NOTES ON THE CONFESSING CHURCH MOVEMENT: LESSONS TO AMERICA
FROM THE THIRD REICH – PART III

PART III: “RISE OF THE CHURCH MILITANT.”

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death, and those who stagger to the slaughter, Oh hold them back [from their doom]! If you [claim ignorance and] say, ‘See, we did not know this,’ Does He not consider it who weighs and examines the hearts and their motives? And does He not know it who guards your life and keeps your soul? And will He not repay [you and] every man according to his works?” – PROVERBS 24:11-12, AMPC

QUOTES

“Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it.” – ERWIN LUTZER, Author of ‘Hitler’s Cross: The Revealing Story of How the Cross of Christ Was Used as a Symbol of the Nazi Agenda,’ 1998

“As a result of Hitler’s brilliant deception, Christians throughout Germany were convinced that he was ‘God’s man.’ They saw him as more than a political leader: he was a spiritual leader as well. They saw him as their country’s President and as their Christian brother. If Hitler said the German people needed to surrender their firearms, they saw it as their Christian duty to comply; if Hitler said they needed to enact a total surveillance society, they freely gave up their privacy; if Hitler said Germany needed to invade other nations for its security, Christians were among the first to volunteer; and if Hitler said they could only be good Christians if they supported the Nazi Party, they enthusiastically supported the Nazi Party.” – CHUCK BALDWIN, “We Desperately Need The ‘Confessing Church,’ ‘The Rise of the Beast: Coronavirus and Antichrist,’ January 4, 2008; edited

“I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn’t stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That’s all there is to it. Really, nothing more.” – OSKAR SCHINDLER, RIGHTEOUS GENTILE, “A Man for All Reasons,” Interview with ‘Jewish Telegraph Agency,’ January 20, 1972

RESEARCH NEWS 2020

“Is it Still Safe to Be a Jew in America?” – Gary Rosenblatt, ‘The Atlantic,’ March 15, 2020

“Responding to Rise in Campus Anti-Semitism,” Greta Anderson, ‘Inside Higher Ed,’ September 9, 2020

“Emmy Nominated Film ‘Hate Among Us’ Tackles the Rise of Anti-Semitism Worldwide,” Marc Berman, ‘Forbes,’ June 9, 2020

“2019 Saw the Most Anti-Semitic Incidents in at Least 40 Years, ADL Says,” Ben Sales, ‘Jewish Telegraph Agency,’ May 12, 2020

“Why Anti-Semitism Is on the Rise in the United States,” Peter Dreier, ‘Charisma News,’ January 17, 2020

Selah. Selah.

FIRST THOUGHTS

I have written much over the last many months and several years about ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ for the very reasons introduced above. Due to a number of deeply troubling (and dangerous) historical, ideological and spiritual Forces at work in the world over the last Century and more, the American Church in 2020 Refuses to Speak Out on the Matters of the Gravest Concern to thoughtful people everywhere.

THE QUESTION: Why?

Well, I have nearly beaten that ol’ horse half to death, with little impact on the Pulpits of our Nation. But to repeat what is easily documented by the likes of the Barna, Pew, Gallup and a number of other polls to affirm their findings, here you go this one last time.

SEVEN PASTORAL FEARS. Research reported since the Summer of 2014 has demonstrated the following Intensifying Trepidations that hinder Pastors from telling us hard, life-saving Truths concerning Our Times.

Fear of Offending congregants.
Fear of Reduction in tithing.
Fear of Loss of job.
Fear of Controversy.
Fear of Man.
Fear of Not Understanding the Times.
Fear of Admitting being wrong.

All of these overlap, of course, and feed upon one another. It appears that most of our Pastors have developed a collective case of ‘Clay Feet’ – a direct reference to King Nebuchadnezzar’s Vision of the Statue with “toes partly made of iron, partly of clay.” An index of Duplicity or Double-Mindedness among our religious leaders. – cf. Daniel 2:41-43

Yet underneath this Historic Passivity is a vastly more Powerful Reason for such Silence, that crosses the lines between the Spiritual and the Political.

The Apostle Paul fairly shouts this observation across the centuries to every Christian Church and Jewish Synagogue in America. Brace yourselves, since it would appear to me that God is Done with being patient with us.

It’s getting Late, beloved. Late.

“The coming [of the lawless one, the antichrist] is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of [pretended] miracles and signs and delusive marvels—[all of them] lying wonders—And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved.

Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, in order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 THESSALONIANS 2:2, 9-12, AMPC

DID NOT ‘WELCOME’ THE TRUTH. From the Hebrew term, ‘Dechomai’ [δέχομαι], rendered as: “Being warmly receptive to God’s Truth; used in such contexts as ‘being welcoming of God Himself;’ there is a high level of personal, self-involvement here, a reflection of true love for God’s Word; a reaching out eagerly for His Truth; to admit as one’s hope, encouragement, peace and eventual deliverance.”

SENT STRONG DELUSION. In a Mystery of sorts, God sends such people, by whatever name they call themselves, ‘Plané’ [πλάνη]: “A wandering, literally ‘a straying from Orthodoxy or piety;’ to deceive, delude or lead into error; to rove as a tramp (as with a promiscuous, unfaithful woman); a seducing; false representation; illusion, or mistake proceeding from false views.”

JUDGED AND CONDEMNED. From the Greek, ‘Krinó’ [κρίνω]: “To decide; to bring to trial to or try in a solemn judicial manner; to distinguish and separate [good from evil, right from wrong, true from false]; to determine a sentence; to adjudge to punishment; [in this context], ‘to condemn or damn’ – to pronounce to be guilty; to sentence to a penalty; to utter sentence against judicially; to doom; opposed to acquit or absolve.”

PREFER UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. From the Hebrew word, ‘Adkikia’ [ἀδικία]: “Injustice, hurt; the wages of that which is wrong; used to primarily symbolize Mammon or money; iniquity, wickedness; a reference [by God] to evildoers; deceit; a deed violating God’s Law; morally, wrongfulness (of character, life or act); denotes an habitual state of wickedness (i.e., a pattern rather than a single or occasional occurrence).”

COMMENTARY. “God will actually send them a ‘Working of Error,’ that they should believe the Lie. The Lie, of course, is the Antichrist’s claim to be God [or God-like]…From this passage it seems that those who hear the Gospel in this Age of Grace [fast coming to its End] but who do not trust Christ will not have another opportunity to be saved after the Rapture. If men do not believe [and honor] the Lord Jesus now, they will believe the Antichrist then. It says here that they ALL will be judged because of their Unbelief and their Love of Evil [though they vehemently deny it]. This is reminiscent of Luke 14:24, ‘For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste My supper.’” – WILLIAM MACDONALD, ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995; edited

I will let you Armenians and Calvinists battle it out on the matter of proper Interpretation. Just be sure you are correct, since MUCH depends on you rendering. Whatever you decide, know this:

The Words of God which follow are Sharper on this matter than we ever hear from our churches.

JESUS SAID IT PLAIN: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord]…You cannot drink [both] the Lord’s cup and the cup of demons. You cannot share in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons [thereby becoming partners with them].” – MATTHEW 6:24, 1 CORINTHIANS 10:21, AMPC

In common parlance: You cannot have it both ways, beloved. Either all in, or completely out, fully With Christ, or by default, fully Against Christ. No In-between. No Neutral ground. No ‘Hedging between two opinions.’ The Failure of which is Catastrophic:

To be “Cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” forever and ever and ever. – cf. 1 Kings 18:21; Matthew 8:12, 12:30, AMPC

IN SUM. Thus does the Spirit of Antichrist ride maliciously forth in this Era of Lawlessness, almost a Century after Germany’s staggering, willful, reckless Betrayal of God and Truth, Enticing and Seducing especially those known as, ‘The People of the Book.’

Yet our Churches and even many Synagogues appear Mesmerized by Ulysses’ Circean Presence that stares us right in the face every day when we read the News. So, what to do about it, at this Late Hour?

What follows is the only thing I can offer, given Historic Precedent and Biblical Wisdom.

AN AMERICAN ‘CONFESSING CHURCH’

Clearly, indisputably, there is as much a crying need for an American Confessing Church as there ever was in 1930’s Germany. If I am reading the Times accurately, all the more so. Though I had not even thought of this until researching this series, it is even clearer to me as never before, that such a Biblical Remnant is needed.

Right now. Today. This very minute.

FORERUNNERS. Mine is certainly not the first Call for a New Confessing Church, not by a long shot. Here are TWO SUCH CALLS that I am honored to recognize, as ‘Spiritual Forerunners.’

