No Jokes about Dr. Moo - The Wheaton WELS NIV Expert

"Wendland Cowed by Moo As WELS Scrambles To Justify ...":

ELCA Bishop Skips Out One Year Before His Term Is Up

April 1, 2011
ELCA Central/Southern Illinois Synod Bishop Accepts New Call
11-043-JB
     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Warren D. Freiheit, bishop of the Central/Southern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), notified the synod this week that he will resign as bishop effective June 30. Freiheit, 63, will begin a new call July 1 as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Hot Springs Village, Ark.

     "It has been my desire to someday return to parish ministry, and yet I did not expect that service to begin quite this quickly," Freiheit wrote in a March 30 letter to the synod. "As I have concluded ministries in three separate congregations, I did so knowing that there were incomplete ministry objectives. As I prepare to conclude my ministry as synodical bishop, I do so realizing that I again do so with incomplete ministry objectives. Each of the congregations I served continued faithfully in their missions after I left with new spirit-led leadership, and I am confident that the same will be true for the
Central/Southern Illinois Synod."

     Serving as bishop of the synod "has been humbling as well as exhilarating," Freiheit wrote, adding that he accepted his new call "with mixed feelings and regret" that it came a year before concluding his second term as bishop.

     Freiheit was first elected bishop in 2000. He had previously served as pastor of three ELCA congregations in Illinois. [More lying drivel at this link.]

Comments from Various Readers - The NNIV, UOJ, etc.

Joseph Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "Wendland Cowed by Moo As WELS Scrambles To Justify ...":

The English language has not changed that much 30 years that a new translation is warranted.

This is an absolute waste of money, but then again WELS is good at that.

---

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Learning about UOJ":

Luther Rocks,

Glad to hear you are looking under the hood of the synodical conference, at its doctrine. I think that the synodical powers that be would rather have people distracted by the mundane scandals of the synod, because that keeps them looking at the symptoms of UOJ rather than the root cause of the disease, that being the doctrine of UOJ itself.
---

dobrin (http://dobrin.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Mark Schroeder Joins Rick Miller and Other Shrinke...":

Virtually dead from the neck up, WELS leaders readily seek out other denominations to copy. What is wrong with simply following the Bible?

Remember This WELS, During the WELS Worship Conference at an ELCA College

An MLC sorority asks, "Can we be counselors? We watched Ma Vie en Rose 57 times."

ELCA camp experiences support gay youth

Recent teen and young adult suicides in New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio brought the issue of bullying to the forefront and led to the "It Gets Better" video campaign. ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson and other Lutherans contributed videos, promising youth and young adults who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender that they have a place in the church and urging them to not give up.

GLBT youth are also supported by programs at ELCA congregations and at least three camps. The camp experiences are led by ELCA members and all three rent space from ELCA camps.

Started nine years ago in Minneapolis, The Naming Project is a drop-in program and summer camp. It was featured in the 2006 documentary Camp Out, and on the March 8 Our America episode hosted by Lisa Ling (The Oprah Winfrey Network). The camp, held July 24-29 this year on Bay Lake Camp, Deerwood, Minn., draws youth from across the country.

Wonderfully Made started after Camp Out was shown at the Philadelphia film festival and viewed by Claire Burkat, bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, and youth ministry specialist Molly Beck Dean. It will be held April 8-10 at Bear Creek Camp, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

The Spiritual Pride Project in Austin, Texas, began after a mother discovered there were no camps in the southern U.S. where her child's sexuality would be respected. In addition to offering a variety of resources, its spring retreat is April 1-3 at Lutherhill in LaGrange, Texas.

Two additional ministries that serve gay and lesbian youth throughout the year are The Lighthouse, Minnetonka, Minn., and the Louisville [Ky.] Youth Group.

The Lighthouse is a youth group that draws from more than eight high schools in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. It meets once a week at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Minnetonka. Louisville Youth Group, housed at First Lutheran Church, hosts Friday night programs and provides mentoring and leadership training.

What Is Wrong with the $8 Million Schwan Cathedral at Mary Lou College (nee DMLC)?

norcal763 has left a new comment on your post "Mark Schroeder Joins Rick Miller and Other Shrinke...":

Gustavus Adolphus College. It's an ELCA college! So is St. Olaf's, where they had the last WELS Stale-and-Stodgy-Free Big Getaway. Isn't that what the new chapel at MLC is for?

Just Say No To Adam the Man Making Love To Eve

WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "Wendland Cowed by MooAs WELS Scrambles To Justify ...":

Say no to the 2011 NIV! Also, please read two new essays by John Brug. These are recent additions listed on the home page of whe WLS essay site. I know some of us(Gregory L Jackson) have not always seen ey-to-eye with Prof. Brug. However, Brug wrote an essay in October of 2010 and he was NOT pleased with this new NIV. He went as for as saying that the WELS should NOT consider it. (He cited many doctrinal errors) Prof Brug wrote an essay regarding the ESV.(he called the ESV the lesser of the two evils) That being said, Brug was against the Synod adopting the ESV.

What surprised me the most was that Prof. Brug called the original NIV, "No better." Interesting! Tell, your friends, relatives, pastors, and church members to say NO to the New NIV.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

---

Genesis 4:1 (New International Version, ©2011)

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

 ¹ Adam^[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[b] She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth^[c] a man.”

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 4:1 Or The man
2. Genesis 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.
3. Genesis 4:1 Or have acquired

Wendland Cowed by MooAs WELS Scrambles To Justify Disgusting Distortion of God's Word

WELS Getting More Pitiful During 400th Anniversary of the KJV, Forgotten, Like Gausewitz

As part of its work to evaluate the recently released revision of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, the WELS Translation Evaluation Committee met March 18 with Dr. Douglas Moo, the chairman of the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT, which worked on the revision, is made up of 15 members from various denominations, none of which is WELS.

"We wanted to hear and get a sense from its chairman what the basic translational philosophy of the new NIV was, where it's going, and how some of the decisions were made," says Paul Wendland, chairman of the Translation Evaluation Committee and president of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Two of the committee's particular concerns are how gender inclusive language is used in the revision and how the messianic prophecies are translated.

Wendland says that Moo stressed that the mission of the CBT was to put God's Word in current natural English. To help them do this, CBT members used a database of more than four billion words that provides objective information on the usage of these words in recent history. "He said it was not a matter of trying to promote an ideology," says Wendland. "It was a matter of just trying to reflect the state of our language and to render the Bible into language as it is spoken today."

Wendland says that he and the other members of the Translation Evaluation Committee were impressed by Moo and the CBT. "That doesn't mean that there won't be areas of legitimate disagreement," he says. "But my impression was that we're not seeing some insidious agenda being driven here."

Meanwhile, the WELS Translation Evaluation Committee is continuing to coordinate the work of reviewing the NIV 2011 and other translations. WELS scholars completed a book by book study of the changes in the NIV 2011 in late February; the committee is evaluating the study and the comments made on the most significant changes in the revision. Wendland says that the committee will report the results of the NIV 2011 evaluation to the districts in May and June and to the synod convention in July.

To help WELS members better understand basic translation theory, a new three-part series on translating began in the April issue of Forward in Christ.

The first article in that series as well as other articles and reports put together by the Translation Evaluation Committee are available online.

