Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Willowcreek Lutheran Chapel Invites Paul Kelm




Willowcreek Lutheran Chapel


  • Celebrate With Us!

    Worship on Sunday, October 18 at 8:30 am & 11:00 am

    On this Sunday we’ll give thanks to God for these spectacular blessings:

    • 90 years of WELS campus ministry in Madison, WI
    • Chapel’s 45 years as an independent ministry
    • Pastor Thomas Trapp’s 30 years of service at Chapel
    Pastor Paul Kelm (Chapel’s Campus Pastor from 1976 to 1979) will be the guest preacher, with Pastor Emeritus Richard Balge (Chapel’s first Campus Pastor, 1964-71) as lector. We’ll have a reception hour with tours at 9:45 a.m., and a luncheon and brief program of commemoration at 12:15 p.m. Please come celebrate with us!

    Someone wondered, after reading the Chapel newsletter:

A few high-lites in the newsletter:
"maintaining effective tradtions at the Chapel as well as initiating new and fresh ways of sharing the gospel of Jesus with our current student culture."
- I wonder if the "traditions" he speaks of include baptism? Is it relegated to a traditon, a museum piece?
- I wonder how effective having a secular rock band on a Friday night at the Chapel was at getting anyone talking or listening to the Gospel if it was even ever shared?

"we are exploring expanding worship opportuninties, offering a broader Chrisitan Education curriculum, growing the International Student Ministry, coordinating more Chapel and community service opportunities, increasing "marketing" efforts, and nurturing growth in the congregation."


The Bye Bye Birdie Defense in WELS





Nothing grows faster or stronger than a weed - except cancer.
NKJ 2 Timothy 2:14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 
17 And their message will spread like cancer.


We took a family friend to the musical "Bye Bye Birdie," about a reprobate who is drafted into the Army just before running into problems with his image and his fans.

In the musical and movie, the PR team is always working on new stories about Birdie, so they remind me of the CG gurus defending each other, so I kelmed (copied) the chorus in each response.

  • GJ - Northern Conference paper - Kelm was quoted by Kent Hunter (DMin, Fuller) to promote a pan-Lutheran Church Growth conference. Frosty Bivens stood up "to defend the good name of Paul Kelm."
    Chorus - For he's a fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boy!
  • GJ - To Doctrinal Pussycat Robert Mueller - Kelm is always promoting the Church Growth Movement.
    Mueller, Kuske, Oelhafen - "You are the only person in WELS complaining about Church Growth in WELS." For he's a fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boy!
  • Church and Change listserve - "We should not be inviting Leonard Sweet for a WELS conference." Kelm responded - I won't talk about it. For he's a fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boy!
  • GJ - Conference paper which became the final chapter of Liberalism - The WELS missions people were all listed as attending Fuller Seminary, in a blurb sent by Fuller. Adrian and Oelhaven, furious - "Going to Fuller does not mean we agree with them." For we are fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boys!
  • Ichabod - Kudu Don Patterson is the SP designate for Church and Change.
    Patterson Network - (Expletive deleted, expletive deleted, expletive deleted) For he's a fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boy!
  • Tuesday, October 13, 2009

    Time of Gath Discussed on Facebook:
    Ad Ichabodem Fallacy Surfaces



    Parlow, Jeske, Kelm, Patterson. Church and Change - Big hug!


    Kelmed from Facebook
    Displaying all 25 posts by 13 people.
    Post #1
    Joe Jewell (Oxford University) wroteon September 7, 2009 at 9:15pm
    Anyone have comments on this? It certainly surprised me!

    http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=15614

    Time of Grace is a now a "a Recognized Service Organization of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod"... I looked this up and part of what that involves is:

    "RSO agrees (a) to foster the mission and ministry of the Synod, (b) to engage in programs in harmony with the Synod and (c) not to act contrary to the doctrine and practices of the Synod as outlined in the LCMS Constitution and Bylaws, the LCMS Board of Directors’ Policies and the LCMS Convention Resolutions that apply."

    https://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/Service%20Opportunities/RSO%20Agreement.pdf

    Can a WELS pastor really place his ministry under the authority of "LCMS doctrine and practices" and "LCMS Convention Resolutions" and stay a WELS pastor?
    Post #2
    Joe Jewell (Oxford University) wroteon September 7, 2009 at 9:24pm
    To add: yes, I have emailed Pastor Jeske about this.
    Post #3
    Michael Schottey (Martin Luther) wroteon September 8, 2009 at 12:17pm
    I would not be comfortable with my pastor serving on the board of an LCMS church. I don't see how this is different. It is certainly not an extraneous "non-ministry" like Thrivent.
    Post #4
    Brent Peterson (Wisconsin Lutheran) wroteon September 8, 2009 at 2:29pm
    Hmmm. I would not expect this. All in all, the LCMS and the WELS do mission and outreach quite well, but I don't understand why Time of Grace would need to align itself with the LCMS's Recognized Service Organization.
    Post #5
    Levi Powers (Wisc La Crosse) wroteon September 8, 2009 at 3:42pm
    What can be done about this? Should we do something about this? This action of Time of Grace certainly sends mixed messages and may lead to some confusion.
    Post #6
    Benjamin Tomczak (Dallas / Fort Worth, TX) wroteon September 9, 2009 at 1:02pm
    Joe, et al ~

    Thanks for posting this.

    My thoughts (when I found out about it last week) were two-fold:

    1) What exactly is going on here? How strict is this agreement (apparently the LC-MS has already waived the absolute requirement of having LC-MS members on the board, according to some other blogs I perused)? What does being an RSO mean?

    2) Then, when I found out what an RSO is, I asked, "Am I being overly sensitive, or is this a violation of the 'Keep away from them' (Romans 16) and 'Work together for the truth' (2 John) principles?" It's hard for me to see how, at the very least, this isn't confusing.

    It's hard to see how a WELS ministry wouldn't be "acting contrary to" the doctrines and practices of the LC-MS, unless that is read to meant, "Don't propagandize about the differences," or "Don't talk about the actual differences, just dwell on those things about which we agree." Either of which are still pretty unacceptable. Both of which seem to be "acting contrary to" the doctrines and practices of the WELS.

    After digging into it a little bit (isn't the RSO Manual a fun read?) I passed it up the line, that is, contacted my District President (my District's overseer of doctrine and practice) who contacted that District's President (Pastor Jeske's overseer of doctrine and practice) and the Synod President (our Synod's overseer of doctrine and practice).

    Without getting into details, the people who need to know about these things in order to find out what's going on and to work on this situation know what they need to know and are working on them.
    Post #7
    Silas Pieper (Milwaukee, WI) wroteon September 9, 2009 at 3:39pm
    hmm... seems we have some Icabod crazies...
    Post #8
    Michael Schottey (Martin Luther) wroteon September 9, 2009 at 4:16pm
    Yep, me (the MLC grad) and Rev Tomczak are "Ichabod Crazies" and not simply worried about a WELS pastor becoming closely affiliated with (and taking an oath to be bound in practice to) the LCMS.

