Welcome to the Art of Effective Communication with your host, Alan London. a veteran firefighter with over four decades of experience with information that can change lives.
Based on his latest book, Mastering the Art of Effective Communication, Alan will address a multitude of issues pertaining to all areas of life.This show reaches globally, so thanks for tuning in.
And now, get ready to immerse yourself in the art of effective communication with your host, Alan London, right here on CAT 81 Radio, South Florida.
Well, top of the morning to you.Today we have a very important show, especially for those living in the USA.This is Eric Metaxas, Letter to America Part One.I'll play Part Two tomorrow.He's being interviewed by Joni Lam on Daystar TV.
So this is a very important episode.Please listen and share it.
It's the silence of the church opening the door for a wave of wickedness, persecution, and a loss of freedom.With the help of today's guests, we'll look at what the German church was doing and not doing at the time when Hitler came to power.
We're gonna discover some startling realities about what's happening today, but first, joining me around the table is April Simons.How are you?
I am good, and I appreciate all the subjects that we dive into here.It's so important.
You know, we really can look at our history of the world and learn from past mistakes.At least we should, right? Definitely, so good.Yeah, Kendra Kelly Dean, how are you?
that we could look at the history.You know, you came to work for me, like, how old were you, like 19?I was 21.21.Back then, could you have imagined what we're seeing now?No, absolutely not.
Of course, I watched you grow up, get married, have kids, be a pastor's wife.I mean, but it's really startling to think about how far we have come away from.
Yeah, it's mind-blowing when I think about what my children in elementary school are dealing with versus what I had to deal with in elementary school.And some of these topics here in America, I would have never imagined.
I have to let them know, this is what the Lord says about you.Your identity is in Him.This is what He says He wants us to do.I can't let the world define that for them.
Yeah.You were born a girl. That's right.
And you will marry a wonderful, handsome man one day.
Rachel Lamb Brown.These are important topics.I mean, you're raising Judah.He's two years old.I mean, you have to think about all this.
Oh, absolutely.And I was a history minor.I love studying history and learning from the past.You know, not to repeat the same mistakes from the past into the future.And I know Dad was an avid history lover as well. He was, he loved history.
I'm excited to dive into this and kind of look at what was going on back then and compare it and contrast it with what's happening now.For sure, for sure.It'd be pretty crazy.
My daughter in love, how are you doing?
I'm doing so good, I'm excited for today's show.
Yeah, and I mean, you had actually shared a little bit of the history you understood about Germany and we're gonna be talking about today.
That's right, and I love Bonhoeffer's story, it's amazing.
Yeah, Cindy Murdock, how are you?I'm great.You look beautiful today. Thank you.I like your hair.Thank you.Well, he is a noted author and speaker, and he's here to talk about one of his latest books, Letter to the American Church.
Please welcome our dear friend, Eric Metaxas.Here he comes, folks.
That was a good entrance.
I only have two pretty women in my house at home.This is a little overwhelming.What is going on?What a blessing to be back.Thank you for having me back.
And I'm sorry that the topic of our conversation is so unbelievably serious because I like to joke around.But what y'all were saying, The parallels are insane.And I cannot overstate them.
A lot of times people think, you know, well, you're exaggerating a little bit.Not even a little bit.Not at all.
Well, you know, one of the things you told me before we came on the air today is you said, you know, I was here a year ago and you were talking about some things, you know, concerning this whole COVID and you had doctors on and you were like, I wasn't really sure about, you know, what all you were talking about.
Well, that speaks to the issue is that in America, We have to be honest.We have to kind of take the temperature.We have been so blessed in America that it is very difficult for us to comprehend evil.
It's very difficult for us to comprehend that our government or medical professionals or whoever would be lying, would be themselves perhaps deceived and putting out nonsense.Or withholding information.Or withholding information.
Or censoring information.Or doing things that never, in our lifetimes, these things haven't happened.So most people took some time, and it's kind of like a rolling admissions thing of what you can allow yourself to believe.
You know, when they said to me that, quote, my wife, who's been ahead of me on this whole thing, was like, you know, with me the whole time.Well, no, but it's true.It's true.But I wasn't really against it.I was just like, well, wait a minute.
Let's get the facts.Let's assume, you know, good things or whatever.But, you know, the idea that Cuomo or others, governors, were putting COVID patients in nursing homes or whatever.
implying that they didn't care if they lived or died, or maybe they're going to die.And I said, wait a second.I am as conservative as it gets, but I can't believe that in the United States of America, people would do that.I can't believe it.
