Episcopal Seminary Funeral March Underway? - Juicy Ecumenism. Note How Another Collapse Is Affecting Trinity ELCA Seminary, Also a Merger. Plus ELCA in Pennsylvania

This is the Episcopal Divinity School near Harvard. My professor Elizabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza taught there after Notre Dame, then received an endowed position at Harvard.
Hartford Seminary became Hartford Seminary Foundation,many years ago - and now it is Hartford Seminary again.

Episcopal Seminary Funeral March Underway? - Juicy Ecumenism:

Episcopal Seminary Funeral March Underway?

In a surprise move, the Board of Trustees for one of the 10 schools educating Episcopal Church seminarians has voted to cease granting degreesat the conclusion of the 2016-2017 school year. It is unclear how Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge, Massachusetts might continue on, with the board stating that it “will explore options for EDS’s future” in the coming year.

Interim Dean Francis Fornaro, who took office in March of 2015 following the departure of former Dean Katharine Ragsdale, will resign in November and stated “I totally disagree with this resolution.” Fornaro is a 1996 graduate of the seminary and previously served as adjunct faculty there.

“A school that has taken on racism, sexism, heterosexism, and multiple interlocking oppressions is now called to rethink its delivery of theological education in a new and changing world,” declared former Washington National Cathedral Dean and EDS Board Chairman Gary Hall in an official announcement. “Ending unsustainable spending is a matter of social justice.”

Hall has significant history with multiple theologically progressive, financially struggling institutions: he also presided over the final years of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary of Evanston, Illinois before it merged with Bexley Hall Seminary of Ohio to form Bexley-Seabury. In 2015, Hall announced that he was stepping down as head of the National Cathedral early, in order for another official to be named that could complete a 10-year fundraising campaign to stabilize the financially struggling church.

Episcopal Divinity School was formed from the 1974 merger of Philadelphia Divinity School and Episcopal Theological School, both of which trace their origins to the mid-1800s. The Cambridge, Massachusetts seminary sold property worth over $33 million to neighboring Lesley University in 2009 in an effort to pay off outstanding debt and regain the school’s financial footing. According to The Living Church, EDS draws 7 percent from its $66 million endowment to cover operating costs; 5 percent or less would be considered sustainable.

In early 2015, Dean Katharine Ragsdale announced that she would be departing as head of the seminary after five rocky years there marked by intense disagreement between faculty and the administration.

Several Mainline Protestant seminaries have been under financial stress in recent years, with American Baptist Churches USA (ABC) and United Church of Christ (UCC)-affiliated Andover-Newton Theological School – the oldest graduate theological institution in the United States – announcing intent to sell its campus and end its residential study program. In January, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia announced that they would each close and re-launch as a single institution. [GJ - I think the Pennsylvania ELCA seminaries must remain legally separate to retain their status with the ATS.]

Of those schools educating Episcopal Church seminarians, the denomination’s flagship General Theological Seminary in New York faced turmoil in 2014 as Dean Kurt Dunkle met opposition from a majority of faculty whose “resignations” were accepted by the GTS board despite not being offered. Eight of the nine dismissed faculty were later “provisionally” reinstated and much of the faculty has since turned over.

Episcopal Divinity School is regarded as one of the Episcopal Church’s most liberal seminaries. The seminary’s board describes EDS as “leaders in educational programs that are enlivened by theologies of liberation, especially the many voices of feminist, congregational, ecumenical, and global studies.”

According to EDS Board Treasurer Dennis Stark, “We are spending six million a year from our endowment, and 30 percent of that is above a reasonable amount.”

According to the school, EDS’s investments are currently valued at approximately $53 million plus the real estate value of its campus, which is adjacent to Harvard University. More than half of the endowment is restricted.

UPDATE [7/22/2016]: Anglican Ink reports that another progressive Episcopal Church seminary, Bexley-Seabury, is closing its Columbus, Ohio campus partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary (ELCA) and will consolidate its presence at UCC-affiliated Chicago Theological Seminary. Bexley-Seabury had already shuttered a Rochester, NY campus partnership with Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in 2008. Bexley-Seabury has a full-time enrollment of 17 students and four full-time faculty as of autumn 2015.

'via Blog this'

Vines and Asparagus - A Long Wait But Worth It

 I will need to rent a truck to harvest the asparagus.

Many refuse to grow asparagus because they have to wait to start harvesting it. My experience is that there is nothing better than asparagus from the yard. In fact, we ate most of it raw in Midland.

