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SpenerQuest Puts Another Quarter in the Joke Box. Wardrums Beat and Stormtroopers Gather

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"Graduation, fiends forever."




David Bickel (Drb)
Advanced Member
Username: Drb

Post Number: 858
Registered: 11-2009
Posted on Monday, January 18, 2016 - 8:47 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

"Rev. Paul A. Rydecki said... I still think Hunnius puts it best regarding the relationship between redemption and justification (from A Clear Explanation - I can look up the page number if anyone needs it): We interpret those things that the Scripture contains regarding the redemption and reconciliation of the world (or of the human race) concerning the benefit gained and acquired through the death of Christ, and concerning the sufficiency of that merit of Christ—that it is sufficient for the whole world to be reconciled, justified and saved, if the whole world were to believe; that it was also intended for the world and acquired to this end, that all men should thence obtain salvation through faith. Meanwhile, God has never intended it to mean that it avails for justifying or for remitting sins without faith, through some sort of general remission of sins or justification, which is also supposedly done among those who never have faith, never had faith, or never will have faith. OCTOBER 7, 2013 AT 8:38 PM"
Source: INTREPIDLUTHERANS.COM/2013/10/LAST-YEARS-LETTER-TO -PRESIDIUM-OF-AZ-CA.HTML

Fine. I am reconciled to you, but I don't forgive you. No, I demand payment of your debt—in full. Pay up or else.

But doesn't being reconciled mean peace and the non-imputation of sins?

The quote looks partially Calvinistic. Calvinists like Charles Hodge say the atonement was sufficient for the entire human race but not intended to save the entire human race.

Does this quote accurately reflect Hunnius in the context of the debate he was engaged in? If so, how sound was he on election?
dawning realm
Advent of the Crucified
http://www.dawningrealm.org 
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Alan Lubeck (1431)
Senior Member
Username: 1431

Post Number: 1349
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 6:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Professor Bickel asks the question: But doesn't being reconciled mean peace and the non-imputation of sins?


Only according to Holy Scripture 1 Corinthians 5:19. But, hey, who needs the Holy Scripture when man's reason drives their teaching about God.

Best wishes on those who subscribe to Rydecki's formula trying to discern whether they have been given enough justification in their reconciliation. They can no longer look to the Word of God alone for comfort, they must also have a special Easter Egg hunt to make sure they have found faith in their heart.
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Paul Jecklin (Paul_jecklin)
Member
Username: Paul_jecklin

Post Number: 57
Registered: 2-2015
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 7:56 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

“. . . . God has never intended it to mean that it avails for justifying or for remitting sins without faith, through some sort of general remission of sins or justification, which is also supposedly done among those who never have faith, . . . “

“AVAILS” may be an important word in this statement.


Article IV: Of Justification.

“Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.”
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Paul Jecklin (Paul_jecklin)
Member
Username: Paul_jecklin

Post Number: 58
Registered: 2-2015
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 8:05 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

“. . . . God has never intended it to mean that it avails for justifying or for remitting sins without faith, through some sort of general remission of sins or justification, which is also supposedly done among those who never have faith, . . . “

“AVAILS” may be an important word in this statement.


Article IV: Of Justification.

“Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.”
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Rev. Guillaume Williams Sr. (Revhardheaded)
Senior Member
Username: Revhardheaded

Post Number: 5286
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 8:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I think I need a broader context, but yes, avails is an important word there. Also, as we do not subscribe unconditionally to everything Luther wrote, nor do we to the orthodox fathers.
The Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr
God justifies the ungodly. Rom 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 

Seminaries Merging Right and Left - Mostly Left

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Leonard Woods Jr is the Calvinist who translated the Halle University lectures of
George Christian Knapp,
coining the English terms of Objective and Subjective Justification,
which are now treated as directly revealed by the Holy Spirit
to CFW Walther and JP Meyer.

Andover-Newton Theological School, founded in 1807, is closing its Boston campus and moving, due to rapidly shrinking enrollment. The new president's adultery, revealed just before his installation in 2014, did not help matters.

Andover-Newton is considered the canary in the coalmine of mainline seminaries. Like Colgate-Rochester-Crozier--where Walter Rauschenbusch and Martin Luther King studied at its component parts--the endowment funds have helped delay the final stages of decomposition.

Those who love Universal Objective Justification will grieve that the historic birthplace of Double Justification, Objective and Subjective, will be turned into something more memorable, like a gourmet food mall or a quaint collection of libraries where the homeless can sleep and bathe.

Biographical details of Woods:
His son, Leonard, scholar, born in Newbury, Massachusetts, 24 November, 1807; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 24 December, 1878, was graduated at Union college in 1827 and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1830. In 1831-'3 he was resident graduate scholar at Andover, and in 1833 he was licensed to preach. His private pupil, Richard Henry Dana, says of him: " At the age of twenty-four years he had been the first scholar in the Phillips academy, the first in every branch at Union, had been graduated at the Theological seminary the acknowledged foremost man of his period, and had published a translation of Knapp's Christian Theology, enriched with a long and fully thought-out preface, with original notes showing profound scholarship. He was assisting Professor Stuart in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, ' and aiding Professor Robinson in editing the ' Biblical Repository, ' then the most scholastic periodical in America, and was assistant instructor of Hebrew in the seminary." He edited the " Literary and Theological Review" in New York city in 18"34-'7, and although that periodical was the organ of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, he directly opposed the opinions of many of its supporters, objecting to the proposals of temperance and anti-slavery societies and popular revivalists, and to the German Reformation, and defending the few and simple conditions of admission into the Anglican communion, as compared with the minute requirements of doctrine in his own church. He was professor of sacred literature in Bangor theological seminary in 1836-'9, and from 1839 till 1866 president of Bowdoin. 
Although Andover was a Calvinist seminary founded as conservatives fled the horrors of Unitarian Harvard, Andover has ended in the same far Left spectrum of mainline dysmorphia.



Covenant Relations
Andover Newton has historical covenants with the American Baptist Churches (USA) and the United Church of Christ
The School has a long-standing and progressive partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Association and offers UU students the courses and support they need to pursue ministerial fellowship with the UUA.  
I am dabbing tears from my eyes at this moment - tears of laughter. The old adage is true - "Young Calvinist, old Unitarian."

Just as UOJ Halle lecturer Knapp denied the Biblical foundation of the Holy Trinity, so does the Calvinist seminary home of Knapp's translator deny the Holy Trinity altogether.



ELCA Seminaries Crumpling Under the Weight of Declining Enrollment and Soaring Costs

  1. Southern Seminary (ELCA) is rejoicing about its new location at an ELCA college. 
  2. The Berkeley ELCA seminary is joining the chorus.
  3. Gettysburg and Philadelphia, 100 miles apart (for Mequon grads) will merge.
  4. The Chicago campus is dwindling, overbuilt from the start.
  5. Columbus - Trinity - is also feeling the pain.
  6. Luther Seminary is selling two parcels of land as part of its "long-term development plans." Uh-huh.
The security camera at ELS headquarters captured this photo.



The Odor of Death - ELCA's Luther Seminary Costs

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Paying for Seminary

Calculate your costs

This worksheet provides an estimated cost about how much tuition and fees will cost, which includes living expenses. The budget is an estimation and some students find they live much below the proposed budget. We have also provided a link to a Budget Calculator where you can calculate your own personalized budget.

Estimated costs 2015-2016 (9 month academic year)

ResidentInterns4M.Div. or M.A. DL3
Tuition$16,0001$3,200$9,6002
Room/Board$9,588$9,588$1,260
Books/Fees$2,000$500$1,100
Transportation$2,964$2,964$3,000
Misc. personal$4,882$4,882$200
Student loan fees$144$144$144
Total$35,578$21,278$15,304


    1. Tuition is based on 10 full courses during the academic year ($1,600 per course) for M.Div. and M.A. For tuition costs for the M.Th., D.Min. and Ph.D. programs, please see below.
    2. Tuition for M.Div./DL is based on 6.0 courses during the academic year ($1,600 per course).
    3. Distributive Learning Program (Online)
    4. Budgets DO NOT include an allowance for health insurance, purchase of computer or dependent care costs. With documentation these costs can be added to expense budget. This will only have the impact of increasing student loan eligibility. To have these included please use the following form:  Adjustments to Cost of Attendance Request
  • The Faith of Jesus. Updates and Links

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    My favorite editor, Janie Sullivan, is taking care of some format problems in The Faith of Jesus, the black and white edition.

