Gutsche/Koenig Conference Held in Germany. CLC (sic) Touchy about Settling Down with WELS

Gutsche's page has disappeared from Facebook,
but LinkedIn has him listed as serving a WELS church in the past,
an ELCA congregation in San Francisco -
where he was fired after being arrested in Needles.
He is in the Canadian version of ELCA now and lives in his mother's basement.

Church of the Lutheran Confession Micahel Eichstadt - September 2012 President's Letter

Notes: Free Conference: The German Free Conference was held last weekend. Dave Reim, Dave Koenig, and Bd. of Missions member Joel Krag represented the CLC. A report will be provided to the Coordinating Council.

August, Ja?

Here are the court documents and details.

--

LinkedIn Information Posted by Gutsche, with added information and links

Pastor

St. Michael Evangelical Lutheran Church at Mystery Lake, Alberta

December 2010 – Present (4 years 10 months) They are ELCIC, or Canadian ELCA, in full communion with the Anglican Church in Canada.

pastor

St. John Ev. Lutheran Church - This congregation is WELS.

September 2008 – April 2010 (1 year 8 months)

St. Matthew Lutheran Church

San Francisco, California USA

February 2004 – December 2007 (3 years 11 months)ELCA - Gutsche was arrested in Needles and fired from the congregation, but soon had a call in WELS, above.

St. Matthew Bio of Horst W. Gutsche

October 2007. Pastor Gutsche was born in Hoiersdorf, Germany and moved with his family to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1956.  He attended Northwestern College in Watertown, WI and the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK . He then attended  seminaries in Oberursel, Germany and Saskatoon, SK and did post  graduate work  at Concordia Theological Seminary in  Ft. Wayne, IN. He has done volunteer work among the newly resurrected Lutheran Churches in the countries of the former Soviet Union. After his ordination in 1975 he served several bilingual congregations in western Canada as well as Zion Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, NY before coming to St. Matthew’s.

Horst W. Gutsche was across the pond at the same time -

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Progress in doctrinal discussions
On August 21 representatives of the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod(ELS), and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) met in Mankato, Minnesota for their third round of doctrinal discussions. It is a joy to report that the nine participants agreed to a revision of the 1990 document entitled “Joint Statement Regarding the Termination of Fellowship.” This document will now be sent to the CLC Board of Doctrine, the ELS Doctrine Committee, and the WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations for their consideration.

Agreement on this document does not imply full agreement on all the controverted matters. There still are a number of significant issues to discuss, and another meeting has been scheduled for November 13.

But this agreement is a good first step in overcoming the differences between our synods.
Office of the President 12145 W. Edgerton Ave. Hales Corners, WI 53130 414-427-9337 meichsta@gmail.com

Presumably the “Joint Statement” will be made public in the future, but at this point the appropriate committees from each synod are reviewing the document without public distribution. Prayers are welcomed that God will continue to guide this process for good.

The three synod presidents agreed to the above release. I have heard concerns that it is
premature, too optimistic, and gives the impression that fellowship is imminent. Please don’t
read more into the statement than what is there. There are two main points to remember.

First, after many hours of frank and careful discussion, the three committees  did come to
agreement on a “joint statement” regarding the termination of fellowship from heterodox
bodies. As the statement indicates, it is certainly reason for joy when the Spirit works genuine
agreement on the truths of the Word.

The second point, however, which needs to be kept in mind is that the joint statement is a
very preliminary step. It has not been reviewed by our Bored of Lutheran Doctrine or the other
corresponding doctrine committees of the WELS and ELS. Also, there are other “significant
issues,” such as membership in Thrivent and similar organizations, like the Girl Scouts, Brownies, American Legion, and PTA, which need to be discussed and resolved before there can be any consideration of fellowship.