I won't believe it.Now, I believe it.And I want to tell you exactly what I just said happened in Germany.When horrible things happened in Germany, this was Germany.It was one of the most civilized Christian nations in the history of the world.
We forget.And they couldn't believe this was happening.They didn't react quickly because they thought, are you kidding?He's just a one-term Fuhrer.We'll get through this.Everything will be fine or whatever.You know, everybody says some crazy things.
They could not comprehend the evil because they didn't have a sense of history.Everything had been pretty good.And I feel like it's worse in America.We have been so blessed.
It's impossible for most Americans to comprehend that it is possible the Lord would allow this level of evil to come upon us.And I'm here to say, It has.We need to face it.
And if we face it and fight it with everything we have, I believe the Lord's will will prevail.But I don't see that happening now.What I see happening now is the same thing that happened in Germany.People not wanting to hear it.
People not wanting to see it.People thinking, I'm just going to be neutral.I'm not going to say anything.
Right, well, you know, I want you to go back a little bit to Bonhoeffer and talk a little bit about before actually Hitler came on the scene, let's talk about what was happening with the church in Germany.
But I do believe, Eric, that because of you, because of Daystar, because of others who we are speaking the truth concerning a lot of the different things going on in the world today, and we're more concerned about pleasing God than pleasing people.
That's kind of the key there. And we have a reverential fear of the Lord and understanding that everything we do we're accountable to him for and I do believe that people watching Are gonna start standing up.
I'll be there already standing up I do believe we're gonna see another great awakening before Jesus comes and I do believe that God is allowing things to be uncovered just like he's doing this with you
I believe exactly everything you just said, but you realize the only point is these are all conditional.If the Lord's people will do everything required of them, which I believe they will.
But many, many, many people are still asleep.And I wrote this book and I go everywhere talking about this and you do what you do here because you know tons of people are still either asleep
or somehow in denial that they need to do something self-sacrificial and step up.They don't understand we're in a war and what you do, the whole war could hinge on whether you step up.And people think, well, it's up to other people.
Let the hotheads take it.
And you're talking about like the church, the body of Christ.Like we have the answer.We have the only answer, which is Jesus.But I mean, we have got to stand up.So let's go back to Bonhoeffer. What a great hero of faith.
Well, see, that's what's interesting, Joni.It's like everybody who read my Bonhoeffer book when it came out, they're like, oh, he's so great.He's so great.Right.He's so great.
The assumption being that, well, if I were there, I would have been on his side.I would have said, I would have spoken up too, right?
Well, that's nonsense because people in our day are not speaking up against things that are equally vile and wrong.Christians are not speaking up.They're not living out their faith self-sacrificially.And I'm not saying this as a negative confession.
Obviously some are, but in places like, you know, America or Texas where you can just kind of get by and we're Christians or whatever, you can fake it.And so we have had,
such a history of blessing in this country that we haven't had to like really face, would I be willing to lose my job?Would I be willing to lose my life?Would I be willing to lose friends?We've never had to make those choices.
And so in a sense, Bonhoeffer in his day was trying to say to the church, church, we're there now.If you do not speak against this evil, it will take us over.And there's a chapter in the book called 12,000 Pastors.
This kind of sums up where we are in America.In Germany, there were about 18,000 Protestant pastors, okay.And at the beginning of the 30s, they wrote the Barmen Declaration.This was when they
A number of them recognized that the Nazis are going to crush the church.They want to take over the church.It's similar but different.But the point is, a number of them said, whoa, whoa, deal breaker.We will not go along with this.
They wrote the Barman Declaration, really heroic thing.
And they saw a shift, like they saw a shift coming.
Well, Bonhoeffer saw this coming before, but when the Nazis took power in 1933, they instantly instituted all kinds of draconian things, some of which, for people like Bonhoeffer, were obvious deal-breakers.
They were like, wait a minute, we are obliged before God to speak up.So they wrote the Brahman Declaration.And I'm telling you this because two years into this, about 1935, okay,
Of these, let's say, 18,000 pastors, 3,000 stood firmly with the Barman Declaration against the nazification of the church.They were real clear on the separation of church and state, our fidelity is to Jesus, period.Right?
