Ecclesia Augustana: Decisions, Decisions. WELS, LCMS Love Mark and Avoid Jeske

Ecclesia Augustana: Decisions, Decisions:

Decisions, Decisions

     Ever since the memorial regarding Time of Grace was sent to the Synod Convention two years ago, I have looked at Time of Grace's Facebook page daily. There have been some extremely concerning posts on there. Here's one from September 16:
"Only the love of Christ heals wounds. Only YOU can decide to let Christ calm your spirit and speak gently about what's hurting you.- PMJ"
Here's another from the day before that:
"Today, focus on letting God work in your heart-and don't be so suspicious of his motives.-PMJ"
Yet another one from September 2:
"Guess what? God guides your daily walk. He cares enough about your life to help you deal with life's toughest questions. Do you feel surrounded by darkness and unsure of what to do? Let him speak to you.- PMJ"
Here's another post from August 13:
"God's there for us when we need him. When we trust in him, we give him the chance to make even an illness work for us and his glory.- PMJ"
And here's another post from August 5:
"When we choose to believe Jesus, we release his blessings into our lives and miracles happen all over again. -PJM"
Here is the most recent one, which is from December 10
"Something to focus on this Christmas season-are you one of the INN crowd or one of the STABLE few? Will you make room for Jesus?"
(The emphasis in the quotes above was added by me and the pictures are from Time of Grace's Facebook page, accessed by my iPod)

Notice something wrong with the underlined words? In every case, there is blatant decision theology. Decision theology is a doctrine that has been condemned by the Lutheran Confessions in the Augsburg Confession article XVIII. It says that "it (man's free will) has no power, without the Holy Ghost, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness." The quotes from Time of Grace seem to say the exact opposite! Martin Luther also says in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed that "I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him." Since these statements are part of the Confessions with which one must "agree in doctrine and practice" in order to be a member of the WELS, and since Time of Grace's Rev. Mark Jeske is a member of the WELS, shouldn't Time of Grace publications indicate that decision theology is wrong, too?

     Another interesting post has been published on Time of Grace's Facebook page today. This is a link to the Time of Grace blog.  Pastor Jeske posted a list made by Thom Rainer about the top 10 things church members desire in a pastor. The article seems to insinuate that a pastor's success is measured by how well he is "meeting your needs."  The congregation needs to "know" that their pastor "loves" them, otherwise nothing else matters.  But what about preaching the Word of God in its truth and purity? The closest the article comes to expressing this truth is saying that members want their pastors to spend time in the Word, but only in the context of "effective preaching." If he teaches the Word truthfully, isn't that effective? What happened to Isaiah 55:11? God said through Isaiah that "so is my Word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  What if the purpose God desires through a pastor's preaching is to harden sinful hearts?  That probably won't seem very "loving."  Does that make the pastor ineffective?

This article pretty much says a pastor should be charismatic, an "effective" preacher, and love the church.  That's all well and good, but it's not what really matters.  A pastor can love his congregation even when he doesn't seem very "loving" to their sinful, fallen natures.  He can be an effective preacher even if he seems to drone on and on, or sticks to the historic Lectionary rather than following the "real, relevant, and relational" sermon series that are today's hits in American Christianity.  But this article would have us believe that "loving" the congregation and meeting what members feel are their "needs" are the primary goals of a pastor.  That is wrong! The pastor should preach the Word truthfully! It is effective by itself! That is the true and only way that a pastor can be a loving, effective preacher, meeting his congregation's TRUE needs.  In this context, I find it disturbing that Time of Grace would publish this article and find it to be "helpful, fair, and evangelical."

     Does anybody else find this scary?

 

'via Blog this'

More like the whole graphic.
Turn it upside-down.
EW_W_W_W_W_W!
Mark Jeske's own graphic at the top is all about Mark Jeske.

My Summary of UOJ - Its Crafts and Assaults

The WELS Conference of Pussycats went looking for false doctrine, and found it - in justification by faith.

The Scriptures
Justification by faith is taught by the Holy Spirit, throughout the Scriptures. That is the Chief Article of the Christian Faith.

The Lutheran Reformation
Luther, Melanchthon, Andreae, Chytraeus, and Leyser contributed in various ways to the Book of Concord, 1580. All taught justification by faith. On this distinguished list, no one taught or even implied any version, flavor, or nuance of Universal Objective Justification.

Samuel Huber's UOJ
Samuel Huber, a former Calvinist, promoted the first version of Universal Objective Justification, shortly after the completion of the Book of Concord. He was serving on the faculty of Wittenberg University. Polycarp Leyser and A. Hunnius defeated the efforts of Huber, who became a wandering exile from Lutheranism.

Huber's UOJ sounds exactly like WELS UOJ today. And that is really no different from the eructations of Eduard Preuss, the St. Louis professor who turned Roman Catholic apologist - everyone is already forgiven. When Christ died on the cross or (alternately) rose from the grave, God said, "OK, every single Hindu, atheist, cannibal, and polytheist is forgiven and saved." No one ever recorded that statement in the Scriptures, but the UOJ Stormtroopers tell me that universal absolution is the whole point of the Bible and the Reformation.

Pietism influenced Calov, but not enough to make him spew UOJ.

Robert Preus admired Quenstedt's detail and precision in theology.

Lutheran Orthodoxy Fading
If the Lutheran Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon, are all neglected today, the next generations of Lutheran scholars are treated with even greater indifference. The list in Robert Preus' two-volume work is filled with names that mean nothing to most of us. Preus was the last in a line of Americans who really knew those writings - Lenski and Hoenecke being among them.

The age of Lutheran Orthodoxy became mixed with Pietism, so the list in Robert Preus' work is not one of scholars totally devoted to Luther and the Book of Concord. He stated that Calov was influenced by Pietism. I imagine Sebastian Schmidt was a Pietist, because Schmidt seemed to produce a lot of UOJ material that Preus quoted in his earlier days.

Pietism as the Great Filter
All of the America Lutheran church bodies came over from Pietism, and they were established in Pietism.

Muhlenberg was a Pietist from Halle University. He established the ULCA branch of the LCA/ELCA. 

Bishop Stephan was a Pietist who studied at Halle. He taught his version of justification to CFW Walther, and Walther never changed.

Loehe was a Pietist who founded the Ft. Wayne seminary and the LCMS. His men invited the Stephan cult to join them. Loehe was flushed down the memory hole by Walther, but he was a positive influence on the LCMS in many ways. 

The Walther ministers were trained in rationalism and associated themselves with two Pietist leaders, the second one being Stephan. Absolute obedience to the guru was demanded and enforced.

The Swedish and Norwegian Lutherans who came over in the 19th century were also Pietists, which means the entire history of American Lutheran church bodies was one of dominant Pietism. 

Adolph Hoenecke, the WELS dogmatics professor and author, graduated from Halle

Halle was the center of Pietism, so Halle and Spener were sacred cows.

UOJ and Pietism
Rambach is a convenient historical marker for Pietism, Halle, and UOJ. The first baptism hymn in The Lutheran Hymnal was written by Rambach.

Knapp is the direct connection between the Synodical Conference (WELS, LCMS, ELS) and UOJ. The Halle professor taught there forever, and his published lectures pre-date the voyage of Stephan's sex cult to Perryville, Missouri.

Knapp was so dominant in the 19th century that his dogmatics book (in English) was used in all the mainline seminaries in America. The English translation used the language of two justifications, so fondly used by all the Waltherians today. 

UOJ and Mainline Universalism
Hoenecke's mentor at Halle, Tholuck, was a self-proclaimed Universalist.

UOJ became the dogma of all mainline Protestant bodies, so the Synodical Conference (for all its posturing) simply blended with the liberal unionistic bodies it was so keen to criticize. 

That is why the SynCons are so comfortable with ELCA unionism today - they all teach the same dogma of universal absolution - in the name of pure grace.

Did Justification by Faith Survive in the Synodical Conference?
Walther ruled over his sect, following the example of Bishop Stephan. He picked the subservient F. Pieper to parrot his teaching, which he cloned from Stephan. Nevertheless, it was a Germanic group, so access to Luther was easy. Missouri produced a gorgeous set of Luther's works in German, high quality paper and binding. I once owned that set and sold it to a WELS Quisling.

Gausewitz (WELS) was respected enough to be president of the Synodical Conference. His original catechism contained not a word of UOJ. Mark Schroeder should dig up Gausewitz' body and burn him at the stake. No wait. His First VP, James Huebner, has done one better - making Gausewitz disappear completely from Grace, Milwaukee. 

The LCMS German catechism taught justification by faith in 1905.

The English KJV catechism being sold by CPH teaches justification by faith, not UOJ. "2 Million Sold!" Harrison should excommunicate Paul McCain.

Adolph Hoenecke - WELS took forever to translate his work.

California on the KJVs

California:

You said it well, when you said, "The various KJV's imagine they have the license to make continuous changes to their language, I know the NKJV has done that".

Dave P. asked, "Do you have any objection to NKJV or any modern English translations based on the same texts?"   The question assumes that  the publishers of the likes of NKJV actually have carried out their claims of following the samemanuscript evidence as the KJV, but in reality they make exceptions and deviate in bits and pieces.   (Matthew 28:19)   Bible publishing these days is monetarily competitive business, almost as much so as women's fashions and the latest tech toy.  Publishers whose bottom lines depend on numbers of units sold, must keep churning out something new and different to remain in business.   

One means of doing that  to compete with other bible publishers is  to periodically come out with the entirely new and innovative .  That appeals to the itching eyes and ears of those who have already abandoned the KJV long ago.

Another useful approach  is to keep the more recent  "runaways from KJV"  (a generation or so)  in their publishing house camp, by publishing revisions of their best sellers, and revisions of revisions to come.   That is the second market to retain. 

But what market has yet to be corralled?  The refuseniks, the resistors, those who haven't taken the bait, and cling to the time tested, reliable KJV.

They won't jump from KJV to NIV and certainly not a NNIV, but if they can be enticed to take that first step away from the KJV, the marketers have achieved two things.  Tapping a market which hasn't responded to the New of everything, but more importantly, they will have succeeded in getting the last holdouts to make that step.   

A next step will be easier and the next and the next......until KJV is all but extinguished.  They can continue to plagiarize the KJV title while the gradual weaning of the last of them away from KJV and family of manuscript evidence Luther and KJV translators used is accomplished.   The Devil will rejoice.

That having been accomplished, who can trust any so-called version, with even what I call the "bridge" bibles (from KJV to the great unknown) versions sure to come in even more rapid succession.    For as you  correctly observed, "The various KJV's imagine they have the license to make continuous changes to their language......".  Why bother with taking the "bridge" when one can simply "leap" directly to NNIIV and any of the other current New Translations and the ones which are sure to follow in short order.   Save the publishers all that trouble to court the KJV holdouts by publishing NKJV and "cousins".   

Bottom line in more ways than one....doesn't anyone wonder why no publisher has published a revision of the KJV which only does some updating of obscure words and nothing more? 

***

GJ - Maybe the KJV 21st Century has done that, California, making very minor adjustments. But your points are valid. The modernized KJV efforts have filled that market and also made a lot of Baptists happy by getting rid of the Means of Grace in the original recipe KJV. 

The 21st Century one will also sell, but the niche is filled and (my guess) that one will not make a difference.

Lutherans could have jolted the industry by doing exactly what California suggested, putting their money behind it. But that is why WELS excommunicated her - for having a brain and using it.

Anonymous Accusations - At Least Kudu Don Patterson Signed His Email

Luther Bunker wants his UOJ.

Luther Bunker has left a new comment on your post "An Anonymous Claim Without Support":

Your duplicity is shocking. You condemn other bloggers for manipulating their blogs by shunning and non-publishing comments. And then you do the same here and say you publish all comments. You are a fool and a liar.

Again, redemption is not regeneration. 

***

GJ - The UOJ fanatics from WELS are dense. They cannot comprehend English, so how can they grasp Greek?

I said, repeatedly, that I let most comments pass through - not all of them. Most and all are different words. But UOJ dolts think some and all are the same words. That is why they love their New NIV, which adds an all to deliver their favorite dogma.

Luther Bunko wants a free ride from a blog with 2 to 3 thousand page-views a day, but he wants to enjoy publishing without responsibily.

DP Kudu Don Patterson sent me an email using the same language, but he signed it. WELS clergy are verbally abusive and easily offended by the truth, an unpleasant combination.



From a pastor Ichabod post

Kudu Don Patterson, Stealth Church and Chicanery leader, with Robert Timmerman. The zebra is playing possum in hopes of getting away.

