Gregory L. Jackson's Blog, page 27
May 30, 2020
Complete Introduction - Understanding Luther's Galatians
Introduction by Gregory L. JacksonBy stealth, Lutherans have steadily eroded the Biblical doctrine of the Reformation, which established them as Evangelicals and Protestants, but now allowing others to use those names and surrendering to the worst inclinations of Calvinists, Pietists, and Roman Catholics. The uniting cause, to soothe every worldly conscience, is to declare that God in His grace has already declared the entire world absolved of all sin. After meeting together and devouring the perks of Thrivent publicity, the LCMS-WELS-ELS stated – "Last but certainly not least, there was special joy to understand that we all hold to objective justification—that God declared the world righteous through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and that we all recognize it to be the urgent mission of the church to take this gospel to the entire world."That particular shout of celebration may be difficult to find verbatim now, apart from a certain blog seldom named but often read. However, the gloating superiority and arrogance can be found in 60 or more essays in the WELS Essay Files. Apostate Lutherans like to call themselves Confessional Lutherans, as if they have a special relationship with the Book of Concord and the doctrinal confessions within that masterpiece, a one-volume guide to the Bible. However, the most basic characteristic of a doctrinal confession is to state the affirmative belief as well as the rejected belief. The Objective Justification advocates behave as if only one truth exists – theirs – that Paul and Luther taught God absolved the entire world of its sins for all time. The key phrase is usually “God declared the world righteous,” dishonestly designated Justification, deceitfully portrayed as Biblical truth.Dead silence often accompanies guilt, and the Objective Justification Lutherans are morbidly quiet about Luther’s Galatians Commentary. However, the Book of Concord editors, which these chameleons pretend to honor, wrote this in the Formula of Concord article on The Righteousness of Faith –67] Concerning what is needful furthermore for the proper explanation of this profound and chief article of justification before God, upon which depends the salvation of our souls, we direct, and for the sake of brevity herewith refer, every one to Dr. Luther's beautiful and glorious exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians.(emphasis added)Who is more neglected and scorned than Luther, mocked with silly trinkets for the 500thAnniversary of the Reformation, supplanted by rationalists and Calvinists like CFW Walther and JP Meyer? What book of Luther’s forgotten works is more unmentioned than Galatians?
What is more fitting for Crypto-Papist McCain to produce than a dog shirt and collar for the Reformation's 500th Anniversary?
The Lutheran Librarian (Alec Satin) and I discussed whether to use the shorter or longer version of Luther’s Galatians. We decided it was better to have people read the shorter version first rather than not own and not read the longer one. Anyone who loves Luther’s shorter version will seek out the later and longer exposition, truly a goldmine of insights about the Gospel, one he valued himself as a work worth keeping (with the Small Catechism) if the rest of his works were burned. Alec Satin will also produce an ebook and print version of Luther’s Galatians by itself, which will be more appealing to the never-Ichabods.
May 29, 2020
Understanding Luther's Galatians - Start Up
In the unlikely event of a typo, send corrections - in a kind, understanding, compassionate, and sensitive tone - to greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com. I keep suggestions in a folder for the initial edits of the book.Some view the morning post as a health and wellness check, growing alarmed if I have not posted by 5 AM. I may post early and go back to the book most mornings. I will try to post my comments on Galatians as I move fowad. Everyone is moving fowad now, so I want to move fowad and be as transparent and diverse as possible.
WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC (sic) should welcome what I write, because it proves there is another side to Lutherdom today - a Biblical one.
Upcoming books in approximate order are:
The American Calvin: CFW WaltherThe Bible - Text and Translations
April 29, 2020
Upcoming Publishing Projects
The Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog will be edited, improved, and garnished with author information and lists. That might culminate in a book of the top hymn texts (250-300). Norma A. Boeckler is adding illustrations, and she helps with every single project.I have started Understanding Luther’s Galatians: Graebner’s Translation - where I am going to add my commentary on OJ versus the Chief Article, with the complete text of the shorter Galatians.I will write The American Calvin: CFW Walther. The parallels with Calvin are overwhelming. Comparisons with Luther are underwhelming. Walther's Election without Faith will be addressed.A group of us will work on Bible texts and translations, to help explain the disaster of the NIV/ESV money machine and its devastating effect on Christian doctrine. Projects get modified, added, dropped. I think the focus should be mostly Scriptural since that is so widely neglected.I have a folder for Word documents. When I retitle my older books as public domain in that folder, those files will be available for people to use freely in translations, edited versions, etc.
