In 1995 Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Moody Church Pastor for over 30 years, wrote a book entitled Hitler’s Cross which was an in-depth look into the tyrannical takeover of the church in Germany by Adolph Hitler. Lutzer describes Germany in the 1930’s and what happens when evil meets a silent, shrinking church, and is an intriguing and convicting expose of modern America’s own hidden crosses. Most of us are familiar with Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his martyrdom by the Nazis during this period. Many are not aware that over 800 other pastors and priests went to the camps instead of bowing to Hitler’s twisted cross.
In 2010 Pastor Lutzer wrote a sequel entitled When A Nation Forgets God; 7 Lessons We Must Learn From Nazi Germany. This book clearly explains what the parallels are between Germany’s fall from grace and of our own fall. In 2018 Lutzer wrote The Church In Babylon and calls out the church in this dark and evil time and pulls no punches. Lutzer is telling us that we need to make a mid-course correction in this cultural climate that is so clearly anti-Christian.
We live in a society now that is trying to institutionalize a tyranny of ideological clichés that clearly go against Biblical truth. Rod Dreher is another author that is sounding the alarm in his excellent book written in2020, Live Not by Lies and should be required reading by all Americans that love freedom. The title is taken from a line that Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in his last essay in the Soviet Union. The book resulted in a conversation Rod had with a prominent American physician about his mother, an elderly Czechoslovak immigrant to the United States who had spent six years of her youth as a political prisoner. Now living in the United States with her son she said that events in the U.S. reminded her of when communism first came to Czechoslovakia. What prompted her concern was the mob going after an Indiana pizzeria because he would not cater a same-sex wedding. The threats were so great they had to close for a time. The doctor asked Rod not to use his name because of the backlash to him.
Hist question became Rod’s question – “What if the old Czech woman sees something the rest of us do not.” During the next few years Rod spoke with many men and women who lived under communism and he asked them what they thought of the old woman’s declaration. They all said yes—often emphatically. They were usually surprised by his question because they consider Americans to be hopelessly naive on the subject.
We are being divided and encouraged to identify with groups—ethnic, sexual and otherwise. Rod describes it this way, “You can never be sure when those in power will come after you as a villain for having said or done something that was perfectly fine the day before. And the consequences for violating the new taboos are extreme, including having your livelihood and your reputation ruined forever.” Sound familiar?
The third author that should have a place on your bookshelf is Os Guinness. Os was a child of missionaries in China and lived through the Japanese occupation and later the Communist takeover of China before they escaped. His family returned to England where Os received his education at Oxford and spent many months with Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland at L’Abri retreat center. In 1968 Os spent a year in America at a time of the Hong Kong Flu, riots in over 80 American cities, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and of course the infamous Democratic convention in Chicago. Oh, it was also the year of the Olympics in Mexico with protests.
When Os returned to Europe he spoke about all of these events and was encouraged to write a book, which he did called the Dust of Death. With remarkable research and insight Os talked about the failure of this “revolution” by the Weathermen, Black Panthers and other leftist groups. These groups decided that to be successful they needed a “long march” through the institutions. That is, they needed to control, media, entertainment, education, journalism and the culture to be successful. They have done that. Os continues to sound the alarm with recent books such as A Free People’s Suicide, Last Call for Liberty and others. Os will challenge you to realize that it is not so much that freedom is to be won but it must be sustained.
Solzhenitsyn believed the core of the crisis that created and sustained totalitarianism was not political but spiritual. He also believed we can stand against it because it is an ideology of lies. The system depends for its existence on a people’s fear of challenging the lies. Never support lies. I would also encourage you to get a copy of the publication “Critical Social Justice in Idaho K-12 Education” put out by the Idaho Freedom Foundation with The Claremont Institute and Center for American Education. Call IFF for a copy, it is eye opening and chilling as the same time of the lies being presented to our children.
We can’t have four more years of a Governor who controls much of the apparatus of state government and blatantly ignores the will of the people and elected legislature. Another divided election like 2018 would be a disaster if it results in another four years of Brad Little. He has raised a lot of money from the education establishment, health care interests, big business the Idaho swamp. Too often conservatives have squandered their chances because of division. Now we have to see that “it is what it is” before us. I believe we have an experienced candidate who knows state government and how it works and not afraid to speak truth to power. An endorsement of Janice McGeachin and Priscilla Giddings is not an attack on other candidates but realizing we have to win this race!! This is our best chance.
