Walther and the Predestination Controversy Reviewed by a Customer

 The print edition is here - Walther and the Predestination Controversy.

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding the LCMS's peculiar doctrine of justification without regard to faith

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020

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This book is a re-issue of a classic work that was published in 1897. It was produced by individuals who opposed the erroneous doctrines introduced by CFW Walther, who was the founder and chief theologian of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) on justification and election. The tone of this book is somewhat polemic.

The book consists of 3 sections, each of which can be read as a stand-alone document:

Part 1 provides a historical background to the predestination controversy that arose in the LCMS in the last quarter of the 19th century
Part 2 is titled “Intuitu Fidei” (in view of faith). The authors provide excerpts from the writings of Lutheran theologians from the 16th and 17th centuries to document the traditional Lutheran doctrine of justification and election which Walther's new doctrines contradicted.

Part 3 is titled “The Blue Island Theses”. This is a statement of 5 principles of traditional Lutheran doctrine on justification and election published in 1881 by theologians who left the LCMS in protest to Walther's new doctrines.

If you are a member of the LCMS or the Wisconsin Synod (which adopted Walther's doctrines in this matter), then you need to read this book. You will see how the peculiar LCMS doctrine of justification without regard to faith (known as Universal Objective Justification or UOJ) came to be. If you've heard your Pastor or some synod official talk about UOJ and you always wanted to refute their claims that UOJ is 'real Lutheran doctrine', and how 'Walther got it right and everyone else got it wrong', this book has all the information you need. It lays out the Biblical doctrine of justification and provides quotes from the writings of Martin Luther and the Lutheran theologians in the 16th and 17th centuries, documenting what the real Lutheran doctrine is.

This book also describes the tactics that Walther used to smear and discredit the people inside the LCMS and in other Lutheran groups who opposed his doctrines. In fairness, we should take the authors' descriptions of Walther's behavior with a grain of salt, since they were his opponents and they ended up on the losing side of the controversy.

The Earthworm and Hurricane Laura

I had a large plastic barrel in the backyard, where the bushes held it captive for at least a year. It could be useful somewhere else, so I pulled it into the sunlight, bagged the paper trash, and looked inside. The remains of some gardening work was at the bottom. The sun was overhead, so I saw large earthworm moving and glistening in the sunlight, as if it had the most peaceful place on the planet to rest and grow.

I set him free by turning the barrel upside-down. An earthworm in sunlight will burrow down at once, using its bristles like tank treads and opening a path through the soil with its mouth.

Hurricane Laura will pass through Arkansas soon, taking an eastward turn at some point. The edge on radar is at Ft. Smith, 100 miles south of us. Big storms leave the NW corner of Arkansas alone or offer up only a tiny sample of the damage caused. How else would you get your Tyson chickens and EDLP (every day low prices)?

Hurricanes always cause fear, evacuations, and months of repair afterwards. Earthworms do not, but they bury civilization by building up soil relentlessly. They can even change a forest. If earthworms enter an evergreen forest via the boots of fishermen and hunters, the steady calcifying work and their reproduction will change the soil and make it less acid, less pine-friendly.

Christians are the earthworms, literally called New Creations from the Gospel Word converting them to believers in Christ. God does this work through the powerful Word of preaching and the Sacraments - the visible Word.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [ktisis - creation] : old things [archaic things] are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

17 ωστε ει τις εν χριστω καινη κτισις: τα αρχαια παρηλθεν ιδου γεγονεν καινα τα παντα


The thieves and liars from Fuller Seminary promise multitudes of Happy Campers if their products are bought and used. They are more like hurricanes for a few days, noisy and destructive, with repairs necessary for a long time afterwards.

 This all works together by design, in spite of our mistakes, but this web is even more productive by understanding Creation. 

Read "The Error of Modern Missouri" - Free PDF or Inexpensive Print Book

PDF Free Version of The Error of Modern Missouri

Print Book  Walther and the Predestination Controversy

Inexpensive Print Books from Alec Satin Are Found Here

Hello Pastor Jackson

Some time ago you wrote in your blog about the book "Errors of Modern Missouri", which had just been re-printed by the Lutheran Librarian.  

I bought the book and finally finished reading it. I found it to be a very effective exposition and defense of the traditional Lutheran doctrines of election and justification, against the doctrines of CFW Walther.