Hey, Greg,

I am not a part of Church and Change Leadership. I went to one conference a few years ago and had my own reservations. Also, Robert Timmerman does not serve as a church council pres at our church. You are lying on your blog.

Don
Donald Patterson
kududon@gmail.com
12-10-08
subject: Don't be a fool

sent to BethanyLutheranWorship@gmail.com

Patterson denied being a Church and Changer,
but attended their "last" conference.
He also participated in the C and C list-serve discussions,
oozing the comment "pure gold" when John Lawrenz wrote.

***

GJ - I don't look at my gmail very often, as readers can see. Someone could have created a gmail account and sent this. In fact, one of his cronies could have. I looked up "kudu" and found this site. So I think Kudu Don Patterson sent the email.


The African kudu.

This email does remind me of typical WELS evasion tactics -avoid the main point and call someone a liar on a trivial, debatable matter.

Does VP Patterson soak up synod money by asking for grants to pay for his vicars? Yes.

Does VP Patterson support Rock and Roll Church? Yes.

Did VP Patterson take Chad White (on his parish staff) and others to the Exponential Conference? Yes.

Did Stelljes, son of a member of Holy Word, also attend that pan-denominational conference? Yes.

Did other WELS workers attend that conference? Yes.

Was Brother Stetzer a featured speaker at Exponential? Yes.

Was Babtist Stetzer hired to speak to Church and Change's 2009 conference soon after? Yes.

Did Church and Change start lying about Stetzer? Yes - so much that one of my sources got rattled about whether it was true or not. I posted three separate proofs that Stetzer was hired in August - all from Stetzer himself. It was up to Church and Change to prove otherwise. SP Schroeder said Stetzer is an issue, so who is lying?

Is Timmerman a leader at Patterson's church? Yes. Timmerman is also on the WELS governing board. (I am not the parish or synodical secretary, so terms of office are not in my job description.) If Patterson wants to pretend Timmerman is not involved in Church and Change, as he also pretends - many know otherwise. Does he want to suggest Timmerman, who must bankroll the African safaris, is not a parish leader?

So, is Patterson a stealth leader of Church and Change?

He galloped after Stetzer, even to the point of organizing a pilgrimage of Patterson parrots to Exponential.

He was a study leader at a Church and Change conference, which means they thoroughly vetted him for his Church Growth doctrinal standards (that is: anti-Lutheran to the core).

His odious network is definitely on the side of Church and Change, defiantly so.Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS VP Calls Me a Fool and a Liar":

Good for Patterson. You lie and tell half-truths all the time, mostly to make yourself look good.

[GJ - Confidential to Joe - I don't think you should post anonymously when Patteson arranges for Rock and Roll to have more grant money. Conflict of interest and all that. Does it bother you that he took a crew to hear Brother Stetzer and a bunch of false teachers at Exponential?]

***

GJ - What was your name? I didn't catch it.

---

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS VP Calls Me a Fool and a Liar":

Ignore Don's jackals.



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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS VP Calls Me a Fool and a Liar":

I'm glad that you can make such sweeping inferences about someone, especially when some of your bellowing is patently false... although that matters not to you. Well guess what Greg? Because of your half-truths, your carelessness and your downright vile-ness, most of us care little about you except to pray for your soul. That is the Christian thing to do, No, wait, I'm sure that is way too pietistic for you because it would mean to show concern for someone. Well, we'll keep praying for you (and all the others you are fomenting hatred within) and you enjoy your little self-serve perish (that wasn't a typo).

***

GJ - Don's jackals care so little that they stop by every day to bite and chew. Too bad they are toothless. I would be bitter and angry too - if I spent my career promoting Babtist theology...if I ended ended up with a non-pastor (Ed Stetzer) as guest speaker, a hot-air merchant so pathetic he has to claim "two doctorates" (false) and "two master's degrees" (so what) on every bio.

Church and Chicanery is losing ground. All they have to offer is a pack of lies. The trouble with the first set of deceptions is that they need another set to cover for them.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Conference 09
Nov 5th - 7th
Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel and Convention Center

C&C events are a great place to network with people who have similar ministries, situations and problems. Come, learn and benefit from everyone's experience!


More information is coming soon!

For months they have claimed - More information is coming soon. They need to wake up the webmaster or tell the truth about Stetzer.

