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Correspondence with Herman and Walter Otten On October 30, I wrote a letter to Pastor Charles Froehlich, the First Vice-President of the Atlantic District, LCMS, for distribution and dialog at the Council of Presidents meeting of the LCMS to be held in November, 2002. Pastor Froehlich did bring that letter to the group. The letter outlines concerns and indicates a possible course of action for District Presidents, should they so choose, in order to promote the kind of harmony that Scripture requires of Christians in their relationships with one another. That letter of concern somehow has been distributed to a variety of ultraconservative "media outlets" in the LCMS, including Christian News, Reclaim News, and CAT41. In the meantime I have received and responded to correspondence concerning my letter, as you will read below. Advent blessings in Christ, + + + + + St. Peter's Lutheran Church and School October 30, 2002 Rev. Charles Froehlich Dear Pastor Froehlich: Greetings in the Name of Christ, our Lord! As you prepare to attend the upcoming Council of Presidents meeting, I bring to your attention some disturbing activities by Pastors in the LCMS that have come to my attention, and to the attention of the people of God at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Brooklyn. I ask you to distribute this letter to the entire Council for their consideration and action. I have received by a variety of means some of the most hateful messages imaginable over the past months from pastors in the LCMS. They have webpages, internet connections, and newsletters/magazines through which they are distributing and encouraging comments that violate the eighth commandment and the rules of common decency. These are amassed and held as they are received. The particular persons involved in leadership of these networks are Some of these networks have open access and the "threads" of conversation or the stream of articles can be accessed by anyone. Others are not as accessible. In these forums I have been called a murderer and a terrorist, and compared with John Wayne Gacy and Osama Bin Laden. Other pastors, notably from the Minnesota North District, have participated actively in this line of thinking. The parishioners of St. Peter's have also been vilified. I am asking you to distribute this letter to the council of presidents for their consideration and action. It is my belief that supervision of this extremely divisive activity should be one of the high priorities for the individual district presidents, the leadership of the COP, and the President of the LCMS with an eye toward a repentance that involves the diminution and/or elimination of these forums as part of appropriate ecclesiastical supervision. I would appreciate it if the Council could take up this matter in one of its sessions, and if you could report back to me on directions being taken. I do have the specific emails and chat contents on file; however, I believe it is the responsibility of the District Presidents and their designees to investigate personally the contents of these forums for a more complete identification of problem areas. As you have granted me permission under the terms of my suspension to speak as the Pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church about our ministry in New York following 9/11/01 both in the Atlantic District and around the country, I am continually heartened by the vision for mission of Christ's people in the LCMS. I am further convinced that the overwhelming majority of the membership of the denomination desires to promote an attitude of dialog and conversation rather than hostility and complaint. The rank and file in the LCMS want change in bylaws to discourage and make very difficult formal complaints and to require the dialog the Bible describes. They want a denomination that understands the love in action contained in reconciliation chapters like Matthew 18. They want an end to divisive church politics. They want the Office of the President to be respected. Veteran members want a return to the denomination they signed up for, the one that encouraged Oswald Hoffman to take the Good News in proclamation and prayer all around the world. His name comes up a lot. The process in which I am involved is arduous and lengthy beyond any reasonable limit. That much is clear. But the attitudes of the few, so vitriolic and divisive, are what power the negativity. It all needs fixing. Give everyone my love in the Lord, In Christ, + + + + + November 23, 2002 Dr. David Benke Dear Gentlemen: Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Christian News has just received a copy of Pastor Froehlich's memo of November 13 to the LCMS Council of Presidents and a copy of Dr. Benke's letter of October 30, 2002 to Pastor Froehlich. Some of the lines in Dr. Benke's letter are not clear because of the fax. CN intends to publish it and would like a more legible copy. If you send CN your documentation proving the serious charges, CN will publish your evidence. CN certainly never called Dr. Benke a murderer and a terrorist and compared him to John Wayne Gacy and Osama Bin Laden. CN did publish a series of articles showing that Dr. Benke has for years defended the antiscriptural theology of Seminex, supported those who have actively promoted the ordination of women for decades in his district, and violated the LCMS principles of fellowship. CN has taken issue with Dr. Benke's theological liberalism for more than 25 years. Dr. Benke has repeatedly through those years refused to answer simple doctrinal questions. He has refused to state that non-Christians who die without saving faith in Jesus Christ are lost. These matters have all been published in Christian News. CN has reprinted articles and letters he has written. CN has repeatedly offered Dr. Benke and others plenty of space to refute anything CN has said about them. Dr. Benke once wrote that he will not answer CN since Dr. Barry had told him not to answer CN. Dr. Barry told CN that this was not true. Dr. Benke