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MAY --- 2003 --- JUNE
| News and Notes |
| "How Much Pollution Can the Christian Soul Tolerate?" - c.e.c. - |
| Psalm 32:1-5 - r.w.s. - |
| Despising of God's Word... -Luther - |
N e w s - and - N o t e s
U Reformation Lutheran Church in Tinley Park, IL
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." Matthew 10:32
U Eternal Savior Ev. Lutheran Church in Arbor Vitae, WI
U Thank-You
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"How Much Pollution
Can the Christian Soul Tolerate?"
(reprint of ILC Journal Sept./Oct. 1991 issue)
I f we were to choose a topic which is first and foremost in the majority of nations of the world today, the topic (excluding the subject of world peace) would almost certainly be the pollutants that permeate the environment in which all mankind must live. In the past two or three decades ecologists have been very successful in educating people from all walks of life about the importance of a pollution-free environment. Air (oxygen), water, and food ingested proportionately, are the basic elements which are required to sustain physical human life. And while the body can tolerate small amounts of pollutants in these elements, large amounts - or even small amounts over an extended period of time - of pollutants are as deadly poison which renders the body physically dead.
T he individual who advocates a pollution-free environment, then, is to be commended. Yet, it is sad that even among many so-called "conservative" Christians a clean environment, as it pertains to the physical body, is advocated so highly, while the pollutants which kill the soul, in many instances, are not even considered and therefore not recognized for the dangers they pose.
I n regard to the soul the only truly pollution-free environment is to be found where only the true (pure) Word of God is found. For just as the physical body must have pure air, water, and food to sustain it, the soul must receive its sustenance from the pure Word of God. It is the Word of God in all Its truth and purity that brought us to faith, and it is that same Word of God that keeps us in faith. To this end God gave us in His Word two great doctrines, namely the Law and the Gospel.
F rom the Law we learn that we are all sinners - "...the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth..." (Genesis 8:21) and that "there is none righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:10) (Psalm 14:1) - justly deserving of God's temporal and eternal punishment. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:20), "For the wages of sin is death;" (Romans 6:23).
Y et, God in His mercy has "...no pleasure in the death of him that dieth..." (Ezekiel 18:32), and "...is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish..." (II Peter 3:9), and gave us the Law to cause us to despair of our own work and prepare us for the Gospel. That is, by the Law the sinner is brought to the knowledge of his lost condition. From the Gospel we learn that salvation is an absolutely free gift of God received through the faith He gives us in His Word - faith in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who has suffered the full punishment for all sin.
G od's Word, then, if we liken It to food, is food for the soul. For example I Peter 2:2 tells us: "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby." (Also Jeremiah 15:16, Psalm 119:103, etc.). God's Word is "that good part" which Mary chose while her sister troubled herself preparing an elaborate meal for the physical body, and Mary was commended by Jesus for her choice. (Luke 10:42) Think of it, what is sweeter or more comforting to the soul that is near despair over the guilt of a particular sin than the words of a passage such as John 3:16? - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". The sweetness and comfort of the Gospel consists in this; the sinner - man, woman, or child of any nationality - who believes in Jesus Christ as his only Lord and Savior from sin, death and hell has a healthy soul which will, on the last day, be rejoined with his own, yet, glorified body to spend eternity in the glories of heaven.
I t behooves us, then, in order that our souls might remain healthy, to strive to keep only the true (un-polluted) Word of God in our midst. To this end we must be ever mindful of the polluted Word that exists in the world today and the danger it poses. (For those who think this is not a matter of life and death, hear this and hear it well: "...he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18) and many other passages).
W e are saved by God's grace alone through faith, and our faith itself is a gift of God received solely through His Word (Romans 10:17). Therefore when we tolerate a polluted Word of God we are placing our - faith, and thus our souls - in grave danger. For true faith must be based on the true Word of God.
O ur first line of defense in keeping God's Word pure among us is to "Search the Scriptures;" (John 5:39) for there we not only learn how we may lay hold on eternal life, but also how to identify a portion of God's Word which has been polluted. God's Word is truth (John 17:17) and will always suffice to up-hold and defend the Truth against even the most poisonous and subtle error (pollutant).
