Obama as Teacher

Great Rivalries - Sermons versus Pep Talks

Here is the sermon message.

 Oy!

Rev. and Mrs. Benny Hinn - Where the Shrinkers Are Headed with their Emerging Church Franchise

She is divorcing him? Why? Is he crazier, more obnoxious? Let's check it out.

Do not worry one bit. The synodical officials are keeping an eye on all their missions. The doctrinal boards are working overtime, too.

Ha.

Call List Success

WELS disciplinary process:

1. Out of work missionaries cannot get a call.
2. Shrinkers get two at a time.

Click on this for sound effect.

Why Emerging Sects Do Not Have Lenten Services

Shrove Tuesday Service Tonight - 7 PMish Central

The Crucifixion by Norma Boeckler

Mid-Week Lenten Vespers


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 6 PM Phoenix Time

The Hymn #142 An Wasserfluessen Babylon
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 1 p. 123
The Lection The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn #347 Jesus meine Freude

The Sermon – The Passover Lamb

The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45

The Hymn #554 O Welt, ich muss


The Passion History begins with the preparations Jesus made for the Passover Meal. This shows us the unity of the Old and New Testaments.

That also illustrates the importance of God’s Word in the worship service. Some of us grew up in the Bible Belt, where people were diligent in learning as much of the Bible as possible, and always learning more.

One senior pastor told me that in Canada he barely got 10 people at a Bible study, in the largest Lutheran church in the country. In a similar church in Iowa, he routinely had 200 for the same class.

That seems to be an attitude which crosses denominational lines, because all the churches (except the Catholics) seemed to be like that in the Midwest. One reason it is not true in other parts of the country is the rationalistic, Reformed attitudes toward the Bible. Once it becomes “man’s book about God,” there is no great reason to study. We have enough textbooks already.

But where people want to know as much as possible about the Word of God, the phrases used in the liturgical service and creeds are a constant reminder of the Scriptural Promises. (In the Book of Concord, the Gospel is often interchanged with the phrase “the Promises of God.”)
For instance, when the benediction is said, that is God speaking directly to each person. Therefore, the benediction should be God’s Word, not man’s word.

Man’s word says “God loves you and so do I.” But why put that vague statement in place of the majestic Trinitarian blessing, one Lord three times:

1. The Lord bless you and keep you.
2. The Lord make His face to shine upon you.
3. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

When people want to fix up the worship service, they take away the historic liturgy, which is 100% God’s Word, and substitute man’s word.

The Medieval Church did that because they could frighten people into good works by threatening Purgatory and Hell, making Purgatory seem like a blessing in comparison. And of course, Purgatory requires even more good works to spring loved ones from that semi-Hell for the semi-saved.

The Reformed Church changed the historic liturgy because Zwingli did not believe in Holy Communion as a Sacrament. He actually had a nightmare before he instituted this change, where an angel spoke to him, “It is the Lord’s Passover.”

Another omen for him was the horde of people who attended the last Holy Communion service before he took it away and made it a symbolic, memorial meal that did not take away sins. Calvin simply continued along the same lines, although he was a better, more elegant writer in undermining God’s Word. However, he also mocked the Sacraments in the same way as Zwingli.

Passover Meal
The Passover Meal unites believers with the Exodus, and the Savior with the spotless lamb sacrificed to set free the People of God.

Therefore, when we read the stories of the Exodus, our own Holy Communion is tied up with those events. If that were not clear enough, Jesus spoke about these elements in the Gospel of John.

The Israelites ate the miraculous manna, the bread from heaven.

Jesus is the Bread from Heaven:

KJV John 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

Jesus is the water of life:

KJV John 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus is the Lamb:

NKJ Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 "And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 "For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24 "And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

KJV John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

KJV Revelation 7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

That is why Luther emphasized the truth, power, and authority of God’s Word, so that we never take away from it.

As soon as man begins to adulterate the Word to make it appealing (by his standards) he presents man’s word in the guise of God’s Word. This is all the more seductive because the two are blended together and offered in a spirit of making things better for everyone.

