The Holy Spirit and the Efficacy of the Word

H. Schmid, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church

                                    PART IV.

                             OF THE MEANS OF GRACE.

   S: 50. Preliminary Statement.

   THE Holy Ghost employs external and visible means, by which He produces
   in men the effects above described, [1] and appropriates to them
   salvation in Christ, and we can only then consider an effect as
   certainly produced by the Holy Spirit when it has been brought to pass
   through these external means. [2] These means of grace, as they are
   called, are the Word of God and the Sacraments. All those, then, who
   through these means have become partakers of the salvation in Christ,
   constitute an association which we call the Church.

   Part IV, hence, treats, (1) Of the Word of God; (2) Of the Sacraments
   as the means of grace; (3) Of the Church. [3]

CHAPTER I.

OF THE WORD OF GOD.

   IN treating of the Word of God, [4] we consider its efficacy, and the
   division of its contents.
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   S: 51. The Efficacy of the Word of God.

   As the Holy Spirit, through whom alone men are converted, operates only
   by the Word, this Word must possess the power of producing in man all
   those effects which are described in the preceding article, On the
   State of Grace. And this power is of such a character that it is always
   attended with success when no opposition is made to it on the part of
   man. [5] Hence the Word is endowed with efficacy, i.e., "it has an
   active, supernatural, and truly divine force or power of producing
   supernatural effects; in other words, of converting, regenerating, and
   renewing the minds of men." Hence the Word of God does not confine
   itself merely to teaching man externally the way of salvation and
   showing him the means whereby to attain it. [6] Its power is not to be
   compared to the convincing force which even an eloquent human discourse
   possesses; hence its power is not a natural one, such as dwells in
   every human word, but it is supernatural. [7] This power is inherent in
   the Word because the Holy Ghost attends it; from the moment that a Word
   of God is uttered, the Holy Ghost is inseparably and continually
   connected with it, [8] so that the power and efficacy of the Word is
   fully identical with that of the Spirit. [9] This is a truly divine
   efficacy; [10] and, just as we cannot conceive of the Holy Ghost as
   separate from this efficacy, so neither can we conceive of the Word of
   God as independent of it. [11] We are not, then, in any way to
   represent to ourselves the relation of the Word and the Spirit as
   though the Word were merely the lifeless instrument which the Holy
   Ghost employed, [12] or as though the Spirit, when He wished to operate
   through the Word, must always first unite Himself with it, as if He
   were ordinarily separated from it. [13]

   [1] QUEN. (IV, 1): "We have heretofore treated of the grounds of our
   salvation; we must now consider the means by which we attain to it. The
   means, properly so called, on the part of God, are the Word and
   Sacraments, the saving antidotes to our spiritual disease."

   The Word and Sacraments are also designated as means of salvation under
   the general idea of the Word -- as the Sacraments are designated as the
   Visible Word.

   CONF. AUG. (V, 2). FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., XI, 76): "The Father will
   draw none to Himself without means, but He employs His Word and
   Sacraments as the ordinary means and instruments." ART. SMALCALD.
   (VIII, 3): "We must firmly maintain that God bestows His Spirit and
   grace on none unless through the Word and by the external Word
   previously declared, that we may fortify ourselves against the
   Enthusiasts, who boast they have the Spirit before the Word and without
   it, and therefore judge, bend, and distort the Scriptures, or oral
   Word, as they please, as Muenzer did, and many others at present do,
   who wish to discriminate very acutely between the Spirit and the
   letter." HOLL. (991): "The means of salvation are divinely ordained, by
   which God graciously offers the salvation acquired by Christ, the
   Mediator, to all men who have fallen into sin, and bestows and
   preserves true faith in them, and at last introduces all who embrace
   the merit of Christ and persevere in it into the kingdom of glory."

   [2] FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., II, 56): "We should not and cannot always
   judge of the presence, operations, and gifts of the Holy Spirit from
   our feelings (the manner and time, viz., when they are experienced in
   the heart); but, inasmuch as these are often cloaked under much
   infirmity, we should be convinced from the promise that the Word of God
   preached and heard is assuredly the ministry and instrument of the
   Spirit, by which He truly and efficaciously operates in our hearts."

   [3] From what was said in the remarks preliminary to the articles on
   Faith and Justification, it follows that we cannot entirely adhere to
   the systematic division of the Dogmaticians in this Part IV. They do
   not treat, namely, of Faith and Works until under this head, and they
   call Faith also a means of salvation, according to which, therefore,
   they embrace more than do we under the phrase, means of salvation. This
   they can do, because they distinguish between "the means of salvation
   on the part of God, dotika, or those offering salvation (the Word and
   Sacraments), and the means of salvation on our part, leptikon, or that
   apprehending the offered salvation (faith in the merit of Christ)." In
   this section the Dogmaticians also treat the subject of the last things
   (death, resurrection of the dead, etc.), inasmuch as they designate
   these as means "in a general sense, or executive and isagogical, that
   is, means divinely instituted, without the previous occurrence of which
   God does not accomplish the sentence of glorification, and by the final
   intervention of which men persevering in the faith are introduced into
   heaven."

QUEN. (I, 170): "When we attribute to the Word a divine power and
   efficacy to produce spiritual effects, we wish not to be understood as
   speaking of the Gospel only, but also of the Law. For, although the Law
   does not produce these gracious results directly and per se, i.e.,
   kindle faith in Christ and effect conversion, since this is rather to
   be ascribed to the Gospel, still the letter is not on this account
   dead, but is efficacious after its kind: for it killeth, 2 Cor. 3:6; it
   worketh wrath, Rom. 4:15, etc.

   [6] HOLL. (992): "The efficacy of the divine Word is not only objective
   or significative, like the statue of Mercury, for instance, which
   points out the path, but does not give power or strength to the
   traveler to walk in it, but it is effective, because it not only shows
   the way of salvation, but saves souls."

   [7] QUEN. (I, 170): "The Word works not only by moral suasion, by
   proposing a lovely object to us, but also by a true, real, divine, and
   ineffable influence of its gracious power, so that it effectually and
   truly converts, illuminates, etc., the Holy Spirit operating in, with,
   and through it; for in this consists the difference between the divine
   and the human word."

   BR. (123): "(The Holy Scriptures have an active, supernatural force or
   power) which is to be sought neither in the elegance of their style,
   nor in the sublimity of their thoughts, nor in the power of their
   arguments; but it is far superior to every created and finite agency."

[8] HOLL. (993): "A divine power is communicated to the Word by the
   Holy Spirit joined with it indissolubly." Hence, there is a native or
   intrinsic power and efficacy belonging to the Word, deeply inherent in
   it. The Dogmaticians draw proofs of this, (1) From the qualities which
   the divine Word ascribes to itself, John 6:63; Rom. 1:16; Heb. 4:12,
   13; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:23; James 1:21. (2) From the similar
   supernatural and divine operations which are ascribed to the Word of
   God and the Holy Spirit, ex. gr., calling, 2 Tim. 2:14; illumination, 2
   Pet. 1:19; conversion, Jer. 23:29; regeneration, 1 Pet. 1:23;
   justification, 2 Cor. 3:9; sanctification, John 17:17. (3) HOLL. (ib.):
   "The Word of God, as such, cannot be conceived of without the divine
   virtue, or the Holy Spirit, who is inseparable from His Word. For if
   the Holy Spirit could be separated from the Word of God, it would not
   be the Word of God or of the Spirit, but a word of man. Nor is there
   any other Word of God, which is in God, or with which men of God have
   been inspired, than that which is given in the Scriptures or is
   preached or treasured up in the human mind. But, as it cannot be denied
   that that is the divine will, counsel, mind, and the wisdom of God, so
   it cannot be destitute of the divine virtue or efficacy."

