Page-Reads in the Last Thirty Days. Fodder for More Hissy Fits from the Foxes and Vixen of Appleton

Gregory the Theologian

Posts

The Holy Spirit Teaches Man Better Than Books May 23, 2012 997 Pageviews

Trying To Fathom the Newest ELCA Breakoff Nov 19, 2009, 4 comments 274 Pageviews

The Kudzu That Swallowed WELS, Missouri, and the R... May 9, 2012 235 Pageviews

More WELS News - Light Sentence for Joel Hochmuth Jun 4, 2012 222 Pageviews

The Pileated Woodpecker Sighted Again Apr 9, 2012 214 Pageviews

St. Louis Arch Melting in Torrid Heat-Wave Jul 22, 2011, 1 comment 184 Pageviews

Jerry Sandusky, Former Coach At Penn State, Is Cha... Nov 5, 2011, 6 comments 139 Pageviews

Someone Has Sent an Insider's Report from the LCMS... Jun 17, 2012, 6 comments 118 Pageviews

Pope Paul the Unlearned Plagiarist - A Copy and Pa... Jun 11, 2012 100 Pageviews

LCMS Seminary Cost Scandal: Fabulous Costs To Supp... Sep 17, 2011, 28 comments 90 Pageviews

Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rope

Confidential to Mark and Avoid Jeske:
never use a straight make-up artist again.
You look like Snooki, or worse, Glende.

Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rope:

At what point will Lutherans scrum up the courage to confront Thrivent's ecumenism?  


Last fall Thrivent For Lutherans co-sponsored an evening lecture at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio near San Francisco by author Lynne Twist. Although Thrivent has recently  openly communicated its intention to abandon its Lutheran heritage (as if its Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army efforts weren't clear enough), it had no excuse as a "faith based organization" (as Thrivent describes itself) to financially support a Mystic trying to  improve the condition of people's souls.  


Alarmingly, Lynne Twist was the keynote speaker for Thrivent's 2010 national sales conference at the Minneapolis HQ.   


Reading my partial transcript below of the Interfaith presentation doesn't do it justice. It must be experienced. Too many times she approached what could have developed into a Scriptural point on stewardship or contentment in Christ, but swerved off the road and into the "Self,"  "The Other," or "Consciousness."   Here is the embedded video.  

'via Blog this'

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rop...":

Intrepid Brian Heyer did the right thing in calling attention to Thrivent's (and thereby every Lutheran Synod member's) support for New Age occultist Lynne Twist.

It's important to note that Lynne participated with Charles Gibbs, Executive Director of URI.
http://www.interfaith-presidio.org/events/twist.htm

Thrivent was directly supporting the ED for the United Nation's global religious denomination called the United Religions Initiative. It is as directly satanic as any religion can become.
http://www.green-agenda.com/unitedfaith.html

“This proposed new global system is highly interdependent as, in the same manner that the human body assigns different tasks to its various organs, each region is assigned specialized and specific tasks, and is each is dependent on the others for their common survival… The resultant ideal sustainable population is hence more than 500 million but less than one billion.” – Goals for Mankind, a report by The Club of Rome
http://www.green-agenda.com/spiritualunitednations.html

The Lutheran Synods (and their members) finance not only each other through Thrivent but also LWR (Lutheran World Relief) which also supports United Nations objectives and it's existance. LWR is LCMS President Harrison's favored "charitable" effort. Not only is the United Nations murdering men, women and children around the world but also supports the Lucis Trust - formally called the Lucifer Trust.

The Lucis Trust
This organisation was originally founded in the 1920s by the renowned occultist Alice Bailey under the name of the Lucifer Publishing Company. The Trust is recognised by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and is represented at regular briefing sessions at the UN. The Lucis Trust is also a member of the UN Economic and Social Council. Interestingly Robert Muller served as the Secretary of this Council for many years. Until recently the Lucis Trust was located at 666 United Nations Plaza and lists its official sponsors as the UN, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
http://www.green-agenda.com/spiritualunitednations.html

Brian Heyer is on the right track but is he ready for what he'll find - and do the Lutheran laity care enough to do something about it.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rop...":

...from Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity

"ThriventBuilds continues on Wilcox Street; an Adult Interfaith Social event for peace and understanding; and, lots of momentum to keep us moving forward!"

"The house of Abraham program is an exciting intiative that brings together Christians, Jews, and Muslims to promote peace building and carry forward Hartford Habitat's vission of "Building More Than a House"."

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs054/1102600045324/archive/1103514928520.html

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-is-habitat-thrivent-builds-with.html 

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GJ - That has been Mark Jeske's modus operandi for many years, so he fits right in with Thrivent. Birds of a feather do flock together.

Justification by Faith in the Apology - Destroys UOJ. But the SynConference Ignores That Fact

Apology of the Augsburg Confession - That Faith in Christ Justifies

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/05/gutenberg-project-apology-of-augsburg_14.html

WELS Layman to Blogmeister - "More Justification Quotations!"

WELS DP responds to justification quotations.

A WELS layman, who is too secretive for a code name or enigmatic number, has asked for more justification by faith quotations.

The Apology of the Augsburg Confession contains one of the most beautiful essays on justification by faith, so I decided to produce graphics with extended quotations from it.

After finishing Part 3, I inserted the graphics on that page. The graphics are also published on FB in a special album for my FB friends. Graphics are a lot of work, but they are also enjoyable and fulfilling to produce.

Opposition to justification by faith has made me especially interested in the topic. When an MDiv plagiarist like Paul McCain cannot find the theology of the cross in Luther's works, he has obviously never read Luther's sermons. That is the wretched state of Lutherdom today, led by self-serving salary skimmers who do not comprehend the subject matter of the faith and oppose the few scraps they think they know.

I find it ironic that McCain and his spokesman, Harrison, find it necessary to prove their fidelity to C. F. W. Walther to be good Missourians.

Walther was not a Lutheran - he was  Pietist. More importantly, he was a dictatorial criminal:

1. A kidnapper of two minor children, transporting them to America.
2. A kidnapper of his own boss.
3. A mob organizer and thief.
4. A pope in love with his own dogma, an opponent of the Chief Article of the Christian Faith.

Yes, McCain and Harrison are Waltherian - but that does not make them Lutheran. It only proves they are anti-Lutheran.

Steadfast Lutheran Site Allows Ichabod To Criticize the LCMS. Ichabod's Comments Blocked

Pope Paul the Plagiarist has another copied post on  his copy and paste site.
http://cyberbrethren.com/2012/06/27/commemoration-of-cyril-of-alexandria/
http://aardvarkalley.blogspot.com/search?q=cyril+of+alexandria

McCain's Irenaeus post is plagiarized from The Catholic Encyclopedia, with a disguised link "Source" at the end of the post.

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Apology of the Augsburg Confession.New, More Detai...":

Steadfast Lutherans say it's okay for Ichabod to criticize the LCMS:

http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=20800


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GJ - I am all busted up about being blocked on Steadfast Lutherans (sic), which is seldom more than a PR vehicle for SP Harrison the Silencer.

Felony child abuse by a rostered LCMS lay pastor in Minnesota - Silence! DPs are involved. Rev up the 10-horsepower shredders.

Steal the property of the U. Minn campus ministry, sell it, and give a morsel to the parish - Applaud Harrison for approving it as legal while registering his useless 12th hour objection! What a man - now that is real leadership. That is almost as good as a hand-written thank-you note following a rape.

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Steadfast Lutheran Site Allows Ichabod To Criticiz...":

Steadfast Lutherans say it's okay for Ichabod to criticize the LCMS:

Really? I can believe that except what they meant was that you are free to criticise LCMS just don't do it at Steadfast Waltherians blog.

LPC

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Steadfast Lutheran Site Allows Ichabod To Criticiz...":

Steadfast Lutherans

Indeed it deserves a (sic) because the blog title is a joke.

LPC

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GJ - The Missouri Compromise (an American joke) has been - we will balance the so-called conservatives with the ELCA wannabees, keeping everyone a little bit happy but always moving to the Left.

