Can Matt the Fatt Be Fixed in Time for His Re-Enthronement?

I enjoy seeing colorful costumes, but once a year is enough - on Halloween. Some children eat way too much candy.

The same Matt Harrison who put the fake Luther's Large Catechism on hold is now vilifying those who question its merit. His recent tirade suggests Matt is condemning Matt and using his staff to pile on. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:8

Attacking people in vague but menacing terms is common in the Synodical Conference hierarchy. Every target of venom is supposedly causing the ruin of the sect, even though the leaders have done a dandy job of wasting money, indulging their appetites, and destroying congregations by playing politics with the pastor.

His Holiness, the Synod President, is in an awkward place. He did not complete graduate work, not even from the notorious diploma mill called Concordia Seminary St. Louis, where a PhD has worth only in the LCMS. He was mostly a fund-raiser for his non-profit corporation, which he shut down once he was SP.

This new Large Catechism is a fake because it is only 15% Luther's Catechism. That should remind potential buyers of the so-called CPH Small Catechism, weighed down by 400 pages! of fluff, including sly efforts to promote Objective (Faithless) Justification.

CPH also created the windy dogmatics volumes, easily a match for the Braaten-Jenson fiasco, which ELCA disavowed while selling it. That may have been the model for Luther's Large Catechism.

Ye victims of Harrison's twisting in the wind, get a Large Catechism which is 100% Luther - or just open up the Book of Concord. Luther is the best Biblical teacher of all time.

And remember - this Synod President was a nobody who visited Herman Otten and sang a flattering ballad dedicated to Herman Otten. However, when Otten was close to dying, Matt the Fatt sang a vitriolic song in public, calling the kingmaker "a liar" and "crazy."

Get Your Apostate News! Beck Bible Proof of the Great Swindle

 The Beck Bible, sold by Christian News, is brought to you by Westcott and Hort, who conspired to replace the Majority Text with one of their own. CPH supported the Voelz Gospel of Mark monstrosity without a peep from Phil Hale. CPH supports Codex Vaticanus? 

 Alec Satin, the Lutheran Librarian, has published a free online copy The King James Version, inspired by the German and Greek student below. The book is intended to serve as a textbook on the topic of the New Testament text and the value of the King James Version and Majority Text.

Christina Jackson was an honors student in German and studied Greek at Augustana College.

I looked up the ending of Mark's Gospel to review the wording of Mark 16:9-20, the Resurrection of Christ removed by Count Tischendorf, Westcott-Hort, and all the liberal apostates. The source for this removal? - Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. Sinaiticus was "discovered" by Tischendorf, though it had no previous history there. Vaticanus was promoted by Tischendorf, though it had no certain dates. The two bound volumes had no descendants, but we are expected to agree they are the "oldest and best" when they disagree with each other.

I was going to go through the Beck Bible, Otten's money machine, and look for the classic missing verses removed by the demonic labors of Tischendorf, Westcott, and Hort. But lo, I did not need my reference books. The famous omissions, like Acts 8:37, are clearly noted in the footnotes with the excuse that the "oldest and best" sources omitted them.

The omissions deal with the divinity of Christ and faith in Him - just a co-inky-dink.

Heretics erase rather than add, because it is almost impossible to match the original style with new words. Besides, what the heretics hated most of all was - and is - the divinity of Christ and faith in Him.

The Majority Text is almost 100% in agreement, five thousand examples. Like all written works, there are examples of sleepiness, sloppiness, and our inherent ability to replace the right word with a wrong word. Long ago, Christina was riding with relatives who were arguing whether they were 19 or 90 kilometers away from home. Just like the English version, the words are difficult to get across while yelling.

With thousands of examples, it is easy to determine what the original says. Westcott and Hort were anti-Christian looney-tunes, so they spent 10 years secretly promoting their Greek New Testament, which even omits the Son of God from Mark 1:1. The KJV Revision dopes did not go with that, but they offered their slavish devotion to the rest of the errors introduced by the pair.

