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The complete text of the Open Memorandum Addressing the Twin Towers War released on 9/14/01 by "Presiding Apostle" C. Peter Wagner follows.  I'd like to know who made Wagner the "presiding apostle" of the "church"? That is a question that still needs to be answered.  That he and a few others want to be the papal voice of Christianity (as if we needed a larger cacophony of voices at this point) is an indictment on Christianity as a whole.  Because the true church has not cast these people out and called them cultists and heretics long ago, now we have to contend with them claiming absolute authority over the churches.

My comments on the underlined sections in blue are linked and you can access them by clicking on the statement that is underlined.

September 14th, 2001
Open Memorandum Addressing the Twin Towers War

From: C. Peter Wagner, Presiding Apostle
International Coalition of Apostles
P.O. Box 63060
Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3060

Date: September 13, 2001

The United States and the world are attempting to emerge from a history-altering catastrophe. President Bush used well-chosen language when he characterized this conflagration as a conflict between good and evil. In whatever way that history may be altered in the future, we are confident that good will ultimately triumph over evil. Nevertheless, it will be a lengthy and taxing process, requiring courage, determination, commitment and sacrifice.

Those of us who personally remember President Roosevelt’s words coming over the radio on December 7, 1941, "This is a day that will live in infamy," have not experienced anything else like it until September 11, 2001. For the first time in 50 years our nation is now unified, in heart and in voice, ready to shift from an era of peace to an era of war.

 This is a time for apostolic declarations. The church is in a position now, characterized by the active and accepted roles of apostles, prophets, and intercessors, that it has not experienced in 1800 years.¹ Several prophetic communications since the destruction of the twin towers have confirmed this:

· Rick Joyner (9-12-01): "What has seemed to many to be the impossible task of restoring true apostolic Christianity to the earth is about to become a reality."²

· Tommi Femrite (9-12-01): "It is time for the apostolic leaders of nations to rise up and proclaim into the heavenlies of the nations where they have apostolic voice and authority to speak and legislate in the heavenlies."³

· Marty Cassady (9-12-01): "We are no longer to ask God to do what he put us here to do. Rather, it is a time to make clear declarations that will change the atmosphere of our nation."⁴

 I habitually read a chapter of the Bible before each day begins. On September 11, I read 2 Kings 18 before I had heard that we were in a national crisis. Naturally my reading for September 12, after I knew about it, was 2 Kings 19. This is the story of Hezekiah. In 18 he went on a spiritual offensive and wiped out idolatry from Judah. The devil did not like this, so he sent Sennacherib of Assyria against him with a threat, which I liken to the destruction of the twin towers. As I prayed for my personal role in this crisis, I came to 2 Kings 19 recording Hezekiah’s reaction. Hezekiah inquired of the Lord, then sent for the Lord’s word through Isaiah the prophet. He was aware that "God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).

Only when he had received the word of the Lord through Isaiah did Hezekiah go back before the Lord and make his kingly declaration. I saw that the Lord wanted me to postpone any declaration about the twin towers war until word had come in from the prophets. The word, at least a preliminary word, has now come in from the prophets (we have received over 1,000 emails), so I am ready to write this memorandum. I imagine that numbers of other apostles, besides Kelly and me, will be doing the same thing. Who knows? Maybe some day we will be able to collate them in order to agree on what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Chuck Pierce reports from Glory of Zion Church in Denton, Texas, that Barbara Wentroble, on Sunday, September 9, prophesied from the 23rd

Psalm (the Psalm that President Bush used two days later): "For surely the Lord has prepared a table in the presence of your enemies. . . In this table you shall not look at the things that are seen, but you shall look into that which is unseen. It is a day that I would cause you to see that even though the enemy has meant things for evil, I shall turn it into good." This was followed by a prophetic song of the Lord from LeAnn Squier which included the line, "For there is a war, there is a war on the horizon. Eat and drink and gain new strength. Rise up and get ready for war."

