Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1975 · 51st Convention › Page 117
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 117

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 117

WV 66

bankrupt,” “less than Scriptural,” ‘“‘un-Lutheran,” ‘‘we compare
them to Hitler and Mussolini,” “illegal,” ‘‘unconstitutional,”
“unchristian,” “demonic and divisive’; and

WHEREAS, The publications of ELIM have continued to ac-
cuse our synodical leaders of ‘distortions,’ “‘misrepresenta-
tions,” “making a mockery of God’s truth,” “collusion,” ‘‘op-
pression, repression, injustice,” “bearing false witness,” ‘a new
pharisaism,” “taking a rule or ruin stance,” “deliberately
creating new issues and new barriers to further divide Christen-
dom,” “untruths, innuendo, guilt by association, and slander,”
“sabatoging the convention,” “using 80% truths to perpetuate
100% falsehoods,” “sinful,” “evil,” “insidious legalism,” ‘“‘hy-
pocrisy,’ “biblicism,” “traditionalism,” ‘‘authoritarianism,”’
“inhuman and Godless acts’; therefore be it

Resolved. That the Synod in convention repudiate these
flagrant violations of the Eighth Commandment; and be it
further

Resolved. That the Synod request the Board of Directors of
ELIM to issue a public apology for these violations; and be it
finally

Resolved. That the Synod call upon all members to discour-
age the continuation of all publications of ELIM.

St. John’s Lutheran Church
Ellisville, Mo.

Kenneth Smith, President
Eugene Rusert, Chairman
Paul V. Schnelle, Pastor

3-189

To Withhold Support of Subsidized
Congregations or Districts Who
Support ELIM

WHEREAS, A number of subsidized congregations and Dis-
tricts have in their budgets money allocated for ELIM—a
“church within a church”; and

WHEREAS, Indirectly therefore every congregation in that
District supports ELIM by its contributions: and

WHEREAS, A subsidized congregation or District should not
support ELIM with subsidized money any more than it should
support the American Bible Society with subsidized money;
therefore be it

Resolved. That subsidy be withheld from those congrega-
tions or Districts which continue to support ELIM.

St. James Lutheran Church
University City, Mo.

John Essen, President

Carl Meinecke, Secretary
Tom Baker, Pastor

3-190A

To Declare ELIM Heterodox

WHEREAS, Members of Evangelical Lutherans in Mission
(ELIM) hold to a liberal theology which allows the teaching
that Adam and Eve were not real historical people; that Jonah
was not a historical person; that Moses did not write the first
five books of the Old Testament, but rather these books came
into being through the JEDP source hypothesis; that some of
the miracles in the Old Testament did not actually happen as
recorded in the Bible; that some of the miracles of Christ did
not happen as reported in the New Testament; that some of the
sayings ascribed to Christ in the New Testament were not in
reality spoken by Christ but were embellishments of the early
Christian church; and

WHEREAS, Evangelical Lutherans in Mission, a group of pas-
tors, professors, and lay people in the Synod, has been guilty
of unionism and syncretism on numerous occasions; and

WHEREAS, Such unionistic practices are contrary to Scrip-

ture (Matt. 7:15; Rom. 16:17) and in violation of our synodical
Constitution, Art. VI; and

WHEREAS. ELIM bears the marks of a “church within a
church” (i.e., it has its own seminary. mission program, and
publication): and

WHEREAS, ELIM’s existence ‘subverts the Synod’s Constitu-
tion” and has ‘‘become divisive and schismatic and therefore
subversive of the very purposes of the Synod”; therefore be it

Resolved. That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
declare Evangelical Lutherans in Mission heterodox and a
group not to be tolerated in The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod.

St. Paul Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Iowa

Milford G. Heitman, Chairman
Allan Doehrmann, Secretary

Identical or similar:

3-190B

St. John’s, Ellisville, Mo. Paul V. Schnelle

3-191A
To Take Action Regarding ELIM

WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in its
Constitution (Art. II. 1) ‘accepts without reservation: The Scrip-
tures of the Old and New Testaments as the written Word of
God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice’; and

WHEREAS, The organization ELIM by its expressed purpose
has created a church within a church, is promoting the teaching
of doctrine alien to The Lutheran Church-— Missouri Synod,
and is divisive to the continuing concord within the Synod;
therefore be it

Resolved. That the Synod see that all congregations are
adequately informed that this conflict is over doctrine and the
veracity (truthfulness) of the Bible; that the main issue is the
trustworthiness of the Bible: and be it further

Resolved. That the leadership of the Synod, through proper
evangelical methods, bring a speedy end to the deception that
now plagues the church.

St. John's Ev. Lutheran Church
Red Bud, IIl.

Leo Hinton, Secretary

Robert Holstein, Pastor

Identical or similar:

3-191B to 3-191D

St. Paul’s, Hartley, lowa
Trinity, Scarsdale, N. Y.
Messiah, Detroit, Mich.

F. Mennenga
Merlin Meyer
Carl Hoffmeyer

3-192A

To Repudiate Evangelical Lutherans
in Mission
WHEREAS. The Board of Directors of the Synod has pointed
out in a resolution adopted May 30—31, 1974, that the organiza-

tion called Evangelical Lutherans in Mission (ELIM) has all the
characteristics of a ‘church within a church”; and

WHEREAS, ELIM continues to raise a budget, to operate
through a board of directors, to have its own seminary
(Seminex), to conduct its own mission program (‘‘Partners in
Mission’’), and to issue publications and periodicals; and

WHEREAS. These operations are set up in opposition to the
regularly established educational institutions, mission pro-
grams, and publications of the Synod: and