Beliefs Determine What You’ll Stand For

In parts two, three and four of this series on Recognizing God in American History, we looked at the Germany and the United States which existed on June 6, 1944.  Germany was led by Adolf Hitler, a man who believed in the survival of the fittest.  The United States was led by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man who sought God’s blessing in preserving Christian civilization and liberating the oppressed.

Notice here two different leaders, two different nations, each with a different view of history.  One had a view of history that was self centered and self glorifying.  The other, a view of history that was God centered and God serving.

And it mattered which view you had, didn’t it?  For one view was a lie and the other was the truth. And believing the lie led to destruction, while believing the truth led to victory.

With that being the case, it is very important that not only do we have a Biblical, God honoring understanding of reality, but we oppose the lie.  While each one of us has no say about when we will live or where we will live in the world, we should speak up and speak against the evil in the world.  If we do not, the consequences can be enormous.

Dr. Laurence White of Houston, Texas tells the following story. He says,

There was a meeting held in the German capital city of Berlin in 1934.  Adolf Hitler had been chancellor for just over a year at that point. He was taking the nation through a process which in German was called Gleichshaltung.

The word meant coordination.  Everything was being re-aligned in terms of national socialist philosophy. And that included the churches.  And protests had begun to rise from the people of God about this interference in the church and its life.

And so, Hitler called together the most important preachers in the land. He gathered them there at the Rheikes Chancellory to reassure them and to intimidate them if he could, to silence their criticism so that he could go on with his plans for the country.

And Hitler moved through the crowd that day, patting preachers on the back, making them feel important. Smiling and reassuring, he told them their state subsidies would continue, their tax exemptions were secure, and that the church had nothing to fear from a Nazi government.

And finally, one brash young preacher who was there, Martin Niemoeller was his name, had had enough. Today, we’d call him politically incorrect.  He was going to tell the truth even if the truth was not popular.

And he pushed his way to the front of the room until he stood eye to eye with the German dictator. And he said, “Herr Hitler, our concern is not for the church.  Jesus Christ will take care of His church. Our concern is for the soul of this nation.”

It was immediately evident the brash young preacher spoke only for himself, as a chagrined silence fell over that room.  And his colleagues hustled him away from the front.

Hitler, with a natural politician’s instinct, saw the reaction and understood what it meant.  And he smiled as he said “The soul of Germany, you can leave that to me.”  In other words, you can put your trust in me and in my socialist government to take care of you.

And they did.  For Hitler was a great speaker.  And so, the German pastors failed to take a stand. And the consequences were enormous.

Today we have the same problem.  Many pastors are not willing to speak up concerning the issues where unbelievers like Hitler are taking control of the nation’s culture, and are re-organizing it so that the culture-wide beliefs conform to their understanding of reality. Unbelievers today are determining what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil.  They are setting the moral standards.  They are determining what the courts decide and what the schools teach, for it is their people who are sitting on the judge’s bench and who are determining the curriculum in the schools.

And why are they doing this?  Because they think they are the fittest.  They think they are the intellectually fittest, the morally fittest, and socially fittest in the world.  They think their plan is the best plan for the world, even though it totally rejects the God of the Bible and what He stands for.

Meanwhile, the pastors for the most part are just preaching on safe subjects and trying not to trouble the waters. They are not preaching against evolution. In fact, many of them accept evolution.  Rhey are not preaching on any other issues where the culture is changing.

We need more people like Martin Niemoeller today, people who will stand up and oppose the evil that is in our government and in our culture. But in order to do that, we need to begin with the right understanding of reality.  There is a God.  He has declared what is right and good and true.  And we need to stand with Him and declare that what He has said is right and good and true, is right and good and true for all mankind under God.

We also need to place our children in Bible-believing Christian schools that teach that God is the Lord of history, or teach them ourselves. What students are taught to believe about history does make a difference. Like Hitler, what our children are taught to believe is what they will do.

Therefore, we need to look at history from the right perspective and seek out sources which give testimony to the fact that God rules over history. This means we have to be concerned with our starting point in approaching the topic.  Are we starting from the reliable assumption that God rules over history?

I say this because the assumptions which dominate our culture today are quite different from the assumptions of June 6th, 1944.  Today, the assumptions which dominate our culture and which are promoted through the institutions of our culture, and which have been adopted by most of the leaders of our nation are the assumptions of secular humanism.   The assumptions of secular humanism do not honor God.

Why do I say this?  The assumptions of secular humanism force people to think totally within the box of natural cause, such that to them natural cause is the only cause which is acceptable. Therefore, supernatural cause, which God represents, where God is able to do things above and beyond what we think is possible, and moral cause which God represents, where as God rules over our lives He takes into consideration what we live for, must be ruled out by assumption according to the leaders of our culture.

What we are taught when God has been ruled out 

Once God has been ruled out, this means everything which has ever happened must be explained only in terms of natural factors present in the physical world and universe.  It then follows that beings such as God and angels are not allowed consideration because they are not a part of the natural universe. Only natural forces such as gravity, naturally occurring elements such as oxygen and gold; people in history, such as Abraham Lincoln; geological events, such as an earthquake; weather events, such as a great winter storm; historical events, such as the Battle at Gettysburg; and social events, such as a high school graduation and a tea at the White House, are considered.

With this being the case, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln would be seen as people who had an impact on the history of the United States, but the God they were serving would not be considered as a factor.

    The Scriptures say God rules over history

But what do the Scriptures say about God’s role in history?  In 1st Chronicles 29, King David, in praying to God, says:

Blessed are You, Lord, God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all.

Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. —1 Chronicles 29:10-12

In other words, God was the one who enabled George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to achieve the success they did.  God was the one who enabled them to be great and who gave them the honor and strength they had.

Another passage of Scripture which speaks to the role God plays in history comes to us from Daniel, chapter two, where after receiving revelation from God about King Nebuchadnezzar’s  dream and its interpretation, Daniel says,

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever. For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things.  He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. —Daniel 2:20b-22

This means the wisdom and knowledge that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had came from God.  God was the one who raised them up, and gave them the positions they had. Despite what the secular humanists say, God was involved.

With that fact in mind, if there is going to be any hope for our nation, we must live every day believing that God is the most important factor in history, and live for Him as if our lives depended on it, because they do.

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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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