Three WELS Pastors Receive Divine Calls To Be Designated Tetzels. Hide Granny!

Wash me with synod absolution, and I will be white as vanilla ice cream. Wayne Laitinen promoted Schwan (RIP) as one of the "good" rich guys. Ask his late, first wife, or his second, who returned to Romanism after he met his reward.

But when he come, and all the flowers are dying 

If I am dead, as dead I well may be 

You'll come and find the place where I am lying 

And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

Rev Bryan Schwarz	Our Savior’s LC East Wenatchee WA	Conference of Presidents Thrivent Giving Counselor South Atlantic and South Central Districts	10/2/2018
Rev Thomas Mielke	St Matthew LC Appleton WI	Conference of Presidents Thrivent Giving Counselor Northern Wisconsin District	10/2/2018
Rev Jonathan Stern	Christian Giving Counselor Arizona-California and South Central Districts	Conference of Presidents Thrivent Giving Counselor Retirement Call Arizona-California District

 "UOJ is not effective without a generous estate gift,
an irrevocable gift annuity."

***

 "Go to an expensive synod prep school, an expensive mediocre college, and a joke of a seminary. And become an annuity salesman for Thrivent! God will bless your devotion to the only true sect on earth. Let us prey."

GJ - Two basic facts - they have to get an insurance license to be a Tetzel. Their job is to sell Irrrevocable Gift Annuities to their suckers, customers, faithful WELS targets. Once signed, a SWAT team cannot get the assets back into the estate - the heirs are robbed. The Tetzels may even rob a congregation, telling the elderly person that "the church" is getting the money, when "the church" is The Synod.

Not that the Tetzels would lie or manipulate to get their sales commission from Thrivent. The problem is, the Tetzels know as much about estate law and insurance as Sassy Sue does, maybe less.

Their motivations are purely carnal, since their success is not in counseling (haha) but in sales. Some of the annuity salesmen have left the ministry to serve their wealthy customers, according to the Latin Professor.

Tis fitting that the Tetzels are called during the month of Reformation. As they told Marvin Schwan:
"As soon as the Irrevocable Trust clears,
Your day of salvation nears."

 "Show us the money!"

Why Sassy Refused To Charge Outside Yesterday

 The morning walk is non-negotiable, unless...

Normally I wake up before dawn and make coffee. Sassy comes into the kitchen and sits in expectation of some Johnsonville brat pieces. Her morning walk is the long one for the day, when she visits friends and urges me onward so she can explore more yards.

By the way, some people are wroth that I write about Sassy, but I wonder who gave them a license to run the world. I assume they have done badly with their individual efforts, so they need to expand their management to Planet Earth. So I am doubly motivated to write about Sassy. Many readers consider her their CyberPet. Others need something to tweet about to their mutually despairing friends.

After finishing a mug of fresh Ethiopian coffee and providing the same to Mrs. Ichabod, I dressed for the morning outing. Normally I have a dog smiling and tagging along with me as I find shoes and socks. I was all the way to the front door when I went halfway back to collect her. We walked to the door, quietly, calmly, almost with foreboding. Then I opened the door to see a steady rain coming down. Her ears picked that up from the start. "Come on out!" Nope. I later told Mrs. I that Sassy would give her life for me, but not if it was raining. I told Sassy, "At least come out and get drained." She accomplished that and headed back to the porch.

I was left standing in a very light rain, so I came back in, too. Sassy got her morning food, which we call her crunchies. The day before we found her favorite neighbor-girl running toward the school bus, which was pulling away. I stood in the street and waved both arms until the bus stopped enough for Ess3 to get on board. Later she told her Mom that we stopped the bus for her. The four daughters' names start with S, so they are the Esses, numbered accordingly to keep them straight in conversation at home.

So the morning started with rain, something I really wanted but discounted from the recent meteorological disappointments. Three days of previously predicted rain turned into a few hours of stingy rain. The remnants of a hurricane went somewhere else and the drought continued. My plans were to gather the rain buckets and water the new Cinnabon shrubs (Clethra) and the Butterfly Garden. Instead, we had all day rain - steady, gentle, and persistent. Even in the late afternoon, a fine mist was falling. Buckets and barrels are now overflowing with rain.

 Clethra - Summersweet, aka the Cinnabon shrub.

The bulbs I planted are hydrated from the rain and forming roots for their growth in the spring. Previously planted herbs are greened up and thriving in the mild weather, 60 - 70 degrees. Soil has been settled by the steady rain. Tons of rain-fertilizer have fed the fungi, bacteria, all earthworms, all creatures large and small. The rain did more work for me in a day that I could ever accomplish.