 Barbara said that we were not to look just into the things that are seen, but also into the unseen. We must keep in mind that there are two important and interconnecting worlds, the visible world or the natural world and the invisible world or the spiritual world. God has established governments to set policies and execute strategies in the visible world. He has established the church to do likewise in the invisible world.⁵ When war comes, as it now has, God will accomplish His will both through governments and the church if the respective leaders will seek Him, hear Him accurately, and obey Him.

Those of us in Colorado Springs are acutely aware of this. For three days now F-16 fighter jets have been patrolling our skies day and night. Colorado Springs is a military hub with NORAD (North America Aerospace Defense), Schriever Air Force Base, the Air Force Academy, Peterson Air Force Base, and Fort Carson (where my grandson is stationed).

But Colorado Springs is also a hub for aggressive spiritual warfare, typified by the World Prayer Center, New Life Church, Springs Harvest Church, Global Harvest Ministries, the Strategic Prayer Network, the Observatory, Generals of Intercession, the International Coalition of Apostles, the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, the Jericho Center and other vital units.

We have enemies in both the visible world and the invisible world, and, ultimately, our enemies in the invisible world, under Satan as their Commander-in-Chief, influence our natural enemies such as the hijackers who commandeered the commercial jets which inflicted unthinkable destruction on our nation. It is our responsibility, as church leaders, to use the authority that God has delegated to us and to conquer the invisible forces of darkness that, for a brief moment earlier this week, gained the upper hand. This is what opens the way for our government leaders to make godly decisions in the natural realm.

 Barbara Yoder sent us this prophecy (9-11-01): "The purpose of the attacks today is to release massive fear. The Church’s job will be to arise and see through what is happening, discerning what the true purpose of God is." Joseph Askins (our New York USSPN coordinator who immediately went from Rochester to pray on-site in Manhattan) asks us to pray (9-12-01): "That we would not let a spirit of fear come upon us in New York and across the nation.⁶ ‘For He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind."

Unfortunately, a number of Christian leaders have been opening doors for a spirit of fear in the body of Christ over the past few years. I will comment more on that later, but meanwhile I believe that a word from Rick Joyner points the way out of this potential morass. He said (9-12-01): "Several major words are weighing on us. The primary one that I have been hearing is ‘walking in the power of the age to come.’"⁷ I bear strong witness to that, and I believe that we are on the threshold of entering into a season in which the power of God in prophecy, healing, miracles, strategic-level spiritual warfare, and prophetic intercession will be widely manifested through common believers on a regular basis. The major purpose for this release of power will be evangelism. In fact, Rick Joyner goes on to say, "We cannot be witnesses of the Almighty God without power."

The church needs to move from fear to power!

 Those of us old enough have indelible memories of World War II. We needed a coupon to buy a pair of shoes. Tractors went from rubber tires to steel. Sugar was rationed. We could fill our automobile gas tanks only very infrequently. We used our surplus money to buy government savings stamps and savings bonds. Fridays were meatless. No new cars were manufactured. Women knitted blankets for England. We turned the lights out every time we left the room. We went all out to support the war effort and to conquer the enemy. And we did!

We have now entered a time when the church is called to war. God has prepared us for this moment, and we must be obedient. Life cannot be the same. As the President told us, we will be back in business, but it will not be business as usual. The status quo will not do. It cannot be just a coincidence that we at Global Harvest Ministries did a conference on "The Future War of the Church" last week in Virginia Beach and that we are doing the West Coast version of it next week in West Covina, California. Neither can it be a coincidence that just a few months ago Chuck Pierce and Rebecca Wagner Sytsema released The Future War of the Church (Renew). This is a book that gives the church a blueprint as to how to pray and how to move into the new battle that began with the twin towers.

The government of the church is in place.⁸ As I have mentioned, the church leaders most responsible for moving believers into war are the apostles, prophets, and intercessors. Intercessors began to be recognized in the 1970s, prophets in the 1980s, and apostles in the 1990s.⁹

Unity of the body of Christ is necessary for winning a war. In the natural, we can compare World War II to Vietnam. We had total unity in World War II and we won. We had shameful disunity in Vietnam and we lost. The twin towers war has once again brought national unity. Unanimous votes are coming out of Congress for the first time in a long while.

