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Please take part in the new poll at the bottom of the page.

This is the opposite of Values Califiication, where there are no wrong answers.

This is more like Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek, or a Leonard Sweet seminar: there are no right answers.

How Do You Define a Feeling?

When SP John Brenner (WELS) said Missouri was going liberal, his colleagues jumped him about the proof. He said, "How do you define a feeling?"

Brian Westgate wondered about the Niles, Michigan photo. I noticed that James Heiser, besides assuming the role of bishop, grew Eastern Orthodox chin whiskers. (Please don't cite the adiaphora section of the Formula of Concord. Give me a minute.) Rutovich, of Niles, has lost his, if memory serves.

Here is one website on orthodoxy and beards.

More on this subject.

In other words, beards are important to Eastern Orthodoxy. Bishops wear beards, big bushy ones. Perhaps Heiser has only a starter beard. There may be a trim length for the number of congregations served. The photos above illustrate big territories.

The Niles congregation is the one offering "Confessional Lutheran links" to a monastery where Mary is worshiped, the same liberal, ecumenical Marian center linked by the liberal Lutheran Forum folks. Do you homework, please. I scour the Internet for this information and you forget this stuff.

If I could read their email, look at their libraries, and hear what they discuss, I would predict whether these fellows were going to Rome or to Eastern Orthodoxy in the future. The trend out of Concordia, Ft. Wayne (where these men are from) is Eastern Orthodoxy. The Ft. Wayne graduates talk about Eastern Orthodoxy the way WELS leaders talk about Fuller Seminary. I have been to Ft. Wayne conferences. One Ft. Wayne graduate gave me a book on Eastern Orthodoxy and the Lutheran Reformation.

Google Fenton and Lutheran. You will find the pastors who are Fentonites. They are the ones who will finally join Eastern Orthodoxy.

Avery Dulles, SJ (son of John Foster Dulles) recruited Richard Neuhaus for the Roman Catholic priesthood. In time, a number of Neuhaus Lutheran Forum associates at Lutheran Forum were Roman Catholic priests.

Dulles' nickname among Romans is "A Very Dull SJ."

One priest in the Church of England grew tired of dealing with bishops. He said, "Bishops move obliquely in the game of chess, too."

Missouri Going Eastern Orthodox

This is a photo from the Niles, Michigan congregation of ELDONA.

Preus Weeping

Does anyone believe this account?

I visited Dr. Robert Preus at his home in Minnesota and showed him the problem when we were alone in his study.

Doctor Preus was never given to emotion; at least not in the years I had worked for him and known him. He looked at the passages in "God's Word" that mistranslated justification "by" and "through" faith and burst into uncontrolled weeping.

Jack Casione

Reunion of Union Churches

The Wisconsin Synod and Michigan Synod began as union (Reformed and Lutheran) denominations. The old Lutheran Church in America had a long history of union churches. At one point the LCA was dividing union congregations in Pennsylvania and splitting the assets.

St. Paul's in Columbus (which is not WELS but pretends to be) was begun as a union congregation. The big but shrinking WELS church in New Ulm was a union church. I think St. John's in Milwaukee (Vliet) was also union. The title of these churches was normally "Lutheran-Reformed."

A union church might have Reformed and Lutheran catechism separately, Reformed and Lutheran communion separately.

When WELS became more Lutheran, thanks to leaders like Hoenecke, the parting of the ways began. A typical response was to have the Reformed group get in a huff and march off, forming their own congregation, which is now United Church of Christ (pan-religious, politically active).

Suddenly, the LCA/ELCA put the brakes on splitting churches and said, "Union churches are good." They began forming union churches, sometimes with the Reformed, sometimes with Roman Catholics. The Lutheran/Roman Catholic parishes have two separate clergy, two different names, but the same building. One photo showed a priest eyeballing his new Lutheran pastor co-tenant, a strikingly beautiful woman. My intuition sensed a new definition of union church.

WELS never gave up its union ways. That explains how the Church Growth Movement did so well. The Synodical Conference in general felt that danger came from Rome and from anti-inerrancy liberals. They did not have the sense to deal with the Reformed and Pentecostals who said, "You are just like us. We can teach you how to grow like us. You only have to throw off those silly little liturgies, creeds, and funereal hymns."

This came from a WELS pastor's consecrated and consecrating lips, "David Valleskey cannot help himself. He was an abused child. His father made him read all that Reformed garbage." He loves the Church Growth Movement, went to Fuller Seminary, bragging about it and denying it as necessary.

If you look around at the favored pastors of various synods - Tiefel in the CLC, Jeske in WELS, Kalstad in ELCA, Werning in the LCMS - you will see unionists at work. These clever chameleons will pretend to be Lutheran when it suits them, but they really loathe Lutheran doctrine and worship. Proof is their demonic hatred toward anyone who is Lutheran. That is the third stage of false doctrine, identified about 16 centuries ago by St. Augustine.

The various synods are union synods because the leadership cannot or will not deal with doctrinal issues. They are pragmatists, and pragmatists are ultimately apostate.
They will do what is easier in the long run. Confessional Lutherans are rather passive and accepting, eager to believe the next deception. Unionists are like feral cats on meth. They will bite and claw whenever the kingdom of their Father Below is threatened. So the leaders will always cater to the unionists.

God's Word could solve these problems, but the efficacious Word must be applied, not simply used as a rabbit's foot. That is why I remain pessimistic.

For Your Disgust and Revulsion

Pastor Jackson,

I wanted to bring this to the attention of your Ichabod readers. I ran across the WELS Prayer Institute on the web while confirming the Church Growth apostasy of the Church and Change group. http://www.welsprayerinstitute.com Its web pages provide links to the WELS, Christian Life Resources, Church & Change, Jars of Clay Ministries among others.

Most disturbing are the sample prayers they offer.

Here are a few under Parish Services,

"Dear Father, prevent "worship wars" in our Synod. Instead, move us to use our time and energy to prepare worship services - in the worship language of choice - which clearly lift up the gospel.",

"Holy Spirit, bless the Schools of Outreach in our Synod. Touch a person's heart today through that ministry. Change a person so they not only learn about sharing their faith - they actually do it."

Under WELS in general, "Holy Spirit, give individuals in our Synod great hunger for your Word. Move 1000 people in the WELS right now, today, to begin reading their Bible again. Remove their spiritual laziness, and build them up as they read your life-giving message.",

"Holy Spirit, bring back 1000 people to the fold around the WELS this week. Motivate pastors and elders to make phone calls and visits. Renew them by your Holy Word. Help them to know your love in a new and better way.",

"As you are bringing babies into our Synod this month and year, Heavenly Father, stir their hearts. Raise up for us men and women who will call people to repentance and lead your flock to serve the world with the good news of Jesus in the next years.",

"Savior, you have rescued the world - but so many people do not know that or trust in that fact. Help each one to reach one this month. Move hearts to care, pray, and share in a way that works for them.",

"Help the WELS to shine in the larger body of Christ, O Spirit. You have given spiritual gifts for the common good. Motivate us to interact boldly with non-Christians and Christians - unafraid that we will lose the truth of the gospel you have given us. Help our WELS members and leaders to practice Christian fellowship, without losing our wonderful blessing of church fellowship."

Some of these have Baptist and Reformed theology or could have come from a Benny Hinn or Robert Tilton telethon. I hesitate to even copy/paste some from the second sample page...... There's also a list of ELS and WELS churches that support this operation. The majority of the laity are no longer vigilant. Please continue the God pleasing work of warning the sheep of the wolves in their presence.

2 Peter 2:1, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." 1 Corinthians 11:19, "For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you."

WELS Layman (He signed his name to the email, but I am leaving it out, so his prayer-warrior-partners don't pile on.)

***

GJ - Is there a reason LCMS seminarians and pastors join Rome or Eastern Orthodoxy? Yes, they are trained to make the jump.

Is there a reason WELS pastors have become Pentecostal or generic Evangelical? Yes, the Wisconsin Synod has been training them for this for decades now. When I have more time I will type in material from the early issues of TELL, the official instrument for converting the synod to Fuller-itis.

Luther's Prayer for False Teachers

"May God dash you to the ground."