Short Answer - Avoid Unprotected Sects

Watch your attendance go down, in spite of rock music, free sodas and popcorn during church, stolen sermons, and mug files of floozies.

I am despondent - First of all, my daughter's WELS church out east has been letting folks commune who are not even members.  Second, my cousin's WELS church in Wisconsin is letting women vote.

***

GJ - All this was true in Columbus in the 1980s. They crowed about it, loved it, promoted it. Look at The SORE, the cutting edge of WELS. That is the future: munching popcorn during the prayers, oogling celebrisluts in the pastor's Facebook albums, inviting atheist rock bands for the mission's start-up.
Not to worry - everyone is "working on it."

Write a letter so you can learn about WELS hating on you. They are good at it.

The Righteousness of Faith

Those who lack a child-like faith will not enter the Kingdom of God. By Norma Boeckler.

KJV John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. 8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The historic lectionary helps us by making us repeat sermons on the same lesson, learning more each time. The congregation also learns more and grows in understanding and faith.

Here I dealt with the first order of the Holy Spirit's work, to convict the world of sin, "because they do not believe in Me."

If it is sinful to lack faith in Christ, then no one is forgiven without faith. I was struck by the way the Intrepids eviscerated the false doctrine of the Walking Together Rah-Ray WELS sermon, without a reaction. WELS opposes justification by faith...consistently. So, what's for supper?

Part II of this lesson is very important because of the term righteousness. I have to admit I always stumbled at the connection between "see Me no more" and righteousness, not to mention "go to the Father." This year it really sunk in because I read Luther and Lenski all over again.

The righteousness of faith is the topic of Part II. What is righteousness, or justification, or forgiveness? The answer is - " because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more."

That can be worded as "because you will see me risen from the dead and ascending to the Father." The empty grave could have remained sealed. Jesus did not need the angels to open the sealed, stone lid of the tomb. Only the Reformed and the Shrinkers believe that.

O Love, how strong Thou art to save!
Thou beddest Him within the grave
Whose Word the mountains rendeth. (Paul Gerhardt)

The empty tomb and the Ascension were for the disciples and for us. Jesus displayed His victory over sin, death, and Satan. He taught His disciples and the 500--as the Risen Christ--to establish the Christian faith upon His death and resurrection, to establish their trust in Him forever.

KJV Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed [counted, reckoned] to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

This atonement or reconciliation is counted as our "if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead."

Notice how the favorite citation for Universal Objective Justification--forgiveness without faith--is found nestled in a justification by faith passage. That is what I mean about the dishonesty of UOJ advocates. They shame the Church of Rome in twisting Scripture and getting away with it. And this selected and twisted passage is the backbone for the Brief Statement's UOJ, the sine qua non of Missouri fanaticism, WELS Kokomoism, ELS Me-tooism.

Believing in Christ, with a child-like faith, is justification - God's declaration of forgiveness.

The only way this happens is through the Means of Grace. God has appointed the Word and Sacraments to convey Christ to us in teaching, preaching, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Some like to argue about how many Means of Grace exist, but they are all manifestations of the Word of God. A family member says, "I forgive you" without being anxious about numbering. Confession and absolution should not trouble us with a numbering scheme. If we treat ordination as a sacrament, with all the solemnities of a once-in-a-lifetime event, we should not be so quick to say, "But it's not a sacrament." These terms are like grammar rules, applied after the fact. People who argue about grammar rules need a hobby or a good video game.

The divine power of the Means of Grace is the effective Word. Some people are reading this now just to see how they can find fault with it and bray about it in their secret blogs and hellish conference coffee hours. The efficacy of the Word is proven by the many ways in which Lutherans have tried to silence me. I have no power, no title, not authority over them. I cannot fire them or ban them, deprive them of income or girlfriends. If I were wrong, they could ignore me with ease. But I am not wrong - or to be more precise, the Confessions are not wrong. The Confessions show these leaders are wolves, lazy liars, clouds without rain, driven by the winds of false doctrine.

This lesson answers why believers are righteous. They are righteous, justified by faith, because they believe Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead. The Word has planted faith in their hearts, sustained that faith, and declared to them their forgiveness. This work all belongs to God and glorifies Him. Theologians, who love to make up words, call this "monergism," meaning One Worker.

The Formula of Concord understood Luther well, because the authors were trained under him or his influence. If Luther and the Concordists taught UOJ, that should come through with clarity. We know UOJ is the constant refrain of WELS, Missouri, and the ELS. They are like the residents of locked wards who can only talk about one thing. In this case it is not having faith and all the people of the earth, even back to the Flood, having the status of guilt-free saints.
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The Righteousness of Faith, Formula of Concord, Article III.

9] Concerning the righteousness of faith before God we believe, teach, and confess unanimously, in accordance with the comprehensive summary of our faith and confession presented above, that poor sinful man is justified before God, that is, absolved and declared free and exempt from all his sins, and from the sentence of well-deserved condemnation, and adopted into sonship and heirship of eternal life, without any merit or worth of our own, also without any preceding, present, or any subsequent works, out of pure grace, because of the sole merit, complete obedience, bitter suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Christ alone, whose obedience is reckoned to us for righteousness.

10] These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves.

