An Enemies List: The Saints of God

 

The Church is in trouble in America in a strange kind of way—the political against love and faith.

 Almost six months ago, I stated I would keep adding to my review of Megan Basham’s book Shepherds for Sell, beginning with my posting on chapter 3, “Hijacking the Pro-Life Movement.” I spent too many weeks not wanting to read at all, and then I listened to a review by an evangelical pastor, I can’t remember his name. While he said he agreed with some of the book mostly he was disappointed with it and would not finish reading it. His reason, there were simply too many statements by Basham based on only two or three word quotes from those she was critiquing to back up her assumptions about their faith. He had no desire to do that much research. Also noted by others her critiques are not particularly theological. I suddenly, as I listened, realized why I no longer wanted to read—any book! I was forcing myself to deal with nonsense.

I decided I would no longer review the book—but there is still something I have to say that is connected to that book and to other sources. And this will take me far beyond any book review.

This will be a bit political at first but I promise to return to a theological and biblical outlook. Since I wrote the review on chapter 3, we have elected a new president. Some are concerned by a candidate for the President’s cabinet who is friends with Russia’s Putin and the now disposed ruler of Syria.  Many are concerned about the lack of morality among some of the candidates. But important for what I am writing many are troubled by enemies lists, by an insistence on retribution.

One of Trump’s choices for a cabinet position, director of the FBI, Kash Patel, has an enemies list in his book, Government Gangsters. Some high officials, some mostly unknowns, at least one news person is on that list. And this is like a dark shadow in my thoughts about the Church—there are Christians who are also forming an enemies list. I see that when I see a link to a Christianity Today article on Facebook and someone in the comment section states that “that magazine has been dead for a long time.” I see that list when I hear Eric Metaxas referring to  Tim Alberta author of The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, as a  Marxist, globalist, and his book as coming from the “pit of hell.” 

There is a whole list in Megan Basham’s book Shepherds For Sell. There Is Gavin Orland, Beth Moore, Tim Keller, Karen Swallow Prior, Russell Moore, too many. All of the people on the lists are faithful Christians; they believe in the orthodox teaching of the Church, the truth of the Scriptures, they are pro-life and honor the biblical teaching about marriage. Above all they are faithful to the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ.

In a troubling time when the secular political culture of the United States has those who wish to do damage to others via courts and institutions and the extremist on both the left and right wish to do damage via violence and courts, to see those who call themselves followers of Jesus begin their own battle against brothers and sisters is grievous.[1] If someone is a heretic say what their false teaching is as it applies to Christ and his church. Are they denying the Trinity, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the deity of Jesus, the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, but if they are not do not lie about their faithfulness.

I intend to keep posting on Facebook and X any of these people, (I include David French among them who has been badly persecuted) when I see good videos and articles by them. And I predict that those in the Church who keep insulting and defaming faithful Christians will sink (slink) into darker and more troubling areas. Eric Metaxas has already started down that path with his troubling view of justification by faith, insisting that Martin Luther was too obsessed by “justification by faith alone.”[2] When you do not love your brother and sister well you will too soon start fusing that contrariness to the Lord of the Church with false doctrine.

Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation. Devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Never take your own revenge beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written , “vengeance is Mine I will repay says the Lord.” (Romans 12: 9-19)

 

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[1] The Haman Effect: MAGA Looking Forward to Hanging Enemies Naming His Grace: The Haman Effect: MAGA Looking Forward to Hanging Enemies

 

[2] Eric Metaxas' Letter to the American Church and the Rest of the Story Naming His Grace: Eric Metaxas' Letter to the American Church and the Rest of the Story

 

Eric Trump, Lance Wallnau- Judging Churches according to their political aspirations

 

Eric Metaxas, on New Apostolic Reformation leader, Lance Wallnau’s recent video states “Trump is a new man, he’s a new man, he knows that he’s at war with satanic enemies in the deep state[1] …  “they are the enemies of America they are enemies of we the people.”-- "The message is we’re going to go scourged earth on the deep state.”

Speaking of the future after Trump has finished his first two-years, Wallnau asks, “what can we do to unify before the midterms the next time? The suggestion, referring to a hoped for web site asks, “What if we had people rate the pastor?”

Metaxas excitedly tells him there already is such a web site MYCHURCH FINDER.ORG where churches and pastors are rated. There are three grades of churches explained on this web site. A: “Biblically Sound, Culturally Aware & A Non-Socialistic Legislatively Active Church.”

B: “Biblically Sound AND either Culturally Aware (with a Biblical Worldview) OR A Non-Socialistic Legislatively Active Church, but not both.”

And,

C: “Biblically Sound Church.”

There is also the letters WNR for churches that do not supposedly possess any of those characteristics.

 The description of a Biblically sound church carries all the points most orthodox churches would own including the Nicene Creed and The Apostles Creed. (Well of course the Baptist and the Pentecostals while agreeing with those creeds in their theology do not generally accept the use of creeds.) That would be simply C, according to their rating.

 Going much farther A would include both Culturally awareness described this way:

“ A Biblically based church that is culturally aware with a Biblical Worldview will, in addition to the above, be committed to countering the culture with God’s objective moral truths, teaching regularly on other religions, the Biblical view of Family, Sexuality & Marriage. It will be Pro-life and encourage the congregation to stand boldly for righteousness in the face of the current cultural decay. It will advocate for Biblical values in the arts, entertainment and the marketplace. It will teach Apologetics and a defense of the faith and why Christianity is true vs other religions. It will teach the evils of Marxism, Liberation Theology, Critical Race Theory, DEI, Wokeism, One World Government and any new depravity and corruption that the world will attempt.”

Most orthodox churches would agree with most of the above except the gospel of God’s redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ would be the priority and core message rather than teaching about, “the evils of Marxism, Liberation Theology, Critical Race Theory, DEI, Wokeism, One World Government and any new depravity and corruption ...” Plus, an orthodox church would emphasis the Beatitudes and other biblical principles such as caring for strangers, feeding the hungry, forgiving enemies.

The third part of the description of an A church is called “legislatively active but non-socialistic.” The explanation of that is:

The church will, “be involved with educating the church and be involved with all legislative matters concerning Morality, Family, Sexuality, Marriage, Life, the freedom to evangelize and the protection of Life, Liberty and Property. It will recognize that the Church is the conscience of the government and take that calling seriously. It will understand the legislative responsibilities given to the Church in Exodus 18 and teach God’s plan for government. It will fight for moral justice, not “social justice.” It will understand that the government’s role is to protect Unalienable Rights and not to manage the economy or provide charity or free goods and services to citizens. This is because the latter takes by force the fruits of labor from one person and gives it to another, it forcibly violates the Unalienable Right of an individual to do as he wills with the fruits of his own labor. See kansasvideo.j3ip.com for a full explanation of rights vs goods. And just as important, this kind of church will encourage its congregation to run for office and vote and be involved in campaigns.”

The above “legislatively active but non-socialistic” description is political and consists of points that believers can agree or disagree on. It is the involvement in legislature and political campaigns by the Church that is the problem. We can disagree over federal charity but we shouldn’t disagree with the importance of separation of Church and State—too many have lost their freedom when there was no separation. Many of the first peoples to come to America came because there was no separation of Church and state and they had lost their religious freedom.

I want to return to Metaxas and Wallnau, their very comments, here and in other videos reveal their unkindness and hurt both to faithful followers of Jesus and to the whole Church. In their political ambitions they have lost the biblical distinctiveness that is to mold our love for brothers and sisters and our care for a broken world that needs God’s healing. In this particular video they are speaking about the new Bonhoeffer movie and a review of it in Christianity Today entitled, ‘Bonhoeffer’ Bears Little Resemblance to Reality. Unhappy with the review they insist that Christianity Today is dead. They see others who don’t embrace their political views as satanic.

God has called the Church to preach the good news of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. God always places His Church under the cross not under the banner of any nation.

 

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[1] Eric Metaxas on Bonhoeffer, Political Courage, and Faith in Film

The New Border Czar Connected to a Racist Group

 

I have updated with some extra material.

I don’t usually write political posts, at least not intentionally, but as David French states two important acts in times like this is to care for the vulnerable and speak the truth. Two days ago I posted a small piece on caring for immigrants. In that posting I linked to an earlier post I wrote in 2016, The Federation of American Immigration Reform: abortion & population control merges with anti-immigration. In my posting I linked to an article written by the hate-watch group the Southern Poverty Law Center about the Federation of American Immigration Reform (Fair). I pointed out that immigration group began as an anti-population, pro-abortion and pro-eugenics group. It was racist at its core. It still is.

Here are some quotes from a SPLC paper on the racist’s statements and actions of FAIR’s past founder, John Tanton, and present president Dan Stein:

“Do we leave it to individuals to decide that they are the intelligent ones who should have more kids? And more troublesome, what about the less intelligent, who logically should have less? Who is going to break the bad news [to less intelligent individuals], and how will it be implemented?” – John Tanton, letter to eugenicist Robert K. Graham (now deceased), Sept. 18, 1996

“I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.” – John Tanton, letter to eugenicist and ecology professor Garrett Hardin (now deceased), Dec. 10, 1993”

“I blame ninety-eight percent of responsibility for this country’s immigration crisis on Ted Kennedy and his political allies, who decided some time back in 1958, earlier perhaps, that immigration was a great way to retaliate against Anglo-Saxon dominance and hubris, and the immigration laws from the 1920s were just this symbol of that, and it’s a form of revengism, or revenge, that these forces continue to push the immigration policy that they know full well are [sic] creating chaos and will continue to create chaos down the line.” – FAIR President Dan Stein”

Today I read the whole article about FAIR written by the SPCL. I may have read it all before but I don’t remember. Toward the end of SPLC’s article they write about some of the people who were connected to FAIR and were then in the 2016 Trump administration. A man, Tom Homan, who was the 2016 head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now in Trump’s new 2025 administration as the border czar. His connection to FAIR was as a senior fellow in their legal department.

MNS news recently reported that in 2917 he angered immigrant advocates by "by putting together his ICE office with top appointments for operatives from groups like CIS and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Also The Hill reporting on the actions of Homan wrote of two different appointees from both FAIR and one of their sister organizations, CIS. Author Rafeal Bernal writes:

"Jon Feere, formerly a legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), has been hired as a special adviser to Thomas D. Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to CNN.

And the former executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Julie Kirchner, was hired as an adviser to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan."

Homan is still a member of FAIR through his official position, as Senior Fellow, in IRIL the legal division of FAIR, 

The problem with too many of these new candidates for various positions in the coming administration is their connection to racist groups. Tied to this is their own racists actions because of those connections. Their viewpoint is not layered with any kind of mercy, thoughtfulness, generosity or as Karen Swallow Prior would say imagination. How do you tend to the needy, even the illegal needy. They are not all the same, they are not all equally guilty. Some are children, some are frightened like children.

Hide the Outcasts; Do Not Betray the Fugitive: Immigrants Today

Then like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon. Give us advise, make a decision; cast your shadow like night at high noon; hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive. Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; be a hiding place to them from the destroyer. (Isaiah 16:2-4) 

Moab, like many nations at the time, was under siege by Assyria. There is a promise to the daughters of Moab, those fleeing, that they could come under the protection of Zion and that with reference to the house or (tent) of king David. Isaiah says of this place of safety: 

A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, and a judge sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; moreover, he will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness. (5) 

Moab, as the prophet explains, does not choose that protection because of their pride. And although the scripture does not say so one could hope that at least a few of the daughters found refuge in Judah, as one of their ancestors, Ruth, did. Ruth was a Moabitess, of the nation whose people God had forbidden to be a part of Jewish worship. And yet she is an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. The refugees of Moab were a people that God longed to shelter. 

