Martin Niemöller, the anti-Nazi Lutheran minister who warned how Christians should speak out when people are persecuted. But how valid was his advice?

By Julio Severo

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a German Lutheran theologian and minister who criticized Nazism and was imprisoned by Nazis in 1937. He is more known for his famous declaration:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

By “they,” he meant Nazis, who came after socialists, trade unionists and Jews. All these groups were basically socialists in Germany. Trade unionists are mostly socialists, and one example is former Brazilian socialist president Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who has a history as a trade unionist. And the Jewish preference for socialism has been a historical fact.

So what Niemöller meant was: Nazis were persecuting socialists.

What he meant is that many Germans did not care if Nazis were persecuting, imprisoning and killing socialists, trade unionists and Jews. But such indifference, as he pointed, would eventually bring persecution to Christians.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says about Niemöller:

“As founder and a leading member of the Bekennende Kirche [Confessing Church] within the larger Evangelical Church (Lutheran and Reformed) of Germany, Niemöller was influential in building opposition to Adolf Hitler's efforts to bring the German churches under control of the Nazis and the so-called German Christians. The resistance of the Confessing Church was openly declared and solidified at its Synod of Barmen in 1934. Niemöller continued to preach throughout Germany and in 1937 was arrested by Hitler’s secret police, the Gestapo. Eventually sent to the concentration camps at Sachsenhausen and then Dachau, he was moved in 1945 to the Tirol in Austria, where Allied forces freed him at the end of World War II. He helped rebuild the Evangelical Church in Germany.”

From his experience seeing Nazis persecuting, imprisoning and killing socialists, trade unionists and Jews, Niemöller understood that Christians could not be indifferent when such groups are persecuted.

Visitors stand in front of the quotation from Martin Niemöller that is on display in the Permanent Exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

He is seen as a good Christian example. His name and especially his famous declaration “First they came…” stand permanently in the Holocaust Museum in the United States. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, his declaration was also said in stronger terms than socialists:

“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a communist…”

So it is no wonder that Niemöller received in 1967the Lenin Peace Prize, the Soviet Union’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. And from 1961 to 1968, he was president of the World Council of Churches, a socialist Protestant organization.

He was courageous for speaking out against Nazism, but because he saw the extremism of an anti-socialist and anti-communist political system, he fell into the polarization trap, and he chose the other extremism. Even so, his famous declaration “First they came…” is used today by left-wingers and right-wingers.

His declaration dispels confusion today among those who did not live in that time and try to see Nazism as a socialist movement. In fact, both Nazism and Italian fascism, which are identified by Jews as right-wing movements, received inspiration from a famous right-wing writer, Julius Evola, who was the guru of Benito Mussolini.

Francisco Franco, the dictator in Spain and one of the most prominent right-wing leaders in Europe in that time, received military assistance from Nazism in Germany. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that the main influence in his life was that he was “close to his mother, a pious and conservative upper middle-class Roman Catholic.”

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Franco, who followed the military career, was so intelligent that “In 1915 he became the youngest captain in the Spanish army” and “In May 1935 he was appointed chief of the Spanish army's general staff.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica also says Franco’s support was “derived mainly from the antileftist middle classes” and that he was “one of the world’s leading anticommunist statesmen.”

Modern right-wing readers just do not understand how Nazis militarily helped Franco and his anticommunism.

The problem with Nazism is that it was inspired by occultism, and Evola was also an occultist. And occultism always brings confusion.

One of these confusions was a very brief treaty between the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. Even though this treaty lasted less than six months, often it is used as an “evidence” that both were two kinds of socialism. Yet, if such short-lived union to the Soviet Union is an evidence that Nazi Germany was socialist, what would the same critics say about the U.S.-Soviet alliance, which lasted from 1941 to 1945 during the World War 2, for much more time than the short Soviet-Nazi alliance did?

And because the Soviet Union fought against Nazism, the U.S. put the Soviet Union in the foundation of the United Nations. This is the polarization trap.

You fall into the polarization trap only when you do not understand that there were higher forces operating in Germany. These forces were occultist, with its many pitfalls of confusion.

Martin Niemöller was unable to understand the political and spiritual tensions of this trap and these pitfalls.

And today people do not care if Niemöller had embraced socialism. For them what matters is that he embraced anti-Nazism, which was an anti-socialist and anti-communist system, as Niemöller saw with his own eyes.

What did Niemöller miss that he did not understand that socialism was so destructive as Nazism? He lacked the anointing of the Holy Spirit and his supernatural gifts, which could have helped him see realities he was unable to see with his human eyes.

He embraced socialism because he saw the horror that socialists in Germany suffered from Nazis. But he never saw that socialists in the Soviet Union committed the same and bigger horrors.

So Niemöller’s famous declaration is spiritually wrong. Christians have no calling to defend communists and socialists. And they should be careful with groups using extreme anti-communism as a flag. Such flag was used in the past by groups, including Nazis and fascists, which got inspiration from Evola. The same flag is used today by groups with the same occult inspiration.

The calling of Christians is to preach the Gospel to communists, socialists, Nazis, right-wingers and left-wingers. Every sinner needs to hear the Gospel.

While you are busy with the preaching of the Gospel and are open to the Holy Spirit and his gifts, you will never fall into the polarization trap and occult pitfalls in this polarization.

Portuguese version of this article: Martin Niemöller, o pastor luterano anti-nazista que alertou como os cristãos precisam abrir a boca quando as pessoas são perseguidas. Mas até que ponto o conselho dele é válido?

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Nazism: Nationalism and Socialism at the Service of Occultism

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that Nazism was a left-wing movement after he visited the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. But the museum, which is a memorial of the Jewish victims of Nazism, says that Nazism was a right-wing movement. What about now?

Jewish Perspective: Hitler and Socialism

Hitler’s Strident Anti-Marxism

Olavo de Carvalho and Julius Evola, parallels of two prominent right-wing occultists of the Traditionalist School

Billy Graham and The Forgotten Factor in the Overthrow of Soviet Communism

Rev. Larry Christenson, a Charismatic Lutheran Pioneer

Lesbian Artist’s Painting of Islamic Homosexuals as Partners of Adam and Eve in the Paradise Is Put at the Altar of the Lutheran Church of Sweden

By Julio Severo

When Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder, a close friend of Martin Luther, painted about paradise, he thought only on God, Adam and Eve. But now, Swedish lesbian artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin thinks that it is unfair to keep homosexuals out from such paradise.

The lesbian artist created a painting, titled “Paradise,” where she gave Adam a dark-skinned homosexual partner, a subtle reference that Swedish men, who are light-skinned, should embrace the hordes of Islamic Africans invading Sweden. And she gave Eve a dark-skinned lesbian partner, a subtle reference that Swedish women, who are light-skinned, should embrace the hordes of Islamic Africans invading Sweden.

The lesbian artist killed two birds with one stone. If you criticize the African homosexual partners of the Swedish Adam and Eve, you are legally liable to be accused of discrimination based on sexual orientation and race at the same time.

I do not know what African Muslims think about being portrayed as homosexual partners of ethnic Swedish. But they have had no concern about being accused of anything in Sweden, especially because they are champions of rapes against Swedish girls and women. In contrast, Swedish are horrified to pinpoint Muslims as rapists for fear of being accused of racist, because the massive wave of Islamic rapists happens to be dark-skinned African Muslims.

The lesbian artist did not forget the serpent, which in her painting became a transgender serpent. In this point, I agree with the lesbian artist. The author of homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism and all other sexual sins and dysfunctions is the old serpent, which is in no way offended to be portrayed as a transgender, a homosexual and lesbian serpent.

“Paradise” was put at the altar at St. Paul’s Church in Malmö, Sweden. According to the church, the goal is to create “greater inclusion and identification in the Church.”

