Walther Recommended Doctrinal Discussion

Quashing doctrinal discussions is bowing to Spener,
not listening to C. F. W. Walther.

Organizations like to suppress discussion. Their favorite word is control. Silence and secrecy help them control everyone else.

Spener really had two major agenda items. One was his cell group method, which is found everywhere in Lutheran synods, whether left, right, or in the middle. Cell groups kill doctrinal purity by making pooled ignorance the key factor in small group happiness. Cell groups are also ideal for promoting the superficial feel-good experience of Pentecostalism.

Spener also promoted unionism at the expense of doctrine and faux-love at the expense of orthodoxy. Nothing promotes bigness like "why can't we all just get along?" I attended Lutheran meetings where the LCA element denounced the LCMS for erecting doctrinal barriers, making them seem trivial. If all the LCA members had known the full truth, most would have run out of the room screaming. Avoiding the issues helped the apostates.

Mergers require doctrinal suppression. Every denominational merger has worked against sound doctrine in favor of just getting along.

Listen for those crying out in pain that discussing the Fox Valley (Appleton) situation is damaging to WELS. Just the opposite is true. The more people engage in discussing the doctrinal issues, the better it will be for everyone. An infection needs to be drained, not sewn shut and covered with a flesh-colored bandage.

This much I know, because the truth comes out - months ago, a group of people made an effort to study the issues and to deal with them in the WELSian way. DP Doug sent his VP to whitewash Ski's Groeschel service. When the ultimate meeting was set, the group found out the DP Doug was not showing up at all. Some would call that a cowardly deception. I call it typical WELS. Instead, the group was treated to a letter from Captain Huffnpuff, where he denounced me and my little blog. In other words, the cowardly DP was telling the group - "I do not take you seriously. You are dimwits fooled by that horrible blog."

I wish I had more details, but everything is a secret in WELS. I found out only by little bits coming in from all directions - a WELSian bit torrent. My take on this is DP Doug's behavior led to the Intrepid blog being formed. DP Doug did something right, something like Carter getting Reagan elected president (not be design).

Did DP Doug solve anything by his amateur tactics? Not at all. The issues are bigger than ever, but that is good. The district is too controlled or frightened to remove him from the ministry, which is the natural course for pastoral incompetence. Now Appleton is a synodical issue.

I have no trouble commenting on all this. My sins have been publicly confessed by so many - in various denominations - that I can rise above them all, purified by the refiner's fire. Just kidding, folks. Once everyone has heard the same story from the same synodical drones, they dismiss the timorous experts and start listening to the facts.

Sound doctrine can withstand the gaze of the public. False doctrine cannot. Recently, Paul McCain's finger-puppet, Father Jack Kilcrease, posted a series of blunders on Extra Nos. Once exposed for his fraudulent argumentation, Jack withdrew, erasing all his comments.

In contrast, laymen Joe Krohn and Brett Meyer are willing to discuss justification by faith any time.

I see that the Intrepids are discussing the issues with their names on the posts. In contrast, the Church and Money Changers are alerting their odious network to start mowing down their opposition anonymously, as they always have. I think the Intrepids are far too polite and patient, but that is their blog, their style.

The apostates stay in their viper-holes for the longest time, hiding in the dark, which is their friend. People will know the serpents are alarmed when they come out hissing. That is the best possible sign of their reptilian defeat. Their poison will not harm anyone. No weapon devised by man can harm the Word of God.

Bishop Bennison's Brother - Sound Familiar, WELS? - Check Out DP Ed Werner, Vicar Scott Zerbe, LPR in Columbus

Opposing Bennison, Church attorney Larry White argued that the sentence was just and that the victim could have been spared 17 months of additional abuse had Charles Bennison alerted his bishop and the victim's parents.


"Bennison stumbled in on the two engaged in sexual relations and then did nothing, later telling his brother to 'get out', but not forcing him from the church and not reporting his conduct even to the point of saying nothing when his brother John was presented for ordination to their own father an Episcopal bishop", said White.


