Classic Ichabod - Pietism Narrative - The Basics

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pietism Narrative - The Basics -
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Spener began Pietism, which was unionistic from the start. He baptized Zinsendorf, leader of the Moravians, who began world missions and profoundly influenced Wesley. See Knapp below.

Philipp Jakob Spener started Pietism with his Pia Desideria (Pious Wishes) in 1675. He wrote a long essay as an introduction to a popular orthodox book of sermons by Johann Arndt, so Arndt's book served inadvertently as a launching pad for Pietism. Spener had already started conventicles or cell groups in 1669. (Pia Desideria, ed. Tappert, p. 13)

Some hallmarks of Pietism are:

1. A heart religion instead of a head religion. Pietists often mention that false distinction.
2. Lay-led conventicles or cell groups, to develop piety through prayer and Bible study.
3. Unionism - cooperation between Lutherans and the Reformed. Spener was the first union theologian (Heick, II, p. 23).
4. An emphasis on good works and foreign missions. "Deeds, not creeds" is a popular motto.
5. Denial of the Real Presence and baptismal regeneration, consequences of working with the Reformed. (Heick, II, p. 24)
6. A better, higher, or deeper form of Christianity rather than the Sunday worshiping church. This often made the cell group the real church, the gathered church.

Spener influenced the ruler to found Halle University in 1694, to teach actual Biblical studies, which had been neglected in favor of ferocious dogmatic struggles between the Lutherans and Calvinists.

August Hermann Francke, (1663–1727)

Francke met with Spener, adopted his program, and got into a world of trouble over Pietism. Spener had Francke appointed to the newly established Halle University. Francke remained there as a professor and pastor of a congregation for the next 36 years. His energy spread the influence of Pietism, both in his charity work (Halle Orphanage) and his Biblical teaching.

Count Zinzendorf with Wesley

Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760) had a profound effect on the spread of Pietism, not only through his contact and friendship with Wesley, but also by being the father of world missions. Methodism is another form of Pietism. The English Methodist George Scott influenced Carl Olaf Rosenius, who founded Swedish Pietism together.

Zinzendorf is also known for his "Come Lord Jesus" prayer and his hymns. Pietistic hymns emphasize the blood of Jesus because of the influence of Johann Albrecht Bengel. (Heick, II, p. 25) Bengel's son-in-law, Burk, may be the inventor of Objective Justification.



The English Methodist George Scott (1804-1874) came to Sweden and worked with Carl Olaf Rosenius (1816-1868), who founded the newspaper Pietisten. The Swedish-American Augustana Synod looked to Rosenius as their patriarch. Augustana taught justification by faith, arguing against the Norwegian Pietists who promoted justification without faith. Two offshoots of Swedish Pietism in America are the Evangelical Covenant and Evangelical Free denominations, both deeply involved in the Church Growth Movement.


Jakob Boehme, radical Pietist

Boehme (1575-1624) illustrates what can happen when someone just starts making up all kinds of things. Today he is called creative. Another radical Pietist was Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687—1752)

Bengel introduced weird ideas about the blood of Christ stored in heaven for justification. His work greatly influenced the Pietistic hymns (Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness) and the theology of Zinzendorf.

Bengel is also famous for his Gnomon, used by John Wesley for his Expository Notes. Does this explain Methodist George Scott-->Rosenius-->Objective Justification? Note Burk below.

Bengel's son-in-law published an expanded edition of one of his works in 1763 - Philip David Burk (1714-1770).

Hoenecke (Dogmatik, III, p. 354-5) wrote this: And Ph. D. Burk (Rechtfertigung und Versicherung, p. 41) rightly said:

The difference between general justification and the more common usage of the term justification can be expressed as follows. The latter takes place precisely upon the appropriation of the former.

Hoenecke added a sentence used as a bromide by all UOJ fanatics: "An emphasis upon general justification is necessary in order to safeguard the material content of the Gospel."

