The Anti-Christ. Here?
Christian News, August 1, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 29
The Anti-Christ means against, opposed to Christ. The term anti-Christ is used in the Bible in a general and in a specific sense. It may mean any and all forces that are opposed to Christ, His Word, and His church here on earth. In this sense St. John uses the word when he makes this statement in his first epistle: “Even now there are many anti-Christ’s”. Chap. 2:18. But the Bible also uses the word “anti-Christ” in the specific meaning of ONE particular person with world-wide power and influence, who will rise within the church and continue to the end of days in unparalleled opposition to Christ under the cover of Christ’s name. It is concerning this one Anti-Christ that we ask: Has Antichrist appeared?”
The Prophecy
Before answering the above question, let us hear what the Bible teaches about Anti-Christ and how it describes him. The chief texts of the Bible that treat of The Anti-Christ are, the 2nd Chapter of 2nd Thess., the 8th and 11th chapter of Daniel, and chapters 13-19 in Revelation. All these texts cannot be treated exhaustively in a brief essay. For our purpose it will suffice to study the text in 2nd Thess., chapter two, with a few references to Daniel and Revelation.
According to the description of Anti-Christ in the book of Revelation, his kingdom will be revived in a new form of the ancient Roman Empire which ruled the world when Jesus was born, which persecuted the church and passed out about 400 years later. It is also clear from Revelation that the capital of Anti-Christ’s kingdom will be the capital of the ancient Roman Empire, Rome. We find this prophecy in Revelation chapter 17 vv. 8-18. It is a well known fact that the city of Rome is built on seven mountains or hills, and that it was the city that ruled over the kings of the earth in the days of the apostles - and this - according to the prophecy - is the city from which Anti-Christ will rule.
NO SINGLE PERSON
There are those who believe that Anti-Christ will be a single person, such as Mohammed or Napoleon; but it is evident from the prophecy in Revelation and from 2nd Thess. 2, that the kingdom of Anti-Christ will continued for a longer period of time than any person could live, for the apostle states that “the mystery of iniquity” was already at work in his day, and a little later he says, that the Lord will destroy Anti-Christ with the brightness of His coming; it is evident, therefore, that the power of Anti-Christ will be at work during the entire New Testament era. Anti-Christ cannot, therefore, be a single person, but must be a succession of persons with the same title, power, and authority.
We turn to the text in 2nd Thess. chapter 2, where we read: “Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” From these words it is clear that certain Christian teachers in Thessalonica had shaken the minds of the Thessalonian Christians by teaching that the apostle Paul had either said or written that the day of the Lord was immediately imminent. Some Thessalonians had believed these prophets and had quit working and were loafing waiting for the Lord to come. The apostle corrects this error writing them: “That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” Before the coming of the Lord to judgment there must come a general falling away from the Lord and from His Word WITHIN the church of God, for there can be no falling away outside the church; this great falling away will be led or headed by one whom the apostle calls “the man of sin, the son of perdition.”
Opposition to God
In the next verse the apostle describes the leader of this great falling away from the truth as follows: “Who opposeth and exalteth himself about all that is called to God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This prophecy agrees with Daniel's prophecy chapter 11,36: “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods”, and with what we read in the 13th chapter of Revelation verse two: “And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority...and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given him to make war with saints and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindred, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
According to these words, Anti-Christ sets himself in opposition to God - to Christ. He will claim to have the authority of Christ; demand observance of his laws and decrees as though they were Christ’s. He will set aside all that is worshipped, that is, Christ as the only Savior and His Word as the truth and final authority in the church, and enforce his own words and decrees in blasphemous opposition to the truth and to Christ. He will establish this throne in the temple of God, in the midst of Christendom, among baptized and believing Christians who are the temple of the living God. 2 Cor. 6:16. And he will give himself out to be God by claiming divine honor and causing people of many nations to worship him. He will make war with the saints, the true believers and overcome them, subdue them to his belief or destroy them.
The apostle now continues as follows: “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what witholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way (till he who is now holding it back gets out of the way--Beck) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thess. 2:5-8. Here the apostle states that this “mystery of iniquity” of the Ant-Christ was at work already in his day, but was being withheld from gaining recognition by another power; not until that power is removed would Anti-Christ be revealed. Having been revealed, Anti-Christ will be consumed, lose much of his power and influenced through the proclamation of the Word of the Lord - for this is the mouth of the Lord; and he will be destroyed when the Lord comes to judgment. Concerning the judgments of God that will overtake the Anti-Christ and rob him of much of his power and influence and his final destruction on the Last Day, one may read more fully in the 15th 16th 18th and 19th chapters of Revelation where God’s judgments over Anti-Christ are described in heavenly visions.
Tactics of Satan
The concluding words of the apostle read: “Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; they might all be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” What is stated here concerning the tactics of Anti-Christ is corroborated by statements both in Daniel and Revelation as stated above. And what are the tactics of Anti-Christ, what methods and means does he empty to gain and maintain his power and influence? The text says, that he employs the tactics of Satan: signs and lying wonders, the deceit of unrighteousness, and strong delusions; according to Daniel he will “not regard the desire of women:, that is, he will forbid marriage and pronounce it an unholy or unclean estate; and he will “divide the land for gain”, that is, he will be greedy for gain and practice fraud; and according to Revelation (chapter 18) he will make merchandise of everything, including the bodies and souls of men. This is briefly the prophecy about Anti-Christ.
The Fulfillment
We are now ready to proceed with the answer to the question: Anti-Christ...here? Has there been and is there today such an institution, such as kingdom of world-wide influence, combining both temporal and spiritual power in one head, within the pale of Christendom as is described in these prophecies? Or is the rising of such a power still to be expected?
Description of Papacy
One would have to be blind to the events of history and to what one hears and sees not to recognize in these prophecies a description of the Roman Papacy. If any man has ears to hear and eyes to see, let him compare history and facts with prophecy.
The spirit of the Papacy - according to the apostle - was already astir in apostolic times. It began to show its power and influence after the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. (this was the power that was holding it back). It ascended to undisputed power over the nations in the 12th and 13th centuries. It lost much of its power and influence through Luther and the work of the Reformation. It is with us today, and it will remain with us to the end of time. The Papacy and the Roman Church is the “great falling away” from the truth of God’s Word from the early days of the church through all the centuries till Judgment Day, as foretold in prophecy.
The Roman Papacy is a mysterious empire within the church; it sits in the temple of God, in the midst of Christendom; its palace and throne is the city of Rome - all as prophesized of Anti-Christ.
The head of the Roman Church claims that he is the vicar of Christ on earth, and that, therefore, all authority and power on earth is delivered into his hand; all Christians everywhere and all governments on earth are under his jurisdiction and by divine right subject to his demands and decrees, - such are his arrogant claims. He has declared himself infallible in matters of doctrine and morals. He has decreed that no man can judge him. In this manner the pope- every pope makes the same claims - has set himself up as a god here on earth, and his followers call him Holy Father, and bow the knee before him.
FORBIDS MARRIAGE
The Roman papacy without any regard for the individual forbids marriage to priests, monks and nuns; it has corrupted the Lord’s Supper from a means of grace through which God forgives, into the institution of the Mass in which the priest offers to God the body and blood of Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of the people both living and dead; in former years it has forbidden reading of the Bible - it has persecuted, condemned and burned those who did-; the Roman church in it official confession, the Decrees of the Council of Trent, has put its curse on the doctrine that we are justified before God by grace and faith alone. Other “strong delusions” by which the Papacy deceives many are well known: purgatory, immaculate conception and worship of Mary the mother of our Lord; the veneration of and praying to the saints, indulgences, pilgrimages, masses for the dead; holy water etc. - to say nothing about what the popes have done to those who opposed their claims - Wyclif, Huss, and Waldensians, the Huguenots etc. The power and influence of the Roman Papacy began to stir in the early days of the church; it rose to absolute power in the Middle or Dark ages; it was shaken, shorn of most of its power, by the Reformation; it is still with us making the same arrogant claims though more subtly. And though, today it is making some changes in its outer appearance - like a woman changing her apparel so as to be more attractive - the inner core of Romanism remains the same; the old saying is still true, Roma semper idem. This is Anti-Christ.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Missouri's Curse
New Orleans (1973) Resolution 3-09
MISSOURI’S CURSE
Christian News, July 25, 2011, Vol. 49. No. 28
A liberal professor who takes issues with the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible defended by Herman Otten, editor of Christian News has said never-the-less that the LCMS is cursed because of the way it treated Otten. The final ruling in the St. Louis Seminary vs. Otten case (1960 and 1984) showed that Otten won the case and should have been certified. Yet, the seminary and all LCMS presidents since 1960 have refused to accept the ruling even though the LCMS’s handbook requires them to accept it. Otten may have been the only pastor serving an LCMS congregation who was told not to participate in the installation and communion service where LCMS leaders elected at the LCMS’s 2010 convention were installed. Several times Otten’s congregation has been suspended and expelled from the LCMS. It is currently under the threat of expulsion from the LCMS because of a ruling of the LCMS COP backed by the Kieschnick and now Harrison administration. None of the organized conservatives have registered any protest. Some want Christian News to close.
