A Reader Asked about Trinity Seminary (ELCA) and I Ran Into This Old Story

Linked at Virtue Online, Episcopalian

LUTHERANS: A Texas catastrophe coming

by Russell E. Saltzman - Lutheran Forum Letter

This is very serious, very messy and potentially very, very costly to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We are speaking of the lawsuit against Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, OH and the ELCA. We have mentioned it before (FL:33:1).

The suit was instigated by the families of the teenage boys who fell victim to sexual molestation by Gerald Patrick Thomas. Thomas is the 1997 Trinity graduate who, at the time of his arrest, was serving an ELCA congregation in Marshall, TX. His 2002 conviction on multiple counts of sexual abuse resulted in a prison sentence of 397 years, reputed to be the most severe penalty ever meted out in such a case by any criminal court. The only comparable sentence we have heard about is 270 years given to a Catholic priest. The lawsuit is seeking more than $300 million from the ELCA and will be heard before Judge Bonnie Leggat in her Harrison County, TX district courtroom - the same judge, incidentally, who presided over Thomas' criminal trial.

Were you to visit <http://www.co.harrison.tx.us/> and click under the district court's jury docket schedule, you will find John Alfred Doe, et al vs. Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, et al scheduled for April 5, provided no settlement is reached in the meanwhile. We know that negotiations were held early February. We know, too, that the plaintiffs are confident, very confident, of going to trial.

Given the materials related to the case that we have in hand, we can understand why.

Depositions and memos

Forum Letter is in possession of the deposition of James M. Childs, one of the defendants named in the suit. At the time Thomas was a seminarian, Childs was Trinity's academic dean and is now director of the ELCA's sexuality task force. We also have several other depositions given by ELCA officials during discovery, including that of ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, made in Chicago at the Lutheran Center last September 22. Additionally, we have co pies of numerous internal seminary memos related to Thomas' internship and behavior while a student at the seminary, and we have memos from Bp. Kevin Kanouse, bishop of the ELCA Northern Texas/Northern Louisiana Synod related to the arrest of Gerald Thomas. Bp. Kanouse within days of Thomas' arrest specifically alerted a seminary official to a possible lawsuit.

From these items we now know that at least some Trinity officials were well aware of Thomas' problematic behavior with adolescent boys, and they were aware of it prior to his certification for call. They knew that while on his internship Thomas provided alcohol to adolescent boys in his apartment and al lowed them to watch a same-sex male pornographic video. There was police involvement at the time, but no charges were filed.

Question in dispute

This incident did not end his internship, which concluded in the normal fashion. He returned to Trinity Seminary for his final year. The incident did merit an "incident report" by his internship supervisor, Pr. Melvin Swoyer, which is also in our possession. Seminary officials never shared the report with Thomas' synodical candidacy committee, though at least one memo speculates about the impact such a report might have upon a candidacy committee.

Further, seminary officials knew that a pastor in charge of an after-school youth program in Columbus, OH, where Thomas worked during his senior year, h ad also raised concerns about Thomas over the manner of his involvement with
male youth in the program.

To be clear, the seminary faculty did not specifically vote to approve Thomas' candidacy. Instead, of three recommendations available to the seminary - approve, deny, postpone - the faculty took no action. None of the appropriate blanks were checked. In effect, the faculty rendered a "no comment" on the fitness of his candidacy for certification. We do not know what questions, if any, the candidacy committee may have raised given Trinity's lack of recommendation.

The issues around Thomas' behavior on internship and with the after-school program were addressed with Thomas.

How thoroughly and how seriously the seminary addressed those questions is the subject in litigation.

He was urged to seek therapy because of his unstable "boundaries" with teenage male youth. He never did, nor did anyone at the seminary insist. Moreover, they claim they could not. In the depositions we have seen, all plead a lack of authority to compel or require any student to seek therapy. That is probably so, absent a threat of dismissal. But there was not, in the seminary' s opinion, reason to make therapy an absolute requirement before certification. Thomas' inaction in seeking therapy did raise concern with at least one seminary official, but by that time Thomas was certified with a call in hand to Marshall, TX.

Casting a wide net

Among those named as ELCA defendants from Trinity Seminary are: Brad Binau ( who conducted several sessions with Thomas post-internship), Allan Sager (internship director), Dennis A. Anderson (seminary president at the time), Leland Elhard (then on faculty, now retired), Don Luck (faculty), Mark Ramseth (current president). Defendants from the Northern Texas/Northern Louisiana E LCA Synod include: Mark Herbener (synod bishop when Thomas was called to Mar shall, TX), Kevin Kanouse (Herbener's successor and bishop at the time of Thomas' arrest), Earl Eliason (an assistant to Herbener, of whom more in a moment). Named as ELCA defendants are: H. George Anderson (presiding bishop during that period) and Mark S. Hanson (the present presiding bishop).

The plaintiffs, of course, cast as wide a net as possible hoping to haul in a big catch. Our opinion, the only names of merit in the lawsuit are the synodical and seminary officials.

Disingenuous discipline

Nonetheless, the deposition of Bp. Hanson reveals the plaintiff's interest, keen interest, in ascertaining just exactly how rigorously ELCA disciplinary policies on sexual misconduct are actually enforced. Any pattern of non-enforcement common throughout the ELCA arguably strengthens the plaintiff's case for negligence regarding Thomas.

In this respect, Hanson is asked about his period of service as a synod bishop. He is questioned, "When you were synod bishop, did you have a lesbian minister in your synod?" Hanson: "I literally would have to take time to think through who was in the synod." Next, "Did you have a lesbian minister in the synod while you were bishop that was engaged in a committed sexual relationship with another lesbian and would not take a vow of celibacy?" Hanson: "I was never given allegations of that kind of behavior about one of the rostered persons in my synod by anyone."

This may seem more than a little disingenuous. It is not, as some might suspect, a reference to the illicitly ordained Anita Hill who was never on the synod roster. Instead it refers to another pastor presently on the clergy roster of the St. Paul MN Area Synod.

Zipper troubles

What is evident is that some synod bishops construe an absence of formal allegations - never mind how well-known the problem may be - to mean it does no t exist and therefore does not merit intervention by a church authority. The crisis of the Roman Catholic scandal, we point out, isn't just that some pastors acted badly, but that so many bishops failed in their responsibilities to enforce policies in existence.

The similar factor here - which admittedly is an oversimplification - is the "old church" culture that would not directly confront rumored heterosexual misconduct, in the hope it could be dealt with "pastorally" among "old boys" in a "friendly" and "paternal" way. That often amounted to nothing more than allowing the pastor to receive another call. The egregious problem of past ors with multiple incidents of "zipper trouble" is one the ELCA has been forced to face. Meanwhile, though, since the ELCA does not know what to teach a bout homosexuality, the "paternal," "pastoral" approach, disgraced as a way of dealing with heterosexual predator offenses, seems to be alive and well w hen the context is homosexuality. In short, the once "tolerated" list of "acceptable" kinds of sexual misconduct has been replaced by another one.

Little distinction

Questions surrounding disciplinary enforcement grew much sharper as the plaintiff's attorney raised in one deposition the instance of former Bp. Mark Herbener's assistant, Earl Eliason. Eliason installed Thomas at Marshall, TX in June 1997. Just four months earlier, Eliason had pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of lewd behavior with several men in a public restroom. No public action was taken by the synod bishop; what private action may have been take n is unknown. Eliason remained on Herbener's staff until Herbener's term expired. He took retirement shortly afterward and then resigned from the ELCA clergy roster in early June 02, four months after the Marshall, TX lawsuit was filed.

It must be said the plaintiff's attorney makes little distinction between gay men attracted to teenage boys and gay men content with more age-appropriate partners. Yet the suggestion here is that in cases involving homosexual me n and women, ELCA discipline amounts to a wink and a nod whatever risks exist, even when the risk is posed to adolescents and children.

When standards for pastors - said to be devised in part to limit potential liability arising from misconduct - are not enforced, a liability insurer conceivably is let off the hook. The insurance against liability is good only s o long as the disciplinary policy, upon which the guarantee is based, is in fact put into effect.

This is what Trinity Seminary officials are accused of doing - winking, nodding, going along, failing to enforce church policy.

Is that what happened?

As we said earlier, and we wish to stress it again, the issues around Thomas ' behavior as an intern and as a student were addressed. At litigation is, w ere they adequately addressed? Testimony from the seminary officials involve d asserts that the answer is clearly yes. As best they could view things at the time, there was not enough evidence to warrant Thomas' dismissal.

But this isn't to say a Texas civil court jury will not view matters differently.

Russell E. Saltzman is the editor, Forum Letter

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Restoring credibility to the task force

Forum Letter April 2004

by American Lutheran Publicity Bureau

A victims' rights group has made hay off the Trinity Lutheran Seminary lawsuit. Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has busily laid out a wide swath of blame leveled at Trinity and the ELCA. Last November SNAP l aid a good deal of it at the doorstep of Dr. James M. Childs, the ELCA director of the sexuality study, who was Trinity's academic dean when Gerald Thom as was a student. The sexuality task force had just completed a study unit o n the subject of preventing child and adolescent molestation. SNAP went ballistic. To have Childs in charge of a sexuality task force studying child molestation, so they suggested none too gently, was putting an enabler in charge of prevention.

SNAP called for Childs to resign as director of the sexuality study, claiming he participated in a cover-up, or at the very least knew about Thomas and did nothing. While the former is in our estimation clearly false, certainly the latter is true. Dr. Childs did know of the situation. In fairness to him , however, it is also our impression that, as academic dean, he claims he would have had no direct responsibility in dismissing or retaining Thomas as a student.

A small portion of his deposition was released to the Associated Press by SN AP. Childs admits receiving memos raising questions about Thomas when he was
at the seminary, but that there was not enough information to justify alerting an ordination candidacy committee.

When this became public, Childs not unreasonably asserted that six pages lifted from a 200-plus-page deposition failed to give an adequate picture of his testimony. We agree.

We also agreed at the time with the ELCA spokesman, that SNAP did not accurately portray the facts (FL:33:1). That remains our assessment.

SNAP's description of Childs' involvement is lurid and without nuance. Naturally, it is in their interest to present it that way, but it is not a full picture. SNAP also gives every impression of being in a relationship with several law firms in the business of litigating suits of this sort.

All that said, nonetheless we believe that Dr. Childs should resign as director of the ELCA sexuality task force. We believe he should do so immediately , simply to preserve whatever creditability the task force may have throughout the ELCA.

Granted, we are not among those who hold the task force in very high regard. We have been a steady critic of it and its work. Still, we have also said it is our belief that Dr. Childs - whatever his personal feelings on the acceptance of gay ordination - was determined to produce a fair study.

We believe, however, the lawsuit in Texas calls all that into question, merely by inference.

We would not regard his resignation as in any way an admission of responsibility in the Thomas case. To the contrary, we would regard it as a forthright effort on his part to restore to the task force's leadership, and to the EL CA, some of the credibility that has been considerably damaged by the Marshall, TX lawsuit, whatever its final outcome.

And if he will not resign for the good of the task force, then, perhaps, the task force should resign for the good of the ELCA. -- by the editor

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More from Texas

Forum Letter April 2004

Back to Texas, again. The following are snippets of comment, just our impressions based on materials we have in hand related to the case:

Based on much of what we have, the ELCA has not been well served by its general counsel, Phil Harris. It is of course handy to have an attack dog attorney around when things like this arise, but maybe the leash should have bee n shorter. There is early correspondence from Harris on the case suggesting the victims of Gerald Thomas were merely violating the commandment against bearing false witness. In failed negotiations in early February this year, the plaintiffs sought, among other things, an apology from Harris for his remark as part of an acceptable settlement.

What we said about SNAP earlier, the impression we have that it has a relationship of sorts with some law firms specializing in victims' lawsuits? Well, the settlement the attorneys for the plaintiffs wanted included a demand that the ELCA donate of $100,000 to SNAP.

There is a gag order in place. The order was imposed upon the principals in the case April 4, 2002 following some local media accounts in, among other places, the Marshall, TX News-Messenger. The order was sought by the ELCA. The plaintiffs represent this as a hypocritical suppression of information, given the ELCA's public support of full disclosure in these matters.

The gag order has made it very difficult to piece this story together. No one directly associated with the case is able to speak on or off the record.None of our calls to the plaintiffs' attorneys were returned, nor was our inquiry to SNAP ever returned.

Flashback to The Lutheran's June 02 issue. An article by Laurel Johnson outlines the Marshall, TX case. "[Northern Texas/Northern Louisiana ELCA Synod Bp. Kevin] Kanouse and Jennifer Parker Ainsworth of Tyler, Texas, the ELC A's [local] legal counsel in the case, said neither Kanouse nor the ELCA knew of Thomas' alleged criminal activities until his arrest." If this is what Bp. Kanouse in fact said to The Lutheran, it is technically true, but he misses the point. One memo from Bp. Kanouse in our possession clearly notes the incident from Thomas' internship involving alcohol and a same-sex pornographic video. Kanouse is of the opinion, however, the information should have remained with the seminary. Kanouse learned of the internship affair as Thomas was seeking call in the NT/NL synod. Giving alcohol to minors in Texas is a misdemeanor offence, but perhaps the bishop didn't know that.

Continuing with the story, in fact, the next sentence from the June 2002 Lutheran: "Kanouse said the synod has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of sexual misconduct on the part of its clergy." Which explains why his predecessor, Mark Herbener, retained an assistant to the bishop on his staff convicted of a sexually-related misdemeanor?

By The Lutheran's account in the June 2002 issue, the plaintiffs in the case simply went to court instead of first approaching the ELCA. Material we have directly contradicts The Lutheran. As part of an early settlement attempt, the plaintiffs demanded a retraction.

A final note. I have never covered anything in Forum Letter that has created such personal distress. I personally know most of the principal defendant s in the lawsuit; know, like and respect them. For that reason I have taken extra care in presenting the facts as I know them, and I have deliberately a voided mention of things that I count as mere rumor. This account is as accurate as I can possibly make it. Any omissions of fact or failures in this are of course entirely my responsibility. -- by the editor

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GJ - When I served in Columbus I often visited Trinity Seminary for inexpensive books. I saw that the homosexual candidates were being coached on how to avoid The Question when interviewed for ordination. That was in the early 1990s.

Martin Luther:Evil Life versus Evil Doctrine

"Evil life does no great harm except to itself. But evil teaching is the most pernicious thing on earth, for it leads hosts of souls to hell. Whether you are good or bad does not concern me. But I will attack your poisonous and lying teaching, which contradicts God's Word; and with God's help I will oppose it vigorously." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 415.

Luther on Unbelief

"Lo, how the dragon's-tail of the devil and all hell must follow unbelief! The reason is, that he who does not believe in Christ, has already turned away from God and quite separated himself from Him."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 142. Fourth Sunday after Easter, Third Sermon John 16:5-15.

Three Synod Presidents Will Attend Book Debut, Luther versus the UOJ Pietists: Justification by Faith. Brett Meyer Will Also Have JPT Copies

	May 5-6, 2011 Lecturer: The Reverend President Mark G. Schroeder, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. President Mark Schroeder graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1981. He served in the parish as the Pastor of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He then served as president both of Northwestern Preparatory School in Watertown, Wisconsin and of the newly formed Luther Preparatory School on the Watertown campus and guided the amalgamation of two synodical preparatory schools into the new Luther Preparatory School. In July, 2007, he was elected president of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. President Schroeder married his high school sweetheart Andrea (Kuester) in 1977 and they have been blessed with four children. _______________________________ Reactors: The Reverend President Matthew C. Harrison President, The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, St. Louis, MissouriAssistant Pastor, Village Lutheran Church, Ladue, Missouri The Reverend President John A. Moldstad Jr. President, Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Mankato, Minnesota Thursday, May 5, 2011 3:00 p.m. ...................Registration 3:30-5:00 p.m.....................Lecture 5:00 p.m. ...............................TBA 7:00 p.m. .................... Social Hour                             @ Hotel Murano 8:00 p.m. ..........................Banquet                             @ Hotel Murano Friday, May 6, 2011 9:30 a.m..........................................Lecture 11:00 a.m. ........................................Break 11:15 a.m...............................First Reactor 11:35 a.m...........................Second Reactor 11:55 a.m..................................Discussion 1:00 p.m............................No Host Lunch 2:30-4:00 p.m. ....Round Table Discussion

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GJ - Brett Meyer is bringing copies of Luther versus the UOJ Pietists: Justification by Faith, plus copies of Jesus Priceless Treasure, which is a basic introduction to the Christian Faith.

We are glad that three synod presidents will be present.

Luther - Management By Objective

"In like manner, St. Paul says that God's ability is thus proved, in that He does exceeding abundantly above and better than we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20. Therefore, we should know we are too finite to be able to name, picture or designate the time, place, way, measure and other circum­stances for that which we ask of God. Let us leave that entirely to Him, and immovably and steadfastly believe that He will hear us."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 179f. Fifth Sunday after Easter. Ephesians 3:20.

"Those, however, who set the time, place and measure, tempt God, and believe not that they are heard or that they have obtained what they asked; therefore, they also receive nothing."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 172. John 16:23-30.


"If the world were willing to take advice from a simple, plain man--that is, our Lord God (who, after all, has some experience too and knows how to rule)--the best advice would be that in his office and sphere of jurisdiction everybody simply direct his thoughts and plans to carrying out honestly and doing in good faith what has been commanded him and that, whatever he does, he depend not on his own plans and thoughts but commit the care to God. Such a man would certainly find out in the end who does and accomplishes more, he who trusts God or he who would bring success to his cause through his own wisdom and thoughts or his own power and strength."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols.,ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1151. Luke 5:1-11.

Defending Constantine and Christendom

My sister-in-law babysat Hauerwas' boy, which led to my discussing grad study at Notre Dame with him.
I took his ethics seminar and he served on my dissertation committee.

Defending Constantine and Christendom

By Mark Tooley on 5.2.11 @ 6:06AM

  Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom.
By Peter J. Leithart

(IVP Academic, 373 pages, $27)
The destruction of Osama bin Laden underlines how many U.S. church voices, even since 9/11, have adamently insisted that Christianity demands pacifism.

Much of the Evangelical Left, so influential on Christian college campuses and increasingly prominent in Washington, D.C., relies on neo-Anabaptist beliefs. Sojourners activist Jim Wallis, who last week launched a crusade against "cuts" in the 2012 federal budget, adheres partly to this tradition. These neo-Anabaptists demand total pacifism and reject the military. Unlike traditional Anabaptists, they are not separatists, and many exuberantly advocate Big Government control over medical care, food, energy, and virtually all of life. The godfather of sorts for these disjointed neo-Anabaptists was the late Mennonite theologian and Notre Dame professor John Howard Yoder. He joined most Anabaptists in assuming that Christianity was massively corrupted by 4th century Roman Emperor Constantine's embrace of Christianity. The resulting Christendom created over 1,600 years of wars and oppression ostensibly in the name of Christ.

Constantine famously professed Christianity after winning a military battle before which a cross had appeared to him in the sky. His conversion largely ended Rome's persecution of Christians and facilitated Christianity's eventually becoming the majority faith for the West. Constantine is often derided as a brute who usurped the church to enhance his own rule over the empire. His critics note that that he governed and waged war bloodily like all such emperors, and that he purportedly executed his wife and son. The more extreme conspiracists, echoing the Da Vinci Code's fiction, accuse Constantine of imposing theological orthodoxy, even Christ's divinity, upon an obedient Council of Nicaea. Anabaptists typically fault him for turning previously pacifist Christians into willing soldiers for Rome and all subsequent empires. The neo-Anabaptists are most distressed by Christians who support today's American "empire."

In response, Presbyterian theologian Peter Leithart has penned a very important book,   Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom. He not only competently restores Constantine's reputation but also thoughtfully and polemically rebuts the Anabaptists, specifically including John Howard Yoder. A senior fellow at new Saint Andrew College in wonderfully named Moscow, Idaho, Leithart argues that Constantine's conversion was sincere, that his legalization of Christianity was a tremendous relief to the persecuted church, that his Christian inspired legal reforms ameliorated some of Rome's pagan savagery, that he respected the church's autonomy, and that he desacralized the empire and began the end of all civic pagan burnt offerings once so universal. Leithart also persuasively disputes that the early church was decisively pacifist. Despite Anabaptist claims, especially by Yoder, there simply is not sufficient evidence to show the early church had ratified a teaching on military force. Leithart points to the usual New Testament examples of Jesus and His apostles not objecting to force by civil authorities. He also describes the pagan sacrifices once required within the Roman military, probably enhanced in reaction to Christianity's growth, and which prohibited service by Christians who otherwise did not object to legitimate force. Constantine's abolition of state-imposed pagan sacrifices removed this barrier for Christian military service.

Leithart's book is not an unqualified ode to Constantine. He admits that much of Roman law remained brutal, and Constantine was sincere in faith though still inexact in theology and often savagely politically ambitious, like any successful emperor. Constantine was hardly the "thirteenth apostle," as some eastern Christians later portrayed him in their icons. And his main contemporary biographer and apologist, Eusebius, was not flawless, though neither was he merely a propagandist. Leithart thinks Christians of the time were understandably grateful and fulsome in praise for their patron and emperor, who delivered them from centuries of routine persecution and martyrdoms. Leithart also suggests that the ostensible execution of Constantine's wife and son, reputedly in punishment for a tryst between the son and his step-mother, may in fact have been self-induced. The son supposedly died by poisoning, while the wife ostensibly was boiled to death in her bath, possibly, Leithart proposes, while trying to induce an abortion. Even if they were executed, incestuous and treasonous adultery would have demanded the penalty by standards of that day.

Constantine created a new system of sort of religious liberty, in which pagans continued to worship their deities, but without state patronage. The emperor often cited God vaguely enough to incorporate Christians and pagans, creating a new form of civil religion, even while he himself lavished personal patronage on the church and granted bishops some juridical authority. This new civil arrangement, Leithart argues, created a relatively coherent form of mostly harmonious civil arrangement corrupted by later emperors who more assertively suppressed paganism. Still, he credits Constantine for ending nearly once and for all the system of ritual sacrifices so central to virtually every society. The suppression of sacrifices has thankfully persisted to this day, Leithart notes. But he qualifies his thanks by noting that the modern era's nihilism, embodied in genocidal totalitarianism, arguably opened a new form of terrible state-imposed sacrifice.

Leithart is respectful of Yoder while amply illustrating that much of Yoder's version of history was superficial when not completely false. Even Yoder's main disciple, Stanley Hauerwas of Duke University, favorably reviewed Defending Constantine for Christian Century. "Leithart's fundamental criticism of Yoder is that he betrayed his own best insights when he denied the possibility that by God's grace emperors (or whoever is the functional equivalent, such as "the people") might receive a vision sufficient to make them Christian," Hauerwas wrote. "That is a point that I think Yoder would find worth considering."

That God can use armed rulers to achieve His purposes is hardly a profound discovery about omnipotent Divine Providence. But it's still an assertion that befuddles many of Yoder's followers. Oddly, many neo-Anabaptists of today's Evangelical Left, Jim Wallis above all, vigorously assert that the coercive, modern welfare and regulatory state are God's chief instruments for His justice. Leithart does not directly address their claims, and somebody else will have to write that book. But Defending Constantine more than adequately explains that a Roman Emperor's conversion, even amid the squalor and brutality that characterized that age and every age, did overall bolster the church and humanity with it.

Yoder supervised my PhD dissertation.

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GJ - Few people realize that the Christian Byzantine Empire lasted 1100 years, that its power kept the Muslim Ottoman Empire from invading Europe. After Constantinople fell to the Muslims in 1453, the Ottoman Empire moved into Europe and threatened Vienna several times. In fact, the Muslim threat kept the Roman Catholic Emperor from exterminating the Lutheran Reformation. That gave the Lutherans just enough time to get established.

Luther on Sects

"But now these sects are our whetstones and polishers; they whet and grind our faith and doctrine so that, smooth and clean, they sparkle as a mirror. Moreover we also learn to know the devil and his thoughts and become prepared to fight against him."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1269.

Luther - On Afflictions

"He allows the affliction to remain and to oppress; yet He employs different tactics to bestow peace; He changes the heart, removing it from the affliction, not the affliction from the heart. This is the way it is done: When you are sunk in affliction He so turns your mind from it and gives you such consolation that you imagine you are dwelling in a garden of roses."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 285. Pentecost Sunday, John 14:23-31.

A Study of the Lutheran Denominations

Delicious!


An ALC congregation produced this study in light of leaving the ELCA.

Analysis of Lutheran Church Bodies in the United States: Information to Support an Affiliation Recommendation

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GJ - Seeing what ELCA was going to be, I left the LCA before the merger and published my research in Christian News. That was in 1987. The people who supported the merger and promoted it became the detractors and critics after the ELCA Church Wide Assembly 2009 vote, a bit tardy.

My first bishop, Ken Sauer, became one of the founders of the NALC, for the very reasons I left the LCA.

I know about half of the people who signed this 2009 letter of protest, although they had nothing to say except "Halleluia!" in 1987. One of the signers was LI's godmother. She earned a PhD at Yale and helps with the Lutheran Forum.

Quasi-Unitarian Carl Braaten joined the 2009 protest, although he laid the foundation for everything in his academic career. Compared to a hair-on-fire radical, an ordinary apostate like Braaten is a confessional Lutheran. But only in comparison!

Who Is Leaving ELCA?Note the Regional Differences

The Goodsoil lobbying group in ELCA has generated two new church bodies (at least) - the NALC and the LCMC.
There are other lobbying groups as well, such as Lutherans Concerned.


George Erdner, ALPB

As of 1:00 PM, these are the losses of congregations, by synod. For purposes of this analysis, congregations that have left or that are in the process of leaving are counted as "lost". Remember, this is a one-time current snapshot of an ever changing situation. They are ranked by percentage lost, with ties having the same rank.

