Tag Nazi Germany

Thanking God For Fleas

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

The barracks where Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested.

They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things there were to give thanks, and that God can use anything for good. Corrie’s sister Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas. This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.

Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened. They found that the guards never entered their barracks. This meant that women were not assaulted. It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp. Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.

Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter into their barracks. It was because of the fleas.

We give thanks to God for every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), but also thank Him for how He will use all things for good in the lives of those who trust Him (Romans 8:28). In this time of declining home values and rising unemployment; in a time when many are facing physical and emotional challenges; there can be little doubt that such a trusting prayer of gratitude will be challenging to consider. But when you feel that challenge, take a moment, and remember the fleas of Ravensbruck. And thank God anyway

The Silence of the Lambs

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

  1. No I am not talking about the movie starring Jodi Foster and Anthony Hopkins but rather the reluctance of Christians to speak out on political issues. The silence of the lambs has allowed an ever-expanding government to grow even larger and more tyrannical with each subsequent administration.

In this article from Godfather Politics the author traces the silencing of the lambs historically to tyrannical regimes of the past including China and Nazi Germany. The article’s writer cites references to the government crackdown on religion and especially preachers who dared challenge the government aggression or speak out against government abuses of power.

“Over time, churches in Nazi German were “confined as far as possible to the performance of narrowly religious functions, and even within this narrow sphere were subjected to as many hindrances as the Nazis dared to impose.” This is the evaluation of a 1945 report published by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA. It was called The Nazi Master Plan: The Persecution of the Christian Churches and was prepared for the War Crimes Staff. It offered the following summary: “This study describes, with illustrative factual evidence, Nazi purposes, policies and methods of persecuting the Christian Churches in Germany and occupied Europe.””

  1. “Where did the strategic plan begin? “Implementation of this objective
    started with the curtailment of religious instruction in the primary and
    secondary schools with the squeezing of the religious periods into
    inconvenient hours, with Nazi propaganda among the teachers in order to
    induce them to refuse the teaching of religion, with vetoing of . . .
    religious text books, and finally with substituting [a] Nazi Weltanschauung [worldview] and ‘German faith’ for Christian religious denominational instruction. . .”

  2. “The next step was to neutralize the impact that churches would have on
    politics. “Under the pretext that the Churches themselves were
    interfering in political and state matters, [the Nazis] would deprive
    the Churches, step by step, of all opportunity to affect German public
    life.” How often do we hear that the “separation between church and
    state” means that churches must remain silent on social and political
    issues?”

If any of this sounds familiar it is because the wiles of the devil have not changed. In order to gain access to destroy a family, a community, a city or a country the evil one must first be granted permission to do his dirty work. By getting God-fearing men and women to fear the created and not the Creator, the enemy of life and peace is able to gain the upper hand and sets himself up as god. This can be seen clearly in the garden of Eden where the serpent beguiled Eve to seduce Adam to disobey God and by so doing the serpent gains access to all that once belonged to Adam. The serpent gained power over all of life and began to bring about man’s destruction along with everything created by God.

  1. Adam did not heed the Lord’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and by his disobedience sin entered the world.

Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned.Romans 5:12 (GW)

Jesus came to regain the authority that Adam lost through his disobedience. Jesus therefore defeated the power the enemy had to run amok in the world. Therefore Satan has to resort to his tried and true tactics to gain power and authority over a group of people. His main modus operandi is to twist the word of God to seduce people into believing that God hates them and is keeping something from them and thereby getting a person to distrust God which makes them an easy target.

Be well-balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the dominion (power, authority, rule) forever and ever. Amen (so be it). 1 Peter 5:8-11 (AMP)
God gives stern warnings to the church and church leaders who refuse to warn His people of impending doom and destruction. Since Satan operates in all areas of life that pertains to humanity why should Christians be limited to only being concerned about one area of life the spiritual? Shouldn’t Christian leaders be encouraging their flocks to be diligent in all areas of life especially since Satan is out to gain authority over them anyway that he can? I think that answer to that is obvious.
The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, “Son of man, speak to your people. Tell them, ‘Suppose I bring war on this country, and the people of this country choose one of their men and make him their watchman. If he sees the enemy coming to attack the country, he will blow his horn to warn the people. If the people hear the horn and ignore the warning and the enemy comes and takes them, they will be responsible for their own deaths. They heard the sound of the horn but ignored its warning. So they are responsible for their own deaths. If they had taken the warning, they would have saved themselves. “‘But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t blow his horn to warn the people and the enemy comes and kills someone, that watchman must die because of his sin. I will hold him responsible for their deaths.‘ Ezekiel 33:1-6 (GW)

