Writing Plans - Subject To Change

Very little is being done with the Scriptural issues, so most of the work will be Biblical.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Thank You - Janie Sullivan - For Making All My Books Available on DropBox

Janie Sullivan is our finishing editor, making the final print version and Kindle Ebook as attractive as possible. She put together this PDF library for sharing free with Lutherans around the world.

This is the one blog address that contains everything we are sharing with Lutherans around the world:

1. Luther's Sermons - more to come.
2. Gems from Luther's Sermons - another gems volume to appear.
3. Lenski's New Testament commentaries - each one.
4. Keil-Delitsch Old Testament direct link - very handy.
5. The books I have written.
6. The link to Alex Satin's Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry - the old classics.

It will remain the main address, but technology changes, and we need backups here and there.

This is the DropBox link to all my books. They are free and public domain. Copy them, share them - no permission required. No fees.

I do not mind at all if you check them out and see if they download for you. I have found that it is best to open each file in Microsoft Edge as a PDF, then save locally. Otherwise it tends to open as a web page, which is more difficult to use.

You can also download straight into your own DropBox storage. I highly recommend DropBox for backups, big files, photos, etc.

 Norma A. Boeckler has designed all our covers and illustrated all the books. She loves doing this, and everyone loves her books.

Virginia Roberts jumped in to help with major editing tasks.

Thy Strong Word Reviewed - Loved by Laity, Hated by Sect Leaders, Banned by Marvin Schwan's Logorrhea Journal

 Thy Strong Word is found on Amazon as a printed book,
on Kindle as an e-book. Copies can be ordered at the author's price, too.

Today, someone wrote - There's so much information in the book, it must have taken you years to put it all together. As you said in the preface, the book can be used as a reference source for documentation regarding the efficacy of the Word. 

Thanks for writing it.

---

Top customer reviews

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 starsGregory L Jackson. PhD is a leading figure in ...

February 28, 2018

Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

Gregory L Jackson, PhD is a leading figure in confessional Lutheran theology today, the principles of which are found in the writings of Martin Luther and the Lutheran reformers and in the Book of Concord. A key Lutheran doctrine is that the Holy Spirit is an active, vital force which works through the preaching and hearing of the God's Word. God's Word is “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit” Hebrews 4:12.

Dr. Jackson stated his reason for writing this book in the preface:

“I have written Thy Strong Word for one purpose: to teach the Biblical doctrine of the efficacy of the Word and thereby utterly destroy the Church Growth Movement in the Lutheran Church. ... Until recently the efficacy of the Word was taken for granted by all Lutheran, even by the liberals ... Now we have a generation or two of pastors and laity who cannot refute the Reformed errors cunningly promoted by their own synodical leaders and seminary professors.”

Using his decades of experience in teaching and the ministry, Dr Jackson chronicles the erosion of the centrality of the Lutheran confessions in the preaching of the conservative synods (ELS, LCMS, and WELS). He traces the erosion to the influence of rationalism and Reformed doctrine, which caused the synods to turn away from faith in the effectiveness of preaching and teaching God's Word. This goes with the Reformed idea that God's Word needs man's help to be effective.

Rationalism and Reformed doctrine diminished the vitality of the conservative synods beginning in the 20th century and accelerating in the 21st century. The symptoms include declines in membership, infiltration of various false doctrines, and synod hierarchies more interested in prestige and perks than the preaching the Gospel.

Dr Jackson shows how synod leadership reacted not by restoring sound doctrine, but instead by adopting Madison Avenue sales techniques and gimmickry (known as the Church Growth Movement or CGM) with the hope that these would put people into the pews of their emptying churches.

Dr Jackson begins his critique of CGM by presenting the principles of Lutheran doctrine: the authority of the Bible, justification by faith alone, the efficacy of the Word of God, and the power of the Sacraments.

Then, Dr Jackson presents quotes from CGM leaders and contrasts them with quotes from Luther and Lutheran foundational documents to illustrate how the principles of CGM are non-Lutheran, or anti-Lutheran, in nature.