"At John's ordination he vouched for John's fitness. Out of concern for his career and to avoid embarrassment and scandal he failed to protect the victim. He wanted to bring a curtain of silence over these events."


White said Bennison suffered that abuse to continue to protect his own career. In earlier testimony, Bennison said he would have acted exactly as he did to protect the girl's privacy and her parents pain and to prevent scandal in the church.


Bennison failed to tell the search committee when he was a candidate for bishop, even until the trial of this case he did not once inquire of the victim even at the trial. He failed to comprehend the nature of his conduct, said White. "Bennison did not want to risk his own career."

Source - Virtue Online

[Yes, the great bishop, now restored to his throne, caught his own brother engaged in sex with a minor girl and did nothing about it, maintaining silence and allowing her to be abused another 17 months. Moreover, he said nothing about it before his brother was ordained.]

In 2008 Bennison was found guilty of covering up a sexual relationship that his younger brother, John, a youth leader in the church, began with a 14-year-old girl while Bennison was rector of St. Mark's Church in Upland, California in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Bennison appealed and lost. This is his final stand.

John Bennison was deposed in 1977 when his sexual relationship came to light, but was reinstated two years later. In 1993, he survived a church investigation by Bishop Williams Swing of California, whose diocese John Bennison was currently in. Bennison resigned in 2006 after Swing and other officials were pressured by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which had began protesting outside John Bennison's church in Clayton, Calif.

***

GJ - Parallels in WELS:

1. DP Robert Mueller, VP Kuske, Mission Board Chairman Wallie Oelhafen, and others knew all about Floyd Luther Stolzenburg being kicked out of the LCMS for multiple offenses. The ELS Thoughts of Faith knew just as much when Jay Webber, John Shep, and Roger Kovaciny gathered money from Stolzenburg's new Masonic parish in Columbus. They named a Ukraine parish after Stolzenburg's. Awww.
   
2. The district pastors knew all about their DP Ed Werner before he was arrested and convicted, after decades of molesting minor girls in his parish.
   
3. Scott Zerbe went to the Big House for his affair with a minor girl while serving as Fred Adrian's vicar. Adrian knew or he did not know. Both stories have been offered. The Michigan Good Ol' Boy network got Adrian back into the parish. Adrian was chair of the District Mission Board, another Fuller-trained Shrinker like Wallie. And boy did the Michigan District grow under them guys. Whew!
   
4. William Tabor was a known sex offender when he was welcomed into WELS and given several calls, the second one where he erased evidence by having his mistress shoot down his wife.
   
5. Likewise, Al Just was carrying on with his children's babysitter when he was convicted of murdering his wife with a knife. WELS jumped up to defend Al. Some of the dumber clergy still claim Al was innocent. Al married the babysitter while in prison but she divorced him.

The Same Thing Could Be Said To WELS Leaders - And It Has Been

Kicked out of the LCMS, welcomed immediately into WELS/ELS. Recommended for a call by District VP Kuske.
The Michigan Districts pastors knew - and did nothing.

Rector to Bishop Bennison: Please do not return to PA

The Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, the Rev. Timothy Safford, writes to ask newly restored Bishop Charles Bennison to resign:

8/7/2010

To the Friends and Member of Christ Church:

This past week, the Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop effectively restored Charles Bennison as Bishop of Pennsylvania. Their new ruling allows Bishop Bennison to return to his office, which he intends to do on August 16. I have written a letter urging him not to, which is below. ...

The Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison,
Bishop of Pennsylvania
240 S. 4th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Dear Charles:

Now that the Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop has overturned your sentence of deposition, and you may continue to be a Bishop in the Episcopal Church, you have the right to return as Bishop of Pennsylvania. But is it right to do so?

I urge you to give this question the deepest consideration with your best advisers before making your final decision on returning August 16.

