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We wish to thank Rev. Reiss (Revreiss@aol.com)
for sharing his "dream" with
us. We preface his "dream" with a few remarks. One
can only conclude that
such a dream is possible when everyone does what is right in his own eyes
and the Bible, the Lutheran Confessions, and the LCMS Constitution become
pretexts instead of the foundation for unity. When someone dares to
point
out the other fellow's position is not Lutheran the standard reply is that
the Eighth Commandment has been broken.
The Walther Conference in St. Louis MO, on Nov. 1 and 2, is the only venue
in the Synod that is addressing the authentic Missouri Synod. No
LCMS
Seminary, College, or District has offered to host the Walther Conference
because they are all going in their own direction. The Walther
Conference
is honored to have Montana District President George Wollenburg as the
first
District President to address the Walther Conference. After the
adoption of
7-17A, Wollenburg is the man most qualified to speak for the position of
the
REAL MISSOURI SYNOD.
(Rev. Reiss Revreiss@aol.com
writes)
Jack:
Thank you so much for responding.
At 79 years I am grieving over the threatening death of our Synod.
We
should not let Benke and this incident bring it about. Granted, what
he did
is questionable to say the least and Kieschnick (and a few others) are not
handling it wisely, still there must be a better way to resolve this
without
total destruction.
In my opinion, for the past few years, our Seminaries have not been doing
a
good job of preparing and directing our graduates for wholesome pastoral
ministry (not to mention our other Concordias). They go from one
extreme to
the other.
I am attaching a paper I wrote, maybe sent you before...I wish I knew the
answers:
I HAD A DREAM! (maybe it was a nightmare) I had a dream that there was a
"split" in the LCMS. The Confessionals split from the
"Jesus First" people.
(Seems like one of those dreams that in 78 years keeps repeating itself)
[I] But, the "Confessionals" began to recognize their own
differences:
1) The Hyper-Euros could not accept the Waltherians
a. There are the anti- "Priesthood of believers
Group"
b. There is the "only the Oral Word" Group
c. There is the "Apostolic Succession" Group
2) Then the Old Conservatives found serious differences with
"Confessionals"
3) In re: Liturgy there were multi-splits
a. "The "Deutsche Messe" Group
b. The TLH Group
1. The page 15 only Group
2. The 5 and 15 Group
c. The Lutheran Worship Group
d. The New Hymnal Group
e. The Eastern Orthodox Liturgy Group
f. The "Liturgy Saves" Group
g. The anti-evangelism Group
h. Others
1. The Holy Water Group
2. The Lutheran
"Mass" Group
3. The "I'm a Father"
Group
4. The "I'm Jesus"
Group
5. The "only real
wine" Group
6. The "If our
congregation doesn't grow (even dies) it shows that
we are the only true Christians" Group
4) Then there are the Symposiums
a. Under them are a variety: "I am of S; I am of
M; I am of J; I am of
W..(1 Cor. 13)
b. Some entrepreneur seminary professors have trouble
developing their
own exclusive following or Group.
5) Then there is the pro-woman suffrage confessionals Group vs the anti
woman suffragers
6) Maybe a new Group called "We don't do the pledge of allegiance
because
"under God" is idolatry since it might include many different
gods.
7) The "Synod (Seminary) is Church Group" vs the
"Congregation is Church"
Group
8) The "More Sacraments Group" (Absolution, Ordination, Last
Rites....
9) The "Early Church Fathers Group"
10) Several other Groups are lurking in the shadows
[Some of the Groups, to prove they are not Separatists, actually merged to
form new Synods, each consisting of 4-6 congregations if they can work out
their differences]
[II] In the meantime the "Jesus Firsts" suddenly realized that
they also
consisted of many species:
1) There are the "Old Liberals (remnants of Seminex) unacceptable to
"Old
Conservatives"
2) There are the PLIs and "Church Growthers" different than
former
Evangelists/Stewards
3) There are the extreme "Contemporary Services" (no altar or
pulpit...only
a stage)
4) There are the RIMS (charismatics), not too popular with many
5) There are the Feminists, pushing for women pastors, unacceptable to
other
First Groups
6) There are the "unionists" ready to join ELCA and beyond while
other
Firsts say "never"
7) There are Waltherianists turned off by Confessional High Churchers but
sometimes troubled by "Jesus First"
8) There are the Evangelists who only want to "get the Word out"
and are
hindered by rigid and legalistic Confessionals.
[III] Now I could talk about the problems of "middle-of-the-roaders"
(there
might be quite a few) who have trouble with both Confessionals and
"Jesus
First". I think that Luther once said, "Mankind is so
corrupt that the only
time he is on the right road is when he is going from one ditch to the
other".
My dream was so real, because I had experiences all these so-called Groups
in real life---Thank God I woke up! Maybe we all need to wake up
before it
is too late!
REISS
P.S. It seems that the Devil is reusing the sayings: "A house
divided
against itself cannot stand"; "Divide and Conquer..."
"Come out from among
them that, come out from among them, that come out from among them that,
come out from among them........ I suggested, a cartoon entitled
"Will the
real LCMS please stand up!", with a line of variously dressed clergy,
laity,
etc.]
EM REISS Revreiss@aol.com
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