Luther - Third Sermon, Ascension Day
51. The reason the world cares naught about the preaching of faith is that it lives in false security and in carelessness, having neither knowledge nor experience of the terrors of sin and a troubled conscience. But when death and its horrors overtake it, then it knows of no help and plunges suddenly into despair. Then it will, indeed, having waited too long, realize what it is to have faith, of which it hitherto knew nothing. It will learn that faith is not a dead letter, not mere words of the tongue, a vague idea or a mere imagination, which the papists call faith, but a fearless and strong courage that, with all boldness of heart, relies on Christ, in defiance of sin, death and hell.
Brett Meyer's review of the new Hunnius book should make people take notice of the scams they are funding with their offering money.
The skimming does not just happen at the national level, but also in the parish. The consultants fly into town and say, "You need to remodel your church. We know just the people who can make that happen." The fundraisers arrive, and for a small fortune, they swindle the church into going deeply into debt.
Does anyone remember which Church Growth founder argued for going into debt to spur the congregation into growing? Yes - Robert Schuller did - and he was thrown out of his lavish property by his own board, whose members chose to sell out to Roman Catholicism rather than keep the white elephant called Crystal Cathedral.
The UOJ Shrinkers love their mentors at Willow Creek, Fuller Seminary, Mars Hill, and Granger, Indiana. Universal absolution gives them freedom to turn worship into copycat entertainment, Christian doctrine into elastic dogma.
But all they have to offer is their law. Listen to their emphasis on doing, the repetitions of must and have-to, ought-to and must not. Once they have people feeling guilty for not doing enough, they offer their law as the medicine to remove the guilt.
KJV Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Hunnius - Reviewed by Brett Meyer":
Brett Meyer - Thank your for your excellent book review!
It is so true and contemporary, what you state:
"........Those who reject the Holy Spirit and the righteousness of faith which He works solely through the Word will continue to swallow the putrid and rancid vomit of Huber and his contemporary ilk......" [Your excellent choice of words]
Added to this, I witness another trend (but yet, I think an outgrowth, associated with UOJ), in "Christian" preaching - and among Lutherans. This, being, the elimination of 2 "uses of the Law" - (rule and curb). But, you can be sure that the UOJ clergy crowd preaches to their congregations the 1st use of the law, - that, being, the mirror. Then, almost schizophrenically and, abruptly, come, the blanket pardon absolution, followed by the sermon UOJ teaching that congregational members have the automatic imputation of Christ's absolution / pardon / righteousness, apart from personal faith through the Holy Spirit's working.
This slippery slope, downward, again, leaves out personal faith which must be initiated and generated by the Holy Spirit. To the UOJ'S the "washing of regeneration" [Titus 3:5] is a (completely) done deal at infant baptism. It doesn't matter (then) what the church member does, throughout a sinful life of denying that Baptism. Hence, no need for Luther's Scriptural contextual words (referring to the Holy Spirit) in his explanation to the 3rd Article of the Apostles' Creed:
".....even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers,....."
Also, I ask, (for instance): “How often in a Lutheran funeral service do you ever hear about the deceased soul’s, personal faith in Christ, wrought about and nourished by the Holy Spirit?” This mention is, about as scarce, as hen’s teeth! Hence, the Scripture teaching of “justification by faith alone,” is (again) undermined and kicked to the cellar back door.
I say more about the destructiveness of the false UOJ teaching in my latest online topical message: "What is the Gospel? How is it perverted?" -
http://www.thechristianmessage.org/2012/05/what-is-gospel-how-is-it-perverted.html
Thank you for your excellent review. I thought that much of it that I added the Ichabod web link to the aforementioned message.
Priceless souls out there need to hear the truth, - and, as difficult as it may be, for some of them to hear it, (knowing they hold such high respect for their perspective church bodies and synods), - nevertheless, they need to be warned, so that they can be informed, and, so, "turn away" from false teaching and teachers, in the context of 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
Pastor emeritus Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org
