New ELS President

Bethany Seminary Students

David R. Emmons

tSp4rnonshoredm  · 

We in the ELS received some shocking news this morning. This is the email that was sent to us by our new synodical president Glenn Obenberger (until yesterday our vice-president):

Dear Brothers in Christ,

We just received the shockingly sad news that President John Moldstad’s soul was lovingly taken home to heaven by his Savior God. He apparently died of a heart attack yesterday and was found by Joslyn, when she arrived home from teaching at Peace Lutheran’s Preschool. Please pray for Joslyn and their family that they may find comfort and peace in the Word of Resurrection and Life, which John so faithfully and joyfully declared as a beloved father, grandfather, pastor and president of our Evangelical Lutheran Synod. We would request that you also lead your congregations this coming Sunday in such prayers for the Moldstad family.

We will inform you of the arrangements for services as soon as they have been set.

Lord Jesus Christ, great Shepherd of Your flock, it has pleased You to call John, a faithful under-shepherd to Your people, into Your gracious presence. We thank and praise You for all the blessings and mercy You bestowed on Your departed servant and upon us through his service to us. We praise You for having kept him faithful in the face of trials and difficulties, for having given success to Your Word which he rejoiced to proclaim, for having built Your temple in the hearts of many through his ministry, and for having given him a blessed death and reception into the kingdom of Your glory in heaven. Comfort and strengthen all who mourn his departure. Grant Your grace that in the midst of sorrow we all may retain a lively hope. Direct our thoughts heavenward that we may ever seek the one thing needful, the grace and knowledge of You our only Savior, while we await our joyful reunion in heaven, where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit one God, now and forever. Amen. (Based on prayers in the Lutheran Service, CPH, pp. 645-46)

Dear brothers, our beloved brother, John, will rise again for Jesus’ sake.

In His saving name,

Glenn Obenberger

Rainstorm Following Three Inch Deluge

We recently had a three-inch deluge which left the backyard a lake overnight. The squirrels and birds fought over stale crackers yesterday - a real war. They must have known about the next storm, which built up slowly today. Sassy and I walked in the early morning, with hardly any rain.

Next, she definitely wanted to go along on the trip to the post office. Any suggestion of a trip always energizes her. If it ends with some food, that is even better. The rainstorm grew gradually as we headed to the post office and Mcdonalds.

It is fun to distribute books. Recently the Lutheran Librarian sent 8 Bibles to us for distribution. They were given away locally and by mail. Next, PFC gave me a large, heavy box full of Christian books, including a $100 Bible, and they began to be shared.

When I was reading magazines on collecting books, an author wrote, "Breaking up a collection is good, because rare titles are given a new audience." 

I think of Biblical books and Bibles as only potentially good if they are stored, but powerful when read and enjoyed by another population.

Reviews - Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith

Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith

From the United States

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars The corrosive effect of rationalism on the Christian faith

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019

Gregory L Jackson PhD is a confessional Lutheran theologian, pastor, and teacher. He received a STM degree in Biblical studies from Yale in 1973 and he earned a Master's degree and a PhD in theology at the University of Notre Dame in 1982.

In this book, Dr. Jackson shows how the false doctrines found in the teachings of John Calvin have led to the apostasy we see today in Reformed Protestant denominations and in Lutheran Church bodies which have inculcated Calvinistic ideas.

The Reformation began in 1517 with Martin Luther. It was based on acceptance of the Scriptures as the plainly revealed Word of God, and in the power of the Holy Spirit acting through the Word of God, both the written Word in the Bible and the physical Word in the Sacraments.

In his book, Dr. Jackson showed how the writings of Heinrich Zwingli and John Calvin, contemporaries of Luther and the fathers of Reformed Protestant theology, disagreed with Luther's faith in the Scriptures. Zwingli and Calvin pretended to agree with Luther, but instead came up with another way to view the Scriptures, which can be summarized as 'rationalism'.

To illustrate how rationalism affects one's understanding of the Bible, Dr. Jackson included a reference from Siegbert Becker's book “The Foolishness of God” regarding the methods man can use to study the Bible:

Ministerial reason – use one's intellect to understand God's Word
Magisterial reason – use one's intellect to judge God's Word

Zwingli and Calvin taught from the perspective of magisterial reason that man is the ultimate judge on all passages in the Bible. The result is that people feel they can select a few verses, or even a part of a verse, to establish dogma outside the context of the Scriptures as a whole. This explains why Reformed Protestantism has split into hundreds of factions. Zwingli and Calvin also taught that the Holy Spirit doesn't come to man through the Sacraments bringing grace through faith. Instead, people are predestined either for salvation or damnation.

Luther taught from the perspective of ministerial reason. He accepted what is written in the Scriptures and he maintained a consistent advocacy for the plain meaning of the Bible as the judge of all books. He taught that the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God, as recorded in the Bible. People are saved through the work of the Holy Spirit by God's grace, through faith.

Dr. Jackson showed how the corrosive effects of Calvin's rationalistic doctrine were manifested in the teachings of Philipp Spener in the 17th century, Halle University in the 18th century, Friedrich Schleiermacher in the 19th century, right through Paul Tillich and Karl Barth in the 20th century. And how their ideas resulted in the great falling away from faith, which we see today in the Protestant denominations.

Dr. Jackson provided a “List of Books for Additional Study” for one to use to learn more about the errors of Zwingli and Calvin.

At the end of his book, Dr. Jackson offered a “Simple Program to Expel Calvinism from the Protestant Faith”.

Dr. Jackson discusses the problems of present day Christian denominations on his internet blog. Google ichabodthegloryhasdeparted for the URL. He conducts a weekly traditional Lutheran worship service via the internet, the blog has a link to the broadcast site which also has archived broadcasts.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse

Be.G.H.

5.0 out of 5 stars proper response is anger

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019

This book ties together a brief survey of how the unclear thinking of Calvinism has infected Protestant churches, particularly weak Lutherans. Without an anchor in God's Word, modern churches chase every whim, delivering despair from self-assurance instead of delivering Christ's promises through the Means of Grace.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Norma Boeckler.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse

Glen

5.0 out of 5 stars A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019

The effects of Calvinist human teaching against the Holy Scriptures have effected numerous congregations and spread as deadly poison. A must read type of book to understand the effects the corruption of false doctrine has throughout the world.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse

---

Need customer service? Click here

‹ See all details for Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith

The Stock Market Is News Today

"Show me the Monet."

I have all my limited assets in books and a 20 year-old car. Today I am shipping four boxes of great books to a Lutheran couple, including a secret ingredient long ignored by Lutheran missions, whether world or domestic - Luther's Sermons. No, really. I could not afford a soda fountain, cases of popcorn and peanuts, or the Complete Works of Craig Groeschel.

In a startling 40-year study, Fuller Seminary discovered that their fads, gimmicks, and marketing only had a destructive effect. They even stopped expanding their own campus, canceling their dreams or visions or illusions after the drawings were done.

If you want to have fun - or nightmares - today, watch the stock market and listen to the financial news. I passed the investment test for the CLU, but now I realize the primary talent for the investment companies is piling up debt.

The big news is GameStop, where people have pushed up the price by buying and brokers have sold the stock short. When that happens, and no one wants to sell that stock, the brokers have to cover their position sooner or later.

The old Wall Street saying is - "Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered."

I Own a Missouri College

"I own a Missouri College! Thank you, Christian Brothers."

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK — Concordia College New York and Iona Missouri College today announced the institutions are proceeding with a formal agreement for Iona College to acquire Concordia’s Bronxville campus and provide continued education for Concordia’s students through a teach-out plan, enabling most students to continue their degrees to completion at Iona. Concordia College New York’s classes will cease beginning with the fall 2021 semester and the college will close. Details of the agreement are being finalized and are subject to regulatory approval. The agreement is expected to be completed by summer 2021.

Iona will cull the LCMS faculty.

Concordia’s President Rev. John A. Nunes, Ph.D., said: “Concordia’s challenges are reflected broadly in the higher education sector; accelerated by Matt Harrison, these challenges necessitated an outcome that brings deep pain to all those invested in Concordia and its 140-year history. I am grateful to the Board of Regents and my administration for working so hard to save our institution. Students continue to be our priority. By acting now, Concordia’s Regents have provided our students with an excellent pathway for continuing the high-quality, faith-informed education they began at Concordia.”

Iona’s President Seamus Carey, Ph.D., said: “The closure of a sister institution affects us all. As I’ve said since I arrived at Iona, higher education must, and will, be different going forward. This is especially true for private, faith-based institutions, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the circumstances demanding change. While we pursue regulatory approvals, Iona and Concordia will work together to ensure their students can pope their education with minimal disruption.”

 Missouri is just one genuflection away from another pastor poping.
Now LCMS students can go to college and be in two programs at once.

Pastor Paul Rydecki, Who Escaped WELS, On Objective Justification vs. the Gospel

Under Matt the Fatt - Schools Keep Closing Down

The Roman Catholic Christian Brothers will take over Concordia College NY via its nearby Iona College. ELCA was closing colleges a long time ago, and they are big in the Eastern seaboard states.

Harrison also sold the LCMS college in Selma and a Chinese property. 

Matt the Magician makes things disappear - members, colleges, reputations.

Has anyone stopped to wonder why Rolf OJ Preus is just as welcome on the ELCA ALPB site as he is on LutherQuest (sic)? The ALPBers wigged out when someone quoted me, but they purr like kittens for Rolf's verities and bloodlines. 

When an ELCA pastor with 10,000 posts on ALPB was arrested - nothing. One can see what scandal means for them.

Calvin, Rambach, and Stephan are the intellectual leaders of the LCMS.

Good News at the Clinic

 

We met with the radiologist today. He believes the cancer is stable, not growing, and only needs a scan in a couple of months. He thinks the preventable medicine is doing its job and the pain issue has been fixed with more effective meds. The hip shot plus pills approach has been effective as long as two years.

Lobster Concrete - Does the Lobster Prove Evolution or Reveal the Engineering Wonders of Creation?

I was going to ignore this video because it glorified the Theory of Evolution, but the producers inadvertently supported Creation. The lowly lobster, called the cockroach of the sea, has a shell design so perfect that modern engineers are copying it when pouring concrete.

The Pantheon in Rome, 113 AD, is a famous concrete building, still standing after so many centuries, famous for a roof design that made it lighter.

 Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.[3]

"The stresses in the dome were found to be substantially reduced by the use of successively less dense aggregate stones, such as small pots or pieces of pumice, in higher layers of the dome. Mark and Hutchison estimated that, if normal weight concrete had been used throughout, the stresses in the arch would have been some 80% greater."

 

So many structures in Nature are perfect for that particular creature, it also seems to be design rather than chance. Everyone calm down. I am using irony - "seems to be design". 

In fact, Animal Planet had a feature on sharks where the narrator intoned, "Suddenly a perfectly designed killing machine appeared in the oceans - the shark." The "suddenly" and "perfectly designed" give place to Creation, not Evolution. I have long thought that creatures appeared by God's will and may disappear the same way. 

Two Reviews - Understanding Luther's Galatians and Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

Understanding Luther's Galatians can be found here on Amazon.

Top review from the United States

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent re-issue of Graebner's shorter translation of Luther's Commentary on Galatians

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is a re-issue of Dr. Theodore Graebner’s shorter translation of Martin Luther's “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians.”

In his forward, Dr. Graebner expressed his reason for his translation of Martin Luther's work:

“The importance of this commentary on Galatians for the history of Protestantism is very great. It presents, like no other of Luther's writings, the central thought of Christianity, the justification of the sinner for the sake of Christ's merits alone.”

Dr. Gregory L. Jackson added an introduction along with comments, which he embedded within the text. He enclosed his comments within boxes, in order to separate them from Luther's words.

In his introduction, Dr. Jackson wrote that:

“By stealth, Lutherans have steadily eroded the Biblical doctrine of the Reformation (justification by faith alone), which established them as Evangelicals and Protestants, by now allowing others to use those names and surrendering to the worst inclinations of Calvinists, Pietists, and Roman Catholics. The uniting cause, to soothe every worldly conscience, is to declare that God in his grace has already declared the entire world absolved of all sins. … God declared the world righteous through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus…”.

Dr. Jackson quoted from the work of the 18th century theologian Georg Christian Knapp to show the false doctrine that flowed from universal absolution without regard to faith.

“This is conveniently expressed by the terms Objective and Subjective Justification. Objective Justification is the act of God by which he proffers pardon to all through Christ. Subjective Justification is the act of man by which he accepts the pardon freely offered in the Gospel.”

In a comment on page 56, Dr. Jackson succinctly elucidated the error of those who adhere to the doctrines of Objective and Subjective Justification:

“The false teachers reverse what Paul and Luther taught. The Objective Justification fanatics lay hold of universal forgiveness and make faith in Jesus irrelevant. Faith in Christ has nothing to do with their divine declaration of forgiveness. Secondly, their subjective justification is not faith in Christ, but rather trust in the truth of universal forgiveness.”

As a Lutheran layman, I know that the idea that God forgave the sins of every member of the human race upon the death or resurrection of Christ and this made them righteous is not what Paul taught. Rather, he taught that God declares a person righteous after God imputes the person's sins to Christ, and he imputes the merits of Christ’s sinless life and perfect obedience to the person. Faith is the means by which a person receives righteousness. Is righteousness simply the forgiving of sins, as the Objective justification proponents claim? No. Righteousness requires God to impute the sins of the sinner to Christ, and the merits of Christ's sinless life and perfect obedience to the sinner. Only after this double imputation is a sinner righteous in God's sight.

The idea that “we need to accept the pardon offered by God” is not found in Paul's teaching. It brings to mind the famous Arminian preacher Billy Graham and his call to “Make a decision for Christ.”

I would recommend this book to someone who wishes a read a condensed version of Luther's Commentary on Galatians. It is an excellent introduction for someone who is unfamiliar with the Apostle Paul's doctrine on justification by faith alone. Dr. Jackson's comments highlight key doctrinal points in the text. His comments also illustrate the degree to which the doctrines of present-day confessional Lutheran churches have diverged from the plain teachings of the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther.

Dr Jackson discusses the problems of present day Christian denominations on his internet blog. Google ichabodthegloryhasdeparted for the URL. He conducts a weekly traditional Lutheran worship service via the internet, the blog has a link to the broadcast site which also has archived broadcasts.

Bethany Lutheran Worship 

 Walther, the American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

Mic

5.0 out of 5 stars A shot across the bow

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021

This is an epiphany for lovers of alternative church history. The author connects the dots and reveals many inconvenient details that he deduced from his careful reading of contemporaneous sources. The ball is now in the court of his detractors. Will they respond?

I am not holding my breath.

Walther, the American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies