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Luther Seminary, ELCA, is holding a festival, a "Festival of Homiletics" (the way of writing sermons and preaching).
The festival's theme is "Preaching a New Earth: Climate and Creation." We learn from their website that, "Our God needs our help to speak the truth about where and how God’s Earth groans for renewal, even resurrection, how our very climate changes are God’s cries for help." God is crying for help? Their site continues "The 2020 Festival of Homiletics theme invites preachers to imagine their own role in God’s creative work, to be courageous in preaching about God’s creative activity, and to claim boldly our role in caring for God’s creation, when God’s very creation is at stake." (See here) Also, notice the great effort to which the ELCA seminary goes to avoid using male pronouns for God in those sentences? "The Festival’s ownership, leadership and planning efforts are with Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota." (See here) One of the speakers is controversial ELCA pastor Lenny Duncan. (See here and learn more about Rev. Duncan here)
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ELCA leadership has rejected the creation account that God has given us in Scripture (see here and here). Does Lutheran Church of Hope agree with their denominational leaders? We see and hear the answer in a sermon preached at the megachurch when questions from the congregation were answered: “How can I fit my beliefs in God with physical science, evolution, etc.?” Senior pastor and founder of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) megachurch, Mike Housholder, answered first, saying “…if you look at the pattern of creation in Scripture and you line that up with scientific views of the order how things happened, there is a lot of alignment and there isn’t nearly as much conflict as a lot of people would suggest” (See video below or here). 
Rev. Housholder speaks as if all science agrees on the time-frame and order of creation; they do not. There is a great deal of scientific evidence that shows the Earth to be young (here, here and here are a few).
Claiming that God's creation account lines up with the most popular scientific conclusions like those of the Big Bang Theory and the macro-evolutionary time-frame, is completely false (See here and the Answers in Genesis chart above).
Dr. Caroline Boehnke-Becker, who was part of the team of three Lutheran Church of Hope pastors/leaders answering questions from the congregation, confirmed Pastor Housholder's answer, that evolution and the Bible fit together saying, “...you can not ask the ‘how’ question of the Bible.” “I see no problem…the more I delve into science. It makes so much sense from a faith standpoint. And the more I delve into the Biblical text, it all makes sense and it all comes together.”
So Lutheran Church of Hope is teaching that God, through His Word, is not communicating to people how He made everything, how creation came into being, despite that clear reading of Genesis. God is in fact doing that. ELCA Pastor Mike Housholder also replied “I've never understood those who turn it into an 'either' 'or.'" Rev. Housholder continued on by lifting up scientist Francis Collins, who is a theistic evolutionist. (Read about Francis Collins here). Francis Collins "founded and served as president of The BioLogos Foundation, which promotes discourse on the relationship between science and religion and advocates the perspective that belief in Christianity can be reconciled with acceptance of evolution and science, especially through the advancement of evolutionary creation" (See here). Pastor Michael Mechsner viewed the Lutheran Church of Hope sermon, questions and answers and commented, “The problem with 'theistic evolution' is that it allows for DEATH before the fall. Death is the result of sin. That is the real problem for 'theistic evolution.' Jesus CONQUERED death which is what defines mankind's SIN” (See here). Biblical creation champion Ken Ham addressed the compromise of God's Word on evolution and God's Genesis account, like what you see at Lutheran Church of Hope:
A couple of Christian articles address the pattern this way: - "there is simply no way to merge theistic evolution with the witness of Scripture as to what actually happened in history. They are incompatible." (See here. “Lesson 4: Adam, Eve, & the First Sin” from the Is Genesis History? Bible Study.) - "There are major contradictions between a straightforward reading of Scripture and the order claimed by uniformitarian/evolutionary ‘science’." (See here) Lutheran Church of Hope has embraced the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). This is a denomination that preaches universalism (that all are saved), is pro-abortion, demonizes Israel, encourages homosexual relations even with their pastors, allows goddess worship, pushes liberal policies, ordains transgender individuals, pays for employee sex-change surgery/drugs and abortions, twists and ignores Scripture and rejects God's clear historical account of creation recorded in Genesis. Members of the ELCA and of Lutheran Church of Hope should be ashamed to be part of this wicked, faith and soul destroying denomination. Below is the Lutheran Church of Hope sermon. The question on evolution starts at 24:20 minute mark.
