KJV Luke 18:7 And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though He bear long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?
This parable leading up to this climactic statement is not often discussed. Here it is.
KJV Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
This is an example of the Jewish argument, from the lesser to the greater. The judge is evil and never stops being evil. He does not care about man's laws or God's, a fact stressed twice for emphasis. But because the widow is never going to stop asking for justice, he acts on her behalf.
The judge is not God - but the opposite of God. Jesus' theme is clear - If an evil judge will concede due to persistence, how much more will our gracious and merciful Father respond to persistent prayers?
This second ending, a warning that accompanies the Gospel Promise, concludes the section -
But will the Son of Man find faith when He returns in judgment?
I cannot find a single passage where Jesus rails against faith in Him. Perhaps some Fuller graduates could cite them for me. They like to say the "justification of sinners" but do not disclose that they mean - the justification of all unbelievers.
Faith is constantly taught in the Bible, because the term means trust - not virtue or making a decision. The object of this trust is the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit conveys Christ to us in the Word.
No one has Christ or the benefits of Christ without this trust in the Word. How can someone be forgiven, righteous, and saved without even having a knowledge of Christ? Nevertheless, the rascals running the SynConference seminaries will protect that notion until Schwan gives them a grant to teach otherwise.
Since the prevailing theme of the SynConference is not faith, it must be fear. As Luther taught, fear is the opposite of faith.
Everyone has fears. Some of them are good and healthy, such as being afraid of sparking high-power lines or driving while distracted.
Other fears are exaggerated and childish, such as imagining dragons in a darkened room, so mom sprays water into it to chase them away. Various mothers tell me this works wonders. My mother turned the light on.
A similar childish fear is the fear of synod officials. Yes, synod officials are vicious, vindictive, spiteful, and shamelessly self-centered. But they are cowards, every last one of them. They wave around their little weapon and the crowd falls back in terror. That same crowd could rush one of them and offer a tar-and-feather exit.
Faith Lutheran Church in Moline, Illinois stood up to one synodical bully. They said to the ELCA bishop, "If you or your representatives show up on our property, the Moline Police will arrest you." ELCA raged and threatened, citing the Eighth Commandment. The congregation left ELCA and joined the Augustana District of the LCMC.
The Pietists are all works-salesmen. They fret about this big question - What should I do? There is a system to supply about 10,000 rules for a good-conduct medal in Pietism.
The first one is:
Never question Holy Mother Synod.
The second is like unto the first:
Check with Holy Mother Synod about all the other rules.
One rule, being enforced with rigor, is - Never read Ichabod, quote Ichabod, or cite Ichabod. The leaders can break that rule because they enforce that rule. Therefore, when someone complains to me about something on the blog, I tell them, "You should not be reading it in the first place!"
Believe it or not, SP Mark Schroeder has time to contact anyone who breaks this No Ichabod rule. What was going on at The Love Shack during his Investigative Judgment? Answer - one pastor was running off with $300,000 in synodical offerings. Another was committing heinous felonies against children. Church and Change was growing Exponentially, with the help of rewards and promotions from SP Schroeder.
Party in the MLC? Helpless. Plagiarism of Groeschel? Helpless. WELS GLBTQ and Allies on Facebook? Helpless.
The real question is - What do I believe? Where do I put my trust?
The corollary is plain. Am I afraid of God or man?
Or - what do I leave behind?
Luther and his co-workers left behind a enormous body of work, defending and articulating God's Word. When I quote Luther, synodocats hiss and howl. Melanchthon, Chemnitz, and Gerhard are unknowns to them.
Faith receives what God freely offers. The opposite is a rejection of what God teaches and offers. To stay in favor with the synodical popes, one must constantly deny and reject the Word of God, share in the deception, and rake in the monetary benefits. The synodocats want pastors and congregations dependent on them. But they also toss out the useful idiots who serve them night and day.
