ELCA Dying - Not News. The Sparkle Creed - News.The ALPB Online Group Ovaltines Killed the Sparkle Creed News

 

From The American Spectator

(READ MORE from Tom Raabe: On Drag Queens and the Methodist Breakup)

Those were all big bites out of the heretical apple, but compared to what went down in a Lutheran church in Minnesota, they were just nibbles. 

While many across Christendom recited the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed a couple of Sundays ago, at Edina Community Lutheran Church, the community proclaimed “the Sparkle Creed.”

The rugged band of ALPB Online Ovatines studiously avoid doctrinal issues. Corrupt clergy capons come in all sizes, all synods.

The ELCA Is Dying

The denomination boasted the country’s first trans bishop, who, shortly after installation last year, resigned under a cloud of alleged racism. Its clergy have been known to wear Planned Parenthood insignias on their vestments. One pastor’s ordination service was attended by the High Priests of Pride, the infamous Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the Scripture readers included a “pagan wiccan priest who loves Jesus,” an agnostic, and a gay pastor, according to Protestia, a news site devoted to “Cataloging Theological Mischief-Makers Since 2012.”

Another ELCA pastor leaves behind her a trail of stunning social media posts in which she calls Jesus “Queer, anti-establishment, pro-heaux, [who] rejected heteronormative relationship models.” Yet another pastor says, “God is trans,” according to a different ELCA heresy-hunting website, Exposing the ELCA.

Coming from a Teacher Who Expressed This on a Daily Basis - "A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine..." Proverbs 17 KJV

 

KJV Proverbs 17:22 

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

My mother, Gladys Parker Jackson Meyer, had the opportunities to practice this verse in all kinds of situations - from whiny, bawling children (sometimes her own) to public school children, and even adults.

 Gladys Parker, co-ed, age 18, when she left the farm for Normal, the teacher's academy.

She had an irresistible smile that flipped a mopey look into a grin. No project was too hard for her to tackle and complete. I believe she took 10 years after Normal, to complete her degree at Augustana College. She then worked on a master's degree and earned that, when online was night school only. She graded papers all the time, yet she took time to teach Sunday School.

When I was up on Garfield Elementary School stage and my mother was in the audience, she would hold a grin until I had to smile back - it was a magnetic force. She embedded that attitude in everyone and that medicine worked very well.

This verse accomplishes what it suggests for us, very simple and yet often overlooked. There are good herbal medicines, even fragrances that create instant peace and happiness (roses, clovers, Clethra, mint). 

Pets not only bring happiness into our lives, they even sense our moods and come over to give us comfort, certainly one of the best attributes endowed by our Creator.

One way to enjoy a merry heart is to practice by giving of ourselves and helping out. The Germans have a great saying that goes with this - "A shared joy is a joy doubled." 

Geteilte Freude ist doppelte Freude.

Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary US - Where the Former ELS Seminary President Earned His STM.Death Watch Anglicans in Canada

 

 Gaylin Schmeling's Episcopalian graduate school was Nashotah House - STM.

THE Anglican Church of Canada has a death wish. Its leaders are doing and saying things that to a trained psychiatric ear and eye would set off alarm bells and put the Church on suicide watch.

The recent 43rd General Synod authorized a set of gender-themed liturgies, including a blessing on gender transition, for use in the Anglican Church of Canada--in dioceses where they have been authorized by the bishop. In 2021, the Council of General Synod voted to authorize the liturgies for study, trial use and evaluation. Well, now it is a done deal.

Up until 2021, they had been for trial use, but now Synod has decided that they will be added to the Book of Alternative Services as official liturgies. According to news reports, some clergy and lay delegates at Synod spoke against adopting the liturgies, but the majority spoke in favor.

Evangelical Canadian blogger David of Samizdat noted that this action illustrates the delusion that has bedeviled the ACoC for decades. Doing more of what has brought it to the verge of extinction will, for some incomprehensible reason, reverse the decline.

It won't of course, it is merely another nail in the coffin of the ailing church. The church can barely muster 90,000 on any given Sunday. All the while, the population of Canada has soared from 36 million to 40 million over the last decade. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/anglican-church-canadas-death-wish

***

SEWANEE, the Episcopal University recently celebrated its first transgender theology student and postulant for Holy Orders. The Episcopal Church's only university says Kelton Riley, T'23, will undergo formation for the priesthood at the School of Theology.

Riley, who goes by his last name, says that he has felt "celebrated" at Sewanee.
Sewanee is one of the worst colleges in the US to study at, according to the Herald Weekly. In a study titled, The Worst Schools in the U.S, the Episcopal University was ranked 18th. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/sewanee-university-celebrates-first-transgender-theology-student-and-postulant

***

CENTRAL FLORIDA. The new Episcopal Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Justin Holcomb is an author of some considerable theological weight. He has written over 20 books. One of them is about heresy, but Holcomb fails to see the irony in belonging to an apostate Church

The evangelical Episcopal Bishop holds a Ph.D. in theology, which only a small handful of bishops presently possess. His resume is revealing in its affirmation of orthodoxy. By any standard, Holcomb's books would rank him high in the pantheon of bishops in the Anglican Church in North America had he not first sworn fealty to The Episcopal Church.

He blasts John Shelby Spong for his heresies, but feels no disconnect that he has taken a job in a diocese and province that is at odds with 85% of the Anglican Communion over sexuality issues.

The diocese, despite its conservatism, has suffered the same fate as its progressive brethren. Attendance, the true bellwether of diocesan health, revealed that the ASA in 2012 was 13,294. By 2021, the AWA (now Average Weekly Attendance) was 6,960, a whopping drop of 6,334 or nearly 48%. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/central-florida-new-episcopal-bishop-writes-about-heresy-fails-see-irony-belonging-apostate-church
With almost delicious irony, as this digest was going to press, it was revealed that the Canterbury Conference Center owned by the diocese is in serious financial trouble and is suspending its operations for the foreseeable future. The center is running at a deficit of $40,000 a month. https://virtueonline.org/central-florida-suspends-operations-canterbury-conference-center

***

ELS- Bethany Lutheran Seminary's Gaylin Schmeling Earned His STM at Nashotah House.

NASHOTAH HOUSE found itself in the middle of a bruhaha this week. A married homosexual postulant had his education rescinded at the Anglo-Catholic seminary, because of his marital status. According to an article in ENS, seminary Dean Garwood Anderson okayed the education, but three ACNA board members pushed back and said no.

Geoff Clark-Tosca, 45, said he discerned a spiritual call to study theology and said Nashotah House Theological Seminary was his first choice.

Clark-Tosca told ENS he was stunned at the rejection by several members of the board who were active in the ACNA. He said that Anderson, too, seemed distraught over sharing what the dean described to him as an ultimatum from members of the seminary's governing boards. The question is why Anderson was not fully on board with his governing council? You can read the story here: https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2023/06/30/document-reveals-nashotah-house-rescinded-seminarians-acceptance-because-he-was-gay-married/

The Book of Concord Series. Title Page.

 

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are portrayed in this Duerer painting.

Ancient Creeds - 

All Denominations

The Apostles Creed, not known.

The Nicene Creed, 325 AD.

The Athanasian Creed, late 500s.

Creeds can be a summary of Scriptural truths - Apostles Creed - or a declaration of truths to oppose false doctrine. Passages in the New Testament appear to be hymns, brief creeds, and catechisms.

Augsburg - or Augustana Era - Evangelicals, 1530

The Augsburg Confession (Augustana in Latin) was formulated to distinguish the Evangelicals (Lutherans) from the dogmas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Apology (Defense of the Augsburg Confession) was written to clarify and expand upon the principles of 1530 creed. 

Philip Melanchthon was the leader, since Luther had to be protected from murder. Clergy and laity convened to establish the Scriptural foundation of the Reformation. They were risking their lives, and many Evangelicals/Protestants - the terms Lutherans used - paid the price with imprisonment, torture, and execution.

