Vol 28 Issue 18

As was stated (see my previous article) God’s people had corrupted themselves. They had turned quickly aside out of the way which the Lord had commanded them. They had made them a molten calf and worshipped it, and sacrificed thereunto, and said, These by thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Ex. 31:7, 8.

The reader will ask: what is this all about? What are these untruths of which Rev. Kok is here accused by you openly in this magazine? I shall lay them bare. They concern me, the undersigned, and they oc­cur in an article from the pen of Rev. Kok—an article that he had printed in the Concordia of May 28 1952, under the caption Conditio Sine Qua Non.

We, write “a glad occasion in Hope”. And that it truly was on the evening of May 26 when Mr. Herman Mensch might reach the milestone in his life to which he had looked forward for the past six years. It was a glad occasion for brother Mensch, and we surely congratulate him in thankfulness to God. But it was also a glad occasion for the Faculty members of our Seminary, both regular professors and instructors, as well as for the Theological School Committee, which too was present.

The reader will remember that after a few in­troductory remarks concerning the necessity of our own teacher training facilities, and after mentioning a few of the various aspects of this problem of teach­er training, we made a beginning in our last article of recording the history that has been made in this respect, in as far as we could glean it from the Acts of Synod, beginning with 1948. (Incidentally, it is very well possible that our school boards have put forth other efforts than those which are mentioned in our Acts of Synod.

Glory to God alone!

Under this apparently learned title Concordia, through the Rev. Kok, again strikes a very discordant note, which I cannot and may not pass without com­ment. In the first place, I must express it as my opin­ion that the article violates the rules of ethics, or, if you please, of Christian love. In other words, it is dishonest.

Now, please compare with this so-called definition of Dr. Schilder the simple definition which I always gave of condition: a condition is a prerequisite which man must fulfill in order to obtain the promise of God.