Spener's Birthday Today - WELS/LCMS Palaces Closed. ELS - "Who's He?"

 Spener brings it home, and the pigs love it.
Woo, pig, souie - Church Growth Hogs.

Theology Is the Grammar of Faith - Why UOJ, OJ, and SJ Are Evil Terms Used To Promote or Hide False Doctrine

 Paul L. Holmer, Professor of Philosophical Theology
at Yale University,
posed with Little Ichabod on one trip to the campus.
Holmer used the expression - "Theology is the grammar of faith."

I tried to cover the main issues about Universal Objective Justification as a bad paroday of Justification by Faith.

UOJ terms - Objective Justification, Subjective Justification, General Justification - are the same as bad grammar and poor word usage in writing. The reason is - precise language conveys the correct concepts, or at the very least - the intended thoughts to be communicated.

Long ago, many of us assumed that Objective Justification was another word for the Atonement - Christ died for the sins of the world. In fact, before donning the bishop's mitre, Jim Heiser thought the same thing. Heiser was appalled by the actual use of Objective Justification, as quoted extensively and fairly in Thy Strong Word. Nevertheless, Heiser affiliated with the Rolf Synod, which escaped the Little Sect on the Prairie, but have returned to the ELS/LCMS, wagging their little tails behind them. They were and are gung-ho for UOJ.

Likewise, the Easter absolution of the world language, from Walther via Bishop Stephan and Halle University, is a dangerous flirtation with Universalism, whose teaching is almost the same. No better are the ridiculous Objective Justification and Subjective Justification terms, because OJ means "the entire world has been declared by God to be forgiven and saved  - without faith." See the LCMS 1932 Brief Statement on justification.

Likewise, Subjective Justification means agreeing that the absolution of the world - without faith - is Biblical. Subjective Justification does NOT mean Justification by Faith. So we have two sets of terms that are completely alien to:

• The Scriptures
• Luther
• The Lutheran Reformation
• The Book of Concord
• The Post-Concord theologians - Gerhard, Leyser, Hunnius, Calov.
• Modern examples in the LCMS and WELS.

How did the Reformation happen without those odious UOJ terms? and why must we constantly default to OJ and SJ?

The liberal mainline theologians simply dropped their SJ, just as Schleiermacher and Barth did - the entire world is forgiven and saved period. Requiring faith repudiates grace - yes, they really mean that and constantly warn against faith. The reason - they lack faith completely, so that is their subtle evasion, using the words of faith while repudiating faith in the Word of God. As my friend at Notre Dame said, "Faith without belief. They have a sentimental attachment to the Bible." (The sainted Charles Caldwell, Episcopalian conservative)

I used to grieve that I wasted so many hours studying modern theology and Roman Catholic theology at Notre Dame, but that is how I came to recognize UOJ as another form of apostate teaching.

Like the creatures of decay in the garden, the UOJ teachers hide under the rocks and logs whenever discovered. But they go back to their work.

Bivens and Valleskey taught UOJ an d Church Growth at Mordor Seminary in Mequon (WELS). Their deception or self-deception is so complete that Bivens called UOJ "the Chief Article of the Christian Faith."

The 10th Annual Emmaus Conference is Friday, April 28th, 2017, with a banquet the evening prior on Thursday, April 27th. The topic for the 2017 Emmaus Conference will be: “The Unsuspecting American Luthers”. The backgrounds, challenges, and impact of several Lutheran theologians in the 20^th Century will be explored and discussed.

• C. F. W. Walther, by the Rev. Dr. VP Daniel Preus
• A. Hoenecke, by the Rev. Dr. Prof. John Brenner
• U. V. Koren, by the Rev. Prof. Markos DeGarmeaux

Daniel Preus

John Brenner

Markos DeGarmeaux

2016 Emmaus Topic & Speakers

December 26, 2015

The 2016 topic for the Emmaus Conference is entitled, “Are We Experiencing the Lutheran Reformation Eve or Twilight?” We are excited to have the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast, Jr. from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, as our lecturer.

Lawrence Rast, Jr.

Dr. Lawrence Rast serves as the sixteenth president of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne and is a professor of American Christianity and American Lutheranism. Dr. Rast joined the Department of Historical Theology in the fall of 1996 after serving as pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church, Madison, Tennessee (1992-96).
The following speakers will give the lecture and reactions.
2016 Emmaus Conference Speakers:

• Lecturer: The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast (LC-MS)
• Reactor: The Rev. Pres. Paul Wendland (WELS)
• Reactor: The Rev. Prof. Erling Teigen (ELS)

Our Righteousness before God

December 23, 2015

The theme of the 2015 Emmaus Conference proved a timely topic. “Our Righteousness Before God…Is Revealed in the Gospel. On this Righteousness Faith Relies.”

The lecture was given by the Reverend David Jay Webber in two parts.

• Part I: Why Objective Justification Mattered to the Reformers
• Part II: Why Objective Justification Matters to Us

***

GJ - As one person said, if Lutheran doctrine can be explained without OJ/SJ - why use the terms?

If OJ/SJ must be used, why did Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz and the Reformers fail to use those terms?

I would add the new extra calvinisticusm - If the terms came from the Calvinist translator of a Pietist theologian, how can they be used in the Lutheran Church without shame and remorse?

 WELS-ELS-LCMS-CLC (sic) today.

