The Hungarian Reformed Church Fights for Its People

Today marks 498 years since Martin Luther started the great Protestant Reformation. Sadly, during the twentieth century, nearly all of Protestantism forsook the genuine doctrines espoused by great men like Luther in the midst of harsh adversity, and, in the aftermath of the Enlightenment, embraced politically correct Marxist doctrines. It has become increasingly true in recent times, that traditionalist Protestants have much more in common with traditionalist Orthodox or Roman Catholic Christians than with mainline or even with some acclaimed “conservative” Protestants. In today’s context, the divide between traditionalist Christianity and modernist Christianity is much more decisive than the divide between Protestant and Roman Catholic. One could even fathom a case being made, in light of some recent radical shifts away from Scripture and orthodox doctrine by mainline Reformed denominations, that it is not really worth celebrating the Protestant Reformation anymore. While I take serious issue with French counter-revolutionary traditionalists (e.g. Le Maistre, Bonald, De La Mennais, Belloc) who argue that Enlightenment skepticism was a fruit of the Reformation, in A.D. 2015 one could barely make a case that Protestantism in general (just like Roman Catholicism in general) has succeeded in sufficiently countering the anti-Christian Enlightenment and later Marxist doctrines which have sadly conquered the West. If anything, formerly Protestant nations like Sweden and South Africa are perhaps the worst off of all Western nations when it comes to civilizational decline.

Nonetheless, I still believe the Reformation; that is, the true sixteenth-century Reformation of Martin Luther is worth celebrating. When this site was launched back in January 2011, we turned to Elizabeth Rundel Charles’s paraphrase of Martin Luther for inspiration: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Wherever the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.” As also rightly noted back then, the fight against cultural Marxism certainly amounts to such a point.

Sadly, however, most Protestant Churches today absolutely cave to political correctness when it comes to this particular fight. The examples are legion, but one particularly shocking recent standout case is that of the German Protestant Church of the Rhineland, who earlier this month stated that evangelism or missions among Muslim invaders in Germany is unloving and “contradicts the spirit . . . of Jesus Christ.”¹ I don’t know this christ whose spirit this contradicts, but I do know that I want nothing to do with him.

In light of this and numerous other discouraging contemporary developments in mainline Protestantism, I thought I’d give us all another reason to celebrate or commemorate the Reformation today. Earlier this month, the Hungarian Reformed Church diocese of Csongrád County, which borders Serbia to the south and has been under intense siege with the current invasion, has thanked their right-wing Hungarian government, led by Calvinist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for protecting the Hungarian people by sealing off their southern border.

The public statement released by the diocese noted:

We are thankful to God that our country has a government now which regards the protection of our country and people as a task given by God. . . . While we promote and practice brotherly love toward those arriving in our homeland, . . . we are aware that most migrants arrive from countries which are open enemies of Jesus Christ and Christianity and in which Christians are persecuted for their faith. Those who come here may not have participated in this actively, but it is enough if they agreed with the persecution or did not raise their voice against it, while coming here they demand their human rights to be observed . . . any criticism [of Hungary for protecting its borders] is [therefore] unfounded and unacceptable.

Commenting on the statement, the dean of the diocese, Andras Juhasz, noted that he felt that the church has the responsibility to speak up for the Christian people of Hungary in these unfortunate circumstances.

The Reformed Church of Csongrád County understands the contemporary need to defend its people amid the cultural Marxist onslaught aimed at religious and ethnic amalgamation around the globe. They have not surrendered to the suicidal theology of cultural destruction which marks much of the church today. This church and Dean Juhasz deserve our support and prayers, but may they also serve to inspire fellow Protestants this Reformation Day, so that today, when we are faced with the ugly truth that Western Protestantism has very little to celebrate, we may be encouraged to be little Luthers in our own time and place, and, by the grace of God, to bring some desperately-needed reformation and revitalization to the Church.

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