Roses do not like the hot, dry summer, but they thrive in the cool, wet weather of spring and autumn. Bugs are relatively few, and bushes thrive from the moisture and nitrogen compounds. In addition, rain activates the soil creatures

• to aerate the soil, 
• to fashion tunnels for rain, and 
• to hold usable chemicals in the root zone (by living or dying, by eating or being eaten).

Schuh Catechism from the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry

 Walther the Wizard kept people away from the other Luther groups by calling them false teachers when he was and is the heresiarch, attacking the Chief Article. Now they are all united in UOJ, so people like Schuh are ignored by their own and by the sanctimonious Synodical Conference.

Below is the section in Rev. Schuh's Q&A on Luther's Small Catechism.  This was published in 1915 by the Ohio Synod/General Council.  Do you see any hint of UOJ?  It seems pretty clearly JBFA to these eyes.

Lesson 72. The Forgiveness Of Sin, Or Justification.

(Question 237-239.)
1) What is the next truth which we confess in the third article of the creed?
“I believe the forgiveness of sins.”
2) (237) “Why do you say in this article: ‘I believe the forgiveness of sins’?”
“Because I, according to God’s Word, most assuredly hold, that God in His Christian Church daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers.”
3) According to what do we hold or believe this doctrine of the forgiveness of sins?
According to the Word of God.
4) This teaching is not something which men have invented, but it is plainly taught in the Bible. And it is a most precious doctrine. Who is it that forgives sins?
It is God who forgives sins.
5) Where does God forgive sins?
In his Christian Church.
6) Outside of the Christian Church there is no forgiveness of sins. To whom does God forgive sins?
To me and all believers.
7) How does God forgive sins?
He forgives sins richly and daily.
8) What sins does God forgive?
He forgives all sins.
9) God is so bountiful in His dealings with us that He forgives not only the small but the great sins. And how often does He do this?
He does it daily.
10) We sin every day, and on that account what do we need every day?
We need forgiveness every day.
11) (238) “Why is this necessary?”
“Because I then only become just before God, when God forgives to me my sins.”
12) What has God threatened to do with sin?
God has threatened to punish sin.
13) If sin is not to be punished, what must be done with it?
It must be forgiven.
14) And if it is not forgiven, what will be done with it?
It will be punished.
15) How does God regard those whose sins He has forgiven?
He regards them as just.
16) When only can God regard us as just?
When He forgives us our sins.
17) Repeat Psalm 130:3.4.
“If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”
18) If God should regard iniquities, that is, if He should hold sins against us and punish us on account of them, what would become of us?
We would be lost.
19) But what is our hope when we think of our sins?
Our hope is that there is forgiveness with God.
20) Read Psalm 143:2.
“Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.”
21) Also Is. 68:6.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”
22) Also Job 25:4-6.
“How can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?”
23) From all these passages we see how very important this doctrine of the forgiveness of sins is. The doctrine of justification if the very heart of the Gospel. Without the forgiveness of sins we cannot be saved. The only hope for us poor sinners is that God forgives sins. Only then can we be just in the sight of God. For what is it that makes us unjust before Him?
It is our sins.
24) The forgiveness of sin is the condition of our justification before God. When sin is forgiven how does God regard us?
He regards us as just.
25) (239) “What then is justification?”
“Justification is that act of God by which He, of pure grace, for the sake of the merits of Christ, pronounces a poor sinner, who truly believes in Christ, free from guilt, and declares him just.”
26) Whose act is justification?
Justification is the act of God.
27) God is our judge. He alone can condemn or pardon. What is it that induces Him to pardon or forgive us poor sinners?
He does it out of pure grace.
28) Repeat Rom. 3:21-24.
“Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
29) God pities us poor sinners and this pity induces him to forgive. But He has threatened to punish sin. How can He forgive when He has threatened to punish? In our answer just after the words “of pure grace” we are told how He can forgive in spite of the fact that His justice compels Him to punish. What does our answer say?
“For the sake of the merits of Christ.”
30) What did Christ do that God should forgive sins for His sake?
He suffered and died for us.
31) He suffered and died to redeem us from our sins. In the passage just repeated we are told how we are justified. Through or on account of what are we justified freely?
Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
32) Whom does God justify according to our question 239?
He justifies a poor sinner who truly believes in Christ.
33) What kind of sinner is a poor sinner? When is a man poor?
When he has nothing.
34) Read 2 Tim. 1:9.
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
35) A poor sinner is one who has nothing to depend on and who knows that there is nothing in him that could please God or make satisfaction for sin. And how should a man feel who knows this?
He should feel sorry.
36) Such a sinner was the poor publican in the temple. Read what is written of him Luke 18:13.14.
“The publican, standing afar off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”
37) How did he feel on account of his sins?
He felt ashamed, he felt sorry.
38) So a poor sinner is what kind of sinner?
He is one who feels sorry for his sins.
39) But what is said in our answer of the poor sinner to whom God forgives sins?
He truly believes in Christ.
40) What does such a poor sinner believe concerning Christ, as to his person?
He believes that he is true God.
41) And what does he believe concerning Christ’s work?
That He died for us and saved up from our sins.
42) Read Rom. 3:28.
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
43) How are we justified according to this passage?
We are justified by faith.
44) Now read Rom. 4:5.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
45) What is here said of faith?
It is counted for righteousness.
46) Read also Rom. 10:4.
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
47) We are accounted righteous before God, not for anything we have done, but for what Christ has done. And who is thus accounted righteous?
Every one that believeth.
48) What does God do to such a poor sinner who truly believes in Christ according to question 239?
He pronounces him free from guilt and declares him just.
49) What is the first thing He does?
He pronounces him free from guilt.
50) Read Psalm 32:1.2. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
51) Compare with this Rom. 4:6-8.
“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
52) Read also Gen. 15:6 and see what is here written concerning Abraham. “He believed in the Lord; and he counted it unto him for righteousness.”
53) Compare with this Rom. 4:3.
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
54) Read also Hab. 2:4.
“The just shall live by his faith.”
55) When we believe in Christ what does God do with sin for Christ’s sake?
He forgives it.
56) And after God has pronounced us free from guilt what does He declare us to be?
He declares us to be just.
57) What is it that makes us unjust before God?
Our sins.
58) And what must be done with sin if we are to be just in the sight of God?
It must be forgiven.
59) And how does God regard us when sin is forgiven?
He regards us as just.
60) Why is this forgiveness of sins so necessary?
It is necessary in order that we may be saved.
61) By whom was this forgiveness secured for us?
It was secured for us by Christ.
62) How is this forgiveness offered to us?
It is offered to us in the Gospel.
63) And how do we accept it?
We accept it by faith.

Concentrating the Plants - Weal and Woe. Or - Jessica Walliser Ruined My Life!

 Lady Beetles have the best reputation, but the tiny beneficials are also there to wipe out pests - unless pesticides wipe them out.

One member debated my rejection of man-made chemicals in the garden, because some crops are very fragile when grown together - attracting a bounty of diseases or pests.

But a concentration of one plant can also provide an army of pest destroyers. That gave me a chance to use weal or woe in the headline.

I only work with a small property, but I have seen what an invasion of aphids can do to roses, even worse - Japanese beetles. I wonder if they are any worse than the Asian cover group - The Japanese Beatles.

One answer to an invasion of pests is to have plenty of beneficial insects ready to combat them. Those host plants are generally the unglamorous ones:

• Sunflowers.
• Fever Few.
• Daisies.
• Mints.
• Tiny-flowered plants, like Clethra (Summersweet).
• Joe Pye.
• Members of the carrot family, like Queen Ann's Lace.

Do not read this book! You will catch Walliseritis, the urge to discover beneficial bugs in the garden and their host plants. Symptoms - obsession with beneficial bug plants, talking to people about tiny wasps, reading The Snoring Bird and loving every page.

If we start or end with Creation - every plant and bug has a purpose, perhaps several roles besides the main one. I thought of headlining this post - Jessica Walliser Ruined My Life! - because she moved my concentration from roses to bugs, not that the roses have suffered one bit.

Beneficial bugs normally do their work after hatching, though the Lady Beetles are also adult pest destroys. So some plants make great nurseries for beneficial insects, providing pests to eat while growing into beneficial moms and pops. But other plants serve the adults, providing nectar and pollen for the mature insects. Nothing-but-roses would be heaven for aphids, but a concentration of host plants nearby would mean pests serving as food and games for a permanent adult population of beneficial insects and spiders.

John Paul II white rose blooms are fragrant, and aphids sucked them dead. Spiders and beneficial bugs gave JPs like this.

