Needle Park - The Once and Future Hosta Garden

 By Norma Boeckler

Our helper finished gathering pine needles for the Hosta garden, which began with free Hostas from Mr. Gardener's row of plants. We had the cardboard layer down much earlier, when leaves and needles were scarce. We now have about seven wheelbarrows of needles spread on the cardboard, which is mostly covered.

New cardboard is going on the far west side of the backyard. That worked with - with leaves - to turn most of the backyard into shade gardening, with some modest starts in the plants.

I mentioned the distant yard to our helper - it has two magnificent pines and a thick layer of needles on the ground and sidewalk. "Betcha there is no grass in that yard." He was right. Our previous pile of stored needles in the backyard had no grass or weeds growing through it or under it.

The bird-feeding area is now exclusively around the window where we view them. The initial row of bushes - Gooseberry, Clethra, Chaste Tree, - is well established. Inside that perimeter are two Butterfly Bushes and a constant parade of butterflies - not many but persistent in their attention to the flowers. The large Butterfly Bush has been the shelter for birds feeding and the ladder for squirrels pouncing on the sunflower seeds. The ground is soft with a thick layer of sunflower hulls from all summer. When I stand to put feed in, the mole-undermined soil sinks beneath me. "Yes, more mixing of the soil. I like that."

I trust moles and earthworms to do the job of mixing, so I do not need to borrow a rototiller to destroy the delicate microbial networks in the soil.

The Butterfly Bushes prove that winter is approaching. The male Cardinals now wait for food together on the plants. The males will not sing and fight for territory and their mates until spring. Between the Crepe Myrtle seed repository in the front and the sunflower seeds in the back, our yard is Cardinal friendly. I moved the second and third birdbaths into this area as well.

Chickadees are often flitting around the sunflower seeds, grabbing one and pecking it open while holding the seed with their feet. When it is colder they will probably eat from the suet, too, but bugs are easily found in our warm, wet weather, with slight cooling at night.

Our rain yesterday was impressive and badly needed. I am supposed to harvest 50 roses for the chiro, so I am focusing  on watering and pruning on getting that number for Monday.

  By Norma Boeckler

No Pruning in the Fall - No Cleaning Up
Once again, think about the creatures before pruning and cleaning up in the autumn.

Pruning will reduce the bug and bird shelters available all winter. They go together. Where God shelters bugs, he also provides for birds. We seldom think of all the insect life in trees, bushes, and plants. When I watered Clethra, the tiny insects came off the blooms like dust clouds.

Wild bees use hollow plant stems for winter shelter. Beneficial beetle populations like unspoiled leaf litter on the ground for the next generation of workers to sleep. Alone sunflower stalk will shelter bugs and provide a nifty perch for birds to use when looking for insects on the ground below. "Nothing is wasted," as Lenski wrote about the food gathered up after the Feeding of the Multitudes.

If an apple or banana goes bad in the kitchen, we share it with the creatures. Shriveled berries and grapes will attract birds and squirrels. Raisins and nuts will increase the variety of birds coming to a feeder.

  By Norma Boeckler

Think About Spring
Most of the leaves placed on the garden and newly mulched areas will be devoured by mites and earthworms in late spring.

Pieces of twine left on branches will be grabbed by birds for nesting. So will dryer lint stuck in suet baskets. I put one colorful piece of string on the Crepe Myrle branch. Soon it was gone. Then I saw it fall down from the maple tree, high up. A robin soared down to pick it up and place it back in the nest he was building. Likewise, a robin will grab dry leaves for the walls and floors of his new home. And yet  -  people rake their leaves, bag them, and send them away.

Steady feeding of the birds will not make them dependent on humans! That is like saying going to a baseball game and eating popcorn will make humans dependent on snackfoods. Oops -  bad analogy - we are dependent. Birds are smarter. They get most of their food from God's Creation, not from ConAgra and Walmart.

The worst time for birds is during heavy ice and sleet storms. They need calories and have trouble finding enough food under the ice. Food available means the yard is a good place to settle down and put down roots. Each species will pick its location for a nest and tolerate others birds except their own kind. Flocking birds like Starlings will put a bird-friendly yard on their map and visit them regularly.

 By Norma Boeckler

Herman Otten Is Praying for Me - But Bootless Prayers Do Not Avail - As Shakespeare (Oxford) Says. October 10, 2016 Issue

I was going to abandon reviews of the newest Christian News, but October presented an opportunity to see how the Reformation would be spun.

First I saw my introduction to the Christian News Encyclopedia, Volume V, about a zillion years ago.

Like his ex-friend Paul McCain, Otten likes his books promoted but vindictively shuns anything that ruffles his Geneva gown. I do not mean he shuns Roman Catholic or Baptist or Church Growth books  loaded with false doctrine. Otten just shuns Lutheran books: they really bother him.

Imagine my surprise when he posted a Pray for Jackson article, a re-post based on the assumption that UOJ is my former position (never was) and that demi-semi-Kokomo UOJ is Biblical, Confessional, and orthodox. Ha!

“The Dying LCMS Seminaries” (pp. 8-12) includes an article by Dr. Gregory Jackson (p. 11). How he has changed. Note “Gregory Jackson Lies About Christian News” (p. 22), by David Becker. Jackson now rejects Universal Objective Justification." Layman David Becker - no qualifications - is the new Jack Cascione for Otten.

Everyone is supposedly against Kokomo, including the late Kurt Marquart, but they end up in the same camp with the same conclusions. All the UOJ Stormtroopers are liars, like the Cretans of old.

One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. Titus 1:12

Remember that when the Synodical Conference writes about Justification by Faith, just as Otten does when the mood strikes him. They are all decidedly against the Chief Article and embrace the UOJ of ELCA.

Christian News mentions and "reviews" Thy Strong Word, mostly by quoting from the book.

That is really not a review, but I appreciate the denunciations in the same issue, which I consider an endorsement.

I created the Pope Otten graphic because he promoted the Roman Catholic Facts about Luther in the Reformation issue of CN. The book is a hate-filled lying bundle of lies typical of Roman Catholic education in the 1950s. Instead of repenting, he wrote to someone, "I sell to both sides of the issue."

 Reformation issue, Christian News.

 Otten also promotes and sells this official Church Growth textbook
for WELS, loaded with UOJ and edited by Paul Calvin Kelm.

 LCMS - I know your history better than you do.

Jack Preus Quoting Luther at the Bethany Lectures - Did Anyone Listen?

 Jack Preus translated the book I mentioned in the post below -Jack and Robert Preus had spine and led from the front,unlike the Thrivent slugs of today.

Martin Chemnitz on the Doctrine of Justification [Presented at the Reformation Lectures, Bethany Lutheran College and Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, October 30, 1985, Lecture II] By Dr. Jacob A. 0. Preus 1. In 1537 at Wittenberg Luther presided over a Disputatio held in connection with the academic promotion of two candidates, Palladius and Tilemann, in which he discussed the passage in Rom. 3:28,

“We believe that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” Luther, in his prefatory remarks, said, “The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord and ruler and judge of all areas of doctrine. It preserves and governs the entire teaching of the church and directs our conscience before God. Without this article the world is in total death and darkness, for there is no error so small, so insignificant and isolated that it does not completely please the mind of man and mislead us, if we are cut off from thinking and meditating on this article. Therefore, because the world is so obtuse and insensitive, it is necessary to deal with this doctrine constantly and have the greatest understanding of it. Especially if we wish to advise the churches, we will fear no evil, if we give the greatest labor and diligence in teaching particularly this article. For when the mind has been strengthened and confirmed in this sure knowledge, then it can stand firm in all things. Therefore, this is not some small or unimportant matter, particularly for those who wish to stand on the battle line and contend against the devil, sin, and death and teach the churches.”

How many UOJ Stormtroopers heard Bainton lecture
and received help on their PhD dissertations from him?

Confidential to Jay Webber, Herman Otten, Jon-Boy Buchholz, Mark Schroeder, Paul McCain, Jack Cascione, Rolf Preus, Matt Harrison, Paul Tiefel, and the UOJ Chorus - Have You Ever Read Chemnitz' Justification?

