Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war!” (Joel 3:9)
One of the two greatest crises of the soul is fast approaching our MAGA brothers and sisters in Christ. Faster than I would like to believe. Right now, the topics of Antisemitism, Zionism, the nature of Islam related to the God of Abraham, Replacement theology, etc. are steaming through a plethora of statements, debates, exposes, and teachings from Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, Joel Webbon, Glenn Beck, and thousands of evangelical leaders – unlike any time in the history of the American Church. THE controversy of the nations: “WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL?”, is about to reach a boiling point within the ranks of Christian Nationalism.
Here’s the alarm: When Donald Trump finally turns on Israel, MAGA believers will be confronted with the consequences of the decisions and talking points that they’re cultivating now. Will they act in fidelity to the God of the Bible Who is pressing His character through the affairs of this tiny nation? Or will they (once again, as they have with Canada, Mexico, Greenland, the Ukraine, Denmark, Panama, NATO etc.) come up with a defense for Trump’s storylines, and take up this man’s offense against Israel?
It’s coming. As sure as every part of the Bible is true, it’s coming, friends.
What makes this inevitable internal, “anfechtungen” most alarming is this:
1. MAGA has spent nearly every day of the last decade developing spin redactions and apologetics to defend Trump’s outrageous unrighteousness. That’s a LOT of gravity to go against. I believe the devil has purposefully accrued this inertia for the sake of ultimately bending the will of many sincere MAGA Christians re: Israel when all the chips are on the table… in spite of the fact that millions now ardently protest: “But we will never betray you, Israel.” In the day of great threat and temptation, MAGA will walk in the pattern of deception, and have cultivated no integrity of will to stand against this lawless man’s hot displeasure.
2. The second alarm deals with the realty that it is God Himself Who is going to be behind the crux of this confrontation. (See Joel 3 below) MAGA won’t be fighting against political opposition. It will be wrestling with God Himself. It is His penultimate test to the faith of the Bride. “Will you stand with your Bridegroom, and with Israel? Will you believe My promises for Zion are true? Will you even let go of your fascination with an unrighteous leader in order to remain champions of My heart, My expressed plan, and My vision for the redemption of the people of this land, and the nations?”
This is the way the question will be framed: “Will you betray MAGA? Or will you betray Israel?”
It’s coming, beloved. As crazy as it seems that a controversy over this one, small, resilient people-group could embroil the whole earth, it’s coming…
AND, it’s coming to a church near you.
JOEL 3:9-21 9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ” 11 Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord. 12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow – for their wickedness is great.” 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. 16 The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again.” 18 And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Acacias. 19 “Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of violence against the people of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20 But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; for the Lord dwells in Zion.”
What is the nature of the nationalist fervor which has fallen upon our nation? How do its tenets pollute the ethos of the ekklesia, and the pure proclamation of the gospel? How does the nationalist fervor influence the body of Christ to walk out of step with the Spirit and ways of our Lord, Jesus Christ? What are the real, and pragmatic faith issues that are at risk, because of this fervor? What evangelical declarations need to be reenforced within the Church in this hour?
These were questions that stirred within Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and other pastors and theologians, who were watching a menacing political spirit overtake the people of God in 1930’s Germany.
In 1936, when Bonhoeffer did most of the writing of his book, “The Cost of Discipleship“, the Nazi rallies in Nuremberg were at their height of popularity. These rallies would run for a week, and include marches of various segments of the nation (ie. Labor workers, women and mothers, youth, religious etc.) who would participate in elaborate, festive parades that would snake through surrounding villages – all culminating in the large amphitheater in Nuremberg.
The Rally included speeches on the topics of The Power of the German Workforce, the Bolshevism in Theory and Practice, Homeland Security, The Youth Movement, The Task of the Judiciary, The Task of the German Press/Newspapers, The Financial Health of the German Government
On the seventh day of the rally, “the Fuerher” would address sometimes upward of 700,000 attendees.
