Small s for the Scriptures - DP Buchholz Sent This Around - From an Anonymous Source. Sounds Like Mequon. Were 50+ Pages from Webber Not Enough Torture?

It has been said by some that the doctrine of objective justification is too hard to understand. It has been said that it makes what the scriptures present so simply, complicated. But I would contend that objective justification attempts to do justice to everything that the scriptures say without diminishing the value of either the sacrifice of Christ or Holy Spirit worked faith. To demonstrate this point there follows a brief outline of the order of salvation with emphasis specifically upon the issues under discussion. The passages that are cited were chosen because they are commonly used among us. They are not to be considered the only passages which address a point but they are considered by the author to be among the best to display that a given point is found in the Bible.

I want to begin with God’s intent. There will be no debate among us that God desires that everyone be saved. In the passage below it tells us clearly that God sent Jesus into the world to save the world. That was the purpose of his coming. By the world we understand all people of all time. Jesus did not come only to save believers. If we state that Jesus’ intent and goal in coming or God’s intent in sending him, was to save only believers, we would fall into the error of John Calvin. He placed the blame for the condemnation of the unbeliever squarely on God’s shoulders. He answered the question: “why do some go to heaven and others not?” by saying that those who are lost are lost because God didn’t want to save them. He chose them to go to hell before the creation of the world. Therefore Christ didn’t come to save all people, he came only to save believers. But this stands in direct conflict with the passage below and others in the scriptures.

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

The Bible tells us that God’s intent was to save the world. It also tells us that he followed through on that intent. God sent Jesus to save the world. So Jesus is the Savior of all people. He saved all people by dying on the cross. When it is said that Jesus saved all people it is meant that he affected a rescue for all people at the cross. His death on the cross is the atoning sacrifice for sins. What is an atoning sacrifice? A sacrifice of atonement was offered to make people clean. That is what God tells his people in Leviticus 16:30 “because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins”. In our confirmation classes we often use a play on words to explain what it means to atone. We tell the children that atone mean to make “at-one”. The cleansing of sin removes the barrier that stands between people and God. Sin is a barrier that separates people from God. We attribute this to God’s perfection and justice. God expects all people to be perfect as he is perfect. There isn’t a single person apart from Jesus who lives up to God’s expectation. Nor is any person, apart from Christ, by their own strength capable of doing everything necessary to win God’s favor and a place in heaven. Therefore God must step in to save people. This is what he did in Christ. Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice of atonement. He made payment for the sins of all people believers and unbelievers alike.

1 Timothy 4:9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10 (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

I John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

There are other words in the Bible that have the concept of payment associated with them. Redeem, which means to buy back or to pay a ransom. Jesus’ final words on the cross “it is finished” are a single word in the Greek language. That word has been found written on the bottom of ancient invoices to indicate that the balance had been paid. When payment is made something is received in return. The payment that Jesus made was his blood which he poured out while hanging on the cross. That payment was made to God. That payment purchased all people believers and unbelievers alike. That the payment was of sufficient value cannot be debated. On the cross was offered the God-man Jesus Christ. This payment was of sufficient value to pay for an infinite number of people, for an infinite number of sins. Thus we can say that Jesus bought all people. Even those who deny him were bought and are owned by God. People have no role in any of this. God’s ownership is not dependant on a person’s faith or any other factor. God owns a person because he paid for them at the cross.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

There is another way to think about what happened at the cross. Not only did Christ make a payment but he also suffered the consequences for our sin. We know this because while he was hanging on the cross Jesus experienced separation from God, which prompted him to say “my God my God why have you forsaken me!” Additionally Jesus also suffered the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death. Jesus should not have died. As a perfect human being he could have lived for all eternity in harmony with God. But because he took the sins of all people on himself, he was subject to the penalty of those sins, so Jesus died. When Jesus died he suffered the punishment that those sins deserved. The death Jesus experienced was both physical and spiritual death. So it can be said that Jesus endured hell while he was on the cross. Jesus was punished, enduring death for every sin of every person. So when Jesus died the sinner died. The wages of their sin had been paid to Jesus and he endured the consequences.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

The sentence for sin is death. Jesus endured that sentence for the sins of the world. By his death Jesus satisfied God’s perfect justice. The wages of sin had been paid upon Christ. We know God was satisfied because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning. With justice satisfied and having purchased all people there is nothing standing between a person and God other than their own unbelief. In this way God reconciled all people to himself. Reconcile means to restore friendly relations. This reconciliation was achieved at the cross. But why does the Bible then speak of God’s anger over sin? The Bible contains two messages, Law and Gospel. The Law only proclaims God’s anger over sin. Though fulfilled by Christ the Law continues to proclaim its message of anger and destruction. The message of the Law cannot change. It will continue to condemn all sinners till the end of time. But the message of the law doesn’t negate the message of the gospel. If it did then we would all be going to hell. Instead we believe that God was reconciled to sinners at the cross.

Colossians 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The Gospel is the good news. It tells us everything that God has done. God gave us the Gospel so that we would know what Jesus did for us. It gives to us the promises that God makes to sinners.

John 20: 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The Gospel shares what God has done for sinners. It also calls those same sinners to believe its message. The Gospel tells people that Jesus died for their sins. It tells them that Jesus paid the penalty for them. The Gospel tells them that Jesus satisfied God’s perfect justice on the cross. The Gospel tells them that God is reconciled to sinners. The Gospel tells sinners all these things. We share the Gospel message with people in the hope that they will believe what Jesus has done for them. We hope that they will trust in the promises that God has made to them in his word. We hope that they will believe that what God says to them in the Bible is true.

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But we also recognize that no one can come to believe God’s promises on their own. All people come into this world as enemies of God. They are hostile to him and they reject his promises. On their own a person is unable to change their attitude toward God and his word. Therefore the Holy Spirit works through the message of the Gospel, contained in the means of grace, to change the heart of a person. Conversion then is solely the work of God through the means of grace, which are the gospel in word and sacrament. A person is converted when, by the Holy Spirit, they believe or trust, in God, in God’s promises, in Jesus, and in Jesus’ work as outlined above. This is commonly described as “believing” or “having faith”. Those who have faith receive what God promises. They become the beneficiaries of the victory that Jesus won for all by his perfect life and death on the cross. This is referred to as subjective justification. Subjective justification means that what Jesus did for all people he also did for the individual. Therefore we acknowledge and affirm that we are justified by faith.

Titus 3: 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Those who believe have the hope of eternal life. Jesus certainly made payment for every sin. He suffered death on behalf of every person. Through the cross God is reconciled to sinners. But heaven is for those who are heirs by faith in Christ.

1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Some might say it is inconsistent that God would do everything for sinners and then turn some away. But it is God who has set up the requirement of faith, and his decisions are not subject to our logic. That being said God does give us the reason in the Bible for why those who do not believe go to hell. God makes it very clear in the Bible that those who go to hell go there because of their own choice. They shoulder all the blame for their own destruction. God did everything for them. He did not treat anyone differently. God gave everyone the same chance under the cross. But there will be many, we are told, who will not accept God’s help. They will refuse to admit that they need help. They will say that the promises God makes aren’t true. They will even deny that God exists at all. In short, there will be many who will call God a liar. In so doing they make the decision to stand before God without Jesus. God calls people to believe in him. He pleads with them to leave their sinful ways behind them. He exhorts people to listen to the gospel. He encourages them to believe his promises. But he does not force them. We believe and teach that people come to faith only by the power of God without any cooperation on their part. But we also believe and teach that each person has the power and authority to reject the gift of God and be lost. God has made it possible for every sinner to be in heaven. Jesus fulfilled the requirements for everyone. The ultimate question then becomes does the sinner believe it? Those who believe go to heaven for all eternity. Those who do not believe refuse Jesus’ help and stand before God on their own merits and receive the sentence their merits deserve, an eternity in hell.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

1 John 5: 10 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.

It is the hope that this presentation will serve to show that objective and subjective justification are based upon and flow from the Bible. This distinction in the concept of justification helps the Lutheran church avoid the pitfalls that come with trying to answer the question “why do some go to heaven and others not?” We avoid the danger of limiting the work of Christ only to those who believe, by proclaiming an objective justification. We then avoid the opposite extreme of universalism by proclaiming a subjective justification. Every other approach seems inadequate or insufficient.

Soli Deo Gloria

Beer Party at the Jackson Rose Farm

You worked hard last night, slug family.
Have a beer.

I told our nearby nursery owner that we passed the rose gardens label at some point. Now we are a rose farm. He laughed.

Last night I bought a six-pack of beer and hosted a beer party - for slugs. I had an overwhelming response from two nights of beer in the sunny - aka straw bale garden. I noticed last night that the army of slugs was down to one or two obvious stragglers.

My earlier effort near the two struggling Passion Flower vines was successful for two nights, so I threw a new party there, plus one near my barely present Butterfly Bush - the only one barely above the soil.

One more pan was put near the kitchen door, and I realize the little patio was filled with damp slug food, leaves and organic debris, kept wet by my watering. No wonder they come inside each night - to thank me. That beer pan yielded very little, unless some creature ate from it.

This party cost me $2 in beer for the two bottles. Next I will place a circle or square of copper tape around the vulnerable plants. The slugs have an electrical charge, so they cannot pass across the copper barrier, not unlike the rich man who neglected Lazarus.

The organic remedies are:

• Let them drown themselves in a bowl or pan of beer.
• Surround the target plants with copper mesh or tape.
• Tap a little salt on the outliers.
• Be extra solicitous for the comfort, shelter, and hydration of toads. Ducks, toads, and starlings eat slugs.

Borage flowers are pink and blue,
dropping seed all the time.

Borage is fun to eat off the plant.

This wide view shows how borage looks like its cousin comfrey (knitbone),
another eager grower. Knitbone is often grown for the compost pile.

This Just In - Bloom

1. The borage, a great bee plant, is waist high and blooming like crazy. The flowers are herbal and good for eating and garnish salads. More borage plants are around the yard, as suggested by Sharon Lovejoy.
2. Buchwheat, another bee plant is blooming all over. I sowed it here and there near the soaker hose.
3. Roses are blooming well. The new buds on the magenta KnockOuts have 25 buds on one bush. Peace, John Paul II, Veterans Honor, Barbra Streisand, Falling in Love, Double Delight, and Mr Lincoln are blooming. 
4. Peas are still being harvested. Tomatoes have just started.
5. Pumpkins finally emerged in the heat.
6. Coreopsis - a great beneficial insect plant - bloomed a few minutes after planting.
7. Two bee balm plants are blooming.
8. Lavender continues to bloom after planting.

Bee Balm has many names, including Horse Mint,
and many of God's creatures love it -
bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.

Part Four - Repudiation of the Webber OJ Essay at the 2015 Emmaus Conference

Repudiation of Jay Webber Essay
D. Forgiveness and Justification

Webber quotes Melanchthon 10 pages into this endless paper, after established Ken Schurb as the final authority on justification. But what is the point? Webber declares – “Forgiveness and justification are not the same” – but in what context, the reader wonders? Frequently used words change meaning from their context.

By this time the audience anticipates the agenda of the essay. There is no attempt to grasp the Biblical doctrine, to deal with the Biblical text, and even less interest in the Reformation. This is nothing more than wandering around the topic and making ex cathedra declarations that offer no warrant for their proclamation. I have to concede that Webber, like Paul McCain, suffers from an inferior education. Concordia in Ft. Wayne was enchanted by UOJ and Church Growth when both MDivs graduated. Professors like David Scaer simply announced their personal revelations. Yelling substituted for teaching and guaranteed the unquestionable truth of the nonsense offered. 

Jungkuntz chaired the first, but not the last,
gay Lutheran seminary board.

Webber quotes from the Book of Concord – the Fortress Press (ELCA) edition, where one of the main editors is an ELCA professor. This should concern the gathered divines, but they are so far into cooperation and worship with ELCA that abandoning a better Book of Concord – their own Triglotta – is no worse than dispatching the King James Version to the dustbins of history. To quote, to cite, to dream, perchance to commune ELCA – thus conscience makes cowards of us all, when Thrivent grants drip with booty and Marvin Schwan posthumously offers his indulgence fees on EZ pay terms.

3. Should I with scoffers join
Her altars to abuse?
No! Better far my tongue were dumb,
My hand its skill should lose.

Hymn #462
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps.137
Author: Timothy Dwight, 1800, ab., alt.

Webber has long indulged in quoting the Book of Concord to make it seem like a textbook for Objective Justification – universal forgiveness without faith. Having written no books and having authored no publications worth mentioning, he does not reveal any reading comprehension beyond the level of public high school, where every issue is political and has one answer. The intended meaning of the authority is primary, so words taken out of context should never be used to reverse the meaning of the author. That is especially true of the Holy Spirit’s only publication – the Bible – but almost as important with the Lutheran Confessions. 

I missed this Sasse quotation in the Webber essay.
Please point it out if my cataracts are deceiving me.
Graphic by Zach Engelman

Topical headings in the original should be noted, but this is the second time already that Article III is not named – The Righteousness of Faith. Likewise, Melanchthon’s Apology has been mentioned, but the topical headings alone in the justification section cut this essay to pieces, gathered its withered fragments, and burns them with everlasting fire. The problem with a synodocrat author constantly repeating the political message is evident – a blindness in reading sources except to imagine and invent support for a universally acknowledged (except by Webber) late dogma.

Let us take a break from the bilge for a moment and cite the Book of Concord on this topic. The Concordists called themselves theologians of the Augsburg Confession, following Luther, so we can conclude that these confessors were one with Luther and Melanchton, often students of both, as Tyndale (the original KJV translator) was.

The Chief Article – also known as the Master and Prince – is justification by faith, not OJ. To use the Pietist’s label from the Calvinist Woods, Subjective Justification, and make the original doctrine appear to be false doctrine—is the worse calumny of Christian doctrine. It is false and malicious, and no one can excuse it because of stupidity, ignorance, or a sub-standard education. The Word of God is plain and clear, a unified truth that transcends culture, politics, and Midwestern sects.

6] This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) 7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Therefore, in this article he urges with so much zeal and earnestness the particulas exclusivas, that is, the words whereby the works of men are excluded (namely, without Law, without works, by grace [freely], Rom. 3:28; 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9), in order to indicate how highly necessary it is that in this article, aside from [the presentation of] the pure doctrine, the antithesis, that is, all contrary dogmas, be stated separately, exposed, and rejected by this means. Solid Declaration, Formula of Concord, Article III, The Righteousness of Faith.

10] These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves. 11] This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the father, and are eternally saved. 12] Therefore it is considered and understood to be the same thing when Paul says that we are justified by faith, Rom. 3:28, or that faith is counted to us for righteousness, Rom. 4:5, and when he says that we are made righteous by the obedience of One, Rom. 5:19, or that by the righteousness of One justification of faith came to all men, Rom. 5:18. 13] For faith justifies, not for this cause and reason that it is so good a work and so fair a virtue, but because it lays hold of and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy Gospel; for this must be applied and appropriated to us by faith, if we are to be justified thereby. 14] Therefore the righteousness which is imputed to faith or to the believer out of pure grace is the obedience, suffering, and resurrection of Christ, since He has made satisfaction for us to the Law, and paid for [expiated] our sins. 15] For since Christ is not man alone, but God and man in one undivided person, He was as little subject to the Law, because He is the Lord of the Law, as He had to suffer and die as far as His person is concerned. For this reason, then, His obedience, not only in suffering and dying, but also in this, that He in our stead was voluntarily made under the Law, and fulfilled it by this obedience, is imputed to us for righteousness, so that, on account of this complete obedience, which He rendered His heavenly Father for us, by doing and suffering, in living and dying, God forgives our sins, regards us as godly and righteous, and eternally saves us. 16] This righteousness is offered us by the Holy Ghost through the Gospel and in the Sacraments, and is applied, appropriated, and received through faith, whence believers have reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, sonship, and heirship of eternal life. Ibid.

Gerhard worked with Chemnitz on the Harmony of the Gospels.
The Concordists  would all scratch their heads
over the malarkey from the Synodical Conference today.

These two quotations by themselves dispose of the mass of OJ essays foisted upon the innocent, men and women who trust that their leaders are being faithful rather than faithless in their teaching. Many more can be provided, and they show that for OJ to be lifted up as The Gospel, one must conclude that the Bible, Luther, the Concordists, and the post-Concordists like Gerhard contradict themselves. Or perhaps the Holy Spirit is a Calvinist, or an Arminian, or both – since both accusations are leveled at justification by faith.

2. With fraud which they themselves invent
Thy truth they have confounded;
Their hearts are not with one consent
On Thy pure doctrine grounded.
While they parade with outward show,
They lead the people to and fro,
In error's maze astounded.

Hymn 260
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 12
Author: Martin Luther, 1523

Webber even used the Deutschlander (WELS) argument (p. 11) that OJ and SJ are found throughout the Augsburg Confession, but not really developed as such - once again misreading the Atonement and justification by faith. By page 12 the dishonesty of the essay is even more apparent, because the real agenda is to claim that everyone is forgiven and saved without faith, even before they are born. Paul McCain and Jack Cascione, from the same Church Growth-UOJ era at Ft. Wayne, both cited Robert Preus quoting Edward Preuss on this ecstatic burst of Universalism. Nevertheless, Webber – like his compatriots – lacked to courage to name what he is attacking, mocking, and straw-manning: justification by faith.

This approach is important to observe, because Webber is afraid of a frontal attack. Instead, he wants to replace justification by faith through substitution:

• The true Gospel is universal forgiveness and salvation. Make a decision or else.
• Unknown to centuries of Lutherans, Luther and the Concordists promoted OJ, but we are now more aware of this now, because of the pinheads teaching justification by faith (name it not!).
• Orthodox Lutheran doctrine is defined – not by the Scriptures, faithful translations, Luther, or the Book of Concord – but by the Halle Pietists, the syphilitic founder of the Missouri Synod – Stephan, his devoted follower Walther, and Walther’s personally selected replacement, F. Pieper.
• The true Gospel of universal forgiveness and salvation is not to be debated or discussed among those troglodytes who teach otherwise.

Part Three - Repudiation of the Webber OJ Essay at the Emmaus Conference

Book cover designed by Norma Boeckler

C. Law and Gospel Section p. 6



Webber’s fundamental mistake starts with assuming that the Gospel is the universal absolution of the world – without faith. Walther has some good statements in the copied (not written) Law and Gospel lectures, but those insights are from Luther. Like all those suffering from rationalistic Pietism, Walther contradicted himself without fail. So does Webber and the entire, small group of Lutherans who think they are orthodox because they agree with Halle Pietism and ELCA rationalism.