Unity will lead to a declaration of war. Victory will come when a nation puts itself on the line before its people and before the world and officially declares war. We did not declare war in Vietnam, and we saw tens of thousands of needless casualties. We did not declare war in the Persian Gulf, and, while we won the battle, we lacked the persistence to gain the ultimate victory. In World War II we declared war and achieved unconditional surrender of the enemy. If the church does not unitedly declare war on the principalities and powers of darkness, victories will be incomplete at best.

We must keep in mind that the true nature of the twin towers war is freedom versus tyranny. This is true also in the invisible war which God expects the church to fight. We Americans understood this when we fought Hitler, we backed off with Stalin and suffered severe consequences, and now the most prominent representative of tyranny is the Taliban. If freedom does not unify us and cause us to declare war, both in the invisible world and the visible world, tyranny can prevail, and that is not God’s will.

 The thousands of lives that were lost in the destruction of the twin towers were needless casualties of war. Why? An extremely important cause of this was the eight-year Clinton administration. The Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces was a documented draft dodger who despised the military and who led anti-war protests while a student in Oxford. When he achieved power he, not surprisingly, cut back on and weakened our military. He also cut back on our intelligence capabilities. He reduced the human intelligence force and he weakened electronic intelligence by allowing the National Security Council, our electronic eavesdropping unit, to fall behind in cutting-edge technology. A pacifistic, anti-war leader who refused to go on the offensive against terrorists who had publicly declared war against the United States caused our nation to be vulnerable to the most horrific physical hit that America has ever taken.

In God’s providence, things have now changed in Washington. The election of 2000 was a vital spiritual victory for our nation. If anyone doubts that strategic-level war done by the church in the invisible world affects human governments, they have only to read the new book, Destiny of a Nation, which will be released in three or four weeks by Wagner Publications. To my knowledge, this is the first time that we have credible documentation of how prophetic intercession actually determined the outcome of a national election. As a consequence, at least four of our most powerful leaders, George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and John Ashcroft are born-again Christians who believe in the power of prayer and who have ears to hear from God. They are leaders who desire a divine connection between heaven and earth.¹⁰

We are now in a position to see good come from evil as Barbara Wentroble prophesied last Sunday.

That is our current position in the visible world. If our government leaders, good-hearted as they might be, are to implement God’s purposes here on earth, the church must be equally ready to move into a wartime mode and go on the offensive in the invisible world.

Unfortunately, a Clintonesque, pacifistic, anti-war mood has been injected into the church over the past few years. The spiritual warfare movement, which gained solid momentum in the 1990s, has recently been weakened in a way very similar to the way our American intelligence and military were weakened. Certain leaders have, intentionally or unintentionally, set loose a spirit of fear and cowardice among believers who should be warriors. While not everyone is expected to go to the front lines, some of those whom God has actually assigned to the front lines are pulling out of the war and asking God to fight their battles for them.¹¹ They have been warned that if they go to war they might suffer heart attacks, miscarriages, runaway children, sudden illness, cancer, untimely deaths, and calamities in their church.

This is no time for a Christian anti-war movement. It is time to go to battle in the invisible world. Jesus delegated us the authority to go on the offensive against the demonic forces of darkness on every level. He said, "Behold, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy (Lk. 10:19). The Bible tells us that "the manifold wisdom of God [should] be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" (Eph. 3:10). Why? Because "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood [that is the responsibility of the governments in the natural world] but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). This is what we, the church, must do now if our earthly governments are to accomplish God’s will for them.

