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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.) Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has a lectionary blog article which tortures John 3:16, thus pleasing the pronoun police. This past summer the ELCA in its national assembly passed a resolution saying they want more "inclusive and expansive" language for God, which means they want to be open to feminine language for God. The Living Lutheran blog reads (with my notes): "God loves the world such that God (note "He" is changed to "God") gave up the Son (note: not "His" Son), so that those who believe (note: not "those who believe in Him") will not perish, but enjoy eternal life instead....God did not send God’s son (note: not “His” Son) to condemn the world, but to save it." Later the article talks about "what God is willing to do to reconcile humans with Godself." There is no such word as "Godself'. It is a word invented by religious liberals who cannot bring themselves to talk about "God Himself." Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock --- (See article here) 
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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.) Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has a recent article entitled “Who is God?” The author is Erin Strybis who is content editor of Living Lutheran and who writes “These days I long for a softer God. God as Breath. God as Water. God as Mother. God as Healing.” In many of its articles, Living Lutheran tortures the English to avoid calling God “He”. But Jesus never prays to God as “Mother”, only as “Father.” This past summer the ELCA passed a resolution calling for more “inclusive and expansive language for God”. My alma mater, the ELCA’s Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, periodically offers prayers to God as “Mother”. It is tragic and arrogant when people think they can improve upon Jesus’ language for God.  Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock --- (See article here) 
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)
Rev. Kevin L. Strickland is the bishop of the ELCA's Southeastern Synod and the former Assistant to the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA and Executive for Worship. Last spring Rev. Strickland said the following: "For many years, I felt like I was 'broken' as I fought the internal struggle to come out and say that I was gay and to not only do that but then to continue being able to serve as a pastor in this church. I felt shame, brokenness, sense of not being right. Then a dear friend and pastor, reminded me, I was exactly what God created and even in what may feel broken to me, God calls it beautiful. I now can claim that I am a beautifully and wonderfully created child of God who is gay. Being broken-open means I now live free as the person that God created me to be. In that broken-openness, there is such beauty." (See here) In the ELCA and world it is common for people to say that "God made me gay." This is a lie.  ELCA Assembly Calls on the Denomination to Use “Gender-Inclusive and Expansive” Language for God8/15/2019 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) At this week's national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, delegates passed a statement decrying sexism and calling for "gender-inclusive and expansive" language for God. (See here) The ELCA's hymnbook years ago removed all the masculine pronouns for God in the Psalms and the hymnal contains a hymn "Mothering God, you gave me birth." It appears that the ELCA leadership wants more. One ELCA congregation called Herchurch in California worships the goddess Sophia and uses the prayer "Our Mother who is within us, we celebrate your many names". Herchurch's pastor had a retreat in which (according to its website) “Pastor Stacy... invited us to form our own images in clay of Asherah, the mother goddess of the Canaanites..." to aid them in worshipping the Divine Feminine. If you know your Old Testament, God forbade the ancient Jews from worshipping the false gods Asherah and Baal. Years ago some ELCA Lutherans in Iowa complained to the Iowa bishop about Herchurch. The Iowa bishop asked the California bishop about the situation. The Iowa bishop then wrote "“After visiting with the bishop (in California) and with another synod staff member... there is an acknowledgement that this congregation ‘pushes around the edges’ on matters that make some of us uncomfortable. Things...seen by many to be outside the bounds, but don't rise to level of anything in the disciplinary arena. Speaking explicitly about the pastor and regular worship experience there, when folks have ‘dropped in unannounced’ they have experienced preaching that is decidedly within Lutheran orthodoxy and worship that is familiar and done with integrity. It was said that this small congregation is serving the local community very well..." If anyone doubts it is time to leave the ELCA, go to the herchurch.org website and see the idolatry that the ELCA permits. There has never been any discipline of Herchurch by the ELCA bishop. If goddess worship is now within Lutheran orthodoxy and "done with integrity", something has gone very, very wrong in the ELCA. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock  |
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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