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The ELCA has always been political, pushing their liberal democrat viewpoints and policies. But the political climate of today has the ELCA leaders raving mad and constantly making news.
Bringing refugees to the United States is the hot topic this week with President Trump's executive order placing a temporary halt on refugees coming here from seven countries where terrorism and violent extremist ideology is so prevalent. You can read more about President Trump’s Executive Order here. President Obama did something very similar, as have other presidents (see here and here), in stopping immigration from certain countries, but, interestingly, I don't remember the liberals marching in the streets and throwing a fit at that point in time. That is certainly what the ELCA leadership is doing now. They are wrong. They are risking the safety of Americans. They are placing our society at risk, and they have no Biblical justification for what they are doing. The ELCA has been frantic in producing letters, social media posts, news releases and calls to action in response to Donald Trump's temporary halt on bringing refugees from a few select nations into the United States. Just yesterday the ELCA released this message, ELCA presiding bishop addresses President Trump’s refugee executive order (see here), where she writes, "I am convinced that temporarily banning vulnerable refugees will not enhance our safety nor does it reflect our values as Christians. Instead, it will cause immediate harm..." Regarding this message by the ELCA's presiding bishop, the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod's bishop Jim Gonia said "I am asking all ELCA congregations in the Rocky Mountain Synod to share this statement by our Presiding Bishop with congregants, and to encourage all people in your communities of faith to take action with respect to our church's long-standing commitment to accompanying refugees in this country." (see here) Many other ELCA synods posted Presiding Bishop Eaton's message on their Facebook pages.
Next is a list of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leaders who signed a letter against the refugee executive order, saying "This nation has an urgent moral responsibility to receive refugees and asylum seekers..." (see here)
(I have listed all the ELCA bishops who signed the letter as of Feb. 1st. There are many more ELCA pastors listed that I have not included here) Here is a press release from LIRS, an organization promoted on the ELCA's website under "Our Work," titled Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Condemns the Trump Administration’s Actions Against Refugees and Migrants (see here) Of course, ELCA Advocacy is up in arms about the Executive Order: 
Again we see the ELCA's Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) which "has resettled a half-million refugees and migrants since its founding in 1939,” (see here) and takes in a great deal of government money for their refugee work. Here is something else that they posted: 
Bishop Rick Jaech of the ELCA's Southwestern Washington Synod writes, "Immigration Refugee Blockage is Contrary to Way of Christ". (see here) Anne Edison-Albright is an ELCA pastor at Luther College. She tweets:
He is not ELCA but the Bishop of the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada tweets this:
Finally, I believe these last two tweets are from ELCA laypersons:
Thank the Lord that He has given us some godly, wise ministers and laypersons to counter the ELCA's falsehoods. The son of Billy Graham, Rev. Franklin Graham writes, “It’s not a biblical command for the country to let everyone in who wants to come, that’s not a Bible issue.” He goes on, “We want to love people, we want to be kind to people, we want to be considerate, but we have a country and a country should have order and there are laws that relate to immigration and I think we should follow those laws...Because of the dangers we see today in this world, we need to be very careful.” (see here) Popular speaker and blogger Matt Walsh writes, "And I know that there is nothing in Scripture that compels me to become an open borders advocate. Nowhere does it say that countries may not rigorously screen immigrants and refugees. Trump has so far done nothing with respect to refugees and immigration that I, as a Christian, am called upon to oppose. Nothing. Sorry." (see here) Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary addresses the situation here, How should Christians think biblically about President Trump's latest Executive Order on refugees? (read here) On a different blog, Matt Walsh writes: "Trump has temporarily prohibited the citizens of 7 particular countries from entering the United States. Those countries were singled out as 'countries of concern' -- by Obama originally -- because they churn out terrorists by the bushel. Any rational, honest person would agree that we must be careful in how we admit people from places like Somalia and Libya and other failed states where militant jihadists are hatched by the thousands. It's not Trump's fault that the most dangerous nations in the world happen to be majority Muslim. And, anyway, there are 43 majority Muslim nations left unaffected by this new rule. Muslim ban? No. Not at all.” (see here) There are even Muslims and a former Muslims who support the President's Executive Order. Here is a CBN interview with a former Muslim who said "Don't bash this banning. This is wisdom, this is not racism....you can't shake hands with the devil." (See here) And read this article from a Muslim Iraqi who agrees with President Trump's Executive Order, "Chris Kyle's Iraqi Interpreter Has Blistering Message for All the Protesters Over Trump's 'Muslim Ban'" The ELCA is clearly an ultra-left, Democrat, money-collecting, quazi-Christian, social justice entity. They stand against Republican policies and conservative ideas. They stand against Biblical beliefs. And if you are one of these, the ELCA stands against you.