The book also gave me an insight into how UOJ came about: Walther removed faith as a instrument of justification, and replaced it with the idea that everyone is justified by the death of Christ, without regard to faith. One then became saved when he 'accepted' his already justified status.   

          

Matthias Loy on the Sacraments

 "

[From St. Mark, Delaware, Ohio -

1860

"Rev. Loy is elected President of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio, a position he held for 32 years. He also composed 42 hymns for the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal."

“For these rites,” [says the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art. 13, § 4. 5,] “have God’s command and the promise of grace which are peculiar to the New Testament. For when we are baptized, when we eat the Lord’s body, when we are absolved, they ought certainly to assure us that God truly forgives us for Christ’s sake. And God at the same time, by Word and by rites, moves hearts to believe and conceive faith, just as St. Paul says, ‘Faith cometh by hearing.’ Rom. 10:17. But just as the Word enters the ears, in order to strike hearts, so the rite itself meets the eyes, in order to move hearts. The effect of the Word and of the rite is the same, as it has been well said by Augustine that a Sacrament is ‘a visible Word,’ because the rite is received by the eyes, and is, as it were, a picture of the Word, signifying the same thing as the Word. Wherefore the effect of both is the same.”

 Loy's Church in Delaware, Ohio, north of Columbus, is in the paws of ELCA. Rev. Kenneth DeWalt, a student of Lenski, served the congregation for 30 years. After that, a series of interim pastors followed. Another hymn-writer besides Loy, Emmanuel Cronenwett, also served St. Marks.

Loy

But to be… marks of profession among men is not the chief end of the Sacraments. Therefore those who teach that this is their only purpose are grievously in error.

The truth which the Scriptures teach and the Church of the Reformation confesses is so distasteful to many that, in their endeavor to escape it, they can think of no better purpose for which the holy Sacraments were ordained than that of being marks of recognition as Christians. All the power and grace of these divine institutions is thus denied, and the holy Sacraments with their potency and mystery and heavenly comfort are reduced to mere labels by which the observer may know who wants to be regarded as a Christian and who does not.

From Loy, Matthias. The Augsburg confession: An Introduction To Its Study And An Exposition Of Its Contents Columbus, Ohio: Lutheran Book Concern, 1908.

---

 Pastor Emmanuel Cronenwett

Yale Medical Scientist versus Fauci, Who Mandated Face Diapers for Us, But Not for Fauci

Mrs. Ichabod and I worked at the Yale Medical School in 1972-73. She did research for a professor at the Yale Child Study Center there. I looked up and xeroxed medical journal articles for a government program.

Our good friend from church was a PhD and MD at Yale Medical, working at the physiology lab.

 The mask is for thee, not for me.

 The company he keeps.

Finally - The Declaration of Independence's Stance Is Supported Many Ways

Pro-abortion. Pro-abortion. Pro-abortion and honest about it. Pro-abortion.
Thrivent is pro-abortion with ELCA, and conservative capons go along with it.
Where is the stink-eye? Where is the Left Foot of Fellowship?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

When the spiritual values are neglected, the visible church becomes one more human institution. 

"This has been a fruitful subject. I have dwelt upon it at some length because I feel that the Church’s spiritual equipment is the cardinal and fundamental thing. It does not consist in trappings, or sensational programs, or discussions of civic and economic arrangements; it consists in spiritual efficiency through the Christ of the gospel. “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Thus far we have considered the great impelling motives of the Church’s call. We must now speak briefly of the call itself." 
Leander Keyser, sermon, submitted by Alec Satin, Lutheran Librarian

Is Life Today One Big LARP?

 "Theology is the grammar of Faith," as Paul L. Holmer wrote. Synodical grammar is atrocious today.

LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing. The term is often used today. The idea is that paid members of an event create a false impression by the way they act during and after an event. The LARP becomes a factual news item and part of history.

For example, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was real, but the "surprise" part was not. Republicans in Congress held an investigation. Most people will say today that we had no idea that a giant, noisy convoy of ships steamed across the Pacific, using ship-to-ship radio, and remained undetected. Books have written about what we knew then and who was kept in the dark, such as the Pearl Harbor commanders.

There are alternate narratives to many major events in history, especially in the last century. I enjoy reading about them and considering which versions are the most credible. America is not strong on knowing or retaining history facts. I can picture a nation-wide poll on Waterloo coming up with "a famous song by Abba," not the date (1815) and the main characters (Napoleon, Wellington)
involved.