   [9] QUEN. (I, 183): "We are to assume here not only a certain
   conjunction or union of distinct actions, or even a unity of aims or
   effects, but also a unity of energy and operation. For the Holy Spirit
   does not by Himself do something, and the Word of God by itself
   something else, in the conversion of men; but they produce the one
   effect by one and the same action. For such is the peculiar nature of
   the principal and subordinate causes, intrinsically united together,
   that they produce an effect by one and the same action. Thus the soul
   and the eye see by a single action, and not by distinct actions."

   [10] BR. (1124): "Truly that same infinite virtue which is essentially
   per se and independently in God, and by which He enlightens and
   converts men, is communicated to the Word, and, although it is
   communicated to the Word, yet it must be considered as divine." . . .
   But it by no means follows from this that there is a commingling of God
   and the Word in regard to this divine power; hence BR. (128) says:
   "They frequently and diligently impress it upon us that the same virtue
   belongs to God and the Scriptures, but not in the same way; for that of
   God is essential, fundamental, original, and independent, while that of
   the Scriptures is dependent and participative or derived." . . . Hence
   it is said of the Word that it exhibits its power and efficacy
   organikos, or instrumentally . . . . QUEN. (I, 172): "The divine Word
   is not the principal agent in the work of conversion, regeneration, and
   salvation, but it is only a suitable means or organ which God
   ordinarily uses in producing spiritual effects, not indeed by necessity
   or indigence, as if He so bound His efficacy in the conversion of men
   to His Word that He could not convert men without any means, or by any
   other means or organ than His Word if He wished, but of His own free
   will, because thus it pleased Him. 1 Cor. 1:21."

   [11] QUEN. (I, 170): "Whether the Word be read or not, whether it be
   heard and believed or not, yet the efficacy of its spiritual effects is
   always intrinsically inherent in it by the divine arrangement and
   communication, nor does this divine efficacy only come to it when it is
   used. For the Word of God, as such, cannot even be conceived of apart
   from the divine virtue and gracious working of the Holy Spirit, because
   this is inseparable from the Word of God."

   HOLL. (993) uses the following figures: "It possesses and retains its
   internal power and efficacy even when not used, just as the
   illuminating power of the sun continues, although, when the shadow of
   the moon intervenes, no person may see it; and just as an internal
   efficacy belongs to the seed, although it may not be sown in the
   field."

The Lutheran theologians, in general, had reason to illustrate very
   particularly the doctrine of the operation of the Word of God, in order
   to oppose the Enthusiasts and Mystics, who held that the Holy Spirit
   operated rather irrespectively of the Word than through it; and to
   oppose also the Calvinists, who, led by their doctrine of
   predestination, would not grant that the Word possessed this power per
   se, but only in such cases where God chose. Hence the position that the
   Word also possessed a power extra usum was specially defended against
   Rathman (1628), who denied it, and who appears to have maintained only
   an objective efficacy of the Word of God. (QUEN. (I, 174) gives the
   following opinions of Rathman: "Rathman compares the Word of God to a
   statue of Mercury, to a picture, to a sign, and even to a channel;
   namely, to instruments altogether passive and inoperative. He asserts,
   moreover, that the divine efficacy is external to the Word of God,
   separable from it at any moment, and merely auxiliary (parastatikon);
   that the Holy Spirit with His virtue joins Himself to the Word only in
   the mind or heart of man, and only then when it is legitimately and
   savingly used.") But an efficacy extra usum must necessarily be
   maintained, if the Word of God is not to be put on a precise level with
   every human word.

   HOLL. (992) thus sums up the doctrine: "The Word of God is the most
   efficacious means of salvation, for its power and efficacy are not only
   objective, but also effective; not consisting in moral suasion, but in
   supernatural operation; not external and coming to it when used by men,
   but intrinsic in the Word; not accidental, but necessary, by a divinely
   ordained necessity, and therefore not separable, but perpetual,
   inherent in the Word itself extra usum, as the first act. This efficacy
   is truly divine, producing the same effect as the Holy Spirit, who is
   perpetually united with the Word, which (effect) the Spirit influences
   together with the Word, by the divine power which belongs to the Holy
   Spirit originally and independently, but to the divine Word
   communicatively and dependently, on account of its mysterious,
   intimate, and individual union with the Spirit."

[15] FORM. CONC. (V, 5): "We hold the Gospel to be specifically that
   doctrine which teaches that man should believe, who has not kept the
   Law, and is therefore condemned by it; namely, that Jesus Christ has
   expiated and made satisfaction for all sin, and thus has procured
   remission of sin, righteousness before God, and eternal life, without
   any merit intervening on the part of the sinner." FORM. CONC. (V, 21):
   "Everything that consoles terrified minds, everything that offers the
   favor and grace of God to transgressors of the Law, is properly called
   the Gospel, i.e., the cheering message, that God does not wish to
   punish our sins, but for Christ's sake to forgive them."

   BR. (631): "The Gospel is the doctrine of the grace of God and of the
   gratuitous pardon of sin for the sake of Christ the Mediator, and His
   merit apprehended by faith." Hence, as far as this grace is declared in
   the Old Testament, so far does it also contain the Gospel. (Note 1.)
   Hence, BR. (ib.): "This doctrine was revealed not only in the New
   Testament, but also in its own way in the Old Testament (in the New
   more clearly)." Such intimations in the Old Testament are cited as
   occurring, not only in the protevangelium to the patriarchs and
   prophets, but also in the Ceremonial Law. BR. (632): "It is certain
   that those things which were contained in the ceremonial laws, had the
   force of Law, so far as they commanded certain acts and rites; yet as
   far as they represented Christ the Mediator, and His merit to be
   apprehended by faith, by certain rites, such as types and shadows, they
   are properly to be considered as Gospel." As to the relation of the Law
   and Gospel to the Old and New Testaments, QUEN. (IV, 61) says: "The Old
   Testament and the Law, and the New Testament and the Gospel, are not
   identical, but distinct; for they differ as the containing and the
   contained. For the Old Testament contains the Law as its part, but not
   to the exclusion of the Gospel, and the New Testament contains the
   Gospel as its portion, but not to the exclusion of the Law; and thus
   the evangelical intention of God respecting the remission of sin,
   grace, and salvation through the death of Christ, is declared not only
   in the books of the New, but also in those of the Old Testament."

   The word Gospel can also be used in various senses. HOLL. (1032):
   "Generally, but with less propriety, the word is used to designate the
   whole doctrine of the New Testament, taught by Christ and the Apostles,
   Mark 1:1; 16:15. Specially, for the doctrine of grace and the
   gratuitous remission of sin to be obtained by faith in Christ, whether
   proposed in the Old or New Testament, Rom. 10:15; Heb. 4:2. Most
   particularly, for the doctrine concerning the Messiah already
   manifested, Rom. 1:1." Here the word is taken in the second sense, for
   we are to describe that effect of it, which is different from the
   effect of the Law. (HOLL. (ib.): "In this special sense, the Gospel is
   sufficiently contradistinguished from the Law.") In the proper
   discrimination of these senses, the question is also settled, whether
   the Gospel also preaches repentance. FORM. CONC. (ep. V, 6): "We
   believe, etc., that if by the word Gospel be meant the whole doctrine
   concerning Christ [taken, therefore, in the general sense] which He
   taught in His ministrations, that we properly say and teach, that the
   Gospel is a preaching of repentance and the remission of sins. But when
   the Law and the Gospel, Moses himself, as a teacher of the Law, and
   Christ Himself, as a teacher of the Gospel, are compared together, we
   believe, teach, and confess, that the Gospel does not preach repentance
   or reprove sin, but properly is nothing else than a more cheering
   message and an announcement full of comfort."

[1] BR. (639): "Since, besides the Word of God, the Sacraments also are
   means of regeneration, conversion, and renovation, and therefore of
   conferring, sealing, and increasing faith, we must also treat more
   particularly of these."

   [2] QUEN. (IV, 73): "God has added to the Word of the Gospel as another
   communicative (dotikon) means of salvation, the Sacraments, which
   constitute the visible Word." Strictly speaking, there is but one means
   of salvation, which is distinguished as the audible and visible Word;
   through both one and the same grace is imparted to man, at one time
   through the mere Word, at another through the external and visible
   element.

