Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Justification by Faith - Lutheran Layman":
Rev. Jackson,
Its been a while, allow me to put myself out for public ridicule.
I have read your site for a while now, and although I have taken a elongated vacation from my own blogging and even commenting on "Bailing Water" et al. I have continued to read and absorb.
People like to say general statements like "You break the 8th commandment" or "what about your tone?" and its a knee jerk reaction that they're not ready to defend. Allow me.
I have never doubted nor contended against your love for the Word, nor of our Lord, nor of the sheep being led astray.
But what of the lost shepherds?
There is certainly a difference between Pastors "in error" and false preachers. Luther said that the Pope would rather see the whole world condemned that lose the errors of the mass. Are you really ready to say the same about the Fuller graduates? [GJ - Definitely. The Fuller grads would not give their lives for the Faith, but they will kill and lie to preserve the errors of Church Growth.]
My problem is not with your "defensor fidei" role. My problem is twofold.
1) Many of your anecdotes are, in essence, old hat. Yes, you come up with new and interesting news...but then you continue to harp on it again and again. For all you know the sins that you mention have been confessed and absolved. I understand that you want the information in the daylight, where all may be seen. But the weakness is in the blog atmosphere. I would suggest creating a document with all your evidence and leaving a link to it along the side of the site...that way people can easily find it and the men being implicated can as well. Because...
2) The purpose of the law is to show men their own sins...not simply to bring them to the minds of others. The goal should be to the repentance of all men, shepherds included.
***
GJ - Many of my observations are breaking news, as a matter of fact, and they have had an impact on WELS. I like Michael because he signs his name, unlike Rev. Mouse and a few others, such as Pseudo-Mike. Some effects of this blog:
1. Church and Change is no longer linked from the WELS.net website.
2. The WELS pastor in Corona, California deleted his praise of Leonard Sweet.
3. The Moose Report denied supporting Leonard Sweet, disingenuously, but at least she did show some sense of shame and returned to her quilting. Alleluia.
4. The effort to close Michigan Lutheran Seminary failed, and this blog helped a little.
5. WELS laity and pastors are waking up to the fraud of forgiveness without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace - Universal Objective Justification, the favorite false doctrine of the Church Growth Movement.
As for #2, Michael needs to study the Large Catechism, which can be found in the Book of Concord. WELS is not bound to the Book of Concord, but that is another story.
Egregious public sin should be rebuked in public to warn others. For instance, when District President Ed Werner went to state prison for molesting girls in his own congregation, that should have been a news item in FIC - False-teachers in Collusion . Ditto When Scott Zerbe went to state prison. Ditto when Al Just went to prison for murdering his wife and Tabor did not go for murdering his. Repentance, Michael? Some WELS pastors still insist Al is innocent, that his wife really did die from rolling over on a steak knife in bed a zillion times. Mrs. Ichabod is not convinced. Neither am I. Neither was the jury. Tabor was a chief suspect in his wife's murder but was allowed to move to a new call out of the state.
The police chief regretted never nailing Tabor. The pastor's mistress went to prison, but he did not.
Floyd Stolzenburg was forced to resign from the LCMS ministerium, but WELS put him on the fast track to become a WELS pastor, thanks to the Michigan District, DP Robert Mueller and VP Paul Kuske. (I might add, plus the timid silence of all the pastors, a truly mute chorus.) Stolzenburg had a rich WELS buddy and a passion for spreading false doctrine. "Just the man we need in Columbus," they shouted. You may think I am making this up, but one WELS bigshot came to Columbus and suggested FS was the ideal man to run the new evangelism program. FS was recommened by VP Paul Kuske to become the pastor of Emanuel Lutheran, Columbus, after being turned away from many other calls (various denominations) that he pursued, according to his old LCMS DP. The LCMS DP said he was very unhappy that WELS took on Floyd.
So you see, Michael, that is not old news but a continuing carbuncle in the Body of Christ. Floyd even connected himself with the Little Sect on the Prairie, sponsoring Roger Kovaciny in the Ukraine with Jay Webber. Someone got a Schwan grant to match what Flody's congregation gave to Thoughts of Faith for a new church building. I wonder what the faithful would have said about the origins of that money. When I began featuring the Kovaciny-Stolzeburg-ELS connection in my doctrinal bulletins (pre-Ichabod), the references to Kovaciny at Emanuel's website disappeared. Coincidence?
Meanwhile, those WELS and ELS leaders--so concerned about the 8th Commandment--have spent the last 30 years slandering anyone who got in their way. The pastor to the Love Shack staff was called "brain-damaged" for questioning the Church Growth Movement in his essay. The former seminary president was called "senile" by the same bunch. I see no evidence of repentance.
The result of these methods is to confirm false teachers and adulterous pastors in their sin. They know the synod will back them and undermine their critics. The bigger the scandal, the more likely WELS will cover it up and attack anyone who asks about it. Moreover, faithful pastors are discouraged from doing their jobs and silenced.
When people post on the Internet about the homosexual predators of the Catholic priesthood and their enabling leaders, I answer, "True, but the Lutherans are not better, and their ministers can marry." In fact, one of the worst offenders in the Catholic hierarchy, Archbishop Weakland, was sought out by WELS to be a featured, public speaker for Wisconsin Lutheran College. Explain that one.
People have suggestions about how I can write even more material for free, but I have to make a living. I am a tent-maker, like Paul. I doubt whether anyone else has provided as much raw data on the Internet as I have. The links are on this page for very large websites full of quotations, histories, and opinions. My name, address, and phone number are attached to all my material. For some reason, the Church Growth fanatics choose to remain anonymous.