    Ad Hominem much?
    Post #9
    Phil Eich (Martin Luther) wroteon September 9, 2009 at 5:49pm
    As long as we're in the crazy vein: Icabod (sic).
    Post #10
    Michael Schottey (Martin Luther) wroteon September 10, 2009 at 7:24am
    Phil...you so crazy!
    Post #11
    Kurt Kolander (Wisconsin Lutheran) wroteon September 11, 2009 at 12:29pm
    Its been awhile since my last church history class, so can someone quickly summarize the doctrinal differences between LCMS and the WELS?
    Post #12
    Joe Jewell (Oxford University) wroteon September 11, 2009 at 3:03pm
    1) Doctrine of church and ministry

    LCMS = Pastor is the only true and complete form of a mediate divine call, and the local congregation is the basic and true form of the church. Synod is not church.
    WELS = Divine call can take many forms: pastors, teachers, professors, administrators, others. Synod is church.

    2) Church fellowship

    LCMS = Altar (communion) and pulpit (preaching) fellowship require a common confession, worship and prayer do not.
    WELS = All forms of joint worship and prayer constitute church fellowship and require a common confession.

    3) Male/female roles

    LCMS = Only the pastoral office is exclusively reserved for men. Congregational officers and presidents (and even Elders in some LCMS congregations, although that is controversial) can be women.
    WELS = Offices that involve leadership over mixed groups are to be filled by men. However, a female could theoretically commune a group of all females.
    ELS = Same as WELS, except some controversy on that last point about women communing women.

    I might add that historically the WELS has shown a greater tendency to insist upon the inerrancy of Scripture, but that is related to all three of the above.

    A good book on this topic is "A Tale of Two Synods" by your very own Prof. Braun of WLC.
    Post #13
    Kurt Kolander (Wisconsin Lutheran) wroteon September 12, 2009 at 8:45am
    Thanks for the refresher. I believe I studied Dr. Braun's work when at WLC, but the details had escaped my memory.

    I know that this comment will get a lot of flak, but the above listed differences seem so practice based and minimally doctrine. To explain
    (because I am sure that I am probably losely using those terms), these appear to be discrepancies concerning the practice and outward image of the physical church on earth. They do not, in my opinion, have a direct effect on the actual message of the Law and Gospel.

    This is just my observation regarding the two synods division based on Joe's response to my post. If there is more to these divisions, then my observations are invalid.

    Post #14
    Paul T. McCain (Concordia Publishing House) wroteon September 13, 2009 at 5:01pm
    I've deleted my post. It is not my place on this Facebook Group to discuss doctrine with WELS folks. That is for another time, and place.
    Post #15
    Joe Jewell (Oxford University) wroteon September 13, 2009 at 5:03pm
    I think your judgment is correct on that, and I have deleted my response to your post as well.

    To anyone else reading this board, I've revised my statement on LCMS/inerrancy from that above to the narrower:

    "The LCMS has shown a greater tendency to tolerate without discipline within their ranks those who do *not* teach the inerrancy of Scripture".
    Post #16
    Luke Gieschen (Martin Luther) wroteon September 13, 2009 at 5:09pm
    Could someone please back up both the WELS and LCMS stances with scripture? I understand the points of the differences, I just can't connect their basis scripturally as I am not as well versed as I could be.
    Post #17
    Benjamin Tomczak (Dallas / Fort Worth, TX) wroteon September 15, 2009 at 12:55pm
    Two places you can go to read the WELS confession on these doctrines and teachings of Scripture:

    1) "This We Believe" -- http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2601&collectionID=783

    2) "Doctrinal Statements of the WELS" -- http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2601&collectionID=795

    Both can be downloaded and read there. You'll find copious Scriptural references to track down and study on all three topics -- Church and Ministry, Fellowship, and the Roles of Men and Women.

    Post #18
    Luke Gieschen (Martin Luther) wroteon September 16, 2009 at 2:46pm
    Thanks.
    Post #19
    Jay Ramos (Yale) wroteon September 24, 2009 at 8:47pm
    Pastor Tomczak (or others),

    Is there some kind of timeframe in which we can expect a statement or other action from those who are working on this?

    I would hope that the statement addresses the reason for becoming an RSO and why this is or is not acceptable.
    Post #20
    Benjamin Tomczak (Dallas / Fort Worth, TX) wroteon September 25, 2009 at 7:24am
    Jay ~

    Honestly, I don't know how long things will take to be taken care of and dealt with. The Bible doesn't give us a "timeframe" just an action frame (Matthew 18:15ff). It could be days, it could be weeks, it could be months, depending on what and who is involved.

    Post #21
    Jeffrey Sonntag (Martin Luther) wroteon October 7, 2009 at 10:46pm
    Has anyone contacted Time of Grace and asked them about this personally. Do they know what this website says about them? Just wondering.
    Post #22
    Joe Jewell (Oxford University) wroteon October 11, 2009 at 6:11pm
    I emailed Mark Jeske right before I started this thread a month ago. He says [I'm paraphrasing; I didn't ask his permission to quote him] essentially that RSO status doesn't really mean what the LCMS RSO website says it does, and that he feels it simply means that LCMS has vetted his program and considers it OK for LCMS people to watch. Pastor Jeske says that becoming an LCMS RSO doesn't actually give LCMS any authority over Time of Grace.

    That seems like (putting the Lutheran "best construction" on this) an exceptionally naive take on an agreement "not to act contrary to the doctrine and practices of the Synod as outlined in the LCMS Constitution and Bylaws, the LCMS Board of Directors’ Policies and the LCMS Convention Resolutions". I have never in the past known Mark Jeske to be that naive.

    They are aware of what the LCMS website says about Time of Grace's official affiliation (I sent him the same link I posted to start this thread, and I doubt it was a surprise in any event) and OK with it.

    For what it's worth, the LCMS pastor in my hometown (who is equally surprised that a WELS entity would affiliate with LCMS in this way) tells me that it is quite a process to get RSO status--it involves lots of paperwork and approval at the district/synodical level. He and other area LCMS congregations have been going through the process to get RSO status for some joint work that they do, and it is apparently not at all trivial.
    Post #23
    Samuel Jeske (Martin Luther) wrote6 hours ago
    I understand your concern, joe. But I agree with Kolander. This is really minor. Can we, in this financial time of crisis, afford to argue amongnst each other about the differences in the invisible church? Amongst the Lutheran Church? So you slap a LCMS label on a WELS box of cereal. Does that mean the "WELS" truth will taste different? Does that suddenly mean he's preaching heresy? Does that mean that the Holy Spirit no longer works through him?

    Naive? That seems pretty straight forward. Is not their truth our truth? Yeah there are the differences in clergy, but did not Jesus die for them too? Are they suddenly not allowed to watch Time of Grace because of some denominational acronym? No.

