Called to Common Mission (CCM) is the name given to the ecumenical agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church in the USA. Through the passage and implementation of CCM, grand deception has now become constitutionally part of the ELCA's very existence. How has this happened?

CCM and the ecumenical ideas behind it have been championed by a small group of theologians and pastors in the ELCA who think that Protestantism has seen its day. According to this minority, Protestantism can only be saved if it becomes like and then eventually part of the Roman Catholic Church. "Full communion" with the Episcopal Church is merely a stepping stone on the road to reunion with Rome.

Unfortunately, these individuals appear to have neither the insight nor the integrity to admit that they are no longer wholly Lutheran. Instead of joining another church body, they have methodically worked to "save" Lutheranism from itself. In order to accomplish this goal, this minority has misrepresented Luther, the Lutheran Reformers, and the teachings of the Lutheran church. This misinformation has sought to engender the notion that the Lutheran Reformers really wanted to be like the Anglicans (Episcopalians), the Roman Catholics, or a bit of both.

Then, like in the Garden of Eden, this minority whispered their ideas into the ears of ELCA leaders. Many ELCA leaders eventually began to believe that they could be like God. In other words, they (and not Jesus Christ) would create unity in Christ's church. All these leaders needed to do was to partake of the fruits of Anglican and Roman Catholic hierarchies.

As these ELCA leaders listened, they came to consider "visible unity" through "episcopal succession" to be a delight to their eyes. So, they worked to achieve the passage of CCM. Now, with the apple of their eye in hand, they have begun to taste the fruits of their labors. With "episcopal succession" these leaders think that they have become the sign and means of unity in the church.

Like the story of Adam and Eve, we shall see whether these ELCA leaders have become wise or whether they have placed themselves outside Lutheranism.

Called to Common Mission - Your Complicity in Grand Deception?

With the subject heading "Called to Common Mission - Your Complicity in Grand Deception?" a letter dated 28th September 2001 describing the fallacies of CCM paragraph 11 was sent to all ELCA bishops, seminary presidents, veteran Church Council members, and a few other ELCA officials.

Accompanying the letter was a detailed research paper which exposes CCM paragraph 11 as a central element in the grand deception which CCM is.

Being in receipt of this letter and research paper, these ELCA leaders were instructed to consider themselves to be fully apprised of the fraudulent nature of CCM paragraph 11. They were also informed that through CCM paragraph 11 the ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly, which passed CCM, had been wrongly led to believe something necessarily false and something known to be false when CCM was drafted.

In light of being made aware of the fallacies in CCM, the hope was expressed that these ELCA leaders would publicly denounce CCM, that they would refuse to comply with its provisions, and that they work for CCM's immediate repeal to prevent the ELCA from being a church which Luther would reject in the strongest of terms.

Furthermore, those denouncing CCM were also expected to lodge formal complaints with the board of Trinity Lutheran Seminary against the unsatisfactory scholarship exhibited by Professor Michael Root, a key ELCA CCM drafter, which has needlessly plunged the ELCA into deceit and discord.

These ELCA leaders were asked to respond to this information by 30th October 2001. Those choosing a different response from that outlined above were informed that in so choosing they would be held personally responsible for being willing accomplices to what is arguably the greatest act of deception cultivated by an ecclesial denomination in the history of North America.

Finally, as two ELCA bishops were familiar with and one ELCA bishop should have been apprised of this research as early as the Winter and Spring of 2000, these bishops were asked in individualized postscripts to explain why they should not already be considered to be accomplice to the grand deception in CCM.

"But to return to our point: They must themselves admit, whether they like it or not, that the church of Christ neither lies nor deceives... Therefore the holy church cannot and may not lie or suffer false doctrine, but must teach nothing except what is holy and true, that is, God's word alone; and where it teaches a lie it is idolatrous and the whore-church of the devil" (Martin Luther - LW 41:214).

See which ELCA leaders are accomplice to the grand deception in CCM.

(Please note that this list of ELCA leaders has not been updated since 2001. Seeking to fashion pedigree membership in the so-called successio episcoporum (episcopal succession), these ELCA leaders have founded a successio deceptorum (succession of deceptors).

To quote Martin Luther, “The saying is true that it takes seven lies to confirm one lie. As St. Jerome says, ‘Falsehood needs much evasiveness so that one can maintain it as truth."

