Rev. John Seifert, president of the Michigan District, says the displaced workers were encouraged to hear that their experiences in ministry have value in and are transferable to the secular market. Still, they face a difficult struggle finding meaningful employment in the Saginaw area where the unemployment rate hovers between 22 and 25 percent.
Seifert expresses thanks for the support from Committee on Relief for the effort. "The counseling would not have been possible with it," he says.
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.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Where Marcus Manthey? Hire Him as Editor!
Faux-Reilly Retort
I. J. Reilly has left a new comment on your post "WELS Pastor Answers Home Visiting Issue":
I am a WELS pastor of a small/medium sized congregation. I have been to the homes of most of my members at least once. I regularly visit those who are in special need. I would probably spend a few more evenings visiting, but I have a severely autistic son and I am needed quite a bit at home. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm saying this because most of the WELS pastors in my area follow the same pattern -- actually, they probably outstrip my efforts. Your characterization has NO BASIS IN REALITY. Why you are this bitter and try to find deficiencies where none exist simply boggle my mind! Actually, I pitty you. (I threw that last spelling error in so that you would publish my comments if only to gloat over your superiority in the use of the English language.)
***
GJ - If this is the same person, or parson, I get a lot of angry comments from him when I criticize the Shrinkers. Of course, there is no way to tell from anonymous messages. It could be another Faux-Reilly.
His WELS region must be exceptional, because I have heard from all over - not just laity. I had a WELS family move from a Minnesota town to Columbus. The husband said he never experienced a WELS pastoral visit in the decade or so he lived in that state. He was astonished that I visited homes.
I gained a wider perspective from a WELS leader who has a position where he would know what is happening in a large region. Sad to say, there are WELS leaders who are quite friendly and they actually identify themselves by their real names. But I digress. This WELS leader said the lack of visitation by pastors is a terrible problem and it exists just as much among the solid, orthodox pastors. He is not a Shrinker fan.
This is what a WELS pastor told me, about 22 years ago, Faux-Reilly. "In Milwaukee the parishes are about one square mile. The pastors can drink all week and preach on Sunday. That is what a lot of them do." I did not accuse him of being angry and bitter.
WELS Pastor Answers Home Visiting Issue
Ron Roth, WELS Stewardship and Church Growth Guru, should help this church get four or five pastors, or waste millions on remodeling the structure. Or start a rock band. That's the ticket.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Home Avoiding Pastor Makes a Church Avoiding Con...":
It saddens and frustrates me to hear people accuse WELS pastors of being unloving and uncaring for not making home visits.
I would ask the people making such accusations to consider things from the other perspective. I can't speak for all WELS pastors, but I can tell you about my situation. I serve a congregation of almost 2000 souls. I literally have a meeting or a group or a class every Monday through Thursday evening. Often times I also have a wedding rehearsal on Friday evening and a wedding on Saturday evening. Most weeks I'm lucky to spend one evening with my wife and kids per week.
I would LOVE to spend my evenings visiting my members rather than listening to the Ladies Aid talk about what kind of coffee to buy or listen to the elders squabble over pennies. But whenever I get the courage to suggest that the pastor might not need to attend every single meeting of every single organization, I'm told that I'm lazy and need to be a better leader and manager of the congregation. Whenever I try to get laymen to assume some leadership to free me up for home visits they tell me they're way too busy to help.
And even if I were to give up everything else in my ministry and visit members at home every single night of the week, every single day of the year, not ever spending a single night with my own family, it would still take almost six years to visit everyone.
Home visits are a wonderful thing in small congregations. But in large congregations like mine, they simply are not logistically possible, especially when congregations are too stingy to have an adequate pastoral staff of 4 or 5 pastors. It's not that I'm lazy, it's not I don't care about my people. It hurts me to hear people accuse me of that when it simply isn't true.
****
GJ - Two points to consider - very few WELS congregations are that large. The smaller ones have pastors who never visit. I know one where the pastor was begged to bring Holy Communion to a dying member. He finally showed up, without communion. He could have gone home for his kit, but did not. He was known for not visiting members and he was a fanatical partisan for Church Growth.
I do not know this pastor or his congregation, so I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. If I could wave a wand, I would say, "Evening meetings begone. Just visit people." I am not sure evening visits need to dominate. Hospital and shut-in visits can be done during the day and they usually are done during the day.
Congregations should support more staff, but the stories about pastoral laziness are pretty common. I give all the glory to the Shrinkers who imported management theories and turned pastors into managers. They run the school systems of Missour, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie.
---
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Pastor Answers Home Visiting Issue":
As the pastor who submitted this comment, I can assure you that I do hospital and shut-in visits during the day. That's just a given. But I don't think that was the issue at hand. The issue at hand was home visits, right? Good luck trying to find 90% of your members at home during the day. (I'm lucky to find 90% of my shut-ins at home during the day.)
I get the sense that you think I'm silly for suggesting that a congregation of 2000 should have 4 or 5 pastors. How many pastors do you think a congregation of that size should have? Please tell me you're not like my members who think one (or maybe two) pastor should be able to handle everything since he only works one day a week (if only!). If a congregation of 400 should have one pastor, shouldn't a congregation 5 times as big have a pastoral staff that's 5 times as big?
I also resent your insinuation that I somehow support rock bands or contemporary worship or the like. I can assure you that I am dead set against rubbish like that.
***
GJ - I did not insinuate anything about this pastor. The Shrinkers think the solution is a huge building project and a rock band, dump the liturgy, etc. Ron Roth started that with TELL and continues it with his stewardship business (with Jeff Davis). That is like hiring the founders of Edsel to start a new car company.
I think a congregation of 2000 souls should have five pastors. If a congregation of 100 - 200 has one pastor, a congregation of 2000 should have many more.
I vicared with a pastor who had a congregation of around 2000. I am not sure about the numbers. He did two services per Sunday and had a German pastor doing weekly German services. He had a church administrator and a vicar. He did not like clergy staff. He had very few evening meetings per month. He visited constantly and made sure his vicars visited five days a week. There were various social type gatherings. What made that work was the close relationships within the congregation, extended families, etc.
Many years ago Father Neuhaus made the point that denominations were using up the trust built up by previous religious leaders. He was an apostate, but he made a good point.
A Home Avoiding Pastor Makes a Church Avoiding Congregation
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Member Comments":
Gone are the days Pastors made house calls. All I ever get is a voice mail message and I'm lucky if my call is returned by the Pastor. It seems some are turning their jobs into becoming managers. I'm sad about that as it shows a lack of caring. But I also think it is a sign of the times. The more they can push off onto the elders or cell group leaders, the less they'll have to do.
***********
Pastoral calls are a thing of the past. My family are all WELS at different churches and the discussion has come up about how the pastors never ever come to visit. Except for the address on the mailing list, they wouldn't even know where you live. They are just too 'busy' to do their jobs. I've seen how busy my pastor is just running from one kids baseball game to another soccer match. I'm sure it's his mentality that he only has to work just one day a week and then for only a few hours. It's no wonder they copy and paste a sermon. Many are neglecting their flocks.
GJ - Church and Chicaneries have definitely changed their synod. Think about that the next time they start crowing about how great Mequon is.
Faithful Pastors in WELS?
Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS Member Comments":
"There are conservative (true to the Word) pastors that could take the call."
Pastors who are true to God's Word and the Lutheran Confessions do not exist in the WELS.
