Luther on Marriage

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 8 AM Phoenix Time

The Hymn # 277     I heard the voice            4:57

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             Romans 12:1-5
The Gospel           Luke 2:41-52          
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 657            Beautiful Savior             4:24

Days of Faith

The Hymn #130   O Jesus King of Glory   4:49

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 #40     The God of Abram Praise 4:94

KJV Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

KJV Luke 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. 46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Days of Faith

No detail in the Word of God is too minor, for two reasons. One is that this is the Holy Spirit teaching us, so we are going to pay attention to it. The other reason is the concise nature of the Scriptures. Every detail matters, even if we overlook that detail one time or another. That should motivate us to know some passages especially well, as anchors to everything else we learn from the Word of God.

If I know 10 passages quite well and keep learning from them, due to repetition and additional study, the rest of the Word opens up, since everything is in mutual harmony.

I am dealing with some historical issues right now, in the history of American Lutherans. That means finding the contradictions and lining them up in some kind of understandable order. Man’s recording of history is full of contradictions, because “all men are liars.” The ancients often destroyed the statues of previous leaders and removed inscriptions that would have told us more about those times. The Italians tore about the ruins of Rome in their various civil wars. In recent times, Yale professor Marsh tossed aside a brontosaurus skull he did not like and put another skull on it. The one he disliked went with the fossil skeleton but not with his assumptions, so every brontosaurus model after that was completely wrong. In fact, now they say there was no such thing as a brontosaurus. We were touring New England when all the full-scale models were being revised to account for the fraud.

God’s Word is different. Instead of accumulating a list of contradictions, we find the criticisms or alleged problems answered and the harmony growing rather than receding.

KJV Luke 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

Here is one example. Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem every year for 12 years, and Jesus went along. It does not say precisely that He always went along, but that is a safe assumption.

Lenski:

During the childhood of Jesus Joseph and Mary regularly attended the Passover festival at Jerusalem. Every male was originally expected to appear in Jerusalem at the Passover, at Pentecost, and at Tabernacles, Exod. 23:14–17; 34:23; Deut. 16:16; but the dispersion rendered this impossible. Godly Jews, however, made it a point to attend at least the Passover. Women were not required to attend, yet many did, nevertheless, and Mary belonged to this class. We see the devoutness of the parents of Jesus, the kind of a home in which he grew up.

Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Luke's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 161.

This was God sending His Son to Jerusalem year after year. Each time was an opportunity for someone to know more about Him, to believe in Him. The Gospels tell us only what we need to know, but we can gather a lot from those telling details.

The first stage of God’s evangelism was proclaiming the Promise, starting with Genesis 3:15. Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms are full of Gospel.

The second stage included the early revelations, which are the focus of Epiphany, from the Star of Bethlehem to the Transfiguration – all pointing to the glory of the only-begotten Son Jesus.

The birth stories include the cousin Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist, the shepherds, the Wise Men, and the temple figures Simeon and Anna. Before Jesus appeared in the Temple as a young boy He was already proclaimed in various ways.

Someone posed this question, about Jesus or another figure, in two different ways. The issue was, “What would He preach?”

The answer in both cases was, “Repentance.” I thought that was a telling commentary on American preaching, because the New Testament answer is “Faith.”

To paraphrase Luther, these people want to teach cows how to give milk, goats how to skip, and God how to preach. No one preaches the Word better than God, so we should rely on what He has revealed.

The repentance answer makes me cringe because the solution sounds like something we should do, and we are far too prone to convert grace into works. In contrast, faith in Christ is forgiveness, which does not negate the Ten Commandments in the least. The best fulfillment of the Torah comes from following the Word through love of the Savior rather than fear of Moses.

Jesus did preach repentance, repenting of unbelief in Him, the foundational sin.

Since that was a sin, God provided a solution – to present Jesus many times in the Temple, to give many people a chance to have faith in Him, even before His public ministry started.

42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

This shows how succinct the Word is. The entire trip to Jerusalem and the ceremonies in the feast are summarized in one verse. At the age of 12, when Jewish boys often have their bar mitzvah today, Jesus would have been considered a young man, but still junior to anyone teaching at the Temple.

First of all, he was there a week for the festivities. That itself is significant. The Word of God incarnate was worshiping with them. I borrowed a line from a Lutheran woman I visited in Canada. When someone more or less bragged about not going to church, she said, “Are you better than Jesus?” No one ever said, “Yes.” They always said, “No, not at all.” She always added to the denial, “Well you must be better than Jesus, because He was always in the synagogue and you never are. I guess you are better.”

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

Losing track of a child is easy with a large company of people. Children often spend time with their cousins of the same age, or relatives without children who enjoy having someone to watch. But this was God’s plan.

44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

At least one day passed before Joseph and Mary despaired of finding Him. One way of viewing this is that they assumed He would come to be with them at night, or check in at night. That did not happen and Jesus did not turn up anywhere with anyone. The familiar question, “When did you last see him?” would have sent them back to Jerusalem, so Jesus had two days before Joseph and Mary got back to Jerusalem. That was just the start, because they spent three days trying to find Him. God gave the Jewish leaders five days with Jesus in the Temple.

46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

Lenski:

These were ordinary rabbis who were ready to teach at any time; they sat cross-legged on the floor like their pupils (4:20; 5:3; said of rabbi Jochanan, “sitting and teaching in the shadow of a temple house”); there was no terrace, the teaching took place in one of the many Temple halls that were open to all and were used for this purpose.

The teaching perhaps began with one rabbi, and then other rabbis and also auditors gathered to make the scene described by Luke. But it is unwarranted to entitle this scene, “Jesus teaching in the Temple”—Luke says not one word about his teaching. He listened and he asked respectful questions (this is the force of the participle). The next verse implies that he also answered questions. The teaching was not mere lecturing but was interspersed with questions both to and from the teacher. We have no unnatural picture of the lad Jesus like that found in the apocryphal gospels. He is a well-trained boy who knows his place and acts with respect toward these rabbis. But he is indeed intensely interested in all they have to say and eager to elicit more information, for these were more important men than the rabbis he could occasionally hear in Nazareth.

Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Luke's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 163.

Lenski was probably more of a lecturer. Teaching can also be done by asking questions, leading people to discover truth. My ethics teacher used to say, “What was wrong with the Nazis? They were brave, intelligent, well trained.” The class would sit and stare. Simply asking the question started them on a new way to discuss ethics. I used to get students to beat up the British Empire for bringing their culture and Christianity to India and the other exotic ports. Once the class got into full battle mode, I asked them, “Then was it wrong when the Muslims invaded India and did the same thing?”

I would call this picture of Jesus in the Temple one where He was showing great respect but also receiving it. He was allowed to sit with the teachers and share in discussing the Word.

47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

Jewish learning is full of back and forth, by design, and this allowed Jesus to answer questions and to ask them as well. A penetrating question shows as much understanding as a good answer.

Jesus was there to provide a visible answer to the Messianic promises. It is good that we do not have a transcript, or there would be 200 books on that subject alone. Faith began to grow because God gave the Jewish leaders at the Temple a chance to believe in His Son, long before His public ministry began. That answers two questions –

1. Why was opposition to Jesus so intense?
2. Why were so many converted to Christ?

The effort to silence is the surest sign that falsehood is being threatened. Faith grew slowly after His Temple appearance, but the opposition solidified when His preaching and miracles attracted large crowds.

So many want to grab Jesus by the shoulders and tell Him how He should teach. I hear different versions all the time on TV, very little Gospel. I have to assume they think Jesus came to serve as a motivational speaker, to make everyone successful and happy, with all their dreams coming true.

Jesus’ parents were not happy with Him at all. There is no disguising this.

48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

Anger and grief go together. When a child is lost, the first feelings are sorrow. When the answer to the mystery is found, sorrow turns to anger, because “You filled us with grief and terror for days on end, and You were fine.”

