Universal Objective Justification Primer

Someone asked who has published against UOJ.

Here are the basics of the false doctrine commonly known as UOJ:

1. God declared the whole world righteous when Christ died on the cross, or else when Christ rose from the dead. (UOJ)
2. Everyone is forgiven, without faith. All the pagans of the world are forgiven.
3. Those who believe in Christ are forgiven again (Subjective Justification).

Walther got this pernicious doctrine from the Pietists, who converted him. He established it with F. Pieper and their acolytes. However, this doctrine is not found in the 1905 LCMS Catechism, proof that it was not widespread or even institutionalized.

The LCMS Brief Confession in 1939 made UOJ an article of faith.

J. P. Meyers (WELS) taught UOJ mixed with Decision Theology in Ministers of Christ.

Norm Madson (ELS, then CLC) taught UOJ. The common thread seems to be education at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

In the 19th century, the Norwegians taught UOJ and the Swedish Augustana Synod argued against it. The General Council taught justification by faith but did not seem to argue against UOJ specifically.

Lenski rejected UOJ in his New Testament commentaries.

Robert Preus earlier emphasized UOJ and denied it was the same as the Atonement.

Preus' last book, Justification and Rome, never mentions UOJ and clearly states that people are only forgiven when they come to faith.

Before that LCMS Pastor Vernon Hartley published against UOJ. No one was able to refute him. (I met with him before he died.)

The advocates of UOJ admit that the term is new, that the Book of Concord teaches only justification by faith. They also admit that the New Testament term justification only means justification by faith.

Typical WELS/ELS Reaction

WELS/ELS Attack Dog

A friendly reader said, "You are their worst fear. You have a good education and you are independent of them." That may explain a recent, anonymous, threatening comment.

Why are you picking on a pastor's wife who runs her own blog? You are shameless. Maybe someone should start one so they can attack your wife. Better yet, I think someone should start a blog to denigrate your son and your your (sic) grandkids.

Apparently it is a sin to quote a public blog verbatim. Earlier I was criticized for not distinguishing the blog comments from the inspired words of CHARIS. I even got a gender wrong. Horrors. I hastened to correct those errors, but the rage continues.

My wife does not publish a blog. My son does not publish a blog. My grandchildren do not publish blogs. If I quoted my wife's comments about the adulterous WELS pastors and the murdering WELS church workers, the anonymous reader would be even less pleased. I find the threats lame but typical. LCMS President Jack Preus commented about the WELS KGB, his term.

Quoting someone is not picking on an individual, except in WELS/ELS circles (and some mini-micro synods).

I found years ago that WELS did not want me to quote their favored Church Growth leaders, their favorite Pentecostal teachers, or Luther. Who is left, I wonder?

Feel free to quote me verbatim, Anonymous. Tell the world how you disagree with Luther and the Book of Concord, why you cling to justification without faith, unionism, and others fads of your sect.

The WELS/ELS style is the personal attack, especially against family members. Their idea of reform is meddling with someone's divine call.

***

John J. Wonders has left a new comment on your post "C.E.O. Ministries":

I don't understand the purpose of your post. If you have questions or want to know more about C.E.O. Ministries, just get in touch with us. We have nothing to hide.

***

GJ - If I had questions, they were answered by copious information provided on the Internet. I wanted people to know that WELS offering money was used to provide a nest for the vipers of Church and Change, who are nothing but stand-ins for Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek. No wonder so many WELS pastors have left the Lutheran Church for Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism. They are only following the doctrinal lead of their teachers at the seminary.

I noticed for the first time that Church and Change is loaded with leads into WELS Parish Services, the synodical division once headed by President-in-Waiting Wayne Mueller. Does anyone need more proof that The Love Shack needs a thorough house-cleaning?

The WELS Council of District Popes even passed a resolution against the heart and soul of Church and Change/WELS Pentecostal Services. I would quote it verbatim, but that would be picking on the District Popes.

Valleskey, Bivens, Olson, Huebner, Roth, Werning, Kelm, Hunter:Behold Your Work

Doctrine of Fellowship Misapplied?

February 17th, 2006 | 12:45 pm | Posted in General

Church Door Symposium Cancelled!

Due to the brotherly concerns expressed by numerous clergy and Synod officials around the issue of church fellowship, the 3rd Annual Church Door Symposium has been cancelled. Although the Executive Director and the members of the CHARIS Board of Directors disagree with the judgments that hosting non-WELS speakers represents a violation of Scripture and WELS doctrine, concern for maintaining harmony in the church, coupled with concern for the continued success and vitality of CHARIS and Wisconsin Lutheran College, override any reasons for taking a stand on this issue at this time.

Moose Commentary: I’m not quite sure how hosting non-WELS speakers constitutes prayer fellowship and a violation of Scripture. Pretty soon we’ll get to the point where just talking to people who are non-WELS will be breaking fellowship.

It is an unfortunate fact that great confusion exists among clergy and laity alike around applications of the church fellowship principles.

Moose Commentary: “Confusion” is an understatement.

Rather than contribute to this confusion, the leaders of The CHARIS Institute have decided to cancel this year’s symposium. Our prayer is that we will find a way to resolve this confusion about church fellowship so that CHARIS can again host outstanding scholars on relevant subjects in the future without controversy.

May God guide us to live and work in the freedom of His Gospel so that we can be salt and light to a dying world.

Moose Commentary: This symposium was on evangelism. Apparently it is breaking fellowship by bringing in those who have effective evangelism programs that actually work because they are not WELS. Our synod is losing members faster than they are gaining them. You’d think they’d be open to new ideas. There is a serious danger here in this fellowship misapplication. Those planning to attend have lost the opportunity to learn about other evangelism methods to win souls for Christ.

Here is the link I have quoted.

7 Responses to “Doctrine of Fellowship Misapplied?”
The Rev. David M. Juhl
February 17th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Kent Hunter and Waldo Werning are two Missouri Synod pastors who are far from being Confessional Lutherans.

See Kent Hunter’s work for yourself here:

http://www.churchdoctor.org

Jon
February 18th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I quote from: “A Tale of Two Synods: Lessons from the Dissolution
of the Synodical Conference” by Dr. Mark Braun.

“Do the previously mentioned allegations [referring to other topics mentioned in Braun’s document] actually violate scriptural passages on fellowship and the 1959
WELS “Statement on fellowship?? Or do they demonstrate our discomfort at stepping outside the busy, all-encompassing “WELS–world? we have created of congregation, school, social activities, familiar customs, and extended family and friendship
networks? Rather than risk the censure of our ministerial “brothers,? it may be safer and simpler for us to avoid any such contacts with other Christians entirely, even though they offer us opportunities to encourage others in their faith, testify to the truth, and—most controversial—even learn something
useful from them.”

Elle
February 18th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
It’s interesting that it was cancelled because of the cited fellowship reasons as opposed to the expected content of the presentations. Why did they say that listening to someone who isn’t WELS is a bad thing when what they perhaps ought to have said was that they took issue with what would have been presented?


Daniel Sellers
February 18th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Dr. Wearing isn’t exactly a guy you want to hang around with. There are accusations floating around that he has taught false doctrine about the Trinity and a faulty Christology.

Mike Thom
April 26th, 2006 at 8:50 am
For a better understanding of the Scriptural basis for not inviting men such as Werning and Hunter, you might read some of the articles posted at www.welsincrisis.blogspot.com.


Mike Thom
May 18th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
The basic idea of Romans 16:17 and 2 John 10 is that God does not want Christians sitting at the feet and learning from false teachers. The passages do not say that we should avoid them only when they are teaching their false doctrine. To invite them to speak at events sponsored by WELS groups is ignoring this word of God.

***

GJ - The original Moose Report did not distinguish between the inspired words of CHARIS and the blog commentary (norma normata). I have copied the CHARIS passages reverently in italics.

I still marvel at the feigned sorrow of CHARIS, the prayerful hopes. Apparently the breach has been healed by all the Church Growth disciples bending their knees. The 2009 Church and Change Conference is approved and planned. Eager hearts await Brian Lempe delivering another one-two punch to the devil.