They all confess a new gospel, a new declaration of righteousness and have destroyed the central doctrine of Scripture in thier current confession. Opposing Christ and the Confessions they profess that the whole unbelieving world is righteous, forgiven of all sin and, by divine verdict, been declared by God to be guilt free all before faith worked by the Holy Spirit. Christ declares that no one is forgiven prior to faith in Him. Christ declares that the Holy Spirit's faith grasps hold of the fact that Christ paid for all sins and that by believing that your sins are then forgiven, you are justified through Christ and righteous in God's sight just as Christ is. WELS teaches that faith grasps hold of the fact that the whole unbelieving world was already declared forgiven when Christ paid for the worlds sin. That faith doesn't make of an unjust man a just man as Scripture and the Confessions declare but is just a open and empty hand accepting that you've already been declared forgiven. You are no different after faith than you were before faith.
The WELS and all Lutheran Synods confess this false gospel of Universal Objective Justification. Anyone who does is condemned by God and stand outside the body of Christ as Paul clearly states in the first chapter of Galations. There are those in the Lutheran churches who out of ignorance or hypocrisy do not confess the false gospel of Universal Objective Justification but believe they are forgiven and justified by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone and not before faith. These are part of the invisible Church and are part of the body of Christ.
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
***
GJ - Actually, I disagree that there are no faithful pastors in WELS. I know there are pastors in WELS who realize how ridiculous UOJ is. In fact, there has been a shift toward emphasizing justification by faith (which is rumored to be in the Bible, throughout, unlike UOJ - which came from Halle U. and the Pietists).
The Synodical Conference leaders made a Pietistic mistake when they canonized rules of fellowship and practiced Mennonite shunning. They mistook outward actions for an inward love of the truth. Pretty soon they were doing wacky things, like excommunicating someone for having his son in an English speaking catechism class.
Luther's solution was to trust the Word and let God work through the Word. So he did not leave the Catholic Church. They excommunicated him - and he is still excommunicated.
I am deeply troubled by the many Boomer pastors and members who let their congregations and synod rot away. Issues in WELS did not have the courage to stay together when DP Free died, and very few showed their faces before that, when Gurgle showed up to glare at them.
I have friends and contacts in all the synods, except ELCA. I knew some pastors who realized the error of ELCA, but too late. Now they are like the people who thought Obama was the Messiah.
At any given time a Lutheran body is facing doctrinal error. However, they have not done a good job of dealing with those errors in the last 50 plus years. WELS may be different, but that remains to be seen.
Michigan District and Spriggs - Church Growth? - Say It Ain't So, Joe
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The CORE - Say No More":
I did not know where to post this but this is FYI:
The Michigan District Commission of Evangelism will present a seminar on Saturday, October 24th, beginning at 10:00 AM at Beautiful Savior, Cincinnati. The title for the seminar is "Reaching Out In a Digital World." The seminar has been prepared by Martin Spriggs, our synod's chief technology officer. The purpose of the seminar will be to help congregations:
* Recognize and understand the many technological tools available for use in outreach.
* Develop a plan to use the most appropriate digital tools to spread the Gospel.
* Mobilize congregational members to use digital tools for personal evangelism.
* Determine clear goals for outreach using the tools of today.
This smells like church and change to me.
I did not know where to post this but this is FYI:
The Michigan District Commission of Evangelism will present a seminar on Saturday, October 24th, beginning at 10:00 AM at Beautiful Savior, Cincinnati. The title for the seminar is "Reaching Out In a Digital World." The seminar has been prepared by Martin Spriggs, our synod's chief technology officer. The purpose of the seminar will be to help congregations:
* Recognize and understand the many technological tools available for use in outreach.
* Develop a plan to use the most appropriate digital tools to spread the Gospel.
* Mobilize congregational members to use digital tools for personal evangelism.
* Determine clear goals for outreach using the tools of today.
This smells like church and change to me.
***
GJ - Here are a few hints:
- Spriggs gave Willow Creek sermons verbatim, 25 years ago. His pastoral service was not listed in his WELS.net bio the last time I looked.
- When Eastcoast insisted to me that Gurgle had disbanded Church and Chicanery completely - "gone, dissolved, scattered to the wind" - I asked, "Then why is their next conference linked on the WELS.net website? I am sure Spriggs would know why. Gurgle's candidate for SP is Don Patterson, so Gurgle is to Patterson as Bohlmann was to Kieschnick.
- Anything from "Evangelism" in WELS, ELS, LCMS, ELCA, and CLC is Church Shrinkage.
- Anything from American or world missions in those groups is Church Shrinkage.
- Their periodicals promote Church Shrinkage.
- One WELS pastor said, in print, that the crypto-Calvinists are no longer crypto. They are running the show. If SP Schroeder is supported, that can change, but it is a long haul, especially when the Good Ol' Boy network, cemented by GA abuse, is involved.
Lettermann Talks Like a Church Growth Guru
Who's sorry now?
Whose heart is aching for breaking each vow?
Who's sad and blue?
Who's crying too?
Just like I cried over you?
Right to the end
Just like a friend
I tried to warn you somehow
You had your way,
Now you must pay
I'm glad that you're sorry now.
Right to the end
Just like a friend
I tried to warn you somehow
You had your way,
Now you must pay
I'm glad that you're sorry now
"I'm motivated by nothing but guilt. If you know anything about me, I am just a towering mass of Lutheran Midwestern guilt," he said sarcastically, to audience applause.
Townhall
The CORE - Say No More
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Learning from Cicero: The Decline and Fall of the ...":
Check out the CORE:
http://www.gotocore.com/comingup/
Did you...did you...did you...
No, I didn't and now you made me feel really guilty. That's the church for me!
And no, I didn't listen to His voice in a van down by the river. I hear His voice only in Word and Sacrament..... on Sunday where it should be, but isn't at the CORE.
WELS Member Comments
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Financial Picture More Dire Than Expected":
I am a WELS member and I don't know what to think about your blog. Part of me says well someone else notices the things I have. Part of me asks is it sinful or is it right? You'll notice I'm being cowardly and not signing my name.
I do think it's sinful nature that causes all of this and I pray for all of us. I too worry about sin but I am trying to trust in God to take care of it.
I do think putting sin in the light is a good thing. I know of more than one case of sexual molestation that has gone on and was not reported to the police. In fact the person who was molesting was kept in their job and yes the Synod's insurance has paid for it and maybe that is what it is going to take to stop that kind of enabling. Bad publicity and rising insurance costs come from bad decisions being made. Why would anyone want to help another in their sin is beyond me.
In response to the rent issue, I know of churches who greatly undervalues the cost of the rent on the parsonage so it reduces the tax cost. I have also known Pastors to get state assistance because they say they are in the poverty level. If you add in all their perks they make well over most of the congregation. I've also heard Pastor's speak about their work much like a lawyer does - in 6 min increments.
Gone are the days Pastors made house calls. All I ever get is a voice mail message and I'm lucky if my call is returned by the Pastor. It seems some are turning their jobs into becoming managers. I'm sad about that as it shows a lack of caring. But I also think it is a sign of the times.
I'd like to ask why is there so little accountability in the church? We are to abide by the governance's of our state but I think many skirt around that and no one enforces the constitutions. If you call anyone on it they call you a heretic. I have seen more than a few men drop off of council because of it.
But just how are we suppose to deal with sin inside the church? I will tell you I notice it, spoken out and have been criticized for it. IMHO these actions have hurt the members in worshipping their God. It is one reason I and I know many others who have pulled back from service.
I am not leaving WELS because I think they are the best thing out there - they preach the true word of God and as we approach the reformation I am reminded about the reason I love being a Lutheran. Remember what Luther's 1st petition was. Repentance.
So I am not sure about this blog but I keep coming back to read it. Maybe it's a good thing you're putting some of this in the Son-light. I pray God takes care of the rest.
***
GJ - All the synods cover up. In the case of one Shrinker, Missouri and WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie all cooperated in enabling the criminal himself and in attacking anyone who dared object to a pastor having sex with the wives and daughters of the members. WELS and Missouri were happy to shake the money tree connected with this criminal, whose repentance consisted of claiming he was persecuted.
Do not overlook the Good Old Boy Network. Fred Adrian was famous for being so bad as the DMB Chair, Michigan District, WELS, that he was forced out. His married vicar went to state prison for molesting a minor girl in the congregation. WELS fought the lawsuit and lost, to the tune of $400,000 and promptly appealed the verdict. How do you like that - WELS taking a member to court? Fred wrote a happy letter to the congregation, saying, "Insurance paid for it."
However, Fred wrote two different vicarage reports, one saying he knew, one saying he did not know. (GA at work.) Fred resigned from the ministry but he has a call in the district again. There is only one sin in WELS - questioning WELS. Ditto ELS and LCMS.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Learning from Cicero: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon. "In 1776, the first volume of The Decline and Fall was published, and its success was prodigious."
This quotation certainly explains the Obamessiah situation, but it also applies to the false teachers who have bewitched the Lutherans and every other denomination:
Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions . . . . Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.' Julius was always an ambitious villain, but he is only one man.
Here is another good Cicero quotation:
"An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself... A murderer is less to fear."
--Marcus Tullius Cicero
Oh yes, sly whispers are the energy that carried the Church Growth Movement forward. My ecumenical experience showed me that WELS was falling hard for something already well established in ELCA, 22 years ago. In fact, Norm Berg (WELS Mission Board) and Mac Minnnick (ELCA Mission Board) knew each other well from joint training and unionistic meetings.
I recall Marc Schroeder (Salty's son, not the SP) repeating the sly whispers of Floyd Luther Stolzenburg (expelled from Missouri's clergy roster, welcomed in WELS, but never a WELS member) - "No one likes the liturgy. Get rid of the liturgy. It is a barrier." Later, Marc and his heavily subsidized congregation were drop-kicked into Missouri for being as unionistic as the WELS leaders.
Earlier, at the Ad Fontes LCA conference, where we met up with our dear, late friend from Yale, an LCA pastor stood up and talked about "user-friendly services." That meant dumping the liturgy, singing children's songs, and other Fuller-inspired sly whispers. The late Richard Neuhaus spoke against Church Growth, calling it "tacky," and jibed me for not taking communion with them. I said, "You are Ad Fontes. We are Fontes." (You are searching for the Source. We are there.) He enjoyed that. LCA Bishop Crumley talked earnestly to Neuhaus, in private, and Neuhaus poped soon after, taking others from that conference with him.
Echoing Cicero, I do not blame Kelm, Valleskey, Roth, Bivens, Hunter, Werning, Berg, and Hagedorn. Lupine leaders have always raised themselves up - "to improve the church." I blame the ovine clergy and bovine laity who gladly gave up sound doctrine for the cancerous ravings of Pentecostals, marketing mavens, and known apostates. Animals do not realize they are walking up the ramp to the slaughterhouse. Humans should know better.
In the 1950s I heard my parents and teachers say more than once, "We are following the Roman Empire. That is how they began to decline." I cannot imagine public school teachers today knowing anything about Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a set of books that greatly influenced our Founding Fathers. Our high school class, 1966, was expected to have two years of Latin, to apply for a good college. No one had to take Latin, but the college-bound did, knowing that mattered. We learned Roman history for two years. When I poll college students today, I find only one out of 100 (if that) who has had any Latin.
The Boomers, my cohort, gave it all away.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
Bethany Lutheran Worship, 10 AM Central
The Hymn #536 Awake My Soul 3.28
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Ephesians 4:1-6
The Gospel Luke 14:1-11
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #36 Now Thank We 3.40
One Church, One Faith
The Hymn #316 O Living Bread 3.45
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #354 In the Cross 3.84
KJV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
KJV Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things. 7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father: We beseech Thee so to guide and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not exalt ourselves, but humbly fear Thee, with our whole hearts hear and keep Thy word, and hallow the Lord's day, that we also may be hallowed by Thy word; help us, first, to place our hope and confidence in Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who alone is our righteousness and Redeemer, and, then, so to amend and better our lives in accordance with Thy word, that we may avoid all offenses and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy grace in Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God. world without end. Amen.
One Church, One Faith
KJV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians is another brief, eloquent epistle from Paul.
This epistle lesson is one the most famous passages in the New Testament.
In this passage, Paul connects the unity of the true Church with doctrine, and doctrine with life.
For many people, church is their congregation, or perhaps their circuit, district, or synod.
When people ask me “What synod are you?” I respond, “So you were raised a Lutheran? Only Lutherans use the term synod.” Non-Lutherans, trying to appear knowledgeable, will say, “Which sin-ODD?”
Those who obsess about statistics and make numbers the priority are far from the spirit of Ephesians.
The true Church is invisible and cannot be numbered. It is comprised of all those who trust in the merits of Christ alone for their salvation. That may include people with no formal church affiliation, although distance from the Means of Grace is not a good sign. They may be secret believers in places we do not expect – among Jews and Unitarians. I know Jewish Christians, one who said “Jesus Priceless Treasure is your best book.” Only a believer could say that. I have to omit other details.
The invisibility of the true Church also means that clergy, theologians, and teachers can be and often are unbelievers. Worst of all, they are apostates, former believers who lost faith in the Scriptures and their Savior but refuse to find work outside of the church or its institutions.
The quote below from Cicero applies perfectly to apostates. Opposition outside the Church makes it stronger. Rot from within weakens the true Church. The sects and divisions must exist, but their existence within has to be faced and addressed.
"An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself... A murderer is less to fear." --Marcus Tullius Cicero
4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord
Paul should have said, a prisoner of Rome. Most would have said that, but he said “the prisoner of the Lord.” In that phrase he expressed his acceptance of all things being God’s will. When the apostates in Missouri were losing the doctrinal battles, they cried persecution, and left eventually to become the radical nucleus of ELCA, where the terms “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” were debated as proper in their constitution!
Paul wrote this letter (and Philemon and Colossians) while a prisoner in Rome, waiting for his appeal to Nero. The emperor had his mother murdered, so the turmoil involving this scandal gave Paul more time to live and work. Nevertheless. It was a source of great grief that the apostle who worked so long in Ephesus was now facing death.
The irony had to be great, because Rome prided itself on toleration of all religions, even building a temple to “All the Gods” – the Pantheon. Luther observed, “They tolerated every god but the one true God – Christ.”
Paul worked in the great city of Ephesus for two years, longer than any other city where he labored. From Ephesus, the mother church, Paul’s pastoral assistants spread the Gospel to other localities. The Gospel spread from Ephesus to almost all of the Asian province (Acts 19:10, 26; 1 Cor. 16:19)
KJV Acts 19:10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
KJV Acts 19:24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. 26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: 27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. 28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. [Notice how the false teachers worried about their loot in those days, too.]
The Gospel rain moves on. The Ephesians lost their first love, and the mother church became Islamic in time. “Now they have the Turks,” Luther said.
Paul wrote Ephesians as a general letter, not addressing specific doctrinal problems and practical issues. So this little letter is more of a doctrinal summary or meditation – we don’t have to figure out the details of a conflict. For that reason, Ephesians is especially satisfying and inspiring to read.
beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Lenski prefers “admonish” to “beseech,” which sounds like begging. Admonish reminds us that this was more of a farewell letter to a host of people he knew well and valued as fellow believers. His role in converting so many through the Gospel proclamation made him a father to this church and to all the congregations in the province. The spiritual and emotional ties were infinite.
So we can see this phrase as urging them to continue to connect the Gospel with the way they lived their lives. They were surrounded with paganism, just as we are today. People openly support Satanism and the occult, thinking they have found something new. One young woman in an MA class recently said she was raised Methodist but was now interested in Wicca (witchcraft).
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called – We are called by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.
A new attitude has developed. Sin is the same from century to century, but in the past people knew they were in wrong and felt shame and guilt. However, that has changed. People imagine the Gospel means forgiveness in advance, forgiveness without godly contrition, cheap grace, with no connection between doctrine and life. In fact, there is a strong connection. Universalism teaches that everyone is going to heaven, regardless. Universal Objective Justification teaches something quite similar – that everyone is already saved, guilt free, and without sin. The old-fashioned Universalists were rather strict about morality, but that gave way to the natural implications of their creed. The same is true about UOJ, where many people say, “But we don’t mean THAT!” and yet they have united with those who say exactly that, and with hedonists who carry out the implications of already being forgiven without faith.
Paul was dealing with a universal paganism that was rooted in fertility rites and magic. Our rock concerts are the equivalent of the public entertainments of Rome. People have noticed how trendy Christian services, like the recently posted Catholic mass, imitate pagan ceremonies. In fashionable California, a cathedral was dedicated with a host of pagan rituals. That is considered a good trend in mainline churches and ecumenical events. The Gospel for them is all forgiveness or all politics, depending on the situation.
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Nothing sets up conflict more than arrogance, pride, demanding rights, and holding grudges. Paul could have said that, but instead he motivated people with Gospel admonitions. Lowliness and meekness are the characteristics of Christ.
KJV Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Long-suffering and forbearance are fruits of the Spirit, which come only from abiding in the Means of Grace.
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Verse 3 introduces the seven one’s with the theme of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Some think of peace as the absence of conflict, but the New Testament context is peace from forgiveness. With all our faults and weaknesses, our Old Adam always at work, our unity comes from the Spirit at work in the Word. The bond of peace comes from the common need for forgiveness in Christ.
Weak leaders want everyone to believe that unity comes from ignoring scandalous behavior and false doctrine. Therefore, the person who objects to criminal behavior or anti-Christian teaching is the evil-doer, who must be removed at once. Weak leaders identify with the visible Church. They are easy to spot because they say, “I love the ____ synod.” Which Bible teaches us to love an institution and place it above the Word of God. Synod-worship is the great bane of modernism, supplanting our first love with a bad substitute. “We should fear, love, and trust God above all.” – First Commandment.
The Third Commandment teaches us (Large Catechism)
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.
And also:
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 flight 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.
The Una Sancta – One Holy Apostolic Church
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
The Book of Concord is written from one perspective only – that there is a single truth revealed in the Scriptures. The Lutheran Reformers were wary of using the plural term “doctrines” because there is just one single unified truth revealed in the Word of God. There are no marbles to be swapped, as if we can give up the Sacraments (an aggie and a steely) to barter for friendship with the Reformed. Because all aspects of this one doctrine are united, the denial of the Real Presence and the efficacy of the Word lead directly to denial of the Two Natures of Christ.
In addition, the Lutheran Reformers and Concordists argued that their position was identical to correct Christian teaching from the earliest days of the Church, including the Patristic Era (Augustine, Jerome) so often ignored by most Protestants today.
As soon as Lutherans wanted to be doctrinal buddies with everyone, they began giving up aspects of the One Truth uniting Christians, so doctrinal discord had to grow when doctrinal concord no longer mattered.
This unity is God-given, coming from the Oneness of the Three Persons—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—and the One Faith revealed in the divine Word of God. Unity does not come from agreeing to set aside differences, but from examining the Word of God and applying what the Holy Spirit reveals to us. The Bible judges all books and the Word discerns everything.
KJV Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal, immutable truth of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity (which, moreover, is not in our power to do). Nor would such peace and unity, since it is devised against the truth and for its suppression, have any permanency. Still less are we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the pure doctrine and manifest, condemned errors. But we entertain heartfelt pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to advance, that unity according to our utmost power, by which His glory remains to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of Christ."
Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article XI. Election. #94-96. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1095. Tappert, p. 632. Heiser, p. 294.
To Dream the Impossible Dream
The bad news? Oprah is eating again.
Walking Together, WELS and Missouri, Missouri and ELCA
CHAPLAINCY MINISTRIES
House of Correction/Milwaukee #MS-8
Contact: Rev. Daniel McMiller, SWD Missions Executive, (414) 464-8100
The South Wisconsin District has supported the House of Correction Chaplaincy in diverse ways since the beginning of this ministry in 1904. This year, a partnership has been developed between the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and our South Wisconsin District—LCMS to provide a new format for spiritual care in the House of Correction (HOC). Deacon Afam Ikanih, a student in the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) of Concordia, St. Louis, and Lay Worker Pat Batom, (who completed the 31 credits in the Concordia University Wisconsin, Lay Ministry program), both of Mission of Christ Lutheran Church, are serving part time (8:00 am to noon, Monday through Friday) at the HOC. Three WELS men (two pastors and one layman) are also serving there. Joint training and coordination meetings are held between this team of 5 chaplains and their immediate supervisors in both the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods.
Ex-Offender Ministry Milwaukee #MS-12
Contact: Rev. Daniel McMiller, SWD Missions Executive, (414) 464-8100
A new partnership between the District and the Metro Milwaukee Lutheran Mission Society (MMLMS—formerly known as the Greater Milwaukee Federation) is seeking funding and partnerships to provide ministry follow-up in at least 5 locations to men and women served in the House of Correction and released back into the community. Direct gifts are needed from individuals, congregations and granting institutions. This too is being done in partnership with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Every year 25,000 inmates are served in the House of Correction, and nearly those same numbers are released. This new ministry will address spiritual, social and some physical needs for those who are released with the hope that they are regularly nurtured in Word and Sacrament and equipped in diverse ways to become healthy, contributing members of society, rather than repeat offenders
http://swd.lcms.org/Ministries/Missions/tabid/167/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/8420/2nd-annual-Lutheran-Ethnic-Folk-Fair-coming-September-26th.aspx
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Title: ELCA, LCMS Leaders to Continue Cooperative Ministries, When Possible
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
>October 1, 2009
ELCA, LCMS Leaders to Continue Cooperative Ministries, When Possible
09-217-JB
BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) agreed they would do all they can to continue their longtime cooperative ministries, despite decisions made by voting members of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly regarding human sexuality.
The ELCA is a 4.6-million member church based in Chicago. The 2.4-million member LCMS is based in St. Louis. The ELCA and the LCMS do not have "altar and pulpit fellowship" with each other because of doctrinal disagreements.
Meeting as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) Sept. 28-29, the leaders spent most of their time discussing the future of their present work together. Meeting with them were leaders of three such ministries: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America, which provides a variety of human services through social ministry organizations, and Lutheran World Relief, an international relief and development agency, all based here.
At the center of the discussion were ELCA assembly actions taken in August. Assembly voting members adopted a social statement on human sexuality and a series of proposals to change ELCA ministry policies, including a change to make it possible for Lutherans in lifelong, publicly accountable, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.
The Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, said the decisions were incompatible with the Word of God, and do not agree with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian teaching about what Scripture says regarding human sexuality. He also repeated words from his address to the ELCA assembly in Minneapolis that the actions of the ELCA would "negatively affect the relationships between our two churches," and that the current division between the LCMS and ELCA "threatens to become a chasm."
Setting the stage for the discussion on cooperative ministries was Ralston B. Deffenbaugh, former president, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). He reviewed the history of Lutherans' response to global human need and said the capacity of Lutherans to respond is considerable. "The world is crying out to Lutherans to continue this response," he said.
The church leaders also met in groups to discuss the ministries. Most agreed that despite differences over human sexuality, the churches should continue working together as much as possible when it can be done without compromise. "I have a great concern for the ongoing ministries in which we do have a joint interest -- and there are many of those," Kieschnick said to the ELCA leaders, including the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
Kieschnick shared correspondence he has written to LCMS leaders, advising them that the LCMS president and vice presidents will continue to monitor the relationship with the ELCA. He offered suggestions to LCMS district presidents about how to respond when working with the ELCA in joint ministries when matters arise concerning the ELCA assembly decisions.
Kieschnick told the ELCA leaders that "we do have a real concern as the LCMS for doing everything we possibly can to deliver ministry" to people in need. "We don't take this lightly. We believe that working together with other partners can enhance the ministry that's delivered to the recipients," he said. Cooperative ministry relationships with the ELCA will certainly be a topic to be discussed at the 2010 LCMS convention in Houston, Kieschnick added.
Hanson expressed gratitude to Kieschnick for his comments. "What you have said is very clear (and) honest," the presiding bishop said. He said Kieschnick's remarks would be "well-received" when Hanson reports to the ELCA Conference of Bishops, meeting Oct. 1-6 in Chicago.
Others echoed the comments of the two church leaders. The mission of the cooperative ministries is bigger than both church bodies, said the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration. "We've made a commitment to serve 'the least of these' and a commitment to work with people at the margins. Now is not the time to walk away from the mission we've been given," she said.
The Rev. Raymond L. Hartwig, LCMS secretary, said it may be difficult to work together in some cases, "but it doesn't mean the other 90 percent are not possible." He asked leaders of cooperative ministries here to help while the churches "sort this out."
"We believe, teach and confess some things that bind us together such as our common understanding of Baptism," said the Rev. Samuel Nafzger, director of church relations and assistant to the president. He expressed hope that the churches could pledge to each other "to do, in good conscience, what we can do with integrity and in faithfulness to our respective doctrinal positions."
The leaders also reported key information about their denominations:
+ Hanson said ELCA leaders continue to have conversations with global and ecumenical partner churches regarding the assembly's actions on human sexuality.
+ The LWF Council will meet this month in Geneva, and it will elect a new general secretary, Hanson said. The current general secretary, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, plans to leave office next year.
+ The International Lutheran Council (ILC), which met in August in Seoul, South Korea, unanimously adopted a statement on same-gender relationships and the church, Nafzger said. It said Scriptures testify "that the lifelong committed union of one man and one woman is the place the Lord intends for human sexuality to be lived out," and it said the ILC believes the practice of homosexuality violates the will of God. He also reported that the Rev. David Mahsman has been asked by the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg (ILSW), a joint project of the LCMS and its partner church in Germany, the Selbstaendige Evangelish-
Lutherische Kirche, to serve as its managing director. The ILSW will seek to work together with other Christians in Wittenberg, including the ELCA Wittenberg Center, whenever possible," Nafzger said.
+ Both churches reported income declines for 2009 and struggles to meet budget goals, mostly due to current economic conditions in the United States.
Attending for the ELCA were Bullock and Hanson, plus David D. Swartling, secretary; the Rev. Donald McCoid, executive, Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations; Carlos Pena, vice president; and the Rev. E. Roy Riley, bishop, New Jersey Synod.
Attending on behalf of the LCMS were Hartwig, Kieschnick, Nafzger, plus the Rev. William R. Diekelman, first vice president; the Rev. Joel Lehenbauer, executive director, Commission on Theology and Church Relations; and Ronald Schulz, chief administrative officer.
Also present were Deffenbaugh; Anne Wilson, LIRS executive vice president; the Rev. John Nunes, president, Lutheran World Relief; and Jill Schumann, president and chief executive officer, Lutheran Services
in America.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
Job Loss Picture Bleak
This chart shows that previous recessions ended with job recovery, some over a short period of time, some over a longer period of time.
The current decline shows a sharp loss of jobs, continuing. I am not sure if under-employment is represented. Most full-time workers have lost income from lack of overtime, etc.
It is likely that the continuing loss of jobs will have the effect of forcing even more job losses.
The best economic stimulus is a cut in taxes, but that has been shunned as a "GOP solution."
A Note for 11111111
Many will parse 11111111 and wonder what the binary code means. One person knows, and that is enough. This post fits many people in the Lutheran Church today.
These are discouraging times for Lutherans laity. The seminaries have been controlled for decades by the unionistic Reformed - in the name of Church Growth. The administrative structures have put their own people in, expelling anyone thought to be disloyal to the agenda. As Father Neuhaus once observed, "Liberals excommunicate for life."
This also happens at the congregational level. Sadly, the Shrinker agenda appeals to the typical layman. If a layman loves sound doctrine, he is different and likely shunned. As Luther observed, the most painful part of this comes from fellow church members being evil. We expect non-believers to be hostile, but there is nothing like the burning rage of the apostates, especially when delivered covertly, anonymously, or in a faux-friendly way.
Another disappointment comes from people who could do or say something, but never do, in fear of retribution, or just because they love approval. I know one pastor who never said anything for years, for or against. He accumulated no negatives that way.
I know of pastors driven out of the ministry for saying one thing about the obvious. One family was driven out of their congregation because their pastor was unethical and dishonest. The pastor was rewarded by the system, promoted, and paid well. He still is.
All that is the gist of church history. The wolves avoid the cross and say, "Look at how well we are doing." They point to those who bear the cross and say, "Look at what miserable failures you are."
One of the saddest moments, which I mentioned before, came when a fine pastor told me he was a failure. He was so hounded by his fellow pastors (all from the same schools, etc.) that he never wanted to preach again. He discounted all his work because the wolves scattered his flock so effectively. That distant city, not where I was, saw three fine pastors driven out by the synod - all for being faithful. If you think there is no doctrinal discipline in WELS, the Little Sect, or Missouri, revise your judgment. Apostates are dogmatic doctrinal discipline advocates, never forgetting, never forgiving.
Walther too commented on the false teachers enjoying the good things of this life, like the rich man, while faithful pastors suffered. I hear from many laity, so I am aware of what they have gone through in various locations.
All those difficulties of life have been true since the beginning and will remain the norm, even with good leadership, which is in short supply. Nevertheless, the will of God bears fruit among the cross-bearers. The very act of bearing the cross, suffering because of the Word, is the source and energy of fruitfulness in the Gospel. So the Gospel seed seems thinly sown but continues to be abundant in the harvest.
In contrast, the thistles grow thick and strong, spreading their influence and glorying in their abundance. But their crop is sterile and useless. Shrinker churches become Reformed, and Reformed churches become Unitarian. There are many large, wealthy, influential Unitarian congregations, but how valuable have they been in preparing people for eternal life?
Friday, October 2, 2009
Patterson Readies SP Bid as the Next Doctrinal Pussycat, South Central Babtist District, WELS
Oh I could write a funny, about our Easter bunny.
He'll be the grandest DP in the SP parade.
Kelm will be in clover, and when they look Don over,
I'll Photoshop dead zebras for the SP parade.
Oh Chicaneries, Chicaneries, the Ichabods are waiting,
And you'll find that you're in the next dozen posts.
And I could write a funny about our Kudu bunny,
And of the Shrinker campaign in the SP parade.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Outreach and Canvassing":
Word from the pew is that Gurgel is positioning Patterson to be the C&C presidential at the next synod convention.
Glaeske is about to retire and Patterson is poised to take over as district pope of the southcentral. Then watch the rock and roll churches grow.
Welcome Confirmation from the Shrinkers
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Trusting God's Will in His Word":
"helping their Father Below"
Greg, strange that these words would come from your mouth since it seems this is exactly what you do, what this blog is for, all of your motivations come directly from a deep-seated need to please your Father in Hell.
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GJ - Diablo (not his real name) just asked me about hate-mail from the Shrinkers. I stopped letting their comments through because they had two different blogs (anonymous, of course) and deleted both of them.
According to this brave soul:
- Satan wants the best Lutheran hymns posted for people to read and sing.
- Satan enjoys having Luther, the Book of Concord, Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Gerhard, Gerhardt, Walther, Jacobs, Schmauck, Loy, Reu, and Robert Preus quoted.
- Satan prefers the KJV to the NIV, ESV, and the Living Bible.
- Satan hates the Church Growth Movement and loathes hiding the liturgy, creeds, and Sacraments.
Outreach and Canvassing
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What Are Valid, Orthodox Approaches to Outreach?":
Thank you so much Pastor G J! I have been meaning to ask you this question for some time. Could you provide some examples of out reach and canvassing? I am on the church evangelism comm. and would appreciate your helpful knowlege. Church and Change is not an option. We do not need the assistance of false teachers.
From WELS church lady
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GJ - I provided some outreach examples before. With canvassing, I suggest picking a neighborhood and simply inviting people to church if they have none. Having a doctrinal piece to give them is a good idea - Not one that says "We are a friendly church with a lot of programs to suit your felt needs." Most churches are not that friendly; moreover, the Word converts - not love. I said to a WELS gathering that promoting the "friendliness of WELS" was not a good idea. M. Manthey said, "Greg, that was cruel."
Many are looking for solemn, digified, liturgical Christ-centered worship. Adults do not want kiddy sermons and arky-warky floody-muddy songs to sing. If they do, there is always a Shrinker sect to patronize.
We printed "We Still Believe" and used that all the time. We also paid for doctrinal ads in the newspapers.
Any approach should be Word-centered and not measured by man's concept of success.
Blogger on the Word
Psalm 91
Thinking Back
When your boy grows up and joins the military, you can not help but entertain a reverie of memories. In one letter from home, I told my son that I remember when he was a newborn baby, upset and crying, and I rocked him to sleep in the old rocking chair my grandmother gave me. She told me that my father had rocked me in that rocker when I was a baby. And that my grandfather rocked my father as a baby in it too. And that my great grandfather rocked my grandfather as a baby in the same rocker.
Here is what I remember clearly (and told my son): When I rocked him as a little baby in that rocker I spoke the words of Psalm 91 to him (I memorized the whole Psalm when I was in my early 20s). I patted his back, and rocked, and thanked God for this precious firstborn child, and I spoke Psalm 91 to him...and he would calm down and listen. On several occasions I did this. I told him as a baby that it was his life verse. And I told him as a 21-year-old Army recruit that it was his life verse.
I sent him a copy of Psalm 91 and I told him that the part I liked best is in the end, when God speaks:
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high,
because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”
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GJ - I do not know this man's confession of faith, but I have found many who believe in the efficacy of the Word with infants, something clearly taught throughout the Scriptures. I recall a Baptist writing in Christianity Today that dedicating a baby (Holy Baptism without water) stays with the child for life. As a result, most anti-pedobaptists (Pentecostals, Baptists, and Babtists) have infant dedication services. Oral Roberts did one on TV, but warned that he did not believe in infant baptism or baptismal regeneration. Tis funny that false teachers proclaim their opposition to the clearest Biblical doctrines.
Two Services Or One?
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What Are Valid, Orthodox Approaches to Outreach?":
Good comments, Greg! Refreshing: "1.2.3." That's it! That's "all" you need to do as a pastor.
The elders committee at my parish want to go from two services to one because for various reasons we have been shrinking in numbers. The pastor's opinion is to keep it at two because with the choice of two services more people will be in contact with the Word, giving more opportunities for the Word to work. Fewer choices for Sunday Divine Service times usually means fewer people in Sunday Divine Service, taking away more opportunities for the Word to work.
The elders want one service so that we can have a feeling of being full and vibrant again and that will generate enthusiasm, which will lead to growth.
Comments?
Oh, and what about whether the service or Sunday School should be first? And at what time?
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GJ - Once we bought pews from a Shrinker WELS church, because they spread out their pews to hide the loss of members.
One ELCA church turned the worship area 180 degrees. I told the pastor that was great because he could say, "I really turned this church around!"
Combining services usually means losing those who like the time they picked before. More broadcasting of the Word means more fruitfulness.
I don't know when Sunday School should be. I do think parents should train children to sit quietly through the whole service. Times vary with the location. We don't need canon law on that issue.
By the way, when some pastors read the last chapter of Thy Strong Word, they said it changed their entire view of pastoral ministry. I said essentially what I did in the earlier post.
In the name of success, Lutheran churches have given up the two approaches guaranteed to be effective because God's Word is efficacious:
1. Preaching and teaching the Word.
2. Taking the Word to people's homes.
Effective can also include making people angry, alienating apostates high and low, inciting adulterers to riot, etc. The Word and the holy cross go together. That is why, perhaps, so many avoid the Word in favor of entertainment.
Trusting God's Will in His Word
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What Are Valid, Orthodox Approaches to Outreach?":
Very well put Greg. Very well put. I think I'll print this out and put in on my fridge when tempted to listen to those who "fan the flames of discontent" and sow seeds of the same among the formerly faithful.
Rather than doing what you present here, and being discouraged with carrying the cross of rejection, the majority now rely on trying to make it more palitable to the masses and a world that they cannot believe is rejecting the beautiful Gospel. "How could they" they claim, "we must be doing something wrong in our approach. How can we make it more appealing?" At this point it is worthy to remember Jesus' words...Matthew 5:13-15
13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
So, why are so called "true to the Word" churches trying to hide their light? That is actually what is happening, when they have believed the deceptive words and works of those who have succeeded in telling them essentially that the Word is not enough.
Bullocks.
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GJ - The whole Shrinker crew in WELS, ELS, Missouri, CLC (sic) and ELCA operate from the same assumptions. They even use the same words borrowed from Fuller, Willow Creek, and the new/old Emerging Church types - Leonard Sweet, Ed Stetzer, Andy Stanley, Driscoll, Groeschel, and Beeson.
These Shrinkers are simply training people to leave the Lutheran Church, one baby-step at a time.
To make matters worse, the WELS Shrinkers use Lutheran terms to adulterate them with the Shrinker toxins. For example, Bruce Becker, as head of Perish Services, asked, "What--besides the Means of Grace--are you doing to grow your church?" (Paraphrased)
James Huebner, now First VP, openly mocked the efficacy of the Word in print, but I do not recall him ever retracting his error.
The WELS Perish consultants or assistants, Mission Counselors, and staff were all hired to promote the Shrinkage movement. They skimmed WELS offering money to start Church and Chicanery. (Did Thrivent think it was too ludicrous to fund?) The Chicanery conferences and The Love Shack Staff overlap one other in personnel, but the core leaders are Mark Jeske, Don Patterson, and the Appleton bunch.
The foundational error of all these false teachers is denial of the efficacy of the Word alone. For that reason, they shun the Means of Grace (except as a rabbit's foot) in favor of salesmanship and entertainment.
Luther said, "Satan is enraged that a mere man could stand up to him with the Word."
The false teachers ignore the doctrinal questions and say, "You are a bad person, so your comments do not count." They have a variety of methods to do this, and they are as underhanded as possible when busy helping their Father Below. That is why so many pastors and laity mute themselves on the issues.
Muting has not worked well for the last 30 years. Nothing much is left. God has promised that anything is possible with the Word. Lutherans must begin with trusting the Word alone and not being ashamed of the Gospel.
What Are Valid, Orthodox Approaches to Outreach?
Anonymous
Anonymous said...
Just curious here, what is the valid, orthodox form of outreach? Say you keep the Divine Service and all things Lutheran (not running from your name and attempting to retain whatever form of confessional Lutheranism - even seeking greater alignment with our Symbols), what is a historical approach as far as community outreach and who should be conducting whatever that may be? I mean, what should pastors and lay people be doing with regards to reaching out in their communities?
Rob
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GJ - A pastor has only three tasks:
1. Preaching the sermons.
2. Teaching adults and children.
3. Visiting his members and potential members.
The impact of the Church Growth Movement has been seen in two major areas:
A. Sermons are no longer sermons, but practical talks, and they are copied from various sources on the Internet.
B. Members are trained to do the pastor's work of visitation, while he stays in the study, downloading more cool stuff to borrow. Probably very little visitation of any kind takes place. Cell groups supposedly substitute for spiritual care.
If members are in the hospital, shut-ins, or dealing with grief, they should have pastoral visitation as a priority - above all other work. The modernists have substituted counseling in the office as a substitute for pastoral visitation. One liberal bishop discussed once how that inevitably led to trouble and pastoral downfall.
In the area of preaching and teaching, relying on the Means of Grace has always been the strength of Lutheran practice in those rare places where Lutherans were not copying the Reformed. Luther did not have a program of outreach, except to broadcast the Word as widely as possible. He trusted that God's Word was identical to God's will.
The opportunities are endless for teaching and preaching the Word of God. Sunday is a unique opportunity to speak without interruption for 20-30 minutes, in the sermon alone. The liturgy, Creeds, and hymns are additional proclamations of the Promises of God.
Email bulletins, blogs, websites, Internet broadcasts, local radio, and many more opportunities exist to teach the Word of God. Why wouldn't every pastor put his written sermon on a blog each week?
If the pastor and his members are well versed in Biblical doctrine, the question is not how outreach is done but whether it ever stops. The opportunities present themselves in many different ways. False teachers like the JWs and Mormons actually come to the parsonage to be tutored, even though they leave in a rage.
The attitude of the pastor, members, and synod should be an emphasis on faithfulness to the Word rather than results. The climax of Walther's Law and Gospel quotes Luther on this topic. The Word of God is always effective and always bears fruit.
Unfortunately, the mission counselors and alleged evangelism experts are always in a fever to get results. They fan the flames of discontent in the parish, so that members are not upset over blatant false doctrine but over "bad numbers." See Waldo Werning and Kent Hunter for many examples of this kind of thinking and Fuller-copied false doctrine.
Neighborhood surveys are a tough but worthwhile way to reach people. We had college students help once. They came into contact with a former member who had gone over to the Pentecostals. The woman was delighted to come back to Lutheran worship with her children. She pointed out how the Pentecostals required all their "successful programs" and made people buy $20 notebooks for each required program. It was all Law. So I would argue that one family rescued from legalistic Pentecostalism was success.
Every baptism and communion service is a success. How can the Andy Stanley robots talk about the Gospel and hide the visible Word of the sacraments? The hiding tells more about their attitude toward God's Word than all their blabber about outreach.
A Christian funeral is Gospel proclamation to an entire extended (and perhaps dysfunctional) family at once. Neighbors and friends from all confessions and no faith at all come and listen respectfully to a Gospel sermon.
Weddings, as difficult as they may be, are another chance to speak to a large crowd about the Gospel in marriage, the value of children. A faithful minister will find strangers nodding in agreement during the sermon, others frowning in opposition. Results!
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed (Mark 4) teaches us not to worry about the the Word landing in the right place, soil which is always affluent and suburban according to Shrinker mission counselors. Instead, the parable teaches us to scatter the Word without being anxious about where it lands. Franzmann wrote a hymn about that topic - "Preach Ye the Word."
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Galatians -
Paul's Battle for Justification by Faith Alone:
Luther's Best Commentary
Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and Luther's Galatians commentary are probably the most neglected books among Lutherans, except for the Book of Concord.
Bunyan was an English Dissenter, never a Lutheran, but he was far more influenced by Luther's writings than Lutherans are today.
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Bethany Lutheran Church is now studying Galatians, an epistle tiny in size but major in its impact across the ages. In Galatians, Paul waged his war against adding works to the Gospel. Luther used Galatians to battle the Medieval theology of the Roman Catholics.
Adding works to the Gospel is natural, the result of our Old Adam's fondness for earning merit . Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox openly support "faith plus works" in a variety of ways. In fact, the Council of Trent damns to Hell (see Galatians 1:8) anyone who teaches justification by faith apart from the works of law.
Non-Lutheran Protestants endorse, without admitting it, the concept of requiring works in addition to the Gospel to earn salvation. Strangely enough, their Zwinglian denial of the Sacraments has made many Protestant leaders long for the bosom of the Antichrist, hoping that the terms of reconciliation are softened by the mercy of his Holiness.
The Reformed call the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion "ordinances," meaning they are a law to be obeyed, not Means of Grace. They are horrified by the Means of Grace, God freely offering His grace in a visible form. When Lutherans get in bed with the Reformed, as they have for the last 40 years, they give up the Sacraments first. When Rick Miller was a WELS pastor, he began calling the Sacraments "ordinances" in his promotional literature. In time, the WELS mission turned honest and joined the Evangelical Covenant sect, but copious praise is still offered to Rick Miller, Kelly Voigt, and Mark Freier for their WELSian efforts.
A WELS leader said the Shrinker are hard to pin down, but I continue to disagree. All I do is listen to the "must" and "have to" statements, which are law. Here are some samples:
- The Church has to grow. They mean the visible church, the organization. The Shrinker grasp of church history is shocking. The Lutheran Reformation started with a bang and receded once people experienced the cross. Shrinkers have destroyed their own denominations and yet keep yakking about growth!
- The Church must make disciples. That is her mission - to make them. As one Lutheran observed, they turn a Gospel admonition into law. One Shrinker shouted in rage as he repeated those words which I kelmed from a student.
- Thousands of people are going to Hell each day, so we must save them. I saw that on a banner in a WELS congregation - a Shrinker's. God cannot do it Himself--or do it alone--He must have our efforts and our money most of all.
- We have to reach the younger generation, so we have to provide pop music and entertainment. A coffee bar is another must.
- We have to reach out to everyone, so we have to hide the liturgy, creeds, and hymns.
- Women are unhappy, so we have to make them leaders and teachers in the Church.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Pardon Me, Miss, But Your Enthusiasm Is Showing...
Slap!
Jars of Clay Ministries (JOCM), a non-profit, self-supporting outreach effort “born” in November 2002, is the result of God calling two Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) laywomen Sharon Buck [Steve Witte's sister] and Karen Harmon, to connect and prepare other spiritually mature women to use their God-given “relational and nurturing gifts” to share the gospel.
[GJ - Women's ordination arrived in WELS about 20 years ago. Notice that these women have been called directly by God to be evangelists - just like apostles. Their pastoral advisors are Shrinkers Schuppe and Witte, so no one noticed. Nor did anyone dare to object. Brug solemnly declared in the Quarterly that there is nothing in the Bible against women's ordination. Lux fiat. Erat lux.]
Resources Page - WELS Pots of Pietism
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association – Evangelism and discipleship training.
www.billygraham.org
International Coalition of Workplace Ministries - Founded by Os Hillman to help men and women identify and fulfill their God-given calling by applying biblical faith to their life and work.
www.icwm.net
Prison Fellowship Ministries (Chuck Colson, Founder), an outreach to convicts, victims of crime, and justice officers….exhorting, equipping and assisting the church in it’s ministry to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.
www.prisonfellowship.org
CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: A nondenominational ministry founded by the late Bill Bright. The sole purpose of this organization is to evangelize the world for Christ. It is an international ministry with Reformed roots, but still provides a wide variety of Christian books, tapes, music, pamphlets, etc. that are effective tools for outreach and spiritual growth.
