NOTES ON HITTING A WALL: A STUDY OF JOB, BONHOEFFER, AND COURAGE UNTO DEATH IN THE DAYS OF ANTICHRIST (WITH VIDEO)

1. THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands [incurring the danger of God’s wrath]? I do it because, THOUGH HE SLAY ME, yet will I wait for and trust Him and] behold, He will slay me; I have no hope—nevertheless, I will maintain and argue my ways before Him and even to His face. This will be my salvation, that a polluted and godless man shall not come before Him.” – JOB 13:14-16, AMPC

KEY WORD: “SLAY.” ‘Qatal’ [ יִ֭קְטְלֵנִי]: “To cut off, put to death; to take life from or otherwise eliminate or terminate.”  NOTE: “קָטַל portrays the deliberate taking of life, whether by God or by human hands. Unlike the more common verbs for ‘kill,’ it is confined to poetic and wisdom contexts, emphasizing the Stark Finality of slaying rather than the legal or military nuances found elsewhere.”

QUOTATION. “The fearful Danger of the Present Time is that above the cry for Authority, we forget that man stands alone before the Ultimate Authority, and that anyone who lays violent hands on man here, is infringing Eternal Laws, and taking upon himself superhuman authority, which will eventually crush him.” – DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, Life Together, 1939; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Though He slay me’ — But though God should yet more and more increase my torments, so that I could bear them no longer, but should perceive myself to be at the point of ‘DEATH’ [God’s Line in the Sand], without any hope of recovery; ‘Yet will I trust in Him’ —Or, more exactly according to the Hebrew text, ‘Shall I not trust in Him?’ Shall I despair? No; I will not, I know he is a just, a faithful, and merciful God; and He knows that my heart is upright before Him, and that ‘I am no Hypocrite.’ 

‘But I will maintain mine own ways’ — Though I trust in Him, yet I will humbly expostulate the matter with him. Hebrew, I will ‘argue,’ or ‘demonstrate’ my ways; that is, I will make a free and full confession of the whole course of my life, and I will boldly, though submissively, assert my own integrity, which He also, I doubt not, will acknowledge. ‘And, what I have done amiss, I will as freely confess, and make supplication to my Judge for the pardon of it.’ 

Hebrew, אל פניו, ‘el panaiv, before His face,’in His Presence, or before His Tribunal, for I desire no other judge but Him!” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

1. TEACHING

I have told you the story before. Sometime around early 2020 while walking my beloved Scout the Wonder Dog out back of our apartment building, I heard the Lord ask me A QUESTION. “Are you willing to die for Me if I require it of you?” I respectfully wrote that Question in Red Letters, because I instantly knew Who He was.

My response was not exactly noble: “Um, Sir, can I get back to you on that?” No one in any church or Christian conversation in over 40 years of following Christ had ever asked me that. Whether it was days or weeks or even months I cannot recall, but ultimately, I did “get back” to Jesus on that.

“Yes, Lord; I am willing to die for You if it is necessary.”

CROSSING OVER. I am not sure I can make a theological case for this as a Discipleship Principle, but after I pledged my Mortal Life to Christ, my world exploded – in wonderful ways!

After three years of joblessness, de facto homelessness, and loss of nearly all material security due to being repeatedly fired by Christian leaders for not agreeing to support Donald Trump, my CIRCUIT RIDER VISION began to take form on March 1, 2020. That is when God opened His coffers to the Patronage I needed to launch.

Since Then: I have never been unable to pay the bills, though I have no formal employment, and I have learned to never ask for donations. They just come, every month. Sometimes bountifully, sometimes barely – but they come.

“Not that I speak from [any personal] need, for I have learned to be content [and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy] regardless of my circumstances. I know how to get along and live humbly [in difficult times], and I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret [of facing life], whether well-fed or going hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need.

I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]” – PAUL, PHILIPPIANS 4:11-13, AMP

DISCIPLESHIP STANDARD. ‘Let me propose that Job’s willingness to risk even death as he “argued his ways before the Lord,” is for me at least, the Ultimate Criterion for following Christ.’ In the Ancient World  of the Early Church as with Today, in the  midst of the Current American Crisis that may require our – He may require:

Martyrdom.