M. G. EASTON defines this term as “One who comes in advance to a place where the rest are to follow, or One who is sent on before as a Scout to take observations. In this sense Christ is our Forerunner, for He has gone into heaven to prepare a place for His people into which He will eventually lead them.” – ‘Illustrated Bible Dictionary,’ Third Edition, 1897; edited

ERIC BUSS. A dear friend of this ministry, addresses this topic in a piece he calls, “Does America Need a Confessing Church?” He starts, rightly, by quoting FRANKLIN GRAHAM on the Ascendency of Donald Trump as President: “I think somehow God put him in this position…for a purpose. I don’t know what that is, but we need to get behind him and support him” (May 2018). Then this crucial declaration from Mr. Buss: “I am on record as saying, ‘There are far worse things than losing [an election], namely, sacrificing everything you believe in order to win.’” Followed by this Powerful Close: “It should set a Spark of Indignation in all of us that our people are being led astray so completely. They are being called to Worship in ‘the High Places’ [of idols], as the Temples/Institutions at our Nation’s Capital and before the seats of power…What makes it most devastating is knowing the lengths to which they will go in order that they may Justify their decision to do so.” – ‘Pissed Off Conservative,’ November 2, 2018; edited

SEUN KOLADE. This time from Nigerian professor writing for London South Bank University titles his essay, “An Urgent Call for the Confessing Church.” He argues passionately against ‘Petty Nationalism thus: “In the past few years, we have seen a rise in political and economic upheavals all over the world. We have seen a rise in trans-border wars in different continents of the world, and the emergence of a new form of international terrorism, exemplified by the so-called ISIS, which has taken the campaign of terror to new depths of brutality and barbarity. To make matters worse, the economic arena has, in the past 10 years, being filled with lots of uncertainties and instabilities…However, it is also important to recognise that a time like this is often used by self-serving demagogues and fascists to steal the hearts of people and take power, under the pretence that they will bring the change people are yearning for. It is right to have grievances and to seek change, but it is even more important to get the response right, and seek for the right change. The Church of Christ in the UK and elsewhere in the world must exercise discernment. We must exercise diligence to separate the wheat from the chaff.” – ‘Baptists Together,’ February 17, 2017; edited

PERSPECTIVE. I purposely included one National example, alongside an International one, to drive home the reality that The Crisis – and its demand for a Confessing Church – is not limited to America. Though I quickly add, that it has been understood for some time now, as Christian Hymnist Arthur Hartsough wrote in 1916:

“As goes America, so goes the World.” Selah.

SIGNATURES OF A CONFESSING CHURCH

In a prescient and articulate article by BISHOP JOSEPH G. MATTERA, of Resurrection Church and Christ Covenant Coalition in Brooklyn, New York, Mattera distinguishes clearly between a Confessing Church and a Compromising Church. I found his analysis compelling and convicting for us Teachers and Pastors.

CHRIST VS. CULTURE. “‘The Confessing Church’ believes Jesus is Lord over all Creation. Hence, they attempt to reflect Christ in every area of culture. ‘The Compromising Church’ has a posture of Accommodation. Hence, the Christ they believe in and preach is shaped by the culture they live in.”

WORD OF GOD VS. OPPOSITION. “Soon in America it is quite possible that it will be illegal to preach from certain passages of the Bible dealing with human sexuality. Because of this, many will alter their theology to fit the culture while the Confessing Church will preach the Word of God in spite of governmental fines, penalties, lawsuits and even serving time in jail.”

KINGDOM OF GOD VS. ETHNICITY. “The German Church during the Nazi era put Nationalism and their Aryan Heritage above the Word of God. Many pastors and believers today view the Scriptures more through the lens of their Ethnicity and National Heritage than through a proper exegesis of Scripture. When, and if, our nation officially makes biblical Christianity illegal, we will soon see who will be the ‘Confessors,’ and who will be the ‘Compromisers.’”

ADJUSTING METHOD VS. MESSAGE. “While it is wise and Biblical for the body of Christ to be ‘Relevant’ to culture regarding the preaching of the Gospel, it should never put being relevant above being Faithful. The Compromising Church puts being relevant before Biblical Faithfulness. Hence, they not only change the Method of preaching but also the Message they preach.”

REMNANT MINORITY VS. CHURCH-STATE. “The Confessing Church ‘Endures’ long seasons of feeling like aliens and strangers in their own communities. The Compromising Church wants to be in the Mainstream of culture more than living in the Divine flow of God’s favor and presence.”