Here are some boasts from Church and Change:

Innovation in methodology is yesterday's news in the WELS. Pastors, teachers, synod administrators, worker training leaders, home and world missionaries, worship leaders, computer buffs, and countless local laymen and laywomen, have been tweaking (and/or radically changing) ministry methods for years. In every WELS generation God has raised up men and women, for reasons known only to Him, who are interested in pushing the envelope of "gospel delivery systems." And this, long before concepts like "English" or "radio ministry" or "Parish Assistance," or "paradigm" or "long distance learning" entered WELS thinking or culture.

No surprise - Church and Change was artificially inseminated with WELS offering money:

History of Church and Change

In 1995, a group of about 10-12 men gathered at Wisconsin Lutheran College to discuss current methods of sharing Jesus which were commonly being used in the WELS at that time. Many at the first meeting felt that those methods of sharing Jesus were not “keeping up with” the rate of change in society. The message of the Bible was not, therefore, penetrating society very well.

In 1998 two men who had attended the first meeting planned a Church and Change conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The next year there was a second conference in Green Bay. About 20 people attended each year.

In May 2001, WELS Parish Services applied for and received a Forward in Christ grant to conduct a three-year pilot program to address the issues surfaced by the previous two Church and Change conferences. The three-year pilot program was designed to be a grassroots gathering of individuals who were pioneering new innovative methods of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a changing culture.

Church and Change is known for its hilarious goofs, which they never seem to catch. Here is a two-fer:

Everyone in this directory has give (sic) their (sic) approval to be listed here.

Illiterate in theology. Illiterate in English.


Just Plain Funny:

Gifts of Talent

Church and Change is seeking to compile a list of WELS singers, instrumentalists, songwriters, comedians, jugglers, entertainers, groups and others who are serving their Savior with their personal gifts. If you are such a person and would like to be featured on this website, please click here.

GJ - WELS jugglers? Do they refuse to juggle with LCMS jugglers? Do they walk away from the stage and juggle behind the curtain? Do they invite ELCA and Willow Creek jugglers to teach them how to juggle?

I Know This Makes Sense to Someone...

Strategy - Conference Breakout 111.... Develop the Courage Not to Plan Your Ministry
Dr. Steve Witte

Do you carefully plan your ministry and invite God to bless those plans? Do you find it difficult to say “no” to our own “great” plans, while waiting for God to reveal his own perfect plan which he has prepared in advance? It is not always easy to determine which ideas or strategies are based on our own selfish ideas and passions—and which ideas come from God himself. Consider your ministry planning model. How much room is there for God in it? In this workshop consider a planning model based on prayer, patience and preparation—mixed with a healthy dose of common sense.

The Glove Shack

In a prophetic move, this blog predicted that the WELS headquarters building could be modified slightly for commercial purposes. Instead of The Love Shack, it would be called The Glove Shack

Who Told You?

Hanging Around

One of the funny effects of Ichabod is reflected in the typical clergy response to the truth: "Who told you?"

One person asked about The Love Shack being sold. "Who told you?" Are WELS pastors worried about people reading Ichabod?

No, the rumor came from The Love Shack. They decided--in the midst of a massive real estate meltdown--that they might entertain offers to sell 2929. That was printed in the latest PR release, before the shocking news came out in Ichabod. I think 2929 is what they would get for the building - $29.29.

One time a WELS pastor sent statistics around to various ministers. The synodical president phoned, "Who told you?" He said, "The figures are from the WELS statistics book." WELS pastors call it The Book of Sins. Larry Olson's congregation never grew, so WELS made him the Waldo Werning Professor of Church Growth at Martin Luther College. Yes, WELS pastors looked up Larry's statistics every year...and laughed.

When a news reporter asked the former SP about the WELS pastor living in adultery, the SP pounced on a pastor at convention and demanded, "Did you tell?" No denial of the facts. No discipline.

Deming: From Doughnuts to Theology

Larry Olson Caught Sneaking into Fuller Seminary

W. Edwards Deming pioneered the concept of quality parts, something he discovered while working on the US Census. He was ignored in the US, so the Japanese car-makers adopted his concept. The idea was simple - If the parts are high quality, the finished product will work well. Before that the auto makers had the parts manufacturers compete for price, so quality suffered. When they made the vendors compete for quality, the final product ran well and lasted much longer.

Detroit finally caught on. People wanted cars that worked. Now a car can easily reach 100,000 miles without significant problems.

Deming Doughnuts
My father applied the concept in his bakery. He used the best flour and paid extra for its shipping from California. The aroma from the 100-pound bags was intoxicating. He used the best cocoa to make chocolate icing. He insisted on cane sugar rather than beet sugar. Both sugars are identical in chemistry, but beet sugar has an odd smell and does not make icing as well as cane sugar does. He used top quality coconut, huge pecans and walnuts, the best peanuts. The shortening was cleaned often and recycled when old. (No, not recycled in the bakery, but by someone who picked it up and sold it to a chemical company.)

I have never had doughnuts like the ones we made in downtown Moline. They were legendary in the Quad-City area.

Deming and Theology
The Deming theory applies to theology. If a student of religion starts with junk-parts, the final result will be junk. The opposite is what Walther quoted: "The nearer to Luther, the better the theologian."

The Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation started with Luther. For Catholic theologians, he was Public Enemy Number One. For Protestants, he was the gold standard. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, the most read book in the English language (after the Bible), Luther was his favorite. He said Luther's Galatians commentary was his most read book, after the Bible.

How many Lutheran MDiv students have read the Galatians commentary? How many faculty have? Add them together and the total for the whole Synodical Conference is probably close to zero.

Among the febrile dissenters in the LCMS and ELS, how many are Luther-centric? I read the unshocking claim that Fenton, who repudiates Lutheran doctrine, was a bigwig in creating the newest McCain product, the Lutheran Service Book. Fenton has joined Eastern Orthodoxy. For many in the LCMS, the cure for their ailment is either the Church of Rome or Eastern Orthodoxy. What does that say about the state of seminary education?

No one can imagine graduates of the Mequon Sausage Factory joining Rome. Why give up total infallibility for Rome's weaker version? Mequon graduates are quite enchanted by the junk-theologians of Fuller Seminary. Their former president recommended the Pentecostal Baptist C. Peter Wagner in their official WELS magazine. One of their other Fuller alums, Reuel Schulz, praised Wagner into heaven in his TELL article. Both men made it clear that Lutherans needed to study the great theologian, C. Peter Wagner.

I will add some Wagner quotes below. Here are some non-Lutheran objections.

Wagner believes he is a faith healer. He claimed in one book that a demon lived in an article in his house. Some of his statements would make anyone question his sanity. One of his books was originally called Look Out! The Pentecostals Are Coming!

The time spent studying the crackpots of Fuller Seminary is lost to the study of classical theologians. I would much rather read the serious theologians of any age than the frauds of Pasadena and Willow Creek.

Any Protestant student of theology is going to invest his time wisely with Luther because the Reformer is the greatest and most lucid expositor of the Bible. The editors of the Book of Concord should be next on the list - for Lutherans especially, but also for Protestants in general.

Wagner Was Right About One Thing
"I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with the church-growth principles we've developed, or the evangelistic techniques we're using. Yet somehow they don't seem to work."
C. Peter Wagner Ken Sidey, "Church Growth Fine Tunes Its Formulas," Christianity Today, June 24, 1991, p. 47. [Psst - Don't tell WELS or Missouri, or Paul Tiefel and David Koenig.]

"In the words of C. Peter Wagner, Professor of Missions at the Fuller School of World Missions, Jesus at Bangkok was the 'prototype of an ideal social attitude,' the 'man for others' whose resurrection and lordship meant no more than that others should be inspired by His example."
Ernst H. Wendland, "Missiology--and the Two Billion," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, January, 1974 71, p. 11f.

"The preacher, in fact, was a fascinating combination of eloquent and illiterate (by his own testimony). In the services I saw fervent singing, joyous clapping of hands, dancing in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, testimonies, prophecies, preaching of the Word, and as a climax the handling of deadly poisonous snakes and drinking of strychnine. I discussed this with several members of the congregation. When I asked why they handled snakes they replied, simply, 'Because Jesus told us to do it as a sign.' Another sign of the kingdom." [Footnote - See C. Peter Wagner, What Are We Missing?, formerly Look Out, The Pentecostals Are Coming, Carol Stream: Creation House, 1973, 1978.]
C. Peter Wagner, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel, New York: Harper and Row, 1981, p. 23.