11] This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the father, and are eternally saved. 12] Therefore it is considered and understood to be the same thing when Paul says that we are justified by faith, Rom. 3:28, or that faith is counted to us for righteousness, Rom. 4:5, and when he says that we are made righteous by the obedience of One, Rom. 5:19, or that by the righteousness of One justification of faith came to all men, Rom. 5:18. 13] For faith justifies, not for this cause and reason that it is so good a work and so fair a virtue, but because it lays hold of and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy Gospel; for this must be applied and appropriated to us by faith, if we are to be justified thereby. 14] Therefore the righteousness which is imputed to faith or to the believer out of pure grace is the obedience, suffering, and resurrection of Christ, since He has made satisfaction for us to the Law, and paid for [expiated] our sins.

end of quotation

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How could this be any clearer? And yet, the UOJ Stormtroopers dare to quote this passage before they rip into justification by faith and supplant the true doctrine of the Bible with their patchwork quilt of Pietism, Calvinism, and Universalism:

6] This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) 7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

That is like Marxists citing the Geneva Convention.

That also explains why Lutherans are now just a bad imitation of mediocre TV religion.

The WELS War Against Faith

"Our pathetic attempts at pretending to know doctrine are below."


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Ongoing War Against Faith":

A few quotes from apostates who call themselves Lutheran while perverting the Holy Spirit's faith and Christ's Word.

Note the plagiarism of Buchholz' conference essay:

We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything 27 into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply 28 grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s 29 completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal 30 ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior. , 31 according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside 32 man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation. Page 7 http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/schleicher-paper.pdf

We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior.9 Remember the causes of our salvation, according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation. Page 5
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BuchholzJustification.pdf

"When we speak of objective justification, we mean (33) that justification is complete. It does not need to be completed by faith or any other work. It is (34) finished, perfect. God has declared the world righteous for Jesus' sake. This is an objective (35) reality, whether anyone believes it or not. Even if the whole world rejected the message of the (36) gospel, it would still remain an objective reality that God had acquitted the world of sin." Page 5 http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/schleicher-paper.pdf

(68)"But, sadly, Satan worked and continues to (69) work within the Lutheran ranks. Some wanted to make justification an act of God “at the moment of faith” and so (70) they denied and even rejected universal, objective justification." Page 4, The Doctrine of Justification since the Reformation, Pastor Nate Bourman WELS http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/justification-paper.pdf

"But universal and objective justification is one doctrine whose place in the victorious Christian life is clear. Wherever men teach that faith comes first as a condition that must be fulfilled or a work that must be done or even as a fact that must be recognized before forgiven is bestowed or becomes real, men will be trained to look into their own hearts for assurance rather than to the words and promises of God. If my sins are forgiven only if I first have faith then I have no solid foundation on which to rest my hope for eternal life. I must then know that I have faith before I can know that my sins are forgiven." Page 13, Objective Justification By Dr. Siegbert W. Becker / The Importance of Objective Justification http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF

"The other extreme is to stress subjective justification without understanding the objective reality. This error leads to synergism in one form or the other. Stressing faith as the cause of justification makes it a meritorious work. We have then destroyed the sola gratia of the Gospel, and cause men to look within themselves for the assurance of salvation." Page 7,
Stand in Awe of Justification / IV. Avoid Dulling its Divine Brilliance, Mark Zarling WELS http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ZarlingJustification.pdf

"To state it negatively, all sin has already been forgiven; it is a mutually exclusive proposition to say that God has given the obedience of His Son to all, and to say as well that man’s sin is not forgiven until he does something, or until he believes it. The imputation of guilt did not require that the individual sin, nor that he believe himself a sinner; likewise the imputation of Christ’s obedience needs no work or belief of man to effect it or complete it. In sum, the sin of the whole world has already been forgiven." Page 2, On the Distinction between Objective and Subjective Justification / Statement of the Doctrine of Objective Justification [Chicago Pastoral Conference November 8, 1977] by D. Deutschlander http://www.wlsessays.net/files/DeutschlanderDistinction.pdf

"Preus argued that if objective justification is not true, faith cannot be the means by which the sinner merely receives God’s forgiveness, but it must become meritorious. The denial of objective justification turns faith into a work. God will not justify the sinner solely on the basis of Christ’s redemption, but will justify the sinner only when the sinner meets the condition of having faith. Thus, the redemption of Christ does not actually cause God to forgive anyone, but merely makes God willing to forgive if sinners perform the necessary work of believing. Faith becomes a work".[35] Rev. Rolf D. Preus in The Legacy of Herman Amberg Preus, http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/LegacyHermanAmbergPreus.html#_ftn35

"I would eliminate faith as a requirement that makes justification true. That would be making faith a work of mine." Franz August Otto Pieper, A Final Word, http://www.franzpieper.com/

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GJ - Brett has shown that WELS only plagiarizes false teachers. This is brief sampling of the endlessly repeated talking points of UOJ.

UOJ is anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, anti-Confessional. UOJ is the engine behind the WELS infatuation with Church Growth, Emergent Church, and New Age thinking.

Ongoing War Against Faith

The Feeding of the Five Thousand, by Norma Boeckler.

A Hindu and a Lutheran sent me the same link, about the lack of religious knowledge in America today.

Click here for the NY Times article.

The Hindu and I went to the same grade school, junior high, high school, Lutheran church, and divinity school. The Lutheran layman came out of the LCA and even remembers the same people I knew from an earlier era.

The article reminded me of the ongoing war against faith waged by the heirs of the Pietistic Synodical Conference. The PR history of those groups would have people believe the SC saved American Lutherans from unionism and apostasy.

I argue that the blend of Pietism and Lutheran doctrine had to end up with the victory Pietism, which ends in Unitarianism and Universalism. Pietism condemns condemnation of false doctrine in the name of love and unity. There is no better way to earn The Glare from today's Lutherans than to suggest doctrinal error exists.

That was really a work of genius on the part of Spener. By declaring an end to doctrinal strife, he fostered it, just as Melanchthon did, but Spener managed to create organization unity through shunning. His way was love, so his opponents were unloving. That theme runs through all of Pietism and is foremost today.

