Throwback Thursday: Standing Up

 

The following letter was written in either 2008 or 2012, and later published
in The Sentinel Newspaper of Franklin Twp. New Jersey. 

 In the wake of the November, 2024 election, it is clear to me that God has not only
rendered His mercy on an unjust and wicked nation called America, but, in this time
 of extended grace, the remnant Church needs to rise up and use this crucial hour
to witness the saving message of the gospel across our lost and wounded land. 

 We have been spared, but, not exactly cleared, from the forthcoming
judgment of God on our nation.

Now is the time to let our voices be heard.

Reverend Paul Robert Schneider

(1897-1939)

Image courtesy/Wikipedia

Romans 13:1 states, "Let every person be loyally subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority accept from God, and those who exist do so by God's appointment."

Christians are commanded to be civilly obedient, to honor their leaders, and pay their taxes.
 In other words, be upstanding, law-abiding citizens which most Christians are because
 we believe that we stand accountable for our actions, both public and private, before God.
However, in verse nine of Romans 13, Paul reminds us of the Ten Commandments:
"You shall not commit adultery, steal, nor covet evil desire."

This same behavior applies to our government leaders as well.  While we are called to
honor (respect) them, and obey the laws, we first stand accountable before God.
Therefore, when the behavior of  government leaders is immoral and their
decrees conflict with our faith in God, we have to stand for our faith.

The Reverend Paul Schneider was a Presbyterian minister who risked his life
 and the security of his family by standing up to the demonic ideology of
the Third Reich in Germany.  From the early days of his regime, dictator
Adolf Hitler sought to utilize the Church in Germany as a tool to spread
his false Nazi gospel of "racial purity."

Adolf Hitler with the Vatican ambassador Cesare Orsenigo
in 1935, two years before he seized power.
Image courtesy/The Times/Photo 12/Getty Images

However, Pastor Schneider refused to pervert the gospel of Christ with
the doctrines of the Nazis.  In 1934, he asked his congregation, "Where are
those Christian consciences who judge righteously, who take their standard
neither from National Socialism, nor from socialism, but rather from the gospel?"

Pastor Schneider's sermon was once interrupted by a member of Hitler's Youth
who declared that a member of his group who had recently died in an accident
was now a heavenly storm trooper, to which Pastor Schneider replied,
"This is a church service. There are no storm troopers in heaven!"

Although he continued to preach his message and stand up against the Nazis,
Pastor Schneider was eventually arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Buchenwald,
where he refused to salute the swastika and pledge allegiance to Hitler, which
was required of all prisoners each morning.

Yet, despite terrible suffering for his stand of faith, Pastor Schneider's message
never changed. He preached loudly from his solitary cell, warning his Nazi captors
of God's coming judgment on sin.  He later died from repeated severe beatings
at the hands of the SS officers.

In reading this story yesterday my first thought was, Who will be the Pastor Schneiders
of today's generation?  America as a nation has come to a halt at the crossroads. Do
we allow our government to keep on course and destroy us or will believers make
their voices heard, and stand up against evil by voting their faith instead of
their political affiliation this November?