April 2, 2020
Writing Plans - Subject To ChangeVery little is being don...
Writing Plans - Subject To ChangeVery little is being done with the Scriptural issues, so most of the work will be Biblical.
Luther's Galatians Lectures - I am publishing the shorter version with explanations, applying his insights to the false doctrine of the LCMS-WELS-ELCA-ELS. They are all in the same bed, and lovin' it. The American Calvin: CFW Walther - Demythologizing should have started with the fantasies woven by the LCMS historians. A closer look shows Walther to be not the American Luther - but the American Calvin. One of the Bethany Scholars encouraged this by asking about Walther's Election without Faith, the obverse side of Objective Justification.If I do lectures on Moby Dick, or The Whale for Christians , I may write a booklet for it. The book is saturated with Scriptural references and is also a lot of fun, from the first page on.
March 31, 2020
March 26, 2020
January 22, 2020
Goodreads and Linking Good Lutheran Books
If you enjoy Goodreads, you will want to link up to Alec Satin, the Lutheran Librarian. This is his link to follow him.https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19730326.Lutheran_Librarian?from_search=true <- for Mequon graduates, control-click.
Beware of the wrong Gregory L. Jackson, who also writes religious books.This is the correct profile photo.
This is my Goodreads link. I am practicing SEO, so links proliferate on my posts.
SEO means Search Engine Optimization: using the associations on the Net to give good books a high level of visibility.
"How dare you use Leonardo da Vinci to promote Lutheran books! How dare you!"The same information (one book) can be described or distributed via:
Blogs - more than one, overlapping and linking to each other.Facebook - including multiple pages.Dropbox - a great way to distribute free books.Website - boo, too much work.Email.Graphics based social media.YouTube.Goodreads.Amazon author pages.LinkedIn.Ustream.Twitter (not secure).That is why I ask people to click on links, because simply looking is a way to lead people to faithful, Lutheran books.
"How did you know I was reading the kitty edition of Pilgrim's Progress?"January 17, 2020
Help This Angel Sing "A Mighty Fortress"
Lutheran Librarian Print Books are found here.
Lutheran Library free ebooks are found at this location.
Long ago, I sent this Luther quotation, above, to Patsy Leppien, who was working on ways to show what the LCA/ALC synods - now ELCA - were teaching. The author was extremely careful in showing what was taught in the ALC/LCA and how those articles of faith were revealed in the Scriptures.
ELCA's birth was midwifed by Seminex, the Missouri contingent led by Richard Jungkuntz, the UOJ fanatic and future Seminex chairman of the board. Seminex became the official seminary for the rainbow Metropolitan Community Church.
Difficulties did not come from the ELCA corner of the Lutherverse, but from the conservatives imagined rejoicing at Leppien's efforts to clarify the differences. But no, the conservatives raved at her. I called that the highest compliment and a true honor.
Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, print version at Amazon.The last Beatitude certainly came true when WELS put Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant on its printing schedule, only to withdraw that "until your attitude changes." Valleskey was on the board and I was supposed to lie weeping, prostrate before the Fuller alumni of WELS, begging forgiveness and hoping the terms of absolution would not be too severe.
Blessing? Yes, that catapulted me into independent book publishing. Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant was the first of over 30 titles - now in print. Likewise, being kicked out of Free Republic caused me to start this blog, now approaching 8 million views. Various irritations moved me to make all titles non-profit and pubic domain.
Lutheran Synodical Publishing - rainbow, anti-Justification by Faith,anti-Biblical text.
Monopolies Crumble, Screaming as They Crash to the Ground
Not long ago, the book publishing industry was a powerful business, and that included the nodes in each denomination. A few people could decide to publish a few titles within their areas of interest. Who else would publish
The Wonders of WELS or Isn't WELS Fabulous! or WELS and Church Growth: Perfect Bedfellows ?Those were just the initial titles - the language had to be toned down to keep people from laughing out loud.
Now anyone can publish anything at a very low cost and distribute it through channels already set up for that purpose.
The Lost Dutchman's GoldmineThe Modular Book of Concord
The Lutheran Librarian, Alec Satin, began publishing long-lost and hard-to-find Lutheran classics through the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, with over 150 titles listed already, free ebooks, portable, easy to quote from.
Once attracted to The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine, Satin could not stop. He began publishing in print - on Amazon - those titles he had already prepared as ebooks.