Formula and 

Book of Concord Era, 1580

Luther died in 1546 at the age of 63. Melanchthon died in 1563, also at the age of 63. Factions grew up among the Evangelical Protestants. Martin Chemnitz, trained by Luther and Melanchthon, led a small group of superlative clergy who fashioned the Formula and the final contents of the Book of Concord in 1580.

The Formula of Concord dealt with a number of topics which cover a number of the problems of today - ignored by the vast number of apostate and agnostic clergy leaders today.

"Conservative" Lutherans today (WELS-ELS-LCMS-CLC) sneer at these two passages from the Augsburg Confession, which they claim to follow.

But - of course! - CFW Walther, his gang, and the syphilitic Bishop Martin Stephan - all knew that everyone is born forgiven and saved. Dr. Lito Cruz asked, "If a baby is born forgiven, how does he know?"

The 1580 title page of the Book of Concord, Dresden, is not especially helpful for moderns, not that they value the English version. ELCA co-published one edition with the LCMS. Why?

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 6 - "God Does Not Want You To Avenge Yourself Out of Anger in Any Form or Manner, Be It with Your Heart, With Your Fist, Or with Your Mouth..."

 

Click for -> Complete Sermon for Trinity 6 - Anger and Its Signs, Third Sermon

PART 2. CONCERNING THE SIGNS OF ANGER.

27. The other part of this text, “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,” etc., we hold to mean all kinds of evil demeanor and bad turns done to a neighbor, which are not done by angry words. Such a man, Christ says, “is in danger of the council;” it has, as yet, not been determined what to do with him, but he has incurred the verdict of guilty; it remains merely to determine the penalty. This means that such a person cannot enter heaven, but has already merited his condemnation, the only difference between him and those in perdition is that he is a little more remote from the final punishment; but nevertheless he also belongs there.

28. The third part is: “Whosoever shall say, Thou fool. “This is also a very common vice, consisting in robbing our neighbor of his honor and reputation, be it done behind his back or to his face, which is called “contumeliam” and “conuitium,” defaming and reviling. Whoever does this, Christ says, “is in danger of hell-fire;” that is to say, there is no need of debating the question, of citing the culprit, indicting and sentencing him; he is already convicted and condemned, it but remains for the executioner to lead him off and do his duty. So God does not want you to avenge yourself out of anger in any form or manner, be it with your heart, with your fist, or with your mouth, and thus do an injury to your neighbor, show him spite, give him unkind words, etc.

United Methodist Church Bracing

 

United Methodists lose a fifth of US churches in schism driven by defiance of LGBTQ bans

The Book of Concord Series. The Nature of Confessions of Faith.

 

The Book of Concord can be viewed backwards in time. In 2023 there are ordained Lutheran pastors - and other denominations - who ridicule and broadcast their contempt for the Christian Faith. Those blasphemies come from a history of resisting expressions of faith in Jesus Christ, 

• the Son of God, Savior, 
• born of the Virgin Mary, 
• miracle worker and teacher, 
• who cured lepers and the blind, 
• bore the cross, died for our sins, 
• rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven.

Another six-fold creed is found in 1 Timothy 3:16,  a passage used and abused by those who claim the entire world was absolved of all sin and saved the moment Jesus rose from the dead, truly the dogma of the Devil.

KJV 1 Timothy 3:16

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: 

1. God was manifest in the flesh, 
2. justified in the Spirit, 
3. seen of angels, 
4. preached unto the Gentiles, 
5. believed on in the world, 
6. received up into glory.

This verse is both hymn and confession, concise and poetic, in complete harmony (concordia - Latin, harmony) with the Scriptures.

Confessions of faith die in the darkness, as the popular pundits say, so people reject the apostates, go back to the Scriptures, and enlighten their generation.

The Book of Concord, 1580, is the result of Lutherans working together to repudiate false doctrine and clarify the use of the Scriptures. The Book of Concord was signed and published 50 years after the Augsburg Confession risked the lives of Evangelicals by stressing the truth of the Bible against the destructive dogmas of the Church of Rome.

Hebrews - Daily Verses.

