Thursday, January 17, 2013

Relationships - The Holy Spirit and Faith and the Gospel

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/05/blog-post.html
In a few months this became the most popular post since 2010.
Norma Boeckler created the art for this graphic.
Luther should be our main author, if we want to call ourselves Lutherans. That is not a brand name, to be associated with all kinds of Pietistic rules and regulations, baffling to the most obdurate Pharisees. Such as - "You can train and worship with the gay activist Andy Stanley, but we will beat your brains in if we catch you reading a blog from Arkansas."

The Scriptures were given to us from God for one purpose only - to convey Christ the Savior to us through the Word.

Jesus comes to us through the Gospel Promises, and those Promises plant and sustain faith in Him as the gracious and forgiving Messiah.

Another effect of the Gospel is to stir up opposition, since the unbelieving world, Satan, and Old Adam hate the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is always at work in the Word to convict the world of its foundational sin - not trusting in Christ for salvation. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, because they believe not on Me. John 16:8f. Not UOJ stylist can get past this verse (or any other). 

Since the Word never loses its efficacy, this opposition can lead to faith, as it did with Simon Greenleaf, the Christian apologist. The Word can strengthen the wobbly (which includes all of us) - the chief example being Nicholas Selnecker. One of the greatest doctrinal hymns was written by a man who went from being a compromiser to a Concordist.


"Lord Jesus Christ, With Us Abide"
by Nikolaus Selnecker, 1532-1592
Translated by composite

1. Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide,
For round us falls the eventide;
Nor let Thy Word, that heavenly light,
For us be ever veiled in night.

2. In these last days of sore distress
Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness
That pure we keep, till life is spent,
Thy holy Word and Sacrament.

3. Lord Jesus, help, Thy Church uphold,
For we are sluggish, thoughtless, cold.
Oh, prosper well Thy Word of grace
And spread its truth in every place!

4. Oh, keep us in Thy Word, we pray;
The guile and rage of Satan stay!
Oh, may Thy mercy never cease!
Give concord, patience, courage, peace.

5. O God, how sin's dread works abound!
Throughout the earth no rest is found,
And falsehood's spirit wide has spread,
And error boldly rears its head.

6. The haughty spirits, Lord, restrain
Who o'er Thy Church with might would reign
And always set forth something new,
Devised to change Thy doctrine true.

7. And since the cause and glory, Lord,
Are Thine, not ours, to us afford
Thy help and strength and constancy.
With all our heart we trust in Thee.

8. A trusty weapon is Thy Word,
Thy Church's buckler, shield and sword.
Oh, let us in its power confide
That we may seek no other guide!

9. Oh, grant that in Thy holy Word
We here may live and die, dear Lord;
And when our journey endeth here,
Receive us into glory there.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #292 
Text: Luke 24:29
Author: Nikolaus Selnecker et al., 1611
Translated by: composite
Titled: "Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ"
Tune: "Ach bleib bei uns"
1st Published in: Geistliche Lieder
Town: Leipzig,1589


To label faith as "synergism" shows appalling ignorance of the Word. The effect of this synodical wisdom is to condemn any reference to faith as if it were a decision, an act of the will, or a work. 

Believers are new creations, creations by the Word, creations by the Holy Spirit at work in the Word. Word and Spirit are never separated, except by Enthusiasts like Buchholz, Sig Becker, Paul McCain, Jungkuntz, and Valleskey. 

Because unbelief is the foundational sin, Enthusiasm is the foundational false doctrine, explaining the error of papalism, Islam, and UOJ.