“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.”

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”

“We must make it clear, fearful as it is, that the time is very near when we shall have to decide between National Socialism and Christianity.

“It may be fearfully hard and difficult for us all, but we must get right to the root of things, with open Christian speaking and no diplomacy. And in prayer together we will find the way.”

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not raised in a radical environment. Rather, he was born into an aristocratic family. His mother was daughter of the preacher at the court of Kaiser Wilhelm II, while his father was a prominent neurologist and professor of psychiatry at the University of Berlin.

Bonhoeffer was raised in a liberal, nominally religious environment and was encouraged to engage in great literature and the fine arts. Many in his family thought Bonhoeffer was headed for a career in music due to his extraordinary skill at the piano. When Bonhoeffer announced, at age 14, he intended to become a minister and theologian, the family was not pleased.

Bonhoeffer was an anti-Nazi dissident and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world called for the church to become rampant, activist and engaged with regard to its Biblical duties in standing against evil in their community and country versus pacifist and accepting whatever happened as ