LLL and LCMS Caught in Ethical Conflict in Schulz-Benke Case
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

The following question from Doctor William Koch of Lewiston, California gets right to the ethical double dealing in which the LLL is now engaging.

How can the ILLL state, "Our mission is to bring Christ to the nations and the nations to the church," said Int'l LLL President Al Waldron, and then deny Dr. Schulz his constitutional duty of making a decision regarding "Bringing Christ to the nations?"

Many LCMS lay people don't understand that it was Rev. Wallace Schulz's LCMS constitutional duty to rule on the Benke Case.

Kieschnick and Preus both had to recuse themselves because they spoke their opinion before they judged the Benke Case. According to the LCMS Constitution, that made Wally Schulz, as second vice president, the judge in the Benke Case and acting LCMS President.

If the LLL didn't want their speaker to be a vice president, they never said anything about it before and they never said a word when Dale Meyer was a vice president.

As vice presidents, Schulz and Meyer judged lots of tough cases without public notoriety. However, never before had the LCMS President sent all the information about a case to the media as Kieschnick did in the Benke Case.

Many LCMS lay people are convinced that the LCMS is opposed to the Great Commission if their pastors don't offer prayers with pagan clergy in public events.

Quite often our most outrageous public sins are conducted under the pretence of self-defined works of righteousness and new interpretations of God's word.

The Devil didn't want Jesus to be hungry. The Devil wanted Jesus to rule the world. The Devil wanted more people to believe in Jesus. All Jesus had to do was jump down in front of the crowd. Just think, Jesus could have saved all of Jerusalem instead of so few if He would have followed the Devil's advice on evangelism.

Yes, the Devil wants people to hear about Jesus and believe in Jesus just like Benke, eleven US congressmen, and the New York media. How could they all be wrong? All we have to do is offer Christian prayers with pagan prayers and everyone will hear about Jesus.

If Jesus had been more loving He would have followed the Devil's evangelism plan in telling the Good News.

The LLL and the COP are more loving than Wallace Schulz. They got rid of Wallace Schulz because he is against offering Christian prayers with pagan prayers. Under these standards Jesus Christ could not qualify as the Lutheran Hour Speaker.

Reverend Herman Otten raised two interesting questions to this writer. On the one hand, how could Molly Ziegler write in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, July 19, 2002 that Benke was not invited to speak at Yankee Stadium but wormed his way in to the ceremony? On the other hand, how could President Kieschnick give Benke permission to participate in Yankee Stadium when Benke was never formerly invited?


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 30, 2002