Jon Techlin Wrote On Light From Light

Jon Techlin
 
I think Mr. Palmer’s point is brilliant. Using the passive voice is an act of cowardice. If those who made this decision were proud of their actions, they would state with the active voice, “I, Pastor Glende/We, the church council … have decided/have voted to … ”

Instead they intentionally use passive verbage in order to distance themselves from the decision they made, as if this decision came into being on its own, without a creator, through the Big Bang. Using the passive voice in explaining one’s actions betrays a reluctance to take responsibility for them.
This reminds me of a situation where I witnessed an adult questioning a guilty child over a broken dish. The adult asked, “What happened?” The child responded, “It broke.”

Indeed. No one broke it. It just broke.

No one kicked my brother out of the church. He was just kicked out.

If Hottentots Are Already Justified, Why Attend Church?

AC V has left a new comment on your post "Heidenreich and the LutherQueasies":

This is practical theology in the light of justification by faith alone. People ask, "If I'm fully and freely forgiven of all my sins by Christ on the cross, then why should I come to church?" UOJ answers, "Because you need to be reminded of UOJ, show your appreciation for UOJ, and encourage others in UOJ." The Scriptures and the Confessions say, "You need to come to church because you daily sin much and the means of grace will give you the actual forgiveness of sins."

I've come to believe and confess that a major reason why fewer (W)ELS & LCMS people are attending worship services is because of UOJ. It's the reason Private Confession and Absolution fell into disuse. It's the reason Communion is offered infrequently. It's the reason sermons are Power Point pep talks. Why cherish and encourage the regular use of the means of grace when it's only a reminder of the forgiveness of sins and not the actual, real-time forgiveness of sins?

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Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "If Hottentots Are Already Justified, Why Attend Ch...":

"...pure scripture-based presentations of law and gospel". Are these people watching the same ToG that I have watched? All I've seen is Pastor Jeske walking around in a suit giving Dr. Phil-like prescriptions to lead a better life on earth.

Scott E. Jungen

Back from the Dead, Carl Vehse Defends the Felononious Founders of the Missouri Synod

"Carl Vehse" is a regular writer for LutherQuest.
I would not pick a felon's name as a nom de plume.

Carl Vehse said...

Why are you providing a link to such a erroneous website? Even the title of the website's thread, "Pietism's Saxon Migration Began with Kidnapping Three People, Violating the Confessional, Leading a Riot, And Robbery" is inaccurate. Only two people were kidnapped and not as the thread describes; there was no violating of the confessional, primarily because the pastor was not really a pastor; there was no riot; and any robbery was primarily done by Martin Stephan. The website thread bases its history on a equally, if not more, inaccurate book written by Philip Stephan, a descendent of deposed Missouri Saxon Bishop Martin Stephan.

A key document often referenced throughout Philip Stephan’s book, especially on controversial claims with no other substantiating historical documentation is Frederick William (Wilhelm Friedrich) Koepchen’s unpublished manuscript, “Martin Stephan and the Saxon Emigration of 1838.” Rev. Koepchen was a pastor at St. Luke’s Church in New York City in the early 20th century, when he began preparing a manuscript for the centennial anniversary of the 1838 Saxon Emigration.

When Rev. Koepchen died, either in 1935 (per Stephan, p. 5) or in 1936 (per Concordia Historical Institute), his collaborator and editor who ended up completing the manuscript was none other than... Rev. Theodore M. Stephan, the grandson of the deposed Martin Stephan. Rev. Theodore Stephan also wrote in 1929 another unpublished manuscript used repeatedly as a reference in Philip Stephan’s book. Thus Philip Stephan’s book of revisionist history is critically dependent on claims made in unpublished manuscripts, which were finally edited and completed by Theodore Stephan, the grandson of Martin Stephan, based in part on documents contributed by a number of Stephan ancestors.

The most reliable historical book on the events of the Missouri Saxon Emigration is Walter O. Forster's Zion on the Mississippi (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1953), along with voluminous references to original sources. Forster's book is a revised and expanded version of his Ph.D. Thesis in History at Washington University-St. Louis.

Finally, in what may be "only for the brave" some additional discussion regarding the kidnapping of Walther's niece and nephew, Maria and Theodor Schubert, can be read in the Review, Part III of August R. Suelflow's Servant of the Word: The Life and Ministry of C.F.W. Walther (CPH, St. Louis, 2000). Some additional information about the Schubert children was obtained a number of years ago. According to the records of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, Missouri, Maria Schubert was born on May 10, 1823, and died on July 19, 1840, at the age of 17, a year and a half after the Olbers arrived at New Orleans. The cause of death was listed as "gallstone fever". Theodor Schubert was one of the first eleven students in the Dresden, Missouri, school started on December 9, 1839, by Carl Walther, Johann Burnger, Ottomar Fuerbringer, and Theodor Brohm. According to Carl S. Meyer (Log Cabin to Luther Tower, CPH, St. Louis, 1965, p. 6) Theodor Schubert had died prior to September 12, 1841, when the remaining students signed a birthday poem for Brohm. No information on Theodor Schubert's death is in church records of Concordia or Trinity (Altenburg), but it is known that some deaths during that difficult time were not recorded.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 10:21:00 AM GMT+10:00

LPC said...

I link for the intetest of balanced reporting and let the reader decide. I find your reaction funny. For you erroneous reporting is more evil than kidnapping 2 children which you admit Walther did.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 12:39:00 PM GMT+10:00

Brett Meyer said...

Including the kidnapping and subsequent robbery and abandonment of Stephan I count three (3). Heinous!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 1:56:00 PM GMT+10:00

Carl Vehse said...

"For you, erroneous reporting is more evil than kidnapping 2 children which you admit Walther did." I pointed out erroneous reporting. I said nothing that would suggest I consider such faulty reporting more evil than kidnapping. What evidence do you have to support your accusation?

***

GJ - The attorney Carl Vehse was responsible for hiding the children Walther kidnapped from his own father's parsonage, with the help of his brother, who was also a pastor and a Stephan follower.

The attorney Marbach also helped in this felony, so both attorneys were felons for obstructing justice.

The writer has offered the additional material that both children died young in America, which would have been heart-breaking for the family back in Europe.

Zion on the Mississippi is a good book. All the historical documents have to be weighed. The eye-witness accounts are valuable, even when they are not entirely accurate or they engage in outright distortions. People try their best and still get facts wrong. The official archives of the LCA had A. D. Mattson dying in the wrong city and state. How could the official archives be wrong?

Those things happen all the time. History is quite messy and much of it lies buried forever.

Stephan was a known adulterer in his old parish, who should have been removed, following the Scriptures, in Europe, but that would have been difficult, with the Walther brothers fleeing the police and the attorneys lying and hiding the children.

One can remove a pastor or bishop without threatening his life, robbing him of all his goods & all his gold coins, and kidnapping him. Many people realize that the Missouri Synod (St. Louis and Perry County) began with a series of crimes. Lying about the past does not solve any problems in the present.

If UOJ is true because Walther taught it, then people should re-evaluate whether they want to follow a pastor who committed multiple felonies, which gave him:

1. His niece and nephew in America, contrary to the court, where they died;
   
2. Control of the sect;
   
3. Acres of free land (which Stephan bought with his own money), plus 40 acres they took back from him;
   
4. Two valuable chalices;
   
5. Many personal effects;
   
6. And a big pile of gold.

The material above was kelmed from Dr. Cruz's Extra Nos.

Church Does Not Have To Be Boring...Or Lutheran...Anymore

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Trifecta Imperfecta: What Thrivent Hath Put Togeth...":

LCMS youth go to synodical gathering where contemporary worship is put on, and now don't want to attend their boring church back home:

http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=15229

This comment came in on an ancient (March 6th, 2010) post of ours, LCMS Youth Gathering Praise Music Now Comes with a Theological Disclaimer. The commenter was someone who attended the conference as a chaperone. To gain context for the comment, you should read some of the other comments on the original post. Tracy makes some excellent points about the gathering, but what’s interesting to me is that two of the youth who attended NYG no longer attend church because they have seen how church “can be done” and are bored at their home church now.

Some Wondered about Mt. Olivet In Minneapolis Leaving ELCA - Less Likely Now

ELCA bishop quits to lead Mount Olivet

• Article by: ROSE FRENCH , Star Tribune
• Updated: June 27, 2011 - 8:35 PM

The Rev. Craig Johnson steps down from largest synod to lead the largest congregation in place of the late Rev. Paul Youngdahl.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Minneapolis Area Synod Bishop Craig Johnson

Photo: Jeffrey Thompson, Star Tribune

• 

The Rev. Craig Johnson, bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is resigning to take over as interim senior pastor at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church.
Johnson, who leads the largest ELCA synod in the country, will now be chief religious leader of the largest ELCA congregation in the country following the death of Mount Olivet's senior pastor, the Rev. Paul Youngdahl, last week.

"My primary role will be to build a foundation for helping the members and staff heal from this trauma and move the congregation forward in its mission," Johnson said Monday.

Johnson, 64, will step down as bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod on July 31 and take over at Mount Olivet in Minneapolis on Aug. 1.

Elected bishop in 2001, Johnson was re-elected June 1, 2007. Bishops serve six-year terms and are limited to two terms in the Minneapolis Area Synod. Johnson's second term was scheduled to end in two years.

John Kapanke, Mount Olivet's vice president, said Johnson is a "known commodity" at Mount Olivet, where he was an associate pastor from 1977 to 1991. He said the church is happy Johnson decided to accept the job leading the congregation of nearly 13,500.

"He's well-respected not just in the Minneapolis Area Synod but throughout the ELCA," Kapanke said. "He was just a logical choice. There's no question in my mind he's the ideal person for this position. We're all grieving over the loss of our senior pastor. God in his wisdom has really sent us a wonderful person to serve that senior pastor role. He's a humble man and wonderful pastor."

Youngdahl, 73, died unexpectedly June 20 after suffering a thoracic aneurysm. He led the church for nearly four decades, taking over from his father, Reuben Youngdahl, who arrived at the church in the late 1930s and was senior pastor until 1968. The father-and-son preachers are largely credited with building Mount Olivet into one of the largest megachurches in the country.

The Minneapolis Area Synod has about 214,000 baptized members and 162 congregations in seven metro counties. Minnesota has more ELCA members than any other state, with close to 800,000 baptized members. Nationwide, the ELCA has nearly 4.5 million members.

Finding a permanent replacement for Johnson could take up to a year or more. An interim synod bishop will likely be appointed in the near future and could serve between six months and a year, ELCA officials say. The synod will hold a special election to find a replacement for Johnson.

John Brooks, a spokesman for the ELCA, said it's not uncommon for bishops like Johnson to leave their posts and return to leading congregations. Johnson, in fact, seems happy to do so.

"Rarely do pastors receive an opportunity to give back to a congregation later in life that has so profoundly shaped their ministry," Johnson said. "Rarely are we able to honor the legacy of a friend, mentor and colleague."

***

GJ - How convenient - to keep Mt. Olivet from bolting. The interim has the advantage of a previous long association with the congregation.

So far, the largest congregations in ELCA have been the ones to leave first. They are more independent in spirit.

Mt. Olivet, with 900 staff, has more employees than most congregations have members.