QED, the Wuhan Flu is real, but the response has been a LARP, especially the legendary and imaginary "second wave," a clever way to sell face-diapers in many imaginative designs.

 The ushers, greeters, and ministers must smile, and be Golden Retrievers, not guard dogs of the Faith.

The Denominations and Synods - One Giant LARP

I read that Mrs. Jerry Falwell Junior was quick to rebuke anyone (via her contacts) who suggested Liberty University was less than perfect. I thought, "Yes, just like like WELS, Missouri, ELCA, the CLC (sic) and the rest." Criminals are absolved and promoted. Those who question Holy Mother Synod President Hategood are beaten like rented mules - their first and last warning.

The Hategoods are simply the fruit of the 150 year old LARP. They should be pitied, because the evil tree will always produced corrupt fruit. When the current crop is finished producing unbelievers, new examples of the same syndrome will replace them.

The Calvinists first - as Congregationalists - became Unitarians at the academic and clergy level. The real truths were limited to the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God. I saw that in New Haven, when a church group (Congregationalist in origin) was horrified that I agreed with the articles of faith in the Apostles Creed. Yale Divinity School (Congregationalist in origin) swore that no more Lutherans would be hired to teach there - those professors were too conservative.

The Methodists and Episcopalians joined the parade to perdition. The first steps were Social Gospel activism, aided and abetted by "Biblical scholarship" that treated the Scriptures as one more interesting book, entirely human in all respects. Sometimes the Social Gospel activists were discovered to place all their trust in Marxism...oh no! Everyone got used to the Marxists pushing their agenda at all levels. Lutherans were always "a day late and a dollar short," as Stanley Hauerwas liked to say in his ethics classes.

Lutheran embraced and militarized the same goals as the mainline denomiations, first on the left side (ALC, LCA) then on the right side (WELS-ELS-LCMS):

1. The KJV is spoiled by relying on a bad, old, unscientific text.
2. Our genius generation knows how to promote a new, scientific Greek text of the New Testament.
3. The Bible is just a book about religion.
4. Jesus died on the cross to free us from lack of success, poor time management, and neglect of socialism.

Not entirely, but for the most part -

• Lutheran worship is gone.
• The Creeds and Confessions are "boring and irrelevant" as one WELS leader said.
• Any old Bible will do since we learn so much from 57 varieties of each verse.
• Lying, deceit, and slander are the modus operandi in all the synods, serving their Father Below.

2 Timothy 4 KJV

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

 This cat has chick-pox. Where is your face-diaper?

Do Not Laugh

I told someone I was facing a complicated paperwork issue, mostly burning up frustrating time on the phone. Today I went to the files and began. Fortunately I had gathered them before and put them in one drawer, but unfortunately some necessary items seemed to be missing.

I went through each manila envelope. Everything fell into place. My outline for how to complete this project had all green check-marks. I can finish in one morning! Time to write again.

Books

Walther the American Calvin: Building a Synod on Felonies is the next book to write.

On the Biblical text and translations - something like Broken Biblical Foundations, Corrupt Translations. I am having a great time reading again the basic books and articles on this topic. The issue is the greatest head-fake in Christian history - the vast majority using a faked text from apostates and miserably bad paraphrases sold as translations.

The result? - no inerrancy and no Justification by Faith. The NIV celebrates with the lupine Lutherans the sudden emergence (from nowhere) of Universal Objective Justification.

 Our translating team is hard at work.

Creation Garden Point Two - Weed Whackers Arrive

Look at the Buckwheat farm growing around the Crepe Myrtle. I overdid the sowing.

'Twas a Springdale day. I took The Sass for a morning walk. She dislikes being brushed, so I finger brush her outside, usually sitting on a curb. She enjoys that and we see fur flying in little bunny clumps, perhaps the lining of a bird's nest in the near future. When we were getting up, an SUV was driving slowly toward us on Scott, which is a quiet street at 7 AM. The driver stopped and rolled down his window, "Are you OK?" Strangers are friendly and helpful in this area. On two separate occasions I was told to wait until they had the Town Car running. "You are NOT calling AAA!"

Later that day, Ranger Bob announced he would weed-whack the Rose Garden if I had plastic collars to protect all the healthy roses. In fact, I had a new box plus almost all the old ones. One ran away during a wind storm, but I got it back. "No more of that!"

So yesterday I heard the usual knock and went outside. Bob and PFC had finished their selective destruction of the garden. As I wrote before, the heavy rains and sunshine had boosted weed growth to remarkable levels, and the more mature Joe Pyes were 8 feet tall.  But I had clipped most of the JPs at the soil level, so Bob and PFC had a relatively conflict-free area to cut down. It was done! All they wanted was cold water, hot coffee, and damp towels.

Sassy looked at me, triggered. She always gets a Milk Bone when Bob comes, so she had her bone and then set up her defense perimeter to keep us safe during the coffee hour outside.

 I like giant Aliums (garlic) but most bulbs do not thrive here. Tulips are a disaster.

Creation Garden Point Two

I have tried out many plants in the Creation Garden, which means our rabbits are the healthiest and most fertile in NW Arkansas. They have no toxins in their food and enjoy a wide variety of tender new plants, which I usually never see again.

They ate three Clethra shrubs over the winter. The magical tree, exuding sweetness and cinnamon, probably tastes as good as it smells. Cutting back the Pyes released the shrubs to the breezes that lift the fragrance across the yard and driveway.

 Butterfly Bush does not do as well as Crepe Myrtle here. 

Summing up what can be handled, I decided that the garden is really vertical and can be weeded only by machine. That means:

• Roses
• Daisies
• Bee Balm
• Clethra
• Crepe Myrtle
• Joe Pye
• Hostas with their stalks of trumpet flowers for the Hummingbirds.

Except for roses, these are bully plants that protect and expand their territory by growth at the base and in their height.

We will put in an ocean of Daffodils in the fall. They will grow up in drifts and in spots between plants, but they will finish their cycle before the rest get going. Staying below, they will repeat this for a long time. Animals do not like them (yay!). Squirrels do not dig them up for storage elsewhere (double yay!). Daffodils are beautiful solo and in large drifts. 

New Testament Passages - Apostasy Predicted

1 Timothy 4 4 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

***

 Almost 100 years ago, Charlotte Kirschbaum and Karl Barth invented the Church Dogmatics that later influenced Fuller Seminary away from any concept of inerrancy, let alone the Chief Article. Nobody knew Charlotte and Karl were adulterers! OK, we knew 45 years ago (at least) from the former president of the Barth society, Frank Fiorenza, now at Harvard. Communists both? - that book has been out for years, see below. But thanks be to God, there is no Church Growth in WELS, as Wayne Mueller solemnly declared. And Missouri only uses a carefully filtered, curated ideas, not one a danger to Holy Mother Synod.

 The author is head of the Barth Shrine at Princeton. I met him and his first wife at Yale.

GJ - Departing from the faith is the most important aspect of our current crisis. The most blatant falsehoods are sold for a profit by the church printing publishing houses (NIV, ESV, etc) and Barth-Kirschbaum's Church Dogmatics, conceived in sin and dedicated to Marxism.

Apostasy can only come from those who were formerly believers. They are far more destructive than outright atheists, because they burrow and corrupt from within, using the language of Christianity but changing its meaning. Thus Barth and Kirschbaum (Du bist zo schoene, mein schnutzi putzi) have the Bible containing the Word of God but not actually the Word of God.

Veering from God's will that men and women marry, the early Medieval Church extolled non-marriage as a requirement for pastors and for the separated women whose groom could only be Jesus. This rebellion against Creation made it easier to corrupt the Gospel and build power for the Bachelor-in-Chief. Now the WELS college makes sure they keep their government loan money by not opposing the rainbow coalition and gender switches.

***

2 Timothy 4 4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

***

GJ - Anyone who raises the slightest concern about the worsening crisis will be thanked by losing friends, getting the stink-eye, and being extended the Left Foot of Fellowship. The denominational Threat and Slander Machine will simultaneously cry, "They are ruining us" and "They are slandering us!" Church leaders are very religious - they say, "God have mercy on you, because we won't."

In Lutherdom, the incompetence and shallowness push everyone further into the darkness. Matt the Fatt could not get through a seminary PhD program, the easiest and least challenging. Mirthless Mark Schroeder is the victim of an inbred system where the graduates of his abuse seminary in Mordor become the professors of the next generation, preserving the cultic GA rites and alcoholic abuse and mattress room. Pope John the Malefactor has a very special education - not even a bachelor's degree when hired as a seminary New Testament professor. Only then did he finish a degree, because his students were more advanced than he was.

 Matt the Fatt - Mirthless Mark - Pope John the Malefactor.
They rejoice in their rejection of the Chief Article, Justification by Faith.

***

2 Thessalonians 2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasy] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. [GJ The papacy treats the pope as infallible, godlike in power and perfection. The Jesuit pope represents the worst of two evil, corrupt, and shockingly debased institutions.]

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

***

GJ - Our generation's denial is proof we are in this final stage, which can last a long time.

 The Jesuit pope gave an abortion activist an award. How different is he from the LCMS-WELS-ELS popes who work with the abortion promoting Thrivent and their warped sister ELCA?

Hilarious Post from the LutherQueasies - Needs Calvinist News Coverage

Best CTQ issue ever?

Concordia Ft. Wayne put out an issue that has the LutherQueasies virtue-signaling at flank speed. The volume deals with the Book of Concord, which the LQ contributors despise and reject in every possible way.

Glancing at the contents - here are some tidbits.

Robert Preus wrote about the Book of Concord, but he used the opposite of the Chief Article to get rid of Dr. Walter A. Maier, II as a political force in the LCMS. Later, Preus published an essay where he combined Objective Justification quotations with those clearly criticizing the eructations of Halle Pietism - the Easter absolution of the world. Still later, two of his sons, Rolf and Daniel, edited Robert's final book, Justification and Rome, where almost all the material on Justification was against OJ and only a mention or two could be understood as pro-OJ. Rolf was outraged that I quoted the book - but in his epic North Dakota Oilpatch Lectures - he managed to glorify OJ once again but did not even mention the book he helped to edit. "There are no good writers, only good editors." (Old journalism motto - to which I have to add - "But there are bad editors who clearly do not comprehend what they are doing.")

 Justification by Faith is the Chief Article that dare not speak its name - in the LCMS-ELCA-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic).

Klug seems to have a worthwhile article in that issue, on Luther and his great confession of the Lord's Supper.

 The keystone and the cornerstone of Protestantism - both are neglected today by the Barth-loving, Fuller-attending "conservative" Lutheran leaders. Does anyone wonder why David Scaer found the influence of the Maier family odious?

Find someone today who agrees with this brilliant statement from Dr. Walter A. Maier. The Ft. Wayne faculty and many others missed a chance to apologize to WAM II before he died. They beat him like a rented mule for teaching Justification by Faith, but they did not have the guts to explain they were Justification by Faith deniers. No, they called him an OJ-denier! 

The seminary faculties of LCMS-WELS-ELS are happy with the radical rejection of the traditional text, which is only found in the KJV family of translations today. Therefore -

1. They oppose inerrancy because they have no problems with the NIV, ESV, and Surfer Dude paraphrases (Surfer Dude stands for all the wild hooey put out by charlatans for a quick buck.) They tolerate everything except the KJV, which is like the Roman Empire tolerating every god except the One True God.
2. They openly oppose the Chief Article, Justification by Faith - embracing instead the anti-Gospel toxins of OJ, with its multitude of fraudulent explanations and misleading attacks.

 David had his Bathsheba, and Scaer had his OJ.

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 2020. Saint versus Sanctimony (Virtue Signaling)

 Norma A. Boeckler's Christian Art

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 2020

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

https://video.ibm.com/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central  Daylight Time

The Hymn # 200     I Know that My Redeemer Lives    

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual       

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn # 384       How Great Is Thy Compassion             

 Saint versus Sanctimony (Virtue Signaling)

The Communion Hymn #342           Chief of Sinners                   

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 514             God Moves in a Mysterious Way     

In Our Prayers

• In cancer therapy - Mary Howell, Randy Anderson, Christina Jackson.
• Diagnosis - Pastor Jim Shrader, Kermit Way.
• Hunger relief - Bethany Mission, Philippines. They have lockdowns, too.
• Mourning - Carl Roper's wife Lynda and family.
• Twin storms moving in the Gulf and the South this week.

Norma A. Boeckler

KJV 1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

KJV Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Eleventh Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father, we beseech Thee so to guide and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not forget our sins and be filled with pride, but continue in daily repentance and renewal, seeking our comfort only in the blessed knowledge that Thou wilt be merciful unto us, forgive us our sins, and grant us eternal life; 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.

