"It's a tolerant church."

SAN FRANCISCO --Seven pastors who work in the San Francisco Bay area and were barred from serving in the nation's largest Lutheran group because of a policy that required gay clergy to be celibate are being welcomed into the denomination.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will add six of the pastors to its clergy roster at a service at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco on Sunday. Another pastor who was expelled from the church, but was later reinstated, will participate in the service.

The group is among the first gay, bisexual or transgender Lutheran pastors to be reinstated or added to the rolls of the ELCA since the organization voted last year to lift the policy requiring celibacy.

Churches can now hire noncelibate gay clergy who are in committed relationships....

Rohrer said she is hopeful Sunday's service will be a "symbol" to young people that the Lutheran church is working toward becoming more welcoming of people of all different backgrounds.

Jeff Johnson, another one of the pastors who will be added to the roster, said the ELCA's position for years of not accepting the choice of some congregations to ordain gay clergy was painful and disappointing....

Johnson said the goal, in part, is to show people the church has space for many different opinions.

"There's room for them," he said. "It's a tolerant church."
(Associated Press)

The above article is not terribly surprising. The former Christian and Lutheran synod known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continues to celebrate its apostasy. Obviously they don't believe they have betrayed the Lord with their false doctrine, and that is what stands out for me in the above article. Notice the emphasis given to being "welcoming," "tolerant," and providing "space for many different opinions." The scriptural proscriptions against homosexuality have been pitted against a worldly understanding of love and the world won out. Worse yet, millions have been robbed of a truly loving message, and that is Jesus came to provide the forgiveness of sins to every sinner, including those practicing the sin of homosexuality.

I am definitely one of the "intolerant" people who know from the Scriptures that homosexuality is a sin that can be, and has been, forgiven. I don't know what is more "welcoming" or "tolerant" than the promise Christ has given to those who repentant of their sins. By all accounts we deserve to be punished for our sins right now and into eternity; yet, we have a loving savior with Jesus Christ who continues to forgive us our sins even though we don't deserve it.

The Church most certainly tolerates repentant sinners. Every single member of the Church universal is a sinner and includes people who daily struggle with the sin of homosexuality, as well as other sins. What is not tolerable is false teachings, such as it is OK with God if one unrepentantly practices homosexuality. Such lies are intolerable; they turn God's "no" into a "yes" and thereby rob poor miserable sinners of hearing the real good news which is they can receive through faith the forgiveness of sins and will be truly set free in Christ.

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The Right to Barbecue and Old #15

I don't know about you, but I love barbecue so much that I think the US Bill of Rights should be amended to contain the right to barbecue and I ain't talkin' about grillin' either! No sir, I love grilling steaks, chops, or anything else that can stand up to fire for a quick sear, but nothing compares to the tenderness and smokiness of slow cooked meat. I love to barbecue!

Now why am I slobbering on about barbecue? I am glad you asked, because most serious folks doing "Q" also love their tools which help them cook up, falling off the bone tender, sweet and smokey, goodness. The tool loved most is the BBQ pit which comes in all sort of shapes and sizes to deliver low heat and good clean smoke to various different cuts of meat. My BBQ pit is named "Old #15" and is built by a company in Houston, Texas by the name of Klose Manufacturing.

When the weather warms up here in Seattle, and we get a good stretch of sunny days as we will this week, I open up my BBQ pit and give it a good scrub down. I then let it dry out over night so I can touch it up with heat resistant paint. What I use is Krylon Specialty High Heat paint, black of course. The paint can take up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit before it starts burning off. I use a little to touch up the outside, and one should never use spray paint on the inside of their BBQ pit and wood fire box. You don't want your food to taste like Krylon.

Today I washed Old #15 inside and out with soapy cold water. You can see in the above picture that I have all three doors on my BBQ pit open as it is drying. The square box on the side of the cylindrical cooking chamber is the wood fire box. Old #15 can be loaded up with wood logs, charcoal, and anything else that will provide clean heat and good smoke.

