Let's Not Imitate Rome in Covering Up Child Abuse

Paul J. Scaer, LCMS Pastor

Paul J. Scaer, an openly gay librarian, educator and musician, died on June 16 after a battle with cancer. He was 63, and lived in the East Falls section of Philadelphia.

Scaer grew up in Van Wert, Ohio, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University in Indiana. After graduating from Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis, he served as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., and later at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Philadelphia.

In 1986, he earned a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University.

From September 1987 to October 1988, Scaer worked as a children’s librarian at the Falls of Schuylkill branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

“Paul was a respected and valued member of our staff,” said Donald C. Root, a spokesperson for the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Scaer also served as a librarian at Chestnut Hill Academy.

For 17 years, Scaer was a librarian at Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, a public school in the city’s Spring Garden section.

In 2006, Scaer went to work as a librarian at the new Science Leadership Academy. There he also taught a music-theory class and created a music program.

He had been on medical leave from the school since February 2008 due to his cancer diagnosis, said Christopher D. Lehmann, principal of the academy.

“Paul was a truly good human being,” Lehmann said. “He was a kind, thoughtful person with a unique perspective whom I enjoyed talking to every day.”

Lehmann said Scaer was instrumental in forming the school’s gay-straight alliance in 2006. He also said the school’s library has been named the Scaer Library, in his honor.

A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. July 18 at University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation, 3637 Chestnut St. Memorial donations may be sent to University Lutheran Feast Incarnate, a church ministry that provides meals for the homeless and people living with HIV/AIDS, at 3637 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Read more: PGN-The Philadelphia Gay News. Phila gay news. philly news - Paul J Scaer 63 librarian

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Services will be held 12 p.m., Friday, June 19, 2009, at Pleasant View Lutheran Church [ELCA], 801 W. 73rdSt., Indianapolis, IN 46260, with visitation two hours prior to the service. Interment will be at Woodland Cemetery, Van Wert, OH at a later date.

Memorials may be made to the Pleasant View Lutheran Church Food Pantry. Arrangements entrusted to Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Center-Broad Ripple.


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GJ - The public knows, or should know, that the Roman Catholic Church has had a policy of destroying all evidence in child abuse cases. The evidence in America was shipped to the Vatican, which is a sovereign state. The worst of all the leaders, Cardinal Law in Boston, was given a promotion and shipped to Rome, lest he face prosecution.


WELS - we know that Joel Hochmuth was discovered swapping homosexual child porn by his wife. They went to counseling. But nothing was done to alert the authorities. He continued these heinous crimes as the Director of Communications for WELS. SP Schroeder was quick to absolve Hochmuth publicly, although he leaves faithful members to be abused by nasty bully pastors like Glende, Ski, and Patterson.


I received a packet of information about an ongoing lawsuit where the LCMS is accused of having the same policies as the Roman Catholic Church - to have all evidence of child abuse destroyed, lest the lawsuits cost them money.


Michigan District WELS policy was to savage anyone who objected to clergy adultery and to defend the adultery. In fact, adultery with a church member was a resume enhancer, bound to get the man a promotion to a cushy job. It works in Arizona, too.


When this was discussed with various DPs, they said to me, "How did you find out?" When a reporter asked WELS SP Gurgle about it, he phoned around and said, "Do you tell the reporter?" One of them phoned me and said, "Did you tell the reporter?" But the promotion was not nixed. And no, I did not tell.


In the shrinking ELS, the seminary professors told future pastors they could get away with adultery the first time, but they would be sacked the second time. How Biblical!


Is incest a crime? Ask the Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic). The answer may surprise you.


DP Mueller (Michigan, WELS) said more than once that he lied and covered up for clergy adultery, not telling a congregation (for example) that they were calling a man known for adultery. He concealed the truth because, "they won't call him if they know." He said that as if it were a legitimate excuse to deceive and bamboozle a congregation. After all, Mueller and Paul Kuske defrauded Columbus the same way, five congregations at the same time.


All the "conservative" Lutheran officials are just like Rome's leaders - they get even with the people who tell the truth about abuse while protecting the felons.


Quite a few people have told me about homosexuals in the WELS clergy, those who claimed they were in school and went on to marriage and ordination. Two were caught in the mattress room at Mequon, ordained and married. One WELS pastor is known for being an active homosexual, and the officials do nothing about it. Talk to A - nothing. Talk to B - nothing.


In the Synodical Conference (tm), right is wrong and wrong is right. Members should expect to pay the price in many ways in the coming decades. The corrupt and amoral clergy leaders always find a way to protect themselves while making the members fund their crimes.


