This past week, I read Eric Metaxas’ new book, Letter to the American Church. Metaxas, the author of the best-selling biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, compares America’s current spiritual condition with Germany in the 1930s. A decade before World War II began, Dietrich Bonhoeffer pleaded with the German church to wake up and speak against the sinister policies of Adolph Hitler. However, most German Lutheran pastors refused to speak out, and their silence enabled a Nazi takeover.

Metaxas warns current American church leaders not to make a similar mistake, urging them to wake up and speak against the immoral ideology propagated throughout our culture. The Bible warns, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…” (Isaiah 5:20). Yet from politicians to grade school teachers, influential leaders everywhere are placing tremendous pressure on everyone to embrace abortion, homosexuality, gender transition, and cultural Marxism. For example, President Biden recently welcomed a man dressed as a young girl as a special guest to the White House, praising him as wholesome and insisting those who oppose transition surgeries were immoral. And there are numerous reports of schools hosting drag queens to read and entertain students — some as young as preschool!

Eric Metaxas’ book highlights some of the mistakes made by many German pastors in the 1930s and underscores that these same miscalculations are being repeated by church leaders across America today. Here are three of the most glaring:

1. They failed to understand the times. The Nazi philosophy was not just another passing, extreme ideology. It resulted in the Holocaust and World War II, which killed millions and destroyed their Dietrich Bonhoeffer insisted, “The church is the conscience of the state and must call it into account.” However, Metaxas points out, “The German pastors were not alive to the urgency of the situation.” They failed to acknowledge they were living in extraordinary times. 

Likewise, many church leaders today seem ambivalent to our immoral condition, shrugging off the current idiocy as something that will pass or settle back to normal “after the next election.” However, history suggests this is unlikely to happen unless Christians step up and speak out. There is no political party that is going to save the nation. Only Christ and a spiritual revival can do that.

2. They were persuaded that the best way to evangelize was to remain politically neutral. For example, Metaxas reports the spiritual leaders in Germany were convinced if they took a public stand against Adolph Hitler, non-believers would see the church as “too political” and be turned off to the gospel.

Sound familiar? Today’s church leaders are so imbued with the “Seeker Friendly” mentality that the first questions often asked are, “How will outsiders perceive this?  Will this limit our opportunity to win them to Christ?” Concerning ourselves with the best way to evangelize the lost is a legitimate concern. However, our first command is not to please men but to obey God, and we should leave the results up to Him. 

3. They walked by fear and not by faith. As a result, the few German pastors who dared oppose Adolph Hitler were disdained and arrested. In 1935 alone, the Nazis arrested 700 uncooperative pastors. By the time Germany invaded Poland in 1939, only a few objectors

Similarly, today’s American pastors are terrified of being labeled as misogynists, homophobic, racist, bigoted, and haters by the world. They also fear backlash from church members who are more loyal to a political agenda than to Jesus. So, most pastors placate their conscience by expressing concern about a cultural and moral decline, but they never get specific about what is sinful and inviting God’s wrath. Plus, there is rarely a call to repentance or for definitive action. As a result, the moral freefall continues even though God warns, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

Consider the current election in Kentucky as an example. On November 8^th, the Kentuckians will vote on the issue of abortion. A “yes” vote prevents courts from arbitrarily determining abortion as a “right.” Whereas a “no” vote maintains the possibility that judges could permit abortion up until the day of birth. Abortion advocates are mounting an all-out campaign to oppose the amendment, leaving many good people confused and uncertain about the issue. Sadly, most church leaders have remained silent for fear of being “political.”

Church leaders, your congregation needs you to be strong and courageous now! Our country needs you to step up and speak out now! We are living in precarious times! If we don’t stand firm, our grandchildren may not have the same freedoms and privileges we take for granted.

If you can’t stand up for the protection of unborn children, then what will you stand for? Of course, some will get angry and protest that “The church shouldn’t get involved in politics!” Really? Should William Wilberforce have gotten involved in a campaign against the slave trade? Was Dietrich Bonhoeffer a fool for opposing Hitler? Was Martin Luther King Jr. wrong in standing for civil rights? Metaxas suggests, “If you do not speak, you are not being neutral. You are contributing to the success of the thing you refuse to name and condemn.” Scripture warns, “…if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8).

The final paragraph of the overview of Eric Metaxas’ book reads,

“Silence is not an option. God calls us to defend the unborn, to confront the lies of cultural Marxism, and to battle the globalist tyranny that crushes human freedom. Confident that this is His fight, the church must overcome fear and enter the fray, armed with the spiritual weapons of prayer, self-sacrifice, and love.”

Amen, and Amen!

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