Rome–Chief enemy of Christianity–1: Blunt sword; right and wrong mixed; freedom of religion

This blog is dedicated to the teaching of the true Missouri Synod, the Missouri Synod from above, not that of today's LC-MS that will use that name on occasion as if it is still the "Missouri Synod".  To that end, I am presenting my next translation project from the pen of the president of Concordia Seminary-St. Louis, Franz Pieper.  If one will not recognize the differences of the old and new [the old (German) and the new (English)] by the other Doctrine of Justification (LDJ), then perhaps this article will drive home the great difference.  I want to quote from the first page of Pieper's article to set the tone of this series:

The Missouri Synod for example and those in church fellowship with it give friend and enemy, even Rome itself, the testimony, that they fight tirelessly and relentlessly against Rome not only as an enemy next to another, but as the chief enemy of the Christian Church.

When Pieper mentions in 1896 the other churches in fellowship with it, he is specifically talking about the Synodical Conference.  Could anyone show me that the church body today that wants to call itself the "Missouri Synod" (i.e. LC-MS) fights tirelessly and relentlessly against Rome as the chief enemy of the Christian Church?  No?  Then you have your answer that today's LC-MS is rather an imposter to that name.

Translation by BTL – Underlining from original  – Highlighting is mine – Hyperlinks added for reference.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The False Stance of Present-Day Evangelical Christianity Against Rome.

by Franz Pieper

Doctrine and Defense, (Lehre und Wehre), 1896, vol 42, pgs 289-297
--------   Part 1  ---------

There was a time in the church where more or less the whole of evangelical Christianity recognized and vigorously fought Rome as the greatest enemy of the Christian Church.  That was the case especially within the Lutheran Church, as long as she clung to the heritage of the Reformation and lived in the truth of the Gospel.  But even within the Reformed Church was not lacking – from the light of divine truth where it is still held – a departing fight in principle against Rome. 1)  Nowadays this has changed.  Not as if now no longer would there be a fight against Rome in the manner intended by God.  The Missouri Synod for example and those in church fellowship with it give friend and enemy, even Rome itself, the testimony, that they fight tirelessly and relentlessly against Rome not only as an enemy next to another, but as the chief enemy of the Christian Church.  Also, it is not to be denied that individuals within the American Lutheran synods, the German regional churches and the American Protestant sects recognize and combat the Papacy as the Antichrist prophesied in 2 Thess. 2.  But these are exceptions.  In general, the sword of today's evangelical Christianity against Rome has become blunt.  In general, today's evangelical Christianity – also those calling themselves Lutheran – takes a false stance against Rome.  This we intend to demonstrate in the following with some sayings which we just now find on the occasion of the ordination etc. of Prince Max of Saxony in the Saxon Church and School Journal, as well as in the General Ev.-Lutheran Church Newspaper.

Prince Max of Saxony has, as already reported in that paper, studied popish theology at Eichstätt in Bavaria.  On

-------------

        1) See for example in Quenstedt, Theol. did.-pol. II, 1697, the enumeration of Reformed teachers who declared the Pope to be the Antichrist.

[pg 290]

July 21 this year, he received the "priest’s ordination" and on August 1 in a chapel in Dresden in the presence of the King of Saxony, the royal family and many invited high guests, he read his "first Mass".  On August 9, the "Reverend priest," as he is called by the Berlin papal "Germania", held a sermon in the Dresden royal chapel in which he invites all the Protestants to return to the papal church, because they alone possess the truth.  On this sermon writes the Saxon Church and School Journal: "Of course, 'Germania' had to bring a fulminating article about the sermon of Duke Max of Saxony on Sunday August 9 which was delivered in the Dresden royal chapel.  That the latter ever happened. does not belong to the subject which we want to discuss, and is a matter entirely for itself, over which does not deserve from us a remark or even a judgment from the Lutheran point of view."  That is probably to mean that the Saxon Church and School Journal will leave the question undiscussed whether the King of Saxony, in deference to his Lutheran subjects, should not have deterred his priestly relative from preaching in the royal chapel.  Prof. Fricke at this year's meeting of Gustavus Adolphus Union condemned this sermon as a provocation of Protestants and as a "unjustifiable propaganda".  In contrast, the Saxon Church and School Journal continued: "Every Catholic priest as well as the Protestant minister has the right to pronounce in a sermon his personal conviction; whether he with it meets the right thing in every certain single case and promotes in particular the soul’s salvation of his congregation, is merely his cause and in the present situation is a question which touches us less." —  Here right and wrong are mixed.  Without a doubt, Max of Saxony has, as a preacher of the Pope’s sect just like any other preacher, the right to "express his personal conviction".  This is the state, legal right and belongs to the freedom of religion in the State intended by God.  Everything that goes beyond to violate the state’s freedom of religion is an evil not pleasing to God, and brings no benefit to the Church.  The Evangelical Christians of Saxony should, if one would question their opinion, not have the King of Saxony, as earthly ruler and from any political considerations, limit the preaching of the Prince of Saxony.  But the Church and School Journal goes on.  It also looks at the undiscussed question whether the princely preacher, with the sermon held in the Dresden royal chapel, "promotes the soul’s salvation of his congregation".  With the question of the care of souls, the case is overplayed regarding the church’s domain.  On this occasion, it concerns the right of that sermon before God and the church judgment of it.  And how must this judgment on the part of evangelical Christians fail?  The content of the preaching of the Prince

[pg 291]

is well known, and the Church and School Journal even leads him to the report from Germania.  

= = = = = = = =  Cont'd in Part 2  = = = = = = = =

The year of this article was 1896, well before 2 World Wars would overspread the globe and thoroughly wipe out the use of the German language in America, and around the world.  Pieper gives the clear picture of the sad state of the Lutheran Church in his native land.  But today, now over a century later, can one not see that what happened to Germany is also now happening in America and even the entire world?  Oh! how all of "Evangelical Christianity" needs to listen to Franz Pieper today, here and now!  In the next Part 2...
= = = = = = = Table of Contents  = = = = = = =
Part 1 - Introduction, pgs 289-290: Blunt sword; right and wrong mixed; freedom of religion
Part 2 - pgs 291-292: THE Rome fighter today->Pieper! Monstrous Lie! Murder of Souls!
Part 3 - Pgs 293-294: Pope=Antichrist because...; Dresden's fall
Part 4 - Pgs 295-297: Halloween, reminder of Pope; simple Gospel; Knights of the saddest figure