(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Head bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was asked by a Chicago newspaper about Hell and she said "There may be a Hell, but I think it is empty." This is an old heresy called universalism, the teaching that all people will be saved, whether they believe in Jesus or not, which is a flat contradiction of Scriptures (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 16:31). Bishop Eaton has also been quoted to say that saving souls is not the business of the Church, that's God's job. So if saving souls is not the business of the Church, what is? It appears the answer is "liberal politics". If one goes to elca.org and looks through their news items, it is filled with political stands, along with some religious news. Here is the present list of news articles from the ELCA website: ELCA presiding bishop issues statement on Dreamers 02/09/2018 ELCA presiding bishop to participate in rally to end racism 02/06/2018 ‘Set Free By Truth’ Lent devotions offered by four church leaders 02/05/2018 ELCA Presiding Bishop responds to reported racist comments 01/12/2018 A Christmas message from the ELCA presiding bishop 12/14/2017 ELCA presiding bishop responds to decision to move U.S. Embassy in Israel 12/06/2017 It appears that, if everyone is going to heaven, the ELCA must find other ways to spend peoples' offering dollars and it has chosen politics. Of course we should all be against racism, but that is not the Gospel. The Gospel is the Good News that Jesus died and rose again to save sinners from Hell. And yes, according to Jesus, there is a Hell. And yes, according to Jesus, the Church should be all about saving souls (Matthew 28:19). In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock
5 Comments
A reader from Minnesota
2/11/2018 11:00:37 am
Yes as you mentioned, if everyone is going to heaven then why waste the time & money on saving souls. A lot of social justice issues are good and we keep hearing about promoting diversity in our colleges and churches. If you have conservative thinking you are no longer very welcome as only one point of view is acceptable too many times but please continue to give your money! If the church's first priority is not about promoting saving souls you can help with many great social causes in organizations such as Lions, Rotary, Exchange, Red Cross, etc!
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Anonymous
2/13/2018 06:14:37 pm
You'll notice that amid all the press releases, there is not one about the resignation of the bishop of MYNS, nor about the circumstances of that resignation.
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George
2/17/2018 01:40:25 pm
And the silence of this is deafening.
George
2/17/2018 01:37:30 pm
True. If Hell is empty why missions and missiology at all?
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2/13/2018 06:42:03 pm
Martin Luther: “..it is impossible for anyone to be saved without faith. Otherwise every sermon, the gospel, and faith would be vain, false, and deceptive, since the entire gospel makes faith necessary. (Works, 43, ed. and trans. G. Wienke and H. T. Lehmann [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1968], 53-54; WA 10.ii, 324.25-325.11)
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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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