    Why are we arguing about how the truth of God's love enters the homes of people? God is reaching people through this ministry. Has anyone here attended St. Marcus? Has anyone here ever watched Time of Grace? If so, do you hear heresy in what he says? No. You don't. The differences you've listed seem trivial to argue about. Are we not commanded to go into ALL the world and preach the good news, the truth, to ALLl creation? So if the truth comes in a LCMS box are you saying it no longer is truth? You mentioned earlier that it scares you. Why? ELS works hand in hand with the WELS. Why can't LCMS? Aren't we all called for the same work?
    Post #24
    Jeffrey Sonntag (Martin Luther) wroteabout an hour ago
    The reason that LCMS and Wisconsin Synod don't work together is because they are not in fellowship because they don't agree on all the teachings of the Bible. The WELS and ELS ARE in fellowship and therefore they do joint tasks.

    As for the differences, how about we come at this from a logical reasoning. The WELS and LC-MS don't teach the same things. They are similar but not the same. If we just get rid of the doctrine of fellowship and say "If we are pretty close in our teachings and beliefs that's good enough, where do you stop?'' Do you stop with the ELCA or do you stop with Presbyterians or do you stop with Catholics or do you stop with anyone who says they believe in Jesus or ... etc.

    There is a reason that we don't work together with other Synod's with whom we are not in fellowship with, and that is because we are not the same. St. Paul specifically says in Romans 16:17 "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them."
    Post #25
    Samuel Jeske (Martin Luther) wrote26 minutes ago
    I understand that. My point is if LCMS sees Time of Grace and says, "Hey, here's a television show that we can watch and would like to use and doesnt clash with our doctrine," does this suddenly mean that the pastor preaching for Time of Grace is LCMS? LCMS is a wide division of Lutherans. Some are extremely liberal like their friends in ELCA, others are more conservative like us WELS. Every synod has its issues. Believe it or not even the WELS has its own problems.

    Paul was right in what he said. And i agree. But do we stay away from all Christians who do not fall under the WELS umbrella? Do we immediatley assume that we are always right and judge others because we are WELS? Do they not read the same Bible passage and apply that towards us? Most likely. If anything this thread of whether or not Mark Jeske is LCMS is an obstacle and a cause of division. Time of Grace has more viewers on a Sunday morning than the WELS does members on a Sunday morning. What does that say? Do you think just Lutherans watch this show?

    Lets look at the facts. Does Time of Grace teach anything that goes against WELS doctrine? No. So why do we raise our eyebrows if LCMS WANTS to use a WELS based television show? Why are we getting mad about this? If anything this is something to rejoice about. LCMS using a WELS doctrinated show? So why do we bicker? Why do we waste time fighting amongst ourselves? Right now the WELS has plenty of bigger issues that could use a facebook thread on before we start questioning the intentions of a 20 year WELS pastor veteran.

    Where we draw the line is where denominations no longer let scripture interpret itself. Does not Time of Grace do that?

    Time of Grace was approached by LCMS asking if their material could be used. They have no control over the doctrine of Time of Grace which has and always will be WELS. It is simply material that they intend to use. Period. Time of Grace is WELS affiliated. LCMS has ZERO control over them doctrinally.

    Let us remember that we are first servants of Christ and remember our jobs as Christians are to spread the truth. Time of Grace IS spreading the truth. Does anyone else feel this thread is the least of our concerns?

    Writing Makes a Precise Mind








    You wrote Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure?


    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Brief Autobiography":

    Fascinating! I didn't realize when I first stumbled onto your site here that you're the same Jackson who wrote the book on LIBERALISM, which I devoured about 15 or so years ago after a Lutheran friend gave it to me as a gift (I even visited some WLS churches as a result!).

    Kudos to you for not kowtowing to the PC that has infected way too many denominations. Keep fighting the Good Fight.

    Appreciatively,

    Discerner

    ***

    GJ - It's good to hear from readers. Another reader of Liberalism left the LCA, etc. When I was still in the LCA, I was given boxes of books left behind by a Missouri pastor who left the ministry. One two-volume set was edited by John W. Montgomery. One of the authors was an LCA pastor I knew, so I paid special attention to it. That certainly started me on the way toward leaving the LCA.

    Given the Church Growth obsession of the Mischke administration, it is astounding that any criticism of the fad escaped the editorial gaze.
    But alas, the CG network has flourished in WELS ever since. They now own the offering-supported college and seminary. There is no anti-CG lobbying group, but WELS CG has:
    1. The Love Shack Staff
    2. FIC, the Quarterly, and the ELS periodicals

    3. New Ulm and Mequon
    4. Wisconsin Lutheran College, managed by CrossWalk in Phoenix
    5. Pope John the Malefactor
    6. Church and Chicanery
    7. Pots of Pietism
    8. CEO
    9. Time of Gath
    10. Prayer Warriors Institute
    11. and introducing Men of the Word.
    This apostasy has grown because dozens of pastors said and did nothing for decades. Worse, many of them agreed with the criticism of CG and even supplied material and ideas for articles, adding, "You should really write about..." One WELS pastor told Selma S. that he was staying quiet so he could get a teaching job. He stayed quiet and got the job he wanted. Roger Zehms, Floyd Luther Stolzenburg, and Paul Kuske got Pilgrim Community Church going in Columbus, 20 years ago. Thanks to the silence of so many, that trend has continued and a similar but later effort (CrossWalk, Phoenix) is now running Wisconsin Lutheran College, with the college president and two board members from CW.

    I was told that the Arizona-California-Las Vegas District of WELS was on CrossWalk like a hobo on a hotdog. Obviously not. The Disciples denomination was still having meetings about Jim Jones when the massacre took place in Jonestown. As Luther said, murdering souls is far more dangerous.

    I have a letter from an ELS pastor, 1996, thanking me for fighting against CG in the ELS and WELS. Paul McCain's example is instructive. I have several letters from him, thanking me for fighting CG. "I hope it does not infect the ELS," he wrote on November 4, 1991, from his first and only parish. Nine years of Barry-McCain did nothing but bless the CGism and unionism of Missouri. The ELS is thoroughly infected, even under the watchful eye of its Doctrinal Board. Every synod has a doctrinal board, staffed with clerical capons, to ensure the safe and peaceful growth of apostasy.

    Writing makes a precise mind because an orderly argument must be formed out of many complicated issues. Patterson's janisarries were howling yesterday, so I must have done well. Nevertheless, I am an abject failure on this topic. I have written against WELS-ELS-LCMS CG since 1988 or so. In 21 years, every slimy appendage of CG doctrine has extended itself into church institutions. Where are the DPs? Cheering for Church Growth.

