Another Reader Appreciates The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans

The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans
can be found on Amazon as a printed and Kindle e-book.

From a Reader in the West

You have us hooked on learning about our justification before God, and we have learned a lot, both about the extent of the Gospel promise, and the errors that are creeping into the church regarding justification.

I just finished reading, for the 2nd time, The Faith of Jesus. Very informative and insightful book. 

UOJ is refuted, its adherents being unable to make a single coherent argument, though they do seem to have a knack for fallacy. I note that because I believe in giving credit where it is due. 

The Faith of Jesus - Passages - KJV and Greek

Romans 3: 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Philippians 39 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

These verses above explain (since Scripture interprets Scripture) this unusual, mysterious passage below - 

Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

***

GJ - I noticed while doing the research for the book that the modern translations use faith in Jesus Christ but the Greek text and the KJV have the faith of Jesus Christ.

The UOJ Stormtroopers think their orthodoxy is proved by their constant war against faith, which not only shows what lazy slugs they are, but also how they have no grasp of the Scriptures. Justification by Faith Alone is rooted in the faith of Jesus, so claiming a righteousness without faith, a universal absolution of mankind, is really a righteousness without foundation. 

Justification by Faith alone is found in -

1. The Scriptures
2. Luther
3. Melanchthon, Chemnitz and The Book of Concord
4. Gerhard, Calov and the Post-Concord Era of Lutheran Orthdoxy
5. The Gausewitz Catechism
6. The Old German LCMS Catechism
7. The Current CPH KJV Catechism.

Universal Objective Justification - aka Objective Justification - aka General Justification is found in:

• The former Calvinist Huber, who was repudiated by the Lutherans and sent packing
• Halle Pietietists
• Knapp, the doctrinal professor at Halle University
• Woods, the Calvinist who translated Knapp
• Rambach, a Pietist from Halle
• Bishop Martin Stephan, STD
• CFW Walther
• Norwegian Pietists
• Francis Pieper and the other Walther disciples
• Today's WELS-LCMS-ELS and the laughable Emmaus Conference in 2015
• ELCA and the previous ALC-LCA-AELC manifestations
• All modern theologians of various denominations, especially mainline Protestants of the National Council of Churches

The next Emmaus in 2017 will be a hoot - 

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. Hoeneke, by the Rev. Dr. Prof. John Brenner
• U. V. Koren, by the Rev. Prof. Markos DeGarmeaux

Correction - ELDONUTs Ordered The Faith of Jesus Removed. They Were Already Offended by The Faith of Jesus

 Making Disciples  is available on Kindle and Amazon
or from me at the author's price.

Rejection of the traditional text of the New Testament has been fruitful for the apostates. They have diluted the impact of having one, clear, precise English translation - the King James Version.

Once the radicals got their hands on the Greek New Testament, they convinced the academics that routine toying with the text could provide endless variations in the readings and slowly destroy the concept of the Word of God.

The KJV family - which includes many modernized versions - is alone in using the traditional Greek text. The rest -

• NIV
• ESV
• RSV
• New RSV

use the Nestle-Aland, which continues to change from the votes of the few who decide on the fate of each word.

Observe the invented rules about which Greek manuscript is best -

The New Testament in the Original Greek, the Text Revised by B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort(Cambridge : MacMillan & Co., 1882):

• There is a stronger presumption that the earlier date of a manuscript implies "greater purity of text" (p. 59)

• A reading that is apparently an "improvement" of the text is less likely to be authentic (p. 27)

• A more difficult reading is to be preferred as scribes tended to "smooth away difficulties" (p. 28) - from KJVToday

I was fascinated by Greek manuscripts when I was a young lad, but these rules struck me as ridiculous presumptions from the start. 

1. How do we know that a manuscript is earlier than another? The real issue in transmission is care for accuracy. 
2. Could something seen as an improvement actually be the better choice in the first place, the confused or confusing word a matter of inattention, bad eyesight, bad hearing?
3. Who defines difficult? If an apostate calls it difficult for believers, then the apostate editor of the Greek New Testament is going to choose something harmonious with his many doubts. This rule is the most rewarding for turning the New Testament text into a set of Tinker Toys.

Once the concept of the "modern text" is accepted, with changes based on some arbitrary rules, all good things follow for the apostates. Radicalism is set in concrete and believers can be shamed into submission. "This is the best and most accurate text of the New Testament. The world Bible societies and the Pope agree. Who are you to disagree?"

In contrast, the traditional text is based on centuries of Christian tradition from the Greek-speaking, Christian, Byzantine Empire - the Eastern Roman Empire that lasted until 1453. The escape of scholars from Constantinople spawned the Renaissance in Europe - a flowering of literature, art, sculpture, the Greek language, and culture. Byzantine history is almost completely ignored, even by history scholars, and is usually overlooked entirely in the narrative of Western culture.

"We have thousands of those Byzantine manuscripts," so they have little value. One man found two manuscripts on his own - Sinaticus and Vaticanus - and pronounced them the best and purest. "Those manuscripts have no clear origin, so we liberal scholars like them the best." So rave the radicals, and the  so-called conservatives who parrot this nonsense.

Edited Greek New Testaments enabled Dynamic Equivalence, which is Anything Goes paraphrasing of the text.

Those two forces are the path to forcing "making disciples" into the Great Commission. The English alone is barbarous, because the real object of the verb is "all nations" - not disciples. So - teach all nations is converted to make disciples of all nations, completely unjustified by the text. That shows how the attitude toward changing the original text is upgraded into altering the meaning of Greek. 

These points made the ELDONUTs irritated and defensive, because one layman called them on their favoritism toward the modern translations, like the ESV, and their adopting the New KJV Babtist slant, which includes "making disciples." The New KJV could be called the Babtist KJV - that is their market and word selection shows it here and there.

The Faith of Jesus is available on Amazon and Kindle,or from me at the author's price.

ELDONUT priests received free copies of Making Disciples and the Lord, High Bishop became incensed at these gifts. But worse was the open, flagrant, and unashamed distribution of The Faith of Jesus at their last mini-conference.

One underling interrupted the meal of a layman to address a terrible crime. The Faith of Jesus and some other books were on the free books table, as if it were The Abomination of Desolation. "Make these disappear!" He was ordered. Thus generosity was turned into a grave sin.

ELDONUT priest Stefanski is zero for two in the fact department,
but that happens when listening in obedience to the Lord, High Bishop. Tis funny how Eric takes time from his mass excommunication of all LCMS pastoral friends to expectorate some unsupported charges against me. Was I an LCMS pastor?
Did I ever advocate UOJ, as Stefanski did? It is a miraclethat ELDONA has not yet imploded.

Breaking the SynCon tradition of being indirect, the layman went to the Lord, High Bishop, Jim Heiser, and asked directly what the problem was. The Right Reverend was too busy to be disturbed, so great is the burden of holding a mini-conference for a micro-sect. But the layman pressed on. Heiser was enraged that the notorious author, yours truly, wrote a post he did not like eight years ago. Tearing at his longish beard, he cried out, "Does this look like an Eastern Orthodox beard?"

Heiser, in his purple bishop shirt,
is cleverly disguised as a UOJ advocate here,
with Rolf Preus and Steven Brockdorf, UOJ examplars,
proving a chameleon can turn every color - except white.

All the priests - except one - are from Concordia, Ft. Wayne, which has nursed a passion for Eastern Orthodoxy for years. A number of Ft. Wayners have joined Eastern Orthodoxy, as did one editor of the LCMS Lutheran Service Book - Fenton, who repudiated Lutheran doctrine afterwards.

Later, disciple Rydecki, when asked by me on IM, claimed, "The book was not vetted yet." That was in spite of Rydecki and Heiser having copies of the book eight months previously.

 "Do we look Eastern orthodox?"
Yes, you do.

Clearly, the ELDONUTs were fried, but they could not confine themselves to one topic. Fed by deliberate lies from another ELDONUT priest, ultimately from Heiser Hisself, Doug Handrich engaged in an age-old logical fallacy - poisoning the well, which in his case should be called "spitting into the wind."

ELDONUTs hide their information, just as Heiser hides behind his minions. But they have revealed a number of classic errors that come from Pietism.

Like Bishop Martin Stephan, STD, the tiny sect of ELDONA considers itself to be the only Church on earth. They told one layman, "It is unScriptural for Jackson to be apart from ELDONA." That declaration would also be true for 99.9999% of all Lutheran clergy. 

That declaration also defies the Augsburg Confesion, which they claim to uphold, just as the Pietistic sects LCMS, WELS, ELS, and CLC (sic) do. 

Pietists are obsessed with membership in the right sect, sometimes in the right district of the right sect, and even in graduating from the right seminary of the right sect. Ft. Wayne and St. Louis grads look down on each other. WELS and ELS pastors despise each other while "cherishing their fellowship." The CLC (sic) carps about everyone else while copying the worst doctrinal errors.

 "Anathema sit! Burn those books!
We alone are the Means of Grace on earth."

The book-burning attitude of ELDONA makes one wonder about the nature of their fears. If I give Augustine's City of God to a friend, am I expecting him to become Roman Catholic? If I give away a complete set of Pieper's Dogmatics, as I did to one seminarian, am I endorsing Pieper's UOJ and his Kalnis hobby? I give away books all the time, in the hopes of kindling interest in Reformation Lutheran doctrine.

No Explanation for ELDONA's Bizarre Hostility

Banned in Malone, Texas

I am used to the duplicity of clergy. I am their best buddy when they want something from me, but quite the opposite at other times. Like the WELS leaders, ELDONA clergy think it is a sin to discuss issues in public, but no problem when they bite and devour to preserve the sanctity of Holy Mother Sect. We would all like to be as perfect as they pretend to be.

More troubling than losing the sale of five or six books a year is the way they treat their own members.

A little history of The Faith of Jesus. As readers know, I decided to publish an answer to the odious Jay Webber essay delivered at the last Emmaus Conference, 2015. I began publishing drafts of the book soon after the conference, so everyone had access to it on the blog and could react to it.

ELDONA pastors Rydecki and Bishop James Heiser had the draft of the entire book sent to them by one of their members, who was considering attending their new seminary with one (1) student in it so far. This aspirant left WELS and I suggested an ELDONA parish, as I have several times before when an individual wanted a local congregation without the UOJ.

This aspirant shared various posts from Ichabod with ELDONA clergy. Nothing was said against that apparent sin. He was also the channel for the files from the book as it was finished. Besides that, I communicated with Rydecki via FB from time to time.

Their aspirant decided to donate books to various people, to many ELDONA pastors and directly to the Texas Vatican. Therefore, Rydecki and Heiser and others received free copies as they came out in March of 2016. This ELDONA member also sent KJV21 and Third Millennium Bibles to various people, including Heiser.

When the aspirant set out copies of The Faith of Jesus - free for the taking at the Malone conference- this is what happened. ELDONA pastor Oncken interrupted him for a talk during the meal, took him away privately, and told him "Make these books go away." He added this threat - "You have to learn to be more discreet if you want to attend our seminary."

The aspirant did as ordered and found the reaction troubling. He tried to talk to Heiser, who became "livid" when talking about "the 2008 Eastern Orthodox" post on Ichabod. He added such standard accusations, typical of WELS - liar, slanderer, and crazy. Heiser even ranted against my practice of promoting his Gerhard/Chystraeus books as "violating copyright laws." As I wrote before, the Fair Use Doctrine allows for the quotation of copyrighted books for scholarly and review purposes. That someone involved in publishing could be so deceptive and manipulative - or just plain stupid - is beyond my imagination.

People who write books want them reviewed and quoted, even when they are savagely rebuked, because attention creates visibility and sales. (One of my students fell among thieves, old-fashioned vanity publishers who wanted $7,000 to print and promote his book. I told him how little that would work and how it was all available for almost free at Lulu and Amazon.)

The excuse offered by Rydecki was lame. The Faith of Jesus "was not vetted." That was unconvincing, since everyone had drafts of the book for over six months, copies of the actual Word file, and printed copies as they came out in March, three months before the Malone.

Rydecki has done editing work for me and I asked a Bethany follower to fund an extra copy of MS Office so he could do his work at two locations. I once got Office for $10, so that opened up a conversation about low-cost copies. I found it strange to hide all this ELDONish hostility.

I encouraged Heiser and Rydecki as they were leaving their denominations, LCMS and WELS. Since I went through the same - and more - with God's help, I have a few insights about the experience. In fact, I left the LCA, the WELS, and the CLC (sic).

I do not have a single solution for any person, including those who stay, except for this - trust in the Word of God and keep teaching the truth. Those who plan for max salary and benefits have not remembered this verse -

Psalm 37 25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

So I consider it swinish behavior to accept all these gifts from one of their own members, all these communications about Ichabod (Heiser does not answer emails), and then treat those book donations as the worst possible sin, with excuses for this behavior so paper thin as to be laughable.

Intrepid Lutherans
When Steve Spencer was asked by SP Mark Schroeder to organize something, I suggested a group blog to discuss what was happening in WELS. Spencer and the others asked for names and I listed the ones in WELS who wanted to discuss doctrine.

Rydecki was an early participant and he advocated OJ at the time. Discussions brought him around to the Biblical, Book of Concord view, and he became an able advocate of Justification by Faith. For that, DP Buchholz kicked him out, removed his congregation from the sect, and began foreclosure proceddings.

Another reader, with some contacts in ELDONA,
asked me to write about "making disciples" error
of modern Pietism. ELDONA received free copies -
another sin too grievous to discuss with me?

Independent Conferences
Heiser wanted to come to our independent parish conferences, even though he was still in the LCMS. It looked like it would take a SWAT team to get him to give up his membership, but eventually he did. I gave him a tip on how to defeat a Kieschnick witch-hunt, so he did exactly what a Roman Catholic priest did under the same circumstances. On the day of the visit, lots of clergy friends were at the church and even more stopped by to say hello. This short-circuited the Star Chamber agenda and nothing happened. They referenced the group of clergy friends in their report, which Heiser read to me, gleefully, on the phone.

Heiser originally reacted against criticism of Objective Justification at one of our conferences that he attended - I believe in Norfolk, Nebraska. When Thy Strong Word was completed, Heiser learned what OJ really meant. I had been similarly misled, so I understood that. He sold copies of Thy Strong Word and listed it on his website, as I wrote before.

Heiser came to Phoenix for a conference at our church, too, in the modest chapel we fashioned from the garage.

When the aforementioned reader was considering what to do, I had nothing bad to say about ELDONA - quite the opposite. I was pleased they rejected OJ and championed the Chief Article of Christianity - Justification by Faith. I had no reason to believe from years of communicating with Rydecki that they harbored such feelings of resentment. I published about 25 posts related specifically to ELDONA and Justification by Faith - see the tag list.

Hello - Christian News Readers. I Think The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans Issue of CN Brought You Here

We went to vote early.

I check statistics at various times during the day. We left to vote with the views at 1100 for the day, but came back to 3,300 - a high number for any day. Now the figure is at 5, 5400 - before lunch.

I wondered why, until an email or two came in. People are getting their 2-15-16 issue of Christian News, which is packed with material from The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans.

Here is the Kindle link for The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans.

I also have a free PDF linked,

and a full-color illustrated edition of The Faith of Jesus , with art from Norma Boeckler.

Michigander's Comments on the KJV21, Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pietism and Christian News

This painting shows how many of us feel
looking into the fog of modern Lutherdom.

Your Making Disciples booklet was downloaded when you posted about it.  Very good material. 

I visited the KJV21 link to see more comparisons, which did seem to hold up well.  Then I looked for my copy of the KJV21.  Didn't find it.  Then I remembered I gave it away some years ago.  I downloaded the whole Book of Mark they offered in a WORD file (also to other word-processor versions).  I'll be following the lessons using the KJV21 text.  I did that this morning.  There was not enough difference -- one or two words here and there, which were appropriate -- so that only the few changes made it obvious I was reading a different version of the text but not much different.

I might have to get another copy of the KJV21.  They have a deal going:  buy one hard cover copy at $34.95 and get a second free.  They also sell leather-cover versions (two or three colors) for another $10.00 or so and one can mix or match versions as part of the deal.   

The issue of CN that contained all the quotes from The Faith of Jesus came Friday.  A week and a half after the issue's date, I think it was, maybe a longer time.  Then there was his diatribe about your sinking into the abyss of heresy.  That was humorous.  Poor Herman.  There was a favorable reference to your report on the LCA all those years ago as being the right stuff.  Too bad you've lost it.  Poor Herman.

***

The KJV21 preserves the precision of the KJV and the original Greek text here:

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

22 even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference,

23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,

24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The new NIV adds their "all" to the text, which is not present in Greek or even in the older, obsolete NIV, and they turn the "faith of Jesus" into "faith in Jesus." So by adding and subtracting they invent a new Bible, bit by bit.

WELS pastors call it the Ninevah translation.
They are not allowed to mention Murdoch owning it.

Another Set of Books Out the Door. Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pietism Is Close to Production

This project took months, because Walmart used up my extra time and energy.

First I sent some ancient Melo Cream calendars to a classmate who is part of the historical society in my hometown area. One calendar is perhaps 70 years old, showing my older cousins as little children.
That was long promised.

Second, I mailed the box promised to the best researcher around, whose name I cannot reveal. One book was signed by Jack Preus himself after denouncing Otten at the Indianapolis convention, as I recall.

A third book box went to another blogger, to help with Greek studies.

A fourth one went to Concordia, Ft. Wayne, to a seminarian.

Most of my purchases are Kindle or used books from Alibris. I found three books on Tyndale for a total cost of $20.

I enjoy finding great Lutheran classics for almost nothing and passing them on to other students of Lutheran doctrine. Sometimes I just send them directly from Alibris.

Apart from that, I send my books from Amazon. Some people donate extra and that makes it easy to send 10 to 15 books at a time. ELDONA received 25 copies of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans.

Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pietism
The new booklet is being illustrated by Norma Boeckler.

The booklet looks at the relationship between Pietism and the almost-universal shift from "teach all nations" to "make disciples of all nations."

The Popes Speak - Untangling the Strange Tales of Otten, McCain, and the UOJ Wolfpack

The first calumny is that I should "return to my previous position." That is on the first page of Christian News, 2-15-16 edition.

But I welcome false statements out in the open, which are rare in the Synodical Conference.

I have always taught justification by faith because Luther interested me from the beginning and I often used Luther's sermons in preparing for Sundays.

True - like many others I thought Objective Justification was the same as the Atonement. However, research into the terms and history, continued over the last 15-20 years, has shown that assumption to be false. OJ means everyone is forgiven and saved, without faith, the position of Halle Pietists.

I corrected this assumption in the new edition of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, which Otten still sells. I just sent him 20 more.

Our next item for amusement is Paul McCain's claim that I am not a real pastor. That comes from a man who never really served a congregation. Instead, he connived to get Al Barry elected as Synod President, secretly sending Otten advance copies of Barry materials so Christian News could run them early. Otten and McCain both bragged to me about it, yet both lied to the public about their covert partnership. Otten even published a denial.

McCain always poses in a clergy collar, yet his blog became famous for his incessant plagiarism from his friends' blogs and The Catholic Encyclopedia. Like all plagiarists, he changed a few words to cover his tracks, but a comparison with the free online papist recruiting tool revealed he was not a scholar but a lazy bum, a devious one at that. He probably figured that the nilhil obstat would give away his source, so he always removed that.

Let's examine McCain's accusation. I am a tent-maker, which has a precedent in the Bible. Think of your first name, Paul. I teach graduate and PhD students in theology, a role for which McCain is unqualified - due to his lack of education and his sordid record of unapologetic plagiarism.

I preach every Sunday, for Advent, Lent, the Ascension, but not the Assumption of CFW Walther.

In 2015 we visited all our members and held services at their homes, both in Washington and in Michigan. Besides that, our members come here for services.

McCain is offended that we hold services "in a rented room!" - to quote the ex-blogger. I wonder how he gets through Christmas with such prejudice, since the Savior was born "in a rented room."

We broadcast free over the Net, so we have people joining us from all over the US and also in various countries. We do not hide our services behind a user name and password, so nothing is secret.

Whether this suits the plagiarist or his editor buddy is no concern of mine. People thank me for teaching in harmony with the Word, Luther, and the Book of Concord.

The Walther myth is the main reason why the LCMS, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie are cratering. They have established this unwritten rule - that Walther is the last word on everything.

Walther only had a BA from the rationalists at Leipzig. His religious training was from one abusive Pietist and then a second one, Martin Stephan. Walther learned his OJ from Stephan and felt it saved his life.

I always tell the truth about the opposition's views and quote them verbatim. However, they are not willing to match their OJ dogma against the Book of Concord, Luther, or the Bible. They simply pound the same old trite statements and ignore anything that contradicts their own contradictions.

Icha-peak Bonus - Christian News 2-15-16 Issue Features The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans. Wait for the Blowback!

Otten mistakenly promotes the idea that I have taught something other
than justification by faith. He must not remember Trinity Bridgeton UOJ
Stormtroopers threatening him about my articles appearing in CN.
The beautiful cover was designed by Norma Boeckler.

Christian News editor Herman Otten thought my Photoshop of him was funny, but he also thought it ridiculed him. The graphic is a parable of sorts, not ridicule. LCMS Pastor Otten promoted a horrible, lying, anti-Luther book for his Reformation issue, some time back. When I asked him once or twice about stooping so low, he refused to answer. He finally said on the Net - "I sell to both sides of an issue."

That theory of merchandising explains why he sells Valleskey's Church Growth textbook and Marquart's criticism of Church Growth.

I like Otten, one of the last of the quirky pastors in the LCMS. The rest are all button down, incense burning wannabee priests who tell everyone how confessional they are while sinuflecting to Rome.

I bought an online subscription to Christian News, which is a good deal. $20 for online only, which is convenient for those who work from their computers.

More about Writing - Ichabod and Beyond. The Power of Myths

The first statistics I check in the morning are the posts being read in the last few hours. Increasingly, like the Glende links which are listed here - or the Paul McCain stories, linked here and also here - stories show up as being read by a group of people, even though the posts are several years old.

In case you wonder how they find those stories, here is a tip. Using Google search engine, put Ichabod the Glory in the window and also one search item - Glende, Ski, Buchholz, Webber, or McCain.

Example - Ichabod the Glory McCain - will yield the latest bog stories on McCain first. Ichabod the Glory McCain plagiarism will cough up McCain's plagiarism. But Ichabod the Glory plagiarism will include all blob plagiarism posts - Glende, Ski, McCain, DP Engelbrecht.

For fun, use the same search technique to find graphics on the topic. Warning. Warning, Master Robinson - I own the Lutheran topics from constant posting of graphics with captions. Serious and funny, they clog the Google search engine. And yet, I have no reason to apologize.

If an old story is being read, I post it again and update it. A blogger said the updates were really appreciated.

Teaching is going well so I have time to concentrate on writing. The booklet on Making Disciples is nearing its finish. That has been fun, so I will produce some more booklets in the future, on Amazon and also for free on the blog. The next big project is Creation Gardening, which will be printed in full color and lavishly illustrated - with photos from my rose farm and graphics from Norma Boeckler.

My three favorite authors in gardening are Facebook friends, and we often chat back and forth. Compare and contrast that with the number who sought to silence me, shunned and unfriended and blocked me, and sought to undermine me in every possible way. They only motivated me to outlive, outpublish, and out them.

"One little Word shall fell them."

Myths are powerful. Even though they are demonstrably false, they dominate the thinking and the errors of large groups of people.

The Missouri Synod was started by a syphilitic sex offender, Martin Stephan, who used his position to be intimate without countless young women. The outbreak of syphilis fueled the riot which Walther led and enabled, just as he led and enabled the clergy circle around Stephan, with his eye on the prize. Walther was poorly educated, in rationalism and fanatical mindless Pietism, but he remains the American Luther for the LCMS and its fragments. That myth is powerful, but still based upon the lies promulgated by Walther and his circle

Even the honest In Search of Religious Freedom has the title all wrong. Stephan was free, as a Pietist in a special Pietist congregation, to conduct his cell group ministry on the church property. But he enjoyed breaking all the rules, taking young women for walks in the woods, installing one in his home,, setting up cell group meetings elsewhere, and having his clergy circle raise money for his luxuries and VD treatment at the spa. Stephan wanted to keep his harem in peace, so his house arrest provided the final step in moving his cult to America. Their early years were so racy, raunchy, and riotous that Walther did not want the history written down.

Even now, the official LCMS history has the synod starting in 1847, when it was officially organized, but the Missouri Synod began when Stephan ordered his cult to American and took his main mistress on the ship with him and his eldest son - but left dying wifey and syphilis-deformed children at home.

Even now, the Synodical Conference leaders, pictured above, try to convince unknowing members that Halle Pietism is Lutheran Orthodoxy.

According to Webber and other snake-oil salesmen,
the Pietists Rambach and Quistorp are orthodox Lutherans
because they agree with the OJ of Pietism.
That is circular reasoning, forbidden in academic writing.

Yes, Jay Webber would have us believe that his doctrinal history, as slanted as the Marxist-Leninist history of the world, is valid, even though:

• Forgiveness without faith (Objective Justification) is nowhere to be found in the Bible, Luther, the Book of Concord, or the immediate post-Concord era (except in Huber the Heretic).
• The language and explanations for OJ come directly from Halle University.
• The OJ/SJ terms are found in the Calvinist translation of the Knapp Halle lectures, a two-fer if I ever saw one.
• Evidence shows that justification by faith was the main teaching in Missouri and WELS - until the Walther-Pieper faction took over in gradual steps, supplanting the original German catechism of Missouri (1905), the Gausewitz catechism for all three synods, and the dominant influence of Luther and the Reformation versus Calvin and Pietism.
• Many LCMS pastors now teach justification by faith and some WELS clergy do as well. However,  the death squads do not administer their gracious extending of the Left Foot of Fellowship without fear or favor. Some must be flogged, others culled, yet some spared, just to show the SP will have mercy on whom he has mercy. Nevermind, go back to work for Holy Mother Synod.

UOJ Negates the Means of Grace - Comment from a Reader

Hello,

We have spoken before, and I was wondering if you would clarify a couple of things for me. So, if I understand UOJ correctly then all men are justified but it doesn't apply to them until they believe. So really there are two justifications. One that all people get and then the one an individual gets when he believes that he is justified. I know they like to call it two sides of the same coin, but that seems silly to me.

So, if all men are justified, why would they need to be baptized? That is my question. Don't we  nullify the means of grace when we preach the world justified? It just seems so ridiculous. Why do I need to be justified again if I am already justified? And aren't they believing in their justification rather than Christ's atoning work? 

I think it goes for the Lord's Supper too. Why would I need it to strengthen my faith if I am justified already?

I have been talking through this in my head for close to two years now. It frustrates me.

On another note, my son and I have been learning Koine Greek. I took your advice and we are starting to read through John one verse at a time using the KJV as our answer key. We aren't doing too bad. 

***

"...must accept by faith this general absolution"
which is nowhere to be found in the Bible, Luther, or the Book of Concord.
"Frayans, Ah want y'all to make a decision for salvation without faith.
Amen? Amen!"

GJ - Copies of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans are on the way.

Their talking point is - "there are not two justifications," but why do they always talk about Universal Objective Justification and barely mention their precious Subjective Justification, which is nothing more than Making a Decision for UOJ, as CFW Walther BA, taught.

If we pay attention to the extreme Universalism cited by Robert Preus, quoted by Jack Cascione and Paul McCain, then there is no reason to baptize babies - or adults. Likewise, there is no reason to offer or participate in Holy Communion, a neglect that is often reflected in the - ahem - church architecture of Church Growth LCMS and WELS hives of Enthusiasm.

This extreme language (see below) is parroted by Jay Webber and Jon Buchholz with their code words - completed salvation, completed justification. At the cross, the empty tomb. or the angels speaking to the shepherds, they imagine everyone in the world - without faith - was absolved from all sin and saved. Completed. End of story, as Jon-Boy Buchholz wrote.

Greek is not difficult to learn - professors make it hard by their ponderous way of listing vocabulary and grammar rules to follow.

What you are doing will create a wealth of knowledge that will bear fruit in Biblical knowledge and a decided advantage in all academic tests and assignments.

The Romans considered knowledge of Greek to be basic for a real education.

Local Lottery Winner. The $3 Edition of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans Can Still Be Requested.

Happy Birthday, LI.

The lottery winners are being announced from the Powerball gigantic prize. I do not buy lottery tickets, but that reminded me of a more important treasure.

Finishing The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans was really a thrill. I was hoping that it would make sense to the laity, since the clergy are almost immune to study. That made it difficult to let go of the project, because justification by faith is countered by all the forces of modernist theology, Pietist dogma, and synodical apostasy. One must know the enemy well to refute false doctrine, so taking the argument back to Rambach is a challenge.

At Yale Divnity the professors mourned the lack of study by clergy, once they graduated. One Old Testament professor said, "If I look at a pastor's library, I can tell which year he graduated. They stop reading at graduation and still have the same books."

Abraham Malherbe took us through the study of a text with "Scripture interpreting Scripture,:" simply using the English text, although we we expected to know Hebrew and Greek. I wonder, as I read the published propaganda of synodical pugilists, if they have ever done that. In fact, after completing Thy Strong Word, I knew they had not. John Brug (Mequon) wrote The Ministry of the Word with one brief mention of the efficacy of the Word. And. Otten. Loved. It.

Nils A. Dahl said about LI,
"What a remarkable baby!"
His wife adored holding Martin -
they lost their firstborn.

Nils Dahl asked the doctoral New Testament class, which I got to take, what we knew for certain about the New Testament. He batted away all the lame answers and said, stuttering and shoving his eyeglasses into his mouth to garble his speech even more, "The text! The text! We have that for certain!" We loved his class, because many signed up, based on his world-wide fame as a conservative scholar, but left after trying to follow his quirky speech patterns. He always emphasized study of the text itself, not the study of the theories about the New Testament. Synodical standard bearers take note: copying past efforts is not faithful, scholarly, or wise.

I really enjoyed hearing from various laity, that they loved The Faith of Jesus and wanted multiple copies - 5, 10, and 15 copies at a time. Clergy are asking too, by the way, because there are some who continue to study and  endure in the face of Thrivent-funded lethargy, confusion, and excess.

The great thing about the orders is this - each person has a group of people selected to read (or ignore) the book. Some people writing have simply popped up to request copies - they are not people I know otherwise.

I am now sending out the full-color edition to donors, but I found that the $3 edition is still available for me to order at the author's price. So, continue to ask for it - bethanylutheranworship@gmail.com

I am not asking people to send money to get the black and white edition. People have already given toward it, so simply ask and a bunch will be sent your way.

The Lottery - Back to the Original Theme
I called this Local Lottery Winner because circumstances beyond my control placed me where I could first learn about Church Growth, UOJ, Luther, and the Book of Concord.

Notre Dame forced me to study the modernist theologians - Barth (woo woo Miss Kirschbaum), Tillich (bleh), Rahner, Kueng, and their predecessors, notably Schleiermacher of Halle University.

Serving in Columbus, Ohio placed me in a nest of WELS vipers who made Hillary Clinton seem honest and gracious in comparison. My academic knowledge of Luther and the Book of Concord was turned into a quest to find what was behind the clergy apostasy and adultery - if it only stopped there. One Catholic woman said, "Priests do not consider it a sin if they are with another man," a prescient statement.