Asparagus is better now. One can buy male plants that do not use up energy in going to seed. The plants are sent fairly well developed and ready to grow. The old instructions made asparagus growing sound like building the Great Wall of China. I simply dig shallow holes, plant the rubbery crowns, cover and mulch them.

Birds plant asparagus in the wild, along fences. If you need more information, send me an email. When we visited our farm cousins, we looked for asparagus along the fences.

Vines Take Time Too
I have learned that vines also take time. That goes against our assumptions. Don't many homes have vines growing on them. We had English ivy on the front of our house, just a little. It has taken four years for it to cover the front porch and picture window area. From there it decided to invade the rose garden. Like Burmuda grass and Blackberries, a can grow from its tips by rooting itself, and expanding form there.

Trumpet
God created vines for vertical use of the sun. I bought three Trumpet Vine sticks, which arrived looking dead. I soaked them overnight in rainwater and they began to grow. Last year they made modest progress, even though I doted on them, like a worried nurse reviving a weak and pale patient.

In the second year the vine began to show its strength. As I hoped, the one planted under the maple tree is now climbing the tree and covering part of the Maple Tree Rose Garden. I reckon the third year of growth will bring some flowers to attract hummingbirds.

Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle Vines are slow to get established and then take over if left alone. Last year the vine bloomed a bit and that was all. Now it is starting to spread a little. I expect a lot more blooms and growth next year.

Morning Glory
We ended up with a glorious display of Morning Glories from Mr. Gardener parking some old vines next to the fence. They planted themselves, got going on my earthworm fertilized, mulch enhanced soil, and grew fast. That happened so fast that I asked him if he deliberately planted them there. He laughed and explained the accident and worried I did not like them.

Cow Vetch is a delicate plant but some consider it invasive.

Cow Vetch seeds are harvested for budgies.

Cow Vetch
Vetches are related to beans, so they are good for the soil. I had climbing beans come back this year, just because I let them go to seed last year. The seeds stayed safe in the soil and mild winter, then took off.

Cow Vetch is wild here. Some grew and bloomed in the front yard and the back fence. On the back fence we had a blue waterfall of flowers for time. This year I have not seen it, perhaps because birds love the seeds.

Gardeners agree that they see cycles of growth. Some years nothing can stop a certain plant. The next year, nothing will make it grow.

True Diversity
The Creating Word created genuine diversity in the plant and animal world to take care of all contingencies. Nothing is allowed to dominate for long.

For example, Starlings are aggressive and work in large flocks. But they do not take over the bird population. When plants are truly invasive, it is because they are brought into a country where they do not belong - like Kudzu  Vine (US Government) or the Chinese Multiflora Rose (US Government).

Control-freak sects do not allow diversity of thought. That threatens the insecure leaders. In dominating the members and ministers, these petite tyrants deny the gifts of the Spirit and ultimately pay the price.

One layman said of the WELS District Presidents - "They have to be alcoholics. It's the only way they can live with what they have done to others."

WELS planted the Kudzu Vine of Church Growth
and is now dying of staff infections from Larry Olson, DMin Fuller.

Vines and Asparagus - A Long Wait But Worth It

 I will need to rent a truck to harvest the asparagus.

Many refuse to grow asparagus because they have to wait to start harvesting it. My experience is that there is nothing better than asparagus from the yard. In fact, we ate most of it raw in Midland.

Asparagus is better now. One can buy male plants that do not use up energy in going to seed. The plants are sent fairly well developed and ready to grow. The old instructions made asparagus growing sound like building the Great Wall of China. I simply dig shallow holes, plant the rubbery crowns, cover and mulch them.

Birds plant asparagus in the wild, along fences. If you need more information, send me an email. When we visited our farm cousins, we looked for asparagus along the fences.

Vines Take Time Too
I have learned that vines also take time. That goes against our assumptions. Don't many homes have vines growing on them. We had English ivy on the front of our house, just a little. It has taken four years for it to cover the front porch and picture window area. From there it decided to invade the rose garden. Like Burmuda grass and Blackberries, a can grow from its tips by rooting itself, and expanding form there.

Trumpet
God created vines for vertical use of the sun. I bought three Trumpet Vine sticks, which arrived looking dead. I soaked them overnight in rainwater and they began to grow. Last year they made modest progress, even though I doted on them, like a worried nurse reviving a weak and pale patient.

In the second year the vine began to show its strength. As I hoped, the one planted under the maple tree is now climbing the tree and covering part of the Maple Tree Rose Garden. I reckon the third year of growth will bring some flowers to attract hummingbirds.

Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle Vines are slow to get established and then take over if left alone. Last year the vine bloomed a bit and that was all. Now it is starting to spread a little. I expect a lot more blooms and growth next year.

