ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
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| 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. |
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UCC Shows Mainline Protestantism’s Future: Unrelenting DeclineJohn Lomperis on July 13, 2022 |
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.
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| Cho gave new meaning to the word "cell." |
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.
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!"
A Sparkle creed link can be found - lower down - extreme left column, and it is
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| Martin Chemnitz copied Origen's statement, and I copied Chemnitz. |