Wayne, is he talking about you?

Hilariously, Wayne Mueller claimed in print that WELS had no Church Programs, but if the synod did, they were Biblical. Only a graduate of WELS GA hazing could manufacture a twisted claim like that.

Megatron, the database I created to handle the quotations for Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, became the storehouse for the WELS/LCMS Church Growth quotations and their refutations in Luther and the Book of Concord. More quotations were added for Thy Strong Word and the total passed 3,000 quotations - with the proper citations. That storehouse of quotations is still a handy weapon today, and I used it to call up the statements of nincompoops yakking about disciples making disciples making disciples...

The Real Treasure
The greatest treasure has been the demand to prove, support, and add weight to justification by faith, the Chief Article of Christianity. The reader known only by his hexadecimal number, 29A, kept saying, "We need more justification by faith quotations."

I often thought, "Isn't that obvious by now?" But it was not, for good reason. That is why I call this a lottery win. I read Luther's entire, large Galatians Commentary to Mrs. Ichabod, out loud, page after page. She loved it, and I thought I knew the book. But for the last few books on justification I read it all over again, especially the key passages.

That book - and John 16:8 - really opened up justification by faith for me, and I could see how this was the great treasure distributed through the Means of Grace. And that concentrates me on sticking to the great works of Lutheran Biblical study and doctrine - Luther's sermons and the Book of Concord. I am shipping off various books from my library because I like to see others enjoy them. And - I would rather read more of fewer than a little of a lot. Northwestern Mutual's survey gives me only 24 years of writing and blogging left, God willing, and I am not going to spend it on minor league theologians.

More Treasure
The best part is seeing how much laity and clergy appreciate Luther and the Confessions, once the introductions have been made again. The soul-murdering magicians of the synods want to misdirect our eyes, so we look at recent, poorly-educated church politicians instead of Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Hunnius.

If you read Hunnius versus the Huberian UOJ, you will gasp and say, "He has destroyed Walther, Pieper, and Valleskey in one little volume!"

That is one little slice of post-Reformation, post-Concord history. Does anyone study that era now? I hope so, because the genius group that put together the Book of Concord was alive and kicking false doctrine in the but I was only saying late into the 16th century. I believe I can trace how that little book came to be published, but it is a long story. Short version - it was like the lottery.

We are the lottery winners,
through the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace.

Now in Full Color - The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans. Kindle Edition Is Portable and Only $6

Kindle Online Book Ordering

The Kindle Edition of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans can be purchased here for $6.

For the next few months -

Those with Kindle Unlimited can download The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans

and 

The Holy Trinity Revealed in Scriptures for free. Kindle Unlimited costs $10 a month. They charge me too, so I will give that offer a try.

Ordering the Print Version

Ordering the Print Version of The Faith of Jesus, Illustrated in Color by Norma Boeckler

The retail price of the color edition is $28.03 but my cost is only $11.00. Note that most of the difference is kept by Amazon. If you want multiple copies of the book, contact me and I will send it at the author's discount.

bethanylutheranworship@gmail.com

Brett Meyer constantly encouraged me to
write about justification by faith and against UOJ.
Since then others have joined the effort to restore
the Biblical doctrines and study of the Reformation leaders.

The purpose of all this publishing is not to make money. Prices are kept as low as possible, and every title is given away as a free PDF.

The purpose is to broadcast the Word of God and energize the study of Luther's doctrine. If he is indeed the greatest expositor of the Scriptures, we should all be the most attentive students of his work.

The Reformation was God's response to centuries of abuse and corruption in the Church of Rome. They added works to faith and then told everyone, "You are still going to suffer for centuries in a mini-Hell we borrowed from the pagans and called Purgatory. But Mary will visit your suffering order her Son to give you a little grace, earned by your friends and family on earth. We know this is true, because the infallible Pope revealed it to us."

Luther's circle included a group of genius-level workers who supported and enlarged the work of the Reformation. After Luther's death, Roman Catholic persecution and doctrinal uncertainties caused divisions. God raised up another genius group to unite the Evangelicals, as they were called then, in one common confession - The Formula of Concord and The Book of Concord, 1580. Martin Chemnitz, Andreae, Chytraeus, and several others fashioned this wonderful book of spiritual wisdom to show their confession of faith was true to the Scriptures and the Apostolic Era.

Given these undisputed facts, shouldn't we be keen to apply ourselves to Luther's sermons and the Book of Concord, forsaking the bilge and Dreck of the Pietists?