What's New?

There are so many new things happening in the ELCA these days. Even though Jesus said that it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law, the leaders of the ELCA proclaim that God is saying all kinds of new things that apparently invalidate His law. One of the evil one’s most commonly used ruses is to stroke the egos of those wanting to be affirmed within their sin, using our inherent selfishness to place our desires first. The supposed enlightened leadership of the ELCA falls for this deception and proclaims that, somehow, this is God speaking to us in “new ways”.  Using this erroneous (or perhaps deliberate) assumption enables them to reinterpret Scripture to fit societal norms. These “new things” are prompting them to reconsider their very relationship with God. The Bible is looked upon as a book of faith stories, with tales that are wedded to the time and place they were written, and often no longer pertinent to our new enlightened society. Scripture is no longer accepted as the word of God, but is described as a book that “tells the truth” in that the Bible tells the story of God’s relationship with the world. But, to the leaders and scholars of the ELCA, human experience, tradition and knowledge lifts up one’s bound conscience above the authority of Scripture and allows them to disregard verses that do not correspond to their terms and allows members to make Scripture say whatever it is that one desires.

Repentance? That is so old school. Repentance requires changing our point of view. We need to see things as God sees them. God simply asks us to turn away from our selfishness and turn to Him. This is how we accept His gift of grace and salvation. However, the leadership of the ELCA has a different point of view.  The ELCA preaches that the affirmation of those within their sin is the way to reach out to truly love our neighbor. Believe and preach the Gospel, are you kidding? They believe that those looking to be accepted as they are must be welcomed without any obligation to repent and turn to God and away from sin. The idea that God is good and only good, and everything He has created is also good, leads to the ELCA to affirm any and all sinful proclivities. There no reason to be “made new” by the act of giving your life to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Somehow, playing into mankind’s inherent sinful nature and granting license to act as one chooses by affirming those that disregard God’s word, will bring them closer to God? This “Big Tent” that the ELCA has been striving to fill, continues to play to smaller and smaller audiences, leading this church into a steep decline as they move farther and farther away from our Lord’s teachings. How many congregations and members have been lost since the 2009 CWA and the "great diving" into the deep end of the pool of heresy, declaring that God’s children now make the rules? Hebrews 6:4-6, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”  Surely, the ELCA must believe that these verses of Scripture do not pertain to their actions as they deepen the chasm between their membership and our Lord.

So, the leadership of the ELCA has decided that their target audience does not want to be told that they are sinful beings, unable to prosper without God taking control. They decide to tell those seeking to fill the emptiness within their very souls, that can only be filled by Jesus Christ, that it is not necessary to made new. Those lost are told that God made you that way and there is no reason to change, and if God can’t accept you as you are, then we will create a god in your image, one that meets mankind’s expectations and allows one to be whatever one wants to be. They proclaim freedom for all to sin without remorse, without the need to ask for forgiveness, and without the need for a Savior. Even in this new and modern age, God’s people fashion for themselves graven images to worship. Problem is, the people have placed themselves upon the altar, worshipping themselves, their identities and accomplishments. And this church not only condones this, it promotes and proclaims that this makes their church stronger. How many people will be led into the abyss with these false teachings, all the while believing that their hands are doing God’s work? Jesus quoted the book of Isaiah in Matthew 15:8-9, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” Jesus is the truth and the way and the life. Without repentance, we become like the weeds to be thrown into the fire along with the chaff from the harvested wheat.