***

GJ - WELSians - your objections mean nothing to these boozos. Do not order their NIV books. Do not use their NIV materials. Do not defend the butchering of God's Word.


Douglas J. Moo (b. 1950) is a Christian theologian and has been the Blanchard Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College Graduate School since 2000. He previously taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for over 20 years. Moo received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (1980).

He has published several theological works and commentaries on the Bible; notable among them are An Introduction to the New Testament and A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. He is currently writing commentaries on Galatians,

Douglas J. Moo, Idiot

Mark Schroeder Joins Rick Miller and Other Shrinkers in Decrying the Boring Worship Service

I see a debbil in her eyes.
WELS should merge with Osteen in a few years.
At least he does apostasy well.

From Church and Change Headquarters

This month, the Commission on Worship is asking called workers and laypeople alike to start making plans to attend WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts held every three years—this year July 19-22 at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.


The first worship conference I attended was in 2008, and I was not disappointed. I came away marveling at the many gifts and talents that God has given to people in our synod [GJ - and many other denominations, including Roman Catholicism]. Those gifts were on display in the inspiring worship services and in the many workshops that were held. Some of us are not very emotional people by nature, but there were times when the beauty of the music and messages left very few dry eyes.

The worship conference is designed to celebrate and encourage our Lutheran liturgical worship heritage—Christ-centered and gospel-proclaiming. But that doesn't mean it will be stale and stodgy. Quite the contrary. Attendees will experience new and fresh musical settings that they will want to take back to their own congregations.

Drink in our new ideas, for a Fuller knowledge of Jesus.
You will be loaded.
Our worship is intoxicating.
Your spirits will be lifted up.

Hauerwas Memoir - Hannah's Child

Stan Hauerwas earned his PhD at Yale, taught at Augustana, and became my first contact with Notre Dame's doctoral program.

American Specator Book Review

I do not buy modern theology books or keep them in my library. During graduate school I had to read many modern theologians and met many of them.

Hauerwas was right out of Yale when I was a freshman at Augustana College. They did not renew his contract ("They fired me," he said) because he did not harmonize with Swedish Pietism. He took a pay cut to teach at Notre Dame, where he achieved great fame. Pope John Paul II visited Notre Dame, picked up an honorary doctorate, and told the school to get rid of its Protestant and liberation theology faculty members in the theology department.

Hauerwas left for Duke. Wilken (LCMS apostate) joined Duke. Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenze departed for the Episcopal school near Harvard. Her fellow-professor husband, Frank, left for any job available. Both Fiorenzas ended up with endowed professorships at Harvard. Being a Roman Catholic feminist (Elisabeth) or a Marxist (Frank) will not hurt a job search at Harvard Divinity.

I was at Notre Dame before the JP.2 purge, so I had a rainbow coalition of professors: Hauerwas (Methodist), Yoder (Mennonite), Hommes (liberal Dutch Calvinist), both Fiorenzas, Primus (Rabbinic Judaism), and guest lectureships from Ahlstrom (Yale Lutheran), Wiesel (Judaism), and many others. The most fun was having a long conversation with Prince Charles' personal guru, Laurens van der Post. Laurens was being ignored during a long break at the Jung conference on campus, so I struck up a conversation with him. After he lectured, a knot of people surrounded him. Such are the vicissitudes of fame.

I used to think that years of studying modern theology were an enormous waste of time, which I might have spent in taxidermy or another useful profession. However, seldom does anyone have the time and energy to study hundreds of related books, only to burrow through the library again to study a more focused topic for a dissertation, taking notes, interviewing people, writing letters, reading archives.

According to WELS' ecumenical Pietism, I cannot be trusted to discern the spirits because of my first-hand knowledge. One publisher asked me to review a book before publication because I studied under Hauerwas and Yoder.

WELS honors those who study at Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek, and Trinity Divinity School - as long as they lie about it.

Hauerwas and Yoder are both examples of Enthusiasm. Neither one had a real confessional base. Hauerwas is associated with Methodism, Anabaptism, Roman Catholicism, and the Episcopal Church (Peace-nik conference). Yoder got involved with the Cambellites (Disciples of Christ, Church of Christ) - influencing them so much that they write about him long after his death.

Hauerwas is a kindly man who cares about other people and relates well to his students. Although I have not been in contact with him for decades, I still remember his thoughtfulness at critical times.

Two people influenced my approach to publishing: Bainton and Hauerwas. Whatever theological journals or books I searched through, those names jumped out everywhere. Their publication list was endless, it seemed.

I thought it worthwhile to do the same for traditional Lutheran theology. I could not stay in the LCA, so I wrote about that in 1987, knowing my PhD gave me credibility.

I have experienced two dominant responses among the "conservative" Lutherans.

The first was a demonic hatred for Lutheran doctrine and anyone connected with it. Some (like John Seifert) tried to ascribe this to a local phenomenon, such as the long-standing wobbly nature of Columbus, Ohio. Some of the poison-pen responses on this blog are nothing compared to the things said and done by WELS and Missouri leaders, not to mention the odious ELS and CLC (sic) cults.

The second was an overwhelming effort to silence me in every possible way. This recently came from a source: "Synod and professors seem more worried about Seminary students wasting time on Ichabod."

The silencing has been more extensive than that. UOJ Enthusiasts made sure that Otten never published anything by me again, and never published anything positive about what I wrote. Some long-term readers sent in comments about Thy Strong Word. Otten refused to publish them. Trinity in Bridgeton refused to give Christian News money until I was banned. Money talks at the "independent" Christian News. And Otten listens closely to all the synodical spin-doctors, who are appointed to keep him in line.

An independent publisher asked me to provide him with book manuscripts to publish and sell. When Bivens and Valleskey heard about it, the same WELS printer said he had to protect his income. He could not afford a WELS boycott. He refused to print what he asked me to give him, and he kept all the photographs for the book about Bethany and Erin - Angel Joy. I asked for them repeatedly, but he kept them forever, finally sending them when the book was printed elsewhere. Like many in WELS, he complained about how mean WELS was. Like many in WELS, he was ready to turn on a dime when commanded.

I could not even buy an ad in Marvin-Schwan's-Logia at one point, and they refused to review anything. The most shunned book has been Thy Strong Word, but it remains the most influential (in my opinion), although that has taken a long time to develop.

The silence and shunning prove to me how dangerous the Church of the Augsburg Confession appears to the Synodical Conference franchise. The Syn Conference seminaries are expensive introductions to New Age ecumenism, whether the graduates stay to wreck the sect, move to Rome, or openly join the Methodobapticostals. The shards of the Syn Conference are no better, so they should not rejoice in the breakdown of the Mother Ship. They are worse than their parents, typical of incest.

The financial fraud in WELS-ELS-LCMS is a wonder to behold, because everyone is so greedy for money but they do not notice the skimming of funds for everything except the true purpose of the Church. Mostly, the money goes to the managers who manage the money - not to mention the lawsuits they bring against the innocent and defend against the guilty. As WELS Pastor Fred Adrian said when WELS lost a $400,000 - "It doesn't matter. Insurance is paying for it." DP Seifert said about the disgraced Adrian, "We have to get him back in the parish!" (My words - Seifert's apostasy).

