Then Fell the Lord's Fire / Bo Giertz / Bror Erickson

Dear friends, Bror Erickson's latest translation of a title by Bo Giertz has arrived in the mail from Magdeburg Press.  It's title is "The Fell the Lord's Fire" and it contains a set of ordination sermons intended specifically for the edification of pastors, but certainly is helpful to all.

I've got to page 21, and for tonight's edification here is a short quote for our enjoyment.  It speaks to me also because of all the reading from the 19th century, we've done lately, where exactly a kind of "god" found in nature and conscience has been constructed in one's own mind to the neglect of the scriptural revelation.  Indeed, I have been in lengthy conversation with someone who really represents this point of view.  Obviously, Bo Giertz was completely familiar with this mind-set, most likely has he faced it in the Swedish churches.

"The boldness is needed. It has never been easy to be a proclaimer. If the Word is rightly proclaimed, then it will also awaken offense. All men have made for themselves some picture of god. There is also a revelation outside the word, in nature and conscience. It is fragmentary and unclear, but it gives to man a diffuse belief in a god and a common morality. When the gospel is proclaimed, saying that this does not count, men often become indignant. With complete naivete they answer that that part of the revelation that they have encountered up till now is self-evident and reasonable, but the revelation in Christ that now touches them is narrow-minded and uncertain.
The pastor could adapt himself to preaching just that what he knows is now current religious truth. Such a proclamation will not awaken any opposition, but neither does it awaken anyone from spiritual slumber. It neither exposes nor comforts. It is neither hot nor cold. It is not God's Word, and so it does not create faith." (p. 19,20)