Participants: C. Raymond Holmes
Series Code: WOHII
Program Code: WOHII000017A
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00:14 When I began my ministry in my last Lutheran Parish,
00:20 which by the way is only a little over a half mile 00:26 from the Adventist church I'm pastoring for the last 20 years 00:32 in retirement. Interesting situation. But when I began my 00:39 ministry there in the 60s it was not long before I discovered 00:46 that the congregation had been deeply influenced by the 00:51 prevailing social gospel of the times. 01:00 So I faced a challenge. How to counteract such influence 01:10 and get the congregation on a Biblical path? 01:18 I started by consistently preaching expository sermons 01:23 that focused on the Scriptures. 01:29 I preached longer sermons. 01:34 20 minutes was customary. 01:38 I extended it to thirty minutes. 01:43 Now I preach 45 minutes or longer 01:47 because I'm an old man, I have a lot to say 01:54 and a little time to say it! 02:02 Some folks didn't like the longer sermons. 02:09 But some did. I also tried to start a Sunday School class 02:17 for adults that would concentrate on Bible study 02:24 But I had few takers. 02:33 I remember also as a young minister being invited 02:43 to preach a series of sermons at a Bible camp. 02:49 That's what they called them in those days. 02:55 And after one of the evening meetings a lady came up to me 03:00 and asked me if she could talk with me. I said yes of course. 03:07 They were turning out the lights in the chapel so we had to sit 03:12 on the cement steps underneath one light bulb. 03:18 So we sat down and I asked her how can I help you? She said 03:22 Well I've been a believer for many years but I've got a 03:27 real serious problem she said. I don't have the assurance 03:31 of forgiveness of sins. I love God but I don't have the 03:35 assurance that He has forgiven my sin. 03:39 I thought Wow. They didn't teach me anything about how to 03:45 deal with that in the seminary. 03:48 So I shot a prayer up to God and He helped me. 03:56 I said well let's open our Bibles to 1 John 1:9 04:03 So she opened her Bible and I said, would you read that verse 04:09 out loud? And she did. 04:25 And I said to her, have you confessed your sins? 04:28 She said, Oh many, many times. 04:32 I said, are you forgiven? 04:36 She said, I don't know. 04:40 So I said, read it again. 04:44 So she read it out loud again. 04:54 I asked, have you confessed your sins? 04:59 She said, I just told you. Many times. 05:04 I said, are you forgiven? I don't know. 05:10 I said, read it again. 05:14 She looked at me you know, You've got to be kidding. 05:16 I said, come on read it again. 05:19 So she did and I asked her, have you confessed your sins? Yes. 05:26 I said, are you forgiven? 05:32 This time there was silence. 05:37 And I didn't interrupt her silence. 05:40 Finally she said, I guess I am! 05:47 And I said, how do you know that? 05:53 And she said, because it says so right here. 06:01 I learned a lot that day. 06:08 Well anyway, during this time starting the Sunday School class 06:13 for adults that failed and this experience with that lady 06:18 I've often wondered what happened to her. 06:22 Two other significant things happened. My wife was Vacation 06:28 Bible School leader that particular summer 06:33 and when the materials arrived that she had sent for 06:39 dealing with human origins she was alarmed. 06:46 And she came to me and showed the materials to me 06:50 and she said, we can't teach this. 06:55 It was teaching evolution, not Biblical creation. 07:01 I told her to send it back. And I wrote a letter 07:06 to the denominational publishers explaining why. 07:15 By that time she had become interested in the Adventist 07:19 church through a friend. She's staying with them now 07:24 in Berrien Springs while I am here. 07:29 And that same summer the Vacation Bible School material 07:33 was on creation and it was Biblical all the way through 07:43 The very first verse of the Bible says: 07:55 That's what it says and then it tells us how He did it. 08:03 By His Word. Amen. Amen. 08:10 Now, I'm going to insert a little footnote here. 08:14 All this was background to later events. 08:20 Eventually about some 20 years ago the ordination of women 08:26 ministers and in 2009 at their annual convention 08:37 that particular Lutheran denomination after a ten year 08:43 sociological study of human sexuality, not a Biblical study 08:50 a sociological study, they approved same sex marriage 08:56 and the ordination of gay clergy 09:02 How was that possible? 09:07 It was possible because the principles of interpretation 09:11 we call hermeneutics, were in place. 09:19 The progression from evolution to the approval of same 09:28 same sex marriage was inevitable. 09:34 Now somebody is going to say that my calling this to your 09:38 attention is scare tactics. But it's not. It's fact. 09:51 And the footnote. About the same time I attended a meeting 09:59 of Lutheran pastors during which the discussion 10:05 concerned hermeneutics. And I felt obliged to defend the 10:12 authority of the Bible. And one of the young pastors who was a 10:18 recent graduate of the same seminary that I had attended 10:24 came up to me and shook his finger in my face 10:28 and very angrily and vehemently said to me 10:33 Time is coming when people like you 10:37 will not be allowed in the ministry. 10:45 Now most of you who know some of my story probably know 10:51 the rest that happened after these events that I described. 10:58 That the Fall of 1970 brought me as a master of theology 11:02 student to the theological seminary at Andrews University 11:07 I was still a Lutheran, still a skeptical. 11:13 And my primary goal at that time was to discover whether Jesus 11:19 lived on the campus of Andrews University, 11:25 and in the lives of the students and faculty. 11:30 And I discovered that He did. 11:39 I eventually decided to leave the Lutheran church 11:44 ministry and become a Seventh Day Adventist. 11:47 Nobody made any promises to me I didn't know what was 11:51 going to happen. I eventually ended up as a member of the 11:57 faculty myself, the pinnacle of my ministry. 12:04 It was wonderful, those years. 12:12 I remember a number of the faculty members invited me to 12:18 meet with them every Wednesday evening. 12:22 The only condition was that I tell them a week in advance 12:26 what I would like to discuss so they could prepare. 12:32 WGC Murdoch was there who was the Dean. 12:35 Dr. Tom Blinkos, chair of the Theology Department 12:40 Dr. Wilbur Alexander, Dr. C. Mervyn Maxwell 12:49 a couple others I can't remember It was masterfully done. 12:58 By the way everybody treated me with respect. 13:02 Everybody called me Pastor Holmes. 13:06 Nobody intimated that I was an apostate. 13:15 I felt accepted, even appreciated. 13:22 We studied. It was masterfully done. With one question in mind 13:28 What does the Bible say? 13:43 Now against that kind of a background you might imagine how 13:48 impressed I was with the SDA Sabbath School lessons 13:58 Remember I couldn't get an adult Sunday School class 14:01 started to study the Bible. And here I found a church 14:06 in which a large percentage of its membership attended 14:13 an hour's Sabbath School class before the worship service. 14:21 And now I thought, boy these people are something. 14:23 They're in church all morning on Saturday! 14:29 I wasn't used to that. And those lessons exposed Biblical truth 14:37 in depth and applied it. And how impressed I also was 14:45 with the prevailing expository approach to preaching 14:49 that I heard in those days. 14:53 All emphases that was part of my spiritual heritage 14:59 because my spiritual roots are in the Finnish Lutheran church 15:06 of Finland which was characterized by a strong 15:13 Biblicism on the one hand and a major emphasis on revival and 15:19 and awakening on the other. 15:26 So, right from the start of my spiritual life as I began to 15:31 read and study the Bible, I was deeply impressed by 15:35 the Apostle Paul's reverence for and reliance upon Scripture 15:46 And later as I dug deeper into the Protestant Reformation 15:49 I was so impressed by the impact that Paul had made on Luther 15:56 who is still one of my heroes. I was so impressed with the 16:04 chapter on the Reformation and Luther in Ellen White's book 16:07 The Great Controversy. You remember that Luther 16:15 at the Diet of Worms stood before the representatives 16:19 of both secular and religious power and authority 16:23 and under extreme pressure and even threat to his life 16:30 threat to renounce the convictions he had declared 16:35 in his 95 theses in 1517, almost 500 years in 2 years from now. 16:46 And he defied the holy Roman Emperor and the representatives 16:54 of the Pope. Can you imagine? Picture that, at this huge 17:00 gathering, here's this one simple monk 17:08 dressed in his monk's habit and he defied them both 17:15 by saying this. They asked him to recant, not asked him 17:24 but threatened him, you have to. And he said: 18:35 Now that kind of confident and fearless witness to scripture 18:42 is my spiritual heritage and nobody told me that I had to 18:50 abandon that heritage in order to become Seventh Day Adventist 18:56 It's still there and I believe that it fortifies me 19:07 for today. That's my spiritual heritage and I was convinced 19:16 that it was that also of the Seventh Day Adventist church 19:24 and I want to say to you folks that if we lose that 19:27 we lose everything. I was so impressed with the Bible 19:36 Conferences that were held throughout North America 19:40 in 1974. I was baptized in January of '71 19:46 by Dr. Tom Blinko at Pioneer Memorial Church and shortly 19:53 after ordained into the Adventist ministry. 19:56 But I was so impressed with those Bible conferences 20:01 in 1974 and also with Ellen White's hermeneutics 20:10 or principles of interpretation that one doesn't have to be 20:16 a trained scholar to understand and apply them. 20:22 And by the way when I studied Adventist Church history 20:26 you know when we talk about the group that was called Pioneers 20:32 just a handful of people from different churches meeting 20:35 together to study the Bible, that were influential in 20:40 in founding this church, this movement, not one of them 20:46 not one single one of that group had a PhD. 20:52 Not one of them was a scholar trained in Biblical languages 20:58 Their method was simple, two fold. Study the Bible 21:01 and pray. Discuss, yes. Their discussions were lively. 21:07 But they hammered out the doctrines on the basis of 21:12 the Word of God that initiated this movement. 21:22 Ellen White's principles are simple. 21:27 No.1, the Bible is its own interpreter. 21:32 No.2, take the Bible as it reads. 21:37 No.3, Focus on the Bible's plain statements. 21:41 No.4, explain the language of the Bible 21:48 according to its obvious meaning. 21:59 You can use those principles and arrive at confident 22:06 conclusions about God's truth. 22:12 I found a spiritual home and I joined the Seventh Day Adventist 22:19 church and its ministry, confident that it was in 22:24 submission to the full authority of the Bible. 22:36 And then this issue emerged. 22:44 And I resisted two years getting involved in it. 22:50 Because I didn't want to be crucified on that cross. 22:57 My wife warned me over and over again. 23:01 She said don't get involved you're going to get in trouble. 23:08 But the more I saw the way the Bible was being used or rather 23:12 misused in trying to convince the church that the Bible 23:19 doesn't say what it says, the more I came under the impression 23:26 that I had to do what I did and write the book 23:34 The Tip of An Iceberg. It's the 20th anniversary 23:39 of the publication of that book in May of this year. 23:48 It's a form of deception folks to try and convince the church 23:54 that the Bible doesn't say what it says. 24:01 And any Reformation scholar knows that Luther was heavily 24:06 influenced by the epistles of Paul. That he drew theological 24:12 doctrinal knowledge from Paul's letters as well as 24:16 personal faith and the kind of courage and spiritual strength 24:21 that he needed at the time of crisis. 24:27 The words of Paul changed Luther. 24:32 And through him the course of history and the world. 24:39 You and I would not be here today in this sanctuary 24:45 preaching, teaching, studying, believing the Gospel 24:49 of salvation by grace through faith were it not for the words 24:55 of Paul. Words that were heard by a simple monk 25:05 who was sincerely trying to do everything that he thought 25:10 was necessary to be accepted by God. 25:16 But his efforts didn't satisfy including self flagellation. 25:27 Until he heard from Romans 3:24 that he was justified 25:36 by God's grace as a gift through the redemption 25:41 that is in Christ Jesus. 25:47 But before he could hear that he had to hear something else. 25:52 He called it Sola Scriptura. 25:57 The Bible and the Bible alone as the source of God's 26:03 revelation and of truth. 26:12 But before Sola Scriptura comes something else. 26:18 Before Sola Gracia, grace alone and Sola Fide, faith alone 26:25 comes Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone. 26:33 That was the major fundamental truth of the Reformation. 26:40 Sola Scriptura. Everything. Doctrinal and experiential 26:48 depends on and derives from Sola Scriptura. 26:57 But you know the medieval church never accepted that. 27:06 Insisting that tradition and the power of bishops 27:11 read administrators, theologians are equal if not pre-eminent 27:19 to Scripture. In other words the authority of the church 27:27 was above that of the Word of God. 27:34 Some protestants today give lip service to Sola Scriptura 27:40 and in some instances abandoning it altogether in favor of 27:49 what is called "felt human needs" 27:57 and the pressures and demands of contemporary culture. 