Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant Is the Only Book That Compares the Doctrine of These Three Faith Groups

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Helping Joe Krohn To See the Doctrinal Delusions of Stephan-Walther UOJ

Intrepid Lutherans - Comments

Vernon Knepprath said...

Joe,

Many consider John 3:16 to be the heart of the Gospel. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." That sounds remarkably similar to the verse I used in the post, from Acts 16:31. I will say it again, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." The words in quotations are part of God's Word, the Means of Grace. The Holy Spirit works through the Means of Grace to give and strengthen faith. It often amazes me to see so many people, many of them theologians, who work so hard to trivialize a gift of the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer that needs assurance of your forgiveness, use the Means of Grace. If you are not a believer, the Holy Spirit still works through the Means of Grace to give faith and forgiveness. This is what is taught in the Gausewitz edition of Luther's Small Catechism, and the Lutheran Confessions, both reflecting the truths of Scripture. It is actually quite easy and simple to articulate.

Vernon

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 AT 1:11 PM

Joe Krohn said...

Vernon...nothing confesses objective justification better than Christ's fervent prayer at the cross...Father forgive them...do you reject this? -Joe

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 AT 6:20 PM

Mr. Douglas Lindee said...

I, for one, fail to see that Christ was teaching the doctrine of Universal Justification in this statement, at all. The so-called doctrine of "Universal Justification" is nowhere stated in the Scriptures. Nowhere. In no section in the entirety of the Bible, where the Holy Spirit, through the pen of the inspired writers, has directly taught the Doctrine of Justification, is so-called "Universal Justification" even in view. In no context in which Justification is actually taught, is "Universal Justification" the message. The only direct teaching of the Bible concerning Justification is Justification by Faith Alone. "Universal Justification" is a pure invention.

It is impossible to allow Christ's words, here, to stand on their own and speak for themselves while at the same time understanding them as the teaching of "Universal Justification." They simply don't teach this doctrine. In order to interpret these words as a teaching of "Universal Justification," one must first insist that this so-called doctrine, which is nowhere stated in the Scriptures, is actually the central teaching of the Scriptures, and then use this teaching as a filter by which all Scripture is interpreted.

I'd be happy to accept "Universal Justification" as a Biblical doctrine, even as the central teaching of the Scriptures, if the Holy Spirit had thought it was important enough to actually include this doctrine in the direct teaching of Holy Writ. But it simply is not there. Anywhere. Again, the so-called doctrine of "Universal Justification" is neither mentioned, nor simply stated, nor articulated at length, nor developed and explained -- in short, it is not taught anywhere in the Scriptures. Therefore, I will not allow my conscience to be bound by it.

***

GJ - UOJ is a dogma looking for a text, not unlike the Roman Catholic Church, where peculiar doctrines are matched with Biblical verses that do not address the question at all. For example, "hay and stubble" that will be burned by fire is not addressing Purgatory but doctrinal content itself.

1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

This passage perfectly describes the poor work done by the Missouri clergy who followed Stephan, obeyed Stephan, and covered up adultery for Stephan. They taught the rationalistic Pietism of Halle, which Stephan learned while studying there. Their faction made a point of dominating the Missouri Synod and its partners with the entire universe absolved on Easter - abusing 1 Timothy 3:16.

Abandoning faith and the Means of Grace, Missouri and WELS and the Little Sect inserted this Halle cancer into everything, which made Pentecostalism, Church Growth, and work with ELCA so easy to promote.

Joe has everyone forgiven - without faith - at the cross. Then why was everyone forgiven again at the empty tomb? That is the problem with invented dogma. Roman Catholic dogma about Mary is quite appealing, until matched with appropriate Biblical verses. Rome has Mary never committing an actual sin, serving as Co-Redemptrix, but no Scripture hints at either one. Likewise they are left with a problem. Was Mary assumed into heaven after she died or without dying? That is not yet settled doctrine, as Buchholz would say, like world absolution on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. I await another Emmaus essay - with unfeigned anticipation.

Joe forgot to mention that his beloved UOJ, which he was challenging at the moment - at Holy Word, Austin - could not even be addressed by future DP Don Patterson. That is what UOJ does to the doctrine-damaged.

Quenstedt answered all objections to justification by faith -
and look who quoted and cited him - Robert Preus.

Just to prove me right,
Jay Webber cited Rambach the Pietist in favor of his UOJ,
countering Martin Chemnitz the senior editor of the Book of Concord.
This should not be a struggle, to choose Chemnitz over Rambach.
But now Webber cites the unknown Quistorp,
another Pietist.

Grace - WELS - Where Gausewitz Once Preached - Hosts Beer Party. The Drunken Sect Promotes Alcoholism. Bottoms Up! Has Special Meaning for Them

This ironic graphic graces their Facebook page.

The great love of WELS is alcohol, which is also the root of their troubles. Being drunk justifies just about anything, until it is discovered in the harsh light of the morning sun.

Drunken church leaders are not going to land on drunken pastors and teachers, not even for serious DUI charges (meaning endangering the lives of others by crossing the center line).

Huebner is the perfect example of the degradation of WELS, especially under the leadership of Mark Schroeder. Gausewitz once taught justification by faith in his parishes and his catechism, but the sainted Synodical Conference president has been defenestrated from history.

In the place of Gausewitz - not Grace Lutheran - but Grace Downtown, led by James Huebner promoting beer and the felt needs approach.

Grace Lutheran Church, downtown Milwaukee -
first page of website.

"Bottoms up!"
Pastor James Tiefel is the choir director and a professor at The Sausage Factory.
Church and Change leader John Lawrenz helped Tiefel get the job at Mequon.

The previous First VP, Wayne Mueller, promoted Church Growth and lied about it.
Huebner attended Fuller Seminary and openly mocks the efficacy of the Word,
so WELS elected him to replace Mueller.
Mark the Mortician is burying WELS with his doctrinal apathy.

The Church Militant Has Become the Church Mellow

Typical Church Growth website photo.

The elimination of battle verses - in the LCMS Lutheran Service Book and the WELS Contemporary Worship hymnals - illustrates a major point.

The Church Militant no longer exists to any extent. The reason is that upsetting people will lead to a loss of income. That is why Otten's Christian News is largely a public relations tool for WELS, Missouri, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and even the odorous Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic). CN is a convenient safety valve that lets people spout off now and then, but the editor is always eager to placate all the Lutheran sect leaders, lest confessional Lutheran doctrine be heard on the streets of Gath.

Paul McCain, blogger emeritus.

Paul McCain's ecumenical crew eliminated Luther's best polemical hymn because the verses might offend various faculty members, District Presidents, the Synod President, and the hymnal committee itself.

WELS toned down or eliminated the battle verses in three hymns - for the same reason. The only people who ever get positions of influence in WELS are sworn to the Blutfahne of Church and Change. If you need proof, go through Kudu Don Patterson's friends list on Facebook. Has he missed any Church and Changer?

This mellow approach does not mean the leaders are nicer. No, they are far nastier than ever. They have no respect for the Word or the ministry. They mastered the art of getting out of parish work altogether. WELS DPs pretend, they get their assistants paid so they can real bishops, all hat and no cattle - just like Kudu Don.

Lutherans are completely merged into modern, rationalistic Pietism - hardly anyone will fight against error, the very point of those verses. Cancer is cut out with surgery, burnt out with radiation or chemo. False doctrine is like a cancer.

And their word will eat as a cancer does: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 2 Timothy 2:17 [Jackson Modern Living KJV]

And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; KJV

"Luther, You are harshing my mellow,"
as the Lutheran potheads like to say.

Luther Called Himself a "Faithian" - Solafideist

Joe Krohn said...

