Lutherans Worship, Treasure the Means of Grace

Who decided that Sunday was an ideal time to recruit new members for the congregation?

Traditional Lutherans have always valued the Means of Grace. They do not come to church on the lookout for new members. They are not ashamed of Holy Communion, thinking that the sacrament should be hidden so recruits are not offended.

Many Lutheran clergy are politicians. They look for advantages to enhance their careers. Once they learned that Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek Community Church training were career boosters, they jumped at the chance. Akron, a WELS source, told Ichabod that he was paid by WELS to attend Willow Creek training. Mission board clergy Fred Adrian and Wally Oelhaven (WELS) said they were trained at Fuller Seminary, doubtless at synod expense. They were furious when the last chapter of Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure was read at a conference.

Another advantage of Fuller/Willow Creek is the thrill of sharing the new Masonic code. Instead of Ma-ha-bone, the secret word is Church Growth Eyes or Friendship Sunday. Enthusiasts can communicate with one another without the innocent realizing it. Nothing aggravates the Fuller/Willow Creek graduates more than being found out and opposed.

The Fuller agenda is contrary to Lutheran worship and doctrine, not simply because Fuller is generic, Pentecostal, Baptist, and Reformed. Fuller is anti-Christian to the core. Fuller does not produce ministers who are Reformed in the classic sense. Nor are they Pentecostal-holiness, as in the old days. The Fuller ministers, men and women alike, are con artists, pretending to be shepherds while striving to be wolves.

If any fragment of Lutheran worship is going to survive, the laity have to support the pastor in being Lutheran. Closed communion is the only honest expression of the sacrament - not open communion, not semi-open communion (announce to the pastor, whether ELCA, Methodist, or whatever), not demi-semi open communion (don't ask, don't tell).

Lutherans are liturgical, reflecting our worship heritage back to Old Testament times. If the Fuller fools would attend just one conservative Jewish service, they would immediately recognize this fact. (Wally Oelhaven would probably give them advice on which Waldo Werning books to buy.) Classic liturgy (not the made up on Saturday night stuff) is always Biblical, so the Word takes on another form.

Here is an example of being cutesy and Hollywood. The worship bulletin cover said something like this (WELS): Easter is like the Energizer bunny. It keeps us going, and going, and going, and going. I held this garbage in my trembling hands. The pastor is now a big shot, helping to steer the WELS-tanic onto the shoals of Enthusiasm and papalism.

Lutheran hymns are the greatest and most emotional (in the best sense) of all hymns. They are greatest because they worship God in the beauty of His holiness. They are the most emotional because they lift people up in teaching them about God's Word. The greatest hymn-writers were Luther and Gerhardt - they were also the most villified. I laughed when I saw Lutheran seminaries honoring the memory of Gerhardt. He stood up to the Reformed and lost his call. The ELS-WELS-LCMS seminaries prostrate themselves before the Reformed and keep their plush salaries.

Luther worship services feature a real sermon, not a pep talk, not a how-to or fix-it lecture on how to avoid stress or make friends. Good sermons make people mad. I have never known an adulterer who could tolerate a decent sermon, no matter what was said. They burn to get rid of any pastor who preaches Law and Gospel, both aspects of the Word seering and hurting the adulterer, like poor, evil, weak Gollum in LOTR.

Congregations have to support the rare Lutheran pastors who have survived the endless stupidies and brain-washing of their synods. The congregation has all the power. They can stand up to the popes. Most do not. Most let their synod minder wreck the congregation or take it down another notch into Enthusiasm.