Prominent ELCA Pastor Says He is a Universalist

3/1/2018

More and more ELCA pastors are coming out of the closet and admitting they are universalists. Universalism is the belief “that all human beings will eventually be saved.” (See here)

Below is a recent Facebook post by prominent Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) pastor, Clint Schnekloth. Schnekloth is a pastor, author and blogger; he created and facilitates the ELCA Clergy Facebook Group that has over 5800 members.

This is a false teaching that is dangerous, risking the eternal lives of people who put their trust in it. The Bible, which is God’s Word, teaches that some people will be saved and go to heaven when they die and some people will go to hell with they die. "...Universalism and universal salvation are unbiblical beliefs. Universalism directly contradicts what Scripture teaches…To say that those who reject God’s provision of salvation through His Son will be saved is to belittle the holiness and justice of God and negate the need of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.” (See here)

Rev. Schnekloth is one of the growing number of ELCA pastors that espouse this belief. The most renowned pastor in the ELCA, Nadia Bolz-Weber, is a universalist. (See here) Rev Bolz-Weber will be a keynote speaker at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering. Around 30,000 youth typically attend the event.

There are still ELCA pastors who will not admit to the label “universalist,” most likely because they understand that it is viewed as heresy, but they do openly teach the principles of universalism. For example, the leader of the ELCA, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, in an interview last year was asked, “Is there a hell?” She replied, “There may be, but I think it is empty.” (See here) That is universalism, plain and simple. If hell is empty, all people will go to heaven. Presiding Bishop Eaton is a universalist.

There are many more examples of the ELCA propagating universalism. They do it in their seminaries, in their publications, on social media and in their churches. If the growth of universalism is a concern to you, please go to the following links, here (and scroll down the page) and here, to find just how prevalent this teaching is in the ELCA.

9 Comments

Didaskalos link

3/2/2018 09:06:03 am

It would do Clint good to get acquainted with the real Jesus, the one who said, "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

The real Jesus doesn't win a whole lot of "inclusivity" back pats from the world, so naturally the ELCA has tossed Him out in favor of its self-created "Jesus."

‘My God Is a God of Love’ …Sure, But Your god Isn’t Real --
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/chorusinthechaos/god-love/#6H8k72yvJY82iWR6.99

". . .He is not what many would call a safe God – but He is incredibly good and a refuge for His children. God is Love – but God defines “Love.”

"This is the God the Scriptures boldly declare is love, which is revealed to us through the giving of His only begotten Son. This is the God who calls you “son” or “daughter” if you reside in Christ and obey Him. Yet God’s unchanging character demonstrates that He will not yield to the changing cultural ideals of love. Rather, it is God who defines love in all its fullness, as the origin of love is God.

[ . . . ]

". . .When you jettison the truth of His Word, obfuscate the clarity thereof, diminish its authority, relegate its meaning to a particular time and place – as if it has no significance to our own culture and time and doesn’t carry universal meaning that transcends such things, you create your own, personal god.

"Sure, you may be correct in stating that your god is a god of love and doesn’t do x, y, and z – but your god can’t do anything. Your god doesn’t exist, save the false conception held that merely reflects yourself, as you fancy yourself to be God. All such praise will end with only one result: the unending, unyielding, wrath of God. It will more and more profound which each conscious moment of their incredibly bleak and miserable existence. Those in hell shall remain His possession, yet a possession, which shall experience nothing but the everlasting, fierce, and full retribution of the Lord. In other words, they too shall experience the God that is, is utterly inexhaustible."

John

3/2/2018 06:54:05 pm

Schnekloth, Bolz-Weber, Eaton, and the other universalist-gnostic ELCAnites -- for simplicity, let's call them UGELCALGBTQIAMATTERDECOLONIZEPACLUPLO -- their savior might as well be Santa Claus, because their personal scriptures are fairy tales, like L'Engle's juvenile fiction. They have literally "followed cleverly crafted fables," 2 Peter 1:16. Wow.

But you don't have to follow them. Visit a Bible-believing church, and hear and see for yourself. You have nothing to lose but the lies.

George

3/2/2018 08:48:55 pm

Yes, indeed. Schnekloth refers to Barth who is not even Lutheran. Barth famously smoothed out the mutually exclusive law and gospel theme which renders both law and gospel powerless by doing so. Universalism ia a product of this smoothing over of differences. If everybody gets saved in the end then what is the reason for mission activity? What is the reason for Christ's death on the cross. No the ELCA en masse continues to get stranger and stranger.

Henry Stannek

3/4/2018 05:16:57 pm

"[The Father] hath given [the Son] authority to execute judgement also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:27-29)

3/4/2018 07:07:52 pm

"As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:40-42)

Clint

3/26/2018 10:44:48 pm

Thank you for publishing this on your blog!

Hans

3/26/2018 10:54:41 pm

Do y'all want there to be people in hell? Do you think you deserve that perceived moral high ground? We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not even the best among us deserves heaven, so the only alternative to universalism is just the opposite.

Dan Skogen

3/27/2018 10:36:00 am

The alternative that you are missing, Hans is that some will go to heaven and some will go to hell. That is the Biblical model.

Revelation 20:15 - And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8 -But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 - All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

Matt 25:46 - Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

John 3:16-18 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.

Romans 3:21 - But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

Daniel 12:1-2 - Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

2 Peter 2:4,9 - For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment...then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.

John 8:24 - Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.

Mark 3:28–29 - Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.

Matthew 12:32 - Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Matt. 7:13-14 - Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it,

Matt. 22:14 - For many are called, but few are chosen,

Luke 13:22-27 - Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'

Clint Schnekloth

12/26/2020 08:55:14 am

Dan, I wanted to take time today to thank you for publishing these articles. We have had so many people connect or join our church because they read your articles and are so thankful to get away from the kind of religion you represent and connect with us.

I know you don’t intend it in this way, but you are one of our best evangelists, because you push people away from your hate and toward more authentic Christianity.

So much love to you for that.

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Prominent ELCA Pastor Says He is a Universalist

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Dan Skogen

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