Justification by Faith Is the Chief Article - Not UOJ. The ELS Is a Quasi-Christian Sect, Not Christian and Not Lutheran

AC V has left a new comment on your post "What is a Lutheran? | Evangelical Lutheran Synod. ...":

If the question is "What is a Lutheran?" then give references, please, from the the OFFICIAL Lutheran confession of faith, the BOOK OF CONCORD, to substantiate that ELS confession:

Through this completed work of Jesus, God the Father sees the whole world as not guilty, or justified. This teaching of “justification” is the central truth of the Bible.

That may be the definition and central teaching of an ELS Lutheran, but it isn't of a Book of Concord Lutheran.

At Least They Are Not Hosting Leonard Sweet This Time!

It's a good thing they got rid of that old liberal Kieschnick. Now they have a rock-ribbed conservative as Synod President. Harrison mentions Walther and the entire Midwest region sighs in ecstasy.

All the ELCA seminaries are overwhelmingly in favor of homosexual ordination and marriage. Woe to anyone who dissents from the new orthodoxy. Thus "conservative" Missouri is doing its best to create doctrinal indifference while pretending otherwise.

Ho, Ho

Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Bueller, Bueller. Anyone? Anyone?":

Sorry I poorly worded my point. ELCA is rotten, but the smugness of Missouri and WELS is nauseating. It would be like going on a date with a known prostitute vs. going out with a "nice" girl that tells you she is a part-time prostitute as you walk her to the door at the conclusion of the date. Once the "nice" girl is discovered to be not-so-nice, would you not run as fast as you could? Wouldn't you feel proud to take her home to Mom and Dad?

This was me five years ago in Missouri. Yes, we always pointed out the errors of ELCA, and rightly so. When I started considering sem, I began to study and look into things. The conclusion was that practice was not nearly as orthodox as the talk. I also concluded from this study that the vast majority of the laity are either ignorant, poorly catechized, or simply will never leave or make waves because their great-grandparents were LCMS-ers.

Missouri bad-mouths ELCA for their tolerance of homosexuality, and rightly so; but Missouri fails to discipline in the case of an openly-homosexual music director out West. Missouri bad-mouths ELCA for liberal Communion practice; but an LCMS seminary prof told me that it's the DP's job to enforce closed Communion when I asked him why the LCMS was not addressing the issue of closed Communion. Missouri bad-mouths female ordination in ELCA, yet LCMS females are allowed to assist in the distribution and readings.

I could go on for pages, so enough. My ultimate point is that LCMS is twenty-to-thirty years behind ELCA.

***

GJ - WELS and Missouri are almost the same. The Little Sect on the Prairie objects to nothing in WELS and has its own Church and Change (Emerging Church) parish.

So ditto the ELS.

He said, “My wife and I left the LCMS teaching profession 20 years ago.......” and the termination letter from that old cell church of mine.

He said, “My wife and I left the LCMS teaching profession 20 years ago.......” and the termination letter from that old cell church of mine.

2 Epiphany pastors resign; one forms a new ministry

Be happy or be ...


2 Epiphany pastors resign; one forms a new ministry

By Jill Kelley, Staff WriterUpdated 11:57 PM Thursday, January 6, 2011

CENTERVILLE — Two Epiphany Lutheran Church pastors, citing a division between their core values and the direction of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, resigned this week, and one has started a new ministry.

Senior Pastor John Bradosky has accepted the job of general secretary of the breakaway North American Lutheran Church. Meanwhile, Associate Pastor Todd Kornahrens has started a new ministry in Centerville, the Living Water Lutheran Church.

Living Water will hold its first service at 10:15 a.m. Sunday at Weller Elementary School. It plans to open at 175 E. Franklin St. in February, when that facility is ready.

Kornahrens will be the lead pastor, and the church’s management team is primarily made up of former Epiphany members. Living Water is applying to be recognized as the first NALC congregation in the Dayton area.