 The Lord still longs to shelter refugees. His tent “home” is the tent of the son of David, Jesus is the only and final Son of David. And we, the adopted sons and daughters of Christ are enclosed in that tent. We should be the sheltering people embracing the refugees. 

 The problems connected to refugees in the United States are of course complex. There are parents who are illegal yet have children who are not. It has been suggested that rather than splitting the families up they all be sent back to their former country. (Where their children will often be in danger.) There are illegal Venezuelans who are not allowed back in their country. There are people like the legal Haitians of Springfield, Illinois, falsely accused of stealing and eating pets, who have been threatened with deportation. There are Latino churches with many closely connected to refugees. There are Catholic and other religious groups being maligned because of their care for both legal and illegal refugees. 

 One of the groups concerned with both illegal and legal immigrants, The Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR), I wrote about in December of 2016, “The Federation of American Immigration: abortion & population control merges with anti-immigration.” They have some connections with the past Trump presidency and the newly appointed officials for the coming Trump presidency. The important information about this for Christians is that the organization is not just anti-immigration, but was also began by a man who had ties to Planned Parenthood and was also an anti-population advocate. Also FAIR is a racist group. 

So the complications are deep and connected to extreme moral questions. Some who call themselves Christians insist they are an army sent by enemies to destroy our nation. Some false prophets see them as those who would destroy Christianity. Yet, the daughters and sons of many nations are standing at the gulfs, pastures and gates of our land, yes, some may be criminals, some bringing drugs, but many, most, are seeking to be hidden by our shadow, not betrayed, not be destroyed by the destroyers. They are fleeing from a cross that should not be theirs to bear, but it may be ours; we who hold tightly to the cross of Jesus Christ.

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Donald Trump: Stepping Out on the Edge of Fascism

Sometimes individuals who have a background in cult and new religions ministry find themselves treading on strange ground and making unexpected connections. That happened to me today and yesterday. After listening to Donald Trump speak, on a video, about his religious history and beliefs, and then reading in The New York Times about John E Kelly who was Chief of Staff to Trump when he was president a lot of disconnections connected in my mind. 

The first part listening to Trump speak at the 11th Hour Faith meeting in North Carolina revealed that his biggest religious influence was Norman Vincient Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking as well as long time pastor of Marble Collegiate Church. Trump spoke fondly of him, as too many have over the years. Peale was supposedly a Christian, but hardly. 

Pastor and author Tim Challies in a series on false teachers points out that Peale did not even believe in a personal God. He writes: 

“Yet as a Christian minister he denied that God was a being, saying “Who is God? Some theological being? He is so much greater than theology. God is vitality. God is life. God is energy. As you breathe God in, as you visualize His energy, you will be reenergized!” (Plus: The Magazine of Positive Thinking). As a Christian minister he told Phil Donahue, “It’s not necessary to be born again. You have your way to God, I have mine. I found eternal peace in a Shinto shrine … I’ve been to Shinto shrines and God is everywhere. … Christ is one of the ways! God is everywhere.” He denied the very heart of the Christian faith and replaced it with his doctrine of positive thinking.” 

The positive thinking has undoubtedly shaped some of Trump’s thinking. This would explain why Trump does not believe he has to be forgiven, but just sets about making things right if he feels he has erred. And positive thinking may include never realizing that you are a sinner who needs forgiveness. It also might explain why as Kelly, his former Chief of Staff stated to New York Times reporter, Michael S, Schimdt, … “that on multiple occasions Mr. Trump told him that those Americans wounded, captured or killed in action were “losers and suckers.” 

In my mind connected to all of this is Trump’s liking for authoritarian or strong man leaders including Hitler. Kelly is quoted in the NYTs article: 

“Mr. Kelly confirmed previous reports that on more than one occasion Mr. Trump spoke positively of Hitler."

“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’ 

Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump told him.” 

This understanding of Peale’s positive thinking and flirting with fascism really fits together. The Fascists of Nazi Germany, those who considered themselves Christians, the German Christians as opposed to the Confessing Church, held to what they referred to as Positive Christianity. It wasn’t exactly the same ideology as Peale’s but somewhat like it. Jesus was considered not a bloody savior but a noble warrior. Repentance was not necessary. 

 Within this positive ideology—what could really be called a pagan faith—there was a negative—the outsider, the “foreigner.” For Nazi Germany it was the Jew, the Roma, the disabled, the Poles, the LGBT community, the disagreeable Confessing pastors who refused to praise Hitler. Within Trump’s positive ideology there are also some negatives—no not China or Russia but enemies within the United States—those who oppose him. If necessary, he will use the military against them he says. And slightly below the opposition, the Democrats, the press, those who disagree with him. The foreigner, those he has referred to as vermin. Those he believes will contaminate the blood of Americans. 

Trump’s Maga people also see some citizens of the United States as enemies—some of them are calling for them to be imprisoned or hung.1. 

 But where is the Kingdom of God in all of this? Where are the people of Jesus? Sheltered in the arms of the Lord, hearing His word, dwelling in His keeping. Caring for those considered unworthy of Trump’s pleasure. Hopefully building a wall of peace and love against a wall of hate, serving a King whose reign is not of this world but is eternal. 

Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven, Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations, You established the earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to Your ordinances, for all things are Your servants. (Psalms 119: 89-91)

1. 

The Haman Effect: MAGA Looking Forward to Hanging Enemies https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-haman-effect-maga-looking-forward.html

Once Again: Listening to Scripture While Wolves Are Howling

I listened to some wolves today. I thought about some wolves today. I grieved for the Church today because of too many wolves preying on the sheep. 

Today I listened to a video where Roseanne Barr told Tucker Carlson that the Democrats kill and eat children and drink their blood. I was reminded today in a video of Tucker Carlson hosting and praising a Nazi historian.

 I also listened to the New Apostolic Reformation and Maga Pastor Lance Wallnau say of Kamala Harris that when dealing with her you are dealing with a Jezebel spirit. There is no redemption, no words of Jesus love for sinners. Wallnau continued: “What’s accomplished was she can look presidential…that’s the seduction of witchcraft. That’s the manipulation of imagery that creates an impression contrary to the truth but it seduces you into seeing—so that spirit, that occult spirit I believe is operating on her and through her—similar to Obama that there’s a kind of angel of light, charisma you can see…the good news of that we’re going to go full tilt Pentecostal—Jezebel may be the spirit you’re up against, but then Trump has like an Elijah mantal on him probably from the intercession of a million Christians …we’ve got to lean into this thing because the Elijah mantal can break the spell of witchcraft off America.” 

I was thinking of all of this while reading a posting I wrote in 2008 which began with a Willa Cather story which included a scary story about Russian wolves eating a whole wedding party. I am going to include the end of that posting because it speaks to the Church of the warning, comfort and promises of Jesus about wolves and our faithfulness.

 “Often the Scripture uses such images. Jesus sends his disciples out into a world of wolves far more dangerous than those found on a nineteenth century Russian hilltop. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matt 10:16) And then Jesus goes on warn his disciples of coming suffering: “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! (25) He comforts with promises of his care, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (30-31) 

 Jesus encourages the disciple’s witness among the wolves so that the wolves might become sheep, “Therefore everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father in heaven.” (32) And he challenges them to courageous discipleship, “And he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it.” (38-39) 

 Paul was later to warn that wolves would enter the Church tearing and rending the sheep. They would draw them away into strange teaching, perhaps into antinomianism as a means of seducing them. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Acts 20:28-30) 

 We have no faithless sleigh driver, but instead the Lord who gave his life on the cross. This is his promise: 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28) So though you barely hear the first howl, or there be hundreds of savage wolves on dark hills, Christ is Lord of his Church and King of tomorrow.

 

Naming His Grace: Listening to Scripture while Wolves are howling

Telling a Crooked Story: A Continuing Review of Shepherds for Sale

 

In a time of deepening trouble, division, lies, unfaithfulness, power grabs—that may become worse, the Church of Jesus Christ, her people, are called not only to love one another but to also lift up each other in prayer and thankfulness—they are also called to uphold righteousness and truth. Love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth (I Cor. 13:6).

I am reading Megan Basham’s new book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. My intention was to write a review of it, but after seeing how complex that would be for me, with a great deal of research, I have decided to write several posts on it. This first one will be on chapter 3. “Hijacking the Pro-Life Movement.” I will return to the earlier chapters in future posts.

In her usual method, Basham begins with a tale of someone she admires, and the lady is certainly admirable in her work for the Lord. But then she goes on to contrast that person with others she defames. And while we read the personal stories of those she admires we read few personal details about those Basham attacks.  

Basham chooses Karen Swallow Prior as the first pro-life person she feels sold out to the leftist agenda—and yes, Prior is very pro-life. Prior, who is a professor and author, has spent a good deal of time as a member of the pro-life movement. In a New York Times column, after Roe was defeated, Prior wrote:

  “Roe stripped from the prenatal child the right to continue to live and grow, safe and free from intentional harm. If you believe, as I do, that abortion unjustly ends the life of a being that is fully human, a life that exists independently of the will of the mother, is self-organizing and unique, developing yet complete in itself, then you will understand Roe not as a ruling that liberates but as one that dehumanizes, first the fetus, then the rest of us.” Opinion | The End of Roe, From a Pro-Lifer’s Perspective - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

She also wrote this:

I joined the movement decades ago. My friends and co-laborers in the movement across the political spectrum have over the years established and worked in pregnancy help centers. We have opened our rooms and homes to women who needed them. We have educated them about prevention, alternatives, resources, employment, schooling and empowerment. We have offered help at doctors’ offices and abortion clinics. We have held baby showers, attended weddings, kindergarten graduations and legislative sessions. We have cried with those who regretted their choices, and we have cried with those who didn’t (but cried anyway). We have marched and protested.

Basham did not include any of these quotes in her book, instead she found some quotes that made it seem like Prior was more interested in the “pro-abortion narrative.”

Basham quoted this: “Legalized elective abortion was the consolation prize given to women in 1973 for the centuries of inequality and oppression that stemmed from their sin of not being men.”

And then Basham skipped almost a page of Prior’s writing to put this: “it does take a village to become who we are. Thankfully, America’s romance with radical autonomy and rugged individualism is cooling. Roe gave our nation some of the most liberal abortion laws in the industrialized world and a high rate of abortion compared with that of many other industrialized countries, in no small part because of our individualist cultural and economic ethos.”

Basham skipped further to put this: “We can do better than asking women (and men) to choose between their children and themselves.”

Basham quoted only these paragraphs so she could write this:

Prior’s framing –that pregnancy forces women to ‘choose between their children and themselves’—sounded disconcertingly close to the pro-abortion narrative that babies are a fundamental obstacle to female fulfillment. It legitimized the erroneous and self-focused worldview that career achievement and material wealth provide women more satisfaction than starting a family.

But no. Not only is it not “framing’ it doesn’t sound like that. Basham can attempt to get by with her insinuation because she has left out Prior’s amazing words about life for the unborn baby and her work within the pro-life community.

Basham complains that Prior states that Christians need to now step up and add to the work of helping those who are in need and pregnant, which includes government programs. Pulling Beth Moore, the excellent Bible teacher for women, and her discussion with Prior about the needs for Christian helps, into her complaint, Basham writes as though they know nothing about the many pro-life Centers in the United States, and this is perhaps why she did not quote Prior’s words about working in Pregnancy Centers.

Basham has made or tried to make Prior seem to be a radical feminist. She is not and it is all lies.

Basham then mentions Mika Edmondson, a pastor who sometimes writes for the Gospel Coalition. In fact Southern Baptist Professor Albert Mohler praises Edmondson for an article he wrote for the Gospel Coalition, Is Black Lives Matter the New Civil Rights Movement? Mohler’s article is on the Coalition’s site also, Ugly Stain, Beautiful Hope: My Response to Mika Edmondson.

Edmondson is a black pastor in the Presbyterian Church of America, a conservative Reformed church, and he fervently advocates for social justice. I believe this might have created a problem for Basham. She quotes from his X (Twitter)feed. She writes “…Mika Edmondson sounded downright apologetic [writing after the end of Roe] suggesting like Prior, that outlawing abortion would only be morally legitimate if accompanied by an expanded welfare state.” (First one needs to say that is not at all what Prior said.)

This is what Basham quoted from Edmondson:

Now that roe is overturned, I pray that we will provide the access to healthcare childcare, living wages, education and job opportunities that well support the lives people in desperate situations.

I have to add that Basham likened that to Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation promising the freed slaves a mandatory minimum wage and scholarship program.  The historical truth is they were offered something they wanted badly although it was soon taken away from them. For a very interesting story about this read, The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’, written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Basham added other tweets that Edmondson made that sounded too socially left to her. But she did not use these quotes, perhaps she could not understand them:

For many, the constant news coverage, countless articles, and heated debates about Roe v. Wade dredges up the painful memories of some of the very worst moments of their lives. May the Lord comfort you with his grace and healing during this hard season.

And:

National discussions about abortion often press us to choose whose rights to speak up for: the rights of vulnerable unborn babies *OR* the rights of vulnerable mothers. But Christ calls us beyond this false dichotomy. In Christ’s grace, nobody’s rights & dignity are expendable.

Next Basham goes after Dr. Russell Moore new editor of Christianity Today and her biggest complaint is that he did not write anything about the ending of Roe for many weeks, and that he refused to call President Trump a pro-life president but mentioned that one of the judges that concurred with the decision was appointed by Bush.  Moore is pro-life, that is not in doubt. This pro-life chapter is very political.

The final person I will write about, but not the last Basham wrote about in this chapter, is Pastor Tim Keller. His views about abortion includes the understanding that there are several ways abortion could be at least lessened in the United States.

Basham quotes his tweet:

Here are two Biblical MORAL norms: 1) It is a sin to worship idols or any God other than the true God & 2) do not murder. If you ask evangelicals if we should be forbidden by law to worship any other God than the God of the Bible—they’d say ‘no.’

We allow that terrible sin to be legal. But if you ask them if Americans should be forbidden by law to abort a baby, they'd say ‘yes.’ Now why make the first sin legal and NEVER talk about it and the second sin illegal and a main moral/political talking point?

The Bible tells us that idolatry, abortion, and ignoring the the poor are all grievous sins. But it doesn’t tell us exactly HOW we are to apply these norms to a pluralistic democracy. … I know abortion is a sin, but the Bible doesn’t tell me the best political policy to decrease or end abortion in this country, nor which political or legal policies are most effective to that end.

While Basham does leave out some of the first part of the tweet which doesn’t matter. Keller is simply making a point that the Bible does tell us what is sin, but doesn’t always tell us how to solve them when they become political problems. But Basham does leave out the last part of the tweet which matters because she is angry that Keller is not promoting Trump as president. In that last part he writes:

The current political parties will say that their policy most aligns morally with the Bible, but we are allowed to debate that and so our churches should not have disunity over debatable political differences! It is also why I have never publicly or privately told Christians who they should vote for. I have also never told anyone they should vote Democrat or Republican. Depending on the policy we can find more or less alignment with Biblical morals. I believe all Christians should be active in politics, but it is unwise to identify Christianity with any particular party.

This is the bigger problem with at least this chapter on abortion. Basham has two goals, to make it seem like the people she is writing about have leftist leanings and that those in the Church should be voting for Trump. Basham doesn’t seem to realize that much of what she sees as woke or leftist is simply a desire to follow the beatitudes of Jesus and all of the moral teachings found in the New Testament. All of these Christians she is aiming at, are faithful followers of Jesus and committed to Him because of His great gift of salvation.

Do we, Christian, have a choice?

This, I know, will seem simplistic but I felt the need to write it tonight. 

Is there a choice? Can we choose between the two candidates? Will we pick the one who is so forceful about reproductive rights (the right to kill the most defenseless little ones), or shall we pick the one who thinks its okay to grab a woman’ genitals, if you are famous that is—or to lessen it, if you must, to think its just men’s talk and that is okay. Shall we pick the one who was willing to prosecute a journalist for revealing Planned Parenthood’s business of selling baby parts. Or shall we pick the one who encouraged a mob to attack Capital policemen with flagpoles and bear spray, while watching on TV for several hours without attempting to stop it. 

Shall we vote for the party that’s willing to let a sovereign state be attacked, its people murdered, its children kidnapped, its women raped—willing to let Ukraine disappear like they and the Baltic states did in the time of Stalin and Hitler. 

Shall we vote for a party whose fringe is willing to let the bombs of Hezbollah, Hamas and others fall constantly on a sovereign state, Israel. Who do little to prevent the harassment of American Jews. Do we have any choice? What is our choice? 

If you are a Christian, no, in this matter, you can vote or not, but you don’t really have a choice. You are doing the best you can as an American citizen, but it isn’t a good choice whichever way you go in political matters. Don’t let anyone tell you, “You are not serving Christ if you don’t vote for this person or that one.” Know this, you belong to Jesus and to His kingdom and nothing can separate you from His love and care. 

Yes, Jesus calls you to be faithful, to love those about you, to care for those who have needs, to stand for those who are being oppressed, to be in His word and in His place of worship but you are not judged by Him for your vote. America is not the Kingdom of God.

 “What shall we say to these things? If God is for us who is against us? 

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered him over for us all, how will He not also with Him give us all things? 

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes rather was raised. Who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 

“For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. 

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities. Nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 31-39).

 

Is Donald Trump God's David? The false prophecies of Julie Green

I have written several times about the supposed prophetess Julie Green.1. She is a part of MAGA, The New Apostolic Reformation movement and always a guest of the Reawaken Tour led by Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Eric Trump, son of Ex president Donald Trump. I am writing about her again because I recently realized that she is blaspheming in her prophecies when she speaks of Donald Trump. It is supposedly God speaking through her, almost every day, and “he” refers to Trump as “my David and my son.” 

 But except for the ancient biblical King of Israel, the only biblical references to the David who is the son of king David are references to the coming Messiah who is the only begotten Son of God, Jesus the Christ. In the New Testament Jesus is always seen as fulfillment of the prophecies relating to king David’s Son and his kingdom. For instance, Peter in his first sermon after Pentecost spoke of David and his Son: 

Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses (Acts 3:29-32). 

 And when the Apostles meet to discuss the right of Gentiles to become a part of the Church without being circumcised James refers to the Tabernacle of David and how it is being rebuilt and open to the Gentiles (Acts 15:13-19). Blind Bartimaeus refers to Jesus as Son of David, (Mark 10) and in Matthew 10 the children are shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Even the Pharisees admitted to Jesus that the Christ was the Son of David, (Mark 22: 42). 

To call Donald Trump God’s David as well as his son is blasphemy. Trump may be a son by adoption if he has repented and trusted in Christ as his savior, but he can be a son in no other way. And he can never be God’s David that is a title reserved for the only begotten Son of God, the Messiah.

 There is a kingdom coming, and a King coming who already rules his people, Jesus Christ. It is not a worldly kingdom, but a heavenly kingdom that is coming to a new earth. He will wipe away our tears, cancel our fears and rule in righteousness. He has suffered for His people, died for His people, given life through His resurrection—to all who cling to Him—Jesus is Lord.

Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me - Laudate Mennonite Ensemble

 

1. Naming His Grace: The Haman Effect: MAGA Looking Forward to Hanging Enemies

Naming His Grace: Julie Green, Eric Metaxas, ‘Still’ it is said, ‘still, shall the City of God abide, lusty beside her tiny stream’

Christian Zionism, Not Really & the Awfulness of Oct 7th, Yes Really

Recently at one of the meetings of the women’s groups at my church I asked them to pray for me because I was becoming depressed reading all the stories of what had happened to some of the people in Israel. I felt I needed to read and listen to better understand so that I could write out of factual empathy. And I admit I wrote some out of anger. I sometimes went to bed weeping. I have placed a video at the end of this which will hopefully allow you to see and understand why the Presbyterian USA’s seminar is a travesty.

The Presbyterian Church USA is sponsoring a video seminar about what they call Christian Zionism. It is not totally about Christian Zionism which is only mentioned a few times, but is about simply Zionism and the wish that the Jewish state did not exist. Some familiar groups and people are a part of it: The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA, World Mission’s Middle East and Europe office, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, Office of Public Witness, Rev. Munther Isaac and a Rabbi from the Reconstruction Jewish Group.

I thought about attempting to write on all speakers but that is a long posting and basically they are all saying the same thing.  There are some parts I want to address. They do recommend the booklet produced by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network, Zionism Unsettled, a horribly antisemitic work. In past years when I was in the Presbyterian Church USA I wrote about this book at Telling stories that hurt and destroy: A review of Zionism Unsettled.

The authors of the booklet state and use various other antisemite’s statements to slander Zionism. They state that the Israelites who reside in Israel have no connection to ancient Israel an antisemite trope used by the vilest of antisemites. They fail to explain that five Arab nations started the 1948 war.  After writing of how respectful Muslims are they state of Zionism ““Zionism, however, has not reciprocated this respect for all peoples. Instead says Abu Sway, Zionism is by nature a system of discrimination and exclusion.” They defame God and Holy Scriptures by stating, “Zionism has succeeded in reanimating the nationalist tradition within Judaism. Its inspiration has been drawn not from the profound thoughts of the Hebrew Scriptures, but from those portions that betray a narrow and exclusive concept of a tribal god.” As I have pointed out in my earlier posting that is not only antisemitic but gnostic.

In the first video of the seminar Munther Isaac does speak at first of Christian Zionism but uses political terms putting aside the religious views. Using progressive definitions Isaac speaks of Israel as a state as “a settler colonial entity. He also speaks of the Oct.7^th massacre as being separated by Western press from its context. He seemingly believes that Hamas was justified in their actions of rape, killing, mutilations and burning Jewish people alive while at the same time denouncing the just war theory. There is a lot of confusion in his statements.

I have listened to most of the first two videos, there is supposedly a third but I have not yet seen it. I want to end this posting by using a new documentary recently placed on YouTube. It is Screams Before Silence directed by Anat Stalinsky. I am doing this after listening to Isaac attempt to justify what happened on Oct. 7^th, and after understanding all the years the PCUSA and the Israel/Palestine Mission Network maligned and attacked Israel as well as American Jews. There is no justification for what happened. Adults, not children, need to know what really happened—although for some this will be impossible to watch.

 Screams Before Silence (youtube.com)

The Haman Effect: MAGA Looking Forward to Hanging Enemies

In the book of Esther in the Bible, the story is told of Haman. He hated the Jew Mordecai because he would not bow down to him. Because of that Haman created a plot to have all the Jews killed and Mordecai hung. He created the gallows on which he intended to hang Mordecai. Instead, Haman was hung on the gallows by order of the king. 

Recently there are references to Haman, or what is called the Haman effect, among those leaders in the MAGA movement, those leaders who honor ex-president Trump. Their understanding and I am afraid their hope is that their supposed enemies, the Democrats, the so-called Rhinos, people in the Justice department, etc., will experience the Haman effect, will be hung on their own gallows, or will be imprisoned.

 I have written in one posting of Bo Polny, a New Apostolic Reformation advocate and MAGA speaker. Polny is predicting and describing what he calls the Haman effect; what he sees as a televised hanging of the movement’s enemies.

 Julie Green, considered a prophet by NAR and most of the MAGA groups including Clay Clark’s Reawakening America Tour also refers to the Haman effect. Green with God supposedly speaking through her states “these are the days of Haman—and he [God] says you [God’s and Trump’s enemies] cause death—or try to cause death, with all their diseases that they’re trying, with their zombie virus that they’re talking about, and the disease x they’re talking about—he [supposedly God] saying you cause death, that death will come on to you; this Haman, look in the book of Esther what happened to him.”

 In the latest Reawaken American Tour in Detroit one pastor, Phillip Smith, a prosperity preacher loudly claims, “We are in a Haman moment, Haman tried to…hang Mordecai on the gallows, but he ended up getting hung on the gallows that he set up for Mordecai and that’s where we are living right now. Government is tyrannical and they’re trying to set a trap for each and everyone of us but I want you to know…they’re going to hang on their own gallows. "

 This constant refrain of vengeance on enemies is contrary to the New Testament vision for God’s church. Too often it is a politically motivated vengeance, often aimed at other Christians. Here is the bigger problem, many of the leaders in the ultra-right movements will present very scriptural views of God’s promises of protection and keeping power while at the same time insisting that their followers are being persecuted by the government or simply by those who disagree with their ideology. While Christians in other countries, China, Russia, some African nations, Iran, etc. are suffering great persecution most American and Western Christians live in blessed freedom. Sure, there are controversies and social problems that Christians find they need to stand against—but actual bloody persecution—no! 

Jesus told the religious leaders of his day that it was out of their heart that evil came. Speaking about the tradition of washing their hands before eating as a religious requirement Jesus said “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. And those defile the man.”

 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, slanders. (Matthew 15:18.19) 

The hearts of many of these false prophets and political leaders are dark and heretical since they are speaking of and devising evil against those who simply disagree with them. In the midst of using biblical stories and God’s promises meant for suffering saints they are using slanderous conspiracy stories and giving false prophecies. They are also leading many astray with their words. 

The prophet Malachi, in a time when there was great confusion about what it meant to serve God, spoke of a time when there would be clarity—when those who feared the lord would understand that they were His possession. 

Then those who feared the lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the lord and esteem His name. “They will be mine,” says the Lord, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares His own son who serves him.” 

So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. (Malachi 3:16-18) 

 Malachi in his words is speaking of both advents, the coming of the Lord to bring salvation through his death and resurrection and His coming to bring a conclusion to all things. And this is my point, his is not a political message, the sin is not failing to possess the correct pick for a leader, but failing to reverence and honor God. Referring to Levi but with a glance toward the coming one who would have healing in His wings, Malachi says that he “revered Me and stood in awe of My name.” (2:6b) And this is what leaders should be directing people toward—honoring God. 

God’s people are not called to focus on vengeance, the hanging of enemies, but rather their calling is to honor and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1] “ GOD WINS, 45 RETURNS, HAMAN EFFECT, to be "SEEN ON TV"! Julie Green, Bo Polny - YouTube.

[1] ReAwaken America Tour Detroit, MI - DAY 1 | Join General Flynn, Eric Trump, Kash Patel, Mayor Giuliani & Team America + Request Tickets for October 18-19 Selma, NC At: TimeToFreeAmerica.com (rumble.com)

Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil: A Review

 

 I have taken out the links in this posting that shows the nastiness of our ex-president. I do not believe they were honoring to God and felt I should be straight forward with my words about Trump. If one worships an idol they will not be convinced unless the Holy Spirit is allowed to work in their hearts. 

 

 

A Review

By Viola Larson

 

Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil

by Eric Metaxas

 

Many years ago, working toward a BA in Religious Studies and one in Philosophy I took an excellent class on the history of religion in America. The teacher a Jewish lady would put an outline on the board with the different items we would be discussing for the day. One class, she wrote Bonhoeffer’s name under the “God is Dead” theologians. Having already worked on a paper that looked at Bonhoeffer’s term “Religionless Christianity, I asked her to please not categorize Bonhoeffer that way. She kindly erased his name.

 Eric Metaxas has written a follow up book to his Letter to the American Church. Metaxas in his new book, Religionless Christianity, uses a term Dietrich Bonhoeffer used in letters he wrote from prison. Bonhoeffer was attempting to write about the only way modern humanity would embrace God. Metaxas compares the term to what he calls “Mere Christianity,” a term C.S. Lewis used to express the Christianity that all orthodox Christians agree to. But Metaxas redefines the meaning of both “Religionless Christianity” and “Mere Christianity.” This review will explain the meaning of both and look at some of the members of the Confessing Church that Metaxas uses to advise the Church in these troubling times.

 Metaxas rightly states of Bonhoeffer’s phrase, “… So many decades, much of what he wrote—especially his use of the phrase religionless Christianity—was utterly misunderstood. Many earnestly believed that in the last two years of his life, Bonhoeffer had skittered away from a genuine biblical faith into somekind of agnostic ethical humanism.”[1]  But Metaxas' explanation of religionless Christianity holds neither biblical truthfulness nor the richness of Bonhoeffer’s meaning.

Metaxas sets up a false effigy, a scarecrow of most of the American Church. If he were writing about the progressive church, those who deny the deity of Christ, or his atonement or bodily resurrection, he could then point to the skepticism those churches are involved in, but he is looking a different direction. He is accusing those Christians who refuse his mixture of supposed evil alongside the real evil of being false Christians. Metaxas in explaining what “woke” culture or cancel culture is posits the idea that not seeing the 2020 election as stolen is the same as accepting gay marriage, and believing that the COVID vaccine is helpful is the same as not believing the Bible is the Word of God. He is making a political mess out of the truths of Christianity. [2]

Metaxas defines “mere Christianity” as a cold impersonal, works oriented faith, a dead faith and even satanic. And yet insists on works that mesh with his political views, quoting James’s truth that faith without works is dead. [3]

But mere Christianity simply speaks to those biblical truths that all Christians agree to such as the deity of Jesus’ and His bodily resurrection. And truthfully, active Christianity, loving God, loving neighbor and even loving enemies are a part of mere Christianity. The faith that Jesus calls us to has a great deal to do with caring for the needy, caring for the stranger, loving each other and being faithful to our Lord. And yes, despite what Metaxas thinks, (He faults Christians who question if we are living in the last days), looking for the coming of Jesus, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in a thousand years, Is mere Christianity. It might be many years but we are always looking and longing.

In his letters Bonhoeffer enlarges and focuses on a Lutheran and biblical truth with his reference to religionless Christianity. That is the theology of the cross in contrast to the theology of glory.  There are several passages in his Letters that speak of his thoughts on this issue but I believe that a poem he included is his best explanation:

Men go to God when they are sore bestead

Pray to Him for succour, for his peace, for bread

For mercy, for them sick, sinning or dead;

All men do so, Christian and unbelieving.

 

Men go to God when He is sore bestead,

Find him poor and scorned, without shelter or bread,

Whelmed under weight of the wicked, the weak, the dead;

Christians stand by God in his hour of grieving.

 

God goes to every man when sore bestead,

Feeds body and spirit with his bread;

For Christians, pagans alike he hangs dead,

And both alike forgiving.[4]

Bonhoeffer was attempting to put Christ at the center of faith, rather than being at the edge becoming only the answer to questions that had not yet been answered by progressive culture. He saw Christ’s suffering on the cross as the place where modern humanity could meet God and truly it is always so. A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish (Isaiah 42: 3a). The graciousness of Christ, his suffering mercy is religionless Christianity rather than any political stance.

Metaxas tends to use his subjects, characters, in a demeaning way to make his points. He has a whole chapter on Marin Niemöller entitled “The Cautionary Tale of Martin Niemöller.” He, although noting that Niemöller was a good man, uses his story to warn Christians. He writes:

As tempted as we are to thank that we would have behaved like Bonhoeffer, it is infinitely more likely that we would have behaved like Niemöller, who was a genuinely good man and a deeply committed Christian but who nonetheless misread the situation fatally.

But no, Niemöller, who at first did think that Hitler might be a good leader for Germany did not read the situation fatally but was in error. But that quickly changed and Metaxas does not tell the story with much integrity. He insists that Niemöller was alone in a meeting with Hitler. But the meeting began with several members of what would become the Confessing Church. Metaxas attempts to picture Niemöller as giving in to Hitler’s rages, writing that he told Hitler “We are all enthusiastic about the Third Reich.” But this was from a later document signed by several Confessing pastors. Hubert G. Locke as editor of Martin Niemöller’s letters from Moabit Prison writes in his Introduction:

On January 24, 1934, Niemöller joined a delegation of church leaders to protest some of the degrees of the Reich bishop, a meeting characterized by “heated” exchanges between Niemöller and Hitler; Niemöller told Hitler that church leaders had a God given responsibility toward the German people.[5]

Karl Barth stated of Niemöller: I think of him as the embodiment of ‘Barmen … Pastor Niemöller in the Dahlem congregation was and is exemplary for the “Church Struggle.”[6]

The strange outlook of Metaxas is that he is using Bonhoeffer to warn today’s Church against what he considers evil while missing the glaring truth that Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church members were warning the Church of their time against a man and system that is not unlike the man and his cohorts he is promoting. Not only promoting but insisting that those Christians who refuse to vote for ex-president Trump are not following God.

Hitler is a ghostly shadow of what Trump is and could become. Trump despises the weak and disabled. He sees Jesus as being part of a positive Christianity rather than the suffering savior who died for his sins. He seeks no forgiveness. He maligns women in the worst kinds of ways. He calls those who disagree with him communist, fascist, and even vermin. He adores authoritarian leaders. He believes that all of those seeking safety in America will damage our blood. He calls for vengeance against his perceived enemies and is friends with those who hope to both imprison and hang enemies.

Trump’s followers including Metaxas, not unlike the German Christians he is writing about malign and exclude those who wish to honor Jesus rather than Trump.   

Yes, there is a mandate for the Church to hold on to the biblical purity of marriage: intimacy after marriage and that between one woman and one man. And the Church is pro-life or it is not the Church. But the Church is also the messenger of God’s mercy because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the messenger of forgiveness for sinners, not the unrepentant. The Church is called not to political activism, the promoting of presidents but lifting up Jesus as Savior and Lord.

 

 

 

---

[1] For an excellent explanation of some of Bonhoeffer’s difficult statements see, Worldly Preaching: Lectures on Homiletics: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, editor Clyde E Fant (New York: Crossroad 1991).

[2] Eric Metaxas, Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil, (New York: Regnery Faith 2024) 85.

[3] I have written Martin Luther’s response to the question of works in my article Eric Metaxas' Letter to the American Church and the Rest of the Story

 

“Faith, however, is a divine work to us that changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O, it is a living, busy active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.

 Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge and confidence of God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures. And this is the work that the Holy Spirit performs in faith Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. [LW 35:370-71]”

 

[4] Detrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison, editor, Eberhard Bethge, reprint (New York, Collier Books 1971) 348-349.

[5] Exile in the Fatherland: Martin Niemöller’s Letters From Moabit Prison, editor Hubert G. Locke, (William B. Eerdman’s publishing Company: Grand Rapids 1986) 8.

[6] Barmen is the confession that the Confessing Church drew up in their battle against Hitler, the Nazis and the German Christians, The Church Struggle was against all three. Arthur C. Cochrane, The Church’s Confession Under Hitler, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press 1961) 110.