ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
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I took a Google nostalgia tour, which saves money and repairs memories. I combined nostalgia with shocks.
Nostalgia, looking back at happy times, brings up memories of passing moments, not so significant at the time, but overwhelming later.
The crash and burn tactics of the denominations, especially the faux-conservative ones, have brought their pathetic methods to light. I often wondered, "Why didn't the clergy object to the obvious destruction of Scriptural doctrine, clergy qualifications, and the family"?
I think the Baby Boomers were too afraid of losing their seats on the gravy train. As one Methodist named Klinger said to me, "Klinger Lake was named after my family." I thought that was rather shallow.
But the Pastoral Epistles remind us that the same things were going on in glory years of Imperial Rome, rich and powerful, but dying without knowing it.
Christians rescued babies who were exposed in the wilderness if they were not wanted. They risked their lives to do that.
Pagan worship was so dominant that the first Christian Emperor created a new capital and established an Eastern Roman Empire that was Greek and Christian. History largely ignores 1100 years of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
The early Christians had to worship among the dead, to keep away from retaliation. Many altars are box-like to remind us of the coffins used as altars.
My parents in the 1950s said, "America is going the way of Rome." I heard that endless times, and now I wonder if any parents have enough history to say that, assuming immediate responses.
There is a chance that the strength of the past will revive to support the Four Freedoms and the Bible with the most to offer - the King James Version.
The denominations and their fading seminaries oppress and ridicule the KJV, yet wonder why their enrollments are dragging, literally. The New Testament records that aspect of Imperial Rome too. Just read Romans 1 until it becomes clear (near the end of the chapter).
Alaska is our giant neighborhood puppy who became instant pals with me. He and Atlas, equally large, always came to my place when they were out roaming in the morning. I took them back, knocked on the door of their sleeping staff, and waved goodbye - regularly. Once Atlas pushed open the front door and sat in my living room, happy to be home again.
I heard a quiet "Wuff" just now and went to the backyard, only to see Alaska strolling around. He is a Great Pyrenees. I mentioned this the other day when walking Sassy. Alaska's mom said, "We let him out for a run each morning. He disappears and comes back quickly. Now we know where he is."
Sassy wants her morning walk, so we will see where Alaska might be.
I apologize to Sarah Palin for borrowing the line the press exaggerated to make her look foolish. Few people realize the proximity of Russia and what that means for our security.
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| Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz are missing from this graphic. Calvin, Knapp, and Hale (in descending order) dominate instead. |
A Simple Explanation of the Articles of the June 13, 2022 CHRISTIAN NEWS www.ChristianNewsMo.com PAGE 5 Augsburg Confession Article 4: Justification
1] Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for 2] Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. 3] This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.
Justification is the heart of the Christian faith. Our salvation is not about our thoughts, deeds, or efforts. Christ, the Son of God, won for us salvation. He did it all in His holy, sinless body. How we receive that salvation is what divides Christian churches today. We believe that God sees us as righteous through faith, which is a gift He gives through the Spirit. This main article should be applied in all teaching and preaching. All divine teaching supports this comfort we have in the Gospel, and in turn we are made alive by the Spirit in this hope. Justification, that is, how the holy God sees us is not thought important by man. We always think that what happens on earth or in our lives matters most. But faith is trusting that God accepts us for what Jesus did. The righteousness of Christ is ours, so we are seen as holy as Christ is before the Father. To God we are righteous, and so we truly are. If we believed this without any doubt at all, we would fear nothing in the world. But even the weakest faith in the risen Jesus is counted as righteousness to us; no sin or guilt remains on those God has justified. Abraham “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). God’s declaration, crediting, or imputation is a legal accounting—but a true one we can live by. We are accounted as righteous, though we are nothing but sinners. This is the only teaching that can give comfort to the lost and broken. It must all be Christ’s doing, if we are to stand before the Father at the Last Day victorious. Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4) But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
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| I commented on the brochure 9 years ago. This is the link. |
We Still Believe - Pamphlet Reactions, 2008
That is almost exactly the We Believe Statement printed inside of Crossroads Worship Folder. Rachel
Anonymous said...Interestingly, a quick google search shows that there are other WELS congregations and even a CELC congregation that also use this "Mission Statement".
Re Gregory Jackson, be aware that while some of what he writes is "good", he does not believe in and is a very vocal opponent of objective or universal justification (which I suppose is one of the reasons that to my knowledge he is not in fellowship with any major (or even minor) Lutheran body). There are really good essays on the subject of objective justification by Prof. S. Becker, see, e.g., http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/B/BeckerUniversal/BeckerUniversal.PDF.
Anonymous said...This Statement is also on quite a number of CLC (Church of the Lutheran Confession) websites.
