Thursday, February 11, 2016

By Popular Request - "How Can We Take Greg Jackson Seriously When He Puts Our Pastors in Bunny Suits?"

Matt Doebler earned a drive-by DMin
and got himself a call to be a WELS professor
at the Church and Change mini-seminary.

"How Can We Take Greg Jackson Seriously When He Puts Our Pastors in Bunny Suits?" - That is what one WELS pastor said to dismiss this humble little blog's efforts.

Patterson disgraced the office of ministry
by using bunnies to promote his Easter service.
Kudu Don hates this Photoshop, one of my best.


But he omitted this crucial fact. I put Don Patterson and Matt Doebler in bunny suits because both promoted their Easter Sunday service with live bunny rabbits. Bring the kiddies to church so they pet those cute little bunnies. Patterson hid the bunny notice on a separate websty the next Easter, but I found it by Googling Patterson and bunny. I am not a genius, just by comparison with the average IQ of WELS DPs. The third year Patterson dropped the public mention of Easter bunnies.

Patterson life-coach victim Ski would love to bring a bunny to church on Easter.
Osteen knows it's all about the bunnies and the Benjamins.
They were almost rained out one year, an act of God.

I admit adding the caption to the hat and the clown suit for Glende,
but they are metaphors for both. Figure it out.
They became FB friends during Ski and Glende's harassment troubles,
and Ski got his insta-call next door to Patterson.

DP Don is so pleased to have half of the Odd Couple at his church.

Don Patterson has lots of property and income,
plus rich members who take him to Africa to wild kudu deer,
but he mines WELS for more loot to run his operation.
That lets him run around being a bigshot.


PETA swung the DP vote to Kudu Don. WELS gossip said that
Schroeder and the previous DP did not want him in that office.
But opposition to the New NIV stopped when Don stepped up.


Did I put the Dapper Don in that silly mob outfit? No!
Did I add $ to his dark glasses. Yes!
No one fishes for funds faster than Kudu Don -
stirred by his mission to move from Hispanic Austin
to rockin' rich Round Rock.

Discussion of Child Abuse on Free Republic - This Quotation.
Have Mark Schroeder and the Coven of Presidents Heard This?

The Circuit Pastor has a legal duty to report,
but not the permission of the State of Alaska to decide the issue,
which is a conflict of interest.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3395557/posts

"In which case within the US, most any adult in any form of supervisory capacity must report to the authorities allegations of child abuse that come to their attention, or else can be made subject to prosecution for failures to do so."


The District President has a legal duty to report,
but not the permission of the State of Alaska to decide the issue,
which is a conflict of interest.

The Synod President has a legal duty to report,
but not the permission of the State of Alaska to decide the issue,
which is a conflict of interest.




----
WELS Has a New System for Covering Up, Hiding, and Denying Abuse - Did They Report Joel Hochmuth after 
Counseling Him about Gay Child Porn Swapping?


Freedom for the Captives


By Sheryl Cowling, LCSW, BCPCC, BCETS of WLCFS—Christian Family Counseling
The issue of child abuse is one that impacts so many of God’s people. Too often those who love God know the pain caused by childhood neglect and abuse—whether that abuse is physical, emotional, sexual, or some combination of these. Sadly, statistics from multiple sources reinforce that about one in ten children are neglected and are emotionally abused, about one in four are physically abused, and about one of every six boys and one of every four girls are sexually abused. Just look around the next time you are worshiping in church at the faces of your brothers and sisters in Christ, and know that many of them carry much pain, often hidden from others due to the toxic shame that such mistreatment often causes.
In response to the needs that result from child maltreatment, the WELS Commission on Special Ministries developed a team of pastors, seminary professors, mental health providers, and a legal expert with the goal of developing a website that could provide valuable information to pastors, teachers, survivors, and their loved ones. The result is freedomforcaptives.com.
This website contains valuable information about child abuse and neglect and offers many resources to those who want to reach out with love and compassion to those who are hurting. The website contains links to Bible passages that offer hope and healing. It has information about how to find a counselor with special training in working with survivors. It includes reviews of books written by Christian authors. There are also links to other websites and online resources, plus much more.
Please take a few minutes to check out the website at freedomforcaptives.com and share it with family and friends, pastors and teachers. Please encourage those who may want additional information or support to get in touch with us through the “Contact Us” page on the website.
Together we can share God’s healing power as we “proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isaiah 61:1).
Sheryl is a psychotherapist who specializes in Christian counseling for survivors of abuse and other trauma. She is a member of Crown of Life Lutheran in Hubertus, Wis.





Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Ash Wednesday, 2016. The Redeemer


Ash Wednesday, 2016

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson



The Hymn #552                Abide with Me 
            
The Order of Vespers                                                p. 41
The Psalmody               Psalm 1                        p. 123
The Lection                              Joel 2:12-19
Matthew 6:16-2


The Sermon –   Jesus the Redeemer
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace                                       p. 45

The Hymn # 429      Lord, Thee I Love                  


KJV Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:



KJV Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.



Collect
Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst manifest Thyself, with the Holy Ghost, in the fullness of grace at the baptism of Thy dear Son, and with Thy voice didst direct us to Him who hath borne our sins, that we might receive grace and the remission of sins: Keep us, we beseech Thee, in the true faith; and inasmuch as we have been baptized in accordance with Thy command, and the example of Thy dear Son, we pray Thee to strengthen our faith by Thy Holy Spirit, and lead us to everlasting life and salvation, through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Jesus the Redeemer

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.


The sermons for Lent will be based on titles of Jesus and how they relate to our faith. The process of unlearning what the Bible teaches plainly is both slow and painful. Many denominations are patient enough to spend decades and millions of dollars supplanting what was once taught so that clergy and later the laity accept the new teaching. This has been very successful, which is no different from giving someone bad directions and once the person is completely confused and lost, giving even worse directions.

What does this Gospel lesson mean by distinguishing treasure on earth from treasures in heaven?

The Reformation was quite clear and repetitive in calling the Gospel a treasure, and that Gospel is Jesus as the Redeemer. This was a great change from an accumulation of 1,000 years of teaching. Some was quite gradual, but now it firmly fixed. Jesus is the angry judge, and Mary is the one who appeals to Him to be merciful. According to the Church of Rome, sins are forgiven but not paid for. Thus a life of good works must pay for them, and even then incompletely. The rest of the payment is made by the individual in Purgatory, with help from his friends, relatives, and priests below.

Thus in the Church of Rome, Jesus was not quite the Redeemer, while the Reformation emphasized the redemption in the clearest possible language.

Our language is not subtle enough to include the two different terms used for redemption in the New Testament, so we tend to think of one rather than the other. Both are meant when we say Jesus is the Redeemer.

One is the price paid for all sins, and this word is the one used for buying something at the market. The Greek word remains in our language as agoraphobia, fear of public places, or for men - fear of the shopping mall.

The other term is based on releasing (loosing) slaves from their slavery. Slavery is not that far distant from American history. Some owners set their slaves free, or gave them their freedom. They were no longer owned by someone, property, but free, on their own. And yet Paul calls himself a slave, because he is a slave of God.

Both concepts about the Redeemer are part of the message of the treasure. While all our human frailties make us want to pay for our sins, that cannot be, because the Redeemer paid the price when He died on the cross, accepted the wrath of God falling upon Him, and the scorn and torture of man, plus rejection of almost every single person around Him.

