Reformation Sunday, 2020. The Scriptures versus the Errors of the Papacy

The Festival of the Reformation, 2020

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time - 

Daylight Savings Ends Next Sunday, November 1, All Saints Day

Hymn # 262      A Mighty Fortress         

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 Hymn #387     Dear Christians One and All            

The Scriptures Judge the Papacy

The Communion Hymn #267   If God Had Not Been on Our Side                    

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 #259  Flung to the Heedless Winds 

In Our Prayers

• Christina Jackson is undergoing radiation therapy for the next 9 weekdays. Randy Anderson is preparing for surgery on his leg. Mary Howell is being treated for Hodgkin's. Rush Limbaugh having cancer setbacks.
• Seizures - Callie, Gavin, and Jeshra. 
• Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes  
• Pastor Shrader continues his battle with cancer. Pastor Shrader's congregation is in fellowship with us and the Bethany Philippine Mission - they are also contributing to the effort. 

Ministries of Bethany Lutheran Church 

1. The Christian Art of Norma Boeckler and Norma's print books.
2.  Martin Chemnitz Press - Kindle and print books, and free pdfs.
3.  Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry and Lutheran Librarian - low-cost print books - Alec Satin.
4. Audio Gutenberg - Travis and Lauren Cartee.
5. Bethany Lutheran Mission - The Philippines, Pastor and Mrs. Jordan Palangyos. The rice goal of $1,000 has been met. The laptop needed for the congregation's media ministry, teaching, and broadcasting is $500.

           

KJV Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

KJV Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. 15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Romans 5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Collect

O almighty, eternal God: We confess that we are poor sinners and cannot answer one of a thousand, when Thou contendest with us; but with all our hearts we thank Thee, that Thou hast taken all our guilt from us and laid it upon Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and made Him to atone for it: We pray Thee graciously to sustain us in faith, and so to govern us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may live according to Thy will, in neighborly love, service, and helpfulness, and not give way to wrath or revenge, that we may not incur Thy wrath, but always find in Thee a gracious Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Background for the Sermon - Reformation Day

A superficial glance at the Reformation is the usual response to this moment and this era that changed the world. The most important factor was not the printing press, but that Luther - with a doctorate in the Scriptures and vast knowledge his religion - trusted the Word of God and fearlessly taught the Word, without regard to the consequence. He knew that his organization, the only Church in Europe, would be happy to murder him for his teaching. He also knew that many people around him were inclined to sway with public opinion, so he was very much alone at times. But Luther's endless trust in the power and efficacy of the Scriptures fueled the Reformation, threw off the shackles of Medieval superstitions, and showed people the real Gospel - Justification by Faith, apart from the works of the Law. 

The Scriptures Judge the Papacy

I. Forgiveness

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

This is the first and most important break from the Papacy, and yet the Protestants - including many Lutherans - are willing to surrender this truth to any form of false teaching they encounter and admire. All false religions are invented by man, and they revolve around man earning forgiveness - or almost earning forgiveness.

The genius of the Papacy is keeping most of the Bible complete while gutting its meaning by adding and requiring works. Works must be added to faith for the forgiveness of sin, but those works are never enough. The only promise of eternal peace is dying for the Catholic Faith, though no one is certain.

Medieval Catholic doctrine found a friend in the pagan concept of a Purgatory cleansing people of their sins after death, through the soul's suffering and the faithful praying and donating for their ultimate rest in Heaven. They are glad to say that they agree with Plato's concept of Purgatory, but so much more has been added. Fear is the best ingredient for conformity, as we have seen with Wuhan Flu. This fear moves evil people to donate their estates to the Church (not unlike Schwan Food's founder) to pay for their sins.

The effect is to torture people who are already in anguish about their sins. Almost every message is our culture is the Law. The wise of this age will list a host of sins, some real some fad sins (like using plastic grocery bags), but their answer is to cure the sins revealed by the Law with more Law. "You have to do this!..."

The Holy Spirit teaches us throughout Scriptures that faith in Jesus the Savior is access to God's grace, forgiveness, and love. This faith concept has been weakened, almost removed, by rationalists armed with horrible translations of corrupted texts. Increasingly, more is erased by the great and wise.

The Papacy tried to argue the Scriptures when dealing with the Reformation, but they were shellacked every time, so they removed the authority from the Bible moved it to the visible Church. The highest teaching authority became the Pope and whatever he taught from his throne. That was an enormous temptation to increase fear and promote financial solutions for removing that fear, but never entirely. Purgatory is wonderful as a type of trust fund where there is a torture for centuries for any given sin remaining after a lifetime - or a dying moment - of contrition.

