Pastor Zip's Blog: The ELCA's Newest Bishop-Elect

Bishop-elect Guy Erwin posed with a bust
of Martin Luther.
According to his endowed professorship,
Erwin is a confessional Lutheran.

Pastor Zip's Blog: The ELCA's Newest Bishop-Elect:

FRIDAY, JUNE 07, 2013

The ELCA's Newest Bishop-Elect

"The Reverend R. Guy Erwin, a member of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma, is the first American Indian bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." Yes, I had to do some hunting to find this as the lede for a report of the Bishop-elect for my home synod, but I did find it -- at indianz.com. That's because everyone else is focussing on him being the first openly gay pastor to be elected Bishop of an ELCA Synod.

It happened last weekend as the Southwest California Synodmet in Assembly in Woodland Hills, California. One can see the towers of the Marriott Hotel where the election happened from the front porch of my parents' home. As if that weren't personal enough, Dr. Erwin, the Gerhard & Olga Belgum Professor of Lutheran Confessional Theology at California Lutheran University, is the Interim Pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Canoga Park. He's my mother's pastor. She speaks very well of him.

But there is more to the story. Prof. Erwin's ordination was the subject of an article in The Lutheran magazine's July 2011 issue entitled "R. Guy & Keith Fry ...." Subtitled "Ordination stories move church forward," the article began,

R. Guy Erwin's ordination on May 11 proved quintessentially Lutheran: Two ELCA bishops and a former bishop played key roles; the service doubled as a "teaching" moment for California Lutheran University students, and the 75-member university choir led the 450-strong congregation in singing the final hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

The symbolism rang poignantly true since Erwin, 53, serves as the Gerhard and Olga J. Belgum Chair in Lutheran Confessional Theology at CLU in Thousand Oaks; taught Lutheran studies and church history at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn., for several years; and studied in Germany for his doctoral thesis on Martin Luther's era.

You can read more of that article here, but the full article is behind a pay firewall. Yes, I had some thoughts on this when I read it, which I put into a Letter to the Editor -- which did not get published.

Editor, The Lutheran magazine:

The article "R. Guy & Keith Fry... Ordination stories move church forward" (July, pages 32-33) exemplifies much more than simply "how openly gay leaders are finding their full expression as rostered ELCA pastors." While the 2009 Churchwide Assembly committed the ELCA to "finding a way" for those in committed same-sex relationships to serve as rostered leaders, that same Assembly resolved only a few moments later, "to recognize the conviction of members who believe that this church should not call or roster" such persons. As I read these enthusiastic reports of partnered gays and lesbians being received or ordained into the ELCA, I find myself wondering if we are already at the stage of needing to "find a way" to include those of us ELCA clergy who remain convinced this church has made a grave error.

Furthermore, R. Guy Erwin's ordination exemplifies even greater change in the ELCA's standards for ordination. For years some of us have argued that the ELCA needs to be more flexible about the lengthy and expensive requirements for ordination to enable congregations that cannot support full-time compensation to nonetheless be served by called pastors, only to be met with either silence or great resistance from ELCA authorities. Now we read of a college professor flying through the candidacy process in 9 months and being ordained to serve a "specialized call" that doesn't appear to be anything different from his prior vocation -- two things that have been virtually impossible. How is it that these sorts of changes in ELCA ordination practice suddenly become accomplished, without discussion or even prior announcement, when the candidates are in committed same-sex partnerships?

Yours,

The Rev. Steven P. Tibbetts, STS
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Peoria, Illinois

Two years later, nothing has happened in the ELCA to make me feel any better about progress on answers to my questions. But I don't want to make this post sound like sour grapes, so for the moment at least, I'll just let my comments of two years ago stand. Because what the election of Pastor Erwin is show me just how much my thoughts of four years ago have settled in my spirit. The heart of my letter to the congregation I serve from the 2009 Churchwide Assembly remains true, except that it is not the open wound of August 2009. I quote two paragraphs in full:

By these actions, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's teaching and practice on marriage, family, and sexuality has not only departed from the faith and teaching of the Holy Scriptures and nearly 2000 years of Christian teaching, it is proclaiming what the Apostle Paul calls "another gospel."


One of the things that I was taught from a young age and have grown to experience more and more over the years is that a Lutheran pastor relates to the denomination differently than the laity and congregations. When I was ordained, the ELCA became my church. On Friday afternoon, I lost my church.

Since 2009, the church I serve has still not bothered to offer justification for what its leadership is implementing full steam ahead. As I wrote elsewhere, "but I'm discovering that I did my mourning for the ELCA as a church in 2009-10. I'm sad, but in the same way I was sad when my Grandmother, who had slipped into dementia years earlier and would not have known who I was, died. Memories for what was, and now the lingering is over."

