Notable public statements by LCMS supervisors and analysis
"Whether our Synod gains friends or makes enemies,
wins honor or invites disgrace, grows or declines in numbers, brings peace or incites enmity, all this must be unimportant
to us-just so our Synod may keep the jewel of purity of doctrine and knowledge. However, should our Synod ever grow indifferent
toward purity of doctrine, through ingratitude forget this prize, or betray or barter it away to the false church, then let
our church body perish and the name Missourian decay in disgrace."
-C.F.W. Walther, First Sermon Delivered at the Opening
of Synod,
1 Corinthians 1:4-5
Chart showing increase of heresy in the world and rate of global warming in relation.
From a 2001 issue of the LCMS Texas District's publication "Minister to Minister" in regard to pastoral SET
(self-evaluation tool) forms:
"A REMINDER The Council of Presidents has made the decision that as of
January 1, 2002, only those pastors who have the latest version of the Self Evaluation Tool (36 questions in length
- not broken into two parts) will be given Call consideration. If you do not have the Self Evaluation Tool or
if the SET you currently have on file is not the version with the 36 questions and responses, call or email Claudetta for
the new version" [emphasis added]."
From the LCMS Northwest District newsletter, Northwest Passages by Rev. Dr. Warren Schumacher (October 2008):
I believe that we will eagerly move forward into this 21st Century fully aware that we have
closely followed the Tracks of the Holy Spirit. We have implemented the goal of making every congregation a mission outpost,
built an outreach and sustaining relationship
with every family
touched by our schools and social ministries, and identified a growing number of evangelical
lay leaders who sincerely desire and require their Professional Church Workers to be as equally future oriented and evangelical
in their style and substance. There have been some jarring exceptions to that sort of “fit.”
Fitness for LCMS ministry demands that trained pastors and commissioned
ministers are servants who know the Holy Spirit and are able to share Him with others
with positive, humble, approachable, and flexible ministry styles. It is becoming increasingly more
common that rigid and aloof professionals do not last long in pulpit or classroom. Those who network with equally past-oriented
museum-keeper colleagues usually end up being asked to resign or move on to a better “fit.”
Increasingly, graduate placement has become a Synod-wide endeavor that
has the highest priority and attention of the Council of Presidents of the LCMS. The Northwest District is blessed to have
a growing number of the “best of the best” being produced from our 10 Synod Universities and our 2 Seminaries.
We pray that this trend continues.
Paul said it clearly in 2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV when he said “
He (God) has made us competent as ministers of
a NEW (emphasis added) covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Examples of the disasters of the letter that kills are taken to the cross of Jesus Christ who
forgives those who have mishandled the precious Word and used it as an instrument of destruction instead
of the Spirit-filled gift of life! Pray to the Lord of the Church that He continues to raise up the people-oriented servants
of Jesus!
"Transforming Churches Network" Lutheran Historian Rev. Dr. Martin Noland
Click the picture for more about "Blues Brothers theology" - anything goes "on a mission from God."
FROM THE OCTOBER 30, 2008 "PASTORAL LETTER" (e-mail) of President Gerald Kieschnick [emphasis added]:
The Synod's position
"What's the position of the
Synod?" That's a question asked fairly regularly by pastors, commissioned ministers, lay leaders, and lay people about various
matters of faith and life. The various answers given to such questions indicate that there are numerous opinions in the Synod
on what actually is our position on any number of issues relating to our doctrine and practice. Some of these opinions are
even accurate! Unfortunately, others leave a significant amount of accuracy to be desired.
What, then, is one to do
when such questions arise? While it sometimes may be our inclination to call a seminary classmate or even a former professor
to seek their opinions (and who would argue with such inclination), it would be most appropriate to call the one whom
the Synod has called to provide doctrinal and ecclesiastical supervision in our districts. I speak, of course, of your
district president.
Our Synod's Constitution
(Art. XII) says district presidents shall "especially exercise supervision over the doctrine, life, and administration of
office of the ordained and commissioned ministers of their district and acquaint themselves with the religious conditions
of the congregations of their district.." Bylaw 1.2.1 states that "ecclesiastical supervision" includes "the presenting, interpreting,
and applying of the collective will of the Synod's congregations"-in
other words, the Synod's official position.
This counsel is offered as
evangelical encouragement to be in touch with your district president when questions about our position on matters of doctrine
and practice arise. He is in a position to know, understand,
and interpret the position of the Synod and to offer evangelical counsel as you face questions of casuistry and pastoral
practice.
IN OTHER NEWS...
The following was found in
the new Catechism of the Catholic Church:
+ Nihil Obstat, Commission on Doctrinal Review, Censor Librorum, Bylaw
3.9.3
From Martin Luther's "Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German
Nation on the Reform of the Christian Estate" (1520):
They wish to be the only Masters of The Holy Scriptures,[20] even though in
all their lives they learn nothing from them. They assume for themselves sole authority, and with insolent juggling of words
they would persuade us that the pope, whether he be a bad man or a good man, cannot err in matters of faith,[21] and yet they
cannot prove a single letter of it. Hence it comes that so many heretical and unchristian, nay, even unnatural ordinances
have a place in the canon law, of which, however, there is no present need to speak. For since they think that the Holy Spirit
never leaves them, be they never so unlearned and wicked, they make bold to decree whatever they will. And if it were true,
where would be the need or use of Holy Scriptures? Let us burn them, and be satisfied with the unlearned lords at Rome, who
are possessed of the Holy Spirit, -- although He can possess only pious hearts! Unless I had read it myself,[22] I could not
have believed that the devil would make such clumsy pretensions at Rome, and find a following. [...]
All these and many other texts should make us bold and free, and we should
not allow the Spirit of liberty, as Paul calls Him, to be frightened off by the fabrications of the popes, but we ought to
go boldly forward to test all that they do or leave undone, according to our interpretation of the Scriptures, which rests
on faith, and compel them to follow not their own interpretation, but the one that is better. In the olden days Abraham had
to listen to Sarah, although she was in more complete subjection to him than we are to anyone on earth. Balaam's ass, also,
was wiser than the prophet himself. If God then spoke an ass against a prophet, why should He not be able even now to speak
by a righteous man against the pope? In like manner St. Paul rebukes St. Peter as a man in error. Therefore it behooves every
Christian to espouse the cause of the faith, to understand and defend it, and to rebuke errors.
St. Ludovic Locuta Est - Causa
Finita Est.*
*(at least until the next convention, when we find something new in
the Bible through a new study document, task force, or commission)
76] Since, therefore, bishops have tyrannically transferred this jurisdiction to themselves
alone, and have basely abused it, there is no need, because of this jurisdiction, to obey bishops. But since there are just
reasons why we do not obey, it is right also to restore this jurisdiction to godly pastors [to whom, by Christ's command,
it belongs], and to see to it that it is legitimately exercised for the reformation of morals and the glory of God.
(From a 2002 [?] letter to the editor in the LCMS Reporter paper)
Doctrine and outreach
President Kieschnick's concern about "incessant internal purification"
distracting us from mission work (January Reporter) is, with all due respect, pure fantasy.
If anything, we
are plagued by incessant confusion and division about the pure Gospel. Examples? First, there is the neo-Pentecostal movement
in our Synod. As President Kuhn said in his 2001 convention report, "the charismatic movement and the teachings of God's Word
are incompatible." And then there are the lobbies for women's ordination, open communion and various confusions about the
Gospel ministry. Instead of "incessant" attempts to correct these aberrations, our real danger is incessant yakkedeyak to
evade the issues.
Getting the message straight is logically and theologically prior to getting it out! Evangelism
depends absolutely on the evangel, the content of the Gospel. If synodical trumpets cannot give a clear sound (1 Cor. 14:7,8),
they need to be replaced --precisely for the sake of the Church's sacred mission!
Dr. Kurt Marquart
Fort Wayne, Ind.
"Every
prince, nobleman and city should boldly forbid their subjects to pay the annates to Rome and should abolish them entirely;[1] for the pope has broken the compact and made the annates a robbery, to the injury and
shame of the whole German nation. He gives them to his friends, sells them for large amounts of money, and uses them to endow
offices. He has thus lost his right to them, and deserves punishment."
Martin Luther, "Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation,
Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate (1520)", published a year before Luther's excommunication
in 1521 (Decet Romanum Pontificem)
by the Roman Pope.
80] But they themselves should remember that riches [estates and revenues] have been given
to bishops as alms for the administration and advantage of the churches [that they may serve the Church, and perform their
office the more efficiently], as the rule says: The benefice is given because of the office. Therefore they cannot with a
good conscience possess these alms, and meanwhile defraud the Church, which has need of these means for supporting ministers,
and aiding studies [educating learned men], and caring for the poor and establishing courts, especially matrimonial.
‘If you want to get a pastor, you’ll
have to support the president…’ No, a congregation should and must know that there is no need to fear that
we will touch its right; it must decide whom to call, and we have nothing to say about that. We merely say: ‘If
you want to act with foresight, wisdom, and humility in dealing with such a sacred matter, then get advice from the best advisors–and
as a general rule those are the District presidents. But we do not insist that you must go to the president.’”
Rev. Dr. CFW Walther, 11
th
Synodical Convention (Missouri Synod),
1863
Some
(Im)pertinent Quotes from our Lutheran Confessions
On the Power of Bishops & Abuse of Ecclesiastical Oversight
284] All this has been said regarding secret sins. But where the sin is quite public so that the
judge and everybody know it, you can without any sin avoid him and let him go, because he has brought himself into disgrace,
and you may also publicly testify concerning him. For when a matter is public in the light of day, there can be no slandering
or false judging or testifying; as, when we now reprove the Pope with his doctrine, which is publicly set forth in books and
proclaimed in all the world. For where the sin is public, the reproof also must be public, that every one may learn to guard
against it.
+ Luther's Large Catechism, Eighth Commandment
+
"If
the bishops wanted to be true bishops and to attend to the church and the gospel, then a person might -- for the sake of love
and unity but not out of necessity -- give them leave to ordain and confirm us and our preachers, provided all the pretense
and fraud of unchristian ceremony and pomp were set aside. However, they are not now and do not want to be true bishops. Rather
they are political lords and princes who do not want to preach, teach, baptize, commune, or perform any proper work or office
of the church. In addition, they persecute and condemn those who do take up a call to such an office. Despite this, the church
must not remain without servants on their account." + Smalcald Articles, Part III, Article 10,1-2 +
"St. Peter
prohibits the bishops to rule as if they had the power to force the churches to do whatever they desired [1 Peter 5:2]. Now
the question is not how to take power away from the bishops. Instead, we desire and ask that they would not force themselves
into sin. But if they will not do so and despise this request, let them consider how they will have to answer to God, since
by their obstinancy they cause division and schism, which they should rightly help to prevent." + Augsburg Confession,
Article XXVIII,76-78 +
"...All this evidence makes clear that the church retains the right to choose and ordain
ministers. Consequently, when bishops either become heretical or are unwilling to ordain, the churches are compelled by divine
right to ordain pastors and ministers for themselves. Moreover, the cause of this schism and dissension is to be found in
the ungodliness and tyranny of bishops, for Paul warns that bishops who teach and defend false doctrine and impious forms
of worship are to be considered accursed." + Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, The Power and Jurisdiction
of Bishops,72 +