They shun to a fare-thee-well and extol their love while engaging in vile, childish, and criminal behavior. I have been amused and appalled by the way UOJ Stormtroopers prove themselves to be consistently deceitful. Even when caught in the act, they blabber a bevy of lies.

UOJ Stormtroopers really hate faith. When someone writes about justification by faith, they say, "Your faith is in faith. You know nothing about the Bible or the Gospel. You are a Calvinist." I watched them slither, dither, and lie on LutherQuest (sic). They browbeat one poor man until he was hardly heard from again. Before, he asked good questions about the weakness of their favorite doctrine. Afterwards, he bowed to their verbal pistol-whippings.

The Bible teaches faith:

1. Faith in God.
   
2. Faith in God's Word.
   
3. Faith in God's Promises.
   
4. Faith in God's love and power.
   
5. Faith in God's only-begotten Son.
   
6. Faith in the atoning death of Christ.
   
7. Faith in His resurrection and the Promise of eternal life.

The beautiful illustration above is a good example of how the Holy Spirit builds faith through the Word. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is the perfect complement to the Lord's Supper. When human reason says, "How can Jesus provide His body and blood to so many over the centuries?" the question is already answered in the earlier miracle. Those who reject the Real Presence or the Feeding will naturally reject the Two Natures of Christ and the Christian faith itself. The details of the miraculous feeding promote faith. We can identify with being starved in the desert heat and far away from any food. My mother and her friends almost died from a trip to the desert, when their lack of water and food ended with one going to the hospital. Jesus taught that the purpose of the Holy Spirit was to convict people of sin - "because they do not believe in Me."

 KJV John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. 8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The work of the Holy Spirit is the Word, and the Word never lacks the divine power of the Word. Therefore, the prime purpose of preaching and teaching is to create and sustain faith in Christ through the Word. That excludes programs, gimmicks, methods, marketing, etc.

The purpose of the Gospel is clear: KJV John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Nevertheless, the Stormtroopers want to make people feel guilty for thinking faith is good. And yet they are guilt-free in not believing.

Some day theologians will shake their heads at people falling for such a conflicted, ridiculous anti-Biblical set of opinions. The quotations I have gathered from various UOJ advocates show that they compete with each other in praising lack of faith. The Hottentots and Hindu are forgiven, they claim. Hitler is forgiven, they say. Everyone is forgiven, they imagine. They are all forgiven but not forgiven until they are told they are forgiven. Once they say, "I am?" they are forgiven again, which is the only one that really counts.

And yet, Luther taught justification by faith. He never wavered in his life in teaching the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. When the rationalists Zwingli and Calvin headed in another direction, Luther remained firm in his confidence in the Word. He never lost his trust in the Word and never stopped condemning the Enthusiasts. The Book of Concord is completely consistent in teaching Luther's doctrine, which is faithful to the Scriptures and the early Fathers. The invisible Church is not built upon personalities but upon the Word of God. Its foundation is Christ Himself and no other.

 The new/old gimmick churches do not teach the Word of God at all. They do not offer exegetical sermons or serious doctrinal studies. Much of their talk is a slightly religious version of business motivational speeches and pop psychology.

I heard one today, rather typical, where the preacher kept talking about himself and Peter - walking on the water. In typical Reformed style he identified with Peter rather than teaching about Christ. Lenski found fault, for good reason, with pastors who did character sketches for sermons during Lent. Doubtless the low-point was a WELS church where one of the pastors dressed up as the Woman at the Well (John 4). At least at Mary Lou College they do cross-dressing for comedy.

 The reason so many Lutheran pastors are plagiarizing the false teachers is their inability to preach the Word. The lack of outrage is quite telling. Everything goes on as before. The conduct of the ELS, WELS, and LCMS illustrates their lack of faith in the Word.

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churchmousec (http://churchmousec.wordpress.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Ongoing War Against Faith":

Thank you for another excellent post, Dr Jackson. You explain Christ's teachings and Luther's doctrines so well, really bringing them to life.

But, there is a worldwide danger in all of this, as it affects much of Christianity. With people not knowing the Bible, church confessions of faith and receiving little to no spiritual or theological guidance from the pulpit, they can slip easily into error and into accepting another way of life altogether (my posts on Thursday and Friday evenings will partly illustrate this).

Churchmouse

Identify the Source and Win a Bag of Popcorn with Fake Butter Drippings

Why does ELCA sound so much like The SORE?


Our faith tradition is based on a life-transforming story. Our story is both ancient and timely. It’s a story of a powerful and patient God who has boundless love for all people of the world, who brings justice for the oppressed. It’s a story of Jesus Christ, changing lives. It’s a story that brings comfort and strength to people who today live in modern, often unsettling times. Learn more about our beliefs—and become a part of our story.


Source  <--ELCA! Click on the link. I changed one word to hide the origin in the quotation above.

Time for More Doctrine

My computer worked all day Sunday and failed to reboot late at night. Possible problems were: bad hard drive, motherboard on the fritz, etc. The first meant a total loss of all data.

LI stopped by and identified the lowly CMOS battery as in conflict with the motherboard. He popped in a new one and the reboot took place. We celebrated at Dairy Queen. I used the Norton backup system the same night. I believe 3,000 files were backed up on their network as part of the annual cost (Norton 360).

The SORE and Fox Valley prove the spinelessness of the WELS leaders at all levels. Missouri and the ELS are no different, just less obvious in many ways. It is clear that the synods have no interest in addressing their doctrinal problems. I will run a few stories here and there but concentrate on doctrine.

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Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Time for More Doctrine":

Get a Mac. Everything else is just junk.

***

GJ - Macs are superior in performance and price. The SORE has Macs and their output is pure junk, copied junk, and they lie about it.

Let's Get Groupy at St. Louie

Elmer Gantry, filling a need in every denomination.


Steadfast Blog:


The following post will appear in the Concordia Seminary – St. Louis announcements tomorrow.

Small Groups TODAY!!!

Tuesday, September 28, there will be no daily chapel service. Everyone is encouraged to participate in a small group which will use the devotional tool SOAP: Scripture-Observation-Application-Prayer. Group lists and locations are posted on campus and shared are attached to the Daily Announcements today.

****IMPORTANT****

Attached to this email are the location and group listings in PDF format. Groups and Locations have been updated. Spouses, fiancées, and/or significant others should attend the same small group as their companion.

Dean Burreson (9/28/2010)

Well, first contemporary worship (the verdict is still out on that) and now small groups. There are ways in which these two things can be done in a Lutheran way but bringing them both onto the seminary campus in a matter of a couple of weeks really raises some questions.

Detailed critique will need to wait until we hear more about this new program. For now I will say this. It looks like an attempt to break the so-called “ivory tower syndrome” in which pastors are accused by their parishes of being out of touch with things like feelings, relationships and the real world. I am not sure there is such a problem and even if there is, this does not seem like the answer.

One more thing, I am a St. Louis graduate, so don’t take this as biased. I really believe the recent curriculum changes at Ft. Wayne, where they divide the classes into study and mentor groups, is a much better adjustment to make to the seminary program in order to better form pastors. That program was just going into effect at the Fort when I was finishing up my D Min and it seemed to be received very well. I look forward to our readers comments and insights on these developments. It just does not seem right to me that the seminary Walther founded is dabbling in contemporary worship and small groups.

***

GJ - We should expect Our Lady of Sorrows to turn to cell groups. The papist turned Calvinist Labadie kelmed cell groups from the Church of Rome. Spener kelmed cell groups (and denied it) from Labadie.

WELS/LCMS/ELS all kelm cell groups from Fuller and deny it.

The CLC (sic) kelms cell groups from WELS and...you get picture.

Rogue Lutheran and the LCMS

Dear Pastor Jackson,

This is a very disconcerting post on the NID page,    https://ni.lcms.org/Index.asp?PageID=13028.

If you follow the link you'll see a picture of Harrison with the NID DP Gilbert sitting at a table with 2 other pastors. DP Gilbert is second from the right in a suit.

The article was written by Jackie Bussert and includes the words "Emerging Church".  I don't much about church law, so I'm not too sure what resolution 3.04A means.

I have read enough of Shrinker propaganda that I know when they are overconfident and full of themselves, so much so that they like to telegraph their plans sometimes with disinformation and sometime not.  

 This meeting was in August,  2010, Diefenthaler is the main person on CTCR until 2013 and it was in his district, the SED,  where there is this ASHRAM going and Frank Gillespie was given the left foot and told that "contemplative is here to stay".

http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/CTCR/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20CTCR-updated%2010-2010-with%20roster.pdf

I read this Bussert clip from the NID website as a veiled message to Shrinker troops that the Emergent Platform is safe and going forward or they are trying to make an idiot out of Harrison.

Also,  the brouhaha over at Steadfast on the hierarchical language to seize church property.

No one has any idea who is on the BOD,  very muchsecrecy going on,  and the suit with the 4 from California is still going forward, they all have their knickers in a knot, looks to be setting a precedent to grab real estate, not that I give a rip about the material side of things anyway.

http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=12379

So, pastor, perhaps I'm reading too much into this "Emergent" clip, but if you have some discretionary time, please let me know how you read it-- I could be over reacting.

Sincerely,

RL

This is the text of the clip but take a peek at the picture, too:

Emerging Churches Affirmed: President-elect Rev. Matthew Harrison, left, and his new director of church relations, Dr. Albert Collver (next to Harrison), met the week following convention in St. Louis with NID President Dan Gilbert and Rev. Torkild Masvie (right), leader of the new Lutheran Church in Norway that has been working with the NID.

 

It was the first official LCMS discussion with an "emerging church” after convention delegates authorized a new process (Res. 3-04A) whereby the Synod president can recognize these groups ahead of the lengthy and formal process denominations undergo in preparation for fellowship declared by an LCMS convention.

 

Recognition by an "official church” is sometimes helpful for emerging church bodies to gain a foothold within their own countries or access to certain benefits.

https://ni.lcms.org/Index.asp?PageID=13028.

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Sunflower by Norma Boeckler. Fibonacci numbers by God.

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn # 44 Ye Lands 2:41
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 #203 Morning Breaks 2:70
Unity of the Word
The Communion Hymn # 315 I Come O Savior 2:66
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 # 467 Built on a Rock 2:83

KJV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

KJV Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things. 7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father: We beseech Thee so to guide and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not exalt ourselves, but humbly fear Thee, with our whole hearts hear and keep Thy word, and hallow the Lord's day, that we also may be hallowed by Thy word; help us, first, to place our hope and confidence in Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who alone is our righteousness and Redeemer, and, then, so to amend and better our lives in accordance with Thy word, that we may avoid all offenses and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy grace in Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God. world without end. Amen.

The Unity of the Word

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The seven ones in this passage are no accident. Some say that seven is the perfect number because it combines the “four” used to represent the entire world with the “three” of the Trinity. This perfect number is often represented in liturgical design, such as seven candles on each side of the altar.

Needless to say, some people have to turn numbers into magic. That is a common theme in Asian religion, with an obsession about magic numbers and numerology. One of my denser students went to a Buddhist temple and was astonished that they found his magic, or favorite number. They pulled it out of box and converted him – for the moment. Since he was so talkative, he probably gave away the number during his tour. People prefer magic to revelation. Cary Grant lost his stagehand job when he was young because he let the spotlight shine on the wrong area of the stage, giving away the secret of a magic act. Magic loves darkness.

