Writer’s note. Last week, I watched an interview with Eric Metaxas, author of a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the most famous of the German pastors killed by Hitler. Metaxas has authored a new book and produced a film both titled, “A Letter to the American Church.”
I went to bed still thinking about what Eric Metaxas said and realized he was a modern-day Paul Revere. I am reporting to you the dream I had in which I was interviewing Eric Metaxas.
“This country has less than a year,” Eric says.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“I say, this country doesn’t even have a year until we lose the power and ability to stop the worldwide communist authoritarian movement.”
“How do you know?” I persist.
“Look at history. In the early 1930s in Germany, most pastors had no idea where Hitler was headed. Until 1934, German pastors were a powerful cultural force who could have spoken up and united people against him and his Nazi agenda. The church as an institution was powerful enough to influence people, but they didn’t use their influence.
“About a third spoke in favor of Hitler but a majority, about 11,000, wanted to be neutral. These pastors turned inward and refused to speak about politics. By not taking a stand, those in the middle insured that The Minority who did speak against Hitler were removed from their offices. If those in the middle had spoken up, this would not have happened. After 1934, the window closed.”
“What do you mean?”
“The authoritarian control of Hitler became so strong that people no longer had a choice. In Hitler’s first few months, the Church, God’s people, did not speak up when they saw evil actions around them and could do something to stop it. There came a point where it was too late. People saw what happened to those that protested. They saw neighbors, friends, and family members disappear. There were widespread rumors of arrests and executions. These turned out to be true.
Your neighbors became your enemies. People in power were promoted for arresting dissenters. They gained high rank if they executed people. If you supported the Nazi regime, you got ahead. You were rewarded. You got better food, special privileges.
I asked, “Didn’t these pastors think about God?”
“Yes, but not until later. They were caught up in the moment. Years after World War II ended, many German pastors bitterly regretted their inaction for the rest of their lives. Some even committed suicide.”
“What were some of the early things that Hitler did?”
“Many of the same things that are happening today. Hitler first crushed all dissent in to carry out his agenda. He outlawed radios. You could only own a government issued radio that had one “official” propaganda station. It was essential to his success that he crush freedom of conscience which is the root of religious liberty.
“If people genuinely believe they answer to God, they won’t obey the state if the state becomes tyrannical and evil. Their faith gives them courage and hope. They know that it’s wrong for the state to control all our actions, our thoughts, our conscience, our soul.”
“Why does it matter if you don’t believe in God?”
If people don’t believe in God, they become malleable because they don’t believe in external truth. They won’t believe in good and evil, right and wrong. So, without principles, they bend and surrender. They value material things, like their possessions. They value their opinions, as the Bible says, “what is right in their own mind.” These Germans thought if they go along with Hitler, they would be safe and survive, even if they privately disagreed.
“Did Hitler want to destroy the Church?”
Hitler planned to put himself as the head of the Church. He thought of himself as Germany’s savior. He understood that the Christian message of individual salvation through faith in Jesus Christ put him at odds with his agenda. He used pastors who supported him to advance his propaganda and punished any who criticized him.
“So, what about Romans 13 where Paul instructs us to be obedient to the authorities?”
“God calls us to be Christians seven days a week, not just on Sundays. He calls us to be Christians in all our activities, not just our church activities. That includes our political life. If we see evil and do nothing, God will judge us for that, even if that evil comes from the Government.
“If the government does evil, it’s evil. When Paul wrote that passage, he wasn’t saying we should obey a government that would murder six million of its own citizens! If a government violates God’s laws, it is our Christian duty to resist. Think about the Hebrew midwives who were ordered to murder Hebrew babies. God said it was good that they resisted their Pharoah. So, it is still true we must resist evil wherever it comes from.
What should Pastors do?
Pastors should preach about what is going on in this culture without fear, without regard to the unconstitutional Johnson Amendment. They should teach the Bible and how it applies to our lives in our culture and under our government system. They should point out what is biblical and what is not biblical. The Bible has far more to say about government, money and families than it does about heaven. Pastors should fear God, not the IRS. They need to wake people up. The window is going to close again.
Can we reach everyone?
No. We need to reach the people in the middle. We need to reach the pastors and their people in the middle. The radical churches have already sold their soul to the Zeit Geist.
What is the Zeit Geist?
It’s cultural Marxism. This movement permeates our institutions from academia to the media to Hollywood. Cultural Marxism create divisions within society between races, between men and women, between children and parents, the Woke Church versus the traditional Church, et al. This is the soft preparation of destroying our society before the hard actions of invasion.
What does God want us to do?
God is less interested in our singing for Him and more interested in our carrying out his Great commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” If we are not bearing fruit, we are not a healthy branch. Like the fig tree that Jesus cursed when it failed to produce, our tree will wither, and we will die unhappy and unsaved. We must get involved. If you see evil, speak up. Resist. Do not look the other way. The Church is the last institution that the Marxists do not completely control.
What’s the next step?
Preach your Bible like your life depends on it because it does.
Watch the movie as a church, “A Letter to the American Church.”
Wake up somebody else.
The Red Coats are here.
I’m awake. Are you?