49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Here Jesus reminded them of His divine nature and mission. If He did something, it was God’s will and not something to worry them. He was obligated to do His Father’s will and to be concerned with His mission. This Father/Son relationship is fully explained in the Gospel of John.

This must be. Complete faith in Him means always assuming the goodness of God and never questioning it. Although we are prone to work out our own solutions and to imagine we can make those plans on our own, God shows us otherwise, as He did with Jonah.

Jonah was ordered to Ninevah so he headed in the opposite direction and paid an enormous price for a ticket on a fast ship in the opposite direction. God sent a storm to stop the ship and a great sea monster to vomit him on the shores of Ninevah.

So many ministers spend their lives dithering, waiting for the “right time” to be honest about fidelity to the Word. If God wants to move them, He will. If God wants them in the same place, God can manage that too.

God gave Paul Gerhardt all the ingredients to become one of the greatest hymn-writers of all time, starting with his years as a children’s tutor. What looked like a very difficult life, full of loss and tragedy, was the forge of the Gospel in song.

We are like Jesus in the Temple. Each day presents some way in which the Gospel is communicated. We do not have to look for the opportunities, because they come to us. Sometimes it is communicated in Word, sometimes in deed. Faith in Christ means an abundance of both, for His abundance of grace turns into our abundance.

Quotations

"Later on we read that even the most prominent leaders, both Peter and Barnabas, fell into error and all the other Jews with them.  Then Paul alone rose up and rebuked Peter publicly, as he himself writes in Galatians 2:11."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1983, II,  p. 28.           

"For if they [great saints] should at all times be strong in spirit, and experience only joy and sweetness, they might finally fall into the fatal pride of the devil, which despises God and trusts in self."

Sermons of Martin Luther, II,  p. 40.

"But, they say, the Christian church is always led by the Holy Spirit, who will not permit the church to err or go wrong.  To this we answer with what we said before: However good the church may be, it has never possessed the Spirit in as large a measure as Mary, who although she was led by the Spirit, erred nevertheless, so that we might learn from her experience."

Sermons of Martin Luther, II,  p. 27.

"In a word; He will not permit himself to be found either among friends and acquaintances, nor in anything outside of His Word."

Sermons of Martin Luther, II,  p. 43.

"Thus you see, that God can deal with His saints in a way to deprive them of happiness and comfort whenever He pleases, and cast them into the greatest fear concerning that in which they have their greatest joy.  So, likewise, He can again confer the greatest joy."

Sermons of Martin Luther, II,  p. 36.

"Secondly, God permits His saints to suffer these trials as an example for others, both to alarm the carnally secure and to comfort the timid and alarmed...But when we see and hear that God has in like manner dealt with His saints and did not spare even His own mother, we have the knowledge and comfort that we need not despair in our trials, but remain quiet and wait until He helps us, even as He has helped all His saints."

Sermons of Martin Luther, II,  p. 40f.

Revised and Expanded - More Details about the Syphilitic Founder of the LCMS, Martin Stephan, And His EnablerC. F. W. Walther

The story about learning of Stephan's adultery through a confession or two -
pure baloney - and admitted in Zion on the Mississippi.
The Mormon saga is more factual than the LCMS myth.

Chapter 4 – Stephan’s Halle Pietism Became Walther’s UOJ

            The official history of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is full of deliberate, bald-faced lies about its origin. Central to the deception is the C. F. W. Walther mythology, tales and claims that portray him as the American Luther, when he was really the American Pope, a treacherous and criminal usurper, a divisive figure who forced his imprint upon the Synodical Conference. The often-told story is familiar to most conservative Lutherans. The Saxon immigrants came over to America with Bishop Stephan leading them. They suddenly discovered he was an adulterer and forced him out, with the brave and noble Walther taking over and leading them until his death. Although Stephan is always called a false teacher and Walther a champion of Lutheran orthodoxy, with details too murky to decipher, the truth is unsettling.

            Many will portray the facts about Walther as a personal attack, but the truth needs to come out, to set the so-called conservative Lutherans free from the yoke of synod worship and Walther mythology. For too long the statements of Walther have been used to define Scriptural interpretation. His writings have usurped the Book of Concord in the same way that he usurped the position of the bishop he swore to support, the documents he swore to follow in case of a dispute. Walther also set up minions who would repeat his opinions post-mortem until they were established as canon law, best exemplified in the position of UOJ in the Synodical Conference today.[1]

Martin Stephan’s Saga, Pietism and Syphilis

            Martin Stephan had a difficult early life, due to the effects of Roman Catholic persecution of Protestants, which prepared him for future hardships and the leadership of a Pietistic congregation.[2] He was born in Moravia in 1777, and Moravia was a center of Pietism. His pastoral sponsor was a Pietist, and so were his parents. He had to get by on his own for years, but he enrolled at Halle University for two years, 1804-06 “Although the University of Halle was no longer a center of pietism, it remained alive among some students even though rationalism was dominant.”[3]

He finished at Leipzig in 1809, the disruption in his schooling caused by the Napoleonic wars.

He served one congregation for a year and began his ministry at St. John’s in Dresden in 1810.

            St. John’s was a Pietistic congregation with a special charter to continue cell groups or conventicles when they had become suspect. The land for the church came from Count Zinzendorf, one of the superstars of Lutheran Pietism.[4] Stephan gloried in his cell groups, which are the essence of Pietism.[5]

Stephan was not a rationalist. At the time, the two major parties were the rationalists and Pietists. Since the Pietists emphasized Bible study and prayer, they attracted those who found no solace in human reason. Thus anyone who mentioned faith was accused of being a Pietist or a mystic.

Unfortunately, cell group leaders often become bewitched by their power over others. Stephan was unusually successful and well known. In court, testimony from his another woman stated that “among all those who followed Stephan there was the idea that if you entrusted  your spirit to him [Stephan] then you could also give him your body without committing a sin.”[6] Although some of his troubles came from his position as a successful Pietist, his other trials came from his immoral behavior. Accusations came at an early date in his ministry.

The book about Martin Stephan is honest about his problems with adultery, providing a considerable amount of evidence, which was known long before Stephan led 700 people to America “in pursuit of religious freedom.” He obviously wanted more than religious freedom, because he took his mistress, Louise Guenther, and his healthy son to America and left his wife at home – with all the sick children. The society paid for Stephan’s family to travel together to America, but he left them at home. Oddly, that son became the patriarch of some leading LCMS pastors, including one Lutheran Hour speaker, a singular honor.

Even in this age of hedonism, Stephan’s liberties were outrageous and well known. He was often caught taking evening walks with various women. He was investigated by the justice system numerous times. He installed a young woman in the parsonage attic and told his long-suffering wife it was none of her business – he was the master of the house.[7] When he took the cure at the spa, his mistress Louise lived with him. When his wife came to help, she was sent away and walked 20 miles home. The spa and the walks were excused because of his health, but why did he suffer so many chronic complaints?

Martin Stephan suffered from syphilis. He gave it to his wife, and passed it on to some of his children. Syphilis is the great pretender, mimicking one disorder and then another. A sore may appear at the first outbreak, but it goes away, giving false hopes of a cure. The carrier is still contagious even if his symptoms are difficult to discern at any given moment. Anyone with questions about this disorder should consult a physician and read the extensive information (with photos) on the Net. Reading the Stephan book and the Web sources will lead readers to an obvious conclusion.

