Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Fools Smarter Than Christ":
Dr. Jackson -- Thank you for this fine bit of hot polemic. It bears the marks of Martin Luther – one whose influence is fading quickly in our age overbearing tolerance toward matters of truth and falsehood. It seems to have become a virtue among liberal Lutherans to recognize error without necessarily rejecting it, and to recognize false teachers without avoiding them. Instead, like looking for seed by sifting through horse excrement, these wise and virtuous Lutherans seek out false teachers, that they may mine their error for golden nuggets – as if the gold cannot be obtained from any purer source. When criticized for this, they claim the right of so-called adiaphora, never respecting for a moment that Lutherans have been in a state of Confession since the Reformation, and that to make clear their separation, true confessors exercise their freedom to avoid the unique expressions and practices of the heterodox, not to take them on as their own.
Anyway, I happened to be reading in the historical introductions of my Triglotta this evening. The last paragraph of section 121, pg 94, reads as follows:
It was, above all, the spirit of indifferentism toward false doctrine, particularly concerning the Lord's Supper, which Luther observed and deplored in his Wittenberg colleagues: Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Cruciger, Eber, and Major. Shortly before his last journey to Eisleben he invited them to his house, where he addressed to them the following solemn words of warning: They should "remain steadfast in the Gospel; for I see that soon after my death the most prominent brethren will fall away. I am not afraid of the Papists," he added, "for most of them are coarse, unlearned asses and Epicureans; but our brethren will inflict the damage on the Gospel; for 'they went out from us, but they were not of us' (1 John 2, 19); they will give the Gospel a harder blow than did the Papists." About the same time Luther had written above the entrance to his study: "Our professors are to be examined on the Lord's Supper." When Major, who was about to leave for the colloquy at Regensburg, entered and inquired what these words signified, Luther answered:
"The meaning of these words is precisely what you read and what they say; and when you and I shall have returned, an examination will have to be held, to which you as well as others will be cited."
Major protested that he was not addicted to any false doctrine.
Luther answered: "It is by your silence and cloaking that you cast suspicion upon yourself. If you believe as you declare in my presence, then speak so also in the church, in public lectures, in sermons, and in private conversations, and strengthen your brethren, and lead the erring back to the right path, and contradict the contumacious spirits; otherwise your confession is sham pure and simple, and worth nothing. Whoever really regards his doctrine, faith and confession as true, right, and certain cannot remain in the same stall with such as teach, or adhere to, false doctrine; nor can he keep on giving friendly words to Satan and his minions. A teacher who remains silent when errors are taught, and nevertheless pretends to be a true teacher, is worse than an open fanatic and by his hypocrisy does greater damage than a heretic. Nor can he be trusted. He is a wolf and a fox, a hireling and a servant of his belly, and ready to despise and to sacrifice doctrine, Word, faith, Sacrament, churches, and schools. He is either a secret bedfellow of the enemies or a skeptic and a weathervane, waiting to see whether Christ or the devil will prove victorious; or he has no convictions of his own whatever, and is not worthy to be called a pupil, let alone a teacher; nor does he want to offend anybody, or say a word in favor of Christ, or hurt the devil and the world."
I wonder who among our Ministerium needs to be examined and/or re-colloquized?
Freddy Finkelstein
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GJ - A dedicated group elected SP Schroeder. Readers know I am out of that loop, because I had John Brenner as the candidate. That group needs to organize and insist upon a synod-wide study of one part of the Book of Concord. I love the Formula of Concord, but perhaps the Large Catechism is better for various reasons. The Large Catechism is Luther's and parallels the Small Catechism in many ways.
I do not like Talmudic editions of the catechisms. They remind me of house painters touching up a Rembrandt. Too many pastors have relied on prepared materials instead of doing their own studies. That has leveraged the influence of the Fuller crowd in the ELS, Missouri, and WELS.
The synod-wide study can be expanded over the years. If people study the Scriptures and the Confessions, the issues will sort themselves out.
The Wisconsin Synod is completely polarized at this point.
The Chicaneries have their own lobby, originally funded by the synod, and still propped up by various synod subsidies (Patterson's free vicars) and foundation/Thrivent grants. The Shrinkers have taken a clear stand for:
- Reformed doctrine,
- Entertainment evangelism,
- Open communion or no communion at all,
- Women's ordination,
- Unionism,
- Avoiding the name Lutheran,
- Shunning the cross, persecuting sincere Lutherans.