S ome examples :
T his common statement is very generic, very believable and very false! According to that statement what god are we talking about? An angel? The man upstairs? Allah? Mother nature? Indeed all these and many other names are often used in reference to a higher being. But when we "search the Scriptures" we learn that all these together are not the true God. The only true God of heaven and earth is the Triune God. Not three gods but one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He is also a very jealous God and will share His glory with no other. (Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 5:9, Deuteronomy 6:15, Isaiah 42:8, Isaiah 48:11). It does indeed matter which church we attend. The proper Church is the Church where the true God is worshipped - where His Word is taught and the Sacraments are rightfully administered.
R EPRESENTED? Think how subtle this false statement is. You don't actually see Christ's body and blood when you eat the bread and drink the wine, so those visible elements must represent, right? Human reason would say yes to this question, but when we "search the Scriptures" we learn that on the night in which He was betrayed Christ instituted the Lord's supper thus: Take, eat; this is My body... drink ye... this is My blood... (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20, I Corinthians 11:24-25). Granted God does not pinpoint an exact moment of the real presence, but He does say that at some time during the Sacrament, i.e. the words of institution, the distribution together with the act of eating and drinking, there is the real presence of the body and blood of Christ.
W hoever upholds this statement is either completely ignorant of God's Word which very clearly warns Christians to "...mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." (Romans 16:17), or has no concern whatever about upholding the Truth. "Any church" is a very broad statement which includes anything from a truly orthodox congregation to one which is the most heterodox. We often think of heterodox churches as being only those which openly, and sometimes vociferously, teach falsely concerning the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the Lord's Supper, Baptism, or any of the other great doctrines set forth in the Bible. But also to be included under the definition of heterodox are those churches which would purposely omit or even refuse to teach some Bible truth in order to avoid disagreement or controversy and to promote greater growth in membership, etc. Such congregations are already established in this country and are doing quite well by worldly standards. Note for example the following quotes from NEWSWEEK and TIME reprinted in the December 17, 1990 issue of the CHRISTIAN NEWS:
H ow's that for "ANY CHURCH"?? the "CUSTOMER" in other words can come to ALL Saints Church and hear and do whatever pleases him without confessing any "LOYALTY" (faith?) to Christ, to God's Word, or to anything else. We might also assume that the name CHRISTian could not be used in a congregation where the members are from such various religious backgrounds, lest someone be offended.
A nother quote, in part, from the above mentioned publication:
A s can be seen from these examples the name "CHURCH" attached to a building (or to a group of people) does not guarantee that the Word of God is upheld within. Here again if we "search the Scriptures" we learn that the only church we should attend is the one where Christ (not the "CUSTOMER") is king (Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 2:2, Matthew 21:5, I Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, etc.) and the member is called not "CUSTOMER", but CHRISTian because of his "LOYALTY" (faith) toward Christ and His Gospel. (John 8:31, John 14:23). This Church is not measured by Its numbers nor by Its complex outward appearance, but by Its faithfulness to the Scriptures in feeding the flock of believers which Christ has purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Feeding the flock includes not only balanced portions of Law and Gospel on a regular basis, but also continual warnings concerning the polluted Word of God that virtually surrounds the flock today.
I n Ezekiel 34:18-19 God likens shepherds (theologions, pastors, etc.) who take His Word and pollute It with their own ideas and interpretation to cattle that stand in the middle of a stream to drink pure water while the flocks downstream must drink water polluted with the residue of manure and urine washed from their feet.
O ur title question then in figurative language is this: How much dung and urine (pollution) can the Christian soul tolerate? These elements, even in small amounts, in a stream of water pollute the whole stream. Or as the Bible says "...a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump". (I Corinthians 5:6) (Galatians 5:9, etc.) Just as the slightest bit of yeast will soon penetrate and change the nature of a lump of dough, the slightest error will quickly penetrate and corrupt God's Word and influence all the doctrines of the Church.
