On reading the June 2001 issue, perhaps the name should be "COP
First" instead of "Jesus First." Whether it is open communion,
contemporary worship, acceptance of PLI, rejection of doctrinal resolutions,
or rejecting limitations on COP appointments, nearly every resolution promoted
by "Jesus First" favors the liberals who dominate the COP.
The preferred candidates are Kieschnick and Muchow, as if Preus, Wenthy, or
Hartwig are not as " . . . Bible based and love focused" or
"mission driven and gospel centered" as Kieschnick and Muchow.
I spoke with Dr. Muchow in Pasadena, California on December 30, 2000. At
that time he was deeply embarrassed by "Jesus First's" nomination.
He told me he was withdrawing his name from candidacy. "Jesus First"
did not have permission to nominate him and their entire approach was poor
churchmanship. He told me he was sending a letter to the Board of Directors to
apologize for this unsolicited politicking and that he was looking forward to
his continued service as Chairman of the LCMS Board of Directors. It certainly
appears that he has stopped protesting.
We also have to ask how these two candidates could allow themselves to be
promoted by a publication that gives a glowing review of Dr. Waldo Werning's
new book, "Health and Healing for the LCMS." In the book, Werning
clearly shows his confusion on the doctrine of the Trinity. He teaches what
reads like a form of Unitarianism, popular in the third century AD,
culminating in the excommunication of the heretic Sabellius.
On pages 33 and 34, Werning suggests that God presents himself in three
different roles rather than maintaining the proper distinction of three
distinct persons in one divine being as taught in the Athanasian Creed.
Werning writes about "experiencing God in a three-fold manner,"
and that "God revealed Himself in three ways, we can make the Creator
with creation green, the Son, Jesus with salvation, red, and the Holy Spirit,
with spiritual enlightenment, blue . . ."
If Kieschnick and Muchow are indeed worthy candidates for the LCMS
Presidency, how can they allow their names to be promoted in a publication
associated with Unitarianism? Full awareness and agreement with this heresy
results in eternal damnation?
Doctor Francis Pieper writes about Unitarianism as follows:
"A. The Christian Church and Unitarianism"
"Unitariansim-known also as Monarchianism and Anti-trinitarianism - has
appeared in various forms. For practical purposes the Monarchians have been
divided into two classes, modal and dynamic. The Modalists of the third
century held that God is a Unity and therefore unipersonal. This unipersonal
God has revealed Himself successively in three different modes, or forms: In
the Father as creator, in the Son as Redeemer, and in the Holy Ghost as
Sanctifier. Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not three distinct persons, or
hypostases, but merely three roles, or parts, played by the one divine Person.
Modal Monarchianism advocated by Noetus of Smyrna, and Patripassian Praxeas,
and especially Sabellius (excommunicated 260), at first appealed to many
because it not only upheld monotheism over against pagan polytheism, but also
taught a certain trinity in God's mode of revelations and apparently also
emphasized the deity of Christ." Pieper Vol. I page 382.
The follow is a more lengthy quotation from Werning's book on this subject.
Not only does Werning speak about the three ways God reveals himself he
repeatedly speaks about experiencing God without the agency of the Word and
Sacraments.
Werning writes as follows on pages 33-34:
"A balanced Trinitarian faith is vital because it is also the foundation
for building the functional and practical side of church life. Truly knowing
the Father and the Holy Spirit, as well as Christ, guides to new experiences
with God. It leads us to a deeper recognition of our strength in the Triune
God, our limitations, our view of Satan and our adversaries, our fears, and
our mission vision. Christians recognize God as Creator, experience Christ as
Savior through prayer, and sense the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives,
experiencing God in a three-fold manner."
"If we make each Person of the Trinity a different color to
distinguish their Person and work, we might adopt the proposal made by
Christian Schwarz, (The Three-fold Art of Experiencing God, 1999, ChurchSmart
Resources, Carol Stream IL 60188), who says that as God revealed Himself in
three ways, we can make the Creator with creation green, the Son, Jesus with
salvation, red, and the Holy Spirit, with spiritual enlightenment, blue (pp.
8-11). Thus we have three colors, not just red as Scaer, Weinrich and friends
contend."
"Schwarz helps us understand the true nature of the Triune God, as he
shows in the three colors, three manners of being (God above us, God among us,
God in us), three works, (creation, salvation, sanctification), three levels
of reality (nature, history, existence) and three forms of address ('You
shall!,' 'You may!,' 'You can!') Schwarz states, 'Once our view of God has
been reduced to one of the three ways in which God reveals Himself (expressed
in the three colors), we also reduce our possibilities of experiencing God . .
. in world wide Christianity, there are three main groups who, positively
seen, can be considered as advocates for one of the three ways in which God
has revealed Himself: the 'Liberals' as advocates of the creation revelation,
the 'Evangelicals' (author's comment: LCMS, too) as advocates for the
salvation revelations, and the 'Charismatics' as advocates for personal
revelations (Holy Spirit).' Thus it becomes obvious that God has been isolated
primarily into one of the three Persons by the Scaer and Weinrich theology, as
the primary one is played off against the others, and each must now choose
their favorite 'god.'"
When speaking about those who claim to "experience God" rather
than only receiving God's salvation through the three means of grace, Luther
writes as follows in the Concordia Triglotta, The Smalcald Articles, Part III
Art. VIII, page 497.
"In a word, enthusiasm inheres in Adam and his children from the
beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having
been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin,
power [life], and strength of all heresy, especially of the Papacy and
Mahomet...."
For the record, God is not reduced to three forms of communication,
"You shall!," "You may!," "You can!" If Scaer
and Weinrich were to agree with Werning's confusion on the Trinity they should
not be allowed to teach at the Seminary.
The Reverend Charles Mueller Sr. has his endorsement on the back of
Werning's book and also instructs the importance of growing churches. Is he
able to identify the difference between a growing church and a growing heresy?
Yes, Werning has pointed out some problems in the LCMS with his book but to
what purpose? His solution leads us to Sabellius.
The delegates have each received a copy of my book "How To Start Or
Keep Your Own Missouri Synod Lutheran Church" and Werning's book. They
will have to decide which book is offering beneficial information for the
church.