[10] AP. CONF. (IV, 47): "The Sacraments are efficacious, even if they
   be administered by wicked ministers, because the ministers officiate in
   the stead of Christ and do not represent their own person."

   QUEN. (IV, 74): "The Sacraments do not belong to the man who dispenses
   them, but to God, in whose name they are dispensed, and therefore the
   gracious efficacy and operation of the Sacrament depend on God alone, 1
   Cor. 3:5, and not on the character or quality of the minister. The
   dispute about the intention of the minister is more intricate.
   Propriety requires that he who administers the Sacraments should bring
   to the altar a good intention of performing what God has commanded and
   instituted: a mind not wandering but collected and fixed. It is
   absolutely necessary that the intention of Christ be observed in the
   external act. I say in the external act, for the intention of the
   minister to perform the internal act is not necessary; that is
   performed by the Church. On the other hand, the Church of Rome teaches
   that the intention of the minister is necessary to the integrity,
   verity, and efficacy of the Sacrament; that this intention has respect
   not only to the external act of administering the Sacrament according
   to the form of the institution, but to the design and effect of the
   Sacrament itself. Thus the Council of Trent: If any one declare that
   the intention of doing what the Church does is not required in the
   ministers, while they dispense the Sacraments, let him be anathema.'"
   (78).

  HOLL. (1061): "Faith is necessarily required in order to the reception
   of the salutary efficacy of the Sacrament." Id. (1064): "The Sacraments
   confer no grace on adults, unless when offered they receive it by true
   faith, which existed in their hearts previously. In infants, the Holy
   Spirit kindles faith by the Sacrament of initiation, by which infants
   receive the grace of the covenant."

CHMN. (II, 35): "The Ap. CONF. correctly declares that the effect,
   virtue or efficacy of the Word and of the Sacraments, which are the
   seals of the promises, is the same . . . . As, therefore, the Gospel is
   the power of God unto the salvation of every one that believeth, not
   because there is any magical force in the letters, syllables, or sounds
   of the words, but because it is the means, organ, or instrument by
   which the Holy Spirit is efficacious, proposing, offering, presenting,
   distributing, and applying the merit of Christ and the grace of God to
   the salvation of every one that believeth; so also is power and
   efficacy attributed to the Sacraments, not because saving grace is to
   be sought in the Sacraments above and beyond the merit of Christ, the
   mercy of the Father, and the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, but that the
   Sacraments are instrumental causes in this way, that through these
   means or organs the Father desires to present, bestow, and apply His
   grace, the Son to communicate His merit to believers, and the Holy
   Spirit to exercise His efficacy for the salvation of everyone that
   believeth. As, according to this, the Sacraments effect the same grace
   as the Word, the question may arise, Why has God employed a twofold
   means to this end? CHMN. (Ex. C. Trid., II, 29) answers: "To such
   attacks and to the clamors of fanatics, we properly reply from the Word
   of God, that the Sacraments which God has instituted to be aids to our
   salvation can in no way be considered either useless or superfluous, or
   be safely neglected and despised . . . . And, indeed, (as Chrysostom
   says) if we were angels, we would need no external sign; but our carnal
   infirmity hinders, disturbs, distracts, and weakens our faith. For it
   is hard to continue firmly persuaded of those things proposed in the
   Word which are not apparent to the senses . . . . Moreover faith, when
   it determines that the divine promise is in general a living one, is
   yet principally concerned about the question, Does this promise belong
   to me individually? . . . God, therefore, who is rich in mercy . . .
   desires to present His grace to us only in one way, that is, by His
   mere Word; but He desires also to help our infirmity by certain aids,
   namely, by Sacraments instituted and annexed to the promise of the
   Gospel, i.e., by certain signs, rites, or ceremonies obvious to the
   senses, that by them He might admonish, instruct, and make us sure that
   what we see performed in a visible manner, externally, is effected
   internally in us by the power of God."

   "In this way the Sacraments are, in respect to us, signs confirming our
   faith in the promise of the Gospel; in respect to God, they are organs
   or instruments, through which God in the Word presents, applies, seals,
   confirms, increases, and preserves the grace of the Gospel promise in
   believers. The grace tendered in the Word is not different from that
   tendered in the Sacraments, nor is the promise in the Gospel different
   from that in the Sacraments; but the grace is the same and the Word one
   and the same except that in the Sacraments the Word is rendered
   visible, as it were, on account of our infirmity, by signs divinely
   appointed." The question of the necessity of the Sacraments is thus
   decided by CHMN. (Ex. C. Trid., II, 30): "The Sacraments are necessary
   both by reason of the infirmity of our faith, which needs aids of this
   kind, and by reason of the divine institution . . . . And in this sense
   we not unwillingly grant that the Sacraments are necessary to
   salvation, as the instrumental cause; but yet this declaration is to be
   added, that the necessity of the Sacraments to salvation is not so
   precise as that of faith and the Word . . . . But if any one have true
   faith in Christ form hearing the Word, and if the ability to use the
   Sacraments according to the divine institution be not conceded him, in
   such a case surely the necessity of the Sacraments to salvation is not
   to be considered an absolute; for then salvation would be denied to
   those who have no ability to use the Sacraments, although they embrace
   Christ as their Saviour by faith in the Word."

Selections from H. Schmid

H. Schmid, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church

Chapter III

OF THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION.

[1] QUEN. (III, 461) defends the arrangement thus: "The Triune God is
   very desirous of our salvation, and all the three persons of the
   Godhead are actively engaged in securing our eternal salvation. God the
   Father appointed everlasting happiness and the peace of heaven for us,
   of His own most gracious will and in His eternal counsel; Christ, the
   Son of man and of God, purchased for us the appointed salvation by His
   blood-bought redemption, and the Holy Spirit offers and applies the
   purchased salvation and spiritual blessings through the Word and
   Sacraments. As we have hitherto considered the grace of the Father's
   commiseration and love, and the grace of the fraternal redemption, it
   remains for us to treat of the applying grace of the Spirit, which is
   completed in several distinct acts." (HOLL. (791): "The applying grace
   of the Holy Spirit is the source of those divine acts by which the Holy
   Spirit, through the Word of God and the Sacraments, dispenses, offers
   to us, bestows and seals the spiritual and eternal favors designed for
   man by the great mercy of God the Father, and procured by the fraternal
   redemption of Jesus Christ.")

   CHMN. (Loc. c. Th., II, 270): 1. "The Scripture calls faith knowledge
   [21] (gnosis), Luke 1:77; Col. 2:3; Eph. 3:19. To faith must be
   presented, and upon it enforced, from the Word of God, the decree and
   history of redemption, the gratuitous and universal promise that God,
   on account of that victim, desires to receive sinners who betake
   themselves by faith to the Mediators. 2. Because many who hear these
   things and understand and know them, either neglect, or doubt, or
   resist, turn away from and oppose, it is necessary that assent should
   be united to this knowledge: not merely a general assent, but that by
   which each one determines with firm persuasion, which Paul calls
   assurance (plerophoria, Heb. 10:22), that the universal promise belongs
   privately, individually, and specifically to him, and that he also is
   included in the general promise. 3. Then, after this knowledge and
   assent (which are in the mind), the heart or the will, under the
   Spirit's influence, experiences such an inward groaning or desire,
   that, because it feels grievously the burden of its sins and of the
   anger of God, it wills, seeks, and asks that those blessings which are
   offered in the promise of the Gospel may be granted . . . . 4. When, in
   this way, thou turnest thyself, with mind, will and heart, from the
   contemplation of sin, and the consciousness of the wrath of God, and
   lookest unto the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
   i.e., when, from the sentence of damnation, which is denounced against
   thee by the Law, thou fleest to the throne of grace and to the
   propitiation which our Heavenly Father offered in the blood of Christ,
   it is necessary to superadd confidence, which, with full assurance,
   determines from the Word of God, that God then gives, communicates, and
   applies to thee the benefits of the promise of grace, and that thou
   thus truly apprehendest and receivest, unto justification, salvation,
   and eternal life, those things which the gratuitous promise of the
   Gospel offers."

