Website More Annoying Than Ski's

The cute photo will take your mind off the website, I hope.

Start with the fee schedule page. Yes, it is a Church Growth consultant website.

Author, Author!

When the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, a one time professor with a doctorate in history from Tulane University, was leading a Republican majority in Congress, his vitriolic critics routinely assailed him for neglecting his duties while profiteering from his publishing ventures. Gingrich wrote or collaborated on five books from 1994 through the time of his resignation from the Congress in 1997. His vocal detractors claimed that these literary exercises, which included a work of fiction, an autobiography and three politically themed titles, interfered with the speaker’s official duties.

How the times have changed! President Barack Obama has signed a half million dollar contract to adapt his first book, “Dreams From My Father” into a children’s book. The only appropriate response from the chattering classes is to cheer their beloved leader. I wonder if school districts will assign the new version as a textbook.

Although numerous presidents have written books on a variety of topics after tiring from the presidency and several were published authors before being elected, Obama is in the unprecedented position of accepting a publishing contract while serving as the chief executive. The deal was finalized immediately before the inauguration, but not made public until now. It is good to know that the economic crisis has been settled and foreign affairs are in good order. Otherwise, how could Obama find time to moonlight as the author of a children’s book?

Perhaps, the president will employ the services of a capable ghostwriter. It has been suggested by certain cynical persons that it may not be the first time. Some readers have pointed out the similarities between Obama’s prose and that of his neighbor William Ayers. One curious feature common to both men’s writings is their shared preference for using nautical similes and metaphors. Interestingly enough, Obama has never been known to have taken an active interest in boating whereas Ayers is an lifelong enthusiast.

While Ayers promoted Obama as an author before anyone else was aware of the fact, this premature boosterism did not resonate with the reading public. “Dreams From My Father,” which was initially published in 1995, sold poorly until after it was reissued to coincide with Obama’s keynote address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The re-release sold like hotcakes and its belated success resulted in a second book deal for “The Audacity of Hope.” The title of the latter book was derived from a sermon by the controversial minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

What makes “Dreams From My Father” unique is that so few of those praising the book for its supposed merits seem to have actually bothered to read it. Numerous copies have been sold to Obama’s liberal camp followers, but, unlike Chairman Mao’s “Little Redbook,” no one was actually expected to memorize it cover to cover or to become familiar with its contents. Lord knows, I tried, but, time and time again, I had to put it aside. Based upon those chapters that I managed to slog through, I was reminded of Oscar Wilde’s comments upon reading about the death of little Nell in “The Old Curiosity Shop” by Charles Dickens. To paraphrase Wilde, one could not read portions of Obama’s autobiography without dissolving into tears of uncontrollable laughter.

Portions of the book are unintentionally hilarious. While describing the completion of his undergraduate studies at Columbia (after transferring from Occidental College), Obama described living in an impoverished New York neighborhood. While sitting on the fire escape outside of his apartment, he and his room mates would shout at the elites who would travel from their posh residences uptown to the inner city in order to let their pampered dogs run wild. The dog owners would permit the animals to defecate at will without any consideration for the downtrodden locals. The bigoted snobs did not even bother to have the decency to clean up after their pedigreed pets! No wonder Obama wants to enact punitive tax policies that will soak the rich! He must have ruined several pairs of shoes.

Does anyone actually believe this type of thing occurred on a regular basis, if at all? Imagine the same thing in local terms: how many Chicago suburbanites would travel to Englewood or the Lawndale to walk their dogs? Do city residents from Sandburg Village frequent Cabrini Green or Seward Park to exercise their canines? Like so many episodes in the book, including the author’s imagined relationship with his absent and uncaring biological father, which suggests a need for therapeutic counseling, the entire dog poop sequence seems to be fabricated. Later in the book, Obama depicted his mother as a struggling single parent making ends meet while using food stamps. In actuality, Stanley Ann Dunham was a perpetual graduate student who elected to apply for public assistance to subsidize her studies rather than working her way through the university. Thirty-four years after matriculating at the University of Hawaii in 1960, where she met and married Barack Obama, Sr., Dunham completed her doctoral thesis on rural blacksmithing in Indonesia. I am unaware if the manuscript has been published.

