Theft of St. John Lutheran Church, Milwaukee - Basic Facts

Ron Muetzel, Time of Grace,
and Lloyd C. Schlomer, Ascension Lutheran Church, Moorehead, MN,
worked with two men from St. John Lutheran to lock out the congregation,
cancel the services during Holy Week and Easter,
and steal the congregation's endowment fund.
No congregational meeting was announced or held.

I learned last August, 2012, that Pastor Kevin Hastings' classmate at Mequon, Lloyd C. Schomer, told Kevin, "You need an exit strategy." Lloyd, who has no jurisdiction in Milwaukee over an independent congregation, was in contact with two of St. John's members.

Lloyd also told Kevin that Ron Muetzel, Time of Grace, was in contact with these two men.

Just before Tim Niedfelt and his wife officially joined St. John, the two men changed the locks on the church, fired the pastor, and grabbed the endowment fund and church accounts - all done illegally with the help of a downtown law firm.

Paul Demcak and Timothy Kitzman did this with the help of the following law firm:

How odd, that Dimcak and Kitzman got an expensive law firm
when Dimcak lived for free at the old St. John parsonage!
Who arranged this pricey law firm? - sounds like the Joel Hochmuth case.

Brad Backer, Albrecht Backer Labor & Employment
207 E Michigan St. Suite 410 53202
http://www.abemploymentlaw.com/contact_milw.html

The church constitution requires a notification of all members before a congregational meeting. No meeting was called and no one was notified in advance of this action.

Result - No Worship
About 10 members, including Hastings, were not notified of this action, so the parish was closed for Holy Week and Easter services. In fact, there are no worship services scheduled at this time, thanks to Time of Grace's Ron Muetzel, Ascension Lutheran Church's Lloyd C. Schlomer, the law firm, and stealthy WELS advisers yet to be named.

Recent History - Concerts, New Internet Services and Members
Various Lutherans have arranged to have pipe organ concerts at St. John, including a Christmas Vespers service last December.

One WELS student was forbidden by his sect to play the organ in the future. WELS has never fussed about what Time of Grace did. Jeske is famous for worship with all kinds of denominations and religions.

Two new members were officially joining when the Demcak, Kitzman, and the law firm locked them out. They were planning evening services to be broadcast over the Internet.

Pastor Hastings has cared for this congregation since 1986 (to be precise - he tutored a year at Prairie), when he graduated from Mequon with Lloyd C. Schlomer, after being supervised in his vicarage by Ron Muetzel. He has managed the finances and kept the building in good repair, taking care of the small membership. Not many could do this.

The building and the pipe organ are unique contributions to Lutheran worship and history.

Classic Ichabod - Bethany Appleton as Church and Change Hotspot. If WELS Brags About a Parish, It Is a Church and Change Sinkhole

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Doctrinal Cancer Goes Exponential in WELS - Check Out This New Attempt To Stay Under the Radar:
Who's Who in Church and Chicanery

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2009/09/doctrinal-cancer-goes-exponential-in.html

Board members cherish their privacy.

Keynote Speaker: Mark Jeske

MALE LEADERSHIP - JOHN JOHNSON
There are many spots in the Bible that describe a man's role in the family and the Church. These days it sometimes seems like society has a different outlook. In turn, we have downplayed our responsibilities God has given us. This seminar will discuss what our responsibilities are in our God given role and how we can use them to show glory to God.

BECOMING EXTERNALLY FOCUSED  - JAMES SKORZEWSKI
One of our main roles on earth is to serve. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. There are many things going on in our lives. How do we balance everything between work, marriage, and kids? How can we pro-actively spread the Gospel in our lives as well?

GIVE YOUR KIDS MOMENTUM FOR LIFE! BRUCE BECKER
Want to be the best dad you can be? Parenting is one of the toughest challenges we can face. Our culture puts little emphasis on the importance of fathers and that is untrue. Dads are extremely important! How are you making a difference in your child's life? Studies indicate that a dad is an important role model in their kid's life and scripture tells us what type of role model we need to be.

HOW A MAN OF HIS WORD PRAYS REG DRAHEIM
How can we become more intentional in our prayer life using scripture as our guide?

GETTING THE RESPECT YOU CRAVE  - RANDY HUNTER
One of the main needs a husband has is respect. When that is not met, things can get crazy. This seminar will teach us how to give love and respect quickly, easily and biblically.

PARENTING YOUR ADULT CHILDREN  - MARK HENKE
Remember the saying of grandmother's from years gone by-"little kids-little problems; big kids-big problems?" Did you think that your parenting would be all downhill once you kids got out of high school? Are you ready to regroup and recoup the relationship you would like to have with your children? Lets explore how to keep your S.A.N.I.T.Y as you parent your adult children with a Godly heart and focus.

