Saturday, May 22, 2010

Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure -
Ready for Lulu Publication




My editor has finished preparing Liberalism, the surprise best-seller at Northwestern Publishing House.

Sales dwindled at NPH, so they gave me the copyright when I requested it. When it first appeared at the ELS convention, all the books sold out at once. NPH did not expect its doctrinal books to sell well! The first few titles sold very well, from what I was told. I think Liberalism was the second one on the list.

Once listed on Lulu.com, people will be able to download the entire book for free as a PDF. They can also order one or more copies sent directly to their homes. If you order it sent to a church, ask for a plain brown wrapper.

Some people evidently tried to keep Liberalism from being published at all. They did prevent Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant from appearing, even though the book was on the official schedule for publishing. NPH made up for that by heavily promoting CLP, which sold like hotcakes. I printed CLP with the help of Christian News.

Does anyone wonder if the Shrinkers had a hand in meddling at NPH?

Wally O. and Fred Adrian had fits when my paper (the last chapter of Liberalism) was read at a WELS conference. Roger Kovaciny also had a fit. Later, Kovo claimed in CN that he helped start Church Growth in WELS.

The Church and Money Changers have been been the only thing growing in WELS since 1977. No one opposed them at the beginning, when Ron Roth and Paul Calvin Kelm and Hartmann began their evil TELL rag. More than a decade later, a few of us started the Orthodox Lutheran Forum. Pastors quit because it was too risky. Later, Issues in WELS began to combat the insanity of the Gurgle administration. They folded as soon as DP Free died.

The reason Shrinkers have tried to silence me and a few others is simple enough - they covet the money available from synod subsidies (free vicars!) and Thrivent grants (make something up!) and foundations (save the world!). Once people catch on to the millions of dollars wasted in fraud, high-living, and wild-hair projects, they will quit giving altogether.

There is a possible shock in store for synod drones. They never realized people would buy doctrinal books. Perhaps if so-called missions people tried Lutheran doctrine instead of Fuller fads, they would find more interest.

For years, WELS and Missouri have gazed at ELCA, like Gatsby staring at the mansion across the water, hoping and longing to participate in the glory of bigness. Now they have a chance to see where that ends, in an eight-door exit as people, pastors, and congregations scramble from ELCA. It's like the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.


In this satire, people get to travel to see the end of time -
the end of the universe.

Another Episode in Lutheran Self-Destruction


Lower tuition? That was for us Boomers. You can pay full freight for professors teaching 9 hours a week.


bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Getting Dirty with God - Church and Change at St. ...":


How Kieschnick put a nail in the coffin of LCMS.

Back in 2000 a study noted that within ten years half of LCMS clergy would be eligible to retire. So at some point the decision was made that pastors could be paid their pensions without retiring. This naturally drives up the overall age of pastors. At the same time, synodical funding of the seminaries went to almost nil, so the tuition rose to the point where only second career people who had a lot of money to burn could attend. Daniel's Preus' son quit seminary because it was too expensive. However, second careerists may be near or beyond retire age as soon as they enter the ministry!

Unfortunately, ministers attract people of their same age group, and more often than not turn off people who are younger (see the article below). So the LCMS's gray clergy means having a graying synod membership. It would be better for the LCMS to have a pastor shortage and non-retirement age pastorate than the alternative:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/researcher.anticipates.further.church.decline.in.2010s/25949.htm
excerpt: He warned that aging clergy posed another challenge to the main denominations, as research has found that ministers tend to attract congregations of a similar age.

“The problem is that the ministerial age matches the congregation but not the people they need to reach,” he said.

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GJ - I am not sure that ministerial age equals congregational age. There is a general greying of the mainline denominations. That started in the 1970s in the LCA. The mainlines got scared decades ago and fell for the Church Growth Movement, which manipulated them into spending millions on tricks, gimmicks, foul doctrine, and bad music. Missouri and WELS fit into the mainline definition, so they joined with the LCA/ALC, then ELCA in lavishly funded idiocies together.

The Boomer executives are incredibly self-centered and greedy. They grab the offering money for themselves and their friends, calling it "missions" and "reaching out with the Gospel." They deny funds to the deserving in the name of shortages, using budget tricks. Then they brag about their wonderful good deeds.

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diet-o-worms (http://diet-o-worms.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Another Episode in Lutheran Self-Destruction":

http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=10368

LCMS estimates the average of congregations is 56. A few more years of Ablazin'-Cash, and the weighted average age should be north of 70.

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GJ - God has punished Missouri long enough with Kieschnick. Ablaze! (tm) has burned up more cash for less value than anything since the Schwan font of loot gushed over WELS. Ditto - the ELS. They did send Pope John the Malefactor around the world, but unfortunately it was a round trip.