Note well - when I began cutting perfect examples of John Paul II, the white rose most devoured by aphids, I found a tough spider web at the base of each rose stem. Accident - or on purpose? I refuse  to join the screaming hordes who hate spiders. They serve us indoors and out. 

Note also - when I cut flowers for friends or the altar - tiny Flower Flies and Ichneumon wasps hover around the blooms in the vase, as if saying goodbye to their hatcheries. I may even go inside with a few flying bugs in my hair. extending my appeal as Dr. Doolittle. Anyone can attract four-footed animals. What about six and eight feet? I have one minor sting from decades of gardening.

Concentrations for Butterflies and Hummingbirds

City planners put entire shopping districts together, and we can imitate them. The lone scarlet Bee Balm will attract a hummer, but a group of them will provide a place for them to shop for nectar and insects.

Ruby Spice is the Summersweet shrub (Clethra) that I grow.
Why do fragrant plants attract so many butterflies and beneficial insects?

I finally put a Butterfly Garden together and made Summersweet (the Cinnabon shrub) the center attraction. Empty places left by the Wild Ginger I moved looked like great planting areas for Summersweet on emergency sale - 2/3rds off! The two mature ones are along the driveway, for people coming to see the roses. All I had to do was move them from obscurity in the backyard to celebrity in the front. And now the rain is gently falling on the new and old plants, fertilizing them at the same time - Who thought of that?

The Butterfly Garden is in the sunniest spot and features Milkweed, Joe Pye Weed, Tansy, Mint, and Knitbone (Comfrey). At the front is the trio of new Summersweets, aka Cinnabon, aka Cinnamon Fry shrub. Observe gardeners - scented plants get a lot of attention from the best and most useful insects - mints, carrot family, and Summersweet. So I am seeing more butterflies daily, even though the garden is headed toward its winter sleep.

 Joe Pye has a vanilla fragrance in the bloom, but the plant has a medicinal aroma besides. 

If Plants and Insects Have a Purpose...
Facebook has a lot of problems, but it lets us be in touch with a wide variety of families. It is incontestable that plants and animals prosper because of their created purpose and abilities. How much more is that true of people, the pinnacle of Creation?

We see many kinds of suffering, which are turned into a purpose. It can be grief that is discussed to help heal others wounded by loss. Or the suffering can be extraordinary pain and impossible medical conditions that become triumphs, because they are used to show how to live with such difficulties.

We see church bodies run into the ground by Worldly Wise Men (Pilgrim's Progress). But we also find ordinary pastors and congregations that flourish through the Gospel Word rather than the Drucker Goal.

Jonah informs us - adversity is the whale that vomited us on the shores of Sugar Creek, NW Arkansas, . All the blessings imagined and many more have been realized, from being near grandchildren to having an ideal setting for writing and teaching. I used to say, "There are only a few Lutherans in each state that seem to care about Luther's doctrine. If only we could get them together." And now the Net has united us through video services and emails.

 Chaste Tree oil sells for $40. Bees love the blooms. The shrub smells like something parents insist is good for us. 

Two Biblical Passages - Messianic?

 Norma Boeckler's books on Amazon.

Questions asked about:

• Luther's translation of Eve's Words in Gen. 4:1 and 
• King David's Words in the last sentence of 2 Sam. 7:19. 

Genesis 4:1 King James Version (KJV)

4 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

וְהָ֣אָדָ֔ם יָדַ֖ע אֶת־חַוָּ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֑וֹ וַתַּ֨הַר֙ וַתֵּ֣לֶד 

אֶת־קַ֔יִן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר קָנִ֥יתִי אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־יְהֹוָֽה:

First of all, Luther saw that the purpose of the entire Bible is to teach faith in Jesus. As he wrote, the entire Bible is a very long sermon about the Man Jesus.

Once the LCMS and its tag-a-longs were infected with the rationalism of UOJ, they were vulnerable to the rationalism of text criticism, which if judged properly, is little more than fairy tales from outer space. That led to the Historical Critical Method being adopted, then Karl Barth and his Commie girlfriend Charlotte Kirschbaum replacing Luther with their neo-Marxist-Calvinism: 

• Church Growth as the new Fascism.
• Luther treated with repugnance.
• CPH's UOJ, Confessing The Gospel, and Gigantic "Small" Catechism.

Exegesis does not exist in a vacuum. So, given Luther's Scriptures-as-a-United-Truth perspective, what does the Hebrew of Genesis 4:1 say?

All of us who have had Hebrew know that אֶת is used for direct objects. Luther was not prone to say, "Oh no, that cannot be." He saw the Word as it was and also related it, as only a genius could, to the rest of Scriptures.

