Most Lutherans Are Closer to Rome than They Realize.Another Layman, 29A, Predicts Lutherans Will Apologize, Ask Forgiveness in 2017

The Holy Spirit does not allow him to err. At least, that is what he claims infallibly.
WELS is also infallible.
Question Pope John the Malefactor - whoosh. Gone.


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Fellowship with Everyone:Let's Not Forget Thrivent...":

LWF, LCMS Directors Affirm Shared Lutheran Identity, Urge Further Mutual Dialogue
Emphasis on Joint Intervention in Overcoming Church Tensions

GENEVA, Switzerland, 24 January 2008 (LWI) - Representatives of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) meeting at the LWF secretariat in Geneva, 21-24 January have affirmed the need to establish direct communication between both organizations in order to mutually benefit from their common heritage in the Reformation.
http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2163.EN.html

On the occasion of the first “World Interfaith Harmony Week” (1-7 February 2011) designated by the United Nations General Assembly last October, Rev. Elizabeth McHan spoke with ELCJHL Bishop Dr Munib Younan, also president of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) about the significance of this week for the Holy Land faith communities and for the global Lutheran communion.
...
To the global human community this week?
My appeal is this: that religion be the source of harmony, justice, and reconciliation in this world. Find from the holy writings that which builds this world in the love of God and love of neighbor, not what divides it. Find from the holy writings the common values of our shared humanity. Thus, we will live in harmony.


http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/president-younan-urges-diligence-in-promoting-religious-co-existence.html

VATICAN City, Vatican/GENEVA, 16 December 2010 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan has invited Pope Benedict XVI to work together with the Lutheran communion in realizing an ecumenically accountable commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

“For us there is joy in the liberating power of the gospel proclaimed afresh by the reformers, and we will celebrate that,” said Younan in a message today, when he led a seven-member delegation in a private audience with the Pope. He underlined the need to recognize both the damaging aspects of the Reformation and ecumenical progress.
“But we cannot achieve this ecumenical accountability on our own, without your help. Thus we invite you to work together with us in preparing this anniversary, so that in 2017 we are closer to sharing in the Bread of Life than we are today.”
...
Younan presented to the Pope a gift from Bethlehem, a carving depicting the Last Supper. Referring to this image, he said, “Each of us can bear witness to the importance of this sacramental meal in nurturing our own Christian lives. Each of us also knows the yearning for the time when we will be able to celebrate this feast together,” said the LWF president.

http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/younan-pope-500th-anniversary.html

Fellowship with Everyone:Let's Not Forget Thrivent

Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "ELCA Provides Input for Federation Regional Commit...":

At last count, the LCMS is in fellowship with either nine or ten bodies who are LWF members. Naturally, the answer we trouble-makers receive is that "membership" doesn't equal "fellowship." LWF apparently doesn't agree with the LCMS, since they plainly state that membership in their organization declares altar and pulpit fellowship.

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Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Fellowship with Everyone:Let's Not Forget Thrivent...":

http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/who-we-are

Grey Goose Makes More Sense Waiting for the Dishwasher Than the Assembled Wisdom of the Seminary Faculties.Change and DIE!

Dude, lose the robes. You need wrinkled, faded jeans.
Pull your old shirt out over the jeans.
Look earnest.

There are, I think, a couple of reasons for the migration to Rome or EO.  One is stability.  The organization will place the incoming where there is an income, probably priest or not.  Leaving one set of political problems for another is not much of a deal.  The high church types, as Fenton was, go because of the ceremony, of which they are most fond.  In all the cases, there is apparently little interest in what their new home is teaching.  "Few are chosen" needs to be believed and understood. 

If good hymns are important, and decent liturgy is important, then The Lutheran Hymnal is the only available book.  Its spoken Propers all use the good old terms, titles and lessons.  They might be called adiaphora but if one is long in those things, they are what one wants.  How many times have I both heard and said, "I have not left the church.  The church has left me."  Since LBW, many have expressed that sentiment.  If the synod leadership -- SP, DP, CP or Pastor -- has not heard the conviction of some of the membership, then some will look for the old and familiar.  As those folks age, they want to remain with the familiar.  Changeless, unchanging. 

I haven't heard any sermons during my lifetime that were given in King James English.  That does not mean the KJV should go away.  It only means it should be well taught and explained.  There is the KJ21 version that could work.  Its format is bookish and its highlighting can be difficult to get used to, but it is still the King James.  Look what has happened when misguided men offer 'modern' translations.  There is no Word left in sermons.  Many are not even given in Good American English.  As far as I am concerned, all that new stuff is the true adiaphora.  I think Luther said if someone calls the good old stuff adiaphora he should have a fight on his hands. 

Excuse my prattling on while waiting to empty the dishwasher.  This old guy prefers a certain stability.  The "Change or Die" conference should be titled "Change and Die".

This is liturgical attire for the What's Happening Now Entertainment Center.
Don't dream it, be it.