There is no doubt that God has embedded a mathematical relationship in nature, as shown by Fibonacci numbers.

http://creationwiki.org/Fibonacci_number

This numerical relationship can be found throughout God’s Creation, and people find it pleasing to the senses. Artists use the numbers for planning their work.

One
The significance of one throughout the Bible is impossible to miss.

First of all, there is One God, Three Persons. This is a mystery revealed by the Holy Spirit. Human reason cannot grasp it. Whenever someone tries to subject this mystery to human logic, reason, and experience, horrible distortions appear to replace the clear teaching of the Word.

God existed before time came into being. As Augustine wrote, time is the measure of change. Until the universe was brought into being by Creation, there was no change and no concept of time.

God created time for us in the form of seven, 24-hour days. Various powerful societies have tried to change the week, to make everyone work more, but the seven-day week has continued, with one day still a day of rest and worship.

Because God is One, there is only One message – the truth of revelation. And there is only One Book where God’s will is revealed – the Bible.

There are many human authors of the Bible but only one divine author – the Holy Spirit. That gives the Scriptures a unity not found anywhere else, and yet the various human personalities come through all too clearly.

From the beginning of time in Genesis until the closing of time in Revelation, there is one message – Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world. The Gospel is so important in the Bible that the first Gospel promise is given already in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve were forced out of Paradise because of their sin. They were no longer innocent and carried original sin with them, but they also had the Gospel Promise of the Savior, who would crush the head of that Tempter who led them away from God’s Word.

The unity of the message of the Bible is obvious, because the Word of God has no other purpose except to convey Christ to us and to plant faith in our hearts. Sin is not believing on Jesus Christ (John 16), and justification comes from the revelation of His crucifixion and resurrection (you will see Him no more).

John 16:10 Of righteousness [justification], because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

The emptiness of the tomb is the ultimate sign of God’s victory in Christ – His conquest of sin, of death, and of Satan.

Because this is the One Truth of the Scriptures, any other message that seeks to supplant it is fraudulent, cancerous, and toxic.

The unity of the Word means that all the books of the Bible speak with the same voice, across the centuries, in many different cultures. The Word is not conformed to culture but cultures are transformed by the unchanging Word of God, from the wandering herder culture of Genesis to the powerful metropolitan culture of the New Testament.

Because there is one divine Author of the Bible, there is only One Doctrine. There are not many little doctrines that are strung together like pearls on a necklace, with people picking 27 pearls versus 36 pearls.

The reason we often talk about one article of faith is our limitations as humans.
Dividing the One Doctrine lets people think the truth of God’s Word is subject to a vote. Synod conventions continue to promote this view, by voting on doctrine and declaring anathemas on people who do not accept the latest, most popular heresy.

Therefore, this One Doctrine cannot be accused of contradicting itself. Anyone who has studied the Scriptures seriously has seen that. There is a Christ of the Psalms and a Christ of Isaiah, as if Christ is different when revealed by one author or another.

What religion has four biographies of its leader, side by side, all of them in agreement and all four in harmony with history (to the extent we can verify ancient facts)?
In fact, there is no difference between Paul’s teaching about false teachers and Jesus’ teaching, except that Jesus is even harsher in His words – whitewashed sepulchers full of dead-men’s bones, wolves in sheep’s clothing, blind guides, hypocrites, etc.

Because of this unified Doctrine, Law and Gospel are taught throughout the Scriptures, with the sole purpose of creating and sustaining faith.

We also see in the Scriptures a unified teaching about how Christ comes to us, how we receive forgiveness in Him.

I read many different religious documents, often claiming to show me the way. But they do not. They have many vague statements about Jesus, but also include odd expressions about emotions and experiences, as if I have to capture the right feeling.

The Word of God prepared mankind for the Means of Grace from the beginning, with many physical signs of God’s Promises: the rainbow, the ark (prefiguring baptism, the Passover Lamb, the pillar, the rock gushing with pure water, the serpent raised on the staff (John 3), the manna from heaven, the Promised Land (heaven). Those are just a few that prepared man to see Holy Baptism and Holy Communion as the visible Word, earthly elements combined with the power of the Word.

The Word of the Gospel exists for faith, and faith is justification.

How do I know that I am forgiven of all my sins? My feelings? No – they are deceptive and constantly changing. My experiences? No – I may think I have made up for my sins by doing some good, which is sin piled on sin.

Forgiveness is based upon the objective truth of God’s Word. Jesus died for the sins of the world, while we were weak with sin, while we were still enemies of God, while we were still sinners.

From justification by faith come the works of faith, the fruit of the Spirit.

This truth has lasted throughout each generation, no matter how many or how few believed. The Gospel is constantly attacked and persecuted and often moves on, always bringing God’s grace through the Word.

"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal, immutable truth of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity (which, moreover, is not in our power to do). Nor would such peace and unity, since it is devised against the truth and for its suppression, have any permanency. Still less are we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the pure doctrine and manifest, condemned errors. But we entertain heartfelt pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to advance, that unity according to our utmost power, by which His glory remains to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of Christ." (Closing of Formula of Concord, Trigl. p. 1095) Francis Pieper, The Difference Between Orthodox And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 65. Tappert, p. 632. Heiser, p. 294. FC SD XI, #94-96.

