Useful Idiots of Christian News: The Inglorious Easter Issue, 2019

 Having Jack B. Simple Cascione introduce a Luther sermon is like having Paul McCain teach how to avoid plagiarism, Romanism, and high-carb diets.

The Easter issue is a demolition derby of doctrine.

This is the moment to say, since the Lenker edition was mentioned, that Otten never let this slip. Our little group produced the Lenker edition of Luther's Sermons for about $5 a volume, illustrated, and free with the Gems volume as one merged PDF. We sent free sets to African Lutheran seminaries, and another free set to the Philippines (plus many other free books).

 The Maier Family is owed an apology from the Preus Family, Herman Otten, and David Scaer.

This is a header with David Maier's photo - "The Validity and Effaciousness (sic) of the Means of Grace." Oh, just a typo. Let's look below for the article.

The Validity and Effacaciousness (sic) by Pastor David Maier

The original author is actually Dr. Howard Tepker, Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne (nee Springfield). In the article, the word is finally spelled correctly - efficaciousness, and efficacy.

Reading a Book About Martin Luther from a Critical Roman Catholic Source
 By David Becker

"The book The Facts About Luther by Patrick O’Hare is currently being sold by Amazon Kindle e-book format for $0.99. Hardcover is $27.95 and softcover is $12.68, through Amazon. The book is also available through Christian News for $16.50." 

I enjoyed the lecture on using sources from both sides, because the irony is so rich. Otten only publishes OJ authors and heavily favors non-Lutherans.

If Becker reads a second book in his lifetime, he should try Thy Strong Word, which copiously quotes OJ eructations from a wide variety of authors. Or - Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, where I dealt with both sides of the issue concerning O'Hare's book of lying stupidity.


OJist Pastor Steve Flo quoted Dr. Robert Preus, but why not cite these quotations from Preus' final book?

 Also cited and quoted by Dr. Robert Preus.

Rolf Preus versus CFW Walther

Easter absolution - without faith - based on the false interpretation of 1 Timothy 3:16.

Cascione and McCain posted this essay, which is utterly absurd in its entirely,to support their beloved OJ: The Easter absolution of the world - without faith.

 The Easter absolution of the world - without faith.

Note the Moment of World Absolution above - Easter.


But Rolf Preus declared here - 


Rolf Preus on Spenerquest:
The grace of God is locatable. It isn’t floating out in space. It’s not there in the beautiful sunset or the cool waters of the forest stream or even in the laughter of a little child. These are beautiful things, but they don’t grant you the forgiveness of your sins. God’s grace is located where his dear Son suffers and dies. It is as Jesus suffers on the cross that he intercedes: “Father, forgive them.”

Rolf is terribly confused about the Means of Grace and Walther's Moment of World Absolution. Rolf moves it earlier - to Good Friday. Then what happened on Easter? He does not agree with Walther and should be run out of the LCMS again for that blasphemy against The Great Walther.

The invisible Word of teaching/preaching and the visible Word of the Sacraments - those are the Means or Instruments of Grace. The Scriptures do not indicate in any fashion that Jesus was absolving the world of all sin - without faith - whether on Good Friday or the Day of Resurrection.

Which side is he on now? Here is another eructation linked on Steadfast Lutherans - A Global Hive of Enthusiasm.

 Fuerbringer, the nephew of Walther, and his co-editors, wrote this more plainly and eloquently than any OJist could.

 Rolf's joint appearance with WELS' Wayne Mueller suggests that he agrees with Wayne's UOJ and Church Growth Enthusiasm. Rolf is very selective, you know.

 The Rolf-Dona Synod was a temporary marriage of the hives, until the ELDONA district discovered Justification by Faith and Charitable Trust Alone.

Did David Scaer Confess To Being Another Waldo Werning?

I read David Scaer's book on Kindle - Surviving the Storms, a rather brave title for someone who had tenure soon after being hired at Concordia Seminary Ft. Wayne (nee Springfield).

My review of the book is here. Do not worry - negative reviews sell, too, so he should be happy, giving the $35 Lulu price.

