Michigan District
Office and Board Refuse To Confess Three Creeds
by Rev. Jack Cascione
Without an unalterable confession of the Gospel the members of the LCMS will not be able to keep or identify the Gospel in their congregations. Be careful when you ask a District President or a member of the Board of Directors about the above title. They will say yes we confess the three Creeds. But when you ask them how many others they also confess you will discover the number is endless. They will confess nearly anything you or another pastor dreams up.
The lay people of the LCMS will be doomed to the same fate as the members of the ELCA, Methodist, Presbyterian USA, Reformed Church in America, United Church of Canada, Congregational Church, and many others if they cannot maintain an immovable confession of the Gospel in their congregations.
The infiltration of the so called "leadership principles" promoted by the Leadership Network, explained in the first chapter, are clearly seen in the purpose and vision statements of many LCMS districts including Michigan. "The vision of the Michigan District (LCMS) is a network of Lutheran Congregations and Ministries that are interdependent, dynamic, effective and growing...."
There is nothing biblical about a "network." Churches are not interdependent, they are dependent on Christ and the Gospel. Only the Gospel is "dynamic, effective and growing." All such claims applied to ourselves is only cheap self-aggrandizing praise, the expressions of market psychology in place of God’s word. God says, "Without me ye can do nothing." The vocabulary of Church Growth and leadership is replacing Biblical terms. Notice the lack of terms that say "We confess the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." They want to be a corporation and not church.
In a meeting with the Michigan District President and four members of their Board of Directors, the members of Redeemer Lutheran Church discovered there is no limit to the number of creeds in Michigan and many other Districts. In fact, the members of Redeemer heard their pastor called a "legalist" because he refused to confess any creed but the three Creeds.
As you read the following minutes of the meeting remember what fraud the Dispute Resolution Process I engaged in with Dr. Luecke and Judge Gene Schnelz in the previous chapter really is. When I told the Michigan District President about Schnelz’s ruling that only one of the three Creeds could be confessed in a communion service, I was completely ignored. You can be certain that if Schnelz had ruled against me his decision would have been thrown in my face. Every avenue of grievance in the Synod is now nothing more than a subjective opinion rendered to satisfy the people involved in a particular dispute at the moment. The District President may ignore or accept whatever decision the Reconciler comes up with. The Gospel is now defined by the C.O.P. in the LCMS, not the Lutheran Confessions.
Minutes taken by Brad Vincent at the meeting between the Board of Directors of the Michigan District and Redeemer Lutheran Church, St. Clair Shores, Michigan on November 13, 1997, held at District Headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Attendees:
For Michigan District Board of Directors:Rev. William Hoesman, Rev. Luther Werth, Rev. Arnold Brammeier, Judge William Ward, Nancy HillenbrandFor Redeemer Lutheran Church:
Rev. Jack Cascione, Donald Rutter, Gary Bacon, Robert Linsdeau, Brad VincentPlease note: These are minutes from the meeting. They are not exact quotes from any of the individuals cited. They were reviewed and approved by the Board of Elders of Redeemer Lutheran Church.
The meeting commenced at 7:30 p.m. with Scripture readings by President Hoesman and an opening prayer. The readings were from 1 Cor 10:23 ff., Phil 2:1 ff., and 1 Cor 13:4 ff.
Hoesman: Before we begin there will be some ground rules established. Each of the 14 items on the letter sent to us by Pastor Cascione can be read aloud and time will be given for any member from Redeemer to comment on the item. Points that are similar can be put together. This is not a debate. There will be no decision reached this evening....
Being that this is a gathering of Christians, there will be no use of recording devices for the procedures of this meeting.... (In other words Hoesman did not want people to know what was being said outside the meeting about the Gospel.)(Fourteen points were discussed at the meeting. The points published in this chapter deal with the failure to limit the confession creeds to three and only three. They also deal with corporate hierarchy promoted in local congregations in the name of change and Church Growth.)
Concern No 2. From Redeemer Lutheran Church
The Michigan District Office appears to have shifted from defining itself in terms of historic Christ-centered LCMS polity to a more humanistic new age vision and purpose for itself. Use of the term "network" appears be an open ended redefining of the word "Synod."Concern No 3. From Redeemer Lutheran Church
The Vision and Purpose Statements of the Michigan District should be the same as the objectives of the LCMS in Article III of the LCMS Constitution. Redeemer has only agreed to the goals stated in the LCMS Constitution. The Vision and Purpose Statements of the Michigan District have no clear relationship to the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. They could easily be the vision and purpose of any national corporate headquarters in relation to its regional branch offices and subsidiaries.Discussion at District Office
2 & 3 Cascione noted that Redeemer voted for and accepted Article III of the LCMS Constitution, not the vision and mission statements of the Michigan District.
