Doctrinal Reason Behind Ignorance of WELS Laity

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Loyalty to the Abusive Cult Has Its Rewards":

Primary reason for ignorance within the (W)ELS laity (this is also true for the other Lutheran in name only Synods) is the systematic perversion of Christ’s doctrine. The seminaries, colleges, high schools and grade schools have abandoned the Lutheran Confessions and any reference to them as faithful explanations of Scripture and their use as tools for guidance/correction is met with the charge of Legalism. The Synods have replaced the BOC with their authority. The Normed Norm is now the next level of political or clergy authority. (W)ELS UOJist Rev. Humann in defense of forgiveness without faith expressed it this way, “What I teach is the truth and I’m telling you that it is the truth.”

The seminaries continue to produce clergy who are, with every class, further from the foundations of the Christian faith than the previous class. And every few years the apostasy takes a significant leap further away when they hire past graduates to teach the next class - look at the 'talent' pool they chose to instruct the MLC and CDS students for the last few years. Ski, Kelm, Parlow, Gunn etc.

The Synod leaders who embrace the tenets of Universal Objective Justification and anathematize Justification solely by faith alone are thereby not Christian and are leading the laity away from Christ. What good fruit will ever fall from that tree - one with a foundation grounded in a false gospel. Lillo and the others would have everyone think that the (W)ELS excommunicating clergy for teaching one Justification solely by faith alone (by the grace of God through the Means of Grace) is just a matter of Christians talking past one another. This same level of discernment and conviction embraces the Antichrist as a fellow Christian who has been declared justified by God (forgiven all sin). Understand that point because it speaks to the discernment of the synod leaders who are leading the laity’s children down the path to abject apostasy: they consider the RCC Christian even when its official teachings are completely opposed to Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Such that, if a person was faithful to the teachings of the RCC they stand condemned by God - still the Lutheran Synods consider the RCC to be Christian.

***

GJ - Brett is correct, as many laity have admitted. They can send their children through WELS schools and end up with children with no knowledge of the Lutheran Confessions.

I cannot speak for all WELS area Lutheran high schools, but I do know that the Church and Changers are always promoted as great heroes in the synodical schools. Needless to say, the other side is scorned and abused.

DP Jon-Boy Buchholz earlier denied that Church and Changers are featured at WELS schools, when he was pretending to be against that odious cult-with-a-cult, but now he is known for sitting with Changer Jeff Gunn at conferences.

Judge them by their actions. Buchholz could not get rid of Pastor Paul Rydecki fast enough, and he also could not embrace Jeff Gunn quickly enough. (Joe Krohn is supposed to be working on Gunn! May God have mercy on Gunn's flinty soul.)

Jesus sits on the right hand of God, but Buchholz sits in the lap of Gunn. So sweet.

Only colossal ignorance fuel so many evils.

Loyalty to the Abusive Cult Has Its Rewards

This was said by one of the WELS pod people
to one of the Ichabod readers.

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "WELS Squandering the Offering Money While Squander...":

Ignorance abounds among the WELS laity. There are several reasons for this. There is a tight inner circle of those with influence. A majority of the time, those outside of that circle will receive heavily filtered information if they are given anything at all. As has been pointed out here at Ichabod, dissenters are treated in a cult like manner. They may at first be massaged with a velvet glove. Remove the glove and there is an iron fist to pound them with. When I recently heard some tidbits about my former WELS congregation, I was amazed what members would still put up with. A pastor's wife was using the joint as her own sandbox. She was kicking sand at some life long members and they just kept putting up with it. I do believe that many members are just conditioned to tolerate it.

Another Mug Shot - But This Time from the Church of Rome

Wisconsin monk accused in Antioch child luring out on bond

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Thomas Chmura 

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May 23, 2013 (EVANSTON, Ill.) (WLS) -- Thomas Chmura, a monk from Wisconsin, is back on the streets after a Lake County judge agreed to reduce his bond.

Chmura is accused of trying to lure several underage girls in Antioch.

Bond for the 57-year-old was revoked earlier this month when court officials found children present at the Wisconsin abbey where he lived.

A Lake County judge agreed to lower Chmura's bond by $100,000 to $50,000 after he moved in with his father in south suburban Lansing.

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WAUKEGAN, Ill. -

A Benedictine monk from Wisconsin who faces charges he tried to abduct four Illinois girls has been released on bond.

A Lake County judge lowered 57-year-old Thomas Chmura's bail from $150,000 to $50,000. Chmura previously was held in the Lake County jail since May 2. Chmura has pleaded not guilty. He lived at St. Benedict's Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis. He was arrested based on a description provided by one of the girls.

The judge has restricted Chmura to living with his father in the Chicago suburb of Lansing. Chmura also can't have contact with anyone under age 17. That means he can't return to his abbey in Wisconsin, because the abbey houses children on the property.

Chmura's trial is set for July 12.

WELS Squandering the Offering Money While Squandering And Destroying the Trust Built From the Work of Faithful Leaders of the Distant Past

SP Schroeder publicly absolved his PR Director,
who got an exceptionally  light sentence for dealing in man-boy rape videos.
Hochmuth promptly re-offended when out on work release.

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Release the Ichabod! - WELS SP Mark Schroeder's Th...":

Ichabod -

After I read this piece, I thought the following:

If WELS congregational members only knew half of what you know, that knowledge would give them prompt pause about supporting their Lutheran synod. They would consequently cease their "mission" offerings. For what just cause, contribute to such a system of which is described in your article?

It is bad enough that as Americans, we pay our taxes without proper moral leadership emanating from corrupted political leaders. In similar manner no conscientious Christian should feel obligated to support a denominational church body which not only apparently squanders its congregational member offerings, but also squanders and destroys the trust behind those well-intentioned gifts.

Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org

***

GJ - When Ski gave his scrotum sermon at the nearby WELS congregation where Gausewitz' father served, the congregation should have ridden him out of town on a rail, tarred and feather. But the sermon is still posted. They must be proud of it, as part of their 150th anniversary.

Or - as Luther recommended - Ski should have been chased out of town, baited by dogs, pelted with dog manure.

WELS Handles Corruption Exactly the Way the Roman Catholic Church Does: Deceive, Deny, and Retaliate

When did you first sense something was wrong?
When they posed like desperate teens with Katy Perry in her onesie?
When they pretended The CORE was a separate mission parish
and not just an evening service designed for sheep-stealing
at St. Peter in Freedom?

The key to the decades of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church is protection - denial, deception, and retaliation against the victims.

The Roman Catholics treat every priest as a "son of the Church." Any priest who is loyal to the institution of the Roman Catholic Church is owed utmost protection, because they all know the truth would bring the entire structure down. In fact, some of the revelations have toppled cardinals, bishops, and priests - in America and across the world.

Only one priest in Boston was punished for the staggering number of boys abused by priests in that archdiocese. Rome rewarded Cardinal Law's obstruction and lies by moving him to the Vatican, but the one priest who told the truth about the archdiocese was publicly humiliated and removed from the priesthood. The non-abusing truth-teller was kicked out while the child rapists were protected and transferred around the archdiocese.

The Columbus Template - Like Walther's
WELS works exactly the same way, as Tim Glende knows. He grew up in a non-WELS congregation (St. Paul, German Village) that pretended to be WELS. When Floyd Luther Stolzenburg was kicked out the LCMS ministry for adultery, he came back to Columbus to shop for a church or a job or both. No school system would let him work among children. No denomination wanted him, and he tried a few, according to the LCMS DP who spoke to me about it. But he joined St. Paul and soon had WELS setting up a Church Growth agency--with the help of Paul Kuske and Robert Mueller--so he could teach WELS about Church Growth. The hand-picked board refused to hire Floyd, because of his obnoxious behavior - not because they were told the truth. The WELS leaders lied through their teeth about Floyd and never stopped lying.

So - more money was given so Floyd could have his pet job along with Roger Zehms, a WELS Shrinker, also recently divorced. Both men slandered their wives (like Walther slandering Mrs. Stephan) and did their best to wreck Columbus.

Nevertheless, Zehms was handed a job at WELS Lutherans for Life. Paul Kuske and Robert Schumann wrote references for Stolzenburg to get an independent parish. However, Kuske denied he anything to do with that.

UOJ in WELS means wrong is right, and right is wrong. WELS is an abusive sect that happily forces sex offenders on its members, blaming the victims for rape and seduction. Some people think Muslim law is bad for punishing the women in a rape. WELS does the same thing.

When vicar Scott Zerbe (married with a child) had an affair with a minor girl in Fred Adrian's congregation, WELS went to court to deny benefits to the girl. Adrian wrote up two stories about the vicarage. Either he knew about the seduction or he did not. Fred was chairman of the district missions board when Floyd was being promoted to his own congregation. WELS denied to the court that they had knowledge of any other scandals. I detailed a number of them for the girl's lawyer, and she took it to the judge. The judge ordered WELS to produce a list, so the jury awarded the girl $400,000.

Fred Adrian wrote a letter to the congregation, saying, "Don't worry - insurance will pay for it." Ha. Everyone pays higher premiums when dolts like Adrian are in charge.

Otten was angry with me when I gave him the Zerbe story. He spiked it. WELS has always had a team to manage Otten and kill stories. The LCMS does the same thing. Otten is a synod lapdog.

WELS still hyperventilates at the mention of my name, even if there are six degrees of separation. One pastor heard that a layman visiting his church was from Shepherd of Peace. His face turned white - "That was Jackson's church!" The layman thought this was a hilarious reaction, almost 20 years later.

I was always blamed for the conflicts in Columbus, even though I did not force two Shrinkers onto the congregations there. The Michigan District got wise finally and voted Kuske out of office, but they replaced Mueller with a clone, John Seifert. All the WELS DPs are alike, a dozen rotten eggs in the same carton.

Dispose of the toxic contents with care.

Things must have calmed down when I left Columbus, right? Wrong. The situation with Schumann and Nitz blew up because WELS could no longer make up lies fast enough.

WELS Treats Women and Children Like Dirt
The Northern Wisconsin District of WELS is busy retaliating against anyone who questions the abuse in Fox Valley, at St. Peter in Freedom.

Deputy Doug Engelbrecht has already warned various pastors against speaking out against the harassment and pastoral misbehavior. Warning from a WELS DP means, "I can do anything I want to you, and no one can touch me. I am infallible."

The lady and her husband have faced the hostility, shunning, and financial penalties of being on the wrong end of the WELS cash cow.

Anyone questioning Fox Valley behavior is up against:
Mark Jeske, the real boss of WELS;
Thrivent money, with Jeske on the board;
Church and Change, which has grown under Mark Schroeder's
non-leadership.

Release the Ichabod! - WELS SP Mark Schroeder's Threat Comes True. Every Northern District Pastor Has the Packet On the Ski, Glende, Engelbrecht Cover-Up

Basic URL for St. Peter and The CORE
Glende's first solo parish is insolvent,
and the big building project in Freedom is in trouble.

One source told me that WELS SP Mark Schroeder threatened Northern Wisconsin District President Doug Engelbrecht with Ichabod exposure if he did not do anything about Pastor Ski, aka James Skorzewski.

A few days ago, Ski was still welcoming people to The CORE websty. Ever since the evening service of St. Peter in Freedom started, the CORE websty has featured a juvenile movie of Ski ordering people to attend his plagiarized service. One movie featured him mocking sermons with duct tape over his mouth. That was true to the theme of Fox Valley, belittling the Word of God.

When the Ski/Glende scandal began to break, Ski disappeared off the websty and the files were all mixed around - briefly. Then he came back, even though he resigned from the WELS ministry!

Here is the lowdown on that episode. Engelbrecht told Schroeder one story and St. Peter/CORE another. Schroeder actually visited the errant congregation just before the Emmaus head-fake conference of all three SynCons. Deputy Doug assured St. Peter/CORE that Ski would be back by the end of summer, but resigning from the ministry is supposed to mean no call and no CRM status until perhaps, maybe, sort of later - probably not at all.

So Ski resigned from the ministry and came back to The CORE's websty.

No one has told St. Peter/CORE the truth about the allegations. Never. And the Fox Valley pastors are all behind the current Glende/Ski/Engelbrect cover-up.

Remember - this is the WELS - or as they say it in Milwaukee - Dis is duh WELZ.

Ski, Glende, and Engelbrecht excommunicated Rick Techlin (secretly) for questioning the plagiarism at St. Peter and The CORE. Engelbrecht gave an essay, which I published, where he defended plagiarism, since "everyone does it."

The Latest News
A married couple made repeated efforts to have something done about Ski's behavior. Remember Schroeder's mantra - "Write a letter"? They did all that, and they met with the proper people, including Deputy Doug. They contacted a lawyer and Church Mutual Insurance, too.

Who is liable in this situation, especially since WELS has lost at least one case like this (Scott Zerbe for having an affair with a minor girl when he was a vicar under Fred Adrian)?

• WELS is liable. So is Mark Schroeder - failure to supervise.
• The Northern Wisconsin District and Deputy Doug are liable.
• St. Peter in Freedom is liable.
• The pastors involved are liable, especially since the staff knew and approved.
• Ski is liable.

The financial penalties are severe. Adrian's Zerbe case cost $400,000 to the girl, and that did not include legal costs. WELS probably settles a lot of matters out of court. In the Zerbe case they lied to the judge, which does not make the legal system happy. I helped the girl's lawyer win the case by telling the truth about WELS behavior and cover-ups. The judge ordered the abusive sect to fess up - that is considered pretty severe, the lawyer told me. According to WELS, I was born forgiven and saved, but I do not think they have forgiven me for the Zerbe case.

Needless to say, this couple got nowhere. They told Deputy Doug they would send out a letter if he did nothing. He did nothing, so they did - to each of the 187 pastors in the Northern Wisconsin District.

No pastor in the district can now say, "I know nothing about it." Lillo has been saying that for months. I imagine he got a packet too.

Schroeder cannot say he knows nothing about it, because he has known about it all along.

The Allegations
One is from 2010 - Ski decided to show a female employee the infamous Brett Favre photos. Most Packer fans heard about them, but most of us did not try to find them. This alone would march any man out of employment - don't stop at your desk - we will hand your stuff to your in a cardboard box.

Multiple beer lunches - Ski. There seemed to be a constant supply of beer at The CORE and constant drinking on the job. No wonder they bought a bar for The CORE's third location - with WELS offering money - and Ski promised to keep the beer/wine license "for weddings." Um-hmm.

Obscene, derogatory language used about an overweight woman - Ski again. I had to look up the term in the Urban Dictionary. I am not hip.

Playing a song for a prospect - the title and lyrics were obscene. Ski.

Using a real assault weapon, an AK 47, as a sermon illustration. Ski.

Note, readers - that Ski gave sex education lessons (copied from Groeschel) at The CORE and also at their precious WELS high school. A man who should have been fired three years ago is the one chosen to be a teacher and example for the high school students.

WELS Response
This abusive sect has responded by punishing the couple in every way possible. While giving devoted support to Ski and Glende, the district and synod have ostracized and abused the innocent couple. If someone tried the WELS response at a Coca Cola bottling plant or Ford dealership, there would be so many millions of dollars of penalties added up in a civil suit that they would beg for a settlement.

I saw and experienced this in Columbus, Ohio, where Tim Glende had a very bad education in promoting an unrepentant adulterer as a Church Growth expert. Glende saw how useful it was to slime anyone who dared to question the infallible WELS - even though he grew up in a non-WELS church.

Classic Ichabod - Groeschel Fact Page

Craig Groeschel's and Andy Stanley's bro-love.
No, it is not what you are thinking.
These Enthusiasts are the leading lights of Fox Valley, WELS.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Craig Groeschel Fact Page

How To Plagiarize Legally

Groeschel on Plagiarism

Screaming is a typical Reformed gimmick
to sell the Gospel, to be entertaining. Intrepid Lutherans on Groeschel. Craig Groeschel preaching.

Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley (Babtist) often conduct Catalyst conferences together. This is a fairly recent one.

Groeschel was born in 1967 in Texas, grew up in Oklahoma, attended a Methodist university (Oklahoma City U.) and pursued a degree in marketing. He attended Philips Seminary, which is affiliated with the ultra-liberal Disciples of Christ, the denomination of Jim Jones and Donald McGavran.

He married Amy in 1991. They have six children.

He was a United Methodist minister in 1995 when the Oklahoma City bomb blew up the federal building and severely damaged the nearby church where he worked.

In 1996 he began a church in a two-car garage, apparently because his denomination did not want him to start a mission church. Like Hybels of Willow Creek, he began with a marketing survey. The church grew rapidly and became Life Church - with the URL of LifeChurch.tv.

The New York Times reported:
He set up a website for people to post "secret confessions," an idea copied by Pastor Ski at The CORE.

The Catholic Church noted this new trend started by Groeschel.

USA Today says:

"Of the USA's 100 largest churches, 67% now have two or more sites and 60% of the 100 fastest-growing churches also have multiple sites, according to the annual listings of the USA's largest churches in Outreach magazine's October issue."


The most innovative churches in America are:

· LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) :: Craig Groeschel

· Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA) :: Mark Driscoll

· Granger Community Church (Granger, IN) :: Mark Beeson

· Flamingo Road Church (Cooper City, FL) :: Troy Gramling

· Seacoast Church (Mt. Pleasant, SC) :: Greg Surratt

· Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) :: Rick Warren

· Mosaic Church (Los Angeles, CA) :: Erwin McManus

· Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX) :: Ed Young Jr.

· North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) :: Andy Stanley

· Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL) :: Bill Hybels

· National Community Church (Washington, DC) :: Mark Batterson

One story says:

"Granger broke the rules when his church plastered mylamesexlife.com billboards around the local city, which stirred debate among Christians and a media storm. LifeChurch.tv went out of bounds when it launched the multi-site movement, which includes an internet campus for worship services. And Life Church's senior pastor,Craig Groeschel, broke the rules when he went into bars to meet "the sick" and tell them about Jesus."

Groeschel motto: "In order to reach those that no one else is reaching, we will have to do things that no one else is doing," he said.

Groeschel began as a United Methodist minister but is an Evangelical Covenant minister now. The Evangelical Covenant church is Pietistic and related to the Swedish Augustana Synod which merged into the LCA in 1962.

Groeschel's thoughts about the United Methodists can be found linked here.

He claims 21,000 in attendance each week.

He may not have been the first to promote multiple sites, but he is known for them now. He began using video when his fourth child was born and he could not lead services.

Classic Ichabod - New Views on Old Post

Ray Klatt Asks: "Why Translate the Bible When It Is Easier To Bowdlerize Luther and the Book of Concord?"

 The Sausage Factory turns out UOJ Stormtroopers by the dozen.

raklatt (http://raklatt.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "St. Peter Fond du Lac (WELS) Edits the Book of Con...":

And this from among the group that is thinking about making its own translation of the Bible? The Epistle of Paul to the Romans would be shorter than the Third Epistle of John.

But wait...does DP stand for DiotrePhes? 3 John would of necessity have to be even shorter. 3 John 9-10 would have to be left out for it says: "I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not. Therefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words. And not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethern, and forbiddeth those who would, and casteth them out of the church."

No new translation will be done. It is so much easier to edit Luther and the Book of Concord.

Wikipedia on Bowdler.

Lil Packet of Luther Sermons - Rogate Through the Ten Lepers

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2013/07/three-sects-united-by-common-business.html

Luther's Sermons - 
Many links have two or three sermons together on that topic.

Rogate - Prayer

Ascension of Christ

The Day of Pentecost

Pentecost Monday - John 3:16

Pentecost Tuesday - John 10 - I AM the Good Shepherd

Pentecost Wednesday - On Faith and Coming to Christ

Trinity Sunday

The First Sunday after Trinity - The Rich Man and Lazarus

The Second Sunday after Trinity - The Great Feast. Luke 14:16-24

Two Sermons on the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin - Luke 15:1-10

The Fourth Sunday after Trinity - Treatment of Our Enemies - Luke 6:36-42

The Fifth Sunday after Trinity - The Draft of Fish - Luke 5:1-11

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity - Matthew 5:20-26

The Eighth Sunday after Trinity - Matthew 7:15-23 - Beware of False Teachers

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity - Luke 16:1-9. The Unrighteous Steward

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity - Jesus' Warning about the Destruction of Jerusalem

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity - Parable of the SynCon Leader versus the Publican.

The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity - Healing of the Deaf Mute. Mark 7:31ff.

Bonus Sections:

Luther's Sermons on the Good Samaritan

Trinity 14 - Faith and the Healed Lepers

Trinity 15 and Sermons Following

Augsburg Confession and Apology on Justification

Massive collection on UOJ and Justification by Faith.

Comments on Works-Righteousness. Luther Said People Purchase Hell When They Could Have Heaven for Free

The CORE (www.gotocore.com)

11 hours ago

• Sunday's Take-Away: How successful have you been this week following Jesus' example of what it is to be a "servant"?

---

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Leading People Down the Path of Works-Righteousnes...":

A generation ago, we still heard much admonition against falling prey to works righteousness. The Theology of Glory and Works Righteousness go hand in hand. The end result is that one starts tooting their own horn. A broken and a contrite heart O God, thou wilt not despise. The word contrition has fallen out of vogue in today's so called Christianity. Yet, Luther used the word contrition in his Small Catechism.

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narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "Leading People Down the Path of Works-Righteousnes...":

Thank you for this great post. I can attest to the fact that Pietism leads to failure. Having grown up Methodist, I gave up on Christ in my late-teens and through my twenties. Jesus was just an example. "Be like David," I was taught. The Bible, especially the OT, was treated as the Life Handbook, with nary a mention of the Promise. So, I want to be a murderous adulterer, like David? I was never taught to look at David's Faith in the Promise.

I recently read that Wesley looked to Constantinople for much of his theology, and it's true. I know one EO priest who came from Methodism, and it's an easy transition. Methodism is just EO without the bells, smells, and intense Mariology.

It amazes me how the Pietists seem to fall the hardest. While I am a miserable failure on my best day, the Pietists seem to succumb to sin worse than anyone, especially in the department of keeping the pants zipped. Look at Martin Stephan. Look at the televangelists.

Any "good" we do apart from Faith is considered sin. If the tree is sick, it will bear no fruit. It is sad, given the great gift the Lutheran Fathers gave us, that the SynCons have thrown away JBFA. Perhaps this is why UOJ is the mainstay today, because Pietists eventually come to the realization that their works are like filthy rags. If we despair of our sin without Faith, Universalism is the only hope.

Praise to the Triune God for the Gift of Faith!

***

GJ - Hoenecke has the key distinction. He could put an entire essay into one sentence - The Pietists confuse sanctification with justification and make the first the cause of the second.

There are only two justifications. One excludes the other. Justification by works is the most popular, not only excluding but persecuting justification by faith. Since this tree is evil, it can only produce corrupt fruit.

Justification by faith excludes all human works as a cause for our forgiveness. Justification by faith necessarily leads to those fruits which the Pietists urge upon everyone but cannot produce from their works-righteousness. Faith makes the tree good, as Luther reminds us, and so the good tree produces abundant fruit.

My two friends from high school were ordered not to smoke and threatened by their parents if they smoked. My classmates were Methodists, and they became cigarette addicts. Law motivation energizes a rebellion and clearly defines how adolescents can make parents go crazy.

Universal Objective Justification is Pietistic gasoline poured on the fire. UOJ only knows the law, since faith has been excluded. Therefore, the law-encased sinner becomes Antinomian when told he was born forgiven and saved, end of story, period (DP Jon-Boy Buchholz). Confused and illiterate in Biblical theology, he is taught to make a decision for UOJ to be forgiven personally - as opposed to globally. That obliterates any understanding of the Means of Grace.

Bragging about Works - Typical Corrupt Fruit

The worst problem manifests itself in bragging about "sharing Jesus.'

Tim Glende defines himself as: Passionate about sharing Jesus in the Valley. Hard worker.

Ski made his personal mission statement (repeated in many places) -

"Our church’s mission statement downtown is this... The Core exists to transform lives for Jesus through faith that is real, relevant and relational.  My personal mission statement is this, because I’ve developed my own... From every pore of my body, I will ooze Jesus Christ so that in this world, as I brush up against people, my sweaty, oozy Jesus will get all over them!  Every day he gives you opportunities.  Every day!"

