Video of the Editor of Christian News - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th2kX_ezuQc&t=66s
Christian News (http://www.christiannewsmo.com) is a conservative Lutheran newspaper, published since 1962, that has a blog at http://www.christiannewsmissouri.com. I recommend reading the newspaper and the blog. A recent book, Love Him for Us, by Barbara Marquart Johnston, was also interesting and good. I gave it four stars. It was published by Lutheran News, Inc., parent organization of Christian News.
Since the beginning of this year I have done some brief, not
exhaustive at all, comments on the published issues (which are not on the
Internet unless you subscribe). They are
below. I intend to continue to add
comments for future issues as each one comes out. There is far more in each edition than what I
discuss below but I offer some thoughts.
Additional comments from others are welcome.
1-6-20
Didn’t mention Baal or God
Discussion of WELS was weak
Clint Poppe failed to recognize good in CN.
1-13-20
Reprinted report of abuse allegations
Left out Cascione – good
Why stay in LCMS if Voelz is that bad
1-20-20
Left out Cascione – good
Good to hold up sexual conservatism
1-27-20
Protecting life, against suicide
2-3-20
Strong statement on Kobe, shows unimportance of sports,
prophetic
Inviting comments.
Defending hell, good to review book on the topic, something
I missed. Aaron Rodgers off base.
2-10-20
Strong statement on cremation
Harris more critical than Otten. Hard to see why Harrison bent out of
shape. Is LCMS using the book? It’s still LCMS approved.
Great rebuttal of Mark Surburg on marrying non
LCMS-Lutherans
2-17-20
Willow Creek’s Dr. B. disputes allegations.
Don’t have problem with Gettys
Good to defend Finnish Lutheran, quote Pat Boone’s comments
Necessary to blast Greg Jackson?
2-24-20
What is a Christian essay is good.
Nobody else talks about canon issue.
3-2-20
Harrison discussed
3-9-20
Good to raise questions about Concordia Portland
Political idolatry – good points
3-16-20
Criticizing Greg Jackson – should it be priority?
Good articles on long ending of Mark, Larry Peters, climate
change, Matt Richard on Devil, publicized Portland problems, mixed gender
preaching
3-23-20
Slavery, not all immoral, abortion supporter at Concordia
New York, Rupprecht on Lent, review of descend to hell book
3-30-20
Museum of Bible – Orthodox Church
4-6-20
Good articles on effects of coronavirus
4-13-20
Rob Bell, Charisma News, etc.
4-20-20
Norman Vincent Peale – Trump, good to not idolize Trump
4-27-20
Burfiend lead article good, article on evangelical sermons
5-4-20
Abstinence from worship
Washington Post blasts in person worship
5-11-20
Taking issue with Jonathan Merritt
5-25-20
How Baptism Saves
6-1-20
Strong opposition to suicide
Why can’t the LCMS preach?
Merritt on Mohler
6-8-20
Lutherans Going East, Taking Issue with Texas Church Growth
Leave the ELCA, Must Engage Roman Catholicism
6-22-20
Antiracism, Hale Catches a Shark with his boys
6-29-20
Good essay on anarchy
7-6-20
Great issue. Juicy
ecumenism on racism, why of pandemic, come back to church, Reu Beck, Joe Bill
Dixon
7-13-20
Good to be against Black Lives Matter and Marxism, might be
well to read Woke Church, which shouldn’t be condemned simply on the basis of
its title
7-20-20
Good to support freedom of speech, good article against
interfaith prayers which I also linked to.
I also linked to America the Beautiful?
7-27-20
Interesting to cite the church doesn’t need online watchmen,
without comment.
8-3-208-24-
Although I’m concerned about these issues too, not sure
totally fair to Greg Seltz. Great
article by Micah Hill.
8-17-20
Good commentary by Larry Peters. Is it safe.
Good to give space to John MacArthur’s arguments. Possibly could have printed a counter argument. Sojourners supported reparations but so did
an LCMS Pastor in Lutheran Forum, something not mentioned in CN. Author of Defending Boyhood review not
named. Great photos on exercising.