ELCA did that and had a $40 million lawsuit settled against them. They ordained a known pedophile.

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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Let's Not Imitate Rome in Covering Up Child Abuse":

Welcoming Gay Friendly Churches in Pennsylvania:

http://www.gaychurch.org/Find_a_Church/united_states/us_pennsylvania.htm 

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Papal Headgear - Prompted by the Grey Goose":

Dr. Greg,

as long as the big tent is Rome

You are very insightful. This is so so true. I have heard this when I was an RC. Mother Church said, you do not have to leave us, we are big enough to give you your fancy. If you want Jazz bands on Sunday Mass, we got that too, want some mini gods? We got the saints for that. Want to sing gospel songs and choruses, we will allow you to do that. Just don't leave your Papa, we are big enough to have all you want.

LPC

Papal Headgear - Prompted by the Grey Goose

Benedict's coat-of-arms.

Many people think of this as the pope's main headgear,
but it is the bishop's mitre rather than the papal tiara.
Benedict removed the tiara from his coat of arms.

Ermine lined hat.
Some have called it the Grinch hat.

This has been called his Saturno hat,
because it has rings like Saturn.
Some call it his cowboy hat.

The sombrero was recently given for his Mexican visit.

A German Catholic businessman had this tiara made for Pope Benedict,
but no pope has worn the papal crown since Pope Paul VI.

One tradition is to give the pope a new zuchetto during a papal visit,
getting the pope's to take home as a memento.
Pope Benedict has discouraged this tradition.

Baseball cap.

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GJ - Grey Goose sent me the sombrero video, so I decided to collect all the papal headgear photos. One showing him wearing a tiara is an obvious fake.

Pope Benedict tends to play the average guy, a little more relaxed and fun than previous popes.

One of my friends, who would rather not be named, observed that the papacy gets more dangerous as it tries to appear more Protestant, less hostile.

The court chaplain for the Purple Palace, Pastor Weedon, calls Pope Benedict his favorite liturgical author.

All the Lutheran synods--ELCA, WELS, LCMS, ELS--have decided to follow the Church of Rome in the three-year lectionary, the liturgical year, and the liturgical colors. They have not told their members that they are aping the pope, but they are following his lead.

One reason is the ND-centric study of worship in America. The Lutherans are comatose about the Means of Grace and cannot articulate the efficacy of the Word in the Scriptures, in Luther, in the Book of Concord. Therefore, when they study worship toward a PhD at Notre Dame, they become enamored of self-serving Roman scholarship and transmit their enthusiasm to lesser lights in their own structure.

That is the other side of the coin, as they say. One side of Lutheran Enthusiasm is Fuller Seminary. The other side is Roman Catholicism.


KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by  our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasy] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Papal Headgear - Prompted by the Grey Goose":

KJV - Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple [naos] of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Is the Greek word used in this verse for temple the same word that is used for the human body being referred to as a temple in other parts of Scripture?

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GJ - The Greek word - naos - is the same.


KJV 1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple [naos] of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple [naos] of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Papal Headgear - Prompted by the Grey Goose":

The Emergent New Age religion fulfills this God given end time prophecy as it teaches that man is god. This is the same religion that the Church Growth apostacy laid the ground work for with the Emergent Church harvesting it's fruit. The (W)ELS continues to look for the Antichrist sitting in the temple of Jerusalem while they setup the Antichrist in men's hearts through their continued abuse of Christ's Word, Gospel and Church. They excommunicate faithful Christians who defend Justification by Faith Alone and provide lavish financing and continued protection for heinous false teachers who lead men, women and children away from Christ.

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Papal Headgear - Prompted by the Grey Goose":

Brett,

In academia New Age Spiritualism is going strong. Many are junking materialist philosophies but they are also going the other end of anything goes spiritualism too. I blogged that most atheist are going agnostic but that means they are not becoming Christians but they become believers in new religions, i.e., pagan revival.

LPC

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GJ - The mantra here is "I am very spiritual but not religious." Everyone is supposed to nod solemnly.

I have had a few pagans in my classes, including two Wicca priestesses in the same class. They discovered each other, and it was good. Sometimes the class pagan is also a royal pain in the neck, attacking believers.

The pagans and Asian mystic wannabees are prime targets for Roman Catholicism, where they can find a resting place that allows almost any philosophy as long as the big tent is Rome.

One Missouri-trained pastor told me, trying to be patient, that Eastern Orthodoxy is just another polity. In a creedless age, that is true.