Let me tell you my advice, so you know.

To be Bishop is to unify the Church, but your return would further divide our diocese. To be Bishop is to build up the Church, but your return would tear down the fragile foundations of trust and hope that have been built these past two years. My strong belief is that your return will do more harm than good, create more anger and less reconciliation, and hinder, not advance, the Church's mission in our diocese. These realities may be unfair and unjust, but I believe them to be true.

Further, to be Bishop is to be a pastor, and for you to be a pastor, there must be enough trust and sense of security so that "the sheep may safely graze."

As the opinion of the Court of Review said forcefully, accurately and rightly, you committed no acts of sexual abuse or exploitation of a minor. But that just doesn't matter at this point. Then and now, the Church is guilty of sexual abuse and exploitation of the young and the vulnerable. Then and now, the Church, promises to be the guardian of a gated, protected sheepfold of pastoral safety for its members. But, the shepherds charged with protecting the fold have yet been able to keep sexual abusers out. Then and now, those abusers have not climbed into the sheepfold, like the robber and the thief, "some other way," but have been let in by the very shepherds who promise that the sheep may safely graze. Consequently, the Church does not appear safe to those who might consider coming into our sheepfold, and it does not feel safe to those in the fold who have experienced the failure of the Church to protect our own.

It may not be right or fair, but you embody that failure. You were a shepherd then, and to those who have suffered abuse, or care about the safety of our Church, it will not matter that these crimes happened decades ago. If you return as our Bishop, many in your flock will not feel safe, and you will not be able to be our pastor. It doesn't matter that so many others were part of the failure, or that others have viciously used the abuse the woman suffered so long ago to accomplish their own ecclesiastical ends. Truly, I believe the most pastoral act would be, as a sacrifice for the creation of pastoral safety, not to return as our Diocesan bishop. Now that your ministry is restored, serve the Church to rebuild the shattered trust and safety we need to serve the sheep entrusted to us.

You said after the ruling, "I think I have shared in Christ's crucifixion." First, a visceral comment: Trust me, the woman so abused and exploited in the Episcopal Church while a member of St. Mark's, Upland has shared far more of the terror, shame, degradation, pain and humiliation of what Jesus experienced at Calvary. By His wounds, not by yours, will she be healed. We are obligated to her and the countless others who have suffered the reality of crucifixion at the hands, not of Pilate, but of our Church, to create a place of true safety within our sheepfold. Your return hinders, if not prevents, progress.

Second, Jesus willingly made the sacrifice of his life for the benefit of others. What Christ did for the world, we are called to do. To share in Christ's crucifixion is to die to self and selfish needs so that Christ will be raised in us. I ask you to prayerfully consider making the sacrifice of not returning as Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania for the benefit of many who want to believe that the Episcopal Church can be safe.

Your brother in Christ,

The Rev. Timothy B. Safford, Rector
Christ Church, Philadelphia

***

GJ - I told DP Robert Mueller the same thing over the phone. His response?

"Why don't you quit WELS then?"

Episcopals Restore Their Degenerate Bishop - Different from WELS?

Episcopal Church reinstates Diocese head after abuse cover-up case

By DAVID O'REILLY

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Related:

• http://www.philly.com/

Nearly three years after the Episcopal Church suspended him for covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor girl, Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. has been restored as head of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

In a ruling released Thursday, a church appeals panel reversed a lower church court's 2008 order that Bennison be defrocked and permanently removed from the helm of the 55,000-member diocese, comprising Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, and Chester Counties.
Although Bennison badly mishandled his brother's prolonged sexual abuse of a teenager in his California parish during the 1970s, the appeals court concluded, the church's statute of limitations on such wrongdoing had expired after 10 years.

"We find that (Bennison) committed conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy," the eight-member panel of bishops wrote. But "because the statute of limitations has run out ... we have no choice under the canons of the church but to reverse the judgment of the trial court that (he) is guilty."

