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| Mirthless Mark Schroeder's PR guy is no longer on LinkedIn, but he remained on the website for a long time, even after his new offense that earned him five years. |
My first response to a news story is to check LinkedIn, which is an astonishing repository of professional resumes.
If someone on the staff of a church is arrested, the individual will usually be taken off the congregational website at once - or partially removed in the case of a WELS church. That sect does not even hide things well.
But LinkedIn often keeps a bio going for a time. Since people are boasting about their professional honors, the listings are a self-portrait. Hochmuth kept his profile active on LinkedIn for a long time, and he was on the Net a lot - even when forbidden. But now, he is no longer listed. If I have my dates right, Hochmuth was still posting his continuing work with WELS this year.
I often look at suggested connections, because LinkedIn has a way of finding everyone I have ever known, especially since unfriending and blocking - Facebook shunning tools - are not practiced, perhaps not even possible on LinkedIn.
Therefore, Facebook contacts show up as potential LinkedIn contacts. So do those I have answered on gmail. I have 15 pending at the moment, over 1000 contacts. Facebook - I have 1,400 there, and I am far more choosy on FB. Obnoxious quasi-Lutherans get themselves blocked.
As I wrote before, the social media are powerful tools. One leverages the others. In fact, they all leverage one another, thanks to the advent of giant relational databases. We have common, fixed entities that are unique identifiers. A phone number is a good entity. So is a home address. If a few identifiers are put together, that is better than a photo ID, which can be manufactured.
Computers are just tools. They do not do anything by themselves. They leverage whatever is happening with the user, whether foolish or wise. We can reach the world with the Word of God for almost no cost. Or - we can copy and paste Craig Groeschel sermons and post them as our own - but why? - on our congregational websites. I used to do searches to see how many congregations and denominations were posting the same Groeschel sermon series on their websites.
WELS-LCMS congregations are eager to copy Rick Warren, Craig Groeschel, and other frauds. Here is a good way to test it. Copy the end of one sentence and the beginning of another, paste that into Google and see if it shows up elsewhere. Better yet, use Turn It In for a complete text match.
Some love the Fuller entertainment style. Others love the Romish entertainment style. What they copy is what they dearly love. I copy Luther, Chemnitz, and Melanchthon. I favor Jacobs and Krauth over Walther and Werning, because of the Chief Article.
Computers leverage the Means of Grace or false doctrine, spiritual wisdom or the foolishness of man.
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| Someone indulged this Roman Catholic lady who wanted to dance the Biblical lesson, but I forgot the lesson taught. Perhaps - Oy! |
