Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

ELCA Has Biggest Split in American Church History
The Aquila Report ^ | 7-28-13 | Kevin Vogts

Posted on 07/28/2013 3:59:35 PM PDT by ReformationFan

Promoting acceptance of sexual behavior has replaced the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the primary mission.

On the one hand, the world will never be satisfied–until Christians completely renounce their faith. More importantly, the Lord will never bless such unfaithfulness to Him and His Word. We see from the sad example of what’s happened to the ELCA–the biggest split in American church history–that whatever churches and other organizations such as the Boy Scouts imagine they will gain by giving in to the world is dwarfed by what they will surely lose.

(Excerpt) Read more at theaquilareport.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; Mainline Protestant; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: elca; homosexualagenda; kevinvogts; lutheran; lutherans; religiousleft; schism; trynondenominational; vogts
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: txrefugee

I completely understand why those attending small ELCA churches which get clergy like that foisted upon them essentially “go Galt” and stop coming.


21 posted on 07/28/2013 6:16:31 PM PDT by ReformationFan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ReformationFan

in 1988 they had 5.2 million members, but they are now down to only 4 million members–a staggering loss of over 1.2 million members, or 23% of their membership.

I’m saddened they didn’t lose more.


22 posted on 07/28/2013 6:52:11 PM PDT by rfreedom4u (I have a copy of the Constitution! And I'm not afraid to use it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NewHampshireDuo

Wow, now that is shocking. We switched from ELCA to Missouri Synod because of the ELCA abomination.


23 posted on 07/28/2013 6:53:34 PM PDT by SgtHooper (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: ReformationFan

Bible readers, you figure things out for yourself instead of believing someone else’s opinion?

Take a look at the Catholic Church’s official writings and see if it truly is the mary-worshipping whore you’ve always heard. Read it’s official teachings.

Seemingly stupidly, they don’t try to suck people in against free will....which is why so many, the non-readers amongst them, leave or else claim to belong but don’t know what the church truly is.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm


24 posted on 07/28/2013 6:53:58 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Viennacon

That’s the quote I say to liberals.


25 posted on 07/28/2013 7:07:21 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (If you vote for evil because you can't see evil, you ARE evil!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: ReaganGeneration2
I believe that most of the mainline protestant churches have inspired theologically conservative offspring to provide safe haven for serious Christians. In the case of the ELCA there is NALC and LCMC. The Presbyterians have a conservative branch, the episcopalians have an Anglican Church in America, ACNA. Don't know about the UCC, they may be so small by now that there is no faithful, sentient membership left, only oblivious blue hairs and perverts.
26 posted on 07/28/2013 7:39:12 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
Take a look at the Catholic Church’s official writings and see if it truly is the mary-worshipping whore you’ve always heard. Read it’s official teachings.

I have and it is...

27 posted on 07/28/2013 8:26:08 PM PDT by Iscool
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ReformationFan; ThunderSleeps
20 Please find another church. Don’t deny yourself the blessing of a Biblically Orthodox congregation and hearing God’s Word preached.

I agree with ReformationFan, please, Thundersleeps, do not sit this religious war out. Go find a new orthodox denomination and congregation. We are better off keeping company with believers. There are many choices out there ... You have been used to a liturgical order of service. That can be a difficult barrier to breech. I know. I left the Episcopal Church 10 years ago. Am now attending a Southern Baptist Convention church. It takes some adjustment, but you do hear and see the uncorrupted word of God preached there.

28 posted on 07/28/2013 8:47:26 PM PDT by MacNaughton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: txrefugee

Alas, if real Christians were coming out of the seminaries, they wouldnt be able to send the Lesbians wherever they wanted. I guess the lack of (good) vocations isnt unique to Catholics.


29 posted on 07/28/2013 9:03:57 PM PDT by dangus (Poverty cannot be eradicated as long as the poor remain dependent on the state - Pope Francis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ReformationFan

I’m encouraged to read that donations are down from 88 million to 40 million in just four years. That says that the queers’ allies don’t have all the money. Unfortunately, the schism leaves the queers’ denomination with all the land, buildings, and educational systems. I’m not sure abandoning the dysfunctional parent body is the way to go; I think if all the orthodox Lutherans (well...) out-hustled the queers, they could still take back their churches.

I know a lot of Christians have the attitude that it isn’t worthy to fight over material things, but I hate to see Satan get all the colleges, meetingspaces, etc. We are told to be cunning like wolves. Christianity tried going underground and focusing on purely the spiritual world once. The result was that ancient Christendom is ruled by Muslims.


