The More Glorious Ministry - from Thy Strong Word

KJV 2 Corinthians 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so thatthe children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if theministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory thatexcelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

The More Glorious Ministry of the Gospel

J-947

"Concerning the article on the justification of the poor sinner in God's sight, we believe, teach, and confess on the basis of God’s Word and the position of our Christian Augsburg Confession that the poor, sinful person is justified in God's sight—that is, he is pronounced free and absolved of his sins and receives forgiveness for them—only through faith, because of the innocent, complete, and unique obedience and the bitter sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, not because of the indwelling, essential righteousness of God or because of his own good works, which either precede or result from faith. We reject all doctrines contrary to this belief and confession."

Jacob Andreae, Confession and Brief Explanation of Certain Disputed Articles, cited in Robert Kolb, Andreae and the Formula of Concord, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977, p. 58.

J-948

"It is the Word of God, that still remits and retains, that binds and looses. The pastor can only declare that Word, but the Word itself does effectually work forgiveness to him that rightly receives it. Not only can the minister carry this Word of God, this key of the kingdom, this power of God unto salvation, and apply it, but any disciple of Christ can do so."

G. H. Gerberding, The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church, Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1887, p. 126f.

J-949

"The whole Gospel is nothing but a proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, or a publication of the same Word to all men on earth, which God Himself confirms in heaven."

G. H. Gerberding, The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church, Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1887, p. 127.

J-950

"Every time a believer in Christ sits down beside a troubled and penitent one, and speaks to such an one Christ's precious promises and assurances of forgiveness, he carries out the Lutheran or scriptural idea of absolution."

G. H. Gerberding, The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church, Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1887, p. 127.

J-951

"Observe, Christ is not put into your hand, not given you in a coffer, not placed in your bosom nor in your mouth. He is presented to you through the Word, the Gospel; He is held up before your heart, through the ears He is offered to you, as the Being who gave Himself for you—for your unrighteousness and impurity. Only with your heart can you receive Him. And your heart receives when it responds to your opened mind, saying, 'Yes, I believe.' Thus through the medium of the Gospel Christ penetrates your heart by way of your hearing, and dwells there by your faith. Then are you pure and righteous; not by your own efforts, but in consequence of the Guest received into your heart through faith. How rich and precious these blessings!"

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 135. Christmas Eve, Titus 2:11-15.

J-952

"God, too, shows Himself to us through the Gospel as wholly lovable and kind, receiving all, rejecting none, ignoring our shortcomings and repelling no soul by severity. The Gospel proclaims naught but grace, whereby God sustains us and through which He kindly leads us, regardless of our worthiness. This is the day of grace. All men may confidently draw near to the throne of his mercy, as it is written in Hebrews 4:16."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 143f. Early Christmas Morning Titus 3:4-8; Hebreews 4:16.

J-953

"Dear friends, you know that the Gospel is nothing else than a sermon about one person who is called Christ."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 328. Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, Matthew 9:18-26.

J-954

"To this end Christ is presented to us as an inexhaustible fountain, Who at all times overflows with pure goodness and grace. And for such goodness and kindness He accepts nothing, except that the good people, who acknowledge such kindness and grace, thank Him for it, praise and love Him, although others despise Him for it."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 329. Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, Matthew 9:18-26.

J-955

"Recognizing the weak and wounded condition of the offender, Christ's doctrine comes in a friendly way, teaching the real truth about human laws—that of Christian liberty. It is patient, bearing with him who does not immediately abandon his erroneous ways, and giving him time to learn to forsake them. It allows him to do the best he can, according to what he has been used to, until he is made whole and clearly perceives the truth."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 33. Second Sunday in Advent Romans 15:4-13.

J-956

"Therefore, whoever would have a joyful conscience that does not fear sin, death, hell, nor the wrath of God, dare not reject this Mediator, Christ. For He is the fountain that overflows with grace, that gives temporal and eternal life."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 331. Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, Matthew 9:18-26.

J-957

"If sin terrifies my conscience and preachers of the law come and want to help me with their works, they will accomplish nothing. Christ alone can help here and no one else."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 331. Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, Matthew 9:18-26.

J-958

"Now, the Christian hatred of sin discriminates between the vices and the individual. It endeavors to exterminate only the former and to preserve the latter. It does not flee from, evade, reject nor despise anyone: rather it receives every man, takes a warm interest in him and accords him treatment calculated to relieve him of his vices. It admonishes, instructs and prays for him. It patiently bears with him."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 35f. Second Sunday in Advent Romans 15:4-13.

J-959

"For the Holy Spirit aids us, fortifying our hope and enabling us not to fear nor to flee from the disasters of the world; but to stand firm even unto death, and to overcome all evil; so that evil must flee from us and cease its attacks. Remember, it is hope in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in human weakness, that must do all this through the medium of the Gospel."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 63. First Sunday in Advent, Romans 13:11-14.

J-960

"This righteousness is offered us by the Holy Ghost through the Gospel and in the Sacraments, and is applied, appropriated, and received through faith, whence believers have reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, sonship, and heirship of eternal life."

Formula of Concord, SD III. #16. Righteousness of Faith. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 921. Tappert, p. 541. Heiser, p. 251.

J-961

"For here in the Sacrament you are to receive from the lips of Christ forgiveness of sin, which contains and brings with it the grace of God and the Spirit with all His gifts, protection, shelter, and power against death and the devil and all misfortune."

The Large Catechism, Sacrament of the Altar. #70. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 769. Tappert, p. 454. Heiser, p. 214.

J-962

"We further believe that in this Christian Church we have forgiveness of sin, which is wrought through the holy Sacraments and Absolution, moreover, through all manner of consolatory promises of the entire Gospel. Therefore, whatever is to be preached, concerning the Sacraments belongs here, and in short, the whole Gospel and all the offices of Christianity, which also must be preached and taught without ceasing. For although the grace of God is secured through Christ, and sanctification is wrought by the Holy Ghost through the Word of God in the unity of the Christian Church, yet on account of our flesh which we bear about with us we are never without sin."

The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III. #54. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 693. Tappert, p. 417. Heiser, p. 195.

J-963

"Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is offered to the end that we shall daily obtain there nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here. Thus, although we have sins, the [grace of the] Holy Ghost does not allow them to injure us, because we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but [continuous, uninterrupted] forgiveness of sin, both in that God forgives us, and in that we forgive, bear with, and help each other."

The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III. #55. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 693. Tappert, p. 418. Heiser, p. 195.

J-964

"For now we are only half pure and holy, so that the Holy Ghost has ever [some reason why] to continue His work in us through the Word, and daily to dispense forgiveness, until we attain to that life where there will be no more forgiveness, but only perfectly pure and holy people, full of godliness and righteousness, removed and free from sin, death, and all evil, in a new, immortal, and glorified body."

The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III. #58. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 693. Tappert, p. 418. Heiser, p. 196.

J-965

"Behold, all this is to be the office and work of the Holy Ghost, that He begin and daily increase holiness upon earth by means of these two things, the Christian Church and the forgiveness of sin. But in our dissolution He will accomplish it altogether in an instant, and will forever preserve us therein by the last two parts."

The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III. #59. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 693f. Tappert, p. 418. Heiser, p. 196.

J-966

"Therefore we believe in Him who through the Word daily brings us into the fellowship of this Christian Church, and through the same Word and the forgiveness of sins bestows, increases, and strengthens faith, in order that when He has accomplished it all, and we abide therein, and die to the world and to all evil, He may finally make us perfectly and forever holy; which now we expect in faith through the Word."

The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III. #62. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 695. Tappert, p. 419. Heiser, p. 196.

J-967

"Luther says the Gospel is not a law-book, not even a book of instruction, but a message of joy."

C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 292.

Right and Wrong

“Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne.

Standeth God within the shadow,

keeping watch above His own.”

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) The Present Crisis.

From LPC and Joe Krohn - Thanks

Lito P. Cruz, PhD


LPC has left a new comment on your post "The Means of Grace - As Requested by Lito Cruz of ...":

Hi Pr. Greg,

Wow, I enjoyed reading this. As I said to my friends, it is this blog that made me appreciate the effectiveness of the Means of Grace.

When I was a charismaniac, we would have testimony time. I was spiritually diverted back then because we would have people coming to service telling us how they got "saved" looking at a beautiful sunset. I remember people being so touched by this testimony I imagine some of them even being teary eyed listening to this.

This is the height of Calvinism. For in Calvinism, God is so Sovereign he can lampoon even his own Means of Grace. The amazing thing is some Lutheran pastors believe this too!!!

Today when I remember that incident, I now reject it and count it as weird and wacko thing.

Thanks for doing a special request post on this, I appreciate it.

LPC

---

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "The Means of Grace - As Requested by Lito Cruz of ...":

If I were to establish the Icha-poll, this would be in the top ten; solid doctrine...right by 'The Gospel in a Few Simple Steps.'

***

GJ - I fell asleep for a few hours, after working on Justification and TSW all day. Waking up to posts like these is great for mental energy. I wrote that section for the book because of Lito's request, and I added The Gospel in a Few, Simple Steps to the justification book because of Joe.

The synods are so in love with themselves that they do not allow people to look across the great gulf between our age and 80 years ago. Seeing the enormous rear end of Church Growth in Columbus forced me to look at the earlier years of the Lutheran Church.

Henry E. Jacobs wrote a fine communion hymn, which is in The Lutheran Hymnal and many others. He also wrote an examination book for future pastors. If all the Lutheran pastors (ELCA down to the micro-minis) knew that book well, we would have a vibrant health church today, instead of a sick, greedy, lawsuit-ridden set of decaying corporations. Jacobs belongs to the Muhlenberg (LCA-ELCA) tradition.

Krauth and Schmauk are also from that tradition, and they have wonderful, wise things to say about the way things are falling apart right now. We would be better off studying those three men instead of Kelm, Larry Olson, Stetzer, and Sweet.

Someone suggested LOVE as the name for ELCA when it was forming - Lutherans of Various Exegeses.

LOVE should be the official name of the Thrivent/ELCA/WELS/LCMS/ELS combine. They all agree about one thing - not the Means of Grace - but Grace Without the Means of Grace: Universal Absolution.

As Brett Meyer (his real name) was anxious to point out, the position of the LOVE combine is exactly the same as the Pre-Forgiveness of the Unitarian-Universalists.

Tolstoy Remains Snubbed in Russia - NYTimes.com

Tolstoy Remains Snubbed in Russia - NYTimes.com

For Tolstoy and Russia, Still No Happy Ending

By ELLEN BARRY and SOPHIA KISHKOVSKY

Published: January 3, 2011

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MOSCOW — A couple of months ago one of Russia’s elder statesmen set out on a paradoxical mission: to rehabilitate one of the most beloved figures in Russian history, Tolstoy.

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Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) remains excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Enlarge This Image

James Hill for The New York Times

Vladimir I. Tolstoy, his great-great grandson, at the author’s estate, now a museum.

This would have seemed unnecessary in 2010, a century after the author’s death. But last year Russians wrestled over Tolstoy much as they did when he was alive. Intellectuals accused theRussian Orthodox Church of blacklisting a national hero. The church accused Tolstoy of helping speed the rise of the Bolsheviks. The melodrama of his last days, when he fled his family estate to take up the life of an ascetic, was revived in all its pulpy detail, like some kind of early-stage reality television.

And in a country that rarely passes up a public celebration, the anniversary of his death, on Nov. 20, 1910, was not commemorated by noisy galas or government-financed cinematic blockbusters. Officially speaking, it was barely noted at all.

***

GJ - A 16 year-old said she enjoyed A. Karenina. I said, "You can borrow my copy of War and Peace." She said, "I read that last year, thanks."

Talk about a downer!

ELCA Pastor Bruce Foster Needs Some Attention

Bruce Foster, Pastor 

Dear Dr (by virtue of a degree issued by a school run by the underlings of the anti-Christ) Jackson

You like to remind people how my hits your web site gets. The traffic is dramatic. What exactly it means, however, is up to interpretation. One group who follows your posts are people who support your ideas. A small group of names come up again and again on comments, Bruce Church, Brett Meyer etc. I have no idea if these are real names or people who use fake names. They are, I am sure, real people because their styles are unique and I don't think anyone would go to the trouble of making up commenters.

Others, however, I suspect are people like myself who stumbled on to your web site and have become addicted to your style and thought processes. Any one who blogs as much as you do reveals a great deal about yourself on the site. One thing I am sure, however, is that your desire to present the actual facts in matters takes a back seat to presenting your own world view. If the facts don't match your world view, ignore or change the facts. An example. You wrote


"ELCA and the Episcopal Church began living together in sin a few years ago. They did not form a legal, legitimate merger, but invented a way in which Episcopalian polity could be forced upon Lutherans. One example was the sudden necessity to have an Anglican bishop present at all confirmations and ordinations. Why not at Holy Communion too? "


The best response to this is "Weird." I am not sure which alternative universe you live in, but you do not live in mine. In my universe CCM had two requirements. First, that all ELCA bishops in the future have at their consecrations at least three bishops who themselves were ordained into the historic episcopate. Second, that a bishop be present at all ordinations. This second requirements has an exception for those ministerial candidates who object to this requirement (not many do, but some have). And that's it. Now I didn't support CCM. I spoke against it. Indeed I publicly in the presence of Bishop Anderson said that the historic episcopate was one of the most butt stupid idea ever developed in the church. But I attacked CCM for what was actually there.

Where you get the idea that an Anglican bishop has to be present at "all confirmations and ordinations" I haven't a clue. Trust me, in the years since CCM I have had confirmations every year without any bishop there. And the comment "Why not at Holy Communion too?" is just bizarre.

Bizarre. Maybe that's the answer. You were just making stuff up for the fun of it. Satire or parody. Just like when I challenged you about how you knew Bill Lazareth went to hell your response was that you were joking.

And yet this makes for entertaining reading. What will Dr. Jackson make up next? It's all too sad really. You have a great work ethic. You are in many ways very bright. Too bad you don't take things seriously.


Bruce Foster (please don't belittle me for not having a degree from the anti-Christ's best school)

***

GJ - Every few months, ELCA Pastor Bruce Foster sends an email like this. It makes my day. He was the ELCA pastor who gave up the WELSians pastors Lindemann and Jenswold by quoting them. They were quite nasty anonymously. Foster is a bit hostile, but he signs his stuff instead of hiding in the foliage of the WELS Grapevine.

He used to be LCMS, so I am glad there is a place for apostate Missourians to go.

I wish I had the creativity to make up everything. Of course, if Foster had a serious objection to the facts I presented about the Anglican-ELCA morganatic marriage, he could send a serious post. ELCA is not so fascinating that I keep track of every detail. ELCA's CCM was so terrible for many that they began leaving the sect, one large congregation at a time. That became the base for the LCMC, which grew to something like 700 congregations after ELCA bowed to the Lavender Mafia in 2009.

Foster is correct. The more he writes, the more he reveals about himself. He is still fretting over the posthumous status of Bill Lazareth, sainted bishop and theologian of ELCA. I think that is all settled by now. As Bones often said in Star Trek, "He's dead, Jim."

Foster misses the point about education. Tim Glende and other WELS bullies claim they are right by virtue of their excruciatingly difficult education. They actually studied Greek! The WELS pastors do not not admit how few of them were even adequate in Greek. Glende is not on that list. Even if he were, the argument is completely bogus. Here is the argument encapsulated: "You, a lawyer and layman, cannot possibly be correct. I can plagiarize Groeschel's sermons all I want, because I studied Greek and you did not."

As 29A knows, I have been almost everywhere and often have first-hand knowledge of the theological leaders I discuss. For example, I heard Lazareth speak in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Some other recent leaders in ELCA that I have met are: Chilstrom, Marshal, Crumley, David Preus, Franklin D. Fry, Neuhaus, and several seminary presidents, including the new one at Wartburg, Stan Olson.

If merely graduating from an unaccredited seminary is enough to dazzle the typical WELS/ELS layman, how much more should theology degrees from Yale and Notre Dame?

The Lutherans have not been able to put together a university yet, and Valpo does not count. Foster should know that seminary "doctorates" are a joke, whether they are DMins or some other concoction.

The only Catholic-run part of Notre Dame was its seminary. We used their building on the lake once or twice, but the PhD program was independent of priestly training and had almost no connection with them. Some future priests attended our classes, but we were never in theirs. Foster should know by now that Notre Dame is managed by an independent board.

I am not sure what fuels his endless sarcasm. I suppose it is the closest he can get to humor. Foster sounds just like the WELS pastors who go ballistic because I point out their beloved CGM is nothing but false doctrine. They have deep, serious arguments like, "We can go to Fuller because you went to Notre Dame."

No one is allowed to criticize ELCA or WELS. Both are thin-skinned Holy Mother Synod operations, and their clergy are equally irritable. I enjoy getting under the skin of false teachers, Pastor Foster, and that is the point of this blog.

---

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "ELCA Pastor Bruce Foster Needs Some Attention":

Perhaps ELCA Pastor Bruce Foster should remember that although Pastor Jackson studied at the Antichrist's university, he was and remains faithful to Christ and the Lutheran Confessions. Pastor Foster though is in direct denominational fellowship with the Antichrist as was confirmed by the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and is neither faithful to Christ or the Lutheran Confessions.

Ichabodians should note that the Antichrist's hope for global spiritual ecumenism (quoted below) is the same ecumenism that is being promoted and established by the (W)ELS - diaprax (dialogue) being the tool to help build that unity.

Holy Father meets with Lutheran delegation, encourages prayer and dialogue
Vatican City, Feb 10, 2010 / 11:05 am (CNA).- After today’s general audience, the Holy Father met with a delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) in which he expressed hope for the “continuing Lutheran-Catholic dialogue.”

The Lutheran delegation was led by the ELCA’s Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, who is also President of the Lutheran World Foundation, the global Lutheran partner to the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.

The Holy Father addressed the delegation in English, saying that he hoped “the continuing Lutheran-Catholic dialogue both in the United States of America and at the international level will help to build upon the agreements reached so far.”

One such agreement is a joint declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation on October 31, 1999. It was the product of nearly 35 years of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue in the United States and abroad.

The Pope the noted that an important additional task “will be to harvest the results of the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue that so promisingly started after the Vatican Council II.” In order to continue “what has been achieved together since that time, he encouraged Lutherans and Catholics toward “ardent prayer” and “conversion to Christ, the source of grace and truth” in order to build a “spiritual ecumenism.”

“May the Lord help us to treasure what has been accomplished so far, to guard it with care, and to foster its development," the Pope prayed.

The Holy Father concluded by echoing his predecessor, John Paul II’s words while addressing a similar Lutheran delegation in 1985: “Let us rejoice that an encounter such as this can take place. Let us resolve to be open to the Lord so that He can use this meeting for His purposes, to bring about the unity that He desires. Thank you for the efforts you are making for full unity in faith and charity.”

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/holy_father_meets_with_lutheran_delegation_encourages_prayer_and_dialogue/

***

GJ - How delicious it must be for Foster--to join in fellowship with Rome and all denominations of the Left, creating union congregations--and denounce me for studying at Notre Dame, for writing against Roman heresies, for questioning his apostasy from the LCMS.

Enthusiasts Agree That Their Pope Is the Means of Grace

His Grace, Pope John the Malefactor


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "The Means of Grace - As Requested by Lito Cruz of ...":

Quote, The Book of Concord confesses, and Lutherans allegedly agree

I would suggest changing this to say, "and faithful Lutherans agree"

It's the same issue with Creation vs. Evolutionism. Those who pervert God's order of creation want to call it Creationism in order to deride the truth. I would argue that we need to protect the name Lutheran as it is faithful to the Lutheran Confessions as the correct explanation of Scripture. No need to give the house (the name Lutheran) over to the rats just because they've infested every corner (perverted the central doctrine of Christ, Justification By Faith Alone).

Same issue was exposed when the ELS decided to support the fledgling Antichrist, Pres. Moldstad. A few rejected his claim to the throne of Christ and they were told that if they didn't accept the new doctrine of the Public Ministry of the Word they should leave the Synod because they had broken with the official doctrine of the church. But it was Moldstad and the remaining churches that broke with the doctrine of the church and forced the change down everyone's throats in good Roman Catholic fashion.

Call them what they are - unfaithful apostates who have exchanged the faithful Lutheran Confessions for carrion served by the smiling faces and for the warm and cozy fellowship of false teachers.

Mayfair Mall closes early after tumult - JSOnline

Mayfair Mall closes early after tumult - JSOnline

Rubina Shafi

This image, submitted by a reader, of the inside of the Boston Store at Mayfair mall in Wauwatosa shows racks and mannequins thrown on the floor. Mayfair Mall closed down about a half-hour early Sunday evening amid unsubstantiated reports of gunfire. See more photos

Unsubstantiated reports of gunfire received

By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel

Jan. 2, 2011

Rubina Shafi

This submitted image from Mayfair Mall is from inside Boston Store looking through locked gates as a groups of people gather in the mall. Wauwatosa police at the scene said they were not allowed to speak to the media. They said police would provide details of the mall lockdown on Monday.

View more photos

Mayfair Mall closed down early on Sunday afternoon as New Year's weekend shoppers were told to leave after witnesses reported seeing groups of unruly young people shouting and running in the Wauwatosa shopping center.

There also were unsubstantiated reports of gunfire.

The Means of Grace - As Requested by Lito Cruz of Extra Nos

Luther Taught Justification Through the Means of Grace

            Confusion and error about the efficacy of the Word have allowed a Halle University Pietist to trump the Bible and the Book of Concord with his strange concoction of double-justification, grace without the Means of Grace, forgiveness without the Word, without faith. A  general understanding of the unity of Christian doctrine is necessary to discern the truth revealed in the Scriptures as distinguished from the manifest errors of the Enthusiasts. Justification takes place only through faith, only through the Means of Grace, as Krauth and Pieplow wrote.

The Holy Spirit works through the Word and the Sacraments, which only, in the proper sense, are means of grace. Both the Word and the Sacraments bring a positive grace, which is offered to all who receive them outwardly, and which is actually imparted to all who have faith to embrace it.[1]

The Lutheran Church faces the world by clinging to the Means of Grace. The doctrine of the means of grace is truly a most timely subject. For just in these last times, according to divine revelation, there will be at work many spiritual brigands who will perpetrate the grossest kind of deception.[2]

This knowledge is a great comfort for all believers, especially those once led into confusion by Enthusiasm.

            Martin Luther is known both for his prolific writing and also for his consistency. He taught the same theology throughout life. Historians are not met with confusion caused by Calvin, who was also prolific. The Swiss Reformer contradicted himself throughout his writings, so the Calvinists continue to debate his doctrine and lack a unified, harmonious confession.

            The Lutherans Reformers were anxious to avoid splitting the Christian faith into many doctrines, as if they are individual concepts, a modular religion to be put together and taken apart in units. Luther grasped and taught the entire Bible as a unified truth, the Bible as the Book of the Holy Spirit. The Concordists likewise sought a harmonious witness to the truth, not one that bartered and swapped individual pieces.

            When UOJ advocates cry out, “You have denied Universal Objective Justification!” they emphasize their error, because they isolate one item and defend it by quoting other errorists, without ever connecting their concept to Biblical, Lutheran doctrine.

            Lutheran doctrine is not the result of a franchise being established. Lutheran doctrine is not synodical, regional, or bound by a nation’s borders. The Book of Concord confesses, and Lutherans allegedly agree – that the unified truth proclaimed in its pages is the historic Christian faith. Therefore, the Book of Concord begins with the Ecumenical Creeds:

1. The Apostles Creed, so ancient that no one knows its origin.
2. The Nicene Creed, fashioned to combat errors about Christ.
3. The Athanasian Creed,  “the most splendid ecclesiastical lyric ever poured forth by the genius of man.” (D’Israeli).

Thus, any debate among Lutherans or with those of another confession should be considered as an argument about the truth of historic Christianity. We used to say “the Catholic faith,” when it meant the universal and orthodox faith revealed in the Scriptures. But so many Lutheran pastors have sinuflected to Rome that they have tainted the term Catholic.

The Concordists considered themselves theologians of the 1530 Augsburg Confession, as Luther did. The Augsburg Confession and the additional writings of the early Reformation established the difference between the historic truth of the Scriptures as opposed to Roman errors, all in the context of the faithful witnesses of the past.

The Formula of Concord, 1580, dealt especially with conflicts among the Lutherans and errors among the non-Lutheran Protestants. Doctrinal discussions must always reflect this miracle of harmony. If not the participants engage in the sectarian conceit of people belonging to “the church of the open Bible,” as if the Confessions were irrelevant, boring, and impractical. That attitude reveals a marked anti-Lutheran and anti-Biblical attitude, one which generally decays into Unitarianism or worse, unless awakened from its torpor of ignorance, synod-worship, and sloth.

Convention and conference essays have no authority over the Book of Concord. The Brief Confession of 1932 has no more credibility than a seminarian’s essay in doctrine class. Some parts seem good, but the justification section is dangerously false, rendering the rest of the Brief Confession toxic. Moreover, the Brief Confession contradicts other confessional efforts and catechisms by the Missouri Synod, where UOJ was never mentioned. The 1987 Theses are just as ridiculous as the 1932 Brief Confession, because they try to blend UOJ with justification by faith.

Robert Preus was wrong when he promoted UOJ in the 1980s, but he corrected himself in his Justification and Rome, even though his UOJ-loyal sons Rolf and Daniel edited it posthumously. That change of heart and misplaced filial loyalty should remind everyone not to make a man or a recent publication the last word on a topic, but to seek truth in ruling norm of the Scriptures and the ruled norm of the Book of Concord.

Some have asked how the Missouri Synod got this so wrong when the Muhlenberg tradition (LCA) and Lenski grasped the basic truth. The General Synod/General Council split took place because of anti-Confessional practices involving revivals, unionism with the Reformed, even the formation of union Lutheran-Reformed congregations.[3] The Henkels influenced the Tennessee Synod and others to take the Book of Concord seriously again. Thus the doctrinal division in the General Synod served to move many toward a Biblical understand of the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace.

These basics are beyond debate and remain absolutely at war with the Pietistic fad of UOJ.

Efficacy of the Word

            God has bound His Holy Spirit to His Word and never works apart from that Word. Any person who claims otherwise is an Enthusiast, a false teacher participating in the foundational evil of all doctrinal error. The Holy Spirit works through the Law to convict us of our sin, but the primary emphasis in this section is justification through the Means of Grace.

            The Word of God has been described as:

1. Invisible in teaching and preaching,
2. Visible in the sacraments.

The Gospel conveys Christ to us in both forms, and grace only comes from these appointed Means or Instruments of Grace.

            Forgiveness through God’s grace is the issue in justification, which is God’s declaration of forgiveness. The Gospel’s divine power creates and sustains faith in each individual, but UOJ Pietists avoid the terms and the application of the Means of Grace, disparaging faith in the Gospel as if that were a sign of orthodoxy.

The Preaching Office

            Luther observed in a sermon that the shepherds and Wise Men must have wondered at God directing them past the marvelous Jerusalem Temple to find the Savior in a manger. God has chosen foolishness to shame the wisdom of the wise. How bizarre to find Lutheran church leaders rejecting the spiritual wisdom of the Word to embrace the alleged wisdom of statistical analysis, marketing, and entertainment.

            Nothing seems more foolish to the world than preaching and teaching the Gospel. Nevertheless, God Himself has chosen this instrument as the primary channel for His grace. The Enthusiasts of Luther’s day wanted to extol the Inner Word, as if someone could sit alone in a room and wait until the Holy Spirit came to him with inspiration. Quakerism is based upon this notion. In contrast, Luther followed the Biblical example of the External Word, the Holy Spirit always united with the Word. No better example can be found than that of the Savior. In each and every case Jesus converted people to faith through the Word, His teaching confirmed by miracles.

            The Old Testament leaders preached, not just as the Law, as some might imagine. The prophecies and blessings are all Gospel. The Old Testament has more Gospel content than the New Testament, due to its size, about three times that of the New Testament. Jesus and the apostles preached the Gospel, His way prepared by the preaching of John the Baptist. The illegal, persecuted Church in the Roman Empire had no mass media methods to ease its way into the world. Instead, they relied on preaching and teaching until Rome itself was converted and Constantinople became the center of a Christian empire for eleven centuries.[4]

            The Pietists preach about the carnal sins of the world, which is exactly what the Church of Rome did to scare people into paying for indulgences. Jesus, in His farewell message to the disciples, emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in preaching, but placed an emphasis on sin that is almost always lacking today.

            The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, “because they have not believed on Me.” The problem—or opportunity—of carnal sin preaching stems from its ineffectiveness. The Law condemns the problem without providing a solution. Threats and punishment can stop the outward sin while inflaming the inward rebellion. Thus, one church may say, “Gambling is a terrible sin, so you must not gamble.” Another one says, “Drinking is a terrible sin, so you must not ever drink alcohol.” They apply more Law, which is no solution, and continue the cycle.

            Jesus did not say, “Ye gamblers and ye drunks!” but “O ye of little faith.” Faith in Christ is forgiveness of sin, justification by faith, God’s proclamation of absolution through the Word. The foundational sin is not trusting in the atoning death of Christ. The Gospel message is simply Christ crucified for the sins of the world. This message of grace reveals to the unbeliever that the price has been paid. The proclamation means, “Not only for the world did He die, for also for my sins.” The Promises of God create faith, which receives the benefits of forgiveness. Although our sinful, selfish nature continues, the Gospel helps us in resisting temptation and following God out of love rather than fear.