"Thus too, if our confidence is to begin, and we become strengthened and comforted, we must well learn the voice of our Shepherd, and let all other voices go, who only lead us astray, and chase and drive us hither and thither. We must hear and grasp only that article which presents Christ to us in the most friendly and comforting manner possible. So that we can say with all confidence: My Lord Jesus Christ is truly the only Shepherd, and I, alas, the lost sheep, which has strayed into the wilderness, and I am anxious and fearful, and would gladly be good, and have a gracious God and peace of conscience, but here I am told that He is as anxious for me as I am for Him." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, IV, p. 86. Third Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon Luke 15:1-10.

WELS Laymen Comments on Joseph Schmidt

Joseph Schmidt found a rare copy of Gerhard.


rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Joseph Schmidt Leaving WELS":

I am encouraged when I read accounts of those whose patience has gone thin and eventually leave a synod. The exodus of faithful members is brought about by leaders who refuse to be held accountable for their apostasy. The question of where to go is also a valid one to ask. For years, many of us have been told that only the WELS is pure as the driven snow.

 This is why doctrinal study is so important for the laity. A working knowledge of the Confessions helps expose the false teachings and practices that are all around us. Secondly, it gives the departing member the discernment that is needed to find a new home.

This is why apostate leaders refuse to engage their members in a serious study of the Lutheran Confessions. These leaders would much rather waste their and their members' time with meetings, workshops, conferences, seminars, et al. This topic has been covered often here at Ichabod. Leaders at my former WELS congregation keep begging for money because of an endless shortfall in their budget.

The shortfall may be both a symptom and a diversion. The root of the problem is false doctrine and the practice of small m methodism. This pattern has repeated itself many times across all synods. As a side note, today is Walking Together Sunday in the WELS. I find this rather ironic as this same WELS is falling apart. How can any member with discernment say with a clear conscience that they walk together with The SORE? Intrepid Lutherans does a good analysis of the pre-packaged sermon sent out from the Love Shack for all to use today. The sermon is heavy with Third Use of the Law. This is so typical of the message coming from those who embrace today's navel gazing evangelicalism.

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twissted_sisster has left a new comment on your post "Joseph Schmidt Leaving WELS":

'Lord, grant while words endure,
We keep ITS teachings pure
Throughout all generations. Amen!'

It a sad commentary but it should be a glaring wake-up call for the WELS when long-time or lifelong members are talking about quitting due to doctrinal issues. We - here in this little forum- are just the tip of the iceberg. I think the C&C crowd would be happy to see us go because are on to them, see what they are up to, and don't like the light shining on it. We should never have had to wonder what comes next after the WELS but it's come to that. THEIR leaders are well known but who will lead our cause of confessional Lutheranism? There are plenty of followers out here!

From Rogue Lutheran - Sweet Is Just as Big in Missouri

LPC has left a new comment on your post "From Rogue Lutheran - Sweet Is Just as Big in Miss...":

Pr. Greg,

This is truly a turn of events. I encountered Sweet while I was a Charismaniac and have listened to some of his teachings. He can make your tears jerk. The guy is an Enthusiast.

Then a few years ago, I saw Sweet being interviewed by an LC-MS Seminary on the internet. They seem to be buddy buddy with him.

I think the reason why Sweet is flavor of the month at LC-MS is because once UOJ is established, then life becomes boring and as human beings, we need some things to pre-occupy us. Sweet is the fruit of that.

LPC

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Rogue Lutheran has a good article here on the LCMS promoting New Ager Leonard Sweet, a favorite of Paul Calvin Kelm.

Missouri, WELS, and the ELS lack doctrinal leadership. Lutherans have been waiting decades for something to be done about the synods being toadies for Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield, and the rest of the beehives of Enthusiasm.

Instead, the synods skimmed offering money to train their leaders at those bastions of false doctrine. Now so many are babtized into Groeschel and Stetzer that the leaders refuse to address the issue.

The Intrepids posted a polite evisceration of the official WELS sermon, recently sent out to promote Universalism Synod Sunday. Note the forgiveness without the cross passage.

The ELS, LCMS, and WELS agree on UOJ, which overturns justification by faith.

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From Intrepid Lutherans:

#4 – "Have you done everything in your power to share the gospel?" What an unscriptural guilt trip to send God's people on! How does one even know what's in one's power when it comes to sharing the gospel? When phrased this way, the Christian is under constant obligation to be "evangelizing" from dawn till dusk, and even afterwards, if it's "in his power" to stay awake a little later and continue fulfilling the "sharing the gospel" Law.

• (This paragraph given word for word) Yet, see the trouble for what is it. We remain the redeemed of God. Our eternity remains secure. Our names are written in the book of life. Your sins are forgiven. So are your neighbor’s sins. Even more, God has made sure that angel after angel after angel has flown into your life to make sure you remain in Jesus. Our parents, our teachers, our pastors, and even our children are God’s messengers to us, proclaiming “Jesus has forgiven you for all your sins. Yes, he forgives you for the sins of timidity, fear, and selfishness.” He sends to you angels to personally speak the words of the gospel, just like he did for the shepherds. There were just a few shepherds in the field the night of Jesus’ birth, yet God thought, “It is worth it for me to send thousands of angels to proclaim peace on earth.” Your God loves you and comes to you through angels.

I classified this paragraph as Gospel, but parts of it are questionable. First, there is no call to repentance or mention of it (even though no sins have yet been identified, according to the Scriptures). The thought process goes: "You have sinned, but that sin doesn't harm you or your relationship with God, because your sins are already forgiven, so don't worry about it." This is not the proper application of the Gospel. Christ's atoning death on the cross and satisfaction for sin is mentioned nowhere.

Then it goes on to say, "So are your neighbor's sins." What does this mean? To whom is the Gospel being applied? If he means the person sitting next to me in church, for what purpose does he assure me that his sins are forgiven? If he means my atheist neighbor, then he's simply wrong. My atheist neighbor does not have the status of a forgiven child of God, for my atheist neighbor still rejects the Son of God and remains condemned in the devil's kingdom. If he wanted to say that Jesus died for my atheist neighbor and wants him to be saved, too, then he should have said that.



End of quotation.


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GJ - This UOJ they kill for is nothing more than an anti-Confessional, anti-Biblical, watered down version of Universalism. ELCA teaches the same thing, with a little more boldness.


The emulsifying pastors, who make oil and water mix so well, are the ones who pose as confessional Lutherans while peddling their UOJ. The result is - Leonard Sweet.


Two of the shills for UOJ, Paul McCain and Jay Webber, stalk the web, warning people against those who agree with the Book of Concord. Posting a blog comment is so much easier than earning a degree or writing a book. 


Thus the omnipresence of Sweet in the  conservative synods is the direct result of McCain, Webber, Buchholz, and the DPs and CPs of UOJdom.

Joseph Schmidt Leaving WELS

Joseph Schmidt with Gerhard


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2010
I Am Leaving The Wisconsin Synod
After much thought and consideration I have decided to leave the WELS due to the direction Church and Change is going. This group has repeatedly sought direction and instruction from false teachers such as Bill Hybels (http://www.willowcreek.com), Craig Groeschel (www.lifechurch.tv), Andy Stanley (http://www.northpoint.org) , and Leonard Sweet (http://www.leonardsweet.com) to name a few. I have little confidence that WELS will enact any kind of church discipline to bring Church and Change into line with genuine Lutheran doctrine and practice, but I pray God's Word will do its work and lead those teaching, inculcating, and promoting false doctrine to repentance.

***

GJ - That is the negative evangelism of Church and Change. Apostasy drives out the very people who would oppose the cancer while embracing the emulsifiers who blend oil and water, light and darkness, sound doctrine and false doctrine.

"White-washed sepulchres full of dead men's bones." Let's be more like Jesus and identify the Shrinker Pharisees for what they are.



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twissted_sisster has left a new comment on your post "Joseph Schmidt Leaving WELS":

'Lord, grant while words endure,
We keep ITS teachings pure
Throughout all generations. Amen!'

It a sad commentary but it should be a glaring wake-up call for the WELS when long-time or lifelong members are talking about quitting due to doctrinal issues. We - here in this little forum- are just the tip of the iceberg. I think the C&C crowd would be happy to see us go because are on to them, see what they are up to, and don't like the light shining on it. We should never have had to wonder what comes next after the WELS but it's come to that. THEIR leaders are well known but who will lead our cause of confessional Lutheranism? There are plenty of followers out here!

Exposing the Synods

This is not kelmed in order to show how bad ELCA is, but to show how all the synods behave. The website is now linked on the left for readers 'convenience:

Is the ELCA Trying to Silence Pastors' 'Bound Conscience?' 09/20/2010

8 Comment(s)

 

This March, Rev. Jason Cooper of Emanuel Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Strawberry Point, Iowa, gave a sermon on the topic of sexual immorality using scripture from the lectionary on 1 Corinthians 10.  (read here and listen here)

Toward the end of the service, a former church council president approached the microphone and voiced his disagreement with the message and claimed that Rev. Cooper had violated his "Letter of Call" for stating that the ELCA's new policies oppose God's directive in Scripture. (listen here - the last minute of the service)

This incident led to a meeting between Rev. Cooper, Northeast Iowa Synod Bishop Steven L. Ullestad and Assistant to the Bishop Mark Anderson.  Rev. Cooper explained that during the meeting Bishop Ullestad informed him that if the former church council president followed through with his claim against the pastor, Bishop Ullestad "would rule against me, that I had, in fact, violated my Letter of Call.  The only two things he specified, that I recall, was that I was a little too Catholic in my understanding of the .  .  . reason for sex.  The second thing was that he said I couldn't say that the ELCA had violated the will of God."

At a second meeting, Rev. Cooper said that Bishop Ullestad told him "You don't understand.  You could be in really serious trouble."  Rev. Cooper replied, "Do what you have to do . . . I stand by what I said."

Rev. Cooper went on to say that during the meeting there "really was a feeling that either I recant or I was done, at least from the synod's perspective."

To set the context, Rev. Cooper had been the pastor at Emanuel Lutheran for 6 years, and it was his first call.  The year prior to this incident, Rev. Cooper submitted his papers with the ELCA seeking a specific call, to which the bishop's office encouraged him to consider two or three other calls as well.  But Rev. Cooper did not feel God was calling him to any of those positions at the time.

In February of this year, Rev. Cooper again submitted his papers seeking a new call.  As of the first week of September, 2010, he has not received any profiles from any of the four ELCA synods to which he submitted his name, and none of the synods have talked with him.

According to Rev. Cooper, "When I asked the Bishop (Ullestad) flat out, 'Am I blacklisted?'  He said, 'Well, congregations don't want pastors who cause problems.'"

So let's look at Rev. Cooper's record.  Over the last 6 years, Emanuel Lutheran has met their expenses every year.  Their benevolence has been at least 10% to 20%.  They have seen an increase in worship attendance every year and received 40 new members in 2009, all in a town with a population of just over a 1000 people.

The only "problems" that Rev. Cooper can be accused of causing are that he took a public stand against the denomination's homosexuality policies and clearly stated that the ELCA is elevating their own view over the authority of Scripture.  Rev. Cooper believes this is why the ELCA has refused to work with him as he seeks to find a new call.

Based on Rev. Cooper's testimony, it seems clear that the denomination wants to deny pastors the freedom to express publicly their "bound conscience," if it does not line up with the ELCA's decisions.  It can further be understood that pastors are not to preach or teach anything other than what the ELCA social statement says.