 My professor at WLS, Otto Heick, a favorite of WELS pastors,
wrote that Spener was the first union theologian,
merging Lutheran and Calvinistic doctrine.

Almost all American denominations came out of Pietism. They all had a great affection for Spener, the first union theologian. The current WELS-ELS-LCMS allergy to the Book of Concord comes from the re-establishment of Pietism in those groups, as shown by their Pietistic cell groups (lay led share, care, Bible study, prayer, affinity, or prayer groups).

Those that use Pietistic methods also employ Pietistic doctrine.

Happy Birthday - Founder of the LCMS, UOJ, Halle University, and Synodical Conference - Spener

 Basics of Pietism

Wiki
In Berlin Spener was held in high honour, though the tendencies of the court and the government officials were rather rationalistic than pietistic. The University of Halle was founded under his influence in 1694. All his lifelong Spener had been exposed to the attacks and abuse of the orthodox Lutheran theologians; with the years, his opponents multiplied, and the movement which he had inaugurated increasingly served as a subject for hostile criticism. In 1695 the theological faculty of Wittenberg formally laid to his charge 264 errors, and only his death released him from these fierce conflicts. His last important work was Theologische Bedenken (1700–1702), to which was added after his death Letzte theologische Bedenken, with a biography of Spener by CH von Canstein (1711).

 Jar Jar Webber prefers Rambach to Chemnitz.

LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC Remerge Based on Attacking Luther's Biblical Doctrine

The big merger - bigger than Sears/Kmart - is just around the corner. The Synodical Conference sects are tired of secretly working together. In 2017 they will joyously announce they are no longer sparring but smooching again.

The key factor is their overwhelming thrill at discovering their common rejection of Luther's Biblical doctrine. They did this with the Emmaus Conference essay in 2015, coming from an ELS pastor who had just completed an STM degree at ELCA's Institute of Lutheran Theology: ELCA founder, ELCA board members, ELCA/RC faculty.

Their Universal Objective Justification dogma is easily explained in a few sentences.

Objective Justification
The bedrock principle is God declaring the entire world forgiven of its sins. When individuals get really cranked up, they say, "I was saved 2000 years ago." Or - as a WELS banner declared to everyone, in the name of evangelism "I am saved just like you." They may call this General Justification, Objective Justification, or Universal Objective Justification, but the principle is the same - universal forgiveness without the Word, without the Means of Grace, without faith.

Giddy with the universality of grace, they go on to say that Judas Iscariot and those who died in the Flood are "guilt-free saints" in Hell. They add Hindu and Hottentots to the list. They tell those who come for pastoral counseling, "You were already forgiven before you came in here."

The name for their bedrock principle comes from the American Calvinist who translated the Halle University lectures of Knapp. These Knapp lectures, in print before the syphilitic bishop Stephan landed in New Orleans with the Waltherians, used the term Objective Justification in an explanatory footnote.

Subjective Justification
The second part is making a decision to accept this universal absolution of the world. This is not justification by faith. In fact, the UOJ authors studiously avoid the term justification by faith, which is anathema to their dogma, just as Luther's Biblical doctrine is anathema to theirs.

In reality, this two-part OJ/SJ construction collapses into Objective Justification alone. Why? Because their SJ is nothing more than agreeing that the entire world has already been forgiven. It is the Arminian form (decision theology) of Universalism.

Universalism
And that explains how all the modern, apostate, mainline theologians and denominations became Universalists.

All of Protestantism came through the second era of Pietism. The history is like this -

1. Pietism as the merger of Calvinism and Lutheranism, based on Spener, Halle, and cell groups.
2. Biblical Rationalism based at Halle University as the degenerate form of Pietism. Schleiermacher is the big hero of this era, which gave birth to the Life of Jesus books, the Historical Critical Method of attacking the Bible, and the open embrace of Universalism (Tholuck, Hoenecke's mentor).
3. The New Pietism, the reaction of believers against the rationalistic takeover of the state churches and universities. Stephan and the Walther circle represented this group. They were called "Pietists" and "mystics" and largely kept from official positions. Walther's father was a rationalist, but the brothers connected with two Pietist leaders and participated in Pietistic cell groups/conventicles. The New Pietists called themselves Old Lutherans at times, but they were really a hybrid of rationalism and Pietism.

The state churches of Europe were rationalistic and not about to give up their power. In time, various Lutheran Pietist groups came over to America and struggled to find their doctrinal foundations. Nobody, but nobody could criticize Spener, but they also gravitated toward Luther studies and made progress in that pursuit.

The older Muhlenberg tradition (General Synod, General Council) went through their revivialistic and unionistic period in the 1860s. Be patient. I am condensing a lot of information. They were rejecting all that nonsense and discovering the Book of Concord just as the Missouri Synod was getting on its feet.

21st Century - Pietism and Rationalism Won. Yay! Let's Merge

Pietism is always going to squeeze out Biblical faith, because it places a wedge between the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. The sneering of Pietists, how they follow "Jesus, not Luther" is an example of this departure.

If WELS, Missouri, and the ELS were Lutheran, they would never do a single thing with ELCA. Instead, they work all the time with ELCA. What do they have in common?

1. Pietism.
2. Rationalism.
3. Unionism.
4. UOJ.
5. Rejection of Luther's Biblical doctrine.

Happy Birthday, Spener - You Won, For Now

Walther was a Pietist, almost starving himself to death with penitential suffering, when he wrote to Pastor Martin Stephan. According to official biographers, and Walther himself, Stephan gave him the insights into justification merged with atonement that became the core of his teaching. UOJ came to the Missouri Synod via Stephan at Halle University, Walther converted by Stephan.