Maybe it's just me...but if the assurance of my forgiveness is predicated on my faith, I'm in trouble. The ELDoNA cuts the heart out of the Gospel (sic); the absolution of all sin in the death of Christ vs. a faith that at times is not the strength of a mustard seed; in their rejection of a doctrine that they clearly can not even articulate (sic).

There is an ACLC congregation in Oregon and I would encourage them to seek it out.

Peace in Christ, -Joe 

One of the bombastic Ft. Wayne insults is -
"You are not a Christian, you are a Faithian.
Your faith is in faith."

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 AT 6:43 PM

Mr. Douglas Lindee said...

Hi Joe. It might be just you... You can't blame Bible-reading/believing Christians for being inwardly compelled to confess what the Bible plainly says, over and over and over again, and then affiliate with a church body that confesses the same doctrine. It seems rather silly to me for Christians to submit to having doctrine, nowhere stated in the Scriptures, dictated to them from a textbook, instead, while also being told that what the Bible does plainly and repeatedly say, is false teaching.

As for ACLC, they are in a State of Confession, and day is swiftly coming for them to make a final act on it -- to decide whether it was all bluster, or whether they will need to actually separate from LCMS. If the latter, I would strongly urge them to consider the positions of ELDoNA with an open mind.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 AT 7:49 AM

From Gottesdienst - On Luther's Battle Hymn - Missing from the Lutheran Service Book - LCMS."Don't Harsh My Mellow with Doctrinal Hymns," Claim the Synodical Potheads

When Paul McCain was not stealing stuff from The Catholic Encyclopedia
and his friend's blogs - without citations or quotation marks -
he was slipping in gems like this saint being nursed by a Virgin Mary statue.
Some Photoshop details have been added.

When a reader began to ask me about the hymn I just quoted, I could not believe that the LCMS erased Luther's great Reformation hymn from its money-maker - Lutheran Service Book.

Paul McCain's Eastern Orthodox pal helped with that book, as a Missouri pastor, then joined the EO. McCain feigned outrage.

Why were they allowed to get away with this travesty? Note the WELS CW has it but has toned it down, as it has the great Selnecker hymn and the ambiguous The Church's One Foundation.

I have written on this before, so I encourage laity to compare and contrast with The Lutheran Hymnal (boo hiss  - has thees and thous and no feminist language).

The elder writes:

I thought of you while I was working on my dissertation this week.  A while ago, we sang TLH 260: “O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold” in Bible study.  It’s all about teachers of bad doctrine, and you said something about how you never hear the hymn sung at synodical gatherings – no wonder it didn’t make it into LW or LSB.

Anyway, I was reading Joseph Herl’s Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism, and he recounts this from one of the church orders on pp.89-90.

“In 1527 a visiting preacher from Magdeburg, in his first and only sermon in Braunschweig, extolled the saving virtue of good works; whereupon: ‘a citizen by the name of Hennig Rischau began and said in a loud voice: “Father, you’re lying!” He then just as loudly began to sing the twelfth psalm, which Dr. Luther had just recently set in thought-provoking German verse as “Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein”’ (the above-mentioned TLH 260)…  In 1529 in Lübeck and 1530 in Lüneburg congregations distrupted the sermons by singing, seemingly spontaneously, Luther’s ‘Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein’. This hymn seems to have been so ubiquitous as a protest song that it, rather than the better-known ‘Ein feste Burg,’ deserves the epithet ‘battle hymn of the reformation’.”

"O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold" TLH 260
by Martin Luther, 1483-1546

1. O Lord, look down from heaven, behold
And let Thy pity waken:
How few are we within Thy Fold,
Thy saints by men forsaken!
True faith seems quenched on every hand,
Men suffer not Thy Word to stand;
Dark times have us o'ertaken.

2. With fraud which they themselves invent
Thy truth they have confounded;
Their hearts are not with one consent
On Thy pure doctrine grounded.
While they parade with outward show,
They lead the people to and fro,
In error's maze astounded.

3. May God root out all heresy
And of false teachers rid us
Who proudly say: "Now, where is he
That shall our speech forbid us?
By right or might we shall prevail;
What we determine cannot fail;
We own no lord and master."

4. Therefore saith God, "I must arise,
The poor My help are needing;
To Me ascend My people's cries,
And I have heard their pleading.
For them My saving Word shall fight
And fearlessly and sharply smite,
The poor with might defending."

5. As silver tried by fire is pure
From all adulteration,
So through God's Word shall men endure
Each trial and temptation.
Its light beams brighter through the cross,
And, purified from human dross,
It shines through every nation.

6. Thy truth defend, O God, and stay
This evil generation;
And from the error of their way
Keep Thine own congregation.
The wicked everywhere abound
And would Thy little flock confound;
But Thou art our Salvation.

-----

Funding Planned Parenthood abortions - for years, through Thrivent.

Luther says this about false teachers:

False Doctrine Tolerated

"And such false teachers have the good fortune that all their folly is tolerated, even though the people realize how these act the fool, and rather rudely at that. They have success with it all, and people bear with them. But no patience is to be exercised toward true teachers! Their words and their works are watched with the intent of entrapping them, as complained of in Psalm 17:9 and elsewhere. When only apparently a mote is found, it is exaggerated to a very great beam. No toleration is granted. There is only judgment, condemnation and scorn. Hence the office of preaching is a grievous one. He who has not for his sole motive the benefit of his neighbor and the glory of God cannot continue therein. The true teacher must labor, and permit others to have the honor and profit of his efforts, while he receives injury and derision for his reward."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 110f. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. Psalm 17:9.

God Punishes Ingratitude by Allowing False Teachers

"In the second place such teachers are disposed to bring the people into downright bondage and to bind their conscience by forcing laws upon them and teaching works-righteousness. The effect is that fear impels them to do what has been pounded into them, as if they were bondslaves, while their teachers command fear and attention. But the true teachers, they who give us freedom of conscience and create us lords, we soon forget, even despise. The dominion of false teachers is willingly tolerated and patiently endured; indeed, it is given high repute. All those conditions are punishments sent by God upon them who do not receive the Gospel with love and gratitude."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. John 5:43.

False Teachers Flay Disciples to Bone

"In the third place, false teachers flay their disciples to the bone, and cut them out of house and home, but even this is taken and endured. Such, I opine, has been our experience under the Papacy. But true preachers are even denied their bread. Yet this all perfectly squares with justice! For, since men fail to give unto those from whom they receive the Word of God, and permit the latter to serve them at their own expense, it is but fair they should give the more unto preachers of lies, whose instruction redounds to their injury. What is withheld from Christ must be given in tenfold proportion to the devil. They who refuse to give the servant of truth a single thread, must be oppressed by liars."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111f. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.

Avarice in False Teachers

"Fourth, false apostles forcibly take more than is given them. They seize whatever and whenever they can, thus enhancing their insatiable avarice. This, too, is excused in them."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.

They Lord It Over Us

"Fifth, these deceitful teachers, not satisfied with having acquired our property, must exalt themselves above us and lord it over us...We bow our knees before them, worship them and kiss their feet. And we suffer it all, yes, with fearful reverence regard it as just and right. And it is just and right, for why did we not honor the Gospel by accepting and preserving it?"

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.

Every WELS Leader's Response Is a GA Response

Have you heard about college fraternities breaking the legs
and knocking their pledges unconscious?
WELS has its own stories about teeth knocked out,
broken bones, the kid dropped out of the dorm window, upside-down.

WELS laity do not understand that their clergy constantly deceive them - a legacy of the hazing system. The hazing does not simply begin at Mequon, but at the prep and college level. The future pastors are used to the brutal, obnoxious, and obscene tactics of hazing when they arrive at the holy grounds of Mequon.

