Luther Rocks

Throwing Matthew 18 Under the Bus

2012-03-01T11:53:00.001-06:00

I ran across this article earlier today. Now, I am not discounting the family's grief nor am I judging their consciences. But from a strictly objective view, this flies in the face of Matthew 18, does it not? You see this more and more in today's society and the media outlets are only too eager to sensationalize these stories. Maybe this makes me a crappy Christian in some people's eyes, but if I had the opportunity to face my child's killer, I wouldn't be offering any kind of forgiveness unless there was contrition. I would be crying 'say you're sorry!'. I would be leading with the Law and then following with the Gospel and not the other way around. Forgiveness demands contrition and the Bible is quite clear on this. Preach the message of repentance and forgiveness churches!

Blessed Ash Wednesday 2012

2012-02-22T22:08:00.000-06:00

We buried the alleluias last Sunday for Lent to this hymn. It is from the Lutheran Service Book; Alleluia, Song of Gladness. Here it is in sketch form to be part of a bigger Lenten medley to come.

PicardySketch by TrumpetJoe

It's About More Than Your Conscience

2012-02-21T13:07:00.001-06:00

In fact, according to Glenn Beck (a Mormon; Mormonism has strong ties to Freemasonry), we are all Catholics now. He is referring to the contraception issue that the clergy (see previous post) went to DC about last Thursday. Check out his comment just before the three minute mark. In fact he is spear heading a campaign in that direction. BTW...he just had a cozy meeting at the Vatican.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2012-02-20T17:58:00.001-06:00

The four mainline faith groups represented together, February 16, 2012.

Jews, Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Protestants providing a united front against the tyranny of persecution of the Church. Doctrine divides; service unites.

The Demise of Contemporary Christian Worship Predicted Circa 1930 by Sasse

2012-02-17T22:55:00.000-06:00

This essay was originally published in the Kirchlich-soziale Blätter in 1930. It was reprinted in the same year as a brochure by the Wichern Press, named after the “father of inner missions,” Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808—1881).

Sasse addresses the widespread misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. He speaks of attempts to “ecclesiasticize” or “Christianize” the world which would eventually result in the “secularization” of Christendom.

More here as a download.

Interesting who the English translator was.

Uniting the Clans

2012-02-16T12:47:00.000-06:00

Although the issues at the surface are critical; the two kingdoms as Luther put it and the constitutional right we have as Americans to religious freedom, there is an underlying agenda. There is a saying that the enemy of your enemy is not your friend. Issues like these, I believe, when presented by governments who have a one world agenda, are covertly driving an ecumenical movement among world religions. Seeing all these denominations united towards a common goal to me is extremely eerie and a fulfillment of Revelation. Lord, quickly come!

Just Say Moo...

2012-02-11T22:38:00.000-06:00

More cutting edge from Wheaton College...welcome Rome!

Stormtroopers

2012-02-11T22:24:00.000-06:00

I love irony. The following video clip has been used ad nauseum for the purpose of ranting...satirically, that is. If you do a search of 'Hitler Rant', you will find a myriad on you tube covering many subjects. This particular one rants against Calvinism. Now, for those that know their Objective Justification doctrine, and the downfalls of the extreme teachings of it, will appreciate this irony, because Calvinism is the microcosm view of justification, while skewed OJ is the macrocosm view of justification. On both accounts they miss the point of faith. I would love to see someone with video skills to do something similar regarding the UOJ Stormtroopers...LOL.

Growtivational

2012-02-06T12:07:00.000-06:00

Only a Heretic Would Claim

2012-02-04T18:58:00.000-06:00

Objective Justification

I ran across this gentleman on the internet today. I believe he offers a succinct and solid essay regarding justification along with the problems associated with objective justification.

This post is dedicated to my family members, friends and former brothers and sisters in the WELS who may be having trouble differentiating what the WELS is teaching in many places and true scriptural exegesis.

SOME THOUGHTS ON

"OBJECTIVE JUSTIFICATION"

By
Gary Ray Branscome

Since the so-called doctrine of “Objective Justification” has been a source of confusion, error, and controversy in the past I would like to share some of my thoughts on the subject. Because this topic deals with an obscure facet of Lutheran theological thought, this essay assumes that the reader has some knowledge of the subject.

First of all, the doctrine that God has given us to teach is nothing other than what the Bible says. Or, as Luther put it, “Neither ought any doctrine be taught or heard in the church but the pure Word of God, that is to say, the Holy Scriptures; otherwise accursed be both the teachers and hearers together with their doctrine.” (Christian Dogmatics, Vol. 1, pg 52)

Secondly, because the Bible is a clear book that doctrine is nothing other than “than what ye read” (2Corinthians 1:13). Or, as Walther put it, “The pure doctrine is simply nothing else, absolutely nothing else, than the pure Word of God. It is not, as some think, the doctrine adapted to the systems of dogmaticians. (“Law and Gospel”, page 349)

Therefore, when it comes to our justification we are told that the Gospel is the good news “that Christ died for our sins” (1Corinthians 15:3). And, when we believe that good news, our faith is “imputed to” us for righteousness (Galatians 3:6, Romans 4:22-23).

Now, if you examine the preceding paragraph you will notice that it speaks of two steps. First, Christ died for our sins; second, believing that He died for our sins, we are justified by faith. The doctrine of “Objective Justification” adds to these two steps a third step. This is done in order to emphasize the fact that we are justified by what Christ did (not by some virtue inherent in the act of believing). This third step consists of God’s acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf (at the time of Christ’s death), and is called the “objective justification”. This is done in order to make it clear that our faith simply receives the grace that is already there because of Christ’s sacrifice.

All of the misunderstanding and controversy over “Objective Justification” has arisen from the confusing and seemingly contradictory way in which some theologians present “Objective Justification”. And, I want to emphasize the fact that they do not all present it in the same way. For example:

[Justification] is the object of faith in that it is offered by God in the Gospel; it is the effect [of faith], to put it thus, in so far as grace having been apprehended by faith, the forgiveness of sins happens to us by that very act. [Calov’s commentary on the Augsburg Confession (1665)]

Throughout the four Gospels our Lord Jesus Christ presents Himself as the object of faith and promises forgiveness, life, and salvation to everyone who believes in Him. … Scripture speaks of believing in “the promises” (Galatians 3:16), the “Word” (Matthew 8:8; Titus 1:9), the “report” (Isaiah 53:1; Romans 10:16), the “Gospel” (Philippians 1:17), the “record” (1 John 5:10), etc. In every case, however, the object of saving faith is the content of the Word and promise and Gospel, namely, Christ the Mediator. …The upshot of the Lutheran doctrine, drawn from Scriptures, is that saving faith in God is faith in His Son who lived and died to save sinners. And this is the same as believing in the Gospel which tells you what God has done for Christ’s sake; it is the same as believing in the forgiveness of sins, life in Christ, and salvation. [Justification and Rome, by Robert Preus, pages 85 & 86]

As soon as a contrite sinner believes the divine promises of grace which for Christ’s sake is offered to him in the Gospel, or as soon as he puts his trust in the vicarious satisfaction which Christ has made for the sins of the world by His perfect obedience, he is justified, or declared righteous before God, Rom. 3,23. 24, This is the so-called subjective justification, Rom. 4, 6, or the personal application, through faith, of the merits which Christ has secured for the whole world by His substitutionary atonement (objective justification), 2 Cor. 5, 19ff. [CHRISTIAN DOGMATICS, by John Theodore Mueller, page 367]

While I feel that the word “merits” (used by Mueller) is ambiguous, I have no problem with any of those statements, and doubt that any of the Lutherans who reject the doctrine of “Objective Justification” would have a serious problem with them. However, the following statement by Francis Pieper is a different story:

All soteriological teaching must be based upon the historical, accomplished fact of the objective reconciliation, or justification, of all sinful mankind, namely, that through Christ’s vicarious satisfaction God has reconciled mankind unto Himself. This reconciliation, as Scripture plainly tells us, does not consist in a change of heart in man, but in a change of heart in God. God no longer looks upon sinful man with wrath, but “before His divine tribunal” forgives the sins of mankind, does not impute their trespasses unto them (2 Cor. 5:19). “By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:18). And this reconciliation is, as has been shown, complete and perfect, extensively and intensively, for we certainly have no right to restrict the meaning of of either the terms “world” (2 Cor. 5:19) and “all men” (Rom. 5:18) or the terms “not imputing their trespasses” (2 Cor. 5:19) and “justification (Rom. 5:18). Nor do these passages speak merely of a new relation between God and man, but they state definitely that God’s action produced the new relation, God’s action in not imputing their sins unto men, in forgiving them their sins, in justifying men in His heart, this is the meaning of objective reconciliation, as taught in 2 Cor. 5:19, Rom. 5:18; 5:10; 4:25. [CHRISTIAN DOGMATICS, by Francis Pieper, Volume 2, pages 398 & 399]

You will notice that this statement goes beyond what the Bible explicitly says, in claiming that the sins of all mankind have been forgiven and that God no longer imputes sin to anyone (believer or unbeliever). Later in this essay I will deal with the passages that he cites in support of that view, however, right now I want to call your attention to the fact that even though it looks like he is claiming that unbelievers have been forgiven, justified, and reconciled to God, on the very next page he says the opposite.

But a gift needs to be accepted. … The way of salvation set up by God therefore requires that the gift be appropriated by faith. Ancient and modern errorists have thought that by virtue of the universal reconciliation men can have the forgiveness of sins and obtain salvation without faith in the Gospel. Scripture repudiates this idea. It at once adds to the command “Preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) the words “He that believeth and ia baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (v, 16). [CHRISTIAN DOGMATICS, by Francis Pieper, Volume 2, page 400]

From now on in this essay I will refer to Dr. Pieper’s unique way of describing objective justification as, “abstract justification”. I have chosen that term because Dr. Pieper claims that God has declared all of mankind just (in the abstract), without justifying a single individual until they come to faith in Christ. To rephrase one of his statements, only a heretic would claim “that by virtue of the universal reconciliation men can have the forgiveness of sins and obtain salvation without faith in the Gospel.”

Where then is he coming from, and why does he make the claim that all mankind has been justified, if no one is actually justified until they come to faith in Christ? Well, in order to emphasize the fact that faith simply receives what is already there, he reasons that if we are justified by faith, and faith is simply receiving what is already there, there must already be an “abstract justification” for faith to receive. Likewise, if we are reconciled to God through faith in Christ, there must be an “abstract reconciliation” for faith to receive, etc.

However, even though I understand where Dr. Pieper is coming from, because his peculiar views on abstract justification are not explicitly stated in the words of Scripture, no man, or organization of men, has the authority to command believers to accept those views, or to discipline those who do not. This is true because the only authority in the congregation is the Word of God, and any church that requires its members to accept anything other than what the Bible clearly and objectively says, ceases to be a true church and becomes a sect. Or, as Dr. Pieper put it:

“All error in doctrine can be traced to the refusal of the teacher to continue in the wholesome words of Christ. This refusal prompted Luther’s constant warning against substituting an interpretation (gloss) for the Scripture words themselves.” [“Christian Dogmatics”, by Francis Pieper, Vol. 1, pg 323] “The whole Christian doctrine is revealed in Scripture passages that need no exegesis, but are an open book alike to the learned and the unlearned and can be so readily translated that the translator cannot go wrong unless he has made up his mind to depart from the original.” [ibid, pg 347]

At this point, I must say that even though I love Dr. Pieper’s “Christian Dogmatics” and have read and reread it many times, when it comes to his views on “abstract justification”, he departs from the definition of doctrine set forth in the paragraph above. In order to illustrate that fact, let us look at the passages he cited in support of his doctrine.

Begining with 2Corinthians 5:19. He interprets the words “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them,” to mean that “God no longer looks upon sinful man with wrath, but ‘before His divine tribunal’ forgives the sins of mankind, does not impute their trespasses unto them”. However, how can we interpret that passage to teach that God has forgiven all mankind, when, as Dr. Pieper pointed out, only a heretic would claim “that by virtue of the universal reconciliation men can have the forgiveness of sins… without faith in the Gospel.”

As long as there are no passages that clearly and explicitly tell us that God has justified man in the abstract, we have no business reading that doctrine into the words of Scripture. Because, “the whole Christian doctrine is revealed in Scripture passages that need no exegesis, but are an open book alike to the learned and the unlearned,” the doctrine that God wants us to teach is so plainly stated that no one can deny that the Bible says it. [“Christian Dogmatics” Vol. 1, pg 347] That is clearly not the case with Pieper’s interpretation of 2Corinthians 5:19, for Dr. Richard Lenski, whose commentary on the New Testament is considered the best, for its insight into the original Greek, says:

We do not find the idea that Paul here says that when Christ died, when in and by His death God reconciled the world objectively, He then and there (or at the time of Christ’s resurrection) forgave all sins to the whole world. Autois [to them] = individuals and refers to their subjective reconciliation. [Page 1048]

Concerning the idea that “God no longer looks upon sinful man with wrath”, Lenski says, “God always loved the world (John 3:16). He was in Christ when Christ died for all (v. 14, 15). He gave His Son to die for the world. He needed no reconciling, nothing to change Him, for He is love — why should He change? [Page 1047]

Moving to Romans 5:18, the words, “By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life,” are interpreted to mean that all of mankind has been justified (declared righteous) in the abstract, even though only a heretic would claim “that by virtue of the universal reconciliation men can” be justified without faith in the Gospel. Concerning that interpretation, Lenski has this to say:

Dikaiosis has the same sense which it had in [Romans] 4:25, the action of God when He declares righteous in personal justification, even as the whole of 3:21 to 4:25 deals with this action alone. If a world justification were intended, the word employed would have to be dikaioma. Paul even adds zoes, for this justifying action admits “to life” everlasting which only those receive who “receive the gift of righteousness” by faith although Christ won it for all men. [Page 379]

Dr. Pieper also cites Romans 4:25, “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification”. While that passage has already been dealt with in the preceding paragraph, I might point out that the word “our” makes it clear that it is talking about the justification of believers, not abstract justification. In fact, since the entire focus of Romans 3:21 through 4:25 is justification by faith, the passage is clearly telling us that Christ was raised again so that we might believe, and believing be justified by faith. “The fact that personal justification is referred to and not justification of the world is seen also from 5:1: “Having been declared righteous out of faith, “ etc. [Lenski, page 329]

Although what I have said should make it clear that Dr. Pieper’s peculiar views on “abstract justification” are not the doctrine “revealed in Scripture passages that need no exegesis, but are an open book alike to the learned and the unlearned”. [“Christian Dogmatics”, Vol. 1, pg 347] I would like to point out what “abstract justification” led to in Kokomo Indiana.

In 1979 a the pastor of a Wisconsin Synod congregation in Kokomo forced members of his congregation to accept the following four thesis on pain of excommunication:

1. Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinner’s attitude toward Christ’s sacrifice, purely on the basis of God’s verdict, every sinner, whether he knows it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint.

2. After Christ’s intervention and through Christ’s intervention, God regards all sinners as guilt-free saints.

3. When God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ, He individually pronounced forgiveness on each individual sinner whether that sinner ever comes to faith or not.

4. At the time of the resurrection of Christ, God looked down in hell and declared Judas, the people destroyed in the flood, and all the ungodly, innocent, not guilty, and forgiven of all sin and gave unto them the status of saints.

At one time I loved the Wisconsin Synod, but the Kokomo controversy convinced me that certain errors were not only being tolerated, but were being defended. Although the pastor who drafted those theses thought he was teaching the same doctrine as Dr. Pieper, he had clearly missed the fact that only a heretic would claim “that by virtue of the universal reconciliation men can have the forgiveness of sins and obtain salvation without faith in the Gospel. Scripture repudiates this idea. It at once adds to the command “Preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) the words “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (v, 16). [“Christian Dogmatics”, Vol. 2, page 400]

CONCLUSION

Rather than cause unnecessary confusion and controversy, as I believe the doctrine of abstract justification does, why don’t we simply look for a better way to convey the idea that we are justified by what Christ did and not by some virtue inherent in the act of believing. Wouldn’t is be a lot clearer to simply stress the fact that we are justified by the blood of Christ (Romans 5:9), and that our faith simply receives the grace that He won for us by His death? [Ephesians 1:7 and 2:8-9]

"If I understand all of your recent emails correctly, you wish to remain members of Holy Word only if you can convince us of the errors of our ways in regard to my preaching that "we were forgiven by God in Christ before we believed that we are forgiven."

"But you have to understand that forgiveness, reconciliation, justification, atonement - all describe the amazing grace of God given for this whole world irrespective our faith or repsonse. (sic) God loves us all and forgives us all long before we do anything at all -" - Pr. Don Patterson, Holy Word Lutheran Church, Austin, TX - WELS

The Trouble With Mr. Ellefson

2012-01-26T19:16:00.000-06:00

You can Google on your own about David Ellefson studying to become a pastor in the LC-MS or read further down on the LR blog.

He and his bandmate Dave Mustaine claim they are Christians. I don't what is in their hearts, but for the life of me I am having a hard time reconciling how a Christian continues in a band that has dark marks all over their latest album which includes the song "New World Order" (song history here...note the 'made the song more violent' comment). The song plays in the vid below and the lyrics below that.

I don't read any kind of Christian slant in the lyrics. In fact, they are quite ambiguous. Which side of the fence are they on? What are ya preachin'? The dark setting of the song coupled with the words struck terror in this listener's heart. Where is the comfort of the Gospel?

New World Order

[Lyrics - Mustaine, Menza, Music - Mustaine, Friedman, Ellefson]

Where hath the apostles gone?
Joining hands with wicked ones
Revelation has come to pass,
New World Order will hold the mass
A book written by the man
Used to control and command
All rights will be denied,
Without the mark you shall die

[2x]
No confession, all is known (all is known!)
New World Order, you shall be shown (shall be shown!)

Monitoring all wages
New World Order comes in stages
Currency is obsolete
Feel the agony of defeat
A symbol of society today
A must have or you shall pay
As humans flesh leads the mind
Just a pawn, the last martyr dies

[2x]
No confession, all is known (all is known!)
New World Order, you shall be shown (shall be shown!)

Where hath the apostles gone?
Joining hands with wicked ones
Revelation has come to pass
New World Order, complete disorder
Will hold the mass

A Good Idea? Part II...C'mon LC-MS

2012-01-25T23:15:00.000-06:00

A tidbit from Steadfast Lutherans regarding Dave Ellefson/Megadeath:

"I have no problem with rock music as entertainment. This particular case is not about using rock music in the church, which is a debatable practice, in any event. The problem that I have with accepting this candidate into the ministry is that he is continuing to work as a rock- musician-on-tour, of the “heavy metal” or “thrash metal” sort, while he is training to be a pastor in the LCMS. His Christian witness is compromised by his participation in a group with this sort of history. He should be required by the SMP admissions officers to renounce participation in a group which continues to perform this sort of music and lyrics. Why has his pastor not quoted to him the applicable Bible verse, with apt musical imagery: “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” (II Corinthians 6:15).
There is simply no way that this man’s full-time job as rock musician–for this band–passes the qualifications of: “above reproach, . . . temperate, self-controlled, respectable, . . . not violent but gentle . . . He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.” (I Timothy 3:2-7)."

What??? Did you read the first two sentences??? C'mon, guys!

You SHOULD have a problem with rock music as entertainment if it is not meet, right and salutary! And this case should be about using rock music in worship as this IS ABSOLUTELY A DEBATABLE SUBJECT as Dave Ellefson has been encouraged by his pastor and congregation to use this form of music in worship!!!

Is it just me, or is there a double standard here? The forms of rock music are OK, but the vocation is not?

Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones

2012-01-22T16:15:00.000-06:00

Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones by TrumpetJoe

"Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones"
by John A.L. Riley, 1853-1945

1. Ye watchers and ye holy ones,
Bright seraphs, cherubim, and thrones,
Raise the glad strain, Alleluia!
Cry out, dominions, princedoms, powers,
Virtues, archangels, angels' choirs,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

2. O higher than the cherubim,
More glorious than the seraphim,
Lead their praises, Alleluia!
Thou Bearer of the eternal Word,
Most gracious, magnify the Lord,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

3.Respond, ye souls in endless rest,
Ye patriarchs and prophets blest,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Ye holy Twelve, ye martyrs strong,
All saints triumphant, raise the song,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

4. O friend, in gladness let us sing,
Supernal anthems echoing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #475
Text: Ps. 148
Author: John A.L. Riley, 1906
Tune: "Lasst uns erfreuen"
1st Published in: Geistliche Kirchengesaeng
Town: Cologne, 1623

A Good Idea?

2012-01-21T15:16:00.001-06:00

In the news last week it was reported that Dave Ellefson, current bassist and founding member of Megadeth is studying to be a LC-MS pastor. It will take him a scant two years. It makes you wonder how much he will get to delve into Hebrew, Greek and German. Will he be properly equipped to carry out his call when he is ordained?

In light of the recent posts here on LR over the past few weeks regarding secular culture's influence on the church, one has to wonder how a professing Christian can continue to be a part of a band that has occult symbols all over it. More and more the church is being transformed by culture, instead of culture being transformed by the church. Is this another step leading down to the altar of the whore of Babylon?

"Some people want to morph things together into one, but I have a hand in both worlds," he said. "I love praise and worship music, and I love heavy metal." - Dave Ellefson

Matthew 6:24

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." - NIV

I understand he will continue as a member of the band.

The Rest of the Story

2012-01-14T21:21:00.000-06:00

Here is the last part of the video from Jeff Godwin:

Killer Bees

2012-01-13T12:11:00.000-06:00

No, not the aggressive strain that invaded the U.S., nor the SNL skits...but Stryper...although some may say that they are deadly. Part six:

Little Red Riding Hood?

2012-01-12T11:34:00.000-06:00

Part Five...

Blurring the Lines

2012-01-11T12:58:00.000-06:00

On my way to work this morning I heard a song by Matt Maher entitled "Hold Us Together" on a local "Christian" radio station.. I had a hard time determining the relevance of this song as a Christian song...not one mention of any person of the Trinity. I would categorize it as a secular song based on its content and ambiguity.

Here are the lyrics and part four below (the only thing I know that is waiting outside my door is the world and the devil desiring to possess me; Gen. 4:7):

VERSE ONE:
It don't have a job
Don't pay your bills
Won't buy you a home
In Beverly Hills

VERSE TWO:
Won't fix your life
In five easy steps
Ain't the law of the land
Or the government

PRE CHORUS:
But it's all you need...

CHORUS:
Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

And I'll be my brothers keeper
So the whole world will know
That we´re not alone

VERSE THREE:
It's waiting for you
Knockin' at your door!
Every moment of truth
When your heart hits the floor

PRE CHORUS TWO:
When you're on your knees then...

CHORUS:
Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

And I'll be my brothers keeper
So the whole world will know
That we're not alone

BRIDGE:
This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright s´gonna be alright

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It´s gonna be alright s´gonna be alright

CHORUS:
Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

And I'll be my brothers keeper
So the whole world will know
That we´re not alone

Marked by the Beast or Sealed by the Holy Ghost?

2012-01-10T12:57:00.000-06:00

The last three minutes are quite telling. For those familiar with occult and Freemason symbolism...it is all over these artists in their videos. My skin is crawling...

Well Intentioned

2012-01-09T12:04:00.002-06:00

Being nervous in front of people while performing goes hand in hand. Many big stars have confessed this. But usually with repetition it subsides for the most part in a majority of cases. Such was the case while I was in a band that performed locally here in central Texas. But I could never shake it while trying to be a front man for the group at Crosswalk or Christ the Rock. There was something that always felt wrong. Although my intentions were for the good, I don't believe my mind and spirit were in a good place. As Lutherans, we believe in the power of the Word and not gimmicks or methods. Sooner or later God says 'Okay, have it your way' and turns one over to their own depravity.

Here is part two of the video:

Ready Freddy?

2012-01-08T15:11:00.000-06:00

In the middle of December, Freddy Finkelstein commented here regarding CCM music and the occult infiltration. He also left behind seven links of a now dated program that aired some twenty years ago now. Here is what Freddy had to say about it:

"...Anyway, the following video (in seven parts on You Tube) is typical of the kind of concern I was exposed to throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's. I remember a younger college kid at the time asking me what I thought about this particular video. I was working through some of these issues on my own at the time it was brought to my attention, so I remember it. It was produced in the early 1990's, so its content is rather passe today. But many of the principles the commentator works from still apply. While he is a Fundamentalist, a synergist, and obviously overreaches at many points, he is successful in showing that there is no such thing as amoral music, that occultic influences have always been present in the business of CCM (not necessarily the performers themselves), and that there ought to be a distinct separation of Christian expression from the forms and priorities of the World. I especially like how he handles the concern, "if you don't use pop-music then all the kids will leave the church." His response: "Let 'em go, then. Because when the music stops playin' they're gonna leave anyway." Those who are going to stay, were never there for the music to begin with. That's experience talking -- and that has been the demonstrated experience of Evangelicalism throughout the entire last generation. We ought to open our eyes and benefit from their unfortunate experience. The world and its enticements serve only to separate us from our Saviour -- they are to be resisted, not indulged."

Here is part one of the video. You can follow the link(s) after this one completes to watch the rest of the parts or come back here each day this week as each one will be posted.

No music...or liturgy/order of worship for that matter is inert.

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

2012-01-07T21:03:00.000-06:00

After a flurry of posts in the month of December, I am in a bit of a 'catch your breath' mode. The infiltration of the occult into the CCM music scene to the extent it is has blown me away. It is much worse than I had even imagined. Lutheran churches who consider themselves confessional and/or conservative need to examine the use of secular 'tools' in their ministries to gain the lost. I pray that my former brothers at Christ the Rock were able to glean some nuggets from the ten part series I posted in December. It was a labor of love.

I have been aware of much of what this writer has penned as far as the secular world is concerned...but not the sacred. He or she has validated some conclusions of mine that I have entertained for some time. There is much to discern...and that is what I have been doing for the past month or so. There is only so much a righteous person can stomach. But in the end, it has been revealed to us in Revelation. We win.

I still have an in depth study of the song by Third Day "Consuming Fire" forthcoming. I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that the band Third Day who is considered a 'Christian' band is in fact a band that is paying homage to it's father below.

Pray

2012-01-03T17:47:00.001-06:00

This song popped out of the recesses of my brain recently when I had stumbled across articles regarding the occult's infiltration of contemporary Christian music. We performed this song while at Crosswalk. I thought it odd at the time (and especially now) that 'our daily bread' and the 'forgiveness of sins' was left out and was going to do a rewrite of the song back then. What a difference eight years make. No doubt the Theology of Glory and Universalism factor into leaving out the work of Christ.

We call upon Your name,
Humble ourselves and pray,
Move in our hearts,
Move in our land,
Every national tribe and tongue Will proclaim Your Kingdom come

chorus:
We pray, pray
Open the windows of Heaven on us
Today,
we pray,
Pour out Your spirit Your wonders on Earth

We come on bended knees
We bring an offering
Lead us in Your way,Everlasting
Every heart of every man Will pray
Your will be done

chorus
We pray, pray
Open the windows of Heaven on us
Today,
we pray,
Pour out Your spirit Your wonders on Earth

Repeat chorus

Pray,
pray
Humble ourselves,
we humble ourselves,(2x)

Our Father who art in Heaven
Hallowed be Your Name
Your Kingdom come
Your will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven
And lead us not into temptation, Deliver us from evil
For Thine is the Kingdom The Power and the Glory, Forever, and ever

chorus
We pray, pray
Open the windows of Heaven on us
Today,
we pray
Pour out Your spirit Your wonders on Earth

We pray, pray
Open the windows of Heaven on us
Today,
we pray
Pour out Your spirit Your wonders on Earth

Of the Father's Love Begotten

2012-01-01T17:08:00.000-06:00

Of the Father's Love Begotten by TrumpetJoe

Favorite Post of 2011

2012-01-01T09:26:00.000-06:00

Here was my favorite post of last year:

"Until the visible church realizes that man is completely passive from his creation to his redemption to his salvation; that good works are a package deal that come with faith all by the working of the Holy Ghost; that this is why the Divine Worship Service takes on the same passivity, we will have churches that are all about man and his needs and what he must do not knowing that it has all been done by Christ already."

Happy New Year to You All!

2011-12-30T21:31:00.000-06:00

The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.

In dulci jubilo 2011 by TrumpetJoe

Why I Go to Church

2011-12-29T18:20:00.000-06:00

Because the worship service isn't about me...or about being seeker sensitive. It is about hearing the Word of God...reciting it back to Him and receiving the forgiveness of sins...because I daily sin much. Pity that 'well meaning' churches hide the body and blood of our Lord and Savior...the very Gospel for fear of offending.

I ran across this article today. It is a long read but well worth it. Bookmark it and partake of it in courses. Hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest...

A Belated Christmas Present

2011-12-28T18:37:00.000-06:00

Here is a timely article for church elders everywhere. It will make you think twice the next time your pastor goes off on a rant about all of his goals; that discussing doctrine gets in the way of saving souls...

Remember, the congregation calls the pastor and he works for the congregation and not the other way around.

Merry Christmas!

Racing to Universalism

2011-12-27T21:57:00.000-06:00

The number one post on LR for the year (based on hits) was this one.

Billy Graham made this statement and I believe there is someone out there that can direct me to the official statement of the Roman Catholic Church that makes a similar declaration. When you read these statements and compare them to the official statements regarding justification in the last two 'bastions' of Lutheranism in America (WELS and LC-MS by their standards)...you can see where this is heading. Many statements in our correspondences with local WELS leaders offered similar discourse to those of Graham and the RCC.

The sole purpose of this blog has been to heed the Olivet Discourse.

What a Year!

2011-12-26T22:45:00.000-06:00

It's the time of year when all the highlight reels and all the lowlight reels make their reprisals in the media...

So why not follow suit? We are in the world after all...

Here is the top pick of 2011 on LR (other picks may follow):

The WELS made it abundantly clear that all men need the forgiveness of sins and have received it in Christ...whether they believe it or not; even before they are born.

A Layman's confession:

Yi'su ke Bala said (here)...: "I absolutely will confess that the forgiveness of sins is salvation. Our catechism, in the section on the Lord's Supper says, "For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation." Unfortunately, Mr. Garcia seems to have his subjective and objective justification confused. In CHRIST(the objective justification), there is forgiveness of sins and salvation obtained for all. Sadly, not all are IN CHRIST. Those in Christ have faith worked by the Holy Ghost to receive the salvation and forgiveness of sins which he earned by His suffering, death, and merit(subjective justification). Garcia's comment gives the impression that all are in Christ-even without faith. Mr. Myer(sic) is right to be concerned about Mr. Garcia's comments. IN addition I don't think God calls us to "show to other people that Jesus saved all." The church is to PROCLAIM, SPEAK, GIVE, the Law and especially the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who paid the ransom for all with His Blood. It is in this proclamation, and in Baptism/the Lord's Supper where the Holy Ghost comes to unbelievers, and even us Christians to work faith in our only Redeemer and Creator. Don't show people Jesus, Mr. Garcia. GIVE people Jesus by the proclamation of the Gospel, which calls people to faith in the Gospel."; December 26, 2011 2:33 PM

LR: It is this writer's belief that keeping the emphasis on the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament; Law and Gospel rightly preached in balance will keep a church successful.

Rocketown

2011-12-26T09:24:00.000-06:00


Re-posted comments from Hells Bells...

Brett Meyer said...: The Universalism of the (W)ELS is taught in their central doctrine of Universal Justification. Their children are articulating this confession because the forgiveness of sins is salvation. Jay Garcia: "In a world where teens are always looked at by the eyes of the Devil a Wels youth rally is a blessing it shows that even in this world where sin is everywhere there teens that still believe that we can help show to other people that Jesus saved all and that the Father loves all of his children Like · Comment · July 24 at 9:10am http://www.facebook.com/teenrally2011#!/teenrally2011?sk=wall Keynote speaker was (W)ELS Pastor Jeff Gunn; December 24, 2011 9:39 AM
Brett Meyer said...: (W)ELS 2011 Youth Rally - MOG headlined by (W)ELS Pastor Jeff Gunn and blessed by (W)ELS leadership - Here is a video of the music the children were subjected to - make that "blessed with".; December 24, 2011 9:41 AM; Here's another youth ministry that's a little more cutting edge and not in the too distant future for even the most conservative contemporary churches. They claim to be Christian. I introduce you to Rocketown, founded by Michael W. Smith, indoctrinating the young for future generations.

Coming January 21, 2012:

Revelation 13:^(KJV)^"11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. ¹²And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
¹³And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
¹⁴And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
¹⁵And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Bah! Humbug!

2011-12-24T17:21:00.001-06:00

You're a "Jackass" if you want to listen at the feet of Jesus like Mary instead of busy, busy, busy like Martha. I suppose that goes for Confession, Absolution, and the Lord's Supper...this pastor, Perry Noble, is at the same church where the band plays AC/DC's Highway to Hell...in the service.

Savior of the Nations, Come

2011-12-22T23:31:00.001-06:00

The process of this arrangement began almost five years ago. The melody/harmony at the time struck me as being a lenten hymn. In the TLH it is in the Christmas section...and yet it still has a feel of repentance...like that of Advent...or Lent...

Savior of the Nations, Come by TrumpetJoe

"Savior of the Nations, Come"

by Martin Luther, 1483-1546

1. Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Thy home!
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

2. Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh--
Woman's Offspring, pure and fresh.

3. Wondrous birth! O wondrous Child
Of the Virgin undefiled!
Though by all the world disowned,
Still to be in heaven enthroned.

4. From the Father forth He came
And returneth to the same,
Captive leading death and hell--
High the song of triumph swell!

5. Thou, the Father's only Son,
Hast o'er sin the victory won.
Boundless shall Thy kingdom be;
When shall we its glories see?

6. Brightly doth Thy manger shine,
Glorious is its light divine.
Let not sin o'ercloud this light;
Ever be our faith thus bright.

7. Praise to God the Father sing,
Praise to God the Son, our King,
Praise to God the Spirit be
Ever and eternally.

Thy kingdom come...Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Even so, Lord quickly, come!!!

Perfect Pitch BWBW10 - Conclusion

2011-12-22T12:10:00.000-06:00

Do you know what perfect pitch is? It's when you pitch a (insert your most loathed musical instrument here) into the garbage bin in one toss. Sorry...a little musician's humor there. But that is a good analogy for what churches should do with the contemporary forms that they are dragging into the church from secular culture.

As suggested before, one can substitute Lutheran for Baptist in this article and it still works.

I would take the opening paragraph by the author and extend it even further than the ecumenical and charismatic world of the church and make the connection to the world in general for this is where the forms are coming from. We know that the devil, the world and our sinful flesh are our enemies.
Resist the beginnings!

CONCLUSION

By “adapting” CCM, churches are creating a bridge to the ecumenical-charismatic world. And the influence will gradually permeate the entire congregation and change its fundamental character.

Every Independent Baptist church that doesn’t take this matter seriously and doesn’t educate itself continually and doesn’t take a strict stand will be well down the emerging road within a decade or two. Contemporary music is that powerful and it is that much at the heart of end-time apostasy.

Walls are being broken down and borders are being erased!

The Bible warns, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33).

The sad fact is that in the typical Bible-believing church today many of the people are ripe for picking by the CCM philosophy. Many aren’t even born again, having merely prayed a sinner’s prayer without genuine repentance and heart-felt faith. Many are carnal, walking with one foot in the world. Many are not sold out to Christ, and the reality of Romans 12:1-2 is entirely foreign to their daily experience. This is true for large numbers of young people who grow up in the churches, but it is also true of large numbers of adults.

Unless we get serious about our Christianity and bring our churches back to the absolute standard of God’s Word and put Christ at the center of everything, we are going to be swept along by the floodwaters of end-time apostasy.

Pastors must face this issue and make the effort to educate both themselves and the people. To use the excuse of ignorance is no excuse at all, because education is available.

