Long-awaited ELCA Statement Available

Tinky-Winky, Proud

Remember the hordes who joined the LCA and ALC after they published their feminist Liberal Book of Weirdness in 1978? No? True, the LCA and ALC lost members.

But, readers do remember all the feminists who joined WELS, after Wisconsin made the hymns and the Creeds safe for the N.O.W. to use without gagging on male terms.

No?

ELCA has published their new report:

Give Me Ten Men, Give Me Stout-Hearted Men,

which will finish the work started by their alliances with every Left-wing cause and every mainline denomination.

LCMS, WELS, and ELS pastors will cluck their tongues about this report, and say, "Thank God we are the (fill in the blank) synod." They will not tell their members how closely they work with ELCA, including Multi-cultural Ministries, which means Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Transsexual, Bisexual, Pansexual, and Questioning.

***

New spin on the "middle of the road" report.

Obamassiah

"Make disciples."

Bethany Video Worship Services To Start

"We'll have this purring in no time."

We are working on fine points of the Bethany Lutheran Church video services. We have an account set up for video streaming. Anyone with cable or DSL will be able to watch and listen by clicking on a link.

The service will be designed for people to participate, except we cannot feed everyone's responses into this kind of system. Those who have used teleconferencing know it is tricky with latency when people are singing and responding.

We can do video conferences easily across Oovoo.com, with a small group.

Interest is high, from the West Coast to the East Coast. No, not millions of people, but a number of traditional (but stranded) Lutherans.

Why do people feel alienated from the synods? A lot of us are like the farmer, taking his wife into town in the pickup. She said, "Why Bill, we never sit close together like we used to when we first met."

He answered, "I ain't moved."

Governor of the Wrong State

"Why didn't I join the California-Las Vegas District of WELS?"

NY Governor Spitzer made a huge mistake, not being confirmed in WELS, where only Nine (9) Commandments are taught.

Web Cam

Left Click
A group of layman asked me about extending our services. We have a small group in three states worshiping together twice a month.

The laymen investigated and found a way to put the audio and video up (live) through a web cam. Those with a cam can view each other. Those without can click on the link, watch, and listen. They only need an Internet connection and broadband (cable or DSL). Dial up does not work with huge graphic files.

We used to videotape services for a man with ALS (Columbus). He and his wife said video made it seem like they were there.

We will be able to record the services and provide them through a website. We did an initial test the other day. The quality of the picture was superb. Sound is trickier.

We will not be able to match the production values of the big, honking Church Growth operations, but we will not hide the Lutheran name either.

Who Told You?, Part II

"Who told you?"

"Who told you?" is a signal that someone has identified a scandalous WELS event, a warning to forget it, as the creatures forgot the Piper at the Gates of Dawn in The Wind in the Willows.

I drove by a town in Arizona where a former WELS member lives. He was in business so he saw through the Church Growth marketing of WELS.

He said one day, "The big Church Growth pastor's hand-picked successor left the ministry due to depression."

I said, "Really? What was her name?"

He shot back, "Who told you?"

I replied, "When a WELS pastor leaves the ministry suddenly over depression, a woman is involved. Just be glad it's a woman."

Lenski explained it a long time ago. He was a genius in New Testament exegesis but also a District President. That was when a DP could have an IQ bigger than his belt size. Lenski said, based on his experience, that a man who was unfaithful to the Word was also unfaithful in other areas of life.

Up the Creek In a Yacht

District Pope Janke

When DP Janke said he was returning to his first love, the congregation, he failed to insert "huge and choice" in the message.

Janke has a call to Jefferson - not Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. Jefferson has had problems with declining membership and income. Doubtless Janke has the answers. Confirmation classes will be shorter in length, with only Nine Commandments to teach.

One anonymous person said I was peddling old news about DP Mueller and VP Kuske. Not at all, gentle readers. The same news is constantly recycled in WELS because people tolerate dictatorial and corrupt leaders. Their DP style is a template from Hell, where their master rules. They drive sound pastors out of the ministry while protecting clergy adulterers and blatant false teachers. They have bowels of Evangelical compassion for divorced pastors and unfaithful pastors, but hatred toward happily married pastors who are faithful to the Word and actually read the Confessions.

