The Death of Christianity’s Influence on Politics in America (Part 6)

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

What’s wrong with the right ditch?

For the Vietnam War, the right ditch was just as extreme as the left ditch. And sadly, it had a Christian counterpart in 1930’s Germany.

Looking back, it is hard to believe that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power through presidential appointments and elections. But even after winning the election in 1933, Hitler had only 43% of the vote. So, he was forced to build coalitions in order to govern Germany and to bring forth the perfect Aryan race he had envisioned for the nation.

Hitler and the Nazis understood the importance of calming Christian fears about his ungodly plans to build a Third Reich. Thus, the Nazis used the Bible to undermine Christian values.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. (Romans 13: 1-2)

The Nazis twisted Romans 13 into a justification for Christians blindly obeying the Nazi government in whatever they did. After all, the Nazis were established by God and resisting the governing authorities was a major sin.

Yes, there was fevent opposition to the Nazi’s twisted use of Romans 13 by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoller and other pastors. But their voices were muted as trumped up charges were brought against them and they were imprisoned.

Sadly, nearly one third of the Lutheran pastors jumped on board the Nazi bandwagon and backed their policies. This defection from the truth quelled most believers’ apprehensions about blindly obeying the Nazi government.

Then, as the changes became more and more radical and ungodly, German Christians were swept along in the undertow of their earlier decisions into deeper and deeper waters of blind obedience.

During the Vietnam War, much the same thing happened to a significant percentage of Christians who fell into the right ditch. They held tightly to Romans 13 and voiced slogans such as, “America, love it or leave it.”

By holding so tightly to Romans 13:1-2, Christians ignored the message of a subsequent verse:

For it [the government] is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. (Romans 13:4)

The government of a nation is supposed to minster good to its people, not evil. Thus, if a nation’s government heads in an ungodly direction, we are to react like Peter and the apostles did:

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)

The Vietnam War acted like a sword to divide Christianity and set it up for future defeats.

(Continued in Part 7)