NOTES ON THE CONFESSING CHURCH MOVEMENT: LESSONS TO AMERICA FROM THE THIRD REICH. – PART II

PART II: THE FALL OF THE GERMAN CHURCH

“In those days I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I ate no tasty food, nor did any meat or wine enter my mouth; and I did not anoint (refresh, groom) myself at all for the full three weeks.” – THE PROPHET DANIEL, 10:2-3, AMP

QUOTES

“We who preach the Gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish goodwill between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports, or modern education. We are not diplomats but Prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an Ultimatum.” – A. W. TOZER, ‘The Tozer Anthology,’ November-December, 2017; edited

“What does Christianity mean today? National Socialism is a religion. All we lack is a Religious Genius capable of uprooting outmoded religious practices and putting new ones in their place. We lack traditions and ritual. One day soon National Socialism will be the Religion of all Germans. My Party is my Church, and I believe I serve the Lord best if I do His will, and liberate my oppressed people from the fetters of slavery. That is my gospel.” – JOSEPH GOEBBELS, Reich Minister of Propaganda in Hitler’s Nazi Government, and author of ‘The Goebbels Diaries,’ 1939; edited

“No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an Absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. The Christians had that Absolute in God’s Revelation.” – FRANCIS SCHAEFFER, ‘How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture,’ 1976; edited

Selah. Selah.

FIRST THOUGHTS

Germany in the 1930’s and America in the 2020’s are chillingly, perilously, almost uncannily similar in many ways, according to both secular historians and a growing number of Christian scholars. Specifically, they increasingly discover that the same Weaknesses in the Church during Hitler’s Reich are the very same found in today’s American Church.

All and every bit of that notwithstanding a President who consciously or unwittingly, more and more Emulates the German Dictator.

While this is on its face an outrageous Comparison, I find it at this point a compelling Historical Truth that demands the closest of scrutiny, for the reason wisely put forth by Spanish philosopher, GEORGE SANTAYANA:

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – ‘The Life of Reason,’ Volume I, 1905

THESIS. I propose that the vast majority of Americans, whether Christian or Secular, have forgotten our history, and the Biblical Bricks on which that history was originally built. Consequently, we have not learned from our many mistakes, and, further, we are, I do fear, about to commit the Gravest Error in our entire history.

Selah.

I will Organize this Commentary around Three Main Sections: (I) Precursors; (II) Provocations; and (III) Paroxysm. I trust this will give us a sense of the heights from which Germany, and its Church, Fell, and for what primary reasons.

ONE: PRECURSORS

I almost titled this section, “From Weimar to Wilderness,’ which in some ways is a more descriptive literary label for what happened in Germany following World War I, and the tragic Correlation of Forces that led to the Catastrophes that would follow in its rapid Decline within a single, momentous Decade.

This Overview of the Rise of German Fascism will borrow from a number of historical sources, including, especially:

CATHERINE CHEN, “The Aftermath of World War I,” in ‘Guided History’ (ret. Sep. 11, 2020); and a prescient piece from ‘American Thinker’ by BRUCE WALKER, “The Nazis and Christianity” (November 17, 2007), before it became a Trump Apologist instrument in 2016, not unlike Fox News, Charisma Magazine, National Review, Red State, and many others.

Due to the vast reach of our subject matter, I shall use an inordinate cluster of Quotations from original sources, to help keep me both organized and accurate. So first this from Ms. Chen.

INTRODUCTION. ‘World War II was, no doubt, a ruthless war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 and extended across Europe, Eastern Asia, and the South Pacific Ocean. The Causes of WWII are rooted in the aftermath of WWI and the effects of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War. One of the many provisions of the Treaty was for Germany to accept nearly full responsibility for causing the Great War. This is now known as the ‘War Guilt Clause,’ or Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles.

The harsh restrictions on Germany fueled a state of frustration, which was led by Adolf Hitler when he rose to power as Führer and Chancellor by the stepping down of the president of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg. Although Hitler is often seen as the face of Fascism, he was actually the Leader of the German Socialist Party, better known as the Nazi Party. It is Italy’s Benito Mussolini who founded the Fascism Ideology. Mussolini sought to re-create the Great Roman Empire [The First Reich] by use of a totalitarian rule and feeding of the fear of Communism. In 1939, Hitler and Mussolini signed the Pact of Steel forming an Alliance which was known as the Axis Powers during WWII. After the Axis Powers lost the Second World War, many Fascist groups disassembled and in some places it was banned; although there have recently been [increased numbers of] groups of Neo-fascists.’ – Chen, 2020; edited, single quotes noting my own rewrite of some sections

OVERVIEW. Now this Bullet Point Review by Mr. Walker, most of which was drawn from his extensive personal library dealing with Nazi Germany and the Church.

