 |
| Study this sermon on the Holy Spirit convicting the world. |
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;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. Furtive Universalism, also called Universal Objective Justification is the product of Pietism. Its most eloquent advocates are Pietists from Halle, like Rambach and Knapp, or trained at Halle University, like Bishop Martin Stephan.
What Jesus teaches about sin in John 16 should answer the question, but the Fourth Gospel is the doctrinal Gospel that the Superficialists love to ignore. Too many questions are answered clearly in the simplest possible language, so synodical leaders direct people to their own recent publications and to other theologians no one reads, remembers, or understands.
All the work of the Christian Church is carried out through the Holy Spirit. Preaching and teaching is the work of the Holy Spirit. Administering the Sacraments is another way the Means of Grace are distributed to people. When we pray, it is from the Holy Spirit moving us to pray and helping us in our prayers. In addition, the Holy Spirit guides Christians in doing good works which flow naturally from justification by faith.
The synods, from ELCA down to the Little CLC (sic) teach sin as:
- Not giving enough to the synod.
- Questioning the synod.
- Leaving the apostasy of the synod.
- Teaching Luther's Biblical doctrine.
Those are grounds for excommunication. The pastors would rather extend the Left Foot of Fellowship than use both feet to visit someone personally.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, because they do not utterly trust in Jesus Christ as the Savior. That means every sermon and Bible lesson should teach faith in the Son of God. To teach otherwise is pure blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Teaching that justification by faith is Calvinism or Arminianism or making faith a work of man - any gambit like that is a combination of ignorance and blasphemy. The Superficialists like to parade their shallow learning with pround, arrogant slogans.
What is the unforgivable sin?
That is not so difficult when this passage is understood. The unforgivable sin - against the Holy Spirit - is not believing in Christ.
Note that there nothing in the entire Bible that says people are forgiven without faith, without the Word, apart from the Means of Grace.
Who is "in Christ"?
Only believers are in Christ, as clearly taught in the Gospel of John and expressed elsewhere in the New Testament.
 |
| Admit it, UOJists: Robert Preus quoted this devastating critique of Universal Objective Justification. |
The UOJists have destroyed their own arguments.
The furtive Universalists let their trusting followers think that the Atonement is Objective Justification, but the UOJists pointedly exclude this possibility. The Superficialists say that OJ is not the Atonement, once the victim has become an Entered Apprentice in their Masonic Lodge of Occultic Rationalism.
Therefore, the UOJists must also admit that Subjective Justification is not justification by faith. SJ is trust in God's declaration of Universal Absolution - faith in furtive Universalism.
Are They Not Clever?
To move people away from the Atonement and justification by faith, the UOJists make their OJ seem to be the Atonement while denying that OJ is the Atonement. They are right about that, because their OJ is sneaky, cowardly Universalism. We should rather starve to death with an honest Universalist than dine in Thrivent splendor with a UOJist.
Next they take the Biblical, Confessional language of justification by faith meaning God's declaration of forgiveness. And they say - OJ is God declaring the entire world forgiven of its sin, whether anyone believes in Christ or not.
Thus the bedrock of preaching and teaching the Gospel is pounded into rubble, and the Superficialists yell about their dogma being the Chief Article of Christianity. They solemnly declare that without blushing, as Zarling and plagiarist Bivens have done in WELS. And no one is left to howl in dismay at their horrid, rationalistic, illiterate rants. They have silenced and removed anyone who might crack open a set of Luther's Sermons.
Nevertheless, the remaining evidence damns them - as it must. The old Missouri Synod did not teach UOJ, although the Stephan-Walther-Pieper rabble pushed the Halle dogma. To this day the LCMS does not have a UOJ catechism.
The president of the Olde Synodical Conference, Gausewitz, published a catechism without UOJ, and WELS used it for decades. WELS swapped Kuske for Gausewitz: even the great UOJist Papenfuss had to admit he never heard of UOJ before he entered seminary at the Sausage Factory. So WELS leaders taught UOJ side-by-side with justification by faith, never admitting to themselves or anyone else that they were using bait-and-switch tactics considered too scummy for the worst used car salesmen.
John 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Now we see where Romans 4:24-25 fits in with the Christian Gospel. The resurrection of Christ is the physical proof of His righteousness, that we receive through faith. The Ascension of Christ marks the beginning of His world-wide management of the Means of Grace, with the empty grave as evidence of death having no power over the believer, sin no longer having dominion, and Satan defeated by the bait of the cross.
Are your sins forgiven? Look at the cross and the empty grave. Christ became all sin for the believer, so the believer might have the righteousness of Christ.
John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Satan does not tolerant opposition with patient forbearance. Instead, he rages against this judgment and seeks to have his kingdom remain as large as possible. Anyone who teaches faith in Christ opposes Satan. Everyone who teaches faith will bear the cross while others wear their gold watches and polish their synodical rewards.
Therefore, anyone who interferes with the ELCA-WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC (sic) dogma of universal absolution without faith will be punished. The false teachers will be rewarded and dine together in splendor at the next Thrivent COP meeting, the next Thrivent seminary faculties gathering, the next Thrivent Evangelism event, the next Planned Parenthood board meeting - where they cackle over the Thrivent loot they receive for liquidating the innocent and helpless unborn babies of America.
 |
| LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) - This is your future Synod President, or someone like her. |
 |
| You think I exaggerate? Not long ago, no one would have predicted the election of this mannish woman as head of the largest Lutheran synod in America - ELCA. |
