Deception and CG Began in Columbus, Ohio:Where Glende Grew Up.Tragedy and Farce

The St. Peter Ski/Glende debacle is an open, weeping sore in their own district of WELS. The new Change or Die! pan-Lutheran conference is just another symptom.

The holier-than-thou WELS leaders do not like having me rehearse their pathetic history in Columbus, Ohio, where this really started. Glende and Ski are proof of the adage:

History always repeats itself twice: first time as tragedy, second time as farce. - Karl Marx

The Missouri District, LCMS, District President kicked Floyd Luther Stolzenburg out of the ministry after he was caught in flagrante delicto. The DP stopped at the church on Saturday, forced a resignation, and preached instead of Floyd on Sunday.

Floyd's first wife divorced him. The aggrieved husband sued Floyd, the parish, and various LCMS entities. The lawsuit and divorce papers are in the public record.

Floyd told everyone he had a "Scriptural divorce." The WELS pastors knew better, but Floyd latched onto George Skestos donations to create a Church Growth agency for WELS. Dave Peters (Union Grove) was vicar at St. Paul, German Village, at the time and wrote an essay on it. The WELS pastors called him a liar and an idiot for telling the truth about Lutheran Parish Services.

The circuit pastor, whose church (St. Paul, German Village) did not even belong to WELS, had semi-open commmunion and Lodge members, knew the truth. Skestos was a member of his church. Skestos was also a member of Marc Schroeder's congregation. As Richard Starr said, Skestos went to St. Paul with his wife and to Prince of Peace with his mistress. Big laugh.

Marc hated his first wife out of the parsonage and married a teacher at St. Paul, a girl he knew from earlier days, but a prof's daughter, so that was A-OK.

WELS ended up with two divorced ex-ministers running their Church Growth agency - Floyd Luther Stolzenburg and Roger Zehms (Martin Luther, St. Louis). Both of them loved CG, but Zehms was more subtle about it. Both were paid by Skestos and worked out of his real estate office.

There is a lot more to this but I will stick to what is in the public record or witnessed and known by many different sources.

I spent five years uncovering all the lies and false doctrine involved with this gang. Kovaciny was at Lamb of God in Columbus. He is still Floyd's lapdog.

Floyd attracted a whole pack of lapdogs, because of Skestos money. John Shep courted him. Jay Webber, guardian of Little Sect doctrine, had no problems with Kovo preaching at Floyd's new Masonic church and bagging the money for Thoughts of Faith. Marvin Schwan's Foundation kicked in money to match Floyd's. Oh, I would love to see the forensic accountants follow that trail.

Floyd's church was investigated by the police for embezzling.

In short, these pastors and officials did nothing to stop the spread of false doctrine, the promotion and new congregation of Stolzenburg. They fed the sheep to the wolf:

1. DP Robert Mueller, Michigan District.
   
2. District VP Paul Kuske, Michigan District.
   
3. DP John Seifert, Michigan District.
   
4. The Michigan District Praesidium, two of whom were known adulterers.
   
5. Circuit Pastor Keith Roehl, St. Paul, German Village.
   
6. Roger Kovaciny, Lamb of God, then Thoughts of Faith. WELS and ELS.
   
7. Jay Webber, Cape G., then Cape Cod, then Thoughts of Faith.
   
8. Wayne Laitenen, Ohio Conference Chairman.
   
9. Rich Krause, DMin, Ohio Conference Chairman.
   
10. Circuit Pastor Keith Roehl.
    
11. Wally Oelhafen, District Mission Board Chairman.
    
12. Fred Adrian, District Mission Board Chairman.
    
13. Laity on the District Mission Board.
    
14. John Shep.
    
15. The Ohio Conference pastors, who saw all this develop, knew the facts, and avoided dealing with anything. One of them, Keith Free, is now in charge of missions for all of WELS.
    

Tim Glende - St. Paul, German Village Tim never says on his anonymous blog that I know him back to the ninth grade. He visited Erin Joy in the hospital. When we moved to Columbus for my call in WELS, we gave Tim and his brother rides back and forth, Columbus to MLS. We knew their parents were busy at St. Paul's, so Tim and Tom always had a seat when we took extra trips back and forth.

Tim's parents were always very nice. We went to many St. Paul's events. We also knew his grandfather, taking him on trips to Mequon. We stayed at his uncle John Brug's house at Mequon.

Because the WELS/ELS pastors refused to do their sworn duties as clergy, avoiding their obligations as citizens, Tim grew up in a jungle of apostasy and wink-wink adultery.

Have a few dozen flings with married women and teens as a "conservative" LCMS pastor? No problem - you can teach at St. Paul's, lie about your divorce, and pretend to be a pastor again. In fact, VP Paul Kuske and Pastor Robert Schumann will write letters of recommendation so you can get another call and really be a CG pastor again.

As for those who get in the way of clergy adultery being rewarded and false doctrine being spread, we will pound them into the ground like a tent-stake, while praising you to Heaven.

Of course, this is going to cost a lot of money. We don't sell indulgences for free. If the money flows, so will the cheap grace.

Everything happening in Appleton was started by the money-grubbing wolves in Columbus. The first was a tragedy; Appleton is the farce.

Worship at The SORE: Multi-Sites Are Parasites

There is a God has left a new comment on your post "Stealth Calendar at The CORE.Does This Need Commen...":

This is how the CORE describes its worship:

"Maybe you have had a bad experience at church and it has led you to think that church worship doesn't connect with you, your heart or life. At The CORE, we'll try to change that impression with straight honest talk about issues that concern you as well as the feelings that trouble you. Our music and messages will put your life into the context of God's Word so that you can see his purpose and promises for you."

How would the CORE like it if my church set up shop next door and advertised worship like this:

"Maybe you have had a bad experience at a church that met in a theater and it has led you to think that theater worship is shallow and self-serving. At (fill in the name of your church), we'll talk about what Jesus has done for you. Our worship will bring God himself to you through sermons and sacraments. You can be sure that in our worship God's Word will not return to Him empty, but accomplish the purpose for which He sent it."

Nah, forget it, that's boring.

***

GJ - The parasitic mission model has always been basic to Church Growth/Emergents. Fuller bigshot C. Peter Wagner (lavishly praised by WELS in the Quarterly) admitted decades ago that "Church Growth principles do not work."

The mega-churches, when they work, are simply gatherings of people who already belong to a church. Fuller has pulled in many millions of denominational offerings to wreck the denominations. Fuller is the chief beneficiary. Robert Schuller claims to be the model, and he probably was in many ways. But ol' Bob is broke and his Crystal Cathedral is bankrupt, literally.

WELS deliberately starts parasitic new congregations, designed to draw off the local WELS members into a spiffy new circus. WELS did that in the Love's Park area (Larry Olson's one and only parish, which never grew).

WELS has another one of those para-sites in Indianapolis, led by a spikey-haired graduate of Patterson's Exponential road trip.

Gurgle is trying to jump-start yet another para-site a short distance from Rock N Roll, Doebler's WELS mission. Gurgle-Patterson will move the church school there and innocently start worship services. But it is going to take barrels of money.

---

There is a God has left a new comment on your post "Worship at The SORE: Multi-Sites are Parasites":

Remember Monkey Junction (Lutheran Church)? Here's MJ's web site invitation:

"If....you’ve found church boring and dull, give us a try at Life!" (www.lifelutheran.com)

How would Life like it if I moved in next door and worded my web site:

"If you’ve found your gown-less-pastor-praise-band-centered "church" talks too much about your feelings, but not much about Jesus, give us a try at.....!"

***

GJ - There Is, I would love to see those ads. I used to tell WELS pastors, "We are going to try the Means of Grace for a few months. If that doesn't work, we will go back to gimmicks."

Deception is the Name of the Game

Groeschel, Stanley, and Ski are grouped together in this fun-filled Photoshop.
Ski adores the sermons of Groeschel (Methodist Pietist) and the leadership of Stanley (Babtist but dishonest about it).


There is a God has left a new comment on your post "Stealth Calendar at The CORE.Does This Need Commen...":

"The Change or Die! brochure brags that Ski has 300 people each Sunday evening. How many are WELS members from the area? If services were held Sunday morning, how many would attend?"

Yes, GJ, inquiring minds want to know. Just how has the CORE fulfilled its mission, which reads in part:

About the CORE: Where we've been

"The purpose of (the CORE) is to have a church that, without compromising our beliefs, removes all barriers possible to reaching people outside the church."

Anyone with access to the WELS 2010 Statistical Report? It should be there in black and white under "adult confirmations" or "Baptisms" (esp. adult).

(..."without compromising our beliefs,"... - LOL!)

***

GJ - The CORE was a lie from the start, promoted at St. Peter, Freedom as a separate church. However, Ski was listed as a St. Peter pastor in the WELS Yearbook. Some people "join" The CORE by joining St. Peter, as transfers from other WELS congregations in the area.

The CORE is really an excuse to go multi-site, which is the Emergent Church fantasy. Apparently the St. Peter members were sold on a "new mission" when it was really a method of changing the congregation forever and importing an alien, anti-Lutheran doctrine and worship. Of course, Ron Ash prepped St. Peter for a few decades, as chairman of Church and Change. The CORE is the final assault, Ron's revenge. He was there for popcorn, colo opening night extravaganza.

Do you recall that the attorney at St. Peter was not allowed to transfer to another WELS church for doctrinal reasons? And yet local WELS members can join The CORE for being anti-Lutheran, surely a doctrinal reason if there ever was one.

False doctrine is always advanced by lying. If they told the truth about their teaching and their plans, no one would follow. They pick off the willing sheep, one by one. Where are the DPs and CPs, under the haystacks, fast asleep - with Little Bo Peep.

---

dobrin (http://dobrin.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Deception is the Name of the Game":

Members unfortunately trust these manipulative fools with their salvation.

***

GJ - Unfortunately, the clergy and teachers keep re-electing DPs like Englebrecht. The DPs appoint the CPs, who are the only ones who can depose the man who appointed them.

John Seifert, as a CP, wanted me to bring charges against DP Mueller, but Seifert supported Mueller. Mueller betrayed the trust of so many that he chose to run away rather than run again. So Seifert became DP. Mueller got a free trip to Russia.

See how that works, little flocks?

A Plea to the Syn Conference from the Icha-widows:"Stop Enabling Jackson!"

Do you have a Soul Cafe,
where your parish sells bad coffee at jacked-up prices?
Get with it, sluggards.
Get your pastor a spikey hair-do, too.

An Icha-widow wrote a note about her husband reading Ichabod late at night, on Valentine's Day.

She said, "Since you were responding to him, I assume your wife is also an Icha-widow."

In fact, my wife claims to be the very first Icha-widow. She said, "I know when you are writing, because you are leaning forward at the screen with an earnest look on your face."

The Wisconsin, Missouri, and Mankato sects were once considered safe sects for Lutherans, but their continued deceptions and false doctrine speak volumes about the depth--or rather the shallowness--of their synod's leadership.