The First Gospel is Genesis 3:15, God promising the Savior after He drove Adam and Eve from Paradise. Would that not plant faith in Eve's heart that the Savior would break the chains of their sin? 

The mark highlighted means The Lord is in apposition. "I have conceived a man - The Lord.

That is no different from I have a bought a house - a condo.

Or - I have married a girl - a German.

The sceptics always want to remove the divine from Scriptures. CPH had no trouble publishing an NIV Bible commentary that denied the Messianic predictions of the Psalms. That is like going to a restaurant with no food, yet they charge money anyway. CPH got away with that and moved on to its $90 follow-up on Braaten-Jenson and Barth-Kirschbaum. Yet the McCain-Harrison tyranny wants to continue in power and in taxing the long-suffering congregations.

 As Luther said about Erasmus's work, this is manure served on a beautiful silver tray.

2 Samuel 7:19-21 King James Version (KJV)

19 And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?

At first glance, this passage does not seem overtly Messianic, maybe not covertly Messianic either. But the Bible is not a Bartlett's Familiar Quotations for sects, though the LCMS-ELS-ELCA-WELS sects treat it so. "Oh, here is a verse that proves the entire world is forgiven and saved. If you deny it, you unrepentant sinner, we will kick your sorry soul out." (Quotation sanitized for a  G rating.)

The Patriarchs (not Walther and Pieper, but the Genesis ones) were promised an ever-growing kingdom that was also everlasting. A brief glance at history shows that no such human kingdom has ever existed. Israel itself was nothing more than a dried out stump when Jesus was born. So this Kingdom had to be the one where the Messiah reigned.

So there is an unbroken connection between Genesis 3:15, the hopes of Genesis 4:1, the Justification by Faith of Abraham in Genesis 15, the Messianic Psalms and the prophesies. Is not Isaiah 7 and 9 a reflection on Genesis 3:15, 4:1, and 15:6? We can start with the bright passages we know so well and use them to illuminate ones where we have questions.

The more we do this, the more we will see how God has given us this seamless doctrine of Christ in many different ways, so these revealed truths are known, believed, and unshakeable.

RIP, Pastor Kevin Hastings, Kicked Out of WELS with His Congregation, Only To See It Stolen Back by the Same Thugs

Some history from Pastor Hastings is posted here.

---

Hastings, Reverend Kevin R. was called to Eternal Life on October 10, 2018 at the age of 60 years. Preceded in death by his parents, Ralph and Mabel; siblings, Kathy and Allen; and nieces, Tammy and Jennifer. Survived by his sister, Jennifer, nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, other relatives, and friends. Funeral service will be on Friday, October 19, 2018 at Molthen-Bell Funeral Home at 11:00 AM. Visitation at the funeral home on Friday from 9:00AM-11:00AM. Interment at Arlington Park Cemetery.

 The theft of St. John is told here.
Lots of photos. Hastings knew too much about WELS.
The sect protects some, squashes others. How many throw away a priceless building and congregation, then grab it back again?

Today's Posts from a Reader - Interest in the Chief Article Is Growing

 Luther considered himself a "theologian of the Augsburg Confession," as did the editors of the Formula and Book of Concord. The LCMS-ELS-WELS leaders are Enthusiasts.

The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV

“And lest we may think that the sentence that faith justifies, fell from Paul inconsiderately, he fortifies and confirms this by a long discussion in the fourth chapter to the Romans, and afterwards repeats it in all his epistles.89]
http://bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php#para89

Thus he says, Rom. 4:4

To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt . But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Here he clearly says that faith itself is imputed for righteousness. Faith, therefore, is that thing which God declares to be righteousness, and he adds that it is imputed freely, and says that it could not be imputed freely, if it were due on account of works.

---

Thank you for the link on the exegetical Harley work, pure pure gold, another one saved to Kindle

“To declare” (eis endeixin ) in the NKJV is translated “to demonstrate,” which more properly indicates God’s will to show Himself as a just and righteous God at all times, not only in the Old Testament, but “at the present time” (en to nun kairo ), whenever He forgives sinners. Such demonstration or declaring takes place whenever sinners are brought to faith in Christ crucified. Through proclamation of what God in the Old Testament promised to do and has now fulfilled in Christ, God’s righteousness is manifested when sinners are brought to faith and such believers in Jesus are justified or forgiven. God Himself would be unjust, yea, even a liar, if He declared or accepted as righteous those who have no personal righteousness. But God’s believers do possess a perfect righteousness, namely that of Christ. This is an all-sufficient righteousness which God imputes to faith, and so God’s believers become righteous in His sight.