PERSECUTION VS. CELEBRATION. “While the Confessing Church is hunted down and Ostracized by the Humanistic State, the Compromising Church is Celebrated by the Far-Left [and Right] Radicals, and used as a Model of how Church and State should function.”

RESISTANCE VS. CONFORMITY. “The Confessing Church knows that at various seasons in their existence they will not gain a lot of converts and/or experience societal transformation. The best they can do is to maintain a Prophetic Witness to the Cultural Elites and surrounding communities. Since the Compromising Church enjoys the power and prestige the elites grant them, they always Conform rather than Confront.”

PRAISE OF GOD VS. PRAISE OF MEN. “Ultimately at the end of the day it boils down to this: Are we living for the Praise of Men or the Praise of God? If things don’t change in the Coming Days, we will be shocked at how many Megachurches, mid-size churches and smaller churches Compromise the Word of God so they could continue to keep their doors open.”

MATTERA CONCLUDES. “At some point we will all have to Stand the Ultimate Test, which is whether we Desire God more than we love our lives, or whether we Love our Pleasures – conveniences and material goods – more than God. Truly, if we ‘Confess Christ before men, He will Confess us before His Father in Heaven,’ but if we Deny Him before men, He will Deny us before His Father in Heaven (Matt. 10:32-33).” – ‘Charisma News,’ November 21, 2014; edited

Are we listening, beloved? Are you listening Pastor? Do you hear these Last Calls to Obedience? How I pray you do, for your sakes perhaps more than ours. You must LET GO your Fears and Possessions, to fully Serve in This Hour. Unto Life, or unto Death.

“Let be and be still, [relax, cease worrying and striving] and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!” – PSALM 46:10, AMPC

He and you shall Decide it together, even in this very Last Hour.

MISSION OF THE CONFESSING CHURCH

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death, And those who stagger to the slaughter, Oh hold them back [from their doom]! If you [claim ignorance and] say, ‘See, we did not know this,’ Does He not consider it who weighs and examines the hearts and their motives? And does He not know it who guards your life and keeps your soul? And will He not repay [you and] every man according to his works?” – PROVERBS 24:11-12, AMPC

SELAH. Now to the details of the very Nature of God, and the Nature of the Mission of the Remnant, or ‘Confessing Church Militant,’ as I conceive of her.

RESCUE. I have often written that of all the names of our King, I prefer this: “Lord of the Rescue.” From the Hebrew, ‘Yesha’ [יֶשַׁע], from which the name of our King, ‘Yeshua’ is derived. Meaning: “Deliverance, rescue, salvation, safety, welfare, prosperity; also, help, liberty, freedom; lit., to be saved from danger or death; to liberate from actual restraint, or to remove or withdraw from a state of exposure to evil.”

In the Context of our passage above, another Hebrew word, even more strenuous in its connotation and tenor, is offered.

DELIVER. From ‘Natsal’ [נָצַל], rendered nearly violently as follows: “To strip, plunder, deliver oneself, be delivered, snatch away, deliver; also, to be torn out or away [from some great peril, danger, enemies or troubles]; rescue from sin, guilt or death; to be drawn out and away from some great threat to one’s welfare; especially, ‘to escape.’

COMMENTARY. “What is called the ‘Missionary Spirit’ is nothing else than the Christian Church working in a particular direction. If a man has a conviction, the health of his own soul, his reverence for the Truth he has learnt to love, his necessary connection with other men, make it a Duty, a necessity, and a joy to Tell what he has heard, and to speak what he believes…‘The Crime of Negligence.’ Not to use any power is a Sin; to Omit to do anything that we can do is a Crime: To Withhold a help that we can render is to participate in the authorship of all the misery that we have failed to relieve. He who Neglects to save a life, Kills…The Incompetent men in high places, and the Indolent ones in low, whose selfishness brings, and whose blundering blindness allows to continue, the conditions that are Fatal to life-on these the guilt of blood lies. Violence slays its thousands, but supine negligence slays its tens of thousands.” – ALEXANDER MACLAREN, ‘Expositions of Holy Scripture, 1889; edited

Though overquoted and suspiciously attributed to the pen of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this Proverb cannot possibly be overlooked here, beloved, as the searing words of Mr. MacLaren are restated in the Edict from the heart of the Confessing Church in Germany:

“Silence in the face of Evil is itself Evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

THE CALL. Pastors. Leaders. Evangelists. Elders. Teachers. There is an Unprecedented Plague of Evil in America today, both in the Political Nation and in the Church at the highest levels, right now, yet you have remained overwhelmingly, nearly unforgivably, Silent.