Naturally, these meetings hold great interest not only for us as pastors, but for all of us in the
CLC. In our own minds and in talking with our members, it is important not to jump to
conclusions one way or the other. Restored fellowship is not by any means a foregone
conclusion nor is a doctrinal impasse inevitable at this point. What we can be sure of is that
when the Word is studied as God’s truth and used as the basis for discussion, the Spirit will
bestow His blessings in the way of His choosing. “My word...will not return to me empty, but
will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Is. 55:11). That, I
believe, is reason for optimism regardless of the final outcome.

The CLC's Gutsche and WELS' own Joel Hochmuth
could have had their own cell group -
as long as they didn't prey together.

Fourteen Years of Stupidity and Self-Destruction

The aftermath of September 11, 2001, encapsulates the stupidity and self-destruction brought upon our lives by greed and deception.

My first response was, "Now they will seal the borders." But instead, we have had a 14 year blitz of making American Muslim while attacking Christianity and Judaism at every possibly opportunity.

The borders are wide open, violating Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution. that Congress will protect us against foreign invasion.

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

I blame the mainline denominations - ELCA-WELS-ELS-LCMS - for undermining America, leading by bad example. Each leader is worse than the one before and the results are obvious.

Every so often some people notice the cozy relationship between Thrivent, Planned Parenthood, and all the Lutheran sects. But no one deals with the way WELS and LCMS are velcroed to ELCA at every level. How delicious it must be to look stern and denounce ELCA, just before galloping off to another joint effort with ELCA. And ELCA winks. They know Missouri and WELS must toss some red meat at their base, just to keep the carnivores happy for a few more months.

The assumptions of the apostate Lutheran leaders are validated by the response of the sheep and shepherds, content to nod off again into a tranquil sleep, murmuring, "Thank God we are not ELCA."

Herman Melville, The Pulpit, from Moby Dick

Nor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea-taste that had achieved the ladder and the picture. Its panelled front was in the likeness of a ship's bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship's fiddle-headed beak

What could be more full of meaning?—for the pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds. Yes, the world's a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.

This is the pulpit Melville described, New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Gazelle University's Leap of Faith - Make Grand Canyon University a Non-Profit Again

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/grand-canyon-university-begins-process-of-returning-to-non-profit-status

Newly-incorporated Gazelle University, Inc. is in the early stages of buying up to $1 billion worth of Grand Canyon University’s property. 

The move could be the first step in returning GCU to a non-profit university, which is how the school existed for 55 years before becoming a for-profit corporation in 2004.

GCU management expressed interest last year in transitioning the University into a non-profit, allowing “the University to conduct itself … on a level playing field with the other traditional universities with which the University competes,” according to financial filings.

Gazelle University is organized as a non-profit.

Gazelle would use $1 billion of bond proceeds to pay for the “core educational assets” of Grand Canyon University,3300 W. Camelback Rd., according to details of the project obtained by ABC 15.

GCU turned itself into a for-profit enterprise in 2004 to “remain in operation,” according to financial filings.

GCU’s CEO, Brian Mueller, said that it would require about $2 billion in order to transition GCU into a non-profit, according to a February article in the Phoenix Business Journal.

GCU’s Mueller incorporated Gazelle University in November of last year and is on the five-member board of trustees of the new venture, according to business documents on file with the state.

The new Gazelle University will aim to provide an “an academically-challenging, values-based curriculum, from the context of a Christian heritage.”  GCU is a Christian university.

Bob Romantic, a GCU spokesman, said the creation of Gazelle University is a preliminary step in the process of turning GCU into a non-profit.  The university’s name would not change if the process continues as planned, Romantic said.

The cost of re-paying the up to $1 billion in bonds would not lead to a tuition increase, Romantic said.

A main reason for turning the university into a non-profit is to avoid paying taxes, Romantic said.

The university faces a potential $100 million tax dollar next year, according to Romantic.

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http://www.bestvalueschools.com/cheap/online/masters-in-psychology-degree-programs/

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/04/26/how-grand-canyon-university-plans-to-grow-its.html

In an effort to grow to 400 acres, Grand Canyon Education Inc. (Nasdaq: LOPE) is methodically acquiring apartment complexes and vacant land surrounding its Grand Canyon University campus at 33rd Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix.

Plans call for buying property and apartment complexes surrounding the campus so that eventually the GCU campus will be bounded by 35th Avenue on the west, Missouri Avenue on the north, 27th Avenue on the east and Camelback Road on the south.

***

GJ - Grand Canyon University has an interesting history. The school began as a Baptist institution but trusted its funds to the Arizona Baptist Foundation, which promised people 15% returns - clearly fraudulent. When someone looked at the numbers, everyone lost 90% of their money. GCU swore off the Baptist Church and businessmen bought the school.

They promised to renew the campus, which was very much loved by alumni, and they did, as the photos show. They expanded the local campus and grew the online operations, adding master's and doctoral programs. The school is not denominational but conservative in its approach to the Scriptures and doctrine - unlike WELS, LCMS, the Little Sect, and ELCA.

Mueller was the man behind online success at the University of Phoenix but they passed over him for the top job. He left when GCU hired him to be their CEO. They received, as a gift, a $100 million campus from the Hobby Lobby founder. Now they are taking the school back to non-profit status, which will be good in this climate of dumping on for-profit schools. The same thing happened to magazines years ago. They were going in the red as businesses but survived as non-profits.

Dana College, in contrast, was not allowed to make the same transition and closed. It was an ELCA college I visited long ago on band tour.

http://fremonttribune.com/news/local/blair-excited-for-new-possibilities-at-dana-college/article_0e8eaacd-50b3-5f2b-abff-ac254ac2225d.html

April 06, 2013 3:30 am  •  By Brett Ellis/Fremont Tribune

0

BLAIR -- Harriet Waite still can recall the feeling of hurt when she found out Dana College was closing in the summer of 2010.

A Dana graduate and executive director of the Blair Area Chamber of Commerce, Waite was dismayed to see the college close its doors.

Waite, and the rest of Blair, finally got some good news about the college this week when it was announced that Midland University was submitting a bid to purchase the property.

While many details still need to be worked out, Waite welcomed the news.

"If Dana had to close, this is the next best thing that could happen to this campus," Waite said. "The Dana alumni and Blair community are excited about the possibility of it being a college, very much like it was for 126 years. What else can you be but elated?"

Blair Mayor Jim Realph, a Midland graduate, said he first was contacted by MU president Ben Sasse to set up a meeting to discuss the purchase plans.

It was a conversation and opportunity that Realph welcomed with open arms.

"It's a great event for the City of Blair because this is a campus, and anybody else we've had look at it basically couldn't utilize it the way it is intended to be utilized," Realph said. "It'll be great to have it back up here."

Along with providing a boost in sales tax revenue and filling jobs in Blair, Realph said college students also would bring other important characteristics to the community.

"It just adds a whole bunch to the quality of life of a community," he said. "You bring in some more things academically with plays and the stuff that they put on. It just gives us a lot more options."

Waite said many former Dana graduates continue to work in Blair, and she thinks that again would be the case if the college reopens.

"We have a lot of alumni that have stayed in Blair," she said. "Without that, we're constantly having to go outside and try to bring people to Blair, whereas when they've been in Blair for four years they know the community and they tend to stay and live here and take a job if there is a job available."

Sasse said the soonest students would return to Dana would be the fall of 2015.

If the sale goes through, Midland would seek to develop partners that could help sustain Dana for the long term. There also would need to be renovations to the campus.

Sasse also said no decisions have been made about what programs will be offered at the new Dana, but said there are no plans to move programs from the Fremont campus.

"What develops in Blair will largely be guided by the desires of our partners in the Blair and Dana communities, but we will be distinctive institutions rooted in a shared heritage and commitment to student success," Sasse said.

Ben Wilcox, a social studies teacher at Fremont High School, graduated from Dana in 2003 and is excited about the possibility of seeing students back on the campus.

The past few years, he said, have been tough when he has had to tell people that the college he graduated from no longer existed.