The NALC, a more traditionally focused Lutheran denomination, was formed in the wake of the ELCA’s 2009 social statement and policy changes that included the decision to accept noncelibate gay ministers.

The statement proved controversial for many within the Lutheran church who saw it as indicative of the difference of opinion within the ELCA about how Scripture should be interpreted.

ELCA Task Force to Suggest Recommendations for Church's Future - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Your Diaprax Is Ready

ELCA Task Force to Suggest Recommendations for Church's Future - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Diaprax cat can study and fix anything, especially with a Thrivent grant.


ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 17, 2010

ELCA Task Force to Suggest Recommendations for Church's Future

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has engaged the church's membership in an extensive conversation about the denomination's future, will soon begin preparing its report and recommendations to the ELCA Church Council. The council is expected to transmit to the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly recommendations related to the task force's work.

Task force members will meet here January 28-29, 2011, a key face-to-face meeting prior to issuing their report and recommendations.

In November 2009 the ELCA Church Council approved the charter for the project, "Living into the Future Together: Renewing the Ecology of the ELCA" and appointed a task force. The project task force was asked to study social, economic and other environmental changes in the 20 years since the ELCA was formed and "evaluate the organization, governance and interrelationships among this church's expressions," according to the project charter.

The task force was asked to develop a report and recommendations "that will position this church for the future and explore new possibilities for participating in God's mission," the charter states. The report and recommendations are to be reviewed by the ELCA Conference of Bishops in March 2011 and presented for action to the Church Council, which meets in April 2011.

The task force, which met for the first time in January 2010, focused on two key questions as it gathered information from throughout the church, said the Rev. Diane "Dee" Pederson, St. Cloud, Minn., task force chair:

+ What is God calling this church to be and do in the future?
+ What changes are in order to help us respond most faithfully?

"The task force was committed to beginning a conversation that would invite engagement, ideas, imagination and wisdom from people across this church," she said in an interview. Task force members developed questions on topics such as Lutheran identity, ELCA membership and priorities for ministry, she said. Task force work teams focused on specific topics such as ELCA identity, opportunities, interrelationships, congregations, partnerships, financial resources, and structure and governance.

The task force posted questions online at http://www.ELCA.org/lift on the ELCA project website for response, and it invited responses through a blog at http://liftELCA.org on the Web, Pederson said.

More than 1,000 people responded to the online survey questions, and ELCA Research and Evaluation staff randomly sampled additional pastors and members. Many leadership groups commented to the task force, such as the ELCA Conference of Bishops, the ELCA Church Council, campus ministry staff, college and university presidents, multicultural organization leaders, global mission partners, and youth and young adults. Voting members at more than 40 synod assemblies offered input.

The task force also met with several consultants, held conference calls, and conducted focus groups and interviews. In August it brought together bishops, pastors, leaders from institutions of higher education, ecumenical partners and leaders from various partner agencies to consider mission capacity and funding, Pederson said.

Task force members learned that ELCA members have deep commitments "to our theology, our understanding of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, to sharing the 'Good News,' to theological education and to lay leadership," Pederson said. Members are less clear about Lutheran identity or what it means to be an ELCA member, she said.

The task force invited comment on possible future scenarios for the EL
CA, she said. Its report will likely focus on the roles of congregations and synods, sustainability, mission support funding, and ELCA structure and governance, Pederson added.

While much information has been gathered, there is still time for members to comment to the task force through the website or the blog.

"I've described the process as something that was intended to engage as many people as possible," said the Rev. Richard H. Graham, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod, and task force member. "We want to hear from anyone who wants to give us information."

From his perspective, Graham said, members have expressed a desire to renew congregational life and mission, and "to help congregations understand themselves as places where mission has to take place."

