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"Brett, they love me in ELCA. I will be the
presiding bishop forever. You can bank on that." |
The prevailing method of administration in the ELCA, WELS, LCMS, ELS and micro-minis is to lie. They
walk about with the aura of great sanctity, a glow of infallibility that turns into laser beams of rage if anyone questions them.
The leaders have this in common - they have to deceive to protect the reputation of Holy Mother Synod. Therefore, if someone is engaged in criminal activities a few feet from the synod president and the rest of the staff, SP Schroeder says, "We didn't know!" The arrest record showed something else - they had to know. Hochmuth had been caught before and had been in counseling for man/boy porn. Schroeder was asked, "Was this the WELS agency?" No answer.
In the latest case,
the abuse began with minor girls during seminary, about 10 years ago. No one knew?
WELS pretends to know what brand of toothpaste everyone uses, what keyboard a WELS organist has touched in the last week, but they do not know about the most heinous crimes under their noses?
The old system worked well, just as it does in secular politics. People who knew the truth were bribed or threatened into silence. Therefore, no one knew officially. If there was a leak, it was identified early and the source was beaten like a rented mule.
Local stories - like DP Ed Werner abusing minor girls in his parish - could be "not known" officially. The rejoinder when someone impiously asks about an arrest or a valid story is - "Who told you?" That question is followed by the source being beaten like a rented mule, with all kinds of wild and wicked things said. One of my sources mentions my name just to watch the fireworks.
Although everyone knows about the avalanche of lies, the method works to keep people from getting the official synodical treatment themselves.
Or - if a pastor correctly concludes that Holy Mother Synod is corrupt and apostate, the DP uses crackpot members to drive the man out of the ministry. The DP knows it only takes one or two members to have party. He may even become "concerned" and contact some on his own. Or he delegates the job to the Circuit Pastor or another minion, all of them eager to do some
wet work so they can be DP one day.
Waldo Werning and Paul McCain are two free-lancers who took on this work for the LCMS. Werning has gone to his reward, but McCain continues to serve himself, somewhat chastened and hampered by instant blog reporting.
That is the big problem today. A local news story is no longer limited to the printed paper or limited broadcast of the station. The facts travel instantly from multiple sources on many forms of social media, which are leveraged by easy linking to email, Twitter, Google Plus, and heaven knows what else.
Beating up on the source is difficult when there are two independent sources which cannot be threatened or bribed.
Silence is golden for the liars.
Darwin Schauer's sordid tale of child abuse in the LCMS, rewarded with him getting a new pastoral position in Minnesota, was erased from Steadfast Lutherans. Therefore, it never happened.
When a Missouri Synod contact began berating Woody Allen (proven guilty long ago) for his child abuse, I said, "Why not start with the synods? We all know how bad Hollywood is." I received this pious response, "So and so is not here to defend himself, so I erased your comment." I could have said the same thing about Woody, except he was never convicted - unlike Darwin Schauer. The thread was erased and I gave up on breaking down the absurd use of the Eighth Commandment/Matthew 18 in the LCMS and WELS.
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Lizard-hands (Murdoch) has more friends than Martin Luther does at Mequon.
I am not allowed to say that the NNIV is owned by Murdoch. Sorry. |
Synodical reasoning is thus - "If we tell the truth, the innocent will be shocked and abandon us in droves. Therefore, we have to maintain our public sanctity and tell a bunch of convenient stories to keep our reputations secure."