If they complain, they will be hated out of WELS. One prospect objected to sexual assault when he got off the bus. A future pastor ran up to him and grabbed his... He was hated out - not the pervert, but the object of the attack - for complaining and being "thin-skinned." WELS definitely has a homosexual clergy problem, and it manifests itself early, with the aggression of those who should be somewhere else - and the support of the school's leaders.

The essence of GA is constant deception, such as claiming GA is gone when it is simply called HB now. I cannot count how many furious messages I received:

• Denouncing me for telling the secrets of GA.
• Denying that GA still exists.

Here is one founder of Church and Change
anointing the next president of the Asian mini-seminary,
another founder of Church and Change -
 a CG lobby funded by WELS offering money.

The initial deception is pretending GA has been canceled. Students call home and tell their dads, and their dads laugh to themselves - "Junior bought the line." WELS considers this a mark of success, to have the sons of pastors fear that GA is no more, because it proves dad kept his mouth shut and the new stewards of the mysteries of abuse are doing a good job.

The second part is having one set of students (the softs) pretend they are helping the new students against the bad guys (the hards). They are really pumping up the fear and laughing to themselves about scaring the new students. If the students know what is going on, they really catch Hell from the hards.

Everyone who goes through GA becomes another gaslighter,
and they revel in their deceptions and dirty tricks,
even while complaining about WELS abuse.

A lot of abuse builds up to the finale - pouring beer on the heads of students while they are doing pushups, knocking cigar ashes into the drinks of students, who are forced to drink  the substance,
pushing a wagon, looking for the pope's bowling ball in the raw sewage of the pond. The final scary part is having the softs tell the students that the hards are on the other side of the doors, waiting to pounce of them. The new students run through the doors as fast as they can while upperclassmen, pastors, and synod officials are shouting and making noise. They catch the frightened student, give him a beer (appropriate for a drunken ministerium) and tell them. "It's OK. It's all over."

But of course, the abuse is just starting. If they graduate and get a call, the GA approach will never go away. Bullies continue to be bullies and victims learn how much fun it is to abuse others.

Needless to say, many of the hards are mean, nasty, verbally and physically abusive. The hards have a great advantage - they can do anything they please. If anyone objects, that person is marked for life.

No one - but no one - is allowed to criticize GA. Yes, they can go to Dean Brenner, but that is the first step of expulsion from the ministry. That is also why people are urged to "write a letter," which gives WELS physical proof of treacherous thoughts and deeds, which can be summarized as denying the infallibility of Holy Mother WELS.

Wayne Mueller claimed in print - "There is no Church Growth in WELS."
Was he calling Robert Hartman, Paul Kelm, and Ron Roth liars?
No, he was gaslighting (GA) the sect.

A pastor, Circuit Pastor, or even a District Pope may act sympathetic toward a layman with a question or problem - but it is all a lie. Best of all, the liars compare notes and laugh about it, just like the good old days at The Sausage Factory.

If they arrange a meeting, it will be four against one, or even ten against one, including the sympathetic person, who will suddenly attack the person he was there to support.  In the movie, "Remember, it's Chinatown."

In WELS - "Remember, it's GA."

DP Don Patterson denied he was involved in Church and Change,
then went to the "final" Church and Change conference.
Now Jeske has many C and C conferences each year,
embracing ELCA in his nefarious plans.
Mark Schroeder is against C and C, too -
more gaslighting of the laity who pay for these frauds.

Intrepid Lutherans - No Longer Alone

Vernon Knepprath

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Called to “Test all things”

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Doug Lindee

Eight days ago, we blogged about the opening of Faith Lutheran Church – a new, independent Lutheran congregation in the Portland, Oregon, area, formed by some 17 Lutherans who were recently compelled to leave WELS for a variety of reasons, and have now chosen to be served by pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). 

We also mentioned that these Lutherans now also feel compelled to provide a public explanation for their departure from the WELS. Last Monday, we posted the first such explanation: No Longer Alone: Perspective of a Confessional Lutheran Woman. Today, we post the second.

---

Called to “Test all things” by Mr. Vernon Kneprath
The intent and agreement among those who chose to leave our WELS congregation was to leave peacefully and quietly. Concerns had already been expressed to the appropriate individuals over months and years, regarding what was being preached, taught and practiced throughout the synod. Most of those resigning their membership had stopped attending our local congregation weeks or months prior. When our common goal to return to confessional Lutheranism was realized, and a road to that end became available, it was determined to be prudent to resign our membership in our WELS congregation before working toward organizing a new congregation.

A simple, one sentence letter indicated the undersigned were resigning their membership. The letter was sent by certified mail to the pastor and president of the congregation. It was considered by our group to be more kind and considerate to send one letter rather than many, so that those receiving it would not be in a position of wondering when the next letter would arrive.

For nearly two months we generally avoided initiating dialogue. Some of us were contacted by various members and leaders of our local congregation. We listened carefully, and responded respectfully. Out of the communications that occurred during that time, there was a single individual who approached many of us in a respectful manner, and showed genuine care and concern for us.

The previous Intrepid post gave one individual’s reasons for leaving the WELS. While each of us had our own specific reasons for leaving, there were many shared concerns. Therefore, some of what follows may seem redundant. Unlike the author of the previous post, I had been a lifelong member of the WELS. I was instructed and confirmed with the Gausewitz edition of Luther’s Small Catechism, and remain convinced that it properly represents and teaches the truths of Scripture. But it had become increasingly clear in recent years that I was a confessional Lutheran in a Lutheran church body that seemed to no longer appreciate or desire to be confessional Lutheran.

The Bible teaches that we are to point out error where it exists, and to defend the truth of God’s Word at every opportunity.

”Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 NKJV)

Over time, and with a great deal of attention to what was going on among Lutherans in this country, it became apparent it wasn’t necessary to accept the deliberate changes being made to the teachings and practices of churches within the WELS. There is an alternative.

New Bible translations that glorify man and his wisdom rather than honoring God’s unchanging Word do not need to be tolerated or accepted. There is a Lutheran church body that recognizes the potent efficacy of God’s Word in teaching AND in practice.

Contemporary worship, or blended worship, or whatever the latest worship fad, does not have to be tolerated or accepted. There is a Lutheran church body that unabashedly uses the historic liturgy without change or reservation.

An obsession with money, and a link to Thrivent and Planned Parenthood does not have to be tolerated or accepted. There is a Lutheran church body that focuses on teaching and preaching Law and Gospel, leaving it up to God to determine how and when the saints will be blessed.

Man-made gimmicks to fill the pews and the offering plates do not have to be tolerated or accepted. There is a Lutheran church body that preaches the Means of Grace, and only the Means of Grace, as the way in which God grows the church.

Decisions to remove “Lutheran” from a church name, school or website, or other efforts to distance a church from the Lutheran Confessions need not be accepted or tolerated. There is a Lutheran church body that eagerly teaches the contents of the Book of Concord to its members.

The teaching of objective justification, which proclaims that “everyone has been justified, everyone has been forgiven, everyone has been saved,” does not have to be tolerated or accepted. There is a Lutheran church body that preaches, without hesitation or contradiction, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31 NKJV)

There is an alternative to a Lutheran church that no longer desires to be confessional Lutheran. The Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America, (ELDoNA) is the Lutheran church that I have found to be unapologetically confessional Lutheran, in teaching AND in practice.


The Lutheran Hymnal - Hymn 260 verse 2 (verse omitted from the WELS hymnal, Christian Worship)

With fraud which they themselves invent
     Thy truth they have confounded;
Their hearts are not with one consent
     On Thy pure doctrine grounded.
While they parade with outward show,
They lead the people to and fro,
     In error's maze astounded.




Altar design and Photoshop by Norma Boeckler

Viewing the Vast Waistband of ALPB Online. Luther's Praise of Dogs Applies to American Lutherdom, Apostates Napalm the Garden Instead of the Weeds

The laity understand this classic passage from 1530,
but the Olde Synodical Conference will have none of it.

Luther observed about dogs -

“The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much esteemed were it not so common. Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest.” 

He said something similar about justification by faith. People would sigh during his sermons when he brought it the subject. One Facebook friend said, "Do you write about anything else?" 

Meanwhile the denizens of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Online Forum endlessly post about who was right or wrong in the fracture of the ELCA, etc.

Everyone there is an orthodox Lutheran - and confessional too! I do not bother to post - something about casting pearls, Shakespeare I think. When I brought up and posted the actual statistics about Lutheran seminary costs, including the LCMS, Missouri's DP Behnke asked, "Are those real figures?" He is always on the Net, always posting, but does not know his own seminary costs? 

Looking over nine (9) pages of posts about just one article in the Lutheran Forum journal, I wondered what would develop if they devoted as much time to Biblical studies and reading Luther. 

Mention this commentary - commended by the Book of Concord - and move on.
Nothing to see here - just the demolition of their dogma.

A reader mentioned and linked a Lutheran congregation. I looked over the information to see the denomination (often carefully hidden) and the staff. Found it - LCMS. Isn't one pastor a big Church Growth salesman? I mentioned that in an email, then went back to Google the question. Yes, there he was listed as praising the eternal verities of Waldo Werning at a Church Growth press website.

False teachers are like weeds, opportunists that take over the fertile soil and grab the sun's energy to supplant and choke out the good plants. Springdale was blessed with monsoon rains several times this summer. As a result I saw  Fireweed reach 8 feet before I identified it and cut it down - using rose clippers. I walk Sassy twice a day, so we view the progress of flowers and weeds around the neighborhood. Even the cracks in the sidewalks are sprouting bushy gardens of weeds.

False doctrine is weedlike because it can purchase territory in the barest and driest soil - like  the parched domains of the CLC (sic). But it is also weedlike in its abundant growth when conditions are beneficial. 

ELCA has presented endless opportunities for the Pharisaical sects to pray, "Thank God we are not like them. We do not ordain women (yet). We do not ordain homosexuals (openly). We do not teach ELCA's doctrine (unless someone compares our Dreck with theirs)." 

The Olde Synodical Conference has nurtured faithful members for generations, many of them raised on justification by faith, either the KJV catechism or Gausewitz. They have also sheltered refugees from the craziness of a disintegration of ELCA and its earlier apostate parts. After all the Braaten Jenson fiasco was sold as a last attempt to provide "Confessional Lutheran doctrine" and Braaten still wears the label and visage of a martyr.

The Missouri Synod! - what better place to nurture Pentecostalism, Pietistic cell groups, and the furtive but hyper-active UOJ. I know, have met, or have heard many of the current MDivs and wonder about their goals. If their IQs were as large as their waistbands, they would realize that the only thing they persecute and demolish is justification by faith.

In spite of their self-serving protests, they can work with ELCA, Thrivent, and Planned Parenthood. Everything is right just fine, as they say in the South, unless someone detects justification by faith. Then the Odd Couple - Webber and Buchholz - fire for effect and elimination the opposition - so they think.

Trailing Arbutus

Webber, still working on his first graduate degree, and Buchholz - infused with the Holy Spirit's infallibility - will travel to the ends of the earth to wipe out the residual doctrine of earlier days. They remind me of the novice gardener who spent days trying to get rid of a pesky vine in his yard, only to find out later that he had the rare and hard to cultivate trailing arbutus on his property.

"Jon, you only have 11 more districts to go and WELS will be pacified."
"Thanks, Jay. You can be my gunny sarge. Glad you left Kovo in Russia."