Karl Barth On Easter

Jesus as Victor:

The war is at an end – even though here and there troops are still shooting, because they have not heard anything yet about the capitulation. The game is won, even though the player can still play a few further moves. Actually he is already mated. The clock has run down, even though the pendulum still swings a few times this way and that. It is in this interim space that we are living: the old is past, behold it has all become new. The Easter message tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse and death, are beaten. Ultimately they can no longer start mischief. They still behave as though the game were not decided, the battle not fought; we must still reckon with them, but fundamentally we must cease to fear them any more. If you have heard the Easter message, you can no longer run around with a tragic face and lead the humourless existence of a man who has no hope. One thing still holds, and only this one thing is really serious, that Jesus is the Victor. A seriousness that would look back past this, like Lot’s wife, is not Christian seriousness. It may be burning behind – and truly it is burning – but we have to look, not at it, but at the other fact, that we are invited and summoned to take seriously the victory of God’s glory in this man Jesus and to be joyful in Him. Then we may live in thankfulness and not in fear.

(Dogmatics in Outline, p. 123)

Current President Of The SBC Denounces Wiley Drake's Prayers

http://www.woodlandforestbaptist.org/docs/Articles%20of%20Faith.pdf:


My how things have changed---now, lets compare Pastor Drake's prayers with some of Jesus's words---

First, Pastor Drake's prayers:

“I think it’s appropriate to pray the Word of God,” Drake said. “I’m not saying anything. What I am doing is repeating what God is saying, and if that puts me on somebody’s list, then I’ll just have to be on their list.”

“You would like for the president of the United States to die?” Colmes asked once more.

“If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that’s correct.”

Now, here are Jesus's words:

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" - Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in Matthew 5:44 (NIV)

Matthew 6:9-13 (New International Version)

9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

This is exactly why we must always read the bible in light of Christ, because while some things may be 'biblical' not everything in the bible is Christ-honoring, Christocentric nor Christian. Thankfully, current leadership of the SBC---President Johnny Hunt knows this and has denounced Pastor Drake's hate speech:

The current President of the Southern Baptist Convention has denounced Drake: Pastor’s comments on Tiller ‘unbiblical’.

Dr. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, and president of the SBC, says Drake’s comments are out of line.

“[That’s a] terrible statement, [a] very unbiblical statement,” Hunt responds. “I’m still encouraged that the [Book of] Proverbs teaches that God has the water in a channel — and my prayer has always that God would turn hearts.”

Related Post: TheoPoetic Musings: Former Vice President Of The Southern Baptist Convention Praying For Obama's Death.