I am not picking on one man, as if a Sect President can change matters on his own. All three SPs do show a remarkable allergy to the "apt to teach" description of a pastor. Where they should be troubling the water, like the angel awaited by the paralytic in John 5:4, they are pouring the oil of PR on every important matter. The really bad leaders, like Kieschnick and Gurgle, aggressively pursue destructive doctrine and suicidal policies, while their replacements remain in neutral.

The problem is far more basic than something to be fixed with a new man in office. The voting church members want a politician who pleases, or anesthetizes, the largest share of the synod population.

The SPs are not the sharp end of the Sword of the Spirit. Apparently they see themselves as the scabbard where the Word rests and stays safe from nicks.

And the comfort-loving, inert, see-no-false-doctrine faculty members? Do not let me get started. Teaching is a good gig. Students are respectful and ready to learn. The pay is quite good, especially professors do so little original research and writing (unlike the old days). The hours for tenured professors are laughably short, and the vacations are endless. Name a Syn Conference book worth more than a dime novel. The last one I can think of was by Kurt Marquart.

Statistics about Congregations Leaving ELCA

Fuller's influence has grown faster than kudzu vine in Missouri and WELS.
Look at how they ELCA victims flock to flee from Missouri and WELS.

American Lutheran Publicity Bureau

A quick run through the table tells me (numbers might be off a little. I don't do Excel, so I imported into an Access database, and did not hyper-tweak the queries.)
Left ELCA -      384 congregations
Former ALC -   239 congregations
Former LCA -   127 congregations
Former ALEC-     3 congregations
ELCA -              18 congregations
Status pending - 93 congregations  (about half are ALC)
(There are 140 congregations listed as "new start" and no former PCB. Don't know what those are).
There are 180 congregations where the first or second vote failed, according to the list.

More than 1,000 baptized members - 51 congregations
500-999 baptized members -             78 congregations
200-499 baptized members -             60 congregations
Under 200 baptized members -        189 congregations
Under 100 baptized members -          57 congregations

To the AALC - 7
To the AFLC - 5
To ELCM -      4
To FELC -       2
To LCMC -   220
To LCMS -      3
To NALC -     70
To NALC/LCMC - 3
To Unknown -   60

Stealth Calendar at The CORE.Does This Need Commentary?

The CORE

Events from one or more calendars could not be shown here because you do not have the permission to view them. 

http://www.gotocore.com/corecalendar.html

***

GJ - One of the more glaring defects of WELS Church and Change is the need for secrecy. People ask in vain:

1. Where are copies of these plagiarized sermons from Groeschel? After all, Groeschel himself stated that pastors should give him credit for copying his original work.
   
2. What pastoral conference was attended in Seattle, since WELS held no conferences at all that week?
   
3. Who is funding this extravagant pipeline from Groeschel's LifeChurch.tv? Shouldn't the Methodists kick in some money for promoting Methodism?
   
4. The Change or Die! brochure brags that Ski has 300 people each Sunday evening. How many are WELS members from the area? If services were held Sunday morning, how many would attend?
   
5. Apart from Daddy Warbucks, what is the giving there? Can this model work in other areas - having a vanity project that burns up oodles of money to gather members from the same synod for evening rock music?
   

---

old-curmudgeon (http://old-curmudgeon.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Stealth Calendar at The CORE.Does This Need Commen...":

Stealth too often means untrustworthy.


***

GJ - For sure, Old Curmudgeon. Most churches promote everything on their calendars rather than hiding them. The CORE's sermon titles were listed far in advance, which is how people connected them so easily with Groeschel's.

Pastor Samelson Asked the Intrepids

Change or Dye!
Norma Boeckler thought the yolk-colored hair was a bit much.

Pastor Jeff Samelson said...

I guess what I was most curious about with the advertising for this conference was not the influence on "tuned-in Confessional Lutherans" (of which readers of Ichabod would presumably be a subset) but rather its influence on, well, those who wouldn't necessarily know any better -- both individuals and churches within confessional bodies and those within other Lutheran denominations (like ELCA). In other words, how many people would find out about such a conference and come to the conclusion, "Oh, isn't it nice to see all these different Lutherans united in such a worthy endeavor!"

I'm guessing you wouldn't want to handle it here in the comments section, but it occurred to me that you (IL) might wish to anticipate and answer various questions and counter-arguments by spelling out what makes participation by a WELS pastor in a conference like "Change or Die" different from participation in something like the "Confessional Christian Worldview" Seminars that were held in various WI and MN locations in the last decade (I'm not aware that they're still being held, but they could be); these included both WELS/ELS and non-WELS/ELS speakers and were advertised outside WELS and ELS, as well. (I'm assuming that you would not have found fault with those seminars, as I don't recall hearing any criticism of them from confessional sources.)

FEBRUARY 16, 2011 8:06 PM

***

GJ - The message WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect have been giving for decades is this -

ELCA's (ALC/LCA/AELC) confession of faith does not matter to us at all. We can work together. We don't mind your health insurance paying for the abortions of your church workers. Not at all. 


Gay clergy? You should see Party in the MLC!


There are many legalists in our midst. They do not understand the Gospel or our need to work together. We appreciate your help in keeping these joint efforts a secret. Word got out from a certain writer, now a legalistic blogger, that we were working together. Thanks to you, we tamped that down. In fact, no one really believes how much we do together. 


Love and kisses, always - the Syn Conference.

Public Rebuke of Pastors “Ski” and Jeske « Light from Light

Public Rebuke of Pastors “Ski” and Jeske « Light from Light

Additional comments are published at this blog's address.

Intrepids Ask about Change or Die!

Pastor Jeff Samelson said... How has this "Change or Die" conference been advertised? I hadn't heard anything about it, but that doesn't surprise me, as I'm on the East Coast.

Is this the kind of thing that only a select group would have been invited to, or something that was widely advertised among Wisconsin or Midwestern Lutherans?

I'm curious both as to the impact of the advertising/influence of this event in the church at large and, I guess, how IL were made aware of it.

February 16, 2011 11:36 AM

Rev. Paul A. Rydecki said...

The conference is advertised for the world to see at the Siebert Foundation website. I don't know how they actively advertise it, but apparently it's not the first such conference, since it says this on their registration form: "This event is intended for church pastors and their leadership. Due to the overwhelming response to last year’s event and limited seating, we are restricting reservations to church pastors (we will accept more than one pastor from a single church) and one member of their leadership team. Seating is limited to 270 people. Registration is on a first-come basis." The influence on the "church at large" of such a conference should be obvious. 270 pastors and church leaders take "Lutheran" ministry ideas into their congregations and implement them there. Assuming an average of two participants per congregation, and using Pastor Ski's average Sunday attendance of 300, that's roughly 40,000 churchgoers who are directly influenced by this conference. From there, the ideas (and corresponding theology) that are implemented in one place are heralded in neighboring congregations and throughout a synod as "effective," and the influence rapidly spreads. Pastor Ski and Pastor Jeske, for example, have been the keynote speakers and/or presenters at numerous WELS (and LCMS) events in the recent past and are scheduled to be keynote speakers and/or presenters at several WELS (and/or LCMS) events in the near future. Add to that the Time of Grace viewership and listening audience, and the impact is even greater. And let's not pretend that there isn't a rather popular blog out there called Ichabod that spreads the news about events like this. You can't advertise something on the internet and pretend it's "our little secret."

February 16, 2011 12:06 PM

***

GJ - I was not the first to discover this conference, but I was only too happy to provide the link and the actual brochure for everyone to see. Some things have a way of disappearing in the midst of a chorus of denials.

One of many researchers for Ichabod said, "If I give it to my pastor, one person knows. If I give it to Ichabod, everyone knows."

The moment something is posted via a Google tool, it is part of the Google search results. Some activities published another way may take a little longer to register. Certain areas are rich in target opportunities, and some names are  easy to associate with apostasy. Nothing is really private on the Net.

On another topic, a researcher noted the power of blogs:

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Burkee Book Review in Christian News Latest Issue":

The three Midwest Lutheran synods are going through the same democratization phase as the Arab world is now. Before the Arab world had govts and carefully controlled opposition groups. That's similar to our synods and the opposition led by Otten. But now anyone can blog about the synod and connect with like-minded Lutherans, similar to Mideast denizens using Facebook to topple tyrants. It should lead to a more informed synod so that the pastors and congregants get the reforms they want, and what the synods need. For instance, I think that the LCMS should follow the LCC's lead in how they keep seminary education affordable. First, they cover 25% of their seminaries' expenses. Second, due to the recession, the LCC is going to merge its two seminaries into one seminary with two campuses. There will only be one administration and the faculties will each be cut by 50%, and they'll have to do more online distance teaching. The LCMS could do the same, and reduce tuition by half down to LCC levels. Then require that all pastors get an M Div before they receive their fist call, end the SMP program, and require all SMPs to get an M Div by some set date:

Latest News:
http://www.brocku.ca/concordiaseminary/

Burkee Book Review in Christian News Latest Issue

J. A. O. Preus, aka Chairman JAO, aka The Two Natures of Jack Preus, is still a fascinating topic for Lutherans.

I sent my review of the Burkee book to Herman Otten, so I am not going to complain and act shocked that "he copied it without permission!" That tactic has been used many times, by Paul McCain and many others.

I agree with Justice Brandeis that "sunlight is the best disinfectant." I support any effort to publish what is happening in the Lutheran Church, which is Lutheran no longer.

Almost all the Lutheran blogs are political, which means they debate meaningless topics and prance around the real issues. No one wants to poke holes in a ship made of cardboard.

Jack and Robert Preus were both politicians, no less than Tietjen or Franklin C. Fry. The Preus brothers were also theologians. Their lasting contribution will be their high visibility support for traditional Lutheran doctrine, including the authority and inerrancy of the Scriptures. They never stopped their efforts.

Ralph Bohlmann earned a PhD at Yale, published a book, and did little after that.

Jack Preus published translations of Chemnitz and hauled the Second Martin out of the dustbin of Lutheran dogmatics. When Jack died, his biography of Chemnitz was published. He could have spent his retirement years fishing and hunting moose, but he wrote another book. The LCMS apostates neutralized him as much as possible in office, but he never stopped being a theologian.

Have you read any books by Tietjen lately? Jungkuntz? McCain?

Robert was also pushed out of office, with the help of former allies Waldo Werning and Ralph Bohlmann. Werning was Agent X at Christian News. But Robert continued as a theologian, even when Missouri was busy trashing him. I know he was a rascal. I had my own experience involving his deviousness, but that is par for all church leaders today. The rest of them are not theologians.

Robert finished his life by publishing a book, Justification and Rome, which tried to warn Missouri against poping. His own seminary has been turning out Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox priests ever since, sometimes a few minutes after graduating.  

Justification and Rome is also a clear repudiation of UOJ. I wish he had been clearer, but his manuscript was edited by Dan and Rolf, who never grew beyond their MDivs and never became theologians.

The UOJ Stormtroopers still cannot deal with Robert's last book, and Chemnitz is still largely ignored. Nevertheless, the impact  of Jack and Robert Preus remains. The seeds sown will grow and the Gospel leaven will permeate the lump of dough.

