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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.)
This month's Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, highlights women in ministry. One such person is Prairie Rose Seminole, American Indian Alaska Native program director for the ELCA. She writes: "...As the sun rises, I also rise. I put out water, tobacco or food for my ancestors. I offer gratitude...for being able to witness to that which moves all things--God, Great Mystery, Chief Who Sits Above, Mother, Creator, the blood in my veins, the hurricane crashing to shore, earth moving--that power of which we are all a part...I come from the Sahnish/Arikiara tribe...Our creation story is different from what is in the Bible. Is it our place to say that is wrong? No....My faith is influenced by millennia upon millennia of indigenous roots in this land, 2,000 years of Christianity, 500 years of the Lutheran church, and more than 500 years of genocide and policies to wipe out the first people of our country." Sadly, what we have here is a program director for the ELCA who is trying to combine pagan, non-Christian religion with Christianity. Pantheism teaches that God is everything and everything is God (the mountains, the hurricanes, everything is God). But Christians reject pantheism and teach that God is separate from His creation, God is the Creator, not the created. Christians believe in God the Father, nowhere did Jesus teach us to pray to God as "Mother." And the Biblical account of creation is the one Christians believe, not stories from other religions. I am German. My ancestors worshiped Thor and Odin. I am not at all offended that I cannot worship these old gods along with the Holy Trinity, neither do I want to. We are all called upon, regardless of our heritage, to reject the false gods of our ancestors and worship the Trinity alone. Sadly, this article from the national magazine of the ELCA appears to teach otherwise. In Jesus the only Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org (Read the Living Lutheran article here.)
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(Updated March 2018 - Original blog was written March, 2011) One would think that ELCA pastors, bishops and teachers would believe Scripture. However all one has to do is read, “The Clergy Letter - from American Christian clergy: An Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science,” to find that most do not. Over 2400 ELCA leaders signed this letter which states,  “the overwhelming majority (of Christians) do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth.” Make no mistake, what these Christian leaders are saying is that they do not believe what the Bible actually says. They are calling the story about creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah’s ark, lies. These ELCA leaders think they know better than Jesus, the Old and New Testament writers, and 2000 years of Christians, who knew these stories to be true. (read more here) The letter goes on to say, “We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as ‘one theory among others’ is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children.”
Really? So those that believe God’s account of creation, are “ignorant?” Maybe these religious elites should read from the following website of the many scientists who are skeptical of Darwinism. (read here and download the list of scientists who signed "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.") The Clergy letter also says, “We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris.” Let me get this straight, now these “Christian” leaders, who say that the Biblical account of creation is not true, are now telling us that if we believe God’s account of creation we are REJECTING God’s Will? Finally the letter says, “We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge.” (read here) Here are “Christian” leaders urging school boards to have the teaching of evolution be a “core component of HUMAN knowledge.” These are the people teaching us and our children about Jesus and the Bible? Someone may ask, “What’s the big deal?” “Who cares if ELCA leaders and pastors don’t believe what the Bible says about creation?” Here are a few quotes that highlight why we should care: "More cases of loss of religious faith can be traced to the theory of evolution--- than anything else." - Martin Lings, quoted in Christian Century July, 1982 “Evolution is the greatest engine of atheism ever invented.” - Noted evolutionist, Professor Will Provine, in “Evolution: Free will and punishment and meaning in life.” "Any creationist lawyer who got me on the stand could instantly win over the jury simply by asking me: 'Has your knowledge of evolution influenced you in the direction of becoming an atheist?' I would have to answer yes and, at one stroke, I would have lost the jury." - Noted evolutionist, Dr. Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion (2008) p. 93 While I was studying at an ELCA seminary, the Dean of Students told me that not one ELCA seminary professor in the United States believes Adam and Eve were real people. I have no doubt that statement is true. Sadly, seminary professors’ beliefs are being picked up by their students, who are the current and future ELCA pastors. Linked at the end of this blog is the list of current and retired ELCA pastors, ELCA seminary professors, ELCA college professors, ELCA seminary presidents and ELCA Bishops who agree with this letter and signed it. Some of the notable signers are: Bishop Tom Aitken (Northeastern Minnesota Synod), The Rev. Hans R. Arnesen (Associate to the Bishop of the New England Synod), Bishop Allan Bjornberg (ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod), Bishop Paul J. Blom - Houston, Texas, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, The Rev. Stacy Boorn (herchurch), The Rev. Michael Cooper-White, D.D., (President - Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA), The Rev. Jean DeVoll-Donaldson (Assistant to the Bishop/Director for Evangelical Mission Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod), Bishop Ralph W. Dunkin (West Virginia -Western Maryland Synod), The Rev. James Kenneth Echols, Ph.D. (President - Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago), The Rev. Paul W. Egertson, Ph.D. (Bishop Emeritus - Southwest California Synod), The Rev. Jim Hazelwood (Bishop of the New England Synod), The Rev. Anita C. Hill, The Rev. B. Penrose Hoover (Bishop - Lower Susquehanna Synod), The Rev. Robert L. Isaksen, (Retired ELCA Pastor and Bishop of the New England Synod), The Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, Kevin S. Kanouse, (Bishop Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod), Paul R. Landahl (Bishop Metropolitan Chicago Synod), Bishop April Ulring Larson (La Crosse Area Synod), The Rev. Duane H. Larson, PhD., (President - Wartburg Theological Seminary), The Rev. Felipe Lozada-Montanez (Bishop of the Caribbean Synod of the ELCA), Bishop Brian D.Maas (Nebraska Synod - ELCA), Bishop John S. Macholz (Upstate New York Synod - ELCA), The Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Mansholt (Bishop Central States Synod), The Rev. Robert W. Mattheis (Bishop Emeritus, Sierra Pacific Synod), The Rev. George Paul Mocko (Bishop Emeritus, Delaware-Maryland Synod), Bishop David G. Mullen (Sierra Pacific Synod), Bishop Dean W. Nelson (Southwest California Synod), Bishop Margaret G. Payne (New England Synod), The Rev. Dr. Ted Peters (Interim President - Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary), The Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Schmalenberger (Retired President - Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary), Rev. Robin J. Steinke, Ph.D. (President Luther Seminary), Bishop David R. Strobel (Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod), The Rev. Dr. Christopher M. Thomforde (President - St. Olaf College), Bishop Ron Warren (ELCA Southeastern Synod), The Rev. Dr. Howard E. Wennes (Retired Bishop ELCA), The Rev. Paul M. Werger, (Bishop Emeritus - Southeastern Iowa Synod), The Rev. Eric G. Wolf(Assistant to the Bishop of the South Carolina Synod, ELCA), The Rev. Dr. Herman Yoos (Bishop - South Carolina Synod) and Bishop David B. Zellmer (South Dakota Synod). More than 14500 American pastors signed this letter and over 2400 of them are Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leaders. Here is a list of all the ELCA leaders who signed the Clergy letter. To read more about creation, intelligent design or evolution see: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2012 http://www.icr.org/article/5669 http://www.icr.org/article/creation-evolution https://evolutionnews.org/ http://www.trueauthority.com/cvse/faq2.htm http://scienceagainstevolution.info/topics.htm --- It takes a lot of work to keep this ministry going. Please prayerfully consider supporting the ministry of Exposing the ELCA. Click here to find out how.