If we as a church decide not to go on the offensive in the invisible world; if we sit back and wait to go into action until Satan and his forces decide to hit us like the terrorists did to the twin towers, we will consequently suffer horrendous and needless casualties of war. In football there is a saying "the best offense is a good defense." This is only true when both sides are playing by the same rules. Such is never the case in warfare. The one rule of warfare is to conquer the enemy, and the twin tower war is not a football game. It is time for the church to obey God and conquer the enemy in the invisible world. It is time not to worry about miscarriages or heart attacks along the way because the war is won by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony and by not loving our lives to the death (see Rev. 12:11). Our wartime mindset should be, as Martin Luther said in his song "A Mighty Fortress:" "Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill-God’s truth abideth still!"¹²

 It goes without saying that a first priority of warfare is to know your enemy. Don Hinton’s word on September 11 was: "Spiritually, we are being baited to rise up in racism again." This is not the black-white racism for which we have repented as a nation. In fact, of the four top American leaders that I mentioned, two are black and two white. The danger now is to consider Islam in general and Arabs in particular the enemy.¹³ The twin towers war is not a Christian jihad. In the 1990s the church officially repented of the Crusades, especially through the Reconciliation Walk.¹⁴ We must not revert to a crusade mentality.

The fact of the matter is that, although we practice separation of church and state, much of the world, including the Middle East, sees America as a "Christian nation." When we see people dancing in the streets, rejoicing over the destruction of the twin towers, they are not only celebrating a victory over America, the friend of Israel, but they are also interpreting it as a victory of Islam over Christianity. For one thing, we need to keep in mind that this is a false assumption. For another, our role as Christians is to respond in the opposite spirit.

I reiterate: this is a war of freedom against tyranny. Tyranny is our real enemy. It is the design of Satan for humanity. God’s design is for humans to be able to produce and consume as they wish, choose their own leaders, say what they feel they should say, and worship the God that they choose to worship. The Taliban clearly exercises tyranny, and that is the enemy. While Israel deserves our support, that nation would be more in line to receive the blessings of God if people enjoyed freedom of religion there.

Threats in the U.S. to burn mosques are a reflection of the mindset of tyranny, not freedom. Muslims must have as much freedom to worship in their mosques as Christians have in their churches or Jews in their synagogues. U.S. Muslims are not the enemy.¹⁵ We made the big mistake of putting Japanese-Americans in concentration camps in World War II, and this mistake must not be repeated in any form during the twin towers war.

I have more to say about getting the church in line with God’s purposes for this new era of war, but I will end this initial apostolic declaration here. May God fill us with His Holy Spirit and allow us to obey Him fully regardless of the cost! I will end with the words of Jesus, the Prince of Peace:

Sandy Simpson's comments begin here, in order of links from the above "proclamation":

¹ First of all, do we really need "apostolic declarations" at this point?  Why not just fulfill the Great Commission and preach the whole gospel to the Islamic people?  Are they or are they not dead in their sins, without the hope of a Savior?  The Koran clearly teaches that Allah has no son, that he is not three in one (triune), and that Jesus was not crucified.  What kind of "apostolic declaration" would Paul make?  Let's look at what a true Apostle, Paul, declared:

1 Corinthians 1:17  For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel— not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

2 Corinthians 11:13  For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

Thirdly, if the Church has been without "apostles" for 1800 years, then either no churches have been established since the first century church, or Wagner and associates are claiming to be foundational apostles. In both cases they are wrong.  There have certainly been apostles in the church all along, and the foundational Apostles (who sat under the teaching of Jesus while He was on earth, wrote Scripture, and suffered as martyrs) are long dead and gone.  The foundation of the Apostles (Eph. 2:20, 1 Cor. 3:10) is what the building of the Church is built upon, which includes most importantly the Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:6) and Rock (1 Cor. 10:4) which is Christ (1 Cor. 3:11).  The building of the Church is now in its last stages.  We are on the roof, so to speak.  To lay another foundation on the new revelations and new paradigm of the new Wagner apostles is to tear out the original foundations and build it all over again.  This flies in the face of what the Scriptures tell us to do, namely:

Jude 1:3  Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

Titus 1:7  Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless— not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

² Rick Joyner, a proven false prophet, states that it has been an almost "impossible task" to restore apostles to the Church.  Who said they had to be "restored"?  Where did they go?  Have they not been with us all along, just not tooting their horns quite as loudly as these pompous title-mongers?  I always love it when false apostles are propped up by false prophets.  Talk about your circular reasoning!  Who asked these people to take on the "task" of restoring apostles (as luck would have it, themselves) to the Church?  It looks like this is a self-appointed group, who love to slap each other on the backs, write glowing reviews for each other's books, and hang out at the same Third Wave pep rallies. Meanwhile they are clearly trying to consolidate their power base and advance an agenda in churches that can only lead to compromise, interfaithism and globalism if taken to its logical end.

³ Femrite has assumed an awful lot.  Where in the Bible does she find any of this?  Where do we find the Lord saying that apostles have the ability or even the right to "speak and legislate in the heavenlies"?  Is it not God who is in charge of the supernatural and supernatural battles?  We can always ask the Lord, as long as we are praying Biblical prayers, to deal with that side of the coin, but how can earthly beings know what is going on in the heavenlies?  Wouldn't it be better to leave the battle to the Lord?

Isaiah 24:21  In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.

Jude 1:9  But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

Eph. 6:11-12  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

⁴ Cassady makes a profound statement that is at the back of this "New Apostolic Reformation".  It is that they apparently no longer need to consult God or see what His will is, but they simply need to forge ahead with plans to "make clear declarations that will change the atmosphere of our nation".  The fact that these "declarations" haven't worked yet, as amply evidenced not only by current events but by their fraudulent claims in the Transformations videos, Part 1 and Part 2, should send a clear message that these people no longer know what the will of God is BECAUSE THEY NO LONGER ASK HIM!

⁵ Isn't it the current and continuing task of the church, as established by Jesus Christ and the Apostles, to evangelize and disciple of the world of men?

Matthew 28:19  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mark 16:15  He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’
2 Thessalonians 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

Romans 8:15  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Matt. 6:33-34  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

⁷ Again, false prophet Rick Joyner tells us to walk "in the power of the age to come."  What age is he talking about?  New Age?  The New World Order?  The age to come is the Tribulation first, then the Millenium. This will not be a time of great evangelism, even if these people knew the meaning of that term.  It will be a time of Antichrist, a time when the elect will be defeated (Rev. 13:7).  The Antichrist comes first and it is his kingdom that will be set up for a short time with signs, wonders and miracles.  Does the spirit of Joyner bear witness with what the Bible already told us is to come?  No, it is clear his spirit is bearing witness with the spirit of the age, the spirits of the power of the air, the spirit of antichrist.

Also, if the main purpose of the "power of the age to come" is for evangelism, then why isn't there any mention of preaching the gospel in this "apostolic" declaration?  Much is made of declaring things into the heavenlies and bringing down demonic powers, but there is only one thing on earth with the power to save and deliver from evil:

Romans 1:16  I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

⁸ Oh, really?  I think this would come as news to many churches.  How and when did the government of the Church come off of the shoulders of Christ and the Apostles and land in C. Peter Wagner's lap?  Does your church bow to these self-appointed New Age apostolic practitioners?  What a statement!  Apparently Wagner thinks what they are doing is a done deal.  Well, I have news for them.  It's a done deal in terms of their complicity with globalism and a church that is all about ascending to the heavenlies instead of REPENTING ON THEIR KNEES for their many sins. And the rest of the Church needs to repent of the sin of allowing these people to speak for the real body of Christ!

⁹ I've got news for Wagner.  Where was he when faithful little old ladies (some of the true intercessors I am convinced) were praying for souls and protection for missionaries over 150 years ago on their knees?  Intercessors were only recognized in the 1970's?  Hogwash!  The church has always had apostles, prophets and intercessors.  What we don't need are these Pharisees ... who blow their horns in the public square and claim to be "apostles" and "prophets" and when they do declare and prophesy they can't even get that right.