“It is with pride and joy that we receive Paradise in St Paul’s Church. We need images that open up for greater inclusion and identification in the church,” St. Paul’s said in a statement. “We are grateful to Elisabeth’s artistry, which enables us to build a credible church that shows that we all, regardless of who we love and identify as, are accommodated in Paradise.”

Helena Myrstener, the Lutheran minister at the church, took to social media to praise the demonic work.

“Sweden’s only LGBT altarpiece (Elisabeth Ohlsson Wallin) is received by St Paul’s church in Malmö… We are so happy and proud!” she wrote.

The homosexual “artwork” will remain in the altar of the St Paul’s Lutheran Church. If the goal is to create greater demonic inclusion and identification in the Lutheran Church, the possessed lesbian artist and her accomplice Lutheran female minister were successful.

The St Paul’s Lutheran Church forgot the words of St. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV)

You can understand when worldly people put a profane picture of Paradise at the altar of a satanic ritual or on the TV screens. They lack God. But it is vastly worse when a profane picture of Paradise is put at the altar of an evangelical church.

For decades, charismatic Lutherans, who believe and welcome the empowering of the Holy Spirit, including prophecies and other supernatural gifts, have been warning traditional Lutherans that they should reject the cessationist heresy, which has made the Lutheran church vulnerable to satanic invasions, including pro-sodomy and pro-abortion demons. It is time for Swedish Lutherans at last to heed charismatic Lutherans and their message.

The most prominent divine healing preacher in the 1800s was Rev. Johann Christof Blumhardt, a Lutheran minister who expelled demons just as Jesus’ apostles did. But what the Lutheran Church of Sweden is doing, by putting a homosexual painting at its altar, is inviting demons.

The Lutheran Church of Sweden needs to open itself to the same God Blumhardt served, not to homosexual demons. The role of the church is to deliver people from demons, not to bring demons and their influence to people.

Swedish Lutherans should not joke about it. Many Islamic Africans invading Sweden are bringing a kind of powerful witchcraft that no cessationist theology, no Lutheran rituals can expel. Only the name of Jesus, spoken by people empowered by His presence, can expel such demons.

The serpent desecrated the original Paradise, convincing Eva that she could become like God. Now, the serpent wants to convince people that man can become like woman and woman can become like man.

Now, inspired by the same serpent, a female minister in a Lutheran church wants to convince Christians that Adam can have an Islamic homosexual partner and Eve can have an Islamic lesbian partner.

The Lutheran Church in Sweden has strengthened female leadership and weakened male leadership. The result, in a Sweden where 63 percent of its population is Lutheran, is that there is no male strength to protect women and girls against Islamic foreigners and their wave of rapes. And whenever female leadership is strengthened and male leadership is weakened, homosexuality is strengthened and demonic influence and possession are strengthened to the detriment of the most vulnerable humans: Children.

With information from Out.

Portuguese version of this article: Pintura de artista lésbica de homossexuais islâmicos como parceiros de Adão e Eva no Paraíso é colocada no altar da Igreja Luterana da Suécia

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Brutal Nigerian Mafia, Which Uses Witchcraft, Advancing in Sweden

Swedish government issues “be prepared for war” pamphlet to every home in Sweden

Rev. Larry Christenson, a Charismatic Lutheran Pioneer

Demon-Expelling: Truths and Confusions

Theological Zombie Tries to Turn Author of the Gospel of Luke into Zombie

Swimming and Driving Is Dangerous… for Those Who Cannot Swim and Drive

Rex Humbard, Premier Televangelist Who Blessed Millions

Spiritual Gun Control Is Not God’s Idea

The Perfect Revival?

Julio Severo seeks to move Christians to daily prayer with ‘Prophetic Prayers’

Finnish politician who shared a Bible verse on Facebook is investigated for “hate crime”

By Julio Severo

Police are investigating a Christian politician in Finland for an alleged “hate crime” because she shared a Bible verse on Facebook to criticize the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland (ELCF) for participating in LGBT Pride festivities. ELCF is a state church in Finland.

Päivi Räsänen

In the post, congresswoman Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Democrat, criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for participating in the Helsinki LGBT Pride events in June. Her criticism included a picture of Romans 1:24-27 that describes same-sex relationships as “shameful.”

Because of her post, Räsänen is being investigated by the Finnish Police for a suspected incitement against sexual and gender minorities.

Räsänen, who is a member of and is married to a ELCF pastor, said, “How can the church’s doctrinal foundation, the Bible, be compatible with the lifting up of shame and sin as a subject of pride?”

The vast majority, 69 percent, of Finns are members of the ELCF, which has had a steady decline over the last few years.

In mid-August, the Finnish politician tweeted: “I am not concerned on my part, as I trust this will not move on to the prosecutor. However, I am concerned if quoting the Bible is considered even ‘slightly’ illegal. I hope this won't lead to self-censorship among Christians. Rom. 1:24–27.”

Räsänen’s minority party holds five seats in the 200-seat Finnish Parliament. She is known for her defense of traditional Christian views on abortion and marriage, but after being called “homophobic,” the politician tweeted: “It is not right to label Christian conviction as phobia.”

With information from FoxNews.

Portuguese version of this article: Parlamentar finlandesa que compartilhou um versículo da Bíblia no Facebook é investigada por “crime de ódio”

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Florida State Rep. Mike Hill Lynched by the Left-Wing Media for Sharing My Article

Answering a gay activist and his nonsense on Saudi Arabia, slavery, women’s rights and the deity of homosexuality

Famous Bible verse too sizzling for Facebook

Help! Facebook Is Censoring Bible Verses

Walter Altmann, World Council of Churches, Liberation Theology and Soviet Ghosts

By Julio Severo

To have a prominent leader of the powerful liberal World Council of Churches complaining that an article against Liberation Theology has impacted negatively his activities is no small honor to a conservative.

On a 30 May 2018 Facebook post, Rev. Walter Altmann, a former Moderator of the World Council of Churches, protested against an 2006 article titled “Soviet Ghosts Haunt the World Council of Churches,” written by Mark D. Tooley and published by FrontPage Magazine.

Perhaps, because Tooley’s article was in English, it would have had no impact in Brazil if it had not been translated into Portuguese.

I translated it and published it in Brazil in 2007. Since then, Altmann, who is a former president of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (ECLCB, the largest Lutheran denomination in Brazil), has seen, as he told in his Facebook post, his own Facebook friends publishing my translation of Tooley’s article in his own Facebook page!

So at last he unburdened his heart to his Facebook friends, saying:

“When one intends to accuse another person of something that he is supposed to have committed, an elemental ethical principle is to give the person beforehand the opportunity to clarify and defend himself, for whoever makes the accusation public, if unfounded, will have incurred in slander and defamation. And, certainly, you have broken the biblical commandment to not bear false witness against anyone. Well, it happens routinely for one of my ‘friends’ to pass on as an indisputable truth the claim that I was a ‘Soviet agent’… They do so by reproducing a slanderous article, from a page of Washington’s extreme religious right, translated into Portuguese in 2007, by Julio Severo…”

Altmann’s Facebook post is interestingly titled “EU – FANTASMA SOVIÉTICO?” (AM I A SOVIET GHOST?)

In this point, I can clarify and even defend Altmann. He is not a Soviet ghost! In fact, Tooley’s article never said that Altmann was a Soviet ghost and did not target him mainly. It targeted the World Council of Churches (WCC), making it very clear that its reference to Soviet ghosts meant the Soviet influences in movements and conferences supported by WCC.

If Altmann’s friends are using my translation of Tooley’s article to request a biblical accountability from him, why doesn’t he listen to their plea?

Even if Altmann had never been the Moderator of the World Council of Churches and even if he never attended conferences influenced by Soviets, his spiritual problems are not solved.

In October 1999, when he was the president of the Latin American Council of Churches, Altmann met communist dictator Fidel Castro and gave him his book “Lutero e Libertação” (Luther and Liberation). So, even without Soviet ghosts, the hard truth is that Altmann, in his activities and books, has been an advocate of the Liberation Theology, which Luther never advocated.

In 2009, Mark D. Tooley published his article “Resurrecting Liberation Theology: The World Council of Churches tries to revive Marxism in religious garb,” in FrontPage Magazine, where Altmann was quoted as saying in a WCC publication:

“Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, twenty years ago, many critics have been quick to sign liberation theology’s death certificate. Most of them did so because they understood it to be an apology of bygone Soviet-style socialism. It seems, though, that this death certificate has been issued prematurely.”

According to Altmann, as quoted by Tooley,

“Liberation theology is spiritually grounded on — and gets its motivation from — the life changing encounter with Christ as liberator and with our neighbors,” whose suffering results from “systemic injustices and oppression.”

Alas for Altmann, I translated and published Tooley’s article in Brazil!

Even though Liberation Theology is not Protestant, because of his ecumenical involvements through WCC he eventually adapted it to the Lutheran perspective. The Protestant version of Liberation Theology is Theology of Integral Mission. The Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil is prominent in both liberal theologies, thanks to leaders like Altmann.

So am I accusing Altmann of being a former Soviet agent because he advocates Liberation Theology? No. Even though the KGB used Liberation Theology for its own advantage, it was not produced by the KGB. Such mistaken propaganda was probably created by a former communist who for years has been sponsored by the CIA. As recognized by a Brazilian traditionalist Catholic in the article “Liberation Theology, a KGB Invention? That Is Way Too Simple...,” Liberation Theology was born in the Catholic Church before the KGB.

If Altmann had got involved only in the Gospel, by proclaiming it, healing the sick and expelling demons — just as Jesus and his disciples did —, he would never have had time or interest to get involved in a political theology that uses the Gospel to proclaim Marxism and make Christians sick and demonized.

Ecumenism drew Altmann away from Jesus’s Gospel and brought him near “Christian” Marxism, or Liberation Theology.

Even if Soviets had never used Liberation Theology, it is not Christian, because it uses the Gospel as a left-wing political platform.

Liberation Theology is not spiritually grounded on Christ as liberator, as Altmann alleged, making Christ a political liberator at the service of the leftist ideology. He bore false witness. Is Christ a Deliverer? Certainly. He delivers people, even Christians, from diseases and demons. And Christians who preach Liberation Theology are spiritually oppressed and need to be delivered from demons.

I have publicly clarified that Altmann is not a Soviet ghost. But he was involved with Soviet ghosts and he was certainly influenced by the Catholic liberal theology through ecumenism.

So if these public accusations are based on Altmann’s public activities and writings, why does he insist on saying that these accusation are “unfounded” and that Tooley and I have “incurred in slander and defamation”?

If he actually believed in his own unfounded accusations, he would have long ago pressed charges against us.

Altmann should stop whining about the consequences of his ideological choices.

He should be kept accountable for having borne false witness against the Gospel of Jesus Christ by using it to promote Liberation Theology.

The Gospel belongs to Jesus Christ. Liberation Theology belongs to the Catholic Church. And Marxism belongs to Karl Marx. So give back to the Catholic Church what is Catholic Church’s. Give back to Marxism what is Marxism’s. And give back to Jesus Christ what is Jesus Christ’s.

The Lutheran Church does not need Liberation Theology imported, through ecumenism, from the Catholic Church. It needs deliverance from the demons of Liberation Theology and Marxism. It needs a charismatic renewal from the Holy Spirit.

Christians who live Spirit-filled lives do not need to be filled with liberal theological garbage.

Portuguese version of this article: Walter Altmann, Conselho Mundial de Igrejas, Teologia da Libertação e Fantasmas Soviéticos

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Theological Faggoting: Liberation Theology and Theology of Integral Mission Environment Producing Gay Theology in Brazil

Rev. Larry Christenson, a Charismatic Lutheran Pioneer

The Religious War between CIA and KGB in Latin America

Spiritual Gun Control Is Not God’s Idea

Demon-Expelling: Truths and Confusions

Karl Marx’s Spirit in Lausanne: Theology of Integral Mission

Julio Severo seeks to move Christians to daily prayer with ‘Prophetic Prayers’

Rev. Larry Christenson, a Charismatic Lutheran Pioneer

By Julio Severo

Are the Holy Spirit and his supernatural gifts and visitations realities present only in the Bible stories? Not at all. Even today their manifestations happen even in the driest theological settings.

One Lutheran minister in the United States became a charismatic powerhouse after a power encounter with the Holy Spirit. He became one of the most prominent Lutheran theologians in America.

Rev. Larry Christenson (1928-2017) was a pioneer of the charismatic renewal not only in the Lutheran Church in America, but in other mainline denominations 50 years ago.

In his early 30s, Christenson was a Lutheran pastor in San Pedro, California, who came to believe at the start of the 1960s that Jesus Christ still heals the sick today as He did 2,000 years ago.

That belief led Christenson to accept that the other gifts of the Holy Spirit were also still available.

He himself was baptized in the Spirit and began to speak in tongues at a local Assemblies of God church he visited in 1961.

Christenson decided to stay in his Lutheran denomination, where he became a major advocate for and leader of the charismatic renewal sweeping through mainline churches.

His own San Pedro church became so popular that it could well have become a mega-church as Lutherans curious about the baptism in the Holy Spirit flocked there. But he always encouraged them to return to their own congregations to be a strength and light.

Christenson’s books, “Speaking in Tongues” (1968) and “The Christian Family” (1970), became bestsellers. “The Christian Family” has sold more than two million copies and been translated into over a dozen languages. Others included “The Renewed Mind” (1974); “Charismatic Renewal Among Lutherans” (1976) and “Welcome, Holy Spirit” (1987).

Christenson also wrote an introduction of my e-book “Theology of Liberation versus Theology of Prosperity,” published in 2013. This booklet was pioneer against the Theology of Integral Mission, the Protestant version of the Liberation Theology. In the e-book he said,

“Julio Severo points up a reality of the Christian community in Brazil that finds expression in other countries as well. Liberal churches and theologians try to wed the Christian faith to socialism, a secular political philosophy. The net result: they talk mostly to each other while their churches decline in members and influence. Meanwhile Pentecostal churches have reached out to the poor and powerless, and more recently, with the spread of the charismatic movement in many churches, to people from all walks of life. Their message is a biblical and uncomplicated message of salvation through Christ, and new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Their churches grow, people’s lives are changed. I hope the truth in this little booklet will impact the lives and understanding of many people in Brazil. And, who knows, even beyond Brazil!”

After the publication of my e-book, Theology of Integral Mission, which had gone unopposed for decades in the Brazilian mainline churches, especially the Presbyterian Church, began to receive the first signs of solid resistance and opposition. The Brazilian Lutheran churches, which are far away from the baptism in the Holy Spirit and his spiritual gifts, are also very close to Theology of Integral Mission. Read my article to understand: “Theological Faggoting: Liberation Theology and Theology of Integral Mission Environment Producing Gay Theology in Brazil.”

If a church is not filled with the Holy Spirit, the vacuum will be filled with Marxism and other kinds of theological liberalism.

So it is no wonder that the best opposition to Theology of Integral Mission and its theological liberalism was born among charismatic evangelicals.

The Holy Spirit can do much more against such liberalism.

According to Christenson, in his book “Answering Your Questions About Speaking in Tongues” (published by Bethany House Publishers, with foreword by Corrie ten Boom):

“No Scripture suggests that some of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit were meant only for the Apostolic Church. This is a purely human doctrine and rationalization to explain away the embarrassing lack of the supernatural in the Church, while still clinging to the doctrine of an inspired Scripture. Martin Luther, commenting on Mark 16:17,18, says, ‘These signs [including speaking in new tongues] should he interpreted as applying to every individual Christian. When a person is a Christian, he has faith, and he shall also have the power to do these signs.’”

In his systematic theology “Welcome Holy Spirit” (Augsburg Publishing House, 1987), he said,

“Even though imperfectly understood and used, spiritual gifts are a practical part of the gospel ministry” (p. 252).

“In German pietism there was some experience of charismatic gifts. This had little direct influence on the present-day charismatic renewal, though the parallels are instructive. In the 19th century, Christoph Blumhardt’s congregation experienced revival accompanied by healings and exorcism. In his preaching Blumhardt kindled hope for a new Pentecost. By the turn of the century, regular Pentecost conferences were being held, with an emphasis on revival on the power of the Holy Spirit” (p. 355).

With Lutheran minister Blumhardt, Lutheran Germany had a chance to move to a better spiritual course. Yet, according to Christenson (“Welcome Holy Spirit,” p. 356), in the Berlin Declaration of 1909 German Lutherans declared spiritual gifts today, including tongues, as “demonic.”

After this formal rejection of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, Germany faced World War 1, which eventually led to World War 2. If the Lutheran churches had not rejected the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, could they have had more spiritual discernment against the dark forces that came over Germany, including esoteric Adolf Hitler, who deceived both Catholics and Lutherans through his anti-Marxist speech?

Fierce opposition to the charismatic movement in Germany 100 years ago extinguished hope for revival in the Lutheran churches and opened the door for demons, including Nazism.

Today, detractors criticize the charismatic movement as being too based in shallow emotionalism. Yet, Christenson’s own sharp and quiet intellect contradicted the stereotype.

In his book “The Charismatic Movement, An Historical and Theological Perspective” (2010), Christenson said:

Religious movements are often dated from a particular event that pinpoints its outbreak into the public arena. We date the Reformation from the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg in 1517, or Methodism from the meeting in Aldersgate Street in 1738 when John Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed.” The charismatic movement is usually dated from the Sunday morning in 1959 when Dennis Bennett announced to his Episcopalian congregation in Van Nuys, California, that he had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. In little more than a year similar events occurred in a variety of Protestant congregations in the United States, including Lutheran churches in California, Montana, and Minnesota. (p. 1, 2)

In 1959 classical Pentecostals numbered about 25 million, worldwide. With the advent of the charismatic movement, Pentecostals and charismatics burgeoned to 553 million by 2005, trending toward 811 million by 2025. They constitute 28% of Christians worldwide, growing at the rate of nine million annually. “There is nothing quite like it in the history of the church,” said Presbyterian pastor and historian Robert Whitaker. “Earlier movements have been limited geographically and denominationally. This one has penetrated every denomination and is present on every continent of the globe.” (p. 3)

The Greek word for “spiritual gifts” — charismata — gave the name to the charismatic movement. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly those listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, became a popular hallmark of the renewal. The emphasis on spiritual gifts was prominent to begin with simply because things like spiritual healing, visions, miracles, and speaking in tongues were new for most believers in mainline denominations. Charismatics enthusiastically told their first-hand experience with spiritual gifts and asked, “Why haven’t we heard about this before?” while skeptics scoured the landscape for signs of fanaticism. Over time spiritual gifts became in a sense more ordinary among charismatics. Sharing a vision, or a prophecy, or a prayer for healing became as normal as getting up and going to work. The manifestation of spiritual gifts became a settled reality in their understanding of life, and of Scripture. (p. 4)

Renewal movements often focus on a particular aspect of the Christian faith. The Lutheran Reformation highlighted justification by grace through faith. The Wesleyan revivals stressed sanctification. Charismatics underscore the belief that followers of Jesus should “receive” or “be baptized with” the Holy Spirit. (p. 7)

The prophecy of John the Baptist that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit is recorded in all of the gospels (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33). Jesus repeated the prophecy before His ascension (Acts 1:5). The book of Acts records several instances of people receiving the Holy Spirit; taken together, they help us understand how this prophecy happened in the life of the early church —

* Receiving the Holy Spirit was a discrete aspect of Christian initiation. It was closely associated with repentance, faith, and baptism but it did not happen automatically when someone believed in Jesus or was baptized.

* It required no particular ritual. Sometimes people received the Holy Spirit in connection with prayer and the laying on of hands, but it could also happen spontaneously.

* Receiving the Holy Spirit was not a secret or unconscious event in the life of a believer; it was a noticeable, remembered happening. “The effectual presence of the Holy Spirit cannot be assumed simply because a person agrees to correct doctrine. It is possible to hold the doctrine on the Holy Spirit, yet not experience His presence and power. The doctrine must find expression in personal experience.”

* When new believers came to faith and were baptized, but did not receive the Holy Spirit, their initiation into the Christian faith was considered incomplete; prayer was invoked for them to receive the Holy Spirit.

Charismatics do not understand “receiving the Holy Spirit” as a comprehensive term for the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a distinctive happening in the life of a believer whereby the Holy Spirit becomes more manifest. Today, behind this understanding of Scripture, stand millions of believers around the world and throughout the body of Christ who testify to “receiving” or “being baptized with” the Holy Spirit. Many would describe their life beforehand not much differently than the disciples the apostle Paul met in Ephesus, some twenty years after Pentecost —

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

Asked to explain how or why it happened in their lives, charismatics most likely say, “Somebody told me about it.” Faith comes by hearing. The charismatic movement has spread because a neglected truth of Scripture has been proclaimed. (p. 7, 8)

Now, God does not do foolish or unnecessary things. If God appointed certain gifts and ministries in the church, it is not for us to weigh whether they are good or necessary, but rather to ask, “Why did God do this? What does He have in mind?” (p. 11)

That is why the Christian life involves more than living by principles. Jesus was much more than “a man of principle.” He said, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing” (John 5:19). How many sick people did Jesus step around at the pool of Bethesda to speak God’s word to one invalid? (John 5:2) Jesus did not have a “preferential option” for the poor, or the sick, or the disadvantaged; nor for the rich and influential. He had a preferential option for the FATHER! Jesus did not intend His disciples to be guided simply by commonsense application of spiritual principles. Not even the truths that He had taught them stood alone. He said, “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper . . . he will teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:16,26) Christ calls us into a totally new dimension of living. Our life as Christians is not meant to be guided simply by principles, commonsensically applied. Our life is under the direction of a living Person, the Holy Spirit. By His power we partake of the divine nature. The Lord is in us, we are in Him. (p. 23)

The central message of the Holy Spirit Renewal — “receiving the Holy Spirit,” or “being baptized with the Holy Spirit” — calls the church back to its scriptural roots, to a faith defined not simply by its knowledge — doctrinal agreement, however biblical — but by a heightened awareness and experience of life-union-with-the-Lord. Pentecostals and charismatics need steadfastly to live in and declare this central reality that God quickened to the church in the 20th century: your life and ministry depends upon divine presence. Receive the Holy Spirit! (p. 26)

With information from CBN.

Portuguese version of this article: Rev. Larry Christenson, pioneiro luterano carismático

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Spiritual Gun Control Is Not God’s Idea

Demon-Expelling: Truths and Confusions

Theological Faggoting: Liberation Theology and Theology of Integral Mission Environment Producing Gay Theology in Brazil

Karl Marx’s Spirit in Lausanne: Theology of Integral Mission

The Perfect Revival?

Julio Severo seeks to move Christians to daily prayer with ‘Prophetic Prayers’