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ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Look at How WELS Treats Its Friends
Light from Light
As background to this post, please see the previous posts: “Terminated from WELS Fellowship” and “Receiving Holy Communion in the WELS.”
On April 11, 2011 St. Peter congregation terminated my fellowship with the WELS as a persistent errorist, and also removed my brother from membership in the congregation. (Minutes from April 11, 2011 meeting. As part of this citation, I need to say that my dad gave me the minutes from this meeting. This needs to be said because other members of St. Peter have expressed concern that Pastor Glende will call them in to question them about where I got a copy of these minutes, and I want to spare them additional church discipline).
Since my fellowship with the WELS was terminated wrongfully, I appealed. On June 23, 2011, I received the following letter:
June 17, 2011It is hard to accept this because the Board of Appeals offered no reasons to support their decision. Left unanswered are the following questions:
Dear Mr. Techlin,
We thank you for the material you provided to our Board of Appeals and for the time you spent with us. After prayerfully considering the evidence in the matter of your appeal, we, the members of the Northern Wisconsin District Board of Appeals have determined that St. Peter Lutheran congregation had Scriptural reasons for removing you from membership and, in doing so, acted in the spirit of Christian love. We are therefore, denying your appeal.
We commend you to the care of our gracious God, trusting that he will be at work in you “… to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
Sincerely,
Pastor David Wenzel
NWD Board of Appeals
- What are the “Scriptural reasons” for my termination of fellowship?
- Of what false doctrine am I guilty?
- Of what do I need to repent before I can commune?
How can an ambush termination of fellowship be construed as acting “in the spirit of Christian love”? Where am I supposed to receive the Lord’s Supper? What denomination am I supposed to join? Am I supposed to become an unaffiliated lone Lutheran Christian who never communes? Or should I join a denomination that actually serves the Lord’s Supper more than twice a month, and just forget about agreeing with anyone on doctrine?
The Board of Appeals was supposed to determine “whether the process leading to the disciplinary action and the doctrinal basis of the disciplinary action were scriptural.” (WELS Constitution, Section 8.50; Appeals by Laypersons. Emphasis added). However, the Board of Appeals told me they were not going to consider the doctrine. They told me that the District Presidium was in charge of doctrine, not them. So whatever the District President said the doctrine was, the Board of Appeals was going to agree with him. Therefore, since my doctrinal disagreement was not only with Pastors Glende and Skorzewski, but also with District President Engelbrecht, by the rules of this appeal, I had no chance to win on the doctrine.
Furthermore, I have no idea how the Board of Appeals ruled against me on procedure. I had no notice that St. Peter congregation was going to terminate my fellowship with the WELS. I had no opportunity to speak on my own behalf and defend myself. I had no opportunity to face my accusers and answer their charges directly. They still have not told me of what false doctrine I am supposed to be guilty. Procedurally, I was treated worse than our secular society treats accused criminals.
As part of the appeal, I was still not allowed to face my accusers, and no pastors were allowed to help me or speak on my behalf, even though I had numerous WELS pastors who were willing to help.
All the accusations made against me were made behind my back, and I was given no chance to understand the charges or to directly confront my accusers face to face. This is not how a church should operate.
This fact remains: I caught Pastor Glende red-handed in the sin of plagiarism: he was plagiarizing false teachers. I documented the evidence, and followed every procedure that was required of me. As a result, Pastor Glende received no discipline, and I had my fellowship in the WELS terminated as a persistent errorist (without an allegation of a specific error). Again I ask: what is my doctrinal error?
For now, I belong to no earthly congregation. Still, I am grateful to the WELS pastors who have told me that they will continue to commune me until District President Engelbrecht satisfactorily explains to them why I am guilty of false doctrine and why I should be excluded from their fellowship.
Shepherds are supposed to defend the sheep, not kill them. (John 10:1-19).
Comments on the Light from Light blog:
5 Responses
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GJ - People criticize me for satirical Photoshops when WELS is an on-going tableau of satire, or rather mockery. The Wisconsin Sect mocks the Word of God, mocks the clarity of the Word, mocks the efficacy of the Word, mocks the Means of Grace, mocks justification by faith, and mocks the Book of Concord. Needless to say, the weed patch is only producing weed seed, when anything is produced at all.
Brett Meyer - Conservatism in WELS
Is Like Celibacy in the Catholic Priesthood
Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "In the Spirit of Martin Luther Zwingli: Paul Wendl...":
What's going on in the (W)ELS? In January Jeff Gunn was listed on the (W)ELS M.O.G. Teen Rally website as a scheduled speaker. Following the Ichapost Jeff Gunn's name was replaced with a "?". Today, the "?" is replaced with Jeff Gunn's name. I thought DP Buchholz disapproved of Gunn's New Age Emergent church, practices and teachings! Yet Crosswalk talks about working together with Emmanuel, Tempe on their website, is listed as an active church in the (W)ELS directory and is teaching (W)ELS kids at the teen rally.
July 8, 2011:
Friday, July 22, 2011 -- Wear Rally Shirts Today!
7pm Large Group Presentation -- "MOG -- Me-Our-Group" by Pastor Jeff Gunn
8:15 pm Concert by Crosswalk
http://www.welsteenrally.com/Schedule
January 18, 2011
Here's the link to the Ichapost that details Jeff Gunn's involvement in the (W)ELS M.O.G.
http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2011/01/wels-to-proclaim-to-youth-at-mark-jeske.html
DP Buchholz' Emmanuel Lutheran Church Newsletter promoting the (W)ELS Teen Rally where Jeff Gunn is again scheduled to speak, and his emergent church band is scheduled to play for the (W)ELS children.
http://www.elctempe.org/home/180001623/180001623/2011-01%20January.pdf
Conservatism in the (W)ELS is something akin to celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church.
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GJ - That is why I hold convention actions in such low esteem. Instead of starting in their own bailey-wicks, these crusaders start at the bottom (the convention) to wage a fruitless battle in order to say, "We tried. Maybe next time."
The CLC (sic) president accused me of showing contempt for his sect's resolutions. Not so - I was doing my best to hide my contempt.
WELS caved on UOJ and Church Shrinkage, parish by parish, circuit by circuit, while Gausewitz was still being taught. That is the only way the battles can be won.
In the Spirit of Martin Luther Zwingli:
Paul Wendland, Sausage Factory Prez,
To Preach at The CORE
Sun, October 30, 5:30pm – 6:30pm
The CORE Sermon Series
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One Eponymous Archon (https://me.yahoo.com/oneeponymousarchon) has left a new comment on your post "Brief Confession 1932 Contradicts Itself, Just Lik...":
Dear Dr. Jackson,
You are so very right about church conventions. The old saying, “You cannot legislate morality,” is also true when stated in this manner with regard to Lutheran Church bodies - “You cannot legislate confessionalism.” When I was in Missouri that was tried and it failed. Some may remember “A Statement” from the New Orleans convention. There were many very good and fine doctrinal statements in it, but it was never enforced, and thus Missouri is no better off now that it was then – in fact, of course it is much worse.
I have come to the painful but inevitable conclusion that democracy and confessionalism are mutually exclusive. As long as “majority” rules in church polity, even so-called conservative Lutheran church bodies will be held captive by the masses of poorly educated, doctrinally weak, and fearful laity and Pastors. Frankly, I don’t know what system is best for the governing of a church body, especially in these latter days when so many are afraid for their jobs at the expense of theological integrity.
I have seen both resolutions to the WELS convention regarding Time of Grace. The first is very weak and nearly unintelligible, and the second is a disgustingly fawning piece of dung. The synod should be absolutely ashamed of itself for not being able to deal with this heretic, Jeske, many years ago. But then again, there are many other heretics who have thrived in WELS for decades without being dealt with, so no big surprise there. I’m just very happy to no longer be a member of this worthless, crypto-Arminian synod. But then again, I’m just –
One Eponymoous Archon
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GJ - Heretics are rewarded. People love wolf-preaching, as Luther observed. Anyone with a browser, a search engine, and a modem can figure out that Glende and Ski are blatant, unapologetic plagiarists. The result? The DP ducks meetings and supports the Terrible Twos in excommunicating a member who brought this out into the open.
That method was repeated in Austin, Texas, where Glende FB Friend Patterson removed Joe and Lisa Krohn for the crime of asking questions about Cornerstone's $45k windfall and UOJ.
No one inside the synods will identify and denounce false doctrine. The leaders are so busy managing their Thrivent business thatt they cannot be bothered with sound doctrine.
The only "sin" that sticks with Jeske seems to be his synod-straddling. The real issue is false doctrine. But - "Touch not the Lord's anointed!" - which really means "Do not disturb the Daddy Warbucks!"
Brief Confession 1932 Contradicts Itself,
Just Like the Syn Conference
AC V has left a new comment on your post "With Robert Schuller Kicked Off the Board, His Chu...":
"For the same reason also the churches at home should never forget that there is no other way of winning souls for the Church and keeping them with it than the faithful and diligent use of the divinely ordained means of grace. Whatever activities do not either directly apply the Word of God or subserve such application we condemn as 'new methods,' unchurchly activities, which do not build, but harm the Church."
- A Brief Statement of the
Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod; Of the Means of Grace. 1932
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GJ - This is a good section and worth remembering, but the UOJ declaration in the Brief Statement simply obliterates its value. The CLC (sic) quoted this too, but let Paul Tiefel and his pal Dave Koenig promote every falsehood while openly dissing Luther's sound doctrine. Tiefel and Koenig had this wretched little newsletter called While It Is Day. When people objected, the lying CLC president said, "It is no longer being published."
That may sound familiar to WELS members, because they believed Gurgle saying the same thing about Church and Change, a lie repeated by C and C under SP Schroeder. It's over; it's gone - except for the resolution supporting Mark and Avoid Jeske. And - except for the website listing all the officers. And the website content. And all the illegitimate inbred children spawned by Church and Change: the women's ordination conference (promoted by Schroeder), Jugs of Clay, DisGrace in Action, Men of No Faith, etc. etc.
That is why I have so little regard for convention actions. People put 99% of their energy into promoting or defeating meaningless statements. Meanwhile, the apostates make merry the Garden of Good and Evil.
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As tempting as it is to say what I want, I won’t. The Lord’s blessing to you.
Scott E. Jungen
Lord’s blessings to your and your family in these difficult times. I wish I had the power to do more than just offer encouragement.
Dr. Aaron Palmer
Those holding positions in our circuit, the Northern Wisconsin District and the synod level have abdicated their responsibility to preserve doctrinal purity. They have lost their credibility among some they are to serve. As enablers, those who allow the issues surrounding your situation to continue unresolved should be held accountable.
Tony Kubek Jr