This book is 533 pages, the information is detailed, the sources are foot-noted. This isn't a book that you should expect to read in one sitting. The dust jacket calls it a textbook for Lutheran biblical theology. You can consider it a teaching tool as well as a reference source. Dr Jackson includes a suggested reading list consisting of 3 pages of book titles. That being said, his writing style presents the information in an interesting and engaging manner, so you shouldn't find yourself becoming bogged down, as you might when reading a dry textbook on theory.

If you want to understand the foundational principles of confessional Lutheranism, then you should read this book. If you want to understand the problems of present day confessional Lutheranism and what the solutions are, then you should read this book.

Dr Jackson discusses the problems of present day Lutheranism on his internet blog, Google ichabodthegloryhasdeparted for the URL. He conducts a weekly Lutheran worship service via the internet, the blog has a link to the broadcast site which also has archived broadcasts. If you want to hear solid, scripture-based, Lutheran sermons, you'll find them in his worship services.

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Gerald Parker

5.0 out of 5 starsMagisterial Defense of Truly Confessional Lutheranism

April 14, 2007

Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase

I am a layman, not a theologian, but I have read fairly widely in the literature of Lutheranism, my heritage faith, so I do not hesitate to praise with the highest encomia possible this very fine and much-needed book that refutes the errors of latter-day North American Lutheranism, alike the unbelieving "liberalism" of the E.L.C.A. and E.L.C.i.C. as well as the pseudo-conservatism (which falsely poses as Confessional) of the denominations deriving from the old Synodical Conference (most notably the L.C.M.S., W.E.L.S., E.L.S., and the L.C.M.S.' sister sect, the Lutheran Church Canada), which have betrayed genuine Confessional Lutheranism with their bizarre speculations embodied in the theological paradigm of "Universal Objective Justification and Subjective Justication" (U.O.J.), which Ptr. Dr. Gregory Lee Jackson anathematises and disproves, as well he should do, showing these heinous false speculative ideas to be being neither Scriptural nor Confessional, and, hence, not genuinely Lutheran at all. (Coming back to this review to revise it some, I would point out that Jackson has written and published a separate book, one that handles the matter suberbly, on the U.O.J. heresy, titled "Luther versus the U.O.J. Pietists: Justification by Faith".) Jackson also scathingly and realistically savages the venal "Church Growth Movement" tendencies in all forms of this hemisphere's Lutheranism, liberal and pseudo-confessional alike.

There are magnificent defenses of "genesio-Lutheran" Confessional teaching versus the claims of what Ptr. Dr. Jackson calls the "Reformed" (by which he includes all non-Lutheran Protestantism and sectarianism, rather than only, more properly, the teaching of other genuinely Protestant churches that follow the doctrinal teachings of Martin Bucer, especially, and of Jean Calvin, as well as the Three Forms of Unity and Westminster Standards that so principally, soundly, and moderately codify them confessionally). Jackson's defense of the Lutheran and hence Orthodox Christian "Means of Grace" is a stunning refutation of the claims of Baptists, Pentecostals/Charismatics, the loud-mouthed "Fundamentalists" who are so fundamentally wrong, the so-called "Neo-Evangelicals", Campbellites/"Restorationists", and other "cheap white [or black] theological trash") by explicating from the Scriptures (using, wisely, the Authorised "King James" Version, free of the sectarian bias that afflicts to one degree or another the modern versions in English of the Bible) the true Lutheran and biblical teaching about Holy Baptism and the Eucharist (Holy Communion, Mass). For the fine defense of Lutheran sacramental theology alone this book would be worth the purchase, but there is so much more as well!

A fault, a minor but nonetheless somewhat irritating one, is Jackson's intemperately vituperative assaults on other Lutherans and their squabbles and peccadillos over relatively minor matters of turf, petty corruption, and so forth which, really, are of only passing interest or importance compared to the major issues that this book addresses, something that inevitably will cause this book become a bit dated in that regard. (That said, though, Jackson`s comments on such matters are reasonable and, I believe, true.) Dr. Jackson's book is already a classic of Lutheran exegesis and sound doctrinal teaching.

