SceleratissimusLutheranus has left a new comment on your post "LutherQuest Vet Bolts for EO, Sells Luther Short":
In that picture of the Eastern "Orthodox" altar it appears to be the Virgin Mary with the Seraphim flying around her. This is pure unadulterated blasphemy, as the Seraphim sing praise to God and God alone (Isaiah 6:1-5).
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Mary Worship the Key to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
Should Butch Napolitano Resign?
Lessons from the Arizona Republic
KFYI Radio in Phoenix calls her "Butch" Napolitano. One of my students, an employee for the state, said, "She is very happy, if you know what I mean. All her friends are very happy too. And I never see her with a man."
Napolitano reminds me of the Church Shrinkers. She was protected from her folly as governor by the Arizona Republic. They cheered everything she did, from the outrageous lies and snarky remarks to wasteful spending. She spent every dime during the good years and left town to let someone else deal with billions of red ink in the budget. And still they cover for her. Doesn't that sound like WELS?
Soon the Arizona Republic will be bankrupt, too.
Napolitano identified conservatives as terrorists. She also claimed that all the real terrorists came across the border from Canada. Somehow she managed to offend all the veterans too. A lawyer and former state attorney general, she even said that sneaking across the border was not a crime. "It's civil," she said.
The Love Shack got away with its follies by doing their own PR. Everyone was challenged to "sit down and talk with that person" before doubting a syllable of their Enthusiasm. Yet they could knife anyone who tried to correct them in the slightest. When they got caught skimming the Designated Funds of the synod, they had the innocent treasurer fired and blamed him. Lame excuses followed.
Fortunately, Gurgel left the country, but he is back as VP Don Patterson's vicar. Apostates stick together, work together, and take the synod down together.
No one is better qualified than Patterson to take over as the apostate Synod President. He organized a group of WELS clergy to attend Exponential, the pan-Church Growth conference in Orlando, Floria. It is the Merchanise Mart of Enthusiasm. You can hear most of the false teachers of the moment, and they have their own tours: Stetzer, Stanley, Groeschel, etc.
Gurgel working with Patterson is an eloquent testimony about their mutual hatred of Lutheran doctrine, Lutheran worship, and budgetary sanity. Who else but Patterson could own a ranch and a luxury home in the suburbs, go on African safaris, and hold out his hand--begging the synod for free vicars?
Who else but Patterson could deny his membership in Church and Chicanery while speaking for them and writing on their odious listserve?
Who is behind the Rock and Roll
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should Butch Napolitano Resign?Lessons from the Ar...":
"In accord with such assimilation, many believe that the worship of the Madonna in Catholicism had its roots in the veneration of the Goddess Diana from pre-Christian Roman cults. The celebration of Easter, with eggs and bunnies, remains a holdover of former fertility rites celebrating the Pagan Spring. Such adaptions of superficial, crowd-pleasing, rites and pastimes merely suggest how pagan activities are hidden just beneath the surface of Judeo-Christian culture."
from
http://www.litjournal.com/docs/fea_pagan2.html
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should Butch Napolitano Resign?Lessons from the Ar...":
Patterson hardly lives in a luxurious home in the 'burbs you lying bag of [deleted].
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GJ - And that was his twin brother hunting zebras in Africa - not the only trip by any means. How many WELS pastors own two properties, go hunting in Africa, and ask for synod subsidy? Only Gurgel's pal.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Anonymous Discovered How I Do Research
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Groeschel-Stanley Franchise Grows Among Nominal Lu...":
Why is your name listed as part of this roster? (found at http://meansofgrace.0catch.com/welscgquotes.htm)
Lutheran members of the North American Society for Church Growth: Harold S. Drageger, Grace Lutheran, Visalia, CA; Bradley Hoefs, King of Kings Lutheran,
Omaha, NE; Kent Hunter, Church Growth Center, Corunna, IN; Elmer Matthias, Emeritus Concordia St. Louis, MO; Dale Olson, Cross of Hope Lutheran, Ramsey, MN; Waldo J. Werning, Stewardship Growth Center, Ft. Wayne, IN; Gregory L. Jackson, Columbus, OH.Doris M. Wagner,
Fuller Theological Seminary,
December 10, 1991
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GJ - I tried to find out who was in the Lutheran section of the NASCG, but they refused to say. So I spent $50 and joined, to get the list.
The WELS members of the fraternity have come out in the open since that time. Trapp and Parlow both affiliated with the Willow Creek Association, which has a creed, so they are both unionists who have never been disciplined by their District Pussycats.
Valleskey denied to my face that he went to Fuller. Later, he bragged to David Koenig that he did. Koenig wrote about that, but the CLC Shrinker was furious that Valleskey was angry with him for telling me. I put all the information in Christian News.
Groeschel-Stanley Franchise Grows Among Nominal Lutherans:
Watch Out for Falling Sanctimony
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Portrait of the Pastor as a Young Heretic":
O.K. I hate to leave a comment as "Anonymous" but have the feeling if I left any kind of identification I'd bet pounced on by all the fine "Christians" who leave comments here. I'm a traditional WELS pastor who has attended a couple of services at The Core. While it is not the kind of worship I would have at my services, Ski presented law and gospel in its truth and purity. The message that I heard last Sunday was actually clearer about law and gospel than in most WELS sermons that I've heard. If this is heresy, sign me up for the Heresy Express!
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GJ - Church and Change must have declared April 24th as Sanctimony Day, where they feel free to make anonymous accusations in the name of fearing candor, honesty, and ethical conduct. Not to worry, we have your number.
WELS has a separate denomination growing within its bowels, a cancer fed by the college, seminary, and Love Shack. I have no doubt that many WELS pastors support the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock. Many others are indifferent about it.
Face it - the Wisconsin Synod has trained and ordained a bunch of Babtist ministers who are now teaching their nominal members to be Babtists. The Church Growth faction feels most at home with the liberal Babtists, who teach what JP Meyer did - make a decision.
About 20 years ago, I told Doctrinal Pussycat Robert Mueller what a couple related about attending WELS churches in Florida. The couple said, "The only way we could tell we were in a WELS church was from the sign on the outside." That was during the reign of Radloff, classmate of Valleskey, proud Fuller alumnus (among friends only).
Mueller responded by being angry with me, not his apostate buddies. If it was that bad 20 years ago, what is like now?
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Groeschel-Stanley Franchise Grows Among Nominal Lu...":
OK, let us assume that Ski presented Law and Gospel clearly and rightly divided in his sermon. What about the rest of the service? Liturgy? That's right, adiaphora. Music? Adiaphora also. Alright, I was not there. Maybe they used page 5 or 15 and sung nothing but hymns from TLH. But, I'll bet that it was contemptible worship.
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GJ - The Suffragen Bishop blogged, saying Ski screamed during one sermon. That is one of those gimmicks loved by the Reformed. But the blog production, very sparse, is not saved.
My impression from the lack of information is this: The CORE consists mostly of WELS members from Fox Valley, with services aimed at letting people double-up, going to their regular church in morning and supporting Church and Chicanery in the evening. Like the radical takeover of Alcatraz decades ago, this will grow old.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Groeschel-Stanley Franchise Grows Among Nominal Lu...":
Accept it. WELS is having an identity crisis of galactic proportions. They not only do not know who they are and what they stand for. They do not know what they want to be and believe when they grow up.
Sanctimonious Comments Department
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fifty WELS Pastors Still Think Highly of Luther":
Is it acceptable to leave a post with the name anonymous if you are simply embarrassed to be reading this web page? I feel the tone of this page is similar to the feeling of juicy gossip; "It feels good to talk about people and pretend to be able to read their hearts and know their faith from across the internet."
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GJ - It is appropriate for WELS apostates to communicate their sanctimonious concern anonymously. In fact, most of their work is done through making snide and slanderous remarks behind the backs of their fellow-pastors, their very own classmates: "brain-damaged, senile," etc.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Sanctimonious Comment Department":
Memo
From:Gregory (The Pot) Jackson
To: WELS Pastors (The Kettle)
Message: I can't believe how black you are.
I remember when you were a colloquy "student" at WLS in 1988/1989. You walked around like you were God's gift to WELS. Have you found a church body that is small enough for your intolerence, yet big enough for your ego?
***
GJ - Typical Sausage Factory stuff. I wonder why people are not lining up four-abreast to join this group.
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Eltothe Izzeye Eleltothe Izzo has left a new comment on your post "Sanctimonious Comments Department":
O.K. I've identified myself. You can easily figure out who I am if you have a WELS Yearbook and a basic knowledge of hip hop nomenclature.
First, to define a term: Tolerate -- Put up with something even if you don't like it (I tolerate smokers in public places, but I don't like the smell of their smoke).
What would I tolerate? (I can't force anyone else to tolerate these things, but I tolerate them.) I tolerate Lutheran ministers who worship in a contemporary style. I actually prefer a blended style of worship, but I tolerate contemporary style.
What don't I tolerate? I don't tolerate false teaching of any kind. I don't tolerate the watering down of true teaching of any kind. However, I don't see WELS pastors who use contemporary styles of worshp as necessarily compromising doctrine. If I saw evidence of this happening. I would speak out against it.
It seems like so many who post here (and I've only been visiting since yesterday and won't be back after Sunday) find pastors using contemporary styles in worship and then start looking for false doctrine. Every variance in wording is seen as heresy when there just plain isn't any heresy there.
O.K. I've said my piece and I won't be posting again because I find this a monumental waste of time and energy when there are souls beyond our care who are dying and we are doing nothing but arguing about style.
Oh, and there's this: "The future is yours. At least until the moon darkens, the sun no longer gives it's light, the trumpets sound and Christ returns to judge the quick and the dead. Not much of a future but it's yours while the prince of this world feeds his church with the carrion of false doctrine." That sounds more like Spurgeon or some other "Babtist" than it sounds like the writings of a Lutheran.
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Jeru the Damaja has left a new comment on your post "Sanctimonious Comments Department":
In case anyone cares at this point, the person posting above is Pastor Joel Lillo of Trinity (Appleton, WI).
Since he won't be posting again, I figured his sole post should be cited.
Urban Legends - The Myth of the Original Sermon
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Theological Readings for the Popcorn Cathedral of ...": Check it out! Video is now available at the CORE. Visit http://www.gotocore.com/ - click on "see whats on" in the upper middle section of the home page. Choose "Video 2". Let us know what you think.
inWorship
Urban Legends...Spiritual Myths
So we are finishing up a sermon series this weekend here at TRF, called "Overcome". It has been really cool going through the book of Acts and being challenged as a church to go deeper as a community and as individuals.
I am really excited for a new series we start next week called "Urban Legends". We were inspired by a series of sermons Lifechurch did. We wanted to take the chance to discuss spiritual myths and many common beliefs the world has that go against the truth of God's word. We will discuss things like, "Does God want us happy?" and "Truth is Relative". It should be really fun to tackle these discussions with the Fellowship.
Today, a group of us Pastors spent the day up above Applegate Lake shooting a series of videos for this upcoming series. We had a blast. I think you guys are really going to enjoy the work we have put into it. I can't tell you what it's about, but Southern Oregon and Urban Legends kind of gives it away.
Anyway, be watching for updates on the series. We will be starting a blog that will have preview of weeks to come as well as reviews of the previous weeks. All the videos used in the TRF services will be posted their as well. So when you go to work on Monday AM and want to show everyone the stuff you saw and heard Sunday, you will be able to take them to the blog.
Be praying that God will use this coming weekend in a powerful way as Pastor Ron finishes up our study of the book of Acts. There are definitely softening hearts and lives being changed. It is fun to see Him at work in all of us.
Also promoted:
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Northpoint Babtist - Andy Stanley
April 29, 2007 - Urban Legends: God Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle
Urban Legends: God Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle, is the conclusion of the Urban Legends sermon series. This message is based on Selected Scriptures.
Direct download: NPC-04-29-07_Urban_Legends4.mp3
Category: Sunday_Sermons -- posted at: 12:02 PM
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Shooting the Breeze
Sermon Synopsis 9/14 - There are many ways to God
Posted on Monday September 15th, 2008 at 23:15 in sermons, urban legends series
Today we are going to begin a series called Urban Legends. What is an Urban Legend? Urban legends are popular stories alleged to be true which spread from person to person through oral or written com...
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TruMix.com : Podcasts : The Mount Weekly Sermon PodcastUrban ...Pastor Bob will concludes his sermon series entitled Urban Legends. Part 4 will explore the idea that “God Wants Me to be Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy”. ...
www.trumix.com/podshows/2181277 - Similar pages -
Dallas Church Sermon AudioUrban Legends- Debunking Spiritual Myths Series. Urban Legends-Debunking Spiritual Myths ... July sermon series. A brief run through of the Bible in 4 weeks ...
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urban legends sermonMore Than You Can Handle, Is The Conclusion Of The Urban Legends Sermon Series. ... Urban Legends: There Are Many Ways To God, Is The Second Of The Urban . ...
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Urban Legends: Exploring Myths that Manipulate Our Faith ...From the editors of Leadership journal, PreachingToday.com provides preachers with sermon illustrations, preaching articles, outlines, sermon ideas, ...
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Urban legend debunked « i, PunditFeb 25, 2008 ... As someone who has heard a large number of sermons in his lifetime, I can tell you that this urban legend (debunked here) is frequently used ...
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SermonCentral.com: - Sermons contributed by Craig GroeschelSermon Series: Urban Legends. If we don't talk about sin, the reality of our sin nature, and it's destructive power and it's eternal consequences, then we, ...
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Sunday Sermon Series at Peninsula Covenant Church(Interpreting the Book of Revelation, 146). Sermon Breakdown ... April 12, Urban Legends, The Case for the Resurrection. April 19, Urban Legends ...
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Woodbine United Methodist Church - Pace, FloridaMar 7, 2009 ... Urban Legends: Debunking the Myths of Cliché Christianity is a series of sermons loosely based on a series by Craig Groschel of ...
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Message 4 - Christians Shouldn't Judge (Sermon Series Urban Legends)Format: CD Date: December 11-12, 2004 Dr Larry Osborne.
Finding Forrester:
New Zen Episcopal Bishop
The Zen Episcopalian
By Mark Tooley on 4.24.09 @ 6:07AM
The modern Episcopal Church always strives to stay ahead of the latest fads. In recent years it has dealt with its first openly homosexual bishop, its first Islamic priest, and its first Druid priest. Now it might be on the verge of electing its first Buddhist bishop.
Kevin Thew Forrester, who is ordained both as an Episcopal priest and as a lay Zen Buddhist, was elected bishop by the Diocese of Northern Michigan (the Upper Peninsula) in February. He is also known as "Genpo," or "Way of Universal Wisdom." A majority of Episcopal bishops and diocesan standing committees now must consent to his election by July. The 2003 election of actively homosexual Gene Robinson as New Hampshire's bishop has already fueled schism within the Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion. Would a Buddhist bishop add to the division, or merely be an anticlimax?
"I have been blessed to practice Zen meditation for almost a decade," Forrester has explained. "About five years ago a Buddhist community welcomed me as an Episcopal priest in my commitment to a meditation practice -- a process known by some Buddhists as 'lay ordination.'" He further opined: "Literally thousands of Christians have been drawn to Zen Buddhism in particular because, distinct from western religions, it embodies a pragmatic philosophy and a focus on human suffering rather than a unique theology of God."
Forrester, who is 51 and has been an Episcopal priest since 1994, insists Zen Buddhism is compatible with his faith. "It's not a matter of holding two faiths. There's one faith and it's Christianity," he told a local Michigan newspaper. "The gift is that that faith is deepened by my meditative practice and I'm eternally grateful to Zen Buddhism for teaching me that practice and receiving me as an Episcopal priest." Forrester insists that his faith allows him to be "open to receive the truth and the beauty and goodness, and the wisdom from the other religious traditions of the world, and to be in dialogue with them."
The diocese to which Forrester has been elected bishop has only 27 churches, has lost 30 percent of its membership, and now has fewer than 2000 souls, fewer than 700 of whom actively attend church. But consent to his election by the Episcopal Church will elevate him in the global Anglican communion, whose more than 800 bishops preside over nearly 80 million communicants.
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Timm has left a new comment on your post "Finding Forrester: New Zen Episcopal Bishop":
If Kevin "Genpo" Forrester's bishop-hood falls through, perhaps he can apply for this job:
http://epic.cuir.uwm.edu/entech/jobs/index.php?cmd=viewposting&id=3605
For that matter, any Church Growthers (nee WELS) out there may also be interested, provided they are willing and able to "work in a pluralistic, spiritual environment respecting the diversity of religious institutions, organizations and beliefs."
Rev. Jackson, maybe your site could host a job-board with listings of ecumenical positions available for those individuals who are trying desperately to unshackle themselves from the Lutheran church. It would just make things easier and less painful for all of us.
Margaret Sanger - Heroic Figure for the Pro-Abortion Movement
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| The graphic above is definitely a fake. |
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| Obvious fake. |
Secretary of State Clinton Admits Obama will Work to Dismantle Abortion Laws around the World
Lifesitenews ^ | 4/23/09 | Kathleen Gilbert
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:38:03 PM by ReformationFan
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was confronted on her avowed commitment to eugenicist Margaret Sanger's global agenda, and asked whether the Obama administration would work to overturn pro-life laws around the world - a priority that Clinton confirmed.
In a hearing to discuss the Obama administration's foreign policy, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith questioned Clinton on her statements upon receiving Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger award on March 27. Clinton had said she was "really in awe" of the Planned Parenthood founder.
"The 20th century reproductive rights movement, really embodied in the life and leadership of Margaret Sanger, was one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race," Clinton had said. She also said that Sanger's work "is not done."
Smith yesterday asked Clinton about her praise for Sanger's eugenic agenda, saying "it is extraordinarily difficult [to see] how anyone could be in awe" of Sanger, who "made no secret whatsoever" of her views.
"With all due respect, Madam Secretary, Sanger's legacy was indeed transformational, but not for the better if one happens to be poor, disenfranchised, weak, disabled, a person of color, and unborn child, or among the many so-called undesirables Sanger would exclude and exterminate from the human race," said Smith.
"Sanger's prolific writings dripped with contempt for those she considers to be unfit to live," he continued. "Sanger was an unapologetic eugenicist and racist, who said, and I quote, 'The most merciful thing a family does for one of its infant members is to kill it.'
"She also said, on another occasion, quote, 'Eugenics is the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.'"
Smith asked, "As part of Sanger's work that remains undone," whether the Obama administration seeks "in any way to weaken or overturn pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin American countries, either directly or through multilateral organizations, including and especially the United Nations, African Union, or the OAS, or by way of funding NGOs like Planned Parenthood?"
Clinton replied: "It is my strongly held view that you are entitled to advocate and everyone who agrees with you should be free to do so anywhere in the world, and so are we." (Video of Secretary Clinton's responses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gEA97EnxE4)
Clinton confirmed that the Obama administration's definition of "reproductive health" includes abortion, and that, "We are now an Administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive health care."
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska also told Clinton he was "stunned" by her commitment to Sanger, and that he was "deeply grieved" at her answer to Congressman Smith.
"She [Sanger] advocated for the elimination of the disabled, the downtrodden, and the Black child," Fortenberry objected. "I don't believe these ideologies have a place in our pluralistic society."
Decrying taxpayer funding of abortion overseas as "a form of neo-colonialism" that is "elitist, paternalistic, and an assault on the dignity of the poor," Fortenberry challenged Clinton to instead pursue foreign policy that "upholds the genius of womanhood and the life nestled within her."
Clinton responded by emphasizing that the "choice" to carry or kill an unborn child should be available "for all women."
Commenting in a later statement on Clinton's remarks, Smith said: "It is evident that Mrs. Clinton and President Obama want to force the tragedy of abortion upon women around the world especially and including in countries where democratically elected leaders want to continue to protect their unborn children.
"There are other ways in which both mother and baby are protected, cared for and helped - with food, nutrition, clean water and life-affirming healthcare," he said.
"Secretary Clinton's inability to see this will mean more babies will die and more women will suffer the consequence of abortion as a result of U.S. foreign policy overseas."
(Video of Secretary Clinton's responses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gEA97EnxE4)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Theological Readings for the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock
kstrandlund RT @flowerdust: In better news...get Mad Church Disease for $11.99 from Catalyst. Currently cheaper than Amazon! http://tinyurl.com/dkyvrn
about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Theological Readings for the Popcorn Cathedral of ...":
Better 'mad cow' picture
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/1257253288/
Product Description
DOES WORKING AT THIS CHURCH INTERFERE WITH YOUR COMMUNION WITH CHRIST?
That question may have saved author Anne Jackson's life. She believes it could save yours, too.
As the daughter of a pastor, Anne saw firsthand the struggles leaders face and the toll it can take on their families. She vowed her life in ministry would be different.
Yet, years later, as a church leader, she was hospitalized because stress began wreaking havoc on her body. She had burned out.
Anne developed a website that allowed church leaders to share their struggles. Within a few days, she was flooded with over a thousand responses from people pouring out their stories of pain.
Mad Church Disease, born out of that experience, is a lively, informative, and potentially life-saving resource for anyone in ministry - vocational or volunteer - who would like to understand, prevent, or treat the epidemic of burnout in church culture.
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About Us
History
The Genesis of Catalyst
Catalyst was conceived as a Next Generation Leaders Conference in 1999 by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, John Maxwell, Lanny Donoho and several young leaders. Catalyst was created to meet the felt need that existed within the church leader space for a leadership event that was focused on a new generation of church leaders. Everything within this space seemed built around a forty to sixty year old mindset and medium. This team was convinced that this needed to change.
Catalyst was able to meet that demand by creating a conference specifically focused on leaders under the age of 40. In October of 2000 in Atlanta, GA, partnering with North Point Community [Babtist] Church, Catalyst convened 1500 church leaders for this inaugural experience. With a unique approach to programming and learning, defined by a fun, dynamic attendee experience, leaders were personally challenged to become "change agents" within their organizations, churches and communities.
Since inception, over 90,000 leaders have made the annual trek to Atlanta to participate in the Catalyst Conference experience, and this October, once again over 10,000 young leaders will gather to experience Catalyst up close. More recently, Catalyst launched the first ever West Coast experience in Orange County, CA with 3,000 leaders in attendance.
Leadership has been the topic of focus for the Catalyst brand since inception and will continue to be so. Catalyst and the annual Conferences provide a wide cover for addressing a variety of topics specific to Next Generation Leaders, including organizational leadership, personal leadership, integrity, character, relationships, and teamwork, among others. Over the last nine years, Catalyst has grown in influence and reach, now offering two annual events on the East and West coast, regional One Day events, multiple resources, a dedicated online magazine, online community, the Filter content program, a bi-weekly podcast, and many other tools for young leaders. Catalyst has only just begun to go deeper with the Catalyst Community in taking them beyond a conference experience and into a relationship that provides ongoing support for growth and continued learning.
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Core Values
Passion
We are committed to the spiritual development of the next generation leader, believing that one’s growing passion for Jesus Christ fuels one’s way of thinking, living and leading.
Leadership
We believe that leadership is influence and are committed to maximizing the leadership potential of the next generation.
Truth
We are committed to confront the moral relativism that permeates the next generation’s mindset by infusing our events, resources and experiences with the unchanging truth of God’s Word.
Relevancy
We are committed to respond to the evolving mindset and trends of next generation leaders, creatively and strategically bringing an ageless message to a changing culture.
Church
We are committed to reach the next generation of leaders in, by and through the local church, equipping churches to understand, reach and invest in their spiritual and professional development.
Transference
We are committed to encourage and equip young leaders to effectively pursue the life-on-life connection with other generations for the purpose of transferring spiritual and life wisdom from one generation to the next.
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Partners
Fermi Project
www.fermiproject.com
North Point Community Church<==Ski, Buske, and Parlow trained and worshiped there.
www.northpoint.org
Big Stuf
www.bigstuf.com
ReThink
www.rethinkgroup.org
Leadership Journal
www.leadershipjournal.net
Passion Conferences
www.268generation.com
Relevant Media Group
www.relevantmagazine.com
Christian Vision Project
www.christianvisionproject.com
Leadership Network
www.leadnet.org
National New Church Conference
www.exponentialconference.com
Ethur
www.ethur.org
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Is That You, Katie?
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "We Love the Lies":
About Susan Boyle, and your posts in general. I have noticed that all too often you leave out whatever facts you want to make a point. I suppose any rediculous (sic) extremist would act the same way though, so why would one expect less from you?
She never said she did not have training. In fact, she has said many times that she started out furthering her education towards perfomance arts, but due to family situations, she left school to focus on those issues. Obviously, she held her family's well being as a higher priority than furthering her creativity and career at the time. Whether she has faith or not, that is the sort of behavior that should be inherent in all christian (sic) families, but unfortunately is pushed aside in this day and age. You should know, since you claim to be such a traditionalist.
Almost anyone can record their (sic) singing with any sort of chorus or instrumentals backing them up. All they need is the right people behind them, such as a church or those she knew via her, old but probably still there, ties to those who also are musically inclined. Does not mean she was ever given the chance to become a big hit.
Also, it is a sad fact that you acknowledge within yourself, vicariously through the tarnishing words towards this older woman, that you obviously hold a host of a show up on a pedestal and feel that he is not a human who can be spoken to freely, if one choses (sic). She has confidence, and has come to realize that Simon is not some godly untouchable being. For one who has no qualms about preaching his faith, you holding an entertainer up so high that you feel that when someone talks back to them that it obviously could not be real, should make you step back and re-evaluate the key points in your own life.
- Caitlin
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GJ - Sadly, Susan Boyle is a younger woman, from my perspective. She is about the same age as Simon, if everyone is telling the truth. From now on, I will believe every set-up on that show. Katie has informed me that I am wrong about everything, including show biz, so I need to repent.
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DK has left a new comment on your post "Is That You, Katie?":
Back when I used to tuter gradeschool kids and correct there papers more oftener than not I used to read kids writings who were in the 5th grade then but not anymore because they grew up but these 5th grader could have written better than Caitlin accept she's an adult in the workforce no less! Added to her poor spelling she's got terible sentance construction.
Muddled writing is evidence of muddled thinking.
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GJ - DK is a hoot. I was going to post a corrected version of his comment, because there were so many elementary mistakes in it. On the fifth or sixth one, I started to laugh. Great parody, DK. You pranked me.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is That You, Katie?":
Have you talked to Katie? Or are you once again trying to present false assumptions as fact? Let me help you out, I highly doubt it is her (sic). She has many better things to do with her time than write comments on your blog.
***
GJ - I assume you mean Katie the pricey executive assistant? Have you talked to her? Besides, I did not say it was the suffragen bishop at the Popcorn Cathedral. Of course, some might infer that. We have to assume, Anonymous, that you don't have anything better to do, since you are posting about something that does not concern you.
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Spel Czech has left a new comment on your post "Is That You, Katie?":
While we are on the topic of elementary mistakes...
"I was going to post a corrected version of his comment, because there were so (sic) elementary mistakes in it."
***
GJ - Totally awesome, dude. I omitted one word. I make more mistakes than all of you put together, but that is because I publish more - and I sign my name.
PS - Someone has written (Anonymously, of course) to say he knows who Caitlin is. He wanted to pile on and make a bunch of anonymous accusations. Is this a father/daughter thing? If so, then the apple does not fall far from the tree.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "We Love the Lies":
We too enjoyed the Susan Boyle video immensely. But we need to remember that this "reality/audition" show is big business and there's no way they're going to let an unknown rank amateur on stage. Britain is too big to not screen the stage (maybe in A-town.)
Everyone on that stage has been screened by junior producers just like on the audition rounds of American Idol. Surely the judges are at least told "she's a ringer." Note Simon's questions ahead of her song which prop her up for a crash-and-burn failure. Those questions aren't asked of each act. As she walks on the stage, she uses an exaggerated swinging of the hips, undoubted encouraged by the goons offstage telling her to "sex it up a bit" and she carries through with the uncharacteristic "and that's just one side of me" embarrassing hip-swivel.
The big picture is that she'll get some time in the limelight and she'll sell a few albums. It's a nice story, but again, just more media manipulation.
+Diet O. Worms
How I Celebrated Earth Day
- I shopped at Wal-Mart.
- I took the groceries home in plastic bags.
- I left the water on in the garden while we were shopping.
- I let the car idle extra long, with the AC on high.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "How I Celebrated Earth Day":
Ok, you have finally made Obama's watch list.
Drill Down with the Senior Management Team at Granger
$7500 for two days. Don't fail to miss this one.
Leadership Live
May 6-7, 2009
Granger Community Church
Ever wanted a front row seat to how Granger’s Senior Management Team leads the church? How they plan for the future? How they decide which series to present and what direction to go? This event will give 24 leaders a chance to spend two full days with the Senior Management Team at Granger Community Church.
WHO:
If you’re a church planter, a pastor or senior-level ministry leader, you won’t want to miss this chance to get an inside look at the day-to-day happenings at Granger.
WHAT:
Spend two full days with the Senior Management Team at Granger Community Church. Talk about any ministry area and find out what happens behind-the-scenes.
You’ll drill down on…
How they do life together
Administrative issues and decision-making
First Impressions and guest services
Creative brainstorming and planning
Spiritual development and training
Missions impact and partnership models
Cost includes all meals and lodging.
Product Code: WSLEAD
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Twitter Tattle-Tale: Ski and the Orlando Speakers":
$1500 is not that atypical for a two day conference.