Joe Krohn, one of their ovine followers, could not get the truth from them on their own list-serve.

---

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS VP Calls Me a Fool and a Liar":

When did he call you a fool?

***

GJ - When? The subject line of the email. I am not offended, but pleased. The feathers fly when the arrow reaches the mark. VP Patterson's behavior is typical of WELS Church Growth leaders. They do not repent and apologize - they accuse and slander and deceive. That is why I call the headquarters buildings The Love Shack - since most of the drones there talk love, and conversion via love, but exhibit nothing but spite and hated.

Lutheran Schools versus a Jewish School

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Synod Board...":

Jewish college succeeds where LCMS's Concordia-Ann Arbor fails, despite the Lutheran population of Michigan being many times the size of the Jewish population.

Ann Arbor is only 10 miles west of the Detroit metropolitan area where the Jewish college is located.

Ann Arbor recently had to merge with Concordia-Mequon, which is now a dual campus.

The Jewish college started from scratch in 2006, and in 2010 it already had $3 million in assets and a 40-acre campus. It's main source of revenue is federal Pell Grants! Meanwhile, Concordia-Ann Arbor started earlier, and was subsidized by the synod, got the same Pell Grants, and yet failed.

I suppose like most colleges, Ann Arbor gave full and half scholarships to sons and daughters of wealthy families based on academic performance, and charged poorer students full price, also based on academic performance. Every school does it and they all wonder why schools have financial challenges. Surprise! Now poorer Americans now have $1+ trillion in student loan debt. As with most things in America, means testing is anathema, and this leads to catestrophic systemic problems when the class of the poor expands and can't pay their mortgage, need food stamps, qualify for Medicaid, etc. Also, it lead to the growing class wealth divide as measured by the GINI Index. If there is a student loan fix, I hope Congress demands that colleges stop letting the rich students attend free while charging the poorer students full price.
----------
Chabad College in Michigan Gets Building Go-Ahead: Fueled by Federal Funding, 16,0000 Square Feet, but Just 3 Degrees

http://forward.com/articles/170106/chabad-college-in-michigan-gets-building-go-ahead/

For many years, MJI catered mainly to a small number of part-time students studying towards vocational degrees in business and computers. However, as the Forward revealed last fall, the college and its finances have swelled rapidly as it transitioned to offer courses in Judaic Studies and particularly as it expanded online.

Its student body has grown from about 200 students in 2004 to about 2,000 students today. During the past five years, MJI students collected almost $25 million in federal Pell grants designed for low-income students.

Between 2006 and 2010, MJI’s net income increased from $89,000 to $850,000. It ended 2010 with almost $3 million in assets.

=========== 

An Anonymous Claim Without Support

Luther Bunko has left a new comment on your post "Another Foolish Argument from Luther Bunko":

"The word Trinity is absent from the Bible, but the concept is found throughout the Bible, from Genesis 1 to the end."

And so the words Objective Justification are absent from the Bible, but the concept is found throughout the Bible as well as the BoC. Mankind is redeemed because of the Atonement as the BoC claims under the SD under election. To deny this limits mankind's redemption and therefore limits the atonement. 

Why Do the Women Confess the Truth While the Men Silence Themselves?

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Comment and Selections from Intrepid Lutherans":

Linda Sasieta makes a bold confession - and signs her own name. More than can be said for the majority of (W)ELS clergy.
http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2011/03/words-of-wisdom-from-another-blog.html

http://vdma.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/terminated-from-wels-fellowship/  

Another Foolish Argument from Luther Bunko

Luther Bunko has left a new comment on your post "Comment and Selections from Intrepid Lutherans":

I have been watching what seems to be a war of words. Surely, Scriptures do not use the word 'Trinity' and yet we have no problem with the term. It describes accurately from our frail human condition what we understand of God's essence. So, in like mind, we should not try to define objective justification in such a narrow 'essence'. Or in other words...think of this OJ in the sense of redemption of mankind vs. a redemption that is received in faith.

***

GJ - The word Trinity is absent from the Bible, but the concept is found throughout the Bible, from Genesis 1 to the end.

Terms by themselves are meaningless. Each faith-group uses grace in a different way. Being a Biblical word does not save it from abuse. The Bible is a book for heretics, as WELS and Missouri know - from practice.

