The First Synodical Conference Lie - "We Didn't Know Stephan Took His Mistress Along and Left His Dying Wife and Children at Home!"

Bremen, Germany to New Orleans
21 January 1839

DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI - PORT OF NEW ORLEANS

I, H. W. Exter master of the Ship Olbers do solemnly sincerely & truly swear that the within list signed by me & now delivered to the Collector of this district contains the names of all the Passengers taken on board of the Said Ship at the Port of Bremen or at any time since and that all matters therein set forth are according to the best of my Knowledge & Belief just & true & I do further swear that Two of the Said Passengers died on the voyage.

Sworn before me this 21st Jany 1839 ~~ [signed] J. W. Exter-Master

List of Passengers on board of the bremer Ship Olbers H. W. Exter My bound from Bremen to New Orleans

Columns represent: Passenger number, Name, Relationship to the head of the family, Last dwelling place, Occupation, Age, Died on the voyage.

Cabin

  1  Martin Stephan                          Dresden         Preacher         61
  2  Martin Stephan                his son   Dresden                          16
  3  Theodore Julius Brohm                   Dresden         Candidate        30
  4  H. S. Fischer                           Dresden         Merchant         40
  5  Julie Fischer                 his wife  Dresden                          32
  6* Louise Gunther   (#1 Mistress)          Dresden                          32

  7  Gustav Jaeckel                          Dresden         Cashier          32
  8  Francis Adolph Marbach                  Dresden         Attornay (sic)   40
  9  Louise Marbach                his wife  Dresden                          34
 10  Gustav Marbach                his child Dresden                          11
 11  Clara Marbach                 his child Dresden                           6
 12  Victor Marbach                his child Dresden                           5
 13* Martin Marbach                his child Dresden                           2
 14  Eduard Vehse                            Dresden         Recorder         35
 15* Mathilde Vehse                his child Dresden                           9
 16  Hermann Walther                         Dresden         Preacher         29
 17  M. Emil Julius Moritz Wege              Dresden         Candidate        38
 18  Sophie Schneiderin                      Dresden                          40
 19* Fred Loeschner                          *Konigsbruck    Painter          44

LutherQuest Outlines Some of the Many Lies about LCMS History. Helpful Notes Added in Red

Rick Strickert (Carlvehse) Senior Member Username: Carlvehse Post Number: 6499 Registered: 10-2003