James Burkee, in his Fortress Press published Power, Politics and the Missouri Synod – A Conflict that Changed American Christianity show how the organized conservatives at times used Otten and then dumped him. They supported those like Jack Preus who did not want Otten certified and ordered Christian News to cease publication.
While Burkee appears to agree with the LCMS conservatives who maintain that Otten is some kook, racist, anti-Semite, he says under a caption of Otten speaking to students at Concordia Senior college, Ft. Wayne: “He shaped Missouri conservatism with a impact magnified by his freedom from church oversight. Otten was the most significant figure in modern LCMS history.”
A Seminary in Crisis, published by CPH and backed by the Schwan Foundation hardly recognizes that Otten and Christian News exist. It was written by Paul Zimmerman, who, like his friend Tom Baker, claims Christian News was responsible for the election of Jerry Kieschnick because CN refused to support Dean Wenthe for LCMS president. Wenthe was the choice of the organized conservatives.
“In Defense of Some Seminex Professors – SEMINEX DID NOT RUIN ELCA” in the June 6, 2011 Christian News mentions what former Valparaiso University, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Seminex Professor Edward Schroeder reports about some in ELCA who maintain that the Seminex professors who joined ELCA ruined ELCA.
“New Orleans (1973) Resolution 3-09, Missouri’s Curse” is the title of an item in Schroeder’s “The Stars of Missouri that Led to Seminex. Schroeder writes:
Peace did not come to Missouri with the dismissal of the heretics. Even today, thirty-plus years later, when the false teachers, “not to be tolerated in the church of God, much less be excused and defended,” have been gone for decades, good guy and bad guy battles continue. And now the irony is that the one under charge is the synod president, Gerald Kieschnick, the most conservative, Bible-believing, president Missouri has had in ages. Yet he too is under attack from the same alligators of the 1970s—or in some cases, their surviving sons—not so much for the orthodoxy of his doctrine, but for his aberrant practice. I don’t know the details. I’m an outsider. But what I hear is that his proposals for mission and lay-ministry diverge, according to the alligators, from “what we’ve always said and done” in Missouri.
A light bulb went on a few weeks ago about how this never-ending fight inside Missouri might just be “third and fourth generation” consequences of that killer resolution 3-09.
Here’s the scenario. I’d just met the LCMS prexy, Gerald Kieschnick (first time ever), at a Bach Society evening event here in town. That night (about 3 a.m.) a light went on. So I shamelessly posted this e-mail to him next morning. It was shortly before the LCMS convention was to open here in town. I haven’t received an answer. I’m not holding my breath.
Dear President Kieschnick,
One more item to add to our conversation at the Bach Society annual meeting last evening.
Though this was our first face-to-face meeting, you said you knew who I was. I’m guessing that you therefore know how my life was changed at the LCMS convention, New Orleans 1973. From that premise, here’s an add-on to our exchange last evening.
An 8th commandment Aha! about Missouri‘s continuing turmoil—and how to bring it to closure.
1. In a few days it will be the 34th anniversary of the New Orleans convention and resolution 3-09.
2. That resolution declared 45 of us teachers at 801 to be teaching “false doctrine”—and then quoting the Formula of Concord, that we “cannot be tolerated in the church of God, much less excused and defended.”
