The Church Mouse Responds

Church Mouse is British, where they do not give out their names on blogs.
This is the only portrait available.


churchmousec (http://churchmousec.wordpress.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Clueless History of the Missouri Synod Civil War":

What an eye-opening post. It seems that LCMS events closely parallel those of The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA). It's very sad to read that the distortion of biblical truth, the truth that was so carefully and painstakingly reiterated and discussed during the Reformation, is so widespread.

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GJ - Church Mouse is the most productive blogger on my list. Readers should widen their focus so they see that the issues in the Lutheran Church are the same as the other denominations - and for the same reason. That is why I post about the Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, and other confessions.

We only need to go back a few decades to find a time when every Lutheran congregation in America was offering a liturgical service with the Apostles or Nicene Creed (no feminist version), fairly good Lutheran hymns (no feminist editing), and actual sermons delivered by men in appropriate worship attire. Some wore Geneva gowns. Others wore the Anglican cassock and surplice, with a stole.

The liturgical service was almost the same, no matter which synod offered it. The musical setting was a bit different in TLH and SBH, but no one was gathering hopes and dreams to a tune that could have ended "pop goes the weasel." (Try that in the LBW, it works. Thank the Lord and si-ing His praise, pop goes the weasel.) Nobody sang about "loud boiling test-tubes" until new stuff began coming out - all in the name of increased worship.

Has anyone noticed worship attendance going up with the new hymnals?

Snowbound in Bella Vista

We even went to the park after the earlier, lighter snow.
Sassy Sue thinks I shovel the driveway so we can go the park.

Sassy and I worked on the driveway, the third day in a row. I thought it was usable, about 50% clear with plenty of blue stuff on it. Mindful of Norman Teigen's advice, I bought recycled toxic waste from New Jersey. It melts the snow and the concrete, in one continuous (but odiferous) action.

Mrs. Ichabod and I took off in the Icha-boat for a vital shopping trip for bead material. Tiny flakes fell every so often but we did not worry. After lunch and a trip to the East Indian grocery store, we noticed that heavy snow was falling. In fact, I had trouble leaving my parking space.

The roads were not very clear yet - not even 540, which is federal. State highway 71 was worse, but I have driven in Minnesota, Canada, and Michigan. Little Switzerlnad has steep hills, graceful curves, deep ravines. We were almost home when we noticed cars backing down Riordan, the main road to our street. They could not climb the steep hill, so they began backing down.

My only alternative was to drive around the back way, up to the post office, across, and mostly downhill. That included some hills up and down, where the traction almost ceased.

I missed the turn left onto Riordan, which meant finding a turnaround on a narrow, snowy road that needed plowing. Snowfall was plenty heavy. As Luther said, Being a Christian means even the weather is against you.

When I tried to turn around, the Icha-boat stalled out, straddling the road, not wanting to move forward or backward. Then by chance, if it was by chance, the chassis skidded around to face the right direction. The engine was fine - the traction was doubtful, so forward or backward motion was close to zero. At that point I was imagining AAA saying, "We can be there by sunrise, perhaps."

We went slowly back toward Riordan and went downhill in low. There is nothing like a quick brake action for a spin into a ravine. We spotted the Ich-abode and I turned in with some speed to avoid a plop in the middle of a drift. I have planted a large car on top of soft snow before. The shoveling that follows is slow and awkward.

Next I swerved into our driveway, another slushy barrier of snow to breach. The driveway is long and downhill. Opening the garage door remotely, I drove down toward it. Mrs. Ichabod warned me that she did not want to get out of the car in the laundry room or kitchen (due to a loss of control). I was going to joke that we had the entire garage to lose speed, but I held off on the humor.

We landed safely in the garage. Inside the three dogs greeted us as if Ulysses had arrived from his 20 year journey. It was great to be back. We were thankful to God for a safe journey home.

The new snowstorm caught everyone by surprise. Children were in school and people went to work. Almost everything is canceled for Saturday.

All week I have received daily messages from UPS about delivering my coffee. Today I got another one - they will deliver on Monday. They forgot to add - "God willing."

Jungkuntz, UOJ, NWC, Seminex, Missouri Synod, ELCA

Richard Jungkuntz graduated from The Sausage Factory in 1942 and earned a PhD. He formed the Seminex nucleus at NWC and Springfield.Calling himself a conservative, he served as a Seminex  and WCC leader.

Lutherans are terribly inbred. I was researching this post and found a claim that Jungkuntz is the uncle of the current Mequon president. I believe it was Richard's brother Theodore who was the famous charismatic in the LCMS. Robert Schuman, the Shrinker foisted on St. Paul, Columbus was "a Jungkuntz," which has special meaning in WELS. Schuman is now a loud, obnoxious atheist, and not exactly unique in that regard. "Young Shrinker - Old Atheist."

Here is Richard's obituary - Northwestern College is not named:

Richard Paul Jungkuntz

October 1, 1918~June 22, 2003.
Richard P. Jungkuntz, Provost Emeritus of Pacific Lutheran University, died on Sunday evening, June 22, 2003 of prostate cancer. Born October 1, 1918 in Cleveland, OH, Dick grew up in Wisconsin. He met his wife-to-be, Grace Kowalke, at Northwestern College in Watertown, WI, and they were married in 1943 after his ordination as a Lutheran pastor.

He served Wisconsin Lutheran congregations in Janesville and Ft. Atkinson, and became a professor at his alma mater in 1949, teaching Classics and Ancient History until earning his Ph.D. in Classics at the
University of Wisconsin in 1961. His teaching career continued at Concordia Seminary in Springfield, IL, and he became Executive Secretary for the Commission on Theology for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in 1965.

Dick came to Pacific Lutheran University [ELCA] in 1970, serving as Provost for 18years. Additional professional service included chairing the Board of Directors for Christ Seminary-Seminex from 1974-1980, and participating as a Faith and Order commissioner with the World Council of Church- es from 1968 to1977. His book, The Gospel of Baptism, was published in 1968.

We wish to thank the entire Oncology Department of Good Samaritan Hospital and their Home Health/Hospice Team as well as the extended PLU community for their support and care. Dick is survived by his wife of 60 years, Grace, and six of their seven children: Gay Osborn of Ferguson, MO; Paula (Tom) Warren of The Woodlands, TX; Richard W.D. (Ann) Jungkuntz of Falls Church, VA;
Lisa Darling of Yuma, AZ; Andrea Jungkuntz of Lacey, WA; Laura (Tom) Karlin of Tacoma, WA. A sister, Doris, and two brothers, Ted and Dan, also survive him.

