NOTES
(Raw notes from Barnhart (see CEANotes for bibliographic info), as I pull together material for this effort.)
"The Protestant Church is in the midst of its greatest crisis since the Reformation of the sixteenth century, though few seem to realize it. Fundamental doctrines of the historic Christian faith are being challenged and discarded one after another in most major denominations, and in some of the smaller ones as well.... People are literally being starved to death spiritually in their own centers of worship."
"Instead of preaching from the Bible, many preachers regularly take their texts from the best-seller lists or from their own private social agenda. Some of these modernistic preachers use the Bible in their preaching only because it is expected by their people, but they are careful to transform each text into a mandate for social or economic reform. Most parishioners never catch on, for they hear the same old familiar words. Little do they realize that their pastor has given these words and phrases new meanings. There are church-goers today who have no idea that their pastor does not believe in the absolute authority of Holy Scripture or that he privately denies historic doctrines of Scripture which they hold dear." (Barnhart, 3)
"And pity the preachers and church fellowships which still hold to the absolute authority of the Bible as the divinely inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. They are often branded by mainstream clerics as "extreme, fanatical Fundamentalists." Frankly, few critics of the orthodox even know the true and literal meaning of a Fundamentalist. For them it is a catch-word, hurled at anyone who in their opinion is so intellectually naive as to believe everything that the Bible teaches. Today growing numbers of evangelical clergy, seminaries, colleges, and church leaders are quick to distance themselves from a strong view of Scripture, fearing they also may be branded in such fashion." (Barnhart, 4) "Every aspect of oour historic-biblical faith, including the resurrection of Christ, is being challenged in Protestant classrooms and pulpits. The vilest sins clearly condemned by the Word of God are now legitimized by numerous liberal church leaders and the compromising evangelicals who have joined their ranks." (Barnhart, 4)
Barnhart, 4, points out that liberation theology is widely taught [due to lack of belief in afterlife, there is nothing better to do than fight for improvements now], Christ's first coming twisted into a warrant for violence in the name of Marxism.
"PERHAPS THE MOST DISTRESSING SITUATION IN THE CHURCH OF OUR TIME IS THE SILENCE OF BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS AND CHURCH LEADERS WHO OUGHT TO BE FIGHTING THIS FIERCE ASSAULT ON THE PRECIOUS BODY OF CHRIST." (Barnhart, 5)
Barnhart was in the LCA over 20 years.
"My conscience was smitten by the Word of God. I could no longer continue in a church body which was openly denying the absolute authority of Holy Scripture, allowing false doctrines to be taught in its colleges, seminaries and publications; ordaining avowed homosexuals, and as a final straw, using pornography to treat [sic] ill and hurting children." (Barnhart, 7)
Regarding a pro-homosexual resolution Barnhart read at his first synod meeting at Trinity, he asked the pastors present: "How is it possible," I asked, "that you would seek to promote an evil which the Bible clearly condemns?" Little did I realize that in Minnesota some clergy actually have a church answer to that question. That answer in essence states - "The Bible does not mean what it says; the writers of Scripture were speaking only for themselves in their day, but now we have new information on this subject."... Then and there I knew the Lutheran Church in Minnesota was in big trouble, and so was I." (Barnhart, 8)
"How could I ask my people to contribute money to support the showing of pornographic films to youth? How could I ask them to financially support the synod's active promotion of homosexuality, or to pay the salaries of professors and teachers who taugh false doctrines in our colleges and seminaries? How could I encourage my young people to attend our church colleges where their faith would be under attack, or where they would be told that what they learned back home was not true? How could I endorse supposedly fine Christian, church-supported schools where drug and alcohol abuse were frequent occurences? How could any orthodox, Bible-believing pastor encourage young men preparing for the ministry to attend a seminary where many historic-scriptural accounts are questioned and where the teaching of universalism and liberation theology are both promoted and tolerated?" (Barnhart, 9)
p. 12-14 describe the resistance of Barnhart, forty pastors and sixteen congregations to a synod decree defending homosexuality contra Scripture. Their response emphasized God's condemnation of homosexuality (Lev. 18:22 and Romans 1:26-28, 32), God's love for all sinners, and God's forgiveness for all who repent and turn from their evil ways. "As is often the case with liberal church leaders, their stamina in criticism proved stronger than the endurance of the evangelicals' convictions." (p.14)
p. 15-23 describe the situation at Lutheran Social Services, where
pornography, foul language and other grotesque immorality are used to assault
and traumatize families and children forced to attend by court order (on threat
of parents losing their children otherwise). This was after they were told that
the program "might be offensive to them because of their deep religious
convictions." In a personal interview with a convocation of nine Lutheran
pastors:
"The couple described an icebreaker used to begin "The
Family Journey" where each participant was given paper and asked to write
all the names he or she could recall to describe male and female sex organs.
