Ben Wink has left a new comment on your post "From One WELS District President - Intrepid Luther...":
I am just stunned at the events that are pouring forth in the wake of everything that has happened starting with the circumstances with Pr. Rydecki. Right here in black and white we have a DP that somehow already has an informed opinion but admits that when it comes to Intrepid Lutherans he doesn't "read this yellow publication or any others of its ilk."
What better way to be informed than to not actually read what is being written and listen to what is being said. I remember while I was a student at MLC and there was uproar on campus regarding the then new Harry Potter series. Kids were reading it in droves, but can we actually use it in the classroom since it has obvious overtones of magic and such. Most of those who were vehemently opposed to the series were talking about the satanic magic and witchcraft abounding in the pages of Rowling's books. When these critics were asked where in the books they read about these problems, they would remark that they hadn't read any of the books and why would they waste their time reading such obvious devil-filled tripe.
So you have no argument. So you have no educated stance to build your platform on. (Also bear in mind most of these people were huge Lord of the Rings fans, which also has magic and witchcraft that the Lord apparently approves of. This is MLC after all, where debating skills are taught...at the pig roasts I guess. Certainly not on campus.)
When it comes to the Intrepid website's "ilk", I suppose he means Ichabod, the website no Lutheran should read. Frankly I know I started reading it just because I was intrigued with the critical arguments being posed towards names I recognized from my tiny Lutheran church body. I know more than once I would raise my eyebrows and go "wow, this Jackson guy wrote THAT?!" (And oddly enough finding myself agreeing more than once.)
Sure this site can get rather in-your-face but there have also been an amazing wealth of quotes from Scripture and sections from Luther and other Reformers as well as the Book of Concord. All are resources I can readily admit I should read more of and reading this site has been a terrific encouragement to follow up on my own personal studies of the Word, Luther, and the BOC.
Didn't Apostle Paul himself tell the Thessalonians to question teaching? To "prove all things; hold fast that which is good."? This is not being obstinate or rebellious; it is seeing what remains after being exposed to the revealing light of the Lord's Word. To ignore God's gift of discernment is foolish to say the least, damning to say the most.
To just blindly nod and say, "yes this must be true because this was told to me by a trained and certified synodical worker" is foolhardy and this is how doctrinal problems grow roots and are incredibly hard to weed out successfully.
Crack open that Bible and read it. Check up on what you're being taught. Examine Luther's works; after all, if one is claiming to be Lutheran, it might be a worthwhile endeavor to see what the man actually taught. You can move on to Chemnitz when you've gotten through Luther.
Oh and for those Martin Luther College students who are looking at my words, even though you shouldn't be reading this website, take that Book of Concord that admittedly looks great on your shelf, break the binding, and actually start reading it. Even grab a highlighter and start taking notes. (I know, I know, this isn't for a class you're overpaying for, but it is far more worthwhile than you can possibly imagine right now. Plus you are in New Ulm, MN. I can guarantee you have a lot of free time.)
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GJ - DP Jon-Boy Buchholz imagines he is quite smart, but he has been shockingly stupid, even by WELS standards. Or - he has been far more scared than WELS wants to admit.
One outcome of the original discussion on the Intrepids would have been a careful multi-year study of the Lutheran Confessions. After all, WELS claims a quia subscription to the Book of Concord.
But Buchie chose duplicity, lying to the congregation, slandering a fellow pastor, and causing a national furor. The Holy Spirit uses evil men and false doctrine to test and approve what is sound doctrine.
Some pastors regret that they were not born with the Examen in one hand and the Bondage of the Will in the other. Turmoil and affliction make us look at the issues and our values all over again.
Luther himself said that our tough hides have to be salted and stretched by these things.
When I became a WELS pastor, I knew about the Book of Concord. However, it was the constant abuse of Lutheran doctrine and practice (in Columbus and the Michigan District) that made me study, compile, and re-study the Confessions, Luther, and Chemnitz.
I was asked to write an Ohio conference paper on the Confessions. When I did, the conference refused to discuss it at all. Months after I resigned from WELS, the conference tried to condemn the paper they previous refused to debate. One pastor got up and said. "When he was here you refused to discuss the paper. You gave up your chance." (Note to non-WELSians: this is part of their inbred culture. A paper is approved if it says nothing, received with thanks if it might raise an eyebrow, rejected if it gets close to the truth.)
SP Mark Schroeder contacts people and tells them not to read Ichabod, but he also claims never to read Ichabod. The DPs are the same. Deputy Doug tried to blame all his troubles on Ichabod, but his own pastors and laity were raising issues on their own. His response was to support the Glende excommunication of an attorney, the one who correctly nailed Glende as a lying plagiarist. Deputy Doug also re-assigned the circuit pastor who dared to deal with Glende's plagiarism. WELS' motto should be, "These colors do run."
People provide me with the WELS, Missouri, and ELS news. Most of it is WELS and Missouri, because they are the bulk of the 5% of Lutherans not in ELCA (where one splinter is four times the size of the Little Sect on the Prairie). As several have pointed out, Ichabod is a safe place to discuss matters. Each honest post from a reader is encouraging to others who have experienced the same.
Early on in WELS I wrote a little article in Christian News about Church Growth. Readers flooded me with thank-you letters. My first thought was, "I am going to leave WELS too. There is too big of a gap between the fake image and the reality."
Not for the last time - I provoke anger and laughter on purpose, to get people reading the Scriptures, the Confessions, Chemnitz, and other faithful Lutherans. What are the two most popular posts since Google provided statistics? Mequonites - click on the blue print for the post. That is an embedded link.
Luther quotations being read - my goal.
In the last month, the top two posts are:
The Apology of the Augsburg Confession was viewed 903 times in the last 30 days - dangerous for Missouri, even more so for WELS. They need to be re-educated at Fuller, Trinity Divinity, or Willow Creek.
Many posts that upset people the most are from others, still active within WELS or Missouri. The Party in the MLC gay video was not my find. The person who wrote could not bear to watch it. I watched it, posted the link to its source - Party in the Fire Island Pines, and watched people go nuts defending MLC. Now the participants are full of regret and want the video, which they published to YouTube for the world to watch, to be killed off.
