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.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Holy Moly - Check Out This Blog
Someone sent me this link. I was wondering why. I looked over the comments and the links. This hive is as Lutheran as The CORE, only in another Schwaermerish way.
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First Mass.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
First Mass of the SSP Retreat
Monday was the first day of the third annual retreat of the Society of Saint Polycarp. The retreat is taking place this year at Holy Hill, a beautiful and scenic Carmelite monastery, just north of Milwaukee, and home of the renowned Basilica of Holy Hill & National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians. Many thanks to the Discalced Carmelite community of Holy Hill, for welcoming us to their home this week. Tuesday and Wednesday will both begin with the Holy Mass, of course, yet the opening Mass Monday evening was special, for within the context of this eucharistic celebration, I was consecrated & made a Deacon. My service to Christ's Church as a Deacon will take the form of the traditional diaconal role in the Mass on Sundays at my home parish, St. Stephen's, where I will serve under the authority of the pastor, Fr. Timothy May, and will also no doubt take other forms, which we will work out in due time. These various forms of diaconal service will depend upon the needs of the people of the parish, my abilities, always a proper consideration for the rightful authority of the pastor, and the limitations of my time and resources. In the course of time, though, I will explicate my diaconal service here more fully. Father Larry Beane, Dean of the Society of Saint Polycarp, administered the rite, and he has my undying gratitude for his support and part in all of this.
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GJ - ELDONA, The Little Sect That Could, is wandering in the same direction. Lutherans are reversing the Babtist error. As Luther pointed out, the Babtists of his day were like the man who stabbed his brother to death, trying to save him from an attacking bear. Now the Lutherans are going Roman/EO to save themselves from the Church Growth Movement.
B16 is grinning. "Oh those Missouri Lutherans," as the previous Antichrist supposedly said to Paul McCain, thrown back by Missouri's impressive witness.
Vintage Teigen
Who's Who
Church and Change group (C&C): www.churchandchange.org
“Church and Change is a growing group of WELS Christians who desire to think and work like the Apostle Paul who said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." The Church and Change group is interested in practicing and promoting innovation in ministry methods throughout the WELS especially at the "grass roots" level.”
The perception has been given that this group was endorsed by the previous synodical administration because of the conference registration link and other promotional information found on the official WELS website.
https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/WELSForms.pl?&dir=churchChange
Board of Directors:
Pastor Ron Ash - Chairman
Jeff Davis Vice - Chairman
Sarah Owens - Secretary
Barry Spencer
Caleb Cordes
Pastor Bruce Becker
Pastor John Huebner
James Skorzewski
*Pastor Dave Kehl – synodical administrator / Conference presenter
[GJ - Is there someone at The Love Shack not in bed with Church and Change? Now I remember, just one person - the Synod President.]
Issues in the WELS: http://www.issuesinwels.org/ [GJ: De-rezzed]
“… The purpose of this group is to meet from time to time to discuss these issues. We wish to offer input and give support to our Synodical leadership as they strive for unity of purpose and give direction to our Synodical family.”
This group recently invited newly elected Pres. Schroeder to participate in an upcoming form. http://www.issuesinwels.org/ItemsofInterest07/itemsOfInterest.htm
Motley Magpie: www.motleymagpie.org
The Motley Magpie was a quarterly journal dedicated to the promotion of Lutheran ceremonia in the evangelical catholic tradition as confessed in the Book of Concord AD 1580/1584.
Rev. John W. Berg: Author and Editor of the defunct Magpie. Berg was suspended by AZ/CA presidium (led by DP Janke) for thoughts written and condoned in the Magpie. Rev. Berg’s congregation was also given the boot when they chose to back Berg. Many clergy / theology professors believe Berg’s views were not unscriptural.
Rev. Peter M. Berg: Contributing author to the MM. Given the boot by his WELS bishop. Pastor of Our Savior Evangelical - Lutheran Church, Chicago and unconditional subscriber to the Lutheran Confessions, who is playing for that other team now.
Bailing Water
A blog originally started by Aaron in order to keep the discussion going about concerns in the WELS.
Please feel free to add your who to the who's who in the WELS ~
Firefox Is Much Better Than Internet Explorer
I had nothing but problems with Blogger and Internet Explorer. I even gave up trying to read Norman Teigen's blog.
Some improvements came from reducing scripted cool stuff on the left, plus lowering some on the page. Still, IE was awful.
I listened to reason and downloaded Mozilla Firefox, which is free.
Here is the download site.
I can edit and read pages about 3x faster. I can download photos rapidly.
I am afraid to ask Obi-Wan, my Unix tech expert, why IE is so bad. His answer is always the same, no matter what the question, "It is a Windows product, Dad."
Here is a bonus for all the Chicaneries reading Ichabod - Firefox has a built in spell-check. Little red lines appear under misspelled words. I say this with love in my heart - you WELS guys really need it.
