Friday, January 12, 2018

Norm Fischer Looks at Concordia Seminary's Can of Worms - Fudging on Creation.
January 15, 2018 Christian News


I began reading a column from Norm Fischer, originally from the Steadfast News group blog, reprinted in Christian News, p 5. I was surprised to find something good in Steadfast News, but then I realized Fischer is a layman. He is a clear writer and fun to read.

The issue has three or four steps, maybe more by now:

  1. Concordia, St. Louis questioned key issues in Creation, caving toward evolution - the length of a day and the age of Mother Earth. Chuck Arand either wrote the article or followed up on it.
  2. Two districts sent letters to Concordia to address the issue.
  3. The entire faculty accused every pastor in two districts of violating the Eighth Commandment.
  4. Matt the Fatt, who failed to get his doctorate at the seminary, joined in.



As always, Lutherans want to argue the fine points of the distraction rather than deal with the main issue, which is not Creation in this case.

 Do the faculties teach this? If so, they should
reject UOJ and fellowship with ELCA.


Why is the Missouri Synod working religiously with ELCA?
Why do LCMS pastors join Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy?
Why do Walther's disciples agree with WELS/ELS about Church Growth and Justification without Faith? and
Why are they fudging on Creation?

 The Jackson Rose Garden grows flowers without chemical
fertilizers or chemical toxins. Neighbors wonder, "How do you do that?" It is Creation gardening, I explain. God mulches and so do I. The best pest destroyers spin webs and fly around the roses.


We went to see a famous Calvinist talk about religion and politics. The attendance was small. I looked him up and he was quoted saying - "We have to compromise on evolution or we will become irrelevant to the modern world."

The problems with the LCMS/WELS/ELS seminaries will never be solved until they believe, teach, and confess the efficacy of the Word. There are little proofs of their apostasy, such as working with ELCA, going to Fuller, scarfing down Thrivent dollars, and teaching against the Chief Article - not to mention not knowing the Chief Article at all.



The question is not -

  • Do you believe God created the universe in six 24-hour days? but - 
  • Do you believe the Son is the Creating Word of John 1:3?

  • Does the Gospel Word plant faith in our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit? or
  • Do we hear the entire world has been absolved of sin, without faith, and say - Yes, I have decided that is true!


All the Lutheran synods are swarming hives of Enthusiasts, always buzzing about this and that, filling the world with their nonsense while insisting on being taken seriously. The synod leaders are no better.



Review of WELS Professor John Brenner's Dissertation - "The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: An Examination of the Underlying Problems" - Marquette University, 2012

 John Brenner posed with his sisters at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, garnishing his Geneva gown with a device called preaching tabs or preaching bands.

John Wesley also wore preaching tabs, which can be found
on some Roman Catholic robes too.

A reader was kind enough to send me his copy of Brenner's book, published by Northwestern Publishing House - The Election Controversy among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century, 363 pages. I suspected from the title that it was a dissertation, so I eventually found the link.

Marquette University was founded as a Jesuit school. Marquette - as viewed in Wikipedia.

Brenner also wrote a history of the seminary at Mequon, which I will review after it arrives.

To make this review more convenient for the readers and my eyes, I will quote from the PDF of the dissertation,  published here.



The Missing Foundation - Book of Concord
I am not alone in wishing the Olde Synodical Conference would stop treating their mythical history as the norm for all doctrine and practice. Although Brenner claims his work is a "critical history," the book and dissertation are anything but critical. We can still read Thucydides and see both sides of an issue, varying causes and opinions. Brenner is no Thucydides.

Supposedly the election conflict began in the 19th century, but that ignores two matters of great importance -

  1. The Chief Article of Christianity - Justification by Faith.
  2. The article on Election from the Book of Concord.
For those two reasons, Brenner's work is useful for seeing the spiritual and academic blindness of the Olde Synodical Conference. Brenner simply assumes that the Walther-centric history of the Lutherans, as fashioned by the myth-makers, is the actual history of Lutherans in America. Of course, that is rubbish.



Useful Points in the Book
The mild Lutherans object to polemics, perhaps because polemical writing serves to bring up the real issues. "Error loves ambiguities," as Krauth wrote. 
  • Brenner argues the WELS point of view and names a variety of mostly forgotten figures and institutions.
  • The Chief Article of WELS - Universal Objective Justification (UOJ) - is the basic for this entire work.
  • No one with average reading ability can ever claim again, "But I did not know WELS was attacking the Gospel."
 This is the explanatory note by the Calvinist translator of
Knapp's doctrinal textbook for Halle University. The double-justification language became popular in the Olde Synodical Conference and is often defended and used today.

Election and UOJ

Does anyone read this? 
13] Therefore, if we wish to think or speak correctly and profitably concerning eternal election, or the predestination and ordination of the children of God to eternal life, we should accustom ourselves not to speculate concerning the bare, secret, concealed, inscrutable foreknowledge of God, but how the counsel, purpose, and ordination of God in Christ Jesus, who is the true Book of Life, is revealed to us through the Word, Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, SD, Election.

I am not going to claim status as an expert in Walther, so I appreciate Brenner associating the Election issue with UOJ, which has been called Objective Justification (by the Calvinist translator of Knapp), General Justification (Hoenecke), and in Brenner's work - the Justification of the World.

All these terms have this in common - a divine (but unrecorded) decree that everyone in the world - past and present, with a special emphasis on unbelievers - is absolved of all sin.

The key explanatory word here is - decree. That concept is corruptly borrowed from Justification by Faith, which is God's declaration that people are forgiven - if they believe in the One Who raised Him from the dead. That is clearly individual, not universal, which shows how the UOJists conflate and confuse the Atonement with Justification by Faith.


Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Note that Romans 4:25 - by itself - is used by teachers to prove UOJ when the verse clearly teaches Justification by Faith in harmony with Abraham being justified by faith in Genesis 15.

Since Walther was anxious to teach Justification without Faith, or Easter as World Absolution without Faith, he promoted his Halle Pietism by declaring that Christians were elected without faith.

Thus Walther himself caused this great division in order to prop up and invalidate his false doctrine of UOJ.

 UOJ is the engine that drives Church Growth apostasy.

 You must make a decision to accept Walther's world absolution dogma! How many clergy have tried to force this on their congregations, who know better!


Justification in Brenner
Justification by Faith is used as a phrase 14 times in the dissertation. That can be checked by using control-f and putting that phrase in the window that appears. This handy feature counts the times it is used and takes the reader from one example to the next. By the way, it is an ideal tool for editing. That works on the PDF opened on the Net and also on Word documents.

Justification by Faith is quoted 15 times by Brenner in identifying the view of the opponents. Nota bene! Although he corrects notes that Luther told us to judge all doctrines by Justification by Faith, Brenner does not follow that rule at all.


Justification of the World

Brenner:

The topic was objective or universal justification (usually spoke of in Norwegian circles as the “justification of the world”). 
Brenner, p. 149.

The Augustana Synod was concerned that the expression “justification of the world” denied the necessity of justification by faith.
Brenner, p. 150.

Since Schmidt in the Election Controversy was contending for election in view of faith, he was beginning to have difficulties in speaking of a justification of the world apart from the faith of the individual. In fact, Schmidt declared that the real issue in conflict was justification. Schmidt’s essay on justification presented at the very first convention of the Synodical Conference, however, had clearly taught a justification of the world.
p. 150


The final free conference met in Goodhue County, Minnesota, June 27-July 4, 1883. The subject for discussion was the doctrine of absolution. One side historically taught universal or objective justification (justification of the world), contending that the pronouncement of forgiveness won by Christ and declared by God to the world leads people to believe in their Savior. The other side was not willing to speak of justification apart from faith (subjective or personal justification).
Brenner, p. 150. GJ - See Knapp's translator for this double-justification formula. But do not look for it in the Book of Concord, Luther, or the Scriptures.

Nowhere does the Bible speak of the Gospel being "everyone is already forgiven." No one is forgiven without faith in Christ. The foundational sin is unbelief. And yet Brenner correctly says that the Old Synodical Conference thought preaching universal absolution without faith actually promoted faith. But only if that faith was trust in this universal absolution without faith.

Conclusions
The real issue was Justification by Faith, as the conferences reveal in various ways and Brenner must concede. UOJ led to Walther's bizarre speculations on Election and divided Lutherans, benefiting Walther's struggle for power and control.

Brenner articulates Justification by Faith a bit and mentions the efficacy of the Word, but he is like a Mormon in dealing with the Gospel. He uses the words but he does not believe them. Like Brug, he writes about the Word without grasping the Biblical doctrine of the efficacy of the Word. Therefore, teaching forgiveness - without the Word, without faith, without the Holy Spirit at work in the Gospel Word - is no problem for him or Brug.

However, this puts the Olde Synodical Conference at the lowest point in its checkered history. The ELS/WELS/LCMS agree with ELCA, which is also going downhill and picking up speed toward its destruction. Mainline Protestantism in America came from Pietism and gradually became more rationalistic and Universalistic. The ELS/WELS/LCMS have nothing germane to say about ELCA or apostasy. They are the Me Too Lutherans.


LCMS and Their Calvinist Church Unique
From a Reader




From a Reader -

Hello Pastor Jackson
 
I would like to share with you some information I found about a Church Growth program in the LCMS called 'Church Unique'.
 
Recently I was told that a page appeared in an LCMS church's website announcing a initiative called 'Church Unique'. That is the name of a book by Will Mancini, a former Reformed minister. Here is a link to Will Mancini's website:
 
 
'Church Unique' is also the name of a program. According to the Church Unique website "Church Unique was written by church consultant Will Mancini, an expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement."


 



Here is a link to the Church Unique website:
 

"Church Unique is primarily about your church's identity. It show church leaders how to identify and unlock their congregation's individual identity as a tool for unleashing their one-of-a-kind potential."
 
Here is a link to the website of the consulting company (Auxano) he formed to train people in the Church Unique program:
 
 
After browsing thru these websites it is clear to me that the Church Unique program is pure Calvinst, Church Growth Movement, Enthusiasm. I don't understand how or why a LCMS church would become involved in something like this.
 
I did an internet search using dogpile.com (this doesn't work with Google) using the following keywords
 
+LCMS +"church unique"


 
and it returned a couple of pages of links to LCMS churches which are involved in the Church Unique program and to LCMS meetings in which Church Unique was discussed. It appears that Church Unique may have support from the LCMS hierarchy, not only from the district hierarchies.
 
The LCMS has its own in-house Church Growth entity called Transforming Churches Network (TCN). TCN was founded about 8 or 9 years ago and was very high-profile for a few years, but I don't recall hearing anything about it recently. Perhaps the TCN fervor ran its course, and now Church Unique is the
hot Church Growth program in the LCMS.
 
I hope this information is interesting to you. In your blog you mention the CGM activities in the WELS, but it appears that the LCMS is not immune.


GJ - 

Missouri is whole hog into Church Growth, with five named people in the dubiously titled Church Growth Hall of Fame, or is that Shame?

Waldo Werning, who was Herman Otten's "secret agent," promoted CG throughout WELS, the Little Sect, and the LCMS.

Robert Preus, earlier a rabid advocate of UOJ, had Werning on his faculty and endorsed Church Growth.


I tend to name WELS false teachers more often, because I know a greater percentage of them. UOJ and Church Growth go together like Sam and Ella - salmonella, get it?


From the Lighthouse Blog
What Would D. L. Moody Say Today to Moody Bible Institute About Mingling Truth and Error?

 Dwight L. Moody


From the Lighthouse Blog - What Would D. L. Moody Say Today to Moody Bible Institute About Mingling Truth and Error?:



"By Dwight L. Moody

I do not see how any Christian, most of all a Christian minister, can go into these secret lodges with unbelievers. They say they can have more influence for good, but I say that they can have more influence for good by staying out of them and reproving their evil deeds.

You can never reform anything by unequally yoking yourself to ungodly men. True reformers separate themselves from the world. But, some say to me, if you talk that way you will drive all the members of secret societies out of your meetings and out of your churches. But what if I did? Better men will take their places. Give them the truth anyway, and if they would rather leave their churches than their lodges, the sooner they get out of their churches the better.

I would rather have ten members who are separated from the world than a thousand such members! Come out from the lodge.

Better one with God than a thousand without Him! We must walk with God, and if only one or two go with us, it is all right. Do not let down the standard to suit men who love their secret lodges or have some darling sin they will not give up! (source: https://www.thebereancall.org/content/dwight-l-moody-masonry).



(Photo in public domain.)"

 How is it that Barth/Kirschbaum appeal to conservative Evangelicals, the Fuller Church Growth faculty, Marxists, liberal Protestants and Catholics? They perfected the art of Yes and No, leading others in crafty conduct and language.


'via Blog this'

***



GJ - Many people enrolled in various Lodges, often as the first churches to reach the lands being opened up to farming and ranching. Since many Evangelical and Lutheran ministers were also members, the laity saw no harm in the Lodge.

The Lodge is not as secretive as some imagine. I know many of the rituals and claims. Their dogma is easy to find, and it is anything but Christian.

The Lodge may have taught the mainline denominations how to double-speak, pretending to be Christian while being anti-Christian. My maternal grandfather was a leader in his lodge and taught his local minister the rituals. My mother and sister joined, and I was recruited but demurred. Later, under the influence of an LCMS pastor in St. Louis, my mother rejected the Lodge completely, after years of ignoring it.

The Lodge is not doing so well today. The Detroit Masonic Lodge downtown - simply The Masonic - was built beyond anyone's imagination for size and splendor, but it is on the brink. If you are a Church Growther (Shrinker), click on the link. There are your buddies, your examples, your dark future. Flint's Masonic is up for sale - only $500,000.

I used to go to my hometown's Scottish Rite Cathedral to hear special guest celebrities. That building was up for sale not long ago.

Like the UOJists, Masonic leaders are notorious liars. Yes, various famous men have been Masons, but the Lodge deliberately exaggerates the stories about these men. Certain Masonic leaders know what they really stand for, but the rest of the members are allowed to blend the Lodge in with their own religion, lack of religion, or Christianity. The Mormons were long treated as a renegade Lodge by the Masons, because so many LDS rituals are blatant copies of the original.


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Extra Nos: One of the best sermons I heard last year.

 Luther never stopped being cool. Unfortunately, the Lutherans just took him for granted. But that is changing, slowly.


Extra Nos: One of the best sermons I heard last year.:



"One of the best sermons I heard last year.
It was not really the sermon of the pastor. I came in a few minutes after the preacher started his sermon and I was enjoying the words coming out of the pulpit. At the end, he revealed that he was reading Luther's sermon. He said he did not know what to preach and so he took one of Luther's sermons out and chose to read it to the congregation. I was so blessed he did that.

This provided food for thought to me. Honestly, I am disappointed at the sermons I hear from pastors here. Most of the time they wander off from the text of Scripture and I wind up wondering what on earth happened in that preaching moment.

It is dawning on me what Dr. Greg Jackson has been saying, that Luther is still a reliable preacher and we can count on getting meat from his works if we feel starved for good exposition of God's word. Thank God Pr. Greg has decided to publish Luther's Sermon works."



'via Blog this'


Plough Monday — the Monday after Epiphany | Churchmouse Campanologist



Plough Monday — the Monday after Epiphany | Churchmouse Campanologist:



"Last year, I wrote an extensive post on Plough Monday, which is the first Monday after Epiphany:

The English tradition of Plough Monday

I thought I had covered the waterfront with regard to this ancient festival but found more history about the day that signalled a return to full time agricultural work on the Tuesday.

Ploughing matches

When Plough Monday was widely celebrated, some farmers would have had their ploughs blessed at church on Sunday. Other villages had a communal plough at the church which was blessed annually."



'via Blog this'

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Books Received - John Brenner's Book on the Election Controversy in the 20th Century - His Dissertation at Marquette

 John Sparky Brenner, son of Slick Brenner, Grandson of SP Brenner, finished his PhD at Marquette in 2012 with a dissertation on the election controversy. Someone sent a correction about him "studying at UW Madison." Thanks.

Sparky went to Northwestern College, Watertown, Wisconsin.

I will be writing a full review of Brenner's book, which someone sent to me.

I also have the pdf of his dissertation, which appears to be almost the same in content.

http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1200&context=dissertations_mu

Today I am making progress on Volume 6 of Luther's Sermons. I will finish writing the Brenner review in the next few days.

 "My sisters, my brother and me. Ann Brenner Arnold MLS class of of 1964. Me MLS Class of 1966. Dr. John Brenner MLS Class of 1969. Barbara Brenner Manthey MLS Class of 1975." Deborah Brenner Priebe, Michigan Lutheran Seminary

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Father Richard John Neuhaus - LCMS, AELC, LCA, ELCA, Church of Rome.
So Many Connections

Richard J. Neuhaus was expelled from one LCMS school,
never graduated from high school, but signed up for
Concordia College, Austin, Texas, and graduated.

Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square
by Randy Boyagoda, 2015.

Neuhaus goes way back in my connections. We heard his father preach for Easter Sunday, 1960s, in Simcoe, Ontario, which is the area where Mrs. Ichabod's relatives settled. Twenty miles away is Delhi, where Herman Otten's brother was a pastor, so Walter knew the rest of the Ellenberger clan.

I missed the Left-wing years of Neuhaus, only to follow him in the Lutheran Forum Newsletter, where he was the first of several editors to become Roman Catholic. I wrote complaints about the LCA to him, and I was often quoted. When I wanted to become anonymous, he only wrote "a angry pastor in Michigan," which was as good as giving my address and phone. I thought it was funny.

From time to time I wrote letters to Neuhaus, and he was good at sending back replies, always humorous, even though we disagreed. I observed that his bunch was not conservative at all, just less liberal. He agreed.

Much later we actually met Neuhaus at the Ad Fontes conference. He had an animated conversation with LCA Bishop James Crumley, which was just before Neuhaus became the Catholic he always was. Perhaps Crumley was hearing the bad news at Ad Fontes. Neuhaus, knowing I was in WELS, asked me if I planned on taking communion at the ELCA service. I said, "You are Ad Fontes. We are Fontes." He laughed good-naturedly. Of course, I soon learned how WELS and Missouri were velcroed to ELCA via Thrivent and the synodical lust for loot.

I sat at lunch with James Crumley, and he asked me about WELS colloquy. If you think the leaders do not know what is going on, guess again.

Many biographies are too detailed or too obsequious. Boyagoda's is excellent, enjoyable to read, a great way to fill in the gaps in a notable career. He has written a critical biography that offers a balanced perspective.

 I met, talked to, or interviewed three of these Lutheran leaders - Jack Preus, Robert Marshall, and David Preus.


Gaps
Neuhaus played pastor all the time when his father was a pastor in Pembroke, Ontario. He made such an impression at the first LCMS school he attended that the faculty asked him to leave. That led to an interim in Texas, when he bought a gas station with a loan from a relative. He did not go to school at all that year, then found himself send to Concordia High School in Austin, Texas. But there were two lines - one for the high school. one for the college. Neuhaus signed up for college and assured the registrar his transcripts would follow soon enough.

Robert Lewis Wilken was Neuhaus' roommate at Austin. Wilken was on the faculty at Notre Dame when I was there, though I felt no urge to take his courses. He made quite an impression on me when he said, "Luther is an empty concept. There is a different Luther for each generation." I still wonder when I will find a Lutheran academic who actually reads and understands Luther - only the laity do. Wilken did not approve of Neuhaus' conversion to Rome, but joined him in Roman Catholicism, later as a layman.


