The world did not end in 1988, 1989, or 2000 as predicted.

"The Great Premillennial HOAX", an article by Rev. Don Matzat, is a MUST read for all who want to know the enormity of Premillennialism's influence on American religion, including the LCMS.

Matzat, a former LCMS Congregational pastor, then a daily talk show host on KFUO in St. Louis, is now a talk show host in Pittsburgh, PA, with has a Sunday evening show on KFUO.

Rather than reproduce the article here, you may read it by logging on to www.issuesetc.org and look here.   Or you can read his article in "Issues Etc. Journal" which is available at no charge from KFUO in St. Louis.

Matzat's presentation is as concise an analysis of the end of the world theories that influenced much of Christendom as I have ever read. Their obsession with the second coming of Christ to Jerusalem was the driving force behind the Pentecostals, Charismatics, Assembly of God, and many Baptist and non-denominational churches in America.

Matzat was a true believer and leader in the movement. His public confession that he was completely deluded into believing the distortions of the Bible text about the end the world reminds us of "Saul become Paul."

However, Matzat was just one of the many LCMS pastors, teachers, and laypeople who continue to support RIM, Pentecostalism, and Millennialism. Matzat changed, but many LCMS District Presidents count their votes, check with their constituents, and don't rock the LCMS charismatic boat.

"Renewal in Missouri," (RIM) claims more than 800 LCMS pastors in its membership. If Matzat was brought to his senses by the Holy Ghost, that is just fine, but it wasn't because of the efforts of the COP.

As an LCMS pastor, I openly argued against Premillennialism while Matzat believed it. I had numerous confrontations with charismatic pastors and teachers and their LCMS followers in the Ohio, Michigan, and the Atlantic Districts, people who were protected by their District Presidents.

Accusations of intolerance, lovelessness, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness were the order of the day when I preached against, and taught against, and confronted the charismatic rhetoric. The accusations could come from another pastor's wife, a member, their sister, their mother who couldn't be wrong, or pastors who said I wasn't open to the Holy Spirit. They even helped turn a congregation against me.

Matzat simply points out the error, but he is also aware of the inroads Premillennialism has made into the LCMS and he knows where the bodies are buried.

We would like to go a step further in his analysis. The present day Church Growth Contemporary Worship craze, sometimes called informal worship, or non-traditional worship, is really nothing more than Charismatic Premillennial music, lyrics, and worship forms.

The Rev. Dr. David Luecke, the darling of the LCMS COP, one of many Church Growth gurus in the LCMS, promotes Premillennial Pentecostal music and worship forms in his books that are gobbled up by LCMS pastors.

The LCMS Board of Higher Education Executive, Dr. William Meyer, is promoting Dr. Norbert Oesche's Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI), which in turn promotes nothing more than Bill Hyble's-Willow Creek, and Fuller Theological Seminary worship forms taken from the Premillennial Pentecostals.

Luecke's books are recommended reading for PLI students who seek to make a business out of Premillennial worship.

Many who promote contemporary worship are not necessarily Charismatics and/or Millennialist, they just want to draw the same crowds by copying their worship forms. They are opportunists following a quick buck in the name of religion.

But, premillennial wannabees have made a strategic error. We now live in the Postmillennial era. We have just seen January 1, 2000 pass and we are only four more months away from 2001.

By 2005, Premillennialists will be as scarce as hens teeth. Their emotional, revival-driven, cultish worship will fade into oblivion with them. They will disappear like the Pilgrims after Christ didn't return in 1666.

Then the BHE, the COP and all those who promoted and funded PLI, including the LCMS Foundation, LCEF, COP, AAL, LB, Wheatridge, and many more organizations will either start making true confessions like Don Matzat or become the greatest buffoons in the history of Lutheranism.

Wait 'till they see the heating and air-conditioning bills on those mega-church buildings when people aren't sacred to death that Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem tomorrow. Wait 'till they have to repave those huge parking lots with petroleum-based asphalt.

We are sure that the LCEF is going to have to renegotiate the loans of a many more mega-church properties besides Concordia, San Antonio.

Our axiom: Worship like a Millennialist and fade away like a Millennialist.

We highly recommend Don Matzat's writing and radio show Sunday evenings on KFUO.

By denouncing his former prophecies about the end of the world, Matzat has inadvertently become a true prophet of the Postmillennial Era.