The Ad Ichabodem Gambit

You dare question Holy Mother WELS?

I often get email where someone has been blamed for reading Ichabod - Step One. Step Two is the WELS playbook script - raving about everything wrong with me. This rant comes from strangers who have never met me and have never sat down to hold my hand and tell me my sins in private. Matthew 18 and the Eighth Commandment - those passages are for suckers who send their offering money to WELS, thinking it is for spreading the Gospel rather than for settling lawsuits.

The facts do not matter to pathological liars. However, facts are irrelevant. They think a personal attack can obliterate the crimes committed by WELS pastors and leaders. Mrs. Just is still dead. Mrs. Tabor is still dead. Many pastoral mistresses are now second wives. Doctrinal error is taught in the WELS colleges and seminary, the WELS magazine and many congregations. Nothing is done.

Most of the content on this blog comes from WELS members who send me the information, which must be documented various ways. When I present information, I always have the links in the article, or I copy the information verbatim from the Net. The evidence has a way of disappearing immediately.

One person said, "When I give it to you, everyone can read it. If I give it to a pastor, one person reads it."

Many things are background and never shared for various reasons. Some of the worst evils affect the innocent most of all, while the perps remain devoid of all feeling for anyone else but themselves. When people live in opposition to the Word of God, they harden themselves against the Gospel. Eventually their laxity turns to atheism, as it has with two WELS Shrinkers I knew. Doubtless many more have followed their example or will soon emulate their career trajectory.

One time I quoted a newspaper and linked it about Jeske participating in a joint worship service with the Missouri Synod. Immediately a WELS pastor attacked me for lying and making this up, but naturally he sent this accusation to another WELS pastor. I wonder how many! The link was on Ichabod, and the article was copied verbatim. Unlike the anonymous accuser, I looked up various news releases and found one that was a little more detailed. Did he write me and tell me I might be mistaken? No, he jumped on my case, defaming me to another pastor, perhaps thinking an ad Ichabodem would make Mark Jeske a Lutheran instead of a New Age Unionist.

Needless to say, I delighted in recounting this and in marking links clearly so Mequon graduates could find them. The arrows pointing to a link are my way of saying - "Try some integrity for a change."

PS - Nothing has been done about Mark Jeske. Just as I wrote before, discipline in WELS means pounding the person who told the truth.

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Statistics from Google. It's all about the numbers - right O Shrinkers?

Pageviews yesterday 1,863

Pageviews last month 37,465

Pageviews all time history 52,653

Fox Valley WELS Is Not the Exception - Fox Valley Is WELS

The LCMS kicked out Stolzenburg for cause and WELS immediately made him a pseduo-pastor,
without joining WELS, without colloquy,
before they promoted him for his current position. Why?
Money and Church Growth doctrine.
The ELS also supported him, until people discovered the facts.

There is always a faint possibility that exposing the truth about Fox Valley will make a difference. Gradually people will realize that the plagiarism of false teachers is not the exception in WELS but the essence of WELS.

This is the WELS playbook, which they follow carefully - everywhere:

1. Tight-lipped Doctrinal Pussycats and Circuit Pussycats will claim, "We are addressing this right now, but it has to be kept confidential." (Translation - we will bury alive anyone who tells the truth.)
   
2. Anyone who dares to ask from that point will treated as the chief cause of all the problems.
   
3. The perpetrators will be soothed and flattered so their feelings are no longer hurt.
   
4. WELS will use a scapegoat as the cause for their problems. Herman Otten used to work for them, but he is so cooperative in spiking stories that WELS needs another scapegoat. Ichabod.
   
5. WELS will drive out any layman or pastor who is persistent in thinking Fox Valley has deep, divisive problems.
   
6. Fox Valley will get far worse, because the perpetrators will know they have total protection and any dissenter will give up.
   

WELS has institutionalized evil. Proof comes from its cherished GA hazing ritual and all the hazing that leads up to it. But that is just a symptom of its precious amalgamation of Pietism, self-worship, and Lutheran flavoring (extra lite).

Would the leaders who cannot tell the truth about two murders hesitate to cover up widespread plagiarism? Eventually people will realize they are in an abusive cult, not a Lutheran church body.

Stealing from false teachers has been a career booster for WELS pastors for decades. Questioning plagiarism means doubting the leadership of WELS, back to 1977, and even before.