TWO ADMONITIONS. I tell you in the Authority of the Word of the Jewish Messiah, Two Truths:

Your Silence will not stand in the Courts of Heaven, about to be Convened in Preparation for the End of All Things.

For you Leaders, the Reckoning for what you Teach – and what you do not Teach – shall be much more severe than for those sitting under you.

“Not many [of you] should become teachers (self-constituted censors and reprovers of others), my brethren, for you know that we [teachers] will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity [than other people; thus we assume the greater accountability and the more condemnation].” – JAMES 3:1, AMPC

Though these Warnings be Stern, they are fashioned after His own Loving Sternness – For the Good of the Church, for the Preservation and Rescue of souls, for the Honor of the Shepherds of God’s flocks, and much more, for the Honor of His Name, in these Last Days.

LAST THOUGHTS

All of this, every word, jot and tittle and even nuance, was meant to ‘Exhort and

Admonish Upward’ to the High Calling that is found in Christ Jesus. As the intrepid Apostle Paul wrote it:

“I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.” – PHILIPPIANS 3::13-14, AMPC

To this Crucial Point.

THE BARMEN DECLARATION. Because the great majority of the American Protestant Church is committing the most grievous of Doctrinal Errors in the Pursuit of Political Solutions for a fundamentally Spiritual Crisis of Christian Conscience and Confession, thereby seditiously Joining the Sacred (Church) with the Profane (Government), either by Acclamation or by Silence, I hereby Republish the Barman Declaration of 1934.

DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN 2020. This posting in the fervent Hope that the American Church shall seize upon it with the same vigor and zeal of commitment than did the German Confession Church. The following Summary Excerpt speaks entirely for itself, and for its Maker, needing no further commentary from this writer.

“In view of the errors of the ‘German Christians’ and of the present Reich Church Administration, which are ravaging the Church and at the same time also shattering the Unity of the German Evangelical Church, we Confess the following Evangelical Truths…

WE REJECT the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognise as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historical figures and truths as God’s revelation.

WE REJECT the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords, areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through Him.

WE REJECT the false doctrine that the Church could have permission to hand over the form of its Message and of its Order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day.

The various offices in the Church do not provide a basis for some to exercise authority over others but for the ministry with which the whole community has been entrusted and charged to be carried out.

WE REJECT the false doctrine that, apart from this ministry, the Church could, and could have permission to, give itself or allow itself to be given special leaders vested with ruling authority.

WE REJECT the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the State should and could become the sole and total order of human life – and so fulfil the vocation of the Church as well.

WE REJECT the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the Church should and could take on the nature, tasks and dignity which belong to the State and thus become itself an organ of the State.

WE REJECT the false doctrine that with human vainglory the Church could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of self-chosen desires, purposes and plans.

THE C0NFESSING SYNOD of the German Evangelical Church declares that it sees in the acknowledgement of these Truths and in the rejection of these errors the indispensable theological basis of the German Evangelical Church as a Confederation of Confessing Churches. It calls upon all who can stand in solidarity with its Declaration to be mindful of these theological findings in all their decisions concerning Church and State. It appeals to all concerned to Return to Unity in Faith, Hope and Love.

‘Verbum Dei manet in aeternum’ (The Word of God will last forever).” – EDITORS, ‘Alpha History,’ ret. September 24, 2020; edited

CHRISTIAN RESISTANCE. “But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but [continually] gives [the gift of] grace to the humble [who turn away from self-righteousness].’ So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.” – JAMES 4:6-7, AMP

THE CHARGE. To ‘The Church Militant,’ as with the Confessing Church in Germany, God’s Remnant, becomes a matter of Life and Death in these Last Days. Therefore, we Labor to: (1) Uphold the Good, (2) Rescue the Lost, and fiercely (3) Resist Evil, with our very lives when necessary.

This and this alone fully Honors the King of Heaven, beloved of God. Selah.

Ever your servant, DK

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NEXT TEACHING: “NOTES ON WHY THEY HATE US: A THEOLOGICAL CLARIFICATION.”

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