Try And Deflect.pdf

A translator of Adolf Hoenecke's Dogmatics inserted a remark about the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod's (WELS) study on the doctrine of the ministry, which was a way of making a disclaimer without explicitly stating it. The translator was hinting that Hoenecke's views on the ministry contradicted the current WELS creed, but did not openly admit it due to potential embarrassment and peer pressure. After Hoenecke's death, three professors at the WELS seminary, Johannes Schaller, Johann Philip Koehler, and August Pieper, began teaching doctrines on the church and ministry that contradicted Hoenecke's, borrowing from Johann Wilhelm Friedrich Hoefling's work. The author argues that WELS' clergy lack intellectual honesty and instead lie about their teachings, refusing to admit that they changed their doctrine and that Hoenecke's teachings were biblically correct. The author calls for WELS to be truthful and admit their errors, rather than resorting to deceitful measures to excuse their actions.