# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S63
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

President’s Report, Part 3
by t he R ev. Dr . Matthew C. Ha rriso n, Pres id en t,

Th e Lut heran Chu rch— Missou ri Sy n o d
66th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod • July 10, 2016

“The gates of hell shall not prevail” (Matt. 16:18).
That’s Jesus’ promise.

• It was true when Pietism destroyed the notion and
importance of the strong doctrine of the Gospel.

• It was true when He spoke it to His apostles.

• It was true when the rationalists denied the Bible
and the faith altogether.

• It was true as they fled His crucifixion (Mark
14:50).
• It was true as those apostles faced persecution and
martyrdom (Acts 5 and 7).
• It was true through the Roman persecutions of
the Church.
• It was true after Constantine became a Christian,
and state and church got all balled up, interfering
in each other’s business.
• It was true in the face of Islam as it swept over
North Africa beginning in the seventh century,
and it hasn’t stopped since.

• It was true when a Prussian king decided it didn’t
matter if one was Lutheran or Reformed and outlawed the Lutheran Confession in what was, at the
time, the largest Lutheran Church in world.
• It was true when a small band of extremists fell prey
to a philandering leader and sat sick, stunned, and
confused in St. Louis and Perry County.
• It was true as 20 million Christians (many Lutherans
and Lutheran pastors) were deported and murdered
by the Soviet Union.

• It was true as the medieval sacramental system
of merit and indulgences choked the faithful and
robbed the church of the Gospel.
• It was true at the time of the Reformation.
• It was true when Luther stood before the emperor
and confessed, “Here I stand, I can do no other,” and
left Worms under a death sentence.
• It was true as the Lutherans fell apart after Luther’s
death and were brought back together by the Book
of Concord.

“President’s Report, Part 3”

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