We had another doctor's visit, so I grabbed Chemnitz' Justification, The Chief Article of Christian Doctrine, translated by Otten's former and sainted pal Jack Preus.

The more I read this slender volume (again), the more I wonder -

Have You Ever Read Chemnitz' Justification? - Jay Webber, Herman Otten, Jon-Boy Buchholz, Mark Schroeder, Paul McCain, Jack Cascione, Rolf Preus, Matt Harrison, Paul Tiefel, Pope John the Malefactor, and the UOJ Chorus?

Every time one of these jackals responds to this topic, he reveals that the answer is a thunderous "NO!"

What is this book? It is taken from Chemnitz' lectures (Loci) on the standard Melanchthon doctrinal book of the time, updating the controversies and adding many useful details. This volume actually edits out many of Chemnitz' discursive additions. The plan of the book is having Melanchthon's text followed by Chennitz' explanations on the same topic.

A Locus (plural, Loci) is a topic in theology, so this is a book published about one topic - Justification, by two of Luther's students, Melanchthon and Chemnitz. Martin Chemnitz had the distinction of studying under both Reformers and uniting the warring factions of Lutherdom after Luther's death.

In other words, this little volume is not only a treasure of Lutheran Biblical scholarship, but a primary document of the Reformation and the Book of Concord era.

"Aha!' some of the Walther lick-spittles will say, "but the title is Justification,  not Justification by Faith." So true, and yet that rejoinder is the cornerstone of UOJ pratfalls galore. There was no need to modify the topic's name, because no one but the heretic Huber (kicked out of Wittenberg) was teaching Justification without Faith.

Trains used to have signs that said, "No spitting," but banks did not. Does that mean banks allowed spitting on the floor or - that spitting was a habit unknown in the marbled palaces and polished floors of commerce?"

Justification always meant "by faith" when named during the Reformation, just as it does in the Bible.

False teachers like Bivens and Zarling in WELS use the term Justification, and the accolades attributed to Justification by Faith, and then define it as Justification without Faith. But that is a patently obvious bait-and-switch, from the actual meaning of the term to the Wisconsin sect's favorite hobby horse, in fact their only dogma. The ELS dimwits say, "Me too, I mean, us too."

Anyone who reads this little book knows that the term Justification is always used as Justification by Faith, whether by Melanchthon or Chemnitz. But wait, there's more.

Two small chapters, by Melanchthon and Chemnitz alike, deal with the term Justification and also with the term Faith. Both are worth careful study and reflection.

This above all should be noted - Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, and the rest - all of them cited their opponents' arguments when stating the truths of the Word of God. No one in that era could get away with the addled UOJ hectoring of today. The UOJ toadies never even hint at what they are undermining, because their work is 100% deception:

• They pretend to be Biblical, but they oppose the Scriptures completely.
• They call themselves Luther-ans, but they are Luther-hating rationalists.
• They cite the Pietists (Rambach, Quistorp - Webber) and call those men "Orthodox Lutherans."
• They quote Walther, but omit his lack of education (BA only) and his adherence to Pietism.
• They place their hands on the Book of Concord, but despise its clear message of the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace.
• They celebrate the Reformation by selling cheap, offensive trinkets, instead of promoting this brilliant CPH volume by Otten's former pal and Missouri's former Synod President.
• They (LCMS-ELS-CLC-WELS) claim to be united by UOJ, but cannot call it false doctrine or the foundational dogma of ELCA, their bedmate.
• They produce endless essays and tomes without merit and run off to degree mills so they can call one another Doctor and Graduate Student.
• They conveniently forget that their real founder, the linchpin of the Synodical Conference, was a lying, poorly educated (no degree at all), syphilitic monster who left Europe when arrested, followed by Walther who ran from the police while kidnapping his own niece and nephew.

Famous Lutherans List from 2008. Fowl Play Expected

Steve Jobs, Apple Computer, was confirmed in the LCMS.
He died October 5, 2011.
Famous Lutherans List

Famous Living Lutherans
Here is a list of “Famous Living Lutherans” compiled from various sources. Those listed are ELCA members, unless noted otherwise. This list is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Please send your additions and/or corrections to michelle.daniels@elca.org Updated March 2008.

Politics
U.S. Representatives: Michele Bachmann (WELS), Lois Capps, John R. Carter, Norman Dicks, Stephanie Herseth, Darlene Hooley, Ron Kind (WELS), Tom Latham, Zoe Lofgren, Collin Peterson, Thomas Petri, Dave Reichert (LCMS), John Shimkus (LCMS), Bill Shuster, Tim Walz.
U.S. Senators:
Sherrod Brown, Byron Dorgan, Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, Tim Johnson and Nikki G. Setzler
Nane Annan, wife of former UN Secretary General Koffe Annan
Douglas K. Bereuter – former US House, now head of the Asia Foundation
Bob Bergland, former US Secretary of Agriculture
John Bolton, US Ambassador to the United Nations
William Dannemeyer, former US House of Representatives (LCMS)
Tim Goeglein, special assistant to President Bush and Deputy Director of
Public Liaison (LCMS)
Steve Gunderson, former US House of Representatives, now known as an author
Gaylord T. Gunhus. former chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army
John Hamre, former deputy director, US Department of Defense
Donald Hodel, former US Secretary of Energy and Interior
John E. Jones III, judge, US District Court, Pennsylvania (ELCA)
Judge Dan Joy, New York State
Thomas S. Kleppe, former US Interior Secretary
Conrad Lautenbacher, Jr., Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Cynthia Lummis, Treasurer, Wyoming (LCMS)
John Marty, Minnesota State Senator
Ed Meese, former US Attorney General
Mark Neumann, former US House of Representative (WELS)
Tim Penny, former US House of Representatives
Dale Sandstrom, Justice, North Dakota Supreme Court

Sports
Shane Battier, Memphis Grizzlies NBA
Kim Bauer, Womens PGA Golfer (WELS)
Tom Brady, New England Patriots quarterback
Matt Bullard, Houston Rockets
Karyn Bye, US Women’s Hockey Olympic Team
Dan Califf, San Jose Earthquakes (soccer)
Dom Capers, Houston Texans coach
Bill Cartwright, former Chicago Bulls coach
Chris DeMarco, PGA golfer
Morgan Ensberg, Houston Astros baseball (LCMS)
Darin Erstad, Los Angeles Angels
Phil Hansen, former Buffalo Bills defensive end
Elrod Hendricks, former Baltimore Orioles catcher
Tony Kubek, former NY Yankee (WELS)
Michael Jackson, former Seattle Seahawks & Washington Huskies football
Dale Jarrett, NASCAR driver
Ned Jarrett, NASCAR commentator & retired NASCAR driver
Calle Johansson, Washington Capitals (hockey)
Janet Lynn, Olympic skater
Madeline Manning Mims, former Olympic athlete, current Olympic chaplain
Scott Madson, Soloflex ads (LCMS)
Carmelo Martinez, professional baseball player
Luis Matos, Baltimore Orioles baseball player
Paul Molitor, Baseball Hall of Fame
Andy North, PGA Golfer, former US Open champion (LCMS)
Gregg Olson, retired professional baseball player
Lute Olson, University of Arizona basketball coach
Hank Peters, former general manager of the Orioles and Indians (LCMS)
Brian Propp, NHL (ELCIC)
Paul Reuschel, former Chicago Cub
Rick Reuschel, former Chicago Cub
John Scheirholz, general manager, Atlanta Braves
Jerry Seeman, head NFL referee
Richard Steele, referee
Terry Steinbach, Minnesota Twins baseball (WELS)
Gary Suter, NHL
John Vambiesbrouck, Philadelphia Flyers goalie, NHL (LCMS)
Duffy Waldorf, professional golfer
Bruce Weber, coach, University of Illinois basketball
Jim Wilson, former Chicago White Sox
Mark Wilson, PGA Tour player (ELCA)
Dave Winfield, Baseball Hall of Fame
John Zimmerman, professional skater