Morning Glory
We ended up with a glorious display of Morning Glories from Mr. Gardener parking some old vines next to the fence. They planted themselves, got going on my earthworm fertilized, mulch enhanced soil, and grew fast. That happened so fast that I asked him if he deliberately planted them there. He laughed and explained the accident and worried I did not like them.

Cow Vetch is a delicate plant but some consider it invasive.

Cow Vetch seeds are harvested for budgies.

Cow Vetch
Vetches are related to beans, so they are good for the soil. I had climbing beans come back this year, just because I let them go to seed last year. The seeds stayed safe in the soil and mild winter, then took off.

Cow Vetch is wild here. Some grew and bloomed in the front yard and the back fence. On the back fence we had a blue waterfall of flowers for time. This year I have not seen it, perhaps because birds love the seeds.

Gardeners agree that they see cycles of growth. Some years nothing can stop a certain plant. The next year, nothing will make it grow.

True Diversity
The Creating Word created genuine diversity in the plant and animal world to take care of all contingencies. Nothing is allowed to dominate for long.

For example, Starlings are aggressive and work in large flocks. But they do not take over the bird population. When plants are truly invasive, it is because they are brought into a country where they do not belong - like Kudzu  Vine (US Government) or the Chinese Multiflora Rose (US Government).

Control-freak sects to not allow diversity of thought. That threatens the insecure leaders. In dominating the members and ministers, these petite tyrants deny the gifts of the Spirit and ultimately pay the price.

One layman said of the WELS District Presidents - "They have to be alcoholics. It's the only way they can live with what they have done to others."

WELS planted the Kudzu Vine of Church Growth
and is now dying of staff infections from Larry Olson, DMin Fuller.

The Advantages of Study and Controversies

I looked over at Sassy. Her eyes were fixed on me, her tail wagging in a friendly and encouraging way. How can I resist her silent request for a walk? I will be back in a while. This is our long walk time, relatively cool and quiet.

We had fun on our walk. One neighbor lost her foot to infection from diabetes, She was in a wheelchair for a long time. Now she has a prosthetic lower leg. She looked at Sassy, resting in the dew-soaked grass and said, "We get tired fast. don't we?"

This resting position lets Sassy enjoy some cooling wet grass.
When she went outside after her bath yesterday, with a real feel of 100, she was as jumpy as a puppy,because she felt the cool effect of the wet fur.

Study and Controversy
St. Paul commends doctrinal conflict, because that separates the bad from the good. The Pietists want everyone to get along and continue to lay their bug eggs in the good meal, like flour flies, and prosper their ministry of indifference.

If a pastor refuses to engage in doctrinal issues, he puts his study habits to sleep. Too many passages, even in the horrid NIV family, are too challenging, too much against the denominational fads running their sect into the ground.

The "confessional" leaders of the LCMS-ELS-WELS-ELCA
rejoice in forgiveness without faith -
contrary to St. Paul, Luther, and the Book of Corcord.
Pass the plate and fund their missions (salaries) of apostasy.

If someone says, "I am going to read the Book of Concord," that is not motivating for careful study. Required reading in a school is only a shallow introduction. But if someone wants to know what the Book of Concord teaches about the forgiveness of sin, that will take him through the:

1. Augsburg Confession
2. Apology of the Augsburg Confession
3. Small Catechism
4. Large Catechism
5. Smalcald Articles
6. Formula of Concord, especially the Righteousness of Faith
7. Article on Election, and related passages.

Go ahead, prove me wrong about Justification by Faith being the Chief Article. But post it in public and give exact quotations and the correct citation, so I can check your work.

The answer from the UOJ/Church Growth Pietists is - "Do not listen to him. Do not read his work. Do not quote him."

I would not trade all the guns in the McCain armory for the pleasure and peace I have received from studying Luther, the Confessions, Chemnitz, and Gerhard.

Darth Vader, Leader of the UOJ Stormtroopers -
"I find your lack of faith...uplifting."

Lazy Pastors Do Not Study. From 2012

I marvel at how little the full-time ministers do. They must be like the royalty in Europe, who are always exhausted from the latest party, the most recent vacation.

The pastors have to study the Word in order to preach, so many of them plagiarize their sermons and skip the studying part (which they imagine is boring).

They do very little visiting.

Those are the three components of a healthy congregation - preaching, teaching, visiting. Thelazyu pastors do little of all three.

I gave that secret away without charging a consulting fee.

WELS had two "consultants" in Columbus, both divorced. They did their best to wreck the congregations. WELS made sure one got a congregational call to an independent congregation, though he was never a member of WELS. The other one went to work for WELS Lutherans for Life, for a time.

Everyone wants to be a boss and earn the big money. WELS Lutherans for Life has a generic name, to make more money. Their payroll in 2010 was about $350,000, and they listed assets of $500,000. Few pastors make as much money as Bob Fleischmann (divorced and remarried). His Christian Life Resources gathers in $1 million a year, so he goes around raising money from congregations that will never see that kind of annual budget, from pastors who actually do Means of Grace work.

$1.3 million income for his generic charity - one year.
Income dropped by 50% from 2010 to 2014.

Salaries used to be listed in the IRS forms, but they are not in the 2010 report for Fleischmann. His salary was quite hefty many years ago. 2014 has Fleischmann listed as making $72,000 a year.

From WELS Documented 2015 - Examples of Schroeder's Leadership. But Why No Punishment for the Mark Jeske Crime Family?

Friday, January 16, 2015

Among the Hidden: The fear of speaking out against the WELS

Why the fear to speak
publicly against the WELS?

Why do so many people, pastors included, feel that when they have concerns about the Synod they must speak anonymously? What happens if those concerns are expressed? Is there a safe manner for both concerned pastors and laypeople to express those thoughts where they don't have to do it anonymously? What can the Synod do to assist people and help them feel like they are able to speak openly and not anonymously? Obviously many feel like they can't.

*****

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IMPORTANT NOTE: The purpose of this post, and the cases cited, is to examine and discuss WHY so many people, who have concerns about the synod, don't speak up as themselves but instead feel the need to remain anonymous. It is also to examine if there are only specific subjects (i.e. contemporary worship, doctrinal issues, etc.) that make people feel vulnerable or if it is "across the board" with everything. The cases cited below are for discussion to see if these very public cases, and their results, are what is holding people back - because of what they have seen happen to others.

For all the "anonymous and hidden" people out there, please comment with why you feel the need to either blog, write, or comment anonymously. What do you fear will happen if you speak openly?

Likewise, if you are one that HAS spoken up about concerns in the Synod, and had positive results, please share the general topic and how you broached the subject with the Synod.

For those on the other side of the fence, that spoke up using your real identity and it lead to negative repercussions, what were they? What would you do differently (if anything)?

And finally, what specifically can the synod - synod president, district presidents, circuit pastors - do to reduce all the anonymous writing, comments and concerns?

Another embezzler,
dearly loved by WELS UOJ/CGM leaders.

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*****

The Polluted WELS Blog was written by an anonymous author (Matthias Flach) and when he accidentally gave away too many details about his identity, he deleted his page for fear of retribution. Since most of it has been deleted, it's difficult to link to anything for verifiable documentation therefore, Matthias, if you are reading this, we would love to have your input on why published and what lead you to delete, etc so we can learn from your experience.

Comment that wasn't deleted:
"...Two of the DP who are supposed to be the most Confessional are preaching at this conference. If I dared to voice my concerns, I would automatically labeled "divisive" and blackballed. Anonymous blogging is the only recourse Confessional Lutheran pastors have."

***** 

The Bailing Water Blog examined issues in the WELS from 2007 - 2011. If the author of Bailing Water is reading this, we would welcome your input on why you began the blog, what you were able to accomplish, and why you stopped.

*****

The Intrepid Lutheran Blog also started strong and the people involved were NOT anonymous. Did that lead to negative repercussions for any of them? We ask because this was posted in their 2013 blog post, The Witch Hunt Has (Officially) Begun: "...The following paragraph is from WELS District President Doug Engelbrecht’s summary of the recent meeting of the WELS Conference of Presidents, sent out to the pastors of his district: Another item involved the Intrepid Lutheran website.  There is a concern that those who still wholeheartedly support this group by being “signers” are also supporting a pastor who has been removed from the ministerium of the WELS for doctrinal reasons, because he has been given a forum on their website.  The consensus was that each district president should approach pastors in their district who are listed as “signers” on the website and determine whether or not they are in support of the false doctrine that the suspended pastor espouses..."

Because the Intrepid Blog is so big and involves so many issues and people, we would welcome input from any of the originals "signers" on how you felt then and how you feel now about voicing public concerns. Do you have any regrets? Would you encourage others to be like you and come forward as themselves publicly to express concerns? What advice do you have to give looking back in hindsight now?

*****

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The following three case are well known public cases which are often cited as reasons for why people feel the need to be anonymous. The parties in all these cases chose to make them public. We did not dig these out of a closet somewhere. All of them have substantial referenced reading material online if you would like to study each one in more in-depth. We would welcome first-hand feedback from all the parties below (both sides) to further elaborate on the obstacles you faced - both positive and negative. We would also be interested in hearing, now that you know the outcome, if you have any advice for others who may also be in the same situation? 

Case 1: Pastor Paul Rydecki
Issue: Spoke up about doctrinal concerns in the Synod
Outcome: It is with great personal distress that we inform you, earlier this week Rev. Paul Rydecki was suspended from WELS on the charge of teaching the “false doctrine” of Justification by Faith Alone. This drama has been drawn out over the past few months.
Reading Material: 

• Intrepid to the Last: Rev. Paul Rydecki has been Suspended from WELS
• Suspended from the WELS - Why?
• Why WELS Expelled Rev Paul Rydecki
• Arizona-California District Report

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Case 2: Layperson Rick Techlin
Issue: Concerned about doctrinal issues and plagiarism in his WELS church
Outcome: Had his membership terminated from his lifelong church
Reading Material: 

• Intrepid - Why I No Longer Attend My [WELS] Church (22 Comments)
• Light from Light - Why I No Longer Attend My Church
• Receiving Holy Communion in the WELS
• Terminated from WELS Fellowship
• An Appleton Update
• November 1, 2009 Letter
• January 20, 2011 Letter
• April 12, 2011 letter from St. Peter Church
• April 30, 2011 appeal letter

note: all the letters were linked from public websites; they were not obtained by private means.

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Case 3: Layperson had a restraining order filed on him by two WELS pastors
Issue: JD was standing up for his wife's reputation after she was sexually harassed by a pastor. That WELS pastor, as well as, a second WELS pastor filed a restraining order against him and took him to court.
Outcome: Case was dismissed.
Reading Material: 

• Two WELS Pastors and Four Meritless Lawsuits
• WCCA vs. WELS Privacy Concerns
• Meritless Lawsuits and Spiritual Abuse

Short Review of Thy Strong Word from a Former WELS Layman. Long Review from Gerald Parker

 The Kindle eBook Edition of Thy Strong Word can be found here.

This link is for Kindle, Print, and the used, first edition of Thy Strong Word.

Good morning, pastor.  Am working my way thru the above and find it highly readable, informative and interesting.  Most of all:  Faithful to the Word.

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Another Reader -

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsMagisterial Defense of Truly Confessional Lutheranism

By Gerald Parker on April 14, 2007

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I am a layman, not a theologian, but I have read fairly widely in the literature of Lutheranism, my heritage faith, so I do not hesitate to praise with the highest encomia possible this very fine and much-needed book that refutes the errors of latter-day North American Lutheranism, alike the unbelieving "liberalism" of the E.L.C.A. and E.L.C.i.C. as well as the pseudo-conservatism (which falsely poses as Confessional) of the denominations deriving from the old Synodical Conference (most notably the L.C.M.S., W.E.L.S., E.L.S., and the L.C.M.S.' sister sect, the Lutheran Church Canada), which have betrayed genuine Confessional Lutheranism with their bizarre speculations embodied in the theological paradigm of "Universal Objective Justification and Subjective Justication" (U.O.J.), which Ptr. Dr. Gregory Lee Jackson anathematises and disproves, as well he should do, showing these heinous false speculative ideas to be being neither Scriptural nor Confessional, and, hence, not genuinely Lutheran at all. (Coming back to this review to revise it some, I would point out that Jackson has written and published a separate book, one that handles the matter superbly, on the U.O.J. heresy, titled "Luther versus the U.O.J. Pietists: Justification by Faith".) Jackson also scathingly and realistically savages the venal "Church Growth Movement" tendencies in all forms of this hemisphere's Lutheranism, liberal and pseudo-confessional alike.

There are magnificent defenses of "genesio-Lutheran" Confessional teaching versus the claims of what Ptr. Dr. Jackson calls the "Reformed" (by which he includes all non-Lutheran Protestantism and sectarianism, rather than only, more properly, the teaching of other genuinely Protestant churches that follow the doctrinal teachings of Martin Bucer, especially, and of Jean Calvin, as well as the Three Forms of Unity and Westminster Standards that so principally, soundly, and moderately codify them confessionally). Jackson's defense of the Lutheran and hence Orthodox Christian "Means of Grace" is a stunning refutation of the claims of Baptists, Pentecostals/Charismatics, the loud-mouthed "Fundamentalists" who are so fundamentally wrong, the so-called "Neo-Evangelicals", Campbellites/"Restorationists", and other "cheap white [or black] theological trash") by explicating from the Scriptures (using, wisely, the Authorised "King James" Version, free of the sectarian bias that afflicts to one degree or another the modern versions in English of the Bible) the true Lutheran and biblical teaching about Holy Baptism and the Eucharist (Holy Communion, Mass). For the fine defense of Lutheran sacramental theology alone this book would be worth the purchase, but there is so much more as well!

A fault, a minor but nonetheless somewhat irritating one, is Jackson's intemperately vituperative assaults on other Lutherans and their squabbles and peccadilloes over relatively minor matters of turf, petty corruption, and so forth which, really, are of only passing interest or importance compared to the major issues that this book addresses, something that inevitably will cause this book become a bit dated in that regard. (That said, though, Jackson`s comments on such matters are reasonable and, I believe, true.) Dr. Jackson's book is already a classic of Lutheran exegesis and sound doctrinal teaching.

A note of warning is in store for those who purchase the book second-hand; the earliest printing of this book had some pagination and binding irregularities, but even a copy with these defects is worth having, since they do not affect any of the most important passages of the book.

***

GJ - Note that the new edition is all English in a new binding and very carefully edited by several people.

Recent Successes in the Creation Garden

Sassy is making sure I know the sun is up, 6 AM. I may get a post written before she starts some of her vocal signals, such as muttering and a high pitched "mmmmmm." Additional props are the sad eyes, the leaning off the bed toward the front door, and the impatient "Yip."

Sassy just got Mrs. I to tell me to feed her. My wife is Sassy's closer. Sassy sells and my wife says, "Go ahead and..." short-circuiting my stall. I jump up, outvoted 2 to 1.

The designated repair man came over yesterday to fix a few things. He often has practical and easy answers for annoyances. He always sees his elderly mother after stopping here, so I fixed a vase of roses for her. The Falling in Love roses were blooming everywhere, so he got those and some bonus blooms. I said, "Tell her that these are for the great work you do at our house." We also visited in the garden. As a steward of the property he complimented us on having a "natural front yard" full of roses. I told my wife, "That took a lot of work to make it so natural looking."

Here are some recent successes in the gardens, though lush weeds threaten everywhere:

1. The purple Bee Balm transplanted well in two places, front and back yards.
2. The Bottle Brush (Clethra) shrubs are blooming and attracting many pollinators.
3. Mountain Mint continues to grow and mature. 
4. Spirea - the bushes around the main rose garden - are blooming and growing.
5. Daylilies donated are thriving in the Wild Garden.
6. Rugosa Roses are tiny but growing in the Wild Garden.
7. Willow bushes are established as the ultimate Western Wall, to hide our neighbors' back yards.
8. The main Butterfly Bush, White Profusion, is about nine feet tall and full of birds as they rotate on and off the feeders, the Jackson EZ Bird Swing, The bush also serves as shade and a natural outdoor curtain.
9. The Crepe Mytle is in full bloom.
10.  Butterfly Weed, for Monarch Butterfly babies, is growing in the front.
11.  Borage - aka Bee Bread - just bloomed. The flowers are good to eat and the plant encourages a collection of beneficial insects.
12. The roses are thriving without pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. The only fertilizing efforts are earthworms and mulch.

Supporting ELCA As Easy As Getting a DMin from Fuller Seminary. All the Ways ELCA Gets Money and Support from WELS-LCMS-ELS

No.
They are ELCA-wannabees.

Facebook makes it easier for everyone to keep track of apostasy, because the ELCA units love to brag about their latest projects. Like the Shrinkers, the Lavender Mafia members love to crow about their dominance. The passive remain in bondage - they must like domination.

I am linking Exposing the ELCA now because they are good at updating their readers about ELCA's latest crimes against the Word of God.

LCMS, WELS, and ELS members/pastors should find their blood boiling, because their overpaid synod presidents willingly work with ELCA on a multitude of projects, from the congregational level to the national level. Of course, national for the ELS is an oxymoron. And WELS is merely a four-state synod: Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Adjoining States (Nebraska).

Nevertheless, the millions wasted pile up, even when the sects are a small part of the pie chart - about 5% for the WELS/ELS.

All four sects work together following the ELCA agenda. Everyone must accept women pastors and ordained women executives. Missouri and WELS were doing that years ago with the The Membership (insurance funded) Initiative. But WELS and LCMS also work with open lesbian and homosexual executives. The lavender leaders of each group know one another, but I am sure that is as far as it goes. I know what you are thinking - but that would be unionism!

