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| The carefully weeded convention delegates will vote on a synod president, who will reward them with conflict and doctrinal apostasy. |
Part I of the Sears-KMart Post is here.
End of Part I...
I lost track of how many years we have broadcast services over the Net, - King James readings, The Lutheran Hymnal, Mr. Bose on the pipe organ. We are in our 10th year broadcasting from a spare room in a rented house. Too bad we did not adopt the name Bethlehem Lutheran, which might have spared us the wrath of Paul the Plagiarist. Before that we were in a mortgaged house, that is, rented from the bank.
We had a group of people who wanted to participate, so the service was for traditional Lutherans. No one expected much, except to continue faithful worship, about 60 Means of Grace services a year. In the last two years, quite a few have joined us part of them (because they have good local congregations) or joined us for good (since a traditional service is almost impossible to find). We spent very little money since the place and equipment were part of my normal online teaching.
A lot has happened in the last few years. I will add to this later today. [Not quite today.]
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| What shall I do? I am too proud to beg. I know - I will be a consultant and Life Coach. |
Mobbing Article - Interlude
Our missionary contact asked me about the Mobbing article being discussed with great energy in various places, including the ALPB Online Forum. Summary - nasty things done by various Lutherans to other Lutherans. The article was vague and poorly written. The distressing part of the discussion was the utter lack of Biblical content. Although the participants on ALPB are mostly clergy, they communicated as social scientists, historians, and managers.
Luther would say - and often did say - that there will be an equivalent reaction against anything taught faithfully from the Word of God. Besides that, all we can do is teach and preach the Word. The results come from God, not from smooth and silky personalities, which are commonly found among false teachers.
The question is not whether Robert Preus was so perfect that he reorganized heaven when he arrived, or whether he was a political infighter, but whether he completed his work teaching Justification by Faith. Rolfie One-Note is deeply offended that I quote Justification and Rome to make that point.
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| The synod consultants have arrived, and they learned so much from Willow Creek. Hide your wives and daughters. |
Back to Our Normal Broadcast
Expecting little, our little group kept meeting together online almost all Sundays, for Advent and Lenten midweek services, and Ascension Day. It is funny to be condemned by those who wear soft clothing and reside in Purple Palaces, yet hardly ever lead in worship or Bible study. I even teach Greek classes over the Net, in spite of the WELS claim that I have no knowledge of Greek.
Here are some things that developed from teaching and preaching online:
- One member - Alec Satin - began publishing classic Lutheran books in ebook format - The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry.
- From a modest promotion effort on Facebook came a group of 100 people interested in Classic Lutheran Books. They have exchanged information on free Luther materials in French and other languages.
- Another member - Norma A. Boeckler - not only illustrated my books, but published her own, helped others, and made her Scriptural and hymn graphics daily contributions to Facebook.
- Various laity have discussed doctrine among themselves by email and have also written posts for the blog.
- One member is completing his MDiv degree.
- Members have donated money for Luther's Sermons to be sent to Africa.
- Our talented finishing editor - not a member - put Lenker's Luther Sermons and the Gems into one PDF, which we are giving away to anyone who downloads it, public domain, no restrictions.
- We are repeating this effort with Luther's Household Sermons, commonly called The House Postils: printed, gemmed, and merged into one free PDF.
- Our congregation has members from all over but also friends who enjoy our worship when they cannot leave their homes (weather, illness, hurricanes).
We still use the spare room of a rented house, not unlike the Holy Family, who fulfilled God's will rather than impressing neighbors with a $1 million mortgage. We have no denomination to praise, no titles to land, no honorary degrees to offer unrepentant millionaire scoundrels.
Thanks to creative destruction, the Lutheran Church is moving our direction. Soon people will marvel at the foolishness of this age, so in love with buildings and multi-million dollar renovations of unused campus facilities (Bethany, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Concordia 1 and 2, Mordor, Purple Palace, WELS Love Shack).
I told a new PhD - "If you can, get a state-funded professorship, because the private schools are disappearing fast." That person did, especially since one position was posted and then eliminated shortly afterwards (a private university).
The true Lutheran Church, hard to find today, treasures the Means of Grace.