Television News and Sports
Troy Aikman, FOX Sports, former NFL player
Emily Akin, NBC news, Houston
John Bachman, WHO TV, Des Moines, Iowa
Dick Bremer (LCMS), Minnesota Twins TV announcer
Jack Cafferty, CNN anchor
Gretchen Carlson, FOX news (former Miss America)
Mary Hart, "Entertainment Tonight" host
Jim Henderson, radio announcer
Joel Hochmuth (WELS), former CNN reporter
Donna Kelley, CNN anchor
Verne Lundquist, CBS sports
Ann Martin, KABC-TV (L.A.), news anchor
Lisa Malosky, NBC Sports
Cliff Michaelson, WCSH TV, Portland, Maine
Mike Miller, Milwaukee TV news
Pat O’Brien, former "Access Hollywood" host, now “ The Insider” host
Dane Placko, FOX news, Chicago
Dick Reeves, CBS radio news anchor, retired
Jane Robelot, CBS news
Christine Romans, CNN anchor
Orion Samuelson, WGN TV and radio
Flip Saunders, NBA head coach, Detroit Pistons.
John Scott, NBC news (LCMS)
Susan Spencer, CBS news
Ron Steele, KWWL-TV, Waterloo, Iowa
Michelle TaFoya, CBS sports
Bill Whitney, CBS radio news
Paul Yeager, KWQC-TV news, Quad Cities

Actors/Entertainers/Musicians/Film Industry Folks
Erika Alezander, actor ("Bill Cosby Show")
Loni Anderson, actor
Brice Beckham, actor, Wooley Owens on “Mr. Belvedere”
Beverly Benda, soprano
Beau & Jeff Bridges, actors (entire Bridges family are active Lutherans)
Dana Carvey, comedian and actor
Gary Cole, actor, “Brady Bunch” films
Brandy Dejongh, actor (LCMS)
Justino Diaz, opera singer
Fred Durst, singer and actor
Kirsten Dunst, actor
Rusty Edwards, composer
Kurt Elling, jazz musician
Paul "Ace" Frehley, rock musician "KISS" (LCMS)
Janie Fricke, country music star
Michael Gesme, Conductor of Bend Oregon Symphony Orchestra
Annabeth Gish, actor, "The X Files"
Jerry Hadley, opera tenor
Don Hahn, Disney film producer
Hilary Hahn, young violinist
Patti Hansen, actor and model
David Hasselhoff, actor/producer, "Baywatch"
Marty Haugen, composer
Adolph Herseth, retired Chicago Symphony lead trumpeter
Felicity Huffman, actor “Desperate Housewives”
William Hurt, actor
Marta Casals Istomin, cellist
Craig Hella Johnson, singer, music director
Kris Kristofferson, singer/actor
Gary Lewis, musician "Gary Lewis and the Playboys"
Lyle Lovett, singer (LCMS)
William H. Macy, actor
Paul Manz, organist
Kurt Masur, former conductor, New York Philharmonic
Ron Maxwell, film producer ("Gettysburg")
Peter & Jim Mayer, Jimmy Buffet band
John Mellencamp, musician and singer (LCMS?)
Kirsten Nelson, actor, “The West Wing” & “Pysch”
Thomas Ian Nicholas, actor
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (attended a Lutheran day school)
Ann-Margaret (Olson), actor (LCMS)
Christopher Orr, actor, "The Mighty Ducks" movies (WELS)
Ivaan David Ortiz, film director
Ivan Gonzalo Ortiz, film producer
Michael Peterson, country music star
Frances Williams Preston, president and CEO of Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI)
James Rebhorn, actor ("The Game," "Fatal Attraction," "Seinfeld")
Andy Richter, former "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" co-host
David Rupprecht, actor, game show host (WELS)
Paul Schrader, film director and screenwriter
Elke Sommer, actor
Kevin Sorbo, actor, "Hercules" and Andromeda
David Soul, actor, "Starsky & Hutch"
Rick Steves, PBS travel host, travel author
Sally Struthers, actor - “All in the Family” and “Gillmore Girls”
Liv Ullman, actor
Stephen Werner, rock drummer
Roger Williams, pianist
Bruce Willis, actor
John Woo, film director ("Windtalkers" among many others)
John Ylvisaker, singer and composer ("Borning Cry")
Steve Zahn, actor "Sahara" and “Out of Sight” (LCMS)

Authors, Artists and Scholars
Gerald Barney, Millennium Institute, Washington, D.C.
Paul Bouman, composer
Warrin Bennis, author on leadership
Peter Berger, sociologist
Robert Bly, poet and author “Iron John”
Sandra Bowden, artist (LCMS)
Herbert Brokering, author
Rita Mae Brown, author "Bingo" and "Rubyfruit Jungle"
Jill Alexander Essbaum, poet
Jean Garton (LCMS), author of "Who Broke the Baby?"
Richard Hillert, composer
Bill Holm, poet
Edna Hong, author
Howard Hong, author
Ichabod, independent blogger
Marta Istomin, director, Pablo Casals Foundation
Cecile Johnson, watercolorist
Betina Krahn, author
Gary Larsen, cartoonist "The Far Side"
Jean LemMon, former editor, "Better Homes & Gardens"
George Lindbeck, scholar/author
Betty Mahmoody (WELS), author of "Not Without My Daughter"
Paul Maier, author (LCMS)
Janet Letnes Martin, author
Martin Marty, church historian
Cindy McTee, composer
Francisco Molina, poet
Alexandra Nechita, artist
Larry Rasmussen, Union Seminary, New York, ethicist
Jose David Rodriguez, author
Carl Schalk, composer
Peter Schieckele, composer, musician
David E. Schrader, Executive Director, American Philosophical Association, Newark, Delaware
Bob Sylwester, author, pioneer in brain-based learning (LCMS)
Walter Wangerin Jr., author/speaker
James Wind, Alban Institute
Karl A. Ylvisaker, artist (WELS)
Harriett Ziegenhais, composer

Science, Military, Business, Beauty, etc.
Linda Ahlers, Dayton Hudson, President, department store division
Bradbury Anderson, CEO, Best Buy
Gerald Barney, the Millenium Institute
Linda Bartlett, president "Lutherans for Life" (LCMS)
David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World
Mary Beth Blegen, 1996 Teacher of the Year
Norman E. Borlaug, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal for his work in agricultural science.
Don Branderstein, astronaut
Tom Buis, President, National Farmers Union
Robert Cade, inventor of Gatorade (LMCS)
Doris Christopher, CEO, the Pampered Chef
Lt.General Roger DeKok, Air Force Space Command
William Foege, former executive director, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta
Ron Gangelhoff, Chicago Cutlery Company founder
Bryan Holderby, US Navy Chief of Chaplains (1996 – 2000)
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer co-founder (LCMS)
Michael Johns, health care executive
Rebecca O. Kendall (Gass), retired Eli Lily VP & general counsel
James M. Kilts, CEO, Gillette
Grant Krafft, scientist (Alzheimer’s research)
Ed Kruse, CEO, Blue Bell Creameries, Inc.
Victor Langford, US Army General & chaplain
Judith Larson, scientist
Mark Lee, former astronaut
John Moellering, US Army General, former West Point commandant (LCMS)
Don Muchow (LCMS), former Navy chief of chaplains (1992 – 1996)
George "Pinky" Nelson, former astronaut
Marilyn Carlson Nelson, CEO, Carlson Companies
Paul Olson, President, National Farmers Organization
Ardath Rodale, CEO Rodale Press
Carolyn Sapp, former Miss America
Alfred Schwan, CEO, Schwan Foods (WELS)
Norman Schwarzkopf, US Army General
Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation
Diane (Baum) Thormodsgard, President of Corporate Trust Div. at U.S. Bank
Ross Trower, former Navy chaplain chief
General John Vessey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (LCMS)
Jeff Williams, astronaut

***

Joe Abrahamson has left a new comment on your post "Famous Lutherans":

Greg,
Too funny if the reference
"Ichabod, independent blogger"
means you!!! And without the parenthetical qualification of membership, the ELCA is claiming you as their own!!