That was 3,000.On the other end of the spectrum, there were 3,000 that were totally pro-Nazi, like whatever the government says, we're all in.You know, they were, whatever, theologically useless, liberal, whatever you want to call it.
But in the middle... There were 12,000 pastors who basically said, you know what?We don't need to take a vocal position on this.We're just gonna preach the gospel, right?Which is a satanic lie.
What dead gospel are you going to preach if evil is taking over the church, if evil is demonizing Jews and treating them like animals or whatever, and you don't open your mouth, what?
Miserable gospel do you think you're going to be allowed to preach by those people?And who's going to want to hear your gospel when you didn't open your mouth for those who are suffering?
So Bonhoeffer was one of those 3,000, but in the middle were the 12,000 who they actually thought And I'm sure many of them thought, we're taking the safe path.We're taking the prudent path.We don't want to get shut down.
We don't want the government to mess with us, whatever.We're just taking the prudent path.I don't want to lose my church.I don't want anything bad to happen.Okay.The exact same thing, exactly, is happening in America today.
Pastors across America today, you know, you've got a few that are being really bold, praise the Lord. You've got a few on the other end that are, you know, practically working overtime for the devil, except they're just deluded and whatever.
But in the middle are innumerable Christian leaders and Christians who kinda know, but have decided to take a pass.They've said, I'm gonna see which way the wind blows, because you know what, if it doesn't go well, I don't wanna get caught.
I don't wanna lose whatever it is that I have. That is exactly what allowed satanic evil to take over Germany.It was the silence of those in the middle.
And so my exhortation and the reason I wrote this book with an urgency like none I have ever had in my life is to beg those in the middle to consider the example of Germany and to understand those Germans never dreamt of the evil that they were allowing to happen.
Let's just go back, if you will.I know some of you are saying, well, who's Bonhoeffer?So explain who he was, that great message that he preached, and of course, maybe even what happened to him at the end.It would be interesting for people to hear.
Well, the nutshell, I mean, in 2010, I published a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.My mom's German, grew up in Germany under the Nazis, and so this is kind of personal for me, right?What happened in that country, you know?
And the story of Bonhoeffer is kind of simple.This is a German pastor, incredibly brilliant, who early on saw the evil of the Nazis.Now, it's so easy for us to go like, well, what's there to see?We all know the Nazis are evil.No.
They, most Germans at the time, had no clue, when the Nazis were beginning to take power, who they really were.Nobody could dream of the Holocaust and the death camps.Trust me when I tell you, they couldn't dream of it.
So they're kind of going along and going along.So Bonhoeffer was one of those voices who, he knew what he knew, and he was trying to wake up up the church, right?
So Bonhoeffer was kind of sticking his neck out and he was surrounded by, there were a number of others in the so-called confessing church who were with him.
But as the evil progressed, he continued to see even the good guys just thinking, well, I don't want to die on that hill or I don't want to die on that hill.
So he was a voice as a pastor trying to wake up the church because he knew, just as we know today, The Lord has appointed the church to be the voice of the nation, to be the conscience of the nation.
So you can complain all you want about this and that.The Lord is going to hold us accountable.The pagans aren't going to be held accountable.We are the ones that are supposed to know.We claim to believe.Think of this. that Jesus defeated death.
So we're supposed to be so free.We don't fear death.We're supposed to live totally differently than the world.And so the Lord expects us to be fearless and to speak the truth.When people tell you, don't talk about that, don't talk about that.
I was like, what are you talking about?Of course I'm going to talk about that.So the fact is Bonhoeffer was trying to wake up the church, but he saw that they were slow to act.
The Lord often goes outside the church, and Bonhoeffer just saw the church waffling.The liberals are waffling, the conservatives are waffling.They all have good reasons to kind of keep their head down, right?
But he sees pagans saying, I'm going to stand up against Hitler.I mean, his brother, who was not really a believer, gets involved in the plot against Hitler, and he sees these others, and he finally realizes,
I need to, in a sense, go outside the church and get involved in the plot against Hitler, ultimately to kill Hitler, because he just thought, God is not gonna let me sit on my hands and say, well, I'm gonna have a quiet time, I'm gonna pray.
The Lord says, yeah, well, I expect you to pray, but I also expect you to act.I expect you to do what you can.If a kid's about to get hit by a car, you don't say, you know what, I'm gonna have a really solid quiet time right now.
