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| 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.
[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.
