THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RESOLUTION

3-09 — 1973 — 2010

LCMS Convention: A Good Start Toward Calling for a Halt to the LCMS Becoming One More “Anything Goes Church” and Leading a 21st Century Reformation 500 Years after Luther’s Reformation

A major portion of the time at the costly July 10-17 convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s Convention in Houston, Texas was spent on restructuring. What was the most significant resolution and action taken at the convention? Was it the overwhelming election of conservatives to the key positions? (p. 18)

A case can be made for the adoption of the unheralded Omnibus B at the closing moments of the convention for being the most significant. When an effort was made to have the convention give separate attention to one of the overtures covered by Omnibus B, LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick said it would be best to leave Omnibus B just as it was in Today’s Business. According to Kieschnick, Omnibus B showed that the LCMS still affirms the positions it took at previous conventions. This meant that when the convention adopted Omnibus B it still showed that the LCMS stands behind Resolution 3-09 of the 1973 convention, one of the previous convention resolutions listed in Omnibus B.

3-09 was adopted at the height of the LCMS’s great “Battle for the Bible.” Hundreds of liberals at the 1973 convention demonstrated against it and “A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles” adopted at the convention. Most of the “Bible believers” in the major U.S. denominations lost their “Battle for the Bible.” They left their denominations, lost their seminaries and colleges and formed “splinter” groups. The 1973 LCMS convention, at least for some years, halted the LCMS from going down the road of becoming just one more of America’s anything goes churches.

The “Bible believers” in the LCMS kept their seminaries. The honest liberals left the LCMS and formed their own seminary and denomination. More than 100,000 left with 45 out of 50 professors and staff members of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, much of the mission department and some 450 seminary students.

CN has published 3-09 several times. It is in Crisis in Christendom-Seminex Ablaze, sent to all delegates to the LCMS 2004 Convention, together with Faithful to Our Calling – Faithful to Our Lord, the statement of the liberal majority at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis condemned as false doctrine in 3-09.

“LCMS Presidents Preus, Bohlmann, Barry, Kieschnick – WHY THE MESS? DID NOT FOLLOW RESOLUTION 3-09” an editorial in the June 7, 2010 Christian News, concluded:“The LCMS is in the sad condition it is today, going down the road of becoming just one more of America’s ‘anything goes’ churches to a large extent because Preus, Bohlmann, Barry and Keischnick did not follow through on 3-09.

“Both LCMS seminaries now ignore 3-09. When asked if today they still agree with resolution 3-09 of the LCMS’s 1973 convention that the theology of those who formed Seminex is false doctrine which should not be tolerated in the LCMS, they do not respond. Most seminarians are not told anything about what was one of the most significant resolutions adopted by any denomination in the 20th Century.”

3-09 was published in the July 19, 2010 Christian News. Hopefully, CN’s readers will take the time to give it careful study and find out why it has been referred to as the LCMS’s most significant resolution. It is much more important and significant than any of the resolutions adopted at the LCMS’s 2010 convention.

3-09 Reaffirmation in 2010

It was in effect reaffirmed as still binding at the recent convention of the LCMS in Houston in

Omnibus Resolution B.

The chief author of 3-09 told CN that his committee found the 850 page Christian Handbook on Vital Issues extremely helpful in getting the resolution adopted. CN sent this book to all of the 1972 convention delegates. It included “Faithful to Our Calling – Faithful to Our Lord” by the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and other documents showing delegates just what the liberal professors were teaching. Week after week, for several months prior to the convention CN attempted to persuade delegates that the time had come for the LCMS to take a public stand vs. the destructive notions of higher criticism being promoted at Concordia Seminary: Gospel reductionism, a denial of the historicity of Genesis, undermining the third use of the law, the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, the immortality of the soul, direct messianic prophecy and even the objective nature of truth and doctrine. CN embarked on a massive education program to have an informed convention.

Council of Presidents

3-09 shows that the Council of Presidents majority actually sided with the liberals at the seminary. The liberals despised “A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles” issued in March 1972, published in Christian News and affirmed by the 1973 convention. 3-09 says: “It should be noted that, while the Council of Presidents declined to commit itself on A Statement, and the faculty had already branded it as not only ‘unnecessary’ and ‘improper’ but also as ‘inadequate theologically,’ ‘alien to Lutheran theology,’ and ‘divisive,’ the response from a grateful church was positive. It was viewed as an urgently needed response which addressed the issues by reaffirming on the one hand the disputed truths on the basis of the Word of God and which, in true Lutheran fashion, including antitheses, clearly rejected the new errors circulating in the church, especially such as had gained some currency among given faculty members.”

