Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Church Mouse Trumps Anonymouse - This Is Why



Church and Changers love this practical book,
because they think church is a business.
Of course, it is for them, and quite profitable.


Church Mouse is not affiliated with the Lutherans. That is why I found his long article on the Rick Warren gang especially important. These changes are happening in all denominations because there has been a long-term, focused, marketing effort to replace all Confessions (Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic, Babtist, Salvation Army, Pentecostal) with Fuller New Age thought.

The best way for Lutherans to realize this is to read articles and blogs from other denominations. If turtles are on fence-posts in many denominations at once, the action was deliberate and not the result of ecclesiastical evolution.

The wine-bibbers at the fake blog think all I write about is their noisome circuit. They imagine such a narrow focus because their are so fascinated with themselves. However, I have written about the Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Babtists, Pentecostals, and other denominations. Alone in the world--with 1200 Facebook friends--I stay in touch with all groups. Teaching college means I am also directly involved with people around the world who take my online courses. That gives me an unusual perspective since I have perhaps 1,000 students per year, undergrad and graduate.

I have seen an alarming trend toward New Agism in business and the church. Some pioneers were Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale (who plagiarized his best-seller), Robert Schuller, and Paul Y. Cho.

I believe Brett Meyer found the link to Church Mouse because of his interest in the topic.

Anyone can broaden his perspective by pursuing this topics, especially when done in relation to the Confessions. I suggest picking one topic at a time in the Formula of Concord and becoming familiar with the statements, Scripture examples, exegesis, and antithetical statements. The Confessions do reject false doctrine, something found even with a casual reading of the Scriptures.

Wiccans Happy About ELCA Service, Goddess Worship





Here is the Wiccan link, which links to its sources.

I was leaving the LCA when they denied all this was developing, even though it was.

WELS/LCMS/ELS will deny this is also around the corner, given their lovey-dovey stance with ELCA via Thrivent, and their covert/overt projects together.

Cutting Edge versus the Lazy, Lying Copycats




I once saw a book or tape on the Cutting Edge of Church Growth. That would be the circumcision party of the Christian Church. A generation of synodical employees--from Kieschnick, Moldstad, Gurgle on up--have made careers out of shrinking their churches in the name of growth, while their craven co-workers announced how everyone in the synod was conservative, confessional, Biblical, etc.

The WELS Shrinkers have shown themselves to be lazy, lying copycats. They defend themselves by copying the name and style of this blog, revealing even more about themselves. They are too lazy to blog more than once a month. The liars hide their identity while quashing comments. They spend their time proving how stupid Mequon graduates are. The Sausage Factory should shut down the fake blog just to protect what is left of the school's shredded reputation.

Meanwhile, Church and Change is chasing yesterday's dream.

In contrast, the cutting edge is before your eyes.

A. Youth want traditional liturgical services, not badly performed whoopee worship. Many alienated Lutherans would love to have a Christ-centered Means of Grace service.

B. The Church and Money Changers are limited to taking over congregations where they are stuck with old buildings or enormous leases. Their triumph is mitigated by the need to pay the bills. They are too lazy to do pastoral work, so they spend an inordinate amount of time skimming synod funds, begging for Thrivent loot, or applying to foundations.

In contrast, Bethany Lutheran has almost no overhead. Similar to online education, there are no limits to outreach world-wide - except for bandwidth and computers.

C. The Shrinkers are secretly ashamed of their plagiarism. At least they are worried about being caught at it. They do not post their stolen sermons or save their purloined homilies. When caught at violating the law, they hide the evidence.

However, Bethany's digital files are saved, and thousands have viewed them. The sermons are posted twice each week. Readers report how they are printed and shared, emailed to others. Those who are quoted are cited.

D. The Shrinkers love to brag about their outreach, but channeling Groeschel, Stanley, Driscoll, Warren, and Sweet to bored Lutherans is not evangelism. The Shrinkers avoid video. They are too lazy to blog. Their websites are an embarrassment to all Lutherans, offering no content except links to false teachers and imitations of their style, such as asking for soft-core porn confessions online. They want to be hip, but they are stuck in the 19th century, with bricks and mortar limiting them as much as their doctrinal torpor does.

The only task of pastors is to sow the seed carelessly, without anxiety, without judging the results. Ironically, in farming and gardening, this is called broadcasting, just as it is in radio, TV, and the Internet. As a result, Bethany reaches people all over the world, as the Feedjit map shows. People alienated from the Lutheran Church have written and joined in the services, which were designed for the original calling group. Can any WELS/ELS church claim 20,000 people interested? Our unique readers number 20,000. The normal daily page reads are between 1500 and 2000 pages each day, seven days a week. The readers search the site, so they do not limit themselves to the daily posts. They have at their disposal:

1. Quotations from Luther, Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Schmauk, Jacobs, Walther, Hoenecke, J. P. Meyer. The citations are always given.
2. Quotations from the Shrinkers and their gurus - Valleskey, Kelm, Hunter, Olson, Huebner, Patterson, Sweet, Driscoll, Stanley, Groeschel, Wagner, and many more. Citations or links - of course.
3. Verbatim proof of synodical apostasy. The pages are often copied from the Net before they are erased by the Shrinkers. The original links are supplied, even if they are broken later.
4. Weekly sermons, plus services for Lent, Advent, and special days in the church calendar.
5. Doctrinal discussions - such as the origin of Pietism.
6. Hilarious graphics from three different sources.
7. Links to interesting blogs, Lutheran documents, and classic hymns.
8. Almost 5,000 posts so far, since 2007.

The Shrinkers are full-time employees, many enjoying an assistant female pastor as a perk. How do they manage to do so little in a week? Their ambition is limited to anonymous attacks on anonymous blogs, with support from their beer-soaked friends, who post anonymous comments when not suffering from DTs.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

WELS Refugee Backs Up Recent Post




The Church and Change--Copy and Paste--Hydra must be fed fresh victims
and tons of money. Yes, money is their only means of grace.
The Hydra has many heads but no brains.
Cut off one head and another two or three grow in its place.



bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Pietism Has a Different Agenda":

I re-read this post and compared it to my experience with the WELS, and after reflection I'd say the post is 100% right on target, and actually makes sense of what goes on better than the current wisdom about why the WELS and even LCMS are the way they are. For example:

1) conventional wisdom says that the reason the WELS and LCMS can invite heretics to speak, e.g., Catholics and Sem-Ex, but not people who are nearly the same in doctrine and heritage, is that the presence of those who differ in one or two points leads to divisions and argumentation, but everyone can accept and tolerate and learn from those who are waaay different. But in reality, the Ockham's Razor explanation is that it's all about shunning, except that word shunning can't be mentioned because Lutherans don't do that.

2) I commented a few times on how I bought all the books and booklets that NPH and CPH had to offer on certain doctrines, but they didn't answer my questions or refute the heretics very well, so I had to look up Books in Print and write apologetics ministries for other resources. Not long ago I admitted to using the internet to study certain doctrines--to see what other authors of different persuasions were saying about certain doctrines. The WELS and LCMS people with whom I was shared this were appalled that I would, heaven forbid, look on the internet to find doctrinal resources!

3) That quip at the Mequon sem about only needing a Triglotta, Lenski and boxer shorts is meant to be taken more seriously than it sounds, meaning they want you to keep your nose in certain books and out of others.

Anyway, I'm confident that soon the true history of the synodical conference will appear (maybe on the internet), and then we'll know where all these doctrines and practices and shunning came from that separate the synodical conference Lutherans from other Lutherans, and I'm sure that the WELS, ELS and LCMS won't like it one bit.



***
GJ - They will shun you, Bruce. Oh, they already do.


Channeling Groeschel Is a Fox Valley WELS Tradition



Glende's face on Groeschel's material - that is the genius of WELS Fox Valley.
See his hilarious blog for unionism comments.


Here is the Groeschel-Ski sermon series on Religion Bytes. See the Tweet below:

http://open.lifechurch.tv/series/16


Ski also copied Groeschel's online confession idea.

I could link Groeschel's online confession site, but the Omaha hoodwinker crosses the line into publishing porno.

If you hear the Groeschel motto on the graphic, you can be sure the speaker was babtized into Groeschel-worship.

From Ski:


From @GoToCore (Twitter)

Tonight we begin a new series "Religion Bytes - Religion Never Works". Intrigued? Join us at 5:30! #fb 3:01 PM Jun 6th via API.

More Tweets:

Join us for Week 3 of Religion Bytes "Seems Right" tonight at 5:30! Due to bike race u may need an alternate route - http://dld.bz/hCZG #fb Join us tonight at 5:30 as we wrap up our "Religion Bytes" series with Slave or Son. Hope to see you there! #fb

WELS members and pastors - You are paying huge salaries to SP Schroeder and Deputy Doug. They continue to allow gross plagiarism of the worst false teacher around - except for the other false teachers these Church and Change yokels are copying.

You WELSians are paying to convert your synod into complete New Age Enthusiasm. You are paying the church officials, the pastors, the worthless CPs, the Fuller-trained professors.

Groeschel is their real leader, and Ski-Glende do not listen to him, either. Groeschel tells his robotic and missing-brain followers - "Use my stuff but tell where you got it." Do Glende and Ski tell where they got their material? Does Bethany in Appleton? Parlow?

Every service from these clowns is a lie, but so is everything else coming from the synods tolerating this garbage.


Bad grammar too - not that a WELS pastor would notice: "whom no one else is reaching."
Whom is the direct object of the verb reaching.
This Photoshop is so fakey, it reminds me of the Mission Impossible masks.



Church Mouse Wrote


No, this is his cousin, who read too many Emerging Church books and tried to get relevant.



Hello, Pr Jackson

Thank you SO much for today's post and very special mention -- wow!! That turned a routine afternoon into a most delightful one -- what a pleasant surprise!! Love the graphic -- brilliant!!

Is that your quote in your email signature about studying for an extra hour a day? That's a beauty.

NW Arkansas is quite a change from Phoenix. Hope all is going well.

I plan to make time very soon to watch one of the Bethany Lutheran Worship videos. I haven't been to a Lutheran church in 40 years, so I'm looking forward to a traditional service. (I went to an ALC church with a friend of mine once -- so, we're talking pre-ELCA days.)

Kindest regards
Churchmouse

***

GJ - I do not know the source for the quotation, but this is the saying: "Study one hour extra per day for five years and the world will beat a path to your door."

I added Church Mouse to the list linked on the left. There is a new post about Rick Warren there. I am truly shocked that WELS congregations partner with him, too.

Timid was kicked off the list because I was tired of his spineless, unionistic messages.



Terminated






----------------------- C A L L T E R M I N A T E D ----------------------

Piepenbrink, Rev Leon E - Asian Ministry Coor - Saint Paul MN 08/13/2010

---

No More MisterNiceGuy has left a new comment on your post "Terminated":

Wow .... One Eponymous Archon's comment ... there is nothing in that comment that would suggest a life motivated by Christ. How easily you can put others down. If you reread your own comments true Christian faith must compel you to repent for the vile things that you have said against a pastor who preaches the gospel of Christ. If this is the sort of thing Gregory Jackson is hoping for people to write he has succeeded. Unfortunately it cannot be said of him "well done!" Church and Change and how things are done in the Wisconsin Synod are certainly worthy of discussion, but to do so by mocking other is a flagrant disregard for the 8th commandment. In renders mute any criticism people might have of church and change. I'm asking that you not put me down for my comments, but that you change how you respond to comments posted here and how you post future topics for discussion.

***
GJ - I love how the Pietists rise above the occasion with a torrent of anonymous abuse.

I had some reservations about posting the comment from One Eponymous Archon, but I figured it represented what some thought. Piepenbrink was fired, terminated. Linger on those words. There must have been a reason.

I recently heard about Prof Tiefel apologizing to the praesidium. No one told me why. I asked several times. Miracle do happen, even in this Brave New Age.

No More Mister Nice Guy - blogging is free. You can show us all how to do it, but put your name on the blog when you do.


ELDONA and Jeske Stranded?



maahes (http://maahes.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "ELDONA and Jeske Stranded?":

I love the wacky Skimobile picture worth a thousand words.

***
GJ -

James Heiser and a few pastors started a new Lutheran sect called ELDONA, to oppose Kieschnick. They took their sweet time. The breaking point was promoted as Kieschnick allowing Benke to go unionistic at the 911 all-religion-group-grope. However, no one protested Barry-McCain being just as lax when Benke did the same previously.

Now that Kieschnick is gone, what is the burning mission of ELDONA?

Similarly, Jeske and Kieschnick were engaged in an ecclesiastic mating dance that held all of us captivated. Their mutual disdain for Lutheran doctrine and love of money made a future match almost certain. I even suspected their morganatic marriage would be announced as an accomplished fact.

The people who rejected Kieschnick and promoted Harrison are not likely to want Jeske representing the LCMS. I predict that Jeske will eventually leave all that behind and assume a Community Church posture, just as WELS theologian Swindoll did when he landed in Texas.

Thai One On - Regardless




Moral has left a new comment on your post "Thai Another One On":

Fait Accompli: I never fully understood this term in my political science class until now!

Phase one: kick out the WELS missionaries even though one missionary is still working in Thailand without synod funding.(complete)

Phase two: lay low (complete)

Phase three: annoint, er, appoint new committee and have said committee select/elect/call a new missionary from their own ranks, a real company-man (complete)

Phase four: gloat in a fait accompli (complete)

Phase five: dust off the 8 & 18 switch and let 'er rip (pending)

http://www.wels.net/news-events/celebrating-in-thailand


Pietism Has a Different Agenda

Recent WELS alumni meeting.
No wonder Prairie became a prison.
It reminds them of home.



People think they are arguing about different brands of Lutheranism when they compare synods. That is why "WELS and Other Lutherans" is the most popular post on this blog.

The various Lutheran groups are forms of Pietism. ELCA is radical Pietism - the legalism of Antinomianism. Anyone who opposes gay marriage and gay ordination should be kicked out. ELCA has already publicly branded them as unworthy of the name.

The key agenda item for Pietism is shunning, not doctrine. Shunning comes from the Mennonites, whose discipline means that a shunned person becomes invisible and cannot do anything with the elect. Nor will they even do business with him. Better to be a non-Mennonite than a shunned Mennonite.

Lutherans in America do not give a hoot about sound doctrine. If they did, their seminary faculties would be laughed off the stage at graduation. US Lutherans are devoted to the cult of shunning.

All the so-called fellowship rules among the conservatives are guidance for shunning. One family had questions about the dreadful Tiefel Christian Worship book. They were excommunicated for thought-crimes against the proposed hymnal. That is shunning at its best.

WELS and Missouri are just about the same in Pietistic doctrine, just as devoted to straying. Both must shun the other. Notice that WELS allowed the Leonard Sweet conference, Martin Marty lectures, and Archbishop Weakland gay lectures, but they banned the LCMS Hunter-Werning conference hosted by WELS Shrinkers. One could argue that Sweet is many times worse than Hunter or Werning, who are both copycats from Fuller, but marginal Lutherans. Even more could be said about publicly sponsoring the archfiend Weakland, who represented the worst in Romanism. But that is not the point. Missouri raises hackles that the others cannot.

The ELS and WELS shun each other, in spite of their pious statements otherwise.

Shunning--like voodoo--only works when someone takes it seriously. For instance, one WELS seminary professor made a big point of looking through me and avoiding eye contact. At my next opportunity, I went to him, shook his hand, and greeted him by name. He responded like a Hasidic rabbi touched by a Muslim (unclean! unclean!).

Here is a doctrinal debate in the synods:
Innocent - "This is false doctrine."
Synod Drone - "You are a bad person."
Innocent's Friend - "Innocent has some questions."
Synod Drone - "You are a bad person for listening to him."


Here Is a Church Mouse With a Message





Many thanks, Pr Jackson, for clarifying the source in your post and for the compliment!! I appreciate both greatly.

As to Rick Warren's church, ugh. Glad that you went and glad that you and your wife left shortly thereafter.

I think a lot of mainstream Protestants are as taken in by Rick Warren as Lutherans are. Seems to be a decline in attendance coupled with the promise of growth. Many say, 'What's wrong with Rick Warren? He has sensible ideas'.

I enjoyed reading your blog posts. If I lived near Phoenix, I would attend a service at your church.

Thank you again for your prompt response to my email.

May God continue to bless you in your ministry.

Yours sincerely
Churchmouse

***

GJ - Here is my post, kelming his post.

This is his blog.

