If We Understand Luther and the Reformation Correctly - The Sermon Is Everything. Therefore, We Should Read Luther's Sermons as a Primary Source for Lutheran Doctrine and Regularly for Our Own Spiritual Welfare

The morons who promote Universal Objective Justification want us to believe that their dogma is the Chief Article of the Christian Faith, the master and prince of all other articles.

This statement, from "The Righteousness of Faith" in the Formula of Concord, simply destroys the entire UOJ argument. The UOJ Hive has to buzz about various people so they can ignore the real issue, their colossal ignorance or vapid atheism. Experience with these thugs has taught me that vapid atheism is the better answer.

They behave the same way on the ALPB Online Forum as they do on SpenerQuest. My neighbor has four pit-bulls in a yard with a very high fence. However some boards are missing so they can peer out through the chain link fencing, and I can look in. Every so often three start attacking one, even though they are all one tribe. The pack makes a terrible racket as the bottom one howls and screams, the top three bark and bite. They remind me of those forums where the clergy and a few brain-bleached laity exchange insults in spite of their obvious agreement about unfaith and universal forgiveness.

In contrast, Luther and the Concordists - in the graphic above - are saying that the sermon is everything.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit's work in the Church is to convict the world of its sin:
Not the sin of individual communion glasses.
Not the sin of polity
Not even the sin of Thrivent.

John 16:8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me...

The foundational sin is unbelief, so the foundation of all Christian ministry must be justification by faith.

Any pastor or lay leader will admit how easy it is to fall into Law preaching and Law solutions. I listen to various Lutherans and scattered denominations deliver their best, and their best is full of secular suggestions, must have's, and scoldings. If scolding worked, we would all be almost perfect by now. No generation has been scolded and hectored more than this one, on an infinite number of manifest short-comings, from failure to recycle to thinking Holy Mother Synod is them. ["No - WEEEE are the Synod!" says the synodical bureaucrat, who will break your kneecaps for questioning him.]

Luther himself saw the ministry as the Preaching Office - Predigtamt. A pastor's sole duty consists of preaching the Gospel of justification by faith from the pulpit, in the classroom, and in regular visits to his members and others. He does not have the Calming Office, the Office of Balancing the Budget, or the Office of the Really Busy Parish.

After 11,500 Posts - Some Results

At least I have this going for me, which is pretty nice.

After years of posting about the evils of Thrivent Insurance, I noticed some action from the LCMS and WELS. Some bloggers, FB denizens, and tweeters noted that Thrivent was using matching funds to donate money to Planned Parenthood. They were not happy.

Planned Parenthood is still the biggest provider of abortions in America. The business was started by Margaret Sanger, who wanted to rid this country of Blacks. The KKK thought so much of her work that they invited her to speak. She was quite flattered - agreed - and wrote about her experience.

WELS took a hands off position. Thrivent is just a business that gives funds to various Christian groups. That factoid was wrong - Thrivent gives to all religions and atheists, too. Brett Meyer has done some great research on Thrivent.

Missouri was a little more upset - but why? The LCMS is happy to work with ELCA, whose health plan pays for abortions on demand. ELCA uses its World Hunger money to pay for lobbyists in every state and in DC to lobby for Left-wing causes, including abortion on demand. Big, brave Missouri suddenly has a problem with abortion?

ELCA and Mark Jeske are two great reasons to avoid Thrivent altogether -

• To stop using their cheap junk at the coffee hour, receptions, and minister meetings.
• To stop promoting their matching funds.
• To stop giving their agents membership directories in order to sell third-rate products to a captive audience. "Oh, Thrivent gives money back to your synod and congregation." 
• To cease selling annuities and other Thrivent products to little old ladies in the name of Planned Giving Counselors with a divine call from Holy Mother Sect.

Mark Jeske is on the national board of Thrivent, and he is the real leader of false prophets/profits in WELS and Missouri. He has the connections with all the Daddy Warbucks. Jeske has his hand in every deep pocket around. Actually, it is so cold in Milwaukee this weekend that he has his hands in his own pockets - but that will not last.

A recent Seibert Foundation report showed that Jeske was pulling out six figure sums, three different ways, from that foundation alone. He teaches Church and Changers, where he is the leader, how to write grants to skim most of the loot for themselves.

Short-Term Calls Make LCMS Look Better to Gubmint Educational Loan People?

The LCMS pays David Scaer a princely salary to teach
against Luther's doctrine.
Salaries = tuition = debt.
Students borrow enormous amounts of money to pay faculty salaries and benefits.

Crippling Costs Related to Sky-High LCMS Seminary Tuition Loans:

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2013/08/crippling-costs-related-to-sky-high.html


Comment: Some schools pay employers to hire their graduates in order to boost their placement rates right out of school. However, the graduates find they are soon laid off and then they are on their own to find another job, though they have to continue paying off their student loans. So in other words, part of the student loan debt they incurred is used by schools to bribe employers into hiring them temporarily straight out of college or trade school. Could a variant of that practice be happening in the LCMS? Sure looks like it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/16/corinthian-colleges-job-placement_n_4433800.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000010

Even that short-lived gig wasn't secured on the strength of Parms's degree. The college had paid his contractor $2,000 to hire him and keep him on for at least 30 days, part of an effort to boost its official job placement records, according to documents obtained by The Huffington Post. The college paid more than a dozen other companies to hire graduates into temporary jobs before cutting them loose, a HuffPost investigation has found.

---

"I will show you the way."

Are They Kidding Us?

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2011/09/lcms-seminary-cost-scandal-fabulous.html

 

Seminary to study issue of student indebtedness after receiving grant for that purpose:
 

SEMINARY RECEIVES LILLY GRANT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 11, 2013

ST. LOUIS—Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded more than $12.3 million for 51 theological schools across the United States as part of the second round of its Theological School Initiative to Address Economic Issues Facing Future Ministers. Concordia Seminary is a thankful recipient of a part of this grant.

Recent research indicates that student educational debt in excess of $30,000 is not uncommon for seminary graduates, and some students are graduating from seminary with loans of more than $100,000. The financial pressures caused by these debt levels severely limit the ability of seminary graduates to accept calls to Christian ministry and undermine the effectiveness of too many pastoral leaders.

To help address this issue, Lilly Endowment created the Theological School Initiative to Address Economic Issues Facing Future Ministers. The initiative’s aim is to encourage theological schools to examine and strengthen their financial and educational practices to improve the economic well-being of future ministerial leaders.

“Concordia Seminary through its Center for Stewardship will use the funding to conduct research on the components of student debt,” commented Rev. Wayne Knolhoff, director of the Center. “It will aim to assist current students in limiting debt, and assist congregations, pastors, and students by providing resources to address various stewardship issues.”

For more information on the Center for Stewardship, please contact Rev. Knolhoff at knolhoffw@csl.edu.             

Arkansas Renewal Project Conference in Little Rock

Mrs. I enjoyed meeting LCMS Pastor Laurence White, Our Savior, Houston,
who was the best of many good speakers the first day.
White mentioned reading my articles to Chris.

We were invited to the Arkansas Renewal Project meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. The sponsors paid for the hotel, excellent meals, and a number of national speakers, including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, historian David Barton, and - surprise - a Lutheran pastor, Laurence White.

This was a typical Evangelical-Pentecostal group of ministers, which means that a professional group sang modern songs for everyone. The assembly did not sing on Friday, when we were there.

I wonder if the next generation will even be aware of classical Christian hymns. White's line about not needing entertainment did not get the applause of the rest of his speech.

The conference was 100% pro-life and challenged the ministers to be consistent in their pro-life support rather than get-along go-along guys. Although there was a regular urging of people to get out the Evangelical vote, most of the conference was about spiritual values and spiritual renewal.

Huckabee was asked about running for president in 2016. He switched the topic to the Senate race of 2014. He questioned the wisdom of ObamaCare and offered one possible alternative.

White impressed the audience with his comparison of Hitler seducing the Christian Church with security and privileges while he subordinating them to his Nazi cause.

The most dramatic line was about the beautiful Berlin churches that are now restaurants, art galleries, and museums. When the family traveled from the concentration camp outside of Berlin and saw the skyline of the great city, with spires of dead churches, he argued the direct connection between surrender to Hitler and the secularized buildings today.

Mike Huckabee is a regular on Fox News.

I am optimistic about what can be done, if voters take action in 2014. Only half the registered voters actually vote in national elections.

Special interest voters have almost 100% turn-outs (often fake, but there they are). The traditional Constitutional voters have to act this election or we are doomed to live in a permanent Bosnia.

Hugh Jackman and Duck Dynasty - Recent Walmart Meetings

I walked over to shake hands with Hugh Jackman after the last Walmart meeting.
LI was right behind me and did the same, saying a few words to the actor/singer.

We made a point to be early to the Walmart Saturday Morning meeting for December. We already knew that Hugh Jackman (Les Miz, Wolverine) would be in the area stores and very likely at the meeting. He was the best host ever at the annual stockholders meeting last year.

We went to the Fitness Center, where a large room was set up for the meeting. Usually the meetins are divided among the Sam's Club and headquarters meeting rooms. The Walmart choir sang popular music and Christmas carols.

We were quite close to the stage, positioned stage left. Hugh Jackman was relaxed, friendly, charming. A four year-old girl walked up with her drawing and Hugh was delighted. His father was converted to Christianity at a Billy Graham rally and raised his children in the faith. Jackman told some family stories about his father's pride in his work as a performer.

