SpenerQuest Blows Out a Gasket, Incurs Legal Liability, and Proves Luther's Dictum

Steve Schmidt (Sschmidt) Intermediate Member Username: Sschmidt Post Number: 305 Registered: 3-2017	Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2018 - 7:19 pm:       Luther, St.L XX:925: "That blind, mad spirit does not know that meritum Christiand distributio meriti are two distinct things; so he mixes them up. Christ once for all merited and purchased for us remission of sins on the cross; but he distributes the same, wherever He is, at all hours and all places, as Luke writes, ch. 24:46 f.: 'Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day [there you have his merit] and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name [there you have His merit's distribution].' Therefore we say that in the Lord's Supper is forgiveness of sins, not because of the eating, or that Christ there merits or purchases remission of sins, but because of the word, whereby He distributes this purchased remission among us and says: 'This is My body, which is given for you.' Here you hear that we eat the body as given for us; and while eating it, we hear and believe this; so then forgiveness of sins is there distributed, which was purchased, however, on the Cross." (F. Pieper, 3:375) "In short, he who does not believe that by His substitutional satisfaction Christ accomplished the complete reconciliation of all mankind (the objective reconciliation) has lost the thing a really justifying and saving faith believes in (its object); for him, accordingly, the Christian Church is no more the congregation of believers, but an association of the supplementers of the merit of Christ." (F. Pieper, 3:405)
Steve Schmidt (Sschmidt) Intermediate Member Username: Sschmidt Post Number: 306 Registered: 3-2017	Posted on Friday, July 13, 2018 - 1:19 pm:       FC SD XI: "15] 1. That the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ, who, by His faultless [innocent] obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life. 16] 2. That such merit and benefits of Christ shall be presented, offered, and distributed to us through His Word and Sacraments. 17] 3. That by His Holy Ghost, through the Word, when it is preached, heard, and pondered, He will be efficacious and active in us, convert hearts to true repentance, and preserve them in the true faith. 18] 4. That He will justify all those who in true repentance receive Christ by a true faith, and will receive them into grace, the adoption of sons, and the inheritance of eternal life."
Steve Schmidt (Sschmidt) Intermediate Member Username: Sschmidt Post Number: 307 Registered: 3-2017	Posted on Friday, July 13, 2018 - 5:24 pm:       Smalcald Articles: Objective "1] That Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins, and was raised again for our justification, Rom. 4:25. 2] And He alone is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, John 1:29; and God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all, Is. 53:6. 3] Likewise: All have sinned and are justified without merit [freely, and without their own works or merits] by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood, Rom. 3:23f" ...and Subjective "4] Now, since it is necessary to believe this, and it cannot be otherwise acquired or apprehended by any work, law, or merit, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us as St. Paul says, Rom. 3:28: For we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law. Likewise 3:26: That He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Christ."
Rick Strickert (Carlvehse) Senior Member Username: Carlvehse Post Number: 8263 Registered: 10-2003	Posted on Friday, July 13, 2018 - 6:59 pm:       Steve, now you are really going to get Lufauxabod Jackson mad at you.
AcolyteJohn (Acolyte) New member Username: Acolyte Post Number: 1 Registered: 7-2018	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 8:09 am:       Long time lurker, first time posting. Mr. Schmidt, great work on those quotes which prove how nuts Lufauxabod Jackson actually is.