And it is still on the websty of the church where Gausewitz' father preached.

If Ski is looking for work, even though DP Doug promised his return to The CORE, 
he could always work at Am Oozing Love Church, also endorsed by WELS with a big fat grant and absolution for plagiarizing just about everyone.

---

LPC has left a new comment on your post "Comments on Works-Righteousness. Luther Said Peopl...":

If we despair of our sin without Faith, Universalism is the only hope

What a true observation!

LPC

Why men have stopped singing in church.Luther Put Biblical Hymnals Back into the Worship Service

Why men have stopped singing in church:

Why men have stopped singing in church

May 8, 2013 By David Murrow 24 Comments

It happened again yesterday. I was attending one of those hip, contemporary churches — and almost no one sang. Worshippers stood obediently as the band rocked out, the smoke machine belched and lights flashed. Lyrics were projected on the screen, but almost no one sang them. A few women were trying, but I saw only one male (other than the worship leader) making the attempt.

A few months ago I blogged, “Have Christians Stopped Singing?” I did some research, and learned that congregational singing has ebbed and flowed over the centuries. It reached a high tide when I was a young man – but that tide may be going out again. And that could be bad news for men.

First, a very quick history of congregational singing.

Before the Reformation, laypersons were not allowed to sing in church. They were expected to stand mute as sacred music was performed by professionals (priests and cantors), played on complex instruments (pipe organs), and sung in an obscure language (Latin).

Reformers gave worship back to the people in the form of congregational singing. They composed simple tunes that were easy to sing, and mated them with theologically rich lyrics. Since most people were illiterate in the 16th century, singing became an effective form of catechism. Congregants learned about God as they sang about God.

A technological advance – the printing press – led to an explosion of congregational singing. The first hymnal was printed in 1532, and soon a few dozen hymns became standards across Christendom. Hymnals slowly grew over the next four centuries. By the mid 20^th century every Protestant church had a hymnal of about 1000 songs, 250 of which were regularly sung. In the church of my youth, everyone picked up a hymnal and sang every verse of every song.

About 20 years ago a new technological advance – the computer controlled projection screen – entered America’s sanctuaries. Suddenly churches could project song lyrics for all to see. Hymnals became obsolete. No longer were Christians limited to 1,000 songs handed down by our elders.

At first, churches simply projected the songs everyone knew – hymns and a few simple praise songs that had come out of the Jesus Movement. People sang robustly.

But that began to change about ten years ago. Worship leaders realized they could project anything on that screen. So they brought in new songs each week. They drew from the radio, the Internet, and Worship conferences. Some began composing their own songs, performing them during worship, and selling them on CD after church.

In short order we went from 250 songs everyone knows to 250,000+ songs nobody knows.

Years ago, worship leaders used to prepare their flocks when introducing a new song. “We’re going to do a new song for you now,” they would say. “We’ll go through it twice, and then we invite you to join in.”

That kind of coaching is rare today. Songs get switched out so frequently that it’s impossible to learn them. People can’t sing songs they’ve never heard. And with no musical notes to follow, how is a person supposed to pick up the tune?

And so the church has returned to the 14^th century. Worshippers stand mute as professional-caliber musicians play complex instruments, sung in an obscure language. Martin Luther is turning over in his grave.

What does this mean for men? On the positive side, men no longer feel pressure to sing in church. Men who are poor readers or poor singers no longer have to fumble through hymnals, sing archaic lyrics or read a musical staff.

But the negatives are huge. Men are doers, and singing was one of the things we used to do together in church. It was a chance to participate. Now, with congregational singing going away, and communion no longer a weekly ordinance, there’s only one avenue left for men to participate in the service – the offering. Is this really the message we want to send to men? Sit there, be quiet, and enjoy the show. And don’t forget to give us money.

There’s nothing wrong with professionalism and quality in church music. The problem isn’t the rock band, or the lights, or the smoke machine. The key is familiarity. People enjoy singing songs they know.

How do I know? When that super-hip band performed a hymn, the crowd responded with gusto. People sang. Even the men.

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Why men have stopped singing in church":

The credit goes to Luther for putting the music back into the church. He encouraged it by writing hymns and many of those that followed after him did the same.