ELDONA's UOJ Connections - The Rolf Synod and Higher Things

 Higher Things is one of many side-businesses run by LCMS clergy.
Too bad this leader is a fanatical UOJ advocate.

 In doing research on "What happened to ELDONA pastor Clark Brown?" -
I realized that Bishop Heiser was very tight with Higher Things
and the Rolf Synod - both hissing pits of UOJ snakes.
A decade later, this Ft. Wayne graduate discovered
Justification by Faith, even though the issues were articulated
in a book he sold - Thy Strong Word - in 2000.

A Shining City on a Higher Hill—

Christianity and the Next New World

by Rt. Rev. James D. Heiser, M.Div., S.T.M.

Bishop of the ELDoNA

A collection of thirteen essays (twelve presented to conventions of the Mars Society and one to the Higher Things’ Youth Conference in 2004), this volume is essentially unique, contributing to the dialog between Christian and scientific circles in the field of space exploration. Its contents cover a wide range of topics, from the origins of the conflict between science and religion in the 16th century, through modern developments in the Intelligent Design debate. 

Reverend George Borghardt III

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Reverend George F. Borghardt III, Senior Pastor: graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Classics and then received a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO in 2000. He served for ten years as the Associate/Youth Pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Conroe, TX before accepting the call to serve as Zion’s Senior Pastor in November of 2010.

Pastor Borghardt voluteers his time in various youth organizations, serving as the President aof the national Lutheran youth organization Higher Things and as a board director at Faith Lutheran in Crystal Lake.  He plays second base on Zion's softball team.  He is also a huge sports fan loving his LSU Tigers, the New Orleans Saints, and the New York Mets.

Pastor Borghardt and Amy, his wife, have three children: George, Thomas, and Sophia.

President of Higher Things

This Calov quotation, which I obtained from Robert Preus'
Justification and Rome,
destroys UOJ in a few words.

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What Do Lutherans Believe?

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All that we believe, teach, and confess must faithfully be taken from the Holy Scriptures. We believe that the Holy Scriptures are God's divinely inspired word, without error, that is able to make us wise unto salvation...

Jesus took the burden of our sin upon Himself at the cross enduring our punishment. His love is so great for us that He gives us His perfect righteousness. By virtue of the cross, God declares that our sins are forgiven and we are righteous and welcome in His sight.

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Higher Things and the Forrest Bivens Deception about the Chief Article

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53:5). All have sinned are justified freely, without their own works or merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). (Smalcald Articles II.I.1-3).

That right there is the heart of the Lutheran Confession. All have sinned. All have been justified freely without work or merit. Justification--becoming right with God--is something that happens outside myself, apart from myself. It's objective. My redemption is in Christ Jesus, in the blood that He shed.

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GJ - This video is the worst UOJ message I have seen, but I am glad Higher Things and Pastor George Borghardt III are out in the open about their Universalism, instead of hiding it behind ambiguous and misleading language.

The Brief Confession of 1932 uses completely erroneous Scripture citations to back up "God has forgiven the entire world," without connecting the citations to the claims. Here are claims without even a mention of Scripture.

My take is this -  the UOJ Stormtroopers are rattled by the laity who see through their false doctrine and challenge them on every point. The Higher Things websty clearly misrepresents Luther and the Book of Concord about the Chief Article.

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Who Redefined the Chief Article - Cheaply. Dishonestly. Cowardly?

The Primary Doctrine in Its Primary Setting: Objective Justification and Lutheran Worship [Prepared for the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music and the Arts Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, July Wisconsin, July 23, 1996. By Forrest L. Bivens]

The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our consciences before God. Without this article the world is utter darkness and death.”1 Luther’s appraisal of the doctrine of justification is also ours. We hold it to be the primary doctrine of Scripture, that is, the central and most important teaching revealed by God for us sinners.2

The truth of justification, above all others, distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. If this teaching were obscured or lost, attempts to show significant differences between the Christian religion and others would ultimately prove to be futile. Also, as revealed and emphasized in the Bible, all other doctrines either prepare for or flow from this chief article of faith. Without this truth, all others would mean little. This doctrine is the source or basis of the benefits and blessings which mankind receives from God. 

[GJ - Oh, Oh, Oh, Frosty - define the Master and Prince, the Lord, the Ruler, the Judge of all kinds of doctrine for us.]

What precisely is this “master and prince, lord, ruler and judge” over other doctrines? Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous. As revealed in the Bible, this declaration of God is made totally by grace and on account of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary life and death on behalf of mankind. To phrase it somewhat differently, God has justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has forgiven them. They have been reconciled to God; their status in his eyes has been changed from that of sinner to forgiven sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ. Since all this applies to all people, the term universal or general justification is used. In our circles an alternate term, objective justification, is also used. If justification is universal, it must also be objective - sinners are forgiven whether they believe it or not. This is precisely what Scripture teaches in Romans 3:23-24, when it says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Higher Things joins the New NIV in adding the second all to Romans 3. All have sinned - no argument there. But the text does NOT say "all are justified." Even the old NIV, which was packed with problems, failed to add the second "all."

Shame on George and Higher Things for joining ELCA in its Universalism, grace without the Means of Grace, declarations without any Scriptural or Confessional support, Halle Pietism triumphant.

Take down the Luther statues and put up Lord Vader.