Anonymous WELS Husband's Second Post

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Clergy Adultery Is Not a Victimless Crime":

I said I wouldn't post here again but now I recant again. To Pastor Jackson, yest (sic) I am WELS trained in prep schools. Please forgive my typo's. To the guy who think (sic) I cannot be tru (sic), I know how to contact my circuit pastor, and visit with my district president. I even know more than one of them if that counts. I posted this because of the relief. It is like screaming in the wide open spaces just to relief (sic) stress. I made my point. I told a truthful story. These pastors know what to do. They have a God to report to. Just as you and I do. Should I go and break up their marriages and callings? I don't want anyone's pity. I am capable of making a call and complain. I am just at the edge of survival myself. Please forgive me, but telling the pastor's wife that her husband is screwing around and casuing (sic) that pain right now would probally (sic) do me in. Does she have the right to know. Yes. And guess what...I think her husband should go and tell her.

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GJ - I mark all typos to be fair and balanced. And I have plenty of them, too. I can understand the ones above, because of the stress and pain. I try to fix my own on this blog before anyone notices. My students love to remind me about my mistakes, because they are posted online and are impossible to remove.

I have featured this story because I was appalled at the WELS clergy's attitude about adultery, which was even worse at the DP/VP level. I remain appalled.

A man who will not keep his marital vows should not be trusted to serve a church position. Winking at this sin and lying to cover this up will harden the man in his error and make matters worse for everyone. Someone who lies to cover up the adultery of his buddy on the praesidium will likely practice deception in many other areas as well. In fact, everyone can count on that habit growing like kudzu vine.

When one WELS pastor was promoted in the midst of an adultery scandal, a journalist asked SP Gurgel about it. Gurgel's response was to ask another pastor, "Did you tell the newspaper?" I was also asked. I said, "I don't deal with journalists." The Gurgel response sounds like a guilty verdict, certainly more of an institutional reaction than a Biblical response.

Another typical WELS response came from an anonymous poster who accused me of posting a fake story. Accusing a man anonymously strikes me as the depth of cowardice and malice. That is how the WELS grapevine works. When something unpleasant but true emerges, the sources are vilified. For example, when DP Ed Werner was arrested for sexual assault (convicted, went to state prison), the minor girls involved were accused through the WELS grapevine - and the DP excused. No, he just slapped two girls who were obnoxious in confirmation class. That is why few ever question Holy Mother WELS.

Herman Otten told me that Sig Becker was disgusted with the adultery and drunkenness of the WELS clergy. This was after Sig left Missouri for WELS. Becker was familiar with the failings in the LCMS clergy, but he evidently saw a much higher lapse rate among the WELS clergy.