  [4] QUEN (IV, 283): "The second act of faith, (viz., assent) is more
   distinctive than the first (viz., knowledge), for even heretics may
   have knowledge and yet not yield assent to the Word known. But this
   assent is not superficial, doubting, vacillating, but should be decided
   and strong, on which account it is called the evidence of things not
   seen, Heb. 11:1. This act of faith does not depend upon the evidence of
   things, or upon the knowledge of causes and properties, but upon the
   infallible authority of God's Word."

 QUEN. (IV, 281): "God is the principal efficient cause of saving faith.
   John 6:29; Phil. 1:29. Hence faith is called the gift of God, Eph. 2:8,
   and it is said to be of the operation of God, Col. 2:12. This shows
   that faith proceeds from God, who regenerates, and is not the product
   of our own will; it is not meritorious. It has its origin in grace, not
   in nature; it is adventitious, not hereditary; supernatural, not
   natural. That which, in respect to its commencement, its increase, and
   its completion, is from God, cannot depend upon our will and powers of
   nature. But faith is of God in its commencement, Phil. 2:13; 1:6; in
   its increase, Mark 9:24; Luke 17:5; and in its completion, Phil. 1:6; 2
   Thess. 1:11. Therefore, etc." Br. (721): "The moving internal cause is
   the goodness of God, or His mercy and gratuitous favor (Phil. 1:29);
   the external is the merit of Christ."

   [14] AP. CONF., II, 73: "We do not exclude the Word or the Sacraments.
   We have said above that faith is conceived from the Word, and we honor
   the ministry of the Word in the highest degree."

  FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., IV, 10): "As Luther writes in the introduction
   to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans: Faith is a divine work in us which
   changes us, divinely regenerates, mortifies the old Adam, makes of us
   altogether different men (in heart, soul, and in all our powers), and
   confers the Holy Spirit upon us. Oh, it is a living, efficacious,
   energetic power that we have in faith, so that it cannot exist without
   always producing good works! It does not inquire whether good works are
   to be performed, but, before any such inquiry, has already performed
   many, and is always busy in the performance of them." BR. (518):
   "Confidence is always attended with love. For, when our will has
   respect to Christ as a present good, and to God as appeased for
   Christ's sake and rendered propitious to us, it renders to Him a love
   not only of complacency, but likewise of benevolence; its impulses are
   good will to Him, a desire to perform what will be good and grateful to
   Him."

 [17] AP. CONF. (II, 56): "Faith does not justify or save because it is
   a meritorious work, but only because it accepts the proffered mercy."
   Ibid. (74): "Love, also, and good works ought to follow faith;
   wherefore, they are not so excluded that they should not follow it, but
   confidence in the meritoriousness of love or works is excluded in
   justification." FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., III, 41): "That which Luther
   has well said remains true, Faith and works agree well and are
   inseparably connected, but it is faith alone which receives the
   blessing without works, and yet it is never alone.'" 42. "In regard to
   the question, how faith justifies, this is Paul's doctrine on this
   point, that faith alone without works justifies, inasmuch as it applies
   and communicates to us the merit of Christ. But when it is asked how
   and by what indication a Christian man can recognize and distinguish
   either in himself or in other men a true and living faith, and likewise
   a feigned and dead faith, since, in place of faith, many torpid and
   secure Christians indulge in a vain opinion without having true faith,
   the APOL. answers: James calls that a dead faith which is not followed
   by good works of every description and the fruits of the Spirit.'" The
   distinction of HOLL. (1172) is very striking: "The power and energy of
   faith are twofold, receptive, or apprehensive, and operative. The
   former is that by which faith passively receives Christ and everything
   obtained by His merit (John 1:12; 17:8; Col. 2:6; 1 Tim. 1:15; Rom.
   5:17; Acts 10:43; James 1:12; Gal. 3:14). The latter is that by which
   faith manifests itself actively by works of love and practice of other
   virtues. Gal. 5:6. Note: The epithet, working by love (in Gal. 5:6), is
   an attribute of a faith which has justified, not of one which will in
   the future justify, much less the form or essence of justifying faith
   so far as it justifies. For the Apostle does not describe the office of
   justifying faith, so far as it justifies, but another office, to wit,
   its operation by love;" and the passage from Brentz (Apology of Wuert.
   Conf.): "Faith, so to speak, has two hands. One, which it extends
   upwards to embrace Christ with all His benefits, and by this we are
   justified; the other, which it reaches downwards to perform the works
   of love and of the other virtues, and by this we prove the reality of
   faith, but are not thereby justified."

Articles: Zakaria and Harvard's Culture of Corruption: 3.0. Plagiarists Lub, Lub, Lub One Another

Articles: Zakaria and Harvard's Culture of Corruption: 3.0:

"Forced to review the twin cases, Harvard Law School dean, Elena Kagan -- yes, that Elena Kagan -- and Harvard president, Larry Summers, faced an obvious challenge: Ogletree was a black star on a faculty often criticized for being overly white, and Tribe was the superstar of the judicial left.  Had the plagiarizers-in-residence not been such sacred cows, Harvard would have likely ground them into hamburger."

'via Blog this'

Justification by Faith Is the Chief Article of Christianity - As Luther Taught

6] This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.)

7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Therefore, in this article he urges with so much zeal and earnestness the particulas exclusivas, that is, the words whereby the works of men are excluded (namely, without Law, without works, by grace [freely], Rom. 3:28; 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9), in order to indicate how highly necessary it is that in this article, aside from [the presentation of] the pure doctrine, the antithesis, that is, all contrary dogmas, be stated separately, exposed, and rejected by this means.

Justification by Faith Summarized

10] These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves.

11] This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the father, and are eternally saved.

12] Therefore it is considered and understood to be the same thing when Paul says that we are justified by faith, Rom. 3:28, or that faith is counted to us for righteousness, Rom. 4:5, and when he says that we are made righteous by the obedience of One, Rom. 5:19, or that by the righteousness of One justification of faith came to all men, Rom. 5:18.

13] For faith justifies, not for this cause and reason that it is so good a work and so fair a virtue, but because it lays hold of and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy Gospel; for this must be applied and appropriated to us by faith, if we are to be justified thereby.

ELCA celebrates its 25th anniversary - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

ELCA receives the most money from Thrivent,
but all religions are included now:
not all Lutherans, all religions.

ELCA celebrates its 25th anniversary - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:


ELCA NEWS SERVICE
August 12, 2012
ELCA celebrates its 25th anniversary

     CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is celebrating its 25th anniversary beginning January 2013. Under the theme, "Always being made new" the 4.2 million-member church [GJ - was 5.3 million 25 years ago] will embark on a year-long reflection on the people and events that have shaped this church and the life-changing ministries across the United States and overseas.

     The ELCA is the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, with about 10,000 congregations, 65 synods and numerous churchwide ministries.

     "In 25 years we have started 435 new congregations, ordained nearly 8,000 pastors, sent more than 2,000 missionaries to serve in the world, and contributed more than $350 million toward the alleviation of hunger and poverty," according to ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson.

     "We are a church that is deeply rooted -- and always being made new. Our roots are in Scripture, tradition and the Lutheran Confessions, as well as in the vibrant communities and rich histories of our congregations. These roots are an ongoing source of nourishment, enabling us to be a church that is resilient, always reforming and guided by the Holy Spirit," said Hanson.

     The anniversary theme is based on 2 Corinthians 5:17: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"

     For more information about the anniversary and to view a special timeline that chronicles some of the ELCA's most significant events, visit www.ELCA.org/25.

- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 4.2 million members in 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.


'via Blog this'

Lutherans meet in MN, divided over marriage amendment | kare11.com

Lutherans meet in MN, divided over marriage amendment | kare11.com:

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - The ELCA vote of 2009 divided Lutherans forever. The decision to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to be ordained into ministry caused a ripple effect of defections.

On Tuesday many of those ripples gathered for a Lutheran conference at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley.

'via Blog this'

The Orthodox Church Of Tomorrow — Fr. John Peck. Interesting Parallels with WELS, Missouri, and ELS.

The Orthodox Church Of Tomorrow — Fr. John Peck:

'via Blog this'

Transforming Churches Network » TCN Receives Thrivent Grant. Note Separate Board for These Gifts

Transforming Churches Network » TCN Receives Thrivent Grant:

The mission of Transforming Churches Network (TCN) is to empower churches to open new doors into their community to reach lost and dying people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. TCN was developed to provide training and resources for judicatories, congregations, and pastors in order to accomplish this transformation process. TCN is a non-profit Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). Currently, there are over 500 Lutheran churches in the Transforming Churches Network.

The Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation is a private foundation funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. As a 501(c)(3) organization with its own board of trustees, the foundation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, religious, scientific, literary and educational purposes and makes grants and gifts to 501(c)(3) exempt organizations. The foundation does not provide grants to individuals. To learn more about the foundation and its grant programs, visit: www.thriventfoundation.com.

'via Blog this'

Stand Firm: Faculty Salaries at Lutheran Institutions: Are They Equitable?

Stand Firm: Faculty Salaries at Lutheran Institutions: Are They Equitable?:

GJ - Or read many more detailed posts on faculty salaries on Ichabod.



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Father Carla Robinson Was Pastor Carl Robinson in the LCMS

Someone noticed the Episcopal links, like this one, and sent a message. Carla Robinson was a Missouri Synod pastor, a graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Carla has a blog and YouTube videos. They are easy to find. Carla's resume is on the Carla Robinson website.

Carla changed genders along the way, in case readers are confused.

Unity Begins with the Gospel - Justification by Faith - And the Visible Gospel - The Sacraments

Article VII: Of the Church.

Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike. As Paul says: One faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, etc. Ephesians 4:5-6.

***

GJ - Some ELDONAs thought I was a bit severe about their group. They need to read up on the topic of polemics.

I have been impressed in a positive way about their support for justification by faith. Apart from the Church of the Augsburg Confession, located here on Walton's Mountain in Bella Vista, no other Lutheran group has the same position.

ELCA, WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect on the Prairie all teach UOJ. The WELS UOJ hero, Richard Jungkuntz, became a UOJ advocate for Missouri, and then for the proto-ELCA American Lutheran Church. UOJ is the cement gluing the mainline, apostate denominations together.

ELDONA's bishop, James Heiser, has been publishing much needed books of Lutheran Orthodoxy, including the giant Harmony of the Four Evangelists written by Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Leyser. I imagined the cost of the set would be too high, but the volumes are reasonable priced for one of the great works in Lutherdom.

I have the first volume and will publish more about it soon.

Heiser has been busy getting Gerhard and other post-Concord authors published in English. He has also written some books of his own.

If someone published Chemnitz, Gerhard, Leyser and other pre-Pietistic theologians and then promoted UOJ, I would have to ask about that person's study habits or doctrinal discernment. Once upon a time, Heiser thought UOJ was a synonym for the atonement. So did I.

Those used to the language of the Bible, the Book of Concord, and the post-Concord theologians would have a tough time with the new Pietistic dogma of UOJ. Besides that, Hunnius and Leyser already repudiated an early version of UOJ, when they demolished the claims of Samuel Huber and kicked him off the faculty.

David Valleskey, with the same position as Huber, became president of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, a proud alumnus of Fuller Seminary, and a pestiferous author of pro-Church Growth publications.

Unity begins with the Gospel and Sacraments taught correctly.

VirtueOnline - News. How Much More Self-delusion, Hubris, Sheer Bloody Mindedness, Indeed Blindness, Can He Sustain?

Bishop Robinson has a downward smile: gay yet very sad inside.

VirtueOnline - News:

ANGLICAN COMMUNION INSTITUTE: The Fallacy of "After the Fall"
Orthodox Episcopal bishops failed to follow through on promises made to stand tall when revisionist leaders struck
How the inside strategy failed

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue 
www.virtueonline.org 
August 8, 2012

In an article titled After the Fall the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner for the Anglican Communion Institute asks, "Who are the predominantly younger theologians and priests clustering around The Living Church's Covenant blog? Or 'A Tribe Called Anglican'? Or those who read more individual blogs like 'Creedal Christian' or 'The Conciliar Anglican'? Or those who have contributed to the recent book Pro Communione? Or who attend seminaries like Wycliffe College or Duke Divinity School? They are the future of Anglicanism in North America, that is who; and they are the reason why I am not so much worried about The Episcopal Church as I am eager simply to see the inevitable fruit of faithfulness whose seed is well-sown. The 'times they are a-changin'. The first one now, will later be last.

"Many of us, of course, are wondering about what our future is or should be in The Episcopal Church. For my part, I believe I have one, and plan to pursue it. It is just here that I wish to teach and write, pray and witness, God willing. And I believe that others have a future here too, a good future and a fruitful and faithful one," writes Radner.

This question must now be faced: How much more self-delusion, hubris, sheer bloody mindedness, indeed blindness, can he and writer/theologians of the Anglican Communion Institute continue to sustain in the face of overwhelming evidence that the Episcopal Church is apostate and heretical with not a shred of evidence that it will ever turn around? Ever. Furthermore, if the pathway The Episcopal Church continues on is sustained, the overwhelming prediction and conclusion is that within 25 years the church will cease to exist.

Consider the following:

* 22 Anglican provinces have declared themselves to be in impaired or in broken communion with The Episcopal Church.
* Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church leaders will not sit down at the same table with Mrs. Jefferts Schori. (It's not just because she's a woman. It's the theology of The Episcopal Church, stupid.) 
* The Episcopal Church is slowly being replaced by the Anglican Church in North America with the ACNA now recognized by a dozen Primates of the Global South.
* The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Nigeria will open a new diocese on North America soil, later this month, without so much as a glance at The Episcopal Church. Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, who is head of the largest Anglican province in the world, will do so in the very city (Indianapolis) where the last TEC General Convention was held. He will not be paying a visit or even deign to give a nod in the direction of TEC Bishop Catherine Waynick.
* The consecration of an openly practicing homosexual to the episcopacy in the person of Gene Robinson was the most communion breaking act in modern history. Adding a lesbian bishop in the person of Mary Glasspool, a decade later, only added to the blasphemy and confirmed the path TEC is on.
* The passage of provisional rites for same sex marriage only added another apostate stone on an already morally bankrupt church.
* The Covenant is, to all intents and purpose, dead on arrival. Mrs. Jefferts Schori said it was past its shelf life and the Mother Church (The CofE) could not pass it. So what future does it have when not a single Global South province has signed on to it? 
* The Jerusalem Declaration has effectively replaced The Covenant. More have signed on to that that have ever, or will ever, sign on to the Covenant, unless you think that a corrupt little Anglican province like Mexico really counts and nobody does.
* The Episcopal Church said people who have had sex change operations (transgendered) should be allowed into Episcopal pulpits with at least two bishops (San Diego and Massachusetts) having Trannie priests up and running.
* Multiple dioceses have left the Episcopal Church including some 300 priests and more than 120,000 Episcopalians have escaped to other orthodox Anglican jurisdictions. (The Diocese of South Carolina is presently weighing its options).
* The Episcopal Church is engaged in multiple lawsuits to take back parishes that are lying fallow at a cost of millions of dollars to the national church thus stifling spending on evangelism and discipleship.
* The Episcopal Church has shrunk and continues to shrink as it pursues a course of liberalization and progressivism that is emptying churches across the country. It has lost a third of its membership in the last 10 years. The figure of 3.1 million is now 1.9 million. Average Sunday Attendance is 675,000 making it the fastest dying mainline Protestant church in America.
* The average age of an Episcopalian is between 62 and 65 and the average size congregation is now under 70.