The KJV Revision of 1881 was so bad that the men in charge could not figure a way to fix it.

I ordered piles of books about this era and text criticism of the New Testament. Here is the laugh - after all is said, the current Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament is the Westcott-Hort GNT, only 150 years later. 

Kurt Aland liked to say that his version was the Standard Text of the GNT. In fact, it is a snip, clip, and glue job from here, there, everywhere, a slight revision of the secretive and blasphemous Westcott-Hort. I have and use

1. the Majority (Stephanus) Greek New Testament, 
2. the Nestle-Aland, and 
3. the Westcott-Hort. 

So Otten liked to portray himself as a persecuted conservative, trying to revive the liberal LCMS. But he was always selling and promoting the Beck Bible, which was no better than the RSV from the National Council of (Marxist) Churches.

Pastor Phil Hale - lacking academic credentials - is promoting and selling Beck Bibles. Look at the footnotes! - all the verses removed by the genius of Westcott-Hort and other apostates. 

Otten liked to "sell to both sides of the issue" - his words. That is why he supported the Medieval Roman Catholicism of one group, the Southern Babtists, and anyone who graduated from a Missouri Seminary. The Kokomo Statements filled many issues of Christian News, without enlightening anyone.

Outraged blog reader: "But didn't Otten condemn the Church Growth Movement via Marquart's essay? and your Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure?" Yes, and he sold Valleskey's odious Fuller-saturated We Believe, Therefore We Speak.

Valleskey is a typical book-burner. He denies going to Fuller Seminary, but also admits going there. He cannot abide anyone teaching Lutheran, Biblical doctrine, but there are few of those left in WELS. He and his buddies have won, and they have ruined what was left of a hard-drinking, womanizing, cross-dressing sect. 

 The publishing tradition continues with Phil Hale - loving every confession of faith except Luther's.

Matt the Fatt's Sect Is Growing Very Lean - This From 2017. Where Have All the Church Growths Gone? Long Time Passing...

 

 Waldo Werning ran around the LCMS, WELS, and ELS selling Church Growth potions. He admitted going to Fuller Seminary, then denied it, went nuts when I challenged him and quoted his admission and the date he told me. 

In 1971, the LCMS had a membership of 2,772,648. By 2010, that number was about 2,270,921, a drop of about 500,000 people. Since their peak in the late 1950s, child baptisms are down 70 percent and adult converts are down 47 percent. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

By Joe Isenhower Jr. (joe.isenhower@lcms.org)

Athough LCMS congregation members having more children might be one factor in reversing the 45-plus-years membership decline in the Synod, it’s certainly not the only one.

LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison makes that clear in his message for readers of the Synod’s March Journal of Lutheran Mission after a December special edition of that electronic magazine included two independent studies about the Synod and the demographics behind the Synodwide membership declines. The March issue will be available by mid-March at lcms.org/journal-of-lutheran-mission.

Noting that he is “amazed” by the “Synod rumor mill” to the effect that he finds “the answer to our decline of numbers in the LCMS is to have more babies,” Harrison responds in the March Journal.

 “As I have repeatedly stated,” Harrison writes for that edition, “I doubt very much that any significant change in the childrearing habits of LCMS members will occur or greatly affect future numbers.

“That said,” he continues, “let me be clear that the Bible does say a lot about families and children, and it’s high time we open our Bibles and have a fresh look at it.”

Harrison begins his latest Journal message with a word of thanks “that so many of you” decided to access the December online edition — with more than 10,000 views, as of Feb. 9.

The two extensive demographic reports covered in the December issue were conducted by Dr. George Hawley, assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and Dr. Ryan MacPherson, professor of History at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn.

