Behavior of Ski and Glende Toward Their Victims - DP Englebrecht and SP Mark Schroeder Facilitate Bullying. From 2014, Attorney Rick Techlin's Blog

Many previous posts about Ski and Glende are linked here.

Two WELS Pastors and Four Meritless Lawsuits

June 11, 2014 by Rick Techlin

Recently, two WELS Pastors, Tim Glende and James Skorzewski, and two of their staff members filed four almost identical lawsuits against a WELS layman, Jonathan Donnan, a former member of their congregation.  Specifically, they asked a secular court to issue four restraining orders, ordering Jonathan Donnan to stop “harassing” them.

In the courthouse lobby before the first case was heard, a local attorney who handles a lot of cases in that court (and who had absolutely no connection to this case) looked at the court’s calender, and said, “When you see four restraining order petitions against one person, then usually that person did something extremely bad, or it’s a bunch of bullies ganging up on someone.”  Jonathan’s wife, Mara, who was sitting nearby, piped up and said, “It’s the second one.  It’s a bunch of bullies ganging up on someone.”

Who appointed Ski the circuit sexpert?

History

According to Jonathan Donnan’s wife, Mara, Pastor Skorzewski said numerous sexually inappropriate things to her over the course of months, and on at least one occasion, Pastor Glende also joined in with this disgusting behavior.  (At the time, Mara was a member of The CORE, a WELS church, and also Pastor Skorzewski’s executive assistant).

After a long ordeal involving the Circuit Pastor, District President, and even the Synod President, Pastor Skorzewski finally resigned.  However, Skorzewski almost immediately requested CRM status.  (CRM means that a man is deemed to be blameless, above reproach, and qualified to receive a call as a pastor).

Jonathan did not think the man who behaved so inappropriately toward his wife should become a pastor again, and he thought the WELS pastors from the district who would be asked to comment on Skorzewski’s CRM status should have more information.  So he wrote a letter to the pastors of the Northern Wisconsin District giving them information about Pastors Skorzewski’s and Glende’s behavior toward his wife.  This letter was signed by Jonathan, his wife Mara, and also concerned WELS pastors Lidtke and Suhr.

Having received comments regarding Skorzewski’s potential CRM status from other WELS pastors, District President Engelbrecht then also sought comments specifically from the membership of St. Peter & The CORE, which had been Skorzewski’s congregation before he resigned.  To this end, an informational meeting was scheduled at The CORE for August 13, 2013.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Glende said the purpose of the meeting was so that the congregation could seek direction and make decisions about the ministry “specifically on this campus,” The CORE.  During this meeting, District President Engelbrecht summarized Skorzewski’s behavior and the Donnan’s reaction and the steps the District took to rehabilitate Skorzewski, he solicited questions, and then he gave the members of St. Peter & The CORE thirty days to submit comments to the district leadership regarding Skorzewski’s proposed CRM status.  During this meeting, District President Engelbrecht also said that he was an ardent supporter of Skorzewski and his ministry.

Jonathan Donnan showed up at this meeting because he wanted to protect his wife’s reputation and honor.  After DP Engelbrecht’s summary, Jonathan believed that DP Engelbrecht had portrayed Pastor Skorzewski’s behavior in the best possible light, while portraying his wife’s reaction in the worst possible light.  Therefore, Jonathan sat through much of the Q&A section with his hand raised waiting to be called upon.  Finally, Pastor Glende said that he would allow Jonathan to speak; however, he first informed the congregation that Jonathan was not invited to the meeting, had no legal right to be there, and that if Jonathan started attacking people, then he would be asked to leave.

Jonathan said that was a rude way to call upon him.  The entire exchange then quickly devolved into whether Jonathan had a right to be there because he was not a member of St. Peter & The CORE.  Jonathan believed that as a Christian husband he had a duty to try to defend his wife, and that St. Peter & The CORE’s constitution and bylaws could not overrule his moral obligations.  After a short period of time, Jonathan left the meeting, but announced that he was there to defend his wife, and would be outside to speak with anyone who wanted to hear the whole truth.

While Jonathan was outside, he could hear laughter and applause inside as the meeting continued without him.  While Jonathan was outside, he also received a lecture about forgiveness and about how he did not understand forgiveness.

A few days later, Pastors Glende and Skorzewski and two church staff members filed four almost identical lawsuits against Jonathan Donnan.  They asked the Outagamie County Family Court to issue four restraining orders telling Jonathan to not write any more letters to WELS pastors about Glende or Skorzewski, to not show up at any future meetings at St. Peter & The CORE where they would be discussing personnel issues, and to have no further contact with St. Peter & The CORE or its staff.

Pastor Glende’s case was heard first.  Pastor Glende spent about two hours presenting his case.  He himself testified extensively along with two laymen from his church.

Best buddies posed with porn singer Katy Perry.
Ichabod will not post what Ski showed his staffer.
Engelbrecht knew all about it, but backed Ski and Glende anyway.

Legal Issues

In order for a behavior to be harassment, it has to serve no legitimate purpose.  Does writing a letter to the men (WELS pastors) who would help decide Skorzewski’s CRM status serve no legitimate purpose?  And does showing up at a congregational meeting where they are discussing how your wife was treated, and where the District President is seeking comments and advice about whether that pastor should get CRM status, does that serve no legitimate purpose?

Is that inappropriate behavior?  Or could those be the behaviors of a man trying to protect and defend his wife?

The allegations Mara made against Skorzewski were not false.  A false allegation would serve no legitimate purpose, but a truthful allegation does.  If certain WELS pastors and a certain WELS congregation are going to be specifically asked to provide comments about whether Skorzewski should serve as a pastor again, is it legitimate that they should also hear from the victim or her representative?

The August 30 Court Hearing

Under oath, Pastor Glende testified that Jonathan’s behavior served no legitimate purpose because it hindered the ministry of St. Peter & The CORE, and it was just an attack.  (Court transcript, page 40).  According to Pastor Glende, Jonathan’s behavior served no legitimate purpose because the decision about whether Skorzewski would serve as a pastor was made back in January and April.  Pastor Glende stated this numerous times throughout his testimony.  Below is just one example.

Under oath, Pastor Glende said that Jonathan’s “behavior was disruptive in our congregation in a meeting.  It is — it attacks me personally.”  Attorney Maurer then asked Glende: “What’s wrong with that, pastor?  What’s wrong with a person attacking on how you handled the situation of allegations of sexual harassment by one of your pastors?  What’s wrong with that?”  To which Pastor Glende responded: “A group of my peers have said it’s been dealt with, addressed, move on.”  (Court transcript, page 39).

In summarizing all of the evidence presented by Pastor Glende, Pastor Glende’s attorney said:

There are statements that have been provided as evidence that … show that Mr. Donnan is not going to let this issue die. He believes his purpose is to see this through. The issue has absolutely been resolved, and for some reason Mr. Donnan refuses to come to grips with that. So his conduct in sending the letters, continuing to contact people, showing up at the church and refusing to leave, clearly, in my opinion, falls within, engages in a course of conduct that has no legitimate purpose…

— Court Transcript, page 75.

Was the issue of Skorzewski’s CRM status absolutely resolved?  No.  This court hearing took place during the 30 day comment period in which members of St. Peter & The CORE were being asked to advise the District about Skorzewski’s CRM status.  And only a few months later, the District granted Skorzewski CRM status, he immediately received a call, and has already been installed as a WELS pastor in Texas.

Attorney Maurer tried to get Pastor Glende to admit that the August 13 meeting was about potentially reinstating Skorzewski to the pastoral office.  Attorney Maurer questioning Pastor Glende:


Q: Okay, you testified earlier that the issue in the past had been resolved back in January, correct?


A: There was an initial decision reached on it in January.


Q: He resigned in April?


A: Correct.


Q: And you’re stating that the August 13, 2013 meeting had nothing to do with that whatsoever, with his disposition going forward with the church, correct?


A: Pastor Ski resigned and is not currently a pastor. He doesn’t have status to be a pastor. The church has nothing to do with him going forward as a pastor.


Q: That’s not entirely true, is it? Isn’t it a fact that part of the purpose of this meeting was some specific members of the congregation wanted to reinstate the pastor to his previous position, correct?


A: That’s not true.


Q: If I have people come in and testify that there were people at that meeting that were petitioning the church to reinstate the pastor, that’s not the truth, they’re lying?


A: Were there people there that their opinion was that the pastor should be reinstated? Yes.

Q: Were there people at the meeting that said that?


A: There could have been people in the meeting that said that. The purpose of the meeting; however, was not to reinstate him.


Q: The purpose of the meeting was as it related to Jonathan’s wife, correct?


A: To share information regarding the case.


Q: So why would you think it’s inappropriate for the husband of the alleged victim to be present at the meeting to hear this?


