Where Are the Lutheran Professors? And Synod Leaders?

Where have you gone, Luth'ran professors?
Our synods turn their lonely eyes to you
What's that you say, Luth'ran presidents,
Dr. Luther's left and gone away,
Hey, hey, hey,
Hey, hey, hey.




Objective Justification, as defined by WELS Professor Forrest Bivens, is the Chief Article of the Christian Religion.

What precisely is this “master and prince, lord, ruler and judge” over other doctrines? Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous. As revealed in the Bible, this declaration of God is made totally by grace and on account of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary life and death on behalf of mankind. To phrase it somewhat differently, God has justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has forgiven them. They have been reconciled to God; their status in his eyes has been changed from that of sinner to forgiven sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ. Since all this applies to all people, the term universal or general justification is used. In our circles an alternate term, objective justification, is also used. If justification is universal, it must also be objective - sinners are forgiven whether they believe it or not. This is precisely what Scripture teaches in Romans 3:23-24, (sic) when it says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
(The Primary Doctrine in Its Primary Setting: Objective Justification and Lutheran Worship [Prepared for the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music and the Arts, Carthage College, ELCA, Kenosha, Wisconsin,)

We know this is not the universal confession of the LCMS, because they still use the KJV Catechism sold by Concordia Publishing House - not a word about UOJ there.

CPH also published a book by Robin Leaver, who spoke at Jay Webber's alma mater - Concordia Seminary in Ft. Wayne - Luther and Justification. Leaver does not argue the point, since scholars know this to be true, but simply deals with Luther's Biblical doctrine of justification by faith.

We also know that WELS and members of the Synodical Conference used the Gausewitz Catechism for decades - not a word about UOJ there. Papenfuss, who started the Kokomo turmoil in his congregation, told the families he excommunicated - he never heard of UOJ until he went to seminary at Mequon.

This tactic, promoted by Bivens, is very Roman Catholic, to pick up and promote a dogma, persecute the dissenters, and then argue it was taught from the very beginning. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a good example of that, even though the truth is published in their own books on the topic. I know Roman Catholicism fairly well, after using their Vatican owned seminary to write Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant.

When Pope Pius IX wanted to establish papal infallibility as official dogma, he promoted and sainted those who agreed with him. Those who disagreed found their careers ruined. Not one bishop joined the dissenters.

Many readers know full well that justification by faith is the Chief Article of the Christian Religion, the Master and Prince. After all, their seldom-read Book of Concord says so, and the reference can be found on the Net with ease.

6] This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) 7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Therefore, in this article he urges with so much zeal and earnestness the particulas exclusivas, that is, the words whereby the works of men are excluded (namely, without Law, without works, by grace [freely], Rom. 3:28; 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9), in order to indicate how highly necessary it is that in this article, aside from [the presentation of] the pure doctrine, the antithesis, that is, all contrary dogmas, be stated separately, exposed, and rejected by this means.