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President Trump's updated immigration policy, which applies heavy restrictions on immigration from certain countries, is being branded as racist by a top Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leader. A recent ELCA Facebook post shares an article written by Assistant to the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA Kathryn Lohre and highlights the quote,
"We are denouncing this policy not only as anti-Muslim, but also as racist and xenophobic..." The updated policy added the following countries to the United States immigration restriction list: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania. The ELCA has always been against the "travel ban," but they cheapen real racism and xenophobia by trying to brand this policy as such. The fact that one of the top leaders in the ELCA wrote this, and the ELCA chose to share and highlight this quote in their social media, should be concerning to all. 
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Rev. Harold L. Peterson is a retired ELCA pastor. For his birthday last year he was asking people to give money to Planned Parenthood. The retired Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor wrote, "I've chosen this nonprofit because their missions means a lot to me..." The ELCA is notorious for their support for abortion. (See here and here) The evil runs deep in the denomination and it isn't just coming from bishops and young pastors. See pastor Harold L. Peterson's post below or here. 
The leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has chosen a gay man, John Weit, to be the next Assistant to the Presiding Bishop, Executive for Worship. He replaces Rev. Kevin Strickland, also a gay man, in this position.
In a church bio of John Weit we are told, "John lives in the Hyde Park neighborhood with his spouse, Matt James, and their cat, Buddy." (See here)
John Weit is a member of Proclaim. Proclaim is a "professional community for Lutheran ministers and candidates, who publicly identify as LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, plus)" (Quote from here).
Upon hearing this news, Rev. Tom Brock addressed the situation saying, "Before the ELCA’s 2009 decision to ordain practicing homosexuals, a pastor would have been disciplined for engaging in homosexual behavior. Today practicing homosexuals are placed in the highest positions of the denomination." (See here) 
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) The deaconness movement in Lutheran denominations has a long and wonderful history of women serving people with the gospel of Christ. But I stumbled across the below from the website of the deaconess movement of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It shows how extreme this ELCA organization has become as it now lets men who think they are women become deaconesses. We are now to even re-spell the word “women” in order to avoid binary “male/female” language, overcome patriarchy, and include transgender people. To say “the Spirit” is calling the Church to do this (below) is close to blasphemy. Jesus Himself said that God made us male and female (binary) in Matthew 19:4.  Read the below and you will wonder what on earth has happened to the Lutheran deaconess movement. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock From ELCA deaconess website: WHY WE WRITE WOMXN At the Deaconess Community’s 2016 assembly, we voted to become a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community. Included in that vote was the decision to open our doors to female-identifying people. The spelling of “women” and “woman” originate from Old English, where “man” was used as a gender fluid pronoun much like “one” and “they” have turned into today. While dictionaries do not officially recognize the spelling (Google labels “womxn” as nonstandard), it’s often used to promote inclusivity among cis- and transgender women... (read the rest of the article here) 
The first person to post a critical comment wrote, "Please consider the racial implications of what you are saying here. There is no darkness in him- really??? I assume exclusion (from God) is not your intent, but that is the impact. Please apologize and remove this post."
Another wrote, "Please don't ever again pretend to be confused about why we're 97% white. This post tells me so much about how my church is in relationship to my dark skin." A ELCA pastor also replied, "Just because it’s a bible verse does not mean it can’t be used to inflict harm on our siblings of color and perpetuate systemic racism in a church that is 98% white. The bible has been used to silence women, oppress LGBTQIA+ persons, and justify slavery. We need to choose our imagery carefully. We need to do better and not (unintentionally or not) alienate our fellow siblings in the body of Christ." And they went on blast mode from there, so much so that the ELCA had to edit their Bible verse image post with an addition: "Dear siblings in Christ, We have been paying very close attention to the conversation created by this post. Thank you all who have voiced your experiences and concerns regarding the language used. The verse shared here comes from last week’s lectionary readings. As themes of darkness and light will appear again in lectionary readings later in Lent, we have chosen to leave this post and its discussion here so that it can inspire deeper conversation and reflection as we prepare for the season ahead. We apologize that the language in this post has caused harm, and we recognize that this image can be a painful reminder of the harmful power dynamics, racism and inequity that exist in this church. It is our responsibility to be intentional in our use of images and language. We are committed to this work, and we are committed to learning from our mistakes." See the ELCA Facebook post here or below. So, not only are ELCAites upset and viewing this Bible verse as racial, but the ELCA responds by apologizing for the pain people may feel from quoting it. Who wants to support the ELCA and worship in a denomination that does that? The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America apologized for quoting God's Word, for saying "God is Light, in Him there is no darkness at all." Shame on them and shame on anyone who remains in this denomination. Not surprising, the ELCA went on to say this, 
(The following article was written last year by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Bishop Herbert Chilstrom was my bishop for years before he became the first presiding bishop of the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America back in 1988. My heart sank back then when he became head bishop because I knew of his liberal views. He later became a champion for the acceptance of homosexual relationships in the ELCA. And his view won the day in 2009 when the ELCA voted to ordain practicing homosexuals and to allow gay "weddings". Near where I live is an ELCA church where the male Lutheran homosexual pastor has a "husband" who is an United Church of Christ pastor. This is the new world of the ELCA. This month Living Lutheran, the ELCA's national magazine, is presenting a five-part series by Chilstrom on the authority of the Bible. His first article says this: "If the Spirit of God is alive and at work in the church in every age, should we not expect that new insights into our understanding of the Bible will emerge in our own generation—or from the experience of believers in the world?" These words remind me of a conversation I had years ago with a liberal Lutheran pastor on the subject of homosexuality. I pointed out the clear teaching of Romans chapter 1 forbidding homosexual behavior. His response: "The Holy Spirit is leading us to a higher consciousness on this issue than the Apostle Paul had in the First Century." In other words, the Holy Spirit today is contradicting what He inspired the Apostle Paul to write in the First Century. The most liberal Protestant denomination is the United Church of Christ whose motto is: God is still speaking. I'm afraid this means "Yes, God spoke against certain things in the Bible long ago, but God is saying new things to the Church today." This understanding of Scripture allows you to get around any Bible verse that you don't like. And it is tragic, perhaps near blasphemy, to say that the Holy Spirit is the one leading the liberal, mainline Protestant denominations to embrace the world and reinterpret Scripture. The answer to all this, of course, is to remember the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible and He will not contradict Himself 2000 years later. The Lutheran Reformation was founded upon the Latin phrase "Sola Scripture" which means "the Bible alone" has the final authority. Would that liberal Protestant leaders remember that and not try to imagine a Holy Spirit who contradicts the very book He has inspired. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock 
The topic of "white privilege" is a trending liberal issue that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has decided to propagate.
The ELCA's official magazine, Living Lutheran, has a short article, that the ELCA's official Facebook page has posted, sharing the ELCA resource "Study guide: Unpacking white privilege." The following are two quotes from the ELCA's "Study guide: Unpacking white privilege:" “It is not enough to say, ‘We are sorry.’ We must put actions behind our words. ... We must take a moral inventory of our wrongs and make reparations for the same." And, “It is not enough to feel bad or say ‘sorry.’ As an African American ELCA pastor, I am asking white folks to do the work of dismantling their privilege so that the ELCA can be a safer place for all of God’s children. … It is our prayer that predominantly European American ELCA congregations will begin to pray—and then act—to become anti-racist Jesus followers, committed to dismantling white privilege both inside and outside our churches.” (Here is the article and here is the study guide) 
Luther Seminary, ELCA, is holding a festival, a "Festival of Homiletics" (the way of writing sermons and preaching).
The festival's theme is "Preaching a New Earth: Climate and Creation." We learn from their website that, "Our God needs our help to speak the truth about where and how God’s Earth groans for renewal, even resurrection, how our very climate changes are God’s cries for help." God is crying for help? Their site continues "The 2020 Festival of Homiletics theme invites preachers to imagine their own role in God’s creative work, to be courageous in preaching about God’s creative activity, and to claim boldly our role in caring for God’s creation, when God’s very creation is at stake." (See here) Also, notice the great effort to which the ELCA seminary goes to avoid using male pronouns for God in those sentences? "The Festival’s ownership, leadership and planning efforts are with Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota." (See here) One of the speakers is controversial ELCA pastor Lenny Duncan. (See here and learn more about Rev. Duncan here)
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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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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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