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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.) For a biological man to say that he is really a woman is to deny who God made him to be. But you won’t hear anything like that from the head bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Instead, it’s all “unconditional love and acceptance“. The ELCA even pays for hormone blockers for children and sex change operations for adults in its national healthcare plan which is funded by church offering dollars. You can see Bishop Eaton’s transgender video by tapping on the below. In Christ, 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.) Below is more heresy from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s website. No, all people are not children of God. The Apostle Paul taught that we begin life as children of God’s wrath and only become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4, Galatians 3:26). The ELCA bids us to speak truth to power. So let us do that… ELCA leaders, please stop killing unborn children in the womb with the offerings of the people of God through the ELCA’s healthcare plan. ELCA leaders, no, a little boy cannot become a little girl, so please stop giving hormone blockers to children through the ELCA’s healthcare plan, again, funded by offering dollars. ELCA’s leaders, no, a man cannot become a woman, so please stop paying for sex change operations with offering dollars. ELCA leaders, you should not ban the Bible’s teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful as you are doing in your national publications like Living Lutheran magazine. ELCA leaders, you should not be embarrassed by “Father, Son, Holy Spirit” language for God as you instead seek for more “expansive, inclusive” language for God. ELCA leaders, you should not deny Jesus’ teaching on the reality of Hell as your head bishop did when she told a Chicago newspaper “If hell exists, I think it is empty“. ELCA leaders, your head bishop should not produce another gay pride video this June as she has done the last two years to celebrate LGBT pride month. ELCA leaders, you should not put a confused 11-year-old boy who thinks he is a girl on stage to promote transgenderism to 31,000 teenagers at the national ELCA Teen Assembly. ELCA leaders, you should not send your head bishop to the White House to promote abortion rights as she did before the fall of Roe v. Wade. ELCA leaders, you should not vote down an amendment stating that Jesus is the only way of salvation (John 14:6) as you did at the ELCA national assembly. Because of all of the above, I encourage everyone who is still a member of this denomination to find a more biblical Christian denomination to join. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made the following post on Facebook.  The ELCA has failed to correctly impart God's Word to people, as is documented on this website. Here is another example of the ELCA telling people something that goes against the truth explained in Scripture. The post, speaking to God, says "You call all people of the world your children." This is not what the Bible says. God's Word tells us in John 1:12, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, the gave the right to become children of God". You can read similar statements like this in the Bible that have the same sentiment. (learn more about this here) Please stop listening to ELCA leaders, ELCA pastors, ELCA institutions, and ELCA publications. Know the Bible, do not just believe what you are told by others. Check them against what God's World says. This is true for all pastors, including those that are not ELCA but have been educated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
In the November, 2021, edition of Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, a writer talks about how she practices both Native American religion and Christianity. She partakes in smudging ceremonies, burns tobacco as worship, and makes offerings to “Mother Earth”. I remember years ago when I was still part of the ELCA, the Minneapolis Area Synod convention had a prayer time in which people turned to the north, south, east, and west, to pattern our worship after Native American prayers to the four winds. I got to the microphone and said “I am German, my ancestors worshipped Thor and Odin, are we going to incorporate Thor worship at our next convention?” I went home to my Lutheran congregation and preached how the convention is now incorporating pagan practices. A dear Native American woman of my church came up afterward with tears in her eyes and said “They are trying to take us back to what Jesus saved me from!” Some believe that the various world religions are all aspects of the same God. The Apostle Paul did not. He believed pagan Roman religions were not worshiping God, but demons (1 Corinthians 10:30). It is tragic the ELCA’s national magazine does not see that. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock (See page 28 of article here) ELCA Lutheran denomination has zeal for social issues, but not for the salvation of the lost…4/24/2023