    That should be done and printing in a week. I am sorry for the delay, but retail and some medical issues with Mrs. I (being addressed) complicated things.

    I will send out copies to those who helped and copies where I think they will do some good.

    The next stage is the full color illustrated version. Norma Boeckler is providing them. The end result will be The Faith of Jesus with beautiful full color illustrations. I am gong to keep both editions available (Amazon) and link the free versions on this blog.

    The Trinitarian symbol was drawn by Norma Boeckler.

    Here is a chart about some of the larger sects in Lutherdom today. I do not take the doctrinal stances seriously and the numbers are inflated. Consider the chart a bad map on a foggy, moonless night.



    WELS Minders Rush To Confess My Sins Rather Than Repent of Their Abuse and Deceptions. Is WELS Obliged To Report Their Clergy and Teacher Crimes?

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    Crime Watch in Lutherdom - a list of links to crimes and arrests in WELS and Missouri. More to follow.
    Gregory L. Jackson's photo.

    4 comments
    Comments
    Gregory L. Jackson There are a lot of views so far. The list is so long that I will do a second list and sticky post it on the left.
    Richard Townes Jr This a matter of public record, so what is your purpose of posting?
    Gregory L. Jackson Richard, many do not know this. The fact that over 400 views have been registered about DP Werner alone should alert you to this. WELS is very keen about running people into the ground for daring to tell the truth, but especially keen about hiding arrests and lawsuits. Did the FBI search of WELS headquarters make the FIC magazine? I think not.
    LikeReply11 hrs
    Marcus Manthey Greg, do you somehow imagine that your own sins are less serious or less worthy of damnation than those you publicize here? Are you planning on posting pictures and accounts of the sins you have committed? Whom do you believe you are helping by broadasting (sic) Satan's victories like this? Are you aware of the cases your report where confession and absolution have already taken place, or is that not something you consider "news-worthy?"
    LikeReply11 hr
    Gregory L. Jackson WELS sanctimony is so thick, layers up on layers. Denominations have an obligation to own up to the criminal behavior among their teachers, pastors, and district presidents. You make it so personal, Marcus. Any journalist expects the truth to be publis...See More
    LikeReply4 mins
    Gregory L. Jackson I am aware of Mark Schroeder absolving Joel Hochmuth and Hochmuth re-offending immediately after. What's that called - cheap grace?
    LikeReply3 mins
    Gregory L. Jackson Your brother clergy, even a staffer at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, insist Al Just never did a thing. His wife just rolled over and over on a steak knife in bed.
    LikeReply3 mins
    Gregory L. Jackson Richard Townes Jr and Marcus Manthey - I speak for WELS, LCMS, ELS, CLC, and ELCA survivors who cannot speak for themselves. They have encouraged me to tell the truth when corrupt synod leaders continue to lie and accuse the targets of their emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

    SpenerQuest Circles the Drain. Jay Webber Cites His Wretched Botch of an Essay. What Would Luther Say?

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    Rev. Guillaume Williams Sr. (Revhardheaded)
    Senior Member
    Username: Revhardheaded

    Post Number: 5286
    Registered: 10-2004
    Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 8:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

    I think I need a broader context, but yes, avails is an important word there. Also, as we do not subscribe unconditionally to everything Luther wrote, nor do we to the orthodox fathers.
    The Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr
    God justifies the ungodly. Rom 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 
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    David Bickel (Drb)
    Advanced Member
    Username: Drb

    Post Number: 862
    Registered: 11-2009
    Posted on Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 7:13 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

    Yes, if “avails” means “benefits,” the quote may be accurate albeit incomplete in itself. The quote seems contrary to how Rev. Paul A. Rydecki tried to defend his position against 2 Cor. 5:19 here:
    http://www.faithalonejustifies.com/wp-content/uplo ads/2013/01/Justification_UOJ_ProofTexts.pdf

    Here’s another interesting quote:

    > Posted on March 8, 2014 by Pastor Andrew Preus
    > In arguing against the Huberian error that because Christ has redeemed all men he therefore elected all men, Hunnius maintains:
    > But we respond from the start that we steadfastly teach that Christ, by the decree, counsel, ordination, good pleasure and command of the eternal Father, has freed each and every mortal, without any exception at any time or in any place, from sin, death and eternal damnation.
    > ~ Aegius Hunnius, Theses Opposed to Huberianism: A Defense of the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification — Wittenberg, 1597, Translated by Paul A. Rydecki (Bynum, TX: Repristination Press, 2012), 51 (Thesis 152).

    http://steadfastlutherans.org/2014/03/just-a-quote -from-hunnius/comment-page-2/
    Dawning Realm
    http://www.dawningrealm.org 
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    David Jay Webber (Djw)
    Advanced Member
    Username: Djw

    Post Number: 828
    Registered: 12-2004
    Posted on Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 9:26 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

    The quotation from Hunnius's Thesis 152, to which Mark Preus drew attention, is indeed an important datum in understanding what Hunnius's views actually were. I also use that quotation on p. 34 of the essay on this subject that I delivered at last year's Emmaus Conference.

    Once Again - For WELS and LCMS Leaders Ignorant of the Confessions - The Eighth Commandment

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    Several WELS minders, including Marcus Manthey, decided to rail against me on Facebook because I listed a small portion of the crimes WELS has kept from its members, even from its own teachers and pastors.

    According to the abusive WELS sect, no one can discuss their crimes unless that person is absolutely innocent of all sin. An exception is that they can talk about their felonies if the purpose is to deny them, forget them, or provide a cover story to supplant the truth.

    Didn't Manthey write a tepid criticism of the Church and Changers?
    I doubt he railed against them on Facebook.


    Luther's Large Catechism, Ten Commandments, 
    Eighth Commandment, Concordia Triglotta, #284.

    All this has been said regarding secret sins. But where the sin is quite public so that the judge and everybody know it, you can without any sin avoid him and let him go, because he has brought himself into disgrace, and you may also publicly testify concerning him. For when a matter is public in the light of day, there can be no slandering or false judging or testifying; as, when we now reprove the Pope with his doctrine, which is publicly set forth in books and proclaimed in all the world. For where the sin is public, the reproof also must be public, that every one may learn to guard against it.

    The WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC approach has been to label any question about WELS false doctrine or criminal behavior a violation of the Eighth Commandment and Matthew 18.

    But we all believe, teach, and confess - don't we? - that it is no slandering when a matter is public, such as Webber, Bivens, and JP Meyer teaching crypto-Universalism while attacking Paul, Galatians, Romans 4, Luther, and he Book of Concord.

    WELS-ELS-LCMS-ELCA false UOJ dogma is really the foundation for the criminal acts concealed by its scrofulous leaders:

    • Theft of property.
    • Church worker adultery.
    • Obstruction of justice in covering up crimes and removing evidence.
    • Failure to report abuse of children.
    • Dangerous DUIs and untreated alcoholism of church workers.
    • Spousal murder.
    • Etc.
    How dare anyone mention the crimes and cover-ups! That alone deserves several rounds of personal attacks and indignant smoke-screens.

    Their outraged responses remind me of the time a layman and I hauled a notorious drunk off the streets and took him to a VA treatment facility for alcoholism. He was deeply offended and said he was not an alcohol abuser at all. He was "just a little nervous."

    How many years did DP Werner molest little girls in his congregation? And yet WELS was sublime about the practice, until good ol' Ed was arrested and charged with multiple crimes against his own members, the mothers joining in providing evidence against him. Where were all the outraged leaders when this was going on? They claim to know when a pastor has changed after-shave lotion, but they do not know their district president is an unrepentant criminal, even when his district knows about it and uses it for blackmail?

    District President Ed Werner



    Weather Report - We Are Not Arkansas

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    People hear weather reports about Arkansas and conclude we are suffering the ravages or snow, sleet, or wind in this corner of the state. However, if you look at where we are, in the very corner of Northwest Arkansas, you will note how the storms veer north to Joplin, Missouri and St. Louis - or they head south to Ft. Smith and Little Rock.

