When the ALC, LCA, and AELC were taking their last steps into merger, to create ELCA in 1987, my family was leaving the LCA. I was never a part of ELCA and made it clear why. I published Out of the Depths of ELCA in Christian News. WELS was embarrassed that I wrote about their favorite partner in ministry. They even had Kincaid Smith (ELS) phone to warn me against any further publishing in Christian News.
I have reposted news from ELCA, from time to time, but I am not in touch with current dissenter trends. Word Alone has been gathering dissenters for some time and guiding them into independence. I am puzzled that The Core is doing the same thing, while working with Word Alone.
Meanwhile, Word Alone says: "This new website is meant to provide practical guidance to those interested in affiliating with LCMC (Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ) and/or the proposed "Free-Standing Synod" of Lutheran CORE."
When Herb Chilstrom was the Minnesota LCA bishop, there were moves to pack up and leave the LCA. That dust-up concerned the porno tapes shown to entire families when a child was being counseled for sex offenses, under the auspices of Lutheran Social Services or another agency. The Minnesota Synod grew in numbers during that time and Herb became the first ELCA Presiding Bishop. Wikipedia says: "With Lowell O. Erdahl, he is the author of Sexual Fulfillment: For Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old (2001) ISBN 0-8066-4047-2." The odd couple promoted their book together. Awkward.
Merger itself provided almost no ripples. I heard of a few congregations (ALC) leaving. The LCA people were overwhelmingly in favor of merger, no matter what the warning signs were. Some of the former leaders did some squawking afterward. The Ft. Wayne seminary treated one of the LCA bishops as a god for stating the obvious. The same man made fun of inerrancy when he was in charge.
Readers can only imagine my shock when I read that one of the leaders of The Lutheran Core (not to be confused with Ski's money-gobbling operation in A-town) is Kenneth Sauer. I hardly knew him, but Sauer was the new bishop of the Ohio Synod, LCA, soon after I was ordained. Later, I heard him speak when Missouri had a free conference to promote another Sauer as their Synod President. Kenneth Sauer defended the obsolete and ridiculous JEDP thesis about the Pentateuch, because a "three-stranded cord is stronger."
Kenneth Sauer was re-elected a bishop in ELCA, when they divided the state up, due to its large concentration of ALC and LCA congregations. ELCA ended up with more jurisdictions than the ALC and LCA had separately. ELCA also ended up with half the total income of the two combined (roughly). They aimed at $150 million in 1987, but now are at $70 million. Those figures are probably off, but the trend is obvious, especially when inflation is considered over 20+ years. ELCA just cut 10% out of the new budget and anticipates more cuts.
Kenneth Sauer, an ambitious man, was head of the Conference of Bishops, ELCA. He was mentioned as a possible Presiding Bishop at times. In other words, Sauer was as loyal as a puppy and ready to wag eagerly at every ELCA notion.
All the leaders of The Lutheran Core were active in the ministry when I pointed out the present and future apostasy of ELCA, during its ignoble birth. Paull Spring was an ELCA bishop. The pastors and other leaders were silent for the longest time. Their political success implies that they were robotic loyalists for the last 20 years until something woke them up. The pastor often quoted from the ELCA convention (as a dissenter from the overwhelming vote) was also an old guy. When did he wake up to the smell of brimstone and fire (Genesis 19:24)?
Naturally I see a parallel in WELS with the born-again opponents of Church Growth apostasy. I wonder where they were 1987-1992, when I published hundreds of articles exposing the doctrine of Fuller Seminary and the aping done by WELS, the ELS, and the LCMS. I recall one of them saying and writing, "Greg, you should write about Enthusiasm and CG. Here are the passages." Did he ever write about CG? No. Did his foxy silence and consent help his career? Yes.
Two factors work together to leverage apostasy. One is the extreme nastiness of the Left. There is a Satanic energy in apostasy, which never hesitates to engage in the worst sins to advance their cause. In the name of love and unity, they divide and sling mud. Nothing is too low for them. Crying "slander!" when doctrinal issues are addressed publicly, they engage in backdoor campaigns against anyone in their way.
The other factor is the willingness to compromise with the Left to appease them for the moment. How enticing. Should I say something or accept the call I always wanted?
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A freestanding' synod?
With the 2009 Churchwide Assembly’s decisions on human sexuality (September, page 18), the ELCA has “fallen into heresy,” said Paull E. Spring, chair of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform). The group planned to discuss becoming a “freestanding synod,” carrying out ministries apart from the ELCA, at a meeting scheduled Sept. 25-26 in Fishers, Ind. (after presstime). The group also may consider conversations with CORE member congregations and reform movements in the U.S. and Canada toward a possible reconfiguration “of North American Lutheranism.” Lutheran CORE is a coalition of pastors, laypeople, congregations and reform groups in the ELCA.
Martin - 10/6/2009
I disagree with Mr. Spring and believe that "with the 2009 Churchwide Assembly's decisions on human sexuality the ELCA" has risen above heresy and has looked deeper into the word of God in the Scriptures. Homosexuality is one of several sexual issues in the Scriptures that we ignore or no longer practice. For example, we now do not allow prostitution or polygamy or concubines things discussed in the Old Testament.
We ignore Jesus and Paul on the matter of divorce. Jesus tells us that for a man or woman to divorce and marry another is adultery. Paul tells us bishops and deacons should only be married once. We have pastors and other church leaders, including members of church councils, living in adulterous relationships and have been married more than once and we overlook it.
For the ELCA to allow pastors, council members, and other leaders who have been divorced and remarried and to perform ceremonies for second or subsequent marries and to not allow homosexuals to be pastors or perform "commitment ceremonies" for homosexuals is hypocrisy. The ELCA has taken a step away from the hypocrisy.
There are a half-dozen verses regarding homosexuality and to focus only on these an ignore the deeper message of love for God and neighbor of Jesus and Paul is the heresy. What the ELCA has done is to affirm the message from the Holy Scriptures and I stand as proud to be a part of the ELCA.
Paul - 10/19/2009
Bishop Paull Spring was absolutely correct. The ELCA has indeed fallen into heresy. It has disregraded the clear witness of the Holy Scriptures in order to take up a new "social gospel," so that decisions can be made based on how people feel. For some, the ordination of practicing homosexuals "feels" right. For many others, holding fast to God's Word (no matter how painful) is the only option for Christians.
The ELCA has rejected the Holy Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, and its own Constitution (2.03), and now finds itself mired in apostasy. In making room for the blessing of PALM same-gendered relationships and ordination of the same, the ELCA has become a splinter from the one holy, catholic and apostolic church.
As the faithful look to protest this state of apostasy, they are encouraged and strengthened by the witness of the Holy Scriptures, by the Lutheran Confessions and by the faith and witness of our forbears-- for the sake of our children's children.