Observe another mark of WELS leadership - When they get into trouble, they leave town - or the country. DP Mueller was suddenly called to Russia. SP Gurgel went to Hong Kong, a move that might have been considered an act of war, except no one knows what the Wisconsin sect is in that colony.\

Holy Mother WELS is indefectible.

Tony Blair Will Teach at Yale Next Year

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will teach at Yale next year. His son is earning a master's degree there.

Judica

By Norma Boeckler
Judica – The Fifth Sunday in Lent

KJV Hebrews 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

KJV John 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 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. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Luther’s Prayer
Lord, it is certainly true that I am unworthy to have Thee come under my roof, but I am so needy and long for Thy help and grace so that I may become righteous. Therefore, I come to Thee, trusting in nothing other than the sweet words which I have heard, with which Thou invitest me to Thy Table and sayest to me, who am so unworthy, that I will receive forgiveness of my sins through Thy Body and Blood if I eat and drink thereof in this Sacrament.

Judica

The Hymn #246
The Invocation p. 15
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Hebrews 9 :11-15
The Gospel John 8:46-59
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #40
The Sermon
The Great I AM

The Offertory p. 22
The Hymn #309
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #376

The Great I AM – And The Jewish Trinity

John 8: 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

This passage should give every Christian believer goose-flesh, or, as Luther said about John 3:16 – We should write it with golden letters on our hearts.

This is one of many passages where the Trinity is established in the Old and New Testaments and the pre-existence of Christ is detailed.

An ELCA pastor sent me a book, The Jewish Trinity, by Yoel Natan. The author is Jewish, we may assume, trained as a rabbi perhaps, and certainly a Christian. He seems to have an affinity for Luther, but other than that I know very little.

I am studying the book slowly because so many details are included. I am glad I studied rabbinic literature under a rabbinical scholar at Notre Dame. Natan’s style is quite different from most theological books, original and rabbinical at the same time.

Lutherans have always emphasized the Gospel in the Old Testament, the Trinity revealed in the entire Bible, not just the New Testament. If we consider the basic concept, that must be so.

Natan is good at reminding us that much of the commentary and even the translators (NIV) have hidden the Trinitarian nature of the Old Testament, as if the Trinity is only implied and not clearly taught in the Old Testament.

Often we are influenced by the Darwinists, even if we do not realize it. The Darwinists think of religion as evolving, from animism (tree-gods) to polytheism to the Trinity to Unitarianism to an ethical society without God. The old-time apostates liked the Bible in a sentimental way, but they thought the Trinity was invented around 500 AD so it could not be in the New Testament or the Old Testament.

Another perspective would be – if the Trinity has always existed, why would God keep it a secret until the birth of His Son? Or, even more mysterious for the Unitarian view – How could so many Jews convert from strict Monotheism to Trinitarianism during the early years of the Christian Church?

Genesis 1 is Trinitarian, as we know from John 1. The Father commanded the Creation through the Word (His Son), and the Holy Spirit brooded over the waters.

The Angel of the Lord was not a mere angel but the Son of God before His incarnation. When Jacob wrestled with the angel, he was renamed Israel, because he wrestled with God. An angel is not ever called God except the Angel of the Lord.

KJV Genesis 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

The same is true of the Burning Bush. The Angel of the Lord called from the bush, which had two natures, one of natural growth, one of flames. The bush was not consumed but both natures were apparent.

KJV Exodus 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Jesus’ response to his critics is unreasonable and ungrammatical unless He is truly God. “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The response is best printed with all capital letters because God’s Name in Exodus is I AM.

The Son of God has always existed, so only He can say, as Jesus, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Nor should we overlook that Jesus revealed Himself as the Savior to His people this way. He showed mercy to His critics who were assailing Him. The Word converts or hardens. When people reject the Word, more teaching of the Word will harden and anger them. People feel discouraged because of the rage caused by the Word, but they should be encouraged instead. The Word is having an effect. When people are upset and angry, they are thinking instead of being indifferent to the truth.

One effect of the rage is being rejected, persecuted, and pushed away by the unbelievers who cannot tolerate the truths of the Gospel. This is what Jesus experienced so many times. Some listened, held fast to the Word, and found peace and salvation in Christ. Others became furious and sought peace by destroying Christ. Even in the midst of this horrible crime, God converted people. The centurion said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.” The very concise Passion narrative tells us this because the Roman soldier was converted by the execution he oversaw. In the same way some Jews saw Christ fulfilling the Scriptures they knew so well. They believed and worshiped Christ, but found persecution as their reward.

This passage in John is extraordinary because the two natures of Christ are suggested by the Burning Bush, and this connects us with Holy Communion. Once the Son of God united His divine nature with His human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the two natures remained united throughout eternity.

Those who would deny the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion allow for His spiritual presence but not His presence united in both natures. When were they divided? Never.
"The same is true of other factions--the Anabaptists and similar sects. What else do they but slander baptism and the Lord's Supper when they pretend that the external [spoken] Word and outward sacraments do not benefit the soul, that the Spirit alone can do that?" Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, ed. John Nicolas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VIII, p. 208. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11;

"For in Confession as in the Lord's Supper you have the additional advantage, that the Word is applied to your person alone. For in preaching it flies out into the whole congregation, and although it strikes you also, yet you are not so sure of it; but here it does not apply to anyone except you. Ought it not to fill your heart with joy to know a place where God is ready to speak to you personally? Yea, if we had a chance to hear an angel speak we would surely run to the ends of the earth."
Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983 II, p. 199.

"The devil does not rest yet, and hence he stirs up so many sects and factions. How many sects have we not already had? One has taken up the sword, another has attacked the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, others that of baptism."
Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 266. John 4:46-54; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:12

"For we can definitely assert that where the Lord's Supper, Baptism, and the Word are found, Christ, the remission of sins, and life eternal are found. On the other hand, where these signs of grace are not found, or where they are despised by men, not only grace is lacking but also foul errors will follow. Then men will set up other forms of worship and other signs for themselves."
Martin Luther, What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 914. Genesis 4:3.

"Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper qualify as Means of Grace because of the simple fact that they are visible forms of the essential Gospel message announcing the forgiveness of sins." Martin W. Lutz, "God the HS Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 117.

"Since God has connected His most gracious promise of forgiveness with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, these also are true and efficacious means of grace, namely, by virtue of the divine promises that are attached to them."
John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 444.

"In reconciling the world unto Himself by Christ's substitutionary satisfaction, God asked no one's advice concerning His singular method of reconciliation. In like manner, without asking any man's advice, He ordained the means by which He gives men the infallible assurance of His gracious will toward them; in other words, He both confers on men the remission of sins merited by Christ and works faith in the proffered remission or, where faith already exists, strengthens it. The Church has appropriately called these divine ordinances the means of grace, media gratiae, instrumenta gratiae; Formula of Concord: 'Instrumenta sive media Spiritus Sancti' (Triglotta, p. 903, Solid Declaration, II, 58). They are the Word of the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, as will be shown more fully on the following pages."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 103.

"We saw before that Scripture ascribes the forgiveness of sins without reservation to the Word of the Gospel, to Baptism, and to the Lord's Supper. Therefore all means of grace have the vis effectiva, the power to work and to strengthen faith." [Note: Augsburg Confession, V, XIII]
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 108f.

"In fact, there is no basis for a real disagreement between Zwingli and Calvin. The situation here is analogous to the one that obtains in the doctrine of Christ's Person and Word and the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. In these doctrines Zwingli and Calvin and all Reformed will agree as long as they all teach that Christ's body can possess only a local and visible mode of subsistence or presence. Similarly, Zwingli and Calvin cannot differ materially in their teaching on the means of grace because they agree, first, that Christ's merit and saving grace do not apply to all who use the means of grace; secondly, that saving grace is not bound to the means of grace."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, III, p. 163.

"The Reformed, and all Reformed sects, deny the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Through this they detract from God's honor." Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 36. "Whoever denies the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper must pervert the words of Institution where Christ the Lord, speaking of that which He gives His Christians to eat, says: 'This is My body,' and, speaking of that which He gives them to drink, says: 'This is My blood.' [Also 1 Corinthians 10:16]
Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 40. 1 Corinthians 10:16.

"Furthermore, consider this: All doctrines of the Bible are connected with one another; they form a unit. One error draws others in after it. Zwingli's first error was the denial of the presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper. In order to support this error, he had to invent a false doctrine of Christ's Person, of heaven, of the right hand of God, etc."
Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 41.

