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.
Church and Change bio: Ron started his ministy (sic) by serving three congregations in Colorado. He served for 30 years at St. Peter Lutheran Church, Appleton, WI and is now retired. During his ministry at St. Peter he served as Circuit Pastor, Chairman of the Board of Regents at Fox Valley Lutheran High School, Secretary of the Fox River Valley Conference, on the Governing Board at Luther Preparatory School, and Circuit Chairman. He has been a promoter of creating innovative ministries for a changing world. His wife, Renate, and he have three children.
John has left a new comment on your post "What Can Anyone Do - WELS and Other Disasters":
Maybe the pastors and laity of the ELS and WELS refuse to confess the truth and fail to replace the scoundrels because many of the Church and Changers are the more senior pastors.
It's easy to say that the laity must do their part. The problem is that in many cases the laity has had the same pastor for many years. They have come to trust him. Why should they not?
Then, slowly but surely the pastor introduces Church and Change into the congregation. The leaders of the congregation are first sucked in. After a while, the pastor has his supporters, also folks trusted in the congregation.
I've seen it happening. It's an awful thing to behold.
When there is resistance, the C & C'ers back off. Just to re-group, mind you. They will be back.
Who's going to challenge these senior, trusted pastors? No one. Once the lay leadership of a congregation is sucked into C & C by the pastor, the congregation will follow. It may take awhile, but it will happen.
Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "Not Everyone in WELS - Party in the MLC":
I realize this is the way the WELS is. I've personally watched as DP Engelbrecht stood by and allowed a false teacher to run rough-shod over a congregation. It cost my wife her ministry. She dared to stand up to the false teacher and the DP.
Now I'm a former teacher, and am just the member in the pew. How so you suggest the average WELS member respond to an Englebrecht, Kelm, Jeske, Olson (sadly the list can go on and on!) Or, in other words, what can we do?
Scott
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peeved (http://peeved.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Not Everyone in WELS - Party in the MLC":
What irks me is that WELS and MLC do almost everything in their power to vindicate their critics – the critics who call WELS a bunch of crackpots.
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GJ - I resisted WELS' corruption in Columbus in the 1980s. The apostates were blaming me then, just as they are now. I even heard that Deputy Doug blamed me for the mess he has created with his incompetent leadership. That is a minor compliment, showing that people do read this blog. The Fox Valley map lights up with every post.
What can anyone do? I follow Luther in applying the Word. I cannot judge what God will do with His Word. A corollary is Chytraeus warning - Never doubt the goodness of God. When troubles come because of the Word, that is also an important part of God's gracious work.
I have been deeply disappointed in WELS clergy and laity, and disappointed in the micro-minis and independents. However, stumbling about in the minefields of apostasy has yielded many benefits.
I found it especially galling that DP Robert Mueller and his paid assassin Paul Kuske moved heaven and earth to get a known multiple adulterer and abuser of teens into the ministry. False doctrine? - proven in front of witnesses and denied, even to the point of "I don't have that in my notes." WELS is pro-life? Ask them about the abortion. Etc.
And the conservative candidate to replace the disgraced Mueller was someone who went along with it completely, John Seifert. The way to become a DP is to go along with false doctrine, not oppose it. Robert Mueller's only sin--in the eyes of the Michigan district--was to vote to close Northwestern College.
The politicians are all the same, so why trust a DP or SP? Synodical politicians are the result of God's Word, not the guardians of God's Word.
If pastors and laity refuse to confess the truth and fail to replace the scoundrels, they buy their own troubles. False doctrine is also efficacious. It pounds, destroys, eviscerates, and delivers people to their Father Below.
The Book of Concord says, in the words of Luther:
12] And what need is there of many words? If I were to recount all the profit and fruit which God's Word produces, whence would I get enough paper and time? The devil is called the master of a thousand arts. But what shall we call God's Word, which drives away and brings to naught this master of a thousand arts with all his arts and power? It must indeed be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. 13] And shall we frivolously despise such power, profit, strength, and fruit-we, especially, who claim to be pastors and preachers? If so, we should not only have nothing given us to eat, but be driven out, being baited with dogs, and pelted with dung, because we not only need all this every day as we need our daily bread, but must also daily use it against the daily and unabated attacks and lurking of the devil, the master of a thousand arts.
