Altlutheraner

Pope Francis, the latest pretender to the seat of St. Peter, has died. Naturally, the world, which cares nothing for the pure doctrine, and in fact despises it, has mourned the death of this enemy of Christ most profusely. Even Christians have praised the Pope, granting him eulogies greater than they could ever muster for any true Christian.¹ Throughout the world, political leaders are mourning the Pope’s death; President Trump even ordered all flags in the country to be put “at half-mast in honor of Pope Francis.”

But worse than unbelievers and heretics groveling at the feet of Satan’s apostle, even those who are supposedly “confessionally Lutheran” have praised the Pope. A representative of these “Lutherans” is Dr. Werner Klän, who wrote an article eulogizing Francis on behalf of the International Lutheran Council (I.L.C.). From this article, we note that the author, who belongs to the Concordia Lutheran-Catholic Augustana Working Group, asserts that there is “an obligation for us in the I.L.C., to remain in dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church.” Despite the fact that the working group’s goal is not to effect a true unity of faith,² the “Concordia Lutherans” in the I.L.C. desire to promote “ecumenism” (a euphemism for unionism). In order to promote this “ecumenism,” these Lutherans praise everything coming from Francis’s “ecumenism of religions” (that is, his syncretistic theology). Francis’s philo-Semitism is said to be “remarkable,” and his hatred of firm adherence to doctrine is passed by without even the slightest criticism.

Despite all of this, there is no doubt in our minds concerning what the Christian standpoint on this is. While many of those claiming adherence to Christianity are sending worthless prayers for the soul of God’s bitter foe, we invite all true Christians to sing with all the saints and angels in heaven:

Lord, keep us in thy word and work,
Restrain the murd’rous Pope and Turk,
Who fain would tear from off Thy throne
Christ Jesus, Thy beloved Son.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thy pow’r make known,
For Thou art Lord of lords alone;
Defend Thy Christendom that we
May evermore sing praise to Thee

O Comforter of priceless worth,
Send peace and unity on earth.
Support us in our final strife
And lead us out of death to life.

Destroy their counsels, Lord our God,
And smite them with an iron rod,
And let them fall into the snare
Which for Thy Christians they prepare.

So that at last they may perceive
That, Lord our God, Thou still dost live,
And dost deliver mightily
All those who put their trust in Thee.

1. For proof (even to those who do not abominate the Pope as the Antichrist) that Francis was no Christian, I present the following excerpt from his final testament: “I have always entrusted my life and priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest, awaiting the day of resurrection, in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. I wish that my final earthly journey conclude precisely in this ancient Marian shrine, where I go to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey to faithfully entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and to give thanks for her gentle and maternal care.”

2. “It has to be maintained that the working group is not an official dialogue commission. The aim is not to produce a church consensus document.”