Which Is Truly Lutheran? Concordia Journal or Christian News?
Faithful readers of both the Concordia Journal of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and Christian News know that the answer to the question in the above title is obviously Christian News. While only a few Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastors subscribe to Christian News and CN cannot afford to send it to them each week, the Concordia Journal is sent free to most of LCMS clergy.
The current masthead of the Concordia Journal (p. 2) says: “Issued by the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, the Concordia Journal is the successor of Lehre Und Wehre (1855-1929), begun by C.F.W. Walther, a founder of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Lehre Und Wehre was absorbed by the Concordia Theological Monthly (1930-1974) which was also published by the faculty of Concordia Seminary as the official theological periodical of the Synod.”
Christian News, November 28, 2016
The Concordia seminaries and Christians News - plus Concordia Publish House - all teach Universalism in the form of Universal Objective Justification.
Innocent Lutherans should recall how the LCMS was formed. First of all, the Loehe congregations invited the Perryville fanatics to discuss forming with them.
Secondly, Walther did not found the LCMS. Bishop Martin Stephan did. Stephan was an abusive, promiscuous Pietist who kept a covy of young women around him. He told them he was in charge of their souls and their bodies.
Stephan was so well known for his late night walks with young women that the police followed him. Stephan demanded absolute obedience from his clergy followers, commonly called the Walther circle. CFW Walther was Stephan's enforcer. Whoever disagreed with Stephan for any reason was punished until he repented.
Stephan was already syphilitic and openly living with various young women in Dresden, where he led a Pietistic church but developed an outside group, more of a mini-synod. He had Walther and the others gather money for him.
Stephan was not even qualified to lead a congregation but the Pietistic congregation had a special ruling that allowed them cell groups and the power to call their own pastor, so they called Stephan.
The only reason the Stephan group left Europe was his house arrest after being tried for immorality and misuse of finances. That prompted the long planned escape. The Stephanite clergy urged spouses to divorce to come along and encouraged minors to come with them. The Walther brothers kidnapped their nephew and niece from their father's home, to bring them along.
Those crimes against minors would be enough to get most people put in the Big House for a long, long time. That is why so many were hostile to the Stephanites, but Missouri portrays that as religious persecution. Ha!
UOJ from Halle University and Bishop Stephan's Brief Studies
Walther confessed that he learned justification from Stephan, and the syphilitic pastor was the man who insisted on being the cult's bishop. Walther signed the document, in spite of the denials of various LCMC mythologists.
Halle UOJ is what unites the ELCA, LCMS, ELS, WELS, and CLC (sic). The ELDONUTs had no trouble with UOJ until Pastor Rydecki took an interest in them.
In short, UOJ teaches Universalism in this way - God has already declared the world righteous, forgiven of sin. The Objective Justification and Subjective Justification terms are not from Luther, the Reformation, or the Book of Concord era. They were coined - or at least used - by the Calvinist translator of the famous Knappe theology lectures from Halle University.
The nonsense spewed by Jay Webber, Jack Cascione, Rolf Preus, Jon-Boy Buchholz, David Valleskey, and others is straight outta Halle. Webber even cited Halle's Rambach against Chemnitz. When Webber was called on his Halle affections, on the Intrepid Lutherans blog, he waxed indignant.
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| Born forgiven? McCain, like Cascione, cited the Preus essay and this quotation - with approval. |
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| The Right Reverend Bishop James Heiser, STM, primate of the ELDONUTs. Earlier, he followed Bishop Randy DeJaynes, whose principal title is "ex-convict." |
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| For years the ELDONUTs met and worshiped with the thoroughly UOJ Rolf Synod. Rolf is the one who looks like Santa in civilian clothes. |
As far as I can determine, the UOJ faction gradually took over Missouri and WELS. The ELS seems to have been formed as a rejection of Justification by Faith, masked by their claims of true, rock-ribbed Lutheran Orthodoxy. That works as a ruse because Stephan emphasized the Book of Concord and opposed rationalism. The Rationalists hated Pietism, which they also called Mysticism. Walther managed to be an ardent Pietist and be approved for ordination by the state ecclesiastic powers, proving as Stephan said, the CFW was "a fox."
Anyone can find examples of WELS and Missouri teaching Justification by Faith - and NOT UOJ.
Christian News - fashioning itself as the latest Walther publication - has always sided with UOJ while trying to claim Justification by Faith at the same time. Otten's doctrinal expert is Jack Cascione, whose pathetic Reclaiming Walther is just as Lutheran as Hillary's books are models of honesty and humility.
Speaking of honest and humility, here is the blowhard Cascione at work:
I visited Dr. Robert Preus at his home in Minnesota and showed him the problem when we were alone in his study.
Doctor Preus was never given to emotion; at least not in the years I had worked for him and known him. He looked at the passages in "God's Word" that mistranslated justification "by" and "through" faith and burst into uncontrolled weeping.
So in choosing between the LCMS publications and Otten's, we are given a false dilemma. Which is more Lutheran?
Our son, Little Ichabod, figured out false dilemmas as a young boy. When I asked him if he wanted his bath before or after dinner, he said firmly, "Neither!"
