Werning Stonewalls on Confession of Jesus as God
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

On June 5th, Reclaim News sent a release titled: "Werning Refuses to Say, 'Jesus is God.'" To our amazement, in his reply, Dr. Waldo Werning refuses to identify Jesus as God. It is not possible that he graduated from the St. Louis Seminary nearly 55 years ago without agreeing that Jesus is God, not a part of God.

Something has changed. Either Werning privately believes that Jesus is God, but now refuses to put it into print or he no longer believes that Jesus is God, because such an admission would contradict his absurd statements about the Trinity on pages 34-35 of his book "Health and Healing For the LCMS."

In his book, Werning has assigned imaginary three-part divisions to the work of the Trinity. Therefore, he can't respond when asked if Jesus was part of God or all of God crucified on the cross. He will not agree that every Person of the Trinity is all of God, yet there is only one God. He will not agree that in Jesus Christ, God suffered, died, was buried in the tomb, descended into hell, and rose again on the third day.

Werning refuses to say that there was no separation between God and the flesh of Christ, at the death of Christ. Instead of identifying Jesus as God, he calls Jesus the "Son of God." Yes, Jesus is the Son of God, but He is also the "Mighty God" and the only God, apart from whom there is no other God.

Walther writes:

"The Lord of creation was nailed to the tree." (Verse 2, Stanza 2, He's Risen, He's Risen, Christ Jesus, the Lord, The Lutheran Hymnal, #198).

Werning replies as follows without saying that Jesus is God:

"June 5, 2002 WARNING! UNTRUTHFUL MATERIAL AND FALSE ALLEGATIONS"

"WARNING! The message of Rev. Cascione's Reclaim News is destructive of facts and truth. His 32 Reclaim News, published also in Christian News, in eleven months contains 86 pages and 359 distortions, misinterpretations, fabrications, untruths, and slander. He refuses to provide evidence and to publish the facts that were given him in letters and in Matt. 18 Steps One and Two meeting transcripts (with witnesses) that reveal his fabrications and untruths. Neither the LCMS nor God ordained or elected Rev. Cascione and Rev. Otten to be LCMS 'pastors at large/judges' who hold public court while they flagrantly break the 8th Commandment and disobey Matt. 18, and LCMS polity. You can believe what Rev. Cascione writes and Rev. Otten prints at the expense of the facts, the requirements of God's Word, and of normal Christian behavior."

Many of Werning's quotations have been included in our releases as evidence of his position. When he is quoted Werning simply calls his own writing a fabrication. The South Wisconsin District President has published a letter saying that Werning has the correct teaching of the Trinity. "Jesus First" has also endorsed Werning's book.

Every quotation of Werning's material in Christian News has been accurate. We have more than 250 pages of his letters as evidence.


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 10, 2002