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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) EXPOSED
This website, Exposing the ELCA, exists to inform and expose the teachings, actions and beliefs of the ELCA.
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Exposing the ELCA has a multitude of information which ELCA members and other Christians need to know. Under the "ELCA Exposed News" heading you will find information about what the ELCA teaches on 1) the Bible, 2) Universalism & Hell, 3) Homosexuality & Sex, 4) Goddess Worship/Mother god and gender neutral language, 5) Israel, 6) Abortion,
7) Social Media (what they write about), 8) Radical Hospitality, 9) Transgenders & Drag Queens, 10) Social Justice, 11) Called to Common Mission, 12) Gospel Reductionism - Antinomianism, 13) and 14) Other Critical Issues. Exposing the ELCA also has two blogs that contain a lot of important information, Exposed Blog and ELCA Wolves Blog. It is my belief that if Bible-believing ELCA members knew the truth about what the ELCA is teaching and believes, they would not stand for it. They would demand change and seek to end affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This is a crusade to defend the Word of God. To challenge a denomination that hopes their members will be complacent, uninformed and fund their heresy. My hope is to inform you, as much as possible, as to the beliefs, policies, teachings, actions and non-actions of the ELCA, much of which the ELCA doesn't want you to know. If you know other people that need to hear this information please email or talk with them about this site. Video made by Exposing the ELCAIt's Time to Leave the ELCA As the title says, it is time to leave the denomination that long ago left God. God's Word is true and the ELCA has decided that their thoughts are above God's thoughts. This is evident in many ways that the typical ELCA member may not know about. Below I outline a number of ways the ELCA has turned away from God, denying the very Word of God. The Lutheran congregation of which I am a member, was removed from the roster of ELCA churches by our ELCA synod bishop. We were very concerned over the multitude of issues discussed on this website. If you believe the Bible is God's Word and Jesus is the way to be saved, please stand up and let your voice be heard in your congregation, and tell others about it. This ministry, Exposing the ELCA, has been in existence since December 2009. Over that time we have ministered to, and helped many understand the Bible-defying beliefs and actions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Many churches have left the ELCA and joined Bible honoring denominations. Many families and individuals have done the same. At this point in time (2019), Exposing the ELCA, has had 2.5 million pageviews, shared thousands of articles, written hundreds themselves, and inspired many more that highlight the teaching, beliefs and actions of the ELCA and its leadership. Over 10 years the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has lost over 1.2 millions members. If you would like to financially help us continue this ministry please do so by giving through paypal here. Below is an adaptation of an email I sent to the council members of my church in 2010. Dear Council Members, After the other night's meeting, and the months of discussions, I wanted to share some thoughts and questions with you. Thank you, and I trust you will do right according to God's Word. The ELCA has continually put their thoughts above God's word and will. The vote on homosexuality is just one piece of evidence to this. One council member, at one time, asked if there are other reasons to leave the ELCA. I, and others, have told you about the other reasons, but the council has never broached the subject again. There are many reasons to leave the ELCA: - The ELCA is promoting a universalism. In 2017 the top bishop of the ELCA said that there may be a hell "but I think it is empty." The first printing of the ELCA's Augsburg Fortress Lutheran Study Bible says, "Jesus includes in salvation people who do not believe in him or even know about him." That is not Biblical. Is this the denomination we want to have ties to? - The ELCA supports abortions in their medical coverage. They also actively lobby against laws restricting abortions. When was the last time you heard an ELCA leader attend the March for Life or support Crisis Pregnancy Centers? Is this the denomination we want to have ties to? - The ELCA and others supporting homosexuality try every kind of theological gymnastic move to make the the Bible mean something other than what it says. God clearly says homosexuality is a sin. But the ELCA encourages and celebrates homosexuality. They ordain practicing homosexuals. Allow ELCA churches and pastors to conduct gay weddings. Many churches and ELCA bishops participate in Gay Pride parades. This is harming people. It is not loving to encourage bondage to sin. A real follower of Christ would speak the truth in love and help those dealing with same-sex attraction. - The same can be said about transgender persons. The ELCA encourages people to be something they are not. The ELCA ordains persons who claim to be transgender. The ELCA even pays for employee sex change costs. - The ELCA continually stands against Israel. Every year the ELCA issues press releases demonizing Israel. They do the same at their ELCA Churchwide Assemblies. The ELCA has called on the United States to end its financial aid to Israel. The ELCA has an "investment screen" aimed at harming Israel. The ELCA wants Jerusalem and parts of Israel given to the Arabs. God gave Israel that land. It states it clearly in the Bible. God confirmed it with Isaac and Jacob that the land was for them. This is against God's will, and it is an action that the Bible warns about. "In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land." Joel 3:1-2. Is this the denomination we want to have ties to? - The ELCA condemns Christians that support Israel. - The ELCA allows other religions to worship in some of their buildings and chapels. - The ELCA believes in evolution and most do not view God’s creation account as true or historic. - Many in the ELCA believe a great number of Scriptural accounts are myth. - The ELCA leadership often avoids using male pronouns for God but are fine using female pronouns for God or calling Him "Mother." In 2019 the ELCA voted to use more "gender inclusive and expansive" language for God. - The ELCA is very political, taking up even the farthest left causes. - Goddess worship is allowed and practiced within the ELCA. - Many ELCA leaders deny the substitutionary atonement of Christ. - Using foul language in public settings is commonplace among ELCA clergy. (See this website for documentation of all that I wrote or see this article for many of the points made and its documentation) Would you please put on the