GJ - They are really hating on ELDONA at SpenerQuest.
Rolf Preus was the Archbishop of the Rolf Synod for a time. He led this group out of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod - the Little Sect on the Prairie - but they expelled him a bishop-for-life.
It is a good thing they did not treat him the way the Walther mob treated Bishop Martin Stephan.
They threatened Stephan with his life, robbed him of his gold, books, and personal possessions. Then they forced him out of his house to sleep on the bare soil all night, and kidnapped him at gunpoint to make him live - or die - in Illinois.
No, I did not forget about the land theft. Before Walther took the mob down from St. Louis to Perrysville, he came to the town and took back the land that the Saxons gave Stephan, changing the title. Later, he talked Stephan's son into giving up the rest of the land that Stephan owned there - for nothing.
Here is the funniest lie of all, because it is so often repeated by those who gave sainthood to Walther. "No one knew about the adultery until a woman confessed her adultery after a particularly rough sermon on the topic. Or maybe two confessed."
Stephan's lawyers, his mistress, and his son were on the same ship traveling to America, but his sick wife and the dying children were left in Dresden. Walther's brother was on the same ship, but no one noticed anything? Yet Walther and his brother signed onto Stephan's elevation to bishop in New Orleans. To this day, the LCMS, WELS, and ELS pastors are rewarded and promoted for adultery, unless it gets their synod into trouble.
21 January 1839
I, H. W. Exter master of the Ship Olbers do solemnly sincerely & truly swear that the within list signed by me & now delivered to the Collector of this district contains the names of all the Passengers taken on board of the Said Ship at the Port of Bremen or at any time since and that all matters therein set forth are according to the best of my Knowledge & Belief just & true & I do further swear that Two of the Said Passengers died on the voyage.
Sworn before me this 21st Jany 1839 ~~ [signed] J. W. Exter-Master
List of Passengers on board of the bremer Ship Olbers H. W. Exter My bound from Bremen to New Orleans
Columns represent: Passenger number, Name, Relationship to the head of the family, Last dwelling place, Occupation, Age, Died on the voyage.
Cabin
1 Martin Stephan Dresden Preacher 61
2 Martin Stephan his son Dresden 16
3 Theodore Julius Brohm Dresden Candidate 30
4 H. S. Fischer Dresden Merchant 40
5 Julie Fischer his wife Dresden 32
6* Louise Gunther - mistress Dresden 32
7 Gustav Jaeckel Dresden Cashier 32
8Francis Adolph Marbach Dresden Attornay (sic) 40
9 Louise Marbach his wife Dresden 34
10 Gustav Marbach his child Dresden 11
11 Clara Marbach his child Dresden 6
12 Victor Marbach his child Dresden 5
13* Martin Marbach his child Dresden 2
14 Eduard Vehse Dresden Recorder 35
15* Mathilde Vehse his child Dresden 9
16 Hermann Walther Dresden Preacher 29
17 M. Emil Julius Moritz Wege Dresden Candidate 38
18 Sophie Schneiderin Dresden 40
19* Fred Loeschner *Konigsbruck Painter 44
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It is also an exercise in pride to think that you can escape the influences of your own generation and leap over the centuries to adopt the views of another generation without taking any of your baggage with you. Better to stay within the tradition that gave you the wisdom of the fathers. Walter is a good example of this. He learned his theology from Baier's Compendium, which distilled the theology of the Lutheran fathers. Walther didn't break with this tradition, but when he came to the New World and had to deal with issues in America that would not have arisen in the old country he did so. He led a revival of confessionalism in America that was reignited in the 20th century. To dismiss Walther and think that one understands Lutheran orthodoxy better than he did (as is the case with the ELDoNA crowd) is supreme arrogance, in my opinion.
Pastor Rolf David Preus