Gay Schmeling Needs To Go Straight - ELCA

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 5, 2007

ELCA Committee on Appeals Rules in Atlanta Discipline Case
07-123-JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Committee on Appeals of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) ruled July 2 in favor of an appeal by the Rev. Ronald B. Warren, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, who sought removal of Bradley
E. Schmeling, Atlanta, from the official clergy roster of the ELCA. The appeals committee ruled that Schmeling was to be removed immediately from the roster, upholding the determination by a disciplinary hearing committee that Schmeling was in
violation of the ELCA policy regarding the sexual conduct of its pastors.

Decisions of the Committee on Appeals are not made public by the ELCA churchwide organization. According to the ELCA Constitution, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions, summaries of decisions are to be reported to the next ELCA Churchwide
Assembly, the church's highest legislative authority, which will be here at Navy Pier Aug. 6-11. In this case, the decision of the Committee on Appeals was released July 5 by Warren and posted on the synod's Web site, and it was released at a July 5 news conference at St. John Lutheran Church, Atlanta, the congregation Schmeling has served since 2000.

In the ELCA policy document "Vision and Expectations: Ordained Ministers in the ELCA," it states: "Single ordained ministers are expected to live a chaste life. Married ordained ministers are expected to live in fidelity to their spouses,
giving expression to sexual intimacy within a marriage relationship that is mutual, chaste, and faithful. Ordained ministers who are homosexual in their self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual relationships."

Warren filed formal charges in 2006 against Schmeling after Schmeling reported to Warren that he was in a committed relationship with another man, a violation of the ELCA's clergy standards. Seven members of the 12-member discipline hearing
committee, which met Jan. 18-24 in Atlanta, voted to remove Schmeling from the ELCA clergy roster and stayed the effective date of his removal until Aug. 15. That committee issued its opinion Feb. 7.

In separate filings in March, Warren and Schmeling both appealed the decision of the discipline hearing committee.

The 12-member Committee on Appeals met here June 9-10 to consider the appeals. That committee voted 10-1, with one abstention, to remove Schmeling from the clergy roster. It voted 10-2 to reverse the discipline hearing committee's decision to
stay the effective date of Schmeling's removal from the roster until Aug. 15, and it voted 10-2 to remove Schmeling from the clergy roster on July 2.

The Committee on Appeals noted that the ELCA Constitution states that "the decision of the discipline hearing committee shall be final on the day it is issued by the committee," and that "nowhere in ELCA Constitution, Bylaws and Continuing
Resolutions is a discipline hearing committee authorized to stay its own decision."

"In this regard, the Committee on Appeals determines that the effective date of Pastor Schmeling's removal from the clergy roster of the ELCA ... should have been Feb. 7, 2007," the Committee on Appeals said.

The discipline hearing committee's written opinion said most of its members were concerned about certain language in ELCA clergy policy documents, and it made some specific suggestions for change. That opinion suggested synod assemblies ask the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to consider proposals for change.

The Committee on Appeals said its role, as well as that of a discipline hearing committee, is to serve as a judicial body, and that legislative authority to change policies is the responsibility of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly and the ELCA Church Council, which serves as the church's board of directors.

"Nothing in the ELCA Constitution, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions allows a discipline hearing committee to make any particular recommendations to the egislative bodies of this church, urging them to take a specific policy action. By doing so in this case, the discipline hearing committee exceeded the authority granted to it by the ELCA Constitution," the Committee on Appeals said.

Responses to the Appeals Committee decision
In response to the decision, Warren posted a pastoral letter July 5 on the ELCA Southeastern Synod Web site. "My decision to seek Pastor Schmeling's removal from te ministry of this church was difficult because of my deep respect for the pastor and the congregation at St. John's, but the policy of this church is clear," he wote. "It was my responsibility as bishop of this synod to enforce the established standards of this church, particularly after the 2005 Churchwide Assembly decided that the church would not create a process for possible exceptions to existing behavior expectations for pastors. As this church continues prayerfully to consider the issue of clergy who are gay or lesbian and in committed relationships, both the synod and I will continue to work on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of our disagreements."

