Martin Stephan Forum - Good Historical Documents To Study

Drawing of CFW Walther, shortly before he died.

Martin Stephan Forum:



"Stephan Family Archives



LETTER OF MARTIN STEPHAN, JR, ON C.W.F. WALTHER AND THE MISSOURI SYNOD

BACKGROUND ON PRE-LCMS HISTORY:

My first entry is an excerpt of a seminal letter in 19th Century Lutheran  Church history, penned in 1878 by Martin Stephan Jr., the son of Bishop Martin Stephan. The letter is addressed to Martin Jr's brother-in-Law, George Schick. In it, Martin discusses the treatment he received from members of the Missouri Synod, and in particular, by Pastor C.F. W. Walther, the first President of the Missouri Synod. This letter is in the possession of the Concordia Historial Institute, or CHI.

Professor Theodore Buenger, no friend of Martin Stephan, prefaced his authenticated typewritten copy from the original with the title: Not for Publication.

Buenger goes on to write in his preface to say that this letter "is important as to the guilt of Stephan the leader," and one "can conclude (ex silentio) that son does not claim his father's innocence or else he would  have mentioned that fact in this letter."  [If the letter "proves" that Bishop Martin Stephan was guilty, then why keep it from public view?] Martin's discussion of C.F.W. Walter in this letter will provide the answer."

'via Blog this'

***

 The Walther Shrine

GJ - I was scrolling along the left margin of the blog, where a lot of material is linked. The Stephan Forum is important because the family has gathered historical documents that show much of the truth about how the LCMS was born.

The Walther Infallibilists are always bowing and scraping to the image of CFW, but the documents show he was a multiple kidnapper, an extreme Pietist, the enforcer for a syphilitic and adulterous bishop, and the organizer of a riot to topple the bishop and rob him.

Walther not only stole the land given to the bishop by the immigration group, but he also talked Stephan's healthy son into giving up the land in Perrysville that the bishop owned separately. Add to that a stolen fortune in gold, a large library of books, and the bishop's personal possession.

Walther was the follower, not the leader of the Stephanite exodus from Europe. The group left after Stephan was found guilty of improprieties in a court of law and deprived of his congregation. They did not leave "for religious freedom," because previous few religious leaders were ever given so much freedom.

Moreover, Walther was a nasty little man, who could not bear the presence of Stephan's son, who first became an architect and then came back to be trained as a pastor. One descendant was a speaker for The Lutheran Hour. The linked letter shows how petty and vindictive Walther was, which is shown also in the Walther hagiographies.

By lying about the leadership of Stephan and the enabling work of Walther, the LCMS continues to deceive its members and clergy. That makes Missouri all the more guilty when they try to prove points by starting with "Walther wrote..." If the truth were known more widely, that would be a warning rather than a commendation.

UOJ, Pietism, and bullying are the attributes Walther gave to the LCMS.

 He left his dying wife and children at home,
but sailed to America with his mistress,
so Walther and Company made him a bishop.

Abusive Behavior in the WELS/ELS Sect

This graphic illustrates typical LCMS-WELS-ELS deception.
Stephan was under house arrest for adultery and financial questions
when he was allowed to leave with his sex cult.
Stephan was always a Pietist and so were the members of the Walther circle.
Walther's mob robbed Stephan and kidnapped him, leaving him to die in Illinois.

WELS controls the ELS, so one might as well consider the two dying sects together. The Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic) is simply another, more corrupt, more immoral, more incestuous version of WELS. The LCMS follows to some extent, the worst abusers running the show while sub-groups try to exist on their own.

Clergy and laity driven out by the ELS, WELS, or CLC (sic) should consider themselves blessed, like the early Christians who escaped Jerusalem before the Roman armies surrounded the Holy City.

Those who go back to the abusers, hoping for approval, make a big mistake. They like to have their so-called Prodigals come back, as long as they are broken, subdued, and eager to worship Holy Mother Sect. The harshest critics make the best fuel for roasting the next set of dissenters.

If someone stays away, the long reach of the abusers never remains quiet. Relatives? Friends? Employers? New church body? They need to punish the escapees, just as the Mormons murdered those who tried to back.

ELS clergy call Mequon The Sausage Factory
for its identical products,
according to Jay Webber.

Secrecy and Spying
In an abusive sect, everything is a secret. I used to get so many secret letters in WELS that I had a rubber stamp made that said Burn This Letter! in red. No one wanted to be known for having a negative thought about WELS. Bill Gothard used the same tactic in his cult. Dealing with the facts is negativity, and negativity is from Satan.

Spying goes well with secrecy. Everything is everyone's business, so false friends make a practice of being buddies to keep track of someone who may stray from the plantation. They often encourage dissent and back away to let their target take the blame, the heat, and the Left Foot of Fellowship. Richard Jungkuntz did that to his fellow "martyr" Gehrke, and John Seifert practiced the technique on many pastors.