For rich backdrop to this idea, I turn to the Colson Center’s Breakpoint stable of writers for rigorous challenge to each of us in this Time of the American Antichrist. Their orthodox view of the matter is rarely if ever preached in today’s White Evangelical Churches where Jesus is offered up as our Divine Benefactor (or Mascot) who dispenses love and honor and blessings to all comers, regardless of their beliefs or their conduct.

Hey boys and girls: “Once Saved, Always Saved.”

The title of their piece: “Dying for the Truth,” published on October 5, 2019. Here are their MAIN IDEAS.

• OPEN: “‘[Some] of us, as Committed Christians, would rather die than reject our Savior.’ Around the world today, Christians are executed regularly because they refuse to deny their allegiance to Jesus or the Truth Claims of Christianity. But their deaths, while heartbreaking and compelling, [may or may not have any] Evidential Value. ‘Many people are willing to die for what they don’t know is a lie.’”

• PRINCIPLE. “That is, Martyrdom doesn’t [necessarily] confirm the Truth, especially when the Martyrs don’t have first-hand access to the Claim for which they’re dying. But this wasn’t the case for the Disciples of Jesus. ‘They were in a unique position: They KNEW if the Claims about Jesus were true. They were present for the life, ministry, death and alleged Resurrection of Jesus.’”

• COMMITMENT. “If the Claims about Jesus were a lie, the Disciples would have known it (in fact they would have been the source of the lie). That’s why their Commitment to their testimony was (and is) so compelling. ‘Unlike the rest of us, their willingness to die for their Claims has tremendous Evidential Value. In fact, the Commitment of the Apostles confirms the Truth of the Resurrection.’”

• PRECEDENT. “The Traditions related to the Deaths of the Apostles are well known. According to local and regional histories: ‘ALL of the Apostles and their close associates died for their Claims related to the Resurrection.’

Andrew was crucified in Patras, Greece.
Bartholomew (aka Nathanael) was flayed to death with a whip in Armenia.
James the Just was thrown from the Temple and then beaten to death in Jerusalem.
James the Greater was beheaded in Jerusalem.
John died in exile on the island of Patmos.
Luke was hanged in Greece.
Mark was dragged by horse until he died in Alexandria, Egypt.
Matthew was killed by a sword in Ethiopia.
Matthias was stoned and then beheaded in Jerusalem.
Peter was crucified upside down in Rome.
Philip was crucified in Phrygia.
Thomas was stabbed to death with a spear in India.”

• REMNANT. “Not every Early Christian was willing to die for his or her beliefs. ‘Here we have excellent evidence of Second-Century Christians recanting their claims in order to stay alive in the Roman Empire.’ One thing is certain: The Roman Authorities recognized the importance of their efforts to obtain Denials from early Christians.”

• DISTINCTIONS. “Pliny’s testimony [of Christians willing to die rather than deny the Lord] in this regard (recorded very early in history) is evidence of this. Many Second-Century Christians, who were not eyewitnesses of the Resurrection, recanted their membership in the Christian family to preserve their lives. ‘Yet there isn’t a single ancient document, letter or piece of evidence indicating any of the Christian Eyewitnesses (the Apostolic Disciples) ever changed their story or surrendered their claims.’ Given the reasonable expectation of this Roman effort and the evidence from history confirming the trials of Christians, ‘it’s remarkable none of the Eyewitnesses ever changed their claims.’”

• WITNESS! “The Commitment of the Disciples to their Claims is compelling. Unlike the rest of us, their willingness to die for what they witnessed has tremendous Evidential Value. The Commitment of the Apostles confirms the Truth of the Resurrection.”

DK’S TAKE. What I found compelling here from this account was a LATENT PRINCIPLE buried in their somewhat limited discussion of this important matter. ‘Only those Christians who truly KNOW JESUS are thereby able to step over that Line in the Sand, if necessary, and lay down their very lives for Christ.’

1. APPLICATION

THE MAXIM. Specifically: ‘The Integrity of our Christian Witness depends entirely on just WHO we are willing to die for: Jesus Christ or Donald Trump.’

What was it that BOB DYLAN wrote and sung about in 1979, ironically enough, the year I gave my life to Christ just hours before committing suicide: “You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed. You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”(edited).

