That WELS - That Precious Dogma of World Absolution - But the Left Foot of Fellowship for Knowing Their Game

From one who was kicked out of WELS forty years ago (1978),  your comment that "They did me a great favor" is well stated.

   

Perhaps having both David Valleskey and Forrest Bivens

as pastors in neighboring congregations, and Paul Kelm and Richard Stadler as vicars shared by the congregations during their vicarages was enabling to be able to recognize  changes being promoted and practiced early on.  

 Mars to Kelm, "Do you copy?"
Kelm to Mars, "I copy everything from Fuller, yes."

All the signs of  "change agents" at work in WELS were there. The course of the process of objections paralleled the research and resistance re: the government schools and other traditional institutions in which I was involved was the same..  

WELS was mimicking what we (there were others) were fighting in the secular arena, and claiming the objectionable methodology could be sanctified for use by WELS.

 No, I am sure WELS has sunk even lower than this.

 Boozey Bible Study at Victory.
Bar Ministry at The CORE.

Someone Missed the Point - No Surprise

Joel Lillo (Fox Valley AA Circuit) crowed that he tricked me into responding to him, because he deliberately spelled something wrong. Haha. That was funny. WELS has such a superior educational system that the leaders, like Gurgle, routinely get basic grammar and spelling wrong.

He boasted that he got me to obsess about this blog's statistics, so he missed the joke - on himself - entirely. My emphasis on statistics is based on Paul saying, "You suffer fools gladly, so I will be a fool."

That was last week's epistle, for those who use the historic pericopes. It is often used to complain about Paul bragging, but they miss Paul's satire of the false teachers boasting. The Pauline lesson is to emphasize we can only boast of the cross.

2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 


If a few people catch onto Justification by Faith in my lifetime, that is enough. There is just one doctrine, one Truth taught in the Scriptures. That involves such categories or topics as 

• the efficacy of the Word, 
• the Means of Grace, and 
• Justification by Faith, 

but they belong together and cannot be separated.

I am content that a few people already knew the Gospel from their own study and worship, only needing a little guidance about the clowns of Church Growth and UOJ - how the leaders have betrayed their Savior and rejected the Word of God.

I put the statistics up because no other blog ever dared to admit their feeble following. And yet, the false teachers promoted their dogma "Because God wants His Church to grow." And what have they done?

1. They emptied the pews.
2. They decimated the seminaries.
3. They sold absolution to rich adulterers.
4. They published their garbage and called it treasure, collecting all kinds of cash for nothing more than kindling.

I call them Church Gropers because so many of their lupine disciples have preyed upon the members. One does not need to outside the Fox Valley wolfpack to find them. But do not object to their drunken and loutish behavior! They will take you to court for telling the truth.

Is this not the Age of Apostasy?

"Great Writing Comes from Great Research" - A Quote from Scrabblebeard, Notorious Blogger

 David Valleskey advocated "spoiling the Egyptians," using the precious gold and jewels from Fuller Seminary, where he did or did not study, like his pal Frosty Bivens, who did or did not study there.

Timid Tim Buelow was always filling me in on the standard propaganda of WELS. One deception was - "Brug and Brenner were added to the seminary faculty to balance Mequon with more confessional Lutherans."

I said, "Just by claiming that, you admitted Mequon is a union seminary with two different doctrines."

He conceded that was so.

But of course, Brug and Brenner were picked for their willingness to slither along with the rest of the false teachers while feigning some kind of difference with the general decline of the faculty, which was never that great.

Unfortunately, because WELS was so nasty and stupid during the Protest'ant conflict, the fools-gold standard for faculty has been ever since - mediocrities who will not rock the boat. They like  smooth criminals like Valleskey who will smile and play one role (cautious about Church Growth) and then another role (gonzo for Church Growth) - depending on the audience. I have that description from a WELS pastor, who added, "I don't think he is being deceptive." Really? Chameleons are not deceptive - they are just trying to blend in - it's their nature.

As I wrote more than once before, Valleskey got frightened and denied going to Fuller when I asked him. But he bragged about it to Dave Koenig (CLC Church Growther, pal of Paul Tiefel, CGer).
And then Valleskey was angry with Koenig for telling me the truth, and Koenig was angry with me for posting the truth.

Some posts may seem unusually dense and packed with far too many details and links, but they are provided so people can start to do their own research. My only goal is to have people study the Scriptures, Luther, and the Confessions.

On the recent Gems list from Luther, Volume 7 - Our two kinds of armor against the devil are the following.

Two Kinds of Armor Against the Devil

4. These are the two kinds of armor, two weapons of defense, whereby the devil is vanquished and of which he is afraid: First, diligence in hearing, learning and practicing the Word of God, that instruction, comfort and strength may be received; second, sincere petitioning upon the authority of that Word, a crying and calling to God for help when temptations and conflicts arise. One or the other of these weapons of defense must continually be in active exercise, effecting perpetual intercourse between God and man — either God speaking to us while we quietly listen, or God hearing our utterances to him and our petitions concerning our needs. Whichever the weapon we wield, it is unendurable to the devil; he cannot abide it. Christians need both equipment’s, that their hearts may ever turn to God, cleave to his Word, and continually, with ceaseless longing, pray a perpetual Lord’s Prayer. Truly, the Christian should learn from the temptations and straits wherewith the devil, the world and the flesh constantly oppress him, to be ever on his guard, watching for the enemy’s point of attack; for the enemy sleeps not nor rests a single moment.

Exaudi, Volume 7

John Sparky Brenner Exposes His Bias in Jars of Clay - Not a History But a Cover-Up

 Why do WELS clergy and laity ignore this example of JP Meyer's Scriptural wisdom while embracing his anti-Christian dogma of UOJ?

For all the bluster about WELS being Scriptural, in contrast to LCMS dogmatic statements, both sects are the same. They owned the German language and had all the sources at their disposal, but both synods fostered and promoted the anti-Christian cancer of Universal Objective Justification. Meanwhile, they fussed over trivia and staged great debates about adiaphora, avoiding the Chief Article - Justification by Faith.

Note - here is Pastor Vernon Harley's Justification by Faith essay. My wife and I met him and his wife before he died.

John Sparky Brenner is not an analytical historian like Thucydides but a tall tale teller like Herodotus. Here is a good example from his PR book, Jars of Clay.

Pastor John P. Meyer served as president of the WELS seminary,1937-1957. His teaching career spanned many decades. He began at Northwestern College in Watertown in 1902. His dogmatics notes were still be used in the 1980s, proving his post-humus influence.

JP Meyer is known for his commentary on II Corinthians, Ministers of Christ. Brenner wrote:
The commentary is a masterpiece offering, among other things, practical advice on Christian stewardship and insight into the precious doctrine of objective justification. Jars, p. 184.

He also wrote Studies in the Augsburg Confession. Really? His three Kokomo Statements are idiotic and contradict the Augsburg Confess - not to mention the entire Bible, Augustine, Luther, and the Book of Concord.

 Three of the four Kokomo Statements are from this book and remain unchanged, even though edited by Armin Panning, former seminary president and New Testament Greek professor!

Where were all the Biblical scholars? the studious laity? the parochial teachers?

WELS plays a game of GA double-talk. They pretend to back away from the Kokomo UOJ Statements but they seethe and hurl anathemas at anyone teaching Justification by Faith. I question whether John Sparky Brenner can even say those three words - Justification by Faith - and explain them from the Scriptures and the Book of Concord.

If UOJ is a precious doctrine, then Justification by Faith must be darkness and corruption. Imagine how distorted the brains of the Mordor students must be upon graduation and ordination in WELS!

