Southern Illinois District President Responds to Benke Case
The following is a letter by Southern Illinois District President Herb Mueller responding to Dr. Wallace Schulz's decision to suspend Atlantic District President Richard Benke. Interspersed in the letter are editorial comments by Rev. Al Loeschman.
A letter by SID President Herb Mueller
June 28, 2002
My Brothers and Sisters in the Southern Illinois District:
"Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Galatians 1:3-5).
By now you may have heard of the decision of LC-MS 2nd Vice President Wallace Schulz to suspend President David Benke of the Atlantic District from membership on the clergy roster of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod on the charges of syncretism and unionism. Whatever you think of this decision, there are several observations I must share with you:
1) Those who support this decision must not gloat or rejoice. In many ways this is a terrible day for the LC-MS. One who has been charged by his district with the task of supervising the doctrine and life of the members of that district of the Synod has himself been found, by the workings of our agreed upon process, to be in violation of our doctrinal commitments. Whether you agree with Dr. Schulz's assessment or not, this is very, very sad for us.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: Only if the decision of Dr. Schulz is based on human wisdom, friendship, institutional loyalty or some other non-Biblical rational is it a sad day for us as a Synod. It may indeed be a sad day for Dr. Benke and those who misguided him and supported him in his error and sin. If this sadness leads them all to the Word and to see the error in their own ways and then to the foot of the cross this sadness can be a joyful day of forgiveness and absolution to many.)
2) Those who oppose this decision ought not panic or do or say anything rash. President Benke has the right to appeal this decision to a Dispute Resolution Panel according to Chapter 8 of the Bylaws. The process we have agreed upon must be followed to its conclusion without political pressure.
3) I hope that all people involved (and all of us) will refrain from any further statements or actions that are divisive, but instead will go to the Lord of the Church in prayer for our beloved Synod that God will work to bring us to a greater unity under His Word. May our watchword in Southern Illinois be this - that everything we do be undertaken in a spirit of humility toward one another and toward God. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that in due time he may exalt you" (1 Peter 5:6). We are brothers and sisters in Christ! To that end it will not help to impugn the motives of others. It will not help to vilify any of our brothers and sisters for a position they hold as a matter of conscience. It will not help to organize politically - politics will never save the Synod.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: Our brother speaks true! Going back to the innerrant Word for guidance is where we all need to go, knowing that our beliefs and actions are judged by the Word Written and the Word Infleshed. Some feel that people of a more ecumenical spirit have already "departed from us" and are too far gone and theologically committed to return to the true Lutheran fold. Our district presidents should be on the side of integrity here and encourage those who cannot agree with the public doctrine of the synod to seek fellowship elsewhere.)
Instead, we must come together as brothers and sisters in Christ to work through these issues under the Word of God, "taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Our problems are not political, but spiritual - God deals with people like us in one way, the way of repentance and faith.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann:. How can one separate theological, spiritual (doctrine) from political (practice, practical, the application of doctrine)? You cannot do it. One leads to the other, and one flows from the other.)
4) I fear, however, that this decision (or our reaction to it) will more than likely deepen the political and theological divisions among us and will keep us from these necessary theological discussions of the issues that trouble us (discussions that must take place under God's Word). That's what I fear. But I do also pray and trust God that He will instead use this situation for His glory and our good by driving us together deeper into His Word.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: Many of the hints concerning the convocations that Kieschnick is calling for will not focus on the Word's definition of syncretism or unionism but on the procedure of dealing with disageements. This is what Vision said in its last issue and seems essentially correct. The goal of many district presidents is to have a synod that is not a doctrinally unified synod; but one that is formed after the ELCA "unity in diversity" model that is absolutely unworthy of the title of "synod.")
5) Therefore I pray that the theological convocations around the Synod will, beginning with the model theological conference in Phoenix, AZ (August 5-7, 2002), bring us together to hear each other clearly and most of all to hear and study God's Word together so that God's Word will have its way with all of us. We must not allow this event or any other to keep us from that process. Remember, the theme of the first theological conference is - "Conflict, Confession and Unity: Addressing Doctrinal Issues Faithfully and Fraternally for the Sake of Christ's Mission." I pray God will bring a greater sense of unity "for the sake of Christ's mission" through us to a dying world.
( Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: True, but what if the Word does not "have its way with all of us"? What if some do not see worshipping with Hindus as a sin against the First Commandment? How do we deal with them? We cannot be in mission with them, for they deny Christ and His Word.)
President Kieschnick has called for Synod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations to prepare guidelines to help our pastors discern whether participation in various kinds of events is appropriate or inappropriate. This is in addition to the series of theological convocations that will begin in Phoenix in August. Both proposals are absolutely necessary because we DO need to allow the Word of God and our Confessions to resolve these controversies. We DO need God's Spirit to bring us to a greater sense of agreement on these issues as brothers under the Word of God. In fact, the very question of whether or not "Yankee Stadium" was a "worship service" or a "civic event" is one that needs to be explored with utter humility and full determination to submit also here to the judgment of God's Word.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann A child can understand what Oprahfest was called and was intended to be. One need not be a mental giant to see that the Yankee Stadium event was indeed a "worship service" in its intent with a few emotional civic components included between the opening prayer and the benediction.)
In this regard, another absolutely essential step in this process is to define our terms as clearly as possible. What is a "civic event"? What is a "worship service"? How do we define "unionism and syncretism"? Most of all, we must do all this recognizing we are brothers and sisters under the Word of God, confessing the blessed Trinity as the only true God and Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior from sin.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: What is wrong with using our accustomed definitions? Do we have to reinvent the wheel and Christian theology every ten years? Only those who accept the standard terms are our brothers and sisters in the "walking together in doctrinal unity" sense.)
The great challenge for the Church in our day is a public religiosity which proclaims that all religious faiths are equal expressions of the truth and that each religion is equal before God. In other words, how do we confess Christ clearly before the world without compromise? How and under what circumstances can we give a clear witness for Christ (and Christ alone) in public situations without fostering the impression that all religions are really the same - just different roads to the same goal? I believe we need to be fearless confessors of Christ wherever and whenever we can - why? Because the world is dying without Christ! There is only one way to salvation - Jesus - and we've got to tell everyone. I believe we also need to be cognizant of the context for our individual actions so that we do not give impressions we do not want to give.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: We often confess best by saying "no." We are sorry, but we cannot participate because according to the true God we are not to place any other humanly constructed gods alongside the Father, Son and Holy Spirit God. Our proof for our stand is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for it shows clearly that His teachings are true. Bring me the bones of Jesus; then we will talk about constructing some kind of Ba'hai type religion where all opinions are equal. If you do not, I will assume that Jesus Christ is alive and, as the only religious leader ever to have come back to life, has spoken the truth about Himself, the nature of God and man's nature and destiny.)
Of course, it should be obvious that infighting and controversy detract us from God's mission and give a poor example to unbelievers and those who are weak in faith. I know of at least three examples in the churches of the Southern Illinois District where prospective members have been turned off by the negative publicity the LC-MS has received and have suddenly felt unwelcome - not due to anything the local pastor or congregation was doing - but solely due to the sensational presentations in the St. Louis media. Needless controversy certainly blunts our evangelism.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: I wonder how many were turned off because Christians were being thrown to the lions and burned at the stake? That is a weak excuse for deceitfully hiding the truth of divisions and spiritual warfare from the people. If we hide this from them, how can we claim to be speaking the truth in other circumstances. It is better to lay out all the dirty linen and see if the Gospel is the reason for people uniting with our congregation or if it some human notion of idealistic peace and harmony. Following Christ involves the cross, and if we deceive them about that, we are not making Christians, but new-age disciples.)
But there is another even more insidious trend that can just as effectively cut the heart out of our evangelism efforts - and that is the impression even many of our own people have that all religions are the same or that "Jesus is fine for Christians but that He is not the only way." Some say our lack of evangelism effort stems from our desire to be sure to get the message right before we get the message out. There may be times that's true. However, I wonder if the lack of evangelism really has its roots in a latent universalism that says, "we all pray to the same god anyway." So why get all worked up over people who do not know Jesus? In other words, our evangelism can be rendered impotent not only by needless controversy but also by the notion that there may be ways to God other than Jesus Christ.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: This is "right on!" Very good insight.)
What is the "bottom line" for me? We have to continue the dialog or else we will experience further division. Though I fear that all these events have only exacerbated the divisions we already had before September 23rd, we must trust that honest and brotherly dialog under the Word of God will help us to a greater unity. We need God's help with this, but He will be at work among us only as we talk together as brothers and sisters under Scripture and the Confessions. Please remember that all of us are susceptible also in this way: Satan is often very sly to take even our best-intentioned efforts and twist them to his purposes. We must be constantly aware of his designs to thwart God's Kingdom and God's will. We must guard our lips and guard our hearts and pray God's constant protection and forgiveness for our minds, our will, our actions.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: We have had too many years of dialogue. Where has it gotten us? We have been subjected to dialectical spiritualism; drifting slowly to the theological left for over 50 years - historically from the time of the Statement of the 44 after World War II. It is time to return to our roots. It is time for radical reform.)
If we do not address the issues before us together as brothers and sisters under God's Word, we already know what will happen. We will experience further division. To put it bluntly, we have three choices: two are bad and one is hard. Bad choice #1 - we could essentially do nothing while we watch the Synod continue to fragment. Bad choice #2 - we could give in and divide now (but where there is division, there will be people lost for the kingdom).
The hard choice is to engage in the kind of difficult but honest dialog under the Word of God in which we help each other to hear God's Word clearly on the issues we are facing today. God's Word does not change, but we need to help each other be sure we hear His Word clearly and plainly, allowing the Lord to have His way with us. God willing, I have another 15-20 years of service to God in the Synod in front of me. I don't want to look back on this moment and conclude that we wasted another opportunity.
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann: Choice #1 will not be allowed. The left leaning folks believe they have a holy mission to bring the synod into the 3rd millenium and to exert its loving influence on the rest of so called Lutheranism and Christianity. Read our president's articles. He has delusions of glory about the LCMS and its leadership in the world. Choice #2 is the true and honest thing to do, rather than a bad thing. Give our congregations simple statements of faith -as the Brief Statement - and let them study and choose which of the three main parties (Us First - Emotionalism, Church Growthers; Clergy First - neo-Roman doctrine, Episcopalian polity or Walther First - old LCMS doctrine and congregational polity) they want to follow and divide up the synodical assets and liabilities according to the proportion of congregations chosing each party. A peaceful division is not impossible, if people were honest and faithful to their convictions. The left has a problem with that. We see how so many stayed in the synod even though they supported Seminex and its false doctrine, so the other two parties would have to sort them out by their history and past actions.)
How are we going to do this? I have no illusions that it will be at all easy. If fact, it will be more difficult than any of us can now imagine. More than that, we will need to keep at it for some time (3-5 years I believe) before we may begin to see positive results. However, I believe it is absolutely essential for our life together as a Synod that we move forward with these conferences - for the sake of Christ's mission. If we are not called to this, then tell me, who? And if not now, when?
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann Why assume that years more of useless dialogue are required. Dialogue is the easy way out since it delays honest and difficult action based on doctrinal convictions. I have not known one Church Growther, liberal, RIMmer, not one disciple of Grabau or Loehe to convert to the LCMS Waltherian position. There will be no positive results from more talk. The four congregations that passed the Keller Resolution came to that conclusion and did something Biblical. How the Lord will use it remains to be seen. But district presidents should try to think outside the institutional box that has imprisioned them. The current institution of the LCMS has its days numbered. It is hopelessly divided among people with genuine and firmly held convictions. As Jesus said, it "cannot stand." It is just whether it will peacefully be divided or fought over with more political power plays and more "bad publicity" that is so feared by bureaucrats and institutional idolaters.)
May God help each of us to be faithful, both to His Word and to His mission! Indeed, may God grant us even more of His Spirit that we live each day in His Word. Pray for all our leaders. Pray for David and Judy Benke. Pray for those who brought the charges. Pray for our Synod and all her districts. Pray for wounded and weak consciences that none of this serves to cause anyone to stumble in faith. Pray that God's name be hallowed, His kingdom come and His will be done, also among us. God be with you all!
(Editorial Note By Rev. Al Loeshmann : Amen. But prayer without works is in vain. We must hallow God's name by holding Him above all the names of other gods. We must work to spread the truth of the Gospel of Christ's sacrifice and imputed righteousness so His Kingdom comes to unbelievers. We must do His will and not the will of the world and the culture of the day.)
Herbert Mueller
July 5, 2002