Hoesman said the copy of the statements we had was incorrect, it has been revised.
Hoesman dictated the revisions in detail and noted.Vision Statement of the Michigan District
The vision of the Michigan District (LCMS) is a network of Lutheran Congregations and Ministries that are interdependent, dynamic, effective and growing.....in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Purpose Statement of the Michigan District
The purpose of the Michigan District is to bolster congregational leadership so that Word and Sacrament ministry in local congregations might be strengthened. This bolstering will happen through partnering relationships which are characterized by:1. Sensitivity to the local congregational ministry setting;
2. Open, effective, communication;
3. Counsel, resource support and process consulting assistance; and
4. The transferring and sharing of knowledge and experiences.Vincent and Linsdeau mentioned that it still isn't clear who these statements are referring to. It could be any denomination. They just were not clear.
Hillenbrand mentioned they were put together as a guide for the District office and its function. They were not for the ministry of local congregations. She asked if Cascione had attended the informational meetings that were held on the statements?
Cascione indicated that he had not, just regular Circuit meetings.
Cascione quoted from Article III of the LCMS Constitution as an example of what the District Purpose Statement should have said.
"1 Conserve and promote the unity of the true faith (Eph. 4:3-6; 1Cor. 1:10), work through its official structure toward fellowship with other Christian Church bodies, and provide a united defense against schism, sectarianism (Rom. 16:17), and heresy;" (There are 9 more objectives)
Cascione said the Synod sounds like a church in its statement of Goals but the Michigan District sounds like a corporation.Concern No 4 of Redeemer Lutheran Church
The Michigan District pastors continue to write their own creeds as they choose, and have the lay people confess them. These creeds, at times, promote false doctrine.
Concern No. 5 of Redeemer Lutheran Church
Michigan District pastors continue to remove the Invocation, Confession and Absolution, the Lord’s Prayer, and Benediction from worship services as they choose.Discussion at District Office
4 & 5 Judge Ward wanted to know if the erroneous creeds were brought to the author's (pastor's) attention.
Cascione said they were. He gave the example of a recent Circuit meeting with a debate over a bad creed.
Cascione also said the Mormon Bishop liked the creed made up and confessed at the Bi-Circuit Communion service because it left out the two natures of Christ.
Judge Ward said the Mormon example wasn't relevant. He reached the conclusion that whatever Cascione didn't like was error, and what Cascione did like was truth. He accused Cascione of legalism because he would not agree that pastors had the right to write their own creeds and have their congregations confess them during a Communion Service.
Judge Ward said an example of this was what happened in the Luecke case.
Cascione said the judge in the Dispute Resolution Process insisted on Luecke agreeing to the Apostles’ Creed. Cascione asked, can changes to the Creeds be made by anyone at their choosing?
Judge Ward asked if a 4th creed couldn't be composed.
Cascione said only if it was approved by the Synod.
Judge Ward wondered if we [individually] were forbidden from making a new creed.
Cascione said no. But in the worship service with the Lord's Supper, it was agreed that one of the three ecumenical Creeds would be used.
Judge Ward said he wasn't discussing the Lord's Supper. Cascione is mixing apples and oranges. Let's move on.
Hoesman agreed, saying the same point can be made on other issues within statements 4 & 5.
Cascione disagreed, they are not the same. He gave an example of church growth pastors doing away with Confession & Absolution.
Werth asked if Cascione was saying each service should have the Invocation, Confession & Absolution.
Cascione said we should narrow it down to the requirements of the Communion service. This was the guide used by Synod.
Werth asked if Cascione considered only a Communion service to be worship.
Cascione said no. He gave some other pastors’ opinions on this subject.
Hoesman noted that people have a long drive to go home. We should speed things up.
Cascione mentioned that you need a Creed to define the faith during the service when you take Communion.Concern No 6. Of Redeemer Lutheran Church
The Michigan District continues to promote and encourage contemporary worship in open violation of Article VI. 4 (requires use of Lutheran hymn books and catechisms) of the LCMS Constitution without any definition of the word "contemporary." Contemporary is simply a catch-all for any change the pastor chooses to call worship.Discussion at the Michigan District Office
6. Cascione said their was no such thing as a contemporary service. It was a figment of people's imaginations. Contemporary was just a word used that allows the pastor to make up anything he wants and call it worship.
Judge Ward said we should look at the context of a service. Labeling makes no difference.
Cascione said each service should define itself.Concern No. 7. Of Redeemer Lutheran Church
Mission funds in the Michigan District continue to support congregations that do not use hymnbooks, catechisms, and agenda in church and school, and do not openly promote the name "Lutheran." When Pastor Cascione raised objections to this practice at the May 17, 1994, South and East Michigan District Pastors’ Conference, President Heins told Pastor Cascione in front of 103 pastors that Pastor Cascione was trying to impose the Prussian Union by insisting on the use of hymnbooks and catechisms in mission congregations.Discussion at the Michigan District Office
7. Rutter wanted to know the feeling of the Michigan District on the term "Lutheran."
Hoesman said the name Lutheran was encouraged. He also mentioned that the 1995 Synodical Convention passed a resolution on it.
Cascione reminded him that it was Redeemer that sent in that resolution adopted by the Convention....Concern No. 10 of Redeemer Lutheran Church
The Michigan District promotes a new constitution in local congregations that transfers the power of attorney from the Voters to the Board of Directors and removes the Office of the Keys from the Voters to the Board of Elders. Elders are given the power to excommunicate for the congregation. Hierarchy is encouraged, in the name of efficiency, in opposition to Matthew 18:15ff. This new constitution gives the Board of Directors authority to call a Voters’ meeting or not allow the Voters to meet at their discretion.Sample constitution provided by the Michigan District Office to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Eastpointe, MI, and adopted by St. Peter’s on Nov. 20, 1995.
"Article IV-Membership, Section 4, Termination of Membership, Excommunication - A member who persistently acts and/or lives in an unchristian manner shall be admonished according to Matthew 18:15. If he refuses to repent he shall be considered to have excluded himself. This self-exclusion shall be recognized by formal excommunication by the Board of Elders. The Board of Directors will be informed of the action, and a registered letter shall be sent to the person excluded."
Article V - Authority of the Congregation
The Board of Directors shall be charged with the month-to-month decisions and programs of the congregation....As the legal representatives of the congregation, the Board of Directors shall sign legal documents, make contracts, represent the congregation in court and hire non-called workers."Discussion at District Office
10. Rutter said that the Voters are supreme.
Judge Ward wondered if the Voters couldn't revoke such an arrangement where a congregation was governed by a Board of Directors and go back to a Voters’ Assembly.
Rutter said if the Board of Directors approves an excommunication it may not come before the Voters for months latter. The damage has already been done.
Cascione gave the example of St. Peter's - Eastpointe. They haven't been able to have a Voters’ meeting in over 8 months. Walther's model of the congregation has been lost. It [this loss] wasn't even reported to the Voters.
Judge Ward said the Voters can handle these types of situations regardless of a Board of Directors. He wasn't going to debate with Cascione.
Hoesman wondered about the "power of attorney" statement in Item 10. Was the Board of Directors granted such authority?
Cascione said it was his own term. The Voters at St. Peter gave the power to perform legally binding activities to the Board of Directors that the Voters at St. Peter’s used to have. They also gave the authority of Matthew 18 to the Board of Elders.
Judge Ward said he would not debate this issue.
Werth asked if Luther had Voter Assemblies in his day?
Cascione said Walther quoted Luther on this point of church polity. The Bishop could not direct action on excommunication until the whole church had a chance to look into it. The final point in Matt. 18 is that we are to tell it to the church. No one can delegate excommunication (Office of the Keys) away. The error of the Papacy came from this confusion. Are we to change the authority of the Office of the Keys? Only the Voters could do this [carry out excommunication] according to numerous Lutheran theologians. Bad ideas (for constitutions) are coming from this (Michigan District) office.Concern No. 11 of Redeemer Lutheran Church
The Michigan District Circuit Counselors unanimously adopted the following statement at their meeting and formally endorsed violation of Article VI.4 of the LCMS Constitution. They count the order of worship and liturgy as adiaphora, when in fact we all came to an agreement on this subject in Article VI.4 of the LCMS Constitution.WHEREAS, There have been concerns expressed pertaining to mission starts and mission worship, in response, the Circuit Counselors of the Michigan District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in their formal meeting, unanimously adopted the following statement:
The Circuit Counselors and Vice Presidents of the Michigan District thank President Dr. John Heins and declare our support for him -- for his faithful adherence to Scripture and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church regarding freedom in worship forms and other matters of adiaphora (things neither commanded nor forbidden by Scripture), so that pastors and congregations can meet the spiritual needs of a changing culture.
