Germany. He walked right into it knowing that he was probably going to be killed, and he and some others then were plotting the assassination of Adolf Hitler. Here’s a pacifist then, when faced with real evil like that, comes up and says not just “you know, it’s enough to turn the other cheek to do something. This guy is killing now. We’ve got people and really bad and we need to do So, he began plotting the it’s something.” assassination of Adolf Hitler. He was then incarcerated, and it turns out that about two weeks before the Allies came in and liberated Germany about two weeks before the – liberation, he was stripped naked, taken out, and hung in a German prison. Just two weeks--if he had made it, but that was the will for his life. This is the cost of Lord’s discipleship. And when Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes and talks about the cost of discipleship, this man knows what talking about. He chose to turn around and walk he’s back into that knowing that that would cost him his life. He was a true follower of Jesus Christ. E. The Cost of Discipleship Persecution Today [11:29- 16:54] – also many things in this age, I often ask students, we read about There’s book of martyrs and other things about how in the early church there was persecution, especially in the first century after not the first century but the second – century when you had Roman officials. In the first century, it was mostly local persecution, people trying to show their loyalty to the emperor and things but many Christians were killed. James, the brother of John killed 44 AD. Peter crucified upside – down in Rome. Paul, was beheaded in Rome. So you had many Christians Paul, you – remember stories from the book of Acts, being beat up and all sorts of nasty things happen to him, being stoned, left for dead, those types of things. And so I ask people, was the great era of persecution in the church? When have more martyrs died “When than any other century that had so far? In two thousand years of the church, what we’ve was the century most noted for And the answer is not the first that’s Christian martyrs?” or second century. The answer is the twentieth century. More Christians have died in the twentieth century and now into the twenty-first century than have died in all of those
Germany. He walked right into it knowing that he was probably going to be killed, and he and some others then were plotting the assassination of Adolf Hitler. Here’s a pacifist then, when faced with real evil like that, comes up and says “you know, it’s not just enough to turn the other cheek now. We’ve got to do something. This guy is killing people and it’s really bad and we need to do something.” So, he began plotting the assassination of Adolf Hitler. He was then incarcerated, and it turns out that about two weeks before the Allies came in and liberated Germany – about two weeks before the liberation, he was stripped naked, taken out, and hung in a German prison. Just two weeks--if he had made it, but that was the Lord’s will for his life. This is the cost of discipleship. And when Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes and talks about the cost of discipleship, this man knows what he’s talking about. He chose to turn around and walk back into that knowing that that would cost him his life. He was a true follower of Jesus Christ. E. The Cost of Discipleship – Persecution Today [11:29- 16:54] There’s also many things in this age, I often ask students, we read about book of martyrs and other things about how in the early church there was persecution, especially in the first century after – not the first century but the second century when you had Roman officials. In the first century, it was mostly local persecution, people trying to show their loyalty to the emperor and things but many Christians were killed. James, the brother of John killed 44 AD. Peter – crucified upside down in Rome. Paul, was beheaded in Rome. So you had many Christians – Paul, you remember stories from the book of Acts, being beat up and all sorts of nasty things happen to him, being stoned, left for dead, those types of things. And so I ask people, “When was the great era of persecution in the church? When have more martyrs died than any other century that we’ve had so far? In two thousand years of the church, what was the century that’s most noted for Christian martyrs?” And the answer is not the first or second century. The answer is the twentieth century. More Christians have died in the twentieth century and now into the twenty-first century than have died in all of those
Hildebrandt_NTLit_Lecture07.docx