Job 19:25-27King James Version (KJV)

25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
---

Isaiah 48:17King James Version (KJV)

17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
---

Psalm 107:2-8King James Version (KJV)

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
---

Ephesians 1:7King James Version (KJV)

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
---
These passages, and many more, are important, because our temptation is to not accept the full and free forgiveness of our sins. In doubting this, we question te entire meaning of Redeemer. If He has paid the price, there is nothing more to be paid.
Joan of Arc asked that her village be set free from taxes, so the tax book said for the levy on her village, in French "Nothing. The Maid." Every knew what that meant (until Napoleon nixed that and imposed the levy again.)
So that is our Treasure, knowing and believing that Jesus as the Redeemer paid the price for our sins. That proclamation may come late in life, for various reasons, or it may be proclaimed at our baptism as infants. The Gospel proclamation is that Jesus has done this for us and that we receive the benefit in faith. Through His faith we are justified, not from anything we do or merit for this forgiveness.
Once we checked out of our hotel at a family gathering. I got out my card to pay for our stay. The clerk said, "Your bill is zero." I said, "No. I have not paid." He said. "You owe nothing." I said, "I know I have not paid." Then he said, "Your mother paid." She was in the background smiling. So those consumed with guilt about what they must do and suffer to be forgiven are missing the message of Redemption. The price has been paid by the Redeemer.
The other message of Redemption is just as important. We are set free from being slaves of sin.
Galatians 5:1 - Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
So one can be a slave while thinking a partial Christian concept is really the right one, such as blending Judaism and the faith, with the Law being predominant.
Our hedonistic society should pay attention to freedom from slavery because those who live for themselves are slaves to their urges and emotions.
The message of Redemption is clear in the price being being. That is not the same as everyone being forgiven and saved, as the Universalists and Unitarians teach (or used to teach). The UUA no longer has much about God in it, because a rationalistic ethical society inevitably will focus on man alone.
But in the days of classic Universalism, everyone was saved because of God's grace.
However, Luther said, "If you tell someone he is forgiven without knowing contrition. he will look at you the way a cow looks at a newly painted fence."
That can only go in the wrong direction. The Ten Commandments are pounded into rubble to pave the way for a life of rioting, something definitely not taught in Romans.
The games and licentiousness of Rome were and are common knowledge. No one said, "Stop. Everyone is already forgiven." Instead they were taught contrition and the message of forgiveness, redemption, which they longed for when they felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised. He will convict the world of sin, because they do not believe on Me.



Peter Moeller, PhD - On The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans


Pastor Jackson,  I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am to get your newest book.  Read it in but two sessions!  This is very well done and (sadly) timely.  I wish people saw the terrible logical pitfalls of teaching the UOJ, the outcomes (church growth, etc).  yet we always seem to shoot ourselves in the foot. 

Wish I had your gift with words in putting this together.  Jane and I think of you often and wish we could meet again.  I was greatly touched by the dedication to Pastor Harley.  His wife passed away only a couple of years ago so that chapter in my book is closed.  Yet he was such a great theologian - and even better a great teacher.  

I wish  you and your church the very best in Christ.

Peter Moeller, PhD

Coffee - Better and Cheaper at Home

The congregation in Sturgis had an idea about the coffee left in the urn. "You could warm it up to drink during the week,"

Instead of taking up that frugal suggestion, I made my own coffee. Reheated, percolated coffee left in an aluminum urn was not my culinary fantasy.

At Melo-Cream I was always happy to go down to the coffee barrel where the Yuban coffee was kept. My father mixed Maxwell House and Yuban, used a drip coffee maker, and insisted on keeping coffee no longer than 15 minutes.

The favor of coffee is mostly in the aroma, so drinking it fresh is the key to enjoying it. Here are some key steps in making delicious coffee.

Pure Water
The water has to have its off-flavors filtered out. We use a tap filter for that. Otherwise, the coffee competes with the flora and fauna of the lake water we get on tap. I would get spring water and use that ($1 gallon) if I had to.


Fresh
The freshness of the coffee grounds will make an enormous difference. I stopped grinding it each time because the early morning or late night sounds were like gravel being ground up, and the results were uncertain. I put in too much in one batch or two and had truly awful coffee, too weak or too strong.

But we keep the coffee sealed up tightly in sealed containers, one from Gevalia, which we no longer buy. They used to offer wonderful coffee storage devices, and we still have one for the favorite variety of the day. We got a free one each time we tried Gevalia, every six months, so we did, and kept the jar. Alas we only have one jar left.

Now the free offers are for one measuring spoon, so I have two spoons I keep, and I keep track of the amounts used for a good pot of coffee.

Let us pause and consider cost. A large Starbucks cup of coffee is $2 plain. Their fancy concoctions are $4 and up, $24 a gallon, if you take 6 x the 20 ounce cup! Starbucks' plain coffee is one step above restaurant coffee, two steps above church coffee.

High quality coffee is $2 per 10-cup pot at home. The cost is even lower with premium grocery store coffee. Gevalia is found at Walmart and is fairly good. Some other brands can be found there too, and many favored ones as well.

K-cups are more costly per pound but convenient with a large group of people wanting fresh coffee - or hot cocoa - at various times. I was converted Keurig in Seattle, of all places, but the numbers are not favorable for beginning the day with a pot of fresh coffee.

I like Boca Java for several reasons. They have every possible kind and flavor of coffee, and they roast it once the order is in. Therefore, the coffee is quite fresh and the choices nearly reach infinity. They have the best flavored coffees, which are always risky. Most flavored coffees have a bad after-taste and a tendency to be bitter when made. That does not matter when balanced with 50% sweetener and fake cream, as the Starbucks customers know.

The only Boca Java flavors I enjoy are Blueberry and Chocolate Hazelnut. Nevertheless, the other attempts at flavoring are pretty good. I can make perfect cinnamon coffee by shaking some cinnamon on the coffee grounds before making the pot. Others do the same thing. It reminds me of apple sauce with cinnamon at the store. I remembered my mother doing that on her own, not picking it out at Geifman's store.

Roasts vary the flavor and the caffeine content. The light roasts are higher in caffeine and lighter in flavor. Dark, French, and Expresso roasts are not my cup of tea.



The Machine
Our previous drip-maker was a Mr. Coffee that emptied into a thermo-carafe. That wore out after six years. Their latest model  was panned in the Net so I looked around and settled on a Black and Decker thermo-carafe.

This maker is easy to fill and works very well. My only problem is the clock blinking 12:00 all day long, but I ignore that.

---

Alec added -

Hi Greg,

RE: your post on coffee, you write:

"The Machine...
My only problem is the clock blinking 12:00 all day long, but I ignore
that."

An easy solution, worth the 2 minutes, is to cut a piece of black
gaffer's tape or equivalent and cover up the blinking 12:00.  If you cut
neatly, the black tape may actually look better than the clock.

Alec


---

Coffee Varieties
The most expensive is Jamaica Blue Mountain, half the crop used for coffee liquor, a terrible waste. Boca Java must have made tons for Father's Day, because they sold it cheap afterwards. Otherwise, it is something like $50 a pound.  JBM is mellow but has a good flavor at the same time. If I had a choice between JBM and Kona, I would take Kona.

Kona is from Hawaii and combines a great flavor with smoothness. Often a coffee will get a bit much after a few cups, but Kona is so smooth that overdosing is likely. Fortunately, the high cost of $40 a pound will prevent that problem. I bought some on sale at Boca Java - and wow.

We favor light and medium roast coffee. Some come from on location, like Costa Rican and Kona, and JBM.

Another benefit of regular Boca Java ordering is their free sample. One two-ounce packet is offered free each time, so we have tried Banana Foster (a slight chocolate flavor with bananas), Maple Bacon (noping that one), and types with coconut in the background. Since coconut is so easy to obtain now, an artificial coconut flavor in coffee is not choice. Now I am more likely to pick various roasts, but they snagged me with Chocolate Hazelnut.



Amendments
I used to make my own whipped cream to add to coffee, a slippery slope. Sometimes the old cup would be found in the basement, with howls of outrage coming from Little Ichabod, Mrs. Ichabod, or both.

The coffee aisle at Walmart is heavenly, because the coffee aromas are mixed with the artificial cream fragrance. Bending down into a case of half-pound coffees in bags, I thought about the old coffee barrel at Melo-Cream.

