Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Dr. Lito Cruz Opens Up a Can of Vegemite on the Anonymous UOJ Advocate "Tarheel Paul"



Tarheel Paul,

LPC calls it a fence and that may be so but it is exactly the practice of the Church Catholic and what Christ commands us to do with those who would bring a different message, put up a fence of seperation

I think you are confusing the practice of the cults versus the practice of educating ministers. I do not even think you are aware of the Apostles knew what the false teachers of their day were teaching. St. Paul was aware of the false teaching of Judaizers, St John was aware of the Gnostics, St Jude contended with Nicolaitans etc. How can you fight something you do not know?

I am telling Rusch how to be a thorough scholar and the more educated he is, the more he is of service to his Lord and the people entrusted to him. I am telling him how to be useful in the Lutheran Church but also to the greater body of Christ. Rusch is studying to be a minister, that is serious work and yet you are telling Rusch to stay dumb.

The whole purpose of seminary education among other things is to spot heresy, not simply on others, but to spot heresy in himself!

1 Tim 4:16.

You seem to label yourself as among the Catholic Church (your capitalization). In a way you are indeed a functioning Romanist, except your Magisterium does not sit in the Vatican, they sit somewhere in Wisconsin.

I can only deduce that your throwing that label (Catholic Church) around must be a way comforting yourself in thinking you are orthodox. Yet by your comments I suspect you are not even aware that after awhile Augustine (himself considered a teacher of the the Church) wrote his Recantations.

Your questions to Rydecki are exactly applicable to Luther, but your biased critcism of Rydecki fail to go the whole way of comparison. For example Luther attempted to Reform his church without violating his Scriptural conviction, why can you not see the same possibility of that in Rydecki over the WELS?

Again, yes he did but Luther did not sit in a classroom for eight years and hear about both sanative and forensic justification, profess to believe sanative justification, only to change his mind at a later date and profess forensic justification. Also, Luther only had the Catholic Church. There were plenty of church bodies you could have joined that agreed with you about the chief doctrine of the church.

This is garbage. This is like telling St. Paul, he was not allowed to convert since he knew all things he needed to know about Judaism, since he was teacher of the Law, he knew what he was getting himself into. As usual fallacy of special pleading typical of UOJers.


Rev. Rydecki conformed to 1 Tim 4:16 when he abandoned UOJ. He stopped letting his Synod rule over his faith. He was not afraid to follow wherever the Scripture leads him. So should all of us.

LPC


  1. Tarheel Paul,

    LPC calls it a fence and that may be so but it is exactly the practice of the Church Catholic and what Christ commands us to do with those who would bring a different message, put up a fence of seperation

    I think you are confusing the practice of the cults versus the practice of educating ministers. I do not even think you are aware of the Apostles knew what the false teachers of their day were teaching. St. Paul was aware of the false teaching of Judaizers, St John was aware of the Gnostics, St Jude contended with Nicolaitans etc. How can you fight something you do not know?

    I am telling Rusch how to be a thorough scholar and the more educated he is, the more he is of service to his Lord and the people entrusted to him. I am telling him how to be useful in the Lutheran Church but also to the greater body of Christ. Rusch is studying to be a minister, that is serious work and yet you are telling Rusch to stay dumb.

    The whole purpose of seminary education among other things is to spot heresy, not simply on others, but to spot heresy in himself!

    1 Tim 4:16.

    You seem to label yourself as among the Catholic Church (your capitalization). In a way you are indeed a functioning Romanist, except your Magisterium does not sit in the Vatican, they sit somewhere in Wisconsin.

    I can only deduce that your throwing that label (Catholic Church) around must be a way comforting yourself in thinking you are orthodox. Yet by your comments I suspect you are not even aware that after awhile Augustine (himself considered a teacher of the the Church) wrote his Recantations.

    Your questions to Rydecki are exactly applicable to Luther, but your biased critcism of Rydecki fail to go the whole way of comparison. For example Luther attempted to Reform his church without violating his Scriptural conviction, why can you not see the same possibility of that in Rydecki over the WELS?

    Again, yes he did but Luther did not sit in a classroom for eight years and hear about both sanative and forensic justification, profess to believe sanative justification, only to change his mind at a later date and profess forensic justification. Also, Luther only had the Catholic Church. There were plenty of church bodies you could have joined that agreed with you about the chief doctrine of the church.