The Sacraments

            Preaching the Gospel offends the world, and the sacraments offend most Protestants. Most Protestants call the sacraments ordinances, to say that these instruments of God do not offer what they promise – forgiveness of sin. These Protestants are sarcastic about the Real Presence, although Jesus said, “This is My Body.” They deny the effect of Holy Communion, neglecting the meaning of “given for the forgiveness of sin.” They stumble at the variety of the Means of Grace, asking “Why does God need so many?” as if forgiveness is God’s necessity and not man’s. J. T. Mueller addressed the question by quoting the Book of Concord.

If the question is put, “Why did God ordain so many means of grace when one suffices to confer upon the sinner His grace and forgiveness?” we quote the reply of Luther who writes (Smalcald Articles, IV: “The Gospel not merely in one way gives us counsel and aid against sin, for God is superabundantly rich in His grace. First through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world, which is the peculiar office of the Gospel. Secondly through Baptism. Thirdly through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourthly through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren, Matthew 18:20.”[5]

The question of need applies to man, not to God, and we should not question His abundance of mercy.

            These Enthusiasts are just as antagonistic about Holy Baptism. Baptists and Pentecostals wonder, “How can a baby believe?” and call baptismal regeneration a Roman heresy. These opponents of infant baptism dedicate their newborns, reading the Scriptures, but do not allow water to be used. Many others baptize infants but still call it an ordinance, an empty symbol that does not accomplish what God has promised in the Word. Still others oppose infant baptism but will offer it in the name of increased membership and diversity of doctrine.

            Lutherans occasionally try to persuade others that their prejudice against the sacraments is wrong. Whether they start from Holy Communion or Holy Baptism, the debate is thwarted by a vast but often overlooked gulf. Confessional Lutherans should believe in the efficacy of the Word alone. The sacraments are visible expressions of that effective Word.

Holy Baptism and Justification

            Infant baptism is always discussed in the context of justification by faith, in the Scriptures and the Confessions. Luther captured the power of Holy Baptism in this Large Catechism passage, which we confess:

Comprehend the difference, then, that Baptism is quite another thing than all other water; not on account of the natural quality, but because something more noble is here added; for God Himself stakes His honor, His power and might on it. Therefore it is not only natural water, but a divine, heavenly, holy, and blessed water, and in whatever other terms we can praise it,—all on account of the Word, which is a heavenly, holy Word, that no one can sufficiently extol, for it has, and is able to do, all that God is and can do [since it has all the virtue and power of God comprised in it]. Hence also it derives its essence as a Sacrament, as St. Augustine also taught: Accedat verbum ad elementum et fit sacramentum. That is, when the Word is joined to the element or natural substance, it becomes a Sacrament, that is, a holy and divine matter and sign.[6]

The continuous value of Holy Baptism should be clear to all believers:

Thus it appears what a great, excellent thing Baptism is, which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God's own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens the new man; and is and remains ever efficacious until we pass from this estate of misery to eternal glory.[7]

This sacrament has so much power and effectiveness because it is the work of God upon us, not man’s witness to others.

            David Chytraeus is often forgotten as an editor of the Book of Concord. His statement about infant baptism is a fine summary of justification through this sacrament.

The purest and best part of the human race, the special nursery and flower of God's Church, is tender youth. Youth retains the gift of the Holy Spirit which it received in Baptism; it learns eagerly the true doctrine about God and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ; it calls Him God with a chaste mind and with a simple, pure faith; it thanks Him with a quick and joyful heart for the blessings received from Him; in its studies and the other parts of life, it carries out the duties commanded it; and it obeys God and parents reverently. Particularly God-pleasing, therefore, are the studies of one's earliest age: prayer, obedience and praises which honor God, regardless of how weak and stammering its voice may be.[8]

Luther’s reflections on infant baptism are equally sublime:

I still maintain, as I have maintained in the Postil (SL 11, 496f.) that the surest Baptism is infant baptism. For an old person may deceive, may come to Christ as a Judas and permit himself to be baptized. But a child cannot deceive. It comes to Christ in Baptism as John came to Him and as the little children were brought to Him, that His Word and work may come over them, touch them, and thus make them holy. For His Word and work cannot pass by without effect; and in Baptism they are directed at the child alone. If they were to fail of success here, they would have to be entire failures and useless means, which is impossible.[9]

How strange to have conservative Lutheran leaders claim they want to evangelize the world, while hanging out with Enthusiasts who condemn infant baptism, reject the sacraments, and prefer their own glittery gimmicks to the efficacy of the Word![10]

The Word Conveys Forgiveness in Holy Communion

Nothing communicates shame in the Gospel’s effectiveness more than hiding and avoiding Holy Communion, with the excuses that it takes time and offends the non-members.

And just as the Word has been given in order to excite this faith, so the Sacrament has been instituted in order that the outward appearance meeting the eyes might move the heart to believe [and strengthen faith]. For through these, namely, through Word and Sacrament, the Holy Ghost works.[11]

In an era where people are endlessly confused about forgiveness, the perversion of this sacrament is disgraceful, no matter how much the false teachers want to promote their version of God’s grace. As Luther wrote, they talk about Jesus all the time, but they destroy the bridge to the Savior, rejecting the Means of Grace, divinely commanded to serve that purpose.

