KJV Ezekiel 34:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
The current generation of Lutheran leaders (all synods) have proven that they specialize in feeding themselves and not the flocks. They grab the highest salaries for themselves, promote programs that enrich them at the expense of the congregations, and starve their members of spiritual food. Luther, the Concordists, and post-Concord theologians are forgotten, unquoted, or railed against. Lutheran worship is abandoned. The Creeds are adulterated with feminist fadism. The Lutheran leaders feed the poison of false teachers to their own pastors and their members - extolling Leonard Sweet, Craig Groeschel, Ed Stetzer, Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll, Pete Wagner, and many more apostates whose common denominator is their loathing of Lutheran doctrine.
3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that whichwas lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
The synodical leaders and professors are so lax that their pastoral graduates do not even visit their own members, whether sick and shut-in, grieving, or hospitalized. They only visit for monetary gifts. If any pastor speaks out against the false doctrine promoted by the teachers and leaders, he is driven out. Laity and pastors alike are told to speak to the erring and write letters to the bigshots, but that process is encouraged only to identify and exterminate all dissent from false doctrine. These synodical bullies relish their own devious, dishonest, and cruel behavior, covering up for murder and rape while having meltdowns about someone noticing their incompetence.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. 7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock becamemeat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
The figures speak for themselves. Lutheran pastors are joining Eastern Orthodoxy, Rome, or sinuflecting groups that lead people out of Lutheran doctrine and worship. The pastors are clownish entertainers, all alike in talking up "the exciting service we are having today" and running down the liturgy and preaching. They exult in driving out faithful Lutheran members so that people who love their wolf-preaching can join and dominate the sheep. No surprise - this trains people to leave the Lutheran Church and join the sects that perform their whoring more effectively. What is more entertaining - the guy in the sloppy yard clothes with his rock band, or the tutti frutti ultra high church performer? Both types are Enthusiasts who scorn the Holy Spirit's work through the Word alone.
All the synods swindled their members out of millions of dollars for Fuller-based programs that have decimated the Lutheran Church, from the far Left (ELCA) to the legalistic right (CLC sic). After decades of achieving no growth from Church GROWTH, the same lying fraudulent synods have started Maggot Churches with mission funds (and Daddy Warbucks useful idiots). The Maggot Churches are even worse than the CGM model and are designed only to pick up anti-Lutherans from Lutheran churches to join a cell that will not use the name Lutheran on its sign (The CORE, CrossWalk, etc). These little beehives will end up just like CrossRoads in S. Lyons, Michigan, funded by Lutherans and taken over by the Mission Covenant sect. CrossRoads does not even admit to its denominational status on its website. They used to thank three WELS pastors !!! on their websty - for getting them started.
9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. 11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
The established Lutheran synods are in meltdown, after decades of teaching Church Growth from false teachers (and denying it). They are financially bankrupt because they are doctrinally bankrupt. The LCMS seminaries think the answer is Rome or Eastern Orthodoxy. As one Ft. Wayne student wrote to me, "Eastern Orthodoxy is just a different polity." WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie think the answer comes from the latest sectarian fads, the same sources that failed to deliver in the last 40 years or so. ELCA's answer is to go gay, in spite of people hitting the exit doors at full speed.
12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
Lutherans are finding other ways to gather around the Means of Grace. They have seen their fellow members beaten and flogged for speaking up, after being told to speak up. They have grown tired of being ignored by arrogant leaders who falsely claim, "This synod belongs to all of us." The members no longer wonder why a murderer or incestuous father goes free while a faithful pastor is turned into a pariah by the synodical slander machine. Members know that their own LCMS church body has spent millions of dollars suing four elderly women, just to grab some property, even though Missouri is stuffed with dollars hidden in the pension fund and CPH accounts.
The Word will accomplish God's will. All the clever schemes of man will never overcome one syllable of the Word. This prophesy is now being fulfilled.
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Comment posted at Light from Light, on Rick Techlin being kicked out of St. Peter's Freedom (WELS):
Aaron Carver
Hey Rick,
I feel for you–sorry to hear that you join the ranks of those of us trod on by the wels.
But here’s the thing: You will Never get justice no matter what you do. The WELS leadership will never remove the false teachers who have made your life not so fun. That is because the organization cares more about its own survival than it’s real reason for existing.
You probably won’t believe me right now, but store these words in the back of your mind: The WELS is false church, a sect. If there are plenty of “good” pastors and “good” leaders, why wouldn’t they be standing up against this? If the WELS is **mostly** okay, why haven’t the people who terminated you already received hundreds of letters and/or been terminated themselves? The reason is, at the end of the day the WELS will not defend doctrinal purity. The WELS is a cabal, and it’s pastors dare not think on their own. (I’m sure there are plenty of Pastors, who in their normal jobs teach the truth…but it’s easy to do well in situations of no tension–the real test of a man is in situations where personal risk is involved. Show me the WELS pastor who is willing to stand up and condemn the WELS when it is wrong, when his job and pension are on the line.)
