(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Their church sign is on a busy highway and states “God is proud of all Their children”. The word “proud” is in gay rainbow colors. Thus God is no longer a “He” but a “They” in order to make God non-binary and trans-friendly.
The church is just a few minutes from my house and years ago it had a godly, Bible-preaching pastor, but that pastor left and I visited Prince of Peace a few years ago to see a rainbow sign in the church office. Today if you go to the Prince of Peace website, the pastors and staff all list their preferred pronouns, because if you are a “he” but identify as a “she” or a “they”, Prince of Peace wants to be sensitive. What would the real Prince of Peace say to all this? He already said it in Matthew 19:4, “He who made them in the beginning made them male and female”. Notice, Jesus calls God “He” not “They”, and says there are only two genders, male and female. I believe it is blasphemy to change God’s “preferred pronoun” (He) to make God fit the LGBT agenda. May God have mercy on Prince of Peace Lutheran and return it to sanity. In the meantime, this church will continue to be a horrible witness to the people driving by in Brooklyn Park. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
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(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) This coming summer in New Orleans the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will hold another Youth Gathering. The last time this happened was in 2018 when 31,000 Lutheran teens were told to support transgenderism by an 11 year-old-boy who thinks he is a girl. Also, ELCA pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber led the teens in a kind of mock baptismal vow, saying “I renounce the lie that queerness is anything other than beauty.”
For 2024, the Teen Gathering theme will be “Created to Be”. “We are created to be free—to work for justice for all our siblings”. You will notice the ELCA now shies away from calling people “brothers and sisters” because that is too binary and excludes transgender people, so instead we get “siblings”. Teens are told to introduce themselves in this way, “Hi, my name is ________ and I use the pronouns __________.” Teens are told to “honor everyone by calling them by the name and pronouns they feel comfortable with…You might be surprised to learn that someone in your group has been longing to introduce themselves to you in this way!” Sessions of the Teen Assembly will begin with a “Land acknowledgement”, stating that the Assembly is being held on land stolen from Native Americans. A big theme of the Youth Gathering will be to teach teens to become “disruptive to injustice”. Teens are told to discuss “what injustices you have experienced” and are told “We are created to be disruptive, to work for justice for all our siblings”. Youth are taught “interrupting phrases” such as “We don’t say things like that here” to “help them disrupt an unjust situation”. In a nod I believe to the LGBT movement, teens are told to “be authentic and bring our whole selves”. Then comes this strange statement: “Our host city, New Orleans, has always been its true, authentic self…. New Orleans was built to host and be a city where all God’s children come together.” I’m not sure how the ELCA knows this. Teens are asked in small groups “What would it mean for you if your congregation became a Reconciling in Christ congregation?” Reconciling in Christ is the movement that promotes all things LGBT in the ELCA. It is no secret how the ELCA wants to influence teens here. Lastly, teens will be taught not to think of sin as “darkness” because this is racist. “One particularly harmful part of theology is associating sin with all things dark and black…(this creates) an implicit bias against things that are black…harmful intertwining of white supremacy and God’s love…”. Teens are asked “How does claiming the holiness of darkness reframe who God is for you?” This, of course, is nonsense—most black Christians have no problem at all agreeing with the Scriptures, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5). Perhaps the most tragic thing in all of this is there is no mention of evangelism and bringing lost friends to Christ. The head bishop of the ELCA has stated that she believes Hell is empty. So if everyone is going to heaven and we don’t need to instruct in evangelism, what will the ELCA do with its teens at a teen gathering? Teach them liberal politics and how to “interrupt injustice.” And of course, the injustice being done to babies in the womb is nowhere mentioned. The ELCA is a strong supporter of abortion rights and even pays for abortion with offering dollars in the ELCA healthcare plan. If you know an ELCA Lutheran, please urge them to keep their teens away from the ELCA. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock https://www.elca.church/gathe.../about/promotional-materials The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s ELCA Young Adult Ministry (Abide), is offering a discussion titled “Drag in Church!” next month. (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Is the Great Spirit of Native American spirituality the same as the Christian God? That appears to be the teaching of the Christmas edition of Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The magazine highlights (see link below) an ELCA congregation called Lutheran Church of the Great Spirit in Milwaukee which “combines the Lutheran church and indigenous ceremonies”. The church hosts a Full Moon ceremony and practices smudging (the burning of plants to drive away evil spirits). The church prays in the direction of the Four Winds to pattern itself after