Gates of beauty

Open now thy gates of beauty,
Zion, let me enter there,
Where my soul in joyful duty
Waits for Him Who answers prayer.
Oh, how blessèd is this place,
Filled with solace, light and grace!

These words comprise the first verse of Catherine Winkworth's translation
of an 18th Century German hymn based on Psalm 100. During her lifetime (1827-1878), Winkworth translated more than 80 German "chorales" dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries for use in the Church of England. Her work has never been equaled and her translations are well-known not only to Anglicans, but also to English-speaking Lutherans around the world. She is credited with introducing a distinctively German musical form to a culture shaped by the English language. Winkworth also had 44 of her original poems published (in English), as well as two books documenting the foundation of mission work among the poor. The daughter of a wealthy textile mill owner, she herself was involved in charitable work among the disadvantaged in Victorian England and was a tireless advocate of higher education for women.

"Open now thy gates of beauty" ran through my mind as I gazed upon the newly installed gates to our mission. God willing, this will be a place of His solace, light and grace. There are three gates, one large one for vehicles and large groups of people, and two smaller ones for normal entrance from the street. All three incorporate Luther's seal (the
cross inside a heart inside a rose) as part of their design. The plan was to have Luther's seal on only one gate, but the man who did the ironwork was really taken with the design. Luz María was at pains to explain to him that the seal is not just a decoration, but is meant to identify who we are and what we believe.

Recently Luz María ran across a new community profile of La Caramuca that someone had printed up. Under the "Religion" heading, it said that there were two churches in La Caramuca, one being the Roman Catholic church on the plaza and the other being "Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones" ("Christ For All The Nations"). The second one would be our mission, because we dutifully distribute tracts printed by CPTLN, the Spanish arm of Lutheran Hour International Ministries. CPTLN has been broadcasting on Venezuelan radio and television since the 1940s and the phrase "Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones" is a familiar one, but CPTLN is not as strongly associated in people's minds with the Lutheran Church of Venezuela as we might like.

The struggle to establish an identity for the Lutheran Church of Venezuela takes on an added note of seriousness when you consider there is a decidedly non-Christian group active in Venezuela with a history of copying Lutheran symbols. This would be the Rosicrucian Fellowship, which has 20 lodges and chapters across Venezuela, including nearly all the cities where the Lutheran Church of Venezuela has congregations.

"Rosicrucian" is derived from both the Latin and German words for "rosy cross" and it is no accident that the Rosicrucians have an emblem that incorporates both a rose and a cross like Luther's seal.

The Rosicrucian Fellowship is one of those groups that seek esoteric or "hidden" knowledge under a veneer of Christian symbolism and terminology. Invariably such groups deny the sufficiency and clarity of the Bible as the rule of faith and seek a "deeper" source of knowledge.

At first the Rosicrucians claimed to have discovered the "philosopher's stone" (the secret of transmuting metals, especially lead into gold) and the key to physical immortality. Nowadays the Rosicrucians run newspaper ads making more modest promises of health and wealth. The main distinction between the Rosicrucians and other esoteric groups, from the Cathars of the 12th Century all the way back to the Gnostics of the early Christian era, is that the Rosicrucian movement emerged in 17 Century Germany, that is to say, against a background of Lutheran orthodoxy. Imagine, if you will, that the more recent New Age Movement in the United States had started in Wisconsin rather than California.

In fact, one of the founding documents of Rosicrucianism was written byJohann Valentin Andreae, a grandson of Jakob Andreae, one of the signers of the Formula of Concord in 1577 and an editor, along with Martin Chemnitz, of the Book of Concord in 1580. Johann Andreae was something of a wayward youth, having been expelled from the University of Tubingen for playing a practical joke and later flunking his ordination exam at the Stuttgart Consistory. Eventually, however, he was ordained a Lutheran pastor and became quite the respectable citizen. He freely admitted writing in his younger days the document that had come to be associated with Rosicrucianism, but claimed it was intended as a parody of similar writings. Not everyone believed this, and Johann Andreae's name still had enough of an association with the occult for him to be identified as one of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion, a "secret" organization actually founded in 1956, but which claimed origins in antiquity. The Priory of Sion was exposed as a hoax by scholars and journalists in the 1960s, but its false claims were asserted to be factual by author Dan Brown in the preface to his notorious novel, The Da Vinci Code.