Of all the stupid ironies.

I guess that shows us how reliable the rest of the list probably is.

My name isn't on the list. So, I know two things. 1) I'm not a famous Lutheran, and 2) The ELCA doesn't consider me a member. Well, yet, I suppose. I'll try to avoid both.

Wishing you the best,
Joe A.

***

GJ - Joe, I have to admit scratching my name in the wet cement. I could not resist. I wondered if anyone would notice. Diablo saw it right away. So did AnonyMouse, squeaking away as expected, from the dives and cheap bars of Appleton, Wisconsin, drunk capital of America.

Response to WELS Hazing Abuse

Response to Secret Hazing Ritual at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

Hi Pastor:

You hit the "WELS Hazing & Bullying" expose out of the park.  Spot on.  I still remember the "Fuchs Code" all these years later from Martin Luther Academy:

"I a poor, humble freshman of the lowest form of mass, beg pardon of this man of the noble Junior (or X) class.  I bow to thee in honour, and beg thy pardon please, that thou my noble conqueror shall ever be my liege.  I carry this shoe-rag to do thine every wish, that I shall never lag to make this shoe-rag swish."

This rendering, or something very close to it, had to be cited on demand or the victim would have to do some task, like shining shoes or carrying books.  Glad to see this pagan ritual was eliminated but it was a cult-like control mechanism. [GJ - The New Ulm prep was eliminated and replaced with an area high school. The current state of abuse will not be known until they heatedly deny it.

After recently running into a thug-like, ungodly synod leader, I renounced all ties to WELS and will never again step into one of their churches.  I warn others of WELS abuses--Scriptural, mental, emotional & physical--that goes on in its temples and watering holes.

May God bless you.

---

Martin Luther College - WELS - is a transforming, or rather, a transgendering experience.

Graduation Day, six months into the change.

 And now...

Luther Died at the Age of 63

 This Luther graphic was designed by Norma Boeckler.

Luther lived 63 years, a long life for his era, dying in 1546.

Melanchthon was younger, and also lived 63 years, dying in 1560.

Martin Chemnitz was born after the Reformation started, and he united the warring factions of Lutherdom, dying in 1586, dying at the age of 64. Taught by Luther and Melanchthon, he unitd the warring factions among the Lutherans. Few people realize how all his previous work led to his masterful work in fashioning the Book of Concord and writing the Formula of Concord, both published in 1580. He worked with a team of genius theologians, including Selnecker, whom he converted from the wobbly Lutheranism popular at the time.

Living past the age of 63 is a gift from God, which is clear when looking over the memorial list of my highschool in Moline. My best friend from Yale died young from cancer. Several friends were born with weak hearts and died very young. One wasted his health and talents on alcohol and drugs.

I decided, upon reaching the magical age of 63, that I would get as much writng done as possible for whatever years might be left. Fortunately, I am blest with good health, inherited from my ancestors and not merited by any virtues on my part.

Two groups of people have done wonders for my understanding of Biblical theology.

1. Opponents of Christianity.
2. Faithful laity.

Opponents of Christianity
The opponents of Christianity are a sorry lot - obnoxious in behavior and greedy for gain. The obvious apostates turn the miracles of Christ into hilarious parodies and the divinity of Christ into the "Easter faith of the disciples," descending into Fundamentalism only when it comes to tithing.

Unfortunately, the open apostates control old, established denominations and their failing gay seminaries. Around 1981 I met the Philadelphia LCA seminary professor who published the traditional, heterosexual view of marriage in The Lutheran (LCA) magazine, and I knew the previous two editors of that publication.

The ELCA got rid of professors like him, and replaced them with the hair-on-fire radicals who promptly turned the schools into wastelands while soaking up enormous salaries for doing no more than posturing. Even in the old days, LCA professors did some great work for Lutheran doctrine, such as Tappert and his edition of the Book of Concord, which did not have to be recalled and pulped, unlike Paul McCain's misbegotten effort.

The founders of the previous ELCA denominations - Lenski, Jacobs, Krauth, Schmauk, Passavant - are good examples and good reading for those who might imagine the obvious apostates are true to their heritage. Someone has to remember these forgotten giants, so I mention them often.

Worst Apostates - NIV and ESV Salesmen
The worst apostates are far more subtle, sneaking out to conferences with ELCA, calling themselves "conservatives" and "confessional" and even "orthodox." But they do everything together to eliminate Lutheran doctrine from WELS-ELS-LCMS and the micro-minis. These spineless, lazy, and overfed apostates are far more dangerous than the obvious ones, because they borrow the faith words of Christianity to destroy the Faith, while gloating and rewarding one another for their efforts.

WELS-ELS-LCMS are quickly replacing the KJV with the surfer-dude paraphrase called the New NIV. Some replace the KJV with the Calvinist edition of the RSV - the ESV.  These two factions do not acknowledge the KJV, based upon Luther, or any of its updates, which vary somewhat in doctrinal precision but at least share in a common heritage and honor for the Word of God.

The NIV and ESV are money machines for the owners. The RSV is owned by the National Council of (Communist) Churches, so I wonder how much ESV money goes to the red faction of the mainlines.

Church Growth, Pietism, and Universal Objective Justification
The most dangerous apostates despise the KJV family of Bibles, and share a common love of these three toxic influences:

1. Church Growth marketing.
2. Pietism and the congregation defined by cell groups.
3. UOJ's rationalism and Pietism.

Church Growth has already been defined by C. Peter Wagner as a failure, but it was useful in introducing apostasy into the Christian Church. It only took one generation of drunken, stupid denominational leaders to make Church Growth habits habitual.

The genius of the Church Growth apostates is revealed in their simplistic tactics. They start with the cell groups of Pietism. That is the real church, they say. The Means of Grace at church worship services - they are nothing except a gathering place for the cell groups. Unlike my apathetic peers, I attended some of these CG beehives, and they all share common, nauseating characteristics. One was all the self-talk, completely supplanting any talk of God. Another was the rationalism that grows from Pietism - this works, so this is good. The Scriptures are set aside, except for sentimental slogans.

UOJ has been the best motivation to study Luther's doctrine and the Book of Concord. How could anyone turn Justification by Faith into Justification without Faith? That was like tracing the wiry roots of Bermuda grass and pulling them out, only to find those tenacious roots ripping up the soil and leaving remnants for a new generation of weeds.

Faithful Laity
A few - very few pastors - have been encouraging. The more they contacted me to verbally abuse me, the more I saw how addicted they were to synod control, like baby scorpions hanging onto the tail of mama scorpion.

 Holy Mother Synod will take care of her babies
and give them a free ride.

Faithful laity do not need the approval of any synod. They read Luther and the Bible, so the complex truth-twisting of UOJ, Church Growth, and Pietism are unknown to them. They want to learn more and obtain books that teach them to discern the spirits.

Plants Are Closing All Over Springdale, Arkansas. Time To Dream about Spring's New Creations

The color has left the Crepe Myrtle bush as the
flowers turn to seed to complete their work.

The Crepe Myrtle bush looked like pink fireworks all summer, but now in October, the flowers are completing their work, going to seed. Fall is arriving and all the plants are closing their reproductive cycle, going to seed, going to sleep.

Thousands of spherical seeds will remain on the bush most of the winter to feed birds, and Cardinals love them. That is why two Cardinals set up their love-nest, hidden away, in the plant. I discovered that by sitting on the porch motionless to watch the garden. I saw the male, and soon after the female, emerge from the Crepe Myrtle, so I walked over to find a nest - and there it was.

Cardinals were the first to visit the feeders after I moved the hanging one over to accommodate  our viewing. Mrs. Ichabod said, "There is the female Cardinal!" - pointing. Mrs. Cardinal saw the motion in the room and flitted away.

Those who made growing roses an onerous task, awash in toxins, missed this fact of flowers turning to seed and the plant becoming dormant. The old rose books had gardeners trimming canes lest "they be whipped around by the winter winds and damaged." But pruning rose canes just before winter is a fine way to promote new growth that will freeze in the predestined frosts. Instead, the flowers should be allowed to turn into rose hips (seed pods) for the winter, the rose dozing off for a few months of rest.

I have a little more time to harvest roses, and I already found a brilliant orange rose hip from a flower that was never removed by pruning.

I visited a spectacular corner garden recently set up by a neighbor a few blocks away. I looked at all the seeds developed by the flowers that grew there. The dried up seed-heads were gone, and new autumn plants were sitting there to lend color to the yard. If I had that kind of ambition, I would gather the dried stalks and their copious seeds and pile them in the back yard as a spare birdfeeder.

Four areas are enjoying a layer of cardboard over the soil, to let the soil creatures convert grass and weeds into compost. Those gardens have six months to get this work done. If the soil creatures grow cold and sluggish - and even freeze - they will have locked up nutrition and water for the spring growing season. Their descendants will take over and enjoy explosive growth in the warm, rain-soaked Spring.

Vines are shriveling and dropping seeds (Morning Glory, Honeysuckle) or building a tough root system to promote Hummingbird attracting flowers (Trumpet Vine), or merely trying to take over the world (English Ivy).

Our neighbor wants a bunch of Morning Glory vine to lay down on her fence, seeds for a new season. Buying the seeds is expensive, but if we pretend we do not care, the vines will spring up and display their flowers each morning. Mr. Gardener and I enjoy the vines on our shared fence, and they make a great backdrop for the roses in bloom.

Gardening can make the most impatient ready to wait for Creator's schedule. Vines quickly change their growth patterns from "Don't stop" to "Don't! Stop!!!!" Now my eye is on the English Ivy as it creeps into the rose garden. We actually cut all the vines off the porch floor and all the ambitious tendrils from the edge of the roses. They will return for more sun, more water, and more soil to conquer.

I hoped for instant Trumpet Vine, but I learned they take as long as Asparagus to produce well. My strongest vine of the three bloomed with a huge orange flower on the neighbor's side (Mrs. Wright's fence). All three should be productive and seductive for Hummingbirds next spring.

Entire denominations have been swindled by marketing people from Fuller Seminary, who took the view of the chemical gardeners. "Boost the soil with factory chemicals and you will get instant growth!" This siren song lured all the denominations - even the Church of Rome - to founder on the rocks of marketing gimmicks:

1. Drop the liturgy.
2. End the Creeds.
3. Eliminate the hymns.
4. Yank out the pipe organ.
5. Turn sermons into life-coaching talks.
6. Install a praise band.
7. Harvest thousands of members and millions of dollars in the instantaneous aftermath.

Their newly minted experts, converted from the Gospel to selling to the masses, mocked everything good about the past and replaced those "hideous hidebound traditions" with their shabby snake-oil cures. They took their 10 horsepower rototillers through the seedbeds, doused them with herbicides and insecticides, and wondered why their glorious new buildings emptied out faster than a circus tent on fire.

In a congregation, the pastor and members might see unquestionable results after 20 years, or maybe not until a new generation or two. I have lost track of the years. Now people are writing me about services online and (ELDONA and LCMS) and asking about good Lutheran books (adult children of Boomers). The Baby Boomers were either passive about Church Growth or actively supported it. Decades ago, I only found support in people twice my age - now in men half or 1/3 my age.

I remember one member of St. Paul, German Village (now WELS) suggesting she would give them $100,000 to avoid Church Growth altogether. Since then, the congregation has turned into a prune parish after being a plum parish for many years.

Creation shows us that vast forces work slowly to accomplish God's will, even in reclaiming ground laid waste by foolish, faddish methods. Our yard used to be a grape vineyard, and now illustrates the Parable of the True Vine. For a long time the renters let the field weeds grow as they neglected the yard. Mr. Gardener got a place developed for flowers and vegetables for one resident, and the children tore it up immediately. 

The longer one gardens, the more he can see that understanding Creation is far more important than listening to the experts. I am awaiting the publication of Teaming with Fungi, a concept that verified what I suspected about organic gardening. 

God already designed a system to feed and protect every plant, because all plants have a fungus living within. Besides that, fungi send out their strands to gather nutrition and water demanded by the root hairs of plants and trees. To motivate the fungi, the root hairs offer carbon credits. These clever root hairs know what the plant needs and supply the carbon the fungi must have to grow. 

 Finally, a kind word about fungus.

New NIV Disaster Predicted in 2011 - No Leadership in WELS

WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "From the Inside - About the WELS NNIV":

The NNIV is all about apostasy. We as a synod are fools to let the leadership sell us out. Say "NO" to the NNIV. It is time to start a petition. Check out Facebook! WELS pastors and laity have been voicing their displeasure with this masonic bible. Do not let Forward In Christ-A Lutheran Voice articles deceive you. It is high-time that I begin emailing my Ichabodian and Intrepid friends again. I will be glad to help, but the men are going to have to see this to the finish line.

In Christ,

from WELS church lady

---

Zorro wrote:

Another sales pitch forthcoming. So is Nass in regards to the NIV debacle. It is about the money.  WELS is going to pay dearly right through the nose.  It will repeat itself in another 15+ years.  I reviewed a portion of  new NPH Sunday School course.  This series are going to be terribly expensive. Small congregations will have to spend a ton of money, yet again. The current series isn't that old--15 years, maybe.  The reason for this new series is, I suspect, generated by copyright issues from current NIV translation, which will be defunct when the new version replaces it.  

***

GJ - I got a hint that the NIV axe would be spared in some cases - not that I care. WELS likes to dig deeper holes. Pastoral leadership in WELS goes like this, "You over there. You tell them for me."

The WELS Church Lady could give lessons in manning-up, but that would violate WELS directives.

Jokesters call the New NIV the Ninevah Translation.
Watch for constant changes toward feminism, UOJ,
and other isms.

Team Jeske is always inflicted on the poor, innocent, inebriated
souls of Martin Luher College - "Evangelism" Day there
is always Church and Change Day.
One thing never changes, his tired shopworn
harrange about "running out of Germans."

What Is the Secret Hazing Rite at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary - Called GA or HB?

 Having sex with the Sprinter was one hazing tradition at Northwestern College.
They brought their friend with them to Martin Luther College.
GA posts linked here - 14 in all.

A reader asked, "What is GA or HB?"

GA is the former name for initiation at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary - aka Mordor. They changed the abbreviation to HB so they could deny that GA exists.

First of all, hazing begins at the prep school level. There is another round when entering the one and only synodical college, Martin Luther College. They may deny one or both exist today. They dearly love their cruelties to others, so I doubt that.

This is the basic framework of GA/HB.

1. They are told it is being canceled due to complaints. There is so much drama that the new students tell their parents it is being canceled. A good pastor/father will snicker about this to friends. It is the first big lie of GA/HB.
2. By the way, I have been told many times, "GA no longer exists." 
3. They end up starting the ritual. The older students play Softs (or Pietists) or Hards. They often play against their normal nature, which is good training for deceived people later. The Hards pretend to hate and scare the new students. The Softs act sympathetic. Secretly they laugh at the fear and confusion caused.
4. They make the students do stupid things, such as pushing a cart, pushups with beer poured on them, eating soup with cigar ashes added.
5. It gets more ominous before the big night. They have to get the Pope's bowling ball from the sewage drainage pond. The Pope is a great honor. James Tiefel was the GA Pope in his day and made sure GA continued. During GA a leg was  broken once. One student had a tooth knocked out. It is best to know nothing in advance, because knowledge is punished. Hating GA is never forgotten. Two students complained to Sparky Brenner and they were pushed out or hated out of Mequon. Brenner defended GA.
6. The students are wet and filthy from the sewage pond, so they are told to take off all their clothes outside. The female kitchen staff is in a good place to watch. GA veterans are around to laugh at all this and comment on the public class nudity.
7. The final night the students are really frightened about the Hards coming for them. All the veterans wait in the big room. Students run full speed through the door and are caught and given a beer. "It's all over. All in fun, Have a beer."
8. Everyone, profs and students, have a beer party and watch the seniors perform in a talent show. Members of the administration come to this, which is similar in many wants to Skull and Bones events - the secret society that began in German. The Bonesmen include such people as George W. Bush, his father George H. W. Bush, and Secretary of State Kerry.
9. There are special GA songs, which I have published.