 Robert Lewis Wilken
The Empty Public Square was dedicated to
"Robert Wilken by the Sea of Galilee."

Neuhaus insisted to Wilken's fiance that he and Bob had taken an oath of celibacy, so they should not marry. That came from the later influence of Father Piepkorn, one of the icons of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. I heard many references to him, but did not comprehend the reason for awe many felt for him. Doubtless Father Piepkorn was a definite step in the direction of Rome for Neuhaus.

According to Otten, Wilken and Neuhaus took over the student paper from Marquart and Otten - a successful coup at Concordia, St. Louis.

My wife's sister babysat for Stan Hauerwas' son
and she earned a master's at Notre Dame in education. I saw him in his basement office to learn about the PhD program at Notre Dame. I applied, and got a full scholarship. I took ethics from Hauerwas, and he was on my dissertation committee. He worked with Neuhaus for a time.

Hauerwas was an early ally of Neuhaus in their theocon years. I would define the theocons as mainline leaders who had some indications of conservatism, compared to the zany Leftist views of the rest of them. In fact, the LCA made a point of crabbing about Neuhaus before he left, calling him, in their Partners clergy magazine - a noisy troublemaker. Fortunately, they dumped that name, just as they got rid of AIDS in Mission, a monthly packet of LCA promotional materials sent to church workers. And yet, both names were prophetic, no?

ELCA's worst name change was far too happy-face - The Living Lutheran, instead of The Lutheran (Passavant's name for his own independent and confessional magazine) - wishful thinking for a dead sect with dying seminaries.

Neuhaus made much of his relationship with Martin Luther King, Junior, but Boyagoda did not find much evidence for that.

Neuhaus, Mrs. Ichabod and I only met face-to-face once, at the Ad Fontes conference, which was aimed at LCA pastors who might want to join Rome. We met Klein and his wife, Lutheran Forum, and he became a Roman priest. A man may remain married and become a priest, but the priest cannot marry again if he becomes a widower.
 SynCons celebrate the Adoration and Assumption of Walther, while Catholics honor the alleged Assumption of Mary.

Neuhaus and the last LCA Presiding Bishop - James Crumley - had a long, earnest talk at the conference. I believe Crumley was trying to talk Neuhaus out of leaving the LCA for Rome.

Neuhaus invited us to take part in the Holy Communion service and grinned that we might not to, since I was joining WELS. I said, "True. You are Ad Fontes. We are Fontes." He laughed, always fun to joke with. Doubtless he knew plenty about WELS being Magna Cloaca rather than Fontes.

McCain got the Roman Catholics to include the LCMS in something, so great was his influence via Neuhaus. Doubtless they were grateful for all the Roman Catholic propaganda he stole from The Catholic Encyclopedia and promoted as his own work.


Apostates Looking for a Safe Harbor
Neuhaus will be remembered for his overlapping circles of influence, from Otten-Marquart to the Pope Himself. He was certainly the kind of celebrity convert that Rome loves to promote.

However, all of them are apostates, just different flavors. Otten cannot claim to be Lutheran because he rejects Justification by Faith and confesses Universal Objective Justification. Otten agrees with ELCA and rejects Luther's Biblical doctrine.

The same can be said for the others, whether they pose as old-fashioned Bronze Age Synodical Conference loyalists or dibble and dabble in Roman, post-Kantian, Rahnerian dogma.

 He promotes the books of conservative Roman Catholic Randy Engel. Otten loves to sell the hate-filled, dishonest The Facts about Luther that Vatican I papists adore. Otten is just as Roman Catholic as Neuhaus - just promoting an earlier era.




The Lutheran UniSynod Adopted Church Growth for Nefarious Reasons -
Not for Missions, Evangelism or Growth of Anything - Except Their Income, Power, Influence, and Control

 As one NPH book said in the introduction, the Calvinists are no longer crypto (secretive).

The illiterate hissy fit of Joel Lillo (WELS, Anything Goes District, Elmer Gantry Circuit) reminded me of a basic question:

Since WELS, LCMS, ELS, yea even the CLC (sic) adopted the Church Growth Movement and lost members steadily, why have they not repudiated the Fungus from Fuller (CG) as vigorously as they rejected Luther's doctrine?

Readers will not fight me on Part A of the thesis. The Wisconsin, Missouri, and Norwegians sects have admitted that they adopted a safe version of Church Growth. Valleskey (WELS, Fuller alumnus) urged WELS to "spoil the Egyptians" and gather all they could from Fuller. The Missouri Synod studied Church Growth, long after going ape over it, and said, "Yes, it had its dangers, but it is good for us." The Little Sect on the Prairie wrinkled its Norwegian nose at first, but did their best to copy WELS and Missouri.

Part B is implied by the question -

Why have they not repudiated the Fungus from Fuller (CG) as vigorously as they rejected Luther's doctrine?

The answer is clear, because the data is strewn all over the Internet, beyond debate and equivocation.

Therefore, the answer to Part B is -

Church Growth was adopted to give the apostates an excess of income, power, influence, and control.

The apostasy came first. Lutherans in all synods gradually gave up the bedrock of Biblical doctrine - the efficacy of the Word. See Thy Strong Word and The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine for evidence. WELS - for instance - moved from a brief, Justification by Faith catechism by Gausewitz to a verbose UOJ catechism by David Kuske.

 The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine 



Like "quotas for justice," Church Growth became an easy litmus test for synodical advancement. Smiling at those special albeit ridiculous terms (Church Growth Eyes) and sighing like a schoolgirl about Fuller - those were good signs. The Church Growthers were endorsed and  certified by study at Pasadena, Willow Creek, Kent Hunter's Corunna, or Trinity Divinity.

This combination guaranteed that leaders from all Lutheran groups would be united by their greed, false doctrine, dishonesty and love for the Church Growth Movement. Didn't Jesus warn us about wolves in sheep's clothing, figs never growing on thorns?

The UniSynod will not give up on Church Growth - Missional now - because they have what they want:

  • Power to make life and death decisions for workers and parishes, divine calls and property.
  • Control over Thrivent loot, foundation money, and synod budgets.
  • Income for themselves, not in spite of their incompetence, but because of it.


Hartmann must have meant "faithlessly," because TELL and its bastard child - Leadership - were published exclusively to promote the Fuller Fungus.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Third African Seminary To Receive Luther and Lutheran Books for Free



I am ordering a copy of each book we produce for another African seminary - our third one. Volume 5 of Luther's Sermons, black and white, is ready, so they will have all of Luther's Gospel Sermons in this shipment.

Mailing books is expensive, so we provide the $100 to ship them to Africa in a box that can weigh 20 pounds.

We order one of each book at the author's price
and send it to our missionary contact in St. Louis.
Then we send the mailing fee to Africa.


Norma Boeckler is giving them permission to use her artwork, and I am giving them permission to translate the texts - all for no fees. Our missionary facilitator is sure they will want to use Norma Boeckler's art as they translate selections from the texts sent.

As people might have guessed, having everyone read e-books in the Third World is not feasible at this time. That is a combination of cost and reliability of equipment. We take so much for granted in America with so much technology at a low price.

There is an old saying about world missions. "The light  that shines afar shines brightest at home." In other words, the congregation that cares about sharing the Gospel with those far away will enjoy growth of the Word at home.


Ichabod Is Averaging 3,000 Views Per Day, But Today's Total Was Close to 7,000

And the plagiarism! approved by the DP and the seminary professors! 
And the millions wasted on so-called missions.

Joel Lillo's message - from the Elmer Gantry Circuit of the Anything Goes District in WELS - confirmed my guess - the opponents are still reading Ichabod - which "nobody pays any attention to" - and adding to the spectacular numbers.

 Three followers...already?


Top Views in the Last Month



 WELS has a nifty set-up for the right people - require consultations and make the congregations pay thousands for the consultant to state the obvious. The money raisers do almost no work, encourage huge debts, and take a percentage of the pledges for themselves - against the rules of ethical fund-raising.