Copy and paste Luther next time.
No will will recognize the text,
but they will be furious about the content.
This recent post on WELS catechisms explains how UOJ became the Helen of Troy in WELS.
WELS dumped justification by faith in favor of Universal Objective Justification. The ministerium moved lockstep to buy the Kuske catechism, which was larger, more expensive, and based on false doctrine.
Let us go back in our time machine to the Kokomo crisis. There Pastor Papenfuss admitted that he had never heard of UOJ until he reached seminary. His teaching in the Kokomo, Indiana parish ignited the nationwide debate about UOJ. Was he previously trained with Gausewitz? Probably, because WELS tends to go with one book, one idea at a time.
Another look at WAM II is in order, because Missouri long used a justification by faith catechism, as Pastor Harley established in his work. LCMS President Jack Preus beat up WAM II in public. Concordia Seminary stopped short of burning Maier at the stake, but only because of smoke restrictions.
Supposedly UOJ has always been always taught, with Missouri basing its reverence for universal absolution on all these orthodox dudes who wrote after the Book of Concord was published in 1580, orthodox dudes out of print and only found in the musty dark corners of university libraries. Unfortunately,
Robert Preus, who knew these authors, admitted before he died that justification only means
justification by faith, that no one is forgiven apart from faith.
Pietism is bad. Ptui. Ptui. Ask any LCMS, WELS, or Little Sect graduate. I have heard more than one Mequon graduate claim that drinking beer is a witness against the Pietists. O happy day, that an entire ministerium can wash away Pietism so easily and bear the cross of DUI convictions while doing so.
But this wonderful UOJ, which they call the heart of the Gospel, is a brew imported from Halle University. George Christian Knapp taught Objective Justification and Subjective Justification for years. He was so important that his lectures were translated into English before the (LCMS) Perry County pioneers landed in Nawluns. Not that English mattered. These founders of Missouri spoke, taught, and published in German until the 20th century, when WWI made German less than fashionable.
All the American Lutherans honored Pietism. They came from Halle University or from a group that looked to Halle as their Vatican, whether they graduated from there or not. The entire world knew about the charitable institutions and mission societies that Halle spawned, so no one criticized Spener, even if they took shots at Pietism itself.
Pietism was a doctrinal leaven which slowly worked its way through the American Lutheran church bodies. Chuck Swindoll is a Lutheran, once or twice removed, as they say in family tree studies. The Swedish Augustana Synod began as a blend of Lutheran orthodoxy and Pietism, just as Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect did. Two groups formed out of resistance to the Augustana Synod - the Mission Covenant (North Park U., Warner Sallman, Craig Groeschel) denomination and the Evangelical Free (Trinity, Deerfield) group. Both sects are hotter than Georgia asphalt for Church Growth.
Chuck Swindoll is E. Free but his current congregation is non-denominational. His denomination has trained so many WELS leaders at Trinity that WELS was mentioned twice in a recent academic bulletin.
WELS considers E. Free and Mission Covenant to be safe sects, so they plagiarize Swindoll and Groeschel to a fare-thee-well. No surprise - Fox Valley features one pastor who plagiarized Swindoll because he "was busy." Ski and Glende plagiarize Groeschel, because that will ignite their sputtering evangelism efforts, and Steve Witte takes the Pietistic mission to Asia.
UOJ is plagiarized from Knapp, not from Luther. To copy Luther is natural for sincere Lutherans. Didja ever wonder why Lutheran leaders hate Luther's doctrine so much? The historic liturgy? Lutheran hymns? It is because they are fakes - Pietists who favor Calvinism to the point of Universalism.
The LCMS, WELS, and ELS base all their work on UOJ. That explains why their leaders are indifferent about doctrine, except when persecuting Luther's doctrine. This "we are not in fellowship" business is their Pietism, trying to maintain a false distinction to keep the brand alive a few more years.