Many of us know the Triglotta , a library - or museum - in one, very heavy and tiny-print volume. It uses three languages, though most seminarians barely know English and hardly know Lutheran doctrine - plus Bente's Historical Introductions .
Lutheran Librarian print books pages.Nota bene - pages.
The Lutheran Librarian has put together separate titles from the Book of Concord, very useful for people who want to ready and underline the printed material.
Bente's Historical Introductions are great background reading for the development of the Book of Concords, heroes and villains.
The Augsburg Confession, 1530, Jacobs edition, with the Saxon Visitation articles.
Luther's Small Catechism
Luther's Large Catechism is based upon his sermons and includes essential teaching for pastors and laity.
The Formula of Concord summarizes the Biblical teaching of Luther and Melanchthon, from the Reformation scholars of that era.
Every time you click a link, an angel sings "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."January 2, 2020
Wednesday 7 PM Course To Become a Book on The Pilgrim's Progress, Part 1
The work has two parts. We will cover Part 1, about Christian. That will become a small book to help people study and appreciate this masterpiece.The Pilgrim’s Progress as an Allegory
The burden on his back - his sins.He is studying the Bible to find his way.
We use figures of speech in our normal conversation, but seldom think about their use. Some come from the Bible, where the best known ones are called parables. Luke 15 is an example of parables used to introduce one of the most significant parables.Luke 15:1-7 is the Parable of the Lost Sheep.Luke 15:8-10 is the Parable of the Lost Coin.Luke 15:11 begins the Parable of the Prodigal Son, illustrating the Old Testament custom of moving from the lesser (the sheep and the coin) to the greater – the Prodigal Son. The two introductory stories get us accustomed to the feelings of loss and recovery. The story of the impetuous son, the forgiving father, and the self-righteous brother teaches us the nature of our gracious heavenly Father. Concrete images and associated emotions embed the Biblical lesson.
We are heirs of Greek and Latin literature as well. We use these figures daily:· I almost died – Exaggeration or hyperbole.· The salad was like twigs and pine cones – simile.· He is a dog – metaphor.· That was no small task – litotes, a double negative used for a positive, considered an understatement for effect.· He gave the wrong reason for the wrong evidence to the wrong person – anaphora, repetition of a phrase for emphasis.Many more figures could be listed.
The allegory is the grandest tool of our language. An entire book can be an allegory. Used poorly, the result is odd or tedious. The Marriage of Mercury to Philology by Jupiterbelongs in a special class – unread, unloved, and largely unknown, except among Medieval scholars. The Lord of the Rings can be seen as an extensive allegory, especially because J. R. R. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic. Likewise, the movie E. T. suggests similar themes, the script written by a Roman Catholic. Some allegories are quite obvious in their intent:1. Animal Farm, by George Orwell2. The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis – children see Aslan as Jesus, but adults miss that entirely.3. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave4. The Faerie Queen– by Spencer5. Herman Melville – Moby Dick6. St. Paul – the armor of God – Ephesians 6
The Pilgrim’s Progressis an allegory, which might be described as a parable with fictional characters. This means we should read The Pilgrim’s Progress slowly and considers its lessons. This work is not a novel, but a way to explain essential lessons from the Bible. The wealth of the book comes from its details. The author explored the challenges and temptations of Christian, the allegorical hero, on his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The names and mishaps are often humorous and always instructive.
December 10, 2019
Coming Events and Books - Bethany Lutheran Church
AdventThe Advent service each Wednesday at 7 PM is followed by a session on Henry Eyster Jacobs' A Summary of the Christian Faith, (print copy) - which can be ordered here.
A Summary of the Christian Faith is also an ebook from the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry.
Pilgrim's Progress - January and FebruaryA study booklet will be produced for this set of lessons. We will use Wednesdays in January and February, before Lent, for these lessons.
The print book - Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress can be ordered here.
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress ebook is linked here.
Paine's Beginning GreekAsh Wednesday and Onward -The Complete Gospel of John in GreekFor Newcomers and Advanced Students
You need Paine - Beginning Greek: A Functional Approach - about $25 from Alibris, Amazon used books, etc.
We will use the traditional text of John in Greek, found here.
John's Gospel of Faith is available free as a PDF and also for 99 cents as a Kindle . This is in English - a brief commentary.
Two Future BooksAlec Satin is publishing Luther's Galatians . I plant on a study booklet about Galatians using Luther extensively.The book everyone will love or hate - CFW Walther - The American Calvin .
The eBook linked here.
