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| I was going to have goats discussing the TV series, The Bible. One would say, chewing on a film can, labeled The Bible, "Do you like it?" And the other one would say, "I liked The Book better." That awful series says a lot about this topic, and I never finished the Photoshop. |
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Randall Schultz Predicted This Evangelical Collaps...":
Pastor Jackson,
Thanks for posting what I have written. This article is spot on. I am certain that there are some details in which we would disagree. Most of today's Americanized Christianity is like a ship without a rudder. It has produced hordes of spiritual vagabonds. I used to work with a gent who was raised as a five point Calvinist. He was a disgruntled member of Elmbrook (Babtist) Church. It was the first mega-church in the metro Milwaukee area. We used to have serious doctrinal discussions. These days, it is hard to find anyone who can discuss doctrine. There were lots of observable clues that churches have been going down the wrong paths. The author of this article enumerates many of them.
There were also many outside of Lutheran circles who have been sounding the alarm, only to have it fall on deaf ears. The antagonism toward Christianity has been subtle, but more noticeable.
When you have a Theology of Glory, you will lose members who cannot stand up to any persecution. Many churches have become carnal, appealing to those who embrace material success, without recognizing the source of all of our blessings. Likewise, the fleshly appeal is to name it and claim it. Lacking the Gospel, they offer your best life now, a fireproofed marriage, Christian financial planning, a purpose driven life, or any other inadequate substitute.
Luther always seemed to hit the nail on the head when it came to this. He talked about the preaching of the Gospel being like a passing rainstorm or how The Lord sends false teachers who flay their disciples to the bone. Every time that I was offered some trendy book that was ghost written for a popular false teacher, I would like to say, “no thanks, I have plenty of Luther plus my Book of Concord. That has been around a whole lot longer.”
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| This describes the WELS Shrinkers, in more ways than one. |
GJ - I certainly see the Lutherans going Methodist - no doctrine, lots of glitz. Count the empty mega-Methodist churches. They were the big ones, long ago.
The Evangelicals supporting the homosexual trend - like Andy Stanley - they are a good indication of what will follow.
The Lutheran Church Shrinkers loathe Christianity but cannot figure out how to find another job where they can do so little for so much money. They openly mock the Word of God and dare anyone to stop them.
They know they are running a confidence game, but the officials (in the same game) are not going to stop them.
Is there a better job than synod official - where one can live in tax-sheltered housing, drive in a synod-paid car, earn top dollar, and do nothing more than sit around in meetings blowing gas? And for work-vacations they go to deluxe resorts and do more of the same.
The old congregations were built with a lot of Gospel sermons and visits. There is little of either one now.
The denominational offices were little appendages with the officials working out of their parsonages or very modest office space.
WELS is like the British Foreign Office, getting more office space while the Empire shrinks to nothing. A bold move.
