'Jesus First' Promotes Kieschnick, Muchow, and Werning Book
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

On reading the June 2001 issue, perhaps the name should be "COP First" instead of "Jesus First." Whether it is open communion, contemporary worship, acceptance of PLI, rejection of doctrinal resolutions, or rejecting limitations on COP appointments, nearly every resolution promoted by "Jesus First" favors the liberals who dominate the COP.

The preferred candidates are Kieschnick and Muchow, as if Preus, Wenthy, or Hartwig are not as " . . . Bible based and love focused" or "mission driven and gospel centered" as Kieschnick and Muchow.

I spoke with Dr. Muchow in Pasadena, California on December 30, 2000. At that time he was deeply embarrassed by "Jesus First's" nomination. He told me he was withdrawing his name from candidacy. "Jesus First" did not have permission to nominate him and their entire approach was poor churchmanship. He told me he was sending a letter to the Board of Directors to apologize for this unsolicited politicking and that he was looking forward to his continued service as Chairman of the LCMS Board of Directors. It certainly appears that he has stopped protesting.

We also have to ask how these two candidates could allow themselves to be promoted by a publication that gives a glowing review of Dr. Waldo Werning's new book, "Health and Healing for the LCMS." In the book, Werning clearly shows his confusion on the doctrine of the Trinity. He teaches what reads like a form of Unitarianism, popular in the third century AD, culminating in the excommunication of the heretic Sabellius.

On pages 33 and 34, Werning suggests that God presents himself in three different roles rather than maintaining the proper distinction of three distinct persons in one divine being as taught in the Athanasian Creed.

Werning writes about "experiencing God in a three-fold manner," and that "God revealed Himself in three ways, we can make the Creator with creation green, the Son, Jesus with salvation, red, and the Holy Spirit, with spiritual enlightenment, blue . . ."

If Kieschnick and Muchow are indeed worthy candidates for the LCMS Presidency, how can they allow their names to be promoted in a publication associated with Unitarianism? Full awareness and agreement with this heresy results in eternal damnation?

Doctor Francis Pieper writes about Unitarianism as follows:
"A. The Christian Church and Unitarianism"
"Unitariansim-known also as Monarchianism and Anti-trinitarianism - has appeared in various forms. For practical purposes the Monarchians have been divided into two classes, modal and dynamic. The Modalists of the third century held that God is a Unity and therefore unipersonal. This unipersonal God has revealed Himself successively in three different modes, or forms: In the Father as creator, in the Son as Redeemer, and in the Holy Ghost as Sanctifier. Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not three distinct persons, or hypostases, but merely three roles, or parts, played by the one divine Person. Modal Monarchianism advocated by Noetus of Smyrna, and Patripassian Praxeas, and especially Sabellius (excommunicated 260), at first appealed to many because it not only upheld monotheism over against pagan polytheism, but also taught a certain trinity in God's mode of revelations and apparently also emphasized the deity of Christ." Pieper Vol. I page 382.

The follow is a more lengthy quotation from Werning's book on this subject. Not only does Werning speak about the three ways God reveals himself he repeatedly speaks about experiencing God without the agency of the Word and Sacraments.

Werning writes as follows on pages 33-34:
"A balanced Trinitarian faith is vital because it is also the foundation for building the functional and practical side of church life. Truly knowing the Father and the Holy Spirit, as well as Christ, guides to new experiences with God. It leads us to a deeper recognition of our strength in the Triune God, our limitations, our view of Satan and our adversaries, our fears, and our mission vision. Christians recognize God as Creator, experience Christ as Savior through prayer, and sense the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, experiencing God in a three-fold manner."

"If we make each Person of the Trinity a different color to distinguish their Person and work, we might adopt the proposal made by Christian Schwarz, (The Three-fold Art of Experiencing God, 1999, ChurchSmart Resources, Carol Stream IL 60188), who says that as God revealed Himself in three ways, we can make the Creator with creation green, the Son, Jesus with salvation, red, and the Holy Spirit, with spiritual enlightenment, blue (pp. 8-11). Thus we have three colors, not just red as Scaer, Weinrich and friends contend."

"Schwarz helps us understand the true nature of the Triune God, as he shows in the three colors, three manners of being (God above us, God among us, God in us), three works, (creation, salvation, sanctification), three levels of reality (nature, history, existence) and three forms of address ('You shall!,' 'You may!,' 'You can!') Schwarz states, 'Once our view of God has been reduced to one of the three ways in which God reveals Himself (expressed in the three colors), we also reduce our possibilities of experiencing God . . . in world wide Christianity, there are three main groups who, positively seen, can be considered as advocates for one of the three ways in which God has revealed Himself: the 'Liberals' as advocates of the creation revelation, the 'Evangelicals' (author's comment: LCMS, too) as advocates for the salvation revelations, and the 'Charismatics' as advocates for personal revelations (Holy Spirit).' Thus it becomes obvious that God has been isolated primarily into one of the three Persons by the Scaer and Weinrich theology, as the primary one is played off against the others, and each must now choose their favorite 'god.'"

When speaking about those who claim to "experience God" rather than only receiving God's salvation through the three means of grace, Luther writes as follows in the Concordia Triglotta, The Smalcald Articles, Part III Art. VIII, page 497.

"In a word, enthusiasm inheres in Adam and his children from the beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin, power [life], and strength of all heresy, especially of the Papacy and Mahomet...."

For the record, God is not reduced to three forms of communication, "You shall!," "You may!," "You can!" If Scaer and Weinrich were to agree with Werning's confusion on the Trinity they should not be allowed to teach at the Seminary.

The Reverend Charles Mueller Sr. has his endorsement on the back of Werning's book and also instructs the importance of growing churches. Is he able to identify the difference between a growing church and a growing heresy?

Yes, Werning has pointed out some problems in the LCMS with his book but to what purpose? His solution leads us to Sabellius.

The delegates have each received a copy of my book "How To Start Or Keep Your Own Missouri Synod Lutheran Church" and Werning's book. They will have to decide which book is offering beneficial information for the church.


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.

June 24, 2001