council's agenda for the next meeting, "other reasons for leaving the ELCA" and discuss those I've brought up. I believe God's hand was in the writing of the Bible, that God used the writer's style to say what was said, but they were all according to God's will, and truth. The ELCA must not believe this. Now I am sure they have some high-talking explanation and warped definition of "God's Word" that makes them feel better and still hold to their view of picking the parts of the Bible they like and throwing away the rest. If an ELCA seminary student can say, as I heard him say, "The more I learn about the Bible the less I like it," there is something wrong with the denomination's teaching. And it is hard to believe that someone on our council can say "Paul wasn't the son of God . . ." as a way to discredit what Paul wrote. That person, as so many ELCA leaders, must not believe that God inspired all the writings. They are God's words just as much as Paul's. I have read the quotes of Luther (I list a few below). He believes the Bible is God's word and never erred. How did the ELCA evolve to the view of the Bible they now have? The ELCA isn't even in agreement with its great Christian leader and founder, MARTIN LUTHER! The ELCA has decided they know better than God on issues and that they know better than the God-inspired writers. We all need to take that very seriously. The Bible speaks about people who were teaching falsely being kicked out of the church. (i.e. the ELCA leaders) Shouldn't our church get as far away as possible from the ELCA's false teachers? We all need to think and pray long and hard before we choose to follow human ways that contradict God's written word. On the issue of homosexuality the Bible is clear. Homosexuality is a sin. Someone who is caught in habitual sin, with no attempt to stop, should not be in leadership of God's people. We should not bless people for their sin. We should love them enough to help them out of it. I recommend you all read the Bible verses that speak of homosexuality again. God is clear. So is the ELCA a denomination you want to be part of? Is this a denomination we want to have a connection to? While the ELCA assembly was meeting August 19th, 2009, God sent them a warning, when on a day where meteorologists said there was not going to be any bad weather, there was. God sent a warning in the form of a tornado. Something that hadn't happened in 90 years, took place; a tornado hits in downtown Minneapolis. It damages the buildings the ELCA were meeting in. The day and the hour of the first vote on homosexuality. This is documented fact. Is this a denomination were want to be connected to? Because of the ELCA's new beliefs and actions, I am embarrassed to be a member of the ELCA. I also can not vote for anything but a complete cutting of ties to the ELCA. Giving money to fund their programs is supporting the ELCA and helping them employ their people and continue there mockery of God's word. A book that Jesus viewed as from God. Are we a church that is going to stand on God's Word? Will God bless our church if it takes a stand that is against His Word? Thanks for listening, Dan Skogen P.S. - It you agree with me, please feel free to copy or forward my email on to anyone who maybe interested. Luther quotes -
Luther wrote, "The pope boasts that the Christian Church is above the Word of God. No, this is not true! We must be pupils and not aspire to be masters, for the pupil must not be above his master." (LW. 23.231; Q. in Ibid.) Also, "Years ago all the pope's pronouncements were called Christian truth and articles of faith, yet this was simply based on man. And then it happened that people sank into the abyss and lost everything that pertains to the Word of God and Christ. Therefore, we must now declare: 'Pope, council, and doctors, we will not believe you; but we will believe in the Divine Word." (LW. 23.297; Q. in Ibid.) "When anything contrary to Scripture is decreed in a council, we ought to believe Scripture rather than the council. Scripture is our court of appeal and bulwark; with it we can resist even an angel from heaven - as St. Paul commands in Galatians 1(:8) - let alone a pope and a council." (LW. 32.81; Q. in Wood, 126) Luther writes about the Old Testament, "I beg and really caution every pious Christian not to be offended by the simplicity of the language and stories frequently encountered there, but fully realize that, however simple they may seem, these are the very words, works, judgments and deeds of the majesty, power and wisdom of the most high God." (LW 35.236; Q. in Wood) "The Christian reader should make it his first task to seek out the literal sense, as they call it. For it alone is the whole substance of faith and Christian theology; it alone holds its ground in trouble and trial." (LW. 9.24; Q. in Wood, 164) Luther also said that one. . . "should take pains to have one definite and simple understanding of Scripture and not to be a wanderer and vagabond, like the rabbis, the Scholastic theologians, and the professors of law, who are always toiling with ambiguities." (LW. 8.209; Q. in Ibid.) "Among Christians the rule is not to argue or investigate, not to be a smart aleck or a rationalistic know-it-all; but to hear, believe, and persevere in the Word of God, through which alone we obtain whatever knowledge we have of God and divine things. We are not to determine out of ourselves what we must believe about him, but to hear and learn it from him." (LW. 13.237; Q. in Wood, 120) "Luther did believe that much of the conciliar decisions did contain truth, but only in so far as they correspond with the written Word. Luther viewed the fathers in similar fashion. Although Luther quotes the fathers frequently throughout his works, he nevertheless holds their teachings up to the light of Scripture in order to determine their truthfulness. This stance caused some to accuse Luther of rejecting all the past teachers of the Church. Luther denied this accusation, writing, 'I do not reject them. But everyone, indeed, knows that at times they have erred, as men will; therefore, I am ready to trust them only when they give me evidence for their opinions from Scripture, which has never erred.' (LW. 32.11; Q. in Wood, 125) Luther determined to follow the practice of Augustine in these matters, who in a letter to Jerome wrote, 'I have learned to do only those books that are called the Holy Scriptures the honor of believing firmly that none of their writes has ever erred. All others I so read as not to hold what they say to be truth unless they prove it to me by Holy Scripture or clear reason.'" (Epistolae, 82; Q. in LW. 32.189; Q. in Wood, 125; Martin Luther and Scripture, Foutz, Scott; http://www.quodlibet.net/luther.shtml)
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Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. - Jude 1:3
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