Posted on Monday, July 04, 2016 - 3:05 pm:       The LHM website contains several videos, including "WTC - History of LCMS." This video is a yet another sad example of the SPIN-DOCTORING, HISTORICAL-REVISIONIST (and DISHONEST) FAIRY TALE told about the Missouri Saxon immigration: The picture of the ship shown at the beginning of the video is not any of the five Stephanite-carrying ships, which were mostly barques (or barks), characterized by square-rigging on the foremast and mainmast and fore-and-aft rigging on the mizzenmast. The (ill-fated) Amalia was a smaller schooner. However, the Olbers, on its maiden voyage, was a ship with square rigging on all masts. Full-rigged ships (as the one shown in the video) had all square-rigged masts with a gaff sail on the mizzen mast. Also the Saxon ships were German and did not fly the American flag as shown in the painting. In fact, the ship shown in the video is the Oneco, an American ship built in 1839, with its maiden voyage on March 15, well after the Saxon had reached St. Louis. (The Oneco sank in 1855.) Martin Stephan was NOT a pastor when he sailed from Bremen with 700 Stephanites. Stephan had been suspended as pastor on November (Walter Forster, Zion on the Mississippi, p. 102). He took his mistress and one son along - but not his dying wife and children. Stephan had not made an enormous impact in Germany, but more in the Dresden area by sheepstealing, Already in 1831, Stephan and his disciples were becoming known as a sect (Zion, p. 75). In October, 1838, Stephan had been charged with improper conduct with a servant girl, and formal complaints by his congregation for immoral personal life, neglect of duties, and embezzlement (Zion, p. 183). Stephan favored young, single girls and had syphillis. The reason that the 700 Stephanites (100 of which were on the Amalia lost at sea) left Germany for America was not to seek religious freedom, but the basic reason was Stephan himself (Zion, p. 112). While persecution and arrests were carried out in Prussia (which resulted in a group led by Rev. Grabau immigrating to New York), few, if any, such persecution had occurred in Saxony. Later Walther admitted in a letter that there was no religious reason for the Saxons to have left Germany, except for the edict of Stephan. Walther sometimes told the truth. The only Stephanite arrested and put under house-arrest (Zion, p. 184) in Germany was Stephan. However warrants for the arrest of C.F.W. Walther and his brother, Otto Hermann, were issued in November, 1838, for the kidnapping of their niece and nephew just prior to leaving Bremen. Both men escaped on ships before they could be arrested. They let an innocent woman go to jail for their crime while the brothers Walther vamoosed. Several pastors in Germany became disciples of Stephan. However, before emigrating they had submitted their resignations or had abandoned their congregations. These Stephanites were not pastors when they left Germany. But CFW still called himself the pastor of his parish, even though he had resigned. While the Stephanites blindly followed Martin's orders, among the Saxon group were people wanting to leave the poverty of Germany, or for the opportunity to move to America (one of the Saxon physicians, Dr. Schnabel, and his family left the Saxon group when the Olbers arrived in New Orleans), and Stephan's women had been listed as "maids." (Zion, pp. 220, 355) The picture of debarking emigrants (@ 2m10s in the video) appear to be from the early 1900s not from the early or mid 1800s. The Saxon laymen did not make Stephan a bishop. It was a select group of his former-pastors and lay disciples aboard the Olberswho, at Stephan's request, declared him a bishop with broad powers (Zion, p. 215) on November 14, 1838, the day after entering the Gulf of Mexico. CFW Walther signed the document. Yes, he did. "A bishop and a pope disembarked from that ship." - WELS layman The question of whether the people went along willingly or otherwise with giving Stephan complete spiritual and temporal authority was NOT "probably a little bit of both." In fact, the people, who had given the bulk of their money to Stephan's control were told while traveling up the Mississippi River that they would be kicked out of the group if they did not sign the Pledge of Subjection to Stephan. Only Heinrich Ferdinand Fischer, one of the three who later published the Protestationschrift, refused to sign. Stephan was not "excommunicated" by the Missouri Saxon congregations, but rather he was deposed (excommunicated) and exiled by a Council of Stephan's former-pastors and lay disciples on May 30, 1839. No, he was threatened, robbed of everything, and kidnapped - forced to go to Illinois at gunpoint. The claim that deposing Stephan "caused a great crisis" about whether the Missouri Saxon immigrants were still a church is stretched. Such a claim was only valid for a few of the leaders, like Adolph Marbach, and some of the former-pastors. The "great crisis" was initially one recognized by those former-pastors, who realized they had no legitimate call and immediately ask for calls from the Saxon congregations. Another "great crisis" faced by the immigrants was the realization that the Gesellshaft was essentially broke, leaving them on their own to combat disease and obtain food and shelter. Stealing the bishop's gold, land, books, and personal belongings helped - a lot. The third "great crisis" (COMPLETELY IGNORED BY THE VIDEO) was when the pastors tried to continue their bishopric rule in the absence of Stephan. That resulted in the opposition of three people, Dr. Carl Eduard Vehse, Heinrich Ferdinand Fischer, and Gustav Jaeckel. Following an earlier draft, the three men issued a Protestationschrift, in November 1839, with some fifty theses objecting to practices of the pastors and pointing out the correct Lutheran doctrine (COMPLETELY IGNORED BY THE VIDEO). While recouperating in 1840, Walther read the Protestationschrift from Vehse, Fischer and Jaeckel, which led him to reexamined the Scriptures and Confessions. From these readings Walther came up with the propositions presented at the Altenburg Debate that were based on the theses in theProtestationschrift (Zion, pp. 520, 522) (COMPLETELY IGNORED BY THE VIDEO). As Forster noted, "Later writers with a less meticulous sense of fairness, however, have given Vehse [and the Protestationschrift] little credit." Those people include the video speakers: CTS President Rast, Dr. Schumacher, Rev. Mike Newman, Rev. Dr. (hon.) Gregory Seltz, and Rev. Rick Marrs. While the Altenburg Debate may be claimed as the "most important debate in American Lutheranism," COMPLETELY IGNORED BY THE VIDEO was the historical fact that, at the Altenburg Debate Walther himself acknowledged his debt to the Protestationschrift, which he referred to as "a precious gift of God." Later, Keyl and Burger also joined in this acknowledgment. Official LCMS history is a pack of lies. Walther and his bros followed an syphilitic sex monster, knowing all about his girlfriends. The outbreak caused by Stephan's STD was probably the excuse for the riot that ended his rule. This historical revisionism has gone on for over a century now within the Missouri Synod (except with a few isolated exceptions). I regret to say that I regard the following people as being completely untrustworthy in communicating anything about the history of the Missouri Saxon immigrants (1838-1841): CTS President Larry Rast, Dr. William Schumacher, Rev. Mike Neuman, Rev. Dr. (hon.) Gregory Seltz, and Rev. Rick Marrs.