I n this life the Christian soul is exposed to certain pollutants which cannot be avoided. For example, we cannot avoid our own flesh which constantly wars against our soul. Also in the workplace and on the street we are exposed to all kinds of pollutants which contaminate the only food that keeps our soul in good health, namely God's Word. It is next to spiritual suicide to expose ourselves further by going into a church, or into a group where we know God's Word is not pure.
A s for how much pollution we can tolerate, the only correct answer is - absolutely none, for if we tolerate just one false doctrine it means we must set aside some truth. Then it becomes progressively easier to set aside another truth in order to tolerate another falsehood to where just like yeast in a lump of dough, or urine in a stream of water, it becomes impossible to separate the truth from a lie.
L et us therefore by the grace of God be ever-mindful of this: the only true hope of salvation is in Jesus Christ the man who is also God. Listen to what the Scripture tells us in Jesus' own words: "I and my Father are one." (John 10:30) "...the Father is in Me, and I in Him." (John 10:38) Also John 14 with emphasis on verse 6: "...I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." There is absolutely no other way of salvation than through faith in Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh (John 1:1-3 &14).
G od's Word is food for the soul, and to tolerate any variation from Its true teaching is just as deadly to the soul as rat killer in food, or toxins in the water, or carcinogens in the air are to the physical body.
T herefore "...receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls." (James 1:21).
c.e.c.
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Psalm 32:1-5
(reprint from ILC Journal Jan./Feb. 1994 issue)
Psalm 32 :1
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."
The opposite of this is: Cursed is he whose transgression is not forgiven. Therefore the man who is certain that his transgression, with all its attendant guilt and punishment, is forgiven by his God is blessed indeed. But how can anyone be sure of this? Well, says the Psalmist, that blessed man's sin is also "covered." By this he draws attention to Christ's blood and righteousness which covers and protects us from the wrath of God's law over our sins and their miserable consequences. The Old Testament Psalmist, David, is thinking of the ark of the covenant which was in the holy of holies in the tabernacle. It was a type and sign of Christ, our Lord. In the ark were the two tables of stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments written by the hand of God Himself. In order to cover the two tables of stone, the Ten Commandments in the ark, which always expose our sins and condemn us, the Lord Himself designed a covering for the ark called the mercy seat. It was made of pure gold and placed on top of the ark in order to foreshadow that faith in Christ (which is compared to gold, I Peter 1:7) covers sin. Not only that but the golden cover itself had to be purified with blood once a year on Yom Kippur, the great day of Atonement. This doubly assures us that sin is indeed covered by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. The condemnatory force of the Ten Commandments written on two tables of stone has been covered over by the merit and blood of Jesus Christ. Christ's great sacrifice of His love, of His own heart's blood, shed for us is made ours through faith given us a gift by the Holy Spirit via the Word and Sacrament.
Therefore Peter also writes:
"Charity [love] shall cover the multitude of sins" I Peter 4:8.
For Christians, like their Savior, are not to rejoice in the sins of others but are to cover them to the best of their ability, even as Christ always covers our sin before the Father with His intercession for our poor, sinful souls. Christ's blood was shed for the sins of the world and because of that God has pronounced the entire world to be righteous and holy before Him. Whoever believes this has the forgiveness and covering for his sin. This forgiveness and covering is sure and certain to everyone not because we believe it, but because our God says and promises it. His Word and promise are surer than heaven and earth. That is how certain you may be that your "transgression is forgiven," and your "sin is covered."
Psalm 32 :2
Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
This little verse has one of the most important words our poor sinful souls shall ever know. The secular world around us lauds COMputers computing this, that and the other thing. The creed of the man might well be this: Blessed is the man to whom there is no end of computers, computing, calculating, reckoning, charging, counting up with assorted blips, bleeps and little horns blowing. That is fine, for the world needs such things chiefly to pursue its god Mammon. However, the word in our verse is not COMpute but IMpute.
