 |
| "Anathema sit!" |
 |
| Pope John gave Rolf Preus a vacation and got rid of him during the "vacation." Ministers should take a stay-cation when this option is offered. |
Pope John the Malefactor forced congregations to accept the newest variation on church and ministry. If not, the pastor and congregation would be kicked out of the Little Sect on the Prairie. After doing as much damage as possible, John Moldstad went on a trip around the world, at ELS expense, to see the Lord's work first-hand, taking some pals along.
The Episcopal Church is a leading example, mortgaging their headquarters so they can sue their own congregations and bishops. The ELCA has used similar tactics to enforce its rules, bragging about their reconciling attempts with those once denied rostered status.
There is no divide between the extreme Left and the so-called conservative groups. As the ELS has shown, even a tiny sect will bully and threaten people into submission.
Abusive Characteristics:
"A central feature of an abusive church is control-oriented leadership. The leader in an abusive church is dogmatic, self-confident, arrogant, and the spiritual focal point in the lives of his followers."
Control is everything in ELCA, WELS, the ELS, the CLC (sic). There may be illusions of participating, even with voting, but everyone knows the outcome before it starts. The process (see ChurchMouse) is there to eliminate dissent and to promote acceptance of the agenda.
The bishops, DPs, Circuit Pastors and camp followers have no concept of humility. Even the mildest questioning throws them into towering rages. They could tear up trees by their roots, as Luther once wrote.
"Abusive churches are characterized by the manipulation of their members. Manipulation is the use of external forces to get others to do what someone else wants them to do. Here manipulation is used to get people to submit to the leadership of the church. The tactics of manipulation include the use of guilt, peer pressure, intimidation, and threats of divine judgment from God for disobedience. Often harsh discipline is carried out publicly to promote ridicule and humiliation."
Shunning is the most obvious method used in various church bodies. Ministers and congregations fear being tossed into the outer darkness. They know from the past what it means to have 99% of their friends go silent or hostile. Best friends will even phone or visit to open up more wounds. One Missouri pastor told me how he lost all his friends the moment he left, only to get them back (as if nothing happened) years later when
he rejoined. Bill Bischoff in St. Louis could not stand the fact that he could no longer take out books from his seminary library when he joined the LCR. He came back to Missouri. His wife could go to the ladies' meetings again. What joy. She even spoke to the national meeting. Acceptance - the fatted calf killed in thanksgiving.
Ridicule and humiliation? I have witnessed so many examples that I hardly know where to start. WELS likes to drive pastors out, break them, and welcome them back as shell-shocked survivors lucky to have any job at all. The prodigals who return will never murmur again - or be in contact with those who do.
The shunned will hear all kinds of fanciful stories leaked to their friends. If they object to this, they are "bitter."
"The third characteristic of abusive churches is the rigid, legalistic lifestyle of their members. This rigidity is a natural result of the leadership style. Abusive churches require unwavering devotion to the church from their followers. Allegiance to the church has priority over allegiance to God, family, or anything else."
I translate this as Ten Thousand Unwritten Rules. One is - never question the leadership about anything. A minister can embezzle, molest children, or murder his wife. False doctrine is no problem - it is a resume enhancer. But if he questions the leaders, he is on the radar for elimination.
People will say, "Write a letter," as SP Schroeder urges (meaning - Don't bother me). Or - you have to sit down with that person and explain what is wrong. But those are simply first steps toward being shunned, humiliated, and removed. And shunned some more. And having the family members and friends shunned for not joining in the shunning.
"In churches like these, people begin to lose their personal identity and start acting like programmed robots. Many times, the pressure and demands of the church will cause a member to have a nervous breakdown or fall into severe depression."
Another part of this is being a Keeper of the Lies. A pastor may be known for an openly degenerate life, but the lies about him must continue because the truth would reflect badly on Holy Mother Church. The professor was not arrested for being a drunken driver
What I have found most disturbing is the robotic responses of WELS pastors to the same issue, a verbatim response. If D. James Kennedy's name came up, the response was, "He is an Arminian. At least they accept the universal atonement. The Calvinists have a limited atonement." I had two different men say the same words, in completely different circumstances. Another one was, "Don't say capitalist. Say free enterprise." One pastor said that, then another weeks later. The effect of such responses is to stifle independent thinking, even in the use of certain terms. I find it spooky and unsettling.
Many times the required response is a lie, and everyone knows it. To identify the lie as a deception means one is leaving the reservation, which is not allowed.
"...abusive churches usually denounce all other Christian churches. They see themselves as spiritually elite. They feel that they alone have the truth and all other churches are corrupt."
Each Lutheran sect denounces all the others while working with all the others. The "conservative" Lutherans supposedly know all about the errors of Babtists, Meffdists, and the rest, but they spend an inordinate amount of time and money studying ministry with those same errorists. Do not point that out. Oh no. It is like the Mormon faculty member who wrote that the Mormon faculty at the Mormon college drank Coke all the time. Death threats followed.
Synod President Mark Schroeder and his homosexual Director of Communications, Joel Hochmuth, sent out a letter to everyone denouncing ELCA's honest stance on homosexuality. That letter was still posted on a WELS congregation's websty long after Hochmuth was arrested for swapping man-boy rape files with other degenerates. When I pointed out the irony, the letter disappeared from the congregation's websty - but I had already preserved it on this blog.
Try bringing that up at the next circuit meeting.
"The sixth characteristic follows naturally. Because abusive churches see themselves as elite, they expect persecution in the world and even feed on it. Criticism and exposure by the media are seen as proof that they are the true church being persecuted by Satan. However, the persecution received by abusive churches is different from the persecution received by Jesus and the Apostles.
Jesus and the Apostles were persecuted for preaching the truth. Abusive churches bring on much of their negative press because of their own actions."
Abusive church bodies hold themselves above the rest, so the leaders cannot be questioned and the lies must be kept in their secure lock-box. They do not teach the cross, but glory in their material achievements instead. Yet they sigh and moan about how difficult it is to be so pure among so many swinish denominations - the same ones where they worship and study.
"The seventh characteristic of abusive churches is that they tend to target young adults ages 18-25 who are in the middle class, well educated, idealistic, and often immature Christians. Young adults are the perfect age group to focus on because they are often looking for a cause to give their lives to, and they need love, affirmation, and acceptance. Often these churches will provide this, and the leaders frequently take the role of surrogate parents."
This is why parents should keep their children from abusive parochial schools. The purpose of those schools today is to promote the worship of Holy Mother Synod, to establish bullying and conformity in the next generation. The younger the children start, the more time the abusers have to mold them into denominational robots.
The education is decidedly third-rate, but provided at Ivy League prices.
"The eighth characteristic is a painful and difficult exit process. Members in many such churches are afraid to leave because of intimidation, pressure, and threats of divine judgment. Sometimes members who exit are harassed and pursued by church leaders. The majority of the time, former members are publicly ridiculed and humiliated before the church, and members are told not to associate in any way with any former members. This practice is called shunning.
Many who leave abusive churches because of the intimidation and brainwashing, actually feel they have left God Himself. None of their former associates will fellowship with them, and they feel isolated, abused, and fearful of the world."
I have to ask SynConference innocents - Do you really want to keep your children in a sect where evidence is routinely and systematically destroyed? Where people are ordered not to discuss the felonies of their felonious church leaders? And the confessionals agree to delete the facts?
If you really believe the true Church is invisible, then you will not let the visible organization bully you into submission.
There are great short-term rewards for going along with the abuse. The synod leaders will erase evidence against you and play stupid with the police. For some leaders, that is not too much of an effort. The leaders will also reward those who going along with the abuse and do a little rib-kicking themselves. Do you covet a better call? Back-stab a friend and rejoice in it. Would you prefer foreign missions? Kick and jab, or play dumb.
However, the abusive sect that rewards abusers will also toss them out for various reasons or no reason at all. Many clergy and laity have found themselves on infinite hold after being loyal attack Yorkies.
The long-term rewards mean bearing the cross. The Old Adam is tortured rather than soothed. It is not pleasant to know how much dross there is to consume.
The gold refined is the spiritual wisdom of the Word. Then one discovers the real Apostle Paul, the Anfectungen of Luther, the life story of Paul Gerhardt. The five-minute thumbnail sketches are gone, replaced by another understanding.
---
Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Denominations That Abuse Their Members and Pastors...":
Ichabod -
Excellent commentary on this denominational abuse of pastors and the laity!
It is so true what you say:
"If you really believe the true Church is invisible, then you will not let the visible organization bully you into submission."
Furthermore, I think for the most part, pastors and church members aren't often perceptive of Scripture's predictions [including Jesus' words] being played out in today's culture. Persecution is expected from the world; but the hardest to bear, comes from the visible church. It is most difficult to bear because it smacks of an "Et tu, Brute?" fashion.
And, if a church going Christian is not [spiritually] stabbed, directly; there is the subtle [spiritually abusive] shunning process (which you point out) which is the prolonged "molesting" process of outright denial of that Christian's presence; validity and importance in the overall [invisible] Body of Christ.
Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org
 |
| Animal Farm is a good allegory for the denominations today. I told one pastor years ago, "You are Snowball." He agreed. |
"The seventh characteristic of abusive churches is that they tend to target young adults ages 18-25 who are in the middle class, well educated, idealistic, and often immature Christians. Young adults are the perfect age group to focus on because they are often looking for a cause to give their lives to, and they need love, affirmation, and acceptance. Often these churches will provide this, and the leaders frequently take the role of surrogate parents."
This is why parents should keep their children from abusive parochial schools. The purpose of those schools today is to promote the worship of Holy Mother Synod, to establish bullying and conformity in the next generation. The younger the children start, the more time the abusers have to mold them into denominational robots.
The education is decidedly third-rate, but provided at Ivy League prices.
"The eighth characteristic is a painful and difficult exit process. Members in many such churches are afraid to leave because of intimidation, pressure, and threats of divine judgment. Sometimes members who exit are harassed and pursued by church leaders. The majority of the time, former members are publicly ridiculed and humiliated before the church, and members are told not to associate in any way with any former members. This practice is called shunning.
Many who leave abusive churches because of the intimidation and brainwashing, actually feel they have left God Himself. None of their former associates will fellowship with them, and they feel isolated, abused, and fearful of the world."
I have to ask SynConference innocents - Do you really want to keep your children in a sect where evidence is routinely and systematically destroyed? Where people are ordered not to discuss the felonies of their felonious church leaders? And the confessionals agree to delete the facts?
If you really believe the true Church is invisible, then you will not let the visible organization bully you into submission.
There are great short-term rewards for going along with the abuse. The synod leaders will erase evidence against you and play stupid with the police. For some leaders, that is not too much of an effort. The leaders will also reward those who going along with the abuse and do a little rib-kicking themselves. Do you covet a better call? Back-stab a friend and rejoice in it. Would you prefer foreign missions? Kick and jab, or play dumb.
However, the abusive sect that rewards abusers will also toss them out for various reasons or no reason at all. Many clergy and laity have found themselves on infinite hold after being loyal attack Yorkies.
The long-term rewards mean bearing the cross. The Old Adam is tortured rather than soothed. It is not pleasant to know how much dross there is to consume.
The gold refined is the spiritual wisdom of the Word. Then one discovers the real Apostle Paul, the Anfectungen of Luther, the life story of Paul Gerhardt. The five-minute thumbnail sketches are gone, replaced by another understanding.
---
Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Denominations That Abuse Their Members and Pastors...":
Ichabod -
Excellent commentary on this denominational abuse of pastors and the laity!
It is so true what you say:
"If you really believe the true Church is invisible, then you will not let the visible organization bully you into submission."
Furthermore, I think for the most part, pastors and church members aren't often perceptive of Scripture's predictions [including Jesus' words] being played out in today's culture. Persecution is expected from the world; but the hardest to bear, comes from the visible church. It is most difficult to bear because it smacks of an "Et tu, Brute?" fashion.
And, if a church going Christian is not [spiritually] stabbed, directly; there is the subtle [spiritually abusive] shunning process (which you point out) which is the prolonged "molesting" process of outright denial of that Christian's presence; validity and importance in the overall [invisible] Body of Christ.
Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org