Third Use of the Law

3-09 noted that the faculty was undermining the third use of the law. It says that “a new, un-Lutheran, un-scriptural theology is present in the faculty stance.” Commenting on the use of the historical critical methodology being used at the seminary, 3-09 says: “The fact that Scriptures inerrancy, verbal inspiration, absolutely unique as divine character are also attacked – ever so subtly at first – simply fits the tragic picture of what has gone on elsewhere in the Christian world.”

During the Concordia Seminary vs. Herman Otten case, Otten showed that Professor Richard R. Caemmerer, praised at the 2009 Ft. Wayne Seminary Symposia, undermined the vicarious satisfaction of Christ. 3-09 says:“Is must be pointed out that throughout Faithful. . . I, in spite of the emphasis on ‘Gospel,’ there is only a subdued reference to Gospel expressed in terms of the forgiveness of sins, in fact, total avoidance, in term and concept, of vicarious satisfaction, substitutionary atonement, imputation of Christ’s righteousness (1 John 1:7: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sins’), and the hope of eternal life in heaven. In its place there appears rather a strong emphasis upon what at best can be described as a lateral-moving sort of ‘Gospel’ that seeks for ‘the liberation of human beings from all evils’ and waits to be instructed by ‘the thought patterns of every culture’ (cp. Faithful . . . I, 32, 20, 24). With this there is a definite, studied avoidance of Christ’s avowal concerning the Old Testament Scriptures that ‘they are they which testify of Me’ (John 5:39).”

What Otten (now CN editor) and his chief counselor, Kurt Marquart, in the Seminary vs. Otten case, told seminary administrators and the top leader of the LCMS was being taught at the seminary 15 years later was affirmed as fact by the LCMS’s 1973 convention in Resolution 3-09.

Marquart noted that Alvin Wagner, a member of the LCMS’s CTCR, read a letter from Herman Sasse at a testimonial banquet in Chicago for Christian News attended by some 850. Sasse, one of the leading Lutheran theologians of the 20th Century, wrote: “Somebody should rise and publicly thank Herman Otten for his brave fight,” “ Why was it left to a young pastor to speak where others should have spoken?”

The banquet was held after LCMS President Preus and the LCMS’s Council of Presidents unanimously repudiated Christian News. Liberals on the COP blamed CN for the defeat of LCMS President Oliver Harms and election of Preus.

Otten and Marquart warned against a move at the seminary to separate fact from meaning. The very historical facts upon which Christianity is founded were being undermined. The distinction between “historie” and “Geschichte” was being made, the realm of the noumena and realm of phenomena. Adam and Eve existed in the realm of “Geschichte” (myth, stories not necessarily based on fact) but not in the realm of historie (ordinary calendar history, such as Washington crossing the Delaware in 1776)

Existentialistic Theology

3-09 says:“Existentialistic theology (freedom to achieve self-understanding and authentic existence by internalizing of personal religious experience) has severely undercut the content of Christian faith in our day. It is with considerable apprehension, therefore, that note must be taken of the faculty’s emphasis on the ‘meaning’ of a given Biblical episode rather than on both the fact and its meaning together (cp. Faithful. . . I, 17, 91, 3, 25, 26, 37). There is no possible way of protecting the Gospel, once the fact is separated from the meaning. Both must stand, or the Gospel is destroyed.”

Denial of Historical Events

3-09 of the 1973 LCMS convention says:“These three areas of concern are sufficient to demonstrate that the theological, doctrinal stance of the faculty is at variance with our Synod’s teaching. Other specific points of deviation could be listed (e.g., the eroding of the doctrine of original sin by a de facto denial of the historical events on which this doctrine is based), but these have already been accounted for in the President’s A Statement and the Fact Finding Committee’s ‘Report.’ The validity of this charge, that another theology has intruded into our Synod through the faculty majority’s stance, is borne out by their own documents, which corroborate and underscore the specific points at variance.”

“. . . the faculty itself has opted for neo-Lutheran theological stance which allows historical-critical methodology to dictate given judgments, both against Scripture and also against the Confessions.”

The 1973 LCMS convention in 3-09 said: “The theological stance of the faculty majority of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has been shown to be in violation of Article II of the Synod’s Constitution.”

