We had an earthquake in Bella Vista tonight.
2.5 on the Richter scale.
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Earthquake in Bella Vista
We had an earthquake in Bella Vista tonight.
2.5 on the Richter scale.
Goddess Worship Is Common in ELCA, Mainline Churches
Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago.
Earth Day and Mother Goddess rituals go together.
Exposing the ELCA:
Have you ever prayed to the Goddess? Recited the "Goddess Rosary?" Joined an ELCA Goddess small group? If you stay in the ELCA long enough you may just get your chance. ELCA church, Ebenezer Lutheran in San Francisco (http://www.herchurch.org) has been doing this for a long time, but they are not the only ones. Rev. Jeff Johnson, recently elected to the Sierra Pacific Synod Council, and his church University Lutheran Chapel (ELCA) in Berkeley, CA are conducting a monthly "Goddess Rosary" service.
Here is what the University Lutheran Chapel newsletter says about the service.
"Goddess Rosary.
Last Sunday of the Month Goddess Rosary, 6:45PM at the Chapel. During the 1-hour session, the Divine Feminine will be recognized and reclaimed through recitation of the Goddess Rosary, silence, music, and movement. This very special Rosary consists of prayers by feminist theologian Carol Christ and musician Sister Miriam Therese Winter. The evening will be based on Rev. Stacy Boorn’s Goddess-centered devotion at Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran Church in SF. People of all gender identities are welcome." ( See here )
You can't have a Goddess service without praying the "Hail Goddess" prayer. It goes like this,
"Hail Goddess full of grace. Blessed are you
and blessed are all the fruits
of your womb.
For you are the MOTHER of us all.
Hear us now
and in all our needs.
O blessed be, O blessed be. Amen
(adapted from Carol Christ)
(see here)
One participant in the Goddess Rosary service (at herchurch) described her experience this way -
"From the basket of rosaries, I took into my hand a strand of vibrantly-colored beads with a silver goddess icon in place of the traditional cross. The goddesses came in a variety of shapes and sizes, celebrating the beauty of the feminine form; I found reflections of my own figure in the full hips and Rubenesque curves of my goddess. Once gathered, we began to recite together the “Our Mother” and “Hail Goddess” prayers."
(see here)
This is what is happening in the ELCA! The ELCA is well aware of this and they have chosen to accept it. If they didn't, they have the power to stop this practice. But the ELCA does not. This is false teaching and praying to a false god. This is on the ELCA's head. Let's not forget that they have promoted it in official publications (See on Page 6) AND have allowed a pastor who sanctions it to be on a Synod Council.
For those of you on the fence concerning if you want to remain in the ELCA, what is it going to take? For those that insist on staying in the ELCA, there is more than enough evidence that the ELCA has abandoned scripture and true Christian teaching (see here), you cannot deny it. You are living for your own desire for your church and placing that above the will of God which is clear to all in His scriptures.
Here is what the University Lutheran Chapel newsletter says about the service.
"Goddess Rosary.
Last Sunday of the Month Goddess Rosary, 6:45PM at the Chapel. During the 1-hour session, the Divine Feminine will be recognized and reclaimed through recitation of the Goddess Rosary, silence, music, and movement. This very special Rosary consists of prayers by feminist theologian Carol Christ and musician Sister Miriam Therese Winter. The evening will be based on Rev. Stacy Boorn’s Goddess-centered devotion at Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran Church in SF. People of all gender identities are welcome." ( See here )
You can't have a Goddess service without praying the "Hail Goddess" prayer. It goes like this,
"Hail Goddess full of grace. Blessed are you
and blessed are all the fruits
of your womb.
For you are the MOTHER of us all.
Hear us now
and in all our needs.
O blessed be, O blessed be. Amen
(adapted from Carol Christ)
(see here)
One participant in the Goddess Rosary service (at herchurch) described her experience this way -
"From the basket of rosaries, I took into my hand a strand of vibrantly-colored beads with a silver goddess icon in place of the traditional cross. The goddesses came in a variety of shapes and sizes, celebrating the beauty of the feminine form; I found reflections of my own figure in the full hips and Rubenesque curves of my goddess. Once gathered, we began to recite together the “Our Mother” and “Hail Goddess” prayers."
(see here)
This is what is happening in the ELCA! The ELCA is well aware of this and they have chosen to accept it. If they didn't, they have the power to stop this practice. But the ELCA does not. This is false teaching and praying to a false god. This is on the ELCA's head. Let's not forget that they have promoted it in official publications (See on Page 6) AND have allowed a pastor who sanctions it to be on a Synod Council.
For those of you on the fence concerning if you want to remain in the ELCA, what is it going to take? For those that insist on staying in the ELCA, there is more than enough evidence that the ELCA has abandoned scripture and true Christian teaching (see here), you cannot deny it. You are living for your own desire for your church and placing that above the will of God which is clear to all in His scriptures.
Lavender Lutheran Would Be a Good Name
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 20, 2010
ELCA Worshiping Communities Intent about being Welcoming
Members of Central Lutheran Church in Elk River, Minn., voted earlier this year to terminate their relationship with the ELCA, but some members there sought to remain in the ELCA and have started their own worshiping community.
"For now we're called Elk River Lutheran. We may undergo a name change, but we had to do something quickly. [GJ - How about Lavender Lutheran?] People started leaving Central," said Richard Spyhalski, president of Elk River Lutheran's steering committee.
The ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission program unit affirmed Elk River Lutheran as an ELCA "new start" in March 2010.
"Elk River is a congregation under development," said the Rev. Susan E. Tjornehoi, director for evangelical mission, ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod.
Tjornehoi said the members of Elk River are passionate about their mission and ministry. "They've gone from no place to bursting at the seams. The depth of their joy, tears of happiness and being the people of God has freed them to gather in community, (engage) in ministry and identify with the ELCA." [GJ - Rev. Susan has a gift for fractured English.]
Elk River Lutheran "intends to be a full-service ELCA congregation," said Spyhalski. "Right off the top" members of the community committed 10 percent of Elk River's budget to support ELCA ministries, said Spyhalski. "We are very brand-loyal." [GJ - How about being Word/Confessions loyal?]
Spyhalski said he joined Central Lutheran in 2007 and became disenchanted with the congregation. "Central had stopped certain ministries like Sunday school, and/or started doing other things, which had caused people to leave the congregation," he said.
"The final straw for me was the congregation's response to the decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly," said Spyhalski.
The assembly adopted a social statement on human sexuality and called for revisions to ministry policy documents, making it possible for eligible Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender [GJ - aka homosexual, lesbian] relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders. The ELCA Church Council adopted the revisions to ministry policy documents April 10.
To date less than 2 percent of the ELCA's 10,396 congregations have officially left the denomination, primarily as a result of the assembly's actions.
***
GJ - Offerings are 10-20% down, because many congregations have already impounded offerings that would have gone to ELCA, perhaps sending them to the LCMC, etc. The news release fails to concede that the largest, most established congregations are leaving or considering an exit.
Say It Ain't So, Joe - Moonshine from ELCA Bishop Woolerslime
though he advanced the Lavender Mafia cause
while denouncing traditionalists.
ALPB Forum:
The latest item on the ELCA News Release is "ELCA Worshiping Communities Intent about being Welcoming" (full story can be found at http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Communication-Services/News/Releases.aspx?a=4528).
It concerns two new worshipping communities, Elk River Lutheran, Elk River, Minnesota, and Lord of Love! Lutheran in Galena, Illinois. Both "worshipping communities" are the result of members leaving a congregation that has voted to leave the ELCA. But wait! It turns out that the Lord of Love folks have left St. Matthew Lutheran in Galena, which has NOT taken any vote to leave the ELCA! Pastor Baltz from St. Matthew Lutheran is quoted in the article as saying, "We had small group discussions after the assembly, and the result of those was that the consensus was that we would take no action to leave the ELCA at this time." However, some folks were unhappy at St. Matthew, so they began their own "worshipping community" with the help of the synod bishop, Rev. Gary Wollersheim, who is quoted as saying, "Our synod council set a goal to be supportive of those who want to stay in the ELCA while their congregations are in the process of leaving."
In other words, the Bishop of the Northern Illinois Synod has helped to organize a "worshipping community" just a few blocks from an established ELCA congregation consisting of disgruntled members of that congregation, even while that established congregation has stated that they have no plans to leave the ELCA, have not taken any vote to leave the ELCA, and continue to be a viable congregation in good standing in the synod. Furthermore, it is the hope that this "worshipping community" may "become a new mission start". For those who are looking for an example of schismatic action, here it is, carried out by a bishop of the ELCA! And lying about the actions of the congregation he is undermining in the process...
There are other troubling things about this news release, but this is so blatant it makes the rest of it seem tame.
Marshall Hahn
***
GJ - This same serpentine bishop organized a group from Faith Lutheran in Moline, called SavingFaith, to oppose the exit from ELCA and to take away the congregation's name. In other words, he did his best to polarize one of his own congregations...twice.
I give Lord of Love five stars for having a suggestive name. What ever happened to the "love that dare not speak its name"? Now it is the love that will not stop yakking.
Not a Product of the Ichabod Studios - But Funny Nevertheless
The First VP of WELS, Fuller-trained Jim Huebner, has a Soul Cafe at his church.
---
From Grace Downtown, WELS, Milwaukee:
Financial Peace University
Financial Peace University (FPU) is Dave Ramsey’s life-changing program that teaches you to achieve your financial goals by eliminating debt, saving for the future, and giving like never before. Current Grace members are among the more than one million families who’ve attended FPU with amazing results. The next 13-week class will be offered at Grace from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday evenings, June 8 – August 31. To register for the summer class, call the church office at 414-271-3006.Pastor Daron Lindemann
dlindemann@gracedowntown.org(414) 271-3006, ext. 104
In 1999, Pastor Lindemann became the first associate pastor in Grace's history. His ministry responsibilities include Grace Group supervision and shepherd coaching, new member nurture, leadership and staff development, evangelism, volunteer support, and counseling, along with regular preaching and teaching. He also preaches regularly for the Message from the Master radio broadcast and is a fully-trained barista for the Grace Place coffee shop.
***
GJ - I believe it was called the Soul Cafe at first.
Financial Peace University - commonly called "Eff P U" - is also at RockNRoll in Round Rock, Texas.
Can you imagine VP Jim yelling,
"I told you DE-CAFF!"
I can.
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