For all his faults, universally confessed to cover up the truth about Lutheran apostasy, Herman Otten has doggedly published a lot of material. The quirky but inexpensive CN Encyclopedia gathered tons of information I used for Out of the Depths of ELCA. I also used a tall stack of The LCA's The Lutheran magazine, saved by my mother, to show what was going on. Moving from thousands of facts to a book is an arduous process. I remember typing that book on a German portable typewriter as Mrs. Ichabod brought me food. ELCA hated it. WELS hated it. The LCA and ALC responded with silence, and nothing happened.

All the implications of the merger were published in that special issue, 1987, before the merger was consummated. Now the prophets of ELCA are donning their martyr robes and speaking out about the suffering they have endured, after ignoring all the doctrinal matters (and gay quotas!) for 24 years. I especially enjoy my first LCA bishop leading the troops out of ELCA. Shorty Sauer was the chairman of the conference of bishops, a potential candidate for ELCA Archbishop.

What did Sauer know and when did he know it?

This photo captures the weariness I saw in Robert before he died. Johnson, the plagiarizing St. Louis seminary president, played games with him, as he did with Otten. Johnson pretended to hire Preus for a summer session and then took it back.
No one will write a book about Johnson.

Intrepid Lutherans: Dear Pastors Jeske and Ski: You are clearly in the wrong

Intrepid Lutherans: Dear Pastors Jeske and Ski: You are clearly in the wrong

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Dear Pastors Jeske and Ski: You are clearly in the wrong

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(Both Pastor Mark Jeske and Pastor James Skorzewski have been sent the link to this letter. It is not intended to be gossipabout them, but a loving, public rebuke to them, according to the pattern of Paul’s rebuke to Peter in Galatians 2:11-21.)

Dear Pastors Jeske and Skorzewski,

Having seen the brochure advertising the “Change or Die” conference publicly displayed at the  Siebert Lutheran Foundation website, we are compelled out of love for the Lord Jesus, for you, for our Wisconsin Synod and for the world, to offer this admonishment.

First, let it be said that we do not question your motives. We assume that you sincerely wish to see churches grow, and that you think this conference will help to achieve that goal. We further assume that you think you are acting in line with confessional Lutheran doctrine and practice, and that you do not intend to lead the Church astray. We question neither your motives nor your intentions. But we do consider your participation in this conference to be wrong.

1) The premise of this conference – and therefore your involvement in it – is wrong.

“Change or die” is not a Scriptural concept. It is certainly not a Scriptural mandate or counsel either to the Church as a whole or to a particular visible gathering of confessing believers.

The Lord Jesus does say, “Repent or perish!” (“Unless you repent, you too will all perish” – Luke 13:3). Likewise, he says in his Revelation to St. John, “Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:5). Also, Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” If the admonition to “change” or face the consequence of “death” were a reference to repentance for rebellion against the Lord, then we could accept it.

***

GJ - The rest of the article is at the link.  I suggest that you read it in its entirely and comment there. Comments here are welcome,  but "no one reads Ichabod" and I have "no credibility." I have just written about this since 1988 - with my name signed to the articles and books.

Change or Die! is a good motto for Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect. If they keep leasing their birthright to Thrivent for small change, there will soon be nothing left to betray.

I would definitely go hear the prez of Thrivent explain how successful he is. AAL was hitting the skids so fast that they had to change their books. They lost 10% of their income per year, three years in a row. Change meant merging with Lutheran Brotherhood and altering the books. I like that kind of  creativity. 

Thrivent is not ashamed to gather premium dollars from "conservative" Lutherans to market themselves to ELCA. 

Jeske is my #1 hero in Change or Die! land. His congregation is not self-supporting. He has sugar daddies from all over WELS and courts Missouri as well. He is up to his neck in government bail-outs and foundation loot.  He is the General Motors of Lutherdom, bound to fail when the money runs out.

---
Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Intrepid Lutherans: Dear Pastors Jeske and Ski: Yo...":

Interesting comment attached to the Intrepid post:

A person could look at the "Change or Die" brochure and come to the quick conclusion that the WELS is now working hand-in-hand with the LCMS and ELCA.

Rev. Stephen Kurtzahn

(W)ELS has been working with the LCMS and ELCA for years. Was Jeske's dual membership such a Secret Squirrel maneuver that no one noticed? Did anyone in the (W)ELS publicly address Time of Grace gaining RSO status with the LCMS? No. The (W)ELS administration doesn't deal with public error in open and public ways so that the laity and clergy remain well fed mushrooms.

Someone should share with Rev. Kurtzahn that (W)ELS is also working with Baptists, Methodists and New Age Occultists (Reggie McNeal and Leonard Sweet).

***
GJ - Kurtzahn should take care of his own district, which is a major support for WELS apostasy, with many fine examples of such in his own backyard. The Fabulous Four--the State of Wisconsin DPs plus Minnesota's--are the ones backing all this up. Grace Inaction is in Minneapolis, etc.

Another Post for St. Catharine's in Ontario, Eh?

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Modest Proposal":

All conservative Lutherans in America should be supporting St. Catharine's Lutheran seminary because it is affordable enough for younger seminarians to attend--not just second career students and retirees. Who wants a geriatric ministerium? Besides, no one should recommend a seminary that a student couldn't possibly afford.

Even if a church chips in, say $2,000, each year towards his seminary education, that's just loose change compared to the seminary bill and cost of living. Moreover, these churches often don't give any money during the vicarage year thinking that the seminarian is employed, but yet the pay is so very low that during that year the seminarian runs up great credit card debts.

He might enjoy the seminary while he's there, not thinking about how many experience crushing debt and penury afterward, especially if the seminarian doesn't receive a call. (The reasons for not receiving a call a myriad, and often quite petty.) That's no reason to put any seminarian at risk. Just recommend St. Catharine's to be on the safe side.

***

GJ - Bruce C. is right.

The synods should say, "This seminarian is from your congregation. We expect you to pay a substantial part of his education." Perhaps there is a more diplomatic way to say it, but that is the main point.

I Can Hardly Wait!

Unforgivable grammar!

There is a God has left a new comment on your post "JP Meyer's Prophetic Statement":

And the winner is?

Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the 2010 hymnwriterchallenge.com "Why Objective Justification Matters." A winner will be announced at the end of February.

Don't neglect to read the fine print: This contest is neither sponsored nor endorsed by WELS or (sic - neither, nor; either, or) by the WELS Commission on Worship.

Annual Page-Reads Are Approaching 600,000

The statue is Photoshopped from the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis websty - Our Lady of Sorrows.

If the daily page-reads stay at 1700, the annual total will be around 600,000. However, some of you neglect Ichabod during vacation, even though I remain steadfast at my post.

Therefore, the annual page-reads could be 500,000, given the occasional neglect of certain, unnamed Lutherans.

Looking at the most read posts for the week (left column) will give the reader an idea about the interests of the readers.

The most read since June of 2010 (when the new system started) is at the bottom of the page. The most read post of all is usually the post about the most read posts. The long-term list shows that people are looking into the archives, probably using Google, to find the stories they want to read.

Usually the first comment I hear from friends is, "I like the posts on birds." They will continue.

Reading with Discernment:Lenski, Pieper, JP Meyer, Luther, Chemnitz

Mark and Avoid Jeske is the bartered bride in a tragic love triangle.
Will he elope with Missouri or stay faithful to WELS Enthusiasm?
It is good that he never tagged a sidewalk or he would kicked out pronto.
Happy Valentine's Day, Mark, Mark, and Matt.
Matt was not available for this Photoshop.

Various people amuse me by taking an all or nothing approach to various theologians.

Lenski
Mequon graduates all own their Lenski set, and he is probably valued equally in the LCMS and the Little Sect on the Prairie. The ALC pastors bought Lenski, too. One essay called the Lenski set "the long green line in every pastor's office." I am not sure everyone reads Lenski. He was prolific. His daughter, Lois Lenski, was also a writing machine - in the area of of children's art and literature.

The Lenski New Testament commentaries are a great contribution to Lutheran scholarship, but they are a bit uneven in their quality. For example, Lenski fell for the game of figuring out the original NT manuscripts, based on the questionable, convenient "discoveries" of Tischendorf and the ridiculous theories of Wescott and Hort. Lenski deserves a cuff on the back of the head for that, but it is a minor part of his vast scholarship.

Lenski also tries to establish a middle ground in the UOJ fracas, which was caused by the UOJ faction imposing their weirdness on WELS and Missouri, seeking to displace justification by faith. Although many of Lenski's statements on this issue are wise insights on the New Testament, he also has some others where he tries to establish compromise language based on juggling words, such as talking about an objective and a subjective reconciliation. Lenski's efforts remind me of Byzantine Empire attempts to solve their Two Natures battles, which were truly violent and bloody. Each new compromise forged made the conflict worse and led ultimately to the triumph of Islam in 1453.

The WELS talking point (the only one!) about Lenski is: "he is not good on justification." My Lenski set had its Romans volume, bought from a WELS pastor, still in brand new condition, and the WELS pastor was dead. To be honest, WELS should say, "He teaches justification by faith, based on the grammar and historical context of the NT documents. We hate that."

Lenski also has an unusual grasp of all the Lutheran dogmaticians. Mequon graduates also think they are such experts on the Bible that they do not need commentaries. No wonder they quickly turn to plagiarism, with their Doctrinal Pussycat's smiling approval.

Francis Pieper
I no longer own Pieper's Dogmatics, but I appreciated what I learned from them. The best part was about the Two Natures of Christ, which led me into reading Chemnitz on the Two Natures. I think of Pieper as the Cliff Notes version of Chemnitz.

One Lutheran seminary student began shunning me because I "criticized Pieper." I am a Luther-an, not a Pieper-an. Nevertheless, Luther needs to be read with discernment too. I forgot - I am now Church of the Augsburg Confession, which is what the Book of Concord editors called themselves - theologians of the Augsburg Confession. Luther did too. I like the term because it avoids the baggage of ELCA, WELS, LCMS, ELS, CLC.1, CLC.2, LCR, etc. etc.

American Lutherans should read Pieper but not get stuck there, because he influenced the Syn Conference so much - and still does. His Enthusiasm explains the inroads of Receptionism, Church Growth, and the New Age Movement.

Luther
Luther remains the great theologian, preacher, and Biblical exegete of the Christian Church. I like What Luther Says but Luther's sermons should be the regular reading of all Lutheran pastors and laity.

The trouble today is - no one reads Luther. The high church faction of Ft. Wayne, best represented by ELDONA, skips over Luther and Chemnitz in favor of authors previously unknown in America. Their haphazard reading habits support their dabbling with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. They must sense that too much Luther would expose their pathetic grasp of Biblical doctrine.

Melanchthon, Chemnitz
Syn Conference Lutherans are quick to point out the timid nature of Melanchthon. He faced potential death and imprisonment after Luther died and the Emperor came back from the Islamic wars. Given the number of Syn Conference pastors who would betray their own mothers for a better call, I have to credit Melanchthon for courage in spite of his eager-to-please nature. He lived through a terrible time of violence and persecution.

Melanchthon, with his long years of training pastors, was perhaps more influential among pastors than Luther. He started younger and lived just as long as Luther - 63 years.

The difference in temperament was good in several ways. Luther valued Melanchthon's irenic nature and his theological abilities. I recall Robert Preus saying in a lecture that Melanchthon was better than Luther on justification - at one point. We were discussing forensic justification, which Melanchthon believed and taught with clarity.

Although Melanchthon's compromising nature set up significant conflicts, his student Martin Chemnitz had the intellect and nature to bring together the warring factions on the basis of genuine confessional doctrine. That is entirely lacking today. Chemnitz united the humor and polemical skills of Luther with the gentleness of Melanchthon.

Luther wrote that the Holy Spirit is so powerful that He can turn the greatest evil into the greatest good. That was true in the crucifixion and also in the Lutheran split after Luther's death. Out of that conflict came the leadership of men like Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Selnecker, and the best single volume of theology and Biblical commentary - the Book of Concord.

Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz remain the three greatest theologians of the Christian Church, so we should major in the majors instead of the minors. They are my Scriptural teachers - not the essay writers of the Syn Conference.

JP Meyer's Prophetic Statement

J. P. Meyer was a long-time professor at The Sausage Factory, Mequon.


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Dog Notes from The Sausage Factory (Mequon, WELS)":

J.P. Meyer noted a prophetic statement regarding the (W)ELS headlong stumble into full blown New Age Emergent apostasy:

2) Failure to understand this doctrine [Justification] will dull spiritual understanding so that ultimately even the difference between Christian and pagan religion becomes obliterated.

Explains their incorporating pagan New Age Religious practices such as Reiki, Contemplative Prayer, Taize and the New Age doctrine of UOJ.

As I read through these notes it becomes very clear there is no excuse for J.P. Meyer to have perverted the Scriptural and Confessional doctrine of Justification by Faith because so many faithful statements stand in direct and glaring contradiction to his unfaithful and false doctrines noted.

Doctrinal discord divides Lutherans

The frog in the kettle does realize when the water is too hot and jumps out.
The Church Growth and lavender ecclesiastics have the same plan, to boil him into unconsciousness.


Doctrinal discord divides Lutherans

Unlike the creation story in the Book of Genesis from which it takes its name, Genesis Lutheran Church had a more secular beginning. It was birthed by a small group of people who left Piedmont Valley Lutheran Church over their growing disaffection with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s  policies on homosexuality.

Genesis is the first Rapid City-based church to be affiliated with the newest Lutheran denomination, the North American Lutheran Church.

Churches vote to leave

Leaving

Nineteen South Dakota congregations voted to leave the ELCA in 2010.

• Lands Lutheran, Hudson, March 7
• Trinity Lutheran, Platte, March 15
• Trinity Lutheran, Hudson, March 28
• East Lake Andes Lutheran, Armour, March 28
• First American Lutheran, Tripp, May 9
• Bethlehem Lutheran, Pierpont, May 12
• American Lutheran, Castlewood, May 16
• Hope Lutheran, Delmont, July 11
• Ladner Evangelical Lutheran, Ladner, July 14
• Little Missouri Lutheran, Capitol, Mont., July 25
• First Lutheran, Philip, Aug. 29
• Trinity Lutheran, Midland, Aug. 29
• Our Savior Lutheran, Long Valley, Aug. 29
• Deep Creek Lutheran, Midland, Sept. 5 
• Shepherd of the Hills, Lead, Sept. 26
• Immanuel Lutheran, Whitewood, Oct. 10 
• St. Peter Lutheran, Armour, Oct. 10
• Christ the King Lutheran, Newcastle, Wyo., Dec. 19
• Trinity Lutheran, Lake N

Modest Proposal

When Will the Syn Conference Sects Return To Biblical, Lutheran Doctrine?

Martin Chemnitz and the Concordists established harmony through doctrinal agreement and rejection of false doctrine.

Summary

LCMS

The Missouri Synod did not teach UOJ/OJ (the absolution of the world's sins) until 100 years after the Knapp Pietism dogmatics book appeared. Walther taught the OJ/SJ absurdity but the official catechism of the synod did not, and the official statements before the 1932 Brief Statement did not.

Another UOJ hero of Missouri was Eduard Preuss, who left teaching at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis to teach theology in the Roman Catholic Church.

Robert Preus has been used as an advocate for UOJ, and he was, but his last book repudiated it in the clearest possible terms. No one is forgiven without faith.

WELS

The classic Gausewitz catechism used by Wisconsin did not mention OJ/SJ, but taught justification by faith.

Pastor Pappenfuss (of Kokomo fame) confessed that he never heard of the concept until he reached seminary.

Sig Becker and the Kuske catechism made UOJ the mantra of WELS. Years earlier, the heretic Richard Jungkuntz, who moved up to ELCA, gave a conference essay where he expressed alarm that UOJ was being lost.

WELS tries to make UOJ go back to Creation, but their own dog notes prove that they recognize justification by faith in the post-Concord theologians and caution their students against it!

ELCA
ELCA is now in the final, dying stage of Pietism, while the Syn Conference sects are not quite there yet, even though they covet their big cousin.

ELCA's earlier synods had excellent historians and theologians who taught the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, even if they were almost as loosey-goosey with unionism as WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect are now.

Pietism took over from the Confessionalists (like the Henkelites) and bent those bodies toward the inherent rationalism of the Pietistic movement. Like Schleiermacher (Halle student, Halle professor), ELCA accepted the natural consequence of universal absolution and simply believes that every single person is forgiven. Halle's Tholuck was a Universalist, and ELCA is Universalist. If everyone is already forgiven, everyone is also saved and going to heaven. According to ELCA, that is pure grace, and it is only one step removed from the UOJ of Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie.

