Mid-week Advent services? Clearly not Emergent Church!
Magic is nothing more than misdirection of the eyes. I enjoy watching live magic acts, because I know what they are doing. I look at the bulky clothes, the flowing capes, the large capacity hats.
The magician gets the audience to look one way while he does something quickly and without notice. (Without notice is a litotes. See the post below.)
Universal Objective Justification is misdirection of the mind, and it works.
UOJ uses a simple technique, blending two different terms from the Bible.
The first term is the Atonement, which has many synonyms in the New Testament: ransom, redemption as purchase, redemption as being set free, propitiation, and expiation. These words all express the crucifixion of Christ, paying for the sins of the world.
The second term is justification. This is not the same action or concept. Justification expresses how God declares us forgiven through faith in Jesus, which means trust in the atoning death of Christ.
The UOJ magicians unite the terms without distinguishing them, so that the Atonement of Christ becomes the absolution of the world, every single person being declared guilt-free. The efficacious Word is forgotten. The Means of Grace are omitted. Faith is suddenly bad, even though it is the most frequently found word in the New Testament.
Their UOJ magic is so dazzling that the magicians find themselves confused. They have to invent two justifications - one without faith (their favorite, UOJ), one with faith (although faith is bad in their darkened minds). Since this is an obvious attack on the clarity and efficacy of the Word, the magicians have to deny they are juggling two justifications. Oh no, the two justifications are really two sides of the same coin. Justification is a coin. They always get back to money.
Two become one. That reminds me of the Ted Kennedy Professor of Safe Driving and Worship, who once saw identical twin boys in a stroller. Straightening up and trying to look sober, he said to the mother, "What a beautiful boy!"
UOJ has had almost a century to polish its act, so there are many automatic responses to justification by faith. To wit
- :
- "If I do not say I am already forgiven before I believe, I make God out to be a liar." Pity the man who cannot distinguish the cross from justification by faith. The two are not the same. The statement is foolish and slanderous at the same time.
- "UOJ protects the Gospel." Unfortunately, this error comes from Hoenecke, a product of Halle University. The Word of God belongs to God alone and does not need protection. The Word is a double-edged sword and shield, with divine power to convert and harden, to enlighten and to blind.
- "Your faith is in faith." This shopworn accusation fails to acknowledge that faith is in Christ, in the Word, in the mercy and grace of God toward sinners. The UOJ Calvinists are using the Calvinists' argument against the Arminians, proving once again that UOJ descends from Pietism, Pietism from Calvinism, Calvinism from Enthusiasm.
- "Both sides are talking past each other." If that is so, then why does the UOJ faction constantly parade its favorite Syn Conference articles in front of the public while refusing to deal with objections to its false doctrine? Inventing a false unity is one of the sure signs of unionism, as Reu wrote. WELS Pastor Tim Glende denounces Reu because Reu did not live long enough to plagiarize Groeschel. In fact, the Germans were in awe of Reu's scholarship. He traveled from America and ate their lunch in catechetical studies, in their language! Someone who copies and pastes from LifeChurch.tv would not know that.
