The Eighth Commandment Does Not Apply To WELS Pastors

"False doctrine? I say: EIGHTH COMMANDMENT and MATTHEW 18! Both trump your adiaphora."


Jukjs2 (http://openid.aol.com/jukjs2) has left a new comment on your post "Deputy Doug Rides Writes To the Rescue; Yeast Repe...":

I agree with Pastor Jackson. When confronting public errors of doctrine and practice, a public reproof is permissible without a private confrontation. Private sins are a different matter entirely.

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GJ - The question is whether we agree with the Book of Concord and the Scriptures.

WELS pastors cite the Eighth Commandment and Matthew 18 but do not feel constrained to follow either one. They use their backhanded grapevine to pass stories about anyone who crosses them, and it takes very little to irritate these touchy little men.

For example, I have had WELS leaders send personal, insulting remarks about people who posted comments they did not like. Either they state something is wrong with the person or they wonder aloud what is wrong. I said about one commenter, "He is one of many people WELS has crapped on."

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John has left a new comment on your post "The Eighth Commandment Does Not Apply To WELS Past...":

Matthew 18 and the 8th Commandment don't apply to pastors in synods that are in fellowship with WELS, either.

Do Not Celebrate The Popcorn Cathedral Victory Too Soon

I checked, and yes, Ski's brag about studying under and worshiping with Babtist Andy Stanley is still posted.

Here is the link if you graduated from Mequon and did not notice the link above.

Lots of photos are there. Lots of WELS workers were there.

Wouldn't most Lutherans want to hide the evidence when they have been exposed as Babtist believers? What does that say about Ski, Glende, Parlow, and the rest? Fox Valley? The Anything Goes District? The DP and SP?

Deputy Doug Rides Writes To the Rescue; Yeast Repents of Publicly Rebuking Public False Doctrine and Plagiarism

When pastors and laity had an appointment to meet with Deputy Doug, he skipped out and sent a letter! That shows how much he follows his own advice.

Response Received from District President

For those who are keeping tabs on this blog, in the interests of fairness I wanted to report that I have, at long last, received a response regarding my concerns about the CORE from District President Engelbrecht.

While I will not violate his confidence by sharing the contents of the letter, suffice it to say that I found his response thorough, charitable, honest, and sincere.  While many are probably skeptical of his motives, he assumed the best of my motives and I will return the same in the interests of Christian love.

I would also like to point out that, though I do not regret posting the information I did on this blog (after all, the reason I went to the CORE was for this very reason - to inform via a first-hand account whether or not CORE was as "bad as they say"), I should point out that it would have been more appropriate for me to have first voiced my concerns to Pastor Skorzewski in person, rather than immediately jumping the gun and going to his superiors.

Having said all of that, I encourage everyone to continue to examine the work of Pastor Skorzewski via the CORE's website to insure that the content is indeed in line with Christ-centered, orthodox Lutheranism, and that he in fact has ceased copying the sermon outlines of Craig Groeschel's LifeChurch.tv.  

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GJ - I think his blog entry was the final blow in knocking Groeschel's sermons off the stage. Of course, there is no telling what Glende and the rest are up to. Englebrecht defended sermon plagiarism as "many are doing it." That makes it right, of course.

Ski owes all Lutherans an apology for slobbering all over Groeschel, Stanley, Driscoll, and the rest.

Yeast did not owe Ski a private Come To Jesus meeting for dishonestly presenting a false teacher's sermon and graphics as his own. Englebrecht needs to crack open his Book of Concord and study what we all confess about Matthew 18 and the Eight Commandment. Hint - it is in the Large Catechism, under Eighth Commandment.

Like I said, everyone has to pound away on the doctrinal issues. The leaders are indifferent about doctrine, but they do care about public relations.

Bruce Church and Brett Meyer on WELS UOJ

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Seminary Costs Compared - Missouri Leads With Most...":

The seminaries of the ELS, WELS and LCMS, remind me a little of Scientology in that they think their Waltherian doctrine is soooo much better than all other doctrinal systems, including that of other Lutherans, that students ought to pay a pretty penny to learn it. CG doctrine and practice is just another layer of Gnostic secrets that makes LCMS seminaries worthy of being 9th and 11th most expensive in N America, and the ELS and WELS unaccredited seminaries worthy of being more pricey than the average accredited seminary in N America.

The "Gnostic Secrets Premium" (GSP) is about $5 grand, and if you want accredited GSP (LCMS), add another $7 grand:

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2010/09/seminary-costs-compared-missouri-leads.html
--
Scientology:
http://www.bible.ca/scientology-gnostic-roots.htm

A religion where you pay to learn secret knowledge that saves you!!!

Scroll down/search for "picture from a Scientology book" and read:
http://zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/misc_mo/

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Sloppy Synod Sermon":

Pastor Samelson states, "But that forgiveness doesn't do me, you, or my neighbor any good without faith"

This UOJ statement that Pastor Samelson regurgitates for spiritual enlightenment is in the same spirit as a secular backwards compliment.

Note that UOJ has God forgiving the whole unbelieving world of their sins but it isn't true and doesn't do them any good unless they believe it. The Triune God who created the world in a Word. Who speaks of what isn't and it is. Who said "Let there be ..." and it was. That same Triune God has in a Word declared the whole unbelieving world forgiven. But it doesn't benefit them unless they believe they're forgiven. UOJ teaches that God declared the whole unbelieving world forgiven of all sin, righteous in Christ, children of the Almighty God, justified and guiltless in His sight - and yet they aren't unless He calls them to believe that they already are. And that faith they use to believe they're already forgiven children of God doesn't do anything but accept that it's true.

UOJists claim that there's only certainty and comfort in Objective Justification as the UOJ doctrine teaches. It's in fact the opposite. The same God who declares them fogiven of all sin when they believe it is the same God who declared them forgiven of all sin while they were unbelievers and it wasn't true then. It didn't benefit them when God declared them forgiven before - how can you be sure it benefits you now - especially since nothing changes through faith. Remember, UOJ teaches faith doesn't do anything but accept what was already declared to be true.

Note that UOJ teaches if faith justifies, if faith does anything to make something a reality (justification of the sinner through the righteousness of Christ) then faith is a work of man and synergistic. This is a clear admission that UOJ teaches faith is from man and not from the Holy Spirit. An example: Faith is a work of man if it brings anything about that wasn't there before. So they remove the activity of faith and replace it with pure passivity. Their UOJ confession still makes it the work of man. If they truly believed that faith is a work of the Holy Spirit then when shown by Scripture and the Confessions that it is only faith that makes a just man from an unjust man the work would be attributed correctly to the Holy Spirit and not to man. No wonder Baptists Stetzer and Stanley are so attractive to the (W)ELS.

Lutheran Confessions
71] but we maintain this, that properly and truly, by faith itself, we are for Christ's sake accounted righteous, or are acceptable to God. And because "to be justified" means that out of unjust men just men are made, or born again, it means also that they are pronounced or accounted just. For Scripture speaks in both ways. [The term "to be justified" is used in two ways: to denote, being converted or regenerated; again, being accounted righteous. Accordingly we wish first to show this, that faith alone makes of an unjust, a just man, i.e., receives remission of sins".
http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php

This BOC declaration alone destroys UOJ for those who are truly Confessional Lutherans:
71] but we maintain this, that properly and truly, by faith itself, we are for Christ's sake accounted righteous, or are acceptable to God.

And if you're not Confessional, meaning if you don't have a quia subscription to the Lutheran Confessions, you're not Lutheran. Just sayin'...

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GJ - WELS does not subscribe to the Book of Concord and says so in one of their divinely inspired collections of essays, either the Wauwatosa set or Our Great Heritage. They are not bound by the Confessions or anything else.

Someone would have to purge the pastors of their synod-worship before they could ever deal with justification by faith. Every WELS discussion begins with their own talking points, which define anything following. The Gnostics would be jealous.

Sloppy Synod Sermon

From Intrepid Lutherans  <--This the link, Mequonites. Left-click for illumination.

LutherRocks said...

Douglas,

If you got the impression that I was downplaying the sacrament, I apologize. As I said...whether you increase or decrease the frequency you need to question the motive. Personally, I go whenever I can because I know I need it. My church does not offer it every week. If they did, I would go every week.

Pastor Samuelson,

I don't deny the objective work of Jesus on the cross. But let's call it what it is. There is a reason that the two justifications have a bad history. When we use words to describe that work such as justification, righteousness or forgiveness, we are trying to put a round peg in a square hole. That is why Wycliffe invented the word atonement because there was no word in English that accurately describes the work of the cross. Those words don't work separately or in combination. There is no maybe about what words John the Baptist chose. What he said fits with atonement. Jesus takes away the sin of the world. He died that all would be saved and his death makes salvation possible for all men. But none are forgiven unless they receive faith through hearing the word and repent of their sin. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus sets aside salvation for those who believe in his promises. How can anyone with a straight face say that the souls in hell have their sins forgiven and are justified? This is why the sin against the Holy Spirit is so damning. The hard heart denies the word and the messenger (Holy Spirit) that brings the good news of salvation. The Ministry of the Keys shows us how repentance and forgiveness work.

I have to disagree about this being the right place. It needs to be discussed and as long as the Intrepid Lutherans provide a platform for discussion and call attention to these matters, we should take advantage of it. There should be no sloppiness when it comes to a sermon coming from synod. I think it exposes symptoms of a bigger problem. To me this notion of an objective justification on all of mankind hints at universalism.

Respectfully Submitted,

Joe Krohn

September 29, 2010 4:55 PM 

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Pastor Jeff Samelson had said:

This is perhaps not the thread for this kind of discussion, but what you're talking about here is the distinction between objective and subjective justification. We always need to tread very carefully here, because if we deny the objective (or universal, or general) effect and significance of Christ's work, we diminish the gospel in a horrible way. [This issue has a long -- and not entirely pleasant -- history in American confessional Lutheranism, especially in the WELS.]
[Ask your pastor or a trusted WELS source for more information. Most definitely do not ask for or trust the answers of someone who only wishes to bash the WELS.]