'via Blog this'

Lizard Hands Alert - News Corp's Rupert Murdoch Files For Divorce Which Won't Effect News Corp Split - Deadline.com

"You took Marvin Schwan's guilt-money,
so now you can buy my NNIV Bibles.
LOL."

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch Files For Divorce Which Won't Effect News Corp Split - Deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE 9 AM, 2ND UPDATE 10 AM WRITETHRU (contains new details): New Corp chairman/CEO Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from wife Wendi Deng Murdoch this morning in New York State Supreme Court, Deadline learned at 9 AM. The divorce will not impact Rupert Murdoch’s mega-media holdings, according to insiders, and was deliberately announced for maximum transparency before New Corp spins off its publishing assets into a separately traded company by June 28th. (Murdoch will control both of these entities.) Today’s news comes despite numerous denials for months by PR man Steven Rubenstein and News Corp PR woman Julie Henderson to me as recently as April and May. (“We get this phone call once every 3-6 months,” Rubenstein and Henderson said at the time, pointing to the fact that Wendi and Rupert had recently hosted a dinner at their home for Oscar-winning Twentieth Century Fox director Ang Lee and were going away together on Spring Break.) But legal sources insisted to Deadline that the Murdochs’ divorce was being planned and, for the first time, not even Murdoch’s reps were denying yet another rift between Rupert and Wendi. In fact, his reps then admitted to me there had been marriage trouble but stressed ”it feels like its past whatever that was.” Today I’m told by insiders that, at that time, there were still no divorce proceedings underway so the denials were issued in good faith. “The divorce happened very quickly,” an insider tells me today.

The couple met in 1997, at a company party in Hong Kong. They married in 1999, less than a month after his divorce from ex-wife Anna Maria Torv Murdoch was finalized. Wendi is perhaps most fondly remembered for standing up for her husband and clocking Jonathan May-Bowles after he threw a pie at her husband during highly publicized testimony before a British parliamentary committee in connection with the News International phone hacking scandal.

'via Blog this'

The Faith Fallacy Often Repeated by UOJ Stormtroopers

Read DP Seifert's UOJ here.

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post " LPC has left a new comment on your post "Is Walt...":

Dr. Cruz is correct. “…if a person is justified without reference to faith then he is justified even though he loses faith…” (W)ELS’ own S.W. Becker confessed the same teaching in his often Kelmed essay on Justification.

Siegbert W. Becker - Justification
We ought to teach universal and objective justification because the Bible teaches it. Even if we could not see why it is important, that would still be the duty of every orthodox theologian.

But universal and objective justification is one doctrine whose place in the victorious Christian life is clear. Wherever men teach that faith comes first as a condition that must be fulfilled or a work that must be done or even as a fact that must be recognized before forgiven (sic - error in original PDF) is bestowed or becomes real, men will be trained to look into their own hearts for assurance rather than to the words and promises of God. If my sins are forgiven only if I first have faith then I have no solid foundation on which to rest my hope for eternal life. I must then know that I have faith before I can know that my sins are forgiven.

But there are times when a Christian does not know that he has faith. And many people who think they have faith do not have it, and many that think they are not believers are believing children of God. In regard to our own faith we may be in error or filled with doubt. But there is nothing uncertain in the truth that is proclaimed in the Gospel. Your sin is taken away, wiped out, forgiven, cancelled, swallowed up in the empty grave in Joseph’s garden. To that we must cling. To that we can cling. On that we can build a solid hope that will not make us ashamed.

In times of temptation when I am no longer aware of my faith, when my heart tells me that I am an unbeliever, I have no place to turn for assurance if faith must come before forgiveness. But if forgiveness comes first, if it is always there, if it is true whether I believe it or not, I do not need to know whether I have faith or not before I can cling to God’s promise. I know that my sins are forgiven whether I feel forgiven or unforgiven. I know that my iniquity is pardoned whether I believe it or not. And when I know that, then I know also that I am a believer. John teaches us that when he writes, “Brethren, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” Take away objective and universal justification and you have gone a long way toward cutting the heart out of the Gospel message.
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.pdf
Page 13

***

GJ - The text highlighted in blue is a logical short-circuit that keeps UOJ Stormtroopers in the loop of Enthusiasm. The sentences comprise an army of straw men - setting up false arguments and destroying them with great vigor.

Whenever men teach that...

The question is what the Word of God teaches and what we confess as orthodoxy Lutherans, in harmony with the Word. The SynCons are adept at setting up faith in Christ as something bad. When they are done plunging their rusty swords into stacks of straw, nothing is left.

The Gospel of John teaches the necessity of faith. The purpose of the entire Bible, which is simply a sermon about Jesus, is to plant and sustain faith in His work as our Savior.