The lengthy resolution concluded:“Resolved, That the Synod repudiate its attitude toward Holy Scripture, particularly as regards its authority and clarity, which reduces to theological opinion or exegetical questions matters which are in fact clearly taught in Scripture (e.g., facticity of miracle accounts and their details; historicity of Adam and Eve as real persons; the fall of Adam and Eve into sin as a real event, to which original sin and its imputation upon all succeeding generations of mankind must be traced; the historicity of every detail in the life of Jesus as recorded by the evangelists; predictive prophecies in the Old Testament which are in fact Messianic; the doctrine of angels; the Jonah account, etc.; and be it further

“Resolved, That the Synod recognize that the matters referred to in the second resolved are in fact false doctrine running counter to the holy Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, and the synodical stance and for that reason “cannot be tolerated in the church of God, much less be excused and defended” (FC, SD, Preface, 9); . . .”

Protesting 3-09

Hundreds of convention delegates vigorously protested against 3-09 and the adoption of “A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles.” The July 19 CN has some pictures of the liberals protesting. Dr. Charles Mueller, now a leader of Jesus First, was a hero of the protestors. They marched to the podium registering their protests. Some wore black arm bands. They ran Mueller for president against the choice of the conservatives. He defended the position of some at the seminary whose positions on the third use of the law was condemned in 3-09. Mueller wrote: “To this day His Gospel has conquered me. I cannot return to the life under the Law. Others find the Law compelling. I find it repulsive.”Charles Mueller defended Journey to Freedom written by Richard Hinze, his close associate and successor as president of the Southeastern District. This book attacked the inerrancy of the Bible and the anti-scriptural theology of the liberals condemned in 3-09. Mueller defended the theological position of Seminex and the district presidents who were removed for ordaining uncertified Seminex graduates.Mueller wrote in a letter to his district dated April 5, 1976:“There is no substantial area of disagreement between the position which I have maintained, and even now maintain, and that of any of the district presidents involved. There is no theological variation which separates us” The leader of the “new left” added: “At the Anaheim Convention, during the discussion of the now famous 5-02, I addressed the delegates asking that no action be taken and, together with most other district presidents, confessed the similarities of our personal positions and those of the eight.”

Council of Presidents

The LCMS’s Council of Presidents has a long history of defending supporters of those whose theology was condemned in 3-09. When the COP appointed an outspoken evolutionist, who had publicly made his position known, to the CTCR, CN wrote to each member of the COP to find out how he voted. Most refused to answer.

Following the 1973 Convention, a mass rally was held in St. Louis attended by some 1500. It was called to protest against 3-09 and the conservative action taken at the 1973 convention. Rev. Walter Schoedel led the rally. It was packed. Many sat on the floor right under the podium. Almost all the speakers defended John Tietjen and the liberal profs condemned in 3-09.

When the LCMS officials elected in 1973 were installed, some liberal seminary professors, who later formed Seminex, marched behind a banner protesting 3-09.

Now Charles Mueller and Walter Schoedel are invited to speak at the seminary which has banned the CN editor. Those who protested 3-09 are welcome and those who championed 3-09 are not.

In 2006 a panel of the COP ruled that Charles Mueller, a leader of the forces, which opposed 3-09, has always been a confessional Lutheran while Otten is an impenitent sinner for publishing an article opposing Jesus First. It said that Jesus First leader Charles Mueller wants the LCMS to be broad enough to include on its clergy roster those who want the LCMS to have women pastors and defend the theology of Seminex. LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick publicized the COP ruling declaring that Jesus First leader Charles Mueller has always been orthodox and the editor an impenitent sinner for questioning the theological position of an opponent of 3-09 who wants such resolutions as 3-09 to have a “term limitation”. The editor’s congregation was suspended by a COP member influenced by Kieschnick. Another COP member told the editor in November, 2009 that his congregaton is currently under the threat of expulsion because it has not removed its pastor for sinning and breaking the Eighth Commandment against Jesus First leader and 3-09 opponent Charles Mueller.

It was an 8 page pamphlet from Charles Mueller’s congregation sent to all LCMS churches in 2000 which helped put Kieschnick on the ballot for president in 2001 and on the road to eventual victory. It did not concern the COP that the pamphlet broke the Eighth Commandment vs. LCMS President A.L. Barry. Neither Mueller’s church nor Kieschnick would answer the question asking whether Kieschnick had anything to do with getting the CN’s editor suspended from the LCMS and now under the threat of expulsion. None of the organized conservatives and many bloggers protested against the suspension. “Otten got what he deserved from the COP” was teh general attitude.

