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| Luther clearly defines Justification by Faith in this book, commended by the Book of Concord editors for all additional study of the topic of Justification. |
When Matt Harrison was elected the first time, the LCMS convention voted by an even larger margin to work closely with ELCA - and they have.
Through Thrivent, which is really the Mother Church, giving $50-60 million per year to LCMS alone - and heaven only knows how much to ELCA - Thrivent has established a pre-merger merger of all four:
- ELCA
- LCMS
- WELS
- ELS.
The CLC (sic) is still whining about their widdle feelings being hurt in college. so do not expect their dying sect to join the glorious train of apostles linking up together. OK, that was Dan Fleischer raging at the CLC (sic) convention, but he is head of their comical Doctrinal Committee, aka Diseased Pietism Task Force.
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Everyone crying about the decline of their sect's doctrine, worship, and practice should take a look at their self-styled Chief Article. I have looked at every variation of General, Objective, or Universal Objective Justification in print. The versions all agree - God pronounced the entire world forgiven, though He neglected to record that peculiar Chief Article in the Scriptures.
Attempts to find it in Scripture, Luther, and the Book of Concord remind me of the man looking for an item at Walmart where I worked there. He kept pointing at various places and saying, "There it ain't!"
That is the best three-word description for the labors of the UOJ Stormtroopers today. They have been savaged by laity so many times that they would rather not bring up their Helen of Troy in public, let someone point out the plain words of Scripture.
Nor do they want to bring up the history of their precious dogma. The clearest expression came from a Calvinist who translated a series of German Pietistic lectures from Halle University, that school which trained the founders of American Lutheranism and absorbed Wittenberg University.
And who attended Halle University?
- Martin Stephan, the syphilitic founder of the LCMS, who took his mistress with him to America, but left his dying wife and children at home.
- Muhlenberg, the founder of the General Synod, which became the ULCA in the 1918 merger.
- Hoenecke, the main theologian for WELS (almost the only one).
To paraphrase Hamlet, "History doth make cowards of us all." (Earl of Oxford, Hamlet)
Doctrine is a railroad track that takes us in the direction we are going. As Luther pointed out, one mistake can lead to the fall of an entire nation. America is the best example of UOJ at work. Everyone is forgiven. Nothing is wrong, bad, or sinful, except questioning this great insight. History is troublesome, so let's bypass that completely.
This spirit of cooperation will take the Lutheran sects farther and faster along the same track. WELS already has its own Reconciled congregation, a node in the Lavender Mafia - St. John in Milwaukee. Congratulations to Mark Schroeder and Mark Jeske.
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| One in Thrivent, one in dogma, one in the spirit of Fuller-ELCA Universalism. |