He was preceded in death by his son Will in 1985. The memorial service will be held Saturday, June 28, 2:00 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 12115 Park Avenue South, Tacoma. Memorials can be made to TrinityLutheran Church, or to Pacific Lutheran University, or to Tacoma Rescue Mission. Pub Date: 6/25/2003

Tacoma News Tribune

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From the NY Times, 1988:

WASHINGTON — Richard Jungkuntz flew across country this week to sit in conference with some of higher education's most powerful leaders. It is the last time this provost of a small Lutheran college will formally attend such a gathering. This spring, at the age of 70, he plans to end his 30-year career as an educator and retire to the tennis courts.

Mr Jungkuntz is a self-described conservative, a minister and educator who holds, as he put it, ''old-fashioned ideas.'' In an age and at a conference where the expression of some of those ideas might be misconstrued as, say, sexist or otherwise offensive, the provost decided to ''hold my darn tongue.'' Often, hearing something that seemed nonsense to him, he would just slip out of the meeting rooms into the corridors for a smoke.

But at one point here at the 70th annual meeting of the American Council on Education, a gathering of presidents, chancellors and deans from academies across the country, Mr. Jungkuntz listened to a panel debate the difficulties of training teachers and he could no longer maintain his silence.

''My father in 1921 was addressed as professor by people. He was a grade-school teacher and a good one and he was regarded highly, at the same level as the clergy in town and perhaps somewhat higher than the mayor.''

The place was Jefferson, Wis., and the classroom was in a three-room Lutheran school, where teachers went heavy on the basics, the classics and homework. The provost knew that for a fact. He, after all, had been one of his father's students.

By inference, Mr. Jungkuntz was saying that if teachers were held in higher regard, brighter and more able candidates might be attracted to the profession. Though he would never so label it, this notion is sometimes referred to as ''intrinsic rewards'' or ''psychic income.'' And it could merit a second look.

END OF QUOTATION

Martin Marty, who began in the LCMS, said something quite similar about his father's career as a parochial school teacher. Marty and Jungkuntz both contributed mightily in the decline of the LCMS, joining the LCA/ALC/ELCA when their novel doctrines were no longer welcome.

In the slanted Burkee history of the Missouri Synod Civil War, Jungkuntz comes into play a few times. He began in the Wisconsin Synod. He and Ralph Gerke were both at Northwestern College, Watertown, promoting the historical-critical method of interpreting the Bible.

As Robert Preus said in a lecture I heard, the classics professors had nothing left to work on, since they had done everything possible to doubt the authorship of Homer and everyone else ancient. They took their theories and applied them to the Bible - thus, the famous historical-critical method: JEDP. One can discover the authors of the Penteteuch by looking at the names for God - Das Jahwist, das Elohist, das Deuteronomist, und das Priestly Editor. Jah wohl, but the theory does not fit the text. Oh well, it paid well and little work was involved.

Jungkuntz was trained in the classics, and he was a good teacher. His students admired him and followed his lead. WELS only found out his true doctrine when the seminary students turned in homework they did in his class. Everything blew up and he was upgraded from WELS dinky college professor to LCMS seminary professor.

Jack Preus is now famous for saying, "Help me gut Jungkuntz." Jack Preus moved Jungkuntz out of Concordia, Springfield (now The Surrendered Fort), which meant another promotion to CTCR secretary. Thus when Wayne Mueller was in trouble for Reformed doctrine at Mequon (according to Slick Brenner), he was moved up to administration at The Love Shack, for a hefty raise, and became First VP for a cool $100k a year.

Back to Dick Jungkuntz. He was in the crosshairs, he never suffered unemployment. When things got too hot in the LCMS, he became provost of an ALC university, acting president for one year.

I remember the Seminex tabloid that I got for free. I read every issue. Jungkuntz and Gehrke were often pictured as the martyred saints of the LCMS cause, as if they were the first two men burned at the stake, the inspiration for Luther's first hymn,

"Flung to the heedless winds
Or on the waters cast,
The martyrs' ashes, watched,
Shall gathered be at last."

I understand that WELS was ready to split with the LCMS much earlier than 1961, but delayed the action for fear of losing half the tiny sect. The rallying cry was "Be true to your class." No, I am serious. They invoked institutional and personal loyalty rather than doctrinal purity. Relatively few left for the LCMS, so many clergy who identified with false doctrine and unionism stayed behind as the evil leaven of the Pharisees.

One WELS pastor said NWC was really the launching point for Seminex. He said that NWC reunions always featured a lot of cars with Seminex bumper stickers.

Jungkuntz called himself a conservative, an old-fashioned guy, but he chaired the Seminex board for six years (when it became a gay seminary) and held a similar position for the World Council of Churches. His voluntary exertions showed where his heart was.

The Mary Todd book on women's ordination--Authority Vested, foreword by Martin Mary--shows that Jungkuntz, in arguing for women's suffrage in 1967, CTCR, allowed that the same reasoning favored women's ordination. In ELCA, the women's ordination people advanced the gay ordination agenda, like those dances where each partner throws the other forward. Jungkuntz was truly a man for ELCA, a martyr for the errancy of God's Word, a leader of Seminex, an advocate of women's ordination while serving as the first secretary of Missouri's bored of doctrine. (How fun was that?)

One Seminex professor, Deppe, was arrested for propositioning an undercover cop in St. Louis. Deppe was not fired. In fact, he also taught at ELCA's Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and reviewed books on homosexuality. Like Oscar Wilde, Deppe had a wife and children. He later joined the Metropolitan Community gay sect, jumping the ELCA ship just before it berthed in Capri. Deppe's continued teaching career, in spite of the arrest, showed the approval of Seminex and ELCA.

Jungkuntz was the leaven that moved from WELS to Missouri to ELCA - via The "conservative" ALC. The doctrinal basis is clear. Taught by J. P. Meyer in seminary, he gave an essay arguing vehemently for UOJ:

The direct consequence of this change in the relationship between God and man was the justification of the whole world, the declaring of every sinner righteous before God. For that is the meaning in positive terms of what St. Paul here states negatively: “not imputing their trespasses unto them.” It is impossible to overemphasize this statement. For in our own time, even in our own Synodical Conference, this vital truth is being endangered, both by direct attack and by neglect.


What is stated here by St. Paul means much more than merely that God has “provided and secured” salvation for all men, so that it is now possible for them to be justified through faith. Rather, it means nothing less than that already before faith, without faith, they have been justified by God, declared righteous for Christ’s sake, their sins no longer imputed to them. Henceforth it can never be sin that damns a man, any man, but only the rejection of God’s act of justification. From God’s standpoint every sinner is a reconciled sinner.

This then is our ministry: to proclaim the Word of reconciliation, to make known the accomplished fact, to tell sinners always and again that God’s relation to them has been changed, that He has declared them righteous by not imputing their trespasses unto them. This is the Word of reconciliation that has been committed unto us.

Richard Jungkuntz, 1954

The CORE and the Means of Grace

CORE-uption of the worship service.

How To Be a Successful Church Planter - Do Not Sip Drinks While Watching

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Joel Lillo (Fox Valley) has left a new comment on your post "How To Be a Successful Church Planter - Do Not Sip...":

Wow, you can almost cut the envy with a knife here!

Lessons from the Missouri Civil War

The Seminex apostates manipulated the faculty children and the public with photos like this.
The children "voted" to leave with their fathers, who had betrayed their ordination vows.
Can you picture these munchkins staying in faculty housing alone?

WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie are no different from the Missouri Synod of the 1970s. The same is true of micro-mini sects who divide up the remaining 1% of Lutherans in America.

The current book on Missouri Civil War divides the LCMS between "moderates" and the right-wing extremists who dishonestly plotted to take over the denomination. The story led the religion sections for a year, because Concordia Seminary president John Tietjen was a PR expert who used the media. For example, the students and faculty marched away EXILED for the press and TV, but marched back for lunch the same day.

The alleged moderates were LCMS faculty who rejected the inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures. They were the faction that actively sought merger with the LCA and ALC.

Number 1 Lesson: Missouri lied when they told members that their doctrine was not changing. During that time of deception, Calvinistic rationalism took over completely in the teaching faculties, accompanied by unionism and doctrinal indifference.

Number 2 Lesson: The conservatives accomplished very little, because they constantly lied about their connections with Otten while meeting with him and giving him material to publish. That allowed the apostates to make Otten the issue when the articles they hated most came from their co-workers. I said that about a famous article on Bohlmann, before his defeat. "You didn't write that, Herman." He said, "How could you tell?" I said, "Not your style."

Number 3 Lesson: Doctrinal discussions were subverted by political maneuvers, tricks, and manipulations. Idolizing the synod and various leaders always short-circuits any real solutions.

Number 4 Lesson: The alleged conservatives met secretly to pick out who would win. The winner in each case was a pragmatist who ran as a conservative but ruled to suit the apostates. Preus, Bohlmann, and Barry were mirror images of the people who selected them.

For example, Jack Cascione backed David Buegler for Ohio DP, but in a secretive way, so the swing vote would not go against a known "conservative". I even heard Buegler give a candidacy speech - totally vanilla. Cascione was shocked that Buegler's first act as DP was to march, robed, in an LCA or ALC religious service. But Jack did not want the convention voters to think his pal was really a conservative deep, deep down. That is how it works - deceivers promote deceivers and register shock at the deception. Oh dear!

The only way to address the issues is with doctrine, not beauty contests. Financial audits would help too, but they seem to go nowhere. Those are the two areas the apostates do not want addressed. The money trail will show where their treasure lies - Fuller, Willow Creek, etc.

Iconic phoniness. The "exiled" students came back to the cafeteria for lunch a few hours later,
and stole hordes of books from the Concordia library to start their own Seminex library.
The Seminex faculty happily received these stolen goods.
They also became the official seminary for the lavender Metropolitan Community Churches.

Getting Doctrine Exactly Wrong

Good description of Cornerstone/Heart in Focus: "Pull of the Old Self
Our reason and Old Self are attracted to treasures on earth. This is a strong pull that comes from within that tears down life."

Hi, I’m Jeff Davis, one of the authors of Heart in Focus. I’m glad that you are learning more about this special program. I always believe it is good to challenge oneself and learn new things each day. Heart in Focus offers a challenge not usually found in today’s resources. It helps the reader to answer, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here on this earth?”


Answers to these questions give our lives purpose and a reason for living. By enrolling in a Heart in Focus course, I believe you will find help in responding better to these questions.

You may also know me through Cornerstone Stewardship Ministry, Inc., a firm that raises dollars for Lutheran ministries by growing God’s joyful stewards. Visit our web site at www.joyfulgiving.net.
Or, drop me a note to let me know what you think: jeff@heartinfocus.com. May your day be a blessing for Jesus!

***

GJ - Jeff is vice-chairman of Church and Change. His photo is still up, but his bio is blank.

Brian Arthur Lampe is on the board, but no longer has a photo or a bio. He is the self-ordained pastor who is always giving Satan a boxing lesson, for a fee, of course.

They are all part of the Jeske, Inc. network.

Ski of The SORE was listed on the Changer board until I published that fact. He then disappeared from it.

KJV 1 Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Contrary to Rev. Jeff, God gives the increase through His Word. The Holy Spirit revealed, through Paul, that individuals are simply those through whom people came to believe in Christ. No one should extol one human or another--or himself--because God alone gives the increase.

Because Rev. Jeff has everything upside-down and backwards, he thinks we bless Jesus, another doctrine of the Me Generation.

Rev. Jeff's teammate at Cornerstone fund-raising is a Missouri Synod man who chairs the LEA, and the LEA is inviting Leonard Sweet, perennial  sweetheart of Church and Change:

Tom Grunow (Co-Founder of CSM, MEd, CFRE)
Portland, Oregon

Tom Grunow is a 33-year veteran in Christian Education, Fund Development and Strategic Planning having served with Lutheran educational ministries in Florida, Texas and Oregon. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Robert A. Grunow, known throughout the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) for his estate planning and fundraising expertise, for the past 14 years he has served as a consultant to Lutheran churches and schools throughout the U.S. Previously he served as Vice President of the Concordia University Foundation Portland and on the National Board of Directors of the Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE). He currently serves Trinity Lutheran Church, as Volunteer Minister of Stewardship & Gifts, is an active member of ALDE, a member of the Christian Stewardship Association (CSA), and serves as Board Chair of the Lutheran Education Association (LEA). Tom resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Karin, a commissioned Lutheran schoolteacher. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren.

Here is the LEA link about Leonard Sweet, aging hippy gasbag, serving as the keynote speaker for the Lutheran association. He wrote:

Postmodern and Wesleyan?: Exploring the Boundaries and Possibilities

Postmodern and Wesleyan? is both an exploration and an internal dialogue. Essays written by differing voices explore various dimensions of postmodernism as they relate to theology, church, practices, communities, and missions. Each section includes a critical response by a respected Wesleyan leader to the ideas expressed. Dr. Leonard Sweet concludes each section with comments to continue the conversation. This important conversation piece invites churches, pastors, and laity to explore together how the Christian faith might shape both the present and the future. By providing a forum for engaging issues, both important and difficult, Postmodern and Wesleyan? offers a voice to some of the most creative thinkers in the movement and a help to Christians deciding the direction they must go in order to share the good news of God s love.

Quaker Towers Closed Today Due to the Chicago Storm.ELCA Membership Up

"Does this outfit make me look...
Anglican?"

ELCA headquarters in Chicago closed today, due to the blizzard that rolled through the Eastern United States, starting in Texas.

ELCA leaders were unable to harass, persecute, and thwart the Gospel, so membership went up temporarily.

Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson will be back soon to straighten things out.

On a serious note, all the Augustana Band members are back in Sioux Falls, after being trapped by events in Egypt.

Return of Chucky: Child's Play

"Did you hear the one about the Real Presence?
Oh, I'd like to welcome all the WELS pastors visiting today.
I'll show you how we do church."


Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Le Grande Swindle - Or Swindoll":

One time when listening to my local "Christian" radio station, I heard Chuck Swindoll. He was making fun of the Real Presence. His analogy was that if he pulled out his wallet and showed you pictures of his grandkids, was he actually showing you his grandkids? Wow! I guess 1 Cor. 11 is not in Chuck's Bible.

Perhaps this is why the Lutheran synods downplay the importance of the Eucharist. They are influenced by the pietists of American Evangelical Protestantism that replace or distort God's Word with reason and logic. The concept of the Trinity is not logical, so why believe it? What about a virgin birth? Ever seen one? What about Christ being fully God and fully man? Oh yeah, it's called Faith, thanks be to God.

***

GJ - This is a good illustration, because Swindoll is a Pietist from the Evangelical Free sect. The rationalistic explanation of Holy Communion comes from Calvin, who also mocked the Real Presence in his Institutes.

Objective justification also comes from Calvinism, as Sig Becker admitted in his essay.

Therefore, the WELS attraction to Swindoll comes from his rationalism, not from his fidelity to the Word.

Jesus said, in Greek, "This is my Body, given for you for the forgiveness of sin."

The Calvinistic Pietists deny both the Real Presence and the forgiveness. The emergent WELS/LCMS/ELS congregations--that model themselves after Swindoll, Groeschel, and Hybels--also denigrate Holy Communion, by not offering it or by hiding it.

Ground Hog Day Editions Uploaded to Lulu.com

The Ground Hog Day blizzard was not so bad in Bella Vista, but a six-inch snowfall shuts down the roads. One resident will not shovel his driveway, so he stays in until it melts, "Because I grew up here!"

I made a virtue out of necessity and re-edited Thy Strong Word and Justification. Someone sent a gift, so I was able to order print copies of Justification for...some people.

Free PDF downloads are available here - Justification, Thy Strong Word, and all Martin Chemnitz Press books.

A pastor's recent comparison of catechisms is revealing. The old WELS Gausewitz catechism teaches justification by faith, while the Kuske catechism teaches UOJ. One characteristic of a cult is changing doctrine and having everyone toe the line or else.

Many people are contributing ideas, research, encouragement, and editing skills to these books. They involve all synods, even ELCA.

Bruce Foster, the LCMS man who became an ELCA pastor, thought the UOJ essay collection was quite instructive. If ELCA is interested in your history of doctrine, so you should be too.

Taylor's Last Words

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Was UOJ Always Taught in WELS?Definitely Not!":

I too have wondered this. When I stumbled across UOJ three years ago and my wife and I were talking about it, my son overheard us and and told us of an incident while he was in confirmation class. He had a hard time getting his head around it (he's pretty smart). It didn't end really well. He was confirmed, however. So I have searched for that Kuske cateschism around our house to no avail to compare it to my 1956 small catechism. It probably ended up in it's rightful place when we moved to TX.

Thanks for posting this and thanks to that pastor whoever he is.

I am feeling like Taylor at the end of Planet of the Apes these days. Maybe you can find a picture of him and use it for a future blog regarding this issue.

Le Grande Swindle - Or Swindoll

Copy and paste Luther next time.
No will will recognize the text,
but they will be furious about the content.

This recent post on WELS catechisms explains how UOJ became the Helen of Troy in WELS.

WELS dumped justification by faith in favor of Universal Objective Justification. The ministerium moved lockstep to buy the Kuske catechism, which was larger, more expensive, and based on false doctrine.

Let us go back in our time machine to the Kokomo crisis. There Pastor Papenfuss admitted that he had never heard of UOJ until he reached seminary. His teaching in the Kokomo, Indiana parish ignited the nationwide debate about UOJ. Was he previously trained with Gausewitz? Probably, because WELS tends to go with one book, one idea at a time.

Another look at WAM II is in order, because Missouri long used a justification by faith catechism, as Pastor Harley established in his work. LCMS President Jack Preus beat up WAM II in public. Concordia Seminary stopped short of burning Maier at the stake, but only because of smoke restrictions.

Supposedly UOJ has always been always taught, with Missouri basing its reverence for universal absolution on all these orthodox dudes who wrote after the Book of Concord was published in 1580, orthodox dudes out of print and only found in the musty dark corners of university libraries. Unfortunately, Robert Preus, who knew these authors, admitted before he died that justification only means justification by faith, that no one is forgiven apart from faith.

Pietism is bad. Ptui. Ptui. Ask any LCMS, WELS, or Little Sect graduate. I have heard more than one Mequon graduate claim that drinking beer is a witness against the Pietists. O happy day, that an entire ministerium can wash away Pietism so easily and bear the cross of DUI convictions while doing so.

But this wonderful UOJ, which they call the heart of the Gospel, is a brew imported from Halle University. George Christian Knapp taught Objective Justification and Subjective Justification for years. He was so important that his lectures were translated into English before the (LCMS) Perry County pioneers landed in Nawluns. Not that English mattered. These founders of Missouri spoke, taught, and published in German until the 20th century, when WWI made German less than fashionable.

All the American Lutherans honored Pietism. They came from Halle University or from a group that looked to Halle as their Vatican, whether they graduated from there or not. The entire world knew about the charitable institutions and mission societies that Halle spawned, so no one criticized Spener, even if they took shots at Pietism itself.

Pietism was a doctrinal leaven which slowly worked its way through the American Lutheran church bodies. Chuck Swindoll is a Lutheran, once or twice removed, as they say in family tree studies. The Swedish Augustana Synod began as a blend of Lutheran orthodoxy and Pietism, just as Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect did. Two groups formed out of resistance to the Augustana Synod - the Mission Covenant (North Park U., Warner Sallman, Craig Groeschel) denomination and the Evangelical Free (Trinity, Deerfield) group. Both sects are hotter than Georgia asphalt for Church Growth.

Chuck Swindoll is E. Free but his current congregation is non-denominational. His denomination has trained so many WELS leaders at Trinity that WELS was mentioned twice in a recent academic bulletin.

WELS considers E. Free and Mission Covenant to be safe sects, so they plagiarize Swindoll and Groeschel to a fare-thee-well. No surprise - Fox Valley features one pastor who plagiarized Swindoll because he "was busy." Ski and Glende plagiarize Groeschel, because that will ignite their sputtering evangelism efforts, and Steve Witte takes the Pietistic mission to Asia.

UOJ is plagiarized from Knapp, not from Luther. To copy Luther is natural for sincere Lutherans. Didja ever wonder why Lutheran leaders hate Luther's doctrine so much? The historic liturgy? Lutheran hymns? It is because they are fakes - Pietists who favor Calvinism to the point of Universalism.

The LCMS, WELS, and ELS base all their work on UOJ. That explains why their leaders are indifferent about doctrine, except when persecuting Luther's doctrine. This "we are not in fellowship" business is their Pietism, trying to maintain a false distinction to keep the brand alive a few more years.

Reagan's Centenniel This Sunday

Reagan's Illinois Celebration

Was UOJ Always Taught in WELS?Definitely Not!

This hissing cockroach is not as disgusting as false doctrine.


A pastor did a comparison of catechisms today in preparing for a lesson on the Third Article (I believe in....the forgiveness of sins). He has a number of catechisms [Luther's obviously being the one and only] on his shelves. He was interested if there were any shifts in the presentation of material [questions, selection of supporting passages, phraseology) between the WELS "Gausewitz"(Copyright 1956) and the WELS "Kuske" (Copyright 1982, 1989, 1998). In the following K=Kuske, G= Gausewitz. The "#'s" refer to the respective editions. His comments are in [ ].

His reason for doing the comparison is that the Gausewitz version was the catechism used for his own confirmation classes in the early-mid 1970's. However, the Kuske version has been the official one since the early 1980's. That means a majority of the current WELS pastors who still teach catechism would have used the Kuske version. If they are younger WELS pastors, they would themselves have been instructed along its line, maybe never knowing anything at all about the Gausewitz.

Kuske 253. How many people did God declare righteous? God declared all people righteous. (objective justification) [2 Corinthians 5:19 is offered as a proof passage but not Romans 3:28]

Gausewitz 261. To whom does God forgive sins? God forgives sins to me and all believers. [Romans 3:21-28 is cited as a Scripture reference; Romans 3:28; Romans 10:4 is cited as the Scripture passages. He underlined the divergence between the two. This clearly proves a stated shift. Also note how Gausewitz sticks to Luther's phrasing in the answer.]
______

Kuske 255. Why is it important, then, that the Holy Spirit work faith in me? It is important that the Holy Spirit work faith in me so that I do not trust in my own works but only in the righteousness God gives me by grace in Christ. (subjective justification)

Gausewitz 260 Why do we say that the Holy Ghost forgives sins, whereas we are made righteous before God through the redemption of Christ? The Holy Ghost brings the righteousness of Christ to us by the Gospel and gives us the faith to believe it. [Note that "the righteousness of Christ" is linked with "the faith to believe it." The two are not bifurcated and isolated, by default, from each other.]

______
Gausewitz 262. Where are sins forgiven? Sins are forgiven in the Christian Church on earth. (Ministry of the Keys)

[No similar question is asked in the Kuske catechism. In the UOJ scheme, there is salvation outside the Christian Church? Yes, and apart from the Means of Grace entrusted to the Church!]
______
Gausewitz 263. Why do we say, In the Christian Church on earth? We say this because Christ has given the Gospel to His Church on earth; in the Gospel we have the forgiveness of sins.

[No similar question is asked in the Kuske catechism. In the Gospel, then necessarily implies through the Means by which it is conveyed. Massive, airy universal absolutions apart from the Means rob them of the grace God intends to give through them. Therefore, our confidence of salvation would be divorced from the very Means of Grace God intends to use to create and sustain "justifying faith" as the Confessions put it.]

The above quotations are proof of a discernible shift in WELS catechisms.

***

GJ - Many people are doing research about this topic. This is an excellent example of what many of us suspect - that the UOJ position of WELS hardened and began to dominate. Departures like this are difficult to trace, but WELS members and pastors can figure this out.

The Gausewitz catechism was the normal version for a long time. As I recall from an essay by Slide, it had all the correct attributes for a WELS catechism.

When the new Kuske catechism came out, WELS made that the normative version, and WELS pastors tend to be robotic in accepting new improved whatevers, like the 100 proof hymnal from James P. Tiefel.

See if you can find a Gausewitz and do your own comparison with Kuske. Comments are most welcome.

This is why I have never used a catechism except Luther's own. I do not like Talmudic editions with hundreds of questions and answers. Like the original Talmud, they can be used to obscure the Word of God in the name of teaching it.

WELS pastors have shown repeatedly that they do not grasp the meaning of the Eighth Commandment, how it applies to their own behavior, how it does not apply to addressing false doctrine.

I noticed in reading the new book that the Seminex crowd liked crying Eighth Commandment too. WELS leaders like to brag about how superior they are to Missouri, but they have used the same dishonest or ignorant tactics to advance their own false doctrine.

Comments from Readers

The 19th century Lutherans never critiqued Spener, and they should have.
Spener's unionism and doctrinal laxity grew like kudzu.



LPC has left a new comment on your post "Clueless History of the Missouri Synod Civil War":

James,

Jer 17: 5Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

It does not matter even if the so-called "Steadfast Lutherans" fail.

Faith is a fight. It has nothing to do if the so-called "Steadfast" brings things around because new ones who will pervert the Gospel will sprout so, it is a constant fight.

B.M.

The same goes for each of us, Extra Nos and Ichabod too. Remaining steadfast and faithful to Scripture as the Norm of Christian faith and the Confessions as the Normed Norm the Lord will work His will through the Means of Grace, purely taught and rightly distributed.

Right on, bro. We are not exempted from being faithful to the Scripture and our Confession.

But Christ's Word will never pass away and enduring in the one true faith in Christ alone is a gift of God by the grace of the Holy Spirit no matter what tomorrow brings. That's why we struggle for purity in Christ's central doctrine, His chief article of Christian faith, Justification by Faith Alone

Amen.


LPC

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Clueless History of the Missouri Synod Civil War":

James states, "This group gives me hope, but is my hope in vain?"

Yes, if your hope is in the group or in the men and women who are active members.

If your hope is in the bedrock of Scripture, Christ's Word purely taught and Sacraments rightly distributed then No, your hope is not in vain. You're hope is in the right place and with the Christian Church made up of all who, by God's grace, place all their trust in Christ alone we can say, "The Lord's will be done!"

If the Steadfast Lutherans remain faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions their efforts will always accomplish God's will, whether that is working contrition and faith in those God calls or hardening of the hearts in those God does not call and who reject Christ, His Word, His Church and His doctrines. The Lord's will be done.

The same goes for each of us, Extra Nos and Ichabod too. Remaining steadfast and faithful to Scripture as the Norm of Christian faith and the Confessions as the Normed Norm the Lord will work His will through the Means of Grace, purely taught and rightly distributed. To hope in Christ that things will change, the false teachers will be exposed and rejected, false practice will be exposed and rejected, God's pure Word will be exposed, taught and exalted, right practice will be exposed, supported and promoted is never in vain and always the right thing to do. To expect that it could or would remain that way is not in line with Scripture where in Matt 24 Christ's tells us of the end times when the hypocrites in the church turn against Christ's Word and faithful Church.