KJV John 20:30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing ye might have life through his name.

faith comes first

No Lutheran who teaches justification by faith claims that "faith comes first." The Gospel Promises plant the seed of faith and nurture that seed. In fact, the UOJ fanatics teach that salvation comes first, given without the Word to the entire world. Therefore, UOJ faith is rooted in the self rather than the Gospel.

as a condition that must be fulfilled or a work that must be done

This phrase is a stealthy way of turning faith into something bad, confusing faith with good works (as a condition) and calling it a work.

KJV John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

These verses refute the false claim and also anticipate the effort to poison the well (make faith seem bad in every context). Faith is the work of God. That is why believers are called a new Creation (by the Word) and not a new Decision.

KJV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [Creation in the Jackson New Living KJV]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Is faith a condition of forgiveness? Let's ask St. Paul, who published often on this subject.

KVJ Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Jackson New Living KJV. And therefore it was counted as forgiveness for Abraham. Now it was not written for Abraham's sake alone, that he was counted forgiven because of faith. But it was written in Genesis 15 for us as well. For we will be counted forgiven if we trust completely in Him Who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, Who was betrayed and crucified for our offences and raised up for our forgiveness.

A contingency--or a condition--is met by this little word "if." The false teachers betray themselves by rejecting the clear and compelling witness of the Scriptures.

or even as a fact that must be recognized before forgiven (sic - error in original PDF) is bestowed or becomes real

Ministers and professors are stewards of the mysteries of God. Forgiveness and salvation are mysteries, like the Holy Trinity, Two Natures of Christ, and the Virgin Birth. If Sig Becker had been honest about UOJ he would have admitted that UOJ teaches this error with great clarity. In UOJ, universal forgiveness and salvation (without faith) must be decided upon before this forgiveness can be true for the individual. He is forgiven even before birth but not really forgiven until he decides he was forgiven before birth - along with the cannibals, Hindu, and Commies.

The Lutherans who deny this UOJ hairball of confusion are excommunicated, even though they were forgiven and saved before they were born.

men will be trained to look into their own hearts for assurance rather than to the words and promises of God. 

The opposite is true, which is why UOJ Stormtroopers become enraged when their salvation without faith is challenged, when historical proofs from Halle University are cited. One WELS pastor had the entire congregation recite UOJ mantras during the sermon - repeat after me style - so they would be firmly fixed in his error. Only the UOJists are saved, but not really, because the WELS banner for "evangelism" said to the community - "I am saved, just like you."

Wayne Mueller, one of the prime movers for Church Growth in WELS, has always been fanatical in teaching that everyone is already forgiven and saved. That makes mission work easy, he claims. It also makes apostasy, unionism, and infidelity easy.

Some were offended by the nickname "Thundershorts."
That is the name given Lindemann by his fellow pastors.
Behold how the brethren love one another.

If my sins are forgiven only if I first have faith then I have no solid foundation on which to rest my hope for eternal life. I must then know that I have faith before I can know that my sins are forgiven.

Here the entire chapter of Romans 4 is contradicted, but on what basis? Faith in God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, is a solid foundation. The bedrock is God's work in Christ, not a philosophical construct from the fetid bowels of Halle Pietism.

One must be incredibly stupid or slavishly dependent on Holy Mother Sect to utter such nonsense. This variation on the straw man theme strains to make faith something terribly evil when faith is the purpose of the entire Bible.

Dog owners will agree with this analogy. I can take Sassy Sue out for a walk without a leash because she trusts me. If I command, "Git over here," she will pivot and come right back to me. That trust is based on the time we spend together and the care I give her. I can say at a busy intersection, "Stay!" and she will lean against me, knowing that I can get her across safely. I do not have the same power over other dogs because they do not know my voice or belong to me.

These UOJ Enthusiasts have made faith so complicated and contradictory that the final conclusion can only be - it does not matter, since everyone is forgiven and saved.

However, faith is simple. If the Gospel message fills an individual with comfort and hope, that person certainly has faith in Christ. But if the message of faith in the crucified and risen Christ enrages someone, there is no faith. Perhaps the wrath will lead to additional study and conversion. Agitation can also lead to study and hardening of the heart. The Word will be efficacious, one way or the other - blinding or enlightening, converting or hardening.

There is no co-inky-dink in the Church Growth/Emergents belonging to the UOJ Hive, always buzzing about looking for new victims to sting. They mock the Word and preen their tiny wings, because they are proud of the loot they have gathered in their honey-combs.

All their work is hay, straw, and stubble, and the fires have started. Nothing will be left of the Schwan buildings and phony projects invented for consuming the estates of widows.