“Christianity had Declined severely in Germany at the time the Nazis came to power, which is why the Nazis were able to come to power. In his book, ‘The Dictators,’ Richard Overy states that in the decades preceding the First World War Germany was becoming increasingly Secular, and that after that war, from 1918 to 1931, 2.4 million Evangelical Christians formally Renounced their Faith [overtly or by silence] as well as almost half a million Catholics.”

“Weimar Germany largely had abandoned Christianity and increasingly was embracing Hedonism, Marxism and Paganism. There, Decline of Christianity in Germany led directly to the Rise of Nazism. Professor Henri Lichtenberger in his 1937 book, ‘The Third Reich,’ describes the religious life of the Weimar Republic as a place in which the large cities were ‘Spiritual Cemeteries’ with almost no believers at all, except for those who were members of the clergy. The Middle Cass went through the motions, but lacked real living Faith. The workers, influenced by Socialism, were suspicious of the Church. Even in the countryside, preachers had little influence on the people.”

“This Hostility or Indifference toward Christianity in Europe, and especially in Germany, led naturally to a profound Anti-Christian sentiment in Nazi Germany. Nazis, more than most Germans, were [especially] indifferent or hostile to Christianity. Hitler originally appeared to just ignore Christianity. Dark and Essex write in their 1938 book that ‘Mein Kampf’ has few passages which in any way refer to religion, none that refer to Hitler’s own personal religion, or to the teaching of the Bible, nor any branch of Christian teaching. Jacob Marcus in his 1934 book by the ‘Union of American Hebrew Congregations’ notes that ‘Though his parents were both Catholics, Hitler himself has apparently no interest in any organized religion.’”

[Hermann] Rauschning in 1938 wrote: ‘The Purpose of the National Socialism fight against Christianity is the same: The Total Destruction of the last and most deep-rooted support of the forces of Conservation. The Destruction of the Spirit of Christianity in Germany is certainly more far-reaching than appears on the surface…Such vestiges of living Christianity as remain are steadily degenerating in the direction of a superficial and unthinking ‘Deism’ and that ultimate goal as…’The total Abolition of Christianity, which is not a mere philosophical fad of the National Socialists but an iron necessity of their system.’”

ROOTS OF REBELLION. Thus was the Political and Spiritual Stage set nearly in concrete, as these many Waves of economic, political and confused, weakened theology conspired together to produce, down the road, The Unthinkable.

And beneath it all, was a seditious ‘New Theology’ being conceived in, where else: Germany, influenced by Two Streams of Radical Thought.

GERMAN PIETISM. “Played a key role in the rise of Higher Biblical Criticism by supporting the desire to break the hold of religious authority.Rationalism also became a significant influence in the development of Biblical Criticism, providing its concern to avoid Dogma and ‘bias’ through Reason. For example, the Swiss theologian Jean Alphonse Turretin (1671–1737) attacked conventional exegesis (interpretation) and argued for Critical Analysis led solely by Reason.” – ‘Wikipedia,’ September 10, 2020; edited

THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL. “Was a School of Social Theory and Critical Philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–33), during the European interwar period (1918–39), the Frankfurt School comprised intellectuals, academics, and political dissidents dissatisfied with the contem-porary socio-economic systems (Capitalist, Fascist, Communist) of the 1930s.” Though by all rights it was fully Marxist. – ‘Wikipedia,’ September 11, 2020; edited

You getting the picture, my friends? Remember Kelly’s Maxim, shamelessly stolen from the genius of Richard M. Weaver: ‘Big Ideas largely produce Big Impacts on History and Society.’ – cf. Weaver, ‘Ideas Have Consequences,’ 1948

TWO: PROVOCATIONS

We can see quite clearly at this point in history that a Perfect Storm was brewing for a Detestable Zealot to seize power on behalf of what one of his principal Mentors would describe through the sheer, raw and brutal, ‘Will to Power,’ made available to him by these Great Forces of history and culture. – cf. Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra,’ 1885

Chicago based writer SCOTTY HENDRICKS writes of this important connection.

