ELCA News Release - Dead Serious Stuff

Do Something About Your Own Methane, ELCA!

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 13, 2007

ELCA Advocacy Offices Purchase Carbon Offset Credits
07-205-AL

WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Washington Office, ELCA Corporate Social Responsibility, Pittsburgh, and Lutheran Office for World Community, New York, have purchased carbon offset credits to mitigate their carbon emissions accumulated through air travel.

"Our offices have been working to reduce our carbon footprints by turning off lights and power strips when we're not in our offices, for example. But short of turning off all electricity and ceasing to travel, it's very difficult to eliminate your carbon emissions entirely," said Mary Minette, ELCA director for environmental education and advocacy.

"Since the advocacy staff travels extensively, we've purchased offset credits to balance those carbon emissions. The credits will go toward renewable energy projects, thus reducing the overall amount of power generated by burning fossil fuels," said Minette.

The specific projects funded by the carbon offsets purchased by the advocacy offices will support the use of anaerobic digesters, machines that dramatically reduce the amount of methane that escapes into the atmosphere while simultaneously generating renewable energy for the dairy farms that run them. Methane, like carbon dioxide, is a major contributor to global warming.

To determine the amount of the offices' carbon emissions that needed to be offset, Minette surveyed the staff about their air travel. She used that information with a carbon emissions calculator on the Internet and then purchased the appropriate
amount of credits needed to compensate for the travel.

Minette hopes this move by the advocacy office will start a trend in the ELCA. "Imagine the amount of carbon emissions we'd save if the entire churchwide organization, every synod office, and every congregation were to reduce their energy use and budget for the purchase of offset credits for the remaining energy consumption," she said.

"Our social statement, 'Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice,' commits us as individuals, as a worship community, and as a public church, to address the threat of global warming. I encourage all Lutherans to calculate their carbon footprints, reduce their energy consumption, and purchase carbon offset credits where appropriate," Minette said.

***

GJ - Greenland was once fertile farmland, long before people worried about cow methane and global warming. According to the book 1421, Greenland was circumnavigated during that time, before the area froze over again. Warming and cooling cycles are not caused by ovine, bovine, and human methane.

J.K. - I read about the ELCA buying "carbon credits". What's that anyway? From whom does one buy carbon credit? I never heard of this, but I do have planet for sale that is currently unoccupied by any Mormon patriarch.

GJ - Roman Catholics would call it reparation - paying for one's sins with money. Money is given to various green projects to atone for one's sins. This is crucial for ELCA's ultra-sensitive (to fads) departments. They love traveling all over the world on the offerings of the laity. However, they are burdened with guilt for spewing all that exhaust into the atmosphere. So they use even more offering money to satisfy the rage of AlGore, deity of the Greens. Meanwhile, AlGore is making money from the loot being offered to these projects.

NIV Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.

The Wauwatosa Gospel at Work

Police Called To Wauwatosa Denny's Over 100 Times
TODAY’S TMJ4 ^ | 12/13/07 | Mick Trevey

WAUWATOSA - There are problems at a Denny’s restaurant in Wauwatosa.

TODAY’S TMJ4 has video showing people punching each other in the dining room. We're talking about the Denny’s location on North Avenue right by Highway 45. Police are called their constantly, nearly every other night according to police reports.

That's too much for some Wauwatosa leaders. One melee broke out at 2:00 a.m. Saturday as people were trying to eat at Denny’s. Punches flew. People rushed from their tables to see what was going on. Chris Gilbert was there.

“A little wrestling and then it got broken up and I was in between and kind of separating both sides,” Gilbert said.

Dartell Delarosa was in the fight. He has broken blood vessels in his eye.

TODAY’S TMJ4’s Mick Trevey: “Do you think there should be people fighting in a Denny’s restaurant?”

“No. Ithink there should be better security. There was a guard there but he didn't really do much,” Dartel Delarosa said.

People inside say they don't like eating with violent fighting nearby.

“When you go to a restaurant, you expect to go eat, calm, peace, but things happen,” Gilbert said.

This Denny’s drains Wauwatosa police resources. Officers were called to the diner 100 times in 2006 and about 150 times so far this year.

Most of those calls come in the very early hours of the morning.

Aldermen think something needs to change.

“My own particular preference is that they close their, reduce their, business hours and are closed between midnight and 5:00 a.m.,” Wauwatosa Alderman Don Birschel said.

Late Thursday afternoon, Denny’s announced changes because of the serious problems. They say the location will close from midnight until 5:00 a.m. on weekends. They're deciding whether to make that change permanent.

***

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "The Wauwatosa Gospel at Work":

This Denny's is but a few blocks away from the Love Shack at 2929. Why can't we all just get along?

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "The Wauwatosa Gospel at Work":

Keep up the wonderful articles, Greg! People will see how nuts you really are.

***

The premier Wauwatosa website of the Wisconsin Synod remains silent about these shocking incidents.

The Pre-LCMS Jungkuntz

Richard Jungkuntz, Northwestern College, WELS; Concordia Seminary, Springfield, LCMS;
LCMS Doctrinal Commission;
Pacific Lutheran University (ALC)

Mark Braun, Those Were Trying Years

Jungkuntz and Ralph Gehrke resigned their professorships at Northwestern College shortly after the 1961 convention. E. E. Kowalke, Centennial Story: Northwestern College 1865?1965 (Watertown, WI: Northwestern College, 1965), 270, reported that one of the two (not identifying which one) said simply, "I share the Missouri position." Jungkuntz accepted a call to Concordia Seminary, Springfield, Gehrke to Concordia College, River Forest, following the 1961 convention. Northwestern's Board of Control refused to grant them a peaceful release of their calls, citing their "public rejection of the Synod's position regarding the principles of church fellowship."