"Church growth is that science which investigates the planting, multiplication, function and health of Christian churches as they relate specifically to the effective implementation of God's-commission to 'make disciples of all nations' (Matt. 28:19-20 RSV). Church growth strives to combine the eternal theological principles of God's Word concerning the expansion of the church with the best insights of contemporary social and behavioral sciences, employing as its initial frame of reference, the foundational work done by Donald McGavran." [Constitution, Academy for American Church Growth]
C. Peter Wagner, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel, New York: Harper and Row, 1981, p. 75.

"Yet this writer is confident we won't go astray in adopting a 'spoiling the Egyptians' approach to the various Church Growth Movement sociological principles and the research that produced them."
David J. Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement: An Evaluation," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1991 88, p. 116. Exodus 12:36.

Bob: "..I'd like to share with you a book I came across the other day. It's interesting, easy to read, and may be the answer to our problem..." "Its title is Your Church Can Grow, and it's filled with all sorts of practical hints that could help us turn things around here." Author: "Bob didn't realize it at the time, but in his browsing he had stumbled upon one of many similar books written from the perspective of the church growth movement, books with such titles as How to Grow a Church, Ten Steps for Church Growth, Church Growth: Strategies that Work, and Leading Your Church to Growth."
Prof. David Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement, Just Gathering People or Building the Church?" The Northwestern Lutheran, May 5, 1991, p. 184.

"The term 'spiritual breathing' originated with Dr. William Bright in his booklet, 'Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-filled Life?'"
David Valleskey, Forest Bivens, New Life in Christ, September, 1981 p. 1.

"For several years I've been a Pete Wagner fan. Although I don't see eye to eye with him on many important theological points (he approves of faith healing and speaking in tongues as long as it promotes church growth and he comes from a Billy Graham decision for conversion doctrinal background), he is the most eloquent spokesman of the Church Growth Movement. A prolific author on mission/evangelism/church growth subjects, Wagner is also an excellent teacher and a crystal clear writer."
Reuel J. Schulz, The Evangelism Life Line (WELS) Winter, 1980,

"Please stop exaggerating the amount of study that I have done at Fuller. After four years of study at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, which involved sixty-two different courses and a year of vicarage, I graduated in 1983. From 1987 to 1989 I took four courses where I was in a classroom with a Fuller instructor. That is the extent of my Fuller coursework...In addition, I have taken two courses at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and one at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. Because of Fuller's liberal (would you expect anything else?) policy on transfer of credit, and because of two independent studies I undertook, I could complete the degree by simply writing a dissertation."
Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23

"You may reply that by 'Fuller-trained' you mean anyone who has attended a worshop presented by the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth, an agency which is independent of the Seminary. If that is the case, your attribution of 'Fuller-trained' is still simply not true. It would surprise me if even half of the two dozen people on your 'WELS/ELS Who's Who' list have attended a Fuller workshop; I personally know of only five who have."
Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.

Larry Meets His Holiness, Face-to-Face
"Donald C. McGavran died at home home in Altadena, California, on July 10, 1990. He was 92 years old. Dr. McGavran is widely recognized as the founder of the church growth movement, a movement which has sought to put the social sciences at the service of theology in order to foster the growth of the church. In August of 1989 I borrowed a bicycle and pedaled several miles uphill up from Pasadena to Altadena. I found Dr. McGavran in his front yard with a hose in hand, watering flowers."
Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Professor, Martin Luther College (WELS), p. 1.

Larry Loyal to Lutheran Education?
"The church growth movement has made inroads into nearly every denomination in America. Once considered only the turf of conservative evangelicals, you will now find church growth practioners in the United Methodist Church, in the Presbyterian Church in the USA, and among the Episcopalians. The LCMS has more pastors enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary, the seedbed of the movement, than are enrolled in the graduate programs at their Fort Wayne and St. Louis seminaries combined, and most of them include church growth as part of their studies."
Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism, p. 1.

Another Gusher for Church Growth
"In the autumn of 1985 and the winter of 1985-1986, a truly momentous step was taken by the five Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) congregations in the metropolitan area of Columbus, Ohio. The five pastors and lay representatives of those churches organized and incorporated Lutheran Parish Resources, Inc., the first Church Growth institute in the WELS."
David G. Peters, "Lutheran Parish Resources: Pilot Program in Church Growth,"
Mequon: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, April 27, 1987, p. 1.

King James Family of Bibles

Tyndale was executed for translating and printing Bibles. He died saying, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." His prayer was answered by the KJV.

Someone asked, "What is the King James family of Bibles?"

That is my expression, so it was probably confusing. I use and favor the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible. There are several reasons.

One is that the Bible is really the Tyndale Bible made kosher by the first Stuart king, James (who followed Elisabeth). Tyndale was closely connected to Luther and his translation.

Another reason is the New Testament text. The KJV and slightly modernized KJ versions use the traditional Greek text while the NIV boobs treat God's Word as their personal sandbox. Horsing around with the New Testament began with Wescott and Hort, the fraud Tischendorf, and a horde of apostate disciples.

Modernists were helped by scholars' almost total amnesia concerning the Byzantine Empire's history, a Christian and Greek-speaking empire that lasted 1100 years.

What? It lasted 1100 years?

Yes, Greek-speaking Christians (and the most literate ancient nation) did preserve the text with great precision. That is why we have so many Byzantine NT texts, a fact used against the traditional text.

Tischendorf "found" both of the new texts (Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) that were used to revise and change the New Testament. In other fields the scholars are suspicious of a man who finds an object so sensational that it makes him world famous. No one really knows the origins of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.

I wonder how many people know that a committee votes regularly on the text of the Greek NT. If three out of five vote against a verse, out it goes. They make the politicians of the smoke-filled rooms seem saintly in comparison.

The LCMS and WELS abandoned the KJV for the ecumenical, dumbed-down, impossible to read aloud NIV. Big money was involved. The NIV is perfect for the Church Growth Movement ("make disciples") and women's ordination (pronoun abuse).

The updates of the KJV are - the New KJV, KJV II, etc. The KJV we use is actually a slightly modernized version of the orginal. A commission took out some of the extra commas and the more ancient words.

The KJV was made to be read aloud in church. It was intended for memorization. Now the flavor of the month translations have ruined memorization.

The KJV was overwhelmingly the dominant English Bible until the 1960's or so, a span of many centuries. One billion have been printed.

The English language is built upon two foundations - the KJV and Shakespeare.

L P Cruz, etc.

This UOJ Stormtrooper got his training at Mequon and never let anyone forget it. Dates were awkward and conversation stilted.

L. P. Cruz has an extended discussion of UOJ on his blog, Extra Nos.

I wanted to clarify a few things.

Christians should not add unnecessarily to the Biblical vocabulary. Some terms (Trinity, Means of Grace) are shorthand for decades or centuries of debate. We continue to use them because there is general agreement about their meaning, even though there are variations.

I object to modifying terms like justification and reconciliation. Chemnitz agreed with the ancient saying that we should return to the sources when the water is muddy. That included dropping the confessions of the time to study the Scritpure itself. (Note that the Wisconsin cheerleaders will yell "Wauwatosa," but this really means the opposite.)

Too many are tempted to trace every tributary of Christianity or parse the essays of their recently departed professors. For the Synodical Conference types, nothing is better than that to help avoid all issues.

A Sigh Is Just a Sigh
The fundamental things apply, as time goes by. Reconciliation is not justification. Using fake logic to fuse the terms will never work, if we still believe that Scripture interprets Scripture. Reconciliation is the Gospel message that converts the unbeliever and strengthens the believer. The New Testament is rich in synonyms for reconciliation: redemption (two different words), expiation, ransom, etc.

Nevertheless, the New Testament never says that God has declared the whole world forgiven, without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace. That is where the UOJ Stormtroopers (Cascione, Bivens, Valleskey, Becker, Pieper, Walther, Pope John the Malefactor, Dan Preus, Rolf Preus) utterly depart from the Scriptures. How do they defend their toxic doctrine? By quoting the writers who agree with them - a fallacy called Special Pleading.

The Gospel message converts or hardens the unbeliever because the Holy Spirit always accompanies the Word and always accomplishes God's will (Isaiah 55). Speak the Gospel to a Mormon missionary or a JW and he will sneer. Describe the efficacy of the Word to a Lutheran leader and the same thing will happen.

Calvinism
Calvinims is wrong because the work of the Holy Spirit is divorced from the Word and Sacraments. That is a consistent theme in Calvin's work. Therefore, Calvinism cannot be rescued from the charge of Enthusiasm.

The rationalistic component of Calvinism leads to Unitarianism. "Young Calvinist, Old Unitarian." That is a common saying that fits regions, denominations, and nations.

Luther
I am not a brand-name Luther. I do not follow Luther for any other reason than this - he is the greatest Biblical expositor of all time.

Some day in the future, the Recessional Lutherans will have to explain how they led their gullible followers away from the Scriptures and into the fold of Romanism and Eastern Orthodoxy. EO is just a coward's way of embracing Rome.

The UOJ Stormtroopers are raising up a generation of Unitarians.

***

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "L P Cruz, etc.":

I'm in the early stages of exploring Luther and the church that carries his name. It seems like many of the names you list as uopj storm troopers are guys I've read or heard about.(what is uoj??)I am just starting the book of concord (and the theology of the book of concord by Prues)...any other helps you would suggest in my search?
thanks
tv

GJ - Short definition Universal Objective Justification - Everyone in the world was declared forgiven the moment Christ died on the cross--or--the moment Christ rose from the dead. Everyone who died in the Flood - forgiven. Everyone in Hell is a guilt-free saint. Walther began this travesty, which he got from Pietism, in his Easter absolution sermon. Pieper and the Synodical Conference continued it. The Church Growth gurus like Valleskey and Bivens love UOJ.

Justification by faith means: those who hear the Gospel and believe in Christ as their Savior are forgiven their sins.

Those who are new to Lutheran doctrine should stick to a good Bible in the King James family of translations, the Book of Concord, and Luther's sermons.

Advanced Lutherans should stick to a good Bible in the King James family of translations, the Book of Concord, and Luther's sermons.

Theologians with a PhD should stick to a good Bible in the King James family of translations, the Book of Concord, and Luther's sermons.

Do You Believe?

The Archbishop of Canterbury - Inept

Here is a good essay about the Archbishop of Canterburgy. He is the doofus who suggested that Islamic Sharia law could be incorporated into English law.

This is the link.

The article is worth reading in full.

A primary requirement of a minister is that he be "apt to teach." The Archbishop is inept instead.

Spener - The Father of American Lutherans - Walther Too

Spener's Children Look Just Like Daddy

The founder of Pietism was Jacob Spener, a unionistic Lutheran who emphasized works at the expense of sound doctrine. Like all unionists, Spener was happy to ditch the sacraments in order to work with the Reformed.

The first large-scale establishment of Lutherans in America was directed by H. Muhlenberg, a Pietist from Halle. That became the General Synod, which divided in two during the Civil War era to create the more confessional General Council. The General Synod grew up during the colonial days.The General Synod had altar calls and temperance campaigns. There are still some ELCA congregations where only grape juice is used for Holy Communion.

The next wave of Pietism included various European groups: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and German Pietists. Yes, Walther was converted by a Pietist and never lost his Pietistic substance. He criticized Pietistic authors in print, but never Spener.

Spener was almost a god to American Lutherans in those days, much like Paul Kelm, Larry Olson, Waldo Werning, and Kent Hunter today.

The Pietistic urge led Lutherans to work with the Reformed in missionary and eleemosynary efforts. Lutherans were always willing to give up the sacraments and the efficacy of the Word for the thrill of working with the Reformed. The more unionistic a Lutheran group was, the sooner it became openly Reformed. Many Lutheran congregations of that era are United Church of Christ today.

Lutherans tried to combine the zeal of Pietism with the doctrine of the Lutheran Church. What they got from this union was the zeal of the Lutherans and the doctrine of the Reformed.

Nevertheless, the nature of false doctrine has always been to exterminate Lutheran doctrine. Missouri and WELS leaders have raised Pietism from the dead and led a campaign (largely successful) to wipe out Lutheran doctrine.

Here are the characteristics of ELCA-WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC leaders:

1. Unionism. The synodical leaders have studied at Fuller and Willow Creek or have no objections to pastors "spoiling the Egyptians," stealing the Reformed garbage.
   
2. Salvation by works. They emphasize how much they have done.
   
3. Prayer as THE Means of Grace. They go along with the Reformed folly that God is unable to do anything unless He is fired up by prayer warriors. No, seriously.
   
4. Enthusiasm. They separate the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word and Sacraments. That is why they have no trust in the Word but glory in their programs and methods.
   
5. Rah-rah Enthusiasm. They copy the Reformed and Pentecostals by jumping up and down, piping their eyes (crying), and hyping their language.
   
6. They loathe Lutheran doctrine and the Lutheran name.
   
7. Like the crypto-Calvinists before them, they persecute Lutherans while pretending to be the real Lutherans who "care about the church."
   
8. Their knowledge of the Book of Concord is almost zero. What little they know, they hate. They also sneer at Lutheran hymns and the Creeds. Sermons? - No. Life coaching - Si!
   
9. They work together very closely, across synodical lines. For example, WELS always acts too goody-goody to be in the same room as Missouri, but WELS leaders love to sit at the feet of Kent Hunter and the fossilized Waldo Werning.

If the synodical leaders were committed to Lutheran doctrine, they would kick out the false teachers instead of rewarding them.

C.E.O. Ministries

Brian Arthur Lampe, CEO of CEO

"Brian Arthur Lampe delivers a one-two punch to the devil and his schemes with his high powered, enthusiastic, energetic life-applying Biblical motivational speaking. We are on a quest for authentic God. By including Brian Arthur Lampe, you will have more than just a rally or a Bible study. You and your congregation will be providing men, women, and youth with an encouraging process that teaches them how to live lives of authentic Christianity as modeled by Jesus Christ and directed by the Word of God." Christian Speaker Network describes Brian's denomination as Christian.


I am trying to figure out C.E.O. Ministries. Here is a promo from WELS' Church and Change (the outfit "shut down" by WELS):

Parent's Ministry - CEO
Brian and Tracy Lampe


Your baby is now a teenager, going through all of the teenage rites of passage. Between school, friends, God, and a social life, their lives seem to be a foreign country to you. The little boy or girl that once told you everything now has to be hounded to give you even a snippet of thought. Yet there are three things you should know about what is going on in your Christian teen's head that will make your relationship a little better…
Click the link to find out!

CEO also has programs for:
Men's Ministry
Students Ministry
Couples Ministry
Corporate Ministry
Email: Brian@CEO-Ministries.com
Website: www.ceo-ministries.com/parents.html

They are endorsed by WELS. Their March activity is linked from the WELS.net website.

It's also listed on Section Q, which is from CLR (formerly WELS Lutherans for Life).

John J. Wonders does their website. He describes himself as a "Clydesdale in training."

There is a link to Victory of the Lamb Lutheran Church, where women are invited to attend the Bible Babes group.

At St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Muskego:

Check Us Out;

Whether you are a committed Christian or investigating Christianity we invite you to check us out this Sunday at our student center. Doors open at 9:00am. Food and beverages are served between 9:30-10:30a.m. and Brian Arthur Lampe turns it up a notch or two for Jesus!

St. Paul's does a lot with Prayer Warriors, which is a Reformed mania. The Church and Change, Church Growth people like to emphasize prayer in a typical heretical way.

Here is a profile for Brian Arthur Lampe:

Driver
UPS
(Religious Institutions industry)

September 2006 — Present (1 year 6 months)

Owner
CEO Ministries
(Religious Institutions industry)

September 2006 — Present (1 year 6 months)

Brian Arthur Lampe’s Education
Wisconsin Lutheran
1984 — 1987

Cross Lutherans

"Ignorant slander!"


Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Like Father, Like Son":

Have you ever been to Crossroads in Chicago? If you report about the vices of a congregation only in generic terms with no actual evidence or concrete information about it. It is mere ignorant slander.

For your information, Crossroads is a very law/gospel biblical based church that does a good job of providing spiritual milk every Sunday to a congregation of mostly visitors yet having a very good method of Bible instruction classes for members who need spiritual whole food.

Also, their "mission statement" is almost identical to the one you wrote at WLS.