    This is garbage. This is like telling St. Paul, he was not allowed to convert since he knew all things he needed to know about Judaism, since he was teacher of the Law, he knew what he was getting himself into. As usual fallacy of special pleading typical of UOJers.


    Rev. Rydecki conformed to 1 Tim 4:16 when he abandoned UOJ. He stopped letting his Synod rule over his faith. He was not afraid to follow wherever the Scripture leads him. So should all of us.

    LPC
    Reply
  2. LPC
    I don't care to debate you on education. You think a theological education from liberal protestants is good. I do not. I do not care to debate you on your characterizations of the WELS. You believe that we in the WELS have some how taken the worst of calvinism, Rome, and cult practice and made it our own. I do not believe that. I do not care to debate you concerning justification. You do not believe God forgave the sins of the world. (which, for clarity, I don't believe is the same as Rydecki's teaching) I do believe God forgave the sins of the world. No amount of debating will get us any closer in any of these areas.
    I will debate you in this one area and point to Scriptural truth since you brought up the example. After Paul's conversion he did not immediately get into the pulpit. Years went by where he studied and did not teach. If he had immediately gone to preach something just a year earlier he was condemning it would have probably caused quite a few problems. But as it was, Paul did not publicly preach in the first years after his conversion.
    I never told anyone not to follow what their conscience tells them in regard to the Scriptures. My contention with Rydecki is that he either lied about his confession to get a pulplit or he "converted" or "changed" or "evolved" his confession. In which case he should follow the example of St. Paul and step out of the pulpit for a little while.
    Reply
  3. Tarheel Paul,

    St. Paul prior to his conversion did preach the Law. Rydecki prior to his conversion did preach precious UOJ.

    Yet Luther out of force for fear for his life hid, but he did preach justification by faith alone if we go along and see that he wrote his disputations etc., and the things he published against the Pope.

    You keep on moving the goal post of your debate.

    First your contention was that no one should be allowed to convert. When I brought out St. Paul to you, now you say that Rydecki should be like St. Paul who did not preach after his conversion.

    Now I am pointing to you that Luther did preach after his conversion, he published his 95 Theses and wrote tracts against the Papal Church. In fact how else could he be excommunicated if he were silent?

    By your analogy, are we to say that Luther lied about his priestly confession to get a Roman pulpit?

    Perhaps you should take up the argument levied by Romanists against Luther, he should have quietly disappeared and left the Roman Church. This argument, just like yours have been taken up by Roman Apologists before and frankly, if I were you, I would be bothered by the reasoning similarity with Romanists.

    However, precious UOJers have been known to be fallacious in their reasoning abilities as for instance, the comment above is another example of special pleading. The more bothersome should be Romanized Lutheranism you have in your reasoning. Your argument is functionally Roman yet you claim to be Lutheran.

    I am just wondering why is that?

    You see Tarheel Paul, your argument against Rydecki is no longer about doctrine; your criticism is the style he went about in carrying out the effect of his conversion. Yet I tell you the effect would have been the same even if I bring again St. Paul in this discussion. However, style has no bearing on the argument, it just becomes a manner of discomfort or not etc. It has nothing to do whether or not Rydecki's JBFA is wrong or not, in which case you should really debate this area.

    Anyhow,the final effect or outcome would have been the same, St. Paul still would have preached against Judaism whether he stayed silent for 3 years or not.

    His epistles show that he knocked and attacked Judaism wherever he found it even claiming that Christ fulfilled the Law.

    Criticism of one's style really does not make one's doctrine false or true. To think that way is to be dismally like the Romanist Apologists attacking Luther. It is to fall once more to more fallacies and this time, ad hominem.

    If you or the WELS wish to make a dent against Rydecki, you should rebut the doctrine he now finds himself in, JFBA.


    LPC
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Some Australians like this as a spread.

LPC has left a new comment on your post "Dr. Lito Cruz Opens Up a Can of Vegemite on the An...":

Dr. Greg,

Vegemite is so appropriate, cause you and I know it stinks.

My kids loved them though.

LPC


Jack Cascione Tries To Rescue UOJ from UOJ.
Hey! I Am Selling to Both Sides Today, Just Like Herman Otten

Cascione's favorite essay contradicts his claims below,
but no one ever said Cascione knew theology.


March 21, 2013
God’s Declaration of Righteousness Not Necessarily Received

God’s declaration of universal righteousness in Christ did not result in everyone receiving Christ’s righteousness.  Christ forgave the world at the cross, but at the time He announced it only the Centurion and one thief are known to have believed it. [GJ - Did they believe in Christ or in Stephan-Walther's world absolution?]

The cross is the conflict between original righteousness versus original sin. God has totally, completely, and without reservation declared the world righteous and forgiven in Christ, yet all men continue to be born in total and complete rejection and hated of God’s grace. [GJ - Jack, please. You just contradicted your favorite quotation above from your favorite essay, that proves Bob Preus was a UOJist.]
"God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.'"  What God declares happens, and it happens immediately.  Whatever demon or disease Jesus cast out or healed happened right now.  However, God has chosen to limit His saving power through the three Means of Grace.  Where God acts mediately His grace can be resisted.

God has opened the door to our prison cell and man refuses to come out.  God has put the medicine of salvation in our mouth and man spits it out.  God has paid the full redemption for all souls and man tears up the check. [GJ - Thus far, the reading from Jack 4:20-22.]

God is reconciled to man but man is not reconciled to God.  God’s reconciliation with the world in Christ did not change man’s heart to love God because His declaration of righteousness is not a reception of righteousness. [GJ - Jack has just contradicted his solemn words, posted reverently in red, above.]

By way of illustration the slaves were freed through the emancipation proclamation but it had no effect unless people were told and the law was enforced.  However, it takes more than the Law to change a human heart.  Telling your enemy you love him doesn’t make him love you. [GJ - Someone just saw Lincoln.]

The doctrines of Objective and Subjective Justification (sic) are reduced to static, philosophic, and inert concepts without the bridge that connects them, the three Means of Grace.  Calvin’s rejection of the three Means of Grace left him with no power to change the human heart, hence he taught that some are born to be saved and others are born to be damned. [GJ - Notice how the Means of Grace are tacked on to the end of the UOJ dogma. Static, philosophic, and inert - good descriptions of UOJ.]

The reception of Christ’s righteousness only takes place through the three Means of Grace: namely through the Gospel (including Absolution), Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.  “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12) It is only through the Means of Grace that man is justified and receives Christ’s righteousness, forgiveness of sins, faith, the Holy Spirit, salvation, and eternal life. [GJ - Say it. F-f-f-f-faith. Grace is distributed by the Holy Spirit only through the Means of Grace. Grace is received through faith.]

Any theological formulation that credits change, cooperation, or self-improvement to human effort twists justification into synergism.  The entire world has been declared righteous in Christ, yet all mankind remains damned and lost in sin until Christ’s righteousness is received by faith.  God only imputes His righteousness through faith in Christ. [GJ - You are right. Walther's formulation is synergism. World absolution plus "you gotta believe" world absolution. J. P. Meyer is the same. Make a decision for UOJ, Ministers of Christ.]

The only cause of salvation is in God and the cause of damnation is in man.  Hence, there is no human answer to the question why some change and believe in Christ and others do not. Confusion over the Doctrine of Election has led to numerous errors about the Gospel.  Some claim that people in hell are still forgiven, however, no one has forgiveness without the Means of Grace.  There are no Means of Grace in hell.  Others claim man has the power to accept God’s righteousness in Christ; however, God’s righteousness is only given in the Means of Grace.  And still others falsely claim some are predestined to hell while others are predestined to heaven because they deny the reality of God’s power through the Means of Grace. [GJ - Note Jack using the philosophical, Aristotelian term "cause."]

We must hold to the doctrines of Objective and Subjective Justification (sic).  Rejection of Objective Justification rejects the declaration of universal grace proclaimed when Christ died for the sins of the world, and rejection of Subjective Justification results in universalism. [GJ - Some citations would be beneficial when mixing this strange brew of Enthusiasm.]

God declared the world righteous in Christ but only those with faith in Christ will be saved.  Everything depends on the transmission of God’s grace to the sinner through the three and only the three Means of Grace. [GJ - Jack's foundational ignorance of the Bible and Lutheran doctrine is revealed in this short passage. Justification in the Bible only means justification by faith. This OJ/SJ split is imaginary, delusional, and Satanic.]

The KJV correctly states:Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.” (Psa 85:13) [GJ - Please text the Reformers and tell them they got Christian doctrine and Biblical exposition all wrong, only to be rescued by the insights of Samuel Huber, Rambach, Knapp, and the syphilitic founder of the LCMS - Martin Stephan.]