Self-delusion dies hard apparently. Radner writes, "So we have this challenge: not to run away, as if Egypt were safer than Babylon. The Nations are all the same, and we are now scattered among them and they among us. Rather, we are asked to figure out more clearly and more straightforwardly what is our diasporal calling and to embrace it virtues and demands."

Would Radner really want his children to be "discipled" by a gay, lesbian or transgendered priest? One doubts it. Would he himself be welcome back in the Diocese of Colorado by Bishop O'Neill having fled to the safety of an orthodox seminary in Toronto, Canada? Not a chance, not a prayer.

Radner: "One of the best-kept secrets of The Episcopal Church is that, within its current membership, are found the Anglican Communion's most vibrant, creative, and serious younger theological minds; among its clergy are some of the Communion's most humble and grace-filled pastors; among its people the most fervent prayers. It is a secret, because they have not sought to kick against the pricks (Acts 9:5), but rather to let Jesus lead the way; they have not sought to advertise their embrace of cultural approval - whoever's culture. - but have instead immersed themselves in the witness of the saints and their forbears in faith; they have let weakness provide a forum for divine strength. Imagine: The Episcopal Church as the earthen receptacle of apostolic riches. But this, after all, is what we should expect, not denigrate (2 Cor. 4:7). And, in fact, I do expect God's rich blessing to arise from these and others among us - again, as the Lord has promised to the leaven and the seed of the Kingdom (Lk. 13:18-21). And from this blessing shall be given a place for the Nations to find their own transformed peace, a culture turned from water into wine. The future lies, not with General Convention, but with the promises of God. And these promises are given to our children and our children's children (Acts 2:39)."

VOL: Who exactly are they? Chris Wells of the Living Church, Ian Markham president of VTS, Justyn Terry of TSM are certainly some of them. There are others at TSM and Nashotah House, but that's about it. It should be pointed out that those seminaries are now serving the wider Anglican Communion and not merely The Episcopal Church as they train priests for the emerging Anglican Church in North America.

Perhaps the most delusional paragraph in Dr. Radner's riff is this, "To be sure, there are obstacles to be overcome and burdens to be assumed in such a vision: money, jobs, energy and endurance. But when Jesus tells his disciples, 'Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom' (Lk. 12:32), he does not do so in the face of comfortable times, but of hard ones - of funds dispersed, of antagonistic opposition, of lonely testimony. Yet this is just when he tells them of this certainty. And it is just for such a time that promises are given by God and made sure. 'He has torn... and he will bind us up... Come, let us press on to know the Lord; his going forth is as sure as the dawn' (Hos. 6:1-3)."

What world is he living in? After six years of Jefferts-Schori's reign of terror, picking off Radner's fellow conservatives one by one, does he really expect a different fate, especially with the feeble forces remaining after years of knee cappings, departures, and defrockings under the direction of TEC's well-funded legal team?

Former ACI Executive Director, Don Armstrong, suggests that there was a time when the orthodox core of the Episcopal Church was cohesive enough to have stood together and stem the tide of revisionist aggression. It was Radner himself who made the excuses for inaction that has left so many abandoned and out on the very limb that he and the few remaining conservatives now find themselves clinging.

Dr. Radner and his wife (who is also a priest), were one-time priests in the ultra-liberal Diocese of Colorado under its revisionist bishop, Rob O'Neill, before he fled to Canada to teach at the orthodox Wycliffe College, Toronto where he lives in ecclesiastical safety. In doing so, he left behind his ACI friend, supporter, and fellow crusader, Fr. Don Armstrong, to twist in the wind as he came under bitter attack from Bishop O'Neill, was sued for the church's property, had his financial books forensically examined three times, and continues to be harassed by diocesan lawyers. Armstrong has survived it all with grace, unwavering conviction, and a much bolstered faith, having left for the spiritually healthier environs of CANA, taking with him one of the largest congregations from the diocese (Grace and St. Stephens).

Armstrong says he is reminded of those days, right after he was first inhibited by O'Neill, whenever he reads Psalm 78:9. "The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, turned back in the day of battle." 

ACI theologians, including Radner, Dr. Philip Turner and Dr. Christopher Seitz, were quick to run for cover when the attacks came to cut off their spiritual and financial support from Armstrong's parish. Stemming from their lack of courage in those crucial moments, the determined voice of the once prominent Windsor Bishops quickly morphed into the now nearly silent and apologetic Communion Partners. 

A timeline of events reveals some here-to-fore unknown details.

According to court documents provided VOL, the debate among conservatives in the summer of 2006 was about how to respond to the Episcopal Church's theologically determined departure from orthodoxy. The debate was essentially between an inside strategy, with the hope that ++Rowan would demote non-Windsor abiding TEC dioceses to an asymmetrical ecumenical relationship, or the departure strategy, simply leaving TEC and developing a parallel province. 

In hopes of having a unified approach to assure the greatest impact, and to disable TEC's ability to fight back by the sheer enormity of the conservative response, a meeting was called in late August of 2006 by Bishop Ed Salmon (SC). It was held at his home in St. Louis with key leaders of the upcoming Windsor Bishops meeting planned to be held in September at Camp Allen. Bishops Jack Iker (Ft. Worth), Robert Duncan (Pittsburgh), Martyn Minns (CANA) were present to advocate ultimately leaving TEC, while Bishop Salmon, Philip Turner (by phone) and Fr. Armstrong represented the Anglican Institute strategy of working with the Primates from within. 

It was agreed by all those present in St. Louis to give one year to the ACI plan of pressure from within, with certain markers (a firm statement from the Primates meeting in Dar es Salaam, a clear rejection by the House of Bishops, continued same-sex blessings, the ordination of practicing gays in any diocese) which would trigger the en mass departure from TEC and the establishment of a parallel province.

That was the plan, Armstrong told VOL. "This approach was presented and affirmed in a meeting a few weeks later by the assembled Windsor Bishops at Camp Allen, in the presence of Canterbury's representative bishops Dr. N.T. Wright and Michael Scott-Joynt. After the Windsor Bishops made a clear and principled statement from their Camp Allen meeting, then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold sent a letter to all the bishops rejecting their position and accusing the Colorado based ACI of undermining the stability and ministry of the church.

"In the meantime, the ACI consulted with a group of bishops who were meeting with Griswold and Jefferts Schori at 815 Second Avenue NY in which they both offered alternative Episcopal oversight for orthodox dioceses from Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies. We called Drexel, and he said they had never spoken to him, and that she (Jefferts Schori) could not offer what she did not have the authority to give. So the bishops rejected 815's offer.

"In the weeks following, ACI testified at hearings conducted by Global South Primates who were discerning how best to support orthodox Anglicans in a heterodox church; consulted with Dr. Rowan Williams and the Communion Chancellor; and organized a second Camp Allen meeting of bishops."

After threatening Fr. Armstrong with inhibition for talking to primates, and having the parish and ACI offices raided by diocesan attorneys and accountants, Bishop O'Neill inhibited Armstrong, right after Christmas, 2006, effectively shutting down the ACI, leaving them essentially neutered with diminished resources and waning influence.

"The bishops went to their mattresses, the ACI theologians ran to Canada, leaving those who actually followed through on the agreement to form a parallel province to be picked off one at a time, without a critical mass of support to overpower the monomaniacal Jefferts Schori. This is a fate Radner himself, and one by one the remaining dioceses, will share, as each continues in silence while the others are being persecuted, with the attitude 'surely she won't come after me'...but she will, one at a time."

More realistic and less optimistic about the future of TEC, Armstrong concluded, "When we all left, it was according to the agreement hammered out around Bishop Salmon's dinning room table. Those who stayed in TEC simply did not do what they had agreed to...so the larger impact and witness that was undermined by ACI and this handful of bishops know mired in lawsuits and pending ecclesiastical actions against them left those who had faithfully given the ACI plan a chance, but then took their stand as agreed, feeling betrayed but far from defeated. 

Under the leadership of Bishops Minns and Duncan and with the support of the majority of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the churches of the now well established parallel province have been about their ministries for several years freed from the spiritual oppression and resulting stunted growth, while those who backed down remain in an unhealthy church, a bed of their own making, fearful of what 815 will next do, knowing in their hearts they will abandon each other as the theological cleansing in TEC continues.

"Sadly this could have been avoided, the church forced to change course, if ACI and the weaker bishops had not broken ranks and run for cover."

Armstrong speculates that Jefferts Schori must have a folder of misdeeds and skeletons on each of these formerly brave men to have the strongest among them produce something as weak as their post General Convention minority report, giving thanks for the conscience clause they know will quickly disappear in practice, while even others ran home in silent fear.

Armstrong, a veteran helicopter pilot from the Vietnam War, said none of these guys would be welcome company in a fox hole. 

Still, the delusion continues that the Episcopal Church is recoverable when all the evidence points to the complete evisceration of orthodoxy in The Episcopal Church that is ignoring of biblical warnings of judgment on such a church.

Canon lawyer Allan S. Haley says the problem with ECUSA's actions over the past nine years is that it refuses to regard what it has done as in any way disruptive to the one, true, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Christ. It has asserted its power to annul and set aside the holy orders of bishops, priests and deacons who were each ordained, not into ECUSA particularly, but into that one catholic and apostolic church. It seems to be retaliation for the fact that its gay and lesbian partnered bishops cannot be recognized by most of the other churches in the Communion, or invited to the Lambeth Conference. 

"ECUSA has refused to allow clergy from other provinces to serve in its dioceses without their first renouncing their allegiance to the churches which licensed them, and then swearing a new oath of obedience solely to the "doctrine, discipline and worship" of the Episcopal Church (USA). ECUSA -- just like any other branch of the church catholic -- is a fallen church. One cannot find perfection on this earth, no matter which church one joins, but perfection, as such, is not the standard. Rather, faithfulness to Scripture and tradition is. And by that measure, ECUSA falls far short of the mark. It is led by the false teachers of whom first Jesus Christ, and later his apostles, warned their first disciples, who then handed down those warnings to us." He concludes, "The ECUSA has walked apart where the faithful cannot follow." 

The ACI its theologians and contributors need to do the same thing.

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VirtueOnline - News. Robinson as Bishop - Good for Church. Remind You of Hartman's Church Growth Good for WELS?

VirtueOnline - News:


If you want to know why the "Ct. Six" those faithful parishes in the Diocese of Connecticut left the diocese and the Episcopal Church; and why, more recently, Fr. Ron Gauss and Bishop Seabury Church, Groton, CT, departed; or why the Rev. Christopher Leighton of St. Paul's in Darien is weighing his parish's options, this statement by Ct. Bishop Ian Douglas should clear it all up:

"One of the best things that has happened for The Episcopal Church, with respect to our engagement in the Anglican Communion, has been the election and ordination of [the openly gay] Gene Robinson," Douglas stated in a recent interview with ENS.

Douglas noted that for decades before 2003, if even two people turned up for a hearing on an Anglican Communion-related resolution at General Convention, "we in the world mission committee felt like we were doing well ... Then after 2003 and the Windsor Report ... the hottest ticket in Columbus [at the 75th General Convention in 2006] was the open hearing on the Anglican Communion. More than 3,000 people attended and 92 witnesses testified. That's a huge change."

Douglas said that he also sees this change at the local level, in his own diocese, where every year an Anglican mission consultation draws 200 to 300 people from up to 50 parishes, "all of which enjoy direct partnerships in mission with dioceses, parishes, individuals around the Anglican Communion. That is facilitated by the greater awareness at the local level, which we didn't have a decade ago, and the flatter, digital communication world ... That's all part of the great communion that God is bringing about and it's the hallmark of the Episcopal Church's response to the communion."

The irony should not be missed. In July 2011, Douglas eliminated six positions from the staff of Diocesan House, representing a 27 percent reduction in the number of staff serving in the offices of The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut in Hartford. One impetus for these changes was an anticipated $1 million to $1.2 million reduction for the proposed 2012 diocesan-wide budget, he explained. Based on pledge cards and other anticipated revenue, parish pledges account for about 92% of income for the convention's budget. Currently fewer than 70 of the 172 parishes fulfill their pledge of 12.5% of their operating income as set by diocesan convention.

Bishop Douglas then publicly admitted that, "For some time now the diocesan pledge system hasn't worked. The majority of our parishes don't participate at the 12.5% level."

So while Douglas eulogizes his pan-Anglican and mission consultation credentials and contacts, a hangover from his days as a missions seminary professor at Episcopal Divinity School, he promotes the fiction that all is well in his dream world of Anglican mission cooperation with global Anglicans, even as TEC embraces a pansexual world view anathema to the vast majority of the global South and his own diocese is slowly hemorrhaging parishioners and dollars...It is delusion piled on delusion.

Archbishop Isangoma sent The Rev. Pam Strobel, a senior associate at Christ Church, Greenwich, CT, who went to serve as a Mission Partner in the Anglican Church of Congo for two years, packing because of a number of personal issues making her stay and work impossible.

Recently, the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church pledged its ongoing support for direct Anglican partnerships, but at a much-reduced financial rate. Money is tight and a cut to the church's contribution to the Anglican Communion Office from the $1.16 million of this triennium to $700,000 showed the increasing contempt TEC has for its "partners" who have failed to deliver on its pledge to promote pansexuality throughout the communion and press for sexual inclusion even using old colonialist tactics to do so.

Douglas, who serves as a member of the Anglican Communion Standing Committee, claimed that the cuts to the inter-Anglican budget "do not model good stewardship."

"I understand that a lot of folk involved in the budget process are trying to balance a lot of difficult realities, and it's always easier to cut those things that are the furthest from home," he told ENS. "But I am quite upset on where we landed. The contributions to the inter-Anglican budget help to bring us together as Christians."

ANGLICAN COMMUNION OFFICE

Absent from the recent General Convention was The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, who nonetheless wrote that he is "more than heartened" by the passage of Resolution D008 that reaffirms the Episcopal Church's commitment to building Anglican Communion partnerships. However, TEC reduced by 35 percent, or $460,000, its financial support to the inter-Anglican budget for the London-based Anglican Communion Office. What about a budget cut of that size doesn't he get? What? No pain.

"There is obviously a huge well of goodwill and commitment," he told ENS in a recent interview at his London-based office. "The Episcopal Church has worked very hard at its relationships and more so in the last few years. Those relationships have paid off and are valued throughout the Anglican Communion. The question is how we are going to build on that commitment."

Really. What about the fact that the vast majority of the Global South, some 22 provinces, won't be seen at the same table as Katharine Jefferts Schori? What about the dozen or so absentee Primates in Dublin last year. Is Kearon suffering from short term memory loss? Or the even bigger reality that Rowan Williams is slinking off into the sunset nine years before he needed to because his Hegelian worldview was not strong enough to hold the Anglican Communion together.

Kearon said he also is "very impressed" with the extent to which the Episcopal Church has taken seriously the Anglican Covenant, a document that was initially intended as a way to bind Anglicans globally across cultural and theological differences.

Fact. The Episcopal Church declined to take a position on the Anglican Covenant atGC2012. A majority of the Church of England's 44 dioceses decided against the "Anglican Covenant". The proposed Anglican Covenant is now dead in the water in the Church of England. This also poses serious problems for the covenant in other provinces, noted Lesley Crawley, an English priest and moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition.

"What is surprising and very heartening is the extent to which even those opposed [to the covenant] are now talking about the communion in a different way," Kearon said.

True. The Global South IS committed to the Jerusalem Declaration, not the Covenant, which they will never ratify as long as Section IV, which is disciplinary, is never applied with any force to The Episcopal Church. One doubts that Kearon had this in mind.

The Covenant also was a response to some church leaders crossing borders into other provinces to minister to disaffected Anglicans, said Kearon. True. While for the most part this has diminished, it heated up again this past week when it was announced that Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh is coming to the US and Canada to open a new diocese in Indianapolis. Clearly, he is not listening to Canon Kearon and cross border "violations" are very much on his agenda. Bearing in mind that his province is the largest and most vibrant in the Anglican Communion, one has to ask who really is calling the shots.

