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Street preacher Tony Miano’s sent out a mass apology regarding his bad behavior and rhetoric towards Pastor David Robertson of Scotland.
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I need to share with you a followup to this article I posted earlier: “Persecuted” Street Preachers: Pastor Josh Williamson, Tony Miano, Chuck O’Neal and Humility. I had not been aware that Miano had issued a public apology at the time the article was written, so it’s important to give that followup, but I noticed a pattern that I wanted to point out – a pattern we’ve seen before among Christian leaders. Let’s take a look.
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It appears that the public rebuke given by young Pastor Josh Williamson of Scotland has been heeded. Tony Miano has since issued a public apology and also a new article. A few people notified me about Miano’s new article and I found it on Miano’s Twitter feed. But look closely:
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I’ve been around the Twitter block to get a feel for how things work. People usually tag someone if they are related to the tweet. So I can understand why he tagged the people connected with his recent ministry trip: Paul Washer and Bjørn Storm and also David Robertson, the pastor/blogger to whom Miano was apologizing.
But why would he want to tag the following individuals? What was his motivation? Some of these are popular names.
- Dr. Steven Lawson’s bio here (@DrStevenJLawson), friend of John MacArthur – teacher at Masters Seminary)
- Pastor Steve Camp (@PastorSJCamp) (Friend of John MacArthur)
- Phil Johnson (@Phil_Johnson_) – the #2 guy at Grace Community Church under Dr. John MacArthur, blogger on Pyromaniacs
- Mike Riccardi (@MRiccardi23) cripplegate.com
- Geoffrey Kirkland (@GeoffKirkland)
- Steve Cooley (@TheTuesdayGuy) of nocompromiseradio.com
- Dan Phillips (@BibChr) – blogger at Pyromaniacs
- Frank Turk (@Frank_Turk) – blogger at Pyromaniacs
- Chuck O’Neal (@ChuckONeal_) My former pastor who sued me and who now tries to schmooze w/big name street preachers and people connected with his hero, John MacArthur
Aha – – – could this be why? Look at this – – he’s getting public recognition from a big name, Phil Johnson, who in turn sends out this tweet linking to Miano’s article, plus an attaboy at the same time.
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Turns out Johnson wasn’t the only one who sent out tweets about Miano’s apology article. All of the bolded names above spread the love.
After seeing Phil Johnson’s tweet, I got worked up. I admit it. But here it is nonetheless:
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For some reason, my comments were not well-received by one of Miano’s friends from Norway, Bjørn Storm. Check out this response. Does the tone sound familiar to you?
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Wow. That tweet speaks for itself. I do have a side question, though. I wonder if Mr. Storm would ever ask a man: “Why don’t you start behaving like the bible tells a woman to behave?” What do you think?
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Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matt 11:29
After Miano left Pastor Josh Williamson’s place in Scotland, he traveled to Norway for the rest of his trip. Williamson had time to think about what had taken place: Miano’s arrest, Scottish Pastor David Robertson’s article challenging Miano’s arrest and behavior, and then the very negative public response by Miano and his friends towards Pastor Robertson.
Christianity has been in a decline in Scotland. Pastor Robertson’s words came from a position of having done ministry work in that country for 22 years. Could Miano be undoing the good work that has already been done in Scotland by initially causing a stir by discussing homosexual sin and then later by his foolish public behavior defending himself?
Scotland is now Pastor Josh Williamson’s home and he will surely rub shoulders with Robertson. Imagine the predicament Miano left for Williamson. Imagine what it would have been like for Williamson to mingle with pastors in his new home country knowing he was the one who hosted Miano and Miano’s behavior was not well-received there. I believe Williamson was compelled to openly rebuke Miano and the others who spoke out against Pastor Robertson. He was brave in doing so – especially considering Miano is his senior – by possibly two decades.
But it was equally important for Miano to publish his apology – maybe for two reasons. First, because it was the right thing to do (noble). Secondly, who will likely be his primary support network once he flies to Scotland in April to face trial for his arrest? (Hmmm)
It’s important to note that this public apology for harmful rhetoric is nothing new for Miano. Here‘s an example from only a couple of months ago, in November 2013:
Do I conduct myself in such a way as to invite and encourage others to glorify and honor Jesus Christ? The time has come for me to stop leaning on my law enforcement persona and catchy, typecast nickname. It’s time I stop using it as an excuse for unbiblical behavior, too.
and here:
On the other hand, when my sinful behavior is seen and heard over and above the offense of the gospel, I, in effect, give the unbeliever an opportunity for self-applied, impotent, ineffectual justification of his unbelief. I cannot push anyone away from Jesus (John 6:37; John 6:44; Romans 9:14-18), no matter how sinful my behavior.
and here:
From my heart, to my mouth, to the words I speak, I must honor Christ Jesus the Lord as holy. In my one-to-one conversations, in my open-air preaching, in my pulpit sermons, in my blog articles, in my communications with Mahria and my girls, I must honor Christ Jesus the Lord as holy. In the end, if I am to be reviled, let it be for my good behavior (1 Peter 3:16), not for my self-justified bad behavior (1 Peter 4:15).