Saying that this adulteration is a blessing is Enthusiasm, pure and simple. Anyone who separates the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word is an Enthusiast. Our Confessions condemn Enthusiasm in no uncertain terms.

The opposite of Enthusiasm is faith in God’s Word. More faith is not virtue, it is greater trust. Faith in God’s Word means trusting it 100%, no 80% or 50%.

How To Become a Church Growth Guru in WELS and the ELS

The 19th century Shrinker Henry Ward Beecher
counseled many women at his church
and at their homes.

Here is the link for a most unpleasant story. Parental controls are recommended. The article says, "It's a felony." An Assemblies of God church let this particular felon use its building for "counseling."

WELS said, "We need that kind of guy as a Church Growth consultant!"

WELS said, "He must be returned to the pastorate to prey upon the flock."

The ELS said, "We need him to fund Thoughts of Faith."

And all the clergy and officials fell down before the Golden Calf and said, "Amen!"

Blogs and Websites To Follow Or Ignore

Bailing Water

Extra Nos

Faithful Service - ELCA Dissent

Lutheran Colportage - from Norman Teigen

Lutheran News Gathers Blogs and Websites

Norman Teigen's Original Blog

Rogue Lutheran - Dissenting from the LCMS Shrinkers

Sceleratissimus Lutheranus - The Most Villainous Lutheran. The title given to the great Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz by the Roman Catholics after he wrote his masterful work, The Examination of the Council of Trent.

The Finkelsteinery

What Sasse Said

Shifting Blog Gears

This is not Norman Teigen.
Norman thinks it looks like him, too.

I have posted enough to show where WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie are going. I am going to shift away from current events to concentrate on Lutheran doctrine.

Pastors and laity can easily come to the conclusion that someone is doing their job for them. They can whisper among themselves about the latest scandals and reckon that something will be done, now that everyone knows.

I only see evidence that blood is thicker than doctrine in the old Synodical Conference.

Moreover, the love of money is the root of all evil.

Wealthy people like apostasy and support it lavishly. Witness The CORE blowing through $500,000 during a recession, cloning the worst of the Reformed sects and calling it outreach or transformation.

Consider the Arizona-California-Las Vegas District of WELS, applying absolutely no discipline to their non-WELS congregation, CrossWalk in Phoenix. Quite the contrary is true - Jeff Gunn has taken a place in leadership at Wisconsin Lutheran College, with two of his members. When I pointed that out, WLC stopped identifying the membership of its board by parish. In effect, WELS has rewarded Gunn for avoiding Holy Communion, denying his nominal Lutheran identity, and shunning Lutheran doctrine.

For dessert, WLC has added Paul Calvin Kelm to its staff, in spite of his lifelong devotion to Reformed doctrine. I should say - because of it.

The ELS is no different, clucking its frostbit tongue at the doctrinal shenanigans of WELS, while sporting their own Emerging Pietistic congregation.

The ELS and WELS save their wrath for anyone telling the truth, or even wondering about it. However, they delegate their hothead or pothead children to do their work for them. I don't mind - I consider it an honor. But it does show that they can all get angry, but always for the wrong reason.

In my opinion, all the Doctrinal Pussycats should be fired. But they were elected, and they would be replaced by more felines, who will say anything to get into office and do anything to stay in office. That is what the people want and they will pay dearly for it.

Confession and Liturgy - Sasse on Whoopee Worship

The Missouri Synod treated Herman Sasse like dirt.

Confession & Liturgy

Confession and liturgy belong inseparably together if the church is to be healthy. Liturgy is prayed dogma; dogma is the doctrinal content of the liturgy. The placement of liturgy above dogma, for which one hears calls in the liturgical movements of all confessions with the well-known saying "lex orandi lex credendi"..., has been opposed in the Roman Church by the present Pope Pius XII] in his encyclical "Mediator Dei", in which he points out that one can also turn this saying around and that in all circumstances dogma should be the norm for the liturgy. If that is already known in Rome, how much more should it be known in the church that makes...the right understanding of the Gospel also the criterion for the liturgy.

Sine Nomine

Were there too many collisions with the tackle dummy
or with the pizza parlor?

Extra Nos - On Justification

My research team at Ichabod is ever diligent.

Extra Nos is an interesting blog linked on the left (but not the far Left).

LP has been writing about justification. Click here for the latest.

I appreciate how laymen write about justification. They lack all the filters about:

1. Who will be offended among my relatives?
2. Which professors' toes are being stepped on?
3. Will I still get that coveted committee assignment and mileage allowance?
4. Which of the 10,000 unwritten rules are being violated?

Quinquagesima Sunday

The Lost Sheep, by Norma Boeckler

Qunquagesima Sunday

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 364 How Sweet the Name 4:18

Treasure in Heaven

The Hymn # 304 An Awful Mystery 4:6
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #198 He’s Risen 4:60


KJV Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

KJV Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Quinquagesima Sunday
Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst manifest Thyself, with the Holy Ghost, in the fullness of grace at the baptism of Thy dear Son, and with Thy voice didst direct us to Him who hath borne our sins, that we might receive grace and the remission of sins: Keep us, we beseech Thee, in the true faith; and inasmuch as we have been baptized in accordance with Thy command, and the example of Thy dear Son, we pray Thee to strengthen our faith by Thy Holy Spirit, and lead us to everlasting life and salvation, through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen,

Where Is Our Treasure?

Matthew 6: 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The Sermon on the Mount is full of concentrated wisdom from the Savior. Movies about Jesus often have Him delivering this message. In this Gospel lesson alone we have material for two different sermons or two different books.

These three verses speak about treasure. We used to dig in our yard for buried treasure. We dug anywhere we could for buried treasure. We were sure it had to be somewhere. It is part of the plot of Tom Sawyer and every pirate adventure.

Jesus gave us a brief and often-overlooked parable about treasure buried in a field:

KJV Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

The origin of buried treasure was the lack of banks. If someone went on a journey or feared an enemy invasion, he buried his treasure in a field or under his home. For that reason, there were always stories of lost gold or suddenly found fortunes.

This passage is also overlooked, or read as if it said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.”

The reason why so many crimes are committed or false doctrine spread is money.

Crime – the professor who killed three colleagues and wounded others. She shot her brother twice with a shotgun, but her parents’ wealth got the charges dropped, the evidence erased, and an emotional time-bomb sent into academic life.

False doctrine – because it belongs to Satan’s realm, it is blessed by plenty of money. If not, the prosperity coming from the Gospel eventually attracts enough wealth to subvert the Gospel and endow evil. One of the most conservative churches in America became the one of the worst because endowments made it possible – Glide Memorial in San Francisco.

An advantage of seniority is having a perspective. A teaching colleague said to me, “I lost $280,000 from my pension fund, so I will keep teaching.” He was 71. I said, “It’s only money and teaching is fun.”

There have been many bubbles in the past. I once read a history of banking in America. The author loved the Federal Reserve and thought it was the answer to all our problems with bubbles. I read that while the real estate bubble was forming. Throughout history, fortunes have appeared and vanished. Whatever something is worth – that can change overnight. The biggest private estate deal in the world went sour because the Russian mobster who bought the estate ran out of money – and demanded his deposit back. The largest real estate deal in America, apartments in NYC, has become the biggest bust in history.

The definition of treasure is tied to the First Table of the Ten Commandments. If we worship material treasure, that will occupy our hearts and displace the treasure of the Gospel. Material treasure is short-lived. The Gospel treasures are eternal.

I gave away one of my favorite novels, where a dandy from Paris posed at the fireplace, looking down on his country cousins for being so plain and unfashionable. At that moment he was completely without funds, but he did not know it. At the same time, his prospective bride was on her way to becoming one of the richest people in the land, because her father was such a miser and left her everything. And yet the novel begins with the ruin of that entire estate, to show us that all the struggles about money ended up with no one left and the house empty. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.

Moby Dick has a hilarious passage where the misery ship owners bargain poor Ishmael down by quoting this passage, which is a pun in the book. A “lay” is a percentage of the cargo. Since whale hunting was like searching for gold, the rewards could be vast for the owners and those having a share or a lay. Ishmael got very little in the hiring contract, but that did not matter since the whale attacked the ship and all hands were lost – except for the narrator. They were debating over something that did not last, that did not even make it to a safe harbor.

Like Ishmael, Newton (author of Amazing Grace) was stranded at sea in a shipwreck, only that cargo allowed him to live. The barrels were so buoyant that they made great life preservers. Newton repented of his evil life, became a minister, and wrote famous hymns.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

This is a great summary of the transitory nature of wealth. Clothing can be very expensive. We see examples of that on TV, but vermin will destroy anything over time. Even carefully preserved articles of clothing will decay. If something valuable lasts, such as diamonds and gold, thieves steal it.

Luther’s dissertation on money was that it was a weak god. It is so weak that it must be protected with fences, locks, iron safes, and armed guards. Money is such a weak god that it cannot even cure an illness. One of our famous Lutherans, Steve Jobs, is turning into a skeleton as disease robs him of his health. All the money in the world cannot cure that.

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

We should instead lay up our treasures in heaven, where nothing corrupts and thieves do not steal.

How do we do that?

First of all we place all our trust in the Word of God. The Gospel is repeatedly called a treasure in the Book of Concord, as Jesus clearly teaches in this lesson and the parable in Matthew 13. This treasure is so great that a man sold all he had to obtain the field with the treasure in it.

The comparison is clear. All that we have is less valuable than that place where the Promises of God, the real treasure can be found. The Word is far more precious than all our goods combined.

The Gospel is priceless because its power creates faith and pronounces us innocent, righteous, forgiven, through that faith. It is also priceless because this comes to us because of God’s grace and not because of our own worth.

Most clergy would say they agree with this passage, but they put money before the Gospel in all their decisions. They cannot afford the financial penalty of fighting against error, so they go silent, or worse – go out of their way to curry favor by undermining anyone who would sound the alarm.

The effect of silence or collusion is guaranteed – it hardens the heart. So in the name of the institution the Gospel is lost and the official proclaimers of the Gospel lose themselves in the process.

Shrinkers Out in the Cold

The Shrinkers in WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie were doing well--for themselves--until the election turned things upside-down.

The Wisconsin Synod is starting to reflect its actual income instead the bubble economy. A recession was once defined by Margaret Thatcher as a time when socialists can no longer spend other people's money. Likewise, the WELS recession is a symptom of wild-hair spending coming to an abrupt halt.

The money spent hired new people at the Love Shack and sent people overseas, creating an artificial shortage of workers, remedied by the economy's body slam. Schwan's foundation took a major hit, with all other foundations. Thrivent was pinched. And there was no money left for Church Growth to steal.

WELS has only three states with significant membership - Wisconsin has half the members. Michigan and Minnesota have roughly 25% each. The rest of the states are marginal in numbers. Obviously, with Michigan hit hard, there is a flat tire on the tricycle.

Some are hopeful that Missouri will turn out the Quiche-niks and elect a new Synod President.

If the Wisconsin Synod and the ELS get serious about doctrine, they will have to address the errors of the last 50 years instead of playing the old Church Growth games. I cannot imagine them admitting to error, but a study of the Confessions may wake them up at last.

Pope John the Malefactor may not remain in office. Most confirmands know more theology than the ELS president, so that may have an effect on his inglorious reign. This is another case of admitting a mistake or pretending to be infallible. The ELS made the mistake in electing a walk-the-plank guy after having George the Everlasting as president. Orvick would please one faction, then another. He kicked out the pastor in Scottsdale and the Shrinker in Florida.

But Moldy got out his scythe, and people remember. Think of Facebook. Get a few friends and pretty soon everyone has 20 mutual friends. The ELS is like that, except the relationships are almost at the 100% level.

Now that things are so bad in the economy, people may be less worried about hanging on to security. If they concentrate on the Word instead of the budget, things will happen.

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wahoo (http://wahoo.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Shrinkers Out in the Cold":

And there was no money left for Church Growth to steal.

How much did Church Growth steal?

***

GJ - It would take a team of forensic CPAs from the FBI to find out. Consider this - WELS went broke after it got a series of enormous gifts from the Schwan Foundation.

Anti-Anti-CG Blogs in Epic Fail Mode

Left-click the picture for visual clarity
and doctrinal confusion.

The anti-anti-Church Growth blogs have stalled out again. The fake blogger probably went back into rehab or violated parole. Tim Felt-needs has returned to his favorite subject, writing about himself. Joe Krohn has one post - boycott Ichabod - and he is a daily communicant.

I am waiting for the Church Growth people to write a positive witness for their peculiar alloy of nominal Lutheran membership and febrile Reformed doctrine. Valleskey tried and failed, producing a worse book than Werning's worst. But Valleskey had Kelm's help, so that explains the leaden quality of his prose and the stubbly quality of his theology.

The anti-anti-CG bloggers simply copy me and rant. I hope that is therapeutic for them.

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brett-meyer (http://brett-meyer.myopenid.com) has left a new comment on your post "Anti-Anti-CG Blogs in Epic Fail Mode":

They're a whiny bunch. I had to laugh out loud at one point when they were discussing whether or not your lack of attention to their posturing was an admission that they were right.

***

GJ - That is especially funny. I do check on them from time to time, to check for exploding heads and new rants. The fake claims it is a horrible lie that WELS has women ministers.

However, the ELS/WELS boards of doctrine met about WELS women staff ministers (Larry Oh's program) consecrating and distributing Holy Communion. The most the timid boards could do was issue a moratorium, a delay, on the practice.

Here is a new riddle - What do you call a book with no spine? This We Believe!

WELS is now in the same position as ELCA was when the larger sect began mincing around about homosexual ordination. It was only a matter of time before the Lavender Mafia got what it wanted, in a flamboyant display of power politics.

Given the lack of confessional integrity in WELS and the ELS, there is no stopping women's ordination. They could not say no to a Fuller program headed by Larry Oh!, so why would they cringe at women's ordination in 2012? They already have women ministers and women acting as ordained pastors.

Getting Straight about Sources

 

One of the lesser lights in blogdom is obviously influenced by his sub-standard training in WELS. He wigs out over the fact that I linked Schmid as a favor to people who might want a compilation of orthodox Lutheran quotations. Schmid was a favorite in WELS and the ALC.

More wigging out - I have said nice things about Deutschlander's book on the theology of the cross.

The Lenski wig out - Every graduate of the Sausage Factory (WLS, Mequon) feels compelled to jump all over Lenski about justification by faith. My intuition was that these graduates have never read Lenski.

I was checking Lenski on Romans 1:17 and that proved me right. He is fairly close to the WELS position, at least in wording, in that passage. Lenski could be very Iowa Synod, in the middle about everything, even though he was Ohio Synod (ALC).

A well trained and ordained Sausage from The Sausage Factory will always start with a rebuke when the Book of Concord is mentioned. "It is only a book!" Or, "It is old fashioned. Nobody reads it." (Nobody he knows!)

But when a doctrinal dispute comes up, the same Sausage will direct the other person to...The Essay File at The Sausage Factory! That is not just the ruled norm of WELS, the norma normata. It is the ruling norm, the norma normans.

Is double-justification correct? Check the essay file.

Is Church Growth cool and wonderful to behold? Check the essay file.

Some of the wise men who have contributed are - Curt Peterson, the WELS pastor who is now publishing as an atheist; Mark Jeske, the WELS DNA pastor who is sinuflecting to Quiche-nik's Missouri; etc. etc. etc.

Most people would remove an atheist's support for Church Growth from contention, but not WELS. Curt wrote the right stuff, and he is a hero, by gum.

Illiterate Lutherans (the Shrinkers) play games with the books cited. They want to say that quoting one author is an endorsement of all he has ever written - not that they would bother reading it.

Walther has many good things to cite, but he was dead wrong about justification, welded to the Pietism which he brought to the New World. Melanchthon was one of the most gifted theologians of all time, but he also had a wobbly character and tried too hard to please everyone, leading to doctrinal confusion.

I like Luther best of all, but he admitted that he emerged slowly from the Medieval Romanism of his past.

