Walther's Epistle Sermons 2 (Walther!… not Lewis)

[2023-02-26: updated broken download links]

      This continues from Part 1 of the publication of Walther's Standard Epistles, translated by Pastor Donald E. Heck.
      It continues to amaze me that this work stood for 57 years without being published by the LC-MS publishing house so that all of its church members could benefit from the sermons of the father of the Missouri Synod.  Does this not show the "love" the LC-MS has for its spiritual father?  These sermons were not intended for the theologians and pastors, they were preached to the people!  There is no use of difficult languages such as Latin, Greek or Hebrew.  There were no involved discourses.  Just pure... Christianity.
      I would wonder that Pastor Heck's work only came to be published by the Fort Wayne seminary press because of Robert Preus as he was exposed to Walther through his earlier training at the seminary of the "Little Norwegian", the ELS, and Prof. Norman Madson Sr., and so brought it out from its obscurity.
      Now I present Part 2 which continues on through the church year, from 1st Sunday after Trinity, to Reformation Day sermons (2), culminating in the National Day of Penitence or what is now Thanksgiving.

[PDF scanned copies: — >>  Part 1 <<  —  >>  Part 2 << —]

The above Google Doc is directly available >> here <<.

      Proofing the text of Walther’s sermons was not a chore for me, rather it was a JOY, a labor of love.  On every page, I was tempted to pause and read more of the treasure of his preaching, the greatest homilies since  – dare I say it  – since the days of Martin Luther himself.  Here are a few notations I made along the way for this Part 2:

339: they fell into adultery and fornication and all the abominations of unclean venereal disease

349: TRUE Faith: (11th SAT): “He who often reads in the Scriptures and prizes it highly as a beautiful book of instruction and comfort, making a few exceptions and thinking that it contains many things which in their simplicity the apostles and prophets believed for which one must pardon them, but which can no longer be accepted today, let him not think that a spark of true faith lives in his heart; in spite of his imagined faith he is nothing but a proud unbelieving spirit who does not want to be a humble pupil but a teacher and judge of the Word of the living God. He thinks that he is wiser than Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the eternal Truth and Wisdom. For Christ himself proved his entire doctrine with the Scriptures and always said, even in the conflict with the Seducer: "It is written, it is written." And so Isaiah says: "To the Law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light," that is, Christ, "in them." Is 8:20.”

349-350-351 FAITH: “Not all which they often try to sell by this name is faith. It is not true that so many have returned to the faith of the Reformation. Even true believers can fall into error; but true faith is not present when one errs knowingly, or considers error insignificant and harmless, or knowingly swears to follow an error. True faith is not present when one is careless and indifferent, when doctrine is positive or negative, true or false. True faith is not present when one knowingly departs from a single Word of God. … he who still thinks he can reject at least a few things in Holy Writ rejects the entire Scripture… if you let yourselves be deceived by others, you do this at your own risk … By nature no person is capable of embracing the Gospel; that must happen through the Holy Spirit.”

358- 11th Sunday after Trinity - 2: Oh, would that everyone of us would note and cling firmly to both of those highest principles: First, the Scriptures are the only source and rule of our faith, and secondly, we will be righteous before God and be saved alone through faith in Christ; if he would always use both of these divine touchstones correctly even in these last dangerous times, I am certain not a one would be deceived and misled. Both of these supreme principles are divine armor, in which even the most unlearned Christian is unconquerable in the face of all the cunning and arts of the most learned and wisest person. Both of these principles are two suns before which all the deceiving qualities of false doctrine melt away like clouds and fog.

359- “countless factions and sects”

360 ~365~ 11th Sunday after Trinity - 3 - TRUE Faith, against error! “The clear letter of Scripture”.

366 ff. 12th Sunday after Trinity-1 - LAW and GOSPEL 2 Cor. 3:4-11; 367: “For if one in this way mixes Law and Gospel, one nullifies both”

373 ~~ 12th Sunday after Trinity-2 - The Office of the Ministry

380 - 13th SAT 1 - LAW and GOSPEL “reflect upon the remarkable agreement of these doctrines” (!!)  – 384: “If the Law lets him taste its horrible bitterness, this happens only that he might learn to taste the sweetness of the Gospel … to learn to yearn … the Spirit only [helps] the letter … If one is to remain in grace, the Law and the Gospel must work together in him until his blessed end”; 385 - “he who takes away the Law, takes also God and Christ away; he who wants to preach Christ must also proclaim the Law”

419: “In all the countries of the world there is no land in which so many different sects have arisen than in North America, the land of freedom.”

