Bishop Juhana Pohjola Consecrated Amid Persecution
“I believe in getting into hot water. It keeps you clean.”
The above Chesterton quote is fitting to describe the ongoing work and ministry of the newly consecrated Finnish Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola.
He has basically spent his entire ministry in hot water. And that is precisely because he is a defender of the faith and desires to keep the Bride of Christ clean - even when the filthy hands of Secularism seek in vain to choke her to death.
Bishop Juhana was consecrated to the episcopacy in the Mission Diocese of the [Lutheran] Church of Finland this past Sunday, August 1, as planned, even amid the state’s threats to prosecute him for what the state calls “incitement.”
On January 22, 2009, then Pastor Juhana Pohjola was awarded the Sabre of Boldness by the editors of Gottesdienst. According to a press release from Scandinavia House in Fort Wayne:
Several Confessional Lutheran Finnish pastors have suffered persecution from the Church of Finland bishops, including filing of civil charges that could have led to imprisonment, but were dismissed by the courts. Rev. Pohjola, for example, was suspended from his ministry for three months after he stood firm despite a prominent bishop’s attempt to get him to compromise his conscience.
The 2009 Awarding of the Sabre of Boldness, Fathers Peter Bender, Johana Pohjola, Burnell Eckardt, and Jonathan Shaw
Fr. Pohjola was not permitted, by law, to wear his clerical collar for three months.
In 2014, he was defrocked by the mainstream Finnish Church for his involvement in the Mission Diocese - a part of the Finnish Church that confesses the Scriptures and Confessions and rejects the mainstream hierarchy’s heretical views on female “ordination” and deviant human sexuality.
The subsequent years have been a constant struggle for the Rev. Pohjola against state persecution. Last year, he was arrested and interrogated by police for five hours for distributing a 24-page booklet (published in 2004) entitled “Male and Female He Created Them.”
The bishop is currently facing charges resulting from this incident, as is a member of parliament Päivi Räsänen, a pro-life medical doctor, and former Minister of the Interior who is also a member of the (Lutheran) Church of Finland. Räsänen is facing a possible six year prison term for the same “offenses” for which the bishop is also being charged. The state is moving forward in his prosecution. He is among the bishops who are openly defending her.
In the midst of all of this controversy, the Mission Diocese defied the state by moving forward with the consecration. LCMS president The Rev. Matthew Harrison also took part in the service.
You may have seen past articles at Gottesblog about our dear brother in arms under the cross here, here, here, and here.
Let us pray for the Bishop’s ongoing faithful ministry, for his safety and well-being, for the divine protection of the holy remnant in Finland, for all Christians around the world who are being persecuted, whether socially or legally, and let us steel ourselves for battle, as Satan is not content to only attack our brethren across the ocean. We are members of the Una Sancta. When one is persecuted, all are persecuted.
And let us, in the words of our own confessions, look up to heroes of the faith and “follow their faith and good works, according to our calling.” Even if, and especially if, it means being in hot water for the sake of a good confession.
May our merciful Lord bless Bishop Juhana!
