What Is Wrong With Cell Groups?

Cell groups are to CG Pietism what yoga is to Hinduism.

DK has left a new comment on your post "Noah Needed Church Growth Consultants":

Dear Professor Jackson:

I've read a few things on Ichabod about 'cell groups'. You've state that they are a breeding ground for Enthusiasm. I've looked into it a little, via internet and by asking questions of a friend of mine, who belongs to a WELS cell group.

My friend states that cell groups are a way for a church to foster a community that knows and is accountable to each other. He points out that church members tend to see each other only on Sundays--which isn't in itself bad, but if you can build friendships with those you worship with (meeting for Bible study during the week, etc) the fellowship of believers is strengthened. Beyond that he would divulge little info about what a cell group actually does or is. His only attempt to clear up that vagueness was to invite me to attend a cell group session.

Having recently moved back to Milwaukee (an unfortunate vocational necessity) I'm coming in contact with all these new fads in the church and so I'm asking legitimate questions: If what my friend says is true, why are cell groups necessarily breeding grounds for Enthusiasm? Couldn't a Lutheran potluck be equal in that potential? Am I missing something of the root or essence of a cell group?

As for myself, I would never attend anything called a cell group, simply because I think it carries strange and/or Agnostic connotations... Communist agitators, Anarchistic bomb-throwers, Manichaeans, and Star Trek convention-goers make up cell groups--not Christians.

Anyhow,

I'd like to hear your two-guns-drawn approach to cell groups.

Thanks

DK

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GJ - I will answer briefly, in my normal irenic style. At the Bethany services I will be teaching about Pietism for the next few weeks. I will have saved videos and also written materials on this blog, starting with a review of The History of Pietism, published by NPH.

Pietism is built upon Reformed doctrine and the lay-led cell group, which may be called Koinonia, Care, Share, Bible study or Affinity group. I went to a Koinonia conference in the LCA in the 1980s. The ALC promoted lay-led Bible study groups.

The Pietistic cell group is anti-church. They may attend the Sunday service, but the real worship is the cell meeting. They often foster a holier-than-thou attitude which leads to withdrawal from the congregation. Many Babtist churches have people who have never gone to church but never miss their Bible study, and the Bible study leaders are the worst of the lot.

The Pietistic cell group is anti-Means of Grace. Because their start was unionistic and Reformed, they place all their trust in prayer as THE Means of Grace. This emphasis makes it easy for Pentecostals to show them what real prayer is - praying in tongues. Lalalala. Church is for recruiting people for cell groups.

I told some adults about this at a Missouri congregation. One woman was angry with me because she attended a Lutheran cell group. When she asked about infant baptism and having me speak about it, the female leader said, "I am the leader and we will NOT discuss it." The angry woman realized I was correct, without even knowing the group.

The Pietistic cell group promotes false doctrine because the opinions of an attractive leader become normative for the group. Feelings trump Biblical doctrine.

The Pietistic cell group abuses people by binding them to the power structure. Like the Indian guru, the cell group leader can and does order the disciples around. Disciples are love-bombed into the group and horribly shunned if they depart from the cell. This combination is dangerous to the emotionally fragile, who are attracted to the false intimacy and fake love of the group. I described one such group to a former Lutheran who was a member. He said, "It's like you were there." I said, "They are pretty much all alike."

The Pietistic cell group promotes women teaching men and usurping authority, leading to women's ordination. Not the liberal apostates, but the Pentecostal apostates were first to ordain women. Cell groups assume women will lead men and teach men. St. Paul in German Village started one on Sunday with a married couple leading it, about 20 years ago. The husband stopped coming and his wife led a group of men and women. When one man questioned what was happening, the woman declared, "I AM the leader of this group!" I asked about this at a WELS conference and was roundly condemned for bringing it up. Nitz asked, disingenuously, "Is this still going on?" I said, "It's your church. You should know."

The "making disciples" fever comes from Pietism. That is why the Church Growth gurus must turn the efficacy-of-the-Word Great Commission into a command to form cell groups. Why? Because cell groups make disciples who make disciples who make disciples - according to ex-seminary professor Joel Gerlach, who studied at Fuller Seminary. Kent Hunter explains, in dumbest fashion, that sheep not shepherds have sheep. Ovine intimacy aside, Luke 15 has the shepherd (not the flock) looking everywhere for the lost sheep. From John 10 and Psalm 23 we know Jesus is the Ultimate Shepherd who finds us, carries us home on His shoulders, and rejoices with the angels.

Pietism has always been unionistic. If a Lutheran pastor wants to start cell groups, he will turn to the false teachers and their materials to promote them. He will be trained at Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Deerfield. Do I hear an Amen! Larry?

Pietism leads to Unitarianism. That happened first at Halle University, organized for Pietism. It happened again in the LCA-ALC-ELCA. As Krauth explained, the more Reformed a denomination is, the faster it becomes Unitarian. There are two routes. One is an emphasis on rationalism, typical of pure Calvinism. The other is an emphasis on emotions, which we find in Pietism, Pentecostalism, and revivalism.

High Anxiety? Do Not Click the Link

The Ledge on the Chicago Sears Tower.

Noah Needed Church Growth Consultants

Consultant: "You need a contemporary service and
some how-to sermons that speak to the felt needs of the prospects.
And you owe me $6,000. Make that $9,000."

Click here for Pastor Brian Wolfmueller on church consultants.

***

GJ - The Chicaneries are strangely silent since the take-down of their guru, Jim Aderman. Lie down with frogs, get up with warts.

"When was the last time you kissed a frog?...'Lifestyle Evangelism and Follow-up,' a Navigator video seminar for the church, makes a solid case for Christian frog kissing as a way of life."
James A. Aderman, The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Summer, 1986 p. 2.

"A Look at Several WELS Small Group Ministries. 1. Fairview in Milwaukee (Pastor Jim Aderman) 2. Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel in Madison (Mr. Rolf Wegenke) 3. Emanuel in New London (Pastor Steve Witte)"
WELS Campus Pastors, Small Group Training Conference, Jan. 7-9, 1991, Madison. p. 19.

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GJ - Notice the dates. Church and Chicaneries were introducing Pietistic gimmicks 32 years ago, and the synod leadership supported it. TELL began in 1977, with Ron Roth as the editor, with the stated intention of promoting the Church Growth Movement. Paul Calvin Kelm was the next editor and Robert Hartmann followed.

If you have nothing else to do, count how many times Aderman published in FIC (nee The Northwestern Lutheran). Click here for the search link.

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Noah Needed Church Growth Consultants":

When my former congregation hired a consultant, they solidified my decision to leave. I did not even try to fight it. By then, I had realized that anything that I said would have little bearing on the direction that they were headed. This meant that the law based stewardship beatings would continue for a minimum of three years, which is the term of the contract. When you figure out what has happened, you realize that the leadership no longer believes in the efficacy of the Word.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Noah Needed Church Growth Consultants":

The church consultant program is by far the biggest farce in WELS. I, too, left a church which wanted to hire Calvin Kelm. A month after I took a call, they signed the $30,000 contract thus dividing the church, addressed the "perceived needs" of the people while avoiding any real issues, and now the church and school are both half their former size. Oh yes, they got the new sign and cleared some shrubs.

The same thing happened in the church where my wife's family attends. The $30,000 contract, a divided congregation, an oversized staff, shrinking attendance and school enrollment, and worship innovations which the majority of the people do not want. But they do have an upgraded sign and some new shrubs.

I have a hunch the real growth acommplished (sic - yup, Mequon grad) through the church consultant program is the bottom line at the local sign companies and nurseries across America. They must be making good money off WELS churches.

In fact, is it possibly "church growth" in WELS refers to growing the landscaping of the church? We may have misunderstood all along!

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GJ - How ironic that Kelm (DMin, Our Lady of Sorrows, St. Louis) is reprising his role as a consultant. SP Schroeder asked that no one new be hired. Bruce Becker and the Perish Services people would not listen. SP Schroeder also asked them not to hire someone who was polarizing, if they insisted on hiring someone. Lastly, the Synod President did not know about the call to Kelm until it was issued for public knowledge. These three facts were heatedly denied by the Shrinkers, so they were once again calling me a liar for telling the truth. My multiple sources stood by the story I posted - and I do make corrections.

Kelm is 65 in December. He has a well known reputation for publishing false doctrine of the most blatant kind. His required-for-graduation course at Wisconsin Lutheran College was a dedicated effort to promote Reformed doctrine and the Church Shrinkers one and all.

Why did Kelm get propped up and promoted so many times? Why is he still the keynote speaker at Mary Lou College (WELS) in New Ulm? He was also the Mission Festival speaker at the Sausage Factory each year (how often - I do not know). And he published his toxic waste in FIC/NWL. Obviously a group has been managing his career as a crypto-Calvinist.

Concordia Publishing House Book Sale

There are some good books on sale at CPH. Click here.

I noticed the essays honoring Robert Preus and one on the Book of Concord.

Discover the Efficacy of the Word

"Lord Jesus Christ, With Us Abide"
by Nikolaus Selnecker, 1532-1592
Translated by composite

1. Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide,
For round us falls the eventide;
Nor let Thy Word, that heavenly light,
For us be ever veiled in night.

2. In these last days of sore distress
Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness
That pure we keep, till life is spent,
Thy holy Word and Sacrament.

3. Lord Jesus, help, Thy Church uphold,
For we are sluggish, thoughtless, cold.
Oh, prosper well Thy Word of grace
And spread its truth in every place!

4. Oh, keep us in Thy Word, we pray;
The guile and rage of Satan stay!
Oh, may Thy mercy never cease!
Give concord, patience, courage, peace.

5. O God, how sin's dread works abound!
Throughout the earth no rest is found,
And falsehood's spirit wide has spread,
And error boldly rears its head.

6. The haughty spirits, Lord, restrain
Who o'er Thy Church with might would reign
And always set forth something new,
Devised to change Thy doctrine true.

7. And since the cause and glory, Lord,
Are Thine, not ours, to us afford
Thy help and strength and constancy.
With all our heart we trust in Thee.

8. A trusty weapon is Thy Word,
Thy Church's buckler, shield and sword.
Oh, let us in its power confide
That we may seek no other guide!

9. Oh, grant that in Thy holy Word
We here may live and die, dear Lord;
And when our journey endeth here,
Receive us into glory there.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #292
Text: Luke 24:29
Author: Nikolaus Selnecker et al., 1611
Translated by: composite
Titled: "Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ"
Tune: "Ach bleib bei uns"
1st Published in: Geistliche Lieder
Town: Leipzig,1589

I really enjoy putting together the sermon and the service each Sunday. Lacking the requisite grants and a full-time staffer, I use BibleWorks, the Book of Concord, and Megatron (my database of quotations). My organist is Mr. Bose, who will play all the verses of any hymn I choose - no grumbling. The hymns I choose are often new to me, because I want to highlight the great Lutheran hymns of the past. Sad to say, most Lutherans favor Methodist hymns and pastors tend to tilt that way. My congregation is self-selecting. They like to sing the great hymns of the past, so they appreciate the doctrinal hymns as much as I do.

The sermon above was the favorite of a friend's mother. It was one of many I first heard upon joining WELS and using The Lutheran Hymnal. The LCA hymnals were Methodist to a fault and discriminated against Luther and Gerhardt.

Selnecker is an important person to know. He was wobbly during the Reformation, but Chemnitz strengthened the man's doctrinal understanding to the point where Selnecker became an editor of the Formula and Book of Concord, 1580.

If people believe in the efficacy of the Word, they will place study and teaching of the Word above all other activities. They will naturally shun those highly promoted methods which generate all kinds of activity and cost lots of money, but only succeed in scattering more weed seeds.

A little study of Luther - The Large Catechism, for example - and anyone will conclude that the last three decades in Lutherdom have been massive frauds. The explanation of the first three commandments are a condemnation of Church Growthism and a beautiful exposition of the efficacy of the Word.

Second Commandment:



54] But, the greatest abuse occurs in spiritual matters, which pertain to the conscience, when false preachers rise up and offer their lying vanities as God's Word.

55] Behold, all this is decking one's self out with God's name, or making a pretty show, or claiming to be right, whether it occur in gross, worldly business or in sublime, subtile matters of faith and doctrine. And among liars belong also blasphemers, not alone the very gross, well known to every one, who disgrace God's name without fear (these are not for us, but for the hangman to discipline); but also those who publicly traduce the truth and God's Word and consign it to the devil. Of this there is no need now to speak further.

56] Here, then, let us learn and take to heart the great importance of this commandment, that with all diligence we may guard against and dread every misuse of the holy name, as the greatest sin that can be outwardly committed. For to lie and deceive is in itself a great sin, but is greatly aggravated when we attempt to justify it, and seek to confirm it by invoking the name of God and using it as a cloak for shame, so that from a single lie a double lie, nay, manifold lies, result.

57] For this reason, too, God has added a solemn threat to this commandment, to wit: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. That is: It shall not be condoned to any one nor pass unpunished. For as little as He will leave it unavenged if any one turn his heart from Him, as little will He suffer His name to be employed for dressing up a lie. 58] Now, alas! it is a common calamity in all the world that there are as few who are not using the name of God for purposes of lying and all wickedness as there are those who with their heart trust alone in God.

59] For by nature we all have within us this beautiful virtue, to wit, that whoever has committed a wrong would like to cover up and adorn his disgrace, so that no one may see it or know it; and no one is so bold as to boast to all the world of the wickedness he has perpetrated; all wish to act by stealth and without any one being aware of what they do. Then, if any one be arraigned, the name of God is dragged into the affair and must make the villainy look like godliness, and the shame like honor. This is the common course of the world, which, like a great deluge, has flooded all lands. 60] Hence we have also as our reward what we seek and deserve: pestilences, wars, famines, conflagrations, floods, wayward wives, children, servants, and all sorts of defilement. Whence else should so much misery come? It is still a great mercy that the earth bears and supports us.

61] Therefore, above all things, our young people should have this commandment earnestly enforced upon them, and they should be trained to hold this and the First Commandment in high regard; and whenever they transgress, we must at once be after them with the rod, and hold the commandment before them, and constantly inculcate it, so as to bring them up not only with punishment, but also in the reverence and fear of God.

62] Thus you now understand what it is to take God's name in vain, that is (to recapitulate briefly), either simply for purposes of falsehood, and to allege God's name for something that is not so, or to curse, swear, conjure, and, in short, to practise whatever wickedness one may.

Third Commandment:
91] For the Word of God is the sanctuary above all sanctuaries, yea, the only one which we Christians know and have. For though we had the bones of all the saints or all holy and consecrated garments upon a heap, still that would help us nothing; for all that is a dead thing which can sanctify nobody. But God's Word is the treasure which sanctifies everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were sanctified. At whatever hour, then, God's Word is taught, preached, heard, read or meditated upon, there the person, day, and work are sanctified thereby, not because of the external work, but because of the Word, which makes saints of us all. 92] Therefore I constantly say that all our life and work must be ordered according to God's Word, if it is to be God-pleasing or holy. Where this is done, this commandment is in force and being fulfilled.

93] On the contrary, any observance or work that is practised without God's Word is unholy before God, no matter how brilliantly it may shine, even though it be covered with relics, such as the fictitious spiritual orders, which know nothing of God's Word and seek holiness in their own works.

94] Note, therefore, that the force and power of this commandment lies not in the resting, but in the sanctifying, so that to this day belongs a special holy exercise. For other works and occupations are not properly called holy exercises, unless the man himself be first holy. But here a work is to be done by which man is himself made holy, which is done (as we have heard) alone through God's Word. For this, then, fixed places, times, persons, and the entire external order of worship have been created and appointed, so that it may be publicly in operation.

95] Since, therefore, so much depends upon God's Word that without it no holy day can be sanctified, we must know that God insists upon a strict observance of this commandment, and will punish all who despise His Word and are not willing to hear and learn it, especially at the time appointed for the purpose.

96] Therefore not only those sin against this commandment who grossly misuse and desecrate the holy day, as those who on account of their greed or frivolity neglect to hear God's Word or lie in taverns and are dead drunk like swine; but also that other crowd, who listen to God's Word as to any other trifle, and only from custom come to preaching, and go away again, and at the end of the year know as little of it as at the beginning. 97] For hitherto the opinion prevailed that you had properly hallowed Sunday when you had heard a mass or the Gospel read; but no one cared for God's Word, as also no one taught it. Now, while we have God's Word, we nevertheless do not correct the abuse; we suffer ourselves to be preached to and admonished, but we listen without seriousness and care.

98] Know, therefore, that you must be concerned not only about hearing, but also about learning and retaining it in memory, and do not think that it is optional with you or of no great importance, but that it is God's commandment, who will require of you how you have heard, learned, and honored His Word.

99] Likewise those fastidious spirits are to be reproved who, when they have heard a sermon or two, find it tedious and dull, thinking that they know all that well enough, and need no more instruction. For just that is the sin which has been hitherto reckoned among mortal sins, and is called ajkhdia, i.e., torpor or satiety, a malignant, dangerous plague with which the devil bewitches and deceives the hearts of many, that he may surprise us and secretly withdraw God's Word from us.

100] For let me tell you this, even though you know it perfectly and be already master in all things, still you are daily in the dominion of the devil, who ceases neither day nor night to steal unawares upon you, to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against the foregoing and all the commandments. Therefore you must always have God's Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears. But where the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has done the damage before we are aware. 101] On the other hand, such is the efficacy of the Word, whenever it is seriously contemplated, heard, and used, that it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and produces a pure heart and pure thoughts. For these words are not inoperative or dead, but creative, living words. 102] And even though no other interest or necessity impel us, yet this ought to urge every one thereunto, because thereby the devil is put to Right and driven away, and, besides, this commandment is fulfilled, and [this exercise in the Word] is more pleasing to God than any work of hypocrisy, however brilliant.

Synod and Congregation - Based on the Word of God

One Lutheran said recently, referring to the Wauwatosa myth, "They claim orthodoxy can be taught from the Word of God alone."

I said, "It can, but it isn't. They start with all the traditional Holy Mother WELS assumptions and work back to their proofs."

Nevertheless, the Word of God is sufficient, clear, and effective in all Gospel work. God has appointed the Means of Grace so we know exactly where forgiveness is to be found. As Lenski said, fads and programs come and go - only the Word builds the Church.

Here are some positive suggestions about relying on the Word of God. At the very least, as someone wrote, at least the pastor will end up a believer:

1. The KJV is used consistently, because the NIV and similar monstrosities obliterate the Sacraments. The KVJ is ideal for public reading, to preserve the gold standard. If people want to read a modernized version, there are many KJV updates. The traditional KJV is directly linked to Luther, which is probably why the Shrinkers hate it so much.
   
2. The pastor has only three jobs: a) conduct the liturgy and preach an original sermon based on his study of the Word; b) teach the Word, especially to catechumens; c) visit the membership, especially the sick, shut-in, and spiritually inert.
   
3. All desired social activities in the congregation are run by those who want them, not organized and managed by the pastor: youth activities, ladies' groups, WWII discussion groups.
   
4. Cell groups are shut down because they are breeding grounds for Enthusiasm, fostering Pietistic superiority complexes and Pentecostal outbreaks. Do I hear an Amen?
   
5. Stewardship manipulation is dropped in favor of relying on the Gospel. A new building or renovation is not a Means of Grace, so commission-earning salesmen are not hired.
   
6. The Book of Concord becomes a regular focus of pastoral study and adult education. I favor starting with the Formula of Concord. The Large Catechism is also an excellent choice.
   
7. Schwaermer books are tossed from the church library and the pastoral study: Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield, Driscoll, Groeschel, Beeson, Sweet, Valleskey.
   
8. Luther's sermons and his Small Catechism are regularly promoted and distributed throughout the congregation and among prospects. An entire set can be bought for about $40, less than the cost of one toxic CG seminar.
   
9. The Word is broadcast faithfully in as many ways as possible. For example, a web camera can send the service via the Internet for free through Ustream or other services. A blog allows sermons to be published easily and quickly for the entire world to read. (See the map on the Bethany blog. The dots appear all over the world.) No one needs a web design certificate to blog.
   
10. Pastors and laity start addressing false doctrine directly and boldly, facing down the false teachers, who keep demanding that they be addressed personally.
    
11. Congregations and pastors trust the Word alone to bring about God's will.
    

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Synod and Congregation - Based on the Word of God":

Sounds good, short of mandating the KJV. There are other translations out there, including the ESV. Older historic manuscripts were not available to the KJV translators back in a.D. 1611. Why not "An American Translation", or the NET that preceded "GOD'S WORD?" As for the N.T., Koine Greek was street Greek, not the beautiful, refined Greek of the bygone Classic era. In most parts of the U.S.A., KJV is not the street language, and in many parts it is a foreign language. While the Word itself is efficacious, must we throw in a barrier such as archaic language? Bible Translaters in foreign lands translate the Hebrew & Greek into the current language of the people, not some archaic form of it. While we should not feel a need to dummy-down the language of the KJV and TLH, is there anything wrong with supplementing it with a more understandable translation where available? Unless you want to form a subculture where words like "vouchsafe" jump off the lips of children with ease (and comprehension), is there anything wrong with modern language with the KJV?
-rde-

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GJ - Lutherans might have updated the KJV, as the Baptists did, without squashing the Sacraments. I like the New KJV among all the popular new ones, but here are the problems, with the NIV displayed too:

KJV Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

NIV Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [GJ - Why teach all nations when we can be manufacturing disciples? Horrible translation.]

NKJ Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [Ditto]

--

KJV 1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

NIV 1 Peter 3:21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, [GJ - Baptism is just an ordinance for the Reformed, who deny baptismal regeneration and the efficacy of the Word]

NKJ 1 Peter 3:21 There is also an antitype which now saves us -- baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, [GJ - Babtists like this rendering. As one Lutheran said, "The NKJV people know their audience."]

--

KJV 1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

NIV 1 Corinthians 10:16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? [GJ - Communion is a bad word for the Reformed]

NKJ 1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

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KJV Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

NIV Acts 3:21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. [GJ - Stuck in heaven, obviating the Real Presence]

NKJ Acts 3:21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

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GJ - Missouri and WELS got behind the NIV and mandated its use. WELS excommunicated pastors for favoring the KJV over the NIV. Try to find a WELS/LCMS publication without the NIV.

Missouri and WELS have cooperated about many different things, all of them wrong: following the Roman Catholic calendar, using the NIV, aping the Church Growth Movement.

A new Lutheran KJV would be good, but the Lutherans would rather plagiarize Fuller, Willow Creek, Driscoll, Sweet, Beeson, and Stanley.

The two foundations of the English language are Shakespeare and the KJV. But now everything has to be dumbed down for the kids, making them even dumberer.

Latin names are dropped from the liturgy - boy that brought in the kiddies.

Despising the Word of God - That Is the Energy Behind Church and Change

God uses false teachers to discipline the Church. When people tolerate despising the Word of God, punishment must necessarily follow.

What unites ELCA, WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect on the Prairie is false doctrine. All four groups have had considerable training in Church Growth from Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield, and other alma-mater-sows of Enthusiasm.

For example, when I attended the Ad Fontes LCA conference many years ago, the late Father Neuhaus spoke (just before joining Rome). He gave a witty critique of the Church Growth Movement because it was so strong in the LCA already, more than 20 years ago. Clergy got up to defend such things as "user-friendly liturgies."

I knew Mac Minnick, an LCA missions executive, who was just as deep into Church Growth as Norm Berg. They knew each other, too! Norm brought up Mac Minnick to me at a WELS conference.

Missouri, WELS, and the ELS have spent the last few decades praising themselves for being such staunch Lutherans while genuflecting to Rome. I was leaving the Purple Palace after visiting with Paul McCain just as Kent Hunter (DMin, Fuller; ThD, Lutheran School of Theology, LCA) was entering. We spoke a few moments. He hastened to tell me he was addressing the Conference of Missiouri Pussycats gathered inside. Where was the protest from Barry, McCain, or the District Pussycats? There was none - 15 years ago.

A clergy member of the ELS Board of Doctrine went to Fuller. He sent a letter to the entire Little Sect on the Prairie, praising Fuller and Church Growth. I believe Orvick eventually extended him the Left Foot of Fellowship, but the ELS continued to kneel before WELS CG teachers. He-who-slept-on-the-Trigotta is their Church and Change pastor now.

The WELS/LCMS Church Shrinkers are so obvious that I collected their quotations and matched them with the eructations of Fuller and Willow Creek. Then I contrasted them with Lutheran orthodoxy. The results were impressive. I was condemned and shunned while they sold two of my books. What would someone with a real doctorate and scholarly publications know - compared to a graduate of The Sausage Factory?

Most telling - the clergy known as conservative or confessional joined in the shunning, which spoke volumes about their doctrinal standards.

When WELS forced all the clergy to pay $100 to hear Larry Olson, James Huebner, and Paul Calvin Kelm speak, at special seminars all over WELS - where was the protest? They all showed up. I allowed that I would go - if someone held a machine gun to my head. They went and bellyached, but they went. Now they are alarmed? Ha.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Despising the Word of God - That Is the Energy Beh...":

It's good I look up words I meet on Ichabod. For instance, I figured that "eructations of Fuller and Willow Creek" was a synonym for "erudition," but I see it means "belching."

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GJ - If thou but suffer Ichabod to build up thy vocabulary, the rewards will be great. I thought eructation was fairly polite. Normally I would say flatulence. Or Dreck.

Pope Looks into Nuns' Habits: Sisters Urge Resistance

Nuns in the U.S. Are Facing Scrutiny by the Vatican
James Estrin/The New York Times

Mother Mary Clare Millea has been appointed by the Vatican to study the activities of some orders of nuns in the United States.

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: July 1, 2009

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.
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Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Sister Sandra M. Schneiders has urged fellow nuns not to participate in the study that is being conducted by the Vatican.

Nuns were the often-unsung workers who helped build the Roman Catholic Church in this country, planting schools and hospitals and keeping parishes humming. But for the last three decades, their numbers have been declining — to 60,000 today from 180,000 in 1965.

While some nuns say they are grateful that the Vatican is finally paying attention to their dwindling communities, many fear that the real motivation is to reel in American nuns who have reinterpreted their calling for the modern world.

In the last four decades since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, many American nuns stopped wearing religious habits, left convents to live independently and went into new lines of work: academia and other professions, social and political advocacy and grass-roots organizations that serve the poor or promote spirituality. A few nuns have also been active in organizations that advocate changes in the church like ordaining women and married men as priests.

Over our dead bodies.

Retired?Farewell, FairviewChurch and Change Betrayed You

James Aderman, a founder of Church and Chicanery, has retired from the ministry, rather suddenly, in fact. He was at Fairview, Milwaukee, part of a Church Growth consortium.

He was a frequent contributor to The Northwestern Lutheran FIC.

Some data:

1. his congregation is dying, down maybe 50% from when he got there 20 years ago.
   
2. a large group of members did an "investigation" on his ministry, found him arrogant, out of touch, not doing his job.
   
3. they gave him the boot and he resigned, then changed it to a retirement.
   
4. another good sized group didn't like that he quit and withdrew their support.
   
5. last week all the teacher's Calls at the school were "terminated" and the school closed.
   
6. there is some justifiable concern about the church even surviving at all now.

Fairview welcomed me and my family into its family in 1987. Fairview has been home ever since. A place of acceptance, of love, of growth, of joy.

God's forgiveness in Jesus is treasured here. That's what makes Fairview a positive place - even when we face challenges.

It's that treasure that we seek to share with our community. What God has done for us, he has done for everyone. We'd like as many people as possible to know about that. To join God's family. To treasure God's forgiveness.

So we view ourselves as a family of disciple makers. Christians who live out their thankfulness for forgiveness in Jesus as we nurture each other and as we invite and welcome still more into our family.

Thank you for visiting our web site.

