Don Matzat Corrects the Record on Kieschnick & Preus
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

The following correction was received from Rev. Don Matzat regarding the Reclaim News Release sent on July 9, 2002 titled: "Kieschnick Plans To Overturn Schulz Decision in Benke Case." Matzat is the acclaimed former talk show host who used to be heard over the LCMS's radio station, KFUO.

Jack:

I think you better check your facts. Kieschnick was recused based on the Bauer appeal to the CCM before Preus was recused. Danny Preus called Benke immediately after the recusal of Kieschnick and said, "I now have the case."

Don

We thank Rev. Matzat for his correction. At this point there is no reason to doubt Rev. Don Matzat's correction of the record. However, the main point of our commentary was that regardless of who recused himself first, how can Kieschnick claim the right to overturn Wallace Schulz's decision against Benke after Kieschnick had already recused himself from the case?

Isn't Kieschnick saying, "I am the LCMS President and I will only recuse myself as long as the decision goes my way?" This is what happens when Dispute Resolution makes the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch the same office. Dispute Resolution makes Kieschnick President and Supreme Court.

But we are told in the Synod that we can trust good people to do the right thing when they are trusted with excessive power. But what happens when they aren't so good? The Synod's Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM) has already ruled that apart from the Convention, the LCMS President is above all judgment in the Synod, a privilege not enjoyed by the President of the United States. The American President can be removed from office between elections, but not the LCMS President.

Walther, the Synod's first president, was only able to steamroll the LCMS into congregational polity and voter supremacy because of the embarrassment created by the Stephan scandal. However, deep down, the LCMS Germanic mind actually prefers the kind of supreme leaders created by our "new" Dispute Resolution Process. Knowing my congregation, I regularly tell them to follow the Bible and not the preacher.

The 1992 Convention Delegates were told that District Presidents choosing all the Reconcilers, and District Presidents, Synodical Presidents, and Synodical Vice Presidents sitting in judgment was a system more reflective of the Gospel than the delegates electing their own adjudicators as they used to do. Just 10 years ago, lay people would have judged the Benke case. But now we have replaced those legalistic lay people, who pay for the entire Synod, with more "Gospel oriented" LCMS executives and the scandal is all over the media.

Thank God George Washington wasn't an LCMS Lutheran. Washington never had a guilty conscience about getting rid of royalty nor did he feel a spiritual need to follow the leader. We also know that Rev. Henry Melchior Mulenburg, the first great American Lutheran, supported King George. Thank God his sons rebelled against their confused father and King George.

At the next Convention, if the lay people don't get rid of Dispute Resolution and start electing their own adjudicators again, there isn't going to be a Synod.


Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

July 10, 2002