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| Pastor Herman Otten received a free review copy of Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pietism, but he would rather feature Calvinists, Roman Catholics, and Babtists |
I used to meet with the LCMS guys in Midland, laity, one in the Missouri Synod lay training program. All he ever talked about was R. C. Sproul.
Pastor Otten's friend, the late Pastor William Bischoff was another Missourian who always cited the Calvinists. One would think the Calvinists rescued the Bible from the liberals, when the opposite was true. The rationalistic spirit of Calvinism is the death of Christian Faith. "Young Calvinist, Old Unitarian" is a motto familiar to anyone who knows church history.
The featured front-page book in this issue is - The Inerrant Word – Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspectives. Edited by John MacArthur. Foreword by R. C. Sproul. Published by Crossway, 1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. $25.90 at amazon.com. Calvinist, Calvinist, Calvinist, ad inf.
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is the greatest seminary in America, according to Christian News.
A fairly recent graduate Concordia, St. Louis wrote me:
Luther's sermons should be required reading for all "Lutheran" clergy. I have often said that ever since I graduated seminary I've spend my time unlearning that teaching and learning how to be Lutheran instead. The fact that Luther's sermons are not required reading, or even suggested, shows a lot about how far Lutheranism in America has come. So thanks for pointing me to Luther's sermons.
PS - You can even mention that the anonymous comment came from a Concordia Seminary - St. Louis grad, whose first reading assignment in seminary was Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven Life." (which is 100% true).
Christian News is proof that Universal Objective Justification is the radical wedge that separates nominal Lutherans from Luther's doctrine.
Calvinism Exposed in a Few Sentences
John Calvin, a more erudite disciple of Zwingli, taught the separation the Holy Spirit from the Word. Calvin was an Enthusiast, and Enthusiasm is the foundation for all false doctrine.
Calvin mocked the Sacraments and taught his weird dogma that the Word was only effective (sermons, teaching, etc) when the Holy Spirit decided to drop by and make it effective. He denied the Real Presence and made fun of it, as his followers did.
The Book of Concord condemns Enthusiasm. The Concord and post-Concord theologians like Chemnitz and Gerhard argued against Calvism. But Christian News promotes and supports Calvinism.
How odd that Christian News, the solution for all problems in Lutherdom, would lead with a Calvinist compendium of boring inerrancy essays, each one breathlessly announcing that the loss of inerrancy brought doom upon everyone.
Inerrancy is a given in all traditional denominations, even among Roman Catholics. But this latest wonder-book is doubtless just as silent about the efficacy of the Word as John Brug's epic dud The Ministry of the Word.
Efficacy of the Word is the litmus test -
- What the Bible teaches throughout.
- What Luther taught from the beginning.
- What the Book of Concord teaches at all times.
- What Chemnitz, Gerhard, and the orthodox emphasized.
The efficacy of the Bible (efficacy - an actual New Testament word, not an invented term) connects the Spirit to the Word - The Word never without the Spirit, the Spirit never without the Word. That is sound doctrine. (Hoenecke)
Otten's radical spirit, derived from CFW Walther's and Martin Stephan' UOJ, is the dynamite blowing the LCMS apart. Wise leaders and smart pastors know UOJ is a pile of dung. But even though the UOJists hate each other, they are bound together by a common hatred of Luther's doctrine. That is all it takes:
- Patronizing Luther now and then, with a brief nod, a little joke, and a cutting remark.
- Ignoring Luther's sermons, his doctrine, and his Book of Concord contributions.
- Substituting UOJ works while warning students against justification by faith books, essays, quotations.
- Extolling the genius of Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Fuller Clownism.
Pastor Otten does that through Christian News and howls about the results of his 50 years of tabloid journalism.
Are Babtists quoted with approval in this CN issue? Of course, they buy the one-size fits all UOJ of New Haven, Missouri, headquarters of the Preus Family Franchise. Various Preus pastors have their own little club within the LCMS, never realizing that their UOJ is the cause, not the cure for all their woes.
From this issue:
by Don Jasmin
Fundamentalist Digest
PO Box 689
West Branch, MI 48665
April-May 2016
As all our F.D. readers know, this writer is an avid independent
Baptist preacher. He is not, never has been,
and never will be a Lutheran. However, there have been
and still are ardent Lutheran adherents, who despite
their errant beliefs concerning baptism, unquestioningly
accept the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.
The original
Lutherans who came to America in the l 9th century
were ALL firm believers in the inspired Scriptures.
When he was a young lad and a teen-ager, this
preacher used to listen every Sunday in the early 1950’
s to the “Lutheran Hour,” where Walter Maier, the
Lutheran Fundamentalist, faithfully exposited the Word
of God.
This writer is not understating the fact when he
declares that Maier was a great Gospel preacher. This
evangelist had a close “Baptist Bride” friend who readily
confessed that Maier was one of his favorite radio Bible
expositors in that 1940’s-1950’s eras.
Despite their errant beliefs concerning baptism, these
early American Lutherans established numerous colleges
and universities to propagate their
Who is the problem in the LCMS-WELS-ELS?
- Martin Stephan, STD
- CFW Walther, BA
- Francis Pieper and his devoted followers
- Richard Jungkuntz, PhD, WELS, Seminex, ALC
- Herman Otten, MDiv
- Paul McCain and Matt Harrison
- JP Meyer
- David Scaer
- David Valleskey
- Forrest Bivens
- John Moldstad
- Mark Jeske and the Church and Changers
- The not-so Steadfast Lutherans, Matt Harrison sycophants
- And - all the seminaries of the LCMS, WELS, ELS. Not one teaches Luther's doctrine, but they will rake in yuuuuge offerings for Luther's 500th.