We must establish godly standards of music and be consistent. To condemn “CCM” while using contemporary Southern Gospel is not consistent. To say you are opposed to CCM while you use soft rock and adapted CCM is not consistent.

It is better to err on the side of being too careful and too “strict” than too tolerant.

We need to narrow our associations today so that we aren’t dragged down with the compromise of others. When I see that a preacher is careless about music and associated things and isn’t interested in being properly informed and makes flimsy excuses for using the wrong music, I am not going to have anything to do with him as far as joint-ministry goes. I am not going to attend his church; I’m not going to preach for him, and I’m not going to preach with him in some meeting.

This issue is not a matter of personal opinion and taste. The music issue is not “peripheral.” It is a doctrinal issue and getting it right is absolutely necessary for spiritual victory and protection today.

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).

Hidden in Plain Sight BWBW9

2011-12-21T12:49:00.000-06:00

Part nine presented here is the second to last installment of the series. I pray that it has been as edifying for you as it has me. I have learned much.

I will be presenting a much more in depth analysis of the Third Day song 'Consuming Fire' after the concluding post of BWBW10. I believe there are occult signs all over the music; in the key signature; the key itself and quite possibly some "backmasking". I have uncovered a distinctive 'growl' and words that make a reference to "Michael's angels". If there are any readers of this blog who have experience in revealing backmasking, I'd love to hear from you. I am such a newbie!

"Electronic Modulation Is a Major Element of the Contemporary Worship Experience

Sometimes contemporary praise is performed with acoustic instruments only, but typically it incorporates full-blown and very loud electronic instruments with reverberation, echo, feedback and other types of electronic modulation. This is used to intensify the sensuality of the music and to create a mystical atmosphere.

The Rise and Fall of the Intensity of the Music Is a Major Element of the Contemporary Worship Experience

A contemporary worship experience typically involves a dramatic rise and fall in the sound level and intensity of the music. This is used to create an emotional roller coaster. One minute you’re body is twisting and jerking to ear-splitting rock & roll and the next minute you are immersed in a near trance-inducing atmosphere in which the music is toned down and less physically demanding but more mystical.

Repetition Is a Major Element of the Contemporary Worship Experience

Repetition is another major element of the contemporary worship experience. Because of the repetition, CCM has been called 7/11 music -- seven words sung 11 times.

Actually, the repetition can be much more extensive than that. In Kevin Prosch’s song “Signs and Wonders,” the words “signs and wonders, healings, deliverance” are repeated at least 20 times and the words “the kingdom of God is here” are repeated at least 25 times. At the 1996 Heart of David conference, they sang Prosch’s “Praise the Lord, Oh My Soul” for 20 minutes, and they sang another song for over three hours! That must be the epitome of contemporary repetition!

This music is indeed transformational. By yielding to it, the CCM crowd is carried along into a “tangible experience.” When combined with the syncopated, body-jerking rhythms, the electronic modulation, the unresolving chord progression, the rise and fall of the intensity, and the sensual vocal styles, the repetition can have a hypnotic effect on those who yield themselves unreservedly to the experience.

We have seen that the transformative power of contemporary worship music lies both in its enticing philosophy of “liberty” and in its sensual, addictive music."

Discerning the Rock BWBW8

2011-12-20T12:54:00.003-06:00

If you are of the opinion as this writer is that Lucifer was the chief musician in heaven before his fall from grace, then much of this will make more sense. It is no accident that the coined phrase "rock and roll" was chosen. Look at how the word rock translates into the world of the Christian. Phrases like: Christ the rock of our salvation; the rock of faith; faith built on the solid rock foundation instead of soft, sinking sand; Christ as the capstone or cornerstone turn into things like: Rock of Our Refuge...a song we sang at Crosswalk that had a good beat; sayings like: Let's rock...let's rock it for Jesus; or, Christ the Rock church with the rockin' band and the 'little rockers' children group. Satan knows what he's up to. Do you?

Here is part eight...a nuts and bolts presentation with some music theory to boot. I would add that the 'scoop' that the author speaks of is also known as a 'push' because the note is begun in anticipation of the coming downbeat...usually at the beginning of a measure. Of course it really doesn't push the listener, but rather pulls them into the music more intimately and emotionally.

"Unresolving Chord Cadence Is a Major Element of the Contemporary Worship Experience

Another major element of the sensual contemporary worship experience is the unresolving chords. Contemporary worship music tends to use a chord cadence other than the “perfect” or “authentic” cadence, which is used by the old hymns and which resolves back to the first tone. A “weak cadence” or an “imperfect cadence” does not resolve in this way. It is always more “feely.”

In the video series Music for Good or Evil we give audio examples of this.

Pastor Tim Kelly of Maine has taught music theory for almost 25 years and was previously deeply involved in the pop, rock, new country rock, rap, R&B music culture. He makes the following observation about contemporary praise music:

“The emphasis is on the IV chord. The V chord is always called the dominant chord in music, but in CCM it is avoided as often as possible. It doesn’t resolve. Music works like this: You have a question (phrase) and then an answer (phrase). There is tension and then release (resolve). Contemporary praise music seems to present questions with no answers, no absolutes. It is wispy and draws on the emotions, with no intellectual purpose or guide. This is the philosophy of the Devil.”

Sensual Vocal Styles Are a Major Element of the Contemporary Worship Experience

Another major element of the contemporary worship experience is the sensual vocal techniques that have been borrowed from the morally corrupt pop music field.

There is the BREATHY STYLE, in which the microphone is held extremely close to the singer’s mouth. This gives a feeling of intimacy and sexuality. Elvis Presley and other pop sex god “crooners” used this technique to great effect, and contemporary Christian musicians follow this pattern.

Then there is SCOOPING AND SLIDING, by which instead of hitting the note cleanly and directly, there is a slide from above or below its true pitch. It adds a great sensuality to the music. The 1950s book How to Sing for Money said, “Scooping is a common practice ... as a swing effect.” Thus, the scooping technique was created as part of the commercial dance music scene, and it works with the syncopated rhythm to create the sensual atmosphere that dancers desire. It is a technique that fits the night club, the bar, the gambling den.

But it has been adapted by contemporary Christian musicians and Southern Gospel performers.

These styles are not only sensual, they draw attention to the singer, which is another major element of both secular pop and contemporary Christian music."

Signs of the Time

2011-12-19T06:23:00.000-06:00

The linked post is self explanatory.

The New Jerusalem Chronicle

Consuming Fire

2011-12-17T20:50:00.002-06:00

I've been getting up to speed on occult symbols. Seems Third Day had some trouble with even their fans over artwork on their latest CD.

This is a band that is slickly produced and marketed. I mentioned earlier that this is big business. I went and viewed the video for the song 'Consuming Fire' and it is one of the weirdest I have seen. There is a boy throughout in black and white what appears to be old style prison pants as well as a random old man fishing. I understand black and white stripes are considered an occult symbol. They were always the bad guys in old movies. Mac Powell seems to flash the all seeing eye as well at 2:05 after cocking his head while having a weird look on his face. I'm sure there is more symbolism that a much more discerning eye can see.

I had posted earlier today about the song being in 6/8 meter and how Powell counts off to six. Then it hit me...if there are 6 beats to the measure, I wonder how many measures there are? You know where I'm going with this, right? There are 111 measures where the beat is happening. I believe there is strong evidence that the band is paying homage to the Lucifer described in Ezekiel 28: 13-19.

Hidden in plain sight...

BWBW7 - Let's Rock...

2011-12-17T12:50:00.002-06:00

...and the band played on. There are Bible scholars who conclude from Ezekiel 28, that Lucifer was the chief musician and music director in heaven. As Satan tempted Eve through her fragile emotions, so Satan does the same today. It is no accident that the strategy of the post modern apostate emergent church is to get men to come to church through their women. Soft ballad rock's biggest fan is feminine after all. The Garden of Eden scenario continues its reset...

Here is part 7:

"The point is that rock is made up of many types of syncopation, but they all have the same type of effect on the body. Whether rock is soft or hard, quiet or loud is irrelevant. It matters not if it is played in an electric bass guitar or a piano. It moves the body and makes you want to dance.

The heavy syncopation is why pop music is so physical.
Jimi Hendrix said this of his music: “Perhaps it is sexy ... but what music with a BIG BEAT isn’t?” (David Henderson, ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix. p. 117).
Gene Simmons of Kiss said, “That’s what rock is all about—sex with a 100 megaton bomb, THE BEAT!” (Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987).
Describing how she felt when attending her first big rock concert, Janis Joplin said: “I couldn’t believe it, all that rhythm and power. I got stoned just feeling it, like IT WAS THE BEST DOPE IN THE WORLD. It was SO SENSUAL, so vibrant, loud, crazy” (Joel Dreyfuss, “Janis Joplin Followed the Script,” Wichita Eagle, Oct. 6, 1970, p. 7A).

The sensual dance rhythm of rock music has addictive, transformative power.

Dan Lucarini, a former contemporary worship leader, led churches from using traditional hymns to a contemporary worship program, and in the book Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement he describes how he did it. The key was starting out with “soft” rock, which acts as an addictive, transformative influence on the congregation. He writes:

“The rock was softer, but it still contained the rock rhythm that undeniably appeals to our flesh. The listener soon develops a craving for it. JUST LIKE AN ADDICT, THERE IS NO TURNING BACK. What happens over time is a steady slide down the slippery slope away from all traditional music into the latest, edgiest contemporary styles.”

Graham West, formerly associated with the pop music industry, issues the same warning:

“Once you begin listening to soft rock, you begin sliding down that slippery slope to the more aggressive forms of rock. SOFT ROCK BEGINS TO ORIENT THE WHOLE WAY OF PERCEIVING MUSIC AROUND RHYTHM and away from melody. Your musical interest will change. Hymns will seem dull in comparison to your newly acquired tastes. It’s a progression I’ve seen over and over again in the lives of Christians. IT’S A DOWNWARD SPIRAL. It happens in the lives of individuals; it happens in the lives of families; it happens in the lives of churches.

“There is a GRAY AREA OF IGNORANCE ABOUT THE POWER OF POP SYNCOPATION. And the devil, taking advantage of this, being not only the master musician but also the master of subtlety, comes along to a strong fundamental church or a Bible college and he offers his wares of CCM rock ballads. It sounds great. There’s no drums, no wild electric guitars, no obvious back beat, just the piano or guitar and the singer. And it’s almost the same as the songs that they used to sing, except the rhythm kind of trips a little bit. But that’s O.K. because it’s exciting, and the young people love it. The problem is that when the rhythm does that little trip it means that the music contains a basic, distinctive rhythmic feature of all rock & roll since its inception in the 1950s. In this way, before you’ve even known it, you’ve been deceived by the subtle strategy of Satan. This is the blind spot that Satan is using to his advantage. He knows that once a church accepts rock ballads, complete capitulation is almost inevitable.

“In the case of vigilant, serious-minded Christians, he has to start them up at the very top of the slope with very gentle rock so that the conscience doesn’t scream out, ‘This music is wrong!’ Just as long as he can get you started, he has won, because just like a drug pusher he knows that his users will want more and more of that sensual rhythm” (Graham West, The Rhythm of Rock).

Many churches that are adapting CCM think they are removing the “rock” from Christian rock, but they are actually just toning it down to “soft rock.”

Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, California, has been doing this for a long time. In the report “Analyzing Adapted CCM Songs” we consider three examples that were performed by Lancaster in 2011. We provide actual video clips comparing the Independent Baptist “adapted” editions of CCM intercut with the “real stuff” performed by the original CCM groups. These clips change back and forth between the CCM artists and the music recorded in the fundamental Baptist church, though in some instances, they are so close in sound and feel it is hard to tell which is which.

See http://www.wayoflife.org/adaptingccm/index.html"

Ezekiel 28: "You were the signet of perfection,^[a]
    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God;
    every precious stone was your covering,
sardius, topaz, and diamond,
   beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire,^[b] emerald, and carbuncle;
   and crafted in gold were your settings
   and your engravings.^[c]
On the day that you were created
   they were prepared.
¹⁴You were an anointed guardian cherub.
   I placed you;^[d] you were on the holy mountain of God;
   in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
¹⁵You were blameless in your ways
    from the day you were created,
   till unrighteousness was found in you.
¹⁶In the abundance of your trade
   you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
   and I destroyed you,^[e] O guardian cherub,
   from the midst of the stones of fire.
¹⁷ Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
   you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
   I exposed you before kings,
   to feast their eyes on you.
¹⁸By the multitude of your iniquities,
   in the unrighteousness of your trade
   you profaned your sanctuaries;
so I brought fire out from your midst;
   it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
    in the sight of all who saw you.
¹⁹All who know you among the peoples
   are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
   and shall be no more forever." - ESV

Those words put the song by Third Day "Consuming Fire" in a new light...at least for me. BTW...the feel of the song is 4/4 to keep the backbeat, but the meter is 6/8 time...Mac counts it off to six. Think about it.

Anybody Wanna Get Down? BWBW6

2011-12-16T12:54:00.001-06:00

From the real estate perspective, they will tell you that there are three keys to successful business...location, location, location. Well in the music business it's all about sensual, sensual and sensual. This sensuality is drawn into the church through rock/pop style music. I remember my former pastor commenting on how we needed to engage the congregation more.

In this latest segment you will find nothing about the efficacy of the Word in regards to church growth and CCM.

"THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF THE CCM MUSIC
It is not only the philosophy of CCM that is transformative; it is the music itself.

Every element of contemporary praise music is designed to create a sensual emotional experience which is very sensual and addictive and even hypnotic.

Graham Kendrick, one of the biggest names in Contemporary Christian Worship, says, “The old way of preaching and singing began to give way to an expectation that ... God would visit us, and we’d EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE IN A TANGIBLE SORT OF WAY” (Interview with Chris Davidson of Integrity Music, June 11, 2002).

The mission of Integrity Music and Integrity Worship Ministries is “helping people worldwide EXPERIENCE THE MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD” (integritymusic.com).

The objective of Worship Central is “to encounter God.”

Secret Place Ministries exemplifies the contemporary worship philosophy in that they “long for AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE PRESENCE OF GOD” and their worship music is said to “BRING DOWN THE PRESENCE OF GOD” (SecretPlaceMinistries.org).

Michael W. Smith says, “Music helps you ENTER INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD.”

Joel Purdy of Hearts of Saints says, “Contemporary worship music gives the listener a deeper WORSHIP EXPERIENCE.”

In pursuit of this tangible worship experience, the CCM crowd gives itself over to the music, which is designed to create the sensual experience that they are seeking.MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP EXPERIENCE
Having studied Contemporary Christian Music since the 1970s, I have identified six elements of the music that work together to create the sensual experience sought by contemporary worshipers. These are as follows:

* Syncopated dance rhythm
* Unresolving chords
* Sensual vocal techniques
* Electronic modulation
* Rise and fall in intensity
* RepetitionSyncopated Dance Rhythm Is a Major Element of the Contemporary Worship Experience

Irwin Silber, a communist who desired the see social degeneration that would overthrow the “old order,” observed that rock music has this power and it lies in its backbeat rhythm. He wrote: “The great strength of rock & roll LIES IN ITS BEAT. It is a music that is BASICALLY SEXUAL, unpuritan” (Sing Out, May 1965).

I can concur with this statement, along with thousands of others who have been “transformed” by the power of rock & roll music. It was the “beat” of rock that reached into a Christian home and captured my heart and soul as a teenager in the early 1960s. I can testify that the influence was indeed “basically sexual, unpuritan.”

And the heavily syncopated rhythm, the rhythm that literally grabs the body and encourages it to move in a modern dance fashion, is a MAJOR part of the contemporary worship experience.

The heavily syncopated rhythm is what has always made rock & roll sensual party music. That’s its very essence. John Makujina says, “Rock’s danceability is due predominately to its emphasized syncopated rhythms” (Measuring the Music). The very name rock & roll was a euphemism for fornication. Since the 1950s, the phrase “let’s rock” has meant “let’s party, let’s drink, let’s get high, let’s do as we very well please.”

Rock music has always been about living as you please and thumbing your nose at authorities. It was summarized by the Rolling Stones in 1965: “I’m free to do what I want any old time.” And by The Animals: “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want/ It’s my mind, and I’ll think what I want.” And by the Mamas and Papas: “You got to go where you want to go/ do what you want to do.” And by the Isley Brothers: “It’s your thing/ do what you want to do.”

And this licentious anti-God philosophy has been driven by the heavy dance syncopation.

Graham West, a pastor in Australia who has a background in writing, recording, and producing pop music, says, “When you take away the accent from where the strong beat should fall the human body is instinctively inclined to move into the gap and mark where the missing accent should be” (video presentation “The Rhythm of Rock”).

Some common types of syncopated dance rhythm are the back beat, the silent beat, the staccato beat, and beat anticipation.

The backbeat, which rockers and social commentators have identified as “sexy,” has been the chief characteristic of worldly dance music since the beginning of the 20th century. It was the rhythm that drove ragtime, the blues, boogie woogie, jazz, big band swing, and honky tonk or Western swing.

Fifties rocker Bill Haley said: “I felt that if I could take a ... tune and drop the first and third beats and accentuate the second and fourth, and add a beat the listeners could clap to as well as dance this would be what they were after.”

Indeed, it was! The backbeat drove a virtual revolution.

The backbeat emphasizes the offbeat, such as

one-TWO-three-FOUR

The backbeat is in contrast to the straight or march beat, which has the emphasis on the first beat or every beat equally:

one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four
or
ONE-two-three-four, ONE-two-three-four

The silent beat is another type of syncopated dance rhythm. By simply dropping a beat, a sensual rock effect is created

Da Da Da Da, Da Da Da Da
vs.
Da Da -- Da, Da Da -- Da

In the staccato beat the notes are clipped.

Da Da Da Da, Da Da Da Da
vs.
Dop Dop Dop Dop, Dop Dop Dop Dop

Beat anticipation, as Graham West explains in his video presentation The Rhythm of Rock, is a type of syncopation that falls at the end of a phrase and is unresolved; it is as much a major element of rock as the backbeat. It can create the jerky rock feel even when the other types of syncopation aren’t present. It leaves the listener anticipating something that is not there and the body wants to fill in the gap. Beat anticipation is a major part of contemporary worship music, and fundamentalist churches that are “adapting” contemporary worship songs are typically buying into the beat anticipation, not understanding that they are actually performing soft rock ballads. They think that since they don’t have drums and a bass guitar thumping out a heavy backbeat that they have removed the rock from Christian rock, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

The backbeat, the silent beat, the staccato beat, and beat anticipation are some of the many kinds of off beat dance syncopation that go into the creation of rock. The Rhythm Bible has “over 1,000 examples of rhythmic figures common in jazz, rock, Latin, blues, funk, and other styles -- rhythms that make contemporary sounds so exciting.”"

Hells Bells = Ecumenism + Universalism (BWBW5)

2011-12-15T06:34:00.000-06:00

Did you click on the link from yesterday's post? Did you read the section on Michael W. Smith? If you are into CCM and that didn't scare the hell out of you, well you may as well stop reading this blog because Satan already has you.

Zach Lind's comment in this installment has ecumenism and universalism all over it. And why shouldn't he? He is a follower of Rob Bell. Rob Bell recently wrote a book called "Love Wins". In his book he questions the existence of hell and traditional Christianity's judgemental take on people of other faiths. He is a universalist.

Read on...

"Yes, the CCM philosophy is diametrically opposed to an “old-fashioned” Biblicist church, and those who associate with CCM pick up its philosophy. There is a rebel inside of every born again child of God that wants to follow its own lusts. The child of God can walk in the flesh or in the Spirit, and the flesh lusteth against the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17). The CCM philosophy is attractive to those who want more “liberty.”

It is magnet for those who have rejected the “old-fashioned” New Testament faith and who despise traditional Bible-believing churches, dogmatic biblical preaching, and biblical “judgmentalism” in regard to lifestyle choices.

In a video-recorded interview in 2009, Zach Lind, drummer for the secular rock band Jimmy Eat World, told us that he grew up in a “very conservative” Baptist church and made a profession of faith when he was young, but he did so only because he didn’t want to be left out of the communion service. He said he wanted to “eat the cracker with his buddies.” He secretly loved rock & roll and didn’t like to hear preaching against that sort of thing, so he left church and did not return to Christianity until he discovered the emerging church. Now he has the freedom to be a Christian and also a drummer in a secular rock band. Following is an excerpt from the interview:

“The belief system that they emphasized did not necessarily resonate with me. For instance, when I was in junior high they played a video to the junior high group called ‘Hells Bells: The Dangers of Rock & Roll.’ And I was sort of secretly in the closet a big rock & roll music fan, listening to all different kinds of bands that typically the church wouldn’t approve. ... Ultimately in high school I started a band with some friends; that was 15 or 16 years ago, and we still are a band today; we’re a secular rock band. I’ve lived in the world, and I’ve realized that a lot of the religious goods and services that I was provided as a kid just sort of fell flat when I entered into the real world. As I was trying to reconcile those kinds of things, I was free falling. The framework of Christianity wasn’t viable to me. It was nice to come into contact with some writers like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell and Dallas Willard that gave me a different framework, a different perspective, in order to construct a life of faith that really resonated with me. Because of my experience with the band and whatever notoriety I’ve gained with that, I’ve been able to make some friendships with people that I really respect and that have really shaped me. It’s been life-giving. ... The gospel that I believe now is totally different than the gospel I grew up with. The gospel I grew up with was a transactional gospel, this idea that if I have the right belief now I will be somehow saved from some kind of punishment later. ... Dallas Willard reminded me that the kingdom of God is not some future destination, that the kingdom of God is now.”

This theme runs throughout the world of Contemporary Christian Music, and it is very tempting to many people today and herein lies its transformative power.

By the way, Zach never gave us a biblical testimony of being born again. He simply accepted “a different framework” provided by emergents such as Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and Dallas Willard.

When this music begins to gain a bridgehead in an individual life, home, or church it brings its philosophy, and if the individual believer is not filled with the Spirit and grounded in Scripture and if he is not carefully testing everything by God’s Word he will be influenced by the promise of “the new liberty.”"

Purely Intentional?

2011-12-14T12:32:00.001-06:00

Some of the upcoming installments of the current series I have been posting will get more into music theory. It will talk about unresolved cadences; chord progressions that don't make sense on the surface; chord selection; rhythm selection and the hypnotic affect of all this through repetition.

While driving to and from work lately, I have been listening to CCM again. It has been research time well spent in the light of this BWBW series. This morning I listened to Third Day's cover of O Come All Ye Faithful. The original setting of the song (in all the hymnals) is in a major key and an anthem that will be sung in many churches on Christmas Eve and Day. But the Third Day version isn't the same joyful from the opening downbeat to the ending, at least from a musical perspective. In fact I found it quite striking that the words 'joyful' and 'Christ' are sung over minor chords. The phrases are major except for the minor chord which enters and departs quickly and subtly. Why would they do that? So it really got me to thinking. I Googled some things regarding Third Day and this interesting web page came up. It makes you think. The Third Day song is posted below. You be the judge.

Dark Beats - BWBW4

2011-12-13T18:36:00.001-06:00

In America, we are told that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Americans have no problem with this creed...it is the American way after all. But should this attitude be prevalent in the church? It seems so as more and more of secular culture is dragged into our sanctuaries. No doubt Christ the Rock will have these beats resounding during their 'worship services' this season.

Here is installment 4 on CCM...

"The apostle Paul defined the true grace of Christian living as follows:

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14).

This is a very strict, very careful, very holy, very separated way of living. Paul is most definitely NOT describing the philosophy that permeates Contemporary Christian Music today. According to Scripture we are saved by the grace of God without works, because salvation is a free gift that was purchased by Christ; but we are saved “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10), and those good works are laid out in the canon of New Testament Scripture.

It is not “legalism” or “Phariseeism” for a saved-by-grace, blood-washed saint to have a zeal to obey every commandment of the New Testament faith.

James said that “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is to “keep himself UNSPOTTED from the world” (James 1:27) and he solemnly warned that those who befriend the world are the enemies of God (James 4:4).

That apparently was the condition of many professing believers in James’ day, but it has become the condition of MOST today.

Paul said we are to have “NO fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).

This is a very, very strict standard of separation. It means that the believer is to constantly measure things by God’s Word to see if it is an unfruitful work of darkness, and he is to have no fellowship with such works. In fact, not only is he not to have fellowship with them; he is to reprove them. It was commandments such as this that led me to reject rock & roll as young Christian and also to reprove rock in my preaching and books. If anything is an unfruitful work of darkness in this world today, it has to be rock & roll and the rock/pop culture.

Paul taught Timothy to keep the New Testament commandments “without SPOT, unrebukeable” (1 Timothy 6:14).

It is instructive that Paul used the word “commandment” in this passage, because the CCM crowd typically rails against “rules” and “regulations.” Paul issued commandments to the brethren (2 Thess. 3:4, 6, 12). By my count, the epistle of Ephesians contains 88 commandments for New Testament believers that we to keep by God’s grace and through the indwelling Spirit.

The Psalmist said, “I esteem all thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right and I hate EVERY false way” (Psalm 119:128).

This is the mindset and worldview of a true Biblicist, and it is contrary to the mindset one typically finds in the CCM movement.

The so-called grace preached by the CCM movement is that described in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Though this was written 2,000 years ago, a more accurate description of Contemporary Christian Music has never been penned. CCM is an end-time movement of apostasy. It is characterized by the desire on the part of professing Christians for new (contemporary) things and the intention to live according to their own lusts rather than obey the path of Biblical separation, and it features heaps of teachers who are willing to tickle itching ears with a new type of Christianity that is not solidly Bible based.

The Bible exhorts us to exercise our “senses to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). This is the way of Christian growth and spiritual protection. The child of God is to take the Bible as his sole authority for faith and practice, as the infallibly inspired Book of his life, and test everything by it. We are to continually judge whether things are right or wrong, true or false, good or evil. This is contrary to the CCM philosophy and the churches that live by this standard will reject CCM, because they know that there is a right and wrong biblical standard for everything, including music and dress and entertainment."

Gaudy - BWBW3

2011-12-11T14:40:00.000-06:00

We lit the third candle of the Advent wreath this morning in church; the pink one; the one that symbolizes joy; while we sang O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It is a reprieve from the pall of repentant preparation as we await Christ. Although it is not a season of such remorse over our sins like that of Lent, it is a season of repentance just the same. But we are thankful...even joyful for our Savior who redeemed us from our sins and continues to grant us forgiveness through the Means of Grace.

The English word 'joy' comes from the Latin 'gaudere'. We also get another word in our language from that Latin word. Gaudy. Gaudy refers to outward showiness of splendor in an over stated kind of way. Last evening we watched the Top Ten End Zone Celebrations of All Time on the NFL network. Many of them were gaudy. Gaudy is the first word that came to my mind the first time I watched the Trinity Broadcast Network. The set was over the top and just about everything else about the show including Jan Crouch's hair and make up.

I'm not real familiar with the Southern Gospel Music scene, but I know who Bill and Gloria Gaither are. I have seen them on TBN. There is a gaudiness that comes from the music as well as their persona. It comes from the same place as most of today's contemporary music...the theology of glory. It is outwardly showy in splendor and takes the focus off of Christ. And there is good money in it, obviously! About six years ago Chris Tomlin moved from here in Austin to Atlanta at Louie Giglio's invitation to join his ministry. Chris's house sold for about $1.5 million dollars. And when the big worship conference came to Austin a few years ago, I couldn't believe what they were charging to attend...sans accommodations; upwards of $330 per person. I'm not making this about money, but we all know what the Bible has to say about it.

If you haven't gathered it by now, music is a passion of mine. Here is the third installment of the series on CCM:

"Contemporary Southern Gospel is probably as dangerous as Contemporary Worship Music, and its popularity is growing by leaps and bounds among fundamental Baptists. My warnings about Bill Gaither and his crowd have, for the most part, either fallen on deaf ears or stirred up anger toward me and bitter rejection of my ministry.

(See “Bill Gaither’s Disobedience” and “Southern Gospel Music” at the Way of Life web site. There is also a segment on Southern Gospel in the video series “Music for Good or Evil,” which is available on DVD or eVideo downloads from the Way of Life web site -- www.wayoflife.org.)

Contemporary Southern Gospel tends to bring the same type of broadminded tolerance and ecumenical thinking and rejection of “strict separatism” as Contemporary Worship Music brings to a church.

A church will not long maintain a biblical separatist stance if it embraces either contemporary Southern Gospel or contemporary worship music.

Within a decade or two such churches will have adopted a different stance, a New Evangelical-contemporary-emerging one.
WHAT IS THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC?
Wherein lies the transformative power of contemporary Christian music? Why is it capable of changing the very character of a church, of turning it in an entirely new direction?

The transformative power of CCM lies both in its philosophy and in its music.
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF THE CCM PHILOSOPHY
CCM is not just a different type of Christian music. It is the soundtrack of an entire philosophy of Christian faith and life. It is the piper’s tune for a worldview, and it is very enticing because it preaches a doctrine of license under the guise of a more relaxed, grace-based approach to Christian living (and usually this relaxed attitude affect’s one’s approach to doctrine as well).

It brazenly renounces the “old” way of separatism as “legalistic” and “Pharisaical.” It is a brash rejection of “your grandmother’s Christianity,” referring to a time before the 1970s before Christian rock fought its way into the churches.

In the popular book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller tells how that he refused to be restricted by the teaching of traditional-type churches. He wanted to drink beer and watch raunchy movies and talk trashy and run around with atheists and other rebels. Now, with his emerging CCM stance, he can do that.

At a book signing for Blue Like Jazz, a young woman who had purchased multiple copies said, “I’m a Jesus girl, but I also like to go out and do tequila shots with my friends. This is a book I can give to them.”

This is the Christianity of Contemporary Christian Music.

In A Renegade’s Guide to God, David Foster mocks “Bible thumpers” and calls for a “renegade” type of Christianity that “resists being named, revolts at being shamed, and rebels against being tamed” (p. 8). He says, “We won’t be ‘told’ what to do or ‘commanded’ how to behave” (p. 10).

In If Grace Is So Amazing, Why Don’t We Like It, Donald McCullough says that he doesn’t like the type of preaching that says, “... don’t do that, curb your appetites, reign in desire, discipline and sacrifice yourself” (p. 104).

Charles Swindoll, who has promoted the CCM philosophy for decades and who once entered a Promise Keepers rally on a Harley motorcycle to the strains of the rebel rock anthem “Born to Be Wild,” says: “There was a time ... when I had a position that life was so rigid I would fight for every jot and tittle. ... The older I get, the shorter that lists gets, frankly. ... More than ever we need grace-awakened ministers who free rather than bind” (The Grace Awakening).

A battle is raging between those who believe that the grace of God is license to drink deeply of the sensual pop culture and those who still hold to biblical separatism. When I was saved in 1973 from a rock & roll lifestyle, God taught me to separate from the sensuality of rock and the cheap, garbage pop culture which is both immersed in and was largely created by this music. Rock & roll has been at the forefront of the drug culture, free sex, feminism, unisex fashions, no-fault divorce, the mainstreaming of homosexuality, the legalization of abortion, and the misguided peace movement. The vast majority of mainstream rockers promote these things. Rock has had a large role in bringing Eastern paganism to the West.

Rock & roll is the soundtrack of end-time apostasy as described in the amazing prophecy of 2 Timothy 4:3-4.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”"

Veni Emmanuel

2011-12-10T19:33:00.000-06:00

Veni Emmanuel remix by TrumpetJoe

Nothing Sacred

2011-12-10T12:41:00.001-06:00

New Spring Church Band:

Christ the Rock Church Band (Round Rock, TX - WELS) "No Ordinary King" a.k.a. N.O.K.
"Our band plays a mix of contempory, Christian rock songs -- both cover and originals, as well as secular pop and rock songs from artists such as Journey, Brian Adams, Adele, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift."

Movers and Shakers - BWBW Part 2

2011-12-09T19:09:00.002-06:00

If you didn't click on any links in the last post to discover what denomination is taking a good hard look at contemporary worship, it will be made known here. Wherever you see a word relating to 'Baptist' you can substitute a correlating 'Lutheran' term. The shoe fits. What I found striking about this article is that even though we as Confessional Lutherans disagree with decision theology, even the fundamental Baptist churches are seeing the same things in the emergent post modern church as traditional Lutherans do and where this is heading. The marks of the ecumenical movement are all over this. And the Wauwatosa Theology plays right into it as well. 'Let's be more loving and accepting and shun the bravado of orthodoxy'...in other words; love unites but doctrine divides. How loving is accepting false doctrine much less teaching it?

From a musicians standpoint, many of the names mentioned here are household names. I know because I picked many of the songs and played them. Other Lutheran worship leaders/music director types will recognize them too. Their philosophies on church and spirituality are telling and one needs to know what they are. Here is part two:

"This report on the transformational power of contemporary praise music could be titled “The Road from Fundamental Baptist to Emerging” or “The Path from Fundamental Baptist to the Broader Church.”

This is an hour of great change. Over the past 15-20 years, many formerly fundamental Baptist churches have rejected separatism and have converted to New Evangelical rock & roll entertainment centers. We have documented this in the book Biblical Separatism and Its Collapse among Fundamental Baptists, which is available in print or eBook formats from Way of Life. It is available as a free eBook via the link along the right side of the front page of the Way of Life web site.

In this book we have given the examples of GARBC; BBFI; ABWE; Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia; Landmark Baptist Church of Cincinnati, Ohio; Akron Baptist Temple of Akron, Ohio; New Testament Baptist Church of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Temple Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan; Southside Baptist Church of Greenville, SC; Highland Park Baptist Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Southwide Baptist Fellowship; Cedarville University; Joyful Woman magazine, and others.

Consider Akron Baptist, which was founded in 1935 by Dallas Billington. From the 1940s to the 1960s it had one of the largest Sunday morning crowds in the nation. In those days it was a typical Independent Baptist church, very conservative in music and dress, committed to the King James Bible, and aggressive in evangelism and world missions. Upon the death of Dallas in 1972, his son Charles assumed the pastorate. In 1996, Dallas’ grandson Dallas R. Billington became pastor, and took the church in a contemporary direction. Today, Akron Baptist Temple is an emerging church with a “traditional service” called The Temple and a raunchy contemporary service called The Bridge. The church offers a smorgasbord of worship “experiences.” It’s all about my tastes and my choices. In The Bridge a loud rock & roll band plays 7/11 (seven words sung 11 times) contemporary worship music in a darkened auditorium. The service is advertised as “creating an environment where people who are seeking God, can do so in a non-threatening, comfortable way.” It is oriented toward “experiencing God,” which is the charismatic mystical approach to worship.

This type of transformation is happening widely. Everywhere I travel I hear of another example

The adaptation of contemporary worship music is certainly not the only factor in these dramatic transformations, but it is at the very heart and soul of the changes. I am convinced that it is spiritual lukewarmness and carnality and a love for the world that allows the CCM to enter; but the CCM acts within that atmosphere as a powerful transformational agent to carry the congregation far from its original principles.

CCM movers and shakers know that their music is transformative.

Don Moen, formerly the leader of Integrity Music, one of the biggest distributors of contemporary worship music, says: “I’ve discovered that worship music is transdenominational, transcultural. IT BRIDGES ANY DENOMINATION. Twenty years ago there were many huge divisions between denominations. Today the walls are coming down.”

In fact, they are actively targeting “old-fashioned” churches to move them into the “broader church.”

There are TRANSITION SONGS and BRIDGE SONGS designed to move “traditional” churches along the contemporary path toward Christian rock. From the perspective of the CCM artists involved in this, they aren’t doing anything sinister. They are simply trying to “feed” the “broader church.” But from a fundamentalist Bible-believing position, the effect is to draw “old-fashioned” Bible churches into the contemporary orb, and that is most sinister.

Bridge songs include “How Deep the Father's Love for Us” by Stuart Townend and “In Christ Alone” by Townend and Keith Getty.

