Trust But Verify

I believe Paul McCain when he claims 800,000 page-views a year. In fact, I looked all over his front page for the verifying statistics. 

A blogger can make the counter visible or invisible. I make mine visible. I also use code for mapping the readers as they check in and leave, very handy for tracing nasty anonymous comments (Appleton, Wisconsin; Garland, Texas). Readers can log on and see themselves, their country's flag, and their OS on Feedjit.

St. Louis, Milwaukee, New Ulm, and Mankato show up all the time on Ichabod.

I also post most-read lists, which are handy and amusing. Bruce Church suggested adding kittens, donkeys, and birds to achieve real popularity. True enough, the donkey poem by Chesterton is an all-time favorite. So is the pileated woodpecker sighting. The lists have actual numbers from the software, so people can get an accurate idea. 

Paul would never make up stories, like his denial of working with Otten to promote Al Barry as Synod President. 

He would never invent facts, like posting that my congregation was named after our deceased daughter and adding "How sick is that?" As an MDiv from Ft. Wayne, he had to know Bethany is a Biblical name. The Eighth Commandment demands that I assume complete ignorance on his part. 

As an editor at Concordia Publishing House, McCain would never engage in repeated acts of plagiarism. And, if caught, he would repent and stop claiming the work of others for his own. I was happy to see some signs of contrition (rare in a UOJ fanatic) but my eyes recently fell upon this obvious, poorly formatted example of plagiarism from The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Yes! We should expect 800,000 page-views per year when an ex-pastor offers plagiarism, pistols, and popery as the main content of his blog.

I want to believe.

"Plagiarism of the pope at Concordia Publishing House!"

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Trust But Verify":

I assume complete ignorance on his part

This is always a safe assumption when dealing with the Rev. McCain.

I can never emphasise enough on the ignorance of the said pastor, if you know what I mean. We are never wrong when we assume him to be ignorant, Dr. Greg, even though he has an MDiv.

LPC

Pruning Makes Us Productive, According to John 15:1ff

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Burn This Heretic. Stone Him! Oh? Luther? Schwabac...":

I like Pastor Rydecki's blog. In a previous post he posted a good response to the false gospel and erroneous claims of the Nunnery's favorite UOJ stylist, Dr. Jack Kilcrease.

Jack has for years pointed to Martin Luther's Bondage Of The Will as a UOJ benchmark but when I read through it years ago I found the same thing that Pastor Rydecki states - the entire response to Erasmus stands as a testament against Universal Objective Justification. Kilcrease leads a band of rationalists who have subjected Scripture to their own whims and have perverted the doctrine of Justification into what is now called Objective Justification. The Lutheran Synods demand that their clergy and laity feast upon it's putrid carcass to the point of excommunication if they don't ask for more. 

The UOJ Stormtroopers have a powerful leader,
their Father Below.

UOJ Promotes the Antinomian Spirit

Ichabod -

I recently posted the following on "The Christian Message" website:

Topical Message upgrade: Part 1: The false teaching which molests the faith of Christians

http://www.thechristianmessage.org/2013/01/topical-message-upgrade-part-1-false.html

Following, is a comment response which I did not publish after the blog article:

"Dude, You're just ..... up. on Topical Message upgrade: Part 1: The false teaching which molests the faith of Christians" [Reader's foul comment]

Oh, yes; it might be worthy to note that the comment was from an "Anonymous" person. I find that, to be significant.

Those who would, and do voice opposition to Scripture's teaching of "justification by faith alone," do not have the courage to stand by their (whatever) convictions. And, this person, in particular, did not have the courage or conviction to evidence his foul claim.

Furthermore, I think that the comment could have very well emanated from a confused person (perhaps, a synodical Lutheran) who has swallowed, hook, line and sinker the false teaching of Universalism; specifically, "universal objective justification."

Nathan M. Bickel - pastor emeritus

www.thechristianmessage.org

www.moralmatters.org

Will the LCMS Officials Who Enabled Him Go To Prison? Or Even Be Charged?Former Bemidji area pastor gets 30 years for abusing teen | Bemidji Pioneer

Darwin Schauer was certified by the LCMS after
being convicted as a child sex offender.

[GJ - Sp Harrison ordered the story wiped off the blog of his Steadfast Lutherans fanclub. And they did.]



Former Bemidji area pastor gets 30 years for abusing teen | Bemidji Pioneer:

Former Bemidji area pastor gets 30 years for abusing teen

FORUM NEWS SERVICE

BEMIDJI PIONEER

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012 - 12:49AM

By Stephen J. Lee
Forum Communications

PARK RAPIDS — A former Lutheran minister from the Bemidji area was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting a teen-aged step-daughter many times over three years.
Darwin Schauer, 71, asked for mercy from the court and made a sort of apology, said Hubbard County Attorney Don Dearstyne, who prosecuted him in a Park Rapids, Minn., courtroom.
“I didn’t take his apology as sincere,” Dearstyne told the Grand Forks Herald Friday.

The victim attended the sentencing and her victim impact statement was read by one of Dearstyne’s assistants.

Under state rules, Schauer will serve at least 20 years of the sentence and will have a lifetime of supervised probation when released, said Dearstyne, a former police officer and defense attorney in Grand Forks.

Three weeks ago, a jury convicted Schauer of two counts each of first-degree, second-degree and third-degree criminal sexual conduct starting in spring 2009. The first-degree convictions each have maximum prison sentences of 30 years.

Schauer retired several years ago as lay pastor in Trinity Lutheran in Lake George — between Itasca Park and Bemidji — and Immanuel Lutheran in Cass Lake, Minn.

His arrest earlier this year stirred debate within regional circles of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

The Rev. Don Kirchner, who succeeded Schauer at the two congregations, learned of and reported the sexual assaults last spring. Talking to Schauer in jail, Kirchner learned that Schauer had previously been convicted of a similar sex crime while an administrator of an LC-MS elementary school in southern Minnesota.

Kirchner began questioning regional church leaders about why they allowed Schauer to continue serving as a pastor and why they didn’t tell him or congregational members. On Lutheran blogs, Kirchner wrote that he believed regional church leaders were not honest with him.

Dearstyne said he wasn’t able to establish a previous pattern of sexual crimes in Schauer’s past. But he said the judge Friday cited the 1983 conviction as an example of the manipulative way Schauer treated his victims and the court system.

Last month after attending the trial, Kirchner told the Herald via email: “I am awestruck by the courage of the victim who came forward to testify to the years of rape that she suffered, that necessitated stating in graphic detail and in front of him, what Darwin Schauer did to her.
“I am devastated by the destruction of a family by the actions of a man who felt entitled to do the appalling things that he did. Yet I am encouraged by a brave young Christian woman who now is able to put this behind her and go on with her life, knowing in Whose hands she remains.”

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Mad Hatter Theme - Episcopal Version:VirtueOnline - News

VirtueOnline - News:

The Church of England, Gay Bishops and the Mad Hatters Tea Party

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org 
January 8, 2013

One might be forgiven for coming to the conclusion this week that the Church of England has dissolved into the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Here's what happening.

Hidden away within a Church of England press release at Year's end (and going largely unnoticed) was this statement that "the requirements in the 2005 statement concerning the eligibility for ordination of those in civil partnerships whose relationships are consistent with the teaching of the Church of England apply equally in relation to the episcopate". 

Let the Tea Party come together.

So, if you are married to someone of the opposite sex, you can have sex. (Having children is optional and abortion is available on demand if you happen to slip up.)

If you are living with someone of the same sex, you can't have sex if you want to be a bishop.

The Church's current policy is expressed in a bishops' statement of 1991 that homosexual relationships are acceptable for laity but not for clergy. The ruling general synod voted heavily in favor of requesting further discussion on the issue of human sexuality by clergy and congregations across the country, thus confusing everybody about who can and cannot have gay sex.

So now if you are living with someone of the same sex and say you are celibate, but there is no proof except for your word, everyone will believe you...hopefully...and you can still become a bishop.

Dean Jeffrey John who desperately wants to be a bishop and will even sue for it, has a civil partnership with another cleric, but he says they haven't had sex lately or not recently or not at all, depending on how you parse his words.

