Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Getting into Calvinist Dogmatics and the Destructive Effects Thereof.
Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith

VP James Huebner is a Fuller alumnus, like the rest of the WELS leaders.


This Universalism won in the latest version of the NIV, where in Romans 3, not only have all sinned, but all – yes all – have been justified, though the second all is not in any text. That no longer matters when the clergy know little Latin and less Greek.
New NIV Romans 3:22b There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all [GJ – not in any Greek text] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Young Calvinist, Old Unitarian

Sages of the past have said, “Young Calvinist, Old Unitarian.” Those regions dominated by Calvinists – like New England – show that effect, and the congregations shrink accordingly. The effect of rationalistic and contradictory Calvinism on people is to gradually reduce their trust in the Scripture and rely instead on Dame Reason. If we allow our human reason and fickle emotions to judge the Bible from the beginning, that lady’s work will not finish until nothing divine is left.

Universalism Is No Better

Calvinism is a type of closeted Universalism, so no one should wonder that Objective Justification is so similar. The Calvinist will consider the vast majority of people condemned to hellfire from eternity as a poor reflection on God’s grace, asking instead why not declare everyone forgiven and saved, familiar words to DP Jon Buchholz. Under such conditions, conclusions will be:
1.     Everyone is saved – basic Universalism.
2.     Everyone is saved and only needs to agree with that statement.
Those are hollow statements, derived from contradictory assumptions and clearly opposed to the Gospel, God’s grace, and the Word of the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 10, Paul shows that we are forgiven through faith in the Gospel. All who call upon the Name of the Lord will be forgiven and saved. They only come to faith from hearing the preached Word – reflecting on Isaiah 53, the Old Testament Gospel. Therefore, we must proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness and salvation come from the broadcast of God’s Word, not from philosophical speculation.





From Orthodoxy’s Prolixity to Barthian Bombast

Lutheran Orthodoxy and Calvinist Attacks

Chemnitz compared the Calvinists and Zwinglians to renters in his brilliant conclusion to the Apology of the Book of Concord. The Swiss interlopers are like the renters who tell the owner of the properties that they would behave if only landlords did what they were told by those living in their homes and apartements. The Reformation began with Luther, Melanchthon, and many brilliant and faithful men drawn to Wittenberg. As stated before, Zwingli and Calvin pretended to agree with Luther until they had another way of viewing the Scriptures, the very source of false doctrine, separating the Spirit from the Word. They were no different from the Pope declaring revelations from the throne of his heart or Mormons writing and revising books from convenient revelations shared only with them.

Chemnitz studied under Luther and Melanchthon, feeling the force and anger of the Swiss separatists and their influence upon the Reformation. The forces against Rome were thus divided by not continuing a faithful witness to the Word. Chemnitz continued the style of Luther and Melanchthon, drawing out the lessons of the Word through careful teaching from the appropriate texts. After Gerhard, who worked with Chemnitz on the Harmonies, Lutheran Orthodoxy became far more philosophical and opaque in answering the philosophical objections of the Swiss.

Concentrating on the Third String

Certain Lutheran groups would have people sigh like rock fans when they hear the term Lutheran Orthodoxy, but that is misleading. One should picture enormous Calvinist tomes answered by equally large Lutheran volumes, each one engaged in the Latin terms for their philosophical structures built to replace the size and splendor of Medieval cathedrals.

Luther did not write a systematic theology, but later writers did, and the field of Christian theology became dry, sterile, and aching for replacement. Unfortunately, Pietism was the ecumenical answer and confessing the truth from the Scriptures was sidelined.

Walther and Pieper found it practical to teach from J. W. Baier and Pietism, rather than from Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.[1] By concentrating on the late, third string orthodox, the leaders were able to construct a rationalistic structure clogged with Latin terms. There is even a book published to help people with all of Pieper’s Latin terms. A key to the Scriptures would be more useful, especially since Walther and Pieper taught against the Bible, against Luther and the Book of Concord, against the Reformation.
American Protestants of the 19th century were influenced by rationalism, Pietism, and Lutheran or Calvinist orthodoxy. Some went through times when they sought to recover their founders’ wisdom and fidelity. Although Walther’s sect was considered or at least fashioned a repristinating movement, it was really a smorgasbord without the Swedes. They were brought over by a bishop, Stephan, and taken over by a pope, Walther. All the Stephanite leaders were cell group Pietists, though Walther pretended otherwise and everyone has officially forgotten the facts.
A lot of great work was done in publishing but the Halle Pietism of Objective Justification took over, pushed forward by Walther and his carefully selected successor, Pieper. No one should wonder that the Missouri Synod has two multi-volume editions of a dogmatics textbook – Pieper and Harrison. Both contradict the style and content of the Reformation, which brings us to the era of Barth-Kirschbaum.


