Ask the Pastor: The Cross, Heaven, and False Teachers
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist

Q: One child was hit by a car 3 years ago. He is home with us in a semi-coma. He requires
constant care and we are exhausted. Another child suffered a hospital injury at birth and is
developmentally delayed and needs constant care.

A Jehovah's witness came into our home, telling us that our faith is not true and that we will not
go to heaven unless we only seek and live the truth. He confused us about the cross, saying that it
is idolatry and that we should not use it. We get great comfort from our home's cross. He quoted
Bible verses that say there is no heaven and that no one is there now but that it was to be on earth
after the return of Christ, when all the dead will be raised to be judged. We are confused. This
man wants to come back weekly to instruct us how to save our boys. My husband is grief-stricken
and feels we should listen to any idea for answers and comfort. I feel that my Lutheran beliefs are
not lies. Will you please shed some light on the subjects of the cross and heaven?

A: To say it flat out, this man is a liar and a mouthpiece of Satan. He twists and distorts Holy
Scripture, squeezing out the comfort of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life with God for
all believers. He turns Paul into a liar when Paul says that he came prepared to preach "nothing but
Christ and him crucified"---the same Paul who stated that the message of the cross is *folly* to
those who are perishing. This man is, indeed, bound by folly and likewise a spreader of its evil. He
makes Jesus a liar---who said to the dying criminal, "*Today* you will be with me *in Paradise*." He
ignores John's vision of the martyrs under heaven's altar crying out and denies Jesus' story of poor
Lazarus being taken immediately to Abraham's bosom, a symbol of heaven itself.

Don't let this folly destroy your confidence in your Savior. Instead, remind yourself and your
husband that through his death on the cross, Jesus destroyed death and opened eternal life to all
believers. This includes your children, even one who may never be able to consciously understand or
express a relationship with Christ, yet who has one through Baptism and the Word of God. Christ knows
first-hand what it's like to be helpless as he was abandoned by his friends, forsaken by his Father,
battered by his enemies, and hung paralyzed on the cross by the nails. This is God's love for, as
Peter says, "*you and your children*" through the crucifixion and given you through water and the
Word. As baptized Christians, your boys *are saved!*

You know helplessness as you look upon your children. In that, the Father has shown you some of
his own helplessness as he looked down upon his own Child. If he freed his Son, he condemned
fallen mankind to hell. Instead, he "spared not his own Son, but gave his life as a ransom for many."
The season of Lent in the Christian calendar always focuses us especially on the cross. Hebrews 12:2
reminds you to fix your eyes "on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who---for the *joy*
set before him---endured the cross, scorning its shame."

Keep these reminders. Use them to focus your thoughts not on a couple pieces of wood or metal
that intersect, but on the Savior whose sacrifice they recall. Sing the hymns of the church, including
the opening and closing stanzas of Abide with Me:

     Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.
     The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
     When other helpers fail and comforts flee.
     Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

     Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
     Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
     Heav'n's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee;
     In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

He who became helpless for you will help you who are now helpless. You sign your letter, "A sinner
in pain." I cannot take away the pain, nor should I try. It is a hurt born of love. But the Father's
pain in watching his Son and the Son's pain in doing the Father's will sanctify the pain of the saints.
To this end, I leave you with these words from 1 Peter 1:3--9: "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled,
and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are guarded through faith for a salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though *now for a little while you may
have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold
which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ*. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him
you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you
obtain the salvation of your souls."

To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO, 65327 or send email to
askthepastor@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the
book "What Do Lutherans Believe."

Ask the Pastor is copyright (c) 2001 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced  in totality,
including this disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication
and redistribution. Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States and
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