You must be pretty insulated from the real world to be shocked by that figure.
(Liked the DeForest Kelly shot, though).
***
GJ - Insulated? I fail to see the value. If I wanted to see how frambulators were made at AAA Auto Parts, or learn how they converted the Twinkies division from LIFO to FIFO accounting, that would be a bargain.
Denominational conferences are usually about $100, but these CG guys think they are far more valuable. They want 24 people to give them $1500 each. I doubt whether most congregations are that loaded this year.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Drill Down with the Senior Management Team at Gran...":
A fool and their money will soon be parted. Better yet if it is someone elses (sic) money.
***
GJ - No kidding. Look at ex-SP Gurgel. He had the MilCraft estate, the Schwan loot, and Thrivent grants - and WELS still tumbled into insolvency during a time of prosperity. Gurgel has laid his consecrated and consecrating hands on Kudu Don Patterson, anointing him as the SP-in-Waiting.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Drill Down with the Senior Management Team at Gran...":
Pastors would straighten up and fly right very quickly if they had to really work a real job for a living. Sheltered from the realities of life they make no mistakes. They shift the responsibility to church members time and again. Instilling business acumen in them at a two day conference is sheer fantasy.
***
GJ - Here is a comment from a retiring bishop who believed in the efficacy of the Word - "Those who enter the ministry late in life often leave again because of the way ministers are treated."
Members of a church can get away with worse behavior in their congregation than they can in higher education or work. As one funeral director mentioned to me, "Men who are miserable at work and miserable at home can take it out on the pastor, because he is a safe target."
I believe most ministers start out wanting to work hard, do well, and be faithful. However, members have a way of giving 1.5% and asking why the bills are not paid, overlooking the 8-10% giving by the pastor's family. And - if a pastor is active in doing those things people say are important, the bills actually increase, so they are picked over at each council meeting. I heard a group of men discuss how much chicken to order for 45 minutes straight.
The CG conference addicts are another story. WELS starts to brainwash the men in college, if not before. All the wrong people are held up as examples at the annual Church and Change bash at MLC. Faithful pastors and laity have been pilloried for decades by the loving Church Shrinkers.
The Sausage Factory is even worse, completely dominated by Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Deerfield alumni. An ambitious young pastor is going to continue in the path set by his teachers for 8 years. Those suspected of conservatism have not been given vicars. Three WELS boards are 100% trained in Enthusiasm, so a significant chunk of pastors, officials, and professors point the new pastors in the wrong direction and get them money for addition career-enhancing brainwashing at Granger, Exponential, Church and Change, Willow Creek, Fuller, and Trinity Deerfield.
Ski is no different from a lot of WELS pastors. He is just too candid about it. The Shrinkers do blame all their problems on methods because trust in the Word has been trained out of them. Can anyone imagine going to Stanley's Baptist Church, Granger Community Church, and Catalyst (Stanley-Groeschel) and having a single Biblical thought left? Those guys are all show-biz, a topic I know nothing about, according to Katie.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Drill Down with the Senior Management Team at Gran...":
Pastor Jackson, your points are well taken. For the first time I begin to understand why WELS is such a mess.
***
GJ - Enthusiasm in WELS is not new and definitely not hidden. Fred Adrian and Wally Oelhafen popped their corks when I criticized Church Growth and Fuller back in the 1980s.
The Church Shrinkers would gush about their ideology but deny it three times when pressed about details. The supreme example is David Valleskey in the Northwestern Lutheran and in the Quarterly, slobbering over Church Growth while denying he went to Fuller Seminary. So they made him the seminary president. When a sect is small and ultra-conformist, that creates a Reformation (on the bad side) without a vote, a meeting, or a study.
Sad to say, the typical WELs pastor is not trained to deal with doctrinal issues. The Doctrinal Pussycats represent that failing...flawlessly.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
We Love the Lies
Susan Boyle was presented by Simon Cowell as an 47 year-old, unemployed woman who needed her first chance to sing.
Her dialogue with Simon seemed carefully rehearsed. Stage-struck amateurs do not come across poised enough to mock the powerful host of a famous show.
We are supposed to believe that the panel had no idea she could really sing! They went from sour to ecstatic in seconds.
Now You Tube has registered 100 million hits on various versions of the performance.
Susan clearly had a polished, professional voice, completely in control - unlike their cell phone guy who sang opera. He was probably a real Cinderella, or Cinderfeller. I found his performance far more compelling because it was honestly done.
Susan recorded "Cry Me a River" 10 years ago with a full orchestra, so she was not exactly a newcomer, an amateur or a miraculous find.
I looked up her fan site, which lacks any real information, except the immediate present. Her voice is beautiful so I hope she does well. It appears that she tried in the past and her career did not take hold. I know someone like that in Hollywood. He became a minor star. Millions have seen him in movies like "The Fly" but he did not start any prairie fires, as Reagan used to say.
People enjoy lies. The lottery in every state is a lie. Social Security is the world's biggest Ponzi scheme, but no one puts Congress under house arrest, as poor Bernie Madoff is - in his penthouse. He made off with only $50 billion. Congress has America on the hook for trillions in unfunded liabilities.
America just elected a president with no history. He had quite a sordid history, but no one wanted to hear it. He foreshadowed Susan Boyle, arriving as something he was not. Now he has already done more damage on the domestic side and in foreign relations than Carter did in four years. The evil continues and grows.
Proof of Evolution
If you believe this happened spontaneously in six different European train stations, then you also believe in evolution.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Proof of Evolution":
Had you read the comment associated with the source video, you'd know it was rehearsed. The amazing thing is that it was only rehearsed twice.
***
GJ - I need to be more obvious in the future. For this dance to have happened, a lot of planning was necessary, with each person doing his own part on time and in the right way. Most people see the planning needed in a few seconds.
Far more complicated is the sequence of a cut healing or the decomposition of organic material.
And yet the intellectual community would have us believe in evolution.
Exploiting the Tithe
Read about it here.
"Touted in 2004 by Church Growth Today as the nation’s second fastest-growing Christian congregation, the ministry took in as much as $40 million a year. But it has faced many hurdles in the past couple years. Among them: an ongoing U.S. Senate inquiry into its finances; the divorce of cofounders Randy and Paula White; and a dramatic drop in attendance."
Check this link for a video report.
On the webpage, look for the video on the upper right, about televangelists and athletes.
This false prosperity message can be found in abundance at Orlando - and also coming from such other works-salesmen as Joel Osteen.
***
GJ - Watch similar mega-churches tank during this recession. Several years ago a huge Missouri congregation in Texas fell apart over the minister's flagrant adultery. The campus is now a prison. Up to that point, the minister was lauded and courted by synod officials - and then he lit out for Brazil, which has no extradition treaty with the USA.
Twitter Tattle-Tale:
Ski and the Orlando Speakers
Twitter is a way to send very short messages to people. One feature is the ability to follow someone, receiving his or her Tweets (messages) - as they are called.
Some of us were speculating that Ski and other nominal Lutherans were down at the Orlando CG Lollapalooza called Exponential. A trip to Disney World is not in my budget so I looked up the parsons being followed by Ski and matched them up with their bios for Exponential.
A pattern emerges as one meditates on the people being followed by Ski:
Mark Batterson - Mark serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. NCC was recognized as one of the 25 Most Innovative Churches in America by Outreach Magazine in 2008. One church with eight services in four locations, NCC is focused on reaching emerging generations. 73% of NCCers are single twenty-somethings and 70% come from an unchurched or dechurched background. The vision of NCC is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the metro DC area. NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. In 2008, Ebenezers was recognized as the #1 coffeehouse in the metro DC area by AOL CityGuide. Mark has two Masters Degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of a best-selling book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. And he is a daily blogger @ www.markbatterson.com. Mark is married to Lora and they live on Capitol Hill with their three children: Parker, Summer, and Josiah.