3. That resolution, when passed as it was, put Missouri on record as officially breaking the 8th commandment. i.e., bearing false witness in a most public way against faithful teachers by calling them false teachers. In Luther’s words that we both memorized from his catechism, the synod did indeed “deceitfully belie, betray, slander, and defame” the neighbor.
4. Even our super-critic Martin Scharlemann (who helped mightily to engineer that resolution) knew that 3-09 was not true, that it was, in fact, false, and thus false witness against us. Here’s prima facie evidence: when Martin (my brother-in-law) became acting president of Concordia after Tietjen’s suspension, he tried to convince most all of us 45 to “stay on” under his leadership because we were clearly “not false teachers at all.” Resolution 3-09 was a lie. Martin was admitting it by asking us to stay on.
5. That resolution and the subsequent cleansing of the 45 of us by the seminary board of control action did not bring peace to Missouri. As you well know, since you are yourself now falsely accused by fellow-Missourians, just as we were.
Here’s the main point.
6. In the Small Catechism, Chief Part 1, Luther makes it a point to quote the Bible’s own words about commandment-breakers—8th commandment-breakers included—that “God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.”
7. Missouri‘s continuing turmoil, according to this Word of God, will continue, since God Himself continues to “visit” Missouri for that 8th commandment violation of 34 years ago. How can that not be true?
8. How to stop God being Missouri‘s critic? You know the answer. It was Jesus’ drumbeat: “Repent,” and having repented, “trust the Good News.”
9. So to bring God’s own peace back into Missouri, Missouri needs to rescind New Orleans 3-09 just as publicly as it gave that false witness way back then. Not for political reasons, but for pastoral ones, for Missouri‘s own peace with God. And then to trust the Good News anew.
10. I know that you know what Jesus says are the consequences of unrepentance in such passages as Luke 13:5. It’s not that we who are still alive (about half) of the original 45 need our names cleared. Christ has already done that. It’s Missouri who is in trouble—trouble with God.
11. Are you not called to the kingdom for just such a time as this? I think so.
Peace and joy!
Ed Schroeder
Back to Zimmermann’s book. From his doxology in the final pages about the “blessed outcome” of Preus’s leadership and his own FFC you’d think that it’s been peachy-keen in Missouri ever since. But it is not yet. Even apart from Kieschnick’s alligators, PZ is a bit hasty in claiming the blessing for Missouri. As Bible-believing folks know, blessing is the opposite of curse. It doesn’t come so long as the curse persists. False witness brings curse, not blessing. Bible-believers know that. It’s scriptural truth. But Bible-believing folks, Missourians included, also know how to get un-cursed. “Repent and believe the Good News.”
Almost half of the Seminex faculty, that ancient “faculty majority,” has died. The rest of us would gladly have our names cleared of the false witness still on the books in New Orleans 3-09. But it’s not we who would be the most benefited. The greatest beneficiary of 3-09 repentance would be the LCMS itself. The blessedness Zim- mermann claims for God cleansing the heretics years ago (even if it were true) is small potatoes compared with getting God’s curse off your back. That’s real blessedness. And for Missouri to get there, Paul Zimmermann, there’s but one way. Your inside story was, and still is, the wrong way.
Peace and joy!
Ed Schroeder
P.S. D.v., there will be a Part III—a word from beyond the grave, you could almost say. Just discovered a few days ago among Bob Bertram’s papers is the text of his address to the New Orleans Convention 1973. In just one page he says it all. Stay tuned.
Crossings Community
P.O Box 7011 Chesterfield, MO 63006-7011
314-576-7357
info@crossings.org
© Crossings.org
MISSOURI’S CURSE
Christian News, July 25, 2011, Vol. 49. No. 28
A liberal professor who takes issues with the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible defended by Herman Otten, editor of Christian News has said never-the-less that the LCMS is cursed because of the way it treated Otten. The final ruling in the St. Louis Seminary vs. Otten case (1960 and 1984) showed that Otten won the case and should have been certified. Yet, the seminary and all LCMS presidents since 1960 have refused to accept the ruling even though the LCMS’s handbook requires them to accept it. Otten may have been the only pastor serving an LCMS congregation who was told not to participate in the installation and communion service where LCMS leaders elected at the LCMS’s 2010 convention were installed. Several times Otten’s congregation has been suspended and expelled from the LCMS. It is currently under the threat of expulsion from the LCMS because of a ruling of the LCMS COP backed by the Kieschnick and now Harrison administration. None of the organized conservatives have registered any protest. Some want Christian News to close.