    Eastern Arkansas received five (5) inches of snow last night. We had fog and a little mist all day, but no snow or ice, apart from the little bit that fell and melted early in the morning.

    A few storms do roll in and stay. We had snow like that last winter, a few times, but no so far.

    The flurries we had yesterday were publishing flurries. The Faith of Jesus is now at Amazon, in production. That is the black and white edition. I can probably order copies sent later today. Norma Boeckler volunteered to work on the full color edition, which can start when I receive the Word file back. Various fussments took place yesterday as decisions were made. I am keeping the retail cost very low for the printed and Kindle editions. My main interest is distribution, so there will be free PDFs available fairly soon.



    So the birds made noises like a Shriners' convention yesterday - all day. They wanted to be energized for the coming storm. It was a ruse, but we all knew it. I kept scooping sunflower seeds and corn in the backyard. They treated us to a constant display of flight, feeding, and fun.

    Planning ahead is the key for birds and gardening. Human management is down to a science. Professionals can get a certification in Project Management, which is quite beneficial in the workplace. LI said, "It only proved I could pass a software test." But the idea of the Gannt chart is to plan ahead for materials, timing of the plan, execution, and all that.

    Birds, bugs, and all plants do that without the agonized thinking that we endure for getting a big project done. Because all of created life plans ahead, we can take advantage of that by what we do.

    Borrowing an idea from someone else, if we concede that all the hardware evolved - and we do not - then how does one explain the software that runs the world?

    Our helper has noticed this too as he watches the plant life in his yard. The mint remained green until the extended cold weather. But the roots are full of energy and ready to grow when the soil warms up. His new maple tree, transplanted from our yard, went through the autumn color change in miniature, but kept its leaves for a long time into our exceptionally mild winter.

    My roses kept their green leaves until recently and now have the look of winter, but the roots have been growing miles of root hairs, ready to swap carbon for water and nutrition with the fungus strands in the soil. Who taught the plants and fungus a skill so elaborate and refined that soil scientists only discovered it in the last few decades?



    The birds know they will nest, so they look for areas where they have materials for nesting, good shelter, food, and water. They are scouting and I am recruiting. I do not have to make decisions, the way college football teams look for a great wide receiver or a five-star linebacker. Instead, I let them sort that out by themselves. They have the software but I cannot crack the code written by the Son Himself, when all things were created through Him and nothing was created apart from Him.

    Planning means having as many kinds of natural food available, preserving the shelter the birds and bugs require, and catching rain or snow for drinking and bathing.




    WELS Layman Thankful for the Recent Posts on Abuse

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    The laity are not easily fooled -
    they just quietly drift away.

    Pastor Jackson,
    Thank you so much for the latest postings on Ichabod. I want to comment, but I am not sure where to start. Remember that you have just committed the one and only unforgivable sin in the WELS. No, I am not talking about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. In the WELS, reminding those who think that they are infallible with the evidence which proves contrary to that assertion is the unforgivable sin.

    The child porn at Synod HQ, the adultery, the alcoholism, the molestation and abuse, along with subsequent cover ups are the most blatant and obvious examples. However, it does not stop there. I have noticed that more than anything else, the laity would just like some accountability. This is what is expected in the workforce and the family life. Most of us have learned from an early age to respect authority no matter what form that may be. But we also expect a certain level of respect in return. Sometimes WELS leadership strikes me as totally clueless in that they will not even accept this type of reciprocity.

    I am convinced that some of these guys act like a snarling dog that has been backed into a corner. They know that there is no way out, but they have to act tough and show their teeth anyway. I am seeing the hair on the back of the neck standing up.

    In Christ,

    WELS Layman

    ***

    WELS OWL


    GJ - The cover-ups make it clear that WELS will work especially hard on the major scandals. When a local pastor piled his car up against a utility pole during a DUI, the circuit pastor refused to tell me who it was. But soon, the man was off to foreign missions and future drinking bouts.

    So WELS, Missouri, and the ELS have Zero Tolerance for telling the truth. That is why I have no respect for the Synodical Princes. The SPs think their main job is to massage the public image of the sect, not to address problems with the Word of God. Thus they are decomposing before our eyes, and the smell is remarkable.

    Cat found WELS OWL.

    The Beginning of Church Growth Is Also the End. Robert Schuller's Old Organ Being Repaired and Enlarged

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    Jeske, Church and Change, and WELS have pursued the apostasy of
    Schuller's Hour of Power,
    but it translates too easily into the
    Hour of Sour as they thrash about against their critics.
    John Romeri can’t wait to get his hands on Hazel.
    When the $29 million renovation of the glass cathedral, originally designed by architect Philip Johnson for Robert H. Schuller’s megachurch in Garden Grove, is complete in about two years, the cathedral will be the flagship of the Catholic Church in the United States and the Hazel Wright organ will occupy the four corners of the 75,000-square-foot sanctuary.
    Romeri, who left his job as music director at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to take this prestigious position, is looking forward to that day when he and other churchgoers will get to experience Hazel’s majesty.
    “My hope is that everyone – Catholic or otherwise – can come to hear the finest of sacred music on our campus,” Romeri said.
    As the diocese’s first director of music ministries at Christ Cathedral, Romeri’s responsibilities will include developing Christ Cathedral Parish’s music program, the liturgical music program supporting major diocesan celebrations such as ordinations, and overseeing the musical direction of parish choirs. He also will oversee the multilingual choirs within the diocese’s fold, including the Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese vocal groups.
    Romeri is now holding auditions for Christ Cathedral’s English choir, which will perform during Sunday morning Mass at the renovated cathedral. He is also forming a diocesan choir, which will perform during special occasions, and a children’s choir, with participants from parishes countywide.
    Visitors to Christ Cathedral, he says, can expect to hear a variety of music during Mass – from Gregorian chants to folk and contemporary music.
    “A majority of music in Catholic churches today is music from the last 15 or 20 years,” he said. “But the Catholic Church’s musical tradition goes back 2,000 years. I hope to incorporate pieces from different eras because it’s all beautiful.”
    Romeri says not to expect rock music anytime soon at Christ Cathedral. But, he says, he’ll consider contemporary music “with text that is appropriate” for Mass.
    Monsignor Art Holquin, who was responsible for bringing Romeri to Orange County, said the diocese is fortunate to have a music director of his caliber.
    “He is a skilled organist, a choral conductor and exceptional musician,” Holquin said. “On top of that he’s an excellent communicator. And he brings a sense of joy and exuberance to this position.”
    The sacred music performed under Romeri’s leadership also will reach millions across the world through programs broadcast by the EWTN Global Catholic Network.
    This music ministry will serve the needs not only of the cathedral parish, but also the greater Church. That’s why it can’t be developed overnight, Bishop Kevin Vann said in a statement.
    “It is necessary for us to begin developing this program well in advance of the dedication and opening of the cathedral,” he said.
    Romeri started that process even before his first day at Christ Cathedral, Tuesday. A week ago, he was in Padua, Italy, visiting Hazel at the location where the Ruffatti company was repairing the organ pipe by pipe. The entire console also has been rebuilt.
    The Hazel Wright organ features 270 sets of pipes – from 4 inches to 32 feet long – five keyboards and the largest draw-knob console in the world to control the sound.
    Holquin said the tab for resuscitating this masterpiece is about $2 million. It will be in pristine condition when shipped to Orange County in a couple of months. The parts will remain in storage until they can be assembled, he said.
    A significant portion of the $2 million was raised through donations, Holquin said.

    The Faith of Jesus - Kindle Edition - Now Available

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    The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans Kindle Edition



    This book was prompted by the despicable essay given by Jay Webber at the Emmaus Conference in 2015. How tragic for Lutherans to be planning for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation while uniting with ELCA in teaching universal forgiveness and salvation without faith.

    Luther's Epistle Sermon for Septuagesima, Third Sunday Before Lent. 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5

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    Luther's Sermon for the THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT. 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27; 10:1-5. 24



     Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain. 25 And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things.

    Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air: 27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. 1 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and did all eat the same spiritual food; 4 and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. 5 Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

    THE CHRISTIAN RACE FOR THE PRIZE.