Guns. They are a hot topic of conversation and debate these days. The ELCA Conference of Bishops jumped into the fray with a news release stating their support of the gun focused March for Our Lives. The Bishop’s statement was clear:
“The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in solidarity with our children and youth…offer our support, partnership and prayers for the March for Our Lives, its satellite city events, and our children and youth who are leading us forward as peacemakers.” (see here) The ELCA's presiding bishop and 62 synod bishops signed the statement. The March for Our Lives calls for - "A law to ban the sale of assault weapons..." - "Prohibiting the sale of high-capacity magazines..." - "Closing the loophole in our background check law that allows dangerous people...(to) buy guns online or at gun shows." (see here) Some of you may agree with that stance, some of you may not. I present this information for those ELCA members who disagree with the March for Our Lives' demands. They have a right to know what their denomination is supporting. An recent email by ELCA Advocacy gives further details of what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America wants to happen regarding guns, at least for the time being: "We have resolved as a church to work for the passage and strict enforcement of laws that control the manufacture and sale of weapons not used for hunting and sport, or for use other than law enforcement and military purposes." (See here) Below are some more gun related thoughts of ELCA leaders and entities, - ELCA Pastor Sue Seiffert writes this about the NRA, 
- The tweet below is from the ELCA's Southeastern Minnesota Synod,
- Clergy and faith leaders in Oklahoma, including 5 from the ELCA, signed a letter that said, "we raise our voices again today, to call once more for change and to make the moral claim that our dedication to guns and to violence is, in religious terms, idolatry. We appear to be willing to sacrifice even our own children to this warped ideology, wrapped in the second amendment as if it were Holy Scripture." These "Christian" pastors even say prayers are "...meaningless if they do not change us and our actions." Seriously? They should be defrocked if they think prayers are meaningless. (see here) - WELCA wades into the gun debate, - The Rocky Mountain Synod posted this on their Facebook page, - And here is Rocky Mountain Synod ELCA Bishop Jim Gonia marching,
- Finally, ELCA Advocacy and the ELCA's Metro D.C. synod will participate in the March For Our Lives - (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) The below promo for the seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America mentions being a prophetic "voice for justice" and mentions sexuality showing a transgender (?) person. God and Jesus are not mentioned. Evangelism is not mentioned. Bible study is not mentioned. That is telling. One thing that matters in this promo is "justice", which in the ELCA context often means liberal politics, gay rights, etc. I would suggest that anyone who seriously wants to study God's Word as it has been interpreted for 2000 years not "show up" at an ELCA seminary. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock Keynote Speaker At 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering is the Co-Creator of the "Fuck This Shit" Devotional3/13/2018
(Language warning. My apologies for using the vile words of this ELCA Pastor. But with so many teenagers going to this event, people need to know what kind of teacher will be speaking to their children and also what the ELCA leadership finds good and acceptable to place in front of these students as a teacher and role model)
The 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering, occurring this summer, recently announced that the ELCA's Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche will be a keynote speaker at their national gathering/conference. Here is their announcement: 
(See here)
Parents sending their teenagers to the ELCA Youth Gathering are entrusting their children to the ELCA, to care for and properly instruct them in Christ-honoring ways and with Christ-honoring content. It is a mistake. The ELCA has proven to be an extremely liberal denomination that twists, ignores and violates God's Word. And the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has proven again that they can not be trusted, by asking Pastor Tuhina Verma Rasche, an outspoken radical and controversial pastor, who gained fame in the ELCA for co-authoring the "Fuck This Shit" devotional, to be a keynote speaker. Here is a screenshot of the devotional written by Rev. Rasche: 
(See here)
- A follow-up Advent devotional, co-authored by Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche, is called #ShutTheHellUp. (see here) Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche will be speaking to an estimated 30,000 young people who are coming, from all over the United States, to the ELCA Youth Gathering held in Houston, Texas. (Who will each pay around $400 to attend.) - If that isn't bad enough, ELCA pastor and Youth Gathering speaker, Tuhina Verma Rasche, stood in agreement with a sex-obsessed ELCA group called "Naked and Unashamed" when she signed a statement by the group, which in part said, “We are ELCA Lutherans…The plethora of stories we hear in our conversations demonstrate that life and liberty are being oppressed in the pressure for church leaders to be in marital relationships, or otherwise abstain from all sexual intimacy. The common good of both parishioners and church leaders would benefit from the freedom to be in a variety of healthy relationships…” A specific change the group would like to see in ELCA official documents is: "No longer privileging marriage as the only acceptable form of sexual relationality." (see here) Tuhina Verma Rasche isn't the only ELCA 2018 Youth Gathering keynote speaker who signed the "Naked and Unashamed" statement. ELCA Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber did also. (read more about "Naked and Unashamed" here) - Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche says she is a "Networker" for another radical ELCA group called #decolonizeLutheranism. (see here)
As you contemplate what you have just read and what you will read below, ask yourself if Pastor Tuhina Verma Rasche is the kind of person you want challenging, instructing and motivating your teenagers. Also ask if you should trust the ELCA with your teenager's spiritual growth. Events like this have potential for enormous impact in the lives of young people. Many make commitments and respond to challenges given. What type of commitments will they be called to make? What kind of messages will they be asked to respond to, in their thinking and actions?
