The Synodical Conference Is Doomed. They Cannot Relate Outside Their Own Cult

Someone opened up a can of 8th Commandment on me,
again.

When I published about one of those typical Jeske rants about church as a business, everything has to change, a speech devoid of the Gospel, one Facebook friend accused me of violating the Eighth Commandment. He blocked me, just to make it clear.

Another reader noted that Jeske has been giving the same speech for decades, which matches with my experience - hearing the same facts from the LCA 40 years ago. The LCA called it boats and babies, almost exactly what Jeske said - no more boats, fewer babies. Yawn.

WELS, Missouri, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and the odious CLC (sic) have their designated Unquestioned Gurus. All opinions circle those figures, who do not appreciate being questioned in any way whatsoever. The LCMS is large enough to have their sub-groups, like

• Crypto-Rome, 
• UOJ Stormtrooper bros,
• ELCA-wannabee, and 
• Pentecostal.

The trouble is, they only relate to their own groups or sub-groups. They remind me of the two St. Louis questions -

1. Where didja go tah school? and 
2. What street do yah live on? 

Those questions categorize everyone in St. Louis. Even the private schools have their own special reputations, loyalists, and nicknames, like LaJew for Ladue. Learn to say "fork" as "fark" and you will fit right in.

The most insecure people worry most about their standing in the social order. When I was working at the Neighborhood Market, a very small minority would respond to my help by acting like "The help is talking to me? Let's keep it short so they know their place." I tried not to smile, because my inner voice asked, "And how many books have you written?"

This happened at a Yale Alumni meeting long ago. We introduced ourselves at the big table and told what we did for a living. One woman could not hide her sneering look at the prospect of having a mere minister at the table - most of the alumni were lawyers and corporate honchos. Later in the evening, when the president of Yale gave a statistic for divinity alumni as leaders in America, she seemed a bit shocked and chagrined, as if the country pumpkin had turned into a Lincoln Town Car.

So the Synodical Conference has made its mark by enforcing the franchise, acting as if all any other flavors of Pietism are low-grade. This is especially amusing the in the ELS and CLC (sic). The ELS is so superior to WELS, but they take all their orders from WELS and are completely subordinate to their Big Brother, who is always watching. The CLC (sic) has a 30-second repeating commercial they use about how keen they are about fellowship, but they covet and copy WELS in going down the drain. Church Growth from Fuller Seminary? - the CLC (sic) adores it.

The Synodical Conference has no more trust in the Word than the ELCA does, so they all chase the exact same Fuller fads. Whatever WELS is doing (like they invented it), ELCA is also doing. And lo, so are Missouri, the ELS, and the CLC (sic) aping Fuller at the same time in the same way. It is almost like they all went to Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Divinity together. Waldo Werning admitted going to Fuller, then denied it. David Valleskey, who greatly admired Werning, denied Fuller and admitted it. Valleskey's UOJ/CG-bro Bivens bragged about Fuller and denied it. DP Seifert heard the Bivens confession and forgot it, and then remembered it, and then forgot it again.

The Synodical Conference parts rejoice in their unanimous rejection of justification by faith - just like ELCA, but in the name of grace, of course. Since one cannot separate justification by faith from the efficacy of the Word, the established Lutheran groups are stuck in their downhill cycle of Methodist methods.

This nonsense is considered spiritual wisdom at Ft. Wayne,
and posting it earned me a vulgar rant
from one of the Steadfast mafia.

Methodists built enormous congregations - and emptied them - by organizing along the lines of people pleasing activities. They had groups galore, special Sundays (Scouts, children, Masons, veterans, bakery) and an irenic, Biblical stance. The Methodists taught the Bible but never fought over any issues. They will people they also teach the Real Presence, even though they do not. They never had a confessional basis, only the sermons of Wesley, so they could never anchor their beliefs. This Methodist problem probably sounds just like WELS - and it is.

The Methodists also became famous for gay clergy without admitting it - just like WELS. I can go back in my time machine memory and recall barn-like Methodist churches with their little pit band setups in the chancel, their tepid timid clergy wondering why everything was going sour. They had no grip on future generations because they taught the youth nothing. That was 40 years ago, it has only worsened in all the mainline denominations.

Nevertheless, not learning from their mainline counterparts, the Lutherans sects talk about evangelism while making a point to stigmatize anyone who does not fit into their ghetto world-view. They do that especially with their overpriced educational system. And they wonder why their hazed, stigmatized, homogenized, repeat-after-me clergy cannot relate to people outside their little ghetto.

Why such a dumb sign?

It is probably a New Ulm store.