THE FAITHFUL SPY - CHAPTERS 3-4

THE FAITHFUL SPY - CHAPTERS 3-4

This week's post is going up a day early, so I can enjoy a day off for Thanksgiving with my family.

I hope this book is challenging you to ask BIG QUESTIONS in your life. I hope this book is challenging you that even when you feel the tide of popular thought sweeping around you, that you stop, and think about the direction that tide is taking people and the cause behind it!

The radio broadcast really resonated with me. After all, we are quickly approaching the presidential election season, and I found myself asking what makes a good leader? Bonhoeffer gives us a little bit of insight into those thoughts, but it is something to really think and ponder. Most of us hold leadership in some type of area whether it is parenting, work, church, social, etc. How we lead is very important! Coupled with that is the power of effective communication. Dietrich had some very clear thoughts on that as well!

I can't pass by the baptizing of the babies to Hitler instead of God without commenting. My heart aches at the caving of the church in this story. I can't begin to imagine God's thoughts on this continual rejection.

Bonhoeffer couldn't stand idly by with the rise of the Nazi church. He begins gathering pastoral support in Europe and Scandinavia. Can I pause a moment and just encourage us to remember our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in harm's way? Pray for them. Support them anyway that you are able.

How in the world did Hitler and his goons get away with The Night of Long Knives? Then, when he reveals his plans for Germany, to the horror of his generals, how did he politically survive? There are so many places where Hitler could have been dumped off the political train. Oh how history would be different today if that would have happened!

Kristallnacht, the night where any hope for the Jews left in Germany as citizens was destroyed. Blame and hatred NEVER accomplishes anything except destruction and the persecution of innocent people. "If the church, in this moment, did not exist to protect the other, it had no right to be called The Church at all."

Dietrich knows he cannot serve Hitler. He heads to America for one year, but as he sails past Lady Liberty there she stands, a light in the dark.( Have you ever thought about how much impact this statue has had on thousands of people?) He knows he cannot stay. He must return to Germany. We close our reading on a single question, " Would God forgive the murderer of a tyrant?"