Everyone got all excited about the new century, known affectionately as Y2K, or 2001 for the young'uns. I was hired to do some work with Cisco, a short-term project because they canned their own product, a home router.
The change introduced me to teaching at Glendale Community College, connecting me with the University of Phoenix and giving me local courses on computers, writing, and the humanities. That led me into online teaching for UOP and then GCU. UOP was eventually merged into the State of Utah system, shrinking faster than wool socks in a dryer. GCU's physical campus grew exponentially and also online.
Our country has gone into the gutter with dishonesty, deception, fraud, and crime. I listened to the speeches last night, a continuous roar of dishonesty and self-destruction. I wondered, "Do they really want to lead with the destruction of human life, as if that was virtue? Evil is good, and whatever is noble must be covered with their slime.
The best we can do is to rely on and absorb the two great treasures which are easily obtained and yet are scorned and vilified by the Great Ones.
The King James Version
The treasures are first the King James Bible, which used the martyr William Tyndale and 50 great English scholars to produce a clear and precise masterpiece -
The Old Testament, ancient and preserved in infallible Hebrew.
The New Testament, early and precise in Koine Greek.
Martin Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz -
The Reformation
By chance, if there is such a thing, Luther became a Biblical professor, translated the Bible with the help of other genius translators, and battled the Church of Rome. His life was always on the line.
Our leaders in Scriptural studies, the key Reformation teachers, are: Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.
YouTube
Clyde Manshreck, one of Roland Bainton's students at Yale, wrote an excellent book, Melanchthon, The Quiet Reformer. I first became interested in Melanchthon at Augustana (Augsburg Confession) College.
1. Melanchthon and Luther lived to be 63 years old. Melanchthon (1497-1560). Luther (1483-1546).
2. They had opposite personalities and both were language geniuses. They greatly admired each other and also had their conflicts. Philip gave the sermon at Luther's funeral.
3. The Walther Four - LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) - like to brag about being Confessionals, and Orthodox. However, they despise the Augsburg Confession, which is the standard across the world. Their so-called Orthodoxy is largely from Pietism and Calvinism.
4. One clear statement of doctrinal agreement on Justification is found in the graphic above.
5. Melanchthon was denied a priceless library from his great-uncle John Reuchlin when he sided with the Reformation. Reuchlin, like Erasmus, supported the Reformation a bit but returned to the Roman Catholics.
6. Melanchthon had far more students than Luther because of their age difference. Philip was greatly admired across Europe and could have accepted an appointment as the greatest scholar in any kingdom.
7. Philip's contributions to the Book of Concord, 1580, were:
The Augsburg Confession, 1530 - with notes from Luther at a safe castle.
The Apology (Defense) of the Augsburg Confession.
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
Martin Chemnitz edited the Book of Concord, widely admired, seldom studied or taught. He learned from Luther and Melanchthon and enjoyed the combination of polemics (Luther), humor (Luther and Melanchthon), and an enormous knowledge of theological literature.
Luther, was born in 1483 and died in 1546. He favored the Small Catechism and the Galatians commentaries (shorter and longer).
1. He was well trained could have become a leading figure.
2. The storm threatened his life (sword cut) and he pleaded for mercy, became an Augustine monk and priest.
3. He was urged to earn a doctorate in Biblical studies, which slowly dissolved his Medieval training and Roman Catholic rituals.
4. He kept what was Biblical and discarded papal dogma over time.
5. The printing press started its own revolution, in all languages. Profitable - for others.
6. He argued from the Bible and emphasized the sermon as central to Christian growth.
Melanchthon was born in 1497 and died in 1560. He was the author/editor of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology. He also wrote the Treatise on the Pope.
1. Melanchthon was considered the greatest language scholar after Erasmus.
2. His character was just as irenic as Luther's was polemical.
3. The two worked closely together, which is clear with Melanchthon's work in the Book of Concord.
Chemnitz was born in 1522 and died in 1586. He was the senior editor of the Book of Concord, 1580.
1. He studied under Luther and Melanchthon.
2. Oddly, he cast horoscopes for a wealthy man, which gave him access to all the ancient Christian authors, invaluable for his battles with Rome and the sects.
