Thursday, March 4, 2010

ELCA Changes Benefit Plans For Their Newly Approved Same-Sex Clergy Couples





ELCA Pension Changes

"Trustees of the Board of Pensions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have taken steps to extend various plan benefits to eligible partners in same-gender relationships.

At their Feb. 26-28 meeting in Minneapolis, the trustees adopted recommended amendments to the Board's medical and dental, retirement, survivor and disability benefits plans, plus its flexible spending plan that allows members to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses throughout the year."

Will gerbils be covered in the new plan?



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LCMS ex-SP Ralph Bohlmann, was voted out of office.


I gave up on Missouri when Bohlmann was re-elected in Indianapolis. I was there with Mrs. Ichabod.

Otten backed Bohlmann in those days, just as he backed Jack Preus before Bohlmann and Al Barry after Bohlmann. That is the danger of backing a man instead of sound doctrine. They were all opportunists. At least Jack Preus did a few good things and advanced Chemnitz publications in his spare time.

Ralph's daughter Lynn is now a UCC pastor and has adopted two children with her female partner, according to Christian News.

The UCC is where the LCA pastor went into exile when he left his wife for a walk on the wild side. Now he is back in ELCA. Pause. Dab eyes.

The United Church of Christ hosted Seminex, which became the official seminary of the Metropolitan Community Church. I pointed out those facts when Paul Kuske, Roger Zehms (now with Mark Jeske) and Floyd Luther Stolzenburg started Pilgrim Community Church.

The Crying of the Children and the Lamentation of Their Vimin


Anti-anti-CG bloggers are crying, sulking, pouting, and holding their breath until their lips turn blue.


I used to hear the Bethany Seminary students recite their favorite quotation from Conan the Barbarian, "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear crying of the children and the lamentation of their vimin." Only Arnold could recite a line like that without laughing.

In the interest of honoring the Eighth Commandment, I have to admit that no anonymous poster on this blog is a Church Growther (Shrinker) or a Church and Changer (Chicanery). They are not Church Growth, just anti-anti-Church Growth.

Joe Krohn moved from one generic Babtist WELS emerging church (CrossWalk in Phoenix) to another one in Round Rock (Rock N Roll with Doebler), and he often posted on the Church and Change list with his complete name, fairly drooling over their confabs. But Joe Krohn is not one of them. I know because he claimed he was not.

Nor is Kudu Don Patterson a Church and Changer. He did present there and he actually traveled a long distance to be at their 2009 gathering. But he is not a Chicanery, because he said he was not. He probably went to Exponential for the same reason, just to look around and scowl at all the WELS workers who were there practicing unionism.

Mrs. Ichabod just reminded me - Patterson took a bunch of WELS workers to Exponential. Never mind. He is a District VP, so everything he does is orthodox.

Joe Krohn shut down and erased his second major effort at blogging. I checked in once a week to see if I was the only reader. I was.

Someone told me Krohn and Patterson were buddies.

Krohn's blogging pal, Tim Felt-Needs, just wrote that it was not worth his precious time to write on Ichabod. Of course, I do not remember him using his real name very often. Perhaps he meant writing some more superficial posts on his blog, where he defends yet another WELS emerging church - Victory of the Movie Screen and Treats.

That made me wonder about the fake blog. Once again, all those files are erased. Joe Krohn erased his blog twice. The fake Ichabod erased his blog two times. Just sayin'.

The fake blog was hotter than Georgia asphalt for UOJ and Church Growth. I have not seen so much passion since Wally Oelhafen, Floyd Luther Stolzenburg, and Paul Kuske joined forces.

I let the nasty anonymous comments through all the time because I wanted the WELS members and pastors to see what the Church Growth people are like. They have been doing the same thing to the duly elected elected SP of WELS. The members and pastors are not aware of what goes on. I do not have a direct line, of course. I have just observed their published behavior, with the Kelm calls (twice) and the Stetzer and Sweet invitations.

Too bad no one will ever see what the Shrinkers did with all the loot from Marvin Schwan. But at least everyone can see what they have done to Lutheran doctrine, Lutheran worship, and Lutheran practice. Their showcase exhibits are The CORE, Victory of the Movie Theater, Latte Lutheran Church, GunnWalk, Rock N Rock, and a few other money pits.



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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "The Crying of the Children and the Lamentation of ...":

Here's one of Joe Krohn's statements on the Church and Change WELS listserve discussing satanist Leonard Sweet's invitation to teach them:

"I have been following this Dr. Sweet thread and it's morphs with great interest.

This is a great example of the verse "iron sharpens iron" a pastor friend of mine uses quite often. Just to interject, and this may have been stated already; yes, we live in the end times, but we are not growing and there are churches that have experienced phenomenal growth in the last 10 to 15 years. We have to do something. I don't know if I'll be at the conference, but I am somewhat put off by the fact that it is assumed by some on this list that some of us cannot discern what is good and what is bad. The casual/baby Christian/low end of the spectrum faith worshipper is not going to be at the Conference. These are people with strong faiths who show genuine concern about the future of our Synod and theology. Reaction on this list is proof of that. We are pretty much WELS Christians who are very involved in our churches. Thank the Lord that Luther was able to discern. Luther is a great example to look at in times like these. Take what is good and throw out the bad. But you have to remain relevant in today’s society and if we need to bring in someone who can help us, I say go for it! When I see churches like Lakewood in Houston buy the old Omni because of their growth, or Saddleback in California, or Chandler Christian Church right in my back yard buying up chunks of real estate to expand, I think they must be doing something right!! I would never approve of their theologies, but hey, why can’t we take what they are doing right and graft it on our theology? We’re pretty proud of our theology aren’t we? At least that’s the impression I get from this list. We have to get proactive. I fear our Synod has waited too long. At times I grieve for WELS. We just need to get as evangelical as the Evangelicals are and be like it says in our name: Wisconsin EVANGELICAL Lutheran Synod.
God Bless you all!
Joe Krohn"