This word, "impute" is the very essence, substance, meaning and action of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, beloved, we keep adding up our sins with all their iniquity and guilt - nor can we do anything else since we are born sinners in whose "flesh dwelleth no good thing" [Romans 7:18] and our gracious God and Lord instead of computing our sin and guilt and imputing them to us until marked "paid in full" long ago imputed all of our sins, yes, charged the whole bill to His Son and imputed all his righteousness to us by faith.
The Apostle Paul makes much of this in Romans 4. He praises up father Abraham and agrees that if there is any man who could be justified, declared righteous by God, on the basis of his works Abraham was the man. He was a real gentleman, generous, courageous, courteous, honest, etc. He surely had many of those virtues in which men glory and exalt. But Abraham himself did not glory in this because he knew that his works, be they ever so good and exemplary, merited no glory or consideration BEFORE GOD.
Before Him all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. [Isaiah 64:6] Therefore, you will notice that Abraham is never called the "father of good men" but the "father" of believers. He believed in the Savior who was to come; he laid hold of Christ's righteousness 1940 years before he was born of a woman. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." Christ says (John 8:56). And that faith was imputed unto him for righteousness. Romans goes on to describe this imputed righteousness.
Yes, beloved in Christ, this is the center, core and essence of our faith, this little word "impute." Our sins were imputed, charged against Jesus Christ, and His righteousnesses were imputed, charged to our account by faith and thus we are saved.
There is no guile, fraud, hypocrisy or deceit in the mouth of such a man for he freely confesses his sins to his God and looks for forgiveness - not in his confession, not in his repentance, not in his resolve to do better, but in the merit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU, (THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS) Jer. 23:6. Therefore, dear friend, to impute is better than to compute. It is devastating to have the Law of God calculate and compute our sin - that crushes us. It is freedom and heaven itself that Christ our Lord does not impute our sins to us but imputes His matchless, flawless righteousness to us by faith.
Psalm 32 :3
"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long."
What can be more devastating than a sinner's conscience once it is aroused by its sin? As long as the sinner keeps his sin quiet and fails to confess it to his God he vainly hopes that somehow his guilt will go away and God will forget it. But to no avail for that homing device which our God has installed into each and every human being, namely, Judge Conscience, takes all such matters of error and sin seriously and will not let the heart go unchallenged. When King David kept silence concerning the sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah, he was in abject and total misery. His bones waxed old, he aged rapidly, and knew no rest. His conscience was roaring out his guilt against him inside as long as his heart remained firm and unbroken in its resolve not to confess its sin. Undoubtedly if you incurred the royal wrath of this king in the slightest degree at this time in his life - while he kept silence concerning his sin - he would roar and thunder in fury. When the court preacher, Nathan, told him of the poor man losing his one sheep to the rich man you can almost see David on the throne in a fit of fury crying out: As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: II Sam. 12:5.
It is never pleasant to be around a person with a guilty conscience, one that is suppressed and fails to acknowledge its guilt before God. At such times we do not even like to be around ourselves. And it is not uncommon for such consciences to seek to end their existence and the existence of their owners in this world by self-destruction. Let every person beware of an aroused conscience. It is powerful and in many instances even the ministers of psychobabble tell us that it is guilt alone that fills mental hospitals. When you or someone else is "out of sorts" as they say it may well be caused by the nagging of a bad conscience and such a person can become Mr. or Mrs. Mean in short order. Go ahead, we say, to all the followers of psychobabble, use all the fancy Freudian or non-Freudian terms you wish to try to quiet a bad conscience. Charge it to peer-pressure, society, disadvantagement, disenfranchisement, government, a bad father-mother image, etc, as much as you will, your conscience still will not let you go. Keeping silence before God concerning sin or "internalizing" it, as they say, will make anyone feel older than he is through its roaring all day long.
Psalm 32 :4
"For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah."
The heavy hand of God, once it begins to smite the sinner's conscience, gives him no rest day or night. In the day time he wishes it were night so that blessed sleep might give his poor body some rest. At night he rises up in worry and yearns for the first traces of dawn's light to cross the eastern sky. The hand of God's Law, the Ten Commandments, proves what Paul says: "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." (I Cor. 15:56). At such times the body which God has fashioned and knit together to live in marvelous harmony with the soul often suffers weakness and pain caused by the guilty soul dwelling within. The chronic condition of a guilty conscience, that is, one that fails to confess its sin before its God, is a heavy burden, yes, the very HAND of God.
