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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| This Friendship Sunday was really going to bring them in. |
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| Previous Friendship Sunday in WELS - The greeters asked, "Were you born in Wisconsin?" |
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| Bad timing. Stay optimistic! "We just bought a new program from the Disciples of Christ. They will be jumping into the net and breaking it." |
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President of the Joint Synod of Ohio, the Columbus Seminary and Capital University, and edited the Lutheran Standard and the Columbus Theological Magazine. In 1881 he withdrew the Joint Synod from the Synodical Conference as a result of Walther’s teaching about predestination.
The passage of time can make us more aware of trends or oblivious to them. Synodical cheerleaders remind me of the book title - Wishful Drinking, by the late Carrie Fisher, the princess who died too young.
I was baptized as a baby at Plymouth Congregational Church, Moline. The parish became United Church of Christ perhaps, before closing. My parents moved us to First Christian Church, Moline, also called Disciples of Christ. That church no longer exists. I left the Church Growthism at First Christian to join Salem Lutheran Church, formerly Augustana Synod, then LCA, and now ELCA.
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At the age of 16 I was suddenly exposed to liturgical services, classical hymns, and sermons. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the clown acts of the Disciples of Christ parish a feature in the Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, and other places of ill repute.
No matter what they claimed from the Book of Concord, the LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) leaders became completely unfaithful. There are three basic options in all of Christendom:
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| They destroyed more congregations than the Chicago Fire, but were protected, praised, and encouraged to spread their two-bit Calvinism. |
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| Waldo Werning, LCMS, went all over his synod, WELS, and the ELS to spread the fanaticism of Fuller Seminary while denying it. I quoted his own words to him on the phone - and he flew into a rage. I used to take notes, date and quote them for future reference. |
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| Fifty pounds ago, "Dr" Matt Harrison posed with Mirthless Mark Schroeder and a Photoshop of Archbishop Liz Eaton (ELCA). "Confessionalism is told to whisper low in Jerusalem lest she be heard in the streets of Gath." 2 Samuel 1:20 |
Click here for complete sermon ->SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. SECOND SERMON: MARK 8:1-9.
8. Behold, this is the punishment for despising the office of the ministry, when such punishment was the most gracious as it has been still in our day, and I would to God, that it might continue so. But when we esteem the Word of God so lightly and the ministers and preachers are so poorly supported that they are compelled to forsake their office and seek their bread through other occupations, and thereby also discourage others from entering this office, who otherwise are gifted for it and inclined to it; God not only sends famine and other great national calamities as now appear before our eyes, in order that no one’s purse may retain anything and no blessing and no provisions remain. But he takes the Word and the true doctrine entirely away, and in their stead permits fanatical spirits and false teachers to enter among them, by whom they are led astray and deceived before they are aware of it both as to their souls and property, and for their neglect they must contribute richly and most bountifully.
9. Therefore the world should be advised, if it will take advice, that the lords, the princes, the countries, the cities and all in general make efforts to provide a little for the necessaries of the house of God and the kingdom of God, as they must do for other offices and arts, in order that they may give their whole attention to them and obtain their daily bread from them, which are needed much more than other offices and arts. While one officer or judge is sufficient, likewise one jurist or physician can meet the needs of one city or more, and for a time of the entire country; we must have thousands of preachers for the various countries since the parishes and districts are so many; for children are daily born who must be baptized and educated, learn God’s Word and become Christians. From what source can ministers be had, if they are not reared and educated? Then the churches must either stand vacant and the people scatter and go astray, or the people receive and suffer from coarse mulelike characters and corrupters of the Word.
10. But woe unto all who contributed to bring about such a state or have not tried to prevent it, that God’s house had to become desolate; much more, however, those who have discouraged and hindered others from entering the ministry, or continuing in it; for such characters are worse than the Jews or Turks. However they are not to be excused because they allowed themselves to be discouraged from entering the ministry on account of poverty, for their greatest lack was in faith that Christ would notwithstanding give them their daily bread or nourishment for their bodies, which, although at times may be scanty and bitter, yet, you are to remember on the other hand how very much greater treasure it is that one receives a piece of bread into his hands in an exceptional way and through the special blessing of God, than all the riches and fullness of the world.