Andy Stanley - On Ski's list but not at Orlando? Are they nuts?
Mark Jeske - He will soon be at Orlando: count on it. Mark is one of the kingpins of Church and Change.
Brittney Spears - She is not speaking. Most of the exceptions are sports figures while Brittney is a sporting figure.
The Indicators - They are the group brought up for the website party. They do not follow many people but they do follow Ski and Katie.
Groeschel via Swerve - Craig is the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv. Craig, his wife, Amy, and their six children live in the Edmond, Oklahoma, area where LifeChurch.tv began in 1996. Craig's creative leadership skills are changing the way church is done worldwide. Under his leadership, LifeChurch.tv has become one of the country's first multi-campus churches, with over fifty weekend worship experiences at thirteen different locations throughout the United States. Craig and Bobby Gruenewald write daily blog posts. You can participate in this blogging community at swerve.lifechurch.tv.
Catalyst Leader - Catalyst is the joint event hosted by Groeschel and Stanley.
Mark Driscoll - Not at Orlando? Maybe he has his own AmWay conferences going. Most of the participants at Orlando have their own gatherings, so Orlando is a great way for the wolves to network.
Jon Ruddat - He is a WELS pastor in Appleton and utterly devoted to Church and Change.
---
Here is Katie's Tweet on something inspirational from Granger Community Church:
read this post from @MarkLWaltz.-some good toughts on the usefulness of twitter. how can we leverage it 4 the Kingdom? http://bit.ly/2lIW4U
about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck
Mark is at Granger Community Church, where Ski and Katie studied/worshiped to get The CORE going.
Granger offers a two-day training event with its management team. The cost is a mere $1500.
Does anyone wonder how many millions have been squandered training WELS church workers at schools of Enthusiasm and synagogues of Satan? The BHM used to send pastors to Willow Creek - your offering dollars at work.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Twitter Tattle-Tale: Ski and the Orlando Speakers":
Correction: John Ruddat is not a pastor. He is a staff minister at St. Matthew, Appleton. St. Matthew is, however, deeply in love with Ski.
***
GJ - Mea maxima culpa. Thanks to Larry Olson (DMin, Fuller) no one knows the difference anymore. Everyone is a minister at Martin Luther College, too. And the male teachers are still ordained?
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Drill Down with the Senior Management Team at Gran...":
Pastors would straighten up and fly right very quickly if they had to really work a real job for a living. Sheltered from the realities of life they make no mistakes. They shift the responsibility to church members time and again. Instilling business acumen in them at a two day conference is sheer fantasy.
***
GJ - Here is a comment from a retiring bishop who believed in the efficacy of the Word - "Those who enter the ministry late in life often leave again because of the way ministers are treated."
Members of a church can get away with worse behavior in their congregation than they can in higher education or work. As one funeral director mentioned to me, "Men who are miserable at work and miserable at home can take it out on the pastor, because he is a safe target."
I believe most ministers start out wanting to work hard, do well, and be faithful. However, members have a way of giving 1.5% and asking why the bills are not paid, overlooking the 8-10% giving by the pastor's family. And - if a pastor is active in doing those things people say are important, the bills actually increase, so they are picked over at each council meeting. I heard a group of men discuss how much chicken to order for 45 minutes straight.
The CG conference addicts are another story. WELS starts to brainwash the men in college, if not before. All the wrong people are held up as examples at the annual Church and Change bash at MLC. Faithful pastors and laity have been pilloried for decades by the loving Church Shrinkers.
The Sausage Factory is even worse, completely dominated by Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Deerfield alumni. An ambitious young pastor is going to continue in the path set by his teachers for 8 years. Those suspected of conservatism have not been given vicars. Three WELS boards are 100% trained in Enthusiasm, so a significant chunk of pastors, officials, and professors point the new pastors in the wrong direction and get them money for addition career-enhancing brainwashing at Granger, Exponential, Church and Change, Willow Creek, Fuller, and Trinity Deerfield.
Ski is no different from a lot of WELS pastors. He is just too candid about it. The Shrinkers do blame all their problems on methods because trust in the Word has been trained out of them. Can anyone imagine going to Stanley's Baptist Church, Granger Community Church, and Catalyst (Stanley-Groeschel) and having a single Biblical thought left? Those guys are all show-biz, a topic I know nothing about, according to Katie.
Sermon Dishonesty
gave him his first guitar.
The corrosive effects of Church and Change become especially clear when anyone discusses the Sunday service.
The Church Growth Movement among Lutherans (ELCA, WELS, LCMS, ELS, CLC) began and continues as an exercise in copying. Waldo Werning was famous for copying, verbatim, pages from his CG mentors. Kent Hunter, another Missouri pastor, simply channeled the idiocy from Fuller Seminary, where he picked up a DMin.
The elderly Church Shrinkers in WELS--Valleskey, Bivens, Kelm--often copied directly from Fuller and acted as if they were "creative" and filled with new insights. One WELS pastor said to me, "We used to think Kelm had all these great new ideas. We found out they were all copied from Fuller."
Enthusisasts separate the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word, so they do not attribute efficacy to the Word. Kelm, Huebner, Bruce Becker, Bivens, and Valleskey all say that in varying degrees of mockery.
Because Enthusiasts give no credit to the Word, they frantically try to generate efficacy in their own style, personality cult, drama, or aura of entertainment. The Lutherans see huge crowds, but they fail to discern that these crowds are mostly jaded members who want to be tickled and appeased. The charismatic speakers aped by the Lutheran false teachers provide a fake intimacy for their audiences, telling people about their personal woes and shortcomings. They preach themselves and not Christ crucified.
This fakery works so well in the Age of Apostasy that the Lutheran wolves copy Hybels, Groeschel, Stanley, Driscoll, and the Granger gang. People can find ELCA pastors saying exactly what WELS and Missouri pastors are preaching, to stretch the meaning of the term, because they are also trooping off to Exponential in Orlando, Florida. They are also buying or copying sermons. The apish pastors are all too busy making members needlessly busy to do the one thing needful. (Luke 10:42)
That is also why the most ardent CG pastors turn into burn-out atheists. Satan eventually takes away the scales and lets them see his side of the story. The false teachers could repent and believe again, but often they become evangelistic about what they no longer believe. The various District Presidents and circuit pastors are guilty for doing nothing about this. So are the seminaries for teaching this garbage. Fellow pastors and laity also have an obligation to confront false teaching for what it is.
KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Sermon Dishonesty":
>>"People can find ELCA pastors saying exactly what WELS and Missouri pastors are preaching, to stretch the meaning of the term, because they are also trooping off to Exponential in Orlando, Florida. They are also buying or copying sermons. The apish pastors are all too busy making members needlessly busy to do the one thing needful. (Luke 10:42)>>
So what you are saying, is that in the end, there is really no difference in what ELCA teaches and all of the other Lutherans because of what is being preached on Sundays? We in WELS believe in closed communion. We believe in Biblical Fellowship practices. We believe that God's Word is really true and not full of errors. Umm, we believe in, umm lots of things that THOSE LIBERALS scoff at!
How dare you suggest that we are not different! Are you saying that by subscribing to the Augsberg Confession (UAC 1580), which ELCA does too, is putting us in the same boat? Why I never!