The indolence of WELS, at these current district meetings, tells me that no one is willing to drive the false teachers from town, to pelt them with dog manure. They are only too happy to pelt someone who agrees with the content of the Book of Concord.
Blaming me shows that WELS leaders cannot face their own horrible, dishonest, even criminal behavior. Yes, criminal. When someone feeds adulterous pastors and teachers into the system, lying for them, they are copying the Church of Rome while clucking their forked tongues about the papalists. Do not forget the WELS church workers can marry, so that excuse is out the window.
Fox Valley is a case study in the spread of apostasy - with the blessing of the leaders, the clergy, and the laity. The circuit has a long, inglorious history - bad stewards of the mysteries of God. Not their mysteries, not their personal sandboxes and their personal meat markets - God's mysteries.
Fox Valley boasts, among other crudities, two parishes (or is it one?) where Craig Groeschel's disgusting drivel is copied and promoted and passed off as sermons, as worship. Ski and Glende, football buddies from Michigan Lutheran Seminary, tag team as Groeschel copiers. Is this a secret? No. Have countless people told them how wrong it is? Yes. Has Deputy Doug done anything? Yes - he has scolded those who object to this plagiarism, laziness, and false doctrine.
I heard that a VP of the Northern District visited Ski's CORE, so he could join in the whitewash. I used to watch Michigan District capons doing the same thing. Some would object strenuously at first and have a sudden conversion experience at the right moment. WELS clergy are famous for that.
So WELS clergy guys - do you know how disgusted the laity are with you? I don't mean the get-along go-along corporate laity types that you covet for committee work. I mean the ones who cry when they read the latest outrages. You are all responsible because you do nothing about it. The prosecution (moi) will stipulate that everyone knows about Larry Oh, Ski, Glende, and Kelm being false teachers (and WELS has a deep bench). What have the WELS pastors done? Exactly nothing. And the ELS? Same thing - nothing.
The Blessings
Enough on the jeremiad. There are countless blessings to applying the Word, even if the barbarians extend the Left Foot of Fellowship. I am happy for all the friends I have in the various synods, even happier for those who no longer waste my time with their posturing.
If we have to see the ugliness of demonic hatred when we bear the cross, we also get to see another side of life, hidden from the belly-servers. Truly miraculous things happen all the time, and God does provide. He even provides until He provides. I wish more people could see that.
I have asked men, "Why do you need a synod to make you a pastor? Start a Bible study in your home. Worship with a group. If a congregation develops from that, fine." That is not the only way. I have nothing against men working through Lutheran groups, as long as they apply the Word and Confessions. That could even work in ELCA, although expulsion would follow sooner than most venues.
Unlike most WELSians, I was well qualified to teach but not looking for that. VP Hategood assured me I would never teach - an odd introduction indeed. Contrary to the sage advice from Rev. Hategood, WELS led me into teaching a wide variety of courses to people all over the world. The obnoxiousness of WELS made that possible, and I still enjoy higher education. Many people wish they could work exclusively from their homes, as I do.
Even though I needed medical coverage for Mrs. Ichabod, very good coverage came along in various ways, first from her work when she became disabled, then from a special policy in St. Louis, next from an unusual provision in Minnesota, finally from Medicare Advantage, each one when needed. God provided. LI did very well in his chosen field with many contributions to his local (independent) congregation.
Writing about theology works best when there are doctrinal conflicts, and those have never ceased. I enjoy that and many people seem to appreciate it too.
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Eastcoast:
"As far as I have heard, all the district conventions were mostly blather and that's about all. Ours sure was. Besides myself - numerous times - no one else got up to argue for Confessionalism. At least not that I heard...."
Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "WELS Church Lady Dreaming":
Dr. Jackson, I totally agree with what you say about the video. I just wanted to add that on top of it all, it just wasn't very good.
I too realize that the days of "what happens on The Hill stays on The Hill" are loooong gone.
Point of clarification: When you say "MLC is proud of this effort", do you mean students, administrators, or a mixture of both?
Scott
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Garrett has left a new comment on your post "WELS Church Lady Dreaming":
Well, of course the music is protected, but DMCA cannot remove such a video protected under fair use: one common use being 'Parody'. Not necessarily illegal, but still shamefully copied. Certain CLC and LCMS members (certainly pastors) still give me a funny look when I mention MLC or that I am a WELSian.
I still don't understand where guffaws come from when college students watch. When I sat at the debut, I was facepalming and headdesking the whole nine minutes. I ended with a very concave forehead.
This will probably haunt MLC for a long time. Sin is very, very, attractive. If PinMLC gets taken down, men will either complain loudly enough to get it put back up, or will do it themselves.
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GJ - When I did some research on Party in the Fire Island Pines, the first issue was whether the owner of the music objected. The owner decided to let that pass, giving their permission after the fact. I question whether MLC sought or received permission after the fact. I do not believe "parody" allows them to steal music and re-broadcast it. The homosexuals in the original knock-off were pleased at being copied by a Wisconsin Lutheran College, but that does not give the college a free pass to steal the music for itself.
Many videos are pulled from blog sites because the blogger does not have permission to use the material, and that includes music remixes. I loved one where two girls lip-synced a mod version of White Christmas. That was yanked for legal reasons. Bing Crosby's estate is tough on copiers.
BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg’s apologized Wednesday for "clumsily" referring to people impacted by the Gulf oil spill as "the small people."
The Reformed Church in America adopted a resolution expressing "concern" over the Evangelical Lutheran Church's controversial action to allow partnered homosexuals to be on the clergy roster.
The resolution was approved during the RCA's 204th General Synod, which concluded Tuesday.
It comes nearly a year after the ELCA's highest legislative body voted to permit persons who are in "life-long, monogamous, same gender relationships" to serve as clergy. The ELCA also adopted a social statement on human sexuality, acknowledging that there is no consensus in the denomination on homosexuality and recommending that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to recognize same-sex relationships.
The Lutheran body's actions have raised a red flag for at least one of its partners. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod – the second largest Lutheran church body after the ELCA – is reconsidering its cooperative relationship with its sister Lutheran denomination.
RCA leaders, however, have voted to dialogue more with the ELCA on the pro-gay actions.
The two denominations have been full communion partners for more than a decade, recognizing each other "as churches in which the Gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered according to the Word of God" and providing for the orderly exchange of ordained ministers.
When the ELCA opened the doors to noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy in 2009, the RCA – which currently does not affirm homosexual behavior and holds that it is contrary to the will of God – had no plans to end its relationship with their Lutheran brethren.
"Cutting ties with the ELCA over their Assembly’s narrow decision would witness to the world that Christians will fight and divide themselves from one another, and break the bonds of Christian fellowship, over such an ethical difference," RCA spokesman Paul Boice told The Christian Post last year.
Still, the RCA voted to express concern with the actions and to direct a panel to discuss and explore the ELCA's human sexuality statement with representatives from the ELCA "in the spirit of 'mutual affirmation and admonition' called for in the Formula of Agreement." The panel will report on the progress of the dialogue to the General Synod in 2011.
RCA delegates also approved a resolution that invites the ELCA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ and the Christian Reformed Church to join in a "consultation on the interpretation and use of Scripture in moral discernment and ethical decision making."
The ELCA welcomes the dialogue and invitation, the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, executive of ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, told the ELCA News Service.
Notably, McCoid said that the discussions are not intended to alter the full communion partnership the denominations have.
"In the committee meetings, it was the expressed intention to have a dialogue with the ELCA and other Formula of Agreement partners. There was not any consideration to suspend or change the relationship of the RCA with the ELCA," he said.
The Rev. Douglas Fromm, RCA associate for ecumenical relations, also explained that the decision to adopt the resolutions was "to honor the full communion" relationship.
The RCA, ELCA, UCC and PC(USA) signed the "Formula of Agreement" in 1997 establishing a full communion partnership.
In other business during the General Synod, the RCA adopted the Belhar Confession as the denomination's fourth standard of unity to the Book of Church Order. The last time the church adopted a new standard was more than two centuries ago. Rooted in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the Belhar Confession confronts the sin of racism and affirms unity and reconciliation among Christians.