That is why we have and esteem the Book of Concord, because the most able theologians of the time (Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Selnecker) gathered together the best confessional works to unify the Lutheran Church. No other denomination is so unified in doctrine and so rooted to the Scriptures and faithful fathers.

We do not have a quia subscription to all of Luther, just the Book of Concord Luther; not to all of Chemnitz, just the Formula of Concord Chemnitz; not to all of Augustine, who planted the seeds of Purgatory, but to those passages cited in the Book of Concord.

WELS and Missouri suffer terribly from their compulsion to defend their founders as infallible. They even deify the next generation, whether August or Franz Pieper. WELS and Missouri are more encased in the mummy-shrouds of infallibility than the papacy.

The results are in - the old Synodical Conference has yet to denounce and repudiate the Church Growth Movement. Instead, they continue to protect and promote the worst of the CG leaders.

That is the payoff for synodical infallibility, and a measure of God's wrath in punishing the Lutherans for their slatternly ways.

PS - I should mention that Joe Krohn enthuses about CG with Church and Change, like his pal Don Patterson, but distances himself from CG, like Don Patterson. However, Joe started the Rock N Roll blog to defend Doebler's Rock N Roll Church.

Joe defends his UOJ position with the dictionary, the 67th book of the Bible.

I Cannot Print the Headline This Information Requires

The ELCA has multiplied the popes.

Lutheran Core - No, not the lazy-bones in A-Town:

A Jan. 19 memo from ELCA Secretary David Swartling to synod bishops and vice presidents suggests that congregations could be disciplined and removed from the ELCA if they do not fully and financially support the churchwide organization.

“If it fails to live up to the commitments contained in the governing documents of this church, the congregation necessarily breaches the partnership relationships that are foundational in this church. It thus jeopardizes its standing on the roster of ELCA congregations,” Swartling states. “A congregation that repudiates its constitutional commitments to this church is subject to discipline.”

Some ELCA officials have said that congregations that choose the recipients of their giving beyond their congregation and have redirected some of their benevolence giving to ministries other than the ELCA churchwide organization are “withholding” financial support that the ELCA is entitled to receive. Congregations determine their budgets and the amounts to be sent for ministry beyond their congregation.

A January “Q & A” being used by several synods says, “Is it permissible for congregations to withhold mission support? No. Withholding mission support is unconstitutional and violates the governing documents of the church.”

The “Q & A” document also insists that a synod bishop is entitled to determine all aspects of a required consultation period between a congregation considering ending its ELCA affiliation and its synod bishop. “The bishop leads and is responsible for all aspects of the consultation. . . . The bishop determines how the consultation will be conducted, who participates, how many meetings or forums are necessary, whether mailings are sent, etc.” It also states that the bishop will involve ELCA lawyers in the process “to ensure legality and good order.”

Some bishops have required extensive consultation processes with congregations considering changing their church affiliation. They have approached the process in an adversarial fashion rather than in a pastoral and consultative manner seeking to help a congregation make the best decision given its realities.

***

GJ - You will have to figure out the headline. ELCA is busy re-certifying the clergy and congregations they mildly punished over being openly homosexual rather than covertly homosexual. They did not punish congregations in the Reconciling in Christ lobby, which advocated no standards at all. They punished the congregations that acted on the principles of the RIC network. To calm the waters of ELCA, the denomination highlighting the most damaging thing they have ever done in a convention.

On the other hand, they are using brass knuckles on the congregations re-directing their money. Hence, the imaginary headline, the difference between kissing and kicking. I dasn't say more.

I am pleased as punch, as VP Hubert Humphrey used to say. ELCA should enforce its actual standards instead of pretending to be nice and Evangelical. WELS and Missouri should take note - this is how to do real discipline.

ELCA's Mark Hanson and The Episcopal Church's Katy Jefferts-Schori should entwine their arms and jump into the lake of brimstone together, taking their denominations with them.

ELCA is still trying to say, "But only a few are leaving." The few leaving are the largest congregations everywhere, encouraged by two former ELCA bishops.

I hope John Brug and John Brenner will grow a pair, of spines, and begin tackling the Reformed doctrine taught with such Enthusiasm at the Sausage Factory. Pietism soon becomes Unitarianism, whether high church (ELCA) or low church (UCC).