No, you're gonna scream, get out of the road.And so, Bonhoeffer was trying to live that out.Eventually he gets involved in the plot to kill Hitler, and it's a long story, but the point is, he is executed by the Nazis in 1945.
He is a martyr of the faith.He's a hero.And when my book came out and when I talk about this, everybody goes like, that's so great, that's so great.
Well, I believe the Lord led me prophetically to write that book for such a time as this, to say to the church, exactly what happened to the German church here, is happening to the American church now.
And if you don't speak up, it's the famous quote, we don't know who said it, but it's often attributed to Bonhoeffer, that silence in the face of evil is itself evil.God will not hold us guiltless.Not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act.
So if you say like, well, you know what, I don't wanna say who I'm gonna vote for, or I don't wanna talk about that issue, or I don't wanna, because I want people to like me, I just wanna preach the gospel. God is not buying that lie.That's a lie.
That's a fig leaf, you know, designed to cover something up that basically says like, I'm going to fool God with this statement that I just care about preaching the gospel.The Lord commands us, you know, obedience is better than sacrifice.
When he calls you to speak the truth, don't tell him you're going to preach the gospel.Speak the truth.
So how, okay, people watching, how do we do this?And how does what happening now parallel the German church?Like what are those things that you see that are identical?
Well, the first thing I'll say in terms of what we can do, the reason I wrote this book, Letter to the American Church, is because I think people need to understand what the theological confusion is that would allow somebody to think I could be silent.
Because a lot of people have good Christian reasons, they're not really Christian reasons, but they have these theological reasons about, well, we're just gonna preach the gospel, or that's not a gospel-related issue, or whatever.
you know, like all lies, it's from the pit of hell.
But it's a particularly pernicious lie because it captures Christians and it gives them an out and says that I'm just going to talk about, you know, the things we agree on, or if I'm going to say anything difficult, it'll only be, you know, John 3.16.
That's the only place I can go.That's not true.So the reason I wrote the book is to help people understand Because we can all think of maybe pastors we know or friends we know that they're being timid or whatever.
They need to understand what happened to those who were timid during the time of Germany.They became a part of something that led to evil triumphing and they need to understand
what the parallels are and what the excuses were and the reasons were, because they are genuinely exactly the same excuses people are being given today.
So I wrote it so that people can understand, because when you understand it, you can speak to it better.When you say what the parallels are, I kind of think, where do we begin? I mean, everywhere I look.
I see, I mean.Restrictions.But the vaccine passports, my entire, this is I think since I last saw you, my entire radio TV show that was on YouTube totally wiped out by YouTube because I dared to have on Naomi Wolf to talk about vaccine passports.
And so we started not, putting out anything that might be controversial for YouTube, right?So the point is that we are living at a time when, imagine in America, you have to worry about what you say.
Imagine in America, you have to worry about, maybe I gotta think about getting the vaccine, or don't you know that like, it has had adverse effects, people are dying, there's all kinds of, there's no reason to get it, I wouldn't get it.
And people are like, well, but I can't go to the theater.I can't, I might lose my job.When the government is using that kind of pressure to force people to do something, it's like, don't think for yourself, just do what we tell you.
When they're telling you, be careful what you say, because you'll lose this, or you'll lose that.That alone should make Christians want to go to war.
And when I say war, I'm not talking about picking up my musket, but I'm saying that if you would dare tell me in America what I can say and what I can't say, Jesus died so that I can have total liberty and that I can live freely and speak the truth.
And as Christians, we have no excuse.But even any good American says people died so that we could be free in America.So this kind of crushing of freedom is all we need.There's a hundred examples, whether you talk about the transgender madness.
Most good pagans in America know there's only two sexes.Everyone knows that, but be careful what you say.You start thinking, wait a second, we fought a war for independence because a tyrannous government was trying to crush our liberties.
We have given blood on the battlefield through the centuries for our freedom.This is our moment.And so the question is, will enough people understand you have to wake up now or this stuff goes away?The Germans, I just want to say again, they
simply couldn't believe that this would happen in their country.They were just convinced, not in Germany.I mean, maybe there's some things I don't like or whatever.American Christians are today saying exactly the same thing.
And I am begging them to understand that if you do not wake up soon, your ability to preach your little gospel will be taken away from you.That's just one thing.Bonhoeffer knew
that the German church had the numbers and the cultural power that if they had spoken up, there's no chance the Nazis could have prevailed.
