Thoughts of 'war' on a hot August day from my southern office.
In 1932 (14 years after the end of WWI), Winston Churchill and his friend, Frederick Lindemann toured Germany. They became aware of an undercurrent of bellicose nationalism in Germany which eventually led to WW2. They were alarmed.
But they did something about it. They began to collect as much data as possible about the rise of militarism in Hitler's Germany, and to awaken Britain to the danger ahead. Author Erik Larson writes, "Churchill's home became a kind of intelligence centre for amassing inside information about Germany."
As I read about this in Larson's book, The Splendid and the Vile, I thought that we, as both conservatives and Christians today, somehow failed in our opportunity to “read the room” of the world as Churchill and Lindemann had read Germany, seven years ahead of WW2. We failed to see that while Christianity appeared safe for many decades, nay centuries, there were forces at work to undermine it. Islam, atheism, socialism, and communism were all working independently and for their own reasons, to eliminate it from the face of the earth. As such, they may as well have been in cahoots. And in fact, they all now see their various strategies as being complimentary to their common goal. Lately, three more institutions of influence, namely, mainstream media, education, and the entertainment industry have joined their rankings. Ready to succumb entirely to their enticement, it appears that the sports world, scientists, and the medical world are on their way to total capitulation although thankfully, there are still some pockets of considerable resistance in each of them.
Perhaps we did see the signs, but if we did, most of us chose to ignore them. We have failed to act sufficiently. We have failed to systematically collect the data, the information, the evidence, that would enable us to defend ourselves and our cause. At least not to the point where we would be convincing to the world that may not see us just yet as enemies.
In fact, by giving up that effort, we seem to have permitted our enemies to fully indoctrinate the next generation to dislike us, nay hate us, from the get-go.
Such a situation, which many would deem hopeless, can only be rectified by the power of God and the Holy Spirit working miracles in the lives of believers, our local church leadership, and denominations. It is not too late. Yes, I believe that the end of the world as we know it will come, just as the book of Revelation and other scriptures prophecy, but I believe we still have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of individuals, families, those in our communities, and perhaps even entire cities, for eternity.
Let’s get to work. Let’s confess our shortcomings to God. Let’s depend totally on the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us. Let’s roll up our sleeves as true followers of Christ. The alternative will not look like sirens, air raids, and bombs dropping on London as it did in Churchill’s campaign to defeat the Axis Alliance of WW2. It will be imaginably worse.
Ken Godevenos, August 10, 2022, Murrells Inlet, S.C.
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When I was growing up were taught that politics were of the world and we were to have nothing to do with it. After all Jesus didn’t get involved in it or so the thinking went. Then when things started to happen that were foreign to our way of thinking, we did some pearl clutching and wondered what we should do. First it was teaching evolution in the schools followed by opening stores on Sunday. Then it was allowing the sale of liquor on the Lord’s Day. Next they discontinued the practice of reciting the Lord’s prayer in the morning and the end of the religious education class that used to happen once a week. Next they outlawed the giving of New Testaments to grade 5 students by the Gideons. Still we did nothing other than writing a letter of protest to the school board. We saw these as individual events rather than a pattern of war against the Judeo-Christian practices of the day and a concerted effort to push Christianity out of the culture. Naturally the pace picked up as time went on and the forces on the other side were emboldened by our inactivity and lack of pushback. Long story short, we now find ourselves surrounded by the enemy, ill prepared to do battle because of our ignorance of scripture and our inability to access the power if the Holy Spirit which is ours as born again believers. We need to approach life differently starting at home, recognizing what the Lord commanded us to do and the power He gave us to carry out His orders and engage with the culture whether it be abortion, same sex marriage or whatever and preach the good news with great strength
ReplyDeleteHi Bob: Thanks so much for these comments. You presented the course of events so well. I like the part of "we need to approach life differently starting at home". Yes, we need a paradigm shift in our Christian thinking and living. Indeed. Ken G.
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