Pastor Jim Aderman

About Pastor Aderman: A Snapshot

Family
Married since 1972
Three daughters (an attorney, a social worker, a nurse)

Leadership (Past and Present)
Pastor, Trinity Lutheran, Englewood, FL
Member, Board for Parish Services, South Atlantic District
Director of Development, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee
Chairman, WELS Lutherans for Life-metro-Milwaukee
Pastor, Siloah Lutheran Church, Milwaukee
Member and chairman, Board of Directors, Wisconsin Lutheran High School
Pastor, Fairview Lutheran Church, Milwaukee
Founding member and vice chairman, Board of Directors, Calvary Academy, Milwaukee
Coordinator, WELS Southeastern Wisconsin District, Adult Discipleship Commission
Member and vice chairman, Church and Change
Chairman, Urban Pastors' Conference, Milwaukee
Circuit Pastor, Barnabas Circuit, Milwaukee

Author
Face the Facts, Northwestern Publishing House
Elijah, Northwestern Publishing House
Esther, Northwestern Publishing House
Editor, YouTHINK
Founding editor-in-chief, LivingBold (LivingBold.net)
Contributing editor, Forward in Christ magazine
Author for Partners magazine, WELS Leadership magazine, Forward in Christ magazine

Education
Bachelor of Arts, Northwestern College
Master of Divinity, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
Master of Journalism, Marquette University
Certificate of Website Design, University of Wisconsin-School of Continuing Education
Master of Practical Theology, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (in progress)


------------------- P O S I T I O N - E L I M I N A T E D -------------------
Anderson, Mrs Sandra L Palos - Palos Heights IL 06/30/2009
Kerr, Mrs Lisa A Fairview - Milwaukee WI 06/30/2009
Proeber, Mr Kenneth A Fairview - Milwaukee WI 06/30/2009
Sawall, Mr Robert L Fairview - Milwaukee WI 06/30/2009
Strand, Mrs Dawn C Fairview - Milwaukee WI 06/30/2009
Wheeler, Miss Ellen K Fairview - Milwaukee WI 06/30/2009

----------------------- C A L L - T E R M I N A T E D ----------------------
Butler, Mr Harmon R Jr Trinity - El Paso TX 06/20/2009


---

WELS CMOs are 85% of what they pledged as the economy worsens.

Correction - The CMO performance at the end of May was just above 93%, not 85%. The economy is worsening - another 500,000 jobs were lost in June.

Schwan is lowering its gift by a very large margin.

The WELS budget will be far smaller than the disaster scenario already projected. So Plans A, B, and C were far too optimistic.

Line Up at the Trough

Let's recycle the Schwaermer funds.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ignorance Explained":

Possible Grant Opportunity for Growthers et al.:

The Kern Family Foundation recently (01-06-2009) released $500,000 grants to the following seminaries:

Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA; Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary - Charlotte, NC Campus; Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, MO; Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO; and Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Portland, OR.

http://www.kffdn.org/

Given that three staff members have ties to WLC (former president - Kriewall; former director and Parish Assistance consultant - Rahn; and alumni - Bode), your chances are good.

Happy grant writing!

Lutherans Against Liturgical Karaoke

Latte Lutheran Church, WELS. The ELS has one too. Doubtless the Little Sect's Doctrinal Board is investigating and finding many cloudy, incomplete, and insufficient areas of Scripture about this topic.

Lutherans Against Liturgical Karaoke

Description:
An underground movement against projection screens and plasma tvs used instead of print in Lutheran Divine Services.
Contact Info
Office:
http://www.reformationtoday.net/id6.html
Recent News
POINTS OF ARGUMENTATION AGAINST LITURGICAL KARAOKE SCREENS

(Some are serious, some are rhetorical, some are satire – use the gift of discernment).

1. They place an artificial distance between the worshiper and the Word

2. They are a visual distraction to the art and architecture of the cross and the altar

3. Luther said the church is a mouth-house, not a quill house (cf. Romans 10:17)

4. They enable easy departure from the historic liturgy

5. They give the impression that modern technology is necessary for the conduct of the liturgy. You are up the creek if the power goes out.

6. They enable the enlivened image of the beast to be worshiped world-wide by people who deny that Christ has come in the flesh

7. They communicate an atmosphere not of the sanctuary but of the living room, ball park, rock concert and the karaoke bar.

8. They are used to project images that are inappropriate and even un-Christian, simply for the sake of entertainment or schmaltz.

9. They take the hymnal out of the peoples' hands.

10. The require electricity to run. Computers are used to project the material. All of this contributes to greenhouse gases and global warming. Unnecessary use of electricity… [If you believe in "global warming."] Hymnals and bulletins are biodegradable.

11. They require proper copyright cataloging and related expenses and labor and thus time.

12. They make it seem as if faith comes by seeing not hearing (Romans 10:17).

13. They can take up space for other important things – flags, banners, altar, cross, pulpit, etc.

14. After demonizing the Television, why are churches so willingly to welcome them into the sanctuary? One more cultural capitulation to the expectations of the old Adam.

15. The Church got along fine without them for 2000 years

16. Even more proof-reading and staff required – waste of valuable staff hours on unnecessary format – more people involved in doing rather than on simply receiving the gospel gifts. Really bad typos can occur. Made up liturgies and hymns do not reflect the faith of the church catholic but the creative imagination of one person or committee or "worship team." Praise services are a one-way street of sacrifice - a protestant version of the sacrifice of the mass

17. They lend themselves to more of a Gnostic “virtual reality” (docetic) understanding rather than an incarnational perspective.

18. They were first promoted by churches of the revivalist tradition that do not emphasize the effectiveness of the Word of God nor the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament and thus their use does not arise from a natural, organic Lutheran understanding of theology or liturgical practice.

***

GJ - See The Finkelsteinery for reasons to keep the historic liturgy. Also, see The Church From Scratch, The CORE, Latte Lutheran, Victory of the Movie Screen, and many other living--albeit bad--examples.

---

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Lutherans Against Liturgical Karaoke":

FYI, the pastor of the ELS contribution to Church and Chicanery is a graduate of the WELS seminary.

***

GJ - Nathan Krause used to prop his Triglotta on his desk every day in class and sleep on it, resting his chin on top. I remember that well. The Little Sect said - "Just the man we need for a Church and Change position!"

Some Answers To Kieschnick Are Obvious

UOJ = Enthusiasm, and Satan drives through the gates in a haywagon.
Lutherans Against Those Who Abolish Augsburg and Apology XXIV

Description:
A network of those protesting against the recension of Article XXIV of the Augsburg Confession by the Missouri Synod and other Lutheran Church bodies in North America (or beyond if they want to join).

This group stands steadfast in confessing Augsburg Confession and Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV despite the toleration and promotion of so-called "contemporary" and "alternative" and "blended" worship practices borrowed from Reformed, Arminian, revivalistic, charismatic, and other non-Lutheran, non-liturgical sources, which bespeak a different confession, a different theology, and undermine the Lutheran Confessions.

AC, Article XXIV: Of the Mass.

1] Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among 2] us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added 3] to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned 4] be taught [what they need to know of Christ]. And not only has Paul commanded to use in the church a language understood by the people 1 Cor. 14:2-9, but it has also been so ordained by man's law. 5] The people are accustomed to partake of the Sacrament together, if any be fit for it, and this also increases the reverence and devotion of public 6] worship. For none are admitted 7] except they be first examined. The people are also advised concerning the dignity and use of the Sacrament, how great consolation it brings anxious consciences, that they may learn to believe God, and to expect and ask of Him all that is good. 8] [In this connection they are also instructed regarding other and false teachings on the Sacrament.] This worship pleases God; such use of the Sacrament nourishes true devotion 9] toward God. It does not, therefore, appear that the Mass is more devoutly celebrated among our adversaries than among us.

Apology, Article XXIV (XII): Of the Mass.

At the outset we must again make the preliminary statement that we 1] do not abolish the Mass, but religiously maintain and defend it. For among us masses are celebrated every Lord's Day and on the other festivals, in which the Sacrament is offered to those who wish to use it, after they have been examined and absolved. And the usual public ceremonies are observed, the series of lessons, of prayers, vestments, and other like things.