What about free college, free cell phone?
Well, think of that, any sense of history, you know what that is, that's called a bribe.That is called corruption.That is called, that is basically as anti-American, it's not un-American, it is as anti-American as anything.
It's like, let's give these suckers, let's bribe them for their vote to shut them up.And we have enough Americans, obviously, that would go along with that.But let me just say to the church, church, Can you be paid off?
Or if your neighbor's being paid off, are you going to keep your mouth shut?
What about the pastors that are so filled with fear?If they speak, like you said, you know, I think a lot of churches are filled with fear.What if they shut me down?What can you say to them that will light their fire?
Well, I would say, first of all, this is actually pretty simple, right?If you believe in Jesus, you believe that whatever good thing you have is a gift from him, not from the people who are letting you keep it.
And so, you know, when they took away my YouTube channel, that was a gigantic financial hit.But I thought to myself, If we believe in Jesus, we're not supposed to worry about what if, what if.
We're supposed to do what we believe is right, knowing the Lord has our back.And that, by the way, even if He doesn't have your back, if you go to your death, you praise the Lord.
In other words, this idea that we're going to behave just like the world, like, well, if I say this, I'm going to say that, I want to say to those folks,
Listen, the Lord has made clear in scripture over and over and over again that to give into that fear is sin.One of the last verses in the scripture in Revelation is about who's going to be cast into the lake of fire, the cowardly.
The cowardly, the Lord demands of us to have courage.He says, I've given you everything.I've given you the faith and everything you need to know that your job is to stand for me and to stand for the truth.
I'm depending on you, my church, to speak the truth.I'm not looking at people outside the church.I'm looking at my church, those who claim to believe in me, to believe that I defeated death on the cross.
If the church doesn't do that, the nation will be judged.It happened in Germany.It is happening here now.And I wrote this book begging those who aren't yet convinced to take this seriously because we won't get a second chance.
Okay, so November's coming.And you know, they say, well, we're not gonna get political and talk about voting or, you know, but I mean, talk about that.How important is it for people just to vote?
And yes, you are supposed to be involved with policies that affect people because that's what you're doing.
There's a whole chapter in the book called Be Ye Not Political, right?Like this lie that so many Christians and pastors have taken in like, oh, okay, What world do you live in?
Bonhoeffer, Wilberforce, all these heroes of the faith were totally political, but they weren't doing it because, I mean, again, the voice of the enemy, usually through our friends or whatever will say, like, oh, you're being political, and you think,
God has called me to speak the truth.If you want to call it political, that's on you.
If I see a candidate who is going to, I think, uphold liberty and stand for these things, and I don't speak up for that candidate, I think God will hold me accountable because here's the bottom line.People will suffer.
In other words, the Lord commands me to care about the poor.
So if I don't speak against socialism, if I don't speak against the candidates that are trying to bribe you with this false, preposterous idea that we're going to give you this stuff, if I don't speak against that,
I am cursing the poor who are going to suffer under that.You know, again, these voices say like, no, we are for the poor.No, if you're for the poor, you're not going to allow those policies to get in place.
And you know, I talk a lot in here about Romans 13, a lot of Christians say, Romans 13, Romans 13, we're not supposed to, you know, and you think, okay, Romans 13, who are the governing authorities?
In the United States of America, it is called we the people. We the people, we're not living in first century Rome.
There are pastors out there writing books about we shouldn't be political, and they talk about in first century Rome, and you think, in first century Rome, they were living under the most wicked tyrannies that if you spoke about your faith, you would be crucified.
We in America are not only free to speak the truth, but we're expected by God to speak the truth.And if the church doesn't speak the truth, how can we wonder that the nation is sliding into the abyss?
I put the blame squarely at the foot of the church.It is up to the church of Jesus Christ to determine the future of this nation right now, and it will determine the future of the world now.
Yes, well, we are out of time.I want you to remember that silence is all that is necessary for tyranny to take control of a nation, and freedom not fought for is freedom lost.So use your voice.Stand up for biblical truth and principles.
You are listening to Alan and Jaggi right here on Cat 81 Radio, South Florida.
Alrighty, that's it for part one.We will broadcast part two tomorrow.So from Haley and myself until that time, God bless you and ta ta for now.
You've been listening to the Art of Effective Communication with your host, Alan London.Tune in to the next exciting show right here on CAT 81 Radio, South Florida.
