Faux-Lutherans claim that the entire world has already been declared innocent, free of all sin. An ELS president/professor declared, "The people in Hell are forgiven - they just don't know it." Some call the dogma "the guiltfree saints in Hell."
I remember Wayne Mueller, the Christian News hero, declaring at the WELS youth convention - Evangelism is easy, just tell everyone "You are forgiven." The Wisconsin cult has been shrinking ever since, just like Missouri, ELCA, and the tiny CLC (sic).
The Holy Spirit and the Word
Genesis 1 is Trinitarian. God the Father commands - God the Son executes the command. That is clear from the language - "Let there be Light" which means the Son/Logos will do that - "And there was Light" before the sun and stars were created. (See John 1 for verification.)
Genesis 1 also reveals the Holy Spirit hovering over Creation, in Genesis 1 and John 1. The Spirit is never without the Word, and the Word is never without the Spirit. The Holy Trinity does not include synod presidents, though they insist on their royal attitude.
Bishop Stephan (ordained by Walther), Archbishop Walther, and many others have insisted on their own false teaching, banishing anyone who questioned them. The Four Waltherian cults (LCMS-ELS-WELS-CLC-sic) have carried out the worst, abused the remainder, and bathed in the smelling salts of Enthusiasm.
Simple Yet Complex
KJV John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Verse 9
Jesus Himself identified sin as unbelief, which means that access to grace (Romans 5:1-2) is faith in Jesus Christ. Strange, because the Five Apostate Synod Cults consider money as access to grace. No, really. They slobber over any rich person or gubmint entity that will give them money to keep up their luxuries - like the $500,000+ synod president's little cottage.
Each cult has its Captain Ahab who insists on his (or her) prerogatives. He and his drones make sure no one suggests a worthwhile, Scriptural concept.
The result is a bevvy of Enthusiasts from one fad or another, as appealing as stale Wonder Bread. Their $15 million gyms and crumbling colleges/seminaries are stranded on rocky shoals because they refuse the one thing needful - the Word of God, which needs nothing more than the best Bible (KJV), the best teachers and preachers.
The bigger the ship, the greater the disaster. Ask ELCA or the Waltherian Four.
