In 1999
three synagogues in Sacramento were firebombed. One was destroyed. The
perpetrators were two brothers, white supremacists who also killed two gay men
and bombed an abortion clinic. While much of the community came together and
supported the Jewish community some failed in their concern and attitudes.
Picture by Penny Juncker
The Inter
Faith director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center called me later, perhaps several
months or a year, (I have forgotten) asking if I could help them find a
Presbyterian church who would show a film on anti-Semitism. They had inquired
of several different Presbyterian churches and the local PBS station and so far
had been turned down. I did find a Presbyterian church, a small, Evangelical
and multi-ethnic Church. It was where one of my daughters was a member. The
meeting was small but fairly well attended given the size of the church.
What
surprised me was the emotions of the two Jewish people who brought the film.
One of them, who worked with a music association, as we talked after the film,
told me that she was liberal in her politics but had become so discouraged with
the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the left. She no longer would join them in their
marches. Both were discouraged. That was over twenty years ago, and now, today
how must they feel?
While as a
Christian I believe all are sinners, there is evil, and then there is evil,
dark putrid, hellish evil—the kind that walks the smelly burning tunnels of
damnation. The kind that must lie where Hitler, Stalin and other horrid tyrants
lie in a Dante like circle of hell.
This is the
evil that visited the Jewish nation, raping women, beheading babies, burning
families, blowing young people to bits as they hid in terror. Turning a merry
dance into Satan’s awful ball. The perpetrators were religious in the same way
the ancients of several lands were religious—worshiping the god of this world
who cares nothing for the dignity of humanity despising the image of the
Creator. The ancients sacrificed their own children to the monster Moloch, The
Hamas terrorists sacrificed Jewish babes to Hamas’ dark gods.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
a pastor during the Nazi years experienced what is called Kristallnacht (night of the broken glass), a night when many Jewish
shops, synagogues and homes were destroyed by the Nazis. Many Jews were beaten
and even killed. Bonhoeffer was reading Psalm 74 which he marked because it
speaks of the houses of worship being destroyed: “They have burned your sanctuary
to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name. They said in
their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.” They have burned all the meeting
places of God in the land.” Psalm 74: 7,8.
There is
much more but I found some verses at the end of this Psalm that in this time is
so helpful:
Consider the covenant; for the dark
places of the land are full of habitations of violence. Let not the oppressed
return dishonored; -let the afflicted and needy praise your name. Arise, O God
and plead your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day
long. Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise
against you which ascends continually. (74 20-23)
Too many on
the left and the very far right are following behind Hamas praising their evil,
calling it good. We need to pray for the Jewish people, pray against Hamas,
pray against those who are backing Hamas, and pray for a great repentance among
those who are cheering such evil. And, yes pray for ourselves that we will walk
faithful to the Lord of creation whose holiness includes truth, kindness,
compassion, forgiveness and redemption.
Over thirty years ago when I wrote an article for Christian
Research Journalon a
racist movement “Christian Identity,” I told a friend I would not write on
racist groups anymore because the material was so ugly. God had other plans.
While in the PCUSA I was constantly writing about a Presbyterian committee
which are both progressive and extremely anti-Semitic.
I am now
Lutheran (Missouri Synod) and I just recently saw an article in the religious news
that several white supremacists, (really Nazis) had recently been banned and
excommunicated from a Missouri Synod Lutheran church. The President of The LCMS
has written a
faithful letter denouncing such ideology. While I want to write
about one of the articles written by this particular racist fellow, he insists
that Hitler was a Christian—I’ve spent several afternoons listening to some
horrid garbage espoused by one of the speakers from the last Reawaken America
Tour.
In my last article, The
Second Coming of Fascism to the United States,I wrote of how reporter and columnist Jake Tapper “ in a video
on Facebook shows a small part of a video where Scott McKay [a
sometimes speaker on the Reawaken America tour] states that Hitler was fighting
the same enemies that he and others are fighting.” I added:
“Tapper contacted Eric Trump
Jr. who is not only a part of Clay Clark’s Reawaken America Tour but also the
son of ex-President Donald Trump. In the exchange with Trump Jr. and Clark it
is still uncertain whether McKay was allowed to speak at recent conferences or
future ones. What is certain is that McKay is still speaking at many of the
rallies and conferences provided by different adherents of Christian
nationalism.”