Luther explains this verse “But the other is God’s righteousness, which is before every work.  Just as original sin is there before our every evil work, so original righteousness would have been there before our every good work.” (AE 11:174)  Everything depends on our receiving original righteousness in Christ through the three Means of Grace. [GJ - Yes, the atonement is before justification by faith, because the treasure lies in one heap until it is distributed by the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace.]




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Pastor Paul Rydecki - Gerhard on the significance of Christ’s resurrection | Faith Alone Justifies

How does one mine UOJ from Gerhard?
Evil - blindness - Pietistic agenda - ignorance.


Gerhard on the significance of Christ’s resurrection | Faith Alone Justifies:


Gerhard on the significance of Christ’s resurrection

Here are a few excerpts from Johann Gerhard’s commentary on Romans in preparation for Easter:
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Romans 4:24-25  …but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
The purpose for which Moses told the history of Abraham is chiefly this, that through it he might set forth for us the manner of justification, which is one and the same in the Old and New Testaments.
One asks, why is Christ’s resurrection from the dead declared specifically to be the object of justifying faith?
We reply:
(1) Because by raising His Son, our bondsman, who was put to death for our sins, God made manifest by that very act that full satisfaction has been made to Him by His death.
(2) Consideration is given at the same time to the power of God which He exerted in the raising of Christ (Eph. 1:20).  This is how that statement is applied to the example of Abraham, whose faith is commended in 4:20 for the fact that he gave praise to God.
(3) The summary of the entire Gospel is contained in this article of the resurrection of Christ, and this single article encompasses all the rest (1 Cor. 15:1 ff.).  For it is understood from the fact that Christ rose from the dead that He truly died. And since He truly died, He was therefore also truly conceived and born, and truly suffered for our sins.
But if someone further inquires: In what sense and respect, then, is our justification, which consists in the remission of sins, attributed to the resurrection of Christ?
We reply: It should be taken in this way:
(1) With respect to the manifestation, demonstration and confirmation, because the resurrection of Christ is the clear testimony that full satisfaction has been made for our sins and that perfect righteousness has been procured. Jerome on this passage: Christ rose in order that He might confirm righteousness to believers.  Chrysostom, hom. 9 ad Rom.: In the resurrection it is demonstrated that Christ died, not for His own sins, but for our sins. For how could He rise again if He were a sinner?  But if He was not a sinner, then He was crucified for the sake of others.
(2) With respect to the application. If Christ had remained in death, He would not be the conqueror of death, nor could He apply to us the righteousness that was obtained at such a high price (Rom. 5:108:34).  But since He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, He thus also offers to the world, through the Word of the Gospel, the benefits obtained by His suffering and death, applies them to believers, and in this way justifies them.  With respect to this application, Cardinal Toletus (in his commentary on this passage, and Suarez tom. 2, in part 3, Thom. disp. 44, p.478) acknowledges that our justification is attributed to the resurrection of Christ, writing thus: Christ, by His suffering, sufficiently destroyed sin.  Nevertheless, in order that we might be justified and that sin might be effectively remitted to us, it was necessary for the suffering of Christ to be applied to us through a living faith. Christ arose, therefore, for the sake of our righteousness, that is, so that our faith might be confirmed, and in this way we might be effectively justified.  The Apostle notably says thatChrist died for our sins and was raised, not for the sake of δικαιοσύνην [righteousness], which is contrasted with sins in general, but διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν, for the sake of our justification, which consists in absolution from sins.
(3) With respect to the actual placement under Christ’s protection from sin. Just as the heavenly Father, by delivering Christ into death for the sake of our sins, condemned sin in His flesh through sin (Rom. 8:3)—that is, condemned it because it had sinned against Christ by causing death for Him, even though He was innocent, and so He withdrew from sin its legal right against believers so that it cannot condemn them any longer; or He alsocondemned it, that is, punished our sins in Christ, which were imposed on Him and imputed to Him as to a bondsman—so also, by raising Him from the dead, by that very deed He absolved Him from our sins that were imputed to Him, and consequently has also absolved us in Him, so that, in this way, the resurrection of Christ may be both the cause and the pledge and the complement of our justification.  The following passages pertain to this: 1 Cor. 15:172 Cor. 5:21Eph. 2:5Col. 2:12-13Phil. 3:8-101 Pet. 1:3.