464 - 22nd after Trinity - Reformation benefit sermon: on Luther: “... finally, by the reading of the Bible…”; 466  – “Yes, nothing else is possible but that all other important doctrines of revelation can not only not help us in the least but must even be gradually lost, if the pure doctrine of the Gospel of the justification of the sinner through faith is lost.” [Christology lost if Justification lost.]

481- - Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, God help me. Amen! p. 481

504, 505  – Thanksgiving Day  – “but at the same time a day of penitence, prayer, and fasting, a day of humiliation before the great God because of its great sins. No longer does the government dare to summon our people to do that. It knows that most of its citizens would merely deride the suggestion. … this so-called Thanksgiving Day

505 - Abortion  – “... nowadays thousands of mothers murder even the unborn children in the womb”

508  – Saxon worldliness: “... theaters, in its places of amusement, in its taverns and casinos, yes, finds them in its ballrooms or even dancing. Now the world is even surprised when it sees that the members of our congregation join in the foolish fashions of the world, either burden themselves with mountains of false hair or let their hair fly like savages and drape themselves with infantile tinsel, yes, like Jezebel paint their face.

509-510  – “ … staying away from divine services, especially the afternoon and weekday services … Oh, do not receive this sharp word with bitterness; it does not flow from a bitter heart but one concerned about our degeneracy”

510  – we have experienced little of the terrors and misery of war. Whilst other states and even our own State of Missouri has been an arena of all the misery and horror which a civil war ever had in its wake, we in our city can still live in rest under the protection of the law.

511-512 - “even a David viewed war as the greatest of all God's temporal punishments… civil war … when God inflicts war, he does not punish directly; God deals like an angry father who, because his wicked son deserves to be cruelly beaten, gives the rod to crude servants to execute the punishment … the hands of wild human rage

515 – “Christians daily receive their wisdom from the godless newspapers of sly, political opportunists who forget God, who despise all sworn treaties, and who trample under foot all the laws of God and man. It is terrible to say it, but all such newspapers have even become the Gospel of many Christians upon which they swear, and he who has a different opinion is as far as they are concerned a political heretic, a traitor”

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joelheck.com

TO: Dr. Joel Heck

      Now I have a message to you, Dr. Joel Heck, from your father, Pastor Donald E. Heck.  I discovered it as I came to the last of your father's typed pages (p. 516) of his translation of Walther's Epistle sermons.  This is his message now to you, son Joel (emphases mine):

• Finished this 30th day of September in the year of our Lord 1960.
• My thanks to my Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ for granting me strength and wisdom to finish this task.
• May you who read and study these pages find the treasure which I have found.

So I say to you, son Professor of Theology Dr. Joel Heck, that your father suggests that you read the treasure that he found, the treasure of Walther's sermons!  May I suggest that you set aside C.S. Lewis for awhile now.
==>> And I suggest that your father would recommend the sermons of C.F.W. Walther over the writings of... C.S. Lewis.  He just testified to the great treasure he found in... Walther.   Dr. Heck, you are "Executive Editor of Concordia University Press", so you should be publishing your father's works, not me!  YOU should be publishing the greatest sermon books since the Reformation century, rather than books and websites about C.S. Lewis.

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      Now who will have the honor of translating the last untranslated sermon book of Walther, Licht des Lebens, Light of Life?  Twenty years ago I produced the full digital text of this sermon book from the original German, fully formatted (not from Google Books), ready to be used for the ease of translation.  This file has been available here, even to Concordia Publishing House for their possible use in getting it translated but... it seems ... maybe ... "Walther isn't popular right now". (If any serious translator wants this file, contact me... there are some parties interested in getting this done.)

      I now add my thanks to God for Pastor Donald's glorious work of bringing so many of Walther's sermons to the English language.  Now all of his translated sermons are widely available to the public -- the Gospel Sermons (volumes 1 and 2) by Concordia Publishing House and the Epistle Sermons (Standard Epistles) here on BackToLuther.  May He bless the readers to find the treasure that Walther and Pastor Heck brought to us.  I know that I have been greatly blessed along with the dear... Pastor Donald E. Heck!

Walther's Epistle Sermons: C.S. Lewis vs C.F.W. Walther; Part 1

This post is to celebrate the ancient "Great Day of the Lord", or ... Easter 2017

      I have been prompted to proceed with this blog post by a recent release by Concordia Publishing House.  Their book is entitled From Atheism to Christianity: The Story of C. S. Lewis (2017) authored by Dr. Joel Heck, son of Pastor Donald E. Heck.  Dr. Heck is a "Professor of Theology at Concordia University Texas and Executive Editor of Concordia University Press".  Concordia University claims to be not only Christian, but also... Lutheran.