Schmeling and the St. John Lutheran Church congregation shared the news of the Committee on Appeals on July 3, Warren wrote. Warren said he and Schmeling talked by phone July 5. They agreed that Warren and synod staff will meet with the congregation council's executive committee and the St. John congregation in the coming weeks.

"Please remember all of us who are involved in this difficult and challenging process in your intercessory prayers," Warren's statement concluded.

"I'm deeply disappointed by the decision, although I'm not surprised," Shmeling said in a July 5 news release in response to the appeals committee ecision. "Change has always proven difficult for the church. I continue to hope that the church will be centered in God's message of love, compassion, and justice, rather than in the enforcement of discriminatory policies. The church can only resist the Holy Spirit for so long. In the meantime, I plan to continue to follow my call in ministry at St. John's and to pray for the day when all God's children are equally welcomed into the Lutheran church," he said.

John Ballew, president of St. John Lutheran Church, said in the congregation's news release: "We are going to go to (the) Churchwide Assembly in August, to witness to our ELCA the costs of this decision, based on an absurd policy. This is not just
about us and our wonderful pastor; this is about all those called to minister to God's people, who lead exemplary lives, who provide a model for faithful, loving companionship with each other and with Christ."
---
The written decision of the ELCA Committee on Appeals is available from the ELCA Southeastern Synod at http://www.ELCA-ses.org/Hearing.htm on the Web.

Be sure to view this site:
Extraordinary Candidacy Project

Is Everything Church Growth?

An anonymous person has asked if everything is Church Growth. The same person seems to favor CCM, sometimes called Charismatic Church Music.

Two trends are happening at the same time. ELCA has led the way in working with Roman Catholics. My favorite ELCA photo is one with a Roman Catholic priest who was sharing a building with a very attractive ELCA female pastor. He was beaming at the prospects of the working relationship. The LCA, then ELCA pursued the Church of Rome, only to be declared defective by the Antichrist.

The ELS had its Lutheran/Roman Catholic religious service at Bethany, Mankato. WELS had its lectureship by priests and Archbishop Weakland at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Weakland, in deep trouble for pursuing a young man, was quoted as saying children initiated sex with adults. Rome could not wait to dump him, but WELS said, "Now there is the keynote speaker we need!" Damage Central later claimed that he only spoke at a private luncheon at WLC. Ha. The college heavily promoted this as a community-wide event. I had the brochure at one time. Several priests were also on the schedule.

In the next 20 years a surprising number of Lutheran-trained pastors will either be Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. One mini-micro bishop is already calling himself The Right Reverend So-and-So.

WELS is the most heavily invested in Church Growth. They are so besotted with Fuller doctrine that no clergy can escape being injected with all the marketing hooplah of the Devil's Playground. Some of this has slopped over into the ELS.

Missouri and ELCA have their Church Growth factions and those who resist Fuller Seminary.

Lutherans ought to learn their own confessional hymns before they start aping the Evangelical/Pentecostal wing of Christianity. Mequon and Bethany both celebrated Paul Gerhardt recently, but both seminaries spit on his memory with their adoration of unionistic doctrine, compromise with the Reformed. Gerhardt paid a heavy price for refusal to go along with any form of union.

Starbuck's - Facing the Awful Truth

From time to time I order a mocha at Starbuck's (Barnes and Noble) while checking on some new book titles. They used to ask, "Do you want whipped cream?" Several times I have answered with a smile, "That is not whipped cream. That is white stuff." They had to agree each time. Now they do not ask me.

Today I was drinking a mocha straight up when I heard the manager ask a customer, "Do you want whipped topping?" I thought, "Finally, truth in packaging."

