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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Pieper: The Open Heaven, Part 11 (or else dust and ashes)

Continued from Part 10. (Table of Contents in Part 1) In this installment, Franz Pieper repeats a striking statement of warning by the man who battled to re-open and keep open the doors to Heaven – C.F.W. Walther.  And then he adds his own warning (pages 288 - 289):
For the same reason Dr. Walther, at the dedication of our seminary in St. Louis on Jefferson Avenue in 1883, also stated so earnestly that he would rather see that stately and beautiful edifice crumble into dust and ashes than that the doctrine of divine grace be perverted and truth and error, side by side, be taught or tolerated in it. In the same spirit, three years ago [1926], we dedicated our new group of seminary buildings on De Mun Avenue to their sacred use. And this is true of all our seminaries and colleges and other synodical buildings at home and abroad. Before they degenerate into institutions in which the Christian doctrine of divine grace is perverted and souls purchased by Christ unto everlasting life are thus prevented from entering heaven, may they rather fall into ruins! And so far as our synodical periodicals are concerned, let me say: May our Lutheraner, our Lehre und Wehre, our Lutheran Witness, and our Theological Monthly pass out of existence with that number in which truth and error are taught side by side, especially the pernicious error that man's conversion and salvation depend not solely on God's grace in Christ, but also on man's own good conduct – an error which is of such a nature that, as we have already heard, it closes the Christ-opened heaven to every sinner. God grant us His grace that we may overcome all temptations to make room for this damnable error!
Pieper now mentions the dedication in 1926 of the newest facilities in St. Louis, facilities that are still largely part of today's Concordia Seminary, the flagship teaching seminary of the LC-MS.  The dedication of these facilities was mentioned in a previous post about a video that was made of this event.

  • Why would C.F.W. Walther want to see the 1883 Concordia Seminary "crumble into dust and ashes"?
  • Why would Franz Pieper want to see the 1926 Concordia Seminary "fall into ruins"?
  • Why would Franz Pieper want to see today's Lutheran Witness, Reporter, Concordia Journal, and Concordia Theological Quarterly "pass out of existence"?

Because of this: 
perverted teaching on grace alone and universal grace, taught side by side with truth 

Do you hear that, today's LC-MS?  Walther and Pieper want your seminaries to "crumble into dust and ashes" and your periodical publications to "pass out of existence"!  The sad truth is they largely have passed out of existence because today's (English) LC-MS is not yesterday's old (German) Missouri Synod.  And so your facilities and periodicals are only husks of the real Missouri Synod from above.

What?  What did you say CPH?  Oh, you say you still sell this book by Franz Pieper?  That may be, but it is only by God's surpassing grace that it is still available, not because you are worthy of it.  

In the last Part 12, Pieper relates all this to missions.

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