ELCA Going Senile, OrELCA Bishop Mark Hanson As the Obama of Lutherdom

"Brett, I did not forget to put my robe on.
Let's see: glasses, cool head mike, timing lights, stole...
Stop laughing!"
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
November 23, 2010
ELCA Joins Effort to Keep Clean Air Act Regulatory Authority Intact

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) joined 56 denominations and faith-based organizations in calling on the U.S. Senate to leave intact the power of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, including ozone emissions.

The denominations and faith-based organizations released a joint letter to the Senate Nov. 23 in which they stated they "are called to protect and serve God's great creation and work for justice for all of God's people."

"We believe that the United States must take all appropriate and available actions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. We therefore urge you to oppose any efforts to undermine the authority of the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions," according to the letter. In particular, the religious groups noted challenges to the Clean Air Act from U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., who has proposed delaying regulation of greenhouse gases by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We urge you to protect the Clean Air Act and allow the Environmental Protection Agency to use the full strength of the law to ensure that God's creation and God's children remain healthy," the letter stated.

---

Specifically, some council members may be elected whose skills and expertise are deemed crucial to the governance of the ELCA.  The council also proposed eliminating a number of advisors because costs cannot be justified as mission support declines. Input from these constituencies could be provided in other ways, according to the background information.

Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, said the projection for 2011 current fund income is a decrease of nearly $2.5 million from revised estimates for 2010.  In particular, the 2011 budget is based on $48 million in anticipated mission support income, reduced from the $51 million in anticipated mission support for 2010, she said. The estimate for ELCA World Hunger income for 2011 is $1.7 million less than for 2010.

***

GJ - ELCA is favor of abortion for any reason, but opposed to capital punishment for convicted criminals. They give innocent babies the death penalty, without the benefit of a trial, yet WELS and Missouri both work with ELCA gladly.

ELCA is worried about the Clean Air Act yet spends its dwindling resources on more political lobbying.

Mark Hanson has total control of the structure, or the Lavender Mafia has total control of him. Either way, he appears to be the senile, doddering old fool of British comedy, flexible about the Ten Commandments, obstinate about his power.

Rogue Lutheran and the LCMS

Dear Pastor Jackson,

This is a very disconcerting post on the NID page,    https://ni.lcms.org/Index.asp?PageID=13028.

If you follow the link you'll see a picture of Harrison with the NID DP Gilbert sitting at a table with 2 other pastors. DP Gilbert is second from the right in a suit.

The article was written by Jackie Bussert and includes the words "Emerging Church".  I don't much about church law, so I'm not too sure what resolution 3.04A means.

I have read enough of Shrinker propaganda that I know when they are overconfident and full of themselves, so much so that they like to telegraph their plans sometimes with disinformation and sometime not.  

 This meeting was in August,  2010, Diefenthaler is the main person on CTCR until 2013 and it was in his district, the SED,  where there is this ASHRAM going and Frank Gillespie was given the left foot and told that "contemplative is here to stay".

http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/CTCR/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20CTCR-updated%2010-2010-with%20roster.pdf

I read this Bussert clip from the NID website as a veiled message to Shrinker troops that the Emergent Platform is safe and going forward or they are trying to make an idiot out of Harrison.

Also,  the brouhaha over at Steadfast on the hierarchical language to seize church property.

No one has any idea who is on the BOD,  very muchsecrecy going on,  and the suit with the 4 from California is still going forward, they all have their knickers in a knot, looks to be setting a precedent to grab real estate, not that I give a rip about the material side of things anyway.

http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=12379

So, pastor, perhaps I'm reading too much into this "Emergent" clip, but if you have some discretionary time, please let me know how you read it-- I could be over reacting.

Sincerely,

RL

This is the text of the clip but take a peek at the picture, too:

Emerging Churches Affirmed: President-elect Rev. Matthew Harrison, left, and his new director of church relations, Dr. Albert Collver (next to Harrison), met the week following convention in St. Louis with NID President Dan Gilbert and Rev. Torkild Masvie (right), leader of the new Lutheran Church in Norway that has been working with the NID.

 

It was the first official LCMS discussion with an "emerging church” after convention delegates authorized a new process (Res. 3-04A) whereby the Synod president can recognize these groups ahead of the lengthy and formal process denominations undergo in preparation for fellowship declared by an LCMS convention.

 

Recognition by an "official church” is sometimes helpful for emerging church bodies to gain a foothold within their own countries or access to certain benefits.

https://ni.lcms.org/Index.asp?PageID=13028.

Exposing the Synods

This is not kelmed in order to show how bad ELCA is, but to show how all the synods behave. The website is now linked on the left for readers 'convenience:

Is the ELCA Trying to Silence Pastors' 'Bound Conscience?' 09/20/2010

8 Comment(s)

 

This March, Rev. Jason Cooper of Emanuel Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Strawberry Point, Iowa, gave a sermon on the topic of sexual immorality using scripture from the lectionary on 1 Corinthians 10.  (read here and listen here)

Toward the end of the service, a former church council president approached the microphone and voiced his disagreement with the message and claimed that Rev. Cooper had violated his "Letter of Call" for stating that the ELCA's new policies oppose God's directive in Scripture. (listen here - the last minute of the service)

This incident led to a meeting between Rev. Cooper, Northeast Iowa Synod Bishop Steven L. Ullestad and Assistant to the Bishop Mark Anderson.  Rev. Cooper explained that during the meeting Bishop Ullestad informed him that if the former church council president followed through with his claim against the pastor, Bishop Ullestad "would rule against me, that I had, in fact, violated my Letter of Call.  The only two things he specified, that I recall, was that I was a little too Catholic in my understanding of the .  .  . reason for sex.  The second thing was that he said I couldn't say that the ELCA had violated the will of God."

At a second meeting, Rev. Cooper said that Bishop Ullestad told him "You don't understand.  You could be in really serious trouble."  Rev. Cooper replied, "Do what you have to do . . . I stand by what I said."

Rev. Cooper went on to say that during the meeting there "really was a feeling that either I recant or I was done, at least from the synod's perspective."

To set the context, Rev. Cooper had been the pastor at Emanuel Lutheran for 6 years, and it was his first call.  The year prior to this incident, Rev. Cooper submitted his papers with the ELCA seeking a specific call, to which the bishop's office encouraged him to consider two or three other calls as well.  But Rev. Cooper did not feel God was calling him to any of those positions at the time.

In February of this year, Rev. Cooper again submitted his papers seeking a new call.  As of the first week of September, 2010, he has not received any profiles from any of the four ELCA synods to which he submitted his name, and none of the synods have talked with him.

According to Rev. Cooper, "When I asked the Bishop (Ullestad) flat out, 'Am I blacklisted?'  He said, 'Well, congregations don't want pastors who cause problems.'"

So let's look at Rev. Cooper's record.  Over the last 6 years, Emanuel Lutheran has met their expenses every year.  Their benevolence has been at least 10% to 20%.  They have seen an increase in worship attendance every year and received 40 new members in 2009, all in a town with a population of just over a 1000 people.

The only "problems" that Rev. Cooper can be accused of causing are that he took a public stand against the denomination's homosexuality policies and clearly stated that the ELCA is elevating their own view over the authority of Scripture.  Rev. Cooper believes this is why the ELCA has refused to work with him as he seeks to find a new call.

Based on Rev. Cooper's testimony, it seems clear that the denomination wants to deny pastors the freedom to express publicly their "bound conscience," if it does not line up with the ELCA's decisions.  It can further be understood that pastors are not to preach or teach anything other than what the ELCA social statement says.

With that in mind, pastors should remember that their responsibility is to faithfully live out his or her calling and the vows taken at ordination, most especially to teach and preach in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, the creeds and confessions.  We all are ultimately responsible to God and God alone.

It is wrong for the ELCA or any denomination to prohibit or discourage pastors from teaching from the Word of God. It appears that the ELCA is trying to silence orthodox pastors, which should cause all of us to question the ELCA's motives and actions.

(Rev. Jason Cooper resigned from the ELCA, Sept. 2010)

---

From ALPB:

I am a pastor in the NE Iowa Synod. I know and vouch for Pr. Cooper. The blog article is accurate. I have both read and heard Pastor Cooper's sermon (back in April, about four weeks after the sermon). I've talked with Jason and with members of Emmanuel in Strawberry Point. The fact remains that Bishop Ullestad four times told Jason he had violated his letter of call by preaching the sermon he did (in which case, I have done that far more), yet the Bishop refused to initiate discipline, despite Pr. Cooper's repeated request that he do so; indeed, if the Bishop thought Pastor Cooper had violated his letter of call, then the Bishop should have been willling to back that up with the full weight of the discipline process.

Two more points of interest and follow-up:
1) Pastor Cooper is not a long-standing critic of the ELCA. In fact, he was dean of his conference through March of this year; he was a moderate who three years ago thought that pastors Hahn, Hatcher, and myself and others in Call to Faithfulness were a little too radical. Interesting thing is that the direction of the ELCA over the last two years opened Jason's eyes. BTW his sermon is not radical--it's simply Biblical and catholic.

2) Emmanuel, after Pr. Cooper left and led strictly by their lay leadership, passed a first vote to leave the ELCA on June 6, by 92-28. The second vote on Sept 12 fell one vote short with a 107-55 margin. The 28 pro-ELCA revisionists recruited 27 inactives who hadn't darkened the church doors for years (a lesson in the importance of having an up to date list of voting members). I doubt those 27 showed up this past Sunday at Emmanuel. Certainly the 107 did not--they, representing 75% of the active membership of Emmanuel, have left and begun a mission congregation (which I think will go NALC). My two congregations provided them with 70 LBW's for their first worship service this past Sunday (yesterday) at the Strawberry Point Civic Center--and the mission congregation worshiping at the civic center likely more than doubled the rump congregation that gathered at Emmanuel. Another pyrrhic victory for the revisionists at Emmmanuel and for the ELCA.

Ken
---

Jim,
No one else in terms of being told directly that they have violated their letter of call, as Pastor Cooper was (but I note that the Bishop explicitly refused to bring discipline charges against Pr. Cooper which of course would have required the Bishop to make public such a case vs. Pr. Cooper, which would also have put his "neutrality" principle and "bound conscience" on public display--and demonstrated the unworkable and empty nature of such principles and terms). However, with 38 pastoral vacancies in the synod, something does indeed seem to "be up" in that other orthodox pastors besides Jason Cooper, who have filed their mobility papers with the synod have been told that "congregations do not want pastors at either extreme on this issue." I think the Bishop's generalization does not speak for all the congregations seeking pastors (and note then that to be orthodox and to have spoken out on these issues make one an "extremist.") I know personally of orthodox pastors in other synods who have sought to have their mobility papers sent to the NE Iowa synod and who have been told that "we have no vacancies at the present time." There are congregations among the 38 vacancies who are going into their 3rd year without a pastor.
Ken

***

GJ - This example can be multiplied many times over. The established synods--whether far Left (ELCA) or Methodist Mild (LCMS, WELS, ELS)--are fascinated with their own power and saturated with doctrinal, financial, and moral corruption. All of them have been yammering about evangelism while driving out faithful members and pastors for decades.

They all talk about doctrine, too, but what do they promote? They spend most of their time and money on the latest bilge. They do a little bit to publish older material and whine, "But nobody buys it."

Thrifty pastors whose computer skills are limited to copying my Photoshops and Groeschel's sermons have a potential solution that meets their felt-needs.

Lulu.com is a user-friendly publishing service. Someone can write a book and publish it, with many promotional features, for free. The only cost will be ordering a proof copy, which is provided at the wholesale price (about 50% off).

Old-fashioned publishing - $10,00 to 25,000 per title.
Computerized publishing - $3,000 for ordering 1,000 copies, which have to be sold at a profit to get into the black.
Lulu publishing - $10 proof copy to get the final version in public view, with promotion through Google. $200 to make it an e-book with Apple.

Starting a church:
ELCA/WELS/LCMS model - Spend $1 million buying land, providing mission or salary support.
Independent model - Find an inexpensive meeting place, use a computer and broadband to broadcast and save the services. Very little cost.

More people are now outside of the synods and calling themselves Lutheran than those who are members of synods. Decades of unfaithfulness to the Word have accomplished this.

Sweet Promoted by a Graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Better Known as The Sausage Factory

The Man of the Hour, Leonard Sweet, Methodist New Ager,
aging hippy slob.

Luther

From the latest newsletter from DP Wille: http://swd.lcms.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=izPfN4jS0XA%3d&tabid=3144

Wee Wille

Professional growth day teachers' conference Oct. 29, 2010 • 8 a.m-2 p.m. Lake Country Lutheran High • Hartland For teachers and administrators in the SWD and English District. Dr. Leonard Sweet will focus on education and learning in his and our Google world or better yet a "TGIF" world — Twitter, Google, iPhone, Facebook — as he defines our world today and in the future. The $35 registration cost includes lunch and break. Register online at swd.lcms.org/registration before Oct. 15.  Flyer (PDF)

Retired ELCA Bishop Chilstrom Tests the Limits of Cluelessness

Have you seen our video, dearie?



From the Mankato Free Press, Mankato, Minn Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010

Questions for those leaving ELCA

Herbert W. Chilstrom

By the end of 2010 several hundred congregations (an estimated 2-3% of more than 10,300) will have left theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America to form other Lutheran church bodies. I have three questions for those
leaving:
First, what is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?

Since its founding more than twenty years ago the ELCA has wrestled with a number of complex issues, never binding anyone’s conscience, but helping us think about them. Included among them have been studies and statements on abortion, the death penalty and war. These three issues all involve the potential for taking a life. That seems far more serious than getting upset about two adults of the same gender who, like most of us straight folks, chose to live peacefully in a life-long relationship – the only such pairing the ELCA has approved. Like their straight neighbors, they live peacefully, go to their jobs every morning, pay their taxes, volunteer for good causes and, in many cases, worship with us. What is it that upsets you about this?
The only answer I seem to get from those leaving is that “this was the last straw.” But that still begs the question, “Why sex?” Surely some other divisive issue will come along – as it always does in every human institution – that could be “the last straw” in a new church body.

Second, why are you organizing new churches?
The picture is confusing. We hear of one called “Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ” (LCMC) and another named “Lutheran Church in North America” (LCNA). [GJ - Chilstrom cannot get his names straight. This one is NALC.] This seems wasteful to those of us standing on the sidelines. Why not join an existing Lutheran church that agrees with your views on sex?
There are many choices: the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (headquartered here in Mankato), the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, and Church of the Lutheran Brethren – to name just a handful of more than two dozen in the United States. Surely there must be one among them that would welcome you. Why go to all the unnecessary expense of setting up an entirely new structure with officers, boards, committees and institutions?

I suspect the only reason is because none of them ordain women. Well, it’s good to know that you welcome women to your clergy ranks. But have you forgotten that it was only a short time ago when Lutherans fought intensely over that issue? Many were certain that neither the Bible nor tradition permitted women to be ordained. Why not drop your insistence on the ordination of women for the sake of unity with some existing church body?

Third, what will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?

You will no doubt suggest that they seek “reparative” therapy, even though more than 95% of professionals in the field tell us there’s nothing to “repair” because they are no more abnormal than the rest of us. Or, you may tell them they must simply remain alone, denying them of a life-long partnership. All of which brings us back to the first question: What is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?