I was thinking about the situation, when Waldo Werning - several fries short of a Happy Meal - spent countless hours pursuing Scaer on false doctrine charges. How could anyone take Waldo seriously?

But today, a light went on. Scaer and the Righteous Brothers (Jack and Bob Preus) did the same thing to Dr. Walter A. Maier II.

The parallel to Werning is perfect. Waldo was a false teacher with a fake doctorate - and a popinjay. But he was treated with great respect as he continued to attack Scaer through letters, meetings, and faculty trials.

Scaer revealed a similar obsession with WAM II, never dreaming that his own Objective Justification was - and is - a joke and a half, sillier and far more dangerous than Werning's Church Growth obsessions.

I was reading  Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889). A Critical History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation (Kindle Locations 2-6). Unknown. Kindle Edition. The famous author identified Objective Justification with Calvinism, Justification by Faith with the Lutherans.

Scaer definitely knows the Stephan-Walther teaching of Objective Justification is peculiar, but seems unaware that it can be found in so many other places, even among the Adventists.

See these links.

Analysis of the Doctrine ofUniversal "Legal" Justification
Larry J. KaneIntroduction
According to the 1888 Message Study Committee ("1888 MSC"), the 1888 message reveals many "fresh, beautiful truths . . . that are not usually understood today."[1] One such "truth" is the concept that Christ's death at the cross accomplished a legal or objective justification which is universally and unconditionally applied to all men.[2]

Obsession -

• 129 mentions of WAM II in Scaer's book
• 275 for Werning

 Waldo Werning was known for friending people and turning on them if he felt they dishonored him(told the truth).

While biblical inspiration and authority was foundational for Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics, Franz Pieper was absorbed with the doctrine of objective justification throughout his three volumes. Also known as universal justification, it distinguished the Missouri Synod from other synods as no other doctrine in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century did.

Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer (Kindle Locations 5541-5544). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition. 

--

Support for Walter A. Maier II as synod president cannot be ruled out as a reason for Jack Preus asking his brother Robert to handle Maier II’s doctrine of justification. Relations between the Preus brothers were not without their rough spots.

Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer (Kindle Locations 5645-5646). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition. 

--

Justification by Faith translated as Denial of OJ!

Yet both Robert Preus and Jack Preus could not accept what they saw as the denial of objective justification by both Walter Maier I and his son Walter Maier II. His views also became an issue in September 1989 with the calling of Walter Maier III, whose views were seen by some faculty members as virtually identical with his father’s view. Neither understood this doctrine according to traditional Missouri Synod definitions. For the Preus brothers, this was not a minor issue.

Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer (Kindle Locations 5646-5650). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition. 

--

So Robert Preus worked out a compromise with WAM II that satisfied people for the moment - but not Scaer!

Equally tragic was that in the matter of justification, John Saleska stood with Robert Preus to the point of his being angry for not solving the question of objective justification once and for all. Saleska was reported to be upset with Robert Preus because he did not “go all out to get Walter A. Maier II.”

Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer (Kindle Locations 5679-5682). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition.

--

So the Righteous Brothers, who transferred into the LCMS from the OJistic ELS, were as obsessed as David Scaer about the Maier family not being true to the LCMS tradition of Halle Pietism.

But a little bit of research will show that the Stephan-Walther-Pieper infatuation with Objective Justification was never the official doctrine of the LCMS and was excluded from such guideposts as the

1. 1905 German catechism, 
2. the Gausewitz Synodical Conference catechism, and 
3. the KJV catechism. 

One LCMS DP said to a candidate - a few years ago, "We cannot exclude you for teaching Justification by Faith, because we have never had an official statement on OJ."

Luther - Saxon Visitation Articles

Appendix: The Saxon Visitation Articles

Source: The Creeds of Christendom, Volume III, by Philip Schaff (Copyright, 1877, by Harper & Brothers.
1593
A. Hunnius, J. Löner, W. Mamphrasius, M. Mirus, G. Mylius, et al.

The Visitation Articles For the Electorate and Provinces of Upper Saxony, published A.D. 1592.