Discussion at District Office
11 Hoesman wanted to know when this (the resolution quoted in this statement) occurred.
Cascione said it was before the 1995 Synodical Convention. Redeemer’s complaint about Heins was in part due to this action by the circuit counselors....
Cascione said there was Baptist hymnbook in the pews at Faith, Troy.
Judge Ward said a label doesn't make it invalid. Could a Baptist hymn book be bad? Or does it depend on the name? Isn't it okay if there isn't any decision theology in it?
Cascione said Judge Ward was questioning the reason for a Synod.
Judge Ward asked Cascione to answer his question.
Cascione agreed that a Baptist hymn book could contain a good hymn but the Synod agreed to use Lutheran hymnbooks....
Hoesman thanked everyone for coming and giving their presentations.
Cascione wanted to ask Judge Ward if it's appropriate for a pastor to rewrite a creed.
Judge Ward was sure a pastor could write a creed for his congregation to confess. It's a statement of what you believe.
Cascione asked if the pastor could ask the congregation to confess it before Communion.
Judge Ward stated that it may be a valid creed.
Cascione said it may not.
Judge Ward said we may die tonight....
Judge Ward concluded that it's just a matter of Cascione’s opinion.
Cascione thanked him for his time.
Hoesman closed with prayer. The meeting was dismissed.Refusal to Confess Invented Creeds Called Legalism
In November of 1997, the head of the 4.9 million-member Church of Canada, was unanimously supported by that church’s council of 70 in his denial of Christ’s resurrection, deity, and Christ as the only Savior. Similar views are held or allowed to coexist by the heads of the Presbyterian Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, and more. They reject the contents of the three Creeds as factual, even though they may confess them.The majority of the members in these church bodies are completely uninformed as to what is happening. They simply attend and support their church, and assume everything is fine. There are also some pastors in these denominations that do believe and confess the three Creeds. We are now witnessing the same kind of deterioration in the LCMS.
In the above minutes, from a meeting with the Michigan District Board of Directors and President on November 26, 1997, this author was called a "legalist" by District Judge William Ward, a member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan District, because I objected to the confession creeds written by other pastors in a communion service. (A legalist is someone who appeals to human rules as a way to salvation.)
The Michigan District President, Rev. William Hoesman, stated to this author that he saw nothing wrong with pastors writing their own creeds and having their congregations confess them. The Michigan District Board of Directors refuses to restrict itself to an unchangeable definition of the Gospel. This is nothing more than the denial of the Gospel. They believe in the three Creeds and any other creeds pastors might want to invent and confess. They claim to believe the Bible (the formal principle), but they will not limit themselves to an unchangeable definition confession of the Gospel (the material principle).
The Augsburg Confession states:
Article VII: Of the Church.
Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.According to the Augsburg Confession, as soon as congregations confess more than the three Creeds, they reject the words "in which the Gospel is rightly taught" because there is no longer any assurance that the Gospel is rightly taught in their congregations.
The LCMS agreed that the only official definition of the Gospel and our faith is the three Creeds. These are confessed at Baptism, Confirmation, and the Lord’s Supper. By refusing to limit itself to the three Creeds, the Michigan District no longer confesses the doctrine of the true church.
The Athanasian Creed states:
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic [i.e., universal, Christian] faith. Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly....
This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.Soldiers, judges, politicians, and immigrants seeking citizenship in this country are all compelled to confess unalterable oaths to the United States Government. None of them can write their own pledge. Yet, in the Michigan District, the three Creeds, the official symbols of our faith, are mere trivialities to be reinvented, rewritten, and confessed at whatever smarmy, cavalier whim egocentric pastors and worshippers want to accredit to the Holy Spirit. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." (Gal. 1:6-7) Those who accept every gospel have no Gospel of their own.
No pastor or congregation has the right to confess a new creed, even if it is doctrinally correct, without the agreement of all the other congregations with whom they claim to be in fellowship. "For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it." (1Cor. 11:18 ) We used to maintain an immovable confession of faith before taking the Lord’s Supper as sign of doctrinal unity. Now we seek chaos and call it the freedom of doctrinal diversity.
The reader may ask how did all this take place? In 1973, 45 of the 50 LCMS St. Louis Seminary professors staged a walkout and led 100,000 members of the LCMS into the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC). The AELC merged with other Lutheran Synods to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which is now in Communion Fellowship with the Presbyterian Church USA, Reformed Church of America, and the United Church of Christ. Half of the LCMS Springfield Seminary professors were no better. These professors trained pastors in the crucial years of 1960-73 who remain in service to LCMS congregations after these professors had left the Synod. These pastors were taught a low view of Scripture and a cavalier disregard for Lutheran doctrine. Now in the 1990s, these pastors are in positions of leadership throughout the LCMS districts. They are leading the LCMS into doctrinal collapse and apostasy while they claim to be saving it. The bad seed are bearing rotten fruit.
The exact number of members of the Council of District Presidents who agree with the Michigan District (including Texas, Minnesota South, Southern, South Wisconsin, California-Hawaii-Nevada) and who will not limit themselves to confessing the three Creeds in their congregations is not known, but it is approximately 27 out of 35. They believe limiting themselves to the three Creeds is unchristian. They have no fear of the Judgment.
Over the phone on Wednesday Dec. 3rd, I told the Michigan District President that Luther and the people who signed the Book of Concord never saw the day they confessed someone else’s creed. Hoesman said I wasn’t there and I didn’t know that. He said that he agreed with the three Creeds, but that pastors could also write their own creeds. I said it is becoming like a Baptist Church, where the pastor writes his own testimony and the congregation confesses it as their own. He would not respond.
Letter to the Michigan Board of Directors to Confess Only Three Creeds
To the Michigan District Board of Directors
November 26, 1997Dear President Hoesman and Members of the Michigan District Board of Directors,
Meeting with the President and four members of the Board of Directors was a long awaited and much appreciated opportunity for Redeemer Lutheran Church to present its concerns. We have only waited three years....
Let Judge Ward’s opinion of me speak for the Board, the Michigan District, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and the Eternal Church of the Risen Christ for all time. He says I am a legalist because I will not permit or accept anything but one of the three Creeds in a communion service. If this is the definition of a legalist, then God judge me for my legalism and judge you for the new freedom and enlightenment the District has brought to the church. Judge Ward’s opinion that a fourth creed could be written simply shows the caliber of people who are elected to the Board. The foundation of the Church cannot be rebuilt, nor would Judge Ward know what to write.
The lack of support for only three Creeds from the rest of the Board members, including the District President, during the meeting in front of our congregational officers was an abomination. From my estimation, we have a new first here. I claim myself to be the first pastor in the history of the Synod to be told by an LCMS District Office he is a legalist for refusing to allow any changes in the Creeds that the congregations confess....
While President Hoesman states he has seen creeds written by pastors that can bring tears to people’s eyes, these Creeds give me tears for another reason. He sees no reason why pastors cannot write their own creeds and have their congregations confess them....
In Walther’s Pastoral Theology translated from the fifth edition, 1906, published by Lutheran News, New Haven, Missouri, under "The Conditions of a Call" on page 34, he writes that a call is only legitimate if the congregation ‘conforms to the confessional ceremonies of the orthodox Lutheran church’ Walther further instructs pastors on page 37 not to take a call to a church that does not use the creed in its service because they are not able to issue a legal or legitimate call:
‘Ceremonies which the Evangelical Lutheran Church and its preachers cannot give up at the present time without weakening the confession of the pure doctrine include:.. the use of the Apostles’ Creed.’...
The careful lengthy word-for-word attention and detail given to update the latest edition of the District’s Purpose Statement by the District President was easily contrasted to the lack of concern for the original wording of the three Creeds....
You are creating a McDonald’s hamburger wrapper attitude to the foremost confession of the church and its worship. Eventually you will teach the lay people to discard you with the same ease they now discard their "confession for the day." Like one of my members said about you, "Pastor, they don’t stand for anything." You are simply convincing the laity that doctrine does not matter and that the District is a corporation, not a confession.
Heresy includes what is confessed and what is not confessed. I seriously doubt you would allow me to add or subtract anything from your will or deed to your house (or vision statement), even if what was said was correct in itself. The Eastern and Western church divided in 1055 over the addition of one word to the Nicene Creed that is in fact a correct statement of doctrine....
The Creeds were written as the dividing line between heaven and hell.... Pastors don’t own their members’ religion. The Michigan District has simply lost the definition of church and ministry....
Even the Abiding Word states that congregations must not allow anyone to write new creeds for the congregation’s to confess.
"In view of the clear instructions of the Master, the Church must never allow any human authority to dictate to it what its doctrines and creeds should be, nor should the church ever accommodate itself in doctrine to the demands of science and culture."
(Curtis C. Stephan, Abiding Word Vol. I page 345)In the Preface to the Small Catechism, Luther insists the wording of the Creeds should not be changed. All the pastors confessed this when they joined the Synod.
Also our blessed fathers understood this well; for they all used the same form of the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Therefore we, too, should [imitate their diligence and be at pains to] teach the young and simple people these parts in such a way as not to change a syllable, or set them forth and repeat them one year differently than in another [no matter how often we teach the Catechism].
(Concordia Triglotta, The Small Catechism. Preface of Dr. Martin Luther, page 535)....We are all supposed to walk together in doctrine and not this "interdependent" tripe that now is supposed to define the new relation of congregations to each other in the District. President Hoesman, why not just save us all a lot of grief and simply resign? You have no intention of defending Article Two of the LCMS Constitution as follows:...
we have declared to one another with heart and mouth that we will not make or receive a separate or new confession of our faith,... (Concordia Triglotta, The Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration. Comprehensive Summary pages 849, 851)....
Why don’t you Board members show how mistaken I am by simply sending back all the signatures of the Board of Directors of the Michigan District to the following statement.
"The Michigan District only agrees to and confesses and authorizes the use of the three ecumenical Creeds in all Michigan District Congregations."
But this you will not do....
I’ll say "Yours in Christ" when you agree to three and only three creeds.
Pastor Jack CascioneCC: Rev. David Ritt, President, English District, LCMS
Clarence Brendt, Jr.
Roger O. Kohz
Henery M. Pickelman
John W. Rauh
David Gohn
Robert D. Baerwolf
Mrs. Nancy Hillenbrand
Rev. George Black
Judge William B. Ward
Rev. Toshio Okamoto
Rev. Luther Werth
Rev. Arnold H. Brammeier
Dr. Al Barry
Mr. Donald Rutter
Mr. Gary Bacon
Mr. Brad Vincent
Mr. Robert Linsdeau
The majority of the C.O.P. and District Boards are of the same opinion as Michigan. If the lay people don’t wake up to what is happening and take action the LCMS will loose the Gospel just like the ELCA. The clergy are already so compromised they will not take the necessary action to preserve the Gospel in the LCMS.
Confusion on the Number of Creeds
Any Mormon, Christian Scientist, Unitarian, and Jehovah’s Wittness will say they believe the Bible. The Lutheran Reformation is the answer to Christ’s question to the disciples in Matt. 16:13ff, "But who do you say that I am." If every generation and every Christian has a different answer, we really never knew who Christ is and there is no Christian Church. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever." (Heb. 13:8)
The following letter represents the views of the average "conservative" LCMS pastor and is my response to his criticism. Like so many LCMS pastors, he doesn’t even know he didn’t know what he was talking about. If they don’t know why they should defend the confession of the Gospel in three Creeds, there is no wonder why the laity is confused on the definition of the Gospel.
Dear Brother,
If, as you say, "I over shot the mark" by insisting that all LCMS clergy confess three and only three Creeds, it may be because you are not sure where the mark is.
You wish me and my congregation well in our struggle with the Michigan District President, William Hoesman, and the Michigan District Board of Directors over how many creeds are to be confessed....President Hoesman believes pastors and congregations should be free to write and confess whatever creeds they choose.
You don’t want us to be "devouring one another" over how many creeds there are to confess. Well, attempting to arrive at a firm definition of the Gospel is always tough in the Michigan District. Neither retired D. P. Heins nor Hoesman want to be pinned down on this subject.
You agree with 95% of what I say about the Creeds. Let’s look at the 5% you don’t agree with, without which there is no Lutheran Church.
1. You say "...I also feel uneasy about implying that without agreeing with his [Cascione’s] position my soul was at risk."
Brother, you were the one who took the confirmation vows stating that you would rather die than give up the confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. At that time you confessed the Apostles’ Creed. You are the one who took similar vows at your ordination. You are the one who swore to the Athanasian Creed when you said "Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly."
My dear sir, you are the one who puts your soul at risk if you change your confession. I hope you don’t think it unloving of me to hold you to what you have sworn to uphold.2. You say to me, "Do not make your own ideas into articles of faith."
Which Creed is my own idea? Are you going to give me the credit for writing the three Creeds and including them in the front of the Book of Concord?3. You say, "I would like to ask what Jack would say about the "Brief Statement?"
I think the Brief Statement is fine. However, all the pastors swore to uphold and confess three and only three Creeds at our ordination. None of us swore to the Brief Statement.4. You say, "What about the 20th Century Creed proposed a few years ago in CN?"