WELS/LCMS/ELS oppose unionism with their lips. They are confessional, they say!

The WELS DPs, who are so quick to get rid of justification by faith, are also blind to their constant work with ELCA. If they oppose the Gospel (justification by faith), and support the crimes of ELCA, they must be apostate themselves. Ditto LCMS and ELS.

I know many people of various confessions, who ask about this strange tolerance of abortion and gay activism, "How can stay in the same room with those people, let alone engage in religious projects of any kind?"

The rot spreads from the top. A few boards make sure their apostate buddies get the funds and the coveted positions.

In brief, if you donate to the ELS, WELS, or LCMS, you are supporting the ELCA agenda. If you pay for Thrivent products, you are funding ELCA, the Unitarian-Universalist Church, Habitat for Humanity, and the United Nations.

http://www.southernohiosynod.org/aws/SOS/pt/sp/ministries_lmi

ELCA Malaria Campaign

Lutheran Malaria Initiative is Now ELCA Malaria Campaign

The ELCA, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the LWR had been approached by the United Nations Foundation and offered a grant of $5 million to develop a movement to prevent and treat, increase awareness and educate those at risk for malaria.  As part of the grant, the ELCA agreement was to raise $30 million out of a total Lutheran Malaria Initiative goal of $70 million by 2013.

UOJ makes work with ELCA as easy as a DMin from Fuller.

Just Say No to the Abusive Cult Named WELS - From 2010

Walther took someone to court for slander.
Defamation is defined here.

This takes some time, so I will list matters in chronological order.

1. I received this email from an ELCA pastor named Bruce Foster:

"----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Foster
To: gregjackson1948@qwest.net
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 7:46 AM
Subject: orthodox rhetoric

Dear Pastor Jackson


I am writing this letter against the advice of a WELS pastor who claims to know something about you (he says he has a relative who served your WELS church in Ohio after you left). He says that you are unable to see any fault in your opinions or manner of stating them. He is also sure that you are mentally ill.

As I have been reading your blog for the last few months I have not seen those two traits. You think you are right and everybody who disagrees with you is wrong. So what’s new? Everybody thinks that! But you aren’t beyond being corrected. NPH showed you how you misinterpreted their web site and you admitted it. And as to you being crazy, well, being nuts is in the eye of the beholder and being passionate isn’t being nuts even if it is sometimes confused with it.

So here it goes. I’m actually going to give you a constructive admonition, not a “brotherly admonition” since I’m a member of the ELCA and thus out of fellowship with you.

Dr. Jackson, why do you declare your love of Luther so much and never take seriously Luther’s explanation to the 8th commandment? I am not accusing you of lying, but rather of ignoring the second part of the explanation.

but will defend him, say good things about him, and see the best side of everything he does.

or

but defend him, speak well of him, and take his words and actions in the kindest possible way.

or

sondern sollen ihn entschuldigen, Gutes von ihm reden und alles zum besten kehren.

I am willing to believe that all these versions of the last half of the explanation of the 8th commandment are part of some vast Church Growth conspiracy and in your private set of original Luther documents you have a version that says,

but spend a lot of time dreaming up abusive nicknames for your enemies.

Unless however you can produce those documents and have them authenticated, I will have to stick to the version I learned in LCMS catechism class and which is found in the Triglotta."

2. I asked him to verify his source, so ELCA Pastor Bruce Foster wrote:

From: Bruce Foster
To: Gregory L. Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:09 AM
Subject: Re: orthodox rhetoric

The WELS pastor is Peter Lindemann Jacksonport WI. I didn't name him because it wasn't the point of my email. Love to hear your response to my actual email, email not an essay.

3. I saw that there was a Lindemann in Jacksonport, so I emailed him to see if he said this to the ELCA pastor. He did not respond and the email did not bounce back. I assume this is Jenswold's brother-in-law, the son of Dean Lindemann at the late Northwestern College.

4. WELS SP Schroeder had contacted me more than once when he wanted something corrected, so I wrote him about this. His only response was - contact them. That was late in 2009, when I was moving to Arkansas.

5. I wrote a certified letter in April of 2010, sending it to SP Schroeder, Pastor Jenswold, and Pastor Lindemann, who was in another parish. A copy of all three signed receipts is below. All three are signed May 3, 2010. But no one responded by phone, by email, or by letter.

6. When I pointed a total lack of response, SP Schroeder sent me an email denying this had happened. He said I did not need to issue a correction. He is keen on corrections. When I pointed that he signed the certified letter, so there was no need to change an accurate post, he said, on October 23, 2010:

"Since the certified letter was not addressed to me but sent as a “CC”, and since I had encouraged you to contact these men directly and you were doing so, I did not respond directly to your letter.

Regardless, I apologize if this appeared to be a lack of response. It was not intended to be.

Thanks.

Rev. Mark Schroeder

WELS President"

***

GJ - I have known about this slander campaign for many years. Various friends in WELS have told me about it. As I pointed out to all three WELS pastors, defamation is a crime punishable by the law. WELS is very big on slander. When I was writing about WELS involvement in Church Growth and Fuller, Paul Kelm and Norm Berg and Joel Gerlach all wrote to cry "Slander! Eighth Commandment!"

SP Schroeder is legally responsible for what his underlings do. So is DP John Seifert and other WELS leaders. Ecclesiastical leaders can get away with just about any defamation in their own sect. That is why the leaders, pastors, and members get used to abusive behavior. Nothing is done. But when someone is outside of their organization, defamation is a very serious matter.

Schroeder could have asked Lindemann and Jenswold to apologize, since neither one denied this happened. Both pastors could have apologized, but they did not. That is because WELS pastors cannot admit ever being wrong. They are so thin-skinned that they believe themselves entitled to slime anyone who disagrees with anything.

Schroeder himself could have apologized for the criminal behavior of his underlings, but he did not. WELS never admits wrong.

ELS Pastor John Shep (now ELCA) was caught doing the same thing via email. In an email to a generous donor to Thoughts of Faith, he praised me. In an email sent to another contact, he questioned whether I was normal or balanced. When the donor confronted him with a copy of his negative email, he did not respond at all. Shep, by the way, had never met me or talked to me, but he wrote, "How well do you know him?"

What I am reporting here is only the tip of the iceberg in WELS/ELS abusive behavior. They treat their members and pastors like trash, if it suits their immediate purpose.

I could detail many other items from my own experience with WELS, to show how pathetic their leadership is. When my wife was disabled with a life-threatening illness, they told others that she was not sick at all. As anyone can tell from the original report from Lindemann and Jenswold, they imagine they are medical experts too. Nothing is too low for them.

I showed up on the NWC campus one day, in the midst of Dean Lindemann being a tyrannical jerk with a group of students. He was being quite threatening with them about "a letter." I followed WELS procedure and invited him for a face-to-face meeting in his office. I asked about "the letter," which magically no longer existed. I told him how I defended WELS all the time, perhaps mentioning the whining the ELS Pastor Jay Webber, who wanted to break fellowship with WELS. (He is a born-again Intrepid now, Defender of the Unfaith.)

Later, students said Lindemann had a look on his face no one had seen before. They were all quite pleased. I am not saying the Lindemann clan nursed a grudge. Oh no. The entire sect nurses a grudge against anyone who does not fall down and praise them with glazed eyes.

I know from a dust-up between Paul McCain and Larry Darby that publishing a letter neutralizes it as evidence. Long ago, McCain sent one of his ugly letters around, which blamed Darby and me because a Missouri pastor failed to support UOJ. I did not even know the pastor named, so I wondered about McCain's omniscience and ethics. Darby would not give me the letter because the attorneys were dealing with it. He was not allowed to share it, even though I was named.

I discussed this matter with an attorney. I know church officials (who are often in court, due to criminal behavior) get all huffy about this. Dan Preus wrote about Walther's parallel experience.

"Walther himself initiated a lawsuit in the state of Indiana against a
fellow Lutheran of the Ohio Synod who had been guilty of slandering him. Through
his lawyer he even sought monetary damages from the man guilty of slander,
although stating that any damages awarded would not be used for his personal
benefit. Walther dropped his lawsuit only when the two individuals primarily

responsible for slandering him had retracted their slander and apologized in

writing, submitting their apologies for publication in 'Der Lutheraner.' (Der

Lutheraner, July, 1884, p. 109)
Daniel Preus,
"Christians, Lawsuits and 1 Corinthians 6,"
Affirm, June, 1991, p. 5-6.

In the last two years, Jenswold, Lindemann, and Schroeder have had many chances to man up.

Jenswold does not even know me. I visited Shepherd of Peace once. He was rude to me and my wife, which is typical of WELS clergy. That Sunday he talked about what an expert he was in Greek, so no one could question the new feminist Creed promoted by Christian Worship. I said nothing. There is an old saying, "Have regard for the pastor before you and the pastor who follows you." WELS is not aware of that saying. They are crippled in ethics.

I told the congregation when I resigned from WELS, "Don't bother to call a pastor if you cannot back him up." They remembered that during the last 17 years. The statement still comes up.