28:03 Now here's another footnote. 28:09 This has culminated in a recent joint Lutheran Catholic 28:15 declaration, notice I said joint Lutheran Catholic declaration 28:22 that the Reformation was a mistake. 28:29 That the protest is over. 28:36 Of course it would be over to many. 28:46 It's inevitable. If you throw out Sola Scriptura 28:54 you throw out the Reformation 29:02 and the footnote. Disconnecting the Old from the New Testament 29:09 Law from Gospel. In some instances insisting 29:16 that the Holy Spirit is doing new things in the Church 29:20 in our time. Have you heard that recently? 29:30 Put the authority of the Spirit above that of the Word. 29:37 But Ellen White says that the Holy Spirit never leads us 29:44 in a way that's contradictory to the Scriptures. 29:55 Attention needs to be drawn once again to Paul's reverence 30:00 for and reliance upon the Scriptures. 30:07 He begins Romans by calling attention in the 1st chapter 30:12 verse 2 to the Scriptures. To the Holy Scriptures. 30:18 And when he deals with justification in chapter 4 30:21 verse 3, he asks what does the Scripture say? 30:29 And he answers, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him 30:33 as righteousness. And then in chapter 9 of Romans, verse 6 30:41 he calls Scripture "the Word of God". 30:48 And in making clear there is no distinction between Jew and 30:53 Greek with regard to salvation he says in chapter 10 verse 11 30:58 the Scripture says. Everyone who believes in him, Jesus, 31:05 will not be put to shame. 31:09 And in chapter 11 verse 2 he underscores that "God has not 31:16 rejected His people" the Jews and then he asks, 31:22 do you know what the Scripture says? 31:33 According to Paul it's in the Scripture, in the Bible 31:36 that we find hope. Chapter 15 verse 4. 31:56 And when it came to the authority that he claimed 32:00 for the preaching of the gospel for the death and resurrection 32:03 of Christ, Paul said unequivocally 32:07 in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4, he said that it was 32:15 "In accordance with the Scriptures" 32:22 And speaking further of hope in context of his own ministry 32:26 Paul says, 2 Corinthians 4 verses 13-18, he says 33:47 Throughout Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians, 33:51 and Lutherans love those three books, at least they used to 33:56 Paul uses the phrase "it is written' over and over again. 34:03 At least 13 times. Then he says in 2 Corinthians 6 34:49 Then he says, Paul says: 35:06 Now whether Paul talks about his development of the truth 35:14 doctrine, by the way that's what doctrine means, truth 35:23 whether he's talking about that or if he's talking about 35:27 the development of his own theological thought, or 35:31 whether he's addressing issues in the developing early church 35:35 his reference is always the Scripture. 35:44 Now contrast that with trying to convince the church that 35:50 the Bible doesn't really say what it says. 36:00 No wonder that deeply involved in the development and 36:04 organizing of the early church he underscored for both Timothy 36:10 and Titus, as he says to Timothy "as for you", when I read that 36:21 it's very personal, he's saying that to me. 37:21 We need to be aware of the fact that Paul's letters bear witness 37:32 that he was as conscious of the leading of the Holy Spirit 37:38 as he was of the power and influence of the Scriptures 37:43 However, and here is a vital principle of interpretation 38:02 It's on the basis of Scripture alone that both qualification 38:10 for ministry and how the Spirit empowered equipping for ministry 38:16 is revealed and accomplished and what an example Paul was! 39:23 So it was in complete harmony with his faith in and reliance 39:30 upon the written word of God to leave as his legacy 39:36 of apostolic instruction. 39:39 These resounding words that we are careful to read 39:46 at ordination services from 2 Timothy 4 verses 1-5 39:55 Anyway here are the words from 2 Timothy 4 41:16 How does the preacher rebuke? 41:20 By throwing his weight around? By exercising authority? 41:30 No! By preaching the Word. 41:46 The power is in the Word, not in the preacher. 41:55 Preach the Word. But do it he says in patience. 42:01 And in love. Preach the Word. Nothing else. 42:06 That's our duty. That's our calling. That's our ministry. 42:12 That's our mission, no matter what. Popular or not. 42:22 And do it consistently. Without deviation, without compromise 42:27 of Biblical principles for the sake of peace. 42:33 Why? Ellen White has the answer. 