Dork-0-Blog's Humorous Comment

Rolf Preus has absolved the entire world,
but not those who disagree with him
and agree with the Book of Concord.

After a number of days, the discussion continues on LQ. Krohn obviously has been led so astray by Jackson that he openly rejects Scripture teaching with an air of superiority in his comments. There are a handful of respondents who seem to know what they're talking about, such as Rolf Preus, Franz Linden, Jim Pierce and Timothy Blank. But you have others who have no idea what they are talking about, and they have crossed over the line into the absurd, like a David Preus, Andrew Preus and a Pastor Williams. If these guys don't know what they're talking about, they should stop commenting. They're only harming their own position. The frosting on the cake is a doctor who thinks he knows more than everyone else. He writes like he's trying to show off his intelligence, but the final result is no one can understand a thing he is saying.

Jungkuntz and the Seminex coalition agreed with Rolf about UOJ.

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Dork-0-Blog's Humorous Comment":

The Fake Ichabod is pathetic. There has been no one commenting on his blog post so he decided to comment on his own. That is my theory anyway.


He tries very hard to make Ichabodians funny but I always wind up laughing at his moves.

LPC

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GJ - Bruce, catnip is not what I need. Photoshops are too much fun. By the way, I am teaching people how to do this in graduate school, education.

Lito, he does write his own comments. Half of his followers are Ichabodians and moles.

Former Moline pastor remembered as an inspiration - Quad Cities Online

Charles Willey, Disciples of Christ,
Donald McGavran's denomination.

Former Moline pastor remembered as an inspiration - Quad Cities Online:




Charles Willey absolutely loved life, and he made the most of it for all his 91 years.

The former 37-year Moline Fire Department chaplain -- who was pastor at First Christian Church in Moline, a motivational speaker who worked worldwide and an avid outdoorsman who loved fishing and motorcycles -- died March 17 at age 91 in Fort Myers, Fla. A celebration of life will be held today at 11 a.m., at First Christian Church, 1826 16th St., Moline.

"He was the most wonderful speaker I've ever heard," Dolores Frybarger, of Moline, a church member since 1962, said Sunday. "He was a very inspirational, wonderful man. He spoke all over the world. It was just his personality, care and concern for everybody he came into contact with. He loved everybody and everybody loved him."

"He was very sunny, laughing. He loved life, he loved people, he loved adventure, he loved my mother," Rev. Willey's daughter Peggy agreed. "He loved everybody."

Rev. Willey was a native of Fairfield, Iowa, and his father and grandfather were also Disciples of Christ ministers. After meeting the love of his life in church, he eloped Nov. 9, 1940, with Betty Riley, beginning a 71-year marriage.

"He was quite a man. He enjoyed life," Mrs. Willey said Sunday. "He always gave you something to think about, to better yourself."

From 1944 to 1953, Rev. Willey was pastor of Coldbrook Christian Church in Cameron, Ill., and was pastor of First Christian Church in Moline, from 1953 until 1971. He worked with Motivational Public Speakers and Speakers Associates; was a 33rd Degree Mason, Eureka College Alumnus of the Year, and chaplain of the Moline Fire Department, retiring in 1999 from the volunteer position at age 78.

"He enjoyed the excitement, the adventure," Peggy Willey Clendenin said of his work with firefighters, "They loved having him there." Rev. Willey came to many fires, lent moral support and spent a lot of time at the fire station to shoot the breeze. "He was really a man's man," she said.

"I started as chaplain because many of my members at First Christian were firefighters, and I saw the opportunity as a way to serve the flock,'' Rev. Willey said in a 1999 Dispatch/Argus interview. He performed funeral ceremonies for former firefighters, married some firemen and gave the address at the annual firefighter's memorial service.

"I feel my main obligation to the department was to the firefighters.'' Rev. Willey said. "I tended to their spiritual needs, as well as helped them with any personal issues that may have come up.''

His daughter said he "married half the city and buried the other half." He was treated as a member of the fire department family, and the number of awards and plaques he got was too many to count, Mrs. Clendenin said.

A boisterous, irresistibly positive man with flaming red hair, Rev. Willey was in demand around the world as an inspiring, positive motivational speaker -- giving talks at conventions and conferences for a wide variety of businesses, organizations, and service clubs, Mrs. Clendenin said.

"It was about being positive, about people loving each other," she said, noting he'd tell folks "to pick up a piece of sunshine."

"He spoke to all the service organizations, and umpteen PTAs," Mrs. Willey said.

