A Warning....

Imagine studying the Bible for years. Deep in its truths but getting something so wrong that in the future a warning would be given on one of your greatest works.

I enjoyed listening the other day to a podcast by Marty Duren. This one featured an Historian (Robert Ericksen) that has done extensive study of some theologians during the Third Reich.

Gerhard Kittel was one of those theologians. He co-edited the 10 volume Theological Dictionary of the New Testament(TDNT). His theology changed when he joined a political party - the Nazi party.

So imagine 10-20-30 years from now having someone writing the following about a current theologian in America. This was from this article: The Lasting Influence of Gerhard Kittel, Nazi Theologian

“Theology students are warned that this dictionary was edited by, and contains articles by Nazi theologians whose stated aim was to create a theological foundation for an anti-Jewish, ‘racially pure’ Christianity, and it should therefore be approached with caution.”

Imagine having a warning on your writings due to sacrificing biblical truth for politics. Biblical ethics for patriotic ethics.

Looking at the wish lists of the Nazi party - some seem innocuous - some very worrisome.

Here is one item that was on their 25 item list that was interesting.

All immigration of non-Germans must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who have immigrated to Germany since 2 August 1914, be required immediately to leave the Reich.

When one looks thru the 25 items on the Nazi list - if you would write them in English and change Germany to America many Americans would not find fault. There has always been a view of some that we need a racially pure America

Fortunately some Christians in Germany did find fault-the Bekennende Kirche - or confessing church. They created the Barman declaration -

1. The source of revelation is only the Word of God — Jesus Christ. Any other possible sources (earthly powers, for example) will not be accepted.

2. Jesus Christ is the only Lord of all aspects of personal life. There should be no other authority.

3. The message and order of the church should not be influenced by the current political convictions.

4. The church should not be ruled by a leader ("Führer"). There is no hierarchy in the church (Mt 20, 25f).

5. The state should not fulfill the task of the church and vice versa. State and church are both limited to their own business.

6. Therefore, the Barmen Declaration rejects (i) the subordination of the Church to the state (8.22–3) and (ii) the subordination of the Word and Spirit to the Church

I, along with others are sensing a need to have an Barman declaration for the U.S. Perhaps the time will come for a need. Perhaps some much needed repentance in the church will halt the increasing need for one. Time and the election will tell.

As always we need to search our own hearts. The only authority we stand on is Christ. His word. Not any party platform. Not any national document.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn said - "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart." As Christians we should constantly be searching our hearts.

Search me,God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24