When a Swedish bishop receives an image that sexualises Christ’s crucifixion and is thanked for shutting out Bible-believing priest candidates, it is time to ask the uncomfortable question: How much of Christianity can one abolish before a church ceases to be a church?
The headline in Kyrkans tidning triumphs: «The bishop received thanks for his stance. Now Bishop Andreas Holmberg has received his gift because he only ordains priests who say yes to same-sex marriage.»
The intention of the article is not to be misunderstood. The reader is to rejoice over this happy moment that evidently took place during the ordination of the diocese’s new priests and deacons. The image, which conveys joy and fellowship between three presumably pious office-bearers in full vestments, reinforces the message.
The bishop of Stockholm diocese, Andreas Holmberg, beams in competition with the June sun’s glint on the bishop’s staff, and two priests clad in cassocks flank him. They too look very pleased, and they have good reasons for it: precisely these two priests – Adrienne Riddez and Lars Gårdfeldt – are prominent LGBTQ+ activists («representatives of the LGBTQ+ community», as Kyrkans tidning refers to them), and their happy facial expressions stem from the fact that Bishop Andreas belongs to those bishops who have abandoned the Bible in favour of the world.
Or more correctly – in favour of woke.
Now these three are immortalised in an image that in an excellent manner visualises the final division of the Church of Sweden through the exclusion of priests and priest candidates (and in practice also congregational members) who do not believe that sexual laissez-faire, egocentrism and homosexual cohabitation trump the Bible.
Evidently this is something to rejoice over, to judge by the smiles of these three office-bearers.
Activist priest who refused to marry heterosexuals
Lars Gårdfeldt ought to be especially pleased. He belongs to those who, like the Social Democrats, have long worked once and for all to rid themselves of so-called conservative priests – that is to say priests who insist on believing that marriage is a union between man and woman (Matt 19:4–5), as it stands in the Bible and the church’s own confessions.
In 2021 Gårdfeldt announced, for example, naturally accompanied by kettledrums and trumpets, that he no longer intended to marry couples consisting of a man and a woman. Two years later Gårdfeldt decided to begin marrying heterosexuals again – but then only in those dioceses where the bishop refused to ordain priest candidates who (on the basis of theological conviction) rejected same-sex weddings …
Evidently it went completely fine to behave in this way, without being met with reprimands. In precisely this matter. Seen from Gårdfeldt’s own perspective. One may wonder why.
Jesus’ atoning death – as homosexual cohabitation
But, but. Let us now rejoice with these three and ask ourselves: «What exactly is this fine work of art that the bishop is so pleased to be honoured with?»
Kyrkans tidning lets us know that it is a signed photograph by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin. Oh? From the image in the newspaper it is a little difficult to discern the motif, but fortunately there are other places where the «work of art» can be viewed.
«The Crucifixion» from Ecce Homo by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin. Photo: Screenshot Facebook
The photograph is one of the twelve staged images that constituted photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin’s exhibition Ecce Homo. This work of art bears the title «The Crucifixion» and depicts Jesus’ atoning death through a clearly erotic photograph of two naked homosexual men.
Death on the Cross degraded to homosexual cohabitation.
Excuse me, but what the actual f*ck …?
How is this even possible? How is it possible to mock Christ, the Christian faith and those who love Christ in this way? How does one even get such an idea? And to stand there smiling and being glad about the misery? In their vestments? How. In. The. Entire. Hottest. World. Is. It. Possible?
The answer to that question is of course that it is not possible – in a Christian church.
In a Christian church the only conceivable response from the bishop’s side would have been to explain kindly but firmly to these two activists that «no, I cannot accept this, and I hope you understand why – and the two of you shall meet in my office Monday morning …». But the bishop did not say that. He smiled, thanked and accepted.
A value-basis-certified Judas kiss.
American perspectives
Since I find myself in the USA, I took the liberty of showing the article to Pastor Ken. The Sunday service was over, the church had as usual been so full that extra chairs had had to be set out for the over 250 (hymn-singing and communion-celebrating) service participants, from infants to centenarians. This in a remote Lutheran church – fully financed through the congregational members’ voluntary gifts and personal engagement.
In other words: A completely ordinary congregation, a completely ordinary Sunday.
For a Church of Sweden person it is almost surreal. But if one asks what gets people to come to the services and participate actively in congregational work, the answer is simple: Everything focuses on Christ.
Here they love and honour Christ. Here they take the words of the Bible seriously – therefore there exist neither LGBTQ+ activists nor same-sex marriages, but neither any demands for the exclusion of those who believe something different from oneself. All are welcome. Here there is «neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither man and woman», because one believes that all the baptised are one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28).
And think: It goes completely excellently not to focus on what others do in the bedroom (and with whom), demand that others adapt to one’s own sexual preferences or appear so delightfully modern and norm-breaking by mocking Christ (at the same time as one condemns everything that can result in sore toes among adherents of a certain other religion). It works – and it moreover results in packed churches.
So how did Pastor Ken react to Kyrkans tidning’s joyful message?