Ps. 38:1-3 says: "O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin."
Ps. 39:10 writes: "Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand."
Peter expresses it this way as he speaks of how God resists the inborn pride so that it might, by the grace of God in Christ, give way to humility: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty HAND of God, that He may exalt you in due time." [I Peter 5:6]
At such times in a person's life he can almost feel the flames of hell drying out his vital force and energy until he is as spiritually parched as a field in drought.
Martin Luther put it exactly right in the hymn (387:2):
Yea, deep and deeper still I fell,
Life had become a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.
Psalm 32 :5
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah."
The Christian does not confess his sins to his God to let Him know that he sins. The Lord is well aware of our sins before we say a thing to Him about them. Yes, He knows them before we do for He understands our motives and intentions. "...thou understandest my thought afar off." Ps. 139:2. Why then, confess sins to Him? Is that not superfluous since he knows them anyhow? We confess our sins to the Lord to let Him know we know we have sinned. And thus He is justified in His sayings (Rom. 3:4), that is, He knows full well we are sinners and says so: "For all have sinned...". [Romans 3:23] Therefore, when we say "Yes Lord, I know I have sinned" we pronounce His judgment on us (that we are sinners) just, true and right. We clear Him of any blame or guilt when He consigns us to hell through the Law. Not as though He needs to be cleared of blame by us before He can operate properly, but humbly to acquiesce in and agree, "Lord, You are right, I am exactly what You say I am: a poor, lost and condemned sinner."
The publican in the temple justified God by saying: "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." And the Lord God justified him by saying: Yes, you are, but I have let it go and I am applying to you mercy and forgiveness for the sake of Jesus. Jesus, then, said of that publican: "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other" (the Pharisee). [Luke 18:9ff]
The Pharisee did not justify God's judgment that he was a sinner, but thought himself to be dwelling in God's lap because of his good works. God says: You are a sinner. The Pharisee said "No I am not as other men are." Therefore God did not justify him, that is, He did not declare him righteous or "Not Guilty" of sin. Why? Because he felt he had no sin for he trusted in his works. Therefore he thought he had no need of mercy for justification because he had his works.
God has never, does never, and will never justify any one that is not an ungodly sinner, according to that passage.
Now, that is an astounding statement. Our smart aleck sinful reason would say: God justifies the godly. That seems to make sense. But no, God justifies - declares righteous - the ungodly. What does this mean? It means that everyone must become ungodly in his own eyes before God will ever justify him. For who but the sinner needs forgiveness? And who but a lost and ruined creature needs salvation?
Now we want to look at forgiveness: what it is and what it is not; to whom it applies and for what reason it is offered, given and sealed.
"...and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." Psalm 32:5
There is a certain type of "christianity" about today which confuses the forgiveness of sins and the act, state or condition of being without or having no sin. Some believe that once they "accept" Christ as their Savior they stop being sinners. They rise high above the cross of Christ and His shed blood and their souls seem (to them) to fly in the rarefied air of sinlessness. Leaving us poor, common ordinary Christians far behind on our knees at the cross confessing our sins and receiving absolution or forgiveness from our God for the sake of Christ, they speak much of being "born again" christians, that is, a sort of freak hybrid "christian" first class and not just a recruit. To prove that they are really sin-free they make much of gifts such as healing, tongues, testimonies, "full Gospel," etc. All fanatics, charismatics, enthusiasts or Schwarmergeister (as Luther called them) are certain they have "swallowed the Holy Ghost, feathers and all" (as Luther also says of them). Acting as though they are no more burdened with the sinful flesh of us ordinary, second class Christians they divorce "unbelieving" spouses (that is, spouses who have not been properly seized by their unholy spirit and joined to their sect) and consort even sexually with their esteemed "non-sinning" leaders (Koresh, etc.) and above all, in a fit of complete sinlessness and surrender they sign over their money, goods and possessions to their glorious C.O.