With that in mind, pastors should remember that their responsibility is to faithfully live out his or her calling and the vows taken at ordination, most especially to teach and preach in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, the creeds and confessions.  We all are ultimately responsible to God and God alone.

It is wrong for the ELCA or any denomination to prohibit or discourage pastors from teaching from the Word of God. It appears that the ELCA is trying to silence orthodox pastors, which should cause all of us to question the ELCA's motives and actions.

(Rev. Jason Cooper resigned from the ELCA, Sept. 2010)

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From ALPB:

I am a pastor in the NE Iowa Synod. I know and vouch for Pr. Cooper. The blog article is accurate. I have both read and heard Pastor Cooper's sermon (back in April, about four weeks after the sermon). I've talked with Jason and with members of Emmanuel in Strawberry Point. The fact remains that Bishop Ullestad four times told Jason he had violated his letter of call by preaching the sermon he did (in which case, I have done that far more), yet the Bishop refused to initiate discipline, despite Pr. Cooper's repeated request that he do so; indeed, if the Bishop thought Pastor Cooper had violated his letter of call, then the Bishop should have been willling to back that up with the full weight of the discipline process.

Two more points of interest and follow-up:
1) Pastor Cooper is not a long-standing critic of the ELCA. In fact, he was dean of his conference through March of this year; he was a moderate who three years ago thought that pastors Hahn, Hatcher, and myself and others in Call to Faithfulness were a little too radical. Interesting thing is that the direction of the ELCA over the last two years opened Jason's eyes. BTW his sermon is not radical--it's simply Biblical and catholic.

2) Emmanuel, after Pr. Cooper left and led strictly by their lay leadership, passed a first vote to leave the ELCA on June 6, by 92-28. The second vote on Sept 12 fell one vote short with a 107-55 margin. The 28 pro-ELCA revisionists recruited 27 inactives who hadn't darkened the church doors for years (a lesson in the importance of having an up to date list of voting members). I doubt those 27 showed up this past Sunday at Emmanuel. Certainly the 107 did not--they, representing 75% of the active membership of Emmanuel, have left and begun a mission congregation (which I think will go NALC). My two congregations provided them with 70 LBW's for their first worship service this past Sunday (yesterday) at the Strawberry Point Civic Center--and the mission congregation worshiping at the civic center likely more than doubled the rump congregation that gathered at Emmanuel. Another pyrrhic victory for the revisionists at Emmmanuel and for the ELCA.

Ken
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Jim,
No one else in terms of being told directly that they have violated their letter of call, as Pastor Cooper was (but I note that the Bishop explicitly refused to bring discipline charges against Pr. Cooper which of course would have required the Bishop to make public such a case vs. Pr. Cooper, which would also have put his "neutrality" principle and "bound conscience" on public display--and demonstrated the unworkable and empty nature of such principles and terms). However, with 38 pastoral vacancies in the synod, something does indeed seem to "be up" in that other orthodox pastors besides Jason Cooper, who have filed their mobility papers with the synod have been told that "congregations do not want pastors at either extreme on this issue." I think the Bishop's generalization does not speak for all the congregations seeking pastors (and note then that to be orthodox and to have spoken out on these issues make one an "extremist.") I know personally of orthodox pastors in other synods who have sought to have their mobility papers sent to the NE Iowa synod and who have been told that "we have no vacancies at the present time." There are congregations among the 38 vacancies who are going into their 3rd year without a pastor.
Ken

***

GJ - This example can be multiplied many times over. The established synods--whether far Left (ELCA) or Methodist Mild (LCMS, WELS, ELS)--are fascinated with their own power and saturated with doctrinal, financial, and moral corruption. All of them have been yammering about evangelism while driving out faithful members and pastors for decades.

They all talk about doctrine, too, but what do they promote? They spend most of their time and money on the latest bilge. They do a little bit to publish older material and whine, "But nobody buys it."

Thrifty pastors whose computer skills are limited to copying my Photoshops and Groeschel's sermons have a potential solution that meets their felt-needs.

Lulu.com is a user-friendly publishing service. Someone can write a book and publish it, with many promotional features, for free. The only cost will be ordering a proof copy, which is provided at the wholesale price (about 50% off).

Old-fashioned publishing - $10,00 to 25,000 per title.
Computerized publishing - $3,000 for ordering 1,000 copies, which have to be sold at a profit to get into the black.
Lulu publishing - $10 proof copy to get the final version in public view, with promotion through Google. $200 to make it an e-book with Apple.

Starting a church:
ELCA/WELS/LCMS model - Spend $1 million buying land, providing mission or salary support.
Independent model - Find an inexpensive meeting place, use a computer and broadband to broadcast and save the services. Very little cost.

More people are now outside of the synods and calling themselves Lutheran than those who are members of synods. Decades of unfaithfulness to the Word have accomplished this.

MLS Graduate Makes a Suggestion

Buckle your seatbelts.
It's going to be a bumpy ride.


twissted_sisster has left a new comment on your post "More on Frey's Resignation - From WELS Laity, Curr...":

I am a huge fan of Pres. Schroeder. I was estatic when he was elected to lead our synod. I had high hopes to see real progress on putting an end to the sanctioned apostasy. I've written him emails of support and he's expressed a bit of frustration. I don't know where or how we can help. Maybe a good start would be a several page article in the next issue of FIC, written by Pres. Schroeder himself, laying out what is actually going on in the synod and his efforts to put an end to it. He should name names so that everything is an open book. Let the chips fall where they may. You could respect the guy for doing something like that. The average joe sitting in the pew may not even know and may be shocked to learn what has been going on. It may wake up alot of folks.

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