GUEST COLUMNIST: BOB EDWARDS ON “GERMANY’S ‘SPIRITUAL REVIVAL,’ A LESSON FROM HISTORY”

In the early 1930s, the Nationalist Regime sought to reshape Germany’s religious landscape to align with its ideology. Hitler supported the German Christian Faith Movement (‘Glaubensbewegung Deutsche Christen’), which aimed to unify Protestant Churches under a Nazi-aligned “Reich Church.” This Movement promoted a racially defined Christianity that sought to purge Jewish influence from Christian theology.

In the early days of this Movement, Joseph Goebbels used the death of a young party member named Horst Wessel to fuel the Revival Narrative. Wessel had been killed in a street fight with Communists, but Goebbels reframed it as ‘a Sacred Sacrifice for Germany’s rebirth.’ He portrayed Wessel as a Martyr whose spirit lived on, inspiring the Nationalist Movement. Goebbels used Wessel’s story to stir deep emotions, suggesting that: ‘Nazism wasn’t just a political movement but a kind of Holy Mission to Resurrect Germany from humiliation and decay.’

The Nazi-aligned “German Christians” claimed they were initiating a Spiritual Renewal—a National Revival of Faith that fused Christianity with German Nationalism. They saw Hitler as a Divinely appointed leader and tried to reinterpret Christian Doctrine to support Nationalist goals. Hitler claimed to be “saving the nation” from Communists, Globalists, Feminists, Foreigners, Homosexuals, and Non-Christians.

This claim of Revival was strongly opposed by “the Confessing Church,” a movement of Christian leaders who rejected Nazi interference in Church affairs. They viewed the Nazi attempt to control Christianity as heretical and politically manipulative. ‘The Confessing Church emphasized the authority of Scripture and the lordship of Christ over any political ideology.’

The idea of Spiritual Revival was thus not universally accepted. It was a Propaganda tool used by Nazi-aligned Christians, but many theologians and Church leaders saw it as a Distortion of true Christian Faith.

The fruit of this revival?

Packed stadiums, emotional euphoria, growing Nationalist Fervor, increased performative church attendance, a new Nationalist Bible, a National Protestant Church that was given unprecedented political and cultural influence. ‘A Nation deluded into believing it was God’s will for them to rule the world.’

And …

Secret police, detention camps, white supremacy, male supremacy, the end of German democracy, trade war (Hitler’s tariffs), ethnic cleansing, Holocaust, World War II, nations in ashes, millions dead.

There was Genuine Spiritual Revival inspired by the courage of Resistance Leaders like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but this occurred in spite of Nationalist oppression, not because of it.

QUESTIONS: ‘Is the Evangelical Church in America making the same mistakes as the Evangelische Kirche in 1930s Germany?’

Is there a rise of Nationalism that is mixed with a distorted version of the Christian Faith?

A rise in White Supremacy?

Scapegoating of minorities?

Is there a return to a social order rooted in Patriarchy (the Rule of Men)?

Is Democracy under threat?

Is there a new Nationalist version of the Bible (complete with a heavily edited “Constitution,” notably missing Amendments 11-17: Abolishing slavery, giving women the right to vote, ensuring racial equality under the law)?

Are there appeals to Prejudice and the Fear of “Communism”?

Have they attempted to create a Martyr for their Movement, even using language taken directly from Goebbels’ infamous “We Are the Storm” speech?

Are there new Detention Camps?

Secret Police?

Punishing Tariffs against neighbors?

Trade War?

Growing military aggression?

Threats of war?

The facts, for those with eyes to see, speak loudly for themselves.

THE QUESTIONS REMAIN:

Will the Evangelical Church wake up in time to avoid even greater suffering?

Will they remember what True Revival looks like?

Will they remember Justice: Loving their neighbor as they love themselves?

Will they treat “the least of these” the way they would treat their Savior?

Will they remember that Jesus’ Kingdom is “not of this world”?

Will they remember God’s Kingdom is made up of people from every tribe, tongue and nation?

Will they put down the Sword and take up the Cross?

Will they return to their First Love?

“Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” — Amos 5:23–24

“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” — 2 Corinthians 11:4

DK. ‘This is all Unassailable Evidence that demands of every Christian Leader and follower of The Christ in the days immediately ahead.’

We have no more time to waste, not even one minute.