Evolution and the Big Bang theories do not fit with God's account of creation. It is ignorant and disingenuous to say they do. Martin Luther tells us: “The days of creation were ordinary days in length. We must understand that these days were actual days (veros dies), contrary to the opinion of the Holy Fathers. Whenever we observe that the opinions of the Fathers disagree with Scripture, we reverently bear with them and acknowledge them to be our elders. Nevertheless, we do not depart from the authority of Scripture for their sake.” - Martin Luther as cited in E. Plass, What Martin Luther Says: A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri, 1991, 1523. Luther further commented on this critical topic: “When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day. But if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are. For you are to deal with Scripture in such a way that you bear in mind that God Himself says what is written. But since God is speaking, it is not fitting for you wantonly to turn His Word in the direction you wish to go.” - What Luther Says. A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian, compiled by Ewald M. Plass, Concordia, p. 93. 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.)
This month's Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, highlights women in ministry. One such person is Prairie Rose Seminole, American Indian Alaska Native program director for the ELCA. She writes: "...As the sun rises, I also rise. I put out water, tobacco or food for my ancestors. I offer gratitude...for being able to witness to that which moves all things--God, Great Mystery, Chief Who Sits Above, Mother, Creator, the blood in my veins, the hurricane crashing to shore, earth moving--that power of which we are all a part...I come from the Sahnish/Arikiara tribe...Our creation story is different from what is in the Bible. Is it our place to say that is wrong? No....My faith is influenced by millennia upon millennia of indigenous roots in this land, 2,000 years of Christianity, 500 years of the Lutheran church, and more than 500 years of genocide and policies to wipe out the first people of our country." Sadly, what we have here is a program director for the ELCA who is trying to combine pagan, non-Christian religion with Christianity. Pantheism teaches that God is everything and everything is God (the mountains, the hurricanes, everything is God). But Christians reject pantheism and teach that God is separate from His creation, God is the Creator, not the created. Christians believe in God the Father, nowhere did Jesus teach us to pray to God as "Mother." And the Biblical account of creation is the one Christians believe, not stories from other religions. I am German. My ancestors worshiped Thor and Odin. I am not at all offended that I cannot worship these old gods along with the Holy Trinity, neither do I want to. We are all called upon, regardless of our heritage, to reject the false gods of our ancestors and worship the Trinity alone. Sadly, this article from the national magazine of the ELCA appears to teach otherwise. In Jesus the only Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org (Read the Living Lutheran article here.) (Updated March 2018 - Original blog was written March, 2011) One would think that ELCA pastors, bishops and teachers would believe Scripture. However all one has to do is read, “The Clergy Letter - from American Christian clergy: An Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science,” to find that most do not. Over 2400 ELCA leaders signed this letter which states,  “the overwhelming majority (of Christians) do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth.” Make no mistake, what these Christian leaders are saying is that they do not believe what the Bible actually says. They are calling the story about creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah’s ark, lies. These ELCA leaders think they know better than Jesus, the Old and New Testament writers, and 2000 years of Christians, who knew these stories to be true. (read more here) The letter goes on to say, “We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as ‘one theory among others’ is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children.”
Really? So those that believe God’s account of creation, are “ignorant?” Maybe these religious elites should read from the following website of the many scientists who are skeptical of Darwinism. (read here and download the list of scientists who signed "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.") The Clergy letter also says, “We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris.” Let me get this straight, now these “Christian” leaders, who say that the Biblical account of creation is not true, are now telling us that if we believe God’s account of creation we are REJECTING God’s Will? Finally the letter says, “We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge.” (read here) Here are “Christian” leaders urging school boards to have the teaching of evolution be a “core component of HUMAN knowledge.” These are the people teaching us and our children about Jesus and the Bible? Someone may ask, “What’s the big deal?” “Who cares if ELCA leaders and pastors don’t believe what the Bible says about creation?” Here are a few quotes that highlight why we should care: "More cases of loss of religious faith can be traced to the theory of evolution--- than anything else." - Martin Lings, quoted in Christian Century July, 1982 “Evolution is the greatest engine of atheism ever invented.” - Noted evolutionist, Professor Will Provine, in “Evolution: Free will and punishment and meaning in life.” "Any creationist lawyer who got me on the stand could instantly win over the jury simply by asking me: 'Has your knowledge of evolution influenced you in the direction of becoming an atheist?' I would have to answer yes and, at one stroke, I would have lost the jury." - Noted evolutionist, Dr. Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion (2008) p. 93 While I was studying at an ELCA seminary, the Dean of Students told me that not one ELCA seminary professor in the United States believes Adam and Eve were real people. I have no doubt that statement is true. Sadly, seminary professors’ beliefs are being picked up by their students, who are the current and future ELCA pastors. Linked at the end of this blog is the list of current and retired ELCA pastors, ELCA seminary professors, ELCA college professors, ELCA seminary presidents and ELCA Bishops who agree with this letter and signed it. Some of the notable signers are: Bishop Tom Aitken (Northeastern Minnesota Synod), The Rev. Hans R. Arnesen (Associate to the Bishop of the New England Synod), Bishop Allan Bjornberg (ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod), Bishop Paul J. Blom - Houston, Texas, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, The Rev. Stacy Boorn (herchurch), The Rev. Michael Cooper-White, D.D., (President - Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA), The Rev. Jean DeVoll-Donaldson (Assistant to the Bishop/Director for Evangelical Mission Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod), Bishop Ralph W. Dunkin (West Virginia -Western Maryland Synod), The Rev. James Kenneth Echols, Ph.D. (President - Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago), The Rev. Paul W. Egertson, Ph.D. (Bishop Emeritus - Southwest California Synod), The Rev. Jim Hazelwood (Bishop of the New England Synod), The Rev. Anita C. Hill, The Rev. B. Penrose Hoover (Bishop - Lower Susquehanna Synod), The Rev. Robert L. Isaksen, (Retired ELCA Pastor and Bishop of the New England Synod), The Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, Kevin S. Kanouse, (Bishop Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod), Paul R. Landahl (Bishop Metropolitan Chicago Synod), Bishop April Ulring Larson (La Crosse Area Synod), The Rev. Duane H. Larson, PhD., (President - Wartburg Theological Seminary), The Rev. Felipe Lozada-Montanez (Bishop of the Caribbean Synod of the ELCA), Bishop Brian D.Maas (Nebraska Synod - ELCA), Bishop John S. Macholz (Upstate New York Synod - ELCA), The Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Mansholt (Bishop Central States Synod), The Rev. Robert W. Mattheis (Bishop Emeritus, Sierra Pacific Synod), The Rev. George Paul Mocko (Bishop Emeritus, Delaware-Maryland Synod), Bishop David G. Mullen (Sierra Pacific Synod), Bishop Dean W. Nelson (Southwest California Synod), Bishop Margaret G. Payne (New England Synod), The Rev. Dr. Ted Peters (Interim President - Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary), The Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Schmalenberger (Retired President - Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary), Rev. Robin J. Steinke, Ph.D. (President Luther Seminary), Bishop David R. Strobel (Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod), The Rev. Dr. Christopher M. Thomforde (President - St. Olaf College), Bishop Ron Warren (ELCA Southeastern Synod), The Rev. Dr. Howard E. Wennes (Retired Bishop ELCA), The Rev. Paul M. Werger, (Bishop Emeritus - Southeastern Iowa Synod), The Rev. Eric G. Wolf(Assistant to the Bishop of the South Carolina Synod, ELCA), The Rev. Dr. Herman Yoos (Bishop - South Carolina Synod) and Bishop David B. Zellmer (South Dakota Synod). More than 14500 American pastors signed this letter and over 2400 of them are Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leaders. Here is a list of all the ELCA leaders who signed the Clergy letter. To read more about creation, intelligent design or evolution see: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2012 http://www.icr.org/article/5669 http://www.icr.org/article/creation-evolution https://evolutionnews.org/ http://www.trueauthority.com/cvse/faq2.htm http://scienceagainstevolution.info/topics.htm --- It takes a lot of work to keep this ministry going. Please prayerfully consider supporting the ministry of Exposing the ELCA. Click here to find out how.
An incredibly disturbing article was written a few days ago about Christ the King Lutheran Church in Cary, North Carolina. But even more disturbing than the content of the article, was the fact that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America proudly shared this article (multiple times) to all of their followers on Twitter and Facebook.
