What Huber and Knapp Have Accomplished In the Olde Synodical Conference

Hopeless (Moldstad), Helpless (Schroeder), and Hapless (Harrison) imagine that success means keeping people happy and continuing as thralls of Thrivent. I will explore the incestuous relationship between the sects and Thrivent fairly soon.

More importantly, the impact of Huber's Easter absolution and Knapp's double-justification have eliminated the Means of Grace from worship and from the ordinary thinking of the clergy.

Some will say, "But we have Holy Communion and Holy Baptism. We talk about the Means of Grace." The Roman Catholics do too - but there is never enough grace in the Roman Means of Grace to get someone out of their mini-Hell for the semi-saved, Purgatory.

All the Protestants talk about baptism and the Lord's Supper (communion is an odious term for most of them). But the non-Lutheran Protestants treat the Sacraments as ordinances, laws that urge Christian to perform acts that affirm their faith. An ordinance does not confer grace at all.

Universal Objective Justification unites the Olde Synodical Conference with ELCA. Everyone is forgiven - everyone has already been forgiven. Although the implications of that falsehood vary somewhat, the Big Four end up in the same sinking boat together, figuratively and literally. The demons recognize one another and establish fellowship together. The Big Four (ELCA, LCMS, WELS, ELS) work together at all levels and troop off to Fuller Seminary together. They work together through Thrivent and Lutheran World Relief. Unionism and doctrinal indifference are so close that one is either the daughter or the mother of the other.

UOJ is not a harmless error because the the demonic doctrine is a repudiation of the Gospel. Here are the obvious results of UOJ:

• Clergy and laity no longer trust in the efficacy of the Word, so they are directed toward schemes, methods, and entertainment.
• The sermon is not an opportunity to create and sustain faith in the Gospel, but a chance to tickle people into membership and financial support. The Old Adam speaks to the Old Adam instead of the Spirit working through the Word alone.
• No one respects the divine call because every parish is a franchise business that must obey the franchise owners at headquarters.
• The fruits of the Spirit are almost entirely lacking because the Gospel has been replaced with a bogus substitute and angry tirades against faith. This naturally leads people into more rationalism and Pentecostalism, often a combination of both errors.
• Right and wrong are judged based on the franchise rather than the Ten Commandments. Adulterers and worse are hailed as saviors of the synod while anyone who questions the franchise is excommunicated, shunned, and covered with abuse. His or her family shares in the abuse if they do not join in shunning the dissenter.
• Since there is no Gospel, the UOJ sects are all law, man-made law. Mrs. Ichabod says, "Double predestination and double justification - they mean triple punishment and no forgiveness." Notice that clergy and laity only talk about material success now and never about fidelity to the Word, a reversal of the Biblical standard.
• The clergy plagiarize and the laity love it, because worship has become a joke.
• Genuine Biblical study is obsolete, because UOJ cannot bear the weight of casual reading, let alone serious scholarship (which any layman can do). Thus the new papalism - the priest will tell you what the Word of God says, and he is right because the Synodical Pope says so.
• Confessional study is "boring and irrelevant" for the same reasons.

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AC V has left a new comment on your post "Looking for Authority Instead of Studying the Word...":

Oh, and one more thing. The Book of Concord. Doesn't the Augsburg Confession, Apology; Article III. "Of Christ" sound like a paraphrase of Romans 4:25?:

"…Christ suffered and died to reconcile the Father to us; and that He was raised again to reign, and to justify and sanctify believers, etc., according to the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed." 