These songs tend to be doctrinally sound and hymn-like (soft rock ballad style as opposed to out-and-out rock & roll), so they are considered “safe” by undiscerning churches.

But by using this music a church is brought into association with the contemporary world that Townend represents and this has the great potential to carry Independent Baptist church members into treacherous waters. (See the free eBook Biblical Separatism and Its Collapse among Fundamental Baptists for documentation of the treacherous waters of modern evangelicalism.)

(See “Analyzing ‘Adapted’ CCM Songs” for video clips of how one Independent Baptist church is pursuing this technique -- http://www.wayoflife.org/adaptingccm/index.html )

Townend is an out-and-out Christian rocker. He is charismatic in theology and radically ecumenical in philosophy, supporting the Alpha program which bridges charismatic, Protestant, and Roman Catholic churches. He is a member of Church of Christ the King in Brighton, U.K. and supports the “extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit,” which refers to the demonic/fleshly charismatic mysticism such as nonsensical ecstatic tongues, spirit slaying, holy laughter, and shaking.

Townend is holding hands with the “broader church” in all of its facets and heresies and end-time apostasies, and Townend’s objective in writing “hymn-like” contemporary songs is ecumenism. He is doubtless sincere in this, but he is sincerely and decidedly and dangerously wrong. Townend is a rock & roller, pure and simple. In his blog he says that he doesn’t go home and put on a hymns album, because this is not “where I’m at musically at all.” He wants to use the soft CCM to bring “traditional churches” into association with the “broader church.”

When “traditional” churches borrow Townend’s “soft” CCM “hymns,” the contemporary churches are in no danger of being “traditionalized,” but the traditional churches are most definitely in danger of being contemporized and led into the treacherous waters of modern evangelicalism."

Emphasis mine.

Throw the Baby Out With the Bath Water (BWBW Part 1)

2011-12-08T18:49:00.000-06:00

About twenty years ago I think, the first of the 'Sister Act' movies came out. It made me think...'Why can't church be more fun?'. I mean, it should be a celebration; a party...after all as Christians we are saved and we should be much more joyful...at least as far as Lutheran Christians go...they're so boring and demure. About ten years ago, and I hate to admit this I was really bored with the liturgy...and sick and tired of being told how bad I was. 'I am a Christian...covered by the blood of Christ! Why do you keep bumming me out all the time with this negativity???' I thought and voiced to others. It has to be all of this negativity that was contributing to the declining numbers in church and synod. Something had to be done! Enter CCM...Contemporary Christian Music...It's only rock and roll, but I like it.

As this blog has attested on more than one occasion, you can not change your worship without changing your doctrine. When Luther kept the things that were good and threw out the bad, they really were either good or bad! He didn't change for the sake of change or growth. So when we used to say that we were doing like Luther...'we're not throwing out the baby with the bath water...we're just taking out what isn't working and putting in what will...we're still keeping Lutheran doctrine!' Well homies, I say throw it all out!

A few weeks ago I bought "The Defined King James Bible" from these folks. I also got on a mailing list that has been sending some interesting things. The email from today said that I have permission to share the following article with fellow Christians. I am doing it here. It is quite long so I will do so in parts over the next few days. Anyone who is currently worshiping with modern rhythms or thinking of doing so needs to read this. Without further adieu...

"The Transformational Power of Contemporary Worship Music

Dec/08/11 14:21 Filed in: Music

The following written report is available in audio visual format as one of the titles in the video series MUSIC FOR GOOD OR EVIL. This was published in July 2011 as a replacement for previous presentations we have produced on this subject. The series is packed with graphics, video and audio clips. It has seven segments. I. Biblical Principles of Good Christian Music. We cover the following eight principles: Good Christian Music is for Christians and for the Lord. It is holy. It emphasizes melody. It is Christ-centered. It flows from a submissive attitude. It is separate from the world. It creates vigilance and sobriety. It is doctrinally pure and theologically precise. II. Why We Reject Contemporary Christian Music. In this section we give eight reasons for rejecting CCM: It is worldly, addictive, ecumenical, charismatic, shallow and man-centered, opposed to preaching, experience-oriented, and weakens the strong biblicist stance of a church. III. The Sound of Contemporary Christian Music. The goal of this section is to give the believer some simple tools that he can use to discern the difference between sensual and sacred music. We deal with the following four musical styles that are not fitting for good Christian music: 1. Syncopated dance styles, including the back beat, the off beat, the break beat, and the anticipated beat. 2. Sensual vocal styles (the whispery/breathy style and scooping/sliding). 3. Relativistic styles (deceptive chord cadence). 4. Overly soft styles that do not fit the message. IV. Transformational Power of CCM. This presentation answers the question why CCM is able to transform a “traditional” Bible-believing church to a New Evangelical one. It’s transformational power resides in its enticing philosophy of “liberty” and in its sensual, addictive music. V. Southern Gospel. Here we deal with the history of Southern Gospel, going back to the turn of the 20th century, to show how that Southern Gospel became an entertainment business. We also deal with the current status of Southern Gospel, the powerful influence of Bill Gaither, and the close association between Southern Gospel today and Contemporary Christian Music. VI. Marks of Good Song Leading. In this presentation we cover eight principles of good song leading: Leadership, preparation, edification, spirituality, truth and spiritual discernment, enthusiasm and a positive attitude, wisdom, and liberty and diversity. VII. Questions Answered on Contemporary Christian Music. Here we deal with 15 of the most common questions on this subject: 1. Do you mean that Christians should only use old music? 2. Is rhythm wrong? 3. Isn’t this issue just a matter of different taste? 4. Isn’t the sincerity of the musicians the important thing? 5. Isn’t some CCM acceptable? 6. Why does traditional church music seem dull? 7. Didn’t Luther use tavern music? 8. Didn’t the Wesleys use tavern music? 9. What is the difference between using CCW and using old interdenominational hymns? 10. Doesn’t the Bible encourage us to use cymbals and loud sounding instruments? 11. Why are you opposed to drums? 12. What is wrong with “soft rock”? 13. Didn’t God create all music? 14. Since God looks on the heart, why are you concerned about appearance? 15. Since kids today aren’t listening to traditional Christian music, shouldn’t we use rock to reach them? 4 DVDs or video downloads available from the Way of Life web site -- www.wayoflife.org"

BTW...One of the last services we attended at Holy Word Austin had a song in the service by Bill Gaither.

Another Pastor Confesses the Truth...

2011-12-05T12:55:00.004-06:00

...regarding faith, repentance, forgiveness and justification. Not a stitch of forgiveness before we were born; before hearing or receiving the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament.

Pastor Fiene said..."...4. I’m glad that you were taught what it means to be saved by grace through faith growing up in the LCMS. But you seem to have forgotten what you were taught about the relationship between the Law and the Gospel, and the relationship between repentance and forgiveness. In John 20, when Jesus institutes the office of the ministry, he tells his disciples, “if you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained.” So when people repent of their sins, you cover them in the blood of Christ. If people refuse to repent of their sins, you let their sins burn atop their head until they repent. Zach Wahls and his family are publicly unrepentant. From every word that he speaks, it is very clear that neither his mother nor her partner repent of their sin of engaging in homosexual activity. Nor does he repent of his sin of blasphemy by calling good what God has called evil. Christ loves Zach Wahls. He loves his family. And every drop of his blood that he shed, he shed in order to win them out of the hands of the devil. But as long as they remain in unbelief by holding to their sins, the same Jesus Christ who died and rose again for them will not speak a word of forgiveness to them. As Christians, neither should we. And, by the grace of God, should Mr. Wahls and/or his family ever repent, I will be more than happy to write a post publicly welcoming them into the fold of Christ."

December 5, 2011 9:21 AM

I ran across Pastor Fiene some time ago. He does the Lutheran Satire video series.

Advent Medley

2011-12-03T21:09:00.000-06:00

Advent Medley 12-3-11 by TrumpetJoe

"On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry"
by Charles Coffin, 1676-1749
Translated by John Chandler, 1806-1876 (Stanzas 1-3)
Translated by unknown author, (Stanzas 4-5)

1. On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come, then, and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of kings.

2. Then cleansed by every Christian breast
And furnished for so great a Guest.
Yea, let us each our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.

3. For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
Our Refuge, and our great Reward.
Without Thy grace our souls must fade
And wither like a flower decayed.

4. Lay on the sick Thy healing hand
And make the fallen strong to stand;
Show us the glory of Thy face
Till beauty springs in every place.

5. All praise, eternal Son, to Thee
Who advent sets Thy people free,
Whom, with the Father, we adore
And Holy Ghost forevermore.

"Hark the Glad Sound! The Savior Comes"
by Philip Doddridge, 1702-1751

1. Hark the glad sound! The Savior comes,
The Savior promised long;
Let every heart prepare a throne
And every voice a song.

2. He comes the prisoners to release,
In Satan's bondage held.
The gates of brass before Him burst,
The iron fetters yield.

3. He comes from thickest films of vice
To clear the mental ray
And on the eyeballs of the blind
To pour celestial day.

4. He comes the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure,
And with the treasures of His grace
To enrich the humble poor.

5. Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,
Thy welcome shall proclaim
And heaven's eternal arches ring
With Thy beloved name.

The Devil You Say!

2011-12-02T19:02:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I posted that a pastor said that the KJV (as well as other translations) were not the inspired Word of God. There are others who have said as much. My pastor shook his head in disgust upon hearing this. I did some digging to see if I had in writing. I don't. But that is something you do not forget. It was said by the last WELS pastor I had from across the table at lunch. That statement stuck with me a long time. Months. In time I understood as other things he said started to connect the dots. How can a pastor say things like that? English is my only language. I treasure my KJV since it is the best known English translation...400 years old and still relevant! It is the only Word of God I have. Coupled with the study of other materials and the help of faithful servants of the Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I do consider myself a student of the Word. Being told that I needed to know the inspired languages in order to understand the Word was probably the most un-lutheran thing (un-catholic since orthodox Lutherans are true Catholics) I ever heard...from a pastor no less. It sounded more like something a pope might say.

I suppose some of you are thinking I am pining away here; that I should be quiet now and go my own way and be happy since finding my new church; one that is in a state of confession replete with all things confessional. Well, I am not pining. I am goading you, dear reader. Goading you to test the spirits from which you hear the Word. Like Luther. Like the Bereans.

There has been much talk about this NIV 2011. The folks over at Intrepid Lutherans have much good to say against it. There are links to their blog in previous posts here on LR and they are also listed in my profile as blogs I follow.

I had an email exchange almost a year ago now that had been haunting me with the former pastor mentioned earlier. We were talking about some posts on the then Church and Change mail serve on Yahoo (now defunct) in regard to how the Word comes to us. I was sticking to the Holy Spirit coming to us only through the Word. He had this to say: "The word of God comes to all of us by some medium, i.e. - print on the page, in a melodious song, next to a word from man or even the devil, in a symbol, - the word works even when growing from the most infertil[sic] soil." The part about the devil sounded so cool...even scandalous. I fell for it initially; even the use of the word 'medium'.

I contacted a good pastor friend of mine quite recently and asked what he thought of it. Here is what he had to say:

"The Word of God does not come in a symbol. It may be represented by a symbol, like the Sword of the Spirit. I think this statement is capable of misunderstanding and not very precise. I like the Jacobs statement better - the effectiveness of the Word of God is directly related to its purity.

Satan uses the Word against the Word. False doctrine is powerful, deceptive, and effective, but it is a demonic effect and not a divine effect."

This is most certainly true.

A Little Night Music

2011-12-01T18:22:00.000-06:00

All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night by TrumpetJoe

Alternate tune to hymn 558, TLH, 'Evening Hymn' - Charles F. Gounod, Descant verse 6 - Joe Krohn.

Dog Deux

2011-11-30T17:52:00.002-06:00

The below linked post and ensuing comments reminded me of this story I posted once before on my previous LR blog...It seems that with every 'new and wonderful' translation, we are losing little by little the pure Word of God...like yeast working through the whole batch and spoiling it...

Intrepid Lutherans: The LORD (no longer) Our Righteousness in NIV 2011

Here is a reprise:

Dad's Brownies

A father of some teenage children had the family rule that they could not attend PG-13 or R rated movies. His three teens wanted to see a particular popular movie that was playing at local theaters. It was rated PG-13.
The teens interviewed friends and even some members of their family's church to find out what was offensive in the movie. The teens made a list of pros and cons about the movie to use to convince their dad that they should be allowed to see it. The con's were that it contained ONLY 3 swear words, the ONLY violence was a building exploding (and you see that on TV all the time they said), and you actually did not "see" the couple in the movie having sex - it was just implied sex, off camera. The pros were that it was a popular movie - a block buster. Everyone was seeing it. If the teens saw the movie then they would not feel left out when their friends discussed it. The movie contained a good story and plot. It had some great adventure and suspense in it. There were some fantastic special effects in this movie. The movie's stars were some of the most talented actors in Hollywood. It probably would be nominated for several awards.

Many of the members of their Christian church had even seen the movie and said it wasn't "very bad". Therefore, since there were more pros than cons the teens said they were asking their father to reconsider his position on just this ONE movie and let them have permission to go see it.
    The father looked at the list and thought for a few minutes. He said he could tell his children had spent some time and thought on this request. He asked if he could have a day to think about it before making his decision. The teens were thrilled thinking; "Now we've got him! Our argument is too good! Dad can't turn us down!" So, they happily agreed to let him have a day to think about their request.
    The next evening the father called in his three teenagers, who were smiling smugly, into the living room. There on the coffee table he had a plate of brownies. The teens were puzzled. The father told his children he had thought about their request and had decided that if they would eat a brownie then he would let them go to the movie. But just like the movie, the brownies had pros and cons.
    The pros were that they were made with the finest chocolate and other good ingredients. They had the added special effect of yummy walnuts in them. The brownies were moist and fresh with wonderful chocolate frosting on top. He had made these fantastic brownies using an award-winning recipe. And best of all, the brownies had been made lovingly by the hand of their own father.
    The brownies only had one con. The father had included a little bit of a special ingredient. The brownies also contained just a little bit of dog poop. But he had mixed the dough well - they probably would not even be able to taste the dog poop and he had baked it at 350 degrees so any bacteria or germs from the dog poop had probably been destroyed.
    Therefore, if any of his children could stand to eat the brownies which included just a "little bit of crap" and not be effected by it, then he knew they would also be able to see the movie with "just a little bit of smut" and not be effected.
    Of course, none of the teens would eat the brownies and the smug smiles had left their faces. Only Dad was smiling smugly as they left the room.
    Now when his teenagers ask permission to do something he is opposed to the father just asks, "Would you like me to whip up a batch of my special brownies?"

Author Unknown

My Critical Spirit

2011-11-29T19:26:00.001-06:00

I ran across this correspondence recently. I thought I had thrown it away.

I have no regrets for the way I carried out these responsibilities that all the elders agreed to do with the help of God.

Under 'A'; questioned the teaching of imputing God's forgiveness to the individual regardless of whether he has received it by faith or not; questioned the use of music with weak/misleading lyrical content; questioned the dropping of Confession and Absolution from the service; questioned the pastor's work load away from his congregation's needs; questioned pastors over involvement with the elders; questioned the practice of turning the preaching and teaching of God's Word over to non-ordained laity; questioned the prudence of calling a woman to perform a ministry and giving her proper title; questioned the marketing practice of changing the school name.
Under 'E'; questioned the lack of willingness to carry out this point and the eagerness to hire an outside group and pay an exorbitant and un-stewardly fee.
Under 'F'; questioned the attendance of the church president and vice president at every meeting.

Some of these practices that were questioned go against what is said in the Book of Concord; a rendering of what Lutherans believe to be the correct understanding of Scripture and swear an oath to uphold.

As we start to close out this year, I pray that what I have blogged here regarding practices at Holy Word and within the WELS have an impact with pastors and especially laity; a laity that is going through the process I went through about a year ago.

It's What We Do

2011-11-28T19:37:00.003-06:00

When I was still in contemporary worship mode, one of the things that helped bring me back from its trappings was this question; Why would you do that? The one statement that really got my attention followed by that question was in regard to Holy Communion...It is not required to have or go to Communion every Sunday or have it part of the Divine Service for that matter...ouch; or we don't need an OT reading, Epistle lesson or Gospel reading (the very Word of God); or we don't have to have the confession and absolution every Sunday; or recite one of the creeds...the list goes on and on. I could never come up with reasonable answers to 'Why would you?' Think about it. So much of who we are is made manifest in what we do. A picture tells a thousand stories...

From Trinity Lutheran's latest newsletter.

"This comes to you on the First Sunday of the Church Year; think of it as my New Year's/ Christmas gift to you. This is my latest explanation and defense of our way of worship. The complete Explanation of our Divine Service will be available soon. I urge you to get a copy and read why we do what we do. For now open this gift.

An Introduction to our Divine

Service

Our Order of Service is not unique to us Lutherans. Martin Luther did not break away from the universal Christian Church, but rather, he recalled the Church to Her original doctrine and practice. The Church still existed, but She had become corrupt through false teachings. It was Luther’s intention to keep everything (the order of service, the furnishings, the music, vestments, candles) as long as they were not contrary to the Word of God. A manufacturer may put out an automobile with a faulty radiator, but one does not throw out the entire car for that reason – one replaces the radiator.

We use an altar, crucifix, vestments, candles, rites, ceremonies. These things are not the possession of any denomination. They belong to all Christendom, for they were handed down through the ages. In the order that they appear in our Divine Service, here is when they became component parts of the liturgy. Remember in all cases, they were in use before this time. This is when they became “official.” Introit – 5^th century; Kyrie – 6^th century; Gloria in Excelsis – 5^th century; Creed – 11^th century; Preface – 3^rd century. Sanctus – 1^st century; Pax Domini – 4^th century; Agnus Dei – 7^th century (Rev. David Kind presentation “The Shape of the Liturgy”, July 2010, Nashville, TN).

Although the “father” of the Lutheran church, Martin Luther, argued that ceremony can be used in a godly way and that we can’t in fact live without it in the church (AE, 49, 55-56), many Lutheran churches have discarded the liturgy. While Lutherans have never insisted that there is only one divine order of service, they have insisted that how you worship shows what you really believe. This outlook goes back to the first four centuries of the Christian Church’s existence. “Every congregation declared what it stood for in its liturgies, its selections of lection [Bible readings], and in its prayers and hymns” (Elert, Eucharistic and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries, 49).

We are confessing something by using the same order of service that has been used by Lutherans since 1888. Those who attack this order as out of date, outmoded, boring, stale, etc. are also saying something. As G. K. Chesterton observed, “There is not really any courage at all in attacking hoary or antiquated things, anymore than in offering to fight one’s grandmother. The really courageous man is he who defies tyrannies young as the morning and superstitions fresh as the first flowers” (What’s Wrong with the World, 33). Trinity defies both the tyranny that liturgical equals “Catholic” and the superstition that new means better.

On the first point even the first president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, C.F.W. Walther weighed in. He said, “It is a pity and dreadful cowardice when one sacrifices the good ancient church customs to please the deluded American sects, lest they accuse us of being papistic [i.e. Catholic]” (Essays for the Church, I, 197). On the second point, Plato weighs in. He warns of the State praising ‘new songs’ not knowing that they are new kinds of song. He said, “For any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole State, and ought to be prohibited….When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them” (Republic, 203). G. K. Chesterton makes the same point only specifically in reference to the church. “Those who leave the tradition of truth do not escape into something which we call Freedom. They only escape into something else which we call Fashion (Collected Works, III, 388).

The monumental work, The Oxford History of Christian Worship, has this to say about our Lutheran tradition of worship in the United States: “In the United States, Lutherans of varied ethnic origin and theological bent had since 1888 agreed on a ‘Common Service’” (729). This came unraveled in the 80s, and now there are virtually as many different orders of service as there are Lutheran churches. And what we have is a character from a John Updike novel who “misses the familiar Lutheran liturgy, scratched into his heart like a weathered inscription” (Rabbit, Run, 197). Actually if historian Will Durant it right, we have something more. He puts this critique of Voltaire in the mouth of Pope Benedict XIV: “Tradition is to the group what memory is to the individual, and just as the sapping of memory may bring insanity, so a sudden break with tradition may plunge a whole nation into madness, like France in revolution” (The Age of Voltaire, 788). Attend a church that prides itself in contemporary, blended, praise, or cutting edge worship and you will see the “madness” of polka, country, or blue grass Communion services; of pastors strutting around the chancel as if they owned the place; of people being applauded for their performance. They will defend all this in the name of enculturation. As one of my members pointed out, what contemporary worship is really engaged in is de-culturation.

From the very beginning of the Lutheran Church as a distinct fellowship, we have warned of this. Our Apology of the Augsburg Confession says why we intend on keeping the “old traditions”: “But we cheerfully maintain the old traditions (as, the three high festivals, the observance of Sunday, and the like) made in the Church for the sake of usefulness and tranquility; (XV, 38). In a later article we assert “that with the greatest zeal we maintain the dignity of the Mass and show its true use” (XXVI, 99).

A word about our Divine Service in general. We are with Plato when it comes to hymn singing. He believed it was a fact without need of substantiation that “melody and rhythm will depend upon the word” (Republic, 156). Two Baptists, in writing about the hymns produced by the Reformation, say, “The great Reformation chorales were meant not to create a mood, but to convey a message” (The Gift of Music, 35). In other words, even when the sermon is bad there is still a message in our Divine Service. In a more serious vein, we should remember what 19^th century poet Matthew Arnold said, “- such a price/ The Gods exact for song:/ To become what we sing” (Lines 232-234). Perhaps you have noticed what this biographer of Douglas MacArthur did: “In times of social upheaval dazed populations turn to the irrational, the bizarre, the macabre. Laws of social gravity are suspended. People take up wild crazes, behave like freaks, laugh at horror, weep at wit. One of the surest signs of this psychedelic mood is popular music. Nonsense songs catch on, perhaps because sensible lyrics mock a demented world.” They were found in Russia on the eve of the October Revolution, and in Weimar, Berlin. The British played “The World Turned Upside Down” at Yorktown, in the Depression and WWII Americans sang “The Music goes Round and Round,” “Three Itty fishes,” “Hut Sut Song,” and Mairzy Doats.” Tokyo Rose crooned to the tune of London Bridge “Hello, hello, are you there? Are you there, are you there? Hello, hello, are you there? Ah that is so!” (William Manchester, American Caesar, 488-489)

Not only are our hymns “old school” so is our chanting. We preserve the Gregorian or plainchant. We don’t do this simply because it is old. As The Oxford History of Christian Worship observes. Plainchant is a more intelligible rendition of texts than polyphony and more acoustically pleasing (723). Or as a Catholic writer has observed, “Gregorian chant is music that is strictly wedded to language” (Mosebach, The Heresy of Formlessness, 16). Of course many churches, including the Catholic, have gone away from it for something more up to date. “What the bishops forgot was that this music had sounded strange even to the ears of Charlemagne and Thomas Aquinas, Monteverdi and Haydn; it is at least as remote from their contemporary life as it is from ours” (Ibid. 16). This Catholic writer’s view is supported by Pierre Riche who was professor of the history of the Middle Ages at the University of Paris when he wrote the 1973 work Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. He observed, “We can be sure the people accustomed to the more abrupt rhythms of profane music were not easily seduced by the monodic purity of Gregorian chant” (236). Alfred Edersheim dates the use of Gregorian tones to the Temple itself saying, “There is no reason to doubt that in so-called Gregorian tones we have also preserved to us a close approximation to the ancient hymnody of the Temple, though certainly not without considerable alterations” (The Temple, 81).

Trinity Lutheran Church has not been “seduced” by sounds but by the words of the Gospel. Our Divine Service is in service to those words and even more so to the Word made Flesh."

Rev. Paul R. Harris

October 25, 2011

God Made Me a Sinner

2011-11-28T12:45:00.002-06:00

From the Holy Word website:

Bulletin

Ministry
Holy Word Lutheran Church
(WELS)
First Sunday in Advent
November 27, 2011

CELEBRATION SUNDAY FOR HIS PASSION MY CALLINGON DECEMBER 4^TH will emphasize HOLY WORD is One Church with Two Sites. And so, on CELEBRATION SUNDAY there will be One Service offered in Two parts.
Part One will take place at 9:00 am at the Murchison Elementary School, 2215 Kelly Lane, Pflugerville.
Part Two is at 10601 Bluff Bend Drive at 10:45.
There will be two different preachers but it’s all part of one celebration. On December 4^th there will be no 8:00 am service or Sunday School and Bible Class at either location. A light lunch will follow the 10:45 service.

Make Your Passion My Calling, Dear Savior. During this week of Thanksgiving, at the top of my list, are the fruits of Your Passion. You have made me a sinful child of man, a sinless child of God, pardoning me eternally. Let my Thanksgiving for your gifts begin right now. Make Your Passion My Calling. Give me, opportunities to say thanks to you with my lips and life, Dear Jesus, Amen.

Emphasis mine. Psalm 51:5 "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

Adventide 2011

2011-11-27T07:57:00.000-06:00

The contrast of Lent against Advent and vice versa has always been appealing to me musically. Here is 'My Song is Love Unknown'.

My song is love unknown
My Savior's love to me
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be
Oh, who am I that for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?

Love Unknown 11-25-11 by TrumpetJoe

Something Different

2011-11-26T10:11:00.048-06:00

In 2004 or 2005 I had the pleasure of playing along with a group led by Valerie Floeter (keyboards) and Patricia Backhaus (Trumpet). They are a duo group that has delved into the rich hymn history of the church and present them in mini concerts around the country. Valerie has put a lot of these hymns into more contemporary settings. I am hoping to present some of them here in the future.

This particular selection appeared in video form here a couple of years ago. When I saw it I thought it would be fun to do so I bought the music with the intent of adapting it for pre or post service in church (sans electric bass and drums) on trumpet and organ. It is currently on my list of projects.

I took the liberty of grabbing the audio from the video and put the trumpet part over the top of it. It was nice to 'perform' with Valerie again. It reminds me of some of the pop-rock-classical stylings done in the 70's.

Thy Strong Word 11-22-11 by TrumpetJoe

More about Floeter Music here.

Sound Familiar?

2011-11-25T09:39:00.000-06:00

Here is a good write up on Pietism from Wikipedia.

"In Pia desideria, Spener made six proposals as the best means of restoring the life of the Church: (LR - As if we can effect change)

the earnest and thorough study of the Bible in private meetings, ecclesiolae in ecclesia ("little churches within the church"). (LR - Cell Groups)
the Christian priesthood being universal, the laity should share in the spiritual government of the Church (LR - Everyone a minister)
a knowledge of Christianity must be attended by the practice of it as its indispensable sign and supplement (LR - Works Righteousness and Church Growth Methods)
instead of merely didactic, and often bitter, attacks on the heterodox and unbelievers, a sympathetic and kindly treatment of them (LR - Ecumenism and Unionism - Wauwatosa Theology)
a reorganization of the theological training of the universities, giving more prominence to the devotional life (LR - More works and CGM)
a different style of preaching, namely, in the place of pleasing rhetoric, the implanting of Christianity in the inner or new man, the soul of which is faith, and its effects the fruits of life." (LR - More about the heart and less about the head...less masculine)

Thanksgiving Reprise

2011-11-23T22:02:00.000-06:00

Au Contraire Mon Frere

2011-11-22T12:07:00.026-06:00

Forward in Christ for November has an article on forgiveness based on the Book of Hosea. Like many denominations today, liberty is taken with Bible stories to make them relevant. No where in Hosea does it speak of Hosea or God giving unconditional forgiveness. I challenge anyone to find a passage. In fact Chapters 12 and 14 urge Israel to seek forgiveness! It speaks of God's love, mercy and sovereignty; forgiveness accompanied by contrition.

Brett Meyer offers a great review here:

Brett Meyer said...

"In the November Forward in Christ the (W)ELS continues to teach the false gospel of Universal Objective Justification (UOJ) in the article, How Forgiving is God?.

I'll post three of many false and misleading statements.

Question - Hosea legitimized the children Gomer brought into the relationship. How has God done that in your life? What is the baggage that he accepted along with you? Answer - He has accepted us all with the sins of our past and the sins that still come from our sinful nature.

Here (W)ELS teaches the subtle UOJ confession that unbelievers and believers are no different in God's eyes. They are equally under God's wrath over their sin and under His grace and eternal forgiveness simultaneously. (W)ELS teaches that God accepts your sin because of His love. This is false, a direct consequence of their false central gospel. God does not accept sin. God's wrath abides on everyone who is alive to sin. It is through faith in Christ that His righteousness becomes ours, He in us and we in Him through the gracious gift of faith, which washes us from all sin. Washed clean in the blood of the Lamb we are accepted by God the Father. (W)ELS UOJ Pastor David Jay Webber put it this way, "Pastor Webber (ELS) states, "In Christ, as God looks at the world through Christ, all are under divine mercy and are forgiven, and are therefore invited to believe and be saved. But outside of Christ, as God looks at the world apart from Christ, all are under divine wrath and judgment, and are condemned. The same people - namely all people - are under consideration in each case." http://extranos.blogspot.com/2010/03/grinding-my-ax.html

Question - Detail God's plan of forgiveness for his unfaithful wife (vv. 19,20) and her children (v. 23). Answer - God would promise to remain faithful in his love and compassion for Gomer. She would respond with faithfulness and love for God. Her children would be embraced by the love of God and become part of his people. All this is about the nation of Israel and applies to all sinners.

God chooses to give forgiveness that transforms us from sinners to saints and members of his family.

These two quotes are the heart of the (W)ELS Universalism. The (W)ELS version of UOJ teaches the whole world, including all unbelievers are children of God. They would have to be if it were true that upon Christ's payment for the world's sin God the Father declared the whole unbelieving world totally forgiven, completely justified and absolutely righteous in the blood of Christ. The Kokomo 4 are the correct teachings of the (W)ELS, not only because they were formulated by J.P. Meyer (WELS) but because they continue to teach and confess them.

http://www.wels.net/news-events/forward-in-christ/november-2011/how-forgiving-god

The Hochmuth case is but the continuation of the (W)ELS harvesting the fruit of their false doctrine of UOJ. Their commitment to it was clearly confessed when they excommunicated Joe and Lisa Krohn for rejecting the false teaching that the whole world was forgiven before and without contrition over sin and faith in Christ."

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-20T16:38:00.000-06:00

People in Bondage

2011-11-19T19:04:00.000-06:00

A nice little primer On Bondage of the Will from Wikipedia...

"Erasmus' Argument

Despite his own criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church, Erasmus believed that the church needed reformation from within and that Luther had gone too far. Erasmus had asserted that all humans possessed free will, and that the doctrine of predestination was not in accord with the teachings contained in the Bible. He argued against the belief that God's foreknowledge of events was the cause of events, and held that the doctrines of repentance, baptism and conversion depended on the existence of free will. He likewise contended that grace simply helped humans come to a knowledge of God and supported them as they used their free will to choose between good and evil - choices which would lead to salvation through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Content of Luther's Response

Luther in response maintained that sin incapacitates human beings from working out their own salvation, and that they are completely incapable of bringing themselves to God. As such, there is no free will for humanity because any will they might have is overwhelmed by the influence of sin. Central to his analysis, both of the doctrines under discussion and of Erasmus's specific arguments, are Luther's beliefs concerning the power and complete sovereignty of God.
Luther concluded that unredeemed human beings are dominated by Satan; Satan, as the prince of the mortal world, never lets go of what he considers his own unless he is overpowered by a stronger power, i.e. God. When God redeems a person, he redeems the entire person, including the will, which then is liberated to serve God. No-one can achieve salvation or redemption through their own choices - people do not choose between good or evil, because they are naturally dominated by evil, and salvation is simply the product of God dominating a person and forcibly turning them to good ends. Were it not so, Luther contended, God would not be omnipotent and would lack total sovreignty over creation, and arguing otherwise is insulting to the glory of God. As such, Luther concluded that Erasmus was not actually a Christian."

Leading with the Law instead of the Gospel (universal absolution - WELS version) in preaching would go a long long way in the WELS. For every case like this there are dozens of others swept under the rug. Jesus said to go therefore and teach and baptize all nations...teaching them to observe what I have commanded you. That does not mean just preach the Gospel. That means preach Law and Gospel...repentance and only then forgiveness. It is time to turn that upside down evangelism right side up.

Pure Gold

2011-11-18T20:53:00.000-06:00

Much ado about the WELS in the news and the blogosphere as of late. It reminded me of a blog post by my pastor last April. May those who struggle find some comfort...Read on...

A Primer on Anfechtung | St. Antony’s Cave: A Primer on Anfechtung
Posted on April 18, 2011 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

As Jerry’s fellow comedian says, “That’s pure gold Jerry; pure gold I’m telling you” when Jerry tosses him a joke as a bone to his sycophantic friend. Well my friends I toss not a bone but the whole steak. First I whet your appetite with this appetizer from Johann Gerhard: “; [T]hus does God the Lord also often allows the members of Christ to experience such anguish, so that they think nothing other than that God has forsaken them and will no longer look upon them in grace. We find such examples of temptations especially in David and Job. And with such temptations God more often assails, not the ordinary Christian, but rather the greatest saints, who have increased more than others in the knowledge of God” (History of the Suffering, Gerhard, 275)...finish the article here.

Embrace the Suck

2011-11-17T07:06:00.001-06:00

Pardon the crassness of the title. It is military speak for embracing what is loathe or loathe to do. Saints are still sinners. We must embrace that fact and the Law. Pastors who are preaching a forgiveness of sins to an individual prior to a hearing or application of the Means of Grace is wrong. For the Law cannot be separated from the Gospel. The Law shows the need for the Gospel and the Gospel is the antidote of the Law. A lawless Gospel breeds self righteousness. Read that again. The law sends the believer back to Christ again and again and keeps him humble and weak. And in weakness we are made strong. Keep the Law, repentance and the forgiveness of sins ever at the forefront of the worship service in Word and Sacrament.

"SECTION III. A TRUE PREACHER SHOULD FIRST USE THE LAW ARIGHT AND THEN PREACH THE GOSPEL.

9. The porter here is the preacher who rightly teaches the Law--shows that the Law exists and must reveal to us our helplessness; that the works of the Law do not help us, and yet they are insistent. He then opens to the shepherd, that is, to Christ the Lord, and lets him alone feed the sheep. For the office of the Law is at an end; it has accomplished its mission of revealing to the heart its sins until it is completely humbled. Then Christ comes and makes a lamb out of the sheep--feeds it with his Gospel and directs it how to regain cheer for the heart so hopelessly troubled and crushed by the Law.

10. The lamb then hears Christ's voice and follows it. It has the choicest of pastures, and knows the voice of the shepherd. But the voice of a stranger it never hears and never follows. Just as soon as one preaches to it about works, it is worried and its heart cannot receive the teaching with joy. It knows very well that nothing is accomplished by means of works; for one may do as much as he will, still he carries a heavy spirit and he thinks he has not done enough, nor done rightly. But when the Gospel comes--the voice of the shepherd--it says: God gave to the world his only Son, that all who believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Then is the heart happy; it feeds upon these words and finds them good. The lamb has found its satisfying pasture; it wants none other. Yea, when it is given other pasture, it flees from it and will not feed therein. This pasture always attracts the sheep, and the sheep also find it. God says in the prophecy of Isaiah: "So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish all in the things whereto, I sent it" (Is 55:11)."

(The portions of the sermon above are taken from volume III of, The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1907 in English by Lutherans In All Lands (Minneapolis, MN), in a series titled The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 12. The original title of this sermon appears below (preached by Luther in 1522 and 1523). This e-text was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink ; it is in the public domain and it may be copied and distributed without restriction. Original pagination from the Baker edition has been kept intact for purposes of reference.)

O almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You, of Your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.

