Friday, December 18, 2009

From WELS - The CORE - Mixed Message on Reaching the Lost




Click to enlarge.
 




Ski photo album, Facebook. Doing everything--short of sin--to reach the lost.


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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "From WELS - The CORE - Mixed Message on Reaching t...":

I can see why Ski would have a bunch of picks of attractive women on his Facebook page. Let's face it. The man is sexy AND a good theologian.

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Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Public Places




Ski posted this photo of MariQueen in his Facebook photo albums.
It is still there if you follow the link.



Glende still features this photo with Katy Perry, age 25, on the
home page of his Facebook account.
She is famous for Ur So Gay and I Kissed a Girl.
The Glende-Ski supervisors should look up the videos and lyrics to these masterpieces, especially
since much is made of her growing up Christian and singing Gospel.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent":

Where do those pictures of Pastors Ski and Glende come from?

I believe Mariqueen Maandig is married to Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. So it's not like she's hitting on him. Still, Google her and you find plenty of pictures of her in various states of undress, and even naked. I can't say that having her pose for a picture with him would be wrong. But why would he want such a picture? Moreover, if he meets a celebrity and she agrees to pose, why would it be one that feigns intimacy? And perhaps most perplexing, why would he then make it public? It shows a lack of judgment so profound that that, in itself, would seem to disqualify him from ministry. It's disrespectful to Mrs. Ski. And it raises the question of what a pastor does to strive to be "beyond reproach." [GJ - 2 Corinthians 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed]

***

GJ - I mentioned before that many of these WELS people are techno-dolts. Pastor Tim has now locked down his photo albums and other information, but he still features the photo (above) on his main page. Ski has not privatized his photos (as of this writing). The photo above is found among his photo albums.

I am always finding these Changers bragging about themselves on the Net, for everyone to see, and subsequently erasing the evidence or hiding it when people get linked to it.

Dom Perignon Patterson is listed as a Facebook friend among all the Changers I found. The same names keep cropping up. Patterson and Jeske are on all those lists. Jeske's information is open, but good luck with Patterson. You will get a copy of Obama's birth certificate before you see anything about Don. I guess the safari and fishing photos were painful experiences for him when published elsewhere. I was told he had another free vicar this year, but the vicar is not even listed on the church website. Nor is SP-in-Exile Gurgle, who was hired for pay by skimming the salaries of the staff.

Long ago, my grade school teacher admonished us not to go around writing on walls or in textbooks. She said, "Fools' names and fools' faces are often found in public places."

Ski's reputation in A-town is for posting all his celeb photos in his office and bragging about them. He even does that with people who come in for spiritual counseling.

Ski and Glende represent the Peter Pan segment in WELS, the pastors who never want to grow up. They often come from the athletes, the same ones who would not get the position as Second Water Boy in a big school. At a tiny school they can be varsity. There are mature, Lutheran pastors in WELS.

Someone wrote that SP Schroder has to act, but I ask, "Where are the Fox Valley pastors?" Some belong to the same Reformed cult as Ski and Glende, but there must be some Lutherans there, some grown-ups. And where are the Fox Valley laity?

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

Your take on Dom Patterson is right on. He is a Changer to the Core but has recently tried to hide his affiliation as he is being exposed. Patterson's Reason for Hope is a replica of Mark Jeske's Time of Grace. Dom is also under the tutelage and direction of Gurgle.



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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

I opened Ski's Facebook profile from your link. Did you notice that under his "Interested in" the only thing he has listed is "Women." Did someone hack his site and post that? I can't imagine a pastor posting something like that. If it's his, I would think his ministry is done.

People keep harping that it's Pres. Schroeder's job to discipline Ski. It isn't. It's his circuit pastor's job first. Who is his circuit pastor?

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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

"...who was hired for pay by skimming the salaries of the staff."

This remark is so far off the mark, I just needed to call attention to it. It shows what a buffoon you are.

"Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your take on Dom Patterson is right on. He is a Changer to the Core but has recently tried to hide his affiliation as he is being exposed. Patterson's Reason for Hope is a replica of Mark Jeske's Time of Grace. Dom is also under the tutelage and direction of Gurgle.

December 18, 2009 5:04 PM"

Only someone who gets their info from this sheistblog (sic! - no such word) would say something like this.

***

GJ - My informant says that staff salaries were reduced to pay for Gurgle's invented position. Patterson wanted two positions funded and "only" got his free vicar.

I am not sure what German word LutherRocks was attempting. Ichabodians, do you accept official denials to come from someone who knows not that he knows not German?

Don Patterson on his friends list? Ya think?

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Best Comment of the Month!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

Please! What is going on here? Isn't it o.k. to post a picture with your wife and her arm lovingly wrapped around your belly? There is nothing wrong with you showing your wife, family, kids, or neice, who loves you and shows it. I would have a little talk with my daughter if she dressed so provacatively though and my wife for that matter. But other than that, I think it's o.k.

Perhaps this could also just be a very loving congregation. "Greet each other with a heavenly kiss." Doesn't the Bible say that?

***

GJ - There are pictures of Ski with his wife, on Facebook, but they do not steam up the camera lens. Those photos have been shut down, along with the babe shot. Here is a boat picture of the family. And there are others, too.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

Is he going to post more pictures with hookers? Why is he spending time with these x-rated females? What about setting a good role model? This female is not even a celebrity and is married to a man who doesn't even believe in God. He writes hateful songs about God.

[GJ - The rest is deleted, for obvious reasons. We don't need links to porn stars.]

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

The author of this blog consistently refutes the fact that he is breaking the 8th Commandment. Regarding his claim that staff salaries were "skimmed" to pay for Gurgle's salary at Holy Word, that is a blatant lie. Their is no credence to that whatsoever. GJ's informant broke the 8th commandment when he shared this lie with Mr. (not pastor) Jackson. GJ broke the 8th commandment when he posted that lie. To you Mr. Jackson...your informant is not as in touch with things as he or you would like to think

***

GJ - Would anonymous and unfounded accusations qualify as slander? I think so. Send me the before and after budgets at Holy Word, Austin, and I will publish a retraction if the audited figures prove the claim posted above. Just to be sure, include your name, address, birthday, last four of your SS, and your mother's maiden name. I can't be too careful in dealing with Chicaneries.

I am also interested in the disappearing Vicar at Holy Word. Is there one or not? Why is he not on the websty if he is? And where is Gurgle? Is he afraid of a process server? Just wonderin'.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools' Names and Fools' Faces Often Appear in Publ...":

Mr. Jackson, why would anybody send you a copy of their church budget? What an idiotic request. It seems that request was just your way of trying to deflect the fact that you are publishing lies. As a man of God, which you claim to be, when another man of God, which I am by grace, lets you know that you printed a lie, I would hope that you would take that seriously and consider retracting it. Our Lord takes breaking the 8th commandment seriously, which you have done. If you still demand proof, ask your informant for proof since it seems they think they know what is going on, which they clearly don't. But I 'm sure you made sure their information was correct before you dragged a church's Gospel ministry through the dirt once again. Make a trip to Austin and visit one of their Bible classes and church services. Sit down with one of the lay leaders in the church. You will realize quickly their knowledge of the bible is substantial. To your chagrin they will not be able to quote the Lutheran confessions, however, they do have a thorough knowledge of the Bible and a genuine love for their Lord and Savior. May the Lord bless your Christmas celebration and hopefully you will find some time to share in the JOY of the Christ-child, instead of dwelling in your bitter state. Hopefully the plank in your eye will be removed sometime with the Lord's help. By His grace, I am working on my plank on a daily basis.

***

GJ - Oh-oh: another wounded heart comment. And this came from Mumford, Texas, not far from Round Rock and Austin.

Why does Patterson hide so much? He makes blogging interesting.


Thursday, December 17, 2009

WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent




You are probably wondering why The CORE is featuring Christmas at the Movies.

Perhaps it is because Joe Case is featuring Christmas at the Movies. Joe Case wrote: "Part one of our series, “Christmas at the Movies”. This time we feature a message inspired by the new Christmas classic, “Elf”. Joe Case video tapes people being immersed in a glass tank. He bills his church as a Dangerous Church and has a sermon posted on The Real F Word.

For some reason, The CORE also featured "Elf." I did not get to watch "Elf." The star of that film is known for featuring gross and disgusting bits as comedy.



Why didn't The CORE feature Nightmare Before Christmas
I skipped that classic too, but I am sure it is edgy.



I heard the Appleton clergy were getting uneasy about The CORE. Doubtless in another decade they will say, "About that movie series..." Katie will be DP by then, so she will smack them down hard.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent":

It absolutely sickens me that nobody at the WELS headquarters seems to be doing anything about the shenanigans going on in Appleton. Don't they know and don't care OR do they know and don't care? Which is it? This is why I cannot in good conscience support my local WELS church knowing that some of my offerings could be going to support this type of nonsense. As soon as I see anybody at the Love Shack speaking out against and doing something to stop this kind of thing, I'll keep my money for other more worthy causes. It is so sad and sickening at the same time. CORE --- GET OUT OF MY SYNOD AND TAKE SKI WITH YOU!!!



Ski posed with MariQueen, an entertainer.
She is obviously thrilled to be with The CORE's flounder founder.
 
 

Pastor Tim Glende is featuring this photo
on his Facebook home page.
Appleton is a happenin' place.


***

GJ - The CORE is now being advertised as the "downtown campus of St. Peter, Freedom." At first, St. Peter was holding the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock at arm's length. Now they seem to be the same congregation. They are calling a new pastor, without resolving the questions about the previous pastor leaving after only seven months.

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DK has left a new comment on your post "WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent":

Ski's first week in Milwaukee, when I was at Ski's house as his guest (my wife and I had been invited over for dinner)
I was subjected to Sponge Bob/Square pants on TV as we attempted to chat.

I'm thinking, this guy supposedly is a pastor with an MDIV...and we're watching sponge bob. (smackin my brain like duhhhhh...shakin my head like whoaaa)

Then his wife called down stairs to tell us that dinner was ready.(He yelled up to her that we were going to finish the Sponge Bob episode. (Twenty minutes later we went to eat.) I was pretty uncomfortable by this point because in my culture, Dinner and community, especially when guests are over, take priority over even the most riveting TV. (And Sponge Bob is not even an intelligent cartoon like Loony Tunes...) I was sooo out of my element. What the heck is going on here??

***

[GJ - There is more, but I chose to omit it. There is something about the football culture in WELS that defies common sense.]







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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent":

What's with WELS pastors posing with scantily clad Hollywood vixens?

They're partying like Rome with Leonard Sweet in a wooden horse.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent":

You are all overreacting. These pastors get divine inspiration while posing with beautiful, young women.


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Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent":

Hey Brett, thanks for the lovely vote of confidence...especially since you haven't been there.

Are there "crazies" at MLC that loved those dolts at Evangelism day? Sure, just like the rest of the synod.

But, I promise you, there are more on the other side of the aisle who complain about Evangelism Day and aren't making any movies on the side.

Judging an entire campus by some spurious connection like Evangelism Day speakers or by a video made by 1% of the student body is pretty far fetched.

***

GJ - We can judge a self-described orthodox Lutheran group by the way false teachers are elevated, promoted, defended, and protected. After all, Paul Calvin Kelm's false doctrine has been widely known for a long time, yet he was still the elderly keynote speaker for Evangelism Day at the only WELS synodical college. And he did the same for Mission Day at the Sausage Factory.

Mike, I respect your posts, but people do judge a campus when the collegians get together to defend Party in the MLC by attacking anyone offended by it. WLC got involved on, on behalf of the video.



I did not realize until I saw an interview on video -
Sigfried and Roy are both German! I could tell by their accents.
They're what?

Vespers Tonight at 7 PM Central





Advent, December 17, 2009

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Mid-Week Advent, Thursday, 7 PM Central

The Hymn # 558 All Praise to Thee 4.44
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 100 p. 144
The First Lection 1 Timothy 3:16
The Second Lection Luke 1:46ff
The Sermon Hymn #251 We All Believe 4.87

Giving God Thanks
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
The Hymn # 70 Hosanna 4.55

KJV 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
received up into glory.

KJV Luke 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. 56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.


The Confession of Faith

KJV 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
1. manifest in the flesh,
2. justified in the Spirit,
3. seen of angels,
4. preached unto the Gentiles,
5. believed on in the world,
6. received up into glory.

I listed this one verse according to its parallel verb forms. This is poetic in its form and could be either one of the earliest creeds or hymns, or both. Many hymns are creeds and Luther turned a creed into a hymn (We All Believe in One True God).