One layman told me how he was coaxed to bring his problems about Martin Luther College's feminist policies to various leaders. At two different meetings he was sandbagged by the person who urged him to come forward and complain. At the second one, he told the minister, "Are you going to stick with me and support me? Promise. I cannot take another experience like the last one." The second pastor promised all the way to the meeting, then turned on the fellow with savage, personal criticism.
Laity who have done to same to pastors.

If you want a friend in WELS, get a dog.

The people who do this think they are very clever, and they smirk because synod officials are behind them. However, they are really cowardly, wicked deceivers who eventually pay the price for their betrayal of the Word. Still, they leave a lot of broken, wounded victims behind.

"Do not tell on the brothers,
or they will beat you like a rented mule."

The Law and Anti-Law
The dominant UOJ dogma in WELS includes a heavy dose of Antinomianism and legalism. The Antinomianism is easy - "Everyone is forgiven all past, present, and future sins - without faith." Q.E.D. - the Ten Commandments are tossed out the window.

If a pastor is an adulterer, or homosexual, or alcoholic, that is fine, because he knows he is a sinner and knows he is already forgiven. The WELS clergy and their clones have a sheaf of excuses for false doctrine, including a "Luther quote" that justifies doing nothing about it.

If you register any kind of protest against any of this behavior, no matter how politely and deferentially it was offered up, with meek and contrite words, the response will be:

1. Silence. The letter or email is not even acknowledged.
2. Verbal abuse - "You did not sit down and exercise Matthew 18, explaining my sins to me."
3. False defense - "You have slandered me, violating the Eighth Commandment."
4. Personal attacks - "You never did fit in. You hated GA." (The secretive hazing ritual at Mequon features all kinds of deception, emotional and physical abuse, which helps to mold them into identical sausages, products of the Sausage Factory.)
5. Letter barrage - Various officials send nasty letters that quote some horrible thing expressed by mail and uses that to launch into tirades, clear threats, or implied punishments.
6. Whispering campaign - It soon becomes apparent that some people have spread anonymous ill reports among friends and church members. This escalates into slow, steady shunning and final ejection.
7. Absolution via family or Fuller. Certain families can do anything they want. Lacking the lucky DNA, someone can enjoy the same benefits by going to Fuller Seminary and loving it.
8. Let Herman do it - Although the sects hate Herman Otten and Christian News, both are handy for carrying out the work of shunning, which he is happy to advance.

The imaginary and unwritten laws are far more important than the Ten Commandments. This approach is incredibly useful in handling people. The moment toes are stepped on, the shrieking begins. For instance, I asked about women teaching men, women leading cell groups at St. Paul's, German Village. I was told (and this always comes from a friend, who is ordered to do so) that I violated a sacred principle. I identified the parish! I thought, "What a crock."

One college student got off the bus at Mequon and was sexually assaulted by one of the seminarians, who grabbed him...details to be assumed. I have the verbatim account and also verified it with the family. When he complained to seminary officials, he was told. "You are too sensitive." Although he went to seminary, they made sure he never finished. Likewise, the father of one homosexual made sure a pastor was driven out of the ministry for preaching against it - and you think ELCA is bad?

WELS Pastor Dave Wendt offered to gang rape a blogger,
because she is a liberal. Did he ever face charges for the threat?

Mark Jeske offered a lame, sanitized version of the threat
for his gullible readers.

Abusive Cults Have Their Own Language
Bill Gothard used "defrauding" and other mysterious terms to link the Bible to his special mindset. He manipulated people by making his desires innocent and wholesome while condemning them for objecting. Thirty-two women lodged complaints against him at the end and he was forced out - "Nobody knew," as Mark Schroeder is fond of saying.

Special words make people feel elite and above the crowd. Only some know the true meaning of GA (now called HB - get the joke? - no more GA). The in-crowd can reference GA and let that pass over the heads of laity.

The clergy, whose warped behavior often starts in prep school, have plenty of special terms, such as the physical abuse they hand out for anyone who "tells." The truth cannot be tolerated, so they gang up on anyone who tells the truth. If word of their abuse reaches the officials, the abuse is doubled. The school officials know and approve, because their job is to produce unthinking slaves to row the ship so they can enjoy the Captain's Quarters and the Officers' Mess.

Did anyone vote for Church and Change to take over WELS?
Here is one C and C founder installing another one.
Co-inky-dink?
When I posted this, one WELS official wanted to know, "Who told?"

WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)-LCMS: Cults Switch Dogma
Once upon a time, the Lutheran groups had the liturgy, creeds, sermons, hymns, and an interest in Luther's doctrine. They liked the KJV and used it at all services.

