The wall is no more

Dear Human Lutheran People;

Shrimp get letters and Shrimp on list servs so even though me on bottom of the sea have pretty good idea what going on in ELCA. Many synods telling Churchwide NO WAY. Be happy that synods like the one in Florida joined in NO WAY.

If you have synod coming up, take heart and go to mike and say NO WAY!

Following from Minnesota. Good words to chew on:

"Dear friends;

"The surest sign of disunity is scheduling a vote on unity…"

At our synod assembly last weekend in SE MN, we had the opportunity to ask questions of both the STF chair, Bishop M. Payne and a local member of the ELCA Church Council. I addressed them in the Q&A and challenged them on the first recommendation. I led off with the above quote that a dissenting member of the task force gave me.

I then pointed out all this emphasis I hear calling us to "unity" from each of those three units (STF, HoB, and CC). I mentioned the extreme number of references to unity I found in the bishops statement: "12 times" (Even though they had NO UNITY in being able to make any recommendations).

I then read the following scripture, Ezekiel 13:10-16: 10. Because, in truth, because they have misled my people, saying, "Peace," when there is no peace; and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear whitewash on it. 11. Say to those who smear whitewash on it that it shall fall. There will be a deluge of rain, great hailstones will fall, and a stormy wind will break out. 12. When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, "Where is the whitewash you smeared on it?"

I followed up with the comment and question: Is all this talk about "unity" just "whitewash?"

There was silence in the room.

Their responses were lost in the moment. But I think they got my point. I missed the actual debate later over the Church Council's recommendations, but I understand that the first recommendation was the one they got hung up on… I think this talk about unity may be their own undoing! Because it is simply a lie, and they know it is…
The mood seems to have shifted away from that first recommendation, it has become the most dangerous one! Someone even told me ahead of time that it was causing a lot of trouble for them - the one they thought would be "easy" (soften us up for the other two) I really want to thank Lou Hesse for challenging them on that whole unity thing in the first place, refusing from the beginning to support that first recommendation (as well as the other two). Bless him!

Why perpetuate a lie - "peace peace, when there is no peace…" The wall they have built supporting homosexual behavior/scriptural application is weak wall that will not endure the storm. "Where will all the whitewash be then?

Hey, let's go take a vote on unity!!!

"The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it-- (v 16) the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for it, when there was no peace, says the Lord God."

The full passage from Ezekiel 13 is below.

1. The word of the Lord came to me: 2. Mortal, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying; say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: "Hear the word of the Lord!" 3. Thus says the Lord God, Alas for the senseless prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4. Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. 5. You have not gone up into the breaches, or repaired a wall for the house of Israel, so that it might stand in battle on the day of the Lord. 6. They have envisioned falsehood and lying divination; they say, "Says the Lord," when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they wait for the fulfillment of their word! 7. Have you not seen a false vision or uttered a lying divination, when you have said, "Says the Lord," even though I did not speak? 8. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have uttered falsehood and envisioned lies, I am against you, says the Lord God. 9. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations; they shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord God. 10. Because, in truth, because they have misled my people, saying, "Peace," when there is no peace; and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear whitewash on it. 11. Say to those who smear whitewash on it that it shall fall. There will be a deluge of rain, great hailstones will fall, and a stormy wind will break out. 12. When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, "Where is the whitewash you smeared on it?" 13. Therefore thus says the Lord God: In my wrath I will make a stormy wind break out, and in my anger there shall be a deluge of rain, and hailstones in wrath to destroy it. 14. I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare; when it falls, you shall perish within it; and you shall know that I am the Lord. 15. Thus I will spend my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash; and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it-- 16. the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for it, when there was no peace, says the Lord God. 17. As for you, mortal, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own imagination; prophesy against them 18. and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew bands on all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for human lives! Will you hunt down lives among my people, and maintain your own lives? 19. You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death persons who should not die and keeping alive persons who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies. 20. Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against your bands with which you hunt lives; I will tear them from your arms, and let the lives go free, the lives that you hunt down like birds. 21. I will tear off your veils, and save my people from your hands; they shall no longer be prey in your hands; and you shall know that I am the Lord. 22. Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives; 23. therefore you shall no longer see false visions or practice divination; I will save my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord."