“Ich glaube, darum rede ich” – I believe, therefore I speak

I am interrupting my previous series on the early and later Luther to respond to the following comment that arrived by email notice:

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Paul McCain has left a new comment on your post "Luther's early faith = later Luther --> another an...":

If you are not attending the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament, all these blog posts are useless to you, and for you.

Repent and return to Christ.

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This comment left by CPH Publisher Rev. Paul T. McCain on my last post was a sobering one. I wish he had not made me look like Luther... for it was Luther who stood before the whole
“Church”, yes, the World of his time and stood against them and with Scripture.  I will not pretend to be Luther, but I do say BACK TO LUTHER!

• Here I sit!... in my chair having the Kingdom of Heaven poured into my heart by Walther!
• Here I sit!... at the feet of Martin Luther, the angel with the everlasting Gospel! Rev. 14:6,7!
• Here I sit!... I can do no other for Scripture hems me in by the Word of His Grace! (Acts 14:3, 20:32)
• Here I sit!... having traveled thousands of miles in search of a church body/congregation that stands on the Doctrine of Justification... to no avail!  How horrible these times are that there are no external church bodies confessing the true faith, and guarding against all doubt on the Gospel itself... a church body that gives Universal, Objective Justification front and center priority and thereby able to teach all doctrines properly, including those in the Book of Concord/Formula of Concord!  And I hold your church body, the new (English) LCMS, largely responsible for this sad state of all external Christianity in the world!

Rev. McCain knows by my masthead that I was born into the LC-MS and so he knows that I was baptized as an infant. He knows that Baptism is a Sacrament – a visible sign of the Word.  But he ignores this and so what he means by his phrase “not attending the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament” is that I am not receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Why is he emphasizing Holy Communion?  Because he knows I’m getting the Word of God by reading and inwardly digesting the Bible, the very Word of God. He is implying that without the Sacrament of Holy Communion, I am apart from Christ and should “Repent and return to Christ”.   To this I quote Pieper:

All praise of Christ, of grace, and of the means of grace, without the right doctrine of justification, is nothing.  All teaching in the Church must serve this article.

“Ich glaube, darum rede ich” – I believe, therefore I speak (Psalm 116: 10)

These words in German were used by Franz Pieper as the published first draft leading up to his Brief Statement of 1932.

Rev. McCain implies that I should “attend”, but does he say I should believe?  Should I believe the Word, Rev. McCain?  Do you, Rev. McCain, believe that when absolution is pronounced, its effectiveness is not dependent on the faith of those receiving it? I hope you do... but it is only a hope for I do not see you joining with my confession and saying “You are right! There is a Justification that exists before faith."

You may be surprised Rev. McCain that even the translator of Walther’s “Law and Gospel”, Rev. Christian C. Tiews, has asked Herman Otten about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, to point him “to some of his documents or books, which contain unorthodox statements?’” (CN, March 26, 2012, pg 15)  Could it be that Rev. Tiews got a little too much of Walther?... here he is questioning Bonhoeffer with all the glowing publications sold by CPH about and by Bonhoeffer... what?  Tsk, Tsk.  Too much Walther.

Note to Rev. Christian C. Tiews: The answer to your question can be found in Bonhoeffer's teaching of "costly grace"...  but grace has no cost, its free.  Start preaching Justification– Universal, Objective –  that Walther taught and founded the true Missouri Synod on... they’ll throw you out! Listen to Walther when he says:

Yes, there are not a few Lutherans who think that doctrine [universal justification] should be treated very lightly lest the hearers become too secure.

Listen to Walther, Rev. Tiews, not Herman Otten or Dietrich Bonhoeffer or today's (English) LCMS!


The Word of the Lord comforts me in times like these for he says in

• 1 Kings 19:11 -12: And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
• Romans 10:10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The Sheep Judge Their Shepherds – C.F.W. Walther

I believe, therefore I speak! (Ich glaube, darum rede ich!)

Rev. McCain, you have given me so much to talk about that I can hardly contain myself. I wear your reproach gladly.  I will continue to speak (blog post) because I believe and for as long as I believe!  More in a later post...