Article I: Of the Lord’s Supper

The pure and true Doctrine of our Churches on the Lord’s Supper.

1. That the words of Christ, “Take and eat, this is my Body;” “Drink, this is my Blood,” are to be understood in the simple and literal sense, as they sound.
2. That, in the Sacrament, there are two things which are exhibited and received together: one, earthly, which is bread and wine; the other, heavenly, which is the body and blood of Christ.
3. That these things [this union, exhibition, and sumption] take place here below on the earth, and not above in heaven.
4. That the true and natural body of Christ which hung on the cross, and the true and natural blood, which flowed from the side of Christ, are exhibited and received.
5. That the body and blood of Christ are received in the Supper, not only spiritually, which might be done out of the Supper; but by the mouth, with the bread and wine; yet in an inscrutable and supernatural manner; and this for a pledge and ascertainment of the resurrection of our bodies from the dead.
6. That the body and blood of Christ are received orally, not only by the worthy, but also by the unworthy, who approach them without repentance and true faith; though with different effect. By the worthy, they are received for salvation; by the unworthy, for judgment.

Article II: Of the Person of Christ.

The pure and true Doctrine of our Churches on the Article of the Person of Christ.

1. In Christ there are two distinct natures, the divine and the human. These remain eternally unmixed and inseparable (or undivided).
2. These two natures are personally so united that there is but one Christ and one person.
3. On account of this personal union it is rightly said, and in fact and truth it really is, that God is man, and man is God; that Mary begat the Son of God, and that God redeemed us by his own proper blood.
4. By this personal union, and the exaltation which followed it, Christ, according to the flesh, is placed at the right hand of God, and has received all power in heaven and in earth, and is made partaker of all the divine majesty, honor, power, and glory.

Article III: Of Holy Baptism.

The pure and true Doctrine of our Churches on this Article of Holy Baptism.

1. That there is but one Baptism, and one Ablution: not that which is used to take away the filth of the body, but that which washes us from our sins.
2. By Baptism, as a bath of the regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, God saves us, and works in us such justice and purgation from our sins, that he who perseveres to the end in that covenant and hope does not perish, but has eternal life.
3. All who are baptized in Jesus Christ are baptized in his death; and by baptism are buried with him in his death, and have put on Christ.
4. Baptism is the bath of regeneration, because in it we are born again, and sealed by the Spirit of adoption through grace (or gratuitously).
5. Unless a person be born again of water and Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is not intended, however, for cases of necessity.
6. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh; and, by nature, all of us are children of divine wrath: because we are born of sinful seed, and we are all born in sin.

Article IV. On Predestination and the Eternal Providence of God.

The pure and true Doctrine of our Churches on this Article.

1. That Christ died for all men, and, as the Lamb of God, took away the sins of the whole world.
2. That God created no man for condemnation; but wills that all men should be saved and arrive at the knowledge of truth. He therefore commands all to hear Christ, his Son, in the gospel; and promises, by his hearing, the virtue and operation of the Holy Ghost for conversion and salvation.
3. That many men, by their own fault, perish: some, who will not hear the gospel concerning Christ; some, who again fall from grace, either by fundamental error, or by sins against conscience.
4. That all sinners who repent will be received into favor; and none will be excluded, though his sins be red as blood; since the mercy of God is greater than the sins of the whole world, and God hath mercy on all his works.

The False and Erroneous Doctrine of the Calvinists On the Lord’s Supper.

1. That the words of Christ [“This is my body; this is my blood”] are to be understood figuratively, and not according to the letter, as they sound.
2. That bare signs only are in the Supper; but the body of Christ is as far from the bread as the highest heaven from the earth.
3. That Christ is present therein, by his virtue and operation only, and not in his body; as the sun, by his splendor and operation, is present and effective on earth; but the body of the sun exists above in heaven.
4. That the body of Christ is therein a typified body, which is only signified and prefigured by the bread and wine.
5. That the body is received by faith alone, which raises itself to heaven, and not by the mouth.
6. That the worthy only receive it; that the unworthy, who do have the faith which rises to the heavens, receive nothing besides bread and wine.

