FROM OUR PRINTED, DEC 2022 “THE CROSS” Edition
by Maureen McInerney
Once again Eric Metaxas has written a book for the ages, and he does not pull any punches about the American Church’s behavior that is now similar to the German Church of the 1930s. This book is a wake up imperative for the American Church to become aware of Satan’s challenges every day. By not being aware, America is making decisions that are detrimental to our country and the Church. That is what happened in Germany in the 1930s and why the Church and its ministers were involved in Hitler coming to power.
Early in the 1930s Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, was the first to see the evil of the Nazis and tried to wake up the German Church ministers. He called the German Church to be GOD’S Church in their time and his message is now calling the American Church to actually be GOD’S Church, so that we might avoid the mistakes the German Church made in the 1930s.
At the time there were 18,000 active pastors, 3000 were pro Nazi, 3000 aligned with Bonhoeffer, and 12,000 were neutral or passive. The 12,000 refused to be political and, therefore, did nothing but sit on the sidelines. The Nazis then proceeded to arrest and persecute the 3000 who stood strongly against them. They could not and would not believe that the government wanted to eliminate the Church in Germany.
We here in America have been blessed by God for a very long time, as were the Germans in the years before World War II. The German Church was relying on the Scripture of Roman 13-1 “Let every soul be subject and under the higher powers. For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained by GOD.” We find it difficult to comprehend that our government would succumb to such evil and most of us can’t quite conceive of our government wanting to eliminate the Church, but they are working on it. Churches were not essential to be opened during COVID, and pastors were arrested for holding services in a parking lot. Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, churches have been attacked for sponsoring pregnancy centers as giving out misinformation regarding abortion. Most Americans find it hard to believe that GOD would allow this kind of evil.
Our Founding Fathers established our country as a constitutional republic with strong Judeo-Christian roots. Pastors back in the time of the Revolutionary War spoke out about what was happening under British rule, and they were the ones reporting about America’s progress in the fight for freedom. Today the Church is being the passive German Church by not speaking from the pulpit. History has taught us what happened when the German Church failed the people of Germany and the Jewish people of 1930’s Germany. Mr. Metaxas is right when he says that if the American Church doesn’t learn and understand from the fatal mistakes and catastrophic results of the German Church, we’ll reap a “whirlwind” greater than the German Church did.
As we look at the Marxism and pre-socialism of the world moving toward our beloved country, it is apparent that the need to spread the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus is more urgent than ever before. It is also apparent that to do this we have to stand strong against the fear and intimidation of a bully called WOKE, and a Greed (“Green”) New Deal, which is based on lies, and fight to save our country and to cultivate, encourage and sustain the culture of liberty. As Mr. Metaxas says, if the American Church fails like the German Church, the evil monster that befell the German Church could be the end of the American Church. We cannot let that happen. GOD gave America the “Torch of Liberty for the World.” It is up to us to defend it and hold it high. ♦
