laestadianrecord.org

Continual forgiveness: the doctrine that was never identified

In 2022 the LLC removed the Minneapolis and Wolf Lake congregations without naming a doctrine from which either had departed. The words “continual forgiveness” were made an issue, and from LLC pulpits the term was recast as “once forgiven, always forgiven” — a teaching no one in either congregation had put forward, and one that every recorded statement of the term expressly denies. This is one example, documented in their own words, of how the removed congregations were made to appear to believe what they had never taught.

1 · Meetings2 · The straw man

What the LLC's own meetings show

Verbatim from transcripts of the LLC's meetings with Wolf Lake (7 December 2019 and 13 May 2022) and Menahga (26 March 2021), made by hand from the recordings, and from one sermon after the removal. Ellipses mark omitted text.

Jim Frantti — LLC ChairmanWolf Lake / LLC board meeting · 7 Dec 2019
“On some of those, I personally do not I do not understand what is the difference? … My answer was, I am confused. I do not know where all of the questions are coming from?”
Transcript of the LLC meeting at Wolf Lake, 7 December 2019, line 37.
Jim Frantti — LLC Chairmansame meeting · 7 Dec 2019
“We live daily in the forgiveness of sins. It must be so, because we all carry Original Sin. … We need to be able to live everyday and every moment in forgiveness.”
Transcript of the LLC meeting at Wolf Lake, 7 December 2019, line 19.
Jim Frantti — LLC ChairmanLLC board meeting with Wolf Lake · 13 May 2022
“Sometimes, we have been asked this question, what must the Wolf Lake congregation repent of? And my answer has been nothing.”
Transcript of the LLC meeting with Wolf Lake, 13 May 2022, line 62.
Jim Jurmu — LLC Vice-ChairmanLLC board meeting with Wolf Lake · 13 May 2022
“There have been those times when representatives from Wolf Lake have spoken in a way that I could not agree with. I don't have a specific example today.”
Transcript of the LLC meeting with Wolf Lake, 13 May 2022, line 206.
Jon Bloomquist — LLC staffWolf Lake / LLC board meeting · 7 Dec 2019
“The issues aren't the issue, if you know what I mean. There's something else that is fueling it.”
Transcript of the LLC meeting at Wolf Lake, 7 December 2019, line 213.
Mark Skoog — Menahga ChairmanMenahga / Wolf Lake boards meeting · 26 Mar 2021
“We want to know what the difference is. What are the differences? … I don't know where these issues are now to be honest.”
Transcript of the Menahga meeting, 26 March 2021, lines 155, 159.
Lucy Karvonen — Wolf Lake memberWolf Lake / LLC board meeting · 7 Dec 2019
“Continual forgiveness does not mean that I feel like I can sin and be free. That I only have to have my sins forgiven once. No. The fruit of faith guides us and we want to hear that word preached.”
Transcript of the LLC meeting at Wolf Lake, 7 December 2019, line 95.
David Anderson — LLC ministerSermon, Cokato · 7 May 2023
“oftentimes, we couldn't put a finger on what was different. … Maybe it wasn't a point of doctrine that we could understand or put a finger on. But it was a different spirit.”
Sermon recording [00:28:23]–[00:28:47].
open recording ↗

The straw man

After the July 2022 removal, LLC pulpits described the doctrine of those removed as “once forgiven, always forgiven.” Set beside it: what Wolf Lake and Minneapolis actually said when they used the term.

What the LLC said they taught
Russell RoikoRockford · 24 Jul 2022
“Once a believer, always a believer. Once forgiven, always forgiven. So on. That kind of strange teaching that is so foreign, so contrary to the scriptures”
Sermon, Rockford, 24 July 2022, [00:00:59]–[00:01:08] · watch at [00:00:59] ↗
Loren KeplingerLongview · 24 Jul 2022
“these words of continual forgiveness were brought to our attention … so quickly converted to that false understanding, that false understanding that is so common in other Christian faiths of this world. that once forgiven, always forgiven”
Sermon, Longview, 24 July 2022, [00:00:30]–[00:01:22] · watch at [00:00:30] ↗
What they actually said
Lucy Karvonen — Wolf Lake7 Dec 2019
“I believe that we are continually forgiven. If I would die right now, I do not need to have heard just immediately before I died that my sins are forgiven. … Continual forgiveness does not mean that I feel like I can sin and be free. That I only have to have my sins forgiven once. No. The fruit of faith guides us and we want to hear that word preached.”
Transcript of the LLC meeting at Wolf Lake, 7 December 2019, line 95.
John Lehtola — Minneapolis (MLLC)31 May 2018
“Continual forgiveness: This is the same as owning the righteousness of faith or living in grace. We sin daily and momentarily in word, thought and deed. … We live in continual forgiveness at every moment. This does not mean, once a believer, always a believer. It does not mean that the hearing of the gospel one time in life is sufficient. It does not mean that we never need to use confession.”
Lehtola compilation (longer version), line 302.