When all the WELS mission people were listed as being trained at Fuller Seminary, there was great consternation. Nothing was done. When I asked about it a second time, the WELS pastor refused to give me details. Ditto - information about an ELS pastor who wrote a bragging letter about going to Fuller. The Fullerite served on the ELS Board of Doctrine! I asked for a second copy of the letter when I lost my first one. No help.

The pastors are so busy silencing themselves that the leaders do not need to bother. Besides, the road to perdition advancement is paved with silence.

Here are some tips to remember from the playbook:
1. Some WELS pastors will appear sympathetic up to the point where it matters. At that point they do an about-face and viciously attack.
2. No one from the same class at The Sausage Factory is ever wrong.
3. WELS has so much to hide that any effort to tell the truth will terrify the people in charge, which is why they act so ferociously when cornered.
4. Lying is so natural to WELS pastors that they often tell five lies when only one will do. They like to keep in shape. The blatant deceptions are a way of telling people - "This is the party line, so shut up."
5. "We are working on it" means "We are pounding the people who brought this up."
6. Unloving and unbrotherly are perfect descriptions of the apostates in charge, but they will use those descriptions without remorse against anyone, any time.
7. Would those who violate the Sixth Commandment so effortlessly hesitate at the Eighth? The First Table does not exist for them, so why would the Second Table affect their behavior at all?

The Episcopalians - A Contrast
I am not going to join the Episcopalians, but I have followed their problems for decades.

Their bishops have broken with the national, gay leadership and taken their dioceses with them.

Their bishops have dared to defend their property in court, instead of playing it safe and retiring in ease and luxury.

No denomination is quite as easy-going about doctrine as the Episcopalians. They have always been Big Tent Protestants who can be Billy Graham Evangelicals or more Roman than the Holy Father Hisself. Many priests and bishops have been homosexuals. However, the elevation of an open homosexual, posing with his partner and his daughter - how touching - was the last straw for many Episcopalian bishops still in power. In ELCA, given similar circumstances, no active bishop has left or protested.

Useless DPs in WELS
The supine leadership of WELS illustrates that they have abandoned whatever power they have. Whatever has been done will be done, because to change course will suggest fallibility. WELS is infallible. Write that down.

A DP told me something was going to be done about Fox Valley, roughly two years ago. And CrossWalk in Phoenix was going to be fixed! Everything continues as before, not without cause. The Daddy Warbucks are behind false doctrine. The DPs like being fat and stupid.

What Does DP Doug Plan To Do about the Plagiarism?

wistex (http://wistex.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Parlow Plagiarism":

First Ski, then Glende, and now Parlow. Or is it first Parlow, then Glende, then Ski? No matter.

DP Englebrecht, what are you going to do about this?

***

GJ - Your impertinent question is unloving and unbrotherly. DP Englebrecht will meet with the Fox Valley circuit and discipline:
1) Anyone caught writing his own sermons.
2) Anyone reading Ichabod.

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Joseph Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "What Does DP Doug Plan To Do about the Plagiarism?...":

As a WELS member I anticipate the following will be done: absolutely nothing. The wolves will be allowed to continue the spread of their false doctrine and practice. If nothing has been done up to this point with all the facts so freely available to all and for so long a period I have very little hope that anything will be done.

***

GJ - I agree, Joseph. The members needed by WELS will go away and the faithful pastors will leave or get the Left Foot of Fellowship.

Parlow Plagiarism

Parlow, Ski, Glende, and Bishop Katie worshiped with Andy Stanley at the Drive 08 conference.
Eight WELS workers were at one.

I have found an example of Pastor John Parlow plagiarizing a sermon.

On 24 January 2010, Rev. John Reese of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Tampa, Florida, gave a sermon on Nehemiah 8:1-10 for Epiphany 3. The original link for the sermon was
www.saintandrewstampa.org/sermons/sermon20100124.pdf . 
Unfortunately, this link no longer is active.

However, thanks to the magic of the Google Cache, you can see an HTML version of the PDF formerly housed there.  Go to
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zB9juUg1B-YJ:www.saintandrewstampa.org/sermons/sermon20100124.pdf
and save this document!

Searching for the phrase "language riots in Algeria" will yield this
result, as well as another link.  This second link is active--
http://www.homileticsonline.com/nonsubscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=2993
.  This has a date of 21 January 2001.

Go to the St. Mark "Media" page and get the audio for the 27 July sermon by Pastor Parlow entitled "It's Time to Understand" via the link at http://stmarkpartners.nextmeta.com/downloads/Understand.mp3 .
Again, you'll want to save this file.

Listen to the sermon as you read the Homiletics Online page.  Notice any similarities?

The entire sermon isn't copied verbatim or paraphrased, but I would estimate that over half of it is.  There are some other things injected into the sermon, but I can't help but wonder if there is a Quelle that I haven't yet found.

Godly Contrition Does Not Mean - I Am Sorry I Was Caught

viewpoint (http://viewpoint.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Bethany Appleton WELS Caught Plagiarizing Swindoll...":

GJ - I am looking forward to apologies from Ski, Glende, Kelm, Parlow, Deputy Doug Englebrecht, the hapless district VP, Ron Ash, Patmos, and various other enablers.

Their intransigence and refusal to confess and renounce their misleading ways show what false teachers they are.

This Week's Sermon Topic at The CORE - WELS

Screen capture. Click on Ski's hand and he reveals what Groeschel will preach about this week.

This week's sermon topic is: Secrets - Lies.

This could be the link. Ask Ski - I am sure he will tell the truth. Many people have confronted him about copying Groeschel. He is completely unashamed of it.

He also swaps with Pastor Tim Glende on Groeschel series, just as he did with Jason at Little Hope in Oconomowoc.

Who taught these lazybones to steal and lie? Sure, it may be a well worn GA tradition, part of their secret hazing ritual, but this is a bit much.

Introducing Chuck Swindoll

Chuck Swindoll is Evangelical Free (Pietist) but serves a community church with no affiliation.
Chuck graduated from a non-E-Free seminary, Dallas, and is a bigshot there.

From Wikipedia:

"In July 1994, Swindoll became the president of the Dallas Theological Seminary, and now serves as its chancellor. He is the author of more than 70 books, most of which are based on his research and preparation for sermons preached each Sunday. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Christianity Today produced an article naming Swindoll as one of the top 25 most influential preachers of the past 50 years (1956–2006).

In 1998, Swindoll founded a new church in Frisco, Texas, Stonebriar Community Church. The church first held services at Collin County Community College (now called Collin College) then moved to its permanent home on Legendary Drive in Frisco. The congregation grew rapidly from a few hundred members to several thousand in the first few years and this growth has necessitated major expansion of the current facility. Construction for the additions began in 2005. Many of the pastors at Stonebriar are graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary, and the church is known for its missionary work in India and other countries. Though Swindoll is still widely regarded as an Evangelical Free Church of America preacher, the Stonebriar Community Church is not affiliated with any particular denomination.[2]"

What Bethany's Pastors Did NOT Say - Very Significant

Michael Schottey WELS Pastor forced to apologize for plagiarizing Charles Swindoll. Does not apologize for reading or appreciating Charles Swindoll or passing off schwaemer bull to his sheep.

Bethany Lutheran Church, Appleton WI Pastor's Blog

www.bethanyappleton.org

Dear Friends, I'd like to use this space to offer you, the dear members and friends of Bethany Lutheran Church and Our Shepherd Child Care & Family Ministry Center -- a sincere apology. As many of you are we

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Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "What Bethany's Pastors Did NOT Say - Very Signific...":

I went over to Intrepid Lutherans and read through the conversation between Intrepid and Bethany Lutheran Church. A member of Bethany received a personal phone call from the pastor. What did he remember? (Drumroll please....) The pastor said the Intrepid letter was "unloving" and (Wait for it....) did not follow the steps of Matthew 18!

Boy, talk about showing your true colors! It's just like squashing a bug. Step on a CGM WELS pastor and he will ooze "unloving" and Matthew 18!

Bethany Appleton WELS Caught Plagiarizing Swindoll

Your offering dollars at work, promoting false teachers.
---bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Bethany Appleton WELS Caught Plagiarizing Swindoll...":

The members, no doubt, got suspicious when their pastor produced a devotion without spelling and grammar mistakes, and suspected false doctrine. Spelling and grammar mistakes are part of the Marks of the Church as far as WELS is concerned.
***
GJ -

I noticed today that the Intrepids caught Bethany (WELS) in Appleton plagiarizing Church Swindoll. The link is here.

The Intrepids did not name Bethany because there was an apology posted. However, I was able to find it by a process of elimination. WELS pastors never apologize, so that narrowed it down quite a bit. Secondly, Bethany was already known as one of many Shrinker cesspools in the State of Wisconsin.

