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
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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.