Reply to an ELCA Pastor

2/26/2018

Today I received this comment from an ELCA pastor:

Here was my reply:

Hi (....),

Thanks for the concern. It concerns me deeply that a person would be part of an apostate denomination that encourages sin, teaches contrary to Scripture, advocates hatefully against the Jewish State, supports abortions and pays for them in their health care plan, pushes universalism, does not preach personal repentance, doesn't evangelize or make disciples of Christ, pushes liberal politics and views many accounts in scripture as myth. It is a faith destroying denomination.

A Christian should not be part of the ELCA.

Dan Skogen

7 Comments

John

2/27/2018 06:06:40 pm

Well said, Dan.
The pastor's comment brings to mind what the fabled emperor may well have said to the village boy, just how deeply concerned he was to hear his fine new clothes attacked! Right before he said, "Well, the show must go on!" Or was that, "the sham must go on"?

There is another proverb, "When an honest man discovers he is mistaken, he will either cease being mistaken, or cease being honest." We know which kind of man the emperor was, and what kind of man the pastor is. The question now is, what kind of man --
or woman -- are you?

Didaskalos link

2/28/2018 04:10:57 am

The bottom line: the ELCA's manifold heresies and apostasies (especially its thralldom to and advocacy of every sexual sin the world currently favors) point people toward eternal damnation, not salvation.

Dan should spare no effort exposing the counterfeit that is the ELCA.

Martin Luther would have done no less:

“It [the Gospel] teaches us everything — the nature of God, of ourselves, and what has been and is to be in regard to heaven, hell and earth, to angels and devils. It enables us to know how to conduct ourselves in relation to these — whence we are and whither we go. But, being deceived by the devil, we forsake the light of day and seek to find truth among philosophers and heathen totally ignorant of such matters. In permitting ourselves to be blinded by human doctrines, we return to the night. . . Paul says, ‘Neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness’ (Rom. 6:13), meaning: Let not the works of darkness get such control of you as to render your members weapons of unrighteousness.” [Martin Luther, “First Sunday in Advent,” Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 5, Baker Books 1995, pp. 17, 19]

Call Me to Holiness or Don't Call Me at All -- https://stream.org/call-me-to-holiness-or-dont-call-me-at-all/

. . . "Either call me to holiness or don’t waste my time. If you’re not going to tell me how to be a saint, then you’re not doing your job. If you’re not out there every single day calling me to repent and believe in the Gospel, to make straight the path of the Lord, to turn away from sin, to take up my cross and follow Christ, then you’re no longer worth your salt.. . .

"Don’t feed me a worthless religion of sophisticated platitudes and shifting ideology. There is no Christianity without the Cross.

"Stop using the modern vs. historical “context” as an excuse to call evil good. Woe to all you shepherds who do this! “Certainly in Old Testament times, they didn’t understand the phenomena of homosexuality, and bisexuality I would say, as we do today,” says Fr. James Martin. Tell me, did God also not understand the phenomenon of homosexuality and bisexuality until now?

"Stop minimizing the law of God and deriding those who won’t fudge it as “rigid” and “lacking compassion.” “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul … the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever” (Psalm 19).

"Stop subtly saying it may be impossible for some people to achieve God’s “ideal.” Stop preaching the inviolate rule of conscience without also preaching the proper formation of conscience by the Holy Spirit in accord with revealed Truth.

"Stop smudging the line between right and wrong and saying you’re doing it out of love. All your nuance and accompaniment will not help souls who cannot see where to step to avoid the wrong because you said such a definitive line was legalistic.

"If there’s any fear of hell, fear for souls at all, then Love demands more of what we heard while being marked with ashes: “Remember, man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.” “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Charlene Siegrist

2/28/2018 10:14:23 am

I am so deeply troubled by this new news about the ELCA. I've cried, prayed and hope to find something in my heart that will help me decide as to what I should do. I don't know at this time what I should do.

John

2/28/2018 11:31:11 pm

Charlene,
I remember how hard it was for me, almost 9 years ago, to leave our ELCA congregation and take my family to a Bible-believing church. I didn't know what lay ahead, either. I remember our council meeting in November 2009, after the contradictory excuses of "times have changed" and "nothing's really changed," when our pastor and most of the laity finally just admitted that the ELCA was all they had. They didn't have anything else. How stuck and empty they seemed. And that really said it all.

But not for me. I wasn't stuck and empty, I was angry and sad, and I knew a stuck and empty future was not for me or my family. Not anymore. And it turned out there were quite a few others in that congregation who weren't stuck and empty either, they were just waiting for someone to break the ice, and then they moved too.

And most importantly, I discovered there was something else -- someone else, someone unchanging -- Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever, so much better than stuck and empty. My only regret is that I didn't move earlier.

Sister Charlene, I will pray for you & your decision. God bless you.

allen e anderson link

2/28/2018 10:54:02 am

well I would hopoe that u can find a lcmc church or something like that in your area to go to

Dan

2/28/2018 11:06:36 am

He should be concerned that he and others are leading their congregations into hell. They have lost their first love and love the world now...

Henry Stannek

3/4/2018 04:45:15 pm

Paul instructed Timothy to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction." (2 Timothy 4:2)

This ELCA pastor, on the other hand, wants us to believe that criticism is immoral and a waste of time.

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Reply to an ELCA Pastor

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​Dan Skogen

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