DEALING WITH LOSS -  MARK HENRICH
It is inevitable that everyone will experience loss at sometime in our lives. Whether it be the loss of a parent, spouse, child or friend to death, divorce, job loss, financial set back or health issues. We can understand when Job says "I will never see happiness again." Yet Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always!" How do we go from Job to Paul and how do we help others on their "loss journey?"

CAN REAL CHANGE HAPPEN FOR ME IN THIS LIFE?  -  PHIL MERTEN
Do you ever wish you could change a certain thing about your past? Does your conscience constantly rob you of joy and happiness. Jesus Christ offers real change through repentance and forgiveness.

BIBLICAL DISCIPLINES - WAYNE MUELLER
Life challenges us with many demands from work and family. God shows us the way through our beliefs and values that is offered through faith in Jesus Christ.

SIGNIFICANCE IN RETIREMENT  -  DAVID TIMM
Retirement is often looked at the end of someone's career. It can also be looked at as a fresh beginning of excitement and opportunity to use God's blessings to fulfill His will and do things you never dreamed possible.

CREATION/EVOLUTION - PAUL BOEHLKE
There have been many debates on how the world was created. How much truth is there to evolution? Discover what overwhelming evidence God gives us as proof He is in control.

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WELCOME TO MEN OF HIS WORD

PLAN NOW FOR THE 1ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE!!!
FEBRUARY 20, 2010

LIBERTY HALL CONFERENCE CENTER
800 Eisenhower Drive
Kimberly, WI 54136
(just off of 441 & College Ave.)

Welcome to MenofHisWord.org! Men of His Word is a men's conference to celebrate God's Word. Our theme for our first annual conference is "You are Not Alone." Life gives us many different scenarios and this conference will help us understand how to handle them through our faith in Jesus Christ. This year's conference will include a key note speech by Mark Jeske, a full line up of real-life seminars, and music by "Greater Than". The conference was started by a group of members from Bethany Lutheran Church in Appleton, WI. We encourage you to join us! With God's help we will have our first conference in Appleton, WI on February 20, 2010!

On our website you will find a schedule of events along with the topics that will be discussed that day. There will be 150 spots available on a first come first serve basis. You will be able to reserve your spot on this website using your debit or credit card coming November 1st, so check back periodically for updates! God's Blessings!!!

Men of His Word-John 17:17

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7:30-8:30 Registration
8:30-9:00 Orientation/Worship-"Greater Than"
9:00-10:00 Key Note-Mark Jeske
10:10-11:00 Seminar #1
11:10-12:00 Seminar #2
12:10-1:00 Lunch
1:10-2:00 Seminar #3
2:10-3:00 Closing Session
3:00 Conference Ends

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You Are Not Alone is the theme of our 1st Annual Men of His Word Christian Conference on February 20, 2010. This conference is designed to help Christian men gather around God's Word for mutual encouragement and enrichment to face the challenges of life in today's world. It is important to highlight God's countless blessings he has given men and the brotherly encouragement he provides through His Word.

Jesus says in John 17:17 "Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth." This is the motto of Men of His Word. We know you are someone who also wants to promote spiritual growth among God's people and particularly the leaders of our homes, churches, and communities. We pray that you will partner with us in the endeavor and through this conference we can equip men with the strength and guidance of God's Word and the encouragement that Christian brothers offer in faith.

John 17:17

***

GJ - Names of known Church Growth/Emerging Church fanatics are reverently printed in red, above. The only ones lacking are Kent Hunter and a posthumous Waldo Werning.

The lowest forms of Creation are able to replicate asexually, and this is happening with Church Growth. Shut down Church and Chicanery, and the WELS Prayer Warriors Institute meets. Shut down the Prayer Warriors and this new attempt buzzes right along. So far, nothing is shut down and no one is disciplined for mocking the efficacy of the Word and the Means of Grace.

Oh! Oh! Oh! I just discovered another Church Growth Principle!

When things get hot in WELS, jump to Missouri and fan the flames of Ablaze with money,

the only means of grace recognized by Church and Chicanery.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Doctrinal Cancer Goes Exponential in WELS - Check ...":

Greg, you're a buffoon. Do you really think you're making a difference? People think you're an idiot, that's all.

***

GJ - People give me the results of their research because they know Lutherans read Ichabod and respond. I have lost track of how many website pages were changed or deleted because I quoted them.

I admire the big, brave Chicaneries who can only post anonymousely. They are like their allies, the Doctrinal Pussycats, who are afraid to reveal their actual confession of faith.

They are all peacocks, strutting around with their fine feathers, but covering up their feet, because their foundation is so ugly (Luther paraphrase). They think they are singing beautiful music, but their cries are raucous and unsettling.