      One could hardly argue that accounts of C.S. Lewis are not popular.  And Dr. Heck considers himself to be one of the top experts on Mr. Lewis.  But as I have previously pointed out, his subject matter is quite at odds with the sermons that his father translated and self-published.

Amerikanisch-lutherische
Epistel Postille
by C.F.W. Walther

     Two years ago I published an obscure English translation of one of Walther's sermon books that had already been translated by Dr. Heck's father -- Year of Grace (or Gnadenjahr).  I cautioned Dr. Heck that his focus on C.S. Lewis was rather at odds with the pure Christian preaching of C.F.W. Walther.  I also blogged on another book of Pastor D. Heck, Walther's Standard Epistles, offering a download file of the scanned original German book which strangely seems unavailable online anywhere else (but has since been uploaded to Archive.org).  But I only listed how one might continue to purchase this book through the Fort Wayne bookstore, I did not contemplate then to offer a free version of the full text online.

      But it seems Dr. Heck cares little about the subject matter of what his father translated.  He continues to be blind to the fact that the preaching of C.F.W. Walther is a great warning against the confused, reasoned, rationalistic Christianity of one such as ... C.S. Lewis.  As I was returning to my Christian faith, I watched films and read books by C.S. Lewis and came away... confused.  I read books about C.S. Lewis and came away equally confused.  NOT SO WITH C.F.W. WALTHER!

Walther's Standard Epistles
Translated by Donald Heck

      And so, although I wasn't going to proceed with this post, at least not for awhile, I am pressured now to do so.  Dr. Joel Heck has not seen fit to halt my previous free publication of his father's translation of Walther's Year of Grace sermon book.  And I have pointed out repeatedly that Pastor Donald E. Heck's other translation of Walther's Epistle Sermons cried out to be published.  Even Concordia Publishing has not yet made any announcement (as of 2017-04-16) what, or if, there is to be another release in their "Walther's Works" series.  Why the mystery CPH?

      And if Dr. Joel Heck or Concordia Publishing House should see fit to warn me about any possible copyright issues with this publication, I will print their warning in big bold red print for all the world to see.  And then I may print just how un-Lutheran and confusing the writings of C.S. Lewis actually are for all of Christianity!

      But enough explanation and justification.   Just read and spiritually enjoy some of the greatest Christian sermons since the days of Martin Luther... from the American Luther!  And forget about reading C.S. Lewis ... at least for awhile until you are fully grounded in the Christian faith!

This Google Doc may be directly accessed >>  here  <<.

      Many hours were spent preparing and proofing the above.  And while proofing it many times, my eyes would pause on certain passages and so I would make note of them to highlight them here.  Perhaps the reader will be prompted to search further from the selection below:

55 ff. Missions - the charge has often been made that true orthodoxy was not mission-minded - false!

60: Boniface appeared in the oak forests of Germany in the eighth century

92: secret societies, theater, amusements,

93: Love, true love, is something entirely different than what is now usually sold under this glorious name.

115 ff.: Conversion (1st Sunday in Lent); p. 120: "Conversion is simply the freeing of the will"

121 - 122: Technical progress -- "Our age is happy to hear itself lauded as the age of progress...  can now send a message in a few second thousands of miles. By the application of the power of steam huge machinery";  -- "All these are facts; it would therefore be folly to wish to contest the cry that our age is a progressive one. But this is quite another question: Is our age for that reason really to boast of being the happiest age?"

131-132: Sanctification: " ... just as impossible as it is to merit and procure salvation by sanctification, just so certainly can one again trifle away his salvation by omitting sanctification"; "real goal of all of God's works of grace for and to man is nothing else but his sanctification"; " ... woe is he who uses his weakness and imperfection as a pretext for excusing his service of sin and half-heartedness! He will receive his reward with the hypocrites.

135, 137: FAITH, fides divina: Note to Pastor Martin Noland -- you might want to read this: "That faith which makes a person a Christian is, on the one hand, something so easy that a child can grasp and have it; on the other hand, it is something so mysterious  ... That faith which makes a person a Christian is not described in such a way that every one who hears the description knows immediately what it is; it is something which must be experienced. ... "If as a weak twig he is not to wither, he must send his roots deeper and deeper into Christ, so that he may grow and bring forth fruit."