The Rev. Colin Coward of the gay British organization Changing Attitude has definitely had sex with his African partner so he cannot be a bishop...at least for now, but things could change.

The Church of England has been ordaining gay priests (wink wink) for at least three decades. Everyone knows it, so why all the fuss now? 

It is all due to a loophole in a 2005 press release that apparently allows for celibate gay men to be a bishop. You gotta love loopholes especially ones big enough to push a miter through.

The Church of England has just voted down women bishops, which one would have thought should have been a much easier call than being gay and wanting to be a bishop. Apparently not.

But the rules now allow for the POSSIBILITY of a gay bishop, who is celibate of course, so long as he doesn't ever admit he once had it off with Smithy who never quite got over his infatuation with Charles who lingered too long with Winston when they were at university together watching reruns of Brideshead Revisited.

Perhaps there will be a new made for TV miniseries, "No Sex Please, We're Bishops".

Finally, if women priests ever do become bishops in the Church of England, it raises the real possibility of a lesbian bishop (oh God no). If it does happen, she can sing "Hands across the Water" with Mary Glasspool, the Episcopal Church's very own lesbian bishop...and the circle will be complete.

The Episcopal Church and the Church of England perfect together.

PS. Totally ignore Global South wrath and concerns about soul destroying gay sex even though they represent 80% of the Anglican Communion because they need to catch up with post-modern attitudes in keeping with God's new found inclusivity about sex.

END

'via Blog this'

The sleep of reason breeds strange monsters - Goya.

A Dictatorial Ecclesiastical Boss Goes After Her Conservative Bishops: VirtueOnline - News

VirtueOnline - News:

Secrecy and Paranoia Surrounds 9 Bishops as They Gather for Alleged Canonical Violations

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org 
January 7, 2013

Nine orthodox Episcopal bishops have been summoned to meet Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and a panel led by Bishop Clay Matthews tomorrow at the Diocese of Virginia Roslyn retreat conference center in Richmond to hear charges that they have violated the doctrine and discipline of the Episcopal Church by filing an Amicus brief in support of two deposed Episcopal Bishops in property disputes. Five of the bishops are active; four are retired.

The press have been denied access to the hearings.

The charges are as vague as they are imprecise. Two complaints were filed last year which surfaced at General Convention brought by two bishops, The Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl of the rump diocese Ft. Worth and the Rt. Rev. John C. Buchanan of the rump Diocese of Quincy. These two bishops claim the "Richmond Nine" officially injected themselves, intentionally and without invitation from the bishops exercising jurisdiction, into local litigation, opposing this Church and sister dioceses on core ecclesiastical issues regarding the very identity of other dioceses. They said they wanted the House of Bishops to set the record straight on the polity of the Episcopal Church regarding its hierarchical character.

They believe that by supporting Bishop Jack Iker of Ft. Worth, these nine bishops violated the Dennis Canon by falsely claiming that dioceses can leave The Episcopal Church, failing to safeguard church property and recognizing deposed bishops. 

According to a press report from the church's national headquarters, John G. Douglass will serve as Conciliator for the meeting. He is a law professor and former dean of the T.C Williams Law School of the University of Richmond. According to Canon IV.10, conciliation is not a trial but a form of mediation.

Title IV canons outlining ecclesiastical disciplinary procedures were invoked. While this is not a trial but an attempt at conciliation prior to possible charges being filed, Title IV.6.3-4 says that a process can begin when the intake officer receives any complaint, upon which he or she "may make such preliminary investigation as he or she deems necessary, and shall incorporate the information into a written intake report, including as much specificity as possible."

Matthews, who heads the church's Office of Pastoral Development, also serves as the "intake officer" (the person designated to receive complaints alleging offense) for the church's Disciplinary Board for Bishops, a body called for in Canon 17 of Title IV. He was appointed the Title IV position by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

When these charges first erupted in July at General Convention Springfield, Bishop Daniel H. Martins said that his intention in attaching his name to the amicus brief was in no way to affect the outcome of that case. "As the Bishop of Springfield, which is in Illinois, it is no concern of mine how a property dispute in Texas is resolved. If my action has the effect of aiding one side or the other, that is, from my perspective, an immaterial consequence. Rather, I took the action I did with the best interests of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Springfield, as nearly as I can discern them, at heart. My principal concern was to not leave unchallenged the assertion that the Episcopal Church is a unitary hierarchical organism at all levels, and that the dioceses are entirely creatures of General Convention. I viewed signing the amicus brief as consistent with my vow to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Episcopal Church."

A knowledgeable insider said the charges are axe grinding on the part of TEC, just pure meanness to make life difficult for those remaining orthodox bishops the Episcopal Church would like to get rid of, if they could. "This is a political action play with ecclesiastical consequences; it has nothing to do with 'sound teaching' or theology. If conciliation fails and the bishops are brought up on charges that result in their being inhibited and deposed it would leave just two orthodox bishops left in the Episcopal Church - Greg Brewer, Bishop of Central Florida and Michael G. Smith Bishop of North Dakota."

Conciliation, according to the canon, calls for seeking a resolution "which promotes healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life and reconciliation among the complainant, respondent, affected community, other persons and the church."

A conciliator will be appointed to assist in the process towards reconciliation. That person, according to the canon, should be skilled in dispute resolution techniques and without conflict of interest in the matter.

"If conciliation cannot be achieved within a reasonable time, the matter will be referred back to the reference panel," the canon states.

The quarantining of these bishops and the clamp down on information suggests that the bishops will be offered a face saving device to allow them to continue in office. On the other hand, if Matthews and the panel believe that the church is hierarchical (and they do) and, therefore, reject Bishop Martin's position that dioceses are entirely creatures of General Convention, serious consequences will follow that could lead to the ouster of the nine bishops. It might well be a tipping point for The Episcopal Church's liberals who watch with dismay as millions of dollars are spent on lawsuits to retain properties.

If these five suffragan bishops are deposed, it could lead to more dioceses fleeing TEC creating an ecclesiastical nightmare for the whole church.

The five sitting bishops are:

1. The Rt. Rev. Paul E. Lambert (suffragan, Diocese of Dallas); 
2. The Rt. Rev. William H. Love (diocesan, Diocese of Albany); 
3. The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson (diocesan, Diocese of W. Louisiana); 
4. The Rt. Rev. Daniel H. Martins (diocesan, Diocese of Springfield); 
5. The Rt. Rev. James M. Stanton (diocesan, Diocese of Dallas);

The four retired bishops are:

1. The Rt. Rev. Maurice M. Benitez (resigned, Diocese of Texas);
2. The Rt. Rev. John W. Howe (resigned, Diocese of Central Florida); 
3. The Rt. Rev. Peter Beckwith (resigned, Diocese of Springfield); and 
4. The Rt. Rev. Edward L. Salmon (resigned, Diocese of South Carolina).

Episcopal Church Public Affairs Officer, Neva Rae Fox told ENS that the information about the reference panel's recommendation is based on private letters that Bishop Clay Matthews, who heads the church's Office of Pastoral Development, sent to the nine bishops.

"As with similar letters, they are considered private and, therefore, we will not be making them public," she said. That's paranoia.

END

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Good Insights about Homeschooling

California is on the right.

California:
I had the pleasure of knowing one of the pioneers of homeschooling if not THE pioneer.   She paved the way for many when home schools were not legal in many states, homeschooled her four children while residing in several different states, and was instrumental in writing legislation to make homeschooling legal in some of them.  She wrote about home schooling and other education issues through the years, and was recognized for her efforts on a Video for TV in Texas some years ago.  Pioneers such as Virginia (Ginny) Baker should be thanked for their efforts and example.   

[Reference to Ginny Baker here.]

One of the  things Ginny and serious education watchers consistently warned  homeschoolers was the importance of their accepting not one penny of government money even indirectly, no co operative arrangements with the local public schools or charter school arrangements, or use of any cyber curricula which is underwritten by government grants to the supplier.  What government funds, even indirectly, government controls, and eventually home schooling will be forced to comply with government curricula standards if government funding is in the picture.