3. After Melanchthon's death, Chemnitz began to pull the Lutherans (Evangelicals) together.
4. Chemnitz was widely ignored and probably still is, but his books are available in English.
5. He is most famous for the Book of Concord and the Examination of the Council of Trent.
Your unkind accusations betray the fact
that you are NOT a Christian. I have answered you
with direct quotes from the Holy Bible which you
persistently dismiss, again showing you are NOT a
Christian but are rather a person who mocks and
rejects God's Holy Word!
The entire world is forgiven IN CHRIST,
since God does NOT IMPUTE THEIR TRESPASSES unto them
(in Christ). Outside of Christ, that is, without
God-given faith in Christ, NO human being personally
receives the forgiveness of sins and salvation! That
is what the BIBLE TEACHES! If you have a problem
with it, take it up with the LORD who gave us His
Word!
I'll continue to pray that you
sincerely repent of your sins and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that you surrender your
thoughts to His thoughts as put forth in Holy
Scripture.
God's Word says: "Seek ye the
LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while
he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon
him; and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
(Isaiah 55:6-9)
In obedience to God's command, I
now drop this discussion, for I cannot cast the
pearls of God before swine.
+++
Dear Pastor,
You must answer
my question!!! Does objective justification teach that God has already
justified the whole world without faith in Christ? The answer is
obvious, but you refuse to answer it because you are a deceptive and
dishonest pastor.
You teach God has already
justified the whole world without and prior to faith. In contrast I
teach and hold to justification by faith in Christ as taught by Luther,
Chemnitz, and Christ Himself. This is why you eagerly rush to
mercilessly condemn me to hell as a non Christian. You seek to destroy
my faith in Christ and my baptism in the name of God the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. I am baptized and clothed in the righteousness of Christ
in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I am Christian
because God has clothed me in the righteousness of Christ in my baptism
in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In contrast you
teach the whole world is in Christ and clothed in the righteousness of
Christ without faith and without baptism. I am in Christ and clothed in
the righteousness of Christ by my baptism in the name of God the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. Here in my baptism God gives me faith, makes me
His child, and clothes me in the righteousness of Christ in the name of
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
"For ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Gal 3:26,27
I
hold to this passage. In contrast you teach the whole world is already
in Christ and clothed in the righteousness of Christ without faith in
Christ and without baptism into Christ. You teach against faith in
Christ and against baptism into Christ. You teach another gospel not
found in the Word of God. You have fallen from grace. You are
completely unworthy of being a pastor.
"I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another ; but there be
some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But
though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As I said
before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Gal 1:6-9
Pastor, you clearly teach another gospel not found in the Word of God.
God's Word teaches justification by faith in Christ. In contrast you
teach that God has already justified the whole world without faith in
Christ. The Word of God teaches we are in Christ and clothed in the
righteousness of Christ in our baptism into Christ. In contrast you
preach the whole world is already in Christ and already clothed in the
righteousness of Christ without faith in Christ and without Baptism into
Christ.
Pastor, you are completely
defeated. Your precious objective justification without faith in Christ
lies in a faithless heap. It is time for you to admit your defeat and
cease your hostilities against justification by faith in Christ, and
against baptism into Christ. Repent. Stop condemning true Christians who
hold to justification by faith and who cling to their baptism into
Christ in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
In Christ,
Tom
On Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at 12:00:47 PM CST, Pastor wrote:
Dear Tom,
Your
unkind accusations betray the fact that you are NOT a Christian. I have
answered you with direct quotes from the Holy Bible which you
persistently dismiss, again showing you are NOT a Christian but are
rather a person who mocks and rejects God's Holy Word!
The
entire world is forgiven IN CHRIST, since God does NOT IMPUTE THEIR
TRESPASSES unto them (in Christ). Outside of Christ, that is, without
God-given faith in Christ, NO human being personally receives the
forgiveness of sins and salvation! That is what the BIBLE TEACHES! If
you have a problem with it, take it up with the LORD who gave us His
Word!
I'll
continue to pray that you sincerely repent of your sins and believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you surrender your thoughts to His
thoughts as put forth in Holy Scripture.
God's Word says: "Seek
ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:6-9)
In obedience to God's command, I now drop this discussion, for I cannot cast the pearls of God before swine.
The Chief Article in the entire Christian doctrine is Justification by Faith, as taught by Luther, Melanchthon, and Martin Chemnitz. Both Martins earned their doctorates and Melanchthon deserved one, but he was judged too young looking. Walther earned a bachelor's degree only but demanded that everyone obey his Pietistic notions and insights from Martin Stephan, STD.
Calling those who agree with "the entire Christian doctrine" are called "deniers" by Joe Krohn. That means the Apostle Paul was a "denier."
Note that the ludicrous faith-denying F. Pieper gang cut out Romans 4:24 in the sanctified Brief Statement 1932 - so they could chant, as Rolf Preus always did - "raised again for our justification, raised again for our justification." Apparently he used Wite-Out in his studies.
This works wonders for Romans 4:24. Ask Rolf!
KJV Romans 4:24 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.
KJV Romans 5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Now we know the LQ story, in just a few words.
"The problem with the deniers is their view of hoi polloi. Try to pin them down and you get obfuscation and diversion. The Greek is quite plain in the objective sense. I would expect to see something along the lines of "oligoi" if OJ were not true. Christ stood in mankind's place and justice was served against sin, death and the devil in God's court."
Joe Krohn, senior member of the LutherQueasies, Bible illiterate
The cover of Matt Harrison's ghosted campaign book needed some editing, so I helped to make it a bit more honest. Stephan, a Pietist, gave his STD to young women, which Walther worked into a riot to depose the bishop and steal his land, money, books, and personal items. Forcing Stephan across the river was a felony, kidnapping, and so were the thefts. Walther's circle was comprised of Pietists who followed Stephan and kept the secrets.
WELS, ELS, and LCMS claim to have a quia subscription to the Book of Concord, but their allegiance really belongs to Understanding Church Growth. They mourn Peter Drucker!
The professors ridiculed the Apostolic KJV into the archives, using ridicule, while selling the Bad Bibles for their own profit - RSV, NRSV, NIV, ESV, Beck.
Those who teach and confess the Book of Concord, using the KJV, are shunned, excommunicated, or - sob - forced to study the works of Waldo Vermin and Peter Drucker.
A few would rather have the truth of the Scriptures instead of cushy jobs, a fat retirement, and a building named after them.
The Reformation began with little more than the Apostles, but they also knew the power of God's Word.
Even the Great Commission is poisoned by their crypto-Unitarian slogans. Jesus commissioned the disciples to teach all nationsthrough the Means of Grace, not recruit members for the Praise Band.
I found an author who is studied even less than Luther - Philip Melanchthon. The rabid Objective Faithless Justification dolts hate Melanchthon even more than they hate Luther. The major authors of the German Reformation are Luther, Melanchthon and the genius who studied under both men - Martin Chemnitz.
1. As pants the hart for cooling streams When heated in the chase, So longs my soul, O God, for Thee And Thy refreshing grace.
2. For Thee, my God, the living God, My thirsty soul doth pine; Oh, when shall I behold Thy face, Thou Majesty Divine?
3. Why restless, why cast down, my soul? \
Hope still; and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him who is thy God,
Thy health's eternal Spring.
4. To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, The God whom we adore, Be glory as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.
Hymn #525 from The Lutheran Hymnal
This began with thoughts about food - craving foods we know are useless, even harmful. As one medical person said yesterday, "Check just the fresh produce and frozen vegetables at the giant grocery-snacks-beverage store - shopping all done."
When certain vegetables and fruits are tried instead of the fatty, salty, sugary prepared foods, craving for the new/old foods is lacking. New incentives help appetites - fresh, delicious, removing bad ingredients, losing weight, feeling better, and startling the doctor with the blood panel results.
When lots of frozen uncooked vegetables and fresh fruits are eaten, the desire for prepared meals fades, albeit with flashes of junk-food days. I can carve a pineapple in seconds and have a blast of vitamin C, manganese, and other vitamins, with delicious flavor and fiber. Fresh food is medicine, but most pharmaceutical medicines do not really work, though they may address some symptoms.
Flipping the food diet from fat-sugar-salt to vegetables-fruits-nuts-greens will create a craving for valuable but low-cost foods.
The Congregation
We can set aside the worth of denominations. They devour the income of widows and orphans, grow fat and sluggish with feeding themselves at expensive restaurants, and impose programs invented and recycled by apostates and blasphemers.
Is the desired outcome of a congregation "happy campers"? I heard a Church Growth expert say that repeatedly at a costly conference at St. Paul, German Village, Columbus, Ohio. I do not know if the non-Lutheran speaker has been arrested yet - so many Fuller graduates are - but the congregation went from large to almost gone in a few decades of hard work spreading false doctrine.
I doubt whether a pack of balding, pot-bellied Boomers will provide church music that addresses the craving of individuals for peace, forgiveness, joy, and love. In fact, I am still waiting for a Baptist or Presbyterian hymn about Holy Communion. Did I overlook a masterpiece?
Just as slowly starving people become listless and hollow-eyed, so the congregations have become lifeless, uninterested, noiselessly moving away. The leaders are trying to hide the horror they see in front of them, worse than losing the ice cream king to death and finding out his money solves nothing at all.
Something To Crave
The basics of the Christian Faith are simple:
The pan-Christian Bible - King James Version - this is the only one which is faithful to the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek - Apostolic - New Testament. Lutheran leaders should not only be ashamed but deprived of food, chased by dogs, driven out of town, and pelted with manure. The KJV is truly ecumenical while being precise and faithful.
The great teachers - Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz are enough for a lifetime and written for all of Christianity - not just a Midwestern abusive sect _________________ (fill in the blank).
The best hymnal - The Lutheran Hymnal. The apostate leaders have replaced the best hymnal with junkfood, often with their own awful "hymns."
We Obtain the Forgiveness of Sins Only by Faith in Christ
The confused Amen Corner of Concordia Seminary - Ft. Wayne says Melanchthon was an Arminian. No, not directly. They are too wily for that. But they do claim Justification by Faith is Arminian and by that they mean "Decision Theology." Therefore, their much-quoted quia subscription to the Book of Concord is agreement with Decision Theology.
Only an aging denizen of journals and dusty library aisles could straighten this out for everyone.
The Objective Justificationists really hate PhilipMelanchthon, because they have been trained to loathe him andJustification by Faith. The doctrinal attack-Yorkies snarl and yip when Philip's name or his teaching come up in conversation. Sassy and I met the real thing on one walk, where I used an elm walking stick to ward off nasty dogs. The two little sock-puppets came out of their yard today, yipping and menacing us. I held my stick high above my head and said in my Gandalf voice, "Go back to Mordor where you belong!" They retreated, snarling, but came back for more. I raised my arms again and said, even louder, and gesturing, "Go back! Go back!" They cowered and ran back.
Tonight I was reading the conclusion of the outline of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XII Penitence (drawn from the Tappert edition, Book of Concord, #178, page 211,) when I read this passage, which seemed to be about the modern confessors of JBFA and their opponents, the teachers of UOJ:
"If devout men will compare our teaching with the complicated discussions of our opponents, they will see that our opponents have neglected to teach the faith that justifies and consoles hearts. (178)"
Manschreck wrote about the Apology of the Augsburg Confession in Melanchthon: The Quiet Reformer: "He supported the evangelical doctrines and practices with scriptural references and diligently traced the origin and development of the opposing views to expose them as human, scholastic additions. He showed that the Lutheran practices were not innovations at all but in complete conformity with the ways of the primitive church. For all the polemic in the writing, it was also dignified and respectful. A sense of deep feeling permeated the entire book, as if Melanchthon had experienced everything about which he wrote. Justification by faith keyed the contents, for not only was this itself copiously treated, but every topic was inevitably brought back to this central doctrine. No other document of the time affords a better view of the theology of the Reformation nor a better explanation of the Augsburg Confession than the Apology of Melanchthon." p. 212 [underlining added for the synodicals]
Free online version of The Apology of the Augsburg Confession can be downloaded here... soon.