Here is the apology:

Pastor's Blog

Dear Friends, I'd like to use this space to offer you, the dear members and friends of Bethany Lutheran Church and Our Shepherd Child Care & Family Ministry Center -- a sincere apology. As many of you are well aware, especially those still actively involved in the work-a-day world, it is vitally important, yet not always to easy to keep an organization's web site fresh and up-to-date. Your pastors have tried to provide fresh information and spiritually valuable devotions and articles for our members and friends as routinely as time allows. This particular page, formerly know (sic) at the "Pastor's Message", was updated about every three months or so. The last time it was updated - in June of 2010 - I must confess to you that my press of schedule and the weakness of my sinful flesh led me to publish a devotion in this space that was not the work of your pastor. Without attributing the work to its proper author, Pastor Charles Swindoll of Insight for Living Ministries, and without seeking permission of his publisher, Thomas Nelson Publishers, I shared Pastor Swindoll's devotion here with a very slight modification. For this transgression I am sorry. It was wrong to share some one else's work without acknowledging it's (sic) original source. My apologies to you and please know that I will be sending a personal letter of apology to Pastor Swindoll as well. It is the prayer of your pastors that you will be gracious in accepting our apology and will continue to give us the privilege and opportunity to encourage you in your walk of faith by visiting our website in the future. We are grateful for the powerful and healing message of our Savior-God's grace as recorded in Isaiah 43:25 -- "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." (Isaiah 43:25) In Christ's love, Pastor Mark P. Henke Pastor Darin D. Aden

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Here is what the Intrepids wrote, in case the blog disappears the way the Issues in WELS website did:

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of blog posts, we discussed two important issues directly connected with the tragedy of pastoral plagiarism:

1. the fraudulent nature of plagiarism itself, and the meaning of this fraud within the context of the Office of Representational or Public Ministry,and
2. the added offense of plagiarizing sectarian sources.

We concluded both that:

A plagiarist is one who knowingly quotes or uses a source other than himself while concealing the identity of that source. The result of this theft is misrepresentation and fraud: that is, the plagiarist’s audience concludes that he is the author or creator of the quoted or used material (misrepresentation) and uses this conclusion as a basis for trust in the plagiarist (fraud). He takes on an identity that is not his – that of the original author – and uses that identity against the consciences of those who hear or read his work.

and,

When a pastor knowingly quotes or uses a source other than himself while concealing the identity of that source, the result is misrepresentation and fraud – a case of clear infidelity to his Call. ...When he commits misrepresentation using sectarian sources, he not only passes off sectarian teaching as his own, but... passes off sectarian content as pure Scripture teaching. The fraud associated with this misrepresentation is no longer merely that others trust his teaching on the basis of his misrepresentation, but that they trust sectarian teaching as orthodox on the basis of his misrepresentation. In stealing and applying to himself the identity of the sectarian author, he disgraces his Call, which requires that he “[hold] fast the faithful Word as he has been taught.” Using borrowed sectarian identity against the consciences of those who hear or read his work is tantamount to false teaching.

In this third installment we provide an illustration of plagiarism in the WELS using an example from one of a growing number of congregations which we have either observed directly, or which have come to our attention through concerned laymen and pastors of our Synod.


Plagiarism from Sectarian sources in the WELS
If only we could concern ourselves with pastors who plagiarize the sermons of Martin Luther, Johann Gerhard, C.F.W. Walther, or other giants of the Lutheran Confession! We might be inclined to just let it pass, and let homiletics professors at the seminary stew over it! Indeed, there have been many fine Lutheran pastors who have bequeathed to the church a legacy and record of exegetical and homiletical excellence, from whom many continue to borrow and repeat, and will continue to do so. Fine. Many of the ideas communicated by them are not foreign to us, but reminders of what is already common knowledge – like quoting from the Small Catechism, which every adult Lutheran is expected to have long since memorized, understood, and incorporated into his worldview. Citing original sources of common knowledge is not necessary – not even under the stringent guidelines of the APA.

But when we warn of plagiarism in our Synod, we are not talking about the pastor who’s had a rough week and finds it necessary to read a sermon from one of Martin Luther’s or Sig Becker’s postils, nor are we harping on the occasional unattributed quotation. In this discussion, we leave the fine points of situation ethics regarding plagiarism for others to debate, for the thresholds of acceptable use of unattributed sources are far, far south of the gross abuses which concern us. What we are warning of is wholesale, unattributed, nearly verbatim use of entire sectarian sermons, outlines, devotions, and other resources, the motivation for which seems to be derived from priorities of the Church Growth Movement. Indeed, by and large, it isn’t the traditional churches who have found it necessary to parrot Rick Warren, Craig Groeschel, or Mark Driscoll.