This morning I learned that Reddi-Whip was originally owned by the Capone gang. It was the first aerosol food product. I have similar feelings about Reddi-Whip, coffee creamers that make my stomach flip, and margarine slopped on the table as "butter." More than once I have said, "I ordered real butter." More than one young waitress has has shot back, "That is butter." Butter glistens with little specks of water, but margarine has the complexion of Glidden paint: plastic, solid, deadly. Someday people will realize that the factory oil industry (shortening, margarine, etc.) was a massive and dangerous fraud.

All this is directly related to the fake Lutheran doctrine that has been marketed for the last three decades or so. Every step has taken various Lutheran bodies farther away from their confessional roots. Now they are so lost that the apostate leaders act with impugnity while insulting the intelligence and faith of their members.

I wonder how proud the founders of the ELS would be to realize that the entire Bethany Lutheran Seminary faculty marched in a religious procession with a Roman Catholic ex-bishop. Apparently Erling Teigen arranged this disgusting display. The local newspaper bragged about the ex-bishop's creditentials but the Bethany yearbook hid them. At the time, Rolf Preus (briefly in the ELS) announced, "Erling doesn't have an ecumenical bone in his body, and Greg Jackson knows it."

I always wonder how these ELS pastors mind-read from a distance. This must be a power given to them when they enter the sacred precincts of Rivendell. Rolf was able to discern my brain-waves from a distance and report them infallibly on SpenerQuest. Did Erling defend Rolf so publicly? I must have missed that pronouncement.

The brave ELS leaders went into damage-control mode, a skill they have improved through practice. The ex-bishop was married, as if that made him a Lutheran. He was no longer a bishop. Was he no longer a Roman Catholic? As any student of Roman doctrine knows, the bishop could repent, dump his wife, and become an active priest again. The priesthood is an indelible character - a priest forever.

I had a reliable witness at that tragic service at Bethany. The seminary faculty marched in with the ex-bishop. The service was religious, dedicating the Ylvisaker building. (Wouldn't he be honored! He was just about the only theologian in the ELS and they associate his name with a Roman Catholic speaker.) Oh yes, the Roman Catholic was the featured speaker that day. Damange Control Central said that the religious service stopped being religious when he spoke. Perhaps an altar boy rang the mass bells, creating a miraculous transubstantiation. The appearance of a unionistic religious service remained, but the substance (ding-a-ling) was changed into a secular gathering.

Thus we have the Lutheran Church today. They call it Lutheran orthodoxy but it is really whipped topping - full of air and heaven knows what ingredients.

Teigen Fizzles at Historical Wit

Norm Teigen's Ad Hominem Argumentation

Norm Teigen, ELS, has decided to leave no thought unpublished. I really thought the ELS confined itself to whispering campaigns, but no, Teigen commits the typical ELS line to the blogosphere. Here it is verbatim:

Other bloggers
While my blog was not up, I spent time reading other blogs. There is a Lutheran Blog Directory that consists of many interesting sites. Give it a try.

There is another blog that I read, although I will probably give it up rather soon. The writer spends much time in condemning Lutheran groups of which he is not a member. He portrays himself as an informed insider about matters within the Wisconsin Synod.

Earlier this week the blogger, whom I call 'The Bloviator', said that he would not join the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

He persists in demeaning the leaders of both the Wisconsin Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

I think that this man has probably been in and out of a number of synods and is an angry person.

I was recently reading about John Winthrop, the leader of the Massachusetts Colony. Winthrop was a fair and honest man. Two of his problems were Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. We know these two persons from studying freedom of religion in history.

Williams was a pain for Winthrop. He was constantly making trouble. Finally Williams moved out of Massachusetts into Rhode Island. Williams was so worried about associating with sinful people that he finally concluded that the only person with whom he could commune was his own wife.

The Bloviator reminds me of Williams. He has found so much evil in the various Lutheran synods that he finds himself alone. Alone and on the internet.

It's lonely to be in the right and all alone.

