Church and Change, RIP:Retreat In Progress

Bruce Becker, board member, Church and Change, has moved his operations to Church and Change Headquarters, St. Markus.


The triangles going up to the fish's mouth
represent synodical money, Thrivent and foundation grants,
devoured by the apostates at Church and Change.
The triangles leaving the fish's rear
symbolize the toxic waste left behind as they poop on everything sacred.

Mouse Remains A Daily Communicant at Ichabod

Anonymouse has left a new comment on your post "A Highly Trained WELS Pastor Writes His Sermon":

I have an idea! Perhaps it is because you don't take your neighbors words and actions in the kindest possible way.

WELS Liberals Always Misrepresent the Adiaphora Issue

The Wauwatosa Seminary building was influenced
by the Addams Family revival movement in architecture.

Several attitudes have led WELS into the Slough of Despond. One is the Wah-wah-tosa bewitchment. The original intentions were not so bad, but now the current products of The Sausage Factory use the Good Old Days as an excuse to avoid all doctrinal study, because "we only need Lenski, the Triglotta, and boxer shorts." The Triglotta is never opened and Lenski is panned for being wrong on justification by faith. The jury is still out on the boxer shorts.

Wisconsin pastors always use the Adiaphora as an excuse to do whatever they want, although "whatever they want" is consistently in line with Baptist and Pentecostal practices.

They miss the whole point of the article. When a minor point of practice (an adiaphoron - matter of indifference) is being used to promote false doctrine, then confessional Lutherans are bound to avoid--or bound to practice--that very thing.

This issue developed during Melanchthon's compromising attitude toward the Interims, when he tried to please the Romanists by giving in on what was called adiaphora.

Now the WELS pastors have dumped the liturgy, the Creeds, and sound Lutheran hymns in favor of appearing and sounding just like the Deformed pastors they envy. Every little point is an adiaphoron, they claim, so nothing is left. Somehow they even justify plagiarizing the sermons of false teachers, wolves in sheep's clothing, more likely - faded bluejeans and a Mickey Mouse t-shirt.

The Key Passage, Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, Adiaphora:

10] We believe, teach, and confess also that at the time of confession [when a confession of the heavenly truth is required], when the enemies of God's Word desire to suppress the pure doctrine of the holy Gospel, the entire congregation of God, yea, every Christian, but especially the ministers of the Word, as the leaders of the congregation of God [as those whom God has appointed to rule His Church], are bound by God's Word to confess freely and openly the [godly] doctrine, and what belongs to the whole of [pure] religion, not only in words, but also in works and with deeds; and that then, in this case, even in such [things truly and of themselves] adiaphora, they must not yield to the adversaries, or permit these [adiaphora] to be forced upon them by their enemies, whether by violence or cunning, to the detriment of the true worship of God and the introduction and sanction of idolatry. 11] For it is written, Gal. 5:1: Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not again entangled in the yoke of bondage. Also Gal. 2:4f : And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage; to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you. 12] [Now it is manifest that in that place Paul speaks concerning circumcision, which at that time had become an adiaphoron (1 Cor. 7:18f.), and which at other occasions was observed by Paul (however, with Christian and spiritual freedom, Acts 16:3). But when the false apostles urged circumcision for establishing their false doctrine, (that the works of the Law were necessary for righteousness and salvation,) and misused it for confirming their error in the minds of men, Paul says that he would not yield even for an hour, in order that the truth of the Gospel might continue unimpaired.]

***

GJ - This is a time when no Lutheran church should ever appear to be Romanist or Reformed/Pentecostal, not even in the most minor details. To excuse praise bands and aping Andy Stanley as cutting edge evangelism is just plain tom-foolery.

The true legalists are those law-salesmen who really believe that they can reproduce a Lutheran version of Willow Creek by following the Willow Creek laws and joining the Willow Creek Association (as Parlow, Kelm, and Trapp have done). They only reproduce a third-rate version of a liberal, anti-confessional, soon to be Unitarian congregation. They are not shining the Gospel light but spreading falsehood behind a glistening screen of lies. Their Father Below is proud of their work.

