All Glory to God the Father
I am going to call this the “Come to Jesus” edition of Wednesday Bible Study for obvious reasons as we proceed. I have struggled with this since last week, which ironic as I know that for at least some of you, the last Bible Study is gone from your mind.
So let me recapp to bring us all up to speed. Last week was Isaiah 58 and in the course of my reading the scripture and my commentary of such, I happened to touch on what some might call my favorite hobby horse, I am talking about ELCA and the role of women in the church. Every time I do this, I notice quite a few pinched faces around the table. For some it is the mention of the ELCA and for others, it is the mention of women and sometimes it’s both. And I am getting the impression that you, those with the pinched faces, are thinking of me as a bit of a misogynist.
The end of last week’s Bible Study had a different tone however, and it opened my eyes. The rest of that day I was shaking my head and that led to prayers to the Lord for wisdom on how to handle this. Now, I don’t have a direct communication line to God, He deals with me as He deals with everybody else. Typically I will get answers, by what shows up in my YouTube feed, what I end up clicking on, that sort of thing. If you hadn’t noticed, I truly believe in God’s control of all and I do mean all.
Happily, my prayers were answered and it came in two parts. Part one was to point out the sin with authority, and the second part was Genesis 3:16, which is the curse of Eve. Unhappily, this turns out to be a hard message.
Now I know the way of our group and by extension most of Minnesota, would rather sweep things under the rug when disagreements pop up. Pretend to forget they happened and go on with life.
Except when souls are involved. I am not an ordained pastor, nor am I an elder of the Church, nope, none of that. I got asked to teach this bible study, so now I am a teacher, and as a teacher I am way more accountable to God than I have ever been. We see in the Bible that James thought it not always wise to to become one who taught the word of God.
James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
So let’s get to the matter at hand. Please turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 2 and I will show you where I get my wacky ideas about church and women from.
1 Timothy 2:7-15
For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,
10 but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.
https://bible.org/seriespage/what-does-it-mean-not-teach-or-have-authority-over-men-1-timothy-211-15
This is a long and very detailed look at 1 Timothy 2, specifically verses 11 and 12. Their analysis was this: Therefore, we must conclude that the restrictions imposed by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:12 are valid for Christians in all places and all times.
Do they believe?
We come to our first bump in the road, Bible Inerrancy.
The Bible claims to be the very word of God. If God is God, He does not make mistakes. If the Bible is breathed out by God, there cannot be “minor errors” in details of history. If the Bible contains such errors, it can hardly be the work of a perfect God. And if God is not perfect and totally trustworthy, God is not God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.
Do they believe?
Now let’s deal with the other elephant in the room. In 1847 the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church was founded by German immigrants to combat what they saw as the liberalization of Lutheranism in America. It turns out they were way ahead of their time.
The ELCA was formed in 1988 and counted 5.2 million members. It was a merger of 3 churches: The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America.
They had long been pressured by Europe to accept the inevitable. Finnish female pastors had told them they were decades behind the times.
So they formed committees and enlisted the help of liberal theologian scholars who turned out to be very flippant with Paul’s instructions for the church. Of course feminism by the women in the committees played a role in this, which is nothing new, at all. In the bible, Jezebel was a big proponent of feminism. Do you remember how God dealt with this woman? She was thrown out a window, trampled by horses and eaten by dogs. Fortunately for us, God slowed way down on doing that kind of thing since Jesus was here.
So the ELCA choose to opened their doors to the world, because the world had changed and was demanding that women have their rightful place, their full civil rights and that naturally meant that they go ahead and ordain women as pastors, then bishops. A bishop is in control of 50 congregations and they have the authority to vote, representing those 50 congregations.
I remind you at this point that in the entire Old Testament, there was never a woman as priest. In the New Testament, never a woman as priest or elder. We have God’s will for the church as defined by Him and that was good for at least 4000 years and now because we are so dang smart and know so much, God’s will no longer applies.
This also brings us to the Genesis 3:16 part of the program. The curse of Eve, but really it is much more than that. Eve was deceived by satan, and ate from the Tree of Knowledge. She was persuaded that God was holding something good back from her. Adam had learned that when he perceived his need, God would provide for that need. Our daily bread so to speak. This was the beginnings of Faith, which was the intent of God, for us to have Faith in Him.
The devil comes along and upends Adam and Eve’s faith that God would provide their needs. That God was good and loved them. No, says the serpent, eat from this tree and you will not die, you will know what God knows and won’t that be great? Now the divine order of life has been upset, with satan leading Eve and Eve leading Adam.