It is good to look at a verse in its context.

The verse before says this:

KJV 1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Verse 15 has a personal touch, and I read verse 16 as reminding them of their confession of faith.

Verse 16 closes the chapter, meaning the later editors felt a new theme was starting. Paul did not write in chapters and verses.

The new chapter begins thus:

KJV 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

So sound doctrine (1 Timothy 3:16) is followed by contrasting false doctrine.

As a creed, confession of faith, or hymn, 1 Timothy 3:16 is a gem. So much is said in a few words.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
Mystery is the clear indication that this is doctrine revealed by the Holy Spirit. Paul was taught directly by Christ and hinted at the great privileges given to him, accompanied by the cross. Doubtless they strengthened him during his many trials.

“God was” – We can speak of God and Christ, either one, because the fullness of the godhead dwelt in Him. Because of the Three-ness of One God, we emphasize a Person at certain times, two Persons at various times (often the Father-Son relationship), and the Holy Trinity at other times. This enrages the rationalists, who cannot accept what the Holy Spirit reveals as a mystery. They fling themselves at the doctrine of the Trinity to prove what they have already assumed, that this cannot be.

One Jehovah’s Witness said of Jesus praying to the Father, “How can God pray to God. I cannot understand that.” I said, “My dog can’t understand it either.” He said goodbye by saying the founder of Jonestown (Disciples of Christ) was a Lutheran. Needless to say, he left angry.

Jesus is God. That is our confession. In one phrase the doctrine of God in the flesh (the Incarnation) is taught – Manifest (seen) in the flesh.

“manifest in the flesh” – Both God and man. This informs the Virgin Birth (true man and true God) and His suffering on the cross for our sins (true man and true God). The Virgin Birth is a unique miracle, unlike anything else in history. Early heretics had trouble with Jesus being born of a woman, and heretics across time have either attacked His humanity or divinity. Modernists hate His divinity while earlier false teachers questioned the humanity of Christ. As Chemnitz showed so clearly, the Scriptures and confessors of the past have taught both as the union of both natures in the One Person of Christ. We see that throughout the Scriptures, often with one Nature emphasized over another (being thirsty – human, walking on water – divine).

“justified in the Spirit”

This is the phrase, I am sure, used by the Pietists to associate the resurrection of Christ with the world being “declared not guilty.” But this phrase applies to Christ, and we can see why. Jesus died as a traitor to Rome, a criminal. All men die because they are sinners and mortal. Confessing the truth of Christ includes His innocent, perfect, obedient life. Therefore, in raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father declared His righteous work (my Righteous Servant – Isaiah). He rose because of His innocence. And because He rose from death, we believe in our own eternal life because He won forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life for us.

“seen of angels” – appeared to angels

This emphasizes His glorious resurrection. In other places the human witnesses are listed, and the early Church knew them. The entire foundation of Christianity was based upon those who witnessed the risen Christ and heard Him teach the Word in His exalted state.

To this day, even some of the worst critics of Christianity admit to the reality of the resurrection – not that we need their witness. But it is interesting to see them squirm around this greatly-witnessed fact. Nevertheless, the sign of a true wolf in sheep’s clothing is one who dances around the issue and says it is “not important” or “not based on an empty grave, but the faith and hope of His disciples.”

preached unto the Gentiles (or nations, or pagans)

The imperial journalists were men who proclaimed news, such as “the emperor is arriving in a month.” Even in modern times, there were town criers who were enlisted to take the news to everyone. The word for these proclamations is the one we use for “preaching.” The proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to all people was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

“believed on in the world,”

The power of the Word is proven in people believing. Fraud will last a few years, but the truth endures. How exciting it must have been to realize the Redeemer of the world had been among people that the early Christians knew personally. And they realized very quickly that this Gospel was spreading across the Roman Empire, hastened by persecution, and enabled by the greatest highway system of all time. (Do you think any given mile of highway today will be used in 2,000 years? 200 years? Roman roads are still being used today.)

“received up into glory”

The apostles were also eye-witnesses of the Ascension of Christ.

I Am Not Making This Up! -
The CORE's Christmas Service Show Will Be: Charlie Brown's Christmas


Christmas Eve Worship -
Christmas at the Movies:
Charlie Brown's Christmas




Thursday, December 24, 5:30pm – 6:30pm. The CORE Calendar
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I. J. Reilly has left a new comment on your post "I Am Not Making This Up! - The CORE's Christmas Se...":

Insurance Agent Jackson,

What is actually going on is that the Core is having a sermon series entitled "Christmas at the Movies." Ski uses the movies as a jumping off point to talk about what is really important about the celebration of Christmas. They show the movie in question (Elf, Home Alone, A Christmas Story, and The Charlie Brown Christmas) at 3:00 and then have a worship service at 5:00. In the service, he will show a clip of the movie and then go into Scripture.

Hey, here's an idea: Why don't you come up to Appleton and see what his service is like before you make comments as if you know the whole story already. It might make for a posting that is actually informed. Then again, I don't think I could expect that kind of honesty out of you when half-truth and inuendo seem to be your weapons of choice.

Merry Christmas Greggy Brown!

***

GJ - I am too busy as a tent-maker to sit down with Entertainment Specialist Ski and explain Lutheran worship to him.



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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "I Am Not Making This Up! - The CORE's Christmas Se...":

Everything in the name of outreach and evangelism. After all, isn't one soul transfer worth it? [GJ - There, I fixed it.]

Website Updates - Updated




Fellers, Adam Mueller, Larry Oh!, Jeff Gunn


Registration for last month's conference is still open. "If I could turn back time..."




Church from Scratch cannot be found on the server. Maybe the server gave up after everyone looked at the lonely, solitary page with the sad little map on it. "Under construction" for the last month! Send them a grant. Web design is so expensive. $200,000? They need more than that.

The Church From Old Scratch is back, with a Christmas schedule. They use an image I could kelm, so I posted it for everyone's edification.
Do they thank me for the free publicity? Never.



Reconciliation Explained by Luther's Co-Worker Melanchthon







Melanchthon pioneered forensic justification.
Lutherans subscribe to the Book of Concord, not to FIC, LW, or LS.



87] In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul discusses this topic especially, and declares that, when we believe that God, for Christ's sake, is reconciled to us, we are justified freely by faith.
Book of Concord, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Justification.