"I went to college there; I graduated from there," said Wilcox, who also wrestled at Dana. "If they do open the doors back up, I can say, 'Hey, that's where I graduated from college and it does exist.'"

Wilcox also is confident in Midland's ability to do things the right way at the Blair campus.

"Anytime you have a president like Ben Sasse, anything's possible," he said. "He's done great things at Midland."

Lauren Fischer, a senior at Midland, was getting ready for her sophomore year at Dana when it closed.

Like many other students, Fischer took advantage of several special perks offered by transferring to Midland.

Like Wilcox, Fischer was excited to hear about the future of her former school.

"I am pretty happy about it because instead of the campus just being dead and rotting, it's actually coming to life again," Fischer said.

Fischer is also happy that the Blair campus would retain its Dana College name.

"I think that's amazing because it shows they actually respect Dana's history, too," she said. "There are a lot of things that happened on that campus and a lot of history that happened at that college, so to actually keep that Dana name is great." 

Money for the Midland bid came from donors, something for which Sasse is grateful.

"We are incredibly blessed to have generous friends who appreciate our commitment to an intimate, supportive environment for students and a desire to give even more young people the tools to fulfill their potential," Sasse said. "Dana and Midland are distinct communities whose interests are closely aligned as we build a brighter future." 

Wandani - From Mark Jeske - Senior Guru of Church and Change - 2009 Post

Mark Jeske, Stealth Televangelist, has adopted the same type of programs ELCA spawned, good works without religion. Team Jeske supports his projects and smites his opponents.

News Story:

Wandani. The word doesn’t seem to belong in inner city Milwaukee. It means companions in Swahili, say the organizers of Wandani Youth Outreach, a program sponsored by St. Marcus Lutheran church and school located at the corner of Palmer Street and North Avenue.


Wandani's mission is to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the inner city of Milwaukee and to assist urban youth to prepare for lives of positive service to their communities, according to the program’s literature.

Jeske leads or organizes ELCA-WELS-LCMS ministry seminars each year,
without a peep from Mark Schroeder.
But if someone teaches justification by faith - POW!

So it is perhaps appropriate that the word wandani varies its meaning depending on context: in addition to companions it also means allies or followers.

For us this is a Christian ministry, says Peter Fraser, Wandani's director.

Of course behind it is the Christian faith. We don't force that down people’s throats, he says. We try not to proselytize.


Wandani started modestly with a grant from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) in 1997. Funding has also come from the Christian Stewardship Foundation and the Kid Brothers of St. Frank.


From an evangelical community study group meeting once a week, the program grew to include Bible study, arts and crafts, karate and open gym. In 1999, Fraser and two others took over Wandani and it started to assume its current shape.


Today there are Wandani activities every day of the week except Friday, including the recently added girls’ night and liturgical dance. Basketball is still the biggest hit, with junior and senior high open gym Monday and Wednesday respectively, and Wandani Wolves club games Thursday and practice on Saturday.


Most of the parents are really grateful there's a safe place for their kids to go, Fraser says.

Jeske has patented the lopsided smile.

It's About God (And Basketball)

The program provides a surrogate family for urban youths an explicitly religious family, and one both its leaders and participants say helps develop a sense of discipline and respect for authority.


It's about God, says Daron Evans, 15, a Wandani regular for Monday night basketball. It's just like roots, like our house rules and stuff: Don't cuss, don't yell, don't argue with your brothers and sisters, cause one time you're going to need them.


A three-year Wandani veteran tells a similar story. Before I came here I didn't want to listen to anybody, says Tim Groce, 14. Now he says he listens and uses respectful language.


Both boys say they think they would be in trouble if not for Wandani.

Leaders cite an altercation that almost happened as evidence of the values Wandani instills.


There was going to be a fight, but one of our guys stepped up and made it stop,” says Brian Davison, St. Marcus staff minister who supervises basketball Monday and Thursday. It looked like it was going to be a gang fight right here in our gym.