The LCMS/WELS precious OJ is wrong from the start, since it is foreign to the Bible and Confessions. But Objective Justification is especially bad for being the tool used to convey false doctrine under the guise of Lutheran orthodoxy.

The OJ/SJ combination is an addiction for false teachers. It came from the Woods translation of Knapp's Pietistic theology lectures.

Give the bunko artist an F for Epic Fail.

KJV Questions

Unknown has left a new comment on your post "Study the Issues for Your Shelves, Starting with t...":

Do you have any objections to the NKJV or any modern English translation based on the same texts?

Dave P.

***

GJ - The hysterical promotion of bad paraphrases is the hallmark of the Synodical Conference today. The precious ESV marketed by the Missouri Synod and its dim-witted publishing house is better named The Calvinist RSV.

Please suppress all laughter the next time a Missouri pastor calls justification by faith Calvinism. His beloved ESV is Calvinistic, edited by a Calvinist, but spawned in the disease-ridden womb of the National Council of Churches. The NCC owns the RSV.

The leaders of the LCMS play for both teams, as they say in a different context. One team is Rome. The other is Fuller. Both camps adore dynamic equivalency and despise Luther's English Bible, the KJV.

The best solution for having modern translations is to use something from the KJV family. The "old" KJV we use is actually a modest revision and updating of the 1611 version.

Since the Lutherans are too lazy to produce an updated KJV, using versions of the KJV is a second choice. The New KJV is popular. I know of a KJV II, a Modern KJV, and a KJV 21st Century. I own the last one as a reference and use the KJV for all my quotations.

The various KJVs imagine they have the license to make continuous changes to their language, a practice I find annoying. I know the New KJV has done that. 

They also suffer from denominational filters, in various degrees, such as getting rid of communion with the body and blood of Christ, baptism does now save you, and that mantra of Fuller Seminary - manufacture disciples (Great Commission). Each one is so dynamic that it corrupts the original meaning. Means of Grace - exit stage right. No curtain calls.

So, for people who went to public school or WELS schools, the a modern style KJV is the best for their vocabularies, but reading the KJV, especially out loud, will improve their understanding and vocabulary immensely.

The New Testament Text
The NT Greek text is good for a book, and many have written about that topic. The Bible Society types are grifters, too, just like the dynamic equivalency translators.

The modern translations follow Wescott/Hort scam of changing the original text to match what they think at the moment.

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St. Luke, by El Greco

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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Study the Issues for Your Shelves, Starting with t...":

Ichabod -

I have little doubt that WELS will adopt the dumb-downed new NIV version to accomodate its decreasing synodical membership. WELS synodical officials believe in the principle of appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Nathan M. Bickel

www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org 

St. Matthew, by El Greco

---
California added:

You said it well, when you said, "The various KJV's imagine they have the license to make continuous changes to their language, I know the NKJV has done that".

Dave P. asked, "Do you have any objection to NKJV or any modern English translations based on the same texts?"   The question assumes that  the publishers of the likes of NKJV actually have carried out their claims of following the same manuscript evidence as the KJV, but in reality they make exceptions and deviate in bits and pieces.   (Matthew 28:19)   Bible publishing these days is monetarily competitive business, almost as much so as women's fashions and the latest tech toy.  Publishers whose bottom lines depend on numbers of units sold, must keep churning out something new and different to remain in business.   

One means of doing that  to compete with other bible publishers is to periodically come out with the entirely new and innovative .  That appeals to the itching eyes and ears of those who have already abandoned the KJV long ago.

Another useful approach  is to keep the more recent  "runaways from KJV"  (a generation or so)  in their publishing house camp, by publishing revisions of their best sellers, and revisions of revisions to come.   That is the second market to retain. 

But what market has yet to be corralled?  The refuseniks, the resistors, those who haven't taken the bait, and cling to the time tested, reliable KJV.

They won't jump from KJV to NIV and certainly not a NNIV, but if they can be enticed to take that first step away from the KJV, the marketers have achieved two things.  Tapping a market which hasn't responded to the New of everything, but more importantly, they will have succeeded in getting the last holdouts to make that step.   

A next step will be easier and the next and the next......until KJV is all but extinguished.  They can continue to plagiarize the KJV title while the gradual weaning of the last of them away from KJV and family of manuscript evidence Luther and KJV translators used is accomplished.   The Devil will rejoice.

