Bouw on: more recent geocentrists- any Lutherans? Part 13d

      This continues from Part 13c-3, a series on Copernicanism and Geocentricity (see Intro & Contents in Part 1) in response to a letter from a young person ("Josh") who asked if I believed Geocentricity ... and did not ridicule me in his question.

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      I want to highlight some of the more recent individuals that Dr. Bouw reports as defending against Copernicanism.  This was a help to me as I struggled against the so-called science of Copernicanism that wants to say that it has the objective truth.

Dr. James Hanson, (1933- )

James Hanson
PhD

      Like Dr. Bouw, Dr. Hanson is a first rate scientist, surprisingly so.  With experience at several universities and organizations, including NASA, his book, The Bible and Geocentricity (which I also purchased at geocentricity.com Tycho Brahe Shop), is authoritative in modern science issues.  But I was distressed to learn that although Dr. Hanson grew up in a Lutheran home (page 575): he is now a Baptist like Dr. Bouw.   Why would he leave the Lutheran faith??...  I am still looking through various writings to discover this...  I wonder that because his heritage is Norwegian, his family's church body was a forerunner (Norwegian Synod) of what is now the ELCA, a liberal branch of Lutheranism which is the result of a merger of several bodies including the former (large) Norwegian Synod, as opposed to the split-off "little" Norwegian Synod which now calls itself the ELS.  It could be that as he returned to the Christian faith, that he was disillusioned by the ELCA's lack of reverence for Holy Scripture and found certain Baptists were better at this.  If Dr. Hanson reads this, he should know that the Lutheran Church is the Church of the Bible, notwithstanding those who call themselves "Lutheran" and teach otherwise.  No, the Lutheran Confessions bow to the Holy Scriptures, and so true Lutherans stand on the Bible, just as Martin Luther did.

Walter Lang, (1913-2004)

Walter Lang in 1991

      Now we come to a person of interest for me as a Lutheran... the story of an LCMS pastor – Pastor Walter Lang.  Here finally among Dr. Bouw's acquaintances is a Lutheran.  But what is the history of Walter Lang?... who was from a Lutheran synod, a synod that had long since given up defending against Copernicanism after Pastor F.E. Pasche was gone?

      The sub-section that Dr. Bouw gives to Pastor Lang is almost completely taken from the online obituary on the geocentricity website: In Memoriam – WALTER H. J. LANG – 1913-2004.  It is a sad read for me as it shows the LCMS during its downward free-fall from its glorious heritage.  It shows a single pastor attempting to go against the flood of liberalism and accommodation in what used to be the "Missouri Synod" but was no longer "Missouri".  (Lang's son Philip reported that his father "saw young college students who were faithful Christians get totally led astray by the evolutionary teachings of their professors".) – But it also shows Pastor Lang's lax manner in working with the Reformed (mostly Baptists) without pointing out their errors of doctrine... the errors that Prof. Franz Pieper had so diligently set down in his Christian Dogmatics books.  Pieper demonstrates that these errors are rationally based and gives the Scripture proofs.  Also sad was Dr. Bouw's report that Lang, although a "creationist", did not accept the geocentric viewpoint initially: 

By the mid-eighties, Walter ... embraced the geocentric universe as scriptural.  Because of how he saw his role as promoter of creationism, he never made an issue of it.  Nevertheless, he carried copies of Geocentricity on his book table. 

How is this sad?  Because although Lang had finally "embraced the geocentric universe", yet "he never made an issue of it"... all the while making an issue of "creationism evangelism".  And here is where this becomes weak -- because if one accepts and promotes the creation account based on the Bible, why now is the Bible's account against Copernicanism not as worthy as "creationism"?  Isn't it the same Bible that speaks on both accounts?  Here is where Dr. Bouw gives his judgement on the so-called "creationism" movement, on Lang whose dream was "to unite the various creationist groups"... here is where Bouw adds:

For the love of money makes sure that Walter's dream stays dead. (!)

Bouw knew first hand that many so-called "creationists" threatened to withdraw support (monetary and otherwise) if "geocentricity" was brought on-board with "creationism".  This situation was clearly demonstrated by Dr. Danny Faulkner.  There is a lot more that could be said about the history of Pastor Lang and his movements... but I prefer to focus on the heritage of the true Missouri Synod, as it was founded by C.F.W. Walther and continued until Franz Pieper's death.

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      There are several other notable people covered by Dr. Bouw:

• Dr. John Byl (PhD Astronomy), Canadian Reformed Churches
• Martin Selbrede (V.P. of the Chalcedon Foundation, an "unapologetically Reformed" institution) 
• Marshall Hall († 2013) of the website fixedearth.com. 

These are all of the Reformed camp... no more Lutherans.
      This ends my review of Dr. Bouw's book but I will occasionally refer to it later.  Now I want to return to the situation where it was Lutherans who held the battle against Copernicanism and for the Bible.  And so in the next Part 14 I go back to Pastor Gustav Knak and find another who honored him... Franz Pieper.