Of all the occurrences to recall in light of “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it,” the publication of Mein Kampf must rank among the most infamous. But it was on today’s date of July 18 of 1925 that Adolph Hitler’s My Struggle saw its printing and almost immediately became a Best Seller in Germany.
The harder his responsibly minded detractors strove to contain his racist egotism, the more they only succeeded in popularizing his rantings. They never quite learned that by blowing on the fires of his hatred, they merely caused the flames to spread far wider.
An insightful story came about at the end of World War II when the Nazi movement was finally and militarily subdued. It involved one of the most intellectual pastors of prewar Germany, Dr. Martin Neimoller. Dr. Neimoller was far from being one of the run-of-the-mill ministers who were systematically rounded up by the Brown Shirt thugs busy bullying anyone who even slightly appeared failing to give homage to Hitler.
He was a well-respected pastor, theologian, author and intellectual. When he was arrested, Hitler had the man brought to him before imprisonment. Knowing that if he could persuade this outstanding minister to ‘walk back’ on his Christian faith and, instead, support Hitler’s view of world power, it would save the dictator Fuehrer much personal trouble.
For thirty minutes they sparred. They discussed philosophy, theology, history and ideology. Hitler never gave an inch of his commitment to realizing a vision of a world ruled by force. And Neimoller refused to abandon his faith in Christ Jesus.
Neimoller left Hitler’s office for prison where he remained for years.
But years later, after his release, Neimoller was awakened in the middle of a night with an unusual dream, or perhaps one might believe it to be an exceptionally perceptive vision. He dreamed he witnessed Hitler standing before the throne of God the Father on Judgment Day with Christ questioning the dictator, “What is your excuse for your crimes?” Hitler’s response to Jesus in the dream is the soul compelling focus of this vision: “No one ever told me the Gospel!”
Neimoller was left with a heavy heart, as well as a frightful realization. While he had used every field and form of persuasion one might consider to dissuade the tyrant from his evil purposes and steer him toward a loving method of leading people, in his 30-minute exchange, he never mentioned to the despotic the love of the person Jesus Christ.
Is it possible that today that we the church of today have failed to learn from Neimoller’s experience? The Christian faith is far more than a set of rules and regulations or a written creed we might recite together in a formal worship service. Christianity is not simply opposing people who do not believe as we do or who have value systems and culture strange to ourselves.
We refer to this important concept of Christ being the central focus of the Christian faith at least a couple of times each year, especially Christmas and Easter. We sound off loudly how “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” and then we openly broadcast how our faith is not based upon a location where we can pilgrimage to where the founder of our religion is buried but to an empty tomb because He is risen from the grave. All of that is good and true.
Ultimately the Christian faith lies in Jesus Himself.
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