The reconciliation expressed in Corinthians is the Atonement, not to be confused with justification. Melanchthon is clear, and Robert Preus explains:

"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.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Reconciliation Explained by Luther's Co-Worker Mel...":

This is one problem I have with Jacko: He claims to know more about Robert Preus than Preus' own family by insisting that he does not teach Universal Objective Justification. Instead it is claimed that he rejected UOJ, when his family denies that. Surely his family knows more about this great saint than does Jacko.

***

GJ - What Rolf claims is hearsay. What we have for certain is the book, even after unclean hands have touched it in editing the work. I base my claim upon the printed word rather than Rolf's testimony, which has been on both sides of the justification issue.

As James Heiser pointed out, Robert's sons are not known for their theological acumen.


Denominations as Hot-Air Balloons




"Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly we can fly."

I was reading the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau discussion site today. I was genuinely schocked (Queen Victoria's word) about the split emerging from their August convention.

There are multiple aspects of the ensuing panic. One is counting the number of congregations actually leaving ELCA, and they are legion. Another is trying to figure how many will direct their funds away from ELCA while staying for the time being. A third source of concern is how much any given program will be cut, since many are synod-funded but could receive money from re-directed giving.

Denominations are like hot-air balloons. People bail out when they see their church body going apostate, and that empowers the denomination to do even wackier things. The toughest leaders often go first, and the denomination does everything possible to jettison the sandbags of tradition, confessions, and common sense.

For the last decade, ELCA has been losing big congregations to the LCMC. The 1987 merger survivors wanted nothing to do with the old leadership, so the former synod executives were put out to pasture. Not only that, non-Lutherans replaced them, in the name of diversity and lavender power. That created a group of former liberals put on a shelf for not being super-radicals, and those men had contacts. Next some momentum built up for leaving, and the largest TALC churches began doing that. They cleverly created a system where people could gather without leaving ELCA, until they were ready to leave. That was called Word Alone.

In 2009, Bishop Kenneth Sauer (my first boss in the LCA, Ohio Synod, 1972) is leading people out of ELCA. He was chairman of the ELCA bishops conference. In other words, he was a loyalist with clout.

I heard Sauer at a Lutheran Free Conference. He was there as a representative for ELCA. When the Sauer friends leave ELCA, it will be even farther to the Left.

Someone said that the August ELCA convention sounded like two different groups meeting together. The radicals deliberately split the synod and leveraged their power. They won, and I am glad they did. Finally the ELCA pastors and members can see what they have been supporting for 22 years. Apparently the rainbow stoles were in abundance at the worship gatherings. "Nodding my head like yeah. Swinging my hips like yeah." The closets are empty now, but so are the coffers.


Apology of the Augsburg Confession: UOJ Stormtroopers See without Perceiving




Melanchthon wrote the Augsburg Confession and the Apology (Defense) of the Augsburg Confession. The Formula of Concord authors called themselves "theologians of the Augsburg Confession."


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

Anonymous at 7:20PM, so you reject the Lutheran Confessions when they state,
[86] "We, therefore, will add testimonies which clearly declare that faith is that very righteousness by which we are accounted righteous before God,"
http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php

1 Corinthians 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" Christ is made righteousness in those who are in Him and He in them through faith.

Faith is righteousness given graciously by the Holy Ghost. It is a gift of God.

Also, don't disregard what follows the BOC quote above, "We, therefore, will add testimonies which clearly declare that faith is that very righteousness by which we are accounted righteous before God, namely, not because it is a work that is in itself worthy, but because it receives the promise by which God has promised that for Christ's sake He wishes to be propitious to those believing in Him, or because He knows that Christ of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. 1:30."

***

GJ - This passage illustrates the value of engaging in doctrinal debate. The Reformers had no qualms about discussing these issues at length. If these issues trouble readers, they should read the appropriate passages in Scripture and use the Book of Concord as an exegetical guide.

The time has come to put away the threadbare slogans of the Synodical Conference and look at justification by faith without the filters of Pietism and synod-worship.

Here is some irony. ELCA compromised completely on justification in its Munich Pact with the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome conceded nothing, while the Lutheran Left-wing conceded everything. Therefore, conservative Lutherans are now supposed to use the ELCA version (Kolb/Wengert) of the Book of Concord. No, I have not seen it or opened it. I would not crack open a free copy of an ELCA book at gunpoint.

Kolb/Wengert did allow participation from a Missouri guy - Chuck Arand, who teaches at Our Lady of Sorrows Seminary, St. Louis. He is a translator. ELCA has fellowship principles, so they did not pick someone known for opposing ELCA on anything.


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Try To Watch the Video: Remind You of the Chicaneries, Especially Mark and Avoid Jeske?



STEVEN FURTICK SOUNDING MORE LIKE JOEL OSTEEN



By Ken Silva pastor-teacher · Comments (0)



Steven FurtickBefore every story-time sermon Joel Osteen continues the tradition begun by John Osteen, his late father and fellow Word Faith prosperity gospel preacher. Based upon their belief in the erroneous “positive confession” teaching Osteen has his followers confess concerning the Bible.
Their mistaken idea is when people confess positive things they are speaking “faith-filled words” that, like God’s Own Words, quite literally have creative power. Of course this is stupid, but it is what they believe. Now Steven Furtick, one of  the allegedly infallible Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven Popes Of The Carolinas, appears to have been gleaning knowledge from  Joel Osteen.
Now, that Carolina Pope Steven Furtick would begin to sound more like Joel Osteen really shouldn’t surprise us though. You may recall I showed you in Steven Furtick Calls Joel Osteen Great Man Of God that not long ago Furtick was literally gushing when he tweeted to the world:

@stevenfurtick Great night w a great man of God. Thx Pastor Joel 4 your humility & msg of hope. Love & honor! http://yfrog.com/0rto4j (Online source)
As I pointed out previously, if you click the link and you’ll be taken to a picture of a smiling Furtick, who is the next generation of PDL-type preaching, with his arm draped around Joel Osteen, who is one of the next generation—and most popular—preachers of Word Faith heresy ala Kenneth Copeland; you know, of “the Born-Again Jesus.” And Joel Osteen Blesses The Mormon Church as Christian.
Yet church planting Pope Furtick calls this heretic “a great man of God.” But as I also said before, a message of “hope,” “love & honor” does not ”a great man of God” make; because great men of God don’t de-emphasize the Cross and tell you lies in the Lord’s Name. However, Furtick’s past couple of tweets chirp loudly of Osteen-sims:
@stevenfurtick Send a message to your flesh today: you will not condemn or control me…the power of Jesus is alive & active in me! (Online source)
Stop squandering your season of blessing by living in a state of suspicion. http://bit.ly/7IW7ro (Online source)
The above link takes us to How to Trust God in the Good Times by Furtick at his blog. It’s been my contention for years now that there is a growing Ecumenical Church Of Deceit (ECoD), which is comprised of three main pillars in the pragmatic Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven community, so-called seeker-seeking Emerging/ent/ence Christianity, and the centered-on-the-self Word Faith movement.
From where I stand there are so many in the apostatizing evangelical community who are busy burying their heads within the spiritual sand of whatever offshoot of the ECoD—poisoned by the semi-pelagian Church Growth Movement—it is that highjacked their particular brand of Christian sandbox. So they remain content to think everything is wonderfully progressing along toward some utopian unity.
 As they each follow their own personal Pied Pipers, whether it be PDL Pope Rick Warren or Rob Bell, the Elvis of Emergence Christianity, or Joel Osteen for his brand of Word Faith-lite, the sad fact is that mainstream evangelicalism in America today is nauseatingly lukewarm; and far too many evangelical leaders have been unwilling to take serious theological stands that would require real faith.
Now I don’t agree with everything A.W. Tozer taught, however, he did put his finger right on the problem a few decades ago when he wrote:
That so-called Bible religion in our times is suffering rapid decline is so evident as to need no proof. I have observed one significant lack among evangelical Christians. The great deficiency to which I refer is the lack of spiritual discernment, especially among the leaders.
How can there be so much Bible knowledge and so little insight? Surely one of the greatest needs is the appearance of Christian leaders with prophetic insight. Unless they come soon, it will be too late for this generation.

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ELCA Needs To Talk, Or Listen?


Wednesday, December 16, 2009


We need to talk

In his recent online “town hall meeting,” ELCA Bishop Hanson repeated a plea he has been making since the churchwide assembly last August (CWA09). He has been asking those upset with the decision to liberalize the church’s stance on homosexuality and gay clergy to remain with the denomination and “be in conversation” with the rest of the church. In short: “Please don’t leave. Let’s talk.”

While Hanson’s invitation is gracious and understandable, I wonder what he thinks there is to talk about. In the last few months I have occasionally checked in with some of the conservative Lutheran websites and blogs. Frankly, what I hear in such places is nearly a foreign language.

I posted earlier about a north suburban Chicago congregation newsletter column by ELCA Pastor Terry Breum. His list of beliefs which he feels are challenged today in the ELCA was stunning. If I met him I would be tempted to ask, “What rock have you been living under?” His credo seemed a bit conservative even for the LCMS but would make most any fundamentalist happy. It’s hard to imagine how he and I are pastors in the same denomination.

Pastor Breum may be an extreme example, but the conversations I have seen on other web sites reveal a deep and wide chasm within the ELCA. Bishop Hanson and other ELCA leaders following his line are wrong in believing this is simply or even primarily about acceptance of homosexuality and gay clergy. What the actions of CWA09 did was to reveal fundamental differences over theology and mission within the ELCA.

Bishop Hanson has expressed concern that this dispute is diverting ELCA energy and resources from its mission. The assumption here is that mission is something which unites us but that’s wishful thinking. Take this simple example: Is it our mission to save sinners from hell? It is for Pastor Breum but it certainly isn’t for me. According to Pastor Bruem, universalism (“taught in many seminaries” he says as an aside) is one of the ELCA’s many heretical defects. Are he and I really in agreement on the church’s mission? I can’t imagine how we could be.

What then is our “mission” in starting new congregations? Suppose some young protégé of Pastor Breum, fired up for mission, wants to be a mission developer. Would I want such a person starting a new ELCA congregation or my congregation’s mission support paying for such a project? Heavens no. Would he want a protégé of mine starting a new ELCA congregation? I seriously doubt that would be the case either.

As I wrote before, what is disingenuous about the protests of Pastor Breum and others is the implication that all this heresy appeared just recently. Where have they been? While homosexuality was perhaps just becoming a public conversation topic, when I was in seminary over twenty-five years ago all these “heretical” topics were openly discussed and often affirmed by both professors and students. And many of the texts we read on these topics had been around for some time.

Unfortunately the opportunity for conversation is probably long past. Theological divisions within the ELCA are not new; they’ve been there from the start. For whatever reason, the desire to unite American Lutheranism (or come as close as possible) led to an unspoken agreement to avoid divisive topics and “accent the positive” of what presumably united everyone. Much of that unity was expressed in jargon that was sufficiently vague (like “mission”) so people could interpret it however they wanted to. Had those conversations taken place, they almost certainly would have delayed an already stumbling merger process and may well have stopped it altogether.

To some extent, the practice of avoiding divisive theological issues had been that of the ELCA’s predecessor churches as well. Did it work because those churches were more ethnically homogenous or because they were smaller? Or have the times changed? This is certainly a more polarized period, politically and ideologically. I suspect all these are factors and no doubt there are others. In any case, the notion of respecting each other’s “bound conscience” and agreeing to disagree doesn’t seem to have much of a future.

Recently, the ELCA’s two former presiding bishops, Herb Chilstrom and H. George Anderson, issued a joint appeal to rally moral and financial support for the embattled denomination. They both see their earlier hard work bringing about the ELCA in danger. They’re convinced the ELCA is worth saving and has important work to do:

Our troubled world needs the Good News of the Gospel and all that flows from it. Our differences must not divide us at a time like this. We are absolutely certain that we can continue to live together and serve as one family in the ELCA.

Sincere and well meaning, theirs are nonetheless voices of an older generation and a time in the church’s life that is rapidly passing. The gospel which they see uniting the church is actually the very subject of its division. A conversation among representative leaders about the meaning of that “good news” would be very interesting indeed but would likely also lead to the realization that the ELCA stopped being “one family” some time ago (if it ever was).

In the present instance, one side sees the good news to be a spiritual healing of our community division over differing sexual orientations and a welcome to those formally ostracized. Another sees the good news as a message of forgiveness for sinful behavior and the availability of a charism enabling sinners to resist the temptation at the heart of their disordered personality. Trying bringing that together in an evangelism brochure!

There will be need for conversation but not between the antagonists in the ELCA’s current squabble. That train’s left the station and it’s not coming back. By this time next year, however, the dust will have settled and there should be a fairly clear picture of the ELCA’s composition going forward. It is this remnant that needs to talk to each other and develop a coherent and meaningful message and mission for the church.

It’s obvious from the dramatic cultural changes happening today that the nature of the church is going to be very different in the years to come. Because of the ELCA’s theological “diversity,” its attempts to respond thus far have been little more than flailing. Those remaining in the future ELCA, however, should have sufficient common ground for a real and productive conversation about what is the “good news” for 21st century America. Then from there a conversation can begin about what the church ought to be doing to make that gospel known.

About Me:

Sex: Male
Relationship Status: In a Relationship
great time at my 1st Chrismukkah party last night. Fun people, great stories, more net worth in one place than I've ever experienced
 
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GJ - He has a point. The ELCA began on the Left of mainline Protestantism and worked its way over the edge with the Episcopal USA radicals. Now those two groups are working together, communing together, shrinking together, and opening the clergy ranks to male, female, and undecided. Is it too late for a Party in the Mother Lutheran Church video?


This was all developing since 1978, the last time the LCA did anything conservative - posting a conservative and pro-life memo to a Social Statement of the LCA (cue angel voices). The evil conservatives who did this were ousted and nothing like that happened again. I recall an issue of The Lutheran where a Philadelphia seminary professor argued for heterosexuality based on Creation. That was about 1981. Once again, that was the last bleat on that topic.

Dost thou see a parallel? WELS jumped into Church Growth apostasy  in 1977, with the publication of TELL, produced to promote Church Growthism. The LCA began a faster slide at the same time. Should anyone be schocked at the results 30 years later? (Queen Victoria, thoroughly German, wrote in her diary that she was "schocked.")

Soon, ELCA will be an empty shell (shell-schocked). Mother Church will keep the property and most of the endowments. The members will be gone. The high-church Unitarians will stay and celebrate the diversity of being exactly alike. 

ELCA began in Pietism and unionism. The earlier, dominant strains of ELCA held revival services, started Lutheran-Reformed churches, suppressed the liturgy and creeds. For one, brief shining moment the confessional Lutherans pushed back and united them based on sound doctrine, but that did not last. Pietism and unionism rot a church from within, deliberately, in the name of love.



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ELCA Not About To Listen

News Releases


ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 11, 2009


ELCA Northeastern Iowa Synod Council, Bishop Respond to Assembly Actions
09-276-JB


CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The bishop of the Northeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) declined to rule on the validity of resolutions of the synod council regarding the sexuality decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The Rev. Steven L. Ullestad wrote in a Dec. 4 e-mail to the synod that the resolutions "test the implications of the churchwide decisions for our synod."

Ullestad added he will help facilitate conversation in the synod about the resolutions, leading up to the synod's next assembly in June 2010.

The Northeastern Iowa Synod Council adopted the resolutions last month. Voting 10 to 5, with one abstention, a resolution on the "bound conscience" of the synod said that the ELCA's current ministry polices, adopted in 1990, "shall remain in effect" for the synod. The council encouraged the synod's candidacy committee and the synod bishop to abide by those standards until the synod's next assembly. The action also recommended that the 2010 assembly adopt a continuing resolution that the synod will continue to abide by the policies adopted in 1990.

Current ELCA policy says that "ordained ministers who are homosexual in their self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual relationships." The 2009 Churchwide Assembly directed changes to ELCA ministry policies, creating the possibility for people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as clergy and professional lay workers. The assembly also adopted by a two-thirds vote a social statement on human sexuality.

Some in the ELCA do not agree with those decisions, most often citing their views of Biblical authority as the reason.

A second resolution adopted by the synod council, 8 to 6 with two abstentions, repudiates the decisions of the assembly to adopt the new ministry policies and the social statement. It calls those actions "violations of the Confession of Faith, Chapter 2 of the ELCA Constitution." The council also asked the ELCA Church Council to "repudiate" the assembly's actions, "and begin the process to overturn these decisions at the 2011 Churchwide Assembly."

The Rev. Marshall E. Hahn, synod secretary and pastor of Marion Lutheran Church and Norway Lutheran Church, both near St. Olaf, Iowa, brought the two proposals to the synod council. Hahn was a voting member at the churchwide assembly. In an interview with the ELCA News Service, he noted that the bound conscience resolution cites several past actions of the synod assembly. The churchwide assembly materials, he said, "emphasize respecting the bound conscience of the people of the church," including synods, Hahn said. The assembly also said it would allow "structured flexibility" in decision-making for approving or not approving a candidate for ministry or extending or not extending call to a person in a publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationship.

The synod resolution quoted the pre-assembly report, stating: "If structured flexibility were added to the process, this assumption would still protect any congregation, candidacy committee, synod or bishop from having to violate bound conscience by approving, calling, commissioning, consecrating or ordaining anyone in a publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationship."

Hahn argues that the basis for the second resolution is the concept that traditional marriage -- between a man and a woman -- and publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, committed same-gender relationships, are treated as equally valid. There is no "clear and compelling evidence from Scripture for doing that," he said.

"Without showing a clear, compelling reason for doing so, we've changed what is in our confessions, our confession of faith and Scripture," Hahn said. "That violates our commitment as stated in our confession of faith."

ELCA Secretary David D. Swartling acknowledged receipt of the resolutions and said they will be addressed by the ELCA Church Council at its next meeting in April 2010. "Any response now is premature," he said in a statement to the ELCA News Service.

Swartling expressed concern, however, that the resolutions as worded, appear to conflict with the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the ELCA. "Where authorized by our governing documents, the Churchwide Assembly establishes churchwide policy," he said. "Therefore, neither a synod council nor the Church Council can 'repudiate' an authorized action of the Churchwide Assembly." Synods are welcome to submit resolutions or memorials asking the 2011 Churchwide Assembly to revisit the issue of ministry policies, or to amend or rescind them, he said.

Policy documents implementing the actions of the Churchwide Assembly on issues related to official church rosters are in the process of being prepared. They will be reviewed by the ELCA Conference of Bishops and considered by the Church Council in April, Swartling said.