Now all of that has flipped, but no one has confessed how they changed it and turned vice into virtue. A few vintage WELS members recall the Gausewitz catechism (justification by faith) and the KJV being good. After all, the KJV is a revision of the Tyndale, and Tyndale modeled his translation after Luther's. Tyndale took the trouble of studying with Luther and Melanchthon.

Vintage Lutherans are left isolated, bewildered, scorned, and abused.

We met one cult member in the hospital. He was friends with Erin Joy. He said to me, "Erin has to learn she is not the center of the world." I said, "You tell her," and she grinned at me.

This cult member bragged to me that whenever they changed doctrine, which was fairly often, teachers were sent out to re-train the members.

Does that sound familiar? WELS has been trained in the New NIV for years now. Only one DP objected to the New NIV at the previous convention. The one following saw no objections at all. To avoid a ban on the NNIV, the convention blessed all translations. Mequon got its way and Mark Schroeder crumbled again. Or perhaps he was only pretending to object. That is good GA style. Play one side, the switch. Seifert and Buchholz are good at that.

Sorry, Baby Blue Eyes, he can and he will.

Norman Teigen Encountered the LCMS Kool-Aid Krew on the ALPB Forum

Walther pretended he suddenly found out about Stephan's adultery, but Stephan left Frau Pfarrer in Germany and traveled to America with his young mistress, Louise Guenther.

Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Walther Said - "Slavery is good!"":

The responses on the ALPB Forum on this subject have been interesting. I had written that my comments on the NY Times had been published. I was brought to task for that and apologized because they had been transmitted, not published.

One really nasty commentator this morning questioned my faith. I was quite surprised by this but felt gratified by some who supported my attempt to get into a historical question. By this afternoon the offensive post had been removed.

It's really strange, isn't it, how some people feel that their particular ideas on a certain subject are sacrosanct. Doesn't say much, does it, about the intellectual breadth of those people.

***

GJ - Bishop Stephan's crimes are well known. So are Walther's. But the hagiographers tell a completely different story. Their lies explain why the good ol' Synodical Conference is  in the dumper today, why the biggest deceivers and plagiarists get the most money - while workers starve and students enslave themselves to student loans.

Walther and Stephan had nothing against slavery. Neither do the Concordia Seminary profs.

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ALPB Forum

Johannes Andreas Quenstedt

Re: CFW Walther and Slavery

« Reply #52 on: Today at 03:43:46 PM »

• Quote

Getting back to the topic, I recall hearing stories from those who were in conversation with folks who lived in that period of time. Evidently it was common place for slaves in St. Louis area to be paraded around totally naked so that the more buff and attractive men and women could be sold at the highest price possible. I also came across a depiction of slavery in St. Louis in which William Wells Brown, a former slave, writes:

"I shall never forget a scene which took place in the city of St. Louis, while I was in slavery. A man and his wife, both slaves, were brought from the country to the city, for sale. They were taken to the rooms of AUSTIN & SAVAGE, auctioneers...Several slave-speculators, who are always to be found at auctions where slaves are to be sold, were present. The man was first put up, and sold to the highest bidder. The wife was next ordered to ascend the platform. I was present. She slowly obeyed the order. The auctioneer commenced, and soon several hundred dollars were bid. My eyes were intensely fixed on the face of the woman, whose cheeks were wet with tears. But a conversation between the slave and his new master attracted my attention. I drew near them to listen. The slave was begging his new master to purchase his wife. Said he, "Master, if you will only buy Fanny, I know you will get the worth of your money. She is a good cook, a good washer, and her last mistress liked her very much. If you will only buy her how happy I shall be." The new master replied that he did not want her but if she sold cheap he would purchase her. I watched the countenance of the man while the different persons were bidding on his wife. When his new master bid on his wife you could see the smile upon his countenance, and the tears stop; but as soon as another would bid, you could see the countenance change and the tears start afresh."

"From this change of countenance one could see the workings of the inmost soul. But this suspense did not last long; the wife was struck off to the highest bidder, who proved not to be the owner of her husband. As soon as they became aware that they were to be separated, they both burst into tears; and as she descended from the auction-stand, the husband, walking up to her and taking her by the hand, said, "Well, Fanny, we are to part forever, on earth; you have been a good wife to me. I did all that I could to get my new master to buy you; but he did not want you, and all I have to say is, I hope you will try to meet me in heaven. I shall try to meet you there." The wife made no reply, but her sobs and cries told, too well, her own feelings. I saw the countenances of a number of whites who were present, and whose eyes were dim with tears at hearing the man bid his wife farewell." - -http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/slavery.htm

Surely C.F.W. Walther should have been aware of such heart wrenching stories. That he did not both mention and condemn such practices in his writings is a horrific tragedy.