has said that his conservative critics have refused to meet with him. I can't speak for others, but is has been Dr. Benke and his Jesus First defenders who have refused to meet with loyal Missourians in St. Louis at either the International Center, Concordia Kirkwood, Concordia Seminary or Hope Lutheran Church, St. Ann, MO. CN has always deplored secrecy, criticizing someone without face to face contact or solid documentation. Are you gentlemen now willing to meet with those mentioned in Dr. Benke's letter of October 30 as having violated the 8th commandment? It would be good to invite the LCMS Praesidium to such a meeting and any members of the Council of Presidents who are willing to come at their own expense. I cannot speak for any of the others who are supposed to have violated the 8th commandment, but I can assure you that the editor of Christian News will be present at such a meeting even if the others do not want a face to face meeting with Dr. Benke. Hopefully at such a meeting he will answer the questions I have been asking him for years and which he has refused to answer. Pastor Froehlich, like Dr. Benke, you have also refused to answer some simple doctrinal questions I have asked you since you are listed in the 1981 directory of the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches as a graduate of Christ Seminary-Seminex. The Christian News Encyclopedia includes the 1980 directory of the AELC which has about the same list of Seminex graduates. Seminex has informed us that one of their surveys indicated that almost every one of its graduates, including those who are now listed on the clergy roster of the LCMS as you are, are still in accord with the theological position of Seminex. Could you please tell us whether or not you now regard the theological position of Seminex as expressed in Faithful to our Calling-Faithful to our Lord as contrary to Holy Scripture? Do you believe that it is contrary to Holy Scripture to maintain that I sent a similar letter to you on May 25, 1000. You answered neither letter. Eastern LCMS Liberals and Moderates Oppose Close(d) Communion - LCMS position on Women" a story in the May 25, 1998 CN published a statement you and other Easterners signed. CN Noted" "CN is challenging any of the signers who oppose the ordination of women, support the LCMS's position on close(d) communion, reject as anti-scriptural the theology of Seminex and support the inerrancy of the Bible in all matters to send CN a statement for publication disassociating themselves from those primarily responsible for the document." CN did not receive any notice from you that you disassociated yourself from the document by the Easterners. After Dr. Benke signed a statement in which he said he was sorry for violating the constitution of the LCMS and what the Bible teaches about church fellowship when he prayed with non-Christians in St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1998, you signed a letter which in reality took issue with Dr. Benke. You supported his praying with non-Christians in Yankee Stadium and indicated that Dr. Benke had not violated the LCMS Constitution and what the Bible teaches about church fellowship. The letter you signed was published in the December 14, 1988 Christian News. Pastor Froehlich, I hope you will agree to attend the meeting in St. Louis Christian News is proposing. I would like to ask you the questions I have asked you in the past and which you, like Dr. Benke, have refused to answer. Dr. Lutz, CN will be glad to publish a report from you about what happened when Dr. Benke's letter was placed on the agenda of your November meeting. The members of the LCMS are entitled to know just how much support Dr. Benke and LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick have in the COP. God's Blessings, + + + + + Herman Otten is not a Liar (And Neither Am I!) In a recent communication, Pastor Herman Otten of Christian News fame wrote the following about Pastor David Benke: CN did publish a series of articles showing that Dr. Benke has for years defended the antiscriptural theology of Seminex, supported those who have actively promoted the ordination of women for decades in his district, and violated the LCMS principles of fellowship. CN has taken issue with Dr. Benke's theological liberalism for more than 25 years. Dr. Benke has repeatedly through those years refused to answer simple doctrinal questions. He has refused to state that non-Christians who die without saving faith in Jesus Christ are lost. These matters have all been published in Christian News. CN has reprinted articles and letters he has written. CN has repeatedly offered Dr. Benke and others plenty of space to refute anything CN has said about them. To say that Pastor David Benke is a liberal who defends the "higher critical" Biblical theology of Seminex, supports the ordination of women, blatantly violates fellowship principles, and does not believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven is absolutely preposterous. I have known David Benke for years. We have spent hours, much of it on the golf course, discussing theology. I edited his CPH book God's Law Has No Loopholes, an excellent treatment of Law/Gospel theology. When I was serving a congregation in Queens, New York our people visited back and forth with the people of his congregation in Brooklyn. I know David Benke and these claims are downright foolish. Is Herman Otten a liar? Many claim that he is. In response to such accusations, Otten challenges those who accuse him to give an example of any untrue statements that he has made. Doing so is difficult because the problem with Otten's reporting is not the information he relates but the manner in which he strings it together. The issue is not the so-called "facts" but the methodology. He begins with a premise, forms a "dot system" of seemingly related information going back over a period of years, connects the dots based on his own assumptions, and claims to arrive at an accurate conclusion. He keeps all his "dot systems" on file and hauls them out when needed to reaffirm his faulty premise. Herman Otten is most certainly not a liar. He simply uses a distorted methodology. Otten's methodology is not unique. The late Senator Joseph McCarthy used the same methodology in his infamous "Communist witch hunt" forty years ago. Interesting enough, the methodology is used by Bork, Funk and Crossan of the Jesus Seminar. They begin with an assumption and string together a bunch of alleged "historical data" to prove it is true. After arriving at his conclusion, Otten proceeds to send one of his infamous questionnaires to his "victim." The questions are similar to asking, "Are you still beating your wife?" Either way the person responds makes no difference. In Otten's mind, the issue is settled. Using Herman Otten himself as the subject let me give you an example of the "Herman Otten methodology" for determining truth and "accusing the brethren." Anyone who has read any of Christian News over the past years knows that Otten participates in the "Ironman" competition. A couple weeks ago I was watching a segment of the "Ironman" competition on television. What I saw raised some real questions about the nature of these events. So I did some research. There were these guys on television in tight little pants with butch haircuts, many of them blonde and Arian, trying to prove their masculinity and show everyone that they were "Ironmen." A young man by the name of Chris Crutcher wrote a book called "Ironman." It was his personal story of coming to grips with homosexuality. Former "Ironman" champion Bob Paris came out of the closet and admitted that he was gay. Psychologists would suggest that men who question their masculinity gravitate to such competition. They have something to prove. They want to be "Ironmen" rather than sissies. The female counterpart of this competition is most certainly geared to lesbians. There is a connection between the "Ironman" competition and homosexuality. Research the subject on the Internet and see what conclusions you draw. Herman Otten has participated in "Ironman" competition? He brags about it. Therefore, Herman Otten is probably homosexual. Could this have been the real reason why the Seminary refused to approve him for ordination? Is any of the above information untrue? Am I lying about anything? We better get to the bottom of this and send Otten a questionnaire: Dear Pastor Otten: Kindly answer the following questions: 1) Are you gay? 2) Are you planning on "coming out" of the closet? 3) By participating in the "Ironman" competition, do you support lesbian and gay rights? 4) Do you believe that homosexuality is a sin? 5) Are you in favor of the ordination of gays into the ministry? He now has three choices: 1. He can respond to the questions granting them credibility. 2. He can ignore the questions because they are absolutely inane and stupid questions. If he does so, he must be homosexual because he refuses to answer. 3. If he responds strongly, giving all kinds of evidence contrary to the premise, we must declare with Shakespeare, "The man doth protest too much." So, do we have any other choice but to conclude that Herman Otten is gay, that is, of course, if David Benke is a liberal? Does anybody know where I could find a good cartoonist? Pastor Don Matzat + + + + + November 23, 2002 Dear Dr. Benke, I have before me your letter of October 30, 2002 which you addressed to Pastor Froehlich. You asked that he distribute this letter to the COP, and he did that. In that letter you mention my name together with 8 others. You say of us, "I have recieved by a vairety of means some of the most hateful messages imaginable." You go on to say of these messages that they "violate the eighth commandment and the rules of common decney. After the mention of my name you say that you have "contents on file" in which you "have been called a murderer and a terrorist, and compared wsith John Wayne Gacy and Osama Bin Laden." Your letter given to the COP says that it is the responsibility of the District President to investigate personally those that you identify in your leter. You also say that this matter should be a "high prioirty" for th ePresdient of the Synod. When my district president, or the president of the synod, calls upon me in response to your letter, I would like to have availabel the "contents on file" that you have on me that has made it possible for you to describe me with the words quoted above. In view of what you have said of me in a letter given to all the members of the COP one has to ask, "Would the name of Walter Otten ever be approved for a call into any district of the Synod?" In grave concern, + + + + + St. Peter's Lutheran Church and School December 10, 2002 Rev. Walter Otten Dear Rev. Otten/Walter, I'm responding to your letter dated November 23. Remember your chance meeting with my brother Bob and me at the last Synodical convention? You saw the two of us and came out with an ebullient, "How can one brother be so good and the other brother be so bad." At which Bob and I looked at one another, broke out in laughter and said in unison, "Boy, you must hear that question a lot in your family!" Your reaction was priceless………You didn't get it. At all. Which is why I am writing to you. You're concerned that vicious comments calling me a murderer and terrorist, comparing me to Gacy and Bin Laden, might attach to you, based on a letter from me through the First Vice-President of the Atlantic District to the Council of Presidents dated October 30, 2002. You wonder if those comments exist. They do exist. However, as I state, they are not the ONLY deleterious commentary about me. The vicious comments listed are not in serial order, only a sampler, what I call in my letter "a line of thinking." Your name is listed next to the name of your brother, Herman. Herman is your brother. You are a featured editorialist in his paper. Since last October you conspired with a band of fellow clergy in Ft. Wayne Indiana without ever speaking to me according to the principles of the Bible set out by our Lord Jesus. Your "gang" then filed formal complaint against me on November 12, the day of the Flight 587 crash. Since that time you have written extensively, I believe, for your brother in connection with the character of my adjudicator, Wallace Schulz. One of those editorials was penned, I believe, in conjunction with a four part, front page headlined series in your brother's paper entitled "BENKE IS GUILTY." Herman, your brother, has lampooned me in cartoons with me and Dr. Kieschnick naked behind a fig leaf; me being held in the hand of Oprah Winfrey with the caption "She's got the itty-bitty Benke in her hands," and many such humiliating and totally inappropriate cartoons. Articles entitled "Genuine Terrorism" applying that epigram to me, "The Errorist Attack at Yankee Stadium," and "Benke and the Superfriends" have appeared in your brother's paper or on the website sponsored for him, most likely by members of the LCMS. The list of slanderous material from your brother's paper directed toward me could go on and on. You are directly connected to those lampooning, vicious ill-considered remarks. Indeed, your editorializing as part of the "BENKE IS GUILTY" series that took place, to the best of my recollection, PRIOR to the judgment of adjudicator Schulz goes further than vicious lampooning. It raises real questions about the influence of a complainant upon an adjudicator. One thing is for sure. You and your brother are in this together. In addition, the letter from me to Pastor Froehlich that you reference is not a formal complaint but a request for follow-up by some District Presidents as they might deem appropriate. It was distributed to the Council of Presidents/Praesidium of Synod at a meeting of that body for their perusal. By what method do you and your brother obtain such a letter? Some might question who is the Otten brothers' connection at that level of the LCMS? Your brother publishes insinuating items about what has been according to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) the finest faith-based disaster response effort in the country – Lutheran Disaster Response of New York. I was the initial President of LDRNY. The Synod's Board of Directors then takes up inquiries, as published in their minutes and followed up through the Treasurer of the LCMS, concerning LDRNY and the Atlantic District. Some might question who is the Otten brothers' connection at that level of the LCMS? You close your letter with this sentence, "In view of what you have said of me in a letter given to all the members of the COP one has to ask, "Would the name of Walter Otten ever be approved for a call into any district of the Synod?" It is extremely painful for me to bring what follows to your attention. In a point of unpleasant irony, you hypothetically ascribe to yourself what has in fact happened to me – because of you! Ask the people of God at St. John's Lutheran Church in Ft. Collins, Colorado how they feel about that sentence from your letter. Your complaint after conspiring with others filed on November 12, 2001, resulted in my suspension from the clergy roster of the LCMS, which I am appealing. While suspended I CANNOT accept a divine call. At the time I was suspended, I HAD a Divine Call to serve as Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Ft. Collins, Colorado, a call to service I had seriously considered accepting. Your actions after conspiring and without prior Matthew 18 conversation with me at any time PREVENTED the process of Divine Call from being completed between me and the people of God at St. John, Ft. Collins. You do not mention the following paragraph from my letter to the Council of Presidents: "I am continually heartened by the vision for mission of Christ's people in the LCMS. I am further convinced that the overwhelming majority of the membership of the denomination desires to promote an attitude of dialog and conversation rather than hostility and complaint. The rank and file in the LCMS want change in bylaws to discourage and make very difficult formal complaints and to require the dialog the Bible describes. They want a denomination that understands the love in action contained in reconciliation chapters like Matthew 18. They want an end to divisive church politics. They want the Office of the President to be respected. Veteran members want a return to the denomination they signed up for, the one that encouraged Oswald Hoffman to take the Good News in proclamation and prayer all around the world. His name comes up a lot." Why do you not care to comment on that paragraph of my letter? How many formal complaints have you filed in the LCMS? How many complaints concerning members of the Synod currently under consideration have been initiated by you personally or with your tutelage or encouragement? Are you not the source of many of the formal complaints now under consideration in the LCMS? Why are you opposed to the kind of dialog that the Bible describes? Why are you opposed to the direction that the overwhelming majority of people in the LCMS desire for their church body? Those are tough enough questions for you, I am sure. But the final set of questions I am leaving for your consideration begin with this simple one: Why are you and your brother so much alike? When will you and your brother stop the rancor and name-calling and start to treat others in Christian love? When will you and your brother support our President and all other elected officers of the Synod in every effort to focus our church on the Great Commission and to work for harmony within the Synod? When will you and your brother stop your divisive tactics that continue to hinder the evangelical dialogue so many seek as the route to restoring harmony and trust within our beloved Synod? Will you and your brother accept the leadership of the Council of Presidents (the President and Vice-President of Synod and its 35 District Presidents) as it acts upon its commitment, adopted by unanimous vote, to lead our Synod to restore Harmony and Trust? Yours in Christ, Dave Benke |
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