The Rosicrucians later developed ties with the Masonic Lodge and piggybacked on the movement of Freemasonry throughout the world. As I have written before, the Masonic Lodge also is quite active in Venezuela.

Candles in the dark

On Sunday, October 19, Pastor Adrian Ventura, president of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela, visited Barinas. That morning at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church, Eduardo played the guitar, I led the opening Service of the Word, and Pastor Adrian preached and administered the sacrament of Holy Communion. His sermon was excellent, but perhaps the most notable aspect of the service was that as it was underway, Venezuela experienced its third nationwide power blackout in the last six months. The electricity was cut off that morning and for most of the rest of the day.

The church has no air-conditioning, but there are two banks of fans on each side of the sanctuary to provide ventilation. However, these were not working during the blackout. Pastor Adrian and I both were wearing white albs over our regular clothes. Generally Venezuelans handle the tropical heat better than North Americans, but I noticed Pastor Adrian's face also was shining with sweat by the end of the service.

Later that afternoon, Pastor Adrian visited La Caramuca with Eduardo and Armando Ramos, former pastor in residence at Tierra de Gracia Lutheran Farm.

The following day, October 20, we experienced another blackout in the evening. This one was local, affecting only La Caramuca, although that did not make a lot of difference to us. In addition to the three nationwide blackouts, there have been an increasing number of local blackouts nearly every week. Like most developing countries, Venezuela suffers from a lack of
adequate infrastructure (roads, telephone and electrical lines, waterworks). Years of inadequate public investment in infrastructure have resulted in a decaying power grid that is no longer capable of meeting consumer demand.

Nevertheless, despite the lack of electric lights, Luz María and I hosted our regular Monday confirmation class by candlelight. We have five young people who have been faithfully attending confirmation class on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. One of them is Sandro Peréz, the boy
who recently was hospitalized for dengue fever. We thank God that he is completely recovered. Our goal is to have these five confirmed by Pastor Ted Krey on November 2, when he visits Barinas for perhaps the last time before leaving Venezuela for the Dominican Republic.

We give thanks for peace

Everyone here was worried about possible outbreaks of violence as political tensions heightened with the approach of the December 2 national referendum. However, prayers for peace and national unity were answered as the referendum was followed by dancing rather than fighting in the streets.

There was even a parade of cars and trucks down the quiet lane next to our preschool. The passengers were waving banners that proclaimed "No" (to the constitutional reform), "Venezuela libre" ("Free Venezuela") and "Somos libre" ("We are free").

Venezuelans voted down sweeping changes in the national constitution proposed by the government of President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela has been sharply divided over the past seven years between supporters and opponents of the Chavez government. This was the president's first-ever political defeat since taking office in 2000. You could sense a difference about this national election as staunch Chavez supporters, even some government officials, began talking openly about voting "no" this time.

Hugo Chavez was first elected president of Venezuela by a landslide vote. He ran on a relatively moderate platform of social and economic reforms which nearly everyone agrees Venezuela needs. But his rhetoric and policies have become more and more radical, and the proposed constitutional reform was too radically left-wing even for some long-time allies. It was felt that the proposed constitutional reform gave too much power to the federal government and also would further divide Venezuelans into opposing camps. These feelings crossed party lines, so that is why in the aftermath of the referendum, there was much talk of "reconciliation" and peace.

Venezuela has a long history of democratic ideals, although realizing those ideals often has proven difficult. Abraham Lincoln is perhaps the most-admired North American in Venezuela. There are high schools and streets named after him, and in Caracas there is a small plaza with a bust of Lincoln in the center. The pedestal is inscribed with these words from the Gettysburg Address: "...that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Following the referendum this past week, Luz María and I went to see "Miranda Regresa", a Venezuelan-produced movie depicting the life of Francisco de Miranda, one of the heroes of Venezuela's War of Independence. Miranda was born in Caracas in 1750. He commanded Spanish troops supporting the cause of U.S. independence in Florida and Missisippi during the (North) American Revolution. He became personally acquainted with George Washington, Thomas Paine, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.

Later, after being accused of treason against Spain, Miranda fought in the French Revolutionary Army on behalf of the Girondist party. When the Girondists fell from favor during Robespierre's "Reign of Terror", he was forced to leave France.

Backed by Great Britain, Miranda led an unsuccessful attempt to liberate Venezuela from Spanish rule in 1806. During this attempt, the yellow-blue-and-red Venezuelan flag was flown for the first time at the port city of La Vela de Coro.

Simón Bolívar led a more successful uprising against Spain, but when Venezuela officially declared its independence on July 5, 1811, Miranda became the first leader of the new republic. In 1812 he was forced to sign an armistice restoring Spanish rule. Because of this, when Bolívar returned to Caracas after a period of exile, he handed Miranda over to the Spanish army. Miranda died in a Spanish prison in 1816.

The movie emphasized the influence of 18th-Century philosophers, such as Voltaire and Rousseau, on Miranda, the gentleman-adventurer and man of action. Of course, 18th-Century Europe exalted human reason and denied Biblical truths like original sin. This resulted in an overly optimistic view of human nature and the failure of dreams of liberty, as illustrated by the history of so many revolutions of the 19th and 20 centuries where the new, utopian-minded government turned out to be more of an oppressor than the old regime.

It is worth noting that the Masonic Lodge, of which Miranda and Bolívar were both members, played an important role in popularizing the ideology of the European "Enlightenment" in Latin America. Certainly this was true in North America as well; the 2004 movie, "National Treasure," starring Nicholas Cage, is largely fanciful, yet in some respects quite accurate about the involvement of the Masons in early U.S. history. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, many of the signers of the Declarations of Independence and the Constitution, members of the Continental Army and the first Congress of the United States of America were all Masons.

The Masonic Lodge always has been an odd mix of 18th-Century rationalism and occultism, with the rationalism emphasized above all else in the Americas. Because the Masons were early champions of the idea of separation of church and state, they were from the beginning bitter enemies of the Roman Catholic Church, with nine papal bulls over a 200-year period threatening with excommunication Catholics who joined the Lodge.

Lutherans today may agree with some ideas espoused by the Masonic Lodge, such as the separation of civil and ecclesiastical authority, although for somewhat different reasons. But Lutherans have been on the same page with the Roman Catholic Church in opposing the Masonic Lodge for its underlying religious philosophy: That no religious tradition has a special revelation from God, but there are "higher truths" in all religions that can be discerned by sufficiently advanced individuals. This philosophy implies that eternal life may be earned through good works and not through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior from sin.

Given that Roman Catholicism has been the predominant religion in Latin America for hundreds of years, it is rather surprising to find that the Masonic Lodge played such an important role in Venezuelan history and continues to be active in Venezuela today.

But much of this historical information may be found in more depth at the Cross and Compass Web site maintained by historical researcher Sara Frahm. One rather poignant article there examines the spiritual journey of George Washington. He was raised in a devout Anglican family, and as a young man, was active in the Anglican Church. At age 20, Washington wrote a personal prayer book filled with affirmations of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. However, also as a young man, Washington was initiated into the Masonic Lodge.

After the Revolutionary War, Washington's involvement with the Lodge dramatically increased while his participation in the life of the church decreased. He stopped taking Holy Communion and attended Sunday services less and less frequently, until he stopped attending altogether. His public references to Christ almost completely ceased, as he began speaking of God more in terms of "the divine Providence", "the Author of the universe" and other terms popular among 18-Century rationalists.

It is good that Christians, no matter what our nationality, look at our national heroes and our nation's ideals under the lens of the Holy Scriptures. It was good for Luz María and myself, as Venezuelans voted "Yes" or "No" in their referendum, to meditate on this passage in our personal devotions:

"As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." 2 Corinthians 1:18-20