Parsing the Moldstad Deception - All UOJ Advocates Are Liars - So Do Not Act Shocked

Gregory JacksonApril 17, 2013 at 3:40 PM

Is the error going to be publicly retracted and repudiated? Until then, this faux-apology means nothing. After all, this is the second time this deception has been published in the Little Sect on the Prairie.

Don Moldstad, Chaplain said...
This is Chaplain Don Moldstad responding: I do apologize for not being more accurate with my source. I was simply attempting to show how the Confessional Lutheran church has confessed this blessed truth in contrast to Rome. Thank you for your attention to detail. My apologies.

***

The fake, dishonest "Luther" statement below
teaches contrary to the Augsburg Confession.

GJ - Ecclesia Augustana first exposed this deception, which had already been aired in its earlier form on Intrepid Lutherans.  Here is the update from Intrepid Lutherans - on the Moldstad lies.

Don Moldstad's statement has been reported as an apology, but it was just the opposite of an apology. He did not retract his falsehood - he supported it as "confessional"  and as a "blessed truth." It was just a little thing about "detail." How much more arrogant can Pope-Brother be?

What exactly was his source? Is he so ignorant of Luther's Small Catechism that he calls this drivel Luther's? Notice the quotation marks, created to make us think this is some version of the Small Catechism we have never seen before.

I know Pope John the Malefactor did the same thing, turning a question about UOJ into someone asking, "How can critics of UOJ even call themselves Christian?" That was published in the unheralded and largely unread ELS magazine of record. 

I know Pope John pulled this deception off, because I corresponded with the letter-writer and his family, and we met them...at Kokomo. That is the place you want to go, if you want to find out about WELS/ELS duplicity.

Now let us ponder the faux-quotation from pseudo-Luther (aka the Moldstad brothers).

I believe in the forgiveness of sins because the Bible assures me that God the Father has by grace forgiven all sinners and declared them righteous. [Moldstad brothers]

What does this mean?

GJ - This is UOJ code talk. Faith is not mentioned because "forgiven all sinners" means forgiven without faith. Just to make sure no one misses the UOJ content, this phrase is added "and declared them righteous." The two errors are synonymous. God does indeed forgive sinners, since He has no reason to forgive non-sinners. However, ever since Walther, Preuss, and the SynCons, "forgiven all sinners" has been used to argue that the entire world is absolved without faith.

UOJ places  a great emphasis upon "without faith."

"Declared them righteous" is a second attempt to say the same thing, avoiding justification, perhaps because justification always means justification by faith in the Scriptures, in the Book of Concord, in Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov, Quensted, Andreae, and many more.

God can declare sinners righteous because, on the redemptive work of Christ, He has aquitted (sic) of the guilt and punishment of their sins, and has imputed to them the righteousness of Christ. He therefore regards them in Christ as though they had never sinned. [Moldstad brothers, with Jay Webber's in Christ added]

What does this mean?

GJ - This section features bad spelling and atrocious English. I wonder if they meant to use some different words or omitted a word or two.

This is also boasting that God has forgiven the entire world, without faith, without grace, without the Word, without the Means of Grace. Where is this fantasy recorded? Not in Luther and not in the Book of Concord. I can find it in the notorious false teacher named Samuel Huber. Two orthodox Lutheran theologians refuted Huber, who had been a Calvinist and accused justification by faith Lutherans as "Calvinists." Sound familiar?

Once again - nothing is said about faith. Imputation and faith are always used together in the New Testament. This imputation relates to Abraham who was justified by faith in Genesis 15, as argued again in Romans 4 and repeated in Galatians. Imputation is our fancy word for "count." We are counted as righteous when we believe in the atoning death of Christ.

KJV Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 

5:1 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.

No one is "in Christ" without faith in the Savior, and that faith is created and sustained by the Holy Spirit at work in the Word.

I receive this justification when the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, leads me, the sinner, to believe that God has forgiven all my sins for Christ's sake. [Moldstad brothers, ELS]

What does this mean?

GJ - In other words, faith in the absolution of the world (without faith) is necessary for this absolution to be true. What a mish-mash of rationalism, Pietism, and mainline gibberish.

This is not faith in Christ but faith in UOJ, exactly as Walther learned it from his syphilitic bishop, Martin Stephan, who learned it from Georg Christian Knapp at Halle University, the center of Pietism in Europe.

The Pietist Rambach also taught this, as Samuel Huber--the repudiated heretic--did.