I am both sad and relieved that you are leaving. Sad, because this was not what we hoped for when the ELCA was formed some 22 years ago. We believed we could be a church where we held to the essentials and allowed for differences on non-essentials.

But I am also relieved. Now those of us who remain in the ELCA can get on with our primary mission of telling everyone -- everyone, “Jesus loves you. You are welcome in this church.”
(Herbert W. Chilstrom, a resident of St. Peter, was the first presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.)

Otten Uses Video To Promote Christian News

Perhaps Herman Otten's grandchildren talked him into using video to promote Christian News.

Here is the link.

Otten's sister Marie Meyer is a board member of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, which has always promoted the liberal side of Missouri in a working relationship with ELCA (ALC and LCA before that). Marie Meyer was a college roommate of the future Grace Otten. Oddly, Grace was a CLC member attending liberal Valpo U. Grace was not allowed to attend Bethany in Mankato, but she went to Valpo.

Otten now has a Facebook page.

Paul McCain, MDiv, LCMS layman, worked secretly with Otten to get Barry elected the first time. McCain has 6,000 FB friends. I will let you know when he friends Otten.

Wiccans Happy About ELCA Service, Goddess Worship

Here is the Wiccan link, which links to its sources.

I was leaving the LCA when they denied all this was developing, even though it was.

WELS/LCMS/ELS will deny this is also around the corner, given their lovey-dovey stance with ELCA via Thrivent, and their covert/overt projects together.

How Delicious It Must Be - For a Lutheran To Denounce Thomism from a Thomist College

From Father Jack Kilcrease - Theologia Crucis

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010

Breaking News: Michael Root Became Roman Catholic

Completely shocking news: Michael Root has become Catholic as of this weekend:

http://tonymetze.blogspot.com/2010/08/dr-michael-root-man-of-great-faith.html

I know, I know- it's way shocking.

When some one goes around saying things like "the law is a way to actualize our relationship with God" or "the theology of the cross isn't really central to Luther's theology" or "there's no difference between Luther and Aquinas on justification" or "Wow, things are bad in the ELCA- you know what would fix it? Having the Pope arbitrate everything"- it's incredibly hard to see why they would become Roman Catholic.

I'm actually quite pleased about the news. Not because I want Dr. Root to start believing in false doctrine (he's already believed in false doctrine for years and this doesn't really change that)-but rather Root has been Roman Catholic in his theology for some time and it's rather unfortunate that he went around saying that he was a loyal Lutheran and running a Lutheran seminary when he really believed in Thomism. It's also unfortunate that he was one of the architects of them getting involved with JDDJ and with the CCM (their ill-thought out adventure with pulpit fellowship with the Episcopalians). In any case, they'd probably have done all that stuff without him.

I might also add, that perhaps some fellow Missourian (who will go unnamed) who thought that he and his colleague David Yeago, were a sign of some progress in the ELCA just because they said positive things about the law, might want to rethink their positions. In fact, as I have pointed out on a number of occasions, these gentlemen do not merely think that the law has a positive place in the Christian life, (as I and every other red-blooded confessional Lutheran also believes) but that it actually is the basis of the divine-human relationship. The gospel is good for them essentially because it makes the law work as a way of relating to God. The gospel for them is not the last word (as it must be!).

We can see the end results. If the center of the Christian faith is the law, who has the most and best defined law? Bingo. I need say no

From -

The Bible is God's Word - Lutheran Style

Reflections of a Classical Orthodox Pastor

----

Dr. Michael Root - A Man of Great Faith!

Dr. Michael Root taught me theology during my seminary years from 1981 to 1985. For the last two years I have been privileged to be his pastor. It was a most humbling experience to have my theological mentor sitting in the pews. But it was even more gratifying to get to know this man of deep faith. Last week a mass was held for his conversion at St. Peter's Catholic Church. It was bitter sweet to be there. I felt a whole whirlwind of emotions from joy at seeing this historic event unfold to sadness that the ELCA has lost yet another great theologian.