Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Preview of the May 2, 2016 Issue of Christian News.
Not Much. David Becker Should Do More Research about His ELCA News

Julie B. Sevig
Managing Editor

Bio:
I joined the magazine staff in 2000 as a section editor, and since then have written and edited hundreds of stories–many about congregations of the ELCA.
My family belongs to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Chicago.

https://www.reconcilingworks.org/images/stories/downloads/concords/concord%2032_4_winter%202011.pdf

Michelle Miller & Julie Sevig

In honor of the Holy Union of Michelle Miller & Julie Sevig - Thad Fisher\\

Rev. Michelle Sevig (nee Miller)

http://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/5139

The ELCA's 10,721 congregations staff their ministries in
about as many ways, making it difficult to identify clergywomen
who head the congregations' staffs purely by their titles, said
the Rev. Michelle Miller, director, women for leadership in
ministry, ELCA Commission for Women.
Miller asked the bishops of ELCA synods to identify "women
who lead large congregations with multiple staff and who
supervise at least one other person in professional ministry."
Miller gathered the names of 120 clergywomen and invited them to
the academy.

Under the Cardboard - News for Earthworm Fanciers

Last fall we began to cover half of the backyard with cardboard on the bottom and leaves on top. We used perhaps 80 bags of leaves.

Now that whole area has a soft waterbed feel to it, wherever I step. As I wrote not long ago, the grackles have stopped to feast on the food in the leaves, since moisture and organic matter produce a bumper crop of decomposers.

I had a couple of plants to start forming a screen, so I went to the western corner of the yard and began to dig, prying up some cardboard and pushing aside the leaves. The cardboard was still in one piece and the sod was blackened below. Earthworms were abundant in and below the cardboard, not one per shovel (the commonly cited proof of good soil) but dozens of them.

The sod was semi-decomposed after a warm winter, some snow, and rain. It was very easy to dig in the soil, and easy to place the new plants.

Jessica Walliser uses cardboard for her mulch too,
setting it up in the fall and punching through in the spring.

I once put all the sod from a dig into a compost pit I created in Midland for this purpose.. I was young and prone to use my construction sized wheelbarrow, donated. Large wheelbarrows tempt one into bigger projects.

Upside-down sod shrinks down as it decomposing. A large amount in a pit decomposes more quickly, with all the built-in nitrogen, soil animals, and various soil components pushed together in a mass. That sod compost pit became the parsley patch and produced well with black swallowtail butterflies enjoying their favorite food.

From that time on, the sod compost area remained bouncy like gelatin. That fascinated me. The original prairie soil that settlers found in the Great Plains, supercharged with centuries of deep prairie grass roots and buffalo dung, would create waves when people jumped off their wagons.

Mulch alone will normally feed the weed growth quickly, with the taller weeds like crabgrass shooting through the barrier, enhanced by having the punier growth shaded. For that reason I first began using layers of newspapers.

Larger areas are much easier to mulch with cardboard, and used boxes are everywhere for free. At first the cardboard plus mulch combination is odd, with that dry hollow underpinning sound. After some rains the mass settles down and continues its work of rotting the grass and empowering the soil creatures.

Mountain mint loves beneficial insects -
and butterflies.

Show Me the Money - On Guidestar.org.
Schwan Foundation, Concordia Publishing House, Christian News

The closer you look,
the worse they look.

Guidestar.org and some other sites publish how non-profit and foundation money is spent. From time to time I look for updates. At the moment, Concordia Publishing House is very lax or late, with figures from 2012 being the latest. The princely salaries of Paul McCain and his boss are listed for CPH, but 2012 is a bit dated, dontcha think?

Christian News is the most up-to-date, and it is also the funniest. At the end is a handwritten note about people coming in to see the figures, expecting them to be published, as they have been in the past. The figures are not shocking and good for 2014, which is commendable.

The Schwan Foundation is in-between with 2013 figures. Cprrection - not long ago that was true. Now they have their 2014 Form 990 posted.

Search Schwan Foundation.
Pick the Missouri location.
Click on the title. Then click on the Form 990 link. That is the form filled out by non-profits for the IRS.
Thrivent has a pile of reports - all very shocking if time is taken to see where the money goes. There are various funds in various states for Thrivent. My favorite idiotic gift was $5,000 to the Minneapolis Orchestra. But if you are dumb enough to fund Thrivent, why not?

Back to the Schwan Foundation, which is being taken to court to have its enormous losses explained.

I was unable to pick up the URL in Chrome for this story, published last night, so I went to another browser to get it listed. Apparently Schwan money pays Google to block searches on their name.

The problem is that the foundation has lost almost a half-billion dollars, $250 million in one year alone. I am no financial expert, but I doubt whether I could lose that much money, even if I did my utmost.

Let us look at who is running the store at the Schwan Foundation.

The principal officer listed is Rev. Keith Boheim.

Folks, do not make a clergy-person the head of a foundation. The Walther sects have a bad reputation for coveting money and running off with it. Then they lie about it.

This peacock (on the left) gets a salary and plush benefits
for teaching against Biblical, Lutheran doctrine.
I teach their dogmas for free - and then refute them - gladly.

Wowser Salaries

Rev Keith Boheim is listed as executive director with $286,000+ for salary plus almost $47,000 besides. I hasten to add that the extra money, probably for benefits, is more than the salaries of most ELS/WELS pastors.

Rev. Lawrence Burgdorf is listed for a $1,000. He used to get around $400,000 a year - a figure which made Herman Otten go through the roof.

Keith Raabe gets $1,000

Erik Burgdorf gets $171,000 plus another $35,000.

Consultants Earn Their Dough

Capital Partners gets $1.3 million for advice on how to lose hundreds of millions. I would do that for, say, only $100,000 a year. There are other consultants, too.

Follow the Money, More or Less

$2,560,000 - Bethany Lutheran College
$500,000 - Little Sect on the Prairie
$150,000 - Lutheran Laymen's League (I thought they died.)
$2,100,000 - LCMS.
$0,815,000 - WELS
$2,110,000 - WELS again.
$3,800,000 - Wisconsin Lutheran College - they did name a library after St. Marvin.
$0,460,000 - Missions Advance

The Walther precedent.
Let's not forget the jeweled chalice they stole from Stephan
and used for Holy Communion.
Cops call things like that "trophies" the robbers love to look at.

The Big Bump in the Road

When St. Marvin died prematurely and met his maker, he doubtless had a bundle of indulgences in his hands, certified by indulgence salesmen from WELS, the Little Sect, and the LCMS. I remember Wayne Laitenen preaching St. Marvin into heaven while the man was still alive.

Little did they care about what a cad Marvin was. So the money has bruised and broken every one it has touched. WELS and Missouri spent money like Congressmen, because it was not theirs to begin with. The final result was a sudden decrease in Schwan gifts from $50 million plus to only $12 million now.

Unspoken - how much money is spent paying off lawsuits before they reach the court. One lawsuit alone, against Fred Adrian (WELS), his congregation, and WELS got a judgment of $400,000. Naturally, greedy WELS appealed that. The Milcraft lawsuit netted the cheated widow $1,000,000 - not including the legal fees involved.

Rev. Paul McCain, the pastor without a pulpit, said to me, "Missouri had to check up on ministers more carefully because the lawsuits were costing so much money." Note the lack of interest in the victims, only in the monetary cost to Holy Mother Synod. One lawsuit threat was quenched when a Missouri official said, "If this goes to court, it will cost us $10 million, and there goes the Siberian mission." Pastor Otten sent me the papers on that disgusting case.

Biggest Gift - Biggest Woes

When Marvin Schwan reached the temperature of his frozen foods, he left the LCMS-WELS-ELS the large charitable gift ever.

That gusher gave immunity to a large group of parasitic synodical creatures, those who wear their gold crucifix chains over their black clergy vests and pretend to be pastors. Like typical trust fund kids, they have proven to be lazy, shiftless, dishonest, addicted to various substances, and spendthrifts. Their glory days are over. Judgement Day has met many of them already.

When Schwan dive happened, I predicted it would break the back of the three synods by making them even more irresponsible. I was right.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Schwan Loot Disappears - Calling the Hogs - Woo Pig Souieeee!
How and Why Did the First Mrs. Schwan Die?
Did the "Conservative" Synods Sell Forgiveness to St. Marvin Before He Reached the Temperature of His Frozen Foods?

Schwan brothers wants answers on why father’s foundation has lost millions

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/nation-and-world/4017702-schwan-brothers-wants-answers-why-fathers-foundation-has-lost-millions

By Barry Amundson on Apr 25, 2016 at 6:50 p.m.

PIERRE, S.D. -- South Dakota’s Supreme Court will hear a case today over a dispute between the Marvin Schwan religious charitable foundation and the giant food company founder’s two sons who are questioning millions of dollars in losses since its founding in 1992.

The hearing is set for 10 a.m. before the justices.

Marvin Schwan, who set up the foundation a year before he died at age 64, called for the organization to provide funding to mostly Lutheran church organizations.