James Burkee, in his Fortress Press published Power, Politics and the Missouri Synod – A Conflict that Changed American Christianity show how the organized conservatives at times used Otten and then dumped him. They supported those like Jack Preus who did not want Otten certified and ordered Christian News to cease publication.
While Burkee appears to agree with the LCMS conservatives who maintain that Otten is some kook, racist, anti-Semite, he says under a caption of Otten speaking to students at Concordia Senior college, Ft. Wayne: “He shaped Missouri conservatism with a impact magnified by his freedom from church oversight. Otten was the most significant figure in modern LCMS history.”
A Seminary in Crisis, published by CPH and backed by the Schwan Foundation hardly recognizes that Otten and Christian News exist. It was written by Paul Zimmerman, who, like his friend Tom Baker, claims Christian News was responsible for the election of Jerry Kieschnick because CN refused to support Dean Wenthe for LCMS president. Wenthe was the choice of the organized conservatives.
“In Defense of Some Seminex Professors – SEMINEX DID NOT RUIN ELCA” in the June 6, 2011 Christian News mentions what former Valparaiso University, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Seminex Professor Edward Schroeder reports about some in ELCA who maintain that the Seminex professors who joined ELCA ruined ELCA.
“New Orleans (1973) Resolution 3-09, Missouri’s Curse” is the title of an item in Schroeder’s “The Stars of Missouri that Led to Seminex. Schroeder writes:
Peace did not come to Missouri with the dismissal of the heretics. Even today, thirty-plus years later, when the false teachers, “not to be tolerated in the church of God, much less be excused and defended,” have been gone for decades, good guy and bad guy battles continue. And now the irony is that the one under charge is the synod president, Gerald Kieschnick, the most conservative, Bible-believing, president Missouri has had in ages. Yet he too is under attack from the same alligators of the 1970s—or in some cases, their surviving sons—not so much for the orthodoxy of his doctrine, but for his aberrant practice. I don’t know the details. I’m an outsider. But what I hear is that his proposals for mission and lay-ministry diverge, according to the alligators, from “what we’ve always said and done” in Missouri.
A light bulb went on a few weeks ago about how this never-ending fight inside Missouri might just be “third and fourth generation” consequences of that killer resolution 3-09.
Here’s the scenario. I’d just met the LCMS prexy, Gerald Kieschnick (first time ever), at a Bach Society evening event here in town. That night (about 3 a.m.) a light went on. So I shamelessly posted this e-mail to him next morning. It was shortly before the LCMS convention was to open here in town. I haven’t received an answer. I’m not holding my breath.
Dear President Kieschnick,
One more item to add to our conversation at the Bach Society annual meeting last evening.
Though this was our first face-to-face meeting, you said you knew who I was. I’m guessing that you therefore know how my life was changed at the LCMS convention, New Orleans 1973. From that premise, here’s an add-on to our exchange last evening.
An 8th commandment Aha! about Missouri‘s continuing turmoil—and how to bring it to closure.
1. In a few days it will be the 34th anniversary of the New Orleans convention and resolution 3-09.
2. That resolution declared 45 of us teachers at 801 to be teaching “false doctrine”—and then quoting the Formula of Concord, that we “cannot be tolerated in the church of God, much less excused and defended.”
3. That resolution, when passed as it was, put Missouri on record as officially breaking the 8th commandment. i.e., bearing false witness in a most public way against faithful teachers by calling them false teachers. In Luther’s words that we both memorized from his catechism, the synod did indeed “deceitfully belie, betray, slander, and defame” the neighbor.
4. Even our super-critic Martin Scharlemann (who helped mightily to engineer that resolution) knew that 3-09 was not true, that it was, in fact, false, and thus false witness against us. Here’s prima facie evidence: when Martin (my brother-in-law) became acting president of Concordia after Tietjen’s suspension, he tried to convince most all of us 45 to “stay on” under his leadership because we were clearly “not false teachers at all.” Resolution 3-09 was a lie. Martin was admitting it by asking us to stay on.
5. That resolution and the subsequent cleansing of the 45 of us by the seminary board of control action did not bring peace to Missouri. As you well know, since you are yourself now falsely accused by fellow-Missourians, just as we were.
Here’s the main point.
6. In the Small Catechism, Chief Part 1, Luther makes it a point to quote the Bible’s own words about commandment-breakers—8th commandment-breakers included—that “God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.”
7. Missouri‘s continuing turmoil, according to this Word of God, will continue, since God Himself continues to “visit” Missouri for that 8th commandment violation of 34 years ago. How can that not be true?
8. How to stop God being Missouri‘s critic? You know the answer. It was Jesus’ drumbeat: “Repent,” and having repented, “trust the Good News.”
9. So to bring God’s own peace back into Missouri, Missouri needs to rescind New Orleans 3-09 just as publicly as it gave that false witness way back then. Not for political reasons, but for pastoral ones, for Missouri‘s own peace with God. And then to trust the Good News anew.
10. I know that you know what Jesus says are the consequences of unrepentance in such passages as Luke 13:5. It’s not that we who are still alive (about half) of the original 45 need our names cleared. Christ has already done that. It’s Missouri who is in trouble—trouble with God.
11. Are you not called to the kingdom for just such a time as this? I think so.
Peace and joy!
Ed Schroeder
Back to Zimmermann’s book. From his doxology in the final pages about the “blessed outcome” of Preus’s leadership and his own FFC you’d think that it’s been peachy-keen in Missouri ever since. But it is not yet. Even apart from Kieschnick’s alligators, PZ is a bit hasty in claiming the blessing for Missouri. As Bible-believing folks know, blessing is the opposite of curse. It doesn’t come so long as the curse persists. False witness brings curse, not blessing. Bible-believers know that. It’s scriptural truth. But Bible-believing folks, Missourians included, also know how to get un-cursed. “Repent and believe the Good News.”
Almost half of the Seminex faculty, that ancient “faculty majority,” has died. The rest of us would gladly have our names cleared of the false witness still on the books in New Orleans 3-09. But it’s not we who would be the most benefited. The greatest beneficiary of 3-09 repentance would be the LCMS itself. The blessedness Zim- mermann claims for God cleansing the heretics years ago (even if it were true) is small potatoes compared with getting God’s curse off your back. That’s real blessedness. And for Missouri to get there, Paul Zimmermann, there’s but one way. Your inside story was, and still is, the wrong way.
Peace and joy!
Ed Schroeder
P.S. D.v., there will be a Part III—a word from beyond the grave, you could almost say. Just discovered a few days ago among Bob Bertram’s papers is the text of his address to the New Orleans Convention 1973. In just one page he says it all. Stay tuned.
Crossings Community
P.O Box 7011 Chesterfield, MO 63006-7011
314-576-7357
info@crossings.org
© Crossings.org
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Opinion on Passage of Gay Marriage in New York
Opinion on Passage of Gay Marriage in New York
Christian News, July 18, 2011, Vol 49, No. 27
Not What God Intended
The Times of Middle Country
June 30, 2011
To The Editor:
I would say what Jesus said: “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?” (Matthew 19:4-5).
Do they expect me as a minister of God to conclude a marriage ceremony by saying, “I now pronounce you husband and husband, or wife and wife, or spouse No. 1 and spouse No. 2?” And to be politically correct and not offend anyone shall we replace Mother’s Day and Father’s Day with Parent No. 1 Day and Parent No. 2 Day? How heartwarming is that?
If God intended homosexual marriage, He could have created Adam and Steve or M’adam and Eve. But then they might be confused to hear God’s command to “Be fruitful and multiply.”
When we buy something it isn’t a good idea to ignore the manufacturer’s directions for assembling and maintenance of the product. The Bible is God’s manual for marriage, and His warranty of blessing is forfeited when we ignore God’s blueprint for marriage and family. Prepare for more personal brokenness, and dysfunction and social confusion and chaos – and costs (benefits, entitlements, etc.)
I know from experience that taking the stand will invite the wrath of retaliation from gay rights activists. But I’d rather be in good standing with the One I will face on Judgment Day. Homosexuals can go a lot of places in our free society, but marriage should not be one of them. But I will remain happy to share with them the love of God in Jesus, our Savior, to whom we all need to come in repentance and faith to receive his mercy, forgiveness and grace.
The Rev. Ronald Stelzer
Pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church
Centereach
(Salt Light and Signs of the Times - An Intimate Look at the Life and Times of Alfred (Rip) Rehwinkel, by Ronald Stelzer. Available from Christian News for $13.95 plus $4.00 s/h.)
Christian News, July 18, 2011, Vol 49, No. 27
Not What God Intended
The Times of Middle Country
June 30, 2011
To The Editor:
I would say what Jesus said: “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?” (Matthew 19:4-5).
Do they expect me as a minister of God to conclude a marriage ceremony by saying, “I now pronounce you husband and husband, or wife and wife, or spouse No. 1 and spouse No. 2?” And to be politically correct and not offend anyone shall we replace Mother’s Day and Father’s Day with Parent No. 1 Day and Parent No. 2 Day? How heartwarming is that?
If God intended homosexual marriage, He could have created Adam and Steve or M’adam and Eve. But then they might be confused to hear God’s command to “Be fruitful and multiply.”
When we buy something it isn’t a good idea to ignore the manufacturer’s directions for assembling and maintenance of the product. The Bible is God’s manual for marriage, and His warranty of blessing is forfeited when we ignore God’s blueprint for marriage and family. Prepare for more personal brokenness, and dysfunction and social confusion and chaos – and costs (benefits, entitlements, etc.)
I know from experience that taking the stand will invite the wrath of retaliation from gay rights activists. But I’d rather be in good standing with the One I will face on Judgment Day. Homosexuals can go a lot of places in our free society, but marriage should not be one of them. But I will remain happy to share with them the love of God in Jesus, our Savior, to whom we all need to come in repentance and faith to receive his mercy, forgiveness and grace.
The Rev. Ronald Stelzer
Pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church
Centereach
(Salt Light and Signs of the Times - An Intimate Look at the Life and Times of Alfred (Rip) Rehwinkel, by Ronald Stelzer. Available from Christian News for $13.95 plus $4.00 s/h.)
Friday, July 8, 2011
POT CALLING THE KETTLE BACK
McCain on WELS and NIV
POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK
Christian News, July 11, 2011
Paul McCain of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s Concordia Publishing House is continuing his campaign vs. the New International Version of the Bible and his promotion of the English Standard Version of the Bible. According to the publisher of the ESV, it is 91% the same as the Revised Standard Version of the National Council of Churches.
CN has shown for years that the ESV translators, like the RSV translators before them, deny the inerrancy of the Bible. The July 4 CN published the Preface to An American Translation of the Bible. There Beck notes that the liberal translators of the RSV made more than a thousand deliberate changes of the Hebrew text. The ESV translators simply followed the NCC’s RSV translators. They did make a few good changes but still used the same stilted, archaic language. The LCMS’s organized conservatives, who support McCain in his campaign vs. the AAT and NIV and for the ESV, claim the ESV is more liturgical. This is why the hyper-euros oppose the AAT.
“It is not liturgical.” CN has shown that the argument is utter nonsense. The ESV like the RSV undermines the plan of salvation by cutting down the prophecies of the coming Savior in the Old Testament as well as important truths about Christ in the New Testament. In this way both the RSV and ESV fail every privilege of being the Bible of the Christian Church.The weaknesses of the NIV are minor when compared to the false doctrine promoted in the ESV.When a promoter of the ESV, like McCain, is critical of the WELS’s support of the NIV it is like the pot calling the kettle black.Bible translation will be a major topic of discussion at the July 28-29 convention of the WELS. CN urges members of the WELS to read the article on Bible translations in the July 4, 2011 CN.
This issue of CN includes: “McCain Still Mum - WHO ARE THE LCMS SCHOLARS WHO PREFER ESV OVER AAT?, “Will McCain Face Otten? CPH on the AAT” and “What Do You Want in a Bible?”