“I see before me endless columns of the flags of our new Reich. I make this prophecy to you: This Reich will grow in the coming centuries, becoming strong and powerful! These flags will be borne by ever new generations of our people. Germany is healthy once more! Our people is reborn! I greet you as the hope of the present and the guarantee of our future. Fight! and Be upright and determined, fear no one and do your duty! If you do so, the Lord God will never leave our people. Heil Germany!” Adolph Hitler • September 14, 1936
The following Sunday, hundreds of thousands of these same people would go to church. (In 1936, 95% of the German population identified as Christian – 65% Protestant, and 30% Catholic.)
The pro-Nazi “German Christian” movement became a force in the church in 1933, primarily preaching that Bolshevism was using race as a way to pollute and divide the German people. The majority of Protestant churches, Lutheran, Methodist and Baptist fell in league with the Nazi Party by 1936, forming the “Protestant Reich Church”, and glorified Adolf Hitler as a “German prophet”.
Early on, some Catholic bishops prohibited Catholics in their dioceses from joining the Nazi Party. This ban was dropped after Hitler’s March 23, 1933, speech to the Reichstag in which he described Christianity as “the foundation for German values”.
The Reich Ministry of Church Affairs was established in July of 1936, creating for the first time in Germany an independent, centralized government ministry with responsibility for the Reich’s religious life.
Two years earlier, (1934) Bonhoeffer, along with a handful of other leading Protestant theologians, seeing the growing contraChrist spirit overtaking much of the German Church, formed “The Confessing Church”, centered around “The Barman Confession” (originally titled, “Theological Declaration Concerning the Present Situation of the German Evangelical Church”) http://postbarthian.com/2018/05/21/karl-barth-and-the-barmen-declaration-1934/
“The Barman Declaration” (chiefly written by the Swiss theologian, Karl Barth) contained six propositions, each rooted squarely in Scripture, stating its implications for the present day, and rejecting the false doctrine of Nationalism. The declaration asserted the church’s fidelity to Jesus Christ alone, Who stands as Lord in every sphere of life – and Who’s ways are to govern the manner of His Body’s witness within each of these spheres as well.
THE BARMAN DECLARATION 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:
1. “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved.” John 10:1,9
Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and truths as God’s revelation.
2. “Jesus Christ has been made wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption for us by God.” 1 Corinthians 1:30
As Jesus Christ is God’s comforting pronouncement of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, with equal seriousness, he is also God’s vigorous announcement of his claim upon our whole life. Through him there comes to us joyful liberation from the godless ties of this world for free, grateful service to his creatures.
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.
3. “Let us, however, speak the truth in love, and in every respect grow into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body is joined together.” Ephesians 4:15-16
The Christian Church is the community of brethren in which, in Word and Sacrament, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ acts in the present as Lord. With both its faith and its obedience, with both its message and its order, it has to testify in the midst of the sinful world, as the Church of pardoned sinners, that it belongs to him alone and lives and may live by his comfort and under his direction alone, in expectation of his appearing.
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.
4. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to have authority over you must be your servant.” Matthew 20:25-26
The various offices in the Church do not provide a basis for some to exercise authority over others but for the ministry [lit., “service”] 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 [Führer] vested with ruling authority.
5. “Fear God. Honor the Emperor.” 1 Peter 2:17
Scripture tells us that by divine appointment the State, in this still unredeemed world in which also the Church is situated, has the task of maintaining justice and peace, so far as human discernment and human ability make this possible, by means of the threat and use of force. The Church acknowledges with gratitude and reverence toward God the benefit of this, his appointment. It draws attention to God’s Dominion [Reich], God’s commandment and justice, and with these the responsibility of those who rule and those who are ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word, by which God upholds all things.
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 fulfill 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.
6. “See, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:20 “God’s Word is not fettered.” 2 Timothy 2:9
The Church’s commission, which is the foundation of its freedom, consists in this: in Christ’s stead, and so in the service of his own Word and work, to deliver all people, through preaching and sacrament, the message of the free grace of God.
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 Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church declares that it sees in the acknowledgment 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 endures forever.)
Is it time for the American Church to establish her own Barman Declaration? Is it past time?
