Someone asked about lay-led cell groups being the heart and soul of Pietism. I have a chapter on that in Thy Strom Word. All the chapters are posted as links. Please use them. Still, I am happy to summarize:
1. Pietism was a unionistic movement to combine Lutheran and Reformed Christians at the expense of Lutheran doctrine.
2. The lay-led cell group was and remains the heart and soul of Pietism. Now it is also the energy behind women teaching men, women in authority over men, and women's ordination (the ultimate prize, the Helen of Troy, the forbidden fruit).
3. Cell groups foster the idea that they are the Real Church. They despise the Means of Grace and use the Sunday service to recruit more buddies for their cell group.
4. Fuller Seminary promotes cell groups, but loathes Lutheran doctrine, Lutheran worship, the creeds, etc.
5. Cell groups are divisive because of their superiority complex. Read Timotheus Verinus if you can find a copy.
7. Other names for cell groups - koinonia, share, care, affinity, Home Bible Study.
8. Apostates like Mark Jeske love Pietism. When someone comes out in favor of Pietism, count on him endorsing the Church Growth Movement later.
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Lay-led Cell Group Pietism
Is Mankato Hell?
Norm Teigen
A snowball's chance in Hell
If someone had asked me a few years back if my cousin Erling Teigen would ever be named to the Doctrine Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, I would have said that a snowball would have a better chance of making it in Satan's demesne.
Well, he has been named to this Committee. How about that.
Erling is also teaching in the Seminary. And so is Dennis Marzolf.
***
GJ - If Erling is a snowball, then Mankato must be Hell.
The Little Sect on the Prairie has very high standards. When people learned that the new seminary professor, Moldstad, had no bachelor's degree, there was a dust-up. Apparently Moldstad then finished his bachelor's to uphold the high standards of the seminary facult - 100% have graduated from college! Moldstad then replaced the First VP of the sect in a carefully planned coup, as ELS Pastor Kincaid Smith bragged. He was soon enthroned as Pope John the Malefactor. Needless to say, this title went to his head, which was not exactly filled with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and German.
An Augustana Synod (Swedish-American) historian marveled that boys off the farm could assume such airs as soon as they were ordained. Exactly how could someone so allergic to education teach subject matter so demanding of higher education?
Norm Teigen is right. Education tends to disqualify someone in the Little Sect.
Norm Teigen versus Church and Change
Norman Teigen
I also think that I will stop by and see my pastor friend and find out what the deal is on Church and Change. Why did he feel that he could participate last summer but then drop out of the program? Who really told him in the first place that this was a cool place to go? Why did he change his mind?)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
We Still Believe
I wrote the following and used it in a brochure. Then I urged others to copy it, via Christian News, and they did. Here it is:
In an age of anxiety, we still believe that peace comes from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
In an age of confusion, we still believe that the Bible is the Word of God, inerrant and infallible.
In an age of doubt, we still believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
In an age of guilt, we still believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to remove the power of sin, death, and Satan from our lives.
In an age of fear, we still believe that Christ rose bodily from the dead to win for us eternal life.
In an age of self-centeredness, we still believe that God acts through the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.
In an age of constant change, we still believe in the unchanging Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
"If you hold to my teaching, then you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 8:31-32
***
I no longer had the brochure, so I Googled "We Still Believe Lutheran." I found examples all over Lutherdom, some with variations that fall harshly on the unwaxed ear.
Aha! Matt Has Not Actually Seen This
I know a lot of you WELS and ELS pastors are reading this, so take a gander at what the Ft. Wayne seminarian says about Green Bay, De Pere. Isn't Paul Kelm there? Yes, I see that he is.
I anticipate what WELS leaders will say. Matt has not seen these apostate acts first-hand. Read and weep, Old WELSians, because it can only get worse.
At January 22, 2006, Matt Makela said...
Dear WELS and WELS student,
Sorry for being vague. Nothing is intrinsically unbiblical about contemporary worship. However, St. Mark's contemporary worship is often unbiblical. My source of information concerning St. Mark's is my former hairdresser who is a faithful member of the congregation. Please note that on their home page (http://www.stmark-depere.com) there are three main pictures. The rightmost of the pictures has what contemporary worship typically looks like at St. Mark's. My informant has told me that songs with decision theology lyrics such as "Refiner's Fire" and "I Choose You" are sung regularly at St. Mark's contemporary services (they have 3 per week). Often there is no confession and absolution, creed, or Lord's Prayer. The site does, however, have a very good Q&A portion that is very faithful to Scripture. My informant told me that women read Scripture and help with distributing the elements not terribly often...probably once a month at one service. There were at one point Bible studies based on the Purpose Driven Life, which I find very disturbing (it's unforunately happening all over the LCMS).
Let me clarify that I have not personally seen anything that goes on at St. Mark's. However, my witness is very trustworthy, and I have no reason to doubt her. I hope this clarified some of the confusion.
***
At January 23, 2006, wels_of_pure_doctrine said...
Matt,
I personally talked with Pastor Parlow of St. Mark DePere this morning. He emphatically told me that they do NOT allow women to distribute the elements. Only called men are allowed to help with that. He also told me that songs which contain reformed lyrics (I believe you mentioned "I choose you") are not used. They often write their own songs, and ANY song they used not written by one of their WELS ministers is put under doctrinal review (that includes hymns as not all their services are "contemporary."). I don't know what was up with your informent, but he demonstrated to me that those things are simply not true.
***
GJ - Now we know it did happen and perhaps still does happen. The official denial has been posted. You have already broken fellowship with WELS by reading this blog, so repent you guilt-free saints of UOJ.
I wonder - does Paul Kelm supervise the doctrinal purity of the hymns? No one is more Reformed than he is.
Some may know that the WELS and ELS leaders got together to discuss women distributing Holy Communiion (and more?). They said, "Naughty, naughty." That does not mean it actually happened, ever, anywhere, at any time.
Matt - Wake Up and
Smell the Kool-Aid
Consider joining WELS?
I guess another thing is what constitutes a "persistent errorist"? I know for a fact that some WELS pastors in Green Bay are persistent errorists by their love for unbiblical contemporary worship and adherence to The Purpose Driven Life and other church growth books. They allow women to read Scripture, perform children's messages during the Divine Service, and serve the elements. They have women "staff ministers." The church in particular that I refer to is St. Mark's, which has a dual parish (one church in Green Bay and the other in DePere). I know also that "percentage-wise" more WELS churches have unbiblical contemporary worship services than LCMS churches. Is it because the WELS has PAPER ORTHODOXY that you are confident to say that it is 100% orthodox and the LCMS 100% heterodox?
You wrote in a post last week (I think) that the WELS takes care of its problems, and that's what makes it different fom Missouri. If this is true, the one responsible for St. Mark's in Green Bay is not doing his job. I guess my point is that not even the WELS is always able to combat false teachings. Should it be that because the WELS does not take care of the problems happening at St. Mark's that you should leave and join the ELS? However, that would be problematic also since the ELS is in fellowship with the WELS.
I hope that you do not take offense at my writing. I in no way mean to cause you to be angry or insulted. As I said before, I respect the WELS and ELS greatly, and I know that you are a very faithful Lutheran believer. I just have some questions about WELS that I would like clarified before I feel 100% cut to the heart that I need to switch synods (something that I am definitely considering by the way).
Any clarification you can give to me, WELS, would be very helpful. Thank you!
***
GJ - This young man is very polite. I am sure some WELS member will post something about the Green Bay Packers, rendering Matt's knowledge of Green Bay null and void.
Charis - Church and Change
From the source:
Research Update: Factional Attributes in the WELS
By Dr. John E. Bauer
Dr. Bauer is the former Executive Director of The CHARIS Institute, Inc.
Introduction
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has experienced steady rates of decline over the past two decades that have produced financial and organizational stress. With the exception of 2004, baptized and communicant membership saw 21 straight years of decline. Sunday school attendance has dropped for 32 years straight and Lutheran elementary school enrollments have declined for 25 years in a row. Fiscal shortfalls, first made public in 2002, have led to reductions in the number of world missionaries, the number of college and seminary professorships, and numerous other cost-cutting measures.
When an organization experiences decline, it is common to observe denial and avoidance on the part of organization members and leaders on the one hand, and agitation forinnovation and change on the other. Both are occurring in the WELS. Within the last decade, growing divergence is occurring between two distinct factions.
One group, characterized by The CHARIS Institute and The Center for Church and Change, reacts to decline and loss by seeking creative and innovative approaches to ministry, by trying to develop networks for sharing ideas, and by combating the forces of legalism that restrict the free expression of the gospel.
The other group, characterized by the “Issues in WELS” conferences, the now defunct journal, Motley Magpie, and blogs such as “WELS in Crisis” react to financial and cultural changes in the denomination by returning to the safety of orthodoxy. Judging from the articles, papers, and postings of these organizations and groups, the preferred reaction to decline and demise is a clearer refinement of the church’s doctrine of church fellowship, rejection of anything thatseemingly resembles “church growth,” and a rejection of things contemporary or innovative in favor of the more traditional modes of pastoral ministry and worship.
Cell Group Quotations
Cell Group Quotations in Alphabetical Order
The lay-led cell group or conventicle is at the heart of Pietism, Reformed doctrine, and the Church Growth Movement. Below are quotations from WELS, LCMS, and various non-Lutherans, all saying approximately the same thing.
"Small Group Fellowships are not, as is sometimes supposed, a formal Bible class. Instead, Small Group Fellowships are a 'relationship,' a relationship among members of the group, a relationship with God, a relationship based on and centered in the Word of God. Small Group Fellowships are gatherings of people who study God's Word together and then put the Word into action together by (a) applying it to their lives, (b) by worshiping the Triune God, and (c) by serving others--sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and their very lives."
Campus Ministry Foundation (WELS), Inc., Small Group Fellowships, Madison: Campus Ministry Foundation, 1990, p. 3.
"The Rationale for Small Groups...5. It Follows Biblical Practice. a. Jesus and the Twelve Apostles (Jesus concentrated on investing Himself in His small group of disciples to teach and model spiritual truth, attitudes and behavior for them and to train them to be spiritual leaders. b. The Early Christians (Acts 2:42-47; 16:40; 20:20-21).
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 3.
"Small Group Fellowships are lay-led."
Campus Ministry Foundation (WELS), Inc., Small Group Fellowships, Madison: Campus Ministry Foundation, 1990, p. 8.
"HomeWORD Bound Groups, Fairview (WELS), Milwaukee, WI. The Boards of Elders and Education of Fairview Ev. Lutheran Church Prayerfully Extend A DIVINE CALL to____________________ To Lead a Small Group Bible Study along with ________. Purpose: A Bible study leader in Fairview's HomeWord Bound program shall facilitate lay-led, home Bible studies which assist Fairview in its ministry...."
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison.
"Definition: 'A small group within the church is a voluntary intentional gathering of people, varying in number, regularly meeting together for mutual Christian purposes.' - Serendipity
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 2.
"Types of Home Groups, by Karen Hurston (Church Growth Assoc.), from material by Bob Fulton."
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 10.
"A Look at Several WELS Small Group Ministries. 1. Fairview in Milwaukee (Pastor Jim Aderman) 2. Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel in Madison (Mr. Rolf Wegenke) 3. Emanuel in New London (Pastor Steve Witte)"
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 19.
"The Network of WELS Small Group Leaders. 1. Information on active/interested small group leaders. 2. The Resource Sharing Network led by Divine Savior in Indianapolis, Indiana [Pastor Dan Kelm]."
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 19.
"A Look at Several WELS Small Group Ministries. 1. Fairview in Milwaukee (Pastor Jim Aderman) 2. Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel in Madison (Mr. Rolf Wegenke) 3. Emanuel in New London (Pastor Steve Witte)"
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 19.
"A cell group is the basic part of our church. It is not another church program--it is the program of our church."
Dr. Paul Y. Cho (with R. Whitney Manzano), More Than Numbers, Waco: Word Books, 1984, p. 42.
"We have many different types of cell groups. I have found that there is a basic sociological principle which must be maintained in order for them to be successful. The principle is one of homogeneity."
Dr. Paul Y. Cho (with R. Whitney Manzano), More Than Numbers, Waco: Word Books, 1984, p. 44.
"The unrelenting growth is based on a multiplication of home cell groups led by lay leaders." Harry Genet, "Big Trouble for the World's Largest Church,"
Christianity Today, January 22, 1982 p. 30.
"Students of Church Growth realize that a good structure for the church that really wants to grow is the organization of celebration plus congregation plus cell. When we see the importance of the organization of the church we are looking with 'Church Growth Eyes.' We are looking from an x-ray perspective and understanding the internal organs of the body of Christ—the Church!"
Kent R. Hunter, Launching Growth in the Local Congregation, A Workbook for Focusing Church Growth Eyes, Detroit: Church Growth Analysis and Learning Center, 1980, p. 81. WELS Church and Change loves, loves, loves Hunter.
"In an article on the small group movement, J. A. Gorman notes that 'both the Church Growth Institute of Fuller Seminary and the American Institute of Church Growth became centers for influencing the use of this means for evangelizing." (Christian Education, Moody Press, 1991, pp. 509, 510)
Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 126.
"This writer's acquaintance with this current phenomenon is threefold: 1) he has attended one of the workshops held by Lyman Coleman; 2) he has read about a dozen books in the last ten years coming from evangelical sources [i.e. false teachers] that deal with small groups either wholly or in part; 3) he has also inquired about why a number of WELS congregations have begun to conduct small group Bible study and how they have structured these groups."[1]
Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 127.
"The point being made here is that the reason for having home Bible study in small groups seems to have shifted from the Pietists' or parachurch groups goal of creating cells of people who will reform the church to having small groups as an integral part of a congregation's work."
Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 127.
"PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY AT CROSSROADS...Conduct seeker services... Provide small group leadership. At Crossroads, as people come to know Jesus they are encouraged to participate in groups of 8 to 10 people who meet weekly for 2 years of fellowship, holding one another accountable, discipleship training, encouragement and support. 1 Thessalonians. 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up."
Pastor Rick Miller, (WELS), Crossroads Community Church, 1 Thessalonians 5:11.
"Every disciple had responsibility over two types of cells, one cell where he formed the lives of the new converts, and another cell where he took the most advanced of those new converts and taught them how to be leaders, knowing that cell would soon be divided and the most advanced disciples put over additional cells. So came the multiplication." Juan Carlos Ortiz, Call to Discipleship, Plainfield: Logos International, 1975, p. 101. "A cell has five elements: 1) devotion; 2) discussion; 3) programming; 4) mobilization; 5) multiplication. It takes all five to form a cell group." Juan
Carlos Ortiz, Call to Discipleship, Plainfield: Logos International, 1975, p. 106.
"The cell groups are used to teach sound doctrine...Sound doctrine is not just belief in the millennium, the rapture, and the tribulation."
Juan Carlos Ortiz, Call to Discipleship, Plainfield: Logos International, 1975, p. 111.
"Another cause for the misplacement of believers is the Sunday school. The early church knew nothing about Sunday schools. They knew the best way for believers to grow and multiply is not through Bible lectures, but through living cells. This means small groups of four or five persons who meet in homes under a leader so their lives may be shaped so they may mobilize and multiply themselves in other cells."
Juan Carlos Ortiz, Call to Discipleship, Plainfield: Logos International, 1975, p. 29.
"Resources mentioned in this 'Bulletin' are available from CHURCH GROWTH, 709 E. Colorado Blvd. #150, Pasadena, CA 91101. Or call 1-800-423-4844."
Pastor Jim Radloff, editor, Mission Counsellor Newsletter, Austin, Texas, May, 1988
"Types of Home Groups, by Karen Hurston (Church Growth Assoc.), from material by Bob Fulton. Copied with the permission of Charles Arn."
Pastor Jim Radloff, editor, WELS Mission Counselors' Newsletter, Oct., '91, 2929 Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI 53222 p. 11.
"The dynamics of assimilation into active church membership have very little to do with theological issues. Rather, a new members' class should focus primarily on relational issues of involvement and belonging." (Defining an Assimilated Member, by Charles Arn, copied with permission from EVANGELISM, 12800 North Lake Shore Drive, Mequon, WI, 53092. Annual subscription rate for EVANGELISM is $12...Charles Arn is Vice President of Church Growth, Inc. in Monrovia, Ca.)
Pastor Jim Radloff, editor, WELS Mission Counselors' Newsletter, Oct., '91, 2929 Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI 53222 p. 150.
"What Are Affinity Groups? by Pastor Wayne Vogt, Fount of Life, Colorado Springs, CO."
Pastor Jim Radloff, editor, WELS Mission Counselors' Newsletter, Oct., '91, 2929 Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI 53222 p. 8.
WELS Mission Counselors' NEWSLETTER, April, 1992: authors are - James Woodworth, Disciples of Christ; "Net Results," March, 1991; Roger K. Guy, Disciples of Christ; Arnell P. C. Arn, American Baptist Church; Jane Easter Bahls, Presbyterian; C. Jeff Woods, freelance writer and minister; Lyle Schaller, United Methodist; Pastor Paul Kelm; Pastor Jim Mumm, WELS; Pastor Peter Panitzke, WELS; Pastor Randall Cutter and Mark Freier, WELS; First Congretional Church, Winchester, MA." [2]
Pastor Jim Radloff, editor, WELS Mission Counselors' Newsletter, April, '92, 2929 Mayfair Road Milwaukee, WI 53222
"The church is no longer the community of those who have been called by the Word and the Sacraments, but association of the reborn, of those who 'earnestly desire to be Christians'...The church in the true sense consists of the small circles of pietists, the 'conventicles,' where everyone knows everyone else and where experiences are freely exchanged."
Martin Schmidt, "Pietism," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1899.
"Some 15 years ago, Peter Wagner's equation read 'Cells + Congregation + Celebration = Church.'"
Ken Sidey, "Church Growth Fine Tunes Its Formulas," Christianity Today, June 24, 1991, p. 46.
"Wouldn't it be terrible to sleep through the Second Reformation? Cell Group Churches. The New Lifestyle For New Wineskins. Cell Group Churches Are Really Different! A 'Cell Group' Church is built on the fact that all Christians are ministers, and that there is no 'professional clergy' hired to do the work of ministry. According to Ephesians 4, God has provided 'Gifted Men' to equip 'Believers Who Are Gifted' to do the work of ministry...The life of the church is in its Cells, not in a building. While it has weekly worship events, the focus of the church is in the home Cells."
Touch Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box 19888 Houston, TX 77079 1-800-735-5865
"Cell Groups For Reaching The Unchurched Are Called...SHARE GROUPS. Touch Outreach Ministries has spent many years experimenting with the best way to train Cell Group members to form 'Sub-Groups' called SHARE GROUPS which specifically target evangelizing the unchurched. SHARE GROUPS are 'pre-Bible study' Cells, which bond relationships between three Christians and six unbelievers. A series of three small books are used over a 27-week period of training. The first book, called 'BUILDING BRIDGES, OPENING HEARTS,' guides the SHARE GROUP Team through the first part of the strategy."
Touch Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box 19888 Houston, TX 77079 1-800-735-5865 p. 7.
"The cell groups have probably become the universal trademark of Full Gospel Central Church...A cell group is a cluster of church members who meet weekly in a home, factory, office, or other place for the purpose of evangelism and Christian fellowship through singing, prayer, Bible study, offering giving, announcements, sharing of needs, and praises and ministry to one another."
John N. Vaughan, The World's Twenty Largest Churches, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984, p. 44.
"Cell. Sometimes called a kinship circle; a small group of 8-12 believers; an important part of the church's struct which has the primary functions of spiritual accountability and intimacy and secondary functions of Bible, prayer, and healing."
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 283.
"Cell groups of Christians fellowshipping together date back to the first century, for it was largely through the activities of little groups or cells of believers that the message of Jesus Christ spread throughout the Roman Empire."
Waldo J. Werning, The Radical Nature of Christianity, Church Growth Eyes Look at the Supernatural Mission of the Christian and the Church, South Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1975, p. 93.
"Bible studies from Serendipity. Serendipity makes available Bibles (with outlines and discussion questions) and topical study booklets for adults and teen-agers. See appendix D for sample study courses. Order a SERENDIPITY SMALL GROUP RESOURCES CATALOG from Serendipity, P.O. Box 1012, Littleton, CO, 80160 or call 1-800-525-9583 (In CO call 1-303-798-1313)."
Notebook, WELS School of Outreach IV, p. 225.
-------------------------
[1] CLC Pastor David Koenig was anxious to prove that David Kuske was not trained by Lyman Coleman. Koenig even published a letter in Christian News about it. Koenig was always eager to start cell groups and heatedly supported Pietism while trying to quash any criticism of his beloved Church Growth Movement.
[2] Two of the featured WELS authors, Cutter and Freier, have left Lutheranism.
What I Found On My Scavenger Hunt for Blogs
St. Peter (WELS) Lutheran Church Blog
Sermon for May 7, 20064 May 2006 by Saint Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church
I believe in the Holy Christian Church, but I do not believe in the Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod. God’s Church cannot fail because … well, because it is God’s church. The Wisconsin Synod can fail because it is a human institution. ...
I picked that up from the link on Google, but the page no longer exists. Once again, I ask, Who says WELS has no doctrinal discipline?
Bloggers know that pages can be kept online for a long time. Deletion has to be deliberate and pre-meditated. This pastor stopped drinking the Kool-Aid. I am sure he has returned to his Holy Mother WELS mode now.
Maranatha Remembers
Maranatha Student:
Where our college/seminary was located (Watertown, WI) was an old-line Lutheran college. Northwestern. Since merged with Martin Luther in Minnesota.
In 1968 a group of students went on their campus, into dorms, to "witness" to those WELS heathen!! Rock, drunkeness, porn and about everything that was NOT allowed at Maranatha were in evidence. And we were confronted with the fact that many of these guys were going on to seminary and into the pastorate.
After our visit we were told we could talk to students out on campus, but never again allowed in the dorms. We had been TOLD that the WELS was the most conservative/hyper or "x" of the Lutherans, but I've found most MoSyn to be in REALITY more conservative.
__________________
'Dr. Bob' Griffin
www.sovereigngracechurch.com
***
GJ - UOJ favors alcoholism because drunks know they are already forgiven. Northwestern College was famous in WELS for allowing underage drinking, drinking to excess, and many other excesses. I posted this because it was information found on the Net. Of course, now we know it is true because an official denial was posted immediately afterwards.
WELS logic: If one Starbucks makes real whipped cream, then WELS is still perfect.
If Maranatha expects young women to dress modestly, their posts must be full of lies about WELS.
***
M Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Maranatha Remembers":
No, but a 40 year old story coming from a legalistic source isn't what i'd call classy investigative journalism.
2nd-- Because it happened at Northwestern does not mean it was 'allowed' as you put it. Just as it is not 'allowed' at MLC today.
In fact, a bigger problem is getting people to see that you cannot solve a 'morality problem' with constant and empty sanctification preaching, or using the Gospel as a new Law.
I know many young men who were the type of men you are deriding, and they have repented and been forgiven.
Not all of us can be perfect from the start as you and your baptist friend seem to be.
Does a lack of drinking on campus or ankle length skirts make you a better Christian?
If it does...please post a picture of yourself in an ankle length skirt.
***
GJ - I had to feature this because it is so typically WELS, except for the fact that the author signs his name.
Sig Becker, according to Herman Otten, was disgusted with the alcoholism and adultery of the WELS ministerium. Recently, I heard of a well-traveled WELS businessman who said the WELS clergy were the worst behaved, adulterous, and loutish of all the clergy he knew across the country. But of course, when the former SP was asked about a pastor in Arizona living in adultery, he went after the supposed source of the news. The adulterer was left alone.
One WELS pastor's wife, a graduate of DMLC, complained about the Score Reports at NWC. Her husband, a WELS circuit pastor, roared with laughter. Perhaps Mike could explain the Score Reports in a comment.
I would dissect all the logical fallacies from the post above, but I have some homework to grade. Readers can judge for themselves.
This is a polemical website emphasizing orthodox Lutheran doctrine, where vast amounts of web information are gathered to save people the trouble of going to other websites.
Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant Printing
The Luluputians have informed me that Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant is being printed and sent to Christian News, another shipment going to the Galactic Headquarters of Martin Chemnitz Press.
I have learned from my Church Growth mentors in various synods to inflate all titles. However, that makes me a bit uneasy, since an ecclesiastical organization is always inversely proportionate to the grandiloquence of its name. (For Mequon graduates, that means: the bigger the name, the smaller the institution. Example - Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America. Translation - one church building, a half dozen meeting-ats.)
When my copies arrive I will immediately ship them to those who care to order through me, or, those who ordered early to avoid the rush.
CN ordering advantage - they take credit cards.
MCP advantage - If you want 10 or more, I can give you a good discount. A number of churches have ordered boxes of CLP at a time, for confirmation or adult classes. I will still take care of individual orders, too. I am happy to work with small book stores with a consignment arrangement. They can take on a few books at a time and pay the wholesale rate when they have sold them.
***
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant Printing":
Any person can take credit card orders through PayPal or Google's Froogle service. PayPal allows people to send money and an invoice to you without your having to even post anything on e-Bay or your website. I think Froogle requires you to post something, BUT posting on Froogle is free. The post remains active for 30 days, but you renew the post with a couple mouse clicks when the 30 days is up. You can do that indefinitely.
GJ - That may be true, but I am allergic to PayPal.
Trinity 16 Sermon
KJV Ephesians 3:13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. 14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
KJV Luke 7:11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. 12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. 16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. 17 And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.
TLH Hymns
292 – Lord Jesus Christ (Selnecker, Concordist)
297 – The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace (Matthias Loy, American Lutheran leader, Delaware, Ohio)
287 – That a Man a Godly Life (Luther)
288 – Lord Help Us Ever to Retain (trans, Loy)
Words and music to hymns at these sites:
http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/
http://www.hymnsite.com/
http://breadsite.org/hymns.htm
The Power Working in Us: Efficacy of the Word
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
This verse from Ephesians should stop every single Christian, to make him think – what is this power? If we know what this power is, we can understand how God works to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
That is always the question in religion – what can God do and how does He accomplish His will? The way in which a question is asked or a statement is made will ultimately be a religious statement, often a foundational statement.
One of the problems of legalism - or perhaps rationalism is illustrated by this statement:
“God wants His Church to grow.” Donald McGavran
This is a proposition, not a Biblical statement. Even worse, this is a distortion of a Biblical revelation, so the words appear good, pious, and Christian at first. I find it a bad echo of this verse:
KJV Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
One question raised by the McGavran proposition is – which church? The visible church? God wants the organization to grow? That’s the problem with the Methodist hymn, The Church’s One Foundation. The hymn confuses the visible and the invisible church
If it means God wants the true, invisible church to grow, then that is rather vacuous. God is the One Who accomplishes all growth in the true Church.
KJV 1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
No one is going to make a million in conference fees with that Biblical citation. In fact, church leaders used to quote 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 all the time, whether they were Lutheran or Protestant. They would say, “Everything is up to God. All we can do is be faithful to His Word.”
Picture a room full of church executives from many different denominations, including the Church of Rome. How these sleek cows of Bashan would love to hear those words – God wants their church body to grow! Success. Promotion. A five-bedroom cottage retreat in the north woods. God’s will!
I constantly repeat myself on this, but people need to know. The Church Growth leaders—who have trained all the mainline, Catholic, and Lutheran leaders—constantly make fun of traditional worship as boring and tedious. Then, when someone detects their hatred of the Gospel, they yell, “Christian-bashing!” Who was actually doing the bashing and still is assaulting divine worship? They loathe Lutheran doctrine and detest Lutheran worship with a special animosity, a demonic hatred.
God’s power and will are the main issues. If God needs man to accomplish His will, He is a very weak God indeed. The McGavran statement implies as much. God needs statistical studies (but never did during Christianity’s miraculous growth in the Apostolic Age). God needs marketing (but never did during the Reformation, which swept through Europe via a printing press made from a wine-press). God will be powerful when His numbers are powerful, as McGavran and his sycophants always teach.
In contrast, the power of God is expressed exclusively in the Bible as derived from His Word. The Holy Spirit never works apart from God’s Word, so we know that even the wild opposition to the Gospel experienced so often is a result of God’s power, the power to harden, to blind, and to enrage. Man causes those adverse reactions, something almost everyone has seen. Speak about the Gospel to a Mormon and the eyes will flare up. The fault is not with the Holy Spirit, not with the Gospel. When someone has hardened himself against the Gospel and hears it again, he normally grows even more opposed to the Gospel.
Power and the Word go together throughout the Bible, from the Creation. God the Father spoke the Word, “Let there be Light,” and there was Light. This Word was and is Christ. All things were created through Him and nothing was created apart from Him. I read this in Greek to my world religion class. I compared Genesis 1 to John 1, showing how the Trinity is taught throughout the Bible. The Holy Spirit brooded over the water, Genesis 1.
The power of God is never divorced from the Word, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Word, but we can also say the two are never separate at any time. The Word is always effective and the Holy Spirit always works through the Word. The Bible is utterly consistent in teaching this. So is the Book of Concord, following Luther.
Luther was so influential that all Protestants taught the basic efficacy of the Word, although they added their rationalistic touches. Twenty-five years ago an LCA bishop would say more about the efficacy of the Word than any “conservative” Lutheran leader today.
Some ministers have said, “They have taken my call away, my congregation away. I am shunned everywhere.” And yet the Word remains all powerful. The synods are so tyrannical because they are so frightened. Any pastor can start studying the Bible and Confessions with people and create a congregation through the Word.
If someone truly desires the Holy Spirit, then the only way to receive this Spirit is through the Word. God does not work in dreams and visions, apart from the Word. Faith is a good word in the Bible, not a bad one. God wants us to trust His Word, and proclaims the Gospel to create and sustain that trust.
One I played Trivial Pursuit against Martin when he was fairly young, not even a teen. He knew the answers for his team, so I would interrupt and say, “Are you going to trust a kid for that answer?” That would make them waver. No, the capital of Portugal was not Lisbon. That did not sound right. This worked time after time, leading to our team’s well- deserved victory. All I had to do was question their trust. I never attacked the answer, just the confidence they placed in a child.
Most of the voices in this world question our trust in God’s Word. I know that any mention of creating the universe in six days will earn me looks and open hostility in academic circles. Almost all the communication we get is anti-Word, anti-God in subtle ways.
But if God’s Word is true, something we know and experience, then the secrets of the universe open up. The Bible may not satisfy our curiosity about many things, but the Scriptures do teach us all we need to know about our ultimate destiny. We can also see the purpose for all life in the words of the Testaments.
The concise wording of the verse in question is one of those great secrets, hidden from the wise and powerful, revealed to babes.
1. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. That is the great promise of all religion, fulfilled only in Christianity. God not only provides for us, but beyond anything we could ask or imagine.
2. According to the power at work in us. The Word is that efficacious power, that divine power, at work (efficacious) in us. We carry Christ with us in that Word, and that Word is powerful.
We are glued together with Christ through Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and the Word. Christ is with us always, as the popular song says, “My forever Friend, My leave-me-never Friend.” The Scriptures urge us to pray, but the Word also motivates us to pray. This verse is one of the great Gospel promises of the Bible: we will receive far more than we ask.
So why does the Word seem to fail? For one thing, people adulterate the Word of God, mixing it with man’s word to make it appealing, logical, and germane. The word of man is not effective and does not convey Christ to us. The City of Man is built upon love of Self while the City of God is built upon the love of Christ.
Also, people grow tired of the Word. The two enemies of the Gospel are curiosity and satiety, according to Luther. People become curious about pagan beliefs like reincarnation, spirit guides, and other goof-ball notions. Curiosity moves them away from the Gospel. Besides, they grow satisfied and complacent about the Gospel and move on.
Trials and challenges make us return to the Word of God. The Word teaches us:
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Norm Teigen Officially Denies
From Norm Teigen's Blog:
more on Church and Change - a MEA CULPA for Norman?
A very reliable source has informed me that my ELS pastor friend has withdrawn from his participation in Church and Change.
This source writes: "I could find no official tie between Church and Change and WELS. From what I could find, Church and Change may 'report' to WELS, but there's nothing official. They are not listed as an organization on the WELS website."
My conclusion is that I may have misinformed myself on this issue.
***
GJ - My first impression - the fur is flying and Wayne Mueller's denying. Pass the word - there is no connection between Church and Change, Fuller Seminary, Leonard Sweet, Kent Hunter, and WELS. None. Period. Nada. If you think so, you have broken fellowship with WELS/ELS just by letting that thought poison your mind.
OK. Deep breath. I will look it up on the WELS.net website. Hold on. I will be right back.
I'm back. I have the WELS site listed in my Lutheran folder, in a sub-folder labeled Pests.
The jumpword index, as of this moment, still lists Church and Change:
Jumpword -
churchChange Church and Change
That is pretty official, almost a nilhil obstat and imprimatur from the Love Shack Curia.
Listen to this - when I clicked on Church and Change, on the official WELS.net website, I got this link, which is not outside of the WELS website, but inside. Look at the address:
https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/WELSForms.pl?&dir=churchChange
"Note well," as Father Mapple said in Moby Dick - WELSForms. WELSForms sound officially WELS, or am I reading too much into the word WELSForms? I may have misinformed myself.
I might listen to the denials if the link were outside the website, but the link is inside and protected (https = secure). It looks like I can sign up for this Church Growth hootenanny and pay for it. Too late to cancel if you have qualms. There is a $50 fine for dropping out after September 14th. Who says WELS has no doctrinal discipline!
In conclusion, WELS is lying...again.
GA works, my friends. Lying is institutionalized in WELS, just like some of their church workers have been (for murder, for molesting children, for having a fling with a minor girl).
Bouncing Back and Having Fun
Someone asked about bouncing back from ill treatment from one's peers, one's synod, and pseudo-pious laity. I told one pastor, "If you want a friend in the Lutheran Church, get a dog."
Our loyalty must remain with the Word of God and the Confessions. I do not include synodical documents created by theological illiterates and voted upon by convention to be authoritative. I was once chastised for "showing contempt for synodical resolutions." Guilty as charged. The sect president covered up the criminal behavior of his brother-in-law. A regular Dershowitz, this churchman. Which synod? you ask. I can think of three where I have direct knowledge of cover-ups, some felonious.
If God wants to move someone, Patton's Third Army will not keep him in that position. If God does not want him moved, Patton's Third Army will not budge him. It is a great mistake to conspire with apostates to keep oneself in false security by adulterating the Word of God.
The enemies of God's Word will engage in any disgraceful act to ascend to power and to keep it. Unfortunately, many accept the PR releases as truth, but that number is fading.
When God allows His faithful to endure the cross, we should not resent a slight version of what His Son bore for us. We get only a glimmering of what Our Savior endured for our sake. He was innocent. We are not.
As Luther said, our Old Adam rebels against this treatment. "You can tie a hog to a tree, but you cannot keep him from squealing." So it is with our fallen human nature. In time, the cross purifies our faith as we realize how useless security is. God gives us more than we could ever hope for, pray about, or wish.
Why do children laugh so freely? Luther said, "You have as much laughter as you have faith." Children have boundless faith and seldom rationalize the way adults do. We want to balance the equation, but God does not work that way. He lets Satan and unbelievers (many in synodical and congregational leadershp positions) have their way. But His Holy Spirit is so powerful that He can turn the worst evil into the greatest blessing, as He did on Good Friday.
Best Synod for Pastors
If I had to recommend a synod for a pastor, I would definitely favor the LCMS.
WELS is a tyrannical cult. The worst part of it is this - the defenestrated feel wrongly that they have been excluded from the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Satan, perhaps, but not the Kingdom of God. Consider it a divine favor.
The ELS is no better under Pope John the Malefactor's Reign of Terror. The ELS is really a franchise, like WELS, a franchise owned by a few families. Nothing is so bad that it will damn a pastor, if he is related to the right people. A seminary professor can bray about his affection for the most blatant false doctrine and yet be spared. The best pastor can be ousted by papal edict, by papal threats to the congregation. They do not like their rowboat tossed about by discussions of doctrine.
ELCA is a joke, except for those gaining power from the Lavender Mafia.
Missouri is apostate, as everyone knows, but there is more congregational autonomy than most people realize. More than one ELS or WELS pastor has found a soft landing in the LCMS ministry. Moreover, there are many circles within LCMS. Anyone can find a circle and join it, much like the Roman Catholic Church:
1. Those who worship Walther and Pieper, called Bronze Age Missourians.
2. Those in training for the Catholic priesthood, developing Marian piety and obsessing about clerical finery, incense, and exotic titles.
3. Baptist-Pentecostals, trained at Fuller Seminary or Willow Creek, fired up to transform their victims through Management by Objective, tacky marketing, and graphs (unless the offerings go south).
4. Those who adore every European theologian except Luther.
5. Luthean pastors.
All the synods are coming undone. People do not want to fund tyrants who try to create panic and then divert funds for themselves. Synodical doctrine is so deceitful that a seminary professor will critique Reformed doctrine in one classroom while another professor promotes it next door.
Luther on Justification by Faith, II
Martin Luther, on Justification by Faith, Book of Concord
J-590
"For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain ourselves."
The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III, #38, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 689. Tappert, p. 415. Heiser, p. 194.
J-591
"It is a faithful saying that Christ has accomplished everything, has removed sin and overcome every enemy, so that through Him we are lords over all things. But the treasure lies yet in one pile; it is not yet distributed nor invested. Consequently, if we are to possess it, the Holy Spirit must come and teach our hearts to believe and say: I, too, am one of those who are to have this treasure. When we feel that God has thus helped us and given the treasure to us, everything goes well, and it cannot be otherwise than that man's heart rejoices in God and lifts itself up, saying: Dear Father, if it is Thy will to show toward me such great love and faithfulness, which I cannot fully fathom, then will I also love Thee with all my heart and be joyful, and cheerfully do what pleases Thee. Thus, the heart does not now look at God with evil eyes, does not imagine He will cast us into hell, as it did before the Holy Spirit came...."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 279. Pentecost Sunday. John 14:23-31.
J-592
"But outside of this Christian Church, where the Gospel is not, there is no forgiveness, as also there can be no holiness [sanctification]. Therefore all who seek and wish to merit holiness [sanctification], not through the Gospel and forgiveness of sin, but by their works, have expelled and severed themselves [from this Church]."
The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III, #56, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 693. Tappert, p. 418. Heiser, p. 195.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Luther on Justification by Faith
J-515
"In like manner Moses must precede and teach people to feel their sins in order that grace may be sweet and welcome to them. Therefore all is in vain, however friendly and lovely Christ may be pictured, if man is not first humbled by a knowledge of himself and he possesses no longing for Christ, as Mary's Song says, 'The hungry he hath filled with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away,' Luke 1:53."
Sermons of Martin Luther, ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 149. Matthew 15:21-28; Luke 1:53.
J-516
"The apostle says 'our,' 'our sins;' not his own sin, not the sins of unbelievers. Purification is not for, and cannot profit, him who does not believe. Nor did Christ effect the cleansing by our free-will, our reason or power, our works, our contrition or repentance, these all being worthless in the sight of God; he effects it by himself. And how? By taking our sins upon himself on the holy cross, as Isaiah 53:6 tells us."
Sermons of Martin Luther, ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 180. Hebrews 1:1-12; Hebrews 1:3.
J-517
"Christ is speaking here not of the word of the law, but of the Gospel, which is a discourse about Christ, who died for our sins, etc. For God did not wish to impart Christ to the world in any other way; He had to embody Him in the Word and thus distributed Him, and present Him to everybody; otherwise Christ would have existed for Himself alone and remained unknown to us; he would have thus died for himself. But since the Word places before us Christ, it thus places us before Him who has triumphed over death, sin, and Satan. Therefore, he who grasps and retains Christ, has thus also eternal deliverance from death. Consequently it is a Word of life, and it is true, that whoever keeps the Word shall never see death."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 177. John 8:46-59.
J-518
"To this incline your ears, and be persuaded that God speaks through men and forgives you your sins; this, of course, requires faith."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 200.
J-519
"If I do not believe it, I will not receive its benefits; but that neither renders it false nor proves that anything is lacking in Christ."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 258. Easter, Third Sermon. Mark 16:1-8.
J-520
"It is a faithful saying that Christ has accomplished everything, has removed sin and overcome every enemy, so that through Him we are lords over all things. But the treasure lies yet in one pile; it is not yet distributed nor invested. Consequently, if we are to possess it, the Holy Spirit must come and teach our hearts to believe and say: I, too, am one of those who are to have this treasure. When we feel that God has thus helped us and given the treasure to us, everything goes well, and it cannot be otherwise than that man's heart rejoices in God and lifts itself up, saying: Dear Father, if it is Thy will to show toward me such great love and faithfulness, which I cannot fully fathom, then will I also love Thee with all my heart and be joyful, and cheerfully do what pleases Thee. Thus, the heart does not now look at God with evil eyes, does not imagine He will cast us into hell, as it did before the HS came...."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 279. Pentecost Sunday. John 14:23-31.
J-521
"All who are born into the world of man and woman are sinful under God's anger and curse, condemned to death. For all are conceived and born in sin as Scripture testifies (Psalm 51:5): 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.'"
Sermons of Martin Luther, The House Postils, 3 vols., ed., Eugene Klug, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996, II, p. 26. Easter Tuesday. Luke 24:13-35; Psalm 51:5.
J-522
"The 'rod of His mouth' signifies the spoken Word or the Gospel, which proceeds from the mouth of all whose teaching is pure. It is not inefficacious; it bears fruit; it justifies the godly and destroys the ungodly."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed. Ewald M. Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1469. Brief comment. Isaiah 11:4.
J-523
"Christ did indeed suffer for the whole world; but how many are there who believe and cherish this fact? Therefore, although the work of redemption itself has been accomplished, it still cannot help and benefit a man unless he believes it and experiences its saving power in his heart."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 705f. Smalcald, 1537.
J-524
"If remission of sins without repentance is preached, the people imagine that they have already forgiveness of sins, and thereby they are made secure and unconcerned. This is a greater error and sin than all error of former times, and it is verily to be feared that we are in that danger which Christ points out when He says, Matthew 12:45: 'The last state of that man shall be worse than the first.'"
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 123. Matthew 12:45.[19]
GA? - Does It Still Happen at Mequon
One student has claimed that the Wisconsin Synod's secret initiation rite was dumped five years ago.
We do not know that GA is still active until Wayne Mueller officially denies it.
Ahem, not Amen
About Me
Christopher Evans San Pablo, California, United States View my complete profile
My Lifestyle
A brother in the Spirit, partnered, in vows of stability, obedience, and lifelong conversion, to a fellow Christian, who happens to be a Lutheran pastor.
Has ELCA's cooperation with the Episcopal Church gone too far?
***
Evangelical Lutheran churches are semiautonomous, said Frak Imhoff from church headquarters in Chicago, but no national policy bars the ordination of gays and lesbians nor the affirmation of gay relationships.
However, Lutheran Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom wrote to President Clinton, "We have a clear set of standards and expectations for all who are ordained. We judge them by their behavior rather than on the basis of their sexual orientation." Chilstrom was urging Clinton to lift the ban against gays in the military.
And, Chilstrom said, "Ordained persons who are homosexual are expected to abstain from homosexual realtionships."
The church sponsors Reconciled in Christ congregations and synods, similar to the United Methodist Church's Reconciling and Presbyterian U.S.A's More Light groups.
The Grand Canyon Synod, which embraces Arizona and southern Nevade, is not Reconciled in Christ, nor are there any RC congregations within Arizona, said Bishop Howard Wennes in Phoenix.
Neither are there any openly gay clergy members in the synod, Wennes said, "at least not that I am aware of." The synod was created in 1978. At its second annual meeting, Wennes said, a speaker attempted to "sensitize people on how the church deals with gays and lesbians. The church feels that there is room under the cross for everyone, that homosexuals are real people with real feelings."
From Arizona pulpits, he said "we try to create an atmosphere where we can talk about it without people zooming out in space. It's a very complicated subject."
Note the UOJ Poll
Until this noon, all the votes were for justification by faith. Then, at the same time a WELS seminarian posted his UOJ beliefs, we suddenly had 10 votes for UOJ. Are Mequonians jumping on the poll, urged by GA Pope M Schottey? There are 10 knuckleheads saying "All sins are forgiven." I used to watch seminarians at Mequon sleeping in class. The amusement kept me awake when Somo-Nitz was droning on, when we went through doctrinal quotations in Gawa's class, like football fans going through a bag of Fritos.
Yes, Ichabodians, I was there at Mequon too.
Everyone is forgiven, but not everyone is justified. No wait. They are justified but not justified-justified.
Therefore, based on UOJ, I was not born with Original Sin and had no need for Holy Baptism.
My Calov versus Your Calov -
Wauwatosis
Hardly anyone knows who Calov is. Luther correctly taught that the Holy Spirit speaks to us concisely so we do not have vast volumes of work to twist into pretzels (my rough translation).
I do not have enough years left to read Calov or the rest of the post-Concord theologians. Calov and Gerhard were astonishingly productive. Unfortunately, this era grew more philosophical and scholastic, leaving the ordinary pastor and layman behind.
Although Luther's Works travel around from owner to owner, usually in pristine condition, few have read much of Luther, who surpassed all other theologians in Christendom. I am glad some of the older works (post-Concord) are now available in English. In a few years no one will be reading Latin except a few classics majors.
If someone spent 20 years and proved Calov taught UOJ, our confession of faith would still rest primarily on the Scriptures first as the ruling norm and the Book of Concord second as the ruled norm. The Wisconsin Synod does not like the Book of Concord, but they love their Wauwatosa opinions. A few statements from them will show that they place their fads above all authority. A common statement is: "In our circles, this means..." Thus, they suffer from a bad case of Wauwatosis.
The Book of Concord was knitted together to prevent a sect, city, or territory from wandering off on its own. Lutherans study the Book of Concord as an act of humility: these confessors have something to teach me about the Scriptures and Patristic Age. Yes, those reformers did not skip from Paul to Luther as the modern know-nothings do. They used the Fathers (Augustine, Jerome - not J. P. Meyer and Sig Becker) to show they were in harmony with orthodox Christianity.
I have noticed that when people rail against the Book of Concord, they show very little knowledge of the work (ditto, railing against Luther).
I have three reasons for quoting authors so frequently:
1. To show the anti-Scriptural opinions of false teachers, especially UOJ and Church Growth fanatics.
2. To repeat what has always been taught in Lutheran orthodoxy.
3. To evoke interest in reading the classics of the Faith.
If my house were on fire and I had the last books left in Christianity, this is what I would grab on the way out the door:
A. The KJV, my Hebrew OT, my Greek NT.
B. Luther's Sermons (now in five volumes, check Christian Book Distributors).
C. Luther's Family Devotions.
D. The Book of Concord. Triglotta? I am not Arnie.
E. Anything by Chemnitz I can run out the door with.
***
M Schottey has left a new comment on your post "My Calov versus Your Calov - Wauwatosis":
The WELS does NOT teach that men are saved a part from faith.
Salvation and Justification are two different terms.
Again, faith is the method by which the blessings of justification (which is for all men) is (sic) imparted (subjective) on each man.
Therefore no one is saved apart from faith. But all are justified.
The purpose of many of the quotes you have trotted out is that they were written to support the Pauline justification by Grace through faith. They were not written against UoJ.
Find me an author, one, who would have said that Jesus came to earth, suffered, and died only for some. Christ's death was not for some, but for all mankind.
You seriously and gravely misuse interchangibly the words 'justify' and 'saved'.
You also seriously and gravely attribute a false teaching to the WELS which is not there. None of us men are being taught that a person is saved apart from faith. We are taught that all were declared 'not guilty' but that the promises af that declaration are recieved only by grace THROUGH faith. As Paul teaches.
***
GJ - WELS had an "evangelism" campaign where the banners said, "I am saved, just like you." Even die-hard WELSians were shocked by the Universalism. Preuss would have nodded his approval.
A common WELS pastoral saying, "Two thousand years ago, all sins were forgiven."
Salvation comes from the forgiveness of sins, so do not erect so many straw man fallacies in the same post.
I am glad the comment was posted, because it reveals the anti-Scriptural opinions of those who are brain-washed at Mequon. I will recap:
1. There are two justifications.
2. The first justification is really important - all sins are forgiven: Hottentots, Hindus, Muslims, but not critics of WELS.
3. The second justificaiton is also important: all sins are forgiven, with all people declared righteous - but that does not count until they are subjectively justified and forgiven.
True Calvinists say that Christ died only for the elect. Their numbers are few and, like the Wisconsin Synod membership, growing smaller each day.
The two-justification false doctrine of WELS/ELS/LCMS is a recent opinion, at odd with the Book of Concord. UOJ is from Pietism, imported by Walther, blessed by Pieper, but fueled lately by the Church Growth professors like Valleskey and Bivens.
J. Gerhard - UOJ Fanatic? -
Judge for Yourselves
J-559
"The entire Scripture testifies that the merits of Christ are received in no other way than through faith, not to mention that it is impossible to please God without faith, Hebrews 11:6, let alone to be received into eternal life. In general, St. Paul concludes concerning this [matter] in Romans 3:28: Thus we hold then that a man becomes righteous without the works of the Law—only through faith."
Johann Gerhard, A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 1610, ed. D. Berger, J. Heiser, Malone, Texas: Repristination Press, 2000, p. 165.
J-560
"Therefore, the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham is in no way to be interpreted to mean that Abraham's seed became righteous and saved without individual faith."
Johann Gerhard, A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 1610, ed. D. Berger, J. Heiser, Malone, Texas: Repristination Press, 2000, p. 167.
Pieper-Walther Error
UOJ false teachers claim that Gerhard taught Universal Objective Justification. Too bad his works have been translated into English. See how F. Pieper tried to do this, below:
J-565
"Now, then, if the Father raised Christ from the dead, He, by this glorious resurrection act, declared that the sins of the whole world are fully expiated, or atoned for, and that all mankind is now regarded as righteous before His divine tribunal. This gracious reconciliation and justification is clearly taught in Romans 4:25: 'Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.' The term (dikaiosis) here means the act of divine justification executed through God's act of raising Christ from the dead, and it is for this reason called the objective justification of all mankind. This truth Dr. Walther stressed anew in America. He taught that the resurrection of Christ from the dead is the actual absolution pronounced upon all sinners. (Evangelienpostille, p. 160ff.)…Calov, following Gerhard, rightly points out the relation of Christ's resurrection to our justification as follows: 'Christ's resurrection took place as an actual absolution from sin (respectu actualis a peccato absolutionis). As God punished our sins in Christ, upon whom He laid them and to whom He imputed them, as our Bondsman, so He also, by the very act of raising Him from the dead, absolved Him from our sins imputed to Him, and so He absolved also us in Him.'" [Bibl. Illust., ad Rom. 4:25]
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1951, II, p. 321. Romans 4:25
Robert Preus used a Calov citation in Justification and Rome to show Calov's correct teaching. The Walther-Pieper gang tried unsuccessfully to prove UOJ back to Adam. In fact, UOJ is a new doctrine embraced by a few Midwestern sects in the last century.
From Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant (second edition):
However, Preus clarified the true meaning of justification in his final book, Justification and Rome, which was published posthumously. Preus wrote this definitive comment:
But the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner takes place when the Holy Spirit brings him to faith through Baptism and the Word of the Gospel. Our sins were imputed to Christ at His suffering and death, imputed objectively after He, by His active and passive obedience, fulfilled and procured all righteousness for us. But the imputation of His righteousness to us takes place when we are brought to faith.
Preus immediately followed the statement above with a quotation from Quenstedt, one of his favorite orthodox Lutheran authors:
It is not just the same thing to say, “Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us” and to say “Christ is our righteousness.” For the imputation did not take place when Christ became our righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is the effect of His office. The imputation is the application of the effect of His office. The one, however, does not do away with the other. Christ is our righteousness effectively when He justifies us. His righteousness is ours objectively because our faith rests in Him. His righteousness is ours formally in that His righteousness is imputed to us.
Preus also quoted Abraham Calov with approval:
Although Christ has acquired for us the remission of sins, justification, and sonship, God just the same does not justify us prior to our faith. Nor do we become God's children in Christ in such a way that justification in the mind of God takes place before we believe.
Justification by faith, in the original sense, was taught in the official catechism of the Missouri Synod, and then was gradually changed:
#305 Why do you say in this article: I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins? Because I hold with certainty that by my own powers or through my own works I cannot be justified before God, but that the forgiveness of sins is given me out of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also true justification. Psalm 130:3-4; Psalm 143:2; Isaiah 64:6; Job 25:4-6 (Q. 124).
A proper study of the chief article of the Christian Church will restore the meaning and terminology of the Scriptures, the Church fathers, Luther, the Book of Concord, and the orthodox Lutheran theologians.
Hottentots and Hindus Forgiven without Faith
J-578
"So, then, we are reconciled; however, not only we, but also Hindus, and Hottentots and Kafirs, yes, the world. 'Reconciled', says our translation; the Greek original says: 'placed in the right relation to God'. Because before the Fall we, together with the whole creation, were in the right relation to God, therefore Scripture teaches that Christ, through His death, restored all things to the former right relation to God."
F. R. Eduard Preuss, 1834-1904, Die Rechtfertigung der Suender vor Gott. Cited in Rick Nicholas Curia, The Significant History of the Doctrine of Objective or Universal Justification, Alpine, California: California Pastoral Conference, WELS. January 24-25, 1983. p. 24.
Preuss (not to be confused with the one-s Preus clan) is a big hero to the UOJ Fanatics. Preuss taught at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1869-71. He prayed to God for a sign about whether the Church of Rome was the One True Church. He saw a brilliant sunset and became a Roman Catholic theologian. A former editor of Chemnitz, he published works in opposition to Luther's doctrine. When asked how he could have proved both sides of the same issue, he said, "Give me the texts and I can prove anything." Above is proof of his attempts to do just that. Compare his bovine statement to Luther's below.
Preuss' conversion is never mentioned by his fellow-Schwaermer UOJ fanatics.
Luther on Resurrection and Faith
“The resurrection and life of Jesus Christ is a cause, that is, an efficacious means of our spiritual resurrection and spiritual life; for it causes us to believe and to rise (from sin), as we read in 10:9: ‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ In Christ’s death we die unto spiritual life, as we read in 6:3-4: ‘So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death (that) we also should walk in newness of life.’”
Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, trans. J. Theodore Mueller, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1954, p. 93. Romans 5:10.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Description of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant
CATHOLIC, LUTHERAN, PROTESTANT:
A Doctrinal Comparison of Three Christian Confessions
Gregory L. Jackson, STM (Yale), PhD (Notre Dame)
Available from Christian News: $24.95, plus shipping.
- Or - http://www.lulu.com ($15 for the PDF; $24.95 for the book, plus shipping).
- Or - G. Jackson, 6421. W. Poinsettia Drive, Glendale, AZ 85304. (Discount for orders of ten or more.)
Author
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson is in a unique position to write this book, a revision of the work printed first in 1993 through Christian News with the help of Timothy Otten. The original files were lost, so the book was re-written.
Pastor Jackson has studied under many Lutheran professors (Robert Preus, Kurt Marquart, Paul Holmer, Nils Dahl, Otto Heick, and Edward Fredrich. Roman Catholic professors and lecturers include Elisabeth and Frank Fiorenza (both at Harvard now), Henri Nouwen, and others not known to most CN readers. Some of the Lutherans (Richard Neuhaus, Robert Wilken, Leonard Klein) subsequently became Roman Catholic, or in the case of Jaroslav Pelikan, died Eastern Orthodox. Some Protestants heard include Billy Graham, D. James Kenneday, Paul Y. Cho, Howard Yoder, and Bill Hybels (Willow Creek).
Jackson earned an MA and PhD in theology at the University of Notre Dame, where national conferences brought many interesting speakers. Previously he earned an STM degree in Biblical studies from Yale University. After experiencing the apostasy of the Lutherans synods, he became independent and still serves people through the Word and Sacraments. He teaches at several universities and does financial planning.
First Section - Agreement
· The Scriptures and Natural Law
Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant is organized into three main sections. The first section, on agreement, lays the groundwork for showing that orthodox Lutheran doctrine is the Christian faith. The first chapter shows the overall agreement among the Catholics, Lutherans, and Protestants about the authority and inerrancy of the Scriptures. Natural law is also common ground for all Christians. Although there are obvious differences in how the Bible is treated, as various reviewers were quick to notice, there is really no chance for harmony without a foundation in the Word of God.