The article is titled “Amid decline, one Lutheran church strives to live up to its namesake’s spirit.” (See here) The article begins by telling of a Bible study taught by ELCA pastor Daniel Pugh where he is “telling members of Christ the King Lutheran Church that one way to interpret the story of Adam and Eve is as a coming-of-age allegory about a pair of carefree teens caught red-handed having sex…In this, alternative reading of The Fall, the ‘forbidden fruit’ offered to Eve in Chapter 3 may be a metaphor for sex, he said, and the ‘serpent’ may be a metaphor for a penis.” This is outrageous. And it is indicative of the warped, foolish and evil way the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America views Scripture. See below how the ELCA itself is sharing this news article. Why would anyone stay in a denomination that teaches this perverted way of viewing God’s account of creation? They treat God's Word with contempt. Later in the article you learn that: - Christ the King Lutheran Church’s senior pastor is Wolfgang Herz-Lane, the former ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod Bishop. - Pastor “Herz-Lane notified the church council that he planned to officiate at a same-sex marriage in Charlotte. Pugh, an associate pastor, performed one such marriage before coming on board…Herz-Lane now wants the church to declare itself a ‘reconciling’ congregation, meaning that it is welcoming and accepting of LGBTQ people.” - The newly appointed minister for contemporary music is a gay man. - “(C)hurch leaders want the congregation to take on more of an advocacy role…they want to start a local chapter of a national community-organizing network, the Industrial Areas Foundation, which could advocate for such things as health care, green energy, criminal justice or immigrant rights.” - “Herz-Lane hopes members gain a deeper appreciation for Luther’s willingness to break the mold and try new things.” Rev. Herz-Lane concludes “We’re here for the sake of the world, not to preserve some silly tradition.” Most Bible-believing Christians would be appalled by the anti-Biblical teaching, actions and “social justice” agenda of this church but the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is not. They proudly posted this article on their Facebook page. And on Twitter:
And again, on the ELCA News account:
Below are some ELCA Synods posting and sharing this article: Exposing the ELCA has been documenting for years that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's leadership does not believe the Creation account God placed in Scripture. (read about 1500+ ELCA leaders signing a letter in support of evolution here. Also scroll down the page here to find a bunch of ELCA evolution related information) Let me give you another example from the ELCA's official magazine, The Lutheran - “It’s hard to believe that any ancient writer would have penned the Genesis story for the sake of recording good science. If that was the author’s intent, he (or they) failed miserably. The early chapters of Genesis make for lousy empirical science. Not that this has kept numbers of Christians from trying to cram every dinosaur jawbone, distant galaxy and Grand Canyon formation into the span of the last 6,000 years. The Genesis story was never meant to tell us how the world was created. It is rather a masterful treatise for informing us who created this floating orb in its magnificent universe. From the story, we learn that God appreciates beauty, design and order over ugliness, nonsense and chaos. One doesn’t have to tread far into Scripture before discovering that humans were created for relationship with God and one another. These convictions of faith are hardly at the heart of scientific inquiry.” (see here) The ELCA is trying to discredit the historical account of Genesis in this paragraph because they have decided that God did not, as He said, create the universe in six 24 hour days. And that brings us to Evolution Weekend! (February 12 - 14, 2016) The pro-evolution website, "The Clergy Letter Project," which organizes this event says, "Evolution Weekend is an opportunity for serious discussion and reflection on the relationship between religion and science." “Religious people from many diverse faith traditions and locations around the world understand that evolution is quite simply sound science.” Of course there are ELCA churches participating. They participate "through sermons, discussion groups, meaningful conversations and seminars..." conducted by each individual church.
There are few ELCA pastors that believe the Biblical account of creation (see here). Recently a discussion took place on a facebook page for ELCA clergy that began with an ELCA pastor writing this -
“After teaching introduction to the OT for a group of laypersons in our synod, I was disappointed that one of the ten persons blasted everything I taught about Genesis for her final paper and presentation. It took courage, I think, for her to make her presentation, but she basically said that, if you believe in any form of evolution or if you believe someone other than Moses wrote Genesis or if you believe that the days of Genesis 1 are not literal 24-hour days, you're a godless pagan who goes against scientific principles and sound reasoning. I'm still astonished... and a bit disappointed.” The comments that followed were revealing:
The statement below is written by an ELCA pastor who posted this on an ELCA facebook page -
“After last night I am close to despair. There are so many now who will be out of the scope of concern in policy and practice. More time will be wasted trying to take new health insurance from those newly covered. Keystone will probably be approved to the detriment of the land, creatures and people from whom it will be taken. National parks and sanctuaries will be in danger. Safety nets will be cut to pay back the money poured into this election. Any new Supreme Court justices will be anti Roe v Wade and pro Citizen's United. Global climate change is now in the hands of people don't believe in science and creationism will be supported in science classrooms.... These are the platforms that our newly elected politicians won on. I am so disappointed that we are the self elevating, it's all about me, to Hell with the poor nation owned by money. Here is Iowa we now have Steve King and Joni Ernst in Washington. As John Steward said, last night money won. Ideas lost. As advocates for the least among us we will need to be vigilant and even more counter cultural. Kyrie eleison.” 60 ELCA people “liked” this post. Anybody else have problems with this ELCA pastor's lament? Most ELCA leaders believe in evolution. Over 1500 of them even signed a document saying so (see here and here). In fact, last month a group of ELCA pastors stumbled upon my article with the list of 1500+ ELCA leaders who support evolution and a number of them wrote me, one pastor said, “Being an ELCA clergy person, and not being on the list I can assure you that there will be at least one more (me)-- thank you for bringing this to my attention.” Another ELCA pastor wrote, “Thank you for bringing this letter to my attention...I look forward to signing it myself as soon as possible.” Yet another ELCA leader commented, “I am so disappointed that I did not make your 'heretic' list. I do indeed believe what was in that letter that 1,500 of my fellow ELCA clergy signed.” Finally another ELCA pastor stated “I'm happy my name is on your list...” ELCA leaders are proud of their denial of clear Biblical teaching. They claim they believe “science.” What they truly believe are lies and foolishness. Evolution is not fact as it is not provable, and there is little evidence for it. That's why it continues to be called the “theory of evolution.” Here is a 30-minute video that everyone should watch; it is changing thousands of people's minds who have previously believed in the theory of evolution - Evolution vs. God (the video currently has 675,000 views) You are an animal, so says the leadership of the ELCA. This belief results from the rejection of the historical account of creation told in the Bible. Instead they believe in and teach the theory of evolution as truth. The February 2013 edition of the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran, contains an article where we are told that: “the scientific evidence for evolution inspires some Christians to celebrate God's ongoing and oft-surprising creativity, but it deeply offends others.” This was written by ELCA seminary professor Gilson A.C. Waldkoenig of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.) and published by the leadership of the denomination in their official magazine.
So lets review what they are saying. We are animals. If you believe the Bible and not evolution, you are foolish, lacking in humility, and idolatrous. That seems backward (and evil) to me, and it should to anyone else whose eyes are not blinded by the enemy. ELCA leadership, for the most part, believes in evolution. (see here) It seems crazy to me that church leaders and pastors who are supposed to shepherd their flock can twist the clear reading of scripture and outright deny what is says. Seems to me God would know better than they on how He made everything. Yet ELCA pastors and seminary professors revel in their “superior” knowledge and belittle those “simpletons” who believe God.
