Saturday, May 1, 2010

Denigrating Faith Accompanies Rejection of the Means of Grace


I use this photo from the Rat Temple in India
in world religion class,
to show that pagan religion can be more than a little disgusting.
It is considered a great honor to feed the rats
and to have one run across the adherent's feet.


UOJ Stormtroopers claim they are "protecting the Gospel" when they promote forgiveness without the Word, when they attack anyone who dares to bring up the word faith. Luther warned that when the Means of Grace are rejected, all kinds of foul errors rush in.

The work of salvation belongs to God alone, and He has bound Himself to the Means of Grace. He preserves the true Church and sends out faithful ministers to proclaim the Gospel in the midst of error and apostasy. Wherever the Gospel is preached, faith springs up and receives the blessings of the Christian faith.

God does not work through programs and money, in spite of the claims made by church bureaucrats. They make it seem as if God desperately needs more buildings, more endowments, more cash flow, lest His work falter and fail. How often do the synodical drones urge people to trust in faithfulness to the Word? They may brag about "fifty years of grace" but they never let the doctrine of the Means of Grace penetrate their communications.

Congregations and pastors should find great comfort and assurance in every faithful sermon, every Holy Baptism, every service of Holy Communion. Those who sow with abundance with reap with abundance.

The recent article about Kieschnick's failing attempt to stay in office has this stink bomb embedded in it:

Kieschnick said. "That treasure is not intended to be hoarded. It's intended to be shared with the world."

The Synodical Pope has proven throughout His reign that He has no grasp of Lutheran theology. He is snidely using the typical wording of the Confessions. The positive - he supports the Church Growth Movement, which soaks up vast amounts of money. The negative - the treasure of the Means of Grace "is not intended to be hoarded." Who would guess that the Scriptures and the Confessions commend worship as that very place we receive the treasure distributed by the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace?

Another failed Synodical Pope, Gurgle, flogged his sect with regular editorials using the same theme. He denigrated the real treasure of the Church, the Means of Grace, so he could gather and waste the material treasure of the members. While driving his own sect into insolvency, he organized a program of financial planning for the membership.

Meanwhile, Rock N Roll in Round Rock, Texas, is doing the same thing, devouring the wealth of widows and orphans while selling a Schwaermer financial planning seminar. Gurgle and Patterson raise their consecrated and consecrating hands in blessing. "Put us back into power so we can soak up the wisdom of false teachers, and kill a few helpless animals in Africa. But God cannot do it alone. He has no hands but yours, no checking account but yours."