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| Master the jargon, master the synod. Or learn the truth, have faith, forgiveness, and the blessings of the Gospel. |
I was writing to a friendly blogger about personal attacks, how they make me laugh out loud. It took Mrs. Ichabod some time to get used to those tactics. Now she realizes the apostates are proving that they have no arguments to make.
One pastor had no problems with a minister verbally abusing his staff, making lewd suggestions, and displaying x-rated porn to them, but he was deeply offended by my publishing an already-published photo. As most people realize, something broadcast to the world on the Internet is not the same as a private confidence.
What I find most disturbing are those messages where a long-time friend begins a UOJ rant, assuming that justification by faith is NOT the Gospel and justification-without-faith is the real Gospel. Of course, moments like that reveal how deep the deception is. That argument comes from a very kindly, considerate, long-term friend.
Years ago, he took the trouble to let me know Robert Preus was in town. We arranged to meet Preus and say hello for a few minutes. I heard about the latest outrage wrought by the McCain-Barry administration. McCain had bragged to me about kneecapping Preus. I was not surprised. We saw Preus one more time at the Bethany lectures.
So this Lutheran pastor began grilling me about how I could possibly offer comfort to the dying with justification by faith, although he avoided those terms. I originally set him off by saying UOJ was the grand deception in the LCMS-ELS-WELS.
He looked up to the late Robert Preus, so I offered a key quotation that eviscerated UOJ - from Justification and Rome. Answer - "He must have changed his position." I have heard this before, "I stand by this man's authority." But when the other pastor studied and saw the error of UOJ, the steadfastness in his scholarship diminished - so it was just a lame excuse to stick with old errors.
The problem is not only the Walther-Pieper-JP Meyer club that taught justification without faith, opposing (but ignoring) dissent from within their own ranks, but those who stopped learning in seminary or learned to adjust their sails to the winds of Enthusiasm.
So I often feel I am writing for the blind and speaking to the deaf, but the truth will defend itself and separate the wormy, corrupted dogma from sound Biblical teaching. I appreciate the encouragement that comes in from various places.