Title: When A Nation Forgets God
Author: Erwin W. Lutzer
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Date: 2010
Pages: 160
Erwin Lutzer looks at seven different lessons that people can learn from Nazi Germany on when a nation forgets God. He looks at how Hitler won the favor of the churches in Germany in order to gain control of the nation.
Hitler had used kind, favorable words to win their support. Once he had their support, he changed some rules that removed the authority of the churches and was able to get them shut down.
Using propaganda and education the people of Germany were slowly numbed to the changes that Hitler was striving to bring about. Most of the Germans would not have accepted the torture and killing that was going on, but due to the change of words and the picture given, it was made acceptable.
A lot of the same things have happened in America. He points out that thirty years ago homosexuality was scorned and hated. Through the media of television, movies, and music it was portrayed first as a funny or crazy thing, but it numbed the people to it. Today it is now widely accepted, even inside the church.
Along with that are the topics of abortion, evolution, drugs and many other areas. The people of the church are being numbed to the sin of these acts and are starting to accept them as good.
The author points out that every believer must keep their focus on God and what He wants. They must remain well grounded in the Bible to be aware of the schemes of the enemy. Satan will strive to get believers to take their eyes off of Jesus and be numbed to what he is really doing.
He is not a doomsday prophet in any way, but does present a picture that the church is allowing the enemy to take over. They are accepting the lies from the enemy.
This is a short but easy to read book. I would highly recommend every believer to read it and see what God has for them. You should pray and seek God in what He wants you to do. Seek God for spiritual eyes that will see the deception that is being presented everywhere around. Do not allow yourself to be deceived.
evolution?
It is the teaching that everything came from a single cell evolving into what things are today. People who teach this dismiss the belief that there is a God. Along with teaching evolution it also devalues human life. Hopefully this helps you to understand what I was saying.
I disagree that what we are learning, and continue to learn, dismisses belief in God or devalues human life. God, as documented in the Bible, has revealed Himself to man in ways that man can understand Him…in ways that man can handle…emotionally, conceptually, and intellectually. When He appeared to Abraham and to Moses, it was in glimpses and even then the men were dramatically affected by the experience. God, the Father, sent Jesus in human form so we would be able to receive Him and accept Him and listen to Him without the shock of His divinity; when he presented simple displays of His power in healing and changing water to wine or feeding the thousands, these simple examples were difficult for people to understand and accept.
The writers of the Bible wrote about God in ways that made sense to them…in ways they and others could handle and understand; they wrote in terms of what they knew…and even then it was mysterious and marvelous. The more we learn about our world, our universe, and ourselves, the more we learn about how amazing God is. God is so much more than what we know and are aware of. If God created us by a method starting with single-celled organisms, the whole concept is mind-blowingly creative and brilliant. The elegance of the processes involved are evidence of the masterfully-artistic mind of God.
Evolution, in no way, devalues human life. Man is special and unique among all of the other creatures God planned: Man writes poetry, for example. All other creatures do what they do to survive. Poetry is not necessary for survival. Man seeks out communion with the Creator. Do other creatures do that?
God is in no way threatened by science or technology. Quite the contrary, God is giving us the guidance to learn more about His universe…and more. God reveals Himself to us and empowers us to learn more about Him as we are capable and prepared to know Him. For example, the Holy Spirit is not computer illiterate; God is in control and has led man to develop such technology and inspires men, like you and me, to use it to distribute knowledge, wisdom, and guidance to people all over the world.
God created this world and it is still a good creation. There is much wrong going on and God sees it. But God still loves us, His creation; wants us to willingly be reconciled to Him; gives us ample opportunities to do that and to help others see that; and He is just as excited as we are as we continue to learn how magnificently complex and beautifully executed His creation has been…and continues to be.
Thanks be to God and to God be the Glory.
Thank you for your comments! I agree that God is not against science. God’s creation is amazing and science can show that. I just go with scripture in that it says God made man from dust. The world teaches that God does not exist and man just appeared through evolution. If one is not careful that can negate God’s work. We have to be careful to not be led astray in the learning.
“The world teaches that God does not exist …” There are, I know, specific groups who claim this. They are wrong and when I come in contact with them I tell them so, as, I am sure, you do. These groups are mistaken AND not in the majority. So so many of our most brilliant scientists believe in God BECAUSE of their research and knowledge.
I suspect the writers of the Bible explained to the people that God created man from dust because, at the time, dust was the smallest particle they knew of. Were they lying? No. Were they distorting the truth or misleading the people? No. Were they making things up? No. They were explaining the miracle of creation in the only terms they knew. I was effective and got the essential truth across: God made man from virtually nothing more than tiny bits of stuff like dust. It worked for them; it works for me.
I think the essential difference between your view and mine is that I don’t watch the news or read books on what is wrong in the world. I have had enough bad news in my life to satisfy any person’s quota therefore I focus on the good things (Jesus being received into person’s heart, someone thanking me for messages of hope, a change in a person’s countenance when I point out gently how we can not know what is behind someone else’s behavior but we can ask Jesus to intervene, etc.). Also, I focus on the few people that I can influence, effectively.
Your mission, as it appears to me, is to warn people about the consequences of ignoring God’s efforts to turn their lives around and be reconciled to Him. My mission is to attempt to soften people’s hearts toward their fellow man and to reflect Jesus in my own life, all the while giving Him credit. It is my prayer that they will forgive and ask for forgiveness and be reconciled to God.
You and I are singing from the same hymnal, just different hymns.
Thank you, Tom. That means a great deal to me.
I would like to point out that you use the term “the world” the way so many people refer to “the government,” as if it were an organism with one mind and one intention.
I worked for the Federal Government for 22 years. I tell you the truth: the government is people, individual people, most of whom believe in what they are doing which is acting on behalf of all citizens of the US of A, within the confines of enacted laws. They usually have families, usually have beliefs and often go to church, they are usually underpaid for the work they do but because they are frustrated by having too much in their in-baskets and not enough time to do a good and thorough job on any of it, they are disillusioned, disappointed, bored with going through the motions, and then get yelled at for bring part of the problem.
When I hear someone ask. “What is the government thinking, when…?” I just want to cry. The “government” is not some remote entity with evil intentions; it is a bunch of people trying to do their best with what they have been given.
Likewise, “the world.”. We are all just children trying to survive in whatever way we know how. If we have been raised with abuse or neglect, we tend to abuse and neglect. If we have been told that God is angry and is going to punish us severely, we are going to try to lay low and try to remain under the radar. If we have been taught to distrust authority figures, we are not likely to love God.
We, you and I, do have a battle on our hands because there is evil fighting our efforts but to lump all people into a category like ” the government ” or “the world” is to fail to look into the individual eyes of each person we are here to serve…in the Name of Jesus.
I never meant every person in the government or in the world. I am talking about the system as a whole is not of God, but of the devil.
There are those in the government and in this world who are striving to serve God with a true heart. However, the majority are serving themselves, thus serving satan. Jesus said only a few would find the road to God.