Not Every Evangelical Is Fooled by Church Growth

It's not only Lutherans who have been victimized by the CG-PURPOSE DRIVEN heresy. Just substitute "Lutheran" for "Baptist" when reading the following, and the show goes on. Same false idea, same, modus operandi, same disillusionment by discerning layman, resulting in conscience bound departure due to betrayal by leaders and pastors who look to the next program, the next CGM guru, the next "numbers game" instead of "Thus saith the Lord".

Mary Thompson
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IS YOUR CHURCH SUFFERING FROM R & R?

By Paul Proctor
January 2, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
The Lord sent me on a difficult journey several years ago. It has been a long, painful and frustrating excursion. But it has also been quite rewarding in that I have learned so much along the way. He called me out of The People's Church in August of 2000 for reasons I have already chronicled in a published piece by the same name. It wasn't a mere critique of a church gone bad from a disgruntled ex-member with an axe to grind, but rather the beginning of a calling of sorts to
expose what I discovered to be a growing movement and trend in church life that in reality robs people of their faith in Jesus Christ. In my ten or so years as an untrained writer and columnist with an undeserved high school diploma and a very basic knowledge of the scriptures that came largely through personal study and prayer, I started writing commentary for the internet barely knowing even how to
punctuate a sentence, much less how to structure one properly. It was more or less on-the-job-training; so frankly, I learned as I wrote what I witnessed. And not having the luxury of editors most of that time, it meant that any embarrassing errors I made involving grammar, punctuation or spelling were promptly published for all the world to see - and in many cases, still are.

In retrospect, I suppose that helped keep my ego in check, at least most of the time, especially when the praise and support of other Christians began coming in - not unlike the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh that tormented him throughout his ministry. By the same token, I guess those words of encouragement helped keep my discouragement, embarrassment and humiliation from overwhelming me when all the criticism and rejection followed.

I had been a musician all of my adult life and until the mid-nineties, had no inkling or desire to write about anything that didn't involve music - much less controversial matters of church and faith. To this day I'm amazed that anyone is interested in anything I have to say - and moreover, that the Lord would compel a fool like me to write it down. But I do nonetheless, for whatever it's worth.

After leaving The People's Church, I ended up at a smaller more traditional Southern Baptist fellowship where the pastor assured me numerous times over the four years I was there that he would not bring that church growth movement stuff I had agonized through at my previous church into his church, only to end up, much to my dismay, hearing him quote Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven Life principles time and again
from the pulpit - eventually going so far as to offer a class on it to those who were interested in attending - that is, until I reminded him of his promise to me. It was as if every time I tried to settle in and serve the Lord in some capacity there, either as a teacher, a committee member or as a trustee, the CGM would reappear in one form or another and distract me into a confrontation and response in order to restrain its influence. As I would soon learn, many others who were reading my articles were also enduring the same kinds of struggles at their churches.

Whenever I questioned my pastor about his PDL proclivities, the justification was that, even though he didn't actively promote The Purpose Driven Life and Church per se, there were some practical things in Warren's books he thought would help our congregation. I suspect he was also under at least some peer-pressure, intentional or not, from local promoters and sellers of PDL products and materials which may have
included fellow pastors and representatives from LifeWay Christian Resources here in Nashville, where such things have been for sale for years - a company that once employed him as an editor - not to mention the fact that he was shepherding a handful of misguided church members who were absolutely taken by Warren's unbiblical notions and ideas. Still I remained, hoping to persuade him otherwise.

What finally sent me packing and back on my journey in search of a faithful church (not to be confused with a perfect church) was a Sunday morning message given in two services on November 21st, 2004, where he told of being impressed by a missionary and speaker he heard a few days earlier named Rick Leatherwood, who shrewdly used certain Proverbs from the Old Testament as a means of evangelizing Muslims by referring to the God of the Bible as "Allah," in hopes of winning them to Christ. After the service was over, I obtained a CD copy of my pastor's sermon, to make sure I had actually heard him correctly, so as not to jump to conclusions and falsely accuse him of something he didn't actually say. Citing the Apostle Paul as an example, this is an excerpt of what he preached that morning:

Paul had learned to become all things to all men. Rick Leatherwood has done that too. He does so many interesting things. And, he was trying to figure out, "How do I connect with these Muslims? They believe in the same God, sort of, that I do. They believe in the same God Abraham believed in. They believe in that God. Well, what can I do to connect with them? I can't just walk in and start talking about Jesus. They believe that Jesus was a real man but they don't believe He really died. So, I just can't walk in and start telling the good news about Jesus." So, he came up with the idea, he said, "They believe in God; why not tell them about God? And so the one way I can do that is to give them a copy of the book of Proverbs from our Old Testament." It tells all this wisdom about God, from God and how to know God. And so, what he did; he printed up these little booklets - and he's done it - he's got them printed in various Arabic languages. And he'll go up, and when he gets to know somebody, he said, "I'd like to give you a gift. I'd like to give you this copy of the wisdom of God." Because they believe in God, he can say, "I'm talking about the same God." After listening to the CD at home I called my pastor and politely told him: "Jesus is not the Son of Allah." He responded to my concerns by saying, that wasn't what he meant, followed by an apology for "offending me." You see, he cleverly turned an Absolute Truth issue into a Relationship issue and quickly apologized for having offended me rather than admitting that he had in fact contradicted the Word of God.

After a short but heated discussion, I closed the conversation stating, if I were he, I'd revisit the issue from the pulpit and clear up any confusion his remarks may have caused. When two or three Sundays passed without any mention of his mistake, my
wife and I discontinued our participation in worship there, but did continue in Sunday School with friends for a time, visiting another nearby church for worship, waiting on the Lord's leading elsewhere or our pastor's public confession and repentance - whichever came first. Almost three months later, on February 6th of 2005, my pastor made the following remarks in passing during his sermon that morning:

"Muslims claim to know God; but the god that they say they know, when you really study what they say; we did a study, some of you may remember, on Muslims and Muslim religion a few months back. When you really study what they believe, you see that the god they're worshipping is not the God you and I worship. It's a different God. It's not the God that Jesus revealed to us."

So, apparently this was, to his way of thinking, an acceptable substitute for confession and repentance; to ever-so-briefly re-visit the issue months later as if no real error had actually been committed - as if his unofficial follow-up sermon communicated what he really believed all along about God and Allah. I was left to ask myself: How could such a man ever call on sinners to confess and repent when he was so stubbornly unwilling to do so himself? We never looked back. And that brings me to the point of this article about my ongoing journey and the question I offered as its title:

Is your church suffering from R & R?
Both my previous churches obviously were; and amazingly, so have every one of the Southern Baptist churches my wife and I visited across three counties here in Middle Tennessee over the last three years.

Blame whomever and whatever you will; but somewhere along the way, they all to varying degrees, quit believing God - they lost their faith - their conviction - their focus and their Divine call to hear, believe, proclaim and obey the Word of God at all costs, whatever may come - and made the call to repentance and faith in Christ at best, secondary to the pragmatic pursuit of Results and Relationships - refashioning their religion into something more marketable - more practical - more
horizontal and humanistic, so as to please prospects and participants into jumping onboard, that they might artificially grow their congregations into something impressive instead of something faithful - boasting of "fruit" while yielding a great harvest of weeds.

In spite of all this, the numbers steadily drop and revival continues to evade the Southern Baptist Convention whose members stare at their baptisteries year after year, longing for more Results - and then at each other, longing for more Relationships - this, while ignoring the Provider of both Who patiently waits for their confession, repentance and obedience, that He might bless. Eve took the forbidden fruit because she wanted Results. Adam took it to protect and sustain his Relationship with Eve. Today, the church of the 21st century shamelessly continues to pursue both at God's expense in a desperate and disobedient attempt to satisfy "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life." (1st John 2:16)
May God have mercy on us all in 2008.
© 2008 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserved

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GJ - I noticed that the lies and the sneakiness are the same, whether in a Lutheran synod or in an Evangelical congregation.