    1. This lesson is a part of the long four-chapter instruction Paul gives the Corinthians. Therein he teaches them how to deal with those weak in the faith, and warns rash, presumptuous Christians to take heed lest they fall, however they may stand at the present. He presents a forcible simile in the running of the race, or the strife for the prize. Many run without obtaining the object of their pursuit. But we should not vainly run. To faithfully follow Christ does not mean simply to run. That will not suffice. We must run to the purpose. To believe, to be running in Christ’s course, is not sufficient; we must lay hold on eternal life. Christ says ( Matthew 24:13), “But he that endureth to the end, the same shall he saved.” And Paul ( 1 Corinthians 10:12), “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

    2. Now, running is hindered in two ways; for one, by indolence. When faith is not strenuously exercised, when we are indolent in good works, our progress is hindered, so that the prize is not attained. But to such hindrance I do not think Paul here refers. He is not alluding to those who indolently run, but to them who run in vain because missing their object; individuals, for instance, who pursue their aim at full speed, but, deluded by a phantom, miss their aim and rush to ruin or run up against fearful obstacles. Hence Paul enjoins men to run successfully while in the race, that they may seize the prize and not lose it by default. In consequence the race is hindered when a false goal is set up or the true one removed. The apostle says ( Colossians 2:18), “Let no man rob you of your prize.” It is true, however, that an indolent, negligent life will eventually bring about loss of the prize. While men sleep, the enemy very soon sows tares among the wheat.

    3. The goal is removed when the Word of God is falsified and creations of the human mind are preached under the name of God’s Word. And these things readily come about when we are not careful to keep the unity of the Spirit, when each follows his own ideas and yields to no other, because he prefers his own conceit.

    Such must be the course of events where love is lacking. The strong and the learned desire to be looked upon as peculiarly commendable, while the weak in the faith are despised. Thus the devil has abundant opportunity to sow tares. Paul calls love the unity of the Spirit, and admonishes ( Ephesians 4:3) that we endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 he proclaims the coming of Antichrist “because they received not the love of the truth”; that is, true love. “And every man that striveth in the games [that striveth for the mastery].”

    4. Were he who competes in a race to attempt other things or to make a success of other matters at the same time, he would not gain much; rather he would soon be defeated, lose the race and everything. If he would truly strive, he must attend to no other thing. All else must be neglected and attention centered upon the contest alone. Even then the winner must have fortune’s favor; for they who neglect all to run do not all gain the prize.

    Likewise in the Christian contest it is necessary, and in an even higher degree, to renounce everything and to devote oneself only to the contest.

    He who would in addition seek his own glory and profit, who would find in the Word and Spirit of God occasion for his own praise and advantage after the manner of the dissenters and schismatics — what can such a one expect to win? He is wholly entangled in temporal glory and gain; bound hand and foot, a complete captive. The race he runs is the mere dream race of one lying upon his couch an indolent captive. “I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air.”

    5. Paul here points to himself as exemplar and hints at the cause of failure, viz., lapse from love and the use of the divine word in a wilful, ambitious and covetous spirit, whereas the faith which worketh by love is lacking.

    Under such conditions, false and indolent Christians run indeed a merry race; yet God’s Word and ways in which they are so alert and speedy are merely a show, because they make them subserve their own interests and glory. They fail, however, to see that they race uncertainly and beat the air.

    They never make a serious attempt, nor do they ever hit the mark. While it is theirs to mortify ambition, to restrain their self-will and to enlist in the service of their neighbors, they do none of these things. On the contrary, they even do many things to strengthen their ambition and self-will, and then they swear by a thousand oaths that they are seeking not their own honor but the honor of God, their neighbor’s welfare and not their own.

    Peter says ( 2 Peter 1:9-10) this class are blind and cannot see afar and have forgotten they were purged from their old sins, because they fail to make their calling sure by good works. Therefore, it comes about that, as Paul says, they run uncertainly, beating the air. Their hearts are unstable and wavering before God, and they are changeable and fickle in all their ways, James 1:8. Since they are aimless and inconstant at heart, this will appear likewise as inconstancy in regard to works and doctrines. They undertake now this and now that; they cannot be quiet nor refrain from factional strife. Thus they miss their aim or else remove the goal, and cannot but deviate from the true and common path. “But I buffet [keep under] my body, and bring it into bondage [subjection].”

    6. The apostle’s thought is the same as in his statement above, “Every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things.” By “keeping under the body” Paul means, not only subduing the carnal lusts, but every temporal object as well, in so far as it appeals to bodily desire — love of honor, fame, wealth and the like. He who gives license to these things instead of subduing them will preach to his own condemnation, however correct his preaching be. Such do not permit the truth to be presented; this is true particularly of temporal honor. These words of the apostle, then, are a fine thrust at ambitious and self-centered preachers and Christians. Not only do they run in vain and fight to no purpose; they become actual castaways with only the semblance — the color — of Christianity.

    EXAMPLES FROM SCRIPTURE.

    “For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud.”

    7. Paul cites a terrible example from Scripture to prove that not all obtain the prize who run. There were about six hundred thousand of them, all of whom walked in the way of God and enjoyed his word and his confidence so completely as to be protected under the cloud and miraculously to pass through the sea; yet among the vast number who ran at that time only two, Joshua and Caleb, obtained the prize. They alone of all that multitude reached the promised land.

    Later on in the chapter (verses 11-12) Paul explains this fact, saying: “Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition... wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” The design of these dealings of God with Israel is to terrify the pride, false wisdom and self-will; to deter men from despising their fellows and from seeking to make the Word of God minister to their own honor or profit in preference to the honor and profit of others. The intent is to have each individual put himself on an equality with others, each to bear with his fellow, the weak enduring the strong, and so on, as enjoined in the four chapters.

    8. How many great and noble men may have been among the six hundred thousand, men to whom we would have been unworthy to hand a cup of water! They included the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, one of whom, Nahshon, Matthew ( Matthew 1:4) numbers in the holy lineage of Christ. There were also the seventy elders who shared in the spirit of Moses, Eldad and Medad in particular ( Numbers 11:27), and all the other great men aside from the faction of Korah. All these, mark you, strove in the race. They did and suffered much. They witnessed many miracles of God. They aided in erecting a grand tabernacle and in instituting divine worship. They were full of good works. Yet they failed, and died in the wilderness. Who is so daring and haughty he will not be restrained and humbled by so remarkable an example of divine judgment?

    Well may it be said, “Let him that... standeth take heed lest he fall.”

    9. Well, the example of Israel is one readily understood. God grant we may heed it! Let us examine the apostle’s text yet further — his mention of baptism and spiritual food, using Christian terms and placing the fathers upon the same plane with us Christians, as if they also had had Baptism and the Holy Supper.

    He would have us know, first, the oft-repeated fact that God from the beginning led, redeemed and saved his saints by two instrumentalities — by his own word and external signs. Adam was saved by the word of promise ( Genesis 3:15): The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head; that is, Christ shall come to conquer sin, death and Satan for us. To this promise God added the sign of sacrifice, sacrifice kindled with fire from heaven, as in Abel’s case ( Genesis 4:4), and in other cases mentioned in the Scriptures. The word of promise was Adam’s Gospel until the time of Noah and of Abraham. In this promise all the saints down to Abraham believed, and were redeemed; as we are redeemed by the word of the Gospel which we believe. The fire from heaven served them as a sign, as baptism does us, which is added to the word of God.

    10. Such signs were repeated again and again at various times, the last sign being given by Christ in his own person — the Gospel with baptism, granted to all nations. For instance, God gave Noah the promise that he should survive the flood, and granted him a sign in the ship, or ark, he built. And by faith in the promise and sign Noah was justified and saved, with his family. Afterward God gave him another promise, and for a sign the rainbow. Again, he gave Abraham a promise, with the sign of circumcision. Circumcision was Abraham’s baptism, just as the ark and the flood were that of Noah. So also our baptism is to us circumcision, ark and flood, according to Peter’s explanation. 1 Peter 3:21. Everywhere we meet the Word and the Sign of God, in which we must believe in order to be saved through faith from sin and death.

    11. Thus the children of Israel had God’s word that they should inherit the promised land. In addition to that word they were given many signs, in particular those Paul here names — the sea, the cloud, the bread from heaven, the water from the rock. These he calls their baptism; just as our baptism might be called our sea and cloud. Faith and the Spirit are the same everywhere, though the signs and the words vary. Signs and words indeed change from time to time, but faith in the one and same God continues. Through various signs and revelations, God at different times bestows the same faith and the same Spirit, effecting through these in all saints remission of sins, redemption from death, and salvation, whether they lived in the beginning or at the end of time, or while time progressed.