However, I would never put those artificial powders and cremes in my coffee. Whipped cream is off the menu for obvious reasons. I could easily finish a bowl off, but that is not wise.

The only amendment approved by the Melo-Cream Little Chef is Cream of Coconut, which is found in the mixed drink aisle of stores. How do I know, with my aversion to drinking alcohol? One customer came looking for it at the Neighborhood Market and the assistant manager directed us to the cubby hole for beer and liquor. On display was Cream of Coconut, used  for pina coladas. The concoction, made of coconut juice, coconut oil, and sugar, is perfect on desserts (like pineapple) and also good for taking the bitterness from a cup of coffee made a little too strong. The bottle is not expensive, a few dollars, and lasts a long time without refrigeration.

Combat typos - start the day with coffee.




Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Bivens Plagiarizes Zarling, 13 Years Later, Same Quotation and Citation.
But Both Are Lying About the Chief Article, the Master and Prince.




Stand in Awe of Justification
The Diamond Among the Jewels of Divine Revelation
M. Zarling 

[Presented to The Minnesota District Pastoral Conference April 12-13, 1983 at Martin Luther Ev. Lutheran Church St. Louis, MO]


The doctrine of justification is the shining jewel of our faith. Indeed, this teaching of Scripture is the heart and core of Christianity. Luther, as is well known, called justification the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae. Dr. Luther goes on in admiring this jewel by saying:

The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our conscience before God. Without this article the world is utter death and darkness... The doctrine of justification must, as I frequently urge, be diligently learned; for in it all the other articles of our faith are comprehended. And when that is safe, the others are safe too.1 (E. M. Plass, ed, What Luther Says: An Anthology, 3 volumes. (St. Louis: CPH, 1959), 2:703-704.)

The Confessions of our Church echo this regard for the centrality of justification. Each of the symbols of Reformation vintage view justification as "the chief topic of Christian doctrine"2 or words to that effect. Therefore, since we view this doctrine as the central teaching of our church, by which the church stands or falls, it is not without some trepidation that this paper is presented. I certainly must confess, "Who is sufficient for these things?"

Last year, when first approached to take this assignment, I was under the impression that this paper would be a response to the now famous "Kokomo case." (My only criterion for selection was that I happened to vicar in the same conference back in '78-'79, when the situation first developed. Now I know that vicaring for George Boldt is an honor, but I wonder if I should thank him for being assigned a paper purely by association?!) In the intervening year, the Kokomo case has been dealt with by the proper committees of our church. Yet to read the "august" pages of the Christian News one would imagine that the controversy rages on. Such is not the case. I am convinced that our gracious Lord has united the brethren in our Church in a Scriptural understanding of justification. There is no controversy or conflict within the WELS. However, since our position has been raped and plundered by those who put words into our mouths, this paper might prove a beneficial review.

One final word of apology before we start in. The subject matter assigned was "objective - subjective justification." I found the assigned topic rather extensive. Where does one begin? In the course of preparing this essay, brethren asked me to review the Kokomo situation. Others wanted me to cover the Maier case at Ft. Wayne. Others asked for an exegetical presentation of pertinent passages. At the risk of trying to cover everything, yet doing nothing thoroughly, I will attempt to oblige all. I hope to present a brief review of Scripture teaching on justification and also analyze the current difficulties men are having with this central doctrine of the Bible. Let us polish the jewel of justification. We need always to stand in awe of this diamond among all of God's revelation.

I. Listen to Men Describe its Various Facets

Lutherans view justification as the key to understanding God's plan of salvation. To paraphrase a popular ad, we could shout "When you've said justification, you've said it all." The term is a catch-all phrase by which we feel confident that orthodox teaching is preserved. But is it? What have we said? What do we mean? Sometimes the pastor in the pulpit uses a handy theological trade word that only confuses the parishioner in the pew. We need to examine how men try to describe the various facets of this brilliant jewel.