But this isn't the place for a drawn-out discussion of the issue. Just consider one verse: John 1:29 -- "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Maybe John the Baptist didn't use the word "forgive" here, but he clearly connects Christ with the removal of all the world's sins. So yes, that means my sins are forgiven, your sins are forgiven, and my neighbor's sins are forgiven in Christ.

But that forgiveness doesn't do me, you, or my neighbor any good without faith -- and with faith, there will, of course, be repentance.

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GJ - The UOJ minders will always trot out their talking points, but they cannot get past a layman who has studied the Word of God and examined the UOJ claims. The Tepid Lutherans will not post Brett Meyer's perceptive comments, but dauntless Ichabod has.

Here are some additional excuses for ignoring the issue, paraphrasing what I have recently read:

1. Sig Becker and JP Meyer were beloved professors, so criticizing their published words will only annoy their admirers in the Wisconsin sect. Sig and JP are the ruling norm now.
2. When Sig and JP wrote what they did about guilt-free sinners in Hell, they did not really mean it. That means we should trust in an unsupported claim rather than their repeated publications? JP even published a lie about what the European orthodox Lutherans believed.
3. The UOJ Enthusiasts and the justification-by-faith faithful are "talking past each other." If two parties conclude the opposite about this invented notion of Universal Objective Justification, they are really saying the same thing?

UOJ used to start flame wars, initiated by the Stormtroopers. Now they are trying to make UOJ a non-issue. That is a good sign, meaning we are at the third stage of debate.
A. The first stage is agreement, so it was not worth stating in the first place. Many sermons stay at this level of Methodist irenics rather than Lutheran polemics.
B. The second stage is angry denunciation. That means the opponents have understood the message and are alarmed by it. They believe but their hides bristle.
C. The third stage is apparent indifference and silence. When a debate has reached this level, the opponents are so terrified or mystified that they refuse to participate in any serious discussion at all. They joke. The cavil. They flim-flam.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Sloppy Synod Sermon":

Justification by Faith Alone is the doctrine upon which a person is a Christian or not a non-Christian. It is the sole doctrine upon which your sins are forgiven by grace through faith in Christ alone. To reject and pervert this doctrine is to separate yourself from Christ and His righteousness which is only ours through Faith worked graciously by the Holy Spirit through the Word alone. UOJ is a perversion of God's Word, a man made doctrine which wages war against the chief articles of Christian faith revealed in Scripture and confirmed in the Lutheran Confessions.

How the Intrepid Lutherans deal with this most critical doctrine and their confession towards UOJ and Justification by Faith Alone will determine if they are truly BOC Confessional, Christian, Lutheran and if their efforts on all doctrinal fronts will ever be fruitful and God pleasing.

The Lost Sheep

Copyright, Norma Boeckler.

Returns from the legendary Megatron database on "anxious."

"Thus too, if our confidence is to begin, and we become strengthened and comforted, we must well learn the voice of our Shepherd, and let all other voices go, who only lead us astray, and chase and drive us hither and thither. We must hear and grasp only that article which presents Christ to us in the most friendly and comforting manner possible. So that we can say with all confidence: My Lord Jesus Christ is truly the only Shepherd, and I, alas, the lost sheep, which has strayed into the wilderness, and I am anxious and fearful, and would gladly be good, and have a gracious God and peace of conscience, but here I am told that He is as anxious for me as I am for Him." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, IV, p. 86. Third Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon Luke 15:1-10.

"Early in the morning it rises, sits upon a twig and sings a song it has learned, while it knows not where to obtain its food, and yet it is not worried as to where to get its breakfast. Later, when it is hungry, it flies away and seeks a grain of corn, where God stored one away for it, of which it never thought while singing, when it had cause enough to be anxious about its food. Ay, shame on you now, that the little birds are more pious and believing than you; they are happy and sing with joy and know not whether they have anything to eat." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 114. Trinity 15 Matthew 6:24-34

"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. [Ski, Glende, Church and Change - he is talking about you and your ELCAish transforming members and all that Pietistic baloney you are using to destroy Lutheran worship and doctrine, with the help of your Methodist Episcopal Lutheran friends.]

"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal, immutable truth of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity (which, moreover, is not in our power to do). Nor would such peace and unity, since it is devised against the truth and for its suppression, have any permanency. Still less are we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the pure doctrine and manifest, condemned errors. But we entertain heartfelt pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to advance, that unity according to our utmost power, by which His glory remains to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of Christ." (Closing of Formula of Concord, Triglotta, p. 1095) Francis Pieper, The Difference Between Orthodox And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 65. Tappert, p. 632. Heiser, p. 294. FC SD XI, #94-96.

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GJ - This is the new Ichabod: tanned, rested, and ready for battle.

God Hates the Synods: Punishing Them For Promoting False Teachers

KJV Luke 5:5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy Word I will let down the net.
Drawing copyright by Norma Boeckler.

Luther has a fine statement, which Megatron cannot find at the moment, about God allowing false teachers to thrive, the surest sign of His wrath. False teachers punish the Church, flailing the followers and extracting every last dollar from them, because they did not have a penny for Christ.

The vanity, greed, and conceit of man are revealed by his reliance on human wisdom and experience in the stewardship of the Church. Hand wringing about offerings will increase as the Obama measures continue to assault the economy. Nevertheless, a slight change in giving would end those woes. Why does that not happen? People are tired of the guilt trips laid on them by officials who must have every luxury, benefit, and perk while meeting in posh locations, using insurance money to hobnob with ELCA.

"Reaching out with the Gospel" means consuming millions of dollars that never make it outside of the DPs' palaces, the Purple Palace, the Love Shack, and the Little Vatican on the Prairie. McCain and Barry kissed up to DP Benke, who is known for keeping 95% of all mission offerings.

The ultimate folly is that money will make the difference, instead of the Word. That theory should be shredded by now, since St. Marvin Schwan, of blessed memory, lobbed millions and millions upon the LCMS, WELS, and the Little Sect. Trotters in the trough, they squealed with delight and consumed the money with no effect - except insolvency and some impressive new buildings. Meanwhile, Marvin was begging Lazarus to dip his finger into some water and relieve his agony. "Let me go back and tell them that money buys a pan-Lutheran indulgence, but not salvation."

The answer must have been, "They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them."

The fishermen are an example that should throw the synods into paroxysms of remorse, godly contrition, and faith in the Gospel. The disciples knew from their experience and their night of hard labor that no fish could be found.

"Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy Word I will let down the net."

The nets were so full that they tore from the strain and threatened to sink the boats, which were made for such fishing.

In contrast, we see synods that openly mock the Word but call themselves confessional, conservative, orthodox. Why is no one laughing? Can they not see that unprotected sects lead to outbreaks of The SORE?

The Lutheran Confessions witness to the truth and also reject falsehood. If Pope John, SP Harrison, and SP Schroeder are confessional, what do they confess? All three are content with Reformed doctrine, New Age Emergent Churches, and consorting with ELCA.

Nothing says more about the Biblical poverty of Lutherans today than synodical inability to reject any false doctrine. They devote themselves to getting even with anyone who questions them and expend their wrath on them. False teachers are loved, comforted, protected, adored, absolved, and promoted. And why not? Anyone who condones such behavior is a false teacher himself and not a confessional Lutheran. False teachers love other false teachers. Wolves run in packs and kill for fun.

People like tepid Lutherans. This generation will be known as the Methodist Episcopal Lutherans.

They are Methodist because they have no confession at all. Methodist leaders are kindly, mild, a bit Biblical, and loathe to engage in any kind of doctrinal dispute because they have no doctrine.

They are Episcopal because they covet the fancy titles, the cool robes, the crozier, and the endowments.

They are Lutheran when it suits them, especially when raising money from Lutherans to promote more false doctrine.


Quotations about False Teachers

"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 overtaken. (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. (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 thru every nation." The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941, Hymn #260. Psalm 12.

"Note the master hand wherewith Paul portrays the character of false teachers, showing how they betray their avarice and ambition. First, they permit true teachers to lay the foundation and perform the labor; then they come and desire to do the work over, to reap the honors and the benefits. They bring about that the name and the work of the true teachers receive no regard and credit; what they themselves have brought--that is the thing. They make the poor simple-minded people to stare open-mouthed while they win them with flowery words and seduce them with fair speeches, as mentioned in Romans 16:18. These are the idle drones that consume the honey they will not and cannot make." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 110. Second Sunday before Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9; Romans 16:18.

"And such false teachers have the good fortune that all their folly is tolerated, even though the people realize how these act the fool, and rather rudely at that. They have success with it all, and people bear with them. But no patience is to be exercised toward true teachers! Their words and their works are watched with the intent of entrapping them, as complained of in Psalm 17:9 and elsewhere. When only apparently a mote is found, it is exaggerated to a very great beam. No toleration is granted. There is only judgment, condemnation and scorn. Hence the office of preaching is a grievous one. He who has not for his sole motive the benefit of his neighbor and the glory of God cannot continue therein. The true teacher must labor, and permit others to have the honor and profit of his efforts, while he receives injury and derision for his reward." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 110f. Second Sunday before Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. Psalm 17:9.


"In the second place such teachers are disposed to bring the people into downright bondage and to bind their conscience by forcing laws upon them and teaching works-righteousness. The effect is that fear impels them to do what has been pounded into them, as if they were bondslaves, while their teachers command fear and attention. But the true teachers, they who give us freedom of conscience and create us lords, we soon forget, even despise. The dominion of false teachers is willingly tolerated and patiently endured; indeed, it is given high repute. All those conditions are punishments sent by God upon them who do not receive the Gospel with love and gratitude." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111. Second Sunday before Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. John 5:43.

