I grew up in Illinois and shook hands with Otto Kerner (Democrat), a governor who later went to federal prison for taking bribes in office. A breaking news story in Illinois would be, "The governor is honest and not working with the Mafia."
One of Blagojevich's crimes is telling the Chicago Tribune to fire writers he did not like. He held the bankrupt paper hostage so they could not sell the Chicago Cubs. The horror! Blago is as bad as the so-called conservative Lutherans.
The editor of the Northwesern Lutheran (now FIC, WELS) told me that he would not print any of my articles if I continued to write for Christian News. The hypocritical dodge in WELS was that they liked having their articles xeroxed by Otten but not actually written for Otten. Later, the CLC informed me that writing letters for CN was OK, but not writing articles. A letter was the equivalent of not inhaling.
One printer in WELS asked me to write for him. I did not know who he was. Pastor Guy Purdue (of tepid Tendrils fame) took me to the place of business. The printer told me how well he was doing with the Valleskey-Bivens book that NPH refused to publish. Tim Buelow said, "That was too full of false doctrine for NPH." My favorite part of Valleskey-Bivens is how people breathe in righteousness, an insight they got from an Enthusiast. That is how they find professors for The Sausage Factory.
The printer arranged to publish Angel Joy and other material in the future. Later he phoned me. He was quite agitated. He said he could not print anything from me. He had to support his family: Valleskey-Bivens did not approve of his offer. I was not exactly surprised. I had already witnessed Valleskey playing the game of gushing over Church Growth while pretending to be mildly critical, denying his Fuller involvement three times before a charcoal fire. Bivens had confessed his attendance at Fuller Seminary, too.
I repeatedly asked the printer for the Angel Joy photos back, in writing. The printer kept them until well after the book was printed, so my favorite photos were not included.
Later, someone decided I should not receive any positive coverage in CN. My crime was denying the Halle Pietism doctrine called Universal Objective Justification. A number of people wrote favorable comments about Thy Strong Word when it came out. Otten refused to print them.
The apostates do not believe in the efficacy of the Word, but they fill the world with their mindless books. No one can count the number of Church Growth books out in the last 40 years, and the list keeps growing. Their words are efficacious, but the Word of God is not, if we believe their ravings.
The apostates brag about their love, but they hate to hear a word about Luther's love of sound doctrine.
The apostates make sure they are in the money at all times. If a dollar bill is being blown down the street, whether from Thrivent or Schwan, they are chasing it and snarling at anyone nearby. Synodical funds belong to them and them alone, but they are doing the work of the Lord. They want the church to grow. Everyone else is lazy and loveless, they say.
Addressing their false doctrine is called slander and violating the Eighth Commandment (a daily comment sent here). Meanwhile, they call the mildest of their opponents (fellow clergy no less) "brain-damaged" and "senile."
Nevertheless, the harder they suppress the Word, the more it spreads. Efforts to silence opposition to UOJ are comical. Laymen alerted me to the depth of the problem and laity are still interested in having Halle Pietism defeated. Clergy cannot get off their memorized phrases.
The clergy are used to compromising and excusing. They should change their names as often as they change their doctrine. I am thinking up names like:
- Bob N. Weave,
- Sin U. Flect.
More ideas are welcome.
