still appeals to Lutheran apostates.
Librarian types like to distinguish between Zwingli and Calvin, but their doctrine was quite similar. Zwingli was first and rather crude in his pronouncements. Calvin came later and wrote more refined prose. After Luther died, the crypto-Calvinists took over Luther-land and chased the genuine Lutherans away, as much as possible. They did this by claiming to be the real Lutherans, the ones who cared about the Church. They lied and manipulated.
Zwingli and Calvin are the same because both divorced the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word. They were Enthusiasts, a cohort condemned in plain, clear language by Luther in the Smalcald Articles.
The gurus of the Church Shrinkage Movement are closeted Calvinists who hold the same doctrine. The closeted Calvinists reject the efficacy of the Word and teach against efficacy wherever possible. Where are the sacraments among the closeted Calvinists? Has Pastor Jeff (Gunn) ever had a communion service? The question alone should sound Klaxon alarms throughout the sect.
Examine the chief theologians of WELS and Missouri. Valleskey wants to grow figs on thistles, in the name of "spoiling the Egyptians," a phrase stolen from Larry Crabb, who stole it from Augustine. Does anyone write his own material in the CGM?
Kent Hunter (DMin, Fuller) argues that shepherds do not have sheep, rather sheep have sheep. Thank you, Church Doctor, but where is that in the Gospels? Second Pasadenians?
Paul Kelm (DMin, St. Louis) writes that the Word is efficacious, but not effective. His course at Wisconsin Lutheran College, required for graduation, was full of required Reformed reading. WLC had the gall to require the course and to overlook the artificial insemination of its students. Closeted Calvinists do not believe in The Word, but they do believe in unlimited quantities of their word.
Waldo Werning--official xeroxer of the Church Shrinkage Movement--has never seen a Zwinglian concept he does not like.
Larry Olson is still listed in WELS as a Dr, even though he admitted in Christian News that he did hardly anything at Fuller to earn the prestigious DMin degree. How does a paucity of effort make someone a Dr. of Theology? Of course, he is not. Like Kelm, he wants people to think he is. So Church and Change lists him as Dr. Lawrence Olson when no one in academic life accepts a degree invented to get people back into seminary for continuing education.
Recently there was a Gratuate (sic) Faculty Conference at MLC, where he works, posing the question: Can anyone spell in WELS?