Rick Strickert (Carlvehse) Senior Member Username: Carlvehse Post Number: 6500 Registered: 10-2003

Posted on Monday, July 04, 2016 - 3:37 pm:       BTW, this is the same Lutheran Hour Ministries under the same International Lutheran Laymen's League that has yet to apologize for the ILLL/LHM behavior in firing Rev. Wallace Schulz because he carried out his synodical responsibilities, which the ILLL had promised as an auxiliary (for what that's worth) to aid and coordinate with the Synod. The ILLL/LHM leadership has yet to show any.

Sharing the Bee Balm - Root Division - Moving the Mountain Mint. Which Plants Do We Feed?

Bee Balm is very attractive to bees, beneficial insects,
butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Last year I planted some Bee Balm and saw a bloom or two - from the red ones. The red ones went wild this year, so we mowed them down for now. They are a mint and therefore spread easily.

Purple Bee Balms started slowly and built up last year. My main plant was in the rose garden along the Gardener's fence. All of the sudden it bloomed with large purple blossoms. At one point seven bumblebees were working the flowers at once.

Our chiro's secretary loved the purple flowers with the medicinal aroma, so I did a root division today. I planted two Bee Balms in a new place, front and back, and soaked two sets in the rainwater barrel near the roses. I had gallon buckets, so I was able to hand her the chance to have a row of them blooming by next year. She asked for slips, which have to be rooted, then planted. "Go big, or go home," they say.

One Bee Balm went in the hole created when I moved a Mountain Mint into the main rose garden. I was a little leery of the Mountain Mint taking over, but that is more likely with the Bee Balm (Horse Mint).

Mountain Mint is famous for the frenzy of beneficial
insects flying around it all the time when the blooms are out.

The Mountain Mint was getting crowded and overlooked, so I placed that in the hole left by a rose that never woke up. That rose got so many pruning cuts and rainwater that it proved no life was left in it. That happens. A rose does not always come out of dormancy. The non-growing roses (4) were replaced with 7 new ones.

The Mountain Mint - earlier buried alive - has a structure around it to keep us from stepping on it. If I want to protect a new plant, I fit cardboard around the base, cover the cardboard with mulch, and set up small logs as landmarks. Not every plant has the vivacity to emerge from newspaper and mulch. When I saw its tender leaves reaching into the light, I twisted one leaf off to smell it. Think peppermint times ten = Mountain Mint.

Clearly God created a lot of beneficial creatures - and plants to host them in the garden. An article on beneficial bugs mentioned that Borage (aka Bee Bread, related to Comfrey) attracts a wide variety of beneficial insects when it is planted. Mrs. I loves to eat the flowers, so I plant them by the front door and also along Mrs. Wright's fence. They drop seed easily and new ones start, but they are not invasive.

At this point I have 95% perfect roses with no spraying and no man-made fertilizer. A wide variety of flowers are blooming at all times, from dandelions and clover to Crepe Myrtle, tomatoes, beans, and buckwheat.

My maple tree area is plagued with grass, which I tried to removed several times before. Almost Eden suggested using buckwheat to squeeze out the grass. Buckwheat is so pushy that it can be used to displace weeds while flowering constantly to host the beneficial insects. Some buckwheat is flowering from what I planted last year.

So I ordered more buckwheat.

Buckwheat illustrates what is just as true with doctrine. An untended yard or garden will be taken over by weeds in short order. My neighbor said field weeds were taking over our backyard before we moved in. The residents did not mow very often, so the coarse weeds grew, sending down taproots or spreading outward with stolons and seed. Close and frequent mowing removed the weeds, and clover took over almost 100% from the heavy rains last summer.

The Lutheran Church and the Protestant denominations are over-run with false doctrine because the Synod Presidents, District Presidents, Bishops, and Supervisors chose to enjoy the perks of the office rather than bear the yoke of the office.