Jackman made a point of his Christian faith when he introduced the solo he sang from the movie. Best of all, he invited the Walmart choir to join him in singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo, with the audience singing the words on the screen, at the close of the meeting.

We were very impressed with everything Jackman did, but the end of the meeting was special. Jackman (unlike any other celebrity in four years) stayed after the meeting was completely over. He walked over to the mother of the little girl and talked to her. He shook hands with the Walmart executives. I saw my chance and took it.

I power-walked to the center, not far away, and reached out to join the few who realized what was happening. Jackman graciously shook hands with me and then with Martin (LI for Little Ichabod).
That was our favorite - of all the meetings we have attended together in the last four years.

Sometimes I am a little jealous of my cohorts' glamorous travels. Then I realize, "In Northwest Arkansas, the entire world comes to us."

Walmart featured Duck Dynasty's star, Phil Robertson, at their meeting not long ago.
He is the Duck Commander.

I started writing up Walmart Saturday Morning Meetings when the toxic blogger from Fox Valley referred to this area as Podunk-Land.

Sandra Bullock came to the meeting a few days after winning the Academy Award. Almost every celebrity expresses shock that a company can get an energetic crowd together for a 7:30 AM meeting on Saturday.

Contrary to the A and E channel's myth-makers, they did not make Duck Dynasty famous. But lately they have made the star even more famous, the star of every news show all day long.

Long ago, Phil Robertson began marketing his duck calls to Walmart by driving from store to store, on his own. That was off-spec for corporate marketing, so they had to write an official letter making him a vendor to Walmart.

Phil gave up a contract in professional football to keep on duck hunting, but he earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. As they say around here, "He ain't no dummy."

As everyone knows by now, Phil is very popular for expressing old fashioned American values in the midst of public media besotted with pro-abortion gay activism and anti-Christian rants.

The Walmart audience is drawn from all over. They are the executives who run marketing, legal, computers, personnel, real estate, and store management. They loved Robertson several months ago, without any special news story.

I read today that Walmart sold out of every bit of Duck Dynasty goods. That happens with hurricanes and tornadoes, but not with news stories.

Enthusiasts at SpenerQuest Criticize Kokomo Theses (Their Own Dogma) and Endorse DP Buchholz

UOJ Enthusiasts devour this swill, from a Missouri professor
who joined the Church of Rome after seeing a brilliant sunset -
a sign from God to join the Pope!

