Preface: My goal in these posts has always been....over the entire eleven plus years....to get the attention of visitors....anywhere in this world....so that they might move on on their own....preferably to one of the many wonderful Christian ministries out there...that I mention often....or to give them a perspective that they may never have heard....or to think about concepts they never have....or address questions that they may never have had put to them. Right now my attention is obviously on a man who is two things for sure....in my view anyway....President of the United States....and a genuine biblical false prophet. The following thought immediately draws outrage from our side....but we need to look at Germany in the 1930s....to see how a weakened Christian culture can so quickly and easily be lured into a cult of personality. As for the progressives among us today....author and Russian specialist Helen Rappaport should speak to them in her book....Caught In The Revolution....(a review last posted on 8/19/2018)....but to us the story of Martin Niemoller should speak....particularly as laid out in Then They Came For Me....Martin Niemoller....by Matthew D. Hockenos....but as good as I perceive this book to be....if you want more than history....prescient as this particular topic may be....you would do well to read anything by pastor....author....and teacher....and German specialist....Erwin W. Lutzer....of whom one of his books is mentioned at the end of this post:
1 Samuel 8:7...."The Lord said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." Donald Trump is everything that the Christian should reject....yet we want him. This is more than a mere political movement. I've seen a half century of those. This is spiritual in nature. God has removed over the years most of His messengers to us....as they have died and gone off to be with Him....and He has given us megachurch pastors....and celebrity pastors....and young pastors who have no idea how to warn the sheep....for they themselves do not even feel the heat of this boiling sea of ignorance pervading the minds of Americans....even those Americans who only a decade ago or less had basic discernment on where this nation and this world were heading. God is most definitely behind the rise of Donald Trump in American politics....only it is not what you probably think. He has given him to us....that it will eventually be evident to us....that we had clamored for a king....as the Israelites had for Saul....and in demanding that king....we had rejected God. This is what happened in Germany....as National Socialism was going to make Germany great again....and that they would be powerful again. It's a very natural temptation no matter what the ideology.
A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION
As we all know the reparations demanded of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles were unbearable for the German population who were fiercely defensive of their homeland and German heritage. The Weimar Republic which came about at the end of World War I was weak....and hated. It wasn't going to last....but what would replace it? The future of Germany depended on its church which was unified in that the German people believed that the state needed its church....and the church needed its state....but there was little unity beyond that.
A 'German Church' movement developed that entwined itself around the powerful ideology of National Socialism....a movement that was going to lead Germany back into prosperity and power. A 'Confessing Church' movement formed to stop in its tracks the state's intrusion into all church matters....but the Confessing Church itself was divided between those who just wanted the state out of the church....and those who knew that there were big problems with National Socialism.
Martin Niemoller....you may have heard about him....represented those who at first thought that National Socialism was a great thing if kept in its place. Dietrich Bonhoeffer....you certainly have heard of him....saw the horrors of where this extreme nationalism could go. Niemoller spent years in prison and concentration camps before finally seeing the mistakes that he made before the war. Bonhoeffer paid for his discernment with his life.
We are getting too close to having an 'American Church' movement.' President Trump again....this time at a West Virginia rally.....used the phrase "One glorious nation under God." We are not one glorious nation under God....and Donald Trump's god is not our God. I've written various themes on how I love this country for decades....but they will never take the place of or become equal with the gospel of Jesus Christ....and in this we must be vigilant.
It is a very natural temptation......especially in times like this as America is being pillaged and plundered....to confuse a return to greatness with a return to God. Patriotism can be devotion to justice or it can be devotion to just us. Capitalism can be a God-send....or a god in itself. We are already compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to accommodate 'Make America Great Again'....and it can only get worse as we will seek to be more inclusive of policy that opposes God's Word and exclusive of dictates in His Word....all so that this glorious 'revolution' can continue.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK: Erwin W. Lutzer's 1995/2012 Hitler's Cross....How The Cross Was Used To Promote The Nazi Agenda.....the forward is by Ravi Zacharias if that makes a difference.
1 Samuel 8:7...."The Lord said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." Donald Trump is everything that the Christian should reject....yet we want him. This is more than a mere political movement. I've seen a half century of those. This is spiritual in nature. God has removed over the years most of His messengers to us....as they have died and gone off to be with Him....and He has given us megachurch pastors....and celebrity pastors....and young pastors who have no idea how to warn the sheep....for they themselves do not even feel the heat of this boiling sea of ignorance pervading the minds of Americans....even those Americans who only a decade ago or less had basic discernment on where this nation and this world were heading. God is most definitely behind the rise of Donald Trump in American politics....only it is not what you probably think. He has given him to us....that it will eventually be evident to us....that we had clamored for a king....as the Israelites had for Saul....and in demanding that king....we had rejected God. This is what happened in Germany....as National Socialism was going to make Germany great again....and that they would be powerful again. It's a very natural temptation no matter what the ideology.
A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION
As we all know the reparations demanded of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles were unbearable for the German population who were fiercely defensive of their homeland and German heritage. The Weimar Republic which came about at the end of World War I was weak....and hated. It wasn't going to last....but what would replace it? The future of Germany depended on its church which was unified in that the German people believed that the state needed its church....and the church needed its state....but there was little unity beyond that.
A 'German Church' movement developed that entwined itself around the powerful ideology of National Socialism....a movement that was going to lead Germany back into prosperity and power. A 'Confessing Church' movement formed to stop in its tracks the state's intrusion into all church matters....but the Confessing Church itself was divided between those who just wanted the state out of the church....and those who knew that there were big problems with National Socialism.
Martin Niemoller....you may have heard about him....represented those who at first thought that National Socialism was a great thing if kept in its place. Dietrich Bonhoeffer....you certainly have heard of him....saw the horrors of where this extreme nationalism could go. Niemoller spent years in prison and concentration camps before finally seeing the mistakes that he made before the war. Bonhoeffer paid for his discernment with his life.
We are getting too close to having an 'American Church' movement.' President Trump again....this time at a West Virginia rally.....used the phrase "One glorious nation under God." We are not one glorious nation under God....and Donald Trump's god is not our God. I've written various themes on how I love this country for decades....but they will never take the place of or become equal with the gospel of Jesus Christ....and in this we must be vigilant.
It is a very natural temptation......especially in times like this as America is being pillaged and plundered....to confuse a return to greatness with a return to God. Patriotism can be devotion to justice or it can be devotion to just us. Capitalism can be a God-send....or a god in itself. We are already compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to accommodate 'Make America Great Again'....and it can only get worse as we will seek to be more inclusive of policy that opposes God's Word and exclusive of dictates in His Word....all so that this glorious 'revolution' can continue.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK: Erwin W. Lutzer's 1995/2012 Hitler's Cross....How The Cross Was Used To Promote The Nazi Agenda.....the forward is by Ravi Zacharias if that makes a difference.