8-24-20
Strong sermon by Wille.
Good to challenge legalism on masks, though I’m sure some STRONGLY
disagree. Well argued and well
written. Well done. Great response to writer defending black
lives matter. Critic of MacArthur
exposed for being wrong.
8-31-20
Failure to cope with mortality good point. We saw “Greyhound” and enjoyed it. Good to reprint what’s wrong with consulting
the dead. J.I. Packer inconsistent. NBA
sickeningly hypocritical.
9-7-20
Be a German Lutheran – great points! Blasting Cowboy Church. Hmm.
Rightfully criticizing LWF for promoting climate change.
9-14-20
Not sold that all actions against racism are wrong. Depends on what is truly said and done. Good to call for submissions. Good to critique Andy Stanley. Also defending Son eternally begotten. Pless says decline anniversary of ELCA
ordaining women.
9-21-20
Satan’s press secretary – great points. Also great commentary on politics and
political parties, though some conservatives may take exception. Great commentary on idolatry of the Lord’s
Supper. However, many LCMS Lutherans have
been teaching and practicing the opposite for years. Former Lutheran Witness editor Adriane Heins
was big on the opposite. Worship protest
in Seattle. Great to strongly oppose
Pete Buttigieg. Spiritism in black lives
matter. Facebook censoring “Exposing the
ELCA.” Horowitz defends South
Dakota. All in all, a very strong issue.
9-28-20
Good analysis on what confession is and isn’t. To me, many have given the impression that
repeating preset words in a robotic way is what confession is. I don’t think that’s what it is
biblically. Also rightly taking issue
with a robotic approach to communion.
California dream house is in ashes.
10-5-20
Marriage is man and woman based on Adam and Eve. Good to take issue with some high church
Lutheranism. Tim Challies on public schools.
Cultural Marxism grinding Christianity down. Good points in why Christians are turning on
their parents. Sorry to read about
financial problems at Camp Trinity. We
actually considered vacationing there but chose the Black Hills in South Dakota
instead, mostly because it was closer to us.
10-12-20
Not a particularly impressive issue. Some good articles and some okay articles but
I referenced better ones on my web site. Pretty good comment on political
position, a very controversial subject.
Some might push back but I think merit to position.
10-19-20
Some good articles, commentaries and sermons. Probably good to avoid the overtly
political. The reprinted interview with
Mark Galli was educational but I would not have printed it without
comment. He should not basically get a
pass for becoming Roman Catholic after having been an editor of an Evangelical
magazine for many years.
10-26-20
As I’ve previously argued, not sold that being adamant on
using the word “Lutheran” is good or essential, especially in today’s
context. “Risky Christianity” article
and Brent McCracken’s Gospel Coalition apologetics commentary were good. Robert Preus’ essay on Bible authority from
over 25 years ago was good but it seemed a little puzzling as to why it was
reprinted again, right now.
11-9-20
Good to see Rev. Mark Surburg oppose Roman Catholic doctrine
of purgatory, something an LCMS pastor was shaky at best in doing in First
Things a few months ago as was reported in Christian News. Good commentary by Wayne Grudem on the
election. Why is Rev. Lincoln Winter in
the LCMS if it is as bad as all that and what about those in the LCMS who are
shaky? How does that fit in? Poland opposes abortion. Good to learn about persecution and martyrdom
in Vietnam and Haiti.
11-16-20
Courageous major expose in the lead article titled “Legally
Married Lesbian Leader at Concordia College New York.” It has far reaching
implications for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. CCNY’s president, John Nunes, has a long
history of not being that conservative (if conservative at all) as I commented
myself in the 11-12-18 CN. There was
other documentation (which seemingly went nowhere) about Nunes then too. Other excellent articles included a pastoral
letter on the ongoing pandemic and again taking issue with Gottesdienst for its
Roman Catholic doctrine of the mass.
11-23-20
Good devotional articles to start the issue. Shows problems in the LCMS with prayer in New
York City many years ago, a very weak article by a Concordia College New York
professor, and administrative problems, and building on the egregious problems
exclusively reported last week. If
little to nothing winds up being done, as seems likely, raises questions as to why
one should be in the LCMS even though there are conservative writings and
actions that can also be pointed to. The
“’Justification by Faith’ Is a Slogan” headline shows a questionable emphasis,
possibly totally wrong. It’s much more
than a “slogan.” It’s an essential
truth: grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, Christ alone. Much more could be said in terms of analysis.
11-30-20
Lead article is by a decades-long Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod theology professor defending himself.
He says that the accusation that he is theologically liberal is totally
wrong. Whatever the merits or lack
thereof against him, it is hard to imagine that anything officially will be
done, given his many years of service. A
commentary rightfully blasting Nadia Bolz-Weber indicates that nothing
officially has been done at Concordia College New York, which has had close
associations with Valparaiso University (nominal at best in terms of biblical
fidelity). As long as LCMS maintains a
connection with Valpo, however lukewarm it may or not be, there will be
problems. It seems unlikely that the
LCMS will ever totally dump Valpo, even though the living Lord warns us to not
be lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-22). These
are vital issues that should be addressed WITHOUT DELAY.
12-7-20
A front page article again (rightly) took issue with the
lesbian same-sex married deaconess who has been preaching at Concordia College
New York, a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod-affiliated school. The LCMS opposes homosexuality but somehow
this slipped through the cracks. No
apparently public indication that anything is being done even now. The deaconess is a supporter of the late
Rachel Held Evans, who died totally unexpectedly at only 37 in spring
2019. CN was on top of this and published
articles about the facts of Mrs. Evans in its 4-29-20 and 5-13-19 editions. Some were extremely opposed to calling Mrs.
Evans a false teacher (which she was—and unrepentant false teachers by
definition do not inherit the kingdom of God).
Other articles rightly support a traditional non-sacramental interpretation
of John 6 and rightly oppose a Lutheran Forum article (written by an LCMS pastor)
on racial reparations. CN is right on
both of those matters, but will CN’s viewpoint go anywhere? It would go good if so but also extremely surprising
if so. It would require Concordia
Publishing House and other prominent church officials to publicly acknowledge
being wrong.
12-14-20
Although there are many noteworthy items in this issue,
perhaps the most significant were the articles related to Rev. Paul T. McCain,
who died unexpectedly at 58. He had a
long record of service to the church and did a lot of blogging. He and the founding editor of CN clashed
somewhat, even though CN favorably publicized Paul early on. I had a little bit of contact with Paul. I join others in saying that he will be
missed and that a large bulk of his work was effective and helpful. There were great tributes and witnesses from
his children upon his death. CN
published interesting and good articles (from the 1990s) by Paul in this issue.
12-21-20
Good commentaries by David French, Tom Brock, Gene Veith and
others. Great to see the Christmas
letters and pictures from the Hale family and from the Otten family. Hale has almost completed a successful first
year as the editor of CN.
12-28-20
The new editor of CN completed a successful year. Issue again included some good articles,
devotions and commentaries. Not sold that
the piece denouncing facial coverings was helpful. Without going into reasons why, I do agree
with the mainstream medical consensus that facial coverings can be helpful in avoiding
COVID. However, it seems that the more “conservative”
one is, the less likely one is to agree.
In any event, people should have freedom to express views and some
governments are too draconian but it might not be helpful to go too far the
other way. I don’t see facial coverings
addressed in Scripture one way or the other.
The CN index indicates that relatively few books were reviewed in CN in
2020. It could perhaps be a goal to have
more books reviewed/mentioned in CN in 2021.