From Lawrence White:

The issue of woman suffrage cannot be viewed in isolation from other questions about the role of women in the church, ultimately including that of ordination to the pastoral office. In historical perspective, it is undeniably clear that for the liberal elites which controlled the Synod throughout the 1960's, the approval of woman suffrage in the church was only one step, albeit an important step, in the achievement of complete gender equality in the church. Dr. Richard Jungkuntz, the Executive Secretary of the CTCR in the late "60's" and one of the chief architects of approval for woman suffrage, most certainly held this view. Jungkuntz would later recall a discussion within the Commission with Dr. Martin Scharlemann, one of the St. Louis Seminary's leading New Testament Greek scholars, in this way:

"Just as the discussion was drawing to a close, Dr., Scharlemann observed, 'But if those positions that Jungkuntz has taken, and his arguments in support of them, if they are valid, that means women's ordination should be permitted.' And I said, "Well, you're the one who said it,' and I did not pursue it further because that would have led us down this other path and utterly derailed the suffrage question. My feeling (and that was a political choice) was that if we can get suffrage in, at least there's a foot in the door or a camel's nose under the tent."(47)

Had liberal dominance not been interrupted by the 1969 conservative coup, that process would almost certainly have culminated in approval of women's ordination at some point in the 1970's. Woman suffrage was deliberately intended to be " camel's nose under the tent" for the ordination of women, to use Dr. Jungkuntz's apt image. The only thing the liberals failed to anticipate was that by the time the camel's nose had slipped in, the tent would be under new management. The theological linkage between suffrage and ordination is reflected in the subsequent declaration of Seminex Faculty in favor of women's ordination. Throughout this period of transition the faculty of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis played a prominent role in shaping the Synod's theology. In 1974, following the removal of Seminary President John Tietjen, the majority of the faculty departed into self-styled "exile" to form "Christ Seminary - Seminex." A few years later, in 1979, these same professors issued a document on the role of women in the church entitled "For the Ordination of Women." Their appeal for women pastors included this very specific comment about the relationship between suffrage and ordination:

"If they (that is, 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36 and 1 Timothy 2:8-15) do apply to the ordination of women they should apply equally to the question of woman suffrage in the church, to the role of women as congregational officers and to any situation in which women would teach or exercise authority over men. There is nothing inherent in the pastoral office which would make it logical to restrict the application of these passages to it."(48)

Church historian Dr. James Weis, a professor at Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, had also suggested an unavoidable linkage between suffrage and ordination. In a 1970 article in the seminary's theological journal The Springfielder, Weis reviewed the development of the Synod's position on women in the church. He noted that the same convention which had approved woman suffrage had also called for "a study of the ministry of women in church and society; including any areas where prejudices because of sex may be in evidence." The seminary professor went on to note: "If this proposal is acted on, future conventions of the Synod will likely be faced with the task of considering the question of the ordination of women into the parish ministry." Dr. Weis concluded:

"It is without question that the position of the Synod and its leaders on the place of women in the church has changed a number of times during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century...The old restrictions on woman suffrage in the congregations and in the synod have now been lifted. It remains to be seen what decisions the Synod will arrive at in the future in the matter of the ordination of women into the parish ministry."(49)

47. Richard J. Jungkuntz, Ibid., p. 189.

48. The Faculty of Christ Seminary-Seminex, "For the Ordination of Women," St. Louis: n.p. 1979, p.5.

49. James Weis, "The Status of Women in the Missouri Synod in the Twentieth Century," The Springfielder, Volume XXXIII, No. 4 (March, 1970), pp. 40-41.



***

GJ - One reader remembered Jungkuntz only as a lightning rod in the LCMS. The pastor was unaware of Jungkuntz' role in the Wisconsin Synod. A study of those pastors who were trained by Jungkuntz and Gehrke at Northwestern College will reveal the apostate leaders of WELS and (to a degree) Seminex.

Jungkuntz and Gehrke were martyrs frequently mentioned and pictured in Missouri in Perspective, the tabloid published by the Seminex leaders.

Why are women performing pastoral acts in Missouri and WELS?
Short answer - Jungkuntz.

At the Purple Palace, Paul McCain went into denial-overdrive when I told him of the ELCA women vicars (Columbus, Ohio) baptizing and consecrating in LCMS congregation. I knew because I read the letters of the young women at the Trinity Seminary (ELCA) library in Columbus.

More Questions about UOJ

Augustinian Successor has left a new comment on your post "Thy Strong Word Fan":

Dear Pastor Gregory,

Thank you for explaining the old Lutheran view on the difference between reconciliation and justification. If I understand you correctly, justification of the sinner qua SINNER comes through only by the MINISTRY of reconciliation. RECONCILIATION on the Cross provides the basis for JUSTIFICATION, but is not to be equated or conflated. In that sense, on the Cross, the wrath of God the Father was *propitiated* (God reconciled to the world as a matter of accomplished fact - IS)), but *expiation* (the world OUGHT to be reconciled to God) takes place by the action of the Holy Spirit in hypostatic conjunction with Word (Verbum dei est Gladiatus Spiritus).

Am I correct in believing that the fathers of Lutheran Orthodoxy also held to old Lutheran view?

***

GJ - Pastor Gregory reminds me of a TV show - Mr. Ed. The combination of a professional title and a first name lends itself to comedy.

I understand Old Lutherans to represent the era after the Concordists and before Walther. In the histories of American Lutherans we find distinctions between the Pietists/Revivalists and the Old Lutherans. The liberals were the Pietists who opposed the liturgy, Lutheran doctrine, wine used in Holy Communion, dancing, tobacco, and cards. The Pietists were unionists. Walther was profoundly influenced by the Pietists.