But today, people call themselves "confessional Lutherans" while repudiating the Lutheran Confessions, then bragging that their amalgam of Pietism and Rationalism is the true faith.

P. Leyser was one of the lesser known editors of the Book of Concord.
Who is confessional - Leyser or Huber and his ELS clones?

Pope John the Malefactor on LutherQuest (sic)

Pope John the Malefactor once bragged about his world travels.


William Kope (Tonto2)
Senior Member
Username: Tonto2

Post Number: 1262
Registered: 12-2004

Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 - 2:16 pm: Edit Post Delete Post Print Post
>>Isn't this exactly what you yourself have done by forming the ACLC?>>
Rev. Kurtzahn
The ACLC is not a single congregation. There are other small groups such as ELDoNA which is in discussions with ACLC, The Free Lutheran Church in Finland and a small group of Lutherans in Sri Lanka, called the Lanka Lutheran Church. So you can see by that that these small groups are reaching out to other Confessional Lutheran bodies. There is no Lutheran body that is completely orthodox, yet many bodies still strive for orthodoxy. Isn't that what the Church is called to do?


Rev. Stephen Kurtzahn (Hville79)
Member
Username: Hville79

Post Number: 180
Registered: 6-2008

Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 - 2:46 pm: Edit Post Delete Post Print Post
Mr. Kope: I fully realize the ACLC is not a single congregation. The ACLC may indeed be having free conferences and discussions with other mini-church bodies. The point I was getting at with my last post is this: Pastor Preus criticizes others and makes sarcastic comments about them, while at the same time he's doing the very same thing.


Pr Rolf David Preus (Rolf)
Senior Member
Username: Rolf

Post Number: 3675
Registered: 5-2001

Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 - 3:03 pm: Edit Post Delete Post Print Post
No, Rev. Kurtzahn, I am not doing the very same thing. None of us in the ACLC left the ELS voluntarily. We were thrown out. We were not thrown out for doctrinal reasons. None of us was given due process.

I was thrown out because I wouldn't recant a paper I had written unless I was shown that it contained errors or false doctrine. The other pastors were thrown out because they told the man who threw me out to repent of his sin and that he could not commune at their altars until he did. It was not our choice, Rev. Kurtzahn.

***

GJ - Pope John the Malefactor extended the Left Foot of Fellowship to many, yet he is still in elected office. That episode proves that voting does not solve any problems. The worst leaders (Gurgle, VP Wayne Mueller) have been voted into office and even voted back in after being voted out (Wayne Mueller).

The solution is not with the right man but with the correct doctrine. The Lutheran Church needs faithful leaders, but a faithful leader cannot accomplish much alone. Others must also apply the Word of God and study the Book of Concord.

Two Alerts

Pope John the Malefactor Is Not Doing His Homework Assignments

Pope John
The ELS Newsletter, The Pope Speaks, has not yet been published for September. We are looking for the latest victims of the papal purge. Not even Holy Father in Rome has given the Left Foot of Fellowship to such a large percentage of the ministerium. Perhaps the delay comes from B16 asking for advice on how to be a walking disaster while getting re-elected.

UOJ
A contact so deep undercover that he communicates through another undercover source--lost yet?--has notified me of a UOJ document he will soon expose. Stay tuned. That is all I know.

Pope John the Malefactor's Malignant Influence

Pope John the Malefactor: "Everyone is forgiven. The Hottentots are forgiven. The residents of Hell are forgiven, guilt-free saints. But if anyone disagrees with my ambiguous, confused, and contradictory doctrinal opinions, I will extend the Left Foot of Fellowship to them. Amen? Amen! Now where are my round-the-world tickets?"

ELS Pastor Jesse Jacobsen, The Plucked Chicken:

GJ - I am taking note of an ELS blog because it deals with UOJ. I know the author from years ago. Unfortunately, Pope John the Malefactor was teaching at at the Frozen Food Seminary in Mankato, laying UOJ thickly and crudely on his students, including Jesse Jacobsen.

I give Pastor Jacobsen credit for dealing with the issue out in the open, not ducking and hiding from the implications of UOJ. If Lutheran pastors continue to do this, they will find that UOJ is untenable and unChristian.

It shouldn't surprise us, but those two points harmonize and reinforce each other rather well:

The lost are condemned not because of the guilt of their accumulated sin, but because they do not believe in Christ.

The Holy Spirit proclaims righteousness upon the world because the Lamb of God has made atonement for all of its guilt.

