MidnightCall Magazine
In this issue:
- Hear theWord of the Lord — By Thomas Lieth
- FirstThessalonians 3 and the Rapture — By Dr. Ron J. Bigalke Jr.
- Popular Prophecy:CheckingDogmaTwice — By Wilfred Hahn
News From Israel MagazineIn this issue:
- Why Jerusalem is Jewish — By Arno Froese
- ON THE HORIZON:
- Analysis: Birthright Needs to Transform on Larger Scale
- Israel Praises Turkish Authority for Preventing Hezbollah Attack
- Relationship with American Jews Is Changing
- A Festival of Discrimination—Funded by the EU
- The Cyrus Cylinder
Peter the Rock
Dear Mr. Froese,
Your editors made an egregious error in not catching Marcel Malgo’s false assertion that Jesus Christ intended to build His church on the person of the apostle Peter (“The Calling of the Twelve Disciples — Simon Peter,” page 24, April MC). Malgo quotes Matthew 16:18 but does not quote the verse above it, which identifies the real rock to which Jesus referred: the granting of faith and insight from Almighty God. Our Lord never meant to base His church, the instrument by which His Word would be spread for two millennia now, on the fallible, weak character of one fallen human being. Rather, He was referencing the coming of the Holy Spirit, which changes a heart of stone to a heart of flesh in God’s elect and gives the believer eyes to see the lordship and magnificence of Jesus Christ our Savior.
The Roman Catholic Church bases its entire argument regarding papal succession on Matthew 16:18, which identifies that body as a quasi-Christian cult. Surely your writers can do better than that.
This comment is not meant to detract from the excellence of your publication as a whole, which I have enjoyed for years.
H. Meserow, MN
Answer: The Apostle Peter was the first to present the Gospel to the Jews, to the half-Jews, the Samaritan, and to the Gentiles. He was first in performing a miracle in the name of the Lord, and first to raise the dead to life. Jesus made the prophetic statement, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” Is Peter the rock? Of course not. Our Lord is the Rock of salvation. Read further in this chapter; the Lord Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get thee behind me Satan” (verse 23). Did Peter become Satan? No, but the words he had just spoken were the words of the father of lies, Satan. On the same line, the words Peter spoke, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God” are the words of the Father. Based on Jesus’ words, God establishes His Church, and Peter is the preeminent apostle, the key person in the initiating of the church in Jerusalem (see verse 19).
Of course you are correct, the Bible makes no provision for the establishment of the visible manifestation of the Church on earth, and definitely no successors to the office of Peter the apostle.