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10.01.2009

The Enemy of God: Part 2

Simultaneously, as Germany came to itself, the Almighty declared His favor upon the nation! Hitler proposed that divine cooperation was mandatory for the German people to prolong their blessedness and rebirth. Here we have a profound spiritual truth wherein man can cooperate with God and literally move the hand of God Himself through obedience, sacrifice, and struggle. There is no easy way to secure God’s blessing-it is given to those who would aspire to receive it. No, this was not a superficial regurgitation of “God helps those who help themselves.” It was far deeper and much more profound that such simplistic verbiage and inane chatter. Hitler’s pragmatic theology was lofty enough to capture the intellectually elite of the land, as well as scores of theologians who admired his grasp of theological truths and Hitler’s ability to apply them to the real world. Yes, here was a man who could comprehend the incomprehensible through the eyes of God Himself!

So you construe that economic satisfaction alone persuaded the vast majority of Germans to enthusiastically embrace their Leader? Not so, look more earnestly, more deeply . . . leap into the spiritual dimension projected by a man who knew the deepest environs of the soul and spirit of a people. Then, you will surely behold the biblical contemplation: “Walk we not in the same steps, in the same spirit.”

GOD BLESS YOU AND GOD BLESS AMERIKA, (I mean) . . . GERMANY

“No, it is not we that have deserted Christianity; it is those who came before us who deserted Christianity. We have only carried through a clear division between politics, which have to do with terrestrial things, and religion, which must concern itself with the celestial sphere. There has been no interference with the doctrine (Lehre) of the Confessions or with their religious freedom (Bekenntnisfreiheit), nor will there be any such interference. On the contrary the State protects religion, though always on the one condition that religion will not be used as a cover for political ends….

“For their interests cannot fail to coincide with ours alike in our fight against the symptoms of degeneracy in the world of today, in our fight against a Bolshevist culture, against atheistic movement, against criminality, and in our struggle for a consciousness of a community in our national life… These are not anti–Christian, these are Christian principles! And I believe that if we should fail to follow these principles then we should be able to point to our successes, for the result of our political battle is surely not unblest by God.”—Adolf Hitler, in his speech at Koblenz, to the Germans of the Saar, 26 Aug. 1934

The repeated injunction to Germany’s Christianity as the core of Germany’s soul and heritage is undeniable in all of Hitler’s proposals and polemics. He allegedly differentiated between the holy and the profane; between the secular and the divine; the heavenly and earthly; the celestial and the terrestrial. Again, here is one who understood the language of theology and the politics of religion.

Freedom of religious practice is what we hear-full commitment to the major confessions of the faith, without prejudice. The State would protect religion and its freedoms-as long as religion would keep its nose out of politics. Now, that’s of great interest to some who welcome the support of the State today and are more than happy to express their political opinions-not so bad now that the State welcomes such spiritual approbation and adulation. But what of different times and places-then shall religion be otherwise so judged by the State if the State “feels” that the Church has left its sphere of influence? Think about it-it’s a bit unnerving to contemplate a State that protects religious expression, as long as that religious expression does not criticize the State-now you know the rest of the story and your freedom. Or, will you loose your 501-C-3 (not-for-profit religious status) if you delve into the political realms too much. Some have-but they have only Hitler to follow when push comes to this shove, don’t they?

PRAYER AND PERSEVERANCE–HITLER’S APPEAL

“Only so you can appeal to your God and pray Him to support and bless your courage, your work, your perseverance, your strength, your resolution, and with all these your claim on life.”—Adolf Hitler, in a speech at Frankfurt on 16 March 1936

“In this world him who does not abandon himself the Almighty will not desert. Him who helps himself will the Almighty always also help; He will show him the way by which he can gain his rights, his freedom, and therefore his future.”–Adolf Hitler, in a speech at Hamburg on 20 March 1936

How inspiring are his utterances? Again, can you fault the man for such impeccable appeals to the conscience of Germany’s Christian populace? I don’t imagine you can nor would you want to thwart his efforts by claiming they appear disingenuous. He truly believed in this type of prayer and cooperation with the divine-it appears a latent form of Augustinian and Calvinistic perseverance is understood in this illumination. No, you say, I give him too much credit-look more closely, I think some saintly spike upholds his rhetoric. The “Triumph of the Will” (Triumph des Willes)-Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda classic filmed in 1935-captures the corporate will of an entire people marching lock step beneath the image of their Fuhrer. But, behind this vibrato–this hysterical display of unity-is a spiritual concept perpetrated by Hitler himself: Our will must be merged in cooperation with the divine will-then, and only then, God and man are joined together in purpose and destiny. Without the two found in sync, there is no manifestation of God’s plan and purpose for His people upon the earth!

HITLER’S MANIFEST CHRISTIANITY-IN DEED, NOT WORD

“This Winter Help Work is also in the deepest sense a Christian work. When I see, as I so often do, poorly clad girls collecting with such infinite patience in order to care for those who are suffering from the cold while they themselves are shivering with cold, then I have the feeling that they are all apostles of a Christianity-and in truth of a Christianity which can say with greater right than any other: This is the Christianity of an honest confession, for behind it stand not words but deeds.”–Adolf Hitler, speaking of the Winter Help Campaign on 5 Oct. 1937

Perhaps Hitler was reading the Epistle of St. James-“I will show you my faith by my works.” Hitler’s Christianity was one of aggressive activity, characterized by “good deeds”-again, as he so often did, he commended such deeds, giving credit to his POSITIVE CHRISTIANITY. He was all about vibrancy, especially in religious activity-it was encouraged and continuously celebrated among the people and they loved him for it. Such respect for sacrifice and unselfish devotion to the German people were heralded by one who knew what it meant to be a true Christian-again, and I know it’s difficult to fathom the depth of his recognition of Christianity in this way, but his words and deeds manifested to the German people (and I mean “German”) were incessant and profoundly sincere to the ear of these people.

HITLER’S UNSHAKABLE FAITH IN THE ALMIGHTY

“In this hour I would ask of the Lord God only this: that, as in the past, so in the years to come He would give His blessing to our work and our action, to our judgment and our resolution, that He will safeguard us from all false pride and from all cowardly servility, that He may grant us to find the straight path which His Providence has ordained for the German people, and that He may ever give us the courage to do the right, never to falter, never to yield before any violence, before any danger…. I am convinced that men who are created by God should live in accordance with the will of the Almighty…. If Providence had not guided us I could often never have found these dizzy paths…. Thus it is that we National Socialists, too, have in the depths of our hearts our faith. We cannot do otherwise; no man can fashion world history or the history of peoples unless upon his purpose and his powers there rests the blessings of this Providence.”–Adolf Hitler, in a speech at Wurzburg on 27 June 1937

In retrospect you look back in time and observe a man, a true leader, whose unshakable witness to his faith is almost unparalleled in the annals of political-and for that matter, religious-leadership. He saw man as created by God, rewarded for his reliance upon God, and fully sustained through cooperating with Him on a scale so grand that all self-consciousness in His presence is utterly abandoned.

You will not see one tepid in faith, faltering hither and thither-no, here’s a champion of conviction that is in your face, and, as such, you who once wavered are truly bolstered and led by him into this same absolutism of conviction. Through every dizzy pathway-God, the single-minded and ever resilient One, was there keeping you on track because you were fulfilling His destiny. Hitler confessed it, actively believed in it, and lived like he owned what he confessed so stringently that all doubt ceased in his presence when it came to matters of faith. History would be changed-because God willed it and triumphed in the all-purposeful One Who anticipated Hitler’s unfeigned devotion to his people, and to his God.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury-convict the man as a murderer, as a thief, as committing crimes against humanity on such a scale that comparisons cannot be found-but convict him not for his unfaltering faith in God Almighty! And you wonder why the Europeans express such suspicions of our President’s expressions relative to the Almighty-suspect no further!

WAS HITLER AN OCCULTIST? DON’T BE SO SURE

“National Socialism is not a cult-movement-a movement for worship; it is exclusively a ‘volkic’ political doctrine based upon racial principles. In its purpose there is no mystic cult, only the care and leadership of a people defined by a common blood relationship….

“We will not allow mystically minded occult folk with a passion for exploring the secrets of the world beyond to steal into our Movement. Such folk are not National Socialists, but something else—in any case something which has nothing to do with us. At the head of our program there stand no secret surmising but clear-cut perception and straightforward profession of belief. But since we set as the central point of this perception and of this profession of belief the maintenance and hence the security for the future of a being formed by God, we thus serve the maintenance of a divine work and fulfill a divine will–not in the secret twilight of a new house of worship, but openly before the face of the Lord…

“Our worship is exclusively the cultivation of the natural, and for that reason, because natural, therefore God-willed. Our humility is the unconditional submission before the divine laws of existence so far as they are known to us men.–Adolf Hitler, in Nuremberg on 6 Sept. 1938

I do not for one minute, contrary to Hitler’s pronouncements above, believe that Hitler did not embrace the occult and sought its hidden wisdom. Likewise, within the pomp and circumstances of endless ceremonies and Nazi altars and oaths, there was the occult’s stamp everywhere and in manifold witness to his search for meaning among the ancients and their hierarchies.

But, one would be hard pressed to believe that Hitler’s public witness in condemnation of the occult, and, thence, his stalwart celebration of God-willed, God-ordained living and confession, was not mainstream Christianity as the Germans knew it-sincerely so. Do leaders say one thing in public and another they practice in private? Perhaps the most classic case would be Nancy Reagan’s timing among the mediums and Ronnie’s schedules being altered to conform to these enchanters. And, what of the Skull and Bones of the current Administrator? Compromise at this level is private and personal-best left to the pages of checkout stands for enquiring minds who really have a need to know.

Conspiratorial theories abound as to the occult amongst the Nazis in general, and within Hitler’s possessions specifically. If we were to adjudge his political stance to be his personal one on this issue-we would be kidding ourselves, especially with the knowledge available on this subject. No, Hitler was overtly occultic in every way, shape and form-though he would deny any of it to the public and even to himself! He would have been right at home in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar with his magicians, conjurers, sorcerers and master astrologers (Chaldeans). Reputed to have transported over a thousand Tibetan monks to empower his decisions to Berlin is not a casual touch with the underworld of the occult!

Never mind, Hitler’s fidelity to true Christianity and to the Christian God were so clearly defined within the hearts and minds of the German people that no one would ever believe such a thing were possible with such a great man of faith and virtue.

‘THE HAMMER OF GOD’-THE NAZI PARTY

“The National Socialist Movement has wrought this miracle. If Almighty God granted success to this work, then the Party was His instrument.”—Adolf Hitler, in his proclamation to the German People on 1 Jan 1939

Can one possibly imagine that a political party could be so identified with the move of God Almighty? Isn’t it ludicrous to assert such a thing-that a political party can somehow insinuate itself upon God in this way-so that the “Party of God” becomes your particular party or the party that best represents the interests of the Almighty? Never happen? Not! This repeatedly happens throughout the world and on a consistent basis.

Today we witness an amazing reoccurrence: The Republican Party does its good pleasure in the Name of God (for the most part) and the Democratic Party does its evil in its own name-as do most of the other political aberrations. But, the GOP is the GOD Party of today-just how does this happen in a “civilized society” which welcomes the Almighty here and there-but His current takeover of the GOP is a little ostentatious of Him, don’t you think? How in the world does voting Republican equate to voting for a divine slate of candidates and how do the churches know that such identification brings in the blessing of the Almighty? I don’t know-maybe they’ll let me in on the secret or, if you find out before I do, email me!

Well, check out the historic pattern set by Nazi Socialism–it had to be the “Hammer of God”-God’s divine instrument-because it was so incredibly successful!

HITLER’S SUPPORT FOR THE CHURCH WAS UNCOMPROMISING–AS LONG AS THEY STAYED OUT OF POLITICS

“Amongst the accusations which are directed against Germany in the so-called democracies is the charge that the National Socialist State is hostile to religion. In answer to that charge I should like to make before the German people the following solemn declaration:

1. No one in Germany has in the past been persecuted because of his religious views (Einstellung), nor will anyone in the future be so persecuted…. “The Churches are the greatest landed proprietors after the State… Further, the Church in the National Socialist State is in many ways favored in regard to taxation, and for gifts, legacies, etc., it enjoys immunity from taxation. It is therefore, to put mildly—effrontery when especially foreign politicians make bold to speak of hostility to religion in the Third Reich….

“I would allow myself only one question: What contributions during the same period have France, England, or the United States made through the State from the public funds?

2. The National Socialist State has not closed a church, nor has it prevented the holding of a religious service, nor has it ever exercised any influence upon the form of a religious service. It hasn’t exercised any pressure upon the doctrine nor on the profession of faith of any of the Confessions. In the National Socialist State anyone is free to seek His blessedness after his own fashion….”There are ten thousands of priests of all the Christian Confessions who perform their ecclesiastical duties just as well as or probably better than the political agitators without ever coming into conflict with the laws of the State….

“This State has only once intervened in the internal regulation of the Churches, that is when I myself in 1933 endeavored to unite the weak and divided Protestant Churches of the different States into one great and powerful Evangelical Church of the Reich. That attempt failed through the opposition of the bishops of some States; it was therefore abandoned. For it is in the last resort not our task to defend or even to strengthen the Evangelical Church through violence against its own representatives….

“But on one point it is well that there should be no uncertainty: the German priest as servant of God we shall protect, the priest as political enemy of the German State we shall destroy. –Adolf Hitler, a speech in the Reichstag on 30 Jan. 1939

Poland had not yet fallen when Hitler gave this speech. Now was the time for a clarion cry for religious freedom on a scale of vast significance. Nowhere, apparently on earth, did the Church receive such unmitigated and unflinching support-financially and spiritually commendatory in every way. And, didn’t it sound appropriate that religious leadership should confine their sphere of influence to the very soul of Germany-its spiritual need-and avoid even the appearance of political involvement? After all, Jesus did say that His kingdom was not of this earth-therefore, criticisms or negative remarks about Germany’s political machinery were totally unnecessary and counterproductive when the Church enjoyed such support from the Beast upon which she rode!

For centuries Germany had intertwined herself with the religious institutions of the day and the practice of Church-State support-as throughout most of Europe. It was a given-of course, now and again things went a bit too far and the French Revolution and Russian Revolution had to disassociate from the Church which had lost her compass and identified with the needs of the rich and famous and had forsaken her mission to the poor of Europe; so she had to be spanked. But, all could easily be forgiven if the State maintained true control over the “situation”-whatever that might be in any given political circumstance.

Not so odd, and certainly the truth, is the Church’s propensity to gravitate to the wealth of this world-while all the time its Master had “nowhere to lay His head.” No matter, it takes money, and lots of it, to demonstrate the power of God and there’s nothing like putting on a great show for the powers that be-especially, when their largess is so bountiful!

Hitler’s definition of the doctrine of the Separation of Church and State was quite authentic, don’t you think? I mean, really, shouldn’t the Church keep its nose out of the political process in the first place and give themselves to the celestial burdens of the land? So you see, my friend, things are not always as they appear to be. What TYPE of separation of Church and State do you envision in America? If it’s the Hitlerian model-sei vorsichtig (be careful)-it may come back and bite you big time.

THE TESTIMONY OF HITLER – A DEDICATED CHRISTIAN

“I do not remember even a single occasion when Hitler gave any instructions that ran counter to the true Christian spirit and to humanness. [Wagener, quoted in “Turner, Jr., Henry Ashby, “Hitler-Memoirs of a Confidant,” Yale University Press, 1978, p.147]

“Catholic and Protestant leaders were convinced of Hitler’s belief. As an example, the Catholic Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich visited Hitler at his mountain retreat at Obersalzburg in November 1936. Faulhaber observed: ‘Without doubt the chancellor lives in faith in God. He recognizes Christianity as the foundation of Western culture.’ “[quoted from “The German Churches Under Hitler”, p.279]

HITLER’S POSITIVE CHRISTIANITY–TO THE END

“If positive Christianity means love of one’s neighbor, i.e. the tending of the sick, the clothing of the poor, the feeding of the hungry, the giving of drink to those who are thirsty, then it is we who are the more positive Christians. For in these spheres the community of the people of National Socialist Germany has accomplished a prodigious work. –Adolf Hitler, in his speech to the “Old Guard” at Munich on 24 Feb. 1939

The prodigious work accomplished by Hitler was done in the name of positive Christianity with positive Christians at its helm. Hitler’s Christianity was pro-active, committed to the needy (as long as they were Germans and were not mentally ill, communists, union leaders, “German Jews,” genetically deficient, and a host of other deviants). But, he sure knew how to put up a great show of it-and the vast majority of the German people utterly adored the man and, as the War wore on-followed him into the flames of Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and countless other cities where mayhem, death and destruction abounded.

Why I have gone to these lengths in both presenting Hitler’s remarks and commenting thereon-drawing some parallels to today’s political/religious situation here in America-is straightforward: Do not surmise that the plethora of religious expression and appeals to God’s blessings connotes a nation whose God is the Lord, nor a people and leadership whose faith is in the Almighty alone.

You have heard the comments, not of an insane and loquacious idiot, but the earnest efforts and expressions of one who amplified his faith within the German people. Something resonated within them, confirming his every word and especially when it descended upon a divine discussion wherein the parameters of celestial blessings could be manifested.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more intoxicating that religious fervor and motivation. Eternity is, I am utterly certain, strewn with the souls that shall hear on that day these foreboding words: DEPART FROM ME, I NEVER APPROVED OF YOU! These souls will cry out: “Have we not done many wonderful works and miracles in Your Name? Indeed, have we not cast out devils in Thy name?” God’s Name has been defamed by a multitude of charlatans and political hacks for their own self-aggrandizement and prestige. Few come as close as Hitler to genuine faith and belief in God’s affairs among men. Few resound with such commitment to the Almighty and yet have fallen so short of the reality. Rare to find the epitome of religious manipulation of this expanse and depth, very rare.

A TESTAMENT TO HERR HITLER

“The established Methodist church paper, the Friedensglocke, vouched for the authenticity of a story about Hitler where he invited a group of deaconesses from the Bethel Institutions into his home at Obersalzberg … The deaconesses entered the chamber and were astonished to see the pictures of Frederick the Great, Luther, and Bismarck on the wall … One sister could not refrain from saying: ‘Herr Reichkanzler, ‘from where do you get the courage to undertake the great changes in the whole Reich?’ Thereupon Hitler took out of his pocket the New Testament of Dr. Martin Luther, which one could see had been used very much, and said earnestly: “From God’s word.” [Helmreich, Ernst Christian, “The German Churches Under Hitler,” Wayne State University Press, 1979, p. 139]

Let this be a solemn warning to the Church in America–“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the Devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (I Peter 5:8–11)

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Doug Krieger
Doug@the-tribulation-network.com