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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.)
Bishop Lowell Erdahl, retired Bishop of the St. Paul Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, died this month. He and I were on opposite sides of moral issues back in the days when I was still in the ELCA. He and former head ELCA Bishop Herbert Chilstrom, who died last year, co-wrote a book entitled “Sexual Fulfillment: For Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old”. The book endorsed homosexual behavior in ‘loving, committed relationships” and also stated that “self-pleasuring” (masturbation) can be a gift from God.
I have personally struggled with same sex attraction for most of my life, but for the sake of Christ and my eternal soul, I abstain. Thus, I was grieved that Erdahl and Chilstrom promoted the acceptance of homosexual behavior in the Church. And they won. Since 2009 the ELCA has ordained practicing homosexuals and transgender persons and many ELCA congregations now perform homosexual “weddings.” In May, the ELCA elected the world’s first transgender bishop. Today, Erdahl and Chilstrom stand before God to answer for denying the Bible which teaches “homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-11). Romans 1:32 talks about people who give “hearty approval” to sin. I am sad to say, I think these two bishops did that. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock --- (Here is Bishop Erdahl's obituary)
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Jennie (Jennifer) Chrien is an ELCA pastor at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, in Simi Valley, CA. She has this to say about Mary, Joseph and Jesus:
The ELCA's Southwest California Synod Bishop, Brenda Bos, a lesbian, made a comment under this Facebook post by Rev. Chrien. There was no admonition by the ELCA bishop. Below are some additional posts from pastor Jennie Chrien on her Facebook page.
(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 below worship service led by a transgender pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, this man who presents himself as woman says "The grace of Jesus the Christ, the love of God the Creator, and the communion of the queer-making Spirit be with you all." The creed in this service states "I believe in Jesus Christ, Sophia, the Word". "Sophia" is a feminine image for God that feminists use to worship the "Divine Feminine." Along the same line, God is referred to in the service as "The Divine Seamstress". This is the strange new world of the ELCA. One cannot say that the extremes of the below service are not shared by the ELCA's national leadership. ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton has made two gay pride videos and at the ELCA's Youth Gathering an 11-year-old boy who thinks he is a girl was put on stage to promote transgenderism to 31,000 Lutheran teens. At the installation of the ELCA's first transgender bishop, Bishop Eaton prayed to God as "Parent, Child and Holy Breath" and as "Rain, Estuary, and Sea". I hear from people periodically who say they stay in their ELCA congregation because they have been members so long and they would have to leave their friends. But sometimes Jesus says to leave and "shake the dust off your feet". I believe that time is now for Bible-believing Christians who are still in the ELCA and supporting it with their offering dollars and their presence. Our first allegiance is to Jesus, not to our friends nor to our 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.) I passed this church today in the Twin Cities and it appears to be a merged church of two very liberal denominations, the United Church of Christ and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Since the 1960s the UCC has shrunk more than any mainline denomination and for good reason. One can deny the Trinity, affirm a Unitarian view of God, and be a pastor in the United Church of Christ. Both the UCC and ELCA ordain practicing homosexuals and transsexuals, and pay for abortions with offering dollars in their churches healthcare plans (you will note in the picture below the church’s gay-affirming rainbow banner). Both denominations have many pastors who teach that all people will go to heaven and faith in Christ is not necessary for salvation. As liberal denomination shrink, they merge. Two ELCA seminaries in Pennsylvania had to merge, my alma mater ELCA Luther Seminary in Saint Paul had to sell off buildings, and the building which housed the ELCA seminary in California was sold to Muslims. The UCC’s United Theological Seminary in New Brighton, Minnesota, had to be sold and now houses an evangelical ministry. The second picture below is the large banner outside this merged congregation saying what it means to “Be the Church”. You will notice Jesus, evangelism, and disciple-making are not mentioned. It’s basically “let’s all be nice”.  It once again reminds me of the three pillars of liberal theology that are killing the Church: 1. God is nice 2. We too should be nice 3. Isn’t that nice? Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (Rev. Brock continues in a follow up article) I just went to the website of the church mentioned in the previous post to see what they believe. Below is their statement of faith. You will notice, not a word about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and nothing about salvation through Christ. Again, it is "Let's all be nice." I checked their calendar to see that they offer a Progressive Christianity Study Group and a drumming group. One would never dream from their statement that there will be a Judgement Day and that we need Christ. If one believes in Heaven and Hell and that the Church should help people be ready for the Last Day, their nice statement of faith isn't very nice. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock THIS WE BELIEVE We believe the umbrella of God’s love, as exemplified in Jesus the Christ, is big enough for everyone to be welcomed. We believe that love, not doctrine, holds us together. We believe the deepest expression of our faith is found in the way we treat others. We believe you don’t need to take the bible literally to discover God’s profound truths and message. We believe it is important for faith to value both the mind and the heart. We believe that we learn from one another’s diverse experiences and perspectives, and it’s okay if we don’t share the exact same beliefs. We believe listening to others and respecting them is a deeply spiritual act, even when we disagree. Not all claims to truth are the same, to be sure, but we believe every claim should be measured by love. We believe the wisdom offered from other faith traditions can complement and enrich our spiritual journeys. We believe church should be a place of peace that welcomes those who believe in God some of the time, or none of the time, or all of the time. 
The ELCA post and video below does not say that people should turn from sexual sin, instead it says "God loves you just the way you are" implying that God approves of their sexual desires and sins.
Jesus called people to "follow" Him. He also directed people to "go and sin no more." The ELCA does not do that. By rejecting God's Truth, the ELCA harms people struggling with sin. 
See video below or here. (Warning. The following article contains content that is inappropriate. I have added black boxes to cover some of the picture. This is an example of how bad the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is.) Last month bisexual ELCA pastor Dawn Bennett took to Facebook and made the public post which you can see here. At least one ELCA bishop commented afterward with a favorable statement. (Also shared below)  In the comment section ELCA Pastor Bennett writes:  Also in the comment section is this from Brenda Bos, lesbian bishop of the ELCA's Southwest California Synod:  How can anyone continue to support the ELCA, a denomination that allows this? A denomination that has a "Pastor of Public Witness" who brags about having sex with her boyfriend. A denomination that elects a transgender person as bishop of their synod.
Evil is alive and well and it controls 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.) I fully believe the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9, that we are saved by the grace of God alone and not by our good works. Good works are the result, not the cause, of our salvation in Christ. But back in the Apostle Paul's day, people were turning salvation by grace into an excuse to sin. So Paul wrote "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be!" (Romans 6:1). Today "grace abuse" is all over the Church. I drove by an LGBT-affirming Methodist church today and saw the pastor's sermon title (see below): "Just love, no strings". Later today I saw the cartoon (below right) posted by an ELCA Lutheran who endorses abortion and homosexual behavior. Both are teaching that it is unloving and unnecessary to tell people to repent. I think the opposite is true, it is unloving to tell people to stay the way they are. To do so hurts them for eternity (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) and it hurts those around them. And the first words out of Jesus' mouth in the Gospel of Mark are "...repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15). "Repent" literally means "change your mind", and, yes, this is necessary for salvation. Does this mean that we are saved by what we do, by our repentance? No because repentance itself is a gift from God. We are helpless to work repentance up in ourselves, the Holy Spirit produces repentance in us (see Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25), so God gets the credit for all our salvation. But repentance and faith in Christ are indeed necessary for salvation. This is why John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church in the 1700's, formed "holiness clubs" in which Christians met in small groups to keep their repentance and faith in Christ alive. I believe John Wesley would not be welcome at Wesley United Methodist Church. And Wesley certainly wouldn't preach "Just love, no strings attached, you don't need to change." Praise God He LETS us change from the miseries of a life of sin to a new life in Christ. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock  And see the church sign referred to above here.
