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A letter written to the President of the United States, as reported in the article "More than 750 Faith Leaders and Faith Organizations Decry Low Refugee Arrivals" included the supporting signature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The ELCA and the other signators want the United States to resettle “at least 75,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2019” (see here). This is a great cost to the United States and its citizens, which is something the ELCA should realize when one reads the following article, by Ann Corcoran, who reports that the ELCA's Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is "95% funded by you—the taxpayers of America!" She reports that in 2014, LIRS received $55,341,275 in federal grants. (See here) This seems self-serving. Wanting more refugees, one would think, means more tax money would be coming to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. That is just one of the problems I see with this.
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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. I have added some additional information at the end) Perhaps you have read that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission which lost its Supreme Court case trying to force a Christian baker to make a wedding cake for a homosexual "wedding" is going at him again, again bringing charges. You would think that a Christian pastor would defend the Christian baker for not violating Scripture and his conscience. But in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, it is in vogue to promote homosexuality and transgenderism. This was done last month by the speakers at the ELCA's Teen Gathering as they spoke to 31,000 teens. If you don't condone homosexuality, some say, then you are not being loving. Here is what a Minneapolis Lutheran pastor said recently in his sermon "All You Need is Love": "What would be so bad about baking the cake for the gay couple, not because you agree with their marital status, but because you recognize this is, in fact, who they are: broken people like you and me, trying to find companionship and love in this world and be whole and contributing human beings. And now you have a chance to make a symbolic gesture encouraging them in their relationship or to discourage them by essentially saying you want nothing to do with them. Well, if we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, this means that regardless of compromises you think they’re making, it’s better for them to have a good life together in a stable, committed relationship than in a painful, fractured one. That it’s better for society if their relationship makes it than it is if it breaks apart...For an increasing number of people in our society, when they think of Christians, they do not think of love. What they think of is self-righteous, unyielding people who seem more angry and hateful than loving." My problem with the above sermon is that the pastor is not, in fact, being loving. I Corinthians 6:9-11 teaches that people who live in impenitent sin, including the sin of homosexual behavior, will not inherit the Kingdom of God. So, if we are truly loving and care about where people spend eternity, we will not bake the cake. We will urge people to repent of sin and put their trust in Christ for forgiveness and salvation. We will not do as the pastor does in the above sermon, namely, preach compromise to make people feel good about their sin and to feel good about us "hateful" Christians. Please pray the Lord grants the Christian baker in Colorado the strength to endure another attack and to again find victory in the courts. And pray that God give will Christian pastors the courage to side with the Word and not with the world. In Christ our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock -- Here is a link to the ELCA pastor's sermon. ELCA Bishop Bill Gafkjen of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod also seems to believe Christians should bake cakes for gay weddings or lend their services to the celebrations, as you can see in his Facebook post below and in his sharing an article, with his comments, that says: "My 'sincerely held religious belief' should not allow me to discriminate against others on the basis of things they cannot change. No workaround to the First Amendment and existing law is needed to solve this "problem," because it should not be a problem if we follow the Golden Rule." (Here is the article Bishop Gafkjen shared) 
Some ELCA pastors go out of their way to avoid using male pronouns and words for God. Some decide they will address God using female pronouns and words:
ELCA Bishop Guy Erwin tweets this: 
In an article in the ELCA's Living Lutheran magazine titled, "God or mother? Both" we read, “The metaphor of God the Father is not enough for me now. I now see God as the Mother.” (see here and see the end of this article for a response from Rev. Tom Brock) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seminary, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, posted an article that says this, “So we decided to appeal directly to the Holy Spirit and the power of God and wait to see what She did.” (see here)
The above tweet by First Lutheran in Lynn, Massachusetts, posts a quote from their pastor Pr. Jon Niketh's sermon (at the 7 minute mark):
“A God who is known by her handiwork… her creative genius… her wisdom and skill that gave birth to a complex and beautiful universe..." (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.)
When I graduated from Luther in 1979 it was somewhat liberal, today it is extremely so. In past posts I have written of Luther’s chapel services with de-sexed God language, “breathing meditation”, and homosexual and transgender preachers. Luther President Robin Steinke has sent a letter asking for funds in which she states: “We’re leading into a new vision of an inclusive, counter-cultural, Christ-centered community. This semester, a representative group of students, faculty, and staff—including international community members, students of color, individuals who identify as LGBTQ+…progressives and conservatives—collaborated on an intentional welcome statement that gets to the heart of who we are…”. Then she drops the bombshell “…we are planning to put the lower campus…on the market this summer.” Thus Luther Seminary is in financial trouble and much of the campus has to be sold. The verse “You reap what you sow” comes to mind. A woman who watches our TV show and has been a contributor to Luther Seminary asked my opinion about giving to Luther. Even though I graduated from there, I told her that I cannot give Luther a penny because of the false teaching there. A prayer that I regularly pray is: “Lord may these erring denominations turn around, but if they are going to keep leading people astray, may they shrink and die and may the people in them be moved into more Biblical denominations.” I believe God is answering my prayer. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org What is interesting and disturbing about this ELCA hire is that Jill Braithwaite is a graduate of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities (see here and see her thesis here). It is a seminary where many Unitarian Universalist pastors-to-be go to study. (See here) It also has a good number of faculty and staff who are Unitarian Universalists. (See here) Add to that the fact that Jill Braithwaite has preached at least a couple times at First Universalist Church of Minneapolis (see here and below), and as of 2014, she was a member at the Universalist church and served on the church's board of trustees and welcome team.   Unitarian Universalism is not Christian, as the they study, follow and teach from many and various religions. On the Unitarian Universalists website on pastor writes, "I do not believe Jesus is the sole revelation of the Divine, and I do not know, but seriously doubt, if he was raised from the dead..." (see here and see this page for additional comments about Jesus). It is obvious that most do not see Jesus as Lord and Savior, as the Son of God, as Messiah. Instead of going into more details, here are a few additional links if you would like to know more about Unitarian Universalists. See how they describe what they believe here, what they are based on here and another article about their beliefs here. What is going on in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that makes it acceptable to hire someone with a Unitarian Universalist background? Are the teachings of the Unitarian Universalist church compatible with that of the ELCA? (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
If you go to the Advocacy Facebook page of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America you will see how obsessed the ELCA has become with the LGBTQIA+ movement. Within one month five different LGBT Lutheran leaders have been highlighted in articles like the below of a transgender clergy candidate. Of course, not one article features someone who upholds the traditional, Biblical viewpoint on these issues. In 2009 when the ELCA voted to ordain practicing homosexuals it was agreed that all views on homosexuality would be respected in the ELCA, but they are not. No view but the liberal one is mentioned anymore. One by One Ministry, a conservative group which helps people out of homosexuality and of which I am a part, inquired about buying an ad in Living Lutheran but was refused. The rest of the ELCA Advocacy Facebook page is devoted to article after article on liberal politics. Sadly, preaching Christ for the salvation of the lost is conspicuously absent. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock https://www.facebook.com/elcaadvocacy/photos/a.10150091631749513.272721.132358089512/10156416380554513/?type=3 |
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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