Our Visitor Came with Her Parents And Discovered Ice Cream in Our Freezer

 Andrea loves ice cream!

 Andrea enjoyed Sassy's soft coat, and Sassy is thinking...cookie for me?

SP Schroeder - "It's All I Can Do To Keep from Smiling!"

 Here is your Together vimeo.

WELS Has Another Can't Win Evangelism Program 

 Here is the latest way to avoid the efficacy of the Word, Justification by Faith, the Means of Grace.

kurt nitz

Senior Consultant

Kurt Nitz is a senior consultant who specializes in facilitating the Krapper Institute rapid change model for developing organizational excellence as well as the culture-shaping process to create healthy, high performance cultures.

 

Kurt delights in helping build truly cohesive teams that strive every day to live the values to which they aspire. He believes that leadership has the privilege and responsibility to cast a shadow and nurture a culture that supports every individual performing at their personal best. He has also experienced first-hand how moving the needle even a small bit in this way can lead to fantastic results.

 

Kurt has facilitated culture-shaping experiential learning sessions in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia. His experience includes coaching leaders to enhance their personal leadership and culture-shaping skills as well as training in-house facilitators. Kurt’s personal experience in applying cultural principles and making teams even more effective allows him to help companies transform and realize previously unachievable business results.

 

Kurt’s professional career began in the US Navy where he served in the submarine force. His experience after the Navy has been focused in high tech manufacturing, including silicon wafers, touchscreens, and solar materials. Kurt has held leadership roles in engineering, R&D, quality, and operations functions, and also led manufacturing plants as a general manager. His manufacturing career includes overseas assignments in Italy.

 

He received his bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering (summa cum laude) from Michigan Tech and completed additional nuclear engineering studies in the US Navy’s nuclear training pipeline.

 

Kurt and his wife live in Rockford, Michigan. His interests include craft beer, disc golf, music (listening and performing) and all things related to Michigan Wolverine football and basketball.

***

GJ - Some suggestions - 

1. Get rid of the sacrament-denying Universalism of the NIV, which is now the official WELS Bible.
2. Stop making cross-dressing part of the WELS school system.
3. End hazing.
4. Restore The Lutheran Hymnal instead of treating it like herpes.
5. Preach original sermons about faith in Jesus Christ, instead of copying the squalid work of others.
6. Break with Thrivent and its chief beneficiary - ELCA.
7. Read more Ichabod.

Intercepted Rough Draft of Schroeder's Conference of Presidents Memo

 

 "Who hacked this draft? I just wrote it in fun."

Conference of Presidents meets

The Conference of Presidents (COP) met for its deluxe spring meeting April 7-9. It was the first farce-to-farce meeting of the COP since last September.

The COP spent a good deal of time discussing the 136 pastoral vacancies and approximately 140 teacher/staff minister vacancies. The number of vacancies has grown since last year at this time. For the benefit of both congregations and workers, the COP limits the number of calls a called worker can receive in one year (except for our relatives) and also requires a time period between calls (to let our relatives check out the parsonages). With so many congregations requesting call lists, and with the limited number of workers eligible to receive a call, the district presidents have faced growing challenges in providing call lists to congregations. Much of the COP discussion regarding this issue centered around steps that can be taken to alleviate this problem and the importance of continued recruitment, hazing, and training of called workers.

The COP discussed the Equality Act, a bill before Congress that could potentially place serious restrictions on our ability to preach and teach the Word of God faithfully. A letter was e-mailed to all called workers and to lay members on the synod’s e-mail list alerting them to this potential threat and encouraging WELS members to exercise their rights as Christian citizens to contact their representatives. The COP will be monitoring this law and responding to government action when necessary. Why make a law? Our students are already changing genders at Martin Luther College.

With the assignment of graduates at Martin Luther College and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary approaching, the COP began discussing plans and procedures for assignment meetings. Assignments of teachers and staff ministers will be announced at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., on May 15; assignment of pastors and vicars will take place the following week at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. Remember the example of "Party in the MLC." Video evidence is ignored.

The COP continues to work on a restatement of the synod’s doctrinal statement on the biblical roles of man and woman. A draft of this statement was distributed in 2020 and has undergone continuing work to bring it into a final form. There is no timetable for the completion of this work, since the COP desires to “do it right” rather than “do it quickly.” We have been doing it right, changing our positions, for decades. Professor Brug, "There is nothing in the Bible against women's ordination."

The COP plans to develop a pastoral brief addressing Christian freedom and pastoral practices. We do our briefs right!

The COP extended divine calls to the following: Rev. John Hering was called to serve as a congregational counselor as part of the effort of the Commission on Congregational Counseling to help congregations evaluate and improve their ministries; Rev. Robert Krueger and Rev. Jonathan Kehren were called to serve as Thrivent Annuity Salesmen   Ministry of Christian Giving counselors.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder

"We all got calls, so don't sweat it."

One Basic Concept from The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God

The papacy has been far more dangerous than people imagine. Wait, this is ELCA?
Besides the Antichrist, there are also his helpful associates, the Antichrists.

Sometimes I read the same topic several times in one book then repeat the topic in similar books.

The New Testament text is the object of many kinds of attacks. 

The basic divide is this. The Traditional Text has dominated since the earliest days, another reason for calling it the Majority Text, the one used for the Luther Bible and the KJV.

There is also a corrupted text, represented by Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, though they disagree on many readings.

Hort loathed the Traditional Text and thought "Mary religion" was better than "Jesus religion." Hort and his buddy Wescott worked with the KJV Revision team to replace the Traditional Text with their own, even though that was against their orders in making a slight revision of the KJV in English.

Although most people rejected their nefarious work at the time, the Wescott Hort version started catching on in the 1930s and is now called by the Nestle-Aland Greek NT merchants - "The Standard Version." But the standard version is truly a book that came down from heaven their study.

So the Greek New Testament chosen comes down to the Majority Text, a vast number of manuscripts in agreement, or one derived from and preserved by the Vatican.

Vatican - RSV, NIV, ESV, TEV, NASB, etc

Majority - Waldensian, Luther's Bible, the KJV

A Reader Asks Some Questions about Reconciliation, OJ and SJ. Copied with Permission But No Name

 The is the translator's note, using Objective Justification and Subjective Justification (neither term is found in the Bible, but the terms have been watered, fertilized, and tended by the LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC). Note well - Woods was a Calvinist. His English translation was a major work in American Evangelical circles for 90 years and is still in print.

The Email

Dear Pastor Jackson,

I read part of the Knapp text to see if he promoted OJ.  I cannot find it.  Even the Woods note doesn't support UOJ as it is today.  Perhaps it was just the terms that were appropriated.  Yet, even one commentator has said that SJ is every bit as objective as OJ, showing the terms to be highly inappropriate.

I still struggle with the term "reconcile" to understand its meaning.  It is so easily equated to atonement, yet the confessions use it in the sense of justification repeatedly.  I thought Lenski might be right in describing an objective reconciliation and a subjective one, but now I am entertaining the notion that he is wrong, and reconciliation is always justification.

Blessings,

+++

GJ - I have the book in English, discovered and sent by Bruce Christian, D.D. The wording in the graphic is verbatim from my copy.

Some points to remember: The original book was in German, the lectures of one of the last Pietists at Halle University. The university rapidly became rationalistic after its founding. The book was translated into English by one of the best known leaders of Protestantism at the time, Leonard Woods, a Calvinist, which naturally helped its status. The English version was already in print before the syphilitic bishop (Martin Stephan) and his cult landed in New Orleans. According to a WELS essay, Walther loved the terms, which had been picked up and used in Germany. Walter taught, as he was guided by Stephan, that when Christ rose from the dead, the entire world was absolved of sin. Walther taught this his entire career in America.

The Objective Justification term has also been presented as General Justification (the German meaning universal - each and every one), and The Justification of the Sinner (Edward Preuss), the name and content of his booklet as ambiguous as his life.

I see two sources for Objective Justification. One is Calvinism, which does not recognize the efficacy of the Word. The other is Pietism, which is anti-confessional and so easily molded in various ways. Some teach that Christ absolved the world when He died on the cross. Others emphasize the Rambach/Halle version that the world was absolved of all sin when Christ rose from the dead - abusing 1 Timothy 3:16.

This really comes down to using the Atonement as Justification, and I know one ELS pastor (Brockdorf) who is very persistent about this being true. They are not the same Biblical terms, as recognized by some of quotations provided by Robert Preus in Justification and Rome. Rolf Preus thinks we should dwell on all of his father's works, but not that one, Robert's last.

Lenski is hated by WELS for never allowing that people are forgiven without faith. However, he tried too hard in some places to reconcile OJ with Justification by Faith. A non-Biblical term cannot be harmonized with the Biblical term used so often and so clearly.

The Atonement - or the Reconciliation - is the Gospel, Isaiah 53, the Fifth Gospel.

I will be glad to add more later.

Fifty years of this claptrap would make any sect brain-dead. Imputing (counting) is used by Paul, echoing Genesis 15:6, as counting sins forgiven through faith in Christ.

Explanation for the "Cub Editor" of Christian News

 Jack Larson ...played the role of Clark Kent’s sidekick, Jimmy Olsen, the earnest, bumbling cub reporter on the 1950s television series “Adventures of Superman,” NY Times

+++

One reader was puzzled about the Christian News editor being called the Cub Editor of the aging tabloid. Generations have lost the original Superman TV show - Latin and Shakespeare - so the elderly must close the gap. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..." (Earl of Oxford, aka Shakespeare).

The bumbling editor of Christian News stays true to Otten's agenda - a blackout on anything supporting the Chief Article of the Christian Religion - Justification by Faith.

The OJ Stormtroopers do not realize it yet, but their wholesale silencing of Justification by Faith accentuates their cowardice and highlights the truth.

Cub Editor Hale thinks he is continuing the legacy of Christian News - and he is. Hale is pictured here with Calvin, who was heavily promoted by Otten for decades, always eager to capture the Reformed audience and wallets. The lower left features Knapp, the Halle University professor whose lectures translated into English were significant in spreading the terms Objective Justification and Subjective Justification. I hasten to add the the translator used those terms, but the note had the same effect as Spener riding the wave of popularity for Arndt.

 Hale's review states that the Scriptural path to Justification is "the wrong one."

+++

Here is Hale's Review with Commentary, Providentially Preserved by This Blog

Complete Review (ahem) by Pastor Philip Hale, Ft. Wayne Graduate, 

My Commentary Is Added in Blue. 

GJ - I wonder if Hale learned OJ at seminary, because Bishop James Rodham Heiser claims he had no knowledge of OJ until Rydecki was kicked out of WELS!

A Message from Pastor Hale

Justification, God’s declaration of sinful man to be righteous on account of Christ, has always been a central topic of Lutheranism. 

GJ - Factual error. Hale is using OJ language to impose his dogma on the Reformation. Like all the dishonest OJ salesmen, he is ambiguous in his choice of words. "Error loves ambiguities."

Justification through faith in Christ, as opposed to man’s works, was a stirring refrain of the Reformation. However, in the last century and a half there has been a new debate over the cause of man’s justification before God within Lutheran circles. 

GJ - So slippery! The Calvinist-Lutheran Huber began the debate soon after the Book of Concord, 1580. As failed PhD student Scaer admitted, one can go to Calvinists (as Robert Preus did) to shore up the sagging dykes of OJ.

It precedes the issue of faith versus works, portraying how Christ’s work activated and brought forgiveness to mankind. This is a needed doctrinal emphasis, since “faith” is often considered a worthy, active power meriting salvation within modern Christianity. This wrong view of faith within Protestantism has become just as dangerous to justification and prevalent as works-righteousness within the Roman church.

GJ - The only people who hold this perverted definition of faith are the OJ advocates, who use this straw man fallacy at every opportunity.

What is termed “objective justification,” that is, the basis for personal justification by faith, has divided modern Lutherans off and on at various times, but especially this decade. Put another way, objective justification is not another sort of justification apart from faith, but brackets off faith doctrinally to look at the foundation for justification – what brings about Christ’s righteousness that is applied to man. This world reconciliation is considered from God’s side, apart from man’s response. 

GJ - Hale makes clear he is not writing a book review but using a Scriptural book to restate his regurgitated Calvinist Enthusiasm. A book review deals with the author and with the content of the book, whether agreeing or disagreeing with the book. Book reviews are a great source of summaries about books we might want to read. They often provide a wealth of information from the book, perhaps a new theory, or taking a stand about a debate.

It highlights the objective power of the Gospel and the cause of the forgiveness of sins, regardless of whether one believes or disbelieves the Gospel of Christ preached in time. Objective justification, properly understood, does not deny that God declares sinners righteous in Christ through faith, but highlights that justification depends in no way on man or his faith, but solely on Christ Jesus. Indeed, it is this prior, existing righteousness that the reconciled God offers to the world, and which comes in the Gospel, upon which faith feeds and lives. 

GJ - Like Jay Webber and a host of Ft. Wayne graduates, Hale demonstrates that pompous declarations without Scriptural support are to be broadcast and savored, world without end, amen.

The increased emphasis on the objective side of justification is necessary because faith is actually a preeminent work for many Christians today that earns and deserves forgiveness from God, eclipsing entirely what Christ did in dying and rising from the dead. The teaching of objective justification preserves the universal character of the Gospel of forgiveness which Scripture presents.

GJ - Readers must have already forgotten the straw man fallacy, faith as defined by the clown David Scaer and his devoted groupies. So it is repeated for our enjoyment. Although OJ is not clearly defined - which would horrify most members and some pastors still under the influence - all terms remain vague.

In The Path to Understanding Justification, Gregory L. Jackson continues what seems to be his singular mission in life – that of trying to convince basically all of American Lutheranism that they have been wrong on justification for at least 150 years. 

GJ - This statement is so deceitful that I blush at Hale calling himself a Lutheran. OJ did not make a dent on LCMS or WELS for a long time. Their catechisms and official statements were Justification by Faith in the early days. I have proven that, thanks to the research of another person, in The Path To Understanding Justification. Walther's error in teaching an Easter absolution of the world (no Word, no Means of Grace, no faith) was not a winner, so he promoted the Calvinist Election without Faith to split the Synodical Conference and to make himself Pope. OJ is the radical, left-wing opposition to the Gospel, started by Calvinists, burnished by Pietists, and embraced by false teachers.

Though he once published in support of objective justification in an early writing (the first edition of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant), he is now convinced that it is the greatest error possible in doctrine today. 

GJ - Hale is simply wrong in this claim. I have never supported the actual meaning of OJ, but used the term in the first of three editions of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. I doubt whether Hale does much study, and this is proof. Like many, I was awakened by the buzzing and biting of the OJ fanatics, so I accumulated as many examples of definitions as I could. They are preserved verbatim, with citations, in Thy Strong Word.

According to Jackson, it bridges the conservative–liberal divide by including: the “ELCA,” “LCMS – Concordia Publishing House, Higher Things, both seminaries, Christian News,” “All the mainline, apostate denominations,” “The Evangelical Lutheran Synod [ELS],” “WELS,” “The Church of the Lutheran Confession [CLC]”, and “Francis Pieper and his acolytes” (8). Jackson is brutally direct, inflammatory, and takes his status as an “independent Lutheran” seriously.

GJ - This is the first direct reference to a book he claims to be reviewing. Notice that he avoids the Scriptural structure of the entire book in order to engage in ecstatic OJ-speak.

However, simply put, Jackson is wrong. His argument is actually not theological, but instead evolutionary. He traces the history of this supposed error (objective justification) through different historical periods and theological schools, as if it were a virus infecting people genetically within institutions. “The great and wise Pietists and Rationalists, even since Halle University’s F. Schleiermacher [1768–1834], have defined Justification as God declares the entire world forgiven and saved, apart from faith” (8). But even on the historical side, Jackson is in error.

Most conservative Lutheran churches in America have confessed that Christ’s righteousness avails for the world, since justification depends on His finished work, not the presence of faith in the individual. But the church bodies that denounced the Synodical Conference (the WELS and LCMS) on objective justification in the 19th and 20th centuries (such as the Augustana Synod, and later, the Iowa and Ohio synods) ended up merging into what eventually became the liberal ELCA. It was the doctrinally flimsy Lutheran churches that thought objective justification was offensive to reason and piety. Furthermore, there has even been a divergence in how this teaching is applied in the parties that hold that the world was absolved in our Lord when He rose from the dead. Since the early 19th century, specifically, several theologians at the WELS Wauwatosa seminary, certain elements of WELS and ELS have applied this teaching of world-forgiveness to specific individuals who are outside of Christ, that is, faith. The LCMS for the most part did not do so, but left this world-forgiveness generic, saying that the world as a whole, or unit, was absolved in Christ's resurrection, as Scripture does – not particular individuals outside of Christ (faith). So, not all who uphold the term or concept of “objective justification” fully agree. This 20th century development and the theological nuances of this issue are detailed much further in my 2019 book Aspects of Forgiveness: The Basis for Justification and its Modern Denial.

GJ - Now we begin to smell the pot-roast! Hale is promoting his books - it is Hale reviewing Hale!

The conflict over objective justification has been purposely made vague and confused by its deniers. The real argument is not over human words, as if we need perfect, heavenly terms to speak the truth of God. Instead, at the core of this debate is whether Christ’s finished redemptive work is the cause of the forgiveness applied in justification or faith in man activates Christ’s righteousness. The main issue has not been elucidated in The Path to Understanding Justification. It includes many Bible passages (even some in Greek), but does not honestly show what his opposition (all of Lutheranism) actually believes. Instead, Jackson chases lines of endless theological genealogy and casts odd insults without helping lead anyone to understanding.

GJ - The entire book is devoted to the Scriptural revelation of Justification by Faith, starting with Genesis 15:6 and clearly explained in Romans 4. Where does Hale even hint at these passages? Hale imagines Justification by Faith = OJ Denier! Have Paul, Augustine, Luther, and Chemnitz been warned about this newly created dogma?

What is the main issue, according to Jackson? He accuses most modern Lutherans of universalism – that all are saved, regardless of faith or belief. But this is not the position of those he attacks. He provides no citations or quotes to buttress his argument. 

 I have cited this many times, and Jon-Boy is a follower of Ft. Wayne flunkie Jay Webber.

In his mind, it is the inevitable logical conclusion. But Scripture’s words establish true Lutheran doctrine, not what we think a doctrine must lead to or imply. Surely over hundreds of years of this “error” and thousands of pastors being taught this he can quote one seemingly orthodox man who simply says that because of Christ’s righteousness being won for the entire world, all people are automatically saved by this world-forgiveness without faith. But he cannot seem to find in practice what he accuses so many of. 

GJ - I have published the information many times. Do some serious study instead of drooling over the complete works of Stephan's pimp and enforcer, CFW Walther.

Instead, like the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA), a small church body who has similarly aligned themselves against all of North American Lutheranism on justification, Jackson delights to single out Samuel Huber [1547–1624], a minor, long dead errorist, who is inconsequential to the real debate.

GJ - The man who brought Walther and other stooges to America was Martin Stephan, a remorseless sex offender who shared his syphilis with his wife, children, and young women in his cell groups. He taught them Halle Easter absolution -  OJ - yet Hale does not honor the real founder of the LCMS, Bishop Stephan.

Jackson’s foundational premise is flawed. He thinks “justification by faith,” as a slogan or summary formula, is the only way to talk about justification. A justification without mentioning faith must be a personal justification leading to salvation without faith, in his view. But justification in Scripture, according to its root, deals with righteousness. Objective justification is not the full picture of justification or some kind of blatant universalism. It merely highlights what the Gospel and Christ’s righteousness is, before faith and preaching come into the picture. It describes and upholds the universality of the Gospel, which is not dependent on whether man believes it. This is a very practical issue. If personal faith actually completes forgiveness, then the true Gospel must not (and cannot) be spoken to one who does not believe. If objective justification is denied, then the Gospel becomes a conditional statement demanding a work of faith: “If you believe, then you will be justified.” But the Gospel itself is unconditional forgiveness to the world, and though it is only personally received in faith, it has been earned by Christ for the world. “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). The forgiveness of all sin for all mankind is complete and accomplished in Christ. This truth establishes the power and sufficiency of the Gospel to create the Church on earth.

GJ - As Carl Rogers would say, "You are really angry, aren't you?" Reading the book would really help because it is based on the Scriptural passages, not dogmatics notes from seminary.

We do not say Christ died for only some (the error of Calvinism), nor do we say our Lord assumed human flesh only for the elect. The critical issue in making the Gospel truly good news is: who was Christ raised for? Rom. 4:24-25 states that Christ “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” 

GJ - This should encourage readers to study Romans 4 as a unit, not as an OJ source, and find its summary in Romans 5:1-2.

There is a biblical parallel between Christ’s death and His resurrection. His death was for the world, as also, in some sense, was His rising from the dead. While Rom. 4 and many other parts of Scripture connect justification to faith, it does not always do so. This is because justification is only received in faith, but it does not depend on faith. It is complete and whole in Christ. The real issue is Christ’s work, the source of the righteousness received in personal justification. Is it complete, and forgiveness truly valid for all mankind, because of what Christ did in the flesh? Or is the free forgiveness of sins something that is illusionary, until the ingredient of faith is added and makes what Christ did in His body truly effective? The latter is the error of much of general Protestantism, implying that forgiveness is something that is brought about or completed by the act of faith. Personal faith becomes more important than Christ. “Objective justification” is not a necessary term, but it has been helpfully used by many to highlight the source of our righteousness and the power inherent in the Gospel.

 These words have a familiar ring in Hale.

The proof text for this teaching is 2 Cor. 5: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (18-21). God has reconciled the world in its entirety through Christ, meaning its status has changed to God the Father. But that does not mean every sinner is ok and does not need to hear the Gospel or repent – quite the contrary. Because of Christ’s completed work of appeasing God’s wrath and His resurrection to life in mankind’s stead, the Gospel must go out to all, so that Christ’s presently available righteousness is applied to individuals. This happens through “the message of reconciliation,” which is a universal message of forgiveness to the whole world. The preaching of Christ does not bring about forgiveness in believers when faith is added, since the Gospel itself is the actual forgiveness of sins offered to all humanity.

GJ - The Atonement (reconciliation) is the Gospel from Isaiah 53. Hale is one more OJ zombie who merges the Atonement with Justification to create - voila! - OJ!

The Gospel is empowered and valid because of what Christ has already done in defeating sin and rising to life for all. It does not depend on whether a particular hearer accepts the message or not. But Jackson says we cannot take a few individual Bible verses too seriously: “The sectarian approach is to isolate a verse, part of a verse, or a few verses to shape their little group, to the exclusion of the rest of the Scriptures” (43). Much like ELDoNA, Jackson cannot fit this universal nature of the Gospel into his rational scheme. Since it does not fit logically, it must be the error of universalism. But true Lutherans uphold the unity of God’s Word in all its verses. We must hold together, and not assume a contradiction, the twin truths that a person is justified by Christ in faith and also the biblical truth that righteousness has come to mankind in Christ. This justification of the world is not outside of Christ, but comes in His Gospel. This confession of the objective nature of the Gospel allows forgiveness to be spoken to all, so that faith is created and sinners justified. It is the greatest comfort to know that the forgiveness of my sin does not depend on my faith or reaction to the Gospel, but Christ alone. It is because its power does not depend on man’s response, that it saves poor, wretched sinners who cannot stop sinning against their God on their own. This objective side of justification does not dull the need for sinners to actually hear the Gospel, nor the demand to stop sinning and repent of deadly sins.

 Hale's entire argument is building and correcting Justification by Faith, far more dangerous than honest repudiation.

While “justification by faith” can be understood correctly, as a simplistic slogan it is not the full picture of justification because it does not even mention Christ! And our Lord who died, and did not stay dead, is the source of all justification. Forgiveness is not won or created within the believer when faith comes, instead the sinner is made alive by the Spirit in the external Word, so that he believes in the objective righteousness of Christ that exists for the entire world. Forgiveness, Christ’s righteousness, and real absolution for all sinners must precede faith in that same forgiveness. The failure of Jackson to address the real concerns of the proponents of objective justification makes his writing most unprofitable and The Path to Understanding Justification a path not worth taking.

GJ - Hale has proven once again that the merger of Atonement and Justification means faith in world absolution not faith in Christ, recklessly ruining the meaning of the Atonement and Justification by Faith.

Writings from the desk of Pastor Philip Hale

Basic Outline of The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love The Word of God

The approximate plans for The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Love the Word of God include:

Part One

• Basics of the Bible (Efficacy of the Word, Inerrancy, etc)
• The Gospel in the Books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms
• Abraham in the New Testament
• Apologetics

Part Two - The History of the Bible

• The Old Testament, Hebrew and Greek
• The Greek Christian Byzantine Empire
• The Ottoman Empire and the Fall of Constantinople
• The Renaissance

Part Three - the Reformation Translators

• Waldensians
• Erasmus
• Luther
• Tyndale

Part Four - The King James Version

• English Bibles Inadequate
• The Call for One English Bible
• The KJV Translators
• The KJV Today and Bad Excuses
• The KJV Family of Translations

Part Five - Bible Apostates Take Over - Dishonest Text Criticism Precedes Doctrinal Corruption

•  Tischendorf
• Wescott and Hort
• Kurt Aland - The "Standard Edition" (Hort)
• The Ending of Mark Dumped

 Their prejudicial and irrational editing changed the New Testament.

Draft - From the Loss of Greek to the Renaissance in Europe. The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God

The Emperor Constantine, "Equal to the Apostles:"
he convoked the Council of Nicea, near his home base, which gave us the Nicene Creed.

 

The Septuagint and the Subsequent Loss of Greek

            One of the greatest achievements of Biblical versions came from the need of Jews to have the Old Testament studied a common language. The name Septuagint is often represented by the Roman numeral LXX for 70. No one knows exactly when it was translated or the exact dates. The translation probably began around 285 BC, so it was available not only to Jews but to those who knew Greek.

            The glory of Greece was far gone when the Son was born of the Virgin Mary. However, the language remained in all territories conquered by Alexander and ruled by his generals afterwards. Rome got into peace-making, often called occupation, when they were called in to settle the constant fighting in the Holy Land, around 60 BC. For a time, people teaching the Bible claimed the New Testament was written in Aramaic, that Jesus taught in Aramaic. No one has found this proposed Aramaic New Testament, a theory which ignores how useless a local idiom might be - contrasted to the language used around the civilized world, Koine Greek, or common Greek. They did not use the same style of Greek as Homer did centuries earlier but the simplified Greek of conversation, letters, and commerce.

(Hat tip, Bruce Christian D.D.)

            Jesus was born in the pagan Roman Empire, seemingly at the peak of its size, power, and grandeur. But the decline had started and rushed to a conclusion a few centuries later, the Western Roman empire conquered by outsiders. However, the Eastern Roman Empire began with the Emperor Constantine Christianizing its lands, which lasted a more than 1100 years, 306 – 1453 AD. The Fall of Rome led to the fragments of the Western Roman Empire – Europe – adopting Latin Bibles while the Eastern Roman Empire - called Byzantium after its capital city - preserved Greek, Greek literature, and Greek culture with Christianity the main religious force.

            Constantine became Emperor of Rome in 306. He was enough of a Christian to create a new capital at Byzantium, a small town ideally placed for trade between the West and Asia.[1] He wanted a Christian capital and enticed Roman families to move to his new home, which he dubbed the New Rome.[2] As a trading city for jade and silk, the city became known as Constantinople. Vast wealth accumulated and enemies were defeated in their attacks on the city. In spite of a long and glorious history, from growth to decline and defeat, historians have given little thought to the Byzantine Empire. As a result, most people think the Roman Empire collapsed around 400 AD, but that was only the European part. While Europe seemed divided into little fiefdoms and duchies, developing new languages, Byzantium preserved the Greek language, Greek art, and the Greek manuscripts. The tragedy of Constanople’s fall is directly connected to the Renaissance in Europe, when Greek scholars and manuscripts made their way into Europe as they escaped.

The Ottoman Empire

            After the prophet Mohammed died, in 632 AD, his enemies rose up to remove his influence from Arabia. Instead, his followers countered and wiped out all active opposition.

The Byzantine Empire was protected against invasion until the growth of the Ottoman Empire in the 1300s. Byzantium did not have a warlike culture, but the Muslims were active in conquest. By 1453, the Byzantine Empire had been whittled down to Constantinople alone, and it fell on May 29^th. The last emperor of Constantinople, who died fighting, was named Constantine, just as the last emperor of Rome was named Romulus and died fighting in 476, which was considered the end of the Roman Empire.

Constantinople became Istanbul by combining the Greek words for “into the city.”[3] The great and golden metropolis was simply called “The City,” just as New York City is today. A lawyer who worked in New York said to us, “I can do my work in the suburbs, so I seldom have to go into the City.” He added, “That is how we tell newcomers from old hands. New York is simply The City.”

The fall of Constantinople was accompanied by Greek scholars and artists fleeing to Europe with their treasures, which initiated the Renaissance. Ancient Greek culture was admired and copied in many ways, and the Greek New Testament came to replace the Vulgate. Thus the end of the two empires, Rome and Byzantine, mark the beginning and end of the Middle Ages.

            The fall of Rome facilitated the Church in governing Europe, with its common language – Latin – and its network of bishops and priests. The struggle began, not the first, but the most effective, the Gospel versus the Antichrist.

 

 

 

           

 

           

           

 

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[1] Scholars are divided about how sincere his faith was. He named himself Equal to the Apostles, but his actions did not always reflect that title.

[2] Empires after Rome have sought to be the New Rome, first the Byzantine, then the Holy Roman Empire, Russia with its Caesars or Tsars, and Germany as the Third Empire – Rome, Holy Roman, and Nazi. However, the Byzantine was the longest surviving and remains the most ignored by historians.

[3] εις την Πόλιν

Jubilate - The Third Sunday after Easter, 2021. A Pilgrim and a Stranger.

Norma A. Boeckler Christian Art Books

The video for the Jubilate service is linked here.

Jubilate, The Third Sunday after Easter, 2020

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

https://video.ibm.com/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10AM Central Daylight Time

Note - the hymn lyrics are linked to the Bethany Lutheran Hymn Blog on the hymn number; the tune is linked on the hymn's name. 

The Hymn #586     A Pilgrim and a Stranger - Gerhardt

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Make a joyful noise (Jubilate) unto God, all ye lands: sing forth the honor of His name; make His praise glorious.

Psalm. Say unto God, How terrible art Thou in Thy works: through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Almighty God, who showest to them that be in error the light of Thy truth to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness, grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual  

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. The Lord hath sent redemption unto His people. Hallelujah!

V. It behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead: and thus to enter into His glory. Hallelujah!

     

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Sermon Hymn #288      Lord Help Us Ever To Retain - Loy Translation

Pilgrims and Strangers, For a Little While

Communion Hymn #651    Be Still My Soul

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #464        Blest Be the Tie That Binds   

  

Prayers and Announcements

• Treatment and recovery - Christina Jackson. Recovery - Mary and Lori Howell.
• Prayers for Alec's brother and another brother.
• Our DEP Trump and the military justice system. 
• The Anderson family is visiting and should arrive, d.v., later today.

                

  Norma A. Boeckler Christian Art Books

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Lord God, heavenly Father, who of Thy fatherly goodness dost suffer Thy children to come under Thy chastening rod here on earth, that we may be like unto Thine only-begotten Son in suffering and hereafter in glory: We beseech Thee, comfort us in temptations and afflictions by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not fall into despair, but that we may continually trust in Thy Son's promise, that our trials will endure but a little while, and will then be followed by eternal joy; that we thus, in patient hope, may overcome all evil, and at last obtain eternal salvation, through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

KJV 1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

KJV John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Luther’s Sermon on the Gospel Lesson

Luther’s Second Sermon on the Gospel Lesson

Pilgrims and Strangers, For a Little While

Introduction

We do not discuss Peter's letters as much as Paul's, but Peter was very important and his letters are at the top of Luther's list for consideration. Peter was given a three-fold absolution by the risen Lord, when they had been fishing as if they were not commissioned to be apostles. That truly human response - to make sure they were ok by going back to work - was subtly challenged by Jesus. When they all got to shore with their fish (food first, work later), they found the Lord had already prepared a meal.

We have so many invented ideas in the church from fable-makers, but this one is overlooked. Jesus demonstrated to the apostles that He could take care of them. In other words, trust in God's grace instead of ignoring previous examples of His miracles.

That does not mean that fruit, meat, and bread would fall from the skies into their laps, but that wherever they went, God would provide. 

This letter was written by Peter when he was in Rome. Nero had started fires when he blamed on the Christians. A savage persecution was building, and Peter would be captured and put to death. His letters should be read as the inspired writing of a prominent leader facing death and eternal life. 

The writings of the first generation were sent out, copied, and re-copied for posterity. This seems haphazard by our standards, but the New Testament was kept alive and circulating by those who valued its content. Persecution only spread the Gospel faster because surviving Christians moved on to safer areas and took their copies with them.

KJV 1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 

This powerful phrase - pilgrims and strangers - comes from Psalm 39:12 - 

12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner (pilgrim), as all my fathers were.

This would have been remembered by most, because the Psalms are so significant in worship. Much later, after the Reformation, Gerhardt wrote a hymn based on the same passages, Psalm 39 and 1 Peter 2. He was certainly a pilgrim, forced out of his congregation in Berlin, barely staying alive, losing most of his family, and finally having a call - in a congregation that treated him badly.

So here was Peter, expecting his own death, in the capital city of a ruthless pagan empire, where his religion was being blamed on the fires. What better scapegoats - the Christians. The greatest empire of the world versus a small group of believers being killed and chased out. But Rome lost, fell into total disarray, and Christianity grew, preserving the Gospel in the Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium.

The Byzantine Texts

I will be writing about this in The Bible Book. The Byzantine Empire began (as a separate entity) almost 300 years later, thanks to Constantine, who wanted his capital to be Christian, not pagan. This Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire lasted 1100 years until the Ottoman Empire defeated it.

Byzantium was not only Christian, but Greek. We have around 5,000 Greek manuscripts, and almost all of them are the Majority or Traditional or Received Text. Those are the names used for this group of New Testament texts. But Wescott and Hort decided that two and only two texts would be used as guides, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. Why? Because Hort "hated" the Traditional Text. This was done secretly and dishonestly, but their example stuck.

All your precious NIV, ESV, RSV, TEV Bibles are based on Horton's hate.

Abstain from Fleshly Lusts

Peter, facing death, knew how seductive Rome was. We should know that from our society, where there are "37 genders" and the only sin is taking the Bible seriously. Pagan religion, child sacrifice, and ritual prostitution all go together. Some people joined many cults in the Roman Empire to make sure they had the right one.  The were somewhat like our J. D. Sallinger, who rejected the Judasim of his rabbi father and had a new Eastern religion every month or so.

12 Having your conversation (conduct) honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

This is not stretching a point. If the Romans were told that Christians were criminals, their conduct would tell the Romans the falsity of the charge. Visitation is more simply expressed as the "day of your examination." There will come a time when, no matter how they have been treated, the Christians' good works will cause people to glorify God. In fact, their peaceful death in the stadiums stunned the pagan Romans who expected them to run from beasts and scream in terror. The calm of Christians praying as they died shook the pagans and they began converting. Their slaves carried the Gospel in their hearts and conversations, and so did the converted thieves and prostitutions. The Gospel moved from the bottom up.

13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 

We do not always enjoy laws or the ways they are enforced. When the Romans gave up their republic and submitted to emperors, citizens no longer had the rights they once enjoyed. Christians had to submit because rebellion would do them no good and would cause much harm - providing an excuse for emperors like Nero. The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius would make any gossip columnist today blush.

15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 

It is easy to have neighbors who are suspicious of the minority person, the one who is not a Mormon, or the one who is not a Mormon and is a Christian minister. There are many other examples like that, and the majority look upon the minority with suspicion. Some people have an automatic hatred of clergy because they have known clergy who did not live up to the calling. Some people are even suspicious of those who belong to the same synod but come from "another state" just as pastors speak of those who graduated from "the other seminary." It is a combination of sad and hilarious. 

The wise advice from Peter is silence foolishness with self-disciplined behavior and respect for authority.

Police in my classes told me how to respond to their fellow officers - "Yes, sir, yes sir," three bags full. It works wonders compared to insolent talk and actions. When I avoided a ticket going to class, the students asked, "Do you use your Jedi thought control talk?" I ask online students to respond in their messages to me "in a kindly, sensitive, and gentle way." And they do. 

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward (harsh). 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

Perhaps not many fit the category of servants, but when working for others it is very much like that. Corporations can be heartless, thankless, and really cold-hearted at times. Some bosses in particular are difficult to endure, but they come and go like the weather. I saw so many immediate supervisors that when one was bad, I thought, "Wait a minute, just wait and fit in as much as possible." One accused me in writing of leaving my class early, giving the date. I wrote back, "The school was not open that day."

20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

Sometimes we have it coming to us, so we should be bragging. The ending reminds us that putting up with rebukes for doing what is right - that is pleasing to God. 

For a Little While

The Gospel and Epistle go well together, which is not always true. The Gospel uses a little Greek word mikron - a little while - seven times, to remind us that everything is just for a little while.

John 16:16 μικρον και ου θεωρειτε με και παλιν μικρον και οψεσθε με οτι εγω υπαγω προς τον πατερα

When we grow impatient about anything annoying, uncomfortable, painful, or obnoxious, it is just for a little while. If we just note that this is true, then we will also treasure every peaceful, loving, enjoyable moment - because time rushes on.

Shakespeare (Oxford) call them "mewing and puking babes" a good description of the good and the unpleasant, but we miss those babies, then toddlers, then young children as the days rush by.

There are many losses in man's time, but none in God's time. We move from one state to another as Christian believers, so we have great lasting treasures if they are spiritual. The more we value the eternal, the less we dote on the temporary.