If what we say we believe isn't enough to distinguish us, then I don't know what is! So what if the sermon is the same. Maybe it's all just good homoletics. I hear pastors copying Luther all the time. Well, I used to, but that's beside the point! It's the heart of worship that matters isn't it? After all we can't just be happy in the Lord?
WE would never Fellowship without coming to agreement in our doctrine, so it just can't be true that we are the same.
I think we're not, I think we're not..........
Photos From the Debut of the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock
on the performance stage.
for a changing world."
You will hear people talk about this. You will hear it on TV today with TV preachers. You’ll read books about it, and you will hear it over and over and over again, and it is a message that feels very good. Here is the urban legend.
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Anonymousy has left a new comment on your post "Photos From the Debut of the Popcorn Cathedral of ...":
Odd, Greg.
I don't seem to see you in any of those pictures. It must be my imagination, but it almost seems like you weren't there.
Nice to see that you were present in order to have a first-hand account of events.
***
GJ - Odd, Joe. I did not see your photo, so how would you know?
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Photos From the Debut of the Popcorn Cathedral of ...":
Is there any audio or video footage so we can hear what was preached? Seems like that would be something the CORE would want to post on their website, like many other churches do.
***
GJ - Others have been just as curious. The CORE portrays itself as evangelistic but it has no message. Two full-time employees blog less in two weeks than I do in one morning. The Groeschel sermon themes are posted, but no text, no audio, and no video.
Ichabod Most Read, Least Quoted:
Reformed Blog Breaks Drought
UPDATE: In view of an amusing post at Ichabod, I've updated the post above a bit further (link).
His post is Plunder the Philistines or Join Them?
I have no idea how the readership here compares to any other blog, but I have noticed a lot of reactions to posts. Information and photos disappear faster than money in a Church Growth project.
Lutherans show a surprising reluctance to address doctrinal issues. Several Lutheran bloggers pose as orthodox or confessional, but they have avoided confronting the apostasy around them. Doctrinal lapdogs enjoy treats and snacks from their liberal pals. And the heretics love to hear their winsome pets snapping and snarling at the orthodox.
Few Protestants will dare to mention the Antichrist. According to WELS history, Wisconsin Lutheran College never hosted Archbishop Weakland and a bevy of priests for a round of public lectures. Like many scandals, that one was so bad that it became a non-event. All the pastors and Doctrinal Pussycats were on vacation, so they did not respond.
Anticipated Budget Shortfall Widens.
WELS Members Evacuate
WELS created an odd juxtaposition with the two headlines listed above, from their Together email
Congregation Mission Offerings (CMO)—given by congregations for the synod's collective ministry—were $3.76 million for the quarter, down nearly 14 percent from the same quarter last year. Some of the difference may be due to the timing of Easter, which occurred in March last year. Foundation grants and gifts from individuals are also down dramatically.
As one person told me, "No matter what has been cut lately, they have to go back and cut even more the next week."
The part I marked in lavender is especially telling. As I predicted, extra money from the wealthy and their foundations is drying up. If the trends continue, the story will be worse in a year.
Times are tough, even in Texas. I imagine that future safaris will be limited to the wild animal farm in Lubbock, or the local petting zoo.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sermon Buying for Bizzy Parsons:
WELS Is Not Alone in Cheating
GJ - Below is a critique of WELS Church and Change heroes. This one page should put the Conference of Pussycats to shame.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
DEAD BREAD
The Scandal and Malnutrition of Sermons for Sale
By Pastor Jeffrey L. Whittaker
I remember sitting in a popular restaurant chain with some friends several years ago, when the waitress came to take our order. One of my friends, when asked what kind of dressing he wanted on his salad, abruptly stated to the startled server, “And I don’t want any ‘dead bread’ on my salad.” After letting the comment sink in, the sweet but stunned girl replied, “Oh, you mean croutons!” To which my friend simply nodded in confirmation.
That analogy has stuck with me all these years, and I remember it every time I order a salad that comes with “dead bread.” I actually don’t mind croutons that much, and have even purchased a bag when passing through the salad aisle at the supermarket. There are so many flavors now: herb, parmesan, bacon-ranch, etc; all so conveniently located that I just reach out and take them as I pass by while filling my cart. However, when applying my friend’s unflattering adjective to preaching, my heart is stirred over a phenomenon which has gripped America’s pulpits in recent years.
I recall opening my mail one morning some years ago and reading my first advertisement for “dead bread”:
“Pastors, are you too busy to spend hours of preparation on your sermons? Tired of feeling the stress of having to come up with original ideas week after week? If so, for just $199.95 you can have 52 weeks of quality sermons crafted by homiletical masters, complete with illustrations! Your congregation is guaranteed to be thrilled with the results or your money back!”
Could this be true? Are there people who actually do this?
My next encounter with the crouton crowd was at a breakfast meeting with a group of ministers when three men from the same “high church” tradition began comparing how their Easter season was going. I was stunned when each one began sharing from the exact same text, outline, illustrations, everything! They chided me for my naiveté and how I could expect to come up with fresh bread week after week after week. The last straw was when I found “sermon seed” in the back of my own former fellowship’s ministerial journal, giving even Pentecostal pastors a shortcut to perfectly prepared and portioned seasoned sermons.
Little did I realize that there was an entirely new “evangelical liturgy” which had been created in the name of pragmatic programming and church growth. There are many websites available to pastors across America (which I refuse to list here) where they can tap into high carbohydrate ministries by simply “clicking and shipping” a veritable supermarket of pre-prepared and pre-packaged food.
This truth was originally proclaimed (in type) in the account of God’s warning to Israel that He wanted them to gather fresh manna each morning, and that they were not to hoard up one crumb until the next day. They were supposed to learn that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8). They failed to listen then, and the result was spoilage and worms instead of a miraculous manifestation of God’s power (Exodus 16). The Apostle Peter exhorted those of us who preach:
“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God;” (1 Peter 4:11a)
We are to work, weep, and wrestle with the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to bring forth a fresh revelation of God’s mind and heart to His people DAILY. Today, all the over-worked and under-prayed pastor/CEO needs to do is click, ship, and unwrap the moldy manna, and sprinkle it liberally into the gaping mouths and itching ears of their “flock” (of pigeons not sheep).
Am I being too harsh? Please allow me to illustrate using the very words of some of the most successful ministry marketers and program exporters in America.
Bill Hybels' Self Feeders <==Parlow and Trapp hero.
Bill Hybels, pastor of the world-famous Willow Creek church in suburban Chicago, after taking an internal survey of his membership, was forced to admit in a recent statement that,
“I got the wake-up call of my adult life… parts of the data just ruined my day. That (“Reveal Now”) survey just rocked my world. Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars in, thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually; when the data actually came back, it wasn’t helping people that much.”
Pastor Hybels has been regarded as one of the foremost church growth gurus, having elevated drawing a crowd to both a science and an art. Thousands of pastors and churches have subscribed to the Willow Creek Association sermons, skits, and music; all with the hope of exponential increase in attendance. In addition to his initial confession, pastor Hybels continued by stating,
“[The unsaved “pre-christians”] were giving us 9s [out of 10 on their survey].”
“When we got to growing Christians, the scores began going down. And then we get to fully devoted followers of Christ, and the scores got scarily low…. That really bothers me.”
“A lot of people in this category said that they’re not being fed… they want more of the meat of the Word of God…. That’s hard for me to hear.”