"I anticipate that these documents will incorporate flexibility in the candidacy and call processes, and we invite input from and conversation with synods about them. However, once adopted, they become the policy of this church, and a synod cannot impose a previous policy on its clergy and congregations that has been superseded," Swartling stated.

Drafts of the policy documents will be available at http://www.elca.org/ministrypolicies on the ELCA Web site. They include "Vision and Expectations," which addresses standards for conduct by professional leaders on official church rosters and "Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline," which establishes standards for discipline.

In his letter, Ullestad said he would not rule on the resolutions because "it is the calling of the people of God, and not the bishop or Conference of Bishops to determine the ethics of the church."

"That is why we engage the whole church in the development of social statements and have votes by those who have been elected by the people, the laity and pastors of the churchwide assembly and synod council in order to determine the policies of the church," he wrote. The presiding bishop, synod bishop and units of the churchwide organization have no legislative authority in this regard, he added.

Ullestad said his role will be to work with the synod to engage in conversation about the resolutions, remind members of Lutheran theology and the implications for the eight commandment (that prohibits bearing false witness against one's neighbor), and "the powerful witness of our oneness in Christ in the midst of difficult and challenging times."

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ALPB

On the shuttle to the airport, I ran into a pastor from SW Penn synod. They have had 25 pastors request a special assembly. It will be held in a few months, Bishop has confirmed.

Oremo church is leaving. Ten Latino Churches in Florida are considering leaving immediately . Lots of pastors talking about withholding mission support.

And it is only twenty hours since the vote .

Jeff Ruby

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Somewhere in ELCA-Land


Six area churches voted to leave ELCA
By Kent Tempus, Leader editor

Six area churches in the Wolf River Region have voted in recent weeks to sever ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America,

Two other churches have votes coming up, said the Rev. John Justman, bishop of the East-Central Synod of the ELCA in Appleton.

All eight of the churches are in either Waupaca or Oconto counties.

Justman said he thinks several of the churches will eventually leave the ELCA.

“It makes me sad — they’re all special, and they’ve been good partners,” he said. “And if they do leave, we will wish them well. There’ll be sad feelings, not bad.”

He added: “I’m just going to miss them because they are part of the family.”

The vote last August by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to allow gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy raised the ire of conservative ELCA congregations throughout the nation.

Justman said gay clergy would not be forced by the ELCA on any member church.

Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Scripture




John Calvin enhanced the crude theology of Zwingli, without changing it.

In Zurich, Zwingli began the departure from Biblical theology in Swiss Protestantism, by making his slogans normative for understanding Scripture.  For example, "The Holy Spirit does not need a vehicle, like an oxcart..." That smart-aleck statement attacking the Means of Grace should sound familiar to anyone who deals with the Shrinkers. Their slogans all begin with mockery and have the same hollow ring.

Zwingli thought he was a soldier too, so he died young, on the battlefield. Calvin followed later, in Geneva. Lutherans use the term "Reformed" to describe all groups related to Calvinism, whether five-point TULIP or decision theology Arminians. There have been some Lutheran-Reformed union groups, such as the old Evangelical and Reformed, which wandered into the United Church of Christ and into oblivion. The UCC's description of the Evangelical part of their history is enlightening.

Calvin is remembered for such slogans as:

  1. "God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation."
    (Double predestination was taught in his first edition of the Institutes and every subsequent edition.)





  2. "The finite is incapable of the Infinite." (Denial of the Real Presence, which he mocked at great length in his Institutes)






  3. UOJ is taught using the same slogans, and they also mock Biblical teaching. How strange it is to having Lutherans defend the Reformation's Biblical theme of justification through faith alone by attacking faith.

    Below are some slogans of UOJ, which give away the pretenders, no matter how they slick up their presentations. Like Calvin's propositions, they float in the air without Biblical support. Sadly, Walther was influenced by this style of thinking, so it became a bad habit in the Synodical Conference.
    1. "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; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven." (LCMS, Brief Statement)
    2. "God has already given the world His verdict, 'Not guilty!'" This statement is repeatedly mindlessly in WELS conference papers and FIC articles. It comes from Pieper: "Now, then, if the Father raised Christ from the dead, He, by this glorious resurrection act, declared that the sins of the whole world are fully expiated, or atoned for, and that all mankind is now regarded as righteous before His divine tribunal." II, p. 321.
    3. The Kokomo Statements, used to kick two families out of WELS for not accepting them, are also used to defame those families, calling the Statements a "caricature" of justification. In other words, the Kokomo Statements are so stupid that WELS must use their own synodical confession of faith against the victims of Kokomoism.
    4. "The world is reconciled, so that means everyone in the world has been absolved." This same argument can be used to support Universalism.
    5. "UOJ protects the Gospel." This unfortunate statement comes from Hoenecke's Dogmatics.
    6. "Jesus was raised for our justification, which means that the entire world was absolved when Jesus rose from the dead." (See Romans 4:24 and 25)
    7. "Lenski is wrong on justification." (Common WELS pastoral claim, never supported by evidence)
    8. "For God has already forgiven you your sins 1800 years ago when He in Christ absolved all men by raising Him after He first had gone into bitter death for them. Only one thing remains on your part so that you also possess the gift. This one thing is—faith. And this brings me to the second part of today's Easter message, in which I now would show you that every man who wants to be saved must accept by faith the general absolution, pronounced 1800 years ago, as an absolution spoken individually to him." C. F. W. Walther, The Word of His Grace. This sounds very much like Decision Theology.
    To make their universal absolution sound valid, they have to attack faith in various ways.







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    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

    Brett, Forgiveness is there whether believed or not. It gives no comfort or peace. Nothing. One must have faith to reap the benefits. Once one believes it becomes subjective. Its easy to come to your conclusions when you disregard the subjective. UOJ falls flat without SJ. There's that context issue again.

    JK

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    GJ - Joe Krohn, the Rock and Roll blogger (retired) illustrates two points.

    One is that the Church and Changers love UOJ. Joe has a long history with the Chicaneries, going back to CrossWalk (soon to be retired) and some Schwaermer conference he enthused about on the Chicanery listserve.

    The second point is the Calvinistic fondness for slogans without Biblical support, to wit, "UOJ falls flat without SJ." Is that from II Seymour 3:13? The repeated shibboleths of Pietism are not going to convince people without the Word, against the Word.