Karl Barth and Charlotte Kirschbaum – Infidelity Personified

Once upon a time I met a graduate student at Yale. His wife worked at the Yale Medical School Library, where I labored in xeroxing rather than pediatrics or neurosurgery. He went on to write Karl Barth and Radical Politics, to head the Barth Center at Princeton. Barth was called the “red pastor of Safenwill” and his group of pastors the red circuit. His initial Romans commentary made him famous, and he was elevated or ejected into academic life, where he was over his head. His beautiful young assistant, Charlotte Kirschbaum, helped him with his research and everything else. Frank Fiorenza, former president of the Barth Society, said the Barthians concluded that she did the small print work in the dogmatics while he constructed the outlines. He took the glory for her labor, but he dedicated his first volume to Charlotte, lived with her in a cottage each summer, writing together, and moved her into his home with his wife Nelly and their children.[2]

Simply put, that enormous set of books is an intellectual structure to enhance and promote the Marxist politics of Karl Barth and his mistress, Charlotte Kirschbaum. Barth did more than cheat in his marriage and ordination vows. He also plagiarized the work of his lovely assistant, who worked for nothing, only pennies for expenses. When people gave him material for his colossal set of dogmatics, he included their work verbatim, without attribution.
A few conservative Protestants saw his clever claptrap for what it was, a mask over apostasy, where he presented an idea and undermined traditional Christian teaching. Like all Calvinists, he loathed Lutheran doctrine and made that plain in comments like this, “He was a good Lutheran, too good a Lutheran.” He finally dedicated his last volume, which was not finished, to Nelly, after Charlotte became sick and died. The Dogmatics ended with Charlotte’s life, but the damage has continued.

Barth has fooled the conservative Evangelicals to such an extent that one Hillsdale College professor tore my head off when I suggested Barth was an apostate and a fraud.

Just as Scheiermacher was the first liberal theologian, a product and a professor at Halle University, so Barth was the most ecumenical apostate of the 20th century and beyond. Two influential professors at Fuller Seminary studied under Barth and brought back his rationalistic view of the Bible – it contains God’s Word but is not God’s Word. One WELS pastor earned a DMin at Fuller Seminary and wrote to me in a note, “You are right. Barth is the official theologian of Fuller.”

The famous Battle for the Bible narrative, about Biblical inerrancy being excommunicated from Fuller, is based upon Barth’s influence on the seminary’s leadership. Harold Lindsell wrote about the agony caused in a school founded to teach inerrancy and turned another direction by Barth alumni, one the founder’s son. Is there a better Absalom than Daniel Fuller?
2 Samuel 18:33 O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!
Fuller expanded greatly after abandoning inerrancy, sending out a brochure which is comical in its angry confession of principles –

"Were we to distinguish our position from that of some of our brothers and sisters who perceive their view of Scripture as more orthodox than ours, several points could be made: 1) we would stress the need to be aware of the historical and literary process by which God brought the Word to us... 4) we would urge that the emphasis be placed where the Bible itself places it—on its message of salvation and its instruction for living, not on its details of geography or science, though we acknowledge the wonderful reliability of the Bible as a historical source book; 5) we would strive to develop our doctrine of Scripture by hearing all that the Bible says, rather than by imposing on the Bible a philosophical judgment of our own as to how God ought to have inspired the Word."    David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, 800-235-2222 Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]

Fuller Seminary went after the leaders of all denominations in world missions, then did the same with Church Growth. They did not exclude Roman Catholic leaders. No one missed the message that study at Fuller was the best way to leverage one’s career, especially when the executives suggested it, funded it, and rewarded it with promotions. All Protestant denominations are burdened with Fuller Seminary alumni, many with drive-by DMins, all anxiously and energetically destroying their denominations in the name of growth. These know-it-all bumpkins wreck worship, evangelism, and Scripture while sowing hatred and various levels of infidelity. All this can be laid at the feet of Barth and Kirschbaum, their knowing enablers, and those too timid to object.

