When knowledge was held by the high priesthood alone--the overpaid drones of the synod--people only knew the facts from local gossip. When DP Ed Werner went to the Big House, the Wisconsin Synod spread a false story to cover-up the truth. In the district they had to tell some facts because it was in the newspapers. However, the synod PR engine did not find it necessary to tell WELS members and pastors that a District President went to the state prison for molesting girls in his own congregation, that it went on for decades while the district's pastors continued to re-elect him.
Scott Zerbe went to state prison in Michigan, but a nearby WELS pastor knew nothing about it. He said he had to get the WELS news from me. DP John Seifert did not think it was newsworthy that a vicarage ended in a multi-year sentence. That was not as bad as getting a call to Calumet. Scott's astute supervisor, Fred Adrian, is a pastor once again in the Michigan District. Seifert watches over
Missing synodical funds? The treasurer objected, so he was fired by Gurgle, and blamed by Gurgle. WELS put out a lame story about counting money twice, etc. Finally someone pulled a chapel out of the magician's hat. Nothing to see here, move along.
One member really laughed when I told this story - A WELS CG hero picked his own successor for his parish (confusing his role with the Holy Spirit - typical for an Enthusiast). "The new pastor later resigned because of depression." I asked, "What was her name?" The informant yelled, "Who told you?"
When communication is slow and the truth withheld from everyone, Synodical Whac-A-Mole is easy, enjoyable, and fun. In a small sect with a rigid structure, any story can be isolated quickly with:
1. Who is talking?
2. How can we stop it?
Church and Change
Ichabod has been in the vanguard of exposing Church and Change for what it is, a WELS funded agency for promoting false doctrine and false teachers. Likewise, Fox Valley is the area where the Church and Changers* are especially dense. The results speak for themselves. I would not be surprised to find district leaders blaming me for unhappiness with The CORE and Ron Ash's Mother Ship - St. Peter, Freedom. But those congregations brag about their apostasy on their websties, blogs, and Facebook pages. *Ski was a board member of Church and Change. Ron Ash is the chairman. Tim Glende is a fellow-traveler. Parlow and Kelm are leaders, although Kelm had two calls since Green Bay. Witte was a founder of the group and now has a synod position. The fastest shrinking congregations are Changer-led and Changer-bled. Doctrinal discipline is limited to Whac-A-Mole.
I am only too happy to point people to the published information freely available for those who look - and to copy it before it is erased. I have learned that some material is kept from the Net, perhaps to keep me from copying congregational material. They would copyright it, except it is illegal to copyright something copied from a copyrighted source!
I enjoy publishing the Church and Change lies about what they do and where they go. By now they have figured out that a lot of WELS people funnel information to me. Sometimes it is just a starting place, so I can read up on it and share my opinions generously.
False Doctrine
Synodical Whac-A-Mole is handy when scandals break out here and there, millions are wasted on wild hair projects, and CG heroes slink off into Pentecostalism, Thrivent, the LCMS. <-- Descending order. Synodical Whac-A-Mole has been used repeatedly to hide synodical false doctrine. WELS kicked out two families who did not subscribe to the Kokomo Statements (which are not in my Triglotta). WELS also claims in print that the families wrote up the Kokomo Statements as a "parody of justification." Which lie are we supposed to believe? I got out my mildewed copy of J. P. Meyer's Ministers of Christ and there I found the first three Kokomo Statements, something St. Sig Becker conceded. The last one I recognized from a Norwegian-Augustana conflict. Besides that, I talked to both families in Kokomo itself and got copies of the letters of defenestration. I reprinted them in Thy Strong Word.
Synodical Whac-A-Mole has been frustrated by blog information provided instantly, along with the links to support those facts. Blogs are also handy for satire. The Steadfast blog has provided a daily stream of information and entertainment to prevent the continuation of the Kieschnick Reign of Terror. In contrast, he is limited to the synodical media machine. If Kieschnick responds, he is refuted instantly on the Net. His defensive response only emphasizes the original point - such as his low nomination numbers. He cannot use satire and cartoons, which have always been popular ways to skewer errorists and tyrants.
The Illinois ELCA bishop's office wigged out when they got, by accident, a copy of my Photoshop showing devil's horns and a tail behind their leader. I thought that was rather gentle, considering his efforts to steal the property of the congregation in the name of sodomite ordination. Faith in Moline, Illinois, did everything necessary to leave the Lavender Mafia to their own devices and vices. The bishop did everything he could to prevent it.
Faith in Moline apologized and published the apology. The bishop's office attacked them again for the accidental communication, showing how ungracious they were.
Blogging has been useful in generating a discussion of UOJ - justification of the entire world, without faith. False teachers get riled up when their favorite errors are dissected in public. When they publish their arguments on a blog, everyone can measure the truth for themselves and compare that to the Scriptures and the Confessions.
UOJ Stormtroopers have avoided dealing with Robert Preus' destruction of their favorite cause - in his last book Justification and Rome. Now they are also dodging the issue of Halle University's Knapp being the author of double-justification. The "oh noes" must be echoing in the polished halls of the Sausage Factory and the Little School on the Prairie.
I check the main blogs I follow every day, look for ELCA news, and even read ALPB Online and other sites when no one is producing. I publish more than the largest Lutheran denomination, and they have paid staff. How do they manage to do so little with so much?
I still laugh about this. For months I have identified an official ELCA bio, where Stan Olson is identified as growing up on an Iowa "diary farm." No one has noticed. No one has changed it. I just checked. Some of my favorite commenters are prodigious typo producers, but they do not have paid staff to check their work.