I get the impression ELCA leaders do not like being called out as evolution supporters and creation deniers. Most of them wouldn’t dare get up in the pulpit and tell you that they believe God’s account of creation is false. They should be challenged on their belief. That brings me to a written dialog I've been having with an ELCA pastor. This ELCA pastor wrote me and evidently was not happy with a blog I wrote called “ELCA Churches Celebrate Evolution Weekend” (see here). The pastor at one point said “The Bible is not science and to try and make it so just makes us all look ignorant. Don't be afraid sir, as God has created everything even science. If you must believe that the earth was created in 7 days please don't bash those of us who are not afraid to move into the centuries and acknowledge the findings that bear the real truth.” I responded by email saying, “Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I disagree with your position on creation and believe it is everyone’s right to know what their ELCA pastor or leadership believes on the issue when they have decided to ‘go public’ with it. It is good to know where your pastor is coming from when they are teaching you. There are thousands of scientists that believe in Biblical creation and a plethora of evidence to prove that evolution is not good science. Here is a list of 'renown scientists in the past and today' who believe in the biblical account of creation. - http://creation.com/creation-scientists#presentsci I will leave you with this, 'When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day. But, if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are.' - Martin Luther, What Martin Luther Says: A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian. God bless you” Today the ELCA pastor replied saying “This is not about evolution. It is about common sense. Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Morning Prayer, LBW, pg. 137” I responded, “It is not common sense but it is your blind faith in evolution/big bang. You just don't like what God said. Something very common in the ELCA. In Christ, Dan Skogen” Two questions you should ask yourself, 1) do you believe your ELCA pastor's view of creation or God's? And 2) do you want to be under leadership who denies something so clearly stated by our Creator? “The creation story in Genesis 1 may well be an monotheistic Hebraic adaptation of Egyptian creation myths that had influenced the Hebrew people during the Egyptian captivity.” - Don Carlson, Assistant to the Bishop in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Michael Rinehart posted this on his blog; he is Bishop of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (read here)
Is that right, a myth? This ELCA leader takes a historic account of how God created the world as told to us by God and he tells the public that it “may well” be a myth. That is just wrong, it is a lie of the devil and it is accepted teaching in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (thousands of ELCA leaders are on public record proclaiming their support for evolution/against God’s account of creation - see here and here). God tells us, “Every Word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6 Luke 16:31 shows us how much weight Jesus gave the books written by Moses and inspired by God, “(Jesus) said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” As Exposing the ELCA has shown, the prevailing view of ELCA leadership is that God’s creation account is not historic and not true. Need more evidence? A poll on a popular Lutheran website frequented by many ELCA pastors and leaders asked, “How do you understand the term "yom" (day) in Genesis 1?” The results show that: - 2 voters marked, “I am ELCA and believe that God created all that exists in six 24-hour days.” - 17 voters marked, “I am ELCA and do not believe that creation took place in six 24-hour days.” - 10 voters marked, “I am ELCA and I am not sure whether the days were 24 hours or not.” In comparison 29 LCMS voters said, “I am LCMS and believe that God created all that exists in six 24-hour days.” 6 LCMS voters said they “do not believe that creation took place in six 24-hour days.” 7 LCMS voters said they did not know. (see here - you may have to refresh the page to see the poll) It amazes me that so many ELCA pastors reject God’s historic account of how He made the world. (see previous report here) We see it again, just this last week printed in The Seattle Times newspaper. ELCA pastor, Ronald Moe-Lobeda (University Lutheran Church, Seattle, WA) wrote a letter to the editor proudly proclaiming his and his synod’s support for homosexual marriage. Moe-Lobeda declares:
“One of the strongest biblical arguments in favor of marriage between a man and a woman has been that traditional interpretation of the Adam and Eve story in Genesis 2. However, I recently have concluded that the names of Eve and Adam are simply metaphors for Israel and Judah and have nothing to do with being real people, let alone personifications of all women and men,” (see here) Then Rev. Moe-Lobeda points the readers to his book on the subject, “The Mystery of Eve and Adam.” I looked up Rev. Moe-Lobeda’s book, and this is what the book’s description tells us: “What if the story of Eve and Adam was not meant to be a story about creation and the origin of life? What if Eve and Adam were not personifications of all women and men? What if the curse on the woman had nothing to do with the physical pain of giving birth? What if working by the sweat of the brow was a description of the slavery that existed under the monarchy? What if being cast out of the garden of Eden was a metaphor for the deportation of people from Judah to Babylon? The author of this book takes readers on a journey of inquiry leading to the conclusion that the story of Eve and Adam was authored by the theological school of Jeremiah in order to dissuade the Judean people never to reinstate the monarchy after their return from Babylon—a monarchy that previously was responsible for so much infant mortality, subjugation of women, and enslavement of its own people. At the heart of this journey is the discovery that Eve and Adam actually