History repeats itself!

Oct

31

2013

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Oct

31

2013

Recently I attended a Christian Business Man’s Connection conference, (CBMC) in Sarasota and the keynote speaker talked often of a pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This man lived during the time that Hitler rose to power in Nazi Germany and was credited with having one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant minds and possessing radical integrity.

In April of 1945 he was hanged by the Gestapo and thus became a martyr for Christ.

I’d never heard of Bonhoeffer, but the speaker at the conference quoted him again and again. He sounded fascinating and many of his quotes resonated with me and so I made a mental note to obtain one of his books when I returned home.

I was speaking at this conference too and a buddy who lived in the area came by to sit in on my testimony. Afterwards he wanted to take me to lunch at “the best restaurant in Sarasota”. We ended up at a very small Mennonite restaurant in the middle of nowhere. I looked at my buddy like he was insane. I thought he was taking me to some ocean-side five star restaurant for a filet and lobster feast and instead we ended up in an overcrowded little run down looking restaurant with a dirt parking lot in a seedy looking section of town.

Not to worry, my buddy was right; indeed it was a delightful meal and I’m sure the food was better there, than even the most highly rated waterfront restaurant in that beautiful city.

My friend wanted to buy a pie to take home to his wife and so I waited in the small lobby while he purchased it. While I waited I was disinterestedly browsing through their miniscule selection of merchandise which contained a handful of books. I noticed a few cookbooks and then suddenly I noticed a book entitled, “The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer written by Michael Van Dyke.

Yikes! The hair stood up on my neck.

I’d never heard of this guy until about an hour earlier and then I discover a book about his life in some obscure little restaurant’s teeny lobby! Too much of a coincidence for me; it was obvious that God wanted me to read more about this man.

I quickly purchased the book and soon devoured it. It is in part a sickening account of the apostasy of the church during Hitler’s rise to power prior to World War Two. A new church evolved in Germany that bastardized the Lutheran church and became known as the Reich Church. This so called church began rubber stamping Hitler’s manifesto of hate for Jews and his nationalistic ideals and ultimately rejected the Old Testament as being a legitimate part of the Bible, (among other things).

Dietrich who was a pastor would not “go with the flow”, and formed his own church named “the Confessing Church” that stood by Scripture as it was written. He established a seminary that preached that the church should return to the Bible as the inerrant inspired and holy word of God.

It wasn’t long before the Nazis shut it down.

The similarities of many of today’s churches here in the United States and the churches of his day are uncanny. Below is an excerpt from an article that I recently read in Prophecy News:

Anti-Israel activism in U.S. church circles has increased in recent years especially among some evangelical elites. Mainline Protestant elites have been anti-Israel for decades.

Last fall officials of several Mainline denominations urged Congress to reconsider U.S. military aid to Israel, prompting Jewish groups to cancel interfaith dialogue. More politically significant have been exertions to shift evangelicals away from their historically strong affinity for Israel.

For the last several years anti-Israel evangelicals have hosted a “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference in Bethlehem featuring some prominent U.S. evangelicals. Last year’s included evangelist Tony Campolo, a spiritual counselor to President Bill Clinton, and Florida mega church pastor Joel Hunter, a spiritual counselor to President Barack Obama . . .

The article went on to say: ”Unlike more liberal Christians, evangelicals have ‘insisted that the Christian church has not replaced the Jews without remainder, that the old and new covenants were integrally connected in the time of Jesus and remain so today, and that if the covenant with Israel is eternal then the promise of land is also still significant.’”

This sounds exactly like the stuff that was being espoused in Hitler’s day and Dietrich’s response of staying on course. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

“We must make it clear – fearful as it is – that the time is very near when we shall have to decide between national socialism and Christianity . . . It may be fearfully hard and difficult for us all, but we must get right to the root of things, with open Christian speaking and no diplomacy. And in prayer we will find a way.”

Here is another article that I read in the past week that should make every last one of us STOP and think about what’s coming next.

“Hostility against Christian Americans is growing at an alarming rate, according to a new survey from the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute.

One such case involved college student Audrey Jarvis, who was asked twice to remove her cross, or at least hide it, at a student orientation.

“My supervisor came up to me out of nowhere and asked me to remove my cross necklace because he thought it would be offensive to incoming freshmen,” she recalled.

In another case, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk got in trouble with his lesbian commanding officer when she ordered him to answer how he felt about gay marriage.

Former NFL running back Craig James found himself a victim of growing anti-faith sentiment when just one hour into a new job as a FOX Sports analyst, he was booted off the air.

James and the Liberty Institute insist it was because a top network manager disapproved of a statement James made about gay marriage 15 months before in a political debate.

“They knew who I was, what I stood for,” James told CBN News. “And I’m being punished – I was fired – for my religious beliefs.”

With some 1,200 cases like these documented in the new Religious Hostility Survey, Mateer says he’s frightened for his country.

“The threats are increasing at a dramatic rate, and this survey demonstrates that,” Mateer said.

“What we’re seeing is instead of religious liberty being protected as it is affirmed by the First Amendment, people of religious faith, particularly Christians, are finding themselves the targets of discrimination,” Staver said.

Sgt. Monk says now when Christians facing hostility must hold steady, mostly for other believers.

“They need to see us stand firm in our faith,” he told CBN News. “And when they see that, I think we’ll see a turn of events.”

Mateer noted that when believers fight back, they almost always win. So only by meekly accepting defeat will they let the enemies of religion triumph.

“They’ve stated their objective is to remove God from our public life. Well, if we remain silent, that’s going to happen,” Mateer warned.

I told a friend of mine the other day that it’s only a matter of time that daily devotionals that adhere to the Bible and remain steadfast in its definition of sin like Words for the Day will be labeled as intolerant and will no longer be allowed in our society.

Like Dietrich Bonhoeffer I’m ready to go to prison and/or be martyred for Jesus Christ and His word the Holy Bible. Can it happen right here in the good old motherland, the United States of America?

You can bet your sweet bippy on that one my friends.

Today Dietrich Bonhoeffer is sitting before the altar of God. He’s joined other martyrs who’ve gone on before him. The Bible states that they are asking God how long He will wait before they will be avenged. God states that it will not happen until more martyrs are added to their ranks.

How about you? Are you ready to stand up for Christ even if it comes at great cost? Or are you going along with the politically correct masses and try to hide the fact that you are a believer?

Stand up for Christ today and every day! As for me if it must come to pass, I will consider it an honor and privilege to be among them.

Rev.6:9

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

October 31, 2013 – Click here to listen

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