The trumpet has been sounded, you have been warned, take heed to yourself how you shall respond. As for me and this blog I will continue to speak forth the words of the Lord as the Lord gives me the utterance so help me God.

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D-Day

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens. Ephesians 6:12 (BBE)

In American History D-Day is the name given to the landing of 160,000 Allied troops in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. The success of the invasion of Normandy was really the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. The invasion, also called “Operation Overlord,” involved five separate landings by American, British, and Canadian troops and was commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Stiff German resistance resulted in nearly 10,000 Allied casualties, but the Germans were ultimately unable to repel the Allied forces. Although German resistance continued even after all five beachheads were taken, they had too few troops in the area to be effective. By August 1944, all of Northern France was under Allied control as Eisenhower began to prepare for the invasion of Germany. source

The dictionary defines D-day informally as any day of special significance, as one marking an important event or goal. In military terminology it refers to the day, usually unspecified, set for the beginning of a planned attack. So it was on this date in June 1944 the United States and Allied forces engaged Nazi Germany to liberate France from the Nazi German invasion. Many allied service men were killed or wounded that fateful day on the beaches of Normandy, but their valiant efforts resulted in the liberation of France and the beginning of the end of the reign of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi war machine.

Many disdain military force anywhere in the world. Many see military aggression as base and vile. For the most part I would have to agree that any war is hell, no matter how right the cause, the casualties of war are horrendous and as a result war should never be entered into lightly or without much forethought and preparedness. However imagine if America had not entered the war against Nazi Germany. What would the world look like today? Is there ever a time to wage war against an ever-increasing aggressor? Many believed a neutral position was the best position to take. The atrocities committed under Hitler’s Germany were horrendous and had America stepped in sooner fewer lives would have been lost due to Nazi aggression. Millions of Jews would have been spared the Nazi gas chambers and concentration camps. Evil is the only word I can think of to use to describe this naked aggression against peaceful people. World domination was Hitler’s goal and the annihilation of the Jewish people his aim.

Adolf Hitler in Yugoslavia.

Image via Wikipedia

As horrible as the war of Germany was a never-ending battle has raged since the dawn of time. The battle for the souls of all mankind. Hitler was the face of evil in the 1940’s, Radical Islam is the modern face of evil, but they all have roots in the spiritual war in the heavens where powers and principalities battle for supremacy. Satan and his demons rage against God and all the children of God living today. Israel is the focal point of Satan’s wrath. As vicious as Hitler’s rage against the Jewish people was it was only a mirror of the real hatred Satan has for the Jewish people and state. They shared the same goals, eliminate the Jews and dominate humankind (rule the world).

The 50 miles of Normandy beaches were heavily fortified with bunkers and mines. The heaviest of which was Omaha beach were more than 2000 allied forces lost their lives. The landing by regiments of the 1st and 29th Infantry divisions and Army Rangers on OMAHA Beach was even more difficult than expected. When the first wave landed at 6:30 a.m., the men found that naval gunfire and pre-landing air bombardments had not softened German defenses or resistance. Along the 7,000 yards of Normandy shore German defenses were as close to that of an Atlantic Wall as any of the beaches. Enemy positions that looked down from bluffs as high as 90-120 feet (or more at low tide), and water and beach obstacles strewn across the narrow strip of beach, stopped the assault at the water’s edge for much of the morning of D-Day. Climbing these cliffs and taking out these high places was a job that had to be done, a battle that needed to be won.
http://www.kansasheritage.org/abilene/ikedday.html

Completely destroy all the worship sites on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every large tree. The people you’re forcing out worship their gods in these places. Deuteronomy 12:2 (GW) Continue reading “D-Day” →