What is the nature of the nationalist fervor which has fallen upon our nation? How do its tenets pollute the ethos of the ekklesia, and the pure proclamation of the gospel? How does the nationalist fervor influence the body of Christ to walk out of step with the Spirit and ways of our Lord, Jesus Christ? What are the real, and pragmatic faith issues that are at risk, because of this fervor? What evangelical declarations need to be reenforced within the Church in this hour?
Social Psychologists tell us that the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening in our lives have great power to shape our beliefs. These stories are called “narratives”. They help us make sense of our world, and when they are reenforced by significant others, they become powerful determinants of truth, and motivators for how we engage our culture.
Below are 26 of the (hundreds of) narratives that have grown up in our nation, and have fueled Trump’s popularity the last 9 years. These narratives were largely non-entities ten years ago. But since, they’ve been broadcast at rallies, developed by political pundits, sometimes embellished, fueled pod-casts, launched careers, blogs, articles, and conventions.
They’ve been turned into chants, bumper-stickers, t-shirts, songs, videos, hats, flags, cardboard cut-outs and AI images.
Then they have been copied, affirmed, liked, embellished some more, and reshared billions of times on social media.
They have also found root, have been nurtured, encouraged and have produced fruit within our evangelical family.
How many of these narratives have you grown to believe?
A. The traditional media is biased to the left, and the alternative media is much more unbiased and fair-minded.
B. Trump did not engage in Quid Pro Quo w Zelinski. His first impeachment trial was a baseless witch-hunt.
C. The Muller Report exonerated TRUMP and his associates from campaign impropriety.
D. The many proLife, conservative staff, cabinet members, generals, and advisors that TRUMP either fired, or who resigned from his first administration were DEEP STATE operatives, or DEEP STATE dupes.
E. The DEMS and WORLD ORDER colluded to use COVID to dethrone TRUMP.
F. TRUMP wanted no masks, no restrictions, and no (rush to produce) COVID vaccines
G. TRUMP didn’t incite a violent riot on J6.
H. The 2020 election was stolen. The DEMS, DEEP STATE and WORLD POWERS produced votes that put Biden over the top in key states.
I. The DEMS and DEEP STATE were actually the ones responsible for the mayhem, and death on J6.
J. TRUMP didn’t violate federal law re the removal and storage of classified documents being kept a MaraLargo.
K. The FBI is being weaponized against TRUMP.
L. The DEMS and the DEEP STATE are responsible for his assassination attempts.
M. PENCE and 90% of TRUMP’s former cabinet members, White House staff and generals chiefs of staff who resigned and/or opposed TRUMP’S narrative after J6, are DEEP STATE traitors.
N. More than 1000 conservative, proLife (GOP) judges, governors, state officials, and state legislators who balked, objected and/or would not go along w TRUMP’S “stop the steal” campaign were DEEP STATE, or DEEP STATE dupes.
O. The prophets predicted TRUMP would be president twice.
P. TRUMP’S rape trial was a nefarious hit job orchestrated by the DEMS and DEEP STATE.
Q. TRUMP’S adultery pay-off trial w a porn-prostitute was rigged against him by the DEMS and DEEP STATE.
R. TRUMP never engaged in human trafficking, or other predatory sexual behavior associated w Jeffry Epstein
S. The J6 committee was a hit job coordinated by the DEMS and DEEP STATE.
T. TRUMP didn’t simulate oral sex on a microphone at a rally in Milwaukee.
U. TRUMP has never issued blasphemous statements about himself; claiming to be a messiah, or possessing God-like power.
V. TRUMP is a champion for the life of the pre-born.
W. TRUMP stands against same-sex-marriage, and values the sanctity of Biblical marriage.
X. TRUMP is, and will always be a friend of Israel.
Y. TRUMP is a baby Christian, and a man of Christian faith, who loves the Bible.
Z. It isn’t important when TRUMP behaves contrary to the Sermon on the Mount. We’re not electing a pastor.
SPIRIT WORD & CROSS 