Creative Dogmatics tune in tomorrow




[1] Baier was born a century after the Book of Concord (1580) was published. That is like teaching the U. S. Constitution from the Chicago Tribune of 1920, using German philosophical terms.
[2] Marcus Barth spoke to Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, a small group gathered in a lecture room. Otto Heick gasped, “He is the picture of his father.” The Barth children were constantly embarrassed by his father’s living arrangements, hinted at in the Fortress Press biography of Karl Barth.

Not Given to Filthy Lucre? - How About Shoveling Boatloads of Cash to ELCA?
Hiring Women Pastors To Teach Men at His Change or Die!
Brainwashing Sessions?

Jeske is no Bading!
$140,000+ a year to be on the board.

1 Timothy 3 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;


Bading, Johann; b. 1824, Rixdorf, 
near Berlin. Studied in Gossner’s school 
for African Missions, 1846 ; in Hermanns- 
burg, 1848. Deciding to go to America, 
he went to Barmen, 1852; was sent to 
Wisconsin by the Langenberg Society, 
1853. Held pastorates at Calumet, The- 
resa, Watertown, Milwaukee (St. John’s), 
Wis. His energy made him a leader from 
the beginning. Was most active in re- 
deeming Wisconsin Synod for sound Lu- 
theranism. Chiefly instrumental in locating 
Northwestern College at Watertown 
rather than in Milwaukee. President of 
Wisconsin Synod, 1800 — 1889, excepting 
1864 — 67. Journeyed through Germany 
and Russia raising funds to finance 
Northwestern, 1863—64. Though closely 
related to German missionary societies, 
he did not hesitate to sever connections 
with them when it became necessary, for- 
feiting the fruits of his collection tour. 
Was one of chief negotiators with Missouri 
in forming the Synodical Confidence, (sic, but hilariously true)
1872, of which he was president 
1882 — 1912.

Yes - Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith Will Be Finished and Printed Soon -
God Willing


Someone asked if the Calvin posts would be printed in a book. The posts have been received well - with 300 hundred views each, soon after posting.

Virginia Roberts is offering me edits as I go along, and I will send an almost final one around to people who delight in pointing out my typos, errors, and omissions.

They will be in larger print, full color, Kindle, and free PDFs.

If you see something that needs attention, email me at greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com. That will go in the Calvin folder for additional work.

I am more likely to post on Calvin than anything else until it is done. So many big targets, so little time.

 This is one of my favorite Luther quotations. I kept making new graphics until I was satisfied with this one.


More Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith
Text, Translation, and Justification by Faith - All Trashed

Ruination from Calvin and Zwingli Today


Fraudulent Text Followed by Paraphrases Sold as Translations

Luther and his team of Biblical scholars had the best concept of Biblical translating, as Eric Metaxis explained so clearly:


Perhaps most important in translating an ancient language into a modern language is maintaining the innate poetry of the language, even and perhaps when that "poetry" takes the form of prose. The language should be supple, vivid, and powerful, but the theological ideas behind the words must not suffer along the way. Martin Luther, The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, p. 273.

The destruction of the Bible’s text began with the Zwinglian and Calvinist attitude of knowing more about God than God. Something new – a different text of the New Testament – was more exciting than thousands of examples from the 1100 years of Christian rule in the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire. Once scholars planted their flags on the new and different, Wescott and Hort joined the celebration with their absurd rules for judging the New Testament text. Anyone could be a text critic and dazzle others by citing exceptions to the traditional readings. This was precious groundwork for a combined assault on the translation and exegesis of God’s Word.

Without a textual standard, translations from friendly and helpful people could begin rolling off the presses, each one a guaranteed if minor best seller - the equivalent of a key to the mint. People resisted the counterfeit Bibles until the press lords came up with a new approach – name academics from every denomination to give the new Bible credibility and gravitas among their peers. License it for use in the Christian education materials and change the entire translation every few years, enough to the phantom zone. Control the text and therefore the translations through the international Bible societies.
Now the ruling norm is secure in the hands of the modernists, ecumaniacs, and unionists. The Lutherans will not stand behind or even mention any form of the King James. Meanwhile, the Calvinists will howl, scream, and jibber when any of their errors are omitted from the new Bibles. The nursing journal I put away at the Yale Medical Library had a solution for difficult patients: “Do you want your enema before or after your meal?” Now the Lutherans are offered two equivalent choices – the wretched NIV or the version whose senior editor is a Calvinist – the ESV.