About the findings

In that December issue, Harrison provides six bulleted points concerning Hawley’s and MacPherson’s reports.  They are summarized as follows:

• “This demographic decline is not only an LCMS problem.”
• “The retention of baptized and confirmed youth is a key area on which to focus.”
• “The [Synod’s] persistent, long-term decline manifests itself both in a massive decrease in child baptisms … and a smaller but still significant decrease in adult converts.”
• “The number of child baptisms and adult converts have decreased together in a remarkably similar pattern.”
• “Thus, there is no wedge that can be driven between openness to life (family size) and sharing life (evangelism).
• “These reports don’t only share difficult data; they also point out what the Synod does well and what strengths we can build on. … The key here is to build a strong Lutheran self-identity among the membership.”

Synod’s response

For the March edition, Harrison notes six “important foci that must be taken seriously and acted upon by our pastors, laity, congregations, districts and the Synod.” He adds that many in those groups “are deeply involved in this kind of work already.”

Those points of focus — with comments about them from Harrison — are:

• Evangelism and outreach. “Synod’s new personal witnessing program, Every One His Witness, is heating up. Our evangelism expert, the Rev. Mark Wood, is coming and going, training people all across the Synod!” Since January 2016, 18 Every One His Witness workshops have been conducted, with 10 others scheduled through mid-April. (For more information, visit lcms.org/witness-outreach.)
• Re-invigorating congregations. “We’ve produced re:Vitality for congregations to have a good look at themselves and move to a better strategic position for outreach to the community.” Since January 2016, 30 “Connect to Disciple” workshops — the first module in the re:Viality program — have been conducted (lcms.org/revitalization).
• Healthy workers. “We must all concentrate on making sure our pastors and church workers are forgiven, healthy, supported and engaged in the work of their vocations.”
• Intentional outreach to immigrant populations. “The LCMS may be overwhelmingly Anglo, but that is changing. It’s changing slowly, but it is changing. The nations are at our doors. It’s time to help them find a way in. Our schools and universities are gems in this regard.”
• Church planting. “Synod’s Mission Field: USA church-planting manual and other resources are now available for districts and congregations to use in reaching out to the diverse communities of our nation” (lcms.org/churchplanting). Printed copies of the manual are available for $14.99 from Amazon.com.
• Resolution of internal issues that cause conflict. “We’ve come a long, long way. The 2016 [LCMS] convention was unbelievably calm. Resolutions on controverted issues passed overwhelmingly. We’ve got a long way to go. God grant us repentance, patience and fidelity.”

Why the studies?

The Rev. Heath Curtis, coordinator for Stewardship Ministry with the LCMS Office of National Mission (ONM), told Reporter via email that the ONM commissioned the demographic studies “to try to understand what’s going on” after listening to “oft-repeated” comments about “a decline in membership and an aging of the church’s membership” as his office was “helping Synod congregations with their stewardship needs.”

Curtis laid out “some of the insights … and questions raised” in the reports.

“The facts are stark,” he explained. “Christians make up a smaller and smaller proportion of the American population every year (down to just 71 percent this year). Every district of the LCMS has experienced numerical decline in the past decade — from a 4 percent decline in some places to over 25 percent in others. The counties where the Synod is strongest across the country also tend to be the counties where population is decreasing. The Synod is growing in membership in counties that are growing in population, but more slowly than the overall population increase. What’s going on? Will it get better? What does the future hold?”

Curtis — like Harrison — points out that many of these challenges facing the Synod are also true for other large church bodies in the nation.

And Curtis notes that “the reports also highlight the many strengths of the Synod in education, community building and outreach.”

Curtis offers a workshop — primarily for professional church workers and lay leaders — aimed at making the “large amount of informative and interesting data [in the reports] useful at the district, circuit and parish level.” 

For more information about the workshops, contact Curtis at heath.curtis@lcms.org.

Posted February 28, 2017

Herman Otten sold the Marquart critique of Church Growth and the editor promoted David Valleskey's adoration of Church Growth. 

