Rolf Preus Has a Good Summary about Different Synods

 

Walther and Heiser: CFW made himself the Pope. Heiser made himself the Bishop.

Pastor Rolf Preus on LutherQuest

Now in in ELS, it's different. They follow the WELS doctrine of the church that places the synod above the pastors and congregations. When the synodical president demanded that I retract a paper I had written without showing me where I erred either in fact or in doctrine, my ELS congregation believed that I was duty bound to obey him because they thought he was my boss. He wasn't. But they believed he was, so they rescinded my call when I refused to obey him. That's how it works in the W/ELS. That's not how it works in the LCMS. Despite all of its flaws (and there are many!), in the LCMS the synod is advisory only. In the W/ELS, the synod is the boss. It appears to be that that's also the way it is in the LCR. These micro-synods tend to be quite authoritarian. Consider ELDoNA with their "bishop" Heiser. He's the man. In Missouri, we treat our DPs and the SP with respect, but we don't take orders from them.

The Joint Rolf-Jim Synod did not last very long.

Call in the WELS Church Growth Stars! - The Church of Rome Is Sinking As Fast As The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)!

 

Think how much the Vatican could do for Thrivent, and Thrivent for them!

Catholic Faith: The End of the Italian Privilege

In figures, we go from 37.3% of the population attending Sunday Mass in 1993 to 23.7% in 2019—bearing in mind that declared attendance is always higher than actual attendance, which means that the actual figures are even lower. These are global figures—regardless of gender or age. The researcher also observes other new trends: for example, the growing disaffection of women for Mass, when traditionally, and particularly in Italy, they were seen as ‘pillars of the parish.’ Another worrying phenomenon is that older people, who were once known to return to the faith with age after a period away from the practice, are less and less returning to church. As a result, Sunday gatherings, hitherto dominated by women and the elderly, will soon be disappearing.

Devotees of The Dancing Word may have been a set-back.

The leader is below.

WELS has done worse, with a pastor cross-dressing in the pulpit - to illustrate the woman at the well. He became the head of one of the failing parts of the sect, because a DP was his dad.

Professor Diotallevi’s diagnosis is therefore very gloomy: soon, in Italy, attendance at Sunday Mass “will be reduced to a figure approaching 10% of the population, which in many parts of the country corresponds to an actual figure in the single digits.”

They are a team! Count on them! Glory in their success.

These guys are fix-it champions - the orans (angel) pose, clashing purples, bishop's hat, and Covid masks. 

Ichabod has a few answers to this threnody.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Second Sunday after Easter - "Accordingly, they should not be driven with rigor, but should be comforted, even though they are weak, lest they be driven to despair; and in time they will grow stronger."

 

Misericordias Domini. Second Sunday After Easter. John 10:11-16. Christ’s Office and Kingdom; or How Christ is the True Shepherd

11. Here you see that Christ’s kingdom is to be concerned about the weak, the sick, the broken, that he may help them. That is, indeed, a comforting declaration. The only trouble is that we do not realize our needs and infirmities. If we realized them, we would soon flee to him. But how did those shepherds act? They ruled with rigor, and applied God’s Law with great severity; and, moreover, they added their own commandments, as they still do, and when these were not fulfilled, they raved and condemned, so that they were driving and driving and exhorting and exacting, continually. That is no proper way to tend and keep souls, says Christ. He is no such shepherd as that; for no one is benefited, but is rather wholly undone, by such a course, as we shall presently hear. Now let us consider this citation from the prophet in its order.

12. First, he says: The sheep that are weak are to be strengthened; that is, consciences weak in faith and troubled in spirit and of tender disposition are not to be driven and told: You must do this. You must be strong. If you are weak, you are lost. That is not strengthening the weak. St. Paul, speaking to the Romans (Romans 14:1) says: “But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of scruples.” And shortly afterwards (Romans 15:1) he says: “Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” Accordingly, they should not be driven with rigor, but should be comforted, even though they are weak, lest they be driven to despair; and in time they will grow stronger.