The Saxon migration was a Pietistic enterprise, and the pastors were all Pietists in an age of rationalism.

Like the other ethnic groups that came to America, the Missouri Synod was led by Pietistic unionists who began to face their problems with the Book of Concord. Walther was not the Lutheran orthodox warrior who battled against the false teachers of his age. He was another Pietist who amalgamated his original education and life with a certain amount of Lutheran doctrine and practice. As one book says, the cell groups went away gradually. Pietism did not.

We all know that the cell groups came back with a shout of triumph. Halleluia. ELCA promoted them. Fuller knew they were the solution. Missouri, WELS, and ELS leaders met at Fuller Seminary to plot the final stages of Lutherdom's doom. They won without much of a fight. Cell groups are accepted as righteous medicine for all that ails.

Cell groups have promoted such evils in the Lutheran Church as:

• Pentecostalism
• Unionism
• Doctrinal indifference
• Women teaching men
• Women's ordination
• Despising the Means of Grace
• Rationalism
• Denigration of the divine call
• Lutheran papalism
• Entertainment Seeker Services
• Friendship evangelism
• Subjectivism - experience and emotions judging the Scriptures and Confess.

Important topics to study in relationship to Pietism are:

Spener's development of the cell group, borrowed from Labadie.

Halle established as the main center of Pietism, to teach Pietism.

Halle's rapid transformation to a center for rationalism.

Francke's exponential expansion of Pietism at Halle University.

Zinzendorf and Wesley.

Zinzendorf, Herrnhut, and Stephan.

Halle University, Knapp, Tholuck, Schleiermacher.

Famous Halle alumni - Muhlenberg, Stephan, Hoenecke.

How Pietism turns into secular activism (ELCA).

Pietism and the Church Shrinker Movement.

From Shrinker to "Emergent Church."

Important Birthday on Wednesday

Philip Jacob Spener's birthday is on Wednesday.

Ich bin Phillip Jakob Spener(1635-1705), Father of Pietism,

baptismal sponsor of Nicholas Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf .

I left a message on Spener's Facebook page:

Happy Birthday, Phil. I know a lot of your friends.

How Pietists Think

As the founder of Lutheran Pietism, Spener was the first union theologian among the Lutherans,
but not the last.

Freddy Finkelstein has already written on this topic. I started this post last night, went to sleep, and woke up to two comments he posted to "Awww - Ain't That Sweet!" I will kelm them below, to keep this thread a little organized.

Pietism began with Spener's program, which included two poison pills for Lutheran doctrine:
1. Love is more important than doctrine.
2. Conventicles, or cell groups, are needed to promote the fruits of Christianity.

Although he denied it, Spener borrowed conventicles from Labadie, who was previously a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest. Catholic spirituality encourages small group intensity, whether in a Marian society or other methods of small group prayer. Jesuits were organized and trained to exercise power in society. The cell group moves the Christian Church away from the Biblical Means of Grace to prayer as THE Means of Grace.

A standard anecdote from Lutherans under this spell will be told like this, as a "witness" to everyone. - I was worried about my son and his friends, because a lot of bad things happen in those fishing shacks in the winter. So I prayed about it. And God sent a storm and blew the shack down. (Triumphant smile.) Nothing is said about parental discipline or the likelihood of moving to another, better engineered shack.

Cell group members are superior, because the real Church for them is the conventicle. The Sunday service is an administrative necessity for offerings and recruiting, but it contains too many unwashed traditionalists to satisfy the Pietist. The cell groupie performs and works, while the Biblical Means of Grace service is one where we receive Christ and his forgiveness.

Unionism does not just set aside doctrinal discernment. The Pietists make doctrinal discernment a sin, because that leads to criticism of other denominations. Therefore, all denominations engaged in cell groups are good and worthy of emulation. On the doctrinal side, this leads to Pentecostalism and Romanism, because tongue-speaking and Marian excesses mine the emotions so effectively at first. Today's cell groupies will fall into three categories in the future: Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, and burnt-out atheists.

Pietists are works-salesmen and law-mongers. The first thing from a Shrinker is "Look at the numbers God has accomplished through me." Their heresiarch Rick Warren teaches them, "Faith is not enough. You need transforming love, too." The Shrinker Lutheran congregations brag they are transforming lives, making them real, relevant, and relational.

Pietists speak of love, but forcing love is like forcing a smile, not effective. The cell groupies are really full of hatred for and anger against:

1. Traditional Means of Grace worship services.
   
2. Lutheran hymns, music, liturgy, and creeds.
   
3. Real Law and Gospel sermons.

They tolerate false doctrine. In fact, they are giddy with excitement over the latest heresies. But they do not tolerate anyone who questions them. They may love-bomb them for a time, a typical cell group approach, but they shun them for life when their tender mercies fail. Shunning is not enough - they make sure their opponents cease to exist. Ask any minister who has dealt with charismatics. The Shrinkers are exactly the same, especially lethal when elevated to positions of authority (chairwoman of the missionary society, etc).

Pietists teach indifference toward the Book of Concord and the Means of Grace. They talk about Jesus and grace all the time but take away the Instruments of Grace (media gratiae). They deny the efficacy of God's Word but never stop blabbing about their word.

Cells are effective. The entire Soviet Union was organized around Communist cells. A Soviet is a cell, so the USSR was a union of social cells. The political officer made it his duty to murder any opponents of Marxist-Lenist socialism. The SEALs work in cells too. They are ferociously dedicated to helping one another, and their various teams are united in a common cause. Pietistic cells promote the unionism, Reformed doctrine, and destroying Lutheran doctrine. They have worked their way up the ranks in the Synodical Conference and hold positions of authority in all the synods, ELCA too.

The people opposing the WELS Synod President are Pietists. Read their favorite authors - all Reformed, Pentecostal, or secular business people. Read the websites of their favorite conferences - Drive, Dirt, Exponential, Catalyst, Radicalis, Mars Hill, Granger Community Church, Northpoint, Leonard Sweet, Rick Warren, and Craig Groeschel. Check out their favorite training centers - Fuller Seminary, Trinity in Deerfield, Willow Creek.

Look at the State of Wisconsin Doctrinal Pussycats. They have one thing in common. They are getalong-goalong guys. They look pleasant, friendly, and harmless. However, they do not like their Pietism challenged.

A lot of charges will be invented by the Pietists in the next year or two. Their favorite will probably be "loveless."

"Therefore, do not speak to me of love or friendship when anything is to be detracted from the Word or the faith; for we are told that not love but the Word brings eternal life, God's grace, and all heavenly treasures."  What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1411f. Ephesians 6:10-17. 

"In like manner we will also do to our princes and priests; when they attack our manner of life, we should suffer it and show love for hatred, good for evil; but when they attack our doctrine, God's honor is attacked, then love and patience should cease and we should not keep silent, but also say: I honor my Father, and you dishonor me; yet I do not inquire whether you dishonor me, for I do not seek my own honor." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 176. Fifth Sunday in Lent John 8:46-59.

"Doctrine is our only light. It alone enlightens and directs us and shows us the way to heaven. If it is shaken in one quarter (in une parte), it will necessarily be shaken in its entirety (in totum). Where that happens, love cannot help us at all." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 414. Galatians 5:10.                  

"But this tender mercy is to be exercised only toward Christians and among Christians, for toward those who reject and persecute the Gospel we must act differently; here I am not permitted to let my love be merciful so as to tolerate and endure false doctrine. When faith and doctrine are concerned and endangered, neither love nor patience are in order. Then it is my duty to contend in earnest and not to yield a hairbreadth." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 637f.              

"It is self-evident that if the perfectio, or sufficientia, of Scripture be surrendered , the Scripture principle is given up. If a deficiency in the Bible must be supplied from some outside source, the Christian Church is eo ipso moved off its foundation, the Word of the Apostles and Prophets, and based on the Ego of the alleged supplementers." Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, I, p. 319.

"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal, immutable truth of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity (which, moreover, is not in our power to do). Nor would such peace and unity, since it is devised against the truth and for its suppression, have any permanency. Still less are we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the pure doctrine and manifest, condemned errors. But we entertain heartfelt pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to advance, that unity according to our utmost power, by which His glory remains to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of Christ." (Closing of Formula of Concord, Trigl. p. 1095) Francis Pieper, The Difference Between Orthodox And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 65.    

"When a theologian is asked to yield and make concessions in order that peace may at last be established in the Church, but refuses to do so even in a single point of doctrine, such an action looks to human reason like intolerable stubbornness, yea, like downright malice. That is the reason why such theologians are loved and praised by few men during their lifetime. Most men rather revile them as disturbers of the peace, yea, as destroyers of the kingdom of God. They are regarded as men worthy of contempt. But in the end it becomes manifest that this very determined, inexorable tenacity in clinging to the pure teaching of the divine Word by no means tears down the Church; on the contrary, it is just this which, in the midst of greatest dissension, builds up the Church and ultimately brings about genuine peace. Therefore, woe to the Church which has no men of this stripe, men who stand as watchmen on the walls of Zion, C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 28.    

---

Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Awww - Ain't That Sweet!":

After having spent nearly thirty years in the throes of pop-church Evangelicalism, of thinking their thoughts, of saying their words, of engaging in their false practices, and of wallowing with them in their doctrinal muck, it is easy for me to spot the dominance of this dying movement's influence in the words of the two authors quoted by Dr. Jackson at the head of this blog entry. In the case of the anonymous author from St. Marcus, the trifecta of smiling evangelical epithets is offered: (1) "my heart is wounded," (2) "you Pharisee," (3) but "I'm praying for you."

(1) The heart-wound is apparently inflicted as this individual is jolted by reality out of a dream that the Church Militant is a peaceful place. The reality is, it isn't. We are at war. The war is continuous. The war is waged among the Visible Church as much as it is anywhere else, as sinful man, continuously restless and lacking contentment with the Word of God in all of its finality, seeks to add to or subtract from it, as he gives in to the enticements of the World and seeks to follow in its ways, or as he otherwise falls prey to the wiles of the Devil. The Bible tells us in Romans 16 that man's motive in departing from pure Scripture teaching is ultimately to serve his own belly. God is not served by such innovation. In point of fact, the war that the Church wages is over Scripture teaching itself; its struggle is to keep it pure and unalloyed. Satan is content to settle either for half-truth's or full lies. Both serve his purpose equally well – to cause man to direct his eternal hope away from the objective promises of Christ to some other god, and to rob mankind of his Salvation. Yet, our job is not to battle Satan by working to grow the Church, as he works to shrink the Church through false teaching and dubious practices. Jesus Christ has fought that battle for us, and has vanquished Satan; rather, it is the Holy Spirit, working through the pure Word of God, alone, Who grows the church. If we cherish the Holy Spirit and His work, we must battle to keep the Word pure.

The claim, "you wounded my heart," is a safe accusation for an Evangelical accuser to make because it is entirely unverifiable "emotional schlock," (as cw, above, so aptly puts it). Unity among pop-church Evangelicals has very little to do with doctrinal agreement, but, rather, nearly entirely with peaceful association regardless of one's precise doctrinal stance. Divisiveness, rather than measured by pop-church Evangelicals against the teachings of Scripture (which are negotiable to varying degrees among them), is measured relative to "social oneness" – which is interpreted by them as "spiritual oneness." Pointing out the false teachings of others is to manifest something other than "oneness," dashing hopes (however false) and crushing spirits – the "unforgivable sin" of pop-church Evangelicalism.

(2) Thus the claim "you wounded my heart," naturally leads to its corollary accusation, "you Pharisee." Pharisees are big-meanies. They are unfair. Therefore they are wrong-spirited. Besides, they are the enemies of Jesus. Since the claim, "you wounded my heart," is fundamentally unverifiable and meaningless (as everybody well-knows), it is a safe accusation to make, requiring very little proof or explanation – and because it is anti-Jesus, it has the utmost “gravitas” and is taken seriously on the face of the accusation. In the mind of the pop-church Evangelical, heart-wounding is an act of disunity, it is therefore against Jesus, so the label "Pharisee" applies.

(3) Such accusations are usually followed by some form of reprimand. In this case, we read: What is it that bolsters Pharisees like I once was to pride themselves in defending their small lifeless congregations while at the same time feeling the need to lash out at and label larger congregations as being Ichabod for thriving? Could it be that these attacks issue forth from a place of unacknowledged (if even realized) fear because of not being as sure as they profess themselves to be that their numbers are small solely because they are God’s chosen "remnant", or because of whatever other supposed scriptural reason that they can come up with? Here we have the classic "we're big and you're small, so you're just jealous" reprimand. Regardless of the specific accusation, to solidify the moral superiority of the accuser, such reprimands are almost always followed by the classic and infuriating, "I'm praying for you." I recently had an acquaintance, offended by my confessionalism, say this to me. I ignored it, of course, but I might just as well have said, "Well, as long as you're announcing it, why don't you just elevate yourself in the center of the congregation and make a show of it?"

Interestingly, the anonymous St. Marcus author claims to be offended. And I agree – he has been offended. Yet, the source of his offense, as admitted openly by him, is not a direct telling of reality, but a false understanding of the Doctrine of the Church. The Unity he expects in the Visible Church, is manifest only in the Church Universal, invisible among the Church Militant yet fully enjoyed among the Church Triumphant. The source of offense is not the messenger of truth in this case, but the teacher he sits under who has poorly catechized him.

Otherwise, in the case of the Canadian Clergyman, Brett Meyer has offered enough research to suggest what sources have been informing his thinking in matters of doctrine and practice. I'll only add the following: the signature line at the bottom of his email, a quote from Sir Francis Bacon, pretty well sums up his entire theme. It says, If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted. Such is intended as a reference to the mission of the Church. Much like the Babylonians, it extols the heights of achievement humankind can reach and makes them Man’s objective. For a true Lutheran, such a statement ought to be as repugnant as the Tower the Babylonians constructed. Such a statement is rank anthropocentrism, and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Freddy Finkelstein

State of Wisconsin DPs - WELS

Spener and PietismFrom Thy Strong Word

Part Three: Jacob Spener and Pietism


Pieper on Pietism

J-756

"In so far as Pietism did not point poor sinners directly to the means of grace, but led them to reflect on their own inward state to determine whether their contrition was profound enough and their faith of the right caliber, it actually denied the complete reconciliation by Christ (the satisfactio vicaria), robbed justifying faith of its true object, and thus injured personal Christianity in its foundation and Christian piety in its very essence."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 175.

Hoenecke on Pietism

J-757

"Wohl scheint auf den ersten Blick die ganze Differenz recht unbedeutend; aber in Wahrheit gibt sich hier die gefaehrliche Richtung der Pietisten zu erkennen, das Leben ueber die Lehre, die Heiligung ueber die Rechtfertigung und die Froemmigkeit nicht als Folge, sondern als Bedingung der Erleuchtung zu setzen also eine Art Synergismus und Pelagianismus einzufuehren. (At first glance, the total difference seems absolutely paltry, but in truth the dangerous direction of Pietism is made apparent: life over doctrine, sanctification over justification, and piety not as a consequence but declared as a stipulation of enlightenment, leading to a kind of synergism and Pelagianism.)"
Adolf Hoenecke, Evangelische-Lutherische Dogmatik, 4 vols., ed., Walter and Otto Hoenecke, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1912, III, p. 253.

Walther on Pietism

J-758

"What may be the reason why the Pietists, who were really well-intentioned people, hit upon the doctrine that no one could be a Christian unless he had ascertained the exact day and hour of his conversion? The reason is that they imagined a person must suddenly experience a heavenly joy and hear an inner voice telling him that he had been received into grace and had become a child of God. Having conceived this notion of the mode and manner of conversion, they were forced to declare that a person must be able to name the day and hour when he was converted, became a new creature, received forgiveness of sins, and was robed in the righteousness of Christ. However, we have already come to understand in part what a great, dangerous, and fatal error this is."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 194f. Thesis IX.

"'Pay more attention to pure life, and you will raise a growth of genuine Christianity.' That is exactly like saying to a farmer: 'Do not worry forever about good seed; worry about good fruits.' Is not a farmer properly concerned about good fruit when he is solicitous about getting good seed? Just so a concern about pure doctrine is the proper concern about genuine Christianity and a sincere Christian life. False doctrine is noxious seed, sown by the enemy to produce a progeny of wickedness. The pure doctrine is wheat-seed; from it spring the children of the Kingdom, who even in the present life belong in the kingdom of Jesus Christ and in the life to come will be received into the Kingdom of Glory."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 21.

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"Meanwhile, back in Europe the corrosive effects of Pietism in blurring doctrinal distinctions had left much of Lutheranism defenseless against the devastating onslaught of Rationalism which engulfed the continent at the beginning of the 19th century. With human reason set up as the supreme authority for determining truth, it became an easy matter to disregard doctrinal differences and strive for a 'reasonable' union of Lutherans and Reformed."
Martin W. Lutz, "God the Holy Spirit Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 176.

If the reader has a good grasp of the Reformed rejection of the Means of Grace, then this section will explain how Pietism served as the midwife to deliver Reformed doctrines into the Lutheran Church. This is a key area, because the Church Growth serpents use Pietism as their litmus test. If a Lutheran has a favorable view of Pietism, he can be depended upon to be a supporter of cell groups, subjectivism, heart religion (with no connection to the brain), revivals, lay or staff ministers, Seeker Services, unionism, and judging success by outward appearances. All positive references to a heart religion are a signal that the speaker has a heart and is loving, in contrast with the cold, heartless orthodox who make sound doctrine the priority. If a Lutheran criticizes Pietism, then he can be safely described as an enemy of the Church Growth Movement.

Characteristics of Pietism

The Lutheran Pietists of today do not necessarily call themselves Pietists. They may even use the term Pietist in a disparaging way, a common occurrence in the Wisconsin Synod, where Pietism dominates.[31] I told one young pastor who woke up to the Confessions and phoned me, years after I left the synod, “You are not in a Lutheran Synod. You are in a Pietistic Reformed sect that has some Lutherans in it.” In fact, the Lutheran Church Growth Pietists are so burdened with self-loathing that they accuse their opponents of being Church Growth advocates, a logical short-circuit if there ever was one.[32] It goes like this, “We hate you because you criticize the Church Growth Movement. You actually support the Church Growth Movement, so you cannot say anything against us.”[33] Nevertheless, it is not difficult to detect the Lutheran Pietists, even if they throw out a smoke screen and a few stink bombs to avoid being spotted. The characteristics of Lutheran Pietism are:

1. Doctrinal indifference. Pietists are annoyed and infuriated by doctrinal discernment.

2. Unionism. We find an unseemly zeal in Pietists to have all manner of denominations in religious projects together. Some examples are James Tiefel’s pan-denominational worship conference, Bethany College having a Roman Catholic bishop as a featured speaker, and Wisconsin Lutheran College aping Bethany by promoting Roman Catholic Archbishop Weakland as a special speaker, along with other Roman Catholic priests![34] The Missouri Synod has featured ELCA women pastors preaching in their pulpits, always with a feeble and toothless response.

3. Lay led cell groups. According to Pietists, this is the real church. They feverishly promote cell groups under a variety of names: home Bible study, prayer, koinonia, care or share groups. Lutheran Pietists need congregations to support their work, but they regard those who attend cell group meetings as the only genuine members. Waldo Werning and Kent Hunter, both listed in Who’s Who in Church Growth, heavily promoted cell groups in the Missouri Synod and WELS. Cell groups manufacture disciples, they claim.

4. The ordination of women. Cell groups have by-passed normal synodical restrictions on women teaching men and usurping authority. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, introduced Serendipity cell groups in the 1980s with a husband and wife leading the sessions. Soon the husband disappeared. Then, when a man questioned how the group was being managed, the woman snarled at him, “I’m in charge here.”

5. Promotion of Reformed publications. Look up the Northwestern Publishing House website and look at the evangelism books. Examine the reading list for the Missouri Synod’s evangelism committees and synodical commission. Read the Church of the Lutheran Confession’s While There Is Day. Study footnotes in evangelism books. You will find the muddy footprints of the Reformed. You will not find these characters promoting orthodox Lutheran authors.[35]

6. Spiritual gifts inventory. Lutheran leaders borrowed this from the Pentecostals, dreaming that it would beef up their congregation’s size.[36]

7. Denigration of the ministry, worship, and the Sacraments. Everyone is a minister, so the divinely called pastor becomes a hireling to manage cell groups. Worship must generate fuzzy feelings, so the Law/Gospel sermon, the liturgy, creeds, pipe organ, and vestments must go. Baptism can remain for now, but Holy Communion is pushed into the background as an obstacle.

Reading Habits of Lutherans

Recently, someone took an informal survey about the reading habits of Lutheran clergy. The pastors who hated the Church Growth Movement read the Triglotta, the King James Version, Luther, Walther, and other confessional writers. The pastors who loved the Church Growth Movement read the NIV and books by Reformed authors. The genius of Pietism is that it can inject itself into a Lutheran body slowly while allowing the membership to think they are still Lutherans. When Pastor Tim Buelow was newly ordained in WELS, he looked at my library in astonishment. He said, “You really have a Lutheran library. Most of us have lots of Reformed books.” I asked why. “Because they were required reading at Mequon.” For that reason I have tried to get pastors to read kosher, to expend energy on Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Chytraeus, and Walther, and to sing kosher, using hymns by Luther, Selnecker, Jacobs, Loy, Gerhardt, and Nicolai.

I would like to take credit for inventing one new doctrine in the Lutheran Church: the non-reciprocity of false teachers. The Reformed do not promote Lutheran books and Lutheran doctrine at their seminaries, headquarters, and congregations, so Lutherans should not promote Reformed doctrine and books at any time. If Lutherans enforced this one rule, God would bless their work once again. I am outraged when so-called Lutheran presses publish and promote Reformed works.[37] Lutherans must also write in such a way that no one doubts their trust in the Means of Grace, even when they happen to publish with non-Lutheran presses. I understand the temptation to submerge Lutheran doctrine, because I could publish books in Grand Rapids and make a lot of money if I only suppressed infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, the Real Presence, and the efficacy of the Word. I could write around these subjects if I wanted to follow the example of Lutheran leaders today. However, I cannot write anything religious and surgically remove those doctrines that give eternal life to me and my family.

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"Pietism greatly weakened the confessional consciousness which was characteristic of orthodox Lutheranism."
Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1945.

Jacob Spener published his Pia Desideria (Pious Wishes) in 1675 when he was 40 years old. The famous book was simply an essay, published as a preface to one of J. Arndt’s sermon books. Spener had the advantage of a free promotional ride in a very popular and respected book. Much later, Arndt was still regarded as highly as Luther, so Spener had the benefit of this association. The Muhlenberg tradition regarded Pietism favorably, but the Missouri Synod did not. Nevertheless, for all the sound criticism aimed at Pietists by name in Law and Gospel, Walther did not name Spener in his classic work. Although I am guessing, I believe that Walther spared Spener because of the man’s iconic stature in the Lutheran Church. Spener’s proposals in Pia Desideria are summarized by Heick below.

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“It contains six proposals for a reformation of the Church:

(1) a more diligent study of the Bible;

(2) a more serious application of Luther’s doctrine of the general priesthood of all believers;

(3) confession of Christ by deed rather than a fruitless search after theological knowledge;

(4) prayer for unbelievers and erring Christians rather than useless dogmatic disputations;

(5) reform of the theological curriculum with emphasis on personal piety;

(6) devotional arrangement of sermons instead of formal arrangement after the manner of rhetoric.”
Otto W. Heick, A History of Christian Thought, two volumes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, II, p. 21f.

Pastor Mark Jeske offered almost the same program of Pietistic reform in the Wisconsin Synod, when he addressed a conference:

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Here are the top ten areas of our ministries in which I would like to see changed.

1. Myself. I trust God too little....

2. We don't prize our synod and our ministry relationships enough....Our called workers at 2929 will tell you that they take a lot more abuse than encouragement.

3. We need to loosen up....Our public worship/praise/prayer style seems stiff, overly formal, unemotional, smotheringly doctrinal. I personally do not think that our synod in general has a good balance of head & heart in our worship life. There. I said it.

4. Our schools are not being fully utilized to draw unchurched people into the fellowship.

5. We need to love cities more.

6. We need to welcome diversity, prize new racial groups and the cultural and ministry treasures that they bring. New people groups coming in to the WELS will not pollute our "pure" (quotation marks in the original) Lutheran practices. but enrich them.

7. We need a little more sanity and calm in our discussions of church fellowship. Things I can't stand:

· Assigning a seminary professor a paper and then letting all applications and conclusions become canon law instead of each of us getting into Word [sic] personally.

· passing off crude oversimplification as WELS canon law, such as, "You can't pray with anybody who is not WELS," or "if anyone rejects a clear word of God, he is in rebellion against the most High God and you can't be sure that he/she is really saved.

· We have a very highly developed sense of what we can't do with other Christians, to the point that it is safer to have nothing to do with other Christians. We lack the positive side of dealing with other Christians in practical ways.

8. I think we need a little more sanity in dealing with men/women role issues in the church....sometimes the WELS position is described as asserting male headship in all relationships: in family, church and society. Scripture speaks only of the first two areas, and so should we.

9. We need to declare a moratorium on negative comments about public schools. It is possible to be proud of our WELS system without running down Milwaukee Public Schools. There are many wonderful educational programs and innovations happening in MPS that we would do well to study and learn from.

10. There is a price that we have paid for our unity of practice in the WELS, and that is we have only each other as ministry models. We have many weak areas of ministry, such as in cities, and need to get around more to learn from other successful ministries even if they're not WELS. It is not helpful if our attempts to learn from other Christians is ridiculed as "sitting at the feet of the Reformed" or "capitulating to the papacy.”

Remarks delivered at a conference on March 3, 2000 by Rev. Mark Jeske, vice-president of WELS' Southeastern Wisconsin District.