The worst part of this financial fraud is the doctrinal fraud, because the apostates have their claws and hooves in the treasury, doling out funds to one another and rejoicing in the confessional orthodoxy of Holy Mother Sect.

As I told one or two people, the WELS/LCMS reporting is getting repetitive. The Spineless Presidents are too timid to annoy the Daddy Warbucks and their allies, making the SPs the enablers. They throw a little raw meat to the base from time to time, but the trend line is pure apostasy, funded apostasy, planned and programmed apostasy.

I am going to do a long-term study of the Formula of Concord, starting with the beginning and going through every article - though not every word of it. I will label it so people can find the parts from clicking the label.

John Howard Yoder was drawn into teaching at Notre Dame by Hauerwas and became my dissertation advisor.
The Book of Concord annoyed him for naming his sect as wrong about doctrine.
But he did the same about the Book of Concord.

Learning about UOJ

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Dates and Theories about UOJ. How WELS and Missour...":

I did some reading over the weekend. Believe it or not, Wikipedia is a treasure trove of religion info with much on Lutherans and their doctrines.

Here is the history lesson for the day...

Lutherans have been warring against Pietism since the days of Luther as well documented on this blog. I googled 'Confessional Lutheran' over the weekend and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessional_Lutheran

clicking around on the hyperlinks was extremely informative...like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Lutherans

WELS is a paradox. On the one hand it claims to be Lutheran and yet it keeps the 'Evangelical' from the old Prussian Union in its name. So the influences of old hold to this day. You wonder why we keep looking to the Reformists? It is because it sounds so familiar.

In the mid 1800's WELS was a liberal Lutheran body; full of Pietism from the old Prussian Union. I believe the doctrine of UOJ sprung from this as a combatant to decision theology (synergism). But now it has swung so far the other way that you are sounding again like the reformed Rob Bell teaching a universal reconciliation; forgiveness to all whether you believe it or not or before you were even born.

@ Pastor Lillo...For whatever reason you keep coming back here as I did. I hope some of the stuff rubs off on you like it did me. I've had some lively discussion with my brother the last few months regarding the various flavors of UOJ rampant in WELS. I understand you may be in his circuit...

Dates and Theories about UOJ. How WELS and Missouri Turned Away From Justification by FaithAnd Still Lie about Their Apostasy

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Where Is the Love?Fox Valley Offers the Ecumenical...":

Actually UOJ was somewhat evident in the 1932 Statement when WELS was still in fellowship with Missouri...but in 1967 when WELS first published 'This We Believe', it was much more evident. The wording in the Justification section remains unchanged to this day save for substituting the NIV for the KJV. My mom still has the booklet. All sinners are justified and righteous in God's sight regardless of faith...but of course the scriptures don't speak this way...

***

GJ - Here are some dates and historical trends I am considering. I need to look into more details. Insights from others are welcome:

1. Before 1932 - Missouri and WELS taught justification by faith, not UOJ.
   
2. 1908 - Hoenecke died and WELS was quick to forget him. The Wauwatosa boys took over. They were trained by Walther and Stoeckhardt.
   
3. 1927 - WELS and Synodical Conference leader Gausewitz died. He taught justification by faith.
   
4. The 1932 Brief Statement was a clear proclamation of UOJ, including bizarre Scriptural support, especially Romans 4:25, which is a justification by faith verse. The first Brief Statement to support UOJ (1932) was a triumph of F. Pieper, whose acolyte Stoeckhardt also found UOJ in Romans. Earlier Brief Statements did not teach UOJ.
   
5. Post 1932 - The Synodical Conference began to fall apart. WELS SP Brenner noticed the change first. The convenient line is to blame it on intellectuals going liberal with their outside degrees, but the real rot came from the inside, the Walther-Pieper faction enforcing and promoting UOJ.
   
6. UOJ and Church Growth grew rapidly in the 1980's. Missour, WELS, and the ELS bring up justification by faith so they can prattle about justification without faith, attacking faith and ignoring the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. The Olde Synodical Conference is ecumenical with Fuller, Sweet, Stetzer, Stanley, Hybels, and Driscoll because they teach a hybrid form of Enthusiasm, a slick Universalism.
   
7. The unionism is a result of false doctrine, not the cause of false doctrine. The Spineless Presidents cannot even address the issue.
   

Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant Goes Digital

There is also a discussion guide.
Cover design by Norma Boeckler.


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Where Is the Love?Fox Valley Offers the Ecumenical Love of PietismIn Place of the God's Love in the Means of Grace

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS Pastor Joel Lillo Asks for a Different Photo....":

It captures the combination of bemusment (sic) and sadness I get when reading your contribution to the web

What I hear is:

"Where's the love? It's like, this blog just doesn't get it. Doesn't Ichabod know that the (W)ELS New Age Emergent ministries are just head over heals in love with Jesus and just want to share that with everyone and in any way that the world might be open to. The old ways aren't working anymore and the New Age evangelicals are blazing new trails into methods that work, methods that are relevant and methods that people today are interested in. If (W)ELS wants to relate to people of today they're going to have to change, stop talking about doctrine which divides Christ's people, all people, and live the life Christ wants us to live, working for him, because when we finally get it and hand over our lives to him, he succeeds."

***

GJ - Glende and Lillo are bummed because Katy Perry's evangelist mother is upset about her daughter's boobs wardrobe malfunctions.

Their precious UOJ is under assault by one of their own - Gausewitz, who was pastor of Grace, Milwaukee and head of the Olde Synodical Conference. WELS taught justification by faith in its Gausewitz catechism, 1917-1982, then miraculously discovered UOJ in the David Kuske catechism of 1982.

The Enthusiasts of Fox Valley do not mind if I quote Luther, Chemnitz, Melanchthon, or Chytraeus. Their pals do not know or remember any of those dudes. They are like the confirmation students who say, "Moses? Heard of him." But Gausewitz was a household term in WELS for many decades and highly respected in the Synodical Conference.

Thank you, researchers and emailers who brought this up. More on the topic will appear shortly.

WELS Pastor Joel Lillo Asks for a Different Photo. Fox Valley Circles the Wagons:Pass the Popcorn

Greg,

If you're going to feature me on your blog, would you please use the

attached picture. It captures the combination of bemusment (sic) and

sadness I get when reading your contribution to the web.

--Joel

***

GJ - Joel, do not use antique words that you cannot spell. It makes you and WELS look riddikalus.

Tim Glende Is Growing Desperate

Glende and Ski are quite familiar with crabs.

Tim Glende unburdened himself again on his anonymous blog. At least he did not steal one of my copyrighted Photoshops this time. But, I still see graphics, stolen from me, on his blog. Someone should remind Tim that he is not above the law, even if his uncle teaches at The Sausage Factory.

I have urged Tim to continue publishing his blog. His quarterly rate of posting seems to have picked up a little, but his logic is still at the repeat-after-me stage. Sadly, the WELS clerics learn little critical thinking on their way to that cherished diploma. Tim is a good example of that shortcoming.

Because a free copy of Schmid is linked on my blog, Glende thinks that his copied quotes from Schmid prove I am a false teacher. Do not warm Ichabodians to our task, o Tim the Plagiarist. You are the one who has stolen entire sermons and graphics from Groeschel, to keep St. Peter Freedom from dying (!?). Tim, the unrepentant, you had the Doctrinal Pussycat fire the circuit pastor for daring to confront you about plagiarism.