Now Scott McKay admits in a video,
that he was not allowed to speak at the gathering. But one of his
friends, Sacha Stone, did speak.. Both of these individuals are
extremists with wild religious views and using Khazarian
mafia conspiracy tales are rabid anti-Semites. Stone pushes
the idea that aliens are in control of many governments’ referring to area
51.There was, according to Stone, a plan to place alien DNA in the human gene
pool. Stone insists that millions of humans are hybridized He states:
“Now the real
interventionism or alien invasion are MRNA and DNA related that is connected to
Fauci, connected to Bill Gates, that’s connected to Obama, Bill Clinton, Bush,
… and obviously incumbent puppet Biden regimes are all directly connected …
which is how the devil is being permitted, granted permission by the status quo
on your behalf, on my behalf over the last fifty, seventy-five years or so-in
the main to infiltrate the human MRNA and DNA. All of these systems have now
been infiltrated by the kingdom of the devil through synthetic molecules.”
Stone insists that the alien invasion is now inside of
us. He asks and states, “What are we discovering inside human biology? We are
seeing microbe snakes … we are seeing what appears to be spontaneous induction
spontaneous manifestation of reptilian serpentine microbes, little microbe
snakes with scales … He goes on, “with the 5G infrastructure in place and the
pulse waving, pulsing and happening to the 5G antenna …” Stone goes on to point
not only to the 5G towers but also to vaccines and lead light bulbs as the
means of invasion..
How is this all overcome?Humanity according to Stone has to manifest
utopia using Christ Consciousness or/and their
Kundalini power. Christ Consciousness is a term McKay uses quite often. Many
Christians hear it and think it applies to Jesus and is personal but instead it
destroys the biblical understanding of Jesus. Christ consciousness is an
impersonal power or force that eastern and/or new age teachers believe must be attained
in order to do miracles or even to evolve into deity. Those advocates for
Christ Consciousness do not believe Jesus is the unique Christ, the second
Person of the Trinity, but that he is simply a man who attained Christ
Consciousness and that we can all do the same.
The Scripture is very clear:
Who is the liar but the one who denies that
Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and
the Son. 1John2:22.
It is a great sin that Eric Trump Jr. and Clay Clark and
Michael Flynn keep inviting speakers to their gatherings who are horridly anti-Semitic.
It is also a great sin, perhaps a greater sin, that the three men who call
themselves Christians keep inviting absolute heretics, wolves who will bloody
the sheep to be speakers.
It is not enough that pastors and speakers who call
themselves Christian are invited to preach, or that there are shofars blown or
even baptisms and prayers, they are being used for political purposes. And to
be used that way among the ungodliness of unbiblical teaching is to be placed on
the side of evil.
,Volodymyr
Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is Jewish—his grandfather fought with the
red army against the Nazis.[1]
It was when I read that Tucker Carlson, the recently fired Fox news commentator, stated
on his new Tweeter show that the President of Ukraine was “rat like,” a Nazi
reference to Jews, that I decided to write this essay.[2]
There was another
time when fascists vied for power in the United States. They even attempted to
place their own candidate in the White House. Some were isolationist who didn’t
want to be involved in a war against Hitler. Some were very far right and
involved in Nazi radicalism such as the Silver Shirts. Some were businessmen and
senators who were doing business with Nazi companies. Two well-known men were religious fanatics,
one Catholic and one Protestant, both anti-Semites. Father Charles E Coughlin
produced a popular radio program aimed at promoting Jew hatred and
Gerald Burton Winrod, son of a protestant minister, published Nazi slanted
material, had a radio program and spent time in Germany visiting with German
officials. [3] And
finally there was the growing movement of American firsters eventually led by famous
aviator Charles Lindbergh.[4]
Bradley w. Hart
in his book, Hitler’s American Friends
writes of Lindbergh’s speech in Iowa, September 11, 1941, “Before a crowd of
thousands, he denounced ‘theBritish,
the Jewish and the Roosevelt Administration’ for pushing the country toward
war. ‘We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other people to
lead our country to destruction.’ He concluded If America were to enter the
war, he warned darkly, Jews would ‘be among the first to feel its
consequences.”[5]
Lindbergh’s
attitude toward the Jews was confirmed by an earlier passage in his journal.
Hart quotes Lindbergh
We
feel that the Jews are among the most active agitators, and among the most
influential. … We feel that, on the one hand it is essential to avoid anything
approaching a pogrom; and that , on the other hand ,it is just as essential to
combat the pressure the Jews are bringing on this country to enter the war. The
Jewish influence is subtle, dangerous and very difficult to expose. As a race …
they seem to invariably cause trouble.[6]
This was the
earlier Fascist movement in the United States before World War II. But is there
a definition of fascism that fits both this past movement and todays American
Fascism?