---

Pastor Greg, along the lines of the recent post where Jesus told the Pharisees twice in one verse that they would die in their sins if they did not believe, Paul tells the Colossians AFTER Jesus supposedly forgave and justified the world this in Chapter 2:

13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

See, it is right there, the last phrase of the verse, universal forgiveness!!!  What a great opportunity to say the sins of the world are forgiven, you just have to believe it.

Except, context is a stubborn thing:

10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Ooops, not universal forgiveness.  Stubborn things like “complete in him”, “circumcision of Christ”, “in baptism”, “quickened together with him” after being buried with him in baptism….so they were still in their sins until they were brought to faith, hmmm.

Also, another description I do not remember learning/seeing before on faith, described as the faith of the operation of God…..why is it that since faith is the operation of God, not man, that God can not use that faith to declare someone righteous as the entirety of Scripture says?

***

GJ - I believe the posts from laity are especially worthwhile, so I encourage people to send them. I do not give away names or identifying facts. Sometimes people tell me about the downhill march of their "conservative" parish, but the details would give that individual away, so I just use that in my sense of where things are going.

Regulars get nicknames and can choose their own.

Lutheran? The Greatest Disgrace This Reformation - The Faux-Conservatives Teach Pseudo-Justification, Betraying Their Calls, Their Synods, Their Members

 These faux-leaders have expanded the war against the Chief Article of Christianity: promoting Objective Justification while trying to eradicate Justification by Faith. They have proved that LCMS-ELS-WELS fellowship with ELCA has been productive in gluing the false teachers together. Most of Lutherdom is apostate at the leadership/academic level, but the faithful laity and pastors are not drinking the Kool-Aid. The NIV has the quality and bacterial count of pond water.

Luther did not teach himself or his organization. The false leaders of today do both, and they are doubly damned for doing so. They should know better - and certainly know enough that their hides bristle at the mention of Justification by Faith.

Like the papal leaders of the Reformation, the "conservative" Lutheran leaders cannot address the actual issues without giving themselves away, so they:

1. Teach and worship the synod they serve so poorly;
2. Teach themselves as infallible genius-level leaders;
3. Impugn the motives and character of anyone who understands the Biblical doctrine of forgiveness and salvation.

My intuition tells me they have more training at Fuller-centric institutions and meetings than they have in Hebrew and Greek exegesis. That is another knee-slapper - the Church Shrinkers deny being at Fuller with one side of their forked tongues while bragging about it with the other side. They love their luxuries -derived from devotion to Church Shrinkage - and remember with advantages those days when they didn't have a pit to hiss in.

As John Slick Brenner predicted, the crimes are piling up for judgment and payment is due. Like the college president who said he knew the tax fraud scheme was wrong from the beginning but pleaded innocent, they will face a Judge far more righteous than a federal one.

Sassy the CyberPet - Fun, Drama, Protection, Fanbase

This is the expression most people see with Sassy,
and "Treats!" will also elicit this response.

Sassy has quite a fan club in Springdale. She is well known at Lowe's, where she loves to shop in the garden department. She enjoys trips to Walmart, which often end with driving through McDonald's next door. She has barked into the mike, but also may hold her peace for the cashier or the second window, where her cone is delivered. Yesterday, the cone was delivered with a big smile and a bow by one of her fans on the crew.

We have shared cones for 10 years. I get the first part, and Sassy reminds me when her part is due. I get taps on the shoulder to remind me of my need to share with her. Not one tap, but three taps. At home, the reminders are, in order of urgency:

1. The first gentle tap on the knee
2. Two gentle scrapes across the knee
3. Two energetic scrapes accompanied by her arrogant German Shepherd scowl. I ask Chris to watch as Sassy escalates the warnings on the bed. Naturally I am laughing as they worsen.

Sassy was amused by the photographer getting on the floor.

As her foster mother warned, Sassy is a talker, with a wide range of vocal cues, barks, moans, friendly growls, and songs. Consequently, we talk to her all day and have lots of conversations, which include her pop up ear alerts, smirks, arrogant German Shepherd scowls, grins, and kisses of all types. Her communication vocabulary seems endless. One kiss on the cheek is reserved for the dog park and a few other delights. Her warning warble is used outside the vet's office, but not every time. She sings with me or may just bark - very loudly.