Background for the Gospel Sermon - Luke 18, Pharisee and Tax Collector

Luther explained this parable in terms of the tree comparison. There are only good trees and evil trees, from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:15ff. This comparison takes us from the wordy and complicated lectures of man (topics - Law and Gospel, Good Works) keeps the two trees before our eyes. We have a Mimosa tree (trees) in our back yard. That one is the evil tree, which should only be pruned with a chain saw. The Mimosa is showy but only produces more Mimosa trees, which quickly grow to take over their surroundings. In contrast are the slow growing and valuable oak trees. They are the good trees that only produce good fruit, feeding many birds and legions of squirrels, providing shade and eventually attractive lumber. A religion of works alone is like the Mimosa, showy but only producing evil fruit, like the 8 foot Mimosa taking over from the valuable Chaste Tree ($10 an ounce for the oil). As Jesus teaches, and Luther always demonstrates, good works are the natural fruit of faith in Him.

 Saint versus Sanctimony

KJV Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 

This parable clearly shows why there was so much antagonism toward Jesus. He attacked the basis for their sense of holiness by teaching the righteousness of faith in Him. He supported His claims by demonstrating His divine power over all of Creation. One either trusts in Him or in his own righteousness. Faith shows love for others, but self-righteousness is expressed in loathing for others.

Although this is framed in the language of the time, the parable is fitting for all ages, because we have the same two figures today, the outwardly holy Pharisee who despises others and the humble tax-collector who has faith and the works that grow from faith in Him.

Stanley Hauerwas, my ethics professor and doctoral advisor, liked to say this in class as a quip, "Lutherans are not good about sanctification." The term sanctification is used for works in the Christian life, and is the subject of Romans 6, good works following Justification by faith in Romans 3 - 5. His Methodist upbringing and Catholic leanings were both reasons for emphasizing such topics as world peace. I waited for him to say his quip the second time in class. When Hauerwas said it again, "Lutherans are not good about sanctification," I added, "Or sanctimony." That stopped him and he had to agree in a muffled tone.

Sanctimony (holier-than-thou) is a great word for describing the acts of self-praise based on the good works (or lack of sinful works) that the individual exhibits.

This sanctimony (holier-than-thou attitude) is forcefully represented in the Woke, as they identify themselves. They also insist on all activism being linked together - 

1. Civil rights are alphabet rights.
2. There is no limit to the number of genders.
3. Fossil fuels must go, and nuclear plants are even worse.
4. Socialism is the only good government.
5. Those who disagree must be fired, excluded, and punished for their lack of tolerance.
6.  The excluded are seldom forgiven, even if they apologize in abject humility.

There is always a type of faith, but is a faith convenient for the Woke Commandments.

Two men -

Jesus as the Lord of Creation teaches in contrasts. There are two alternatives, not 17. The explanations are not subordinated until we hardly know how to distinguish one from the to the other. Faith in Him does not make the Ten Commandments obsolete but known as an expression of God's love: God commands what is good for us. 

This is largely forgotten, especially by those who call themselves conservative, orthodox, or confessional - thanks to the influence of Calvinism and other isms. The Word is not what we want it to be, a platform for our own thoughts. It is the unique and only revelation of God's will and must be treated with the utmost respect and reverence. 

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

This sermon of self-praise has a bit of humor in it. Thanking God for being so virtuous - by his own efforts - makes us smile. Some people never have any alcohol - and tell us. Some always wear their useless paper masks - and tell us. Others never eat meat or milk products - the Adventists have made that mandatory. We attended a Missouri worship service where the ELS leaders asked me not to publish the fact that they worshiped with the impure.

This is definitely Pharisaical righteousness - and also found in any religious expression that lacks the true righteousness of faith in the Savior. But it is also a portrait of the Old Adam, the sinful self within us. Therefore Jesus gives us an example of the true saint in the tax collector.

The word "saint" has been abused to match up with the Pharisee, by declaring some people saints and giving them a special kind of holiness. In the New Testament, the saints are the believers. The term in the Old Testament is "the righteous," those who believed in the coming Messiah. 

At Notre Dame the members of various religious orders had stories about their own saints. One Christian Brother said, "Our founders are described as if they walked six feet above the ground, never sinning in any way." He considered everything in the Bible as symbolic and not actually occurring, including the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection. 

