Relational Buying and Selling - Why the Synods Are Collapsing

The synods have squandered the trust 
built up over previous decades.

In many public and private enterprises, the establishment of trust is an essential part of continuing. The synods have squandered that trust and now follow the downward spiral of many institutions before them.

What do Lutherans teach? In spite of their posturing about being the true Lutheran Church, each sect - from ELCA on down to the micro-minis - regurgitates the latest from Fuller Seminary.

The four main figures at Fuller Seminary cloaked themselves in conservatism while advancing their radical ideas, which included repudiation of the authority and inerrancy of the Word of God.

1. Robert Schuller turned his liberal Calvinism into pure rationalism with a hybrid formula of lite music and celebrity speakers, gouging the congregation to pay enormous salaries for his family - a recipe loved by all the synods too.
2. The nearby Fuller Seminary president and board got behind the adulterous plagiarist Karl Barth and the Barth-Kirschbaum dogma of quasi-Christian Marxism.
3. Donald McGavran, with scant theological training and a PhD in sociology, promoted his statistical approach to Church Growth. He came from the super-leftist Disciples of Christ.
4. C. Peter Wagner, a zany Pentecostal, smelled the money and ran over to Fuller Seminary to cash in on the CG business as a faculty member.

These changes have taken place without advance notice, because the congregations would have rebelled if they were told the truth about the false doctrine deliberately perpetuated by their own leaders. That is especially true of the overpaid and underworked seminary faculties.

The worse a pastor is - and that includes criminal acts - the more the synod supports him, if he belongs to the apostasy faction. He knows he can do no wrong. Actions that would get him marched out of the building with a cardboard box full of his personal items - that will instead get the synod president involved in saving his career. The worse he is, the more he can expect the synod to send him around as a featured speaker.

I went to the same auto-repair place in Springdale the last seven years, driving the same Lincoln Town Car. Little Ichabod warned me they were no longer so reliable. I bypassed two alternatives and trusted them one more time. They had been so good in preserving the Icha-boat in all its glory. This last time, they did not do their work well and cost me a lot of extra time, but they still charged a hefty fee. That was my last trip to that repair place.

That is an allegory for what is happening in Lutherdom. Now look around - how many congregations are left with the traditional Means of Grace, Christ-centered liturgy? They are scarcer than hen's teeth.

The remnants of the Synodical Conference are united in their boast that Luther taught Justification without Faith - UOJ. Just in time to sell trinkets in the name of the Reformation's 500th Anniversary.

 Writers and editors are normally fired for plagiarism.
CPH pays an enormous salary instead - and sells
Reformation doo-dads.

The Creation Gardening Book Is Getting Its Artistic Treatment

I finished most of my work on Creation Gardening, so I will be completing The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine now.

The last two stages of each book are:

1. Norma Boeckler inserts her artwork.
2. Janie Sullivan does the finishing work for Amazon and Kindle.

Some other books, new, old, and very old, are in the plans, but Dutchman will be completed before anything else is started.

I appreciate how people encourage me to complete each title. That really makes a difference.

 The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine:
Luther's Biblical Theology of the Word

WELS Has a Sub-Culture of Side-Businesses in Entertainment. Not Just the Jeske Koine Band

Came across something you might finding interesting, or at least entertaining, and hopefully both.

You may be aware that there are a few WELS Lutheran (not Synod endorsed or affiliated, of course) minstrel vagabonds that will travel to your congregation to provide cool non-organ music and/or entertainment for your worship (praise?) services or other "church events". They range from the bizarre and eclectic Spark and Echo band (http://www.sparkandecho.org) to faux Jim Croce singer Stephen Bautista, who has traveled for five years in a trailer and a truck with what is presently a family of 11 -- and a cat. (https://www.facebook.com/StephenBautistaMusic). There are a couple others as well. No hard rockers yet. Free will donations accepted.

We all know the CGM demands more modern, relevant, and entertaining music than those dusty Lutheran hymns. If our music is cooler, they will flock to our services. Yeah -- that's the ticket! (Remember the pathological liar character, played by John Lovitz on the old Saturday Night Live?).

I would like to share two photographs that illustrate the brilliant insights of the CGM. Note the attendance and enthusiasm of the worshipers. Photos were taken at Gethsemane Lutheran, Raleigh, NC. 

My source is Question of the Week: Do You All Attend Every Event? - The Travel Bags

At the end of these performances, they all hawk their CDs, T-shirts, etc. with their big, sad eyes.  Another group of vagabonds actually expects some member to put them up while they're in town. They do this for a living! This isn't the WELS Men's Chorus or a visiting prep school. Where is the discernment of my pastors?