The Gospel is not for the proud and arrogant, but for the sorrowful, the meek, the anguished souls that long for the righteousness of faith. The Pope says he will provide that service, partially, with the rest of the payments coming due after death. That means the Son of God did not do enough for us when He died on the cross, so we must finish the work of forgiveness. But access to this grace is by faith in Jesus Christ. The Papacy offers a lifetime and then some of bearing the burden of sin ourselves. The Gospel promises forgiveness each and every day through this Gospel of the Savior.

II Power and Authority

Many ancient writers taught the power and authority of the Scriptures, but when the Western Roman Empire collapsed around 400 AD, the Church gained control by being the government of Europe with the same language - Latin. Although this varied with the leaders, the Pope was often the primary authority for all things secular and religious in Europe.

To keep people in line and giving generously, the Papacy invented the authority of the Pope as being ultimate (a long struggle, but fully acknowledged now). The Papacy instilled fear, endless obligations, and entertainment.

What do we see as the greatest folly in Christendom now, so obvious that a journalist will spot it and call it "McChurch?" - food and fun and grand buildings! Like the failure Robert Schuller, the current ringmasters tell everyone - "We have IT! Look at our buildings! Look at our grounds! Look at our endowments!" The Pope and the little Antichrists see themselves as significant, relevant, powerful - if everyone is in awe of their material success.

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: 

a - it shall not return unto me void, 

b - but it shall accomplish that which I please, and 

c - it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The entire cycle of weather and food is briefly condensed to show the rain and snow are like the Word of God. Three Promises teach:

a. God's Word never returns empty - the double negative excludes all exceptions.

b. God's Word accomplishes His purpose.

c.  God's Word prospers His purpose.

The have-to laws are completely contrary to Isaiah. No institution is grander than the Papacy in abandoning the Word for these have-to laws:

We have to have a world figure as our leader.

We have to have the world's largest and oldest institution.

We have to have splendid buildings with the richest features.

We have to gather people in enormous numbers.

We have to depress the others with our grand Papal Mass.

We have to have money and endowments beyond all human dreams.

Luther wrote out his books by hand. Sometimes they were created from notes by faithful associates. He simply responded to the needs of the moment and used the Scriptures to address the issues. When we think in terms of material success and institutions, we betray the Scriptures and the Reformation. 

The Church without Walls slipped off the tracks and ended up with mortgages of 29 million dollars.   They also teach financial planning, which is like WELS and Missouri teaching fellowship principles and financial planning.

III Papacy - The Scriptures Are Confusing and Incomplete

The outcome of the basic papal errors is to claim that the Scriptures are confusing, contradictory, and incomplete. This was their answer to the Reformation saying that the Scriptures are clear, in perfect harmony, and inerrant. Most of what the Reformation taught was already known or taught some of the ancient fathers, but that was eroded as the Papacy grew stronger and even more when the Reformation mortally wounded the Vatican.

The modernists took the NT volume called Vaticanus and used its errors to corrupt the New Testament text. This made playing with the NT text a game for a limited field of liberal scholars who loved the readings that contradicted the vast majority of all witnesses. It is like saying "redheads have freckles." Then one in a thousand has no freckles. So the new rule is "No redheads have freckles." If someone argues, the new thinker says, "Scholars agree that redheads do not have freckles. You must be mistaken or just a trouble-maker."

Anyone can see where this Papal attitude takes people. 

They give up studying the Bible on its own.

They are fodder for any crazy Biblical theory.

They become confused about doctrinal fads and practices.

They see no reason to get the best Bible and to read the best sources. All opinions matter.

The opposite is true, because the Word always has an effect, one so powerful in the long run that we cannot deny its divine effectiveness. 

As the General Council emphasized, the purer the teaching, the more powerful it is. The farther away from Biblical truth, the weaker and less effective the message is.

Calvin and His Invented War on Election - Walther the American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

The Election War Invented by Walther

The war about Election developed only because of Walther’s leadership. The self-serving jibe is that one man did not get elected to a position, so he created the battle on his own. That should remind people that Zion on the Mississippi was written by “a disgruntled LCMS pastor,” and In Pursuit of Religious Freedom was not written by church history professor. The three complaints have something in common – they are irrelevant and illogical. The question is whether the three men presented their information as truthfully as possible.