Someone may object to this terminology for some reason, but at this point I see no problem with calling the unlimited atonement made by Christ "objective justification," especially because His resurrection proves that it was accepted by the Father.

As always, I am open to criticism, though God's Word really isn't.

***

GJ - The Wisconsin Sect and the Little Sect on the Prairie are stuck with their own infallibility doctrine. They are never wrong, have never been wrong, and cannot accept any error among any of their leaders or writers. That leads to obnoxious errors being repeated and defended without thinking them through.

The blog shows that Jacobsen is facing the issue and has made some progress. For example, by quoting John 3:18 in his blog, he has refuted his own conclusion: "The Holy Spirit proclaims righteousness upon the world because the Lamb of God has made atonement for all of its guilt."

KJV John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The foundation of doctrine must be the infallible and inerrant Word of God, not the propositions of Walther's disciples (F. Pieper, J. P. Meyer). Luther and the Book of Concord teach that the Atonement is the treasure, that the Holy Spirit distributes this treasure through the preaching office. Righteousness is declared through the Gospel and received in faith, not absorbed universally via osmosis.

Is it any wonder that the ELS and WELS are confused about the public ministry? Here is their Jedi Master of UOJ:

J-586

I. "Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinner's attitude toward Christ's sacrifice, purely on the basis of God's verdict, every sinner, whether he knows about it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint. What will be his reaction when he is informed about this turn of events? Will he accept, or will he decline?"
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 103f. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

II. "Before Christ's intervention took place God regarded him as a guilt-laden, condemned culprit. After Christ's intervention and through Christ's intervention He regards him as a guilt-free saint."
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 107. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

III. "This applies to the whole world, to every individual sinner, whether he was living in the days of Christ, or had died centuries before His coming, or had not yet been born, perhaps has not been born to this day. It applies to the world as such, regardless of whether a particular sinner ever comes to faith or not."
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 109. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

J-587

“About 300 years earlier Johann Gerhard expressed the same truth in these words: ‘By raising Christ from the dead God absolved Him from our sins, which had been imputed to Him, and accordingly He absolved us also in Him.’ Gerhard was professor of theology in Jena. He did not write a Brief Statement, but he did write a book on Lutheran dogmatics consisting of 20 volumes. He died in 1637.”
J. P. Meyer, “The Holy Spirit Creator,” The Northwestern Lutheran, September 24, 1950, p. 310. [GJ Note how Gerhard is slandered. See the post below. J. P. Meyer was a professor at Northwestern College in Watertown, president of Martin Luther College (nee Dr. Martin Luther College) in New Ulm, professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (1920-1964), president of the seminary (1937-1963), and author of the notes used in dogmatics class. He published Ministers of Christ in 1963 and died the next year at the age of 91. WELS cannot admit Meyer was a false teacher, but they stopped printing his little book.]

J-588

“The Judge in heaven examines this evidence. He declares His verdict. It is one of acquittal. Man’s debt of sin is no longer charged against him. Sinful man is free!”
WELS Conference of Presidents, “Every Sinner Declared Righteous,” 1954 tract.

J-585

Letters to the Hartman and Pohlman Families




“Faith Lutheran Church

3215 West Judson Road

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



August 30, 1979



Mr. and Mrs. David Hartman

R. R. #1, Box 90

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hartman,



In response to your letter of August 18, 1979, it is our understanding that your ‘no’ vote on June 20th against supporting the biblical doctrine of the WELS was based at least in part, on your failure to accept the following statement – included in your letter – all of which are in agreement with the teachings of the WELS, namely that:

‘Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinners’ [sic] attitude toward Christs’ [sic] sacrafice [sic], purely on the basis of God’s verdict, every sinner, whether he knows it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint.’
‘After Christs’ [sic] intervention and through Christs’ [sic] intervention, God regards all sinners as guilt-free saints.’
‘When God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ, He individually pronounced forgiveness to each individual sinner whether that sinner ever comes to faith or not.’
‘At the time of the resurrection of Christ God looked down in hell and declared Judas, the people destroyed in the flood, and all the ungodly, innocent, not guilty, and forgiven of all sin and gave unto them the status of saints.’


I trust this is the information you desire.



Sincerely yours in Christian love,



Michael Liebner, Acting Secretary

Faith Lutheran Church Voters’ Assembly”[39]









“Faith Lutheran Church

3215 West Judson Road

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



November 19, 1980



Mr. and Mrs. David Hartman

R. R. #1, Box 90

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hartman,



In accordance with the recommendations of the Southeastern Wisconsin District Panel of Review the voters of the Faith Lutheran Church have approved a resolution terminating your membership in the congregation unless and until such time as you accept the doctrine of justification as practiced by the WELS.



We encourage you to reassess your position on this matter and pray for a favorable decision so that once again we can work together for His Kingdom.



Yours in Christ,



Michael Liebner, Secretary”

***

GJ - I was given xeroxes of the letters to Hartman/Pohlman families in Kokomo. Like I said before, friends, I have been everywhere. The letters are reproduced verbatim above and in Thy Strong Word. The Wisconsin Synod excommunicated the two families for not accepting the Kokomo Statements, then accused the two families of creating a parody of justification. No, the parody is from WELS, defended by WELS, with the Amen Corner in the ELS yelling "Hoo-rah" and deceiving their pastoral students.

UOJ does not bear the weight of careful Biblical study. UOJ is anti-Christian and anti-Lutheran.

The fruits of UOJ are:

1. Fellowship with Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek Community Church.
   
2. Fellowship with ELCA - joint worship and joint religious projects.
   
3. Fellowship with the Church of Rome. The same Pope John the Malefactor who marched in a religious procession at Bethany's Frozen Food chapel excommunicated ELS pastors for disagreeing with His Holiness.
   
4. Fellowship with the Church of Rome, Part Deux. No one in the ELS objected when a Roman Catholic archbishop gave a public lecture at Wisconsin Lutheran College. How could they object?
   
5. Silence on the Church Growth Movement.
   
6. Silence about Willow Creek training.

Christmas Song

Pope John the WELS Confessor

Merry Christmas to you,
In the ELS you're through,
We'll just take your members,
And property too.

Can UOJ Be Wedged into This Passage?

"Scripture thus uses the term faith, as the following sentence of Paul testifies, Romans 5:1: Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Moreover, in this passage, to justify signifies, according to forensic usage, to acquit a guilty one and declare him righteous, but on account of the righteousness of another, namely, of Christ, which righteousness of another is communicated to us by faith...1 Corinthians 1:30. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. And 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. But because the righteousness of Christ is given us by faith, faith is for this reason righteousness in us imputatively, i. e., it is that by which we are made acceptable to God on account of the imputation and ordinance of God, as Paul says, Romans 4:3, 5: Faith is reckoned for righteousness."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, III. #184. Of Love and the Fulfilling of the Law. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 205f. Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21. Tappert, p. 154. Heiser, p. 60. (Emphasis in original.)

***

GJ - The UOJ Enthusiasts, especially in WELS, like to use a forensic concept to argue their case that the whole world has been declared NOT GUILTY! because of the cross (or the resurrection of Christ). The Moment of Absolution has not been fixed, so sometimes they use the actual death of Christ. At other times they use the resurrection of Christ. Their arguments are like a vast ocean, two inches deep.

The universal decree--apart from the Holy Spirit at work in the Word of God, apart from the Means of Grace, apart from faith--is derived from Walther's Easter absolution sermon. The same nonsense is repeated in various Synodical Conference sources, including Pieper, J. T. Mueller, Theo Engelder, J. P. Meyer, Norm Madson, Sig Becker, Valleskey, Kelm, Dan Preus, Rolf Preus, and Pope John the Malefactor. In fact, Pope John offered Rolf the Left Foot of Fellowship when they were in complete agreement about UOJ.

In the Apology of the Augsburg Confession is a clear statement that the not guilty verdict comes to us through justification by faith. Every few months WELS will publish another little article about the NOT GUILTY! decree and declare the whole world has been given the same verdict. How does such colossal ignorance of Romans and the Book of Concord continue to exist?

Conference of Defenestrated ELS Congregations

Just say "No!" to papacies.

Below are links to the congregations kicked out of the Little Sect on the Prairie by Pope John the Malefactor. Apparently he got into a Twelve Step program to cure his addiction, because the ousters finally stopped. Or perhaps someone explained that Christ cleansed the Temple by attacking the money-changers, not by venerating them.

***

For more information on the ACLC, or if you are looking for a congregation to join or be served by, please contact Pastor Rolf Preus:

rolfpreus@msn.com
(701) 788-2096.