"That Their Evil Hurt Not Others." - Philip Sidney

Ichabod Is Evil: Q.E.D. WELS Is Perfect

Oh my! The WELS Damage Control Team went into overdrive, like James Carville on meth. The arguments (all anonymous) range from the normal WELS name-calling to the assumption of repentance to the usual excuses (old news).

"That their evil hurt not others." - From The Defense of Poesy by Philip Sidney.

Perhaps my work is too subtle for most WELS pastors. The origin of the discussion was the bizarre assumption that former Vice Pope Paul Kuske was an ultra-conservative because he lobbied for MLS. A school is not a doctrine, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes. If the Church Growth people hate schools, then a friend of one school is ultra-conservative by virtue of being against the target of Church Growthers.

Pastors are obliged to teach and defend sound doctrine. Someone who advocates Church Growth doctrine, as Kuske did, is not even an infra-conservative. He is a false prophet. The legions of false prophets in WELS do not make one false teacher more tolerable.

As I was saying, the leadership in Columbus was completely and utterly false, corrupt, evil, and destructive. Members there now rejoice that the old gang is gone. The trouble is not so much that Stolzenburg, Zehms, M. Schroeder (not the SP), and their buddies Stadler, Iver Johnson, etc. destroyed their own marriages, but that the doctrinal destruction was allowed, even encouraged to spread.

Columbus, Ohio was Ur-Church-and-Change. The apostates in Columbus suddenly became hosts to the national WELS youth gathering. And who was a featured speaker? Stadler. The actual hosts were not the local pastors but Lutheran Parish Resources, Zehms and Stolzenburg.

Other liberal denominations do exactly the same thing. That is why I feature so many Episcopalian articles. The more dysfunctional a church leader is (no matter the denomination) the more power he--or she--grabs and holds. The evil spreads until a group makes an effort to stop it. The chief victim is sound doctrine because apostates hate the Word of God. They never stop blabbing against the efficacy of the Word and the glory of their own work, so they murder souls with quiet efficiency.

The Episcopalians have shocked and surprised me by packing up and leaving the denomination, with or without their property, willing to face down the lovely Presiding Bishop in court. She uses their offering money to pay the lawyers to sue them, so they must use their local money to defend themselves against the national lawyers funded by their denominational gifts. How many elderly Episcopalians knew they were funding future lawsuits against conservatives, when they signed over their estates?

So far Lutherans have remained spineless and supine.

One WELS minder decided to level the playing field by name-calling, a tactic familiar to all those who have dealt with this sect. How dare I joke about Vicar Zerbe being a youth leader? I did not joke. I asked a question based upon previously gathered information. Recently someone said, "Just is not around WELS anymore, is he?" I told the caller what I understood from a knowledgeable friend - "Just was seen with a WELS youth group." The defence of Just doing youth work was--yes, indeed--he was repentant. Or maybe he served his time. I was sternly warned to avoid mentioning Just because his case still rankles in Phoenix. Some clergy believe Just is innocent (as he claimed), overlooking the fact that he was convicted and also confessed his sin to a pastor.

I was not being comical when I asked if Zerbe was a youth leader in his Muskegon WELS congregation. Al Just murdered his wife, lied about it, manipulated friends and in-laws into defending him, married his children's baby-sitter, and then engaged in WELS youth work when out of the clink.

The Wisconsin sect's pattern of behavior is cancerous and needs drastic surgery. As I mentioned before, the Michigan District drove three good pastors (Toledo) out of the ministry--for good. Were they divorced and married to their former girlfriends? No. Were they sound teachers? Yes. What was their crime? All three were mildly critical of the Church Growth Movement.

Meanwhile, the Michigan District's pet phony-pastor, Floyd Stolzenburg, is still serving a Lutheran congregation. Emmanuel in Columbus was linked several years with the Little Sect on the Prairie, with Kovaciny as the bagman for Thoughts of Faith in Ukraine. The sacrament of absolution is wonderful indeed, especially when accompanied by gold and silver reparations.