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(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.)
(Pastor Brock has updated this article with corrections.) No, I'm not talking about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's decision to ordain practicing homosexuals and to allow homosexual "weddings". That took place in 2009 and caused the largest church split in American history. I am thinking of the ELCA's decision in 1997 to continue to pay for abortion for any reason--and no reason--in its healthcare plan for pastors and their families. This plan is funded by offering dollars. Here is what happened. About 1995 I discovered the ELCA had been paying for abortion-on-demand, no questions asked, for a number of years. I knew the ELCA was liberal, but I was still surprised by how radical their abortion policy was in its healthcare plan. I sent 11,000 letters to every ELCA church in the country explaining the situation since few were aware of the policy. I received many letters, some pastors were grieved and others supportive of the abortion payments. It looked for a while that a change was coming. The ELCA's Board of Pensions which administered the health program was about to offer amendments to only pay for abortion for rape, incest, life of the mother, and fetal anomaly incompatible with life. This was too broad for my liking, but at least it was better than abortion-on-demand. But this Board of Pensions' move was not encouraged by the ELCA's Conference of Bishops which from my understanding wanted to keep the status quo. The only concession was that abortion payments would be restricted after the 20th week of pregnancy. Again, I was somewhat surprised, I thought perhaps the bishops would be on the side of life. The Presiding Bishop at the time was Herbert Chilstrom who has since become public in his affirmation of abortion rights and homosexual "marriage". So I sent out a second letter to 11,000 churches urging people to take the issue to the national assembly. The only way to overrule the liberal abortion policy was to pass a resolution through the national assembly, which was to take place in Philadelphia in 1997. I attended that assembly. God bless the pro-life people who got to the microphones urging the ELCA to stop paying for abortion with the offerings of the people of God. Others urged that this is a private matter between a woman and her doctor and self-righteous men need to be quiet. I thought to myself "If this is a private matter (which it isn't) then don't make the Church pay for it." But when the vote was taken, the ELCA decided by a 3 to 1 margin to continue to pay for abortion for any reason. I literally shook the dust off my feet as I left that assembly and a few years later my congregation left the ELCA. Many people today are still unaware that when they give their offering to the ELCA it can go to pay for abortion. Your ELCA offering dollars at work: killing unborn children. As one pastor said back then "Real churches don't kill babies." In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org
“On Saturday, thousands of women dressed up in vagina costumes and descended upon DC to demand, among other things, free birth control and abortion. They called this the "Women's March," but I think that name is a terrible insult to women. The women closest to me in my life would rather die than put on a vagina hat and march through Washington in support of the mass slaughter of children.” – Matt Walsh (read here)
And that's not all. Check out this article about one of the organizers of the gathering, Women’s March Organizer is a vicious Jew-hater with ties to Islamic Terror (see here) The ELCA had a strong presence at the Women's March. What kind of "Christian" denomination or person would take part in this kind of event? It was a pro-abortion demonstration that also embraced such things as LGBTQ rights, BlackLivesMatter, illegal immigration rights, Palestine and Muslims. And the glue that held it all together was anger against President Trump. As I reported last week Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, was in Washington, D.C. last weekend and was scheduled to take part in some Women's March activity (see here). And of course there were many social media posts by ELCA pastors and members voicing and displaying their support for the march. Here are a few of them. Most of you know the ELCA's favorite pastor and best-selling author Nadia Bolz-Weber. These two posts by Bolz-Weber show you the state of the ELCA. — Nadia Bolz-Weber (@Sarcasticluther) January 21, 2017 From ELCA Rev. Bethany C Hull Somers:
This is a picture of a sign at Luther Place, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America church:
Here is what this ELCA seminarian shared:
ELCA Pastor Nancy Kraft marched:
ELCA pastor Priscilla Austin posted the next two social media posts:
And,
A number of ELCA congregation members from this church marched:
ELCA Rev. Carmine A. Pernini, Zion Lutheran Church, Rahway NJ marched in the march: ELCA Pastor Kathryn Irwin of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Nutley, New Jersey writes on her Facebook page, "Today I marched and rallied in Trenton, alongside a staggering number of New Jerseyans, and in concert with folks around the country and the world." (see here) Pastor Irwin also shared some pictures of the signs they made for the Women's March: For many of you, this is your denomination gladly partaking in this vile, hateful and evil demonstration. ELCA Presiding Bishop to Participate in the Pro-Abortion Women’s March on Washington Activity1/19/2017