 

 

KJV Hebrews 6

9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Explanation

Scholars enjoy debating whether the Apostle Paul - or someone else with the same name - wrote Hebrews. Paul signed his letters, but Hebrews is not signed. Luther suggested that Apollos might have written Hebrews and yet the Reformer also referred to the author of Hebrews as Paul.

We often use or hear the phrase "labor of love," which is found only in Paul's 1 Thessalonians 1:3

and in Hebrews 6:10.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 

Another Pauline trait in writing is to follow critical passages with a genuine expression of encouragement and affection, as we see in this passage from Hebrews 6.

We should also note the reference to Abraham - the Father of Faith - definitely related to Justification by Faith. The patriarch's name appears about 27 times in the New Testament.

As Luther wrote, people turn Moses into the Savior and Jesus into the Lawgiver. One would never know from modern Fuller-trained "Lutheran" leaders that Calvin is their heart-felt teacher, their theologian, their burning light.

Let us all repeat this piece of wisdom from C. Peter Wagner, which his Lutheran followers have failed to understand.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 6 - Third Sermon. "And There Is Quite a Difference Between Enduring Pain, Weeping And lamenting, And Seeking Revenge, Or Entertaining Hatred And Envy."

 

Click for -> Complete Sermon for Trinity 6 - Anger and Its Signs, Third Sermon

23. So we assert that Christ here is not preaching on the office which is God’s, nor on love, but on each person’s own and individual wrath, proceeding from our heart and will, and directed against the person of our neighbor: — this wrath is to be wholly done away with and be put to death, no matter if the injury and injustice done to us hurts and pains. To illustrate that John the Baptist was so shamefully slain, that Christ was nailed to the cross, that the holy martyrs were so cruelly put to death, all this did not pass without the weeping and lamentation of pious hearts; for we do not have, nor should we have, hearts of iron but of flesh, as St. Bernhard says: Dolor est, sed contemnitur; it is painful, but must be borne and overcome. And there is quite a difference between enduring pain, weeping and lamenting, and seeking revenge, or entertaining hatred and envy.

24. Now God wants this commandment: Thou shalt not kill, understood to mean so much that no one is to be angry. For by nature we all are liars, born in natural sin and in blindness, not knowing how to be angry, nor seeing how depraved our nature is, to-wit. , that it is not able either to love or be angry aright, since in both it seeks nothing but self and selfish ends.

Since now by nature we are so corrupt, it is forbidden and annulled both to love and be angry as a human being, in which our nature would seek its own ends. On the other hand, divine love that “seeketh not her own” but that of one’s neighbor, is enjoined, and an anger that is zealous not for his own but for God’s sake, whom it behooves either to punish transgressions against his commandments, or out of a spirit of love, and for the good of our neighbor to help him.

25. The Pharisaical holiness, however, does not act thus; but as it has no love for one’s neighbor but only wishes to see self honored and praised and served; so too it cannot but rage and rave against the truly pious persons, and still pretends not to have sinned against the commandment in question. Just as Christ was treated by the Pharisees and high priests, who delivered him to the judge Pilate to be offered upon the cross, and still they did not want to be accounted guilty, but to eat the pascal lamb and remain holy.

26. Hence the Lord strikes a fresh blow at all the Pharisaic holiness and righteousness, denying them every particle of grace and the kingdom of heaven and condemning them to hell-fire, as having an unrighteousness doubly wrong in God’s sight and corrupt to the very core. Therefore I say, says God: “Whosoever is angry with his brother;” I do not say, He only that slays with his hand, but if you have anger in your heart, then you are already worthy to be condemned by the judgment; for such wrath originates only in man’s inborn malice, which seeks either its own revenge and wantonness, or its own honor and gain. But God does not want you to seek your own honor and right; but let him seek and demand it who should, and to whom he has given authority, namely, the judge and executioner, who are not looking after their own but God’s affairs, for otherwise they would not be permitted to execute or punish anybody. But see to it, says he, that you personally do not grow angry, but so completely control your anger that, be it in official duty or not, it does not proceed from the heart.

United Church of Christ

WELS published this with great opposition from the Church Growthers. Tolja, tolja, tolja. It sold faster than lutefisk at an ELS picnic, and WELS withdrew it.

 

UCC Shows Mainline Protestantism’s Future: Unrelenting Decline

John Lomperis on July 13, 2022

Hebrews 6

 

KJV Hebrews 6

1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

3 And this will we do, if God permit.

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:

8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Explanation

In this passage the author is assuming that the readers understand the milk. The should know the basics and do, but the author urges them to deal with the deeper matters of the Faith.

 Cho gave new meaning to the word "cell."

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 6 - "Here We Must Beware Not To Abuse This Power, As the Pope Has Been Guilty of Doing Against Those Attacking His Person or Rule..."

 

Click for -> Complete Sermon for Trinity 6 - Anger and Its Signs, Third Sermon

19. The Christian Church must act on the same principles, when putting a person under the ban and “delivering such a one unto Satan,” as St. Paul did at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 5:5; also when denying him the sacrament and all fellowship, so as not to participate in his sin. This indeed is a dreadful sentence and terrific wrath; still it is not the wrath of man but of God. For the Church would much rather see man converted and be saved; as she shows by her actions, for where one repents and is converted, she gladly receives him back as her dear son and rejoices over him with all the angels, as Christ says of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. Luke 15:6f.

20. Here we must beware not to abuse this power, as the Pope has been guilty of doing against those attacking his person or rule, thus confounding his person with his office, making out that his wrath is God’s wrath, thereby spoiling both and pouring poison into the wine. For thus the Pope has, under the name of divine wrath, threatened and stunned emperors and kings, and yet he accomplished nothing more than to pour out his own wrath and spite. For this reason his church is in Scripture called a church of blasphemies, Revelation 13:5,16, having the marks of blasphemies written on her forehead, in all her words and deeds.

21. This now is the wrath we call the divine or paternal wrath. Then there is another, called the brotherly wrath, of the same nature because it proceeds from love. For instance when I am angry at a person whom I heartily love and to whom I wish all manner of good, and I am grieved because he will not forsake his sins and do better, so that I always distinguish between the person and the sin, to help the person and restrain the sin, doing all I can by exhorting, warning, threatening and correcting, in order to lead him to forsake his sins.

22. But it is well here also to be on one’s guard, lest a rogue be back of this, in the sense of one’s own wrath intermingling. For our wrath should be so wholly absent that not a speck of it be found; but that God’s wrath alone hold sway, which is to flow either from the office assigned, or from brotherly love, which here would mean from the wrath of God. For it is God’s command that we admonish, correct, reform and help one another, so that our neighbor desists from his sins and receives our admonitions gladly and with thanks. This is the “wrath” of that common Christian love of which Christ says, Matthew 18:15: “If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone,” and in Scripture it is called an excellent, godly jealousy. St. Paul in Corinthians 11:2 says’ “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy.” For a wrath of this nature does not seek your disgrace or disadvantage, but your honor and advantage; it would regret to see you injure the prospects of your soul’s salvation.

Corporations Killed Your Synod - And All the Denominations - They Borrowed the Sears Roebuck Plan

 

When Sears Roebuck was collapsing, one clever fellow bought it for the real estate. Some stores were left open for laughs, but the only real product was real estate.

The denominations - and your own dear synod - have been following the same recipe since the 1930s. That is when the Social Gospel Movement insisted that the Great Depression was caused by lack of social(istic) activism in the denominations. The Methodists, Presbyterians, and liberal Northern Baptists were first at the trough. Lutherans followed, reluctantly, slowly. Fuller Seminary, the sewer of the synods, joined in the 9th inning. 

A century ago, the denominations had large seminaries, gothic churches, and large groups of future ministers. The denominations and synods found ways to work together for the cause, even while pretending they shuddered at the thought of a more conservative group defiling them. When I told a WELS pastor that his district president, Robert Mueller, was on the board of the ELCA relief committee, he came close to crying. He said something like this - "I know nothing about any dealings with them, and I grew up in the WELS! How do you know?"

That cry of desolation was magnified when The Lutheran (ELCA) magazine featured WELS SP Mischke, LCMS SP Bohlmann, and ELCA's Lord High Bishop Herb Chilstrom meeting as a trio ("Chiefs Confer" in The Lutheran). Leaders of all three synods participated, too. The WELS denials were comical after I strongly encouraged Otten's Christian News  to reprint the photo and article.

Some are wondering, "How does this fit into the topic of corporations?" 

Answer - The denominations and synods began to mimic the corporations of big business, milking the assets of each church body for glorious business offices, travels everywhere, plush salaries, juicy benefits, and almost unlimited powers.

Many corporations are run by junior executives who come and go, a few being promoted, the rest being jettisoned like watermelon seeds. I remember one from a large university, one of many I knew because they changed every two years. The boss went to the wedding of one and canned her soon after. The rotten junior executive lasted two years. The nice one who got married - two years. The exceptional one - two years.

If we look at the vast expanse of denomination and synod officials, they are like the lower of Sears. They know their schools and seminaries and large churches are collapsing. Their statistics are as hollow and gurgling as child's stomach just before lunch. The projections look like the descent of a C-5 cargo jet.

What a great opportunity to liquidate and keep as much of the loot as possible, to cover up debt and reward the hard work of executives. If they have a large property with a lot of real estate value, they will place an incompetent in the call, wait for him or her to prepare it for closing, and harvest the bounty. The closer may even get a choice call as a reward. How sweet. I know of several situations where closing meant or means $1 million.

Sometimes they get rough, as they did with Historic St. John's in Milwaukee, which did not belong to any synod. 

Church officials with long faces show up to coach and flatter the tiny congregation on how to share the funds with charity, justice, and blessings for all its previous work. "We will never forget what your parish did for our synod. Now get off our property!" 

Beginning The Book of Concord Series. Luther- Melanchthon - Chemnitz.

 

A Sparkle creed link can be found - lower down -  extreme left column, and it is

1. blessed by your synod presidents, 
2. funded by your Thrivent sugar daddy, 
3. ignored or supported by your pastor.

 Martin Chemnitz copied Origen's statement, and I copied Chemnitz.

A reader asked if I could also start a series about the Book of Concord, writing, "Hardly anyone knows much about it." I always learn from such ventures, so I am happy to do that. The Luther Sermons (Lenker) are daily. The Biblical series and the Book of Concord will be a little slower.

One way to tell if it is new - look for a new graphic. I also add a summary statement from the material in the left column, which will change with newest topic.

Happy Fourth of July!

 

More Evidence - "Yes, the World’s a Ship on Its Passage Out, And Not a Voyage Complete; And the Pulpit Is Its Prow."

This video may also disappear as fast as the discussion on the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Forum Online (the Ovaltines).

More of the same garbage is described from various denominations.

What could be more full of meaning?- for the pulpit is ever this earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God’s quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favorable winds. Yes, the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.

Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 8

The information - 50 Plus Years of Pride - came from the links I found about the "Sparkle creed" being used at an ELCA congregation in wealthy Edina, Minnesota. The mocking blasphemous creed is nothing more than the accumulated toxins of 

1. Objective Faithless Justification (born forgiven and saved), 
2. Church Growth (rationalistic destroyers), and 
3. Ignorance about the Reformation (Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz - for those who graduated from Mequon).

"I believe in the church of everyday saints, as numerous, creative, and resilient as patches on the AIDS quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars in Wonder." Sparkle creed.

The Sparkle creed had to have decades of development to have female clergy lead it in public - with a smirk - and the videos published on YouTube. Years back, the same style of nonsense and perversion was featured, bragged about, protected, and awarded with calls - "Party in the MLC" (WELS). 

Pardon my lack of ignorance - I saw it coming in the early stages in the LCA, even as a lad at Plymouth Congregational (UCC) Church, Moline - a woman dressed in a man's suit.

50 Plus Years of Pride is not the end but just another marker on the road to perdition. If people do not make themselves aware of what it happening now, and act on it, everything will be far worse. I gave up income at one school because it was embracing DEI. However, that left me open for only teaching the Bible. I will write more about the topic, based on the corporate style of self-destruction.