Spot the Looney

2011-11-17T06:27:00.000-06:00

Genesis 15:
⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

From Fake-O-Bod:
"...Abraham was justified by the work of Christ prior to the work of atonement, so this way of thinking must be valid."

^{Romans 4:}
²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Church to Cancel Services

2011-11-12T07:39:00.002-06:00

This from the cutting edge of evangelism...coming soon to a Lutheran church near you.

The church is no longer safe haven where the believer can go; eat and drink in the Means of Grace; receive the forgiveness of sins; have faith strengthened and leave refreshed to face life and give testimony to his family, friends, co-workers and neighbors when given the opportunity. How selfish to think this. No, the church now abandons gathering together around Word and Sacrament to become an outreach tool. The social gospel. Everyone a minister.

Rick Warren moderated a presidential debate in 2008. I have been waiting for news anticipating he will do it again in 2012. What business is it of the church to be involved in politics? Am I crazy or is this the beginning of the apostate church described in Revelation with it's civil religion?

Click here to watch video.

Wizard of Oz: Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila... er, phila... er, yes, er, Good Deed Doers.

The English Translations are Not the Word of God...

2011-11-10T21:29:00.000-06:00

...ok, ok...I have your attention. I have to find the quote. But there was a pastor who told me when we were having a doctrinal discussion that the KJV is not the inspired Word of God. He said the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic were the inspired texts and therefore the inspired Words of the Holy Ghost. My current pastor shook his head in disdain upon hearing this...I'll let this sink in while I do some digging...

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther. November birthdays rock.

Calling All Saints

2011-11-06T16:09:00.000-06:00

When I started up this blog last May, my first post was a Youtube video of some goofballs at a concert on a hillside. Someone cleverly put a soundtrack to it as a primer on starting a movement. I saw some truth in that video and harnessed the idea of it to this blog as an encouragement for those struggling with the same issues in American Lutheranism. As you know for those who have followed the postings, I have chronicled my journey from experiences at Holy Word here in Austin which are not unlike many churches across America today who are incorporating the anti-gospel emergent church template into their ministries; i. e. church growth methods which come from an emphasis on works righteousness, decision theology and a need to transform the church into palatable consumption for today's society. Anyone who has bought into this program really is no different than those who support the Roman Catholic Papacy.

It all comes from the same place but from a different angle or perspective. Both are anthropocentric. Roman Catholicism displaces Christ as our mediator with Mary and the Pope. Modern day Evangelicalism displaces the Word (Christ) with programs for this and programs for that all meant to entice folks into church. They say 'people come to church for the wrong reasons and stay for the right reasons'. But what is that other than a bait and switch? Not only that, what it is really saying is 'you are all too stupid to understand His Word or realize that you are on the highway to hell and need Christ and you need us to school you'.

I posted on my FB wall a few months ago an abridged version of a saying: "Hell hath no fury as a pietist scorned." It upset a few folks and needless to say we are no longer FB friends. It wasn't like we hung out all the time anyway. But you see, that is the problem. Why did they get so angry? Because they have stolen the mission of the church and made it theirs instead of who it rightfully belongs to - Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace. So naturally they take it personally when you criticize this program or that method.

I recall vividly two instances; one at Crosswalk in early 2005 and one at Christ the Rock in spring of 2009. We were experiencing a shortage of musicians. Both pastors asked basically the same question...'so what is your plan for the ministry?' My answer was the same both times. 'I will wait until the Lord reveals His plan and go with that...until then we will make do.' The responses were similar. 'If this type of worship is going to work, we are going to need a full band.' Huh, I thought...and what about the efficacy of the Word? Pastor Harris of Trinity in Austin offered this saying in Bible class today by Robert Preus (we have been studying Genesis and the promises of God): 'How dare we presume whether the Church is winning or losing'. Wise words indeed.

The sermon in church today talked about the beatitudes...'blessed are they'. Another time in my life I would have thought it was me who would be blessed for doing these things. But try as I might, it really is too difficult to do any of them well all the time. In fact I loathe them most of the time. No, blessed am I to have a Savior who did all of these things for me already so that I can take credit for them even though I am still a sinner.

St. Iranaeus said, "The business of the Christian is nothing else than to ever be preparing for death."* St. Augustine called death "the instrument by which life is reached."** St. Luther said, "Therefore the life of a Christian, from Baptism to the grave, is nothing else than the beginning of a blessed death."***

Dear Lord, May we always be mindful to have our houses in order, so that we may give testimony for the hope that we have when given the opportunity. May we always be fully dependent upon your care of our souls and the one true Church on earth. In Jesus' name. Amen.

*Fragments, XI, ANF, I, 570
**City of God, NPNF, II, 247
***LW, 31, 35

Happy Reformation and All Saints Day

2011-10-31T19:34:00.000-05:00

I had the honor of playing this yesterday at church in remembrance of Reformation. I adapted a Paul Bunjes arrangement for the descant on verse four. Enjoy!

TLH - Still Relevant for the Times

2011-10-27T13:31:00.002-05:00

I was looking for some music online and ran across the article I pasted below. I found it quite informative. What was interesting was the widespread use it still receives and how it's descendants have not lived up to the model. Striking that CW in WELS is not getting used much at all. I can vouch. Congregations I belonged to going back to 1999 or so rarely used it and instead used a disposable order of worship folder. I suppose it gives WELS the freedom it claims to have regarding worship and practice; like abolishing confession and absolution in a recent service at Holy Word Austin. I find it a waste of money and paper; first in the purchase of a hymnal you don't use and then the pre-printed folders that get thrown away weekly.

Not only is The Lutheran Hymnal still relevant for orthodox Lutheran worship...but it's green!!!

From Wikipedia:

The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) is one of the official hymnals of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Published in 1941 by Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis, Missouri, it was the LCMS' second official English-language hymnal, succeeding the 1912 Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book. Development of TLH began in 1929 as a collaborative effort of the churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America and became the common hymnal for both the LCMS and theWisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). Containing 668 chorales, hymns, carols, and chants, plus the liturgy for the Common Service, Matins, Vespers, the propers, collects and prayers, the suffrages, canticles, psalms, and miscellaneous tables, TLH became an extremely popular and beloved worship resource in theLutheran church in North America, and attempts to succeed it in more recent years have often met with strong resistance.

The first attempt to replace TLH began in 1965, when the LCMS began work on the Lutheran Book of Worship and invited other Lutheran denominations in North America to participate in its creation. As a result of disagreement and compromise with the other churches involved in LBW's production, the LCMS objected to some of its content, and Lutheran Book of Worship was published in 1978 without the endorsement of the very church body that initiated its production. An LCMS revision ofLBW was quickly published in 1982 under the title Lutheran Worship. Lutheran Worship (LW) was intended to replace TLH as the official hymnal of the LCMS; however, many congregations were still unsatisfied with the final product, leading them to continue using TLH. According to a 1999 survey by the LCMS' Commission on Worship, approximately 36% of the synod's congregations were still using TLH as their main hymnal, and even more were continuing to use it in combination with LW and/or other hymnals and hymnal supplements. An even newer hymnal, Lutheran Service Book (2006), has restored many of the former hymnal's features in the hope that more widespread use can be achieved. In the WELS, TLH was effectively replaced by Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal in 1993, and few congregations continue to use it on a regular basis.

The Lutheran Hymnal is commonly referred to by many to as the "Red hymnal," in contrast with LW, the "Blue hymnal". However, the "Red hymnal" moniker is somewhat misleading. The initial editions of TLH were in fact bound in blue, and the hymnal has been simultaneously available in both red and blue cover versions for much of its history. Although the red cover version is now more common, many congregations' pew racks are filled with blue-covered copies of the "red" hymnal. Generally, members of these congregations refer to TLH simply as "the old hymnal". The widespread use of Lutheran Service Book (LSB) [1] has begun the process of resolving the LCMS' hymnal controversy, as initial reviews have been generally quite favorable. Concordia Publishing House has announced that all TLH-related supplemental materials, including specialized accompaniment editions and the agenda, will go out of print when current supplies are depleted, but plans to continue to produce the pew edition for the foreseeable future. TLH remains an officially sanctioned hymnal of the synod, and it is unlikely that the synod will ever formally decommission it as an official hymnal.

John 3:16 is Over Rated

2011-10-26T12:15:00.000-05:00

Many Lutherans who teach a skewed doctrine of objective justification would do well to jettison their post Calvary perspective. As soon as one takes the focus off of Christ, the trouble begins. The forgiveness of sins and work of the cross are wonderful things. And this is how Satan works his subtleties. Who would deny these wonderful things? Theologians need to speak as the Bible does from an all encompassing perspective that started in the garden of Eden and quit looking at doctrines post Calvary. My vote is for Genesis 3:15. For then you are able to reconcile all believers to Christ in the same way.

Cult of Personality

2011-10-21T06:51:00.021-05:00

The face of faithless forgiveness; of questioning the practice of presenting closed communion insofar as taking an offense that he refused to partake; of changing the church lest it die.

I wonder how well this tact would have worked on Cain or the Sodomites...

The comments regarding Holy Communion are at approximately 58:00 minutes in the following linked video. Do yourself a favor and view the whole video here. The Church belongs to Christ and His believers. We do not accommodate culture at the expense of the Church. We disciple the Word in our daily lives and bring believers into the church where there is the forgiveness of sins.

Shots Fired...

2011-10-14T16:28:00.000-05:00

...across the bow that is: See here.

They have stood up to the wrong teaching of objective justification in the WELS; they have stood up to the WELS leadership pushing for the NNIV; while also contending for the proper use of the Means of Grace. Now they have incorporated; established officers and articles of incorporation (governing). If I didn't know better I'd say they are in a state of confession.

Our prayers are with you.

The Word of the Lord endures forever!

Ninevites Affirm Justification By Faith Alone

2011-10-13T22:15:00.000-05:00

Jonah 3 (KJV)

¹And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
²Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
³So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
⁴And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
⁵So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
⁶For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
⁷And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
⁸But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
⁹Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
¹⁰And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Emphasis mine.

Sodomites Refute Objective Justification...

2011-10-12T22:05:00.003-05:00

...at least the false teaching of justification.

We know from Scripture that the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because there were no righteous people living there. See Genesis 18 &19. He spared Lot, his wife and two daughters. Even their righteousness was questionable when you read the account post flight.

From WELS confession of faith:

"IV. JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

1. We believe that God has justified all sinners, that is, he has declared them righteous for the sake of Christ. This is the central message of Scripture upon which the very existence of the church depends. It is a message relevant to people of all times and places, of all races and social levels, for "the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men" (Romans 5:18). All need forgiveness of sins before God, and Scripture proclaims that all have been justified, for "the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (Romans 5:18)."

According to the WELS all men have been declared righteous before God.

But Moses writes by divine inspriration thus:

From the KJV; Genesis 18 - 19:

"23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?...32And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place...24Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;25And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground...27And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 28And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."

Emphasis are mine.

Both Sides Now

2011-10-11T07:07:00.000-05:00

Both sides of the discussion succinctly put here on Intrepid Lutherans:

D. Jerome Klotz said...

Pastor Rydecki,

I am not sure I am understanding you, and I do not want to misrepresent your position. Are you asserting that the forgiveness is NOT to be pronounced upon the world? Has this world of sinners not truly been reconciled to the Father by the blood and cross of His Son (I Cor. 5:19)?

To proclaim such forgiveness is not to confuse objective with subjective justification/reconciliation. To proclaim such forgiveness is to deliver the very message of the Gospel, namely, that Christ has died FOR YOU, has risen FOR YOU, and has reconciled YOU to the Father. Repent, be baptized, and believe: YOU ARE FORGIVEN!

If we, as I understand you to be arguing, are to water down this objective reality of universal objective justification, then what is it that the sinner grasps hold of and clings to in faith? Does the sinner not receive the forgiveness that has already been won for him in Christ? To speak of justification in any other way implies that our faith is in some way contributive to our forgiveness, i.e., either that our sins were not truly paid for until we believed, or that we could not possibly have known that ours sins were forgiven until we believed. The fact is, however, that we can know that our sins are objectively forgiven prior to our subjective act of faith--which is an act worked in us passive sinners by the working of the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament.

In sum, without the objective actuality of forgiveness existing apart from faith, we are left with a faith that exists apart from objective forgiveness, i.e., a faith that clings to itself, or imagines that faith somehow actualizes the potential of forgiveness.

Such preaching robs the sinner of assurance and the radical nature of the grace of the Gospel, being freely (perhaps too freely we think) pronounced upon a world of sinners.

Yet, this forgiveness won in Christ is not beneficial to me the sinner until I have received it, through the Word preached, and through the Sacraments administered. Apart from faith in the actual forgiveness won for me in the crucified and risen Christ, I am cut off from Christ and His saving benefits and am condemned to eternal hell and judgment.

I agree with you that we need to safeguard the doctrine of objective justification from abuse (e.g., to equate it with subjective justification). But to turn objective justification into something potential rather than actual--which is what I am understanding you to be saying--is to destroy the Gospel altogether.

Please correct me if I have misunderstood you, Pastor.

In Christ,
Jerome
October 9, 2011 11:56 AM

Rev. Paul A. Rydecki said...

Jerome,

I appreciate the opportunity to explain. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

Are you asserting that the forgiveness is NOT to be pronounced upon the world? Has this world of sinners not truly been reconciled to the Father by the blood and cross of His Son (I Cor. 5:19)?

I am asserting that the message of Christ is to be pronounced to the world: "Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name, etc." (Luke 24). I am asserting that it is not a proper presentation of the Gospel to preach to a group of unbelievers, "You are already forgiven! You are already reconciled!" This was not the message of Peter on Pentecost, nor the message of Paul in Philippi, nor the message of Paul at Athens, or anywhere else as recorded in Scripture.

Peter's preaching on Pentecost was not, "Repent, be baptized, believe, you are forgiven!" It was "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins." All I'm saying is, the two are not the same, and we should stick with the apostolic Gospel proclamation.

Both Peter and Paul preached Christ. They didn't preach the pre-forgiveness of their audience, but rather the substitionary sacrifice of Christ, the satisfaction of God's wrath against the world in the objective atonement of Christ, the finished redemption of Christ, the reconciliation of the world to God in Christ, and the righteousness of Christ as the only righteousness that avails before God, revealed in the Gospel for men to receive by faith, by which a man is justified.

Is the forgiveness that Christ has acquired for all an objective reality? Yes it is! It exists objectively in Christ, and is earnestly offered by God to all in the promise of the Gospel.

what is it that the sinner grasps hold of and clings to in faith?

The answer is Christ - Christ as the God-Man, Christ as the Righteousness that avails before God and has made satisfaction for the world's sins, Christ, in whom the Father wants all men to take shelter from his righteous wrath. That is the object of faith. The object of faith is not MY forgiveness, or MY justification, but the forgiveness/justification that Christ has obtained FOR ME and that is freely offered TO ME in the promise of the Gospel. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to faith, not to the world apart from faith. Those who seek shelter in the redemption of Christ have a "righteous" status before God. Those who fail to seek shelter in the redemption of Christ have a status of "wicked" before God.

This is how the Scriptures and the Confessions teach us to speak. I don't think that terms like "universal objective justification" follow the pattern of sound words to which we are to adhere.

But the problem also lies in the fact that there are about a half-dozen different understandings of "objective justification." Here's a definition I read recently: "Objective justification means that in the death of Jesus the sins of the whole world were charged to His account in order that His righteousness might be credited to the world." I agree with the concept expressed in this way. It agrees with Paul's presentation of justification in Romans perfectly. But I think that many people would change this definition to read, "...and that His righteousness has been credited to the world." That I don't find in Scripture.

Sorry if I haven't covered everything you asked about. Happy to discuss some more.
October 9, 2011 1:47 PM

Occupy The WELS

2011-10-09T16:45:00.000-05:00

Church Status � Light from Light

The above linked blog belongs to Rick Techlin. He was excommunicated from his WELS church recently for standing up to false doctrine. Sooner or later those in charge of synod leadership must be held accountable. The WELS could use an "Occupy WELS" movement of it's own.

Now I realize that the church is full of sinful human beings. Still there is no excuse. Worse yet when faithful laymen (who are supported by clergy of their very same synodical fellowship) stand up to false doctrine and are summarily dismissed as 'persistent errorist'.

In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, Paul speaks to church leadership as keeping hold of the deep truths.

From the KJV:

1 Timothy 3: " 8Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."

Titus 1: " 9Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. 10For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."

“Playing the Pharisee Card” - Issues, Etc.

2011-10-07T17:09:00.000-05:00

Nicely done! It is a couple years old...but relevant still.

Sample Article: “Playing the Pharisee Card” - Issues, Etc.

The Real Pharisees?

Who are the real Pharisees today? You are. I am. You, me, and every sinner—but not in the way that the players of the Pharisee Card say we are.

All of us are more willing to trust our own obedience than trust the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. All of us soften the Law’s perfect demands so that we can say we’ve kept them. All of us are therefore inclined to hypocrisy and self-righteousness. All of us are natural-born Pharisees.

Now, if someone wants to call me a Pharisee for that reason, I will gladly and repentantly be called a Pharisee.

But I will not be called a Pharisee for loving and defending pure doctrine. I will not be called a Pharisee for resisting the ill-conceived innovation and compromising change in the Church. I will not be called a Pharisee for demanding that the Gospel we preach to the lost be pure.

Some say that the pure Gospel is an impossible dream. I disagree. I hear it preached every week—more often than not by those Christians who are wrongly labeled Pharisees.

Those who play the Pharisee Card hope to dismiss Christians like you and me as ultra-conservative doctrinal purists with no love for the lost. But like a fifth Ace up the sleeve, the Pharisee Card is a cheat. Those who play it ignore the real errors of the real Pharisees. They wrongly apply the name to those who stand in the way of false teaching, compromising change and a watered-down Gospel. In the end, the Pharisee Card amounts to nothing more than name-calling. And, like the Race or Gender Cards are in politics, in the Church, the Pharisee Card is always the sign of a losing hand.

You can read the full article here.