The controversial Women’s March on Washington will take place this weekend, January 21, 2017, one day after the Inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. As with so many far-left activities, you can find the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s heavy involvement. The ELCA’s Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod publicized a schedule for the week which included a number of Women’s March events along with an announcement saying, “Don’t be surprised if you see the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop, downtown. She is expected to take part in an inauguration prayer service and Women’s March-related activity.” (see here)
So what is this Women’s March on Washington about? Let’s look at a few of the groups stated principles: “REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS We believe in Reproductive Freedom. We do not accept any federal, state or local rollbacks, cuts or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive healthcare services, birth control, HIV/AIDS care and prevention, or medically accurate sexuality education. This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people, regardless of income, location or education. LGBTQIA RIGHTS We firmly declare that LGBTQIA Rights are Human Rights and that it is our obligation to uplift, expand and protect the rights of our gay, lesbian, bi, queer, trans or gender non-conforming brothers, sisters and siblings. We must have the power to control our bodies and be free from gender norms, expectations and stereotypes. IMMIGRANT RIGHTS Rooted in the promise of America’s call for huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we believe in immigrant and refugee rights regardless of status or country of origin. We believe migration is a human right and that no human being is illegal.” (see here) Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America are the only two "Premier partners" of the Women’s March on Washington. Linda Sarsour, the national co-chair of the Women's March on Washington explains that a theme of the Women’s March is “Hands off Planned Parenthood and our reproductive rights.” (see here) So check this out. The ELCA presiding bishop, an ELCA synod, at least two ELCA churches and many ELCA members are participating in Women’s March activities where one of its main themes is abortion rights. How wicked!! The highest ELCA leader is participating! And this is from a denomination that is never present at the March for Life, an annual pro-life march in Washington, D.C. Joelle Colville-Hanson, the Director of Evangelical Mission at the ELCA’s Northeastern Iowa Synod is going to the Women’s March. She tweets,
And here Pastor Colville-Hanson retweets a tweet by the President of Planned Parenthood. 
Earlier this week it was reported that a pro-life feminist group was kicked out of the Women’s March. A statement from the Women’s March said, “The Women’s March platform is pro-choice and that has been our stance from day one.” “We want to assure all of our partners, as well as participants, that we are pro-choice as clearly stated in our Unity Principles. We look forward to marching on behalf of individuals who share the view that women deserve the right to make their own reproductive decisions.” (read here) Cecile Richards, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America president said her organization became involved with the Women's March because the march will “send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive healthcare, abortion services and access to Planned Parenthood.” (see here) As I mentioned above, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America are premier partners of the event. Other partners include: #VOTEPROCHOICE, FREE THE NIPPLE, GLAAD, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), American Atheists, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Southern Poverty Law Center, Students for Choice, Catholics for Choice, The Center For Reproductive Rights, URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, CODEPINK, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), National Center for Lesbian Rights and National Organization for Women (NOW). (see here) Popular Christian blogger Matt Walsh writes, “The march will be explicitly pro-abortion, anti-family, anti-Christian, etc. To march along side them is to implicitly endorse the ideas that the march was organized to promote. And those ideas are almost entirely vile and reprehensible.” (see here) And there you have the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Standing up for the killing of unborn children. How any pro-life pastor can stay in the ELCA is beyond me.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leadership is extremely liberal, both theologically and politically, and it continues to grow more so with each passing year. Seeing this, hundreds of thousands of conservatives and Bible-believing ELCA members have left the denomination.
