norcal763 has left a new comment on your post "Take a Bow - You Let This Happen.Learn from Jeske ...":
After reading this all I could do was go sit on the couch with my racing thoughts.
"Cuz the Apostates Are Killing Your Church" was personally life changing.
You think you know it all, or you think you're doing what you can do, and then somebody says something and your purpose becomes clear to you. You think you've learned it all from the mainstream talk shows, then you hear Michael Savage for the first time. Or you think you've got morality down, and then a Dr. Laura comes along and you know you've only scratched the surface.
As a layman I have learned ten times more from this blog about what being a confessional Lutheran means than in the 20 years I've been hanging with pastors.
But today you could get a sense that a line's been drawn in the sand, (the heat's been turned up, things are going to the next level-whatever). The edification received from this blog is indeed uplifting and supportive. It's therapy. But it's not going to change anything by itself, and the high-fives will be heard by us alone. Whether you mark and avoid, as I did, or stay and kick ***, Dr. Jackson more than ever today laid out who the players will be, and it's not "somebody else."
It's not the bureaucrats in Milwaukee and St. Louis. God doesn't knock people off horses anymore to make them see the light, and our "leaders" are walking right by the burning bushes.
About 18 months ago a guy from my former congregation and I went to Michelle Bachmann's "Kill the (Obamacare) Bill" Rally on the steps of the US Capitol. (I don't know about you, but I think there are some huge parallels between the way our founding Lutheran documents are being ignored and the Federal government turning its back on the Constitution). To paraphrase, Bachmann (a WELS Lutheran, for what it's worth) told the crowd that we are here because every generation did what it had to do to to make certain that the republic survived. No generation has completely failed in that mission. Now it's our turn; not by choice but by fate. We are the only ones here in this time and this place. Not because we are qualified but because we are here. There's no "somebody else." They've either already done the job in THEIR time, and they're gone, or they haven't been born yet.This is OUR time.
Likewise in the Lutheran church. The early fathers are long gone, as are those who imperfectly but stubbornly fought for the faith in America. And I can only feel sorry for the ones on the way. They won't be taught anything but hype and heresy, so they won't even know what to pass on. I feel like an environmentalist protecting an endangered species here.
Look, I'm a kid from the sixties. I've been in the streets with my fist in the air and I'll do it again for a far better cause. This is OUR time. PUSH BACK; WALK OUT; CUT THE CASH OFF; picket Synod headquarters, talk to the press and write letters-not to Forward in Crisis but to your local paper.
Exposure, integrity, honesty and accountability. Get it or demand it. We PAY these people. They work for us.
In my own case, I have been talking to like-minded Lutherans in my very Lutheran midwest town and have generated some interest in meeting, studying the Catechism and the Confessions, and worshiping with Pastor Jackson via the Bethany stream. Right before I left my WELS church the pastor was giving away all the old hymnals in the basement. I snatched up six. Now, with those hymnals, a lot of Scotch tape, and my wife's bookbinding skills, we're good to go.
I pray we will all find our place in "this."
In the words of the mediocre halftime entertainment at this year's Superbowl,
"LET'S GET IT STARTED!"
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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Take a Bow - You Let This Happen.Learn from Jeske ...":
But many of you love to feed me information anonymously and stand back - to make it seem as if I am the only one who objects
Absolutely, shame on them. They should come out and be counted, instead of working clandestine. What do they think? It is going to get better if they conceal their identity?
False teachers love to label those who oppose them as divisive and heretics. That is a school boy's bullying tactic. It won't work for those who have discernment.
Old folks who have seen much can not stuff around anymore. They have too little time left. That is my philosophy anyway.
LPC
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From the ALPB Online Forum
Just got back from our monthly gathering in Columbia SC. Again, roughly 25 people were there representing 6 LCMC churches and several others. We were pleased to have LCMC Director of Operations Sharon MacFadyen here to speak to us. Sharon is most often the first point of contact that people and congregations considering LCMC talk to.
An interesting stat she mentioned was that at this time she is aware of over 1000 churches that are in the discernment process ... this doesn't mean they are leaving, or even that they will take a vote ... but that many still at this time are seriously looking at what their options are.