Pastor Ken looked at the image, blinked hard a couple of times and looked again. Then he looked at me.
– So far can it thus go, said Pastor Ken after a moment’s silence. He was clearly moved.
– But this is of course what the Bible predicts. They do not endure the word of God, and therefore they proclaim their own teaching (Acts 20:30).
The answer is found in the Bible
The Bible does indeed have the answer. Time and again the texts speak of times when Christians shall be persecuted, mocked and killed (figuratively and literally). Below follow just a few examples:
«You should know that in the last days difficult times shall come. 2 For then people shall be self-absorbed and money-grubbing, boastful, arrogant and mocking, disobedient to parents, ungrateful and without respect for the holy, 3 unloving and irreconcilable, slanderous, unrestrained, crude and malicious, 4 treacherous, quick-tempered and conceited. They love pleasures higher than they love God.» (2 Tim 3:1–4)
«All who will live a godly life in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. 13 But evil people and swindlers will go from bad to worse. They lead astray and are themselves led astray.» (2 Tim 3:12–13)
«For there shall come a time when people no longer tolerate sound teaching, but procure one teacher after another, as they themselves find good. For they will have what itches in the ear. 4 They shall turn their ear from the truth and hold to myths.» (2 Tim 4:3–4)
«But there were also false prophets among the people, and in the same way there shall arise false teachers among you. They shall smuggle in destructive heresies, and even deny the Lord who has redeemed them. Thus they quickly bring themselves to destruction.» (2 Pet 2:1–2)
It stands there, black on white. But never had I thought that I should experience it. Not in my church.
But now we are at the point where priests who in their ordination vows have promised to «with God’s help and in trust in his grace stand firm in the church’s faith, proclaim God’s word pure and clear according to the Holy Scripture and our church’s confession, administer the sacraments rightly and otherwise carry out my tasks so that God is honoured, the church built up and God’s will realised in the world», can hand over an image where the crucifixion is transformed into homosexual cohabitation – and be met by a smiling bishop.
The irony is of course that precisely the office-bearers who have a plastic view of both the words of the Bible are those who get to function as living proof of the Bible’s prophetic authority. In real time. In Kyrkans tidning.
You can’t make this sh*t up.
Forced homo-joy – or exclusion
At some point here I explained to Pastor Ken that the bishops in the Church of Sweden had recently declared that their goal is that all priests «with joy and of free will» shall marry same-sex couples, and that the bishops intend to bring forth this «joy» by sending doubting priests and priest candidates to therapists or letting them practise in «congregations with active LGBTQ+-work».
If the «joy» desired by the bishops does not materialise, an unclear fate awaits. If one is not a priest candidate, that is understood, for then the bishops are clear that there will be no ordination, whereupon the candidate gets to see hundreds of thousands of kroner in student loans go down the drain.
Exclusion in the name of inclusion. So charmingly social-democratic.
It will no doubt be both joyful and voluntary when one gets to choose between continued service (and salary) or unemployment. But here too the Bible has the answer, and priests and priest candidates with theological backbone can remind themselves of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount:
«Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Yes, blessed are you when they for my sake mock and persecute you, [lie] and speak evil of you in every way. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets before you.» (Matt 5:10–12)
Pastor Ken shook his head and sighed.
– You … Can you send me the link to the article? he asked cautiously.
That I could of course.
Pastor Ken explained that none of his pastor colleagues would believe this if he could not show the article as proof. So completely unreasonable and sad he thought it was.
The difficult question must be asked
As is well known one normalises one’s everyday life. It is only when one can view the situation from the outside, from another perspective, that one notices the abnormal – and from an American, Christian, Lutheran perspective the Church of Sweden has lost it. Completely.
It has gone so far now that the difficult question must be asked: When does a church cease to be a church?
Is a church that chooses away the Bible in favour of sexual activism a Christian church? Is a church whose bishops actively work to exclude priests who honour Christ, the Bible and the confessional writings – that is to say keep what they promised in the ordination vows – a Christian church? And is a church whose office-bearers engage in mocking and sexualising God’s Son a Christian church?
If the answer to these questions is «no», we must ask ourselves what the Church of Sweden is, apart from an organisation sailing under false colours. A social-democratic interest organisation à la LO? A subdivision of RFSL? An association of role-playing climate, abortion and LGBTQ activists? Well, who knows. But particularly Christian it unfortunately is no longer.
So what would Jesus have said about the situation in the Church of Sweden? Actually he has already pronounced himself on the matter, for in John 16:1–3 it is written:
«This I have said to you so that you shall not be led to fall. They shall cast you out of the synagogue. Yes, the time comes when those who kill you shall believe that they are performing a service for God. They shall do this because they know neither my Father nor me.»
Kyrie eleison! Lord, have mercy! Have mercy on the Church of Sweden – and above all: forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Do you want to know more about the Church of Sweden’s attitude to marriage between persons of the same sex, the bishops’ demands and the internal church conflict? Then I recommend that you visit Frimodig Kyrka’s website to read their thorough review.