The Cure the Big Five Abhor - The Efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

Liz has seen ELCA's total membership crater, with the gay seminaries sinking fast. She is getting close to the end of her leave-of-absence.

The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) abhor the efficacy of the Word, which simply means, the Holy Spirit active in the Word. That can be stated as "the Word never without the Spirit, the Spirit never without the Word." A. Hoenecke

The Reformation, which took place only in Germany and in the Sixteenth Century (the 1500s for synod officials), is confined to Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, and their associates. The Reformers were very clear about teaching Biblical doctrine rather than the latest dogmatic books. One would guess that the latter "Orthodox" theologians caused the Reformation but they were actually later, dipping into Calvinism, Pietism, and Objective Faithless Justification. The farther away they moved, from Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz, the sloppier and more promiscuous their enormous books became. 

The Big Five all came from Pietism, four from CFW Walther, a dedicated Pietist. ELCA roots were also Pietist, but from other sources. Pietists in general were keen on cell groups, soft on Calvin, and indifferent to Luther and the Book of Concord.

Lacking today - 

1. Original, Biblical sermons. Plagiarism is ripe from synod officials all the way up to parish pastors. The lazy pastors and managers buy sermon books or swipe them among web servers. Mequon, not exactly a citadel of the Means of Grace, encourages future pastors to copy one another's efforts. Their wise advice is "Why invent the wheel?" There are many ways they can use Luther's Sermons, which we all need. Those sermons were written as foundations for parish pastors, so many are very long because Luther had so much to say.

2. Visiting in homes and hospitals. That is almost forgotten. 

3. Using blogs and Zoom to get the message out. The discussion boards are banal. Blogs are free, a good place to post the upcoming worship service and relevant news. Zoom is tricky to get started but miles ahead of Vimeo. A year of Zoom webinars will cost the congregation about $15 a week, no more than Vimeo. 

4. Reject the moronic "programs" of the synod. Given their lust for plagiarism, it is truly the blind leading the blind, or the Stuck with their sticky finders selling the Unstuck. Have the great evangelism and mission pastors kept up with the losses? Hardly! But they keep sending out grandparents' charitable irrevocable trust counselor$.

God sent a message to ELCA immediately after the 2009 vote. No one needs a cookie prediction to guess what it was.

The Soi-Disant Lutherans Do Not Lead - They Manage. The Big Five - LCMS-ELS-ELCA-WELS-CLC (sic),

The Soi-Disant Lutherans Do Not Lead - They Manage

I can see why Matt the MDiv - with very little parish experience but lots of money experience - pushed hard to get re-elected. He must have known the LCMS colleges were crashing down in slow motion.

The trouble with living from carefully Photoshopped budgets is bearing fruit, but not the kind they want and need. I keep thinking there are no more fads to exploit, such as Unstuck. But the managers are like diabetics trying to cure the problem without changing to healthy food and modest amounts. I was doing great until I discovered my pancreas only had a 70 year warrantee - not renewable.

The managers of the Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) - having been living off the latest fads since WWII. The strangest or funniest part is that they work together on bad ideas, supported by Thrivent, which was forced into merger from some very bad years, at least three in a row. Merger erased the past - how sweet.

I sent this to a "conservative" Babtist pastor and teacher. He was furious with me that I told the truth about the sanctified Andy Stanley. Likewise, the WELS pastors and Bishop Katie went to Stanley's re-education camps and loved it.

Thus the blind lead the blind, who teach other greedy clergy to follow them in speeding up the process. They get together in management sessions and figure out how the process will work. One newly hatched ELCA pastor said loudly on a bus during my last LCA conventicle - "I know what you are saying about the bad decisions, but I BELIEVE IN THE PROCESS!" Even funnier, the Wisconsin Sect managers did not want me talking about their buddies in ELCA, because they were sharing the same bed of insurance money. 

One think is needful - and they make fun of it - faith in Jesus Christ! Worse than that, the Big Five Sects are always undermining the Gospel by belittling the Scriptures - even the Bogus Bibles they sell. Ten more years of their tommyrot from Fuller Seminary and the Church of Rome will empty their churches and devastate their institutions. They will be like Monkey Wards, as we used to call it, clinging so tight to their money they were left with useless buildings.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Lent 5 - Judica - Christ Defends Himself - "For one must be assured that his doctrine is right before God and that it is the truth, and accordingly care not how it is judged by the people."

 

Complete Sermon - Lent 5 - Judica. Fifth Sunday in Lent. John 8:46-59. The Jews Try to Stone Jesus, or Christ Defends Himself Against His Enemies

TEXT:

John 8:46-59. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.


1. This Gospel teaches how hardened persons become the more furious, the more one teaches them and lovingly stirs them to do their duty. For Christ asks them here in a very loving way for a reason why they still disbelieve, since they can find fault neither with his life nor with his teaching. His life is blameless; for he defies them and says: “Which of you convicteth me of sin?” His teaching also is blameless; for he adds: “If I say truth, why do ye not believe me?” Thus Christ lives, as he teaches.

2. And every preacher should prove that he possesses both: first a blameless life, by which he can defy his enemies and no one may have occasion to slander his teachings; secondly, that he possesses the pure doctrine, so that he may not mislead those who follow him. And thus he will be right and firm on both sides: with his good life against his enemies, who look much more at life than at his doctrine, and despise the doctrine for the sake of the life; with his doctrine then for the kind of life he leads and will bear with his life for the sake of his teaching.

3. For it is indeed true that no one lives so perfect a life as to be without sin before God. Therefore it is sufficient that he be blameless in the eyes of the people. But his doctrine must be so good and pure as to stand not only before man but also before God. Therefore every pious pastor may well ask: Who among you can find fault with my life? Among you, I say who are men; but before God I am a sinner. This Moses also boast in Numbers 16:15 that he took nothing from the people and he did them no injustice. Samuel did likewise in 1 Samuel 12:3 also Jeremiah and Hezekiah, who rightly boasted of their blameless life before the people, in order to stop the mouths of blasphemers. But Christ does not speak thus of his doctrine, he says not: “Who among you can find fault with my doctrine”; but “If I tell you the truth.” For one must be assured that his doctrine is right before God and that it is the truth, and accordingly care not how it is judged by the people.