Native American spirituality. I remember years ago, before I led my congregation out of the ELCA, I shared in a sermon that I had attended an ELCA convention in which we prayed toward the Four Winds to pattern our prayers after Native American worship. I got to the microphone at the convention and said “I am from German ancestry, what are we going to incorporate next, Thor and Oden worship to accommodate people like me?” After my sermon, a Native American woman of my congregation came up with tears in her eyes, saying “They’re trying to take us back to what Jesus saved me from.” The Living Lutheran article quotes the pastor of Great Spirit Lutheran to say “Indigenous peoples were living the Christian way before the Europeans came”. What would the Apostle Paul say to this? As Paul traveled the Roman Empire, he did not preach that Zeus was really the same thing as God the Father. In fact, Paul taught that the ancient pagan gods were demons, not reflections of the true God (1 Corinthians 10:20). The ancient pagans indeed were not worshiping the true God before Paul came along. This Christmas, let us worship the one true God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-and let us turn away from all the false gods that we and our ancestors have worshipped. In Jesus our only Savior, Pastor Tom Brock (See ELCA article here.) Shared by an ELCA member who wishes to remain anonymous Just as Bishop Eaton likes to make social statements on every single progressive partisan issue she can find, I find myself in the position needing to make my own statement about the recent published documents about the need for more DEI indoctrination within the church, and the inevitable decisions that will be made at the next Churchwide Assembly that will complete the ELCA’s transition from a Mainline Protestant denomination into a partisan social justice activist group…
Honestly, out of all the things you’ve ever posted on here, those 2 documents scare me the most. (links to the two ELCA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility documents here and here) When I see the ridiculous articles about “Brazenly Queer” pastors, the absurd partisan statements from Bishop Eaton, churches hosting drag shows and reciting the Sparkle Creed, it’s easy to think “how will this affect my congregation?” and stay put. But if all of this stuff passes, then the ELCA’s partisan agenda WILL indeed affect my individual home congregation. DEI sessions will become mandated as part of regular worship, sermons will increasingly talk about social justice issues instead of the week’s gospel lesson, and we’ll have to do joint worship services with another congregation just because their majority skin color happens to be different from ours. What the ELCA is doing here is nothing short of indoctrination, the kind that people like Ron DeSantis are trying so hard to push back against. The church, as we all know, is governed by a far-left overhead, and yet through the years they’ve had a very hard time pushing their ideology into individual congregations. So now, they’ve had enough, and think the only way they can spread their partisan agenda is to FORCE congregations to indoctrinate their congregants. They know these are partisan political issues, but they think if they use the Bible to back up their positions that people will just magically buy in. The thing is, as I said yesterday, the Bible verses they have picked do little to support their leftist agenda. I think this will be eye-opening for the hundreds of thousands of congregants within the ELCA that are more conservative and moderate. They will realize that those Bible verses have nothing to do with DEI. They will finally be forced to make a choice - continue being ELCA members or go somewhere else and worship God. Pastors and, ahem, “Pastrixes” will no longer be able to do “safe sermons” that don’t touch on hot button political issues, as most still do now. I also think a lot of clergy will end up leaving because of this whole mess, even more moderate/liberal clergy that would prefer to preach the Bible and not indoctrinate on humanism/socialism. When I tell my liberal friends about stuff like this, they will claim I’m the racist, that I’ve haven’t done enough research and education regarding the inequities in society between men and women, whites and blacks. The thing is, I have. I know that black communities remain disproportionately poor. I know that women face sexual harassment in the workplace much more than men do. But, in my opinion, these are not church issues. As a church, we are to help the poor every chance that we can, including communities of color. As a church, we must stress that both men and women are made in God’s image and deserve equal rights and respect. As a church, we must teach that sin is sin but also to “love the sinner” and refrain from judgment (I have several gay friends). This is not an excuse, however, to indoctrinate congregants on Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, Gender Theory, etc. The whole notion that the US is an “inherently racist country” and that “we need to completely dismantle our legal systems to prevent racism” is not only not true, but is directly at odds with the Bible and has no place being taught in the Church. I’ve seen many ELCA pastors, including one of my own, give money towards reparations for black people. Do you think Jesus would hand out money to people based on skin color? We all know the answer to that. Black people and white people are equally sacred and holy. The way to move away from our racist past is not to force black congregations to merge with white congregations. The way to move away from our racist past is not to divide us into categories based