Davison says he was later told, You know, Brian, the only reason nothing happened tonight is we respect what you do.


Wandani alumni have also stepped up as program leaders.


One of them is Marvell Dean Jewell, 20, now a paid staff member who referees basketball games.


Jewell has since joined St. Marcus church. He says he can relate to kids because he was in their position.


The biggest thing is respect. Good sportsmanship. Knowing how to carry yourself, Jewell tells his little brothers.


And at the same time kids are having a good time, Jewell says, they're learning about God.


During each Wandani session, a leader reads a Bible passage and interprets it. Kids in gym shorts roll their warm-up basketballs away and gather at mid-court to sit and listen silently to the Bible, as Davison tells them about heaven and hell everyone will be judged, he says, but you must be a believer to enter heaven. After this devotion, the teenagers take the court.

Mr. Slug Comes in from the Rain

Beautyberry forms its fruit late in the season,
food for the birds. Who thought of that?

As predicted, the rain rolled in, Friday morning, about 4 AM. I went to the kitchen to make some coffee and saw a slug on the floor. Wet weather brings slugs or earthworms inside, but I usually see one brave slug. They are creatures of rot, but they also are very good at rasping away leaves and vegetables, so gardeners loathe the damage they cause.

If you wonder what is damaging your garden, go outside after dark with a bright flashlight and look over the plants and bushes. An interesting display of life will peep out from flowers and hang from plants. The daylight reveals the damage; the darkness reveals the pests.

The temptation to destroy all the pests is great but the effort is futile for us weak, dumb, and easily exhausted humans. I leave it to the counter-strike force, the beneficial creatures who feed on the pests. This summer I learned about many beneficial creatures and renewed my interest in ones I took for granted - like toads and spiders.

The rove beetles and cursorial spiders are especially interesting. They march across the land and devour pests. Unbidden by us, they are designed by the Creator to feed new generations of beneficial life by reducing the hordes of pests, just when we need them most. The greater the numbers of pests, the larger the strike force attacking them.

The numbers should amuse us. If we use man-made chemicals, the cost is increasingly painful and the results increasingly disastrous. If the beneficials do the work for us, they enjoy a boom in population and generations following who abide where the eating is good and the living is free.

I still have a few rose blooms that the aphids and sucking insects destroy, but they are just snacks for the beneficials waiting for their noxious arrival.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: 

1. it shall not return unto me void, 
2. but it shall accomplish that which I please, 
3. and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Pests arrive in the lives of Christian believers. Beside the normal trials of life are those special enemies who devote themselves to destruction. They are the Javerts (Le Miz) whose narrow view of the Law justifies their rampages. Some are Pentecostals always speaking about Jesus while serving their Father Below. Others are busy parsing the hyper-Mennonite rules of shunning that they amend according to their daily needs.

They never imagine this, but these pests do God's work in their malice. They help separate the good from the bad and open up new opportunities for the Gospel. The effective pesticide is not man-made. The sects of today think success lies in ejecting anyone who would stand up to their corruption and false doctrine, but the abusive leaders only set up new opportunities for the Word of God, which alone is effective.

The beneficial Word is not taught and therefore is seldom used. I gag when I read in a post, "The synod says..." The synod never says anything. The synod is not a person but simply a man-made organization that cannot obey its own rules and guidelines.

The Word never fails, which means - it is always successful. If someone knows and understands Hebrew, the concept should be simple: there is no difference between God's Word and God's will. Anyone who reads a decent translation can see the same thing.

The Word accomplishes God's purpose alone.  Not Satan's. Not man's. Just God's purpose. Weed spray is very good against weeds...and flowers...and beneficial creatures. We have all seen great man-made ideas executed and creating all sorts of collateral damage.

The Word is bountiful in its positive effects. No one can even imagine the outcome of God's Word when proclaimed.

Reader Asks about WELS-CLC (sic), Church Growth, Manufacturing Disciples

The WELS' social media is so bad and I would hate for the CLC leadership to come to a fellowship with them without recognizing how terrible the leadership at MLC is with discipline. I very much think you would be the best Dean of Students there to get things in order so they quit leading children astray.