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AC V has left a new comment on your post "Looking for Authority Instead of Studying the Word...":

Couple of Luther quotes on Romans 4:25:

"Sin cannot remain on Christ, since it is swallowed up by his resurrection. Now you see no wounds, no pain in him, and no sign of sin. Thus St. Paul declares that 'Christ died for our sin and rose for our justification' [Rom. 4:25]. That is to say, in his suffering Christ makes our sin known and thus destroys it, but through his resurrection he justifies us and delivers us from all sin, if we believe this." - Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 42: Luther's Works, vol. 42 : Devotional Writings I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (12–13). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

"In Rom. 4:25 Paul says: 'Christ was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.' Consequently, he who presumes that he is righteous in any other way than by believing in Christ rejects Christ and considers Christ’s Passion and resurrection useless. On the other hand, he who believes in Christ, who died—he himself at the same time dies to sin together with Christ; and he who believes in the resurrected and living Christ—he himself, by the same faith, also rises and lives in Christ, and Christ lives in him (Gal. 2:20). Therefore the resurrection of Christ is our righteousness and our life, not only by way of an example but also by virtue of its power. Apart from Christ’s resurrection no one can rise, no matter how many good works he does. On the other hand, through His resurrection anyone at all rises, no matter how much evil he has done, as this is treated at greater length in Romans. Perhaps another reason for Paul’s practice of mentioning the resurrection in his salutations is this, that the Holy Spirit was given through the resurrection of Christ and by this Spirit the apostleship and other gifts were distributed (1 Cor. 12:4 ff.). In this way, therefore, Paul declares that he is an apostle by divine authority through the Spirit of the resurrection of Jesus Christ." - Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 27: Luther's Works, vol. 27 : Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 5-6; 1519, Chapters 1-6 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (Ga 1:2). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

The Big Four were described in 1530.

Intrepid Lutherans: Chemnitz and the Two Tribunals - a Fitting Meditation for the Reformation

Intrepid Lutherans: Chemnitz and the Two Tribunals - a Fitting Meditation for the Reformation:

Chemnitz and the Two Tribunals - a Fitting Meditation for the Reformation

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The justification of the sinner through faith alone in Christ was the Gospel that thrilled Luther and that fueled the Reformation. Below is an excerpt from Chemnitz' Loci Theologici in which he beautifully pictures the "act of justification" as the Apostle Paul presents it in Romans 3.

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Paul clearly describes the act of justification in this way in Romans 3:

1. The conscience of the sinner is through the Law placed before the judgment tribunal of God (who is a consuming fire and in whose sight not even the stars are pure), is accused, convicted, and condemned, so that it is afflicted and pressed down by a terrifying sense of the wrath of God, Rom. 3:19 KJV: “… that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God”.
2. The heart thus contrite does not entertain Epicurean thoughts but anxiously seeks whether and how it can be freed from the comprehensive sentence of condemnation. From such thoughts come such passages as Ps. 130:3: “If You should mark iniquities ….”; Ps. 143:2: “Enter not into judgment …”; Rom. 7:24: “Who shall deliver me …?” Paul, by listing these points, shows that if anything can justify before God, it necessarily would be either the ethical system of the philosophers, according to the teachings of men, or the works of the divine law, because the Law has the promise of righteousness and eternal life. But Rom. 1:18 ff. shows that the teachings and ethical principles of philosophers cannot justify. And Rom. 3:20 says: “By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” For the Law shows and accuses the sin present even in our good works, because “the Law is weak through the flesh,” Rom. 8:3.
3. Therefore God, “who is rich in mercy” [Eph. 2:4], has had mercy upon us and has set forth a propitiation through faith in the blood of Christ, and those who flee as suppliants to this throne of grace He absolves from the comprehensive sentence of condemnation, and by the imputation of the righteousness of His Son, which they grasp in faith, He pronounces them righteous, receives them into grace, and adjudges them to be heirs of eternal life. This is certainly the judicial meaning of the word “justification,” in almost the same way that a guilty man who has been sentenced before the bar of justice is acquitted.

It is manifest how much clarity this gives to the discussion of justification. The fathers in disputing this matter often spoke inadequately about justification. But in their devotional writings, when they were looking at the picture of the divine judgment or the divine judicial process, they handled the doctrine of this article very well.

The example of Bernard [of Clairvaux, 1091–1153] shows this clearly, because he was not involved in idle speculations but was exercising himself in the serious matter of repentance based on the doctrine and testimony of Paul. Gerson has some wonderful thoughts about the tribunal of God’s justice and the throne of His grace. For if we are discussing our common position before the tribunal of God, we are all subject to the tribunal of His justice; and because before Him no living person can be justified but all are condemned, therefore God has also set up another tribunal, the throne of grace. And the Son of God pleads for us the benefit of being called away from the tribunal of justice to the throne of grace. Therefore the Pharisee, because he was not willing to use the benefit of this calling, but wanted to enter into judgment before the tribunal of justice, was condemned. But the publican, who was first accused at the tribunal of justice, convicted and condemned there, later by faith called out to the throne of grace and was justified [Luke 18:9–14].

All these points so beautifully illustrating the doctrine of justification come from the correct linguistic understanding of the word “justification.”

Chemnitz, M., & Preus, J. A. O. (1999). Loci theologici (electronic ed.) (481–482). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

POSTED BY REV. PAUL A. RYDECKI AT 6:00 AM

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Rehabilitating Martin Stephan — Lutheran Forum

I wonder if Pope Paul the Unlearned is Jack Kilcrease's source on Bishop Stephan.
Read McCain's foaming-at-the-mouth replies on this long thread.

Rehabilitating Martin Stephan — Lutheran Forum:

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Jack Kilcrease

Question: I was talking online with an LCMS pastor about early LCMS history and he asserted to me that Bishop Martin Stephan had syphilis. I don't recall reading this anywhere and when I googled it, I found only one, let us say, less than honest source. So does anyone know whether or not this was true?

Share · 3 hours ago · 

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    Joel A. C. Dietrich I haven't heard this...but if you want to know...I'd ask Dr. Lawrence Rast.
    

    2 hours ago ·  2 people
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    Jacob Corzine for the record, it could be named under its code word, 'the french disease'..
    

    2 hours ago
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    Jack Kilcrease Thanks. I've read that before, but I didn't try it on google. That yields nothing as well. I think someone is making things up!
    

    2 hours ago ·  1 person

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GJ - Jack Kilcrease is a constant source of entertainment. He confessed ignorance about the ELCA's biggest lawsuit ever. He demanded proof, which was easily available to anyone with strength enough to conduct a Google search. He was too indolent to carry on from an initial link provided by this  blog. So more information was provided by me and others. Then Jack got touchy.


I have a confidential source who gave me plenty to check on. Someone did additional research and confirmed that Stephan was syphilitic. As someone asked on the thread above, why did the storm break so suddenly?

After pretending not to notice for decades, Stephan's followers had physical proof of his dalliances with women, since women show symptoms of syphilis more readily than men, for obvious reasons. Stephan's rashes, his daughter's deafness, and his wife's illness all point to the same conclusion, regardless of the claims of the confidential source.


McCain is right about one thing in the thread above. The Saxons did not need Loerber spilling the beans to know Stephan was an adulterer. The bishop left his wife in Dresden but took his mistress, Louise Guenther, to America. In Europe, Stephan lived with Louise in the spa where his rash was treated, but sent his wife home, rejecting her. Louise joined him and lived with him later in Illinois.

If Kilcrease wants to play his game of arguing from silence, it will not change the basic facts. The real issue is not Stephan's adultery, but his doctrinal legacy through Walther.

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-------- Original message --------
Subject: Haven't seen you around.
From: Jack Kilcrease <jdk002@aquinas.edu>
To: brett.meyer@comcast.net
CC:

Brett,

I'm just curious.  You seem to have fallen off the face of the earth.  What happened to you?  I've missed your passionate diatribes against the false gospel of UOJ on the Ichabod lately.  Has there been a falling out between you in Jackson.  Just curious.

All the best,

Jack.

***

GJ - Kilcrease blocked me today on Facebook. Big loss! At the same time he wrote his little Wormtongue message to Brett Meyer, above.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Reformation Sunday, 2011":

Faithful divine service and sermon Pastor. To God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

In Christ,
Brett 

Neenah Church's Prayers Answered on ABC's Good Morning America - WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News. Deputy Doug Engelbrecht Has AC Prayers Answered

Neenah Church's Prayers Answered on ABC's Good Morning America - WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News:

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A Neenah congregation received an answer to its prayers on national TV.