Just a couple of months earlier, in September 2013, Miano said he was going to be curtailing his social media:
The reason is simple: with all of the benefits of social media, for me it has become a distraction and a stumbling block. Interaction with friends has provided great encouragement, but sometimes interaction with others (including friends) has proven to be an opportunity to sin (i.e. needless arguments, harsh words, self-promotion under the auspices of glorifying Christ, gauging ministry effectiveness based on the number of “likes, “follows,” and positive comments, etc).
How many times are we going to read this song and dance of Miano becoming a distraction and stumbling block to the Gospel because of his bad public behavior, apologizing, then going on a social media fast, and repeating the same scenario again?
Why is it that a 26-yr old pastor can see the behavior and had the courage to publicly rebuke it, yet American leaders, Miano’s friends (whom Miano tagged in the tweets) cannot see what is going on? Or maybe they choose not to deal with it.
What a sad state of affairs when a grown man has to tag Christian leaders to say, “look at my humble apology,” so they in turn can further showcase his “humility.”
So, for the 3rd time in recent months, Tony has put limitations on his social media involvement, but only about his arrest:
In order to avoid stumbling in the before-mentioned ways again, and in order to do my best to prevent others from stumbling, I have deleted (as many as I could find) videos, Facebook posts, and tweets related to my arrest–content I determined might inadvertently bring about such stumbling.
and:
I will try to limit my public communication about my arrest to positive, devotional thoughts on this blog.
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JA’s prediction (not to be confused with a prophetess): I predict a repeat Miano performance in April when he goes back to Scotland. We’ll shall soon see.
Spiritual Sounding Board 
Does this sort of thing, especially the questioning of your faith, make you question the makeup of this sort of “christianity”?
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Joel –
Yes it does.
The sad thing about the “questioning of your faith” – – as someone who sat in a pew listening to Chuck O’Neal consistently tell his congregation to examine if they were in the faith or not, the implication that many take home is that we will never measure up. And that is a true statement. But what is missing is the understanding of grace. You can’t keep harping on people to examine themselves without offering the message of grace, or you get a graceless Gospel. Is it any wonder that many people who subject themselves to pastors preaching like this leave the church and never come back? Some of them do have a crisis of faith. Others simply refuse to go back to the institutional church.
A graceless Gospel is NO GOSPEL.
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Wow- when I saw the tweet from bjorn on your twitter- I thought it was a joke that was mocking the way those guys talk! Didn’t realize he was serious!
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He is very serious, Anonymous. This is the same kind of stuff Miano says, too.
https://twitter.com/TonyMiano/status/371484295451262976
https://twitter.com/TonyMiano/status/371491417249415168
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Attacking the person is what you do when you can’t handle the argument, if you don’t want to acknowledge the truth and change your mind, which is what repentance is.
So this “Are you saved?” crap is just an acknowledgment that they can’t refute your argument. It’s praise and affirmation.
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How did you manage to get drunk on the blood of the saints? Did I miss a post or something?
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These are such ugly things to say. It makes me angry for Julie Anne’s sake although I know she is not angry. How self absorbed does someone have to be to never undertake any self examination? How arrogant to never consider that critics might have a point? How clueless these men are to never have an inkling of how awful they appear to other Christians! Criticism makes them angry and they call critics unsaved liars. I wonder how angry they would be if I accused them of ignoring the Holy Spirit in their lives?
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My respect and sympathy for Josh Williamson in dealing with this. But it is specifically the abusive, hateful, spiritually dangerous behavior of Tony Miano and hateful rhetoric and comments by him (and the one byStrom posted here) and others, that is the reason why i am absolutely no longer a Calvinist. I am also no longer an “Evangelical” for different reasons.
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Well, my guess is that Mr. Bjorn Storrms will not be able to handle an intelligent independent thinking wife…………….. and that tells me a lot about him. (And many of the other ones who think like him such as Phil Johnson and Miano.