Ranger Bob and our granddaughter get the loudest, most agonized greetings. A stranger would think Sassy is being tortured. Everyone else gets standard barks.

The talking part comes from her Cattle Dog heritage, and they tend to sing too. Cattle Dogs can be painfully shy and one-person dogs, but Sassy adopts everyone she sees, allowing for the unenlightened to not welcome her. She no longer expects every single person to adore her, but most see her gentle face and start warming to her at once. Sassy sniffs for dog traces on their feet and legs and knows when she has a fan almost immediately.

The loud conversations are hilarious. On walks through the neighborhood, everyone talks to Sassy. People sit in front of their homes and expect friends to drop by for a minute or even to "set a spell." Sassy will settle down and guard the property, constantly scanning it for any new activity, from a squirrel nearby to a person a half block away. Then she gets up and barks.

"Are you in a hurry?"
Bark!
"Do you have an appointment soon?"
Bark! Bark!
"Let's go then."
Bark-bark-bark!

Ranger Bob, an Army veteran, gets the full treatment: the agonized greeting, begging for dog treats, rolling over for a tummy rub, and resting nearby on the floor and listening. We often use the computer to order car parts (for our fleet of old cars) or to research an item - Social Security, taxes, car repair videos, and Command Cody's music.

Today we were walking past the big field where her friends have coffee in front of their home most mornings. Instead, the wife was leaving in her car, but stopped and opened the door to talk to Sassy. Sassy came over for hugs and praise, and the lady was all lit up with smiles.

When another morning friend sits with us, she says, "How about some love, Sassy?" Then Sassy will kiss her hand.

A Reader Commented on the OJ Paper So Loved by Jon-Boy Buchholz and UO Jay Webber

Pastor Greg, another paper I have on my Kindle that I go back to every so often. 30+ pages of straw-man arguments, big words like “logomachy” and the dismissal of faith as anything other than a work of man.

It should be required reading after a paper like this (and some of the other recent ones posted) to read Vernon Harley on Synergism......and Romans, Philippians, the gospel of John, Galatians, Hebrews 11......

“In dealing with justification, the proponents of general justification seem to view faith only from this aspect, namely, of it being a work of man. That’s why they want it excluded from God’s act of justifying the sinner. That’s why it is considered synergistic by them to include faith even though our Lutheran Confessions clearly list faith among the three “necessary elements of justification” together with the “grace of God and the merit of Christ”

“If all men were justified, i.e., declared righteous, absolved at the resurrection of Christ, but if men must be justified again (subjectively) by faith in order to be finally saved from the wrath of God, then quite obviously God wasn’t at all serious in objective justification He didn’t really declare them righteous, give them “the status of saints,” nor remove His wrath from all.”

“...for if faith must first be ruled out of justification and justification must be made universal to avoid synergism and yet faith must ultimately be brought in via “subjective” justification so that man can be saved, then obviously this “work of man” (faith) must be the deciding factor in man’s final salvation. FAITH, the very factor first ruled out to avoid synergism, now must be added so that man can be saved. Who then is faced with the problem of synergism?”

***

GJ - Pastor Harley's essays are linked on the left-column of the blog. To find them quickly there, use control-f then put Harley in the window.

Harley Challenging the Opposition

Exegetical Study

Small Catechism - 1915 by Rev. Schuh for Ohio/The General Council.

28) What articles of our Christian faith does the creed contain?

It contains the chief articles.

29) Yes, the main things. Those things which every Christian should know and believe…So what does this short creed stand for?

It stands for the whole Christian Faith.

32) Yes, we might say: this is the whole Christian faith in a nutshell, this is the kernel of all that we believe. In these few words we give expression to our faith.

34) (134) “Why is it called symbol or ensign?”

“Because by it the Christians are known and distinguished from the enemies of the Christian church.”

35) A symbol is a sign that represents something. When an army is on the march or goes to battle what symbol do they carry, by which they can be recognized?

They carry a flag.

36) If you see a company of soldiers marching under the stars and stripes what do you conclude as to their nationality?

I conclude that they are Americans.

CPH/NPH Ideas for a Relevant Reformation Service. Good for ELCA, too. "We All Say Yay to UOJ!"

 Bulk purchases double as Lutheran World Relief care packages. How many natives are hunting and fishing without their Here I Stand socks? Show them you really care and remember the Reformation at the same time.