“We’ve made a mistake…. We should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become self-feeders.” [emphasis added]
Isn’t it sadly ironic that the unregenerate audiences give Pastor Hybels his highest marks because his services are so “friendly” to them; but those who identify themselves as true followers of Christ are leaving hungry? Hybels laments that the problem is that the people are not learning to take responsibility for feeding themselves!
Mark Beeson's Self Feeders <==Ski and his assistant studied/worshiped at Granger.
This sentiment was parroted in a similar rant by Pastor Mark Beeson of Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana, who experienced a similar rude awakening at the hands of his own congregation’s “reveal now” survey. Mind you, these numbers are attributed to “Christ followers” in the words of Beeson, and not to unconverted “men on the street.”
47% do not believe in salvation by grace,
57% do not believe in the authority of the Bible,
56% do not believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life,
41% do not believe that God is personally involved in their daily life, and
71% don’t believe that a Christian should live a sacrificial life, instead of being driven by the pursuit of material things.
Listen to the evaluation of this nationally known purveyor of mass marketed spiritual croutons.
“Let me tell you something that the survey revealed, the people of Granger Community Church simply do not have a Biblical worldview…. We don’t know how to feed ourselves; we just don’t have any idea… The majority of Christ followers of this church said that the number one barrier to growth is that it is not a high priority to you… it’s just not really important. In case you have forgotten, you are the leaders."
See how he shifts the blame onto the 6,000 members? What is his solution to this travesty?
“We’re going to increase the length of our weekend services, just a little bit… We are not going to try and hold that [“real ministry”] experience to Thursday night; it will be on the weekend with 6,000 people. We’re not going to stop teaching, but we’re going to add to that the experience of the risen Christ… We’re going to program for it, and it’s going to take an extra two or three minutes.”
That long eh? They are also planning to…
“Add adequate transition time between services to enhance the guest experience… Give 45 minutes between services so that guests, they don’t have to fight, scream, and hate people when they’re parking their car.” [all emphases added]
Do you see the absolute blindness and directional destitution created by a steady diet of “dead bread”? Granger, by the way, has become infamous for very deliciously sprinkled sermon series based upon spandex, R-rated movies, immoral television shows, and many other elements of the fallen pop culture (www.gccwired.com). He also boasts new church plants using local movie theaters where the audience can sit in comfort and watch a prepackaged church service from beginning to end via video, with one of the main drawing cards being popcorn and cup holders!
If these pastors want their surveys to reflect a truly healthy church “body,” then they must feed it Manna and not Madonna. Unfortunately, they would then risk losing their customers who thrive on such apostate appetizers, thus reducing the impressive attendance figures which they routinely use to validate their “success”! Douglas M. White wrote in his inspiring book, The Excellence of Exposition (Loizeaux Brothers Pub. Neptune, New Jersey, 1977),
“A modern congregation is not disposed to show any depth of appreciation for exposition. Again, we are forced to acknowledge the correctness of the indictment. At the same time, this lack of knowledge is largely due to the fact that the pulpit has failed to instruct the people and thereby stimulate such an interest and desire for Biblical knowledge and understanding.” (p. 42) [emphasis added]
The Prophet Amos put it another way in the eighth chapter of his oracle when he wrote,
“11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.”
Churches built upon this malnourished diet of “dead bread” instead of the living Word of God continue to resort to the very thing that led to their famine… more surveys and opinion polls. Dead bread for dead flesh; with no power to nourish or save, no matter how much is consumed. The Apostle Paul urged the young pastor, Timothy,
“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”
(1 Timothy 4:6)
He would later plead with the young pastor,
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” (2 Timothy 4:1-3)
The Apostle Peter also had a similar warning to the young preachers under his leadership.
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;”
(1 Peter 5:2a)
Peter didn’t scold the sheep for unfavorable survey numbers, but instead demanded that the shepherds “take the oversight thereof,” leading the church to green pastures filled with the life-giving Word of God! Sheep will eat what is put before them, so the wise preacher must lead the flock to hot, fresh bread instead of mass-produced, dried up garnishes.
Dr. H. Jeffs stated in his famous work, The Art of Exposition (Pilgrim Press, Boston, 1910),
“The Bible is the preacher’s book and the preacher’s glory. Bible exposition is the preacher’s main business. If he cannot or will not expound the Bible, what right has he in any pulpit? He is a cumberer of the ground that might be occupied by a fruit-bearing and soul-nourishing tree. If he does not expound the Bible, what else is there for him to do? He may deliver addresses out of his own head on any subject that occurs to him, and may do it well, but why do it in the pulpit? Is it his own gospel, or has he a gospel that can just as well be preached without the Bible, as with it? He is presumably a preacher of a Christian church, but there would have been no Christian church today if there had been no Bible…. Humanity that has once known the Bible will turn away, after the novelty has worn off, from every flashy substitute for the Bible that our modern Athenians push as the latest thing in the spiritual market.” (Ibid, p.35)
To be charitable, I do believe that many such spiritual restaurateurs are offering their bite-sized gospel because they truly do want to “meet the consumers where they are.” But it must be realized that true conversion is a miracle that can be performed only by the Holy Spirit Himself, and the only thing given to the church through which this miracle can take place is His Inspired Word!
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
(Hebrews 4:12)
When the church proclaims God’s Word instead of its own ideas of cultural relevance, then true saving faith can come! (Romans 10:17) The God of Israel is, however, raising up a generation of passionate lovers of eternal Truth who will not be intimidated nor seduced by these prophets of pragmatism, and who will give fallen humanity what they need, instead of what they want!
Our Lord Jesus gives us such an example of His strong and uncompromising leadership in The Gospel of John, chapter 6. After feeding a crowd of 5,000 men, He then turns around the very next day (not after months or years of stringing them along in a spiritual “bait and switch” routine) and challenges their motives; changing the menu from fish and chips to His flesh and blood. The horrified clientele became offended and decided to find another establishment more to their particular tastes and liking.
Once again the words of Paul ring through the centuries, calling the preacher to this deeper quest:
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
(1 Timothy 4:13-16)
When men and women of God labor over the hot oven of prayerful preparation, they are the first to taste the fruits of their labor. I always say that the first sinner to the altar each week is me, due to being confronted with the Lord’s divine demands repeatedly throughout my preparations. Perhaps we would see less moral failure and spiritual shallowness in both the pulpit and the pew if the first priority became the deep searching out of Truth and doctrine, instead of making sure all the smoke and mirrors were ready for the next dinner show. We are called to give the “sincere milk” and “strong meat” of the Word, not to merely click on the notes of someone else’s “30 days of this” or “40 days of that” in the hope of packin’ ‘em in.
They need the cross… we give them croutons. There is much idolatry to answer for from the pulpit to the pew, as well as within the front offices of number-crunching denominational bureaucrats.
Is there any hope? Oh yes! God is on the throne and has the situation well in hand. In the Book of Ruth we read of a time of famine in Israel, much like the conditions spoken of by Amos. However, after a long ten year exile in Moab, Naomi “arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread” (Ruth 1:6). After returning, Naomi (who had taken the name “bitter” while in exile) introduced her daughter-in-law, Ruth, to a redeemer who would bring her into the very bloodline of the Messiah and Savior of the world, Jesus!
When the spiritual exiles and pretenders who have been surviving on the crumbs and croutons of Moabite menus hear that there is freshly baked bread in the Father’s promised land, they will seek out its source and usher in a new season of fruitfulness! Let us all strive to stay true to His call, and to honor His eternal Word! Bon Appetit!
The Truth:
"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?" (Isaiah 55:2a)
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