# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S1161
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

LAPIS AVS ES,
AP oe i ae

620 INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS

Resolved, That we request that this overture be printed ;
the Boox or Memoriats for the 1950 convention. "

Trinity LuTHEeRAN Crurcu
Oax Park, Itt.

E. L. Krert, Secretary .

Protesting Against Appointment of Fourth
Vice-President
. (Memorial 624)

Wuereas, A certain District President, as chairman of a com-
mittee, in 1945 addressed a letter to all the clergy of the Missouri
Synod, in which the following false and unwarranted accusations
were raised against certain unnamed brethren within Synod: “Th
recent years, especially since the Saginaw Convention, a strange
and pernicious spirit, utterly at variance with the fundamental
concepts of the Gospel and the genius of the Lutheran Church, has
lifted its ugly head in more than one area of our beloved Synod.
This spirit has its origin in a wrong approach to the Holy Scrip-
tures and in a tragic misconception of the very essence of the
Gospel and the nature, functions, and mission of the Church. It is
characterized by barren, negative attitudes, unevangelical tech-
niques in dealing with the problems of the individual and the
Church, unsympathetic legalistic practices, a self-complacent and
separatistic narrowness, and an utter disregard for the fundamental
law of Christian love. One need not be a prophet to forecast what
the results will be if this unevangelical and intolerant spirit is left
unrestrained and to its own devices. Spiritual life will be blighted.
The organism of the Church will be paralyzed. Ecclesiastical perse-
cution will occur with increasing frequency. The onward march
of the Gospel will be obstructed, and one open door after another
will be closed to us”; and

Wuereas, The said District President was an original signer of
“A Statement”; and

Wuereas, The President of Synod in a public meeting held in
Chicago on July 1, 1947, declared “that there are doctrinal aberra-
tions in ‘A Statement’ as the words read”; and

Wuereas, The President of Synod in a letter dated January 18,
1947, informed the members of Synod that an Agreement had been
made between the Praesidium and the signers of “A Statement,”
to wit: that “‘A Statement’ and ‘The Accompanying Letter’ be
withdrawn as a basis of discussion. . . . The withdrawal of
‘A Statement’ as.a basis of discussion shall not be interpreted as
a.retraction”; and

INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS 621

Wuereas, THE SAID DISTRICT PRESIDENT HAS NOT TO

HIS DAY RETRACTED EITHER HIS FORMER UNSCRIP-
RA VIEWS OR HIS PUBLIC DEFAMATION OF HIS

EN IN SYNOD; and

-Waereas, The President of Synod offered the said District

President the appointment as Fourth Vice-President of Synod

(cf. Lutheran Witness, 1949, p. 346); and
7 Wuereas, The President seeks to justify such offer on the basis
of Section 2.37 of the Handbook; and .

Wuereas, “Where the defense of the honor of God and His
Word and the truth of the Confession of the Church, based there-
upon, is at stake, there the witness of the truth should both orally
2. and in writing tread boldly under foot every article of the Consti-
“< {ution of a synod which stands in the way of his testimony and
‘Y  ghould make no confession of sin” (Lehre und Wehre, Vol. 24,
“* p.291); and
_ Wuereas, The President, acting according to the Constitution
(Art. XI, B.2: “It is the President’s duty to see to it that all the
aforementioned act in accordance with Synod’s Constitution, to
admonish all who in any way depart from it.”), did admonish
said District President (cf. Letter to Clergy, April 30, 1946,
pp. 9,10); and

Wuenreas, The President did not follow through the procedure
laid down in the Constitution (Art. XI, B.2: “and, if such admoni-
tion is not heeded, to report such cases to Synod.”) and did not
report this case to the 1947 convention of Synod; and

Wuereas, “Synod at all times has the right to call its officers
to account and, if circumstances require it, to remove them from
office in accordance with Christian procedure” (Constitution,
Art. XI, A.2); now therefore be it

Resolved, That we, the undersigned, call this matter to the
attention of Synod in convention assembled; and be it furthermore

Resolved, That we hereby protest the appointment of said
District President to the Vice-Presidency of Synod as being con-
trary to the first object of Synod: “the conservation and promotion
of the unity of the true faith (Eph. 4:3-6; 1 Cor. 1:10) and a united
defense against schism and sectarianism (Rom. 16:17).” (Consti-

tution, Art. III.) Trinity Ev. LurHeran Cuurcu, Creve, Inn.

A. T. KRETZMANN, Pastor
W. J. Brasz, Chairman
R. E. Prepensrink, Secretary