WELS has a GA personality. Here is Glende's congregation getting rid of a member, with the approval of the DP and other jerks.

Comments from 2008

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post " Score reports? Anonymous has left a new comment...": GA was technically a "single" night--but a lot of "unsanctioned" events led up to it. GA itself was the "pinnacle" of the entire thing and fairly harmless w/lots of beer drinking--but there was more to it than just one night. I would agree that it was not secretive for the most part--at least not portions of it. There were some activities that were officially "sanctioned" by the Dean of Students and other activities that was not "sanctioned."As for sexual abuse. I have not heard anything at all in regards to that. However there was some sexual weirdness (for lack of a better term). For example at NWC, it was not uncommon for a first-year student to be told to "hump" the Sprinter (statue now up at MLC). I'm not saying it happened every year--but it did happen. MLSveteran--thanks for sharing your insight into what occurred at MLS in the past. We will not be sending our children away to any Lutheran school--even if that means our only option is public school. With or without initiation, I do not trust a few 22/23 year-olds to guide my children spiritually or to parent them properly (especially as they are not even parents themselves). I cringe when I hear Synod officials state they are more capable of raising my child in the faith than my husband and I. The church is there to assist the parents--encourage them, not to take over their God-given role.Anyways, I hope the Synod schools have done away with initiation of any sorts.I know a lot of the area Lutheran high schools did away with any form of initiation. My ALHS [Area Lutheran High School] put a strict anti-hazing policy into effect in 1991. I was never hazed and neither were my classmates. The fear of expulsion was enough to keep the bullies at bay.

--

MLS Veteran has left a new comment on your post " Score reports? Anonymous has left a new comment...": 

The series of secretive hazing rituals have a lot to do with this 

I am not sure how "secret" the hazing was at the prep schools, colleges (DMLC and NWC), although I had never heard of GA (before Ichabod, anyway). 

I remember hearing about the hazing at the prep schools in my late grade school years (6th, 7th, and 8th grade) and was warned by some friends against going away from home to high school.

But I attended all 4 years anyway. Kind of questions my intelligence right there, doesn't it?

From my understanding, there is no longer a hazing of freshman (known as your "Zex" year) at MLS. I am not sure about Luther Prep. Since Luther Prep is a much newer school they may have avoided this "sentimental" tradition.

To a certain extent, the harsh treatment of freshmen (ala the plebes of West Point, Annapolis, or other military academies) was a means whereby control could be kept over 13 and 14 year olds living away from home for the first time. There were only 2 or 3tutors in the dorm with the responsibility of looking after 125 or more male students, so the upperclassmen often were used to keep discipline over the younger classes (hazing could occur through the Sophomore year).

This is much like the "trustee" system in prison, where certain prisoners are given power over other prisoners to assist in the control of the prison population.

Unfortunately, such a system is wide open to abuse. Much like any abuse, many of those abused take revenge not upon their tormentors, but upon those that follow after them.

So young people, 13 or 14, COULD be subjected to some pretty harsh treatment. Often a number of freshman would wash out, at least in part to this social phenomena.

Unlike the Seminary, where people are much older (22 years old or older), it was impossible to "opt out" of the activities. Or, I should say, opting out meant quiting school.

Some will tell you after initiation (held during the first 2 months of school) that the Zex year is basically over. However, the formal initiation was simply 
more of a public ceremony with fairly harmless events.

Problems would occur during the normal 24/7 life of the dorm student.

In any organziation, there is always an unwritten rule against breaking the "bonds" of the institution. Sort of like Skull and Bones (famous Yale secret society) were some pretty freaky rituals go on, if the rumors are to be believed.

I can truthfully say that as far as I know there has not been any sexual type abuse in connection with this tradition of hazing. The real problem arise with the fear and hate that often accompanied the Zex year (nice for a Christian school dedicated to training pastors to have a tradition associated with fear and hate).

GA, a single evening, sounds fairly mild compared to a full year (and if one was especially targeted, it could continue into the sophomore year) in prep. That part about being naked within view of some female kitchen workers sounds kind of creepy though. It gives Ichabod's term "The Sausage Factory" a very graphic interpretation.

Thanks, Ichabod, I can't enjoy Hickory Farm summer sausage anymore!

--

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post " Score reports? Anonymous has left a new comment...": 

Interesting. When we went through the Seminary (late 90s), there were no "score reports"--unless of course the people I knew just wasn't "cool" enough to be included..I don't know. 

I will say that while most (maybe 99.9%?) WELS pastors went through initiation at both NWC (not sure what they do at MLC) and the Seminary. Not all agreed with it--but they still went through with it to fit in.

Not all men went through initiation though--I know of one man that did not. During his first year at NWC, he was told by the Dean of Students at NWC that he would never ever be a WELS pastor because he had chosen not to participate in initiation. He was ridiculed and mocked. He did not merge into the "brotherhood" as defined by the WELS.

When he hit the Seminary, he again refused to participate in GA. I remember 2 seniors (only 1 of which is still in the ministry) at the Sem approaching him in the Sem parking lot--trying to convince him that he needed to participate in GA to "build the bonds of brotherhood." I watched as he emphatically told them "NO." 

He never ate lunch at the Seminary because the mockery during GA was too great. If you did not participate, you were isolated--making it very clear that you were not part of the "brotherhood." 

This man's argument for not joining in on initiation is that humiliation and degradation is not how one builds the bonds of trust in Christ. The disciples of Christ were solidified together not by mockery or perversion--but by the teaching of Christ--as well as His love and patience with them. 

I am not sure how many men have refused to participate in initiation over the years, but many participated not because they truly believed it was a "good" thing to do, but because it was what they felt was "expected" and they were too afraid to stand up for what was right. 

It's a sad statement--especially as it is still remembered who did and did not participate. In that, many WELS pastors will know who I am talking about because literally 99.9% of all pastors that I know of prior to the 2002 "effigy" burning at the Seminary participated in GA. 

This man has been in the ministry now for many years--but the ghosts of initiations ignored follow him to some degree. After all, "once and opty, always an opty" at least in the minds of some "brothers." 

***

GJ - The weirdness of WELS is beyond comprehension. A college president was talking to me about a WELS pastor. In the middle of the conversation, the president said, in an aggitated voice, "He didn't like GA." That was apparently an indictment in WELS.

Two men went to Dean John Brenner at Mequon, expressing their opposition to GA. Brenner defended GA. Neither man finished at Mequon. Doesn't WELS teach that "you must express yourself to the person involved?" Yes, but that only makes the dissenter a target. That is the idea. Hazing promotes conformity and mediocrity. One only has to contemplate the faculty at the Sausage Factory to see the results.

When I sent an email about GA to various people, I received an email denouncing me for printing an article about it in Christian News. They could not say I had never witnessed GA, so they made up an accusation (as if it mattered). They could not deny the details because I saw the first-year class at Mequon disrobing outside (after looking for the pope's bowling ball in the sewer water pond). And I heard a circuit pastor laughing about the female kitchen staff watching this annual skin show. I know from WELS pastors about: someone's leg being broken, a tooth being knocked out, a NWC student knocked unconscious by being hit with a pillow case full of books. (That gives new meaning to the term pillow head.) One prep school student was held out of his second-storey window by the heels. Unfortunately, the morons lost their grip and dropped him. He broke some bones in the terrifying fall.

GA was highly secretive. Anyone who knew the outcome would get special treatment from the upper classmen. I was told repeatedly that no one was allowed to tell anyone else the secrets of GA, including spouse and children. Hazing was a freshman ritual at Michigan Lutheran Seminary and at Northwestern College. The senior year at NWC included Bonecruncher, a pre-GA hazing that included various humiliations, and sex jokes - with wives and girlfriends invited to watch. The Wisconsin sect confuses sadism with humor. I heard of many cases where students took a year off from Holy Mother School to get away from the abuse. The next higher class seemed to have a franchise on abusing the next lower class. Leaving for one year got away from that particular group's franchise.

