Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies



Stephan was not merely an adulterer. Being a good counselor to many is often accompanied by fragile egos expressing thanks or manipulating men exploiting emotions and dependency. He was associated with a number of young women in Dresden, and the police followed him about his nocturnal habits. He contracted syphilis at some stage, gave this horrid disease to some of his children, and lost his position when Walther exploited the syphilis break-out among the young women in the Stephanite cult in America.
No one wants to admit this.[1] Even the Stephan family memoir skips over this fact, though it is quite frank and yet fair in its treatment of everyone involved. However, syphilis explains many aspects of Stephan’s life and final days.

1.      He went to spas for his rash, which is one of the common symptoms of syphilis.
2.      Several of his children suffered from syphilitic symptoms, which the father would have transmitted to their mother. They died young in institutions.
3.      Stephan’s many walks, often accompanied by young women, suggest his discomforts.
4.      Stephan became quite morose and angry during the ocean voyage, and an angry bitter sermon he gave on his ship proclaimed the followers were not worthy of him.
5.      Stephan became irrational and grandiose in America, quite impractical, which led to additional financial hardship. He insisted on starting in America as a bishop and drew up his contract, which CFW Walther signed (but not Walther’s brother).
6.      Just as the police were suspicious of Stephan in Dresden, so were the residents who noticed no wife, but a number of women hanging around the bishop in St. Louis.
7.      Everyone in the Walther circle knew the bishop was a flagrant adulterer, but they concocted a story that they suddenly found out after a blistering sermon on sin caused a woman to confession her adulterous affair with Stephan.
8.      The cause of the riot against Stephan, which Walther organized, was the heart-breaking scandal of young women condemned to slowly die, unmarried, from the disease their leader gave them.
9.      Stephan’s main mistress, Louise Gunther, came over in the same ship with Stephan and his son.[2] Walther’s older brother and the lawyers Vehse and Marbach were also on the same ship. Gunther lived with Bishop Stephan in his last days in Illinois. This alone destroys the sudden revelation of adultery fable promoted by Walther and the pastors.[3]
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 Jan 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                  Dresden                                 32

The Pattern of Adultery Previously Established in Dresden

Stephan established himself as a Biblical, Lutheran, and Pietistic leader while carrying on with young women, and repeatedly in trouble with the police or church leaders. The early years seem to have been without scandal, but Stephan began withdrawing himself from his children and wife. At the same time, his extra church, those Germans who came to the little Bohemians church, grew to 1,000 people, perhaps the inspiration for growth through Objective Justification and cell groups.

Walther himself declared that Stephan’s adultery was the fault of his long-suffering wife, a cruel and slanderous accusation against a woman who bore seven children and was left with the sick children when Martin left for America with the healthy, eldest son.[4]
Stephan’s adultery was not simply a sudden discovery in the New World. His wife Julia testified in court that her husband moved a young woman into their house. Julia kicked the girl out and put a lock on the spare room. Martin broke the lock and brought back the girl. He was the master of the house and would do what he pleased.[5] His wife also reported the relationship with Louise Guenther, who lived with Martin in various locations, went to America with him on the same ship (see above), and lived with him in Illinois. When he went to the spa for his rash, he wanted Louise there in the same room, not his wife. Martin asked his wife to go home, and she walked 20 miles back.
The sudden discovery of adultery is also refuted by the presence of the lawyers Vehse and Marbach on the Olbers, the ship which Stephan and Louise Guenther took to America. The original plan involved Stephan taking his wife and children to America with him. Instead, he left them behind and took Louise and his son Martin IV. If nobody knows about these matters, the sudden confession tale seems plausible. The loyalty of the Missouri Synod fathers to a flagrant adulterer is implausible.

Who Supposedly Confessed – Louise Guenther?

The key to the entire drama in America – the ouster of Bishop Stephan – begins with Pastor Loeber preaching an especially powerful sermon on sin, May of 1839,, which supposed caused Louise Guenther and another women to confess their sins of adultery.[6] The Walther circle had to concede the problems with their story. Louise seemed to see herself as a wife for a long time, and she was good at not disclosing anything that would hurt the bishop.  However, the story is still repeated with the hushed tones of saint tales. Attempts to unravel the truth are met with missing documents and the gimlet eye of many outsiders who openly questioned the behavior of the bishop and the saintliness of the group.

Syphilis Unlocks the Mysteries

The veneral disease syphilis canceled the original seminary doctoral degree, the S.T.D., because people would no longer think getting a Doctor of Sacred Theology at school was a career boost. Syphilis was not curable in the 19th century.[7] The disease begins with a painless chancre sore and can remain dormant for a long time, though the bacteria remain. Syphilis is damaging to internal organs and can be passed from the mother to the unborn child. The disease seems to imitate other diseases, and the initial outbreak may even go unnoticed. The sore heals by itself.
Within a few weeks of the original chancre healing, you may experience a rash that begins on your trunk but eventually covers your entire body — even the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet.[8]
Stephan’s spent time at the spa because of his rash, and Louise Guenther tended his sores there. He complained about his health and said he needed to walk at night because of his discomfort. Syphilis can attack the heart and also the brain. Various historians have noted that Stephan was known for his ability to move people, but he became moody and irrational in America, with grandiose ideas. He insisted on being named the bishop before he set foot in the New World, and his circle complied – CFW Walther included – but not his brother. His other great plans were often absurd.

Buying land in Perryville instead of St. Louis, where a better deal was offered, may have come from parallel motives. He may have wanted to escape the suspicions of St. Louis residents, who questioned the absence of his wife and the presence of Louis Guenther living above him in the same building. He may have chosen the Perryville land for no good reason at all, like many of his other orders, which were obeyed. His considered himself the Means of Grace and that Europe no longer had the Means of Grace once they left the Old Country. One person objected to that bizarre and anti-Biblical notion, so he was removed from his cash allowance until he repented.[9]
More evidence of the bishop’s syphilis can be found in the tragic case of his own children. Philip G. Stephan emphasized that no one had total deafness in either family. However, Several children were born deaf, which is one symptom of congenital syphilis. [More details to follow]


“The Unspoken Word Is the Most Important”
Nothing adequately explains CFW Walther stirring up a riot, taking his followers down to Perryville, threatening the life of the bishop, stealing his land, gold, books, and personal possessions, then forcing him at gunpoint across the river to Illinois.
Those who have researched this in St. Louis know that the young women suffered a syphilis outbreak due to Bishop Stephan. They all overlooked his abandonment of his family, his consorting with young women for years. I agree with the theory that he doomed several young women to misery and death, and that made punitive measure justified. It also removed the continuing scandal of the bishop’s harem.

[1] People in St. Louis have researched this and shared the information, so it is an oral tradition backed up by fact.
[3] The Stephanite story sounds like the movie Casablanca - "I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here." "Your winnings, sir." "Oh, thank you very much."
[4] Servant of the Word
[5] In Pursuit of Religious Freedom, p. 93. In 1838 the Church Superintendents investigated Stephan’s behavior. Other stories and women are detailed on pages 104f.
[6] Zion, p. 392 tries to sort out the contradictions in this story.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Zion, p. 63. Some leaders today have similar forms of discipline, to enforce their bizarre dogmas and perks.

Posted by Ichabod the Glory Has Departed at 10:07 AM
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