4E Southwestern Texas Synod Started with 170 Congs, lost (or losing) 28 or 16.5% Rank = 1
9B North Carolina Synod Started with 236 Congs, lost (or losing) 35 or 14.8% Rank = 2
1F Montana Synod Started with 146 Congs, lost (or losing) 19 or 13.0% Rank = 3
5E Western Iowa Synod Started with 165 Congs, lost (or losing) 21 or 12.7% Rank = 4
5F Northeastern Iowa Synod Started with 181 Congs, lost (or losing) 21 or 11.6% Rank = 5
5I East-Central Synod of Wisconsin Started with 141 Congs, lost (or losing) 15 or 10.6% Rank = 6
3C South Dakota Synod Started with 254 Congs, lost (or losing) 26 or 10.2% Rank = 7
2C Pacifica Synod Started with 128 Congs, lost (or losing) 13 or 10.2% Rank = 8
3D Northwestern Minnesota Synod Started with 268 Congs, lost (or losing) 26 or 9.7% Rank = 9
5G Northern Great Lakes Synod Started with 94 Congs, lost (or losing) 9 or 9.6% Rank = 10
2D Grand Canyon Synod Started with 105 Congs, lost (or losing) 10 or 9.5% Rank = 11
5C Central/Southern Illinois Synod Started with 153 Congs, lost (or losing) 13 or 8.5% Rank = 12
5B Northern Illinois Synod Started with 161 Congs, lost (or losing) 13 or 8.1% Rank = 13
1D Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod Started with 106 Congs, lost (or losing) 8 or 7.5% Rank = 14
4B Central States Synod Started with 203 Congs, lost (or losing) 14 or 6.9% Rank = 15
2A Sierra Pacific Synod Started with 204 Congs, lost (or losing) 14 or 6.9% Rank = 16
3G Minneapolis Area Synod Started with 162 Congs, lost (or losing) 11 or 6.8% Rank = 17
6E Northeastern Ohio Synod Started with 203 Congs, lost (or losing) 13 or 6.4% Rank = 18
1C Southwestern Washington Synod Started with 94 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 6.4% Rank = 18
9E Florida-Bahamas Synod Started with 204 Congs, lost (or losing) 13 or 6.4% Rank = 18
6C Indiana-Kentucky Synod Started with 220 Congs, lost (or losing) 14 or 6.4% Rank = 18
6F Southern Ohio Synod  Started with 225 Congs, lost (or losing) 14 or 6.2% Rank = 19
5L La Crosse Area Synod Started with 81 Congs, lost (or losing) 5 or 6.2% Rank = 19
4D Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod Started with 118 Congs, lost (or losing) 7 or 5.9% Rank = 20
2B Southwest California Synod Started with 138 Congs, lost (or losing) 8 or 5.8% Rank = 21
8B Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod Started with 201 Congs, lost (or losing) 11 or 5.5% Rank = 22
6D Northwestern Ohio Synod Started with 185 Congs, lost (or losing) 10 or 5.4% Rank = 23
9D Southeastern Synod Started with 167 Congs, lost (or losing) 9 or 5.4% Rank = 23
4F Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Started with 125 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 4.8% Rank = 24
4A Nebraska Synod Started with 258 Congs, lost (or losing) 12 or 4.7% Rank = 25
6B North/West Lower Michigan Synod Started with 129 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 4.7% Rank = 25
2E Rocky Mountain Synod Started with 173 Congs, lost (or losing) 8 or 4.6% Rank = 26
1B Northwest Washington Synod Started with 112 Congs, lost (or losing) 5 or 4.5% Rank = 27
8D Lower Susquehanna Synod Started with 259 Congs, lost (or losing) 11 or 4.2% Rank = 28
3F Southwestern Minnesota Synod Started with 267 Congs, lost (or losing) 11 or 4.1% Rank = 29
3E Northeastern Minnesota Synod Started with 149 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 4.0% Rank = 30
5D Southeastern Iowa Synod Started with 149 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 4.0% Rank = 30
3I Southeastern Minnesota Synod Started with 184 Congs, lost (or losing) 7 or 3.8% Rank = 31
5H Northwest Synod of Wisconsin Started with 211 Congs, lost (or losing) 8 or 3.8% Rank = 31
9C South Carolina Synod Started with 164 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 3.7% Rank = 32
1E Oregon Synod Started with 121 Congs, lost (or losing) 4 or 3.3% Rank = 33
1A Alaska Synod Started with 31 Congs, lost (or losing) 1 or 3.2% Rank = 34
7D Upstate New York Synod Started with 190 Congs, lost (or losing) 6 or 3.2% Rank = 35
8H West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod Started with 65 Congs, lost (or losing) 2 or 3.1% Rank = 36
9A Virginia Synod Started with 163 Congs, lost (or losing) 5 or 3.1% Rank = 36
3B Eastern North Dakota Synod Started with 231 Congs, lost (or losing) 7 or 3.0% Rank = 37
8F Delaware-Maryland Synod Started with 182 Congs, lost (or losing) 5 or 2.7% Rank = 38
3H Saint Paul Area Synod Started with 116 Congs, lost (or losing) 3 or 2.6% Rank = 39
7C Metropolitan New York Synod Started with 212 Congs, lost (or losing) 5 or 2.4% Rank = 40
6A Southeast Michigan Synod Started with 130 Congs, lost (or losing) 3 or 2.3% Rank = 41
8E Upper Susquehanna Synod Started with 137 Congs, lost (or losing) 3 or 2.2% Rank = 42
5K South-Central Synod of Wisconsin Started with 150 Congs, lost (or losing) 3 or 2.0% Rank = 43
4C Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod Started with 58 Congs, lost (or losing) 1 or 1.7% Rank = 44
8C Allegheny Synod Started with 127 Congs, lost (or losing) 2 or 1.6% Rank = 45
5J Greater Milwaukee Synod Started with 137 Congs, lost (or losing) 2 or 1.5% Rank = 46
7F Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod Started with 166 Congs, lost (or losing) 2 or 1.2% Rank = 47
8A Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod Started with 89 Congs, lost (or losing) 1 or 1.1% Rank = 48
3A Western North Dakota Synod Started with 191 Congs, lost (or losing) 2 or 1.0% Rank = 49
5A Metropolitan Chicago Synod Started with 205 Congs, lost (or losing) 2 or 1.0% Rank = 49
7E Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod Started with 290 Congs, lost (or losing) 1 or 0.3% Rank = 50
7A New Jersey Synod Started with 186 Congs, lost (or losing) 0 or 0.0% Rank = 51
7B New England Synod Started with 186 Congs, lost (or losing) 0 or 0.0% Rank = 51
7G Slovak Zion Synod Started with 26 Congs, lost (or losing) 0 or 0.0% Rank = 51
8G Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod Started with 80 Congs, lost (or losing) 0 or 0.0% Rank = 51
9F Caribbean Synod Started with 34 Congs, lost (or losing) 0 or 0.0% Rank = 51
Grand Total Started with 10396 Congs, lost (or losing) 558 or 5.4%

« Last Edit: April 21, 2011, 03:44:44 PM by George Erdner »

Another Congregation Leaves ELCA Paradise

Stan Olson got riffed at ELCA headquarters, so he is the new president of the faltering Dubuque seminary - Wartburg. His wife (YDS grad) mentioned in the last alumni report that their younger daughter has a female partner.


ALPB

From Pastor Barnhart's blog.

ST. LUKE LUTHERAN CHURCH, MONROE, NC passed second attempt at second vote today, 51-9. They then voted to join LCMC. NC Synod representatives at the meeting told the congregation, their vote was not in order and probably would not be recongized by the Synod or the ELCA. The congregation told them the could do whatever they felt necessary but it would not change things for St. Luke's.

The ELCA is claiming that if a second vote fails, then the congregation has to go back to square one and have a new first vote and a new second vote. The official rules and bylaws don't say that, but then they don't address the issue at all.

As I've asked many, many times before, what can the ELCA do if the congregation simply ignores the ELCA and functions as a congregation of the LCMC? Can the ELCA forcibly take over the congregation? Send one of their pastors next Sunday morning to wrestle with the current pastor over who gets to lead the service?

I wonder if the fact that the congregation has Church real estate worth $1,011,250, Endowment & memorial funds worth $977,351, Cash, savings, bonds worth $30,186, and $0 indebtedness will influence the ELCA's actions. Clearly, if they cared about the people of the church, they would allow them to go in peace.

All numbers from here.

Honoring Requests

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "How To Use the Doctrinal Graphics":

I for one, miss the cats. Funny how easily the cats got under the apostates skins.

Can we agree on at least one cat a week?

Lenski on Hucksters Adulterating the Word of God

"It is the same thought as that expressed in 2:17. Some preachers, like hucksters, are ready to dicker about the Word of God as though they can discount something to make a sale, as though the deal is between them and men alone. This is what Paul also means by adulterating the Word of God, mixing in unrealities to make the Word acceptable to men." R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's First and Second Letter to the Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1957, p. 957. 2 Corinthians 4:2. 2 Corinthians 2:17.

Engelder Against Lenski on Justification by Faith

"As to the doctrine in general, Lenski repudiates and ridicules the teaching that on Easter morning God forgave, really forgave, all the world all its sins, really and truly justified the world. He protests against making objective reconciliation, general justification, mean that God on Easter morning did actually pronounce the world, all individuals making up the world, really innocent of all sin and guilt." Theodore Engelder, Objective Justification, Concordia Theological Monthly, 1933, Ft. Wayne: Concordia Seminary Press, n.d. p. 508. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

Quasidmodogeniti, The First Sunday after Easter

"The Incredulity of Saint Thomas" by Caravaggio



Quasimodogeniti, The First Sunday after Easter, 2011


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Savings Time


The Hymn # 199 Jesus Christ is Risen 1:83
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #200 I Know that My Redeemer 1:80

Faith Comes from Hearing the Word Preached

The Communion Hymn #187 Christ Is Arisen 1:45
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 195 (Luther) Christ Jesus 1:46

First Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee, that of Thine ineffable grace, for the sake of Thy Son, Thou hast given us the holy gospel, and hast instituted the holy sacraments, that through the same we may have comfort and forgiveness of sin: We beseech Thee, grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that we may heartily believe Thy word; and through the holy sacraments day by day establish our faith, until we at last obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

KJV 1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

KJV John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Faith Comes from Hearing the Word Preached
John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Lenski:
In his risen and glorified state time, space, the rock of the tomb, the walls and the doors of buildings no longer hamper the body of Jesus. He appears where he desires to appear, and his visible presence disappears when he desires to have it so. This is wholly supernatural, wholly incomprehensible to our minds. Nor may we ask or seek to comprehend where Jesus stayed during the intervals between his appearances during the forty days. When our bodies shall eventually enter the heavenly mode of existence, we may know something of these supreme mysteries, but we doubt if even then we shall really comprehend the profundities of the divine omnipresence of which the human nature of Jesus partakes and which he exercised since his vivification in the tomb as in these wondrous appearances. “He came and stood in their midst” is all that human thought and language can say. He did not walk through anything. The disciples did not see him take so many steps from the door or the wall to their midst. He was there, and that was all.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 1365.

KJV John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

The text begins with a miracle, one that is denied for various bad reasons. Calvin did not allow for Jesus appearing in the locked room, unless He came in a secret way. Calvin believed the human nature of Christ limited His divine nature, but there were already several examples of the same kind of movement before in the Gospels. Two times an angry crowd surrounded Jesus but He passed through them. Another example would be His walking on the water.

We do not question God’s presence or ability when we pray. We normally pray in the Name of Christ, which is what He commanded and urged. Does anyone think Jesus left His humanity behind so He could hear us through His divine nature? That runs into all kinds of absurdities. That is why human reason is destructive when the Word of God is subordinated to it. Or, to put it another way – If the Word of God must be reasonable, eventually it will be nothing more that what human reason can accept. That is the path to Unitarianism and atheism.

Instead, we use all our God-given abilities to understand and appreciate what God reveals in His Word through the power of the Holy Spirit. That Word is so powerful that we know and experience it. We know it is true and we experience its truth at the same time.

In contrast, those who subject the Word of God to the test of their human reason and experience will find themselves blinded by their own vanity. Countless false teachers have bragged about their new insights and promoted them as unique bits of wisdom hidden from everyone else. One man in New England decided the Trinity did not exist. He began services in the name of the One God and people remained with him. That was the birth of Unitarianism in New England. It was not exactly new. In the Reformation it was called Socianism, but he thought it was special.

New England today is deeply affected by this Unitarianism. One LCA pastor told me decades ago, “We stand outside church on Sunday and beg people to visit.” He was joking, but it was bleak there. Fitting in meant being as Unitarian as the natives, and that naturally happened.

I asked one LCA group, as I was leaving, “What is our message? Join our church and help burn down the bank on the corner?” The moderator looked at his watch and said, “It’s time for lunch.” Everyone emptied the room.

The doors (plural) were locked because of fear. This is a lesson where fear and faith are contrasted. The plural suggests that the outside door was locked, and the room door was also locked. If I thought a mob might kill me too, I would lock every door, too.

Their fears were reasonable, and that is worth considering. They had every right, apart from faith, to be afraid. And yet they were the chosen disciples who had been told what would happen. The passion of Christ did take place as predicted, so they should have been full of faith.

The disciples often make very good stand-ins for us, because we should not be afraid but full of faith. We know as much as they did and also have their examples of timidity, but we still lock all the doors instead of trusting Christ. We can look back on their histories and say, “Christ was not going to let them die. Instead He planned to send them across the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel.”

This is what we can overlook about evil. If evil happens, it is because of man’s sinfulness. But God lets evil take place in a limited form. He also transforms that evil for those who believe in Him. Thus the hymn-writer Paul Gerhardt was subjected to a lifetime of tragic and painful experiences, but God transformed those events into beautiful poetry, the best hymns (along with Luther’s) in the Christian faith. When I hear a newer classic Christian hymn, I often think, “Which Gerhardt hymn is he trying to emulate?”

Gerhardt was a man with unique gifts, a mild disposition, and sound doctrine. But the doctrine got him in trouble, and he lost most of his family, his wife and all his children but one. Every one of his hymns expresses love of God, trust in His wisdom, and thankfulness for His blessings.

In the same way, the persecution of the Gospel in New Testament times drove the Christians to the corners of the Roman Empire. The persecutions were sporadic, so Christians were able to settle in, copy Scriptures, and train leaders. Then it would start up again. Thus through the evil of persecution the Word went to the corners of the world.

came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Jesus, after being abandoned by the disciples (except John), just as He predicted, and denied by Peter, as He predicted, came into their midst and said “Peace.” He might have denounced their sinfulness, but He came to show them His risen state and to nurture their faith.

His appearance in the locked room revealed the everlasting union of His divine and human natures. He appeared there - as only God could do, and yet His body showed the dreadful scars of His crucifixion.

John 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw Him. They already believed in His resurrection, because the disciples saw the empty tomb, as the women reported. The Emmaus disciples (Luke 24:13) also reported being with Him and eating with Him. Mary Magdalene already spoke with Him (John 20:11), blinded by her own tears until He spoke her name.

We see in the resurrection accounts a building up of the followers’ faith, with repeated and varied appearances, accompanied by teaching them the Word of God.

John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

This peace greeting is very important to understand and appreciate. It is not only God’s blessing but also a special blessing by itself. Jesus was giving them His peace, meaning that He would preserve their peace even when all the world was raging around them. Peace follows justification by faith and salvation – for all believers – and this peace offered them by Jesus, by His Word, is one that took them through their fiery trials and deaths as martyrs.

Indeed, nothing was so disconcerting to the pagan Romans as seeing the Christians die peacefully in their stadiums, while being torn apart by wild beasts. The luxury loving and slave owning Romans had all the material blessings life could offer, and the Christians were mostly riff-raff, the slaves, the former criminals. They were the bottom of society, but they had the peace that elude the pleasure-loving Romans.

Jesus also taught them the continuity between His mission, from the Father, and theirs, from Him. Just as He spoke the Father’s will, so will they speak the Son’s will. As He said, “When they hear you, they hear Me.” That is just as true for those who reject the Word. “When they reject you, they reject me.”

John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

The continuity also includes the Holy Spirit, which is often overlooked. People have said correctly that the Pentecostal movement began precisely because the work of the Holy Spirit was neglected in the teaching of the visible church. The miraculous element was downplayed, for instance. How many have heard that Holy Communion itself is a miracle of the Holy Spirit?

More importantly, the union of the Holy Spirit and the Word was neglected to the point of total amnesia. We can speak of the Holy Spirit’s work and the effect of the Word interchangeably. They are never independent of each other and never without effect.

The disciples, in receiving the Holy Spirit, would write their works inspired directly by God. They would pray and perform miracles through the Spirit. They would preach through the Spirit. Knowing their limitations, they would recognize and teach that their miraculous results were from God the Spirit, not from their inventory of spiritual gifts (a Fuller gimmick).

John 20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

The ministry of the keys include both loosing (absolving) and binding (not absolving). In the Middle Ages, no one was ever really forgiving, so there was no loosing key. Today we have universal and cheap grace, so everyone is forgiven (no binding key). The purpose of the keys is to discern god repentance and faith from a lack of repentance.

The disciples were given this power to teach the true Church.

John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

No reason is given, but Thomas was not there. Another glimpse of him was fearing that they would all die in Jerusalem when they went to the funeral and raising of Lazarus.

He was called “The Twin” but we remember him as Doubting Thomas.

John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

The testimony of the other disciples was not enough for him, a telling point for each and every one of them. They would soon be preaching to people who never saw Jesus before or after the resurrection. How could they believe, based on the criteria of Thomas – seeing and touching?

His unbelieving boasting is to be contrasted with the actual event, a gap which many fail to see.

Doubting Thomas Sunday, One Week Later, Quasimodo Geniti

John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

This is an important detail. All the doors were still locked because the disciples were still afraid. And yet Jesus appeared before them and still wished them Peace.

That is why we say “Gracious Lord,” because Jesus is full of forgiveness for our grave weaknesses and timidity. Instead of looking at all our sins and doubts, He builds up our faith to receive His righteousness. He builds us slowly through His Word, as He did the disciples.

Lenski:
Unbelief always was and always will be unreasonable. This is glaringly plain in the case of Thomas. For him all this unanimous testimony of all these people, whose character for veracity he knew so Well, amounts to nothing. The fact that all of them, like himself, had never dreamed of Jesus’ resurrection, had thought it impossible, and had then been convinced from this unbelief by overwhelming evidence, affects Thomas in an opposite way: he determines to set himself against them all. The more they speak to him and the more they present the facts, the more stubborn Thomas becomes. He has been called “doubting Thomas,” but he does not doubt, he is openly unbelieving. He challenges the evidence the others present. They have only seen—seeing does not count. If he is to believe he demands two lines of evidence, seeing plus feeling with his own finger and his own hand. And even the feeling must be twofold, that of the holes in Jesus’ hands and that of the gash in his side. Thomas demands what he deems a real test. What the other disciples claim to have is not nearly enough for him. Here the silliness of unbelief comes to view. If sight can be deceived, sight which takes in so much, what assurance has Thomas that feeling, which takes in far less, will not also be deceived?
The disciples had seen Jesus, but think of the wonder of that sight! Recall Luke 24:30, 31 and 35; John 19:19, the locked doors; v. 20, his hands and his side; Luke 24:39, “handle me and see”; v. 41–43, he ate fish and honeycomb. This was seeing indeed. Some had held his feet in worship (Matt. 28:9); Mary Magdalene had clung to him (John 20:17); they all had also heard him speak. Here is the pride, haughtiness, and arrogance of unbelief: it sets up a criterion of its own. It will have what it demands. The unbeliever makes himself a superior person, looking down on believers as credulous fools who cannot be trusted. The wisdom of the unbeliever exceeds that of all other men. Thomas is surely typical of the entire class. But all this action of unbelief reveals that, while it pretends to obey reason and genuine intelligence alone, it does nothing of the kind. It is actuated by an unreasoning and unreasonable will, I secret, stubborn determination, unacknowledged by the unbeliever himself, not to believe (7:17).
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 1380


John 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

This address to Thomas is one of confrontation and rebuke. Jesus commanded Thomas to touch His hands and reach His wounded side. Lenski takes the position, which is entirely fitting, that Jesus commanded and Thomas obeyed. Thomas demanded to touch the wounds, and Jesus took him at his word. Jesus also told the Emmaus disciples to handle Him (Luke 24:39).

Lenski: “The decisive factor is the command of Jesus.”

Taking this approach, we have three people at least who touched the risen Lord and could preach about this experience. The early Church was built upon the preaching of the resurrection, and the witness of 500+ people who saw and heard Him.

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

This is a combination of the Word of Christ and Thomas obeying Him. Three men were crucified and killed. One Man returned to life, and He bore the scars, which Thomas touched.

Thomas the unbeliever became Thomas the believer, through the Word and obedience to Jesus’ command.

John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Jesus moved from the miracle of faith in Thomas to the greater miracle of faith the audiences would experience from preaching the Gospel.

John 20:30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

This conclusion to John’s Gospel (there are two conclusions) leads me to think that faith is good, God-pleasing, and the way of salvation.

The entire Gospel was written down to create and sustain faith, to be the power behind justification by faith.

Quotations

"Thus we have two parts, preaching and believing.  His coming to us is preaching; His standing in our hearts is faith.  For it is not sufficient that He stand before our eyes and ears; He must stand in the midst of us in our hearts, and offer and impart to us peace."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1983, II,  p. 355.               

"This is going through closed doors, when He comes into the heart through the Word, not breaking nor displacing anything.  For when the Word of God comes, it neither injures the conscience, nor deranges the understanding of the heart and the external senses; as the false teachers do who break all the doors and windows, breaking through like thieves, leaving nothing whole and undamaged, and perverting, falsifying and injuring all life, conscience, reason, and the senses.  Christ does not do thus."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 355. 

"Hence I send you into the world as my Father hath sent me; namely, that every Christian should instruct and teach his neighbor, that he may also come to Christ.  By this, no power is delegated exclusively to popes and bishops, but all Christians are commanded to profess their faith publicly and also to lead others to believe."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 359.   

          

"The first and highest work of love a Christian ought to do when he has become a believer, is to bring others also to believe in the way he himself came to believe.  And here you notice Christ begins and institutes the office of the ministry of the external Word in every Christian; for He Himself came with this office  and the external Word."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 359.

"Now God drives us to this by holding the law before us, in order that through the law we may come to a knowledge of ourselves.  For where there is not this knowledge, one can never be saved.  He that is well needs no physician; but if a man is sick and desires to become well, he must know that he is weak and sick, otherwise he cannot be helped."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 370. 

"For the devil will not allow a Christian to have peace; therefore Christ must bestow it in a manner different from that in which the world has and gives, in that he quiets the heart and removes from within fear and terror, although without there remain contention and misfortune."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 380.   

               

"Reformed theologians, in order to support their denial of the illocalis modus subsistendi of Christ's human nature, have sought, in their exposition of John 20, an opening in the closed doors, or a window, or an aperture in the roof or in the walls, in order to explain the possibility of Christ's appearance in the room where the disciples were assembled."

            Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., St. Louis:  Concordia Publishing House, 1950, II, p. 127.

Pastor Tim's Church and Change Catechism

Bishop Katie and Ski bragged about worshiping with Babtist Stanley at the Drive conference. Glende attended, too.
Pastor Tim routinely plagiarizes Groeschel sermons, "to keep St. Peter, Freedom from dying." WELS does nothing.

I have been sorting out the doctrinal orthodoxy of WELS Pastor Tim Glende, whose glowering and erratic blog is devoted to denouncing me as a heretic. I wish more would do the same, because polemics bring out the truth. Most blogs are efforts in mutual praise and self-affirmation. There is more content in a Kodak commercial.

According to Tim, it is a terrible sin to quote a General Council Lutheran theologian, but life-saving to plagiarize Groeschel, who was trained United Methodist and joined a non-confessional Pietist sect.

According to Tim, all my quotations from Lutherans are bad and damaging, even when I suggest that they study collections of Lutheran theologians. But Tim has devoted himself to studying with non-Lutherans and anti-confessionals, including the Babtist Andy Stanley and the cussing Mark Driscoll.

According to Tim, I am wrong to mention Lenski, but Lenski is considered an automatic purchase for WELS students. Most people would puzzle over the contradiction, except for the fact that Lenski taught justification by faith, as Luther did and the Bible does.

According to Tim, it is damning to study at Yale, a sin that cannot be erased by UOJ, unless we are talking about his Uncle John Brug, who also spent some time at Yale.

According to Tim, the entire world (with the possible exception of moi) has been been absolved of all sin, without the Word of God, without the Means of Grace, without faith. But Tim is not exactly gracious with anyone who disagrees with him, since his own member had to seek protection from the Synod President and blog about the abuse, deceit, and false doctrine at St. Peter, Freedom.

According to Tim, he has not plagiarized Groeschel, but he had the Circuit Pastor canned when he was confronted with his dishonest practices. Visitors noticed the amazing similarity between all of Tim's "work" and the Groeschel packaged service of sermon, graphics, and promotions.

According to Tim, I am a unionist, because I graduated from Yale and Notre Dame, but I did not attend non-Lutheran schools or events as a WELS pastor - except for the one his home parish promoted for Church Growth, because a member asked me to do so and report on it for Christian News. Tim grew up in a non-WELS congregation, St. Paul in German Village, but no one would know that from his sanctimonious blog.

Tim, Ski, and Bishop Katie took in every possible Emergent Church training event. I am not sure exactly how many Tim attended, but Katie tweeted about all the ones she attended with Ski. They were both members of the St. Peter, Freedom staff. Ski is still a member of that staff, along with his new assistant pastor. Although they pretend to be two different congregations, St. Peter Freedom and The CORE are the same congregation, multi-site, as in Emergent Church (Stanley, Driscoll, Groeschel, ad nauseum).

Tim likes to brag that he is reaching out to everyone, but glories in his pseudo-WELSiness. After all, he was not a member of a WELS congregation until he was ordained and called to one. His home congregation practiced open communion, women's suffrage, and Masonic communion. St. Paul in German Village promoted Floyd Stolzenburg as a pseudo-pastor of Church Growth, after he was kicked out of Missouri for cause. No one will ever read that on Tim's blog.

Tim does not work hard, although he has plenty of spare time, with Groeeschel writing his sermons and bulletin inserts for him. Even then he is reduced to copying his own previous posts.

Getting a Response

A Missouri Synod pastor called me "Johnny One Note" for writing about justification by faith, as I mentioned before. Let's do a Groeschel quiz. The Reformation was based on ____________ . No fair looking it up on Wikipedia.

A pastor who says he is devoted to sound doctrine warned me about "biting and devouring" in regards to his quasi-demi-semi-UOJ stance.

"Error loves ambiguities," as Henry Eyster Jacobs wrote. We often use the Jacobs hymn for Holy Communion. The Word teaches the Real Presence. There is no compromise language allowed to bridge the gap between the Scriptures and the Zwinglian denial of the Real Presence.

Likewise, the recent Pietistic formulations about an imaginary universal absolution are not in harmony with the Scriptures and are definitely at odds with the Book of Concord. The struggles to connect Luther or the Confessions with UOJ would be comical if they were not tragic.

When anger erupts because of the Scriptures, the truth of God's Word is displaying its effectiveness. The personal attacks only underline that efficacy. A weak argument is never advanced by name-calling, but that does not keep false teachers from trying. Intimidation and manipulation are also tools of their Father Below.

Threats do not work well against someone with nothing material to take away. Threats also fall on deaf ears when the Word of God is everything.

KJV Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

How To Use the Doctrinal Graphics

The Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) is now a Muslim museum.

People report enjoying the doctrinal graphics. The seven-day favorites view shows people are clicking on them. So far I am linking them in a menu on the left.

Later I will have a post where all the older ones are linked together and sorted. I also plan on adding the words below the graphic, so readers can kelm the quotes which are embedded in the graphic.

Feel free to copy my doctrinal graphics and use them without giving credit to me. To make a copy, right click on the graphic and choose "save image as" on the list. I used to save in MyPictures, and I still do, but I use sub-folders created in advance, to keep them sorted.

You can also Tweet and email posts to others, using the little menu below each post. One reader, known only as 29a, prints the sermons and gives them to a relative each week.

If you want to be a faithful Lutheran, memorize the doctrinal quotations and meditate upon their meaning. You will be rewarded with a deeper knowledge of the Word of God. Later, you will feel like the only sober person at a drunken party. The drunks will notice and disapprove.

WELS Discipline

This Will Never Happen among the Syn Conference Leaders

Ben Wink on WELS Evaporative Calls

Ben Wink has left a new comment on your post "No Creed But Willow Creek - That Is the Syn Confer...":

Grumpy,

I know from my own experience of at least one person who didn't receive a call in 2003, and then didn't get preference when the 2004 graduate calls came out.

When I graduated MLC in 2002 as a staff minister, I basically believe that they did not know what to do with me, but as they were trying to promote staff ministry (not a whole lot mind you), they gave me a one-year call.

After that one-year call was up, the 2003 call list came out and I wasn't on it. Then 2004, nothing. 2005, nothing. All the way through to almost 2011's call day now and I still haven't heard anything. Supposedly after a certain amount of time where they haven't given you a call, you are then simply plucked off the list of available candidates for no other reason other than you're embarrassing them.

Now I know that staff ministry graduates have been given calls in the intervening years. And to actual staff ministry jobs and not just teaching gigs because they went as a double track. So what gives?

In those intervening years I was completely cynical about the entire experience and now I am more of a realist with cynical tendencies. My view of staff ministry was to be a called helper for the church and school (if they had one) in any capacity that I could aid and assist the pastor and teachers. During my internship for instance, I never prepared or gave sermons but I did do shut in visits, helped with the youth groups and VBS, led the 55 and over Bible study, helped teach Catechism classes, led adult Bible class, was a communion assistant and an usher, did first time visitor follow-up contact, etc.

Nothing too radical and new agey about it. I went to MLC for five years, did the one-year internship and I graduated. Then a one-year call. Then nothing. The only place that could give me a job decided not to do so. Others graduated after me, some got calls, others not, but I can wager that those who didn't are still sitting around waiting for the call. That is if they haven't moved on with their lives like I had to in order to earn a living for me and my family.

Part 2 to continue...

Part 2

By the way, the one-year call thing I firmly believe is a convenient way to make the list of called graduates look more impressive than it actually is. Because who remembers that MLC 2007 graduate with the one-year call that then got nothing in 2008? No one but the student and their family. Oh, and the Conference of Presidents too because the list looks good, they don't have to bring them up when the next year's list comes out, and it looks like they actually did their job.

And then the cycle starts all over again. And to all you MLC students out there: think about your schooling carefully. Get a degree that you can use out there in the world. Because all I got with my staff min degree was the ribbon around it on graduation day. And don't think that it cannot happen to you. And don't think that you'll have any spiritual and/or emotional support from MLC after you've left there without a call. You'd think you'd get better treatment from a Christian college, but sadly that is rather naive thinking. The only regular contact you get is envelopes in the mail asking for financial support. Which they somehow want even though you didn't get a job in on call day.

I stumbled around in the dark for a couple of years because of this. MLC wanted nothing to do with me. I stopped attending church for a while, which was ironic because I waited everyday for a visit or contact with my church elders so I could chide them for waiting this long to get in touch with me, but that church didn't even bother. They might even still have me on the membership rolls. I even wrote an article for the Forward in Christ that was published, after they edited it a bit by eliminating the word "call" and inserting "assignment". Remember kids, if you get a call it is divine, but if you don't then it is an assignment with no divinity attached to it.

Finally, how do we know that God only has need of us for one-year at a place? That seems rather specific in an odd way that doesn't really have a Scriptural base. I mean if we pull at that string more, you could probably say the same for staff ministry, but I'll go with the deacon description for that. But the COP knows that this person is needed for only 365 days starting right after graduation. That this ISN'T regarded as ludicrous is even more ludicrous.

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GJ - The Doctrinal Pussycate will remind anyone that he can "march in and get rid of someone on the spot," although that never happens to those with Church and Change tattoos on their foreheads.