 The patron saint of Fuller Seminary - Peter Drucker.

50 Plus Years of Pride - ALC/LCA/AELC/ELCA -

From LGBTQ Exhibits

Lutheranism

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) experienced a slow and steady transformation in terms of LGBTQ+ inclusion. Scholar of queer religious history R.W. Holmen refers to the activist movement within Lutheranism as being "subtle" (231), but revolutionary nonetheless. ALC Pastor Jim Siefkes was a leader of the movement toward affirmation and inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals. He demonstrated true allyship to the LGBT+ community, first by developing a ministry program called Matrix which tackled the subject of human sexuality, alongside other potentially controversial topics, forthrightly and openly. 

In June of 1970, Siefkes helped organize an experimental seminar discussing human sexuality in a theological context. The University of Minnesota medical school was enthusiastic about the programming Siefkes had designed, and began running a similar program under its own institutional auspices. As Siefkes became more heavily involved in the university's programming, he also aided in the formation of a Committee on Religion and Ethics at the university's medical school, reinforcing his original goal of tying sexuality and religion together in a meaningful fashion. Many people affiliated with religous communities at the university were appalled by the programming's sexually explicit materials and objected vehemently to church finances backing programming they considered lewd and inappropriate. However, many others found the programming illuminating, and were willing to enter into an open conversation about homosexuality and faith. 

Jim Siefkes

The foremost organization pushing for LGBT+ inclusion within the Lutheran Church, called Lutherans Concerned for Gay People, was formed on June 16, 1974, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Lutherans Concerned for Gay People's first newsletter was released a mere month after the group's formation. The organization's viewpoint was neatly encapsulated within this very first issue, as the authors wrote, 

As gay Lutherans, we affirm with joy the goodness of human sexuality which God has given us. We are to be found in the pulpits and pews, the schools and offices of Lutheran churches and organizations throughout the land. We have received the sacraments, listened to the preaching of God's word, taught in the schools, and worked in the committees and organizations of Lutheran churches.

The organization faced almost instant backlash in 1975, as indignation over the success of Pastor Siefkes' request for financing for Lutherans Concerned for Gay People spread among a conservative element within the Lutheran church. The headline "Dollars for Disobedience" was disseminated within the church, condemning the use of the church's funds for LGBT+ advocates. 

Pastor Chuck Lewis was responsible for forming a particularly active chapter of Lutherans Concerned in San Francisco, California (the organization's name evolved to Lutherans Concerned, and then Lutherans Concerned/North America, frequently abbreviated to LC/NA). 

Chuck Lewis

In 1980, the LCA and ALC both released statements dealing with human sexuality. Both statements condemned homosexuality as contrary to God's plan. The church still had a long way to go towards full inclusion. 

However, in 1987, it was reported in the Los Angeles Times that three out gay Lutheran seminarians were certified for call and ordination. These seminarians were Joel Workin, James Lancaster, and Jeff Johnson. Yet, the case was not at all open and shut, as the Times seemed to imply. The candidates for ministry were asked if they would vow to remain celibate for the rest of their lives. Jeff Johnson answered that, while he was currently celibate, he couldn't promise that he wouldn't fall in love with a man one day. His fellow ordinands answered similarly. As R.W. Holmen wrote, "The courage of the candidates stood in stark contrast to the timidity of the church. The integrity of the candidates embarrassed the church that reneged on its agreement" (253). Sadly, these three men were denied ordination.

Jeff R. Johnson

The church has since made tremendous strides, as Dr. Guy Barron, a Native American and gay man, was elected as a bishop within the Lutheran church in 2013. [Guy Erwin is the correct name.]

Richard Jungkuntz, WELS, was a pioneer. He was fired for being a historical-critical professor, taught at Springfield's (future Ft. Wayne) seminary, served as the head of the doctrinal board in the LCMS, became chairman of the board of the breakaway Seminex seminary, which sponsored the Metropolitan Community Church (gay) Seminary at their location.

Guy Erwin was a professor in ELCA, then a part-time pastor, then a bishop, and now the President of United Lutheran Seminary, Philadelphia.