The synods, congregations, and political groups ( like Church and Change) are far too generous in publicizing their crafts and assaults. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
 |
| Roman Catholic Archbishop R. Weakland embezzled from his church to pay blackmail to his male love. No wonder Wisconsin Lutheran College featured and publicized him as their speaker. |
Their published dogma is either copied from the Enthusiasts of Fuller or the Enthusiasts of Rome. The gushing references to the Roman Catholic Church are accompanied by their public appearances and speeches at Lutheran institutions.
Instead of repentance, the synods respond about their Fuller and Roman apostasy with denial, then self-justification.
.jpg) |
| Neuhaus criticized me in one of his publications, for my remarks about his lunch with His Holiness, the Antichrist. |
Father Richard John Neuhaus was an Evangelical Catholic until he became Catholic, then a priest honored by the Antichrist, then dead.
Although I am healthier than the legal defense funds of most synods, I have a lot more history than future. I simply want people to study the Confessions, Luther, Chemnitz, and their own histories. The foundation is Biblical studies.
As Warren Malach wrote earlier, it is not Christian doctrine unless taught clearly in the Scriptures. I would rather retire in a hut than earn a princely salary--with benefits--for teaching error and defending corruption.
Some indications of unbelief caused by UOJ are:
- Pastors do not visit their own sick and shut-ins, but that is no obstacle for a call or a position on the Synodical Conference.
- Evangelism is all talk, acting busy or conjuring visions.
- Valid, thoughtful criticism is rebuked with slander, such as WELS calling Corky K. "brain-damaged" because he criticized Church Growth. He was dying in the hospital when they said that.
- Pastors do not write their own sermons or meditations, but that is defended by the leaders by "many are doing the same thing."
- The only discipline is persecution of faithful pastors and laity.
- The adulterous, corrupt, and incorrigibles are rewarded and promoted.
- Congregations and denominations are admired for wealth and size, not for fidelity to the Word.
- Catechism is short-changed, because pastors are too lazy to teach it.
- Schools are replaced with state-licensed day-care businesses, so congregations subsidize an extra job for the pastor's wife and her friends instead of offering the Word of God to its children.
- ELCA is the secret partner, through Thrivent, calling all the shots for each joint religious project. Shh, do not tell or you will not be invited to the next gathering at a luxury spa.
---
 |
| The Holy Spirit is absent in UOJ, too. See below. |
Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Why Do the Synodical Conference Sects Wage War Aga...":
Ichabod - Nice article!
You correctly say:
"Faith is constantly taught in the Bible, because the term means trust - not virtue or making a decision. The object of this trust is the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit conveys Christ to us in the Word........Since the prevailing theme of the SynConference is not faith, it must be fear. As Luther taught, fear is the opposite of faith.
I find:
The universal objective justification enthusiasts misunderstand, and / or totally gloss over this (what you say). Their fear and apparent paranoia of faith being a work, precludes [blinds] them from correctly understanding genuine faith. Hence, their (ungodly) fear; and they are driven further to molest the work of the Holy Spirit (who creates, maintains and completes personal faith in the individual soul).
These UOJ fanatics are blind to their preoccupation and over emphasis of Christ's Atonement work, at the expense of the work of the Holy Spirit; personal faith and belief. A good example of this is LCMS professor Dr. David Scaer's book, "Christology." In his last chapter, "The Ascension and Second Coming of Christ," Universalist, Scaer, mentions nothing of the Holy Spirit and His work - totally dissing the 3rd Person of the Trinity! Unbelievable! Yet, quite predictable! What a shame! What a perversion of ignoring what the Lord has lain out in Scripture! To totally dismiss what happens between Christ's Ascension and His Second Coming denies a major portion of the Gospel! Does Dr. Scaer have the ungodly practice as Thomas Jefferson, blacking out portions of Scripture with which he disagrees? Did Professor Scaer rip out the Gospel of John's Scripture, chapters of 14, 15 and 16?
But, returning to a major theme in your article, - that being the fear factor, exhibited by the universalism enthusiasts:
The Scripture says in the 2nd Epistle of Timothy, that God does not grant a spirit of fear but of a sound mind. When is the last time you ever had an intelligent conversation with a Universalist?
2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:13 - Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:8 - Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
Nathan M. Bickel
http://www.thechristianmessage.org/
http://moralmatters.org/