***

GJ - I remember a Northwestern College student was asked the same thing about Willow Creek. "Have you been there?" Apparently this is a WELS thing. If someone has not been there, he cannot read the website or even have an opinion. The student was at Willow Creek, so the subject was changed immediately. That's a WELS thing too.

When I said WELS was deep into Church Growth, VP Paul Kuske (founder, Pilgrim Community) snarled, "Do you have proof?" I said, "Over 500 quotations from WELS sources, verbatim." He changed the subject.

Did Mike sit down with me and confront me with my terrible sin? That is how WELS protects all of its Church Growth fanatics. No, he did not. Instead, he sent a TWB (True WELS Believer) post.

Crossroads in Chicago has a website. The same congregation was mentioned in FIC (which is a Lutheran magazine, believe it or not). I was able to do my research by reading public information.

Here is the Crossroads Mission Statement:

To use all that we are and all that we have to reach our city with the gospel of Jesus Christ and to nurture our faith community with God's transforming truth.

Here is what I wrote, which I refuse to call a mission statement.

In an age of anxiety, we still believe that peace comes from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

In an age of confusion, we still believe that the Bible is the Word of God, inerrant and infallible.

In an age of doubt, we still believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

In an age of guilt, we still believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to remove the power of sin, death, and Satan from our lives.

In an age of fear, we still believe that Christ rose bodily from the dead to lead us to eternal life.

In an age of self-centeredness, we still believe that God acts through the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

In an age of constant change, we still believe in the unchanging Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

"If you hold to my teaching, then you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

I really do not see how one compares to the other. Mine is explicitly sacramental, perhaps because Lutherans are. The Crossroads generic statement could be applied to any non-sacramental sect. Of course, that is the point. I see they also took my statement and added their PC stuff to it, but they do not call it their mission statement. The one above is labeled "Our Mission."

I noticed the guiding hand of Valleskey, Kelm, Olson, and Huebne in the content of the website.

Small groups? That the clarion call of Fuller Seminary and all Pietists - organize cell groups for growth. There is no better way to promote Pentecostalism and anti-sacramentalism.

Social activities? There is a long list of all the play-dates arranged for the congregation. I always thought that was the function of a club, not a church.

Mike, Mike, Mike. I have always objected to Lutherans running away from their identity in order to appease Fuller, Willow Creek, and Paul Kelm. The idea of avoiding the denominational name is from Robert Schuller, echoed by Fuller, Willow Creek, and Lyle Schaller (Methodist).

Just between you and me and a world-wide audience, what kind of a stupid name is Crossroads or CrossWalk? They are deliberately non-religious terms.

Why not emphasize Church Growth Eyes and the cross - CrossEyes?

Or the ambivalent message from these churche - DoubleCross?

Please do not tell me that it is an accident that Lutheran dropped out of the title of the WELS feminist hymnal, that Lutheran dropped out of the magazine title, that Lutheran dropped out of Crossroads, CrossWalk, and all the other Fuller clones.

***

Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Cross Lutherans":

Rev,

This is why I asked if you had been there. When referring to their "mission statement." I was referring to that which is posted in their bulletin each week. If you had ever attended you would have had oppurtunity to read that.

When reporting on a matter, it is always best to be a first hand witness or at least report the first hand accounts.

On the matter of Crossroads in Chicago, I would suggest that you either contact Rev. Borgwargt or at least his members (the core of which is displaced WELS from other areas). Rather than simply assuming that they are similar to other cases in the past you have witnessed.

I am a first hand observer and I can attest that they are not. And if you did speak to Rev. Borgwardt you would learn that I was just as skeptical as you were and peppered him with questions.

I'm not questioning your teachings or your faith...but I feel your journalism in this matter is perhaps not what it should be.

***

GJ - I am not reporting. Ichabod is a continuous jeremiad. Look up the word. The purpose of Ichabod is to denounce the apostasy of the Lutherans, with some attention paid to other denominations.

As I said before, I find the hiding of the word Lutheran contemptible. The continued downward slide of your sect is proven by the denomination bragging about the very thing it used to hide - stealth mission churches. The Germans have a word for this - shameless.

***

Chris Hurst has left a new comment on your post "Spener - The Father of American Lutherans - Walthe...":

Greetings Dr. Jackson,
I have been an Ichabod "lurker" for a few weeks now, but I think today is a good day to pose a question. I am a licensed pastor (not ordained because I don't serve a parish full-time) in the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium (ELCM). We are a micro-synod based in PA. My question is, do you think that ALL influence of Pietism is bad? My personal opinion is that Pietism started as a good idea, but like all good ideas left in the hands of sinful men it failed to accomplish that which it set out to. For instance, I think that Pietism's emphasis on personal prayer is something that all of us should strive for. However, not at the expense of Word and Sacrament, which is where Pietism went too far. I'd love to hear your comments. Thanks and God Bless, Chris Hurst.

***

GJ - Those are good comments, Chris. That is the problem with starting a Lutheran mission in the South. The evangelist could easily say, "You are against whiskey and for prayer. We are against prayer and for whiskey."

Prayer should be taught as the fruit of faith, not as the cause of faith. I like Hoenecke's brief synopsis. He said Pietism teaches santification as the cause of justification, not as the result of justification.

Pietism was probably a reaction against the extremes of the later ages of Lutheran orthodoxy. I continue to find it strange that those who agitate in the LCMS want to quote everyone except Luther and the Concordists.

I graduated from Augustana College, Illinois, and helped sheve the Pietisten, the Swedish paper of the Pietists. Augustana never hid the fact that the group began as a unionistic, Pietistic mission. The early leaders soon soured on the results of unionism and came under the influence of orthodoxy. Probably the best influence upon Augustana (doctrinal and missions) was Passavant, a man who reject the extremes of Revivalism and embraced the Confessions.

The Pietists were not all bad. In Sweden they were disgusted by the corruption of the Church of Sweden, the wide-spread alcoholism. One man started a temperance movement because of a drunken fight that broke out between two women during his sermon.

However, Pietism was the source of Walther's UOJ - justification without faith.

The Church Growth people love pietism because they embrace unionism and hate the Lutheran Confessions.

Collect, Second Sunday in Lent

Lord God, heavenly Father, grant us, we beseech Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, that He may strengthen our hearts and confirm our faith and hope in Thy grace and mercy, so that, although we have reason to fear because of our conscience, our sin, and our unworthiness, we may nevertheless, with the woman of Canaan, hold fast to Thy grace, and in every trial and temptation find Thee a very present help and refuge, through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Like Father, Like Son

JFK's Putative Love Child, left, JFK, right

A Canadian man has come forward to claim the late JFK as his father. Doubtless the Kennedy family will rush to provide DNA samples to prove or disprove the case.

The man does bear a striking resemblance to President Kennedy. Blood will tell.

That is also why so many WELS and LCMS congregations look and sound like the Community Churches that fathered them.

One WELS layman in Wisconsin told me about his congregation's staff being sent to Willow Creek Community Church to be trained. Now the church looks and sounds like Willow Creek.

WELS District VP Kuske midwifed Pilgrim Community Church. No liturgy. No Lutheran creeds or hymns. WELS Church Growth expert Roger Zehms warned WELS members not to join the congregation or even visit. Zehns and Stolzenburg were the two Church Growth gurus who guided the congregation toward its rapid and unlamented demise.

Phoenix has plenty of Community Churches. They actually have a denomination of sorts. They band together on the basis of no confessions. They are huge in Phoenix, unlike the copycat CrossWalk (Stealth WELS) in Phoenix or a similar lovechild in Chicago.

The Kelm/Parlow version in Green Bay, Wisconsin has carried copying to a new level, copying the very sermons of Evangelicals and publishing them on their own website. I am not sure whether the paternity has been disputed. Some WELS people noticed the shocking coincidence of WELS sermons being exactly like Baptist sermons published years before. But Kelm and Parlow have learned their lesson and now cite their plagiarism without shame.

The Michigan District was also mother to Crossroads in South Lyons. They began with Lutheran sheep being led to the slaughter by WELS pastors: Rick Miller, Kelly Voigt, Mark Freier. Then they turned honest and became generic Protestant. That was again during the immodest reign of Robert Mueller and Paul Kuske.

Missouri boasts of many love-children, fathered by Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek--or, shudder--by both. One is in the Midland, Michigan area. Another is in the Detroit metropolis. Doubtless more are scattered across the continent, a testament of Lutherans losing their nerve and their faith.

