Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Sunday after Easter - "Therefore Christ’s meaning is: Ye shall have the power to speak the Word, and to preach the Gospel, saying, Whosoever believeth, has the remission of his sins; but whosoever believeth not, has no remission of sin. But ye have not the power to create faith."

 

Complete Sermon -> The First Sunday after Easter

Now it is always true, if Christ speaks a word, since he is Lord over sin and hell, and says to you: Thy sins are forgiven; then they must be forgiven and nothing can prevent it. Again, if he says: Thy sins shall not be forgiven thee; then they remain unforgiven, so that neither you, nor an angel, nor a saint, nor any creature, can forgive your sin, even if you martyred yourself to death.

16. This same power belongs to every Christian, since Christ has made us all partakers of his power and dominion; and here his is not a civil but a spiritual rule, and his Christians also rule spiritually. For he does not say: This city, this country, this bishopric or kingdom you shall rule, as the pope does; but he says: Ye shall have power to forgive and to retain sins. Hence this power pertains to the conscience, so that by virtue of God’s Word I can pass judgment as to what the conscience can cleave to, so that against and above that no creature can do anything, neither sin, nor the world nor Satan. This is true power. But thereby no power is given me to rule over temporal matters, over a country and people, externally after the manner of civil governments, but a much higher and nobler power, which can in no sense be compared with it.

17. Therefore we shall thank God, that we now know the great power and glory given us through Christ in his plain Word, as St. Paul also highly praises and extols it to the Ephesians, saying: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. And again: “God made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:5-10.

18. Observe, what great transcendent comfort we have in that God awakens in us also the same power he exercises in Christ, and bestows upon us equal authority. As he made him sit in heavenly places, above all power and might, and everything that can be named; so has he invested us also with the same power, that those who believe have all power over heaven and earth. This we have in the words he left behind him; and they are so powerful, that when they are spoken by us, they avail as much as if he himself were on earth and spake them in the majesty and glory in which he now exists. And this is the power we have from his resurrection and ascension; there he gives us power to kill and to make alive, to consign to the devil and to rescue from him.

19. But in this matter one must proceed carefully, and not do like the popes. For they have reached the point to have the power, that however and whatever they say, so it must be, because they say it. Nay, this power you have not, but the divine Majesty alone has. it. They say thus: If the pope speaks a word and says: Thy sins are forgiven thee, they are blotted out, even though you neither repent nor believe. They mean by this, that they have the power to bestow and withhold heaven, to open or shut it, to locate one in heaven or cast into hell; far from it that it should be so. For from this it would then follow that our salvation depended on the works, authority and power of man. Therefore, since this is in conflict with all the Scriptures it can not be true that when you open or shut, it must be open or shut.

20. Therefore we must rightly understand Christ when he says: “Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained ;” that this does not establish the power of him who speaks but of those who believe. Now the power of him who speaks and of him who believes are as far apart as heaven and earth.

God has given us the Word and the authority to speak; but it does not therefore follow from this that it must so be done, as Christ also preached and taught the Word, and yet not all who heard it believed, and it was not everywhere done as he spake the Word, although it was God’s Word.

Therefore Christ’s meaning is: Ye shall have the power to speak the Word, and to preach the Gospel, saying, Whosoever believeth, has the remission of his sins; but whosoever believeth not, has no remission of sin. But ye have not the power to create faith. For there is a great difference between planting and giving the growth; as Paul says to the Corinthians: “I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6. Hence we have no authority to rule as lords; but to be servants and ministers who shall preach the Word, by means of which we incite people to believe.

Therefore, if you believe the Word, you gain this power; but if you believe not, then what I speak or preach will avail nothing even though it be God’s Word; and if you believe not these words you are not treating me but God himself with dishonor and contempt.

21. Therefore, unbelief is nothing but blasphemy, which makes God a liar. For if I say, your sins are forgiven you in God’s name, and you believe it not, it is the same as if you said: who knows whether it be true, and whether he be in earnest? by this you charge God and his Word with lying. Therefore you better be far from the Word, if you believe it not. For when a man preaches his Word, God would have it as highly esteemed as if he himself had preached it. This then is the power given by God. which every Christian has, and of which we have already spoken much and often; hence this is enough for the present.