The example of one such congregation is illustrative. They had made verbatim and unattributed use of devotional material from Chuck Swindoll on their website. They had published their congregation’s “strategic plan,” suggesting influence from the Church Growth Movement. They had evidently recently preached a sermon series from Craig Groeschel’s LifeChurch.tv. Knowing we were going to treat this topic, we sent them an email last Friday, informing them that we were going to use their congregation’s website as an example of the type of plagiarism and use of sectarian sources that we observe more frequently, and, we fear, is becoming more and more accepted in our Synod. To this congregation's credit, within an hour of having sent our email, most of the offending material was removed, and by Saturday, a public apology had been posted in its place. Because of this, we have voluntarily chosen not to reveal the name of this congregation. Yet, the example of their offense remains useful, so we reproduce the details of our communication with them, which reveals the nature of the issues we observed there, and observe elsewhere:

Pastors and Elders of (name removed) Ev. Lutheran Church, (city and state removed)Intrepid Lutherans, a blog concerned with Confessional unity in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, is currently writing an article on plagiarism and the use of sectarian resources in our Synod, and will be using your congregation's website as an example. We have discovered on your congregation's website several troubling instances where use of sectarian sources is made – instances which are quite typical of a growing number of our congregations. We are contacting you ahead of publication for your comments on the following issues.
1. Your "Pastor's Message" entry located at this URL is taken almost verbatim, without attribution, from Chuck Swindoll's devotional Day by Day with Chuck Swindoll, Copyright 2000. This very same entry from Chuck Swindoll's work was used, with attribution, on Christianity.com, here:http://www.christianity.com/devotionals/day_by_day/11623905/. Do you have permission from either Chuck Swindoll or Thomas Nelson Publishers to use his content without attribution? If you do, do you consider it dishonest toward your readers to pass off his thoughts and experiences as your own? Did you actually "[receive] a letter from a fine Christian couple, and [smile] understandingly at one line: 'Although the Lord has taken good care of my wife and me for the past thirty-eight years, He has taken control of us for the past two and a half'"? If not, do you consider it a lie to say that you did? Is lying sinful? If so, do you and Chuck Swindoll know the same fine Christian couple? Could we see a copy of that letter?
2. We noticed that Chuck Swindoll's message is entirely a message of Law – Gospel-less is the term we used when critiquing it – which is aptly demonstrated in the final line summarizing the devotion: “Don't get ‘out of control’ because you're so determined to stay ‘in control.’” Do you think that it is appropriate for Lutherans to fixate on sanctification messages such as this? Do you think it is appropriate for a Lutheran to emphasize the third use of the Law without preceding it with its second use and the Gospel? If so, how can this be considered proper application of Law and Gospel? How does Swindoll's content indicate a Gospel motivation for Christian works? Granting that you may have found a pearl of great value among Swindoll’s works, do you consider it wise to use his material without warning your readers of his many errors? If so, have you read Harold Senkbeil'sSanctification: Christ in Action, published by NPH? It is an analysis of modern Evangelicalism and it's theological fixation on sanctification over justification, using Chuck Swindoll as a case study, and offers a confessional Lutheran corrective. For that matter, have you read Robert Koester's Gospel Motivation: More than "Jesus Died for My Sins", also published by NPH? If not, we highly recommend them.
3. We noticed that you altered Chuck Swindoll's content, in the third to last paragraph, adding the following sentence: "And it is only through the Spirit's working through the Means of Grace - the gospel in Word and Sacrament - that he bends and shapes our will (our new man) to be conformed to the likeness of God's Son, our Savior."
   
   

   Click image to see documents side-by-side

   We have further noticed that adding a token reference to the Means of Grace is a common way to "Lutheranize" sectarian content among WELS congregations enamoured with non-Lutheran sources. Your one-sentence addition to Swindoll’s work is illustrative of this technique. Do you honestly believe that this one-sentence is sufficient to make Swindoll's devotion – a devotion that is entirely a message of Law and entirely centered on sanctification – something that could be considered (a) your own original work, and/or (b) a distinctly "Lutheran" devotion, centered on Justification, where Law and Gospel are balanced in favor of the Gospel? Moreover, if you have permission to use Swindoll's content without attribution, do you also have permission to alter it?
4. We have noticed, in your congregation’s "Proposed Strategic Plan," that you envision people joining your church for no other reason than that your congregation is "so welcoming." We see precious little emphasis on Word and Sacrament ministry, nor mention of the Holy Spirit's work exclusively through those Means to call, gather and enlighten His people, drawing them into fellowship with other believers and keeping them in the faith. This troubles us. We are, of course, very familiar with the errors of the Church Growth Movement (CGM), and the reliance of CGM on alien means – means outside those through which the Holy Spirit is known to work – to “grow the church”.
   
   The ministry approach espoused in your "Proposed Strategic Plan" smacks of CGM. Are you familiar with CGM? Are you adherents of CGM practices? If not, who advised you to engage in such methods? If so, why are you so willing to flirt with sectarian errors?
   
   Are you aware that the WELS Michigan District commissioned a multi-year study of CGM, and that the resulting paper repudiated CGM, especially Lutheran involvement with CGM? The name of the paper is "The Tendrils of the Church Growth Movement," and it was enthusiastically received by the Michigan District at their 2008 Convention. We have attached a pdf of this paper for your edification.
5. Are you fans of Craig Groeschel's LifeChurch.tv? Was your July 4 sermon, entitled “How to Commit Adultery,” and taken nearly verbatim from the identically titled 1^st part of Groeschel's five-part sermon series "Five Easy Steps...," published on his website, here: http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch/five-easy-steps/1?
   
   If this is the case, did you inform those assembled that you were parroting a sectarian sermon? Or, is Craig Groeschel a confessional Lutheran? Did you do the same with the remaining four sermons of Groeschel’s series? We understand that Craig Groeschel publishes his sermons so that others can copy him, but also that his blog states pastors ought to cite their sources, because citation "honors the pastor or church who came up with the idea," "demonstrates humility and security," "exposes a church to other great leaders and teachers," and "removes any doubt of copying" (Plagiarizing Pastors by Craig Groeschel; July 21, 2008). If you copy his sermons, we assume that you largely agree with Craig Groeschel's preaching. If Craig Groeschel isn’t a confessional Lutheran, shouldn’t we be concerned about this fact alone? Moreover, even granting that one may have permission to copy someone else’s work without attribution, when, in your opinion, does a failure to cite sources constitute fraud against one’s hearers/readers?
Gentlemen, we will be publishing our article on Monday. Please have your comments to us by Sunday afternoon in order to have them included in our article. These are matters of public offense. Having taken council together and with others, we stand firm on Scripture (Ga. 2:11-14; 1 Ti. 5:20) and the Confessions (LC:3:284ff) when we insist that discussion of these issues, and all responses, be made in public. This includes a refusal to answer or participate. If you are unable to reply by Sunday afternoon, you may publicly engage the ensuing discussion by posting to our blog following publication.In Christ,Intrepid Lutherans

Apart from the removal of most of the offending content and the posting of an apology on their own website, we have received no return communication from this congregation.

Nevertheless, in response to their online apology, we have written back to them. That letter (with names removed) will appear in our next post.

***

GJ - I am looking forward to apologies from Ski, Glende, Kelm, Parlow, Deputy Doug Englebrecht, the hapless district VP, Ron Ash, Patmos, and various other enablers.

006 - License To Plagiarize

Ski and Playmat MariQueen

wistex (http://wistex.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "From the Bores at The CORE (Wisconsin Emerging Lib...":

Let's look at a couple of key statements in that newsletter:

"Pastor Jason, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma said, 'Pastor Ski and I developed the series so that we could be partners in it. He preached in Oconomowoc and Appleton on July 4th and 11th. I preached in Oconomowoc and Appleton on July 18th and 25th.

'We figured that two long Sundays was (sic - subject verb agreement) a cheap price to pay for two Sundays "off". Plus, it is a positive experience for both congregations to hear the same truth about Jesus presented in a slightly different style.'"

I assume that when "Pastor Jason" says they "developed the series," they mean they, together, logged in to http://open.lifechurch.tv/series/76 , took the sermon topics, and downloaded the materials. Maybe "developed" means that they engaged in the difficult task of winnowing the six weeks of sermons down to four.

