"God the Father...Mother of us all": How liberals are changing the Bible's language for God4/26/2018 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Patricia Lull is the bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In an article called “Not What We Bargained For” she beings with this: "Grace and peace to you from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mother of us all. AMEN". Where does Jesus ever call God the "Mother of us all"? Jesus consistently refers to God as "Father." Bishop Lull provides us with another example of how feminism is overriding the authority of Scripture when it comes to God language. If you attend an ELCA church which uses the ELCA's official hymnal "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" perhaps you have noticed such hymns as "Mothering God you gave me birth". The hymnal also desexes all the Psalms to get rid of masculine pronouns for God. Years ago lesbian pastor and popular ELCA speaker Barbara Lundblad proposed to baptize in the name of “the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Mother, Lover, Friend; Wisdom, Word and Breath of Life." And two ELCA head bishops have used the word "Godself" to avoid saying the words "God Himself." This de-sexing of God language is not just an ELCA aberration but is also happening in the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church USA and other liberal denominations. I visited a United Methodist congregation a few months ago and the pastor deleted God the Father from the baptismal formula, instead baptizing "in the name of the One who creates all things." I wrote the pastor a note that we are not free to change the way Jesus taught us to baptize "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). It has become popular in some liberal churches to close the worship service not "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" but "in the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier", again, to get rid of the Bible's language for God. If you attend a church which is embarrassed to use Jesus' language for God, I recommend you find a Biblical church where the Triune name of God is upheld and where you can best invest your money, time and talents to the glory of God the Father. In the name of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org (See Bishop Lull's article here)
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You often read on Exposing the ELCA of the radical and anti-Biblical happenings and teachings of ELCA seminaries. (see here and scroll down the page) Today I want to share with you two accounts, that were shared on Facebook, by two people describing their experiences at their respective ELCA seminaries.
“I remember a female seminarian who once, while leading worship in the seminary chapel, referred to the elements of the Holy Sacrament as God's (as female) menstrual blood which we are to drink. Many walked out of chapel that day! Nothing was ever done by any administration to correct or reprimand the seminarian. She is now an ordained pastor in the ELCA. And we scratch our heads at the ELCA!” – Posted by a Lutheran Pastor on Facebook “I took one distance education class at an ELCA seminary in the early 2000's. When publicly castigated for having the gall to suggest the Bible is more reliable and holy than the Koran, I knew right then that I would never surrender myself to them for spiritual formation.” – Posted by an Assistant Professor on Facebook I’ve had similar disturbing experiences while I studied at an ELCA seminary. Do you want to be under the leadership and teaching of an ELCA ordained pastor? Yes, this is an ELCA church. Turning a symbol the represents Christianity into a symbol that represents evolution, mocks Christianity and God's Word. The vast majority of pastors and leaders in the ELCA hold the viewpoint that God's account of creation is historically wrong. They reject it, as they do with many other parts of Scripture. Over 2400 ELCA leaders signed a Clergy letter in support of evolution and rejecting the Biblical account of creation told in the book of Genesis. (see here) When I posted the article of the 2400 ELCA leaders, on an ELCA clergy Facebook page, Rev. Mark Molter, an ELCA pastor, responded saying: (language warning) 
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
In yet another article affirming transgenderism, the April edition of Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, tells the story of Pastor Rose who has become Pastor Peter in a “renaming ceremony to reflect his transition from female to male.” The article states: “He (my note: the article calls this woman “he” throughout the article) had openly self-identified as queer for many years…the congregation was fully accepting, which, given its reputation as a radically welcoming place, didn’t surprise him.” Did the ELCA bishop do anything to discipline this pastor and congregation? No, quite the contrary, the ELCA bishop of New Jersey was present at the re-naming ceremony and called the pastor a “faithful, joyful servant of Christ”. According to the article, the bishop “believes the renaming ceremony was important for the church and for her to be part of it. “I felt it was appropriate and important for me to stand with Pastor Beeson and the people of St. Matthew Trinity. We have been providing education and events for congregations to learn about becoming safer and more welcoming places for LGBTQ youth. Standing with this congregation and their pastor seemed a logical way to demonstrate what we have been teaching.”” (NOTE: Head bishop of the ELCA Elizabeth Eaton has also taken a stand for transgenderism telling a Chicago newspaper “When we take a look a people’s sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s not completely binary. Everybody isn’t male or everybody isn’t female. There’s a whole spectrum to that. I think that’s something that’s new for a lot of our people to think about, but it’s the truth…”) The article concludes: “Beeson…isn’t that different from other ELCA pastors, ministering out in the world…at a congregation that he said is dominated by a “deep commitment to God’s grace.” Here again we see God’s grace being used as an excuse to sin. I couldn’t help but think of the warning of Jude 4 regarding “certain persons (who) have crept in unnoticed…ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” And also Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” May the Lord have mercy on this confused and rebellious denomination that is encouraging people to live in sin, In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org -- (Here is the referenced article in the ELCA's Living Lutheran.) A year and a half ago ELCA pastors Matthew Pensinger and Brian Beissel took part in a conversation that was hosted by the Lehigh Valley Humanists (PA). It was called "Humanist/Lutheran Dialogue," and they posted the video on YouTube.  