The Choice For Us All

In the second part of this Recognizing God in American History series, I presented the philosophical basis behind Adolf Hitler’s desire to set up the Third Reich. I said that he was totally opposed to Christianity, for he saw it as a protest against nature. And, of course, Christianity is a protest against the sin nature. But to Hitler, the sin nature was good.

Therefore, instead of making a commitment to believe in the God of righteousness who rules over history and live for Him, Hitler chose to justify the sin nature, live for his own selfish will and promote his selfish will by saying Christianity was against nature. And having rejected God along with Christianity, Hitler could say God didn’t determine the outcome.  Survival of the fittest did.

With this choice that Hitler made in mind, it brings up the choice for all of us as we live out our lives.  We will either live for the Christian God who does rule over history, or we will choose to live for ourselves and justify our selfish will like Hitler did.

One of my favorite movies, a movie in which this choice is quite evident, is “First Knight.” It is a Christian version of Camelot, with King Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere and a host of others.  I call it a Christian version because in the movie Camelot is presented as a kingdom where people are living under the rule of God. You see Christian crosses on the walls of the city, and when the high council of Camelot meets at the round table, King Arthur prays, “Lord, grant us the wisdom to discover the right, the will to choose it, and the strength to make it endure.”

As for the round table, it too conveys a Christian message, for inscribed on the top are the words, “In serving each other we become free.”  And when King Arthur explains to the newly arrived Lancelot why the table is round, he tells Lancelot, “There is no head and there is no foot because everyone who sits here is an equal.

Later, in the same scene, King Arthur tells Lancelot:

Here we believe that every life is precious, even the  lives of strangers. If you must die, die serving something greater than yourself.  Better still, live and serve.

The bad guy in the movie is Prince Malagant. Prince Malagant used to be one of the knights of the round table, but because of his desire for power, he left Camelot and sought to advance his own kingdom. And in doing so, attacked Guinevere’s kingdom Lyonesse.

There is a scene in the movie in which Malagant enters the high council chamber to speak with King Arthur and his knights.  What Malagant wants is a peace treaty where he and King Arthur divide Lyonesse, but Arthur refuses to do this.

Malagant turns to leave.  “You all know me, he says.  I’m a man of my word, don’t make me an enemy. I mean no harm to Camelot.”  This is what Malagant says to King Arthur and his knights after having burned three border villages in Lyonesse.

Knowing what Malagant has done, King Arthur responds to Malagant’s statement that he means no harm for Camelot, by rising to his feet and looking Malagant in the eye. King Arthur’s voice takes on the tone of steel:

You know the law we live by. And where is it written: Beyond Camelot live lesser people, people too weak to protect themselves, Let them die. Malagant sneers. “Other people live by other laws, Arthur.  Or is the law of Camelot to rule the entire world?”

King Arthur replies:

There are laws that enslave people, and laws that set them free.  Either what we hold to be right and good and true is right and good and true for all mankind under God, or we are just another robber tribe.

It is the high point of the movie.  It is a statement which tells the viewer what King Arthur and Camelot stand for.  And in the movie King Arthur defends the purpose of Camelot   with his life.

And what is the purpose again?  “Either what we hold to be right and good and true is right and good and true for all mankind under God, or we are just another robber tribe.”4

And what does King Arthur mean by just another robber tribe?  He means that if there really is nothing which is right and good and true for everybody, then all of us are simply people who are seeking to grab what we can.

And this is what Adolf Hitler and his Nazi leaders were seeking to do: grab what they can. For they had discarded the God of righteous from their understanding of reality. And along with discarding God, they had also discarded the understandings that every life is precious and in serving each other we become free.

For they would say, “The goal of life is not to serve each other.  The goal is to conquer people so that we can have our empire.”  But when you do that, you will enact laws that enslave people.

Notice here, that while First Knight was a fictional movie, the character King Arthur spoke truth.  For he was right on target when he said, “There are laws that enslave people and laws that set them free.”  For enslave people is what you do when God doesn’t’ matter and other people don’t matter.  Notice that. For the only thing that mattered to Hitler was what he and his friends wanted.

As a result, Christian principles such as “In serving each other we become free,” and “every life is precious,” are baloney to you. In fact, they are bad in your eyes. This is what Hitler and his Nazis believed.

And notice, when a culture is shifting in this direction, such that as a whole culture people believe in the right to have whatever they want, be it an immoral life style or a secular humanistic education or a court system in which God is not seen as an authority on right and wrong and good and evil, they have to come up with another understanding of how a nation achieves success. And with that being the case, why did Hitler and the Nazis think they were going to succeed?  They believed they would succeed because they were the fittest. And what do we keep hearing today?  America is the greatest nation.  We can do anything.

But where do you end up when you believe what Hitler believed?  Do you end up on top? Do you get your Third Reich? No, you end up in a bunker in Berlin committing suicide because you know your Third Reich is falling down all around you.  And why is the life you built falling down?  Because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of history, and He rules history with His wisdom, power and righteousness.  And people like Hitler forget that to their own peril.

In the upcoming fourth article, we will look at the nation that honored God in World War II, the United States.

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Bob Wittstruck was a pastor for 33 years, was the associate director of the Black Hills Creation Science Association, and is a supporter of both Christian schooling and home schooling. His latest book, The Forgotten Factor of History God Rules, is being printed in February or March of 2016. His email address is [email protected]

Bob Wittstruck

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