Pieper: "Nein, Nein, no, no!" - a shot through decades of true church history

A major part of true church history in the 20th Century was related to the doctrine of Election and a dispute over it.  The Bible teaches an Election of Grace by God, not because of any faith on our part (Latin: intuitu fidei), and not election to damnation (Calvinistic doctrine).  The parties involved were Norwegian Lutherans, other American Lutheran church bodies and several professors from the Missouri Synod, including Dr. Franz Pieper.  My 1998 website www.franzpieper.com discusses the confusion by some parties involved.  When the majority of the Norwegians joined in a merger with the other American Lutheran churches, they violated this doctrine and therefore their action in essence falsifies and limits God's grace in Christ.  However there was a small Minority of Norwegian Lutherans that did not join the merger and so remained faithful to the Word of God.
The man largely responsible for showing the true teaching throughout all this period was Dr. Pieper.  In the book A City Set On A Hill (page 275), Theodore Aaberg revealed what Dr. Pieper said when it was reported to him that the Majority would not fight for the truth any longer:

... then Pieper jumped up from his chair and waved his arms while he exclaimed:

"Nein Nein, no, no!...

the fight can not cease until Opgjør (the Norwegian agreement based on false doctrine) is extinguished.  Only as a fighting unit would it be permissible for the Synod to join the new body...."

(page 276)
Dr. Pieper: It is the duty of the minority to do away with "Opgjør" ... and to win over the majority...

These are the actions of a true Christian teacher in horror that former brethren in the faith were following false doctrine. This is no small item of church history, but a major factor in the makeup of today's American Lutheran church bodies.  The merged church is now called the ELCA, a body that is "Lutheran" in name only and not Lutheran in it's teaching.

So as we look "Back To Luther", we will see the fathers of the Missouri Synod standing in the way and jumping up, waving their arms and saying:
"Nein, Nein, no, no!" Don't go the way of error but stay with the Grace of God in Christ, stay with the Word of God!  Stay on the sure and certain Rock, the true Gospel!