"He was well-known throughout the whole world. He traveled everywhere," said his friend Bob Greenway, a retired minister who will co-officiate today's memorial for Rev. Willey. "He was a good person to visit with, and to get advice from. He was a wonderful listener. He truly was like a Dad to me." His best piece of advice? "Stay married," Rev. Greenway said.

His daughter said Rev. Willey loved kids and enjoyed playing with them, including his seven great-grandchildren.

"He was a kid," Mrs. Clendenin said. "They thought he was the coolest, and he was 100 years old."

In his 60s, Rev. Willey parachuted out of an airplane after telling his wife he was going fishing, she said. He came home with grass stains, mussed hair, and a grin from ear to ear. How did her parents keep a 71-year marriage going?

"My Mom and Dad could still laugh together," Mrs. Clendenin said. "He'd tell the same old stories and she'd laugh like she'd never heard them. They just had a great time together."

"He was a very curious person," she added, noting when he was 90, he got a Kindle e-reader. He loved to read, and he adored traveling -- Mrs. Clendenin said his favorite place was "away." Her parents moved to Florida in 2006, where she lives.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Rev. Willey's survivors include a sister, Mary Elizabeth Willey, Fort Myers; and grandchildren, Scott Laud, Moline, Lora Wilson, Singapore, and Melissa Bishop, Omaha, Neb.; and seven great-grandchildren.

'via Blog this'

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GJ - He was the primary reason I became a Lutheran.

Word Associations in Theology

Often we have to deal with associations with certain words - plus the way someone has chosen to translate a term. Context determines meaning. "Drawn butter" could mean an artistic rendering of a stick of butter, or the butter used on lobster. Someone could be told, after a long portrait session, "You look drawn." That has a double meaning, the source of humor from the time of Genesis.

Some older terms are simply no longer used, so they have little value. I have never heard a person say "proffer," so judging that word by context is impossible. The English translation of Knapp uses proffer.

 

"Offer" can be associated with making a decision for Christ. I look at the wording employed to see what they do with their terms. J. P. Meyer obviously uses decision language with UOJ.

 

In legal terms, an insurance company makes an offer and the client makes a decision. It is easy to fall into that kind of thinking. God has done His part - what will you do? Arminians (Decision Theology) do this with everything, including their proof that fossils support Creation. "Now that you know the truth about dinosaurs, it is time to make a decision for Christ. Bow your head and pray the sinners' prayer.") The dinosaur conversion does not take the Gospel into account because the Arminians rely on human reason. For them, the Creation is just as efficacious as the Gospel itself. 

The marketing and entertainment approach of Church Growth/Emergent comes from the use of human reason, as gurus Olson, Huebner, and Kelm admit.

 

Sound Lutherans knew that teaching the Means of Grace will preclude those errors, but all of Lutherdom is shallow on the Means of Grace, from ELCA on down. Protestantism is almost completely silent on the efficacy of the Word, which is foundational in the Bible and in Luther.

 

The Catholics use Means of Grace to designate a limited and partial grace, since Purgatory awaits the faithful. O joy.

 

UOJ uses Means of Grace to say that these instruments (Word and Sacrament) describe us as already forgiven, born forgiven. However, right now they are allergic to admitting what their gurus have taught - that the entire world is born forgiven. Robert Preus quoted Eduard Preuss on that topic, with gushing approval. J. P. Meyer said the same thing in his Ministers of Christ.

General Justification, Objective Justification, and Universal Justification are all expressions of a universal absolution of sin. Each term represents a pronouncement of forgiveness, since the Biblical term "justification" means something different from "atonement" or "expiation" or "redemption." 

Try to explain that to the illiterate! General Justification has been dropped because its origin is German and really means "each and every one" in German. OJ and UOJ are better for communicating the false dogma.

OJ and UOJ are missing as terms and also as concepts in the Bible and Book of Concord. They are missing as terms and also as concepts in the post-Concord era, except Samuel Huber introduced the concept, which P. Leyser and Wittenberg repudiated.

The first written evidence--so far--of OJ comes from the Halle theology textbook published by George Christian Knapp. Knapp was lecturing in that regard for many years in German, then published his textbook, translated by Calvinist superstar Woods before the Saxons landed in New Orleans.

The Saxons stuck with German and did not become familiar with English for some time. They would have had copies of Knapp because of Stephan's training at Halle, their Pietism, and the eminence of Knapp as the last of the old-time Pietists.

Rationalism took over Halle in one generation, and rationalism took over Europe. From that point, in the 1800s, modern theologians of the era saw grace as God's universal forgiveness.  Some, like Tholuck, called themselves Universalists. Others were close to that position.

The effect of rationalism and furtive Universalism was a constant reminder in modern theology that "one must not make forgiveness or salvation contingent upon faith." That was their definition of God's grace, which makes sense once the Means of Grace are set aside.

UOJ Enthusiasts do not realize that their cheerleading about forgiveness without the Means of Grace is a remnant of 19th century rationalistic Pietism.

Prosecution of Roman Catholic Pedophiles Moves to the Next Level

Father Neuhaus began in the LCMS and helped  Paul McCain seem important to Rome.
Neuhaus also defended one of the worst predators in the Roman Catholic Church.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Heard Tonight":

New development in RCC pedophilia scandal. For the first time, a priest handler is being put on trial for transferring priests in trouble for pedophilia to other parishes. In contrast to Cardinal Law's case, BTW, he was only put on the witness stand but never was accused of anything:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/25/justice/pennsylvania-priest-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Opening arguments are scheduled for Monday in Philadelphia in the first case in which an official of a Roman Catholic archdiocese has been accused of protecting abusive priests by moving them from parish to parish.

Monsignor William Lynn has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Francis_Law

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GJ - Whatever can be said of Roman Catholicism is also true of the Lutheran synods, which do permit marriage, as I recall.

The bigger the scandal, the more likely an institution (whether church or school) will cover it up. Perverse networks also enable criminals to thrive in the atmosphere of denial and transfer.

Proportionately, the government could prosecute just as many Lutheran church executives.

Not So Serious Question

Der Schwarz Schaf has left a new comment on your post "How "Lutheran" is CrossWalk?Check Their Website":

Rev. Jackson,

I am relatively new to Ichabod, and I don't understand something. I was born and raised in the Missouri Synod. Recently, I have attended some so-called Wisconsin Synod churches. I understand you were once in both church bodies for a time. I have noted that Wis. Pastors are not very good speakers and don't seem to know much about theology, but are very up on the latest movies and TV shows, football games, and hunting seasons. This would seem to me to be the cause of places like Crosswalk being allowed. But why are Wis. Pastors so dumb? Can you explain.

CTA "Der Schwarz Schaf"

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GJ - I think the Fox Valley circuit was up too late with their favorite seven-course meal - six-packs and giant bags of Fritos.

The graphic above illustrates how Schuller's Church Growth Movement took over WELS. Six men from the same Sausage Factory class worked together to protect each other and advance their cause of apostasy. They became Mequon professors (Mueller, Lawrenz), church executives (Mueller, Lawrenz, Hagedorn, Rutschow), Church and Change leaders (Huebner and everyone else).

I know four of them fairly well. Their mission was to dumb down the Lutheran Church, and they succeeded. They promoted the worst and quashed the best. All the WELS DPs today and all the Love Shack drones are one in faith with them.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Not So Serious Question":

Something to consider:

Church and Change - WELS leaders and key laity
Change or Die - Mark Jeske and ELCA
Time of Grace - (W)ELS and LCMS joint unionistic ministry effort
Thrivent supporting ELCA called worker abortions and advancing the global United Religions Initiative - (W)ELS, LCMS and ELCA financed
Pastor Ski and The Core - (W)ELS, anti-Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Emergent and New Age according to doctrine and practice
Tim Glende - (W)ELS, Papist according to his approach to Pastoral Ministry, Baptist, Methodist, Emergent, Plagairist and New Age according to doctrine and practice.
Jeff Gunn - (W)ELS but not (W)ELS, teaching (W)ELS children, Baptist, Methodist, Emergent. Verbally opposed by (W)ELS DP but still teaching (W)ELS children.
Leonard Sweet - Not (W)ELS, Methodist New Age Satanist who has been called on to instruct WELS clergy and laity.

All of the above are accepted and condoned by (W)ELS Synod administration and everyone in fellowship with (W)ELS. None have been removed from their positions within the church body.

Joe and Lisa Krohn - Christians faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. Defended Justification by Faith alone

Joe and Lisa Krohn were excommunicated from Holy Word, Austin Texas (W)ELS for holding to Justification by Faith Alone and opposing the false gospel of UOJ which is not taught in Scripture or the Lutheran Confessions.

Kokomo families - Excommunicated from WELS because they defended Justification by Faith Alone and opposed the false gospel of UOJ as taught by (W)ELS, LCMS, ELCA, New Age religions, 7th Day Adventists.

Robert Schuller History Tied to Occultic Religion

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "So California - When Will WELS Try This?":

Some history on the Hour of Power's decline:

The Hour of Power was seen across Europe as late as 1994, but the show was dropped when European govts and Russia decided to make TV cuts. He claimed 10 million viewers there:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/11/state/n115330D81.DTL

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/03/times-change-for-hour-of-power-crystal-cathedral/1#.T2_xviKtNUw

OC's Crystal Cathedral congregation to relocate
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/11/state/n115330D81.DTL

1994:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-10-15/news/9410150627_1_schuller-super-channel-cotton

Schuller's worldwide audience was more than halved when Europe's Super Channel and Russia's government-financed Channel 1 dropped him this year. NBC acquired a controlling interest in Super Channel and overhauled its programming, costing Schuller about 200,000 viewers. Government money woes forced Channel 1 to cut programming, costing between 10 million and 15 million viewers.

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GJ - I always learn from Bruce Church's comments. Doubtless the free ride from low-cost TV broadcasting was a great boon to Schuller in the early years. I also understand the neighborhood changed and his local members moved farther away. What seemed so unusual at the time became hidebound after all his disciples kept taking Church Growth a few steps beyond his starting point.

I can no longer find the Internet evidence for Schuller and Mary Kay getting Napoleon Hill Foundation Awards, which tied both of them into Asian polytheistic thinking. Schuller and Cho saw things the same way, and Cho was kicked out of the Assemblies of God for his paganism. A little research will show how that has slopped over into the Lutheran Church, thanks to heedless leaders who call themselves "conservative" and "confessional."

Schuller won an award from the Napoleon Hill Foundation
for promoting Hill's philosophy.
So did Mary Kay.

The final bishops of the LCA and ALC had the same problem with watching everything fall apart. They launched ELCA with gay and feminist quotas, only to bemoan the results of their own policies a few years later. David Preus and James Crumley came to regret the merger they promoted, but the merger followed the policies they established and endorsed.

How "Lutheran" is CrossWalk?Check Their Website

AC V has left a new comment on your post "But Everyone Loves a Circus!Does the Church Offer ...":

"You can see how "Lutheran" CrossWalk is by their website."

Yeah, apparently, Holy Communion ain't that important, but "In short, once saved, our purpose is to love God foremost and to love our neighbors"

Do, do, do....:

http://www.crosswalkphoenix.com/explore-faith/statement-of-beliefs.aspx

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GJ - The Missouri and ELS versions are the same.

They ape the same anti-Lutheran leaders from Fuller.

They copy the life-coach messages from those snake-oil salesmen.

They teach salvation by works, as their idols do.

They plagiarize their mentors' generic confessions of faith.

The elected and appointed synod leaders do nothing, except to excuse, promote, and protect these blasphemies.

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AC V has left a new comment on your post "How "Lutheran" is CrossWalk?Check Their Website":

A real-life story of what CrossWalk is all about:

Anonymous - March 27, 2011

In 2009 the economy hit me and my family hard. We decided to let our home go after a denied loan mod and a fallthrough short sale. We were overspending as a family and had to wake up. I found Dave Ramsey and soaked in what he taught. To get my finances and life in order I started browsing the bible because of Mr. Ramsey. I then decided to try church and when I decided I saw the crosswalk billboard on my way home. I saw that as an opportunity. I feel better now with the church lessons and with coaching friends and family on how to handle money. I hope church will help me help others as well in home finances.

http://www.crosswalkphoenix.com/explore-faith/crosswalk-stories.aspx

Give me a church where the main "business" is delivering forgiveness of sins.

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GJ - I thought for a moment that we lost AC V to the Dark Side.

Heard Tonight

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Heard Tonight":

Perfect. Can't stop laughing...

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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Heard Tonight":

Forgive me, Father...for I have sinned... :)

But Everyone Loves a Circus!Does the Church Offer Eternal-Life-Doctrine, Or Life-Coaching?

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "So California - When Will WELS Try This?":

Luther said that doctrine is Heaven and life is earth. What passes as Christianity today is some wind bag that comes along with an allegedly new idea.

Life coaching is the latest craze, taken from the secular realm and retrofitted to the church. In years past, our parents would have recognized these types as snake oil salesmen. I can barely remember when Dr. Benjamin Spock was popular in the '60s. My parents had neither the time, the inkling, or the money to buy his books. A generation later, Spock admitted that he was wrong. Ideas have consequences. Sometimes, this life is just going to be difficult. We will never see perfection this side of Heaven. This must be part of what you get when you ignore Justification by Faith Alone. The emphasis is placed upon Sanctification, with that not really being properly defined.

The publishing of the hymns here on Ichabod is a good start for those who need comfort from the Gospel. Our focus is placed upon Christ and not on ourselves. This Life Coaching is just another act that the Circus Church engages in to keep the undiscerning under the big tent of apostasy.

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Disgrace in Action - Another Node in the Metastatic Cancer Growth of Church and Change

Endorsed by WELS SP Mark Schroeder and DP Buchholz, 
Who Only Discipline Those Who Write for Ichabod

CrossTrain Ministries provides coaching services to identified Christian leaders with the stated goal of improving spiritual leadership skills amongst lay leaders, ministry professionals, and general volunteers. In conjunction with this spiritual coaching, CrossTrain also provides topical seminars on subjects with the goal of improving the quality of ministry leadership, both professional and volunteer, and ultimately providing the skills which will promote leadership of a higher capacity and excellence to involve all in ministry.

Rick Loewen (pictured above with beautiful grandaughter Rae) was a police officer for 20 years prior to serving in public ministry. As a police officer he served as a patrol officer, narcotics detective, vice detective, and homicide detective. He taught police officers in the areas of interviews and interrogation, undercover operations, and crime scene investigation. While serving as a police officer and enrolled in the staff ministry program at DMLC, he received a divine call to start the first youth and family ministry program on the White Mountain Apache Reservation AZ. He was then called by WLCFS to develop and implement family ministry programs Synod wide. He served as the director of ministries at WLCFS and oversaw their ministry support services program, family life education program, and counseling division. Rick is currently called by Crosswalk Lutheran Church. At Crosswalk, he serves for a subsidiary ministry called CrossTrain Ministries. CrossTrain Ministries is a self-supporting ministry in partnership with Wisconsin Lutheran College and Grace in Action Ministries. CrossTrain Ministries Coaching Network Conference May 14-17, 2012 Walker, MN Effective Strategies for Developing Leaders in Your Ministry (Pastor Don Patterson) Positive communications explaining what you do and why you do it Enlist their services to enjoy opportunities to handle the Word Give them opportunities to see the Word work. Develop strong relationships that allow you to know individual's strengths and weaknesses and apply God's Word to both Integrate the Word as part of every interaction with them. Value the relationship with your leaders by being grace filled and forgiving Live your expectations of others by being a servant Live in the shadow of the cross instead of our success and failures Preaching (Pastor Don Patterson) Make sure you preach exactly what the Holy Spirit was preaching in that text Preach to the street and not the professor Use illustrations appropriately Prepare your people to hear the text How to prioritize the main message over the pet message The use of syntax versus morphology How to avoid pulpit tone, irritating habits, redundant styles, and behaviors The use of natural and unnatural inflections The triangle of the sermon BIO Don grew up in Garland Texas, one of six kids. He learned leadership skills from a national youth organization early in life. He earned a degree from East Texas State University in Commerce Texas in 1985.  Married and has 4 boys. He graduated from our seminary in 1992 and has been the pastor of Holy Word since then. He was elected to his district presidium at age 34. He has spoken on marriage, leadership, and at men's, women's and missionary conferences here and in Europe. He is the speaker on a radio broadcast "A Reason For Hope" airing in Austin, Texas and Minneapolis Minnesota. It is supported by a website of that same name.  He currently serves as the first vice president of the South Central District of the WELS. His passion is mission work and church leadership. His hobbies are exercise and anything that happens outdoors. Small Group Leadership (Pastor Jeff Gunn) The means of grace are the key to people growing in their faith. One way to deliver the means of grace to the people of our congregation is via a groups system. "Growth groups" are gatherings of 12-15 people in homes of the congregation for the purpose of sharing the word of God with one another, praying and worshipping with one another, enjoying fellowship, serving in the congregation and community, and reaching out with the gospel. In this portion of our coaching network we will discuss the groups system: why it is beneficial, how it operates, how to set a groups system up and get it rolling, what the challenges to running a groups system are, how to deal with problems with groups, and how to continue to expand groups to meet the various needs and character of the congregation. BIO Jeff Gunn is pastor of Crosswalk Lutheran Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona.  A teenage convert to Christ, Jeff was brought into the WELS fellowship through a neighboring family, an experience that God used to develop a life-long passion for outreach with the gospel. He graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1982 and subsequently served for 14 years in the Central Africa country of Zambia.  