And no, Luther did not disagree with Melanchthon about the Chief Article.
Roland Bainton earned his PhD at Yale and never left, adding to its fame in research and publishing church history.
In contrast, we have these clowns teaching - and no one objecting within their abusive sects - that Luther taught their favorite, their only dogma - Objective Justification.
Why was nobody laughing or throwing vegetables at Webber and Buchholz for falsely claiming Objective Justification is Biblical and exactly what Luther taught? That is how dummified Lutherdom is today. (Emmaus Debacle)
I corresponded with Roland Bainton, the author of Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, and gathered short biographies of him from his students, which is now in the Yale University Library.
Clyde L. Manschrek studied church history with Bainton at Yale.
Recently I bought this for myself (again) and bought another copy for a church member. Manschreck thanked Bainton for his guidance in scholarship. Bainton trained people for 50 years, and we heard him lecture at Yale - including Mrs. I and LI.
Many laity have caught onto the ruse, because toxic Objective Justification has been hidden from them, like deadly heavy metals hidden in a beverage. "Dear, this coffee tastes bitter...tinny...funny...strange." One doting wife brought more of the same into the hospital while her husband was being treated for unusual symptoms. How thoughtful of her! And he got worse in the hospital.
I have observed many OJ salesmen announcing with pious rage, "He denies Objective Justification!" They never say, as they should, "We loathe Justification by Faith." In fact, that term is seldom mentioned at all. Bivens and Zarling cleverly used the descriptions for the Chief Article and applied them to Objective Justification. Do they practice to deceive in any other areas of the Faith?
Most realize, from basic reading of the Bible, that Paul teaches Justification by Faith. I have argued that for decades, perhaps being too lax in overlooking the poor education offered by LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic). There is a reason parochial is synonymous with backward, ignorant, poorly educated, narrow-minded. Someone raised in Wisconsin and forced into WELS parochial schools, from Kindergarten up, will learn hazing methods, the glories of Holy Mother WELS, and little more. The children of one family, all WELS graduates, did not know what the Book of Concord was.
What does the outside world say about this topic?
Manschreck wrote about the Apology of the Augsburg Confession in Melanchthon: The Quiet Reformer: "He supported the evangelical doctrines and practices with scriptural references and diligently traced the origin and development of the opposing views to expose them as human, scholastic additions. He showed that the Lutheran practices were not innovations at all but in complete conformity with the ways of the primitive church. For all the polemic in the writing, it was also dignified and respectful. A sense of deep feeling permeated the entire book, as if Melanchthon had experienced everything about which he wrote. Justification by faith keyed the contents, for not only was this itself copiously treated, but every topic was inevitably brought back to this central doctrine. No other document of the time affords a better view of the theology of the Reformation nor a better explanation of the Augsburg Confession than the Apology of Melanchthon." p. 212 [underlining added for the synodicals]
And no, Luther did not disagree with Melanchthon about the Chief Article. He had the greatest respect for Philip and realized the beneficial qualities of his associate. That anyone would connect Halle's OJ with Luther is a testament to the abysmal ignorance of the current leadership of those dying sects.
Harvard's Krister Stendahl called Nils A. Dahl, above, "the finest Biblical exegete in the world today". Dahl emphasized "the text!" and not theories, though he studied with all the famous scholars - Bultmann, Mowinkel, et al.
"By the doctrine of justification I mean the Pauline doctrine outlined in Romans 3:28: man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. In the letter to the Galatians the form is polemical and pointed whereas the letter to the Romans gives a more comprehensive, positive account intended to ward off misinterpretations."
Dahl, Studies in Paul, p. 95. [underlining added for the synodicals]
Those who try to portray their Objective Justification as the doctrine of the Bible and Reformation are fools or tricksters. The OJists do not quote or refer to actual scholarship because that would harm their pretensions. They add their unpublished efforts to the dunghill of Enthusiasm and crow, "Thus it has been and always will be."
We saw Jaroslav Pelikan, the senior editor of Luther's Works, every Sunday. He defined Luther's teaching as Justification by Faith.
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