The High Church Cult of LCMS Defends Fenton for Leaving Them But Vulgarizes a Response to an Honest Question

Robes and incense are a big deal for the Eastern Orthodox/Roman wing of LCMS. But at least they agree on UOJ and doctrinal indifference.
One exception - do not criticize UOJ on Beane's watch. 

 Every Ft. Wayne graduate's dream is to have his own
crosier, fish-hat (mitre), cope, and chasuble.
Question that, and they are incensed.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

John Fenton

John Fenton was a pastor in the Missouri Synod for many years. He faithfully served a historic inner-city parish in Detroit (Zion) for many of those years. In addition to daily parish work year in and year out (preaching, baptizing, catechizing, visiting the sick, etc,), John became an expert in liturgical matters - not only the rubrics, the "how to" practicalities of ritual and ceremony (which is sorely needed in the LCMS, as many of us never learned the "etiquette" of conducting the liturgy as well as we ought to have - our excellent seminary professors notwithstanding), but also the deep theological mysteries surrounding liturgy and sacrament in which God is present for us, forgiving our sins.

Year after year, he and his congregation generously hosted the St. Michel's Liturgical Conference, bringing in LCMS speakers from around the country to allow LCMS pastors to continue their ongoing education as stewards of the mysteries. He served as an editor of Gottesdienst and of Bride of Christ - and wrote articles for both. He was also published in Logia. John also served on the synod's Board for Black Ministry Services, as well as serving on one of the LSB hymnal committees. Zion had numerous guest celebrants, officiants, and preachers during Fenton's pastorate - including at least one synodical president, several district presidents, synodical bureaucrats, and seminary professors.

I don't know John very well, but when I have spoken with him, I found him to be devout, genuine, and always open to listen and to answer questions. I know a lot of guys who are very close with him, and I can think of very few men who have served on the clergy roster of the LCMS who are held in such high regard and affection.

Perhaps this explains the reactions of hurt on the part of many when John made the etxremely (sic) heart-wrenching and difficult decision to resign his ministry at Zion and in the LCMS and to convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This was indeed a difficult blow to many of us who benefitted by his work with us and with our synod.

Almost immediately, shocking accusations sprang up attacking John's character (although, he did the right thing that any pastor should do if he no longer confesses the Lutheran confessions), digging and delving for information along the lines of "what did he confess and when did he confess it?" Several people have expressed their opinion that John is now going to hell for becoming Eastern Orthodox. Venomous articles have now suddenly been written about Eastern Christians, almost labeling them a Satanic cult. John's reputation has been utterly trashed in a sad disregard not only of chivalry and honor, but of the 8th commandment as well. I'm embarrassed by much of what I have read. I'm shocked at the things Christians will not only say, but commit to print. [GJ - Nothing like Larry Beane's attack against me on his Facebook page, which he quickly erased - after I copied it for posterity.]

John's many years of faithful service to his flock and to our synod are now forgotten, and even now, weeks after he has been released from LCMS membership and from the clergy roster, the barrage continues. The interest in trashing John Fenton's reputation has become nearly as hysterical as a spurned teenage girl. The ongoing chatter and buzz about John's obviously difficult decision borders on cyber-stalking.

I find a lot of the blogging and chatter to be disgraceful and nothing more than self-righteous posturing by men who sound terribly unsure of their own faith. They come across like the guy who wants to put a huge spoiler and shiny wheels on his car in a lame effort to bolster his self-image of virility (perhaps compensating for a lack thereof).

John has left our confession. It saddens me. I don't agree with him. I would rejoice if he came back. But the last thing we in the LCMS ought to be is self-rightoues. In fact, perhaps we should listen to what men like Fenton have to say, really listen to what it is that first made them question why they were in the LCMS in the first place. We have no grounds for self-righteousness. Even before President Kieschnick (with whom I disagree about much), the highest levels of the LCMS tolerated "the charismatic movement." How many high ranking LCMS officials will denounce "contemporary worship"? We denounce unionism and syncretism out of one side of our mouths, and then exonerate (and celebrate) those who pray with non-Christians (who also claim those who deny the divinity of Jesus actually worship the same God as Christians). Evolution is taught in our universities. We have lay preachers and vicars and other laymen "consecrating" elements - all with the blessing of our synodical and district officials. We have churches that openly violate our confessions by hard-heartedly refusing to allow the pastor to offer the Lord's Supper every Sunday - and spineless bureaucrats who refuse to stand up for our confessions by teaching and catechizing the laity when they complain about their pastor for simply doing what he has been called to do. Time after time we have seen faithful pastors being thrown to the dogs and/or being cleverly manipulated out of their God-given - *God-given* - divine calls by political and bureaucratic shenanigans. We have the Lord's Blood routinely thrown in the garbage and the Lord's Body routinely mixed with unconsecrated bread. We also have pastors who openly advocate for women's ordination, and not one of them has ever been disciplined for this heresy. We allow matters of doctrine to be voted on at conventions that operate under Robert's Rules. We seem to have more discussions among ourselves about bylaws than about Scripture. Our new hymnal (which I endorse because the good far outweighs the bad) includes ditties by Twila Paris and Amy Grant, but doesn't have room for all of the Psalms! Our synod defines asking a person if they have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior to be a "critical event," but doesn't extend this status to Holy Baptism! Much more could be said.

And then we wonder why pastors and laymen alike begin to have their doubts about being where they are, "walking together" with the aforementioned.

Again, I don't agree with John for leaving - nor with others of our brightest and best theologians who have felt compelled to break communion with us. I pray they do come back some day - and I believe we are the poorer without these men. But even if they don't, there is comfort in our confession that there is, and will always be, only *one* holy catholic and apostolic Church. Our Lutheran confessions nowhere confess that there are no Christians in the Eastern or Western Catholic Churches. In fact, our confessions many times praise our Eastern brethren on matters of doctrine. If you think your salvation is based on synodical membership or because you are right about some matter of doctrine or the other, you need to think again. The reality of the matter is that we Lutherans will actually be a numerical minority in heaven. In the Throneroom of our Lord, all Christians will once more be in full communion. We are saved by grace alone, not by our self-righteousness at being right about everything - even when we're not (which is the way theological discourse too often seems to go in our circles). Sometimes I think it's a dead heat which group has more pompous, arrogant, blow-hard, know-it-alls: Eastern Orthodoxy, or LCMS Lutheranism. There's another thing we actually do have in common with the East! ;-)

John Fenton is no longer one of our brethren in the ministry of the Church of the Augsburg Confession. Believe me, we have enough wayward brethren IN the LCMS to worry about without having to look to those outside our communion to go after. Let us resolve to work on fixing *our own* heretodoxy before we start telling every other church body how to fix theirs. It seems our blessed Lord addressed this in the Sermon on the Mount with some ophalmological advice that we would do well to heed. A little more humility wouldn't hurt any of us.

How about praying for John Fenton, for the LCMS, for Eastern Orthodoxy, for yourslef, for me, and for every other sinner and imperfect group of people for whom Christ died? I'm finding this to be a more felicitous use of time than reading a lot of blogs. I'm finding blogs to be like friends: a faithful few is better than a great many that are fickle. I'm finding myself no longer posting comments to others' blogs, and find myself actually reading (and writing) very few - and I think this is probably a good thing.

Meanwhile, if John Fenton is restored to holy orders within the communion of the East, there will be a great many Eastern Christians who will benefit from John's pastoral care and grasp of the Gospel. Just as when he served as a Lutheran pastor, if it is the Lord's will that John resume his pastoral work, he will once again preach, baptize, and absolve sins, and give out the medicine of immortality. In other words, he will be dispensing grace and eternal life - that is, unless you want to deny the Lord's power in water and the Word.

