Mmmmn. Folger's coffee percolated for hours - that reminds me of the Concordias, Bethany, and Mordor. |
Question: How many pastors have graduated from the LCMS-WELS-ELS seminaries without hearing these words -
"You have to read Luther's sermons. They are the best way to study the Scriptures and the Christian Faith. Learn how to preach from Luther."
Answer - Almost no seminary student has heard that suggestion.
The denominations are clever. They control the faculty by making sure their apostates or get-along-go-along people are on the seminary boards. A few aggressive people control the faculties and their future.
Decades of universally approved false doctrine just about pre-determine the outcome for the seminary graduates. For example Spineless Brenner actually objected to WELS having Church Growth goals - so inflated that the numbers would serve as high comedy if someone could find them. He told me about discussing that with Carl Mischke, whose only defense is that Carl was better than Gurgle, who was better than Schroeder. Mischke said, "We are watching it," - a masterpiece of ambiguity.
The "conservative" seminaries ignore Luther, much like the Crypto-Calvinists of ancient history. The seminaries actively promote anti-Lutheran books and gush over the products of Fuller Seminary and its clones while lying about studying at those places (including Willowcreek, Trinity Divinity, and the Purpose-Driven rabbit warren.
WELS always says about Lenski, "He is bad on justification," which sounds much better than "We are opposed to Justification by Faith."
One graduate of Concordia, St. Louis, said - "My first seminary reading assignment was The Purpose-Driven Church, by Rick Warren."
Since the anti-Lutherans are held up as the best possible examples of "how to do church," the actual Lutherans of the past are forgotten, not studied, or panned with a few choice remarks.
The LCMS has the additional baggage of promoting the Walther mythology, which makes CFW into The Great Prophet who explains all truths, even though his Biblical languages were weak and his training stopped with a BA from a rationalistic school.
I cannot criticize Walther for covering up the adultery of Bishop Martin Stephan, because all the church officials do the same today - but only for their friends.
Will this replace the Luther statues? "They are not ready for it...yet." |