George L. Mosse,
who has written many books on the culture of Nazism, in his book The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General
Theory of Fascism points to several important aspects of Fascism. He
writes:
Nationalism
is a belief system which provided the foundation for all Fascists movements, it
was the bed rock upon which they were built. Racism of prime importance to
Germany enhanced nationalism and gave it its cutting edge. Finally Fascism must
be understood as a nationalist revolution with its own ideology and its own
goals.[7]
Mosse also writes:
Ideas
of regeneration, of sacrifice, and a vision of utopia were the staple of all of
fascism, as was the need to triumph over ever present enemies. If a heightened
nationalism became a civic religion than racism for all its scientific
pretentions was a belief system as well. [8]
And on religion
Mosse, writing of National Socialism, points out the need for ritual, myth and
symbolism and explains that fascism borrowed from Christianity. He clarifies:
Christianity
was used in order to give fascism a familiar cast, to make it correspond to
something people knew well. The structure of one belief system reinforced
another. These borrowings from Christianity were, of course, stripped of their
content, and nationalism was substituted instead.[9]
Having explained
the features, structure and ideology of fascism, I want to point out that I am
not writing about conservatives, I am after all a conservative. Nor do I
include all of those who are lumped under Trumpism, although many do fit into
this category. And notice that not everyone will be racist although it is
possible that the movement will move into that dark abyss. Thinking of Anti-Semitism, some already have.
I have already named
Tucker Carlson, and other articles I have written provide characters that fit
the fascist mold. For instance Bo Polny, a New Apostolic Reformation pastor who
is predicting the hanging of enemies on television as well as a utopian ending
to a financial collapse, fits squarely into this frame. But basically I want to
look at the fascist ideology as it is being expressed in an American, mostly
far right and religious, context, rather than looking at people. Still, that
will, in some cases mean pointing to some people.
Nationalism is
certainly a part of the rising fascism, it is the foundation for most of the
movement. The adherents are being called to a pseudo “Christian” nationalism.
“Christian” because the leaders insist that those in the movement must battle
for a Christian nation. Pseudo because their idea of Christian falls short of
orthodox Christianity
Those tending
toward fascism in the United States are using Christianity in a more literal
way than those in Nazi Germany. Perhaps because as Arthur C. Cochrane points
out in The Church’s Confession Under Hitler
the so called theologians backing Hitler were, “a liberal, nationalistic sect.”
The nationalists in America call themselves evangelical. They attempt to at
least project their image as biblical Christians. But leadership is still
manipulating faith for the sake of political advantage. Using it as a means to
legitimize their nationalist ideology.
The so called
“Christian Nationalist” in the United States have Christian worship services
not only at churches but within various conferences and rallies. For instance
at Clay Clark’s The Reawaken America Tour there are sermons, baptisms and
prayers but they are mixed with political speeches, the promise of jail and
death to enemies and a constant stream of conspiracy narratives. The Fascist
undertone is the political slant of sermons and prophecies, all laced with the
promise of utopia. Not the second coming of Jesus and the new heaven and new
earth but the wiping out of enemies—Democrats, Communists, Marxist, and Globalist.
A work that is human centered rather than God given and comes with no offer of
the grace of Christ.
. Not unlike the
National Socialist of Germany such leaders as Michael Flynn and Clay Clark as
well as too many pastors who follow them insist on twin allegiances to both
State and Church. Not the State as it is in reality, full of saint and sinner
and a great deal of diversity, but their ideal state—a projection of their own
ideology.
Michael Flynn has
suggested that followers put away their Bibles and instead study the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and other founding documents. These are of course
great documents to study, protect and care about but the Word of God comes
first. The Word of God is the Christian’s authority. When German Christians in
their Rengsdorf Theses wrote “There is no contradiction between an unreserved
position in favor of the gospel on the one hand and an equally unreserved
position in favor of German nationality (National Socialist State) on the other
hand.” Theologian Karl Barth responded:
The
Christian Confession of Faith is the only “unreserved” position that is
required of us and permitted to us. Hence all other positions (including those
in regard to German nationality and the National Socialist State) are subject
to reservations.
Whoever
today talks about two ‘unreserved’ positions imagines he is able to serve
Yehweh and Baal, God and Mammon, and places himself outside the evangelical
Church.[10]
One must say the
same thing to the American Church, “Christian Nationalism” is a contradiction
in terms—the Christian Confession of Faith is our only unreserved position.
In this American
fascist movement are those who have moved into a Nazi flavored fascism plus there
are those who have cast aside any sense of Christian orthodoxy. I have written
about one particular person, Scott McKay who detests the Christian Church
predicting that all Christianity will change and be involved in Christ
consciousness a rather New Age sounding spirituality. He connects both on his
platform and others with wildly fringe religious views which even includes
aliens. And yet he is invited to speak at Clay Clark’s Reawaken American Tour.
McKay also holds
to some very strong anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. CNN reporter Jake Tapper
in a video
on Facebook shows a small part of a video where McKay states that
Hitler was fighting the same enemies that he and others are fighting. He also points to another anti-Semite Charlie
Ward. Tapper contacted Eric Trump Jr. who is not only a part of Clay Clark’s
Reawaken America Tour but also the son of ex-President Donald Trump. In the
exchange with Trump Jr. and Clark it is still uncertain whether McKay was
allowed to speak at recent conferences or future ones. What is certain is that McKay
is still speaking at many of the rallies and conferences provided by different
adherents of Christian nationalism.
There are others
who have also moved into the very radical and uglier side of fascism such as
Nickolas Fuentes who denies the Holocaust; his followers are referred to as
Groypers. This mixture of occultic views, anti-Semitism and other’s attempt to
hold on to Christian “nationalism” is not unlike the fascist movements in both
Germany and American during the 1920’s and 30s.
So where does the
Church belong in the midst of all of this? Faithfulness to Jesus has nothing to
do with promoting a Christian nation but instead lifting up the Lord and His
kingdom. When Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king, Jesus answered that He was
but said “My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world then my servants would be fighting so
that I would not be handed over to the Jews but as it is My kingdom is not of
this realm(John 18:36).
While there are
social evils that the Church must stand against such as racism, sexual abuse,
abortion and social ills such as homelessness, addiction and poverty that
Christians must work and pray for solutions to, this should not be the major focus
of the Church in the midst of a faith crisis. That there are those who call
themselves Christians who are confused and misled applauding the heresy of
giving “unreserved” allegiance, as it has been put, to political parties and political
leaders placed on golden pedestals, will produce a nightmare for the faithful.
We simply cannot stand in two places.
The solution
however is not political nor is it activism but the call the church has always
possessed. Go into the world and preach the gospel. Stay faithful to Jesus
Christ—neither the right nor the left. Continue
being the Church—she is upheld by the Lord and in the midst of what may seem
like unbearable upheavals she will be the one steady, stable haven open to
those who seek safety and comfort.
[3] Bradley
W. Hart, Hitler’s American Friends: The
Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States, “The Religious Right,” (Thomas
Dunne Books St Martin’s Press: New York), See also, Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and
America by Steven J. Ross`
I’m writing about “The
Sound of Freedom” and first I want to put down some facts about the movie
which I admit I have not seen. And then I intend to point to one particular
serious problem with the whole enterprise. It is a problem that is so serious
that it is possible to lead many Christians away from the seriousness of child
sexual abuse and send them toward a damnable ideology.
The first fact is that this movie is about a
horrendous and grievous subject, human trafficking and in particular the
trafficking of children. A subject we should all care about, seeking God’s
mercy and help.
Secondly most writers who disparage the movie at least
admit that it does not draw on conspiracy theories to fill out the plot. Rather
it is somewhat of an action movie portraying the work of Tim Ballard and his
organization Operation Underground Railroad as they rescue children in South
America.
Third fact Tim Ballard is a devout Latter Day Saint
(Mormon) who speaks of his faith. On a LDS video he quotes from the Book of
Mormon a verse he says has helped him in a time of fear, Alma chapter 58, verse
eleven. [1]
The fourth fact, the actor who plays Tim Ballard, Jim Caviezel,
is a devout Christian, a Roman Catholic. In many interviews he speaks of loving
Jesus and even of Jesus’ return. But here lies the problem possibly tied to an
extreme naivety.
Caviezel has promoted the movie on many far right and
even QAnon platforms including Steve Bannon’s War Room, and he promotes many
awful conspiracy theories in the process.
Caviezel
believes the conspiracy theory that many elites torture and kill children to
drain their blood to obtain what is called adrenochrome which supposedly (but
not really) gives youth to those who use it.[2] He states that such officials
as the CIA and FBI are the main perpetrators of child trafficking. He insists
that barrels of children’s body parts and blood are going to bio-labs in
Ukraine thus implicating Ukrainian officials in the crime.[3]Accusations of child stealing to obtain their
blood is an ancient conspiracy theory used against the Jews. And that old anti-Semite ruse, the use of bankers,
mainly the Rothschild’s, Caviezel names as those who are involved in child
trafficking.
Many Christians and others who consider themselves
patriots seeing the actor who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ and now plays a heroic man rescuing children
in the jungles of South America will without thinking believe such horrid lies.
This is what happened to too many Germans during the Nazi years. They excused
and followed monsters because they believed the stories that the Jews were
destroying their nation, their families and their culture. Today people are
being asked to believe that many in Hollywood, the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and Democrats
are stealing children, raping, torturing, and killing them for their blood.
The person who follows the conspiracies touted by
Caviezel may finally attempt to solve these problems, which are based on lies,
by political means and/or violence. That is what happened with the incident
called Pizza/gate. Some conspiracy advocates kept insisting that there was a
pizza parlor in Washington D.C. where elite democrats (The Clintons for one)
were holding children, torturing and killing them for their blood. One man
hearing this was so incensed he went there with a rifle meaning to rescue
children. As it turned out there were no kidnaped children and although shots were
fired no one was hurt. The man was sentenced to prison.
In a recent blog posting entitled We cannot promote conspiracies and still be
prepared to speak of the one who is Truth.I wrote, “We
cannot promote conspiracies and still be prepared to speak of the one who is
Truth. We cannot major in our own particular ideology over the truth of the
triune God of the Bible. Our urgency, if we are faithful, whether apologist or
simply follower of Jesus, must be to clear away the rubbish of false doctrine
which includes conspiracies. It is to make the path clear so that others can
freely rejoice in Truth as they submit to the Lordship of Christ.” Our children
are in trouble—they need us to major in truth and in their safety.
When words such as suffering, cross bearing, humility,
repentance and forgiveness are spoken the Christian generally feels drawn into
a familiar circle. It is a hard circle, but full of the warmth, compassion and
love of Jesus. It is rarely full of glory or worldly victory or great
prosperity, it may be full of sorrow and even despair. But Jesus, He remains
within the circle.
This article is about a festering “Christian” movement
preparing to bypass the cross and insisting on glory, worldly victory and great
prosperity. I am returning to issues I have written about in the past, over
thirty years ago. Then it was family and church members entering my office with
tapes and booklets asking me to review them and explain what their family or
friend was involved in. Now it is a movement turning political and dangerous,
marrying the Christian name to ideas of vengeful violence.
Years ago writing about two heretical religious movements
I saw they were so connected that I could see them merging into one large
movement. One group was Christian Identity, a movement of anti-Semites who
believed that most white people were descended from ancient Israel, and that
the actual Jews were the literal children of Satan.
The other group, often referred to as the Manifested Sons
of God, believe they will overcome and destroy evil and even death before the
return of Jesus; these two groups were so mixed that I eventually wrote a paper
on the Manifested Sons of God which contained quotes from both groups. And then
I focused on the racist group and wrote Christian
Identity: A “Christian” Religion for White Racist.
Recently I read three books on the New Apostolic Reformation,
a movement that contains adherents to the Manifested Sons of God teaching. All of
the books are written by Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett.The books are: Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and
New Age Practices in the Church; A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical
Response to a Worldwide Movement; and God’s
Super Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement. The
books reminded me of my past papers on the Restoration
Movement and The Manifested Sons of God.
The movements I wrote about were the very early beginnings
of the movements Pivec and Geivett have written about. Their information is
excellent. They not only write about the heretical ideas but analyze them from
a strong biblical point of view.
Recently I wrote about Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Scott
McKay who are part of the far right and hold many conspiracy views.[1] They all, along with
others such as Julie Green who is considered a prophet and Eric Trump the son
of past president Donald Trump, are a part of Clay Clark’s The Reawaken America
Tour, and many have connections to the New Apostolic Reformation. While pastors
and writers such as Lance Wallnau and Eric Metaxas may not have attended the
tour they have interacted with and interviewed many participants including Clay
Clark. The movement’s connections are growing within the far right political
groups.
Among many of them one hears that God isn’t ready for the
tribulation so Christians must fight against the so-called globalists, Marxists
and Democrats in order to delay it. From Eric Metaxas [2]one hears that if
Christians don’t fall in line, obeying the political ideology pushed by the far
right, a greater evil than the Holocaust will happen. Pastor Michael Petro a
Manifested Sons of God teacher suggests to Bo Polny, his video guest, that the
early church taught that God would “pull a remnant out of the church then God
will cloth them in the glory that Adam lost and they will pull the greatest
revival that’s ever been seen.” Polny agrees with him.[3]
In their speeches and sermons atonement is rarely
mentioned but when it is, it is sadly connected to political salvation. God is going
to help Christians overcome and rule the nations by destroying their enemies. In
a slide show Bo Polny, one of the supposed prophets, is predicting what he
calls the Haman effect, a televised hanging of the movement’s enemies.[4] Some are predicting a
catastrophe with banks and financial institutions in many countries failing and
most wealth, meaning all gold, silver and real-estate, falling into the hands
of the Christians who belong to this movement. And some antisemitism is
connected to this particular prediction since several refer to the banks as
controlled by the “Khazarian Mafia” which is simply a name taken from a
Baltic tribe that converted to Judaism and is mythicized by several members of
The Reawaken America Tour into evil conspirators.
There are two ways open to followers of Jesus in this
moment. One is biblical consisting of both quietness in lifestyle (1Thess 4:11)
and courage in confession. The other comes from the father of lies and lifts up
sensuality, pride, a security that is tied to human strife and manipulation.
Some theologians refer to the two as the difference between a theology of glory
and a theology of the cross.[5] The first seeks constant
victory, material blessings and supernatural events; the other clings to Jesus,
accepting a cross that mirrors His.
The first doesn’t begin erroneous, it begins with the truthful
understanding that God is the creator who is powerful. (Rom. 1:19-20) But the
kindness and compassion of God understood in the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus is not known by simply finding God in creation. God’s revelation in
scripture is Jesus Christ and God’s gift through Him of forgiveness of sins and
everlasting life. While many in the NAR movement and those on the extreme right
speak of God, even Jesus and salvation, they focus, as I have noted, on God’s
power, vengeance and His material blessings. They see supernatural signs as
proof of their own righteousness and correctness predicting a great revival
when people see how the world’s wealth has fallen into their hands.
The second way Christians are called in this moment, and
that by the Holy Spirit, is the way of the cross. We are called to live a life
that is often full of suffering. We are called to live our life in quietness,
confident only in the knowledge of our relationship to our Lord and our hope in
the resurrection.
And we are called to make our confession to others
including both the far left and the far right.
Lance Wallnau, one of the New Apostolic Reformation
leaders, teaches there is a difference between the Jesus who came to suffer for
our sins and the end times Jesus; not in his person but in his attitudes and
function. Wallnau sees the first as the compassionate Christ and the end times
Jesus as the vengeful warrior. But Jesus does not change, As Hebrews states He is
“the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb 13:8).” He is always the
compassionate Lord and He is always the ruling King.
The problem with Wallnau’s teaching about Jesus coming
back as a wrathful warrior is not this image, but rather his teaching that
Christians must now become more like the end times Jesus in their ministry
seeking power in the various cultural vocations including government and education.
But rather Jesus called His followers, before His return, to abide in Him, to
make disciples, to pray for rulers and individuals, to pray for deliverance
from human evil and immorality, to care for those in need. We are not called to
seek power, position or wealth in his name.
Yes, Christians have vocations in this world, doctors, teachers,
senators, home keepers to name a few, but those vocations are not meant to be
political attempts to defeat enemies.
This festering movement consisting of heretical pastors,
so called prophets and apostles, political extremists and the people they are seducing
may in the end scatter, find darker visions and fade into nothingness. Or they
may become connected to an elected leader and believe they are fulfilling their
own prophecies. They may even attempt to fulfill their darker violent visions. Prayers
for them and their followers. Prayers for the Church.
But
sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 4:15).
[5]
Gene Edward Veith Jr.. The Spirituality
of the Cross, (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2011); New
Dictionary of Theology, Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright, Editors, J.I.
Packer, Consulting Editor, The Theology of the Cross, R.J. Bauckham. (Downers
Grove: intervarsity Press: 1988).
Sometime around 2011, 2012, my husband and I were
boarding a plane on our way to a Presbyterian renewal meeting. It was an event
meant to discuss forming a new Presbyterian denomination.We discovered that many other Presbyterians
were also boarding and many of them were carrying a book by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Some
of us sensed renewal and courage in the book. I even used some thoughts out of
the book to blog about the politics of 2016, Donald
Trump, allowing himself to be an idol: playing with the Führer Principlenot realizing that Metaxas evolving politically and religiously would, over
the years, severely disagree with my posting.
Recently someone sent me a link to Metaxas speaking as
a guest on James Robison’s show The
Stream.[1]
He was being interviewed by Robison about his new book Letter to the American Church. Metaxas has been interviewed by many
evangelical pastors and has spoken at many evangelical churches about his book.
Many will hear only his warning about their silence on abortion, transgenderism
and same sex marriage, issues that are troubling evangelical and orthodox Christians.
They may not hear his underlying attempts at justifying ultra conservative
politics over the proclamation of the gospel. Many will not understand or
realize that Metaxas is, probably unintentionally, attacking their faith and
their vocation.
Metaxas is using Bonhoeffer, the church in Nazi
Germany and the Holocaust to warn the American Church that if they are silent
they will be the cause of an event worse than the Holocaust. In his interview
with Robison he insists that the warnings are not his but God’s. Metaxas
states:
“Of course it’s not me
talking when you title a book Letter to
the American Church I’m not arrogant enough to think that this is a letter
from Eric Metaxas to the amer… this is in the tradition of letters to the
Philippians. … You know you want to write exactly what you think the Lord is
saying”
Metaxas goes on
to say, “what I believe the Lord is trying to say in this book is exactly what
he said through Bonhoeffer to the German Church which they did not listen to.”
He goes on to portray Bonhoeffer as the prophet that the church in Germany did not
listen to and he blames most of the church in Germany for causing the Holocaust.
I see four problems with Letter to the American Church. First, although Metaxas does not, in
his book, claim it is God’s word to the American church, still he has done so
in public. But only Scripture is God’s word to the Church.
Second, Metaxas lays out a simplistic history of the
church in Nazi Germany and uses it to hold the American Church accountable for
a future social disaster that is greater than the Holocaust. Third, Metaxas’
goes beyond concerns of orthodox Christians and includes what he refers to as globalism,
which has nothing to do with biblical principles and is generally part of the
debate about nationalism and isolationism. It is a very political term. Fourth, and I
believe this is the most troubling problem, Metaxas plays with biblical
doctrine attempting to water down such teaching as salvation by faith alone and evangelizing/preaching the gospel, in order to
emphasize the church’s need to be political.
Of the German church Metaxas does write in chapter
five of the difference between the Confessing Church pastors and the German
Christians but he only refers by name to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoller
and Karl Barth. Metaxas writes of the drafting of the Barmen Declaration,
declaring “It essentially said that the German state must not and could not
co-opt the Church, that the sanctity and separation of the Church from the state
must be clear.”[2]
Yet the Barmen Declaration said so much more, it begins with the essential
truth of the Church, it begins with the Gospel, the word of God.
…1.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by
me.” (John14:6) “Truly, truly I say unto you, he who does not enter the
sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a
robber … I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (John 10:1,9.)
Jesus Christ, as he is
attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear
and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false
doctrine, as through the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source
of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other
events and powers, figures and truths as God’s revelation.”[3]
Often, in Letter
to the American Church, Metaxas is both outwardly and subtly pleading with
the Church to fight its battles in the political arena more so than proclaiming:
the gospel. He believes the Church must change its tactics because of the
changing times. But Barmen places the Gospel as the priority of the Church.
Karl Barth, who Metaxas acknowledges and who is the main author of Barmen
(Bonhoeffer was in London pastoring when the synod of Barmen was held) writes
in his small booklet, Theological
Existence Today:
Of course something has
to be done; very much so; but most decidedly nothing other than this, viz. that
the Church congregations be gathered together again, but aright and anew in
fear and great joy, to the Word by means of the Word. All the crying over the
Church will not deliver the Church. Where the Church is the Church she is
already delivered. Let persecution be never so severe, it will not affect her!
‘Still’ it is said, ‘still, shall the City of God abide,
lusty beside her tiny stream’ (Psalm xlvi. 5; Luther’s translation).[4]
Metaxas too often merges the two differing church
groups, the German Christians and the Confessing Church, using them as straw
men in order to make his point that the silence of the church in Germany was
the cause of the Holocaust and that the Church in America might also become a
cause of disaster. There was a group of churchmen, the German Christians, who
sought to gain power, political power, by aligning with a tyrant, a madman who
constantly sought power and lied about his intentions to protect the Christian
faith. His religion was in a positive Christianity with no place for the Jesus
of the cross.
The German Christians did not cause the Holocaust but
they did contribute to it by their political maneuvering and their
unfaithfulness to the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ. They too had no place
for a suffering Savior.
There was a true Church, the Confessing Church, yes
weak, and sometimes silent when they needed to speak out but nonetheless faithful
to Christ holding to the teachings of the Word. Dean G. Stroud, editor of the
book, Preaching in Hitler’s Shadow writes
of the pastors preaching the gospel in such a way that Hitler and Nazism was
confronted. He writes:
Compared to Christ how
small Hitler appeared. Against the horrible distortion of words by Goebbels and
his propaganda machine the Christian in the pulpit offered the truth of the
gospel and the integrity of the “word made flesh.” In so doing certain themes
stand out in these sermons of opposition: the authority of Jesus Christ; the
sovereignty of God; both the Old and New Testaments as Holy Scripture; the
purity of the church; the certainty of God’s judgement on Germany for
immorality and for failure to love the neighbor, especially the Jewish brother
and sister; the relevance of the gospel after the European Enlightenment and in
spite of Nazi pseudoscience and paganism; and the gospel’ insistence that
Christians must risk even their lives for the truth of Christianity. [5]
This leads to my biggest concern with Letter to the American Church. Metaxas
plays with some basic biblical doctrines in an attempt to justify politics and advocacy
over the preaching of the Gospel. Writing of Luther’s attempts at justification
through his own works and his delight in the free gift of grace he found in
Scripture, Metaxas states:
But in his understandably
giddy joy, Luther may sometimes have gone a bit farther than necessary, or at
least opened the door for others to do so. For example, when he translated
Romans 3:28 from the original New Testament Greek into German, Luther added
the single word “alone” to the following sentence: ‘For we hold that one is
justified by faith apart from the law.’ Luther’s version was, ‘Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith alone
without the deeds of the law.’ Luther felt the need to add that word to underscore
what for him was essentially the central idea in the universe, and he may be
forgiven for this. [6]
Metaxas in his attack goes on to write:
We might say that Luther
had in his zeal made an idol of his idea of faith, so that the genuine faith to
which God calls us was crowded out.[7]
Bringing this idea to the question of the Church in
Germany during the Nazi years and the American Church today, Metaxas writes:
The phrase ‘faith alone’
had made the Christian faith so simple—and ultimately so thin and
one-dimensional—that over time it was easily and blithely assented to by nearly
everyone in the German nation, so that Bonhoeffer wrote about it in the Cost of Discipleship.[8]
However countering Metaxas’ opinions about Luther’s
translation is information on the web site Reformation
Room. Luther was not attempting to develop new doctrine but was
concerned with translation. He was “simply striving to bring the precision of
the Greek into the German.” And while it is mainly Roman Catholics who dispute
his translation still many of them except it. For instance Timothy George,
Associate Professor of historical theology and church history at the Southern
Baptist theological Seminary in Louisville, author of Theology of the Reformers, places a note under his commentary on
Luther’s use of faith alone:
Luther did not of course invent this phrase.
The German Bible published at Nurnberg in 1483 translated Galatians 2:16 as
‘gerechtfertigt … nur durch den Glauben.’ [justified by faith alone] Further
the term sola fide was well
established in the Catholic tradition having been used by Origen, Hilary,
Chrysostom, Augustine, Bernard, Aquinas, and others but without Luther’s
particular nuances.[9]
Going further Metaxas mentions that Bonhoeffer in his Cost of Discipleship wrote about
Luther’s translation and its bad influence on the German population. But the
truth is Bonhoeffer never accused Luther’s translation, nor joy in grace alone,
of being the reason the German Christians became so lukewarm. He in fact uses
Luther to refute their lazy discipleship.Bonhoeffer writes:
When he spoke of grace,
Luther always implied as a corollary that it cost him his own life, the life
which was now for the first time subjected to the absolute obedience of Christ.
Only so could he speak of grace. Luther had said that grace alone can save, his
followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But left out the
invariable corollary.There was no need
for Luther to always mention that corollary explicitly for he always spoke as
one who had been led by grace to the strictest following of Christ.[10]
Metaxas believes he is calling the Church to a
righteous cause. Yes, Christians and others must speak against the killing of
the unborn, for the sacredness of marriage between man and \ woman and speak
against the mutilation of the body in order to claim a new gender identity. But
the calling of the Church is much deeper. It is not a call to politics but a
call to the cross, to the suffering Savior—a call to the gospel. Faith is a
gift that God gives through Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in Ephesians:
“For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph.
2:8,9 NASB)
Even the good works we are called to are prepared by
God so we fulfill His purposes as a gift.
For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.(Eph. 10 NASB)
Rather than applauding Metaxas’ attack on “grace
alone” the Church should be frightened at the possibility of a new, perhaps old,
darkness entering the Church.
[2]
Eric Metaxas, Letter to the American
Church, (Salem Books: Washington D.C. 2022) 43.
[3]
Arthur C. Cochrane, The Church’s
Confession Under Hitler, appendix VII, ( Westminster: Philadelphia 1961)
239
[4] Karl
Barth, Theological Existence To-Day: A
plea for theological freedom, ( Hodder and Stoughton: London 1933) 77,78.
[5] Dean
C Stroud, editor, Preaching in Hitler’s
Shadow: Sermons of Resistance in the Third Reich, (William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company: Grand Rapids 2013) 48.