As sojourners in this broken world and as members of the Body of Christ that bears the battle scars of many an encounter with the devil - let us pray for the *one* holy Catholic Church, let us pray for the Bishop of Rome, the Patriarch of Constantinople, for the President of the Missouri Synod, and for every Christian pastor who gives everlasting life by applying water and the salvific words of Jesus.

On the other side of the grave, our schisms and scars will be healed. Not one of us will stand in the awesome presence of the Lord eager to seek out a fellow believer to say "See, I told you so, I was right! I was right! My doctrine was right, and yours was wrong! I was right, right, righty-right!" For our vindication doesn't come that way, but only by the blood of the Lamb who covers our faults, our own faults, our own most grievous faults. Being forgiven is far better than being right about everything. Just ask the breast-beating tax collector who stood in the shadow of the always-right-about-everything Pharisee who thanked God for not making him a tax collector.

Soli *Deo* gloria - sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

***

Does this look Eastern Orthodox, ELDONUTs?

GJ - Fenton left the LCMS ministerium and became Eastern Orthodox, denouncing Justification by Faith, because EO teaches justification plus works.

Someone wrote:
What would you say are the biggest differences between the Book of Concord and Eastern Orthodoxy?

As I visit supposedly Confessional Lutheran churches here, I'm seeing things in the worship which seem to be more than adiaphora.  But I could be wrong in my discomfort.  Are there any particular things to look for you might suggest as "tell-tale signs"?

I wrote back to him and a few others:

The first thing about EO is its avoidance of doctrinal precision. That happened after centuries of real warfare over the Two Natures in the Byzantine Empire. They took on a Methodist attitude of “conservative but not polemical.”

 

One warning sign is an obsession with every detail of high church worship, which I hear is Heiser’s main agenda item, getting everyone to do everything the same way. Satis est? Not for them.

 

This also developed with the LCMS pastor Fenton, who worked on the Lutheran Service Book with McCain and joined EO when it came out.

 

http://fatherhollywood.blogspot.com/2006/12/john-fenton.html

 

The Ft. Wayne guys like Jay Webber and another graduate (you guys don’t know) always wonder why LCMS cannot be more like EO in worship. Scaer really promoted that, but he was not alone. Another professor at Ft. Wayne, perhaps several, were doing the same thing. Scaer is 100% UOJ. Robert Preus supposedly wrote Justification and Rome to stop the Romanizing drift at Ft. Wayne.

 

Jay Webber, Ft. Wayne, thought I needed to read a book about the EO-Constantinople discussions during the Reformation. But he never read Luther or the Book of Concord with comprehension. He is another Ft. Wayne guy. Of course, Paul McCain, Ft. Wayne, also walks the Roman Catholic tightrope, fearing lest he fall on either side.

Here are the earlier Larry Beane witticisms:

Update - Beane kept the original Scalia post but erased almost everything else, including his cowardly ad hominem attacks.

The discussion began about Scalia's funeral and whether it was a Gospel service or not. Since Father Scalia referred several times to Purgatorial devotion in the Church of Rome, I added this graphic to Larry Beane's initial thread. (See below)

Someone posted a David Scaer graphic, so I posted my graphic about his UOJ quote.

Someone asked what was wrong with Scaer's statement, so I linked my new book. He was asking me, after all.

He wanted a free book - and also a CliffNotes version, so I linked the free one and also a summary post that involved Robert Preus quotations from his last book.

The person who asked finished by saying -

Kenneth Bomberger Thanks for the link! I'll read it at my earliest convenience.

So what did Larry Beane write? Oh my. He went full Paul McCain on me for responding to questions, something we do on discussions, no?

Here is Father Larry Beane - responding to the thank you from Kenneth Bomberger -


Pater Larry Beane  Gregory, please use your own Facebook page for self-promotion. I charge $100 for ads. 

You're getting to be like the embarrassing relative that drinks too much at Thanksgiving and passes out on the bed with all the coats on it. 