BONHOEFFER IN AMERICA. Of all the Christian figures that speak to the present American Crisis in profound ways, must begin with the complicated and courageous German churchman, DIETRICH BONHOEFFER.

Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, Dr. Bonhoeffer was a key founding member of the Confessing Church that constituted the center of Christian Resistance to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. The obvious parallels need not be re-defended here.

Significant to our discussion today is Bonhoeffer’s move to America in 1930 with the intent of attaining a Sloane Fellowship at New York City’s Union Theological Seminary. ‘Bonhoeffer, however, was greatly unimpressed with American theology. He described the students as lacking serious interest in the Scriptures and would “laugh out loud” when learning a passage from Martin Luther‘s Sin and Forgiveness (Ninety-five Theses) (Disputation for the Clarification of the Power of Indulgences, 1517). During his time there, he met Frank Fisher, a Black seminarian who introduced him to a congregation in Harlem, where Bonhoeffer taught Sunday school and formed a lifelong love for the African American Church.

NOTE: When my son, Dr. Chris Kelly, was studying at Oxford as part of his undergraduate exchange program with Sarah Lawrence College where he attended as an undergraduate, I recall a conversation with him shortly after his arrival at Wadham College. “Dad, the students here are DIFFERENT than American students,” he exclaimed. “How so, son?”

“Well, these students really want to study!”

On that pivotal point by Drs. Bonhoeffer and Kelly, I turn to an insightful little tome by British New Testament scholar and historian, DR. SCOT MCNIGHT. His essay is simply titled, “Bonhoeffer on America” (Substack, Oct. 13, 2021; edited).

• OPEN. “‘What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer … think of America? Better yet, what did he think of the AMERICAN CHURCH and its theologians?’ If you listen to those who think he got caught up in a Niebuhrian mode then you would have one answer: He liked it and them. If you listen to those who think he didn’t get caught up so much in the Niebuhrian mode, you have another answer: ‘He believed America never experienced The Reformation.’’’

• ITINERACY. “DB [Dietrich Bonhoeffer] was in the USA twice, once in the school year 1930-1931 as a special student at Union Seminary in New York City, and once very shortly in the summer of 1939, at which time he made the ‘Fateful Decision’ to return to Germany to participate in the struggle with Hitler and his Nazi-fied German Church (Die Deutsche Christen). After that first visit, he wrote a paper called “Protestantism Without Reformation” and also filed a report with German sponsors on his time in the USA.”

• PRIDE. “First, he doesn’t return the favor of our love for him. ‘He was decidedly critical of the LACK of preaching the Word of God in American Churches,’ a lack that was revealed everywhere in the books he read, the professors he listened to (including very critical words of Niebuhr), and ‘not least the HUBRIS of the Union students in their laughter about core themes in Luther’s theology.’”

• LIBERTY. “He saw the Church as shaped by ‘Enthusiasm’ (Schwärmerei) and the Pastor as the ‘Association Chair’ in a Democratic Church where Congregationalism [Self-Government] ruled. ‘Personal Freedom and Liberties and Individualism mattered more so that the Faith became their legitimation.’ Bonhoeffer didn’t think this Sense of fFeedom was at all freedom. ‘What mattered was the usefulness of Christianity for Social Progress.’”

• CHRISTOLOGY. DB: “‘In New York they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Cross, Sin and Forgiveness, Death and Life’ (Joel Looper, Bonhoeffer’s America: A Land Without Reformation, 2021, p. 17) … ‘Modern Americans have absolutely no understanding for Pauline and Lutheran Christianity.’”

• REPROOF. “In a Lecture he gave to the students at Union about [Karl] Barth, he told the students: ‘They’d never comprehend Barth and his significance except by forgetting at least for this one hour everything you have learned before concerning this problem’ (p. 27). He saw in Barth, as the Apocalyptic Theologians do today, a Revolutionary Starting Point that annulled what came before. ‘The Premise of Barth and Bonhoeffer was the REVELATION of God in Jesus Christ as the Starting Point for ALL Theology. This is the Gospel of Bonhoeffer.’”

• AMERICANISM. “DB saw the Origins of American Theology in the Lollards and Wycliffe and in the Dissenters of English Church and society as well as in the number of refugees from Theological Statism in Europe that found their way into the American Church. And this all led not to a quest for the one Truth of the Gospel (as with Luther in Germany), but instead to: ‘A tolerant uncontrolled Denominationalism’ that baptized “Personal Religious Experience and Theology as the foundation for the Church.’”

