Without a doubt, WELS has promoted the false doctrine of Church Growth from the top down, beginning with SP Naumann endorsing it in the first issue of
TELL magazine.
SP Mischke did more of the same, with Paul Calvin Kelm serving as his Iago.
Next came SP Gurgle, the conservative dream candidate who would
stop promote amalgamation and drive even more CG advances through God's Counselor, Wayne Mueller, SP-in-Waiting.
SP Gurgle was shown the door, before the kitchen silverware disappeared with the rest of the loot. For some reason, the DP who supervised the bankruptcy of MilCraft--estate gift to the district, followed by losing a lawsuit to the defrauded widow--was entrusted with a much larger legacy, the Schwan Indulgences.
Most wealthy adulterers are not preached into heaven until they die. Marvin was assumed into heaven while still alive, with a three-sect chorus of voices praising his leadership. And for good reason. Rather than adopt a congregation or denomination, Marvin adopted the entire Synodical Conference, building cathedrals to honor himself in St. Louis, Mankato, and New Ulm.
The next conservative dream candidate
* was Mark Schroeder, who has promoted Church and Change leaders to positions of greater influence while threatening and silencing critics of Fuller Seminary.
To quote DP John Seifert, "Wisconsin Synod practices say more about our doctrine than we care to think." Yes, indeed. And that includes Silent Seifert.
WELS members and pastors have begged Mark Schroeder to do something about members being excommunicated by such rascals as Glende, Patterson, and Gurgle. (The ex-SP keeps turning up, like a bad penny.) Schroeder says he is powerless. Tis funny how so many men covet powerless positions. Buchholz is powerless too. If they want to experience a powerless position, they should try blogging. I could not get a certified letter acknowledged by the SP, let alone answered.
Long ago I proved that the entire structure of WELS was nothing more than a franchise operation to benefit Fuller Seminary, with their Love Shack leaders and Sausage Factory professors promoted chiefly because they attended Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Divinity: Valleskey, Bivens, Kelm, Olson, Huebner, Oelhafen, Adrian, and many more.
Colloquy Questions
Rather than plead for mercy for the excommunicated from WELS, why not put the DPs and Synod President through colloquy, to see if they are Lutheran? Or even Christian? Here are the questions.
1. Does the Holy Spirit work only through the Word, as Hoenecke taught in harmony with the Scriptures, Luther, and the Confessions?
2. Is God's grace given to us only through the Means of Grace, the Word and Sacraments?
3. If God declared the entire world forgiven the moment Christ died, where is this found in the Scriptures?
4. If God declared the entire world forgiven the moment Christ rose from the dead, where is this found in the Scriptures? Please account for the time difference between #3 and #4.
5. Was anyone justified in the Old Testament? If not, then why does Paul declare that Abraham was reckoned righteous because of his faith?
6. Please explain the contradiction between Abraham justified by faith and the entire world declared forgiven the moment He died, or rose? Clarify the time differences between #3, #4, and #6.
7. Are you willing to accuse Paul of promoting
intuitu fidei, because he wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit: KJV Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
8. Do you equate the atonement with justification and salvation, in agreement with the convention essay by DP Buchholz? (Buchholz has to be asked if he agrees with his own essay, because he denies that WELS has ever said everyone is saved.)
9. Do you agree with the Seventh Day Adventists about justification, because they have exactly the same statement as WELS and Missouri? If you do agree, why have you not declared fellowship with the Adventists?
10. Do you agree with the Universalists, who say that everyone is forgiven and saved? If not, please explain. Clarify the contradiction between #9 and #10.
11. Are babies born already forgiven, as Ed Preuss wrote before he joined the Church of Rome, while still teaching as a Lutheran? If so, why baptize them?
12. Are Hottentots already forgiven, as Ed Preuss wrote in his famous booklet on justification? If they are, why have foreign missions, except for the beaches in Rio and the Riviera?
13. Why was Gausewitz head of the Synodical Conference and the author of a Small Catechism edition used by most congregations, since his work does not even mention Universal Objective Justification?
14. When WELS replaced Gausewitz with Kuske's catechism, why did you fail to notice the change in doctrine?
15. Are you promoting the porno-mytho-anti-Sacramental NNIV because it butchers Romans to teach universal absolution?
*
GJ - The so-called conservatives should read Norris'
The Octopus, where the farmers used their money to buy someone a seat on the railroad commission, only to find out he was a slave to the railroad monopoly.
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marco has left a new comment on your post "
Without a doubt, WELS has promoted the false doc...":
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art IV (p.151).
"Is. 53:11: By His knowledge shall He justify many. But what is the knowledge of Christ unless to know the benefits of Christ, the promises which by the Gospel He has scattered broadcast in the world?"
Does this quote leave any doubt where Luther stood on Romans 5:15,19 with the word "many"? and also, by the way, where he stood on John 1:29 since John the Baptist's reference was not to the Day of Atonement, but to Isaiah 53:7,11?
Only by knowing Christ through faith are the many justified. Only by knowing Christ through faith does the Lamb of God take away their sins.
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AC V has left a new comment on your post "
Colloquy for the WELS Leadership LCMS and ELS Shou...":
Oops, did that slip out? In an interview with the
San Diego Reader (http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/feb/23/sheep-reformation-lutheran-church; reprinted in the Sep. 2011 FIC-l), WELS pastor Kevin Schultz answers this question:
SDR: What is your main concern as a member of the clergy?
PS: The most important concern I have is getting people interested in God's Word....
Wow, what a burden to bear! It's all up to "me." If people aren't interested in God's Word, it's because I'm not doing it right. All I need is the right CG method, and they'll become interested.
Seems the knee-jerk reaction for WELS clergy now (at least for this WELS pastor), when asked what a pastor's "main concern" is, is to "get people interested in God's Word." Better check your ordination vows again, PS. That's not what you swore to do.
The right answer would have been, "The most important concern I have is being faithful to God's Word and his Sacraments because it is through the preaching of God's Word and the administration of the Sacraments that sinners hear of and receive God's grace in Jesus Christ. And I pray that by God's grace many will believe when they hear that good news. It's best job in the world because the results are up to God, not me."