“How can some pastors be in favor of homosexual behavior when the Bible is so clearly against it?”9/30/2021
(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 heard that question more than once and the below video shows an attempt by a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to make the Bible say what it doesn’t say. For 2000 years virtually all Christians have understood the Bible to be against homosexual behavior, but a new “woke” interpretation of Scripture has sprung up showing that all the Christians before us were in darkness and now we are enlightened. I don’t think so. I knew the pastor who served this congregation back in the 1990’s. He was a biblical, godly man. But today’s pastor below announces her preferred pronouns before sharing the new, “enlightened” interpretation of the Bible. This goes to show that a church can go from godly to awful in a matter of a few years if it has the wrong leadership. And this pastor— and the ELCA in general—is the wrong leadership. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
Last weekend, openly lesbian Brenda Bos was installed as bishop of the ELCA's Southwest California synod. Top bishop in the ELCA, Elizabeth Eaton, participated in the event and is seen in the line of clapping robed ELCA leaders walking into the service. Brenda Bos, wearing a rainbow (gay) stole, is especially happy as she dances lifting her hands in the air. (See video below)
The ELCA chooses people openly and unrepentantly living in sin to be leaders of their denomination. God wants to free people from sin, the ELCA tightens the chains of sin around them claiming it is not sin. It is time to get out from the teaching of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 
Watch the video below. ELCA Lutheran magazine article on ELCA’s first lesbian bishop: 'God has created you this way'8/30/2021 (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 glowing article about the ELCA’s first lesbian bishop who has a “wife”. The article states: “The first openly lesbian bishop in the ELCA, (Brenda) Bos said her call to ministry was directly tied to her coming out… ‘The integration of my sexuality and my spirituality has been a key piece of my evolution as a spiritual person and a religious leader,’ she said. ‘They’re almost inextricable…The process is about recognizing your full personhood…As you become a fully integrated person who has come out to themselves, you realize that God has created you this way, God delights in you,…’” (see here) No, God does not create people to engage in sex with members of their own sex (see my article “What does the Bible teach about homosexuality?” at pastorsstudy.org). I personally have struggled with same sex attraction most of my life, but for the sake of Christ and my soul (I Corinthians 6:9-11), I abstain from this behavior. If you or someone you know struggles with same sex attraction, you may wish to go to restoredhopenetwork.org and see if there is a support group near you. When I was young, all Lutheran denominations taught that homosexual behavior is sin. But at a church convention in 2009 the ELCA voted to ordain practicing homosexuals. Today the ELCA also ordains transgender and bisexual pastors. Even the ELCA’s World Hunger program will be promoting the LGBTQAI+ agenda at an upcoming webinar. And, most grievous of all, Lutheran teenagers are taught the pro-LGBT agenda at ELCA Teen Gatherings and in ELCA youth materials. Isaiah 5:20 says “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). And Jesus said it is better to have a millstone around your neck and be drowned in the sea than to cause little ones to stumble (Luke 17:2). Tragically not only the ELCA but also the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church in America, the Disciples of Christ and (soon) the United Methodist Church all ordain practicing homosexuals, thus affirming as good something that God calls evil. All these denominations are shrinking in membership and contributions, and they should. 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.) The World Hunger program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America used to be one of the safer places to contribute to the ELCA. Some conservative congregations years ago stopped giving to the ELCA general fund because of its liberal theology and politics and instead earmarked contributions to ELCA World Hunger. Sadly, now the ELCA's World Hunger is also promoting the gay agenda. Pro-LGBT Pastor Heidi Neumark and homosexual Pastor Joe Larson will be the featured speakers at an upcoming webinar (see below) presented by ELCA World Hunger. If you are contributing to the ELCA's World Hunger program, I believe it is time to give your money instead to Samaritan's Purse or some other Christian organization which feeds the hungry while upholding Biblical teaching. It is tragic that was once a wonderful ministry of the ELCA has now been hijacked by ELCA leaders to promote sexual teaching which grieves our Lord. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock From the ELCA: Sexuality, Gender Identity & Hunger - Thursday, August 12, 2021 - 06:00pm Hunger is about more than food. Understanding hunger – and working to end it – means seeing the many ways hunger and poverty intersect with so many other issues, including climate change, food production, access to housing, racial justice, gender justice and more. A new webinar series from ELCA World Hunger, “Hunger at the Crossroads,” will explore these intersections and the ways we can be part of God’s promise of a just world where all are fed. The first session is "Sexuality, Gender Identity and Hunger," led by the Rev. Heidi Neumark from Trinity Lutheran Church in New York and the Rev. Joe Larson from Fargo, (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.)
Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is ever printing articles promoting the LGBTQIA+ agenda while never allowing a conservative viewpoint to be heard. Witness the June/July 2021 issue. I’ve never seen so many pro-gay articles in one church magazine. First, in its “I’m a Lutheran” column, the magazine highlights a person from the LGBT community. Next is an article by lesbian Pastor Emmy Kegler. Then an article about a California ELCA congregation which helps LGBT people who have experienced “religious rejection” by the Church, which I assume means someone told them that homosexual behavior is sinful. Then there is a disturbing article about a summer camp that is helping youth accept their homosexuality and transgenderism. Lastly are the “Highly recommended” books for the month, a list of seven books, all of which promote the liberal view on homosexuality and, again, not one representing the traditional Christian point of view. Notice how youth are targeted with some of the book recommendations: “Made, known, loved: developing LGBTQ-inclusive youth ministry”, “Outlove: a queer Christian survival story”, “Queerfully and wonderfully made: A guide for LGBTQ+ Christian teens”, and “Welcoming and affirming: A guide to supporting and working with LGBTQ+ Christian youth”, One would think they are reading a gay pride magazine but, no, this is the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA voted in 2009 to ordain practicing homosexuals and to allow for homosexual “marriages”. Back then the vote was somewhat close with 66 percent voting to affirm homosexuality, but conservatives were assured their viewpoint would be allowed in the ELCA. In the ELCA's national magazine, the traditional, Biblical viewpoint is never allowed. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (See 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.)
The below article is tragic. Instead of helping young people with same-sex attraction and gender confusion see the light, they are helping them get comfortable in the darkness. If you or someone you know has same-sex attraction, go to restoredhopenetwork.org and you will see a list of ministries around the country that help people with same-sex attraction deal with it in a Biblical way. But you won’t see any of these groups highlighted by the ELCA, because Living Lutheran bans this view in its magazine. I should know, I am part of a such a group called “One by One” which inquired about buying advertising space and were not allowed because, we were told, our view is not congruent with more recent decisions of the ELCA. This in spite of the fact that the 2009 ELCA decision on homosexuality assured conservatives that their viewpoint would also be allowed in the denomination. But it is not allowed in the ELCA’s national magazine. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (See article here.) ELCA head bishop sides with homosexuals, not Catholic adoption agency, in Supreme Court case7/12/2021 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) The Supreme Court this month unanimously ruled that a Catholic adoption agency in Philadelphia receiving government funding should not be forced to violate its beliefs by giving children to homosexual couples. Elizabeth Eaton is head bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She recently did a gay pride video to celebrate pride month and now has come out with a statement regarding the Supreme Court decision: "The ELCA stands with our LGBTQIA+ siblings in Christ...affirming (their) vocation..as parents and foster parents." It is tragic that the ELCA has decided to side with practicing homosexuals and not the Catholic Church, which is simply trying to live the faith it has practiced for 2000 years. God invented the family. It takes a father and a mother to create a child. It is sad that the ELCA leadership apparently thinks it knows better than God on how to design the human family. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock https://www.elca.org/-and-Events/8111  |
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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