The so-called conservative sects crow about how orthodox they are, but they are really Pietist capons who cannot face doctrinal division and Biblical truths.

Caution! Caution! - Ignore the Clear Justification by Faith Quotations in the Dog Notes.Line Up, Sausages, In Alphabetical Order.

"Sorry. I printed dog notes with justification by faith in them.
I put a caution in each one. That should do it.
Are you going to believe Brug or your lying eyes?"


There is a God has left a new comment on your post "Dog Notes from The Sausage Factory (Mequon, WELS)":

Note p. 357, from The Order of Salvation:

Quenstedt: The essence of imputation is a real assessment, which absolves the sinning man who believes in Christ [Caution: this could be misleading] from all his sins before the divine tribunal and actually ascribes to him in a judicial way the righteousness of Christ.

---

There is a God has left a new comment on your post "Caution! Caution! - Ignore the Clear Justification...":

You want others? Here's two more:

p.355:

Gerhard: "Since the remission of sins has its foundation in Christ's righteousness on account of which, when it is laid hold of by faith, [Caution!] God receives us into grace, forgives our sins, and, in turn, when these sins have been remitted, imputes to us the righteousness of Christ;

p.356:

Baier: In other words all we have in mind is that the imputation of righteousness and of faith itself as the basis for justification (Caution!) is prior to that forensic act of justification by which men are absolved from the guilt of their sins, because when we are asked, ―Why does God justify men?‖ we answer, for the reason given previously, ―Because God imputes to man the righteousness or merit of Christ which he apprehends by faith, or because he judges that it belongs to this man in such a way that because of it he is absolved from the guilt of his sins‖ (Compendium, part III, chap. V, par. 11d, p 457).

***

GJ - I do not know who There Is a God might be, but he or she found this in the Dog Notes, Order of Salvation. I thought the cautions were a bit of sarcasm from There Is, but no - that is the exact quotation, including the caution.

I know some of the current students at Mequon. I saw some of them playing on the floor at the Free home. I held another one at Ft. Wayne. I hope they wake up to the UOJ swindle.

---

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Caution! Caution! - Ignore the Clear Justification...":

Laity are encouraged not to split hairs over this...and yet this forensic justification that the synods attribute as 'objective' is in fact subjective. In other words there is no justification aside from faith alone...

***

GJ - I know what you are saying Joe, but we should not kelm the dishonest and misleading terms Objective Justification and Subjective Justification. One cannot find the terms OJ and SJ in Luther, the Book of Concord, or the Post-Concord orthodox writers. The terms come from the English translation of the Halle University (Pietistic) dogmatics book by Georg Christian Knapp. I will publish more on this in a moment.

Dog Notes from The Sausage Factory (Mequon, WELS)

The dogmatics notes were previously the yellowed notes from J. P. Meyer. They were revised in 2005.

Here is the link. Look of the Order of Salvation file. I just found them today because I was looking for something else.

End the Ecclesiastical Bullying.Start By Saying "No!" To Synodical Thugs

"My word of honor - no more bullying."

Exposing and describing the bullying tactics of the synods will make the thugs think twice before trying it again. I am only too happy to publish accounts on this blog.

Laity and pastors should remember that the same tactics used against others will eventually be applied to them, unless they adopt a cringing, Gollum-like synodical servitude.

There are many clues that someone is being given the Sisera treatment. The apostates no longer use tent pegs - too messy. But the effect is the same. These are examples from my experience and from the accounts of others:

1. Multi-layered pounding. The pastor allows an appeal to the CP, VP, and DP - so each one can take his turn delivering the thumps.
   
2. Not answering requests or emails, or taking far too long. This is another way of saying, "You are becoming a non-person."
   
3. Using so-called friends to attack. To keep a genuine solution from developing, an alleged friend is selected to attack and threaten. Relatives are even handier; "Son, Fred told me you are ruining your career by..."
   
4. Bribes and flattery. Synod officials are especially worried when they start using flattery and bribes. "Not everyone is as well read as you, but I am concerned that you are letting your idealism divide you from your friends. I am thinking of you serving St. Peter by the Golfcourse..."
   
5. Delayed action shunning. "You didn't get that mailing? But I thought you dropped out of that committee. We already filled your slot. Oh my, I am so sorry."
   
6. Hurting the synod, church, parish, district. "If you keep this up, it will destroy the (fill in the blank)." Does a correct diagnosis kill the patient at a hospital? No, it is the first step toward a possible cure. Everything is top secret, too. Top secret means a cover up is that much easier.
7. Eighth Commandment, Matthew 18, Procedure. Misuse of Matthew 18 and the Eighth Commandment are combined with an appeal to procedure. All these concocted barriers to the truth are far worse sins than murder, adultery, embezzlement, and false doctrine. Violating procedure absolves the crime instantly and indicts the person raising the issue, prompting a trial on the evil of violating procedure.
8. Screaming, table-pounding, manipulating. One LCMS pastor opposed letting a known child-molester back into the ministry. The DP stopped by, screamed at him, and slammed his briefcase on the man's desk. On the way out, the DP said to a church member there, "Your pastor is one of the finest pastors in the district."
9. Dividing family and friends, polarizing congregations. Synodical bullies love to turn family members against one another, to polarize friends and congregations. They imagine they gain from getting rid of their opponents. That is why the synods are weak, broke, and dying.
10. Threatening. Pope John the Malefactor (ELS) is famous for this. "Get rid of the pastor or I will kick you out of the synod." DP John Seifert (WELS) did the same thing. A congregation that buckles under such threats is partaking in the bullying and abuse.
    

The bullies do not want others knowing the truth about them, so they use their limited IQs to suppress the truth.

Let me explain what we mean, Sisera.