You can see in this photo the inside of the wood fire box. There is a heavy, slide in/out, ash tray that fits to the bottom of the fire box which is out in this picture. You can also see in the very back of the fire box a half-moon shaped opening into the cooking chamber. This type of BBQ pit, or "smoker,"  is called an "offset," since the heat source is on the side of the cooking chamber.I took the hose and gave all the spiders who were living in the fire box through the winter their watery eviction notice.

The focus of this picture (above) is the wood fire box with the door slightly open. All the handles on the doors are "wrapped" with stainless steel coils which remain cool to the touch. The top door on the wood fire box opens up to a grated area where one can grill, if they so desire.

This is the last photo of Old #15 I am going to share. Here the doors are closed and you can see that there is a thermometer in the door. The thermometer takes a pretty accurate reading of the ambient temperature in the cooking chamber, but I prefer to use a thermometer right at the grate for a better temperature reading. The grate seen on the front of the cooking chamber folds down when it is time to cover up the BBQ pit. As you can see I keep my wood underneath the smoker. I use apple wood and will be trying some maple I cut a couple weeks ago. I typically like to let my wood "cure" for six months prior to using it. The cure time allows the wood to dry out. Notice, too, the tall smoke stack on Old #15. It draws the heat and smoke from the fire box into the cooking chamber. I like the height of the stack, since it takes the smoke away from eye level, which is nice when working around the smoker during a cook out.

After spraying out the inside of the cooking chamber and letting it dry, I use copious amounts of lard to coat the metal inside. I also apply a good coating to the cooking grates. Not only does the lard prevent rust, but keeping the grates "seasoned" provides an excellent non-stick surface, too. Only use edible oils and greases inside the cooking chamber. I think it is self-explanatory why one wouldn't want to use something like motor oil or axle grease inside the cooking chamber.

This afternoon I will apply the paint to rust spots and let it dry overnight. By this weekend I will be ready to barbecue pork shoulder for some pulled pork sandwiches. Old #15 can hold up to a 30 lbs. turkey, several racks of ribs, and a couple coils of sausage in a single smoke! Of course, I have never smoked that much food in it at once.

Some may be wondering why I named my BBQ pit "Old #15." Inside the cooking chamber, the welder who fabricated the Klose pit for me welded the date and number of the smoker of that model made that year. My smoker was the fifteenth made of that model in 2004. I remember the day Old #15 arrived on the truck to my house. It still brings a tear to my eye—well, OK, not really, but it was a nice thought. The thing weighs around 400lbs. and was not easy to move, but the truck driver and I managed to get it off the palate and into my back yard. That was some pretty hard work, but has been well worth it ever since!

Here's to some good "Q" coming out of Old #15 for years to come!

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During Bad Times or Good Times, Stand Firm and Confess Christ!

"Here I Stand!"

Is there a time we should take a break from confessing Christ? Do we put away the books and take a "vacation" from expressing truth, if things look like they are going our way? The following quote from C.F.W. Walther tells us "no!" We do not relax our guard for a moment. Like a good fighter we are diligent in our training and ready "to go" at a moment's notice. Our eyes are constantly fixed to the Cross of Christ as we hold fast to His Word of Truth. Confess the truth in "good times" or "bad." By the Grace of God and by His strength we stand firm in the Truth.

"When a theologian is asked to yield and make concessions in order that peace may at last be established in the Church, but refuses to do so even in a single point of doctrine, such an action looks to human reason like intolerable stubbornness, yea, like down-right malice. That is the reason why such theologians are loved and praised by few men during their lifetime. Most mean rather revile them as disturbers of the peace, yea, as destroyers of the kingdom of God. They are regarded as men worthy of contempt. But in the end it becomes manifest that this very determined, inexorable tenacity in clinging to the pure teaching of the divine Word by no means tears down the Church; on the contrary, it is just this which, in the midst of greatest dissension, builds up the Church and ultimately brings about genuine peace. Therefore, woe to the Church which has no men of this stripe, men who stand as watchmen on the walls of Zion, sound the alarm whenever a foe threatens to rush the walls, and rally to the banner of Jesus Christ for a holy war!...

Let us, therefore, bless all the faithful champions who have fought for every point of Christian doctrine, unconcerned about the favor of men and disregarding their threatenings. Their ignominy, though it often was great, had not been born in vain. Men cursed them, but they continued bearing their testimony until death, and now they wear the crown of glory and enjoy the blissful communion of Christ and of all the angels and the elect. Their labor and their fierce battling has not been in vain; for even now, after 1500 years, or, in the last-named case, after several centuries, the Church is reaping what they have sowed.

