Between a Round Rock and a Hard Place

Easter egg hunts and New Age conferences work for Kudu Don Patterson.
Why not for me?

WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "Fine Young Cannibals - WELS Mission Churches Canni...":

Nice picture of Pastor Doebler! You could have photo-shopped some pants (jeans) on poor Brother Matt. Christ The Rock (no Lutheran in its title) can best be described as seventy percent Core fused with thirty percent Grandfather's WELS church. Nuclear secret number one-Pastor Doebler is friends with Ski. Nuclear secret number two-Pastor Doebler likes the Core's website. Christ The Rock was a creation of the evil Church Growth Gurus. Unfortunately the joke is on Pastor Doebler and his congregation. The CG guys addiction just got much stronger, so they are going multi-site and thus squeezing out Christ The Rock. It is not too late to repent and become 100% Grandfather's WELS church.

Ski and Pastor Doebler are minions. Go after their overseers!

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

Holy, Holy, Crunch, Crunch, Crunch - Worship at The SORE

Do you want your prayers plain or buttered?

"Following that portion of the service was a prayer, about halfway through which the muffled sounds of crunching popcorn finally ceased."

WELS Eye Witness

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GJ - I am sure the ELS and WELS Boards of Doctrine are jumping on this like a hobo on a hotdog.

Hey Ski, where did you get your machine?

Do you really have a soda fountain?

How much has that increased your attendance?

Would you speak at our convention?

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Joseph Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "Holy, Holy, Crunch, Crunch, Crunch - Worship at Th...":

The music played at The SORE, Philips Craig and Dean, is from an anti-Trinitarian band. Looks like they're on their way to Unitarianism in Appleton.

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GJ - They began The SORE that way, with a rock band noted for mocking the Christian faith.

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Comments from his blog:

Freddy Finkelstein said...

Keep it coming Mr. Baker. Good Review.

August 25, 2010 12:41 PM

Intrepid Lutherans said...

Pastor Spencer here, of Intrepid Lutherans. I very strongly encourage you to send this in hard copy form to Ski himself and the District President, with copies to Ski's Circuit Pastor, the Pastors of the "mother" church, the rest of the District Presidium, and the Synod President. Please add specific charges of the use of false doctrine and plagiarism and detail them clearly. Do this today. If you don't get a reply within 5 business days, send it all again, and keep doing so. This is the only way we're going to force the issue to be dealt with, if at all. Thank you for your work. I'm sure it must have been very unpleasant.

August 25, 2010 1:33 PM

Daniel Baker said...

Alright Pastor Spencer, will do.

August 25, 2010 2:10 PM

WELS School Teacher Arrested; LCMS Pastor Arrested

Crown of Life, W. St. Paul, WELS


Crown of Life, W. St. Paul

News report - teacher arrested in online prostitution sting.

Another story on the sting is here.

This scandal is LCMS, reported by KCRG.

Fine Young Cannibals - WELS Mission Churches Cannibalize WELS Churches, Calling It Outreach

Two Wisconsin Synods exist.

One is officially headed by the synod president, Mark Schroeder.

The second Wisconsin Synod is headed by Mark Jeske and run by the administration, magazine, and schools of the synod.

Cannibal Congregations
Millions of dollars are wasted because the Second WELS deliberately sets up new missions near established WELS congregations and parasitizes them, coaxing their members out by playing Shrinker games.

The Shrinkers have the Eighth Commandment on their lips at all times, but do they obey the Tenth?

The Tenth Commandment.


Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his.


What does this mean?--Answer.


We should fear and love God that we may not estrange, force, or entice away our neighbor's wife, servants, or cattle, but urge them to stay and [diligently] do their duty.

That must include pastors enticing members away from another congregation, especially when they belong to the same synod.

Gurgle and Patterson in Round Rock, Texas
The forced-to-leave-office Gurgle and Kudu Don Patterson are setting up a church and school two miles from the WELS mission called Christ the Rock (Doebler). Gurgle, who is always full of himself, cannot even spell, but he is crowing about this great outreach - which will take a whole lot of money. Most people expect a failed SP to live on the roughly $3 million he earned while driving his synod into insolvency, but Gurgle had to have a job where the teachers lost wages to pay him.

Note that a leading layman at Patterson's church is named Stelljes.

The LOL Mission
Remember how Kudu Don gathered up a bunch of WELS church workers for the pan-denominational Exponential Conference in Orlando, Florida? John Stelljes was rumored to be among the chosen.

John Stelljes opened up Light of Life near two other WELS congregations and is taking members from them.

The mission folks from the Second Synod set up LOL without asking anyone and plunked it near two others. That is how Hagedorn has wasted offering money to keep the Church and Change takeover moving ahead.

Shrinking the Shrinker Church

WELS did the same thing near Larry Olson's church, setting up Mark Paustian (Church and Change) to raid the local congregations. Love's Park is trying to raise money to move away, another large expense created by the enormous expense of setting up the cannibal congregation. Paustian moved on to Mary Lou College.

CrossWalk
Jeff Gunn has done the same thing in Phoenix for the Second Synod by raiding WELS congregations for members. Note that any criticism of Church and Change is met by cries of "Unbrotherly!"

Latte Church
Randy Hunter was given a vicar to train him in raiding nearby WELS congregations. Many congregations cannot get vicars, but the Shrinkers can. Grant money flows to Second Synod.

Latte has its own female pastor. WELS did not have to vote on this change, because the Second Synod decided to approve it and fund it.