The latest WELS PR release thanks God and praises Him for decades of Hagedorn promoting the Church Growth Movement and its odious falsehoods. During that time--SP Schroeder forgot to mention--WELS declined rapidly. That must mean WELS thanks God for the Shrinkers shrinking the doctrine and the church. "Hagedorn also notes that the part-time nature of this call will allow him to complete some responsibilities for Home Missions and work with other outreach opportunities." So Hagedorn will still have his Fuller-stained fingers in the pie.

Church Mouse has already said more about Lutheran apostasy that WELS or the Little Sect or Missouri will ever admit.


New Hissy on Fake Blog Points To Glende As the Author

Glende and Ski were apparently not suffering from the crabs.



One thing is very clear - the Appleton fake blogger is extremely Glende/Ski sensitive. Anything that touches upon their joint travesty in Fox Valley or Glende's non-WELS upbringing in Columbus is countered with a new rant.

I enjoy provoking the fake blogger because his response is so obvious. Apparently the Skimobile, one of my best Photoshops, provoked this latest frenzy.

I have republished Bishop Katie's portrait of two hedonists enjoying their vast subsidies, free trips, and a feast of false doctrine.

Here is a question for WELS - why are the best critiques of Church Growth and Emerging Church coming from the Evangelicals? (And from me, of course.) Why do people go through an entire Lutheran educational system to learn how to "spoil the Egyptians" at Fuller Seminary? How many more millions will be spent before people say "HALT!"

---

WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "New Hissy on Fake Blog Points To Glende As the Aut...":

The Skimobile is so far down the slippery side of the slope. DP Englebrecht is not about to get out of his warm chair to pull some apostates out of the frigid snow. Notice how these older C&Cers wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of jeans!(yes, jeans are fine outside of official church business) Ski, Glende, Doebler, and pals are being used by their cunning superiors. Mark and avoid the old guys. These younger pastors need our prayers and our help. Let us take a look at what Ski is learning from Mark Driscoll.

Driscoll is teaching "Unlimited-Limited Atonement." (5ptsalt.com/.../mark-driscoll-his-unlimited-limited-atonement-doctrine/) Listen to this video. It's enough to give Brett Meyer and LP Cruz a nervous breakdown. One of the comments discusses Driscoll's endorsement of Mystic guru Richard Foster. You may recall that the Acts 29 churches are an extention of Mars Hill.(Groeschel/Driscoll) I recently discovered that Acts 29's roots trace back to the Leadership Network. Leadership Network promotes something called Murue(spelling?) Mystic Meditation. Leadnet is not centered in theology and is focused on structured organization, such as a business model. Our friend Ed Stetzer is part of Leadership Network and he implemented training schools during the start of the Acts 29 expansion.

I refer you to www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com and check out the May 5th 2010 posts. One interesting hit in my research brought me to Bailingwater blog. In October 2008, Bailingwater touched on the Leadership Network. Rogue Lutheran has alerted people to Leadnet and refered to the group as a cartel. Last, but not least, WELS Church And Change provides a link to Leadnet.(leadnet.org)

My apologies to Pastor GJ for getting off the subject of the Skimobile.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

Widespread Plagiarism and Promotion of False Teachers in WELS




I hear from all over, so this is an amalgamation of reports.

Plagiarism of false teachers is widespread in WELS, more than most people imagine or hope.

If Kelm and Valleskey had their way, Lutherans would wave the white flag of surrender, join the new Evangelical Alliance, and apologize to the Reformed for mentioning the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. Jeske, the dungeon-master, would join their prayer that the terms of reconciliation be merciful.

Even now WELS pastors are plotting to turn their congregations from the liturgy to whoopee-worship. The old adiaphora arguments are dusted off to renew efforts to fool the laity. Read the Formula of Concord, sheep. This is a time when the adiaphora (non-essentials) cannot be surrendered, the very moment when people should walk into a church and say - "This is a Lutheran service."

The system still rewards the false teachers. Look over the Church and Money Changer mugshots and you will find the guys who get the assistants, the grants, the vicars. They use their power to promote their favorite authors - Groeschel, Hybels, Warren, Sweet, Stetzer, Yancy, and Valleskey. Not one on their list is a Lutheran.


Qualified To Be the Next Sausage Factory Prez?





Latest News

Seminary Makes Historic Appointment for Dean

October 30, 2008
The Rev. Dr. Virginia Barfield has been appointed to serve as the next Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary by its Board of Trustees. Barfield's appointment is historic, as she becomes the first female and the first non-Lutheran to serve as dean at the seminary. She is an ordained minister and member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Her term as Dean will begin with the 2009-2010 academic year.