Beloved, there is no end to what foolishness and finally tragedies those who follow "sinless" doctrine will descend - as the Waco, Texas debacle shows. Therefore, my friend, make sure you know the difference between the forgiveness of sins and the state or condition of being entirely without sin. First of all beware of a "born again" christian. There is no such thing, never has been; never will be. He who is "born again" of water and the Spirit is a Christian. There is no Christian who is not born again and there is no one who is born again that is not a Christian. It is like a man in the armed forces who thinks he is really a cut or two above others and brags that he is a bone-fide "GI" soldier. Others are only soldiers, poor lowly infantry men, but he is a "GI" soldier. Fact is, every soldier is a GI and a GI is every soldier from General to Privates for they all wear uniforms that are the "government issue" of the armed forces.
Secondly, a true Christian needs the forgiveness of sins for as long as he or she shall live. The only time you or I will never need the forgiveness of sins is when we are safely in heaven. So you have your choice: Be a "sinless" christian and try to fly to heaven on your "testimonies" which are nothing but sin since you trust in them, or stay here with the rest of us poor, sinful people relying on the forgiveness of sins granted through the Gospel and Sacraments and then humbly enter finally into the place where forgiveness is not needed, i.e., heaven. For tell me, how can anyone have his or her sins forgiven if there are no sins to forgive? And if anyone thinks he has no sin any more to forgive then I say: Go over and tangle with the Holy Spirit if you are man enough, for he insists:
Therefore, let us gladly stay with the Psalmist and rejoice with him when the Lord graciously forgives the guilt of his sin. Let us continue to confess our sins to our God and receive the absolution or forgiveness as a welcome shower to bathe our souls - in the blood of Christ pronounced in the Gospel and received in the Sacrament of the Altar.
r.w.s.
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Luther:
The despising of God's Word
brings on bitter punishment.
(The first paragraph by Cordatus, No. 994)
I have lived to see the greatest plague on earth, namely, the despising of God's Word. It is the grossest and most godless wickedness of which the world is capable and which, of necessity, must be followed by the most terrible punishment that can be measured out to this world. If I wanted to curse someone I'd curse him with contemptum Verbi (contempt of God's Word). Then he certainly would have nothing but evil inwardly and outwardly and eternally - all wrapped up in one package and in a fashion even the world could not begin to imitate.
In all the histories one can see that wherever God's Word has been preached in its purity and is later despised judgment soon follows. Contempt of the pure doctrine invariably precedes judgment as is evidenced by the times of Lot, Noah and the Lord Christ. And since, at the present time, there is scarcely a single nobleman, laborer, townsman or farmer that doesn't stomp on the ministers and preachers I'm of the opinion God will severely punish this thanklessness and contempt of God's Word. The preaching ministry has to remain in the world whether the ministry is true or false. The world will not and cannot be without religion, The Turk, also must have his priests and clergymen or he won't be able to maintain his form of religion. But wherever God's Word is despised it wanders away and the true God and divine worship is finally lost.
At another time Dr. Martin Luther said regarding contempt of the divine Word: It is beyond dispute that from the very hour the Word of God comes to a place contempt for it is present. You can see that with the Jews. God sent them the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and others. Finally he sent them Christ, His Son, yes, even the Holy Ghost on Pentecost, mightily moving the apostles who went out into the entire world. They cried out, one and all, "Repent" but nothing helped. They were brought up short: the prophets were killed, Christ crucified and the apostles persecuted! Soon after that Jerusalem lay in shambles. To this day there has been no destruction of a city comparable to that one. That's the way it's going to be in Germany too, now that God's Word is equally despised. I'm convinced that after this present shining forth of the Gospel a tremendous darkness will follow so that you won't be able to hear the Gospel publicly any more from the pulpit. On the heels of this the Judgment Day will arrive.
This excerpt is taken from the book: Luther: on God's Word
81983 The Lutheran Reformation Hour
P.O. Box 16367
St. Louis, Missouri 63125
(this book also available from the ILC Free publications page)
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