Campus Crusade for Christ, c/o Keynote,18005 Sky Park Circle, Suite K, Irvine, CA 92614.
Phone: 800-352-8273
Check out their resource list at www.GOccc.com
JONI AND FRIENDS: Joni Eareckson Tada has been a quadriplegic for more than 30 years. Injured in a diving accident as a teenager, she has used this tragedy in her life to reach out to others with God’s message of love and encouragement. Her non-profit organization is dedicated to accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community. She has an International outreach called WHEELS FOR THE WORLD that has distributed over 14,000 wheelchairs in 50 countries. During the summer months in the US, she holds retreats for the disabled and their families in a variety of states. She has developed Area Ministries in 11 states to help localize support for people with disabilities. She provides inspiration and encouragement on a 5 minute daily radio spot. Her organization is a well spring of resources for outreach to the disabled and their families.
Joni and Friends, P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, CA 91376.
Phone: 818-707-5664
www.joniandfriends.org
TIME OF GATH is a Christian outreach ministry whose sole purpose is winning souls for eternity. Time of Gath shares the great news of Jesus Christ's gospel message via a weekly half hour television program originating from St. Marcus Lutheran Church (WELS) in the heart of Milwaukee and is broadcast throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota. One of the ministry’s 5 year goals is to broadcast throughout the entire United States, reaching millions in the towns, cities and rural areas of our nation.
Mark Jeske is the featured pastor for Time of Gath Fund-Raising Ministry which also provides a variety of wonderful trinkets to buy that can bring you or others closer to God. Mark has written several booklets and brochures that are evangelistic in nature and very “consumer friendly”. In addition, Time of Gath makes inspirational videos and transcripts available to purchase.
To request resources call: TIME OF GATH MINISTRY at 1-800-661-3311. Have your credit card out - make sure it is not maxed out already.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Pardon Me, Miss, But Your Enthusiasm Is Showing......":
According to this directory out of @75 WELS staff Ministers there are 29 women ministers serving in the WELS. [GJ - Larry Olson, Our Staph Infection, DMin Fuller, is in charge of staff ministry.]
http://www.staffministry.net/information.php
Everything seems to be going to plan according to Kathrine Wendland's wishes detailed in her WELS paper http://www.charis.wlc.edu/publications/charis_summer04/wendland.pdf
Shouldn't be so surprising since so much effort has gone into establishing women in the WELS as Ministers and leaders.
Women’s Leadership Conference to be Held July 7, 2007 All WELS women are invited to attend the 2007 National WELS Women’s Leadership Conference, to be held July 7 at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, in Mequon, Wis. The conference will encourage and edify WELS women through discussions, skits, worship, and the introduction of a new Bible study, “Heirs Together—Serving Together.” The keynote discussion titled “A leader . . . Who? Me?” will be led by Kathie Wendland, women's Bible study writer and leader. Other conference speakers include Bruce Becker, Board for Perish Services; Richard Gurgle, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary; Dave Kehl, Commission on Adult Discipleship; Sarah Owens, Wisconsin Lutheran Institutional Ministries; and Jane Schlenvogt, Westside Christian School. For more information or to register, contact 800-567-8669 or visit www.wels.net/jump/womenconf. (http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2617&collectionID=1499&contentID=70941)
New Women’s Ministry conference set
WELS Women’s Ministry Committee, a part of the Commission on Adult Discipleship, has scheduled the second national WELS women’s leadership conference for July 16-18, 2010. Under the theme, “Leading with a Christ-like attitude,” the conference will focus on Philippians 2:1-18. It will be held at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon. (http://www.ctk-wels.org/home/140004059/140004059/docs/_06-15-09_together_WELS.pdf) page 2.
202a.... WELS “Women Leaders–No Longer an Oxymoron”–Kathie Wendland (http://www.churchandchange.org/home/2384/2384/CanCprogram.Web.pdf) page 8.
Brett Meyer
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Pardon Me, Miss, But Your Enthusiasm Is Showing......":
Christ only instituted one office, the Office of Public Ministry ie the Pastoral Office. Thus the congregation places a divine call, in the stead and on behalf of Christ, for a man to serve as Pastor. Christ commanded the requirements for a man to be able to serve (husband of one wife). Christ commanded that no one in the Office is to be above or below another in the same Office. The WELS 'limiting' the Office so that they feel justified in having women serve in it is contrary to Christ's command. To limit the Office changes it into a different office and not that one office Christ instituted. Thus Christ does not call a man or woman into the new man made office. The fact that WELS places a divine call for a woman to serve as Minister of anything is an abomination and perversion of His command.
WELS' own Adolf Hoenecke made the following statements rejecting the WELS doctrine of the Ministry in his thesis “The Teaching Office, Das Lehramt: (http://www.ntslibrary.com/Christian-Doctrine-Teaching-Office.htm)
"Remark: The preaching office (Predigtamt) can be spoken of abstracte (in abstract), that is, so as to mean the means of grace. The preaching office, however, can be spoken of concretely, by which one includes those who bear the office, that is, those who administer the office in abstracto." Page 1, second paragraph
"We are dealing here with the preaching office considered concretely, that is, the office of ministering with the word(Dienstamt am Wort)." Page 1, fourth paragraph
"The antithesis to the scriptural doctrine of the divine institution of the office in the concrete sense can be seen in part in the antithesis to the scriptural doctrine of the call. Still, those theories which claim that the concrete office of ministry in the word (Dienstamt am Wort) rests upon a human institution can here be called antitheses." Page 2, Part 2, second paragraph
"The scripture also makes the bishops and elders equal. Quenstedt: We retain in our churches an order among the ministers so that some are bishops, some are presbyters, others deacons, because also in the apostolic and primitive church there were distinct grades of ministers and indeed were divinely constituted, 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:1. However, we say that to every minister of the church pertains the same power of the ministry consisting in preaching the word and administering the sacraments and the power of jurisdiction in the use of the keys." Page 23, Doctrinal Thesis 5, second paragraph
"In this antithesis also stand the so-called romanizing Lutherans, who hold that church government (Kirchenregiment), whereby persons are ordered above and below one another, is divinely ordained and has a supposedly divinely ordained hierarchy." Page 25, section 2, first paragraph
"The Breslauers continuously call upon Eph. 4:11 (compare 1 Cor. 12:28ff) like the papists for here a divine institution of distinct offices with their churchly duties is supposedly taught." Page 25, fourth paragraph
WELS has perverted the Office of Public Ministry as Christ instituted it and as such it is no longer Christ's instituted office.
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Pardon Me, Miss, But Your Enthusiasm Is Showing......":
WELS and ELS has historically pointed to Ephesians 4:11 to claim Christ instituted multiple divine offices. Hoenecke also had this to say, by quoting Chemnitz, in the same thesis regarding this passage:
Chemnitz finishes his explanation with the clarification that the enumerations of Eph. 4:11 and 1 Cor. 12:28 only show which grades the obligations and duties of the one and the same office of the church or preaching office was distributed. Finally he sets forth the following fundamental principles:
a. That the Word of God does not establish any particular number of grades.
b. From the scripture it is clear that at the time of the apostles the same grades were not present in all congregations.
c. Even so it is clear from the scripture that the separation into grades was not a necessity such that not often all the functions were unified in one person. And furthermore, the entire order was a matter of freedom and was implemented according to need and for the good of the church.
d. All grades were not offices in addition to the preaching office but were themselves true offices of the ministry of the word and sacraments
Page 27
Brett Meyer
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