The Gospel and Sacraments Are Validated by the Voters
Not by the Pastor
By Rev. Jack Cascione

Believe it or not, once in a while, a layperson in a worship service wants to be reassured that he or she is not being tricked or deluded, but is sure they are going to heaven. He or she may ask himself or herself:

"How do I know this is a true church?"
"How do I know that this pastor is speaking the right things about the Gospel?"
"How do I know this is the correct Baptism from Jesus Christ?"
"How do I know that this is the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament?"

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU REALLY HEARD THE GOSPEL?

Any lay person can be certain they heard the correct teaching on the Law and the Gospel if the sermon, the written confessions, and the practice of the congregation agree with the three Creeds and Luther's Small Catechism. Second, the Augsburg Confession defines the saving Gospel, justification through faith in Christ alone, as found in Chapters 3 and 4 of the Book of Romans. There is much more, but this will suffice as a quick litmus test to identify salvation through the sermon. Every LCMS congregation must agree that the Lutheran Confessions are a true exposition of Scripture.

If the sermon, confession, and practice of a congregation do not agree with the above, the Gospel is not being offered to worshippers in the congregation. Lots of "churches" that claim to speak the Gospel, such as the Unitarians, Jehovah Witnesses, and countless nondenominational "community churches" do not agree with the three Creeds, the Two Natures of Christ, or the Trinity. A woman from a community church recently told me that the Two Natures of Christ are about His masculine and feminine side. These "churches" do not understand the Gospel, and while their members are sitting in church many of them are actually on their way to hell.

The validity of the Gospel does not depend upon the pastor, but on whether or not the congregation has the correct understanding and public confession of the Gospel. If I, as a Lutheran pastor, were to preach the Gospel in a Unitarian Church, it would not be the Gospel unless I first condemned the confession of that congregation and then preached the Gospel. Otherwise, the listeners would understand the Gospel in terms of their own predisposed doctrinal error. The Bible says it takes two or three Christians gathered together to make a church. Therefore, one believing pastor is not enough to meet Christ's definition of a church.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE REALLY OR CORRECTLY BAPTIZED?

The answer is, that the congregation confesses the Apostles' Creed and agrees with Acts 2:38, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The baptism must be done in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost according Matt. 28:20.

There are churches like Mormons, Christians Scientists, Unity, and countless nondenominational community churches that practice a false baptism. Their members are not really baptized even if the pastor baptizes them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, because their congregation denies the correct teaching about the Trinity. All people who are baptized in churches that reject the Trinity must seek true baptism in a true church or face eternal damnation. The words of baptism are not enough to make a baptism valid. The congregation must also confess the correct meaning of the words of baptism. If I, as a Lutheran pastor, baptized a person in a Mormon or Christian Scientist Church, that person would not be baptized because the Confession of the Church officially denies the meaning of the words of baptism. The validity of the baptism does not depend upon the pastor but on the correct confession of the words of baptism by the congregation.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU RECEIVED THE TRUE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHIRST IN THE LORD'S SUPPER?

The answer is if the congregation in which you receive the Lord's Supper confesses that the words "This is My body" and "This is My blood" are literally correct. "Is" means "is," not "represents," or "symbolizes," but "is." Any other interpretation means the Lord's Supper was not offered to the communicants but rather they are the recipients of a fraud.

In denominations such as the Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Assembly of God, and nearly every nondenominational community church in America, no one receives the true Lord's Supper because their churches never offer it. If I, as an LCMS pastor, were to speak the Words of Institution over the elements in one of these churches and serve them to the members, no one's sins would be forgiven. The Lord's Supper can't be present because of the faith of a visiting Lutheran in a Methodist Church any more than the real presence is nullified because of the lack of faith of a Methodist, Baptist, etc. visiting a Lutheran Church. A worshipper's faith can't create or nullify the presence of the three Means of Grace. The validity of the Lord's Supper does not depend upon the pastor saying the Words of Institution over the elements but on the correct confession of these words by the congregation. The congregation is the church.

THE MEANS OF GRACE ARE SELF-VALIDATING WHEN THEY ARE PRESENT

There is no question that the three Means of Grace are self-validating and efficacious when they are present and offered, independent of any particular member's faith. However, those church bodies that do not correctly confess the Gospel, Baptism, or the Lord's Supper are not offering the true Means of Grace to their worshippers. The validity of the Means of Grace does not rest in the words of human language but in the correct meaning of the words. The Gospel is not an incantation, rather it must be correctly understood in any language into which it is translated in order for it to forgive sins, regenerate the soul, and create saving faith.

