A Blind, Power-Hungry Church

When Hitler rose to power, the German Church went with him. As his anti-semitic laws were put in force, the Church—which was born as an anti-racist movement—joined in on the racism. As their new dictator made his proclamations, the German Church likened him to Christ, seeing him as a political messiah of sorts that was finally putting things right. Even pastors went along with him.

This almost seems unbelievable, except we’ve seen this predicament rise again in the American church’s radical Trumpism and the ideals of Christian nationalism. As the world called out racism and deficient moral qualities in Trump, the Church fought on his behalf. Trump became a God-appointed, messiah-like figure for Christians that pastors raved about and prophets prophesied (wrongly) about. It was like the church had gone blind. Even Christians who had written entire books on the rise of Nazi Germany were unable to see the societal and church-related similarities and went right along with it.

The church and power make for a grievous and explosive cocktail. Church, stay awake. For if you do not deal with the root of your problem (which you haven’t) you will fall when the opportunity arises to do so.