One ELS pastor posted his sadness over the new ELCA report. He is sad for the wrong reasons. Let ELCA be ELCA, following The Episcopal Church down the rathole of apostasy. Anyone with a little common sense and no Biblical training can detect the mountains of self-righteous excrement in the ELCA report. The posturing and presumption show that ELCA no longer has the horsepower to argue a bad case well.
A better question for the ELS is - Why are you still in bed with ELCA?
"Oh no!" they cry out ovinely. "We are not in fellowship with ELCA."
No?
They have been working with ELCA for decades now through WELS. I am not sure how many planning events and actual sessions they sit down at. The ELS is not eager to share with me or with its own members and clergy. However, there is a clear pattern of WELS (We cherish our fellowship with the ELS) working with ELCA on a host of union projects. Has the new WELS SP stopped this? That is not likely. Has Pope John the Malefactor taken WELS to the woodshed over this? No reports have emerged.
The funding agency for union with ELCA and Missouri is Thrivent, the merger of LB and AAL. They used to compete in throwing dollars at pan-Lutheran activities. They joined forces some years ago.
The magazines and PR releases used to brag about WELS working with Missouri and ELCA. Many reports were copied into Christian News and the news flow stopped. No one said the money stopped. No one said the unionism stopped.
In fact, James P. Tiefel (nicknamed Teufel by his associates) had his own ecumenical worship events. Perhaps insurance money greased the wheels of unionism for him, too. The first one included every faith group (Roman Catholic, ELCA, Missouri, Evangelical) except the ELS.
If ELCA is so bad, then why work so closely with apostates?
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Joe Abrahamson has left a new comment on your post "Sad for the Wrong Reasons":
Greg,
It's ok to put the url of my post up if you want.
http://diatheke.blogspot.com
Sincere thanks for the criticism.
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GJ - I have known Joe for a long time. I was not picking on him, but on the general trend to say, "Look how bad ELCA is." Obviously WELS is on the same track as ELCA, as I have tirelessly pointed out for decades now. Proof is how people easily accept today what would have been career-ending a few years ago.
I will compare Bivens' fatuous advice to ELCA's fatuous report if I have time, energy, and enough coffee.