Second Section – Partial Agreement
· The Sacraments
The second section of the book deals with partial agreement – the Sacraments. Because all three groups name the Sacraments, the first differences become apparent when they are compared. The concept of the book was to present the material as fairly as possible, to allow Catholic/Lutheran couples to study their teachings from their own sources. As a result, many new Lutherans appreciate the book, especially when they have changed from Roman Catholicism.
Quite a few libraries were turned over to provide the information in Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. The author collected a total of 3,000 verbatim quotations to use for this book and others.
Third Section – Complete Disagreement
· Justification, Chapter Three
· Purgatory, Chapter Four
· Papacy, Chapter Five
· Mary, Chapter Six
· Luther versus the Papacy, Chapter Seven
The third section generates the most interest in classes. The differences between Roman Catholic justification (faith plus works) is compared to Biblical teaching (justification by faith alone). Also, the similarities between Protestants and Catholics are explored. The requirement of tongues for Pentecostals is no different than the requirement of good works for Catholics.
Few people know exactly how Purgatory developed in the Christian Church. Jackson had access to a papal owned seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and obtained access to its excellent library. One of the most famous Roman Catholic scholars, Father Jugie, wrote Purgatory and the Means To Avoid It, considered a good apologetic for that hideous doctrine. The Vatican seminary had a remarkable collection of books on Purgatory and Mary. There was only one name on many of them! Roman Catholic priests are more likely to be liberal Protestants. All the critiques of Roman doctrine were in that library, from Chemnitz’ Examination of the Council of Trent, to Kueng and Hasler.
The development of doctrine about Purgatory, the papal infallibility, and Mary are all enmeshed with fides formata (faith formed by works). Mary and Purgatory cannot be separated in Roman Catholic piety, which makes one wonder why some Lutheran pastors are so keen to promote Marian devotion.
The Church of Rome knows that many of its leaders have lied about Luther. The oldest work of slander (The Seven-Headed Luther) is still used as if it is factual. These deceptions are analyzed in the last chapter, where the papacy as the Antichrist is discussed.
Almost 9 pages of bibliography and 450 footnotes provide sources for the chapters and a guide for additional study.
Audience
The book began as an adult study class for couples where one person was Lutheran and the other a Roman Catholic. A brief outline of the class in Christian News led to phone calls, saying, “You must write a book on this!” Once the book was in print, pastors found it was useful for adult doctrinal classes and confirmation classes as well.
Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant Finished!
I got the proof copy of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. The book looks good. I am printing copies for Christian News and for those who order from me. The books should arrive at both places in a week. More about ordering below.
The book is almost exactly like the previous edition, with these changes:
1. All the Biblical citations are from the KJV instead of the NIV.
2. The footnotes are at the bottom of each page, making it easier to find the references and comments.
3. I added a section on Original Sin.
4. Some sections were clarified with additional material. I quoted Robert Preus more extensively on justification by faith.
5. Norma Boeckler added artwork to the book.
Ordering information -
People can order from Lulu.com anywhere in the world, either buying the PDF or the printed, paperback book. A book is $25, but they add about $10 for shipping.
The book will be at Christian News, which is handy for people using credit cards. He will probably beat the Lulu.com price, and charge less for shipping.
CN accepts credit cards.
I will process some orders - but please make out the checks to me, not MCP. I do not have a business account. The advantage is that I will send bulk orders to congregation for a lower cost. Many congregations have used the book for confirmation class or adult study. There is no other book like it in print. so it is useful for Lutheran/Catholic couples or those contemplating marriage.
My address is:
Gregory L. Jackson
6421 W. Poinsettia Drive
Glendale, AZ 85304
623-334-8014
My email address is - the last name of Martin Chemnitz, lower case.
The email provider is cox.net.
I wrote it this way to decrease the volume of spam.
I will charge $25 for a single book, plus $5 for shipping. The costs go down with more copies.
***
Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant Finished!":
Before I send my check for thirty bucks I'd like to learn a little bit more about your book. Is this a comparison of the doctrines of the two churches? Is this a commentary on current trends within the two churches?
I'd like to know more about the book.
If you send me a freebie I will review it on my blog.
***
GJ - That's a deal, Norm. Yes, I will send out review copies, even though my experience has been less than positive. There were a lot more review copies than reviews.
This work is up to date but not concerned with newspaper topics. The idea is to show people from the sources what each confession teaches. The bibliography is 10+ pages long. The book is loaded with verbatim quotations from Megatron, so anyone can check the original and go back to the printed version, if needed.
How Church and Change Apostasy Happens
The WELS group promoting anti-Lutheran and anti-Scriptural views is called Church and Change. They caused so much trouble that the word went out - Church and Change is no more. Does that remind anyone of Wayne Mueller being voted out of office - and then voted in again?
Fifteen years ago, there was no Church Growth Movement in WELS, according to Wayne. People were dull enough or conditioned by infallibility to accept the denial. Now the same apostates no longer need to deny it. Now they can say to Norman Teigen, "We have administrative controls," and that explanation is accepted and proclaimed.
How does apostasy happen?
First of all, pastors lose faith but they still need a job that suits their Old Adam. As apostates, they hate what they formerly claimed to be their confession.
Second, pastors and synodical leaders sit on their hands rather than do or say anything that would rock the boat or criticize the synod. The only real sin is criticizing the synod - a sure sign of rot from the top.
Third, seminary professors are chosen through politics, so they go along with anything promoted by the Love Shack (or the Little Sect on the Prairie, or the Purple Palace, or ELCA). These tame rabbits know they have a lifetime of little work, no scholarship, and great benefits if they stay silent.
Fourth, everyone gets used to the status quo, no matter how ridiculous that might be. Then the apostates push their agenda another step and another step. What might have started a blaze a few years before is no longer enough to force a murmur.
***
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "How Church and Change Apostasy Happens":
I am confused. You say "Church and Change is no more" but www.churchandchange.org is still up and advertising their upcoming interfaith event. The "administrative controls" don't appear to have taken effect yet.
***
GJ - That is easy to explain. WELS lied. Under the Gurgel administration, every deviation was welcomed. Church and Change was way cool. When a storm brewed over one particular conference and speaker, the C and C conference was called off, as I recall. Pastors were told that C and C was dissolved, so they were quiet. Someone told me to lay off because there was no C and C. So I asked, "Then why is their next conference advertized on the WELS.net website?"
Ditto the secret initiation rite at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary - GA. I was told that there was no GA anymore. (I did not believe. Help thou mine unbelief. GA is based on deceit, so how could anyone believe that line? So GA has two versions now. One is a bit sanitized and out in the open. The other one is very secretive. No one has sued over a knocked out tooth or a broken leg, as far as I know. WELS better hope that nothing else like that happens again. Of course the litigant and his entire family would be buried alive by WELS slander if they did expose a GA injury or its cult-like weirdness and manipulation. Yes, I have been there, Ichabodians. I am an eye-witness.
Take the New Poll on Sins Being Forgiven
At the bottom of the page is a poll on sins being forgiven. So far, UOJ is losing.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Recent ELS History
Information about recent Evangelical Lutheran Synod events can be found at Be Strong in the Synod. Oops. Typo. Be Strong in the Grace is the official title. Aside: I did not want to be seen as endorsing the Reign of Terror under Pope John the Malefactor.
A list of blogs follows the piece, in case you need more to read.
***
Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Recent ELS History":
I know the blogger to which you refer. We are members of the same church, King of Grace in Golden Valley. I feel that you have taken a cheap shot at a very nice Christian lady.
I encourage you to take shots at me and not at this dear lady.
***
GJ - I was surprised to get this from Norm Teigen. Did I call this blogger any names, like "Bloviator"? When I glanced through the blog, it looked overly accepting toward the recent crimes of the synod. Some people just cannot see past their Holy Mother Synod filter. Disagreeing with a perspective is not the same as taking a cheap shot. I leave that to bloggers whose feathers are easily ruffled by everything except false doctrine and the destruction of pastors' lives and families.
Norm Teigen Blesses Church and Change
Norm Teigen has raised his consecrated and consecrating hands, blessing the Church and Change Conference, scheduled on purpose to ruin my birthday.
The explanation for his blessing is a howler:
The 'Church and Change' title seems a little loopy to me but then I may be inclined to see loopiness in many places. When I heard that one of my friends, a former pastor of mine actually, was going to be a participant in this conference, I called him up and went out to see him.
This pastor told me that he had visited with responsible ELS officials (whom I trust for their authority and their wisdom) and offered to step down from participation since he did not want to cause offense.
This pastor was told that he need not step down because the WELS has administrative controls in place. The point is that a loopy church organization that goes off on its own is questionable, but if the church has some procedures in place to retard loopiness, then there is no offense. I like that response.
I do not want to condemn my ELS pastor friend for going to a meeting where he meets with other Christian people. I don't fear for the future of the church in such a situation. Why, he might actually learn something that we could all use. That would be a desirable thing.
So, my ELS friends, let the WELS burb and belch about Church and Change. It need not rock the little ELS rowboat.
***
WELS has administrative controls in place? That means Lawrence Olson, D.Min. Fuller, will be there!
Administrative controls:
- The same that took the largest bequest ever and turned it into insolvency?
- The same that lost $8 million?
- The same that managed the MilCraft estate?
- The same that "watched" the Church Growth Movement?
- The same that encouraged Floyd Stolzenburg to become a WELS pastor?
- The same that continues to promote forgiveness-without-faith?
Now I feel much better.
***
GJ - I copied this from Trouble in Paradise:
Norman Teigen
Is that you Robbie? Are you blogging now?