God had been cut out of that loop. God then hands out justice, Eve gets a 2 part curse. Pain in childbirth and the desire for her husband, and her husband will rule over her. How is desire for her husband a curse, you ask? Well when it is used in this context in Hebrew, it is also used in the same context in:
Genesis 4:7.
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.
Here God is talking to Cain and the desire spoken about here is also used in the same context as Eve’s desire, so this desire is one to overthrow or dominate, rather than loving desire. Eve will seek to assert her dominance over her mate, to be its leader like when she ate from the Tree of Life. And of course people argue over this, but the Hebrew is pretty clear. If you have Faith in the Lord, believe in the Bible as His Living Word, thereby acknowledging His divine will. God, then Man, then Woman is how He intends His order of authority to be. This is also why those led by satan dispute this.
https://bible.org/seriespage/5-fall-man-gods-perfect-plan
Another long and detailed study of the fall of Man and God’s perfect will.
So, is it any surprise when you open the church doors to the world, who do you suppose wanders in? Lucifer, probably with a smile on his face and rubbing his hands together with delight. This came about due to their belief that the Bible is not inerrant. They say they believe in the God of the Bible, but not the bible itself, because it was written by sinful men. No mention of the Holy Spirit working with these sinful men, which all men and women are, producing the God-Breathed words by their hands with His authority.
Matthew 12:31
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
The definition of Blasphemy:
The crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.
Irreverent behavior toward anything held sacred, priceless, etc.
I don’t know if this qualifies as blasphemy for saying only sinful men wrote and copied the scripture, but from my reading the bible and understanding how God hates sin, I would be very careful.
ELCA Bishops say they only believe in the God of the Bible
ELCA pastor Jerry O’Neal writes, “To those who say, ‘But you don’t believe in the Bible?’ No, I don’t. As our former presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, once said, ‘I don’t believe in the Bible – I believe in the God revealed in the Bible.’ The Bible is NOT inerrant. It contains clear contradictions in places…
In 2003 a Lutheran for Life web article we find this: “A member of the ELCA inquired of the Board of Pensions as to whether they would pay for an abortion for the purpose of sex selection. The board stated that they would pay for an abortion for that purpose. The secretary of the ELCA confirmed this conclusion.”
They also have an AbortionSS_Summary.pdf that states in which “A developing life in the womb does not have an absolute right to be born…”
Now we move on to 2009 where the ELCA voted, and it passed the vote, to ordain LGTBQ pastors. They also will marry gay couples. At this point, ELCA membership had dropped to 3.2 million members
Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.
God is very clear on this.
And a funny thing started happening when these female Bishops got together. They started referring to the Holy Spirit as she.
https://religionnews.com/2018/07/25/new-elca-female-synod-bishops-talk-metoo-religious-left-what-lutheran-looks-like/
We saw this ourselves at Beckville Church, which we used to belong to. The pastor called the children up for a children’s story and said “Since God is genderless, today let’s call her she.” We have never been back after this.
Matthew 18:6
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Let us turn to Romans 1
It is clear to me when they opened their doors to the world satan began to lead them.
We just read Romans 1:18-32 and it seems to be their guiding principle, not to mention how they ignore “Thou shall not kill.”
Let me summarize, there was a lot of information here and in case you nodded off for a bit…
The ELCA is in direct contravention to God’s will on the Headship of His church and family. God chose Man to lead. Genesis 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:8-15, 1 Corinthians 14:34-36
The ELCA says they believe in the Bible, but their Bishops say no, only the God of the Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
You will find, when looking at the ELCA information on the web, they will talk out both sides of their mouth.
The ELCA, with its female pastors and Bishops, is changing the gender of the Holy Spirit and is corrupting children in thinking God is genderless, so again, female.
Ephesians 4:4-6, Matthew 28:13, John 15:26 and many more. Plus Jesus’s warning of sinning against the Holy Spirit.
The ELCA is ordaining and marrying gay/lesbian people. The Bible calls this an abomination.
Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27
The ELCA will provide money to pay for abortions to their membership, with their health plan.
Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
You may be incredulous to my claims, but I remind you that I am accountable to God and I take that very seriously. So, this is the Come to Jesus moment. Go where your heart leads you. Repent and accept Jesus as your Savior, Lord and King.
I recommend that we all pray for the members of the ELCA, that their hearts would be softened and they would come back to Jesus.
Questions?