Nazi German Church vs the Contemporary American Church-6

Victoria Barnett* writes, “In the Evangelical church, some members greeted the Third Reich with a mixture of hope and foreboding. Most, however, welcomed it. At the opening worship service for the new Reichstag members, held in Berlin’s Nikolaikirche, Otto Dibelius preached…he said,
And when it’s a matter of life or death for the nation, then the power of the state must be applied thoroughly and energetically…We have learned from Dr. Martin Luther that the church may not get in the way of state power when the state does that which it is called to do. Not even when this power becomes hard and ruthless…When the state carries out its office against those who bury the foundation of state order, above all against those who destroy honor with vituperative and cruel words that scorn faith, vilify death for the Fatherland---then the state is ruling in God’s name.”    (Pg28)
 
WOW!!! If this is true, and the preacher’s words represent the understanding of the German church, it sheds a great deal of light on why and how Hitler was able to assume absolute power!
   Let’s unpack several of the above points. First point, some members of the evangelical church greeted the Third Reich with hope and foreboding, but most welcomed it. This speaks volumes regarding the spiritual state of the church in Germany! Hitler came to power in 1933, a full eight years after he published Mein Kampf, where he boldly declared that he would exterminate the Jew, and murder and enslave the Slavs! How can a man who admits ‘in writing’, for all the world to read, to such obvious anti-Bible, and anti-God actions, ever be accepted by the church of Jesus Christ?
   Yet, this is very similar to contemporary American Christianity putting men in power who are abortionists! In fact, one may argue that the American church is worse because the murder of 55 million is almost 10 times that of 6 million Jews! What’s worse still about the American church is that video footage caught Planned Parenthood in the act of selling baby parts, yet many American Christians still support them!
   Point two: is the entire quote by pastor Otto Dibelius, please reread it. Specifically, the pastor’s view is that the state has: “…power when the state does that which it is called to do.”
   First, the word ‘called’ refers to purpose, and ‘purpose’ backs-up to God, for only the Creator God can give purpose! In essence, ‘Pastor’ Dibelius is declaring God, i.e. the Bible, as the source of what he calls the “power of the state”; or as he puts it the “…church may not get in the way of state power…” Second, I would ask Pastor Dibelius two questions, Where did you get this idea? What Bible verse, passage, or passages do you use to support this? Romans 15:1-6 declares the job of government begins with discerning good from evil! Yet, without God, good and evil become the same (Is5:20,Pro15:3,Mic6:8)! Pastor Dibelius statements originate in the false definition of the separation of church and state, which practically means the separation of God from the state! Therefore, once the God/Bible is removed as the basis for government law…darkness immediately fills the void like turning off a light at midnight. That darkness ‘IS’ deception! Hence, one reason the ‘church’, accepted Hitler!
   Tragically, the contemporary American church has committed the same evil. Through the liberal interpretation of the separation of the church and state, the Bible has been removed as the source for law and justice in America. Hence, American Christians often do not use God’s word to judge life, let alone political issues; but instead substitute their emotions as a guide!
  Point three: Pastor Debilius quotes Martin Luther as a historical source to give support for his contention that the state has power above the church.  Romans 15:4 says, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” This verse teaches ‘providential history.’ Providential history understands history from God’s perspective, i.e. it declares that all history is God working in the past to bring about His great will for mankind—either His beneficial will or His judgment will. Therefore, this Romans passage declares why history is soooooooo important! Attempting to appeal to this great truth, Pastor Debilius makes an extremely feeble attempt to support his argument for state power. However, he either quotes Martin Luther wrong, or Martin Luther should not have been his source, because he was wrong!
   Unlike Germany, the historical evidence is overwhelming that America’s Founding Fathers used the Bible to set in place Judaeo/Christian principles to govern this nation. For example, in 1985 University of Houston political science professors Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman published a monumental study that took 10 years. They amassed over 15,000 items, including 2,200 books, newspaper articles, pamphlets and monographs of political materials written between 1760-1805 and discovered that there were three writers the constitutional framers quoted from the most often:
1) Barron Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755), -8%
2) William Blackstone (1723-80), and -8%
3) John Locke (1632-1704)- 3%
However, the book that was most quoted by our Founders was:
4)Bible- 34%
   In 1854, following an extensive one year investigation, the US Congress declared:
“Had the people during the revolution ever had a suspicion of an attempt to war against Christianity that revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one denomination. In this age there can be no substitute for Christianity. It was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.”
   In 1892, the US Supreme Court conducted a thorough study of American History citing over 60 historical precedents, concluding: “There is no dissidence in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all having one meaning, they affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation. This is a Christian nation.”
   As you have just read, although American history is rich in evidence that the Bible is the source of our political institutions! However, like Germany, American academia, American media, American entertainment, and sadly, the American government, i.e. a.k.a. liberalism--have joined hands in the attempt to erase our glorious, providential, Christian heritage!
   Where is the American church? Why are we not the first to proudly proclaim American history, and the place God has given this nation? America is blessed because she has honored God’s word, “...blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…” (Ps33:12).
 
 
 
*These series of tidbits use Victoria Barnett’s work, “For the Soul of The People”
 
Quotebit
To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time." – Leonard Bernstein