It is never to late to trust the Word and study the Confessions.

The Anonymice Have Scattered

Typical Church and Changer - crying baby girl.

I started OpenID and shut down that silly box thing. Identifying the weird letters in the box stopped spam, but it was annoying. OpenID stops spam and scatters the mice. OpenID is the equivalent of turning on the lights and stomping one foot in a prep school kitchen. The vermin head for cover.

I used to get a stream of nasty, abusive comments on a daily basis. Their limited vocabulary, bad spelling, and crippled emotional development pointed to the same few people. They are gone now, those useful idiots who proved to the readers what Church and Change was really like. It is fairly sad when such people can only spell four-letter words correctly.

If someone is unable to express himself in good English, should we kneel at his feet and listen to his stumbling opinions? Funniest of all - these thugs are deeply hurt that I point out their bad spelling with (sic). That seems to be the wooden stake in their flinty hearts.

Why Friday Was Meredith Willson Day

 

My favorite musical is "The Music Man" because it reminds me of my hometown area. I grew up on the border of Illinois and Iowa, and many of my relatives lived in Iowa.

Meredith Willson grew up in Mason City, Iowa, and he created this musical as a tribute to the people he knew. Many characters and names are from Mason City. The song "Lyda Rose" includes the name of his favorite aunt Lyda and his mother (Rose). In the musical, Lyda Rose hailed from Moline.

Willson, played the flute, like me, but much better than I. He joined Sousa's band and played in Toscanini's New York Philharmonic. He was far more than a song writer, composing symphonies and leading orchestras in Hollywood for the music industry. 

Willson's big moment in TV history was a flop, so he had the time to write his first musical, which went through 32 revisions before opening as a smash hit. Robert Preston created the character of Harold Hill, whose real name was Greg, on stage and on film, making any other interpretation seem amateurish.

In small town America, which still exists, people trust each other and help each other out. Recently my car went belly up at a Shell after an earlier jump start and a quick fix at a Goodyear store. A man stopping at the gas station drove us to his house, grabbed his tools, drafted his son, and drove back with us to diagnose and fix the battery. They installed it faster than AutoZone could check me out. He zoomed away in his truck, stopped, jumped out and came back. "Pray for me. I am starting a new business." 

Moline was like that. I developed a flat at midnight, working at Melo Cream. The Shell station across the street was closed and I was a new driver. One customer came out, changed the tire in a few minutes, and was back drinking coffee at the counter. He was uncomfortable about being thanked.

I am having a great time blogging about Moline. I keep looking up websites and pictures, learning more about those memories, hearing from classmates about their similar experiences. 

I remember two Moline girls who were good friends in the flute section in Moline. One is follower on the Moline blog now. The other one lives in...Mason City. They recently got in contact on Facebook.

By coincidence my wife Chris was a librarian in South Bend, and later went to library school in Columbus. I often called her Marian the Librarian. She went to my family reunion in Iowa once, and we laughed about how the musical described them all so well:

Iowa Stubborn

Townspeople:

Oh, there's nothing halfway
About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you
Which we may not do at all.
There's an Iowa kind of special
Chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.
We've never been without.
That we recall.
We can be cold
As our falling thermometers in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so gosh darn stubborn
We could stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But what the heck, you're welcome,
Join us at the picnic.
You can eat your fill
Of all the food you bring yourself.
You really ought to give Iowa a try.
Provided you are contrary,
We can be cold
As our falling thermometer in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so gosh darn stubborn
We can stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But we'll give you our shirt
And a back to go with it
If your crops should happen to die.

Farmer:
So, what the heck, you're welcome,
Glad to have you with us.

Farmer and Wife:
Even though we may not ever mention it again.

Townspeople:
You really ought to give Iowa
Hawkeye Iowa
Dubuque, Des
Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown,
Mason City, Keokuk, Ames,
Clear Lake
Ought to give Iowa a try!

I read some blog and Facebook comments about Moline Memories to my wife the other day. She said wistfully, "You Moliners really stick together."