Bennison, 66, described himself as "very gratified" in a teleconference call from Michigan, where he is vacationing. He plans to return to his duties as bishop Aug. 16.

"I hope I am a changed person," he said, adding that his immediate goal was to listen to the men and women who have led the diocese since his suspension in October 2007. He said he would likely devote more attention to the spiritual affairs of the diocese than to its finances or administration.

"My main reason for coming back is that I think I have something to offer along those lines ... preaching and teaching," he said.

Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, national head of the denomination, had no comment on the ruling. The local diocesan standing committee, which has handled administrative matters in Bennison's absence, called on members to keep him "in your prayers." Bishop Paul Michel conducted sacramental duties during Bennison's suspension.

Bennison became bishop of the five-county diocese in 1998. He is allowed to serve until Nov. 30, 2015, when he turns 72.

In its original presentment, or indictment, church leaders charged Bennison with two counts of "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy" for failing to respond to signs that his brother John was abusing a girl - 14 when the relationship began - in their parish near Los Angeles in the 1970s. Charles Bennison was rector, and John Bennison was his youth minister.

The church also faulted Charles Bennison for failing to inform the girl's parents and church or civil authorities when he learned of the affair, and for not adequately counseling or comforting the girl.

After a four-day trial in July 2008 in Philadelphia - including anguished testimony from the victim and Charles Bennison's insistence that he had handled the affair adequately - a seven-member Court for the Trial of a Bishop ruled unanimously that he be permanently removed, or deposed, as diocesan bishop.

It also ordered him stripped of his ordained status as a bishop and a priest.

During the appeals process, begun in 2009, he retained his ordained status but remained "inhibited," or suspended. The Court for the Review of a Trial of a Bishop, which convened in Wilmington, heard oral arguments in May.

Bennison's attorney, James A. Pabarue, insisted that the statute of limitations had expired. Lawrence White, the church's attorney, was equally emphatic that the statute did not apply to anything related to child sex abuse, including a cover-up.

The appeals court sided with Pabarue and noted that Bennison was never charged with child molestation or immorality.

Although he only learned of the decision Wednesday evening, Bennison was officially restored as diocesan head July 28, when the bishops of the review court signed their ruling.

Bennison has long contended that some diocesan and denominational leaders, unhappy with his leadership, were using the abuse cover-up as a pretext to remove him. "This process should never have begun," he said Thursday.

Many clergy and laity in the diocese publicly complained that he spent millions of diocesan endowment funds in a failed effort to build a retreat center and children's summer camp. His defrocking of the Rev. David Moyer, a conservative rector in Rosemont who publicly criticized his liberal policies and barred him from his parish, was also controversial.

Before the 2007 indictment, all 10 members of the diocesan standing committee and all the deans of the diocese had called for his resignation.

Last month, Pabarue asked the church to drop the charges against his client in view of revelations that a former presiding bishop of the church, Edmond L. Browning, had failed to report or adequately investigate another bishop's sexual abuse of several minor girls.
That scandal began to unfold July 11 when Bishop Sean Rowe, head of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, announced on his diocesan website that nine women had recently told him that the late Bishop Donald Davis - head of that diocese from 1976 to 1991 - had sexually abused them as children.

Browning was told of Davis' abuse in 1993 and the following year asked him to resign from the House of Bishops, refrain from public ministry, and seek counseling, which Davis did. Browning, however, never notified civil authorities or conducted an investigation.

Retired since 1997 and living in Oregon, Browning did not respond to requests for comment.
Bennison said Thursday that his first order of business when returning to his office would be to meet with Michel, the interim diocesan head.

He said he had not yet scheduled a meeting with the standing committee, but praised its work during the last two years and nine months. He was praying, he sai

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/05/2132119/episcopal-church-reinstates-diocese.html#ixzz0wLod05wY

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From Virtue Online - The Conservative Episcopal News Website:

The Second Coming of Charles E. Bennison Bishop of Pennsylvania

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
August 7, 2010

When a thoughtful Texas Anglican heard the news that Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison had won a reprieve from an ecclesiastical Court of Appeal over charges that he covered up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor, his response was sharp and to the point, "There's no surprise here - corpses generally do float to the surface to stink the place up [again]."

On August 16, Bennison will regain his Episcopal throne and continue the downward spiral of the diocese. Despite prayers to a God who might or might not be listening to liberal clergy and laity from the Diocese of Pennsylvania, the sociopathic Bennison will take charge and resume his pogrom against the Faith and the faithful in the diocese.

There will however, be one small difference. This time both the remnant orthodox and the majority of liberals hate Bennison enough to want him gone, or, failing that, thwart his desire to deliver death blows to the dwindling orthodox parishes. They might just gang up on him, even with their limited powers, to control the self-destructive desire of Bennison to kill off the remainder of the diocese.

One scenario is that the entire Standing Committee could resign in protest to Bennison's less than joyful return. Instead of the garland or lei around his neck, they could present him with a garland of razor sharp shark teeth in the hope that he will accept it, put it on and be made to feel the pain he has inflicted on others for more than a decade. Instead of Palm Sunday fronds, they could lay down spike strips to stop him from entering Diocesan headquarters.

Their real power however, is to tie down Bennison financially and make sure he isn't allowed to spend designated monies from Trust Funds for undesignated purposes, like spending millions of dollars on another Camp Wapiti fiasco. If he does so, they could bring another presentment against him. It should be noted here that Bennison has survived two presentment charges and clearly has the capacity to walk through a minefield blindfolded and carrying a bottle of Chateau neuf du pape in one hand and a plate of Brie in the other.

It is not without its significance that diocesan attorney Michael Rehill weighed in and said Bennison took one of the wealthiest dioceses in the Episcopal Church and made it one of the poorest.

Of course this could backfire. Bennison could play the martyr and demand that the richer parishes like St. David's in Wayne or Good Samaritan in Paoli cough up more money to support his "program". If they don't he could inhibit their clergy, just like Bishop Robert Gepert in Western Michigan has done with the Vestry of Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids.

Never underestimate the power of bishops. Many of them think that, like God, they are omnipotent with almost equal powers. (One bishop once told me he wanted to be a bishop because he would be closer to Jesus at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I politely told him - I think I was polite - that perhaps the char lady sitting at the end of the pew who put in her $2.00 in the plate each Sunday might be sitting closer to Jesus "in that day". ) Funny thing is he didn't like that answer. "We want to be at your right hand," cried two disciples, and we know how that ended. Bennison, on the other hand, will be waiting for an invitation that will never come.

The diocese will once again be inflicted with the Deconstructionist gospel of John Shelby Spong. This time they will be forced to hear it in a cathedral that could double as a Mosque anytime Muslims should take it over, or, in a moment of sanguinity, Bennison offers it to them as a sign of future ecumenical expectations.

A leopard cannot change it spots, so the cliché goes and a sociopath like Bennison won't change his ways unless he is struck by lightning on the Schuylkill Expressway. That is not going to happen. We have been given the testimony of the apostles and prophets (see the Book of Hebrews) and Bennison is not the slightest bit interested in what they have to say.

After all, it was he who said that men wrote the Bible and could therefore rewrite it. Perhaps Charles (AKA Chuckles) could help in the re-writing of the Bible and thus earn himself a place in the annals of Biblical history. As an addendum, he could add his very own personal Visigoth Rite alongside Spong's 12 Theses. Oh, what joy.

Bennison has likened his own second coming to the crucifixion of our Lord, an event he can barely acknowledge as historical and with no salvific purpose. "I think I have shared in Christ's crucifixion" he opined to ENS in a moment of touching humility.