I was concerned about the ELS pastor and Church & Change so I went out to see him. He told me that Church and Change does have WELS administrative controls. I confirmed this in a responsible way and that was good enough for me. We're in fellowship with WELS and so we accept the situation as it is, for now at least. . There's no problem in talking about ideas, Rob. Ideas and free exchange are good.
Christian Life Resources (CLR) does not have any administrative ties and so there is a difference between C&C and CLR. I think that CLR practices religious fraud. C&C might be a lousy organization but it doesn't hurt to talk, does it?
***
GJ - ELS Bad Boy is not Rob or Bob. I have no insights on the matter, but I do enjoy reading Trouble in Paradise.
Read ELS Bad Boy - about...
Trouble in Paradise
Finally, a blog site (besides Ichabod) that has some content. Trouble in Paradise has many interesting updates.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
WELS Pastor Denounces Church Growth
Pastor Steve Kurtzahn wrote this letter April 30, 1996, when he was a circuit pastor in the CLC (sic). The letter is written to CLC Pastor Paul Tiefel, who shares the same grandfather and nickname (Teufel) as Mequon Professor James P. Tiefel. Paul Tiefel did not enjoy my CN review of Valleskey's disastrous Church Growth textbook.
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church
Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC)
2100 Sixteenth Street South West
Austin, Minniesota 55912
507-433-8191
April 30, 1996
Pastor Paul Tiefel
2015 N. Hastings Way
Eau Claire, WI 54703
This is in response to your April 27th letter.
First, let me say that when you phoned me you wanted to know what problems I had with Valleskey's book. You also mentioned on the phone that you felt Greg Jackson broke the Eighth Commandment.
It is because of the accusation you made on the phone against Greg that I spent so mujch space in my letter speaking of the review. You were the one who brought it up on the phone with me. Now you want to discuss it "only with Jackson's approval?" Let me repeat myself, Paul : I see no instance how or where Greg did such a thing as break the Eighth Commandment. [emphasis in original]
It is very disturbing that you and [David ] Koenig speak to false teachers in other church bodies like Valleskey, [James] Tiefel and Harstad (sp?) concerning the truthfulness of what Greg Jackson writes. Since when do you think they will agree with Greg? He has laid bare in the past few years the fact that many in the WELS and the ELS were Church-Growth oriented. Do you honestly think they would corroborate Greg's statements after that?
Allow me to make an analogy. Think back to the formative days of the CLC. What if you or Dave were on the floor of the WELS conventions back in the 1950's when it disregarded Romans 16:17, 18. Would you have gone to O. J. Naumann or Carl Lawrenz to see if Edmund Reim or Egbert Schoaller or C. M. Gullerrud were telling the truth concerning the error of the WELS/ELS? What do you think the response would have been if you had asked them, "Is Reim (or Schaller or Gullerud) telling the truth?"
When it comes to my pointing out the false doctrine of David Valleskey, Paul, it needs to be said that a false teacher can be recognized not just by blatant and clear statements of falsehood, like you are searching for when it comes to his book. But a false teacher can also be recognized when does NOT say something that he should, or when he says something in a confusing manner, or even when his writings exude a false spirit. For example, a person can be classified as a legalist and still say all the right words. But you know he's a legalist by the way he says these them or by what he does not say. Going back to the 1930's and 40's, particularly with the "Statement of the 44," many recognized that something was going terribly wrong in the Missouri Synod, but no one could really put a finger on the problem until after the fact. There are many things in the "Statement" that you and I could also p;robably have agreed with, but looking back upon that history we recognize now that there was an underlying liberal agenda being carried out in the LC-MS. Hindsight is always 20-20.
Getting back to Valleskey's book:
1. Unless I missed it somewhere, does Valleskey repudiate the Church Growth Movement taught by Fuller Theological Seminary by name? If he does, show me the page number.
2. On pages 199 through 204 Valleskey deals with the so-called "Seeker Service." He goes into a tremendous amount of detail about how Seeker Services are done. He raises many good questions that Lutherans should ask themselves before they become involved in such Seeker Services. But if Seeker Services are dangerous by trivializing and by even ignoring the Means of Grace, why does he leave the door cracked open by saying on page 204, "Althought it must be said that congregations may in Christian freedom utilize at least certain features of this outreach method..."
3. On page 201 Valleskey states, "The gospel is proclaimed at the Seeker Service, but not as a means by which the Spirit miraculously draws people into the church..." From what I have read from many different sources in the past and from what I have seen on television documentiaries, the Gospel of Holy Scripture is NOT proclaimed at many, if not most, of these Seeker Services. So why does Valleskey say, "The gospel is proclaimed..."?
4. On page 174, Valleskey quotes Joseph Aldrich approvingly. Where in the quote is there mention of the Means of Grace? The quote sounds very Reformed ot me ("He desire to build into you and me the beauty of his own character, and then put us on display...").
5. On pages 237 and 238 Valleskey speaks of the role of women in evangelism. I felt very uncomfortable with the two paragraphs because he is making a distinction between evangelism calling "in the name of and on behalf of the congregation" (p. 27, fifith line from the bottom) and "the ministry of the gospel conducted in the name of and on behalf of the congregation" (p. 238, fifth line from the top). Why would he make such an artificial distinction? Why would he also make the contrast in the statement "They go out, not as one with authority over the man, but as ones with a message to share"? Why would a man with his seeming intellectual prowess resort to such confusing language? WHAT IS HIS UNDERLYING MOTIVE? Are these paragraphs laying the groundwork for some new revelations to come out of the WELS in the future in connection with the role of women in the church? These are very legitimate questions we should all be asking!
When I read Chapter Five, beginning on page 213, I thought I was back working at the brokerage firm in Milwaukee, sitting at the feet of motivational speakers who were using Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. These concepts of planning, mission statements, etc. the Church Growth people at Fuller lifted right out of the business world and have applied to the church. All sorts of companies have mission statements today. I've seen them in the lobbies of hospitals and in many other public places. But the Church has its "mission statement" in Matthew 28:18-20. There is no need for a new one!
On pages 217 ff. Valleskey speaks of the value of a mission statement. He shows what happens "without a clear sense of mission" and he shows what can happen "with a clear sense of mission." Paul, take a very close look at Valleskey's points. [emphasis in original] All of this is being stated on the basis of A MISSION STATEMENT rather than on the basis of THE MEANS OF GRACE, THE GOSPEL IN WORD AND SACRAMENTS.
On page 221, Valleskey speaks of "congregational self-study." At the end of that first paragraph under step two he speaks of "a community profile." We used to refer to such activity as the canvass, so we could find out what neighborhood families are unchurched so we could share the simple Word with them. The Church Growth people speak of such "community profiles" so they can fill the "felt needs" of an area. From the way Valleskey is writing it woudl eappear that he is again going the Church Growth route. If he's not, why doesn't he make himself clear?
Valleskey speaks a lot about goals, action plans, policies and procedures, etc. Note the comment in the middle of page 225, "It is good for a congregation, and likewise its boards and committees, to ask and answer the question, 'Where would we like to be, under God, five years from now?' and then begin to take specific steps to achieve that goal.'"
The reason the CG people like such statements is that many times their goal is an increase in church membership. It is true, Valleskey warns about this on page 224, "A part of the goal, however, cannot be that as a result of this concerted effort, X number of people will be brought to faith and fellowship hurch." But then why does he spend so much time talking about it? Why do we need action plans, goals, etc. to figure out where we would like to be five years from now? The answer from every confessional Lutheran congregation should be: Five years from now we pray that we will continue proclaiming the Word of God in its truth and purity and administering the Sacraments as Christ instituted them. Period. [emphasis in original] Valleskey is lifting all of this stuff from the CG literature and interspercing comments such as the one on page 224 to salve the consciences of those who are still concerned about being faithful to the Word.
On page 230 in his example of developing policies and procedures, objective 1 is described as "To develop and maintain an evangelism awareness in our congregation." NOtice how this objective is to be implemented: articles (what should be in them?), greeter teams, adopt-a-goal, maintain tract rack (whould kind of tracts?), promote an evangelism Sunday, etc. All of these man-made methods are listed, but where in the world is there any mention of the faithful proclaimation of Law and Gospel? That is how true Scriptural evangelism awareness is developed and maintained.
Greg has already spoke of the differences in exegesis on Matthew 28 in his review, and how Valleskey is inconsistent in that regard.
There are other examples I could probably offer, but the above should suffice.
Paul, there are good things in Valleskey's book. I also learned when I read it. There are some good common sense suggestions in the second part of the book. But as you can see from the above references, ever so slyly, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, Valleskey is promoting the Church Growth Movement. [emphasis in original] I will argue that with anyone. God forbid, but my guess would be the next such book out of WELS will be even more CG oriented and even more blatant in its CG statements.
I hope this will finally put to rest the discord, mistrust and animosity this book has caused among brethren.
In His service,
Steve
Stephen C. F. Kurtzahn
cc: [CLC President] Dan Fleischer, [current world missionary] Dave Koenig
***
GJ - Kurtzahn resigned from the CLC and found himself a large WELS congregation to serve. One WELS pastor wondered how he managed to go through colloquy without spending time at Mequon, but another one said he was there. See below.
He has a mission statement that says nothing about the Means of Grace.
***
Jack has left a new comment on your post "WELS Pastor Denounces Church Growth":
Ich,
Kurtzahn did spend a year at WLS. The WELS directory available at wels.net shows that he came through there in 2003. Wonder how he existed on the same campus with satan worshipers like Vallesky and Tiefle (sic).
BTW, are you holding him up as a good example or are you bashing him for "going WELS". Thanks
Jack P.
***
GJ - I judge by doctrine, not by synod labels, which mean nothing. Of course, integrity goes a long way when there is such a shortage of that quality among chameleon Lutherans.