We are still waiting for Dr. Norbert Oesch to sign the document that rejects the Seminex agenda. At our December 29th meeting in the Rockwell Café, Oesch agreed to sign the document presented to him and that he would mail it to me.

The agreement was, that if he signed the document rejecting ten issues from the Seminex era of the LC-MS, PLI was not a conspiracy, a plot with evil intent.

Doctor Norbert Oesch is arguably the most significant figure in the LC-MS today, not because he holds the most important position or office but because he heads the most expensive, timely, trend setting program in the LC-MS, PLI. The Pastoral Leadership Institute is a kind of virtual third seminary to retrain LC-MS pastors in secular leadership techniques.

It is reported that Doctor Oesch's Pastoral Leadership Institute is about to receive a contract from the Synod's Board for Higher Education (BHE) at its January 18th meeting at Concordia Irvine without RSO status. Oesch needs 1.2 million a year and 50 staff to operate PLI.

In an era when the inspired text is a checkbook, Oesch is the prophet of success and growth.

If Oesch doesn't sign the document, the conservatives at the 2001 Synodical Convention won't need Walther's Church and Ministry in order to reject PLI and its advocates on the Synod's Board for Higher Education (BHE).

The current executive director of the BHE, Dr. William Meyer, has publicly supported PLI and is a life long friend of Dr. Oesch. As a former Professor at the Springfield Seminary he would question the historicity of Adam and Eve and promote the J E P D theory for the origin of the first five books of the Bible to his seminary students. In other words, he supported the Seminex agenda.

If Oesch alters the intent of the original document, it will be obvious that PLI is attempting to revive Seminex theology in the LC-MS.

If Oesch signs the original document, he risks alienating many of the people he is trying to involve in PLI.

During the meeting, Oesch did not sign the document. He rejected Article VI.4 of the LC-MS Constitution. He declared that Walther's words about Voters' Assemblies being the supreme tribunal were "inflammatory." He said PLI did not teach Walther's position on Church and Ministry. He said pastors don't have to use hymnbooks in LC-MS worship services. He rejected Walther's thesis that the test of an orthodox congregation being a true visible church is its public confession of doctrine.

Is this PLI/Leadership dance really the Seminex Masquerade Ball? Is PLI the liberals' way of getting back some of what they think the Synod owes them after they walked out in 1973 without the property or money?

What is it like meeting with Doctor Oesch? My reply is: How many LC-MS pastors have an attorney from the Federal Election Commission "case" the back room of a restaurant before he makes his entrance? Oesch is tall, well spoken, charismatic, intense, and reminds me of a cross between Dr. Ralph Bohlmann and Nicolas Cage. He is a born leader, the kind of fellow men want to agree with.

I picked Georgann McKee as our witness because I guessed Oesch was expecting Congressman Dannemeyer and I needed someone of absolutely no importance, with a photographic memory, who was fearless, familiar with and opposed to PLI, and who never learned the words "back down." Unlike my private meeting with him February of 2000, Oesch was far more open about his views when McKee was present.

How did I come up with the ten tests of evil? Actually it was not my list. Herman Otten suggested the list because he is convinced that I'm missing the broader picture on PLI by only focusing on Walther and not the Seminex agenda. I promised Otten I would present his list before we proceeded with the rest of the meeting. And where did Otten get the list? I'm not sure. He speaks with many groups and people in the Synod in absolute confidence.

An Affirm operative confirmed my opinion that Oesch's public agreement with the list could effectively end the Seminex era. When will the Seminex era end? As long as groups like "Forward," "Jesus First," "Day Star" PLI, and "Renewal in Missouri" make agreement in correct doctrine a secondary issue, the specter of Seminex will hang over the LC-MS. The Seminex era will continue as long as the current faculty at St. Louis does the bidding of a liberal COP, its president promotes PLI, and Herman Otten is not on the Synodical roster.

The conspiracy to destroy the Synod's theology can't go away anymore than the devil can go away. Therefore, the shadowy anonymous figures of Affirm and Balance must continue to wage their cold war against proponents of Seminex theology in the LC-MS.

Oesch's PLI is also the inevitable manifestation that the Synod is losing its future because it can no longer maintain the structure that brought it into existence.

Thanks to Walther, the Synod grew to more than a 1000 churches in his lifetime, 3000 churches by its 75th birthday, 4000 churches by its 100 birthday, and 6000 churches by its 125th birthday. One of the reasons for this growth was Walther's genius of encouraging every gathering of Lutheran lay people, no matter where they were in the United States; declare themselves to be a Lutheran Church eligible for membership in the LC-MS. It was a brilliant plan. Never before or since has a single Lutheran Church body added and created so many new congregations.

On the other hand, the triennial Great Commission Convocation has failed to produce any workable plan to expand the Synod.

The longer Oesch takes to sign this document, the more credibility he gives to Herman Otten. Seminex theology was first spoken in the Garden of Eden when the devil asked to Eve, "Did God really say . . . .?"

It may be that as the Synod reaches for the PLI fruit of success, it will be giving up the soul of its own members, a price the COP will gladly pay. We are waiting for Oesch's signature on the document.

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.

January 9, 2001

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