One should point out that Bennison's crucifixion came with full salary and benefits while he did nothing except talk to his lawyers and plan his next strategy for reinstatement. Will he sue now for damages, costs etc.? A crucifixion without nails and full reinstatement at the Union League Club now awaits the Crucified One. "Gin and tonic, waiter and hold the ice." Who the hell needs bread and wine?

"I am less anxious about the church's future than I was when I first became bishop," said Bennison on learning the news he had beaten the odds on favorite for certain ecclesiastical death. Such humility.

Oh, but you can be sure that the anxiety levels of priests like David L. Moyer of Good Shepherd, Rosemont and Fr. Eddy Rix of All Saints, Wynnewood, are rising considerably on news that the "ol' Chuck is back" and he is carrying a load of TEC canons ready to fire at anyone who opposes him. Moyer already faces a property grab by the Standing Committee who have filed suit against him.

Now that the Litigious One has returned, Moyer can bet on the heat being turned up to full white-hot. With the Dennis Canon enshrined more highly than Holy Writ in TEC, (it appears to be almost as infallible and inerrant), there is little doubt that Bennison will regain the parish and toss Moyer to the wolves. The irony needs to be shouted from the housetops.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori had no difficulty removing Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan (without a trial) and stripping him of his sacerdotal powers, accusing him of "abandoning the communion of the (Episcopal) church" but she can't get rid of Bennison.

It should not be forgotten that it was Bennison who likened the growth of the Anglican Church in Africa to the growth of the Nazi Party. Over the next six years of his ecclesiastical reign (he's 66 and can serve till he is 72), he will make the diocese look like the last days of the Third Reich.

What has brought conservatives and revisionists together now is their common hatred of Bennison. With many conservatives and all of the liberals voting for Bennison, they have very little moral high ground. They could have elected the Rev. David Thomas, an evangelical, but turned him down for the smiling, vacant looking Bennison who conveniently forgot to tell them all about his dubious past. Thomas was not the sharpest nail in the box, but he was orthodox. He has since gone to be with His maker.

The Standing Committee, still in shock, has invited Episcopalians to gather at the Cathedral at 4:30 p.m. this Sunday afternoon, August 8, for Evening Prayer, a time of open conversation and an opportunity to share thoughts and feelings. The Dean, Judith Sullivan will lead worship and Assisting Bishop Rodney Michel will guide conversation. This is a study in futility. They have reaped what they have sown and now they must face the whirlwind. It will be Apocalypse Now.

Bennison will shortly be back in the saddle and the diocese will soon learn the bitter truth that Hell hath no fury like a Bennison scorned and the equal truth that is there is no place to run and no place to hide. The orthodox are history. The diocese is doomed.

Apology Erased from Bethany, Appleton (WELS) Website

on

Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "What People Are Reading - Since the New Google Sta...":

The apology, [sic - which was on] the pastor's blog, has now been removed.

Permission Granted To Publish This Letter - Former WELS Member

I am the author of the letter to WELS President Schroeder that you referenced in January under the heading, "Write a Letter". In that entry I shared my admonishment of the Synod for its involvement with Thrivent and for tolerating the antics of Ski and Glende. In my letter I enclosed photos from their Facebook pages of them posing with Katy Perry and Mariqueen, as well as nude photos of Mariqueen from Playboy. I cited the WELS fellowship policy and the appropriate scriptural passages referring to scandalous conduct of pastors respectively. As I stated in my post, Schroeder's response was prompt and sympathetic, assuring me of his own concerns over these matters. He would refer my concerns about Thrivent to the Council of Presidents and take up the Ski/Glende matter with their DP.

As the months went by I realized that nothing was going to be done about either of the issues I addressed. I read the highlights of all subsequent COP meetings, most of which were attended by the SP, and if Thrivent was talked about it wasn't in the minutes. And as far as telling the Northern Wisconsin DP to get tough on the 2 delinquents in Appleton...that would be Doug Englebrecht. Since my admonition Ski has celebrated one year at The CORE and has presented a "how-to" series of sermons on married sex. (Uh, first rule, Ski-lose the pretty MLC coeds on your Facebook page and you will cut your foreplay time in half). I live in Nebraska, and as I look back the letter Schroeder sent me had a lot in common with the e-mails I received from our Honorable Ben Nelson in response to my PLEAS to him NOT to cast the swing vote for Obamacare-right before he did.

