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Victoria Barnett* quotes Adolf Hitler,
“I promise you that, if I wished, I could destroy the church in a few years, it is hollow and rotten and false through and through. One push and the whole structure would collapse….I shall give them a few years reprieve. Why should we quarrel? They will swallow anything in order to keep their material advantages…we need only show them once or twice who is the master. Then they will know which way the wind blows. They are no fools. The Church was something really big. Now we are its heirs. We, too, are the Church. Its day has gone.” -Adolf Hitler (Pg44) This quote says two very important things; one about government and one about the church. 1.Nature of Government First, the underlying tone of Hitler’s words reveal the very nature of government—the propensity to deity and power. In other words, these two propensities of government are the reasons government must be limited and small. They are the reasons America’s Founding Fathers were so wise in setting-up our present form of government. And finally, they are the reasons today people are so foolish in opposing our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. There are three areas of sin’s inspiration: a.Devil(Jms4:7;1Jn4:4) b.Flesh(Rom8:5-9;Gal5:16) sin nature; c.World(Rom12:1-3). The three inspirations are not independent, and often work together. For example, the devil uses the flesh in individual lives; and he inspires doctrines (1Tim4:1) that governments make law, i.e. gay marriage. The ‘World’ is defined as two or more people who agree to sin. Therefore, government sin falls in the category of the ‘World’. Government’s propensity to deity means it leans toward attempting to replace God; and people lean toward making it god. Because government is responsible for law, and a definition of sin is lawlessness, governments can very easily cross the line into assuming deity, by creating laws that contradict God’s word. Finally, the government’s control over the military and police are the powers which give it an unimaginable capability to murder its own. See ‘Death By Government’, RJ Rummel. In conclusion, Hitler’s words, “Now we are its heirs. We, too, are the Church. Its day has gone”, indicate what was obvious before the beginning of the Third Reich, Hitler believed himself to be god! I repeat, government must be controlled through keeping it small! 2.The Power of Money The pastors of Germany (18,000) were paid by the government. In our quote above, Hitler referred to this practice when he said, “They will swallow anything in order to keep their material advantages…” The German people were taxed and the money was used to pay pastors. Because Hitler (government) had power over the preacher’s paycheck, it was very simple step to challenge for control of the church by threatening their money. Because Hitler had control of the police too, his control over the church was quick and harsh. The use of the Gestapo to imprison and kill Germans overshadows the catastrophe of the unbiblical and ungodly practice of the government paying preachers. The Bible declares, “My God shall supply all my needs” (Phil4:19). God calls Himself a Father. Therefore, He wants to provide for mankind spirit, soul, and body! To whom man looks for financial provision becomes his God! Therefore, when man looks to the government for financial provision, he deifies the government. For this reason, welfare is wrong, and has never worked! Financial independence is a critical foundation for all Christians!! At this very moment many American Christians are under financial attack because of standing against the gay agenda!! Therefore, financial freedom is especially important for preachers to preach the Word without compromise! Without financial independence, preachers…who are human, will water-down sermons to ensure the safety of their mortgages; the security of their families, to please board members; and not to offend homosexuals…etc! Because of money, sin often becomes a non-existent topic! Although American pastors are not on the government payroll (except military chaplains), it is critical to understand the power money has over people! This was especially true in the German church, and tragically, though in a different way, it is still true in the American church! Financial freedom IS true freedom…especially for preachers of the gospel!! *These series of tidbits uses “For the Soul of The People” by Victoria Barnett QuoteBit The twin killers of success are impatience and greed- Jim Rohn
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Victoria Barnett* writes (pg32),
“The article on religion in the 1920 Nazi party platform reads: We demand the freedom of all religious confessions in the state, insofar as they do not jeopardize its existence or conflict with the manners and moral sentiments of the Germanic race. The party as such upholds the point of view of a positive Christianity without tying itself confessionally to any one confession. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit at home and abroad and is convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only be achieved from within on the basis of common good before individual good.” “Church members whose initial attitude toward National Socialism was favorable read this as a guarantee of religious freedom.” (pg32) Ms Barnett continues, “In the early months of 1933, the Nazi party encouraged Germans to ‘rejoin’ the churches. In 1932, 215,908 left the church and only 49,700 joined it. In 1933, 323,618 joined the church and only 58,849 left it.” AMAZING!! There is one sad truth about the church over the ages—we have a real tendency to abandon the Word of God creating blindness and darkness in the culture! Hitler came to power in a nation that claimed to be 95% Christian! Literally, for decades, I wondered how this could happen! It was only after God began to instruct me to study Nazi Germany that I began to understand that Nazis assumed power ‘because’ of the condition of the church, i.e. God’s people! The Bible declares, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people…” -Isaiah 60:2 And, “Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth… -Psalms 140:11 We are instructed to go into all the world, taking the gospel, teaching ‘ALL’ things that Jesus commanded (Matt28:18-20). Whenever deception falls upon humanity it is because the church has not been doing the Commission! The end of abandoning the Great Commission, i.e. the Word of God, is catastrophe! Sadly, the church has restricted the Matthew 28:18-20 commission to getting the lost saved. Yet, while conversion of the lost is included in the Great Commission, Jesus plainly says, “Teaching them to observe ‘all’ things whatsoever I have commanded you.” This means teaching and training the whole of God’s word—in every area of life on earth! This includes—government, media, entertainment, and academia! Today, these four areas are nearly completely godless, i.e. liberal!! Why did God have to flood the world, destroying all life in Noah’s day? The people left the Word of God! Genesis 6:5 records: “…every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. How did Hitler arise in a ‘Christian’ nation? Because the church left the Word of God! Tragically, the same scenario that happened in Germany is now repeating itself in America! While I do not believe the anti-Christ will ‘necessarily’** be an American President, I absolutely believe America will be responsible for the antichrist taking power! It is Biblically clear the Beast will be a Muslim! But like Germany, it will be the Godless philosophy of liberalism that will permit him to assume power!! Just like the church turned liberal in Germany, and did not recognize Hitler’s evil, even though it was recorded in Mein Kampf, eight long years before church people voted him into power, so will the American church not recognize the Beast! How do I know? We are taught to be a salt and a light (Matt5:13,14) of the culture. In spite of 70% of Americans claiming Christianity, there are yet millions of American Christians who are clueless about what constitutes evil! For example, most recently: 1.The Supreme court legalizing gay marriage. Many Christians openly supporting the court’s decision. 2.Planned Parenthood caught on video selling baby parts, and many Christians still support them!! What is really interesting is that the leading government mass murders of all-time in order are: 1.Mao, 2.Stalin, 3.Hitler…all three of which were atheists; and Communists or Socialists! In our upcoming Presidential election, Bernie Sanders is an admitted atheist, and a Socialist, and a leading candidate for President, yet he is followed by many Christians!! The good news is the marvelous goodness and power of our God is available to us in spite of our sinfulness: 1.The remainder of Isaiah 60:2: For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: ‘but’ the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 2. …But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound… -Rom5:20 *These series of tidbits uses “For the Soul of The People” by Victoria Barnett ** Yet it is clearly possible. QuoteBit Who supplies another with a constructive thought has enriched him forever. - ALFRED A. MONTAPERT Writer 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 |
Derrick JacksonPastor, Author Archives
July 2024
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