HARDLY does the issue need to be named, yet many in the church
today are falling for something that was only eradicated seventy years ago —
the rise of a fascist threat on the global stage that promises clandestinely
(at this stage) to take no prisoners; the church in its wake, ensconced.
It is appalling that people within its structure cannot see segments
of the church go so easily to a potentially despotic regime. Yet, none of us
should be surprised. It’s happened before, and it will happen again. These
cycles shouldn’t astonish us, for they’re clearly visible in God’s Word, and
these events litter humanity’s short history. Not being astonished, however,
such a history-repeating-itself should be abhorred.
The Disgustingly
Redolent Day the Church Fell, Almost as One, to a Dictator
Hear this echo in the words of church historian, Justo L.
González:
“Hitler
felt that Christianity, with its teachings of universal love and turning the
other cheek, was antagonistic to his ultimate goals of conquest and domination —
but he sought to use the church to support those goals.”[1] (emphasis, mine)
Can anyone alive today possibly recall what that era was like?
Only those who lived through it. Experience is the greatest teacher. Despite
the history lessons, we’re destined the temptation to disbelieve what we never
experienced. (How many people believe the
Holocaust is a myth? Six million Jews murdered — systematic genocide — and some
people still prefer a conspiracy theory.)
I see church leaders, lobbyists and Christians, some from
unlikely sources, falling. You can stink the ignorance from years out. The key
test is a political one: if a President sanctions one or two policies that
church leaders, lobbyists and Christians believe so ardently in, those church
leaders, lobbyists and Christians may throw their entire lot in with him or her,
as if our innumerably diverse world could be reduced to an issue or two. Since
when did the entire world revolve around one or even a few ethically-loaded
issues?
And what is the price for flattery, one to another? Flattery is
its own blank cheque sanction. Flattery, propagating a bloated façade, demotes all
who partake, swooning them into the enemy’s arena of treason. More on flattery later.
Any discussion about Hitler leads to contemplations on the
scourge of Fascism.
Fascism for
Dummies
Fascism: (noun) a form of radical authoritarian nationalism. The term
has roots from 1924, as a despicable era developed.
British Fascisti emerged out of the shadows of an Italian
movement from 1922–1943 giving rise to Mussolini’s power, and features
nationalism in the tones of ultra-royalism, social conservatism, and anti-socialism.
I want to show that, for us Westerners, who may erroneously think
that we’re above falling for the evil of authoritarianism, that the roots of
fundamentalism as a pathology are ever present, even in our culture. Perhaps at
some point even a country’s constitution may not stop it. Fascism is not just a
concept of Nazism. Enter the narcissist through international power and watch
Fascism be fanned ablaze!
Any ultra-or-anti-anything should raise heckles. Such movements
are set on control of every institution, carte blanche, through fear and monocracy.
The Merging of
Church and State
Among the freedoms being eroded in our bipolar day is that of free
speech within religion and without.
Another Justo L. González quote:
“Hitler’s
own program included the unification of all Protestant
churches in Germany, and then using them in order to preach his message of
German radical superiority, and of a divinely given mission.”[2] (emphasis, mine)
Hitler’s regime used unification, by getting them all under
possession of the Third Reich, to weaken not only the Jews.
Don’t forget that Germany was at its zenith as a zeitgeist for
theological thought. And with all that theological might in their tenure these
leaders, one by one, denomination by denomination, were still duped and/or coerced into capitulation. We should not imagine
this time was easy to resist for any leader or person of faith. It must have
been seemingly impossible to resist.
What should strike us like a Tsar Bell is the amount the state
controlled the church. The Third Reich controlled the German church years
before war broke out in 1939.
State control over the church doesn’t need to be overt. There
are already rumblings that ministers and churches have been required to hand
over their sermons to have them vetted by bureaucrats. State control over
freedom of speech and religion is at a volcanic change point — even bureaucrats
are confused where lines are appropriately drawn. One moment there is an abuse
of human rights, only for a response of political correctness (read,
overreaction) to ensue. One response is an abomination, the other an assault on
good sense.
An element that confuses all of us even a little more is the
fact we live in a postmodern world where truth has fluid relativity. In ethical
settings, division is the predictable outcome. At a time when we’re most
unified globally, technologically speaking, we live in a world never more
divided. That is because everyone has a voice, and revolutions occur daily, not
least through social media. Such tipping points into chaos are inevitable.