Teaching sound doctrine is the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word. If you want to feel the blast of opposition and the sting of personal insults, often from so-called friends, just insist on sound doctrine replacing the false teaching deliberately and eagerly promoted by church leaders, church professors, and church publishing houses.

Two Wolves Story

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Two Doctrines Are Like Two Kinds of Plants
Sound doctrine and false doctrine are like the plants, the wolves.

I constantly work to feed, water, and protect the good plants. The weeds are aggressive bullies but sterile. They produce seed and fruit, but no one wants their seed, their fruit, their leaves. I yank the weeds, cut them at their base, cover them up to let them rot away.

False doctrine is fed by the timidity and and ignorance of the clergy and laity. They feed the church structure, so the church structure grows. They let the leaders grow fat and alcoholic with the easy and high pay of their positions, which further insulate them from any criticism. The rule is - show extreme deference to the leaders - but do they show any deference to the Word of God? Just the opposite is true. They will destroy a congregation to get even with a few people who cross them. They will ban books, as happened in the days of Crypto-Calvinism, for teaching Biblical doctrine.

Their mouths are full of honey when talking to the rich, who love to pay for financial absolution of their sins, indulgences without the name or shame.

Pokeweed grows in sidewalk cracks but
zooms to 9 feet tall in the garden, large, fruitful, with toxic berries loved by birds.

False Assumptions Fuel the New Papacies - St. Peter Was No Pope

"You are not the Pope, Peter."

Luther, as always, showed how important it was to address doctrinal issues directly, rather than pussy-foot around and attack opponents ad hominem.

The executives and professors of the Lutheran sects follow the Roman model quite closely, and this toxic brew becomes ever more poisonous with the bitterness concentrating as the numbers evaporate. They call upon their authority based on being there "at the beginning" - even if the founding was only a few years or decades ago.

Paul addressed Peter face-to-face because the issue was the truth of the Gospel, not the papal infallibility of Rocky (as his name would be rendered in the vernacular). 

Luther did not have the opportunity to meet everyone face-to-face, so he addressed Rome through various writings. Our Revolution took place the same way, with the Founders and the British Loyalists addressing each other in pamphlets.

Naturally Rome has always said, "How dare anyone question the Throne of St. Peter!" Over the years, the Pope has increased his claims of infallibility and authority, placing Himself (yes, they use the divine pronouns) above any Council of the Church. 

The Church of Rome can no longer get away with burning people at the stake, torturing them, and placing them in galleys to serve as slaves rowing the ships. France took care of their Huguenot problem that way - and never recovered. 

The more insecure the rule, the greater the braying and posturing of the leaders. 

The "Conservative" Lutheran Clergy, Accurately Described by Luther

Therefore Jerome and Erasmus do Paul an injustice when they take the words “to his face” to mean “only according to the outward appearance”; they maintain that Paul did not oppose Peter sincerely, but that he did so with complaisant pretense, since others would have been offended if he had remained completely silent. But “to his face” means “in his presence”; for he opposed Peter openly, not in a corner but in the very presence of Peter and with the entire church standing by. When he says, “to his face,” this is aimed especially against those poisonous spirits who slander those who are absent but do not dare open their mouths in the presence of these people. That is what the false apostles did; he touches them obliquely here, because they did not dare slander him in his presence; they did so only in his absence. “I did not,” he says, “speak evil of Peter in the way; but I opposed him candidly and openly, not because of any pretense, ambition, or other human affection or mental disease, but because he himself was deserving of attack.”

Page 108 of LW Lectures on Galatians

***

GJ - Every page of the Galatians Commentary is full of gems like this, but they are overlooked by those who never read Luther. Neither do they read or even know what Luther has written in the Large Catechism.

The greatest sin against Holy Mother Sect is to discuss doctrinal issues in public. That is when the Iago-clergy howl about slander, the Eighth Commandment, and Matthew 18. But they engage in whispering campaigns, where few whisper at all. They loudly denounce someone who is not there and pretend all is well when he is present. 

WELS calls this their "Grapevine," which is fed and watered by the secretions of its leaders. When Corky Koelpin wrote an essay against Church Growth and Northwestern being merged into Dr. Martin Luther College, he was called "brain-damaged" by their precious Grapevine. He had a stroke after writing the essay and died soon after. A former seminary president also opposed the merger, so the Grapevine called him "senile."

I was scolded by a "friend" for giving the essay to Christian News. He did not ask me if I gave it to Otten - he just phoned me and began ranting about it. One part of the diatribe was about the cover letter that said it was for circulation among the pastors, which surely meant pastors only. However, I got the essay in the mail, anonymousely, without the cover letter. 

The Circuit Pastor did the same about a letter published in Christian News, not even relenting when I said I never wrote the anonymouse letter. He continued, saying, "Well it sure sounds like you." So I was at fault for someone also taking the issues seriously. I would gladly plead guilty to that.

St. Paul in German Village had an adult class taught entirely by a woman. When I brought this up at a pastoral meeting, the place went crazy because I actually said "St. Paul's" instead of beating around the bush. Therefore I was thrashed and the issue was ignored. The junior pastor at the time asked me meekly about details, and I said, "You mean to tell me you don't know what is happening at your congregation?" He had no answer for that.

Even more bizarre was the reaction to the essay at another conference. I did not have a last chapter written for Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure.  But then I saw how most of the clergy, Wally Oelhafen, Fred Adrian, and Kovo flew into a rage about my paper on the Means of Grace versus Fuller Seminary. I thought, as the demons jibbered, waved their claws, and stomped their hooves, "This is The Cure, the last chapter in the Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure."

Likewise, I find it strange that people immediately write me, furious, that I have copied and published their ridiculous opinions posted on Facebook, a website for the world to read. One said, "You included the link to my personal page!" Yes, that was only because he linked himself when he posted his comment in a public forum.

Publish is closely related to the word "public," a fact they often overlook.

Another ignorant claim is this one - When they send an email to me, it remains their property and Top Secret, Eyes Only, Burn After Reading. Once I receive a letter or email - it belongs to me, not to the writer.

I got so many printed letters in WELS with those warnings that I bought a rubber stamp with red ink that read "BURN THIS LETTER!" I used the stamp for fun, but I was apparently the only one who got the joke.

With email, the writers imagine they can secretly accuse me, because they have various admonitions written into their little missives. Their manipulations would be far more interesting if published. Then people would see they have opinions and thoughts that vary with the audience.

As John Shep said to me, "Jay Webber makes fun of the ELS leaders until he is within 100 miles of Mankato."

ELDONA  has one attitude when asking for money or rare books, or money for rare books, or help in justification by faith - but another if their tender toes are stepped on. Pardon me for concluding that their real nature is revealed in their private poisonous comments, because in eight (9) years they failed to respond to my mild published warning about their Eastern Orthodox tendencies. The article linked is from 2007 and yet they fume about it in 2016. Another reader took the time to take issue with me, and I posted his comments.

Needless to say, nothing good is happening in Lutherdom because the laity and the leaders try to manipulate secretly instead of addressing issues openly. One WELS pastor had his son write to me, to leak all kinds of information to me, so the pastor could claim he never wrote to me. Then Paul never wrote those letters when he used a scribe, right? Same argument. That was a double deceptions, because the pinch-hitter was in fact writing what his father wanted written, a deception, and any claim of innocence (because writing me is a sin) becomes another deception. Once the pastor utterly failed in all his manipulations - even with all the publishing I did on his issue - the writing ceased.

A WELS pastor is all-friends, even if secretly, as long as he is getting something from it. I had lots of free-book-friends when it was known in WELS that I gave away cases of books I gleaned from Trinity Seminary book sales. The clergy knew my address. They phoned and wrote me. They stopped by to shop in the basement lined with free books. They even asked me to mail them books - and I did. 

(Tune: We Three Kings of Orient Are)

We three priests of stealth-mode EO,
Lacking gifts we borrow them so
Chalice, patten, Greek, not Latin,
Bishops will save our soul.

O-o Orthodoxy, floats our boat
Orthodoxy gets your goat
Eastward leaning, incense steaming
Using Luther to misquote.

I was advised by someone that Pastor Berg would never join Eastern Orthodoxy, because Berg said so. Nevertheless, Berg is obsessed with infant communion, so much that he just released his thoughts on the topic, that the Lutheran Reformation had no problems with it. The same argument from silence could prove anything.

I just want to list some of the tidbits I have been noticing on the Internet:

Here is the Crypto-Eldona Conference agenda from August, 2007 -

The Second Annual Theological Conference and Plenary Session of The Augustana Ministerium will be held August 30-31, 2007 hosted by Charity Lutheran Church, Burleson, TX and her pastor, the Rev. Dr. Kent Heimbigner.

A stimulating and timely theological agenda, open to all—pastors and laity—is being planned that will address two important areas that need discussion and clarification in our midst. The first is to put Eastern Orthodoxy into focus vis-à-vis Confessional Lutheranism. These will include: EO vs. confessional Lutheranism on Original Sin, Pr. John Rutowicz, facilitator; on Justification, Pr. David Juhl, facilitator; on Sanctification/Theosis, and how they relate to God’s plan of salvation, Pr. Gary Gehlbach, facilitator. The second major area is Sanctification, and topics will include: “Sanctification: What is it? What causes it? What are its consequences?” Dr. Steven Hein, facilitator, and “Modes of Communication in the Ministry of the Gospel,” Pr. Robert Schaibley, facilitator.

Gary Gehlbach was a source for Berg's infant communion essay. Do they realize people know how to blog? 

Here is an interesting exchange on Cyberstones:

Mar 30, 2007 14:32:44 Re: Infant Communion - Gary Gehlbach 

Fr. Weedon, thank you for your well-reasoned comments. You said it much better than I could.

GVG
Mar 30, 2007 18:53:42 Re: Infant Communion - weedon

Fr. Gehlbach,

What I presented was nothing but a condensation of the arguments you have assembled and helpfully presented for all to read. For that the Church owes you a debt of gratitude indeed. 

Gehlbach's blog is Lutheran Enigma.

Items:

1. Eastern Orthodoxy is heavily promoted by Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne. The seminary trains LCMS pastors who turn EO when they graduate.
2. Heiser's first breakaway group had problems when a pastor favoring infant communion was invited to join.
3. Gary Gehlbach is an officer in the so-called Augustana Ministerium, which is clearly designed to lead people into ELDONA.
4. Gehlbach is clearly teaching Berg and others to advocate infant communion. Notice the smart-alecky discussion about this on Cyberstones.
5. The crypto-ELDONA conference description lacks any suggestion that Eastern Orhtodoxy might contain heresy. The ambiguous wording allows someone to conclude it is a critical look at EO or it is a fawning promotion of EO. Krauth wrote: "Error loves amibiguity."

***

Brian P Westgate has left a new comment on your post "Eastern Orthodoxy Connections:Infant Communion": 

I think ELDONA has come out against infant communion. I do think you meant to say that, it just didn't come out quite as clear as it could have.

As for Fr. Berg, he's not obsessed with infant communion. That article was probably written due to Fr. Frey's article on it.

Your parody is funny, but way off, as Fr. Rutowicz and others have been trying to tell you. There is nothing wrong with incense, and nothing wrong with bishops, as you know. 

***

I hear you Brian, but I have to judge the words, not the intentions. Until recently, Eastern Orthodoxy was not even on the Lutheran map. Now there is a conference on EO for Crypto-ELDONA, plus the many other things going on. I think it is a mistake to call it sacerdotalism, as some have. That term is too vague and sounds like high church or high church-in-overdrive. This new trend, a tidal wave coming from Ft. Wayne and ELCA, is an embrace of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Some things are harmless by themselves but the new fanatics make me wonder about the necessity of using them: the title father, the title bishop, the incense, the fancy threads. There is no clear Eastern Orthodoxy confession of faith. It is amorphous. Nevertheless, Eastern Orthodoxy is the closest thing to Roman Catholicism. They have the same relationship to Rome that the Little Sect on the Prairie has with WELS, resentful and obedient at the same time.

Most alarming is the way this is paralleling the Church Growth infection. First there were some little suggestions, panel discussions, open wondering if CG would help Lutherans. Gradually they came out of the Fuller/Willow Creek closet. Now they operate out of the Love Shack, the Purple Palace, and the Seminary Built on a Bluff.

My parody is funny because it is right on target. Anyone who links an ecumenical/Marian monastery as "Confessional Lutheran" is Neuhausian in strategy. I recall Neuhaus calling himself a Confessional Lutheran until he became a priest. His buddies who joined Rome were also labeled Confessional Lutheran until they poped.

I have a better term for the Fuller/Willow Creek boys and the future papists/EO monks: Recessional Lutherans. They are backing away from Luther's doctrine as slyly as they can. One wit called it sinuflecting toward Rome.