142: "Not only is "fornication" rampant everywhere, but it has even ceased being a disgrace; it is considered a pardonable weakness; it, and especially impure jokes, are called galantry, and the like." ... "Fornication and all uncleanness together with greed are not sins which are to be found among Christians, which he can wash away by his daily repentance, and for which he receives forgiveness every day; rather these are sins because of which a person has no part or inheritance either here in Christ's kingdom of grace nor there in God's kingdom of glory."

155: " ... jesting, buffoonery, tricks, laughter and jests and thus appease their desires, social pleasures, the joys of fellowship and thus try to turn earth into heaven."

155: Faith, fides divina: "the moment that God took pity upon your misery and pardoned you he has also given you his Holy Spirit who is continually to drive, renew, cleanse, and sanctify you"

160: "do you belong to this Church? ... you can be a member of the visible church, ... and yet not be a member of the true Church, the invisible congregation of believers"

177 ff. -- Maundy Thursday -- universal reconciliation, Holy Communion

184 - Maundy Thurs. - importance of real presence

204: "Freedom!" is the universal watchword of our time.

242, 243 - Paternal authority, government authority: "... whether the families of a country should unite to form a monarchy in which one person rules, or an aristocracy, where a group rules, or a republic in which the people themselves rule through elected officials. But wherever governmental authority is established, it cannot be overthrown by force; it should be held sacred; God should be honored in his substitute and given that absolute obedience which children give their fathers. ; "the Israelites were tired of their republican constitution"

253 - "The believer builds the certainty of his state of grace, his salvation, on the Word alone. The Word is the only credential which he can produce for his hope of eternal life; it alone is the first and last refuge of his conscience. "It is written!" is the first and last proof which he can give himself"

262: one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousands years as one day

276: (Pentecost 2) fides divina: "How can I know whether my Christianity is my own work, or a work of the Holy Ghost? I reply: This is not easily perceived. ... you... have to hear and read God's Word zealously; etc."

280 ff.- Election, predestination -- 280: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." John 15:16;  285 -- "Did you seek God? or did not God really seek you? Did you come to God? or did not God really come to you?"

      But I would end this post with Walther's account of the ancient Church's practices for Easter.  On page 199 is the following quote from Ireneaus:

"We do not pray on our knees on the day of the Lord because it is a symbol of the resurrection. This custom started back in the times of the apostles." – Ireneaus

And then on pages 200 and 211, Walther reported on the earliest greetings of the Christians that can still be heard today:

"The Lord is risen!" and the reply: "He is risen indeed!"

I recall during my time of return to my Christian faith of how this greeting caused a great swelling of my weak faith.  But to hear C.F.W. Walther repeat it is truly glorious as it resounds through the centuries, through the millennia. –  Hmmm, I wonder if C.S. Lewis, through all his musings, every used these phrases...?
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      In the next Part 2 is the second portion of Pastor Donald E. Heck's great translation of Walther's Standard Epistles.

Dogmatik: Walther - Convention Essays (& others); Part D

      This continues from Part C (Der Lutheraner) my project of listing Franz Pieper's references to Old Missouri Synod writings in his Christliche Dogmatik (Table of Contents in Part A),
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      This installment presents all references to synodical Convention Essays.  I have tabulated 30 of these, 18 having Walther's stamp.  Historians of old Missouri have sometimes slipped up on authorship or responsibility for some of the older essays.  Profs. August Suelflow and Kurt Marquart missed the fact that whenever C.F.W. Walther was in attendance at any synodical convention, that convention's essay bears the stamp of his responsibility.  So if the presenter or the formulator of the essay theses is published as Th. Brohm or F.A. Schmidt, etc., I have learned for my own part that it bears the stamp of Walther whenever he was present.  Perhaps the only exception to this is if the essayist was George Stoeckhardt or Franz Pieper where the essay would stand without "discussion".  So in the following tables, I made some judgment calls on whether to include an essay in Walther's list or not.  More on this below.
      I recall that when I first read Pieper's Christian Dogmatics 20 years ago that I was amazed at how many references he gave.  And because his subject matter was so rich in Christian doctrine, I longed to have access to these.  But they seemed to be so inaccessible and I prayed that somehow these would come to light again.  Now... almost all of these are available to some extent on my listing of Convention Essays blog post.

Prof. August Suelflow
Dir., Concordia Historical Institute

      In the preface to the now defunct books Essays for the Church, Vols. I and II, the Director of Concordia Historical Institute August Suelflow († 1999) said (p. 13 Introduction):

"Immediately after the six English volumes appeared [CPH - Selected Writings of C.F.W. Walther], the undersigned enlisted several men to complete translating the convention essays. All of them have now been completed after years of effort.... for a total of 11."

However, I would suggest Suelflow's tabulation is partially incomplete.  For example he did not consider the 1872 Synodical Conference essay (SCR1872) to be Walther's.  Also see my comments on the 1886 Synodical Conference essay.  But the more I studied the large collection of District Synod, Delegate Synod (Missouri Synod), and Synodical Conference essays, it became apparent that a large pool of essays should be considered as under Walther's responsibility, even if Walther is not listed as the presenter.  Even Director Suelflow admitted (page 13) that in these essays there was such a

"pervasive use of the passive voice (because of Walther’s modesty?), it sometimes even is hard to tell which comments are those of a questioner and which are Walther’s."

Despite some weaknesses, the translation work spearheaded by Director Suelflow of Walther's works has been a great gift to the Church.  And although CPH allowed Suelflow's great work on Walther to lapse, it has begun to have some of these Convention Essays to be republished in a revised format, e.g. Church Fellowship, etc. (CPH: When is the next one coming out??)

      Now I present all 34 references that Franz Pieper included in his Christliche Dogmatik work:

This Google Doc may be accessed directly >>  here  <<.

      As I again reviewed these essays, it struck me how important the 1860 Delegate Synod (Missouri) essay was -- scroll down the above table in Walther's listing.  Walther was present at this convention but Franz Pieper identified Theo. Brohm as the formulator of the Theses (C.D. 3, p. 191 n. 89).  But I say that this essay bears the clear stamp of... C.F.W. Walther.  And what was the subject matter? ==>> The Lutheran Doctrine of Absolution.  Here is Pieper's main takeaway from this essay:

ABSOLUTION: a special form of proclaiming the Gospel where nothing more and nothing else is given than every believer already has through the general preaching and promise of the Gospel.

I paused my project for awhile to take some time once again to review this doctrine in relation to Universal Justification.  Any readers who want to truly understand this most Christian doctrine should learn from the masters: Luther, Walther and Franz Pieper.
==>> Will some faithful Lutheran consider translating this important essay from the German into English?  The full German text is available >> here <<.  It would be an immeasurable treasure for the Church. (See also my Convention Essays blog for source material).
      In the next Part E are references to various books of Walther and other Old Missouri teachers.

Dogmatik: Walther in Der Lutheraner; Table of Contents; Part C in series

      This continues from Part B (LuW) my project of listing Franz Pieper's references to Old Missouri Synod writings in his Christliche Dogmatik (Table of Contents in Part A),
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      Der Lutheraner (or DL) was the other primary publication of Old Missouri.  However Pieper only refers to it 17 times as compared to 186 times for Lehre und Wehre.  This shows the importance that the Synod placed on its writings in its "Doctrine and Defense" theological journal.

This document may be accessed directly >> here <<.


Although Pieper did not refer many times to Der Lutheraner articles, still he listed it as one of the primary publications of Old Missouri in the world for church literature.  Sorry Germany, it was in America.  —

Der Lutheraner Table of Contents

      But I want this post to also publish an extensive, but not exhaustive, Table of Contents for the first 90 volumes of Der Lutheraner.  I have provided a download link to a DOC file previously, but I have since added many hyperlinks to the source material, including new uploads to Archive.org of Der Lutheraner scans that are not from Google Books.  Many hours of transcribing and hyperlinking have gone into this document – more hours are going into it.  It is my main gateway to all things Der Lutheraner.  It is still being updated and so I indicate the "Last update" in red text so that users may be aware of changes since their last use. — This is a large document and may be slow loading depending on the users Internet speed.

This document available direct: >> here <<   •   PDF copy: >> here << (PDF not auto updated)


As with all my published Google Docs in the German language, English speakers may load this document into the Chrome browser and have it translated quickly.  It is hoped that this will spark more interest in exploring and finding rich treasures of Christian doctrine.  Will others join me in providing translations of some of these articles?  If so, let me know and I will make note of this in the above document.  This document could then become a "clearinghouse" for all activity related to Walther's dear Der Lutheraner.
      The next post is Part D -- references to Convention Essays.

Pieper book from Logia — get it before it’s gone (Justification & True Visible Church... and the Moon)

The Church and Her Treasure:
Lectures on Justification and the True Visible Church
On Sale -- $10.98 + S&H

[2024-09-24: This book is now available to borrow on Internet Archive]

      In spite of the impression that President Matthew Harrison is presenting, the works of Walther and Pieper are largely despised in today's LC-MS.  The abandonment of the Index book for Pieper's Christian Dogmatics is a clear indication.  And so for anyone interested in purchasing any of the English translated books still currently available, I would alert them to make sure they acquire a book from Logia ("The Luther Academy") which will likely be abandoned soon. 

The book is The Church and Her Treasure: Lectures on Justification and the True Visible Church.  I am aware of how the translation for this book came about.  The original German books which are the basis for this translation were notably not printed in the old fraktur font but with our familiar Roman typeface.  This made it easy for me to OCR their contents and so put them into digital form.  The German originals have been uploaded to Archive.org, hyperlinks here:

• Vorträge über die Lutherische Lehre Von Der Rechtfertigung (Archive.org)
•       >> German text file here
• Vorträge über die Evangelisch Lutherische Kirche, die Wahre Sichtbare Kirche Gottes auf Erden
•      >>  German text file here

These were lectures early in Pieper's career (1891) -- when he looked so young!... and yet he was the President of Concordia Seminary.  But more importantly, these lectures clearly showed that although God had granted to the Church a Walther to pull it out of its misery, He then compounded that gift by sending Walther's great successor, Franz Pieper, to perfectly carry on Walther's pure teaching until the day Pieper died in 1931.
      There is a statement that Pieper made in the Seventh Lecture on Justification that stuck in my mind.  He was trying to illustrate a feat that would seem impossible for man to do:

If someone were to tell you that he intended to scoop out the ocean or that he planned to travel to the moon or that he wished to undertake other such impossible tasks, you would conclude he was merely joking.

Of course we can laugh about this now -- man traveled to the moon many years ago.  Pieper used this to lead up to the greatest impossible achievement -- working to achieve salvation.  And Pieper achieves the "impossible task" -- he proclaims what God has already done for us!
      Daniel Preus wrote the Foreword to this book, praising Pieper's theology and the importance of the Doctrine of Justification. He finished up by saying

"The Luther Academy is pleased to present to the church this book..."

One wonders with all the other offerings by "Logia" that The Luther Academy is no longer pleased to offer this book by Franz Pieper.

==>> Get it before its gone.  It truly is a treasure for the Church -- "here and now".

Dogmatik refs to Walther & all Lehre und Wehre writings - Part B

[4/2: Added reference to ToC in Part A; 3/27: added quote after table below]
      This continues from Part A (Pastoral Theology) my project of listing Franz Pieper's references to Old Missouri Synod writings in his Christliche Dogmatik (Table of Contents in Part A).
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      I present now the main doctrinal journal of the old (German) Missouri Synod -- Lehre und Wehre (or LuW -- Table of Contents here).  This table is separated into those related to Walther, then all others.  Although there are 72 references to Walther's Pastoraltheologie (or Pastorale), the greatest reference source Franz Pieper used is Lehre und Wehre. Here is a summary:

      72 references to Walther's essays.
     114 other references, non-Walther
     ———
     186 -- grand total of Lehre und Wehre writings in Pieper's Dogmatik.

      As I did with the Pastoral references, I have included brief notes to indicate the subject matter of most listings.

• Want to learn what Walther taught for Pastoral Theology?  Read Pieper.
• Want to learn what Walther taught all his life in Lehre und Wehre?  Read Pieper.
• Want to learn what the old (German) Missouri Synod taught?  Read Franz Pieper's Christian Dogmatics.
• Want the shortest summary of Pieper's Dogmatics? -- Read the Brief Statement and...
•  ==>> Review the table below.

This document may be accessed directly >> here <<.


Added 3/27:  I want to extract just one item from the above table.  If one scrolls down to volume 1, p. 210, the reader will see where Pieper quoted Walther on "apologetics":

“All such apologetics we detest with all our heart, for it presupposes that there is something still more certain than God's Word…” -- C.F.W. Walther

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It should be noted that in researching all of Pieper's references, I found a few errors in both the English and German editions and have indicated them in this table. In practically all cases I was able to furnish the corrections -- usually indicated in square brackets [] and/or in red text.  —  Many hours were spent in compiling this table and I plan to refer to it in the future.
      This table is a good companion to my project of providing a complete online presentation of Pieper's Christliche Dogmatik books.  I am inserting a hyperlink to this blog post in that project for ease of navigation.  – Of course Pieper uses many other references and I will present more of these in upcoming posts.  The next Part C will present references to Der Lutheraner.

Fall of Daniel Preus – layman judges blindness; Part 2b

[2018-06-20 updated broken link]
      This concludes from Part 2a, how a review of old posts sparked a living history from 50 years ago.
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      The testimony of Dr. Siegbert Becker 50 years ago dramatically exposes today's LC-MS.

Rev. Daniel Preus
- sees no false doctrine
- on "Holiday"

Vice-President Rev. Dr. Daniel Preus

In 1999 Rev. Preus authored a good essay on the fall of the LC-MS in its past – "LC-MS Holiday from History". [2018-06-19 updated broken link]  But I can no longer read this essay because the author V.P. Daniel Preus is now part of the "Holiday" that he wrote about!  Becker's 50-year old essay (see Part 2a) dramatically tells the story of today's Pastor Daniel Preus, who was formerly a defender of truth.  Here is a copy of the latest communication between Preus and layman Harold Dagenhart of Taylorville, N.C. as reported in the January 16, 2017 Christian News – both a copy of the newspaper clipping and extracted text (text file here):

Let me highlight Mr. Dagenhart's wonderful layman's judgment:

"When he [Daniel Preus] asks me to identify the false doctrine, he is admitting that he sees none. His response is clear, he sees no false doctrine in the Kloha paper."

Not only is layman Dagenhart seeing clearly in regards to V.P. Rev. Daniel Preus, he is by implication correctly judging Prof. Kloha's teaching on the effect of variant readings as false doctrine.  Mr. Dagenhart is just like the layman "von Klencke" who cried out against theologian Albrecht Ritschl († 1889). Could Mr. Harold Dagenhart of Taylorsville, N.C. be one of those "lay circles" that Franz Pieper speaks about, those who will keep the Church alive during struggles with devastating false doctrine – just like Dr. Siegbert Becker had to deal with 50+ years ago?

==>> To Mr. Harold Dagenhart
As you read the great testimony of Dr. Siegbert Becker above, know this.  You are standing on the Rock, that is the Word of Christ, just like Dr. Siegbert Becker did when he so masterfully exposed the LC-MS for what it was... and is now.  You are exercising your God-given duty.  As Walther says: "The Sheep Judge Their Shepherds".

Robert Preus:
"Walther and the Scriptures"

      What irony! ... that at the upcoming 2017 Emmaus Conference, who should represent C.F.W. Walther and his theology?...  Rev. Dr. Daniel Preus.  It was his own father, Dr. Robert Preus, who so wonderfully praised "Walther and the Scriptures" – Walther's teaching on the Inspiration, Infallibility, and Inerrancy of Holy Scripture in the pages of Concordia Theological Monthly, November 1961 (text w/ links here).  I have found fault with Robert Preus's weaknesses in other teachings, but not with this essay.  On page 685, R. Preus references that same 1886 Lehre und Wehre Foreword of Walther quoted in the last blog post about the weeping lady:

"In his Foreword to Lehre und Wehre of January 1886 he takes note [pp. 1-2] of a statement of Professors Volck and Muehlau of Dorpat denying the inerrancy of the Bible. Had this statement been made in the 17th century a storm of protest would have arisen. But Walther observes in 19th-century Germany not one word of protest from any theological faculty."

... "not one word of protest from any theological faculty"!  ... the same as today with Prof. Jeffrey Kloha in America's "Dorpat" -- St. Louis Concordia Seminary.  Robert Preus chose well his sources to reveal the true Walther.  — On the same page 685, Preus says

"What, then, does Walther mean by the inerrancy of Scripture? He means what the church has always meant, that all the declarative statements of Scripture are true, that they correspond to fact..."

Here Robert Preus is not just reporting what Walther taught, he joins with the church of all times in teaching the very same thing.
      I recall some Valparaiso University students who were friends of my older brother when they visited our family during a school vacation time.  They sounded quite strange – like they didn't believe the Bible.  Thank God!... my brother hung onto and believed the Bible even unto death. — The weeping students that Prof. Becker reported above sound like me 40+ years ago!

     And I thank God for the testimony of Dr. Siegbert Becker for it lives on today!... even if the LC-MS (and CHI) continue on Daniel Preus's "Holiday from History".

"Why I Left the Missouri Synod"; weeping, robbed! (Part 2a)

[2019-08-06: added a 2nd link to Scharlemann at bottom in red]
      This continues from Part 1, an update and review of past blog posts.

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50 Years Ago — Just Like Today

Siegbert Becker
"Why I Left the Missouri Synod"

       The real eye-opener in my review of old blog posts was to again read the biograghies of Prof. Siegbert Becker and his explanation for "Why I Left the Missouri Synod".  As I read his history published 50+ years ago of the fall of the LC-MS from its teaching on the inspiration of Holy Scripture, (and against Prof. Martin H. Scharleman) it seemed that I was reading about today's LC-MS and its current fall regarding the heretical teaching of Prof. Jeffrey Kloha.  One quote (p. 6 of 26) exposes just how bad things can get in the LC-MS, then and now:

"Students came to me weeping and saying that they did not know what to believe any more. They told me of girls lying on their beds sobbing for hours and so disturbed that they wanted to quit school and the church because they were being robbed of their assurance of salvation."

I like those words "weeping", "sobbing", "robbed".  Weeping and tears… just as C.F.W. Walther spoke of a lady in tears in a footnote to his 1886 Foreword in Lehre und Wehre where he reported on the Dorpat professors Volck, Mühlau, Harnack, etc. and their blasphemous disavowal of the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. (See also 1886 Synodical Conference.) On pages 2-3 Walther reported it was

"heard from Dorpat about the painful complaint that many have been confused and grieved. A lady had said with tears about the Bible: "I can not read it anymore!"

Becker's clear-headed assessment confirms a statement made by Franz Pieper in his Christian Dogmatics, vol. 1 (see this blog post):

"The fact that the denial of inspiration leads to the denial of the satisfactio vicaria was already realized in his [Delitzsch's] time..."

The new (English) LC-MS has robbed its youth, its people of the Bible – which is "their assurance of salvation".  I want to republish what the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary republished [updated 2025-03-31] from the series originally published in Herman Otten's Lutheran News (now Christian News). Google Doc here.


I cannot leave this essay without calling attention to at least one quote from the dear Dr. Becker. In a letter to A. O. Fuerbringer, president of Concordia Seminary, Becker wrote:

M. H. Scharlemann

"...only those who are deliberately and culpably blind cannot fail to see it. If we let him [Martin H. Scharlemann, 2019-08-06 added link] continue his attacks on Scripture today, we will have no Christ tomorrow."

Concordia Historical Institute (CHI) ran a 5-part serial essay from Summer 2011 to Summer 2012 in their Historical Footnotes publication entitled “Dr. Martin H. Scharlemann: A Faithful Servant”. Purporting to tell us the story of "A Faithful Servant", it entirely ignored the famous report of Prof. Siegbert Becker and its wonderful rebukes of Scharlemann and President Behnken. At least CHI ended their series (p. 7) with the telling question:

“Will the real Martin Scharlemann please stand up.”

As I read Siegbert Becker's great testimony 50 years ago on the travesty within the hemorrhaging LC-MS, I could not help thinking of the recent testimony of a layman against a well-known LC-MS leader... in the next Part 2b.

Notice: updated links; updated WELS, McCain; Part 1

[2017-03-25: see added notes in red below on problem with some of my "Box.com" links]
      For anyone who has linked to any of my old blog references which utilize my Dropbox account before 2016, be aware that I have had to change these hyperlinks due to a cancellation of Dropbox's "Public" folder for security reasons.  This involves perhaps 100 or more hyperlinks but does not affect any references over the past year or so where I switched to using Google Drive.  All of the larger files in my Box account are untouched, e.g. the St. Louis Edition of Luther's Works. [But please note: I received comment on my Der Lutheraner download page of problems with the links from Box.com -- and see some modifications there for temporary fixes.]
      In the process of reviewing all my old blog posts, I have also attempted to fix broken links where the original web pages have gone offline or changed their URL.  Sometimes using the WayBack Machine's archive worked.  Other times I located the changed page URL and updated my link to it.  If anyone finds a broken or outdated hyperlink after today, please let me know by email.

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      One particularly welcome discovery was a pleasant surprise on a WELS website.  Thanks WELS for updating your Statement of beliefs on Justification by removing your reference to "forfeiting the forgiveness won for me by Christ" -- see this blog post.  That is a good first step.  Now go the full distance and teach that God had a Change of Heart, not just a change of relationship toward man – 2 Cor. 5:19.

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      It is sad for me that Paul McCain completely erased his CyberBrethren blog.  Although I have rebuked his errors, yet some of his blog posts were helpful.  I have in particular worked to salvage one of his posts -- his review article "When is the Book of Concord Not the Book of Concord?" of Prof. Roland Ziegler's essay "Locking the Barn Door" which was a defense of the text of the Book of Concord.  This is a treasure!  I was able to capture a screenshot of McCain's blog from the WayBack Machine and am making it available here, extracted text Google Doc here.

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      But there was a particularly striking find as I reviewed my past blog posts – a history of today's LC-MS written 50 years ago.  I present that in my next Part 2.