In German, general justification means - each and every one is justified. General seems vague in English, so that is probably why moderns have used Objective Justification and Universal Justification and Universal Objective Justification. All three terms mean what the Brief Statement of 1932 imagines - God declared the whole world free of sin, without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace.
(1932 B.S. - Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven.)

Christian von Wolff (1679-1754)

Halle moved quickly from Pietism to Radical Pietism to Rationalism. Wolff, professor at Halle, exemplified the rationalism which spread to all other German universities from Halle. Frederick William I fired Wolff from Halle, so Marburg University immediately hired him. Wolff eventually returned to Halle, lionized by academics and a favorite of Frederick the Great.

Adolph Hoenecke (1835-1908) studied at Halle under Tholuck, who studied under Knapp. Hoenecke is the principal theologian, perhaps the only theologian, of the Wisconsin Synod.

George Christian Knapp (1753-1825) was a Pietist but very rationalistic. He taught two justifications, objective and subjective, in his Lectures on Theology, published in German in 1789. The Lectures were translated into English in 1831 by Leonard Wood, who was very influential at the time, published and used in many editions in America. The Lectures were still being used at Andover at the end of the 19th century, mirroring the enormous span of years Knapp spent teaching.

Knapp taught Objective and Subjective Justification, in form familiar to Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie:

Here are some statements from the English edition, 8th, 1859, p. 397ff:

The Scripture doctrine of pardon or justification through Christ, as an universal and unmerited favour of God.

1. The Universality of this Benefit

It is universal as the atonement itself...If the atonement extends to the whole human race, justification must also be universal--i.e., all must be able to obtain the actual forgiveness of their sins and blessedness on account of the atonement of Christ. But in order to obviate mistakes, some points may require explanation.

*[Translator note - This is very conveniently expressed by the terms objective and subjective justification. Objective justification is the act of God, by which he profers pardon to all through Christ; subjective is the act of man, by which he accepts the pardon freely offered in the gospel. The former is universal, the latter not.]

The Register, quoted below:

"Dr. Knapp, late Professor at the University of Halle, was born at Glancha,in Halle, on the 17th of September, 1753, and received his early education in the Royal Paedagogium, one of the institutions of the pious Francke. At the age of 17, he entered the university at Halle, and attended the lectures of Semler, Noesselt and Gruner, with more than common success. The Bible was his great object of study, while the Latin and Greek classics still received a degree of attention which enabled him ever afterwards to adorn, enrich and illustrate from classical literature whatever he said or wrote in the department of Theological science. In 1774 he completed his course of study, and in 1775, after a short absence, he began to lecture, at Halle, with much success upon Cicero, the New Testament, and the more difficult portions of the Old Testament. He was appointed Prof. Extraordinary in 1777, and Prof. Ordinary in 1782. He then lectured in Exegesis, Church History, and in Jewish and Christian Antiquities.

On the death of Freylinghausen (1785), he and Niemeyer were appointed Directors of Francke's Institutes; and continued jointly to superintend these establishments for more than 40 years. In the division of duties, the Bible and Missionary establishment fell to Dr. Knapp, which brought him into near connection with the Moravians. The lectures, of which this volume forms a part, he commenced during the summer of the same year."



Tholuck mentored Hoenecke

From Henry Eyster Jacobs:

Only in George Christian Knapp a branch of the old Halle school remained, but reserved and timid, and without any extensive influence. At my [Tholuck's] entrance in Halle in 1826 I found still two citizens who traced their faith to this one deceased advocate of the old school among the clergy." This deterioration, however, was gradual. 

Nevertheless, Knapp supported Unitarian-Universalist arguments.

Friedrich August Tholuck (1799‒1877) also taught two justifications, following the teaching of his own mentor George Christian Knapp.

From the Bethany Lectures:

Tholuck took a personal interest in Hoenecke, as he did with all of his students. He liked to take walks with his students, using the occasion as a time for peripatetic Seelsorge. Tholuck also gave Hoenecke quite a few free meals, which he had sorely needed. 