If a Shrinker takes the time to respond to a new post, around midnight, yes, I have made a difference. Thank you for building up my self-esteem. It saves me from renting a life-coach.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Doctrinal Cancer Goes Exponential in WELS - Check ...":

Mark Henke should also be in red. This whole conference is organized and run by his congregation, Bethany (in -- where else -- Appleton) and his associate pastor, Aden. Along with Ski's theater at its mother church St. Peter, Bethany leads the way in church growth idiocy in the Fox Valley of Wisconsin. Their other allies include St. Matthew and Eternal Love, also in Appleton. Other congregations in Appleton, which used to be solid, are beginning to drift that way as well, including the largest, Mt. Olive. The few faithful pastors left in the Fox Valley just sit by and let it happen. All the pastors in the whole area need to be exposed for what they are -- church growth promoters or those who enable it with their silence.

Plagiarizing Swindoll and Kissing Up to Jeske - Pay Off Big Time. First service at church’s second site | Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)

Jeske Zombies!

First service at church’s second site | Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS):

Bethany, Appleton, Wis., held its first worship service at its second site Easter Sunday, March 31. The service was held at Our Shepherd Child Care and Family Ministry Center, Bethany's child care center located about three miles away. More than 160 people attended, many of them from the child care center and the community.

Rev. Darin Aden, one of Bethany’s three pastors, says he is thankful for the turnout and for all the hard work that Bethany’s members put into the service. “The blessing of having a solid group of mature Christians to draw on for experience, input, and service is priceless,” he says. “Knowing all that went into the service, seeing the many families within whose hearts God moved to bring them to worship, and being able to stand before the congregation as God’s messenger is a humbling and treasured experience.”

Bethany started the child care center in 2000 to serve a growing neighborhood not really covered by any of the seven WELS churches in Appleton; now more than 144 children from six weeks to 12 years old are enrolled. Last summer, with funding help from the Board for Home Missions, Bethany added a third pastor so it can better reach out to prospects and unchurched families at the center—including offering worship opportunities.

Future worship services at the center will be held Saturday evenings and tailored for those who are new to church. Aden says having worship at the center instead of the church helps community members make a connection to regular worship because they are familiar and comfortable with the location.

A recent 14,500 square foot expansion of the center provided the space for worship. The expansion included classrooms; office space; and a Praise Center, a multi-purpose room that can hold 250 people.

“Before the addition, I would come out and do devotions copy Swindoll on a weekly basis, but there was not a place to do work—no office, no place for counseling,” says Aden. Now with additional space and staff, Aden’s office is at Our Shepherd, where he can greet the families and work directly with them every day.

Along with its normal child care activities and programs, the building also is used to host parenting seminars, fellowship events, service projects, and other neighborhood programs for those who aren’t using the child care.

Aden says he is excited to see what the future will bring. “As I ponder what God has in mind, I am reminded of the words of a song, ‘Lord, I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know who you are.’ I don’t know what God will do through his people and ministry in northwest Appleton, but I know him. That is what will guide us, inspire us, and give us peace.”

'via Blog this'

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Chuck Swindoll is Evangelical Free (Pietist) but serves a community church with no affiliation.
Chuck graduated from a non-E-Free seminary, Dallas, and is a bigshot there.

From Wikipedia:

"In July 1994, Swindoll became the president of the Dallas Theological Seminary, and now serves as its chancellor. He is the author of more than 70 books, most of which are based on his research and preparation for sermons preached each Sunday. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Christianity Today produced an article naming Swindoll as one of the top 25 most influential preachers of the past 50 years (1956–2006).

In 1998, Swindoll founded a new church in Frisco, Texas, Stonebriar Community Church. The church first held services at Collin County Community College (now called Collin College) then moved to its permanent home on Legendary Drive in Frisco. The congregation grew rapidly from a few hundred members to several thousand in the first few years and this growth has necessitated major expansion of the current facility. Construction for the additions began in 2005. Many of the pastors at Stonebriar are graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary, and the church is known for its missionary work in India and other countries. Though Swindoll is still widely regarded as an Evangelical Free Church of America preacher, the Stonebriar Community Church is not affiliated with any particular denomination.[2]"

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Bethany Appleton WELS Caught Plagiarizing Swindoll

Your offering dollars at work, promoting false teachers. --- bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Bethany Appleton WELS Caught Plagiarizing Swindoll...":

The members, no doubt, got suspicious when their pastor produced a devotion without spelling and grammar mistakes, and suspected false doctrine. Spelling and grammar mistakes are part of the Marks of the Church as far as WELS is concerned. *** GJ -

I noticed today that the Intrepids caught Bethany (WELS) in Appleton plagiarizing Church Swindoll. The link is here.

The Intrepids did not name Bethany because there was an apology posted. However, I was able to find it by a process of elimination. WELS pastors never apologize, so that narrowed it down quite a bit. Secondly, Bethany was already known as one of many Shrinker cesspools in the State of Wisconsin.