The Chief Article Sacrificed to a god named Calvin

The Reformation did not begin as a denomination or in a denomination. The purifying fire began solely as a way of addressing errors of the Church through Biblical exposition. The early days of the Reformation were chiefly debates about the Bible and only later included the early Church Fathers, like Augustine, to show that their teaching was also Biblical.

Zwingli and Calvin began denominations in opposition to Luther’s Biblical doctrine, and their sects have splintered into many more, each sect occupying one or more places on the Apostles Creed and pretending it is the entire truth of Christianity.

Therefore, the Chief Article is the standard for all of Christianity and must be understood as that measure by the Bible alone, even if no one was left with the courage to treat it.
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. 
Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article III, 6f.
Thus the language about this article being the Master and Prince, the Judge of all articles, the article on which the Church stands or falls – is only about Justification by Faith, not later supposed improvements, additions, or clarifications. (F. Bivens, and Mark Zarling pretend their UOJ dogma is the Chief Article!)


 These open Calvinists rejoice in teaching the same Objective Justification as ELCA, which is why they work so well together.

Calvin’s Double Predestination

The Bible teaches the Word and Sacraments as the Means or Instruments of God’s grace. The Holy Spirit is united with the Word, whether in the invisible form of teaching and preaching or the visible form of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.
Calvin taught consistently that the Holy Spirit may or may not be united with preaching, teaching, baptism, or communion. The Sovereign God term really suggests a fickle and untrustworthy god, divorced from the Word of Jesus and the Sacraments of the Savior. 

Against the Bible, many in the past have taught a universal, general, or prevenient grace – all meaning the same thing – grace without the Means of Grace. Calvin taught in all editions of the Institutes that God predestined a certain number to be saved and a certain number to be damned, so one is a believer as a result of predestination, not from hearing the Word, as Paul taught so clearly in Romans 10.[1]
Double predestination is just as much a rejection of Justification by Faith as the dumbed-down version, Objective Justification, also known as
1.     General Justification,
2.     Universal Objective Justification, and
3.     The Justification of the World.

Calvin’s dogmas are contradictory and always suffer from erosion. In Pietism, rationalistic theologians combined the universality of the Atonement (He died for all) with a fragment of the Chief Article, creating a toxic alloy – God justified the entire unbelieving world, without the Word, without the Means of Grace, without faith. That is the honest definition of Objective Justification. The equally twisted Subjective Justification part – man must accept this universal absolution – was quickly overshadowed by the first part (or side). Justification has a side? The American Protestant to elucidate these points was the Calvinist Leonard Woods. CFW Walther and his circle accepted the Halle Pietist version of the world being absolved when Christ rose from the dead, from Bishop Martin Stephan conveniently taught.[2] They later adopted the Objective and Subjective Justification terms from the Calvinist Woods, based on the Halle theologian Knapp.

This Universalism won in the latest version of the NIV, where in Romans 3, not only have all sinned, but all – yes all – have been justified, though the second all is not in any text. That no longer matters when the clergy know little Latin and less Greek.



[1] Romans 10 is often called the Means of Grace chapter, as Isaiah 55 is. The language could not be any clearer, but many other Biblical passages supposed the same harmonious concept.
[2] Stephan was perhaps the first serial sex abuser among Lutherans, and the Walther circle knew all about it. Walther did not organize and lead the riot against Stephan until it became known that their bishop inflicted the young women with syphilis, as he had the wife he abandoned in Europe.

The entire Book of Concord teaches Justification by Faith.



Walther did not know the Biblical languages well, so he used the Halle error about 1 Timothy 3:16 to back the OJ error.

Luther on Despair, from Comfort for Christians



000

The Blessing of Despair

It’s easy to be discouraged, and even to fall into despair sometimes. Yet in these darkest times, we can choose to remember the goodness and faithfulness of our Father, the one true God who made you, and cares for you. May He bless you with comfort and peace today and always.



“It is proper that we know ourselves, and the more thoroughly we do this the better; but you must not reject grace because of your sins. For if you find that your conscience struggles and would drive you to despair, then you are most comfortable and fortunate; then you will find the consolation in your conscience, and say like Micah, 7:18-19: “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and casts their sins into the sea and drowns them?”
“All gods that do not take away sin are idols. Therefore Micah well says, that there is no God like our God; for other gods wish to discover righteousness, but our God brings it; God the Lord brings it and does not discover it. Therefore you must not despair, although your conscience struggles and feels its sins; for the more disgraced you are, the quicker God imparts grace. – Martin Luther
from Martin Luther’s Church Postil, “Fifth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 3:1-11.”