Our Congregation's Attorney - Glen Kotten - Found a Post from 2011 That He Appreciated

 Hi Pastor Jackson, I stumbled across this letter from Brett Meyer on your blog, very quality writing and it expresses my sentiment with the Lutheran sects. In Christ, Glen 

From 2011

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2011/03/letter-to-uoj-fanatics-in-wels-missouri.html

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Letter to the UOJ Fanatics in WELS, Missouri, the ...":

WELS, ELS and LCMS Pastor Mark Jeske from the Time of Grace money sponge speaks for the (W)ELS, carrying the UOJ banner high with:

On the other hand, Schuller does have an important message for all public proclaimers of God’s Word. If we are not careful, our law-messages can be presented so forcefully that they stick in hearers’ minds more than our gospel-messages. We don’t want Christians’ dominant phrase of self-description to be “I am a poor, miserable sinner.” The truth is that forgiveness trumps sin, resurrection trumps death, hope trumps fear, and Christ rules. If you believe the Christian gospel, you automatically become an optimist. We can indeed do all things through him who gives us strength.
http://www.timeofgraceblog.org/2010/11/01/crystal-debt/

Jeske is following his Satanic Mentor Leonard Sweet in elevating man and perverting Christianity.

---

Dear UOJ Fanatics,

Many of you complain loudly--behind closed doors and in secret emails--about the disgusting, embarrassing, and anti-Christian antics of your group. I just want to mention that you are just as much at fault as they are, for supporting false doctrine that naturally leads to what they are doing:

1. Hiding the name Lutheran.
   
2. Hiding the sacraments.
   
3. Removing the liturgy and Creeds.
   
4. Plagiarizing Groeschel's sermons.
   
5. Imitating the worst of the Emergent Church fads.
   
6. Adulterating the Word to attract more people.
   
7. Offering bad music as a replacement for sacred music.
   
8. Yardwork clothes worn on the stage, which was once the chancel.
   
9. Giving treats, sodas, and coffee to consume during the service.
   
10. Mocking worship by dancing in front of the altar in a preaching gown.
    
11. Baiting the hook, offering soccer and head-banger music if youth will pretend to engage in Bible study of some type, always imported from false teachers.
    
12. Working with ELCA on religious projects.
    
13. Raising money from different sects that apparently do not agree on doctrine, although they do agree on false doctrine.
    
14. Funding the Salvation Army! (for the babies)
    
15. Women's ordination and crypto-women's ordination...women usurping authority, teaching men, and leading worship.
    

You think they are the bad guys, but they are only carrying out the implications of Universal Objective Justification, which is your only doctrine and their foundational belief.

You are conservative Pietists, you complainers, while they are the liberal Pietists.

This is why. most of you in the fragments and diaspora of the Synodical Conference bow to the strange opinion of Halle professor Georg Christian Knapp. Pietism borrowed this concept from Calvinism, and Knapp wrote it into his lectures. Woods translated the golden sentences which are the core of your doctrine and practice, and that book is still in print.

I will reprint it from the copy I own. This book was already in circulation in English and German before C. F. W. Walther landed in New Orleans. And it is still in print today. UOJ is the doctrine of ELCA and the Universalists.

This is very conveniently expressed by the terms objective and subjective justification. Objective justification is the act of God, by which he proffers pardon to all through Christ; subjective, is the act of man, by which he accepts the pardon freely offered in the Gospel. The former is universal, the latter not.

Double-justification (UOJ) merges the Atonement with justification by faith, yielding a sterile mulish doctrine for mules to follow. And you do follow it. You talk fellowship, but you ignore it. You talk closed communion and wink at open communion. You condemn ELCA's gaity, but you tolerate your own college (in WELS) promoting a plagiarized gay video. You are so superior to ELCA but you work with them on religious projects and teach the same sterile mulish doctrine.

Mulish is too polite for your pursuit of forgiveness without faith. But let's go over what you love so dearly:

1. UOJ omits the Means of Grace completely.
2. UOJ denies original sin, with the bizarre claim that babies are born already justified, without Holy Baptism, already forgiven, without the Word.
   
3. UOJ separates the Holy Spirit from the Word, making all of you adherents Enthusiasts, false teachers condemned by the Book of Concord you ignore so famously.
   
4. UOJ confuses Atonement and justification by faith, pronouncing it a sin to distinguish between the two.
   
5. UOJ lies about its origins, because it cannot be found before Pietism, whether in Luther, the Book of Concord, or the post-Concordists. The honest scholars admit that, but you do not.
   
6. UOJ denigrates faith and often describes the order of salvation in terms of decision theology.
   
7. UOJ is so derogatory toward faith that its most consistent followers, like Schleiermacher, simply drop faith and teach Universalism.
   
8. UOJ uses the terms "all are saved" in many different documents, so the Universalism is already there, though hidden behind the fig-leaf of you gotta believe it.
   
9. UOJ is Antinomian, teaching that the Law no longer exists, but you adherents are especially legalistic, making up more rules than the famous rabbis of old - not that the rules ever apply to you.
   

I know from many communications that your groups are not united in this ridiculous doctrine, perhaps because it was not made "official" until fairly recently - the Brief Statement of 1932 and the Kuske Catechism. Missouri and WELS both taught justification by faith, even though Walther and Pieper were all mixed up about it. The ELS may have been true to its Norwegian Pietism and stayed where they started, in Enthusiasm. Your laity see through in the insane contradictions of UOJ, but you clergy do not. You chatter on about it, superficially repeating the talking points drilled into you. You really need to have synod-wide studies of the Book of Concord, setting aside the Roman Catholic doctrine of Holy Mother Church. Your sect is not infallible. Your leaders are not infallible. It's time:

1. To tremble at the Word of God, instead of the footsteps of the DP.
   
2. To make Luther the most copied preacher in Lutherdom - instead of Groeschel.
   
3. To apologize to the laity for misleading them, exploiting them, and abusing them.
   
4. To rebuke, convert, or excommunicate the false teachers.
   

The Quia Marias Do Not Know, Acknowledge, or Trust The Book of Concord as Their Own

Here is an exercise - try to find a Synodical Conference leader saying Justification by Faith.

Ask around and all the Synodical Conference ministers will say they have a quia subscription to the Book of Concord. That means they agree with the Lutheran Confessions because (quia) they are a correct exposition of the Scriptures. And oh - the Scriptures are inerrant and infallible.

They are quia Marias because they do not have the courage to confess the truth of the Scriptures but march to the orders of their Fuller-trained, Trinity Divinity honed leaders. I hate to impugn the dignity of little girls by comparing the quia Marias to them. Little girls are more steadfast, more intrepid than the pastors who want to wear those labels.

A layman asked his pastor to teach a course about the Lutheran Confessions. The pastor said, "They are boring and irrelevant" as his reason for refusing.

Pastors were thrown into prison and exiled for those Confessions, but of course, many gave into the threats and silenced themselves about Calvin's odious dogmas. That is why I laughed at the "conservative" Lutheran leaders who pretended to admire Paul Gerhardt during the 400th anniversary of his birth. Did they look into the perfect mirror of the Law and see themselves persecuting the faithful with their grab-bag of dogmas and gimmicks?

 Three blind guides, three blind guides,
See how they grin. See how they grin.
They all ran after the Fuller growth
For UOJ they all take oaths
Did you ever see such useless blokes
As three blind guides?

We all know that most congregations do not sing Paul Gerhardt very often. One Bethany Lutheran Seminary professor said about Johann Gerhard, "I love his hymns." Wrong! So the fakery about the Gerhardt anniversary did not make much of a dent on Lutherdom or the laity.

This year, the conservative sects had trouble disguising their contempt for Luther, especially their loathing of his doctrine.

1. The LCMS made OJ/SJ official in their new "catechism" and doubtless in their $90 Dogma-tanic (two volumes of bilge).
2. The ELS celebrated the 500th with another tedious offering on OJ/SJ. 
3. WELS has forgotten and disposed of Gausewitz, whose catechism was a simple presentation of the Scriptures behind Luther's catechism. They celebrated the upcoming Reformation festivities by kicking out Rydecki for teaching Justification by Faith. To show their colors, they hosted Natalie Pratt's phony Reformation shindig, which made lots of synod money disappear and attracted almost no one.

 This settles UOJ once and for all, but the Quia Marias do not care for the Confessions at all.

Some Questions To Ask about Justification. PLUS - Scriptures That Destroy UOJ. Send In Your Ideas and They Will Be Added

Here is some background about Justification.

 People solemnly say, "OJ protects the doctrine of Justification."
Oh? How does an invented dogma - OJ - protect the Gospel? When did the Gospel need protection? A mighty shield and weapon or something weak that needs protecting?

Here are questions to ask:

1. What is the Chief Article of Christianity? Where is this language found?
2. Do you believe that God forgave the sins of the entire world? If so, when did that happen - at the death of Christ, His resurrection, or another time, such as the angelic announcement - Peace on earth? Where is this written?
3. What does Objective Justification mean? It is not in the Bible or the Book of Concord.
4. What does Subjective Justification mean? I have not found it in the Bible or the Book of Concord.
5. What did our early catechisms teach?
6. How did anyone teach Justification without OJ and SJ - and then only after the era of Pietism and rationalism at Halle University?
7. Why should we teach what ELCA teaches - that the entire world is already saved?
8. Why are we using the NIV, which has changed Paul's words about Justification in Romans 3?
9. If Abraham is the example of Justification by Faith in Genesis 15, Romans 4, and Galatians, then who is our example of Justification without Faith? 
10. If Paul teaches OJ - as you claim - why does he clearly teach Justification by Faith? Does he contradict himself, because some of your leaders really hate Justification by Faith.
11. The Gospel is the God-power unto salvation for everyone who believes in Romans 1:16, so how is everyone saved as DP Buchholz claims?
12. I always heard "raised for our justification!" Romans 4:25, but then I read Romans 4:24 - if we believe... Who is mixed up?
13. Romans 5 begins with Justification by Faith. Did Paul switch to OJ in the same chapter?
14. The Means of Grace chapter, Romans 10, is clear about faith and forgiveness. Was Paul confused about this? Or are we?
15. Is a seminary president from Canada more authoritative than Luther?
16. If the Book of Concord says we should study Luther's Galatians Lectures, to learn more about Justification by Faith, why are we ignoring that book - and Luther - this anniversary year?
17. Why do the liberal Lutherans and the conservative Lutherans hate Luther so much? But they still sell Luther trinkets and toys?
18. Which is better - the original Small Catechism or the latest version and notes from our synod?

Scriptures That Destroy Universal Objective Justification, Root and Branch

Genesis 15:6 King James Version (KJV)

6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Mark 16:16 King James Version (KJV)

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (GJ - Another reason to adopt the NIV - it kicks this verse into the footnotes.)

John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:36 King James Version (KJV)

36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (GJ -Does Jon-Boy know?)

John 6:27 King James Version

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Romans 1:16 King James Version (KJV)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (GJ - Don't tell Jay or Pope John the Malefactor.)

Romans 3:21-22 King James Version (KJV)

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:

Romans 4:24-25 King James Version (KJV)

24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Romans 5:1-2 King James Version (KJV)

5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 10:1-17 King James Version (KJV)

10 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Galatians 3:6-7 King James Version (KJV)

6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

What Does One Do in a Congregation Where Doctrinal Error Exists?

 Luther was not born with a Greek New Testament in one hand and the Hebrew Old Testament in the other. He had to unlearn a lot of error, and he learned the Biblical languages later in life.

Individuals ask, from time to time, about being in congregation where error is taught, such as the omnipresent Universal Objective Justification, which is the norm for WELS-ELCA-ELS-LCMS-CLC (sic).

The Pietists say, "You must join a pure denomination - ours. All the rest are eeeevul." But as you see, and as they freely confess, the leaders of those groups teach the same ridiculous garbage, and glory in it, as Paul predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2.

Not all the pastors in each group teach UOJ. Some have IQs above room temperature and actually study and think on their own.

But the most sincere ministers are still trained in a terrible climate for learning Biblical doctrine. Some may think they have resisted it, but the influence remains to some degree. For example, practically every Lutheran pastor feels a bit odd about saying the word "faith" and may feel apologetic and defensive even when they know better.

This is where the informed layman, male or female, may ask questions and pursue the issue. After all, what good is this Biblical knowledge if it is not shared in a dark or foggy place?

Some ministers imagine that Objective Justification is just another word for the Atonement, doubtless because Atonement passages are always being cited as OJ (gasp, sigh, roll eyes toward heaven).

And therefore they imagine Subjective Justification means Justification by Faith. But the stolid Stormtroopers of UOJ do not teach that, even though they let people revert to Biblical thinking from hearing the Word and believing what God teaches.

 Of course WELS teaches Universalism. Buchholz promoted it in his disastrous comedy of false doctrine. "Jesus Saved," past tense, finished, certain, lovingly enshrined in the WELS Holy of Holies - the Essay File.