The Good Morning America series "Show Me the Money" was in Neenah, where State Treasurer Kurt Schuller presented a check for nearly $10,000 to Trinity Lutheran Church.

The money came from savings bonds from church member Amy Larson, who passed away.

But they never made it to the church and sat as unclaimed property for 13 years.

Schuller presented the church with a check for $9.967.40.

"I am so proud and so pleased and thankful to the Lord to be able to present this check to this wonderful church," the state treasurer said.

"There was so much joy and there was so much emotion. It was just really exciting and fun to see how everybody was so excited about this gift that was given to us," choir director Naomi Laabs said.

The check presentation was made over the summer and the segment aired on Good Morning America on Friday.

Trinity Lutheran Pastor Doug Engelbrecht says the church used the money to replace ceiling fans with air-conditioning to help get through Wisconsin's muggy summer.

Plans for the Next Version of Luther versus the Pietist: Justification by Faith. CFW Walther's Immaculate Deception

Official synodical history is the worst source of facts--in any denomination--and controversy is the best. I enjoy reading both because the gap between the myth of origins and the raw data is as breath-taking as the Grand Canyon's 10-mile expanse. The American Indians saw that gap as a difficulty to be overcome, but the clergy see the distance to the other side as not worth attempting. 'Tis safer to repeat the official story, especially when it is teeming with lies.

CFW Walther's immaculate deception is one of the great frauds in history. Walther willingly followed a syphilitic adulterer to America, kidnapping his own niece and nephew from his father's parsonage - while his father was grievously ill. CFW pleged complete obedience to the bishop on the way over to America but took over the cult a few months later. Roman Catholics call that "mental reservation."

When the shoes of the fisherman were usurped, Walther insisted on total obedience. His bizarre and anti-Christian opinions were repeatedly established as canonical truthsl. Missouri was the only God-glorifying sect. All others had to submit or be driven away in a torrent of accusations. We can thank Walther-idolator Tom Hardt for associating Walther with Huber's false doctrine of Easter absolution and tracing the association of OJ/SJ with Huberism, via more plagiarism (from Knapp to Woods to Germany to America - There and Back Again, A Habitual Liar's Adventure).

The next version of the justification book will deal with Huber's Easter absolution nonsense, which one website identifies with early Universalism, and Huber's close affinity with Walther's Easter absolution claims. The book will also show that the LCMS was born in Pietism and never escaped the problems of that insidious movement.

The Olde Synodical Conference has fed everyone the line that they were the orthodox Lutheran alternative to the unionistic and Pietistic decay of the Muhlenberg tradition (General Synod, General Council, ULCA) - even though Muhlenberg, Bishop Stephan, and Adolph Hoenecke all went to Halle University, the mother ship of Pietism.

Calvin pretended to be Lutheran and signed the Augsburg Confession. He had to be flushed out of the tall grass by Westfall. Huber came to Lutheranism via Calvinism but never accepted Lutheran doctrine. Spener blended Calvinism with Lutheran doctrine and practice, never admitting that he stole the idea of cell groups from a Calvinist.

In Walther's day the clergy were either aggressive rationalists, favored by the system, or isolated Pietists, barely able to pass the state exam, since the rationalists dominated the process. Thus Walther was trained and nurtured in two forms of Calvinism, one the logical result of Calvin's magisterial use of reason, the other Spener's clever blend of Calvinism and Lutheranism.

As Chemnitz wrote, quoting the ancients, when the stream is muddied, we have to return to the source, putting aside the various doctrinal statements and studying the Word of God itself. That is where the UOJ Stormtroopers find themselves stranded in shallow waters. They can only quote a tiny group of double-justification fanatics to prove their case, ignoring the entire witness of the Scriptures so they can pixelate one part of one verse in Romans.

The UOJ Enthusiasts are responding to the corrosive effect of the facts by avoiding their favorite shibboleths. They no longer want to go into battle yelling, "Everyone is already forgiven, whether they believe it or not!" Instead, they use justification by faith in their writings while juggling words to indicate they only mean - "making a decision to trust in a previous, universal absolution."