|
MARTIN CHEMNITZ PRESS
A MIGHTY FORTRESS LUTHERAN CHURCH
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.
6421 W. Poinsettia Drive
WELS Hypocrisy about Unionism
The last issue of Christian News reproduces an article by WELS seminary professor John Brug taking LCMS seminary professor Chuck Arendt to task for an article on fellowship principles. Did Brug forget that fellow WELS professor James Tiefel organized a pan-Christian worship conference for WELS at Carthage College? The line-up of speakers included:
1. A Roman Catholic.
2. An Episcopalian, who led the WELS children’s choir in worship, according to the implications of the poster.
3. An ELCA parish staff member.
4. An Evangelical (apparently), since he graduated from Wheaton College.
5. Five LCMS leaders.
6. Five WELS women who taught men about worship.
7. Not a single Evangelical Lutheran Synod pastor or member. (For one million dollars, which denomination on this list is in fellowship with WELS? You may poll the audience.)
Did Brug forget that Valleskey was the keynote speaker, that pal Bivens also spoke? That both of them studied at Fuller and now deny it? That Lawrence Otto Olson earned a D.Min. degree from Fuller Seminary and now teaches at Martin Luther College?
I put together a few unionism quotations, to show how much WELS and Missouri work with ELCA. A WELS pastor asked about this before. Notice that the ELS “confessional” leader, Erling Teigen, also had a Roman Catholic bishop speak at Bethany College. The bishop marched in procession with the ELS and gave the address for the opening of the new center. When Dale Redlin (CLC) took Teigen to task for this, Teigen said, “I thought we were friends.”
Photo: Dr. [Roman Catholic Bishop] James Shannon speaks with
student body representatives. Paul
Ylvisaker Center, Erling Teigen, Director.
Bethany College yearbook, 1994-5,
p. 93.
Wisconsin Lutheran
College, in 1999-2000 invited Roman Catholic Archbishop Weakland to lecture at their college, along with some
Roman Catholic priests, and Martin Marty. Some WELS districts objected to the
Marty invitation but not to the Archbishop’s invitation.
"Only recently Dr. Martin Marty, a pastor of the Missouri
Synod and an
associate editor of the Christian Century, outlined with
considerable frankness
the program and methods whereby changes may be effected within
church bodies
that still are antiecumenical (to him this means, church bodies
who decline to
engage in joint worship and church work unless first confessional
unity has been
established). Writing in
the Christian Century, he advocates a program whereby
the ecumenically minded remain within their church bodies, but
'work for
constructive subversion, encirclement, and infiltration, until antiecumenical
forces bow to the evangelical weight of reunion.' Although they remain within
their denominations, with whose principles they do not agree, they
will 'somehow
telegraph to the world who it is they serve and where their
loyalties already
lie' (Jan. 11, 1961, p. 45).
These are the methods Dr. Marty openly proposes."
Carl Lawrenz, Chairman, Commission on Doctrinal Matters,
Fellowship Then and Now, Concerning the Impasse in the
Intersynodical Discussions
on Church Fellowship, p. 27.
"CHIEFS CONFER:
Waiting their turn to speak at a recent Lutheran
leadership consultation are Dr. Carl Mischke, president of the
Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Church...Bohlmann...and ELCA Bishop Herbert
W. Chilstrom.
At the July 18-20 event in Snowbird, Utah, in the Wasatch
Mountains, 130
Lutheran leaders gathered to articulate a 'vision of leadership'
for their
respective church bodies."
The Lutheran, (ELCA)
September 4, 1991
p. 33.
"In 1970 there were 500,000 more baptized members of Lutheran
congregations than was the case in 1990. The Church Membership Initiative
project was undertaken to understand and address this decline...
Contact: Rev. Mary Ann
Moller-Gunderson, Executive Director, Division for
Congregational Ministries, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
8765 W
Higgins Road, Chicago, IL, 60631, 312-380-2570;
Rev. Lyle Muller, Executive Director, Board for Evangelism
Services, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 1333 S Kirkwood Road, St. Louis,
MO, 63122-7295, 314-965-9000;
Rev. Wayne Borgwardt, Administrator for Worker Training, Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran
Synod, 2929 N Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI, 53222, 414-256-3236;
Mr. Douglas Olson, Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard
Road, Appleton, WI, 54919,
414-734-5721."
Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993,
Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road,
Appleton, WI, 54919-0001,
June 30, 1993.
"Four people from each of 61 growing congregations gathered
to share
their congregational development experience, to react to the
utility of toolbox
items uncovered in Sections 2B and 2C above, and to exchange views
with church
body officials.
Approximately 125 church body officials [ELCA, WELS, LCMS] and
other guests observed these congregations and participated in the
discussions."
Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993,
Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road,
Appleton, WI, 54919-0001,
June 30, 1993.
p. 20.
"In-person interviews were held with ELCA, LCMS and WELS
national office
personnel who are responsible for evangelism, outreach, North
American
activities, and ministries to people of color."
Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993,
Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road,
Appleton, WI, 54919-0001,
June 30, 1993.
p. 5.
"Congregational growth, stability, and decline patterns were
analyzed for
all Lutheran congregations within each of three church bodies
(ELCA, LCMS,
WELS)."
Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993,
Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road,
Appleton, WI, 54919-0001,
June 30, 1993.
p. 9.
"Truthful separation is far better than dishonest union, and
two churches
are happier, and more kindly in their mutual relations, when their
differences
are frankly confessed, than when they are clouding with
ambiguities and double
meanings the real divergences."
Charles P. Krauth,
The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology,
Philadelphia:
The United Lutheran Publication House,
1913 (first edition, 1871),
p. 326.
"A new sacred classical music radio program soon will be
available to
radio stations across the country. The hour-long, weekly program, called "Joy,"
is an inter-Lutheran project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America,
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical
Lutheran Synod.
"Joy" will be produced by KFUO-FM in St. Louis and will
be funded by Aid
Association for Lutherans, a fraternal benefit society. 'I'm excited about
being involved in this project which is the first joint venture
into ministry
that has ever been done by these three Lutheran churches,' said
the Rev. Richard
Jensen, a member of ELCA communications staff and the Joy Advisory
Committee.
'Joy is a program of sacred music. The focus is on the classics of sacred
Christian music..."
ELCA Newsbriefs
Christian News, 12-9-91,
p. 2.
"Wherever Lutherans unite with the Reformed, the former
gradually sink to
the level of the latter.
Already by declaring the differences between the two
Churches irrelevant, the Lutheran truths are actually sacrificed
and denied.
Unionism always breaks the backbone, and outrages the conscience,
of true
Lutheranism. And naturally
enough, the refusal to confess the Lutheran truth is
but too frequently followed by eager endorsement and fanatical
defense of the
opposite errors."
F. Bente,
American Lutheranism, 2 vols.,
The United Lutheran Church, Gen Synod, Gen Council, Un Syn in the
South,
St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House,
1919,
II,
p. 68.
"The orthodox character of a church is established not by its
mere name
nor by its outward acceptance of, and subscription to, an orthodox
creed, but by
the doctrine which is actually taught in its pulpits, in its
theological
seminaries, and in its publications. On the other hand, a church does not
forfeit its orthodox character through the casual intrusion of
errors, provided
these are combated and eventually removed by means of doctrinal
discipline."
(A Brief Statement of the Missouri Synod's Doctrinal Position,
1932)
Francis Pieper,
The Difference Between Orthodox
And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement,
Coos Bay, Oregon:
St. Paul's Lutheran Church,
1981,
p. 2.
"Unionism is characterized by these marks: It fails to confess the whole
truth of the divine Word; it fails to reject and denounce every
opposing error;
it assigns error equal right with truth and creates the impression
of church
fellowship and of unity of faith where they do not
exist." (Wisconsin Synod,
Prayer Fellowship, Tract No. 10, 1954)
Francis Pieper,
The Difference Between Orthodox
And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement,
Coos Bay, Oregon:
St. Paul's Lutheran Church,
1981,
p. 64.
"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal,
immutable truth
of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity
(which, moreover,
is not in our power to do).
Nor would such peace and unity, since it is devised
against the truth and for its suppression, have any
permanency. Still less are
we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the pure doctrine
and manifest,
condemned errors. But we
entertain heartfelt pleasure and love for, and are on
our part sincerely inclined and anxious to advance, that unity
according to our
utmost power, by which His glory remains to God uninjured, nothing
of the divine
truth of the Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the
least error,
poor sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by
faith,
confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved
alone through
the sole merit of Christ."
(Closing of Formula of Concord, Trigl. p. 1095)
Francis Pieper,
The Difference Between Orthodox
And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement,
Coos Bay, Oregon:
St. Paul's Lutheran Church,
1981,
p. 65.
Tappert, p. 632. Heiser, p. 294.
FC SD XI, #94-96.
"The Lutheran Leadership Consultation, facilitated by
Lutheran
Brotherhood in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America
(ELCA), the Lutheran-Church Missouri Synod (LC-MS) and the
Wisconsin Evangelical
Lutheran Synod (WELS), was the first meeting of this type that
included the
three major Lutheran Churches as planners and participants."
Lutheran Brotherhood,
Bond,
"Preparing the Church for the Next Century,"
Fall, 1991
68,
p. 12.
"Four speakers prominent in the field of leadership research
shared their
perspectives. Frances
Hesselbein of New York City, president and chief
executive officer of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit
Management,
spoke on 'The Challenge of Leadership.' She noted, 'The church shares the same
bottom line with all voluntary and human service
organizations: changed
lives.'" [Note: CG
enthusiasts love Drucker management books.
The four
leaders of the conference were:
a woman, a CG icon (in the words of Rev. James
Schaefer, NWL), an ultra-liberal Reformed theologian, and a historical-critical
expert from an ELCA seminary which once boasted of Lenski and
Leupold as
professors.]
Lutheran Brotherhood,
Bond,
"Preparing the Church for the Next Century,"
Fall, 1991
68,
p. 12.
Pictured together: Rev.
Carl Mischke, Rev. Ralph Bohlmann, and Bishop
Herbert Chilstrom (ELCA).
Lutheran Brotherhood,
Bond,
"Preparing the Church for the Next Century,"
Fall, 1991
68,
p. 12.
"The article in Christian News to which you refer escaped my
attention
until one of our other pastors called it to my attention soon
after it appeared.
Initially I even had difficulty relating to it. After thinking about it for a
time I remembered that I was asked about a year ago whether the
WELS would
endorse or be in sponsor of such a program. My answer then was 'No" and still
is. I have consistently
taken the position with the fraternal benefits
societies that 'pan-Lutheran' projects almost inevitably exclude
us from
participation because of our fellowship principles. The leadership of the
fraternals has respected our position. So the statement by a member of the ELCA
communications staff that this is the 'first joint venture into
ministry' ever
done by these three Lutheran churches is simply not factual. It has been called
to the attention of those who made this statement."
President Carl H. Mischke (WELS Synodical President),
Letter to Pastor James Sherod, 1-3-92.
"Its 'overall objective' is: 'To set in motion forces that
will result in
annual increases in the number of members of Lutheran
congregations.' Why would
any confessional Lutheran wish to 'set in motion forces' for
'annual increases
in ELCA membership? The
introductory page already alerts one to the hollowness
of the talk about 'faithfulness to the substance of Lutheranism'
(p. 3), by
listing an ELCA official, a pastoress, as one of the sources of
further
information. 'Unchurched
people feel good about their faith,' we are told, and
the implication is that we should too."
Professor Kurt Marquart,
"Church Growth" As Mission Paradigm, A Lutheran Assessment,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Houston:
Luther Academy Monograph,
1994,
p. 142.
"There is a 'method in our madness' in securing such a high
profile
speaker. Regardless of the
value of the message such speakers always bring in
the numbers. Generally speaking,
they seem to double the attendance of a
convention." [Having
Episcopalian Charlton Heston speak at the WELS Lutherans for Life
convention]
Rev. Robert Fleischmann,
Commentary,
National Director, WELS Lutherans for Life,
2949 N Mayfair Rd, Milwaukee, WI
53222
n.d.
"The real question is not what do you subscribe, but what do
you believe
and publicly teach, and what are you transmitting to those who
come after? If
it is the complete Lutheran faith and practice, the name and
number of the
standards is less important.
If it is not, the burden of proof rests upon you
to show that your more incomplete standard does not indicate an
incomplete
Lutheran faith."
Theodore E. Schmauk and C. Theodore Benze,
The Confessional Principle and the Confessions, as
Embodying the Evangelical Confession of the Christian Church,
Philadelphia:
1911,
p. 890.
"$60,000 General world relief (through C.A.R.E. and Lutheran
World
Relief) Rev. Kennth Strack, chairman
WELS
Reports and Memorials for the Fifty-fourth Biennial Convention,
Milwaukee:
WELS,
1997.
p. 165.
"If one associates much with heretics, one finally also makes
oneself
partaker of their false doctrine, their lies, and their errors;
for he who
touches pitch soils his hands with it."
Martin Luther,
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols.,
ed., Ewald Plass,
St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House,
1959,
II,
p. 646.