***

GJ - California is always educating me about these topics. I remember my mother, a public school teacher, warning people about the federal government "helping" with money. She said, "They say no strings, but there are always strings."

Now people simply accept the federal government dictating everything to us and running roughshod over the states.

An Evangelical looked at us like we were Mr. and Mrs. Moses for homeschooling 30 years ago. We saw nothing but benefits from homeschooling and got nothing but hostility about it.

When I met one "conservative" LCMS DP and mentioned homeschooling, he said, "We just got rid of one of them." Sure enough, one LCMS pastor was kicked out for homeschooling, even though he promised to enroll his child in LCMS parochial school.

The same DP said our son was the only person he knew who could recite the Master Mason's oath by heart. (That was one of his projects, to study the Masonic Lodge.)

The parochial school (now baby-sitting) business is going to oppose anything robbing them of cash. Money pays for teachers, principals, consultants, pastor-faculty, teachers' colleges, and more. Even better, a parochial system keeps people out, serving as a guild. 

Charter schools are just another form of the federal government controlled school system. And how well is that working?

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Good Insights about Homeschooling":

Pastor Jackson, your mother was certainly correct about funding from the federal government. When your mother was a public school teacher, they were almost always under local control from the school board. My grandfather served on the school board in 1930's. He certainly was not an educational professional. He did not even have the benefit of a high school education. Here is what Wikipedia says about the Federal DOE:

"Upgrading Education to cabinet level status in 1979 was opposed by many in the Republican Party, who saw the department as unconstitutional, arguing that the Constitution doesn't mention education, and deemed it an unnecessary and illegal federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs. However many liberals and Democrats see the department as constitutional under the Commerce Clause, and that the funding role of the Department is constitutional under the Taxing and Spending Clause. The National Education Association supported the bill, while the American Federation of Teachers opposed it."

It certainly did not stop with the local public schools. When Lutheran schools accept the filthy lucre under "school choice" and charter schools are sold as "free market", the funding source and the control is the same. 

***

GJ - Historic St. John Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, under SP John Brenner, would not take a dime in government money. The end began when parochial schools decided they needed tax money. With that they got government meddling in everything. And the "poor" school becomes every more dependent on the tax-money-donor, who giveth and taketh away. The school that lives from the tax collector will also die from the tax collector, when budgets shift.

However, many churchmen enjoy having their trotters in the government trough, because they get their share and more - so they think. Their god is the belly, and they are very pious in that way.

Turning People into Sheeple

An education used to be a classical education,
so students knew the foundation of Western Civilization.

quercuscontramalum (http://quercuscontramalum.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Homeschooling Is Easier Now":

MUSINGS ON PUBLIC EDUCTION (sic) #3: "In the U.S. Steel company town of Gary, Indiana, Superintendent William A. Wirt, a former student of John Dewey's at the University of Chicago, was busy testing a radical school innovation called the Gary Plan, soon to be sprung on the national scene...in which school subjects were departmentalized; this required movement of students from room to room on a regular basis so that all building spaces were in constant use. Bells would ring and just as with Pavlov's salivating dog, children would shift out of their seats and lurtch toward yet another class.

"In this way children could be exposed to many nonacademic socialization experiences and much scientifically engineered physical activity...a curriculum apart from the so-called basic subjects, which by this time were being looked upon as an actual menace to long-range social goals...[The Gary Plan's] noteworthy economical feature, rigorously scheduling a student body twice as large as before into the same space and time, earned it the informal name 'platoon school.'

Early in 1914, the Federal Bureau of Education...strongly endorsed Wirt's system. This led to one of the most dramatic and least-known events in twentieth-century school history. In New York City, a spontaneous rebellion occurred on the part of the students and parents against extension of the Gary Plan to their own city. While the revolt had only short-lived effects, it highlights the demoralization of private life occasioned by passing methods of industry off as education."

--John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education

Controversy Promotes Learning:Stifling Produces False Doctrine

I am happy to see a number of people engaged in publishing. The day of the denominational press monopoly is over. A printed book used to run up $25,000 in initial costs. Then computer set ups reduced that to $3000. Now a book can be written, designed, and printed without any extra money - sent all over the world instantly and for free.