In general, the European Lutherans came over (Missouri included) with a Pietistic buzz. Many moved closer to orthodoxy when they saw how divisive and anti-Lutheran the revivalists and unionists were.

The General Council had some fine Lutheran leaders who did not embrace UOJ at all. Concerning the efficacy of the Word, the General Council was much clearer (and closer to Luther) than the Synodical Conference ever was.

WELS has never forgiven Lenski (old ALC) for stating the obvious - that justification in the New Testament is always justification by faith.

UOJ is new and came from the Pietists via Walther, so UOJ is not found in the Old Lutherans. I cannot say I have gone through all the orthodox Lutherans in Latin to prove UOJ was never stated by anyone. That would require a lifetime of reading and superior eyesight. I do know that claims about J. Gerhard supporting UOJ are utterly false. Ditto Calov (relying on Robert Preus' last book).

Without getting into all the Latinate words, I would agree with your statement as being a good summary of the Gospel. Christ died for the sins of the world. He is the propitiation. Because the Atonement or reconciliation is universal, no one needs to doubt whether it is true for him. Luther said it best when he wrote, "No sin is so evil that it can damn us. No work is so good that it can save us."

We always need to hear the Gospel to strengthen our faith. Luther emphasized about the cross - "Those are my sins. I caused His suffering. I did that to Him."

The preaching and teaching of the Gospel is the method by which God converts all people to Christ. Baptismal regeneration is an important part of this ministry. Infants hear the Word and believe. There is no purer justification by faith than that of a tiny baby. Justification by faith continues when the soul is nurtured by the Gospel. For many different reasons people fall away from the Gospel and actively reject the Gospel in time.

Sadly, the Synodical Conference represents a defection from Biblical truth and the Book of Concord. That is why no one will publish a scholarly, exegetical defense of Justification Without Faith (UOJ). Synod idolatry has kept people from dealing with doctrinal issues. The results are apparent in Missouri's Ablaze!, the faltering programs of WELS, and the defenestrations of the Little Sect on the Prairie.

Wouldn't it be strange to have people declaring that Augustine was infallible, that anyone who questioned Augustine about any doctrinal issue was a heretic and doomed? Augustine wrote that nothing he said should be accepted unless it was in complete agreement with the Word of God. Now we have synodical disciples who believe nothing in the Bible unless it is in agreement with Walther, or Pieper (F. or A. but not both), or Sig Becker, or Waldo Werning.

Walther was far too keen about declaring his theses and defending his conclusions with the right Biblical passages, whether they fit or not. In time his disciples repeated the same statements with robotic consistency but without conviction born of study. That is why they fly into a rage when challenged.

Thy Strong Word Fan

Luther's Seal, by Norma Boeckler
Augustinian Successor has left a new comment on your post "Lutherans Missing the Boat":

Dear Pastor Jackson,

I enjoy your writings, and I think I've visited all of your sites, including this blog. Your Thy Strong Word is fabulous and an absolute must read! It's good to read an independent, non-partisan Lutheran view on the going-ons in contemporary Lutheranism in North America. Myself am not a confessional Lutheran as such, but 80 percent! I'm an acutally an Anglican belonging to a continuing jurisdiction, much in the same boat as you and like-minded brethren. The Church of England (Continuing) is a miniscule Church with only some six properly organised congregations, plus scattered members at home (i.e. UK) and abroad (including myself).

I have a question concerning UOJ. Can you please clarify *your* position on UOJ? Can you please explicate how your understanding of what the orthdodox Lutheran understanding of the CROSS differ from the modern intepretation. It seems to me that the doctrinal position of UOJ amongst the three main confessional Lutheran bodies (WELS, ELS and LCMS) may differ only in terms?

Thank you.

Warmly in Christ,
Jason

***

GJ - Every so often someone offers a postive review of Thy Strong Word. I appreciate that because the book involved about 10 years of work. Only a few copies are left, but it will be available on the Net and possibly in shorter form through Lulu.com.

I am uncomfortable with the notion of my position on anything theological. Doctrinal conflict helps us study what the Word of God plainly says. The problem is getting through the assertions of the past, supplanting the authority and plain meaning of the revealed Word of God. Confessions are good because people work out their witness to the truth. However, when we start worshiping sainted leaders as idols, we are no different from pagans.

I am indebted to various laymen who encouraged me to study the issue of UOJ.

As Jason said, the old Synodical Conference agrees about the basics of forgiveness without faith, without the Word, grace apart from the Means of Grace. The same basic position (with some slight changes) can be found among ELCA liberals and the Universalists. Karl Barth (and his mistress Charlotte Kirschbaum) taught something similar. Since Barth-Kirschbaum became the court theologian of Fuller Seminary, the convergence of McGavran Church Growth and WELS Enthusiasm is easy to understand. Both have the foundation, false though it be, of Universalism.

The classic UOJ position is stated in the LCMS Brief Confession, 1932, echoed in J. P. Meyer's inept Ministers of Christ (WELS), and parroted in the ELS publications (reprinting Walther's Easter Absolution sermon). The UOJ position, in short, is that God declared the entire world forgiven of its sin the moment Christ died, alternately the moment He rose from the dead. This Moment of Absolution comes from the Walther sermon.

The exegetical confusion of WELS-ELS-LCMS comes from the concept of reconciliation. Here they fall into a rationalistic trap to support the infallibility of Walther and his disciple F. Pieper. Here is the trap - If Christ exchanged our sinfulness for His righteousness, then everyone must have become righteous when He died on the cross.

Lost in their logical pratfall is the basic notion that reconciliation is not justification. Is justification the same as sanctification? The two concepts bear a relationship to each other, but we cannot equate the two. The Holy Spirit always works through the Word, but the Holy Spirit is not the Word. Reconciliation is not Universal Objective Justification.

The reconciliation passage is another way of expressing the Atonement.

KJV 2 Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (See also Romans 4 and 5)

The Atonement (reconciliation) means that Christ has paid the price for our sins, for all time, even if no one ever believes this to be true. However, the ministry of reconciliation that Paul speaks about is the preaching of the Gospel. The treasure of the Atonement is distributed by the Holy Spirit through the Word. Lutherans call the Word and Sacraments the Means of Grace because those are the instruments (means) by which God pledges to give His grace. We are never in doubt about how to receive His grace. This treasure lies in one heap until that distribution takes place through the Holy Spirit. The Gospel promises move people--even babies through Holy Baptism--to faith. Justification by faith means receiving this grace through the Word.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son illustrates the reconciliation quite well. The Prodigal knows from coveting the carob pods (pig food) that he has reached the bottom, all his money spent on fast women and slow horses. He returns home with godly sorrow (the effect of the Law). Contrition is not forgiveness and does not earn forgiveness. Any son in the same condition would be afraid of his father's wrath. But this Father runs to meet him, to embrace him, to welcome him back. A contrite sinner receives this forgiveness with the greatest joy, knowing it is not earned by merit, decision, or attitude.

True preaching includes God's Law and God's Gospel. Grace comes to us only through the Means of Grace. Calvinists separate the Holy Spirit from the Means of Grace, as if the Word and Sacraments could be without effect. Isaiah 55 says otherwise. God's Word is never without effect and always accomplishes His purpose.

Inca Doves Warming Up

One reader took me to task for neglecting the garden articles I used to publish. That reminds me of a similar complaint, "You have been averaging only two posts a day."

Yesterday we received our allotment of the winter storm. I happened to be north, trying not to slide off I-17 as the freezing rain fell. The weather turned cold overnight in Glendale. This morning it was only 40 degrees, normally as cold as it gets in the Phoenix area.

I looked outside this morning and saw dozens Inca doves clustered on the fence, around the flower pot, on the window sill, and on the chlorine buckets. Some were stacked double-decker, to stay warm. They were catching the morning sun several hours ago and are still sitting there, preening their feathers.

Feathers perplex the scientists of evolution. Not every bird can fly, but all birds have feathers, in several categories, for flight, warmth, attraction. The Inca doves fluffed up their downy feather to keep their bodies warm this morning. Inside we had several down blankets we use on the bed. Birds preen because the feathers have to be aligned just so for them to fly.

One feather alone has about 300 million barbs on it. The barbs keep the feathers in place. They work a bit like Velcro.

I put a number of plants, bushes, and trees in the yard to shade us from the burning heat, but also to attract birds. Few people seem to appreciate birds here, or I am speaking to the wrong people.

Every plant hosts a wide variety of insect life. Humming birds are common here, but always a treat to watch. They love the cape honeysuckle bushes, which are almost always in bloom with bright orange flowers. Humming birds do not simply sip nectar. That would be like living on Kool-aid. They also eat insects. Trees, bushes, and flowers are food centers for insects, so they help birds with food and shelter alike.

Recently I was picking tangelos from my tree when I heard a sound like a Star Wars light saber. A few feet away a humming bird floated and watched. They are fearless but also known for flattering bird-lovers. I have had them fly in and out of the shower from the garden hose, getting a bath on the fly.

Birds are happy to get water in shallow puddles, for drinking and bathing. I turn my waterfall on to give them a safe area to land, bathe, and get a drink.

I do not know how someone can look at all the dependencies within one group of creatures and say they evolved by chance or figured out how to survive. People are now so blind to Creation that they cannot see how our civil liberties and ethical concepts are tied to the Author of Life.

Lutherans Missing the Boat

Choose Between Tweele-dum and Tweedle-dee To Solve Lutheran Doctrinal Problems

Christian News announced a joint free conference in Minnesota. One part is represented by the Rolf Preus Synod. The other part is ELDONA (the tiny sect with the huge name). Jack Cascione will speak on his only topic, the supremacy of the Voters' Assembly. Someone from ELDONA will speak about the absolute need for bishops.
Cascione and Heiser both graduated from Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, so I have to assume that both became doctrinally befuddled there. Their solutions recall the story that the Russian Orthodox Church was debating the benediction (three fingers for the Trinity or two for the Two Natures) during the Communist Revolution.

Here is another view from Bente, who edited the Concordia Triglotta:

"The Lutheran Church differs from all other churches in being essentially the Church of the pure Word and unadulterated Sacraments. Not the great number of her adherents, not her organizations, not her charitable and other institutions, not her beautiful customs and liturgical forms, etc., but the precious truths confessed in her symbols in perfect agreement with the Holy Scriptures constitute the true beauty and rich treasures of our Church, as well as the never-failing source of her vitality and power.

Wherever the Lutheran Church ignored her symbols or rejected all or some of them, there she always fell an easy prey to her enemies. But wherever she held fast to her God-given crown, esteemed and studied her confessions, and actually made them a norm and standard of her entire life and practice, there the Lutheran Church flourished and confounded all her enemies.

Accordingly, if Lutherans truly love their Church, and desire and seek her welfare, they must be faithful to her confessions and constantly be on their guard lest any one rob her of her treasure."
F. Bente, Concordia Triglotta preface.

The old Synodical Conference no longer wants Bente. Concordia Publishing House gave the rights to Northwestern Publishing. Everyone wants to use a new edition.

You Can't Sue UsBut We Can and Will Sue You

Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori and The Venerable Mary Gray-Reeves, Bishop


NATIONAL CHURCH WILL SPEND OVER $1 MILLION IN LAWSUITS IN 2007

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
12/11/2007

The National Church headquarters of The Episcopal Church is on a legal spending binge as dioceses and parishes exit the denomination.

Figures, VirtueOnline has received, reveal that prior to 2005 there did not appear to be any major expenditures on legal fees until after Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the new Presiding Bishop, took office.

Up until that time, former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold appeared to have kept his attorney David Booth Beers seriously muzzled, but as soon as Mrs. Jefferts Schori took office that changed. She is the second woman (after Ellen Cooke) to break through the glass ceiling and, if the stories are true, wears pants with sterner stripes than Griswold.

In 2005 there was a line item for "Title IV investigations, trial and legal." The amount budgeted was $8333 a month, or $100,000 a year. The actual amount spent was $453,014 or $353,014 over budget.

In 2006, the same line item appeared with the same amount budgeted ($100,000/year) with the actual amount spent being $635,636 or $535,636 over budget.

In other words, for the years 2005 and 2006, some $200,000 was budgeted for "Title IV investigations, trial and legal." In point of fact, nearly $900,000 was actually spent. In addition, in 2006, some $430,648 was listed as being spent on legal fees.

There was no such line item for "Legal Assistance to Dioceses" in 2005 and it didn't appear until Oct. 2006 (Just after Jefferts Schori's election as Presiding Bishop).

In Oct. 2006, expenses for that item were $204,988. In Nov 2006, expenses for that item were $0 In Dec. 2006, expenses for that item were $238,531

Combined, the total spent on legal fees was $443,519 (almost half a million dollars in three months). At $510/hour, Beers' fee, ($600 less a 14% discount for the church) that's 870 hours worth of work for his law firm. With 64 actual work days during the period Oct. - Dec. that works out to 14 legal man hours per day, every day spent on Episcopal business (at $510/hour). One can only conclude that either Beers worked 14 hours a day, he had lots of people working on the case(s), or someone was getting "gouged."

In 2007, "Title IV, investigations, trials and legal," was still listed but the budgeted amount had been increased from $8,333.00 a month to $25,000 per month, a 300% increase!

In addition, listed under the Title IV item was another line item titled, "Property Protection for Missions - Legal costs." It is budgeted for $41,667 a month, or $500,000 for the fiscal year 2007.

If the two line items are for different operations, $300,000 has been budgeted for "Title VI, investigations, trials and legal." This is a 300% increase over last year alone.

If the new line item "Property Protection for Missions - Legal costs" is intended to fund legal costs for lawsuits, etc., this would mean that the TEC has budgeted a total of nearly $800,000 for that purpose.

In 2007, the item name was changed to "Property Protection for Mission - Legal expenses." The following charges were recorded:

2007 YTD (Oct. 2007) $470,521 2006 (total) $443,519 Total from Oct. 2006 - Oct. 2007 was $914,040 or an average of $76,170 dollars a month average on legal costs.

Monies spent on line item: "Title VI, investigations, trial and legal" is budgeted for another $25,000 a month. Together, both items are budgeted for a total of $76,000 a month.

By year's end that figure could swell to well over $1 million with major expenditures just in their infancy in Virginia.

Furthermore, this figure does not include additional costs TEC will incur from assuming mortgages from properties they might win.

When asked in pre-deposition hearings in the Virginia lawsuit case how much he and his law firm were getting in legal fees for defending the Episcopal Church, David Booth Beers refused to answer saying the matter was "private."

***

GJ - Interested Lutherans will find the same opacity in the synodical budgets about expenditures for lawsuits.

Episcopalians and the Little Sect on the Prairie

"Kiss my ring. Bow down before Me and despair."

Pope John the Malefactor is crowing about a $100,000 gift, possibly more coming from an ELS donor. His leadership caused the sect to cut $80,000 from the budget as congregations left with their property and benevolence donations. The permanent damage is difficult to assess.

Pope John will be remembered for creating a new Lutheran denomination by his determined application of the Left Foot of Fellowship.

The ELS and WELS have a nifty solution for the problems they create. Instead of facing their own doctrinal incompetence, they invent new rules. The ELS solution is "No more LCMS colloquy pastors!"

That was the problem. Pastor Rolf Preus came into the ELS (where his father and uncle both served) with the same concept of the congregation as many ELS pastors held. But lo, the Wisconsin sect wanted to impose its Fuller Seminary papism on the ELS through Moldstad and Schmeling. Those two lapdogs immediately began telling the clergy what they would believe, teach, and confess. Years later the lapdogs finessed a vote. Some clergy objected, so Pope John took action.

Norm Teigen confessed to being doctrinally fatigued. Doctrinal debates should be welcomed, not shunned. The trouble is, the papal-Lutheran leaders--like other apostates--cannot tolerate any dissent. Clergy should be able to discuss polity without threats, defenestrations, shunning, excommunication. Pope John walked up to one pastor and said, "Do not take communion with the rest of us." (I am paraphrasing.) Exactly what convention, resolution, or confessional document gave Pope John the Malefactor the power to do a drive-by excommunication? The clergy should be ashamed of themselves for tolerating his oppressive yoke.

Lutherans should look at the Episcopalian Church to see what lies ahead of them if they continue their cowed, subservient attitude toward the hierarchy.

Here is a note about church history. The Lutheran Church was vital and growing when there were dozens of little groups based on ethnic ties to Europe. The more they merged to form large synods, the more they engaged in navel-gazing and power plays. ELCA is the largest and worst.

The Little Sect on the Prairie has been known as the Little Norwegians because they refused to take part in the 1917 merger of Norwegian groups, a merger based on doctrinal compromise and ambiguity. The big Norwegians eventually merged into ELCA.

"Error loves ambiguity." Krauth.

Episcopal Crack-UP

Caption Created by Episcopalian Who Left To Join Rome

SAN JOAQUIN: Whither Bound?

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
12/10/2007

The question is what will happen now that the first diocese, in the history of The Episcopal Church (TEC), has officially voted to leave the denomination. San Joaquin is just one of four dioceses, and possibly six or seven more, ready to follow suit.

Several things are assured.

The lightning rod issue of Gene Robinson's consecration, as the first openly homoerotic bishop living in a same-sex relationship with another man, brought to a head what has been the church's simmering, underlying rejection of Holy Scripture as normative on all matters of faith and order.

The Episcopal Church's rejection of 2,000 years of church history and biblical exegesis on human sexuality is the final straw for orthodox Episcopalians. (The Anglican Church of Canada is also breaking up for the same reasons.)

We will now see a huge exodus from The Episcopal Church exposing what will become an enormous public relations nightmare, a disaster that it cannot possibly reverse, despite the fiction put out by homosexual leaders like Louie Crew and Bishop Robinson that an inclusive church would see an enormous influx of Roman Catholic homosexuals and other closeted homosexuals who want a place to worship. That hasn't happened. Robinson's consecration four years ago has only emptied churches .

An ecclesiastical blood-bath is clearly in the making. Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of TEC, has made it abundantly clear, in less than reconciling language, that there will be "potential consequences", code for lawsuits, now that Bishop John-David Schofield and the majority of his diocese have voted to leave the national church.

She will inhibit Bishop Schofield on the grounds that he has abandoned the communion of the church, though in point of fact he has abandoned neither its doctrine nor the Anglican Communion. She will declare the diocese hers and those remaining in the Episcopal Church will organize with a new diocesan convention and elect a replacement Standing Committee. Meantime Mrs. Jefferts Schori will probably put in an assisting bishop with an office to serve the handful of parishes she says belong to her until a new diocesan bishop search process is initiated and a new bishop elected and consecrated. This will change nothing. Schofield has declared himself under the ecclesiastical authority of the Most Rev. Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone and is answerable only to him. He is now outside the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church. He will not be intimidated by any of the actions of TEC, Mrs. Jefferts Schori, HOD leader Bonnie Anderson or legal schnauzer David Booth Beers. The bishop has had plenty of time to prepare for whatever they will do.

A legal blood-bath is now in the making in which millions of dollars will be spent by both sides to retain properties through secular law courts. Whoever wins or loses, it is an overall public relations disaster for the Episcopal Church that no amount of fine talk about inclusion and diversity can or will reverse. The net loss is to the denomination. The net winner will be Beers' law firm. Furthermore, the issues will be aired publicly in the media where TEC will be officially known as "the gay church" that ordinary straight folk run away from in revulsion in order to protect their children. (They will make sure their sons join the Boy Scouts, a movement also reviled by The Episcopal Church for its lack of sexual inclusion.)

The Archbishop of Canterbury, from whom we have yet to hear, will issue a statement that can be read by both sides as a win or a loss depending on how one chooses to interpret it, but it will, in the end, change nothing. The die has been cast and whatever he says will be ignored by the orthodox as they have waited long enough for a definitive stand from him. The House of Bishops meeting recently in New Orleans,reconfirmed their worst fears that there will be no change of direction by TEC. The communion is effectively in tatters.

Dr. Williams retains the option of withdrawing Bishop Schofield's invitation to Lambeth, next year, but the San Joaquin bishop might not care as more and more Primates and bishops have said they probably won't be attending, anyway. Nigeria, the largest province in the Anglican Communion, has said they will not attend if their North American franchise (CANA) bishops are not invited. They won't be. Other African provinces including Uganda and Rwanda have said their bishops won't be attending. Lambeth itself might be irrelevant by that time.

All in all, Bishop Schofield and the majority of his diocese are free at last from the revisionist clutches of a Gnostic Church bent on its own self-destruction. The Episcopal Church has declared itself forever motu proprio from the truth of the gospel by the actions of General Convention in 2003. The winner is Jesus and the gospel, and the freedom the diocese now has to proclaim that message in a clear unalloyed fashion, no longer burdened by having to hear endless whining about inclusion and diversity, sodomy and transgendered behavior.

The Kingdom of God can now be advanced in an atmosphere free of spiritual pollution, with the diocese free to make its own mistakes, but never free to compromise the message. That message can now be shouted from freed parishes unhindered by compromise.

I Contributed to the Formula of Concord

"How is a person justified before God? This occurs solely by faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ; that is, freely, not because of any works or merits of one's own but only because of the one Mediator, Jesus Christ, who became the sacrificial victim and propitiation on our behalf. By this sacrifice, man obtained forgiveness of sins and became righteous; that is, God-pleasing and acceptable. His righteousness was imputed to man for Christ's sake, and man becomes an heir of eternal life when he believes with certainty that God gives him these blessings for the sake of His Son."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith (1568), trans., Richard Dinda, Decatur: Repristination Press, 1994. p. 105.

"Christian righteousness is the forgiveness of sin, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and acceptance to eternal life. It is free, not the result of any virtues or works but is given solely because of Christ, the Mediator, and apprehended by faith alone."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith (1568), trans., Richard Dinda, Decatur: Repristination Press, 1994. p. 106.

"Scripture therefore uses these words, 'We are justified by faith,' to teach both: 1) What the reason (or merit) for justification is, or what the blessings of Christ are; to wit, that through and for the sake of Christ alone we are granted forgiveness of sins, righteousness and eternal life; and 2. How these should be applied or transferred to us; namely, by embracing the promise and relying on Christ by faith alone."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith (1568), trans., Richard Dinda, Decatur: Repristination Press, 1994. p. 107.

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GJ - Chytraeus' book was a long-time best seller. He is often overlooked as a Lutheran theologian, but his contributions to the Formula of Concord cannot be ignored.

