The Loss of Rev. Mason Beecroft
I’m saddened by the departure of Mason Beecroft from the LCMS roster of the ordained, as reported by The Lutheran Witness in its September issue.
I was privileged to meet him at the Model Theological Conference on Worship in January 2010. His presentation there, essentially saying that the key to revitalizing our synod was the restoration of the Mass, was excellent.
Rev. Beecroft had stepped down from his office at Grace Lutheran in Tulsa for health reasons. We prayed for his health, but now there are other concerns.
I’m told (and verified with a second source) that he has left for Roman Catholicism, and this disappoints me for several reasons. First, because all of the good things that he did will now simply be poo-pooed as “Romish.” Secondly, because he was a good scholar whose services will not be in the LCMS employ any more. Finally, because of where he’s going, how one can renounce justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? The man-made law can only bring an appearance of comfort.
And he’s not, in Roman Catholicism, going to avoid theological liberals.
Please come home, Rev. Beecroft.
***
GJ - One Lutheran lady told me about the LCMS pastor who kept a rosary. Soon after he was a priest. Many Lutheran clergy are promiscuous in their use of these terms:
- Mass
- Father
- Mary
- Saints
- The Holy Father, aka The Antichrist
Someone told me that Robert Preus wrote Justification and Rome to deter his own seminary from poping, but that obviously did not work.
I am happy to say to all those Lutheran clergy who have left for Rome or Constantinople - "Stay there. You probably never grasped Biblical doctrine in the first place."