I learn constantly from the UOJ conflict. Laity and pastors have great insights to offer, and they do a lot of research that I often use here.

I was thinking how much I learned from studying Luther's Galatians Commentary again. I read every page to my wife, years ago, took notes before, quoted it before, but I read it again for graphics. If I produced a graphic for every new insight in that book, I would be unemployed and homeless. 

I am thankful for being pushed into more work with Luther, and happy that others are pursuing additional research in other areas.

Most Lutheran clergy, professors, and leaders are not going to open up the Galatians Commentary. They think they know Luther from seminary and want to stick to their talking points. Why unsettle the foundations of the anti-Luther sect? 

But laity do appreciate the Galatians Commentary. One person wrote, "Now I need a second one, because the first is covered with marks." I hear ya. Mine is bent and marked and broken in the spine. Read, mark, and inwardly digest.

Reactions to the Universalism of Otten and Cascione

How many Lutherans (apart from Bethany members) study
Luther's Galatians commentary?
Instead, they read Sig Becker, Jungkuntz, and the Brief Confession of Universal Absolution.

Mr. Mcgranor has left a new comment on your post "A 21st Century Formula of Concord: RESURRECTION AN...":

Many a Lutheran is quick to play theological condemnation games.

Unfortunately you are in a Spiritual Church that you have limited control over. However even that limited control is not entirely asserted by you and others.

If Christ had not effected (sic) even the non-believer the universe would be in hell.

Still i (sic) understand the need to find precise definitive doctrine. At the same time, any doctrine that is not ultimate will not stand; whether it is on paper, or not. Or will stand even though it is not on paper.
This is not relativism; but as Philipp Melanchthon and His Philippist Party suggested--the Spiritual Church is absolutely true.

http://www.everypoet.net/poetry/blogs/dickgentile/philipp_melanchthon_and_his_philippist_party

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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "A 21st Century Formula of Concord: RESURRECTION AN...":

Ichabod -

It is so true what you say:

>>>>> ...... Luther always praises the atonement and describes how Christ has graciously taken all our sins upon Him. However, he never confuses that with the imputation of righteousness..... <<<<<<

Cascione's own words, illustrate his confusion when he mischaracterizes those who reject universal objective justification:

>>>>> .....our own faith causes our own atonement. Hence, the Sovereignty of God would necessarily be more significant than an atonement that we are able to bring on ourselves....... <<<<<<

Cascione overlooks the reality of God's grace. He, apparently is putting words in the mouths of those who believe Scripture's "justification by faith alone." What is so difficult for these Universalists to understand? Can they not appreciate God's good grace, followed by faith? Can they not understand Ephesians 2:8-9? Why do they confuse this and then go on their mischaracterizing binges alleging that those who adhere to Scripture and Luther's teaching on "justification by faith alone" are out to lunch?

Nathan M. Bickel

www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org

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He was not the leader and not the founder,
but Walther was the enforcer and pimp for his syphilitic bishop,
Martin Stephan, STD.

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "A 21st Century Formula of Concord: RESURRECTION AN...":

I disagree with your analysis Mr. Mcgranor. Christ is of no affect to those who do not believe.

Galatians 5:3-5, "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."

The same response applies to Otten's teaching of the false gospel of Universal Objective Justification. In the previous post Otten makes the following statement.

Otten, "Christ reconciled the world to God by offering Himself as Propitiation to God for the sins of mankind. Paul declared that Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). John wrote that Christ “has paid for our sins, and not for ours only but for the whole world" (1 John 2:2). William Beck correctly comments in a footnote on this verse in his translation of the New Testament: "His sacrifice wipes out our sins and changes God’s anger to love.”"

This false tenet of UOJ is destroyed by Christ's declaration in John 8:24, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."

Only through the Holy Spirit's faith, the righteousness of Christ, worked solely by God's grace through Word and Sacrament alone, is any man's sins forgiven.