13. Isaiah, the prophet, speaks of Christ likewise (Isaiah 42:3): “A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick will he not quench.” The bruised reeds are poor, tender consciences, which are easily distracted so that they tremble and despair of God. He does not fly at them then, and trample them under foot; that is not his way. But he deals with them gently, lest he break them to pieces. Again, the dimly burning wick, which still burns at least, though there be more smoke than fire there, he does not wholly quench, but lights, and again and again trims it. That is a great consolation, indeed, to such as experience it; and, therefore, he who does not deal gently with tender consciences is no good shepherd.

14. Secondly, the prophet says: “Neither have ye healed the sick.” Who are the sick? They are those who are manifestly deficient in certain of their works. The first clause has reference to tender consciences; the second, to outward conduct. As, for instance, when one growls and sulks, and now and then lapses, and in anger and other foolish ways oversteps the bounds; even as the apostles, at times, grievously stumbled. But even those who in their outward works before men manifest their shortcomings, so that people are offended at them and say that they are rude and peculiar, he will not cast away; for his kingdom here below is not so constituted as to embrace only the strong and the whole, as it will be in the life to come. Christ is sent here that he might receive and help just such people.

See America from the Air

  

I signed up for a streaming service that included Aerial America, which can be found on the Internet in many different fashions - great cities, nature, etc. I started with the 50 states, about 50 minutes for each video.

The narration is fairly balanced and surprisingly good about the history of Christians in various states. I also enjoy mentions of inventers, politicians, military heroes, and insights about each state. Arkansas got a big boost on the Walton Empire but omitted Tyson's meat, which gives Springdale the nickname Chickendale. 

One of my graduate students mentioned living in four different countries on her route to America. That made me think even more about the states Charlie Sue and I have viewed. What a wonderful, God-created country we have. Our wealth in agriculture and minerals is staggering, and we enjoy every kind of climate. Our Founders were so wise that the U.S. Constitution continues to serve us to this day. No other country has that claim.

I enjoyed undergraduate students, especially when they began yapping about rights and the law. Asking them about the Bill of Rights was too much. One student insisted that health care was a Constitutional right, so I invited him to explain where that is stated. 

My public school teachers had a great love for America, and one of my favorites served in the Philippines in WWII. She liked to tell a little bit about serving during WWII.

I know a lot about America from our 52 year slo-mo vacation. We had some great vacations but we enjoyed living in many different places - Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Arkansas. People make fun of Arkansas, but I point out to them that we have a strict dress code for shoppers - Wear shoes!

A strange twist of fate has given me access to students from all over the world, because online teaching has made that possible.

One of my Moline classmates, John F. Baker,
received the Medal of Honor for his service in Viet Nam.

No Way, Way - WELS Stealth Congregation Comes on Little Cat Feet

What we are a part of 

The Way is are a proud member of an international church body called the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). The WELS has been around since 1850 and, while headquartered in Wisconsin, serves hundreds of thousands of Christians in North America and around the world. To be Lutheran means that we accept the scriptural truths that ignited the reformation of the Christian church in the 16th century and led to a renewed focus on the gospel.

A PLACE FOR YOU

The Way Church is located in Fredericksburg VA, and aims to connect you with Christ and community through its relationship-based ministries, great kids program, Bible-centered messages and welcoming environment.

GJ - WELS hides its identity as much as possible, but the grammar lessons give it away. "The Way" is rather vague.

They have their own Merch Page. I love churches that are so cool, as of 15 years ago. This is their unisex shirt.

$23.50

Reformation Seminary - 11 AM Central - Son of God, Son of Man, Angel of the Lord

 

Son of God, Son of Man, Angel of the Lord

1. KJV Daniel 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

2. The Son of Man is frequently used by Jesus in the Gospels. Scholars are divided - the modernist, rationalist scholars assume that the Son of Man is different from Jesus. One British professor was published, her argument stating that there are two individuals in the Son of Man, Jesus distancing Himself from that title. She took that back later and was snt to the Third World to teach. The modernists even argue that Jesus was only teaching His humanity since they do not believe His divinity. 