But Christ's Word will never pass away and enduring in the one true faith in Christ alone is a gift of God by the grace of the Holy Spirit no matter what tomorrow brings. That's why we struggle for purity in Christ's central doctrine, His chief article of Christian faith, Justification by Faith Alone.

In Christ,
Brett

Clueless History of the Missouri Synod Civil War

Jack Preus, left, seems to be suppressing a laugh  as his ALC cousin Dave Preus, pontificates.
Dave Preus is now against the ELCA merger,
and so is former LCA president Crumley.

Pastor Herman Otten baffled and thwarted the apostates by quoting them.  The old joke about Otten was that he was not born, he was Xeroxed.

Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod: A Conflict That Changed American Christianity

By James C. Burkee, Foreword by Martin Marty

Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2011, 183 pages. #9780800697921.

Reviewed by Gregory L. Jackson, PhD

Martin Marty sets the tone of this book, in his foreword, where he refers to Pastor Otten as “Mr. Otten.” The Missouri Synod apostates have always insisted on “Mr. Otten” because they do not wish to recognize his ordination, which was valid and proper according to their own polity.

Marty guided the completion of this dissertation, as a “minor” and “neutral” observer. He has never been a minor figure in the Missouri Civil War, and he was hardly a neutral observer. A parallel would be asking Fuller student David Valleskey to write an analysis of the Church Growth Movement.

Fortress once had a reputation for telling the truth in its books, even if the truth involved their own liberal heroes, such as Barth or Tillich. That honesty is missing from Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod. The ELCA does not like the Missouri Synod; many of its leaders left the LCMS. In fact, Carl Braaten (never accused of orthodoxy) has blamed the Missouri come-outters for making ELCA so radical. They used their minority status to recast the merger into their dream organization.

The famous Seminex, made up of faculty and students who left Concordia Seminary, became the official seminary for the Metropolitan Community Church, a denomination set up exclusively for homosexual and lesbian pastors and members. These intellectual giants of Seminex determined the substance of ELCA with a quota system and other enhancements.

Burkee’s book is well written and difficult to put down, with many good insights into the background of the Missouri Synod conflict. However, he is completely clueless about the cause of the synod’s conflict. If he is not clueless, then he simply dishonest about what caused the split.

From the beginning, the author sets up a Straw Man with  the inerrancy term. His ELCA readers doubtless agree with him that inerrancy is a new term that does not fit the teaching of the Scriptures. Therefore, they will resonate with the concept that the evil Preus brothers used this newly-invented term to grab power and oust the Seminex martyrs.

Inerrancy, Etc.

The Christian Church has always taught the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of the Scriptures. The old term was “infallible” but the apostates kept watering down the meaning of infallible by saying “infallible in doctrine, but not in history or geography.” As a result, the term “inerrant” was used in its place or added to it. Catholics and  Protestants alike, not to mention the Eastern Orthodox, were in agreement. One pope said the Bible was like Christ, having two natures, divine and human, and yet without error.

Luther defined the Scriptures as “inerrant” and “infallible” in the Book of Concord, the Large Catechism, on Baptism, using the Latin words.

“57] Thus we do also in infant baptism. We bring the child in the conviction and hope that it believes, and we pray that God may grant it faith; but we do not baptize it upon that, but solely upon the command of God. Why so? Because we know that God does not lie. I and my neighbor and, in short, all men, may err and deceive, but the Word of God cannot err.” The Large Catechism, Book of Concord, Infant Baptism.

Moreover, the articles of the Creed were never subject to debate in the Christian Church proper until the rationalists began to attack each one. Someone who doubted the Virgin Birth of Christ and the actual resurrection of Christ was not an honored leader, a valued teacher, a man of wisdom and discernment.

The massive response against the Seminex heretics came from the laity and the ministerium realizing that Fuerbringer and his faculty were apostate, mainline Protestants, Unitarians who still used the liturgy – not faithful Lutherans, not proclaimers of the Gospel.

I got to know many of the main characters in this book, although I was newly ordained when most of the events happened and only viewed them from the perspective of an LCA pastor. I have met most of the main figures in this drama: Herman and Grace Otten, Walter Otten, Jack Preus, Robert Preus, Kurt Marquart, John “Warlike” Montgomery, Martin Marty, Walter Maier II, Fred Rutz Sr., Waldo Werning, Ralph Bohlman, Robert Sauer, David Scaer, Father Richard John Neuhaus (and his father), and a few others.

Burkee argues that Missouri has fallen apart because the conservatives won, but the Seminex crowd actually came out on top. The synod no longer has a consistent witness of any kind. This is best illustrated by one of the heroes of the book – Waldo Werning.

Most of the leading figures are introduced with a mini-biography, quite useful. Although Werning is still alive and active, at the age of 90, he is not introduced in the same way. He gave many hours of interviews (p. xv) and emerges as a superman of the conservative movement. Burkee is no Thucydides.

Werning Facts

Werning was an early ecumenist and went back to unionism, so his conservative phase was bracketed by the opposite stance, making him more of a power-seeking opportunity rather than a principled leader. Far from being a conservative, he was an early advocate of Church Growthism from Fuller Seminary, promoting it in every way possible and brutally persecuting anyone who offered him a critique of his Schwaermer doctrine. I know one LCMS pastor who was driven out of two synods because he did not agree with Werning. Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne students were told never to confront Werning on anything, or it would be the end of their careers.

In fact, Werning was told he could not teach anymore because no one wanted his classes. He responded by helping to get rid of Robert Preus, acting on behalf of LCMS Synod President Ralph Bohlmann, another supposed conservative who switched sides.

Werning also turned against Otten, although he made so many secret contacts with Otten that the Otten children nicknamed him “Agent X.”

Werning is a major source for this book, but I would not trust a word from him, even if his tongue were notarized.

Secrecy

Burkee does a fine job of revealing the secret deals and gambits of the conservatives, who were always anxious to hide their connections with Otten and Christian News. They wanted the advantages of anonymously submitting their information, gossip, and opinions to the public, through the tabloid.

LCMS President Jack Preus was elected and continued in office because of Christian News. He worked with Otten, met with him, phoned him, attacked him in public and apologized in secret. Otten taped their conversations because he could not trust Preus.

Everyone knew Jack was a double-dealer, but almost all church officials are. They pose as conservatives while rewarding the apostates. I can offer names and dates for similar actions in various synods. Burkee has offered proof for what everyone suspected all along.

Al Barry was elected LCMS president the same way. Paul McCain was the Waldo Werning for that election, talking to Otten in secret and stealthily sending materials to be leaked via Christian News. McCain denied being in contact with Otten, but he bragged about it to me, just as Otten did.

The Seminex bunch lied from the beginning, saying they were faithful and confessional when they knew very well they were not. Tietjen started a foundation (FLUTE)  to support the faculty’s exit from Concordia Seminary, but refused to answer any official questions about it. As an employee of the synod, he owed them answers.

The LCMS gave the Seminex faculty all kinds of chances, allowing them to stay in faculty housing. Burkee did repeat the fact that the glorious day of EXILE, photographed by the press, ended with the students coming back to have their next meal at the seminary – not much of an exile, not a heavy cross to bear!

I asked a Seminex student if they stole all kinds of valuable books from the Concordia Seminary Library. He said, “They were ours!”

Tietjen’s public relations offensive was completely dishonest. He portrayed them as victims, martyrs of a power-made cabal of extremists. The press ate up the phony drama and acted as the Seminex mimeograph room. Nevertheless, Seminex was a flop and got moved to Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, another failure.

Moving the Structure Around

Jack Preus managed to take away the props for Seminex, by moving the schools around. Once the LCMS colleges could no longer feed students into Seminex, it faded away, even with the extra Metropolitan Community students.

Burkee is correct in showing that this civil war was more of a power play than a principled effort. Its success came from the training and knowledge of the old guard, commonly mocked as Bronze Age Missourians.

When Jack Preus left office, there was no more jousting against liberals in the presidency. His chosen successor, Ralph Bohlmann, was committed to the opposite side (in spite of his image) and soon displayed it. Bohlmann supported the Church Growth Movement with gusto, worked with the LCA/ALC, and moved toward women’s ordination. His lesbian daughter is now an ordained United Church of Christ minister, living with her partner.

Al Barry was no improvement, and the LCMS has recently voted overwhelmingly to work with ELCA.

Great Entertainment

I enjoyed this book immensely, but it should be read with Adams’ Preus of Missouri, and Marquart’s Anatomy of an Explosion. Marquart is good in tracing the doctrinal history of the civil war. Adams is full of background material and anecdotes.

Otten

Herman and Grace Otten are the indispensable leaders in this drama. They put together a newsletter, later a tabloid, with great efficiency and CPA frugality. The value of Christian News, and the pain inflicted, is not the quirkiness or even bizarre nature of the publication. Otten reproduced the actual documents displaying the Unitarian doctrine of his Seminex opponents. Meanwhile, Herman and Grace raised a large brood of kids, built a camp used by many Lutheran groups, and published a few books on the side.

The Left accuses him of doing unethical things, and some details (especially the student days) sound like training camp at CIA headquarters. The Left has done that much and more.

WAM II

The most instructive section of this book was its treatment of Walter Maier II, Ft. Wayne professor and son of the famous radio preacher.

Maier dared to go against Jack Preus, so Jack did the most evil thing I have seen pulled by any church executive – and that is saying something. Jack attacked WAM II as a false teacher, accusing him of denying Objective Justification, which ended Maier’s chance to be Synod President or seminary president. The effort was intended as a complete repudiation and humiliation of WAM II. He also lost the chairmanship of his department.

The irony of this debacle is that Robert Preus stepped up as the new Ft. Wayne president. Robert Preus and the seminary took the false doctrine of Objective Justification from Pietism (and Walther) and made it the norma normans (ruling norm) of the synod. Robert Preus finally repudiated this OJ error in his final book, but the damage has been done. The OJ fanatics of the past cannot face up to their error.

Jesus did say that evil fruit came from evil trees. The old Synodical Conference is paying double for all its sins through their promotion of grace without the Means of Grace.

Who Won?

Clearly, the apostates of Seminex won. Those liberals who remained in Missouri were rewarded with the best positions, just as the signers of the Statement were in days past. The president’s office, already under Jack Preus, called off the war, surrendering while claiming, “We won!”

Under Bohlmann, Barry, and Kieschnick, the conservatives were spanked, shunned, punished, and fired. Werning’s Church Growth Movement was put on steroids, vitamin pills, and energy drinks.

Supposedly, the great doctrinal error of ELCA is Gospel reductionism and Universalism. Everyone is forgiven and everyone is saved.

What is taught in the LCMS, WELS, ELS, and the micro-mini sects? God has already declared the entire world forgiven of its sin (Enthusiasm), and the whole world is saved (Universalism). They will not admit this yet, but they teach exactly what ELCA teaches. That is why the LCMS, WELS, and ELS work so well with ELCA: they believe the same thing.

One solution, employed by Seminex supporter Richard Neuhaus, is to join the Church of Rome. Many LCMS pastors are now following his lead and becoming priests. Some choose Eastern Orthodoxy, which is just one step away.

Father Richard J. Neuhaus, a critic of Church Growth and ELCA fads, became a Roman Catholic priest before he died, taking some Lutheran pastors with him, including the subsequent editor of the Lutheran Forum Letter.

Notorious Iver Johnson - Thou Hast Conquered

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "The Fruit of Decades of Fuller Seminary Study by t...":

The (W)ELS has become laughable and are only a few years behind the side splitting LCMS and "I can't breathe" ELCA in their race for the bottom.

Do you believe the Holy Spirit wasn't primarily teaching the Authority of Christ over His Church when He used the word "head" in Ephesians 5:23?

I don't believe it matters what was being stressed as long as His Authority isn't diminished in an ongoing attempt to minimize the fact that Christ has authority over all creation, that the husband has authority over his wife and that women are not to have authority over the men in the church. The blatant attempt to avoid, and thus offend the feminized (W)ELS masses, clearly teaching the authority God has given the man in marriage, the father in the family and the men in the church is another step toward removing the manhood of Christ, the maleness of God and establishing Her Church in the Lutheran Synods.

***

GJ - The notorious Iver Johnson helped get this going and worked on the WELS hymnal.

Guys - you know what it takes to be a bigshot in WELS.

Don't worry about that DUI ticket. You can still teach at The Sausage Factory.

Grumpy Offers Advice

grumpy has left a new comment on your post "Anonymous Comment on Gossip":

Dr. Jackson,

Perhaps you have simply forgotten.

Here are the rules:

#1. The WELS is always right.

#2. The Laity are NOT allowed to talk about called workers unless the entire world is in attendance to be a witness. This includes criticism, honest questions, suggestions, etc.

#3. Called workers can talk about laity at will. If extremely gracious, the actual name will not be mentioned but enough hints will be given so the person in question can be identified. No need that that person be present when information is spilled.

#4. If the laity are in disagreement to rules 2 and 3, see rule 1.

Anonymous Comment on Gossip

TMoney - the early years - also the current years.


