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Rev. Davidson: Our
Source About The Valpo Service
By: Rev. Jack Cascione |
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Rev. Davidson Writes as Follows: |
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Dear Brother in Christ and Office,
I am writing in regards to the recent unionistic and syncretistic
prayer
service presided by one of our Indiana District brothers in the
Valpo
Chapel. If I have already written you please delete this e mail as
you wish.
I am sending this mailing to all my fellow brethren and friends.
Please feel
free to assist the cause in the distribution of this e mail message
and info
to as wide a distribution as you are able and deem appropriate. You
may copy
and paste this, forward it, or print and distribute it as a
hardcopy--whatever suits your purpose and desire.
Unfortunately, on 9/11/02 I was required to attend a recent
interfaith
prayer service of the Missouri Synod. This time, I went with hope to
preventing a brother in Christ and Office from sinning wickedly by
abusing
his office and ecclesiastical authority in promoting unionism and
syncretism
and obscuring the Gospel of Christ--the ONLY means of salvation to
men. To
that end, I mailed him a registered letter prior to the service as
well as
speaking with him face to face one hour prior to the service where
he
assured me, "It's not a worship service." I then reminded
him that I had
come not to be his judge, but to encourage him to faithfulness and
to be a
means of support for him--though I did not know him personally
before this
meeting-we ARE brothers in Christ and Office!
Unfortunately, as his sin was public, so now I must according to the
teaching of our Confession with respect to the Eighth Commandment, I
must
now begin a more forceful and growingly public rebuke and judgment
of his
teaching as false. Our Confession says this: "Necessity
requires one to
report evil, to prefer charges, to attest, examine, and
witness." LC Tappert
p.402, at 275. And further, "where the sin is so public that
the judge and
the whole world are aware of it, you can without sin shun and avoid
the
person as one who has brought disgrace upon himself, and you may
testify
publicly concerning him. For when an affair is manifest to everybody
there
can be no question of slander or injustice or false witness. For
example, we
now censure the pope and his teaching, which is publicly set forth
in books
and shouted throughout the world. Where the sin is public, the
punishment
ought to be public so that everyone may know how to guard against
it."
So I don't intend here to write an essay, merely to introduce this
serious
matter to you. I took these pictures so that you can judge for
yourself.
They are posted by a very good friend and colleague who is excellent
with
computers and such, a faithful and orthodox Lutheran Campus Pastor
at the
University of Wyoming, Rev Marcus Zill.
PICTURES:
The first picture shows them processing into the chancel, Jewish
Rabbis,
Lutheran Pastors, Professors, other clergymen and women from other
church
bodies within visible Christendom, as well as Muslim Imam and his
cantor.
Answer this question. If it was an academic assembly and not a
worship
service, why were there torches in the processional; one torch came
in with
clergymen from each of the three "faith traditions"
represented--one for the
Muslims, one for the Jews, one for the Christians. Then all three
were
simultaneously put in their lamp stands (read Revelation 2.5 NIV:
"If you do
not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its
place.")
If the chapel were merely being used as an assembly hall, why
weren't the
participants simply sitting in chairs in the front facing the
assembled
folks rather than sitting in pews facing the altar (whose large and
beautiful cross was *not* illuminated as it would have usually been.
If this
was not a prayer service, why did the Rev Cunningham quite
liturgically,
properly, and beautifully chant the opening versicles with the
Gloria and
the closing Apostolic Benediction which we use in every prayer
office in our
hymnals, rather than simply saying, "Welcome" and
"Our meeting is done"?
SERVICE BULLETIN WITH MY EDITORIAL NOTES and some spoken parts that
I
transcribed from the tape I made that were not printed in the
bulletin:
I was told before hand that this was not a worship service at all
but a
"convocation: defined as 'assembly'" and that my brother
in Christ and
Office Rev Cunningham would not be participating except to welcome
those
attending from his office as Dean of the Chapel. But as you can see
by the
bulletin and pictures, this was not so.
I provide these links above for your thought. I for one have drawn
my own
conclusions. I value highly the opportunity to hear yours, as well
as those
brethren of your acquaintance whom may be unknown to me through
these
electronic means--both as to your assessment, encouragement, and
such
counsel as you deem fitting!
Thanks in advance.
Fraternally,
Rev. Frederick E. Davison, Pastor
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, U.A.C.
6843 W 400 N Kokomo, Indiana 46901
765-452-9168
email: davisonf@msn.com
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"The true corrective of abuse, is to restore, or hold fast the
right use."
Krauth, Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, page 117
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September 23, 2002 |