Another Satisfied Reader Demands a Post

Ichabod – I’ve had it! I demand an apology! 

Are you still on this faith and belief kick?  Don't you know by now that since Christians have Christian baptism and Christ's Holy Supper to offer, that there is no need (anymore) of personal faith and belief?  How dare you trumpet these Scriptures (and Confessions) which speak about faith and belief? Don't you know that all those Scriptures are mere window dressing? Haven't you figured out by now that the only thing churches need to teach their youth is that Jesus loves them and that he has saved them?

These growing children don't need to be burdened with any guilt for continued lying to their parents and bully behavior on the playground. No! Instead they need to be continually taught that Jesus has acquitted them from all this and that He is nothing but absolution for them! How do you expect them to grow up and be respectable church members who gamble, gossip and vote their pocketbooks for ungodly political leaders if you stain their consciences with this Law teaching that God hates sin and is angry with the sinner everyday? [1]

How dare you talk about all of this anti “universal ‘objective’ justification?” Do you really want these children and adults to develop guilt complexes over their sins against God, His Commandments and their fellowman? How dare you burden these souls who are eternally saved and secured by Christ's Atonement? How dare you prey upon these innocent souls and suggest that they do not have God’s gracious sovereign immunity from all their continued sins?

Ichabod - What is it with you, anyway that you must feel the need to assert that these isolated things such as “faith” and “belief” have anything to do with a Christian's right standing with God? Don't you know by now that faith and personal belief are impediments to genuine growth in churches? Haven’t you moved on from that 1500’s Luther personality who narrowly insisted that a soul is justified by God’s grace through faith alone? How in the world do you expect churches to grow with some of their older church members still insisting on some of these Neanderthal Scriptures and doctrines that expect Christians to fight the good fight of faith and to lay hold of eternal life? [2] Shame on you for expecting anything of church members other than to sit passively in their church pew inhaling the sweet declaration of universal objective justification mercies!

Ichabod - But, most of all, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for even mentioning the Holy Spirit - and going ape over allowing your reading audience to even become more familiar with His unseen presence! Don't you know that Christ promising His disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit was only to make them feel better about his soon departure? Don't you know that Christ never desired after His death and resurrection that the Holy Spirit receive any attention?  Don't you know that the Holy Spirit is only a vestigial spiritual organ which is unneeded in today's modern culture and that he is replaced by the objective universal absolution, forgiveness and sanctification that was concluded at Golgotha’s Cross?

Finally, shame on you again, - Ichabod. I demand an online posted apology from you! And, don’t you dare confuse your reading audience by quoting from Scripture or that “apology” stuff from that Confessional Book of Concord!

[1] Psalm 7:11 ;  Psalm 37:13 ; Galatians 5:19-21 - KJV
[2] 1 Timothy 6:12 ; 2 Timothy 4:7 - KJV

Nathan M. Bickel

www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org

P.S. Lest anyone think that I believe the aforementioned, it was intended to highlight a false form of universalism.

The Lion Roars - Or Is It Just a Yawn?

The plagiarists of Fox Valley unlimber their mice every so often - to reveal how little they know about Lutheran doctrine, computer technology, and common sense.

Abandoning their search for the truth, they engage in occult practices. They read minds and discern motives, truly divine qualities for such ruffians.

They think I post statistics for their edification. Many readers like to know how popular certain pages are. I was pleased to see that Luther's statement about the Word was the most read in 30 days.

The Appleton crew knows more than the Google experts. That is why they sell chicken wings for Jesus, to pay for their school. Such brilliant minds should work for Google and donate their huge bonuses to their schools. Then they would not need 40 Red Chinese students at Fox Valley High to prop up the budget and huge debt.

Google says that the Luther quotation was read 1000 times in 30 days. No one can predict what stay at the top for a month. The donkey poem and the woodpecker post have claimed top honors. A sticky post on the left might help, but not necessarily. Some posts become very popular and I highlight them again. I assume they are being linked somewhere, beyond the reach of Pope Paul's interdicts and anathemas.

The top post and the most page-reads for one calendar month came from Joel Hochmuth's arrest for various felonies.

My main purpose is to provide Lutheran material for those who care to read it. The Feedjit map shows people logging on from all over the world. The Bethany site seems especially read by the rest of the world.
It has been read 22,000 times since June of 2010.

Ichabod is approaching 1.2 million page-reads since June of 2010, 100 times more than the Sassy Sue blog.

I look at the trends, but the important part is providing the Lutheran material for those who appreciate it.

My students love Luther quotations and graphics. They thank me for posting the words to Gerhardt hymns.

"Boring and Irrelevant" Says WELS SP Buddy

Ancient Stone Monuments and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession

First, I want to express my appreciation for all those who have attacked justification by faith. They make this work fascinating. In the distant past,  I would read the Augsburg Confession or the Apology and think, "Yes, this is perfectly clear." Anyone can read those plain but elegant statements and know exactly what they mean. The Augsburg Confession is concise while the Apology or Defense of the Augsburg Confession is more elaborate in its explanations. Breaking the Apology up into illustrated paragraphs makes it even easier to follow and to admire.

Second, the Apology reminds me of those often heard expressions of awe about ancient stone monuments. "The stones were so closely fitted together that no one can get a dime between them." Ancient technology was so advanced that current egg-heads cannot explain how the monuments were built, not to mention the precision of their design, the perfection of their execution. Slave labor is a convenient explanation, except Hitler's captive labor during WWII built a lot of duds, as an expression their devotion to their master.

How can anyone get a foothold for Universal Objective Objective Justification in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession? Walther's sects are in dilemma, because they profess loyalty to the Book of Concord.  Melanchthon wrote the Augsburg and the Apology. Luther and the Concordists identified themselves as "theologians of the Augsburg Confession."

WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect on the Prairie must repudiate the Book of Concord or their precious OUJ. One supplants the other, just as nitrogen supplants oxygen.

The honest answer is plain. The Book of Concord is nothing more than a rabbit's foot for the SynConference, as evidenced by their massive, expensive, and self-destructive venture into Church Growthism, their fellowship with ELCA and pan-religious ecumenism.

When a member asked Pastor Jenswold about teaching a class on the Book of Concord, he replied that the Confessions were "boring and irrelevant." WELS SP Mark Schroeder, who said his sect is getting more confessional, selected Jenswold for the Synodical Council - a big deal for one of the smallest Lutheran groups in the world. Others have had similar reactions when asking a pastor to teach the Confessions.

Romans 4 is devoted to Abraham being justified by faith.
How ignorant can someone be to turn that chapter into a Halleluia for forgiveness without faith?

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/06/justification-by-faith-in-apology.html

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Ancient Stone Monuments and the Apology of the Aug...":

(W)ELS UOJ District President Pastor Jon Buchholz had this to say in June:

As members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), we treasure the unity we share as members of one church body, walking together in doctrine and practice. Our confessional and practical unity is something that is very precious to us.

Our unity centers in our connection to Jesus Christ, our one Savior. We are united by complete agreement in our teaching. We are united in God’s Word and in complete agreement with everything it says. We hold unswervingly to God’s teaching in the Holy Bible as the only reliable, unchanging source of truth. We do not wish to depart one iota from what God says.
http://www.elctempe.org/home/180001623/180001623/images/2012-06%20June.pdf

This sounds like the opening statements of a commencement ceremony where Jeff Gunn's emergent church is officially acknowledged to be a member in perfect doctrinal and practicing unity with the (W)ELS.

Buccholz crowing three times about not departing one iota from what God's Word says reminds me of four quotes from his epic 2005 WELS Convention essay on Justification:

”In each example, the mark of heresy is to go as far as Scripture goes—and then to go one step further.” P. 7

"God has forgiven the whole world. God has forgiven everyone his sins." This statement is absolutely true! This is the heart of the gospel, and it must be preached and taught as the foundation of our faith. But here’s where the caveat comes in: In Scripture, the word "forgive" is used almost exclusively in a personal, not a universal sense. The Bible doesn’t make the statement, "God has forgiven the world."

"God has forgiven all sins, but the unbeliever rejects God’s forgiveness." Again, this statement is true—and Luther employed similar terminology to press the point of Christ’s completed work of salvation.16 But we must also recognize that Scripture doesn’t speak this way."

"God has declared the entire world righteous." This statement is true, as we understand it to mean that God has rendered a verdict of "not-guilty" toward the entire world. It is also true—and must be taught—that the righteousness of Christ now stands in place of the world’s sin; this is the whole point of what Jesus did for us at Calvary. However, once again we’re wresting a term out of its usual context. In Scripture the term "righteous" usually refers to believers. "
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BuchholzJustification.pdf 

Page-Reads in the Last Thirty Days. Fodder for More Hissy Fits from the Foxes and Vixen of Appleton

Gregory the Theologian

Posts

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Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rope

Confidential to Mark and Avoid Jeske:
never use a straight make-up artist again.
You look like Snooki, or worse, Glende.

Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rope:

At what point will Lutherans scrum up the courage to confront Thrivent's ecumenism?  


Last fall Thrivent For Lutherans co-sponsored an evening lecture at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio near San Francisco by author Lynne Twist. Although Thrivent has recently  openly communicated its intention to abandon its Lutheran heritage (as if its Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army efforts weren't clear enough), it had no excuse as a "faith based organization" (as Thrivent describes itself) to financially support a Mystic trying to  improve the condition of people's souls.  


Alarmingly, Lynne Twist was the keynote speaker for Thrivent's 2010 national sales conference at the Minneapolis HQ.   


Reading my partial transcript below of the Interfaith presentation doesn't do it justice. It must be experienced. Too many times she approached what could have developed into a Scriptural point on stewardship or contentment in Christ, but swerved off the road and into the "Self,"  "The Other," or "Consciousness."   Here is the embedded video.  

'via Blog this'

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rop...":

Intrepid Brian Heyer did the right thing in calling attention to Thrivent's (and thereby every Lutheran Synod member's) support for New Age occultist Lynne Twist.

It's important to note that Lynne participated with Charles Gibbs, Executive Director of URI.
http://www.interfaith-presidio.org/events/twist.htm

Thrivent was directly supporting the ED for the United Nation's global religious denomination called the United Religions Initiative. It is as directly satanic as any religion can become.
http://www.green-agenda.com/unitedfaith.html

“This proposed new global system is highly interdependent as, in the same manner that the human body assigns different tasks to its various organs, each region is assigned specialized and specific tasks, and is each is dependent on the others for their common survival… The resultant ideal sustainable population is hence more than 500 million but less than one billion.” – Goals for Mankind, a report by The Club of Rome
http://www.green-agenda.com/spiritualunitednations.html

The Lutheran Synods (and their members) finance not only each other through Thrivent but also LWR (Lutheran World Relief) which also supports United Nations objectives and it's existance. LWR is LCMS President Harrison's favored "charitable" effort. Not only is the United Nations murdering men, women and children around the world but also supports the Lucis Trust - formally called the Lucifer Trust.

The Lucis Trust
This organisation was originally founded in the 1920s by the renowned occultist Alice Bailey under the name of the Lucifer Publishing Company. The Trust is recognised by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and is represented at regular briefing sessions at the UN. The Lucis Trust is also a member of the UN Economic and Social Council. Interestingly Robert Muller served as the Secretary of this Council for many years. Until recently the Lucis Trust was located at 666 United Nations Plaza and lists its official sponsors as the UN, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
http://www.green-agenda.com/spiritualunitednations.html

Brian Heyer is on the right track but is he ready for what he'll find - and do the Lutheran laity care enough to do something about it.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Intrepid Lutherans: Thrivent selling hangman's rop...":

...from Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity

"ThriventBuilds continues on Wilcox Street; an Adult Interfaith Social event for peace and understanding; and, lots of momentum to keep us moving forward!"

"The house of Abraham program is an exciting intiative that brings together Christians, Jews, and Muslims to promote peace building and carry forward Hartford Habitat's vission of "Building More Than a House"."

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs054/1102600045324/archive/1103514928520.html

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-is-habitat-thrivent-builds-with.html 

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GJ - That has been Mark Jeske's modus operandi for many years, so he fits right in with Thrivent. Birds of a feather do flock together.