“If there was one philosopher the Fascists of the mid-20^th century loved, it was [Friedrich] Nietzsche. He was so adored by them that Hitler gifted Mussolini the complete works of Nietzsche for his birthday. The Nietzschean ideals of Anti-egalitarianism, the Superman [‘Übermensch’], and the Will to Power inspired them to act, and millions died because of it. They adored his ideas, and anointed him as the Prophet of their Ideology.” – “How the Nazis Hijacked Nietzsche,” ‘Big Think,’ December, 2017; edited

HITLER’S STRATEGY. So just how did this Madman so effectively finish the job of Seducing and Neutering the German Protestant Church within a very few years of his ascension to power in 1933? The answers are both breathtaking, and alarming for what is taking place in the American Church in the 2020s.

In an excellent précis addressing this vital question, Christian scholar JAMES PAULGAARD offers this.

“Adolf Hitler was born in Austria and fought in the German Army with distinction during World War One. Disillusioned and bitter over the results of the war, he decided to go into politics and, in 1920, formed his own party, the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party. In 1923, he and some co-conspirators attempted to stage a coup in the failed ‘Beer Hall Putsch.” During the nine months Hitler spent in jail for this offence, he wrote Mein Kampf which outlined his personal philosophy and his plan for the future glory of Germany.

Upon being pardoned and released from jail, Hitler continued his political activity, using democracy as the means to his ends. He presented a finely tuned program of leadership, nationalism and racialism which was precisely attuned to the hopes of the German people. The National Socialist Party rose in popularity until Hitler was finally appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg on January 30, 1933.

Hitler was born and raised as a Roman Catholic but he later developed a non-Christian philosophy crudely based upon Nietzsche, Darwin and de Gobineau and this became the philosophy of the National Socialist Party. Hitler believed that race was a biological substance in the blood which determined a person intellectually, spiritually and physically. The supreme race is the Aryan race which is destined to rule over all the other races, for the only purpose of the other races is to serve the Aryans…

Hitler [strategically] Portrayed himself as a religious supporter, but one who was above the fray of denominational squabbles. He never officially renounced his Catholicism and was not excommunicated until his death. He paid church taxes and he listed himself as a Catholic in the party handbook right to the end. Other than Judaism, Hitler wrote favourably of religion in ‘Mein Kampf’ where he mentioned it.

Publicly, he Expressed his support of Christianity, and he never revealed his Anti-Church attitudes. Point Twenty-four of the Twenty-five Point National Socialist Party Program called for the ‘freedom of all religious confessions.’ However, privately, Hitler revealed his true Anti-Christian sentiments. In responding to the Anti-Christian campaign of one of his co-conspirators in the 1923 coup attempt, General Erich Ludendorff, Hitler said, ‘I entirely agree with His Excellency, but His Excellency… can afford to announce to his opponents that he will strike them dead. But I need, for the building up of a great political movement, the Catholics of Bavaria just as the Protestants of Prussia. The rest can come later.’

Because of Hitler’s Duplicity, many churchmen were unaware of his Anti-Church bias and they supported him because of the conservative nature of his programs, such as combating Bolshevism.” – “Farewell to Shadowlands,” ‘The Confessing Church in Germany 1933-1945,’ February 9, 2009; edited

IN SUM. If there were a couple of Sticking Points to extract from this review, they would include: (1) The German Church Leadership was woefully weak on Christian Doctrine and personal resolve, thereby easily intimidated by the strongman, Hitler; (2) The collective impact of their historic sin was the Primary Cause of the bloody slaughters that would follow in the wake of Church Collapse.

Selah. Selah.

THREE: ‘PAROXYSM’

DEFINITION. “The word ultimately derives from the Greek paroxynein, which means ‘To stimulate.’ Oxynein, a parent of paroxynein, means ‘To provoke’ or ‘To sharpen,’ thus a ‘Sudden violent emotion or action,’ especially one that you cannot control; Outburst or explosive event.” – Think ‘Gaslight’ about here.

My Argument: All roads historic and political lead not to Rome in this case, but to The Protestant Church. Hear me out in these Final Sections of our study for today.

GERMAN CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT. “The German Christian Movement in the Protestant Church developed in the late Weimar Period. They were, for the most part, a ‘group of Fanatic Nazi Protestants’ who were organized in 1931 to help win elections of presbyters and synodals of the old-Prussian church (last free election on 13 November 1932). In general, the group’s political and religious motivations developed in response to the social and political tensions wrought by the end of World War I and the attendant substitution of a republican regime for the authoritarian one of Wilhelm II — much the same as the conditions leading to Hitler’s rise to power.

The German Christian Movement was sustained and encouraged by factors such as:

The 400th anniversary (in 1917) of Martin Luther‘s posting of the Ninety-five Theses in 1517, an event which served to endorse German nationalism, to emphasize that Germany had a preferred place in the Protestant tradition, and to legitimize antisemitism. This was reinforced by the Luther Renaissance Movement of Professor Emmanuel Hirsch.

The revival of ‘Völkisch’ traditions [‘blood and soil’ Nationalism].

The de-emphasis of the Old Testament in Protestant theology, and the removal of parts deemed ‘too Jewish’, replacing the New Testament with a de-Judaized version entitled ‘Die Botschaft Gottes’ (The Message of God).

The respect for temporal (Secular) authority, which had been emphasized by Luther and has arguable Scriptural support [Romans 13; i.e., blind obedience to the State].

For German Christians, Race was the fundamental principle of human life, and they interpreted and effected that notion in religious terms. German Christianity emphasized the Distinction between the visible and invisible Church. For the German Christians, the Church on earth was not the fellowship of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament but a contrast to it, a vehicle for the expression of ‘Race and Ethnicity.’” – Editors, “Confessing Church,” ‘Wikipedia,’ August 26, 2020; edited

THE GERMAN HERESY. Again, as the Church ‘Replaced’ Sound Doctrine with Secular Political Ideology, effectively Removing God from His rightful Throne, for what Jesus Himself would furiously call out, publicly mind you, the arrogant, feckless, powerless ‘Traditions of Men.’

Hear the King at full rage, once again, toward the Religious Elites of His day.

“And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)?…So for the sake

of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect]. You pretenders (hypocrites)!

Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said: ‘These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.’ Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.” – MATTHEW 15:3, 6-9, AMPC

THE RESULT: Among many other horrors, ‘The Holocaust,’ that slaughtered 60% of the world’s Jews, in just 6 years. So let’s take a closer look still at The Power of Ideas – whether True or False.

“The Holocaust (‘Shoah’ in the Hebrew, meaning, ‘A burnt offering consumed in whole by flame’) – was the planned Genocide of European, Soviet, Balkan and North African Jewry, carried out by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler – before and during the Second World War. The term ‘Holocaust’ was first applied to the Destruction of European Jews, apparently as early as 1942. It has since been applied as a description of mass murders of other minorities. ‘The Holocaust’ refers specifically to the Murder of Jews by the Nazis and is Capitalized. The word ‘Shoah’ in Hebrew means ‘Catastrophe, Abyss, Disaster or Destruction.’”- Editors, ‘Zionism and Israel – Encyclopedic Dictionary,’ 2005; edited

Now to complete our History Lessons for an Apostate Church, this.

METHODS OF KILLING. Taken from a special edition of the Jewish publication, “Final Solution,” ‘Holocaust CZ,’ ret. September 11, 2020; edited.

“The Nazis experimented in their search for the most effective killing method, one which would not take such a heavy toll on the killers’ psyche as the mass shootings that were carried out by the ‘Einsatzgruppen’ [death squads responsible for mass killings, mostly by shooting victims in the head] in the conquered territories. Indeed, it was the ‘Einsatzgruppen’ who in November 1941 started to use a New Method of Extermination – mobile gas chambers, in which the victims were killed by exhaust gas. From December 1941 on, these lethal vehicles were used in Chelmno [extermination camp in Poland]. A total of 20 mobile gas chambers were produced…

The Chief Pillar of the extermination process was the camp at Auschwitz, where between March and June 1943, four new gas chambers were built. These used the poisonous gas Zyklon B to kill. The new gas chambers were installed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, founded near the original camp. Auschwitz received transports from the whole of Nazi-occupied Europe.

After arriving in the camp, most of the transports went through ‘Selection,’ in which the SS [‘Schutzstaffel,’ or ‘Protective Echelon’] selected a few prisoners for forced labour, the others being sent to immediate death in the gas chambers. Those who were not murdered immediately on arrival were not to be spared, but were to be exterminated in a process known as ‘Vernichtung durch Arbeit’ – Destruction through Labour. These prisoners, dispersed throughout the auxiliary Auschwitz and other camps that formed the extensive system of Nazi concentration camps, were forced to engage in slave labour in inhuman conditions, leading to utter exhaustion that usually ended in death.”

DEATH BY ZYCLON-B. Yes, now to fully drive home the Barbarism of the Nazis in Germany toward the Jews, I want you to vicariously experience the Death of a Jew, by the gas chemical, Zyclon-B, specially developed and refined for the ‘Final Solution.’ WARNING: You might not want to read this. But I pray you do.

“Well, if you’re talking about the Nazi gas chambers, the chambers were crammed with people [naked adults and little children]. When the gas started, there would be mass panic, people screaming, clawing at the doors or anything that looked like it offered any possibility of escape. Likely anyone who fell would be trampled.

The first to die would probably be those who were crushed in the crowd and could not breath. They were the lucky ones. There was an irritant deliberately added to the Zyclon-B due to the fact that transporting it was highly dangerous and the gas itself did not have a strong odor. The irritant was intended to give those transporting it ‘early warning’ that the gas was leaking so they could take some action to protect themselves.

This irritant would have caused the first physical symptoms on those being gassed. After that suffocation would follow. How quickly people died depended on the amount of gas used, the size of the chamber, and the number of persons in it. It could take up to 30 minutes.

Those entering the chambers after the gassing reported the bodies would be lying in a tangled mess. It was typical for inmates in the camps to remove the bodies and cremate them. Their choice was to clean out the chambers or die in them.” – CHARLES FLETCHER, ‘Quora,’ June 27, 2015; edited

Selah, beloved. Take your time.

AND WHY? Here me now, hear me now: Because the Christian Church would not have the courage nor the commitment to Keep Covenant with their King and Messiah, Jesus Christ, the very God who they swore by Communion and Confession they would serve – even unto death.

But they did not, beloved. But they would not!

LAST THOUGHTS

This is the hardest lesson I have ever tried to gather under a coherent statement, and I fear I have not done a very good job of it at all. The Subject so vast and deep and wide. The Grasp of it so painful and humanly unbelievable. Harder still, the staggering, mind bending possibility that the American Church is recklessly Treading the same path as the German Evangelicals.

DANIEL’S LAMENT. So do I return to our Opening Passage from our beloved Daniel, the Prophet of God. Listen again to his agonized cry after having received so much from Yah, that he was fairly drained of all strength for it.

MOURNING. From the Hebrew, ‘Abal’ [אָבַל]: “To grieve, lament, bewail; to be sorrowful; to utter in a mournful manner [by audible sounds of weeping, sobs, sighs, or inward silent grief]; to be in deep travail over some great loss.”

GROANING. And I tell you all, beloved, I have seen so many posts from some that express this travail, reminding of this passage about the Cosmic Birth Pangs we are all experiencing: “We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too.” – ROMANS 8:22-23, AMPC

And yet, and yet, hear this if you can. As with Daniel’s Message: It is Hard, but it is True.

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?” – GOD TO JEREMIAH, HIS PROPHET, 12:5, AMPC

Then back to Daniel’s own ‘Book of the Apocalypse’ that has exploded onto the World Scene in 2020, rattling old theological closet doors and worn out, human fables and myths about The End of Time, now all but upon us.

DANIEL’S PROMISE. Hear God’s Instruction to the one who Stayed Faithful in the Lion’s Den and in the Blazing Furnace, who did not waver even once.

“And he [the angel] said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be tried, smelted, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the teachers and those who are wise shall understand.” – DANIEL 12:9-10, AMPC

CODA. Indeed they shall, to share such Rich Bounty with all who would want it. May God grant us to be among ‘those wise,’ who understand The Times, as with Issachar’s sons, who can tell America just what she must do:

To Correct her dangerously Errant Course. To Reset her sails, to fix her wayward rudder and straighten her heading to the Cardinal Compass Point ‘True North.’ And thereby Find her way Home again. Lest she forever perish from the face of this earth.

Ever your servant, DK

NEXT: PART III: “RISE OF THE CHURCH MILITANT.”

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