    12. Such is Paul’s meaning when he says the fathers did eat the same meat, and drink the same drink as we. He, however, qualifies with the word “spiritual.” Externally and individually Israel had signs and revelations different from ours; but the Spirit and their faith in Christ was identical with our own. Spiritual eating and drinking is simply believing in God’s Word and sign. Christ says ( John 6:56), “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him.” And in the preceding verse, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” That is, He that believeth in me shall live. “For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them.”

    13. In other words, they believed in the same Christ in whom we believe, though he was yet to come in the flesh; and the sign of their faith was the material rock, from which they physically drank water, just as we in partaking of the material bread and wine at the altar spiritually eat and drink the true Christ. With the outward act of eating and drinking we exercise inward faith. Had the Israelites not possessed the word of God and faith as they drank from the rock, the act of drinking would not have benefited their souls. Neither would it profit us to receive bread and wine at the altar if we were without faith. Indeed, had not the Word of God come first, the rock would not have yielded water and command faith.

    Likewise, if God’s Word did not accompany bread and wine, they would not be spiritual food nor exercise faith.

    14. So it is ever the same spiritual meat and drink which God embodies in his word and sign, whatever its material and external form may be. Were he to command me to lift up a mere straw, immediately the straw would hold for me spiritual food and drink. Not because of any virtue in the straw, but because it is a revelation and sign of the divine truth and presence. Again, if God’s Word and his sign be lacking or unrecognized, the very presence of God himself has no effect. Christ says of himself ( John 6:63), “The flesh profiteth nothing.” He makes that statement because his hearers pay no heed to the words in which he speaks of his flesh, though it is these which make his body the true meat, according to his declaration (verse 58), “This is the bread which came down out of heaven.” Therefore we are not to regard unduly, as blind reason does, the works, signs and miracles of God; rather we are to recognize his message therein. This is the act of faith.

    15. The apostle refers to a single type — the rock, saying: “They drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.” By this statement he makes all the figures and signs granted to the people of Israel by the Word of God refer to Christ; for where the Word of God is, there Christ is. All the words and promises of God are concerning Christ. Christ himself refers the serpent of Moses to himself, giving it a typical significance, John 3:14. We may truly say the Israelites looked upon the same serpent we behold, for they saw the spiritual serpent that followed them, or Christ on the cross. Their beholding was believing in the Word of God, with the serpent for a sign; even as their spiritual drinking was believing in the Word of God with the rock for a sign. Without the Word of God, the serpent could have profited them nothing; nor could brazen serpents innumerable, had the Israelites gazed upon them forever. Likewise the rock would have profited them nothing without the word of God; they might have crushed to powder all the rocks of the world or drank from them to no purpose.

    16. According to the general principle here laid down by Paul, by using the rock as illustration, we may say the Israelites partook of the same bread of heaven whereof we eat; and they ate of the spiritual bread of heaven which followed them — Christ. With them, eating was believing in the Word of God, while they had for their sign the bread from heaven whereof they physically partook. Had not this Word accompanied the bread, it would have been simply material food, incapable of profiting the soul or calling forth faith. Christ says ( John 6:32), “It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven.” And ( John 6:58), “Not as the fathers ate [manna], and died.”

    Even Moses says ( Deuteronomy 8:3), “And fed thee with manna... that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah.”

    In other words, “In the material manna you must not merely see the work — the act of satisfying the appetite — but much rather the word of promise bringing you the bread of heaven; for by that word you live forever if you have faith.”

    17. We may say the same concerning the sea and the cloud. The children of Israel walked under the same cloud that shadows us; that means, they walked under the spiritual cloud that followed them — Christ. Otherwise expressed, walking under the cloud was simply believing in the word of God, the word they had in their hearts, which told them to follow the cloud. Without that word they would have been unable to believe or to follow; indeed, with the word lacking, the cloud would never have appeared. Therefore, the cloud was called the glory of the Lord whose appearance had been promised.

    So we see how we must in all things have regard to the word of God. To it faith must attach itself. Without it, either there are no signs and works of God, or else, existing, and regarded with the physical eyes only, without reference to the Word, they cause one to open his mouth in wonderment for a while like everything else which is new, but they do not profit the soul nor do they appeal to faith.

    18. Some take the words “which followed them” to mean that the spiritual rock accompanied the children of Israel, companioning with them — “comitante petra,” not “petra consequente,” Christ being spiritually present in the word and by faith. This view they endeavor to base upon the Greek text. I have rendered it: “the rock following.” The point is not worth contention. Let each understand it as he may. Both interpretations given are correct. I hold to what I have offered because all the circumstances of the incident, and earlier words of God, pointed to a future Christ, a Christ who should follow, in whom they should all believe. Thus Abraham saw behind him the ram in the thicket and took and sacrificed him; that is, he believed in the Christ who afterward should come and be sacrificed.

    19. Again, some say the common noun in the clause “and the rock was Christ” means the material rock; and since Christ cannot be material rock they explain the inconsistency by saying the rock signifies Christ. They here make the word “was” equivalent to “signifies.” The same reasoning they apply to certain words of Christ; for instance, they say where Christ, referring to the Holy Supper ( Matthew 26:26), commands, “Take, eat; this is my body” — they say the meaning is, “This bread signifies, but is not truly, my body.” They would thereby deny that the bread is the body of Christ. In the same manner do they deal with the text ( John 15:1) “I am the true vine,” in making it “I am signified by the vine.” Beware of such reasoners. Their own malice has led them to such perverting of Scripture.

    Paul here expressly distinguishes between material and spiritual rocks, saying: “They drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.” He does not say the material rock was Christ, but the spiritual rock. The material rock was not spiritual, and did not follow or go with them.’ 20. The explanations and distortions of such false reasoners are not needed here. The words are true as they read; they are to be understood in substance and not figuratively. So in John 15:1, Christ’s reference is not to a material but a spiritual vine. How would this read, “I am signified by a spiritual vine”? Christ is speaking of that which exists, and must so be understood — “I am”; here is a true spiritual vine. Similar is John 6:55, “My flesh is meat indeed.” The thought is not, “My flesh signifies, or is signified by, true meat”; spiritual meat is spoken of and the meaning is, “My flesh is substantially a food; not for the stomach, physically, but for the soul, spiritually.” Neither must you permit the words “This is my body” to be perverted to mean that the body is but signified by the bread, as some pretend; you must accept the words precisely as they mean — “This bread is essentially, by a real presence, my body.” The forcing of Scripture to meet one’s own opinions cannot be tolerated. A clear text proving that the infinitive “to be” is equivalent to “signify” would be needed; and, even though this might be proven in a few instances, it would not suffice. It would still have to be indisputably shown true in the place in question. This can never be done. Now, the proposition being impossible, we must surrender to the Word of God and accept it as it stands.

    21. Christ has been typified by various signs and objects in the Old Testament, and the rock is one of them. Note first, the material rock spoken of had place independently of man’s labor and far from man’s domain, in the wilderness, in desolate solitude. So Christ is a truly insignificant object in the world, disregarded, unnoticed; nor is he indebted to human labor.

    22. Further, water flowing from the rock is contrary to nature; it is purely miraculous. The water typifies the quickening spirit of God, who proceeds from the condemned, crucified and dead Christ. Thus life is drawn from death, and this by the power of God. Christ’s death is our life, and if we would live we must die with him.

    23. Moses strikes the rock at the command of God and points to it, thus prefiguring the ministerial office which by word of mouth strikes from the spiritual rock the Spirit. For God will give his Spirit to none without the instrumentality of the Word and the ministerial office instituted by him for this purpose, adding the command that nothing be preached but Christ.

    Had not Moses obeyed the command of God to smite the rock with his rod, no water would ever have flowed therefrom. His rod represents rod of the mouth whereof Isaiah speaks ( Isaiah 11:4): “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” “A scepter of equity is the scepter of thy kingdom.” Psalm 45:6.