Omnibus Resolution B of the 2010 convention made it clear that there is still no term limitation to 3-09. Now will 3-09 finally be implemented? How much longer will supporters of women pastors, evolution and the theology of Seminex be allowed to remain on the LCMS clergy roster? Will the LCMS continue on the road toward becoming just one more of America’s “anything goes churches.” The 2010 convention of the LCMS made a good start toward calling a halt to becoming an “anything goes” church. Many delegates spoke like the courageous confessional Lutherans who supported 3-09 of the 1973 convention.

The evidence continues to mount that there are professors in the Concordia University System who do not oppose evolution and who reject the historicity of the Genesis account of creation, views condemned in 3-09 as false doctrine not to be tolerated in the LCMS. Some students who attended one of the schools in the Concordia University system a few days ago told CN that hardly any of their professors oppose evolution and that some champion evolution outright. Of course the new leaders of the LCMS must be given some time. They can’t be expected to act like a bull in a China shop. Hopefully 3-09 will finally be implemented. If those who want the LCMS to be open to women pastors and evolution continue to promote their position, they should be given a fair and open hearing. If they refuse to retract, then 3-09 should be followed. There should be no room on the LCMS clergy roster for those who reject “A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles” adopted in 1973.

Decades ago Newsweek noted that the CN editor was calling for some “heresy trials.” It sounds like a terrible term, but that is what the LCMS needs today if the liberals do not peacefully separate from the LCMS as the open letter to the “40” Jesus First and DayStar liberals in the July 19 CN suggested. It will only take a few. Start with an outspoken defender of women pastors and evolution as Dr. Matthew Becker. Once the precedent is established in the LCMS that 3-09 is being implemented many of the liberals will get the message, retreat or peacefully divide.

The LCMS’s 2010 Convention made a good start for a halt to the march for the LCMS becoming just one more of America’s anything goes churches. It made a good start for the LCMS to become an international leader at the 500th anniversary of the Reformation on October 31, 2010 for a 21st Century Reformation and Formula of Concord by indicating that there are no term limitations to 3-09 of the LCMS’s 1973 convention. Read 3-09 in the July 19 Christian News.