Barfield currently serves as the Associate Dean and Associate Professor of New Testament and Baptist Studies. She will succeed Dr. Michael Root who will step down as Dean at the end of the academic year after serving since 2003. Root will continue to serve on the seminary's faculty as Professor of Systematic Theology.
The unanimous appointment of Barfield by the Board of Trustees came with full recommendation by the academic affairs committee and executive committee, as well as the seminary administration, faculty, and students.

***
GJ - She's Babtist. She empowers women.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Michael Root Can Now Teach at Wisconsin Lutheran College,
Or March in Procession with the Bethany Seminary Faculty




Welcome, Michael. You have doubled your teaching opportunities.




Dr. Michael Root

Michael Root is Professor of Systematic Theology at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC. He served as Dean from 2003-2009, after having earlier served on the faculty from 1980 to 1988. He is also Visiting Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France, where he served as Research Professor and sometimes Director from 1988 to 1998.

He also has taught at Davidson College in Davidson, NC and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH. Since January 2006, he has been Executive Director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

Root is a native of Norfolk, Virginia. After attending public schools in Chesapeake, Virginia, he studied at Dartmouth College (B.A., summa cum laude), and Yale University (Ph.D. in theology). He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Wittenberg University (Springfield, OH) in 2002 in recognition of his contribution to the unity of the church.

Root is a member of the US and international Lutheran-Catholic dialogues and has served on the US Lutheran-United Methodist dialogue, the Anglican-Lutheran International Working Group, and the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission. He was the Faith and Order Commission Observer for the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. He served as coopted staff at the 1990, 1997, and 2003 Assemblies of the Lutheran World Federation and the 1993 World Conference on Faith and Order and was a consultant at the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

He served on the drafting teams that produced the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and Called to Common Mission, which established full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church. He is the author (with Gabriel Fackre) of Affirmations and Admonitions (Eerdmans 1998) and editor of Justification by Faith (with Karl Lehmann and William Rusch, Continuum 1997), Baptism and the Unity of the Church (with Risto Saarinen, Eerdmans 1998), and Sharper than a Two-Edged Sword: Preaching, Teaching, and Living the Bible (with James Buckley, Eerdmans, 2008).

Southern Lutheran Seminary They have a Methodist and a Babtist program of studies. True.



Thomist Loyalty Can Only Go So Far -
Father Jack Waves Goodbye To Father Michael




Jack Kilcrease Jack KilcreaseAdjunct Professor of Theology

B.A. History and Religion, Luther College. 2001. ELCA.
M.A. Doctrine and Theology, Luther Seminary. 2003. ELCA.
Ph.D, Systematic Theology, Marquette University. 2009. Jesuit.

Father Jack Kilcrease recently unburdened himself about Father Michael Root, formerly ELCA, leaving for Rome on his blog:

"it's rather unfortunate that he went around saying that he was a loyal Lutheran and running a Lutheran seminary when he really believed in Thomism."

An honest Romanist is better than a dishonest Lutheran. How can someone teach theology at a Roman Catholic college while posing as a Lutheran? After all, the Church of Rome has seven sacraments and not one of them works. No matter how pious one might be, within their odious system of works, he will still spend thousands of years in Purgatory paying for the sins which the seven sacraments failed to obliterate - not to mention the prayers and endowed masses offered after his death.

For the uninitiated - a Thomist is a follower of Thomas Aquinas, so one can only marvel at Father Jack's droll sense of humor, as he blogs from a Thomist college. Kilcrease publicly attacked Michael Root for being honest about his Thomism.

Here are some fellow professors at Aquinas:


Visiting Dominican Professors
Sr. Diane Zerfas, OP Sr. Diane Zerfas, OP
2009 for Special Topics: St. Dominic and Dominican Spirtiuality
 
Sr. Suzanne Noffke, OP, Ph.D. Sr. Suzanne Noffke, OP, Ph.D.
2008 for Special Topics: Catherine of Siena
 
Rev. Thomas O'Meara, OP, Ph.D. Rev. Thomas O’Meara, OP, Ph.D.
2007 for Special Topics: Thomas Aquinas and Grace




---

Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican. I added the Wikipedia link in case Father Jack did not know that.

I wonder if he shows up at Aquinas College lectures and shouts "Dominican - Thomist!" at the visiting dignitaries.

Even more droll is the way Paul McCain and Father Jack take turns crawling into each other's laps. McCain loves to play the Roman card whenever it suits him.

How Delicious It Must Be - For a Lutheran To Denounce Thomism from a Thomist College



From Father Jack Kilcrease - Theologia Crucis

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010

Breaking News: Michael Root Became Roman Catholic

Completely shocking news: Michael Root has become Catholic as of this weekend:

http://tonymetze.blogspot.com/2010/08/dr-michael-root-man-of-great-faith.html

I know, I know- it's way shocking.

When some one goes around saying things like "the law is a way to actualize our relationship with God" or "the theology of the cross isn't really central to Luther's theology" or "there's no difference between Luther and Aquinas on justification" or "Wow, things are bad in the ELCA- you know what would fix it? Having the Pope arbitrate everything"- it's incredibly hard to see why they would become Roman Catholic.

I'm actually quite pleased about the news. Not because I want Dr. Root to start believing in false doctrine (he's already believed in false doctrine for years and this doesn't really change that)-but rather Root has been Roman Catholic in his theology for some time and it's rather unfortunate that he went around saying that he was a loyal Lutheran and running a Lutheran seminary when he really believed in Thomism. It's also unfortunate that he was one of the architects of them getting involved with JDDJ and with the CCM (their ill-thought out adventure with pulpit fellowship with the Episcopalians). In any case, they'd probably have done all that stuff without him.

I might also add, that perhaps some fellow Missourian (who will go unnamed) who thought that he and his colleague David Yeago, were a sign of some progress in the ELCA just because they said positive things about the law, might want to rethink their positions. In fact, as I have pointed out on a number of occasions, these gentlemen do not merely think that the law has a positive place in the Christian life, (as I and every other red-blooded confessional Lutheran also believes) but that it actually is the basis of the divine-human relationship. The gospel is good for them essentially because it makes the law work as a way of relating to God. The gospel for them is not the last word (as it must be!).

We can see the end results. If the center of the Christian faith is the law, who has the most and best defined law? Bingo. I need say no

From -
Reflections of a Classical Orthodox Pastor


----

Dr. Michael Root - A Man of Great Faith!


Dr. Michael Root taught me theology during my seminary years from 1981 to 1985. For the last two years I have been privileged to be his pastor. It was a most humbling experience to have my theological mentor sitting in the pews. But it was even more gratifying to get to know this man of deep faith. Last week a mass was held for his conversion at St. Peter's Catholic Church. It was bitter sweet to be there. I felt a whole whirlwind of emotions from joy at seeing this historic event unfold to sadness that the ELCA has lost yet another great theologian.

5 comments:


Mr. Richard Miesel, O.P. said...
Hi Pastor Metze,Has Dr. Root prepared a public statement about his decision to be received into full communion?Thanks,Mr. Richard Miesel, OP
Pastor Tony Metze said...
Yes, he has. Here is an excerpt. "On Monday I shared with the faculty the news that in the near future I will be received into the Catholic Church. I now wish to share that news with you. This action is not one that I take lightly. TheLutheran church has been my intellectual and spiritual home for forty years. But we are not masters of our convictions. A risk of ecumenicalstudy is that one will come to find another tradition compelling in a way that leads to a deep change in mind and heart. Over the last year or so, it has become clear to me, not without struggle, that I have become a Catholic in my mind and heart in ways that no longer permit me to present myself as a Lutheran theologian with honesty and integrity.This move is less a matter of decision than of discernment.No single issue has been decisive for me, but at the center of my reflection has been the question of how God’s grace engages thejustified person and the church in the divine mission of salvation.How are we redeemed as the free and responsible agents God created us to be?Catholic theology speaks of God elevating the justified person and the church to participation in the divine life and mission, so that Godgrants the Christian and the church participation in God’s actions in a different way than Lutheran theology affirms. Catholic teachings do not follow from that vision with deductive force, but they do hang togetherwith that vision in ways that I have come to find deeply convincing."
Pastor Tony Metze said...
Correction on above comment. This was the statement he sent to the faculty of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and was disseminated throughout the internet. I know of no other official statement at this time.