30 posted on 07/28/2013 9:16:07 PM PDT by dangus (Poverty cannot be eradicated as long as the poor remain dependent on the state - Pope Francis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
"Take a look at the Catholic Church’s official writings and see if it truly is the mary-worshipping whore you’ve always heard."

It is.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p6.htm

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware [translation: "continued to invent bizarre theories"] that Mary, "full of grace" through God,134 was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Dear friends, in anticipation of the customary homage we will pay to Mary Immaculate in Piazza di Spagna this afternoon, let us offer our fervent prayer to the one who intercedes before God, that she help us to celebrate with faith the Birth of the Lord so close at hand...

I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking visitors on this great Feast day when we honour the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In her sinless perfection, Mary is a great sign of hope for the Church and for the world, a sign of the marvels that God’s grace can accomplish in us, his human creatures. In these days of Advent, in company with the holy and immaculate Mother of God, let us prepare to welcome her Son into our lives and into our hearts.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p6.htm#II

That link contains more of the same, including the false doctrine of the Assumption. It does give this caveat: "This very special devotion [to Mary] . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration" It doesn't spell out exactly what the difference is, but it sure seems like Catholics spend far more time the special devotion than on the adoration it is supposed to foster.

Then there was Pope John Paul II, whose personal motto was Totus tuus sum, Maria," or "I am all yours, Mary." If that is "special devotion" rather than worship, you will have to forgive me for not seeing the difference.

Mary was born a sinner and was saved by grace through faith, just like all others who were and are saved. The idea she was somehow the mother of God is foolish. People call her blessed because God had a special blessing for her - she was chosen to give birth to His Son. Her role was merely to serve as a vessel for the incarnation. Christ was God from eternity past and merely voluntarily (and temporarily) set aside some of the rights of his divine nature (Ephesians 2:5-11)

31 posted on 07/28/2013 9:27:15 PM PDT by Gil4 (Progressives - Trying to repeal the Law of Supply and Demand since 1848)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Gil4

We’re getting down to the remnant.

We need to pray, not snipe at each other or tear each other apart.

We have brothers and sisters being killed for the faith, all denominations. Churches blown up, pastors and missionaries killed, homes/businesses burned or taken and they’re sent into exile.

We need to get together and lift this quiet regarding what’s going on.

God bless.


32 posted on 07/29/2013 12:49:04 AM PDT by AliVeritas (Pray/Penance. Isa 5:18-21,10:1-3 "Tempus faciendi, Domine, dissipaverunt legem tuam")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: ReformationFan; Cletus.D.Yokel
As always, readers should not confuse the ELCA with Lutherans.

BTW, the author of this article, Kevin Vogts, is a friend of mine. Just saw him last week at our LCMS national convention here in St. Louis. We're both LCMS pastors.

33 posted on 07/29/2013 7:20:40 AM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Lutheran pastor, LCMS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Venturer
certainly we can love homosexuals and try to help them, but not by advancing their perversion into normality and trapping other into their perversions.

And here we must make a sharp distinction between homosexuals, those with unwanted same-sex attraction, and "gays" (or "gehs", as I call them) who are politically motivated to push this perversion into every area of society.

Every "geh" is a homosexual, but not every homosexual is "geh."

34 posted on 07/29/2013 2:21:08 PM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: dangus
I hate to see it happening, too, especially among Lutherans.

Be honest, though, can groups that began by stealing the property of the Catholic Church they revolted against expect to not be hoist on their on petard sooner or later?

Pleasing the nobility, seizing Church property, and catering to popular sentiment with promises of cheap Grace, is how the whole Protestant revolt began and that's what's happening again.

Pray that our faithful separated brethren who are fleeing these secular humanist scum behind. Pray not only that they remain faithful and grow in Christ rather than becoming discouraged, but also that they recognize how they've been kept focused on fighting fellow Christians while the secular humanists were quietly taking over their churches.

35 posted on 07/29/2013 4:56:46 PM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: dangus
scuse' the editing, Should be:
"Pray for . . . " and "leaving" not "fleeing"
36 posted on 07/29/2013 5:00:47 PM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

Our daily rebuttal to the pest of Nestorianism.

Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius ... his rejection of the title Theotokos (”Bringer forth of God”) for the Virgin Mary.


37 posted on 07/29/2013 5:12:02 PM PDT by campaignPete R-CT (we're the Beatniks now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson