Apostates Communicate the Same Gospel of Love - But Withhold It from Conservatives

The ELCA PB looks like a reference librarian,
but maintains iron control of the Lavender Agenda.
He reminds me of the WELS Shrinkers and their great love -
for themselves and their agenda.


From the ALPB forum:

" I'm sure that the pastors you would upbraid have participated in plenty of synod assemblies over the past 10 to 15 years. They have consistently opposed the movement to overturn 2000 years of church teaching on human sexuality. They have done this while being labeled
trouble makers,
schismatics,
fundamentalists,
homophobes,
segregationists,
apartheidists,
blasphemers against the Holy Spirit
from the floor of those same synod assemblies. They are simply exhausted."

It can't happen here!

Oregon ELCA in Financial Meltdown

ELCA Pastor Anita Hill is being mentioned
as the minister who will be the first openly Lesbian bishop in ELCA.
Who published about this in 1987? With citations?
And mentioned Anita Hill?

ALPB Forum:

The Oregon Synod is May 28-30 and the pre-assembly report is out. The report contains some information on the impact of the 2009 CWA actions on congregations and synod finances. As a former member of the ELCA in this Synod, who was a voting member in the 2005 Synod Assembly (where the Synod adopted the RIC label), in my opinion this is one of the more liberal and fully CWA 2009 action supporting Synods. It seems clear that even here the impact has not been positive. I am off to work so will not be able to comment further on the report.

http://www.oregonsynod.org/10assembly
http://www.oregonsynod.org/10assembly/ReportofOfficers2010.pdf

In Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke's report:

"Fourthly, we have congregations and members in distress over rostering decisions made at our
August 2009 Churchwide Assembly. Much of my time since August has been expended here.
• We have six Oregon Synod congregations that have taken votes on disaffiliating with the
ELCA. Three (see note at bottom of page) have succeeded in achieving their first of two
required 2/3 majority votes to do so. In my judgment five of these six congregations have
damaged their capacity for vital ministry in the process.
• On the positive side of the equation, other congregations report the reception of new
members thankful for the welcome and openness of this church.
• The number of ‘Reconciling in Christ’ congregations in the Oregon Synod continues to grow
with ten congregations now designating themselves in this fashion. Others are in
conversation.
• A new Synod Authorized Worship Community, Grace and Mercy Lutheran Church, is being
formed in Hermiston as Trinity Lutheran Church votes to disaffiliate.

(Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Lebanon voted 125-39, with one abstention, in their first vote to disaffiliate with the ELCA on November 15, 2009. On April 25, 2010, a second vote of 130-77 failed to reach the required two-thirds majority. The congregation remains in the ELCA, but the congregation has split. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Boardman voted 24-1 in their first vote to disaffiliate with the ELCA on January 24, 2010. After a congregational split, Trinity Lutheran Church in Hermiston on their third ‘first vote’ voted 45-1 to disaffiliate with the ELCA on February 28, 2010. In these two cases, a consultation process with the bishop is being undertaken, after which a second vote must be held before separation with the ELCA is complete.)

From the financial report:

General Fund:

Mission Support in 2009 started slowly compared to 2008, about $22,000 below at the end of July. Following the Churchwide Assembly in August, the decline steepend to an average of $18,000 per month. At the end of the year, we were $131,500 below 2008, 89.2% of the annual budget.....


The report states that most of the decline came post CWA. I don't have time to copy it here, but page 46 discusses income projections for 2010-2011, and makes the following points:

- They are coming off a watershed change in 2009 when CWA actions resulted in changes in Mission support
- This, along with the economy, caused support to "plummet" beginning in August 2009
- For 2010, they have assumed this lower giving pattern for the entire year
- Projecting modest growth in that giving it 2011 due to the following factors which "may" help
a) a "robust economic recovery"
b) "quiet discussion on sexuality matters"
c) 1-1 conversations between the Bishop and congregations
d) Assistant bishop and another pastor dedicated to encouraging Mission support in the Synod
e) A new "Believe" fund raising initiative to try reach young people drifting away from the church

In expense section, the report indicates a drop in percentage sharing with Churchwide in the past years, they intend to increase this percentage in 2010 and 2011. However, actual dollars to CW are lower since it is a percentage of the declining mission support income that goes to CW. Expenses are also lower due to Synod staff changes.

They call us babes in arms,
we're really babes in armor.

California Has a Suggestion

By Norma Boeckler

Re: The suggestion that you print your article, "The Gospel In a Few Simple Steps" and send it to every WELS pastor. How about the responder and like minded readers printing it out themselves and sending or handing it to as many pastors as they know? That way readers can express the courage of their convictions on their own dimes and with their own names and return addresses. I had already downloaded and printed it to have available for distribution to anyone of my choosing whether they identify themselves as Lutheran or "Other".

They Read It Before

Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "The Gospel In a Few Simple Steps":

Wow! I wish you could re-print that and sent it to every WELS pastor. I'm afraid most wouldn't get it. How sad!

***

GJ - My sources are old and trustworthy. I remember what a famous atheist poet said at our college - Steal from the best.

The problem is that the Syn Conference pastors have been trained to steal from the worst and conceal the theft.

Many WELS pastors read this blog. Some have said, "Everyone does, but no one admits it." I doubt everyone, but many do.

I would like everyone to see what treasure the Book of Concord is, but that only happens during a time of confessional crisis. If no one will admit that there is one, few will study the Confessions and be edified. The Lutheran Symbols, as they are sometimes called, will remain "old-fashioned, boring, and irrelevant." All that is true for Elmer Gantry clergy.

St. Matthew in Appleton - $1 Million Gone

Caleb wrote about Getting Dirty with God, St. Matthew Church and Change, Appleton:

Just a note on St. Matthew.

My in-laws belong there and are totally disgusted.

To quote a member of that church "They p--- away the Albrecht legacy to the tune
of $1,000,000.000 on Big Screen TV's and gimmicks in the church."

Thank God you are bringing these things out in the open.

***

GJ - Being disgusted with the destruction of Lutheran doctrine is a violation of the Eighth Commandment, Matthew 18, and Article LVI, Section, A, Subsection 2, Paragraph 3 of WELS Canon Law.

Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "St. Matthew in Appleton - $1 Million Gone":

I like your flow chart. However, I believe you forgot a rectangle in the "Blame it on.." section. Where's the spot for "Blame it on... Ichabod"?

The Gospel In a Few Simple Steps

The Lost Sheep, by Norma Boeckler

God's will is carried out only through His Word, and this Word is always united with the divine energy of His Holy Spirit. Isaiah 55:8-11.

The efficacious Word of God created the universe in six days and converts the blind, hardened unbeliever into a new creation. This same Word continues to work in the believer, to encourage godly contrition and sustain his faith in Christ.

The Holy Spirit works through the Law to condemn our sins against the Ten Commandments, our spiritual sins (First Table) against God, which lead to the more visible sins against our neighbor (Second Table).

God uses the preaching and teaching of the Gospel to plant and sustain faith in the crushed hearts of contrite sinners. The Gospel message is summarized:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." KJV John 3:16.

The proclamation of the Gospel is carried out through the invisible Word of preaching and teaching, the visible Word of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. God grants grace only through His instruments, the Means of Grace.

Those who believe in the Gospel of Christ receive what He has promised, complete and free forgiveness of sin. God declares that person forgiven - justification by faith. Romans 5:1-2.

The fruits of the Spirit follow from faith in Christ, and God is glorified by all things done in faith. Those who wish to harvest more for the Kingdom should broadcast the Word with complete abandon, trusting in God's Promises.

Errors Refuted
What God could do should not be confused with His Promises. He has bound Himself to the Word forever, so the Holy Spirit never works apart from the Means of Grace. Separating the Holy Spirit from the Word is called Enthusiasm.

The word of man accomplishes nothing and only serves to dilute and pollute the Word of God when mixed with His Wisdom. All Church Growth and Emerging Church programs are pure Enthusiasm, loved by Satan for turning weak members into Unitarians, lazy pastors into atheists.

Pastoral work is summarized by carrying out the divinely blessed work of the Means of Grace - preaching, teaching, and visitation with the Word. The minister is not obliged to balance the budget, keep everyone happy, or pack the calendar with social events. He is not an entertainer, a fishing buddy, a shrink. God enrages the devil by making an ordinary person the ordained vessel for transmitting the Means of Grace.

Ministerial success is defined solely by faithfulness to the Scriptures and Confessions, as Walther stated in quoting Luther, at the end of Law and Gospel. God Himself will bring about His results.

Money is not a Means of Grace and has no effect on the growth of the Kingdom. Because the love of money is the root of all evil, an abundance of money will normally work against the Gospel - materially bankrupting the spiritually bankrupt, as shown by the work of the Schwan Foundation.

Scarlet fever is best discouraged by making men pay to hold office in the organization, paying a penalty for avoiding a studious life.

Working with those who deny the Means of Grace will always undermine trust in God's appointed instruments. Lutherans have proven repeatedly that they cannot work with the Reformed and remain faithful to the Scriptures and Confessions.

False doctrine is a cancer, not an adiaphoron.

Synodical traditions and unwritten rules are hogwash designed to fool the unwary, keep the organization captive, and thwart God's Word. He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. KJV Mark 7:6.

Preaching of the Gospel – Stone in a Pond

"The preaching of this message may be likened to a stone thrown into the water, producing ripples which circle outward from it, the waves rolling always on and on, one driving the other, till they come to the shore. Although the center becomes quiet, the waves do not rest, but move forward. So it is with the preaching of the Word. It was begun by the apostles, and it constantly goes forward, is pushed on farther and farther by the preachers, driven hither and thither into the world, yet always being made known to those who never heard it before, although it be arrested in the midst of its course and is condemned as heresy."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 202. Ascension Day Mark 16:14-20.

---

California suggested:

Re: The suggestion that you print your article, "Gospel In a Few Simple Steps" and send it to every WELS pastor. How about the responder and like minded readers printing it out themselves and sending or handing it to as many pastors as they know? That way readers can express the courage of their convictions on their own dimes and with their own names and return addresses. I had already downloaded and printed it to have available for distribution to anyone of my choosing whether they identify themselves as Lutheran or "Other".