The June 3 issue of Christian News begins with “A Call To Repentance,” which, the editor and the author both concede, “does not list specific errors.” The editor of Christian News justified this by saying the open letter “hints at a general failure to let Gospel freedom reign in missions leadership and administration.” As for the author, Dr. Stephen Oliver, he says that the reason he makes no actual accusations in this open letter calling the LCMS to repentance, is that he finds making concrete claims “to be a hazy and contentious dead end.” This enables him to make claims vague enough to apply to practically anyone who wishes to adhere to the pure doctrine, calling them “Pharisees.” And this he in fact does. He precedes his series of accusations thus:
The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection and were wrong because they didn’t understand the message of the Word or God’s power (Matthew 22:29). The Pharisees believed in resurrection and had pure doctrine yet very damaging yeast (Matthew 23:2–4; Luke 12:1). Neither extreme is good, but as a sincere believer, you might find yourself more easily walking in the Pharisee way until your freedom in the Gospel is replaced with harsh bondage (that insidious yeast that creeps into your spirit).
So, our author contends that the Pharisees “had pure doctrine” and that it is possible for “sincere believers” to “walk in the Pharisee way.” Furthermore, it is clear that Dr. Oliver wishes to imply that the Pharisees, unlike the Epicurean Sadducees, understood the message of God’s Word and His power. He does this so he may say that the Bible Christians are Pharisaical, because they “fall into extremes,” which may, he further asserts, “lead into real heresies.”
These “extremes” are, according to Dr. Oliver, “Crypto-Imperialism,” “the Putin Principle,” “Policy over People,” and opposing unionism.
In the realm of missions, he accuses the orthodox of engaging in “Crypto-Imperialism” when they criticize the preferences, traditions, and practices of Chinese people who claim Christianity. He then accuses those who wish to prevent all false teaching of being autocrats who follow the “Putin Principle.” After this, he becomes a full-fledged Antinomian, for encouraging good works means putting “policy over people” according to our “stifled” author.
Finally, he says of we who oppose the mingling of Christ and Belial, of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, “There are a host of heresies that follow in the wake of such protectionist isolationism.” It is during this last accusation, which is also the most revealing, that Dr. Oliver expresses his desire to make an utter mockery of the liturgy. It is little wonder then that he has such disdain for the Bible Christians, those wicked Pharisees to whom such a thought would never occur.
At the very end of this quite worthless document, Dr. Oliver operates in such a way as to prevent any criticism of his “Call to Repentance.” He does this by, unsurprisingly, calling all those who would criticize his work “Pharisees who need no repentance.” Such is the great Christian way of Dr. Stephen Oliver, a man whose only opponents, he assures us, are hypocrites.
Altlutheraner 