WELS: S.S. Titanic

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "The Crying of the Children and the Lamentation of ...":

Joe Krohn is wrong in more ways than one. Iron does not sharpen iron. You need a harder metal to sharpen the softer metal. Tool steel can sharpen iron. Since we are on this subject, "the Word of God is quicker and more powerful than any two-edged sword".

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GJ - I wonder if the iron reference began with the Iron Sharpens Iron Babtecostal Conferences. The speakers are the usual bunch, not quite the A List icons of Exponential. Chuck Colson is the first name I really recognized, but I don't go to Schwaermer conferences for a seven-day high. I have grandchildren for that, and it lasts 24/7.

I am not making any charges, but these ecumenical conferences attract WELS and Missouri Shrinkers the way Velcro attracts lint.


Eighth Commandment, They Squawk



Where Are the Dysfunctional Clowns Who Used to Romp on This Blog




EastCoast wrote:

Say, I've noticed Ichabod being very tame lately and very many fewer comments and "flaming darts." Good for you. Bad for us who look to it for entertainment! Oh well, fun while it lasted. Can't say I blame you. They were getting more than just over the top but downright nasty.

He also likes the WELS Church Lady comments, which are entertaining and right on target.

Once I started OpenID, which effectively blocked spam comments, I lost all the nasties. That is the most apparent characteristic of false teachers and their zombie diciples (Stetzer spelling) - fear of discovery. The WELS grapevine is used by the Enthusiasts to plant stories about anyone who dares impede their takeover of synodical functions. No one is spared, if he is in the way. Corky K. was "brain-damaged" because he criticized Church Growth and amalgamation. The former seminary president was "senile" because he did not want Northwestern College neutered. Who spoke these horrible slanders? I do not know, because their grapevine droppings are all anonymous.

The nasties win because they never let up, never stopped working together, never stopped networking.

At the moment the Shrinkers seem to be ahead because they are all gainfully employed. Paul Calvin Kelm did not even use up his severance pay, so he had a little bonus to buy wifey some rose bushes for their new home.

Do not be surprised if another The CORE pops up somewhere, funded by useful idiots recruited by Jeske and Company. Watch certain Doctrinal Pussycats replaced by younger Doctrinal Pussycats, like Seifert replacing Robert Mueller years ago.

WELS consists of two overlapping, DNA-linked circles. One is built on a bluff - the WELSian heritage of Enthusiasm, Unionism, and Pietism. The other is built on a rock - the Word and the Confessions.

The first group is well fed, well paid, and pampered, interlarded in the entire synodical network--including FIC, the colleges, and positions you would never guess. The second group is scattered and ignored.


Dog...gone.

Bloom's Taxonomy and the Repeat-After-Me MDivs



Paul McCain, MDiv, leads the Gadarene swine off the cliff, in the name of Universal Objective Justification.


I am not keen on educational theory and often exchange emails with a conservative from California on that topic. However, Bloom's taxonomy is still big in higher education and illustrates the reasons behind McCain's Enthusiasm.

MDivs are trained to stay at the bottom level, and they do.


Missouri bought their Purple Palace land from Vianney Prep, so saints could be venerated on both sides of Kirkwood and Holy Mother (fill in the blank) Church could be worshiped antiphonally.


The lowest level of education is repeat-after-me memorization. That is what seminaries teach MDivs, concentrating on why their synod is the only one and how their founders walked six feet off the ground, like the Remarkable Cure d'Ars, St. John Vianney. (That is my little joke, since the Purple Palace was built on land bought from Vianney High School in St. Louis.)

At Yale, Brevard Childs told me he could identify the date ministers graduated from seminary by their libraries. They never grew intellectually after ordination. The UOJ fanatics following Robert Preus.1 are proof of that maxim. They are stuck in 1987 and cannot face the obvious from Justification and Rome: Preus repudiated UOJ.

We all know that Walther and F. Pieper were infallible, so anyone questioning their infallible wisdom deserves the Left Foot of Fellowship, even if the Founders plagiarized the Pietists and George Christian Knapp. See also his translator, Leonard Wood.

L P Cruz has tried to help McCain see the errors of UOJ, but McCain wants his blog filled with comments from the UOJ claque.

The UOJ Stormtroopers endlessly repeat their slogans, avoiding the issue of the Brief Statement, to wit:

"Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe in Christ, that is, believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven."

Therefore, the official LCMS position, based upon their own canonical Brief Statement, teaches Universalism and Enthusiasm. The entire world is absolved of sin, they claim. They make fun of the WELS Kokomo Statements but they teach the same thing. It is Calvin improving on the language of Zwingli, but it is still Enthusiasm. Their New Testament citations do not support their cause.

How did Missouri, WELS, and the ELS provide such a welcome for the Church Growth Movement? Answer - they already taught Enthusiasm.