"In the third place, false teachers flay their disciples to the bone, and cut them out of house and home, but even this is taken and endured. Such, I opine, has been our experience under the Papacy. But true preachers are even denied their bread. Yet this all perfectly squares with justice! For, since men fail to give unto those from whom they receive the Word of God, and permit the latter to serve them at their own expense, it is but fair they should give the more unto preachers of lies, whose instruction redounds to their injury. What is withheld from Christ must be given in tenfold proportion to the devil. They who refuse to give the servant of truth a single thread, must be oppressed by liars." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111f. Second Sunday before Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.

"It is not enough that we preach correctly, which the hireling can also do; but we must watch over the sheep, that the wolves, false teachers, may not break in, and we must contend for the sheep against the wolves, with the Word of God, even to the sacrifice of our lives. Such are good shepherds, of whom few are found." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 34. Second Sunday after Easter John 10:11-16.

"This is going through closed doors, when He comes into the heart through the Word, not breaking nor displacing anything. For when the Word of God comes, it neither injures the conscience, nor deranges the understanding of the heart and the external senses; as the false teachers do who break all the doors and windows, breaking through like thieves, leaving nothing whole and undamaged, and perverting, falsifying and injuring all life, conscience, reason, and the senses. Christ does not do thus." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 355. First Sunday after Easter John 20:19-31.

"As soon as the Word of God appears, the devil becomes angry; and in his anger he employs every power and wile to persecute it and wipe it out completely. For he is the father of lies and a murderer (John 8:44); he plants his lies in the world through false teachers, and he murders men through tyrants." Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, 1535, ed., Jaroslav Pelikan, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1963, 26, p. 455. Galatians 4:29

"We are not free from blame if we have a wrong faith and follow false teachers. The fact that we did not know will be of no help to us, for we were warned beforehand. Besides God has told us to judge what this or that person teaches and to give an account. If we fail to do this, we are lost. Therefore the soul's salvation of each person depends on his knowing what is God's Word and what is false teaching." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 636.

"They [the false teachers] fared like a man who looks through a colored glass. Put before such a man whatever color you please, he sees no other color than that of the glass. The fault is not that the right color is not put before him but that his glass is colored differently, as the word of Is. 6:9 puts it: You will see, he says, and yet you will not see it." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 644. Isaiah 6:9.

KJV Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

NKJ 2 Timothy 2:17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,

112] Accordingly, with heart and mouth we reject and condemn as false, erroneous, and misleading all Sacramentarian opiniones (opinions) and doctrines which are not in accordance with, but contrary and opposed to, the doctrine above presented and founded upon God's Word:
113] 1. As when they assert that the words of institution are not to be understood simply in their proper signification, as they read, of the true, essential presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Supper, but are to be wrested, by means of tropi (tropes) or figurative interpretations, to another new, strange sense. We hereby reject all such Sacramentarian opiniones (opinions) and self-contradictory notions [of which some even conflict with each other], however manifold and various they may be.    

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Heartwarming News - DP Kicked Out of Meeting

This is from Jack Cascione, who is often quite creative with the facts:

Armed Guards Remove LCMS District President from Voters’ Meeting

Dr. Robert Newton, District President of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, was escorted out of a Voters’ Assembly at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Oakland, California on Tuesday evening September 21, 2010.

Newton and District Executive Rev. David Sauer arrived uninvited at the meeting. Newton announced to the assembly that he came to bring “peace” and “love” and then began to distribute and read a 3 ½ page letter criticizing the congregation’s effort to disaffiliate and defame the officers. The meeting had been closed to non-Voters. Newton was ruled out of order by the paid professional parliamentarian and refused to be silenced by the chair. Two paid armed guards were signaled by the trustees to remove Newton from the meeting.

The Voters’ Assembly was hardly in a mood to hear Newton’s plea for peace and love. The District continues to sue members of the congregation for its church property and they must pay more than $500,000 in legal fees to defend themselves from the Synod.

The LCMS Council of District Presidents believes that the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion nullifies an LCMS congregation’s Constitutional right to private property.

On December 21, 2007, attorney Sherri Strand, legal counsel to the LCMS Board of Directors, filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court for the LCMS-CNHD against Sharon Bowles, Mary-Ann Hill, Portia Ridgeway, and Celia Moyer for the church property of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church of Oakland, CA (case number RG07363452 on the website). The Synod filed suit because Our Redeemer Lutheran Church voted itself out of the LCMS. The congregation voted to leave the LCMS because the District has refused to give them a call list since 2002 and told the congregation “to close with dignity.” The Synod claims a prior interest in the property because Our Redeemer’s constitution deeds the property to the District if the church closes. However, the church didn’t close.

In late August of 2010, Judge Marshall Whitley denied Strand’s Motion for Summary Judgment against the defendants and granted plaintiffs’ summary adjudication against the District on its claims on the basis that it had no legal standing to sue the church members.