A: Mr. Donnan has heard all that information before, and from my knowledge, it was a meeting for the members of our congregation, which he is not one of.


Q: Why didn’t you simply tell him to leave in the beginning? Instead you gave him the opportunity to speak.


A: I didn’t see him there at the beginning, I was up in the front. I had not had a chance to do anything about it and I didn’t want to cause a scene to ask him to leave. For two hours of the meeting Jonathan sat there. From my position he looked agitated and upset when different things were said, which, as I have always said, Jonathan is entitled to his opinion in regards to this case.


Q: Wouldn’t you be upset if you believed your wife was the victim of sexual harassment by a pastor and they were discussing that at a meeting? Do you think that’s unreasonable?


A: I guess I don’t know how to answer that question.

— Court Transcript, pages 35-37.

Attorney Maurer further questioning Pastor Glende:


Q: Do you believe there was any merit to the allegations against the pastor?


A: Do I believe it was sexual harassment?


Q: Do you believe there was any merit to any of the allegations, factual allegations, alleged against the pastor?


A: The pastor resigned.


Q: That’s not an answer to my question. Do you believe there was any factual basis for the allegations of harassment made by Jonathan’s wife towards the pastor?


A: We have said, declared publicly, that lapses in judgment happened.


Q: I’m just — yes or no, you personally?


ATTORNEY GILL: Objection to the relevance, your Honor.


ATTORNEY MAURER: It’s part of a harassment injunction, conduct that does not serve a legitimate purpose. Making up allegations of harassment just to attack these people, then that doesn’t serve a legitimate purpose.


ATTORNEY GILL: Your Honor, the continued behavior has no legitimate purpose.


THE COURT: The objection is overruled, he can answer.


WITNESS [Pastor Glende]: Can you repeat the question?


Q: I’m asking you if you personally believe there was any merit to the factual allegations of harassment raised by Jonathan’s wife against the pastor?


A: Are you asking me if there were –


Q: Just yes or no.


A: You’re asking me a yes or no to — I can’t agree with -­-


Q: So you don’t believe there was any merit to the factual allegations of harassment?


ATTORNEY GILL: I’m going to object. There were eight or nine allegations, your Honor.


ATTORNEY MAURER: I’m asking about any of them.


ATTORNEY GILL: What specific allegations are we talking about, your Honor?


THE COURT: Overruled, he can answer.


[Attorney Maurer questioning Pastor Glende]:


Q: To any of them in general. Yes?


A: Sure, yes.


Q: Okay, so would you personally condone that type of conduct by one of your pastors?


A: No.


Q: Okay, so you believe that there were indiscretions by the pastor directly towards Jonathan’s wife that occurred by the pastor, correct?


A: Yes, which were addressed. And then once he resigned, it was over because he is no longer a pastor. That happened in the middle of April.


Q: Okay, but again, the August 13 meeting was to address possibly the allegations that had happened in the past?


A: It was to share the summary of everything that had gone on from the end of October, November to that point.


Q: What precipitated that meeting?


A: Because of the letter that Jonathan and Mara sent out. Our district president said it was appropriate, at this time, to set it out. Until that point, we had not shared publicly with anyone in our congregation that this involved Jonathan or Mara.


Q: Your superiors told you, let’s have a meeting with the congregation on this to let everyone know what happened, and it’s your position you didn’t want him and his wife to be there?


A: He wasn’t a member, he was an uninvited guest.


Q: Okay.


A: Wanted or not wanted, I wouldn’t have thought of inviting him, he wasn’t a member.

— Court Transcript, pages 40-43.

Also at issue during the hearing was whether the August 13 meeting at The CORE was about how Pastor Skorzewski treated Jonathan’s wife, and Pastor Glende admitted that was true.

After Pastor Glende finished presenting all his evidence, and before the defense called a single witness, the court ruled on the case.  The standard the court used was this:  It put the best construction on everything Pastor Glende and his witnesses said, it considered Pastor Glende’s case in the kindest possible light, and gave Pastor Glende the benefit of the doubt on everything.  Nonetheless, the court ruled that Pastor Glende’s case had no merit, and dismissed his case.

Pastor Glende’s case was dismissed even before the defense called a single witness or presented any evidence.  Glende had nothing.

Aftermath

Immediately after the court dismissed Pastor Glende’s case, Attorney Maurer suggested that Skorzewski and the two church staffers should voluntarily dismiss their own virtually identical cases.  (Because Pastor Glende’s case took so long, the other three cases were rescheduled to a later date).  However, Skorzewski and the two church staffers refused to dismiss their cases, and instead attempted to negotiate a settlement out of court.

However, Jonathan refused to give up any of his legal rights in return for them agreeing to dismiss their cases.  In response, Skorzewski and the two staffers waited until the very last hour to dismiss their cases, thereby forcing the Donnans to endure the maximum amount of stress, and to pay the maximum amount in legal (attorney) fees.

Soon after, the Northern Wisconsin District denied Skorzewski CRM status, but made no announcement.  In congregational meetings at both St. Peter & The CORE, Skorzewski then advised the congregation that they should move on without him.  (“Around the Council Table,” November 2013 church newsletter).  The November 2013 church newsletter also had a special section entitled: “MOVING FORWARD AT THE CORE” which stated:

The announcement has been made that Ski will not be returning to that position [pastor at The CORE]. Although he applied for it, his reinstatement to the pastoral office was not granted at this point. In a special meeting at The CORE, Ski expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve in our midst, but encouraged all in attendance to move forward. That is the intent of our leadership on both campuses. We will continue to pray for Ski, his family, and his reinstatement.

Shortly after that, Skorzewski applied for CRM status a second time.  This time, the Northern Wisconsin District granted Skorzewski CRM status (under the condition that he not be a pastor in the Northern Wisconsin District), and almost immediately Skorzewski received a call to serve as a WELS pastor in Texas.  St. Peter & The CORE then announced in their church newsletter that they were holding a farewell party for Pastor Skorzewski to wish him God’s blessings as he prepared to leave for his new call.

So a WELS pastor resigned, for cause, because of sin, but before he left for his new call at another congregation, his former congregation threw him a farewell party.

On Sunday, April 27, 2014, Skorzewski was installed as pastor at Christ the Rock (a WELS) church in Texas, and Pastor Glende preached at Skorzewski’s installation service.  (Vimeo 93511608).  At 28:20 in the sermon, Pastor Glende said that Skorzewski was his best friend, and that he wished he could work with Skorzewski forever, but God had a different plan: to bring him to Texas.  At about 28 minutes into the sermon, Pastor Glende said, “I’m sure down the road or in the course of time, you’ll hear a great deal about what it is that God used to bring him here.  It’s an amazing story.”

These two oinkers traveled all over the US listening to false teachers
and plagiarizing their material,
but they skipped a WELS conference where Deutschlander spoke.
They blame Ichabod for their troubles.

---

http://vdma.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/when-pastors-violate-trust/

When Pastors Violate Trust

April 24, 2014 by Rick Techlin

Trust.  This is the first qualification of a pastor.  He must be trustworthy.  This is because a pastor stands in the place of Christ, and has tremendous power over others.  He has been appointed by Christ to protect the flock, not to harm it.

It is wrong when a man says sexually inappropriate things to an unknown woman in a bar.  But because he has no power over her, she would feel little pressure to put up with his disgusting behavior.  However, when someone in a position of trust and power (for example, an employer, a doctor, a teacher, or a pastor) uses their office to say sexually inappropriate things to an employee, a patient, a student, or a parishioner, that is not only intrinsically wrong, it is also a violation of trust.

People with power over others have a duty to protect those in their care.  Doctors must protect patients.  Teachers must protect students.  Employers must protect employees.  And pastors must protect parishioners.

A pastor should not say sexually inappropriate things to an employee or a parishioner.  This is especially because a pastor has tremendous social power, not just over the victim, but often also over her family and friends.  He could not only use his position to create a hostile work environment, thereby pushing her to quit and lose her employment, but he could also apply social pressure in the church environment to keep her quiet, and to discredit her.  As a result, she could lose a job, a church, friends, and she could become depressed and maybe even alienated from Christ.

One might expect the wolves to attack the sheep, but a shepherd has been given a position of authority and trust.  He is there to protect the sheep.  Therefore, the shepherd must never intentionally harm the sheep, not even one of them.

Would a babysitter or daycare operator who intentionally harmed a child ever be put in that position of trust again?  Would a nurse who intentionally took sexual advantage of a patient ever be put in such a position of trust again?  Would a psychiatrist who intentionally hurt a patient be allowed to continue practicing?  The world does not tolerate this sin.  In the world, people who have violated a trust are not given offices of trust.

