I have mixed feelings, seeing another Lutheran group exit ELCA. This one had six midwives, all ELCA bishops (retired). I am happy to see people set free from the lavender agenda and Stalinistic methods of ELCA. However, I have to ask, "Where were you in 1987?" The homosexual quotas were set and announced before the merger took place. ELCA was born gay, and everyone knew it. The ALC-funded Lutherans Concerned lobby became as powerful in ELCA as Church and Change is in WELS.
I see faces glowing with happiness, now they are out of ELCA, but why did they support that cancer for so long?
The same process is being repeated today in Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie. They are congratulating themselves for being confessional when they should be wearing sackcloth and ashes, the sackcloth hiding hairshirts. A heavy metal band would be mortifying the flesh rather than punishing the ears of congregants.
The apostates are well established. They own the schools, the press, and the executive offices. Dealing with their doctrinal errors will not be easy.
Pietism teaches - You are a bad person, so everything you say will be discounted to zero, especially if it is true.
Pietism also teaches - He is a good person, so we can excuse any doctrinal or criminal conduct. I went to school with him, so any criticism of him is a criticism of me.
That is how Pietism has destroyed the Lutheran organizations of today.
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California wrote:
"Amen to Ichabod's lament, "Where were you when Lutherans Suffered from Apostasy?" That question has existed unanswered in the mind of this writer for nearly half a century since voluntarily leaving LCMS in 1964 when it became impossible to invite others for fear of what influence some youth activities they might encounter, inability to explain why a local LCMS pastor remained in good standing even though his name was listed by the California Subversive Activities Committee as supporting the Committee to Insure Justice for Morton Sobel (communist), etc. Then involuntarily leaving WELS in 1977 when calling attention to the obvious that change agents were actively working long before they came out with a name, Church and Change. Some may not have even been born yet, but other laypersons were there. A few privately expressed agreement, but as one said to his writer, "You are right, but I have to have a church". Fast forward, 2010.