Baby Steps - Or Alien Doctrine?

Ripley Concluded Something Was Wrong When She Felt Footprints

L P Cruz has left a new comment on your post "Chameleon Lutherans":

Dr. Greg,

I am just curious as to what you think of Society of Saint Paul? Is this baby steps to the Tiber do you think?

LPC

Oops I meant Society of Saint Polycarp I think by LCMS pastors here is the link

Society of Saint Polycarp

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GJ - Baby steps? This website is a perfect example of the Missouri Synod underground in favor of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. I will quote some of most febrile passages below in italics.

The Rule of the Society of St. Polycarp

Pastor Larry Beane-Dean For questions or comments: Contact Pastor Bean.

7. As the Lutheran Symbols confess the Blessed Virgin Mary to be "the pure, holy, and ever-virgin Mother of God" (Theotokos, Gottes Mutter), as well as "that the blessed Mary prays for the Church" (Ap. XXI, 27; SA I, IV, Latin; FC SD VIII, 24), it is altogether fitting, proper, and consistent with the Faith of the Church Catholic to honor the Blessed Virgin in liturgical celebration. Members of the Society will seek to restore the traditional Marian feasts of the Church of the Augsburg Confession (i.e., the Feasts of the Purification, Annunciation, and Visitation) as a testimony of the grace of God through her, that we might imitate the Blessed Virgin in word and example, and in thanksgiving for the Incarnation of the Son of God through her humble submission to the will of God. Members of the Society will also promote the observance and celebration of saints' days and commemorations. This is wholly in keeping with the evangelical and catholic tradition of the Church of the Augsburg Confession, whose Symbolical Books acknowledge the saints as fitting exemplars of the catholic Faith worthy of imitation, as well as our heavenly intercessors (AC XXI, 1; Ap. XXI, 4-9).

8. As the Church of the Augsburg Confession understands herself as a part of the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, particularly as she exists in the West, members of the Society will take seriously the commitment to the proper ecumenicity this demands. Members will pursue dialogue with:

- Fellow Lutheran Christians to foster and promote Lutheran unity.

- Our separated brethren in the Roman Church, with which the Lutherans at the Diet of the Augsburg in 1530 clearly sought reconciliation.

- The Eastern Orthodox Church, following the example of the exchange between the Lutheran theologians of the University of Tübingen and Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople (1573-1581).

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GJ - In spite of the obligatory Lutheran orthodox sounding words not quoted, this page is far more than baby steps toward Rome and Constantinople. More like a double back-flip with a half gainer.

The Mariolatry cited above gives the scheme away. As Schmauck said, the more people veer away from the Confessions, the more they insist they are the true Lutherans. Chemnitz, the primary editor of the Book of Concord, said we should not give Mary more titles than the Scriptures reveal. This group would have Mary replace Jesus as the object of worship, which is the fetish of Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Here's more:

On Theosis and the Mystical Union

Pastor William Weedon

I have made no bones about the fact that I think there is enormous congruity between what the East calls theosis and what the Lutherans of the 16th and 17th centuries termed mystical union. The loss of that whole mystical union way of thinking has been a sad loss, in my estimation, for the Lutheran Church, and it has disfigured us. The exclusive description of justification in forensic terms has been reduced to the imparting of information: God declares you righteous for Christ's sake. That's indeed the truth, but it is not all of the truth.

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GJ - Where did we hear about theosis before? Oh yes, the ELDONA/Augustana (sic) conference. And the term Church Catholic? That was a favorite of Richard J. Neuhaus before he poped.

Pastor William Weedon is quite active, but not alone. Rev. Fenton (who repudiated Lutheran doctrine and joined the EO) posts on Weedon's blog.

Here are team members of Weedon's blog on the Lutheran Confessions. Thanks to some HTML skills, I was able to copy their links so Ichabodians can see what floats their boats or lights their incense:

Blog Authors

• Rev. Paul Gregory Alms



• Rev. Dr. Albert Collver



• Rev. William M. Cwirla



• Rev. Ryan Fouts



• Rev. Paul T. McCain



• Rev. David Petersen



• Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast



• Rev. Dr. Holger Sonntag



• Dr. Gene Edward Veith



• Rev. David Jay Webber



• Rev. William Weedon

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GJ - Few things shock me about Lutheran apostasy these days, but I was astounded that
McCain (LCMS) and Webber (ELS) would associate with a Romanist like Weedon on a site supposedly dedicated to the Lutheran Confessions.

These Recessional Lutherans have given me an idea. I will start Roman Catholic blogs with names that will draw people in from their Google searches: Scapular Devotions, Holy Mother Church, Quenching the Purgatory Fires, Boys Town, and Luther's Errors. The blogs will make people believe I am a Ultramontane Roman Catholic, but I will spice them up with material that will turn them into Lutherans. That is better by far than pretending to be a Lutheran while turning people into papists.

Anonymous asked: How are you determining that these men are "team members"? There is no reference along these lines on either of the sites you link from the post. Also, are each of these individuals writing for Weedon's blog, or merely linked by him? Since no one can control who links to their blog, it would be unfair to criticize the men on your list merely for being a link from Weedon's blog. Please be more precise.

I just make this stuff up! Here is the verbatim information about the blog:

Blog Name Team Members
Concordia | The Lutheran Confessions orthodoxy hunter; Paul T. McCain; David Jay Webber; Paul Gregory Alms; ABC3+; Rev. Ryan Fouts; Petersen; Holger Sonntag; wm cwirla; GEVeith

Orthodoxy Hunter is not linked on the main page or listed, but McCain says she is a new friend who designed his new Google blog.

The Slandering So-Called Slander-Victims of WELS

According to the US Supreme Court, crying Slander! in a crowded blogosphere is the same as committing slander.

I found this paragraph from the aptly named Moose Report a good example of WELS defending false doctrine by deceitfully crying "Slander!" Frosty Bivens did the same thing when I quoted his pal Paul Kelm. Actually, I have heard this dodge used so often that I can no longer count. Werning is quick to scream "Slander!" too. The Church Growth zombies violate the Eighth Commandment even more than they cite it.

Third, and this really gets me, Gregory Jackson adds a note stating “I see a familiar name associated with the Moose Report.” It’s bad enough that he mars my blog and falsely testifies that I “support” Sweet, but he adds an unnecessary comment to slander those associated with me, which could easily mean any of my brothers who are faithful WELS members, or even my sainted father.

I’m quite irritated, just FYI.

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GJ - I said "a familiar name" because there is a cluster of WELS blogs associated with Mrs. Moose. People link the blogs they like, so anyone with an IQ above room temperature can detect some doctrinal affinities from checking those out.

Mrs. Moose (DMLC grad?) links her brother, Revvin Rev. He links Pastor Rick Johnson, who is the Crown of Life, Corona, California pastor known for being a Leonard Sweet-heart. When I mentioned this on my blog and went back to his blog, the slobbering reference to Sweet was gone - overnight. So were the offering statistics (like the Red Sea, man) that he posted. He said someone let him know about the offering posting, so he got rid of it. He forget to mention the Sweet pangyric which disappeared at the same time.

Bloggers check out other blogs, so I figured that perhaps Revvin Rev or the brother-in-law let Pastor Rick Johnson know his offerings were totally exposed to the public. Pastor Rick Johnson said it was "unclassy" to mention his offerings. Publishing on a web or blogsite means making it public.

Mrs. Moose is an ardent Sweet supporter, now in denial.

The Crown of Life pastor, a known CGM fan, is a Sweet supporter, but silent about it now.

I fail to comprehend how noticing a familiar name is a slanderous attack on the entire Moose herd. Disavowing published support for Sweet is bad enough, but calling me a false witness for quoting her is only going to draw attention to what the entire Moose coalition represents.

Ichabodians must be asking, "Why is a hippy, Methodist, New Age gasbag like Sweet so appealing to WELS people, who cannot find the Large Catechism in the dark?"

Answer - Sweet has been promoted by Church and Change. According to a recent post, they were bold enough to give seminarians free tickets to their 2007 conference.

Why is Church and Change so in love with the doctrine of a hippy, Methodist, New Age gasbag like Sweet?"

Answer - Sweet is closely connected to the Church Growth gurus of America: Robert Schuller, Fuller Seminary, etc.

Loehe Missionaries Founded the LCMS - Not Walther

+ Wilhelm Loehe +
2 January AD 1872

Verbatim from Aardvark Alley

Christened Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe, he established a reputation already as a young pastor for being "too" theologically conservative and "too" politically progressive. This led to his being moved to at least twelve positions until he received his own parish in Neuendettelsau, Bavaria in 1837. Beginning his career with difficulty, he accomplished much from such a small place. Even though he had aspirations of a more prominent position in a major city, church and government officials never allowed that to pass.

The Catholic king of Bavaria was de facto leader of the Lutheran Church. His main desire was to keep the churches from becoming places of political unrest. Thus arose strict restrictions, such as an assembly of more than five people needing a police permit. He prohibited mission circles and other "subversive enterprises," thus relegating church activities to not much more than Sunday services only.

In 1840, Loehe read a newspaper account from America by Pastor Friedrich Wyneken. It told of German emigrants not having church or pastoral care &mdash nobody could baptize their children, teach, visit the sick, or bury the dead. Pastor Loehe felt compelled to aid the German Lutherans in America and published an article in a church periodical asking for help. Beginning in the spring of 1841, several young men responded to Loehe's letter, expressing the desire help the settlers with their own skills and occupations. In the summer of 1842 he sent them to America at his own expense. He called them Nothelfer ("helpers in need") or "auxiliary saints", and trained them to be "emergency pastors."

Even while he had no theologians to assist his plans, Loehe published a map entitled "Overview for the German Lutheran Mission Work in the United States." It illustrated a system he developed for advancing pastoral care and outreach among German speakers in the United States. More young men followed and by his death, at least 185 came to America. Loehe paid for many of them himself and was always trying to raise money.

After only six years of marriage, Loehe's wife died, leaving him to raise their four children alone. Even among such hardships, his dreams remained clear and his desire to serve the Lord strong. Indeed, recent years have brought recognition for his farsightedness. This contrasts sharply with the handed-down opinions of many contemporaries who, while recognizing him as a founder of social institutions and mission education in Neuendettelsau, regarded him as divisive, narrow-minded, or combative. Changes in attitude began taking place especially after 1985, when several thousand of his letters were published, many previously unknown to scholars in Germany.

Seeking to support and strengthen missions and pastoral ministry in the United States, Loehe established a large parish cooperative throughout Germany. As support grew, he could publish his 1845 "Letter from the Home Country to the German Lutheran Emigrants" which 946 people, including 350 theologians, signed.

With the home churches finally behind him, he could at last send pastors! Loehe saw to the training of twenty-two pastors for work in America. Due in large part to his direct influence a seminary was established in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1846 as well as a teachers' institute in Saginaw, Michigan. Some of the men he sent to the U.S. helped to establish The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. Today, two LCMS seminaries, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri continue equipping and forming men to send out into the Savior's harvest fields.

Besides his interest in the United States, Loehe also assisted in training and sending pastors to care for emigrants in Brazil and Australia, both of which still have relatively small but vital Lutheran populations. He will continue to be remembered for his confessional integrity and his interest in liturgy and catechetics. He also never forgot the physical needs of those less fortunate and his works of Christian charity include the establishment of a deaconess training house, homes for the aged, an asylum for the mentally ill, and other caring institutions.

Please see Loehe etexts translated through Project Wittenberg for his Sonntagsblatt Appeal, his 1842 Instructions of Adam Ernst and Georg Burger, letters between C.F.W. Walther and Loehe About the Fort Wayne Seminary, and Loehe's Report of Walther's and Wyneken's Visit.

Von Schenk Question

Would you happen to know why so many confessional Lutheran pastors favor Berthold von Schenk and why all I get is a chuckle and the 8th Commandment in return when I complain about it?

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GJ - I was not aware of him, except I heard about his group when working on my dissertation at Notre Dame.

Oddly enough, I just volunteered to write a review of his book, which will appear in Christian News in the near future.

From my first reading of the book I would say that someone defending and following Von Schenk is anything but a Confessional Lutheran. Remember that Rev. Richard J. Neuhaus (LCMS, Seminex, ELCA, Church of Rome) called himself a Confessional Lutheran until he poped. His Confessional Lutheran friends have also poped.

How To Buy Thy Strong Word

Church Growth Results: It's Your Faulty for Not Inviting People to Our Sneaker Services, Where We Ape the Reformed and Mock the Means of Grace

saxoniae has left a new comment on your post "Reasons for WELS-LCMS-ELS":

I stumbled upon your online version of Thy Strong Word when googling for articles about Robert Preus after reading his Getting into the Theology of Concord and the two volumes on Post-Reformation Lutheranism.

I liked it! I plan to go to Scholia/Repristination Press and buy it -- they produce a great Advent devotional (Tim Pauls) and their translation of Chytraeus' Catechesis was very good. I've noticed you're one of the few people who ever mention David Chytraeus.

Would you happen to know why so many confessional Lutheran pastors favor Berthold von Schenk and why all I get is a chuckle and the 8th Commandment in return when I complain about it?

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GJ - I am not sure if His Beatitude, The Right Reverend James Heiser, Bishop of Malone, Texas, and Adjoining Counties, is still selling Thy Strong Word through Repristination Press. Heiser thinks being a bishop is everything, but having an ELCA member on his board is fine - because of all the orders placed by the ELCA member. And yet, a whole new nano-sect (ELDONA) must be started over Yankee Stadium unionism. Is that a contradiction or ironic humor?

I have a few copies of Thy Strong Word left. Post your email as a comment (not to be published) and I will send information about buying it.

My plans shifted back to more publishing and teaching in 2008. Man proposes; God disposes - as the Germans say. Thanks to an industrious editor, I can do a new version of Thy Strong Word. That would be a more popular edition, cut down in size, available on Lulu.com.

I am being double-trained online starting January 7th. I will start at a new online university so I have to learn their system, which will be time-consuming. Secondly, I will start a master's in journalism on the same day. To teach writing at more schools I need a master's in the field. No, do not weep for me. I think it will be fun and edifying.

Question

L P Cruz has left a new comment on your post "Chameleon Lutherans":

Dr. Greg,

I am just curious as to what you think of Society of Saint Paul? Is this baby steps to the Tiber do you think?

LPC

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GJ - I am not sure which group this is. Please post a link to them.

Some of these groups are launching pads for poping and semi-poping. Others may start with good intentions but tip the weak in the direction of Rome and Constantinople.

Apostates can live very comfortably with high church mandates (Patristic Fundamentalism, as they called it at Notre Dame). The Episcopalians and ELCA are both fine examples of that problem.

That does not make formal worship bad. I favor it over aping the Reformed Church Growth manias, now reduced to semi-idiocy (St. John's Ellisville, Missouri).

Lutherans can see that sound doctrine must be first or it will be last.

The micro-mini Lutheran sects of America do not specialize in sound doctrine but in legalistic formulae they happily violate.