More ELCA for the Watherian Four - LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

 

Image Description: The image shows the feet of five people standing in a circle on the wood floor with their feet pointing toward each other.

ELCA - Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries

As we wrap up our series on Queer Lutheran Families, we're sharing an anonymous blog about a polyamorous family. We've decided to share this anonymously because ELCA policy would endanger the call of a person in a polyamorous, or ethically nonmonogamous relationship. And yet these relationships can be beautiful examples of the love and care of a Triune God who is relationship. So, we invite you to read the following with an open heart for where the Spirit might be leading the Church.

 -----------------------

During the pandemic, I moved halfway across the country to be with the person I love, but if you asked me, it was because I had family in the state and community in the city that I moved to. Why couldn’t I be open and honest? Because the ELCA still has a policy that clergy cannot “cohabitate”. So terrified of sexual joy and liberation, and the prerequisite conversations, the ELCA has just decided sex in marriage=always good, sex outside marriage=always bad, and spending the hours between 12am and 7am together in a house, apartment, or room are the only times to have sex and sex will definitely happen then. I’m not actually sure I know anyone for whom the above guidelines for sex are 100% accurate.  

Why haven’t I been public about my current relationship? Well, aside from the fact that we are living together (strike one), my partner has another partner who also lives with us.

As someone who practices relationship anarchy, I deeply value the many different relationships I have, from my biological family to my chosen family; from sexual and romantic relationships to platonic ones; from best friends to my relationship with their kids. All of these relationships matter to me and one is not placed above the other (as our culture requires for cisheteronormative monogamy). When I do get married, I won’t be marrying my best friend because I already have one (a few actually). 

But even then, the ELCA requires legal marriage for relationships to count and may be codifying it, depending on how the Sexuality Statement revisions play out. So what do we do? Already people don’t understand when I talk about living with other adults in shared housing. They don’t seem to understand the financial need for shared housing due to out-of-control rental and housing costs. They also don’t seem to understand the particularly queer nature of chosen family. Right now our household includes me, my partner, their other partner, my partner’s sister, and her girlfriend. We share a house because it’s a financial necessity and because we are chosen family together.  Because “we rise together.”

We are family. We give each other rides to work, plan our groceries together, argue about dishes, and wish everyone would leave our bathroom shelf alone. We cover each other when one is short on rent and together plan on how to support our elderly parents in the twilight of their lives. Our porch is where we have family meetings, we plan for the future, and we dream about getting a dog. 

Things will change and we will eventually be able to be public about our love and commitments to each other. For now, we rest in our shared relationships and the ways we are able to be out in our neighborhood and among our close friends and family.

Facebook ELM ELCA

 

QUEER ELCA PASTRIX ORDAINED WITH DRAG QUEEN NUNS WHILE JENNIFER KNAPP SERENADES

In what has to be the strangest title for a post we’ve ever written, we wanted to bring you this story in case you ever wondered how “different” the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become.

It’s the tale of the ordination of Pastrix Dawn Bennet into the ELCA, and the celebration surrounding that most cursed of days.

More of the same.

This was a special day for her, as one might imagine. There were all sorts of pomp and pageantry on display in what will probably go down as one of the most unique services ever.

On one side of the sanctuary, a black choir belted out gospel tunes. On another, 10 drag queens dressed as nuns, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, sat and cheered. These performers are an LGBT protest group that uses ” religious imagery to call attention to sexual intolerance and satirizes issues of gender and morality.”

The lecterns (those who read the scripture for everyone) were comprised of a “pagan wiccan priest who loves Jesus,” an agnostic best friend, and a gay pastor.

While they took communion, Jennifer Knapp (yes, that one) sung some of her “old stuff” over them. Communion occurred while wearing her rainbow colored sneakers- holy shoes that she only wears while she preaches to remind herself of the necessity of radical LGBT inclusion.