UOJ declares God's forgiveness upon the unbelieving world outside of and before Christ's faith in man. This is rejected by Scripture in Romans 14:23, "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatever is not of faith is sin."

UOJ is sin.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "A 21st Century Formula of Concord: RESURRECTION AN...":

Link to Otten's war on the Scriptural doctrine of Justification as quoted in my comment above.

http://a21stcenturyformulaofconcord.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-vicarious-satisfaction-of-christ.html 

***

I'm taking notes here...
What?

GJ - The UOJ Enthusiasts claim to follow justification by faith, so why do they persecute and excommunicate justification by faith? They love every other dogma. They either adore Fuller dogma or keep their silence. But Luther's doctrine! - they loathe that.

If Herman Otten wants to create a 21st century Formula of Concord, why does he begin by selling a poisonous, hate-filled, lying book about Luther? Roman Catholics laugh about the lies in The Facts about Luther, the equivalent of those nuns' stories about "don't wear patent leather shoes, because they will reflect your underwear." Otten responded - it was for the money. He sells to both sides of an issue.

Not true.

Once I identified Otten with Enthusiasm and UOJ, he refused to mention anything I published. Otten only printed remarks against Thy Strong Word and spiked positive comments. That was "the other side of the issue."

And yet he is happy to sell Valleskey's pathetic UOJ-Church Growth textbook, We Believe...

I can hear the Fox Valley Andy Stanley Chorus saying, "But you only care about him selling your books."

I give away PDFs of every book I have written. Did NPH give away Liberalism? No, but I give it away as a PDF. Bethany Lutheran Church gave away several thousands in free books at two Emmaus conferences (ELS-WELS-LCMS), but the host did not want justification by faith discussed at a "free conference."

I have promoted the free exchange of ideas among Lutherans and other confessions. UOJ, in contrast, silences the Gospel with great venom and dishonesty.

Calvinism is the foundation of Lutheran Pietism,
and its rationalism leads to Universalism.

Burn This Heretic. Stone Him! Oh? Luther? Schwabach Articles – Article V |

Pastor Paul Rydecki - Schwabach Articles – Article V |:

Schwabach Articles – Article V

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Rev. Rydecki

Here is my translation (from German) of the Fifth Article of the Schwabach Articles (1529), prepared by Luther and other theologians.  Much of this material was incorporated into Melanchthon’s Augsburg Confession (1530).

In case there was any doubt, faith alone justifies.

The Schwabach Articles, 1529

Fifth Article

Since, then, all men are sinners, subject to sin and death, and also the devil, it is impossible for a man to work himself out of this condition by his powers or through his good works so that he may again become righteous and godly. Indeed, he can neither prepare himself for righteousness nor move himself toward it, but the more he attempts to work himself out of his condition, the worse it becomes with him.  This, however, is the only path to righteousness and to redemption from sin and death: if, without any merit or works, a person believes in the Son of God who suffered for us, etc., as stated.  Such faith is our righteousness; God wishes to reckon and regard it as righteous, godly and holy, forgive all sins and have eternal life given as a gift to all who have such faith in His Son, that, for the sake of His Son, they should be received into grace and be children in His kingdom, etc., as St. Paul and John lavishly teach all this in their Gospel, as in Romans chapter 10: With the heart one believes and so becomes righteous, etc.  Rom. 4: His faith was reckoned to him as righteousness.  John 3: …that all who believe in the Son should not be lost, but have eternal life.

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http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/528534/Articles-of-Schwabach

Articles of Schwabach, early Lutheran confession of faith, written in 1529 by Martin Luther and other Wittenberg theologians and incorporated into the Augsburg Confession by Philipp Melanchthon in 1530. It was prepared at the request of John the Steadfast, elector of Saxony, to provide a unifying document for the various Reformers and the possibility of a Protestant alliance as pursued by Philip of Hesse. Theologically, the articles meant to draw a line of differentiation from the psition of Huldrych Zwingli, and they were accepted by the secular leaders of Saxony and Brandenburg. Luther used the confession as the basis for the Articles of Marburg (October 1529) drafted in conjunction with the colloquy there. John submitted it as Saxony’s official confession of faith to Emperor Charles V at Innsbruck in May 1530, prior to the Diet of Augsburg.