A CALL FOR PEACEFUL DIVISION

An Open Letter to 40 Former Leaders In the LCMS, Jesus First and DayStar

Now that Matthew Harrison, whom you opposed, has defeated Jerry Kieschnick for the presidency of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the time has come for a peaceful division in the LCMS. The July 5 Christian News published a June 24 letter sent to all delegates to the LCMS’s 2010 Convention and signed by 20 former district presidents, a former synodical president and 19 other former and present leaders of the LCMS. This is the first time in the history of the LCMS that so many present and former leaders of the LCMS have asked convention delegates to vote for their candidates and oppose the candidate who received almost twice the nominations from congregations than their candidate. This unprecedented act is almost as significant in the history of the LCMS as when 45 out of 50 faculty members at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis walked off the campus of the seminary and formed Seminex. Many of the 40 signors of the letter asking delegates to vote for Kieschnick were on the side of those who formed Seminex. They were their professors. The majority of the present LCMS Council of Presidents voted for a supporter of Jesus First to be their chairman.
Several of the 40 signors are associated with Jesus First and Daystar. Christian News has frequently published the position statement of Jesus First which promotes women pastors. This year DayStar published A DayStar Reader which calls for women pastors and the teaching of evolution as a fact in the LCMS and the acceptance of homosexuals as pastors. DayStar said it sent it’s a DayStar Reader to key leaders in the LCMS including all district presidents. Some of the titles of the essays in A DayStar Reader are “A Case For Female Pastors and Theologians”, “Let’s include women” and “Teaching Evolution in a Lutheran University.” A DayStar Reader says: “For the sake of the gospel and the mission of the church, the contemporary LCMS ought to allow qualified women and men to serve as pastors and theologians. The Scriptures do not clearly prohibit women form serving in these offices” (p. 140). “It is the contention of this study that there is no ‘heavenly reason’ to exclude women form the pastoral office. . . There is no ‘earthly reasons either to persist with our present policy that needlessly discriminates against women” (152).
Resolution B (2010 – Today’s Business, p. 48), shows that Resolution 3-09 of the 1973 convention is still binding. Many of the 40 and at least some leaders of Jesus First and DayStar who defender Seminex vigorously protested against 3-09 and defended Seminex: 3-09 said the theology of those who formed Seminex is false doctrine and not to be tolerated in the LCMS.
Let us end the conservative/liberal battle. Each side should peacefully go its own way and do its mission in peace. Cool heads should be able to work out a peaceful division of assets and property according to the number of its followers. Possibly you could keep the International Center and the conservatives at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. You could take all the district office buildings since the conservatives will not need them. Their District Presidents will be pastors of congregations, the way they were they before 1960 when the LC. MS began having full time district presidents, losing members and increasing the number of bureaucrats not serving congregations from about 150 to 700. You could continue paying your president, district presidents and others in your bureaucracy several times the salary of the average pastors. Our president and district president should be paid about what the average pastor receives.
Each LCMS college could vote whether it wants to go with you or Harrison and those who elected him. All LCMS professors who do not appose evolution and women pastors could untie and teach in the same colleges. Those who oppose evolution, affirm the inerrancy of the Bible could teach in the same colleges.Christian News has repeatedly published the evidence showing that you want a church body broad enough to include on its clergy roster those who support the ordination of women, evolution, and the theology of Seminex, which the 1973 Convention said was false doctrine not to be tolerated in the LCMS. About half of you were members of the Council of Presidents which sided with Seminex and appointed an evolutionist to the CTCR. You could form your own church body or unite with ELCA or at least some conservatives in ELCA who are protesting ELCA’s stand on homosexuality but who have women pastors. Let’s end all the strife which has been going on in the LCMS. The time has come for a peaceful division.
Your church body can be part of liberal ecumenical movement with its anything goes churches like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Ours will then be free to work for a worldwide Reformation and Formula of Concord by the time of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation on October 31, 2017. This issue of Christian News includes some suggestions for such a 21st Century Formula of Concord.
During the 1970’s Christian News was accused of being the trouble maker in the LCMS responsible for the formation of Seminex and the big division in the LCMS. CN quoted I Kings 18:16, 18: “Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he was Elijah ,Ahab said, ‘So there you are, you troubler of Israel.’ ‘I haven’t troubled Israel,’ he answered, ‘but you and your father’s family have done it by giving up the Lords commandments and following Baal.”Christian News has not accused the present trouble and division in the LCMS anymore than it did during the 1970’s when more than 100,000 left the CLMS with the Seminex liberals you 40 present and former leaders of the LCMS who signed the letter to all LCMS convention delegates urging them to vote for Kieschnick and the Jesus First and DayStar liberals in the LCMS are responsible for the division and not trouble in LCMS. The time has come to end it with a peaceful division.If you do not agree then the time has come for some heresy trials in the LCMS. All those who want the CLMS to be open for pastors and professors who support women pastors for the CLMS and evolution should be given a fair open trial. If they do not repent of their false doctrine then they must be removed from the LCMS as resolution 3-09 of the 1973 Convention demands.