Reducing Tweets
The Ichabod Effect
I removed The CORE, Ski, Glende, and Buske Twitter links from the left column.
Slowly it dawned on them that everyone was keeping up with their latest photos, links, and trips.
I am sure most of them still have accounts, but not ones I know about.
The CORE Twitter is two weeks old, so it has been abandoned like a stray kitten.
Deception is foundational with Church and Change. They pretend to howl because I am lying about them. Their real pain comes from being exposed - words and deeds both. I am painstakingly thorough in copying their material before they have a chance to erase it.
How do they respond? Not through repentance but through stealth, going under cover again. Kelm/Parlow did the same with their copied sermons. They stopped posting them. The initial solution was to show where they were stealing their material, but that was too obvious. Now someone has to meet a staffmember in the park at 3 AM, wearing a designated disguise, such as deelie-boppers. OK, I made the last part up.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Reducing TweetsThe Ichabod Effect":
You must have had the same impact on chemnitzaz1 because that post/tweet hasn't changed in 2 months.
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GJ - I am glad Anonymous recognized my need to make a living. I applied to Antioch for a Twitter grant. Still waiting. I applied to Siebert Foundation, but this guy with a longish Polish name is blocking the application for some reason. Thrivent says I need to buy a $1 million policy to help fund their generous donation. They will match Bethany up to $1.43, as long as I carry ads for their insurance in all my communications, plus get a Thrivent tattoo.
Where Is the Love in Love's Park?
Anonymouse has left a new comment on your post "Where Is Love? WELS Overkill in Rockford Area":
Am I missing something?? Since when is it "wrong" to locate a church near a highway so that it can actually be seen by those who pass by? You know, the "city on a hill" thing?
And since none of these congregations receives a single penny in WELS subsidy, what's your problem? Would you rather they now merge into one congregation? (Wait, that would create a "mega-church" and that's the greatest of all Jackson evils.)
Even if mistakes were made in the past as you obviously believe, none of us can undo the past (even Greg Jackson can't undo his past!) so why is this page even posted? We're living in the present, Greg. Got that? Most of the world is living in the present in preparation for the future. We move on. We get over it. We learn from the past but don't live in it.
You're an angry, bitter, lonely man, Greg Jackson. Your only pleasure seems to be making others angry too, and you do it in the name of Christian love. Most of us can see the demonic irony in that.
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GJ - Yes, you are missing a lot.
That post was provided (with map) by someone within WELS. I often distribute information from others because Lutherans know the impact of an Ichabod post.
The story shows how WELS foolishly and dishonestly built a parish which grew from eviscerating two established WELS congregations. This waste of money and manpower has led to Love's Park selling bonds to move away.
I doubt whether those bonds are legal, since a lot of regulations must be followed to call a piece of paper a bond - yet they are being marketed around WELS congregations. Those who take money for these "bonds" must have a broker's license. The securities must be registered. The customers must get a prospectus listing who is on the hook for the money. Will WELS back them up if the bond defaults?
I cannot account for Mouse's demonic irony, which he claims to share with other Changers. There are some fine exorcists in the Church of Rome. Perhaps Archbishop Weakland can recommend one. He can probably be found in the Schwan Library at WLC - or in the restrooms.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Where Is the Love in Love's Park?":
The commenter wrote: "We move on. We get over it."
Hmm. He's taking a line from Democratic funder's George Soros' MoveOn.Org, which wanted the nation to forget about Bill Clinton's serial adulteries. Relativistic morality in action!
Ironically, the Loves Park congregation must "move on" to a new location because of New Life.
Unlike other WELS congregations that can warn its members about the pitfalls of joining a mega-church, the Loves Park and Belvedere congregations must stay mum about New Life or else they get in trouble with the district president and WELS synod hierarchy.
Church and Change Characteristics:
Barbarians as Gatekeepers
Some serious study of the Church and Change operation in WELS, with plenty of help from WELS laity and pastors, has led me to the following conclusions about Church Growth in WELS.
Doctrinal Unity
They have training at Fuller Seminary, Trinity Deerfield, and Willow Creek in common. They are anti-confessional, like all unionists, and identify with Pietism, making works the cause of justification (as Hoenecke wrote).
The Word of God
Every union effort has forced Lutherans to give up the efficacy of the Word and the Biblical teaching of the Sacraments. Following Calvin and Zwingli, the Chicaneries believe the Word is not effective, so they must make it attractive, germane, and reasonable.
Worship as Entertainment - The Sneaker Service
Because they do not believe in the efficacy of the Word and Sacrament, the Chicaneries turn the Sunday service into entertainments to titillate and recruit members from other churches. They hide Holy Communion, Holy Baptism, the liturgy, the Creeds, and most hymns. They turn the sermon into man-centered, navel-gazing coaching about time management and getting friends.