Three phrases are usually applied to the teaching that God has forgiven the sins of all men: "Objective justification", "general justification", or "universal justification." Most of the time these terms are interchangeable. Stoeckhardt3 seems to prefer "general justification," while Pieper4 talks of "objective reconciliation." Only Dr. S. Becker carefully delineates between objective and universal justification.


And Now We Hear the Echo from Bivens, 13 Years Later

The Primary Doctrine in Its Primary Setting: Objective Justification and Lutheran Worship [Prepared for the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music and the Arts Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, July, 1996.

“The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our consciences before God. Without this article the world is utter darkness and death.” (What Luther Says, Vol. 2. p 703.) Luther’s appraisal of the doctrine of justification is also ours. We hold it to be the primary doctrine of Scripture, that is, the central and most important teaching revealed by God for us sinners.2 

The truth of justification, above all others, distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. If this teaching were obscured or lost, attempts to show significant differences between the Christian religion and others would ultimately prove to be futile. Also, as revealed and emphasized in the Bible, all other doctrines either prepare for or flow from this chief article of faith. Without this truth, all others would mean little. This doctrine is the source or basis of the benefits and blessings which mankind receives from God. 

What precisely is this “master and prince, lord, ruler and judge” over other doctrines? Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous. As revealed in the Bible, this declaration of God is made totally by grace and on account of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary life and death on behalf of mankind. To phrase it somewhat differently, God has justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has forgiven them. They have been reconciled to God; their status in his eyes has been changed from that of sinner to forgiven sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ. 

But Luther, The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Melanchthon), and the Formula of Concord Say


***

GJ -  Some are going to say, "Bivens did not plagiarize. He used different wording. It is not the same verbatim - what Zarling wrote and what Bivens wrote. You have violated the Eighth Commandment and Matthew 18 and Volume 17 of the Unwritten Laws of the WELS Sect."

Plagiarists typically follow their source and change a few words here and there. That way the match is not exact, but that is also what gives them away. As several have done or even said in my classes, "Change a few words, and it is not plagiarism."

Note - the Zarling was meticulous in the scholarly citation and Bivens more brief. But it was the same source, same page, same quote. And Bivens also immediately defined the Chief Article as universal absolution, just as Zarling did. Like Zarling, anyone who teaches other than justification without faith is a destroyer of Christianity, plus all the other denunciations called down by Luther. Brilliant - except for one thing - Zarling and Bivens are the object of Luther's wrath.


The Chief Article is not the Halle Dogma loved by Rambach, Stephan, and Webber, but justification by faith - as stated twice in the Book of Concord, and constantly taught in those confessions.

Let us dare not chuckle that these two intellectual giants of WELS failed to consult the Book of Concord. Would they discuss Vatican decrees from My Golden Book on the Church of Rome? I think so.

But - since I own a faded and well used copy of What Luther Says, 3 vols., I looked up their joint quotation. Look at what I found. The LCMS publication does not mention justification by faith for pages, but constantly lists this or that Luther quotation as Objective Justification - Oh! Oh! Oh!  - or Subjective Justification.That is a cute way to adjudicate the issue before it is presented.

Teachers - in contrast to synodical puppets like Zarling and Bivens - present the Scriptures and Confessions without making the recent Pietists the ultimate authority on God's Word and the Confessions. Zarling and Bivens are like Marxists who treat every issue as the battle of the proletariat against the oppression of the capitalists, whether Goldilocks or Luther or Shakespeare. OJists only find OJ and their SJ is not even justification by faith, but faith in their absurd dogma of universal absolution and salvation without faith.

As readers know, I copied this from Dr. Robert Preus,
Justification and Rome.

James 3 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

Zarling and Bivens are conscientious, careful, and deliberate liars. Which is worse - they know the truth and deny it? Or- they are so poorly trained themselves that they have no idea what is taught in the Scriptures, Luther, and the Book of Concord?

WELS is betting the farm on this absurdity.
If JP Meyer is wrong, then so is CFW Walther
and his syphilitic bishop!