The Missing Elements in The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

The ones who ignore the Means of Grace are the same ones who like to talk about grace apart from the efficacious Word.

The missing elements in The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) - are easy to discuss from the correct sources.

The efficacious Word is central for all of this talk about Christian theology. Another way of saying it is The Word never without the Spirit; the Spirit never without the Word (A. Hoenecke).

If the efficacious Word is dismissed, then so are the Instruments (or Means) of Grace. Those means are:

• The Word when preached, taught, and remembered.
• Holy Communion.

God's grace comes to us only though faith in Jesus Christ. So many clergy are aping Rome that they overlook both. In fact, one self-appointed bishop was in close contact with Missouri's Higher Things, which centered on Objective Faithless Justification. These two verses are worth remembering when people talk about grace but do not believe the Scriptures -

KJV Romans 5:5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Faith in Jesus Christ - The Center of All Teaching and Worship

If people are really interested in teaching and living God's grace, then they must be taught faith in Jesus Christ. Lutheran pastors today seem to be aping the Church of Rome or the MBA denizens of Fuller Seminary.

The twin fallacies are so poisonous among the management bullies that pastors and congregations need to escape from the two traps - Rome and Fuller - and return to Luther's sermons and Biblical teaching. 

If the congregation is promoting everything except faith in Jesus Christ, its purpose vacated, erased, forgotten. That has come about through the efforts of 

• incompetent and unbelieving college/seminary professors, 
• political synod managers - all the way down to synod president - 
• and lost, bewildered parish pastors. 

The matters should be addressed by the pastor and congregation. These would be typical changes:

1. Sermons are always about the Savior, the meaning of His Gospel, His sermons and miracles. He is the most important part of both Testaments, which are really one. 
2. Adult classes are about the Bible and how people understand and appreciate the Gospel.
3. Children are trained at various levels in their knowledge of the Gospel.
4. The Sacraments are observed without becoming a show - either through silliness or Romanism.
5. The pastor visits members who are sick and shut-in and in various other ways. The Internet connects everyone on websites, blogs, and Zoom. Blogs are free and Zoom is around $15-20 a month. Cello phones cost more than Zoom so get over it.
6. Because of Zoom, the worship services and classes can be broadcast around the world, converted into YouTube videos quickly and easily. 

Pastors - Read these quotations carefully. 

Download them and share them.

The Word is always efficacious and God knows before we even begin to ask.

Pastoral training can include being denied food, driven out, chased by dogs, and pelted with manure.

There can be a lot of sorrow in life. The bottom half of this graphic is from the tornado, in Joplin, Missouri. We heard the storm howl all night, 50 miles away. The Christian Faith is a great comfort to those who are taught it.