That having been accomplished, who can trust any so-called version, with even what I call the "bridge" bibles (from KJV to the great unknown) versions sure to come in even more rapid succession.    For as you  correctly observed, "The various KJV's imagine they have the license to make continuous changes to their language......".  Why bother with taking the "bridge" when one can simply "leap" directly to NNIIV and any of the other current New Translations and the ones which are sure to follow in short order.   Save the publishers all that trouble to court the KJV holdouts by publishing NKJV and "cousins".  

Bottom line in more ways than one....doesn't anyone wonder why no publisher has published a revision of the KJV which only does some updating of obscure words and nothing more?  

Book of Concord Editor, Chemnitz Biographer Polycarp Leyser on the enumeration of causes in justification | Faith Alone Justifies

Might the biographer of Chemnitz, an editor of the Book of Concord,
a specialist in justification by faith, get this topic right?

Polycarp Leyser on the enumeration of causes in justification | Faith Alone Justifies:

Polycarp Leyser on the enumeration of causes in justification

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Rev. Rydecki

Like Chemnitz and Hunnius, Polycarp Leyser also wrote of various “causes” that are involved in the justification of sinners.  Like the other orthodox Lutheran theologians, Leyser speaks of faith as the “instrumental cause” of justification.  In other words, this is the means by which God justifies sinners.  Faith is not the one who justifies sinners (that is, the efficient cause).  Nor is it what motivates God to justify sinners (the interior motivating cause), nor is it that which earns the justification of the sinner (the meritorious cause).  Instead, the Word of God and the faith to which the Word gives birth are the “how” of justification.  All of these “causes” are involved, so to speak of justification as already having “taken place” or “happened” apart any of these “causes,” including the “how” of faith, is, Scripturally speaking, nonsense. As the Apology says in IV:67,

But God cannot be treated with, God cannot be apprehended, except through the Word. Accordingly, justification occurs through the Word, just as Paul says, Rom. 1, 16:The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Likewise 10, 17: Faith cometh by hearing. And proof can be derived even from this that faith justifies, because, if justification occurs only through the Word, and the Word is apprehended only by faith, it follows that faith justifies.

Or as the Formula of Concord enumerates the causes in SD:III:25 (without using the word “cause”):

For not everything that belongs to conversion belongs likewise to the article of justification, in and to which belong and are necessary only the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and faith, which receives this in the promise of the Gospel, whereby the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, whence we receive and have forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, sonship, and heirship of eternal life.

Here is an excerpt from Leyser’s larger work, the year after the Book of Concord was first published. 

Theological Assertions Concerning the Justification of Man before God

Polycarp Leyser, 1581

The efficient cause of justification is the entire Holy Trinity.  For the Father justifies us, in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6).

The interior motivating cause is not any preceding merit of ours, nor any subsequent satisfaction, but only the free and infallible mercy of God, who sees the miseries of the human race, procures their redemption, and freely justifies us without any condition of the law having been fulfilled by us.

The exterior motivating or meritorious cause is the obedience, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God and of Man, by which He has perfectly made satisfaction to the Law for us, has made atonement for sins, has defeated death, has conquered Satan, and with the gates of Hades having been broken, has freed us for the freedom of the sons of God.

The formal cause is no inhering quality in us, nor is it the essential righteousness of God dwelling in us.  But it is the remission of our sins and the righteousness of Christ alone which the heavenly Father imputes to us as our own, and by this He pronounces us to be righteous.

The instrumental cause with regard to God is the ministry of Word and Sacrament, in which God opens His heavenly treasures, hidden in the Son, and offers them to all men without discrimination or condition.

The instrumental cause with regard to us is faith, which acknowledges the fullness of the divine promise about Christ, offered in the Word and sealed in the Sacraments; embraces it with firm assent; and rests in it with great confidence that has no doubt concerning its salvation.

And since no works of the Law, neither preceding nor present nor subsequent, constitute any cause (either of merit or of application), therefore we rightly and piously declare thatman is justified by faith alone in Christ.

The final cause of this free justification is not only that the dignity of God’s righteousness may be acknowledged, but also that our consciences, afflicted by sin in general, may have peace before God.

The effects are: adoption as sons of God, regeneration, the indwelling of God, vivification, eternal life, and innumerable other things.

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