On September 9, 2010 Strand filed a Motion to Reconsider the day before Judge Whitley’s ruling became final. Strand asked Judge Whitley to reconsider based on a new Commission on Constitutional Matters Opinion CCM 10-2581 that was published in response to losing the suit on the morning of September 9, 2010. Strand’s Motion to Reconsider explains to the court that CCM 10-2581 means that the LCMS is “hierarchical” and has Episcopal ownership over all churches in the LCMS. Whitley rescheduled the hearing for January 14th 2011. The trial, if any, is scheduled for April 18th 2011.

In late August of 2010, the congregation’s president received a threatening phone call from Newton demanding that the congregation remove their current pastor, Rev. Lawrence Richmond, and that Newton would replace him with his own appointee. He did this despite the new CCM 10-2581 prohibiting him from imposing a pastor or interfering with church governance. The COP are lawless men running a real estate scam in the name of Jesus Christ. After Newton’s threatening phone call the congregation understood that they would need armed guards to keep order in their church services and Voters’ Assemblies.

Thus far, guards have removed people sent by the District from two meetings. A guard also followed Newton around the building during a Sunday morning service. Newton told Rev. Richmond he wanted to announce for Communion. Members of the church immediately moved the Lord’s Supper from the altar because they refuse to take communion with devils.

The California-Nevada-Hawaii District removed Rev. Richmond, a 1985 St. Louis Seminary graduate, from the LCMS clergy roster 14 years ago because Richmond refused to practice Open Communion.

In her Motion to Reconsider, Strand argues that the defendants are guilty of “persistent violation of LCMS and Our Redeemer doctrine in contracting with a female pastor as early as 2004 and continuing until present time.” Strand makes no mention that the District refused to give the congregation a call list since 2002. Local LCMS pastors refuse any pulpit assistance to the congregation on fear of breaking the District President’s order that the church should close.

The congregation has had no LCMS pastor to advise them since 2003. They could only find Dr. Katherine Ward, and Episcopal Priest, to cover the vacancy until they contracted ELCA Seminarian Ross Tevis in 2006. Tevis left after six months and the congregation found occasional guest pastors. Members of the congregation often conducted their own Sunday morning devotions until locating Rev. Julian Maire of the LCMS in the summer of 2009, but the plane tickets were expensive. In the fall of 2009 they contracted Rev. Lawrence Richmond until the present day. Newton and Strand are well aware that Richmond has been serving Our Redeemer for over a year, yet they deceive the court with the words, “persistent violation continuing until present time.” Strand refuses to acknowledge that Pastor Richmond is a man and has been married for more than 30 years.

The District directed an LCMS clergy-boycott against the congregation as a charade to close the church and seize the property on the pretext of false doctrine. During his deposition on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17th 2010, LCMS President Kieschnick was not able to name the Bible passages which Our Redeemer was violating.

Our Redeemer always wanted an LCMS pastor but couldn’t find a permanent solution until they located Rev. Richmond, who lives with his wife about 135 miles from the congregation. After 14 years without a call, the situation has reversed. Suddenly Newton has twice asked Richmond to meet with him and Richmond refuses to serve Holy Communion to an unrepentant Newton. LCMS Convention Resolution 2007 8-02A says it is a sin to file suit against another Christian. What the COP meant was they can sue you—but you can’t sue them.

Thus far, the LCMS has spent more than an estimated million dollars suing Our Redeemer Lutheran Church with an endless supply of mission funds.

The new CCM 10-2581 Opinion is nothing more than an attempt to change church law after the fact. Strand writes to the Court, “‘a district president must be able to determine who, on behalf of the congregation properly speaks for the congregation…’ (Opinion [10-2581] pgs. 2-5) and that the district president ‘has authority to investigate and review such information as may be necessary to settle’ a dispute with a congregation ‘consistent with the Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod…’” Strand’s point is that the newly-hierarchical nature of the LCMS gives the district president the right to remove elected congregation officers and recognize members of his own choice to speak for the congregation. Strand quotes a number of cases from Episcopal Church case law to support her position.

The COP and CCM have reinterpreted the LCMS Handbook for the courts which states that the Synod has no equity in church property and that congregations are autonomous. At this point, 20 voters, defense attorney Paul Nelson, and Judge Marshall Whitley are all that prevent the LCMS COP from establishing case law to support their Episcopal authority over LCMS congregations and their property.

C. F. W. Walther, the Synod’s founder, would be surprised to learn that defense of the doctrine of congregational autonomy would be in the hands of one lone iron-willed Voters’ Assembly that protects itself from the LCMS with armed guards while 6,000 congregations pay no attention. The LCMS locomotive stops in Oakland. He is still the God of orphans and widows.

Short Answer - Avoid Unprotected Sects

Watch your attendance go down, in spite of rock music, free sodas and popcorn during church, stolen sermons, and mug files of floozies.

I am despondent - First of all, my daughter's WELS church out east has been letting folks commune who are not even members.  Second, my cousin's WELS church in Wisconsin is letting women vote.

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GJ - All this was true in Columbus in the 1980s. They crowed about it, loved it, promoted it. Look at The SORE, the cutting edge of WELS. That is the future: munching popcorn during the prayers, oogling celebrisluts in the pastor's Facebook albums, inviting atheist rock bands for the mission's start-up.
Not to worry - everyone is "working on it."

Write a letter so you can learn about WELS hating on you. They are good at it.

The Righteousness of Faith

Those who lack a child-like faith will not enter the Kingdom of God. By Norma Boeckler.

KJV John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. 8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The historic lectionary helps us by making us repeat sermons on the same lesson, learning more each time. The congregation also learns more and grows in understanding and faith.

Here I dealt with the first order of the Holy Spirit's work, to convict the world of sin, "because they do not believe in Me."

If it is sinful to lack faith in Christ, then no one is forgiven without faith. I was struck by the way the Intrepids eviscerated the false doctrine of the Walking Together Rah-Ray WELS sermon, without a reaction. WELS opposes justification by faith...consistently. So, what's for supper?

Part II of this lesson is very important because of the term righteousness. I have to admit I always stumbled at the connection between "see Me no more" and righteousness, not to mention "go to the Father." This year it really sunk in because I read Luther and Lenski all over again.

The righteousness of faith is the topic of Part II. What is righteousness, or justification, or forgiveness? The answer is - " because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more."

That can be worded as "because you will see me risen from the dead and ascending to the Father." The empty grave could have remained sealed. Jesus did not need the angels to open the sealed, stone lid of the tomb. Only the Reformed and the Shrinkers believe that.

O Love, how strong Thou art to save!
Thou beddest Him within the grave
Whose Word the mountains rendeth. (Paul Gerhardt)

The empty tomb and the Ascension were for the disciples and for us. Jesus displayed His victory over sin, death, and Satan. He taught His disciples and the 500--as the Risen Christ--to establish the Christian faith upon His death and resurrection, to establish their trust in Him forever.

KJV Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed [counted, reckoned] 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 again for our justification.

This atonement or reconciliation is counted as our "if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead."

Notice how the favorite citation for Universal Objective Justification--forgiveness without faith--is found nestled in a justification by faith passage. That is what I mean about the dishonesty of UOJ advocates. They shame the Church of Rome in twisting Scripture and getting away with it. And this selected and twisted passage is the backbone for the Brief Statement's UOJ, the sine qua non of Missouri fanaticism, WELS Kokomoism, ELS Me-tooism.

Believing in Christ, with a child-like faith, is justification - God's declaration of forgiveness.

The only way this happens is through the Means of Grace. God has appointed the Word and Sacraments to convey Christ to us in teaching, preaching, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Some like to argue about how many Means of Grace exist, but they are all manifestations of the Word of God. A family member says, "I forgive you" without being anxious about numbering. Confession and absolution should not trouble us with a numbering scheme. If we treat ordination as a sacrament, with all the solemnities of a once-in-a-lifetime event, we should not be so quick to say, "But it's not a sacrament." These terms are like grammar rules, applied after the fact. People who argue about grammar rules need a hobby or a good video game.

The divine power of the Means of Grace is the effective Word. Some people are reading this now just to see how they can find fault with it and bray about it in their secret blogs and hellish conference coffee hours. The efficacy of the Word is proven by the many ways in which Lutherans have tried to silence me. I have no power, no title, not authority over them. I cannot fire them or ban them, deprive them of income or girlfriends. If I were wrong, they could ignore me with ease. But I am not wrong - or to be more precise, the Confessions are not wrong. The Confessions show these leaders are wolves, lazy liars, clouds without rain, driven by the winds of false doctrine.

This lesson answers why believers are righteous. They are righteous, justified by faith, because they believe Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead. The Word has planted faith in their hearts, sustained that faith, and declared to them their forgiveness. This work all belongs to God and glorifies Him. Theologians, who love to make up words, call this "monergism," meaning One Worker.

The Formula of Concord understood Luther well, because the authors were trained under him or his influence. If Luther and the Concordists taught UOJ, that should come through with clarity. We know UOJ is the constant refrain of WELS, Missouri, and the ELS. They are like the residents of locked wards who can only talk about one thing. In this case it is not having faith and all the people of the earth, even back to the Flood, having the status of guilt-free saints.
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The Righteousness of Faith, Formula of Concord, Article III.

9] Concerning the righteousness of faith before God we believe, teach, and confess unanimously, in accordance with the comprehensive summary of our faith and confession presented above, that poor sinful man is justified before God, that is, absolved and declared free and exempt from all his sins, and from the sentence of well-deserved condemnation, and adopted into sonship and heirship of eternal life, without any merit or worth of our own, also without any preceding, present, or any subsequent works, out of pure grace, because of the sole merit, complete obedience, bitter suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Christ alone, whose obedience is reckoned to us for righteousness.

10] These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves.

