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| Like the Hyles clergy graduates, WELS produces abusive alcoholics. |
From a Reader -
Your piece "Birds Boycott Bird-Feeder,Baffling and Bewildering Bystanders,And Allaying Alliteration Anxiety" provided more detail towards an answer to one of my questions about WELS, specifically, why does it operate like a secret society? Masons.
You write:
"As we all know - wink wink - the Masonic Lodge remained a major force in the ELS (George Orvick's parish), in WELS (welcoming lodge members kicked out of Missouri!), and the noble, haughty, holier than thou Missouri Synod. John Brug told me how his Pennsylvania parish was full of Masons, and so did a Missouri Synod circuit pastor about his congregation. Orvick grew his Madison parish by taking in lodge members."
So much of the behavior you describe in the WELS (e.g. secrecy, hierarchy, abuse of women, disdain for anyone from outside the system, etc) makes sense if you look at it as a secret society RATHER THAN a church. The church part is the window dressing to fool the dupes. What's really going on happens behind closed doors.
¶ And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. (Ezekiel 8:7-12)
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| John Lawrenz and Steve Witte helped start Church and Change, so John passed the torch to Steve at the portable Asian mini-seminary. |
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| Glende and Ski have so much in common: MLS, NWC, Mordor, Katy Perry, working for Jeske. What am I forgetting? They both sued the victim's husband in court - for telling the truth about them. And they both lost. |
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GA
GJ - Two aspects of WELS as a secret society are undeniable. One is their abusive hazing system in their own synodical schools, leading up to GA (HB) for first-year seminarians. They repeatedly deny the hazing and that is the core of GA/HB - it does not exist - just like the Fight Club. "Rule Number One - GA does not exist."
Stage One of GA is telling the first year seminarians that GA has been called off. This deception is raised to such a level that semnarians call their clergy fathers and say, "GA is being called off, Dad!" The fathers tell their WELS clergy friends at gatherings and have a laugh about it - "Just like when we were newbies at Mordor."
No one calls Mequon Mordor, but they do ask "when did you get out?" rather than
1. When did you graduate?
2. When were you ordained?
That sounds more like a prison, and WELS is really an elaborate prison system, kept secure by secrecy and mutual blackmail.
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| "All your funds are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time." |
Jeske's Church and Change
WELS clergy asked me to write about Church and Change because they were too chicken to do it themselves.
One could easily say they were correct in avoiding the issue, because WELS will not tolerate anyone questioning their secrecy and abuse. The leakers tossed me some breadcrumbs and I followed the clues to the source documents on the Net. That way, denials were almost sort-of honest - "I never gave that to Jackson"
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| I spy - Steve Witte and an ELCA lady minister. Old man Photenhauer said, "Resist the beginnings." |
When I began, Church and Change had their own website, Jeske's trinkets on sale on the WELS website, and Changer conferences linked from the WELS website.
Gurgle told Steve Spencer that Church and Change was dissolved, gone, broken up - and the next conference was still linked on the WELS website.
Of course, Church and Change is not Jeske's alone, because key people worked together to start it with WELS offering money. Once I began exposing its leaders, its website, and its foul, false doctrine, the evidence began disappearing from the Net.
WELS taught me to copy the page completely and link it, since the page was going to be dead and gone as soon as it became Ichabod fodder.
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| Starting at the far left - John Parlow, Mark Jeske, Paul Calvin Kelm, Kudu Don Patterson - all are Church and Change leaders. Kudu Don is famous for women's spiritual retreats where the ladies bet on which newbie will first puke her guts out from booze. |
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| No caption is needed for the irony. Barefoot is a self-sent minister, approved by WELS Church and Change. Thy Word Is Truth? Truth is a stranger in WELS, and so is the Word of God. |
Church and Change photos disappeared from their own website when I published them, and so did the bios. The Jeske Crime Family screamed that I unfairly published their secret discussions, and the rage only increased when I posted their secret GA songs.
Long ago, Church and Change leadership was parallel to the official structure of WELS - and still is. The difference today is that Martin Luther College no longer publishes the Changers who lead their so-called Evangelism Day, and the public information has almost dried up. Jeske is secure enough now to organize his WELS-ELCA-LCMS conferences without any interference or censure. Jeske is the actual WELS Synod President. Mirthless Mark Schroeder is simply a PR agent and cover-up artist.
The LCMS has similar, understood leaders - whether elected or not. The ELS is no different.
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| Jeske gets annual funding for his pan-synodical Change or Die conferences. |
Alcoholism
WELS is easily defined by its alcoholism -
- Out of control drinking at college = popularity.
- Out of control drinking at seminary and in the parish = normal.
- Out of control clergy and teachers = expected.
Sig Becker was no babe in the woods, but he was sickened by the alcoholism and adultery in the WELS. If someone uncovers adultery, he is punished. The only bad examples of adultery are those that make WELS look bad. The connection between Tabor's many affairs - tolerated - and the ultimate murder of his wife was adultery. The same is true of Al Just.
When I wrote about WELS alcoholism, several church workers responded by telling me I was right on target, because they knew. One said, "The entire school staff was alcoholic."
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| Episcopal Bishop Cook was openly drunk when installed. See the Presiding Bishop behind her, in more ways than one. Cook ran down the father of two small children - and drove away. |
I quoted Jeske on how the sweetest part of the day was when the guys came over, after 3 PM, and he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and cigars to chat with them. One layman said, "What?"
When does an individual step over the line, from social drinking to addiction? The process takes time, but starting in college and seminary almost dooms the individual to physical and emotional addiction. At some point the body demands alcohol to feel normal, and the emotions use alcohol to relax and make all the troubles go away. By that time, the effect on the liver and other organs is easily seen.
Alcoholics are extremely touchy about their habits. They know they drink too much, but they are working on it. They deny their addiction and say, "I am just too emotional." They rage against anyone who tries to reason with them, or they bribe their victims by promising to be good. All addicts are liars, so GA/HB and alcoholism forge a solid partnership. An addict will say or do anything to keep the supply going.
WELS is not alone in covering up for their drunks - it is the least one drunk can do for another. But the WELS church workes seem disproportionately pickled. The ultimate result is death, such as when an ELCA bishop, an Episcopal bishop, and a Roman Catholic bishop shared headlines for running down an innocent person while drunk. They had one thing in common - they denied any guilt whatsoever! Eventually they paid some price, but the Roman Catholic got off with "community service" and being preached into heaven while still alive. How many leaders covered up many different alcoholic episodes, leading directly to to the death of innocents? Far too many.
When a judge was asked about WELS church workers abusing others, the sect replied, "We do not know of any." I spoke to a victim's lawyer and gave her a list of cases known to me. That was researched and given to the judge, who ordered WELS to tell the truth. (Imagine that!) The sect gave up a list of remarkable incidents.
Do any readers think WELS holds that against me?
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| Drunks like Burnside try very hard to look sober and severe. Here he looks squiffed. This ELCA bishop ran down a woman, killing her, drove away, and refused to repent for a long time. |
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| A sober Burnside appeared at his hearing. |
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| Synod President Mark Schroeder absolved Joel Hochmuth in time for his PR flack to plead "Not guilty!" |