Rev. Robert Fischer (Fischer) Advanced Member Username: Fischer Post Number: 926 Registered: 12-2004	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 9:33 am:       Welcome to , AcolyteJohn! We hope to hear more from you! (And from the other lurkers out there.)
AcolyteJohn (Acolyte) New member Username: Acolyte Post Number: 2 Registered: 7-2018	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 1:36 pm:       Is Rev. Fischer a moderator or administrator on this forum? He sent me an email scolding me. He did not like that I referred to Jackson as "nuts." To that, I say, "Nuts."
Rick Strickert (Carlvehse) Senior Member Username: Carlvehse Post Number: 8264 Registered: 10-2003	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 2:02 pm:       Rev. Jack Cascione is listed as the LQ webowner/moderator, but Brad Vincent is also an LQ webmaster/moderator. Both occasionally post to LQ.
Rev. Robert Fischer (Fischer) Advanced Member Username: Fischer Post Number: 927 Registered: 12-2004	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 2:41 pm:       I did not "scold" AcolyteJohn. I again welcomed him to the forum but said that we should keep in mind the forum guidelines: quote: 6. Be courteous, as you would in a face-to-face conversation. Online discussions lack the expressiveness of personal contact. This site is mainly visited and used by your fellow Christians. Let your behavior reflect this. Focus your responses on the points or positions of others, not on the person themselves. Remember, what you post here can be seen by anyone in the world. No personal attacks, foul language, harassment, unfounded accusations, unsubstantiated statements, threats, abuse, or innuendo will be tolerated. 7. If a subject becomes heated and you're upset over something someone has said about you or your position in a discussion, take some time before responding. There is no rule that you must reply to a posting within X amount of time. Give the benefit of the doubt and ask for clarification if you don't understand what someone has said. Misunderstandings can and do occur very easily online. 8. Exercise caution with sarcastic remarks or humor. While two parties who are well acquainted may get the private joke, the rest of the world may not. The Clipart (see Formatting under the Documentation heading in the main menu), allows you to use graphic image emoticons (smiley faces and the like) to get across emotions or various types. Consider using them to add to your posting. I then said, "I hope you receive this in the spirit of well-intentioned kindness in which it is sent." AcolyteJohn responded asking if I was a moderator or administrator. I told I wasn't, that I was just a long-time forum member who was concerned about the health and well-being of the forum. I said that as I had no official capacity that he was free to disregard my opinions. As I kept my communication with him offline I'm not sure why he desired to take it online.
AcolyteJohn (Acolyte) New member Username: Acolyte Post Number: 3 Registered: 7-2018	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 8:13 pm:       Stop playing forum nanny, Rev. Fischer. Leave the moderating to others. And as for Jackson..he is nuts, period. End of story.
Alan Lubeck (1431) Senior Member Username: 1431 Post Number: 1697 Registered: 11-2004	Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 9:13 pm:       In keeping with our faith, that God wishes us to put the best construction on another's actions, I'll assume Jackson is doing what he thinks is right with a sound mind. What IS nuts(or heterodox) is his teaching)which should be avoided. Objective justification is Scriptural and nothing less than the Gospel itself. Don't even let the most sound mind reason you away from the clear teaching of God's Word.