TMoney42006 (http://openid.aol.com/TMoney42006) has left a new comment on your post "Meet the CEO of Church and Change":

I love how you cite Pastor Jenswold as if to suggest that this citation would prove him to be a liar or a fraud. All it proves is that you love gossip and are eager to jump at any story that will give you something to write about.

***

GJ - This person actually has an ID, unlike many who post, where the link is already broken. The ID information is revealing. An AC/DC logo flashes on and off.

That reminds me of the daily comments I got about wasting my time blogging. Someone read the blog every day to say the same thing each day, taking the time to publish the same rant.

This is how it goes, Rocker. I am taking time from a book review to help out your stunted education. A lot of history consists of oral reports, conversations, and interviews where the source is cited.

The typical WELS spin is:
1. Deny the obvious. The sect has been closing schools for years - Mobridge, Prairie, Northwestern. They still cannot fund Mary Lou College, which is an hour's drive drive from Bethany and a day's drive from Willow Creek's Liberal College.
2. The source is one of their guys, who probably got it from SP Schroeder, but somehow this is something I made up on my own.

Meanwhile, the sect has millions to spend on spreading Fuller doctrine among poor Asians who do not know any better.

The Fruit of Decades of Fuller Seminary Study by the Leaders of the Syn Conference

LCMS theologian Marva Dawn
and Herman Otten's sister, Marie Meyer,
control the agenda in Missouri.


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Women's Ordination Advances Under the Watchful Eye...":

“Heirs together of God’s gracious gift of life.”

4. We do not believe that 1 Timothy 2:12 prohibits a11 women from any exercise of authority over men because St. Paul refers to the sin of Adam and Eve (1 Timothy 2:14) who are identified as husband and wife in Genesis 3:17. The reference to childbearing (1 Timothy 2:15) also indicates that he is discussing the relationships between husbands
and wives.

1 Tim. 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
Page 12


7. We do not believe that the word “head,” when used as a metaphor for the husband in the New Testament, primarily stresses the exercise of authority.

Eph. 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Page 13

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Women's Ordination Advances Under the Watchful Eye...":

WELS Women's Ministry web address is http://www.welswomen.net/

WOMEN GATHER IN THE WORD AT WELS LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
The first WELS Women’s Leadership Conference was held at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wis. The conference, titled “A Leader . . . Who? Me?” introduced a new Bible study developed by WELS Women’s Ministry Committee, “Heirs together of God’s gracious gift of life.”
http://www.lewistonlutherans.org/home/140003345/140003345/docs/WELS%20News%20-August.pdf

***

GJ - "Heirs Together" is the name of the study by divorced Pastor Stadley, adulterous Pastor Iver Johnson, and Pastor M. Albrecht. They left WELS, taking the property with them, and they won the debate.

Only there was no debate. WELS crumples in the face of apostasy.

Women's Ordination Advances Under the Watchful Eye of SP Schroeder

Don't forget to submit names!!!

Any names can just be emailed directly to me at aarondb@hotmail.com.

Thanks,

Aaron Boehm
AZ/CA CAD Chairman

Many thanks to those of you who have submitted names of qualified women in your congregations to serve as Women’s Ministry Congregational Contacts (WMCC).  For those of you who haven’t yet been able to do so, please pass on to the DCAD the name of a woman in your congregation who might fit the following criteria:

Those who are to be considered for positions as WMCC would be women who are faithful in the public use of the means of grace and who have given evidence of a strong personal devotional life. In addition to the spiritual qualities mentioned above, here are other characteristics that would be beneficial for someone serving as a WMCC: 

·       Has an active awareness of women’s ministry within her congregation;

·       Is a team player who will communicate well with her pastor and others in leadership;

·       Has zeal and enthusiasm for women’s ministry;

·       Possesses computer skills that would help her communicate with the district;

Action items for the WMCC would include:

·       Become familiar with the Heirs Together Bible study;

·       Receive information from the WMDC and inform her congregation (the called workers and overall leadership) of Women’s Ministry information and resources available and of Women’s Ministry events occurring nationwide or locally

·       Collect, record and send to the WMDC ideas of women’s ministry events/activities that are working well in her congregation

·       Become familiar with online resources provided by the WMC at www.wels.net/women;

It is our prayer that women’s ministry at all levels will support the work of Adult Discipleship by assisting WELS congregations to equip women to use their gifts to God’s glory and the benefit of his kingdom here on earth (adapted from the WM job description).

WELS Hydra

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Proof That Doing the Same Thing Over, and Expectin...":

The CG methods in the WELS have morphed into the mythical hydra. If you cut off one head, two grow in its place. The lack of pastoral care to long time members is good evidence that the congregation has gone to the dark side.

Mr Meyer, you are correct that the laity eat this rat poison as quick as they can. This outreach thing is another head of the hydra. If you oppose it, then you do not care about saving souls. As mentioned in a previous post, it is now called community outreach. What it amounts to is having some sort of how-to series that has to do with life enhancement. Any civic organization could be doing that, and probably do a better job at it. But, the theory is that the community is unaware of the congregation, even though many may drive by it every day. They are so afraid of proclaiming the Gospel, that they have resorted to more gimmickry.

"Infants Are Justified Before They Are Baptized"

You owe us an answer, Jay.
U - O, J!



LPC has left a new comment on your post "Not Even Lutheran":

I would love to hear Jay Webber explain that riddle.

I would love to hear an answer to that too.

LPC

Another Large Church Leaves ELCA

Grace Lutheran Church, Springfield, Ohio

SPRINGFIELD — With 86 percent of its voting members’ approval, Springfield’s Grace Lutheran Church is leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) to become a charter member of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

A posting on the church’s website reports the results of the second of two votes the move required.
The website reports that on Jan. 16, of the 292 eligible ballots, “250 eligible members voted to approve the proposal ... an 86 percent majority.”
Seventy-eight percent voted in favor of the move when the first vote was taken Oct. 17. A two-thirds majority was required on both votes.

Senior Pastor Daniel Powell declined comment Monday.
Grace follows Springfield’s Trinity Lutheran Church in leaving the ELCA to become charter congregations in the NALC, decisions that followed the ELCA’s gradual liberalization of its views on homosexuality.
In the summer of 2009, the ELCA voted to give congregations the option of blessing of life-long same-sex unions and hiring homosexual clergy in committed same-sex relationships, reversing the traditional stance that homosexuals are called to remain abstinent. The policies took effect in April 2010.

According to the NALC January newsletter, Grace and Trinity are among 100 congregations that have joined the denomination since its founding in Columbus last summer.
The Grace posting describes the NALC as a “renewed Lutheran community” at “the theological center of Lutheranism in North America ... committed to the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God.”

John Brooks, associate executive director of the ELCA News Service, said that as of Jan. 6, 334 congregations had taken successful second votes to leave the ELCA. Before the policy change, the ELCA comprised 10,239 congregations.