Reminiscere - The Second Sunday in Lent

God the Father, by Michelangelo

Reminiscere – The Second Sunday in Lent

KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

KJV Matthew 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

TLH Hymns
387 – Dear Christians One and All (Luther)
292 – Lord Jesus Christ, With Us Abide (Selnecker, Concordist)
142 – A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth (Gerhardt)
413 – I Walk in Danger (Brorson)

God’s Wisdom or Man’s

Luther summarized the public ministry of Jesus thus – He granted every single request brought to Him in the Gospels.

One is tempted to begin by saying how difficult this particular lesson is, since Jesus treats the Canaanite woman so roughly:
1. He is silent about her requests at the beginning. The disciples want her sent away.
2. He rejects her by race, secondly, saying He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel.
3. Finally, He uses a common and offensive comparison, asking if it was right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.

Let’s look at a similar passage.

KJV Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

The point of each passage is that we should never grow tired of praying to God.

In the miracle story, an actual event, Jesus acted out the experience of most people. They pray to God but seem to find no answer for their prayers, as if God is utterly silent. Then they conclude that God’s grace will not come to them since it is meant for others. Finally they conclude they are little more than dogs and not worthy to have a request answered.

In the parable, the one receiving the requests is an evil judge who did not believe in God and was not fair to man. The parable in Luke uses the familiar Jewish comparison, from the lesser to the major. If something is true on such a small scale, how much more true will it be on a large scale? So, if an evil judge listens to the cries of a woman for justice, then God Almighty will definitely listen to His own people when they cry for justice as well.

Both passages teach faith in God’s mercy, goodness, and power. They do not teach the virtue of the individual but the reason why people should have faith in God.

What is faith but trust in God in spite of all experiences and human reason? The reason we have so many timid clergy and Machiavellian laity is their lack of faith in God.

Man’s wisdom is the opposite of God’s wisdom. God has given us the power of reason with many practical advantages. Confronted with a problem like how to move traffic under or over a river, man can come up with ingenious engineering answers. Strangely, many people give no credit to God for their ability to figure these things out. They give all the credit to themselves.

Man’s reason is limited to the everyday, material world. Nevertheless, God can overrule these laws since He established them in the first place. In the medical field, the best doctors are often dismayed at their failures and overjoyed when dire predictions do not come true.

Children have no trouble with the miracles of Jesus. When I ask them how Jesus could walk on water, they say, “Because He is God.” But gather a bunch of academic theologians together and they will say, “He only seemed to be walking on water. He was really walking on sandbars or along the shore. The disciples thought they saw Jesus walking on water, but he wasn’t, because no one can do that.” The vast majority of academic theologians are apostates can talk about a topic they no longer believe.

The Canaanite woman never disputes the power or mercy of God. She continues to ask Jesus.

The Silence
We think God is silent because He works on a completely different scale than man. As Luther suggested, He is an old man who has run things rather well for a long time. We should trust His management skills. Paul said that no one is God’s counselor. In other words, God is so far beyond our comprehension that He can only be revealed, not explained. The Scriptures reveal the nature of God so that we trust in Him and see Him as He is, but we are very limited.

God allows us to think of Him as silent to strengthen and purify our faith. Those who keep an infantile perspective of God will turn away from Him for being God rather than an instant gratification machine.

Recently I have been reading about Jews of the early 20th century, as they moved to America. Many had ancient fables and superstitions embedded in their lore. For instance, one boy was told that bread dropped into the ocean would stop a storm. The father knew this was true because it worked for him once. The son tried it during a storm on the ocean and saw no results. That made him start to doubt how God worked. But God does not need amulets, tokens, and other objects to work. Instead of saying, “This is magic and wrong,” the superstitious person is inclined to say, “There is no God.”

How is this different from the Pentecostalism and Church-Growthism of today? They say, “Do this and God will give you what you want.” When people are disappointed, as they must be over time, they turn away from God, not from the frauds.

Waiting teaches us to be patient when God appears to be silent. Parents do the same thing in love. Their children demand something, harshly. No response. “Didn’t you hear me?” The father or mother says, “I am deaf until I hear the word please.” Repeated bouts of deafness teach children to use the word please.

I tried the same with my granddaughters. I insisted on “please” at the beginning and “thank you” after I said yes. For some reason, they were confident I would always say yes. The result was every request beginning, “Please and thank you…”

God’s apparent silence should not make us think God wants evil to come our way. Luther used his dog Blockhead as an example of prayer. A dog never expects any answer except yes and never becomes discouraged.

Our two Shelties, Precious and Treasure, assume that every meal includes tidbits for them. Even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. They assume a posture of extreme alertness whenever food is available. They wait for their treats with extreme patience and a friendly attitude.

And yet human literature is filled with examples of, “I prayed for this and did not get it, so I stopped believing in God.” Sommerset Maughm, who wrote Of Human Bondage, is one. Ted Turner is another. I have never seen a dog turn bitter and angry over waiting for a treat. If anything, they pour on the charm and grin even more.

The Miracle is For Another Group
It is easy to assume from the Bible that those days were full of miracles, that ours are not. Or one denomination will claim to have cornered the market on miracles.
A Roman Catholic showed a Lutheran woman a room full of crutches thrown away at their miracle center. Asked what she thought on radio, she said, “I don’t believe a word of it.”

Pentecostals claim all the miracles, spawning growth in another area – occultic religion. The occult religions in Asia claim that spirits will give humans whatever they want, as long as the claims are specific. That is the basic theology of Paul Y. Cho, who is a Church Growth hero. WELS Pastor James Witt (D.Min. in Church Growth, Concordia, St. Louis) bought a case of Cho books and passed them out at a WELS conference promoting cell groups. Doubtless he has repented by now.

Miracles happen all the time, to believers and unbelievers alike. Given the sinfulness of human nature, we should assume that the entire world would fall into chaos without the constant intervention of God. Look at what bankers all over the world did to the financial system! They did that with computers, CPAs, financial wizards, controls, oversight committees, state owned banks, central planning, and so forth.

All the New Testament passages about prayers are accompanied by verses praising God for His goodness and mercy. For example –

KJV Romans 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The Canaanite woman’s story says to us – We may think miracles come to everyone but us, but still we pray in faith, knowing the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Take from the Children, Give It to Dogs?
The last apparent rebuke for the Canaanite woman speaks to the feelings of unworthiness felt by those whose prayers seem unanswered. Why would God answer my prayers?

"What God Ordains Is Always Good"
by Samuel Rodigast, 1649-1708
1. What God ordains is always good;
His will abideth holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.
God indeed in every need
Doth well know how to shield me;
To Him, then, I will yield me.
2. What God ordains is always good.
He never will deceive me;
He leads me in His own right way,
And never will He leave me.
I take content What He hath sent;
His hand that sends me sadness
Will turn my tears to gladness.
3. What God ordains is always good.
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my Physician sends me.
My God is true; Each morn anew
I'll trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.
4. What God ordains is always good.
He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather.
Now I may know Both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.
5. What God ordains is always good.
Though I the cup am drinking
Which savors now of bitterness,
I take it without shrinking.
For after grief God grants relief,
My heart with comfort filling
And all my sorrow stilling.
6. What God ordains is always good.
This truth remains unshaken.
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm, For with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
So to my God I yield me.
Hymn #521
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Deut. 32:4
Author: Samuel Rodigast, 1675
Translated by: composite
Titled: "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan"
Composer: Severus Gastorius, 1681
Tune: "Was Gott tut"
http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh521.htm

Another, even greater hymn, from Paul Gerhardt:

"If God Himself Be for Me"
by Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676
1. If God Himself be for me,
I may a host defy;
For when I pray, before me
My foes, confounded, fly.
If Christ, my Head and Master,
Befriend me from above,
What foe or what disaster
Can drive me from His love?
2. This I believe, yea, rather,
Of this I make my boast,
That God is my dear Father,
The Friend who loves me most,
And that, whate'er betide me,
My Savior is at hand
Through stormy seas to guide me
And bring me safe to land.
3. I build on this foundation,
That Jesus and His blood
Alone are my salvation,
The true, eternal good.
Without Him all that pleases
Is valueless on earth;
The gifts I owe to Jesus
Alone my love are worth.
4. My Jesus is my Splendor,
My Sun, my Light, alone;
Were He not my Defender
Before God's awe-full throne,
I never should find favor
And mercy in His sight,
But be destroyed forever
As darkness by the light.
5. He canceled my offenses,
Delivered me from death;
He is the Lord who cleanses
My soul from sin through faith.
In Him I can be cheerful,
Bold, and undaunted aye;
In Him I am not fearful
Of God's great Judgment Day.
6. Naught, naught, can now condemn me
Nor set my hope aside;
Now hell no more can claim me,
Its fury I deride.
No sentence e'er reproves me,
No ill destroys my peace;
For Christ, my Savior, loves me
And shields me with His grace.
7. His Spirit in me dwelleth,
And o'er my mind He reigns.
All sorrow He dispelleth
And soothes away all pains.
He crowns His work with blessing
And helpeth me to cry,
"My Father!" without ceasing,
To Him who dwells on high.
8. And when my soul is lying
Weak, trembling, and opprest,
He pleads with groans and sighing
That cannot be exprest;
But God's quick eye discerns them,
Although they give no sound,
And into language turns them
E'en in the heart's deep ground.
9. To mine His Spirit speaketh
Sweet word of holy cheer,
How God to him that seeketh
For rest is always near
And how He hath erected
A city fair and new,
Where what our faith expected
We evermore shall view.
10. In yonder home doth flourish
My heritage, my lot;
Though here I die and perish,
My heaven shall fail me not.
Though care my life oft saddens
And causeth tears to flow,
The light of Jesus gladdens
And sweetens every woe.
11. Who clings with resolution
To Him whom Satan hates
Must look for persecution;
For him the burden waits
Of mockery, shame, and losses,
Heaped on his blameless head;
A thousand plagues and crosses
Will be his daily bread.
12. From me this is not hidden,
Yet I am not afraid;
I leave my cares, as bidden,
To whom my vows were paid.
Though life and limb it cost me
And everything I won,
Unshaken shall I trust Thee
And cleave to Thee alone.
13. Though earth be rent asunder,
Thou'rt mine eternally;
Not fire nor sword nor thunder
Shall sever me from Thee;
Not hunger, thirst, nor danger,
Not pain nor poverty
Nor mighty princes' anger
Shall ever hinder me.
14. No angel and no gladness,
No throne, no pomp, no show,
No love, no hate, no sadness,
No pain, no depth of woe,
No scheme of man's contrivance,
However small or great,
Shall draw me from Thy guidance
Nor from Thee separate.
15. My heart for joy is springing
And can no more be sad,
'Tis full of mirth and singing,
Sees naught but sunshine glad.
The Sun that cheers my spirit
Is Jesus Christ, my King;
That which I shall inherit
Makes me rejoice and sing.

Hymn #528
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Rom. 8:31-39
Author: Paul Gerhardt
Translated by: based on Richard Massie, 1857
Titled: Ist Gott fuer mich, so trete
Composer: Melckior Teschner, 1613
Tune: Valet will ich dir geben
Gerhardt’s hymn combines the greatest Gospel proclamations with his faith in God’s goodness.

Gerhardt was an usually gifted hymn-writer and theologian, firm in his opposition to Reformed doctrine but gentle in his personality. He deserved none of the abuse he endured throughout his life. And yet it was out of this tribulation that the most influential of all hymn-writers came.

After all, how many prosperous and plump, devious and devilish church politicians ever wrote a hymn worth singing? One person just noted that the newest LCMS hymnal is loaded with hymns from their own bureaucracy, just as the WELS feminist hymnal is. But will they last any longer than a July frost? Can anyone imagine the head of East Indian missions dying while singing the WELS hymn on Management by Objective? No?

The head of East Indian missions, C. F. W. Schwartz, did die while singing “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” surrounded by his Indian converts. Supposedly a German chorale is deadly and should be rejected by all other cultures. But one man died singing, with his foreign pupils:

10. Be Thou my Consolation,
My Shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy Passion
When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee,
Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee.
Who dieth thus dies well!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #172
Text: Is. 50: 6
Author: Paul Gerhardt
Based on the Latin poem "Salve caput cruentatum"
By Bernard of Clairvaux, 1153, asc.
Translated by: composite
Titled: O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
Composer: Hans L. Hassier, 1601
Tune: Herzlich tut mich

Some Recent WELS Comments

Happy WELS people read Ichabod.

I hear from all over, including two ELCA pastors. I appreciate all the positive comments, emails, phone calls.

Here are some recent comments from WELS members and pastors, paraphrased:

1. I agree about UOJ. The leaders are too proud to admit they made a mistake.
   
   
2. Columbus, Ohio is orthodox now. The pastors won't let the Planned Giving Counselors in. You would be comfortable here now.
   
   
3. I like the cat pictures.
   
   
4. I think the pastor is shunning me because I read Ichabod.
   
   
5. SP Schroeder is doing a good job so far.
   
   

Many people are not prepared for the impact of blogs. Two blogs reported the plagarism of sermons by Parlow and Kelm. After a short time the sermons started listing their sources (a modest improvement).

WELS was used to controlling the news for decades. Jeb Schaefer, a fairly good editor for a liberal, told me his job was to tamp down little WELS scandals. They were not big deals, but they suggested the sect was less than perfect.

If the District President turned a big gift into a liability (MilCraft - Gurgel), the incompetence could be spun thus - "We have to be careful about the gifts we accept from now on." The same approach was used to blame Schwan for the bankruptcy of WELS. A Schwan bagman said, "We can give the money to another synod, if it's a problem." Yuk. Yuk. WELS took that one back.

If a few more people have the spine to talk about doctrinal issues, WELS will start facing its notorious weaknesses. Secret emails will not do it. The doctrinal problems need to be out in the open.

The WELS response to any doctrinal issue?

1. You are a bad person.
   
   
2. Where did you hear that? He is a bad person.
   
   
3. Why don't you join the Missouri Synod? They are bad people, like you.
   
   
4. Was that in Christian News? Otten is a bad person.

Archbishop and Sharia (Islamic) Law

Proof That Bishops Do Not Necessarily Help the Church

Is it over for the Imam of Canterbury?

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
2/8/2008

Rumors have been circulating for some time that the Archbishop of Canterbury might resign following the Lambeth Conference.

Sources in the UK have told VirtueOnline that mounting pressure from nearly all quarters in the church make his job untenable since he has single-handedly offended almost every group in Anglican Christendom.

But will he? In his latest missive, the Imam of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, called for Islamic law to be recognized in Britain. He declared that Sharia and Parliamentary law should be given equal legal status so the people could choose which governs their lives.

This raised the prospect of Islamic courts in Britain with full legal powers to approve polygamous marriages, grant easy divorce for men and prevent finance firms from charging interest.

His comments sparked a furor of responses, mostly negative from media, religious and secular pundits and some Islamic leaders, with one Church of England bishop calling on him to resign.

The Prime Minister, early on, distanced himself from Dr. Williams's remarks. Gordon Brown's spokesman said, "Our general position is that Sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of Sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes.

"The Prime Minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values."

Dr. Williams's words opened a chasm over Islam between Church of England senior leaders, who are already trying to deal with an Anglican war over gay rights which broke out after Williams was appointed archbishop.

Within hours of the BBC interview being posted to their website, hundreds of commentators had written in to the site protesting, some calling for Williams' to resign.

The Bishop of Rochester, Pakistani-born Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, said this, "English law is rooted in the Judaeo-Christian tradition and, in particular, our notions of human freedoms derive from that tradition. In my view, it would be simply impossible to introduce a tradition, like Sharia into this corpus without fundamentally affecting its integrity."

Nazir-Ali is under police protection after receiving death threats for writing in January that Islamic extremism had turned some British communities into "'no-go' areas" and that there are ongoing attempts to "impose an Islamic character on certain areas."

Damien Thompson, editor of the Catholic Herald newspaper and a blogger at the Daily Telegraph, wrote that the Archbishop's comments were the "most monumentally stupid thing I have ever heard an Archbishop of Canterbury say. In fact, it's more than stupid, it's disgusting.

"The idea that 'one law for everyone' is 'a bit of a danger', as Williams argues, goes against every tradition of English law and culture that the Primate of All England is supposed to uphold." Thompson wrote that if he had been quoted accurately, the Archbishop of Canterbury "is lending his support to the establishment of a non-Christian theocracy in Britain."

"Has the Archbishop gone bonkers?" asked Ruth Gledhill, the religion correspondent for the Times. Gledhill said that "commentators of every variety," have been "stunned into blunt expression by the Archbishop of Canterbury's uncharacteristically clear comments on Sharia in Britain." Williams, she wrote, "wants women, children, all of us in fact, to have to kow-tow to some of the strictest, harshest and most draconian laws dreamed up by any religious system, ever, anywhere in the world."

"There might not be no-go areas for non-Muslims in Britain...But this is certainly the way to go about creating them." Thompson pointed out that Williams' credibility "is in tatters" in his struggle with the Anglican leadership in Africa over acceptance of active homosexual ministers that has threatened to destroy the Communion. "Anglicans in parts of Nigeria live under what is, in effect, totalitarian Sharia.

"What will the Archbishop of Canterbury's fatuous remarks about Sharia do to his authority as head of the Anglican Communion? Pretty well finish it off, I should think," Thompson concludes.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said Dr Williams's comments gave "succour to extremists".

"He needs to understand that his words carry enormous weight," he said in a Channel 4 interview.

"What he seems to be talking about is a situation in which people are treated differently under the law according to their religion. People cannot be treated differently. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of the law. I don't doubt the archbishop's desire to accommodate diversity, but we cannot do so at the expense of our common values."

He described Dr Williams as "muddled" and "dangerous".

Williams' comments were condemned by Downing Street, the Tories and the chairman of the Government's Equalities and Human Rights Commission. They were described as a "recipe for chaos" by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.

And on the continent a German Bishop protested Williams' comments saying a country needs a single legal system for everyone. " Bishop Wolfgang Huber, head of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany said integration can't be achieved through a dual legal system "Hoping to achieve integration through a dual legal system is a mistaken idea," Huber told Deutsche Welle in an exclusive interview. "You have to ask the question as to what extent cultural characteristics have a legitimate place in a legal system. But you have to push for one country to have one system."

A senior Church of England clergyman called for the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, over his remarks supporting Sharia in England.

***

GJ - The Archbishop of Canterbury is like so many of his peers. The way to be noticed is to make trendy statements.

Nothing is quite so bad as theocracy, especially a pre-Medieval system of laws within a democracy. CAIR in the US would like to establish Sharia here.


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Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Yale Law School Political Nursery":

Thanks. I really enjoyed the compliment about being a proofreader for your blog. I've had a lot of experience, really, I have.

What is your take on the A of Cant. bit on the Sharia law controversy which I had on my blog today.

Also, I had a journalist's spin on the A of C and he used the phrase 'fools for Christ' in a way that I didn't think quite hit the mark. Could you enlighten for what St. Paul means about being a 'fool for Christ'?

Norman Teigen
ELS layman

Yale Law School Political Nursery

Yale Law School earned the nickname
Bowling Alley for its long interior court.


A regular reader enjoyed the Lutherans at Yale posts, so I decided to add one about Yale and politics.

For the longest time the only US president from Yale was Taft, famous for getting stuck in the White House bathtub.

Gerald Ford changed that when he became president. Hired as a Yale football coach, he earned a law degree in his spare time.

Next came George H. W. Bush, Yale College graduate, whose son W. was born at Yale-New Haven Hospital. W. became a Skull and Bones member at Yale, like his father and grandfather (Senator Prescott Bush).

W. graduated from Yale College and earned an MBA at Harvard. He is the first president to have an MBA.

John Kerry was at Yale College at almost the same time as Bush, earning worse grades and almost flunking out. He was tapped for Skull and Bones, too.

Bill and Hillary Clinton were both Yale Law students just before we got there. Many Clinton staffers were drawn from Yale friendships. Lanny Davis (Yale College and Law) is one.

Gary Hart was Gary Hartpence when he attended Yale Divinity and Yale Law. He became famous for Monkey Business in his run for president.

Senator Danforth also went to Yale Divinity and Yale Law, retiring from politics to resume duty as an Episcopalian priest. (His family created the Purina Dog Chow company in St. Louis.)

Senator Joe Lieberman graduated from Yale Law in 1967 and ran for president with Al Gore, who flunked out of Vanderbilt Divinity.

Poor Rev. Mouse

Perhaps if Rev. Mouse took up weightlifting?

Several times a day I get anonymous posts from a WELS pastor. He has convinced himself that I have hardly ever been a "real" pastor. That explains to him how I earned a few degrees here and there. From 1970 until now I have only had one (three-year) stretch where I was not serving as a student assistant, vicar, or pastor. I don't see how that is relevant from a Wisconsin sect perspective. The Wauwatosa Gospel "creates its own forms" - like life coach at St. Mark, DePere. What if that also meant a ministry of blogging?

Yet, I do conduct Holy Communion services 26 times a year for real, live people. The rest of the time I write sermons for the many people who care to read them. Needless to say, the sermons set off Rev. Mouse fiercely. He also detests quotations from orthodox Lutherans.

WELS workers murdering spouses? Old news to him! A DP in state prison for molesting his own members? So what. A vicar in another state prison? "You already mentioned that."

I mention these things to let WELS/ELS members know that this nasty undercurrent is a significant part of the WELS ministerium. Not all of them are like Mouse, but many are. They like to stay anonymous, too.

Confused by Bivens? Romans Is Clear

KJV Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be
wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

In contrast, Bivens:

In fostering fruits of faith, keep in mind that sanctification is not to be equated with marriage and heterosexual activity. Christians who lack heterosexual impulses may please God with celibate chastity that might involve a lifelong struggle against homosexual tendencies. To counsel them to “go and get attracted to the opposite sex” betrays a misunderstanding of sanctification and invites unnecessary frustration for those already burdened.

WELS apologists cannot grasp that a Sausage Factory professor is teaching against the Word of God. The Creator established marriage and blessed it with many advantages. One cannot harmonize God's Creation with something against His Creation. If someone has murderous thoughts, are they not sinful too?

Two Commandments are aimed against inward sin - coveting. The New Moses, Frosty Bivens, would say - "They may covet as long as they do nothing about it. We cannot expect people to stop coveting."

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Confused by Bivens? Romans Is Clear":

wow- and this Bivens is a seminary prof?? let me get this straight- it's okay to be gay, just don't act like you are? keep those thoughts to yourself? i'm shocked.
why aren't THESE subjects brought up at synod conventions to be hashed over? they should be squelched right there on the convention floor rather than filling the heads of young pastors with this kind of garbage that they eventually pass along to the passive WELS member sitting in the pew who doesn't know or maybe doesn't care what God's position really is. It's all about that slippery slope and WELS is rolling down the hill. a little leaven...

***

GJ - All WELS leaders are appointed by the Holy Spirit, so they are incapable of error. I am not kidding. Even a circuit pastor enjoys this infallibility. One pastor said, "The Holy Spirit put him in that office, so who am I to argue with him?" Of course, the people who get appointed are totally safe synod robots, weather vanes, foxes. Therefore, no one will challenge Bivens because that means arguing with God Himself. And it is definitely a sin against the Holy Spirit to debate matters with God's chosen ones.

WELS got on the multi-cultural slippery slope a long time ago. They joined with ELCA and Missouri in a big, insurance-funded ecumenical project, which was hatched at Snowbird. Funny, I had to read about it in ELCA's The Lutheran. FIC (nee The Northwestern Lutheran) was strangely silent.

Multi-cultural does not mean Black, Mexican, East Indian, American Indian. The term means any and all sexual lifestyles.

Multi-ethnic means all ethnic groups. The terms are being merged together so that everyone is confused. An example is CORE, the Congress on Racial Equality. The old symbol was a black circle with a white equal sign. The newer logo has a pink equal sign. Human rights.

The traditional concept of natural law means that God (however defined) commands what is good. Thus some things can be against the law as a "crime against nature." The US Supreme Court upheld this concept until recently. Now they have ruled that the government has no business making decisions about morality. That could be interpreted as endorsing incest, beastiality, and everything else.

WELS is not on the cutting edge of this, but following behind, wagging its little tail. "Please, ELCA! Accept us as being sophisticated and metropolitan and metrosexual, just like you."