Management by Deception
Following their Fuller mentors, they never disclose what they are doing. They have no qualms about outright lying to people. Valleskey portrayed his alleged study of Church Growth as virgin territory when he had been teaching it at Mequon for at least five years. Valleskey denied going to Fuller when I asked him, but bragged to David Koenig that he studied there. Bivens bragged to a group of pastors about going to Fuller, but later wondered where I got the idea he went there. Don Patterson claimed to have issues with Church and Change, but he was a leader at one conference and supports their work by taking WELS workers to union meetings like Exponential. DP Englebrecht pretends to be against Church and Change at Conference of Pussycat meetings, but he loves and supports C and C, and told Ski as much. Pastor Tim Glende, who "gets it," has attended two recent conferences of false teachers where he deceived his own congregation about where he was going and why, letting them imagine he was attending WELS conferences. One meeting was the Babtist Drive 09 event. The other was in Seattle, but the exact identity is still hidden. (Driscoll? - likely. He is a C and C fave right now.)
Money Grabbers
The Chicaneries exist mainly by draining money from outside sources - synod offerings, Thrivent grants, foundation grants. They spend money wildly on themselves while claiming they are doing the Gospel work no one else will do.
Money As THE Means of Grace
The Chicaneries do not trust in the Means of Grace, so they make money THE Means of Grace. Under Gurgel-Mueller, they spent all the Schwan money and looted the designated funds, as if blowing millions would make a difference without the Word, as if peddling false doctrine benefits the Gospel they deny by word and deed.
Notice that their mission efforts--like Doebler's Rock N Roll, Ski's The CORE, and New Life, Rockford--consume vast amounts of money to move WELS members into another unit.
C and C pastors of established pastors spend lavishly on their own buildings in the name of evangelism, with the costly aid of Jeff Davis, C and C Board Member.
Ashamed of Lutheran, Ashamed of the Gospel
The Chicaneries have slowly removed Lutheran from everything - the magazine, WELS Lutherans for Life, the hymnal, church names, and now even church - The CORE.
The Chicaneries use their self-serving adiaphora expansion clause--everything is a matter of indifference--to do whatever they want, to imitate their neo-Babtist heroes like Andy Stanley.
They Copy False Teachers
The current favorites among false teachers are: Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill, Seattle), Leonard Sweet (Mars), Andy Stanley (Atlanta), Hybels (Willow Creek, Chicago), Beeson (Granger Community Church, Indiana), Ed Stetzer (no parish, just a talker), and Craig Groeschel (Oklahoma - works with Stanley).
They use the movies, sermons, sermon themes, graphics, and ideas of the false teachers listed above. Kelm and Parlow have copied sermons verbatim and posted them on the congregation websty as their own. Parlow sent a Hybels email out as his own, plagiarizing Willow Creek emotions! Ski presents Groeschel sermon sets in the same order with the same graphics, thanks to free downloads from Life Church.
They Need Full-time Female Assistants
Randy Hunter, Matt Doebler, Ski, and Jeff Gunn all have female assistants. In the past, the pastor's wife did a lot of the work for free and often went to conferences. Now the assistant gets a full-time salary and goes to conferences. They do not need ordination because C and C creates women pastors without the formalities.
They Drive Out the Opposition While Whining
Like their crypto-Calvinist forefathers, they cannot tolerate confessional Lutherans. The District Popes, professors, and Chicanery pastors have worked together to get rid of anyone who questions their doctrinal agenda. At the same time, a raised eyebrow will get them crying "Eighth Commandment!" like little girls. They sniffle about being persecuted while extending the Left Foot of Fellowship.
They Control The Love Shack and Schools
Most of the staff at WELS headquarters got hired during the Mueller-Gurgel regime, and they are dedicated to Church and Chicanery. Their grasp of the Word is shown in their contempt for the elected leader of the synod.
Lazy Brains, Lazy Pastors
Their plagiarism is one clue about their personalities, and that is on display on their websties (my term for websites that remind me of pigsties). Grunting in the mud of false doctrine, they fatten themselves while doing no work in the Word at all: no study, no sermon writing, no visitation. As soon as one false doctrine conference wears off, they rush off to another one to inspire them. And yet, they despise Lutheran conferences and the fellowship of their brother pastors.
This Minority Group Networks
They began taking over WELS in 1977, with the publication of TELL magazine. They know their own through Church and Change meetings, Willow Creek and Fuller alumni networks, and secret email lists. If I find something good on a websty, like the "life coach" at St. Mark Depere, it is changed quickly so they can cry out, "Liar!" That is why I copy and paste, kelmishly, and provide the links while they last.
Will Not Defend Their Doctrine
The doctrine of the Changers is all borrowed, a mixture of Methodism, Babtist principles, and marketing through entertainment and felt needs. They blubber and screech on Ichabod but never give their names. They never defend their doctrine, because they cannot intellectually. Besides that, they are too chicken to identify their real passions. Many comments are too obscene to be published, even when bowdlerized.
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