because they think church is a business.
Of course, it is for them, and quite profitable.
Church Mouse is not affiliated with the Lutherans. That is why I found his long article on the Rick Warren gang especially important. These changes are happening in all denominations because there has been a long-term, focused, marketing effort to replace all Confessions (Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic, Babtist, Salvation Army, Pentecostal) with Fuller New Age thought.
The best way for Lutherans to realize this is to read articles and blogs from other denominations. If turtles are on fence-posts in many denominations at once, the action was deliberate and not the result of ecclesiastical evolution.
The wine-bibbers at the fake blog think all I write about is their noisome circuit. They imagine such a narrow focus because their are so fascinated with themselves. However, I have written about the Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Babtists, Pentecostals, and other denominations. Alone in the world--with 1200 Facebook friends--I stay in touch with all groups. Teaching college means I am also directly involved with people around the world who take my online courses. That gives me an unusual perspective since I have perhaps 1,000 students per year, undergrad and graduate.
I have seen an alarming trend toward New Agism in business and the church. Some pioneers were Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale (who plagiarized his best-seller), Robert Schuller, and Paul Y. Cho.
I believe Brett Meyer found the link to Church Mouse because of his interest in the topic.
Anyone can broaden his perspective by pursuing this topics, especially when done in relation to the Confessions. I suggest picking one topic at a time in the Formula of Concord and becoming familiar with the statements, Scripture examples, exegesis, and antithetical statements. The Confessions do reject false doctrine, something found even with a casual reading of the Scriptures.
5 comments:
Tragically most religious leaders do not get it. Worse still the laity passively lounges around waiting to be led to heaven by people torn between serving God and their synod – really themselves.
The fact is the laity cannot and should not blindly trust such defeated religious leaders.
Hee hee hee...would you like to have some cheese with your wine?
Talked to close relatives recently who are wrapped up in the WELS. They won't talk about Christian doctrine at all. Their explanation is that talking about doctrine would be like discussing their sex life - they just don't do it. At the same time they declared I am not a Christian because of my obsession with defining and clarifying doctrine and contending with those who pervert it. When I attempted to explain show them where Christ commands us to contend for the true faith they told me that no one can really know what the Scripture's really say because there are so many opinions about it in the world. They said certainly I couldn't know it because I'm contending against the (W)ELS pastors who have eight or more years of training - certainly I couldn't know more or have the truth without that training. The false teachers in the Lutheran churches have the laity right where they want them - "The (W)ELS is the most conservative Lutheran synod" "If we left the (W)ELS, what would we do, where would we go?!"
Mr. Meyer,
In a world that wants to be relevant, I can relate to your experiences that you have had with your close relatives. In fact, I used to be that way also. However, the scales have fallen from my eyes through the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word. It is almost as if WELS laity are spellbound. I have tried to explain what is going on in the WELS with some of the laity at my former congregation. I hand picked them because I thought that they may understand. They could best be described as conservative in thought and active for many years in the congregation. My explanations either went over their head or they were so frightened by what I said that they simply would not touch it. At first, I was discouraged by their response, or lack thereof. I finally realized how devastating false doctrine can be. But, our gracious Lord has promised that he will always provide for his flock. Those who are blinded believe that the Lord's provision can only be channeled through an instrument like a synod. They are sadly mistaken.
If your interested in getting WELS or LCMS informed about what JWs, Mormons, Muslims, etc., believe, and how to counter it, you'll find that pastors and others will say they don't want their people dealing with them at all. Best to just ignore them. So much for preparing in season and out of season to witness for the faith. For them the church is a social club with religious attributes.
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