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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.) The national Teen Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in New Orleans has just concluded. The ELCA has produced the below five minute video of the week. I heard Jesus mentioned just once, when a liberal ELCA bishop says “Jesus calls us to challenge systems of oppression and power”. A transgender, non-binary, “they/them” pastor (minute 3:00) tells the youth not to be pressured into being who other people want them to be. Another speaker also tells the teens they need to be who they are, and Elizabeth Eaton, head bishop of the ELCA, tells the teens “You can be disruptive”. There is a good kind of disruption, such as rebelling against the evils of our culture like abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, etc. But that is not what the ELCA is talking about. The ELCA endorses abortion rights, homosexuality, and transgenderism. It is no wonder Jesus is just mentioned once. In some liberal circles, Jesus is no longer the Savior who saves us from sin, dead and Hell. According to some of them, Hell does not exist. Bishop Eaton told a Chicago newspaper that if Hell exists, she believes it is empty. So what does Jesus save us from? The liberal view of Jesus makes Him sound like a community organizer who saves us from oppressive systems of power (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia). But if that is true, why didn’t Jesus attempt to overthrow the oppressive Romans? The reason is that He is a much bigger Savior who saves us from our much bigger enemies: Sin, death, and Hell. I wonder if the ELCA teens heard that message. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock PS I hope the person hugging the teens at minute 2:00 is not a drag queen, but I am not sure
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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.) Beaming Books is a branch of 1517 Media, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It has published a book edited by trans activist Leigh Finke who helped pass legislation making Minnesota a “safe state" for sex change operations on children. Finke's book tells LBGT teens that Jesus was "totally fine" with queerness, don't listen to parents if they are not gay affirming, and porn can be useful (see article below for full story.)
Regarding parents, "If your parents do not accept you and your queerness, then they do not know what’s best for you. They just don’t. Even if they love you, even if they’re praying for you...Just because they love you does not mean they know what is best for you. Limit contact with any adult who tells you something is wrong with you...just know that you are the only authority on who you are.” Regarding pornography, “For starters, porn can be a safe way to explore your sexuality. You can learn about your body and pleasure and how to make the most of both. You can also take that information, when applicable, and put it to use on your partner’s body." The book recommends watching porn “with your partner, which can open up new conversations about sex and pleasure, stimulate our natural arousal systems, or it can just be a silly fun thing to experience together.” This is perhaps the worst heresy yet from the ELCA. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (Article about the book here) Luther Seminary’s preaching conference to feature transgender preacher—who called Jesus an S.O.B.4/16/2024 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Luther Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America helps put on a yearly “Festival of Homiletics” conference at which 1500 clergy and lay people from around the country gather. One of this year’s speakers is ELCA Pastor Nicole Garcia who was born a man but now identifies as a woman. Telling his (I can’t say “her”) story to NBC News, Garcia referred to Jesus as an S.O.B. From the NBC article: “I had my come-to-Jesus moment. It wasn’t one of those, “Oh please, oh please, help me,’” she explained. “It was more, “Alright you son of a b---h, if I’m going to come back, you better step it up this time.’” (see article here) No wonder America is in such trouble when many in the leadership of the Church have caved to the sexual confusion of our age. When I graduated from Luther Seminary years ago, it was moderately liberal, today it is radical. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock  Former ELCA head bishop: Jesus was hurtful and mean to Syrophoenician woman, but He changed His mind8/21/2023 (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 reported before on Elk River Lutheran Church in Elk River, Minnesota, and their gay pride worship services. It makes sense that they have twice invited former presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Mark Hanson, to speak since it was during his leadership in 2009 that the ELCA voted to perform gay weddings and ordain practicing homosexuals. In his sermon, Hanson defended “children who are transitioning” (to the opposite sex). Hanson then preached that Jesus was mean and hurtful in His response to the Syrophoenician woman. Gratefully, according to Hanson, Jesus changed His mind and showed mercy to the woman. Also, Hanson stated that the woman’s daughter was not really demon possessed in Matthew 15:21 but instead she had a mental illness. Hanson could have pointed out that Jesus was challenging and testing the Syrophoenician woman’s faith and then He rewarded her faith. Instead, Hanson stated that Jesus used despicable language to her. Hanson states that he was “flummoxed” by the way Jesus treated her (start about minute 35:24 below). But if Jesus sinned against this woman, then He would not be the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If Jesus sinned, He would have to die for His own sins and could not die for ours. For this reason, the New Testament insists that Jesus was sinless (I Peter 1:18-19, 2:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, I John 3:5). Sadly, this former head bishop of the ELCA did not insist on that point. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock What does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America believe about the Bible? We can tell by what they say, by what they promote, by what they deny, by what they preach. (I document this throughout this website) This month the ELCA's magazine, Living Lutheran, published an article titled "The Story Behind the Story: Finding Greater Truths Behind Bible Tales". (Read here) As you read this article you will see the ELCA cast doubt on the Bible's account of historical events such as the Biblical six-day creation account, the miraculous parting the Red Sea, David fighting and killing Goliath, and Jesus walking on water. Here are some quotes from the ELCA article: - (Talking about the Biblical creation account and other culture's creation stories) "I can appreciate the beauty and poetry of these mythical details without taking them literally— and still worship the glorious Force that created the universe in ways I still don’t understand." - "Many ancient civilizations had flood stories similar to the Genesis story of Noah’s ark, but that doesn’t take away from the core message: God loves us and will not let us be extinguished. God’s word, God’s promise of protection, can be trusted. So in a profound way that story is true." - "Even the dramatic encounter between the little shepherd boy David and the giant Philistine Goliath may be misunderstood, says author Malcolm Gladwell. If it did actually occur..." - "Jesus turning water into wine and walking on the sea? Modern physicists hoping to prove or disprove the first story have written scholarly papers breaking down the chemical elements of both wine and H2O. Critics of the second posit that Jesus might have been treading on a thin sheet of ice. To me both miracles beautifully symbolize Jesus’ care for us, however they came to be." - "What Bible stories do you question? Which have strained credulity and even been stumbling blocks to belief? Why not let go of a desire to force these old, old stories into a rigid mold they may never have been meant to fit?" Pastor Tom Brock writes this about the ELCA article, "But in Living Lutheran magazine, a person’s subjective opinion about what may or may not have happened in the Bible trumps the Bible’s claim to historical accuracy." (See here) The Dean of Students and professor at an ELCA seminary told me personally that not one ELCA seminary professor believes Adam and Eve were real people. When the ELCA chose this article for publication, they validated it. This is a teaching that is embraced by the denomination. Denial of the Truth of God's Word is the root of the the problem, the source of evil, that has made the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America what it is today. It is a faux Christian church that embraces evil, that cast doubt on what God says, much like Satan did in Scripture.  (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.) The two men pictured in the first link below are “married” and both are pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The one on the right recently preached a sermon (see video below) entitled “The road ahead will be difficult”. In it he tells parishioners that we follow Jesus by working for abortion rights. He also quotes the ELCA’s head bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, who has also called upon Lutherans to work for abortion rights. Tragic. “Thou shalt not kill” was not mentioned. Please pray for Christ’s Church. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100871211507480&set=a.558482085790&type=3
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Augsburg University has become radically liberal, evidenced by its recent chapel series entitled “Series on Female-Identifying Leaders Who Participate in Proclamation”. Notice, the series is not about “women preachers” but “female-identifying preachers” in order, I believe, to include non-binary, transgender preachers. But it gets worse. The Lutheran pastor preaches to the students that Jesus “screwed up” in His dealings with the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30) and that she had to redeem Him (see minute 15:30 below). That’s right, Jesus gets redeemed by the Syrophoenician woman. The preacher also uses the F word in her sermon. A few years ago I did a post on this same preacher who went on (and on and on) in a bizarre sermon telling her congregational members to call a transgender woman “they” This is the bizarre, new, "enlightened" world of many colleges and congregations of the ELCA. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
Rev. Emily Ewing is an ELCA pastor who is employed as a "Social Justice Pastor" at a United Methodist church.
In a Facebook post written Feb. 14, 2021, Pastor Ewing writes "FYI: TRANSfiguration Sunday is a celebration of Jesus being trans and nonbinary. Dazzling change and consistency." The ELCA is fine with denigrating and blaspheming our Lord and Savior. Why are you still part of this denomination? 
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Help Exposing the ELCA reach our goal of $75,000! Gifts can be given by credit card, or PayPal at www.paypal.com/paypalme/exposingtheelca A sign held by Cassie Hartnett read, "When Jesus Comes Back She'll Be Gay." Cassie Hartnett is a former vicar at an ELCA church in Maryland and she attended Union Theological Seminary. When ELCA leaders openly blaspheme Jesus it is time to leave and never set foot in an ELCA church again.  (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) I turned on the TV this afternoon to see a worship service from an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation, Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church of Mahtomedi, Minnesota. Years ago, this congregation was known for being more biblical and evangelical and even helped start a reform movement within Lutheranism. I don’t know much about the church today except for the sermon I just watched by Stephanie Anderson-Telschow, a deacon at St Andrew’s. She preached about Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28) in which He tells her that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel and “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs”. It is a bit of a difficult text but many scholars believe Jesus was testing the woman’s faith, she passed the test, and her daughter was healed. But today’s preacher said “Jesus’ response is so ugly that we barely recognize him...Was Jesus wrong? Did he make a mistake? I don’t know about that...”. I do. Jesus did not make a mistake. He is fully God and fully man and his teaching is 100% accurate. He never sinned against this woman or anyone else. He sometimes said things that are difficult for us to understand, but, as the Bible teaches, Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22). I hope you are a member of a good, biblical congregation which joyfully acknowledges the rightness of Jesus’ teaching. In Him, 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.) Perhaps you heard the story of the 2009 Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at which a tornado struck the Assembly as they voted to ordain practicing homosexuals (by 66.6 percent). Many saw it as a sign of God's displeasure on the ELCA. Across the street from the Minneapolis Convention Center is the historic Central Lutheran Church which hosted the gay lobby back in 2009. Beer tents were set up on the lawn of Central Lutheran to serve convention-goers and the tornado not only tore up the beer tents but also tore down the large iron cross from the steeple of Central Lutheran. The cross hung upside down for months while it was being repaired. Fast forward to today. Below at minute 8:38 and again at minute 21:16 you will hear one of Central Lutheran's pastors teach that Jesus made mistakes and had to "come to His senses". The pastor even says that Jesus "repents and apologizes" (minute 22:52). She repeats (minute 24:38) that "Jesus sees what He has done is wrong, says He is sorry". She says Jesus "screwed up" (minute 28:51). None of that, of course, is in Matthew 15:21-28. Commentators believe Jesus was challenging the syrophoenician woman to press on in her faith, not sinning against her. The rest of the sermon mentions eunuchs and sexual minorities (Central is very pro-LGBT). The tragedy of Central Lutheran's teaching is that it gets rid of the atonement. Christ was sinless, therefore He could pay for the sins of others. But if Jesus sinned, He would have had to pay for His own sins and could not pay for ours. But, sadly, some liberal Protestants no longer believe in Christ's substitutionary atonement. They believe for God the Father to punish His Son for our sins would amount to "divine child abuse." In their view, substitutionary atonement never needed to take place to begin with because God is a God of love, not of wrath. So Jesus didn't need to be sinless. But the Bible teaches Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22). The Bible teaches that Jesus saves us from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9, I Thessalonians 1:10) and that He made atonement for our sins. In fact, the Apostle Paul teaches that one must believe that Christ died for our sins in order to be saved, since it is a matter of "first importance" (I Corinthians 15:1-4). What a tragic day in which we live when clergy deny Christ's sinlessness and His atoning sacrifice. May the Lord save His Church from such "pastors." In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock PS I can't help but think of the hymn Luther wrote in 1542: "Lord, keep us steadfast in your Word; curb those who by deceit or sword would wrest the kingdom from your Son and bring to naught all he has done.  (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Frank Honeycutt, a pastor of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has written a number of articles for the ELCA’s national magazine Living Lutheran. In the December issue, he says of Jesus “...he undoubtably...threw a tantrum or two, and grew up into a teenager with occasional rebellious and haughty moments...I’m convinced Jesus didn’t pop out of his mom’s womb preprogrammed to always do and say the right and perfect thing. This last sentence may unnerve some Lutherans...” It certainly does. If Jesus was rebellious and haughty, then He sinned. If Jesus sinned, he would have to pay for his own sins on the cross and could not be the spotless Lamb of God who sacrificed himself in our place for our sins. The Bible teaches that Jesus was indeed both fully God and fully man. But the Bible also makes it clear that Jesus never sinned (Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21). In John 8:46, Jesus challenged the Jewish leaders “...which one of you convicts me of sin?”. They couldn’t. But apparently the ELCA’s national magazine feels it can convict Jesus of having “rebellious and haughty moments.” This is tragic false teaching. See the entire article in the link below. Just to recap some of the ELCA’s actions: it recently ordained a transgender pastor who called Jesus “an SOB”...this summer it passed an interfaith resolution saying we don’t know what God thinks of non-Christian religions and refused to affirm Jesus as the only way of salvation...the ELCA publicized a TV program that presents a Lutheran transgender 13-year-old as a “hero” and the ELCA healthcare plan paid for the child’s hormone blockers...and the ELCA continues to pay for abortion for any reason whatsoever in its healthcare plan which is funded by offering dollars. If you are still an ELCA Lutheran, I strongly encourage you to make this your New Year’s resolution: to find a more biblical denomination where I can give my offering dollars joyfully knowing they will go toward proclaiming Jesus as the only way of salvation, and will not go toward hormone blockers for children and abortion. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (Read the ELCA article here)  A Facebook post by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor Lura Groen refers to Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well as an attempt by Jesus to sexually seduce the woman. ELCA pastor Groen has rewritten the story to better reflect what she believes was really happening.  (Also see Rev. Groen's FB post here) This is heretical and demonic. The fact that Rev. Groen's view of scripture and Christ is allowed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says all you need to know about the denomination. It is time for you and your loved ones to depart from the ELCA, and please consider sharing this with others who also need to know about the realities of the ELCA. |
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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