But even looking outside himself, the troubled soul may fail to find peace, if Jesus’ justifying work is not seen as complete for all. For whom did Jesus live, die and rise again? Was it only for the elect? Was it only for those whom God recognized in his foreknowledge? Did Jesus somehow manage to pay for the sin of the entire world, yet still overlook me? When Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished,” did that triumphant decree embrace me and declare my justification finished, complete and certain—or was I left out? Is there something that I have to add to make Jesus’ justifying work real for me? Is there a change inside me that has to take place for me to be found not-guilty before the judgment bar of God?6
The next time you find yourself lying awake in the pre-dawn darkness, thinking of the passage of time, contemplating your own mortality, and reflecting upon the approaching appointment you have with a just and holy God, your only unassailable assurance of salvation is the unchanging truth that Jesus lived, died and rose again to justify the world—and the world includes you!
Convention Essay, Part 2, page 2
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GJ - Pardon me for quoting the Formula of Concord on justification by faith.
WELS favors JP Meyer, Sig Becker, and CFW Walther over Luther, Chemnitz, and the Book of Concord. The quotation in the graphic above is completely at odds with the WELS fables about the forgiveness of sin.
If someone bothers to go through the entire essay, every premise rests upon a false assumption - that all unbelievers are forgiven and saved. Buchholz keeps repeated his mantra of the "objective reality of justification" and honkers like this -
Lutheran teaching has always pointed the troubled sinner away from himself to a completed salvation that exists completely outside himself.
This premise is a feature of this mangled essay - everyone in the world is forgiven and saved. But this assumption comes from the throne of his heart, just like the pope's cardio-legislations, but not from the Scriptures, Confessions, Luther, Chemnitz, or Gerhard.
This Universalism is a mask for the unbelief of Buchholz, Webber, and the leaders of WELS. They rejoice - supposedly - in something completely alien to the Word of God.
Their doctrinal bankruptcy is emphasized by their hackneyed tribute to justification by faith, which they call Subjective Justification. But that is not justification by faith - only a reflexive nod to their favorite dogma - because their SJ is "faith in Objective Justification."
I think Buchholz was listening to Dedicated to the One I Love when he wrote this sentence -
The next time you find yourself lying awake in the pre-dawn darkness, thinking of the passage of time, contemplating your own mortality, and reflecting upon the approaching appointment you have with a just and holy God, your only unassailable assurance of salvation is the unchanging truth that Jesus lived, died and rose again to justify the world—and the world includes you!
"While I'm far away from you my baby
Whisper a little prayer for me my baby
Because it's hard for me my baby
And the darkest hour is just before dawn."
Rather than emphasizing the Gospel, Buchholz and the WELS focus on their own peculiar dogmas, which are no more comforting than the nightmares they cause faithful pastors and members. They have no concern about the cancer of Church and Change, or Mark Jeske organizing WELS-ELCA-LCMS ministry seminars under their noses. No, they take out their flamethrowers and claymore mines for anyone who claims WELS has doctrinal problems.
Far better to preach false doctrine night and day, to snuggle with ELCA (as Mark Schroeder and the rest do, with impunity) than to imply that anything is wrong in the scandal-plagued sect. To prove this, the WELS clergy take their victims to court in Appleton - with the blessing of Don Patterson and the Synod President.
But Change or Die! conferences - ah, to rest securely in the Universalism of ELCA and share in their claims of grace.
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| Note the combination of LCMS clergy, WELS leaders, and a female ELCA minister - all arranged by Mark Jeske and blessed by Mark Schroeder. Steve Witte was a founder of Church and Change in WELS. Change or Die! |
Rev. Lisa Bates-Froiland, Redeemer Lutheran Church, ELCA, Milwaukee
Rev. Jim Bickel, Outreach for Hope, Greater Milwaukee Synod
Deborah Engel, Siebert Lutheran Foundation
Rev. Mike Ernst, Retired, Hales Corners Lutheran Church, LCMS
Rev. Paul G. Hill, ELCA, Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camps, Inc.
Rev. Mark Jeske, Time of Grace Ministry
Bill Meier, Kingdom Workers
Rev. Mark Schulz, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, IL
Brenda Skelton, Siebert Lutheran Foundation
Rev. Jim Bickel, Outreach for Hope, Greater Milwaukee Synod
Deborah Engel, Siebert Lutheran Foundation
Rev. Mike Ernst, Retired, Hales Corners Lutheran Church, LCMS
Rev. Paul G. Hill, ELCA, Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camps, Inc.
Rev. Mark Jeske, Time of Grace Ministry
Bill Meier, Kingdom Workers
Rev. Mark Schulz, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, IL
Brenda Skelton, Siebert Lutheran Foundation