Hoenecke traveled to America through the offices of a Pietistic missionary society. In Switzerland, his studies of the Confessions and later Lutheran orthodox fathers were doubtless pivotal in making him stronger in Lutheran doctrine.

C. F. W. Walther participated in Pietistic gatherings in Europe and came over with a Pietistic leader, Bishop Stephan.

J-564

"For God has already forgiven you your sins 1800 years ago when He in Christ absolved all men by raising Him after He first had gone into bitter death for them. Only one thing remains on your part so that you also possess the gift. This one thing is—faith. And this brings me to the second part of today's Easter message, in which I now would show you that every man who wants to be saved must accept by faith the general absolution, pronounced 1800 years ago, as an absolution spoken individually to him."
C. F. W. Walther, The Word of His Grace, Sermon Selections, "Christ's Resurrection—The World's Absolution" Lake Mills: Graphic Publishing Company, 1978, p. 233. Mark 16:1-8.

Numb Them Up First - Diaprax

I had the misfortune of stepping on broken glass in the kitchen. The big chunk came out, but glass tends to sliver and fragments do not show up on an x-ray. The podiatrist explained that to me as he prepared to dig for glass and take it out. To operate, all he had to do was spray something on the bottom of my foot to make it numb. In a few seconds he was able to dig around, clean the wound, and find some fragments.

I had to come back, too.

The Lutheran Left works the same way. They numb people up first, then operate to remove the Gospel. Give them the credit they deserve - they have succeeded, decade after decade.

When Paul Kuske, Floyd Stolzenburg, and Roger Zehms started Pilgrim Community Church, some people were a bit shocked. Naturally, Kuske denounced me at a conference meeting for daring to question the dishonesty of the enterprise.

But PCC could find no takers for their generic mission, so they folded. Denying the liturgy, confessions, and hymns, they sank beneath the waves with watery groan, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.

Lutherans used to be shocked at leaders denying the Lutheran name "to be successful." No more. The synods love it and fund it, punishing anyone who objects.

One LCA leader (LCA!) screamed about entertainment evangelism and threw the magazine down from the pulpit during his sermon. In contrast, Roger Kovaciny swore about my paper on the Means of Grace and threw it from his pew during the conference. My essay became the last chapter in Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure.

Readers can look around and see vast multitudes numb about what is going on in their church bodies. If the same things had been out in the open a decade ago, screams of pain would have been heard at headquarters and acted upon. No longer.

The process continues. Numb it up. Diaprax. Look up that term - diaprax.

Two More Boring Conventions To Go - WELS and ELCA Up Next

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/07/26/the-future-belongs-to-religiou

Norma Boeckler presents me with a dilemma daily - how to use her newest graphics.

This one reminded me of that time when America thought church meant worshiping the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I found a Universalist hymnal on the Net that was far more Christian than the pablum being tossed out by Shrinker entertainment gatherings.

First the mainlines pursued political activism, a movement started by a tiny group of men, the Brotherhood of the Kingdom. They were the backbone of the Social Gospel Movement, which invaded America through the National Council of Churches and its mainline denominational supporters.

The Social Gospel Movement was a clever ploy to replace the Gospel with Leftist activism. The more it took over, the faster its congregations pruned up and disappeared. Take stock of the giant Methodist churches near your home. Most are empty. They pioneered the Social Gospel early, women's ordination, gay and abortion activism later.

Lutherans are always a day late and dollar short, to quote Stan Hauerwas. They joined and remain united around the altar to Pan at ELCA headquarters. Missouri and WELS offer pan-denominationalism, pan-ecumenism, pan-sexuality, and pandemonium in doctrine.

The Lutheran solution, once again, is to replace the Gospel with entertainment, Pentecostal pop, and other distractions.

