LCMS District President Endorses Werning's Doctrine of Trinity
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

Doctor Waldo Werning will not confess that Jesus is God on the cross.

Werning will not agree that if Jesus is God, He must be all of God, not a part of God. Yes, Jesus speaks to His Father from the cross; He also calls God his Father numerous times in the Gospels. These statements show that Jesus is both true God and true man.

Jesus is all of God based on the following statement by Luther: "Of these Persons each one is the whole God, besides whom there is no other God." Luther (J. T Muller "Christian Dogmatics" CPH page 148)

Politics has no religion. The following South Wisconsin District officials lie to the Synod and slander God when they endorsed Werning's teaching about the Trinity.

Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Meyer, South Wisconsin District President writes: "In contrast to the inaccurate and hurtful statements and suggestions made concerning Dr. Waldo Werning's Trinitarian theology, it is my duty and privilege, hereby, to affirm the clearly stated, Lutheran position of Dr. Werning on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as heard by my own ears when he confessed to me his Athanasian understanding of the Trinity and as read by my own eyes in Dr. Werning's writing."

Rev. Paul Borgman, South Wisconsin District Vice-President writes: "To reiterate: it was clear to me that you [Waldo Werning] believe, teach, and confess the Orthodox position concerning the Holy Trinity as the Church Confesses it in the Scripture, the Ecumenical Creeds, and the Lutheran Confessions."

Rev. Ronald Krug, South Wisconsin District Circuit Counselor writes: "I have found him [Waldo Werning] to be solidly on the foundation of Lutheran exegesis of the Scriptures. . . It is a sad day in our Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod when a faithful witness to the Scriptures has his name slandered through printed page and cyberspaces."

Recorded on tape Werning was asked: "When Christ died on the cross, was it all of God or part of God?" and he replied "I'm not going to answer: God."

During the meeting between Doctor Waldo Werning and myself, Werning refused to explain who died on the cross because he claimed it is a philosophical question.

Werning repeatedly stated that asking if Jesus is all or part of God on the cross is a philosophical question.

Doctor Waldo Werning writes: "Cascione, employs another argument that 100% of God literally died on the Cross by quoting the Athanasian Creed out of context, 'There is one Almighty, not three Almighties.'"

I reply, "How many Almighties does Werning have?"

We sing in in TLH hymn 154, verse 3, "When God the Mighty Maker died" not "When part of God the Mighty Maker died!"

We read in Colossians 2:9 of Christ, "In Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily" not a part of the Godhead!

1 John 5:20 tells us, "This is the true God, and eternal life" not a part of the true God.

John 14:9 tells us, "When you have seen me you have seen the Father" not a part of God.

2 Corinthians 5:19 tells us, "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," not a part of God.

1 Tim. 3:16 tells us, "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifest in the flesh" not a part of God manifest in the flesh.

Acts 20:28 tells us, God's blood was given for the church, not part of God's blood.

Werning's drift into Tritheism is evident in his claim that he experiences the Trinity in nature. He writes about God as three revelations, communications, levels of reality, experiences, and manners of being. Hence, he can only think of Jesus Christ as less than all of God on the cross. But the Bible tells us there is only one God, revelation, communication, and being in God. God is not divided

"Modern Theologians [falsely] teach that a threefold divine operation, which the Christian experiences, corresponds to the antemundane metaphysical Trinitarian relation in God." (Pieper Vol. 1: 401)

There are a growing number of LCMS pastors, who like Werning, will not confess that Jesus is God but that He is the Son of God. There is no question that Jesus is the Son of God, which the Mormons, Christian Scientists, Jehovah Witnesses, and Unitarians also confess. However, these other non-Christian groups will not confess that Jesus is God because for them the "Son of God" doesn't mean God. Even Arius would say that Jesus is the Son of God.


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.

March 27, 2002