Also, when they talk about "two long Sundays," I certainly feel for them. It's got to be just brutal to have to preach twice in one day. How do all those other pastors who preach three or more times in a weekend do it? And they do their own Bible studies, confirmation classes, and home/hospital visits, too?!

Why doesn't the District President do someth... oh, wait. Never mind.

Father Hollywood Refutes Guilt by Association

You call me gay for being in the Mary Lou College video?

Father Hollywood has left a new comment on your post "Faint Praise for Gaba":

"Romanizer" is a childish taunt.

It's like a schoolboy calling another schoolboy "gay" for disagreeing with him on a matter unrelated to sexuality.

A Romanizer believes the pope is the head of the church by divine rite. A Romanizer would never quote the Book of Concord - especially not authoritatively. A Romanizer does not advocate for the Lutheran Common Service. Anyone who calls Deacon Gaba a "Romanizer" is engaging in an entirely inappropriate character assassination, and is, hopefully, only operating out of parrotlike ignorance.

It goes to show how deeply people misunderstand the Reformation. Some people think incense, bells, vestments, a dignified celebration of the liturgy, and traditional western ecclesiastical (and confessional!) terminology is somehow "Romanizing." It is as pathetic as people who think being Lutheran has something to do with Martin Luther King or having red doors on the front of the church. Such people not only don't seem to grasp what "Romanism" is, they don't seem to know what Lutheranism is.

And so, like the slack-jawed characters in the film "Idiocracy," all they can do is call people a meaningless slur because that's all they can do to engage in the discussion.

Church and Money Changers - Leaving a Trail of Slim Wherever They Go

Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Little Hope, Oconomowoc, WELS":

"Get the impression?"

Er...

In five minutes of cursory clicking, I was able to hear Ski and Kelm, donate to the church online and find out the decorum of worship--none.

I also found out that children are apparently too dense for worship.

Clicking links gets me to Mike Westendorf's page. He's amazing! It says in his bio that "each song is arranged in a way that enhances the message."

He improves upon scripture! Sign me up!

More links: WLC (no MLC, LPS, ALHS, or WLS); ROC, Lighthouse, and What about Jesus.

The last link I can appreciate as the rest of the website give no impression it is a Lutheran church at all.

Sure am glad the Oconomowoc area finally got a church! It isn't like the city already had a church, along with multiple parishes in Ixonia, Hartland, Dousman, Helenville, Pewaukee or Watertown!

Book of Concord Sheds Light on ELCA Pastor's Bible Study, Sermons

August 2010 issue

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Story by Ronald G. Dybvig Open 'Book of Concord' It brings focus to the word of God The Book of Faith is a fine initiative. However, it is destined to underachieve in Lutheran culture. What is needed is a parallel study of the Book of Concord. Without this lens we have no way to focus the word of God. For my birthday, a member of my congregation bought me a new translation of the Book of Concord, the historic standard of Lutheranism first published in 1580 consisting of 10 credal documents written by Martin Luther and others. She got it for $11 on the Internet. Last summer I read it from cover to cover, including all footnotes. The result was a revitalization of my preaching and the congregation's response is noticeable. The Book of Concord answers the question of when and how much God loves us. God, our Father, loves us in Christ because we are God's children. We do nothing but grasp this by faith. It is pure grace. Much of the focus of the Book of Concord is on the Psalms and Paul's writings. I'm convinced that study of these sections on justification in the Book of Concord will be the cause for new life and hope among the people of our congregations. This will also help us reclaim the richness of our baptismal heritage. Secondly, the Book of Concord has strong statements on exactly who Christ is. The 16th century had many voices leading people away from the church's historic understanding. Again, the reformers speak to us, from the Bible and from tradition, concerning what the church has said about the person and nature of Christ. These statements have led me to a deeper understanding of the sacrament of communion. When we know how Christ is present in his body among us and in this sacrament, we gain a deep confidence in the closeness of Christ. Finally, in the catechisms Luther reveals his monastic background and recommends two practices, which can produce a daily renewal of faith. If the people of the ELCA would practice the morning and evening prayer, it would enrich faith. We need to practice our belief every day of the week and not only on Sunday. If pastors and others on the ELCA roster would embrace Luther's thrice daily prayer practice, I have no doubt that the spirituality of our leaders would be strengthened. For true Lutheran church renewal, we need both Scripture and our tradition as revealed in the Book of Concord. *** GJ - We will know Judgment Day is near when a WELS pastor publishes the same thoughts in FICKLE. Don't worry - it won't happen. Bivens and Kudu Don Patterson still dominate the synod Church and Money Changer magazine.