CNS STORY: Defend doctrine, but don't attack others, pope says at audience

CNS STORY: Defend doctrine, but don't attack others, pope says at audience

POPE-AUDIENCE Feb-9-2011 (460 words) With photos. xxxi

Defend doctrine, but don't attack others, pope says at audience

Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges pilgrims during his general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican Feb. 9. (CNS/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even in the midst of the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, St. Peter Canisius knew how to defend Catholic doctrine without launching personal attacks on those who disagreed, Pope Benedict XVI said.

St. Peter, a 15th-century Jesuit sent on mission to Germany, knew how to "harmoniously combine fidelity to dogmatic principles with the respect due to each person," the pope said Feb. 9 at his weekly general audience.

The pope was beginning a series of audience talks about "doctors of the church," who are theologians and saints who made important contributions to Catholic understanding of theology.

In St. Peter Canisius' own time, more than 200 editions of his catechisms were published, the pope said, and they were so popular in Germany for so long that up until "my father's generation people called a catechism simply a 'Canisius.'"


More from the Antichrist at this link.

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GJ - Catechisms matter. I use plain old Luther's Small Catechism. The old WELS Gausewitz catechism did NOT have UOJ in it, but taught justification by faith. The Kuske Catechism and the Conference of Pussycats This We Believe made UOJ canonical.

The old German LCMS catechism did NOT have UOJ in it. Knapp's double justification scheme was taught by Walther, but it did not find official documentation until the Brief Statement of 1932 (F. Pieper, Walther's chosen disciple).

The Muhlenberg tradition (ULCA, LCA, roughly half of ELCA) taught justification by faith and the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, until the unionistic modernists took control of the seminaries.

The Preaching Office (Predigamt) Has a Comment

Predigtamt has left a new comment on your post "Icha-Air-Rescue":

Thesis: Teaching the WELS doctrine of Universal Objective Justification (WELS UOJ) leads to a decrease in church attendance. Teaching the Augsburg Confession doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone (AC) leads to an increase in church attendance. A Question and Answer might go like this:

Q (WELS UOJ parishioner): Why should I go to my WELS church to worship if I was already forgiven when Christ died on the cross? Isn’t it enough for me to think about Jesus at home? Aren’t sermons and the sacraments only to assure me that my sins were already forgiven? Since I don’t feel the need for forgiveness, why should I go to church?

A (Augsburg Confession Lutheran pastor): Scripture teaches that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). And: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12)! The forgiveness Christ won on the cross is not yours unless and until hearing the gospel the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens faith in your heart to believe it. Paul is crystal clear on this: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). It is not enough to only think about Jesus, the cross, and forgiveness. You need to hear the preached gospel and receive the visible gospel in the sacraments. It is not just the assurance of forgiveness, but it is also and especially the actual forgiveness of your sin that you receive through the audible and visible Word of God preached in the sermon and received in the sacraments.

Here is something Luther said that might help you:

“We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways. First, how it is achieved and won. Second, how it is distributed and given to us. Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross. But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world. …. [So] if now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ,…in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross.” (Against the Heavenly Prophets - 1525)

See you Sunday!

Missouri's SMPs and WELS Staph Ministry

This link describes the unbearable lightness of the LCMS SMP program. One would never know that Missouri took farm boys and turned them into pastors who read Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

I saw the books left to the Mequon library by pastors who died. They left such works as Hoenecke in German, Schmid's Doctrinal Theology (condemned by Tim Glende), and many other scholarly classics of Lutheran orthodoxy. Many of the books were in German, so the class of 1987 did not want them. One senior translated Eins ist Not as "One is nothing." Great try - "One Thing Is Needful." I laughed out loud. Many of them said, "You read German?" I asked, "You don't?"

Larry Olson, DMin (Fuller), heads the staph infection program for WELS, at Mary Lou College. His degree consisted of four courses at Fuller, some transferred credits, and a paper. Nevertheless, he tells his Church and Change disciples and the gullible WELS members that he is a "doctor." All the Changer leaders have DMins from Schwaermer schools, and they all call themselves DR:
Dr. Rich Krause (union seminary program, Ohio, Larry Olson, supervisor).
Dr. Paul Calvin Kelm (Our Lady of Sorrows, St. Louis.)
Dr. Steve Witte (Gordon Conwell).
Dr. John Parlow (Denver), who was listed in three different denominations at one time - Denver graduates, the Willow Creek Association, and WELS.

The point of these programs and other alternative programs is - turn the synod into a clone of Fuller Seminary. The people who head them and manage them hate Lutheran doctrine, but the synod membership pays for it.

Source for Lutheran Hymn Writer Biographies and Pictures

Lutheran mom reacts to church promoting their Money Business.

I decided to feature this blog for a time, because the author (a member of the ever-growing Preus clan) has so much information about Lutheran hymn-writers. Look at the right column of that blog and read how many are featured.

Hymns are often confessions of faith written during a time of crisis. For that reason, the most significant verses are often butchered or omitted. "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was changed by liberal editors so that people no long sang "offspring of the Virgin's womb." The new words, still found in many print editions, became "offspring of the chosen one." Methodists did that to their own founder's hymn.

Lutherans would never omit or change hymns by Lutherans, would they? WELS did that in spades, especially with doctrinal verses. Compare the great old hymns with the Christian Worship version. I guess CW was DUI - Designed Under the Influence.

The notorious Iver Johnson was another big asset on the CW team, in case they needed special hymns for The Counseling Shepherd, like "Embracable Ewe."

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Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Source for Lutheran Hymn Writer Biographies and Pi...":

"Now Praise We Christ the Holy One" (TLH #104)is missing from the LSB. Too bad, because it's a beautiful hymn. We wouldn't want too many hymns by Luther in a Lutheran hymnal.

Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Source for Lutheran Hymn Writer Biographies and Pi...":

I have to issue a semi-correction. TLH #104 didn't make the cut for the intermediate LW either.


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Daniel Baker has left a new comment on your post "Source for Lutheran Hymn Writer Biographies and Pi...":

The one that upsets me the most in CW is "What is the World to Me?" They took out the best verses of the hymn.

"Jerusalem the Golden" is also missing about 80 verses, but that started in TLH, so you can't really blame CW as much.

About Sound Doctrine

Sound Doctrine

"Since now, in the sight of God and of all Christendom [the entire Church of Christ], we wish to testify to those now living and those who shall come after us that this declaration herewith presented concerning all the controverted articles aforementioned and explained, and no other, is our faith, doctrine, and confession, in which we are also willing, by God's grace, to appear with intrepid hearts before the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, and give an account of it; and that we will neither privately nor publicly speak or write anything contrary to it, but, by the help of God's grace, intend to abide thereby: therefore, after mature deliberation, we have, in God's fear and with the invocation of His name, attached our signatures with our own hands."

            Thorough Declaration, Of Other Factions and Sects, Formula of Concord, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1103.

"'If there ever was a strictly conservative body, it surely is the Missouri Synod. Nevertheless, this growth!...It is a mark of the pastors and leaders of the Missouri Synod that they never, aye, never, tire of discussing doctrine on the basis of Scripture and the Confessions. That is one trait that may be called the spirit of Missouri. People who thus cling to doctrine and contend for its purity are of an entirely different nature from the superficial unionists who in the critical moment will declare five to be an even number. God will bless all who value His Word so highly.'"

            (Dr. Lenski, Kirchenzeitung, May 20, 1922)

            cited in W. A. Baepler, "Doctrine, True and False," The Abiding Word, ed., Theodore Laetsch, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, II, p. 515f.

"We should not consider the slightest error against the Word of God unimportant."

            What Luther Says , An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 637.

"Error and heresy must come into the world so that the elect may become approved and manifest. Their coming is in the best interests of Christians if they take the proper attitude toward it. St. Augustine, who certainly was sufficiently annoyed by wretched sectaries, says that when heresy and offense come, they produce much benefit in Christendom; for they cause Christians industriously to read Holy Scriptures and with diligence to pursue it and persevere in its study. Otherwise they might let it lie on the shelf, become very secure, and say: Why, God's Word and the text of Scripture are current and in our midst; it is not necessary for us to read Holy Scripture."

            What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 639.

“You cannot of a truth be for true doctrine without being unalterably opposed to false doctrine. There can be no 'positive theology' where the God-given negatives have been eliminated from the Decalog."

            Norman A. Madson, Preaching to Preachers, Mankato: Lutheran Synod Book Company, 1952. Preface.

Kelming Jacobs Is Good for the Soul

Here's a quote from H.E. Jacobs, A Summary of the Christian Faith.

Chapter XXXI, The Church's Confessions.   Question 14 (pp.454-455)  Are not the controversies settled in our Confessions merely such as belonged to the Church in Germany over three hundred years, and, therefore, of no very great importance to us in America?  The errors controverted reappear wherever the Gospel is preached. The questions of the XVI Century are just as living and important today, as they were then. A Church which assumes to be independent of the labors and testimony of its fathers, in so far as they are true, will ultimately be called upon to pass through the same experience, and to return to their testimony which it had deemed unnecessary.

Rich People Do Not Like Babies

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Herescope: The Great Heretical Idea:":

LifeNews.com reveals that the recent "Billionaires Club" meeting ended in population control which means for them abortion.

"Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Some of the richest people in the world met secretly in New York recently and talked about their favorite causes. The group, which includes some of the most well-known business people in the world, adopted population control, which would undoubtedly include abortion, as their main cause.

http://www.valuesvoternews.com/2009/05/oprah-winfrey-warren-buffet-bill-gates.html  

ELCA Provides Input for Federation Regional Committee Work, Coordination - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

ELCA Provides Input for Federation Regional Committee Work, Coordination - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

"Leave your friends with the recording equipment behind, Brett.
And then maybe we will not prosecute you this time."

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
February 21, 2011

ELCA Provides Input for Federation Regional Committee Work, Coordination
11-020-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)  joined other regional Lutheran World Federation church leaders here Feb. 11-12 to develop proposals for how they will work together to fulfill the Federation's mission in North America. The church leaders shared updates on their respective church bodies and provided input into the Federation's strategic planning process.
     Committee members expressed "strong affirmation" to strengthen the Lutheran communion, said the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, assistant to the ELCA presiding bishop for ecumenical and inter-religious affairs.
     The Lutheran World Federation, based in Geneva, is 145 member churches in 79 countries throughout the world. Together these churches represent more than 70 million Christians.
     Meeting participants were representatives of member churches of the Lutheran World Federation North America Regional Committee: the ELCA; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), Winnipeg; and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad, Toronto.
     Joining McCoid from the ELCA were Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, who also serves as the Lutheran World Federation treasurer and vice president of the North America region, and two members of the Federation Council, Mikka McCracken, ELCA Global Mission; and the Rev. Dr. Robin J. Steinke, dean, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.). The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, is also a council member but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. The Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission, attended as a member of the regional committee.
     The Federation's North America region no longer has a designated staff person working in the region. In response, members of the North America Regional Committee agreed to present the proposals for shared work together to the governing bodies of regional Federation member churches.
     Committee members agreed that their purpose is to "strengthen the Lutheran Communion by bearing witness to the fullness of Christ’s body for and with the world as a global community exercising visible solidarity among member churches. This solidarity is expressed in altar and pulpit fellowship among all member churches."
     Members agreed that they will propose:
+ to coordinate decisions and actions of the Lutheran World Federation to entities within each North America region church body and monitor reception of those actions.
+ to creatively imagine ongoing ways for regional work in conversations and connections to unfold.
+ to commit to ongoing conversations to recognize "our mutual giftedness and mutual poverty, so that we receive the witness, gifts, prayers, and expertise from the (Lutheran) Communion."
+ to commit to revitalize and strengthen connectivity in the region to participate more fully in the life of the Communion.
+ to further the region's identity as Federation member churches and share this information at all levels (congregations, synods and national church bodies).
     Members of the North America Regional Committee agreed they will include representatives from the member church bodies and Federation Council members from each church body in the region. North America Regional Committee members also asked the Federation to designate a representative to the regional committee.

Updates from North America region church bodies presented
     Church leaders in the North America region reported changes in staffing and funding at the national level, along with work to improve and build relationships. 
     ELCA: The churchwide organization recently announced a significant reorganization of its structure and staff. Jackson-Skelton said the organization has taken a "longer view" of its work. McCoid said the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, to be held in August in Orlando, Fla., will consider recommendations from an ELCA task force that has studied possibilities for the ELCA's future. Malpica Padilla said ELCA leaders have remained in conversation with a few global companion churches regarding the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly actions on human sexuality. Those contacts have helped improve some relationships, he said.
     Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada: The Rev. Susan C. Johnson, national bishop and Federation Council member, reported that the church is undergoing a reorganization process at the national level, and it will likely be a topic of discussion at its national convention in July in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A task force is preparing a draft of a social statement on human sexuality for presentation to the Church Council and the national convention, she said.
     Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad: The Rev. Hannes Aasa, Consistory representative and Canadian dean, reported that the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church agreed to establish closer ties, including one archbishop instead of two. Aasa said the Estonian Church Abroad prefers to keep its LWF membership as does the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.
      North America Regional Committee members offered input into the Federation's strategic planning process. The Federation Council is expected to act on a proposed strategy in June, to be implemented in 2012 for six years.
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     Information about the North America Regional Committee of the LWF is athttp://www.ELCA.org/lwf on the ELCA website.

"Don't I look studly in this black outfit?"

***

GJ - Of course, Missouri and WELS have nothing to do with the Lutheran World Federation. Wink. Wink.

The denominations all have overlapping jurisdictions, which are handy for money-laundering. WELS does the same thing. So does Missouri. The ELS uses cookie jars, for transparency.

One group can give another group money, which is then distributed to another agency or multiple entities. Money moves outside the denomination that way.

I learned about this while studying annual reports and asking for information. The LCA wanted me to raise money but where it went was a big secret. Everything is missions, reaching out with love for the Gospel. When the money fails, dozens of staffers get fired. That is what they mean about love and outreach.

Synods are 99% salary-based. If you want to find the apostates, look at the money trail. The ecclesiastical Left is poor at giving but aggressive in finding and spending the loot.

The Hunger Walks, once popular in many communities, were ways to raise money for the gay-Marxist National Council of Churches, whose work dovetails with the World Council of Church, the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Reformed entity - all the world agencies based in Geneva, Switzerland. The world groups overlap with each other too. The Mafia should study how this works.

Eventually people connected the Hunger Walks with the NCC, and I understand the NCC had to separate from its social do-gooder agency (legally at least). Once that happened, the NCC was really on a starvation diet - no loot for their staff. They were charging a fee to the do-gooders, which used up a lot of the Hunger Walk money before the do-gooders got their hands on it.

A Leftist pastor phoned me to participate with my church in a Hunger Walk. When I identified it with the NCC, he went ballistic denying it. I said, "Even if my congregation approved, and they never will, I would not participate in any form or give to the NCC."