In “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama repeats an anecdote from Jeremiah Wright about the selfish indifference of affluent Americans to the needs of the poor. Allegedly, the galleys of the Carnival Cruise Line discard more food on a daily basis than the starving residents of Haiti can dream of eating to satisfy their appetites over the course of several months. What wasteful gluttony, wealthy (read “white”) Westerners practice! How insensitive of them not consider the needs of the poor. It is a parable of selfishness comparable to that of poor Lazarus, the hungry beggar, sitting outside of the rich man’s kitchen. Lazarus would consider himself fortunate to have a crust of stale bread, but the rich man is willfully blind to his needs.

It is almost possible to be swept away by the rhetorical flourishes employed by the Marxist oriented Wright and his one time protégé. If you pause, however, and ask salient questions, you may reject most of the arguments as invalid and fallacious. Why are the Haitians poor? No answer. Could it have something to do with their government and its pervasive corruption? Why is food being discarded from the cruise ships? Does it relate to health and sanitation codes that mandate that old food be disposed of? Can you imagine the outcry that would ensue if the cruise ship owners attempted to distribute spoiled food and stale bread to the Haitian masses? It might set off a public relations controversy greater than the AIG bonuses that were incorporated into economic recovery legislation sponsored by the Democrats.

In recent decades, autobiographical works by former presidents have become almost obligatory as publishers rush to secure the rights to the memoirs of past leaders of the free world. Obama managed to secure his first literary advance largely on the basis of being named the first African American editor of “The Harvard Law Review.” While serving as editor, Obama failed to produce much in the way of legal scholarship. His sole contributions to the review appears to have been one or two miniscule footnotes.

It is worth remembering, however, for all of the mileage that Obama has gotten out of being chosen as the law review editor at Harvard, where affirmative action policies may have altered the selection process in Obama’s favor (a fact that Obama had the honesty to acknowledge on at least one occasion), that former US Representative Mel Reynolds received a Rhodes scholarship to attend Oxford University. In an era of mandated diversity recruitment programs and
unchallenged political correctness, academic accolades and honors can be conferred without being properly earned all in the name of egalitarian social engineering.

Unlike other public figures, including several politicians who produced autobiographies or scholarly books worth perusing, men such as Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Winston S. Churchill, or, arguably, John F. Kennedy, Obama never felt it necessary to actually accomplish something concrete or tangible other than attending classes at a university before sharing his life story with us. Obama produced two largely autobiographical books before the age of forty-five. He was not even a state senator when his first book was published. So much for modesty being a virtue. While some of the books written by the former world leaders that I have cited have become hopelessly dated, others remain enduring masterpieces. Grant’s memoirs and Churchill’s Nobel Prize winning writings have lost none of their original vitality. The most notable thing about Obama’s trite writings are the large royalties that he has earned from books that are purchased and shelved without necessarily being read. Maybe this is on a par with most of the Oprah Book Club selections.

In 1935, the Nobel Prize winning author and satirist, Sinclair Lewis published a book about an ambitious US Senator who advanced to the presidency. Senator Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, an otherwise unaccomplished and semi-literate politician, rose to prominence largely on the strength of having published a bestselling book that was largely ghostwritten by his handlers.

As the French say, the more things change, the more things stay the same.
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Keep Track of the Church and Chicanery Blogs

Favicon for Tim.

Tim Felt-Needs has a blog, which also links to other Church and Chicanery blogs. In April, 2009, he featured a number of icons of Jesus, all mocking the Savior.

They all read one another's blogs, heaving sighs filled with emotion.

If you want to know how shallow Willow Creek is, read their blogs.

Rock and Roll defended. Alas, Joe Krohn--pal of Kudu Don Patterson--took down this blog extolling the virtues of Rock and Roll Churches.

Pastor Rick loves Leonard Sweet, Church and Chicanery.

I highly recommend Ski's Drive 08 blog pages. He is a stealth board member of Church and Change (no pic and no bio). As the pastor of the crown jewel of Church and Change missions, his attitudes best reflect the wisdom of his network.

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Anonymous said...
That "favicon for Tim" is an extremely high compliment - is that not what people should see when they look at us? Jesus?

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GJ - In that favicon I see Jesus on a skateboard, which does represent the arrested emotional development of Church and Change. Paul called that approach "adulterating the Word," but we all know the Apostle was a liturgical, closed-communion crusader who condemned any deviation from the revealed Truth.

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Anonymouse has left a new comment on your post "Keep Track of the Church and Chicanery Blogs":

GJ said: - "In that favicon I see Jesus on a skateboard, which does represent the arrested emotional development of Church and Change. Paul called that approach "adulterating the Word," but we all know the Apostle was a liturgical, closed-communion crusader who condemned any deviation from the revealed Truth. Snowboard. Not skateboard."

So I guess Jesus alone in a field playing with a dove is more like your real Jesus. Instead of getting out there on the slopes amongst the people that are heading downhill really fast.

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GJ - I appreciate hearing another Straw Man fallacy from the Church Shrinkers. The Straw Man works this way:

1. This is what you are saying, even though it was never said. "So I guess Jesus alone in a field playing with a dove is more like your real Jesus."
2. I condemn you for the Straw Man I just fashioned out of my own dysfunctional mind.
"Instead of getting out there on the slopes amongst the people that are heading downhill really fast."

Leaders like Wayne Mueller, Kelm, Kudu Don Patterson, John Lawrenz, and Larry Olson...followers like Doebler, Ski, and Nathan Krause...live in that Straw Man fallacy and teach it to the laity.

KJV Matthew 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Don't forget, Ichabodians, that DP Gurgel's administration devoured the MilCraft estate and fought the widow in court, losing a million bucks of your money as a penalty, plus all the legal costs. Now Gurgel is back and working with Kudu Don Patterson: fear and loathing in Texas.

Former SP Gurgel is perhaps thinking, "We ran through the MilCraft estate in record time in my district, got sued, and lost. So they made me Synodical President, where I ran through the Schwan money and the designated funds. Here's the funny part - now I am going to work with VP Don Patterson to get our people back in power."

Is Jesus Liturgical?

The CORE message would have us remove everything Biblical from the portrait of Jesus and substitute a pop icon from the entertainment world.

The constant drumbeat of the Church Growth/Emerging Church frauds is - We have to get back to the pure message of Jesus.

The liturgy is a barrier to Church Growth, they claim. (Truthfully, not real church growth, but the Church Growth Movement of their illusions.) If we take away that fussy old liturgy, people can have an exciting service where they can focus on Jesus, we are told ad nauseum.

Misdirection of the Eyes
They swap the Biblical Jesus for a version of themselves. Presto chango. You may applaud now.

Jesus observed the worship and teaching customs of Judaism, which was born liturgical. Shouldn't we pause and wonder, during this season of Lent, if anyone in that circus has read the Bible in the last 30 years?

Jesus was circumcised. Luke 2:21

Jesus taught as a rabbi. Matthew 5:1 ff.

Jesus read appointed lessons in the synagogues. Luke 4:17

Jesus observed the Jewish liturgical year. John 2:13

Jesus and His disciples sang hymns. Matthew 26:30

Jesus observed the Passover, but Rock and Roll Lutherans do not observe Lent. Luke 22:15

The Last Supper was a Passover meal, with centuries of worship tradition.

The sacraments of Holy Communion and Holy Baptism are based on Jewish sacramental actions.

The Christian Church began on the Day of Pentecost, a Jewish holy day celebrated for centuries and still observed today (but not by Pentecostals). Acts 2:1

Paul also observed Jewish liturgy and marked days by the worship calendar. 1 Corinthians 16:8

Paul, like Jesus, consistently referred to Jewish religious terms.

The foundation of all Christian preaching was the Old Testament, which is liturgical and sacramental.

Nowhere does the New Testament reveal Jesus as a Godspell-entertainer, dancing through the streets and singing pop ditties.

