NEW TOPIC - ONLY ONE REFERENCE

WELS ORGANIST PLAYING FOR OTHER CHURCHES - Info
If all parties understood this [playing the organ] simply as providing a mechanical service for pay, like the work of a janitor, it could be argued that there was no church fellowship involved. (See Church Fellowship, p. 128.) Most church musicians, however, find it hard to think of providing music for worship as merely providing a mechanical service.

… If playing would be wrong where there is a lot of false doctrine, it would also be wrong where there is a little false doctrine. God’s Word does not allow for cooperating with any amount of false doctrine.

If a job is purely providing a mechanical service, a Christian could be hired to provide it for anyone, including heathens. If the job involves the person in the worship and teaching of a false religion or a heterodox church, a Christian should not do it regardless of the degree of error involved.

SOURCE: WELS Q & A, Fellowship – Other (01) #69

COMMENT: Playing organ is more than just a job. There is beauty and elegance to it - certainly a gift from God. The organist puts their heart into performing. When they play a sacred piece, aren't they expressing their faith? Then indeed the Biblical principles of fellowship need to be applied.

1) PERFECT EXCLUSION - One-liner
Perfect Exclusion - Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect you couldn’t belong.

SOURCE: unknown

2) STATISTIC OF THE BACK-DOOR - statistics
According to Barna Research, four out of ten people abandon the Church after high school, and another eight million 20-somethings will likely leave it by the time they turn 30.

Source: Parker, Jenni & Allie Martin.
"Gender-Accurate Bible’s Release Triggers Renewed Debate"
January 21, 2005. The Conservative Voice – National

COMMENT: What do you think they are looking for?

1) DENOMINATION HOPPING - news article
Only days after the Newark archbishop called it dishonest for Catholic politicians to receive Communion if they favor abortion rights, a legislative leader (State Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny, a Democrat) said he will leave the Catholic church.

“I don’t take issue with the church taking these positions. The church is an autocratic institution; it’s never pretended to be otherwise. It’s ruled by the Vatican, and the bishops do what the pope says. I respect that,” he said.

Kenny said he is unsure where he will worship in the future but that the Episcopal church is a possibility. “I know several Episcopal churches fairly active in my community, active in social justice issues,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for them.”

SOURCE: Diamant, Jeff.
"N.J. Political Leader to Leave Catholic Church Over Communion Issue"
May 17, 2004. Christian News. Vol. 42, No. 20, pg. 2

COMMENT: Note that he simply has respect for the institution, but is not moved by the search for the truth: What does God really say? Social activism doesn't save any souls. Looking at his comments in the best light: he's choosing a church that is letting its light shine. But then again, usually these churches that are so active in charity are often empty on the gospel and they see their mission predominantly in the care of the physical rather than the spiritual. And this often stems from their attitude that living the good life will save you, rather than: we live a good life because we've been already saved.

2) OLD HABITS VS. NEW CONVERTS - devilish quote from Screwtape Letters
I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian… There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the Enemy’s camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favour.

SOURCE: Lewis, C.S. Screwtape Letters, 1982, p. 4

COMMENT: Fellowship is important, because new converts are apt to stray after a short time in the church. Indeed our old habits are hard to break... and even after establishing good ones, there is always the temptation to enter forbidden territory.

1) STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
No man is to be alone against Satan; God instituted the church and the ministry of the Word in order that we might join hands and help one another. If the prayer of one does not help, then that of the other will.
Luther, Martin

2) A TRUE CATHOLIC WOULD KNOW
One afternoon at the race track, an inveterate bettor of this sort, who was known to his buddies as “Sure Thing Sherm,” noticed a Catholic priest entering the stable area with one of the owners.

Shadowing them, our Sherman watched as the clergyman blessed a beautiful thoroughbred. When the horse next raced, it came in first! Paying close attention, Sherm began to realize that this happened quite often.

After checking out this phenomenon very carefully for a few days, “Sure Thing” began betting only on horses that had been blessed; and he did very well.

Finally, he decided he could risk his life’s savings. He drew out everything he had, monitored the priest’s comings and goings like a scholar, and put his entire wad on a longshot, to win.

You guessed it: That particular horse not only did not win, he came in last - dead last. Horrified and heart-broken, Sherman sought out the priest and begged him to tell him what had
gone wrong.

The padre sighed, then explained: “Ah, what a pity. That’s the trouble, you see, with not being able to tell the difference between a Blessing and the Last Rites.”

SOURCE: Unknown

COMMENT: If you don’t spend time in church, how will you know what the signs of a true church are? Are you willing to bet your life that you are at the right church, because it has some similarities to the church that you attended once upon a time and just once in awhile?

1) SCRIPTURE REQUIRES FULL DOCTRINAL AGREEMENT - Excerpt
There is nothing in the Scriptures to suggest that the unity of faith which is required as the basis for the outward expression of church fellowship is limited to agreement only in the doctrine of justification or a few fundamental doctrines. It is true that many of the doctrinal disputes referred to in the New Testament involved fundamental doctrines. When he wrote Galatians, Paul was battling a denial of the doctrine of justification by grace. In his epistles John appears to be battling a heresy that denied Jesus’ humanity. But many other types of doctrinal error are specifically referred to in the New Testament, including denial of the resurrection of the body (2 Timothy 2:18), teaching Christians that they could disregard God’s commandments since the forgiveness of sins was free (Rev. 2 & 3, Jude 3-10, 2 Peter 2:1-4, 13-20), forbidding marriage and prohibiting certain foods (1 Timothy 4:3), and quarrels about genealogies and the law (Titus 3:9). This list is comprehensive enough to demonstrate that the apostles’ concern for doctrinal purity was not limited to a few key doctrines.

COMMENTS: WELS Q & A

2) SPIRIT TO SPIRIT
Outward fellowship is not enough, spirit must fellowship spirit.

SOURCE: Lenski

COMMENT: Fellowship in spirit, doesn't mean that two people get along, but what they believe is the same. They may have some difference of opinion as to adiaphora and how to do things, but they are in agreement with the Spirit, faithfully submitting to all that the Bible says.