Protestia Alert - ELCA Lutheran Pastor Suggests Jesus Did Not Miraculously Feed the 5000, Offers THIS Stupid Alternative Reading

 

ELCA Lutheran Pastor Suggests Jesus Did Not Miraculously Feed the 5000, Offers THIS Stupid Alternative Reading

House of Prayer Lutheran Church is a woke congregation in Richfield, MN. Led by impastor Eric Luedtke, it is a gay-affirming church that is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), easily one of the most Christ-hating denominations in the world, whose theological malfeasance we’ve covered many times on this site, including this small sampling:

ELCA Releases Hilariously Woke DEI Recommendations For their Denomination
Gay ELCA Pastor Tells Pro-Choice Congregants ‘Your Church Stands With You. Your Rage is Holy’
ELCA Leader in a Polyamorous/’Ethically Non-Monogamous’ Relationship
Queer ELCA Pastrix Ordained With Drag Queen Nuns While Jennifer Knapp Serenades
ELCA Considers Expelling all Conservative, Anti-LGBTQ Pastors from their Midst
Lutheran College Holds Drag Event Ft. Alumni Performers, 300+ Students In Attendance
ELCA Publishes Book Encouraging ‘Queer Children’ to Ignore and ‘Limit Contact’ with Non-Affirming Parents
Former Leader of ELCA Goes Off On Jesus in Sermon, Calling Him ‘Mean’, Troubling, and Even a Little Racist
ELCA Church Recites Blasphemous ‘Sparkle Creed’ + ‘I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural’

Time Is Way Overdue for The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic).

 

I have given the Four Waltherian Sects many chances to reveal how this famous Halle University Pietist, like Bishop Martin Stephan, managed to bypass the Scriptures and Luther himself.

Jack Kilcrease, like Brenner, is Jesuit trained, like six other "conservative" pastors.

When did the Lutherans begin milking the Society of Jesus for theologians?

Many years ago a pastor phoned me about all his problems with the LCMS. I was very sympathetic, because I saw very little difference between the ELCA, LCMS, and WELS. He wanted to know what to do. I said, "You are always involved in all these synod meetings. Gather the people who agree with you and stop going."

"Are you kidding?"

I was not kidding. The managers (they are not leaders) need people to show up to activate the agenda. If very few show up - just like in church - they know the message. 

"We can do that?"

I said - sure! I suggested it in Christian News with one of the Fuller Seminary meetings all over the synod. Very few went. Growthers glared at me a bit later. 

This pastor thought he would try that. Soon after he was in Christian News, nominated for a position in the LCMS - hogtied, as they say. Some people cannot give up their connections.

I know there are groups of congregations here and there, who walked out of their buildings or kept the buildings. The building matters very little. I could buy a church building not far away, but for what reason? To have more rent, more utilities, more things to fix? 

I feel bad for the Episcopal congregations that were kicked out of their buildings by the previous Presiding Bishop, only to see the churches locked up out of spite. The future is not in brick and mortar but in broadcasting the Word of God. Vimeo is a joke, but Zoom works very well at the same cost. 

The Lutheran seminaries are snake-pits of political intrigue and terminal disease. Not just some of them, but all of them - The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic). 

Some Questions about 

The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

Since St. Paul teaches Justification by Faith, just as Jesus Christ does, why do none of those chuckle-heads teach the Chief Article of Christianity?

If their Objective Faithless Justification is so pure, godly, and heaven-sent, then why are they unable to defend their toxic dogma in a fair, Scriptural debate against Justification by Faith?

Since the synods all have libraries of books and journals, why are they unable to look at the history of Objective Faithless Justification and discover that the LCMS and WELS started with Justification by Faith, with catechisms by Schwan and Gauzewitz?

Zwingli was bold, too.

Oh my! The Formula of Concord repudiates Buchholz before he finishes his awe-inspiring essay about his blend of Calvinism, Pietism, and Enthusiasm.

Nutrition Is the Best Medicine

 

Nutrition Facts is my favorite website for nutrition information. I still enjoy Dr. Joel Fuhrman, but I have maxed out his books by reading them over and over. He endorsed Dr. Michael Greger, so he is kosher. I check my sources.

I like having easy access to Internet sources on nutrition because there is a bundle of food charlatans out there. I actually followed one to hear his carefully crafted presentation when I was abandoning my sugar-salt-fat regimen. The presentation was a masterpiece of baloney, but I waited for the last slide - a great chance to buy $90 worth - a real savings!! That ended the appeal, and I knew the show was just too smooth and evasive at the same time.

Today I looked in awe at one aisle - truly the Titanic of food displays - enormous, well lit, air-conditioned, carefully displayed with Byzantine art flourishes - the egg-dairy-butter-cheese section. As I rolled along in admiration I also thought, "There is nothing good for me to buy. Eggs are loaded with fat, choline, and cholesterol. The butter and margarine are pure fat with a little salt. The cheese is tempting, salty, fatty, and sweet where needed." 

My entire groceries consist of The Daily Three

1. The frozen chopped greens, onion/peppers, broccoli, lima beans, and mushrooms.
2. The fresh fruit section of blueberries, bananas, apples, and citrus.
3. Daily beans - a little bread, tomato paste, Cicero beans, and some sausage.

The money-makers and hospital greeters come from:

• Ice cream, its crafts and assaults.
• Candy, chocolate, desserts.
• Soft drinks and juices, all bad - especially with artificial sweeteners.
• Milk of all kinds, cheeses, yogurts, puddings.
• Frozen pizza.
• Prepared meals.
• All fast-food chains.

Worthwhile food is all health producing, especially in losing weight and providing the complex list of ingredients for a healthy body. 

A change to eating lots of leafy greens (kale, spinach, collards, turnip greens) will be almost calorie free but loaded nutrition. 

Fresh fruit should be in the daily eating of apples, blueberries, bananas, and citrus. Our old habits are an apple a week instead of two apples a day. But not just apples - blueberries are a powerhouse of nutrition, and citrus is just like dessert when the frozen ice cream truck no longer visits.

Beans are very satisfying and essential for health - due to fiber, protein, and many additional items for health. 

Habits, Not Diets

Thinking in terms of dieting is bad. unless someone wants to make money selling us a lack of food followed immediately by making up the poundage lost and adding more, then trying a new "diet."

Eating healthy foods, such as a lot of fruit, will automatically make us healthier, lighter in weight, energetic, and enjoying those new/old foods. Even the over-the-counter meds are more expensive than the raw ingredients of food. Our Creator established our bodies so the infinite complexity of food would make us strong, healthy, powerful against disease and infection. 

There is a lot of evidence showing that the nutritional foods not only stop bad things - like diabetes - but also create a craving for those overlooked foods Mom used to make being frugal or on the farm. 

I ended diabetes by following the nutrition ideas of Fuhrman. Two doctors in a row were staggered by the change in all my bloodwork, the second one's results later, which were better than the first (more discipline, less chubby).

Fiber-Free

If we are careful in planning a shorter lifetime, we should make sure we eat as little fiber as possible, because fiber sounds yick. We can easily avoid fiber by avoiding beans, peas, fruits, and more. A vanilla malted can be very satisfying with all the milk, cream, sugar, and malt sugar. 

However, God made us so the fiber would slow down food and give the body a chance to break down and repair whatever is needed. 

Exercise Is Health

We were also created to remain healthy by moving muscles around, lifting, walking, stretching. 

Where Are They Now? The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)At Work And Play

 

These men graduated from Mequon (aka Mordor) in 1970, and championed the vacuous methods of Peter Drucker, the business bully, C. Peter Wagner the Pentecostal. Disciple of Christ (sociologist) Donald McGavran urged pastors not to mix races together. As anyone can see, WELS inhaled the flatulence of Fuller Seminary and called it perfume. The Enthusiasts - those who create their own dogma - were happy to push away the Legalists and speed the decay.

I copied this verbatim from Christianity Today in 1991. I really thought some WELS leaders would phone or write me and be thankful I had set them free from the quagmire of Church Growth. It was already a complete joke and a matter of parading the errors of Pietism, Calvinism, and Druckerism.

The LCMS and ELCA did exactly the same things. Each sect encouraged people from competing sects to come over and finally hear the Gospel. 

• I was reading about Hagedorn today, a sacred name in WELS, and I was remembering how many wacky dreams he spun for membership growth. 
• I also read the biography of David Rutschow, written by his son, but without telling that Rutschow as a pastor did not allow Church Growth in his parish, but promoted it as the District Pope. 
• Wayne Mueller needs no introduction, since he is more Objective Faithless Justification than Rolf Preus, a man of all synods. Wayne told the kiddies at the WELS youth conference that evangelism was easy - "Just say - you are already forgiven." He reminded me of the farmer who put the wrong liquid in his sprayer and killed the whole crop.
  