The issue is not just the intrinsic wrong, but also the abuse of an office to commit that wrong.  Those are two distinct offenses, and they magnify each other.  When a powerful person hurts a weaker person, that is an especially grievous sin.  How much worse is it when the powerful person is trusted by the weaker?  It is far worse because it is also a betrayal.  A pastor who has intentionally harmed an employee and/or a parishioner has also betrayed them.  He has betrayed the trust of not only the victim, but also his office, the Church, and Christ.

We do not trust betrayers.  Therefore, a shepherd who intentionally harms the sheep cannot be a pastor.

“But what about repentance?” some will ask.  First, “repentant” is not the only qualification to be a pastor.  A pastor must also be blameless and above reproach.  (1 Timothy 3:2, 7).  Second, genuine repentance involves not just faith, but also contrition.  (AC Apology XIIA (V) 28).  There should be fruit worthy of repentance.  (Matthew 3:8).

Thus, if a pastor says sexually inappropriate things to an employee or parishioner repeatedly over many months, he should resign immediately.  The pastor should not wait until her husband finds out.  He should not wait until the Circuit Pastor finds out.  He should not wait until the District President finds out.  He should not wait until after Christmas.  He should not wait until after the congregation’s building dedication.  He should not wait until the Synod President finds out.  He should not wait to be told to resign.  Finally, he should not file a meritless lawsuit against the victim or her husband.

True repentance is contrition and faith.  True contrition means that we accept the temporal consequences for our sins.  In contrition we accept the consequences, in faith we trust that even though we suffer in this world because of our sin God will still protect us to eternal life.  Only a man who completely surrenders in contrition and faith will ever be trusted again.

But if we try to avoid taking full responsibility, then we show that this world is more important to us.  And if we do not bear fruit worthy of repentance, then we are not fit to be called “pastor” or even “Christian.”

Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  (Matthew 10:39).  May the Lord grant to all of us true repentance.

Today Is Teachers' Day

Like many in our 50th reunion class, Moline High School, 1966, I remember the teachers from elementary school the best. I went to Garfield, now closed, and remember those teachers and the school with great fondness. In fact, when someone thought another Moline elementary school was dominant on Facebook, I began listing all the names from Garfield, just from our class. Others chimed in and named more.

My mother taught there, so we often trooped to school on foot and sometimes enjoyed a car trip. Within a short distance was Whitey's Ice Cream, Wharton Field House, Hasty Tasty Restaurant, and Teske's Hardware Seed and Feed (now Teske's Pet and Garden).

A notorious candy store was in the same neighborhood. I was warned not to go there, which made the candy even sweeter. The place looked a bit seedy but nothing ever happened there.

Walking to school meant going by Guy Johnson's home. Several of us collected and read comic books of all kinds. Classics Illustrated taught me the plots of all the famous works of literature. In time I owned all that were in print. Superman was another favorite, and it became part of my PhD dissertation, since the early Superman was a  clear example of the Social Gospel Movement.

Parents frowned upon Superman to some extent, the Three Stooges even more, TV most of all (when they were not hogging the set themselves), and various other evil influences, like Mad Magazine.

Most of all I remember being surrounded by teachers. We had teachers at our home countless times, a teacher's daughter, Liz Copeland visiting, teachers' stories, teachers' complaints, PTA meetings at Garfield - total immersion in teaching. Th PTA meetings featured potlucks with an endless supply of desserts, none of which escaped my attention.

Some meetings meant I had to be babysat by the Garfield Library. It was a small room filled with the best books. There I read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I enjoyed the elephant book so much that I eventually read all that were in the school or shelved elsewhere. I recently bought one for myself because I still enjoyed it so much -   and later sent it to a church member's daughter. Everyone should love that story.

Books were everywhere - in every classroom. Garfield teachers read to us. My mother read to us at night. Later I read to our children, and our son read to his.

The teachers I remember best from Garfield -

I even remember being taken in for an interview for Kindergarten, which Mrs. Steelman taught. I was going "early" since I turned five in October. Apparently I passed the oral exam and started a few weeks young. In Kindergarten I hated naptime and got in trouble for talking and fidgeting. We slept on our individual rugs, which were obsolete once we passed into the maturity of First Grade.

I felt so teeny-tiny with the big kids of Sixth Grade around. One of them boosted me up for a drink from the fountain. As a son of the Mrs. Jackson, I always got special treatment from the big kids who loved her classes. I grew up with kids of all ages saying, "Your mom was my favorite teacher!"