- Luther's doctrine, as confessed in the Book of Concord,
- Respectful, liturgical worship,
- Closed communion, with Holy Communion a high point of worship,
- Male leadership, according to the Scriptures,
- Fellowship based on doctrine, not fads,
- The name Lutheran as symbolic of the true Christian faith,
- Bearing the cross, leading Lutherans back to the Confessions.
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"O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold"
by Martin Luther, 1483-1546
1. O Lord, look down from heaven, behold
And let Thy pity waken:
How few are we within Thy Fold,
Thy saints by men forsaken!
True faith seems quenched on every hand,
Men suffer not Thy Word to stand;
Dark times have us o'ertaken.
2. With fraud which they themselves invent
Thy truth they have confounded;
Their hearts are not with one consent
On Thy pure doctrine grounded.
While they parade with outward show,
They lead the people to and fro,
In error's maze astounded.
3. May God root out all heresy
And of false teachers rid us
Who proudly say: "Now, where is he
That shall our speech forbid us?
By right or might we shall prevail;
What we determine cannot fail;
We own no lord and master."
4. Therefore saith God, "I must arise,
The poor My help are needing;
To Me ascend My people's cries,
And I have heard their pleading.
For them My saving Word shall fight
And fearlessly and sharply smite,
The poor with might defending."
5. As silver tried by fire is pure
From all adulteration,
So through God's Word shall men endure
Each trial and temptation.
Its light beams brighter through the cross,
And, purified from human dross,
It shines through every nation.
6. Thy truth defend, O God, and stay
This evil generation;
And from the error of their way
Keep Thine own congregation.
The wicked everywhere abound
And would Thy little flock confound;
But Thou art our Salvation.
Hymn 260
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 12
Author: Martin Luther, 1523
Translated by: composite
Titled: "Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh darein"
Tune: "Ach Gott vom Himmel"
1st Published in: Enchiridion
Town: Erfurt, 1524
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fools Smarter Than Christ, Part Deux":
It is a shame that no one who is in a position to deal with Fullerites in WELS sees it as big enough problem to expend the time and effort to deal with them.
By those "in a position to deal with Fullerites" I mean a Circuit Pastor, a District President, a pastor in a circuit who has firsthand knowledge, or a lay person who has first hand knowledge.
All it would take is a signed, formal accusation of false teaching or false practice based on personal, firsthand knowledge, signed by the accuser. That would force the issue.
For those outside the circle of "those in the position to deal with the Fullerites," namely anyone else in the synod, a letter to the appropriate District President, citing such things as Willow Creek membership and other things cited on this website, asking for an explanation and action, as needed, would be in order.
However, without someone "in a position to deal with the Fullerites" taking action and making the accusation based on personal, firshand information, any other attempt to deal with the Fulleries will induce as much change as does this or any other website, which is none. Such letters have been written by some of us.
People may disagree with this, but it is the reality of the "chain of command" in WELS.
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GJ - The Word is effective, even on an independent blog. We are not to judge results, only to broadcast the eternal-life giving seed.
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+Diet O.Worms has left a new comment on your post "Fools Smarter Than Christ, Part Deux":
"From what has been said you can gather how foolish it is, yea, what an awful delusion has taken hold upon so many men’s minds who ridicule the pure doctrine and say to us: 'Ah, do cease clamoring, Pure doctrine! Pure doctrine! That can only land you in dead orthodoxism. Pay more attention to pure life, and you will raise a growth of genuine Christianity.' That is exactly like saying to a farmer: 'Do not worry forever about good seed; worry about good fruits.' Is not a farmer properly concerned about good fruit when he is solicitous about getting good seed? Just so a concern about pure doctrine is the proper concern about genuine Christianity and a sincere Christian life. False doctrine is noxious seed, sown by the enemy to produce a progeny of wickedness. The pure doctrine is wheat-seed; from it spring the children of the Kingdom, who even in the present life belong in the kingdom of Jesus Christ and in the life to come will be received into the Kingdom of Glory. May God even now implant in your hearts a great fear, yea, a real abhorrence, of false doctrine! May He graciously give you a holy desire for the pure, saving truth, revealed by God Himself! That is the chief end which these evening lectures are to serve."
(Walther, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm; Dau, William Herman Theodore; Eckhardt, Ernest: The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel: 39 Evening Lectures. electronic ed. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2000, c1929, c1986, S. 20).