Are the Intrepids Catching On or Catching Up?Dealing with the Nasty Changers

There is a God has left a new comment on your post "Worship at The SORE: Multi-Sites Are Parasites":

Glad to see Intrepid Lutherans picked up the idea:

http://www.intrepidlutherans.com/2011/02/come-to-our-church-where.html

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GJ - The Intrepids are far too deferential. They are obeying the rules laid down by Church and Change but always ignored by Church and Change.

Why not question their motives after decades of false doctrine? The title of the scrofulous money-making group gives it all away - Church and Change. They want to change the doctrine, and they have.

If the Intrepids want to play Elmer Fudd, they will get the same results they always have - none.

"P-p-pardon me. I am just a b-b-bum. And I know n-n-nothing. May I b-b-bother you to ask a single, solitary, unworthy q-q-question?"

The Church and Changers have Deputy Doug backing them up. What's to fear?

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revfrsds has left a new comment on your post "Are the Intrepids Catching On or Catching Up?Deali...":

Hey! I resemble that remark!

"Shhhhh!" Be warry warry qwiet. I'm hunting heretics!"

Heretic season. Doug season. Heretic season. Doug season. Heretic season. Doug season. FIRE!

Spence

Your Christian Apostasy Calendar - Learn It. Remember it!

The Great Physician, by Norma Boeckler

I have read extensively about intellectual history, especially as it relates to Christian theology. The following is a summary of major trends, showing how we got to this miserable situation, where "conservative" Lutheran leaders promote New Age happy-clappy entertainment services, man-centered for the Me Generation. The links provide general information for the typical reader. Google the topic for millions of websites on these topics.

1. Reformation. The Socinians were the Unitarians of the 16th century, but not very significant at that time.
   
2. Sixteenth Century, Swiss Reformation. Rationalism spread from two sources. One was the Swiss Reformation, because Zwingli and Calvin had rationalistic tendencies that grew in Calvinism. 
3. Seventeenth Century. The second source for Lutherans was Pietism, which blended Calvinism and Lutheran doctrine, supplanting orthodoxy with "love," cell groups, and ecumenical missions.
   
4. Eighteenth Century. In the European universities, like Halle (citadel of Pietism), the professors taught the Bible as a book written by and selected by man, subject to rationalistic analysis. Nothing miraculous in the Bible could be true, and Jesus was just a good man who died. Reimarus was the first of these professors. Schleiermacher (Halle student and professor) was the most significant theologian, because he bridged the gap between the old Pietism and the new Rationalism (19th century until now).
   
5. Nineteenth Century. Wescott and Hort, plus Tischendorf - these men undermined trust in the traditional text of the New Testament (see the ending of Mark). By discovering sources without a real history (Tischendorf) and inventing rules for validity (Wescott and Hort), they made the New Testament text a fun puzzle anyone could put together or take apart. Read the Wescott and Hort link if you want to find out how heretics completely undermined the KJV.
   
6. Nineteenth Century. Various Evangelicals accepted Darwin's evolution, forging a compromise doctrine that allowed for God working through evolution. This amalgamation sabotaged the doctrine of Creation, the efficacy of the Word, but it was consistent with the rationalism of Calvinism, making the faith reasonable and attractive.
   
7. Early Twentieth Century. The Lodge Movement reached its peak in America, promoting New Agism and prosperity religion via the Masonic Lodge and various other lodges (Modern Woodmen, Odd Fellows), plus the copy-cat lodges - the KKK and the Mormon sect.
   
8. Twentieth Century. The adulterous theologians Karl Barth and Paul Tillich wowed the academics and journalists. Like Karl Rahner (Roman Catholic), they used theological terms to deny the articles of faith.
   
9. Late Twentieth Century. The Barthians took over Fuller Seminary's faculty and kicked inerrancy out altogether. Robert Schuller's New Agism (via Norman Vincent Peale, who plagiarized his best-seller from an obscure New Ager) and McGavran's sociology statistics completely replaced Christian doctrine with CG principles.
   
10. The "conservative" Lutherans, profoundly influenced by liberal academics in their midst, kicked the KJV out of the publishing house and pews. They slowly abandoned the historic liturgy in favor of entertainment seeker services.
    
11. Twenty-first Century. Except for a few, no one really fought Church Growth. Now the coast is clear for New Agism to dominate, in the name of Emergent Church, Becoming Missional, "transforming lives," and so forth. This is a blend of motivational business-speak and Asian paganism. The powers of the universe (spunky little obedient spirits) will give you everything you demand, if you demand it in great detail. Like the Masonic Lodge, every Christian term used has pagan content behind it. The Christian terms used are camouflage for New Agism.
    

