Sometimes I just get so tired. Up is down and wrong is right. Our society demands transparency, but works in the shadows. We are afraid to speak our minds, but call ourselves the “land of the free.” Have we forgotten what freedom really looks like? As long as we allow ourselves to be threatened into silence, into inaction, freedom eludes us. The more rights we give away, the fewer we retain.
Is something going wrong in your world? Speak up! Is someone being unjustly persecuted? Give your support! There is no stronger feeling of loneliness than feeling that everyone is arrayed against you.
John Wesley, the father of the Methodist Church, died an Anglican. His criticisms of the Anglican Church were meant to bring reform, not split the church. This culture of dissent is no longer valued in our world. We can only embrace those with the same ideas, shunning any hint of criticism or disagreement. When did it become okay to drive away those with opposing views? When did it become acceptable to silence the opposition?
Adolph Hitler gained control over the legislative and executive branches of the German government and systematically began destroying his opposition. His resulting dictatorship attempted to eliminate the Jewish race from the face of the earth. Attempts to reign in Hitler’s power, such as Operation Valkyrie, resulted in Hitler’s savage reprisals, including the death of over 4,800 people, among them Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As we become complacent and emasculated, the Devil is at work in our world. I know it is so “unenlightened” to believe in the Devil, but I believe he is alive and well, in our homes, in our schools, in our government, and even in our churches. All across the world people are rejoicing that we have lost our voice, that we have lost our fire.
Bad things are happening, and we have no response. Bad things happened to Joseph, back in the days of the Old Testament. He was thrown into a well by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery. Through his dependence on God he was able to make the best of his situation, ultimately becoming so powerful that he was able to save his family and his nation from famine. How easy would it have been for him to ignore their requests for food? How easy would it have been to act like he did not recognize his brothers? Genesis reveals that Joseph knew that God could take the bad actions of Joseph’s family and turn it around and turn it into something good. “You intended evil against me, but God intended it for good...” Genesis 50:20.
God is working through you, and God is working through me. We have to take a stand and fight back against the evil in our world. God will stand by us, but we can’t sit idly by. If we do, we stand to lose our chance. We stand to allow the evil to grow and fester. We stand to let evil perpetuate.
Martin Niemoller was a German theologian and a contemporary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The German church received much criticism for failing to speak out against Hitler, and by default, allowing the extermination of over six million Jewish people. Niemoller was one of the few who spoke out against Hitler and this landed him in a Nazi concentration camp for seven years. Upon his release he penned the following verses:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Jew.
And then they came for me -
and there was no one left to speak for me.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about the things that matter." If we give up our voice, we risk losing it for all time. Stand up for injustice. Speak the truth. Let your light shine!
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