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| We ran into Jack Preus at the Chicago convention of the LCA, walking behind us on the street, at night. I thought it was Jack and called to him. He said, "Are you one of ours?" |
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| Minnesota Governor Jake Preus begat Jack and Robert. They are at their lake camp where the Preus clan still gathers. We knew Robert fairly well and liked him. |
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| The governor is called Jake while his son was called Jack. |
Previously I wrote about the mythology of Herman A. Preus, which is a burden for the ever-growing Preus clan. The younger generation seems even more frantic to impose UOJ on the faithful than were their fathers (the Klemet, Rolf, and Peter generation) and their grandfathers (Jack and Robert Preus)
After all the key, popular treatment of the LCMS-Seminex crisis is Preus of Missouri and the Great Lutheran Civil War. Jack and Robert are prominent in the book, along with a cast of characters: Herman Otten, Waldo Werning, and John Tietjen. I have owned several copies and read the book three times.
The Jack and Robert saga is hard to duplicate because there are no leaders anymore, only managers of public perception. Matt the Fatt and Paul the Plagiarist live in luxury. Look at the seminary cost issue seven years ago. No leadership - nothing done.
Jack and Robert Preus made their bones in winning control of the synod and Ft. Wayne. Robert pursued Maier on the issue of Justification at Ft. Wayne, and Robert was laughably wrong. His little essay on UOJ is so bad that Frosty Bivens could have ghosted it. Every detail is nothing but dogmatic blabber with no Scriptural or Book of Concord support. Here are some brief details about the disastrous Robert Preus UOJ essay.
If you look at the problems with the Preus essay, you will also note the graphics based on Robert's last book - Justification and Rome. Rolf does not approve of my quotations from that book. Apparently, a published book remains the property of those who guard the mythology.
Herein lies the problem - the Preus clan has based their unity on the Preus mythology: generations defending UOJ against the noisome hordes of Justification by Faith adherents. But Robert jumped the fence and his sons Daniel and Rolf did not even notice, because they were the alleged editors (or censors?) of the book, which was published posthumously.
Did they rip out a heartfelt apology from their father? Given the overall content, that is a possibility.
However one frames the question, as the journalists say, the Lutherans who depend on mythology must face the dissonance. Ft. Wayne definitely cultivated a mythology built around Preus, Scaer, and Marquart. It is something non-Missourians notice about the LCMS and WELS too (if they are unlucky enough to meet up with the Wisconsin sect).
The issue is easily resolved if we follow what St. Paul said about being stewards of the mysteries of God. The only requirement is faithfulness of the steward, who has no ownership rights.
KJV 1 Corinthians
4 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
A steward (house manager in Greek) takes care of matters for the owner, and the mysteries are those doctrines revealed by the Spirit through the Word. We cannot judge anything, not even our own success. We can only be faithful. Therefore, we can only defend and teach what the Scriptures reveal and attack whatever goes against the Word of God.
As previously shown in several hundred posts and a few books, there is no divine imperative to defend the family or synodical myths. To abandon the stewardship is nothing less than running away from the stewardship, often to gain rewards, honors, and promotions.
No one was ever born with a KJV in one hand and a Triglotta in the other. We have to learn and grow in our understanding of Biblical doctrine. If matters seem confused, we must go back to the Source, where the water is clear - the Scriptures alone.
As I wrote before, in that Preus UOJ essay which Jack Cascione and Paul the Plagiarist have waved in my face - allegorically speaking - Robert used UOJ dogma to beat WAM II down. The Preus brothers demoted WAM and a dark cloud hovered over him afterwards. Perhaps one day a Preus clan member will apologize to the synod and to WAM's family.
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