***

GJ - The author asked about Church Growth, making disciples, Matthew 18, and the inevitable WELS-CLC merger.

First of all, both groups are in such rapid decline that they will need to work out some kind of arrangement. The Tiefel cousins, James and Paul, would love that, because both men teach the same false doctrine.

But a WELS-CLC (sic) merger would be as effective as the KMart-Sears combo, two dying turkeys linked together in a swan dive.

Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

This passage not only refers to the young but also to those who are still new in the Christian Faith. The obnoxious abuse of students at the prep, college, and seminary level is an abomination. WELS uses it to drive out anyone who might object to anything in Holy Mother Sect. The system of abuse also hardens and blinds those who go along by participating or by saying nothing.

Parents have their part in this - 

• Our little prince or princess can do no wrong.
• Our child is essential for the school team, so discipline would hurt the school.
• We were worse in college.
• I'm a WELS "name" so my kid gets high grades, no matter what.

These parental attitudes are found in all schools, because so many parents want to be pals, not mother and father. Teachers also let students bulldoze them, knowing that to do otherwise would have parents and the administration on their necks. We have become a nation of spineless, whimpering followers who will do more than produce another generation.

I had some remarkable college students locally, products of homeschooling. One had never been in a formal classroom before. Another came in with 40 college credits. Those students are self-disciplined, respectful, and mature. Most college students just out of public high school are still working at a junior high level in emotional maturity and academics. In synodical schools the deficits are covered up but show so well in the lackluster leadership years later. 

In WELS, the culture of alcoholism has a profound corrupting effect on everything, from rampant immorality in the church workers to DUI cover-ups of the same. A DUI ticket means a transfer and a new job. Drunks do not discipline drunks.

Manufacturing Disciples - The Great Divide

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

WELS-CLC-ELS leaders favor the Babtist reading of this passage, because they study with Babtists at Fuller and Pietists at Trinity Divinity. The non-Lutheran (or really - the Anti-Lutheran) Protestants are death on the Sacraments. This is a Sacramental passage, not a Church Growth passage. The Fullerites cannot conceive anything happening without the plans, goals, and Management by Objective methods of their deluded followers.

The Fuller drones see this as Law rather than a Gospel admonition, as Little Ichabod once observed with remarkable sagacity. The Church must make disciples who make disciples who make disciples, as Kent Hunter (LCMS) and Joel Gerlach (WELS) said fatuously.  Kent even added this bit of wisdom - Sheep have sheep - shepherds don't. 

How far Lutherdom has fallen from the Means of Grace. The Word begets new creations, and people have the privilege and honor of teaching that effective Word.

Church Growth and manufacturing disciples are velcroed together. Those who deny "making disciples" - as I did in both sects - are driven out as scoundrels, bounders, and black sheep who have black sheep who have black sheep. Clearly, the abusive (not conservative) sects see the Means of Grace as dangerous to their hedonistic goals.

Two other pastors who served in the Ohio Conference of the Michigan District, WELS, were driven out by the "conservative" John Seifert for criticizing "making disciples." He also sent out Death Squads to get rid of all signers of the Intrepid Lutherans, but somehow missed any discipline towards the Jeske-Patterson Crime Family and its vipers' nest of groups, associations, youth rallies, and joint meetings with ELCA.

The text itself

Their magic formula is the basic Greek word for disciple used as a verb, so that must mean "make disciples." Now that everyone is thoroughly New NIVed, the truth does not matter. Grammar cannot be taught in a sect where the clergy cannot even spell or form coherent sentences. The Gurgle clan seems to be 100% illiterate, the Bidens of bureaucracy, so that helped their upward journey and the downward spiral of WELS.

 

This is Ski's photo of Andy Stanley worship.
In fact, Ski said he and the eight WELS church workers
all worshiped there at the conference.
Does this rock nightclub ambiance remind anyone
of the ideal WELS venue? 

