WELS Members Visit Victory of the Movie Screen:Another Chicanery Showcase

Tim Felt-needs, Victory of the Lamb Blogger

We went to Victory of the Lamb a while back. The irony of the whole scenario is that we stopped going to our normal place of worship because we felt it wasn't liturgical enough. I didn't have high hopes for VotL but my friend said, "Its kind of contemporary, but it's done right."

He couldn't have been more wrong.

I drove past another WELS church about three miles and arrived at Celebration Cinema and immediately had reservations. I walked into the lobby, smelling of old popcorn, and was greeted by Pastor Ben...more reservations. He invited us to grab a snack and a drink from the "Victory Cafe"...I was unsure because it was already after the time church should start but he invited us to bring it with us into Theater #1.

We walked in just as the praise band started.

Got to our chairs as people said hello to us and tried to carry on conversations (the first "hymn" was still in session). We awkwardly tried to sing along but gave up and mouthed the words. Then "Pastor" Ben invited us to greet each other. After the confession of sins which was somewhat normal...the rest of the service was contrived and awkward. We were unable to sing anything and people clapped after each praise band performance.

I was perturbed when the children left before the sermon, except for one who screamed loudly and the parents acted like they were in a movie theater--wait, they were. Zero transcendence at this point. "Pastor" Ben started his sermon which contained five lengthy stories--probably taking up 1/4 of his actual speaking time. The rest of his time was spent retelling those stories (using Abraham) and then retelling them again (using us) and giving us a "takeaway."

Then, the coup de grace was when he claimed that we need to be attached to the means of grace...didn't mention the Lord's Supper once...and said we "can remember our baptisms every time we wash our face in the morning..." (paraphrase)

After the service he gave a announcement about "Hallepalooza" and Soccer Camp. We got out of there as fast as I could.

They are having "success" - many of their families are from established congregations but there are a few large convert families as well (from the soccer camps)...however sowing seed in shallow ground often has early success. I can guarantee you, as a WELS Lutheran...I would not have communed there (as if it had been offered) and my wife and I did not feel the least bit edified.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Members Visit Victory of the Movie Screen:Ano...":

Anon@10:22

No the sermon did not center on the savior. The word "God" was used in stories about Abraham. The words "Jesus" or "Christ" were not.

As for the hymn, the entire atmosphere at VotL (along with other happy clappy churches) is a performance. When you take the people out of worship by installing a praise band no one can sing along to--no one sings(Koine is the obvious WELS exception).

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Members Visit Victory of the Movie Screen:Ano...":

As the writer/visitor states, I too, like many WELS members, are beginning to do what may be called Selective Fellowship. I do not think this is recognized by the leadership in WELS as a scriptural principal. I have heard it said "we do not practice selective fellowship. We either are in fellowship with our brothers or we are not." Those leaders who are not doing what the Bible tells us to do, with regards to those who cause divisions among us, have allowed laity to do it. That is simply to "Mark and avoid", which the laity are doing in a very quiet way.

I myself, having been in Greenbay not too long ago, found it quite a job of finding a sound Lutheran church in town. But I did. Web sites can tell you volumes of what a church is doing and you can save yourself the heartache caused by much of what is being done in the name Lutheran. Some people say, "step out of your comfort zone." I say, step into the light of discernment.

Bye, bye.

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Joseph Schmidt answered the howls of Joe Krohn here.

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GJ - Many of us have seen choir members, organists, choir directors, and acolytes in a cassock and surplice. I am so high church that I chant the announcements.

Beavis and Butthead Blog

Fake Ichabod called Notre Dame a "Jesuit school,"
a small sample of the ignorance on that site.
Joe Krohn loves the blog.
He claimed GCU was a Baptist school.
Joe knew because he used to live in Phoenix.
I want them to keep displaying their nastiness,
oafishness, Schwaermer theology, and boneheaded cluelessness.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Love and Hate in WELS":

I don't know if you've been following what's been going on over on the Fake Ichabod site. Fake Ichabod was criticizing you for your comments about Gurgel. I demonstrated that you had fairly and accurately quoted the conversation--Ski by his own admission really did worship with the heterodox and Gurgel really did support and defend him.

Fake Ichabod then chastised me by abusing the 8th Commandment as all C&Cers do, telling me I had no business saying anything if I didn't go and speak privately with Ski.

I then pointed out his abuse of the 8th Commandment, leading him to delete the entire post and pretend it never happened, rather than admitting his dirty tricks.

It's the usual C&C m.o. Abuse the 8th Commandment in order to give yourself time to cover up your own wrongdoing.

Love and Hate in WELS

I began doctrinal bulletins by email many years ago. They turned into sermons as well because various people asked for them. Although I kept the list small, where I knew every recipient, I still found a few individuals serving as self-appointed kamikaze pilots, eager to zoom in and detonate on any target.

The first few Ichabod posts were on a website, but that was time-consuming, so I turned to blogging for convenience.

Soon the sanctimonious name-calling began. People who want to be known for their great love unleashed a volley of invective, revealing a lot more about their tortured personalities than anything they read.

Some would like to be known for their great love of the (fill in the blank) synod. Most Doctrinal Pussycats have refused to do their jobs - with the excuse they are protecting Holy Mother Synod from scandal, danger, harm, and bad PR. Ditto many leading pastors and church bureaucrats.

The end result of their torpor is genuine hatred. They have allowed hatred for the Word of God, the sermon, the Confessions, the liturgy, and hymns to dominate all discussions. What was once unthinkable has become a well-funded norm.

The Chicaneries hate the synod they have parasitized for decades. They tilted the budget to guarantee failure of all the schools, simply by changing the percentages. The WELS pastors knew that 20+ years ago.

The Chicaneries put their men and women into positions of power, turning their headquarters into the Chicanery Coop. The Shrikers promoted heresy right and left in the name of "spoiling the Egyptians."

I was favorably impressed with discussions from the WELS group on Facebook. A lot of people see through the heretical and criminal deeds of the recent past. Those who want to Photoshop their family histories--or parade their DNA--are still rolling in the mud of Willow Creek, but they are fading fast.

Nevertheless, Satan's minions do not go gentle into that old blight. They rage, rage against the dying of the night.

The convention and the aftermath will prove whether those who love the Word and the Confessions will exhibit the persistency of their opponents.

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"The Son of God Goes Forth to War"
by Reginald Heber, 1783-1826)

1. The Son of God goes forth to war
A kingly crown to gain.
His blood-red banner streams afar;
Who follows in His train?
Who best can drink His cup of woe,
Triumphant over pain,
Who patient bears his cross below--
He follows in His train.

2. The martyr first whose eagle eye
Could pierce beyond the grave,
Who saw His Master in the sky
And called on Him to save.
Like Him, with pardon on His tongue,
In midst of mortal pain,
He prayed for them that did the wrong--
Who follows in his train?

3. A glorious band, the chosen few,
On whom the Spirit came,
Twelve valiant saints; their hope they knew
And mocked the cross and flame.
They met the tyrant's brandished steel,
The lion's gory mane;
They bowed their necks the death to feel--
Who follows in their train?

4. A noble army, men and boys,
The matron and the maid,
Around the Savior's throne rejoice,
In robes of light arrayed.
They climbed the steep ascent of heav'n
Thro' peril, toil, and pain.
O God, to us may grace be giv'n
To follow in their train!

Hymn #452
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: 1 Timothy 6:12
Author: Reginald Heber, 1827
Composer: Henry S. Cutler, 1872
Tune: "All Saints New"