***

Herman Otten Promoted the "Plastic Text" of the Bible - His Attack on Kloha. Will We Get Another Hale-Storm?The Beck Bible Is No Different, Undermining the Gospel of Mark

Pastor Herman Otten made a special case out of Kloha and the professor's fondness for the "plastic text" of the Bible. 

 Jeffrey Kloha was at the Concordia Seminary when Voelz published his1300 page, two-volume CPH mega-commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Voelz wrote that his outsized commentary was based on the dubious Codex Vaticanus.

Voelz - "The elephant gave birth and brought forth a mouse." Professor humor.

I remember Otten making a point about William F. Beck being such a scholar - Beck read the scholarly journals that no one else on the faculty opened (uncut pages - dead giveaway).

As I am pointing out in - 

The King James Version: 

Apostolic Texts, Precise Translation versus 

Fraudulent Texts and Heretical Translations - 

neither Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) nor Vaticanus (B) are reliable sources - and are most likely late forgeries. Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are not the "World's Oldest Bibles" as Tischendorf bragged. They are the World's Newest Fakes.

How is Beck in the category of advocating a plastic, flexible Bible text?

He footnoted the true ending of Mark with this - 

“The two oldest manuscripts [Vaticanus, Sinaiticus] lack Mark 16:9-20…but end at verse 8.” [GJ - quite the betrayal of the text]

Like the wily and dishonest plastic text scholars, Beck established doubts about the Empty Tomb with his pernicious footnote. Mark 16:9-20 is not really part of the Bible, they think, following the Westcott-Hort example.

 Tis always funny to see how KJV opponents fall for Pietism and Calvinism, while promoting Justification without Faith. 

NewEgg Sending New Camera and Tripod

Kilcrease, though born in a WELS parsonage, went to college and seminary at ELCA institutions. He got a PhD from the Jesuits. Below is his effort at the misnamed Teigen lectures. The ELS began by separating from the ELCA branch of Norwegians, so the irony is deep and ripe to have Jack show up and mark his territory.

I am working on several aspects of Vimeo live streaming, so we can keep up with the apostates.

1) A new video camera and tripod were ordered from NewEgg because the old one had a serial number in Roman numerals!

2) I tried a new camera, which was bad and sent it back, because it did not even fit on the tripod.

3) I discerned a way to take labor off the main computer doing the Vimeo live feed, which was also calling up the hymns. The laptop can do that.

4) I will also be talking to Vimeo about the two minute shutdowns, which have happened three times. With high tech stuff there are many things to troubleshoot. I find this a fun challenge.

5) The music could be affected by these issues, too.

 The Maier quotation above is from this Otten book. Herman did not listen - he played games with opposing sides so he could sell newspapers to both. CN posed as non-profit, but it was and is non-prophet.

Obituary and Commentary - Paul T. McCain, LCMS

Paul McCain, awards dinner, 2019

The Rev. Paul Timothy McCain, publisher and executive editor at Concordia Publishing House (CPH), died in Ballwin, Mo., on Nov. 25. He was 58.

McCain was born on Feb. 12, 1962, in Pensacola, Fla., to the Rev. Paul B. and Jean (Geipel) McCain and received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism on Feb. 25, 1962. He married Lynn Grunow in 1983. He graduated from Concordia University, River Forest, Ill., with a Bachelor of Arts (1984) in Biblical Languages and from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), with a Master of Divinity (1988) in Systematic Theology.

McCain served as assistant to Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) President Rev. Dr. A.L. Barry from 1992 until Barry’s death in March 2001, and as assistant to Interim Synod President Rev. Robert Kuhn until the Rev. Dr. Gerald Kieschnick’s installation as president in September 2001. Prior to becoming Barry’s assistant, McCain served as communications director for Iowa District East; pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (Artesian) in Waverly, Iowa; and guest instructor at CTSFW.

After his years assisting two Synod presidents, McCain served briefly as interim director of Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis. In January 2002, following the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Carter as CPH president and CEO, McCain began serving as interim CPH president and CEO, a position he held until the installation of Dr. Bruce Kintz on Oct. 31, 2006. In a statement released after McCain’s death, Kintz said the CPH family was “deeply saddened by the news of Rev. Paul T. McCain’s passing. He was a close friend and co-worker and will be sorely missed.”  

During his time at CPH, McCain was general editor of Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, A Reader’s Edition and also played pivotal roles in the publication of Lutheran Service Book, The Lutheran Study Bible and Treasury of Daily Prayer. He was a frequent guest on KFUO and other programs and podcasts and the author of numerous articles. As word of his death spread across the Synod on Thanksgiving Day, the Rev. Todd Wilken, host of the radio program “Issues, Etc.,” credited McCain for putting the Book of Concord “back into the hands of the laity. For that, and for all the other gifts God gave through Paul, every confessional Lutheran should give thanks today.”

The Rev. Robert Bugbee, former president of Lutheran Church—Canada, said, “My beloved friend, Paul McCain, was a source of support, not only to Missouri Synod people, but also to us within the Synod’s wider family. I will always treasure the brotherly encouragement he provided in my early days as the leader of a partner church. I trust God to use the many publications Paul made possible like seeds going into the ground … to bring forth a harvest to life everlasting! The sharp pain we feel at losing him is just the measure of how much he came to mean during the years the Lord shared him with us.”

In a statement shared widely on social media, LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison wrote, “Our Lord Jesus has called to Himself our brother and fellow servant in Christ … to await the blessed resurrection unto life everlasting. … The Lord blessed Paul with a passionate zeal for the Gospel as taught in the Scriptures and confessed in the Book of Concord. Join us in prayer for Paul’s wife and children, and his CPH family. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

McCain is survived by his mother, Jean; his wife, Lynn; his children Paul Jerome (Kirsten) McCain, John Augustine McCain and Mary Ann McCain; and his granddaughter, Anna Jean McCain.

A funeral service is set for 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where he is lying in state, with a private burial following the service. The service will be livestreamed. Viewing will begin one hour before the service at 12 p.m. in the chapel narthex. Clergy are invited to process.

In order to comply with COVID guidelines, anyone who plans to attend the funeral or to participate in the procession will be asked to sign up. Additional details about the service sign-up and livestream are forthcoming and will be provided here when available. Please check back for more information. 

Posted Nov. 27, 2020

***

GJ

Commentary

Paul McCain introduced himself to me in 1989, when he and Jay Webber were graduating from Concordia, Ft. Wayne. Soon he was writing letters to me about how much he enjoyed my articles against Church Growth, published in Christian News. Webber said the same thing, though neither one published anything (as far as I know) against that passion and addiction in LCMS and WELS.

Soon I was in St. Louis - and so was McCain. He and Otten worked together to get DP Al Barry's materials in Christian News before anyone else got them. He was working at the Purple Palace for Al Barry (!) and I was tent-making. He and Otten both told me how they worked together on the project to elect Al Barry. I imagine something similar happened with Matt Harrison, since Harrison sang an ode to Otten in New Haven and became Synod President. When Otten was dying, Harrison sang a song (to others) about Otten being crazy.

Otten and McCain denied working together secretly. McCain gave me a tour of the Purple Palace and said he would be fired if anyone knew he was talking to Otten (who called while we were in the palatial office of the Synod President).

McCain earned the nickname "McNasty" and demanded that anyone who offended him had to apologize. I remember Wilken saying he would not apologize to McCain and then apologizing to him - both times on Facebook. I do not think McCain was one bit nastier than Bohlmann, Barry, Harrison, Mischke, Gurgle, or Mirthless Mark Schroeder, DP Robert Mueller, DP John Seifert, Paul Kuske, Floyd Luther Stolzenburg, and a few dozen Church Growth experts.

I was Facebook friends with Who's Who in Church Growth Waldo Werning. His last message to me was, "Are you staying out of trouble?" I wrote back, "No."

The litmus test must be one about doctrine, not popularity. What does he believe, teach, and confess?

Plagiarism of Roman Catholic Propaganda

McCain betrayed his office by dishonestly promoting the Roman Catholic Church, through his own blog, Cyberbrethren, and also with the help of clueless Jack Cascione, yet another Ft. Wayne graduate.

As I revealed time after time, McCain copied and pasted verbatim the various saint fantasies of The Catholic Encyclopedia on his blog, omitting the dead give-aways like "nilhil obstat" and "imprimatur" with Catholic officials' names. His less-than-discerning readers thanked him for his great posts. He modestly published their comments and responded favorably to their praise. He also copied the material of his friends' blogs and barely hinted at their origins.

Jack Cascione, guardian of the galaxy, kept publishing McCain's posts by letting him write something like "Today is St. Hoodwink's Day. We pray..." and there followed a link to McCain's plagiarism from The Catholic Encyclopedia. His CPH boss unfriended me and refused to do anything for a long time. Cascione kept publishing McCain until repeated posts from me seemed to reach his gallery.

One plagiarism example is posted here. The man who demanded apologies never apologized for his plagiarism of Catholic and Lutheran sources, but we all know the LCMS is infallible.

Forgiveness without Faith - Objective Justification

Even worse - if that is possible - was McCain's posturing about Lutheran doctrine while repudiating Justification by Faith.

As one LCMS couple wrote, and I paraphrase, "How can someone go through seminary and not know we are justified by faith? OJ is a tangle of contradictions."

 Is it ironic or logical that Edward Preuss, a Concordia professor, became a Roman Catholic editor after publishing his essay, which LCMS OJists adore? And also - Robert Preus repudiated OJ in his last book, Justification and Rome.

Relax - Calvinist News Does Not Mention Justification by Faith, the Means of Grace, Or the Efficacy of the Word in the New Issue. Not Even OJ or SJ!

 The American Calvin: CFW Walther - coming soon.

This morning, I was recalling John W. Montgomery's observation that Christian News was like the Policeman's Gazette, always promising an article that would prompt a heart attack. Dr. Dr. Dr. Montgomery clutched his chest dramatically.

The cub editor of the periodical has turned CN into Good Ol' Daze, a bit nostalgic, as threatening as My Weekly Reader.

What were his qualifications? Hale has eight children and OJ, just like Otten.

The current issue does not mention Justification by Faith, the Means of Grace, the efficacy of the Word, Objective Justification, or Subjective Justification.

That is like gardening without tools. Someone could plant some things with bare hands, but it would take a long time.

Terminology is a tool, words to define, support, reject.

LCMS Synod President - " A Poorly Catechized Sunday School Student"

 Harrison's pals proudly posted a video of him struggling to look cool. They wrote out the juvenile lyrics of his slanderous song against the man he once courted to become SP - Herman Otten, pastor of a LCMS congregation.

Hello Pastor Jackson:

The January 2020 issue of the LCMS monthly newsletter (the Lutheran Witness) included an article written by synod President Matthew Harrison titled “It all rests on Christ”. You can find it linked on the LCMS site here:

https://blogs.lcms.org/2020/it-all-rests-on-christ/

Under a section titled “Paid in full”, President Harrison goes all-in on a simple-minded version of Objective Justification:

Paid in full

"Because of verses like Rom. 4:25, which states, Christ “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification,” and 2 Cor. 5:19, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,” we have spoken of an “objective” justification. That is, a divine judgment was rendered in the death and resurrection of Christ. All sins of the whole world have been paid for, and the price was Christ’s bloody death then and there. The world has been “justified” according to the New Testament. This means that the most important thing in Christianity is not how I feel about Jesus, or came to believe in Jesus, or my experience of Jesus (though all these things are certainly not unimportant). Christianity is not ultimately or primarily focused on me, my deeds, my experience, my sincerity. All things focused on me will falter and are imperfect (Rom. 7).