Every family has members who want to hijack every expression of gratitude and joy, every real discussion and lighthearted banter, and even obvious humor, into a self-serving and dour political or doctrinal argument. 

Gregory, you need to display better behavior from now on, or you won't be invited back. 

To my other guests, I apologize. Hopefully your coats will not require dry cleaning.

---

I was surprised by his vulgar, gratuitous response, so I naturally wrote - 


You should order your friends not to ask questions that deserve an answer. If you read the posts, you will see that.

---

Father Larry Beane, LCMS Pastor responded  -

Pater Larry Beane Gregory, the way to save face is not to urinate in the kitchen.

Brief Updates

Little Ichabod's first Greek lesson.
He admits that the lessons came later,
after he translated all of John's Gospel,
from Latin to English.

New Testament Greek
A reader has asked about studying New Testament Greek. I may start him - or even a group - on this. I am working on the basics. The idea is to approach it the easy way with an emphasis on reading Greek rather than becoming a Greek professor.

I can get people reading John's Gospel in Greek in about a week or so.

If you have a good idea about working with a group via video, let me know. I can easily record videos on how to start. Classes should be more interactive. And yes, I have Skype.

Creation Gardening
I am teaching three graduate courses online, but I get a break from teaching for two weeks. I expect to finish the book then and start the review process. Norma Boeckler designed the cover and will also help with the graphics inside.

The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine
The next new book is The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine. I have some Lulu books to move to Amazon, but that will wait until this one is done.

I may do more video teaching in the future.

Norma Boeckler designs covers and interior art.

Books at the Author's Price
Amazon has great discounts at the author's price. If you want multiple copies of one title, or a group of books (1 each or so), it is easy to set up a shipment in a few minutes. Let me know and I will give you an estimate and send in the order. Amazon is very fast.

Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant is only $6 at my price. Shipping adds a little more, about $3 each, depending on how many. Amazon retail for CLP is $25.

Biblical Conversion versus Good Old Fashioned Money-Making

How to win - put a failed parish pastor with a drive-by DMin
into a position of influence. The college students loathe his classes and pray for him to leave Martin Luther College, but he established another Fuller outpost of apostasy.

The previous post emphasized conversion by the Word, the only conversion in the Bible. My extensive reading on the topic uncovered, long ago, that the wife of the founder of Fuller Seminary was converted in a flash - by the Word.

I wonder if we could explain to the sainted Grace Fuller that we now need rock music style lighting (Andy Stanley) or a bar ministry (Glende, Ski, Victory of the Lamb), or Seeker Services so light on Biblical content that no one is offended (Willow Creek).

"The Scripture which she quoted," Mrs. Fuller continues, "was the Sword of the Spirit, and at that moment Unitarianism was killed forever in my heart. I saw the light like a flash and believed at that moment, though I said nothing. She had quoted God's Word, the Spirit had used it, and, believing, I instantly became a new creation in Christ Jesus. She might have talked and even argued with me about it, but instead she just used the Word."

I noticed when I first read this that Grace Fuller used the language of the Bible to describe her conversion. The Sword of the Spirit (Hebrews 4) killed Unitarianism in her heart. The Spirit spoke through the Word, which was effective, unlike talking and arguing.

Have the galloping herds of turtles graduating from Fuller Seminary ever looked at their intellectual DNA?

Donald McGavran came from the most liberal Protestant denomination, the Disciples of Christ, unless we include the pagan United Church of Christ in that list. McGavran's training was not Biblical or theological, but secular - at Columbia University. His framework was liberal activism - Planned Parenthood - and statistical analysis via sociology. If we study all the mass movements, we can find out why some of them are working. Thus - the Church Growth Movement - which became such good business for Fuller Seminary that one school dominates Protestant and Catholic thinking, to the detriment of both.

McGavran came to Fuller after a shift to the errancy of the Scriptures and the departure of conservative faculty. The school was started by Fuller to teach a watered-down concept of inerrancy, and that was repudiated soon enough. That came from faculty influenced by Karl Barth, the adulterous Communist from Switzerland, whose major work was largely written by his mistress.

Good old Pete Wagner had a moment of clarity,
but his solemn declarations usually only invoke guffaws
for their demi-semi-pagan absurdities.

Another major non-thinker was C. Peter Wagner, a Pentecostal triumphalist (Look Out! The Pentecostals Are Coming) whose ravings made him a favorite in WELS. 

Since the WELS-ELS-LCMS-CLC ladies have mated with Fuller Seminary to become Fulleroids, their own DNA is hopelessly apostate, Enthusiastic, and anti-Christian.

Universal Objective Justification from Halle University (another big movement of Pietistic unionism) paved the way for the Church Growth Movement. Pietism always gives way to rationalism. One Halle won out over Luther in the LCMS, 1932, with God mysterious declaring the entire world righteous, Missouri went mainline with gusto and also embraced the Pentecostal and Church Growth movements. Like all unionists, the LCMS leaders love every confession of faith except their own.

Conversion by the Word - Not by Seeker Services and Bar Ministries. The Wife of the Founder of Fuller Seminary. From 2010

Church Mouse has an interesting post, in honor of Augustine of Hippo, where he described the conversion of Augustine as "entering through the back door."

From Thy Strong Word:

People think of St. Augustine as a religious leader of the distant past, but he was once a famous, hedonistic pagan. His mother Monica gave him Christian instruction as a child and prayed for his conversion to the faith. Augustine’s unique intellectual gifts made him a powerful intellectual leader, the finest orator at a time when great speeches were the pathway to fame. He was so brilliant that the Scriptures seemed beneath him. In addition, Christianity was one of many religions of his day, like ours, and not very successful in the marketplace of ideas. Monica never ceased her prayers. Another burden in her life was an unbelieving husband. One day, as Augustine felt the weight of his sins, he was overwhelmed with a sense of contrition. Weeping under a fig tree, he heard a child’s voice sing out a Latin song, “Tolle, lege. Take and read.” The song had no religious content, but Augustine felt compelled to pick up the Scriptures where he read the damning words of the Law and the comfort of the Gospel:

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Romans 13:13

J-128
Augustine wrote: “I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.” Augustine then went to tell his mother Monica, who “leaped for joy triumphant, and she blessed Thee, Who art ‘able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.’” (Ephesians 3:20)

Monica prayed to have a believing son, but God gave her one of the greatest of all teachers of Christianity. Augustine became a bishop and served the African church, writing such classics of the faith as his Confessions and The City of God. It is impossible to study Christian thought apart from Augustine or find a topic he did not write about, using the gifts abundantly given him by God. At the last bookstore I visited, not long ago, I saw the famous biography of Augustine in paperback, a testimony not to Monica, but to the kind and loving Father Who blessed Monica far beyond her ability to think or ask. That power gave her, like many heart-broken mothers afterwards, the faith to pray, the hope to find comfort in waiting, and the patience to wait for the effectual working of the Triune God, who can use a child and a secular song to fashion a bishop and theologian.

J-129
"In like manner, St. Paul says that God's ability is thus proved, in that He does exceeding abundantly above and better than we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20. Therefore, we should know we are too finite to be able to name, picture or designate the time, place, way, measure and other circumstances for that which we ask of God. Let us leave that entirely to Him, and immovably and steadfastly believe that He will hear us."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p.179f.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)

---

Augustine is one of the best examples of being converted by the Word of God. Therefore, he entered the Christian Church through the front door, the only door.

Another is Grace Fuller, the wife of the founder of Fuller Seminary:


According to Kittel, the Greek word “energeia , energia” is derived from “to be at work.” The words are found in the pre-Socratic period in the sense of activity or energy. Although we cannot make automatic conclusions from the previous use of the word, as shown in the English word “gay,” it is worth noting that Moulton and Milligan list a few examples of the word-group before New Testament times. More importantly, as the list above shows, the word group is used exclusively for divine and demonic activity. Therefore, Paul distinguishes between the word of man and the Word of Proclamation (akoe). The miraculous creation of the Thessalonian mission itself is proof of the divine power of the Word. They received the Word and the Word converted them to faith in Christ, making them thankful and Paul ceaselessly grateful. Nothing in the Scriptures suggests that people make a decision for Christ after weighing a carefully crafted and skillfully executed presentation.

J-110
"This Word works in the Thessalonians what Paul states in 1:3; it came to them with the power of the Holy Spirit and much assurance (1:5); it turned them from the idols to the living God, to Him who raised up Jesus from the dead, the Savior from the wrath to come (1: 9, 10). This effect, wrought by the Word, convinces all believers, all who experience this blessed effect, that this is, indeed, God's Word."
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of Thessalonians, Columbus: The Wartburg Press,1937, p. 261.

The conversion of Grace Fuller, wife of the founder of Fuller Seminary, is told with great force and conviction, illustrating the very point made by Paul in this passage.

J-111
"Mrs. Barnhill looked at me and said, with such a loving look in her gray eyes, 'Oh, Grace, Christ said, 'No man cometh unto the Father but by Me,' and, my dear, you have no way of approach to a holy God unless you come through Christ, His Son, as your Saviour.' "The Scripture which she quoted," Mrs. Fuller continues, "was the Sword of the Spirit, and at that moment Unitarianism was killed forever in my heart. I saw the light like a flash and believed at that moment, though I said nothing. She had quoted God's Word, the Spirit had used it, and, believing, I instantly became a new creation in Christ Jesus. She might have talked and even argued with me about it, but instead she just used the Word."
J. Elwin Wright, The Old Fashioned Revival Hour and the Broadcasters, Boston: The Fellowship Press, 1940, p. 54.

As Grace Fuller realized, the proclaimed Word has the power to slay the elegant doubts of Unitarianism and to energize faith in the Gospel in an instant. Therefore, believers have an abundant witness in the Scriptures about the power, clarity, and effectiveness of the Word, but they also have the added benefit of experiencing the energy of the Law and Gospel, which kills the dead old skeptical sinner and creates a new man who loves God and wants to serve Him.

Unbelievers can never understand that Christians subordinate their intellectual powers, their human reason, to the faith divinely created by God. Nor can unbelievers perceive that faith does not oppose reason, nor does it become irrational. Instead, reason serves faith. Many of those who are quoted in this volume are the leading intellectuals of all time, as shown in their vast learning, their demonstrated ability in many languages, and their timeless writings. One nun asked, “How can Martin Luther, who lived 500 years ago, write things which touch me so deeply today?” The answer is – He lived in the Word, more than any other religious leader of any era, so all his utterances have the divine power of the Word today. Under the Law, he experienced all the terrors of Hell as he dwelt upon the wrath of God. When the Holy Spirit finally penetrated the Medieval legalism and philosophy which the Reformer knew so well, the comfort of the Gospel burst upon him, giving him comfort, peace, joy, and a genuine love of God.

J-112
"It is the assurance of the writers (1:1) that this is truly 'God's Word,' but the relative clause: 'which is also effective in you, the believers,' adds the evidence in support of the fact that this is truly God's Word, namely its divine effectiveness in the Thessalonians believers."
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of Thessalonians, Columbus: The Wartburg Press, 1937, p. 261.

J-113
"To me He spake: Hold fast to Me, I am thy Rock and Castle;
Thy Ransom I Myself will be, For thee I strive and wrestle;
For I am with thee, I am thine,
And evermore thou shalt be Mine:
The Foe shall not divide us.

The Foe shall shed My precious blood, Me of My life bereaving.
All this I suffer for thy good; Be steadfast and believing.
Life shall from death the victory win, My innocence shall bear thy sin;
So art thou blest forever.”
Martin Luther, “Dear Christians One, and All, Rejoice,” The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941, Hymn #387, verses 7-8.