Visible Unity through Grand Deception
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Bishops, Unity, and Rabid Inclusivity
Historic Episcopacy and Historic Hypocrisy in the ELCA
In 1620, the Mayflower Pilgrims arrived in what would become the United States of America. Each year at the end of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving to commemorate the courage of these brave men and women who came to the New World to find religious freedom. The Pilgrims sought freedom from the religious intolerance and tyranny under the enforced episcopalianism in the state Church of England.
In 1999, by adopting Called to Common Mission with the Episcopal Church, USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) imported the principles of this religious intolerance and placed them at the heart of its ordained ministry. Such religious intolerance and accompanying structures are diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to the ELCA’s own “gospel of inclusivity.” In catechetical form, this essay details the resultant culture of self-contradiction that is now inherent in the ELCA. This situation was pushed to the extreme in August 2009 by decisions made at the ELCA’s 2009 Churchwide Assembly. (Click on PDF to view this document)
Ten Years after JDDJ the Ecumenical Pelagianism Continues
This essay published in LOGIA: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 18 (Holy Trinity 2009) exposes a plethora of fallacies that surround the so-called Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ).
JDDJ was not signed on Reformation Day 1999 in Augsburg, Germany. Another document was, the Official Common Statement (OCS). Despite claims that JDDJ rescinds condemnations, Protestants and Catholics who reject purgatory are still condemned by the Roman Church. Furthermore, since 1999 the Vatican has issued at least nine indulgences, the flashpoint of the Reformation and Luther's 95 Theses.
Most insidious, although the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) has retracted the wording of its “grand deception” used to import episcopal succession into its ordained ministry, now the ELCA together with the central office of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) seeks to have the entire LWF adopt episcopal succession as its principle for ecclesial unity rather than rely solely on the gospel as per Article VII of the Augsburg Confession. (Click for version in PDF)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - A Failed Merger
In the course of its brief 15-20 history, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has successfully divested itself of the central tenets of the Lutheran Reformation. These tenets once changed the course of Western civilization. Having adulterated the Reformation, the ELCA seeks to emulate the secular humanism inherent in Western society. Secular humanism rather than confessional Lutheran laid the foundation for the formation of the ELCA. Consequently, the ELCA is a house built on sand.
Thirty Theses on a Failed Merger
In Thirty Theses, Pastor Mark D. Menacher, PhD delineates the ELCA's fundamental nature as a failed merger. These Thirty Theses are available in two formats. Click on either HTML or on PDF to view or to download this important document.
Presentation "ELCA - A Failed Merger"
This brief presentation outlines the institutional consequences for the ELCA arising from a merger founded on a false "gospel of inclusivity" rather than on the one, true gospel of Jesus Christ. Click on either PowerPoint or on PDF to view or to download this presentation.
Ecumenism according to the Evangelical Lutheran Understanding
In light of considerable differences among Lutherans regarding the nature and goals of ecumenism, the leadership of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD - Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Deutschland) adopted on 21 November 2003 the above entitled statement on ecumenism. With a press release dated 02 February 2004, this document was published in Germany. To quote section 3.1.d, the VELKD document states,
“Any additional conditions [for church unity beyond the parameters of CA VII] would be a fundamental renunciation of the Lutheran understanding of how faith and the Church come into being.”
With such statements, the VELKD document would seem to put Lutherans in Germany at odds with ecumenical agreements like Called to Common Mission (CCM), which violates Article VII of the Augsburg Confession (CA) by requiring the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to adopt Anglican-style “historic episcopacy” as a condition for unity with the Episcopal Church in the USA.
View the VELKD statement in German (in RTF or in PDF)
View the VELKD press release in German (in PDF)
View the VELKD statement in English translation (in RTF or in PDF)
Martin Luther A-Z: An Brief Anthology of Luther’s Thoughts
This small collection of quotations from Martin Luther, listed alphabetically by topic, serves as an introduction to some of Luther’s thinking on a variety of matters pertaining to the Christian faith and church. View Martin Luther A-Z in PDF.
The Episcopal Ministry within the Apostolicity of the Church - A Lutheran Statement 2002
The document is the outcome of a consultation of Lutheran members of international ecumenical dialogues involving the Lutheran World Federation. This consultation took place in Malta 16 21 November 2002.
Participants in this consultation included both Professor Michael Root and ELKRAS Archbishop Georg Kretschmar, who claim that Article 14 of the Apology to the Augsburg Confession refers to Anglican-style “episcopal succession.” Despite the participation of both gentlemen in this consultation and despite the statement’s specific reference to “episcopal succession”(para 40), this LWF document makes no such claims which further undermines Root’s and Kretschmar’s interpretation of Apology 14.
It should be further noted that other distinguished Lutheran members of international ecumenical dialogues, such as Professor Dorothea Wendebourg (Germany) and Professor Inge Lønning (Norway), are not listed at the end of this statement either under Participants or under Apologies.
The Babylonian Captivity of the ELCA - CCM Verax Talking Letter
Called to Common Mission (CCM) represents for many US-Lutherans a new Babylonian captivity of the church. CCM is the "full communion" agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church, USA. In the course of the2002-2003 academic year, CCM Verax parish scholars crafted a series of "talking letters" covering eight topics of basic Lutheran theology no longer routinely taught in the ELCA. These letters are welcomed as the first, new CCM-related educational materials in years.
To download the The Babylonian Captivity of the ELCA click on the appropriate version of the PDF reader: (acrobat reader 3.0 or acrobat reader 4.0 and higher)
Note: see top of page to download a free copy of acrobat reader
A Protestant Understanding of Ecclesial Communion and Kundgebung (Announcement)
"A Protestant Understanding for Ecclesial Communion" (KneV -
Kirchengemeinschaft nach evangelischem Verständnis) is a ground breaking
ecumenical document adopted by the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD)
on October 30, 2001. Declaring that "Christ alone is our unity," the
document represents 27 million Protestants, of whom 14 million are
Lutheran. This document states that agreement in Word and Sacrament is
both sufficient and the sole basis for church unity and for full
communion between all churches of the Christian faith, regardless of
dissimilarities in ecclesial traditions, rites, and ceremonies. This
document and its official predecessor study known as the "Kundgebung,"
are squarely based on Article 7 of the Augsburg Confession and on the
previous agreements of the Leuenberg (1973) and the Meissen (1999)
agreements. (Click on your preferred format: HTML, MSWord, RTF (Rich Text Format), PDF)Der im Internet verfügbare Text von »Kirchengemeinschaft nach evangelischem Verständnis« (KneV) ist auch auf der Webseite der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland zu lesen. Bitte, hier klicken!
Called to Common Mission: A Lutheran Proposal?
This essay published in LOGIA - A Journal of Lutheran Theology 11 (Epiphany 2002), provides a study into the grand deception in CCM. (Click for version in PDF)
Called to Common Mission: Grand Illusion or Fabulous Fraud?
This document is a two column, paragraph by paragraph critical assessment of Called to Common Mission (CCM). Its detail reveals the true nature of CCM. (Click on your preferred format: MS Word and PDF)
The CCM Verax Simple Guide to Called to Common Mission
This two page document offers in eight points a concise discussion as to why called to Common Mission (CCM) is wrong. (Click on your preferred format: MS Word and PDF)
In an essay entitled “Enough is Enough,” (Lutheran Quarterly, 12 (1998):
249-269) Professor James M. Kittelson of Luther Seminary in St. Paul,
Minnesota has already demonstrated Professor Root’s unsatisfactory
scholarship in relation to CCM. (Click here to view article)
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