The big thing is the cross and resurrection. Everything for my salvation, and the salvation of the whole world, Jesus accomplished in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. One of my seminary professors explained it this way: If someone puts a million dollars into a bank account for you and you simply refuse to believe it, and thus gain no benefit from it, it does not mean that the money’s not there! Faith is simply recognizing the facts, and the bank card is the means to get at the fortune! The world has been reconciled to God in Christ, believe it or not. That makes our task of sharing the Gospel simple. It’s about telling folks they’re broke (repent!), but they’ve got a treasure with their name on it. “Here! It’s yours! It’s done! Believe it!” If by the power of the Word they believe, they have immediate access (Eph. 2:8–9; Acts 13:48) to complete forgiveness and peace of conscience. If by the stubbornness of their wretched human will and the will of the devil they refuse, they walk away from the treasure (Acts 13:46)."

My reaction is that Jesus never said anything like this, St. Paul never said anything like this, the Lutheran Church Fathers never said anything like this.

At one time in Lutheran Church history, it was a singular honor for a man to be selected as a seminary president or synod president, based on his scholarship and theological understanding. The paragraphs from President Harrison's article read like something written by a poorly catechized Sunday School student, not a synod president.

Dr. Martin Luther wrote the following, in his explanation of the third article of the Apostle's Creed, about justification:

"I believe that I cannot be my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith.

In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers."

My response to President Harrison: People are not saved by “accepting God's offer of forgiveness”. As Dr Luther wrote, salvation is God's work alone. “ I believe that I cannot be my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith”.

My response to President Harrison: The entire world has not been reconciled to God in Christ, God has not forgiven the sins of all people. As Dr Luther wrote, God forgives the sins of believers only. “In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers”.

I admired Matthew Harrison for his work with world relief missions prior to his becoming president of the LCMS and his steadfast support for the pro-life cause. My regard for him was diminished when I read a report on your blog a year or so ago of a video in which President Harrison aped the role of a blues singer and mocked elderly Herman Otten. I can't fathom how a man who is the head of the second largest Lutheran denomination in the US could believe that this is appropriate behavior for someone in his position. His support for universal justification without regard to faith further diminishes my regard for him.   

***

 They are harder to get rid of than Angela Merkel or Thrivent salesmen.

GJ -  The author of this email is correct. Harrison's simpleton recital of Objective Justification is anti-Biblical and contrary to Luther and the Book of Concord. Matt the Fatt begins with the Atonement and twists that into everyone in the world being absolved and saved without the Gospel Word, without faith, without the Means of Grace.

Poor Matt, he cites Romans 4:25 without Romans 4:24. Has he read Romans 4 at all? He is clearly not "apt to teach."

Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed [counted] to him [Abraham] for righteousness.

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;


25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

The verse the Apostle Paul cited in Romans 4 is this -

Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.

By confusing terms, as he does with 2 Corinthians, Harrison apes Bishop Stephan in making the Atonement universal salvation without faith, a sad commentary on his LCMS education.

 The genius generation of Baby Boomers imagines that they they have built and corrected the Gospel once delivered to the New Testament, taught in brilliant clarity in the Reformation. So why do they despise Luther - and Melanchthon even more?

Cheeseheads Lose Superbowl Slot

 The Packers will not go to the Superbowl.
Shouldn't they be the Meatheads - given the industry that gave them their name?

 The hypocrisy award goes to Matt the Fatt, for personal attacks against the editor who helped him become Synod President. Yes, they proudly published these photos and the timeless lyrics, which read like something written during detention period at a parochial school. Matt and Paul the Plagiarist McCain - birds of a feather do flock together.

Somehow, Matt's recent photos do not match his published ones. The latest ones add about 40 pounds.