Worthwhile Thoughts on Worship - From Finkelstein

Cover by Norma Boeckler

Freddy Finkelstein said on Bailing Water...

Anon @12:08 has a very good point. The Confessions do more than confess, they point to practice as proof of our confession. In the statement he cites, Melanchton (sic) answers the accusations of Rome, that we stand outside of the One True Church, by a) declaring the accusations False, "Falsely are we accused...", and by b) pointing the Romans to our practice as proof of our answer, as proof that we are catholic, "...for the Mass is retained among us..."

As for FC X (Epitome), it is elucidated further in Article X of the Thorough Declaration, stating directly that practices which would associate us with the heterodox are not adiaphora, but are to be avoided as prohibited by God (emphasis mine):

“When under the title and pretext of external adiaphora such things are proposed as are in principle contrary to God's Word (although painted another color) [such as, fundamentally anthropocentric worship practices replacing christocentric practices, which openly conceal the Marks of the Church by removing the Sacrament from the Divine Service, which adopt worship practices defining human acts of worship as a Means of Grace, or which promote human experiences as assurance of salvation --FF], these are not to be regarded as adiaphora, in which one is free to act as he will, but must be avoided as things prohibited by God [the practice of immersion, for instance, falls into this category --FF]. In like manner, too, such ceremonies should not be matters of indifference, as make a show or feign the appearance, as though our religion and that of the Papists [or the Reformed, or the Baptists, or the Pentecostals... --FF] were not far apart, thus to avoid persecution, or as though the latter were not at least highly offensive to us; or when such ceremonies are designed for the purpose, or required and received in this sense, as though by and through them both contrary religions were reconciled and became one body; or when a reentering into the Papacy [or turning to the Reformed, or the Baptists, or the Pentecostals... --FF] and a departure from the pure doctrine of the Gospel and true religion should occur or gradually follow therefrom.”

The point is, the Confessions point us, as well as our adversaries, to our Practices as proof of our Confession. Therefore, our Practices must manifestly prove our separation from the heterodox and from sectarianism.

JB states that it is abhorrent to put words in the mouths of the Confessors, to make them say what they do not say. I agree, but at the same time, I say, it is abhorrent to take words from their mouths, to make them say any less than they do, by failing to take their words at face value. Much of what the Confessions say is very easy to understand, if one is accustomed to didactic reading -- neither secret hermeneutic nor deep knowledge of dead languages is required to to unveil their "true meaning."

I ended my 03/11/2009-5:14PM comment by stating that the only winning play is to return to our Confessions. They require a Church Practice that proves them. In the Confessions we will find a degree of freedom in Practice, but no freedom to jettison manifestly catholic rites; and we will find the requirement to remove from them only what cannot be practiced without sinning.

Freddy Finkelstein

March 12, 2009 1:51 PM

A Highly Trained WELS Pastor Writes His Sermon

"Mmmm. Someday that will be me on that Imax screen."

Sitting in the theater working on my sermon watching Marquette on the big screen. I love have (sic) cable on the IMAX.
about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

Don't Buy the Bull

Angus Dei, as spelled by the Music Man on Bailing Water.

The market rallied as soon as I predicted a Dow-Jones of 5,000. The Wall Street Journal also suggested that as the bear bottom. Since then the DJ has risen by about 600 points. That means a major rally has lifted the average so high it is 50% of the previous high - 14,000. Such good news.

In today's paper is the unsurprising news that many huge insurance companies are limping and begging for TARP money: Met, Prudential, The Hartford. Others are in good shape: Northwestern Mutual, Mass Mutual, New York Life, TIAA-Cref.

If the gigantic insurance companies become strapped for cash, they have to stop buying equities. They are a major source of funds for Wall Street. There could be a run on some companies, like the earlier runs on banks. That happened years ago with one company located in St. Louis. They had some bad financial news. Suddenly their stock became worthless and they were bought up by Met Life.

The five largest banks in America (Citi, Bank of America, Chase, etc) have recently been called "dead men walking."

A lot of bad news has not come out yet. My prediction of a 5,000 DJ is still a distinct but unwelcome possibility.