Translation = Paying jobs for lazy apostates.
Anything attaching even a fluff of lint to Holy Mother WELS is greeted with "Matthew 18" and the beloved Eighth Commandment.
However, when someone follows WELS Talmudic Law and contacts the Doctrinal Pussycat directly, personally, and individually, the result is - No response at all. The contact is not even acknowledged.
That happens so frequently that I can only conclude they are trained to deal with doctrinal issues that way. Trained by whom? I do not know. That is why I used the passive voice.
It was true in the 1980s. I asked future DP Seifert about all the rot going on in Columbus. He suggested writing a letter to the DP. I did, and it was not even acknowledged. Next I wrote one to everyone, including the ELS SP, Orvick. DP Bob Mueller was outraged that I wrote to everyone. I said, "You never responded or even acknowledged receiving the letter."
The WELSian Matthew 18 approach allows the DP to keep the issue a secret, ignore the matter altogether, and get out his "Find him! Kill him!" stamp, to activate his hatchet-man. Everyone can view the DP as a harmless, likeable, somewhat confused man while the dissenter is confined to the nether regions, attacking him through the beloved WELS grapevine and through his own members.
Anyone can figure out that re-visiting the issue is a red flag to the easily irritated DP. The DP can then dredge up such comments as:
- "Martin Luther complex,"
- "hurting the Church" (meaning the Wisconsin sect),
- and other irrelevancies.
Laity have said to me, many times, "They won't listen to me, because I am just a layman." The laity think it is because they are not highly trained clergy. I tell them, "Don't worry. They ignored me the same way, and they ignore everyone who does not agree with them."
If high priests want to cite Matthew 18, they should also welcome "Tell it to the church."
But that is wrong too. The current president of Bethany's Little Seminary said it was wrong to deal with the disgraceful conduct of a wannabee CG expert, because "It hurts the face of the church."
The Catholic bishops and the pope himself said the same thing, and look where that got them.
KJV Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
PS - Those who cite Matthew 18 do not feel hindered in any way by it.