    Reformed doctrine is bad enough, separating the Holy Spirit from the Word, denying the efficacy of the Word, mocking the Sacraments. But Fuller's agenda is far worse than than, and conservative Lutherans have embraced it through extensive training at Pasadena, Willow Creek, and Trinity Deerfield.
    The conservative Lutherans all celebrated the 300th anniversary of Paul Gerhardt, a pastor who actually resisted Reformed doctrine. I wanted to attend those LCMS-WELS-ELS seminary chapel services, to see if anyone was laughing out loud.

    ---

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Writing Makes a Precise Mind": CG. . . I respectfully take issue with you on this post. I do not believe that the ELS gas a Church Growth mentality. It has some other mentalities, I admit, but I don't see Church Growth as part of the program.
    I see the ELS as not being oriented to the serious study of theology and of being susceptible, to some degree, towards unthinking right-wing politics. Also, I wish that you would discontinue the use of the mocking title which you give to the President of the ELS, John Moldstad. Other than that, I don't have anything to say because I don't know the people that you write about.

    The Lincoln Town Car is so cool. I wish you many months of driving pleasure. Norman Teigen ELS layman (Disclaimer: Although I should probably be so labeled, I am not a spokesperson for the ELS. No one in the ELS listens to me anyway, so it is probably just as well.)

    ***

    GJ - Norman Teigen is a good example of how CG advances. It cannot be true so it is not true. And yet, the Little Sect on the Prairie has its own Emerging Church, with their ELS pastor, Nathan Krause, as a featured speaker at Church and Change.

    The Teigen family experience is instructive. When B. Teigen wrote correctly that the Synodical Conference erred in teaching the Receptionist heresy, the ELS leadership pounded him. The WELS/ELS people still claim, "We do not know the exact moment." I wonder what they would have said at the Last Supper when Christ spoke - This is My Body. As disciples, they would have said, "But we don't know the moment." Or they might have said, tentatively, "It depends on what the meaning of is is."

    Moldstad earned his title, Pope John the Malefactor. As someone in the ELS observed, the synod has not yet recovered from his explusion of pastors and the exodus of congregations. Moldstad mocked the divine call and all the congregations when he threatened River Heights with, "Fire the pastor or I will expell you from the ELS." I would kneel before him and kiss his papal ring if he would only acknowledge the efficacy of the Word alone and act accordingly with his CG pastors. As a novelist observed, it is my job to "laugh mankind out of their favorite follies and vices." And - "It is much easier to make good men wise, than to make bad men good." (Fielding)

    ---

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Writing Makes a Precise Mind": Rev. Jackson, I, too am an ELS layman and I find what you say about the ELS to be right on. Mr. Teigen obviously has his head in the sand. I see the ELS as being hell bent into Church and Change, what with the example of Rev. Nathan Krause and Abiding Shepherd Lutheran Church.

    The last convention of the ELS pretended not to know what pastor and congregation were being discussed when an issue regarding the use of the historic liturgies in mission congregations was brought to the floor. There are relatively many confessional/liturgical pastors/congregations in the ELS. Most of them are NOT in the state of MN, sad to say. It's probable that NONE of them are in the state of MN. It's so very sad to see the synod that took a stand in 1917, separating from the Norwegian Synod, now going the way of the apostates that they supposedly left behind. It's certainly difficult for a layman to know where to turn. It is my fervent prayer that the pastors and congregations of the ELS cease any leaning to C&C and return to the historic liturgies, and that they stress the Means of Grace. ELS congregations must also cease promoting the farce that is Time of Grace. ELS congregations must first and foremost take care of the feeding of the sheep and lambs of their flocks and hold their shepherds to that task.

    ***

    GJ - It is a sin to "name names" in synod discussions. That way the real issues can be dodged. However, the Shrinkers name names all the time. When John Lawrenz was outraged by Harold Sauer's moderate and edifying essay, he complained about Sauer "naming names" while running the retired pastor into the ground. Oh yes, Sauer was not there "to defend himself," another complaint from Shrinkers, but only if they are the alleged victims. People have told me about meetings they attended where I was named and obviously not there to defend myself. The key tactic is to turn CG criticism into the most horrible sin ever committed and the author/speaker into the most egregious sinner since Judas Iscariot.

    Monday, October 12, 2009

    Glaeske - The Conservative WELS Doctrinal Pussycat



    After starting a Church Growth agency in Columbus, Ohio, and having troubles at WELS Lutherans For Life, Zehms became a Cretan (Illinois) and finally a Texan. He did the district mission board report - as chairman!


    Someone got me started on the Central Southern Babtist District. I ended up on the reports and wondered how anyone could call Glaeske conservative. He has quite a beehive stirring down there:

    Don Patterson - Church and Change leader, stealth mode
    Roger Zehms - District Mission Board
    Steve Valleskey, brother of David Valleskey - world missions.
    Chad White twice! - Trained at Exponential with Don Patterson and a bunch of other conservative, confessional rock-solid WELS pastors.

    And don't forget - Matt Doebler's Rock N Roll Church - and Joe Krohn from CrossWalk, Phoenix. The Doctrinal Pussycats had a secret conclave at Holy Word, Austin (Patterson's church) and solemnly declared Doebler's expensive and ineffective mission raht jus fine (right just fine).


    KJV Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

    Game Plan - Follow the Money and the Patterson Network






    Ex-Synod President Roland Gurgle joined the staff of Patterson, to sponsor Don as the next Doctrinal Pussycat, then have Don challenge Schroeder for the SP position in two years. Church and Change has not been idle.


    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Going Galt, We Bought the Ichaboat from the Duggar...":

    "Even the guys you gripe about the most in this post (Patterson et al)"

    uh..I guess you forgot about Patterson's 1st home - the Stelljes mansion, his 2nd home - the dude ranch, and the fleet of vehicles in his driveway.

    ***

    GJ - Gurgle was such a poor leader of WELS that he was forced out of office. In WELS that is considered a disgrace, because most men stay in the same position forever, until the angel Andrew takes them away. Gurgle stacked The Love Shack with Church and Change partisans, got his Church and Change brother a teaching position at the seminary, burned through the Schwan money and millions in designated funds. How did he get elected when he did the same with the MilCraft Estate and lost the court case? Perhaps some people wanted a repeat performance around the leaky bucket of cash.

    Gurgle should have retired, but after his Asian holiday at synod expense, he landed in Don Patterson's back yard and got himself hired. As the quotation above shows, Patterson lives large while demanding a free vicar every year. Remember that, sports fans, when he runs for office. Oh yes, the WELS pastors run for office. They drop big hints about where they want to be. They frown when pastors complain to them about this and that, as if they will right all wrongs, after doing nothing for decades. They gladhand everyone while dissing the competition.

    After I identified the Patterson network, each member of the network contacted me in some way to say they were not part of the Patterson network.

    Patterson is so frightened of the truth coming out that two blogs started to counter Ichabod. Both of them shut down and erased all the websty files. One was semi-anonymous. The other was anonymous. This is the way WELS guys get their wet work (CIA lingo for murder) done - they say: "I wish you would do something about this. You know I have to keep a low profile. Here is what you might write..." I am not saying Don himself did that. But anyone from his circle could easily have done that.

