Does This Remind Anyone of the Lottery? Rummage Sale 2007

The state lotteries were established to "help education." Public education is worse than ever before and still craving more money. States with lotteries never experience any tax relief. They are the high tax states.

Notice is hereby given of the next Rummage Sale at Luther Prep.

The Gospel Is Not Efficacious in WELS, So We Voted To Engage in Public Begging and Commercialism

"Mission Advancement Offices were established at each of the four synodical ministerial education schools, as directed by the synod in convention in the summer of 2005. The four ministerial education schools are: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon (training pastors), WI; Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN (training pastors and teachers, staff ministers); Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, MI; and Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, WI (college prep education for future pastors, teachers, staff, and lay ministers).

The goal of these offices is to advance the mission of the schools."

The problem with a rummage sale, sometimes called Junk For Jesus, is that the charity competes with real businesses to sell products to the public. The charity is free from all kinds of restrictions and taxes, so any bargain is really subsidized by the taxpayers in one sense and business owners in another sense.

The Christian charity is saying, "We cannot support ourselves with Gospel-motivated gifts, so we are getting free stuff from merchants and selling it to their potential customers." This is really shameful for the Christian Church. The parents, who are already paying $8,000 for a year at prep, are then supposed to give again.

The next problem comes from the success of these dishonest efforts. They make money, hand over fist. Free labor. Free goods. Tax free. No rent. No insurance. No business license. No pesky inspectors to see how much salmonella is being distributing in the donated food products. Christian commercialism produces greed. Soon the group says, "We need a pie sale. We need a car wash. We need a dinner. We need cash."

The Faith, New Ulm, building used to belong to the United Church of Christ. The UCC members built a hall and kitchen for selling food to the public. It was a restaurant with a professional kitchen taking business away from legitimate concerns.

Commercialism is the last gasp of a Christian group. The classic teaching on stewardship is 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, (not 1 Corinthians, as WELS wrote on one slide show). Paul was collecting money for the poor in Jerusalem. He did not organize a camel wash, sell used robes, or compete with local eateries. He asked the Christian believers to give based on the Gospel message of Christ.

Debates of the Century

The WELS AnswerMan dealt recently with charges from the Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic) about Wisconsin Synod unionism: Church and Change invited non-Lutheran apostates to be featured speakers. The same letter mentioned CLC congregations working other denominations on a Creation Museum. Both groups posture about "fellowship principles" but invoke gales of laughter when they do.

Item: At a joint ELCA-WELS religious conference, WELS leaders explained their fellowship principles (sic) to ELCA. According to DP Robert Mueller, ELCA said, "We could use some of those." All those who believe that story raise your hands. Only one? Wally, put your hand down.

Item: WELS had a series of Roman Catholic priests and the pedophile Archbishop Weakland as featured speakers at Wisconsin Lutheran College. That was either before or after Martin Marty was their featured speaker. The Church and Change speakers do not violate fellowship principles because they believe what the WELS leaders believe - nothing.

Item: WELS produced or produces the Joy religious radio show with ELCA.

Item: WELS joined with Missouri and ELCA for the lavishly funded Church [Growth] Membership Initiaive.

The CLC has long suffered from the antics of Paul Tiefel Jr. and David Koenig. Yes, this Tiefel is related to the WELS Tiefel and both are nicknamed Teufel for some reason. Koenig hates Lutheran doctrine so much that he once devoted the entire service at his congregation to a rant against Lutherans for not being mission-minded like the Roman Catholics. The CLC responded by making him a world missionary again and featuring him often in their little magazine. Koenig and Tiefel's derelict doctrine used to fill the pages of While It Is Day, a publication so bad the elders of Tiefel's church asked him to stop. So he did not stop. Koenig phoned Valleskey and asked if the former seminary president went to Fuller Seminary. Valleskey said yes. Valleskey was angry that Koenig admitted this fact in one of his oh-so-ferocious letters to me.

Is this WELS-CLC debate on unionism the funniest yet, or is it less entertaining when Waldo Werning and Jack Cascione argue about which one is a false teacher?

Luther Prep's Rummage Sale

WELS' Luther Prep held a rummage sale last year and raised $46,000 by selling over 200 items donated. Let me guess some of the items:

1. The Complete Works of Donald McGavran, donated by Wally Oelhafen.
   
2. Luther's Works, brand-new, in the original wrappers, donated by Wayne Mueller.
   
3. Management by Objective, by Peter Drucker, donated by SP Gurgel.
   
4. The Contagious Christian, Fuller Seminary edition, heavily marked and underlined, but signed by the owner, donated by Jeff Gunn.

Scottsdale magazine has photos every month of society people holding expensive parties and raising a specific amount for some charity. The Beautiful People wear expensive clothes and dazzling grins. The magazine features a lot of ads for plastic surgery and cosmetic dental work.

The Luther Prep photos look rather sad and earnest. They are buying caulk for the Prep-tanic, and their faces show it. They even invited President-in-Waiting Wayne Mueller to speak, reminding them of their impending doom. Isn't that like being in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital having the senior funeral director at Wendt Brothers Funeral Home visit, with a smile on his face?