1. Book of Concord grape juice. Reformation doctrine never tasted so good. Packaged with a pellet. Buy in bulk. We got a deal from our supplier in Pasadena, California.
2. Railroad cars full of Here I Stand socks - bulk prices only. Use these for your LWR shipments for the needy overseas - charity with a message.
3. Autopsy of a Deceased Church: Keep Yours Alive, by Thom Rainer. Cure dead orthodoxy before it is too late!
4. The Purpose-Driven Church, by Rick Warren. Discover the secrets he discovered from Mr. Success - Robert Schuller.
5. Too Busy Not To Pray, by Bill Hybels. No jokes about Bill, now.
6. Who You Are When No One's Looking: Choosing Consistency, Resisting Compromise. by Bill Hybels. This is our Reformation humor offering.
7. Spiritual Warfare, by Jack Schaap. Or - never leave your iPhone in the pulpit.
8. Unique item - Lawrence Otto Olson's D.Min. certificate from Fuller Seminary. Only one is available, because we hope this icon, this holy relic will launch a new Reformation in the Lutheran Church of the future: growth, Growth, GROWTH! We may have a Holyland tour of Watertown, New Ulm, Mequon, Willow Creek, Corunna, and Pasadena.
9. Thumb drive full of fresh, exciting ideas and goals from your Mission Board. No, it does not matter which one, because they are all the same.
10. Surprise package of CPH trinkets. You wanted them last year, but now you can afford a bunch of them at once, hand-selected by Paul McCain, MDiv. Just a few of them are pictured below.

In the Name of Jesus - Against the Gospel: Buchholz' Blasphemies

Jesus Canceled Your Debt! By Pastor Jon D. Buchholz
 In nomine Jesu 

 Objective justification under attack 

A dispute has arisen among Lutheran theologians regarding the doctrine of justification. The specific question deals with the completeness of justification at Christ’s cross and empty tomb, as well as the role of faith in justification. Did God justify the world objectively, apart from the faith that receives it subjectively? Or is God’s justification only effected when an individual trusts the promise of forgiveness? Is there only one justification—that which is a completed reality by the work of Christ and received by faith? Or is the distinction between objective and subjective justification practically teaching two justifications which are separate and distinct from one another? Is justification complete apart from faith? Or is justification only completed when faith is added?

We maintain:
 God forgave the sin of the world by removing the sin of the world and placing it upon Christ. The world’s debt has been paid in full and canceled by Christ (universal forgiveness).
 In the cross and empty tomb of Christ, God really has acquitted the world of sin, so that in Christ Jesus the world’s status has been changed to “justified” before God (universal justification). On this basis, real reconciliation has been effected between God and the world (universal acquittal, universal reconciliation).
 Through the means of grace, these completed realities are proclaimed and distributed wherever the gospel goes out into the world.
 Through Spirit-worked faith, these completed realities are appropriated and received through faith, so that the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of Christ become the possession of individual sinners (individual justification).

We understand the word "justification" to be defined according to a broader sense of the term, so that it is used in reference to the substitution of the righteousness of Christ for the world's sin; the universal verdict of "not-guilty" pronounced upon Christ as the world's substitute; the achievement of the forgiveness of sins for all people; and the personal attribution of forgiveness and imputation of the righteousness of Christ through faith.

This is the position articulated by theologians of the former Synodical Conference (false - early Missouri and WELS were Justification by Faith in their catechisms). The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS), and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are heirs of this doctrinal position (false - no the Objective Justification fanatics gradually took over). Advocates of this position see the substance of this doctrine (if not its terminology, which arose later) taught by Luther, the Lutheran reformers, the Lutheran Confessions, and early Lutheran dogmaticians. (Yes, the lying, apostates see OJ everywhere, but OJ is not in Luther or the Book of Concord or the great doctrinal teachers like Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov, Quenstedt. OJ is not anywhere in the Bible.)

***
GJ - Some in the LCMS and WELS, clergy and laity alike, are unaware of the basic lies of

1. Objective Justification, 
2. aka Universal Objective Justification, 
3. aka Justification of the World,
4. aka General Justification, 
5. aka Justification of the Sinner (Edward Preuss, who claimed everyone was justified before birth.)

This Day in History October 15th

In 1582, the ancient Julian calendar (organized by, yes, Julius Caesar and still observed by many Orthodox Christians) officially was terminated on Thursday 4 October by the command of Gregory XIII (1572–1585, Ugo Boncompagni) via the papal bull Inter gravissimas.

At midnight of 3-4 October the calendar skipped automatically to a day named Friday 15 October.