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| This statement seemed almost harmless when it was published, even before syphilitic Stephan and opportunist Walther landed in New Orleans. But it comes from a Pietist and explained by a Calvinist. Many careers and businesses arose from this modest start. Ask Fuller. Ask Purpose-Driven Rick Warren. Ask Willow Creek's Hybels. Ask Schuller at his Cathedral (now Papal). Ask Waldo Werning, LCMS, and WELS. They mined the fool's gold and almost got away with it. There is one Judge who will examine their treasures and announce His verdict. |
I have constantly enriched the soil since we moved here in 2011. I have added red wiggler earthworms, countless bags of tree leaves, wood mulch, straw, hay, peat humus (manure in disguise), dead weeds and grass, and the roots of anything that will help fertilize.
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| Fifty pages of drivel were devoted to an attack on the efficacious Word, the Chief Article, and the Book of Concord. |
Some plants will always be spectacular, while others respond to the most agreeable seasons, like this one promoting the blooms of roses and giving little foothold for the Japanese beetles (so far).
No matter what, weeds will always prosper, in neglect but even more with cultivation - grabbing the organic matter for its own growth. Weeds burst into growth with long rainfalls, but also rise above the parched blooms with the energy to take over, crowd out, and steal the sun, generously spreading its seeds or roots or runners - or even a combination of the two - all for the purpose of their own growth. Digging and churning the soil (if one can afford a rototiller) will slice up roots and worms, but expose vast amounts of weed seeds to the life-giving sun.
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| Waldo Werning was the punisher who attacked anyone who questioned his Church Growth copycat business. Like Valleskey and Bivens, he did or did not go to Fuller Seminary. Waldo's doctorate was every bit as valid as Larry Olson's. |
As I worked among the weeds and flowers this week, I thought about how much false teachings are like weeds. Proper identification matters. For instance, if synods like the WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC view Justification by Faith as evil, they will do their best to stomp the Chief Article of Christianity out. They are like Mrs. Ichabod's uncle, who thought the strange roots of asparagus were a dangerous evasive weed, so he tore them out.
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| I said to Valleskey (Fuller Alumnus) and the Ohio Conference, "The Israelites took the gold, silver, and precious gems when they spoiled the Egyptians - not the garbage." He frowned. Privately he told someone that he went to that meeting to deliver a hit on me with his idiotic paper. Face-to-face, he was a scared rabbit. |
Some never learn the truth in the realm of false doctrines. They lurch drunkenly from one fatal fad to another. I watched one green stalk of magnificence grow to six feet in the back garden. I finally identified it as a perfect example of Hemlock, poisonous and impossible to counter. It had good qualities (like false teachers) and hosted a battalion of lady bug babies on its budding flowers. Almost Eden said, "That's OK. Just don't eat it. How often do you have lady bugs young'ens?" A fireman dousing a fire looked over the fence and glared at it, trying to figure if a pot farm was starting out. I cut the Hemlock down at the base and tossed it into the garbage can, even though it was the best looking plant at the time.
Next the blackberries crept around the corner of the house and gradually took over the entire garden, once cleared for Silver Queen sweet corn (aka squirrel food when ripe). I thought they would be a terrible mess to removed, but it only took two efforts to clear them down to the soil level. They were not as mighty as they pretend, making the whole garden alive with white blossoms (so attractive) and alive with bees (always good). Once removed, they revealed the garden's surface - almost nothing else growing there. They were so greedy for soil and sunshine that they blocked the sun like mulch with their arching growth, planting extensions of themselves wherever the mower was silent and the gardener slow to act.
False doctrines are like weeds. Many seem tiny and harmless at first, but grow one way or another. One gardening expert planted an "easy to grow" plant and has to pull it out every year.
Church Growth, Objective Justification, and bad translations of the Bible go hand-in-hand. The three trends rely on the efficacious being dead and useless, unless we make it germane, appealing, and relevant - such as the campaign promising people they will have more friends if they go to church.
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| LCMS has to improve - this was rock bottom. |
Now these weedy trends are so well established that the Church Growth Stars can easily remove anyone who objects. The truth-teller is the weed, in the eye of the salesmen.
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| Spurgeon certainly saw the future of WELS-ELS-LCMS-CLC. |
