About This Book

Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties” (Part 6 of this book).

I myself was surprised at how positively the Frankfurt Declaration was received. Almost every brother to whom I sent the declaration in advance was willing to endorse it as an initial signatory, including Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. James White, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Dr. Joe Boot, Douglas Wilson, Dr. James Coates, Justin Peters, to name but a few. At the time of writing this foreword, more than 6,000 Christians from around the world have signed the Frankfurt Declaration.

A few days after the Frankfurt Declaration was presented, Ben Zeisloft published in The Daily Wire on September 6, 2022, the article “‘Christians Against The Abuse Of Power’: Theologians Around The World Sign Statement Rejecting Government Lockdowns” (Part 7 of this book), which is reprinted in this book by kind permission of The Daily Wire. The article is particularly interesting because Ben Zeisloft had asked five initial signers of the Frankfurt Declaration, namely Dr. Joe Boot, Dr. James White, Tim Stephens, Dr. John MacArthur, and myself, to each write a few explanatory thoughts on each of the five articles of the Frankfurt Declaration.

I was particularly pleased that Dr. John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California, USA, also published his own article one day later, on September 7, 2022, in which he explained in more detail the reasons for his support of the Frankfurt Declaration. The article “Why I Signed the Frankfurt Declaration” (Part 8 of this book) is also reprinted in this book with the kind permission of Dr. MacArthur.

As the Frankfurt Declaration gained international attention, I was asked by the English newspaper Evangelical Times to write an article on why I think the Frankfurt Declaration is necessary. The article was first published in the Evangelical Times on October 17, 2022, and was also published by G3 Ministries in the USA and by Caldron Pool in Australia in November 2022. In this book, the article “Why the Frankfurt Declaration is Necessary” (Part 9 of this book) is included.

Just before finishing this book, Jacob Reaume, the pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, ON, Canada, sent me a very readable article he had just published. In this article titled “(How to) Love your Neighbor – The BioLogos Statement vs. The Frankfurt Declaration: Two Opposite Evangelical Responses to the State’s Power” (Part 10 of this book), which was first published by Christ Over All on February 17, 2023, Pastor Reaume contrasts the BioLogos Statement, which affirms the Covid state measures, with the Frankfurt Declaration and convincingly demonstrates that the way professing Christians respond to Covid and state intervention is a matter of (good or bad) theology. The article is reprinted in this book with the kind permission of Pastor Reaume.

The last contribution in this book is a short address (Part 11 of this book) which I delivered on November 17, 2022, at the “Church At War” conference in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. This conference brought together Canadian pastors who had steadfastly resisted government injustice during the Covid era and had been honored by being allowed to suffer for the Lord, partly through imprisonment, partly through fines amounting to millions of dollars, partly through excommunication by their own denomination. These include Dr. James Coates, Tim Stephens, Jacob Reaume, Dr. Aaron Rock, and Steve Richardson, among others. The like-mindedness among the brothers and the spiritual unity in the evaluation of the Covid events was a great encour-

Canada, to encourage His unworthy servant. May His Kingdom unfold until it fills the whole earth! To Him, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, be honor and eternal dominion!

– Tobias Riemenschneider

February 2023

keePing Jesus in the Center –PreCisely beCAuse oF CoronA

bibliCAl reFutAtion oF the thesis PAPer

“keePing Jesus At the Center - desPite CoronA”

Tobias Riemenschneider and Peter Schild

Withthis statement we oppose the thesis paper “Keeping Jesus in the Center – Despite Corona” by Michael Kotsch, Wilfried Plock, Matthias Swart, Marco Vedder and others, which was published in the current, second version on November 25, 2020, but only recently came to our attention. Since the thesis paper has a large number of theological deficiencies, we fear that biblical truths will be obscured by it and, thus, the consciences of some Christians will be grieved. We therefore see it as our duty to counter the most serious theological misconceptions of the thesis paper with a biblical view. In response to the theses stated in the thesis paper, we put forward the following antitheses:

1. It is the sacred duty of the church to name the wrongs in the state, expose the sins of those in authority and call them to repentance from their evil deeds.

2. Certain state-mandated Corona restrictions on churches violate God’s commandments and the consciences of many Christians, as the state improperly encroaches on Christ’s lordship over the church.

3. All Christians are therefore called to obey God rather than men and to resist1 unrighteousness in a godly manner, even if this may result in persecution by the state.

In the following, we will provide biblical evidence for these antitheses.

The signatories of the thesis paper rightly point out (para. 2) that the church and the state are two separate spheres of God’s authority. However, they fail to recognize the scope and limits of these spheres of authority. Thus, they obviously believe that the church should largely stay out of politics, i.e., the affairs of the state. The thesis paper states in this regard that pastors “should not engage in party politics” and that ethically wrong or questionable laws of the state, but which leave the Christian the option of acting righteously, need not be opposed; the Bible nowhere declared it our duty to control the government or to resist questionable decisions.

In doing so, the signatories fail to recognize the sacred duty of the church to proclaim the Word of God to all people. Such proclamation includes pointing out wrongdoing, convicting of sin, and calling all people, including those in authority, to

1 By resist, resistance, etc., we, throughout this statement, always mean resistance in the biblical sense, i.e., nonviolent through prayer, preaching, petitions and calls to repentance to politicians, taking legal action, or peaceful civil disobedience.

Keeping Jesus in the Center repent of their evil works and to obey God’s commandments (Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 17:30). As Christians, we must not take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Eph. 5:11). The weapon for this fight against darkness and wickedness, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17), was not given by the Lord to His church in vain.

Throughout history, those who proclaimed the word of God have carried out this sacred duty: the prophet Nathan confronted King David for his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah; the prophet Elijah confronted King Ahab for his idolatry and the confiscation of Naboth’s vineyard; and the prophet John the Baptist confronted King Herod not only for his lawless marriage but for all the evil he had done, to name but a few examples. To the prophet Isaiah, the LORD commands, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa 58:1).

Even to heathen nations and kings, the prophets proclaimed judgment on their evil deeds. Thus, Daniel exhorted King Nebuchadnezzar, “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Dan. 4:27).

Today, the mission of the Church is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded us (Matt. 28:19, 20). This includes commanding all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). This includes those who govern. Thus, the apostle Paul also preached righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment to Felix the governor (Acts 24:24,25).

When the apostle Paul writes that the state is a servant of