The election of Donald Trump has provided yet another opportunity for people to see how extreme the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is, and I have no doubt the ELCA will lose more members as a result of the visceral reaction so many ELCA leaders are having. ELCA pastor Jonathan Barker of Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin was so affected by Donald Trump's election that the following Sunday he told his congregation, “What will each of us do now that there is grave evil facing each and every one of us…Will we stand up as our government plots policies of death…as our fellow citizens commit hate crime after hate crime by the hour based on racism, based on xenophobia, based on sexism, based on homophobia, based on transphobia?” Then Pastor Barker told his parishioners of his experience the morning after Donald Trump won the Presidential election: “Well Wednesday morning about 3:30 a.m. my soul was awoken by the cries and screams of hundreds of millions. Hundreds of millions…who will lose their homes, who will lose their food, who will lose their crops as the seas rise and the weather changes…of those who would lose their land to pipelines and to oil wells and to toxic spills…of undocumented families being torn apart as some were sent back…of those being rounded up and being sent to prison under the pretense of law and order…of our Muslim brothers and sisters…of the LGBTQ community…of women…of all who know their rights no longer are secure…of those who will be bombed…of all the innocent who’ll die. I could hear this cry.” (see here) On a side note, in this same sermon Pastor Barker brags about protesting in the middle of a freeway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He says “I stepped out of a car onto the 43 southbound side of the freeway with 30 other brave souls…We shut the freeway down! For 10 minutes. As thousands of motorist honked and screamed at us. As we proclaimed from the freeway that black lives matter…” Also in the sermon Pastor Barker has some controversial words about Milwaukee police officers. He says, “Two years ago…in Milwaukee. We had been marching for many months fighting for justice for Dontre Hamilton, who’d been gunned down by the Milwaukee police…and things were not going well. There was not likely going to be justice. The police in Milwaukee were going to get away with it again! Fifty years of the police getting away with anything they want to do in Milwaukee.”
Brian Foulks is a vicar at an ELCA church in South Carolina. He writes this, “It is clear that the many within the ELCA camp voted for Donald Trump…This problem that I am left to wrestle with is, ‘Why I am in the ELCA?’ Why do I persist to connect with people who are so opposed to equality, equity, and justice?”
And, “le(t)’s be clear that a vote for…Trump was a vote for opposing equality, equity and justice. (T)he man is unjust…That is a non-debatable with me.” (read here)
Rozella Haydée White is the former Director for Young Adult Ministry for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Below are a number of tweets she made.
Tara Ulrich is a Director of Home and Family Ministry in the ELCA. She tweets:
Emily Scott, an ELCA pastor at St. Lydia's in Brooklyn, New York, writes, “We can pray for our president, and yes, even love him as Jesus calls us to do, while still naming as evil the hate-based rhetoric he and his followers have espoused throughout this campaign.” (read here) The ELCA’s Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago posted a blog on one of their websites by Lenny Duncan, a vicar at an ELCA Church and Candidate for Ordination, to the office of Word and Sacrament in the ELCA, that says: “A theological battle was raging across our pews and we depended on polite society to win the day. They underestimated the power of white supremacy and evil.” (see here) The most popular pastor in the ELCA, Nadia Bolz-Weber, wrote this, “Apocalypse literally means to uncover. To uncover what is already there. And the racism and violence and xenophobia and sexism we have been devastated by in this country was not created this year – it was just uncovered this year.” (read here)
See more hateful comments by ELCA leaders toward President-Elect Trump and people who voted for him here.
In a recent letter by Elizabeth Eaton, the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the ELCA continued its anti-Semitic crusade by requesting President Obama allow for the “Palestinian State” to become a Full Member of the United Nations. (see here) Presiding Bishop Eaton writes, “I request that the U.S. further demonstrate its support for self-determination and freedom by allowing the State of Palestine’s application for full membership in the United Nations to proceed before you conclude your term of office… it is reasonable that the Palestinians and others are turning to the international forum of the UN to realize the goal of an independent Palestinian state.” This lobbying effort by Bishop Eaton seeks to reward the Palestinians who continue their terrorist attacks on Israelis; the Palestinians have shot 20,000 rockets at the Israeli population and refuse to meet and fairly negotiate with Israel. Joseph Puder of FrontPage Mag writes, “receiving UNSC recognition will enable (the Palestinian Authority President) to demand that the UNSC set a deadline for Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 line. At the same time, he’ll avoid having to negotiate peace with Israel, or make any concessions to the Jewish state.” The U.S State Department responded to previous attempts by the Palestinians to become full members in the U.N. saying Palestinian Statehood “can only come through a negotiated outcome, a resolution of final status issues and mutual recognition by both parties. I don’t think that we’ve seen evidence that they’re willing and able to either at this point in time.” (see here) Consider this, in 2016 alone, the United Nations General Assembly passed 20 resolutions against Israel and just 4 against all other countries. How is this happening except for a demonic effort against a population that God calls His chosen people? (see here) The ELCA’s call to allow Palestinian full-membership in the U.N. is one of many measures President Obama may yet take. Last week the President of the United States worked for and allowed a harmful anti-Jew resolution to pass in the U.N. Security Council. Here are a number of excellent videos and articles about the situation. The Prime Minister of Israel’s response to the recent U.N. vote:  - Israel plans to defy United Nations resolution after Obama admin. abandoned its ally (see here) - Obama's Betrayal of Israel Is a Black Day for American Diplomacy (see here) - Obama's Disgraceful and Harmful Legacy on Israel (see here) - Ted Cruz backs DEFUNDING U.N. in SCATHING statement against Obama’s betrayal of Israel (see here) - Dutch leader tells Israel to 'ignore UN and continue building' (see here) - All bets are off after UN infamy (see here) - Dershowitz: Trump was right to try to stop Obama (see here) - UN Special Envoy Recommends UN Be Dissolved in Response to Recent Vote Against Israel (see here) - Roseanne Barr: Obama’s Anti-Israel UN Action Like ‘Nazis Who Enacted Anti-Jewish Laws on the Eve of Jewish Holidays’ (see here) (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. At the end of Pastor Brock's article I have posted some additional information. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.) An ELCA Lutheran Church near me is offering "Holy Yoga" class with the below picture and this description. "I am teaching Holy Yoga at 11:00 this morning at Elim Lutheran...Before you run errands or head off to do some Christmas shopping, join me for some yoga and re-center yourself." The below picture is not from a New Age or Hindu website, it is the website of an ELCA Lutheran church. So what is wrong with Yoga? Isn't it just exercise and stretching? It can be in some cases, but in other cases (and originally) it is a Hindu practice "by which people and even gods gain immortality and supreme powers by its practice" (from Hinduwebsite.com). So what are Lutherans doing trying to re-center their lives through yoga? Don't we re-center our lives through prayer, Bible reading, Christian fellowship and Holy Communion? Don't we become one with God through Jesus Christ and not through this Hindu practice? This is called "syncretism", the mixing together of all religions. It is what got the ancient Jews in trouble when they tried to mix worship of Jehovah with worship of Baal and Asheroth. To which the Lord said "Thou shalt have no other gods." In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org  (see this post on the ELCA church's Facebook page here) At the ELCA's 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering, in front of over 30,000 teenagers, speaker Sarah Funkhouser said “…one of the most powerful ways in which I connect with God is through the practice of yoga. When I am surrendering to the breathing and relaxing into the postures I’m reminded to slow down, observe the sacred and the ordinal and trust God.” Go to the 2:17 hour mark on the video below to see more. |
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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