The best part of my job is knowing that my work directly impacts the spiritual lives of those who worship here and enables them to connect with God. I say this with a full and complete understanding (and appreciation!) of the fact that the actual work is done by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace – but it is a great privilege and a great joy to be an instrument in ‘administering God’s grace’ in the form of worship gatherings.

The SORE
The Second Synod's most ridiculous mission was set up next door to an established WELS church. Ski seems to be limited to running his silly Groeschel echo chamber as a perpetual youth rally. Ski and Glende even painted a Groeschel slogan on the wall. See the photos here. The Groeschel mantra is this: "In order to reach the people no one else has reached, we must do the things no one else has done." Part of the slogan is in the photographs from a WELS member's blog.

"Certainly, there may have been some guests and visitors from other areas, but more often than not these were just local WELSians. If there was any doubt of this analysis, it could be confirmed in the worship songs. It is funny to see WELS members trying to be the happy clappy type." My Thoughts

Ski fills the place with local WELS youth at a fantastic cost. Who is paying for all this? Is Hagedorn sending synod money on top of support from Patmos or whoever else is being tapped?

The Second Synod demands answers but does not offer any.

WELS Members Are the Suckers Financing the Fine, Young Cannibals
By now most readers have concluded that the Second Synod is run for itself and its greedy, narcissistic leaders. All the slogans about outreach are a smokescreen. These belly-servers are not interested in any real work, but they do want the money of the members.

Not Exactly an Ichabod Fan - Responds To The CORE Report

Why not confess all religions? This is kelmed from badvestments.blogspot.com


KFax has left a new comment on your post "Happy Clappy Whoopee Worship at Groeschel's The CO...":

How very sad. I would have left in disgust.

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GJ - Kfax has not been a big fan of this blog. I wonder when Ski, Glende, Ash, and Doug the Unready will realize they cannot pull off this scam forever.

Do not forget, my anonymous audience, that this fiasco is deliberately and routinely copied from Craig Groeschel.

Glende and Ski copy everything they do, because the seminary and college taught them to plagiarize false teachers. They are in a circuit (see Bethany in Appleton) where deceit is normative. They work in a district where the pastors and teachers re-elect a Doctrinal Pussycat who skips a scheduled meeting and leaves behind a letter. Remember how everyone has to meet with the false teacher first? What do pastors and teachers and laity do when the false teacher and his enabler slither away?

Happy Clappy Whoopee Worship at Groeschel's The CORE

My Thoughts by Daniel Baker:

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Analysis of My Worship Experience at the CORE, Appleton, Wisconsin

After reading the growing outcry against the rumored apostasy and fraud propagated by the CORE “church” in Appleton, Wisconsin, I was compelled to travel to the city this past Sunday, August 22, to see for myself just how bad the place really is.

We (another anonymous individual joined me on my venture) pulled up to the location about 10 minutes prior to the advertised start of the service. Upon arrival, I was immediately struck by the sheer size and grandeur of the building. A giant, fancy, protruding sign stuck out from the edifice with the words “CORE Real, Relevant, Relational.” Giant tinted windows also adorned the front wall. You can see in the picture provided for yourself.

After entering the building, I was no less impressed by what I saw. Flat screen TVs lined the walls; movie-like posters with Scriptural references hung around the lobby - there were even high-speed computers in one corner for public use. Engravings of bible passages and quotes were on the walls, and in the middle of the room was a giant snack bar, much like at a movie theatre (considering that’s what the place is, a renovated movie theatre, this was not surprising). At this snack bar were dozens of pre-packaged popcorn bags and pre-filled soft drinks. I chose raspberry iced tea for myself to enjoy during the show.

After getting our food, I noticed the pastor himself – the infamous “Ski.”

Officially titled Pastor James Skorzewski, “Ski” - as he likes to be called – is an ordained graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon. He began his career as a pastor by serving a brief term at a mission church in Florida before being called to work under Pastor Mark Jeske at St. Marcus in Milwaukee in the year 2001. There are many rumors and stories about Ski that float around the internet, but I don’t feel the need to promote hearsay. What I do want to focus on is his calling and work at the CORE. For a little background, the CORE was started as a “daughter Congregation” of St. Peter’s church in Freedom, Wisconsin, which is near Appleton. Another infamous Pastor, Timothy Glende, also ordained in the WELS ministry, runs St. Peter’s. Suffice it to say, Ski and Glende must have worked closely together to get CORE off the ground.

According to a blog that is run by a member of St. Peter’s church:

http://vdma.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/the-cores-encore

the CORE had its grand opening on April 19, 2009, with an expense fee of $250,000.00 (judging by the adornments throughout the facility, internal and external, I would not be surprised if millions more than this have been spent in total). At that time, the membership was about 15 people, however hundreds of other WELS members from local area congregations also attend the CORE.

Now that I have digressed a bit, I will get back to my story. So there I was in the lobby, looking at Ski himself. I snapped a picture before ducking into the theater . . . I mean sanctuary. Upon entering, there were two little kids handing out free pens with a CORE logo on them, as well as an adult handing out the “bulletin.” The bulletin had a survey attached, as well as a fill-in-the-blank outline for the sermon. Behind these greeters was a small altar ornamented with little crosses and candles. The theatre room itself was very large, having perhaps 15 or so rows with maybe 30 seats in each row, though admittedly I did not think to count. We sat about in the center of one such row, 2/3 of the way to the top row.

Looking down, I immediately made note of the looping PowerPoint presentation, designed to look like advertisements before a movie begins. I noticed also the worship band positioned in the lower left corner, with an audio/video specialist poised somewhere near central stage.

Although I had seen it coming in, my eyes finally refocused on the cross, which was positioned off to the right of the main stage so as not to interfere with the precious movie slides. It was elaborately designed, with faux bloodstains where Christ’s wounds would have been (i.e. head, hands, side, feet). There was also a spear propped up against it, as well as a crown of thorns. I have a few pictures (pardon the quality; the battery on my camera was dying so I had to turn the flash off):

After I had finally gotten my bearings, I began to briefly look over the bulletin when Ski made his grand entrance. There he was, in all his glory . . . wearing a wrinkled up “cool” collared shirt and “cool” jeans. He made a joke related to running and his physique, and proceeded to make a few general announcement-like comments before inviting us to fill out the surveys and then interact with our neighbors in a “meet and greet” fashion. After this forced fellowship time was over, we progressed into the first worship song, a tune entitled “Revelation Song,” by Phillips Craig and Dean. It is basically an expansion on the song sung by the saints and angels in the Revelation, i.e. “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord Almighty” and “worthy is the Lamb,” interspersed with pious references to how we and all creation should and will praise God. It wasn’t the worst song I have ever heard, though as I said I was giving the service the benefit of the doubt at the start.

We then proceeded to have a confession and absolution. In his favor, Ski did pay lip service to Holy Baptism and its relevance in the life of a Christian (i.e. as a means used by the Holy Spirit to work faith in the heart), and the fact that there was confession and absolution in Christ’s name was also a general plus. Following that portion of the service was a prayer, about halfway through which the muffled sounds of crunching popcorn finally ceased.

I didn’t mention this earlier, but about at this point in the service I made mental note of how nice it was to be surrounded by fellow young people for once. When I say young people, I include little kids, teenagers, and young adults. All three groups were in larger quantities than I had ever seen at another WELS institution; in the end, the vast majority of people in attendance were under the age of 20. In fact, the worship band was composed of mostly kids as well, save for the lead singer. While this seems nice in theory, in reality the truth of the matter is that most of these kids are simply attending the CORE in addition to – or worse, in lieu of – their home WELS congregation. Certainly, there may have been some guests and visitors from other areas, but more often than not these were just local WELSians. If there was any doubt of this analysis, it could be confirmed in the worship songs. It is funny to see WELS members trying to be the happy clappy type. There was no hand waving or emotion really in the congregation during the songs, but nonetheless most were making an attempt to sing. It was very forced, and like oil and water, trying to mix Lutherans with the happy-clappy worship style doesn’t work out.

Back to the service, though. Following the Confession, there was a reading of the Word, Romans 5:1-5. After another song entitled “You Deserve,” we finally got to the core of the CORE: The sermon (or the “Message” as it was called in the bulletin), entitled: “Elijah – The Making of a Man of God.” It is at this point that I stopped trying to give Ski the benefit of the doubt and became fully nauseated. I can count on one hand the words of the gospel contained in the sermon; in fact, I wrote them down:

“I know. Jesus does it for you.” Ski said that in about the middle of the sermon after a hypothetical response from God in reference to how we can’t keep the law perfectly. Other than that, the only other reference to the gospel or Christ was a BRIEF summation at the very end of the sermon regarding how we have a Lord, Christ, who died and is risen for us. But even after that, he recapitulated his main point, which was law-focused, man-centered. I will now provide you with the outline of the sermon.

Basically, he began with the story of Elijah, and with an explanation of the meaning of Elijah’s name (“The Lord is my God”). He then demonstrated what can be learned from Elijah’s example.

1. The making of the God Man means isolated pain.
2. The making of the God Man means total dependence.
3. The making of the God Man means unconditional obedience.

So basically, the point of the sermon was that hardships come from God to refine us like coal into diamonds, and if we are completely dependent upon and obedient to God, he will work our best interests out in the end. Huh. And here I thought the foundation of the Christian faith was JESUS’ blood and righteousness. If only I had known it was about getting blessings for being dependent and obedient! Boy, someone should revise that song . . . how does it go? “Jesus your blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress . . . “

As you could imagine, I was NOT impressed. As if to make matters worse, after the sermon we had another prayer . . . and at this point he made prayer out to be some kind of third sacrament (or perhaps only sacrament), an all important means by which we commune with God (there was no reference to the Lord’s Supper at all, big shocker). What’s more, during the “prayer,” the pianist started playing this sappy music as if this were some Lifetime special.

After the final song, we made for the door opposite of the one we came in, as during the service I had seen this stone monument and wanted to inspect it closer. Turns out, it was an ornate baptismal font, chiseled out of stone and topped with a bronze basin (I assumed the connection was with the Old Testament bronze basin between the Holy Place and the altar). After exiting the “sanctuary,” we entered the little gift shop where CORE memorabilia was sold. Interestingly, and as a side note, there was an enormous stuffed giraffe in the gift shop. Seeing it was the highlight of my experience.

After coming home and doing a little research, I learned some more appalling facts about my experience at CORE. Firstly, the Elijah sermon series was completely ripped off from a non-WELS, mega/online church.

See this lifechurch.tv site and related image: http://open.lifechurch.tv/series/3683

The image of Elijah used by the CORE is EXACTLY the same as this one - see the CORE’s bulletin:

He made no note of the fact that he copied the series from the lifechurch.tv site, a website run by a pastor by the name of Craig Groeschel. Groeschel is a pastor with non-Lutheran theology, as you can tell from the sermon message propagated through Ski. Since he must be too busy to write his own material, perhaps Ski would like to copy a sermon series by Martin Luther next time? I have a volume full of his sermons if he’d like to borrow them.

Suffice it to say, although CORE claims to do everything short of sinning to reach sinners, they have (in my opinion) not only crossed the line into actual sin by means of false doctrine, but have also not reached very many sinners at all! The blatant apostasy of the CORE should not be allowed to go unchecked any further. Ski’s superior, Rev. Douglas Engelbrecht, President of the Northern Wisconsin District, needs to do something about this. But will he? Such remains to be seen.

One final point: As we were driving home, the symbolism of the cross finally struck me. As I said earlier, the entire message of the CORE when I visited was law-centered, man-focused, rather than Christ-centered, cross-focused as it should be. Looking back, the cross being pushed off to the side to make room for the screen is an appropriate symbolic testament to this fact.

Let's Parse an Unsolicited Review of Ski and Glende's The CORE

Moral has left a new comment on your post "Let's Parse an Unsolicited Review of Ski and Glend...":

Third time's the charm: I noticed a picture of Kelm on that tombstone.

FYI, Kelm is being installed on Sunday at WLC for the third time in his career.

What goes around comes around, I guess.

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Daniel Baker has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":

I traveled to Appleton this past Sunday to see how bad the CORE really is for myself. I am going to write a formal review of my experience at a later date, but suffice it to say he didn't even try to hide the reference to that lifechurch site. He used the EXACT same image of the ravens, only he added a small "CORE" logo on the top right.

I really tried to give the service an honest, open assessment. But between popcorn chewing during the prayer, the watery, emotionless, doctrine-less songs, and the law focused sermon (I can count the words which referenced Christ and the gospel in the sermon on one hand), I left the "service" nauseated.


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GJ - I was really surprised, because the compliant District Vapid Pussycat (also known as Super-Cecil) was ga-ga over The CORE's entertainment efforts, endorsing them without qualm or conscience.


Here is my exegesis of the review:


1. Ski makes no effort to hide his reliance on Groeschel graphics and message. He has conceded that to many objecting visitors. They are legion.
2. The SORE obviously sends people into church with popcorn and drinks, just like Victory of the Lamb, meeting in another movie theater. The audience is so disrespectful that they munch popcorn during the prayers. No wonder they like going there. The blind lead the blind, and WELS endorses this, protecting it from any harm or change, with tons of money wasted on this Bacchanalia.
3. The songs are "watery, emotionless, and doctrine-less." That is no surprise, because the Gospel offends some and Lutheran doctrine offends many. Ski and Glende are training their audience to despise the Means of Grace, to embrace New Age culture.
4. Law-focused sermon, with little mention of Christ - But we are told how Glende and Ski are "passionate" about Jesus (a weird expression, even for straights) and "passionate" about outreach. Nevertheless, they reject the only way God conveys forgiveness to use - the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace.


Team Glende is charging around the Net again, obviously wounded by the attention they are getting. They really need more attention, more visits by faithful Lutherans, more letters to the right persons (cc Deputy Doug, who uses them for kindling).

Isn't This Sweet? - Asks the LCMS

Professional growth workshopSWD welcomes Dr. Leonard Sweet, nationally known speaker and author, for a one day conference Friday, Oct. 9, 2010, at Lake Country Lutheran High School, Hartland. Sweet will focus on education and learning in a Google world. This workshop is put together in an effort to provide our schools opportunity for professional development in coordination with the Lutheran Education Association convocation in March 2011. Online registration will be made available on Sept. 3.

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Places of hope Not long ago I heard a church leader comment that “the local congregation is the hope of every community.” DP Graduated from Mequon--> It’s a profound and true statement. The local congregation is where God gathers his people to receive his blessing. The local congregation is where God demonstrates his love for sinners through Word and Sacrament. The local congregation is where God’s people gather at the foot of the cross to receive forgiveness.

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The SWD's spring gathering at Cedar Valley was so well attended that the senior gathering committee decided to offer it again in a new venue with a “Fall Gathering in Reedsburg” at the Voyageur Inn Oct. 4, 2010. The theme is the same, "God’s Gifted Seniors—Yesterday and Today."

At the spring gathering a capacity crowd enjoyed hearing Rev. Mark Jeske of Time of Grace ministry share his insights about what’s happening with Lutherans today. He will do this again in Reedsburg after the morning devotional Bible study with Rev. Mark Meier of Emmaus, Poy Sippi. After lunch, Rev. Ron Riemer will coax you into filling in the blank space in his "God’s __?__ servants" presentation. Some good Lutheran-style singing (that would make Garrison Keillor smile) will be a prelude to Jeske’s afternoon chat about God’s gifted seniors.

Registration for this event is $50 for the day that will begin at 9:30 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Breaks and lunch are included. If you have questions, please call Peg Raabe at the District office, (414) 464-8101. Mail-in and online registration will be available soon at swd.lcms.org/registration. The deadline is Sept. 22, 2010.

Fall colors will be at their peak in early October, so you might like to enjoy the whole weekend, or at least Sunday, in Reedsburg. Golfers checking in at the Voyageur Inn enjoy a special $38 rate for 18 holes and a cart at the lovely Reedsburg Country Club. Quilters alert! The Quintessential Quilts store is within walking distance. Or take a tour of the Wollersheim Winery which is 40 minutes away.

You can take advantage of the Voyageur’s special weekend rate of $59 per night (double or single occupancy) offered to fall gathering participants. Please make your own reservations by calling the Voyageur at (800) 444-4493 and mention that you will be attending the South Wisconsin District fall gathering on Oct. 4. More information about area attractions in and around Reedsburg can be found atvoyageurinn.net.

Jeske and the DP graduated about the same time from the Sausage Factory, Mequon. What were they teaching then?

Source <- Click on this link.

Review of The CORE

Daniel Baker has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":

I traveled to Appleton this past Sunday to see how bad the CORE really is for myself. I am going to write a formal review of my experience at a later date, but suffice it to say he didn't even try to hide the reference to that lifechurch site. He used the EXACT same image of the ravens, only he added a small "CORE" logo on the top right.

I really tried to give the service an honest, open assessment. But between popcorn chewing during the prayer, the watery, emotionless, doctrine-less songs, and the law focused sermon (I can count the words which referenced Christ and the gospel in the sermon on one hand), I left the "service" nauseated.

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WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":

You want to practice strict fellowship? Mark and avoid Ski, Jeske, Glende, and Parlow. Then again The Core is just a "little bit" of a WELS church. "Little bit" is defined as "exploratory" in the official WELS church listings. There is nothing wrong with starting a mission or daughter congregation if we are motivatated by the Holy Spirit. These new exploratory churches are just code words for pastors in jeans, contemporary services, entertainment music, and worst of all, copying unorthodox sectarian sermons. These teachers are guilty of liberalism. When these teachers start demanding that all are to conform to these practices, the issue of "liberal legalism" will stand before us. Intrepids has a new post taking up the issue of adding to God's Word.

I'm with Brett on the descision to hire teachers from within. Of course you may bring in those from the outside, such as Bill Hybels, Leonard Sweet, Martin Marty, Archbishop Weakland, and Ed Stetzer. We need the teachers that are within our ranks. By this I mean those teaching the Word in its purity and teaching the confessions as stated in the BOC.

For further detail I commend you to read The Third Use Of The Law. (Armin W. Schuetze) This can be found in the WLS essay file. It is thirty pages and an excelent appendage to Pastor GJ's and Intrepid's latest posts. Schuetze's communication skills surpass those of the church lady's. You can't go wrong when you use Scripture and Luther's Works as your sources.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

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GJ - My point about academic incest was that no Lutheran from the outside is welcome, but false teachers opposed to the Lutheran Confessions are paraded as the solution.

Good teachers from each synod are ignored because the apostates want more apostates teaching their apostasy.

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norcal763 has left a new comment on your post "Review of The CORE":

Dear WELS Church Lady:

WELS is a one-church synod. Communing at a WELS altar assumes total confessional unity with every other member of WELS, including Ski and Glende. The only way to mark and avoid Ski and Glende is to mark and avoid the Synod that will never discipline them.
Jim Becker

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GJ - Stop funding the people who enable Ski, Glende, Parlow, Jeske, Kelm, Olson, Bivens, Huebner, et al.

WELS has adopted the Missouri Compromise, where two opposing confessions are allowed to work together and pretend the other one does not exist.

Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods

Inbreeding emphasizes genetic weakness.
Good schools prevent academic inbreeding.
Lutheran schools do not,
and the results can be frightening,
as seen above.
Tim Glende The fake Ichabod does not like this photo.
I wonder why.

Universities do not like to use their own graduates to teach their classes, because this leads to academic inbreeding and uncritical thinking. If someone receives a PhD from Yale, the new professor is expected to teach somewhere else even if the school wants him back as a valued teacher.

Just the opposite is true in the Lutheran synods. They want graduates of their own little seminaries, although Ft. Wayne has been known to load up on Notre Dame graduates.

The Sausage Factory would never want an ELS pastor to teach at their school. He might not have enjoyed the physical and emotional abuse or GA. Even worse, he might know only 99% of the 6,418 unwritten rules of WELS. In short, that will never happen.

The ELS is far more comfortable hiring a New Testament professor with no college degree (and the right DNA) than calling one with a graduate degree and outside influences. The Little Sect on the Prairie suffers from always having a sidecar of WELS influence. WELS pushes its favorite heresies. If the ELS gets something right, such as the Word consecrating the elements, the Wisconsinites have to water it down so the Book of Concord is never taken too seriously.

Missouri has plenty of short-circuits in its thinking too. Many people think of Harrison's election as a triumph of Walther. No one is allowed to suggest that CFW was ever wrong about anything. Walther represents the zenith of Pietistic Lutheran thought, they imagine. Far better to build a bathtub shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the backyard than to suggest Luther, Chemnitz, and Chytraeus are superior to Walther.

Everyone is going to be saying, "But WELS has to make sure the right people teach."

What does Mequon teach? The WELS professors advocate Groeschel, Sweet, Stanley, Wagner, McGavran, and Driscoll. WELS is terrified of LCMS education but promotes Fuller Seminary, Trinity in Deerfield, and Willow Creek. Instead of cross-pollinating in Missouri and the Little Sect, they are planting weed seeds funded with the offerings of their own members.

No one can question that because every single pastor in WELS is related to the rest of them.

Missouri is just the same. They are either genuflecting to Walther or sinuflecting to Mary. If you want your son to become a priest, send him to the Concordia seminaries. If he learns quickly, he will become Roman Catholic. If he is a little slow and timid, he will become Eastern Orthodox.

Inbreeding is not all bad. Look at how happy the boys in the photo are. They just finished an update on their newest video. They may not have much of capacity in Lutheran doctrine, but do they need it in the Emergent WELS? They only need to copy and paste, to parrot all the repeat-after-me responses they learned in the system. They are not going to question anything.

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Daniel Baker has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":

I agree with your premise, but in practice, it proves hard for the synods I'd imagine. With such strict fellowship practices, how could they rationalize inviting in professors from other synods? For example, WELS/ELS could trade as you suggested, but in the end that wouldn't help much as far as diversity in thought is concerned.