Sincerely yours,
Herman Otten,
editorChristian News

Spirit of Envy Prevails Among Conservatives

Pastor Jack Cascione wrote last week in “Opposition to False Doctrine – The LCMS Mark of Cain”: “The Mark of Cain in the LCMS is to be against false doctrine. The quickest way to be viewed as a narrow-minded intolerant dweeb is to question the scriptural basis of what another LCMS Lutheran does, says, or writes. Today they say judging doctrine was for the middle ages.” Professor Kurt Marquart wrote in an article on “Envy” in a series on the Seven Deadly Sins that “In the Church, To Envy Raises its Ugly Head.” Marquart’s entire article is in this issue.During its early years Christian News published many articles by such great theologians, now deceased, as Paul Burgdorf, Robert Preus, Henry Koch, Kurt Marquart, Tom Hardt, August Brustat, Peter Krey, Siegbert Becker, William Beck, Raymond Surburg, and others. In recent years, Pastor Jack Cascione has been one of CN’s most frequent contributors. None were ever paid for their work. Why is it that Cascione is not invited to speak by either LCMS seminary, the Association of Confessional Lutherans or any of the organized conservative groups? Cascione was recently interivewed for a half hour by a major U.S. newspaper. Issues, Etc. interviews many Lutherans and non-Lutherans. Why has Issues, Etc. not interviewed Cascione? Both LCMS seminaries publish in their theological journals and promote in their symposium liberal theolgians. Why do they never invite Cascione to contribute?This issue includes the names of some of the many articles Cascione has written for CN. The list mentions that Cascione was invited to speak to a group of scholars in Italy. The article listing some of his writings also mentions his work as a pastor and evangelist. How many of his Romanizing critics have been as active in this area?Why do most of the confessional Lutheran bloggers seldom mention anything written by Cascione, including his recent stories about the four women being personally sued by the LCMS’s California-Nevada-Hawaii District for the property of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Oakland, California? “56 Filings Totaling More Than 1,149 Pages of Litigation Have Been Filed by Attorney to the LCMS Board of Directors, Sherri Strand” (CN, July 5, 2010).Read the list of Cascione’s articles in this issue (pp.9-11). What an amazing variety of topics Cascione has covered. The man is obviously a brilliant, talented, courageous, active pastor and theologian constantly on the go. But he has the LCMS Mark of Cain: Opposition to False Doctrine.Any fair-minded person who reads William Beck’s An American Translation of the Bible will soon recognize that it is the best and most accurate translation in modern English of our day. Beck’s New Testament AAT was first published in 1963 by CPH. It was widely hailed in the LCMS. However, a spirit of envy developed among professors at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where Beck had taken over William Arndt’s courses in historical criticism when Arndt died.Beck’s close student and friend, Louis Brighten, wrote at the time of Beck’s death: “One cannot help but make a comparison with Luther. No Lutheran since Martin Luther had made a translation from the original language of the Bible into the language of the people.” The liberals at Concordia Seminary were determined to get the LCMS and CPH to use the Revised Standard Version, the work of liberal scholars, most of whom denied the deity of Christ. The ESV is 91% the RSV copyrighted by the liberal National Council of Churches. The liberals wanted to get the LCMS involved in the ecumenical movement with the NCC. If the LCMS published the entire AAT it might de-rail their movement. Few of the organized conservatives ever promoted Beck’s AAT even though an LCMS convention voted to ask CPH to publish the entire AAT.Envy in the church was a primary reason, besides fearing the ecumenical plans of the liberals might be slowed down. The same attitude of envy is one reason why Cascione has the LCMS’s Mark of Cain. The Romanizing anti-Walther pro-Loehe men in the LCMS have praised Father Richard Neuhaus, a former LCMS Lutheran who denied the inerrancy of the Bible, justification by faith alone, and was a universalist who said Jews, Muslims and others would go to heaven even if they did not trust in Christ. Neuhaus said no one was in hell. He had words of praise for Bultmann’s demythologizing. The Romanizing Lutherans praised Arthur Carl Piepkorn, who denied the inerrancy of the Bible and the historicity of the Genesis creation account.The June 28 Christian News had a perceptive review by Cascione of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. Cascione had words of praise for the museum.Cascione wrote: “The galleries and display monitors in the Museum present convincing facts, evidence, artifacts, and photographs that other museums refuse to display. Their stock in trade is exposing the dirty little secrets the Ph.D evolutionists know- namely that they have grossly overstated their case, withheld opposing data, and are presenting more religion than science.”How many of the Romanizing hyper-euros have published articles commending the Creation Museum, which now has had more than a million visitors?The hyper-euros and critics of Cascione and Christian News contend that Cascione and Otten are living in the past and are not speaking to the issues of the day. What utter nonsense! Study the record. Read what Cascione has written.Cascione can proudly wear the “The LCMS Mark of Cain” placed on him by the Romanizers who despise Walther’s defense of the rights of laymen and congregations.

Reject Advice From Aging Seminex Supporting Moderates

Greetings LCMS Delegates, Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
An impressive group of some 40 former leaders in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod recently sent you a letter dated June 24, 2010 urging you to vote for Dr. Jerry Kieschnick for president rather than Rev. Matthew Harrison. If you did not receive this letter it is reproduced above together with the list of signers. This letter has the signers in bold type.Many were wondering why Kieschnick at age 67 still appeared confident of being re-elected even though only 755 congregations nominated him for president and 1,332 congregations nominated Harrison, age 48. In the LCMS today for election it is considered more important to have the support of bureaucrats than congregations. Kieschnick has been close to former LCMS President Ralph Bohlmann, one of the signers, and knew he had the support of many formerly in the LCMS bureaucracy who opposed LCMS President A.L. Barry who defeated Bohlmann for LCMS president. CN called Bohlmann to find out if he had a key role in getting all the signatures. Bohlmann refuses to speak to this editor even though at one time he shared CN’s concerns about liberalism at Concordia Seminary and opposed Seminex.Most of the 40 signers are retired, aging members of the LCMS’s Council of Presidents and others in the LCMS bureaucracy. A good number of them were taught by professors who supported the anti-scriptural position of Seminex condemned in resolution 3-09 of the 1973 convention as false doctrine not to be tolerated in the LCMS. Hardly any of the signers opposed the liberals who formed Seminex.Some of the signers who did, like former LCMS President Ralph Bohlmann, have radically changed. He has worked as ghost writer for Kieschnick and has said that he now regrets his part in writing the excellent Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles adopted by the LCMS in 1973. He began to change his opposition to the ordination of women when he said he could find no scriptural reason why his daughter should not be a pastor. She was recently ordained as a pastor in the liberal United Church of Christ and has moved to Jacksonville, Illinois with her lesbian partner and two adopted children.CN has often said that the future of the LCMS does not lie with the aging Seminex supporters but with the younger generation which rejected the anti-scriptural theology of Seminex condemned in Resolution 3-09 of the 1973 Convention. Harrison is a leader of this younger generation. 3-09 of the 1973 Convention may be reaffirmed at the 2010 Convention if Resolution B, which mentions 3-09, is adopted (Today’s Business, page 48).The letter you have received from the aging bureaucrats shows why it is important to read the 32 page pamphlet enclosed in the June 21 Christian News sent to all delegates. It is titled “Call for 21st Century Reformation and Formula of Concord.” It includes “50+ Reasons Why Jerry Kieschnick Should be Removed as LCMS President.” It was sent to Kieschnick, Jesus First, and DayStar prior to publication to give them opportunity to point out any errors they find in it. None pointed out any errors. Read the 50+ Reasons and see what kind of man the aging bureaucrats are supporting. Some think their letter may be a response to “50+ Reasons Why Kieschnick Should be Removed”. Their letter says Kieschnick is “Theologically rock-solid with a thorough commitment to confessional Lutheran identity.” Read the mass of evidence arrayed in “50+ Reasons Why Kieschnick Should Be Removed As LCMS President.” Examine the facts not propaganda coming from the retired bureaucrats. CN has often said that Kieschnick regularly says he is a conservative. However, the record shows he tolerates those who reject the basic truth of God’s Word and backed the liberal theology of Seminex.
“Stop the Centralization of Power”The retired bureaucrats say that Kieschnick has “ignited a fire for missions in the hearts of Missouri Synod members across the church body and around the world.” The facts are during his years as president the LCMS has been losing more than 25,000 members a year and many full time missionaries have been called home. Most of the missionaries now sent out must get their own support and are short term missionaries who teach English and do social work rather than preaching Christ as the only way to heaven, baptizing and communing. Kieschnick has taken no action vs. Herbert Hoefer, a universalist who works for LCMS World Missions. See #9 in “50+ Reasons Why Kieschnick Should Be Removed as LCMS President.”The signers say: “The importance of this convention and the decisions you will be called on to make will determine the direction of the LCMS for years to come.” Read what Pastor Mark Eddy says in “Stop Centralization of Power” on pp. 17-18 and “If I Were A Delegate” on page 1.
Impressive CredentialsDo not be deceived by the impressive credentials of the signers. When Seminex was formed it too had many supporters with impressive credentials, including more than half of the LCMS’s Mission Department. 45 out of 50 professors and staff left Concordia Seminary to form Seminex.
The Record of The SignersLet’s just briefly look at the record of some of the signers.Signers Bauer, Belasic, Bohlmann, O. Mueller, and Zehnder are on the Jesus First Supporter list on pp. 469-470 of Crisis in Christendom – Seminex Ablaze [hereafter Crisis]. The other signers have no objection to being associated with these Jesus First Supporters. Note what LCMS Vice-President John Wohlrabe says on page 3 about the position of Jesus First.Ameiss was the district president of Jesus First leaders Charles Mueller, Sr. and Jr. He found their position quite acceptable. Bauer, Marie Biesenthal, Zehnder, and Belasic were among the signers who had a key role at a secret planning meeting of Jesus First at Concordia, Kirkwood, Missouri where Kieschnick is a member. See “Liberals Planning to Take Over LCMS” (II) (Crisis, p. 270). Bohlmann and Zehnder signed an affirmation of support for David Benke who said “The Muslim god is Also the True God” (Crisis, p. 246-257). “Handbook on Controversy sent to LCMS churches -- If Kieschnick gets his way – LCMS Going Back to What Liberals Wanted in ‘60’s and ‘70s” (Crisis, pp. 346-348) mentions signers Garton, Michaels, Bohlmann, Ron Meyer, and Bergen. Bergen signed a 1974 document supporting John Teitjen of Seminex (Crisis, 353-459). Signers Belasic, Oesch, Walter Tietjen, Zehnder, Garton, Bauer, O. Mueller, Bohlmann, Maier, Nadasdy, and Buegler were among those who refused to state that the LCMS should not reject resolution 3-09 opposing the Seminexers. They refused to answer yes or no to these statements: “I believe that LCMS pastors and professors should not be permitted to teach that man and the universe gradually evolved from some primary substance.” “I believe that no pastor or professor on the LCMS clergy roster should be permitted to teach that women may be ordained to the Holy Ministry and serve as pastors” (Crisis, p. 457).Bergen and Schmacher are listed as ELIM District Chairman. ELIM gathered funds for Seminex (Crisis, p. 459).Belasic is a co-author of The Penguin Principle, a book which promotes women pastors.When Bimler was with Wheatridge Ministries, funds from Wheatridge went to groups which supported the gay agenda.Lutz took no action against a pastor in his district who preached a sermon on why the LCMS should have women pastors (Crisis, 263-265).Jesus First published an article by Carter in which he said that some conservatives are like snakes which have to be driven out of the house.Wallace Schulz in “The LCMS and Its Future” showed how signer Freitag was prompting Baptist theology in the LCMS (CN, April 19, 2010). When signer Heins was chairman of the LCMS’s Council of Presidents he permitted the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau to distribute at a meeting of the COP a copy of its book promoting the ordination of women in the LCMS while he refused to permit Christian News, at the COP meeting, to distribute a book opposing the ordination of women.CN has often promoted Maier’s books, yet CN has also noted that Maier rejected the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible affirmed by his father and brother. Walter Lammerts, founder of the Creation Research Society in his review of Paul Maier’s Test Tube Theology published by CPH showed that Paul Maier did not take the same firm stand vs. evolution as his father did. For documentation of Paul Maier’s liberal views on some issues and his support of the liberal American Lutheran Publicity Bureau see chapter XXII in Walter Maier Still Speaks – Missouri and the World Should Listen, pp. 357-384). Liberals and moderates promoted O’Shoney for LCMS president (Crisis, 292).Schmacher never retracted his support of Seminex. He took no action in his district against such outspoken evolutionists as Matthew Becker and Harold Roellig or against universalist Herbert Hoeffer, who also supports the ordination of women (Crisis, 462).Had CN known that some aging former LCMS district presidents and other bureaucrats were going to sign this letter of support for Kieschnick, CN would have sent you a copy of Crisis in Christendom – Seminex Ablaze which CN sent to all delegates to the 2004 Convention. The book is subtitled “The Record of LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick.” It is now more important than ever. Remember, do not be deceived by the impressive credentials of these signers. Examine the facts and what is in the “50+ Reason Why Kieschnick Should Be Removed As President”. The future for the LCMS should be in the hands of the younger pastors and laymen who rejected the theology of Seminex not with aging bureaucrats and their supporters, most of whom were taught by professors who did not repudiate the anti-scriptural theology of Seminex. This theology declared to be false doctrine not be tolerated in the LCMS by Resolution 3-09 of the 1977 LCMS Convention.Kieschnick refused to have published in the Convention Workbook “Curb the Bureaucracy”. This overture documents the liberal theological position of the LCMS’s Council of Presidents majority. 21 of the signers were members of the COP. The overture was published in the June 28, 2010 CN. It shows that the majority on the COP repeatedly supported Seminex. The COP even voted to appoint an outspoken evolutionist to the CTCR. Reject the advice of the 40 signers and vote for Harrison for President, Schulz for First vie President and Wohlrabe, Adams, Daniel, Preus, Scott Murray and Herbert Mueller for vice-presidents 2-5.If the signers do not appreciate Harrison and Schulz they are free to leave the LCMS. Their letter shows that perhaps the time has come for a peaceful, division in the LCMS. CN rejoices that they have now publicly stated their position.God’s richest blessings,Herman OttenGalatians 6:14