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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Steadfast Lutheran Site Allows Ichabod To Criticiz...":

Just as the gentiles had to stay behind the soreg (wall) dividing the Court of the Gentiles from the inner court of the temple where only Jews could go, so non-LCMS gentiles must restrict their comments to Ichabod. Dare any non-LCMS person try to comment on Steadfast, an uproar ensues and the person is banned (Act 21:28-29):

Soreg, Middle wall of Partition, Herod’s Temple, Jerusalem, Israel:
http://biblicalgeographic.com/2011/09/27/soreg-middle-wall-of-partition-herods-temple-jerusalem-israel/

View of the Area Between
the Royal Stoa and the Soreg:
http://www.neveh.org/mikdash/koren/koren5.html

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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Steadfast Lutheran Site Allows Ichabod To Criticiz...":

That they are discussing whether people outside the LCMS can criticize those in the holy synod tells me they didn't like this cartoon on Ichabod:

Someone Has Sent an Insider's Report from the LCMS:
http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/06/someone-has-sent-insiders-report-from.html

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GJ - As Dr. Cruz says, "Touch not the Lord's anointed!" - in this case, Holy Mother Missouri.

Irony alert - from Pope Paul the Plagiarist:

Rev. Paul T. McCain

June 28th, 2012 at 08:59 | #45

Reply | Quote

Here’s the very important truth we must not compromise, in our zeal to defend the Office of the Holy Ministry.

The Gospel is always an absolving/forgiving word of good news. This is true when brothers and sisters in Christ comfort one another with the Gospel. This is true when pastors pronounce absolution.

If the Gospel is ever something other than Gospel, then we have a very, very serious problem on our hands.

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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Steadfast Lutheran Site Allows Ichabod To Criticiz...":

Harrison bio information - educate by Methodists:

http://www.morningside.edu/morningside/about_morningside/index.htm

Founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Morningside College is a private, four-year, co-educational institution affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/article_4e663364-ce6f-55e6-850f-e5099a10c060.html

Harrison was born in Sioux City, Iowa, where he graduated from Morningside College in 1984. He attended seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind., and was ordained in 1991 and served two parishes in the next 10 years — St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Westgate, Iowa, and Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne. He plays the five-string banjo, and is a former member of the Missouri Area Bluegrass Committee.

Pastor Nathan Bickel on Scaer's UOJ

“Scratch the Holy Spirit”

A Significant Erroneous Mark of the “Universal Objective Justification” Enthusiasts

Comment Following the Ichabod Article:

“Some Thoughts Often Ignored by the Learned Pharisees of UOJ”

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/06/some-thoughts-often-ignored-by-learned.html

Ichabod -

While at seminary I had Dr. Scaer for at least one course. It was about 13 -15 years before he wrote this UOJ assessment in the Concordia Theological Quarterly, you reference.

I don't recall much (if anything) of his teaching, as my professor. I can only conclude that the Holy Spirit shielded me from the universal objective justification error that he may have taught when I was in his class.

One thing I can say, I liked his class. I don't recall much homework. And, he was one to encourage his students to think and discuss various Scriptures. He loved to utilize the [then] $50 "Synopsis of the Four Gospels" - the Greek-English Edition based upon the Greek Text of Nestle-Aland, the 26th Ed.

But, be that as it may, the more I read this quotation of Dr. Scaer’s; it appears ambiguous and simply out of whack. Without looking at any context, these two sentences appear to be alien; and also alien to each other.

Here's what Professor Scaer incorrectly says:

"Whoever denies objective justification reduces justification to the act of believing and does not believe in it at all. Logically, he denies the atonement and preaches that man is responsible for his sins." [The Third Use of the Law: Resolving the Tension – CTQ – 2005; page 256]

Dr. Scaer introduces logic to make his (human) reasoned argument point. But his contention isn't very Scriptural or logical when he claims that those who deny objective justification deny the atonement. His statement is fallacious - the old "either / or, argument."