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From

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2017/05/more-silliness-this-year-at-emmaus.html

 Supper at Emmaus - by M. Caravaggio
Luke 24:30 - 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

Brenner - "Hoenecke, who was a Wisconsin Synod spokesman at a few of the free conferences, explained that doctrine must be drawn from those passages that teach that doctrine. We draw the doctrine of election from those passages that teach the doctrine of election, not from passages that teach justification by faith. Koehler summarizes Hoenecke’s comments from the free conference in Milwaukee in 1903." Emmaus paper.

GJ - Zounds. Hoenecke had no sense of the unified witness of the Scriptures, but chose to follow the thetical approach of Walther. That is - the thesis is solemnly pronounced first, then Scriptures are cited or mismatched to the dogmatic statement.

The Tenth Annual Emmaus Conference

December 20, 2016

The 10th Annual Emmaus Conference is Friday, April 28th, 2017, with a banquet the evening prior on Thursday, April 27th. The topic for the 2017 Emmaus Conference will be: “The Unsuspecting American Luthers”. The backgrounds, challenges, and impact of several Lutheran theologians in the 20^th Century will be explored and discussed.

• C. F. W. Walther, by the Rev. Dr. Fifth VP Daniel Preus
• A. Hoenecke, by the Rev. Dr. Prof. Spineless John Brenner
• U. V. Koren, by the Rev. Prof. Markos DeGarmeaux

From Dan the Dense on Walther - "Walther believed in objective justification (John 1:29; Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:15 & 19). His 14th thesis reads: “In the tenth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when faith is required as a condition of justification and salvation, as if a person were righteous in the sight of God and saved, not only by faith, but also on account of his faith, for the sake of his faith, and in view of his faith.”13

GJ - Daniel, have you read Justification and Rome? How about Romans 4? Romans 5:1-2? The Gospel of John?

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Wherever two or three LCMS leaders are gathered together, CFW Walther worship begins. This Emmaus debacle was held in late April, but the papers are not posted yet. In this day of instant publishing, the papers could have been linked on the website. I recall Mirthless Mark Schroeder did not want his shared, years ago, not that he said anything worth publishing. Here is the non-archive archive.

The May 8th Christian News must be the archive, because they posted some promotional bits and photos about the event...afterwards. Oh dear, I missed the conference altogether. David Becker found the event disappointing, albeit without being there. Compared to WELS Luther Days, where Jay Webber spoke to one (1) person - and Natalie Pratt disappeared with the money - Emmaus 2017 was probably a smash hit.

We all know that Preus descendants are the Agent Orange of Justification by Faith. Whenever they suspect that Luther's doctrine is being taught somewhere, they spray their toxic dogma from Halle Rationalists all over, until nothing is left living: no faith, no Gospel, no fruits of the Gospel.

Does anyone wonder why the ELS is almost gone and WELS is corrupt beyond measure? To those who are kicked out of WELS, I always say, "Good for you. They did you a great favor." Alcoholism and adultery are not problems among WELS clergy and teachers - they are resume enhancers, if someone has the right friends and the wrong doctrine.

The strength of the LCMS is its mix of Pentecostal, ELCA wannabees, Walther worshipers, and Lutherans. The Missouri Synod is such a rainbow coalition that the bureaucrats do not have the power or urge to crack down on the Chief Article of the Christian Faith. Anyway, they have Otten to do their work for them. And Logorrhea - and their Fuller/Rome seminaries.

 You were born forgiven kids,
now don't ask any probing questions about this.

How bad is WELS? At Mordor Seminary in Mequon, Wendland is the salesman-in-charge of the New NIV. Valleskey was the previous president, based on years of gushing about Church Growth and studying at Fuller with his pal Bivens (also on the faculty). When I was there in 1987, I did not hear Church Growth promoted in the classroom. But once everyone was "finished," they were also required to attend the post MDiv training, which was all Church Growth. Besides that, when I accepted the call to Shepherd of Peace in Columbus, Ohio, the congregation had me attend Paul Kelm's Church Growth "evangelism seminar," which lasted a week. That event was stocked with such CG kahunas as Valleskey, Hartman, Kelm, Larry Olson, and such like.