Blog Power - St. Mark's DePere Takes Down Plagiarized Sermons

Bailing Water and Ichabod have discussed the plagiarized sermons posted on the St. Mark's DePere, Wisconsin website, as if one or the other pastor wrote them. Both sermons were nearly verbatim from a Baptist website, as BW pointed out.

St. Mark's is the big WELS Church Growth congregation, full of cell groups, women teaching men, all the cutting edge things learned at Fuller and Willow Creek.

I have contended that the Church Growth people despise the Means of Grace. If they trusted in the Word and sound doctrine, the two pastors would write their own sermons, not steal them from the Baptists.

Lutherans have lost their confidence in the Word, so God is taking away the little they have.

Pseudo-Mike, who sounds exactly like Paul Kelm wrote this:

Is it CGM when we learn how to remove or reduce barriers to communicating the gospel clearly? If I better know the mind of an unbeliever, might I better be "all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some?" If I give thought to having adequate parking at our church knowing that if I don't the first-time visitor might drive off, does this mean I am a CGM flunkie? Or is it possible that I'm so in love with Christ and his powerful Word that I will bend over backwards to remove every possible barrier which might keep a person from coming into contact with the Word and hearing it clearly?

So in love with Christ sounds weird.

If someone loves Christ, he loves His Word and keeps (guards) His Word. The Greek word for keep is the same one used for guarding something. We guard treasure; we do not steal someone's garbage. Skunks steal garbage.

KJV John 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Someone cannot truthfully say he loves Christ when he downplays error or promotes error.