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The following is by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. Follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.
The April issue of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's official magazine, The Lutheran, has on its cover "Helping Save the Earth". The articles inside are about saving the planet. Yes, we should be good stewards of the environment, but I got to thinking: When is the last time The Lutheran had a cover article "Saving lost human souls through the Gospel of Christ"? I have never seen such a cover. Maybe because the ELCA doesn't know if it believes people are really lost without Christ. The Lutheran has printed a number of articles espousing universalism, the heresy that faith in Christ is not necessary for salvation (ultimately everyone universally will be saved, Christian or not). Where in the ELCA is the zeal for saving lost human souls? Tragically, I believe it has been replaced with concern for saving the planet, changing immigration laws, Middle East politics, gay advocacy, etc. etc. Just go to ELCA.org and look at its "News releases". Its mainly liberal politics. Perhaps the reason the number of ELCA missionaries has dropped dramatically since the ELCA's founding in 1988 is because many in ELCA leadership do not believe in Hell anymore. And in the ELCA's hymnal, the line in the Apostle's Creed that Jesus "descended into hell" has been left out. Years ago when I was still in the ELCA, some conservative pastors and I went to our Minneapolis Area Synod conventions every year and raised questions like: Why does the ELCA pay for abortion with offering dollars in its healthcare plan? Why is the ELCA promoting homosexuality? Why are we changing the Biblical "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" language for feminine images of God? One year we even had a resolution reaffirming the Bible's teaching that Jesus is the only way of salvation (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). It lost. What did pass one year was a resolution that we go back to our churches and encourage that we drink coffee out of ceramic cups because styrofoam cups are dangerous to the environment. I could take it no more and got to the microphone: "If we cared half as much about the dangers of hell as we do about the dangers of the styrofoam cup, there might be hope for this synod." Well, in three days we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, when He triumphed over sin, death and Hell for us. And yes, according to the Bible and Jesus Christ Himself, Hell really does exists. In the love of our Risen Savior, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org
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Over the past day I've been getting a number of comments in support of Dr. Wil Gafney, an Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, an ELCA Seminary. The people writing recently found a blog I wrote back in May regarding a blog written by Dr. Gafney where she posted a picture of Jesus as a female. (read my blog here) Those who commented thought the picture was great. They expressed that Dr. Gafney is a wonderful professor and attempted to justify what she did and wrote. Many of them justified the female Jesus picture by pointing to the verse where Jesus says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” - Matt. 23:37. Somehow, because Jesus referenced a female chicken, these people think Jesus was a woman.
Some of the comments I received: From an ELCA pastor – Dr. Gafney's “. . . teaching and preaching build up the faith and instill a deep interest in knowing more about our Scriptures, something you sadly know nothing about. Go and educate yourself.” From another ELCA pastor - “Do you honestly have so little imagination that you cannot see that God is greater than gender, color or race? Your God is too small, too white and too male as far as I can tell.” “I am so glad that ELCA pastors in training are being taught by Dr. Gafney. Too few seminarians are learning robust feminist and womanist theologies . . .” “I think Dr. Gafney is one of our most gifted and prophetic voices in our church.” “It troubles me that my beloved church may actually have paid for your education which you are now abusing in order to propagate such flawed and hateful statements. Shame shame on you.” “Clearly the author of this reflection is at best novice and at worst ignorant of how social realities impact theological reflection. Please spend time doing something more productive than objecting to the scholastic innovation that comes from Dr. Gafney.” “I think the Christa image is beautiful and thought-provoking.” “The Rev. Dr. Gafney opens up, by her meticulous scholarship, access to images of God that are not only scriptural but deeply needed in a world that is increasingly polarized by racist, sexist and homophobic agendas.” Most of the people who support Dr. Gafney's female Jesus picture are liberals who warp Christianity and Scripture to their own liking so much so that many of them do not even worship the God of the Bible anymore. In their lost-ness, they would likely