The list of terms was then posted on the wall for the duration of the weekend.
The couple told us that throughout the weekend program, they viewed numerous
sexually explicit films. Sitting there on the floor of a large room with their
son and other parents and their children, they viewed explicit sex films of a
woman masturbating; a man masturbating; heterosexual couples of varying ages
having sexual intercourse; and homosexual couples engaged in various sex acts.
The program closed, they told us, with a communion service, involving a clown
who wore huge sunglasses with various obscenities written on them." (p. 16)
This was only a portion of the Satanic attack endured by the family by so-called
"Christian counseling."
"The mother and father wept
frequently as they spoke about their experiences to the nine of us. But their
sorrow was unrestrained as they expressed their greatest concern - LSS
counselors now wanted to include their daughters in the program. Their daughters
were ages ten and thirteen. "It's a family problem," they were told."
[Their teen son had been arrested on charges of molesting a child while
baby-sitting.]
"The couple indicated that their protests to LSS
leaders met with little sympathy. Certain LSS staff informed them that they were
free to leave the program any time they so desired; however, if they went back
to court, their son might be removed from their home for their non-cooperation.
They felt hopelessly trapped. I turned to the couple and said, "On behalf
of the Lutheran Church and those churches that love the Lord and His Word, I
apologize. I am ashamed of my church. Please forgive us.""
(Barnhart, 17)
"The president of Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota talked with us
for nearly two hours in the agency's conference room. As we inquired detail by
detail into the Personal/Social Awareness Program, he confirmed that they indeed
were operating such a program in much the way we described it." (p. 17)
The films were first said to come from "regular commerical pornographic
sources." This story was later changed to "from a well known church in
San Francisco." Barnhart subsequently got their catalog to confirm the
contents of the videos.
An attorney hired by the pastors secured an
agreement with juvenile court, while the LSS representative submitted a written
report "stating that because the parents were uncooperative, perhaps the
boy should be removed from the home." (p. 18)
Within a few days
another couple (without being solicited) came forward to a staff member at
Barnhart's church reporting similar trauma/abuse by LSS. Then another family
came forward after LSS contemptuously refused to end the program, and then two
more, each corroborating the others' reports and adding more detail to the
heinous crimes being committed there.
After a tape describing the
atrocities began circulating around the nation, LSS officials began attacking
Barnhart. Thousands of letters of support came in to Pastor Barnhart, as well
as several death threats. Similar programs in other states were reported. "One
letter told of a well known Bible school in California which had used a
comparable program until it was halted by officials of the school. The writer
enclosed a letter of apology which the school president had sent to supporters."
(Barnhart, 22)
"Of the more than seven thousand letters which we received, one burning
question was repeated again and again, "What's happening to my church?"
Letters representing many major denominations told of the spiritual starvation
and false teachings being encountered and endured in local congregations....
Amazingly, some of the letters which we received were literally stained with
tears. Those letters gave me hope that revival is still possible if
God's people will storm the very gates of heaven with heart-breaking,
knee-bending prayers of repentance." (Barnhard, 22-23)
"If my
people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my
face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14)
"One organization, Friends for Biblical Lutheranism, took a rather paradoxical view of Scripture, affirming its authority on onehand, but denying its inerrancy on the other. This caused us to become extremely cautious about our conservative alignments. Indeed, many who claim to hold to a conservative view of Scripture in fact do not." (Barnhart, 25)
"As [Lutheran Church of America, now part of ELCA] synod delegates entered the convention hall that year [1983], they encountered display tables where the pro-homosexual lobby was freely distributing their propaganda. Are you surprised that the homosexual lobby works church conventions? This highly organized strategy is being carried out in many mainline denominations." (Barnhart, 26)
"I was convinced that.. victory... could not be achieved in forty years because most evangelical, conservative pastors lacked the courage to stand against those church leaders who controlled their futures. In addition, every college, seminary, publishing house, and church headquarters in our two Lutheran bodies [LCA and ALC, now ELCA] were firmly in the unrelenting control of the liberals. To add insult to injury, they had the support of the vast majority of pastors. The liberal seminaries have effectively produced several generations of liberal clergy whose influence in the congregations is beyond calculation. How often at church conventions we have witnessed lay-delegates, ignorant of issues and inept in theological matters, vote oon issues according to the counsel of their pastors." (Barnhart, 27)
On the need for encouragement of Christian pastors and leaders:
"When
pastors take a strong stand for God's unalterable truth, the opposition becomes
vicious and unrelenting in its antagonism. Compromising Christians [?] seem
driven to great anger when they are in the company of Christians who dare to
stand strong and courageous for the Lord. Some pastors known to us were run out
of their congregations because they refused to compromise the pure Word of God
in their preaching and teaching. In such cases, the bishops sided against the
pastors and helped force them out of their congregations, and sometimes out of
their denomination. Yet I have never met a pastor who has stepped out in faith
to follow the Lord's leading and who later expressed regret over his decision. I
have seen, however, an emptiness in pastors whose ministries consisted of one
compromise after another." (Barnhart, 31)
"There is an ever-increasing tide of resentment and persecution rising against Bible-believing Christians in mainline denominations. I believe it is developing into a full scale purge. Those Christians attending spiritually secure, God-honoring congregations seem unaware, for the most part, that their brothers and sisters in the traditional denominations are paying a tremendous price for bearing the name and cause of truly biblical Christianity. In some liberal congregations, the born again members are the targets of ridicule from pastors and laity alike. Sometimes only a handful in a congregation are knowledgeable about the apostasies and false practices in their denomination. Their efforts to speak out are met often with either stony silence or sharp censure. Thousands of Christians wrote to tell us that they felt "so alone." These people need encouragement and prayer, and they need it now! We are in the midst of great spiritual warfare. While those upholding biblical truth must face the deadly challenge of the enemy, may they not have to face it alone." (Barnhart, 31)
_____________________
Dear Pastor Barnhart,
A listener to our
radio program sent me a tape of your sermon on January 16, 1983, when you
discussed the Lutheran Social Service program. I congratulate you for having
the courage to speak out against this evil, even though it is supported by your
own church. We modern Christians have become so blase` to sin that nothing
seems to shock or disturb us. Someone in a position of Christian leadership must
take a stand... even one that is unpopular.
There is no justification
psychologically for use of pornography or homosexual exposure in so-called
treatment programs. The individuals forced to witness such trash will never
get it out of their minds, as long as they live.
My purpose in writing is
merely to tell you that I stand with you in your opposition to this evil. I'm
sure you have been criticized for your public declaration, and I wanted to
support you, as a member of the behavioral sciences.
In fact, if you would
like to present your views on our Focus on the Family radio broadcast, (340
stations daily), I would be happy to have you as my guest. Just let me know.
God bless you, friend. I know He will!