Some religious practices, whether Christian in name only - or pagan - include public and private acts of self-torture, as if inflicting pain would purify oneself. That is at the heart of earning forgiveness by "virtuous acts."

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

Luther:

5. He speaks of the publican as though he must have previously heard a word from God that touched his heart so that he believed it and thus became pious, as St. Paul says, Romans 10:17: “So faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” When the Word falls into the heart, then man becomes pure and good. But the Evangelist does not indicate that he now first heard the Gospel here, but that he heard it somewhere, it matters not where. For he says: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” This knowledge is above the powers of reason. And yet it must previously have been known to him that God is merciful, gracious and friendly to all those who confess their sins, who call upon him and long for grace. As he heard that God is gracious by virtue of his very nature, to all those who humble themselves and seek comfort in him. But to preach thus is always the pure Gospel.

It is important to notice how Luther sees the entire Bible as a unified Truth, which it is. Those who pit one author against another author are really opposed to the true Author - the Holy Spirit. As I have been writing, the abandonment of the traditional text of the Bible, which began in the 1880s (in earnest), is fully at work today throughout the Western world.

The tax collector is a symbol of all that Israel loathed at the time. He forcibly collected taxes to support the Roman Empire's occupation and government, a constant reminder that they were once independent with a great king. Everyone gave the tax collector the stink eye and shunned him with great energy. The Pharisee was thankful that he was not like this tax collector.

This is also the portrait of anyone with faith in Christ. That causes instant dislike and derogatory jokes from unbelievers. Probably the worst are those within the visible church yet not believing, only gaining some credibility or business from the association.

So the tax collector is humble rather than proud. Knowledge of God fills us with awe in His Creation and with thanksgiving for His Beloved Son. Because this transcends our earthly knowledge, many do not accept the complete revelation but only take from what they like. There are many fatal traps for them, skandalon is the New Testament term but it means the trigger of the trap, not embarrassment for being on the cover of a British tabloid. Creation can be the trigger, or miracles, or a type of miracle that does not appeal to the person, or Paul's instructions. Several Notre Dame doctoral students in theology wanted to be priests - female priests. 

The proper way to address God is in humility. Lacking humility shows a lack of knowledge in the Word. God has all power and change changes matters in an instant. 

Isaiah 66 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

So the world of Pharisaical Christians will always seek to crush the faithful, and they even do that when not trying, so great is their confidence in their holiness. 

Faith and humility go together. Faith sees the vast gulf between God's power and holiness, our weakness and sinfulness. God's remedy was not to make us work ourselves up to Him, but to bring His Son down to us. The Gospels teach us in dozens of ways about God's mercy and forgiveness. It is not just taught in words but exemplified in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. That is the great skandalon/stumbling block for the moderns. They have to re-interpret that so they can mention the cross and not mean what it teaches. Rauschenbusch and other rationalists made it "Jesus expressing his solidarity with the poor." 

Faith opens our eyes to what was done for us without our merit. Faith receives Jesus - it is the entrance to God's grace. Those who belittle faith have no faith at all, because they would trust the clear revelation as it is spelled out in apostolic letters. First, all the living witnesses were teaching the resurrection of Christ and His teaching. The letters explained how this applied to congregations. As the witnesses died the Gospels themselves were added, so the ministry of Christ was preserved in writing. This all came about quickly, in the same time that many of us have been adults.

The more we see in faith, the more we realize how precious the Treasure of the Gospel is. God has given us eternals - eternal truth and eternal life. Unbelief denies one and edits the other (I have been so good).  Faith sees the eternal truths as overshadowing all of man's wisdom (truth) and all of man's accomplishments (eternal life). God is so powerful that he can take the work of a few men and women and accomplish His will when millions of men and women can hardly keep the juggernaut going down the street.

When I read the latest gardening breakthroughs (fungus, beneficial insects rather than toxins), I wanted to shout at the author's "Can't you see God's Creation in this? It was all laid out and working while you were poisoning the world with toxins instead!" Instead, I wrote about Creation Gardening. Nothing is more humbling than a garden - it grows miracles and devours plans. 

PFC said, "There is no yard like this." Actually the woods and open places are full of similar displays. We just don't see how God works them until they are gathered together and viewed at close range. So the parables work too on our understanding of the Christian life.