Go To Church More!
By Gunnar Anderson
Kyrka och Folk Nr. 39 24th Sept. 2015
Translated by Bror Erickson
Go to church more, immerse yourself in the Christian
message, and confess your faith.” This summarizes German Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s recent admonition that she gave during a speech at the University of
Bern on the third of September where she received an honorary doctorate. This
was her response when asked what she wanted to do to protect Europe against
Islamization.
Instead of feeling anxious about believing Muslims she
thinks that we should be bold in our own faith, and gain better knowledge about
the same.
“We still have every opportunity and every freedom to pledge
ourselves to our religion if we practice it and believe in it. Do we even have
the courage to say that we are Christians? (www.signum.se).
We all have reason to receive Merkel’s admonition. But the
question is, what message would we encounter in the churches. Within many
church walls something is heard that is in direct conflict with that which we
encounter in the Holy Scriptures. For example, the pastors of Stockholm’s Great
Church (Stora Kyrka) recently made it clear that they do not believe that Jesus
is the only way to God, but that other religions can lead one in the right
direction also.
The diocese has been notified of this, but it is unlikely
that anyone there will have any objections. We do not need to go too far back
in time to find church leaders who reacted very strongly to such serious abuses
of the Lord’s name. The fall has come incredibly fast.
The great threat against Christendom and the Christian
inheritance in our lands is not Muslims fleeing here, but the widespread apostasy
within the church. “Did God really say…?” To this day this is the devil’s
winning concept. The opposition to the misleading forces have broken down as
the questioning of God’s word has gained acceptance.
Instead of God’s word judging and assessing our lives, men
have sat as judges over God’s word. And when one begins to weed from the Bible
such things that one finds uncomfortable, or too offensive to human reason, one
also throws out the salvation of man. The prophetic and apostolic word is the
foundation upon which Christianity is built. (Eph. 2:20)
Islam is a religion that is growing strong in Europe
primarily through refugees and by having larger families. And the radical
direction that persecutes Christianity harshly in other parts of the world, is
extremely challenging for our society.
But the Christian church is not driven by fear. She knows
that Jesus is Lord, that he has all authority in heaven and on earth, and is
with his congregation regardless of what she encounters.
Jesus has a clearly delineated chief task: To forgive sins,
to clothe people in eternal righteousness that he won for us. Every single man
has the right to hear this message. God does not desire that any one of them
redeemed by the blood of Jesus should be lost but he wants them to be saved for
eternity. Do you who read this want the same?!
It is critical that congregations faithfully keep to God’s
word and that we individual Christians live close to the Lord in worship, Bible
Study and prayer. Then the light can shine clearly in the spiritual darkness.
For this reason there is also something critical found in
the congregation’s most important task: to regularly celebrate the divine
service where consummate proclamation of God’s word is central. Resources are
limited, so invest them in Sunday worship. Such congregations need to be
encouraged and many new ones need to be built up across the land.
Through the centuries the church has been “accustomed” to
live side by side with confessors of other faiths. In many places in the world today,
this means that Christians are exposed to harsh persecution, even while we hear
that large crowds, not the least Muslims, are converting to faith in Jesus. The
light of God’s word shines clearly in the darkness, and as it gets darker it is
seen more clearly.
Our spiritual enemy wants us to be afraid, stunned and
paralyzed. But if we give ourselves time to listen to Jesus we understand that
he has overcome and conquered the evil one, and all this evil on the cross. And
the light shines in the darkness, and darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)
1 comment:
Merkel should have qualified her statement and encouraged others to go to not just any church.....but to a "faithful" church, of which there are only a minority in secularist, globalist, internationalist, diversity first....Germany. As she has now opened the floodgates to a half million primarily Muslims despite any objections from her countrymen, the demographic changes are too drastic to avoid partisan violence in the years to come. Muslims follow the bigotry and racism of the Koran and Sharia law, and only a remnant would be courageous enough to actually be converted to Christianity. The economic benefits of migrating to Germany will not suffice if there are not enough jobs, putting aside the vast cultural divide between Muslims and Western Europeans. The result, in all nations past and present, where Muslim populations are significant .....is always bloodshed. Islam simply does not tolerate other religions period. Christians are called to evangelize, true enough, but we are also called to be wise. Opening the door to large Islamic populations of refugees, while rich Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia and others accept none....is very disconcerting. The ordinary German citizen who works hard and does not subscribe to the delusions of progressives will no doubt feel great trepidation as the German culture is transformed overnight into a Muslim enclave in the name of diversity....well intentioned but misplaced notions will destroy this country from within.
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