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Who Dares to Follow Jesus?

In Nazi Germany Christians could only preach, teach, or write if they first signed an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Because of this many Christians, fearing persecution by the state, did that very thing.
One small group chose to take a stand for Jesus by refusing to swear allegience to Hitler and the Third Reich. This was the Confessing Church who confessed Christ alone as having power over them. Members of the Confessing Church did face persecution. Most of their pastors spent time in prisons or concentration camps, and many like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were executed. Most of the young men who were studying to be pastors were drafted and sent to the Russian front. Of the one hundred fifty from the Confessing Church's Finkenwalde Seminary only thirty survived.
The majority of Christians in Nazi Germany who did sign the oath fo loyalty to Hitler were able to continue preaching, teaching, and writing but at what cost? They were not allowed to speak out against the state. They were forced to display swasticas and even portraits of Hitler in their churches.
In the United States we are blessed because we have the freedom to follow Jesus if we choose. But choosing this course has its disadvantages. Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus promised, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake." (Matthew 5:11) I have found that in choosing to follow Jesus I face persecution almost everyday.
I find it abhorrent that we have a president who claims to be a Christian and yet chooses to ignore the most basic teachings of Jesus. So I find that to support this man would be unconscionable. Yet because of this stance I have been accused of being a traitor, been called stupid and worse. And a lot of the people making these accusations are supposedly Christians.
Many Christians talk about how the United States is such a great Christian nation. But there is no place on earth that is truly Christian and there won't be until Jesus comes back to reign. We only have to look at the way we have treated Native Americans and Blacks (people Jesus died for) to see the extent of our injustice and lack of Christian character.
I am thankful for the freedom I have as an American just being able to write this, but I don't believe it was won for me by people dying in wars. I belieev that everything we have in this nation is by the grace of God and if we don't start honoring Him for it soon this nation may end up being a battlefield like Europe during World War II.
I am proud to be an American. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was proud to be a German as well. But we must never ler our patriotism overshadow our devotion to Christ, for Christianity transcends all political, geographic, and cultural boundaries.

Are You a Christian or Just Part of the Christian Subculture? Pt. 1

SIGNS THAT YOU MAY BE

PART OF THE

CHRISTIAN SUBCULTURE

• you have lots of Christian themed jewelry, t-shirts, stationery, knick knacks, bumper stickers, etc.
• you shop at Christian bookstores more than once a month
• you listen almost exclusively to Christian radio stations, watch Christian television programming, etc.
• you complain about how trashy network television is, but continue to watch it
• you talk about your religion or church a lot but don't participate in any active ministry
• you pray more 'help me' prayers than 'change me' prayers
• you claim to follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace, but support war
• you claim to follow Jesus but don't do anything to help the poor
• you claim to follow Jesus but are unable to love your enemies, or anyone who is different from you
• you claim to follow Jesus but criticize people who actually are following Jesus
• you claim to follow Jesus - but don't