ELCA Exiles Like Fuller Too - Fuller Is Clearly the Seminary for All Alleged Lutherans

http://www.lcmc.net/seminary_info.htm

SEMINARY INFORMATION

The following seminaries are in a working relationship with LCMC. This is not an exhaustive list of seminaries, nor is it an endorsement of any of these seminaries.

Many of these seminaries have made special provision to meet LCMC’s expectations for Lutheran historical and theological training. Individuals are encouraged to contact these seminaries and find out which can meet all, or some, of our general expectations.

Individuals interested in preparing for ministry in the LCMC are encouraged to approach a district’s ministry committee for guidance and fulfillment of the candidacy process.

(It is important to individuals and ministry committees to remember the list of general academic expectations serves as a guideline. Remember also that the wording, “or its equivalent”, may be considered by ministry committees when assessing academic or other expectations of a candidate for ministry.)


---------------------------------------

Bethel Seminary
Joseph Valentine Dworak, M.A.
Director of Admissions and Recruitment
Bethel Seminary
3949 Bethel Drive
St. Paul, MN 55112
work: 651-638-6288
fax: 651-635-2479

www.Bethel.edu
____________________

ILTEP (The Independent Lutheran Theological Education Project)
The Claus Harms House
429 N. Sawyer Ave.
Oshkosh, WI 54902
(920) 231-1287

www.iltep.org
____________________

The Master's Institute Seminary
2700 Rice St.
St. Paul, MN 55113
(651) 765-9756
info@themastersinstitute.org
Seminary Coordinator: Wanda Newgren
President: Rev. Michael Bradley

www.themastersinstitute.org

_____________________

North American Baptist Seminary

Admissions Office
1525 S. Grange Avenue
Sioux Falls, SD 57105

info@nabs.edu
1.800.440.6227

___________________

Salt Lake Theological Seminary
Dr. James L. Wakefield
Salt Lake Theological Seminary
PO Box 2096
Salt Lake City, UT 84110-2096

Street address:
Dr. James L. Wakefield
Salt Lake Theological Seminary
699 East South Temple, Suite 324
Salt Lake City, UT 84102-1142

jlw@slts.edu
801-581-1900

www.slts.edu


--------------------------------------------

LCMC also has (or has had) students attending the following seminaries: (District Ministry Committees will assist the student in how to fulfill the LCMC Lutheran educational requirements.)

Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio
Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, California
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota
Trinity Seminary, Newburg, Indiana
Trinity Southwest University, Albuquerque, New Mexico

(ELCA seminaries may accept students as ecumenical students – further conversation with the seminary can clarify these options).


--------------------------------------------------

Other theological and ministry training options are available for those interested in contract calls, for lay theological training, and for continuing education for pastors. District ministry committees may have more information than noted here.

Beyond the River Academy

(Training for Rural Ministry)
Pr. Keith Mentor
4313 Main St.
Elkhorn, IA 51334
712-764-5678

http://beyondtheriveracademy.org

***

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "ELCA Exiles Like Fuller Too - Fuller Is Clearly th...":

Have you ever discussed the LCMC beforeon your blog? By not explaining what this group is all about, I'm sure you're thinking your readers will pass over the initials and think you're talking about the LCMS. I know what the LCMC is, so don't berate me for writing this--but I'm sure many of your readers are totally unfamiliar with it. Why don't you enlighten them?

GJ - I assume a high level of literacy and motivation among my readers, two qualities sadly lacking in you, Mouse.

1. I have discussed the LCMC before.
2. I provided a link, so even the dyslexic could unravel the mysteries of LCMS versus LCMC.
3. The headline gives away the topic - ELCA exiles. Missouri Synod Lutherans are ELCA wannabees, not ELCA exiles.
4. People can look up more on the topic by using the label list. As most people can see, the LCMC has already appeared before.

However, I could see how people might think this post was about WELS. One WELS pastor suggested his members join a Baptist church if they moved to a place where WELS was not (most of the US). WELS leaders and pastors have people reading non-Lutheran material all the time. The way to get ahead in the WELS ministery is to be as non-Lutheran and anti-Lutheran as possible, drinking in wisdom from Trinity (Deerfield), Willow Creek, Fuller Seminary, and that Moses of the Twenty-first Century - Leonard Sweet.

We're Marching to Zion...

PCK has left a new comment on your post "UOJ and Church Growth Presentations, Disguised as...":

"GJ - Sorum is the WELS equivalent of Leonard Sweet. Valleskey is the Fuller-trained liberal who espouses UOJ and evangelism. Why bother? Everyone is forgiven and righteous, especially the guilt-free saints in Hell. (That's WELS doctrine, not Luther's.)"

I guess I just don't see how objective justification is that hard to understand. WELS certainly does not solely teach Objective Justification. There are passages such as 2 Corinthians 5:19: "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." When Paul uses the word "world", is he referring only to those who believe? I can't say he does. He must mean that the whole world was reconciled to God through Christ payment on the cross. Through that payment God is not counting their sins against them.

Consider Jesus' final words on the cross "It is finished." What is finished? His work of paying for the sins of the world...that is what is finished. His complete payment, his perfect sacrifice is finished. God the Father was pleased and appeased. His anger over sin subsided. His payment was perfect.

Consider Romans 3:23-24: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Note that the Greek word for justified is a present passive participle, nominative masculine plural. What modifies it? That's right, all, the Greek word pantes,in verse 23 which happens to be a nominative masculine plural pronoun. Therefore all have sinned (no one can be excluded) but also all have been justified, declared not guilty, through the redemption, the buying back from sin that came by Christ Jesus.

While this is true, that Christ paid for the sins of the whole world, this gift is not automatically given to all people. People are not automatically saved. That is where subjective justification comes in. You have passages such as John 3:16-18: "John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." From this passage, this forgiveness and eternal life only comes through faith, the organon leptikon, the receiving hand given to us by God through which we receive Christ's blessings.

Consider Ephesians 2:8-9. For it is by grace you have been saved (we have been saved through God's undeserved love, as seen through his perfect sacrifice on the cross) through faith (however, this salvation through God's grace, displayed in Christ on the cross, is only ours through faith.)

Christ did pay for the sins of the entire world, but unless that blessing is received through faith, it is of no value to the unbeliever. It is a gift they reject. And due to their rejection they are condemned to hell. It is only through faith that Christ's complete payment for the sins of the world is credited to man.

If you plan on posting this, please post the whole thing, and not bits and pieces. Thank you.

***

GJ - This guy has pluck, posting anonymously and telling me how to use the comment. I copied it verbatim.

I am not going to argue Greek grammar on a blog aimed at everyone. I quoted Lenski before, and all other Greek exegetes agree with him - justification in the New Testament is justification by faith alone. The same can be said about justification in the Book of Concord: justification by faith.

Robert Preus was clear about this in his last book. I quoted him on the subject. He also quoted theologians who have been paraded as UOJ advocates, deceptively so, I might add.

Reconciliation is not justification. I wrote a chapter on this, so everyone can read that. It is linked on this page - and my name is on the book. I do not have to defend the truth anonymously.

Let me give one little example that destroys UOJ. "Abraham believed and it was reckoned as righteousness." What did Abraham believe and when? He believed in the coming Messiah, long before the Atonement. He was justified by faith, Paul's inspired doctrine in Romans 4. How could he have righteousness before the Brief Statement Moment of Absolution? UOJ contradicts itself consistently.

Let us look at the Moment of Absolution itself, which varies by three Jewish days. For some, it happened when Christ died. For others, it happened when Christ rose from the dead. If God declared the entire world righteous, then where is that Word of Universal Salvation. The ELS partner of WELS says the world was saved.

I would like to see one Scripture passage or one Book of Concord passage where the entire world is forgiven of its sin, without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace.

UOJ emerged from Pietism in the 19th century, as its advocates must admit. UOJ is new. UOJ is not Christian.

Rev. Mouse Needs Anger Management And - A Lutheran Education

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "Rev. Mouse Unleashed: Frog in Kettle Simmers":

You wrote: "Anyone who has preached a sermon according to the Scriptures, taught according to the Word, baptized, or communed someone has spread the Gospel."

Your explanation of the word "evangelism" is correct, but let's use it in the sense almost everyone uses it today--What have you ever done that could be considered deliberately sharing law and gospel with an unbeliever? Have you ever worked in a mission field? HAve you ever done a door to door canvas? Have you ever had a Bible class with your former congregations about how to share law and gospel with their friends, neighbors, family and co-workers?

***

GJ - Correct, but... That is Kelmian logic. I could list many things that Baptistic WELS clergy call evangelism. They have to go to Fuller and Willow Creek to understand real evangelism. Le't not trouble ourselves with the Means of Grace when we can entertain people into the Kingdom. My purpose now is to convert the synodical leaders to Lutheran doctrine. The evangelism work I do goes all over the world, and I will leave it at that.

***

More Mouse:

I' ve never seen anyone make such a big deal about the schools he attended--accredited or not. By the way you brag about your schools so much, methinks you're trying to impress your readers. It even seems as if you're trying to equate the words "accredited" with "orthodox."

***

GJ - Since we do not know who you are, Rev. Mouse, your statements are difficult to judge. We all know WELS has a thing against education, unless it is in-house, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield, or Fuller Seminary. I have noticed Olson and Kelm calling themselves Dr. on the strength of a D.Min. in Church Growth. I would call that bragging about nothing. The D.Min. was invented by seminaries as the equivalent of an STM. No one wants to pick up an STD today, even from Fuller.

I read Olson's D.Min. paper from Fuller, jabbing myself with a compass to stay awake - or was it to keep from laughing out loud in the sanctum sanctorum of the MLC library?

Doctorates are rare in the Wisconsin sect. So is intelligent debate. Get out the yellowed dog notes and repeat after me: WELS is perfect.

I would not equate unaccredited with orthodox, if that is what you imply. I have the advantage of age, experience, and education. Everyone has a unique perspective, but few have an original one. Obviously Mouse has a deep need to engage my arguments. For that I am glad. Perhaps I can rescue him from the swamp of apostasy.

I follow Wesley's maxim: "If you can't convert them, at least make them angry." In that I consider myself a rousing success.

Rev. Mouse Unleashed: Frog in Kettle Simmers

The Frog in the Kettle is a Church Growth book promoted by WELS to get congregations and pastors involved in Reformed doctrine and practice.


Rev. A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "UOJ and Church Growth Presentations, Disguised as...":

You wrote: "Valleskey is the Fuller-trained liberal who espouses UOJ and evangelism."

So, if you espouse evangelism you're a liberal? Dr. Jackson, what have you ever done that could be considered evangelism? And please don't mention this blog. All I've ever seen here is slander and libel.

On another note, if you condemn these men for the schools they attended, you should be condemned most of all--Augustana? Waterloo? Yale? Notre Dame?

***

GJ - Anyone who has preached a sermon according to the Scriptures, taught according to the Word, baptized, or communed someone has spread the Gospel. I am surprised Mouse knows so little of Lutheran doctrine. In fact, that is why so many Lutheran ministers are discouraged and demoralized. They listen to the doctrine of demons and think they need a a palace with a 20 acre parking lot to be considered evangelists. The apostates are only gathering more materialistic apostates around them, giving them what their itching ears want to hear.

People who spread the doctrine of Fuller Seminary in the name of evangelism are apostates, not liberals. I should have used a more precise term.

I attended accredited schools when I was a member of the LCA. The Wisconsin sect looks down on all other sects and their schools but their leaders run off to Fuller, Willow Creek, and Concordia Seminary for training. I suggest that Mouse go after Kelm for being a WELS pastor and earning a Concordia D.Min..

Here are some other known Fuller Seminary alumni from WELS:
David Valleskey
Frosty Bivens
Wally Oelhaven
Fred Adrian
Larry Olson
Reuel Schulz
Harry Haggedorn
James Huebner
Robert Hartman
Joel Gerlach
Norm Berg.

Rev. Mouse should condemn me for attending the unaccredited Sausage Factory in Mequon. The faculty condemned Reformed doctrine in one classroom and promoted it in another. I count at least three Mequon professors who have studied at Fuller Seminary, according to their own boasts.

Rev. Mouse - when you write to these gentleman, please copy me. I will post your messages, one and all, to Ichabod. The readers will patiently wait for your response.

Perhaps you would like to read the hundreds of quotations from orthodox Lutheran authors. All you see is slander and libel? Pehaps that is all you see. I will concede that statement about what you see.

LQ fanatics condemned me for graduating from Notre Dame as an LCA member. Meanwhile, their favorite faculty members (Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne) were earned doctorates from the same school. When I pointed that out, they fell silent.

Sabre of Boldness

Rev. Aaron Moldenhouer Receives Sabre of Boldness for 2008

The Sabre of Boldness was awarded to Rev. Fr. Aaron Moldenhauer, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Beecher, Illinois, on Thursday night, January 17th, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the thirteenth annual Sabre ceremony, sponsored by the editors of Gottesdienst. Fr. Moldenhauer is a recent graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, who for reasons of conscience was compelled to leave the Wisconsin Synod during his vicarage year and colloquize into the Missouri Synod. For this he has endured considerable scorn by many who were close to him. Fr. Moldenhauer was unable to attend the ceremony, but his wife Tabitha was present to receive the award for him.

Bearers of the Sabre
1996 The Rev. Peter C. Bender
1997 The Rev. Jonathan G. Lange
1998 The Rev. Dr. Edwin S. Suelflow
1999 The Rev. Gary V. Gehlbach - Eastern Orthodox Mole
2000 The Rev. Peter M. Berg - Eastern Orthodox Mole
2001 The Rev. Dr. John C. Wohlrabe
2002 The Rev. Erich Fickel
2003 The Rev. Dr. Wallace Schulz
2004 The Rev. Charles M. Henrickson - UOJ
2005 The Rev. Edward J. Balfour
2006 The Rev. Bishop Walter Obare
2007 The Rev. Dr. Ronald Feuerhahn

***

GJ - I admire Pastor Balfour and Dr. Feuerhahn, but this award is rather comical, especially since the judges think joining another synod is something akin to martyrdom. The battles during the Reformation and after the death of Luther meant: burning to death (Dr. Robert Barnes), dungeons, exile, and persecution by the government itself. Today Christians in China are gladly going to prison for the faith. Christians around the world are still being slaughtered, especially by Muslims.

I see no one on the list in prison. One man did risk his life.

Kelm Understands Universal Objective Justification

UOJ Stormtrooper on Vacation

Paul Kelm, WELS (D.Min. in Church Growth, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) is one of the few to grasp the real meaning of Universal Objective Justification.

Probably no one has been taught the weirdness of forgiveness without faith until he has studied at the Sausage Factory (Mequon), the Frozen Food Seminary (Mankato) or the two Concordias. Many of those students think UOJ means the Atonement, but it does not. As I have told various people, the misinformed and badly educated have had their eyes opened by the actual statements of UOJ champions. The scales fall off their eyes when they realize that UOJ is not the Atonement but an alien religion divorced from the Christian faith.

Apart from the Midwestern sects of Lutheranism, the same ones flocking to Fuller and Willow Creek, no organizations have embraced UOJ in all of Christianity.

But Paul Kelm has an important insight, which may explain matters for people. He likes to make everything upside-down. He has this statement in one of his theological treatises:

"It's just easier for many people to work backwards from the subjective to the objective in their thinking. In fact, upside-down evangelism may start with gospel and work back to law, stating the solution as a prelude to the problem and clarifying both at the cross." [This is Moravian Pietism]
Paul Kelm The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Fall, 1985 p. 5.

Moravian Pietism starts with the Gospel and works back to the Law. That explains the peculiar nature of WELS. On the one hand, they publish articles in FIC (False Teachers in Collusion) and books at NPH (Valleskey, et al). They always say, "The whole world has been forgiven." The ELS says the whole world is saved.

On the other hand, they lash people with the Law. WELS blames its members for its financial meltdown and loss of members. The ELS extends the Left Foot of Fellowship to anyone who dissents, even UOJ warrior Preus.

LutherQuest (sic) chants "Anathema sit. Anathema sit (Let him be damned)," if anyone questions their beloved UOJ. Wait guys. Everyone has been forgiven, declared righteous. It's over, man, as you say so eloquently. How come the Book of Concord fans are condemned while the Hottentotts are forgiven? Why is Hell filled with guilt-free saints while Ichabod is full of condemned sinners?

Paul Kelm has explained it well. Start with the Gospel, move to the Law.

Luther said if we do that, the listener will look at us the way a cow looks at a newly painted fence.

And that is the proper look for UOJ laity.

LutherQuest (sic) Fulminating for Universal Objective Justification

UOJ Stormtroopers Reason with a Layman.

The word sic is Latin for thus, meaning - that is their error not mine. LutherQuest (sic) is anything but a quest for Luther.

The sign of a weak argument is fulmination. False teachers literally foam at the mouth when they are challenged with God's Word, Luther, and the Confessions. Brett Meyer, a layman, chose to ask LQ denizens about their robotic advocacy of justification without faith.

A Missouri Synod pastor posted this on LQ:

Brett,

Your words are very frightening to me. Why? Because I fear that you are leading people to believe that there is no forgiveness for people...

You also frighten me, because you are flat-out lying about Rev. Preus' position on justification. Here are his words, from the beginning of his forward to Herman Preus' paper....

The same pastor used Methinks on one of his signed LQ posts at the same time an anonymous poster used Methinks on Ichabod while accusing me of being a follower of Osiander! That could be a coincidence, but I did find it odd that a pastor in his prophetic role of rooting out false doctrine would make a charge anonymously, whatever his name might be. UOJ Stormtroopers have their own rules, I have seen.

Brett Meyer has been excruciatingly polite with these people.

To clarify matters about Rolf Preus - he is on both sides of the issue. He has agreed with the Book of Concord and swung over to UOJ again. He asked for and received a rough draft of the justification chapter of Thy Strong Word. He responded by email that he agreed with it. Subsequently, before the book was available, Rolf falsely declared on LQ that he had my book, and denounced it. As I recall, he publicly agreed with justification by faith again, but doubled back on his own words.

A dentist posted some good comments on LQ about the weakness and falsity of UOJ. He persisted for a long time. Then he reappeared to rescind all of his previous posts. He sounded pulpit-whipped to me.

If the UOJ Stormtroopers on LQ had a case, they would not need to be so nasty to a layman, resorting to name calling and false accusations. Their defense of forgiveness without faith can be summarized as:
1. Read our previous posts.
2. Read Walther and his disciples.
3. Ignore Luther, the Book of Concord, and historic Christianity.

Lambeth the Bellwether of Protestantism

Note the density of Lutherans in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

From Virtue Online:

First of all, Lambeth 2008 will mainly be made up of liberals, as most of the orthodox will be attending GAFCON in the Holy Land with only a handful attending Lambeth 2008. Most of the orthodox will stay away from Lambeth thus saying, in so many words, '"We have had enough and we will discuss what it means to fulfill the Great Commission." The predominant voices at Lambeth will be liberals, not conservatives, with the loudest most strident left wing voices coming from the U.S., Canada, the UK, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

While V. Gene Robinson, the openly homoerotic Bishop of New Hampshire, has not been given an official invitation to Lambeth he will attend "on his honeymoon" with his partner and will hold seminars on sodomy to anyone who wants to attend. Dr Williams made it clear in an announcement about Lambeth that Gene Robinson has not been invited to the Lambeth Conference. "It is proving extremely difficult to see under what heading he might be invited to be around," said Williams.

Recently, a Church of England bishop opined that if homosexuality was not on the table at Lambeth, then it would be the 800 pound gorilla in the communion that would come back to haunt it.

Furthermore, it has been the singular concern of the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, that if the conservatives stay away from Lambeth, then the Liberals will use it as an opportunity to overthrow Resolution 1:10, the lynchpin resolution of Lambeth 1998 that says sexual behavior is only appropriate between a husband and wife. Certainly the liberal bishops will be ably assisted in this action by the Anglican Consultative Council with acquiescence from Dr. Williams and a hearty push by liberal and revisionist TEC bishops.

***

GJ - The Lambeth Conference is significant because the Archbishop of Canterburgy calls it once every 10 years. Bishops have to be invited to attend. As readers can see, the confab has some legislative authority, but that is easily overlooked. If the traditionalists pass a rule, it is bypassed. If the apostates pass a rule, it is the Eleventh Commandment.

The Episcopal Church in America has repeatedly violated its own guidelines in order to make the new radicalism the norm. That began with the illegal ordination of women and moved forward from there. Why wait to change the rules? Violating the rules will change them without a vote.

The socialists in England worked on incremental changes in their country, until England was almost completely bankrupt. This method has worked well for Episcopalians as well.

Let us not start clucking our tongues. Only a comatose Lutheran could say things are different in his own synod. The radicals nibble along the edges the same way. Synodical leaders do not read Luther and cannot spell Chemnitz, so they ape what they learn at joint meetings with ELCA, whether sponsored by Thrivent Insurance or blessed by the Fuller/Willow Creek bunch.

Lutherans follow the Episcopalians, a few years later.