CN has repeatedly documented the fact that McCain does not have the facts, evidence and truth on his side. However, he does have what counts in today’s publishing world, the big money. What a tragedy that McCain has been able to get millions from the Schwan Foundation for the promotion of the ESV. Rev. Paul Burgdorf, the father of the head of the Schwan Foundation, together with William Beck, were the LCMS’s most vocal opponents of the RSV. Paul Burgdorf, who wrote many articles for Christian News, was a strong supporter of Beck’s AAT.
POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK
Christian News, July 11, 2011
Paul McCain of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s Concordia Publishing House is continuing his campaign vs. the New International Version of the Bible and his promotion of the English Standard Version of the Bible. According to the publisher of the ESV, it is 91% the same as the Revised Standard Version of the National Council of Churches.
CN has shown for years that the ESV translators, like the RSV translators before them, deny the inerrancy of the Bible. The July 4 CN published the Preface to An American Translation of the Bible. There Beck notes that the liberal translators of the RSV made more than a thousand deliberate changes of the Hebrew text. The ESV translators simply followed the NCC’s RSV translators. They did make a few good changes but still used the same stilted, archaic language. The LCMS’s organized conservatives, who support McCain in his campaign vs. the AAT and NIV and for the ESV, claim the ESV is more liturgical. This is why the hyper-euros oppose the AAT.
“It is not liturgical.” CN has shown that the argument is utter nonsense. The ESV like the RSV undermines the plan of salvation by cutting down the prophecies of the coming Savior in the Old Testament as well as important truths about Christ in the New Testament. In this way both the RSV and ESV fail every privilege of being the Bible of the Christian Church.The weaknesses of the NIV are minor when compared to the false doctrine promoted in the ESV.When a promoter of the ESV, like McCain, is critical of the WELS’s support of the NIV it is like the pot calling the kettle black.Bible translation will be a major topic of discussion at the July 28-29 convention of the WELS. CN urges members of the WELS to read the article on Bible translations in the July 4, 2011 CN.
This issue of CN includes: “McCain Still Mum - WHO ARE THE LCMS SCHOLARS WHO PREFER ESV OVER AAT?, “Will McCain Face Otten? CPH on the AAT” and “What Do You Want in a Bible?”
CN has repeatedly documented the fact that McCain does not have the facts, evidence and truth on his side. However, he does have what counts in today’s publishing world, the big money. What a tragedy that McCain has been able to get millions from the Schwan Foundation for the promotion of the ESV. Rev. Paul Burgdorf, the father of the head of the Schwan Foundation, together with William Beck, were the LCMS’s most vocal opponents of the RSV. Paul Burgdorf, who wrote many articles for Christian News, was a strong supporter of Beck’s AAT.
Beware NIV 2011
It’s Hard to Believe That the WELS is Actually Willing to Endorse the NIV 2011 For Use in Its Congregations
Beware NIV 2011
By Paul McCain, Concordia Publishing House
Christian News, July 11, 2011
I remain utterly flabbergasted that a committee appointed by the WELS to study the NIV 2011 is actually willing to recommend its use in WELS’ congregations. The WELS prides itself on its fidelity to the Biblical text and careful attention to the original languages, and rightly so. That is what makes it all the more shocking that the committee appointed to study this issue is recommending the NIV 2011 for use in the WELS. I’ve read the committee’s report and frankly it is sloppy and woefully insufficient and simply brushes aside the very, very serious problems with the NIV 2011. I was interested to read today the full report on the action taken by the Southern Baptist Convention about the NIV 2011. I hope the WELS rejects the recommendation of its committee and also is able to declare the NIV 2011 to be an inaccurate translation.
Beware NIV 2011
By Paul McCain, Concordia Publishing House
Christian News, July 11, 2011
I remain utterly flabbergasted that a committee appointed by the WELS to study the NIV 2011 is actually willing to recommend its use in WELS’ congregations. The WELS prides itself on its fidelity to the Biblical text and careful attention to the original languages, and rightly so. That is what makes it all the more shocking that the committee appointed to study this issue is recommending the NIV 2011 for use in the WELS. I’ve read the committee’s report and frankly it is sloppy and woefully insufficient and simply brushes aside the very, very serious problems with the NIV 2011. I was interested to read today the full report on the action taken by the Southern Baptist Convention about the NIV 2011. I hope the WELS rejects the recommendation of its committee and also is able to declare the NIV 2011 to be an inaccurate translation.
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