage of the term justification can be expressed as follows. The latter takes place precisely upon the appropriation of the former." Adolph Hoenecke, Dogmatik, III, p. 354-5

Burk, Philip David, a Protestant theologian of Germany, was born July 26, 1714, at Neu Ren. He studied at Tubingen, was in 1742 pastor nt Bolheitn, and in 1750 at Hcdelfingen, near Stuttgard. In 1758 he was appointed superintendent at Markt-Groningen, and in 1766 he was called for the same position to Kirchheim, where he died, March 22, 1770. He is the author of fïnowmn in Dundecini Prophetus Minores (Heilbronn, 1753), with a Preface by his father-in-law, the famous J. A. Dengcl: — Gnomon Psalinorum (Stuttgard, 1760): — Knuigelischer Fingerzeig auf den wahren Verstand und heilsamen Gebrauch der geirohnlichen Sonn-Fest-itml Feiertäglichen Kvangflien, etc. (Leipsic and Tübingen, 1760-67, 7 vols.) -.—Die Lehre rnn der Reehljerttyiiiig und decen GeiciJtshfit im Jlerzen und Geirissen des Sünden, etc. (Stuttgard, 1763-65, 7 pts.). Sec Winer, Handbuch der then!. Lit. i, 99; During, Die gelehrten Theologen Deutschlands, i, 208 sq. (Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature by John McClintock)

Abraham defeats all UOJ claims.

Righteousness was imputed to Abraham through faith.

KJV Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

KJV Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised againfor our justification.

He is the Father of Faith in Romans 4, foundational for justification by faith in Romans 5:1-2. How could he be justified before Christ, then declared justified (with the whole world, Hottentots and Hindoos included), and...?

Grace comes only through the Means of Grace Word and Sacrament.

Those who separate the Holy Spirit from the Word are Enthusiasts (Luther, Book of Concord). Nothing is more ridiculous that saying the entire world is forgiven (including everyone in Hell) but not really forgiven until they "accept" this universal forgiveness without the Word, without Means, without the Spirit, without faith. J. P. Meyer, WELS, in Ministers of Christ: "Will he accept or will he decline?"

UOJ utterly destroys Christian doctrine and worship

1. The Office of the Keys is rendered obsolete because everyone is already forgiven. That is why so many UOJ-CG pastors are Antinomian unionists.
   
2. All Law/Gospel distinctions are merged, since everyone is forgiven - Gospel Reductionism (Seminex and ELCA) is UOJ in another uniform.
   
3. Worship is simply a convenient way to get the cell groups together on Sunday, because the real work of the church takes place in conventicles "transforming lives." (See The CORE and all the other clones of Pietism.)

I hope this helps. So ends today's Talking Points Memo.

Why do the wheels keep falling off our UOJ racer?

Famous Lutherans, More Or Less

Keillor is Plymouth Brethren!

The fact-checker and spell-checker were both off.

Still, this video is fun to watch.

Garrison Keillor, not Keiller, was never a Lutheran. He always pretended to be on his radio show. He was raised Plymouth Brethren, a Pietistic sect that was home to Satanist Aleister Crowley.

Critics Pan Adam Lambert's Witty Parody: Adam Raises Cain

Student Advisor, The Sword

Readers probably do not want to see the NY Post article, but here it is.

Adam defended his performance recorded on the video, “If it’s edited, that’s discrimination,” Adam said. “I will be a little disappointed because there is a little bit of discrimination going in this country. There’s a big double standard, female pop artists have been doing things provocative like that for years, and the fact that I’m a male, and I’ll be edited and discriminated against could be a problem.”

Wisconsin Lutheran College's prestigious student newspaper, The Sword, editorialized that critics missed the point of Adam Lambert's cutting edge performance at the American Music Awards. Denouncing humorous critics who cannot understand a a clever parody, The Sword went on to state:

Repression and censorship have made it difficult but not impossible for us to watch our favorite video. Lucky for us, someone put it on a server so we can watch through a "dark tunnel," as they call it. Far from putting people off, it has done wonders for recruitment at two schools. Before we got very few future fashion designers, ballet dancers, gossip columnists, and flower arrangers. Now they are swarming both campuses.

Among we journalists, parody is an essential art form. You take the essence of a performance and make people smile by taking it to a new level. A truly awesome performance will make people laugh, especially when they imagine the shocked frowns of troglodytes blogging in their pajamas. If I was him, I would download more of the same. Parody is art. This here newspaper itself is a parody of student journalism, an art form.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Critics Pan Adam Lambert's Witty Parody: Adam Rais...":

If you didn't have so many double standards, people might actually take you serious (sic - seriously modifies a verb). And those that do are as delusional as you are.

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GJ - The alleged quote is a parody of The Thword. I was just waiting for a humorless, illiterate MLC/WLC supporter to sling some more mud.
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dk has left a new comment on your post "Critics Pan Adam Lambert's Witty Parody: Adam Rais...":

you dun joked me 'teach'!

That was funny.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Critics Pan Adam Lambert's Witty Parody: Adam Rais...":

How can these people expect to be taken seriously as "journalists" when they don't even know the rules of the language they are using (and abusing)?

Reply-These people you are referring is Pastor Jackson since the THWORD did not write this "atricle" (sic!). Your readers are very smart Pastor since they cannot see that this was obviously a parody.

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GJ - My readers are very sharp and they have a sense of humor. My critics do not know the language they are using and abusing. What shocks Hollyweird, though, is defended by two WELS colleges. I have not seen an apology posted at either skul. Maybe I missed it.