No Jokes about Dr. Moo - The Wheaton WELS NIV Expert

"Wendland Cowed by Moo As WELS Scrambles To Justify ...":

ELCA Bishop Skips Out One Year Before His Term Is Up

April 1, 2011
ELCA Central/Southern Illinois Synod Bishop Accepts New Call
11-043-JB
     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Warren D. Freiheit, bishop of the Central/Southern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), notified the synod this week that he will resign as bishop effective June 30. Freiheit, 63, will begin a new call July 1 as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Hot Springs Village, Ark.

     "It has been my desire to someday return to parish ministry, and yet I did not expect that service to begin quite this quickly," Freiheit wrote in a March 30 letter to the synod. "As I have concluded ministries in three separate congregations, I did so knowing that there were incomplete ministry objectives. As I prepare to conclude my ministry as synodical bishop, I do so realizing that I again do so with incomplete ministry objectives. Each of the congregations I served continued faithfully in their missions after I left with new spirit-led leadership, and I am confident that the same will be true for the
Central/Southern Illinois Synod."

     Serving as bishop of the synod "has been humbling as well as exhilarating," Freiheit wrote, adding that he accepted his new call "with mixed feelings and regret" that it came a year before concluding his second term as bishop.

     Freiheit was first elected bishop in 2000. He had previously served as pastor of three ELCA congregations in Illinois. [More lying drivel at this link.]

Comments from Various Readers - The NNIV, UOJ, etc.

Joseph Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "Wendland Cowed by Moo As WELS Scrambles To Justify ...":

The English language has not changed that much 30 years that a new translation is warranted.

This is an absolute waste of money, but then again WELS is good at that.

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

Luther Rocks,

Glad to hear you are looking under the hood of the synodical conference, at its doctrine. I think that the synodical powers that be would rather have people distracted by the mundane scandals of the synod, because that keeps them looking at the symptoms of UOJ rather than the root cause of the disease, that being the doctrine of UOJ itself.
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dobrin (http://dobrin.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Mark Schroeder Joins Rick Miller and Other Shrinke...":

Virtually dead from the neck up, WELS leaders readily seek out other denominations to copy. What is wrong with simply following the Bible?

Remember This WELS, During the WELS Worship Conference at an ELCA College

An MLC sorority asks, "Can we be counselors? We watched Ma Vie en Rose 57 times."

ELCA camp experiences support gay youth

Recent teen and young adult suicides in New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio brought the issue of bullying to the forefront and led to the "It Gets Better" video campaign. ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson and other Lutherans contributed videos, promising youth and young adults who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender that they have a place in the church and urging them to not give up.

GLBT youth are also supported by programs at ELCA congregations and at least three camps. The camp experiences are led by ELCA members and all three rent space from ELCA camps.

Started nine years ago in Minneapolis, The Naming Project is a drop-in program and summer camp. It was featured in the 2006 documentary Camp Out, and on the March 8 Our America episode hosted by Lisa Ling (The Oprah Winfrey Network). The camp, held July 24-29 this year on Bay Lake Camp, Deerwood, Minn., draws youth from across the country.

Wonderfully Made started after Camp Out was shown at the Philadelphia film festival and viewed by Claire Burkat, bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, and youth ministry specialist Molly Beck Dean. It will be held April 8-10 at Bear Creek Camp, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

The Spiritual Pride Project in Austin, Texas, began after a mother discovered there were no camps in the southern U.S. where her child's sexuality would be respected. In addition to offering a variety of resources, its spring retreat is April 1-3 at Lutherhill in LaGrange, Texas.

Two additional ministries that serve gay and lesbian youth throughout the year are The Lighthouse, Minnetonka, Minn., and the Louisville [Ky.] Youth Group.

The Lighthouse is a youth group that draws from more than eight high schools in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. It meets once a week at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Minnetonka. Louisville Youth Group, housed at First Lutheran Church, hosts Friday night programs and provides mentoring and leadership training.

What Is Wrong with the $8 Million Schwan Cathedral at Mary Lou College (nee DMLC)?

norcal763 has left a new comment on your post "Mark Schroeder Joins Rick Miller and Other Shrinke...":

Gustavus Adolphus College. It's an ELCA college! So is St. Olaf's, where they had the last WELS Stale-and-Stodgy-Free Big Getaway. Isn't that what the new chapel at MLC is for?

Just Say No To Adam the Man Making Love To Eve

WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "Wendland Cowed by MooAs WELS Scrambles To Justify ...":

Say no to the 2011 NIV! Also, please read two new essays by John Brug. These are recent additions listed on the home page of whe WLS essay site. I know some of us(Gregory L Jackson) have not always seen ey-to-eye with Prof. Brug. However, Brug wrote an essay in October of 2010 and he was NOT pleased with this new NIV. He went as for as saying that the WELS should NOT consider it. (He cited many doctrinal errors) Prof Brug wrote an essay regarding the ESV.(he called the ESV the lesser of the two evils) That being said, Brug was against the Synod adopting the ESV.

What surprised me the most was that Prof. Brug called the original NIV, "No better." Interesting! Tell, your friends, relatives, pastors, and church members to say NO to the New NIV.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

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Genesis 4:1 (New International Version, ©2011)

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

 ¹ Adam^[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[b] She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth^[c] a man.”

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 4:1 Or The man
2. Genesis 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.
3. Genesis 4:1 Or have acquired

Wendland Cowed by MooAs WELS Scrambles To Justify Disgusting Distortion of God's Word

WELS Getting More Pitiful During 400th Anniversary of the KJV, Forgotten, Like Gausewitz

As part of its work to evaluate the recently released revision of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, the WELS Translation Evaluation Committee met March 18 with Dr. Douglas Moo, the chairman of the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT, which worked on the revision, is made up of 15 members from various denominations, none of which is WELS.

"We wanted to hear and get a sense from its chairman what the basic translational philosophy of the new NIV was, where it's going, and how some of the decisions were made," says Paul Wendland, chairman of the Translation Evaluation Committee and president of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Two of the committee's particular concerns are how gender inclusive language is used in the revision and how the messianic prophecies are translated.

Wendland says that Moo stressed that the mission of the CBT was to put God's Word in current natural English. To help them do this, CBT members used a database of more than four billion words that provides objective information on the usage of these words in recent history. "He said it was not a matter of trying to promote an ideology," says Wendland. "It was a matter of just trying to reflect the state of our language and to render the Bible into language as it is spoken today."

Wendland says that he and the other members of the Translation Evaluation Committee were impressed by Moo and the CBT. "That doesn't mean that there won't be areas of legitimate disagreement," he says. "But my impression was that we're not seeing some insidious agenda being driven here."

Meanwhile, the WELS Translation Evaluation Committee is continuing to coordinate the work of reviewing the NIV 2011 and other translations. WELS scholars completed a book by book study of the changes in the NIV 2011 in late February; the committee is evaluating the study and the comments made on the most significant changes in the revision. Wendland says that the committee will report the results of the NIV 2011 evaluation to the districts in May and June and to the synod convention in July.

To help WELS members better understand basic translation theory, a new three-part series on translating began in the April issue of Forward in Christ.

The first article in that series as well as other articles and reports put together by the Translation Evaluation Committee are available online.

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GJ - WELSians - your objections mean nothing to these boozos. Do not order their NIV books. Do not use their NIV materials. Do not defend the butchering of God's Word.


Douglas J. Moo (b. 1950) is a Christian theologian and has been the Blanchard Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College Graduate School since 2000. He previously taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for over 20 years. Moo received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (1980).

He has published several theological works and commentaries on the Bible; notable among them are An Introduction to the New Testament and A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. He is currently writing commentaries on Galatians,

Douglas J. Moo, Idiot

Mark Schroeder Joins Rick Miller and Other Shrinkers in Decrying the Boring Worship Service

I see a debbil in her eyes.
WELS should merge with Osteen in a few years.
At least he does apostasy well.

From Church and Change Headquarters

This month, the Commission on Worship is asking called workers and laypeople alike to start making plans to attend WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts held every three years—this year July 19-22 at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.


The first worship conference I attended was in 2008, and I was not disappointed. I came away marveling at the many gifts and talents that God has given to people in our synod [GJ - and many other denominations, including Roman Catholicism]. Those gifts were on display in the inspiring worship services and in the many workshops that were held. Some of us are not very emotional people by nature, but there were times when the beauty of the music and messages left very few dry eyes.

The worship conference is designed to celebrate and encourage our Lutheran liturgical worship heritage—Christ-centered and gospel-proclaiming. But that doesn't mean it will be stale and stodgy. Quite the contrary. Attendees will experience new and fresh musical settings that they will want to take back to their own congregations.

Drink in our new ideas, for a Fuller knowledge of Jesus.
You will be loaded.
Our worship is intoxicating.
Your spirits will be lifted up.

Hauerwas Memoir - Hannah's Child

Stan Hauerwas earned his PhD at Yale, taught at Augustana, and became my first contact with Notre Dame's doctoral program.

American Specator Book Review

I do not buy modern theology books or keep them in my library. During graduate school I had to read many modern theologians and met many of them.

Hauerwas was right out of Yale when I was a freshman at Augustana College. They did not renew his contract ("They fired me," he said) because he did not harmonize with Swedish Pietism. He took a pay cut to teach at Notre Dame, where he achieved great fame. Pope John Paul II visited Notre Dame, picked up an honorary doctorate, and told the school to get rid of its Protestant and liberation theology faculty members in the theology department.

Hauerwas left for Duke. Wilken (LCMS apostate) joined Duke. Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenze departed for the Episcopal school near Harvard. Her fellow-professor husband, Frank, left for any job available. Both Fiorenzas ended up with endowed professorships at Harvard. Being a Roman Catholic feminist (Elisabeth) or a Marxist (Frank) will not hurt a job search at Harvard Divinity.

I was at Notre Dame before the JP.2 purge, so I had a rainbow coalition of professors: Hauerwas (Methodist), Yoder (Mennonite), Hommes (liberal Dutch Calvinist), both Fiorenzas, Primus (Rabbinic Judaism), and guest lectureships from Ahlstrom (Yale Lutheran), Wiesel (Judaism), and many others. The most fun was having a long conversation with Prince Charles' personal guru, Laurens van der Post. Laurens was being ignored during a long break at the Jung conference on campus, so I struck up a conversation with him. After he lectured, a knot of people surrounded him. Such are the vicissitudes of fame.

I used to think that years of studying modern theology were an enormous waste of time, which I might have spent in taxidermy or another useful profession. However, seldom does anyone have the time and energy to study hundreds of related books, only to burrow through the library again to study a more focused topic for a dissertation, taking notes, interviewing people, writing letters, reading archives.

According to WELS' ecumenical Pietism, I cannot be trusted to discern the spirits because of my first-hand knowledge. One publisher asked me to review a book before publication because I studied under Hauerwas and Yoder.

WELS honors those who study at Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek, and Trinity Divinity School - as long as they lie about it.

Hauerwas and Yoder are both examples of Enthusiasm. Neither one had a real confessional base. Hauerwas is associated with Methodism, Anabaptism, Roman Catholicism, and the Episcopal Church (Peace-nik conference). Yoder got involved with the Cambellites (Disciples of Christ, Church of Christ) - influencing them so much that they write about him long after his death.

Hauerwas is a kindly man who cares about other people and relates well to his students. Although I have not been in contact with him for decades, I still remember his thoughtfulness at critical times.

Two people influenced my approach to publishing: Bainton and Hauerwas. Whatever theological journals or books I searched through, those names jumped out everywhere. Their publication list was endless, it seemed.

I thought it worthwhile to do the same for traditional Lutheran theology. I could not stay in the LCA, so I wrote about that in 1987, knowing my PhD gave me credibility.

I have experienced two dominant responses among the "conservative" Lutherans.

The first was a demonic hatred for Lutheran doctrine and anyone connected with it. Some (like John Seifert) tried to ascribe this to a local phenomenon, such as the long-standing wobbly nature of Columbus, Ohio. Some of the poison-pen responses on this blog are nothing compared to the things said and done by WELS and Missouri leaders, not to mention the odious ELS and CLC (sic) cults.

The second was an overwhelming effort to silence me in every possible way. This recently came from a source: "Synod and professors seem more worried about Seminary students wasting time on Ichabod."

The silencing has been more extensive than that. UOJ Enthusiasts made sure that Otten never published anything by me again, and never published anything positive about what I wrote. Some long-term readers sent in comments about Thy Strong Word. Otten refused to publish them. Trinity in Bridgeton refused to give Christian News money until I was banned. Money talks at the "independent" Christian News. And Otten listens closely to all the synodical spin-doctors, who are appointed to keep him in line.

An independent publisher asked me to provide him with book manuscripts to publish and sell. When Bivens and Valleskey heard about it, the same WELS printer said he had to protect his income. He could not afford a WELS boycott. He refused to print what he asked me to give him, and he kept all the photographs for the book about Bethany and Erin - Angel Joy. I asked for them repeatedly, but he kept them forever, finally sending them when the book was printed elsewhere. Like many in WELS, he complained about how mean WELS was. Like many in WELS, he was ready to turn on a dime when commanded.

I could not even buy an ad in Marvin-Schwan's-Logia at one point, and they refused to review anything. The most shunned book has been Thy Strong Word, but it remains the most influential (in my opinion), although that has taken a long time to develop.

The silence and shunning prove to me how dangerous the Church of the Augsburg Confession appears to the Synodical Conference franchise. The Syn Conference seminaries are expensive introductions to New Age ecumenism, whether the graduates stay to wreck the sect, move to Rome, or openly join the Methodobapticostals. The shards of the Syn Conference are no better, so they should not rejoice in the breakdown of the Mother Ship. They are worse than their parents, typical of incest.

The financial fraud in WELS-ELS-LCMS is a wonder to behold, because everyone is so greedy for money but they do not notice the skimming of funds for everything except the true purpose of the Church. Mostly, the money goes to the managers who manage the money - not to mention the lawsuits they bring against the innocent and defend against the guilty. As WELS Pastor Fred Adrian said when WELS lost a $400,000 - "It doesn't matter. Insurance is paying for it." DP Seifert said about the disgraced Adrian, "We have to get him back in the parish!" (My words - Seifert's apostasy).

The worst part of this financial fraud is the doctrinal fraud, because the apostates have their claws and hooves in the treasury, doling out funds to one another and rejoicing in the confessional orthodoxy of Holy Mother Sect.

As I told one or two people, the WELS/LCMS reporting is getting repetitive. The Spineless Presidents are too timid to annoy the Daddy Warbucks and their allies, making the SPs the enablers. They throw a little raw meat to the base from time to time, but the trend line is pure apostasy, funded apostasy, planned and programmed apostasy.

I am going to do a long-term study of the Formula of Concord, starting with the beginning and going through every article - though not every word of it. I will label it so people can find the parts from clicking the label.

John Howard Yoder was drawn into teaching at Notre Dame by Hauerwas and became my dissertation advisor.
The Book of Concord annoyed him for naming his sect as wrong about doctrine.
But he did the same about the Book of Concord.

Learning about UOJ

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Dates and Theories about UOJ. How WELS and Missour...":

I did some reading over the weekend. Believe it or not, Wikipedia is a treasure trove of religion info with much on Lutherans and their doctrines.

Here is the history lesson for the day...

Lutherans have been warring against Pietism since the days of Luther as well documented on this blog. I googled 'Confessional Lutheran' over the weekend and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessional_Lutheran

clicking around on the hyperlinks was extremely informative...like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Lutherans

WELS is a paradox. On the one hand it claims to be Lutheran and yet it keeps the 'Evangelical' from the old Prussian Union in its name. So the influences of old hold to this day. You wonder why we keep looking to the Reformists? It is because it sounds so familiar.

In the mid 1800's WELS was a liberal Lutheran body; full of Pietism from the old Prussian Union. I believe the doctrine of UOJ sprung from this as a combatant to decision theology (synergism). But now it has swung so far the other way that you are sounding again like the reformed Rob Bell teaching a universal reconciliation; forgiveness to all whether you believe it or not or before you were even born.

@ Pastor Lillo...For whatever reason you keep coming back here as I did. I hope some of the stuff rubs off on you like it did me. I've had some lively discussion with my brother the last few months regarding the various flavors of UOJ rampant in WELS. I understand you may be in his circuit...

Dates and Theories about UOJ. How WELS and Missouri Turned Away From Justification by FaithAnd Still Lie about Their Apostasy

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Where Is the Love?Fox Valley Offers the Ecumenical...":

Actually UOJ was somewhat evident in the 1932 Statement when WELS was still in fellowship with Missouri...but in 1967 when WELS first published 'This We Believe', it was much more evident. The wording in the Justification section remains unchanged to this day save for substituting the NIV for the KJV. My mom still has the booklet. All sinners are justified and righteous in God's sight regardless of faith...but of course the scriptures don't speak this way...

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GJ - Here are some dates and historical trends I am considering. I need to look into more details. Insights from others are welcome:

1. Before 1932 - Missouri and WELS taught justification by faith, not UOJ.
   
2. 1908 - Hoenecke died and WELS was quick to forget him. The Wauwatosa boys took over. They were trained by Walther and Stoeckhardt.
   
3. 1927 - WELS and Synodical Conference leader Gausewitz died. He taught justification by faith.
   
4. The 1932 Brief Statement was a clear proclamation of UOJ, including bizarre Scriptural support, especially Romans 4:25, which is a justification by faith verse. The first Brief Statement to support UOJ (1932) was a triumph of F. Pieper, whose acolyte Stoeckhardt also found UOJ in Romans. Earlier Brief Statements did not teach UOJ.
   
5. Post 1932 - The Synodical Conference began to fall apart. WELS SP Brenner noticed the change first. The convenient line is to blame it on intellectuals going liberal with their outside degrees, but the real rot came from the inside, the Walther-Pieper faction enforcing and promoting UOJ.
   
6. UOJ and Church Growth grew rapidly in the 1980's. Missour, WELS, and the ELS bring up justification by faith so they can prattle about justification without faith, attacking faith and ignoring the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. The Olde Synodical Conference is ecumenical with Fuller, Sweet, Stetzer, Stanley, Hybels, and Driscoll because they teach a hybrid form of Enthusiasm, a slick Universalism.
   
7. The unionism is a result of false doctrine, not the cause of false doctrine. The Spineless Presidents cannot even address the issue.