September 08, 2024
Greetings and blessings to all of you. Once upon a time there were German pastors in the 1930s who came against the Nazis. These pastors asked other pastors to join them but those pastors had a belief that the “church business” is just “church business” and it would give people the wrong idea about what the church is about. They would say “it is for the sake of the Gospel” that we will not contest what Hitler is doing to the Jewish people and others…even as heard the screams of the Jewish children as the trains rode by the open windows of their churches on the way to the gas chambers or hot ovens. An author who writes books on the history of America made this comment. “Some pastors during World War II diligently avoided taking sides in the terrible divisive “culture war” and even more diligently avoided being identified with any political party or candidate.” Is that what we think Christ wanted us to do? Forty million died in that war. It could have been less if the churches spoke out against the Nazis. But they had the wrong idea that they should avoid politics and the culture madness. Why? Could it be that the church is filled with carnal fearful people that call themselves Christians? Could it be that the pastors are afraid of the flock leaving and so goes the tithes and so goes the building funds? Or maybe the pastors have joined the world system when the Bible said “come out from among them and be ye holy? We are and have been in a Spiritual Warfare since Eve and Adam disobeyed in the Garden. In I First Tim. 4:1 the Word says, “now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons;through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.” You cannot read the Bible and ignore the political realm. The Bible is all about politics. In First and Second Kings it strictly deal with the rule and reign of government leaders. Because God is Sovereign of His universe it follows that He is intimately concerned with the political affairs of the nations. So do we think that the pastor should have stood by and allowed the killing of the Jews in World War II? Should the pastors have joined the other pastors to come against the atrocities that were about to take place? YES! Thank God for Grace. He would say to them “father forgive them because they do not know what they do.”
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC