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.
Zoom link -> https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85187471604?pwd=ciuMQhDJEfpE0wgXeKLYsTgDJ8lvbi.1
YouTube link will be here, after conversion -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl5NYptONwA
I mentioned having more Biblical doctrine lessons. One person said, "Why not a seminary?" I thought about and said, "We have to save Zoom webinars, so that has to work."
Nothing was easier than a conversion to YouTube, so here I am with the first session. I am going to have an outline each time, posted in advance. I will limit my talk to 30 minutes, and we can have discussions after.
We have not fixed dates and times yet, but that will develop. Ichabod will be the primary post, which will be copied on Reformation Seminary, making the lectures orderly rather than lost in all the other posts.
Foundational Concept of the Bible -
The Efficacy of the Word - The Holy Spirit at Work in the Word and Sacraments
1. Dogmatics books tend to multiply themselves and promote battles.
2. Genesis 1 and John 1 are examples of efficacy, John explaining Genesis.
3. A. Hoenecke - The Word never without the Spirit, the Spirit never without the Word - that is sound doctrine. His Dogmatics were much more like the German Reformation.
4. The Reformation does not include Zwingli-Calvin, the changes in England, or anywhere else. The Reformation itself was established by Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.
a. Luther was the foundation, the result of many years of monastic work and teachers.
b. Melanchthon served as his opposite in temperament, the same in Biblical doctrine.
c. Martin Chemnitz studied under both and solidified their work through the Book of Concord, Examination of the Council of Trent, etc.
Efficacy
Effectual, powerful: energes
1 Corinthians 16:9 (KJV) For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and many adversaries.
Philemon 1:6 (KJV) That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV) For the word of God quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Operations, working: energema
1 Corinthians 12:6 (KJV) And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
To show forth, work: energew
Matthew 14:2 (KJV) And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
Mark 6:14 (KJV) And king Herod heard ; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
Romans 7:5 (KJV) For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
1 Corinthians 12:6 (KJV) And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
1 Corinthians 12:11 (KJV) But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
2 Corinthians 1:6 (KJV) And whether we be afflicted, for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, for your consolation and salvation.
2 Corinthians 4:12 (KJV) So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
Galatians 2:8 (KJV) (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
Galatians 3:5 (KJV) He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Galatians 5:6 (KJV) For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Ephesians 1:11 (KJV) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Ephesians 1:20 (KJV) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set at his own right hand in the heavenly ,
Ephesians 2:2 (KJV) Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians 3:20‑21 (KJV) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, {21} Unto him glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
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| Could they improve by teaching the Gospel instead of this drivel? |
The list of departing LCMS colleges is growing:
The biggest - or foulest charade - has been the supposed distance between the Walther synods (LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC) and the ELCA. Thrivent unifies the worst of them all.
Abortion is an attack on the weakest of the weak, the poorest of the poor - the unborn. There is no excuse for this among Christian churches. Thrivent is just as much for this genocide as ELCA.
How can God bless church bodies that work together against the unborn? Our indifference to this horrible crime is the ultimate display of apostasy - falling away from the Scriptures and God's Creation by the Word.
The synodical managers (they are not leaders) think that money makes the world go around. They dedicate their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor to -- wait, that is a contradiction. They dedicate their lives to their comforts, their luxuries, and their positions of honor. They want no interference with that singular goal. That is why they lick the boots of Thrivent, pleading that the financial demands are not too burdensome.
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Long ago, I noted from a Kurt Marquart article that the synods were being handed a huge sum of money from AAL (one of the two insurance companies merging). We lived downhill from Martin Luther College, WELS, so I looked for the materials on this AAL Church Membership Initiative.
"To the reader: This binder contains a summary of activities and findings of the Church Membership Initiative funded by AAL. A meeting in February, 1993 at Orlando involving congregational participants and church executives was phase three. This summary focuses on the findings of phases one and two. As is the nature of such studies, emphasis is on research and statistical analysis. Such studies do provide helpful indicators. Such an approach, however, cannot directly reflect spiritual reality, which must remain with the judgment of those dispensing the means of grace. Phase four--utilization of information coming out of the first three phases--is open ended for whatever church body [ELCA, WELS, LCMS] will determine such use to be."
Rev. Wayne Borgwardt, WELS, Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993, Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road, Appleton, WI, 54919-0001, June 30, 1993. Five copies at Martin Luther College (WELS). BV 4523 .C48 1993 c.5
"In 1970 there were 500,000 more baptized members of Lutheran congregations than was the case in 1990. The Church Membership Initiative project was undertaken to understand and address this decline... [GJ - This is still the saddest or funniest example of Thrivent helping out and making everything worse.]Contact:
Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993, Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road, Appleton, WI, 54919-0001, June 30, 1993.
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There is a direct connection between AAL and LB erasing "Lutheran" during their merger, so they could say Thrivent! and forget about the past. The Big Five have revealed their incompetence to be Christian organizations who have no compassion for the unborn, no ability to proclaim the Means of Grace, only results from their Father Below.
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| KJV Isaiah 40 - "11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." |
Epistle Sermon for Palm Sunday ->Complete Epistle Sermon Here
12. They are startled by this expression also: “Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Now, at first sight these words do not seem to refer solely to Christ, since even the devil and his own, who continually aspire to equality with God, do not think their action robbery in spite of the testimony of their conscience to the contrary. But with Paul the little word “think,” or “regard,” possesses a powerful significance, having the force of “perfect assurance.” Similarly he says (Romans 3:28), “We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”; and (1 Corinthians 7:40), “I think [deem] that I also have the spirit of God.” But the wicked cannot boast it no robbery when they dare take upon themselves the form of God; for they know, they are satisfied in themselves, that they are not God. Christ, however, did not, nor could he, think himself not equal to God; in other words, he was confident of his equality with God, and knew he had not stolen the honor.
Paul’s words are chosen, not as an apology for Christ, but as a severe rebuke for those who arrogate to themselves the form of God against the protest of conscience that it is not their own but stolen. The apostle would show how infinitely Christ differs from them, and that the divine form they would take by theft is Christ’s by right.
13. Paul does not use this expression, however, when he refers to Christ’s assumption of the servant form which is his, not by nature, but by assumption. The words produce the impression that Christ took by force something not his own. Paul should be expected to say: “He held it not robbery to assume the form of a servant.” Why should he rather have chosen that form of expression in the first instance, since Christ did not assume the divine form, but possessed it as his very own — yes, laid it aside and assumed a form foreign to his nature? The substance of the matter is that he who becomes a servant does not and cannot assume anything, but only gives, giving even himself. Hence there is no warrant here to speak of robbery or of a disposition to look upon the matter in this light.
On the other hand, assumption of the divine form necessarily involves taking, and altogether precludes giving. Hence there is warrant to speak of robbery in this connection, and of men who so view it. But this charge cannot be brought against Christ. He does not render himself guilty of robbery, nor does he so view his relation, as all others must do. Divinity is his by right, and so is its appropriate form a birthright.
14. Thus, it seems to me, this text very clearly teaches that to have divine form is simply to assume in regard to others, in word and deed, the bearing of God and Lord; and that Christ meets this test in the miraculous signs and life-giving words, as the Gospels contend. He does not rank with the saints who lack the divine essence; he has, in addition to divine form, the divine essence and nature. On the other hand, the servant, or servile, form implies acting toward others, in word and deed, like a servant. Thus Christ did when he served the disciples and gave himself for us. But he served not as the saints, who are servants by nature. Service was, with him, something assumed for our benefit and as an example for us to follow, teaching us to act in like manner toward others, to disrobe ourselves of the appearance of divinity as he did, as we shall see.
15. Unquestionably, then, Paul proclaims Christ true God.
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| Michael Cooper-White, ELCA Autobiography |
He is currently the interim president of Brite Divinity School, Disciples of Christ, one of the most radical (fastest shrinking) denominations in America. Previously he was president of Gettysburg Seminary, now merged with the Philadelphia Seminary to form United Lutheran Seminary, ELCA.