Besides, your own publishing house has translated and printed Schmid's History of Pietism. You are indicting yourself, your publishing house, and your synod. If it is wrong to refer to Schmid, how much worse is it to publish the alleged heresiarch?

My copy of Schmid is from the Mequon book sale, so Tim is accusing all the clergy of WELS, since Schmid was quite popular at one time in WELS. All Schmid did in his excellent book was collect orthodox quotations from various sources. There is nothing quite like it in Lutheran publishing. Tim would not know that, since he concentrates on the real, relevant, and relational stuff from the Enthusiasts.

Schmid was quite learned but not the best writer. His History of Pietism could not be repeated by anyone today.

Tim is a bullying liar. He has to come out of the blogging closet and reveal himself, no longer staying anonymous, if he wants anyone to take him seriously. (Anyone besides Englebrecht!)

Here is an example of his fractured sentence construction:

"But from what we have seen on his blog, and in spite of the degrees he boasts of from such illustrious liberal and Roman Catholic institutions as Yale and Notre Dame, we doubt he has the capacity to do that."

I did not know Yale was a liberal Roman Catholic institution!

Glende expects a lawyer from his congregation to be in awe of the superb education at Mequon and NWC - an education so vast and deep that no one is worthy of debating any doctrinal topic with Herr Pastor. However, whenever Tim tries to write, he reveals himself as a clown who needs Groeschel to write his sermons, Driscoll to do his thinking, Stanley to guide his worship, and Satan to give him power.

A married pastor with children should not publish a photo of himself posing with a tart like Katy Perry. First of all, it shows no respect for his wife, family, or congregation. Secondly, it reveals the temperament of a cheat. WELS has a multi-faceted portrait of Max und Morris, Tim and Ski - both eager to pose with skags and false teachers, but loathe to study and teach Biblical Lutheran doctrine.

Tanks for the Memories, Bishop Hanson

For the record: 743 congregations take first votes to leave the ELCA (Click on this, Mequonites. It is called a link.)

As of March 3, the ELCA Office of the Secretary reported that 743 congregations have taken a total of 791 first votes to leave the ELCA.

Of those 791 first votes, 551 passed and 240 failed. It said 437 second votes have been taken, a requirement to cut ties with the denomination.

Of those, 414 second votes passed and 23 failed. Most of the votes came in reaction to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly's actions on sexuality.

***

GJ - ELCA's only doctrine is UOJ - everyone is forgiven, except those who left ELCA.

Just a Coincidence!

raklatt (http://raklatt.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Edward Fredrich's 1979 Essay on Gausewitz:Or - Ana...":

So it took but a short five years after Gausewitz' death for Missouri to establish its Brief Statement, introducing UOJ formally, no longer under the watchful eye of the President of the Synodical Conference.

Coincidence?

***

GJ - Good point, Mr. Klatt. I am just starting to realize how significant Gausewitz was - as a WELS leader and Synodical Conference leader. I wonder if Gausewitz suppressed UOJ while he was around.

Gausewitz was already a forgotten man when I joined WELS. John Seifert bragged up the Kuske Talmudic Catechism. I remember reading the Fredrich essay when I was at Mequon. Two things increased my interest in Gausewitz. One was the initial analysis sent to me by someone in WELS. The second was a WELS layman saying he was confirmed in WELS with the Gausewitz catechism by one of the older pastors at that time.

The 1932 Brief Statement was a F. Pieper project, and the other brief statements did not mention UOJ.

Of course, Luther's Small Catechism has no UOJ in it - no hint of it. To overturn justification by faith and install Fuller doctrine was a monumental achievement. More needs to be known about this.

Remember, readers, that the architect of Seminex and board member of Seminex was Jungkuntz, who was hotter than Georgia asphalt for UOJ.

Jungkuntz, unmasked at Northwestern College, upgraded to Concordia Seminary, Springfield; promoted to the doctrinal board, LCMS; promoted to ELCA college provost.
He was a Seminex leader and board member of the rebel Seminex school.

For Good Schadenfreude, Joel Lillo, First Make Sure of the Schaden

Joel has left a new comment on your post "Forward in Reverse - Making Each New Version Worse...":

The first catechism used by the Synod was the Dresden Catechism--in German, of course. This was followed by the Gausewitz catechism of 1917, written by Pastor Carl Gausewitz, who was the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church of Milwaukee from 1956 to 1927.

Quite an accomplishment, considering that he passed away in 1927. So let me get this straight, he went into the future and then served as a pastor backwards through time. That certainly gives Einsteinian physicists something to think about.

***

GJ - The article was copied verbatim from the infallible WELS server, from an article in FICL (nee The Northwestern Lutheran).

As anyone can see, the title in the body of the post is linked to the source.

How sad, that a graduate of The Sausage Factory--a pastor in Fox Valley WELS--would fail to see the significance of Gausewitz teaching justification by faith while the next guy (David Kuske) embedded UOJ in the innocent minds of WELS catechumens.

As Ichabodians suspect, I was waiting for someone to jump on me like a hobo on a hotdog - for the WELS mistake in dates.

This happened before, when I posted a verbatim article about Jeske preaching or participating at a Missouri Synod installation service. Someone attacked me for making up information because the same information was not in a different news release. I had the news release that I used linked in the post. Did that accuser go to me for a possible correction? No, he accused me me to another person, and that person forwarded the false accusation to me.

Lillo has a sense of humor and he is really quite pleasant, so I am not equating him with that person at all. Someone should do some editing at FICL or their server.

Those who never studied German (most Mequon grads) would like to know the definition of the term above. Schadenfreude is the joy felt from the shame of others. Schaden is the shame part and Freude is the joy part.

Schadenfreude is a good description of WELS, with its gay college video, pointing a finger at ELCA for promoting homosexuality.

Laetare - The Fourth Sunday in Lent

By Norma Boeckler



Laetare Sunday, The Fourth Sunday in Lent, 2011

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn # 151 Christ the Life 2:78
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #429 Lord Thee I Love 2:54

Children of Freedom, of the Gospel

The Communion Hymn #508 Thou Whose 2:72
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 45 Now the Hour 2:95

KJV Galatians 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

KJV John 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

Fourth Sunday In Lent
Lord God, heavenly Father, who by Thy Son didst feed five thousand men in the desert with five loaves and two fishes: We beseech Thee to abide graciously also with us in the fullness of Thy blessing. Preserve us from avarice and the cares of this life, that we may seek first Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness, and in all things perceive Thy fatherly goodness, through Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God world without end. Amen.

Children of Freedom, of the Gospel

Lenski:
It has been well said that, although he is at a loss because he is so far away from the Galatians, the fertile mind of Paul, in his attempt to separate them from all legalism, finds another effective mode of approach. From personal appeal he turns to a clear case that is recorded in Scripture, which is illustrative of both bondage and freedom, the account of Hagar and Ishmael and of Sarah and Isaac. To the subjective and personal Paul thus adds the Scriptural and objective.
The use of this Scriptural account has been termed a rabbinical argumentation by which Paul seeks to turn the arguments of the rabbinical Judaizers against themselves. But this is not an argumentum ad hominem, not a turning of the Judaizers’ guns against themselves. The argument is not merely negative, it is powerfully positive. Nor does Paul convert the history into an allegory. He uses the history, for only as historical fact has it the power of conviction that Paul needs. But this Paul does: he brings out God’s own thoughts that are embedded in this history as they teach and instruct us Christians for all time. This is far beyond the old or the new rabbis. It is divine reality. How the Old Testament histories ought to be read, not superficially for their mere externals, but for their real content, Paul shows us in many places, notably in Rom. 4 (Abraham), Rom. 5:12, etc. (Adam and the patriarchs before Moses), also Gal. 3:16 (Abraham having the covenant hundreds of years before Moses and the law came into existence).
The substance as well as the absence of a connective indicate the beginning of a new section. Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not hear the Law?
The question at the head of this exposition is arresting. The Galatians and certainly those who were becoming enamored of law as a means of salvation had heard the Law. But that is exactly to what Paul refers: hearing the Law and yet wanting to be under law. “Tell me,” Paul says, “how this can possibly be.” Whatever one may say about the old Jews (2 Cor. 3:14, 15), the Galatians had at least learned to read the Torah without such a darkening, blinding veil. Distinguish between “under law” without an article and “the Law” with the article, here in the sense of the Torah, the Pentateuch, “Moses” (2 Cor. 3:15; John 5:46). “Under law” is under law in general, a state which these Galatians were trying to achieve by getting to be under the Mosaic ceremonial system. One gets under law by means of some legal system or other.
The fact that “the Law” refers to the Pentateuch we see from what follows, namely the story of Hagar who lived long before the ceremonial law was given (3:17). Paul is citing one of the histories of the Pentateuch. The Books of Moses were constantly read in the synagogues; they were divided into paraschas or regular lections, the other Old Testament books were likewise divided into sections, their lections being called haphtharas. The early Christian congregations continued this practice of reading the Old Testament until the New Testament canon was gradually formed when lections were selected from these New Testament writings. We see no reason for excluding reference to these readings in the Christian assemblies, nor for intensifying “do you not hear” as meaning, “do you not understand?”
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians. Columbus, O. : Lutheran Book Concern, 1937, S. 232.

This is one of the great passages about Law and Gospel. The non-Lutheran Protestants do not pay attention to Law and Gospel, and they tend to fall into the diagnosis of Law (correct) and the prescription of more Law to fix the problem (not correct).

The difference between Law and Gospel is the same as X-ray versus medicine. An X-ray only identifies the problem. The X-ray does not heal anything. They tried. In the old days of medicine, X-rays were promoted as healing. That maimed a number of people and probably led to many cases of cancer. Likewise, fascination with radium led people to drink “perpetual sunshine” or radium water, with disastrous results.

Paul’s brief letter to the Galatians is a frontal attack on salvation by the Law. The great divisions of the Scripture relate to each other:
Law and Gospel
Faith and Unbelief
Works and Grace
Sin and Forgiveness
The Kingdom of God versus the Kingdom of Satan

Every religion has law in it, and that law is always a reflection of the origin Law of God revealed in the Old Testament. Pagan religions add their own laws, and these laws are often at war with the Word of God.

This was the great challenge of Paul’s ministry. He was not teaching against the Law of God itself, but the misuse of the Law, salvation by the Law, with man-made traditions added as well.

We are vulnerable to Law motivation and Law salvation because our natural state is oriented toward the Law. People are easily led into salvation by the Law and they get angry if that is questioned.

Salvation by the Law is never comforting in the long run, so people increase the Law requirements with the thought that they have fulfilled them.

Thus the era of Pietism focused on works and the Law rather than God’s grace and the Gospel. Out of that era came a Holiness Code, which made certain outward acts forbidden of all Christians. Of course, this code varied. It included tobacco and alcohol, but the German Pietists never included alcohol as a sin. Gambling was naturally bad, so even Old Maid was a sin, because playing Old Maid could lead to gambling. (I don’t see any Old Maid websites, enticing people!)

Some denominations were overwhelming Pietistic. Baptists and Methodists were very much against drinking any alcoholic beverages, including wine in Holy Communion (which they denied anyway and neglected even in its altered state).

We live in a Baptist county now, and the Christian faith is very important to the typical resident here. One example of Pietistic legalism is rather obvious. Every restaurant is considered a private club, because this is a semi-dry county. No one can buy alcohol in a store, but every restaurant (private club) has a bar. The bars are quite prominent. Customers must sign a book as club members every time they eat, even if they do not drink. The government sends people around to make sure the customers sign the book. The employees insist because they will be in trouble if snitches are there who do not get asked to sign the book. So I sign in as William and Katy, Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Sam and Ella, etc.

Most importantly, this does nothing to stop alcoholism. It drives people across the state line to buy it, and it puts drinking in front of everyone as they enter most restaurants.

Jesus came to give us the Gospel and to plant faith in our hearts. That faith is faith in Him, in His power to forgive and His compassion to absolve our sins.

Notice that when Jesus rebuked His disciples, He did not say, “O ye card-players” or “O ye drinkers.” He berated them for their lack of faith. “O ye of little faith.”

Lack of faith in Him is the beginning of all sin. So it is tragic that Lutherans have spent the last 30 to 50 years making faith bad.

I often discuss this with laity who are perplexed that this happened. It was cleverly done in the name of grace.

When a class was asked about salvation, one person answered, “We are saved by faith.” A pastor responded, “By grace!” One does not replace the other. That is like correcting a person about baptism by saying “Communion!” How is one forgiven of all his sins?
“Baptism!”
“No, communion!”

Grace describes God’s attitude toward us. Instead of demanding that we pay for our sins, He has His beloved Son pay the price for us. Knowing we are still sinners, as long as we live, He forgives us because of Christ.

We receive this forgiveness through faith. “O ye of little faith” is a rebuke against our weak and faltering faith. The Gospel promises of forgiveness, the declaration of God’s grace, the examples of God’s work – all move us to trust His Word.

Luther called this the “unfree will.” The Holy Spirit works upon us to convert us to faith in the Savior. We can exercise our will in rejecting the Word and following false teachers. People do that all the time. But faith is a creation of the Word. We are New Creations through the Word of the Gospel.

Therefore it is a great shame that a generation or two of Lutheran pastors have taught against faith in Christ. The longer they prattle about forgiveness without faith, the more extreme they get. They are blinded by their own false doctrine, like those drug-addled celebrities who think their jabbering is profound wisdom. For example, how can anyone say babies are born justified, before baptism? Yet Eduard Preuss was quoted saying that, as if that settled matters.

Using Martin Luther as an example – he talked about praying to Mary in his early years. That never settled it for Lutherans or for me. He grew away from the Marian piety he was taught in the priesthood.

But why do people cling to unfaith? They are taught unfaith and loyalty to people, rather than the Word, instead of the Word.

Throw away all the books in the world, and the Bible is still clear. We are declared forgiven by faith, not by works.

Those who follow false doctrine are be-deviled by the results of their bewitched state. They say they are all Gospel, since everyone is forgiven in advance and saved too! – but listen to their words – they are all condemnation and Law. Tim Glende’s infamous blog is a good example of unwarranted and unsubstantiated accusations, holier than thou while posing with Katy Perry and proud of it.