on race. If Martin Luther King, Jr were alive today he would be a staunch conservative. He wanted a society where people would be judged based on the content of their CHARACTER, not based on skin color, which is precisely what Critical Race Theory does. The ELCA is the most white denomination in the country, and national clergy hate this with a burning passion. Instead of just blindly stating “we’re a racist church,” they should take a step back and try to understand why this is. First of all, Lutheranism came to America through German and Scandinavian immigrants, and many congregations today are made up of the descendants of those immigrants. Secondly, if you take a look at the kind of churches that are popular with the black community, none of them are nearly as socially progressive as the ELCA. Many blacks, especially in the South and Midwest, are very socially conservative. It’s just that nobody realizes this since most of them still vote for Democratic politicians because they view the Republican Party as being a bunch of white supremacists. I don’t think the ELCA’s current brand of “toxic positivity” toward contemporary social issues appeals to many in the black community. It is so hard for me to make a decision here. I love my congregation and I’ve been employed at ELCA-affiliated institutions. There are many wonderful people within the organization. But if all of this passes and congregations become essentially chapters of the ACLU with some Bible verses thrown in for good measure, then I will be out the door. I will probably go to the Catholic church, as it’s become the new mainline church, one that truly does respect those on both sides of the political spectrum. Pope Francis may be progressive by Catholic standards, but when comparing him to Elizabeth Eaton and countless others within the ELCA (and the PCUSA, and the Episcopal Church, and the UCC, and the Unitarian Universalists), he is a true moderate. I have Catholic friends and relatives that are waiting for me over there. It may be sad to leave the church I’ve always called home, but (it) may also be necessary. (The following article was written 4 years ago by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Reverend Jules Erickson spoke recently at Luther Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She is senior pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, whose website states "Pastor Jules and her beloved, Beth, live in Hastings with two bouncing Goldendoodle dogs." The ELCA began ordaining practicing homosexuals in 2009 and has been shrinking in numbers ever since. In the below sermon (minute 18:35) Pastor Erickson has the congregation say "Hell, yes" more than once. What is wrong with this? Eternal Hell is a real place and we should not trivialize the word by using it as profanity. But, sadly, many liberal ELCA pastors and seminary professors no longer believe in Hell. Universalism, the teaching that all people will be saved regardless of faith in Christ, is so prevalent that even head ELCA bishop Elizabeth Eaton told a Chicago newspaper that, if Hell exists, "I think it is empty." One of the things Reverend Erickson thinks we should say "Hell yes" to is the waning numbers going on in churches "if that means our Empire building days are over, maybe that's a good thing." I agree that the shrinking numbers of the ELCA, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church USA are a good thing. People are getting fed up with the unbiblical heresy they are hearing in these denominations and are heading for more faithful churches. In prior posts I have written of prayers to God the "Mother" being offered at Luther Seminary chapel. At the end of this service below (minute 23:33), you will hear yet another instance of this as the congregation prays a new version of the Lord's Prayer to the "Father and Mother of us all.” Earlier this year Bishop Elizabeth Eaton asked this about the ELCA's declining numbers: "What is to be done? Our congregations are growing older and smaller. At least 40 percent of our congregations have an average weekly worship attendance of 50 or less. ELCA membership decreases by 70,000 people a year...There is a dearth of people in their 20s and 30s in our pews. How do we change this?" I have an answer: Get back to the Bible, believe in Heaven and Hell and that Jesus is the only Savior (John 14:6, Acts 4:12), stop paying for abortion with offering dollars in the ELCA's healthcare plan, and stop the promotion of homosexuality and transgenderism in ELCA publications. I see no sign of any of that happening, and so I believe the ELCA will continue to shrink, and it should. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
See the false blanket statement below made by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA is deceiving people. Not everyone is a child of God. God tells us in His Word:
“To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” - 1 John 3:10
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
I came across this strange video of a drag queen stumbling as he walked into a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. From what I can gather, this Milwaukee congregation was hosting a drag queen event called “Drag Me to Church” to raise money for an LGBTQ community center. Protesters in front of the church were shouting that the congregation should not be hosting a drag queen performance and sexual perversion. But the congregation’s website (Village Church in Milwaukee) says it supports the LGBT movement. This is the bizarre world of the ELCA, as it caves and conforms to the craziness of our culture. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
Additional information below add by Exposing the ELCA.
