Herman Otten's Brother Demonstrates How the LCMS Myths Get Retold.

Harrison writes in the preface, “I write as a convinced, convicted, and unapologetic clergyman of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.The public confession of the Lutheran Church–most fundamentally stated in the Book of Concord–is my own, without equivocation. I believe C.F.W. Walther, the founder of the LCMS (double sic), explicated the faith correctly, also on the doctrines of church and ministry.These pages will show a side of Walther’s divinely given role of the care of the needy.”

The eeevul Loehe pastors invited the Stephanites to work with them, so Loehe was the true founder of the LCMS. The Loehe pastors were not blind followers of a syphilitic bishop, so Walther had to part ways with the real founder while keeping the Loehe congregations. I called them eeevul because it is still popular among the Walther worshipers to be against Loehe.

Later, Walther asked for and received the Ft. Wayne seminary as a free gift from Loehe. He also asked for Loehe contributions to continue. And they did. Whadda sharp operator, that CFW Walther!

I should not need to spend too much time on the orthodoxy of the Walther circle. They all followed one abusive Pietist guru, who died, and subsequently affiliated with Martin Stephan, an organizer of cell groups - the mark of Pietism. 

The era is complicated in terms of Pietism and genuine Lutheran Orthodoxy. The Rationalists were in complete control of the ecclesiastical structure, so most Pietists could not get a call. Anyone who had faith was called a Pietist or a mystic by the Rationalists, and Pietism seemed to be a refuge from the sterility of Rationalism, which is how future clergy were trained in Germany.

Stephan called Walther "a fox," which may explain how CFW,

was approved as a pastor by the Rationalist leaders of the church body. CFW and his brother kidnapped their nephew and niece from their father's home, and took them to America. The police had a warrant for CFW's arrest, but he let his mother-in-law be thrown into the clink instead. Whadda guy! I wonder what he bought her on Mother's Day each year - ankle chains as a clever joke?

Heick described Spener, the founder of Pietism, as "first union theologian," because Spener merged his own Lutheran background with Calvinistic doctrine. One WELS scholar, when asked, wrote something like this - "You could say Spener was against infant faith and the Real Presence, but he probably wrote on the other side too. He wrote an enormous amount and was all over the place with doctrine."

Let me frank, if not downright cruel, for a moment. All our founders were Pietists, from Henry M. Muhlenberg (Halle graduate) to Adolph Hoenecke (Halle graduate). The Swedish Augustana Synod was formed by Pietists who were led toward Book of Concord Orthodoxy by Passavant. 

And in-between, Martin Stephan, who never graduated from any university but attended Halle University, was clearly identified as a Pietist. Stephan was able to get a call to Dresden because that church, with close ties to Zinzendorf (a Pietist) had the right to call anyone and to have cell groups meeting at their congregation.

Stephan's ethnic group, the Bohemians, were Pietists. As a Lutheran leader, Stephan emphasized the Book of Concord when most were neglecting it, so he deserved some Brownie points for orthodoxy, but that was definitely a blend fitting the union theology of Pietism.

Walther is quoted as admitted that "Stephan was a bit of a Pietist," which is like CFW being "a bit of a kidnapper, pimp, and thief.' Walther began the white-washing of their early history, so LCMS history could officially start with his election as the president of the sect.

Nevertheless, Pietism did not dominate completely, nor did UOJ - which came from Halle University - until the 1932 Brief Statement, which canonized this bizarre claim and the even more deceptive Scripture support:

Note well the two errors - 

Walther carried forward his Pietistic fanaticism with 

So the LCMS continues this smoke and mirros game by debating whether Loehe or Walther was better when they barely know the Scriptures and the Book of Concord.

LCMS and WELS ecclesiastical honors remind me of the Hollywood entertainers getting up and awarding each other statues roughly six times a year, so even the least talented celebrity can have more honors than a North Korean army general. Those men barely have room on their jackets for all the brass.