Ranger Bob came by to enjoy some coffee before his work started. In the printing business, there are few holidays for the workers. Sassy Susan went nuts when she heard the scratching at the door.
I mentioned that I got Shinano! for $3, hardbound, in excellent condition. That was the battleship turned into a carrier by the Japanese in WWII. An American sub, captained by Enright, sank the supership on its first mission.
Bob said, "I have that at my house." I countered with, "That did sound familiar. Now we have two copies. " I read about the superchip long ago in a magazine, then we got the book. The $3 price made me roll the dice and bet we never read it in the Military Gardening Group.
Bob and PFC really enjoyed Creation Gardening, so the group is named appropriated. Now I have the newest Walliser book to read, about beneficial insects.
So I shifted to Shattered Sword, the latest book about the Midway battle. Bob likes an avalanche of technical details, so I know he will enjoy this one, large with larger print.
The key flaw in the Japanese approach to Midway is spelled out in the new book. They wanted 1) to capture Midway and 2) to destroy American carrier power. But they figured their four carriers would beat our two carriers. America got four carriers to the battle early, waiting for their battle to begin. They lost four carriers and we lost one.
Because the Japanese had two objectives, not one, they failed at both. In gaming the battle, a way to sort out problems in the battle plan, no one was allowed to question any fault - including the possibility of American ships waiting for the Japanese to arrive.
These grand plans, where giant ships were built and staffed to conquer the world, made me think about the real purpose of the Church Growth Movement in the conservative Lutherans sects - LCMS-WELS-ELS.
I have often taunted them about their inability to grow and their astonishing shrinkages. But that could not have been the objective - numerical growth - because they have lost members ever since.
The real goal - doubtless from the beginning - has been to throw off the imaginary shackles of Biblical, Lutheran doctrine and adapt to mainline Protestantism, notably Calvinism. This served well for leaving behind their uncomfortable feelings about faith, the Sacraments, doctrinal unity, and that Medieval figure named Luther.
Objective Justification was just the ticket to facilitate their acceptance among the Calvinistic Unitarian sects - and the Church of Rome. The executives met at Fuller Seminary to spend the offering money on themselves and to be chummy with every other denomination.
They were all quite successful in their one big goal - apostasy. WELS and Missouri were embarrassed with their fuddy-duddy attitude against women teaching men and usurping authority from men, so they began - with Fuller's help - to accomplish their goals by replacing male leadership with female executives. Ordain a lady!
Seminex won. Many of them became ELCA bishops. One was a Missouri DP and then an ELCA bishop for the same approximate district. Seminex did not have much of a seminary or publishing house, but their philosophy guides the seminaries and publishing of the LCMS-WELS-ELS today.
Absolution without Faith - Objective Justification - is the unifying dogma of all the church organizations. The Roman Catholic priesthood is just another way to enjoy smells and bells in fancy robes and hats - without believing anything in particular. That is why "conservative" Lutheran pastors have their tongues hanging out for a chance to pope, as they call it, and become a real priest.
Wait for It. This is the Pay-Off!
The LCMS-WELS-ELS are accomplishing their real goal, which is to take away the power, money, land, endowments, and buildings of the conservatives. Cool! The pesky conservatives walk away with no money, no land, no hymnals, no certificates of deposit, and often no clergy. The bloodless revolution has been going on for decades and is certainly in the ruling position. They can work with ELCA and take orders from lady bishops who remember, with advantages, how they could only serve as the secretary of the church council years ago. They might say, "I was LCMS once, but I grew out of it."
 |
| Luther described the Seminex spirit, which began at a little WELS college, Northwestern in Watertown, Wisconsin. A lot of the Seminex leadership came from WELS. |
 |
| Jungkuntz was the Chairman of the Board, Seminex, and they hosted the Metropolitan Community Church, making Seminex the MCC seminary. |
