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Posts Tagged ‘POLITICS’

Politics Aside . . .! 

Margaret L. Been  — 11/11/16




Posted in Amazing Grace, He is coming again!, He is Risen!, Israel, Israel's glorious future!, Israel--God's chosen people!, Life in the 1930s and 40s, Our Lord will return!, Our nation's betrayal of Israel, Our Nation's Demise, Our nation's shame, Politics, Pray for revival, Prayer, Prayers for our nation, Prayers for Revival, Religion, Social churches, The CROSS of Christ, The Cross will prevail!, The Evil of Our Current Power Mongering Government, The rain of revival, The Travesty of Conformity, tagged "A Mighty Fortress is Our God", Dietrich Bonhoeffer's VOICES IN THE NIGHT, Martin Luther, Nazi persecution, POLITICS, Prayers for revival in America, Religion, The Apostate Christian Church in America, The Confessing Church, The moral on April 29, 2014| 5 Comments » I found the above gem (pictured on top of the greatest book of all!) in our up north home where we recently vacationed for ten days.  Our northern home is the only place where I never take books, because so many of our books remained up there when we moved to Southern Wisconsin four plus years ago.  We brought some sixty-eight boxes of books down with us when we moved, and they are now mingling on our shelves alongside dozens more which we’ve purchased since 2009.  Electronic devices and gadgets will never replace books in my life!

Many of our books have a history of wherever I bought them—a bookstore, antique mall, online sources, library sales, or the quintessential Mother Lode Rummage Sale.  We have a lot of books bequeathed by family members.  With gift books, I can normally recall the donor.  But VOICES IN THE NIGHT is enigmatic because I cannot recall ever seeing it, until I found it lying on a living room table in our Northern Hill House.  Maybe an angel popped in and dropped the book off when no one was looking.

I scooped up that book, began reading it, brought it back home to Nashotah, and I have been re-reading and musing over it ever since.  German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived from 1906 to 1945.  Bonhoeffer vigorously opposed National Socialism and the anti-Semitism which insidiously brainwashed German culture via universities, writers, state sanctioned churches, and theorists—along with deliberate agitation among workers, community leaders, and finally the unconscionable politics and policies of Hitler’s Third Reich.

According to a sermon by Pastor John Luhmann posted on http://sovereignhopechurch.com/ :  “Bonhoeffer’s driving purpose was to be faithfully engaged with God and the world.  This sense of responsibility led him to play a prominent role in . . . . the conspiracy and assassination attempts against Hitler, involvements which would significantly shape his life as a disciple of Jesus Christ . . . .”

While sympathetic with the assassination plot, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned on the grounds of “subversions of armed forces”; he had discouraged young men from joining the military.  His two year incarceration culminated in his execution on April 9th, 1945—within earshot of advancing American troops who, just a few days later, liberated the very village where Dietrich Bonhoeffer died.

Bonhoeffer’s prison poems plus excerpts from letters to his fiancée, Maria, and his friend, Eberharde Bethge, reflect his deepest thoughts and feelings concerning his own life, his family and church, the value of freedom, and the possibility (finally turned probability) of his pending death.  All of the Bonhoeffer’s writings in this slim volume are powerful.  But the poem Nächtliche Stimmen (Voices in the Night) is classic in its poignant sense of despair over circumstances coupled with Bonhoeffer’s analysis of his role in an assassination plot.  In the poem, he asserts that he knows he is guilty before God, but he refuses to acknowledge guilt before man.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer ends the poem with these words:  “. . . until our day dawns, we shall hold our ground.”

Other poems reveal the solidarity of Bonhoeffer’s faith in the Savior, along with his passion for and commitment to the Holy Bible.  As he realizes that death is fast approaching, he knows that through death he will finally be free!

VOICES IN THE NIGHT . . . The Prison Poems of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is translated by a British pastor, Edwin Robertson, who has invested decades in a study of Bonhoeffer’s life.  With each poem, the translator presents insights into the work—and historical documentary is also included in the book.  I cannot say enough about this treasure.  In fact, I really cannot say anything more because the book and the man who wrote the poems say it all!

While Hitler was not opposed to a watered-down version of once professing Christian churches, those members of German churches who did not compromise with the Nazi regime were called The Confessing Church.  These (including Roman Catholics and Protestants) remained firm in their doctrinal confession of faith; countless individuals were executed either in Nazi prisons—or in the gas chambers along with God’s chosen, the Jews.

I would be insulting the intelligence of anyone reading this blog, if I were to present a detailed account of the parallels between Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s and the United States of America in 2014.  The comparison is a colossal DUH to anyone whose brain is engaged!

Encroaching National Socialism, bleeding heart and out-of-touch academia, perverted morals, situation ethics, tolerance of Islam, rising anti-Semitism, and the erosion of our U.S. Constitution:  you connect the dots!  I believe the major dot-connector is the present, rampantly apostate, totally watered-down, once-Christian Church in America—and the ever-growing stigma against those of us who are fundamental Bible believers.

Our twenty-one year old grandson, Tyler, a student at Columbia International University (formerly Columbia Bible College) recently encouraged me greatly with the reminder that, down through history, persecution has always strengthened the Church of Jesus Christ.

May God send the cleansing, purifying wind of His Holy Spirit across our land to unite Christians in a return to the Word—and a joyous anticipation of the freedom we will have when we meet the Lord Jesus Christ face to face!  May we continue to “hold our ground”, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer did in the perilous days of the Third Reich.

Margaret L. Been, April 2014

NOTE:  Along with the above-reviewed book, I recommend a powerful drama, THE BEAMS ARE CREAKING, by Douglas Anderson.  The play capsulizes the political issues of the day as viewed through Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his friends, while Dietrich was in the Nazi prison.  We saw this play over twenty years ago, presented by a small theatre group in Milwaukee.  The play ends with a soul-stirring performance of Martin Luther’s magnificent hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God.


The State of the Union Address . . . 2014

Posted in Obama, Our Nation's Demise, State of the Union Address 2014, The Evil of Big Government, The Evil of Our Current Power Mongering Government, tagged 2014 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, Disraeli, German Reich, God's chosen people the Jews, Hitler, John Boehner, Lies from our President, Memories from the 1940s, Nazi Germany, Neo Nazis and Islam, Obama, Our Present Evil Government, Outrageous Power Grabbing in the White House, Patrick Henry, POLITICS, Queen Victoria, The Dangers of Big Government, The dangers of oratory, The Travesty of Big Government, Totalitarianism brewing in the USA on January 29, 2014| 4 Comments » Two highlights made the viewing of the State of the Union Address somewhat entertaining for me:  1)  Obama’s swivel-headed Secret Service Men—the one on the left, bony and bald and the one on the right, a benign appearing and rather rotund version of a traditional Dr. Watson; 2)  Speaker Boehner’s facial expressions, reflecting exactly my thoughts and sentiments.

To his credit, our President actually mentioned Israel and God.  To his credit, and undoubtedly at the behest of his advisors, President Obama stifled his customary demonizing, accusatory tone and demeanor when referring to his opposition—specifically our current U.S. House of Representatives and Republicans in general.  The 2014 State of the Union Address proved that our President can still do the one thing he does well:  Talk.  Talk.  And talk some more.  The full text of the address is available online, for the perusal and evaluation of any and all who desire to do so.

It is my prayer that those who were unable to view the State of the Union Address will avail themselves of the contents of that speech—either online or in a newspaper.  I also pray that countless individuals will measure Obama’s glib and self-laudatory oration against what the President and his cronies really stand for, the damage this administration has already done to our nation (in terms of power grabbing, lawlessness, outright lies, and continual scandal), and what the Obama gang still purports to do.

Meanwhile, it is probably a good thing that I listened to our President’s oratory, as it undoubtedly raised my blood pressure from it’s customary 106 to a more healthy 128.  Admittedly, history has produced some great orators such as the Revolutionary Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”) and Queen Victoria’s famous Prime Minister, Disraeli whom I love quite simply because he was one of God’s Chosen (whether or not that mattered to him).

But I am eternally suspicious of oratory, ever since my 1940s childhood when I frequently attended our small town theatre.  Back then many movies were prefaced by a newsreel featuring impassioned orations, accompanied by a raised arm and blatantly screamed out over public gatherings in Munich and Berlin.  Although I was too young at the time to comprehend the translated words, the spirit of the oratory was terrifying to a Midwestern American child.

Today we can GOOGLE Hitler’s speeches:  endless diabolical diatribe centered on “the ruthlessness of the capitalist plutocrats” and “Jewish instincts of hatred . . . beclouding the world and inciting it against the present German Reich . . . .”

It is tremendously significant to recall that before he rose to power, like some in our government today Hitler also focused on the need to nationalize the lives of the people.  His early “platform” included a plethora of noble sounding social reforms.  As his hold over the people increased, he pursued his goal of exterminating the “physically unfit”, any unborn children who would not conform to his maniacal racial ideology, many sick and elderly whom he deemed unprofitable to the state—as well as the millions of Jews plus a great number of Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, and political dissidents:  whomever would not bow to his God-usurping authority and tyranny.

I find oratory not only suspect but potentially terrifying—especially when coming from an arrogant national leader whose policies seek to control the details of people’s lives.  My soul responds only to quiet, reasonable rationale within the freeing, life-affirming framework of the Judeo-Christian Worldview—the one and only Universal Truth.

Margaret L. Been—January 29, 2014
