LUTHERANS SPLITTING FROM LIBERAL DENOMINATION
(Friday Church News Notes, December 4, 2009, http://www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) –
The liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is splitting over the issue of the ordination of homosexuals. On November 18 a group of Lutherans called CORE (Coalition for Renewal) voted to form a new Lutheran denomination in response to the decision this summer by the ELCA to allow “openly practicing homosexuals” to serve as pastors (“Lutherans Splitting,” Baptist Press, Nov. 25, 2009).
It is not yet certain how many churches will join the new group, as it takes a two-thirds vote for a congregation to leave the ELCA. Some 1,200 supporters of CORE met in late September to show their support for the split.
Eight years ago me and my husband began looking for a church in our area. While sitting in the back row of a Lutheran church as a visitor, I felt the Lord tug at my heart to be a “reader”. This is someone who reads scripture up front during the service. Okay…I thought, I have to be a member to do this. We joined.
You know how it goes once you join a church, you are asked to be part of the many activities and functions which was fine, but the interaction also revealed how many did not believe scripture. There are members who do not believe the verse John 14:6. The revelation was shocking to me. I wondered….why did the Lord lead me here?
Over two years ago we were blessed with a new pastor. I went to him asking to please…please preach the gospel and the truth from the scriptures. He did. When the ELCA voted in the new resolution he resigned from the ELCA risking his salary and pension, trusting in the Lord for provision.
I would like to add that there are some wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who remain in the ELCA, and who do not agree with the resolution. To those I pray that you make a difference and remain true to the Word of God. Speak boldly and like Paul be not ashamed of the Gospel.
Our congregation does not officially have a two-thirds vote, so some of us have found a new location, and with the guidelines set out by CORE and the LCMC we intend to have a confessional Lutheran church.
Of course, the issue of homosexuality, is really just the tip of the iceberg. Under the surface of the water lies the true foundation of what is sinking all churches, all denominations, across the nations. We find in the murky water, the denial of creation, destruction of marriage and family by divorce and sexual immorality, the blending of false religions with Christianity, lack of knowledge of scripture and its authority, denial of Christ’s deity, inclusion instead of separation, and then… a weak and compromised Gospel.
Many who study prophecy might agree with me on this next thought. I believe the Lord is testing to see who really belongs to Him because the day of the Lord is near.
Joshua 24:14-15
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
CORE
http://www.lutherancore.org/com_conf.shtml
And the LCMC
DiscernIt 
5 comments
December 5, 2009 at 3:26 pm
MarilynBr
Sadly, I’m finding that more and more ELCA pastors are also teaching that it was necessary for Jesus to die to save us from our sins, but it is not necessary for anyone to believe it in order to be saved.
December 5, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Kim
MarilynBR….
Doesn’t surprise me. We had a visiting pastor preach on Christ the King Sunday. They usually preach about truth on this day.
He started to quote John 14:6 and I got excited because someone in my church once said they didn’t believe this verse….but here is how he quoted the verse.
“I am the way and the truth and the life…and the truth shall set you free.”
aarrgghh….he left OUT the truth….
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
How can congregations know the truth when preachers start combining their own scripture…and the people don’t bring their own Bibles and follow along to verify what is being said.
I have sweet memories as a young girl in church, hearing the flutter of the onion skin pages as people flipped through their Bibles during the sermon.
December 7, 2009 at 1:05 pm
jb
Kim,
I can’t believe people are still going to church, what do they expect to get? Entertainment? Enlightenment? A rah, rah session?
At our old AoG, the turnover in pastors is histerical. None of them have ever preached the word. Now the new one is from california, his wife is very pretty, he has a goatee and jeans with spikey hair. Dude, he’s cool. I bumped into a woman who is very “spiritual” and went back because he “preaches the word”. I got online to listen. All I have to say is wow! No word taught, just the usual kindergarten stuff like be nice, share, care about others and become rich.
December 7, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Valerie
Re: Copenahgen Climate Change
I just watched this on another blog site that I follow and was struck by how the guy was playing the trumpet. I did a little research and this is what I came up with. I think it is eerily similar. Seems to me like a counterfeit of the trumpet blasts in Revelation. That is just the impression I got, let me know what you think.
Copenhagen Opening
listen at minute :37 – 1:12
now listen to the sound of the Jewish Shofar
Also look at this person blowing the shofar and notice the stole around the neck. Looks like the guy playing trumpet at Copenhagen is wearing a stole too. Also notice that these here are Kabbalistic Jews. Thus the connection to the New Age and Mysticism.
another example of the shofar
Let me know what you think.
December 19, 2009 at 6:11 am
Paul
Hi Kim as I reread this post I realised that the isssue of your specific Lutheran church is only a more extreme manafestation of a much more common belief( unbelief really!) that questions the inerrency of scripture.
A few years ago I was taking a coarse on the new testament in a seminary that was supposed to be bible based and evangelical. It was protestant interdenominational for the most part. The Professor asked the class if any of us actually believed that the bible was inerrant. I alone made a strong show of hand and indicated that the scripture was indeed flawless. The prof. laughed and was in shock. He then proceeded to show the supposed contradictions in the gospel accounts that in his mind demonstrated that scripture was not inerrant. Later after class, as I was pretty shocked myself to find such unbelief in a so called bible semenary, I asked the guy what other seminaries did believe in the inerrency of scripture and he basicaly told me that none that he was aware of either in Canada or in Europe.
Here is my point. If the church leaders and pastors are taught from seminary that the book in their hands is flawed then they start their ministry with a weak view of scripture. If any of them are logical then they will come to the conclusion that they cannot be sure of any scripture for God calls all of the bible inspired by His Spirit. Therefore they cannot be dogmatic about anything that they read as to its truth. Their God makes mistakes or worse tells lies. This is the reason why I believe pastors have rejected the Genesis account and start their bibles at Genesis chapter 12.
They proceed to allegorise the parts that they think is too fantastic for them to accept.
Why is rejecting the scripture , John 14:6 ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ‘
any different from rejecting the scripture
Genesis 1:31-2:2 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ‘ ??
The point again is that if pastors think they have a flawed book they cannot with certainty proclaim what parts are true and what parts are flawed. They therefore have an uncertain mythical belief system based upon suspicions but unable to arrive at any kind of concrete truth.
The fact that members of the Lutherian assembly that you fellowship in do not believe the claims of Christ is simply the logical destination of a faith that has already been delt a fatal blow before it exited the so called biblical seminary.
The profs are the problem, the pastors are the puppets and the people in the pews are the produce. ( forgive my letter ‘P ‘ play, its the Preacher in me 🙂 )