Because the OJ crowd does not comprehend the Atonement, they confuse it with the man-made dogma of universal forgiveness/absolution without faith. They imagine that every mention, every praise of the Atonement is another example of their precious OJ concept. Examples are:

• The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world – but this does not mean absolving the world, Hindus and atheists without faith.
• He died for the ungodly – but Christ did not die for the godly.
• He was raised for our justification – but they ignore the preceding words – if they believe…
• Justified in the Spirit – since Jesus was declared righteous to the world, the world became righteous at the moment of resurrection, the dogma of Pietism – not the doctrine of Chemnitz.
• It is finished – Jesus was not speaking of His death, but UOJ. 

This universal absolution cannot be reconciled with any part of Scripture, though they may find a few sentence here and there, among the theologians, that elicit a gasp of awe as they declare “We have found the OJ core,” but that is irrelevant – even if true. The Scriptures are the ruling norm, not Luther or Ambrose or the early Robert Preus or the elderly JP Meyer.

Webber’s meandering prose about Law and Gospel is simply incomprehensible. That is the problem with someone pretending to be confessional without identifying what he condemns. He appears to be against justification by faith, but he cloaks this opposition, which would fall harshly on unwaxed ears. There is no confession, only another monologue from the Amen Corner of mainline Protestantism. His fellowship with mainline apostasy is revealed in his anxiety to commune ELCA members, meaning they believe the same things.

Do I need to mention that Webber quotes the ESV, the Calvinist edition of the National Council of Churches’ Revised Standard Version? Here is a discussion of the odious RSV, and its update, the ESV –

http://www.av1611.org/vance/nrsv_esv.html



Webber solemnly declares on page 8, “Do not try too hard to understand this,” and then quotes from the classic efficacy passage of Old Testament – Isaiah 55. Like Darwin, he can observe and study something for years and miss the entire story while publishing minute and largely irrelevant details. The efficacy of the Word, the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel Word – that is entirely missing in this botch.

After using up some of his notes from Old Testament class, Webber renews his attack on justification by faith on page 10.

A conditional message about a potential justification is not the Christian Gospel. It is no Gospel at all. It cannot calm the fears of a troubled conscience. It cannot grant comfort or elicit faith. Quite simply, a conditional message about a potential justification cannot forgive sins.

Compounding the stupidity of this straw man is one even worse, from Ken Schurb, whose only distinction is an alliance with Al Barry and Paul McCain. The verbiage is even more foolish – [Note the “in Christ” which is another fundamental error of Webber. The New Testament term applies only to believers, but that is conveniently ignored.]

A crushed unbeliever must be told that God is no longer angry with him in Christ, that all his sins are forgiven, that God has declared him “not guilty” (i.e. justified him) – or he will not believe…In other words, he must know objective justification.

Clearly, these two beginners have no grasp of justification by faith, so they distort both sides of the issue, calling their hogwash The Gospel and erecting a straw man instead of fairly and honestly describing justification by faith.

Some points of clarification were never taught them or the points were untaught them in seminary. Many never progress beyond required readings in school, especially when they keep an eye on how to get ahead in sects taken over by apostates. As the promulgator of the Kokomo controversy admitted, he never heard of UOJ before seminary at Mequon.

1. The Gospel Word has the divine, efficacious power of the Spirit to create and sustain faith, and this faith receives the promises and blessings from Christ’s atoning death and triumphant resurrection.
2.  Justification in the New Testament, Luther, and the Book of Concord only means justification by faith. Justification is always individual and always a matter of faith rather than works. If justification by faith is denied, the only alternative is justification by works. 
3. The entire work of the Christian Church is based upon justification by faith, preaching and teaching, Sacraments, pastoral visitation and counseling, marriage and burial of the dead. To say that the Gospel is teaching Universalism is an abomination.

Links - Repudiation of Jay Webber's OJ Paper at the Emmaus Conference, 2015

Copied from Robert Preus, Justification and Rome.

Complete review of the Emmaus Essay, Rough Draft

Links To Each Part

Part One

Part Two 

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven - Sloppy, One-Sided References

Part Eight - Gross Errors about Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov

Part Nine - The Pietists are Orthodox?

Emmaus Papers Below

Jay Webber PDF - Dropbox Link

DP Buchholz PDF - Dropbox Link

DP Mueller PDF - Dropbox Link

Additional

Apology of the Augsburg Confession

Cascione's Reprint of the early Robert Preus UOJ Essay

Martin Teigen book on Consecration - Free.

Thy Strong Word - Against Church Growth and UOJ

The Significant History of the Doctrine of Objective Justification - Rick Curia - This really exposes the inanity of Objective Justification. Judas Iscariot is forgiven, too!

Veterans Honor Roses for Mrs. Gardener - Pure Red and Fragrant. Double Delight for a Bonus

Veterans Honor bloomed all at once.

Double Delight added to the bouquet.
The granddaughter said, "Disney roses!"

Mrs. Gardener really enjoys red roses, so I planted Mr Lincoln along the fence and Veterans Honor in the main rose garden. The corner rose burst into bloom in the front, so I cut the best ones and put them in a vase. The Double Delight were fully bloomed, so I added them.

Family was there when I delivered the vase (and got two back). The kids wanted to smell the fragrant roses. The little girl said, "Just like Disney roses!" In one production, the roses are painted, and Double Delight roses do look painted.

I like cutting buds ready to open, because they unfold and last longer. Most people like the rose fully bloomed for show. The Double Delights were especially large and well formed.

The chewing and sucking insects seemed to have become food for the beneficial insects. I help by spraying the blooms and buds with a healthy, strong stream from the garden hose. Aphids cannot climb back if they are knocked loose.

Our Avon girl came by with an order, two vases, and went back with some roses for her mother.

No, I did not neglect Mrs. I. She admired the vase of roses the first half of the day. When I delivered the roses, I cut a new vase with Pink Peace and our first two John Paul II white, fragrant roses. John Paul II was attacked severely by rabid Lutheran insects, but now they are almost damage free.

I thought of spraying the buds and blooms with something stronger than water, but if it came to that, I would use a garlic spray instead.

Our helper mowed today. He is very impressed with the wild garden. Many flowers and plants are taking shape there - Cow Vetch, Butterfly Bush, Queen Ann's Lace, clover, and buckwheat.

John Paul II,
since he also has a degree from Notre Dame.

Night Drama - When the Second Shift Takes Over the Garden. Creation with a Purpose

The Chaste Tree alleviates PMS.
 

Another world opens up in the garden at night. For example, the slugs come out to do their work. An insect that hides from bright light will also feel comfortable at night.

Flowers that pollinate at night need no colors, because white flowers show up best.

I have gone outside late at night with my little LED flashlight, to see what is happening to various plants. I found slugs in the mulch, on the walls, and around young plants. When I set out the beer bowls, I saw this -

1. Crawling into the bowl and dying, night one.
2. Another bunch crawling into the beer trap, night two.
3. Slugs and leftover beer completely consumed by some creature - night three.

A dog or a raccoon could have had slugs and beer. That bowl was clean at the end. I stocked up on cheap beer and will try some more slug hunting. I thought they were under control, but as the woman says on TV, "I was living in a fool's paradise." They were chomping my newly purchased plants.

Now I have copper tape, which stops slugs by taking advantage of their electrical charge, an electricla fence of their own undoing.

I have looked at the white and yellow roses at night. One beetle likes to sit and chew vigorously on the flowers. I also have some aphids, but not on all the roses.

Walliser wrote, in her book on beneficial insects, that she became so enchanted by the dynamics of the insect world that she lost most of her interest in flowers - too static. I can understand that feeling, although plants are still my favorite part of Creation.

We divide Creation into parts, although they really constitute a living unity, balanced or achieving a new balance when something is over or under produced.

• The soil itself is an ocean of life, with the foundation of all plant, animal, and human health managed by fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and nematodes first and the larger creatures like earthworms second. 
• The surface is alive with the interplay of flowers, fruits, insects, spiders, toads,slugs, and ground-feeding birds, to name just a few. The birds count on certain seeds, fruits, worms, and insects, while the flowers  depend on bees, other pollinators, and each other for health. Garlic is the all-purpose medicine, insect repellent, and fixer in the garden.
• In the air, insects and birds do their work, day and night. The food controls the population of food eaters, so an explosion of bugs in the spring is met by a baby boom among the birds.

This little outline is so simple, compared to Creation, that it is more like the Cliff Notes of a Golden Book on Creation, and yet these lessons are lost on many.

Not one living thing listed above is capable of thinking about its role in life, its purpose, or its relationship to anything else, and yet we can observe and commend on this infinity of dependencies and marvel at their steadfast work. That shows the Hand of the Creator and His gracious purpose. Medicine is still being squeezed from the soil and the plants.

After I planted the Chaste Tree, I looked up more information about it. In ancient times it was thought to suppress the libido, but now an extract has been proven to help women with PMS. Scientists know that the natural world around them is full of medicines yet to be discovered. Since antibiotics can be counterproductive, fostering superbugs that eat the antibiotic for lunch, people are turning to Creation cures. A combination of garlic and onion has been used successfully on resistant infections. -

Scientists recreated a 9th Century Anglo-Saxon remedy using onion, garlic and part of a cow's stomach.

They were "astonished" to find it almost completely wiped out methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA.

Their findings will be presented at a national microbiology conference.

The remedy was found in Bald's Leechbook - an old English manuscript containing instructions on various treatments held in the British Library

If you do not know someone who has battle MRSA, you do not get out very much.

Veterans Honor - I dug a hole and got an armload of these.

Roses for Health

Rose hips are still used for Vitamin C, because the seed pod (hip) is packed with that vitamin. Some people enjoy rose hip tea, and others chew on tablets made from rose hips. Birds love rose hips, too. 

I see another side of roses - emotional health. "A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine." Nothing is quite so cheering as a bouquet of roses. We currently have seven families enjoying roses.

I reached the number five at first, but added some more as I thought about it. People love the sight and fragrance of roses, which last days in a vase and showboat their beauty outdoors. When we open our front door or approach the house, we get a rush of rose fragrance each time.

I have to prune roses to get more flowers. The plant goes through a hormonal change when the flowers are left on. They change from wanting to flower to setting seed and not needing to flower. Virtually all harvests are based on flowers, seeds, and fruit of plants. Some harvests are roots and tubers.

When I prune roses, they have to go somewhere. Spent flowers become mulch. Some flowers come indoors. The rest go to neighbors and family. Big smiles follow, especially when the roses are fragrant besides - a new trend.

Most of us have emotional memories about certain plants or flowers. I liked one weed-like plant because we had one growing next to our house while I was growing up. My paternal grandfather grew roses and citrus in Florida. A family story insists that he invented a seedless tomato and that my uncle lost the plant. The story is so dark that I was told never to bring it up, and I only learned it relatively late in life. If that story is true and my uncle had been more careful, I would be in the Bahamas now on a yacht or in court defending and pursuing various legal matters.

So here I am, reliving the sight of my grandfather's garden in Florida. Team Jackson often participates in gardening, when we have a grilling event. "Welcome to Jurassic Grill." We prune roses or pick edible pod peas. 

In Bella Vista I set up a corn cob feeder for the squirrels and blue jays - for our grandson, of course. He loved it as much as I did. Seeing a squirrel sitting on a little chair eating corn is great fun.

Birds splashing in the extra large bath, squirrels swinging from ripe sunflowers, roses blooming - all lend a great feeling of cheerfulness and make each morning an event. That may be God's plan.

"I shall not be moved."
Try to scare a squirrel from a window sill. He knows better.

I stopped at a bird feed store -
and bought squirrel food.

Part 2 - Repudiation of Webber's Emmaus Essay

Part 2 of review - Jay Webber Essay, Emmaus Conference, 2015

Webber’s claim to find only minor differences within the Synodical Conference view of justification is patently false. Wishing the differences away will not make that illusion a reality. (p 4)

1. The 1905 Missouri catechism, in German, taught justification by faith and never mentioned Objective Justification.

2. Concordia Publishing House, LCMS, still prints a KJV catechism with no mention of OJ in it, bragging that “two million copies have been sold.”

3. The original Gausewitz catechism, used by the entire Synodical Conference, perhaps standard for WELS, did not mention OJ but taught justification by faith.

4. Even within the OJ dream team, there exists a radical difference between the entire world being absolved at the death of Christ or at the moment of His resurrection. The dates cannot be reconciled, simply another part of the nonsense call UOJ.

5. In quoting Sasse about the Book of Concord, Webber is using a red herring, since the Book of Concord teaches justification by faith, not the anti-Christian dogma of justification without faith. (p. 4)

6. The Brief Statement quotation is correct about the Confessions, but the Brief Statement is utterly wrong about justification, serving as the triumph of the Stephan-Walther-Pieper faction. Besides that simple fact, the Brief Statement has no canonical or confessional authority whatsoever and only marks the beginning of the end for Lutheran doctrine and practice in Missouri and allied sects.

Webber, like Buchholz, imagines that declaring something to be true, without any evidence for that claim, is sufficient. But neither man has credentials for more than repeating the bromides of the Walther-Kokomo faction. If everyone is united, apart from trivial details, why is another windy essay needed? This farrago of unwarranted claims was so compelling to DP Bucholz that he gave it to his WELS congregations to read, mark, and inwardly digest. More than one got indigestion from it.

B. In the Webber Essay, Forgiveness in the Old Testament

Webber wants his audience to believe that he is being consistent with the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord. He quotes the Third Article, misunderstanding the Atonement, but fails to name the Article – III. The Righteousness of Faith. Why are these Enthusiasts allergic to the word faith? Justification by faith is slandered by calling it Calvinism or – oddly enough – Arminianism. One is the opposite of the other, so how ignorant can these people be? To remain consistent with the Great Walther, who had a limited education—only a bachelor’s at a rationalistic school—Webber has to treat faith as a work and make it inconsequential.

