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| Many Lutheran leaders will deny their Calvinism, but they were obsessed with an urge to build and improve Biblical doctrine, just like Calvin. |
"Young Calvinist, old Unitarian." - That is a popular saying that describes New England so well. Fifty years ago, the Calvinist congregations had morphed into the United Church of Christ (UCC). Large buildings were almost empty; the ministers denied the articles of faith in the Apostles Creed.
Nor did the Unitarians stay the same over the years. They went far beyond a denial of the Trinity to an antagonistic stance toward religion. How did they fill the void left? They found a purpose in extreme Leftist social justice warrior, more strident than the UCC.
The letters in Unitarianism can be rearranged to spell - "Tis I ruin a man."
The Other Side of Calvinism is a good analysis of their theological pitfalls, but Calvinism is more than a dogma. Calvinism starts with an attitude of building and correction, amalgamating like mercury onto silver or gold. When kids used to play with drops of mercury in school, they found the liquid would attach itself to silver or gold and never come off. A ring could become precious metal with toxic mercury virtually welded on.
In Baptist churches today, Reformed (Calvinist) Baptists take over congregations, change the constitution, hire their own people, and change the doctrine to:
- double predestination,
- what they call sovereign grace,
- the subordination of faith, and
- adding a heavy dose of human reason, intellectualism.
Calvinism in the Lutheran Church is as natural as dry rot, mildew, and decay, something that happens when Biblical doctrine is neglected, in the name of building and correcting. Our history of united Protestantism by surrendering to Calvinism is shameful, both in Europe (facilitated by Halle's Schleiermacher) and in America (endorsed by Samuel S. Schmucker).
Calvinism denies the efficacy of the Word, so it denies the Sacraments. Calvin mocked the Real Presence in Holy Communion. One is born into the Covenant of Grace - sound familiar, Edward Preuss fans?.
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| A Calvinist can turn every color but white, imitating the chameleon. Walther loved this essay. |
BY GRACE!
How many times have I heard a pastor say to me, without prompting, "We are saved BY GRACE! through faith"?
Innocuous? Why pull out the organ stops on BY GRACE?
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The statement is not wrong by itself, but it is an odd slant to use a salvation passage to build upon and correct justification. Subtle! The implication is that everyone is already forgiven and saved BY GRACE! and that message becomes valid when someone believes he was already forgiven and saved BY GRACE!
Note also that the misuse of this passage pits grace against faith, contrary to Romans 4, and it is constantly used to correct people, leaving the individual feeling that Justification by Faith is a denial of grace.
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| Another dream down the drain, but there is more money and less work in life insurance, and so many good causes to support. |
Church Growth
What have we learned about Church Growth after 17,000 posts on this blog? The initial leaders were Robert Schuller, a liberal Calvinist, and Donald McGavran, a liberal Disciples missionary with a PhD in sociology. The Donald came to Fuller after they repudiated their weak, watered-down inerrancy statement and the more conservative faculty left (See the Battle for the Bible).And yet, the WELS-LCMS-ELCA leaders were
- enthralled by Fuller,
- sent to be trained there, especially world and domestic missionary leaders, and
- rewarded for studying there and denying it - numbskulls like Larry Olson, Frosty Bivens, and David Valleskey
The Fuller salesmen declared, "We do not want to change your doctrine." (Ha!) "We only want to build upon and improve what you are already doing. God wants His Church to grow."
The Fuller faculty showed the Lutherans what human reason craves - the exact answers on how to be successful by studying the numbers, the demographics!
Look at Schuller's example - get rid of the denomination name! But now - he was kicked out of his own congregation and the campus is now a Roman Catholic Cathedral. Garden Grove Community Church no longer exists.
Look at Paul Y. Cho's example - build on cell groups. He was jailed with his son for raiding the church treasury.
Look at the Church of Joy in Glendale, Arizona! The pastor had a sudden revelation about the worth of entertainment evangelism. He fired the staff, and saw his chimera collapse and disappear, faster than a meringue pie left on a sunny window sill.
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| The NIV and ESV are distinctively Calvinist, so lots more people will join our unionistic sect! |
BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE!
Slogans are so handy in taking people away from Biblical truth to man's understanding.
"The church is just like a business. If it isn't growing, it's dying."
"We can market the church the same way retail products are sold."
"Because Jesus died for the sins of the world. the entire world has been declared righteous, forgiven and saved, by God."
LCMS, ELS, WELS, CLC (sic)
"Evangelism is easy for WELS. Just tell people - you are already forgiven."
Former WELS SP-in-Waiting Wayne Mueller, Waldo Werning Lecturer, Camp Trinity, New Haven, Missouri