A note of warning is in store for those who purchase the book second-hand; the earliest printing of this book had some pagination and binding irregularities, but even a copy with these defects is worth having, since they do not affect any of the most important passaages of the book.

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Glen

5.0 out of 5 starsThis is one of the best modern Christian polemics books out there

October 25, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

This is one of the best modern Christian polemics books out there. Pastor Jackson does an excellent job of teaching God's Word and exposing the false teachings of men in the various Lutheran sects. It is very edifying to Christ's Church to have this publication to share with laity and Pastors alike. Most Lutheran laity I have met are uniformed that their Church leaders reject the efficacy of the Word and teach a damnable false gospel of Universal Objective Justification. Much like the polemic publications of the church fathers during the reformation, (1500's) Jackson's "Thy Strong Word" serves to the posterity of God's people in guarding against false doctrine.

Someone Liked Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant

 Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant - on Amazon and Kindle.

• Thank you for this book. It has led me and my wife from wilderness to Lutheranism.  I knew there was an emptiness about Protestantism, but the Roman Catholic church with its non-biblical accretions was a bridge too far.

GJ - I wrote CLP for Lutherans who marry Roman Catholics, since they seem inexorably drawn together, in order to create mutual understanding without the usual polemics. People demanded that I turn the original adult class for couples into a book. This is now the third, revised edition.

• Is this book available in hard copy?

GJ - No. The current edition is available on Amazon, Kindle, and the free PDF. I appreciate the request. Unfortunately, if I publish the same title in hardback on Lulu.com, where they have that option, it confuses the databases no end. Thus - a republished book from Lulu will no longer be listed on Lulu.

• Why did you change from NIV to KJV?

I am glad you asked. I was using the NIV software at the time, back in the Dark Ages of computers, DOS, and other horrors. Someone offered me a free KJV program and I switched to the KJV. The KJV is much more precise than the anti-Sacrament NIV. You can read about that in Thy Strong Word, first chapter. TSW is also in the third edition. Some hard-covers are around on the used market. Here is the free PDF.

The New (and the only surviving) NIV is even worse than the old NIV, which is no longer allowed to be used by the publisher. It even disappeared from the publisher's Bible Gateway website. I imagine some people have their old NIVs, if they applied for a Concealed Carry Permit.

If you want a slightly modernized, precise Bible, I suggest the KJV21 or the Third Millennium KJV. 

• Is there a specific book or books that would help me to study Lutheranism more deeply?  My background is evangelical Protestantism. 

In order, I always recommend - 

1. The Sermons of Martin Luther.
2. The Book of Concord.
3. I can send anyone my books at a very low cost. Someone has donated money to send them free.

I still use the original Lenker 8 volume set
that I purchases long ago.
CPH turned that into 4 volumes and added 3 volumes of Postils,
as shown above. It took me a few tries to obtain that
as a used set for a friend.

 Thy Strong Word has put a damper on Church Growth and UOJ
Enthusiasms, but the synods leaders continue in their errors.

---

Reviews of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant on Amazon

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat comparison

ByKate H.on January 28, 2005

Format: Unknown Binding|Verified Purchase

This book compares the Lutheran, Catholic, and Protestant faiths. It start with what the three faiths are in complete agreement with, then moves to a section regarding views that are slightly different, and finally addresses things that are in complete disagreement.

Very well-written and does not take sides. The author strictly states the facts and does not try to sway the reader one way or the other - a relatively easy read. I really like this book as a reference when people ask me, "what exactly is the difference between Catholics and Lutherans?"

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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat comparison

ByKate H.on September 25, 2007

Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

This book does a great job comparing catholics, lutherans and protestants. It discusses areas where the denominations agree, where they depart slightly in their beliefs and where they disagree completely.

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5.0 out of 5 starsThis book was recommended to me by a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) ...

ByGlenon September 10, 2016

This book was recommended to me by a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) Pastor for catechism courses for those new to the Christian faith to prepare them to be on guard of the teachings of men that go against God's Word in the visible church.

 Author's page for Pastor Gregory L. Jackson