Let us, then, my friends, likewise hold fast the treasure of pure doctrine. Do not consider it strange if on that account you must bear reproach the same as they did. Consider that the word of Sirach, chap. 4, 33: 'Even unto death fight for justice, and God will overthrow thy enemies for thee,' will come true in our case too. Let this be your slogan: Fight unto death in behalf of the truth, and the Lord will fight for you!" —C.F.W. Walther, "The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel," pp.28, 29, 30.

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Sacredsandwich.com: Youth Group Superstar

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More Like the Baptists Everday?

Stephen Johnson has posted an excellent essay titled, "More Like the Baptists Everday" at the blog, "Liturgy Solutions." Here are the first couple paragraphs of that article:

"As a former church musician in the Evangelical Free Church, I was for years immersed in efforts to use music to create enthusiasm for and numerical growth in worship attendance. The LCMS is going where I was, and subsequently left, in favor of a truly Lutheran brand of worship. The LCMS is looking more and more like the Free Church; not everywhere, but in enough places to cause alarm. And it is not so much about who is doing what, as much as there is a consciousness pervading the LCMS that is bound to make us into a more and more mainline protestant church and a less and less Lutheran church. Lutheran theology and worship is distinctive and has certain hallmarks that make it what it is. If we want to preserve these things, we need to speak more clearly about how we are not.

When Jesus comes again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, nothing will be set ablaze more quickly than 21st Century popular culture. Yet, it appears that we cannot wait to befoul ourselves with it. And the 2010 LCMS Convention provided some very good examples as to how. It was disappointing to me to witness the egalitarian manner in which worship music styles were treated. The arguments about how differing musical styles communicate different messages are well established, yet we insist on acting as if they do not, as if differing musical expressions carry no implications, for better or worse, one way or the other. At very least, the music of the pop-culture is carnal and not churchly."

The full article can be found at this link.

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He Calls and Enlightens Us with His Gifts

"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'" —Matthew 28:18-20

These words seem to be the most abused and intentionally obscured words of the day, by those who peddle anthropocentric "church growth" programs. More often than not, those words of Christ are twisted into complex theories of what we should be doing to evangelize the world. The peddlers of "church growth" programs and the consultants who sell these programs often view Matthew 28:18-20 through the lens of false teachings such as the so-called "social gospel," the teaching "everyone is a minister," and decision theology. This should give us great pause as Lutherans; especially when we see Lutheran congregations infatuated with programs inspired by Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. Evangelicals who do not confess salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ, and the doctrine of original sin, will weave their theology into their ideas. Simply put, theology informs our practice.

I believe the Scriptures, as expressed by the Lutheran confessions, can give us a proper understanding of why people are brought to faith. The Small Catechism reads,

"I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true." (The Third Article)

This is consistent with Scriptures such as John 6:44, Acts 2:47, Acts 16:14, Philippians 1:29, 2:13, Ephesians 2:8, and 1 Corinthians 12:3 that tell us we have been drawn to Christ by God the Father; being given a gift of faith through hearing His Word (Romans 10:17).

The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord (II 25-26) unpacks the explanation of the Third Article a bit more,

"In this way, too, the Holy Scriptures do not credit the human powers of the natural free will with conversion, faith in Christ, regeneration, renewal, and all that belongs to their effective beginning and end. They do not credit free will the whole way, half way, or in any way, even in the smallest or most trivial way. They credit conversion solely and completely to the Holy Spirit's divine work, as also the Apology teaches.

Reason and free will are able to live an outwardly decent life to a certain extent. But only the Holy Spirit causes a person be born anew [John 3:5] and to have inwardly another heart, mind, and natural desire. He opens the mind and heart to understand the Scriptures and to listen to the Word, as it is written in Luke 24:45, 'Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.'" ("Concordia The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord, 2nd ed., p. 525)

So-called "church growth" programs are devised by people who deny core teachings of the Scriptures as expressed in the Lutheran symbols as found above. Some of the Scriptural teachings implicitly rejected by "church growth" programs is the doctrine of original sin and the subsequent teaching that we do not have a will that is free to make a decision for Jesus. The "Church growth" movement enshrines decision theology which wrongly teaches we have a spark of good in our natures which allows us the freedom to reason our way to Christ.

Lutherans using Methobapticostal influenced sources of "church growth" to fuel their own programs reminds me of the practice of theological liberals who sort through the Scriptures, picking and choosing what they believe are divinely inspired words and tossing the rest out as mythological stories. Christ Himself tells us in Matthew 28 that all authority has been given to Him. His Church has not been authorized to dissect His commission into pieces from which we choose parts to inspire whole systems of "evangelism" which aren't even recognizable as something coming from His Word.

Christ's commission is quite simple and has to be, since He is dealing with sinners who are still "fleshly" and like to build up great monstrosities of works so that we feel we have done something for Him. Jesus said to teach and baptize, but today we have to have things like "coffee house outreach" and "Christian Rockfest", because the Holy Spirit working through the proclamation of the pure word of God isn't believed to be truly efficacious in bringing about repentance. Despite our "best" or "worst" evangelism efforts, the Holy Spirit continues to draw people to Jesus. Those chosen for salvation will not be snatched out of Christ's hand (John 10:29) by any of our works; neither will anyone be persuaded to make a decision for Christ by any program we concoct. The salvation of souls is the work of the Holy Spirit and Christ has instituted the means through which the Holy Spirit works and that is through His Word.

Lutherans adopting "church growth" practices have gotten something horribly wrong somewhere in their doctrine. This should be of great concern because eventually such errors impinge upon the teaching of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ. Talk of "busting down" cultural barriers, or being more "permeable" to the culture around us, in order to bring the Word of God to people smacks of decision theology at some level, such as in a denial of original sin, or an expression that human powers are somehow responsible for opening the human mind up to receive faith. Indeed, this summarizes the whole "seeker sensitive" movement which guts out the divine service and creates a kinder, friendlier, "worship" service in order to make the "unchurched" more comfortable. Here the divine service is gutted out and treated as an evangelism tool. Feeding the Lord's sheep through His means of grace necessarily suffers as the liturgy is either abandoned or is marginalized as is the case within most of American Evangelicalism today.

Jesus gave the Apostles the teaching they needed in order to understand how His commission was to unfold in "all nations." They went out and preached the good news. They preached the gospel, baptized, and taught all things Jesus taught them (doctrine). As the Apostles went town to town preaching, baptizing, and teaching, the Holy Spirit added to the Church daily those chosen for salvation. That all authority in heaven and earth is given to Christ means that His commission given to the Church is centered around Him. In other words, growing church is part of the theology of the cross and not the theology of glory which infects American Evangelical Christianity. "Church growth" is really all about Christ coming to us sinners with the forgiveness of sins. For Lutherans that shouldn't be surprising.

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Prayer Walking?

I want to thank Pr. Thomas Messer, over at his blog "Abide in My Word", for reporting about the so-called "prayer walking" being promoted to our Lutheran youth at the LCMS national youth gathering. You can read his full article found here. The following is a quote from that article:

"Note to Lutherans: "Prayer Walking" was invented by those who belong to the "Word-Faith" (or, "Word of Faith") Movement (think of all the false teachers you see on TV, who exhort you to "name it and claim it" or "agree with God for your healing," etc.). It was then adopted by more mainline Protestant denominations and has been especially targeted toward youth - you know, to give them something to do so that they feel like Christians. Now, it is being promoted to our own Lutheran youth, as the following video has been added to the fare being shown at the LCMS National Youth Gathering taking place right now in New Orleans.

Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with praying. We're all for that. Pray often. Pray, pray, pray, I say (hey, that rhymed!). And, there is certainly nothing wrong with walking (Lord knows that some of us need to do a little more of that!). And, there is not even a thing wrong with walking and praying at the same time, although there are certainly more focused ways to offer your petitions to the Lord. But, when you promote what has become known as "Prayer Walking," you're promoting false theology. Why? Because this activity was invented by, well, false teachers, who, well, teach falsely about prayer. To these false teachers, prayer is a way for the Christian to manipulate God to succumb to a given desire. Not only that, but those who invented this activity believe, teach, and confess that God MUST succumb to your prayers, so long as you offer them in the right manner - oh, and with the right amount of faith, too (if God is not responding, it's because you have done something wrong, or because you don't have enough faith). I could go on, but you get the picture."

The picture in this post is of an indoor labyrinth and people "prayer walking" as they move through it. The idea of coupling physical movements with prayer is not at all new. Such practices are inspired by mystics such as the "Desert Fathers" who sought a spiritual ladder to God. Physical movement is used as a meditative tool, usually along with some sort of guided breathing exercise, in order to alter one's state of consciousness. The goal is to empty the mind and focus on the words of the prayer (or a mantra) in order to have a fuller experience in reaching God. This sort of "praying" is not a Scriptural practice. We do not need to induce trances or altered states of consciousness through physical movements in order for God to hear us. Jesus taught us to pray as recorded in Matthew 6:5-13. Nowhere in the Scriptures are we taught to "empty our minds" to reach God. Neither are we taught to hit the streets and stand in front of houses sicking God on it's denizens through prayers (a practice of "prayer walkers"), as if our Lord is a pet on our leash who will be manipulated by our words.

Kyrie eleison!

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What Now?

The LCMS 2010 national convention ended this past Saturday. Many new changes have been made to the synod and most notably the election of Matt Harrison, our new synod president.

The effects of these new changes remain to be seen. Some of the consequences of restructuring resolutions approved at the convention may take years to fully play out. One question that naturally comes to mind is "What do we do now?"

As steadfast Lutherans we continue to beat the drums for true Godly unity that can only come through agreement on all articles of doctrine. We continue to raise the banner for faithfulness to Word and Sacrament ministry. We continue to point at our Lutheran symbols as a true exposition of Scripture, sound doctrine should inform our lives and which in turn expresses itself through our practice. We continue to lift high the cross of Jesus Christ through the liturgy which teaches us that Christ comes to us only through His means of Grace, forgiving our sins and strengthening our faith. We also continue to pray for our leadership, as we have done so in the past.

What I pray doesn't happen is that those of us who supported Pr. Harrison's nomination begin to close our eyes to what has been going on in the LCMS for years now. As a denomination we need to have continuous catechises. There are likely whole congregations that have heard whispers about the Book of Concord, but haven't read our confession of faith since they last cracked open a Small Catechism when children. Pr. Harrison can lead us by example, but those of us in the "trenches" are the ones who will push for more teaching, for more theology, for faithfulness to the Word of God and our Lutheran symbols. Synod wide catechesis can't be promoted only from the top, but must be encouraged from below, too.

The next three years are going to be exciting times of change, but support for the right change—repentance and unity around doctrine—still needs to be in place in order to conserve "grandpa's church." What we do now is continue supporting our pastors and our synod leaders by encouraging them to preach and teach the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ and to faithfully deliver to us the Sacraments.

The challenges ahead will never out-match the Holy Spirit and the Church universal has the promise of Christ, "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Indeed, we have the advantage of being able to read the final chapter of the book, and it tells us that the Church survives up to the last hour and Christ reigns victorious. Our hope is in Jesus.

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CC: Contrasts to Convention Worship

During the course of discussion in a thread over at Brothers of John the Steadfast dealing with worship, I made the following comments that, as one person wrote responding to my points "I believe that this point bears repeating" and I couldn't agree more. So here it is.

“We cheerfully maintain the old traditions made in the Church for the sake of usefulness and peace. We interpret them in a more moderate way and reject the opinion that holds they justify. Our enemies falsely accuse us of setting aside good ordinances and Church discipline. We can truly declare that the public form of the churches is more fitting with us than with the adversaries. If any one will consider it in the right way, we conform to the canons more closely than the adversaries. Among the adversaries, unwilling celebrants, and those hired for pay, and very frequently only for pay, celebrate the Masses. They sing psalms, not that they may learn or pray, but for the sake of the service (as though this work were a service) or, at least, for the sake of reward. Among us many use the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day. They do so after they have been first instructed, examined, and absolved. The children sing psalms in order that they may learn. The people also sing so that they may either learn or pray.” —Apology XV, 38-41, Concordia: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord

What I find interesting in the above reading from our confession is that music is meant to teach us doctrine. The songs are sung so that we may learn or pray. Today’s “contemporary worship” tunes are not catechetical, they do not teach but instead are a form of entertainment. Music in many evangelical circles is used to set the tone of a worship service. The music is “mood music” and the “mood” to be set is our giving an excellent sacrifice of praise to a sovereign who, upon seeing our “sacrifice”, will have mercy upon us and bless us. Such thinking is antithetical to Scriptural Lutheran worship where praise is in response to what God is giving us: the forgiveness of sins.

What I am writing about “contemporary worship” is no overstatement. The lyrics of CW songs tend to be “me” centered, focusing on something “I” do for God. “I” drives all the verbs in most of these songs. For example, take the lyrics of the following “praise song” which was sung at the LCMS convention (as reported by Scott Diekmann):

I will give you all my worship
I will give you all my praise
You alone, I long to worship
You alone, are worthy of my praise

How nice of “me” to give God something, as if anything I could give Him is better than a pile of stinking dead worms. No, the fact of the matter is that I am a sinner begging at the table of God and it is HE WHO IS GIVING while I receive His free gifts. The praise that comes off my lips after I receive His gifts are the words of a man who deserves death and eternal damnation. Indeed, I have nothing to give to the Lord, I am empty, hungry, thirsty, and He feeds me and fills me. My paltry thanks in response to the forgiveness of sins He freely gives to me is the thanks of a slave to his master. When I thank and praise God in response to His gifts, I do so from what He has given me. The lyrics of the “praise song” quoted from above, comes across as if I am giving God something that isn’t already His, so pat me on the back for my good deed of worship.

Most contemporary worship songs are of the same stripe as that above. They are anthropocentric and push Christ to the background where He is relegated the task of “divine cheerleader” there to help us pull ourselves across the finish line one day.

My apologies if this sounds like a rant, but I have “been there and done that” and know the utter despair that arises from the theology of glory this stuff comes out of. It is a place I never want to go again.

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World Mission Society Church of God

The sunshine and warmer weather in Seattle brings with it people knocking on doors for a cause; the signature gatherers, those working on charity drives, and those peddling the false teachings of cults.

If you haven't already had the "great pleasure" of having Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses knock at your door, then you don't know what you're missing. Unless they interrupt your sleep, the ball game, a phone call (even one from the "evil" mother in law), baking cookies... now that I think about it anything is more important than what they're peddling. It was such a hot summer day, last week, that I was doing "anything more important" when I heard knocking at the front door of my house. As I approached the door, which was wide open to let in the cool breeze blowing off of the Puget Sound, I saw two well dressed men. I thought to myself, "This should be quick. I will simply point at the sign on my door which tells solicitors to 'get lost' and that will be that." Approaching the door I said hello and asked what the men wanted, to which the sturdier looking of the two responded, "Have you ever heard of God the Mother?" "Did you say 'God the Mother'?", I queried as I opened my screen door and stepped out onto my front porch.

The man who had introduced the question answered in the affirmative, so I knew I hadn't misunderstood. He immediately pulled a pocket sized bible out of his suit pocket and opened it up. Turning the pages, he arrived to the verse he wanted and with a smile he kindly asked if I would like to read the verse of scripture with him. Looking into his open bible I was at once envious of his great underlining skills. OK, I am a "geek" and I notice these sort of things. If you would have seen just how straight and perfect the lines were, you would have been impressed, too. They looked like they were printed in the book for him. Come to think of it, they very well could have been. That's the way cults work. Everything is scripted and structured so there is no deviation from the presentation. Once the script is broken, the cultist peddling their false doctrine is lost and will typically pack up their things and leave, never to return.

While the underline work in this man's bible was perfect, what he was about to read to me was far from perfect truth and definitely didn't support his assertions. Turning to Revelation 21:9-22 this fellow began to argue that the "bride" coming down out of heaven is "God the Mother." After pointing out to him that those scriptures say no such thing at all, I asked if he had another Scripture that tells us there is a "God the Mother" to which he stood back and allowed his partner, who was silently praying during the Scripture reading, to speak.