THE REFUSAL OF BOTH LCMS SEMINARIES AND THE LCMS DISTRICT PRESIDENTS TO AFFIRM THAT VOTER SUPREMACY IS THE ONLY POLITY OF LCMS CONGREGATIONS, QUESTIONS THE EXISTENCE OF THE GOSPEL AND SACRAMENTS IN ALL LCMS CONGREGATIONS

Whose confession says a congregation is a true visible church: the Synod, the District, the pastor, board of directors, or the Voters? The authority to state the official doctrine of LCMS congregations and issue calls into the pastoral office for all LCMS congregations only rests in the Voters' Assembly. When the Voters are not supreme they can't possibly be the finally authority for the correct confession of the three Means of Grace in the congregation. Opinion polls, general consensus, written documents, or tradition do not confess the Means of Grace in a congregation, only the living witness of the congregation will suffice. Otherwise, I could put the Bible, Lutheran Confessions, water, bread and wine in a closet and call it a church.

After the removal of Martin Stephan in 1841, the question for Walther versus Vehse in the Log Cabin Debate was whether the settlers were a true church or needed a Swedish Bishop to lay hands on a candidate for ordination. At the time, both Loehe and Grabau taught that the congregation was an extension of the pastoral office. Hence, they mistakenly taught that the members could only be certain they had the Means of Grace when the congregation had an "orthodox Lutheran bishop." Walther won the debate.

THE MEANS OF GRACE ARE NOT THE CHURCH

The Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper are not the church; they were not redeemed; and Christ didn't die for them. Without Voter Supremacy, the LCMS must be "church" and the individual congregations come Synodical "franchises" like WELS and ELS. When the Synod is church, it confesses the Means of Grace for the non-church congregations. However, Christ teaches that the congregation is the people who gather around the correct confession of the Means of Grace in Matthew 18:20. Hence, the Synod cannot be church because it does not possess the Office of the Keys nor the right to administer the Means of Grace to any congregation.

THE PASTOR IS NOT THE CHURCH

In Europe, the State and in Luther's situation, the Duke, determined what would be the correct confession of the Gospel and the Sacraments in Lutheran congregations. In the Catholic Church, the Pope makes this decision. He is the church. But the Bible teaches that the church is founded on the writings of the prophets and the apostles, not the office of the ministry. Neither the District President nor the pastor is the flesh of Christ!

At the present time, the LCMS President has no authority to consecrate the elements or make a clear confession of the Gospel for any LCMS congregation unless authorized to do so by a particular congregation. He is not the church. The church does not confess what the pastor or the Board of Directors believes. All Missouri Synod members confess what the Voters believe. All members publicly believe what the Voters believe. If the Voters don't make a correct confession of the Means of Grace a congregation is not a true church. At the present time, acceptance of a doctrinal error in the Means of Grace by the Synodical or District Conventions would only become a doctrinal error in an LCMS congregation, if the LCMS congregation agrees with the doctrinal error.

THE SYNOD CANNOT "BELIEVE" FOR THE CONGREGATION

The Synod has officially stated the pastor cannot "believe" for the congregation and neither can the Synod. The Synod is not a church. No one can "join it" or become a "communicant member" of the Synod. The congregation must have it's own faith. Without Voter Supremacy, under the current structure of the LCMS, no one can be certain of what any particular LCMS congregation believes and confesses about the true Gospel and the Sacraments.

THE DEVIL IS DESTROYING THE CONFESSNION OF LCMS CONGREGATIONS

He is working overtime to remove the clear confession of LCMS congregations by tempting them to give up Voter Supremacy. He is tempting many seminary professors to teach their students to reject the congregations' supreme right to judge and vote on doctrine. Instead of attacking the message of the Gospel they attack the people who confess the Gospel and thereby turn the congregations into a Lutheran service clubs like Kiwanis, Lions, or Rotary.

The problem is that the 1969 Convention turned Voters' Assemblies from being judges of doctrine into sensitivity groups. Many thought "momentum" would carry the LCMS but, as it turns out, only for one generation. The current generation has little or no understanding of Voters' Assemblies and, therefore, must necessarily be led into either corporate or Episcopal hierarchy. If PLI and the Church Growth Movement or the Hyper-Euro-Lutherans win their case, the LCMS congregations will lose the Gospel. It is all about your soul.

December 5, 2000