42:40 From the Review and Herald, July 24, 1894. 43:06 Do we have to often proclaim a message that's in opposition 43:11 to sins, prejudices and so on? 43:18 Why in the context of this solemn charge does Paul say 43:24 to the ordinand as for you endure suffering. 43:36 Why does he say that? 43:42 Because friends there's a price to pay 43:48 for faithfulness to God's Word. 43:53 To His will, to His truth. 44:01 Because Ellen White says in the same article 44:52 Folks, compromising the Word of God 44:55 is not the way to finish the work. 45:08 Now, did Paul himself pay that price? 45:13 Suffering? enduring suffering? 45:18 Let him tell the story himself in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 24 45:53 He lost friends. You know, as precious as it is 46:03 there are some things that are more important than friendship 47:03 Wow! There's a price to pay. 47:11 And as we look at the mission of our church 47:15 and the times in which we live let us trust that, 47:22 as Ellen White puts it in Great Controversy page 595 47:54 And also what she say in Selected Messages, Vol 2, pg.380 48:31 The Church will remain true to the Word of God 48:35 But that will not happen, notice, without the word 48:43 of their testimony. We have to stand up and be counted 48:55 When the issue is truth there is no such thing as anonymity 49:03 Remember Luther, "Here I stand" 49:08 I can't do anything else. 49:19 Then she goes on and she says that it's the very struggle 49:26 for Biblical truth that makes the church strong. 49:50 You know what my wife said when all of this agony began to take 49:56 place? She said, you know I think it's God's will 50:04 that the Remnant Church go through this agony. 50:11 And I said, why do you think that? 50:14 She said, because I think it's part of God's answer to our 50:19 prayers for revival and reformation. 50:26 Now we're hearing many appeals to unity today 50:32 and we all know that unity is essential to finish the mission 50:37 we have been given. And I want to borrow a metaphor 50:43 some of you will recognize the source of it 50:47 and say yes, we must sing in harmony, that is in agreement 50:54 in thought and action. But in order to sing in harmony 50:59 this choir knows what I'm talking about. 51:02 In order to sing in harmony, we have to sing in unison. 51:10 Which means to sing the same song. 51:15 With the same song and the same pitch with our eyes fixed 51:21 on the Director, spelled with a capital D. And the score 51:27 as written by the composer. 51:32 No choir can sing in harmony or in unison apart from unity 51:42 If each member or segment such as the tenors or sopranos 51:46 does not sing the same music, what happens? 51:52 Only discord and disharmony and you'd put your hands 51:56 over your ears. Finally, 52:27 A steward is one who takes care of, who cares for 52:34 one who protects. One who can be depended upon 52:41 to stay true to the Word of God. 53:33 As stewards of the mysteries of God it's our duty 53:39 to affirm and sustain the Biblical trajectories, 53:44 and I'm borrowing a word there of male headship and leadership 53:48 in the home and in the church and not go beyond what's written 53:54 in the Scriptures. Leadership that began before the fall 54:00 continued through the Old Testament Priesthood and 54:04 New Testament apostles and into the early church 54:07 through the Holy Spirit inspired instructions of Paul to Timothy 54:12 and Titus. As stewards of the mystery of God it is our duty 54:20 to pay careful attention to Paul's counsel to Timothy 54:24 in 1 Timothy 6:20 "Guard the deposit" 54:32 This is to say the revealed Word, the doctrine, the truth 54:36 that has been entrusted to us. Are we going to be trustworthy? 54:43 And do that? And guard that truth? 54:47 No matter what price it costs? 54:53 And concerning the truth itself, listen to this. 55:13 It doesn't take a lot of words and involved explanation 55:21 to do it. Now concerning hermeneutics, the interpretation 55:29 or the understanding and the application of the truth 55:33 she exhorts all of us. Members, pastors, leaders, evangelists 55:37 scholars, teachers in Selected Messages 56:16 Here is the motivation for this symposium. 56:22 I'm so glad I've been able to participate at age 85. 56:34 I'm so glad Pr. Bohr, you took the bit in your teeth and did it 56:47 Is there going to be a fallout? Oh yes, it's already started. 56:55 On the blogs. My final comment. It is our duty and that's why 57:08 we're here, as stewards of the mysteries of God to protect 57:15 the church from a hermeneutical disaster. 57:24 That's the bottom line. Amen. |
Revised 2016-01-19