I begin this rant with something that has recently happened in the ELS. Rev. Rolf Preus was suspended by the ELS synodical president. The synod later told his congregation that they had the choice between their pastor or the synod. Ultimatly they chose the synod. But, what really makes this worse is that before the congregation voted him out of ministry there, they had another vote. In that ballet they UNANIMOUSLY voted that he was preaching the Word of God in its truth and purity and rightly administering the sacraments. Yet they voted him out because they didnt want to be kicked out of the synod. Why has the synod become more important then scripture. This can be seen in the ELS, ELCA, and the LCMS to name a few. Luke 10:16 says "He who listens to you listens to me, he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." So what does that say about that congregation? Here ends the Rant on the ELS.
Now to my synod the LCMS. Basically, what this is about is how the LCMS is full of people who want to please everyone. They will try to please everyone whether it holds to scripture or not. This whole ABLAZE thing its just trying to get more and more members. What do they do with these people once they are members. Absolutly nothing! They dont try to catechize them. Or teach them anything. The Methodists had something like this a couple years ago called Ignite. They are now basically unitarians. To end this part I leave you with some quotes from Klemet Preus' book: The Fire and the Staff...
"An effective church is one in which the Spirit works through the Word and Sacraments. We cannot become more "effective" then the Spirit already is. But we can "efect" faith by the Gospel and teh Sacraments. An effective church, a successful church, is one where the Word is taught and the Sacraments administerd. Our success as minsisters or as churches ismeasured only by whether we consistently and purely teach this Word and rightly administer Baptism and the Lord's Supper."
No where does that say anything about being successful by the number of members. To those of you who are in the ministry or studying to enter it, I pray you will stay strong in the Word. Those of you who do will most likely face persecution. Major cuts in pay if you arent suspended or voted out. Stay strong in the Word and do not break from it. The Lord be with you.
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6 comments:
The ABLAZE and IGNITE have basically the same priciple, so you can imagine what's going to happen to the LCMS.
yeah... isnt that what I said?
pretty sure thats what Jon said...and amanda... your just stealing what Pierson said...try doing some background work before opening your trap.
Jon..start posting on Blocked Commenters..now...
susan your comment has been deleted can we please not turn my blog into a war zone. THere are other people besides people at ML who read this.
I'm going to assume that Nathan landblasting Amanda doesn't count as starting a war. But whatever.
On the subject of the post...that's scary when the church itself becomes more interesting in materialistic items (whether is membership numbers or money from indulgances) you know things are going down hill. Reformation time?
actually its more he did it without swearing.
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