So I wrote my "Mark and Avoid" letter, to which I did NOT receive a reply, and left the Synod. This was followed by a letter to my pastor, who I had deliberately left out of the loop. He called wanting to talk, so my wife and I went to see him. I took the letters I had written to Synod and the pictures I had sent the SP. I was surprised Schroeder had not talked to him. He said these things take time and how did I know Ski and Glende wouldn't be punished? (Yeah, I'm sure "Forward in Crisis" will cover it start to finish and it'll be the September lead story in the "WELS Connection" Infomercial).

Since the pictures were long gone from Ski and Glende's Facebook accounts, I had to "Kelm" them from Ichabod, and the first thing my former pastor noted was, "Well, I see you got these from Gregory Jackson." I told him Schroeder got the originals, and they WEREN'T from Ichabod. Pastor had warned me about Gregory Jackson a year ago when I quoted him on some WELS issues. He had cautioned me that Dr. Jackson was a malcontent who had never really fit in anywhere. He repeated those accusations to a member of the Church Council who went in a few weeks later to back me up. He said that rather than 'camping out' on Ichabod, I should find other things to spend my time reading-like the Bible. Somewhere in the conversation I let my former pastor know that I had contributed material to Ichabod several times.

Then he turned on ME. "Who ARE you, WHAT are you? Are you a Confessional Lutheran, or are you a Baptist?" "A Baptist?," I asked. "Well, I'm hearing rumors you've been going to a Baptist church." My wife said, "Yeah, some really good friends of ours' daughter was baptized a few weeks ago." (We had stopped attending our WELS church by then, which is more than I can say of Ski and Glende when they worshiped with Andy Stanley). "What do you WANT?", he demanded. "I want OUT of WELS." "Then why are you here?" "Uh, you invited me?" I told him I thought the Synod was fundamentally secretive and dishonest.

It got worse. My wife accidently called Glende 'Jeske' and he jumped all over her. I finally said, "Look, this is just turning into 'shoot the messenger.' You're attacking us for petty stuff and I'm never gonna win on your playing field, anyway. Instead of 'he said/she said', let's just say the chemistry wasn't right." He grabbed a notepad and wrote so hard I thought his pen was going to snap in half. "Chemistry.. not.. right." "What's up with that?," I said. "Well," he said mockingly, "when anybody in the congregation asks why you left, I'll tell them.....the CHEMISTRY wasn't right." I reminded him of the first rule of WELS: NEVER attack the Synod.

On the way out he kept shaking his head and saying, "If that's true about those guys in Appleton, that's not right....it's just not right."

Right before we left the Synod, my pastor was giving away the old hymnals down in the basement. I took 6. I'm glad I did. They come in handy at our new church, Bethany Lutheran Worship.

Jim Becker, (former) WELS

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You can publish verbatim if you have room.

Thanks, Jim

Write a Letter

DP Engelbrecht.

Jim Becker WELS has left a new comment on your post "Fruit of the Stealth Mission":

I wrote to President Schroeder on the Ski/Glende issue and received his personal reply within a week. I told him I was admonishing the Synod in advance if these men were not removed from their posts within a month.

He replied that he became aware of the situation a few days before I wrote him. He forwarded it to the president of the Northern Wisconsin District, whose job Schroeder said it is to deal with this initially, and is awaiting a report from him. While he desires to have matters like this addressed very quickly and decisively, there are times when the process of dealing with pastoral wrongdoing may take a little longer. He asked that I have some patience as they work through those who are called to carry out evangelical discipline.

I also addressed the Thrivent issue, and will deal with his response on a later post. I felt Pastor Schroeder really understood my concerns and that his response was immediate and thoughtful.

***

GJ - This layman is responding appropriately. For the first time in 30 years, there are leaders who will listen and respond - in WELS.

I have linked with a lot of LCMS ministers lately. I am impressed with the number who are Triglotta Lutherans. (Father Neuhaus called himself a confessional Lutheran before he poped, so I have to use a better term.) I am somewhat optimistic about the Quiche-niks being replaced.

ELCA Lutherans have a weak background in apologetics, but the Episcopal/gay crisis has thrown them into study. That is also good.

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dk has left a new comment on your post "Write A Letter":

I agree that errors in doctrine and practice need to be dealt with swiftly. But I've heard that within the WELS structure it is very difficult to deal with problems swiftly and this leads me to ask:

If the WELS CAN'T take care of problems immediately does it have the right to exist, under its own self-definition? According to the WELS, Synod=Church, correct? We all know that the legitimacy of a church depends on its doctrinal integrity. Maintaining doctrinal integrity means dealing with problems quickly so they don't spread. So if the WELS is 1 church, as they claim, how legitimate are they?

SP Schroeder has a big job, partly because of the WELS structure and partly because these problems have been festering for two decades or more.

The office of WELS synod president is not a dictator--no

WELS synod president has the executive authority to make changes (termination of calls etc.) instantly and based on his judgment alone. There's a well ordered system in place for the purpose of preventing quick changes. One must recognize that this ties the hands of Triglotta Lutherans when error does arise in attempts to guard against liberals who might hold the same office.

SP Schroeder is no exception. I'm under the impression that he has to play "the game" because of the limitation on his authority. While it's a shame that he's hampered, I'd rather have a Conservative as SP than someone like Kelm. God uses faithful men for his purposes in whatever situation they find themselves. I imagine Schroeder has a full plate and he can use our prayers--wishing him swiftness.

Remember though, that if you're WELS you ARE in close fellowship with Ski, Glende, Jeske, Kelm, Hunter, Gunn, and all the rest. YOU belong to the same church and by your testimony you are one in faith with them! At what point should you contest the legitimacy of the WELS based on an absence of church discipline?

Sooner or later something has to happen and people will have to be held accountable.

My new years resolution is to write the District Presidents who have errant pastors under them. CC your emails to president Schroeder so that Schroeder has more to refer to when he talks to the DPs about the problems. I'll just bet that by respectful protest (a flood of emails) the Triglotta Lutherans could really aid in the process of church discipline!

What People Are Reading - Since the New Google Stats Came Up

WELS and Other Lutherans:The Differences Explained... Jun 3, 2010, 8 comments 647 Pageviews

WELS - The CORE - Features Movies for Advent Dec 17, 2009, 24 comments 606 Pageviews

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To Follow the LCMS Convention Jul 9, 2010, 2 comments 193 Pageviews

The Gnats Are Swarming Again: Shrinker Drama Queen... Jun 21, 2010, 2 comments 191 Pageviews

Gaba Does Grace, Milwaukee - Home of Fuller-traine... Aug 4, 2010, 26 comments 179 Pageviews

Suppose the Pope Had This Happening Jun 26, 2010 148 Pageviews

Shrinkers Against Working Hard Jun 22, 2010, 3 comments 138 Pageviews

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Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "What People Are Reading - Since the New Google Sta...":

Just ran across a showing of "Time of Grace" on my digital cable guide.

It is on "Daystar" and is sandwiched between "The Gospel Truth with Andrew Wommack" (Decision Theology) and "Today with Marilyn and Sarah" (Pentecostal)

The program is listed on the guide not as Time of Grace, but as "Mark Jeske."

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GJ - Mark preaches Mark, teaches Mark, and I do not mean the original Gospel of Mark. This version is the plagiarized New Age pseudo-Gospel - all about Mark Jeske.