    Antagonistic traffic increases whenever I focus on the Chicaneries or Patterson. Some people laugh over being kicked off the Patterson/Chicanery mailing lists. Why? I have many sources, because people know the real Don Patterson.

    Gurgle's conduct should remind everyone that he does not respect the office of Synod President. When he was busy wrecking the synod, Issues in WELS began to sort out what was going wrong. The big meeting was going to have 200 pastors in attendance. Gurgle showed up to glower at everyone. Because the pastors knew he would be there and identify them, very few showed up. Once DP Free died, the group fell apart and the files were erased from their website. Nevertheless, influential people made it clear to Gurgle that he was finished as SP. Probably the last straw was the money situation (before the world financial crisis) because that is often the tail-end of incompetent leadership.

    I know from various sources that the Chicaneries at The Love Shack (the whole staff, more or less) fought SP Schroeder from the beginning and still oppose him on a daily basis. WELS Love Shack behavior is a repeat of Jack Preus' election as Missouri SP, when the apostate staff slammed doors shut whenever Jack was on their floor.

    If Gurgle and Kudu Don respected the will of their own synod, they would let Schroeder and the new leadership do their work. Instead, their insubordination is a constant cause of grief.

    KJV Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

    I know how the Shrinkers work. They leave a trail of rodent fecal matter behind wherever they feed upon the work of others, bragging on their blogs and webties. Like the false teachers who invaded Galatia, they offer law for the salvation of souls. They loathe real work and never break into a sweat while moaning about how they labor for the Lord. Their only work is taking over and benefiting from what others have done.

    Even now Perish Services is turning another congregation into a Reformed sect, using badly edited boilerplate, charging $20,000 to $35,000 for the same Fuller ideas that have wrecked other congregations. Once that is done, Perish Services will say, "You need to remodel and expand your building. Ron Roth and Jeff Davis will be happy to raise the money for you, for a fee plus commissions."

    Patterson and Gurgle represent the Good Ol' Boy network that created, supported, and advanced doctrinal apostasy.

    ---

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Game Plan - Follow the Money and the Patterson Net...":

    Don Patterson will never become WELS SP or even a DP for the following reasons. First: educational pedigree. If WELS were NCAA Div I, Patterson would be the equivalent of a JUCO transfer wanting to play first-string: two years at some Texas ag school, off to Bethany for a couple more, then lands at WLS. He lacks language skills which may partly explain his penchant for uncritically adopting the latest reformed theo-jargon. Hate to say it but it shows. Evaluate his Forward in Christ articles, for instance. Filled with fluff. Secondly, how likely is it he'll leave behind his sunny Southfork lifestyle for some cold dreary, northern-tier state? Third, he'll never withstand the withering scrutiny reserved for one is who is not WELS "system-trained". That's not a slight against Patterson; just a fact about the internecine tendencies of the WELS "brothers" toward one who is "not one of us"

    ***

    GJ - You are right about the pedigree. The proper one starts with Kindergarten in a WELS grade school in Wisconsin, Northwestern Prep only (no leaders or profs come from MLS, Prairie, or Mobridge), and Mequon. It helps to be a tutor - unwritten rule.

    ---

    Anonymous
    has left a new comment on your post "Game Plan - Follow the Money and the Patterson Net...":

    The Good Ol' Boy network lost its focus. Concern for the continuity and growth of WELS often displaces the Word and work of the Lord. The more they obsess over the future of the institution the more it declines secularly and spiritually. Such little faith.

    ***

    GJ - I do not think growth was ever part of the agenda. Growth was the smokescreen used by apostates to gain control. How could anyone be against the church growing? Only lazy pastors opposed the Church Growth Movement because the CG gurus worked so hard! Unionism is good because it helps the church grow. Etc.

    ---

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Game Plan - Follow the Money and the Patterson Net...":




    You forgot about Joe raising up his blog in defense of Patterson et al. (If you're gonna do church in Texas ya gotta have an electric guitar in the band- ala Alabama tune)



    It is ironic to me that you have outed Patterson and ruffled some many feathers in the process. The C&Cers thought they had him deeply hidden.



    But it is obvious with the Gurgle partnership that the war is still active.



    As soon as DP Glaeske hangs up his boots the door is open for vp Patterson to shout "the southcentral will rise again."



    Not sure if you found this partner yet: Rick Loewen of WLCFS.



    He is a staph minister presenting at the SCD pastoral conference this month: welssc.org

    ---

    October, 2009
    Rick Loewen
    Spiritual Resiliency



    January, 2010
    Wayne Fischer
    Exegesis of Psalm 46

    John Hering
    Josiah the Reformer: An Isagogical Study of the Reign of King Josiah and Its Applications to Today's Continuing Reformation

    Andy Retberg
    "We Believe, Teach, and Confess": The Relevance of the Formula of Concord for Today's Continuing Reformation

    Steve Valleskey
    Worship in the 1500s -- That We Can Use Today



    April, 2010
    Steve Dorn
    Exegesis of Objective Justification Passages

    Craig Born
    Isagogical Study of Romans focusing on Objective and Subjective Justification

    Dick Schleicher
    Is Objective Justification Universalism? Is Objective Justification a Denial of sola fide? or "Are the Damned Forgiven?"

    Rob Weiss
    Justification by Faith Alone since the Reformation, especially focusing on the emergence of the terms "objective" and "subjective" in relation to justification

    Karl Gurgel
    Justification as Habitus Practicus


    ***

    GJ - The Patterson/Glaeske is all glory-halleluia over Justification Without Faith, and they are also an important node in the Jeske-Appleton-Love Shack network (aka Church and Change).

    UOJ is Enthusiasm - and the Church Growth Movement is Enthusiasm. The two are found together all the time. Notice how they will beat UOJ to death at the same conference, but only one mention of the Confessions in the presentation titles.

    The poor pastors who have to listen to this drivel about UOJ should read up on it before they arrive in April. I know several areas of the country where the laity have trounced UOJ advocates and left them with their mouths hanging open.

    UOJ is not Universalism, because Universalism is honest. UOJ is crypto-Universalism.

    ---

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Game Plan - Follow the Money and the Patterson Net...":

    When Mischke chose not to run for WELS president, the likes of Paul Kelm, Ron Roth, Wayne Mueller, and John Braun were the powermen in synod and its media. They all knew Karl Gurgel from school and as a DP. It was well known before the election that Gurgel was "in the lead" to become the next SP. Why? Because he was in favor of closing Northwestern College and making the ministerial tract the second track at the synod's teacher training school, Dr. Martin Luther College. However, Gurgel's agreement with the SAB establishment in other areas made him the lackey for the Church Growth Movement leaders agenda. Some of the SAB establishment were even members of Gurgel's church in Lake Mills. Also, the old timers in the synod felt confident in Gurgel because they knew his dad, also named Karl Gurgel from his years of service in Caledonia, MN and Fond lu Lac, WI. He shot a straight arrow.

    Mark Schroeder was elected synod president because he had the only viable solution for the synod's financial woes in the wake of Gurgel's announcement to not run for SP again. The parts of that solution that were enacted by the 2007 WELS convention along with some fresh confidence in the new SP brought a financial surplus in short time. I believe that we could say a second blessing came to the SP Mark Schroeder in the economic turndown. His first convention as SP clarified the mission of the synod and was given the privilege of sorting out which ministries are viable and best fit into the mission of the synod.

    Patterson, or anyone else, will unseat Mark Schroeder only if the synod does not like the direction things are going. I see little chance of that in view of the last two conventions. The only advantage that those who would promote Patterson would have is his lack of a pedigree. They could only claim that WELS needs the wisdom of someone who is not an insider. They may point to Preus and Barry in Missouri as examples.

    Incidently, the only reason the leaders come from Northwestern Prep is that the clear majority of WELS members live in the great Milwaukee area (SE District),the string of large WELS churches in the Watertown area (WW District), and the big WELS churches in the Fox River Valley area (NW District). That makes up a clear majority of WELS members. One may also add that the MI District and MLS have an attitude problem and the MN District has committed the unforgivable sin of getting the majority districts to close Northwestern College while they were napping. So, can anything good come out of MI or MN? The rest are off the map.

    ***

    GJ - Patterson's minders have chimed in, anonymously. They can start another new blog. They are good at that, for a few weeks.

    Sunday, October 11, 2009

    Broadcast Problems Today



    In A.D. 2101
    War was beginning.
    Captain: What happen ?
    Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
    Operator: We get signal.
    Captain: What !
    Operator: Main screen turn on.
    Captain: It's you !!
    CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
    CATS: All your base are belong to us.
    CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
    Captain: What you say !!
    CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
    CATS: Ha ha ha ha ....
    Operator: Captain !! *
    Captain: Take off every 'ZIG'!!
    Captain: You know what you doing.
    Captain: Move 'ZIG'.
    Captain: For great justice.

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity":

    Wondering whether anyone else encountered the very great problems I did when trying to log onto the live Divine Service broadcast on the BETHANY CHURCH website ?

    The site indicated no live Service was being broadcast.

    Try though I did many many times, participation was impossible.

    Was Divine Service not held ? (Glad Pastor J also posts his Sermons on Ichabod.

    Anonymous

    ---

    On April 1, 2003, in Sturgis, Michigan, seven people aged 17 to 20 placed signs all over town that read, "All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time." They claimed to be playing an April Fool's joke, but most people who saw the signs were unfamiliar with the phrase. Many residents were upset that the signs appeared while the U.S. was at war with Iraq, and police chief Eugene Alli said the signs could be "a borderline terrorist threat depending on what someone interprets it to mean."[4]

    ***

    GJ - Either the Ustream server had problems or possibly the site was trying to get my computer to install a new version of Flash during the service. Some viewers saw the live service until the communion distribution.

    Robert E. Lee Remembered



    General Robert E. Lee


    The General Lee


    The headline from a Richmond newspaper read, quote;

    “News of the death of Robert E. Lee, beloved chieftain of the Southern army, whose strategy mainly was responsible for the surprising fight staged by the Confederacy, brought a two-day halt to Richmond's business activities.” unquote

    The United States flag, which Robert E. Lee had defended as a soldier, flew at half mast in Lexington, Virginia and throughout the USA.

    General Lee died at his home at Lexington, Virginia at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, October 12, 1870. His last great deed came after the War Between the States when he accepted the presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University. He saved the financially troubled college and helped many young folks further their education.

    Some write that Robert E. Lee suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on September 28, 1870, but was thought to greatly improve until October 12th, when he took a turn for the worse. His condition seemed more hopeless when his doctor told him, "General you must make haste and get well---Traveller---has been standing too long in his stable and needs exercise."

    Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Cadet William Nalle said in a letter home to his mother, dated October 16, 1870, quote;

    “I suppose of course that you have all read full accounts of Gen Lee's death in the papers. He died on the morning of the 12th at about half past nine. All business was suspended at once all over the country and town, and all duties, military and academic suspended at the Institute, and all the black crape and all similar black material in Lexington, was used up at once, and they had to send on to Lynchburg for more. Every cadet had black crape issued to him, and an order was published at once requiring us to wear it as a badge of mourning for six months.” unquote

    Read entire letter on Virginia Military Institute website at:

    http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=5517

    The rains and flooding were the worse of Virginia's history on the day General Lee died. On Wednesday, October 12, 1870, in the presence of his family, Lee quietly passed away.

    The church bells rang as the sad news passed through Washington College, Virginia Military Institute, the town of Lexington and the nation. Cadets from VMI College carried the remains of the old soldier to Lee Chapel where he laid in state.

    Memorial meetings were held throughout the South and as far North as New York. At Washington College in Lexington eulogies were delivered by: Reverend Pemberton, Reverend W.S. White--Stonewall Jackson's Pastor and Reverend J. William Jones. Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis brought the eulogy in Richmond, Virginia. Lee was also eulogized in Great Britain.

    When all settled down, Mrs. Robert E. Lee said, "If he had succeeded in gaining by the sword all the South expected and hoped for, he could not have been more honored and lamented."

    Many thousands witnessed Lee's funeral procession marching through the town of Lexington, Virginia, with muffled drums and the artillery firing as the hearse was driven to the school's chapel where he was buried.

    US President Dwight D. Eisenhower knew and appreciated our nation’s rich history. President Eisenhower was criticized for displaying a portrait of Robert E. Lee in his office. This was part of his response; quote "Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by this nation." unquote

    Robert E. Lee was the hero of the Southern people and admired both North and South of the Mason-Dixon Line. This Christian- gentleman's last words were, "Strike the Tent."

    There will be a Remembering Robert E. Lee Program at Lee Chapel on Monday, October 12, 2009. For details go to:

    http://chapelapps.wlu.edu/tertiary.asp?ID=40&Parent=43&NavOrder=1


    The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity




    Book cover art by Norma Boeckler



    The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

    Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

    http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

    Bethany Lutheran Worship, 10 AM Central Time


    The Hymn #528:1-7 If God Himself Be for Me 4.49
    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 1 Cor. 1:4-9
    The Gospel Matthew 22:34-46
    Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
    Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
    The Nicene Creed p. 22
    The Sermon Hymn #528:8-15 If God Himself Be for Me 4.49

    This Is My Body

    The Hymn #378 All That I Was 4.4
    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 #659 Feed Thy Children 4.23

    Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity
    Lord God, heavenly Father: We are poor, miserable sinners; we know Thy will, but cannot fulfill it because of the weakness of our flesh and blood, and because our enemy, the devil, will not leave us in peace. Therefore we beseech Thee, shed Thy Holy Spirit in our hearts, that, in steadfast faith, we may cling to Thy Son Jesus Christ, find comfort in His passion and death, believe the forgiveness of sin through Him, and in willing obedience to Thy will lead holy lives on earth, until by Thy grace, through a blessed death, we depart from this world of sorrow, and obtain eternal life, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

    This Is My Body

    KJV Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

    The Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion were given to the Church, not as something new, but based upon God’s gracious work with the People of God from the beginning.