It is interesting that C.F.W. Walther also states in his Lehre und Wehre article on slavery:

The same spirit which in Europe declared the rank of princes to be an outrage in this century, who strove to depose them and replace them with democracy as the only rightful order; this same spirit compels them here to denounce slavery as a degradation of free-born man. It drives them to communism,demanding women’s emancipation (though they quite clearly agree that the female, according to God’s order, is in a certain kind of slavery). Every Christian who aids these agitators concerning slavery, is in the service of this radical-revolutionary spirit. (emphasis added)

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Johannes Andreas Quenstedt

I suspect that C.F.W. Walther was influenced by his Moravian background. Moravian missionaries, especially in the Caribbean, owned and used slaves. 

I understand that Scandinavian immigrants were given theological and ethical exhortations from Europe to not settle in places where there was slavery.  It is interesting that (according to census data) when Walther settled in Perry County there was a higher percentage of slaves in relationship to the rest of the population, than in other areas close by. 

Walther was in deep theological error about the institution of slavery. And the church today should both acknowledge it and repent of it.

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Quote
We can admire the good things he did and wrote while acknowledging his errors and deploring his wrongs.  If interested, we can also examine how he came to the erroneous positions he did so that we might be able to avoid similar mistakes.

Good point. How did C.F.W. Walther come to his erroneous position? You can get a clue from the following statement by Walther (emphasis added):



We therefore hold that abolitionism, which deems slavery a sin and therefore considers every slave holder a criminal and strives for its eradication, is the result of unbelief in its development of nationalism, deistic philanthropy, pantheism, materialism, and atheism. It is a brother of modern socialism, Jacobinism and communism. Together with the emancipation of women it is the rehabilitation of the flesh. As proof of this blood-relationship it suffices to point not only to its history, but also to the close union between abolition-minded representatives of Christianity and the abolitionist tendencies of anti-Christians and radical revolutionaries in church, state, and home. The more their non-religiosity increases and reaches the pinnacles of theoretical atheism and indifferentism, the more fanatically they fight for the principle of slave emancipation.

Walther Said - "Slavery is good!"

The syphilitic founder of the LCMS, Martin Stephan,
chose a slave state for his groupie Zion.
His Pietistic Bohemians owned slaves.

Norman Teigen wrote on the Opionator blog, New York Times:

Another German reactionary was CFW Walther who was the founding father of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Walther defended slavery using arguments from the Southern slavery apologists. He sided with the Confederate side in the 1861 St. Louis arsenal conflict. Walther did not raise the stars and bars, as some deteactors claimed, over the Lutheran seminary which he headed. Walther did greatly offend Lutherans in Minnesota and Wisconsin who withdrew their sons from the St. Louis seminary. Walther never retracted his slavery remarks. Walther became a highly revered ecclesiastical figure. His elaborate tomb is in St. Louis. Some Lutherans continue to defend Walther's slavery writings although his church does not.

Please Do Not Read This Post about Stephan and Walther. Zion's Author Explains Too Much about Synodical Conference Abuse

It requires unusual credulity to think that Stephan attained the position he did against his wishes. On the contrary only people who were subservient to Stephan succeeded in getting along with him. At least all the people who were allowed to advance to the Stephanite hierarchy and to play important roles stood in an intimate relationship of this kind to him....

In the eyes of his followers Stephan became the champion of orthodoxy, the defender of the faith. They firmly asserted that the means of grace were dependent upon his person and that, if he were silenced, the Lutheran Church would cease to exist in Saxony. Stephan’s doctrine was unerringly true, his solution of a question inevitably correct.

Walter Forster, Zion on the Mississippi, Chapter Three, Transformation of Stephanism into Separatism, 1953, p. 63.

***

Forster's book has 90-95% of the information to show that the Stephanite migration came to America as an abusive personality cult built around an adulterous leader. 

The recent Church Growth Movement in the ELS-LCMS-WELS is consistent with the style and character of the Stephanite group. 

Martin Stephan was a Pietist by training (Halle University), by birthright (Bohemian), by ministry (a congregation established for Bohemian Pietists), and by profession (cell group leader for the Walther circle and the Dresden congregation).

Cell group leaders often exert dictatorial control over their subordinates, and Stephan was no exception.

"Stephan's domination was not only accepted, but even welcomed by many of his docile converts." Zion, p. 65.

As I wrote before, the Walther circle's previous guru was Johann Gottlieb Kuehn -  a severe and demanding cell group leader, a specialist in mortifying the flesh. In fact, he died a year into his first call, passing the leadership onto Stephan. The domineering style of both gurus cemented the clergy. They were the guard dogs of Animal Farm, always eager to protect their master from any and all criticism. The Walther circle saw no wrong in Stephan, only threats against their master.

The chosen followers got to enjoy all-night parties with Stephan, organized away from the church property, and always billed as cell group gatherings. The police were not so sure, since the congregation itself had permission to sponsor conventicles on the property, but not at inns and hotels, where Stephan would appear with a young lady in the wee hours of the night, after a walk with her in the woods. Zion, p. 67.

Stephan was blatantly immoral, with Louis Guenther as his primary bedmate. The urge to escape to America grew with the investigations of Stephan over his repeated associations with young women, his meetings with them and other followers in the middle of the night, when he took walks to relieve the symptoms of his syphilis. He lived with Guenther at the spa where he was treated for syphilis, but he had no time for his wife, whom he blamed for all his troubles. Walther echoed the slander against Mrs. Stephan.

Investigations of Stephan grew to the point of house arrest, just before the Stephanite group left for America.  

The adultery continued on the ship and in St. Louis, so there was no surprise confession. Instead, there was an obvious outbreak of venereal disease, which sparked the mob action carefully organized by Walther.

What are the results today? The Synodical Conference leaders:

• Cover-up the sexual abuse of their staffers and church worker friends.
• Assume dictatorial powers in the Name of Walther, Amen.
• Promote cell groups came back in the name of Church Growth.
• Market Pietism as Lutheran Orthodoxy.
• Make a show of shunning all others as outside the Kingdom, even though they all work with one another and with ELCA.

Pietism against the Means of Grace. The Bi-Sectsual Lutherans Are Pietists and Unionists

Stephan means crown in Greek.
The Greeks/Romans used the laurel wreath as a crown.
Notice the Bohemian Brethren hat at the top.

Menno Simons invented the modern practice of shunning, although it is as old as ostracism in ancient Greece.

Simons, the founder of the Mennonites, had people disciplined by shunning, which meant people would not talk or do business with that person.

The National Geographic TV series on the Hutterites is a good example of how shunning works. Everyone must conform or be shunned.

Pietism is the dominant thought and practice of the Lutheran sects in America, from ELCA (Muhlenberg, Halle graduate) to the Halle-trained founder of the LCMS, Bishop Stephan, STD. Hoenecke also graduated from Halle, but he studied the Confessions later and also became an expert on the orthodox Lutheran writers.

Zinzendorf and John Wesley, Craig Groeschel's inspiration.

Halle-trained Zinzendorf visited America under a false name, which prompted the sending of Muhlenberg.

Zinzendorf had direct ties with Stephan. He donated the land for Stephan's church, and that church was given special permission for its conventicles or cell groups because of that history. Stephan himself came from the Bohemian brethren, who were protected and helped by Zinzendorf.

Stephan identified with them, wearing the hat which was associated with the Bohemian Brethren.

My biggest laugh in reading the Walther hagiographies came from Walther admitting that Stephan was a bit of a Pietist. The clergy under Stephan first gathered under Candidate Kuehn, a severe Pietist. They also had a Bible study cell group  under a Halle leader. Finally, the entire group switched loyalties to Stephan when Kuehn died.

At the time, university students were either rationalists or Pietists (sometimes called mystics). Most Pietists could not get a church position there, so they served as tutors or other teaching positions.

The Pietistic Lutheran associations worked with the Calvinists and sponsored a considerable amount of world missions. Each group that came to America struggled with the issues of Pietism and gradually discovered the Lutheran Confessions and Luther.

Now all of the Lutheran groups work together, having reverted to an extremely vulgar and materialistic Pietism, welcoming every false teacher, shunning the Book of Concord and Luther.

Stephan's church reminds me of The Great Walther's shrine.

From the Same People Who Bought a Bankrupt Bar in a Deserted Part of Appleton

Your guide to the truth in Fox Valley, WELS.

From  the Fake Blog:
In any case, the book as been completely picked apart on the basis of historical errors and poor scholarly methods by a number of professional Church-historians. Cameron McKenzie's review is worth reading in this regard. The author is not a trained historian, but rather a psychologist. It's odd in light of the fact that Greg is supposedly a trained Church-historian that he wouldn't pick up on this. Though his "scholarship" generally amounts to little more than accumulating quotations. The quotations are never interpreted, but merely labeled as "bad" or "good." Considering how he's willing to endorse such a transparently poor piece of scholarship as the Stephan book, it shows that what I've thought him for a while is true: basically Greg is a nihilist. He doesn't believe in reality or in truth, at this point he just wants to destroy all those stupid Synodical theologians, officials, and pastors who never recognized him and kicked him out of multiple times basically being a crazy heretical jerk. Either that or he's just a dope who doesn't get how bad the Stephan book is. It's probably a little of both.

***
GJ - The same cowering blogger argued that I cannot possibly get anything right because I earned two degrees "from the famous Roman Catholic Jesuit (sic) school, Notre Dame."

I had some fun with their profound knowledge of higher education -

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-hilarity-from-team-glende-he.html

Let us pause to consider their repudiation of any Lutheran with a doctorate from Notre Dame, disregarding the natural of graduate work. Their expert on on CFW Walther is Cameron MacKenzie, a faculty member I met at Ft. Wayne. Here is his bio:

Dr. MacKenzie is chairman of the Department of Historical Theology. Before joining the faculty in 1983, he served St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Detroit, Michigan, as pastor (1975–1983) and as headmaster of its school (1972–1983). Dr. MacKenzie received his B.A. from the University of Detroit, a M.A. in History from the University of Chicago, a M.A. in Classics from Wayne State University, a S.T.M. in New Testament from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Notre Dame.

[end, Concordia Ft. Wayne quotation]

Using the logic of the Fox Valley Enthusiasts, all of MacKenzie's arguments must be discarded, because he graduated from the famous Jesuit (sic) university, Notre Dame. I doubt whether Cameron wants those "Lutherans" in his fan club.

Book reviews are part of the scholarly enterprise. They sell books, simply by making a volume noticed in the public eye. But they also contribute by correcting, supporting, debating, and supplementing what an author has claimed in print.

Unlike Paul McCain and Tim Glende, I do not think MacKenzie's review exculpates Walther from his crimes. Nor does the review convict P. Stephan of poor scholarship. He wrote as a family member, with credentials as a psychologist. Since his family organized the Stephanite enterprise, their records just might have some relevance in LCMS history.

Missouri Synod history is not richer for erasing the truth about Loehe or Stephan. As many readers know, Loehe contributed a considerable degree of positive influence on that sect. Ludwig Fuerbringer was quite laudatory about  the Loehe-sent men, even though his father was a Stephanite. Frankenmuth and Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne - both came from the Loehe men.

PS - It takes five seconds on Google to learn that Notre Dame was founded by the Holy Cross fathers - CSC.

The Goody Two-Shoes Synod - LCMS.Polishing the Marble at the Walther Shrine

LPC has left a new comment on your post "Reviewing the Stephan Book. The Deception Continue...":

Just my opinion, I am yet to find an LC-MS scholar I can look up to.

Goodness me this reviewer's review concentrates on the petty and trivial. If you are going to review, go to the heart of the most crucial thesis of this book and critique that!.

My unimpression of LC-MS scholarship continues to grow each day.

That is one set of scholars I do not want to study from.


LPC

***

GJ - The LCMS is full of various factions, each one shunning the others. But they do agree on one thing - the  immaculate conception of C. F. W. Walther, a university graduate who was the greatest theologian ever.

Zion on the Mississippi is a difficult book, typical of a dissertation. No doctoral student wants to give up a precious note-card, so every fact gets raked into the thesis. For most people, the dissertation is the first and last book written, so the self-editing process is not mature. Moreover, every advisor has his axe to grind, so various threads have to be followed to satisfy them.

Nevertheless, Zion is a Fibbermagee Closet of historical information (except for Kuehn's first name). For weeks I went over various parts of it, where the the facts contradict the official mythology of The Great Walther - as he is called, in all seriousness.

My Judaism teacher at Notre Dame taught me a lot about historical skepticism. He would recite a truism that we all learned, followed by evidence that destroyed that supposed fact. I was intrigued by the mob action and what really happened. Zion gives most of the details and shows how devious and dishonest Walther was, even though the book is gentle with all the characters.

The SynConference is drowning in its own mythology. Although the leaders live off Thrivent loot and constantly work with ELCA, they continue their Pietistic holier-than-thou claims, down to SP Schroeder and convicted sex offender Joel Hochmuth issuing a condemnation of ELCA for its homosexual agenda. Hochmuth's conviction, according to Google Alerts, began to be picked up by various gay bloggers who guffawed over the gay-hating sect having an child sex offender arrest at headquarters.

The Walther Shrine in St. Louis.

To be true to the SynConference mythology, one must recite the Pietistic catechism each time someone mentions an author not on the LCMS bus. That keeps the poorly educated members and pastors from getting involved in the serious study of other Lutheran theologians: Krauth, Schmauk, Reu, Loy, Lenski.

To prove my point, the Appleton crew plagiarizes non-Lutherans while denouncing Lutheran authors. Lenski seems to send them into status epilepticus. No one would guess from their eructations that Lenski is a long-time favorite in the LCMS, WELS, ELS, and The ALC. But they will transform their community with the insights of Methodist Craig Groeschel and Babtist gay activist Andy Stanley.

As someone said of their favorite, Jeff Gunn, "No one would know it was a Lutheran church." In fact, a faithful couple said that about all the WELS congregations in Florida. When I repeated that to the DP, he was angry...at me.

Critical thinking is the first victim of the Goody Two-Shoes mentality.

The Great Walther

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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "The Goody Two-Shoes Synod - LCMS.Polishing the Mar...":

Ichabod -

As pleasant of personality as Professor Cameron MacKenzie possessed during my seminary days, he never did strike me as one going beyond enjoying the comfort of a critic's arm-chair.

In the one class I remember having him in, the textbook used, was the rubber stamped official Concordia Publishing House c. 1964 – Moving Frontiers - Readings in the History of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod; edited by Carl S. Meyer. That book, I think insulated C.F. Walther and more or less absolved him from the scandal ridden Lutheran Church Missouri Synod past. Reference was made to Stephan but glossed over his significance and sin.

As "critical" as MacKenzie may be of historical books referencing Missouri Synod's scandal ridden history, I believe that he easily ignores history's basic discipline, - that being, to learn from it. I don't witness McKenzie recommending or encouraging what rank in file non historians recently encouraged and promulgated by their recent protests. At least they and the secular (non Christian) school of higher learning got it right. They connected the necessary and important dots, and removed the Penn State idol statute. Will Missouri Synod ever catch on; connect the dots and also remove their idol icon champion and distance itself from his shrine?

Nathan M. Bickel

www.thechristianmessage.org

www.moralmatters.org

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GJ - Pastor Bickel, your comments are worth highlighting. I met Cameron once and talked to him a bit. He went out of his way to be friendly.

Is this the chalice stolen from Stephan?

I am not casting aspersions on his work. It is just too easy within Missouri to reject anything mildly critical of that era. I am all too familiar with the outraged response to P. Stephan's book. There are many court documents to discuss in that book.

Zion on the MississippiExplains the Sickness of the Synodical Conference

Forster's Zion on the Mississippi is more than 50 years old, but most facts have not emerged in the mytho-poetic retelling of the Missouri Synod's history.

Close reading explains many characteristics of the LCMS, past and present.

The theology students were influenced by rationalism (university and state church) and by Pietism. There was not a third alternative. However, Stephan did insist on the Confessions, so that distinguished him from other Pietists. Doubtless it provided a foundation for positive influences once Walther took over.

Pietism and Unionistic Protestantism amalgamated to some extent. Zion, p. 15. The main opponent was rationalism, so they had a common cause together. Zion, p. 21.

CFW's connection with Stephan began with his brother, who was first connected with the harsh Pietist, Kuehn.

For the theology students, the Pietistic circle was their alternative to the rationalism of their studies and their future careers. However, the harsh Pietist  Kuehn was not a healthy alternative. Kuehn led the Bible study (philobiblicum) that Lindner started in imitation of Halle methods. Kuehn remained the leader of the Leipzig Pietists until he took a parish in 1831 and died in 1832. Zion, p. 37.

Favorite authors of the Kuehn group included Rambach (Webber's favorite), A. H. Franke, Spener, and Fresenius. Zion, p. 38.

Walther and Buenger became deeply afflicted in trying to atone for their sins through works of the Law. When Kuehn died, that opened the way for Stephan to influence the group. CFW's big brother led them to Stephan's circle, and Stephan alleviated their neurotic obsessions about paying for their sins.

Martin Stephan had not been much of a student, but he became a pastor after studying at Halle University and Leipzig. As I wrote before, he was a Bohemian (Czech) Pietist who accepted a call to a Bohemian Pietist congregation, St. John's in Dresden, after one year in another congregation.

Although the government was against Pietistic cell groups, St. John had permission to hold those meetings at the church because of its charter as a Moravian Pietistic congregation. Therefore, Stephan was a Pietist among Pietists, serving a congregation with direct connections with Zinzendorf.

Stephan was involved in the unionistic Bible Society in Dresden, quite prominent in it. Zion, p. 30. The Dresden Mission Society was another unionistic endeavor where Stephan participated. Zion, p. 30. Lutherans are used to everyone except Missouri being unionistic, but Stephan was too. That was common in Europe where rationalism was the enemy.

Stephan was quite prominent in Dresden and also controversial. Delitsch (Old Testament scholar) admired his work (Zion, p. 51), and Benjamin Kurtz (p. 57) from America came to see him. The Saxon migration was Stephan's mission, his plan - front page news in Europe, when it happened and when it blew up in scandal a few months later.

The leaders of the migration were the pastors, although a few laymen were used as leaders for their skills, too. The lawyers Marbach and Vehse were useful for all of Stephan's troubles, and the tax collector Fred Barthel (p. 57) became the first treasurer (an office that continued in the Missouri Synod).

The clergy followers of Stephan are extremely important, because they were close to one another for years before they knew Stephan, then joined Stephan and organized the migration under his leadership. They were loyal to one cult leader, then transferred loyalty to a new cult leader, Stephan, when Kuehn took a call and died soon after. These clergy (who did not all have parishes) are:

• O. H. Walther, the older brother of CFW Walther. He died in 1841, so CFW accepted the call to Trinity, his late brother's congregation.
• CFW Walther, aka the Great Walther, came into the fold via his brother Otto, first as a disciple of Kuehn.
• Ottomar Fuerbringer, who did not receive a call in Europe, but was trained as a pastor.
• Johann F. Buenger, the younger pastor in the kidnapping family. His two sisters were wives to CFW, O. H., and Ottomar Fuerbringer, who married the widow of O. H.Walther. Ottomar fathered Ludwig Fuerbringer, pastor in Frankenmuth and president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Johann's mother helped with the kidnapping of the Walther niece and nephew and went to prison for a short time.
• Ernst Keyl battled with Stephan but had to submit to his authority. Zion, p. 39.
• Gotthold Loeber (Zion, p. 53) also had to submit to the authority of Stephan. Loeber was very close to CFW, since Ferdinand was a tutor at the Loeber estate for two years. That may explain the Walther-Loeber story of the adultery confession (shock!) and everyone knew about it (then why the mob, the threats, the robbery, and kidnapping?). 

When the Society landed in New Orleans, Stephan had the clergy sign a statement making him bishop and pledging their obedience to him. Given the nature of their relationship over the years, it is not surprising that he formalized his relationship to them. Nor is it remarkable that they were willing to sign.

In spite of the ferocity of the mob action organized by CFW Walther, the clergy still refused to confront the bishop directly. They even had a real estate agent take over as prosecutor, with the lawyers helping.

Walther cleverly rescued the cult from their bind and resumed the episcopacy without the title. Just as everyone had to submit to Stephan in the past, everyone had to submit to Walther - not to Scripture. He became the American Pope, not the American Luther. What do the shrines, statues, and outrageous lies about the Great Walther suggest? A cult.

More Facts about Your Favorite Cult and Its Beginning. Zion on the Mississippi

My copy was owned by the Stellhorn-Buenger family.

CPH published Zion on the Mississippi by Walter Forster in 1953, which has become the standard history of the Stephanite settlement in Perry County, Missouri.

The pastors of the Stephanite movement were known for holding illegal conventicles (cell groups) and for being separatists, condemning everyone else as godless and immoral. Stephan's Pietistic congregation had a charter that allowed for cell groups at the church, but he used conventicles as an excuse for his late night walks and meetings with women in various places.

Walther, still single, had a meeting late at night with a woman, whose husband struck her as she was leaving the parsonage. Walther supported her divorce and got into trouble for his efforts. Zion, p. 77. Others in the Pietistic circle seemed equally lawless in their holier-than-thou approach. Loeber (whose sermon in St. Louis allegedly sparked the famous adultery confession) sheltered a minor girl at his home, because he disagreed with the religious attitudes of the girl's mother. Zion, p. 77.

Keyl and Buerger also emphasized their separatism, which led to controversy and harsh feelings. Zion, p. 80.

Stephan fueled this attitude, at their leader, and contemplated leaving for America. Forster portrays this as a vacillating emotion, stronger when Stephan was in trouble for his dubious activities, harder to promote when the officials were easing up on the future bishop. Stephan's early dreams of leaving Dresden were stated in 1825 and 1827, the later date in conversations with General Synod leader Benjamin Kurtz, who visited him. Zion, p. 84.

Stephan was arrested for his night meetings in 1836 and prohibited from having any more, the police given permission to enforce the order. Zion, p. 90f.

Another evening meeting, at a vineyard lodge, was interrupted by the police on November 8, 1837. The police were making no progress with their interrogations when Stephan and Sophie Hoeschel approached the location at 5:30 AM. Forster calls this "the accustomed evening stroll." Stephan sent Sophie in alone but loitered too near and was spotted by police. Can anyone believe in the shock and surprise of the later adultery confession in St. Louis - if it even happened? Zion, p. 100f.

The vineyard meeting began the deliberate plans to leave Europe for America. The fund was established soon after. Vehse and Marbach, the lawyers who came to America, were involved in the legal difficulties and defending Stephan, so they were aware of all the facts before they left their homes.

The legal matters dragged on. Stephan was under a cloud of suspicion until he was finally released to go to America, shortly before the ships left. Accusations against him included his illegal meetings, his association with female groupies, and his misuse of money. His wife, in court testimony, identified clear instances of his adultery. Stephan, In Pursuit of Religious Freedom, p. 98. Although Stephan cleverly talked around the facts when examined, no one was really fooled.

I conclude that the legal authorities released him to rid themselves of the pastor and the entire troublesome group.