'via Blog this'

Do you want justification by faith from Luther, Chemnitz, and Gerhard?
Or UOJ from Huber, Rambach, and Walther?
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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Pastor Paul Rydecki - Gerhard on the significance ...":

The "through faith" in Ephesians 2:8-9 is not important to the Lutheran universal objective justification enthusiasts.

I remember Ichabod posting an article of a Kentucky or Tennessee WELS "Faith Lutheran" church sign that quoted Ephesians 2:8-9 and left out the important aspect of faith.

I was at my grandson's school yesterday and the school / church WELS sign out by the public roadway read something like this:

"Christ's Cross - His Resurrection - Our Victory."

Once again, the insidious universal objective justification message comes through. Non-Christians traffic everyday past Bethel Lutheran Hampton Township (outside of Bay City, MI) and see that (false hope) message. It's an incomplete message which offers cheap grace to the unregenerate. What a reckless and damaging way to advertise and evangelize!

Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org

Alabama church's 'Strip For Me' billboard draws attention | Fox News.
The LCMS Spent a Pile on Some Similar Billboards.

strip_for_me.jpg

Alabama church's 'Strip For Me' billboard draws attention | Fox News:

"The church's sign quotes Jesus from Hebrews, saying simply, "Strip for me." The message: Instead of spending money in a strip club, spend it in a way that will better your family and yourself.

Even more powerful, perhaps, is the location of the sign, which can be seen just behind The Palace Gentlemen's Club sign on 3rd Avenue West in the city's downtown."

'via Blog this'

Oregon Teacher Escorted From High School By Police For Opposing Planned Parenthood in Classroom | Christian News Network



Oregon Teacher Escorted From High School By Police For Opposing Planned Parenthood in Classroom | Christian News Network:

"Portland, Oregon – An Oregon high school teacher was escorted from the building by police this week over what is believed to be related to his continued opposition to Planned Parenthood’s presence in the classroom."

'via Blog this'

Immediate Support for Pastor Kevin Hastings and St. John Lutheran Church.
Disgust with the Perfidy of WELS for Supporting the Two Men Who Stole the Church, "Fired the Pastor," and Grabbed the Endowment Fund - Without a Meeting.

Mark Belling featured St. John Lutheran Church on his podcast.

St. John Lutheran Church received immediate support when people learned about the take-over staged by two men with the help of perfidious WELS advisers. The two men remind me of the Menendez brothers, who shotgunned their parents and then spent the estate proceeds on their criminal lawyer.

I knew what was coming months ago, because one of the WELS "friends" of Pastor Hastings told him, "You need an exit strategy. I have been talking to your member."

Hastings and I have been in contact via Facebook for a long time. Before that I was at his church for a conference of independent Lutheran congregations.

This blog has been promoting the organ concerts at St. John. Suddenly WELS took notice of the congregation they kicked out of their sect almost 30 years ago. The recent visibility made people ask about the vindictive pettiness of the shallow "urban" pastors nearby, who cannot seem to get low enough in their behavior: Mark and Avoid Jeske, Jim Huebner.

The two men who engineered this fiasco--locking the pastor out of his own congregation, changing the locks, and grabbing the endowment, with the help of lawyers--are now being shunned by WELS pastors. The Milwaukee broadcast sent potential friends scurrying the other direction.

Readers have asked me about setting up a legal defense fund. I have talked to Tim Niedfelt about that. I will post more information when it becomes available. The real congregation has almost no income now, and there are members who were deliberately and maliciously excluded from learning about this illegal maneuver.

http://ecclesiaaugustana.blogspot.com/2013/03/update-on-st-johns-in-exile.html






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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Immediate Support for Pastor Kevin Hastings and St...":

The two men infiltrating at St. Johns and voting themselves the church and endowments reminds me of a development in the history of Britain. During the early 20th C the fraternal unions were often being turned into regular insurance companies, or were weakened by competition with insurance companies. People with vested interests in seeing the end of fraternal unions (which provided health and other types of insurance) would join a fraternal union merely to vote the fraternal organization out of existence, or vote to turn it into an insurance company. Those infiltrators had a nickname, but I forgot what it was (maybe ChurchMouse can help here).

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GJ - The fraternals were called "friendly societies" in England. The take-overs? I am not sure of the term. Leave it to Dr. Church to ask, "What was the term I was thinking of?"

I don't know.

Friendly societies.