The ultimate irony is that Walther’s entire concept of justification came from a man with little interest in a theological education, who never completed his – Martin Stephan. But looking at the official history of the Missouri Synod, Stephan does not exist. According to the LCMS, the synod suddenly birthed itself, with Walther as the leader, in 1847, not when the cult landed in New Orleans in 1839 and Walther joined in making their Pietistic leader a bishop for life.

https://www.lcms.org/aboutus/history

Significant and damning details are omitted about the forgotten eight years between the landing in America and the formation of the Synod. So Webber is really defending the dogma of Pietistic era, a Pietistic cult leader who literally saved Walther’s life by turning him from unhealthy penitential works to the Gospel – or a bad version of the Gospel. 

 

He [Kuhn, their first Pietist leader] urged the group to practice various kinds of denial and hardship in order to test and prove their conversion and commitment and join Christ in His sufferings. It was said of the leader that he had come to his spiritual certainty through many temptations and believed others should do the same. Walther practiced these spiritual exercises to the extreme, depriving himself of food and exercise because he thought these things were sinful. Walther’s condition was described by Franz Delitzsch: “During that period of struggle he was wasted like a skeleton, coughed blood, suffered from insomnia, and experienced the terrors of hell. He was more dead than alive.”

Stephan, Philip; Stephan, Philip (2008-04-07). In Pursuit of Religious Freedom: Bishop Martin Stephan's Journey (p. 67). Lexington Books. Kindle Edition.

Later, as Stephan degenerated in every possible way, he decided he was in charge of the souls and the bodies of young women. Kuhn was all Law, but Stephan was a Universalist, clinging to the formulae of Halle University.

When this was debated on the Intrepid Lutherans blog, Webber chose the explanation of Rambach the Halle Pietist, over Martin Chemnitz, the senior editor of the Book of Concord and Formula of Concord. Rambach over Chemitz? The Pietist Quistorp extolled as an orthodox Lutheran? The Pietist Stephan erased from history and replaced by Walther, another Pietist, now rechristened as an orthodox Lutheran. I see a pattern.

The heroes of the LCMS are the clergy underlings of Stephan who did not notice their leader’s adultery, in spite of massive evidence, including their leader leaving his sick wife and children in Dresden while taking his healthy son and his mistress on the same ship. The Walther circle chose not to see the obvious until the time came to organize a mob, threaten, rob, and kidnap their bishop for life. CFW Walther was already their leader, at the age of 29+, parish experience, about two years.

You must make a decision for world absolution - OJ:
Walther's and JP Meyer's confused synergism.

JP Meyer's synergism.
Will he accept or decline?
Make a decision for Kokomo Justification - no faith required.

Fashion Another Straw Man

Webber would have us accept his conformist (to mainline Pietism) views of faith. (p. 5) He must make his solemn declarations mesh with the sonorities of the Walther-Pieper-JP Meyer faction. That means dodging the teaching of Luther, Chemnitz, Melanchthon, Gerhard, and the Scriptures themselves. The OJ faction would like to have us believe they are not Universalists, but what definition fits those who declare the entire world forgiven and saved, as Webber and Buchholz do. When they walk their reasoning back to some authority, it is the Preuss who became a Roman Catholic after seeing a beautiful sunset – a sign from God to pope. Ignoring that, they say, as their cult does – “I cannot believe I am forgiven unless it has already taken place.”

This kind of statement shows the danger of engaging in slogans, which are repeated until they become a substitute for the Scriptures. OJ is a turn away from the Atonement, but that turn is a veering off the cliff into absurdities like the ones to be quoted from Webber.

“Our faith does not rely on a potential righteousness or even a righteousness that is not yet ‘our righteousness’ before God.” (p. 5)

“Our faith does not contribute, in whole or in part, toward bringing ‘our righteousness’ into existence.” (p. 5)

Martin Chemnitz Press Books - Free PDF Links Posted on the Left

As requested by Alec Satin, I have posted all the Martin Chemnitz Press books on the left. The PDFs are free for everyone to use and free to share.

It is too bad that I have closed down so many blogs, or they could post my book links and use them to prove how horrible I am. Maybe WELS and Missouri could pick up the slack.

• Look at that, he believes in justification by faith.
• How horrible, he teaches Creation. 
• Oh no! He gives away his books. Here they are.
• Closed communion? Here is the proof.
• A picture book about Jesus in full color. So evil.
• True story - Jay Webber to another pastor - "Don't listen to Jackson He has a demon."

The link list will not stay at the top, but it will be somewhere in the upper half of that column. New sticky posts tend to drive the rest down in time, so the list gets re-adjusted from time to time.

Many Lutheran resources are found here.