This second presenter was also a nicely dressed man. Being a Korean he spoke with a heavy accent, but thankfully my ear is attuned to such accents since one of my best friends growing up was Korean. I spent a great deal of time at his home and learned much about their home country and culture. I also learned how to cook Korean barbecue and to make Kimchi, too. Now there is some "good eats" and especially when it is home cooked. Through his thick accent and broad smile—they always smiled which reminded me of the "Stepford Wives"—he read from Genesis 1:26-27. (The underlines in his bible were just as exquisite as his partner's.) Pointing at the words, "...in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" my interlocutor began to argue that Elohim must have two genders, one male and one female. Adam and Eve are exact replicas of their image, so he said.

I asked the man for clarification, since it sounded to me as if he just presented the idea that there are two gods and not an additional person in the Holy Trinity. He unabashedly exclaimed that indeed there are two gods in heaven, our Father and our Mother. He expounded upon the Hebrew word "elohim" in defense of a view which clearly kicks against thousands of years of Jewish teaching regarding the nature of God and clearly contradicts the Scriptural view of the nature of God confessed by Christians for two millennia. I agreed with this fellow that the Hebrew word "elohim" can express a numerical plurality given the right context. We see this plurality in Scriptures such as Psalms 96:5 and Psalms 97:7 where the "worthless idols" of the pagans are referred to as "elohim." But, as I elaborated, typically the context of "elohim" demands, numerically, that God is one. That is, there is only one of the subject being described. Another way of understanding the word "elohim" is that it is a majestic plural indicating the greatness of the one true God when it is used in reference to His Holy being.

I then proceeded to show them Scriptures regarding God's numerical oneness and that being created in the "image" of God doesn't mean we are replicas of God's alleged physical attributes. Indeed, even if that were true, Genesis 3:7 specifies that it was the man who was made from the dust of the ground and Eve was formed out of the man (Genesis 3:22). Therefore, the "image" being referred to in Genesis one is not that there are two Gods who form two human beings as replicas of themselves; instead, one God creates Adam in the form of His character. Adam is not merely an animal God spoke into existence, but God forms Adam from the earth, breathes life into his nostrils, and gives Adam His own knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. The summary of Adam's creation in Genesis one includes Eve as also having this "likeness" of God, but it also reinforces the order of creation which chapter three unpacks. In short, I explained to this fellow there is no reason to believe "elohim" in Genesis one refers to two gods when in fact it doesn't.

My explanation of "elohim" in Genesis one knocked these two gentlemen out of their script. Indeed, the Korean man who had introduced his heresy of two gods had lost his smile and could only respond to me with "You do know your bible!" After warning both these fellows that they were in terrible trouble with God, since as Paul states in Galatians 1:8 "...if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed", they decided the discussion was over and they needed to go. I bid them farewell and welcomed them back anytime. Somehow I doubt they will want to try again to convert me.

After they left I hurried to my computer and did a web search about their organization. During the course of our discussion I asked which denomination they belonged to and they seemed very reluctant to tell me. In fact, the Korean man simply stated, "the Church of God" and wouldn't elaborate further. It was obvious they were hiding the identity of their organization from me, which still puzzles me. A web search revealed who these two "missionaries" represent: the World Mission Society Church of God.

Interestingly enough, not only do they teach there are two Gods, but they also believe that one Ahn Sahng-Hong is the second coming of Christ and that he is "God the Father" while his wife Zang Gil-Jah is the "heavenly Mother" or incarnation of "God the Mother" (source See also their documentation on their website here). Ahn Sahng-Hong died in 1985, but his followers at the World Mission Society Church of God believe to this day that he was the second coming of Jesus and that his surviving wife is the incarnation of "God the mother."

In the future I may have more to write about this group. A quick glance at their website indicates that in addition to their beliefs in two gods, and the incarnations of those gods in Ahn Sahng-Hong and his wife, they also embrace a form of modalism for their "God the Father."

The summer is still young in Seattle. Who knows what else will come knocking at the front door during the heat of the day. I have to confess my surprise at the beliefs of my last visitors. Simply bizarre.

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