Now we know what ELS members do instead of dealing with doctrine. One time, ELS Pastor Kincaid Smith phoned, with ELS Pastor Paul Schneider on the line. Kincaid led the charge sneering that he agreed with a pastor (at some meeting), to wit, "Greg Jackson has no credibility anymore." I asked, "If I have no credibility, why are two ELS pastors phoning me long distance? If I had no credibility, you wouldn't care what I published." That silenced Kincaid for a moment. He also sneered, "You don't have a friend in the world." I wondered how Kincaid could determine the number of my friends from a distance of 1500 miles and no contact. Perhaps the Holy Spirit told him. I find that many former charismatics never lose their complex about being in the direct line of the Apostles.

When I happened on Teigen's blog today, I immediately thought, "He sounds just like Kincaid." The ELS is so tiny that everything bounces around, like sounds in a tiled bathroom. Every tenor thinks he is Caruso. Thus the ELS and its non-theologians. If a man is tossed from his LCMS seminary after a bad vicarage, he can strut around the ELS.

I have had a number of anonymous comments posted on Ichabod. Comments are moderated, so I can reject them. One individual has become more and more outraged that I did not publish his unsigned comments. My policy has been to publish intelligent, thoughtful comments, whether they agree with me or not, signed or not. Hysterical name-calling (much worse than the example above) is rejected.

I have had many intersting experiences with writing. Kincaid Smith, who often published in Christian News, phoned me to tell me to stop publishing in CN. WELS made constant efforts to keep me from quoting them verbatim.

To meet Teigen's high standards of publishing:
1. I should have stayed in a synod that no longer exists, cheering on their pro-abortion, Leftist, anti-Trinitarian doctrine.
2. I should never question the false doctrine of church leaders, even though that is the substance of the Book of Concord, affirming the positive and rejecting distortions of the Gospel.
3. I should be silent about felons in the ministry, church workers who murder their spouses, married vicars who have affairs with minor girls, and those who cover up for them.
4. I should make as many ad hominem remarks as I wish, hinting at but never naming my target, to avoid violating the Eighth Commandment.

My only defense against Norm's tirade is to quote my favorite author:

"Let him therefore who is concerned about his life not be taken in by the friendliness of heretics to agree with their doctrine. Neither let him be offended at my faults, who am a teacher, but let him consider the doctrine itself."
[Origen, Homily 7, on Ezekiel]
Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 154.

If someone says something unpleasant in the Lutheran Church, whatever sect, the point is refuted by a personal attack against the speaker or writer. If that is not ruthless enough, they attack the individual's family members as well. Is it not true that Rolf Preus' son could not finish at Bethany Lutheran Seminary, a school endowed by his grandfather with a priceless selection of rare Lutheran orthodox books? Robert and Jack Preus made Bethany Seminary famous. It took the pharoah much longer to know not Joseph (Exodus 1:8)

If someone is a blatant false teacher, his apostate buddies jump in and say,
"No, he is a nice guy."
"I graduated with him."
"I drank a lot of beer with him."

All three refutations are non sequiturs. They have nothing to do with the issue.

ELS pastors would have everyone think they have arrived in Rivendell. As tiny as the group is, the ELS still has sects and divisions. One is called "The Teigenites."

Conclusion - The Ten Commandments

This (I say) it is profitable and necessary always to teach to the young people, to admonish them and to remind them of it, that they may be brought up not only with blows and compulsion, like cattle, but in the fear and reverence of God. For where this is considered and laid to heart that these things are not human trifles, but the commandments of the Divine Majesty, who insists upon them with such earnestness, is angry with, and punishes those who despise them, and, on the other hand, abundantly rewards those who keep them, there will be a spontaneous impulse and a desire gladly to do the will of God. Therefore it is not in vain that it is commanded in the Old Testament to write the Ten Commandments on all walls and corners, yes, even on the garments, not for the sake of merely having them written in these places and making a show of them, as did the Jews, but that we might have our eyes constantly fixed upon them, and have them always in our memory, and that we might practise them in all our actions and ways, and every one make them his daily exercise in all cases, in every business and transaction, as though they were written in every place wherever he would look, yea, wherever he walks or stands. Thus there would be occasion enough, both at home in our own house and abroad with our neighbors, to practise the Ten Commandments, that no one need run far for them.

From this it again appears how highly these Ten Commandments are to be exalted and extolled above all estates, commandments, and works which are taught and practised aside from them. For here we can boast and say: Let all the wise and saints step forth and produce, if they can, a [single] work like these commandments, upon which God insists with such earnestness, and which He enjoins with His greatest wrath and punishment, and, be. sides, adds such glorious promises that He will pour out upon us all good things and blessings. Therefore they should be taught above all others, and be esteemed precious and dear, as the highest treasure given by God. (The Ten Commandments, #330f, The Large Catechism, Book of Concord)

When the Supreme Court was deciding upon whether a state supreme court could have a monument to the Ten Commandments in a public area, no one seemed to notice that the US Supreme Court Building has always had Moses and the Ten Commandments carved in marble on its building. There is also a statue of Martin Luther in Washington DC - in a public place.

This summary by Luther is another example of his eloquence about the Scriptures. His warnings have come to pass. Many young adults have no real knowledge of the Bible. Two young women stayed after my class (introduction to the university) to discuss Christianity and how to grow in the faith. We had a long discussion about Christianity and religious training. One woman said her training consisted of "being placed on a bus every Sunday and taken to Sunday School." She had no training and home and felt somewhat lost with three children and a husband. The easy route for parents leaves the adult children in ignorance. Another generation is in danger from the spiritual inertia of the grandparents.

Lutherans need to remember this lesson. Early training after Holy Baptism is necessary. The Book of Concord says, "The head of the household..." That places the father in the teaching office of the home.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary Brochure

A layman mailed me the Michigan Lutheran Seminary brochure. I found it sad, touching, and disturbing as well. Doubtless the Luther Prep situation is almost the same, but I have direct connections to MLS through our son. Besides, MLS will be closed immediately if Wayne Mueller still has the last word on the subject. Luther Prep is slated to go as well, but that will take a few more months.

Whenever MLS students wear their logo around Saginaw, residents ask them, "Are they really closing your school?" A residential school develops quite a spirit among its students, faculty, parents, and alumni. Each question must be painful to hear. Naturally, this funereal atmosphere keeps enrollments depressed and gifts on hold. Why would someone give to a school that is closing?

I was still in the Michigan District, WELS, when the DP and his loyal robots provided the district meeting with four different ways to close Northwestern College. All four were soundly defeated, even though they were presented as if an angel from heaven wrote them. Nevertheless, the same DP, Robert Mueller, showed up at the WELS convention and spoke in favor of closing NWC.

MLS anticipated the budget pressures against the school. This is clearly a case of Wayne Mueller and Company funding their missionaries all over the world, a huge budget for technology, needless magazines, and other frills, while saying, "We cannot afford two preps, or even one." The Church Growth people will turn Luther Prep into Marty's Live Bait Shop as soon as they can get the sign painted.

MLS had a plan to create self-support for their school, but the synod leaders aborted that by announcing the closing. According to the brochure, members of the synodical council were kept ignorant of these plans when the closing was being discussed and approved. I sense personal animosity and vindictiveness behind the plans to close MLS.

I wrote this before: Church Growth people hate schools. This is the fruit of Church Growth tolerated and supported. More than one Lutheran pastor has been mugged while opposing Church Growth. Too bad so many fellow pastors stood by and watched. Now no one is left with any fight.

From a distance, I interpret the sudden drop in national giving to a complete rejection of the Mueller/Gurgel regime. The closings I interpret as retaliation by Mueller, the way school boards threaten communities with the loss of their favorite programs if the millage is voted down. As Wayne wrote on his gaseous blog, "Does it hurt enough yet?"

Coveting - The Firstfruits of Church Growth

Thou shalt not covet...

Therefore we allow these commandments to remain in their ordinary meaning, that it is commanded, first, that we do not desire our neighbor's damage, nor even assist, nor give occasion for it, but gladly wish and leave him what he has, and, besides, advance and preserve for him what may be for his profit and service, as we should wish to be treated. Thus these commandments are especially directed against envy and miserable avarice, God wishing to remove all causes and sources whence arises everything by which we do injury to our neighbor, and therefore He expresses it in plain words: Thou shalt not covet, etc. For He would especially have the heart pure, although we shall never attain to that as long as we live here; so that this commandment will remain, like all the rest, one that will constantly accuse us and show how godly we are in the sight of God! (The Ten Commandments, #309f., The Large Catechism, Book of Concord)

Coveting is certainly the fountainhead or energy behind many violations of the Ten Commandments. How many murders began in coveting? How many destroyed marriages and families? Coveting is the most dangerous sin listed in the Commandments because one can engage in no outward activity or words and still be guilty of coveting. In addition, as Luther noted, coveting is especially tempting for the most pious and outwardly observant.

Since the Church Growth Movement is rooted in man's wisdom, marketing, and false doctrine, we should not be suprised to find Church Growth leaders champions of coveting. What do they desire from life? Not fidelity to the Scriptures. The more they violate their own confessions (whatever denomination), the more they appeal to the Old Adam, the more popular they become. Fidelity to marriage is also optional. Their large congregations wink at their ability to switch spouses or play the field.

More than one layman has told me about Church Growth pastors who announce to non-members, "Please consider me your pastor." Clearly the ministers do this to entice members from another congregation into theirs, or at the very least, these unethical men want to involve themselves in another minister's divine call. Church Growth pastors are not content to have their trotters in the trough. They want every trough to be their own as well.

Coveting, like mercy, is twice-blest. The covetous minister attracts covetous members, who long to be associated with the mall-like church everyone knows and admires. What better place to network for business?

Reformed Doctrine - Heavy Metal Poison

One person wisely commented that Reformed doctrine, from Zwingli and Calvin and the Pietists, is more dangerous than Romanism among Lutherans. Many are infected with Romanism at Ft. Wayne, sometimes in the name of Eastern Orthodoxy. I find papal fever in the plaintive wail of someone justifying the title bishop in his micro-mini sect: "If we want to call ourselves catholic..." I understand the context of the complaint, but I wonder if this is the time to embrace or be embraced by Patristic Fundamentalism:

Gimme that old time episcopacy
Gimme that old time episcopacy
Gimme that old time episcopacy
It's good enough for me.

It was good enough for Augie (Augustine)
It was good enough for Jerry (Jerome)
It was good enough for Connie (St. Constantine, or Constantine the Great)
And it's good enough for me.

Reformed doctrine is like mercury, a toxic heavy metal often used in mining and still used in dentists' offices. Mercury clings to gold and silver. Oh no, the dentist never says, "Would you like mercury in your mouth?" He says he will use the words silver or amalgam*. Silver is too hard to be used alone, so it is blended, amalgamated with mercury to make it maleable. Gold is ideal because it is the most maleable metal and is non-toxic besides. Gold is a bit spendy, as they say in New Ulm. (Spendy in New Ulm means pricey.)

Lutherans who study Reformed doctrine and methods (the two cannot be separated) become Reformed, Pietistic, and even Pentecostal. Mequon, the LCMS seminaries, and Bethany have produced Church Growth Enthusiasts of the worst callibre. This does not happen by accident. As Rogers and Hammerstein might have written, had they studied Lutheran theology:

You've Got to Be Carefully Taught

You've got to be taught to love Church Growth,
You've got to be taught to be an oaf,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little brain.
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to quickly flee
From Means of Grace and efficacy,
And people whose trust is in God's Word.
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
You earn an M.Div. and you graduate,
To hate all the Lutherans your teachers hate
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be carefully taught.

Every single collapse of Lutheran doctrine (Prussian Church Union, Revivalism, American Lutheranism, Lutheran Pietism, Pentecostalism/Charismatic Movement, Church Growth) has happened because of Lutherans abandoning Biblical doctrine in favor of Reformed doctrine and those methods associated with the doctrine. Pietists believed in cell groups, not the worship service and the Means of Grace. Pentecostals believe in their own sweating-shrieking-spirit-baptism, not in the water/Spirit baptism of John 3.

Those converted from Lutheran orthodoxy to another religion have always masked their new doctrine while insisting that the true measure of genuine religion comes from baptism in the new authors. Find out what these people create for their reading lists and their doctrine will be revealed in a flash. Lutheran social activists were baptized in Walter Rauschenbusch, measuring everything by his set of filters. Thus we have the foundation for ELCA activism today. Even the same "parables" are used. Should we bind the wounds of the man robbed on the highway - or - make that highway safe? (The answer is obvious to them, because they cannot comprehend what the parable actually teaches. Besides, they also want to add a toll-both on the highway.)

Both the current cancers are Reformed in doctrine - Church Growth and Pentecostalism. Look at the required readings lists. Read the people they quote with such adoration in their lite books and kooky essays. They almost always reveal, at one time or another, a hatred for Lutheran doctrine, Lutheran hymns, the Creeds, and reliable translations.

*When the Church Growth liberals decided to close Northwestern College and merge it with Dr. Martin Luther College, they did not call it a closing or a merger. They called it Amalgamation. One wit called it the Anschluss. The German word was a better description. The liberals promised that the pastoral track would remain and not be watered down. As soon as the shot-gun marriage was forced, after years of resistance from all parties except the Love Shack bosses, the pastoral track was abandoned. One friend called up and said, "They lied to us." I asked, "Was this the first time? Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and face reality."

Eighth Commandment - The Forgotten Paragraph

All this has been said regarding secret sins. But where the sin is quite public so that the judge and everybody know it, you can without any sin avoid him and let him go, because he has brought himself into disgrace, and you may also publicly testify concerning him. For when a matter is public in the light of day, there can be no slandering or false judging or testifying; as, when we now reprove the Pope with his doctrine, which is publicly set forth in books and proclaimed in all the world. For where the sin is public, the reproof also must be public, that every one may learn to guard against it. (The Ten Commandments, #284The Large Catechism, Book of Concord)

This paragraph covers two matters. One is law-breaking. The other is doctrinal. Clearly, a district president, minister, or vicar who has been convicted by a jury and sent to prison would be identified and shunned under this rubric. However, the organizations cover up for these people so that the blue-haired ladies who give all the money do not have a stroke and cancel their pledges. ("Thank heavens," say the Tetzels, "for irrevocable gift trusts.") Therefore, we find actual criminals given the best possible PR, silence, encouraging others to follow their example.

The second part is passed over quickly in this passage but occupies all of Luther's writing. As someone mentioned years ago, Luther did not discover the Gospel. He did not become the first of his generation to teach the Gospel. His distinction was to teach the Gospel and declare what was contrary to the Gospel. The Antichrist could tolerate the Gospel alone, but he could not tolerate being called a false teacher. Luther did this throughout his writings and sermons. The Book of Concord is known for its antithetical statesments as well (Formula of Concord).

The false teachers today constantly run under the shelter of the Eighth Commandment. They are being slandered when their doctrine is questioned. One notable experience took place when I identified Paul Kelm endorsing a pan-Lutheran Church Growth conference. Frosty Bivens immediately stood up and said, "I want to defend Paul Kelm's good name." I wondered to myself, "What does that have to do with the truth?"

I was asked to prove Kelm's endorsement. I produced it in its original form. Bivens then said, "Maybe this was printed without his permission." Slick Brenner noted that this was not an isolated accident with Kelm. The Church Growth chorus always chimed in for each other and knew the DPs would always be their Amen Corner. Moreover, the Church Growth chorus is pan-Lutheran: their loyalty knows no bounds.

Yelling "Slander" falsely is itself a personal attack, and it is perversely evil. However, to counter by saying, "No you are a slanderer" is a gigantic waste of breath. Readers of Ichabod would be surprised at how nasty some Lutherans are in secret when they pose as mild and moderate in public.

Any attempt to deal with false doctrine will be met with demonic rage. If someone has published an error, such as Valleskey's disastrous We Believe, Therefore We Speak, his halleluia chorus for the Church Growth Movement, then his words are worthy of being dissected. I have published the verbatim quotations of these Fuller students many times. Oh my, how they howl in protest. "They were published out of context!" That encouraged me to quote even larger sections. The cries of injustice grew even louder, reaching the ears of their Father Below.

R. Schulz posted an excellent comment already. He is correct. The false teachers demand that their published errors be addressed privately, confusing the Eighth Commandment with Matthew 19. That does not work either. When I talked to various WELS pastors about what they were doing, a future DP told me, "You are so direct that it is causing great consternation."

WELS Pastor Stadler called me up in a fury because I published something against his published essay, called Heirs Together. I renamed it Errorists Together. He told me wrathfully that I should have "withstood him to his face." Very KingJamesish. It sounded well rehearsed. So I said, "Do you want to know what I think about your essay?" He said, "No."

When pastors went to Paul Kelm about his Church Growth fanaticism, nothing happened.

When ELS pastors had trouble with the sect's Public Ministry of the WELS document, they were defenestrated. I do not have the newest editions of the Book of Concord, but I suspect that the PMW is not there...yet.

Everyone benefits when doctrine is discussed and debated. The apostates knew what they were doing when they outlawed any form of dialogue about their errors. That is a sin against the Holy Spirit. The nasties are saying right now, "There he goes again." I have heard WELS pastors say, "The Holy Spirit put the circuit pastor in that office. Who am I to question his decisions?" Questioning any errorist in WELS is a confrontation with God Almighty. Count on it being something other than a still, small voice.

Eighth Commandment - A Price To Pay

Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Next, it extends very much further, if we are to apply it to spiritual jurisdiction or administration; here it is a common occurrence that every one bears false witness against his neighbor. For wherever there are godly preachers and Christians, they must bear the sentence before the world that they are called heretics, apostates, yea, seditious and desperately wicked miscreants. Besides, the Word of God must suffer in the most shameful and malicious manner, being persecuted, blasphemed, contradicted, perverted, and falsely cited and interpreted. But let this pass; for it is the way of the blind world that she condemns and persecutes the truth and the children of God, and yet esteems it no sin.(The Ten Commandments, #262, The Large Catechism, Book of Concord)

Martin Luther consistently taught a theology of the cross: the Word brings persecution. When people leave ELCA for a conservative Lutheran body, they are shocked by the way in which Lutherans pounce on other Lutherans. Seminarians used to be surprised after they got their first call. What they did as seminarians was lauded previously. So many would say, "I am so glad you are training to be a minister." Suddenly, a Scriptural sermon creates an earthquake.

Much of that has changed since Missouri, WELS, and the ELS began aping ELCA in filtering out candidates for the ministry. In the old days, seminarians were welcomed in all denominations if they had the basic qualifications. Then the wise guys realized that one must be very picky about the ultimate harvest. Pre-seminary interviews in the LCA allowed bad attitudes (pro-life, etc.) to come out in the open. No certification for seminary in the LCA/ELCA meant the road was blocked. The pan-Lutheran leadership gatherings let the backward synods catch on to the political value of blocking candidates.

So many stories could be told about the evil practices of today. Most of them would open old wounds in friends. Much of this comes from the top down - synod officials and seminary drones thinning out the competition. After, if intelligent and highly trained men entered the ministry with an independent spirit, what become of the addled politicians who run the show? Even the dumbest church official knows when his job is threatened. Usually, everything except abject submission threatens him.

The sad harvest of shame is this: faithful laity can hardly find shelter in an orthodox congregation. Their pastor must goose-step to the tune of "Beautiful Sunshine" (the start of McGavran's career at Fuller) or find themselves suddenly declared "out of fellowship."