She was not alone in that regard. Mrs. Copeland was also loved by her students. We had one at Garfield who was simply crazy as a hoot owl. I was never allowed to criticize a teacher, but I did a great imitation of Mrs. Daily, which made my mother burst into laughter.

Mrs. Parks was my First Grade class, but I have few memories of that year. She was very kindly and I may have had her twice, for third grade as well. If only I could ask my mother.

Mrs. Woods was my Second Grade teacher. I remember the kids from that class quite well. Mrs. Woods looked like everyone's beloved grandmother, and I can still hear her voice in my head. Like all the teachers at Garfield (except one), she loved her students. She read stories to us in class and taught us how to read. I loathed Dick, Jane, and Sally and their rabid dog Spot.

After that year I began to read voraciously, so the Moline Public Library also babysat me at times.

Fourth Grade meant I had the fascinating Mrs. McMillan. She was in the Philippines or near them during WWII. Her son and I palled around for a time.

Hallie Emory taught Fifth Grade. She looked fierce and took no guff from anyone, but she poured herself out for all her classes and gave us so many things to learn. She set up the Good Citizens Club, where we elected officers and practiced Roberts Rules of Order. Later I dealt with adults who never caught on to Roberts Rules or why those rules were articulated.

Miss Maynard struck me as rather grim and humorless, so our gang made a point to have fun in Sixth Grade. I have often told on Facebook how our gang drove a substitute teacher nuts one day. Unfortunately, she was the wife of our minister at First Christian. Needless to say, I was the focus of considerable wrath when my mother found out.

The Garfielders did very well in adult life, and I give our teachers the credit for laying the foundation for our educations and careers.

In our class - 

Three of us went to Yale University for graduate school, certainly far beyond statistical predictions.

One became a physician, perhaps the only one in the senior class of around 750.

Two earned PhDs

One went to Broadway.

I am sure many more accomplishments could be listed, but I do not have the data on everyone. One thing is sure about the Moline public school system of the time - we had all the opportunities of the finest private schools, thanks to local industry and the dedication of the teachers.

When I had to use base two in computer science, my fellow students in Phoenix were perplexed. They had to count 0, 01, 10 and figured out what 11111111 meant. And hexadecimal? How could ff be 11111111 and 255? It was old stuff for me.

I am sure many others could add to this. When I get tired of teaching and grading and dealing with educational supervisors who do neither, I think of the graphic at the top. We are the result of teachers who never knew where their influence would stop.

Prayer Is the Fruit of a Christian's Faith - Rogate Sermon in Full

Prayer Is the Fruit of of a Christian's Faith
KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

The opening of this Gospel lesson is the culmination of Jesus' childbirth analogy, comparing His death and resurrection to the experience of labor and the joy of a new baby born. So this passage on prayer follows the pattern seen throughout the New Testament, where the Gospel promises precede the Lord's encouragement to pray.

Coming out of a monastic experience of laws and commands, Luther like to say that God does not command the believer, He persuades. America still suffers from a confusion about prayer, because of the way it is often presented, not to mention confusion about the Word always conveying Jesus through the power of the Spirit.

Evangelical Conversion by Prayer
The typical presentation today has people believing after they hear the Gospel. "What do I do now?" The answer - "Pray for Jesus to enter your heart." There is even a basic Sinner's Prayer along those lines.

The proclamation of the Gospel itself brings Jesus to the individual, whether that person is a believer or not. It is the Holy Spirit working in the Word that does this. The very act of prayer in the Name of Jesus is an act of faith. As Peter said, "I believe. Help my unbelief." 

Grace Separated from the Gospel
This should always concern us, that grace is separated from the Gospel proclamation. This happens several  ways among the errorists.

The first is the one I just described. The person believes, but he is commanded to pray for grace. He already received grace through the Word, which caused him to believe for the first time - or the Gospel renewed his faith. The message of Jesus' death and resurrection is grace - they are never separated.

Prayer is taught as THE Means of Grace. Worship in church is expected, but not really important. The prayer group (from Pietism) is where grace is received. This comes from Pietism and from Roman Catholic prayer groups (rosary groups) that inspired Spener. As I have said before, someone can be a paid Bible study leader at a Baptist church and brag about never going to church for decades.

Despising the Means of Grace. The Sacraments are denied the power of the visible Word, so Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are neglected and often belittled as mattering very little. This easily collapses in the clown ministries offered in generic circus locations everywhere in every denomination. Do NOT call it a church. Do NOT give it a name associated with the Christian faith. Do NOT wear anything more formal than hiking clothes. Long ago a Church Growth leader among the Lutherans said,"If Jesus were conducting His ministry today"....(He isn't through the Means of Grace?!) "He would have something like The Tonight Show on TV." That minister became a burn-out and lost his entire church empire.

One error piles on another error and this results in confusion and lack of faith in the Gospel itself.

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.
This is the kind of statement that wakes us up. It does not sound right. In fact, it is stated in such a way that we have to take notice. At the time, the disciples were dependent upon Jesus for everything, and they were always asking Him to teach them and provide for them in various ways. But now, they would ask the Father directly in His Name because they were His brothers by faith. What would move them to ask and persuade them to ask? The energy of the Gospel at work does that. 

Luther's Five Requirements of Prayer

1. The Gospel Promise
The first requirement of prayer is the Gospel Promise, as I mentioned above. But this increases in power with its purity. Many hear a watered down Gospel or they listen to a clever combination of Gospel and Law, such as the demand for works "to adorn faith" as the Church of Rome claims.

What does this means - Behold the Lamb of God, who bears the sins of the world?
That means the Son of God has been born of the Virgin, has performed great and unique miracles to confirm His divine Word, and suffered torture and death to pay for all of our sins, His innocence displayed in His resurrection. When we confuse regret over past sins with a lack of forgiveness, we are saying, "That sin remains on Jesus. He has only destroyed and conquered my minor sins, not my major sins.  The major sins are still there." That puts a lie on the Gospel message, that Jesus bears all the sins, that He is our righteousness, our perfection that we receive through faith.

The Christian believer is forgiven all sins each day because the Spirit brings Jesus to Him each day. The individual is still a sinner, but sin no longer controls and enslaves him. It is wonderful to see how the Gospel breaks people out of their slavery to impulse, addiction, cruelty, and blasphemy. John Bunyan was such a horrible person that his conversion itself was seen as a Gospel miracle by all his acquaintances. No one was written off more than he was, and the rest of his life consisted of teaching that Gospel, as in The Pilgrim's Progress.

So we pray, because God has promised us that He will hear our prayers. This is such a completely different from pagan religions where the individual must pay for and work for God's favor.

2. Faith in God's Promise

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Luther:
2. In the second place, it is necessary that we never doubt the pledge and promise of the true and faithful God. For even to this end did God pledge himself to hear, yea, commanded us to pray, in order that we may always have a sure and firm faith that we will be heard; as Jesus says in Matthew 21:22: “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

When people tell us that it does not matter whether we believe or not, the whole concept of trust in God flies out the window. Instead of being direct toward Christ, we are told to believe their strange dogma. If not, we are heartily condemned and roughed up in every way possible.

We live in an ocean of doubt and rationalism, but that does not mean we need to immerse ourselves in it. In contrast, we have this bubble, this bathysphere, this submarine that allows us to exist with the ocean of doubt, to view the monsters of that realm, and yet rest in the gracious Words of the Gospel.

Bibles are everywhere but not always open. Bibles are often open but not comprehended. The greatest share of Biblical professors do not believe the actual Word and works of Christ but do their Irish step-dance around the words of the Scripture, agonizing about the date of St. John without believing the Fourth Gospel. In the midst of that kind of training - in the LCA - I came upon a book about St. John's Gospel. The facts dispelled the false claims being offered in so many books that John's Gospel was 300 years later than Jesus' life, that the Gospel was influenced by non-Christian philosophy. But the Word itself, which I was studying in Greek, struck me as being so alive, personal, and powerful, that the facts were subordinate to the power of he Spirit in the Word.

I sang "In the Garden" too many times in the Disciples of Christ church that I left. But when I got to Jesus and Mary in the garden in John's Gospel, I realized that it was a hymn about that passage. When Jesus says, "Mary" in that passage, and she says, "Teacher," it reads in Greek or Latin like a You Are There script, for those who remember the old Cronkite show. The Gospel of John takes us there more intimately than the other three, as great and powerful as they are.

As Luther says, Christians have this wonderful blessing of having the secrets of the universe opened up to them - the nature of God, the Creation, the Flood. And that very wealth makes people take it for granted. Because I had rationalism pounded into me by the LCA system of college and seminary, I strongly resist and like to expose the same rationalism in the LCMS-WELS-ELS system, the one that makes them so cozy with ELCA and yet so hostile to faith.

