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CCM Verax Information Service Date: 19th June 2003 - For Immediate Release Title: THE ELCA AND ITS NEW "HYPOCRITE EPISCOPATE" The "Mitergate" ecumenical scandal in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has created a credibility crisis for the denomination. "Mitergate" refers to Called to Common Mission (CCM), the full communion agreement between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church, USA. The unity prescribed by CCM is rooted in the English Parliament's 1662 Act of Uniformity. This Act sought to expunge from England and Wales of all forms of non-episcopalian Christianity. This Act was brutally enforced and today still provides the unifying principle of the Anglican Communion and its ecumenical endeavours. Through the use of false information in CCM, the principles of this Act have been legislated in the ELCA "for the sake of unity." Critics of CCM assert that almost every aspect of the ELCA's ethical and theological life is now undermined by the adoption of the oppressive principles of this Act. Some examples include: + The ELCA routinely denounces intolerance along the lines of race, colour, class, and age. Through CCM, in contrast, the ELCA has placed the principles of 16th and 17th century religious intolerance at the heart of its ordained ministry and is enforcing this intolerance against its new pastors and bishops. + ELCA officials have designated themselves "moral leaders" in their opposition to the war in Iraq. Through CCM, however, the ELCA has adopted an ecclesial polity which has given rise to much strife, including war. Furthermore, the adoption of CCM has set the ELCA at war with itself. + In 1991, the ELCA adopted a social statement against the death penalty. Then, in 1999, the ELCA adopted CCM whose principles for unity have been enforced in Britain through the death penalty. Such persecution is why the Pilgrim Fathers came to America. + The Lutheran Reformation is founded on the theological principle of "Christ Alone." According to CCM, Jesus Christ as the Son of God is insufficient to create unity between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church. To create this unity, CCM requires bishops to give God a "helping hand" through a tradition of bishops in tactile succession, often called "historic episcopacy." + The Lutheran Reformers
never tired of pointing to Jesus Christ as "the way and the truth
and the life" (John 14:6). Luther has stated that teaching even
one lie turns a church into "the whore-church of the devil"
(Luther's Works 41: 214). CCM represents deliberate and intricate
deception which far exceeds one lie. For additional information, contact: Pastor Mark D. Menacher,
PhD Editor:
Pastor
Mark D. Menacher, PhD, CCM Verax, PO Box 26 , Au Gres, MI 48703-0026 (USA) |