'Logia' Perpetuates Missouri's Theology and Polity Crisis

By: Rev. Jack Cascione
The 2003 Epiphany issue of "Logia" published an article by Dr. David Scaer
titled, "Missouri's Identity Crisis: Rootless in America."  After reading
the article, we wonder if Scaer is an imbedded Jesuit in the LCMS who longs
for polity rooted in the Catholic Church.

Some of Scaer's friends, Rev. John Richard Neuhaus, Rev. Leonard Klein, and
others have left Lutheranism and joined the Catholic Church.  What will
Scaer do?

Scaer's humor, truth, false dichotomies, and convenient historical
oversights make him one of the most entertaining, persuasive, and
manipulative writers in Lutheranism today.

Try this quote: ". . . in each of us lives a little fanatic disguised as a
miniature 'Luther' determined to set the course of the church on the right
path.  Such zeal attempts either to repristinate the past or adjust the
future."  The only conclusion: Be still and know that Scaer is right.

Scaer's mixture of blatant truth and unabashed error make the readers
question their own judgment.  How can one be so right and so wrong at the
same time?

We know the king has no clothes when Scaer writes: "Though the Missouri
Synod claimed an extraordinary unity for itself at the end of the nineteenth
century, it cannot do so now."

He hits another one out of the park when he shows that contemporary churches
are dying because they lack credibility by accepting all positions. "If
churches do not take themselves seriously, few others will."

Just one more absolute truism: Now "Churches are grown like agricultural
products.  The ground is tested before the gospel is preached, a new twist
on the parable of the soils."

But when Scaer gets lost, it is not in the weeds.  He just jumps over the
cliff and takes Fort Wayne with him.

Scaer blames the LCMS "bronze-agers" and those who love the Brief Statement
for passing 7-17a at the 2001 LCMS Convention and making Walther's "Church
and Ministry" the doctrinal position of the LCMS.  Hello: Dr. Scaer!  This
is the LCMS.

I've heard two years of whining from the "Hyper-Euro-Lutherans" who long for
a return to pre-Walther European Lutheran hierarchy and the resurrection of
Martin Stephan.  They say, if Cascione hadn't brought up all that stuff
about Walther, congregationalism, and voter supremacy, Wenthe would have
won.

A poll taken of 482 delegates after the 2001 Convention asking if they voted
for Kieschnick, because Wenthe didn't support Walther, proved the critics
are right.  They stopped polling after 482 because they already had the
margin of difference.

I was baptized in the Catholic Church in Brooklyn New York, but was raised
from Sunday school on in the LCMS.  I'm not going back to the Roman Catholic
Church.  Rather let Scaer follow Neuhaus and Kline.

Ah, Leonard, we knew him well, but he was not the Lutheran we thought he
was.  Now it is back to the "Hail Marys."

Scaer warns that Resolution 7-17a, which reaffirmed Walther's Church and
Ministry as the official polity of the LCMS, will be used to promote
anti-clericalism, confuses the definition of minister and ministry, and
lives in the past. "Of course this is exactly what happened with Resolution
7-17a.  A theology that lives within the past is reluctant to examine
itself, because it assumes that in any controversy it was and therefore is
right.  Historicism replaces theology."  It is also most likely responsible
for arthritis, high blood pressure, and cataracts.

Scaer doesn't miss the opportunity to promote the sacrament of ordination,
(Scaer's cure-all for the LCMS) and claim a pseudo conflict between the
Apology and "Brief Statement" on the issue.

Scaer claims 2001 Resolutions "7-08 To Add New Bylaw to Governed Dissolution
of Synod Wide Corporate Entities" and "7-11 To move Property Ownership Bylaw
to Constitution" reaffirms that the Synod is more of a corporation than a
church by answering that it has no equity in a congregation's property.

The velvet glove comes off and Scaer shows that the evil nature of
autonomous congregations is, that the Synod can't own them.  The Catholic
Church is all about that four-letter word, "deed."  If only the LCMS
congregations would see that Synod is a church, it would be so much easier
for Synod to own, run, and operate them.  Scaer claims the problem is
"seeing the synod as a free association of congregations and not a church."
And again, "It allows for a bizarre congregationalism in which any number of
people can constitute a legal meeting and can deprive others [like the
District Office] not in attendance of church property."

All the Scaer sycophants adjust their miters and genuflect in agreement, and
Logia says, "Amen."  In other words, Scaer rejects the right of
congregations to judge doctrine and manage their own property.

The original name of the LCMS was "Evangelical Lutheran Synod," not church.
The Synod is not a church.  This is not the Wisconsin Synod.  "The name of
this corporation shall be 'Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod'" according to
2001 Handbook page138, Articles of Incorporation.

Redeemer Lutheran Church in St. Clair Shores is a real church that issues a
real call and bestows a real pastoral office through a supreme voters'
assembly.

Scaer mourns that Synodical corporate language, "makes the congregation the
final judge in all matters of doctrine."  To this I say, "God bless C. F. W.
Walther's 'Church and Ministry.'"

There is little doubt that President Dean Wenthe would be LCMS President
today if he and the Fort Wayne Seminary Faculty and Board of Directors had
wrapped themselves in Walther's "Church and Ministry" (which passed by 73%)
instead of the pages of "Logia."  However, they must be admired for their
noble disagreement with the fundamental polity of the LCMS.  For them it is
better to live in defeat than agree with Walther's false doctrine.

Since his election, we marvel as President Kieschnick's implementation of
the Hyper-euro-agenda with the style of a Baptist Church Growth CEO instead
of a Swedish Lutheran Bishop.  The Hyper-euros should be applauding.  In
reality, neither "Jesus First" nor the Hyper-euros are dealing with Lutheran
Doctrine.  It is all about style.

In the article before Scaer's, Dr. Kurt Marquart argues forcefully for the
historic Lutheran approach to church fellowship, but can't help base some of
his argument on the false assumption that Synod is church.  Synod is not
church.  The word "churchly" is a non-biblical, baseless, warm, fussy,
ecclesiastical adjective, not a noun.

Marquart even quotes his own paper to prove that Pieper believed that the
Synod was "church" instead of a free association of congregations.  The
congregational voters assembly is "church" which is why we call the LCMS
national gathering a "convention of churches," not a church.

At this time, no one is more courageous and articulate in confronting the
corporate excesses of President Kieschnick, than Dr. Kurt Marquart.

Kieschnick is touring LCMS Conventions promoting his "One Mission, One
Message, One People."  He can't even get the order straight.  It must first
of all be "One Message" because there is no mission without the message.

Ironically, Kieschnick also speaks and acts as if the Synod is "church."
His speech to the Michigan District Convention promoted evangelism and
growth after 30 years of decline.  This is impossible.  No one can join the
LCMS Corporation because it is not a church.  They can only join autonomous
LCMS member congregations.  The LCMS President has no constitutional
authority to evangelize, baptize, serve Communion, or administer the office
of the Keys in the name of the LCMS.  The LCMS is a corporation.

Kieschnick told us he had a burning inner fire to save the lost.

Dear President Kieschnick, you should consider giving up your corporate job,
go into the parish ministry, and be a real pastor.  Otherwise, all the
desire to stimulate the growth of the Synod must be understood in the
context of saving the corporate bottom line.

Only the means of grace lead people to eternal life.  President Kieschnick
was elected to carry out the Handbook of the LCMS Corporation, not to
administer the means of grace.

In fact, Article III of the Constitution, "Objectives" shows that the Synod
is to assist congregations.  According to Article III, the LCMS doesn't have
a mission of its own, because it is not a church.  According to Article III
the first duty of the President is "conserve and promote the true unity of
the faith . . . ."  And according to Article XI "Rights and Duties of
Officers," the President is to hired for six figures to supervise doctrine.

We say to President Kieschnick, "Do your job" and stop being the LCMS
equivalent of Bill Graham.

But what do we hear, an encouragement not to spend too much time on
"purification" of doctrine so the Synod can get the message out.  It is not
the Synod's job to get the message out; it is the congregations' job to get
the message out and be churches.

July 2, 2003