Let the Woman Learn in Silence

2011-10-05T06:49:00.001-05:00

I blogged about the Holy Word's Deaconess of Hispanic Ministry earlier on this blog. I think it flies in the face of scripture as you have given a woman a proper title (denotes an authority) in the church based on one ambiguous passage in scripture; many of which translate it to 'servant'. Leadership always maintained that she would not and did not teach men. OK. But now we have a new cell group program called 'Connect Groups' (i.e. church growth) that was rolled out in September that has women leading Bible studies. How is the woman learning in quietness from the man if she is teaching (even if it is to other women)? I know they will use the excuse that it is not in church...but this is an officially church sanctioned program of study! Never mind that the teaching of God's Word in an official capacity lies solely on the Pastor as a duly called and ordained servant of the Word (nor laymen for that matter). But women leading study on the Book of Acts? (Group 107) And another woman leading study on the Book of 2 Corinthians to college students? (Group 118) I'd like to know if there are male college students attending? Last time I checked, men of the age of 18 are considered adults and able to vote at WELS voters meetings. Aren't 99% of college men in this category? By the way; one of the parties leading group #101 was just received into membership through adult instruction on August 28th. I was in attendance and heard it.

There was a member at Holy Word who's name was Buck. He has since passed away. He had a saying that he would use when HW was getting off track. It was shared with a group of us by the staff minister at the leadership retreat last January. It should be repeated here something to the effect...'If you let the camel stick his nose in your tent, pretty soon the whole camel is in there with you'.

The Bible always has the last word:

1 Corinthians 14 (NKJV)
^"34 Let your^[d] women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. ³⁵ And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church."

1 Timothy 2 (NKJV)
"¹² And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression."

What's Eating Gilbert Grape or Better Yet...

2011-09-30T22:40:00.001-05:00

...What's Eating At the Church Catholic?

Martin Luther did not intend for a reformation to splinter the church, but to only repair it and correct false doctrines. Wycliffe and Hus were Luther's inspiration and really Christ's catalyst for the refining of His Church. A recent PBS documentary on Michelangelo suggested a group of 'spiritualati' who sympathized with the reformer were also at work within the church at the time...but later quashed...pity.

The link at the end of this blog was a paper presented at the 2010 Pastoral Conference of the AZ-CA District of the WELS. It was sent to me about a year ago for my edification. There are some fine points made; but there are many problems with it...discussion is welcome here as this is for Lutherans everywhere since these issues are not confined to the WELS.

Liturgical worship recites back to God what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures and we partake in the forgiveness of sins in Word and Sacrament as we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. Liturgical worship tells us that we are 100% passive in our redemption and salvation and are totally dependent on the Trinity for all of these things. This is our comfort and we praise Him accordingly.

Contemporary worship is none of the above. It believes in its own relevance to current culture and its way of conveying what is already efficacious. It preaches a doctrine of forgiveness of sins before faith therefore nullifying Baptism and the Lord's Supper...in other words it is a theology of glory and you just need to believe it, and the sacraments are relegated to an ordinance. It talks about numbers instead of teaching purely. It is anthropocentric in nature (felt needs) vs. Christocentric. (your needs are fulfilled through propitiation given freely through faith by the Holy Spirit.)

What is the corporate worship? Is it for the edification of the believer through Word and Sacrament or is it for the benefit of the unbeliever as an outreach tool?

Legalism Among Us - dan R - 2010 final.docx - Google Docs

The Elephants and the Gorilla

2011-09-29T20:37:00.001-05:00

This is not a travelog of an African safari, nor does it concern the Kudu. (Yes, there is a metaphor of sorts in there.)

The WELS needs to concern itself with the 'Elephant in the Room' and the '800 pound Gorilla'.

The Intrepid Lutherans made it quite clear this week on their blog that their confession regarding justification is not what the WELS professes in 'This We Believe'; the same confession that 'the many' have been kicked out of the WELS for; going back to Kokomo and even before. Surely, this must be an inconsistent application of church discipline. There seems to be an issue regarding justification that no one wants to address...and a conclave that will do whatever it wishes. Confidential to the WELS...'persistent errorist' and 'divisiveness' are terms that are ascribed to those who are teaching false doctrine and not to those who oppose the 'majority i. e. status quo'.

Another WELS layman was recently given his walking papers for taking issue with the plagiarism of a 'pastor' who was not of his fellowship; who was teaching a sectarian doctrine that was not congruent with the Book of Concord and the Scriptures regarding the efficacy of the Word. Certainly a much lesser charge than those who have challenged the teaching of the chief article of faith, namely, justification. And yet...a 'persistent errorist' and 'divisiveness' are terms that are ascribed to those who are teaching false doctrine and not to those who oppose the 'majority i. e. status quo'. The WELS layman is attending another WELS church and receiving the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament. Surely this must be an inconsistent application of church discipline.

What will the WELS do?

Litmus Test

2011-09-26T17:36:00.001-05:00

The litmus test at least for me in what you say about justification concludes that it will apply seamlessly to all believers, whether OT or NT with just a simple change in tense. Yes, the Third Article is dependent on the Second Article. Likewise all three articles of the Apostles' Creed are interdependent on one another. But the forgiveness of sins is always in the Third Article.

I have asked on numerous occasions where objective justification resides in the Bible concerning the case of Abraham in Genesis 15. I have never received an answer. Nada. Zip.

I liken the whole debate to the analogy of Jazz music. It can be hard to describe, but you know it when you hear it. Likewise...you know false doctrine when you hear it.

Small Victory

2011-09-26T17:24:00.000-05:00

I find the following article less coincidence and more about damage control. I pray they are taking a good, hard and long look at justification.

Our Exit Interview

2011-09-24T21:35:00.004-05:00

When we were at Christ the Rock in Round Rock, TX ('06-'09) another member of the band and I were put in charge more or less. I mean, how can you be boss when you are all volunteers? Really. One of the singers decided to leave the band and pastor matt (he always used lower case and referred to himself as lead pastor...something to do with humility probably since he was always pushing it...and how can you be a lead pastor of no other pastors? Oh...everyone a minister.) wanted us to conduct an exit interview. Funny how the visible church is becoming more and more like the world it is 'trying to transform'; all based on the business model. So the Admin Assistant found the following on the web somewhere and told us to adapt it. I ran across it recently in one of my folders. I don't think we ever used it; it seemed so contrived and quite frankly un-churchlike. I am going to adapt it here. Seems so apropos now.

Exit Interview Questions

What is your primary reason for leaving?

We didn't leave. We were excommunicated.

Did anything trigger ~~your~~ their decision to ~~leave~~ excommunicate you?

Our questioning of their teaching of justification.

What was most satisfying about being a part of the ~~worship team~~ congregation/synod?

Gathering around the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament and participating in the worship service.

What was least satisfying about being a part of the ~~worship team~~ congregation/synod?

It's drifting away from the Lutheran Confessions and Scripture coupled with the lack of concern on the part of leadership on this fact; basing their position on Christian Freedom i.e. Adiophora; and also their unwillingness to discuss it.

What would you change about the ~~worship team~~ congregation/synod?

We would exhort them to study the Book of Concord and apply what it teaches; and that if there was an unwillingness to do so, they should drop the name Lutheran altogether and leave the Synod. It would be truthful. We don't know, maybe that is the intent forthcoming already. They have done so with the school. Christ the Rock has ditched 'Lutheran' as well as other church bodies in the WELS.

Did your ~~job duties~~ church experience in the WELS turn out to be as you expected?

No, it did not.

Did you receive enough training ~~to do your job effectively~~ in Bible Study?

At times yes. Other times no especially during non-pastor lead Bible class. One laymen taught that the meaning of Ishmael being 'gathered to his people' when he died meant at least to him that Ishmael died a believer. We did not see that in scripture at all. matt doebler consistently pushed non-lutheran authors as good sources for Bible study. The most effective training we did on our own by the consulting of Scripture and Confessional Lutheran pastors.

Did you receive adequate support ~~to do your job~~ as a laymen?

As long as we didn't upset the status quo.

Did you receive sufficient feedback about your ~~performance between merit reviews~~ holding to pure doctrinal teaching regarding justification?
None at all. There was no discussion.

Did this ~~company help you to fulfill your career goals~~ church/synod point to Christ as the way to salvation?
At times yes. But we wonder if they truly realized the efficacy of the Word. It seemed at least to us at times that how ministries were conducted were more about what 'we did or did not do' than how we preached and taught the Word in truth and purity.

Do you have any ~~tips to help us find your replacement~~ suggestions to offer to prospective members?
If you don't care what the Church catholic means nor what the Lutheran Confessions say, this is the church for you; because this church is all about being relevant in an un-relevant way.

What would you improve to make the worship experience better?
We would remember our passivity in our salvation and reflect it in the way we worship. We would expect that we would receive the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament on a weekly basis.

What was the quality of the ~~supervision~~ shepherding you received?
As long as we were willing to be a 'company people' it was good. When practice/doctrine was questioned, the quality decreased accordingly.

What could your ~~immediate supervisor~~ shepherd do to improve his ~~or her management~~ pastoral ~~style~~ responsibilities?
See himself as less of a corporate officer/pop personality and more as a 'Called Servant of the Word'.

Based on your experience with us, what do you think it takes to ~~succeed at this company~~ successfully grow the church?
Preach and teach the Word in truth and purity; nothing more; nothing less. The book of Jonah illustrates this perfectly.

Did any ~~company policies or procedures~~ church doctrines or practices (or any other obstacles) make your ~~job~~ faith more difficult?
Oh yes! The doctrine of justification as this church preaches enables what WELS leaders call upside-down evangelism; let's ignore the Law and just preach Gospel. Everyone is forgiven already; they just need to believe it! Unless of course you confront this false teaching and you will receive the brunt of the Law.

Would you consider ~~working again for this company~~ joining this church/synod in the future?
You are kidding, right?

Would you recommend ~~working for this company~~ joining this church/synod to your family and friends?
We have family and friends and would exhort them to leave this heterodox organization.

How do you generally feel about this ~~company~~ church/synod?
The way the prodigal son's father probably felt as he watched his son leave home. We were born and baptized in the WELS and it saddens us to see it drift away from Scripture and the Book of Concord.

What did you like most about this ~~company~~ church/synod?
Gathering around the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament and being a part of worship for 40+ years.

What did you like least about this ~~company~~ church/synod?
We believe the rest of the questionnaire will suffice.

What does your new ~~company~~ church offer that this ~~company~~ church doesn't?
An adherence to Scripture and the Confessions not common in today's 'post modern culture'...as if there is something new under the sun. An emphasis on the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament and a partaking in the forgiveness of sins weekly in the corporate worship which includes Holy Communion; pastor led Bible study ALWAYS.

Can this ~~company~~ church/synod do anything to encourage you to stay?
Only if it can address satisfactorily the points of our email letter dated May 18, 2011; namely: justification, stewardship, pastor's role; women's role; music; Lord's Supper; liturgy; church growth methodology; fellowship with Christ the Rock Church; all in the light of God's Word.

~~Before~~ After ~~deciding to leave~~ being excommunicated, did you investigate a transfer within the ~~company~~ church/synod?
No. There seems to be a commonality of problems in the WELS that manifested themselves quite evidently at Holy Word and within the Capitol Circuit of the South Central District of the WELS.

Did anyone in this ~~company~~ church/synod discriminate against you, harass you or cause hostile ~~working~~ membership conditions?
Yes. Pastor Patterson and the church leadership would not discuss the doctrine of justification with us. Pastor Patterson's belittling of Joe in front of a church officer and Pastor Gurgel while accusing Joe of misleading his wife, Lisa and harassing her at her work. The District President, Pastor Vilas Glaeske dismissed our case on the grounds we were accepted into another fellowship when in fact it was their excommunication of our fellowship that precipitated our seeking out of another fellowship. Furthermore, when we were alerted to the fact by a member of the church that Holy Word was conducting a smear campaign of the Krohns in a 'bible class'; that Holy Word leaders were telling the laity that we had fallen away from the true faith and angrily so; the members were searched out and taken to task for speaking about it.

Any other comments?
No. Any other pertinent facts regarding our situation can be reviewed on my blog. There was a pretty good discussion about justification going on here, but after the recent comment by Pastor Webber of the ELS who is in fellowship with the WELS, he has dashed all hopes that WELS is an orthodox Christian organization. May the Lord have mercy on us all!!!

Late to the Party or Fire to the Frying Pan

2011-09-24T20:24:00.001-05:00

Cyberbrethren Blog response to ACELC from July 2010. We belong to Trinity Lutheran Church, Austin TX, a member of ACELC. We are a group of frustrated Confessional Lutherans who have exhausted all means to address the heterodox in our midst. We do not seek to be schismatic, but move to fraternally admonish those heterodox who are causing divisions among us.

Hopeful Optimism and Unhelpful Behaviors: A Response to the ACELC | CyberBrethren-A Lutheran Blog

We, the Krohns are in a good place. Kyrie elieson!

OK, Fine...

2011-09-24T12:23:00.004-05:00

...but then don't turn around and say all men are forgiven prior to hearing the Word, Baptism and Faith; as in a universal absolution imputed upon all men. Call the Kokomo Statements and all the like teachings what they really are: ANATHEMA.

It sickens me to read what appears to be ELS Pastor Webber's confession regarding justification; a confession we held to concerning and throughout our situation with Holy Word. The same confession we were kicked out of the WELS for.

From the Intrepid Lutherans blog:

"David Jay Webber said...

The controversy in the Missouri Synod over objective justification - involving Walter Maier, Robert Preus, Kurt Marquart, and others - was eventualy(sic) settled by the agreement of all parties to the truth of this statament(sic):

"When the Lord Jesus was 'justified' (I Timothy 3:16) in His resurrection and exaltation, God acquitted Him not of sins of His own, but of all the sins of mankind, which as the Lamb of God He had been bearing (John 1:29), and by the imputation of which He had been 'made...to be sin for us' (II Corinthians 5:21), indeed 'made a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13). In this sense the justification of Jesus was the justification of those whose sins He bore. The treasure of justification or forgiveness gained by Christ for all mankind is truly offered, given, and distributed in and through the Gospel and Sacraments of Christ."

Kurt Marquart suggested before he died that this approach, with the use of Rom. 4:25 and 1 Tim. 3:16 as sedes, could hopefully bring peace ane(sic) clarity to the larger world of Confessional Lutheranism on this matter, where both overstatements (e.g. the Kokomo statements) and understatements (e.g. Pastor Rydecki's statements on this blog) have unfortunately been made. Marquart wrote:

"A contemporary clarification of justification would have to begin with what the
Formula of Concord calls 'the only essential and necessary elements of justification,' that
is, (1) the grace of God, (2) the merit of Christ, (3) the Gospel which alone offers and
distributes these treasures, and (4) faith which alone receives or appropriates them (SD
III.25). The first three items define the universal/general dimension of justification
(forgiveness as obtained for all mankind on the cross, proclaimed in the resurrection [see
Rom 4:25 and 1 Tim 3:16] and offered to all in the means of grace), and the fourth, the
individual/personal dimension. No one actually has forgiveness unless and until he
receives it by faith."

"Objective justification" is most properly seen, then, as a "vicarious justification." It is to and for all men, because the sins of all men were carried to the cross. In his suffering and death, Jesus stood in the place of all men. In his resurrection, and in the justification that was declared to him in and through his resurrection, he likewise stood in the place of all men.

This is an important part of what defines the content of the objectively true Gospel that is now to be preached to all men so that they can believe it for their salvation. This is not in any way a substitute for that preaching, or for that faith, but is a prerequisite for it."
September 24, 2011 12:21 AM

Y'all Need to Check This Out...Seriously...

2011-09-21T23:13:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure if comments will populate...but please, do yourself a favor and read the blog posting and the comments...updated periodically...at the link provided:

Intrepid Lutherans: The WEB: A viable English Bible translation?

Idols for Destruction | St. Antony’s Cave

2011-09-18T13:31:00.003-05:00

Pastor Harris is at Trinity Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas. Click on the link for the posting.

Idols for Destruction | St. Antony’s Cave

This church band is blurring the lines between society and the church. Revelation speaks of this in the end times. It refers to the apostate church as the harlot.

"N.O.K., "No Ordinary King" was formed in Round Rock, TX by members of Christ The Rock Church (www.ctrtx.net) during the summer of 2011.
Our band plays a mix of contempory, Christian rock songs -- both cover and originals, as well as secular pop and rock songs from artists such as Journey, Brian Adams, Adele, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift."

Universal Objective Confession

2011-09-16T20:37:00.001-05:00

According to Scripture, the message has always been to preach the Law, the need for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Never is this more clear than in the book of Jonah. Any church that is heavily into church growth methods should do a study of the book for it is here that we see the efficacy of the Word.

A WELS man emailed me recently concerning our situation; a caring young man. He talked in terms of the usual OJ/SJ terms. It dawned on me that in order for a universal absolution to be true, there would need to be a universal confession, right? I would appreciate someone pointing me to that verse or verses, because there are many places in the Bible that state if individuals do not believe in the Christ as the Savior in their stead...they die in their sins.

Epilogue

2011-09-15T18:10:00.000-05:00

We made one final attempt to get an answer from DP Pastor Vilas Glaeske on September 11, 2011 concerning our question. As of this writing we have not heard back.

Our response:

"Thank you for your kind wishes, Pastor Glaeske.

Your statement about the appeal process as ‘an internal procedure for WELS members’ we find paradoxical…since technically we were excommunicated and are no longer members of WELS as of 8-28-2011 and/or even before that. So the acceptance of fellowship and/or Holy Communion from another Confessional Lutheran Church body is really moot.

So our question still stands. I believe you have been caught by the gravity of truth as your question caught us.

As you most undoubtedly know, we have made this matter quite public. We would grant you anonymity as to the best of our ability; even by your conditions, if you would answer the question regardless….

Do you believe that all men were forgiven of their sins before they were born; before receiving Baptism or hearing the Word of God? There are Lutheran pastors including some in the WELS that refute this teaching.

In Christ,

Joe and Lisa Krohn"

I'll blog a little bit more about our view of the WELS and its 'confessionalism' through the portals of our experiences, but then it will be time to move on...shaking the dust as it were...