Any time the Synod wants to write a new creed without the rest of the church it may do so. But, at the moment, many pastors and congregations make up creeds as if they are giving their Baptist testimonies in the Lutheran Church. I condemn any creed the entire church, at least the Synod, has not agreed to confess together. Or, should we say that we now walk together with our own individual creeds?5. You say, "Pastor Cascione assumes, that when he requires, that at least one of the three Creeds be confessed in a communion service."
I know that, historically, the Nicene Creed is confessed during the communion service. However, when I was in dispute resolution with Doctor David Luecke over writing his own creeds with Judge Gene Schnelz presiding as the Reconciler, it was impossible to limit the confession to one Creed in a communion service. Luecke wanted variety. Under the terms of the agreement he simply has to confess one of the Creeds in a communion service. We chose the communion service because that was the only time we could prove his congregation was actually worshipping. They serve communion once a month.
Luecke said it would be boring to confess only one Creed. We came to the agreement that he would not write his own creed for the communion service, but he had the option of using any one of the three. If no one wants to confess a Creed at the communion service, than just leave it out. But if a creed is going to be used it must be one of the three. Just think how much more simple it would be if we did not confess any creed. Then anyone could believe anything they wanted about the Gospel before taking communion.6. You say, "What about substituting the Te Deum or a creedal hymn?"
I say fine. They are not the Creeds. If people don’t want to confess Creeds then don’t confess anything. We can’t legislate faith. It is just that we all swore to the three Creeds in the Book of Concord. We didn’t swear to the Te Deum or creedal hymns. The liturgy, the sermon, the prayers, and the hymns are all creedal, but none of them are the official symbols for the church. No one has the authority to write his own symbol for the church without the agreement of the rest of the church. There are only three Creeds in the front of my Book of Concord. How many do you have?7. You say, "Because a Creed is a matter of faith, it cannot and must not be used as a club. It is not a matter of force. It is not the law. Just as Scripture must not be forced down someone’s throat, so also the Creeds."
Did I make anyone swear to confess the Bible and three and only three Creeds to become a Lutheran pastor? Did I invent the doctrine of fellowship and close communion? Who have I forced to be baptized? Down whose throat have I shoved the Lord’s Supper? With your logic the church is not a unified confession of faith but a smorgasbord. You have turned mandatory, absolute, unquestioned, obligatory, compulsory, agreement with the means of grace in the Catechism into a legalism. How are you able to tolerate the oppression of Lutheranism?If objective faith can’t be put into print, who will know what we believe? It sounds like you are promoting the politically correct church. After I read the Gospel on Sunday, do you want me to ask the congregation that those who feel comfortable with the Creed may now confess it with me? My dear sir, I once held up a woman’s baptism for a year until she agreed with "He descended into hell." As a former Mormon she had great difficulty with that part of the Bible.
Excommunication is the "club" we use on those who teach false doctrine or on those who refuse to confess the true doctrine. I think you have confused "democracy" with faith in Christ. No one votes on the Gospel not even the clergy. No one can be confirmed into Redeemer Lutheran Church unless they agree to three and only three Creeds.
If you or anyone else will not agree to three and only three Creeds, I will not serve you or them communion.
Your real argument is with Christ. He is the one who states, "Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God." Luke 12:8. At your ordination you swore that the three Creeds were your unchanging confession of Christ to the world. You must now have second thoughts....
The Book of Concord, which all pastors swore to uphold, states: "...but that we wished indeed to lead our churches and the schools, first of all to the fountains of Holy Scriptures and to the Creeds, ....(Preface to the Christian Book of Concord, Trig. Page 21)
We indeed have wished, in this work of concord, in no way to devise what is new, or to depart from the truth of the heavenly doctrine which our ancestors, renowned for their piety, as well as we ourselves, have acknowledged and professed. We mean that doctrine, which, having been derived from the Prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures, is contained in the three ancient Creeds...."
Therefore we also have determined not to depart even a finger’s breath either from of the subjects themselves, or from the phrases which are found in them, but, the Spirit of the Lord aiding us, to persevere constantly, with the greatest harmony, in this godly agreement, and we intend to examine all controversies according to this true norm and declaration of pure doctrine. (Triglotta, Preface to the Book of Concord page 23)Also our blessed fathers understood this well; for they all used the same form of the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Therefore we, too, should [imitate their diligence and be at pains to] teach the young and simple people these parts in such a way as not to change a syllable, or set them forth and repeat them one year differently than in another [no matter how often we teach the Catechism].
(Concordia Triglotta, The Small Catechism. Preface of Dr. Martin Luther, page 535)"Since for thorough, permanent unity in the Church it is, above all things, necessary that we have a comprehensive, unanimously approved summary and form wherein is brought together from God’s Word the common doctrine, reduced to a brief compass, which the churches that are of the true Christian religion confess, just as the ancient Church always had for this use its fixed symbols; moreover, since this [comprehensive form of doctrine] should not be based on private writings, but on such books as have been composed , approved, and received in the name of the churches which pledge themselves to one doctrine and religion, we have declared to one another with heart and mouth that we will not make or receive a separate or new confession of our faith, but confess the public common writings which always and everywhere were held and used as such symbols or common confessions in all the churches of the Augsburg Confession before the dissensions arose among those who accept the Augsburg Confession, and as long as in all articles there was on all sides a unanimous adherence to and a maintenance and use of the pure doctrine of the divine Word, as the sainted Dr. Luther explained it." (Concordia Triglotta, The Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration. Comprehensive Summary pages 849, 851)"
Yours in Christ,
Jack Cascione
This writer is astounded at the number of LCMS clergy who have argued and debated over my insisting that there are only three Creeds and that we all agreed not to write our own Creeds and have our congregations confess them when we became pastors. The words are so clear as stated above from the Concordia Triglotta. The Augsburg Confession, Article I, page 43, appeals to the authority of the Council of Nicea, authors of the Nicene Creed. Article III, on page 45 appeals to the authority of the "Aposltes’ Creed as the basis for the Lutherans’ confession of Christ. Article III of the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, on page 119 says "...we confess...the same Christ...according to the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed." How many Creeds are there? Why do so many LCMS pastors hate having to say there are only three Creeds that we confess just like the signers to the Book of Concord to say confess?
On page 21 the Triglotta says "we wished...to lead our churches...to the Holy Scriptures and...the Creeds." What lies we tell the people when we say there are more than three Creeds. One can only assume a profound desire to corrupt the Gospel and "mislead our churches."
In case there is any confusion it says on page 23 "We mean that doctrine, which, having been derived from the Prophetic and Apostolic Scripture, is contained in the three ancient Creeds...." The entire purpose of the Reformation was to lead churches to the Creeds of the ancient Church, or should we say the Reformation was really a Transformation?
It also says on page 23 "we also have determined not to depart even a finger’s breath...from the phrases which are found in them." I have had LCMS clergy refuse to speak to me because they say these words apply to the rest of the Lutheran Confessions but not the three Creeds. They love to say "that is not what the German and Latin say." Oh you poor lay people. How many times have you been told "that is not what the German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew say" so you can’t believe what you are reading and only the pastor has the "special knowledge.". Well, it doesn’t work on me. If anything, the Latin and German are even stronger here than the English. I have had respected clergy look me right in the eye and say "in no way to devise what is new" is not what is says in the German.
On page 535 Luther pleads in the Small Catechism that we use "the same form of the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments." The C.O.P. knows these words must be ignored in the name of leadership.
On page 849 it says "...for thorough, permanent unity in the Church it is...necessary that we have a...unanimously approved summary and form...[of] common doctrine..." Another knowledgeable LCMS pastor told me again this quotation is talking about all the other confessions in the Book of Concord but not the three Creeds. He still holds to this opinion even though the quotation goes on to say "...just as the ancient Church always had for this use its fixed symbols [i.e. Creeds]. For the freedom to make up our own confessions the clergy would deny they saw the sun in the day and the moon at night. This blindness that calls an immovable confession of the Gospel "legalism" must be from the devil.
The same quotation goes on to say "...we have declared to one another with heart and mouth that we will not make or receive a separate or new confession of our faith...." In reference to these words this writer has been told by LCMS pastors that they apply to the Augsburg Confession but not the three Creeds. Their assumption is that the Augsburg Confession is now more important than the three Creeds, even though on page 23 the signers to the Book of Concord said their goal was to lead people back to the three Creeds.
Pastors have told me they want to use parts of the Augsburg Confession in place of the Creed. Yes, the Augsburg Confession in total can be understood as a creed. But, what are they going to do, read the whole thing? Then they say we’ll pick part of it. Which part will they pick? Should the congregation verbally confess the articles on the marriage of clergy and the ordination of priests before taking communion? I’m amazed at the endless list of ludicrous arguments that are thrown at me so that pastors can give themselves the license to write their own creeds.
If I was not actually experiencing these kinds of reactions from pastors inside and outside of Michigan, I for one, would not have believed it was possible in the LCMS. As God is my witness, this is the state of the LCMS at this writing with no change for the better in sight.
Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.
April 27, 1999