    The more we understand Biblical Judaism, the more we appreciate Christianity.

    God’s promises and actions are connected with visible signs we can remember. For example, God promised never again to destroy the earth with a global flood. He gave proof of that promise with the rainbow.

    KJV Genesis 9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

    The rainbow is also in Revelation:

    KJV Revelation 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

    Many people like to say what God could do, without looking at what God has done and continues to do.

    There is complete continuity between the Old Testament sacraments and those of the New Testament. Removing or hiding the sacraments is the same as denying the revelation of the Old Testament.

    In the apostolic era, which we are studying with the Epistle to the Galatians, the Scriptures were simply the Old Testament. Lenski thinks Galatians was the first Pauline epistle, before Thessalonians, and most assume the Gospels came later.

    That does not mean that Christians invented the New Testament. The Pauline letters, inspired by the Holy Spirit, circulated among the Christian churches. For the Gospels they had the preaching of the Apostles. Unlike today, people had the capacity to memorize and recite entire books, so this was another way to circulate the Apostolic teaching when the disciples were not present.

    As I mentioned before, the first task of every new Christian congregation was to obtain a copy of the Old Testament. That was their first unit, the foundation of all their preaching work. Jewish Christians naturally wanted to hear how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament promises. Gentile Christians needed to learn the details so they could see that their Savior was promised at the beginning of time.

    The first Gospel Promise:
    KJV Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

    So Christian worship was directly connected with the Old Testament promises and sacraments.

    All those sacraments were meant to train people to understand and expect the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

    For example, the rainbow is still our common reminder of that promise in Genesis. When we see that rainbow, it should remind us of God always keeping His Promises. It is not just the threat of a global flood, but all the Promises we should remember.

    KJV Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

    KJV Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

    KJV Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

    KJV Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

    One way to find the Promises of God is to look up “fear not.” Fear is the opposite of faith, and fear is best countered by the Promises of God. Another way is to find the Gospel sections of the Old Testament, which are abundant. One of the most uplifting sections of the Bible is Isaiah 40ff.

    Who Needs Sacraments?
    The issue is not whether God needs sacraments, which is supposedly an argument against them. The sacraments are God’s will, which we cannot dispute.

    The term itself is shorthand for God’s Promise connected with something visible. The rainbow is certainly a sacrament in that sense.

    Mothers spray water into a room to scare monsters away. It is easy to tell children abstractly, “There are no monsters in there,” but it is easier to have a visible sign that a room is monster-proof. Children go through a stage where they imagine these monsters, later adopting the same monsters as their friends. In the meantime, mothers offer a visible sign and children are satisfied with it. From the perspective of the skeptics, this is no good because mothers do not need to spray water. But mothers know the reason is that children need the visible sign. Similarly, when children are anxious about Mom being gone a few hours, an old purse hanging on a hook is used to say, “This means I will be back in a few hours.”

    Old Testament Sacraments
    The Jews would never have left Egypt without the constant leadership of Moses and the terror of the Pharaoh. Even with a series of miracles, they were often struck with anxiety. So God gave them a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. The miraculous activity they enjoyed all prefigured the promised Messiah.

    To this day, the Passover Meal foreshadows the Christ. The spotless lamb is sacrificed to remember the Angel of Death passing over them, as long as blood marked the doorways. Wine and unleavened bread are basic to the Passover. Many churches use wine that says in Hebrew – Kosher for Passover.

    The Apostle Paul, given the direct revelation of the Gospel, preached the Exodus as foreshadowing Christ and including the pre-Incarnate Son of God –

    KJV 1 Corinthians 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

    The Apostle John recorded that Jesus preached on the meaning of one episode in the Exodus.

    KJV John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

    One of my battles with the Shrinkers in WELS concerned the liturgy. DP Robert Mueller claimed that the liturgy was invented in the Middle Ages, meaning it could be ejected from the worship service. Doubtless a liturgy-hating graduate of Fuller Seminary taught Mueller that great insight. Luther noted that Roman Catholic hating Protestants are like the man who defended his brother by stabbing at an attacking bear and killing his own brother by mistake. They think by attacking what they believe is Roman, they will defeat Romanism. Thus the liturgy, Creeds, baptismal regeneration, infant baptism, and the sacrament of Holy Communion are all condemned as Roman errors or Medieval traditions. This is bigoted and ignorant, from Zwingli, the self-taught theologian, who has many followers in the Lutheran Church today.

    I brought this anti-liturgical bigotry up to a Jew who became a Missouri Synod pastor. I had attended a number of Jewish services, including a bar mitzvah. I was always impressed with the connection between Old Testament worship and the historical liturgy (which is not just Lutheran). I asked this Jewish Lutheran, “How can anyone deny the Jewish liturgical foundation for the apostolic era?” He laughed in response. It was not even debatable. The early Christians saw and understood, if they were Jewish, that they had been preparing for the Messiah since that first Promise, when the orchard thieves were expelled from the Garden of Eden. They carried over the liturgical tradition and enhanced it with the complete revelation of the Gospel.

    Non-Jews were introduced to all those ancient actions and Promises, so they could see that they were not joining something newly invented by man (like all the fertility rites) but something revealed by God in the beginning.

    Old Testament worship is always connected with something visible. The Torah scrolls are taken out and carried among the people during a Bar Mitzvah service, when a boy becomes a man and reads Hebrew in public.

    Jewish worship garments are not confined to a business suit (Time of Gath). Traditional rabbis do not wear a Hawaiian shirt to lead a service (Community of Joy, ex-ELCA).

    Old Testament worship, includes the visible with actions. God commanded these aspects of worship so people would see, experience, and remember. People do this today, apart from religious observance. Soldiers fire guns at funerals. If it is an Air Force funeral, the pilots fly the Missing Man formation.

    In reliving the events of the Passover Meal, the Lord’s Supper connects the Exodus with the fulfilled promises of Jesus as the Messiah.

    So we look at Holy Communion, not as rationalists who judge the Word of God, but as believers who realize God commands what is good and useful for us.

    Paul’s epistles assume knowledge of the Gospels, which were preached among the people by the still-living Apostles, including Paul himself. And yet he also included the Words of Institution in his letter to the Corinthians.

