but it would be hard to explain to the Pentecostals when the building has to be sold.
The Church of Rome is a font of Enthusiasm, but others covet their Enthusiasm and copy it, maladroitly.
One sign of Rome's Enthusiasm is the infallibility of the Pope - and not just any pope but all popes. "The Holy Spirit will not allow him to err."
The Holy Spirit and the pope work together, according to this strange opinion. But Ichabod readers know that the Holy Spirit works only through the Word and never apart from the Word. For that reason, "the Word" can be substituted for "the Holy Spirit" in many passages of the Bible.
KJV Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [through the Word] which is given unto us.
KJV Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost [in the Word].
KJV 1 Corinthians 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth [in the Word]; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Therefore, Rome teaches falsely that the Holy Spirit will not allow the Pope to make a mistake in doctrine, because the Word teaches us that all men are fallible, that only the Word is infallible.
One WELS pastor told a layman, "I have to agree with the Circuit Pastor, because the Holy Spirit put him in that office. I am not going to argue with the Holy Spirit." John Lawrenz said he debated the Third Person of the Trinity, but the Holy Spirit won, after a long struggle.
The WELS constitution has the Doctrinal Pussycat appointing the Circuit Pussycat, perhaps leading some to confuse the DP with the Holy Ghost. Doug Englebrecht, captain of the Leakin' Lena, must think he is the Holy Ghost. He is already writing about himself in the third person. I know how DPs like to brag about their power, but not about the power of the Word, which they never use.
The DP often has the Circuit Pussycat on his own staff, and the CP is the only one who can bring charges against the DP. That leads to the SP saying he has no power over the DPs or CPs, only over the budget.
The pastors duck whenever these galoots clear their awesome throats, so that leaves the laity in charge of wielding the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word.
The ordained eminences make sure that only the get-along-go-along laity serve on the boards and committees, so the laity who wield the Sword are outsiders...or soon will be. The laity did not attend the beerfests at Watertown and Mequon. They did not balance a jimmie on their knees in Greek class. They are not theological experts who can make Zwingli sound like Martin Luther.
The first pope to reject infallibility realized that the concept would be used to tie his hands. He dodged that one, but Pope Pius IX embraced it many centuries later. One cardinal argued against him, "Dad, you are not infallible. Mom told me so." Pope Pius won and punished all who doubted Him, fulfilling the prophecy of 2 Thessalonians 2. The Pope makes himself to be God within the temple of God and is treated as if He were God. (Some Catholics capitalize the pronoun, because the Pope is allegedly Christ on earth.)
Lutheran Enthusiasm, which is not Lutheran at all, embraces the infallibility of Holy Mother Synod, whether LCMS, WELS, ELS, CLC (sic), or CLC (ugh), etc. That has tied up everyone in knots, because the political seminary faculties cannot address any issue except to say "Amen!" to Holy Mother Synod. Needless to say, these seminary professors are as useless as a milk bucket under a bull, as my dairy farmer uncle used to say.
To be precise, the infallible Roman organization is called indefectible. Naturally, they confuse all passages about the invisible, true Church with their own demon-factory.
All the Lutheran synods are united in doing exactly the same thing. Suggesting that the organization might be fallible is reason enough for automatic expulsion and heavy-duty shunning.
The Mennonites could take lessons from Lutherans in shunning, and that applies to all of the Lutheran groups, from ELCA on up. Lutherans have added "the stare." The look is is potent as the basilisk's, as deadly as Medusa's. Having leprosy would be a social improvement for the outcast Lutheran. No wonder so many mouth the platitudes of Sweet, Stetzer, and Driscoll. They fear "the stare."
The solution is a careful study of the Book of Concord, not another immersion in the Pietism of the olde Syn Conference. Some of those authors had good points, and I am glad to quote them when they are in harmony with the Word. But the recent writings of the Syn Conference do not compare with the Lutheran Confessions, Luther's Sermons, Chemnitz' books, or Chytraeus.
---
sober-spirit (http://sober-spirit.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Enthusiasm and the WELS Low-archy*":
Always remember that Doug Englebrecht as a member of the WELS low-archy endorses and promotes disorganized religion – another way of saying that anything goes.
---
bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Enthusiasm and the WELS Low-archy*":
That's what people have been saying for years--that with the WELS mix of written and unwritten rules against finding fault with the synod or pastors, and its doctrine of UOJ where they are forgiven of any sin even before they sin, that for all intents and purposes, they hold the same infallibility doctrine that Rome does.
