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(See the end of the article for the UPDATE. The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Two years ago the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at its teen Youth Gathering had 31,000 teenagers chant “I renounce the lie that queerness is anything other than beauty”. That same event put an 11-year-old boy who thinks he is a girl on stage to promote transgenderism. Below are three of the ELCA youth leaders who are involved in the upcoming ELCA Youth Gathering. As you can see, they announce their “preferred pronouns” to make sure they are being gay/trans inclusive. That should be enough of a clue not to send your teenager to the ELCA Youth Gathering. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock PS. The ELCA Youth Gathering page at elca.org shows 16 “Meet the Team” youth leaders, and everyone of them lists preferred pronouns.
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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.)
Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has become predictable in its promotion of all things LGBT. One article talks about the “historic” election of the ELCA’s first lesbian bishop and also the election of the ELCA’s first transgender bishop. Then there is an article by the homosexual president of an ELCA seminary (who has a “husband”) talking about how he weaves together being gay and Lutheran. He states “Late in life, I have woven these three aspects of my life- Osage, Lutheran, gay- closer together, and I am a happier, more complete person for it.” Then there is the magazine’s torturous avoiding of the word “he” for God, like this statement: “God provides us with the original Sabbath blueprint creation, when God rests on the seventh day…God also commands God’s people to honor the Sabbath day.” This de-sexing of God language is done because the biblical way of referring to God as “he” is offensive to the ELCA’s feminist sensibilities. On a very rare occasion, a conservative point of view comes out in the magazine’s Letters to the Editor. One writer from Iowa said “I have observed my own church move from conservative to ultraliberal during the past 33 years of the ELCA. I am sorry to say, if Bonhoeffer we’re alive today, he would not be a member of the ELCA.” Finally, something in the Living Lutheran magazine to which I can say “Amen.” Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock --- See August, 2021 issue of Living Lutheran here. (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Fast forward to today. A while ago at Luther Seminary, a transgender chapel preacher said “Let us pray the Lord’s Prayer in whatever way you are comfortable, “Our Mother who is in heaven…”. At the ELCA’s recent Churchwide Assembly, many delegates announced their “preferred pronouns” before they spoke, regardless of whether those pronouns matched their God – given anatomy. This was their way of being “trans inclusive”. In today’s strange world of religious liberalism, if you don’t call someone by their “preferred pronouns” you are doing “gender violence.” What about respecting God’s “preferred pronoun”? God consistently revealed Himself as “He” in both the Old and New Testaments. Yes, there is some female imagery for God in the Bible, like when Isaiah talks about God caring for us as a mother. But the pronouns are always masculine and Jesus never prayed to God as “Mother” but only as “Father”. This kind of desexing of God language is also taking place in the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church USA. How about respecting God’s “preferred pronoun”? Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Bishop Lowell Erdahl, retired Bishop of the St. Paul Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, died this month. He and I were on opposite sides of moral issues back in the days when I was still in the ELCA. He and former head ELCA Bishop Herbert Chilstrom, who died last year, co-wrote a book entitled “Sexual Fulfillment: For Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old”. The book endorsed homosexual behavior in ‘loving, committed relationships” and also stated that “self-pleasuring” (masturbation) can be a gift from God.
I have personally struggled with same sex attraction for most of my life, but for the sake of Christ and my eternal soul, I abstain. Thus, I was grieved that Erdahl and Chilstrom promoted the acceptance of homosexual behavior in the Church. And they won. Since 2009 the ELCA has ordained practicing homosexuals and transgender persons and many ELCA congregations now perform homosexual “weddings.” In May, the ELCA elected the world’s first transgender bishop. Today, Erdahl and Chilstrom stand before God to answer for denying the Bible which teaches “homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-11). Romans 1:32 talks about people who give “hearty approval” to sin. I am sad to say, I think these two bishops did that. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock --- (Here is Bishop Erdahl's obituary) (The following is a letter written by a married couple to their ELCA church council. I have made a few edits to remove names and places)
On January 8, 2021, ELCA Bishop Elizabeth Eaton was one of several religious leaders who signed a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress and the Cabinet calling for the removal of President Donald Trump from office following the events of January 6 in the Capitol. This letter was written two days following the events at the Capitol while causes of the events of January 6 were in the early stages of investigation. The letter signed by Bishop Eaton stated, "In addition, we recognize the need to hold responsible not only those who invaded the Capitol, but also those who supported and/or promoted the President’s false claims about the election or made their own false accusations." We read this to state that the leader of the ELCA is now calling for repercussions for those with thoughts and beliefs that are not her own. Our world is currently so very divided, and one place we want to feel at peace, loved, appreciated is in our church home. When we read this letter from Bishop Eaton, we immediately felt that due to our political beliefs we were no longer welcome in the church we called home. We must admit that since the covid pandemic started, our involvement with (our church) has waned. Some of it was due to covid, but much of our lack of involvement was due to our research beginning in January 2021 on the beliefs of the ELCA and our realization that our beliefs differed greatly from ELCA leadership. Polls show that 75 to 80 percent of Republicans believe there was some fraud involved with the 2020 presidential elections. We fall within that group that questions whether fraud occurred in the election process in some states. While we accepted the results of the election, we do believe that there was some questionable election activity in multiple states that should be explored. We are not saying the fraud was absolute, but there was cause for investigation. According to the leader of the ELCA, we are outright wrong in our beliefs and there is no room for discussion. Considering that at least 50 percent of (our state) are registered Republicans, and according to polls 75 percent of Republicans believe there was some fraudulent activity in the 2020 election, that would equate to a rough estimate of 40 percent of the church membership of the ELCA in (our state) that needs to be held responsible for the events of January 6 at the Capitol according to Bishop Eaton. We disagree. This was the start of not feeling welcome by the ELCA, and the beginning of our research on what the ELCA currently stands for. We moved to (this city) in 2012 and joined (this ELCA church) because it was the church at which (my wife's) father was a member and that her paternal ancestors had belonged to, though (my wife) had been raised as a Catholic and (I) as an American Baptist. We knew that (this church) was a member of the ELCA, but we didn’t do our research as to what the ELCA believed. We just believed that all Lutherans were essentially the same. The January 8, 2021 letter signed by Bishop Eaton led us to do further research. Our research found a multitude of issues to which we disagree with ELCA leadership. Below we will highlight just a few of the issues with which we disagree.
These are just a few of the reasons we started questioning whether membership in an ELCA church was right for us. Then on November 19, 2021, Bishop Eaton released a pastoral message on the Rittenhouse acquittal stating, “When a child is allowed to become a vigilante without recourse, we are forced to confront the idols of our society: guns, violence and white supremacy.” She also stated, “Today’s acquittal is an injustice.”
Following much research, prayer and discussion, we have decided to withdraw our membership in the ELCA which means we need to withdraw our membership at (this church) and seek a local church that more closely fits our beliefs. We wanted you to know that our withdrawal of membership is not based on our local church family, but rather the work and beliefs of the leadership at the highest levels of the ELCA. We love and support our friends and neighbors who are members of the ELCA and will continue to support the work of (this church) at the local level through prayer.
Jennie (Jennifer) Chrien is an ELCA pastor at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, in Simi Valley, CA. She has this to say about Mary, Joseph and Jesus:
The ELCA's Southwest California Synod Bishop, Brenda Bos, a lesbian, made a comment under this Facebook post by Rev. Chrien. There was no admonition by the ELCA bishop. Below are some additional posts from pastor Jennie Chrien on her Facebook page. |
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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