The False and Erroneous doctrine of the Calvinists On the Person of Christ

Which differs, in particular, from the Third and Fourth Article of the more pure doctrine.

1. That God is man, and man God, is a figurative mode of speech.
2. That human nature hath communion with the divine, not in fact and truth, but in name and words only.
3. That it is impossible to God, by all his omnipotence, to effect that the natural body of Christ, which is in one place, should, at the same time and instant, be in several.
4. That, according to his human nature, Christ hath, by his exaltation, received only created good and finite power; and doth not know and can not do all things.
5. That, according to his humanity, Christ reigns, where he is absent, as the King of Spain governs his new islands.
6. That it is a damnable idolatry to place the hope and faith of the heart in Christ, not only according to his divine, but also according to his human nature, and to direct the honor of adoration to both.

The False and Erroneous doctrine of the Calvinists On Holy Baptism.

1. That Baptism is an external washing of water, by which a certain internal ablution from sin is merely signified.
2. That Baptism does not work nor confer regeneration, faith, the grace of God, and salvation, but only signifies and seals them.
3. That not all who are baptized in water, but the elect only, obtain by it the grace of Christ and the gifts of faith.
4. That regeneration doth not take place in and with Baptism, but afterwards, at a more advanced age-yea, with many not before old age.
5. That salvation doth not depend on Baptism, and therefore in cases of necessity should not be required in the Church; but when the ordinary minister of the Church is wanting, the infant should be permitted to die without Baptism.
6. The infants of Christians are already holy before Baptism in the womb of the mother, and even in the womb of the mother are received into the covenant of eternal life: otherwise the Sacrament of Baptism could not be conferred on them.

The False and Erroneous doctrine of the Calvinists On Predestination and the Providence of God.

1. That Christ did not die for all men, but only for the elect.
2. That God created the greater part of mankind for eternal damnation, and wills not that the greater part should be converted and live.
3. That the elected and regenerated can not lose faith and the Holy Spirit, or be damned, though they commit great sins and crimes of every kind.
4. That those who are not elect are necessarily damned, and can not arrive at salvation, though they be baptized a thousand times, and receive the Eucharist every day, and lead as blameless a life as ever can be led.

The Burning of Notre Dame May Have an Effect Opposite of What Some Expected

Rose Window, Notre Dame, Paris

Many reports have surfaced about the cause of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. Burning and desecrating Christian churches have become common in Europe, so it would be exceptional to call this fire an accident.

This event could galvanize Europe, even France, about the subtle and often brazen cultural war taking place, where only one side has been fighting.

I remain pessimistic, because there has been little fortitude shown by the Euro-leaders so far. In the US, for example, people have let Fuller Seminary and the rationalists take over their denominations, with hardly a peep from anyone.

Every denomination, even Rome, is heavily salted with Fuller graduates. As I told one seminarian, the Church Shrinkers in Missouri smirked that more of their pastors were studying at Fuller than at their own schools. LCMS-WELS-ELS sent all their leaders to Fuller with your offering money - or was it your insurance money?

 Barth-Kirschbaum - Marxist Calvinists.

In the Biblical studies area, rationalism is in complete control, from one side (Fuller), and the other side (big divinity schools). Behind them all is the plagiarizing, adulterous couple - Karl Barth and Charlotte Kirschbaum.

Here is Hunsinger's review of the book on Barth and Kirschbaum.

Charlotte lived in Karl and Nellie Barth's home, for 35 years,
so everyone knew. WELS-ELS-LCMS are no different, so do not be schocked.

Barth-Kirschbaum is foundational for the Fuller alumni and for today's mainline theologians. Few realize how the rationalism of Barth-Kirschbaum - not to mention their academic dishonesty - has influenced all the merchants of Christianity:

1. Church Growth experts
2. Denominational leaders
3. Mission board members
4. Seminary professors
5. Congregational pastors.

A Bronze Age LCMS pastor, a friend of Otten, said he loved my articles on Church Growth. However, when I spoke a little too loudly about my contempt for the movement, he looked around lest someone hear me (in the hallway of his church). The walls have ears and long, long memories.