Heick called Spener the “first union theologian.”[38] Spener rejected Calvin’s double predestination but accepted his view of the Lord’s Supper. The Pietists also rejected baptismal regeneration so the effect of the movement was to keep Lutherans as nominal Lutherans while they embraced Enthusiasm and worked actively with the Reformed.[39] Some people will argue with this claim, but I am willing to say that American Christianity is inherently the religion of Pietism and that includes Roman Catholicism as well. True, one can find all kinds of distinctions that fill the pages of dissertations and journal articles. However, look at the history of American Christianity in the last two centuries and see if it is not within the pattern of Pietism, a fact which will become more obvious when this section is studied. As Patsy Leppien observed when writing What’s Going on Among the Lutherans?, it is difficult to describe Pietism and what is wrong with the movement. When Lutherans try to start a mission in the South, they are forced into this kind of argument, “The Southern Baptists are for prayer and against whiskey. We are for whiskey and against prayer.” That explains why Lutherans would rather join the Pietists than fight them. This is our history, America:

A. The German Lutherans and German Reformed tried to create a merger based on nationality rather than doctrine. Many congregations, including the Wisconsin Synod, began in this fashion.

B. The German merger failed to take place on a national scale, but the Evangelical Alliance sought to bring all Protestants together in the 19th century.

C. Revivalism has marked the American scene from the days of Whitefield.[40] The 20th century saw the hollow successes of Billy Sunday and Billy Graham.

D. American Pietism in the 19th century led to the union efforts of the more liberal denominations through the Federal Council of Churches, reorganized as the National Council of Churches when the FCC became too overtly Marxist.

E. Lutheran groups have often been as Pietistic as the Methodists, banning card playing, dancing, alcohol consumption, tobacco, theatre, movies, and insurance.

F. The most Pietistic groups in one generation become the most Unitarian in the next. ELCA’s Muhlenberg roots and Midwestern Scandinavian Pietism have collapsed into mindless activism.

G. All the mergers and pan-Christian efforts have been based upon teary-eyed emotional appeals. The American Lutheran Church Bishop David Preus, who established Holy Communion with the Reformed, admonished his audience not to “major in the minors.” He used the example of Lincoln telling his quarreling generals, “Gentleman, the enemy is over THERE.” One Lutheran leader used this story, full of enough holes to make a city slicker wonder: A little boy was lost in the fields. The entire town was called out and they could not find him in the tall rows of corn. Finally they joined hands and went down the rows together. They found him, too late. He was dead. The town leader cried out, “Why didn’t we join hands earlier?” The necessary, moist, heart-pounding conclusion was that Lutherans had to merge before someone died.[41] It is ironic that David Preus joined a host of former synod officials in howling about how the new ELCA leaders ruined their synod.

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“Spener maintained that the doctrinal difference between the two churches of the Reformation, the Lutheran and the Reformed, was such that it should no longer exclude a mutual recognition in the faith. In this manner Spener and the Pietists in general did the spade work for the church unions of the nineteenth century.”
Otto W. Heick, A History of Christian Thought, two volumes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, II, p. 21f.

Two additional characteristics of Pietism mentioned by Heick are: 1) chiliasm, a focus upon the endtimes; and 2) an emphasis upon the blood of Christ. One early and important Pietist, Johann Bengel, taught that the blood of Christ was drained from His body on the cross, not reunited with His body, but stored in heaven for the sprinkling of sinners in justification. Bengel’s doctrine helps to explain why American Lutheran Pietists have had problems with millennialism and why Pietistic hymns are often so bloody.

J-764

“Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, My glorious dress;

Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.”
Ludwig von Zinzendorf, “Jesus Thy Blood,” The Lutheran Hymnal, #371, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.

Pietism is a complicated and extensive subject to treat. The movement influenced all denominations in various ways and remains with us today in various ways. Many of our favorite hymns come from the Pietists. The common table prayer, “Come Lord Jesus,” was written by Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a man so influential that Halle sent Henry Melchior Muhlenberg to America to counter his influence among Lutherans. This action created an ironic situation, where a Pietist was sent to keep Lutherans from following another Pietist. The Muhlenberg tradition in America became the largest segment of the Lutheran Church in America when it merged in 1962. Another significant group was the Augustana Synod, the Swedish Lutheran denomination formed to bring Pietism to America.

Muhlenberg and Pietism

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"The pietism and unionism of Muhlenberg and his colaborers was the door through which, in the days of Wesley and Whitefield, revivalism had found an early, though limited, entrance into the Lutheran Church."
F. Bente, American Lutheranism, 2 vols., The United Lutheran Church, Gen Synod, General Council, United Synod in the South, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1919, II, p. 78.

It was not possible to merge all the doctrinally indifferent Lutherans together in the 1960s. The Norwegian Pietists and conservative Germans of the old American Lutheran Church (1930 merger) formed The American Lutheran Church in 1960. Although the German side of the ALC merger was more inclined toward orthodoxy, we can find in Professor Lenski’s excellent commentaries a reference to the issue of dancing, an issue among Pietists. That reference does not make Lenski a Pietist, but it shows that dancing was an issue in his era as well. He also wrote books for pastors to use for Sunday evening and Wednesday evening services, also typical of the agenda of Pietism. Although one will now find Sunday and Wednesday evening services expected among the Fundamentalists, it is not part of Lutheran parish planning, except for mid-week services in Advent and Lent.

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"Since the age of Rationalism and Lutheran Pietism a new spirit has crept into the life of the church which is un-Lutheran, un-Evangelical, and un-biblical. The Sacraments have been neglected at the expense of the Word."
Walter G. Tillmanns, "Means of Grace: Use of," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, II, p. 1505.