¹⁰ Here we have another case of 20/20 hindsight and taking credit for something that had nothing to do with C. Peter Wagner and his group. Many true believers were praying that Bush would be elected, especially given the alternative.  This kind of "taking credit for things others have done" is typical of this group.  It is evidenced very clearly in the two Transformations videos.  In Transformations I they took credit for a revival that took place in the 1970's in Almolonga, Guatemala long before they even thought of employing their unbiblical methods of spiritual mapping and binding territorial spirits.  In the new Transformations II they take credit for a revival that took place in 1949 in the Hebrides. So this technique is not new. All you have to do is ask yourself "Was I praying that Bush be elected?"  If the answer is yes then you too can write a book about how your prayer techniques got Bush elected.  See how silly, or more accurately put, how egotistical these Wagner claims are?

¹¹ Again, God fights the battles in the heavenlies.  We are to preach the Gospel.  But do you think any of this Wagner crowd will be bold enough to proclaim that the god of Islam, Allah, cannot save?  That Moslems are dead in their sins without the cross of Christ?  No they will not, and we have already heard Jesse Duplantis and others on the TV declare that Allah is the same as YHWH.  For a comparison chart that shows that Islam worships a demonic god called Allah that has nothing to do with YHWH, go here. It's far easier to let all Christians off the hook to fight a war against unseen foes with hidden purposes against which only God did, can and will prevail.  In fact, YHWH has already prevailed through His Son, Jesus Christ (Col.2:15)  Isn't that the warfare we ought to be doing, telling people the Good News that Jesus saves?  Instead we are being told to pray to bind territorial spirits, or worse, to support false apostles who claim to be able to declare demons bound in the heavenlies.  Interestingly, if people were being called to witness for Christ they might suffer danger from man that will only bring salvation and heavenly reward, but since they are bringing railing accusations against the demonic realm now they are in real danger of losing their souls.  Wagner is placing those Christians who follow his program in a position where they can only lose.  They gain the whole world, but lose their souls.  This New Apostolic Reformation is just as serious a threat to Christians as Islam or the Taliban, in fact it's more serious because it involves disobedience to Scripture and setting up a World Church that will ride the beast to destruction.

¹² Thanks for twisting Martin Luther to your twisted purposes, Mr. Wagner!  If Wagner loved the truth he would abandon his false spiritual warfare stuff and his apostolic nonsense and come back to living in obedience to the truth of God's Word.

¹³ Wagner is sounding exactly like the politicians now. Let's be honest and practical here. Islam is the enemy of Christianity and Judaism.  The Koran requires no less than "jihad" against all "unbelievers".  Islam is the enemy of the spread of the gospel message.  It is a demonic religion that will send people to hell.  It's true that we should not hate and persecute Muslims. The Bible calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  What we need to do, instead of uniting with pagans, is to witness to them and bring them the Good News.  We need to pray for God's mercy on them and the opportunity to witness to them.  Those who killed thousands of people need to be brought to justice, but should Christians be holding joint prayer meetings with Muslims?  What good does it do to pray to a false god who has no son, and who cannot possibly bring peace?

¹⁴ What good does repentance do for acts committed in the past by people who are no longer alive on people who are no longer alive?  Why is Wagner claiming the true Church needs to repent of the crusades when it was the false Church of Rome that perpetrated it?

¹⁵ Some U.S. Muslims clearly WERE the enemy, and the enemy is still being rooted out.  But as long as Islam remains, they will oppose Israel and the things of God.  The tyranny remains and as long as the Koran is regarded as holy scripture there will be jihad.  But the response of the Church, instead of persecuting our enemies, is to witness to them and give them the only message that can save them ... that Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice for their sins, that they must believe that He is God, and that He died on a cross to pay the penalty of death for their sins.

¹⁶ Perhaps those who received this declaration from Wagner would be well advised to look at the context of his last Bible quote.  The verse before it states:

Matt. 10:32  "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.

Luke 18:8b However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"