Here is the apology:

Pastor's Blog

Dear Friends, I'd like to use this space to offer you, the dear members and friends of Bethany Lutheran Church and Our Shepherd Child Care & Family Ministry Center -- a sincere apology. As many of you are well aware, especially those still actively involved in the work-a-day world, it is vitally important, yet not always to easy to keep an organization's web site fresh and up-to-date. Your pastors have tried to provide fresh information and spiritually valuable devotions and articles for our members and friends as routinely as time allows. This particular page, formerly know (sic) at the "Pastor's Message", was updated about every three months or so. The last time it was updated - in June of 2010 - I must confess to you that my press of schedule and the weakness of my sinful flesh led me to publish a devotion in this space that was not the work of your pastor. Without attributing the work to its proper author, Pastor Charles Swindoll of Insight for Living Ministries, and without seeking permission of his publisher, Thomas Nelson Publishers, I shared Pastor Swindoll's devotion here with a very slight modification. For this transgression I am sorry. It was wrong to share some one else's work without acknowledging it's (sic) original source. My apologies to you and please know that I will be sending a personal letter of apology to Pastor Swindoll as well. It is the prayer of your pastors that you will be gracious in accepting our apology and will continue to give us the privilege and opportunity to encourage you in your walk of faith by visiting our website in the future. We are grateful for the powerful and healing message of our Savior-God's grace as recorded in Isaiah 43:25 -- "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." (Isaiah 43:25) In Christ's love, Pastor Mark P. Henke Pastor Darin D. Aden

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Here is what the Intrepids wrote, in case the blog disappears the way the Issues in WELS website did:

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of blog posts, we discussed two important issues directly connected with the tragedy of pastoral plagiarism:

1. the fraudulent nature of plagiarism itself, and the meaning of this fraud within the context of the Office of Representational or Public Ministry,and
2. the added offense of plagiarizing sectarian sources.

We concluded both that:

A plagiarist is one who knowingly quotes or uses a source other than himself while concealing the identity of that source. The result of this theft is misrepresentation and fraud: that is, the plagiarist’s audience concludes that he is the author or creator of the quoted or used material (misrepresentation) and uses this conclusion as a basis for trust in the plagiarist (fraud). He takes on an identity that is not his – that of the original author – and uses that identity against the consciences of those who hear or read his work.

and,

When a pastor knowingly quotes or uses a source other than himself while concealing the identity of that source, the result is misrepresentation and fraud – a case of clear infidelity to his Call. ...When he commits misrepresentation using sectarian sources, he not only passes off sectarian teaching as his own, but... passes off sectarian content as pure Scripture teaching. The fraud associated with this misrepresentation is no longer merely that others trust his teaching on the basis of his misrepresentation, but that they trust sectarian teaching as orthodox on the basis of his misrepresentation. In stealing and applying to himself the identity of the sectarian author, he disgraces his Call, which requires that he “[hold] fast the faithful Word as he has been taught.” Using borrowed sectarian identity against the consciences of those who hear or read his work is tantamount to false teaching.

In this third installment we provide an illustration of plagiarism in the WELS using an example from one of a growing number of congregations which we have either observed directly, or which have come to our attention through concerned laymen and pastors of our Synod.


Plagiarism from Sectarian sources in the WELS
If only we could concern ourselves with pastors who plagiarize the sermons of Martin Luther, Johann Gerhard, C.F.W. Walther, or other giants of the Lutheran Confession! We might be inclined to just let it pass, and let homiletics professors at the seminary stew over it! Indeed, there have been many fine Lutheran pastors who have bequeathed to the church a legacy and record of exegetical and homiletical excellence, from whom many continue to borrow and repeat, and will continue to do so. Fine. Many of the ideas communicated by them are not foreign to us, but reminders of what is already common knowledge – like quoting from the Small Catechism, which every adult Lutheran is expected to have long since memorized, understood, and incorporated into his worldview. Citing original sources of common knowledge is not necessary – not even under the stringent guidelines of the APA.

But when we warn of plagiarism in our Synod, we are not talking about the pastor who’s had a rough week and finds it necessary to read a sermon from one of Martin Luther’s or Sig Becker’s postils, nor are we harping on the occasional unattributed quotation. In this discussion, we leave the fine points of situation ethics regarding plagiarism for others to debate, for the thresholds of acceptable use of unattributed sources are far, far south of the gross abuses which concern us. What we are warning of is wholesale, unattributed, nearly verbatim use of entire sectarian sermons, outlines, devotions, and other resources, the motivation for which seems to be derived from priorities of the Church Growth Movement. Indeed, by and large, it isn’t the traditional churches who have found it necessary to parrot Rick Warren, Craig Groeschel, or Mark Driscoll.

The example of one such congregation is illustrative. They had made verbatim and unattributed use of devotional material from Chuck Swindoll on their website. They had published their congregation’s “strategic plan,” suggesting influence from the Church Growth Movement. They had evidently recently preached a sermon series from Craig Groeschel’s LifeChurch.tv. Knowing we were going to treat this topic, we sent them an email last Friday, informing them that we were going to use their congregation’s website as an example of the type of plagiarism and use of sectarian sources that we observe more frequently, and, we fear, is becoming more and more accepted in our Synod. To this congregation's credit, within an hour of having sent our email, most of the offending material was removed, and by Saturday, a public apology had been posted in its place. Because of this, we have voluntarily chosen not to reveal the name of this congregation. Yet, the example of their offense remains useful, so we reproduce the details of our communication with them, which reveals the nature of the issues we observed there, and observe elsewhere:

Pastors and Elders of (name removed) Ev. Lutheran Church, (city and state removed)Intrepid Lutherans, a blog concerned with Confessional unity in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, is currently writing an article on plagiarism and the use of sectarian resources in our Synod, and will be using your congregation's website as an example. We have discovered on your congregation's website several troubling instances where use of sectarian sources is made – instances which are quite typical of a growing number of our congregations. We are contacting you ahead of publication for your comments on the following issues.
1. Your "Pastor's Message" entry located at this URL is taken almost verbatim, without attribution, from Chuck Swindoll's devotional Day by Day with Chuck Swindoll, Copyright 2000. This very same entry from Chuck Swindoll's work was used,with attribution, on Christianity.com, here:http://www.christianity.com/devotionals/day_by_day/11623905/. Do you have permission from either Chuck Swindoll or Thomas Nelson Publishers to use his content without attribution? If you do, do you consider it dishonest toward your readers to pass off his thoughts and experiences as your own? Did you actually "[receive] a letter from a fine Christian couple, and [smile] understandingly at one line: 'Although the Lord has taken good care of my wife and me for the past thirty-eight years, He has taken control of us for the past two and a half'"? If not, do you consider it a lie to say that you did? Is lying sinful? If so, do you and Chuck Swindoll know the same fine Christian couple? Could we see a copy of that letter?
2. We noticed that Chuck Swindoll's message is entirely a message of Law – Gospel-less is the term we used when critiquing it – which is aptly demonstrated in the final line summarizing the devotion: “Don't get ‘out of control’ because you're so determined to stay ‘in control.’” Do you think that it is appropriate for Lutherans to fixate on sanctification messages such as this? Do you think it is appropriate for a Lutheran to emphasize the third use of the Law without preceding it with its second use and the Gospel? If so, how can this be considered proper application of Law and Gospel? How does Swindoll's content indicate a Gospel motivation for Christian works? Granting that you may have found a pearl of great value among Swindoll’s works, do you consider it wise to use his material without warning your readers of his many errors? If so, have you read Harold Senkbeil'sSanctification: Christ in Action, published by NPH? It is an analysis of modern Evangelicalism and it's theological fixation on sanctification over justification, using Chuck Swindoll as a case study, and offers a confessional Lutheran corrective. For that matter, have you read Robert Koester's Gospel Motivation: More than "Jesus Died for My Sins", also published by NPH? If not, we highly recommend them.
3. We noticed that you altered Chuck Swindoll's content, in the third to last paragraph, adding the following sentence: "And it is only through the Spirit's working through the Means of Grace - the gospel in Word and Sacrament - that he bends and shapes our will (our new man) to be conformed to the likeness of God's Son, our Savior."
   
   

   Click image to see documents side-by-side

   We have further noticed that adding a token reference to the Means of Grace is a common way to "Lutheranize" sectarian content among WELS congregations enamoured with non-Lutheran sources. Your one-sentence addition to Swindoll’s work is illustrative of this technique. Do you honestly believe that this one-sentence is sufficient to make Swindoll's devotion – a devotion that is entirely a message of Law and entirely centered on sanctification – something that could be considered (a) your own original work, and/or (b) a distinctly "Lutheran" devotion, centered on Justification, where Law and Gospel are balanced in favor of the Gospel? Moreover, if you have permission to use Swindoll's content without attribution, do you also have permission to alter it?
4. We have noticed, in your congregation’s "Proposed Strategic Plan," that you envision people joining your church for no other reason than that your congregation is "so welcoming." We see precious little emphasis on Word and Sacrament ministry, nor mention of the Holy Spirit's work exclusively through those Means to call, gather and enlighten His people, drawing them into fellowship with other believers and keeping them in the faith. This troubles us. We are, of course, veryfamiliar with the errors of the Church Growth Movement (CGM), and the reliance of CGM on alien means – means outside those through which the Holy Spirit is known to work – to “grow the church”.
   
   The ministry approach espoused in your "Proposed Strategic Plan" smacks of CGM. Are you familiar with CGM? Are you adherents of CGM practices? If not, who advised you to engage in such methods? If so, why are you so willing to flirt with sectarian errors?
   
   Are you aware that the WELS Michigan District commissioned a multi-year study of CGM, and that the resulting paper repudiated CGM, especially Lutheran involvement with CGM? The name of the paper is "The Tendrils of the Church Growth Movement," and it was enthusiastically received by the Michigan District at their 2008 Convention. We have attached a pdf of this paper for your edification.
5. Are you fans of Craig Groeschel's LifeChurch.tv? Was your July 4 sermon, entitled “How to Commit Adultery,” and taken nearly verbatim from the identically titled 1^st part of Groeschel's five-part sermon series "Five Easy Steps...," published on his website, here: http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch/five-easy-steps/1?
   
   If this is the case, did you inform those assembled that you were parroting a sectarian sermon? Or, is Craig Groeschel a confessional Lutheran? Did you do the same with the remaining four sermons of Groeschel’s series? We understand that Craig Groeschel publishes his sermons so that others can copy him, but also that his blog states pastors ought to cite their sources, because citation "honors the pastor or church who came up with the idea," "demonstrates humility and security," "exposes a church to other great leaders and teachers," and "removes any doubt of copying" (Plagiarizing Pastors by Craig Groeschel; July 21, 2008). If you copy his sermons, we assume that you largely agree with Craig Groeschel's preaching. If Craig Groeschel isn’t a confessional Lutheran, shouldn’t we be concerned about this fact alone? Moreover, even granting that one may have permission to copy someone else’s work without attribution, when, in your opinion, does a failure to cite sources constitute fraud against one’s hearers/readers?
Gentlemen, we will be publishing our article on Monday. Please have your comments to us by Sunday afternoon in order to have them included in our article. These are matters of public offense. Having taken council together and with others, we stand firm on Scripture (Ga. 2:11-14; 1 Ti. 5:20) and the Confessions (LC:3:284ff) when we insist that discussion of these issues, and all responses, be made in public. This includes a refusal to answer or participate. If you are unable to reply by Sunday afternoon, you may publicly engage the ensuing discussion by posting to our blog following publication.In Christ,Intrepid Lutherans

Apart from the removal of most of the offending content and the posting of an apology on their own website, we have received no return communication from this congregation.

Nevertheless, in response to their online apology, we have written back to them. That letter (with names removed) will appear in our next post.

***

GJ - I am looking forward to apologies from Ski, Glende, Kelm, Parlow, Deputy Doug Englebrecht, the hapless district VP, Ron Ash, Patmos, and various other enablers.

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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Le Grande Swindle - Or Swindoll

Copy and paste Luther next time.
No will will recognize the text,
but they will be furious about the content.

This recent post on WELS catechisms explains how UOJ became the Helen of Troy in WELS.

WELS dumped justification by faith in favor of Universal Objective Justification. The ministerium moved lockstep to buy the Kuske catechism, which was larger, more expensive, and based on false doctrine.

Let us go back in our time machine to the Kokomo crisis. There Pastor Papenfuss admitted that he had never heard of UOJ until he reached seminary. His teaching in the Kokomo, Indiana parish ignited the nationwide debate about UOJ. Was he previously trained with Gausewitz? Probably, because WELS tends to go with one book, one idea at a time.

Another look at WAM II is in order, because Missouri long used a justification by faith catechism, as Pastor Harley established in his work. LCMS President Jack Preus beat up WAM II in public. Concordia Seminary stopped short of burning Maier at the stake, but only because of smoke restrictions.

Supposedly UOJ has always been always taught, with Missouri basing its reverence for universal absolution on all these orthodox dudes who wrote after the Book of Concord was published in 1580, orthodox dudes out of print and only found in the musty dark corners of university libraries. Unfortunately, Robert Preus, who knew these authors, admitted before he died that justification only means justification by faith, that no one is forgiven apart from faith.

Pietism is bad. Ptui. Ptui. Ask any LCMS, WELS, or Little Sect graduate. I have heard more than one Mequon graduate claim that drinking beer is a witness against the Pietists. O happy day, that an entire ministerium can wash away Pietism so easily and bear the cross of DUI convictions while doing so.

But this wonderful UOJ, which they call the heart of the Gospel, is a brew imported from Halle University. George Christian Knapp taught Objective Justification and Subjective Justification for years. He was so important that his lectures were translated into English before the (LCMS) Perry County pioneers landed in Nawluns. Not that English mattered. These founders of Missouri spoke, taught, and published in German until the 20th century, when WWI made German less than fashionable.

All the American Lutherans honored Pietism. They came from Halle University or from a group that looked to Halle as their Vatican, whether they graduated from there or not. The entire world knew about the charitable institutions and mission societies that Halle spawned, so no one criticized Spener, even if they took shots at Pietism itself.

Pietism was a doctrinal leaven which slowly worked its way through the American Lutheran church bodies. Chuck Swindoll is a Lutheran, once or twice removed, as they say in family tree studies. The Swedish Augustana Synod began as a blend of Lutheran orthodoxy and Pietism, just as Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect did. Two groups formed out of resistance to the Augustana Synod - the Mission Covenant (North Park U., Warner Sallman, Craig Groeschel) denomination and the Evangelical Free (Trinity, Deerfield) group. Both sects are hotter than Georgia asphalt for Church Growth.

Chuck Swindoll is E. Free but his current congregation is non-denominational. His denomination has trained so many WELS leaders at Trinity that WELS was mentioned twice in a recent academic bulletin.

WELS considers E. Free and Mission Covenant to be safe sects, so they plagiarize Swindoll and Groeschel to a fare-thee-well. No surprise - Fox Valley features one pastor who plagiarized Swindoll because he "was busy." Ski and Glende plagiarize Groeschel, because that will ignite their sputtering evangelism efforts, and Steve Witte takes the Pietistic mission to Asia.

UOJ is plagiarized from Knapp, not from Luther. To copy Luther is natural for sincere Lutherans. Didja ever wonder why Lutheran leaders hate Luther's doctrine so much? The historic liturgy? Lutheran hymns? It is because they are fakes - Pietists who favor Calvinism to the point of Universalism.

The LCMS, WELS, and ELS base all their work on UOJ. That explains why their leaders are indifferent about doctrine, except when persecuting Luther's doctrine. This "we are not in fellowship" business is their Pietism, trying to maintain a false distinction to keep the brand alive a few more years.

Churchmouse Campanologist | Ringing the bells for Christian traditions and getting our story out there. If we don’t, who will?Very Close to United Church of Christ Forms

Churchmouse Campanologist | Ringing the bells for Christian traditions and getting our story out there. If we don’t, who will?:

Homebrewed Christianity has a spoof ‘liberal’ (leftoid) divinity school application.

They wisely advise not laughing too hard. There is more than a germ of truth in this tick-in-box parody.

Excerpts follow:

Demographic Information (so the government knows how much money to give you)

My ancestors were oppressed by Europeans by [_] being taken from Africa in slavery [_] Spanish colonization of the “New World” [_]colonization of Asia [_] conquest of the Pacific Islands [_] English colonization of the “New World” [_] economic exploitation of globalization OR [_] I have benefited from the exploitation of other peoples (I’m white, but overcoming)

Gender: M/F/L/G/B/T/Q [_] Other________

Political Affiliation: [_] Democratic Party  [_] Green Party  [_]  Freedom Socialist Party  [_] Labor Party  [_] Peace and Freedom Party

Read the entire post for a hilarious satire on the true nature of mainline apostasy.

Or visit The CORE. Or watch Time of Grace.

'via Blog this'

Feminist Bishop Makes the Resurrection an Adiaphoron - VirtueOnline - News.Mainline Protestant UOJ Makes the Articles of Faith Adiaphora

So much fun being the bishop -
but boy is she greedy for money.
She is suing for that.

VirtueOnline - News:

Washington Episcopal Bishop Denies Bodily Resurrection of Jesus

NEWS ANALYSIS

By David W. Virtue 
www.virtueonline.org 
March 31, 2013

Washington Episcopal Bishop Marianne Budde, writing in her blog on the subject of Resurrection, opined that if someone were to discover a tomb with Jesus' remains in it, the entire enterprise would not come crashing down.

VOL: Actually, Bishop it would. Our faith would be in vain and we would be of all men (and women) most miserable. St. Paul writes in I Cor. 15, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

BUDDE: Someone once asked me if I thought the resurrection was necessary. He meant it in the most sincere way, as a person of both faith and doubt who wondered if we needed to be bound by so unreasonable a proposition that Jesus' tomb was, in fact, empty on that first Easter morning. I hesitated in answering because there seemed to be layers of argument behind the question. My answer was yes, resurrection is the foundation of Christian faith, but probably not in the way he meant it. 

VOL: What way is that, Bishop?

BUDDE: To say that resurrection is essential doesn't mean that if someone were to discover a tomb with Jesus' remains in it that the entire enterprise would come crashing down. The truth is that we don't know what happened to Jesus after his death, anymore than we can know what will happen to us. What we do know from the stories handed down is how Jesus' followers experienced his resurrection. What we know is how we experience resurrection ourselves. 

VOL: Total rubbish, Bishop. This is pure solipsism and subjectivism. (See above.) There were eyewitnesses to the event. The Bible says the risen Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene and other women. Even the apostles did not believe Mary when she told them the tomb was empty. Jesus, who always had special respect for these women, honored them as the first eyewitnesses to his resurrection. Now I would have thought, Bishop that you, as a raging feminist, would have latched onto that if for no other reason than that women were the first to see and believe. The male Gospel writers had no choice but to report this embarrassing act of God's favor, because that was how it happened. Your argument also completely ignores the historical fact of Christ's resurrection that no serious theologian has ever really denied (and please don't defer to Spong or Countrymen as they are jokes). St. Paul through Augustine to Cranmer, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Billy Graham and Rick Warren and tens of thousands of archbishops, bishops and laity in between, have all affirmed the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Not a single Pope has ever denied it. 

"How we experience resurrection ourselves..." could just as easily apply to ice cream or a good steak dinner. Building your argument on experience is as vacuous and empty-headed as a teenager announcing he's hungry after quaffing down an entire 5-course dinner (with seconds) and then declaring that his experience tells him that he wants more.

One Episcopal theologian upon reading Bishop Budde's take wrote to VOL, "Judicious, seemingly reasonable -- and utterly inadequate. We 'don't know what happened to Jesus after his death'? Really? Why bother?"

BUDDE: That experience is the beginning of faith, not in the sense of intellectual acceptance of an outlandish proposition, but of being touched by something so powerful that it changes you, or so gentle that it gives you courage to persevere when life is crushingly hard. It is experiencing a presence so forgiving that you can at last forgive yourself for your greatest failings, and forgive those whose failings have wounded you, and so loving that your own capacity to love expands beyond your wildest imagining.

VOL: Tim Keller, a Presbyterian preacher in New York City, says that if you spiritualize the resurrection of Jesus, you will have comfort but not the truth. The message of Easter is that right now, Jesus has flesh and bones.

BUDDE: Resurrection is an experience that touches us where we live, not on the level of opinion or argument, but at the heart of everything we hold dear. As we face the anxiety and fear of death, Jesus assures us of God's infinite mercy waiting on the other side. As we carry the burdens of our own failings, Jesus comes with forgiveness-not abstractly, but personally and with great specificity. And as we feel the weight of our own self-consciousness, Jesus comes with the lightest touch. It isn't all about you, he gently chides. It isn't all up to you. "Your great mistake," writes the poet David Whyte, "is to act the drama as if you were alone."

VOL: Actually, Bishop, it is not our "self-consciousness" that is the problem. It is our SINFULNESS and David Whyte doesn't really get the hang of that based on the poetry of his that I have read. Mystical yes, salvific no. What you are offering, Bishop, is resurrection lite. It is not nearly satisfactory for a sin torn world that needs to know not only that Jesus rose bodily from the grave but that he alone has the power to forgive sins. He died that we might live and in His resurrection we are justified and made righteous. If you continue to sound an uncertain trumpet on something as basic as the bodily resurrection of Jesus, your diocese which is on the verge of bankruptcy, sustained only by the Soper Fund, will continue to decline and your cry for "more laity" will continue to fall on deaf ears.

Your views border on the heresy of Docetism, Bishop, a view that held that the disciples thought his body had been actually reanimated. Docetism taught that Jesus only appeared to have a body, that he was not really incarnate, (Greek, "dokeo" = "to seem"). This error developed out of the dualistic philosophy which viewed matter as inherently evil, that God could not be associated with matter, and that God, being perfect and infinite, could not suffer. Therefore, God as the word, could not have become flesh per John 1:1,14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.. " This denial of a true incarnation meant that Jesus did not truly suffer on the cross and that He did not rise from the dead.

The basic principle of Docetism was refuted by the Apostle John in 1 John 4:2-3. "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."

There are at least seven proofs for the Resurrection Proof that would be well worth your while declaiming from the pulpit in Washington National Cathedral bishop and they are these:

#1: The Empty Tomb of Jesus
#2: The Holy Women Eyewitnesses 
#3: Jesus' Apostles' New-Found Courage
#4: Changed Lives of James and Others 
#5: Large Crowd of Eyewitnesses 
#6: Conversion of Paul 
#7: They Died for Jesus

If you don't, Bishop, your diocese will continue to rot from the inside out and, in time, die.

Seven Stanzas At Easter

By John Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that--pierced--died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

END

'via Blog this'

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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Feminist Bishop Makes the Resurrection an Adiaphor...":

The belief that the resurrection is superfluous is the fruit of higher criticism. Ritschl, the father of historical-criticism of the Bible, said:

He could be a Christian without Christ, as there could be a Tibetan Buddhist without an historical Buddha (cf. "Christliche Welt", 1901, n. 35)

***

GJ - I was reading some Ritschl today. All the modernists sound alike, blowing smoke in every direction, saying nothing, trying to sound impressively authoritative.