• John Lawrenz achieved the honor of being President of Martin Luther College...for a month. He and John Brenner had no problem with hazing kids, which may explain how WELS rotted from their major abuse problems, not excluding alcoholism ("synod vitamins").
• Paul Kelm,D.Min., is the sect's favorite Mr. Magoo, the cartoon figure who constantly walked into all kinds of pratfalls and spills, coming out without a scratch. The more WELS faltered, the more Kelm stirred up new programs - conjoined with Hagedorn and others.

I feel obliged to repeat Kelm's climactic end to the Church Growth conference that I was required to attend. I objected to their deification of Paul. Y. Cho and other fakes. Kelm concluded his ultimate speech, "After you have heard all the things we can do with our Wisconsin Synod, can you name anyone in America who would not want to join our synod? (The audience remained silent.)

Herbert Chilstrom, elected presiding bishop of ELCA, 1987

I responded, based on logic and time spent with Chilstrom at lunch, "Herbert Chilstrom?"

The audience roared with laughter, which went through many waves of hilarity. It was ridiculous that given the right information, every single person would want to join the sect.

Like Missouri, ELS, the CLC (sic) and ELCA, all of them have used congregation and synod funds to promote their deadly, toxic waste matter.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Sunday after Easter - "Thus we have the fruit whereby we know who are true Christians. For he who has no peace in that in which the world finds nothing but unrest, and is joyful in that which in the world is nothing but gloom and sorrow, is not yet a Christian, and does not yet believe."

Complete Sermon -> The First Sunday after Easter

11. Thus we have the fruit whereby we know who are true Christians. For he who has no peace in that in which the world finds nothing but unrest, and is joyful in that which in the world is nothing but gloom and sorrow, is not yet a Christian, and does not yet believe. This truth is being also sung at this season everywhere in the hymn on the Lord’s resurrection; but hardly anybody understands it. He who composed it surely understood it aright. He does not stop at the Lord is risen, when he says: “Christ is risen from his Passion ;” as though this were sufficient, but brings it home to us and adds: Let us all rejoice in this. But how can we rejoice in it, if we have nothing of it and it is not ours? Therefore, if I am to rejoice in it, it must be mine, that I may claim it as my own property, that it may profit me. And finally he closes: Christ will be our consolation, that we can and shall have no other consolation but Christ. He wants to be it himself and he alone, that we should cling to him in every time of need; for he has conquered all for our benefit, and by his resurrection he comforts all troubled consciences and sad hearts. This the Gospel teaches concerning faith and its fruits.

12. Now follows the office of the ministry. The power of faith now develops love. For it does not yet suffice that I have the Lord so that he is mine, and that I find in him all comfort, peace and joy; but I must henceforth also do as he has done: for it follows thus in the text: “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

13. The first and highest work of love a Christian ought to do when he has become a believer, is to bring others also to believe in the way he himself came to believe. And here you notice Christ begins and institutes the office of the ministry of the external Word in every Christian; for he himself came with this office and the external Word. Let us lay hold of this, for we must admit it was spoken to us. In this way the Lord desires to say: You have now received enough from me, peace and joy, and all you should have; for your person you need nothing more. Therefore labor now and follow my example, as I have done, so do ye. My Father sent me into the world only for your sake, that I might serve you, not for my own benefit. I have finished the work, have died for you, and given you all that I am and have; remember and do ye also likewise, that henceforth ye may only serve and help everybody, otherwise ye would have nothing to do on earth. For by faith ye have enough of everything. Hence I send you into the world as my Father hath sent me; namely, that every Christian should instruct and teach his neighbor, that he may also come to Christ. By this, no power is delegated exclusively to popes and bishops, but all Christians are commanded to profess their faith publicly and also to lead others to believe.

14. Secondly, if you have exercised yourself in this highest work and taught others the right way of truth, then make up your mind to keep on and serve everybody. Then the example of your life and good works follows; not that you can thereby merit and acquire anything, seeing you have beforehand everything that is necessary to salvation. Furthermore Christ now gives a command, he breathes upon the disciples and says: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

15. This is a great and mighty power which no one can sufficiently extol, given to mortal men of flesh and blood over sin, death and hell, and over all things. The pope too boasts in the canon law that Christ has given to him power over all earthly things; which would indeed be correct if the people rightly understood it. For they apply it to the civil government; this is not Christ’s thought; but he gives spiritual power and rule, and wishes to say this much: When ye speak a word concerning a sinner, it shall be spoken in heaven, and shall avail so much as if God himself spake it in heaven; for he is in your mouth, therefore it has the same force as if he himself spoke it.

Now it is always true, if Christ speaks a word, since he is Lord over sin and hell, and says to you: Thy sins are forgiven; then they must be forgiven and nothing can prevent it. Again, if he says: Thy sins shall not be forgiven thee; then they remain unforgiven, so that neither you, nor an angel, nor a saint, nor any creature, can forgive your sin, even if you martyred yourself to death.

16. This same power belongs to every Christian, since Christ has made us all partakers of his power and dominion; and here his is not a civil but a spiritual rule, and his Christians also rule spiritually. For he does not say:

This city, this country, this bishopric or kingdom you shall rule, as the pope does; but he says: Ye shall have power to forgive and to retain sins. Hence this power pertains to the conscience, so that by virtue of God’s Word I can pass judgment as to what the conscience can cleave to, so that against and above that no creature can do anything, neither sin, nor the world nor Satan. This is true power. But thereby no power is given me to rule over temporal matters, over a country and people, externally after the manner of civil governments, but a much higher and nobler power, which can in no sense be compared with it.

LutherQuest on the Insolvency of Concordia University, Mequon.Gloom and Doom for The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)!

 

Ankerberg earned his degrees at Marquette University, named after the Jesuit priest. "Marquette is a Catholic, Jesuit university with more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges ..."

John Brenner also earned his Jesuit degree at Marquette University (named after the Jesuit priest).

On Monday, Concordia announced layoffs to address annual deficits of $2 million to $6 million in five of the last six years, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Earlier this year, CUW announced it intends to close its campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also due to budget concerns.

“Enrollment fell from nearly 6,000 students in 2016 to nearly 4,400 in the 2021-22 school year, the latest federal data available,” according to the Journal-Sentinel. Including Ann Arbor, the LCMS will have closed four colleges since 2018 due to declining enrollment and resulting budget crises. The closed colleges also had problems with leftist race and sex politics conflicting with Christian teaching. The LCMS is currently in a legal dispute with Concordia University Texas in Austin, which rejects church attempts to assert authority and address serious theological problems at the school.

Concordia staff declined to provide the types of positions being eliminated, the total cost savings associated with the layoffs and details on the three-year budget correction timeline.

Concordia's tax forms show the school has run a deficit in five of the last six years. The deficits ranged from $2 million to $6.3 million.The Concordia University System schools appear to be following this "trend":

• Concordia University-Wisconsin has their "Diversity and Belonging."
• Concordia University-Ann Arbor has their Office of Multicultural Engagement."
• Concordia University-Irvine holds a "Unity Week" with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coach, "Ms. Mo".
• Concordia University-Chicago has a course (EDU-6300 - Perspectives in Research and Literature Across all Grade Ranges) that includes using literature and research across all grades as "a basis for the promotion of diversity, equity and culturally responsive instruction."
• Concordia University-Nebraska has their "Acts 2 Commission" (a renamed Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity).

See who responds to the problem first - Texas Governor Greg Abbott or LCMS President Matthew Harrison.

 

Why train the pastors to be wolves instead of shepherds?

Dear Pastor Jackson,

LCMS pastors are oblivious to the fact that they have once again caused doubt in the resurrection of Christ by using the ESV Bible to suggest Mark 16:9-20 is actually not present in the text. They are not afraid to speak a word against God the Holy Ghost saying, "We do not have the original autographs, therefore we do not have any words God inspired the prophets and apostles to write with any certainty." They place this footnote in reference to the entire Bible. No Bible translation or Hebrew text, or Greek Text is immune from this blasphemous footnote against God the Holy Ghost.

Back in the 1990's I was seriously considering going to seminary to become a LCMS pastor. At that time I was working at Caterpillar in Joliet, Illinois. The Joliet plant manufactured the massive 994G wheel loader. I was in charge of coordinating engineering changes on the line. It was awesome when they cranked up the 16 cylinder Cat diesel engines and wound them up to full throttle. I had a great boss who would let me take vacation days. So I would take a few days off work and head for Ft. Wayne Seminary to talk with professors of theology and sit in on their classes.  I even went to several seminars for laymen. I would stay overnight in the dorm and became friends with many of the seminary students. 

On Sunday morning, I would attend Zion Lutheran Church and listen to Matthew Harrison preach.  After one of the services, we discussed the TEXTUS RECEPTUS and how LCMS should return to it. I even told him the "critical apparatus" was worthless and created doubt rather than certainty.  It would list all the "earlier more accurate" manuscripts to create doubt in the pure Word of God in the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS. Toward the end of our discussion Pastor Harrison leaned forward and with seemingly genuine sincerity said, "Tom it would be so much easier to just go back to the TEXTUS RECEPTUS". I said, "Amen".

Later in the afternoon, I visited the Ft. Wayne Seminary library. I searched and searched and searched for at least one copy of the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS.  I found many copies of the corrupt Nestle-Aland Greek Text.  Finally I found a dog eared battered TEXTUS RECEPTUS. It was completely abandoned and forgotten on the bottom shelf. 

But God the Holy Ghost never abandoned His pure Words He preserved for us in the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS: Words He inspired the prophets and apostles to write thousands of years ago. He is the Spirit of truth and guides us into all truth. He attached Himself to the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS for 400 years with no blasphemous successful challenges from the enemy.

Finally Satan launched his most successful blasphemous and cunning attack against God the Holy Ghost and His Words that He preserved for us in the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS. Satan commissioned two men to launch a most successful, cunning, deceitful, and blasphemous attack. 

I bought a Wescott and Hort Greek New Testament. I was surprised that "Son of God" was omitted from Mark 1:1 - with no explanation or references below.

BibleGateway.com provides all these Greek New Testaments for free on their site. Ask your pastor about the Westcot and Hort. The Stephanus is the Textus Receptus or Traditional Greek Text.

Here comes Bishop Wescott and Reverend Hort to print their own Greek text with the fraudulent Greek Texts (Sinaticus and Vaticanus) promoted by sneaky Tischendorf (see pgs. 170-189, The King James Version: Apostolic Texts, Precise Translation verses Fraudulent Texts and Heretical Translations; Gregory L. Jackson, PhD, ISBN 9798429093451). Oh my! We are getting in the weeds too much! Let's take a break.  I still need to prepare for the First Sunday after Easter.

So I open the English Standard Version LCMS pew Bible to Acts 1 and begin reading. Everything seems somewhat fine. Wait a minute! Something is missing in Acts 1:3. I type in Bible gateway on my cell phone and pull up Acts 1:3 in the King James Version:

"To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:" Acts 1:3

The word "infallible" is missing from the corrupt ESV. There is no footnote from a renowned doctor of theology.  They just removed it to get rid of the absolute infallible proofs of Christ's resurrection from the dead. Here are the words God the Holy Ghost attaches Himself to today in Acts 1:1-5

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

I was so excited by my discovery I told my LCMS friend that the ESV omitted the word "infallible" from Acts 1:3.

My friend yawned deeply and replied, "Oh it doesn't matter. The ESV is the Word of God the same as the King James!! It's close enough. Quit being so picky. Hey did you see the Cardinal's baseball lineups." I had to laugh because I needed to laugh at his puppy like instinct to run away from a potential spanking from the true Word of God in the King James Bible. My friend's puppy play puts him under the control of Satan's ultimate footnote referencing all Bibles:

"We do not have the original autographs, therefore we do not have any words God inspired the prophets and apostles to write with any certainty." 

Oh, I forgot to mention the decadent wine and cheese tasting I stupidly attended with renowned Fort Wayne professors of theology and other Lutheran Laymen and seminary students. I wanted to ask the professors challenging questions about the corrupt Nestle-Aland Greek omitting "Theos" (God) from 1 Timothy 3:16.

"God was manifest in the flesh" 1 Timothy 3:16

They were NOT amused! "How dare you interrupt our decadent wine and cheese tasting get together!! HOW DARE YOU have the audacity to question the Nestle-Aland  Greek Text!!!. We do not have the original autographs, therefore we do not have any words God inspired the prophets and apostles to write with any certainty." 

