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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.)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church d in America used to believe that homosexual behavior is contrary to the will of God. That all changed in 2009 when the ELCA voted to ordain practicing homosexuals – at a convention that was literally hit by a tornado. Today many ELCA congregations celebrate homosexuality and this month ELCA head bishop Elizabeth Eaton appeared in a gay pride video to celebrate gay pride month. Westwood Lutheran is an ELCA congregation in the Twin Cities area. It is the devil's job to take something ugly and make it look pretty, and the below video is very slick. Listen to Westwood's "amazing welcome that comes from God": "We are called to be ourselves...including sexuality...God gives unconditional welcome to all people...This includes people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and relationship status". Is this true? I personally have struggled with same sex attraction most of my life and I am grateful that Jesus welcomes people who struggle with all kinds of sin. But what does He welcome us to? To repentance from sin and new life in Christ. But you will hear no mention of repentance from sin in the below video because sin is no longer sin. Now sexual sin is something to be celebrated. And what does it mean that Westwood welcomes people regardless of "relationship status"? It is not spelled out but I am guessing that Westwood has no problem welcoming heterosexual couples who are living in fornication. Does Jesus radically welcome everyone into His Church? No. He welcomes sinners who come to Him in repentance and faith. On the Last Day Jesus Himself will say "Depart from me" to the unrepentant (Matthew 7:22-23). Jesus taught that we should expel the impenitent person from the Church (Matthew 18:15-17) and the Apostle Paul taught the same (I Corinthians 5:13). And it is not loving to welcome people to continue to live a life of sin since this will eternally separate them from God (I Corinthians 6:9-11). I hope you attend a good, Biblical church which welcomes all kinds of sinners, but which also welcomes them to repentance from sin and to faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock
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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.)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America head bishop Elizabeth Eaton has stated “When we take a look at 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…”. No, Bishop Eaton, it is not the truth. Jesus said God “made us male and female” (Matthew 19:4). Tap (below) to see what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America just posted for gay pride month. Like one person commented: "This is good advertising to join the Missouri Synod Lutherans." Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock PS We are "perfectly and wonderfully made, just as we are"? Whatever happened to the doctrine of original sin (Romans 5) which teaches "we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:3)? Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Each of us is a beloved child of God, perfectly and wonderfully made, just as we are. Thanks to ReconcilingWorks for this Lutheran introduction to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Living in and embracing sinful behavior is wrong. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has chosen to defy God and His will by celebrating and encouraging sinful sexual lifestyles. But more than that, the ELCA is advocating for children to be placed in households that are openly living in sexual perversion. In the ELCA article linked below the ELCA's Presiding Bishop writes about "...recognizing and affirming the vocation of LGBTQIA+ people as parents and foster parents." People living the LGBT life should be lovingly cared for as we pray they would chose to live in obedience to God. But children should not be placed in a household where the adults have decided to joyfully and defiantly live in sexual sin. So the ELCA is harming both those that are attracted to people of the same sex and also children who are forced to live in that defiant-to-God household. (See the ELCA article here) 
Exposing the ELCA's goal is to raise $75,000 this year, an amount many ELCA pastors make in one year, so we can continue to be a light in the darkness to ELCA members and those the ELCA is misleading.
After almost 5 months, faithful followers of Christ have given $2470 toward this goal. It is very much appreciated, thank you to all that have given! As you can see, this is a long way from our goal. Can you help fund Exposing the ELCA for the remainder of 2021? The ELCA is spiraling downward fast, dragging millions of people with them. These are our friends, family members and neighbors. They need to know that they are being mislead and the consequences are dire. A recent note to Exposing the ELCA reads "Thank you for the work you do. My family has left our small local ELCA church after finding your website, learning what the ELCA was doing and sharing it with the church council who chose to do nothing about it. They don't think what the ELCA does affects us "that much" and they are afraid of losing half the congregation if they address it. Save the church, lose your soul. So sad. Your work is important. God bless!" Thank you for your gifts, big and small. God bless! Dan Skogen
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America elected their first (soon to be many, no doubt) openly lesbian bishop. The Southwest California Synod elected Brenda Bos to be their bishop this weekend.
Bishop-elect Bos is married to a woman and formally worked at Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, an LGBT Lutheran organization. So far this year the ELCA has elected a transgender bishop, a transgender associate to the bishop and a lesbian bishop. The ELCA twists the words of Scripture (know anyone else who did that?) in order to implement their beliefs. Sadly, may faithful, orthodox, Bible-believing people are paying (offering dollars) for leaders who spew harmful lies and influence young and old alike. If you are still in the ELCA how can you justify that? 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America numbers from 12-31-2019:
3,265,581 baptized members. This is down 97,700 from 2018. 8,972 congregations – a loss of 119 from 2018 Below is the link. See page 261. https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Summary_of_Congregational_Statistics_as_of_12-31-2019.pdf (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Today is the first day of gay pride month. Last year the head Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American made a gay pride video and wrote the below message. Notice she talks about LGBT "siblings"--presumably because saying "brothers and sisters" is too binary and excludes transgender people. Here is the quote from Bishop Elizabeth Eaton: "But this celebration (of a pro-LGBT Supreme Court decision) and this Pride Month is not just something that happens one month out of the year. We celebrate all year round for the many gifts and the ways that this church and this country have been enriched by the gifts of LGBTQIA+ people. “Our congregations are stronger. Our communities are more vibrant. There's still more work to be done and we will do it. But we know that we're moving closer to the time when these siblings cannot be made invisible by the church or by the country. They are seen and always have been seen by God. And now we can see that, in fact, all of us, all of us are created in God's image. “Peace. Be well, dear church.” So here it appears we have the head bishop of a Lutheran denomination celebrating a sexual behavior which God's Word condemns (see my article "What does the Bible teach about homosexuality?" at pastorsstudy.org). Bishop Eaton has never said a contrary word about homosexual behavior and she promotes gay pride so I can't assume otherwise. BIshop Eaton has also publicly stated that the ELCA supports abortion rights. Also, I shopped at Target today which I rarely do, it is very liberal on social causes. I snapped the below picture (see here) and complained saying "I'm a conservative, I don't appreciate Target promoting this to people who are not where they are on the political spectrum." Yes, I realize complaining to Target will not do much, but it is better than doing nothing. Hopefully it gave the employee to whom I complained something to think about. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock PS When LGBT pride month comes I think of the verse Philippians 3:19 "Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." It is tragic when the world does this, it is super tragic when the Church (ELCA Lutherans, PCUSA Presbyterians, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church in America) does this |
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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