    Septuagesima Sunday, 2016. 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5

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    Septuagesima Sunday, 2016

    Pastor Gregory L. Jackson


    Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


    The Hymn #132                           O God of God                                   
    The Confession of Sins
    The Absolution
    The Introit p. 16
    The Gloria Patri
    The Kyrie p. 17
    The Gloria in Excelsis
    The Salutation and Collect p. 19
    The Epistle and Gradual       
    The Gospel              
    Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
    Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
    The Nicene Creed p. 22
    The Sermon Hymn # 151                Christ the Life                       

    Let Us Run the Race with a Goal

    The Hymn # 227                             Come Holy Ghost                             
    The Preface p. 24
    The Sanctus p. 26
    The Lord's Prayer p. 27
    The Words of Institution
    The Agnus Dei p. 28
    The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
    The Benediction p. 31
    The Hymn #409                          Let Us Ever Walk                             


    1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.  25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:  27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;  2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;  4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.  5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

    KJV Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

    Septuagesima Sunday

    Lord God, heavenly Father, who through Thy holy word hast called us into Thy vineyard: Send, we beseech Thee, Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we may labor faithfully in Thy vineyard, shun sin and all offense, obediently keep Thy word and do Thy will, and put our whole and only trust in Thy grace, which Thou hast bestowed upon us so plenteously through Thy Son Jesus Christ, that we may obtain eternal salvation through Him, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

    Let Us Run the Race with a Goal

    1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 

    Athletics were important in the ancient world, and the Greeks spread their fondness for competition through Alexander the Great.  The ancient Greeks stopped wars for their games, and competed on the athletic field with those they were fighting at the time. The Roman Empire absorbed this and held competitions too. 

    The Scriptures often speak of the universal nature of Christ's atonement. He died for all, so that no one can doubt that the cross means "my sins, even my great and terrible sins." 

    But the Scriptures also teach the difficulty of remaining a believer. For instance, Paul advised that it was good for the minister to remain a believer - he knew of many leaders who capitulated to doubt and false doctrine. So, instead of dreaming about a marble cathedral with your name on it, concentrate on remaining a believer by being a student of the Word of God.

    This passage is especially pointed because everyone can identify with the example. A race begins with a group of runners, and they all run the race. But only one runner receives the prize. 

    Faith is an individual matter. No one can believe for another, just as no one can run for another. Then, as today, some identified with the group without trusting completely in the Word of God. That is the foundation of all troubles, lack of trust. Some laity and pastors want a ministry of the Law, and that makes matters worse, because it assumes the Law is effective when the Gospel is not. When I told one group that the Law itself bears no fruit, one man almost stroked out. He had been fed a diet of Law and considered the Law to be central rather than the tutor that leads us to Christ.

    We should not be like the mother who literally shoved me toward her daughter, ordering, "Make her go to church." I thought, "This is where the trouble began."

    25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 

    Those who compete in athletics do so with everything taken into account to win - rest, nutrition, exercise, and conditioning. Each athlete wants to win the prize. We give second and third place medals at the modern Olympics, but everyone knows that gold is the real prize.

    Those who overdo one aspect of training or another will fail, so they balance one with another. Paul's masterful argument turns the topic to the Christian life. If a group of people can devote themselves to a temporary honor, which many do not receive, how much more should we concentrate on a prize that cannot be corrupted by persecution, illness, or station in life.

    As I have mentioned before, the choice of crown is a wonderful symbol, because the first martyr was Stephan, whose name in Greek means crown. So when the New Testament mentions the crown, it is doubtless a reference to him.

    The Bible has many examples of this. Jesus means salvation, and the Hebrew word is Yeshua. Where the Psalms speak of salvation, one can often insert Jesus in that verse.

    “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation (Jesus) ; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”  Psalm 51:12

    Joy in Jesus is joy in salvation, in receiving forgiveness through faith in Him.

    26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 

    The runner has a particular goal in mind and focuses on it. That would be a strange race if each runner headed in a different direction, yet that is often what happens in a group of Christians. One becomes a charismatic, one Episcopalian, one a Hindu transcendental meditation fanatic.

    Many do not thing there should be any fighting, although they are fighting in their own way. If a race began in 10 different directions, the referee would blow a whistle and stop it. If a football team wanted to change their goalposts "when they felt like it," the game would be chaos.

    We are still in the 1960s era of doing something once we feel good about it. That creates uncertainty because feelings are volatile, ever changing. Most of us conquer the world before we get up in the morning but once up, we are happy to have some hot coffee. The feelings stirred up by imagination are easily quashed by moving around a little.

    Paul writes about the Christian life as determination, focus, practice, and application. 

    27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

    This reminds me of the singer famous for the song Sixteen Candles. He said, "I did not want to ruin my voice with smoking and drinking." And he sang as clearly before his death as he did when his song first came out. After reading that, I listened to his contemporaries who grew old in the party atmosphere. The rasp in their voices was clear. They could not hit the same notes with clarity anymore.

    Paul is saying that self-discipline has its rewards, the first one being that he did not want to be preaching to others while he was falling apart from self-centeredness, from indolence and hedonism.

    Instead of "living in the moment" which is a common excuse today, he was living for eternity, more importantly for the eternal salvation of many others.

    10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

    What follows is Paul's warning to Christians, who know the story of the Exodus better than we do. A vast number left Egypt, no longer slaves but free. And they soon grumbled at the burden laid on them.

    The newly freed slaves even complained they had it better as slaves in Egypt. Miracles set them free and miracles accompanied them. The Son of God was with them and yet they did not believe.

     2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 

    7. Paul cites a terrible example from Scripture to prove that not all obtain the prize who run. There were about six hundred thousand of them, all of whom walked in the way of God and enjoyed his word and his confidence so completely as to be protected under the cloud and miraculously to pass through the sea; yet among the vast number who ran at that time only two, Joshua and Caleb, obtained the prize. They alone of all that multitude reached the promised land.

    Later on in the chapter (verses 11-12) Paul explains this fact, saying: “Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition... wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” The design of these dealings of God with Israel is to terrify the pride, false wisdom and self-will; to deter men from despising their fellows and from seeking to make the Word of God minister to their own honor or profit in preference to the honor and profit of others. The intent is to have each individual put himself on an equality with others, each to bear with his fellow, the weak enduring the strong, and so on, as enjoined in the four chapters.

    Our temptation is always to think we have it made, we are secure and comfortable. I hear the cries of the outraged when I point out that their pretensions of holiness, based on their fallible institutions, have no basis in fact. They do not teach the Scriptures or the Confessions, and their criminal arrest records suggest something is vastly wrong. No cover-up can change that.

    The example from the Old Testament is to startle us into thinking it can happen just as easily to us. No one suspects it at the moment, but later we have plenty of time to regret. Luther often mentions that being beaten down by bearing the cross, facing adversity, is good for us, so we do not get haughty like the Princes of the Church.

    Those who value the Gospel message are those who feel the need the most. The comfortable, secure, complacent, and smug have the need but do not feel it. One might as well soak a wax ball in water and expect it to change. Nothing will happen. Some blithely parrot what they are told until some event is so rattling to them that they must look at the Word again and see the enormous gap between God's Word and man's. 

    2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;  4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.  5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

    Luther's point is that the Old Testament people had Christ as much as we do, but in a different form. He was promised to them, that He would follow after them. The verses make it seem as though an enormous boulder followed the Exodus. But if I say "Pastor Messerschmidt followed me in Columbus," it does not mean that he walked behind me, stalked me, or shadowed me. It means he came after me in the same church.

    9. Well, the example of Israel is one readily understood. God grant we may heed it! Let us examine the apostle’s text yet further — his mention of baptism and spiritual food, using Christian terms and placing the fathers upon the same plane with us Christians, as if they also had had Baptism and the Holy Supper.

    He would have us know, first, the oft-repeated fact that God from the beginning led, redeemed and saved his saints by two instrumentalities [GJ -  aka Means, Means of Grace] — by his own word and external signs. Adam was saved by the word of promise ( Genesis 3:15): The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head; that is, Christ shall come to conquer sin, death and Satan for us. To this promise God added the sign of sacrifice, sacrifice kindled with fire from heaven, as in Abel’s case ( Genesis 4:4), and in other cases mentioned in the Scriptures. The word of promise was Adam’s Gospel until the time of Noah and of Abraham. In this promise all the saints down to Abraham believed, and were redeemed; as we are redeemed by the word of the Gospel which we believe. The fire from heaven served them as a sign, as baptism does us, which is added to the word of God.

    10. Such signs were repeated again and again at various times, the last sign being given by Christ in his own person — the Gospel with baptism, granted to all nations. For instance, God gave Noah the promise that he should survive the flood, and granted him a sign in the ship, or ark, he built. And by faith in the promise and sign Noah was justified and saved, with his family. Afterward God gave him another promise, and for a sign the rainbow. Again, he gave Abraham a promise, with the sign of circumcision. Circumcision was Abraham’s baptism, just as the ark and the flood were that of Noah. So also our baptism is to us circumcision, ark and flood, according to Peter’s explanation. 1 Peter 3:21. Everywhere we meet the Word and the Sign of God, in which we must believe in order to be saved through faith from sin and death.



    God only works through the Word. Those who doubt the Visible Word of the Sacraments are expressing doubt about the Word itself. If the rainbow is a sign of God's Promise, is not baptismal water? What is more inclusive than water itself.

    Here is a fascinating detail about soil and water. A certain amount of water is bound to soil, so tightly that soil must be baked at a high temperature for a long to make it completely free of water. Why is that? God has bound water and soil so tightly together to make life grow in it, even when "dry." And since it is always damp to some degree, the additional water makes the life within flourish even more. Without that we would all starve to death. The microbial life not only needs water but also hold water, like little sponges. If they live and multiply, the increase the sponginess of the soil. If they die, and they surely do, they donate their moisture and nutrition to plants and other microbes.

    Holy Baptism is both a birth and a washing but the doubters who use the name Baptist (and the Pentecostals, even more vehemently) deny this power of Water and the Word.

    The cloud and fire led the Israelites and reminded them of God's presence, but they fell in the wilderness, because of doubt. How could they forget the miracles? How could we?



    Teeth on Edge at SpenerQuest. Walther Is THE Theologian for Low Information Lutherans

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    The desperate denizens of LutherQuest (sic) are irritated by Pastor Paul Rydecki awakening the spirit of Hunnius, an orthodox Lutheran theologian who eviscerated the first eruption of Universal Objective Justification. Huber was the Calvinist-turned-Lutheran-turned-Calvinist again who promoted this early UOJ and attacked the genuine Lutherans for not adopting his heresy.

    But the Enthusiastic participants at LutherQuest (sic) cannot deal with Hunnius (JBFA)  versus Huber (UOJ). Instead, they write about "Rydecki's position" as if this scholarly translator invented a strange, bizarre dogma that threatens their LCR-sized ministerium. Their discussion consists of sarcastic remarks against justification by faith, which makes one wonder about their Reformation sermons.

    The SpenerQuesters prove once again that Walther, who only earned a BA in rationalism, and only traveled in Pietistic circles before the Big Trip to New Orleans, remains THE theologian for low information Lutherans.

    Walther is the ideal for synod executives too, since he had "no idea" Martin Stephan was a syphilitic adulterer until a rousing sermon caused one or more mistresses to confess their sin - a fable contradicted by the Founders themselves.

    So - even today - the LCMS, WELS, and ELS leaders will not protect their members against pastor and teacher predators, because they see their jobs as erasing the evidence (a felony) and denying anything ever happened, a lie.

    Matt Harrion's book was so deceptive
    that I had to Photoshop it for some realism.
    Harrison could not even finish an in-house
    graduate degree at their seminary.

    The Michigander Responds

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    From The Michigander:

    The one good thing out of Christian News, for me, is that I read a short piece about you and your book, Thy Strong Word.  When was that? 2001 or so?  My copy has the pasted pages.  I treasure it.  You and your works have brought me much farther into the Word and what the Reformation was about than any church or class since my confirmation.  So my thanks to Herman for the introduction.  My thanks to you for your work all these years.

    So let's hear it for the KJV and the Book of Concord!  If only more out there would join that chorus in time for a proper celebration at the end of October next year.




    ***

    GJ - I responded about learning Biblical doctrine from the opposition's attacks. The more they had to say against Biblical, Lutheran doctrine, the more I had to study to refute them. By gathering Church Growth and orthodox quotations I learned about the many weak places in Lutheran education today.

    Yet no one admits to the pathetic education offered to seminary students, the horrid books promoted by the synods.

    One reader, 29A, asked me to provide more justification by faith quotations, so I used Photoshop to feature quotations from the Book of Concord, Chemnitz, and Luther's Sermons.

    The English only version of Thy Strong Word can be downloaded and shared for free - here.

    I am providing the link here too, because Mequon graduates have trouble once they have to do more than copy and paste.

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5009355/9388354_tsw_12_7_2010.pdf

    I always provide the opposition's quotations and positions, because I went to accredited schools. So you can learn more about UOJ from Thy Strong Word than from the nincompoopery published by WELS, the ELS, and the LCMS.

    I neglected to add sic to have, since
    everyone is singular, not plural.
    If they cannot handle English, how can they handle Lutheran doctrine?
    Of course, this statement is the essence of LQ stupidity.

    WELS Adiaphoroa - Looks Like Freedom But It Feels Like Death. It's Closing Time for LCMS, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie

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    What schools are going to close?

    WELS is praying for inter-church relations. Since the SynCon three are taking parallel paths in apostasy, they are reaching out and finding new ways to betray their members work together.

    The book Mainline Meltdown, from 20 years ago, claimed, "Every merger is about money." As they say in some areas, "It's all about the benjamins." I didn't catch the reference at first, because I spend georges and abrahams.

    WELS used to sneer about anything from the LCMS, using their ritualistic lip curl and patented phrases. "If they ever want to get together with us again, they will have to get their doctrine of ministry straight!" That was shouted at me by various droids at Mequon. Meanwhile, WELS pastors were ordering Sunday School and VBS material from Fortress Press (now ELCA's Augsburg Fortress).

    Conversations with WELS pastors are just like swapping sound-bytes. I recall John Seifert's Pharisaical frown when I said something good about Concordia Ft. Wayne, his basilisk stare when I wore a clergy collar to the district convention. Both signs of displeasure were lacking during his tenure on the sect's Synodical Council, where the leaders coveted the lentil soup of Fuller Seminary in exchange for the treasures of the Book of Concord. That old book was boring and irrelevant anyway, as another member of the SC said with disdain.

    The wrong statement will yield sharp retorts from WELS loyalists, who carry their Golden Calf with them on their journeys in the desert. Do not offend the Golden Calf, because they will not allow anything to startle, awaken, or anger that beast they crafted themselves, from their own treasures, while chanting, "Adiaphora. Adiaphora. Everything is adiaphora, unless you are legalistic."

    Missouri is just as foolish as WELS, to look toward total cooperation instead of the Morganatic marriage they have been enjoying with ELCA. Does Matt Harrison really want the WELS lawsuits as part of their baggage? Missouri must have enough of their own. What will WELS and Missouri do when Herman Otten is no longer around to spike the truth about their scandals?

    I did the math - goodbye Bethany, Ft. Wayne,
    and a few more colleges - and Michigan Lutheran Seminary.


    Another Sears-KMart Merger
    Two dying retailers, Sears and KMart, merged to form an even weaker group.

    Why would Missouri long for a closer walk with WELS?

    1. Urban parishes need to be closed, but they will look better if they merge.
    2. Expensive, outmoded college facilities cannot be propped up much longer.
    3. WELS could use a few more students at their last two prep schools.
    4. Add up the seminaries and total student body-count. Too much money is spent for poor results. The SynCons have five seminaries, counting Fuller. They could easily close Ft. Wayne and Bethany.



    Second Edition of The Faith of Jesus Started. Printed Copies Being Sent Today

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    Norma Boeckler is so well known for her Christian art that
    one Facebook friend of mine said, "You know Norma Boeckler?"

    The black and white edition of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans is now in print and on Kindle.

    The print edition of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans is linked here.

    The Kindle edition of The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans is linked here.

    Today I am ordering print copies of the book for those who supported the costs and for those who found and reported typos in the earlier version.

    I am offering free color editions for those who find mistakes or lack of clarity in the printed version. Yes, you can double-dip.