They imagine forgiveness without faith is all Gospel, but their words betray them. They brag about their works and demand works. Everyone has to do more and pay more. In the name of grace and salvation, they enslave people and abuse people, just as much as the famous abusive sects. They are no different because they have the same Lord and Master, the Prince of this World, Satan, their Father Below.

Our Gospel Comfort
We know through the Scriptures that God has provided many aids for us in our weakness. His grace-filled forgiveness comes to us through the Means of Grace. Do you doubt? Here is the visible sign of His forgiveness – His body and blood. Do you question His presence? Every rainbow is a sign of God’s promise in ancient times, never to command a global flood again.

A forgiven person is a forgiving person. Where the Gospel abounds, the fruits of the Gospel also abound.

Quotations
"Christ is speaking here not of the word of the law, but of the Gospel, which is a discourse about Christ, who died for our sins, etc. For God did not wish to impart Christ to the world in any other way; he had to embody him in the Word and thus distributed him, and present him to everybody; otherwise Christ would have existed for himself alone and remained unknown to us; he would have thus died for himself. But since the Word places before us Christ, it thus places us before him who has triumphed over death, sin, and Satan. Therefore, he who grasps and retains Christ, has thus also eternal deliverance from death. Consequently it is a Word of life, and it is true, that whoever keeps the Word shall never see death."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 177. John 8:46﷓59.

"Scripture therefore uses these words, 'We are justified by faith,' to teach both: 1) What the reason (or merit) for justification is, or what the blessings of Christ are; to wit, that through and for the sake of Christ alone we are granted forgiveness of sins, righteousness and eternal life; and 2. How
these should be applied or transferred to us; namely, by embracing the promise and relying on Christ by faith alone."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith (1568), p. 107.

"What is the difference between Christianity and paganism? Paganism has no sure Word of God and no true faith in Christ. It is unsettled. In place of the one true God, pagans worship various factitious deities and countless idols with ceremonies, works and sacrifices selected according to human judgment. They imagine that they compensate for their sins with this worship, pacify their gods and make them gracious and purchase, as it were, blessings from them."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), p. 19.

"What is the reason for certainty in Christian doctrine?...7. the hatred of the devil over against this doctrine;
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), p. 21.

"Creation is the external action of God by which God, seeing all other things, visible and invisible, fashioned them out of nothing with this plan of His that He might establish for Himself an eternal Church to acknowledge and praise Him and in which He might dwell forever."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), p. 45.

"The good angels are spiritual beings, created in the beginning after the image of God; that is, they are intelligent, truthful, just and free. They are not part of another species or the souls of people; and they are immortal, ordained by God to praise Him and to be servants of the Church and protectors of the devout, Hebrews 1, Psalm 34, Psalm 103, and Psalm 104."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), p. 47. Hebrews 1; Psalm 34; Psalm 103; Psalm 104

"There are eight sins which militate against faith: 1. Epicurean and Academic doubts about God, His providence and the certainty of the doctrine handed down through Christ and the Apostles. 2. A lack of faith toward God. 3. In regard to the forgiveness of sins, to entertain doubts as to whether we arein the grace of God or if we please God. 4. Despair. 5. Stubbornness of presumption. 6. Confidence in human aids. 7. Superstition. 8. Witchcraft."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), p. 65f.

"The sins which militate against the Third Commandment are the profanation of the Sabbath through neglect and contempt of the ministry, through Judaic and superstitious observance of the Sabbath, or through a shifting of the ministry into the kingdom of this world. The faithfulness of those who teach is the virtue by which the ministers of the Church, aware of their modest skill in Christian doctrine, carefully and zealousy discharge and steadfastly protect all the duties of the faithful dispenser of the mysteries of God in teaching, debating, comforting and setting their hearers an example of true devotion and of all the virtues. The other extreme are faithlessness, heedless teaching or negligence in office, or deserting the ministry because of excessive anxiety or concern over one's own weakness."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), p. 71f.

Edward Fredrich's 1979 Essay on Gausewitz:Or - Anatomy of a Fraud

Gausewitz was respected as a leader in the Wisconsin Synod. His catechism never mentioned UOJ (unlike Kuske's) and was used by almost all the members for decades.
WELS praised Gausewitz while swapping his catechism with Kuske's.
Too clever by half.
Here is Morton "Salty" Schroder for the final kick under the bus, 1982.

http://www.wlsessays.net/files/FredrichGausewitz.pdf

Carl Gausewitz: Church Man and Catechist

By Edward C. Fredrich
[This essay is part of a series of essays produced by a joint effort involving Dr. Martin Luther College and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for the 450th anniversary of Luther’s Large and Small Catechisms in the spring of 1979.]

It would be safe to assume even without statistical evidence that 90 percent of the members in our church body learned the rudiments of the Christian religion from the Gausewitz Catechism in either its original or revised form. Who was Gausewitz? Even without statistical evidence it would be safe to assume that 90 percent of these learners would not even know the rudiments of a Gausewitz biography. That situation should be rectified.

Already in 1927 the obituary writers were hinting at a reluctance of Gausewitz to have writings of his or about him appear in print.1 Add to this the built-in aversion of our church body to heroes and hero-worship and a definite difficulty has been created for any biographical endeavors. Nevertheless some biographical material is required in a Quarterly issue that concentrates on the anniversary of Luther’s Catechism. Who was Gausewitz?

Preparation
One would want Carl Gausewitz to have strong and long synodical roots. That is exactly the way it was. His father was a pioneer pastor of the Wisconsin Synod. Way back in 1860 President Muehlhaeuser reported to the synodical convention:

In the month of November [1859] there appeared Candidates Gausewitz and Strube, trained by the Barmen Mission Institute and sent out by the Langenberger Society. Brother Gausewitz went to Pastor Koehler and Brother Strube to Pastor Reim, where they were for a limited period to receive practical guidance to make them ready for service. Under the prevailing circumstances I
was compelled to authorize Pastor Koehler and Pastor Sprengling to ordain Brother Gausewitz
so that he could take over the field of the deposed Rueter in Maple Grove.2

In the following year, on August 29, Carl Gausewitz, Sr. and his wife Amalie nee Lobscheid became the parents of Carl, Jr. The birthplace was what is today’s Reedsville in the Manitowoc area. The father, who was in seniority the twenty-first member of the synodical body at the time of his admission, also served pastorates at West Bend and Iron Ridge while his son Carl was growing up. In 1868 the father would affix his name as one of the five Wisconsin signers to the historic Missouri-Wisconsin Agreement that paved the way to fellowship relations between the bodies.

In the fall of 1872, in his eleventh year, Carl Gausewitz entered the worker-training school at Watertown. He completed the Northwestern course in 1879. Among his teachers there were A. Ernst, A. Graebner, and F. Notz. At the Milwaukee seminary he studied under Professors A. Hoenecke and E. Notz. In 1882 he was sent out into the ministry. Two days before his twenty-first birthday he was ordained and installed at East Farmington, Polk County, Wisconsin, by Pastor Philip von Rohr and the retiring Pastor F. Seifert.3

Pastor
The pastorate at East Farmington would last only three years. The Zion congregation, now a member of the Minnesota District, was then young and small. It had its beginnings in the mid 1860s, was served from Lake Elmo two decades, and erected its first church building in 1874. Carl Gausewitz was the first resident pastor.

The three-year service at East Farmington demonstrated that the fledgling pastor had outstanding ability and abundant zeal. The communicant roll grew steadily until it stood at about 225 the year that Gausewitz accepted another call.4

The large St. John’s Church in St. Paul had a vacant pastorate in 1885 because Pastor Hoyer had been called as head of the synodical school being opened at New Ulm. St. John’s reached across the state and synodical boundary line to call as its new pastor Carl Gausewitz. He arrived just in time to become involved in an ambitious relocation project.

There had been a movement of the membership away from the original location in the lower city toward the east.5 Property was purchased at the corner of Hope and Margaret Streets in 1886. First a school was built, utilized also for evening services. By the end of 1891 a new church building seating 1500 had been erected at the site. Obviously there were debts.

Before they could be retired, the 1893 Panic struck. The old church property brought only one-fifth of the anticipated sum. An excerpt from the congregation’s sketch in the synodical golden anniversary history provides this summary:

In these difficult years the dear Father in heaven graciously preserved the congregation from despair. The Word of God demonstrated its power in the members and preserved them steadfast and immovable, even supplying courage for new undertakings. Although a considerable debt was still burdening the congregation, more property was acquired on Margaret Street and a roomy, attractive parsonage was erected at considerable cost in 1902. In 1903 provisions were made for the future through the purchase of three lots across from the church building on which a school was to be built. Through all this time the congregation was strengthened inwardly and outwardly in peace through the grace of God. In the summer of 1906 the Reverend Pastor C. Gausewitz accepted a call to Grace Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.6
In 1906 as well as a score years later Grace Church’s pulpit ranked as one of the most prestigious in the Wisconsin Synod. Muehlhaeuser had filled it from the founding to 1867. Jaekel, long-time synodical secretary and treasurer, served there from 1868–1906. The membership was large and still growing. An able and dedicated pastor was needed.

Carl Gausewitz had left the Wisconsin Synod in 1885 to serve the neighboring body. He returned two decades later recognized as one endowed with administrative and leadership talents. He had been entrusted with the presidencies of the Minnesota Synod and the Allgemeine Synode. The years 1906 to 1927 would be good for both pastor and congregation.

They were busy years for the pastor. Apart from large responsibilities to be described in subsequent pages, Carl Gausewitz served on the editorial committee of the Gemeinde-Blatt from the time that committee was formed in 1908 to assume work previously in the hands of the faculty of the Theological Seminary until thetime of his death. He was a member of the governing board for both Northwestern College and the Theological Seminary. For seventeen years he was chairman of the Lutheran city missions of Milwaukee.


President
Most people never get elected president. Gausewitz was president of three large church bodies: the Minnesota Synod, 1894–1906; the Allgemeine Synode, 1901–1907 and 1913–17; the Synodical Conference, 1912–1927.

After six years of service in the Minnesota District Gausewitz was elected vice-president. In 1894 he was chosen to succeed C.J. Albrecht as president. Bemoaning previous debts and deficits, the Minnesota historian points out that it wasn’t until the bleak panic years and the new regime that improvements were made.

Only in the year 1894, when Pastor C. Gausewitz was elected president, did the Synod find the right way to rid itself of its debt. It was resolved that the congregations should according to their ability share in the synodical debt and should themselves gather their offerings. Thus paid collectors were rendered superfluous and the Synod was spared a yearly expense of about $1000. Carrying out the resolution may have left much to be desired, but at least we could again breathe a sigh of relief and the threat of bankruptcy was averted. The debt was decreased year by year and with but a slight effort will soon be liquidated.7

The Gausewitz presidency in the Minnesota Synod is generally characterized by a businesslike attention to such details as budget, debt retirement, and joint work with fellow believers in other synods. There is a minimum of the spectacular that gets attention in the pages of church history. Most noteworthy activity perhaps was the development of the Belle Plaine Home. President Gausewitz, together with Pastors Moebus and Stiemke, served on the committees that saw the charitable endeavor develop from a legacy in 1897 to a dedicated building on Nov. 6, 1898.

After describing this effort, the Minnesota history continues: “Regarding the development of the Synod since the founding of the Allgemeine Synode [1892], there is little more of significance to report. There is a slow outward growth. There is faithful labor in the fields alotted with the powers God has given and the Lord is acknowledging the efforts.”8 The time described encompasses all the years of Gausewitz’ Minnesota presidency.

Before that presidency was completed Gausewitz was involved with another. In 1901 the Allgemeine Synode or General Synod of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and other States elected him to be its president and reelected him in 1903 and 1905. As vice-president he had already functioned as president when Dr. Ernst resigned the office abruptly on Oct. 1, 1900.

Gausewitz does not seem to have been too happy serving in this post. After the first two-year term he declared in the presidential address: “According to the non-prescriptive opinion of the undersigned many a difficulty in our joint endeavors would be obviated if the presidency of the General Synod would again be entrusted to a member of the Wisconsin Synod.”9 At the next meeting he repeated the request and in 1907 it was the same story.10 In 1907 the convention yielded to the pleas of the man who had just begun his pastorate at Grace Church.

Having given Gausewitz a period of grace to adjust to the new post, the General Synod in 1913 once again entrusted him with the presidency and subsequently reelected him in 1915. These were busy and important years for the General Synod, the time when it was transforming itself from a loose federation of synods into the merged Joint Synod with districts. The administrative skills of Carl Gausewitz helped make smooth and easy a transition that could easily have been difficult, if mishandled.

When Wisconsin’s President Bergemann assumed the leadership of the newly created Joint Synod, Gausewitz must have been happy to step down to a seat on the Board of Trustees. Once again he was down to one presidential responsibility, but that was the presidency of the Synodical Conference, the largest Lutheran federation in the United States.

When in 1912 ill health prevented Bading from continuing his long Synodical Conference presidency that had begun in 1882, the Conference elected Carl Gausewitz to succeed him. Reelection followed reelection and Gausewitz was still president of the Synodical Conference at the time of his death in 1927. Those early years of the present century were halcyon days for the Conference. Past were the turbulent times of the controversy over conversion and election. Still in the future were the fellowship problems that would bring about the end of the Conference. The presidential years of Gausewitz, 1912–1927, saw the Synodical Conference demonstrating brotherly unity in word and in deed.

What Gausewitz as Conference leader could concern himself about most in the absence of great doctrinal or administrative problems, was a work of the Conference dear to his heart, the mission to the Blacks in this country. His obituary testifies that he, “as president of the Synodical Conference always showed a keen interest in this Synodical Conference mission endeavor in that he regularily attended meetings of the committee.…At these meetings Pastor Gausewitz…followed the deliberations with great interest and aided matters with his well-considered, sensible advice.”11 The 1928 Synodical Conference convention paid this tribute to its former president: “Especially the Negro Missions have lost in him a valuable friend and a zealous promoter of their cause.”12

Pedagogue
These presidential posts obviously received much attention when obituaries had to be written in 1927 for this outstanding leader in our Lutheran circles, who died suddenly in the Grace sacristy just before the Holy Communion service on Sept. 4. More important, however, then and especially later was the service Gausewitz rendered through work on the synodical Catechism.

The first special Catechism project that engaged the attention of Carl Gausewitz was working on a Synodical Conference committee charged with the responsibility of editing Luther’s Small Catechism. The committee was busy at the turn of the century.13

It is this assignment that may well have led to the appointment Gausewitz received to serve on the committee to which President von Rohr assigned the task of carrying out a 1907 synodical resolution: “A double commission to be appointed of which the one will have the assignment to undertake a revision of our German Catechism and the other the assignment to provide a good English translation of this revised German Catechism.”14 The committee, which could have rivaled any synodical committee of that time in prestige and ability consisted of Prof. Ernst, Prof. Schaller, President Soll, and Pastor Gausewitz.15 Catechism work was serious business in those days.

The committee seems to have had difficulty in getting on with its assignment. The 1909 Proceedings are silent on the subject and the 1910 Preceedings insist that “the Synod ought to proceed as quickly as possible with the publication of the German Catechism” and that Teacher R. Albrecht should be added to the committee.16 After another silence in 1911 the synodical convention in 1912 must have taken cum grano salis the promise that the revised Catechism would be out in fall, for it specifically resolved that the committee on publications “should speed up the production of the new German and English Catechism.”17

That there were good reasons for such concerns soon became evident. The next synodical convention accepted a floor committee report that expressed “regrets that the new edition of the Catechism in German and English had not yet appeared.” Then it resolved that “the present committee for producing the Catechism be discharged and the production of the Catechism be entrusted to one man.”18 That one man was Carl Gausewitz. President Bergemann, who selected the one man, was in later years, when dispensing administrative lore, fond of citing this as the classic instance of the superiority of one good man over a committee in getting a difficult task well done.19 Despite the heavy work load described previously, Gausewitz went to work and by 1917 the Catechism in both languages was available at the Northwestern Publishing House.

When the book appeared Prof. John Schaller, who had served with Gausewitz on the original committee, provided a substantial review in the Theologische Quartalschrift running to almost six pages.20 He stated, “One could boldly claim that our publishing house has up to now not brought out any book that is of greater practical significance for the edification of the church than this explanation of the Catechism.”21

After 39 years a revision appeared that is currently being revised. Much of Gausewitz, however, remained in the revision and his pedagogical and catechetical labors are still providing benefits in the present time.

Outstanding features of the Gausewitz edition that Schaller pointed to in his 1917 review were: footnotes that defined difficult terms; carefully selected Bible history material used, not as proof of a point of doctrine, but in order to present and develop the point of doctrine; clear and pointed questions and answers.22

Above all, the gospel tone of the work is praised. “Here the gospel appears,” writes Schaller, “not only as one of the matters that are also treated, but as the precious bond that runs through the whole Catechism, ties all of its sentences tightly together, and alone makes possible its biblically correct understanding…Whoever has actually recognized and experienced this special feature of the new Catechism will because of it love the book the more and will therefore gladly accept as part of the bargain the flaws he finds in it.”23

Ten years after the Catechism appeared Gausewitz died, very likely never imagining how long and how much the work would be of benefit. One wonders if he even regarded it as his chef d’oeuvre. President Bergemann commenting on Gausewitz’ death in his next convention report doesn’t even mention the Catechism. He says:

Pastor Carl Gausewitz has been taken from our midst by a sudden death. That was sad news! The man, who in our midst was a leader, who just a few weeks previously had strengthened and stablished the synodical convention in its trust in the Scripture through his magnificant essay, the man who with his discerning eye, with his quiet, sober judgment just in this difficult time could render us outstanding service, has been taken from us.24

President Bergemann certainly appreciated the catechetical labors of Carl Gausewitz. It was just that there were so many other good and important things to be said about the man at the time of his passing that the one item was not included. Those other things are being blurred for us by the passing of a half century and more. The one item, however, still looms large. And that is the reason why in this Catechism anniversary publication Gausewitz is being given attention “as churchman and catechist.”

Notes
1 W.H. (Walther Hoenecke) “† Pastor Carl Gausewitz †” in Ev.-Luth. Gemeinde-Blatt, LXII (Sept. 25, 1927), 305. Hereafter referred to as Gemeinde-Blatt Obituary.
2 Wisconsin Synod Proceedings, 1860, p. 7.
3 For the details see the Gemeinde-Blatt Obituary and the Northwestern Lutheran counterpart, issue of Oct. 2, 1927. 
4 Wisconsin Synod Proceedings, 1885, p. 78.
5 This detail and those that follow are supplied in A. Kuhn, ed., Geschichte der Minnesota Synode und ihrer einzelnen Gemeinden (St. Louis: Louis Lange Publishing House, 1909). The story of St. John’s of St. Paul is found on pp 230–238. The work is hereafter cited as Minnesota Geschichte.
6 The previous footnote supplies the general location. The specific page is 236.
time of his death. He was a member of the governing board for both Northwestern College and the Theological Seminary. For seventeen years he was chairman of the Lutheran city missions of Milwaukee.
7 Minnesota Geschichte, p. 38.
8 Minnesota Geschichte, pp. 49–50.
9 General Synod Proceedings, 1903, p. 6.
10 General Synod Proceedings, 1905 and 1907, p. 8 in both instances.
11 Gemeinde-Blatt Obituary, p. 306.
12 Synodical Conference Proceedings, 1928, p. 60.
13 Synodical Conference Proceedings, 1896–1902. This project is mentioned in the following places: 1896, p. 65; 1898, pp. 49–50; 1900, pp. 60–61; 1902, pp. 74–75.
14 Wisconsin Proceedings, 1907, p. 92. Reports in the Proceedings on the production of the new Catechism appear here and subsequently in the Bericht des Buchhandlungkomitees, usually printed in the Proceedings as one of the last reports. The Catechism being revised was that which resulted from the early 1880s catechetical efforts at providing a simplified, uniform publication. For details see H. Wicke, “WELS and Luther’s Small Catechism,” in the Northwestern Lutheran, LXVI (Feb. 4, 1979), p. 37.
15 Wisconsin Proceedings, 1908, p. 32.
16 Wisconsin Proceedings, 1910, p. 95.
17 Wisconsin Proceedings, 1912, pp. 112–113.
18 Wisconsin Proceedings, 1913, pp. 114–115.
19 Obviously this is not written down any place in the record. Bergemann wrote little, but he was at his best when providing orally guidance and correction to young men who needed it badly. The writer was one of those who benefited from such invaluable on-thejob training.
20 J. Schaller, Dr. Martin Luther’s Kleiner Katechismus, Theologische Quartalschrift, XIV (April 1917) 165–170. Hereafter cited as Schaller, Review.
21 Schaller, Review, p. 165.
22 Schaller, Review, pp. 165–166.
23 Schaller, Review, pp. 168–169.
24 Wisconsin Proceedings, 1929, p. 7. The 1927 Gausewitz essay referred to is “Why Do I Believe That the Bible is the Word of God?” The convention ordered that it be printed separately in English and German for free distribution in the congregations. The “difficult time” is a reference to the Protes’tant matter.