L has left a new comment on your post "Characteristics of False Teachers":
Pr. GJ,
Thank you for the Luther quotes. Luther was prophetic when he said about being treated like dogs and foot-rags.
When I was in Charismania, our pastors treated us that way. When you question them - even ask them for clarification on their teachings, you are being a trouble maker. It was very rare to have a pastor treat you as an honest inquirer and those that do, just dismiss your questions.
LPC
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Comment So Clueless, It Deserves a Special Post":
I think the pictures are funny, who cares where you got them - unless they're copyrighted. Can you please explain the term "shrinker"? I'm not familiar with this term. Thanks!
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GJ - I use the term Shrinker because these people come from the Church Growth Movement. That started with Donald McGavran, a non-theologian, claiming "God wants His church to grow." That was a clever ruse to get disarm anyone who objected to his wacko anti-Biblical concepts. The Scriptures say, "God wants His church to teach the pure Word - He will accomplish His will through that Word alone."
The Shrinker designation fits because the Church Growth gurus have reduced the size of WELS, year after year, after promoting their ideas based on statistics and fear. "We're dying. We are losing our youth. We need rock Seeker Services. Quick, before it's too late!" The only Growthers are those who trust the pure Word in the Means of Grace, but that implies God can manage things better than C. Peter Wagner and Larry Olson.
All the Shrinkers have their trotters in trough, oinking their buddies over to grab everything before it is too late.
Go to L for insights about the dictatorial Pentecostal, charismatic, and Shrinker pastors. They are all Law, but it is man-made law. Their despotic behavior is interrupted only by their scandalous behavior.
Copyright is an interesting issue. Everything published is protected by informal copyright. I could go around saying, "You cannot copy my material. It is copyrighted." Stadler did that with his feminist exegesis, years ago. But wait - precious few copy my work verbatim, perhaps for fear of being napalmed by the Shrinkers.
Just to show how contrary I am - I welcome copying and I make all my books available on Lulu.com as free downloads.
The copyright issue is important when someone uses protected work and tries to make money from it. A good example would be Parlow/Kelm copying someone's sermons and collecting a salary for giving another person's sermon.
Fair use means that printed material can be copied for non-profit use. Google wants me to run ads, but I do not. Non-profits cannot get away with xeroxing materials to escape paying for sheet music and protected hymns. Anyone can quote for review purposes, scholarly purposes, etc.
Groeschel has set his Life TV site to allow people to use his materials. Anyone can sign up, as Ski and I did, to download Groeschel sermons, videos, graphics, etc. That is why Ski's sermon titles (often shared with Glende) will show up all over the Net. Not to worry - I do not use Groeschel material myself, except to show how often it is copied in WELS by lazy belly-serving pastors.
You will also see Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven (TM) material all over WELS, because an arrangement was made with his business interests to regurgitate Saddlesore nonsense. Missouri apes Warren, too.
I actually stopped at Warren's church with Mrs. Ichabod and listened to him for a few minutes. Do not worry WELSians - I did not pray. The man is a pathetic clown in loud shirts. I feel sorry for anyone taken in by his alleged charisma.