- WA 5, 243:32-34         

ELCA Bishops Mark S. Hanson - ELCA Presiding Bishop -Accomplice to grand deception (pending confirmation) Roy G. Almquist - Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM Edward R. Benoway - Florida-Bahamas Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Robert D. Berg - Northwest Synod of Wisconsin -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Allan C. Bjornberg - Rocky Mountain Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Paul J. Blom - Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Wm. Chris Boerger - Northwest Washington Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Leonard H. Bolick - North Carolina Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Stephen P. Bouman - Metropolitan New York Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) George G. Carlson - South-Central Synod of Wisconsin -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Juan Cobrda (retired) - Slovak Zion Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Duane C. Danielson - Western North Dakota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) David L. deFreese - Nebraska Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Andrea F. DeGroot-Nesdahl - South Dakota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) David A. Donges - South Carolina Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ralph W. Dunkin - West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Murray D. Finck - Pacifica Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Richard J. Foss - Eastern North Dakota Synod +Not accomplice to grand deception in CCM Warren D. Freiheit - Central/Southern Illinois Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Gary L. Hansen - North/West Lower Michigan Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM Carol S. Hendrix - Lower Susquehanna Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Robert D. Hofstad - Southwestern Washington Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Callon W. Holloway Jr. - Southern Ohio Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Philip L. Hougen - Southeastern Iowa Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Marie Jerge - Upstate New York Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Craig E. Johnson - Minneapolis Area Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ralph E. Jones - Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) James A. Justman - East-Central Synod of Wisconsin -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Kevin S. Kanouse - Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) H. Gerard Knoche - Delaware-Maryland Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Wilma S. Kucharek - Slovak Zion Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Paul R. Landahl - Metropolitan Chicago Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Marcus C. Lohrmann - Northwestern Ohio Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) April Ulring Larson - La Crosse Area Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Michael A. Last - Western Iowa Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM Donald J. McCoid - Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) A. Donald Main - Upper Susquehanna Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Gerald L. Mansholt - Central States Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Margarita Martinez - Caribbean Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ronald D. Martinson - Alaska Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Robert W. Mattheis - Sierra Pacific Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) James F. Mauney - Virginia Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Lee M. Miller (retired) - Upstate New York Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Marcus J. Miller - Northeastern Ohio Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Michael J. Neils - Grand Canyon Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Dean W. Nelson - Southwest California Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Stanley N. Olson - Southwestern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Richard R. Omland - Montana Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Margaret G. Payne - New England Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Gregory R. Pile - Allegheny Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) E. Roy Riley Jr. - New Jersey Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Robert A. Rimbo - Southeast Michigan Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM Peter Rogness - St. Paul Area Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Theodore F. Schneider - Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Floyd M. Schoenhals - Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Thomas A. Skrenes - Northern Great Lakes Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM David R. Strobel - Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) E. Peter Strommen - Northeastern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) James R. Stuck - Indiana-Kentucky Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Paul W. Stumme-Diers - Greater Milwaukee Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Paul R. Swanson - Oregon Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ray Tiemann - Southwestern Texas Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Steven L. Ullestad - Northeastern Iowa Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Harold L. Usgaard - Southeastern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Gary M. Wollersheim - Northern Illinois Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Rolf P. Wangberg - Northwestern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM Ronald B. Warren - Southeastern Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Martin D. Wells - Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod -Indeterminate status ELCA Seminary Presidents Michael Cooper-White - Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) James Kenneth Echols - Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Philip D. W. Krey - Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Duane H. Larson - Wartburg Theological Seminary -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Timothy Lull - Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM - of an ambivalent sort Mark Ramseth - Trinity Lutheran Seminary -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) H. Frederick Reisz Jr. - Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) David L. Tiede - Luther Seminary -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) ELCA Church Council Members Grieg L. Anderson - Oregon Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Karl D. Anderson - East-Central Synod of Wisconsin -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Faith A. Ashton - North Carolina Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Linda J. Brown - Northwestern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Mark Buchheim - Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Joseph G. Crippen (Pastor) - Southeastern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Jonathan L. Eilert (Pastor) - Western Iowa Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) George E. Friedline - West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Judy Gerner - Texas-Louisiana Gulf Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) David Hagen - Southeast Michigan Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ida Marie Hakkarinen - Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Kirkwood J. Havel (Pastor) - North/West Lower Michigan Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ghassan "Gus" Khoury - Indiana-Kentucky Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Eva Kiyutelluk Leonard - Alaska Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Ellen T. Maxon - Greater Milwaukee Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Charles W. Mays (Pastor) - Southwestern Washington Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Jessica M. McKee - South-Central Synod of Wisconsin -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Michael G. Merkel (Pastor) - New England Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Mario C. Miranda (Pastor) - Caribbean Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Earl L. Mummert - Lower Susquehanna Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) David M. Nelson - Nebraska Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Fred S. Opalinski (Pastor) - Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (permission granted) Karen S. Parker (Pastor) - Pacifica Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Diane H. "Dee" Pederson (Pastor) - Southwestern Minnesota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Brian D. Rude - La Crosse Area Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Kenneth M. Ruppar (Pastor) - Virginia Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Karen L. Soli (Pastor) - South Dakota Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Sarah J. Stumme (Pastor) - Metropolitan Chicago Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Kim R. Taylor (Pastor) - Grand Canyon Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Allan E. Thomas - Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Janet Thompson (3-H) - Saint Paul Area Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Lily R. Wu - Metropolitan New York Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Sally Young - Northeastern Iowa Synod -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Maren Hulden (Youth Representative) -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Cyrus Nelson (Youth Representative) -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) Other ELCA Leaders Lowell G. Almen (Pastor) - ELCA Secretary -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation) David Miller (Pastor) - Editor of The Lutheran magazine -Accomplice to grand deception in CCM (pending confirmation)

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