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What gives this man the right to criticize others behavior (homosexual or otherwise) when he can’t control his own? Milano seems eaten up with anger and is projecting it on others. As a point of interest, when the MMPI (personality test) results of police officers are compared to other profiles, they are most similar to sociopaths. (That does not mean all officers are bad). Each group falls on different sides of the law, but there is some cross over. I wonder where Milano would fall?
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“How did you manage to get drunk on the blood of the saints? Did I miss a post or something?”
Trust me, he heard this phrase from one of his guru’s who heard this particular insult from one of his favorite gurus who read it in some book written by some dead guy of the Reformation. Sounds like Luther or some other Reformed dead guy who was trying to insult the Catholics over what they were also doing to others like Jews or Ana Baptists.. And as we know, the Reformers were all about respect for others. (NOT!)
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Loretta, I won’t even call myself a Protestant. An evil bloody history is there, too.
When I was little I asked my mom what Protestant meant and if we were Protestants. She told me it meant “Protest” and asked me what we were “protesting”. Point made. :o)
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“Scotland is now Pastor Josh Williamson’s home and he will surely rub shoulders with Robertson. Imagine the predicament Miano left for Williamson. Imagine what it would have been like for Williamson to mingle with pastors in his new home country knowing he was the one who hosted Miano and Miano’s behavior was not well-received there”
Is it possible that this is a contributory factor to Josh Williamson’s gentler tone?
I just find this more gracious side of Williamson a little difficult to accept in the light of his blatant attention-seeking, recorded on video.
Willing to jettison Miano for the sake of his own well-being in Scotland?
Or was he led along by Miano in the first place and now sees sense a little more?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
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Wow, that Bjorn is something…..
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This is a pattern with these patriarchal types, they are above being challenged or questioned, especially if you are a woman. It’s too bad they forget that Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos aside and corrected him {Acts 18:26; THAT is a picture of true humility. I want to share commentary from that text from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown – ” opening up those truths, to him as yet unknown, on which the Spirit had shed such glorious light. (In what appears to be the true reading of this verse, Priscilla is put before Aquila, as in Act_18:18 [see on Act_18:18]; she being probably the more intelligent and devoted of the two). One cannot but observe how providential it was that this couple should have been left at Ephesus when Paul sailed thence for Syria; and no doubt it was chiefly to pave the way for the better understanding of this episode that the fact is expressly mentioned by the historian in Act_18:19. We see here also an example of not only lay agency (as it is called), but female agency of the highest kind and with the most admirable fruit. Nor can one help admiring the humility and teachableness of so gifted a teacher in sitting at the feet of a Christian woman and her husband.”
There are two different kinds of sorrow taught in the Bible, Godly sorrow, and worldly. A Godly sorrow is wrought by God the Spirit, like when Nathan the Prophet confronted David over his sins. A worldly sorrow is when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, like Miano. Notice, he stated “While I do not agree with Rev. Robertson, and while some of his conclusions are drawn from a lack of accurate information, my initial reaction was too harsh.” What he’s actually doing is trying to JUSTIFY why he said what he said! Only a blind fool could NOT see through this phoniness.
These transparent ministries will soon be revealed for what they are; the ‘buddy system’ of Miano, P. Johnson, C. O’Neal, and countless others should be very afraid. They seem to have forgotten the command to love one another, and to be meek and lowly. They’ve also forgotten you cannot serve both God and mammon. Miano’s constantly blogging, tweeting, keeking, etc. about how he’s going to do this or that, or how he’s NOT going to do this or that shows the transparency of his ministry.
Miano is a liar, I have already pointed to his lies in comments on other threads. Men of God do not make a pattern of sin, especially the sin of lying. Instead of pointing a judgmental finger at Julie Anne and declaring her unsaved, he needs to examine his OWN HEART, as well as Bjorn, O’Neal, and men who exalt themselves to a level of being untouchable and Judge over the souls of men. Very, very dangerous ground to be on. Remember this Mr. Miano, Mr. O’Neal, Mr. Storm, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Proverbs 16:18
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Chris – I’m not into “in-your-face” type of “evangelism.” I don’t think one needs to shout/raise one’s voice to share the Gospel. I also don’t think mentioning homosexuality is necessary or warranted in a country like Scotland as part of sharing the Gospel. What a colossal waste of time and $$ to risk when the word “homosexuality” could be replaced with so many other sins that would not cause a political firestorm.
That said – – I did have a genuine and cordial Twitter conversation with Pastor Williamson. I don’t have to like his style, but I shared with him my thoughts and he responded respectfully. At one point, my former pastor, Chuck O’Neal intervened in the conversation 2 or 3 times in an attempt to try to discredit me and my reputation as a Believer. Pastor Williamson did not take that bite, but stayed on topic. That showed a lot of wisdom. He would not budge both times. He did say he would prayerfully consider what I had to say. I have been watching what he’s been putting out on social media and it has been kinder and gentler and not focused on him. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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I agree with Julie Anne that a Christian does not necessarily need to discuss homosexuality when pitching the Gospel. The Bible says all people are sinners, any sin can send a person to Hell, so it doesn’t matter what the particular type of sin is.
Even if a person feels it is vital to debate about homosexuality:
That this Miano guy feels compelled to go to Scotland (his tweet said something about he feels he simply must return).
I’m certainly not an expert on Scotland. Is Scotland a screaming hot bed of homosexuality?
If homosexuality is one of Miano’s pet topics, we do have an active homosexual culture in the United States. There are all sorts of “gay rights” groups, homosexual parades held publicly and so on. He really does not have to get on a plane and fly all the way over to Scotland to debate about homosexuality.
This is something else that bothers me about American Christianity. My understanding of the Bible is that God puts you where you are and probably for a reason. If you are an American, I would assume God wants you to mainly direct your energies to the people around you (many of whom are going to happen to be American).
There are enough people in your neighborhood and city around you who can use your help.
I would assume Scotland has enough Christians there already who can do street preaching or whatever else.
(I do understand the concept of missionaries, that in eras past God may have moved the heart of some evangelical to trek on down to Africa to spread the Gospel there, but these days, I’m not so sure there’s as much a need for that. There are churches in Africa now. And, I think God probably does not call lots and lots of Americans to saunter around all over the globe evangelizing other nations.)
This has nothing to do with anything, except I just figured out why every time I see Miano’s name I think of cookies (I do not own stock in Pepperidge Farm, btw):
Milano Cookies
😆 His name is one letter off from one of their cookie brands I see advertised sometimes.
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Miss Daisy,
You make some very valid points; most countries do NOT want American evangelists on their soil because they do more harm than good. This latest fiasco by Miano proves that point quite well. Miano has a desire to speak out against homosexuality, let him head to San Francsico and not frivolously waste donated dollars by insisting he has to preach overseas. Miano’s greatest need is a job; while he travels all over his wife and daughters are working to support the family; which is a direct violation of 1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Is Miano under church authority to go on these trips? If so, why aren’t they rebuking him for his accusations against other believers as well as his law-breaking tactics?
You can preach the law and the gospel without ever mentioning homosexuality.
Christ died for the ungodly, that covers every sin/sinner on the face of the earth. However, if you seek to gain attention, you will purposely break the law and scream ‘persecution’ at the same time. How is this pleasing to the Lord? It’s not.
American Christianity is mainly about men pleasing men, embracing sinful ways and not bringing sinful actions and those who do them into account. We need an evangelist to preach to America! May God raise up a man who doesn’t seek fame and notoriety, may God shut down ALL the ‘celebrity-type’ ministries in this nation. This back-slapping, high-fiving buddy system that labels itself as ‘Christian’ is a stench in the nostrils of a thrice-holy God. It’s also why the visible ‘church’ in America is ineffective, weak, and has no impact. You simply cannot ‘zero in’ on certain sins, like homosexuality and abortion. However, IF you hold to the Patriarchal/Reconstructionist/Dominionist view, you’ll understand more clearly why these sins are targeted. You can’t ‘take back this nation for Christ’ if homosexuality increases. The goal of this movement is to ‘populate’ the earth with children, raise them up in the Pat/Rec/Dom views, thus creating an ‘army for God’!!
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Frankly, stuff like this (questioning the salvation of every Christian that angers me) is what has turned me away from this neo-reformed crap. Calvinism that becomes heavy on the preservance turns into a theology that anyone who ticks me off, or sins, or does anything I don’t like (except for my buddies of course) is a phony, and not a real believer.
Therefore I have a right to…
1. Call these Christians names, and show them no grace, since they are not really saved and are “false teachers”
2. Sue them…since I’ve defined them as a nonbeliever and therefore exempted myself from the commandment not to sue other believers.
3. Refuse to hear their rebuke, since I’ve deemed them unsaved, and therefore have no responsibility to listen to their complaints.
I believe DP preached this kind of message….the one that shows nobody else any grace, proclaims that there is no such thing as backslider (except for him when he commits adultery for a period of years)
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“Drunk on the blood of the saints” is a reference to Revelation 17:6:
Revelation 17
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
He’s basically calling Julie Anne a whore. In a spiritual, church-y way, of course.
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Mark L, you have given a clear and concise summary of unprofessional clergy behavior. Nicely done!
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^^^ Wow, you’ve got this thing down, Mark.
Regarding the behavior of these guys, I was thinking about the verse in 1 Peter of how a wife is supposed to win her unsaved husband over by her conduct. So, even “IF” I was an unbeliever, there still is an understood conduct for Believers in how they are to treat unbelievers. I can’t believe that more church leaders don’t call out this bad behavior. Well . . . .yes I can. . . . that’s why I blog about this junk.
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Whoa, AnotherTom. Thanks for that . . . . . I think. Blech, Miano really is a case.
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“This is something else that bothers me about American Christianity. My understanding of the Bible is that God puts you where you are and probably for a reason. If you are an American, I would assume God wants you to mainly direct your energies to the people around you (many of whom are going to happen to be American).”
Thank you, Daisy!! That is something I have been thinking about in regard to Miamo. I mean, its not like there are no unbelievers left in the US……
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Bjorn responds to my tweet:
https://twitter.com/bjornole777/status/429532654858674176
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And another one:
https://twitter.com/bjornole777/status/429528589282050048
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I support these street preachers on free speech grounds. I watched around three minutes of Mr. Miano in the rain in the rain in Inverness, and was impressed that he was willing to stand out there and read from scripture. Then I looked at the CARM site, and must say I have substantial points of disgreement. Still, if he is not allowed to speak openly, there is the potential that others might be silenced.
lydiasellerofpurple: i happen to like the “dead reformed guy” Martin Luther. What do you know about Lutheran Christianity?
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I will let Charles Dickens speak for me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep
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Julie Anne
” Pastor Williamson did not take that bite, but stayed on topic. That showed a lot of wisdom. He would not budge both times. He did say he would prayerfully consider what I had to say. I have been watching what he’s been putting out on social media and it has been kinder and gentler and not focused on him. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt”
In that case, so do I.
Too easy to take sides on account of association. I’m reminded of Paul’s words “So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time” 1 Cor 4:5
Thank you!
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More ‘humility’ from the Tonester…
Tony Miano@TonyMiano2h
I will refrain from watching Super Bowl 2 host this week’s ed. of Cross Encounters Radio. Of course, I don’t have TV. http://tobtr.com/s/5997343
Now, don’t y’all wish you were as good a Christian as Tony? Look at that humility!! He will refrain; he has no tv – boy, God must be smiling from ear to ear….
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“lydiasellerofpurple: i happen to like the “dead reformed guy” Martin Luther. What do you know about Lutheran Christianity?”
I’ve read a lot of Luther. The Nazi’s liked to quote him when it came to Jews. They used his writings to bring the Lutheran church into alignment with the Party. Not enough Bonheoffer’s, I suppose.
And, a lot of Christians love his “sin boldly” approach to salvation/justification.
From what I can tell, the Lutheran church in America is not that much like him. Thankfully.
You might enjoy the Luther Insulter:
http://ergofabulous.org/luther/
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LOL. I think Miano is entertaining you instead of the game. I have a quiet house. The boys have abandoned me. I think I’ll go sew.
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lydiasellerofpurple: The NSDAP quoted a lot of people. Did you know the so-called Old Lutherans opposed NSDAP? See, e.g. Carl Goerdler.
How many German Lutherans do you know? Bonhoeffer was politically courageous but was not really a Lutheran.
You completely misunderstand the concept of “sin boldly”.
What works of Luther have you read? Do you realize that Luther’s writings are just his writings and not the confessional standards of the Lutheran Church?
You post reminds of many of the Calvinist people I come into contact with. They don’t really understand the Lutheran faith, yet dont hesitate to make pronouncements about it..
Don’t believe it when someone says Luther said this or that. And even if he said it, Lutheran Christianity is summarised in the Book of Concord, not the writings of Luther.
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I think I now sort of understand Cookie Milano’s intense interest in the sexual lives of the Scottish, after I heard this news about two days ago:
Gay marriage legalised in Scotland following historic vote at Holyrood
But still, as I mentioned above, it’s not like you have to leave the USA to find this stuff. We have homosexual marriage all over the US of A.
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These people are nothing but sexist bull sh•tters who think they know everything but in reality are drunk on their own pride and propaganda…I guess in the body, some one gets to be the a$$ hole!
Stay away from these bullies!!!
Mod made minor edits. 🙂
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Drama,
scandals
and
disputes.
The Laodicea church , sure is messy!
Full of actors
and
church go’ers
and
not much
Christ Followers
~ Leave it to GOD.
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