Homeschooling Is Easier Now

The public school teacher was offended that we took LI out of school
to visit three Lincoln sites, the Patton Tank Museum at Ft. Knox,
the site of Tillich's burial, and Trappist, KY, where Merton lived.
I had public school teachers who took entire classes
to Chicago and Springfield for similar experiences.

 rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "We Homeschooled 30 Years Ago": 

Homeschooling is easier to do now than what is was 30 years ago. The homeschooling movement has been quietly increasing the number of students for decades now. The movement is decentralized, as opposed to some overbearing state departments of education. There is a local home school association in our area. 

They function more like a mutual benefit society or a farmers' co-operative. Yet, they have field trips, extra-curricular sports, fine arts programs, etc. Textbooks and other teaching materials are easy to obtain from other parents or from the Internet. 

Paul Holmer, Yale, was our favorite person there.
When we visited, we looked up Holmer and Roland Bainton.

My wife home schools our special needs son because we had no other viable alternative. She does not have a teaching degree, but only a diploma from a small town high school. She is able to incorporate our son's therapies into learning without being hindered by the structure of the classroom. Lutheran elementary schools are morphing into academies, following the Babtist model. The area Lutheran high schools are getting very pricey. There is an over emphasis upon sports and outreach. Some schools now take students through the government funded "choice" programs. For children, the best lessons are always learned at home. 

There is a direct relationship between learning skills and homeschooling.

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GJ - I found three or four groups of homeschoolers on Facebook, with at least 100,000 "likes" among them. There are many supporting entities now, just as Mr. Schultz wrote. One local college has low-cost classes and group activities for homeschoolers. The college president said, "They are our best students in college."

Many American students do not get this fact - those digital devices they love so much have localized the job market. Workers can take jobs away from them while still living in India, China, or S. Korea. 

Constant learning is needed to keep up. One computer science major said to LI, "Why do we have to learn another computer language? I already know one." And some were shocked to find out there was another operating system than Windows. Knowing the second one (Unix) was the key to getting the job.

Bangor Theological Seminary Is Turning into a Foundation

The Universalists of WELS/ELS/LCMS
are right at home with the Fuller Universalists.
That is why they work so well with ELCA.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "A 21st Century Formula of Concord: RESURRECTION AN...":

One of seven UCC seminaries is closing in May 2013: Bangor Theological Seminary of Bangor, Maine. It's the only accredited seminary in all of northern New England.

The CS Monitor cover story says that the traditional mainline denominational churches (read: liberal) in New England are emptying out, and conservative churches are moving in: Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and others are moving in. Of course, NE was a Reformed/Puritan hotbed, so they probably aren't too keen on Lutheranism (just in case some CRM guys were going to set out to start up a church there):

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/1223/Who-s-filling-America-s-church-pews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangor_Theological_Seminary  

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Watch Missouri and WELS gay up in the next few years.

GJ - This decline has been going on for many years. Hartford Seminary in Connecticut became a liberal foundation with some staff. One of them lectured ELCA-WELS-LCMS leaders at the 1991 Snowbird gathering funded by Ur-Thrivent.

Here is a choice quote from that confab:

"William McKinney, dean and professor of religion and society at Hartford (Connecticut) Seminary, disagreed with the popular view that conventional Protestant churches have moved from mainline to sideline."  [Hartford is very Reformed and very liberal.]

Lutheran Brotherhood, Bond, "Preparing the Church for the Next Century," Fall, 1991, 68, p. 12.

After I published a series of articles in CN about LB and AAL gathering WELS, LCMS, ELS, and ELCA together, AAL/B stopped publishing the facts. They still work together.

So McKinney disagreed from his ivy tower about the very thing his shell of a seminary symbolized, only to be followed by Bangor a few decades later. Other mergers and dissolutions have been taking place, too.

I disagree with BC that mainline domination means an area is a bad place for a new congregation. Luther said - Go to the village opposite you (like Christ) - go to the opposition, not where there are easy pickings, like the affluent suburbs of Minnesota.