3. The modernists or rationalists view such titles as mythical, which also applies to the miracles, which are either mythical or have mysterious effects of the human mind. The Historical Critical Method rejects anything stemming from God, and that has been the basis for most denominations since the 1930s. Objective Faithless Justification is a version of the HCM, and OFJ.

WikiPedia - German theologian Rudolf Bultmann sees the phrase not as one genuinely used by Jesus but as one inserted by the early Church,^{[11] [Always the excuse in current "scholarship."]}

^{Ezekiel - Son of man is used 93 times referring to the prophet.}

^{Angel of the Lord}

Here is a great way to search results, using one name, and being linked to that passage, with other verses before and after.  <- Use this regularly ->https://thekingsbible.com/Concordance/footstool

KJV Genesis 

22:11

And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

22:15	And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
22:16	And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
22:17	That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
22:18	And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. Dan 8:16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. Dan 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. Luke 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, A student of the Bible will learn more from the Scriptures than from commentaries.

One Reason Why We Must Know and Teach - I AM the Good Shepherd

 

There are many titles of majesty in the Bible. Norma Boeckler has illustrated 50 of them. There is only one Name of God - I AM.

KJV Exodus 3:13 

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM That I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

One member has kidded me about emphasizing this as the Name of God so often. But I would not need to do this, if pastors knew the Old Testament, learned some Greek, and opened it to John 8. 

The pivotal moment happens when Jesus revealed Himself openly as I AM, the Name of God.

KJV John 8

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.

The opponents picked up stones to murder Him, which means they knew exactly what Jesus meant. They were speaking to God in the Flesh, the Word Incarnate and naming The Name Above All Others.

Jesus simply passed through the mob, proving that His divinity was not limited by His humanity. The Word of God is always effective, always united with the power of the Holy Spirit. Wolves do not confirm faith but brag about their non-faith. Their greatest wish is to extirpate any suggestion that we are Justified by Faith in Jesus Christ, Who gives access to His grace through believing in Him (Romans 5:1-2, try it!). If the clergy would only look long enough, they might see through their blindness and realize their hardness of heart. 

KJV 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me...

Yes, put away your Pope-blessed three-year-lectionary, which seeks to dilute and disperse any hope for a consistent Bible version, the more variety and money earned, the better. God brought the printing press into use in the West. China used the press long before that. The Reformation was spread through the printing press in many languages, and now the Gospel is being marketed, rebuked, diluted, ignored, mocked, and hidden away in their precious Apocrypha, through the printing press and Internet. 

A Special Note from Luther and God's Word - For Managers of The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

 

Complete Sermon -> Misericordias Domini. Second Sunday After Easter. John 10:11-16. Christ’s Office and Kingdom; or How Christ is the True Shepherd

8. Hence, all that we preachers can do is to become the mouthpieces and instruments of Christ our Lord, through whom he proclaims the Word bodily. He sends forth the Word publicly so that all may hear it, but that the heart inwardly experiences it, that is effected through faith and is wrought by Christ in secret where he perceives that it can be done according to his divine knowledge and pleasure. That is why he says: “I am the good shepherd.” And what is a good shepherd? “The good shepherd,” says Christ, “layeth down his life for the sheep; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” In this one virtue the Lord comprehends and exemplifies all others in the beautiful parable of the sheep. Sheep, you know, are most foolish and stupid animals. When we want to speak of anybody’s stupidity we say, “He is a sheep.” Nevertheless, it has this trait above all other animals, that it soon learns to heed its shepherd’s voice and will follow no one but its shepherd, and though it cannot help and keep and heal itself, nor guard itself against the wolf, but is dependent upon others, yet it always knows enough to keep close to its shepherd and look to Him for help.

They hate the King James Version, but love the corrupted and ever-changing Bibles. They ordain and commission hungry wolves which prey upon widows, using the Irrevocable Annuity Trust. They promote hazing to make future wolves more like them. They teach against faith in Jesus Christ, praising themselves for advocating guilt-free sinners in Hell. They approve women's ordination to pave the way to gay ordination. And yet, even now, their appetites are insatiable.

Daily Lutheran Sermon Quote - Second Sunday after Easter - "They who hear and believe it belong to this kingdom, and the Word then becomes so mighty that it provides all that man may need and bestows all the blessings that we may desire."

 

Complete Sermon -> Misericordias Domini. Second Sunday After Easter. John 10:11-16. Christ’s Office and Kingdom; or How Christ is the True Shepherd

6. You have heard that after his sufferings and death Christ our Lord arose from the dead and entered upon, and was enthroned in, an immortal existence. Not that he might sit up there in heaven idly and find pleasure in himself, but that he might take charge of the kingdom of which the prophets and all the Scriptures have so fully spoken, and might rule as a king. Therefore, we should think of him as being present and reigning among us continually, and never think of him as sitting up there doing nothing, but rather that he from above fills and rules all things, as Paul says to the Ephesians 4:10, and especially that he is taking care of his kingdom, which is the Christian faith, and that therefore his kingdom among us here on earth must prosper. This kingdom, as we have said, is so constituted that we all must daily increase and grow in holiness, and it is not governed by any other power save the oral proclamation of the Gospel.

7. This proclamation is not of men, but Christ himself sent it forth, and then put it into the hearts of the apostles and their successors so that they understood it, and into their mouths so that they spoke and declared it. This is his kingdom, and so does he rule that all of his power is comprehended in and connected with the Word of God. They who hear and believe it belong to this kingdom, and the Word then becomes so mighty that it provides all that man may need and bestows all the blessings that we may desire. For it is the power of God, and it can and will save all who believe it, as St. Paul declared to the Romans 1:16. If you believe that Christ died to save you from all evil, and will hold fast to that Word, you will find it so certain and sure that no creature can overthrow it; and as no one can overthrow the Word, neither can anyone harm you who believe it. Accordingly, with the Word you will overcome sin, death, devil and hell, and you will find a refuge in the Word and attain that which is found where the Word is, namely, everlasting peace, joy and life. In short, you will be participants in all the power that is in the Word. Therefore, it is a peculiar kingdom. The Word is present and is orally proclaimed to all the world, but its power is deeply hidden, so that none but they who believe realize that it is so effective and that it accomplishes such great things. It must be experienced and realized by the heart.

8. Hence, all that we preachers can do is to become the mouthpieces and instruments of Christ our Lord, through whom he proclaims the Word bodily. He sends forth the Word publicly so that all may hear it, but that the heart inwardly experiences it, that is effected through faith and is wrought by Christ in secret where he perceives that it can be done according to his divine knowledge and pleasure. That is why he says: “I am the good shepherd.” And what is a good shepherd? “The good shepherd,” says Christ, “layeth down his life for the sheep; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” In this one virtue the Lord comprehends and exemplifies all others in the beautiful parable of the sheep. Sheep, you know, are most foolish and stupid animals. When we want to speak of anybody’s stupidity we say, “He is a sheep.” Nevertheless, it has this trait above all other animals, that it soon learns to heed its shepherd’s voice and will follow no one but its shepherd, and though it cannot help and keep and heal itself, nor guard itself against the wolf, but is dependent upon others, yet it always knows enough to keep close to its shepherd and look to him for help.

9. Now, Christ uses this trait or nature of the animal as an illustration in explaining that he is the good shepherd. In this manner he plainly shows what his kingdom is, and wherein it consists, and would say: My kingdom is only to rule the sheep; that is poor, needy wretched men, who well see and realize that there is no other help or counsel for them.

10. But that we may make it the plainer, and may understand it the better, we will cite a passage from the prophet Ezekiel, where he speaks of the wicked shepherds that are against Christ, when he says (34:2ff): “Should not the Shepherds feed the sheep? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings; but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor have ye ruled over them. And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they become food to all the beasts of the field and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and there was none that did search or seek after them,” and so forth. Accordingly, God reproves the shepherds who do not keep the sheep. And now mark well what he has written. His earnest intent in this paragraph is that the weak, sick, broken, those who are driven away and the lost, are to be strengthened, bound up, healed, and sought again, and that they are not to be torn to pieces and scattered. This you should have done, says he to the shepherds, but you have not done it; therefore, I will do it myself. As he says further on, in verse 16: “I will seek that which was lost, I will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.”

The Social Gospel - Look at Its Foundations

 

I had a project, to research an Augustana Synod professor and explain his career. He went to Yale Divinity for extra credibility, since he already had an STD - when that was just a seminary degree - Doctor of Sacred Theology. He was A.D. Mattson.

He became enchanted with the Social Gospel Movement, best known through Walter Rauschbusch, who gave his famous lectures at Yale, also his book A Theology for the Social Gospel. Rauschenbusch was a liberal Baptist who already accepted the rationalistic approach to the Scriptures. The liberal element in the Augustana Synod and the mainline denominations were definitely for the Historical-Critical Movement of Biblical analysis.

A litmus test for liberals (or rather - apostates) is asking about Rauschenbusch. The Social Gospel Movement is either the capstone or foundation today. 

Lacking in all the mainline denominations today is faith in Jesus Christ. They have lots of social activism, which may prompt people to say, "Are we better than we were before WWII?" Social activism is now 99% of mainline work, including The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic). The smaller synods may deny their affinity with ELCA's agenda, but in some cases they are way ahead, such as the gay obsessions of WELS, cloaked by hazing and "we were just having some fun."

The Church Growth Movement was hatched by Donald McGavran, liberal sociologist, B.D. Yale, PhD Columbia University.

The Social Gospel Movement stopped using its name but continued its Left-wing work. The Church Growth Movement was unionistic and Left-wing, from the start. Fuller Seminary's Thought Police insisted that any pastor objecting to women's ordination would be visited by their feminist Gestapo units. 

Do you really think that LCMS-WELS-etc stood up to the feminist bullies or declared, "We are on your side, Rev. Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson - The Blessed!?"

The denominations and synods do not have the basics of the Christian Faith. Unfaith cannot produce faith through the efficacious Word. Church Growth has been sold and smeared in everyone's face, and the results are in. Their agenda is hardened concrete. 

Do you remember when the rainbow was a sign from God?

Kudzu vine was brought to the USA because it spread so quickly - and alas - smothered everything useful.

It only took a few decades to unleash Smells and Belles and expensive costumes.

Werning spread the Church Growth disease around in all sects - LCMS, WELS, ELS.

Met a Minister Who Loves Luther - Not a Lutheran

 CPH wanted people to give them money to keep their income up.

 CPH morons sold doggy Reformation clothing.

CPH golf tees.

Luther faced death in 1517. Concordia Publishing House merchandised it - for the 500th anniversary.

Today a couple knocked on the door, grandparents with their granddaughter. They were thinking about moving to Springdale for their married daughter next door and her three daughters. 

Soon I learned he was a minister, and he learned I was an independent Lutheran. I had to explain to him - the Lutheran denominations hate Luther and make fun of him. He said, "Luther has always been my favorite!" They had to leave for the airport.

 This is what people call a serendipity event.

Numbed by Numbers - The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic).Is That All There Is To Church Growth?

 

"Is that all there is to Church Growth?" A WELS District Pope said - "Not church GROWTH, but CHURCH Growth." His stammering voice betrayed his uncertainty.

Long ago and far away, Christina and I would go to Chicago for a few days. We would get cheap tickets and see  live performances by Vincent Price, Rose Marie, Rosemary Clooney, Yul Brynner, Katherine Hepburn, and Peggy Lee, whose parents were Swedish and Norwegian (known humorously in Moline as a mixed marriage). 

Peggy Lee was a Lutheran, known for her ability to sing and compose music. She is still famous for "Is That All There Is?" - a song about betrayal and disappointment.

Looking into the connection between Evangelical Free churches and Church Growth, I found one of the so-called experts saying "Measure everything." One E Free pastor meticulously described how membership goals and staff growth were the key to congregational success. CGM is a navel-gazing obsession, resulting in shifting from the Gospel to building up the numbers.

This is a priceless summary:

As the church growth movement picked up steam, one would expect that church attendance nationally would have begun to move upward. In fact, the opposite occurred. As the church growth movement increased in influence, church attendance began to decline. Seeker-sensitive churches swelled as smaller traditional churches shuttered their doors. Pastors have been well-aware that they lost people from their traditional churches to seeker-sensitive churches. The church growth movement hit its peak around the turn of the century, and yet as it grew to the pinnacle of its influence, American Christianity witnessed its greatest decline.

The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) are so mesmerized that they cannot escape from their own follies -

1. Selling cash-cow Bibles of the worst sort to make money for themselves.
2. Aiming at fun events like Bible studies in bars and soccer camps for confirmation.
3. Frantically trying new methods (note the Greek root) and asking "Is that all there is?"
4. In their weak and hopeless rejection of the efficacy of the Gospel, playing around in papal and Eastern orthodox costumes, snorting incense, playing the fool.
5. Bullying and removing those who want to emphasize faith, the only way they can be fruitful.
6. Selling their church properties after being led by harpies.

The Big Five Plus One - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)-ELDONA.Baylor Baptist University Goes Woke

 

Why Does Baylor University Have a Pro-Choice, Gay-Affirming, Trans-Affirming Professor?

Protestia.com

A woke professor at Baylor University has come under fire for blasting acclaimed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowing for her opposition to normalizing the transgender movement, calling her out for her apparent ‘hatred of trans-people.’ While this is deeply troubling, it is hardly the worst thing about him.

Founded in 1845 and claiming 16,000 students, Baylor University is the world’s largest Baptist University and one of the oldest. Like many once-faithful institutions that have gone before her, however, Baylor is deeply compromised and is inexorably on the downgrade. 

Not only have they hosted Beth Moore and Jemar Tisby for a conference on “Racism in the White Church,” an embarrassment of cringe if there ever was one, but Baylor recently hosted a “Queer Sex-Ed Night whose advertisements featured a Planned Parenthood logo.

Despite affirming that “The mission of Baylor University is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community” and “the biblical understanding that sexual relations of any kind outside of marriage between a man and a woman are not in keeping with the teaching of Scripture,” they don’t actually believe this, and it’s easy to see why. 

Enter Greg Garrett, Baylor’s pro-choice, gay-affirming, trans-affirming professor of Literature and Culture. He recently gained a couple of million views after chastising Rowling for posting a lengthy Twitter thread where she repeatedly called a bunch of trans-women “men” on Trans Day of Visibility, something he found intolerable. 

***

GJ - I could not resist posting from Protestia.com again.

Rev. Kent A. Heimbigner, Ph.D. has left a new comment on your post "Baptist Theologian Takes Congregation Out of LCMS:...": 

Hi Greg:

Thank you for your interest in what my good and faithful congregation has done. I have met you, and certainly appreciate your sense of humor, but for the sake of those who may not understand it, I offer a couple of points of clarification:

1) There is no such thing as "Baylor Baptist University." There is only "Baylor University," which has a Baptist history, but is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination. 

2) I am not a "Baptist theologian," nor am I going to join the Eastern Orthodox. I am getting a chuckle out of putting those together and imagining what it would be like to be an Easternizing Baptist. I guess they are both synergists, but I'm not. I will remain Lutheran. At ordination, I swore an oath. It matters to me. And my beloved congregation is on that same "we've got to stay Lutheran" page with me.

BTW, for my response to Fr. Fenton heading east, check out my blog on the website, http://www.confessionallutheran.org/content/view/142/91/

Todd, thanks for your clarifying posts. Greg, it's been too long, and I hope our paths cross again in due course. Peace be with you both.

***

GJ - Actually, Kent, you asked to stay here for the LCMS conference and didn't show up or explain.

I see you share Todd Wilken's sense of humor. Or, as Bruce Church suggested, "What's the point?"

***
GJ -

2016 Update.

Here is the original post, which still bothers ELDONA seven (7) years later.

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2009/01/baptist-theologian-takes-congregation.html

Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is a private Baptist university, and a nationally ranked liberal arts institution. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas, Baylor is the oldest, continually operating university in the state. Though 80% of our students come from within Texas, we are home to students from all 50 states, and 70 countries.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote. Second Sunday After Easter. John 10:11-16. "This kingdom, as we have said, is so constituted that we all must daily increase and grow in holiness, and it is not governed by any other power save the oral proclamation of the Gospel."

 

Complete Sermon -> Misericordias Domini. Second Sunday After Easter. John 10:11-16. Christ’s Office and Kingdom; or How Christ is the True Shepherd

MISERICORDIAS DOMINI - SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER


Psalm 51 (Misericordias. Also called “Shepherd Sunday”).

Text: John 10:11-16. 

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

1. This is a comforting Gospel, which so beautifully portrays the Lord Jesus and teaches us what manner of person he is, what kind of works he does, and how he is disposed toward men. And there is no better way to understand it than to contrast light and darkness and day and night; that is, the good shepherd with the wicked one, as the Lord himself does.

2. Now, you have often heard that God has given the world two different proclamations. One is that which is declared in the Word of God when it says: Thou shalt not kill, not commit adultery, not steal (Exodus 20:13-15), and when it adds the threat that all who do not keep these commandments shall die. But this declaration will make no one godly at heart. For though it may compel a man outwardly to appear godly before men, inwardly it leaves the heart at enmity with the Law, and wishing that there were no such Law.

3. The other proclamation is that of the Gospel. It tells where one may obtain that which will meet the demands of the Law. It does not drive or threaten, but tenderly invites us. It does not say, Do this and do that, but rather: Come, I will show you where you may find and obtain what you need to make you godly. See, here is the Lord Jesus; he will give it to you.

Therefore, the two are as contrary to each other as taking and giving, demanding and presenting; and this distinction must be well observed. Thus God ever has ruled and still rules the world today. To coarse and rude persons, who are not influenced by the Gospel, the Law must be declared, and they must be driven until they are humbled and acknowledge their imperfections. When this has been accomplished, the Gospel is to be applied.

4. These are the two divine proclamations, which come from heaven. Besides these there are others that are not from heaven, but are human prattle, which the pope and our bishops have invented that they might terrify our consciences. Such men are not worthy of being called shepherds or hirelings, but they are here designated by the Lord Jesus as thieves, murderers and wolves. For if men are to be savingly governed, it must be done with the Word of God; and if it is not done by the Word of God, they are not properly governed.

I. THE NATURE OF THE OFFICE AND KINGDOM OF CHRIST EXPLAINED.

5. Now, here Jesus has in mind the second proclamation. He explains it and sets himself forth as the chief shepherd, yea, as the only shepherd; for that which he does not tend is not kept. This comforting and sweet proclamation we will now consider.

6. You have heard that after his sufferings and death Christ our Lord arose from the dead and entered upon, and was enthroned in, an immortal existence. Not that he might sit up there in heaven idly and find pleasure in himself, but that he might take charge of the kingdom of which the prophets and all the Scriptures have so fully spoken, and might rule as a king. Therefore, we should think of him as being present and reigning among us continually, and never think of him as sitting up there doing nothing, but rather that he from above fills and rules all things, as Paul says to the Ephesians 4:10, and especially that he is taking care of his kingdom, which is the Christian faith, and that therefore his kingdom among us here on earth must prosper. This kingdom, as we have said, is so constituted that we all must daily increase and grow in holiness, and it is not governed by any other power save the oral proclamation of the Gospel.