    The universal language of the Roman Empire was Greek. It was like English today. People spoke their own languages and dialects, but the prestige language, which united all the provinces, was Greek. The only records we have of the Last Supper are Greek, where Jesus clearly says two things essential in the Sacrament:

    1. This is my Body. This is my Blood. His Word consecrated the elements, even before the crucifixion. The time element is divine. Abraham and others were justified by faith before the Atonement, receiving in faith the righteousness promised by God.

    Jesus words mean that His body is truly present, His blood is truly present. To reduce these words to symbols alone is to deny the Word of God.

    Those who say, “We do not know the moment of consecration” are idiots who do not understand the most basic foundation of the Word – God’s Word is effective. In the Absolution, do we not know when sins are absolved? In Holy Baptism, do we not know the Moment of Baptism? Perhaps the baby is truly baptized only when handed back, crying, to his mother.

    The power of the Sacrament is in the Word. It is like the red glow of a metal wire heated up by a flame. That wire will start a fire, but no one thinks the wire alone did it. It is the energy within that wire. (Energy is the English transliteration of the NT word group – efficacious, efficaciously, effective, at work, etc).
    2. Given for you, for the forgiveness of sin. This makes the Holy Communion a sacrament, not an ordinance. A sacrament means that God conveys what is promised. Sins are forgiven through Holy Communion. Those who deny this and make this an “ordinance” (law) are apostates who refuse to accept the grace freely offered in the Means of Grace.

    No shock here – when Lutherans deny the sacraments, they also hide the sacraments, so people will join them and pay them money, without the scandal of God at work effectively through the Instruments (Means) of Grace.

    No matter what man will say in denial, God’s promises are true. They are also effective. If we wage war against the Word, we harden our hearts by our own actions, but that is because God’s Word is so powerful. The more we deny the truth, the more we blind ourselves and harden our hearts against the truth.

    One man demonstrated that kind of power in a different way. He decided. as a worker on high power lines, to take off his huge gloves for a minute. He had to grab something and literally burnt both arms off – lucky to survive at all. His lectures on safety, to say the least, were quite effective in his new career.

    Those who corrupt and adulterate the Word of God are corrupted by their opposition and act out their doctrinal apostasy in various self-destructive ways. Walther himself pointed out that they lose faith first, then commit carnal sins so obvious that they are shunned by everyone. The first stage is doubt, then opposition, and finally serving Satan and murdering souls. My own private opinion is that many TV ministers begin with certain ideals but became truly Satanic in their demeanor and doctrine by constantly embracing what their Father Below promised Christ in the temptations – “bow down and worship me, and all this will be yours.” I see in the worst of them a Satanic anger and glee, as if they are saying, “No one can touch me and my vast empire.”

    Humbling experiences point us back to the Word and the source of the grace God has promised us.

    In Holy Communion we are reliving the Last Supper and remembering the crucifixion, as God intended. We do not merely talk about forgiveness but receive the visible Word individually, so we cannot possibly ignore what is being said and taught.

    Holy Communion takes away our sin. The Gospel heals us and strengthens us against temptation. The very act of forgiveness reminds us of our daily need for this taking away of our sin.

    In justification by faith, we realize what God does for us through the Gospel. When we justify ourselves by our works, we deny the Gospel and lose all sense of gratitude toward God.

    Holy Communion teaches us that the Christian faith is the only religion where God gives to us rather than demanding from us.

    JUSTIFYING FAITH

    "But when we are speaking of the subject itself, it is certain that the doctrine of gracious reconciliation, of the remission of sins, of righteousness, salvation, and eternal life through faith for the sake of the Mediator is one and the same in the Old and in the New Testament. This is a useful rule which we must retain at all costs: The doctrine, wherever we read it, in either the Old or New Testament, which deals with the gracious reconciliation and the remission of sins through faith for the sake of God's mercy in Christ, is the Gospel."
    Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989, II, p. 459.

    "Therefore God, 'who is rich in mercy' [Ephesians 2:4], has had mercy upon us and has set forth a propitiation through faith in the blood of Christ, and those who flee as suppliants to this throne of grace He absolves from the comprehensive sentence of condemnation, and by the imputation of the righteousness of His Son, which they grasp in faith, He pronounces them righteous, receives them into grace, and adjudges them to be heirs of eternal life. This is certainly the judicial meaning of the word 'justification,' in almost the same way that a guilty man who has been sentenced before the bar of justice is acquitted."
    Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 1989, II, p. 482.

    "Yet these exercises of faith always presuppose, as their foundation, that God is reconciled by faith, and to this they are always led back, so that faith may be certain and the promise sure in regard to these other objects. This explanation is confirmed by the brilliant statement of Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:20: 'All the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen, to the glory of God through us,' that is, the promises concerning other objects of faith have only then been ratified for us when by faith in Christ we are reconciled with God. The promises have been made valid on the condition that they must give glory to God through us."
    Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 1989, II, p. 495.

    "Therefore this apprehension or acceptance or application of the promise of grace is the formal cause or principle of justifying faith, according to the language of Scripture."
    Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 2 vols., II, p. 502.

    "We must note the foundations. For we are justified by faith, not because it is so firm, robust, and perfect a virtue, but because of the object on which it lays hold, namely Christ, who is the Mediator in the promise of grace. Therefore when faith does not err in its object, but lays hold on that true object, although with a weak faith, or at least tries and wants to lay hold on Christ, then there is true faith, and it justifies. The reason for this is demonstrated in those lovely statements in Philippians 3:12: 'I apprehend, or rather I am apprehended by Christ' and Galatians 4:9: 'You have known God, or rather have been known by God.' Scripture shows a beautiful example of this in Mark 9:24: 'I believe; help my unbelief.'"
    Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 2 vols., II, p. 503. Philippians 3:12; Galatians 4:9; Mark 9:24.

    "For we are not justified because of our faith (propter fidem), in the sense of faith being a virtue or good work on our part. Thus we pray, as did the man in Mark 9:24: 'I believe, Lord; help my unbelief'; and with the apostles: 'Lord, increase our faith,' Luke 17:5."
    Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 2 vols., II, p. 506. Mark 9:24; Luke 17:5.

    "But because not doubt but faith justifies, and not he who doubts but he who believes has eternal life, therefore faith teaches the free promise, which relies on the mercy of God for the sake of the sacrifice of the Son, the Mediator, and not on our works, as Paul says in Romans 4:16: 'Therefore it is of faith, that the promise might be sure according to grace.'"
    Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, 2 vols., II, p. 507. Romans 4:16

    "Thus when we say that we are justified by faith, we are saying nothing else than that for the sake of the Son of God we receive remission of sins and are accounted as righteous. And because it is necessary that this benefit be taken hold of, this is said to be done 'by faith,' that is, by trust in the mercy promised us for the sake of Christ. Thus we must also understand the correlative expression, 'We are righteous by faith,' that is, through the mercy of God for the sake of His Son we are righteous or accepted."
    Melanchthon, Loci Communes, “The Word Faith.” Cited in Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, II, p. p. 489.