Christian Schulz (Schulzcj) New member Username: Schulzcj Post Number: 13 Registered: 10-2012	Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 - 3:41 pm:       I don't know if it's been brought up in this long discussion because I haven't followed it all the way through, but as far as "dealing with Scripture," what do you have to say about this paper? [GJ - Vernon Harley's paper] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0U0GKIkUYsKNnlWe GFxTlhPMG8/edit?usp=sharing
Joe Krohn (Jekster) Intermediate Member Username: Jekster Post Number: 210 Registered: 4-2011	Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 - 7:25 pm:       Harley denies the doctrine of objective justification just as ELDoNA does. Rydecki makes the same error as Harley by translating the two 'many' in Romans 5:19 as describing two different groups. All are called and few are the chosen, so why would you translate one of the 'many' to be just believers? The Bible never talks about believers as the many, but only few. To say that the two 'many' refers to two different groups, you would have to then change the meaning of Isaiah 53:11. I asked on Rydecki's Intrepid blog on more than one occasion to deal with Isaiah 53 in regard to his position and it never was.
Franz Linden (Franz_mann) Senior Member Username: Franz_mann Post Number: 1813 Registered: 12-2004	Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 - 7:46 pm:       I read through the first several pages and found that there are many leaps in his explanations of the texts. For example, in discussing the Romans passage, he makes a big deal out of the context of a verse helping us to understand its meaning, but then leaps away from the immediate context of the verse to the context of the entire book. The extended context helps us in flow of thought, but it doesn't help us understand the precise meaning of a specific verse. It is a horrible way to do theology. A person could prove anything his sinful heart can imagine by Harley's method of hermeneutics. The whole paper is semi-Calvinism. Sorry, Mr. Schulz. Franz
Rev. David R. Boisclair (Drboisclair) Intermediate Member Username: Drboisclair Post Number: 436 Registered: 1-2002	Posted on Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - 3:03 pm:       Those of us, who are old duffers remember the controversy about the possibility of Dr. WAM, Jr. being elected SP in 1981. The rank and file synod wanted him to succeed J.A.O. Preus, but President Preus raised the legitimate concern of WAM's doctrine of Justification in his class on Romans. So, Vern Harley said that instead of the problem being WAM it is Objective Justification. His article in Christian News was "Problems with Objective Justification." R.C.H. Lenski is one that doesn't believe in the doctrine of Objective Justification either. This generation carries on with Jackson, Rydecki, and ELDoNA.
James Warble (Warble) Member Username: Warble Post Number: 158 Registered: 1-2013	Posted on Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - 3:51 pm:       Looking at the link above, and reading the 4 questions posed to the couples in Kokomo, Indiana, is this a proper way to speak? Do we speak of sainthood apart from faith? God forgives and declares the whole world whose sins Christ bore righteous at his resurrection. Yes. But is this the same as receiving the status of saints? I don't think so. I think a saint is one who is a member of the holy Christian Church, as we confess in the Creed. A saint is one who in faith receives God's declaration and so receives his status as saint. There is a distinction between righteous and holy, isn't there?
David Bickel (Drb) Advanced Member Username: Drb Post Number: 512 Registered: 11-2009	Posted on Thursday, December 19, 2013 - 8:49 am:       Luther's advice on election (Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, Martin Luther, ed. & trans. Theodore G. Tappert, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 2006): "… the highest of all God's commands is this, that we hold out before our eyes the image of his dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Every day he should be our excellent mirror wherein we behold how much God loves us… In this way, I say, and in no other, does one learn how to deal properly with the question of predestination. It will be manifest that you believe in Christ. If you believe, then you are called. And if you are called, then you are most certainly predestined." (p. 116) "Do you believe what you hear in the preaching of the Word and do you accept it as the truth? … To have faith in him is to accept these things as true without any doubting. God has revealed himself to you. If you believe this, then you are to be numbered among his elect. Hold to this firmly in with assurance, and if you accept the God who is revealed, the hidden God will be given to you at the same time… If we cling to him, he will hold us fast, and he will tear us away from sin and death and will not let us fall." (pp. 133-134) "We should think of [Jesus Christ] daily and follow him. In him we shall find our election to be sure and pleasant, for without Christ everything is peril, death, and the devil, while in Christ is pure peace and joy. Nothing but anxiety can be gained from forever tormenting oneself with the question of election. Therefore, avoid and flee from such thoughts, as from the temptation of the serpent in paradise, and direct your attention to Christ." (pp. 137-138) Theology of the Cross: http://DawningRealm.com
Rev. David R. Boisclair (Drboisclair) Intermediate Member Username: Drboisclair Post Number: 437 Registered: 1-2002	Posted on Thursday, December 19, 2013 - 9:29 am:       I completely concur with James Warble about the Kokomo Theses. Jon Buchholz of WELS also finds fault with them, and he is from WELS! His essay is here. The provocative idea is that Judas in hell has the status of saint as do all those who are in hell. It comes from John P. Meyer's (WELS) 2 Corinthians commentary Ministers of Christ. Jon Buchholz a scholar DP in WELS writes in his paper (p. 40): Each of these statements is so poorly crafted that it cannot be accepted, regardless of authorship. Dr. Siegbert Becker, in an essay to Chicago area pastors, rightly lamented the poor choice of words, but he upheld the statements on principle. I would like him to have said, “Throw them out and start over!” The Kokomo Statements should be roundly rejected by the WELS as an incongruous mishmash. The rejection of these statements, as they are written, is not a repudiation of universal objective justification, which these statements pretend to defend.

***

GJ - SpenerQuest posted the argument that everyone destroyed in Sodom has been given the status of a saint. That came from one of their regular ravers.

Typically, they flit from one person to another, their blessings resting on those who agree with their false doctrine, their curses falling on those (already forgiven!) who agree with Luther, Paul, and the Holy Spirit.

Three of the four Kokomo Theses come from J. P. Meyer's Ministers of Christ, recently reprinted  by WELS with all the offensive passages left untouched  - A. Panning (aka Panzer) - editor. The fourth one comes from a controversy between the Augustana Synod (justification by faith) and some Norwegians (UOJ).

SpenerQuesters do not know what they are talking about. When are they going to apologize for linking Paul McCain's Roman Catholic posts that were plagiarized from The Catholic Encyclopedia? He is the knave who extracts apologies from everyone spineless enough to kneel before him, but he never addresses his cowardly dishonesty.



PS - I met Vernon Harley and used his excellent essays in preparation for Thy Strong Word. I also quoted his translation of the early, German LCMS catechism that made no mention of UOJ - circa 1905.

Missouri never charged Harley with false doctrine. The conflict with WAM.2 was manufactured by LCMS President Jack Preus to make his brother Robert the president of the seminary. Apparently WAM.2 had the seminary presidency in the bag until he was publicly assaulted and humiliated by Jack.

The Robert Preus family cannot admit to the sandbagging job, not will they face the fact that Robert repudiated UOJ in Justification and Rome. Their dealing with his last book reminds me of Pentecostals dancing in the Spirit.