What follows is an intriguing view into the mind-set, thoughts, understandings and beliefs of two ELCA pastors. Their words are quite disturbing in what they believe but also in what they reveal about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America itself. Discussing the interpretation of Scripture, Interviewer Jason Brocious asks, “What would it take to push things too far and get in trouble (with the ELCA)?” ELCA Rev. Brian Beissel said, “I think to say you don't believe in Jesus or the divinity of Jesus. I think that would probably be the breaking point I think.” ELCA Rev. Matthew Pensinger: “Maybe.” ELCA Rev. Brian Beissel: “Maybe. I don’t know.” ELCA Rev. Matthew Pensinger: “It depends on, you know, who complains about it and who they complain about it to.” (see video below, at around the 15 minute mark) The ELCA pastors continued, next sharing their thoughts on the authority of Scripture. ELCA Rev. Brian Beissel stated, “Let me say something about the authority of Scripture…in the Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther himself, well first of all when he put together his own Bible, the Luther Bible, he put the books of Revelation and Hebrews at the end of Bible and didn't number them, which tells you what he thought of those specific books, you know. Also he said, I believe this is a Luther quote, that Scripture is like the cradle or where the baby Jesus is placed. Meaning, does scripture reveal to us something about the essence of Christ? Yes. But does that mean everything in Scripture is, you know, is all of it inspired? Well yes, but I'm inspired by God too but and when I'm inspired by God I don't always do great things, you know, I mess up…” ELCA Rev. Matthew Pensinger: “Some of it (Scripture) is a box covered with animal dung, is what is the point of that quote.” ELCA Rev. Brian Beissel: “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes” So the ELCA teaches that God's Word is just a dirty, disgusting, smelly vessel that talks about Jesus? It is no wonder the ELCA rejects, twists and ignores many Biblical accounts and instruction. Later in the video the interviewer mentioned a tragic situation and asked the pastors, “how do you look at prayer and how that fits into, can it help these situations and in what way can it?” ELCA Rev. Brian Beissel replied, “I'm going to say something that if my congregants watch this on YouTube, sorry. Prayer without action is meaningless. I'm sorry, I'm sorry but it is. When you pray for something and ‘oh I’m a good person because I prayed for this’ and you don't put it in action it's just words.” ELCA Rev. Matthew Pensinger: “…to me prayer is about centering oneself. It's about clearing, you know, the clutter from the mind and from the spirit. It's about prioritizing or re-prioritizing you know the things and so.” What a warped view of prayer. One says prayer is meaningless without human action? The other says it is for one's self. They both went on and said their god is not a wish-granting fairy or genie. It sounded as if they do not believe in a God who answers prayers, performs miracles or takes part in believers' lives. This is the kind of pastor the ELCA has trained and ordained. They are in a place of authority. They are influencing the faith of their congregations. If you are sitting under the teaching of an ELCA pastor, I highly recommend leaving. (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
The national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in recent years has printed glowing articles about homosexual and transgender pastors. Here is yet another promotion of transgenderism, the boldest yet. Will they ever print an objective article allowing both sides of the issue to be heard? In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock Both/and An interview with 'Transforming' author Austen Hartke https://www.livinglutheran.org/2018/02/hartke/ It is great to see at least one ELCA pastor publicly criticizing ELCA leadership.
“The Revd Paul Messner, a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who serves at the Otsego County Lutheran parish, in rural Upstate New York, voted for Mr Trump as 'the lesser of two evils'. He says that opposition to the administration by his own denomination and other mainline Protestant ones is 'frankly irrelevant: they are "bleeding" members. Many in the Church on the Left relish their self-indulgent "prophetic’ role,"' he argues, 'and forget their pastoral role toward all in their congregations and communities.'” (see here) Rev. Messner is correct that the ELCA is "bleeding" members. “The ELCA saw its membership decline to 3.5 million members in 2016, down from 5.2 million in 1988 when the denomination was formed as a merger of three other smaller Lutheran groups. Today, 40 percent of its churches have between 50 and 100 worshippers each Sunday.” (see here) The ELCA is a dying denomination. Any conservative, Bible-believing members still in the ELCA need to stop funding this liberal, radical, Bible-twisting and faith-destroying denomination and leave it for a God-honoring, truth preaching, Bibilical church. |
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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