Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Sweden: Who Do Christian Leaders Serve?

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Sweden: Who Do Christian Leaders Serve?

by Nima Gholam Ali Pour  •  September 13, 2016 at 5:30 am
  • In Swedish Christianity, Jesus has been reduced from being the son of God, to an activist fighting for multiculturalism and open borders. According to Archbishop Antje Jackelén of the Church of Sweden, Jesus has clear political positions on both migration and integration policies.
  • According to a senior official in the Church of Sweden, the call to wear a cross to show solidarity with persecuted Christians is "un-Christian".
  • One might describe the Swedish Christianity as a new religion that worships multiculturalism and leftist values in general.
  • "The leadership of the Church of Sweden no longer wants to lead a Christian community; they want to lead a general ethical association for humanistic values." — Ann Heberlein, doctor of theology and lecturer at Lund University.
  • One can have different interpretations of what Jesus did or what opinions he had, but we can all agree that he did not serve the Emperor or other earthly rulers. Too many Christian leaders in Sweden have become the servants of earthly rulers by conveying the message of the political establishment in Sweden.
Christian leaders in Sweden have re-made Christianity into a religion that serves the political agenda of an establishment whose extreme liberal ideology lacks popular support. Left: Sweden's Crown Princess, King, Archbishop Antje Jackelén, and the Queen pose after the archiepiscopal ordination of Jackelén on June 15, 2014 (Image source: Church of Sweden). Right: Influential Swedish Christian pastor Stefan Swärd co-wrote the book Jesus Was Also a Refugee, which advocates for a policy of no immigration restrictions; rich countries have to open their borders simply because they are rich countries.
Christianity is a universal religion, therefore Christianity in Sweden should have many similarities with Christianity in other countries.
If Christianity in Sweden begins to embrace a doctrine that has nothing to do with the universal world religion of Christianity, Sweden has then invented a new religion.
If you look at how Christianity has developed in Sweden today, it seems that this is what Sweden is about to get.
Stefan Swärd is an influential Christian pastor in Sweden with a background in the Evangelical Free Church in Sweden. In an op-ed from September 2014, Swärd describes Christianity the following way:
"When congregations in Sweden meet in diversity and integration and integrate Africans, Chinese and Latin Americans, they express the very essence of the Christian community's being."
He continues,

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