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GJ - "With such strict fellowship practices..." That is pretty funny. WELS members still believe that myth, and the ELS may also.

Professor Al Sorum got his DMin from Wesleyan. Bivens, Valleskey, and Gerlach went to Fuller Seminary.

WELS had beaten a door to Trinity in Deerfield so often that the sect was named twice in the Trinity catalogue. Yet people hoot at ELCA's Southern seminary training Methodists and Babtists.

The president of the Little School on the Prairie, Seminary Division, earned an STM from a gay feminist Episcopal seminary.

Missouri voted overwhelmingly to work with ELCA.

They are all unionists. The definition of a unionist is "Someone who loves every denomination except his own."

---

LPC has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":

Pr. Greg,

What you say is so true about academic in-breeding. My observation is that Lutheran Seminaries including ours here, do not train pastors to do independent thinking. They do not seem to be exercised at the tools so they can evaluate things on their own.

Fundamentalist Cultism is the end result of in-breeding.

Some faculties here also do not like to hire their own PhDs though most are less afraid of this. It is because the norm here is that your thesis is passed externally by international examiners from another university. In effect, it is actually blind peer reviewed and so you are actually passed not by your internal faculty but the examiners from somewhere around the world.

There are so many funny points in this post. As you explained, I now know why they are not laughing.

God bless,

LPC

***

GJ - Walther wanted to monopolize seminary education and almost succeeded. He managed to be synod president and seminary president at the same time, an idea so bad that they repeated it with Francis Pieper, who was culled from the herd by Walther to be a Walther clone.

Al Barry was a one-man Lutheran Federation. His official bio only admits to his membership in two synods, Missouri and WELS, but he also studied in two others - the ELS and one of those mini-micros where the school was the church basement. I can see why Barry said he was "building a foundation" in his first term. He had been there before.

---

Ski and Glende worshiped with Babtist Andy Stanley.
This is a photo which Ski published on his blog.

Strict Fellowship Practices in WELS: Ski's sermons at The CORE

http://open.lifechurch.tv/series/3683

From Twitter @GoToCore:
A new series begins this Sunday at 5:30. Join us for Elijah - "Making of a Man of God". See you then. #fb 6:15 AM Aug 20th via SocialOomph

Week 2 will be:
"Which God Do You Serve"

Week 3:
"Elijah Prays"

Week 4:
"Depression"

How relevant...

Untalented Former Gospel Singer Update

Katy Perry and fake Ichabod/Anonymouse.

Latest lyrics are here.

The WELS member who sent me the lyrics link also sent a photo link - latest cover. Needless to say, Katy has not had her backslidden life transformed from being with Glende and Ski.

The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

By Norma Boeckler


The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn #462 I Love Thy Kingdom 4:21
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #123 O God Our Help 4:3

Sufficiency from God

The Communion Hymn # 304 An Awful Mystery 4:6
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 376 Rock of Ages 4:47

KJV 2 Corinthians 3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

KJV Mark 7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. 33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; 37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Twelfth Sunday After Trinity
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast created all things: We thank Thee that Thou hast given us sound bodies, and hast graciously preserved our tongues and other members from the power of the adversary: We beseech Thee, grant us Thy grace, that we may rightly use our ears and tongues; help us to hear Thy word diligently and devoutly, and with our tongues so to praise and magnify Thy grace, that no one shall be offended by our words, but that all may be edified thereby, through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Sufficiency from God

KJV 2 Corinthians 3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Lenski:
“In Second Corinthians Paul bares his heart and his life as he does in none of his other letters. This lends a special value to the letter. Combined with this self-revelation is the wonderful way in which Paul reaches out to the Corinthians. He lets all the love of his heart speak, and its language is perfection. Paul’s psychological judgment of his readers never errs. His arms reach out. He touches the secret springs in his readers who certainly could not help but respond. Even the sterner tones in the last chapter voice this compelling love. These inward things that run through the entire letter deserve far more attention than they have received. Other apostles may have been like this, but none of them has left us a document which reveals this as does this one dictated by Paul. Second Corinthians is precious indeed.” Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Paul's First and Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Minneapolis, MN. : Augsburg Publishing House, 1963, S. 804.


Second Corinthians is Paul’s defense of his ministry. Many people have concluded what was happening from Paul’s own comments. The religious opponents are illusive – we can only speculate. But clearly their attack was against Paul himself as not being adequate as an apostle. What remains is Paul’s response. From this we can see a deeply personal letter but also one which is universal and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Some might question how a man with many flaws could write a letter and have Christians called it Scripture, inspired by God, inerrant and authoritative. The difference between Paul’s letters and many similar letters from the age is this – Paul was elected by God to be an apostle. Christ miraculously appeared to Paul and converted him through the Word. God chose Paul to be an extraordinary missionary and author.

Sceptics like to claim that Paul created the Christianity that we know, that without him there would have been no Christian church. They fail to note the miraculous growth of the Word before Paul was converted, recorded in Acts 1ff.

All this is dependent upon the foundation which Paul described here so well – the Word of God.

The Creating Word
Although this is almost universally neglected, the Scriptures teach that God’s power comes to us exclusively through the Word.

The Son of God Himself is the Logos (Word). When God created the universe in Six Days, the Logos was that creating Word. What Genesis 1 implies, John 1 teaches clearly:

KJV John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

This verse, John 1:3 connects the Creation Hymn (a nickname for Genesis 1) with the Logos Hymn (a nickname for John 1:1-18):

John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

This clearly identifies Jesus, the Son of God, with the Creation of the entire universe. We cannot separate any feature or any detail—plant, mineral, star, animal, human—from the work of Jesus and the power of the Word.

