In This Issue

• Bp. Eaton on the root cause of antisemitism
• The cure for tribalism
• What does an escapee on the list of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists have to do with an ELCA pastor?
• The importance of God as Father
• Are you ghosting Jesus?
• The making of missional disciples
• A pro-life ministry with a 100% success rate
• A video book review on what the ELCA will be teaching at this month's youth gathering
• A review of a Spurgeon biography

Scroll Down for More

by Pr. Larry Becker, ELCA pastor in southern California

Any meaningful discussion of these modern-day heresies absolutely must begin and end with scripture. DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and now Accessibility – other letters are soon to come, I’m sure, as other intersectional groups demand recognition and victimhood status), Anti-Racism (which seems to actually be sort of reverse racism), and CRT (Critical Race Theory), which defines everything and everyone through the lens of racism. They ultimately divide the world into victims and victimizers, and if you’re deemed a victimizer, you must be destroyed at any cost. 

Although these ideologies are often dressed up in biblical/religious terms to sound Christian enough to mislead people, they actually [...]

by Pr. David Charlton, Lutheran CORE Board President and NALC pastor in Florida

 Most people would call me a “conservative” Lutheran, although I would prefer to be called orthodox or traditional. Nevertheless, I will accept the label. Therefore, as a conservative Lutheran, it is incumbent upon me to differentiate myself from the conservative Christians who hold views that I reject. So let me say clearly that I reject Christian Zionism. 

What is Christian Zionism? Normally, that term describes a fundamentalist dispensationalist theology that believes the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 was the fulfilment of prophecy. Furthermore it holds that all the land currently in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza belong to the State of Israel by divine right. As a result, it holds that Israel has the right to annex territory and establish settlements wherever it wishes. It does not recognize the Palestinians as a people, nor their right to have a state of their own. Finally, it sees conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as a necessary and unavoidable precursor to the End Times.  Anyone who does not support Israel militarily is therefore considered an enemy of God. (Not everything called Christian Zionism falls under this definition. See Israel Matters and The New Christian Zionism by Gerald R. McDermott)

I reject Christian Zionism as described above because it is a form of Millennialism, which the Augsburg Confession rejects in Article XVII. I also reject  […]

by Pr. Brett Jenkins, NALC pastor from Pennsylvania and former board member of Lutheran CORE

 “What’s all this ‘Father’ stuff about in the Lord’s Prayer? Why should we call God ‘Father,’ anyway?” she intoned petulantly, fixing me with a stare that clearly thought no reasonable answer was possible. It was my first year in ministry. I had converted to Christ but a year before and now found myself teaching Luther’s Small Catechism as part of my youth minister duties at a largish program-style Lutheran church. From my undergraduate background in the arts and my wife’s current graduate school studies, I was utterly familiar with the post-structuralism that informed her question, but despite the self-consciously progressive, university-dominated atmosphere of the town I served, I was still shocked to hear the sentiment from the mouth of a seventh grader.

I would not be shocked today… not anywhere in the United States, let alone a college town. “How do we know God is ‘Father?’” challenged the former PASTOR of one of my parishioners in an adult Sunday School forum. Such pugnacious personalities  [...]

by Pr. Douglas Schoelles, Lutheran CORE Board member and NALC pastor in Indiana

Ever been ghosted? Ever have someone with whom you were connected not call you back? Ever have someone stand you up? Most of us have been ghosted some time.

Cutting off contact with a friend without giving any warning or explanation is ghosting. Essentially, they vanish into thin air as if they were a ghost.[...]

If we say we are Christians we are claiming to be friends of Jesus. But if we are inactive in our relationship with Christ, if we ghost Jesus Sunday after Sunday, month after month then [...]

by Pr. K. Craig Moorman Lutheran CORE Board Member and NALC pastor in Maryland

“… if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually ... and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isaiah 58:10, 11) 

Our first City Mission [CM] was launched in 2014. For this year’s event, City Mission: Baltimore and Beyond ’24, we decided to keep this one question before us, specifically in light of Isaiah 58:10,11: What does it mean to be a missionary disciple?

These ventures have pushed us from only knowing what it means to be a disciple into actually living out our discipleship [...]

Just a couple of years ago, one of our young adults described CM as “a raw and unfiltered experience of what it means to be the Church!” Truly, these ‘encounters’ have served as a catalyst for  [...]

by Pr. Patrick Darnell, newest member of the NALC Life Ministries Team

As a pastor, I sometimes have the opportunity to take on unexpected ministries outside of the church. Such was the case when I was invited to become the Executive Director of Operation Saving Life (OSL), a Christian pro-life organization focused on ending abortion by providing the Spiritual, physical, and financial needs of women who have had an unplanned pregnancy. After many years, and hundreds of lives being saved, our ministry is drawing to a close at the end of this month as we merge with one of our national partners. As I reflect on my brief time with this organization, I’m struck at just how little I understood of this ministry from my days in the pulpit. Below are a few of the lessons that I have learned in ministering to abortion-minded women in crisis. [...]

Be sure to check out the two new videos on our You Tube channel. A link to our You Tube channel can be found here. Both of these videos are from members of the board of Lutheran CORE. Doug Schoelles, NALC pastor, has given us a CORE Convictions video critique of the “Created to Be” curriculum used by Lutheran Outdoor Ministries. A link to his video can be found here. Chris Johnson, LCMC pastor, has given us a video book review of a biography of Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of all time. A link to his video can be found here. 

[...]

• NEXUS 2024 - Grand View University, Des Moines, IA. July 21-27, 2024. Click here.
• NALC Online Convocation. August 9, 2024. Click here.
• LCMC 24th Annual Gathering & Convention - Marion, IA. September 29 - October 2, 2024. Click here.

© 2024 Lutheran Coalition for Renewal

Email Editor (Kim Smith)

PO Box 1741 Wausau, WI 54402-1741

1-888-810-4180

www.lutherancore.org

Lutheran CORE's mission:

• A Network for Confessing Lutherans
• A Voice for Biblical Truth

Our purpose can be summed up in two words– Network  and  Voice. As  Network  for confessing Lutherans, we support and connect Lutheran individuals and congregations who seek to live in accord with Biblical and confessional teachings and practices. As a  Prophetic Voice, we advocate for Biblical authority and confessional fidelity among churches of the Lutheran community.

We communicate Biblical truth through our newsletter, mailings, and various forms of social media.