Six of those years were spent living in the bush, pastoring multiple village congregations. In the next eight years, Jeff continued to serve congregations as a pastor, but also served as WELS field coordinator for the Zambia Mission, and as a professor at the Lutheran Bible Institute and Seminary in Lusaka.  Jeff's 14 years serving in Zambia have given him a unique perspective on the management of the ministry of the gospel.  Since returning to the U.S. in 1996, Jeff has served as religion instructor and assistant principal at Arizona Lutheran Academy for five years. In 2001, he became Director of Native American Missions for the WELS. Finally, in 2004, Jeff received the call to launch CrossWalk Church on the campus of Arizona Lutheran Academy.  Starting with about 30 people in 2004, God has blessed this ministry so that today there are two services and 500 people worshipping each Sunday at CrossWalk. CrossWalk uses a contextualized approach to worship, weekly growth groups, and ministry teams as key components to its approach to gospel ministry in a church that describes itself as a "church for unchurched people." Spiritual Resiliency (Mr. Rick Loewen) Participants will identify stressors that we all deal with along with some that are more common to those who are in leadership and ministry work. The approach will start with recognition that God has designed us like a three legged stool. We have a spiritual, emotional, and physical leg. When any one of these is out of balance we become out of balance and are more prone to suffer from the effects of stress. Each participant will be given information to form a personal action plan to address each one of these issues. This action plan will be a part of the accountability and support through the monthly individual coaching sessions. BIO Rick Loewen was a police officer for 20 years prior to serving in public ministry. As a police officer he served as a patrol officer, narcotics detective, vice detective, and homicide detective. He taught police officers in the areas of interviews and interrogation, undercover operations, and crime scene investigation. While serving as a police officer and enrolled in the staff ministry program at DMLC, he received a divine call to start the first youth and family ministry program on the White Mountain Apache Reservation AZ. He was then called by WLCFS to develop and implement family ministry programs Synod wide. He served as the director of ministries at WLCFS and oversaw their ministry support services program, family life education program, and counseling division. Rick is currently called by Crosswalk Lutheran Church. At Crosswalk, he serves for a subsidiary ministry called CrossTrain Ministries. CrossTrain Ministries is a self-supporting ministry in partnership with Wisconsin Lutheran College and Grace in ActionMinistries. AGENDA Monday, May 14 7 pm - 9 pm          Introductions, Top 3 Challenges,                              Most Passionate in Ministry About,                              My Goals for this Seminar and Next Year of                              Coaching Are... Tuesday, May 15 8:30-8:45 am         Opening Devotion 9:00-10:00 am       Spiritual Resiliency - New Participants                               (Rick Loewen)                               Vision/Traction Organizer Roundtable Discussion                               (Jeff Gunn and Scott Gostchock) 10:00-10:15 am     Break 10:15-11:45 am     Spiritual Resiliency - New Particpants                               (Rick Loewen)                               Vision/Traction Organizer Roundtable Discussion                               (Jeff Gunn and Scott Gostchock) 11:45-1:00 pm       Lunch 1:00-2:30 pm         Spiritual Resiliency (Rick Loewen) 1:30-2:30 pm         Personal Action Plan (Rick Loewen) 2:30-5:00 pm         Exercise Demonstrations and Fitness Time 5:00-6:30 pm         Dinner 7:00-8:00 pm         Preaching and Evening Devotion (Don Patterson) 8:00-? pm              Social Gathering Wednesday, May 16 8:30-8:45 am         Opening Devotion 8:45-10:15 am       Small Groups (Jeff Gunn)        10:15-10:30 am     Break 10:30-11:45 am     Leadership The Next Steps                               (Mark Wrightsman) 11:45-1:00 pm       Working Lunch with Mark Wrightsman 1:00-2:30 pm         Developing Core Leaders (Don Paterson,                               Jeff Gunn,and Scott Gostchock) 2:30-2:45 pm         Break 2:45-4:00 pm         Professional Growth Plans 4:00-4:30 pm         Wrap-Up Exercises (Rick Loewen) 4:30-6:00 pm         Exercise 6:00-7:30 pm         Dinner 7:30-8:30 pm         Closing Devotion and Round Table Conference                               Feedback 8:30-? pm              Social Gathering Thursday May 17 8:00 am                 Breakfast 9:00 am                 Departure, Shuttle to Airport, etc. Your Costs? Commitment to receive 12 months of services - including a monthly webinar and personal time with your coach 3 days of your life for personal and professional training at a conference center* Personal time for completing homework including self-assessments, personal inventories, specialized readings, and much more  Willingness to exchange ministry strategies, Bible studies, and sermons Willing to coach fellow participants $1300.00 for the twelve months of services *Services and costs for the 3 day conference subject to vary This ministry business is being partially funded by Grace in Action (GIA).

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GJ

You can see how "Lutheran" CrossWalk is by their website.