Now I know why that one particular light shows up on the map.
I write for the older, faithful members and for the younger ones trying to make sense out of being trapped in a zoo. The trouble is, so many are so used to corruption that they think of it as normal.
As someone wrote, the system has a zillion ways of using up one's energy so that nothing is done and everything is still a secret, a marriage of Stalinism with the Medieval Church.
I wrote a little vision/dream satire once, when I was in the LCA. I put it in the church newsletter, forgetting that copies went to a number of national church officials. It went like this - I dreamt that the officials suddenly began asking themselves, "What are we doing wrong? The whole synod is falling apart." So they did an every member visit without asking for funds (for once) and asked the membership what they were doing wrong.
A Black leader wrote to me and said he laughed his head off because it was so true. He wrote from the old J. P. Morgan mansion in NYC, LCA headquarters.
Needless to say, my humor was not appreciated by his colleagues. But, 32 years later, the bishop who used me for a tackle dummy has led a bunch out of ELCA, after he spent his career propping up the old apostasy.
I shared my opinions freely in the past, just as I do now. I have never been in a position of official influence because I am not prepared to sing soprano in the church choir. But whatever we do or say is influence.
My conference papers were not "accepted with thanks" as the repeat-after-me ones were, but they circulated all over WELS via the copier. Two of them were published in Liberalism.
Luther said, "We have to be willing to be punched in the mouth." The Shrinker bullies are more than happy to be the cross that we must bear. The worse they behave and gloat about it, the more they enter into God's judgment. If someone robs me because I have been too trusting, that is a judgment against him, not me. The same is true of the covetous, greedy, adulterous minister who drives me from a call. I learned one pastor has a thing for guys, if you catch my drift, even though he is married and has children. Two opponents were arrested for drunk driving, so insensible are they about potentially killing others with their autos, with their addictions. One made a big speech denouncing me to a whole conference, but made the mistake of propositioning the wrong member in a pastoral counseling session. Another one threatened to beat up the pastor who leaked a document to me, leading to his eventual downfall.
The cross means that God uses those situations to glorify His Name. I am in an ideal situation to write about the apostasy of WELS, the ELS, and the LCMS. The typical threats mean nothing to me. The continuing nastiness only motivates me to say more. I know that many feel sane because of what I share from others in the same situation.
In "Braveheart," the Scots were asked about how the English could establish peace with their northern neighbor. The response was not appreciated - "Knock on every door and apologize for the money you have stolen and the people you have raped."
That would be a good and essential start for the synod officials too.
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Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "Thank You, Most Avid Reader":
Ahh! Now I know why I feel sane again. Thanks!
Scott E. Jungen
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GJ - Just today someone sent an anonymous comment that was so typical of the Shrinkers. I was going to share details but that would have involved someone else in the slime attack, which I chose to avoid. The person sent his moment of hate over the way I make fun of WELS education, etc. It was a way of dismissing me and the other writer at the same time.
I witnessed John Lawrenz (Church and Change) do the same thing when he denounced a pastors' excellent paper because:
1. He named names, without them being there to defend themselves, precisely what Lawrenz was doing at that moment.
2. His parish was "dead," which by itself is an odd commentary on the Means of Grace and God's will. No pit band? No popcorn?
3. The evil Northern Conference of Michigan dared to question officials from The Love Shack. How horrible and unChristian!
The point of these rants is to render the victim stripped of any voice or authority, so that nothing can be accepted from such a tainted source. Thus Doug the Unready blames Ichabod for people being unhappy about plagiarizing Groeschel.
The issue is no longer a crime but:
A. Ichabod.
B. The felons who read Ichabod.
This was done in spite of the fact that the turmoil came from the other direction, from the Northern Wisconsin District. Due to Englebrecht's utter incompetence as a leader (not apt to teach, not adhering to sound doctrine), the uproar had reached my ears and I reported on it. I did not start the chaos. Englebrecht did. I did not do the research on Fox Valley. The pastors and laity did. And they were following the official WELS playbook on defusing issues by blaming people who raised any questions. For that they got a letter left for them to read.
If any official in the WELS madhouse is asked about this, he will excuse it and make the victims feel even crazier - unless the voice of reason intervenes and rescues them.
I am willing to be the punching bag so others can observe the character of these leaders. When they rave about me, remember that they will say the same things about you, your spouse, your children, and your friends. They are the same people who pretend to know nothing about murder, child molestation, clergy and teacher adultery, homosexual pastors, false doctrine, and embezzlement. So how do they know which deodorant I use while being so utterly ignorant of dead bodies in the parsonage?
I just got an urgent message from another person being slimed for appreciating a real worship service instead of a clown's performance. I wrote back, "You are getting to them." That is their way of saying a post really matters, because the backsplash across the synod is making them miss Sponge Bob's latest episode. Stop being so cruel, you confessionals.