    I need a break from junk-food UOJ. I need some good quotations for doctrinal nutrition.

    "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.

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

    "We probably think first of such groups coming into being in the late 1600s in connection with Pietism. Spener promoted them as a vehicle by which pious laypeople could be a leaven for good in reforming the 'dead orthodoxy' of a congregation and its pastor." Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 126. "The point being made here is that the reason for having home Bible study in small groups seems to have shifted from the Pietists' or parachurch groups goal of creating cells of people who will reform the church to having small groups as an integral part of a congregation's work." Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 127.

    "They [the Zwinglians] divorced the Word and the Spirit, separated the person who preaches and teaches the Word from God, who works through the Word, and separated the servant who baptizes from God, who has commanded the Sacrament. They fancied that the Holy Spirit is given and works without the Word, that the Word merely gives assent to the Spirit, whom it already finds in the heart. If, then, this Word does not find the Spirit but a godless person, then it is not the Word of God. In this way they falsely judge and define the Word, not according to God, who speaks it, but according to the man who receives it. They want only that to be the Word of God which is fruitful and brings peace and life..." Martin Luther, What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 664f.

    "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 HS Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 176.

    "The term 'Reformed' has therefore become a distinctive name and denotes all those church bodies which follow the theology and particularly the church practices of Zwingli and John Calvin. It is correct when Lutherans insist that there are three large groups of Christians: the Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Reformed." F. E. Mayer, American Churches, Beliefs and Practices, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, p. 24.

    "Luther protested against Rome's soul-destroying teachings and reformed the Church by restoring the pure doctrine of God's Word. Zwingli hoped to reform the Church by abolishing Rome's superstitious practices. Calvin believed that a complete reformation implied two things: First, it was necessary to abolish all ceremonies, even those which were in use in the ancient Church, such as the liturgy, the church year, pulpits, altars; secondly, a truly reformed Church must follow the pattern of the Apostolic Church in all its church practices and adopt the form of church government given to Israel in the Old Testament." F. E. Mayer, American Churches, Beliefs and Practices, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, p. 24.

    "The divine power must never be separated from the Word of Scripture; that is to say, the Holy Ghost does not operate beside or outside the Word (enthusiasm, Calvinism, Rathmannism in the Lutheran Church), but always in and through the Word, Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 1:23; John 6:23." John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 134f. Romans 10:17; John 6:23; 1 Peter 1:23.

    "The doctrine of the means of grace is understood properly only when it is considered in the light of Christ's redemptive work (satisfactio vicaria) and the objective justification, or reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:19-20, which He secured by His substitutionary obedience (satisfactio vicaria). If these two doctrines are corrupted (Calvinism: denial of the gratia universalis; synergism: denial of sola gratia), then also the Scripture doctrine of the means of grace will become perverted." John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 442. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20.

    "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.

    "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.

    "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.

    "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.

    "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.

    I feel better now.

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    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

    In the People's Bible Teachings, Christian Freedom, William E. Fischer had this to say about justification:

    "AS a gracious God, he did not put any conditions on his justification of an alienated world. He did not say, "If you live up to my commands, then I will justify you." He did not even say, "I will forgive you if you believe in me." His universal justification stands whether people believe it or not. Some would have us believe that God justifies only those who believe in him. But that would rob us of God's grace and the blessed truth of our-and, yes, everyone's-justification."

    "But God's grace was not finished; he left nothing to chance. He knew this marvelous gift would come only to those who believed in Christ, and he knew that none of us had the power to work faith in our own hearts. So he sent his Holy Spirit to convert us through the gospel. And through that faith we are justified; we have been truly freed from sin and its curse, from death and its fear, from Satan and his power."

    Can Brett or GJ pick out the two contradictions? I am just a layman and I spotted it real quick.

    In Christ,
    from WELS church lady aka trying not to be lazy

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    GJ - Church Lady, the laity have no problems understanding the Biblical teaching of justification by faith. "Only a layman" is a mantra taught by insecure pastors who want to dazzle a layman with their feeble grasp of Greek. Someone could do the same thing back with Unix commands (grep) or knitting instructions (knit two, purl two). Justification in the Bible only means "justification by faith." Justification in the Book of Concord only means "justification by faith." The Pietists made up double-justification, but they have yet to articulate their opinion convincingly.

    The paragraph quoted is absurd. I can condense the nonsense as "Everyone is justified but no one is justified until he believes."

    Here is a brief description of justification by faith -

    The Gospel is the message that Christ has redeemed the world by dying on the cross, paying for everyone's sins. This Gospel message creates and nurtures faith. We call the Word and Sacraments (the visible and invisible Word) the Means of Grace because God has pledged to work only through the Word. Thus the Holy Spirit brings this treasure of the Gospel to individuals, who receive it in faith, apart from any merit, work, or virtue.

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    L P has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

    I think what Walther and Pieper saw were much decision theology of their day. Now to counter this faith in faith, they being influenced by UOJ sharpened its message making atonement = justification, a blunder of infinite proportions.

    I hear UOJers and they seem to hate faith with much hatred, it makes one sick.

    This is astounding, considering Jesus is the author of faith!

    The UOJers I encounter hold Walther and Pieper as their heroes - I am not kidding. They hold them higher than Luther! You can disagree with Luther and that would be ok with them, but wait till you disagree with Walther and Pieper and let us see what happens.

    LPC

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    GJ - That is true. Once Pieper and Walther are questioned, the lights go out. Nobody is home. There is nothing left to do but shun the poor slob who has stepped on the Third Rail of the Synodical Conference - founder-worship. If the founders are not worshiped as infallible, the SC becomes fallible. Luther's doctrine is expendable. He is not related to anyone in the hierarchy. Anyone who wants sound doctrine can be assailed with "Luther complex!" and pastors snicker. But no one says "Pieper complex!" Mark and Avoid Jeske has a Pieper complex. He cannot be wrong or corrected, because he is "fifth generation WELS." Ooh.

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    L P has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

    Faith is righteousness! Because it grabs a hold of Christ the Righteous One who paid for the sins of the world. This is the reason why faith justifies, so the BoC says. This faith that believes that for Christ's sake God forgives us, the Bible says is a gift.

    Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Heb 11:6.

    Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Heb 12:2.

    Hence, no faith, no justification, no righteousness.

    LPC