WELS is an abusive sect with many characteristics similar what we see featured on TV. The micro-mini sects and nano-synods are similar. The core issue is corrupt doctrine, which I will take up later.

--

Same anon as before has left a new comment on your post "Various Reports on WELS Hazing and GA":

GA is highly secretive. I always found this fascinating. I talked to a WELS pastor (second career btw) and when I questioned him on what occurred at GA, he stated he could not tell me. He went on to say that he had not even told his wife, so he couldn't possibly tell me. The goal of GA was secrecy--this secrecy is to further bond the men into the "brotherhood." 

What I find interesting is that we criticize Masonic lodges for several reasons--but one reason is because they are based on a lot of secrecy. Yet here we see a history of WELS schools endorsing selective secrecy and I find that a bit hypocritical.

The "opty" I know, never participated in "Bonecruncher"(senior then at MLC)--so I have no idea if wives/fiances/girlfriends were there or what occurred. 

He also didn't live on campus at the Seminary, so he was a able to just tune out most of it. He would go to class and leave right after. He was much more insulated from the whole thing at the Sem than he was at NWC when he was a dorming student. 

So, does anyone know if hazing is totally removed from all levels of the WELS system? It seemed to affect the dorming schools moreso than the ALHS. I believe GA was technically abandoned in 2002 right? I was told by someone they built an effigy representing initiation and burnt it. 

Is there any confirmation on this?

I think there is a lot of room in the WELS for spiritual abuse to occur. I am assuming you will be blaming UOJ--but I am not sure we can lay the blame of this all at the feet of UOJ. I am opening to hearing varying thoughts on this though.

Thanks for discussing this--I think it needs to be talked about because it explains a lot of why the WELS is the way it is. 

***

GJ - I doubt whether hazing will disappear. Tiefel (aka Teufel) at Mequon is 100% for GA. He fought to get GA going again when it had been stopped. According to a very good source, there is an open and sanitized GA in operation at the Sausage Factory, plus a secret and abusive GA still in progress. Secrecy is the key for all these pathetic little brother-hoods (like my pun?), from WELS to ELDONA.

--

Names Changed to Protect the Innocent has left a new comment on your post "Various Reports on WELS Hazing and GA": 

Hello -

I thank Dr. Jackson for pointing out the ills of hazing. In high school at LPS I was originally disappointed that hazing was virtually non-existent by then (mid 90s), except for a few trouble-making seniors, most of whom never made it past graduation, let alone college anyway. However, I now agree that it was a horrible practice.

At MLC I never once heard of anything remotely close to hazing. Not even a whisper.

At WLS I had heard GA was dead, and was glad to find out that it was. I know Dr. Jackson takes denials of GA as confirmation that it exists, so this comment is primarily for other readers. (Besides, if a denial constitutes and admission then it's a lose-lose situation as far as talking about the issue goes.)

GA at WLS now no more. I've heard of one person with whom a couple seniors messed around with, but it amounted to nothing more than a trip to check out the dark attic.

Nowadays there is an event planned for the first couple weeks of school. Seniors take groups of juniors to various fun places (e.g. batting cages, golf courses, restaurants) in the area like Milwaukee to get them acquainted with the region and to get to know the juniors. The seniors pay for this out of their own pockets. Afterwards, a large barbecue dinner is prepared and everyone eats together. A devotion is conducted afterwards by the student body president. The topic is usually about biblical brotherhood and how faith unites us, and not some superficial unity.

I suspect this drastic change comes from the harsh criticism by many, which is good, since the criticism was valid. It also appears that most (again, not all, a few still are stubborn) of the newer generation of students who had less hazing in high school and none in college view hazing as ridiculous and pointless and much prefer to build actual bonds of Christian brotherhood and friendship.

You can believe this report or discount it, it matters not to me because I and many others know and have experienced the positive changes.

Many problems remain, particularly theological ones and the rampant infatuation with church growth methods, but at least in this area of WELS, I can report that a dark chapter is being set aside.

Thanks for your time. 

--

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Various Reports on WELS Hazing and GA": 

I am wondering if shedding light on all of this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Besides the doctrinal issues, the hazing in the worker training schools seems to be a type of conditioning that lays a foundation for all sorts of problems that the called workers experience in the real world. The Masonic type of secret rituals and the vow of silence is creepy enough as it is. It is no wonder that so many are now coming forward and saying publicly that the WELS is cult-like in their actions.

The brotherhood thing or "good ol' boy network" works to the advantage of the called workers when a lay member attempts to air a grievance through the circuit pastor or district bishop. Obfuscation and nepotism seem to describe that situation properly.
As indicated in this posting, the hazing has another aspect to it that would be equally important in a cult setting. This has to do with the "opters" or those who choose not to participate. One who more actively resists will surely be handled more harshly. The strangest twist on all of this is when members are admonished to bring their concerns forward. To the unsuspecting, this would appear to be fair and democratic. But, sometimes it is used as a means to identify those who will not "get with the program". They can be singled out and be given special treatment. In some of these situations, it would be better to remain silent and let "one rascal beat up another" as Luther once said.

--

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Various Reports on WELS Hazing and GA": 

Yes...GA is dead. There is a new tradition...HB (another German abbreviation, which stands for something like "Brotherly functions" or something). It is a day when the seminary students get together in groups. Older students man certain locations, which are different every year; locations such as a mini-golf place, a driving range, Frisbee golfing, batting cages, restaurants etc., and the Juniors go from one place to another. It is a brotherly-bonding event where you actually sit down and chat with the new Seminarians and get to know them and they you. It's really quite fun and helps facilitate the family atmosphere of the Seminary.

GA is dead for a number of reasons, the prime reasons being it fostered anger/bitterness from some students toward others. There are greater numbers of second career students for which GA is inappropriate for; there is the issue of potential lawsuits that could occur if an injury of any kind occurs; and it is an out-dated tradition. The Seminary faculty unanimously approved the ending of GA, even warning students about there being harsh consequences if any aspect of GA ever happened. 

GA is dead, and the Seminary is the better for it. 

***

GJ - Those who doubt my doubts should reflect on the perfidious atmosphere of lying in the Wisconsin sect. "There is no Church Growth in WELS." (Wayne Mueller, in charge of Church Growth) "TheAnschluss will only cost $8 million dollars, or we will pull the plug." (SP Gurgel, finessing the so-called amalgamation.) "Floyd Luther Stolzenburg has a Scriptural divorce." (VP Kuske, Kovaciny, etc.) "Al Just is innocent." (Lloyd Huebner, president of DMLS) "Tabor is innocent." (The Love Shack) "I didn't know nothing." (Fred Adrian, about his vicar Scott Zerbe).

If GA is indeed gone, that is good. If all hazing is banished from WELS, that is very good. Could the exposure in Thy Strong Word, the Internet posting of Thy Strong Word, and the Ichabod blog have been a cause for the loss of this great tradition of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse?

Lawyers may have frightened the WELS GA veterans and enablers more than any publication. The legal problem is this - WELS cannot deny knowledge when the facts are in print and on the Internet, years before and publicly commented upon. That is how they lost the Zerbe case, when the minor girl--"counseled" by the married vicar--sued in court. The judge, informed by the little girl's lawyer, forced WELS to tell the painful truth. The sect had a boatload of cases. The jury voted a large settlement. WELS immediately filed an appeal. (I call that going to court against a fellow Christian. No?) I still have the list of felons in my file.

Score Reports from 2008 

Score reports?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Another Triumphalist WELS Post": 

Off topic just a bit, but relevant to the topic of the seminary/Sausage Factory/etc.

I was reading on an older post about "Score Reports" at the seminary. 

What exactly is/was that?

I know what GA was (is?)--but am clueless on the Score Report issue...

Thank you.
A woman in the WELS who will be able to use her name once she leaves the WELS.