Jon-Boy Buchholz denied to my face that WELS teaches Univesalism, and yet he does teach Universalism in his own miserable convention essay (gasp, sigh, roll eyes toward heaven). Confidential to the DP - most people in the world have never heard of you, your grandfather, your district, or your sect.

Therefore, someone can work on getting the issue studied and clarified in the congregation for several reasons -

1. WELS taught Justification by Faith in the original Gausewitz Catechism. This continued until the vacuous Kuske catechism introducted UOJ.
2. Until the dark reign of Matt the Fatt, the LCMS always taught Justification by Faith in its official catechisms. When challenged on behalf of Justification by Faith, as Pastor V. Harley did, LCMS did not smack him down or discipline him in any way.

• Harley - 2 Corinthians 5:19ff - Reconciliation
• Harley - Exegetical Essay
• Harley - Saints - Colossians 1:13ff
• Harley - Synergism and UOJ
• Harley, Trans - LCMS 1901 Catechism

1. Luther, the Book of Concord, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov, and Quenstedt taught Justification by Faith.
2. The crepidations of UOJ came from the Pietist era - or Error - and such confused teachers as Rambach, Quistorp, Bishop Martin Stephan, CFW  Walther and his devoted disciples.
3. The Scriptures teach Justification by Faith, so the New NIV - loved by WELS especially - introduced an "all" to Romans 3, so they could read "all are justified" in their Synagogues of Satan.

Luther did not organize another church - Rome kicked him out. His approach was to teach the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit do its work - and the Spirit did just that.

Below is a graphic that has been viewed about 110,000 times. The words of Luther certainly apply when considering this doctrine - The Chief Article of the Christian Religion.

Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers;
But error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies among his worshippers.

William C. Bryant - The Battlefield

Pope John the Malefactor’s Message - Deny the Chief Article and Promote Justification without Faith - To Honor the Reformation

Pope John is not apt to teach, like his partners in ELCA, LCMS, and WELS.

Pope John the Malefactor’s Message:



"How can we do justice to celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation? This question is before us as we gather for our synod’s 100th annual convention. It is a question our congregations are asking as they arrange their area worship services this coming October. When our synod’s Centennial Committee looked at appropriate ways to honor back-to-back anniversaries (the 500th now and in 2018 the ELS 100th), it felt a significant way to wed the two was to implement a synod-wide Bible study. We are happy to say the project has come to fruition and is ready to be rolled out in our congregations this coming fall. The Bible study, Proclaiming God’s Truth, has been authored by members of our synod’s Doctrine Committee. The study includes a teacher’s guide and covers seven topics central to Lutheranism and to the history of our church body. The doctrines treated in the study are these: Objective Justification and Absolution, The Election of Grace and Conversion, The Divine Call, Church Fellowship, Adiaphora and Ceremonies, Mission Work, and Christian Education. "

 This is a reminder of the Chief Article's meaning,
which WELS/ELS considers false doctrine.

'via Blog this'

2018 Bethany Lutheran Seminary Commencement

 Only two graduates?
And only two faculty members?
Honey we shrunk the seminary too!

2018 Bethany Lutheran Seminary Commencement:


"2018 Commencement
By BLTS on April 17, 2018

The seminary commencement service will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. in Trinity Chapel. The Rev. David Thompson will be the preacher, President Gaylin Schmeling will serve as liturgist, and the Rev. Herbert Huhnerkoch will represent the Board of Regents. The following will graduate from the seminary with a Master of Divinity degree: Noah Thompson and Christian Walz.

Following the commencement service, there will be a reception in Honsey Hall honoring the graduates and Dr. Michael Smith for his 16 years of faithful service at Bethany Seminary."


'via Blog this'

NWA editorial: The verdict is in | NWADG

NWA editorial: The verdict is in | NWADG:

"Nov. 7, 2015, just a few days before the filing deadline for candidates seeking a spot in the next year's election. Woods had served as a state representative from Springdale from 2007 to 2013 then as state senator from 2013 to 2017. He loved the role and appeared to embrace it practically as a full-time job. His 2015 announcement that he wouldn't seek re-election shocked the political world of Northwest Arkansas. And thus began the questions about why.

The private unraveling had begun a couple of years earlier as Woods orchestrated the allocation of state government General Improvement Fund money to Ecclesia College in Springdale and a nascent nonprofit conceived by an associate. On Thursday, a federal court jury convicted Woods of 15 charges tied to public corruption in the form of kickbacks -- an elected official receiving payment in exchange for using his influence to send taxpayer money to the tiny, private Christian college and his buddy's creation, AmeriWorks. That friend, Milton "Rusty" Cranford, sits in a Missouri jail, awaiting his on trial for public corruption on unrelated charges.

The same jury that convicted Woods also found Randell Shelton Jr. of Kemp, Texas, guilty of 12 charges. He's a consultant/lobbyist who stood accused of being the middle man in arranging the payments from the college to Woods and another Republican state lawmaker, former Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale. Neal pleaded guilty more than a year ago for his part in the schemes and cooperated with prosecutors.

A fourth man charged, Ecclesia College president Oren Paris III, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy on the eve of the trial and agreed to work with prosecutors. None of the men have been sentenced.

It is beyond the space we have available today to detail the 32 charges on which Woods and Shelton were indicted. "

'via Blog this'

The Fifth Sunday after Easter - Rogate Sunday, 2018. John 16:23-30. Limited God Is the Problem

Ascension Service - Holy Communion, 7 PM, May 10th

Bethany Lutheran Church, 

10 AM Central Daylight Time

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

The Fifth Sunday after Easter - Rogate 2018

 Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

The Hymn # 202                         Welcome Happy Morning                           
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual 
The Gospel 
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #454        Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire

Limiting God Is the Problem

The Communion Hymn # 207            Like the Golden Sun  
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #457                What a Friend We Have in Jesus

KJV James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Fifth Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly Father, who through Thy Son didst promise us that whatsoever we ask in His name Thou wilt give us: We beseech Thee, keep us in Thy word, and grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that He may govern us according to Thy will; protect us from the power of the devil, from false doctrine and worship; also defend our lives against all danger; grant us Thy blessing and peace, that we may in all things perceive Thy merciful help, and both now and forever praise and glorify Thee as our gracious Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

 The early Christians considered dying for the faith a great honor. Stephen is memorialized in the New Testament - the crown of life. Europeans said, "No cross, no crown."

Limiting God Is the Problem

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 

This Sunday precedes Ascension Day and emphasizes prayer, since earlier generations were dependent upon God's Creation and the bounty of the earth. The only thing I remember about it from childhood is wondering about the name each year. But if we recall the word interrogation, we can see the Latin word for "ask" in Rogate Sunday. Praying is asking, so this Sunday emphasizes Jesus teach His disciples about prayer.

The disciples were traveling with Jesus and therefore dependent upon Him in every way. So in this farewell sermon we see Him teaching them how to deal with this apparent void in their lives. The Savior will still be with them, but not visibly. Before, He prayed for them. Next they would pray to the Father in His Name.

One of the terrible characteristics of this age is being afraid to pray in the Name of Jesus Christ. We attended a graduation long ago, where the chaplain went beyond that mockery to say we should pray silently to whatever power we believed. Campus chaplains are always ahead of the game.

The new Pharisees want to silence any prayer in the Name of Christ. Thus they oppose faith where it is most evident.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Prayer is the outward sign of faith or unfaith. Jesus urged His disciples to ask the Father because they would then receive from the Father. The progression is clear - asking in the Name of Jesus is treated the same as Jesus asking. Though we pray, God answers as though the Only-Begotten Son is asking. We do not have the merit to pray, but we wear the robe of righteousness given to us through faith in the Son. 

ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

This is a great Promise, not only that asking will mean receiving but that it will fill believers with with joy. That naturally suggests the prayers fulfilled. So this first admonition gives us faith to pray because otherwise we would not even start.

God gives us the confidence to do what He commands, because His Promises support and enliven our faith in Him.

25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

We do not begin with the capacity to understand everything in the Scriptures. That ability grows with time spent in the Word. That was true of the disciples. Much of what they heard and experienced went past them, because they were beginners dealing with a change in the entire world. Jesus became plainer in His Word as they developed as His disciples. In the same way, we grow slowly through the Word and suddenly it seems one phrase will make so much sense. We knew it, said it, repeated it, but later we came to know what it meant. 

But the Scriptures are a vast treasury. Luther compared it to a goldmine where the veins make people dig them out. And yet the more the mine is mined, the larger and longer the tunnels become, the greater the treasure is. That is because the each part is directly linked to the rest. Jonah pre-figures Christ, and so forth.

Jesus spoke in parables so that the casual observers did not grasp them at all, and that is still true today. But when He wanted the Pharisees to understand, they did, and they were ready to kill Him for it.

26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

God gives us the confidence to pray in the Name of Jesus and urges us to pray, repeatedly. It is all through the New Testament. Notice the repetition here, which shows the teaching style of Jesus. He just said this - why the repetition -  but then He adds a little more - one of the great Gospel statements of the Bible.

27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

The Father loves those who love Jesus and believe He is the Only-Begotten Son of the Father. Once again, those who deny the Virgin Birth in John's work (and in Paul's) fail to see parallel constructions which say as much as the Virgin Birth or more. Although the Virgin Birth is a great miracle, that also includes the Incarnation. John 1 reveals this is cosmic - through the Logos, the Son, all things were created. Nothing apart from Him was created.  As I have said many times before, the Fourth Gospel builds on the first three, so the Virgin Birth is not debated - it is given. What does it mean here? Jesus came from out of the Father, as we say in the Creed - Very God of Very God, begotten not made.

The guilty and fearful do not ask, they are more likely to run away. But Jesus' words replace that response with God's gracious love, revealed in Christ, then magnified by the fact of the Father loving us for the work done through Christ.

28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

This is another great statement from Christ and a proclamation of His future Ascension, returning to the Father. The disciples confessed their faith in Him and their reception of His message to them.

The Issue - Faith

We are living in the era of the neos. By that I mean so many religious types who use the words of faith but have little faith in the basics of Scriptures and the Holy Trinity. The slow erosion has a tremendous effect on everyone. That is why we hear of so many clever human gimmicks for fixing everything, but the new fads are nothing more than man's imagination, often a fad dug up from the past.


As I told one member last night, it would be a big search to find any theologians today who is not a slave to rationalism, as my ND friend said - "Faith without belief." Or in another quip - "A liberal with a sentimental attachment to the Bible." That was his description of Blessed Rage for Order, a book I never suffered from reading. But I often heard liberals gasp as they mentioned the book, really the best of everything - radical agenda, words of faith, but no belief.

Prayer is impossible without faith, and this faith comes from the Means of Grace. We do not pray Jesus into our hearts. How can we pray for that without faith? Faith starts with preaching the Gospel, either to adults with the spoken Word or through baptism with infants, through the water and the Word, the Holy Spirit active in the Gospel in both circumstances.

The problem with starting with prayer is that every pagan prays, so that vague, appealing to apostates, and not in harmony with the Word.

The Word brings Jesus to us and us to Jesus. In prayer we have the chance to trust God with everything and to gain from that meeting.

Limiting God Is the Problem
Doubting is always going to accompany faith. A major part of doubting is first of all - failing to ask; then coming short in confidence. But the biggest short-circuit currently is limiting God.

• The prayer has to be answered this minute.
• The prayer has to be answered the way I wish.
• The circumstances must fit what I ask.
• The manner of fulfilling the request must suit my standards.

But - the thorn in the flesh may remain, as Paul came to understand, to show that His power is perfected in weakness, to show His grace is sufficient.

Doubtless every congregation and minister has wanted a glorious church that will wow the unbelievers. But in the light of spiritual fruits, where is that on the list? I have a collection of photos - former largest church buildings. They turn into gigantic white elephants in time and cannot be sold for their cost.

If we give up on the limitations we would give God in prayer, we are more aware of the blessings He delivers in addition to and apart from our actual requests. 

One chaplain wrote about his work with someone who had a horrible childhood, a real nightmare. He asked her what her biggest burden was. She said "Shame." That was not her fault, but that weighed on her terribly. He said, "Let Jesus take it away." And she did that in prayer and became better. I had an experience like that and when the individual returned, I did not recognize her. She came by to say thank you and everything was better.

The biggest request in prayer can be something no one sees but the believer feels so much it is agony and a terrible weight to bear.

The Holy Spirit was kind in not identifying Paul's thorn in the flesh. Otherwise if it had been a specific malady, people would say, "Well, I do not have that." 

But he prayed earnestly three times for God to take it away, and given perfectionism of Paul, that must have been impressive. But his answer was that he would live with it, suffer from it, and see how God worked in him anyway - so it was God's work and not his. Such epiphanies can be quite liberating because the thorn is no longer a thorn but a well-disguised blessing. It may be a blessing for others but a burden for the individual, but finally seen as a blessing after all. 

So Luther says, God does not take the affliction from our hearts, but our hearts from the affliction. The affliction remains but we see that we are living in a garden of roses.