The world is seeking direction more than ever, but more than
ever there’s so much noise. And less than ever people are looking to God, when
they need Him most.
God’s Prophecy
From One Source, One Only
I searched my mind and will for what the Lord would wish to say. He directed me to the Source, His Word. One prophetic
utterance from Daniel 11:29-35 (HCSB):
“At the appointed time he will come again to the
South, but this time will not be like the first. Ships of Kittim will come against him, and being
intimidated, he will withdraw. Then he will rage against the holy covenant and
take action. On his return, he will favor
those who abandon the holy covenant. His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple
fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation. With
flattery he will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be
strong and take action. Those who are wise among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will
die by sword and flame, and be captured and plundered for a time. When defeated, they will be helped by some, but
many others will join them insincerely. Some of the wise will fall so that they may be
refined, purified,
and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed
time.” (emphasis, mine)
These are the signs of the times that could be coming; times
that call us all to high alert, but times when some in key areas of influence,
could be many, will perceive as high attraction. Could it be that some notable
church leaders and lobbyists have already abandoned the holy covenant?
Even in a way that appears to be obedience to
the holy covenant.
Hard to tell, exactly, but suspicion rises, as it has to in this
Day. The church must watch for an autocrat who is not only prepared to punish
naysayers, but who flatters supporters. Oppressors do that. With tyranny, they
show disdain for a flouting audacity of a resistance that they, themselves, in
their audacity, flaunt through provocation. Because they have power, as if
power were a thing to appropriately abuse — where such abuses are not considered
an abuse, but a right, for the fact that power’s residence gives them, they
feel, unequivocal though self-assigned rights.
The Seventy Years
There is something very biblical about the seventy-year
timeframe.
I simply wonder if there’s anything in the period 1946–2016,
which, from a global viewpoint, we could call the dormant years. 2016 seemed
like quite a remarkable year; the end of something, perhaps. Time will tell.
2016 highlighted more than ever a transition in the way our
political world works. A latent toxin emerged, one that has always been there,
one waiting for its stage to arrive.
The Toxicity of
Today’s Political Environment in the Social Media Age
One reason the Despot thrives is he flourishes well in a toxic
environment, even exacerbating and enchanting the trolls against him or her —
paradoxically, it takes one troll to joust with another, for the way they bludgeon
each other with murderous orotundity is bewildering.
Fury has words that should never be publicised, and yet with
light-speed regularity Joe Public as well as Well-To-Do Celebrity eat away the middle ground of politics when they spray their venom. Their respective rancour
contributes a volley of blows, as the extremities that crouch in the trenches
convince the other ninety percent of the world by their behaviour (don’t go there; you won’t come out alive!)
not to bother entering the bloody arena so inanely sordid and scornfully alien
to fecund goodwill.
The very unfortunate trend is good people are not entering
politics, or do not survive, but the bullies are and do. The bullies are
winning and they will rule over a world that buckles to them, because they
confound reason.
***
The signs of trouble are obvious. Take three salient examples,
for I’m hardly a politics-watcher: the rampant intolerance with the media, the
egotistical use of social media, where the word “me” is so regularly used, and
the nationalism of
Make-America-Great-Again-and-to-hell-with-everyone-else-not-with-my-agenda,
particularly with separatist overtones. Calling some News organisations “fake
news” because they are anti should ring warning bells of déjà vu. Can a
President of the United States use Twitter like he has?
Let us watch for signs of intolerance, national seeking of and
striving for perfectibility, the undermining of minorities, and the type of
groupthink that underscores humanity’s resemblance to sheep. The church has
folded as one before. It may happen again before the end.
It may take years for this to occur, recalling that Hitler’s
fascist rise took place close to a decade before World War II was in full
swing.
Where are the Dietrich
Bonhoeffers and the Martin
Niemollers of our age — those who gave their lives for
the truth they, by God, could see? Those Christian leaders who heap a surfeit
of flattery on a dictator will not glorify God but will earn for themselves an
infamy of ignominy.
One test of the thesis presented is direct sanction and
punishment as a result, like prison or conscription, as happened to those who
resisted in World War II and at other times. Can we see the signs in others who
have resisted? I think we can.
George Santayana (1863–1952), philosopher, essayist, poet and
novelist, once said:
“Those
who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Whatever happens, we can strap ourselves in for one hell of a ride.
Postscript: I pray that these words make a fool out of me in future years
to come; that a certain Presidency is vaunted for its fruit.
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