Additionally, the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering will have a transgender child and his trans advocate mother speak. (see here) As well as many extreme, radical groups hosting “Interactive Learning" booths at the Gathering. (see here) If you are a parent of a teenager scheduled to go to the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering, I recommend you cancel their trip. Additionally, if you know of students attending, call your church leader and recommend the church cancel their plans to go. Choose something that will lead them to know and follow Jesus, an experience that will lead them into a greater understanding of God's Word rather than being influenced by leaders with this type of message: - In a blog by ELCA Pastor Rasche, she writes, "I am so fucking furious right now." And, "The United States, a nation built on white supremacy, decided that it would rather be white than the silly and stupid metaphors of a melting pot and a salad bowl I learned about in my civics classes." (see here) - Below are tweets by ELCA Pastor Rasche going back to the first of the year. In her tweets you will find lots of anger, demonization of white males, racist comments about white people, liberal politics, gay pride, trans pride and anger at the United States of America.
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
April/May 2018 The Pastor’s Study Newsletter Dear Friends of The Pastor’s Study, Does God ever give up on a person? I think, since He saved the thief on the cross, we can say that God is willing to save people right up to their last moment. But the Bible also teaches that God does “give people over”. Romans 1:24, 26, and 28 says three times that God gives people over to “impurity, degrading passions, and a depraved mind”. This God does only after they have rejected Him for themselves. Perhaps you know people who have so rejected God that they have become lost in bizarre thinking and behavior. Does God ever “give over” a denomination? I have a sad example to share. The liberal branch of Lutheranism is called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (other Lutheran denominations like the Missouri Synod are much more Biblical). Back in 2009 the ELCA decided to violate Scripture and ordain practicing homosexual pastors. Things have gotten stranger and stranger ever since. Recently a Chicago newspaper asked head ELCA bishop Elizabeth Eaton if Hell exists. Her reply “It may exist, but I think it is empty.” In its most recent edition, the ELCA’s national magazine has a whole article promoting the acceptance of transgenderism and the ELCA now has transgender pastors. The ELCA continues to pay for abortion for any reason in its healthcare plan, which is funded by offering dollars. The ELCA is a tragic example of God giving a denomination which has rejected Him over to a depraved mind (Romans 1:28). And sadly, the same is true for the United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church USA. Many years ago these were good, Christian denominations, but step by step they have rejected the authority of Scripture and have entered the world of the bizarre. The main purpose of The Pastor’s Study is to preach salvation from sin, death and Hell through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (and, yes, Jesus did teach repeatedly that Hell exists). But a second purpose of The Pastor’s Study is to alert people to the false teachings in today’s denominations so that people will take their money, time and talents and join a more Biblical church. Just yesterday a more conservative ELCA pastor called me needing support for his Biblical views and in a gentle way I tried to encourage him to consider leading his congregation out of the ELCA into a more Biblical branch of Lutheranism. You have helped The Pastor’s Study spread the Gospel of salvation through Christ. And you have helped us alert people to false teachings in today’s Church. Because of your prayers and giving, we are reaching a wider and wider TV audience. Again I want to say a big “Thank you” for your prayers and giving! We will be honest stewards of your contributions. Have a great Spring, In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock PS You can give online at pastorsstudy.org or by mail to: The Pastor’s Study PO 41294 Minneapolis, Mn 55441 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Theresa Latini is the president of the newly formed United Lutheran Seminary in Pennsylvania, a merger of two shrinking seminaries of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Years ago Latini was the director of OneByOne, a group of which I am a board member and which teaches that homosexual behavior is contrary to God’s will. Someone found articles Latini wrote back in the late 1990s with OnebyOne's heading and she and OneByOne are now under attack. See this article by the pro-homosexual group Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries: https://www.elm.org/…/elm-statement-concerning-united-luth…/ And see this blog by a professor at United Lutheran seminary who laments that Latini used to think homosexuality is wrong: https://happylutheran.blog/…/forgiveness-a…/comment-page-1/… Most tragically, however, is that President Latini has now repudiated the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality and has wholeheartedly embraced the LGBTQ community. She believes the Holy Spirit helped her “evolve” to embrace homosexual relationships. She has experienced “transformation”. To quote Latini: “Thanks to the Spirit’s work and relationships with an ever-expanding community of others, my understanding and ministry evolved into one that is “open and affirming” of LGBTQ+ persons. I listened to church leaders and theologians who had adopted an inclusive sexual ethic based on compelling interpretations of scripture and theology. I met LGBTQ+ Christians who celebrated their sexuality as a gift of God and somehow managed to remain in a church that rejected them—barring them from ordination and refusing to bless their faithful partnerships…In short, transformation worked its way in me…I apologized to persons I knew had been hurt by my previous work, and committed myself to teaching, writing, and administrating from a position of support and advocacy for my LGBTQ+ students, colleagues, and others. I regret the ways that my words and work once failed to embody inclusion, justice, and care. I am now the proud President of United Lutheran Seminary, a Reconciling in Christ seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). As the leader of this community of faith and learning, I acknowledge the beauty and diversity of God’s creation, including all sexual orientations and gender identities. Together we are working to become culturally competent, actively identifying and resisting homophobia and heteronormativity (as well as other forms of bias) in our community and world.” (For Latini’s entire statement here: http://theresalatini.com/open-and-affirming/) The trustees of United Lutheran Seminary are now making this “highest priority” and are expressing “our distress and concern for the pain experienced by so many”. They are calling for a special meeting (see here: https://unitedlutheranseminary.edu/statement-board-trustees-march-2nd/) Wait a minute. What happened to the 2009 decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that conservatives’ “bound conscience” on homosexual behavior would be just as respected as liberals’ “bound conscience”? What happened to the decision that the ELCA will allow both views? It appears now that a seminary president cannot hold to the traditional, biblical teaching on homosexuality without perhaps losing her job. And this president doesn’t even believe the Bible anymore on the issue. It appears to me the liberals are firmly in control of the ELCA and will permit no view but their own. Most sadly in all this is that Latini attributes her endorsement of homosexual behavior to the Holy Spirit. That is much too close to blasphemy. Please pray for her and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which grows more heretical by the day Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org More and more ELCA pastors are coming out of the closet and admitting they are universalists. Universalism is the belief “that all human beings will eventually be saved.” (See here) Below is a recent Facebook post by prominent Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) pastor, Clint Schnekloth. Schnekloth is a pastor, author and blogger; he created and facilitates the ELCA Clergy Facebook Group that has over 5800 members.  This is a false teaching that is dangerous, risking the eternal lives of people who put their trust in it. The Bible, which is God’s Word, teaches that some people will be saved and go to heaven when they die and some people will go to hell with they die. "...Universalism and universal salvation are unbiblical beliefs. Universalism directly contradicts what Scripture teaches…To say that those who reject God’s provision of salvation through His Son will be saved is to belittle the holiness and justice of God and negate the need of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.” (See here) Rev. Schnekloth is one of the growing number of ELCA pastors that espouse this belief. The most renowned pastor in the ELCA, Nadia Bolz-Weber, is a universalist. (See here) Rev Bolz-Weber will be a keynote speaker at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering. Around 30,000 youth typically attend the event. There are still ELCA pastors who will not admit to the label “universalist,” most likely because they understand that it is viewed as heresy, but they do openly teach the principles of universalism. For example, the leader of the ELCA, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, in an interview last year was asked, “Is there a hell?” She replied, “There may be, but I think it is empty.” (See here) That is universalism, plain and simple. If hell is empty, all people will go to heaven. Presiding Bishop Eaton is a universalist. There are many more examples of the ELCA propagating universalism. They do it in their seminaries, in their publications, on social media and in their churches. If the growth of universalism is a concern to you, please go to the following links, here (and scroll down the page) and here, to find just how prevalent this teaching is in the ELCA. |
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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