What God declares, happens. There is no gulf between the will of God and the Word of God.

Sadly Lacking
What is sadly lacking today is a confidence in this power remaining in the Word of God. This has come about through neglect. Instead of teaching against this doctrine, the church leaders simply ignore it. That allows people to wander around in confusion.

The efficacy of the Word alone is taught throughout the Old Testament and is well known in Judaism. Among conservative Jews, the doctrine has inspired many stories, including the word of the rabbi.

Luther always taught the efficacy of the Word alone, but the other Protestants broke with him about this Biblical doctrine – Zwingli, Calvin, and the radicals who came to be associated with the Mennonites and Baptists.

And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward.

English changes. Today we would say – through Christ toward God, but I like the old structure, which reminds us of where toward came from.

5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Paul saw that the attack was against him, but he was not representing his ministry as his own but the ministry of the Word. He had nothing to offer on his own, so that was not his argument at all.

Paul’s sufficiency came from God. This is not a vague term, but one which is very clear in the next verses.

The Bible means the Word when it speaks of the work of the Spirit, and it means the Spirit when it speaks of the Word. This is only possible because the two are never separate. Hoenecke (WELS) – “The Holy Spirit never without the Word. The Word never without the Spirit. That is sound doctrine.”

Any variation is called Enthusiasm by the Book of Concord, and Enthusiasm is roundly condemned.

6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

God chose Paul to be an able minister (servant) of the Spirit – a minister of the Word. Another variation on this is – stewards of the mysteries of God. What God reveals in the Scriptures is not subject to man’s judgment. The Trinity does not need to appeal to man’s logic – it is a mystery revealed by God. The Creation may be tough to imagine, but that does not mean God is incapable because of man’s limitations.

The Holy Spirit works through the Law to create Godly sorrow in the hearts of listeners.

Luther emphasized most of us that people failed to trust in God’s Word – the greatest sin of all. People imagine the gross, carnal sins, but they are symptoms of man’s rebellion against the Word.

Otten Uses Video To Promote Christian News

Perhaps Herman Otten's grandchildren talked him into using video to promote Christian News.

Here is the link.

Otten's sister Marie Meyer is a board member of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, which has always promoted the liberal side of Missouri in a working relationship with ELCA (ALC and LCA before that). Marie Meyer was a college roommate of the future Grace Otten. Oddly, Grace was a CLC member attending liberal Valpo U. Grace was not allowed to attend Bethany in Mankato, but she went to Valpo.

Otten now has a Facebook page.

Paul McCain, MDiv, LCMS layman, worked secretly with Otten to get Barry elected the first time. McCain has 6,000 FB friends. I will let you know when he friends Otten.

Pietistic Abuse - Recognition Signs

Leave it to WLC to have a Roman homosexual archbishop give a public lecture, with some priests thrown in, and lie about it happening.
Oh wait. The ELS did the same thing with the Roman bishop.My bad.

All the Protestants like to cluck their tongues over the abuse done by Roman Catholic priests. The horror stories continue. They were in the national press in 1987 but blew up internationally much later, thanks to the persistent networks of clergy abuse victims. Currently the pope is in the spotlight, although John Paul II escaped the same scrutiny for being completely oblivious. Whether one was worse than the other is hard to prove.

The guiding principle of the Roman hierarchy is this: the priest represents Christ and is beyond criticism, no matter what he has done. They enjoy the ultimate protection racket. Cardinal Law in Boston was promoted to the Vatican for his many felonies. The only priest disciplined by the Catholics was the one who said clergy abuse was wrong.

"If only the priests could marry." But the Protestants do marry and perpetrate the same crimes, although not quite on the global scale as their priestly competition.

The Lutherans and other Protestants are no better than the Romans. There three basic areas of abuse in all church bodies are:
A. Physical abuse - where children are threatened, beaten or undergo dangerous hazing rituals.
B. Sexual abuse - where vulnerable adults and children are used by church workers.
C. Emotional abuse - where shunning, lying, defamation, using the grapevine, and forcing people out of the charmed circle are used to intimidate and silence people.

Danger signs include:
1. Excusing physical abuse as: the way things always have been done, proving someone's manliness, "only the tough survive," or some other sick self-absolution; hazing and lying about hazing, as WELS does about GA right now.
2. Smirking at sexual abuse and pretending it never happened, meanwhile finding out who told the truth and punishing that person.
3. Not following the Scriptures because of the fear of retribution visited on them by synodical officials and their friends, who will turn their backs on a moment's notice.
4. Not admitting that church workers murdered their spouses, but covering up felonies, lying to the legal system when swearing to tell the truth. There is always a call for the good ol' boys, especially the criminals and false teachers.
5. Worrying loudly about a confessional group starting while overlooking an apostate lobby funded by offering money.
6. Not revealing how the money is spent or where the millions went.
7. Reacting with panic to honest inquiry, perhaps parrying the questions with flattery and friendliness, then moving in for the kill when someone is persistent.

Although anything is possible with the Word, I doubt whether the Lutherans care to apply the Word. Too many leaders have enjoyed luxuries, meetings with ELCA, training with Babtists, scandals hushed up, felonies denied to welcome any change.

This is how far WELS has traveled the road to perdition - when a number of their own pastors and members uncovered and addressed the plagiarism of false teachers at Bethany in Appleton, synod pastors rushed in to beat up those who...
a) plagiarized? No, you must be kidding.
b) ...wrote against plagiarism, following the guidelines of the Scriptures and Confessions. You win the door prize. You will have a bright future, enjoying the Left Foot of Fellowship.

Lulu Books

According to the Babtists, these little children have no faith.
WELS agrees with the Babtists, sending their gurus to Andy Stanley -
and other frauds like Rick Warren.
Discipline is for people who agree with the Book of Concord.
Art by Norma Boeckler.

I am finishing two religion classes for undergrads, called Christian World View. Not one has called me a name for constantly quoting Luther and posting Gerhard hymns. They love the emphasis on Biblical and doctrinal content, so I gave them free copies of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, which can always be downloaded free as a PDF from Lulu.com at this location. <--Mequon grads, left click here.

My upcoming religion classes are world religion (two universities at once) and Christian ethics. I started creating PowerPoint slides with Norma Boeckler's art to illustrate the content of the courses. If someone has some good ideas about publishing them on FB or in other venues, let me know.

At the same time, some classmates from Moline asked about doctrine on Facebook. I thought the comment box a wee bit small to answer, so I posted the link for CLP. I have 1250 friends on FB, about 700 of them in the LCMS. Even so, I was impressed that several of them responded right away, thanking me for the information and mentioning they were already fans of CLP and Thy Strong Word. The new edition of TSW is coming out fairly soon.

The next new book title with be Luther versus the Pietists, Justification By Faith Alone. I have no definite time for that, but some significant research is being finished for that.

Pietistic Charmers

This advice only boosts circulation.

Our family has always been amused by the ongoing Committee To Silence Jackson. I was already warned in the LCA not to provoke anyone while my dissertation was being published. For a period of time I used pen-names in Christian News, such as Herman Ootics, Mentor, and Shirley Goodness.

The book was about an Augustana Synod professor, A. D. Mattson, who taught most of the Augustana ministerium in his lengthy career. A fund in Mattson's honor got the book into print. Did the LCA recognize a work about their own professor? No. Did the school where he labored for 35 years? Almost not. Their own historical society was printing the book as a stealth project. Oddly, Christian News promoted it more than Mattson's daughter, who was in the business and did a good job in that area.

ELS busy-body Kincaid Smith (DMin in Church Growth) told me not to publish in Christian News, when I joined WELS. He could write for CN, but others could not. DP Mueller and his entire gang of adulterous Shrinkers did the same thing. Later, the CLC (sic) said they could publish in CN, but I could not.

The more I quoted WELS promoting Fuller doctrine (compared to the Book of Concord), the harder they worked to silence me. Existing then, just as now, were two factions:

1. The controlling faction of adulterous Shrinkers fought hard to silence me.
   
2. The minority group circulated materials from me and kept asking for more.
   
3. Posers like Jay Webber, MDiv, and Paul McCain, MDiv, played both sides of the fence.

The Committee To Silence Jackson is now pan-synodical, thanks to my tireless efforts. Webber in the ELS and McCain, a layman in the LCMS, recently posted on the Australian blog (Extra Nos) to warn people about me. I agree with Biblical, Book of Concord view - justification by faith. Webber and McCain agree with Halle professor George Christian Knapp, that the entire universe was absolved. According to their theological mentor, J. P. Meyer, one must make a decision about whether to accept this absolution or not. And they want to warn others about me?

Some may remember Canadian Mark Walters (WELS Church and Change) who swore he would shut down Ichabod. I am glad for mouthy young guys, who give away the agenda. I published his oath and soon he reversed himself.

The Confessional Lutherans may be daily communicants on Ichabod, but the Shrinkers are hourly watchers. Appleton lights up routinely on the map. So does Milwaukee, Mankato, and St. Louis.

Some people use Google to notify them if they are mentioned. One report showed over 40 people listing a topic that would send them a message.

Before the last WELS convention I heard the complaint that any topic looked up on Google, concerning WELS, got Ichabod as the first result. That was apparently a complaint heard all over the sect. After the convention I heard that everyone there was on Ichabod to follow the commentary.

Looking back, one of the funniest moments in all this was the phone call from ELS pastors Kincaid Smith and Paul Schneider (brother-in-law of Shrinker Bivens). They were yelling at me for publishing against Church Growth in Christian News. Smith sneered, "You have no credibility anymore." I asked, "If I have no credibility, why are two ELS pastors phoning long-distance to yell at me?"

The same hysterical reaction is still found on the anonymous blogs set up by Tim Glende and his pals in Appleton, Wisconsin. They gave themselves away on Feedjit, confirming what regular readers suspected. Every time I posted about Appleton or Columbus, a vile comment would come through. Church members were disgusted by these comments, but I published them to show what Shrinkers are really like.

WELS/ELS members - if you want to recall what the Church and Change gang of thugs is like, remember how the Appleton group showed a cat eating from a toilet, with names pasted on that cat.

That is Church Growth. That is Church and Change.

That is the legacy of Mequon President Valleskey, Mequon Professor Bivens, Chaplain Paul Calvin Kelm, MLC Professor Olson, VP Huebner, Fuller Missions head Hagedorn, Parlow, Gunn, and their enabling spineless DPs.

---

California wrote:

Anyone who has ever taken public issue with establishment of any kind including religious establishment can know they are being heard (read) when the slings and arrows come. The reaction is always swift and designed to discredit or silence any criticism of establishment which doesn't conform to the efforts of those who have staked out an agenda to "transform" the institution whether the members at large or the body politic want it or not. When the "transformers" rage in response to revelations re: their activities, one can be assured their agenda has been pierced.