***

GJ - Even though someone may try to post anonymously, he should be aware of two important matters:

1. "Libel is the written or broadcast form of defamation, distinguished from slander, which is oral defamation. It is a tort (civil wrong) making the person or entity (like a newspaper, magazine or political organization) open to a lawsuit for damages by the person who can prove the statement about him/her was a lie."
2. Many Lutheran laity of various synods read this blog and are very concerned about the content of UOJ and the way it is promoted while disparaging the faithful with personal attacks. 

I cannot tell what kind of argument is being attempted by the overly excited and libelous Acolite John. Citing Atonement passages does not support Objective Justification, because the two are not the same, as Dr. Robert Preus hastened to point out (as cited by Jack Cascione in Regurgitated News).

Likewise, citing Justification by Faith passages does not argue for Subjective Justification, because SJ is deciding that the entire unbelieving world is pronounced forgiven by God and saved.

--

"Objective justification is Scriptural and nothing less than the Gospel itself. Don't even let the most sound mind reason you away from the clear teaching of God's Word."

This quotation above is just a claim, without support, but it carries great weight 

• In the pages of Christian News, 
• The lounges of the Concordias - which deny the Creation and the First Article, 
• The neighborhoods around Mordor and Fuller, and 
• every single ELCA seminary.

I was thinking today about the Pharisaical fury against Jesus teaching the righteousness of faith in Him. That is what the Apostle Paul taught too, and so did Augustine and Luther. The Formula of Concord has an article called The Righteousness of Faith.

The Gospel is not a declaration of universal forgiveness without faith - that is the delusion of Calvinists, Pietists, and Universalists. The Atonement is the Gospel and through its teaching the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith. It is strange that I went over this carefully from the Greek text in Romans 4 and 5, posting it, using my own name and email. But the denizens of SpenerQuest show no knowledge of that whatsoever. They should read more and bloviate less.

The UOJ Stormtroopers are no less enraged by Justification by Faith, the Means of Grace, and the efficacy of the Word than the Pharisees were by The Righteousness of Faith in Jesus, indeed, by the The Faith of Jesus.

KJV Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

As Luther wrote, and we all confess - even the Quia Marias - 

"The devil is called the master of a thousand arts. But what shall we call God's Word, which drives away and brings to naught this master of a thousand arts with all his arts and power? It must indeed be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. 13] And shall we frivolously despise such power, profit, strength, and fruit-we, especially, who claim to be pastors and preachers? If so, we should not only have nothing given us to eat, but be driven out, being baited with dogs, and pelted with dung, because we not only need all this every day as we need our daily bread, but must also daily use it against the daily and unabated attacks and lurking of the devil, the master of a thousand arts." The Large Catechism, Introduction

Someone Suggested This Title - Bark's Church Dogmatics

Knowing how much I loathe Barth's Dogmatics, someone suggested another title to feature.

Switching to a High-Speed Fiber Diet. Morning Mulch, Sassy in Charge

Our electric co-op stopped by to tell us they were installing fiber to each home, which is to cable Internet what the Mississippi River is to Sugar Creek.

Best of all, that will lower our costs while improving Internet speed, TV, and phone connections. I should have been suspicious when Cox Cable took 33% off my bloated monthly bill. Putting it all together, we will pay less than what Cox offered.

I used to say, "I want fiber directly to our home." That was 10 years ago when people were moving from phone lines to TV cables for the Net. The advantage of fiber is that the equipment on each end will speed it up many times more, when it is developed and installed.

Sassy supervised our latest mulch party. She came out to the front sidewalk after greeting the helpers. That reminded me that the fiber optic guy asked about how ferocious she was, after hearing her bark.

Last night she sat on the bed with her back to us, glancing back with hurt feelings. I said, "What's wrong? You had crunchies for supper and Frosty Paws for dessert!" I thought a minute, since she had her evening walk too. "Do you need lovey time?" She barked and moved about three inches toward us. That is part of the drama when she does this. "Come on. Do I have to drag you?"
I reach over and place my hands on her. Then we laughed as I nudged her a bit. She cooperated and grinned, licking us both and guiding us in how to appease her.

Someone Asked about the Antinomians, UOJ, from the Christ Hold Fast Bunch

Christ Hold Fast people want "a God without wrath sending Christ without a cross into a world without sin," as R. Niebuhr said so elegantly.

"He said this to those who believe it and who don’t believe it. Faith does not make justification possible; it merely receives the justification already accomplished."


http://www.christholdfast.org/blog/b37q4ctolbay911husuo7s9c0izobu

I am sticking to the color code on this blog:
Blue - sound doctrine.
Red - sick doctrine.
Green - just a color.

So much is wrong, bad, and sad on Chad Bird's post, but that is true of all his efforts. He reminds me of those Life Coaches who are always grining too hard and  looking around, making themselves available for someone new to advise at a very high cost.

Chad got himself kicked off the seminary faculty for infidelity, so he takes comfort in Barthian Antinomianism, where playing with words is disguised as theology. Like every other tweet from Bird, it is cringeworthy crowing.

Antinomians teach their victims that "The Law is obsolete," misusing the tutor passage in Galatians - the Law leads us to Christ... One CG WELS pastor taught that to the congregation in Columbus. He was a Church Growther who polarized the congregation before turning into an obvious, obnoxious atheist. There is an old Jewish curse - "May you marry a pious woman and then lose your faith."

The quote above is standard Universal Objective Justification. The entire world is already declared forgiven, so they not only mess up the Atonement, but also Justification by Faith and Sanctification.

That means many more men will be paying enormous sums to the Concordia Seminaries, Mordor, and the Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie to learn that they are:

• Born Forgiven
• Guilt-Free Saints
• Always making a decision for world absolution without faith.

The Mordor students will tell anyone who listens that they study Greek at the genius level, but they lap up this Universalism like cheap beer.

LCMS students do not read Preus, especially the entire group of Preus relatives. Are they illiterate or just lazy?

SpenerQuest Slips and Quotes the Book of Concord. Oh NO!

 Stick with the Book of Concord. What is the Chief Article, Steve Schmidt? Answer from Melanchthon, Luther, and the Concord editors - Justification by Faith.
SpenerQuest is a viper's pit of errorists, like the leadership
of LCMS, WELS, ELS, CLC sic.

Steve Schmidt (Sschmidt) Intermediate Member Username: Sschmidt Post Number: 306 Registered: 3-2017

Posted on Friday, July 13, 2018 - 1:19 pm:       FC SD XI: "15] 1. That the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ, who, by His faultless [innocent] obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life. 16] 2. That such merit and benefits of Christ shall be presented, offered, and distributed to us through His Word and Sacraments. 17] 3. That by His Holy Ghost, through the Word, when it is preached, heard, and pondered, He will be efficacious and active in us, convert hearts to true repentance, and preserve them in the true faith. 18] 4. That He will justify all those who in true repentance receive Christ by a true faith, and will receive them into grace, the adoption of sons, and the inheritance of eternal life."

Learning about Creation from the Video Arcade and the Pigness of Pigs

 I helped finance the computer game revolution with quarters fed to Galaxian.

Once upon a time, I watched a kid (not Little Ichabod) playing Galaxian. He scored 80,000 with ease while my best score was around 20,000. He was relaxed and enjoying himself. I was trying too hard.

Once I relaxed, I got more out of each token, but I was not surprised to learn video games were used to raise blood pressure in medical tests.




The Pigness of Pigs
Only last year I discovered Joel Salatin and his Polyface Farm. Believe it not, he made a big impression by talking about the pigness of pigs. Part of his operation uses pigs in their natural habitat, and it is fascinating to consider. Raising pigs was a turning point in the Noel family, my father's mother's side of the family. They came to Iowa, began raising pigs, and left the Adventists behind to become Evangelicals.

So Salatin lets each creature and plant thrive in the environment it loves best. That is why chickens are not enslaved in a factory style house but eating freely in the cattle pasture. As Rodale proved, organic methods make vegetables and animals more nutritious.

I am slowly working my way around to the main point, but some preparation is needed. In looking over my gardening successes and failures, one thing is obvious - many plants can be pushed beyond their supposed favorite settings, but that is not the best approach.

That obvious conclusion comes directly from

1. Creation by the Word, 
2. The perfect engineering of all living things, and 
3. God's divine management.

Rather than explore the pigness of pigs, let's look at the nature of the hybrid tea rose. They have been developed to produce large, colorful flowers with long stems.

Fragrant Cloud's perfume fills a room, so it is fun to see someone lean close and inhale deeply. 

Hybrid Tea Rose Likes and Dislikes

• They like room to enjoy the sun, so they should not be crowded. Rose hedges tend to spread disease.
• They love morning sun but not being baked in the afternoon. An Eastern garden is a good idea. Southern cooking is not good for them.
• They need plenty of water, rich soil tended by active earthworms.
• Pruning will not only shape them better but also activate their need to produce blooms without going to seed.
• They enjoy companion plants to provide bases for beneficial insects. Daisies, mints, and Joe Pye will work well; so will members of the garlic family.
• They thrive on organic amendments to soil - manure, compost, wood mulch, newspaper, cardboard.
• Roses do well when bees, beneficial insects, birds, toads, and all creatures are allowed to thrive in their own setting. The butterfly garden is all sun, and the toad motels are woody, damp, and dark.
• Man-made fertilizer, pesticides, and fungicides should never be used. They kill and thwart God's helping creatures and beneficial soil network fungi.

All this is rather easy. I have tried to make roses as light on labor as possible, which has enraged or perplexed some chemical-addicted gardeners. They are trying too hard.

Double Delight combines Peace heritage with fragrance.

Creation by the Word Should Inform All Churches
Many congregations and ministers are trying too hard, relying on manufactured success rather than the power of the Word.

What if I told them that all they had to do was teach the Scriptures as they are, without a denominational or social agenda?

America is in complete denial about the efficacy and power of the Word. That denial is most obvious in weasel words about Creation. Late yesterday I began checking back on Stanley Hauerwas and his interests. He is 78 now and one of the few Americans asked to give the Gifford Lectures. He spoke about Barth/Kirschbaum and Creation. That provoked a scholarly hubbub about what.did.Barth.teach.about.Creation.

 Both/and, either/or, plus or minus some philosophical terms - the same tactic with each topic. So profound, so dense: what was he saying or confessing or teaching?

The denominational leaders and professors open their mouths and out comes a stream of corporate talk. Everyone knows what I mean, if they have pulled the oars of the corporate slave ship. We are going to take things to a new level with fresh and exciting goals. Do you feel the synergism? Trust the process and execute the plan.

As Luther said about Medieval bishops, they love to talk about new buildings and programs, which God does not need or value. But the bishops never talk about the power of the Gospel and the creation of faith by the Word. Their institutional concerns today are no different from corporate America, so those of us pummeled by 24/7 corp-talk are less than thrilled, inspired, or motivated.

Those who obsess about the massy buildings of closed congregations follow the Medieval bishop mode, too. The building is not alive, so nothing has died. The building does not bring Christ to people. The one thing needed is the Word - which does convey Christ and His grace to people.

As a veteran of many official religious services, I can say there is more Gospel in the simplest Christian worship service than in all the pageantry of Rome and its imitators.

Up Pops the Bergamot, 1 2 3
So I am sitting on the mulch, trimming away some grassy weeds and looking at what is thriving. I had multiple plants of Bergamot last fall. Where did they go? One grew and bloomed well - they attract beneficial insects and Hummingbirds.

Two patches of weeds look a bit odd to me. Hmm. Leaves, square stems, a mint. Two Bergamots came back to grow, so I have three again. They are like the Mountain Mint that was buried so skillfully by our helper that we could not find a trace of it. But nevermind, it escaped the newspaper and mulch prison to grow six feet tall.

They could be two more weeds, chopped by the weed-eater. But they are alive, like the spare Joe Pye - demolished by the infernal machine. I had two, then only one after weed eating. But the second rose from the carnage to grow again and bloom with the senior Joe Pye, seven feet tall and in full bloom.

I like tall plants like Joe Pye. I can stand inches away from the blooms and watch the activity - butterflies, bees, and hover flies are going crazy getting at the blooms. I can see the tiny blooms turning into seeds as the pollinators do their work. Where were all these insects before? The Mountain Mints have the same characters silently flying in the same fast-moving frenzy. Multiplying the food increases the numbers. I may be the forward air base for many gardens on the block.

Doubtless the city slickers would bat the flying insects away. The hover flies look like tiny bumble bees, yellow with black stripes. But even the larger bees are contented to do their work and not chase away the Creation gardener.

 The Hover Fly or Flower Fly is entirely beneficial.
Be kind to strangers for thereby many have entertained angels unaware. Hebrews 13:2