|
The tweet below comes from a main speaker at last months ELCA National Youth Gathering, Emily Scott. She is the pastor at "(a) progressive, GLBTQ-affirming congregation in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York” (see here).
1 Comment
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.)
The ELCA officially and nationally does not give money to crisis pregnancy centers which help women bring their babies to term. Individual ELCA congregations are free to do so, but nationally the church does not. What does the ELCA nationally pay for? Abortion, for any reason (and no reason), in its health care plan for pastors and their families. The ELCA health care plan is funded by offering dollars. That's right, your offering dollars at work, killing unborn children. Years ago when I was still an ELCA Lutheran, I sent out a letter to all 11,000 congregations of the ELCA telling them about the ELCA abortion payments. I received a letter, I think from a pastor's wife, who told me she was so grateful the ELCA "was there" to pay for her 16-year-old daughter's abortion. If ever the Old Testament word "Ichabod" ("the glory has departed" from I Samuel 4:21) applies, it does to the fact that a number of liberal, mainline Protestant denominations pay for abortion with offering dollars. The days of child sacrifice are back. In Jesus our Savior, 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.)
I just forced myself to watch Bruce Jenner in a dress as he received the courage award at the ESPN sports awards. Everyone stood and applauded how "brave" he is for switching genders. No, it is brave to fight to be who God created you to be, it is not brave to submit to the deceptions of the devil. The liberal denominations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church in America, and the United Church of Christ are also embracing the lie of transgenderism. Please see my prior post about the ELCA's recent ordination of a transgendered pastor. We cannot expect the world to behave like Christians, but it would be wonderful if these historic churches would return to their biblical roots. I see no sign of that happening. The more I read of recent actions by these denominations in the news, the more I am convinced they are going further and further into the darkness away from the Lord. The good news is that overseas in places like Asia and Africa Christianity is spreading like wildfire. I need to remember that as Christianity is being blasphemed in America. And I need to remember that God is in total control and will have final say over everyone and everything on the great last Day. Meanwhile, may we each rededicate ourselves to Christ and His mission of saving the lost--and this world is becoming more lost by the minute. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock Pastorsstudy.org (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.)
Frederic and Mary Anne Brussat write a monthly column for the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is a United Church of Christ pastor and she is an interfaith minister, ordained by the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. If that sounds kind of New Age and "all religions are fine", that's the way their website looks. Through the years the Brussats regularly commend liberal books and media to their readers. Here is how their July 2015 article begins as they recommend a book by liberal theologian Harvey Cox: "Many mainline Protestant congregations have been split apart by biblical literalists who say there is only one way to read the Bible. Harvey Cox, who has taught at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass., since 1965, can be counted on to help read and study the Bible with an open heart and mind." So there it is, if you have a conservative view of Scripture, you split churches apart. If you're liberal, you have an open heart and mind. The truth is that the liberal view of Scripture has caused division in ELCA churches where some ELCA pastors promote universalism, abortion rights, and homosexual behavior. Some ELCA seminary professors deny various miracles in the Bible like the Virgin Birth of Christ, some teach we should worship "God the Mother", and a number teach that all people will go to heaven, whether they believe in Jesus or not. So who is "splitting apart" the Church? Not those who believe in traditional Christian doctrine, but those who deny it. It is the reason that liberal, mainline denominations have shrunk in the last 40 years. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock Exposing the ELCA has written extensively about the dangerous and non-Biblical belief and acceptance of the teaching of universalism ("a theological doctrine that all human beings will eventually be saved") within in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Just last week well known ELCA pastor/author and highly sought after speaker, Nadia Bolz-Weber revealed that she believes all people will be saved. Rev. Bolz-Weber was interviewed by the online journal Religion & Politics: “R&P: Would you consider yourself a universalist? Does everyone get saved in the end? Universalism is a dangerous teaching. (Read here) But once again we see a leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America professing it. (not to mention ELCA websites and publications that do the same) Check out what ELCA pastor Bolz-Weber then says when asked “Do you think the future of the Church involves synthesis with other faiths?” “Syncretism has always been part of Christianity. There’s a reason why the Virgin of Guadalupe is huge in Mexico, and it has to do with the goddess religion that existed before that. I don’t think it’s something to fear. I think it’s the way that Christianity has survived. It lends itself in a sense towards it. And that’s why it can exist in so many different places in so many different forms.” Adhering to other religions (which are false) or mixing other religions with Christianity is not a problem to people like Bolz-Weber because their understanding is that everyone will go to heaven anyway, according to their universalistic belief.
All this being said, (and all that we have reported on Nadia Bolz-Weber in the past – see here and scrolled down) Rev. Bolz-Weber still calls herself “orthodox.” From this article, Rev. Bolz-Weber says “I’m this really orthodox Lutheran theologian.” Oxforddictionaries.com defines “orthodox” as “Following or conforming to the traditional or generally accepted rules or beliefs of a religion, philosophy, or practice.” I, for one, wouldn’t call Nadia Bolz-Weber orthodox. I received the following from a reader -
"I am in mourning today. Yesterday the ELCA church I've belonged to for 18 years voted to celebrate gay marriages. I saw it coming but the news has hit me hard. As a lifelong Lutheran, I have watched this denomination gradually turn its back on Scripture so that I now have no choice but to leave. My son and daughter-in-law, who is the Christian Ed director at the church, can't understand my stance. They, and a great majority at this affluent suburban church, ...love the comfy pews, beautiful music and innocuous sermons. A Bible is rarely opened there. I am leaving a social club that happens to meet on a Sunday morning. I weep for my 4 lovely granddaughters who are growing up there being indoctrinated with false teaching and ELCA social justice propaganda. The good news is I've found a new church -- much smaller and far less affluent -- that unapologetically proclaims Biblical truth. I pray that I can somehow be a witness to those I am leaving behind." |
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.
Give online by clicking the "donate" button below: Categories
All
Archives
December 2024
 Exposing the ELCA is on Facebook 
Follow Exposing the ELCA on Twitter
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
|
RSS Feed