bored has left a new comment on your post "The Book of Concord Does Not Support the Divinity ...":
This is a good point to make. I've seen many of the "genuflection-guild" unsurreptiously cross themselves whenever Mary's name is mentioned. Accompanied by it is the quick look around to notice who noticed how holy they are.
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GJ - That was a good litotes, Bored. I might have said "overtly," but your double negative yielding a positive (litotes - for the Mequon grads) is right on target.
I find this trend alarming and dishonest. Many Lutheran clergy are adopting a high church style to show how confessional they are, but the real agenda is to ease into Romanism and take people with them.
The late Richard John Neuhaus did this with great success. Avery Dulles, SJ--nicknamed A Very Dull SJ--converted him, and Neuhaus took a number of Lutheran clergy into the papacy with him.
David Scaer appreciated this quality in Neuhaus, so he invited Father Neuhaus (formerly LCMS, then AELC, then LCA, finally Church of Rome) to lecture the innocents at Ft. Wayne. A witness said that about half the audience nodded in agreement with Neuhaus as he beat the drums for Rome in his propaganda speech - "How I Became the Catholic I Always Was."
That is why I call Ft. Wayne The Surrendered Fort.
That is why Scaer invited the apostate Jack Kilcrease to speak there.
The best way to tell if a layman or pastor is poping is to listen to him talk about the Virgin Mary. Veneration of Mary is the surest sign of popery. The Church of Rome is devoted to teaching works-salvation and the mercy of Mary.
Mary is the Queen of Purgatory, according to Rome. She visits the souls suffering for thousands of years in Purgatory, because the Atonement of Christ was not enough to pay for all their sins. The works they did on earth were not enough to earn their salvation. The money given and prayers offered after their deaths are inadequate to redeem them from the debtors' prison, but some relief is possible.
The souls in Purgatory will return to earth and do special favors for Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. These ghosts will help them get jobs and protect them from harm.