The pattern of punishing sound teachers and rewarding false prophets is all too familiar in this Age of Apostasy. The Wisconsin sect is just another example of a mainline denomination decaying into Unitarianism.

The concept of a wealthy adulterer funding pastors, congregations, and the denomination is not new. When J. P. Morgan was the richest man in America, he used to take his Episcopalian bishops to the national convention on his private railroad cars. He took his mistress on the same train. Morgan was known for his many conquests, or purchases, as the case might be. What did these stolid Episcopalian bishops of the Old School say about the mistresses and donations? "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow."

***

GJ - The following is too funny, especially because it is anonymous, misspelled, with the name Robert assigned:

It's likely you know your actions are sinful and you're to (sic) cowardly to admit them on your blog.

The most entertaining comments are the anonymous ones yelling, "Coward!"

Rev. Mouse Plays the Slander Card...Again

Rev. Mouse Enjoying His Daily Ichabod

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "Everyone Is Repentant in WELS":

I wonder when someone is going to throw you in the clink for all the slander and libel you're guilty of over the years.

***

GJ - Here is an important legal point, Rev. Mouse - It's not slander if it's true.

Did Kuske, Mueller, Adrian, and Oelhaven cover for Stolzenburg? True.

Did Kuske write a glowing letter of reference for Stolzenburg? True.

Did Kuske and Mueller offer Stolzenburg as a WELS colloquy candidate? True.

Have three WELS church workers done time in state prison? True.

Did Tabor move to a new call after he murdered his wife? True.

Does WELS teach everyone is forgiven, without faith? True.

Is that the same doctrine as ELCA's? True.

Is WELS besotted with Church Growthism? True.

Everyone Is Repentant in WELS

UOJ WELS Kitten


***

MLS Veteran has left a new comment on your post "Paul Kuske the "Ultra-Conservative"":

But didn't Kuske support keeping MLS open? Wouldn't that go against the grain of the Church Growth movement which were not strong supporters of the 2 remaining prep schools?

Also, wasn't Kuske a founding member of "Issues in WELS", which is supposed to be the conservative vanguard in the WELS?

It is all very confusing...

***

GJ - First of all the whole world is righteous, whether anyone believes or not. That is WELS official doctrine - really, their quirky opinion, unrelated to Christian doctrine. Discussing the criminal element in WELS is part of being faithful to the Book of Concord, which is barely glanced at in the WELS system. I will be glad to supply the citation - again. Read the Large Catechism, Eighth Commandment. The Eighth comes right after the one on murder.

Secondly, Al Just did not murder his wife, according to an email from one of his relatives. Note the odd pun here. Al Just justified by his family. Just was justly convicted, went to state prison, and got out. He married his children's babysitter while he was in the hoosegow, but they are divorced. Just was spotted as a leader in a WELS youth group.

I should have a list of WELS church worker ex-cons for their prison ministry program. District Pope Ed Werner is probably out of the clink now too. If the WELS ex-cons would write more often, I could keep track.

WELS secrecy about church worker crimes only feeds the problem. The bigger the scandal, the more the hierarchy will cover it up. But lo, if anyone dares mention the truth about WELS, the mud will fly.

Here is a good example - A retired pastor wrote a fine essay on the true Church being built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. He included some very mild criticism of WELS trends and how the trends were damaging the ministry. When I was in John Lawrenz' MLS office, he lit into this pastor, saying, "Have you seen his congregation? It is dead!" Note the focus of John's criticism. The retired pastor "Named names" and "did not allow people to defend their good names." John could name names behind the pastor's back, and that pastor had no chance to defend his good name. The retired pastor was dealing with doctrinal issues, no better way to get a Church Growther angry, petty, and vindictive.

I have never seen a dead congregation. Anyone who says that is absolutely anti-Lutheran, but I found anti-Lutheran was the dominant theme of WELS leadership. The only thing they defend is Holy Mother Synod. Christian doctrine - no interest.

Supporting prep schools is not a test of orthodoxy. Issues in WELS is so feeble and timid that no one should brag about being part of it.

I remember warning District Pope Robert Mueller and Vice Pope Paul Kuske that covering up for Floyd Stolzenburg and pastors like him would lead to major lawsuits. That only made them angry. Perhaps the lawsuit against Adrian and his congregation was already in the works.