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Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

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Dear Gullixson!<br />

I had just sat down <strong>to</strong> write you concerning the<br />

conference when I received a letter from Anderson<br />

concerning the meeting of the mixed conference at<br />

Minneapolis on the 9 th and 10 th . He tells me that there will<br />

be a discussion on the Intersynodical Theses and urges me<br />

<strong>to</strong> attend. I have written him and assured him that I shall be<br />

there….<br />

I hope you can come <strong>to</strong> the meeting in St. Paul the 9 th and<br />

10 th . We must do all we can <strong>to</strong> prevent any kind of<br />

compromise. I cannot feel full confidence in our Missouri<br />

brethren who are so enthusiastic for these colloquiums.<br />

They do not realize the dangers I am afraid.<br />

With best regards,<br />

J.E. Thoen 207<br />

The ELS, since the disastrous Madison Settlement, had recognized the new spirit<br />

of modern union discussion from the ones of generations past. That new spirit did not<br />

seek <strong>to</strong> fit men <strong>to</strong> the Word of God, but rather make the Word of God fit men. Their still<br />

fresh wounds made them alert watchmen, constantly on the look out for other<br />

“Settlements” which threatened <strong>to</strong> further weaken the confessional consciousness of the<br />

American Evangelical <strong>Lutheran</strong> Church.<br />

The ELS knew that the Intersynodical Theses would lead the Synodical<br />

Conference further down the road of false ecumenism and deterioration of doctrine. They<br />

had seen what the Madison Settlement had done <strong>to</strong> the ELC. Less than a year after the<br />

merger, the pan- <strong>Lutheran</strong> National <strong>Lutheran</strong> Council was formed with H.G. Stub as its<br />

president and Lauritz Larsen as its secretary. This development did not escape the notice<br />

of the ELS,<br />

207 J. Thoen <strong>to</strong> George Gullixson, letter, February 6, 1926, ELS Presidential Files: 1920s. Evangelical<br />

<strong>Lutheran</strong> Synod Archives, Manka<strong>to</strong>, MN.<br />

109

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