Congregations in the
Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches

Faith, Litchfield,
Illinois

First American
Lutheran (First Confessional Lutheran Parish), Mayville, North Dakota

First Evanger (First
Confessional Lutheran Parish),
Fertile, Minnesota

Grace (First
Confessional Lutheran Parish), Crookston, Minnesota

Reformation, Hillsboro,
Oregon

St. Mary Evangelical Lutheran
Chapel, Des Moines, Iowa

St.
Timothy, Williamsburg, Iowa

St. Paul,
Escondido, California

Wayfarer's Chapel, Fillmore,
California

And others

 

Please Ignore Gerhardt's Anniversary...Thank You!

Paul Gerhardt is likely the most favored hymn-writer of the Christian Church. His hymns are used more often by more denominations than any other writer, more than Luther. That is what one source claims. I have not done my own research on this because I hate to wade through piles of Holy-Spirit-drenched praise hymnals to find out.

Below are Gerhardt hymns in the new LCMS hymnal:

1. O Lord, How Shall I Meet You
   
2. All My Heart Again Rejoices
   
3. O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is
   
4. Come, Your Hearts and Voices Raising
   
5. A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth
   
6. O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
   
7. Upon the Cross Extended
   
8. Awake, My Heart, with Gladness
   
9. All Christians Who Have Been Baptized
   
10. Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me
    
11. If God Himself Be for Me
    
12. Evening and Morning
    
13. Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing
    
14. Entrust Your Days and Burdens
    
15. Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me
    
16. Now Rest beneath Night's Shadow
    
17. I Will Sing My Maker's Praises

The synods falling over each other to celebrate Paul Gerhardt's 400th anniversary should hide away in shame. They should run away from Gerhardt as much as they shun Luther, Chemnitz, and J. Gerhard.

Short Bio

Students of Lutheran doctrine and worship should remember three things about Gerhardt. First of all, he tutored children well into his adult life (age 45), enhancing his ability to communicate with vivid and concrete images. Second, he was resolute in opposing Calvinism, but mild in his overall manner. Calvinists loved his services and his hymns. Nevertheless, he was kicked out of his congreation in Berlin and forced out of the city. The rest of his life was very difficult because he would not compromise his doctrinal standards. Third, he lost all of his children except his son and then lost his wife as well.

Please Stop This at Once!
The Little Sect on the Prairie will celebrate Gerhardt's life with the Bethany lectures. Gaylin Schmeling, STM (Nashotah House) will be one lecturer. Once upon a time, the Bethany lectures were given by known scholars, not by the staff. The other lecturer, Carlos Messerli, seems to be LCMS or ELCA. The information is difficult to track down. All his publishing credits seem to be ELCA. He was connected to the hideous Liberal Book of Weirdness and seems to think it was a good hymnal. That was the first feminist Lutheran hymnal but not as bad as WELS' Charismatic Worship.

Kieschnick's LCMS has a URL devoted to Gerhardt. Have the Missouri pastors noted the irony of this veneration?

The Sausage Factory, also known as Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, noticed Gerhardt as well. And yet the offical WELS line goes like this, "We can learn from Fuller Seminary because we are spoiling the Egyptians."

I ran into this article, which is appropriate, comparing "Elvis" singing leading a church in singing How Great Thou Art to the life and work of Paul Gerhardt. The article suggested the next step in WELS-ELS-LCMS Seeker Services, aka Friendship Sunday.

Why Ignore the Anniversary?

The "conservative" synods are really apostate synods. They are more unionistic than the ruler who deposed Gerhardt. For 30 years the old Synodical Conference--hand in claw with ELCA--has promoted Reformed doctrine, Reformed worship, and the elimination of the Creeds. The Book of Concord is a joke to these people, all the more because they pretend to have some respect for the document.

Why praise Gerhardt when the District Popes fire pastors right and left for being faithful? Pope John the Malefactor (Little Sect on the Prairie) set a record in the percentage of pastors and congregations he defenestrated.

The micro-mini sects are even worse.

Are Any Solutions in Sight?

Doctrinal apostasy is now so obvious that people are taking notice. More men will be kicked out, but the synods will still collapse from their own incompetence and top-heavy costs.

I will brag about two women who decided to spoil the Egyptians on their own. They went to a Reformed bookstore in Grand Rapids and bought the fabulous 8-volume Lenker set of Luther's sermons.

Bethany College (ELS) and Red China

Mankato Free Press

Published October 04, 2007 12:38 am - A deal signed Wednesday between Bethany Lutheran College and United International College in China will set up an exchange program for faculty and students.

Bethany Lutheran inks exchange deal
Student, faculty exchange program set up with United International College in China

By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO —
Let the learning begin.


For months Bethany Lutheran College and United International College in China officials have been working toward a student and faculty exchange program.

With a few strokes of the pens of Bethany President Dan Bruss and UIC Executive Vice President Kwok Siu Tong, the deal was sealed.

UIC is a college that is trying to launch the first liberal arts college in China since the 1950s. The school, while probably not fully resembling a Minnesota private college, will emphasize education of the “whole person” instead of teaching skills applicable to a specific occupation.

All that’s left now is the learnin’.

That’s where students such as Eric Anderson and Daniel Tyrrell come in.

For the inaugural run of the exchange program, they’ll — most likely — be heading to China in February along with business instructor Janet Moldstad.

Anderson says he’s excited about the trip.

“I’d love to study abroad,” he said. He hopes that spending several months in China in an academic setting will give him the best perspective possible for learning all he can about China and its people.

He also likes the idea of this trip abroad not being in a “safe” place. He’s been to Europe and Mexico, but those trips, especially the Europe trip, don’t exactly offer an experience that’s far beyond what you can find in the U.S.

He says a trip to China, however, will get him out of his “comfort zone” and help him learn and grow as a person.

“I’m a little nervous, of course,” he said. “It’ll take courage and it’ll take faith.”

Tyrrell has also traveled abroad before, and he also says he’s a little nervous about the China trip.

Over the summer he traveled to Ukraine and western Europe. He used some of his time abroad to teach Bible classes to children.

He said he was approached by the college and asked whether he’d be interested in making the trip to China. He said he’s not 100 percent sure he’ll be going, but said it is likely that he’ll be on a plane to China come February.

***

GJ - There may be some things different in moving from the People's Republic of Minnesota to the People's Republic of China: relentless persecution of religion and a savage campaign against the unborn.

The PRC is clever in getting people to come back to America singing the praises of their enlightened land.

I wonder if Marvin Schwan, for all his faults, wanted Bethany College students to have their brains washed in the PRC.

One dividend - Pope John the Malefactor will have another exotic outpost to visit. I never saw a tinier sect with so much world travel. How the natives must marvel when Pope John raises his predestined and predestinating arms in blessing.

Recent ELS History

Information about recent Evangelical Lutheran Synod events can be found at Be Strong in the Synod. Oops. Typo. Be Strong in the Grace is the official title. Aside: I did not want to be seen as endorsing the Reign of Terror under Pope John the Malefactor.

A list of blogs follows the piece, in case you need more to read.

***

Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Recent ELS History":

I know the blogger to which you refer. We are members of the same church, King of Grace in Golden Valley. I feel that you have taken a cheap shot at a very nice Christian lady.

I encourage you to take shots at me and not at this dear lady.

***

GJ - I was surprised to get this from Norm Teigen. Did I call this blogger any names, like "Bloviator"? When I glanced through the blog, it looked overly accepting toward the recent crimes of the synod. Some people just cannot see past their Holy Mother Synod filter. Disagreeing with a perspective is not the same as taking a cheap shot. I leave that to bloggers whose feathers are easily ruffled by everything except false doctrine and the destruction of pastors' lives and families.

Pope John the Malefactor - On the Road Again

Pope John the Malefactor is taking a trip to Ukraine, only a few months after his syond-paid trip to Korea. The Little Sect on the Prairie must be a rich synod, to lose so much in offerings from kicking out congregations and pastors - and yet to afford so much international travel for His Holiness.

On the Road Again (with apologies to Willie Nelson)

Got a mission trip
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The synod life is spendin' money with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
Got a mission trip
Goin' places that you've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to spend your offerings again.

Got a mission trip
Like a band of bishops we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world is turnin' our way
And our way
Is on a mission trip.
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is spendin' money with my friends
And I can't wait to get on a mission trip.

Ludwig Fuerbringer, an earlier president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, said he refused to take trips because they took him away from his studies. If only synodical leaders would attend to their studies today!

Do Money Issues Cause Loss of Faith?

Anonymous said, in part:

"I don't believe our "Lutheran leaders" are fat cats trying to get wealthy off our students' tuition. Those I know personally are faithful servants who are serving their Lord and His church to the best of their ability. I ask you to please follow scripture's directive in 1 Timothy 5 by honoring and recognizing them as such. I encourage you to exert your critical energy toward a more noble and God-pleasing attack on satan's schemes to steal souls from the flock.

Nice straw man fallacy. Student tuition is not enough to make the synod leaders wealthy. They also need the Schwan funds, Thrivent funds, and the Milcraft estate. Is there something in the Bible about preying on widows and orphans? Or is that Shakespeare, or McGavran?

I honor sound teachers, but they are not in synod leadership positions. The synods (not just WELS) do not tolerate any variation from their agenda. Look at Pope John the Malefactor (Little Sect on the Prairie). He threatens and excommunicates, just like Rome.

There is no difference between WELS and Missouri leadership absorbing offering money for themselves while hiking up the cost of education. By making robotic conformity the price to pay for a minister's salary, the synod leaders guarantee that apostasy will reign.

I hope the defensive and thin-skinned responder(s) will focus on the need to repudiate false doctrine, wherever it is taught, whoever may teach it.

Copy and paste some of your Ichabod comments and send them to Leonard Sweet and his disciples. Find out who is erecting a shrine to Sweet in WELS and expell them. Demand the rejection of Reformed doctrine and methods in the synod.

Stop listening to Roman Catholic leaders.

Luther said that Satan likes those shepherds who fatten the sheep for the slaughter, as the crypto-Methodists are doing. Satan does not tolerate the growling of the guard dog.

WELS pastors turn Pentecostal for the same reason Ft. Wayne graduates turn Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. They are trained in false doctrine, want to please their false prophet teachers, and jump ship. Others just walk the tightrope between Lutheran doctrine and false doctrine, leading others to do the same.

Teigen, Teigen, Burning Bright

What caused thee to ignite?

Norm Teigen has objected to my views about fraternal insurance promoting commercialism in the congregations and synods. I do not like pie sales or car washes either. Churches should not compete in the market place for business, like the Methodist Church that advertised on its sign, "Home of the Yumbo Sandwich." I saw the photo - I am not making it up. The insurance company is entitled to corrupt as many churches as possible. The congregations and synods also have a right to resist temptation.

I was going to write, "Get your own blog," but he has one.

The other objection is calling John Moldstad "Pope John the Malefactor." I thought it was a catchy and appropriate title. WELS and ELS leaders are so impressed with themselves that they take on papal power. In fact, I imagine Pope Benedict envies their infallibility and their clout.

I know Pope George the Eternal did the same things, removing pastors according to his own whim, promoting false doctrine by fiat. The only Lutheran autorities I acknowledge are the Scriptures and the Book of Concord. Lutheran leaders are neither norma normans nor norma normata (a ruling norm like the Bible, a ruled norm like the Book of Concord). Someone who respects the real norms should be respected, but that is just the opposite in the WELS, ELS, and the micro-crazy sects (so small they are not worth mentioning).

Here are some things that would make me a cheerleader for Pope John the Malefactor:

1. Denunciation of forgiveness without faith, without the Means of Grace, which is the doctrinal foundation of current evils.
   
2. Teaching the efficacy of the Word without reservation, repudiating all programs where evildoers cast doubt on this Biblical doctrine.
   
3. Apologizing to the congregations and pastors ejected from the Evangelical Lutheran Synod under the flimsiest of excuses. Do a Nifong, even if it is too late.
   
4. Breaking fellowship with Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek, and Church and Change.
   
5. Promoting a multi-year study of the Book of Concord and Luther.
   
6. Urging WELS to stop inviting Roman Catholic, Unitarian, Methodist, and ELCA speakers.
   
7. Showing contrition for having a former Roman Catholic bishop march in a religious process at the Bethany Chapel and giving an address.

No Pastor or Congregation Kicked Out of ELS This Month

The June newsletter of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod - The Pope Speaks - reveals no new defenestrations. The stewardship committee might have had a sit-down, or in this case, a kneel-down with Pope John the Malefactor. The tiny sect does not have enough members and pastors to keep kicking them out.

Meanwhile, WELS, the sister synod, is staggering toward its Waterloo - or Armageddon - in New Ulm. The synod continues to brag about foreign missions commitments it cannot afford. In the graduation announcements is this little surprise:

"Of the 41 new graduates, six are from the Pastoral Studies Institute, which trains students from culturally diverse and other non-traditional backgrounds. Among them are four brothers from a Hmong family who will now be serving Hmong missions in California, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Thailand."