Kearon: "This has been a huge learning experience. People have learned in the process a lot about their identity and what the Anglican Communion is. Irrespective of the outcome, the experience of considering has been a very good learning experience for most Anglicans and has deepened their appreciation of what it is to be an Anglican."

VOL: The Global South has learned so much they don't want any part of The Episcopal Church or the Anglican Church of Canada and IF a new Archbishop of Canterbury is a white boy with fey orthodox leanings, you can kiss the Anglican Communion goodbye. They will give a deferential nod to Lambeth Palace but they will continue not to appear at Primatial gatherings when asked too.

Kearon: "We have tried hard to maintain our level of contribution to the Anglican Communion Office budget, and even though it will decline somewhat in the coming triennium, we intend to do all we can to maintain the individual partnership funding," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told ENS. "I am also aware that other avenues for funding are being explored. International partnerships also are built and nurtured through Episcopal Relief & Development programs and United Thank Offering grants."

VOL: Interpretation. If TEC can use its money to move possible swing provinces in its direction over the acceptance of pansexuality, the checkbook will open. Otherwise, your people can starve. Have a nice day.

"I do believe that we are very much a communion in the process of becoming and I believe that at ACC probably the primary conversation will be about power and money and not primarily about human sexuality because I think we'll be in a place to have deep and meaningful conversations about our legacy of colonialism and how we are informed as Anglicans. It is a new world. Will we be a new communion?" said Douglas.

Interpretation: The Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool consecrations are etched forever into the history of Anglicanism; they have not been repudiated. The Global South will NEVER compromise on human sexual behavior. Douglas is dead wrong. Furthermore, what we are seeing is nothing more than a reverse colonialism with the Episcopal Church using money to hold poorer Anglican provinces hostage to their manipulations on sexuality. It is not a "new world" at all. It is the same old world where Western Anglicanism is slowly withering and dying, while the "new world" is the rising Global South, which increasingly can look after itself. Nigeria doesn't need a penny from the West. This province almost single handedly raised over $1 million for the first GAFCON gathering in Jerusalem.

The Global South is predominantly evangelical, opposed to pansexuality and the ordination of women to the priesthood. They see nothing in the West to emulate or congratulate. They and they alone hold the future of Anglicanism in their hands; we must meekly and humbly accept that.


'via Blog this'

Departed Blogs And Websites

LI was trying to count up the number of blogs and websites that have dashed themselves upon the rocky shoals and unyielding doctrine of this blog. Here is a partial list:

Time Glende
Two blogs came from Tim Glende, WELS, Fox Valley. Both of them were efforts at slavish copying. Glende first copied the name of my blog by making the title is departed rather than has departed. Strangely, he called himself the real Ichabod although he was a feeble and illiterate copy-cat. He has removed all blog posts several times. He continues to be a Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley copycat.

Glende's second blog was short-lived. He called it Anonymouse, after my nickname for his nasty but anonymous comments, sent to me almost daily. He slandered various people by name and featured his own awful graphics, scatological and disturbing. One bizarre feature was attacking his fellow WELS members for reading my blog, which he was doing obsessively. He erased all traces of that effort, perhaps after getting some advice from synodical lawyers.

Joe Krohn
Joe Krohn started Luther Rocks to defend the rock and roll ministry of Doebler's Round Rock, Texas mission. He seemed to see the error of UOJ and Church Growth, but returned to the vomit of universal absolution, then erased all his posts for the second time.

Church and Change
Church and Change did not go away, but they erased their odious website. Too much evidence was given away. The WELS ministers who took over the sect in the name of Church Growth are dumber than most false teachers. They wanted to operate in secret while bragging about themselves in public. They did not go away, but they stopped publishing their website and their top-secret list-serve, where members like John Lawrenz, Don Patterson, and Joe Krohn could be easily identified. Confirming denials followed, of course.

Laughable was SP Gurgle's claim, earlier, that Church and Change was gone, dissolved, dead. I asked my gullible informant, "Why is their next conference linked on the WELS websty?" I continued to show this fact on the blog until the link was removed. Their head of technology is a Church and Changer, a devotee of Bill Hybels, Willow Creek. Imagine what a co-inky-dink that was.

Mark Jeske even had direct links from the WELS websty to his gift shop. Why throw the money-changers from the Temple? Link them instead. Jeske is the president and treasurer of WELS and Missouri, thanks to his board membership at Thrivent.

Cyberbrethren
Paul McCain's effort continues, wallowing and bleeding like a harpooned whale minnow. I identified his blatant plagiarism of a Roman Catholic propaganda site and some Lutheran posts as well. I had to repeat myself a few times. Now the blog is reduced to Concordia Publishing House ads and McCain's gun posts.

What is more off-kilter? - McCain in a clergy shirt calling himself a pastor, or McCain in military fatigues, playing the role of a soldier.

UOJity - Their Common Passion
All the efforts above have Universal Objective Justification in common. They are not afraid of me, since I have no clout, no influence. They are afraid of sound doctrine. They are the gangrene, the cancer that needs to be cut out. Below are multiple translations, since the KJV is too difficult for them.

KJV 2 Timothy 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

NIV 2 Timothy 2:17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

RSV 2 Timothy 2:17 and their talk will eat its way like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

NKJ 2 Timothy 2:17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,


Not that long ago, WELS college students were angrily shaking their iPads at me for mentioning their gay video, Party in the MLC. I warned them about their crass stupidity, combining their theft of music with plagiarism of a gay video, Party in the Fire Island Pines. Now the stars of the WELS gay video are begging everyone to take down the video they uploaded to YouTube (twice). Now they realize how shameful their actions were, forever floating around the Net and admired on gay blogs.

SP Schroeder and Editor Herman Otten combined forces to beat me up over my review of The Rite of Sodomy, where I pointed out that WELS had a problem with homosexuality and church discipline. Otten front-paged his apology for printing my review of the book, obviously under pressure from Mark Schroeder, guardian of the secrets of WELS. Shortly after, Schroeder's Director of Communications was arrested and convicted for his collection of man-boy rape scenes, hundreds of digital files stored conveniently at The Love Shack.

Eventually I will fade into compost, but the Word of God remains forever. Lutherans leaders should consider how dangerous it is to teach against the Scriptures and to live as though their beloved UOJ gave them a license to violate the Ten Commandments under the banner - "Sin more that grace may abound."

Graphic Details Below

Someone asked me about this graphic zooming around on Facebook. For those not familiar with the platform, Facebook makes it easy for individuals to share a photo or graphic, sending it to all their friends. I have over 1430 friends (in spite of what the Syn Conference love salesmen say) and often do that with material worth sharing that I get.

I posted the graphic above on someone's FB wall. He had quoted Krauth, using just the text. I thought he would like the graphic, so I put it on his wall. Next, one of his FB friends saw it and shared it with all of his friends. That other Lutheran teaches at Ft. Wayne's seminary, so the graphic really caught on fast, so much that one of my friends asked me about it. He said, "I see it everywhere. Was that yours originally?"

That was my intention, to create graphical versions of doctrinal and Biblical statements. I added hymns to the list. The graphics often get noticed, liked, and shared a few seconds after I post them. Because so many SynConference members are really Mennonites who specialize in shunning, I leave my name off. I would not want them to violate the shunning rule when they share a graphic.

I cannot take much credit. In Photoshop, I pair a statement worth studying with a painting or image worth enjoying. The process is fairly simple. I normally size the graphic to 640 pixels wide, because that works best on the blog and FB. I upgrade the colors if necessary, because many graphics on the Net are faded or distorted. The challenge is to work in the text so the words match the illustration when posted. I rasterize the text to make it clearer and I pick a background that enhances the text-graphic combination. Experience and advice from Norma Boeckler have helped improve the backgrounds. I like experimenting to see which ones work for the final version. Each part is done with an independent layer, so it can be repaired or deleted easily.