Human reason doubts that God can stop and adjust the workings of the universe to benefit, help, or sustain one puny individual. But the spiritual wealth of the Scriptures teach us that this is God's intention and gracious will. Because all His Promises have been kept, unlike ours, we continue in the firm conviction that His Promises will always be kept.

3. Faith That Our Prayer Will Be Heard
25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 

The more we see how Jesus prepared and guided His disciples, step by step, and gathered them again after the resurrection, the more we see how He trains us in the Word and in our experiences to have a greater and greater trust that our prayers are heard.

Clearly the disciples did not grasp much of what was told them at the time. We are like spectators watching them learn what we already know. That should reveal to us that we are quite the same. Little challenges prepare us for great ones. And false concepts we were taught or we imagined on our own - these are swept away by the Word. We may read or hear a passage 50 times and then one day. And it is the Spirit that opens up the meaning to us. "Why didn't I get this before?" Because some things require repetition and experience.

When I was new in the ministry, I wanted to make things happen. I wanted to accomplish something. After a few years it is clear that God's Word makes things happen, that His agenda can be entirely different and clearly not what we thought at first. I was sitting in a seldom used church office about 40 years ago when a Lutheran calendar had this quotation on it from Luther: "The older I get, the less I rely on myself and the more I rely on God." That was naturally the opposite of what everyone was telling me - do this, make this happen, get results. And when things did go well, someone was always around to rip things apart. That was taught by Luther too, about the hostility of Satan toward the Word, never wanting it to take root and prosper.

The parables of Jesus become clear to us, as they did to the disciples.

4. A Sense of Our Unworthiness
26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 

As I said in the chapel service, nothing is more obnoxious that ordering God around, giving Him the time, place, and manner of His work. And yet, this Management by Objective method, taught by Peter Drucker, has been the rage in all the synods, from ELCA down to the ELS. I went into an beautiful old Episcopalian church in Charlotte, and there on the bulletin board was the pastor's and congregation's demands of God, to wit - 10% increase in worship and attendance for the next three years, etc. And the pastor was just back from a conference at Fuller Seminary.

But the Canaanite woman, when challenged by Jesus time and again, instead of being offended by the reference to taking the children's bread and giving it to dogs, said, "Yes, Master. And yet the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table." 

The old LCA hymnal used to have a prayer for communion that said, "We are not worthy to gather the crumbs from the Master's table, nevertheless..." 

So we do not pray on the basis of our own worthiness but because Christ has made us worthy and made us His brothers. And even greater is this Promise, that God loves us because we love the Son and believe He comes from God. 

So God persuades us to pray to Him by saying how much He loves those who believe in His Son. And how can we not trust in Him who serves as our Good Shepherd? 

5. That We Never Limit God in Any Way
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

I continue to think that the greatest miracle of all--above the Creation, the Genesis Flood, and the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament--is this one miracle, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. If we trust in this miracle of the Incarnation, that God became man for us, how can we doubt or limit God in any way?

God never said, "Ask if you have figured out that it is do-able. After all miracles must be specific, achievable, and measurable" (SAM goals, which are also taught by Peter Drucker, Management by Objective). We are promised again and again -
Ask and it will be given to you.
And also
And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” With this and like promises and commands we must consolingly exercise ourselves and pray in true confidence.

So often I have been mocked by "conservative" Lutheran clergy for emphasizing faith, which they did to show they were so much better than I. And even more so, they made fun of any person's ability to do anything in such modest circumstances. And I would agree with these screeching jays, except God keeps showing how He works and how much He accomplishes through the Word alone.

That means faith in His Word, not in our words. Henry Jacobs wrote a great comparison, true to the Scriptures. The power of the Word is related to its purity. The more we water it down with human reason, the more it is man's words and not God's Word and therefore this base alloy is rendered ineffective by us.

One only need to look around and see the vast collapse of the rationalistic Lutheran synods - WELS, ELS, LCMS, ELCA, CLC (sic) - to observe how God has let their delusions take down every material thing they cherish, worship, and adore.

One layman cannot get over the nastiness poured out upon those layman who cling to justification by faith instead of Universalism disguised as UOJ. The strength of the reaction is equal to the power of Satan and his hatred of the Word. So justification by faith and all the Promises associated with it - that only has a little toe-hold here and there. But is the power and glory of the Prince of this world compared to the Prince of Peace, who will return in majesty to judge between the sheep and the goats. Whenever that happens, in this generation or 200 years from now, His followers will need to pray.