(The following article was written last year by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Below is the latest news item from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Yes, we should all be against racism, but I have a friend who left his ELCA church because of the constant mention of white supremacy from the pulpit. Look through the news releases at elca.org and you will see liberal politics and various social issues mentioned regularly but rarely anything about evangelism, missions and bringing lost people to Christ. Indeed, Elizabeth Eaton, head Bishop of the ELCA, has said that if hell exists, she believes it is empty. So, if everybody is going to heaven, what will the ELCA do with its time and money? Promote liberal politics. This was never more evident than when some states were passing minor restrictions on abortion and Eaton reminded people that the ELCA supports abortion rights. Indeed, the ELCA pays for abortions for any reason whatsoever in its denomination’s healthcare plan, which is funded by offering dollars. In Christ, 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.) Revamping gendered bathrooms and cabins, using youth's "preferred pronouns", and helping them be "their authentic selves", Outlaw Ranch of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will host its first gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer camp for youth this June. Outlaw Ranch states "We know that our traditional format of gendered cabins and bathrooms doesn’t provide the space that some of our campers need to feel safe and comfortable." So, youth will be able to "stay with those with whom they feel most comfortable." And, because some youth have felt wounded by the Church, Bible study will be optional. This is especially grievous to me. I attended this camp as a teenager and remember the wonderful time of Christian fellowship there. I would never have dreamt that one day Outlaw Ranch would be promoting the acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism to 14 through 18-year-olds. This is the bizarre new world of liberal, mainline churches. I can't help but think of the verse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fashioned around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock 
The Vice President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Imran Siddiqui, took to Facebook to address some of the new state child protection laws, which he calls "anti-trans laws". He calls them "unchristian". See the full statement below.
Siddiqui also addressed what he called "my trans family in Christ" saying, "Know that you are deeply loved by God. Not in spite of who you are, but because of the entirety of who you are." This seems to say that the ELCA Vice President believes God loves the transgender aspect of these persons. Up till ten years ago most would call these transgender thoughts dysphoria, confusion, spiritual deception, and/or sin-based. 
Claiming to celebrate women, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) featured a man who is transgender in an ELCA article for Women's History Month. (See here) It is an incredible display of disrespect and mansplaining for a man to be highlighted for Women's History Month and then for him to explain what he believes "are the most pressing issues facing all women today?" and what actions "the ELCA could take to better support and empower women within the church and in the wider community?" This is the world we live in, where those who claim Christianity encourage sin, deny science, and reject God's creation. Where society and faux Christian denominations propagate and generate the belief that men are women, usurping the dignity and blessings of women.  Daily Counter Boasts on How Long Their ELCA Church Has Not Used Male Pronouns for God in Worship3/30/2023 Mount Olive Lutheran Church is an ELCA church in Rochester, MN. On their "outreach community" website they have a running timer that boasts, "We have succeeded in not using male pronouns for God in worship for: 654 days". 
Famous actor and outspoken Christian, Kirk Cameron, came to Arkansas to read his children's book at a library.
This upset Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor Clint Schnekloth. The following is Rev. Schnekloth's account. 
Later, the ELCA pastor calls "Moms For Liberty - Pulaski County, AR" a hate group comparing them to the "Little Rock Nine."