            Taking Holy Communion away from the regular and special services of worship is no less than removing the greatest spiritual help from our daily lives. The Lutheran Pietists argued that the sacrament was too special to be offered all the time, but their actual agenda was sponsoring lay-led cell groups to serve as the real church, their Enthusiasm endorsing prayer as their Means of Grace and anything-goes doctrine as their guide. The strange notions of Lutheran Pietism are easily corrected by the Book of Concord. Luther wrote about the value of Holy Communion and its efficacy in forgiveness in this passage from the Large Catechism.

On this account it is indeed called a food of souls, which nourishes and strengthens the new man. For by Baptism we are first born anew; but (as we said before) there still remains, besides, the old vicious nature of flesh and blood in man, and there are so many hindrances and temptations of the devil and of the world that we often become weary and faint, and sometimes also stumble. Therefore it is given for a daily pasture and sustenance, that faith may refresh and strengthen itself so as not to fall back in such a battle, but become ever stronger and stronger. For the new life must be so regulated that it continually increase and progress; but it must suffer much opposition. For the devil is such a furious enemy that when he sees that we oppose him and attack the old man, and that he cannot topple us over by force, he prowls and moves about on all sides, tries all devices, and does not desist, until he finally wearies us, so that we either renounce our faith or yield hands and feet and become listless or impatient. Now to this end the consolation is here given when the heart feels that the burden is becoming too heavy, that it may here obtain new power and refreshment.[12]

Given the nature of the Confessions as a proper interpretation of the Scriptures, written Luther himself, how can any pastor—who calls himself Lutheran—keep the efficacious Body and Blood of Christ from his own members? Not surprisingly, the pastors who do not want to be known as Lutheran are also the leaders who cannot bring themselves to ruin their entertainment evangelism with this medicine for souls.

           

---

[1] Charles P. Krauth, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication House, 1871, p. 127.

[2] Edwin E. Pieplow, "The Means of Grace," The Abiding Word, 3 vols., ed., Theodore Laetsch, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, II, p. 322.

[3] One union congregation was St. Paul, German Village, in Columbus, Ohio, which eventually joined the Wisconsin Synod. Another was historic St. John’s in Milwaukee, which became a leading church for the Wisconsin Synod and was eventually kicked out of the synod due to the spitefulness of the liberal, unionistic WELS leaders.

[4] Ancient Rome still loved their pagan rituals and gave them up with great reluctance. Constantine moved noble families to his new capital, old Byzantium, and styled himself Equal to the Apostles, replaced a pagan capital with a Christian one. Nevertheless, the Byzantine Empire is the least known among historians and believers.

[5] John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 447. SA, IV, Concordia Triglotta, p. 491.

[6] The Large Catechism, Part Fourth, Of Baptism. #17-18. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 735f. Tappert, p. 438. Heiser, p. 206.

[7] The Large Catechism, Part Fourth, Of Baptism. #83. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 751. Tappert, p. 446. Heiser, p. 209.

[8] David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith (1568), trans., Richard Dinda, Decatur: Repristination Press, 1994. p. 9.

[9] What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 50. Letter to two ministers, 1528.

[10] At one point both the LCMS and WELS had contracted to pay Baptist Ed Stetzer to teach them about evangelism. The WELS Church and Change contract was canceled only after repeated admonitions from Ichabod, The Glory Has Departed (blog) and the WELS Conference of Presidents.

[11] Apology Augsburg Confession, XXIV (XII), #70. The Mass. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 409. Tappert, p. 262. Heiser, p. 123.

[12] The Large Catechism, Sacrament of the Altar. #23-27. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 759. Tappert, p. 449. Heiser, p. 211.

WELS Area High Schools Push MLC

"I should pay $100,000 so you and your pals can produce gay videos?"


rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "More About Mary Lou College":

From what I have observed, Mr. Baker's comments seem appropriate. Our youngest daughter is a junior at an area Lutheran high school. This means that they get a meeting with the guidance director. They really push MLC on these unsuspecting students and their parents. Please consider the following scenario: The area Lutheran high schools were there to provide a Christian alternative to the allegedly evil, secular public high schools. They were never intended to be prep schools. Yet, the prep schools have fallen out of vogue. The ALHS is now supposed to fill the void. The ALHS is supported by federation congregations. Yet, many have a "development director", whose purpose is to recruit from the community. At the junior level religion class, they are getting exams with fill in the blank questions from the Small Catechism. One would think that they would be on to the Large Catechism or anything else from the BOC. Like most of the WELS, the BOC has been relegated to the status of an ancient relic.

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GJ - Wayne Mueller and SP Gurgle rocketed the tuition up for preps and the colleges. That provided cash flow for a failing synod. More than one person said they lost a generation of students from such genius leadership, and that was after St. Marvin of Schwan blessed them with millions and millions to mismanage.

Before, a student could go to a synod prep or college and consider a church vocation, because the tuition was not burdensome. Now it is.

People have to wonder if synod schools are really an alternative. They are not high quality in education, whether measured by doctrinal teaching or basic educational skills (like spelling).