...78] The adversaries also refer us to philology. From the names of the Mass they derive arguments which do not require a long discussion. For even though the Mass be called a sacrifice, it does not follow that it must confer grace ex opere operato, or, when applied on behalf of others, merit for them the remission of sins, etc. 79] Leitourgiva, they say, signifies a sacrifice, and the Greeks call the Mass, liturgy. Why do they here omit the old appellation synaxis, which shows that the Mass was formerly the communion of many? But let us speak of the word liturgy. This word does not properly signify a, sacrifice, but rather the public ministry, and agrees aptly with our belief, namely, that one minister who consecrates tenders the body and blood of the Lord to the rest of the people, just as one minister who preaches tenders the Gospel to the people, as Paul says, 1 Cor. 4:1: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, i.e., of the Gospel and the Sacraments. And 2 Cor. 5:20: We are ambassadors for Christ, as 81] though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, Be ye reconciled to God. Thus the term leitourgiva agrees aptly with the ministry.


Hebrews 12:

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Contact Info
Office:
http://www.reformationtoday.net/id6.html

Kieschnick Invokes Roman Catholic Understanding of the Scriptures

A new icon for real, relevant, relational churches - Elvis.

From Norman Teigen's blog:

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
President Kieschnick of the LC-MS said this:
"...we in the LCMS are not in agreement, citing four of them:

"The administration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, mainly the question of who should be invited or allowed to commune at the altar of our Lord in LCMS congregations.

"The service of women, mainly the question of in what roles and capacities Scripture allows or commends the participation and involvement of women in the church.
"Questions about proper forms of worship, mainly how much uniformity is necessary in the worship life of LCMS congregations, how much and what kind of diversity in forms of worship is acceptable.

"Inter-Christian relationships, mainly the question of how to remain a biblical, confessional, evangelical, Christian, Lutheran church body boldly confessing the truth in love, relating to other Christians and Christian churches while honoring our covenants of love to avoid unionism and syncretism."

Finally, I note, "In the years ahead our Synod will need to continue to work under Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions to achieve similar solidarity in these matters. Where Scripture speaks plainly and clearly to the question at hand, the matter is resolved. Where Scripture does not speak plainly, clearly, or at all to the question at hand, it behooves us as a group of rational, reasonable, Christian people to come to a godly and common-sense conclusion regarding how to proceed with mutual respect and non-offensive conduct."

[this seems like a very open and honest thing to say: NT]

***

GJ -Nothing becomes a pope more than papal statements, and Pope Kieschnick is one of the most effective. Even his victims like him.

He didn't want to wander into the zone of the Formula of Concord, where mentioning the adiaphora would have condemned him. Missouri is just as busy aping the Reformed as WELS is, but they also have a growing body of Roman and Eastern Orthodox clones, who are like popcorn kernels in hot oil. All of the sudden they POP--or pope--and become the priests they always were, in the words of Neuhaus. Meanwhile their friends cheer them on, hoping they too will POP or pope in the future.

Kieschnick is attacking the clarity of the Scriptures in this pious palaver. The Scriptures are quite clear about all doctrinal matters. When Rome lost to the Lutherans during the initial Reformation debates, they switched from using the Scriptures to attacking the clarity and sufficiency of the Scriptures, as Chemnitz noted in Examination.

If the Scriptures are not clear or sufficient, as Rome claims, then we need a pope to issue solemn declarations which oppose or supplant the Word.

Pope Kieschnick revealed his doctrinal apostasy when he was elected SP. He revealed, as if just told by the Holy Spirit, that Christ is the only way to heaven. Then he added, "Unless there are other ways we have not been told." Nevertheless, Cascione and Otten blessed him and wished him well.

[Kieschnick was quoted in Christian News, when he was just elected, and that was probably from a Missouri news release.]

Ambiguity is a great tool for popes. The conservatives took his statement one way. The apostates rejoiced in his adroit negation of the initial statement. Saying two things at once means Kieschnick does not believe either one.

The doctrinal boards of each synod should be dubbed the Apostasy Boards. They carefully examine the Scriptures and do the opposite.

Church and Chicaneries Might Try This - To Be Real, Relevant, Relational

Church skateboarding evangelism.

WELS - Stop Lying about Kokomo

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Joe Krohn's Free Blog":

One more thing...

http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=45&cuItem_itemID=2835

Click on it or copy and paste.

Someone else needs to do some homework.

Joe Krohn



Q: What is the WELS teaching on objective justification? My friend and I have had a discussion, and he pointed me to the Kokomo articles, or theses, as an example of what WELS teaches. Being just a layman I was wondering if I should use these to teach others who may have the same question, as he did for me.
A: The teaching of objective justification is that God the Father declared the sins of the whole world forgiven because Christ had paid for all sin. To benefit from that payment and that declaration it is necessary that a person be brought to faith in Christ as his Savior (subjective justification) (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

The so-called Kokomo Statements should not be taken as representative of WELS teaching. Much that has been put out and circulated about the Kokomo Statements has been a misrepresentation of the WELS position. The Kokomo Statements were not drawn up by anyone in WELS as a presentation of our position. They were drawn up by opponents of the WELS position. Three of the statements are taken from WELS sources, but taken out of context, they caricature the WELS position and should not be taken as as an adequate presentation of WELS teaching. Anyone circulating the Kokomo Statements as a representation of the WELS position is not giving a fair and balanced presentation of WELS teaching.

A brief evaluation of the so-called Kokomo Statements is contained in a 1982 paper by Siegbert Becker, "Objective Justification," which is available from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary library. Papers on objective justification also appear in Vol. III of Our Great Heritage, available from Northwestern Publishing House.

***

GJ - I traveled to Kokomo and talked to both families who were kicked out of WELS for rejecting the Kokomo Statements, three of which were almost verbatim from J. P. Meyer's Ministers of Christ, NPH.

I reproduced the letter in Thy Strong Word.

Sig Becker endorsed the Kokomo Statements. Sausage Factory President Panning was in charge of the appeal process, and he supported the Kokomo Statements.

Whenever convenient, WELS denies the Kokomo Statements, but they are official policy. As one Lutheran said, "Didn't they bind the conscience of people who did not agree?"

Someone is obviously feeding Joe Krohn the official, deceitful line about UOJ in WELS. Would that be a stealth member of Church and Chicanery?

---

dk, in plain spoken fashion, addressed Joe. This is what he has left a new comment on your post "WELS - Stop Lying about Kokomo":

Hey Joe,

I have to ask you to think about this: If the WELS do not accept the Kokomo statements as official doctrine (as the WELS Q&A claims) how much more despicable are they for kicking out those two families!

"Um, hey... we don't believe these statements but since you're laymen and acting with authority we're going to kick you to the curb"

Howdy Joe: What do you make of that? Isn't that a pretty blaring contradiction? I'm not thumbing my nose at you, but you have to agree at the inconsistency, right?

What is the best construction that we (as Christian people) can put on this collection of facts?

Ignorance Explained

The kiddies learn to love Rock N Roll in the nursery department.

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Let's Hear It for the Eighth Commandment...And Lov...":

I have a theory concerning the ignorance of WELS laity. There are several aspects which come into play here. I have known only a couple of WELS members who have read anything in the Lutheran Confessions beyond the Small Catechism. Most pastors will not take on the Book of Concord in an adult bible study setting. The active and involved members are often engaged in busy work. The congregational activities have become the new monasticism. Boards and committees suck up a lot of time and energy, like a powerful vacuum cleaner. Similar to the mainstream media, the information about the synod which reaches the laity is heavily filtered, spun, redacted, and edited.

Like the Mueller statement that there is no CG in the WELS, we should never believe anything until it has been officially denied. When non-official sources offer information which is both contrary and enlightening, such sources are instantly scorned and spat upon. There are also cultural factors. Many adults today have a short attention span. They may not read much and also may have a hard time with deductive reasoning. A lifetime of TV viewing tends to produce this. WELS leaders often have a fixation with authority, their authority. Many of them have a difficult time admitting to their errors and the errors of their peers. This has produced the stealth infallibility that is rampant in the WELS. I honestly believe that most of the WELS laity are trapped.

They are now being told that the financial problems in the synod are just the unfortunate consequence of a sour economy. It would be difficult for them to fathom the idea that this is nothing more than the chickens coming home to roost. The solution that is being given to them is to sacrifice and open up their wallets. After all, just look at all of the cutbacks that the synod is making. As has been stated so many times on this blog, the problem is false doctrine and the solution is biblical doctrine. Those who look to men and money are barking up the wrong trees.

***

GJ - We learn better what we teach. Pastors avoid teaching the Book of Concord so they do not know their own Confessions. They do not engage themselves in doctrinal discussions, so their intellectual tools grow rusty.

Laity - try asking for a study of the Formula of Concord in your congregation. The pastoral response will be educational. Some congregations do study the Confessions and that study bears fruit.

Church Growth produces more weed seeds.

Joe Krohn's Free Blog

Ichabod is Joe Krohn's free blog. For those who are new to this blog, Joe is a WELS member, a buddy of Kudu Don Patterson, and a promoter of The Church From Scratch in Round Rock, Texas, where Doebler channels Driscoll. Joe used to belong to CrossWalk in Phoenix, the non-WELS congregation from which Church and Chicanery Pastor Jeff Gunn is trying to escape. Gunn hopes to flee to Wisconsin Lutheran College, the nursing mother of Church and Change. We all know the birth father of C and C - Old Scratch hisself.

Joe had a Rock N Roll blog to promote his agenda, but he erased it. His Ichabod comments are entertaining and instructive, because they betray the thoughts of Church and Chicaneries everywhere. Sometimes he even signs them.

Like all Church Shrinkers, Joe is a UOJ Stormtrooper, always trying to justify the erroneous opinion that God declared the whole world forgiven of its sin, without the Word, the Means of Grace, or faith.

He asked about my use of OJ in the first edition of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. That has been explained many times before, and the new edition is available for free as a PDF download - either from Lulu.com or from gljackson.com. He can buy the book from his own publishing house, Northwestern Publishing House in Milwaukee.

I publish for everyone, not secretly or on secretive listserves. The issue is not what I think, but what the Word of God teaches and the Book of Concord confesses.

Many people still believe, as I did once, that OJ was a peculiar synonym for the Atonement. Various WELS laity pressed me to study the issue, so I learned otherwise. OJ, called UOJ in WELS, or General Justification in Hoenecke - means that every single person in the world has been forgiven by God: Hottentots (E. Preuss), Hitler, the people who died in the Flood. Everyone in Hell is a guilt-free saint (WELS Kokomo Statements).

The Atonement means Christ died for the sins of the world. The Atonement is not justification, as Robert Preus stated in his last book, Justification and Rome.

Some well established Christian doctrines clash with the weirdness of UOJ: Original Sin, the efficacy of the Word, the Means of Grace, Law and Gospel, justification by faith.

UOJ goes well with Universalism and Church Growthism.

The Sacraments
Joe reminds me of students who phone me without reading the syllabus. That just happened as we drove to the Hoover Dam. I got two phone calls from the same student about the upcoming assignment. "Have you read the syllabus?" No. I parked the van and explained the assignment to the student.

Really Joe. I have all my books linked to Lulu and my domain. Everything is there for free. I have 2,700 posts, which have covered the Word and Sacraments many times. Doing a little homework before posting would be a good idea. The Google search window on the blog works very well. It is the only way I find some material from the past.

Sacrament, like the word Trinity, is a non-Biblical word used to encapsulate the content of many different passages. Ordination is called a sacrament in the Apology - "the best work of Melanchthon," as one Lutheran said recently.

I find it odd that some Lutheran pastors declare, "Ordination is not a sacrament." I dealt with that topic a bit in my last sermon, which I saved as a videotape file (free) and in the printed version on two (2) blogs. I collect Lutheran quotations to help everyone in their sermon preparation.

The Church and Chicanery pastors should do the same - post the printed version of their sermons. They should also offer a link to the original from Driscoll, Groeschel, or their other favorite false teachers.

Baggage Check And Drop a Check at The CORE

Fresh from their baseball vacation, Ski and Katie are presenting

Baggage Check

at

The CORE.

Baggage Check is from Craig Groeschel again.

Baggage
View this series. Series ID: 5
4 week series

Do you have it? Would you like to check it for good? God is ready and willing to claim it, we just have to be willing to let it go. And not on a round-trip flight, but a one-way destination. Learn how you can pack up the pain and hurt, find release from addiction and torment, and break free from the battles that keep you and your baggage grounded.

The totally awesome teaser video can be viewed here.

Notice on the video - no one is there when the man finally pushes his bags into The CORE's lobby. That is because Ski and Katie were gone.

One Lutheran has already observed, "Checking baggage is a bad analogy. People check their baggage so they can pick it up again."

He asked, "Do they charge $25 to check each bag?"

I recall Paul Calvin Kelm using the same baggage illustration for one of his evangelism brochures. That was 22 years ago.

This display of sermon plagiarism from false teachers continues unabated.

Let's Hear It for the Eighth Commandment...And Love

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Where Is Love? WELS Overkill in Rockford Area":

The "facts" in the article "WELS overkill in Rockford area" are anything but facts. Whomever (sic) is ranting against God's work in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) obviously has too much time on his hands (in this viewers' humble opinion). Whatever happened to "Speaking the truth in love" and "putting the best construction on everything?" I see neither in the above article, and a good start would be, simply speaking the truth. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

---

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Where Is Love? WELS Overkill in Rockford Area":

The above anonymous commentators don't know what they are talking about. I live in the area. I have worshipped (sic) at all the churches mentioned above. It would be nice if people familiar with the area (Rockford & vicinity) rather than people who think they know it all. I personally abhor "church growth", and I know the pastor of New Life (and have met the other above-mentioned pastors), and know that New Life Evangelical Lutheran Church has solid Biblical Theology, and my wife and I am looking forward to joining this congregation soon for this very reason. I have studied theology, so I know what I'm talking about, and I have never been a member of Peace, Loves Park or Hope, Belvidere. The members who attend Bible Study at New Life are knowledgable (sic) of God's Holy Word, and we praise God that this is their focus: Knowing God's Word and Making it Known.

Richard D. Eischen
Rockford, IL

***

GJ - Do these people have a problem with a WELS pastor earning a DMin at Fuller Seminary, having a friend deny it in Christian News, and teaching Church Growth doctrine at Mary Lou College in New Ulm? Larry Olson, from Loves Park, has made a career from Church Growth. Did they perform an exorcism at his old church when he left?

---

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Let's Hear It for the Eighth Commandment...And Lov...":

"Whatever happened to "Speaking the truth in love" and "putting the best construction on everything?" I see neither in the above article, and a good start would be, simply speaking the truth. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.""

Everyone should cover for false teachings and misleading emphasis on CGM matters that do not count. I do not think so no matter how often the 8th commandment is trotted out.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Let's Hear It for the Eighth Commandment...And Lov...":

Greg, you and I might both prefer "worshiped" to "worshipped" yet they are both accepted spellings.

Furthermore, it should be noted that Tim Gumm who has been at Loves Park for many years now is the "anti-Larry O." Things have been cleaned up there for years now.

***

GJ - Anti-Larry Oh! is good, even though Olson is dubbed the harmless heretic by his fellow pastors. Left unanswered - Is Loves Park selling bonds legally?

Study of Pietism - Starting Next Sunday

Spener started Pietism with his little book.

Our adult study series on Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant has ended.

This Sunday will begin a series on The History and Influence of Pietism.

Lessons are being saved on Vimeo. Check the list in the left column.

I am going to publish my review of Schmidt's History of Pietism, which can be purchased at Northwestern Publishing House. Click here for the book. NPH seems to have the Hoenecke graphic where the Schmidt graphic should be. I am going to check that out. The picture reads "Evangelical Dogmatics I."

The Schmidt book is a tough one to read. Any intellectual history is going to be hard to follow, especially when events are so distant from us in time and culture. However, pastors and interested laity should give it a try.

The Lutheran bodies established in America were profoundly influenced by Pietism and still are. The Muhlenberg tradition (LCA, now ELCA) came from Halle University, the heart of Pietism. CFW Walther belonged to Pietist circles before he came over to America. The Swedes and Norwegians were Pietists. The Wisconsin Synod began as a unionistic, Pietistic sect. Hoenecke - one of their better theologians - was trained at Halle University, under Tholuck, an avowed Universalist.

Some of us are researching the history of Universal Objective Justification. Reformed doctrine and Pietism are the leading causes for UOJ being promoted by Walther, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie.

The Shrinkers of WELS love UOJ, which excuses them from any doctrinal rigor. Everyone is already forgiven, so whatever they do to sign people up is justified by their profound concern for the lost (a core value in Pietism). Taking away trust in the Means of Grace - Pietism. Telling the laity they are responsible for evangelism - Pietism.

Let us pause for a moment and consider the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15, the Gospel lesson for those who do not follow the Roman lectionary. The shepherd looks for the lost sheep in that parable. He does not stay at home, drinking beer, creating a Vision Statement. Kent Hunter, that guru for all Lutherans, says, "Sheep have sheep. Shepherds to not have sheep." That is his lame justification for inserting the Fuller Pietistic agenda into Lutheran congregations. He is the Church Doctor but more of Kevorkian.

Joel Gerlach repeated the Pietistic Fuller mantra by saying the church must make disciples to make disciples to make disciples....

Pietists are unionistic.

Pietists despise the Sacraments and reject the efficacy of the Word.

Pietists have been polarizing and divisive by broadcasting how superior they are to everyone else.

Does anything sound like Church and Chicanery so far?

Like the Shrinkers in Missouri and the Little Sect?

Getting Adiaphora Wrong

Rock and the Cradle Roll

Dan at Necessary Roughness has an interesting post on some Lutheran practices today.

The desire to copy the worst of Roman Catholicism is a theme of LCMS-ELCA worship. Sometimes this is cloaked by Eastern Orthodoxy, the Lite Beer of Romanism. Someone can get just as drunk on Lite Beeer, but it takes a few more cans, I imagine.

I know the secret formula for Bud Lite. A chemist at A-Bush told me: "Brew Bud, add water." Later he tried to deny this. I said, "I remember when you admitted it to me."

Lutheran pastors are sinuflecting to Rome, or else moonwalking to Fuller. Either way, they justify themselves by calling everything adiaphora, matters of indifference.

The article on adiaphora in the Formula of Concord. Many practices are not commanded or forbidden by the Word of God. However, when false teachers engage in these practices, it is wrong to copy them.

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5] Namely, when under the title and pretext of external adiaphora such things are proposed as are in principle contrary to God's Word (although painted another color), these are not to be regarded as adiaphora, in which one is free to act as he will, but must be avoided as things prohibited by God. In like manner, too, such ceremonies should not be reckoned among the genuine free adiaphora, or matters of indifference, as make a show or feign the appearance, as though our religion and that of the Papists were not far apart, thus to avoid persecution, or as though the latter were not at least highly offensive to us; or when such ceremonies are designed for the purpose, and required and received in this sense, as though by and through them both contrary religions were reconciled and became one body; or when a reentering into the Papacy and a departure from the pure doctrine of the Gospel and true religion should occur or gradually follow therefrom [when there is danger lest we seem to have reentered the Papacy, and to have departed, or to be on the point of departing gradually, from the pure doctrine of the Gospel].

6] For in this case what Paul writes, 2 Cor. 6:14-17, shall and must obtain: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what communion hath light with darkness?Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.

7] Likewise, when there are useless, foolish displays, that are profitable neither for good order nor Christian discipline, nor evangelical propriety in the Church, these also are not genuine adiaphora, or matters of indifference.

8] But as regards genuine adiaphora, or matters of indifference (as explained before), we believe, teach, and confess that such ceremonies, in and of themselves, are no worship of God, nor any part of it, but must be properly distinguished from such as are, as it is written: In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, Matt. 15:9.

9] Therefore we believe, teach, and confess that the congregation of God of every place and every time has, according to its circumstances, the good right, power, and authority [in matters truly adiaphora] to change, to diminish, and to increase them, without thoughtlessness and offense, in an orderly and becoming way, as at any time it may be regarded most profitable, most beneficial, and best for [preserving] good order, [maintaining] Christian discipline [and for eujtaxiva worthy of the profession of the Gospel], and the edification of the Church. Moreover, how we can yield and give way with a good conscience to the weak in faith in such external adiaphora, Paul teaches Rom. 14, and proves it by his example, Acts 16:3; 21:26; 1 Cor. 9:19.

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

For example, during the 1980s, the Shrinkers in WELS were always saying, "We cannot read someone's mind and identify motives." The same Shrinkers knew exactly why pastors and laity did not like their Fuller doctrine: "They are lazy. They do not care about the lost. They are threatened. They see a false teacher under every rock. They are jealous." The Shrinkers had an astonishing capacity to read minds and find nothing but evil among Book of Concord Lutherans.

When I laboriously listed the doctrinal errors of WELS leaders and contrasted them to orthodox Lutheran statements in a paper I gave, District VP Schroer phoned me and screamed, "You are judging hearts, and that is a sin!" I said, "No, I am quoting your leaders and comparing their statements to Lutheran doctrine."

Someone is using Bailing Water to promote his CLC (sic) sect. I remember Paul Tiefel using every possible excuse to justify following false teachers, just like his cousin James Tiefel at The Sausage Factory. Yes, people in other denominations are Christians too, but that does not commend their doctrine. Yes, there are questionable hymns in The Lutheran Hymnal, but that does not excuse false doctrine. Some prayers among the Collects might be taken the wrong way, but that is not a reason to promote Reformed or Roman Catholic doctrine.

The sign of the cross is an ancient Christian tradition, a good tradition encouraged by the Book of Concord. Many other practices are being introduced to make it easier to de-sensitize people to Romanism. Some pastors are so bewitched that their friends can leave Lutherdom for Rome or Constantinople, denounce Lutheran doctrine, and still be objects of adoration. Many Missouri pastors are still genuflecting before their Fenton icon.