Great Post at Gnesio

"The faith of a child," illustrated by Norma Boeckler, denied by the Babtists whom WELS wants to follow.



This is a post everyone should read to have a clear idea about reading Scripture.

Little Hope, Oconomowoc, WELS

Welcome to the media download section. Please select a file or choose a category below:

Year: (All Years) 2010

Category: (Select Category) (All Categories) Message Notes Sermons

 

Click on one of the following files to view the available options:

SORT BY: Title Speaker Text Date 

Wildcard - pt 2 - Answering Skeptics...with Truth

Pastor Paul Kelm 

8/8/2010 

Wildcard - pt 2 - Connection Group Questions

8/8/2010 

Wildcard - pt 1 - Who Do We Say Jesus Is?

Pastor Clark Schultz 

8/1/2010 

Miracles - Part 4 - Opening Blind Eyes

Pastor Jason 

7/25/2010 

Miracles - Part 3 - Water to Wine

Pastor Jason 

7/18/2010 

Miracles - Pt 2 - Poolside Miracle

Pastor Ski 

7/11/2010 

Miracles - Calming the Storm

Pastor Ski 

7/4/2010 

Jonah - Part 4 - Holier Than Thou

Pastor Jason 

6/27/2010 

Jonah - Part 3 - White Flag

Pastor Jason 

6/20/2010 

Jonah - Part 2 - Distress Call

Pastor Jason 

6/13/2010 

Jonah - Part 1 - Resistance is Futile

Pastor Jason 

6/6/2010 

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***

Hope in Jesus is the website name.

GJ - I get the impression this is a Church and Money Changer congregation, with Ski and Kelm preaching, the links to Willowcreek's Little College, etc.

I would listen to the sermons, if someone held a shotgun against my head. Feel free and report back in the comments.

Ski began one with pet peeves. As the Belushi character said in Animal House - "Seven years of college down the drain."

From the Bores at The CORE (Wisconsin Emerging Liberal Synergists)

From: "The CORE"
To: "andy" andy.stanley@ichabod.net
Sent: Monday, August 9, 2010 11:08:10 AM
Subject: The COREspondence

When Hope and The CORE Combine The last four weeks were very special at the CORE. Pastor Ski and Pastor Jason Ewert, from Hope in Oconomowoc teamed up to preach on the miracles of Jesus. Pastor Jason, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma said, "Pastor Ski and I developed the series so that we could be partners in it. He preached in Oconomowoc and Appleton on July 4th and 11th. I preached in Oconomowoc and Appleton on July 18th and 25th. We figured that two long Sundays was a cheap price to pay for two Sundays "off". Plus, it is a positive experience for both congregations to hear the same truth about Jesus presented in a slightly different style." And positive it was! We learned that the miracles are a lot more than they seem on the surface. God had a much deeper message to share. Pastor Jason put it like this, "The miracles of Jesus remind us that Jesus is God and Jesus is sovereign. He has power and authority over all things in heaven and on earth. He has authority over things seen and unseen. Often times people like to pretend that they have authority over parts of their life. The miracles remind us that Jesus is in charge, and that's a good thing because he runs the universe much better than I ever would." If you didn't make it to all four weeks, take a few minutes to listen to the podcasts and reflect on the endless love God has for individuals and to learn the meaning behind the miracles of His son. The podcasts can be found on The Valley. Neighborhoods and Small Group If you are looking to get connected with other Christians in a welcoming, relational environment or if you are looking to fellowship with people will help strengthen and support your relationship with Christ - then Small Groups is a great fit for you. Stay tuned for new information regarding small groups coming at the end of August. For more information on how to join a small group, go to The CORE's website or email us at info@gotocore.com. Looking Ahead... "Elijah"August 22nd - September 5th "Be The Church"September 12th - 26th Miss a sermon? No worries. Click here to listen to the podcasts or subscribe in iTunes. Join us on Facebook "God often comforts us, not by changing the circumstances of our lives, but by changing our attitudes toward them." - S. Masterson Do you know someone who might be interested in hearing about what God is doing at The CORE? Foward this newsletter to them today.

The CORE 215 E Washington St. Appleton, WI 54911 920-364-0200 Check us out online!www.gotocore.com

***

GJ - The bean-brains at The CORE cannot spell "forward." Too much time listening to rap music on the earphones? Doin' fo-ties?