The New Testament Church did not copy paganism and the circus to convert people to Christ. Instead, they took people away from the Roman culture of self-centered hedonism, substituting the Word for the flesh.

The rock idols of the Emerging Church are just as degenerate as ancient Romans - and in the same way.

The Church and Chicaneries say it is legalistic to insist on a pipe organ (which no traditional Lutheran claims) but they insist upon and demand a rock group for their so-called worship services. They badger congregations into installing a rock group to attract more people.

What Have We Learned?
The entire Don Patterson Network is besotted with the anti-Biblical fulminations of their anti-Lutheran heroes.

In the name of of Jesus, they take away Christ and the Means of Grace, substituting their clownish and bumbling entertainments to keep people from realizing the truth behind their fraud.

The Church Shrinkers have swindled Missouri, Wisconsin, and the Little Sect on the Prairie of millions of dollars, funneling the funds into their pet projects, which only serve to spread the Message of Me from Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield, Stetzer, Sweet, Driscoll, Groeschel, Kent Hunter, Waldo Werning, and Andy Stanley.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is Jesus Liturgical?":

A couple weeks back, even the Sunday Schoolers picked up on the dedication of Paul & Barnabas (in Acts 13 & 14) returning to synagogues right away on Sabbath, even after getting chased out of them in the previous town.

The devout (Acts 13:42) and intelligent (Act 13:7) accepted Christ's message. Those seeking the big crowd for themselves (Synagogue Growth Movement?!?) chased them out of town, and stoned Paul, leaving him for dead. No popcorn stonings then, I guess.

Since you've got your Bible open to Acts now, startle yourself with the efficacy of the Word in Acts 13:48.

The Jesus Ponzi Scheme,Sponsored by Church and Chicanery,With Your Money

Bernie Madoff made off with $50 billion before his scheme was exposed by a run on his investment accounts.

The apostates have been running this scam for years. A Ponzi scheme takes new money to pay the earlier fools who invested their money with the criminal. Those who are paid off think they have received great returns, so they brag and expand the number of fools who think they can make 10-15% year after year. The Baptist Foundation of Arizona ran a Ponzi scheme until one person asked some pointed questions.

The Church Shrinkers have been arguing that they could do better with everyone's money by taking it from schools (which are for us) and giving it to missions (which are for Jesus), especially foreign missions. In the Wisconsin Synod the budget percentages were reduced for schools year after year until the entire system faced collapse.

Did everything grow because of investment in Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Deerfield theories? Just the opposite is true. The money is spent, the schools are broke, and the synod continues to shrink.

The Sausage Factory managers say, "Look at all the money we spent on dorms and Tiefel's chapel!" I was in the old chapel. I never thought, "This place needs a few million spent on it." Likewise, the dorms.

In the last 30 years, all the new stuff in WELS has been aimed at promoting the Fuller agenda. The Shrinkers have covered up more scandals than the Democrat and Republican parties put together.

After 30 years of abject, embarrassing failure, Church and Chicanery has an answer for the Wisconsin Synod: "WELS needs our leadership, more than ever before. God cannot do His work without us."

Steve Adams Shows the Way

Harkness Tower at Yale has one of the best carillons in the world.

Steve Adams: Bull's-Eye Philanthropist
By Neal B. Freeman

There was something wrong with that picture. So he went back to the School of Music with a suggestion. He offered to pay the tuition bills himself. For every student. Every year. In 2005, Steve Adams prepaid $100 million worth of student tuitions.

Adams was bothered that some of the best musicians from the Yale School of Music took jobs on Wall Street. He learned that student loans were the problem. One Wall Street bonus could pay off all the loans. A musician had to face decades of payments.

Adams pre-paid tuition - $100 million worth.

Among Lutherans, the same thing could happen. The student loan debt placed on church workers is a disgrace, and the problem will grow even worse in the future.

I am not nominating a given millionaire for the honor. Congregations should make sure that the pastors, teachers, and their children are as free of the debt burden as possible. Now it seems to be no one's problems. In various ways the Boomers have let the burden fall on the younger generation, even though they paid relatively little for their own tuition and board.