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| Objective Faithless Justification is a springboard into synodical honors and state prison. |
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| WELS denies faith and shrinks faster than cheap wool socks in the dryer: catchy title, though a bit off the mark. |
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| The lopsided smile is a WELS feature. |
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| Francis Pieper was not very bright, so that may be why CFW Walther borrowed him from WELS. Valleskey, Bivens, the whole enthusiast gang worshiped at Fuller and denied it - wink, wink. |
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| It took a long time to reconcile, as you can see. |
Click here for complete sermon ->SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. SECOND SERMON: MARK 8:1-9.
5. Just so it is also at present: Where true pastors and preachers are so poorly supported that no one donates anything to them, and moreover what they have is snatched out of their mouths by a shameless and unthankful world, by princes, noblemen, townsmen and farmers, so that they with their poor wives and children must suffer need, and when they die leave behind them pitiable, rejected widows and orphans. By this very many good-hearted and very clever people are more and more discouraged from becoming pastors and preachers. For all arts, trades and callings in life serve to the end that we may through them fortify ourselves against hunger and poverty; but with the office of the ministry the contrary is the case, whoever will perform its duties faithfully, must expose himself to danger and poverty.
6. From this then will follow the ruin of the Church, in that the parishes will stand vacant, the pulpits be neglected and again preachers arrive who seek not faithfully God’s Word nor the kingdom of Christ; but who think, as they preach, what the people will gladly hear, so that they may continue in that direction and again become rich; and in this manner things will again go to ruin. Therefore also at present the great and powerful, especially the nobility, plan to keep their pastors and preachers under their feet in order that they may not again become rich, and lord it over them as they formerly experienced and are now overcautious. But they will not be able to bring it about as they plan.
7. How shall we now act in this matter and from what source shall we obtain preachers and pastors in order that the kingdom of Christ may be perpetuated? For neither poverty nor riches is good for the Church; mere poverty, hunger and anxiety the preachers cannot suffer; great possessions and riches they cannot stand. Poverty hinders the development of their personality; riches are in the way of them performing the duties of their work and office. But wherever it thus happens that support is not given, and the pulpit and the office of the pastor are left vacant, then will the world also see what it will have to enjoy because of such action.
For if each will consider the welfare only of his own house and seek how he may maintain himself and no one inquires how the Word of God and the office of the ministry are to be perpetuated, then will God also say as he said in the prophecy of Haggai 1:4-11, where the people also left the house of the Lord desolate, neglected God’s Word and the service of the temple, so that the priests and servants of the temple had to resort to work as farmers and learn to do other things, by which they could support themselves because nothing was given for their office and service.
Therefore he speaks thus: “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts:
Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.
Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.”
Click here for complete sermon ->SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. SECOND SERMON: MARK 8:1-9.
PART 1. THE ADMONITION AND CONSOLATION.
1. To-day’s Gospel presents to us again both the doctrine and the consolation against the temptation in caring for the necessaries of this life, or the temporal support and maintenance of the Church upon the earth.
And faith belongs here since Christ came not for the purpose of establishing a government that may be called a political or a domestic kingdom, which were long ago established by God and given for the purpose of meeting our bodily needs. And reason itself here teaches how and from what source we can bring it to pass that everyone in his station may enjoy a livelihood, peace and protection, so that one may see before his eyes and have in his hands all the necessaries of life that he needs to maintain the temporal government. Therefore this did not claim the attention of Christ since it was not a part of his calling and office; but as his kingdom was to be a different government, in which all persons in all callings and offices, high and low, as sinners condemned before God to everlasting death, should be helped to the divine, eternal kingdom and life; the spiritual kingdom had to engage his attention while he passed by the other two, the civil, and the domestic.
2. Therefore it had to follow that his disciples, preachers and servants would have to suffer poverty because they could not outside of their service and office seek their livelihood as the rest of the world does, nor hope to become rich from their calling; in addition, that they, aside from this, would be persecuted by the world, which would oppose their preaching because it would not be in harmony with their understanding and prejudices. And thus the Christians in the world could not depend upon any sure guarantee for their peaceful life and protection; but had to live continually in uncertainty because of the world, and felt in danger and as restless as the waves of the sea because of that which they already had or might have. But should they have enough to eat and to drink and a place and a room where to live, they could not expect it from any other one than alone from Christ.
3. Now Christ knows this very well, therefore he arms and comforts his disciples with these and like examples and sayings in order that they might not despair. Although his kingdom has nothing to do with eating and drinking, building and caring for the needs of the body; yet they should not die from hunger. And this he again confirms in the passage of Matthew 6:33. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” For by to-day’s Gospel he proves that they, who followed him to hear his preaching, and followed him so faithfully that they continued with him three days in the desert, could not now very well return out of the desert without fainting and coming to poverty, need and distress on account of his Word. Yet since they sought first the kingdom of God and Christ had previously preached, prayed and accomplished that which pertains to the righteousness of God, there must follow also that which pertains to the body in order that they may learn to believe that they would not come to want and that they should expect from him all his Church needs for the maintenance of her bodily or external existence upon the earth.
4. It is true that in all ages of the Church two things have done and are doing great harm, namely, poverty and riches. For in the first place, we see the apostles and true bishops and preachers in such straightened circumstances, that no one gave them anything and they themselves were not able to acquire anything; hence everybody felt shy of such an office and no one wished to enter it. In the second place, when the church became extremely wealthy through great endowments and stipends and sat in all luxury, the ministers themselves neglected the office of preaching and the care of souls, and themselves became lords.
"Thrilled To Be in Agreement with Objective Faithless Justification"
The LCMS, ELS, and WELS got together to acknowledge and publish their delight in agreeing with Objective Faithless Justification. The Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic) did not participate, but they agree. There are a few other breakaway groups still licking their wounds about something and staying separate. The ELCA agrees with the concept of everyone in the world already forgiven and saved, which explains why the LCMS-WELS-ELS works with them through Thrivent Financial (dabbing eyes).
"Confessional"
This term suggests the synods named above agree with the Book of Concord - ELCA only with the Augsburg Confession (so they say). Because no synod teaches Justification by Faith - but instead repudiates the Chief Article, not one of them is "confessional"
"Orthodox"
The term orthodox is especially confusing, since they
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| From the Babylon Bee |
"Bible-Believing"
WELS tried this out in their ads. ELCA and its predecessors spent so much time making fun of the Scriptures while degrading their seminaries into radical beehives. Denying Justification by Faith is not in harmony with Bible-believing.
"Conservative"
If the sects and synods adhered to the King James Version and the Book of Concord, they could be called conservative. All the books and documents are clear - the demons of apostasy have taken over Lutherdom, the process starting when the KJV revision promoted fake New Testament texts (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) and invited blatant false teachers to help manage the Revision. The process was slow, allowing the ELCA make the rest look "conservative."
Quia Subscription to the Book of Concord
Dr. Lito Cruz observed that the quia term probably came from the bowels of Calvinism. Throwing a lot of terms around is a good way to confuse and mislead people. If the knot-heads want to use the term, they should recognize that teaching the efficacy of the Word - which is throughout the Bible and the Book of Concord - is foreign, even hateful to them.
"Friendly"
That description is so funny that I have to rest a while for a good, long bout of laughter. The friendly spin reminds me of the Appleton Alcoholics posting their fake blog trying to mock this one, spewing hatred from their pickled minds, afraid to use their own names.
The emails were just as hilarious. They concluded that the 19,172 messages sent to Ichabod were written by me! They were not sure that I actually went to Notre Dame, earning two degrees. Their other claims made me worry that airplane glue sniffing was a powerful and widespread addiction.
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Frosty Bivens borrowed the Mark Zarling claim that Objective Faithless Justification was the Chief Article of the Christian Faith. The editors of the Formula of Concord clearly repeated the Biblical doctrine of Justification by Faith, taught by Luther and Melanchthon. Would someone explain how all the Lutheran synods and sects missed that?  |
