Comm18-IIIb: Hinders? Dark history not true Church; tyrants are not Christians; the tyrant, the Pope

      This continues from Part 17 (Table of Contents in Part 1), a series presenting a new translation of C.F.W. Walther's Communism and Socialism from 1878. — Having neutralized the charge against Christianity in the last post, that it was the cause of the abominations throughout history, Walther shows clearly that just the opposite is true.  If the Communists were serious about ending these atrocities, they would become Christians!  — Again, we see by the text highlighted in red that the 1947 translation cut out Walther's confessional stand against the "tyrant"—the Papacy and the Pope—the Antichrist. This confirms again the weakness of the 1947 translation, and the LC-MS. This encouraged me especially to present my own translation.

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Translation of Walther's 1878 Communismus und Socialismus by BackToLuther primarily using DeepL online translation service; highlighting and bolding are my emphases, red text within square brackets [ ] are my comments, underlining is Walther's emphasis. Red highlight indicates omitted in 1947 translation.

C.F.W. Walther's Communism and Socialism, (Part 18, p. 55-57)

But, my brothers, what does this have to do with the Christian religion and church? The dark history of these abominations is not the history of the Christian Church, but rather the history of the Antichrist, [omitted in 1947] the history of the traitors and enemies of the Church in its own lap.

Or, I ask you, when did our Lord Jesus ever, and where did the Holy Scriptures, command the confessors to commit such atrocities?

Far from having commanded His servants to extend his kingdom with force, with fire and sword, as the lying prophet Muhammad commanded, our Lord Jesus Christ rather gave his disciples the measured command: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” [Mark 16:15] Behold, brethren, Christ did not put the corporal sword into the hands of his servants; their weapon was to be the Word, [1947-73] and the means of spreading his kingdom was to be instruction and persuasion; hence, when Peter, in his carnal zeal, drew his sword to defend his Lord, the Lord also cried out to him, “Put up your sword in its place; for he who takes the sword shall perish by the sword.” [Matt. 26:52]

Far from claiming that our Lord Jesus ​​Christ should have demanded of his own to persecute and kill the false believers, the heretics, he rather declared that wheat and tares should be allowed to grow in the field until the time of harvest. [cp. Matt. 13:30] And when those apostles wanted to let fire fall from heaven, because the Samaritans did not want to receive the Lord, the Lord said: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” [Luke 9:55] So he testified to them: This is not the spirit of the Gospel that wants to let fire fall from heaven on the enemies of the Church.

Far from having commanded his servants to conquer the kingdoms of the world for Him and to seek for riches, honor, power and prestige, Christ rather said publicly and solemnly before Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: [page 56] but now is my kingdom not from hence.” Christ did not, like the Indian and Egyptian founders of religion, want to use different castes in his kingdom, such as the caste of priests and the caste of the laity: no, in the New Testament there are no privileged priests, not a word of this stands in the New Testament. On the contrary, Peter, whose successor the Roman Pope wants to be, does not call the church officials, but all believing Christians: "You, you are the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy people, the people of property, that you should proclaim the lies, he who called you from darkness to his marvellous light.” [1 Peter 2:9] Christ does not want there to be any difference among the members of his Church. He says expressly: “The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion and one calls them gracious lords. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” [paraphrasing: Matt. 20:25-26; 23:8]

Far from advising His own people not to bother much with the poor, to look down on them with contempt rather than as members of the Church who are not as important as the rich; Christ has on the contrary surrounded Himself with the poor and labored among them continually in front of everyone. He Himself says: “The poor have the gospel preached to them,” [Matt. 11:5] and from them in particular he has gathered his Church. The holy apostle Paul therefore says: “Dear brethren, God did not call many [1947-74] noble ones after the flesh, but he chose the base things before the world.” [paraphrasing 1 Cor. 1:26-27]

Far from it, moreover, that Christ should have demanded of His own that they should hold with the rich, and that they should do so because they had the most influence —; far from it, too, that they should flatter them as people especially favored by God, on the contrary, no book in the world speaks so little of the rich as the Book of Christ, that is, the Holy Bible book. In our last hour of the evening we have already considered the great Word of the Lord: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” and in another place the LORD says: “Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God.” [Luke 6:20] And through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit calls out to all Christians: “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” [1 Tim. 6:9-10] Indeed, James says in his Epistle in chapter 5: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; [page 57] and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter,” [James 5:1-5] and how does the holy Apostle Paul call out the masters about their servants? He says: “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.” [Eph. 6:9] Does this mean to flatter the rich? Does it mean to call upon Christians to be especially loyal to the rich because they are rich? [Answer: No.]

At last, my brothers, far from saying that Christ, or even Scripture in general, should warn Christians not to lose respect for tyrants in order to enjoy their strong [1947-75] arm, Scripture tells us, on the contrary, that there has never been a tyrant who has not come to a terrible end from God's terrible judgment. I only remind you of Pharaoh, of Nebuchadnezzar, of Saul, of Manasse, of Herod. Yes, even more. When Solomon had let himself be led away from the living God by his wives, his apostasy was also shown by the fact that he horribly oppressed the poor people. He was converted and died. Now when the people sought out the successor of Solomon, Rehoboam, and demanded of him to relieve the unbearable burdens that lay upon him, but Rehoboam had a deaf ear for this complaint, and proudly and arrogantly rejected the people, — what was the consequence according to Scripture? Out of the wrath of God it happened that ten tribes rebelled and thus five sixths of the kingdom fell away from Him.

You see from this, my dear brothers: if men are allies of the rich, of the tyrants, who oppress the poor, let them at least call themselves Christians, let them also consider themselves Christians: they are not Christians. Yes, such a tyrant may be worshipped by millions in Christendom as the Vicar of Jesus Christ, as the successor of Peter, as the visible head of Christendom: he is nothing other than the Antichrist, that is, the Antichrist or the man of sin, the son of perdition, the great hereditary enemy of Christendom, as Scripture says, who rises above all that is called God and worshipped, whom the Lord will finally put an end to by the His appearance in the future.

Thus falls the first accusation which Socialism and Communism brings against the Christian religion and Church. For the real Christian Church is not an ally of oppression and tyranny, but her enemy, and a faithful friend of the poor, the oppressed. [page 58] 

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      Would any LC-MS theologian or teacher want to suggest that the current Pope has renounced any of the marks that Walther teaches about him?  Where did Vatican II renounce the Council of Trent's anathema against sola fidei? (Answer: it did not.)

      As Walther addressed the abominations of tyrants, so he would show that the slave trade did not originate from Christianity.  And to read, in his other writings, of Walther's sympathy for the Native Americans in their mistreatment by the U.S. Government's breaking of treaties would make even Socialists think that he was one of them.