***

GJ - In a WELS gathering, someone brought up score reports. I think it was a pastor's wife. She objected to the custom. I wondered about the term. Her husband, a circuit pastor at one time, laughed and explained. The guys got together and described exactly what they had done with their dates. She continued complaining and he continued laughing. That may explain the Wisconsin sect's attitude toward women. 

After Sig Becker left the LCMS for the Wisconsin sect, he complained to Herman Otten about the drunkenness and adultery of the WELS pastors. That suggests the amount of both was surprisingly higher than in the Missouri Synod. 

A national traveler told East Coast (a WELS pastor) that the Wisconsin ministers were the crudest, most loutish, and and carnal of all the denominations he had seen.

The series of secretive hazing rituals have a lot to do with this. The doctrinal foundation is UOJ. Everyone is forgiven already, so whatever they do is fine. WELS also has a strong streak of antinomianism. The Law is obsolete, some of them will say. UOJ and no-Law go together quite well. Both have been thriving in ELCA for decades.

I was blamed for all the trouble in Columbus, Ohio, which had nothing to do with
their false doctrine, alcoholism, and adultery - of course.
Later, the Intrepid Lutherans were accused of being under my control.
Poor little Tim Glende even complained about this blog
when he sued a staffer's husband in court for telling the truth
about his and Ski's sexual harassment of the man's wife.
Apparently, the judge said something like this,
"What? A blog in Arkansas?"

&&&&&&

Veinot, Don (2003-08-25). A Matter of Basic Principles (Kindle Locations 4136-4141). Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. Kindle Edition. 

Here is a good description of WELS, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and the CLC (sic):

Paralyzing Fear Fear of making a deadly mistake is yet another reason people stay in abusive religious groups. One woman who called the Midwest Christian Outreach help-line had been a Jehovah’s Witness for 25 years. She was very unhappy as a Witness, but she was scared to death to leave. You see, a Jehovah’s Witness is taught that everyone outside of that organization is soon to be destroyed by God at Armageddon. This fear draws many into the group in the first place, and this same fear keeps many of them there even when they want so badly to breathe free. The woman had quit going to meetings, she said, but she lived in fear — not merely for herself, which she could tolerate, but the fear that she would be responsible for the destruction of her family who quit going when she did. We are happy to report that she listened to what we had to say and courageously left that organization. She accepted Christ and started attending a church, yet it took a long time to completely eradicate the fear of Armageddon that had been drummed into her. Having realized she had been so terribly deceived by them, she had a hard time trusting that she had made the correct judgment this time. It is really no different in IBLP. The Gothardites’ fear is not that of being destroyed at Armageddon but that their lives and their families will be destroyed, and God will reject them and punish them for leaving. After all, God has given Gothard all of the principles that, if followed obediently, protect families from divorce, teen rebellion, grave illness, financial loss, and other horrors. They’ve been persuaded that God works and blesses only through Gothard’s chain of authority — there’s no telling what catastrophic events might befall them if they get out from under this umbrella. These are issues which pastors and church leaders need to understand in order to be prepared to minister to such individuals. Many fine Christians have unwittingly switched their loyalties from God to Gothard and are very afraid to go against his teachings. In their minds, to do so might mean loss of family unity and God’s blessing. These individuals need Christian love and compassion to unwind and let go of their fears. For years, the Bible has meant what Gothard says that it means. It is important to go over Scripture with them, asking them to look closely at the text. This will help them greatly to see that often the text itself teaches the very opposite of what Gothard has taught. Once they begin to grasp the significance of this, their fear will dissipate as their devotion is turned away from Gothard and back to God where it belongs.

Veinot, Don (2003-08-25). A Matter of Basic Principles (Kindle Locations 5271-5291). Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. Kindle Edition. 

****

J-903

“Having read Jackson's expose on WELS Initiation rites (this is a Latanism, [sic] isn't it?), I am shocked to read of the abuse suffered by our beloved Sprinter. Statue rape? I am appalled. Do such things actually happen? Let Synod appoint a special prosecutor to conduct a thorough investigation of this brutal deed, and if the perps be caught, I say, condemn them to be ministers of independent Lutheran congregations. 

PS. And no, I didn't rat to Jackson. I haven't told my wife much about GA. My dad won't even tell me what happened to him in 1941, except I discovered some really great photos of him, dressed up as the Pope, the mere mention of which gets him to smile. I guess August Pieper got a real charge out of it.”


Nathan R. Pope

---


From: Ryan Heiman 

Date: Tuesday, November 03, 1998 8:29 PM

Subject: in christian love



Hello,



I am not going to argue with someone that is saying lies and many other false doctrines, but I would just like to point how the correct way of doing things in christian love is not to go out and print some crazy article in a magazine but go to them and talk with them in privat [sic] first. Hopefully you will see your sins and repent to God that he will in his mercy show you the gospel truth and work the correct faith in your heart again.

Sincerly, [sic]



Ryan Heiman

---


From: David E Koehler 

Date: Wednesday, November 04, 1998 9:12 AM


Dear Mr. Jackson,


I recently received your piece on the WELS and initiation for the CN. I was just a bit curious as to your motivation for writing this excellent work. I can only assume that it was done purely out of Christian love. I am sure that a man of your exceptional moral fortitude would never blatantly break the 8th commandment. I am also assuming that you talked to the people involved personally before you turned the story over to a tabloid. I would definitely love to give you the benefit of the doubt. Although I would never accuse you of being a blatant liar or slanderer, I would definitely say you write with half-truths and exaggerations. It gives credence to "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." You obviously possess a little knowledge on this subject. I was moved by your article in two ways. The first way was laughter. You knew so little about the actual events that I laughed out loud. It almost seemed that you were trying to blow the cover off of it, but in reality I think you enhanced the mystery. Way to go. The second way I was moved was to sadness. I was sad that you would blatantly attack the reputation of faithful called workers in God's kingdom. It was shameless. Like I said before, I am sure your motivation was strictly out of Christian love to help these men and they were not ad hominem attacks to settle personal vendettas. Believe me I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. I don't think it necessary for me to sit here and defend the practices of our synodical institutions. That would just give credit to your article of lies and exaggerations…



Well, I tire of you, but I have one last comment. Check your Bible for the commandments and see if the eighth has been removed from yours.



Vicar David Koehler

MLS Class of '92

MLC Class of '96

WLS Class of 2000

---

“In 1981 DMLC defeated NWC for the first time. The Northwestern team and its followers were crestfallen; they felt they had let their school down. Alumni at the seminary predicted that dire things would happen to the seniors at GA (Gemuetlicher Abend) the next year.”
Carleton Toppe, Holding the Course, Northwestern College 125, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1990, p. 136.

---

G. A. Never Sleeps“My, my; hey, hey;

Kinder, would you like to stay?

It’s better to endure than to run away,

My, my; Hey, hey.



A little bit blue, a little bit black

You’re afraid of this, afraid of that.


And once you start, you can never turn back

You’re in the lagoon, and the mud is black.



On a day that will not soon be forgotten

Last one in is an egg that’s rotten,

It’s do or die—no questions asked

On a day we call “Gemuetlicher Abend.”



Hey, hey; my, my;

Don’t worry, you won’t die

But you might throw up, and you might cry

Hey, hey; my, my.”

***

GJ - I ran into the posts from "A Kid Who Was 'It.'" They reminded me of the bullying problem in WELS, exemplified by their secret initiation rite, GA. Watch for upcoming reader comments claiming GA is over and done, that The Runner on His Mark is encircled by barbed wire, etc.

The most telling attitude comes through in the messages above when some of the crown jewels of the WELS educational system wrote me.

Later, these cherubim exploded again, claiming that email sent to me belonged to them exclusively. I had no right to publish their illiterate rants. Shouldn't we expect the fruit of Wisconsin Synod schools to turn on their spell-checkers?

Laymen, when you go to a Cicuit Pope or District Pope for problems with doctrine and practice, remember that all of the Wisconsin Sect leaders went through a series of initiation rites. Bullying is in their blood. So is deception.