Wait, Wait, Hold on guys. No need for you to get all feathered out!  I didn't do it!!!! Honest! God did it!! Yes, God the Holy Ghost perfectly preserved the Words He inspired the prophets and apostles to write. He preserved them in the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS and the translations that followed (Luther's 1545 Bible, King James Bible, and many more). So everything you say against the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS and it's translations (Luther's 1545 German Bible, King James Bible and many more) is spoken against God the Holy Ghost. 

In contrast listen to pastor Gregory Jackson, PhD describe his professor at Yale:

"Yale's Nils Dahl asked his doctoral seminar what they knew for certain about the New Testament. We were all stymied. He said, "The text! The text! We have the text!" That is how he moved away from 19th century apostate theories." (See Figure 18 on pg. 189; The King James Version: Apostolic Texts, Precise Translation verses Fraudulent Texts and Heretical Translations; Gregory L. Jackson, PhD; ISBN 9798429093451 ).

6 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. Psalm 12:6,7

In Christ 

Tom Fisher

God-given Workers for His Harvest Field: The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) at Work And Play.

 That should be a much better book for WELS, no?

 

 "Assignment days at MLC and WLS are joyful days—joyful for the young men and women who learn where God will have them serve in the ministry and joyful for the members of the synod who see God keeping his promise to send workers into his harvest field."

I was thinking about the slide in church positions when the latest rah-rah from the WELS president was posted. They will graduate 27 men from their Mequon seminary. When I was there for a semester, there were 60 graduating as pastors. People have written to me that the GA abuse against first year students was the reason for them never applying. The hazing at the youngest prep level gets them ready for college hazing/drinking and then seminary's GA mind game. By the time they are ordained, Holy Mother WELS can do anything to them, unless they have DNA from district presidents, faculty, and circuit priests. Then they are absolved, whether felonies or misdemeanors. Actual crimes are swept under the carpet as fast as they can and lame alibis are produced at high speed.

The little sects model themselves after the big ones - they covet the numbers, the buildings, and bureaucracies. Even though ELCA and LCMS are shredding members faster than the Biden Fan Club, they still look big to the little ones.

Forty years ago, WELS was working with ELCA and borrowing the sanctified programs of the Big Guy. I asked, 

"How come WELS is distributing verbatim material on stewardship, the same words and graphics of the soon-to-be ELCA?"  "

"Why did SP Mishke go to Snowbird and confer with President Bohlmann and Bishop Chilstrom?" Snowbird was packed with staffers, all feeding off the insurance company du jour. Lutheran Brotherhood and AAL merged because of their impending financial failures. The Big Five loved them anyway.

I could ask the Michigan DP something and know he was lying by playing fumble-bumble - the old GA hazing they called playing mind games.

If we look at ELS and CLC (sic) history, the disasters are greater and the excuses monumental.

The key consideration is the bureaucracy providing a warm nest for in-laws, relatives, and ex-parish pastors. Hardly any pastor will rebel against their apostate leaders. 

Don't Fail To Miss This ELCA Preaching Conference!

 

Years ago, Jeske was organizing joint ELCA-WELS-LCMS conferences, financed and approved by Thrivent and the Seibert Foundation. Everyone in the Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) is part of the progress now being made. The only question is - "When will we have the Sparkle Creed included in our outmoded, not cool hymnal?"

Protestia seems to watch carefully over the latest in ELCA disasters. I found its new link about an ELCA preaching conference a bit incoherent. The ambitious reader might want to check the Protestia link about Luther Seminary's connection.

The idea is to gather a whole bunch of talented, experienced, Biblical men for this task - and keep them home! The goal is to highlight the worst of the worst possible leaders. The sputtering remnants of denominational seminaries will get even more radical in the next few years. Divinity schools will merge and use their endowment money to feature and promote a wide variety of notorious instructors, longing to get a big salary for spouting their Marxist-Gay propaganda.  

Union Seminary is so broke they sold their library to Columbia University to make ends meet. My Hebrew Professor at Yale came back from teaching at Union for a year. He told our all-male class that Union wanted to make their student body 50% female in the years to come. That could never happen, he thought, even at Union. Now it is true of all denominations, some using deliberate end-runs, such as the WELS "College of Ministry." 

Here is one example of an expert to speak at the Luther conference - "E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor, Dean emerita and University Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society and Gender and Sexuality Studies, Vanderbilt University."