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| Conrad Bergendoff - Dreams and schemes are never enough. |
Anything written about the Wisconsin Sect's demise is equally true about the Missouri Sect. The tales of woe are quite similar because they both idolize their own synods. The Big Five are failing rapidly, thanks in part to Big Brother Thrivent watching over them, coaxing them with money, and keeping the Drucker Business Model in mind.
If anyone asked me "Who is destroying the denominations?" I would say, "Their Father Below - Satan - is doing the work of an army of laborers, sowing weed seed, proclaiming their glorious future under his dark reign."
The Lutheran Church in America (born 1962, reborn as ELCA in 1987) was fashioned after General Motors' business model. Franklin Clark Fry demanded central power because "the Swedes are demanding it." No one could blame Fry when the Swedes were the problem. That reminds me, that Conrad Bergendoff (Augustana Synod - I had many talks with him) - always wanted the local seminary, Augustana College Seminary, to be located near his beloved University of Chicago, where he earned his PhD. That dream turned into a slo-mo nightmare as the combination semiary - LSTC - went steadily downhill and limped away to a rental spot from the Roman Catholics. Likewise, his other dream - uniting the Gettysburg and Philadelphia seminaries - went sour with the United Lutheran Seminary - wracked with division from the start. If you read the ULS link conveniently place in the previous sentence, you will be appalled and dismayed. Even the liberal bishops of ELCA were disgusted by the famous Vote.
The One Thing Needful, is stated by the Savior -
KJV Luke 10:38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
The passage is directly related to the True Vine of John 15, which is the source of fruitfulness. The modernists and activists worship the outcome of fruitfulness but not the source. That is why WELS and Missouri are just as toxic as ELCA - imagining that results are proof of their claims.
An alternative view - alien to the modernist activists - is dwelling on the Scriptures, teaching the Word of God as it is, without shading, trimming, or butchering.
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| This is the real Bible, not unlike Luther's German Bible. |
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| This is The Big Five Bible - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic), plus the money-making Bogus Beck Bible from Christian News. |
