It's Going To Be a Rice Day in the Philippines

Pastor Palangyos has $700 toward the rice goal of $1000.

Two other needs are car expenses and a laptop.

The mission has been careful about costs, doing everything possible with their own labor.

Glen Kotten traveled to the Philippines to share books and teach. 

He is an attorney.

Walther, Calvinism, and Pietism

 

Part Two – Objective Justification – The Calvinist Dogma Adopted by Walther

 

Calvin’s Weak Foundation

Calvin’s fatal flaws are easily recognized in two areas, and they certainly blend with Pietism as the main ingredients of that error. The first flaw is foundational – denying the Holy Spirit always at work with the Word. The second flaw is related to the first – rejecting the Sacraments and describing them as laws or ordinances.[1] Pietism is directly related to both flaws, as are other denominations and quasi-Christian cults like the Adventists.

The efficacy of the Word is a Biblical truth, not an opinion based on feelings. This truth is taught in many settings in the Scriptures, starting with Creation. God’s Word of Creation is the Logos of John 1.

Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Gospel of John is a commentary on the Books of Moses. The Pentateuch is divinely woven into John’s Gospel and the Fourth Gospel thoroughly reveals the Gospel message of the Pentateuch through the Spirit. The I AM of Exodus 3 is the I AM of Jesus’ sermons, and His clear answer to the opponents, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8.58

Isaiah 55 teaches the ever-present efficacy of the Word, which is like the rain and snow, always having a powerful, inevitable, and undeniable effect.

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

 

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

 

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The Promise is three-fold:

1.      God’s Word is never without an effect; the Holy Spirit is always united with it.

2.      The Word always accomplishes God’s own purpose.

3.      The Word always prospers the work God intends.

The power of teaching and preaching the Word is the same, but related to its fidelity to the Scriptures. The purer the message, the more effective it is. The more the Word is watered down and sugared up, the less effect – because it is man’s idea rather than God’s thoughts. Paul’s preaching was not in word only, but in power and the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. The effectiveness is known and experienced:

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13

One cannot deny the efficacy of God’s Word, or judge it by using human reason, and remain faithful to the Scriptural message.

Calvinists imagine that mankind may judge the Scriptures with their human reason, quite alien from the concept of using our intellectual powers to understand the Bible.[2] We should subordinate our thoughts to His thoughts, as Isaiah 55:8 teaches. In contrast, the magisterial use of reason leads to rationalism and Unitarianism. Ultimately, judging the Bible will end with all religions being the same or no religions being allowed, because all religions are considered toxic.[3]

The Sacraments, as the visible Word of God, suffer the same consequences from reason ruling over the Word. Zwingli and Calvin mocked them. Zwingli declared the Holy Spirit does not need a vehicle – like an oxcart. The issue is not what God needs but what God  has revealed in His mysteries.

Likewise, Calvin in his Institutes mocked the Real Presence in Holy Communion, unable to comprehend (like the rest of us) how Christ could not only be spiritually present but also bodily present in the elements consecrated by God’s powerful Word in the liturgy.

Pietism Is the Lutheran Face of Calvinism

When the leaders of Pietism placed their emphasis on the small group – for prayer and Bible study - they regarded the congregation as the place where groups were organized. The cell group is the real church for Pietists. The groups replaced the Word and Sacraments as the Means of Grace and subtly made Zwingli and Calvin their theologians. State churches passed conventicle acts against the cell groups, which increased the feeling of persecution and separatism.

Spener was the first union theologian, so the mission societies of Pietism brought to America a friendly attitude toward Calvinism and its methods, which led to many union efforts. Congregations were started as Evangelical (Lutheran) and Reformed (Calvinist) in their titles, a matter of embarrassment and change later.[4]  Pietists formed most of the Lutheran bodies which are now merged, and they now work together – sub rosa – while gaining access to the merged Lutheran mutual insurance company, also born of Pietism.

Two Dogmas Related to Pietism Demonstrate the Calvinism of CFW Walther

Strangely, the LCMS and WELS had a history and official policy of teaching Justification by Faith, which is only natural as the Chief Article of Christianity and the pivotal doctrine of the Lutheran Reformation. This is clear throughout the Bible and especially clear in the epistles of Paul and Romans.

CFW Walther taught the dogma passed onto him from Pastor Martin Stephan, which was taught at his mentor’s Halle University. This is called:

·        Objective Justification

·        General Justification

·        The Justification of the Sinner

·        The Justification of the World

·        Universal Objective Justification

There are some astounding differences. God absolved the entire world the moment Jesus died - or - the moment He rose from the dead. No one addresses the contradictions, but they abhor Justification by Faith. Everyone has been absolved from sin, back to Adam, and all the people suffering in Hell are innocent, saved, absolved. For additional hyperbole, they number Hitler and other miscreants as saints in Hell, including the residents of Sodom and Gomorah. A favorite quotation of the younger Robert Preus came from Edward Preuss, writing that everyone is born forgiven of sin. The best clarification came from ELS Pastor Steve Brockdorf, who complained that a former member did not equate the Atonement with Justification. That is really key to the error today, shared joyfully by ELCA, that Jesus dying on the cross means everyone in the world is forgiven, without faith, without the Gospel, without the Means of Grace.

The other part of this dogma is Subjective Justification, almost entirely ignored, because it has become meaningless, a vestigial organ without a function. Officially, Subjective Justification means that one must make a decision to accept Objective Justification to be really justified. If that sounds bizarre, as it should, we only need to look at the influential theologian of Pietism, whose Calvinist translator used and explained the two terms. Walther liked the terms, which made their way to Germany and back, and the Synodical Conference adopted OJ and SJ, as they are called today.

Objective and Subjective Justification Are Calvinism

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[1] When WELS wanted to start a mission congregation in Michigan, without Lutheran in its name, they used the term ordinances. They hired anti-Lutheran pastors, who were Church Growth enthusiasts. Soon the “Lutheran” mission belonged to a non-Lutheran denomination and thanked the WELS pastors on their gloating website for establishing their congregation. WELS started a Catholic church the same way in Coral Springs, Florida.

[2] The ministerial use of reason seeks to understand the Scriptures as God speaking directly to us. The magisterial use of reason demands that we make the Word of God reasonable, relevant, and appealing.

[3] The American Humanist Association considers all religions to be dangerous and harmful to mankind. The similar Freedom From Religion foundation featured a former WELS Church Growth pastor.

[4] Masonic Lodge membership, which welcomed all religions, was common among the Lutheran congregations and pastors in Ohio and Pennsylvania. WELS, the LCMS, and the ELS have supported the Lodge while closing their eyes to this now fading phenomenon.

Cell groups. Programs. Management by Objectives. 

Woo Pig Souie! Fuller DMins for all.

Luther - On Good Government