ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Appleton Does It Again - Church and Change Men's Conference, Feb. 26, 2011
Yeast and the WELS
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A Rose By Any Other Name
I'm afraid that my use of the cliche phrase in the title is not as pleasant as originally intended by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Yesterday, yet another anonymous visitor left a comment that I believe is vital when it comes to understanding the entire premise of this blog:
Anonymous said...
I wouldn't even care if the CORE existed on its own. What bothers me is that this apostasy falls under the WELS umbrella -a synod I was born and raised in - and it is seemingly okay with those who have the power to put a stop to it. Their silence is deafening and it's causing WELS to lose more members than it's gaining. I know I can no longer support WELS until they start cleaning house, so to speak So much for church 'growth'.
September 14, 2010 11:23 PM
This anonymous user really strikes the nail on the head, at least with regard to the motivation that I myself have in these matters. The Church Growth/Church and Change (or better still - pietistic) methodology is nothing new; as our Lord himself tells us in Ecclesiastes: "There is nothing new under the sun." The fact is, as I've stated amply, I used to buy into much of the anti-Lutheran ideology myself. And that's what it really boils down to: pietistic, reformed theology is not in any way Lutheran. You can slap the "WELS" seal of approval on it, but as the title implies, a rose will still smell like a rose (or in this case, a dung heap), even if you call it something else.
That is why this whole CORE situation is so frustrating to me and many others. We've grown up in the WELS, we've gone through the WELS education system, we know what Lutheranism (and dare I say, Christianity in general) is supposed to be . . . and then we see what our leaders are blatantly allowing to occur under the auspices of the very same. If the individuals involved in such institutions as the CORE want to leave and start their own church bodies, I'm not going to stand in their way. For that matter, I'd stop blogging about it, because my concern here is erroneous teaching within the (confessional) Lutheran church. Even if, in the very least, the appropriate leaders took a stand and denounced the goings-on in these faux-Lutheran institutions, I would be somewhat satiated. Unfortunately, as has been demonstrated through this blog and others like it, none of the aforementioned has come - or seems to be coming - to fruition.
In light of this, it is clear to me that the founders of CORE-like institutions, and the relevant leaders in charge of them, are purposefully deceiving the church body they are called to nurture and defend. Whether or not they think they are "doing the right thing," they are talking one game and playing another, which is clearly not the Scriptural mandate. If they think that sound Lutheran doctrine is not valid, they need to enumerate their concerns and make them known to the public, rather than dwelling in deceitful darkness. Of course, this will never happen, because confessional Lutheranism is not the party whose false doctrine needs addressing.
Posted by Daniel Baker at 10:39 AM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzz
Labels: CORE, deceit, Ski, WELS
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010
What Is a Troll?
The following comments were left on a previous post by an anonymous user from Oshkosh (according to Feedjit, at any rate):
Anonymous said...
Troll. Just like this blog.
September 15, 2010 2:26 PM
Anonymous said...
Funny how this so called "unbiased" blog screens responses. Afraid of a good debate? You've been had Troll. Nice try.
September 15, 2010 2:29 PM
Let us look at the definition of a "troll:"
Internet troll (or simply troll in Internet slang): someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
Read more: http://pursuitmag.com/cyber-crime-terms-and-definitions/#ixzz0zdnmCTxP
Interesting stuff. According to this definition, the only troll in the room is the individual who made the accusation in the first place. I know, I know. You're not supposed to "feed the troll." I couldn't help myself, though, in that I find it necessary to illuminate the fraudulent hypocrisy of those in favor of destroying orthodox Christianity.
Now, to address the somewhat legitimate concern raised by the anonymous individual regarding the so-called bias of this blog. The only reason I turned on comment filtering (those who have been here since the beginning will note that it was originally open to free commenting) is because detractors were posting grotesque and profane comments quicker than I could delete them (immature sexual references, offensive profanity, and other similar distasteful things were being utilized). Subsequently, I found it necessary to not allow this sort of filth to be posted on my blog, lest it reflect poorly on the content of this site. I do not filter comments just because they disagree with me. Unlike some, I welcome diversity in thought and opinion.
Posted by Daniel Baker at 3:55 PM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzz
Labels: Trolls
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GJ - The assistant pastor left St. Peter's Freedom (Glende) because of deceit. That was never addressed, from what I read. DP Huff n Puff is doubtless writing another letter to send - in lieu of a face-to-face meeting. So scary!
Notice, readers, that the people supporting The SORE were eager to send abusive comments to the blogger. Ski and Glende are transforming lives, but not in a positive way.
Kelm Brought WELS/ELS To Hear Sweet at His Church and Change Confab
at Willowcreek's Little College.
Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Sweet and Ichabod Are the Litmus Tests":
The (W)ELS and LCMS, which are the last of the formerly Lutheran Synods, have all bought into the New Age Satanic emergent church doctrines and practices. Their kneeling at Sweet's feet is but a small portion of their apostacy. Their churches and members are practicing Reiki, Contemplative prayer, Taize meditation under the guise of Christian worship and feeding it to others. They financially support and are fed by Thrivent who distributes their money to ELCA to help finance abortions for their clergy. They support Lutheran World Relief (LWR) which gives millions to the United Nations along with Ted Turner to actively depopulate the world, murdering hundreds of thousands of men, women and children - all with WELS, ELS and LCMS offering money.
Leonard Sweet is but a small portion of this problem but certainly no small problem when considering his teachings and background.
The following is copied from Lighthouse blog, http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=4240
Speaking of spiritual “channels,” Sweet expresses his personal gratitude in Quantum Spirituality to channeler and veteran New Age leader, David Spangler. . . . A pioneering spokesperson for the New Age, Spangler has written numerous books over the years that include Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred, Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, and Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and Popular Culture. His book Revelation: The Birth of a New Age is a compilation of channeled transmissions he received from his disembodied spirit-guide “John.” At one point in Revelation, Spangler documents what “John” prophesied about “the energies of the Cosmic Christ” and “Oneness”:
As the energies of the Cosmic Christ become increasingly manifest within the etheric life of Earth, many individuals will begin to respond with the realization that the Christ dwells within them. They will feel his presence moving within and through them and will begin to awaken to their heritage of Christhood and Oneness with God, the Beloved.4
Unbelievably, in a modern-day consultation that bears more than a casual resemblance to King Saul’s consultation with the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7), Leonard Sweet acknowledges in Quantum Spiritualitythat he was privately corresponding with channeler David Spangler.5 In Quantum Spirituality, Sweet writes about what he calls his “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership, then closes his book by thanking Spangler for “his help in formulating this ‘new cell’ understanding of New Light Leadership.” Sweet writes:
I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership.6
David Spangler worked on the United Nations Planetary Initiative and wrote, "Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness, and as we move into a New Age…each of us in some way is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic Initiation, the particular doorway through which the individual must pass if he is to come fully into the presence of his light and wholenesss. Lucifer prepares man in all ways for the experience of Christhood… The light that reveals to us the presence of the Christ…comes from Lucifer. He is the light-giver, he is aptly named the Morning Star because it is his light that heralds for man the dawn of a great consciousness …He stands…as the Great Initiator, the one who hands the soul over to the Christ." (9)
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/luciferic_initiation.htm
The (W)ELS and LCMS synod presidents, vice presidents and district presidents will all sleep well tonight having done nothing to halt and destroy these New Age Satanic teachings from being taught to men, women and children within your fellowship. Will you?
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GJ - The same DPs who were horrified at someone going to a Missouri Synod seminary are now oblivious to the Leonard Sweet New Agers.