Walther's higher education training was limited to undergraduate school. CFS got his doctrine from a syphilitic Pietist. Valleskey got his training at Fuller Seminary, which he confessed to others but denied to the innocent. Both men are crypto-Universalists, insisting on universal forgiveness without faith.
That is not a minor matter, but the ultimate issue. The Chief Article of Christianity is Justification by Faith, not universal forgiveness at the cross, at the empty tomb, or the Garden of Eden after its corruption. Their confusion reveals their ignorance, because they cannot start with one false and ridiculous premise while leaving the Biblical truths alone.
People should take a close look at seminaries today, because they are quickly becoming expensive relics with increasing overhead and decreasing attendance. They teach the Bible, but which one? There is only one good Bible around - that is the King James Version. Lutherans should blush to think the Luther Bible and KJV are alike in their translations - in both cases prepared by faithful theological geniuses.
The KJV is the only Bible the Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) hate, despise, and reject. Some tolerate the New KJV, but that oddity changes as often as the weather report. None of the money-makers cite the KJV parallels in footnotes, because that would make their magic act fade away - the way a verse or phrase or word is there in one printing and gone in the next.
The greatest miracle ever is the Revised Standard Version dropping Isaiah 7:14 replacing "virgin" with "young woman" down in the footnote - "or virgin" back up again in 7:14 only to have the young woman re-instated later in the text and "or virgin" footnoted once again.
Do not worry - the seminaries today are not going to damage sons and daughters with knowledge of the Bible, so they just go with downhill flow. Biblical languages were taught long ago at Gettysburg Seminary, where almost all the courses were Hebrew, Greek, and homiletics, with some German added. Biblical knowledge is not appreciated or taught today, fad theology is consumed because it is so simple for the simple-minded.
The fads vary somewhat. The LCMS-ELS fosters Roman Catholic worship, which is why Robert Preus wrote against it 30 years ago, Justification and Rome. The problem is worse, entering micro-synods with self-appointed micro-bishops. Must we wait for suffragen bishops next?
The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) - grovel before Fuller Seminary and its copycats, begging for a chance to taste and test the Church Growth Principles so highly regarded (by Fuller).
Those who donate to their seminaries should first remember that Fuller Seminary is at the front of the line for loot. Thrivent Insurance is portrayed as a bonus for the Lutherans, but their niggling contributions are aimed at those synodicals with big salaries and small brains. The insurance company wants a direct line on all the members of the Big Five, a captive audience, easy targets because everything is Thrivent, Thrivent, Thrivent. Fuller speaks their language, which is business, business, business.
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| Thrivent pro-abortion? Of course. What else comes from Thrivent dollars? |
Corrupt Bibles
Imagine this - all the current New Testament texts are based upon two fraudulent items - Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. The evidence against both is staggering, but the radicals took over and gloated to have all the new paraphrased (not translated) Bibles suit their hatred of the Scriptures. Their logic is simple. The majority of all Greek New Testament texts are harmonious. That is why they are called the Traditional or Majority or Apostolic texts. The radicals are allergic to the divinity of Christ and faith in Him, so they ridicule the Majority.
The new theologians after WWII were hotter than Georgia asphalt for anything that belittled the Christian Faith. Karl Barth and Paul Tillich also set records in marital infidelity - so much the better for apostates and their seminary students. Everything traditional was questioned and ridiculed. Anyone can say, "Scholars are divided," which was old before the work of Thomas Aquinas began. Augustine published a book of his retractions, based on his change of doctrine over the years. When will seminary presidents apologize for teaching Church Growth and Bad Bogus Bibles?
The question remains, "What do we honor as the divine text? One that changes every few months?" Each modern effort must be bad, because they have to change their edition every few years or months. That is good for renewing the copyright and bank accounts.
Look around your synod. What is it like after 50 years, roughly the span of the toxic Church Growth Movement?
- Has church become entertainment, with balding boomers strumming their guitars?
- Have the leaders become "excited" over the next effort to shrink the parish?
- Have they searched for vision, methods, and treats during the service?
- Are the synodicals hiding their red-tape Titanic Purple Palace, Love Shack, and Little School on the Prairie?
- ELCA started with a Chicago high rise for a big booming synod. What is left?
Their CPAs must be groaning for the One Thing Needful - the Gospel itself - because nothing else has worked, except driving the faithful away. I have been arguing against these synodical trends for 30 years, only to have clergy howl with rage and say all kinds of nasty things.