are metaphors for Israel and Judah—two nations that chose to have a king like other nations and suffered the consequences.” (see here) This kind of teaching reminds me of God’s word that says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them —bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” - 2 Peter 2:1-3 The seventh annual celebration of Evolution Weekend took place February 10-12, 2012. It wasn’t an event for a bunch of God-denying atheists. It was an event organized specifically for Christian congregations. Congregations and/or pastors who evidently do not believe God’s account of creation. The Clergy Letter Project, which organizes this annual event, listed over 500 congregations including 50+ ELCA congregations who signed up to participate in Evolution Weekend 2012. The Clergy Letter Project states that “all participating congregations will address the relationship between religion and science, many will focus their attention on the theme selected for this year: an interfaith discussion of religion and science . . . Religious people from many diverse faith traditions and locations around the world understand that evolution is quite simply sound science.” (read here) The Clergy Letter Project is an evolution-supporting, Biblical creation denying group which gathered the signatures of over 1500 ELCA pastors who are in support of evolution. (see here)
The 53 ELCA congregations listed as participants in Evolution Weekend are: Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church Bellflower, CA The Rev. Mary Todd Pendergast University Lutheran Chapel (ELCA) Berkeley, CA The Rev. Jeff R. Johnson Peace Lutheran Church Corona, CA Pastor Mark Allert Lutheran Church of the Incarnation Davis, CA The Rev. Daniel R. Smith St. Timothy Lutheran Church Monterey, CA Pastor Clark Brown Advent Lutheran Church Morgan Hill, CA The Rev. Anita R. Warner First United Lutheran Church San Francisco, CA The Rev. Dr. Susan M. Strouse Living Faith Lutheran Church Santa Clarita, CA The Rev. Pamela Challis, Senior Pastor California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, CA The Rev. Paul W. Egertson Dr. Jarvis Streeter Messiah Community Church ELCA Denver, CO The Rev. Wolfgang Stahlberg Our Savior's Lutheran Church Denver, CO The Rev. Paul Carlson Emanuel Lutheran Church Manchester, CT The Rev. Dr. G. Scott Cady Lamb of God Church (A Federated Lutheran and Episcopal Congregation) Fort Meyers, FL The Rev. Walter Fohs, Senior Pastor Peace Lutheran Church Fort Myers, FL The Rev. Walter C. Still (see all that Peace Lutheran had scheduled for Evolution Weekend here) St. Stephen Lutheran Church Tallahassee, FL The Rev. Russell L. Meyer Executive Director of the Florida Council of Churches The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour Tampa, FL The Rev. Jon Keiser Nativity Lutheran Church Weeki Wachee, FL The Rev. Phil Schroeder Peace Lutheran Church, ELCA Steeleville, IL The Rev. S. Blake Duncan St Paul Lutheran Church Villa Park, IL Stephen H. Swanson, Pastor Grace Unlimited Indianapolis Lutheran-Episcopal Campus Ministry Indianapolis, IN The Rev. Dr. Charles W. Allen, Chaplain Redeemer Lutheran Church Jasper, IN The Rev. Jennifer Owen St. John Lutheran Church Carroll, IA Pastor David A. Bergstrom St Paul Lutheran Church Davenport, IA Pastor Dan Kuckuck St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church Derwood, MD The Rev. Sarah Withers Lewis Hope Lutheran Church Farmington Hills, MI Pastor Brad Gee Shalom Lutheran Church Alexandria, MN The Rev. Rollen Halvorson Our Savior's Lutheran Church Bird Island, MN The Rev. Cynthia M. Hopp St. John Lutheran Church Montgomery, MN Pastor Bob Kaul Augustana Lutheran Church Omaha, NE Charles Austerberry Emanuel Lutheran Church New Brunswick, NJ Jeffrey C. Eaton, Pastor Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd Brooklyn, NY The Rev. David Rommereim Grace & St. Paul's Church New York, NY The Rev. Martin Hauser, Pastor Lutheran Care Center Poughkeepsie, NY Pastor John Heller Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd Brevard, NC The Rev. J. Edward Barrett Lutheran Church of the Resurrection Greensboro, NC The Rev. Raymond A. Petrea Good Shepard Lutheran Church Dayton, OH Pastor Glen Bengson Hope Lutheran Church Dayton, OH Pastor John Johansen St. Matthews Lutheran Church Ithaca, OH The Rev. Joene Herr, Pastor First Immanuel Lutheran Church Portland, OR The Rev. Dr. Melinda J. Wagner Christ's Evangelical Lutheran Church Beaver Falls, PA Pastor Kimberly A. Rapczak Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village Lewisburg, PA The Rev. Theodore L. Cockley St. Peter's Lutheran Church Pen Argyl, PA The Rev. C. Frank Terhune Trinity Lutheran Church Pottsville, PA The Rev. Harold Hand Bethany Lutheran Church Reading, PA Pastor Michael L. Reist St. Mark Lutheran Church Charlottesville, VA The Rev. Sandy Wisco Redeemer Lutheran Church Fircrest, WA The Rev. Dr. Gary Petersen The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd (ELCA) Olympia, WA The Rev. John P. Rosenberg, Lead Pastor Advent Lutheran Church Cedarburg, WI The Rev. Dr. Janis Kinens Our Savior Lutheran Church Neenah, WI The Rev. Catherine A. K. Mode Cross Lutheran Church Roberts, WI The Rev. Dean Simpson Trinity Lutheran Church South Milwaukee, WI Pastor Bill Mains Bay Shore Lutheran Church Whitefish Bay, WI Pastor Norene Smith Grace Lutheran Church Wisconsin Rapids, WI The Rev. Kent Raddatz |
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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