The LCMS managed to hold a convention without facing its seminary student loan fraud. Strange - the Missouri Synod business model is run by graduates of its seminaries, but they defunded their seminaries long ago. That way, every potential pastor gets to borrow money to keep the overbuilt schools afloat, to pay the overpaid professors and excessive administrators. Many of those men are tossed out with partial degrees or completed useless degrees.

The priestly class of the LCMS got their education for very little, with heavy subsidies from mission offerings. Now they skim the offerings for their salaries and benefits. Question that and no call - or perhaps a quick extension of the Left Foot of Fellowship.

Left unsaid - the LCMS (like WELS) does not have a decent seminary professor left. Not one of them can teach basic Biblical, Lutheran doctrine. How many shepherds reward the predator for slaying and scattering the sheep? I do not know of a better comparison for the current state of LCMS-ELS-WELS. But they never resist the temptation to look down on their partner in ministry, ELCA, to make themselves look good.

No.

The three synod presidents who love to work with ELCA should apologize to their members and church workers for the abuse handed out to so many - members, pastors, and teachers alike. My relative worked with a woman who received an ELCA call so she could be the mistress of the senior pastor. She did more than write a letter, the WELS non-solution. She met with the bishop several times. He was deaf to her, so she left church work and became an accountant.

Multiply that example by the hundreds in the Synodical Conference and see how productive that has been in driving people away.

I chose the ELCA example because the ones I know from WELS-ELS-LCMS correspondence are too revealing of the sources, and I keep that information private.

The ELCA-WELS-ELS-LCMS leaders refuse to teach the Gospel and openly despise Luther.

KJV Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do
the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

No wonder the Lutheran leaders shun Luther.

Wisconsin Scandal

The Lutheran Synods Are Aborting the Gospel of Luther While Calling Themselves Lutheran

Cat and ducklings -
just because they are cute.

Daryl Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Worldview Everlasting - Universal Objective Justif...":

Someone seriously needs to make sure that Luther gets the UOJ memos. From his sermon on the fourth Sunday after Trinity, "Some passages convey the spirit and teaching, how we are to appear in God's presence, with nothing but our faith; as the passage: 'Being justified freely by his grace.'" (Sermons of Martin Luther Vol. 4 p. 104, JN Lenker, tr., Baker Book House, 1988.)

***

GJ - This problem reminds me of the abortion industry nestled in the bosom of American medicine. A vast enterprise exists to destroy unborn life, and this runs contrary to human reason, natural law, and most religions. The ancient Hippocratic Oath stated:

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath

Everyone pretends this is not going on, this demonic destruction of life.

So the Lutheran synods, from ECLA down to the micro-minis, teach against justification by faith while calling themselves the true Lutherans, each one better than all the others. 

Like the aborting doctors, cheering social workers, and enabling lawmakers, they turn what they should be doing upside-down and charge everyone a heavy price for it.

What is the single greatest doctrinal achievement of Mark Schroeder during his years as Synod President? 

He got rid of a pastor who was teaching and discussing justification, with the blessing of the District President, Jon Buchholz, who promised to continue the talks with the congregation and conference.

In effect, WELS spends millions of dollars to do one thing - get rid of justification by faith, Luther's doctrine from the Bible, the centerpiece of Lutheran orthodoxy during Book of Concord era.

And this is not just the action of a rogue DP and his smiling SP boss. No - the failing college in New Ulm is dedicated to the Pietistic rationalism of Georg Knapp, Rambach, and Bishop Martin Stephan, STD.

The shrinking Sausage Factory in Mequon is so dedicated to UOJ that they mark clear justification by faith passages as MISLEADING! so their country bumpkin students do not get the idea that anyone ever taught justification by faith.

Mequon graduates are devoted to squashing justification by faith when such notions are murmured in the sacred confines of ministerial gatherings or seminars on how to beat a DUI conviction.

Is this diabolic contrast any different from the promotion of abortion in America? Please identify any differences in the violence of exclusion, shunning, shaming, and censure. The pro-abortion forces may be a little more flexible in allowing a few idiosyncratic dissenters to continue to exist.

The UOJ Storm-Brownies are merciless, humorless, and soulless.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Schori - Wears Hindu Vishnu Symbol on Her

Vishnu can be seen on the left and right of her garment.
I hate to give it a liturgical name, since it is
blatantly pagan - not even subtle.
The yellow hat is hideous, but besides the point.

When the symbol is abstract, the four arms are raised without
the customary symbols. See below.

Vishnu is heavenly blue.
The lower arms hold a mace weapon and a lotus flower.
The upper arms hold a disk weapon and a conch shell.

Vishu in Wikipedia:

In almost all Hindu denominations, Vishnu is either worshipped directly or in the form of his ten avatars, the most famous of whom are Rama and Krishna.^[11] The Puranabharti, an ancient text, describes these as the dashavatara, or the ten avatars of Vishnu. Among the ten described, nine have occurred in the past and one will take place in the future, at the end of Kali Yuga, (the fourth and final stage in the cycle of yugas that the world goes through). These incarnations take place in all Yugas in cosmic scales; the avatars and their stories show that gods are indeed unimaginable, unthinkable and inconceivable. TheBhagavad Gita mentions their purpose as being to rejuvenate dharma,^[12] to vanquish those negative forces of evil that threaten dharma and also to display His divine nature in front of fallen souls.

The Trimurti (three forms) is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva the destroyer or transformer."^[13][14] These three deities have also been called "the Hindu triad"^[15] or the "Great Trinity",^[16] all having the same meaning of three in One. Of the three members of the Trimurti, the Bhagavata Purana, which espouses the Vaishnavite viewpoint, claims that the greatest benefit can be had from worshipping Vishnu.^[17] Vishnu engages in the creation of 14 worlds within the universe as Brahma when he deliberately accepts rajas guna. Vishnu sustains, maintains and preserves the universe as Vishnu when he accepts sattva guna and annihilates the universe at the end of maha-kalpa as Shiva or Rudra when he accepts tamas guna.^[18][19][20] According to this reference, the holy Trimurti is not different from Vishnu.

ELCA PB Mark Hanson and Episcopal PB Kate Schori work together.
WELS and LCMS work with ELCA,
but they are "confessional" and
becoming even more confessional, according Mark Schroeder.

Like pagan Rome,
they tolerate every god except the One True God.

Crimes Being Erased - Start with Martin Stephan and His Enabler - CFW Walther

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Classic Ichabod - SMP Program Star - Crimes Erased...":

Talk about crimes being erased, here's a couple points to ponder:

1) Zion on the Mississippi doesn't mention whether any of the women in Germany or at St. Louis whom Stephan molested were minors (by today's standards), but I'd bet that was the case. Back then women often married as early as 15 years of age, and the law didn't treat offenses against 15 through 17 year olds as more serious crimes, I believe. Would Stephan have been convicted of statutory rape in our day, or child molestation?

2) In what I've read on LCMS history, I've never heard that the women recanted their testimonies against Stephan, and the relatives of these women and CPH all say Stephan was guilty without a doubt, to my knowledge. They even give plenty of evidence that he gave young women syphilis. Yet, Wikipedia's article on Stephan says that they all recanted, and yet his ministerial position was not restored. Even if, in the unlikely event, they recanted, Stephan's position ought not have been restored since St. Paul said that Christians ought not even give the appearance of wrongdoing, and yet Stephan ignored many admonitions from many people (and authorities) not to be alone with young women, especially on long walks out into the countryside, which behavior would make any wife jealous and suspicious anyway. Just because Stephan was a legal Houdini doesn't mean he deserved to keep his clerical calling:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Stephan

Though the women who initially accused Stephan of sexual misconduct later recanted, he was never restored to his position. Following his removal from the colony, he served another congregation, Trinity Lutheran Church, at Horse Prairie near Red Bud, Illinois.

***

GJ - The Stephanites told so many lies about their bishops scandals that the layers are difficult to peel away.

Stephan's main mistress was a single girl, the daughter of members. She came over on the ship with Stephan. The same woman came to live with Stephan after he was exiled to Illinois. She also lived in the same room with him when he went to spas in Germany.

Mrs. Stephan was left at home with all the children (except one), some of them dying from the congenital syphilis that the wandering husband gave to his wife.

The story of the confession after the moving sermon, which was supposedly conveyed to a shocked Walther, was a big fat lie. As the Missourians admitted (Zion on the Mississippi), the adultery was already known so the seal of the confessional was not broken. In fact, the St. Louis residents were all too familiar with the many young women hanging around Stephan's temporary residence (including his mistress). They left for Perryville to escape the condemning looks and the smell of rope dangling from a maple tree.

The riot against Stephan was staged by Walther, and it included only the stooges who went along with the scheme.

The various felonies of Walther have been covered up by the Concordia Historical Institute and the careful editing of Wikipedia, but the facts are available to anyone with mild curiosity.

Classic Ichabod - Why a Signature Bond for Ski?Should All WELS Clergy Work Toward Signature Bonds To Get the Synod To Buy Them a Bar?

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Bishop Burnside Has a Signature Bond for Court, So Why Did Pastor Ski Have a Bond in Milwaukee - Normally To Guarantee a Court Appearance?

Prophetic Ichabod Photoshop - WELS threw Gausewitz under the bus with the Kuske catechism.
Ski threw Gausewitz' father under the bus with his scrotum/oozing Jesus sermon.
Pastor Ski's sermon at the Gausewitz church.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "In the Spirit: Lutheran pastor calls for special o...":

In Joel Hochmuth's case, as soon as it was apparent there was a strong case against him, he was removed from his office by SP Schroeder. In the case of the ELCA bishop, they have surveillance footage of the three felonies, plus a police report and witnesses, yet the assistant bishop said that Burnside "would remain in the elected position." BTW, the ELCA is definitely on the hook since Burnside was on the job when he committed the felonies:

http://www.channel3000.com/news/Man-starts-nonprofit-to-honor-wife-killed-jogging/-/1648/19704400/-/cyflks/-/index.html

Her accused killer, Bruce Burnside, was in court Wednesday, charged with three felonies. He’s a Lutheran bishop who oversees more than 100 congregations in Southcentral Wisconsin. Burnside’s assistant said he’ll remain in the elected position.

As for Burnside, a criminal complaint said a nearby restaurant’s surveillance video showed him speeding down an off ramp, hitting a traffic sign and then Maureen. The complaint said he kept driving and pulled over at a nearby gas station. He denied using drugs and alcohol when a Sun Prairie officer asked him, but his preliminary breath test was .128.

"Clearly, there was no effort to stay there, there was no effort to go back and it’s my understanding that he stayed there or that he was stopped at that gas station by citizens who would not let him leave," said the Dane County Assistant District Attorney Emily Thompson.

He’ll be released Wednesday on a signature bond, but will have to enter a treatment program and follow certain conditions that include no drinking and he can’t contact the Mengelt family.

If Burnside violates the conditions, he'll return to jail and have bail set at $150,000. 

---

http://www.channel3000.com/news/Man-starts-nonprofit-to-honor-wife-killed-jogging/-/1648/19704400/-/cyflks/-/index.html

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. -

"Maureen’s love was the kids; every kid she came into contact with she would connect with," said Kevin Mengelt, husband of the woman killed Sunday.

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Sun Prairie police said a drunk driver struck and killed Maureen Mengelt at the intersection of highways 151 and 19.

There's a growing memorial there for the mother of three and avid runner, who was out on a jog when she was hit.

Her accused killer, Bruce Burnside, was in court Wednesday, charged with three felonies. He’s a Lutheran bishop who oversees more than 100 congregations in Southcentral Wisconsin. Burnside’s assistant said he’ll remain in the elected position.

Since the incident, Kevin Mengelt has been overwhelmed with community support and he’s started a non-profit in Maureen’s name. Donations will go toward local sports and music programs she loved, he said.

“We feel blessed; I don’t feel like I have one family anymore, I have a family of many hundreds,” Kevin Mengelt said.

As for Burnside, a criminal complaint said a nearby restaurant’s surveillance video showed him speeding down an off ramp, hitting a traffic sign and then Maureen. The complaint said he kept driving and pulled over at a nearby gas station. He denied using drugs and alcohol when a Sun Prairie officer asked him, but his preliminary breath test was .128.

"Clearly, there was no effort to stay there, there was no effort to go back and it’s my understanding that he stayed there or that he was stopped at that gas station by citizens who would not let him leave," said the Dane County Assistant District Attorney Emily Thompson.

He’ll be released Wednesday on a signature bond, but will have to enter a treatment program and follow certain conditions that include no drinking and he can’t contact the Mengelt family.

If Burnside violates the conditions, he'll return to jail and have bail set at $150,000.

Burnside is due back in court May 13.

The U.S. Bank off Highway 19 in Sun Prairie is accepting donations in Maureen’s name. Her husband is encouraging people wear tennis shoes in her honor at her Friday funeral services.

Classic Ichabod - Fake Doctorates in WELS - Is There a Real Doctor in the House?

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Is There a Real Doctor in the House?

Paul Kelm, D.Min., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

The Wisconsin sect has always been allergic to earned doctorates, even to honorary ones. Some say it is because the intellectuals like Richard Jungkuntz went liberal, joining the LCMS and eventually the ELCA. Others say it came from the Protest'ant split (long story) where the intellectuals left or experienced the Left Foot of Fellowship.

Lately I have noticed a surge in Dr. titles around the sect.

Long ago, while letting his pal deny it, Larry Olson got a D.Min. from Fuller Seminary. All he had to do was write a paper to get the degree. (And pay some money.)

Dr. Larry Otto Olson, D.Min. Fuller

Dr. Paul Kelm, D.Min. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Dr. Steve Witte - D.Min. - Gordon Conwell.

Dr. John Parlow - D.Min. - Denver Babtist.

Dr. James Witt, D.Min., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Dr. Rich Krause, D.Min., Ohio Ecumenical Consortium. Larry Oh! was his advisor in Church Growth - the bland leading the blind.

David Valleskey, Forrest Bivens, and most of the WELS leaders studied at Fuller Seminary, some Fuller extension, and/or Willow Creek.

Tim Glende and his bartender, Ski, left no stern untoned as they toured the highway of false teachers, from Andy Stanley and Mark Driscoll, to Groschel and Sweet.

Dr. Floyd Luther Stolzenburg, Jr. He lets people call him "Dr" but he never earned the degree. DP Mueller and VP Kuske tried to get him into their sect, but the facts prevented it. Then the Little Sect on the Prairie adopted him and Roger Kovaciny, the Batman and Robin of the Norwegians.

Dr. Waldo Werning. LCMS. Known as Agent X at Christian News, Waldo never earned a real doctorate but always pretended, crowing like a rooster on a dunghill. His favorite dunghill was Fuller Seminary, and they rewarded him with a tin-plated title. He is honorary WELS because he spent so much time selling his Church Growth books to sect officials. WELS DMB chair Wally Oelhaven loved Werning's deep, deep theology and promoted Church Growth without shame or hesitation. Church and Change invited the wise old man of Church Growth to speak, but integrity prevailed for one, brief shining moment.

Dr. Kent Hunter, the Church Doctor. LCMS. He has a seminary degree from an ELCA seminary and a coveted D.Min. from Fuller Seminary. His books are so silly that he makes Werning look profound. They work together, probably trading newly discovered Church Growth principles over the Internet. Hunter was invited to be a key speaker for Church and Change, so he is also honorary WELS. Alas, his invitation was also canceled, but do not worry. He is definitely more popular in WELS than Martin Luther.