Journeying Together Unfaithfully.
Under a title that is amazingly "in your face," as bald-faced lies go- Journeying Together Faithfully- the "Evangelical" "Lutheran" "Church" in America (***A) Task Force on Homosexuality has released its Report and Recommendations.
There is, as expected (and typical from this outfit) nothing "faithful" about these recommendations. They're the tank of antinomian bilge we've come to expect from this apostate group. But this particular document is special. It's a landmark, you see; a turning point which- even if not perceived at the time- marks the moment when the ELCA has finally and irreversibly strikes down along a path many of us have seen coming for years.
Whether or not they admit it, these recommendations, if adopted, effectively make active gays and lesbians eligible to serve as pastors in the ELCA. Which, of course, they already are- openly- and woe betide anyone who challenges that, church policy or no church policy!
Now that policy- informally, "pastorally"- is itself going to change. The coup has finally being carried off, and the gullible ELCA laity are about to have actively homosexual pastors legitimized, without most of them even realizing it- or wanting to realize it. This has happening by deceit and political machination, its true, rather than by straightforward, honest decision- but then, what's new about that? Chicago has been pulling the wool over the eyes of these willfully naive folks for years!
A key paragraph:
If those who issue such calls are no longer disciplined, the ban is effectively ended. And since when is a head-count the basis for deciding whether or not the Church exercises its divine mandate to faithfully "forgive the sins of penitent sinners, and retain the sins of the impenitent, as long as they do not repent?"
Since when are the "deep divisions" within a church body with no functioning source of authority other than political correctness the basis for makingthe crystal-clear teachings of the Word of God optional?
Sure. Condoning a sin which, according to Scripture, excludes one from the Kingdom of God is "pastoral."
Right.
If what is wrong- desperately, fatally, cancerously wrong- with the ***A could be condensed into a single paragraph, this would be it. This outfit has long since forgotten Law and Gospel, the forgiveness of sins, and the entire basis of the Christian faith. Salt could not be more completely without savor- or more useless.
Pastor Paul McCain, the interim head of the Missouri Synod's Concordia Publishing House, has this to say:
They won't listen now. The frog has spent enough time in the gradually heating cauldron that it hasn't even noticed that it's been boiled to death.
And nothing could be deader than that part of the Body of Christ known as ***A- that church body which lies every time it calls itself by its corporate name.
There is, as expected (and typical from this outfit) nothing "faithful" about these recommendations. They're the tank of antinomian bilge we've come to expect from this apostate group. But this particular document is special. It's a landmark, you see; a turning point which- even if not perceived at the time- marks the moment when the ELCA has finally and irreversibly strikes down along a path many of us have seen coming for years.
Whether or not they admit it, these recommendations, if adopted, effectively make active gays and lesbians eligible to serve as pastors in the ELCA. Which, of course, they already are- openly- and woe betide anyone who challenges that, church policy or no church policy!
Now that policy- informally, "pastorally"- is itself going to change. The coup has finally being carried off, and the gullible ELCA laity are about to have actively homosexual pastors legitimized, without most of them even realizing it- or wanting to realize it. This has happening by deceit and political machination, its true, rather than by straightforward, honest decision- but then, what's new about that? Chicago has been pulling the wool over the eyes of these willfully naive folks for years!
A key paragraph:
As a pastoral response to the deep divisions in the ELCA, this church may choose to refrain from disciplining those who in good conscience, and for the sake of outreach, ministry and the commitment to continuing dialogue, call or approve partnered gay or lesbian candidates whom they believe to be otherwise in compliance with "Vision and Expectations" and to refrain from disciplining those rostered people so approved and called. Current ELCA policy expects ministers to refrain from all sexual relations outside marriage, which it defines as "a lifelong covenant of faithfulness between a man and a woman." The church has no official policy on blessing same-gender relationships.
If those who issue such calls are no longer disciplined, the ban is effectively ended. And since when is a head-count the basis for deciding whether or not the Church exercises its divine mandate to faithfully "forgive the sins of penitent sinners, and retain the sins of the impenitent, as long as they do not repent?"
Since when are the "deep divisions" within a church body with no functioning source of authority other than political correctness the basis for makingthe crystal-clear teachings of the Word of God optional?
Sure. Condoning a sin which, according to Scripture, excludes one from the Kingdom of God is "pastoral."
Right.
If what is wrong- desperately, fatally, cancerously wrong- with the ***A could be condensed into a single paragraph, this would be it. This outfit has long since forgotten Law and Gospel, the forgiveness of sins, and the entire basis of the Christian faith. Salt could not be more completely without savor- or more useless.
Pastor Paul McCain, the interim head of the Missouri Synod's Concordia Publishing House, has this to say:
I wouldn't count on it, Pastor McCain. As to the practicing homosexuals, who will speak God's Word of Law to their sin? As to the laypeople of the ELCA, I spend twelve years trying to warn three congregations of them, and they wouldn't listen.
Let's be clear about something.
There is nothing "pastoral" about permitting heretical views of gender, marriage and human sexuality. There is nothing "pastoral" about permitting openly unrepentant homosexuals to continue in their sin, even as there is nothing "pastoral" about not dealing with anyone living in unrepentant sin and continuing in that sin! Being "pastoral" is just the opposite of this nonsensical rhetoric. Being pastoral means clearly proclaiming God's Law and God's Gospel, not saying to unrepentant sinners, "Well, it's ok for now to you continue down the path that leads to destruction."
The train is rolling down the tracks, and hopefully enough people will see it coming and either derail the train, or find another train!
They won't listen now. The frog has spent enough time in the gradually heating cauldron that it hasn't even noticed that it's been boiled to death.
And nothing could be deader than that part of the Body of Christ known as ***A- that church body which lies every time it calls itself by its corporate name.
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