The text calls for "all nations" being the direct object of the verb. If one wants to use the word disciple as a verb, that is easy 

Go therefore, and disciple all nations, teaching and baptizing...

May I point out how Sacramental this is? OK, I will. The verb disciple involves a teacher-student relationship. Teaching and baptizing implies that the Word will convert those who listen attentively and sincerely. Holy Baptism is very important to entire families, adults and children alike. Nota bene - children are not excluded from the Great Commission, another problem to be fixed by a future edition of the New NIV. For the adults, baptism is the seal and promise of their relationship with the Good Shepherd. For children, baptism is the definite, visible beginning of their relationship with their Savior. That is why Babtists today dedicate their children, using the Gospel Promises of Holy Baptism. They know this makes a difference in the lives of children.

Fuller, following their sociologist McGavran, says - "make disciples of your own ethnic group, because people do not like to cross racial lines in church." So where is that in the Bible? Galatians is just the opposite, so ignore that. Here is where greed displays its fangs and claws. The goal is not to bring Jesus to the world, without regard to money or race, but to bring cash and luxurious living to the wolf-preacher.

Infant Baptism and Dedication

As the father of two little girls who were baptized as babies yet never talked, I can tell people, "They believed. They heard the Gospel and when people spoke of Jesus, they responded as all believing children do. One nurse even said that Erin astonished her with knowing facial expressions." When parents lose children young without infant baptism, they worry and try to preach the child into heaven. "They were young. They were innocent. They are angels now." Such terrible doubts and strange assurances replace the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Bethany had tantrums to get her way and laughed when I identified her scheme. Erin was jealous of other children in the hospital, so we had to assure her. 

Naturally, when we diminish the work of God we have to glorify the work of man. That is the true agenda of "making disciples." I asked a prominent Evangelical about lackluster congregations. His solution was to form cell groups to "make disciples." He forgot to mention he was teaching about marriage and cheating on his wife while he was making disciples. How many little ones in the faith fell away when their celebrity minister was sacked for adultery?

The guardians of the English language will not allow the Bible to use "teach" twice in two verses. But they love to say "making disciples who make disciples who make disciples." Too bad they never read the second verse thoroughly - teaching them to observe all I have commanded. They are quite selective in picking and choosing what they want to use - a little half-verse here, a little Management by Objective there, a little Gospel, a lot of Law, grace without the Means of Grace, salvation without the Word or faith.

Lacking in the Tents in the New Church Growth Circus Clowns

Wherever the Jeske-Patterson clones get a fat grant from Holy Mother Sect, they set up entertainment, not worship, passive not interactive, and they omit four things if at all possible:

1. The pulpit, because it suggests a Gospel sermon about the Word instead of a coaching session based on blowhard motivational speakers.
2. The pipe organ, because that is the best musical instrument for supporting liturgical worship and classical hymns with Christian content.
3. The baptismal font, because Jesus emphasized an infant and adult baptizing Church, convicting the world of its unbelief in Him (John 16).
4. The altar, because Holy Communion is the norm for Sunday services and all special Holy Days.

The Church Growth wolves will make sure they have:

• A sound system that will induce tremors in everyone's sternum.
• Soft drinks to take into church.
• Bags of treats to munch during the entertainment seeker service.
• A sleazy, half-baked, talentless rock band to attract the balding boomers and provide potential income when the group goes on the road. Don't judge. Jeske's Koine group demands $3,000 up front to appear.

Luther Paraphrasing Paul - Worth Reading and Remembering

Those who advance UOJ, forgiveness without faith,
should remember this, especially if they acknowledge in print
the importance of Luther's Galatians Commentary to the Book of Concord editors.

A reader sent this to me from an earlier Ichabod post and wrote about how powerful this one quotation was and is.

I responded that the Luther-ignorant will read this as "Luther's opinion"  and say, "I follow Jesus, not Luther." But this is an excellent restating of Paul's message.

Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.