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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Your Christian Apostasy Calendar - Learn It. Remem...":

Matthew 24:24 (King James Version)


24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Herescope: The Great Heretical Idea:

Herescope: The Great Heretical Idea:

The Great Heretical Idea:

Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift

Part 1

By Warren Smith

“Get ready to be awakened.”[1]

– Oprah

“The twenty-first century will be the time of awakening, of meeting The Creator Within. Many beings will experience Oneness with God and with all of life. This will be the beginning of the golden age of the New Human, of which it has been written; the time of the universal human, which has been eloquently described by those with deep insight among you.

“There are many such people in the world now – teachers and messengers, Masters and visionaries – who are placing this vision before humankind and offering tools with which to create it. These messengers and visionaries are the heralds of a New Age.”[2] [bold added]

– “God”
Neale Donald Walsch
Friendship With God

“…[T]his book itself is a transformational device that has come out of the arising new consciousness. The ideas and concepts presented here may be important, but they are secondary. They are no more than signposts pointing toward awakening. As you read, a shift takes place within you.”

“This book’s main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about ashift in consciousness, that is to say, to awaken…. It will change your state of consciousness or it will be meaningless. It can onlyawaken those who are ready. Not everyone is ready yet, but many are, and with each person who awakens, the momentum in the collective consciousness grows, and it becomes easier for others.”[3] [bold added]

– Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth

“Don’t get attached to any one word. You can substitute ‘Christ’ for presence, if that is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence.”[4] [bold added]

– Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now

I stared at the huge stack of books in the Barnes & Noble bookstore. The title of the book was A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life Purpose. The title sounded like a new book by Purpose-Driven pastorRick Warren, but it was actually the latest selection in Oprah’s Book Club. A colorful orange and blue paper band around the book invited the reader to “Join Oprah and Eckhart for a worldwide web event… Every Monday night beginning March 3, 2008 for 10 weeks… Register at Oprah.com/anewearth.” A personal message from Oprah stated: “Get ready to be awakened.”

It was clear to me that Oprah was no longer content to just popularize New Age beliefs, she would now teach them. This was a bold move by a woman who was obviously willing to do everything in her power – which is considerable – to convert the world to her New Age worldview.

The Shift

With friend and New Age author Marianne Williamson simultaneouslyteaching A Course in Miracles daily on Oprah & Friends XM Satellite Radio, Oprah now offers two very public New Age classes. Theseclasses are teaching millions of people that the way to save themselves and the planet is not by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but rather by accepting “the Christ within.” For someone who probably has an aversion to traditional proselytizing, Oprah is giving new meaning to the word “proselytize” as she continues to push her New Age beliefs upon the world. But, in defense of her role as a New Age proselytizer, Oprah would probably be the first to tell you – it’s all for the good of the world. She would also probably argue that what she is teaching is not New Age, but a “New Spirituality.” Curiously, that just happens to be the same term that some emerging church leaders like Brian McLaren are using as they introduce New Age ideas and language into the church.[5]

More can be found at the link.

Readers, if you learn the language of the New Agers, you will recognize the clever words in the false teaching of Mark and Avoid Jeske. The gutless leaders of Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect will not do anything.

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter - NYTimes.com

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter - NYTimes.com

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Michael McDonald of San Francisco used to post his videos on a blog, but now he uses Facebook.

By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF

Published: February 20, 2011

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SAN FRANCISCO — Like any aspiring filmmaker, Michael McDonald, a high school senior, used a blog to show off his videos. But discouraged by how few people bothered to visit, he instead started posting his clips on Facebook, where his friends were sure to see and comment on his editing skills.

Related

• TV Industry Taps Social Media to Keep Viewers’ Attention(February 21, 2011)

“I don’t use my blog anymore,” said Mr. McDonald, who lives in San Francisco. “All the people I’m trying to reach are on Facebook.”

Blogs were once the outlet of choice for people who wanted to express themselves online. But with the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter, they are losing their allure for many people — particularly the younger generation.

More at the NY Times link.

A Seldom Read Book Among the Confessional Lutherans

"Son, you drank at each bar in Watertown in one night. Congratulations.
Now open up the Book of Concord, for pity's sake."

Grey Goose:

I had used the packing list that came with my used Triglotta as a bookmark.  In returning to part of the Apology, I noticed on the packing list the seller's description of the book.  The last two sentences:  "The true doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.  Book appears little read."

If that doesn't say it all.....

WELS Layman Makes a Helpful Suggestion

Looking too far might end up spotting Knapp, the founding father of Universal Objective Justification.


raklatt (http://raklatt.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Jeski Change or Die! Inspirations: Rock MusicAnd T...":

This stuff really needs to be looked into. A thorough investigation. A Sigmoid Oscopy.

"Powerless" Lutheran Executives Make Me Laugh

Like the Colossus of Rhodes, the Colossus Corrodes is an engineering marvel, its precarious posture between three synods kept stable by boatloads of taxpayer money and foundation grants.

This familiar excuse for doing nothing comes from every synod executive:

"I don't have the power to do that."

I heard that from Paul McCain in the Purple Palace. Newly elected Al Barry did not have the power to do anything about Church Growth, McCain claimed. He explained more about the strange political structure of the LCMS.

I said then, as I do now, the power to teach the Word is the greatest power of all. That is the power never used by synod executives, professors, and seldom by parish pastors. The laity have been willing to pick up the unused Sword of the Spirit, the Word, tossed aside by the clergy.

I have heard for many months that the Gang of Four DPs (State of Wisconsin DPs plus the Minnesota DP)   are blocking WELS SP Schroeder. Really? They keep him from writing to the entire synod? They prevent him from speaking?

The last I heard a Lutheran Synod President say anything definitive about doctrine took place when Jack Preus headed the Missouri Synod. The good that he did was doctrinal, because the political moves were temporary and undone by another convention or SP.

The decisions being made in Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie center around money and political maneuvering. The love of money is the root of all evil, as Shakespeare said. And political battles are the devil's playground.

The Syn Conference has diapraxed itself into being a weak, indecisive, ineffective shadow of ELCA, always participating the same errors, forever in fellowship with the apostates, but constant in maintaining a holier-than-thou attitude about them.

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norcal763 has left a new comment on your post ""Powerless" Lutheran Executives Make Me Laugh":


YES!!! All Schroeder would have to do is commandeer the WELS Connection Infomercial one month and the captive congregations would hear it all on the same Sunday morning. Or put it in FICL-no, bad idea; nobody would see it. The e-letter would work, especially the bulletin-ready format. Point is that Schroeder addresses the faithful on a regular basis; all he has to do is man-up with what he says and he could begin to restore order immediately.

"one little Word shall fell him"
Jim Becker

Jeski Change or Die! Inspirations: Rock MusicAnd The Sigmoid

Since Mark Jeske and Ski are hotter than Georgia asphalt for rock music, this little assault on the brain and eardrums is probably well known to them.

Using a rock song as a title for their pan-Lutheran ministry conference shows how cool they are (in their imagination).

Kerwen Steffen has this sigmoid growth curve concept in his materials.

Here is an earlier Ichabod post about Steffen, a Jeske buddy.

A short reference to it is found here.

I hope they present the sigmoid concept at the Jeske conference. Perhaps Dr. Ben Dover will be able to discuss it. He should bring his lovely nurse, Ann Kauf.

Staff Infection:You Are Paying for the Valleskey-Olson AgendaFrom Fuller Seminary

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Fuller Wrecked the Synods - That Is What I Publish...":

I remember when the Staff Ministry Program was a mere twinkle in the eye of some after a synod or district convention back in the 90's. I asked a called worker just what it was that they hoped to accomplish with an SMP. The reply was something like, "we are not sure what we want, or how we are going to achieve it. But, we need staff ministers". I found that answer rather veiled and elusive. The timing also seemed suspicious. It came up right after the NWC/DMLC amalgamation. I would have been accused of being a conspiracy theorist if I had surmised that there was an agenda.

***

GJ - The WELS ministerium limits its criticism of the Fuller agenda to calling Lawrence Otto Olson "Larry Oh!" and "Our Staff Infection."

One of the Intrepids said, "Everyone knows he is a heretic, so he is harmless."

By establishing "Staff Ministry" at Mary Lou College, under the direction of Larry Olson, DMin, Fuller Seminary, the Church and Changers were able to create their own ministerium on the cheap. The list of women and men serving as "Staff Ministers" is enormous for a small sect.

Various other alternative programs and Church and Change Seminary of Asia do the same thing. The people in charge are Changers, with Changers running the supervisory boards. The results are predictable, and WELS members pay millions for it.

SP Schroeder supports all of this folly, by going along with and saying nothing.

Septuagesima Sunday - Part II

By Norma Boeckler


Septuagesima Sunday, 2011

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn # 361 O Jesus King 4:1
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24

God Is Gracious, Not Fair

The Hymn #462 I Love Thy Kingdom 4:21
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #277 I Heard the Voice 4:57

1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

KJV Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Septuagesima Sunday
Lord God, heavenly Father, who through Thy holy word hast called us into Thy vineyard: Send, we beseech Thee, Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we may labor faithfully in Thy vineyard, shun sin and all offense, obediently keep Thy word and do Thy will, and put our whole and only trust in Thy grace, which Thou hast bestowed upon us so plenteously through Thy Son Jesus Christ, that we may obtain eternal salvation through Him, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

God Is Gracious, Not Fair
Luther said, humorously, “Mean-spirited people will use this parable.”

Lenski:

But the chief point is that these laborers insist on a definite wage, so much per day; and not until this agreement is reached do they go to work. Such a contract was not demanded by the other laborers who went to work later. These first laborers thus manifest a mercenary spirit. We hear the voice of Peter in 19:27, “What, then, shall be ours?”
Since this is a parable which was composed in order to teach certain facts about the kingdom, the entire first group of laborers is pictured as being mercenary. This is done, not only to show how in the end some first shall find themselves last, but also to accord these laborers the highest justification, such as it is, for their mercenary expectation that they ought to receive more pay than the rest (v. 12). Jesus lets this group alone work the entire day.
The moment we ask what is meant by the denarius we must consider a variety of interpretations. The interpretation of this detail necessarily involves the entire parable and centers in the main thing Jesus intends to teach. Thus, if the denarius is Christ himself as our sacrifice, the parable merely says that in the end all workers will be alike, no matter whether some were mercenary and murmured when they received their pay. We have the same result when the denarius is thought to mean the image of God, or as many still think, eternal life. This view leads those who interpret thus to dissociate the words about the first and the last spoken in 19:30 and 20:16 from the parable, or they interpret these words so that the first become last only by receiving a rebuke, and the last first by receiving no rebuke. Then Jesus should have said, “Thus there will be neither first nor last, but all will be alike.” It should not be difficult to see that these interpretations are unacceptable. How can anyone who has Christ, the divine image, or eternal life, murmur in the end? What can any man expect to receive more (v. 10) than these treasures? If this “more” is to be an especial degree of glory in heaven, the parable itself in no way mentions this glory. Then, too, these interpretations teach that by our labor we earn Christ, the image, or life eternal, a doctrine that is contrary to the teaching of Christ and of the Scriptures.
In the face of this Luther gives up the effort to interpret the denarius: Man muss nicht achten, was Pfennig oder Groschen sei. Few have cared to follow him. Melanchthon, Luther’s associate, found the solution. The denarius stands for the temporal blessings, the bona temporalia, of the work in the church; and the goodness (“because I am good,” v. 15) is life eternal and grants the bona spiritualia. The laborers who regard themselves first receive only the former and thus become last; the rest, who are considered last, receive both bona and are thus made first. No man who enters the visible church and accepts the call to work in this church shall be left without his due pay. The Lord will not have it said that any man worked for him without pay. The blessings of even an outward connection with the church are many. All her associations and her influences are highly beneficial. They shield us against evils that ravage the world and cause endless harm; they surround us with the highest morality and with all that is best for mind and for heart in this life. And often the church offers social, business, and other advantages of no mean value. They are all included in the denarius of the parable. But eternal life is not one of these.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN. : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 765

Not Fair!
The first appeal children learn is, “Not fair!” They apply the rule of the law, or tradition, to the upset being faced. Often law is debated by more law.

This parable offers us a bizarre example of hiring people to illustrate that God is not man, that He rules by grace rather than Law.

The parable is also a rebuke to those who trust in the righteousness of works, those who “labored in the burning sun.”

People remember this parable because the householder hired people for a specific wage at the beginning of the day. He continued to invite people to work during the day but made no specific promise after the first one.

At the end of the day, the first-hired reckoned they would get much more than the penny a day promised, because they worked all day and the others worked far less than they did. In terms of paying laborers, that was fair.

So they grumbled loudly to the owner, telling Him how unfair He was.

This is how we respond to God without the Gospel, or when we forget the Gospel. We say, “Not fair!” But God is gracious rather than fair.

This parable is an additional illustration of Isaiah 55, often called the Means of Grace chapter. God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.”

Mankind understands fairness in religion. That is why every world religion, every pagan religion of old, and every perversion of the Christian faith is based upon works earning God’s forgiveness.

In our natural (un-converted) state, we think this way. We easily revert to it too. People will mock believers and say, “Why do Christians have so many troubles if God is so powerful and loving?” That seems terribly unfair.

Believers also realize that they face constant temptations, which they never have if they believe nothing and do whatever they wish. That is also why the Christian frauds of today turn Christianity into a cornucopia of material benefits, since people will flock to have what their itching ears desire.

The grace of God means that He has taken care of our salvation, first by having His beloved Son Jesus die on the cross for our sins. Secondly, He appointed the Means of Grace so that we would be converted and sustained by the Word. He also saw to it that we would have His clear, infallible Word to be our guide, and faithful ministers and leaders to preserve the Gospel in each era.

One Catholic girl tried to defend Purgatory to Little Ichabod, many years ago. Her argument was right out of the Catholic textbook. “It’s only fair that we pay for our sins after we die. It’s not fair to have many sins forgiven, just the same as a few sins.”

LI said, “It’s not fair to have the sins of the world paid for on the cross. God is not fair. He is merciful.” The girl’s argument collapsed.

Owner’s Rebuke
The Owner’s rebuke is a lesson by itself.

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

I run into this as a teacher. I am supposed to show students how to write better. Recently a student told me off for doing exactly that. About 90% of the class liked exactly what I did, but he saw it as evil. Thus many ordinary roles are seen as evil – parent, police officer, minister. Many people see ministers as condemning them. They also see the Scriptures as a message of condemnation.

On a much larger scale, people look at God as evil because He does not conform to their demands.

Christians do that too. Clergy will wheedle and play politics for the job they think they deserve. Or they cringe in their studies, afraid to do their job of rebuking with the Word, lest they find punishment instead of a free trip to the Holy Land.

The evil does not come from God but from the works-righteousness of the individual. Either the person turns away from the Christian faith because it is not a rewards program according to his demands, or he gives up on the Christian faith because the cross is “not fair” and evil people seem to get all the glory.