11] This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the father, and are eternally saved. 12] Therefore it is considered and understood to be the same thing when Paul says that we are justified by faith, Rom. 3:28, or that faith is counted to us for righteousness, Rom. 4:5, and when he says that we are made righteous by the obedience of One, Rom. 5:19, or that by the righteousness of One justification of faith came to all men, Rom. 5:18. 13] For faith justifies, not for this cause and reason that it is so good a work and so fair a virtue, but because it lays hold of and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy Gospel; for this must be applied and appropriated to us by faith, if we are to be justified thereby. 14] Therefore the righteousness which is imputed to faith or to the believer out of pure grace is the obedience, suffering, and resurrection of Christ, since He has made satisfaction for us to the Law, and paid for [expiated] our sins.

end of quotation

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How could this be any clearer? And yet, the UOJ Stormtroopers dare to quote this passage before they rip into justification by faith and supplant the true doctrine of the Bible with their patchwork quilt of Pietism, Calvinism, and Universalism:

6] This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) 7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

That is like Marxists citing the Geneva Convention.

That also explains why Lutherans are now just a bad imitation of mediocre TV religion.

The WELS War Against Faith

"Our pathetic attempts at pretending to know doctrine are below."


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Ongoing War Against Faith":

A few quotes from apostates who call themselves Lutheran while perverting the Holy Spirit's faith and Christ's Word.

Note the plagiarism of Buchholz' conference essay:

We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything 27 into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply 28 grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s 29 completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal 30 ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior. , 31 according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside 32 man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation. Page 7 http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/schleicher-paper.pdf

We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior.9 Remember the causes of our salvation, according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation. Page 5
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BuchholzJustification.pdf

"When we speak of objective justification, we mean (33) that justification is complete. It does not need to be completed by faith or any other work. It is (34) finished, perfect. God has declared the world righteous for Jesus' sake. This is an objective (35) reality, whether anyone believes it or not. Even if the whole world rejected the message of the (36) gospel, it would still remain an objective reality that God had acquitted the world of sin." Page 5 http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/schleicher-paper.pdf

(68)"But, sadly, Satan worked and continues to (69) work within the Lutheran ranks. Some wanted to make justification an act of God “at the moment of faith” and so (70) they denied and even rejected universal, objective justification." Page 4, The Doctrine of Justification since the Reformation, Pastor Nate Bourman WELS http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/justification-paper.pdf

"But universal and objective justification is one doctrine whose place in the victorious Christian life is clear. Wherever men teach that faith comes first as a condition that must be fulfilled or a work that must be done or even as a fact that must be recognized before forgiven is bestowed or becomes real, men will be trained to look into their own hearts for assurance rather than to the words and promises of God. If my sins are forgiven only if I first have faith then I have no solid foundation on which to rest my hope for eternal life. I must then know that I have faith before I can know that my sins are forgiven." Page 13, Objective Justification By Dr. Siegbert W. Becker / The Importance of Objective Justification http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF

"The other extreme is to stress subjective justification without understanding the objective reality. This error leads to synergism in one form or the other. Stressing faith as the cause of justification makes it a meritorious work. We have then destroyed the sola gratia of the Gospel, and cause men to look within themselves for the assurance of salvation." Page 7,
Stand in Awe of Justification / IV. Avoid Dulling its Divine Brilliance, Mark Zarling WELS http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ZarlingJustification.pdf

"To state it negatively, all sin has already been forgiven; it is a mutually exclusive proposition to say that God has given the obedience of His Son to all, and to say as well that man’s sin is not forgiven until he does something, or until he believes it. The imputation of guilt did not require that the individual sin, nor that he believe himself a sinner; likewise the imputation of Christ’s obedience needs no work or belief of man to effect it or complete it. In sum, the sin of the whole world has already been forgiven." Page 2, On the Distinction between Objective and Subjective Justification / Statement of the Doctrine of Objective Justification [Chicago Pastoral Conference November 8, 1977] by D. Deutschlander http://www.wlsessays.net/files/DeutschlanderDistinction.pdf

"Preus argued that if objective justification is not true, faith cannot be the means by which the sinner merely receives God’s forgiveness, but it must become meritorious. The denial of objective justification turns faith into a work. God will not justify the sinner solely on the basis of Christ’s redemption, but will justify the sinner only when the sinner meets the condition of having faith. Thus, the redemption of Christ does not actually cause God to forgive anyone, but merely makes God willing to forgive if sinners perform the necessary work of believing. Faith becomes a work".[35] Rev. Rolf D. Preus in The Legacy of Herman Amberg Preus, http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/LegacyHermanAmbergPreus.html#_ftn35

"I would eliminate faith as a requirement that makes justification true. That would be making faith a work of mine." Franz August Otto Pieper, A Final Word, http://www.franzpieper.com/

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GJ - Brett has shown that WELS only plagiarizes false teachers. This is brief sampling of the endlessly repeated talking points of UOJ.

UOJ is anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, anti-Confessional. UOJ is the engine behind the WELS infatuation with Church Growth, Emergent Church, and New Age thinking.