still sing Dr. Gafney's praises even in view of the professor's belief that Asherah, a Canaanite goddess, is the Holy Spirit. (see here) I'm not joking. As you can see, that is what she believes. Is this thinking and foundation for teaching “scholastic innovation” and “meticulous scholarship?” No. It's heresy! People in the ELCA need to know what is happening in their church and what their leaders are teaching. I'm sure you all know by now, The Rev. R. Guy Erwin was elected last week by the Southwest California Synod to be their bishop. He is the first openly gay bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The denomination and liberal press are so proud. The Southwest California Synod quickly sent a press release that announced, "The bishop-elect is a partnered gay man whose participation in the leadership of this church was limited before the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly decision. Only since 2009 has the church allowed LGBT persons in committed partnered relationships onto the ordained roster of the ELCA." (see here)
Bishop Jim Gonia of Rocky Mountain Synod was so excited, he starting blogging about the election while he was sitting in the Southwest CA assembly after watching it take place. You should read what he says. I am greatly disturbed by it. ELCA bishop Jim Gonia credited the Holy Spirit for Rev. Erwin's election victory. He said, "When the final vote was taken amid the Scripture readings and prayer that accompanied each round, there was no doubt in my mind that the Assembly as a whole was making its choice. . . based on the leading of the Spirit who was helping to identify the right person for this role in this part of the church at this time." Bishop Gonia also said, "I will continue to give thanks to the Spirit for leading our brothers and sisters in Southwest California to choose the right person for this chapter of their life and for the sake of our shared witness in the world." (see here) It is blasphemous to claim the Holy Spirit inspired the vote of someone who is openly and unrepentantly living in sin. God tells us in His Word, "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." - 1 Timothy 3:1-7 The ELCA continues to place their thoughts above God's thoughts, their ways above God's ways. ----- Below are some articles about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America electing their first openly homosexual bishop:
I thought the ELCA was supposed to respect it's members who have taken the Biblical position that homosexuality is a sin and practicing homosexual pastors should not be ordained. They have not. (please look around this website for proof that the high church continually promotes the homosexual agenda) Now read this, in the May 2013 issue of the ELCA magazine Gather, under an article with a section titled “The Spirit Guides New Visions” the author, speaking about a specific ELCA congregation, wrote “That same congregation...trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit...became known for supporting people in same-sex commitments and even agreeing that it would consider calling a pastor in a committed same-sex relationship before it was officially sanctioned by the churchwide assembly of the ELCA in 2009. Some congregations have Spirit-led mission baked into their DNA!” (Winds of Change, by The Rev. Dennis Bushkofsky, page 15)
If the mentioned ELCA congregation was being led by the Holy Spirit in their homosexual stance, as the ELCA magazine states, doesn't that mean that those who disagree with them are not being lead by the Holy Spirit? How do you like that orthodox ELCA members? Your denomination is saying you are acting in opposition to God if you do not believe like they do. It must also be noted that the ELCA magazine is taking the position that homosexuality is good. This message is sent right into the living-rooms of ELCA members across the nation. That is not respecting the “bound conscious” of many ELCA members and congregations who disagree. Remember how the ELCA said that the 2009 decision who not effect you? The ELCA is using all its resources to promote their belief that homosexuality is God given and good. ----- Please pray for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Berlin, PA. On June 2 the congregation will be voting on their church affiliation. AND Pray for Bethel Lutheran Church in Holdrege, Nebraska. On June 4th at 1:30 pm Bethel will go to court to defend itself from a lawsuit brought by supporters of the ELCA. (see here for background information) ----- An ELCA church is bringing in notorious heretics to speak in November and the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod is promoting it - "Dr. Marcus Borg & Dr. John Dominic Crossan at Messiah Community Church, ELCA, Denver (see here)" Read about Dr. Borg here and Dr. Crossan here. People scoff when conservative Lutherans point to goddess worship happening in the ELCA. The scoffers either do not believe it or think it is very isolated. They are wrong. (see here)
Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney is Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, an ELCA Seminary. She is an ordained Episcopal priest who teaches the future leaders and pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (see her school bio here) In a Dr. Gafney blog dated February 11, 2013 the seminary professor compiled some questions she would like to ask the prophet Elijah. She said: “When you killed the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal but not the four hundred prophets of Asherah was it because you really didn’t mind a little goddess worship on the side? Are we feminists right in saying that Asherah was just the Canaanite articulation of the Holy Spirit and not really another God?” (see here) First, Dr. Gafney doesn't know if the prophets of Asherah were spared by Elijah that day or if they were even present at the referred to gathering. We do know that 1 Kings 19:1 says Elijah “had killed all the prophets with the sword.” So it seems more likely that they were killed with the prophets of Baal if they were there. Secondly, and the reason for my blog, did you hear professor Gafney reveal that she believes: Asherah is the Holy Spirit, not another god? This is completely false. Yet that is what she publicly proclaims. I can not believe the ELCA would allow a professor who thinks this way to teach their future leaders. The Bible says this about Asherah:
So, if it's wrong (and it is) why isn't the ELCA leadership stopping it and why are they letting people who believe it be instructors in their seminaries? Using masculine terms for God seems to be a big deal to the ELCA. What I should really say is, they don’t seem to like using masculine terms for God. A couple of years ago Exposing the ELCA reported (see here) on a page published within the ELCA's official website called, “What is the proper use of language in worship?” (see here) On that page, the ELCA says, "The metaphorical use of the term ‘father’ continues to be used in worship, alongside many other biblical metaphors for God. However, because sin can distort even the fundamental relationships of parents to children, the image of a father may be difficult to comprehend for some who have experienced alienation in their relationship to a human father." They then, in an obvious attempt to get you to stop using male terms in reference to God, offer this, “Titles that suggest the activity of God may be used to address God . . .” Moments later they say, “Second-person pronouns, instead of gender specific and third person pronouns, may be used to address God.” (An example of a second-person pronoun is “you.” An example of a third-person pronoun is “he.”)
The ELCA’s webpage then tries to dismiss the maleness of Jesus saying “the humanness of Jesus has always been viewed as more significant than his male gender.” Continuing they state, “Although the use of male pronouns is appropriate when referring to Jesus, care should be taken to find other ways to speak of Jesus that emphasize humanness rather than maleness.” Please read the page I’m referring to. It seems clear to me that the ELCA has a problem with using male gender terms to refer to God the Father. They are doing everything they can to steer you away from using male terms for God, except for being straight forward with us and saying, “Don’t use them.” With Jesus, it looks to me like the ELCA wants people to de-emphasize the maleness of Jesus. On that same ELCA page, strangely enough, the ELCA seems to be pretty supportive of calling the Holy Spirit “she.” I quote, “Throughout the history of the church, feminine pronouns have often been employed in reference to the Spirit. Some see this usage as balancing the masculine Father and Son references.” Just so you know how seriously the ELCA considers the issue of using gender neutral language for God, check out the ELCA magazine Gather. On their “Writer guidelines” page they give a list of “Requirements.” One of the requirements is to “use inclusive language.” They go on to explain “Generally, avoid using pronouns (he, she, his, her) when referring to God, and words for God that are exclusively masculine should be used only rarely (for example, use ruler, not king).” (see here) This summer “Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Mark S. Hanson will deliver the keynote address” to a conference held by a homosexual advocacy organization, Lutherans Concerned / North America. (see here)
Lutherans Concerned / North America works for the “acceptance and full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities within the Lutheran communion and its ecumenical and global partners” (see here). Some of Lutherans Concerned / North America's “Declaration of Principles” are: “encourage and nurture all who are coming out” “acts assertively in the face of oppression” “seeks the guidance of the Holy Spirit to integrate and express our spiritual and sexual selves” (see here) “This is the first time a presiding bishop of any denomination has delivered the keynote address at our assembly.” (see here) |
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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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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