Letter to Bishop Hanson
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our father:
I come to you under the gravest of circumstances as a disenfranchised rostered member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Over the years I have grown more and more concerned with statements and actions carried on by this church that seem to have little to no biblical backing and seem to be used as an effort to fit in with popular opinion or part of some political agenda. After the decision to approve the statement on human sexuality at the 2009 church wide assembly my concerns have escalated to a new level. The church seems willing to ignore the law of the old testament in order to increase membership roster and allocate more funds. Though it is good to bring more people to Christ and increase membership and allocate funds to help the needy it should never be done at the expense of God's law in our lives. I have listened to your town hall meeting recording, and read the ELCA website, and it appears you are trying to push this agenda and make it acceptable in man's eyes as well as trying to keep everyone together despite the disagreement. I urge you fight for God's word hold true to scripture alone and not the influence of man. "Peace if possible, truth at all costs"; these are the words of Martin Luther, words I hold dear to my heart. Matthew 10: 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. |
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In your town hall meeting you brought up a racial justice department within the ELCA. This issue also concerned me. Should the church not be focused on God's saving grace and holding true to the law instead of engaging in the divisive practices of groupism? Christ is a figure who showed God's love transcends racial differences as he died for both Jew and Gentile. Even in the old testament God reached out to the Gentiles through prophets. I feel we should be embracing differences and working on matters of spirit which sees no color.
A third grievance I hold with the ELCA is its decision to advocate on the issue of climate change. This action violates the financial trust that I have shared with the ELCA. Benevolence monies should be used toward helping the poor not to be engaged with a controversial political agenda. Christ clearly explains that what we do in the political landscape has no effect on his love and Grace toward us all. Please refer to Matthew 22 "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God's what is God's". The Church should be focused on the world to come, not political squabbles.
From the beginning when Man was made God granted us a gift of free will and we had chosen to enslave ourselves to sin. The Hebrews not trusting God enslaved themselves to Egypt and God had led them to freedom; later Christ comes to us and dies on the cross freeing us from sin. Then we fall back into a trap of man-made corruption in the church and it was purified through Luther and here we are yet again falling into the same trap in the ELCA pushing political policies that take liberty and free will from the individual and put it in the hands of government.
The actions of the ELCA dealing with the statement on Human Sexuality and dealing with political issues such as Climate Change divert the church from its true mission of spreading the Gospel of our lord Jesus Christ into the world and giving people hope and real love, law and gospel working together (The law was written to protect us from ourselves) Instead it spreads the message of what appears to be a superficial social club membership that will lead people astray from the truth and that contradicts the very message Christ brought to us.
"Where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel."-Luther
Sadly we are laying the brick work for Satan's chapel as we attempt to overshadow God's law with ELCA social policy separating the church from its real work; by that nature we are not a church of laws but a church of sin. Pretending the law doesn't matter, or attempting to rewrite scripture to our liking is no better than the non biblical canons that allowed the church of old to become so corrupt. And the use of benevolences to advance a political agenda is no better than the sale of indulgences Luther fought so hard to free us from.
Though I am NOT leaving my congregation, for my heart is there and that congregation holds true to scriptural truths, until these issues begin to resolve the ELCA is not my church. This issue to the fact that an organization that prides itself on its rebellion against God is not a church at all but rather a "synagogue of Satan". As a result of this none of my benevolence money can ever go to the ELCA as long as these actions continue and I will do everything in my power to spread this message to all members of my congregation and synod so that the ELCA may receive as little funds as possible to deceive its members until such a time that ELCA policies begin to become focused on scripture alone once again. I will pray for you the ELCA and the Synod with all my heart, but my church is built on Christ and not on man. This is where I stand, I hope you stand with me.
In Christ's service and with love,
Brian Crawford
A third grievance I hold with the ELCA is its decision to advocate on the issue of climate change. This action violates the financial trust that I have shared with the ELCA. Benevolence monies should be used toward helping the poor not to be engaged with a controversial political agenda. Christ clearly explains that what we do in the political landscape has no effect on his love and Grace toward us all. Please refer to Matthew 22 "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God's what is God's". The Church should be focused on the world to come, not political squabbles.
From the beginning when Man was made God granted us a gift of free will and we had chosen to enslave ourselves to sin. The Hebrews not trusting God enslaved themselves to Egypt and God had led them to freedom; later Christ comes to us and dies on the cross freeing us from sin. Then we fall back into a trap of man-made corruption in the church and it was purified through Luther and here we are yet again falling into the same trap in the ELCA pushing political policies that take liberty and free will from the individual and put it in the hands of government.
The actions of the ELCA dealing with the statement on Human Sexuality and dealing with political issues such as Climate Change divert the church from its true mission of spreading the Gospel of our lord Jesus Christ into the world and giving people hope and real love, law and gospel working together (The law was written to protect us from ourselves) Instead it spreads the message of what appears to be a superficial social club membership that will lead people astray from the truth and that contradicts the very message Christ brought to us.
"Where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel."-Luther
Sadly we are laying the brick work for Satan's chapel as we attempt to overshadow God's law with ELCA social policy separating the church from its real work; by that nature we are not a church of laws but a church of sin. Pretending the law doesn't matter, or attempting to rewrite scripture to our liking is no better than the non biblical canons that allowed the church of old to become so corrupt. And the use of benevolences to advance a political agenda is no better than the sale of indulgences Luther fought so hard to free us from.
Though I am NOT leaving my congregation, for my heart is there and that congregation holds true to scriptural truths, until these issues begin to resolve the ELCA is not my church. This issue to the fact that an organization that prides itself on its rebellion against God is not a church at all but rather a "synagogue of Satan". As a result of this none of my benevolence money can ever go to the ELCA as long as these actions continue and I will do everything in my power to spread this message to all members of my congregation and synod so that the ELCA may receive as little funds as possible to deceive its members until such a time that ELCA policies begin to become focused on scripture alone once again. I will pray for you the ELCA and the Synod with all my heart, but my church is built on Christ and not on man. This is where I stand, I hope you stand with me.
In Christ's service and with love,
Brian Crawford