PS - The following comment is a real howler.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I Contributed to the Formula of Concord":

"I" Contributed to the Formula of Concord?

I knew you were arrogant, but this takes the cake for a headline.

GJ - I am trying to stop laughing. Difficult to breathe, to type. Choking. May short out my keyboard. OK. Deep breath. Better now.

Directly below the headline is a big picture of Chytraeus, who contributed to the Formula of Concord. I thought most people could make the connection. I am trying to do a little education for the woefully ignorant Synodical Conference types. The Formula of Concord was completed several centuries before I was born, so a claim about making a contribution myself would seem to argue for the pre-existence of Ichabod, which I am not prepared to make.

I get the same type of comment from the same person daily. Most do not rise to this level of hilarity. All the nasty comments are anonymous. The interested laity who phone and write me are a little shocked by this. "The truth makes enemies," as Walther used to say (in Latin).

One Justification (By Faith) in the Book of Concord

Martin Chemnitz asks: "Have you read any of my books? Start with the Formula of Concord, which I edited."

“...God in His purpose and counsel ordained [decreed]:

1. That the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ, who, by His faultless [innocency] obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life.
   
2. That such merit and benefits of Christ shall be presented, offered, and distributed to us through His Word and Sacraments.
   
3. That by His Holy Ghost, through the Word, when it is preached, heard, and pondered, He will be efficacious and active in us, convert hearts to true repentance, and preserve them in the true faith.
   
4. That He will justify all those who in true repentance receive Christ by a true faith, and will receive them into grace, the adoption of sons, and the inheritance of eternal life."

Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, XI. #15. Of God's Eternal Election. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1069. 2 Corinthians 5:19ff. Tappert, p. 619. Heiser, p. 288.

Status of Saints - Through Faith Alone

"Here belongs also what St. Paul writes Romans 4:3, that Abraham was justified before God by faith alone, for the sake of the Mediator, without the cooperation of his works, not only when he was first converted from idolatry and had no good works, but also afterwards, when he had been renewed by the Holy Ghost, and adorned with many excellent good works, Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:8. And Paul puts the following questions, Romans 4:1ff.: On what did Abraham's righteousness before God for everlasting life, by which he had a gracious God, and was pleasing and acceptable to Him, rest at that time?
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. #33. Of the Righteousness of Faith before God. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 927. Romans 4:3; Romans 4:1ff; Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:8. Tappert, p. 545. Heiser, p. 252.

***

GJ - Enchanted by its own hyperbole, the Wisconsin sect has guilt-free saints in Hell. Everyone on earth is forgiven. Everyone is absolved. Everyone is born forgiven, according to WELS, according to UOJ. Missouri and the ELS are a little shy about admitting to these follies; they only finesse the question a bit better.

Can UOJ Be Wedged into This Passage?

"Scripture thus uses the term faith, as the following sentence of Paul testifies, Romans 5:1: Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Moreover, in this passage, to justify signifies, according to forensic usage, to acquit a guilty one and declare him righteous, but on account of the righteousness of another, namely, of Christ, which righteousness of another is communicated to us by faith...1 Corinthians 1:30. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. And 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. But because the righteousness of Christ is given us by faith, faith is for this reason righteousness in us imputatively, i. e., it is that by which we are made acceptable to God on account of the imputation and ordinance of God, as Paul says, Romans 4:3, 5: Faith is reckoned for righteousness."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, III. #184. Of Love and the Fulfilling of the Law. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 205f. Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21. Tappert, p. 154. Heiser, p. 60. (Emphasis in original.)

***

GJ - The UOJ Enthusiasts, especially in WELS, like to use a forensic concept to argue their case that the whole world has been declared NOT GUILTY! because of the cross (or the resurrection of Christ). The Moment of Absolution has not been fixed, so sometimes they use the actual death of Christ. At other times they use the resurrection of Christ. Their arguments are like a vast ocean, two inches deep.

The universal decree--apart from the Holy Spirit at work in the Word of God, apart from the Means of Grace, apart from faith--is derived from Walther's Easter absolution sermon. The same nonsense is repeated in various Synodical Conference sources, including Pieper, J. T. Mueller, Theo Engelder, J. P. Meyer, Norm Madson, Sig Becker, Valleskey, Kelm, Dan Preus, Rolf Preus, and Pope John the Malefactor. In fact, Pope John offered Rolf the Left Foot of Fellowship when they were in complete agreement about UOJ.

In the Apology of the Augsburg Confession is a clear statement that the not guilty verdict comes to us through justification by faith. Every few months WELS will publish another little article about the NOT GUILTY! decree and declare the whole world has been given the same verdict. How does such colossal ignorance of Romans and the Book of Concord continue to exist?

Mentor Offers Advice

"Now you are catching on. First, we get ordained illegally. Then we dare the spineless men to take that away. The capons cannot handle our opposition, so we work on getting into higher offices. Enough of us network with the radicals to get someone like me in charge of the whole organization. Now we control the bishops, the priests, the schools, publishing, and the pension fund. Here's the big joke. The old fuddy-duddies worry that the Episcopal Church is shrinking. So what!"

California's First Female Episcopalian Bishop

The Venerable Mary Gray-Reeves, Bishop

Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schiori and Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves, Gather the Women Priests for a Group Photograph


California's first female Episcopal bishop ordained in Saratoga

Mary Gray-Reeves appreciates being a role model
By Kim Vo
Mercury News
Article Launched: 11/10/2007 10:03:22 PM PST

Episcopal bishop ordained
After she was ordained bishop of the local Episcopal diocese - the first woman to reach such heights in California - Mary Gray-Reeves gathered the female clergy for a picture. What was supposed to be a quick photo-op turned into an impromptu celebration as the women swayed, clapped and cheered around her. "We are marching," they jubilantly sang, "in the light of God."

Saturday's ordination marked several milestones, not just of gender lines but a new relationship between the faithful and their bishop.

Gray-Reeves was the first female bishop ordained by Katharine Jefferts Schori since the latter was elected last year as head of the national Episcopal Church. The sight of the nation's first female presiding bishop consecrating California's first female bishop was inspirational to those in attendance.

"It's thrilling - and to have my 11-year-old daughter see it!" said the Rev. Katherine Doar of St. Francis parish in San Jose. "My daughter didn't even know there was such a day when there weren't women bishops."

About 1,000 people packed St. Andrews in Saratoga for the daylong celebration. The ordination signaled a new start for the Diocese of El Camino Real, which was deeply fractured when its last bishop resigned under pressure in 2004. He was the second bishop to leave because of power and personality clashes within the young diocese, which went into an extended period of healing and introspection before calling for a new leader.

"Mary is a force for the future," said Deborah Kempson-Thompson, a member of All Saints in Carmel and a seminarian. "She's interested in moving on, and we need to move on."

With its new leader installed and relationships mending, the diocese is focusing on a more routine matter: how to increase falling membership. The diocese - which includes Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties - has only 12,000 members. Sunday attendance today is 5,200, down from 6,500 in 2000. It is projected to reach 4,400 by 2009 unless something reverses that trend. Attendance is shrinking while the surrounding population swelled. (GJ - Imagine that!)

Already, Gray-Reeves has asked each of the dioceses's 50 parishes to think of new ideas for revitalizing the church. "We've got nothing to lose," she says, "so we can try anything."

The diocese encompasses a multitude of languages, cultures and professions ranging from farmers to software engineers. That kind of diversity can make outreach challenging, members say, but it's also a gift.

That attitude was reflected Saturday. A Sudanese choir sang. Sherry LeBeau smudged the church with sage as her husband spoke in Lakota, a Native American language. And the day's prayers alternated between English and Spanish, as did the congregation's responses.

After Gray-Reeves read her vows, bishops who had come from around the world laid their hands on her head and consecrated her into the episcopate.

"Therefore, Father, make Mary a bishop in your church," they said. "Pour out upon her the power of your princely spirit . . ."

Bishop Leo Frade of southeast Florida - Gray-Reeves' former boss - wished upon her a "double share of God's grace" as she leads the diocese during a time of poverty, intolerance and high-tech innovation. A time when torture is justified, he said, and people are trying to create outsiders within the church.

The latter point alluded to the fractures facing Episcopalians over homosexuality since the ordination of an openly gay bishop in 2003. Since then, some churches - and in certain cases, entire dioceses, including the neighboring Diocese of San Joaquin - have threatened to leave the Episcopal Church.

In an earlier interview, Jefferts Schori said she hoped that acceptance of gay leaders would move faster than it did for women. The first Anglican woman priest was ordained in the 1940s in Hong Kong. More than three decades would pass before the Episcopal Church allowed women into the priesthood - they are still barred in certain dioceses. In the United States, all but a few Anglicans are called Episcopalians.

"For most people under 30, it's not an issue," Jefferts Schori said. "We're going to a place where we can see . . . the image of God in the people around us."

Gray-Reeves - the 15th female bishop in the Episcopal Church - longed for a day when she would be regarded simply as a bishop. "It's a great honor and a great privilege," she said Friday. "I think I'd feel that way if I were a man."

But she recognized that her status was significant for many, and she arranged for the photo so women in the diocese could indulge in the "rare moment" with both a female bishop and presiding bishop.

On Saturday, she reflected on her first inkling of being called to the priesthood. She was 9. And when she announced her intentions, the women in the room laughed. It was 1971 and they knew women weren't allowed as priests.

Gray-Reeves imagined another 9-year-old seeing Saturday's photo. Perhaps the girl lives in a country were women aren't currently allowed in the priesthood but feels the call nevertheless and thinks to herself: "If they can do it, I can do it."

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GJ: Grave-Reeves and Jefferts-Schiori share more than hypenated names and severe hair styles. Their ecclesiastic garments are definintely New Age. Symbols of Christian doctrine are almost completely absent.

When WELS and LCMS Merge:Envision the New Leaders

Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves (left) with President Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori

WELS and Missouri are working hard on women's ordination. LCMS President Kieschnick advocates women's ordination, as Ralph Bohlmann did before him. WELS is employing The Frog in the Kettle method of incremental steps, via Church and Change, Kelm-Parlow's leadership, and other agencies of apostasy.

Some people think I am kidding about The Frog in the Kettle. One WELS member said, "Guess what my pastor gave me to read - The Frog in the Kettle." The theme of the book is that incremental changes will boil the frog before he knows it, and achieve the goals envisioned by the Mission Vision Statement. George Barna, the author, is a Church Growth guru of the greatest magnitude, or turpitude. They trot him out whenever they want to win an argument. The Scriptures do not help them, but Barna does.

The message to Frog readers everywhere is: "We will boil you before you know it." That is like finding out that How To Serve People is a cookbook!

Golden Compass Bombs

Vulture Prepares for a Meal

"SATURDAY AM: Friday night only $8.6 million from 3,528 theaters with anemic per screen average. Weekend estimate is $27 million. Cost of movie: $200+ million (amid reports that director Chris Weitz confirmed the budget soared to $250 mil). This flop should sink New Line Cinema chairman Bob Shaye's chances to stay on when his contract expires in 2008... Full report Sunday AM."

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GJ - Concerned Christians helped get the word broadcast about this atheist stinkbomb. I noticed the old apostate theme used again - "Surely we can be exposed to various viewpoints. That should strengthen our faith."

NBC tried to veto an ad thanking our military. The outrage was so great that the network relented.

Both episodes show that our voices do matter.