So you never heard of the Pastoral Studies Institute? Al Sorum is the director. For WELS insiders, that would be enough by itself to condemn the program. Here is the link:

Qwik Trip, WELS' Own Fuller Seminary

I am just guessing, but I imagine the whole program is subsidized by the synod via Thrivent Insurance. The multi-cultural emphasis came from the pan-Lutheran meeting at Snowbird, where WELS President Mischke, ELCA Archbishop Chilstrom, and LCMS President Bohlmann were photographed for The Lutheran magazine in the never forgotten pose - "Chiefs Confer." Thrivent wants all the synods to work together through identical, lavishly funded projects. WELS works secretively with ELCA and Missouri on a whole range of religious projects.

Through Lawrence Otto Olson (D.Min., Fuller) and Al Sorum (Director, Qwik Trip) the sect has created its own alternative school system. Olson started the "Staff Ministry" program to Fullerize men and women, so WELS pastors nicknamed him "Our Staff Infection." That program allows a man or woman to have a little Fuller-style training before being "called," as they say it, to a "staff minister position," to use their term. The whole purpose of these expensive new efforts is to diminish any concept of the ministry as the Preaching Office (Luther's term, Book of Concord term). Why bother with the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace when men and women can be called ministers after a short spell at an alternative program?

The Book of Concord, reflecting the Bible, teaches that the Church depends on a learned ministry and properly called pastors who serve in the Preaching Office. When WELS officials raise these poorly trained false teachers to the level of pastors, the Preaching Office is diminished and ridiculed. The path to advancement in the Lutheran synods is through anti-Lutheran training and the advocacy of false doctrine.

Pope John the Malefactor has not objected in public to these departures from the Book of Concord and the inerrant Scriptures.

ELS Meltdown - Pope John the Malefactor Liberates Congregations

Pope John the Malefactor was born John Moldstad, Jr. When the Evangelical Lutheran Synod threatened to slip away from the consecrated and consecrating hands of WELS, the insiders voted out the First VP, who would have replaced Pope George the Malleable. Moldstad was voted in. Kincaid Smith boasted about this accomplishment, which made its way into Christian News. Moldstad's previous boast was becoming a Bethany Seminary professor without graduating from college.

Pope John has been kicking men and congregations out of the ELS, albeit with great sadness expressed. Observers doubt the melancholy nature of the act since John does this so often and with such alacrity. In each case the congregation could have stayed while issues were worked out. His Grace, Bishop John Shep, kicked out of Thoughts of Faith and the Ukraine, told me a few years ago, "John is a walk-the-plank type of guy. Just wait."

The most famous case involves River Heights, Minnesota, where Rolf Preus (son of Robert Preus) was the pastor. Rolf criticized the ELS attempts under Orvick to adopt the Wisconsin Synod's false doctrine about the ministry. When Pope John the Malefactor replaced Orvick, he went to the River Heights congregation and issued an ultimatum. The congregation must leave the ELS, suspend Preus, or fire him. Threatened as they were, the congregation suspended Preus. Moldstad maneuvered until Preus was fired after that. The Antichrist in Rome has that kind of power, but no congregation should hand their power to call over to an official.

Several other pastors were forced out by Moldstad, according to ELS Bad Boy:

1. Immanuel, Audubon, Minnesota. Pastor forced out.
2. Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. Pastor forced out.
3. Fertile, Minnesota - congregation left the ELS. Served by Rolf Preus.
4. Crookston, Minnestoa - congregation left the ELS. Served by Rolf Preus.
5. Faith in Litchfield left the ELS with its pastor.
6. Brockdorf was suspended, then left the ELS with his congregation.
7. Lanier was suspended. He left the ELS with his congregation.
8. Lawson Jr. was suspended. He left the ELS with his congregation.
9. Williamsburg, Iowa, was kicked out with its pastor, for opposing Moldstad.
10. Pastor Lehenbauer resigned from the ELS roster because of his opposition to false doctrine in the ELS.

Add to this list a few closings for various reasons. The ELS is tiny, so the ejection of so many pastors and congregations must be alarming to the survivors. Another pastor is in the Moldstad crosshairs, so that would probably mean another congregation. ELS Bad Boy says that Moldstad would look like a chicken and smell like a roof if he showed up at some congregations.

One reader asked, "When will they vote Moldstad out?"

Another one wondered, "Why didn't Moldstad make any noise when Roman Archbishop Weakland was an honored speaker at Wisconsin Lutheran College?" Answer - Professional courtesy.

The good news is that the congregations freed from the embrace of WELS/ELS/Fuller will have a chance to proclaim the Gospel through the Means of Grace.