Previous researchers have come to the same conclusion, but no one wants to admit that Walther and the other pioneers of Missouri Synod followed an obvious adulterer and covert syphilitic to America. The evidence demands this conclusion:

• Primary syphilis erupts with one or more lesions, painless and non-itchy, which go away in about three months. Stephan could have contracted the disorder and passed it to his wife while thinking (or hoping) it was nothing, once the initial lesion went away.
• Secondary syphilis shows itself with rashes, a major problem for Stephan. The rashes made him go for long evening walks and visit the spa for its comforting waters. Syphilitic rashes are very ugly indeed.  The disease attacks various organs, including the liver, brain, eyes and heart. The disease may become latent without treatment, with the rashes going away. The latent period can last many years. Modern medical sources do not agree about the syphilitic being contagious during that time, tempting the person to be careless.
• Tertiary syphilis means obvious neurological and cardiac problems, possible open sores in various parts of the body and on the skin. These lesions are hideous.
• Congenital syphilis is passed from the pregnant mother to the unborn child. Stephan’s wife was sickly and died before he did. Three of their daughters were deaf and had to be institutionalized. Deafness is one symptom of congenital syphilis. Newborns have many obvious symptoms, perhaps another reason for Stephan to leave his innocent children behind – their deformed bodies were a tragic testimony to his misdeeds.[8]
• Stephan was quite ill before leaving for America. He was also ill during most of the voyage.
• The violence of the upheaval against Stephan is not explained by a sudden revelation of adultery by two women, one of them his long-standing mistress, Louise. Historians concede that the colonists did not need to violate the confessional. Instead, it was likely the spread of syphilis in the colony that enraged the men and justified everyone in their violence and criminal actions. [9]
• Stephan’s subsequent decline after sleeping outside one night is another indication of his STD. Exposure would have lowered his fragile immune system and brought on the symptoms with new force. Louise Guenther, moved to Illinois to live with him and help him recover. He did not live much longer.

There must be evidence of the disease in the official record.

            Celestine was the first of three daughters born deaf, and all three were eventually placed in an institution.  The first boy named Martin died at the age of three weeks, the cause not known. A set of twin girls died at the age of six months, in 1831, no cause given. Two daughters grew up and were married, one of them dying young in childbirth.[10] The profoundly deaf daughters probably had congenital syphilis. Perhaps the three who died in infancy were also afflicted.

The father’s symptoms are illuminating. Stephan “suffered particularly from eczema and some kind of liver ailment, especially after 1832 when another set of twins died.”[11] Although the author does not attribute the problems of the children and the “eczema,” the cluster of symptoms certain points to syphilis. He used the nearby baths to soothe his rashes. His mistress Louise Guenther came to spa to help him and wrap his legs daily. His wife and daughters visited him but did not stay there. Louise did. The same woman helped him when he was cast out of the Perry County experiment and forced at gunpoint to cross to Illinois.

Stephan also took evening walks, accompanied by various people. Court records called them the equivalent of groupies. His behavior with various women on these evening walks was the subject of investigation before the great migration to America. He was doubly suspected of conventicle and immoral behavior. The earliest accusation of adultery was 1814, although this seems to have been dismissed or finessed away.[12]

Stephan’s evening walks and stay-overs at inns were also the subject of official investigation and ecclesiastical dismay in 1836.[13] Stephan ignored the obvious problems raised by abnormal behavior and irregular church practices. Like many successful pastors, he seemed immune to charges and oblivious to the damage he was doing. His long-suffering wife Julia testified in 1838 that Martin lived with Louis Guenther at the spa and the vineyard inn. “At present he has disassociated himself from me completely, and although I have offered him my hand in peace and consolation, my efforts in this regard have been in vain.”[14] Julia also testified that Martin installed a young woman named Sophie in the attic, persisting when Julia threw her out and locked the attic. He broke the lock and invited the girl back. The attorneys Marbach and Krause, and a few friends, knew about Julia’s testimony, so the leaders willingly left for America with an adulterous Pietist. Even if many did not know the full extent of Stephan’s promiscuity, his adoption of Louise Guenther as a substitute wife would have been clear to anyone. Julia Stephan’s testimony has been available since 1937, according to Philip Stephan, so the continued myth-making of the Missouri Synod is difficult to excuse.[15]

Stephan was still under investigation and under house arrest before the Dresden group left for America in early 1838.[16] The charges were suddenly dismissed and he was free to go with his groupies. Since the official charges and testimonies included the names of various women and situations, no one could honestly claim that Stephan’s adultery was suddenly and shockingly discovered after a particularly effect sermon. The lawyers Marbach and Krause knew what the testimony was; Marbach and Vehse also helped in kidnapping the niece and nephew of C. F. W. Walther. The Saxon immigration was not so much in pursuit of religious freedom as it was a flight from justice, with the two famous leaders – Stephan and Walther - both involved in criminal activities.

           

C. F. W. Walther the Pietist

            C. F. W. Walther took control from a power-mad, adulterous false teacher—who made himself a bishop— and instituted an era of Lutheran orthodoxy combined with congregational autonomy. That deception is the foundational Missouri Synod myth. The facts contradict this fantasy, which continues to be told to the gullible when they visit the Shrine of the Immaculate Synod in Perry County, Missouri.

            Walther was the opposite of Martin Stephan in many ways. Stephan struggled to survive, after losing his parents and escaping from Roman Catholic persecution. He found work as a weaver, enrolled as a student at Halle University, but found his education broken up by war. Stephan’s early life is shrouded in mystery because of those hardships, but it is known that he lacked the complete classical education of Walther, the son of a pastor.

            Both men identified with Pietism, but this was the late stage of that movement, when rationalism had already taken over Halle University. George Christian Knapp was considered a leftover Pietist when he taught at Halle, but he claimed the Trinity was a post-Biblical development! Tholuck, the mentor of Adolph Hoenecke, confessed that he was a Universalist.  Both professors prove that the remaining conservative side of Halle was midway to consistent Unitarian-Universalist rationalism. The clergy were dominated by rationalist leaders who considered faith to be a sign of Pietism or mysticism, their two derogatory labels for conservatives.  Those who were more conservative felt persecuted, which led to migration to America.

            Walther earned his degree at Leipzig, which was thoroughly rationalistic. His conservatism made it difficult to win approval from the examining board, but his father’s position as a pastor helped him overcome that obstacle. Walther moved among Pietists because he was one. Unfortunately, his guru put him and others through grueling self-denial, leaving him almost dead. He heard about Martin Stephan’s gentle, compassionate leadership and contacted him. Stephan did not practice the same severe kind of Pietism, so his initial letter of consolation brought great relief to the future leader of the Missouri Synod. Walther admitted that Stephan saved his life. Thus Walther and his older brother were drawn into the Stephan circle in Dresden.

            Cell groups are not merely central to Pietism – they are Pietism. Spener borrowed the concept from a Reformed leader, Labadie, who had been Roman Catholic. Those familiar with Roman Catholic devotional circles can recognize the similarity in emotional intensity and subjectivism: praying for hours, repeating the same mantras, and experiencing mystical ecstasy.[17]  Walther moved from the harsher Pietism to Stephan’s milder form. Stephan took great joy in his cell group ministry. The great migration took cell groups to Perry County and St. Louis. Undoubtedly Stephan’s grip on his subordinate ministers came from his spiritual dominance through the cell groups. The senior cell group guru knows the secrets and creates a powerful dependency in his subjects.[18] Lesser cell group leaders also have an inordinate influence over the lives of their charges. Some attribute Walther’s dictatorial attitude and need to control to his German culture. His spiritual birth and re-birth in Pietism probably contributed even more to this dynamic. The dates and activities of the Society show that Walther simply took over control of the group by breaking all the rules he agreed to follow, doing so with deliberate deceit and unprecedented guile.

Kidnapping Two Children from His Father’s Home

            With the help of attorneys Marbach and Vehse, and the connivance of his future mother-in-law, Walther and his brother (another pastor in the group) kidnapped their niece and nephew from their father’s parsonage – while their father was deathly ill. The official Missouri Synod excuse, repeated at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is: “The niece and nephew wanted to go to America.” Both children later died in America, perhaps without seeing their grandfather again. Even if this unrecorded childish wish were true, that would not justify breaking the law, because the grandparents were the legal, court-appointed guardians. Kinship kidnapping makes a mockery of the law, which is why arrest warrants were issued for Walther. His future mother-in-law (Buenger) was arrested and interrogated, because Walther used her to hide the children. The attorneys Marbach and Vehse also helped in hiding the children and getting them to America. Like Jonah, Walther jumped an early ship and wasted money to get out of town fast.[19] His appointed ship was lost with all lives aboard in an ocean storm, crossing the Atlantic. That fact has fueled the ludicrous LCMS claim that God graciously spared the life of Walther to fulfill His great plans for the Missouri Synod.

In fact, many of the most famous names involved in the migration were lawless fugitives: Martin Stephan, C. F. W. Walther, O. H. Walther, the Buenger family, Vehse, and Marbach. The state authorities and church faithful might have been happy and relieved to see them leave the country.

            The entire Saxon migration was well thought out and thoroughly organized. Their plans and regulations were established and printed. Other groups might have collapsed and scattered during the twin crises of house arrest (Stephan) and kidnapping (Walther). The only document left to sign was created and supported on the trip across. Landing in the Bay of New Orleans, the leaders gathered and voted for Martin Stephan as their bishop, which was announced January 14, 1839. Although C. F. W. Walther had resigned his position, he still signed as the “pastor of Brauersdorf.” His brother used a different wording – former pastor. On May 31^, 1939, Bishop Stephan was:

• accused,
• threatened with bodily harm,
• robbed of his money, extensive library, bedding, clothing, chalice, land,
• forced across the river at gunpoint,
• and left at a forlorn cabin with $100 and a few meager tools.

Walther was the leader of the revolt and the myth-creator. When the turmoil was over, he was the new bishop, but without the title. He was everything: in publishing, in teaching, in running the synod, in controlling the ministerium, and in Lutheran synodical politics. He became the American Pope

From Here to Rosebud: Syphilis Exposed

            Philip G. Stephan made a valid point in his book - the Saxon migration suffered from the same leadership crisis that many experienced in organized groups coming to America. Clergy and lawyers were prohibited from the New Ulm, Minnesota group because both professions were too divisive.  As reasonable as the theory seems, the events were far too explosive to be explained by sociology. Epidemiology is the most reasonable explanation. Stephan had an eye for unmarried women, and the leaders knew it.

            The curtain of myth in Zion on the Mississippi slips down to the floor in one admission, where the author conceded that Stephan was up to his old tricks in St. Louis – the same ones he employed in Germany. His female groupies were even more shameless in hanging around his abode. That was bound to attract attention and a possible necktie party in St. Louis. The society was already being lambasted in Europe and America by various periodicals. At first the pastors defended their leader. Soon they changed their tune.

            According to the hagiographers, Pastor Loerber gave such a good sermon on one particular Sunday that two women confessed their adultery to him after the service. One woman was Louise Guenther. The other name is not clearly known.

            Like many synodical cover-ups, this one is full of holes. A casual examination of Stephan’s antics in Dresden, recorded by ecclesiastic authorities and the courts, witnessed by many, shows him to be already known as a promiscuous adulterer. At least one reveals that Walther and Loerber did not violate the confidentiality of the confessional, because the adultery was already known! That is not much of a defense, because it means they all willingly followed an adulterer, a man who abandoned his sick wife and family, and they pledged their allegiance to him as a bishop.

            What changed? In Pursuit of Religious Freedom states that Stephan was quite ill before they left for America. “quotation here” He was also accused of being lazy and not preaching during the ocean voyage.

The most likely change was the period of latency being over just as they came to America. If he were contagious, or far more contagious, an outbreak of syphilis among the tight-knit group would have been explosive and alarming, especially in light of the attacks on them abroad and in St. Louis. The leaders changed from defending him to threatening his life. Syphilitic daughters would do that to anyone. I have confirmation that this information is well known among a few people. The loyalty to Walther was more likely based on his cover story and sparing so many from the shame Stephan brought to their families. Walther took the lead in providing a modified, limited hang-out (a Nixon era phrase), casting all the guilt upon one man, sparing the great enterprise and the reputations of its soiled doves.

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[1] The Synodical Conference officially broke up, but the three synods work together with the ELCA through Thrivent. Their dramatic loss of members and the decline of their schools will soon force some type of merger, although it may be dressed up in different clothes.

[2] Philip G. Stephan, In Pursuit of Religious Freedom, 2008, p. 25f (hereafter cited as IPRF). Martin’s parents died while he was a teen-ager. He and his sister fled home because of Roman Catholic oppression.

[3] IPRF, p. 32.

[4] Zinzendorf’s furtive trip to America (under a false name) caused Lutherans to send Henry M. Muhlenberg to America (from Halle) to serve them in 1741. Zinzendorf, who gave us the “Come Lord Jesus” table grace and two hymns, was controversial but also extremely influential. He was a bridge to Wesley and Methodism, a major influence on the pioneers of the Swedish Augustana Synod.

[5] Cell groups are Pietism, just as yoga exercises are Hinduism. The cell group is the real church, according to Pietists, a rejection of the Means of Grace. “There is also a family oral tradition about the hat drawn in the seal. It was believed that the hat represented the hat that Martin used when he preached. This preaching hat may have represented Herrnhut, which translated into English means ‘the hat of the Lord.’ Herrnhut was always an important place in the Pietist tradition. It was in Herrnhut where two families of Moravian Brethren came to live on the estate of Nicholas Ludwig, called Count von Zinzendorf. The count donated the land for their community that grew and then they built a church on the donated property that was near Dresden…Zinzendorf was born in 1790 only seventy miles from Dresden. He had a profound influence on the ‘awakening’ movement, on Pastor Stephan, and on the Bohemian founders of St. John’s Church in Dresden.”

#31, IPRF. p. 64.

[6] IPRF, p. 105. These records have been available since 1986 at the Concordia Historical Institute, where Dan Preus and Paul McCain have been directors. #18, ibid, p. 109.

[7] His wife kicked the girl out and locked the attic, keeping the key. Stephan broke the lock and re-installed the girl. Sad to say, many church officials imagine they also have the same rights and duties today, and their clergy pals look the other way.

[8] Hutchinson's triad is a common pattern of presentation for congenital syphilis. It consists of:  1. Interstitial keratitis, 2. Hutchinson incisors, 3. Eighth nerve deafness. Hutchinson's triad is named after Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828-1913). http://classictriads.com/hutchinsons-triad

[9] The neurological damage might have made Stephan less capable of dealing with the incredible tensions around him. At least one writer seemed puzzled that someone once so aware found himself uninformed and unaware. On the voyage across the ocean he was accused of doing little work. He also gave a severely critical sermon against his shipmates. Although exhaustion and depression might be understandable at that point, the symptoms also fit his STD.

[10] IPRF, p. 41f.

[11] IPRF, p. 79.

[12] IPRF, p. 82f. Philip Stephan is willing to believe the best about the bishop, but he is also frank about the many recorded situations with women.

[13] IPRF, p. 86.

[14] IPRF, p. 92f.

[15] IPRF, p. 94.

[16] IPRF, p. 102.

[17] Lay cell group leaders soon adopt the posture of being ordained pastors, or even apostles, especially when they are women usurping authority from men. They are eager to destroy anything that gets in the way of their honor, power, and perks.

[18] The struggling new synod kept cell groups for a period of time. Cell groups rose up with a shout again in recent times because the liberal and unionistic leadership chose to unwrap a covert Pietism which never left the Missouri Synod.

[19] Herman Melville’s preacher makes much of this fact, that “Jonah paid the fare” when he grabbed the ship sailing to the farthest corner of the globe, away from Nineveh. A guilt-free passenger would have dickered over the price. KJV Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

WELS - All Your Bibles Belong To Us - Rupert Murdoch, Billionaire

The owner of the New NIV displayed his dishpan hands recently.

The New Pharisees Control the Synods

Luther's insight about religious opposition to Jesus is just as significant today. Jesus taught His followers that righteousness came from the outside, extra nos, not from within. This infuriated the Pharisees, who believed in their own righteousness.

Jesus taught the surging crowds that righteousness came from believing in Him, the Messiah, the One sent from God. As Luther noted, that overturned everything the Pharisees believed, taught, and practiced. That is also why God chose a Pharisee, Paul, to be His most productive apostle. Paul knew about salvation by works. He lived it before His conversion on the road to Damascus.

God has made His plan of salvation so simple that no one wants to teach it. The Holy Spirit works exclusively through the Word to convict the world of sin, the primary sin being unbelief in Christ. The Word of God creates this faith through the Gospel Promises, and believers freely receive what God graciously gives through His Instruments of Grace. Believing is forgiveness, and forgiveness is salvation.

Decades ago I learned that Dow Chemical prevents fires and explosions by replacing oxygen with nitrogen. Nothing will burn in pure nitrogen; explosions are just fires on steroids. One church member pulled nitrogen out of the air and sold it to Dow.

The Olde Synodical Conference supplants the Gospel with works, filling people with despair. They are not good enough. They do not work hard enough for the Kingdom of God. Most of all, they do not give enough money. The solution is simple - they must work harder and give more. The synodical leaders make the original Pharisees look good in comparison. When they are not bragging about themselves, they are running down everyone else.

Every synodical leader despises the other synods, because the others are all defective. And yet, they all work closely together. Do they really despise one another? That is like assuming that the noisy cats in the backyard are really fighting instead of mating. No one can pull the synodical leaders apart, metaphorically speaking, because they have so much in common.

The Olde Synodical Conference - and ELCA - they are all about grace. All their histories are Fifty Years of Grace, etc. Every single person in the world is forgiven, even before birth. Paul Wendland, the NNIV salesman/seminary president, says that is the basis for world missions, telling the startled head-hunters and cannibals they are already forgiven. Luther said, "If you start with forgiveness, they will look at you the way a cow looks at a newly painted fence." But who reads Luther? Luther quotations make the Lutheran leaders apoplectic with anger.

They are all grace, they say, but they are the meanest, most dishonest, and slimiest characters around. Why does the Olde Synodical Conference keep going downhill, in spite of its stance as the alternative to ELCA? Because the ministers and congregations are terrified of the leaders. They do not admit it openly, but their behavior shows it. Anyone who dares depart a millimeter from the grand plans will be punished. Mentioning an issue is a sin. Therefore, people act like the terrified captives in a village run by a bullying little boy - Twilight Zone. No matter how much the officials waste millions of dollars and cover up crime, the trembling pastors say, "but it's a real good thing you did. A real good thing. And tomorrow....tomorrow's gonna be a... real good day!"

They do not trust the Word of God, so they preach the synod instead of Christ. They realize that few care about synod franchises, so they are trusting in generic entertainment services now. Are tattoo parlors around the corner, as AC V suggested? Remember when you thought no Luther pastor would get on a stage in slob clothes and introduce a "really exciting experience for you today"?

What If the Lutherans Tried This - But No One Will

A new version of being sent.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - 2011 - THE YEAR...":


I like this quote from an Episcopalian. The LCMS should consider it. Instead of the seminaries and missions getting what's ever left over after the administration takes out its portion and pays its salaries as it sees fit, the situation should be reversed, and missions and the seminaries ought to be fully funded, and the the administration and LCMS HQ gets whatever is left:

"After a lengthy slide presentation outlining the various Episcopal Church Center departments and offices (all of which have multiple reporting structures), he noted that, as it stands in the current budget process, governance is funded first. He then asked, "What would happen if we reversed that priority, starting with mission?" Based on that, what if, in creating a hypothetical annual budget of $27 million, $19 million of that budget went toward mission and the remaining $8 million toward overhead? (The current budget is closer to $35 million, he noted.)"

The Die Is Cast: WELS Will Adopt and Promote the NNIV

WELS had an ashram at Mequon, inviting various people to discuss how soon they would adopt the NNIV. I was not invited, so I do not know any details.

Wendland and the other synod-minds want their feminist-Universalist Bible, and the NNIV delivers. More importantly, the NNIV jettisons the concept of translating God's Word. From now on the Murdoch Bible will be an exercise in creative writing and free association.

This development is not all bad. The betrayals began in earnest during the 1960s and 1970s. They were well established with Valleskey as the seminary president. The NNIV allows people to look at Wisconsin Sect for what it is.

I can predict this, because it has been already happened with ELCA. The speed of the decline will leave people gasping. The enablers of today will be very sorry to see the radicals take it farther and faster. They will say like the ELCA founders do now, "I never would have voted for this if I had known."

Intrepid Lutherans: NIV Translation Posts Compiled

Feminist Bible paraphrase laced with Universalism?
WELS loves it.
Welcome to mainline heaven, where everyone is forgiven...
except the dissenters.

Intrepid Lutherans: NIV Translation Posts Compiled:

Thanks to one of our friends who has compiled all of our IL posts on Bible translation issues into a single Word document. It's split up below into one file that contains the comments under each post, and another file without the comments. Click on the links below to download.

NNIV Thoughts with Comments

NNIV Thoughts

Another of our friends presented this interesting observation:

I frequently hear advocates of the 2011 NIV use the following argument to give merit to the translation:
95% is the same as the 1984 version 3.5% is better
What then goes without saying is that 1.5% is worse, and that number sounds very small. There are ~775,000 words in the Bible. I’m sure it varies a few hundred from translation to translation. 1.5% is ~12000 words. 12000 words is 15-20 pages, depending on font type and size. So, if one wants to rationalize with numbers, a small number like 1.5% becomes a very big number in terms of words and pages. And I am again reminded of Luther's words regarding purity of doctrine.

GJ - Read all the material and the comments.

'via Blog this'

Lay Blogger Paul McCain Brandishes His Light Pistol

Paul McCain has left a new comment on your post "Breaking News Is Always Here":

We all know how proud Mr. Jackson is about his "page views" but would somebody please let the poor fellow know that "page views" mean, well, basically squat, and if he had actually bothered to read Pastor McCain's blog post carefully he would have discovered there is a big difference between page views and daily unique visitors.

Ichabod is a little tiny fish in a big old pond and Jackson is but a tiny little frog who keeps chirping, "Pay attention to me! Pay attention to me!"

The old bedroom preacher at it again.

Oh - How Pukey Cute - MURRIETA: Pastor loses football bet | Breaking News | PE.com - Press-Enterprise

MURRIETA: Pastor loses football bet | Breaking News | PE.com - Press-Enterprise:


A pastor presided over services Sunday in a San Diego Chargers jersey and a skirt.
It was the result of a bad bet.

Pastor Chris Deknatel, of Promise Lutheran Church in Murrieta, is a diehard fan of the Baltimore Ravens. In the week before his team took on the Chargers on Dec. 18, he was confident in a Baltimore win, church member Chris Groll said in an email.

So Groll made a bet with his pastor.

If the Ravens won, Groll would wear a skirt and Ravens jersey to church on New Year’s Day.
If the Chargers, won the pastor would wear a skirt and a Chargers jersey during his sermon.
The Chargers won their third straight game that night, beating the Ravens 34-14.

Deknatel paid off the bet Sunday and preached a sermon on humility. He donned the dark-colored skirt and a blue Drew Brees No. 9 jersey and posed for photos afterward with church members wearing San Diego Chargers garb.

“Promise Lutheran Church has the best pastor around,” Groll said.


'via Blog this'

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El Cid has left a new comment on your post "Oh - How Pukey Cute - MURRIETA: Pastor loses footb...":

Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I am a long-time reader of this blog, confessional Lutheran, and vice chairman of Promise Lutheran Church.

A commenter in the local paper noted: "This short piece does not show the impact that this simple bet had on this pastors congregation. Was it in fun? Yes. Life should not be all serious, as we live in God's Grace and Mercy, not under the law. But what was even better was the lesson on humility that came along with it. We all have fallen short, and should not condemn ourselves nor others, as God does not condemn us, but sent his Son to save US! Where is the problem in taking a simple day-to-day occurrence and teaching many others about His Saving Grace, instead of condemnation? For no one person is above any other, so should they not put themselves, nor allow others to put them above anyone."

Regarding our altar/chapel and your readers' criticism: We are in a California county ravaged by double-digit unemployment and an historic real estate collapse. Our altar and furnishings were made out of love by our members and staff. And our meeting area is the common space of our preschool.

I assure you that our doctrine is sound and consistent with the Bible and the Book of Concord. Our assembly is one dedicated to the love of God, one another, and the building-up of the Lord's Church. Our Pastor teaches the Word correctly and administers the Sacraments rightly.

The Good News of Christ is proclaimed at Promise Lutheran Church.

I can be reached at montemail89@gmail.com.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Anthony Monteforte

***

GJ - Cute gimmicks are the notae of Arminians. Lose the praise band and the cross-dressing, and we can talk.

VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - 2011 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW

VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - 2011 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW:

2011 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW

By David W. Virtue 
www.virtueonline.org 
January 4, 2012

It was a year that most Episcopalians and Anglicans were glad to see the back of.

LITIGATION

Litigation remained the hallmark issue in 2011 for the Episcopal Church. Four dioceses found themselves in a continuing broad battle for parishes and properties in the dioceses of Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, Ft. Worth and Quincy. Individual property battles continued to rage from Southern California to Connecticut. Seven Virginia churches valued at nearly $40 million, returned to the Fairfax County Circuit Court in 2011 after being remanded by the Virginia Supreme Court. The battle brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia against CANA, the US branch of the Anglican Province of Nigeria, will go well into the New Year.

The Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Adams County, Illinois, denied motions for summary judgment brought by TEC and the rump diocese of Quincy, which had intervened to join in the Episcopal Church's counterclaim against clergy and laity who held property and funds in trust for the missionary Diocese of Quincy in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

This is the first summary judgment motion lost by TEC in their attempts to seize the property of the four dioceses - San Joaquin, Ft. Worth, Pittsburgh and Quincy - which have realigned with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and with the Anglican Church in North America.


In Pittsburgh, eight years of property litigation involving the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh ended, but most parishes that broke from the Episcopal Church still face negotiations over their buildings.

PITTSBURGH

The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, which had argued that it owned the property, decided it would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Anglican Archbishop Robert Duncan turned over $20 million in centrally held assets, but individual parish properties remain the main object of dispute under terms of a 2005 legal agreement that required negotiations for it. The Episcopal diocese has about 9,000 members in 29 parishes. The Anglicans have about 20,000 members in 74 congregations.

Bishop Kenneth L. Price showed little interest in settling any property action that did not resolve his two issues - how much money he could squeeze from each parish and his disallowance by any parish leaving to align themselves with another Anglican jurisdiction. For orthodox Anglican parishes these have been bitter pills to swallow. If settlement agreements fail, they will walk and he will be left with lots of empty, unsalable properties. The issue will be whether greed and cupidity triumphs over common sense. He's already lost over two thirds of all the diocese's parishioners.

Just as the year ended a sneak attack took place by Episcopal leaders of Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh. They declared themselves to be the sole owners of the church. Up to this point, the Cathedral had been in a shared governance arrangement between the Anglican Diocese under Archbishop Robert Duncan and the Episcopal diocese, a symbol of civility amidst the property battles going on around the country.

Then it all suddenly changed. In an 11-7 decision, taken with the three Anglican members of the cathedral chapter absent, the Episcopalians made a stealth grab for the property. The provost of the downtown cathedral, the Rev. Catherine Brall, who first proposed the shared arrangement, said it was a great idea but, unfortunately, humans being what they are, it was difficult to put into practice. "We gave it three years to work, and it just wasn't working."

Not surprisingly, no one on the Anglican side was informed in advance that the vote would take place. "I don't think anyone on our side was surprised that it happened, but we were surprised at when it happened, that it was right before Christmas," said David Trautman, spokesman for the Anglican diocese. So much for the vaunted doctrine of Episcopal inclusion and diversity.

FT. WORTH & SAN JOAQUIN

Litigation in Ft. Worth and San Joaquin dioceses continued apace and promises to be a long drawn out battle that will go well into 2012. Millions of dollars worth of property are at stake. In 2011 The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin elected a new bishop, Eric Menees, who will continue the property battles fought for many years by now retired Bishop John-David Schofield.

Total legal fees for both sides, already well over $20 million, are expected to double or more before the dust settles.

Both sides in the fight for properties have taken four positions. The first is that the parish simply ups and leaves without a legal battle handing the check book and keys over to the bishop who then must figure out what he will do with the near empty parish property. More often than not, the parish is demoted to a mission status and held together by a retired priest. A second pathway is an amicable arrangement between the parish and the bishop such as we saw in the Diocese of New Jersey where Bishop George Edward Councell settled with the CANA parish in Helmetta allowing them to purchase the property at fair market value. All parties parted amicably. A third pathway is to fight to the death. We are seeing this in the Bishop Seabury parish in Groton, CT, with the feisty Fr. Ron Gauss and parish who are prepared to go all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary to keep the property they paid for. A fourth option is to fight in the lower courts, lose to the Dennis Canon, end the battle and the congregation and priest walk solemnly away. This happened most recently at Christ Church, Savannah, with the lawyers being the only winners.

For a more comprehensive picture and highlight in Church Legal News for 2011 click here:http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-highlights-in-church-legal-news.html

SOUTH CAROLINA

It was a year when the Diocese of South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence came under close scrutiny from his fellow Province IV bishops who invited him to attend a meeting in Charleston, South Carolina to discuss the recent issuing of quitclaim deeds by the bishop and the Standing Committee to parishes of the diocese. 

Gracious hospitality and collegiality characterized the gathering along with what was described as open, honest, and forthright conversation. The bishops did not agree on all matters discussed and the future was a matter of prayer and ongoing engagement, they said. Translation. Gracious hospitality will not last long. Lawrence will not be allowed to get away with this. This is just the beginning of opening skirmishes between Lawrence and his fellow bishops with the ecclesiastical eye of Katharine Jefferts Schori and her legal beagle David Booth Beer never far from the fray.

WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL & BISHOP BUDDE

An earthquake briefly shook the East Coast with the Washington National Cathedral taking the brunt of the moving tectonic plates. As no other building came in for such a hammering, was God trying to get through to the new Episcopal owner? No other church suffered as much damage as did this symbol of Episcopal inclusion. In the midst of the chaos, the Diocese of Washington's spiritual tectonic plates moved even further to the left when the diocese consecrated a woman priest, Mariann Budde, who made enough crazy statements to make one wonder if she was ever a Christian let alone a bishop. Perhaps she will start a new TV sitcom "Angry Bishops" starring Bishop Dixon, Bishop Harris, Bishop Glasspool and PB Jefferts Schori.

She began one service with "In the name of God..." but conveniently forgot the other two members of the Trinity, which left bewildered listeners wondering if she might have had another god in mind.

She quoted her New Age master, David Whyte. In one sentence, Budde talked of "Jesus and all of the great spiritual masters before and after him." Jesus Christ becomes one of many spiritual masters and, for Budde, one not to the level of her chosen master. She used Whyte's words throughout the sermon. To show how deeply Budde is engaged with New Age spiritual practices, she revealed her own use of autosuggestion, a mental technique discovered in the late 19th century. Outgoing Bishop John Chane got his nose out of joint when he learned that she would take over his interim responsibilities at the cathedral following the resignation of Dean Samuel Lloyd who departed washed up and burned out.

ANGLICAN COVENANT

The Anglican Covenant continued coursing its way through the Anglican Communion like floundering wildebeest crossing a crocodile-infested African river.

Mrs. Jefferts Schori said in her book The Heartbeat of God that the Covenant is past its shelf life, which pretty well guarantees that it is dead on arrival at GC2012 where it will be hotly debated with much faux outrage at a disciplinary section and then soundly rejected. Some six provinces have "approved" or "accepted" the Anglican Covenant. The Province of South East Asia has "acceded" to it, The Church of Ireland "subscribed" to it. Six provinces are in various stages of debate and ratification or rejection.

At its recent November meeting in Asunción, Paraguay, the Executive Committee of the Province of the Southern Cone of America voted to approve the Anglican Covenant. The Province views the covenant as a way forward given the difficult circumstance of watching certain Provinces of the Anglican Communion propose novel ways of Christian living in rejection of Biblical norms. That's putting it nicely.

"In response to these novel practices the Southern Cone had held churches in North America under its wing for some time while the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) was formed. However, the Province has not maintained jurisdiction over any local churches there for over a year. As a result, all so called 'border crossings' by any provincial members ceased (as of October, 2010) even though the Southern Cone still remains in impaired communion with US and Canadian Provinces. It is hoped that the Covenant can now provide Communion stability," said a press release.

According to the website maintained by "No Anglican Covenant: Anglicans for Comprehensive Unity", all thirty-eight provinces (national and regional churches) of the Anglican Communion have been asked to adopt an agreement, the Anglican Covenant (or Anglican Communion Covenant), which sets out a process for dispute resolution among Communion churches. A Disciplinary Section IV has had liberal provinces kicking and screaming about orthodox provinces lack of inclusion of pansexuality, which is pretty well the death knell on the Covenant, though a number of orthodox and liberal theologians painfully hang on to the delusion that it will be the tie that binds.

The "Comprehensive Unity" group concluded with this sentiment, "Rather than bringing peace to the Communion, we predict that the covenant text itself could become the cause of future bickering and that its centralized dispute-resolution mechanisms could beget interminable quarrels and resentments." 

The approval process could still take years as it winds its way through the provinces long after Williams has gone. The Episcopal Church's Executive Council will offer a resolution at General Convention rejecting the Covenant.

JEFFERTS SCHORI & BEDE PARRY

Mrs. Jefferts Schori came under intense scrutiny in 2011. The Case of Bede Parry, a former Roman Catholic monk who was received into TEC by her when she was Bishop of Nevada, rocked the blogosphere when he admitted sexually abusing a minor and would be a repeat offender if the right situation offered itself. "I made the decision to receive him," Jefferts Schori said in a statement, "believing that he demonstrated repentance and amendment of life and that his current state did not represent a bar to his reception."

Parry was forced to resign from All Saints' Episcopal Church in Las Vegas where he was an organist when a civil lawsuit was filed alleging that he abused a minor in 1987. Parry was a monk and choir director at Conception Abbey in Conception, MO. Current Nevada Bishop Dan Edwards spun his boss's failings saying Parry has not been accused of wrongdoing since his Episcopal ordination. 

A psychiatrist's report said Barry would abuse again. Based on that knowledge, she should not have even considered him. She apparently gave no thought to the abused kids only to the pederast Parry. The House of Bishops considered no reprimand or investigation of her behavior.

VOL writer and correspondent Sarah Frances Ives dove into Jefferts Schori's faith (what she really believes), the role of TEC and the Anglican Communion. Some of the choice comments found in her book The Heartbeat of Godinclude calling Jesus both a Hell's Angel gang leader (115) as well as a "party animal" (4). She also believes that Jesus is one of the prophets who pointed out a few things and is not the only begotten Son. (And you wonder why four bishops fled to Rome and others to form AMIA, CANA and ACNA).

GENE ROBINSON

V. Gene Robison, the homogenital Bishop of New Hampshire who discovered a higher power after admitting he was an alcoholic, announced he would retire in 2013. Apparently, he can make more money on the lecture circuit than in dealing with pesky going-out-of-business parishes in his declining diocese.

Since 2003, his consecration has continued to pour salt on open wounds in The Anglican Communion, barely avoiding outright schism. Recently, the Province of the Sudan's Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul excoriated TEC over its failure to discipline Robinson and its continued acquiescence to pansexuality in the consecration of lesbian bishop Mary Glasspool. The outcome of his theological rage resulted in the orthodox archbishop publicly disinviting Jefferts Schori to his country. He blasted her saying "it remains difficult for us to invite you when elements of your church continue to flagrantly disregard biblical teaching on human sexuality". Preach it, bishop.

If and when the Church of England embraces women bishops (which now seems very likely) and fails to offer any safe harbor for evangelical and Anglo-Catholic priests, (who reject such an innovation), another rending tear will be visible in the fabric of the communion.

TWS & OWS

Trinity Wall Street (TWS) and Occupy Wall Street (OWS) met in a "money changers in the Temple" moment. The richest church in the world encountered the 99% in what started out as a mutual admiration society and then broke down after the occupiers were evicted from Zuccotti Park. OWS tried to get TWS to allow them to use a vacant lot owned by the church known as Duarte Park. The church declined, calling the proposed encampment "wrong, unsafe, unhealthy and potentially injurious." TWS apparently was not prepared to spring for porta potties.

Among those arrested for civil disobedience were retired Bishop Suffragan of the Armed Forces, Bishop George Packard and several others, including two Episcopal priests for trespassing as he and they climbed a ladder and scaled the fence that surrounded Duarte Park. Packard wrote on his blog, "I am still baffled that the Episcopal Church of which I have been a member all my life could not--through Trinity--find some way to embrace these thousands of young people in our very diminishing ranks. Every year for the last five years we have lost 14,000 members, he moaned. How hard would it have been for Trinity to convene legal counsel and say, "Give us some options so that a charter could be granted over the winter months?"

"We need more; you have more," one protester, Amin Husain, 36, told a Trinity official. "We are coming to you for sanctuary." Ah, yes–you have money, and we want some. This is the essence to which leftism can always be reduced. The church's status is as a real estate titan. TWS discovered to its horror that it had nurtured a viper (OWS) in its bosom.

Both New York Episcopal Bishop Mark Sisk and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori wrote public letters in support of the church's action. Archbishop Desmond Tutu even weighed in on the side of the church. This all happened as the Christmas season was in full swing. The irony should not be missed. 

In London, the Dean and Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral resigned over the decision by the Cathedral to deny access of the London Stock Exchange occupiers to the Cathedral, which brought a strong response from London Bishop Richard Chartres who decried it. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave an incomprehensible response to the whole fiasco that no one understood.

ROWAN WILLIAMS

On the international front, Dr. Williams got publicly humiliated a second time (the first was at the Lambeth Conference 2008) when a third of his primates failed to show. It happened again in Dublin, Ireland where the mostly same group of primates, who represent more than 75% of the Anglican Communion, were a no show. Those that came lit candles and put them on the chairs of those who did not. Little or nothing of consequence was achieved in Dublin. In short it bombed. Dr. Williams was forced to blow out the candles.

When looters and arsonists broke out in England's cities, Williams responded by saying that they were the socially excluded victims of society's rage. We must make them feel "safe and loved". We must give the poor, sad, underprivileged and misunderstood "youngsters", who were left with no alternative but to burn the shops, as many "role models" as they want. Not that they seemed to be asking for role models, by the way, being content enough to avail themselves of basketsful of iPods, mobile phones and designer shirts and trainers. We must compel them to have role models. Williams made no suggestion that the churches might be to blame for not preaching the 10 Commandments, adhering to law and civil behavior with his clergy ardently preaching the gospel for the looters' salvation.

No other archbishop in recorded history has been so publicly ridiculed and mocked for his positions. Whole blogs are devoted to satirical essays on his various positions. Can one imagine such ridicule aimed at archbishops like Cranmer, Coggan or Ramsey?

One wag ran a headline in his blog: RESOLVED: ROWAN WILLIAMS SHOULD NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO PUBLICLY SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL.

He concluded with these lines: "I don't know why Dr. Williams keeps on doing it. I don't know why he keeps on trotting out the same old tired bromides about this or that social problem. Because he's an academician and clichés are all he knows? Could be. But it could also be that Rowan Williams really isn't as intelligent as people seem to think he is?"

Then the Telegraph newspaper broke the story that Williams was thinking of resigning. Lambeth Palace neither confirmed nor denied the story, but Williams did send a representative to Quito, Ecuador where the TEC HOB was meeting to inform them that the press leak had no substance. 

TEC, SAULS & MONEY

TEC found itself running short of money owing to the tens of thousands of departures and the deaths of aging WASPS with money. Smaller double-digit congregations are finding it difficult to keep the doors open and the heat on.

As a result, at the September meeting of the House of Bishops, Stacy Sauls, former bishop of Lexington and now the new COO of The Episcopal Church, gave a power point presentation, which said, in essence, that TEC must stop its profligate ways, tighten its belt and prepare for leaner days.

After a lengthy slide presentation outlining the various Episcopal Church Center departments and offices (all of which have multiple reporting structures), he noted that, as it stands in the current budget process, governance is funded first. He then asked, "What would happen if we reversed that priority, starting with mission?" Based on that, what if, in creating a hypothetical annual budget of $27 million, $19 million of that budget went toward mission and the remaining $8 million toward overhead? (The current budget is closer to $35 million, he noted.)

Is anybody listening? The trouble is that TEC, being a highly democratic institution, except when it comes to endorsing the faith, met Saul's angst with resistance from the President of the House of Deputies, Bonnie Anderson.

Others noted that Sauls' proposal was made without any consultation with any of those 75 commissions, committees and boards or 46 Episcopal Church Center's departments and offices. Sauls offered the bishops a "model" resolution for each diocese to submit to the 77th General Convention in 2012 for consideration. The model resolution would call for a special commission to be charged with "presenting a plan to the church for reforming its structures, governance, administration, and staff to facilitate this church's faithful engagement in Christ's mission."

One wonders if, in the light of this, the big news at GC2012 will be the budget with rites for same sex blessings running a distant second.

STANDING COMMISSION ON LITURGY & MUSIC: SAME-SEX UNIONS

On that score, the Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) released educational materials and other information surrounding its plan to ask General Convention to authorize a three-year trial use of proposed rites for blessing same-sex unions.

During that same time period, the church also would reflect on its understanding of marriage in light of changes in both societal norms and civil law if convention agrees to a related resolution the commission will propose, according to the Rev. Ruth Meyers, SCLM chair.

According to Meyers, the 18-month process included "a wide consultative process" with "input from a number of people" before being ready to present the final draft to the church of a three-year trial use of proposed rite of blessings and more conversation about the civil and spiritual nature of marriage and blessings.

TRANSLATION: The Episcopal Church will propose and pass resolutions on same-sex marriage and redefine 6,000 years of biblical history, teaching, theology, reason and revelation on marriage just to satisfy the sexual tastes of a handful of Episcopal pansexualists who insist they have it right when the vast bulk of Christendom disagrees with them.

CONTINUING CHURCHES

The Continuing Church movement, which has its origins in the 1977 St. Louis Convention, met twice in 2011, first in Victoria, BC and again in Massachusetts demonstrating real signs that the major players like the ACCC, ACA, ACC and APCK, (with several coming under the TAC umbrella) want to heal the breach of nearly 35 years of Anglo-Catholic fragmentation. It was a bold move led, largely but not exclusively, by Brian Marsh, Presiding Bishop of the Diocese of the Northeast, Anglican Church in America. He represents a new generation of Continuing Anglican leaders more committed to unity than territorial fights and splits.

Archbishop Mark Haverland of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) noted that Women's Ordination still remained the dividing issue between Continuers and the ACNA and was a stumbling block to full Anglican unity. He said the Pope's Ordinariate offer served as an unintentional instrument of unity among Anglo-Catholics.

The head of the Continuing (TAC) Anglican Church in Southern Africa, Michael Gill told listeners at Massachusetts world conference of Anglican Continuers that unless they made evangelism their top priority, they would go out of business even as they uphold the traditional faith of the church. 

TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN COMMUNION

The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) came unraveled when its leader, John Hepworth, was asked to step down as archbishop and Primate after he learned that the vast majority of his people around the world had no intention of going to Rome and had lost faith in his leadership. A vote in the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) College of Bishops called for his immediate removal from office. There were no votes in support of his staying as Primate. Hepworth, in turn, accused three Roman Catholic priests of sexually abusing him years earlier. When the dust finally settled, he was gone and Rome was not interested in him except as a layman.

AMIA SPLITS

A truly sad note this past year was the split in the Anglican Mission in the Americas. As of the time of this writing, things are still somewhat up in the air. The central issue is the formation of a Missionary Society, long in the works, advocated by Bishop Chuck Murphy. A change in leadership in Rwanda from Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini to Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, plus allegations of money misuse, caused an implosion in the (AMIA) missionary movement that split from The Episcopal Church more than a decade ago. Nine AMIA bishops quit the African Anglican province and the Anglican Communion with two remaining under the Archbishop of Rwanda. The likely winner in all this is the ACNA. Archbishop Robert Duncan issued a pastoral letter stating that reconciliation between the breakaway bishops and Rwanda was a condition for further talks that would allow the breakaway bishops to find a new provincial home.

We will know more when the AMIA meets next week in Houston at their Winter Conference. VOL will be present for this conference. 

The bishops of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America affirmed their missionary status under the Anglican Province of Nigeria. CANA (birthed in 2005) will retain 'dual citizenship' in the Anglican Church in North America. The bishops rejoiced in the recent creation of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic where many clergy and congregations continue in their relationship with CANA. Bishop Martyn Minns reaffirmed that CANA is a missionary jurisdiction and that CANA's core ministry is to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit transforming lives and communities across North America. 

The bishops discussed a recent decision of the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria, making provision for the creation of CANA missionary dioceses in North America. CANA's Chancellor, Scott Ward, Esq., briefed the bishops on progress towards the formal inauguration of the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity which is to be led by Bishop Amos Fagbamiye.

ACNA itself ended the year with some 100,000 Anglicans in nearly 1,000 congregations across the United States and Canada. 

ORDINARIATE ESTABLISHED

An Ordinariate was established in the US on Jan 1. 2012. (One had already been established in the UK in January of 2011). VOL broke the news of the Ordinariate in December 2011. This was the last event of 2011 while the event itself took place in 2012. The establishment of a personal Ordinariate by the Pope for disaffected Episcopalians was years in the making. Heading this equivalent of a nationwide diocese in the United States is former Episcopal bishop Jeffrey Steenson. Those joining the Ordinariate will be full-fledged Catholics and expected to show allegiance to the Pope, but will be allowed to retain liturgical practices from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Episcopal priests who are married will be exempted from the Catholic requirement of celibacy, though they may not become bishops.

Of this past year, one can only say that, for the most part, it was truly disastrous; 2012 promises not to be a whole lot better. GC2012 will bless same-sex unions with Rites. The only issue will be its forced implementation in dioceses, much like women's ordination. The ACNA will continue to grow, slowly but surely over time displacing TEC as the authentic voice of Anglicanism in North America.

The Episcopal Church will ratify the full range of sexualities - LGBTQI - thus putting it totally outside mainstream Anglicanism alienating itself still further from the Global South whose leaders publicly attacked TEC for its alien sexual abominations. The Church of England Synod will consider both the appointment of women to the episcopacy and the acceptance of The Anglican Covenant. New voices are being raised in CofE circles about the growing need for evangelism in England as its church numbers decline.

Those remaining orthodox dioceses in the Episcopal Church will be forced to make uncomfortable decisions if TEC ratifies and then demands that dioceses perform same sex marriages. The consciences of bishops like Bill Love (Albany), Mark Lawrence (South Carolina) and Gregory Brewer (Central Florida) - to name but a few - will be tested to the hilt.

2012 will be a nail biting year and a very rough ride for bishops, priests and laity with consciences who still wish to be faithful to Scripture and the gospel above all else.

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