DK. So it was, beloved, that the Roots of American Christianity’s Decline were based in the shifting sands of Personal Experience and Social Progress rather than the rock-solid Foundation of Jesus Christ and the true Christian Gospel, Pauline Doctrine and the Great Commission. Selah.

1. LAST THOUGHTS

“You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—FLIRTING WITH THE WORLD [‘philia’ (φιλί), ‘fondness, friendship, kissing’] and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy? 

But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, “God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but [continually] gives [the gift of] grace to the humble [who turn away from self-righteousness].” – JAMES 4:4-6, AMP

CHRISTIANITY FOR GROWNUPS. When I began to use this phrase about Mid-year 2025, I had in mind the very things that Bonhoeffer saw in the American Church of a century ago. ‘Nationalist Pride, Self-Determination, that would later combine into a Desire for Hegemony.’ Non or Quasi-Christian values that would replace the True Christian Faith in exchange for a highly charged Politicized Christianity.

I give you DONALD JOHN TRUMP as the inevitable Legacy of such a Root System, beloved. To state it once again: We have done this to ourselves and ‘Refuse to Repent’ for it since we cannot even recognize our sin!

So, as we return to our introductory Study of Job, we can now better understand why America must fail without a sweeping, utterly selfless leadership-driven ‘Cry for Forgiveness.’ Given our historic propensity for fierce Individualism and Personal Liberty: What are the odds of most American Christians today falling at the foot of The Cross to cry out:

“Though You slay me, Lord, I will trust in You! Here am I, send me and do with me whatever pleases you, God, even if it lead to my death!”

Beloved, I would not advise holding your spiritual breath.

WHITE EVANGELICAL ROOTS. I close with a few Summary Comments from an excellent analysis by VIRGINIA LAROUSSE writing for Le Monde in a piece titled: ““The Unnatural Alliance Between Trump and White Evangelicals Has Cost Them Dearly, Even if it Allowed Them to Gain Positions of Power” (Feb. 26, 2026; edited).

• ORIGINS. “Its history is deeply intertwined with that of [a certain form of] Protestantism and it cannot be understood separately from the various strands of the Protestant Reformation, which began in the 16^th century. Throughout Protestant History, there have been phases of ‘Revival,’ which can likely be explained by the fact that, unlike the Catholic Church, Protestants do not have a centralized institutional structure – resulting in ‘a certain fragility’ when it comes to passing it on.”

• DISTINCTIONS. “‘It differs from Traditional Protestantism primarily in its emphasis on Conversion.’ Evangelicalism is not a Religion inherited by birth, but rather one that ‘Individuals’ claim for themselves and testify to publicly. As a result, Evangelical Churches are generally made up of professing believers, consisting of associations of converts, which is not the case in Lutheranism or the Reformed Church.”

• PERSONALNESS. “‘Furthermore, when it comes to interpreting the Bible, there is less mediation in Evangelical Churches, which tend to read the Text more directly and with less use of metaphor than in Lutheran or Reformed circles. The latter set aside the supernatural in favor of an approach that focuses more on ‘Ethics.’ For Evangelicals, this relationship with the Invisible, with a powerful God who performs ‘Miracles,’ is essential.’”

CODA. “For the time will come when people will not tolerate SOUND DOCTRINE and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold, and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].” – 2 TIMOTHY 4:3-4, AMPC

As Deitrich Bonhoeffer directly observed in his visits to America in the 1930s, he saw deep faultlines in the Foundation of the American Church that have come full flower in Trump’s America a century later. Indeed, we might conclude that the unique nature of ‘The American Gospel’ with its deeply rooted, Unorthodox Presuppositions: That which serves ‘THE INDIVIDUAL’ has inevitably brought us President Donald Trump who is, quite inarguably:

The most Selfish Man in the World. Who shall now lead America and the entire World Order into Chaos. Therefore: THE DECISION: Whom shall you serve this and all subsequent days, beloved: ‘Christ or Antichrist?

As Mr. Dylan rightly said it: “You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Selah.

MEDIA

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/byC8LT8Y8Ho