He founded the Schwan’s business in 1952 and it grew into a multibillion company known for its home delivery to rural residents. The company, based in Marshall in southwest Minnesota, now operates in 14 states and has 14,000 employees.

The case brought by Marvin’s sons, Mark and Paul, ask that the foundation’s trustees disclose more information on why it has lost as much as $600 million since its founding.

According to the online Nonprofit Quarterly, a review of the foundation’s tax filings show a “baffling mix of conflicts of interest, overseas real estate investments in resort properties by the foundation and the use of a trustee succession committee designed to review the performance of the trustees on which the two sons serve.”

However, apparently the two sons on the review committee can’t seem to get any answers about the heavy losses.

So the Schwan brothers want want to compel the trustees release more details.

The Nonprofit Quarterly online website said that in 2002 the Schwan Foundation held $886 million in assets and gave $44 million in grants. A report online shows that by 2012, assets dropped to $445 million and grants totaled $14 million.

In 2011 alone, the foundation’s assets dropped by more than $240 million in that single year, said the Nonprofit Quarterly, which added that about a third of the foundation’s assets are invested directly in various real estate projects in the Caribbean and through offshore corporations, including in the British Virgin Islands.

Calls to the foundation, headed by the Rev. Keith Boheim of Earth City, Mo., were not returned. Also not returned were calls to the Schwan brothers’ lawyer.

Others listed on the Supreme Court docket to speak today are lawyers for beneficiaries of the foundation’s funds including Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn., Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Wels Kingdom Workers mission outreach in Wauwatosa, Wis.

Most of the lawyers representing those beneficiaries, the Schwans and the foundation trustees are from Sioux Falls.

Also participating in the hearing is the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office.

Attorney General Marty Jackley, who said in an interview that he couldn’t comment on the case because court documents have been sealed, noted that the reason they are involved is because South Dakota law calls for the attorney general to protect beneficiaries of charitable trusts that aid communities in the state.

“That’s why we are stepping in,” he said.

Jackley appointed “two seasoned prosecutors” to handle the case, assistant attorney generals Jeffrey Hallem and Philip Carlson.

The Forbidden Verses - UOJ Stormtroopers Cannot Stand What the Word Teaches

Romans 3:21-22 KJV
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Galatians 2:16 KJV
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The modern translations have "faith in Jesus," but that is not the construction in NT Greek, a language barely known among the UOJ clergy. The actual words are "faith of Jesus," which means the faith belonging to Jesus.

The difference is significant. I may have faith in a bridge, to cross it, or faith in a bank, to put money in it. But in both cases the object does not have faith. The bridge has no faith. The bank has no faith.

But Jesus has faith, as these verses clearly teach. This is a devastating blow to the UOJ Stormtroopers, who hate "faith" the way Bernie Sanders hates free enterprise, the way nature abhors a vacuum, the way a vacuous argument abhors the Word.

This phrasing is doubly important because "faith in Jesus" can be interpreted as emphasizing the individual rather than Jesus. Moreover, both instances of "the faith of Jesus" occur in the all-important Pauline discussion of justification by faith.

The accurate translation also clarifies the meaning of "from faith to faith" in Romans.

Romans 1 KJV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

I would paraphrase verse 17 as "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from the faith of Jesus to our faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

The UOJ arguments are cerebral but dumb, clearly violating Luther's admonitions against Enthusiasm - separating the Holy Spirit from the Word. No one can tell me when the imaginary world absolution took place - at the death of Jesus, at His resurrection, or during the angelic blessing "Peace on earth, good will to men."

Can you picture the UOJ Stormtroopers dividing into rival factions - the Angelic UOJists versus the Atonement UOJists versus the Empty Grave UOJists? I can. Sig Becker thought it worthwhile to differentiate various flavors of UOJ, although the interpreters of this Delphic Oracle from Mequon shed no light on the topic, except to reverence his blessed attempt at clarity.

But, struggling to get back to the main point, this phase "the faith of Jesus" has an interesting and worthwhile perspective - teaching the humanity of Christ. In this Age of Apostasy, the mainline denominations teach against the divinity of Christ and the circus clowns of Church Growth add to that impression with their "buddy Jesus" graphics and emphasis on cola and snacks.

So there is some reactionary danger in believers downplaying the human nature in Christ. The entire narrative of the Passion is one where the human nature in Christ is almost all we see - the submission to Roman and Jewish authorities, the beating and spitting and mocking, the scourging and crucifixion, the fainting and crying out "My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?" In Christology we speak of the two natures in Christ, so does it not make sense that Jesus exemplified faith in all His work and Word?