By 1877, Walther was supreme in the Missouri Synod and highly respected in other synods. Each group had a unique origin and they worked through various doctrinal and practical struggles within their ranks. On the Masonic Lodge issue, the question was not who was pure – because no synod was – but who was outwardly more critical.[1]

Once Walther reached the issue of predestination in his theses, others noticed the Calvinistic language and objected. Readers should be reminded that Objective Justification already suffered from those shortcomings, but they were overlooked for the same reason they are ignored now.

1.      People could assume that Objective Justification was simply another word for the Atonement.

2.      They could also think that Subjective Justification was an expression for believing the Gospel.

3.      Walther held such a powerful position – synod, seminary, and publications head – that his perspective was monopolistic and respected.

4.      Justification itself was a word skillfully used to imply one thought (Justification by Faith) while declaring the opposite (Absolution of the World, Without Faith): General Justification, Justification of the Sinner, Justification by Grace, Objective Justification, Universal Objective Justification.

5.      The fact remains that Objective and Subjective Justification were terms used by the Calvinist translator of Knapp’s Halle theology lectures, an important book for all Protestants, German and American.

6.      Halle University and the Halle charities were so influential that their unionist (Lutheran-Reformed) doctrine was easily spread but refuted with difficulty. Spener was simply beyond criticism, so Pietism was practiced but Luther’s name was emphasized.[2]

Professors of German literature love the term Wendepunkt – turning point. The Election controversy is often described in view of history, but the Wendepunkt is Walther’s embrace of grace without the Means of Grace, world absolution without the Word, separation of the Holy Spirit and its exclusive work through the Word. Walther’s weakness on Justification was the evil tree that bore the corrupt fruit of Calvinistic double-predestination.

Walther was so eager to deny anything in man contributing to salvation that he parroted Calvin’s concept of a minority being predestined to glory while the majority were predestined to eternal damnation. Walther’s odd and fatal notion of faith being a “work of man” meant that one Enthusiasm (Objective Justification) would easily foster another – Double Predestination. God alone works, as the Scripture teaches and Book of Concord confesses, so faith is the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel Word.

Nothing is quite so heinous pitting grace against faith when the Holy Spirit says through St. Paul –

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Looking at the history of this topic will take us back to Augustine versus Pelagius, the Molinists against the Jansenists, Calvin and Luther. The next stage would include Walther’s own history and the Election debates, including The Errors of Modern Missouri. That is its entirely would not focus on the real issue – the poor Biblical foundation of Walther’s dogmatics. When the Chief Article is presented in a hazy and deceptive way, lacking the key points of Biblical teaching, nothing claimed for Election is going to be sound doctrine.

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[1] One WELS seminary professor told me about taking in Masons because “they were all Masons in Pennsylvania.” A Missouri Circuit Pastor said the same thing. Frosty Bivens admitted in his book that WELS took in Masons as soon as they were removed by Missouri congregations. The former head of the ELS, George Orvick, was known for the Masons in his congregation. St. Paul in German Village (Independent, finally WELS, earlier Reformed-Lutheran, ALC, and Masonic) had a policy of not communing Masons except for the one who was privately communed when I was serving in Columbus.

[2] My Christology professor at Waterloo Seminary (LCA, now ELCic), Otto Heick, graduated from a German Pietistic seminary, belonged to a local Pietist congregation and an LCA congregation. My vicarage supervisor regarded Heick’s other congregation as “a bunch of trouble-makers.” They called themselves, in German, Separated Christians. My home congregation had been Augustana Synod, where Pietism was highly regarded instead of being denied. They had little regard for Bishop’s Hill, an extreme Pietistic group.

Those Winsome WELS Clergy and Laity and Their Anathema Sit!

Within 24 hours, I received two messages from WELS, denouncing me in the usual style they adopt when addressing anyone outside their cult, unless someone is requesting money. 

One writer accused me of quoting him a year ago due to my foul and toxic motives, and he included Luther on the Eighth Commandment to edify me. He demanded that I remove the offensive post because I was quoting him verbatim. Many have waxed furious because I add (sic) to their spelling mistakes, but only because I do not want readers to think I spell as badly as they do. I can copy and paste with the best of them - Kelm, Glende, Ski.

The other writer, quoted more recently, compressed a host of bitter words into a few sentences, which left me marveling at his utter disregard of the topic. Does the Wisconsin cult teach Justification by Faith or not? Whether I am on the side of angels or the Fuller faculty, the question remains the same, "Do you preach another Gospel? because St. Paul damned you to Hell if you do." 

KJV Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.*

9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.*

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

*Anathema sit! (Let him be damned to Hell!) is what the Council of Trent chanted in unison when condemning Luther's (and Paul's) Justification by Faith.