Sincerely,
James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Director
-----------------------------------------
"Soon other prominent psychologists and medical doctors openly stood with us in opposing such treatment [sic] methods." (Barnhart, 33)
As a result of two talk show segments on Dobson's network, 479 letters were received by Dr. Dobson. He reported that 464 were "decidedly positive" while only fifteen were negative. Of these, the majority were from Lutheran Social Service leaders! (Letter from Dr. Dobson to station managers who refused to air these two shows due to intimidation from LSS and other Lutheran leaders, October 1983.)
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod synods in Minnesota voted to withdraw from support from the LSS as a result of the revelations Pastor Barnhart and others brought to light. This left the ALC and LCA, now merged as ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) as the sole supporters of the wicked work. One year after the controversy erupted, LSS directors (composed entirely of Bishops of the ALC and LCA) voted to reinstate and continue funding the abusive, pornographic program.
The LSS reinstatement report was clearly deceptive in its handling of the pornographic material used. The content was deliberately downplayed so that no one reading the report without separate knowledge of the actual material would be likely to be properly horrified by it. For example, the report described One on One as a film in which "An adolescent boy experiences his own pattern of self-pleasure and fantasy." But the sex catalog from the pornographers they bought it from says: "This film made by a teen-ager shows a young man masturbating while reading. He imagines being with his girlfriend and having sex with her, and these fantasies weave in and out of scenes of him masturbating... One on One is important as an endorsement of young adults' sexual feelings. Excellent with groups to show a teenager being sexual with himself and a partner... Explicit." (From Barnhart, 38-39)
Personal comment: From what I can gather the LSS apparently thought of this as an alternative form of "shock therapy," the object being to "treat" the patient by freaking the hee-bee jeebies out of them and making them come clean. Now I understand a little better why by the time I was studying psychology in high school and college (1986-87 and 1991) even my secular instructors were admitting shock treatment was a Bad Idea that did more harm than good.
If the LSS had just stuck to the Bible with some conviction and common sense rather than being caught up in fad psychology this pathetic episode would never have occured. Most claims that the Bible is at odds with "modern science" are in one day - and out the next. Why then do many so called "Christians" naively choose ever-changing, fallible human reason as their absolute standard against which to judge the Bible, rather than vice versa?
"Biblical doctrine might well remain the LCA's official confession, but it was no longer in the church's heart." (Barnhart, 43)
"In a church body like the LCA, with its strangle-hold on the property of local congregations, a sizable majority often is not enough to retain the property. Very few mainline congregations of the Protestant Church ever successfully withdraw from their denomination with their property intact. Even with total unity, there was no guarantee that the Lutheran Church in America wouuld permit Trinity to withdraw with the property, since well over three million dollars in real estate was at stake. But without unity, there was no chance at all, because LCA polity could give control of the property to the smallest minority. This proved true in 1985 when Trinity, with a two-thirds vote of the congregation, sought a transfer from the LCA tot he American Lutheran Church. Their request was denied by the Minnesota Synod's executive board. Despite the fact that their attempted transfer to the ALC was an ill-advised action which served no useful purpose; nevertheless, it illustrated the LCA's dictatorial control over the property of local congregations." (Barnhart, 44)
"The property question was of little concern to me. If the LCA would decide to take our property, I suggested to the council that we hold a great festive-praise service and hand over the keys on a saatin pillow, praising God with loud voices as we marched out of the building." (Barnhart, 46)
"If the church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must be a new type of preacher, the old prophet type who stands in flat contradiction to everything our smirking world holds dear." (A.W. Tozer, cited in Barnhart, 46)
"The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line. He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. Compromise is unknown to him. He has no price tags. He breathes the rarified air of inspiration. His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void. He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead. Daily he eats the bread of affliction while he ministers but he feeds the Bread of Life to those who listen. He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire..." (Leonard Ravenhill, America is Too Young to Die (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1979), pp. 23-25) (Cited in Barnhart, 50)
p. 50, mentions an ALC theologian attacking "one-wayism" in favor of universalism. p. 57 predicted that merged ELCA denomination would be aligned with "apostate" NCC and WCC. Commission for merging the churches immediately banned use of the words "inerrant" and "infallible" in theological statements on Scripture - even though the ALC has an UNALTERABLE ARTICLE in its own constitution stating "the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God" -p. 57.
"What will it take to wake us up? If not the mutilation of Scripture, what? If not the use of pornography, what? If not the overt condoning of sins which the Bible condemns, what? What other flagrant departures from our biblical faith must occur before docile evangelicals will arise to act?" (Barnhart, 57-58)
On fellowship with apostates and unbelievers: II Corinthians 6:14-7:1, Ephesians 5:3-7, I Kings 18:17-21, Joshua 24:14-15)
"Liberal teachings, unbiblical practices, heresies, and apostasies will not vanish from the church until people are converted to Christ. These exist in the church today because of satanic infiltration and influence. God's truth is not up for debate. God will never yield one iota of His Word to majority opinion... Jesus spent little time debating with the unbelievers of His day. Instead, He confronted them with truth - about themselves and about the way to eternal life." (Barnhart, 63)
"At the very eye of the satanic hurricane which is battering the shore of the whole Christian Church today is the vicious attack being waged upon the Holy Bible. This centerpiece of Satan's strategy to destroy the Church has the witting and unwitting cooperation of countless clerics and theologians at the highest levels of influence throughout Christendom. Virtually every branch of Christianity has experienced the devastation caused by these fierce winds of theological perversion which deny and distort the Bible, the perfect, authoritative Word of God. Untold numbers of the Church's youth have had their faith shipwrecked by church college and seminary instructors who deliberately undermined the trustworthiness of Holy Scripture. Pastors, trained in modern church seminaries to believe the Bible is only a "human book," have caused incalculable destruction of the faith in local congregations. In far too many Christian churches, "Thus saith the Lord," is the voice of the past." (Barnhart, 74)
"Higher criticism and liberal theology have been taught in most major
Protestant seminaries for more than five decades. It is no wonder then that the
vast majority of Protestant clergy maintain strong liberal views both in matters
of theology and politics. Today in most seminaries of the liberal Protestant
church, seminarians are trained in the theological theories of Albert
Schweitzer, Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Paul Tillich, and Rudolf Bultmann. All of
these theologians denied not only the absolute authority of the inerrant Word of
God, but also the historic doctrine of Christ in Scripture. Some of these
theologians and their followers deny basic fundamental doctrines of the
Christian faith, including the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In most
major seminaries of the mainline Protestant church, it is unlikely that you
could find even a handful of teachers who ascribe to the church's historic view
that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. Some
teachers at well-known, supposedly conservative seminaries have joined the ranks
of those denying the absolute authority of Scripture." (Barnhart 76-77)
p. 86 - Bishop Chilstrom of LCA clearly states in a fully quoted letter, condescendingly, that seminary students should be aware of pastors and laity that believe the Bible is God's Word, but that Christians should not be allowed to teach in LCA seminaries. "It is well and good for our seminary students to be exposed to the fact that there are some who hold this opinion [that the Bible is God's inerrant Word]. But it is quite another thing to advocate this view in our seminaries. It would be out of character with any of the churches which are identifying with the new Lutheran church." (p. 86-87)
"On that day [Judgment Day] every false teacher will wish that he had never been born and will curse the day when he was inducted into the sacred office of ministry. On that day we shall see that false teaching is not the trifling and harmless matter that people in our day think it is." (C.F.W. Walther, cited in Barnhart, 88)
p. 91 - NCC created a "non-sexist" lectionary to appease feminists, rewrote the Bible to suit them (Rev. 22:18-19).
p. 94 - hymns also butchered. p. 101 - points out that just because homosexuals have been defeated temporarily in some denominations, they have not surrendered and will continue their corruption.
"In my twenty-two years of ordained ministry, I have seen men delivered from homosexuality. I have personally counseled with many who were shackled by this satanic bondage. Our God is faithful. Not one of His promises "falls to the ground." No person who ever trusted in Him went away in disappointment. This includes the repenting homosexual who turns to Jesus for salvation and deliverance." (Barnhart, 103)
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