Professor Scaer (though) did get something right. Basically, he states that those who reject (universal) "objective justification" preach that the sinner is responsible for his sin. Of course we do – because we are! That is why the words of the famous hymn lyric are so precious to the sinner / saint who strives against sin and seeks to walk in the Spirit, seeking the "things that are above." - Colossians 3:1:

"Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.

Naked come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace.

Foul, I to the fountain fly, - wash me Savior, or I die!" [Third verse of “Rock of Ages”]

Universal Objective Justification enthusiasts, basically minimize, diminish and / or disregard Sanctification:

I believe in the Holy Ghost; [Spirit] the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

What does this mean?

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ , my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost [Spirit] has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers, and will at the Last Day raise up me and all the dead, and give unto me and all believers in Christ eternal life.

This is most certainly true. [Dr. Martin Luther [b. 1483; d. 1546]

Christians of all walks of life, and even, whether they are pastors or professors, often forget and overlook the whole work and process of Sanctification. I'm becoming more and more convinced that those who do [so] are easily sucked into the whole UOJ - "universal objective justification" morass. By myopically focusing solely on the Second Person of the Trinity they not only offend the Holy Spirit, but His work of justification in the believer. Please again recall what Luther stated in the aforementioned explanation of the 3rd Article of the Apostle's Creed:

"............in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers ......”

Those who put all their "forgiveness 'eggs;’" into the universal objective justification basket, simply err against the Holy Spirit and His ongoing (continued) work in the life of the Christian believer. In reality they pervert the Scripture. I could offer a couple major reasons why the UOJ enthusiasts are driven to believe in their "scratch the Holy Spirit" false teaching, but that must wait for another time and another occasion.

Oh - by the way, I am reminded of Dr. Peter Scaer's book on “Christology,” Volume VI of the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics with Robert Preus the editor:

Professor Scaer's last chapter is entitled:  "The Ascension and Second Coming of Christ." Not once did I notice a single reference to the Holy Spirit! This is what I mean when I say that the error of the "universal objective justification" enthusiasts is to slight the Holy Spirit. That's their (failing) mark. They readily overlook how our true God, is Triune. They then emphasis (without balance) the Second Person of the Trinity at the expense of the Holy Spirit! And, I might add that Christ did not slight the Third Person of the Trinity as He related to His [then] 12 disciples (and to us through the divine revelation) that the Holy Spirit would be alive and well and very active between His [Christ’s] Ascension and Second Coming!

Nathan M. Bickel – emeritus pastor

www.thechristianmessage.org

www.moralmatters.org

Paul Scaer, LCMS pastor, died as an ELCA member.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Pastor Nathan Bickel on Scaer's UOJ":

Very good statements Rev. Bickel.

Scaer's UOJ statements remind me of a trifecta of quotes thrown at me by Evergreen Lutheran High School's Rev. Humann in his rage against one Justification solely by Faith Alone.

"But, sad to say, there are some Lutherans who want to be conservative and orthodox and yet find it very difficult to say with equal fervor and vigor that God has forgiven the sins of all men in Christ." (p.53)

"And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the dead." (p. 59)

Finally, "If forgiveness were dependent on faith in the sense that God does not forgive until we believe, we would always have to be sure that we are believers before we would be sure that we are forgiven." (p.60)
(W)ELS Our Great Heritage

The discussion ran from September to November 2008 and ended with the Board for Evergreen passing a resolution in favor of UOJ which included this gem:

”K. While the election controversy was in its second stage in the first years of the 20th Century, a somewhat related controversy over objective justification erupted. This development prompted August Pieper to write for the third volume of the Quartalschrift his unforgettable article. The conclusion reads:

One cannot oppose any doctrine of God’s Word with impunity; this increases sin and guilt, damages consciences and blinds the heart. One error begets another, as in the election controversy the insistence on intuitu fidei soon brought with itself the synergistic doctrine of conversion. But whoever molests the doctrine of justification stabs the gospel in the heart and is on the way of losing entirely Christian doctrine and personal faith and of falling into the arms of heathenism, even if he ever so much emphasizes justification by faith.”