Turning a political decision into your spiritual mandate
By Douglas J. Hagmann
7 November 2012: It is
unlikely that the majority of Americans are familiar with the name
Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I had forgotten the account of Mr. Bonhoeffer until
a valued listener of our nightly radio program sent me Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, a gripping book
written by Eric Metaxas. I devoured the 592 page book in three days,
reading the final page only yesterday. I find it anything but
coincidental that I completed this gripping account on the very day that
the 2012 U.S. presidential election was decided in favor of Barack
Hussein Obama.
While reading the account of Mr.
Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, theologian and spy who was involved in the
plot to kill Hitler, I became awestruck by the obvious and stunning
parallels between 1930′s Germany and present day America, specifically
in terms of the Christian church. Yesterday, for the second time in four
years, the majority of Americans decided in favor of Obama despite the
vocal and visible moral objections made by many Christians of all
denominations. I have no doubt that many people who profess to be
Christians cast their vote to reelect Barack Hussein Obama, somehow
justifying their vote over any moral or ethical concerns residing in
their spirit. How is this possible?
It is here that I cite the foreword
written by Timothy J. Keller, friend of the author and author of the New
York Times bestselling book The Reason for God. Keller writes:
“It is impossible to understand Bonhoeffer’s Nachfolge
without becoming acquainted with the shocking capitulation of the
German Church to Hitler in the 1930s. How could the ‘church of Luther,’
the great teacher of the gospel, have ever come to such a place? The
answer is that the true gospel, summed up by Bonhoeffer as costly grace,
had been lost. On one hand, the church had become marked by formalism.
That meant going to church and hearing that God just loves and forgives
everyone, so it doesn’t really matter much how you live. Bonhoeffer
called this cheap grace. On the other hand, there was
legalism, or salvation by law and good works. Legalism meant that God
loves you because you have pulled yourself together and are trying to
live a good, disciplined life. Both of these impulses made it possible
for Hitler to come to power.”
Does that sound, or ‘feel” familiar?
Thanks to the laborious research by author Eric Metaxas that is
articulately detailed in his book, which also corrects over a
half-century of the hijacked legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by the
Progressive left, Christians in America should now fully understand
exactly what is taking place within our country. We have allowed the
word of God to be diluted, perverted and turned into a convoluted
platform for social justice by elected leaders whose tyranny has
extended into and ripped into our spiritual fabric.
Many Christians have collectively
embraced cheap grace and legalism promoted by leaders across the
political spectrum as spiritual equivalents to the true gospel, thereby
reconciling their faith with the perversity that exists in America
today. After all, it is both politically correct and socially acceptable
to tolerate perversity in all forms, rather than risk being labeled as
intolerant, bigoted, Islamophobic, homophobic or the mother of all
derisive brandings, racist. It is precisely here, however, that
tolerance of evil becomes evil itself.
This is the exact moment in time for all
Christians in America to live in the spirit of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by
uniting and practicing “costly grace.” As a Christian, I believe we were
born for this exact moment in time, and have been selected to engage in
this spiritual battle for not only our salvation, but the salvation of
others. Like it or not, we have been selected as being warriors on the
front lines of an epic spiritual battle.
Some might look at the reelection of
Barack Hussein Obama and other leaders with similar agendas as a death
knell for the Judeo-Christian spirit in America. I chose to view it as a
real-world test of my Christian faith personally and our Christian
faith collectively. It is clear that the spiritual battle lines have
been distinctly drawn. We are now called to emulate the spiritual
strength of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, so that we may change the course of
Christianity in America. Unified in the spirit of costly grace, we can
do it.
We must engage the battle and not
abandon the fight at this historic moment in time. Traditional marriage
between a man and a woman as defined by the Holy Bible must be
reinforced, not redefined. The wholesale slaughter of our nation’s
unborn under the demonic perversity of women’s rights must not be
accepted or further tolerated. We must not submit to a system that
requires us to forsake our beliefs under the color of law. Acting in the
spirit of costly grace, we must summon the spiritual courage of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer to change the course of our nation.
As my friend Steve Quayle
has often said, there are no political solutions to our spiritual
problems. Never in the course of American history has this proven to be
so true. Therefore, it is up to us, the “Bible holding bitter clingers,”
to rise to the level of true Christians and engage the forces of evil
that have overtaken our great nation.
Make no mistake – this is obviously not
a call for violence, but a call for leadership to every Christian
living in the United States. We have been given a most important task,
which is to be leaders among men. Believers of the true gospel can no
longer be silent. Together, we can make a difference. Our souls depend
on it.