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Once upon a time in 1830 Lutherans founded a university in Ohio to teach young people Christianity. It also had a seminary to train pastors. Today, if you watch the below video, both Capital University and Trinity Seminary have fully embraced gay pride. "Everyone is welcome" they say, but I wonder how welcome Martin Luther would be who called homosexuality "a perversion of the devil". The President of Capital University can be seen below marching in the gay pride parade and Trinity Seminary has officially endorsed "gay inclusion" for pastors. I don't know of one college or seminary related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that I can recommend. I don't know of one that has not bowed the knee to the LGBTQAI+ agenda. Sincerely in Christ, 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.) Lutherans believe in "Sola Scriptura", that the Bible alone is the highest authority for the Christian. Since the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible, and since the Holy Spirit and Jesus are one in the Trinity, Jesus and the Holy Spirit-inspired Bible are not going to contradict each other. But read the below in which the bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approvingly quotes the belief that Jesus and the Bible can contradict each other. "We Lutherans believe that the Bible truly matters. But, it doesn’t matter as much as the Word made Flesh. It doesn’t matter as much as Jesus. To quote Marcus Borg, “Jesus is the norm of the Bible. When the Bible and what we see in Jesus conflict, as they sometimes do, Jesus trumps the Bible. … In Jesus, Christians see more clearly than anywhere else the character and passion of God.” Years ago my Minneapolis bishop was Herbert Chilstrom who went on to become the first national bishop of the ELCA. He did not want anyone teaching in our Lutheran seminaries who believed in the infallibility of Scripture. Today, years later, this is the result: Lutheran bishops, pastors, and seminary professors who believe Jesus and the Bible can contradict each other. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (Read article from ELCA bishop here)  Living Lutheran magazine: Bemoaning the Transfiguration's "White Jesus" and celebrating queerness3/13/2023 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) In the January/February 2023 edition of Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is an article on the Transfiguration of Christ. The author, an ELCA pastor, writes "... I am convinced the transfiguration story is where we get white Jesus (Matthew 17:1-8)… a signal for later audiences of this Gospel to see Jesus transfiguring into whiteness. Over time, that whiteness prevailed for some beyond all logic and reason, but I guess that's how racism works…As a black pastor...my blackness is inextricably bound to my femaleness, my cisgenderness, my queerness, my disabledness, my fatness…"
Another article is by a "queer, black veteran" who claims that God called her into ministry when she heard "the still, small voice of God" at a gay pride event. She had been taught that homosexuality is wrong but "Marrying my wife, a lifelong Lutheran, led me to the ELCA". The ELCA pastor who married them helped her in the process of becoming "liberated, free to live a life of authenticity and right relationship with Christ." This means, I presume, the ELCA pastor helped her see that homosexual behavior is really a good thing. She is now heading into ministry to spread that good news to others. This is the umpteenth pro-gay/transgender article to be found in Living Lutheran. You will never find an article which upholds the traditional, biblical understanding of homosexuality because this has been banned in this ELCA publication. This, in spite of the fact that when the ELCA voted to affirm homosexual behavior in 2009, conservatives were assured that their viewpoint would also be respected and allowed. So this year when we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday on August 6, 2023, I guess we are supposed to pause and bemoan the fact that the Transfiguration is what turned Jesus into the "White Jesus." Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (See Living Lutheran Jan./Feb. publication here) (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) My alma mater, Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, used to be known as the most conservative of the seminaries of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. No longer. Luther has just announced they have hired as a professor Cody J. Sanders, author of “Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow: What All Christians Can Learn from LGBTQ Lives”. In his Facebook page, Sanders describes himself as a “queer theologian” (photo below). The ELCA’s United Lutheran Seminary in Pennsylvania also has as its president a man who is “married“ to a man, who was previously the ELCA’s first practicing gay bishop. There is no question as to what Martin Luther would think about all this. Luther called homosexuality a “monstrous depravity” and a “terrible pollution”. I personally have struggled with same-sex attraction most of my life (see my article “My struggle with same-sex attraction” at pastorsstudy.org), but I abstain from this behavior for the sake of Christ and my eternal soul (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Today, the ELCA embraces and promotes homosexuality, transgenderism and bisexuality. The ELCA even promoted transgenderism to 31,000 teenagers at the ELCA’s national Teen Gathering a few years ago by putting an 11-year-old boy who thinks he is a girl on stage. If you are still a member of the ELCA, time to flee this unbiblical denomination. Sincerely in Christ, 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.)
Below is a worship service dedicated to “Reconciling in Christ Sunday”, a day when some congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America celebrate all things LGBT. At minute 31 below you will hear an LGBT Lutheran pastor affirm all kinds of “gender identities” without a hint that the Bible teaches – and Christians have believed for 2000 years—that homosexual behavior is a sin. And the choir sings a hymn about “our queer siblings moving all about the earth”. I’ll say it again, this ain’t my grandma’s Lutheran Church. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock PS. If you would like to see the various verses in the Bible which address homosexuality, see my article “What does the Bible teach about homosexuality?” at pastorsstudy.org https://www.youtube.com/live/KDheQVhMGQc (It seems the settings were changed to "private" by the ones in charge of this YouTube channel.) |
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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