Clint Schnekloth, ELCA pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is hosting a Halloween party call The Nightmare Before Gay Christmas. One of the activities will be Tarot card readings. Tarot card readings is a form of divination. God' tells us "Do not practice divination or seek omens." Leviticus 19:26b. Read more about Tarot cards here. https://www.facebook.com/events/703571038291483 Six days after the Hamas attacks on Israel, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton issued a statement which blames Israel for what Hamas did.
In the statement, which was highly distributed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, their top leader writes: "We must also call a thing a thing. The power exerted against all Palestinian people — through the occupation, the expansion of settlements and the escalating violence — must be called out as a root cause of what we are witnessing." (See here) The ELCA is saying that Israel is to blame for Jewish babies being beheaded by the Palestinians. Jewish citizens, the elderly, women, men and children being hunted down and murdered. Israelis burned to death, girls being raped and 100+ people kidnapped, all by Palestinian attackers is the fault of the Jewish state according to ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton. The ELCA holds a satanic view of the Israeli-Palestinian historically, including the current situation. They have continually acted to harm the only Jewish country. (See here) The ELCA is evil and doing the work of Satan. Please let your friends and family who attend ELCA churches know this, so they are aware of what they are supporting and part of. (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Somehow preaching from the book of Jeremiah, the below preacher at my alma mater Luther Seminary, a seminary of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, calls us to repent. We need to repent of a laundry list of liberal concerns (listen to minute 14:55 below). I assume from her transgender statement that she believes those wanting to protect children from hormone blockers and sex change operations need to repent. I assume from her "book banning" statement that parents who desire to keep obscene and LGBT books from their children also need to repent. I got to thinking, I wonder when is the last time a preacher at Luther Seminary preached against abortion, homosexual behavior and transgenderism? I'm guessing it has been decades. Instead, Luther Seminary concerns itself with the biggest sins according to those on the left: homophobia, transphobia, sexism, climate catastrophe, etc., etc. And the preacher is very careful never to call God "He". Its all "God...God...God...God" in accordance with the ELCA's desire to use "inclusive language" for God. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock
On September 17, 2023 Jeff Johnson was elected bishop of the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod. Rev. Johnson is gay and is married to a man.
Below is a report by Pastor Tom Brock about the recent election of Jeff Johnson:
The following is some addition information about Bishop-elect Jeff Johnson: Rev. Jeff Johnson, and his church University Lutheran Chapel (ELCA) in Berkeley, CA were conducting a monthly "Goddess Rosary" service in 2010. (see here)
In 2017 Rev. Jeff Johnson signed a letter stating changes they want to see with the ELCA, among other things,
"Specific changes we would like to see include: - No longer privileging marriage as the only acceptable form of sexual relationality - Updating ELCA policies to reflect marriage equality in the United States - Editing out language that perpetuates heteronormativity and sexual oppression” (see here) It also said:
Rev. Jeff Johnson also signed a letter supporting evolution and rejecting truth of creation. (See here)
As you see in the post below, Augsburg Fortress is peddling books they published affirming LGBT lifestyles to ELCA youth workers at ELCA Youth Ministry Extravaganza 2023. Augsburg is the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (See here)
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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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