1-4-21
Good articles by Mark Nicolaus, Tim Bayly, Faith McDonnell,
among others. It is again noted in CN
that a woman in a same sex government recognized marriage has been involved in
Lutheran leadership, noting again that she did illustration for a Lutheran book
publisher (where a top executive recently abruptly died similar to Ananias and
Sapphira and Rachel Held Evans). The
woman in question seems to be a theological liberal generally and is associated
with a Lutheran college with strong ties to the American Lutheran Publicity
Bureau (which former CN editor Herman Otten rightfully said was apostate). CN says nothing transparent is being done on
this matter. It’s a big issue as I noted
in commenting on the 11-16-20 CN.
Almighty God notices if it is swept under the rug.
1-11-21
Lead article was “The LCMS Since 1974,” repeating grievances
that have been mentioned before and that will probably never be resolved. Some other decent articles but there perhaps
could have been more about current issues, like the bad prayer that a Democrat
congressman offered and President Trump’s seeming ambivalence toward lying and
lawlessness. I understand, though, that it’s tricky offering comments on such
issues.
1-18-21
Some good articles as usual. On the last page CN’s managing editor asks, ““So
what are the Norwegians saying about America - don't we look crazy right now!!
I can't even watch the news. You don't know who to believe.” An American pastor now serving in Norway
points to the foundational truth of the Bible but is nonspecific about current
events. I think CN could be doing more
to directly address issues relating to the current crisis in America. In my opinion, one has to acknowledge that
professing conservative Christians have taken a hit and that many
liberals/secularists have valid concerns and observations. Shocking to me how many conservatives who I have
otherwise past respected have gotten to be so far out and wrong (at least in my
opinion), in some cases horrendously judgmental. Among other things, the concept that some
claim to have been audibly told by God that Mr. Trump will remain in office,
should be challenged. It’s not something
that is taught in the authoritative Bible.
1-25-21
Among other things, good commentaries on
taming the tongue and on taking issue with the false prophecies regarding a U.S.
presidential election. Although one such
false prophet released a nuanced statement of repentance, many others still
stand by the false prophecies, which is a separate issue as to whether the
elected president is a good president espousing God-honoring policies. A syncretistic prayer is rightfully blasted. Sadly and tragically, there appears to be
much more syncretism/idolatry still coming and already happening. CN remains cautious in being overtly
political, which can be a good thing. CN
foundationally rightfully warns about judgment for those who reject Christ.
2-1-21
Very perceptive article reprinted from
First Things on the danger of the idolatry of politics. Other fine articles warning about the
dangerous times. It is too bad that some
churches have not adequately addressed the textual criticism issue after all
these years. CN called a recent official
commentary on the subject “worthless,” given that no specific individuals were
censured. All in all, a very strong edition
of CN.
2-8-21
Great lead article on a Christian
response to unrest and fine commentary by Mychal Massie on being faithful, as
well as other good pieces. Hopefully by
God’s grace we can finally get by the Covid situation and it looks promising
that we can. Surprising that there was
nothing about the collapse about Concordia College New York (though the subject
was well addressed in past editions).
The death of Evangelical Lutheran Synod President John Moldstad was not
yet mentioned either.
2-15-21
Good commentaries and information about
the unceremonious collapse of Concordia College New York. Among other good articles, good remarks from
Michael Brown on the political scene. In
my opinion, the smart conservatives are acknowledging that the conservative
camp took a hit with the January 6, 2021 events, and Dr. Brown expressed that
pretty well. Another commentary notes that Dr. Wayne Grudem’s position on creation isn’t the best. Sadly, Dr. Grudem is not alone in this among
those who are generally otherwise conservative.
Good reminder the Camp Trinity is doing good work.
2-22-21
Very good lead article by Pastor Paul
Harris on obeying the government, as mandated in Romans 13. It is a basic concept that is easy to
understand but nevertheless is widely rejected, including among many who
profess to be conservative. Harris deals
with the text and the interpretations of it (many of which are wrong). Another article warns about excessive
consumption of conservative news.
Although I am often conservative, I have always believed in reading
widely and not just in the “conservative” camp.
Among other helpful articles is a piece on the government crisis in Myanmar
(Burma), where Christians are facing great danger. This very concerning situation has gotten
very minimal coverage in the U.S. media.
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