    Why a Black and White Version, Then a Color Version?
    My retail career left me with little time. I wanted to get a version out early, and even then it was delayed by various contingencies.

    Another consideration is that any color used inside a printed book means paying the color rate for the whole volume. This way people have a lower cost version, and I have a chance to improve upon the first edition.

    Norma Boeckler is working with Janie Sullivan on the art and forma side. I will look for improvements in the content.

    This statement by the Book of Concord editors, citing Luther,
    makes them all Calvinists or Arminians, or both,
    according to WELS, LCMS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie.
    That is reason enough to refute and repudiate the obnoxious dogma
    in Jay Webber's Emmaus essay.



    What Sorcery Is This?

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    Zorro - On WELS Salaries - From 2012

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    When did you last see a list of the salaries
    and all benefits of synod hirelings?


    Zorro says:

    Speaking as a WELS pastor to WELS pastors, let me suggest the best thing to happen for us all might be  to experience a substantial reduction in income. I know that sounds harsh, counter-intuitive, laced with  envy. Here me out, please.

    When the synod salary code was reworked in 2003, those who most of "benefited" were those belonging to a "calling body" who could afford, so to speak, to bump up the pay.  The code was and still is onerous and unattainable for many small to mid-sized congregations. Remember, at this point, we're talking only about salary.  Tack on WELS VEBA  insurance, pension, housing (if provided), mileage assistance, and allowances for technology, continuing education--and now we're talking a pile of money!  If a voters assembly or church council is monitoring the compensation, then it is no slam dunk you will be at "code",  much less receive the other goodies. That is as it should be.  A pastor serves; the congregation supports. Both have their part to do. But, our Lord is the one who does the providing for all!

    Those who did "benefit" most immediately and consistently from the updated salary code are those called workers whose paychecks are written by synod. If the synod code was constructed to feather that nest, then I have no applause to give.  Sure, there have been some salary freezes for synodical workers.  But, I've known of parish pastors and teachers who salary was "frozen" years ago and still has not thawed.  Yet, pardon me, but those who insist a pastor should always be getting a yearly bump up also need to man up.  If that is the unspoken assumption, sooner or later then the door will open for envy and covetousness and dissatisfaction to enter. And if this is not recognized and rooted out by repentance, then instead of seeing that the joy of the Lord is our strength, we will be pinning our satisfaction on the size of our paycheck, and harboring resentment toward the very  people whom our Lord as called us to serve.

    Again, consider how you may profit from an income reduction. You'll pray like you've never prayed before. You'll admit you are not worthy of any goodness. And only out of His pure favor, for His Son's sake,  our Lord God will supply our needs.  If it takes a pay reduction to bring that truth into greater clarity, then indeed, we can profit from a pay reduction. So yes, that's a paradox. But paradoxes are meant to teach by absorption. Just consider that those among us who have two incomes--if the wife works outside the home--are doing very, very well. Owe up to that. No one begrudges you this. But, at all times, be prepared to let it go, lay it aside, and walk away from it. Will it rise to dominate your decision if a call comes to you from a congregation whose compensation is a lot less? Only you yourself can answer that.  

    Many problems pastors have with a perceived inequity of income on their part can be attributed to a comparison with other church members and their vocations .  Here I make confession, too. Must we have the same level of affluence based our our perceptions of what the demands of our callings are in comparison with others, that somehow we are "owed" more, A shiny vehicle (or two+)? Expensive vacations? Latest cell phone? Substantial retirement  portfolios? A nicer cut of clothing? Pricey, private, prep education for the kids? Dining out? Weekend getaways? A fish shack, a hunting camp?  Where will the list end?!   

    The words of the apostle Paul aren't just vapory theory; they are reality: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 
    But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

    For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

    This pertains to the men of the cloth, also. Especially so.

    Pastors of previous generations served in situations most of us would be too soft to endure.  We're such pansies.

    Guys, the word is out: pastors are tempted by materialism no less than anybody else. Am I one? Could I actually forgo and live on less and, profit from it? Your members will  pick up real quick if you have a predilection for greed. Ouch. I speak for myself first and foremost about that.

    The insidious temptation at the root level is what used to be called "fear of men." Will I shirk my duties, fawn at the feet of the heavy givers in order to protect my income for fear that if I step on toes, then, I'll take a hit in the pocketbook or get shouldered out of the congregation?  Will I shut up for fear of reprisal if my patient, but firm admonition of others on false doctrine and practice pegs me as a troublemaker, and therefore, renders me as undesirable to serve other than where I am?  Again, only you and I can answer such questions ourselves. Only let us be honest in doing so.

    A pastor is not the member of a privileged cast. He is a servant of Christ and therefore, is given many a blessed cross to carry. And that does not automatically exclude what our Lord--who had no place to lay his head--experienced in this world. We should expect it. And, fear, if we don't.

    We are rich in Christ, poor without him.

    Therein is the key to contentment with the compensation we receive from our Lord through his people.

    That's priceless.

    Good Lord, open our eyes to that.

    ***

    Paul McCain's CyberPlagiarism Blog
    had nothing to do with his CPH job,
    while he was promoting CPH books on it,
    but in a fit of honesty he erased the whole thing -
    without apologizing for anything.


    GJ - What applies to pastors is also true for congregations. The mission boards have pushed for running congregations into large debt packages so they can have the right lot, the right building, which will guarantee success.

    Starting with nothing is a good lesson. The Apostles had nothing. Jesus had nowhere to lay His head.

    The less we focus on material things, the more we appreciate the Means of Grace, and sound teachers like Luther and Chemnitz.

    I would be ashamed to be in a congregation that talks about building more space while holding a Junk for Jesus rummage sale in the parish basement and promoting chicken wings to support their program. 

    Pastors have mocked me for being a tent-maker (like Paul?) but I have managed to publish globally while they plagiarize locally. 

    The top two at Concordia Publishing House earn a total of $500,000 in salaries and benefits. That money comes from the price of Lutheran books. It is part of the overhead at CPH. But when I point out the plagiarism of Number Two to Number One, Number One responds by unfriending me on Facebook. Number Two already unfriended me some years ago, but friended me when he wanted to help Barry become a Synodical Prince.

    Plagiarism is a serious issue in academics and publishing, but the LCMS rewards it because politics come first. The same is true of WELS - the more destructive a pastor has been, the more he is rewarded.

    Another celebrity endorsement - from Dr. Lito Cruz.

    Count the Parallels with WELS/LCMS - But the Leaders Will Wig Out That This Comes From Gawker

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    The red nun army - this will ward off sin, right?
    Rigid conformity and legalistic rules haunt the cults,
    and the result is horrible - but "we never knew."

    Bill Gothard posed with the Duggar daughters?
    Why was he allowed around them?
    Why was Stephan allowed around Walther's young niece?


    http://gawker.com/the-creepy-fundamentalist-homeschool-cult-that-trained-1706969994

    You know about the Duggars, the evangelical Christian family whose 19 children catapulted them to fame through Discovery Health specials and TLC show, 19 Kids and Counting, and you know about Josh Duggar, the eldest son, who admitted last week to molesting several underage girls as a teen—including his own sisters.
    You’ve seen some examinations of the dangerous, backwards logic that helped fuel that systematic and highly preventable sexual abuse, and some explorations of the culture of authority and fear promulgated by the Duggars’ uniquely patriarchal brand of Christianity.
    But we’ve still just barely scratched the surface of the insane, terrifying homeschool cult that the Duggars and millions more across the country subscribe to. The bizarre horrors of the Advanced Training Institute, its founder Bill Gothard, and its many overpopulated families would take days to work through. Here’s what we’re dealing with...

    Who is Bill Gothard?

    As the single, 80-year-old founder of of IBLP, Bill Gothard is the center of any ATI devotee’s universe. He’s currently on “indefinite administrative leave”after it got out that at least 34 women had come forward with claims of sexual harassment, for which he has remained unincarcerated and unpunished.
    Gothard’s biggest days are behind him—in the 70s and 80s, the evangelical masses would pour into auditoriums by the tens of thousands to hear him speak. This despite the fact that, in 1980, his brother Steve Gothard was charged with a major sex scandal (in addition to money laundering) and was ultimately forced to step down. Gothard supposedly knew about the illicit activity and turned a blind eye, which led to him resigning as head for a grand total of three weeks.
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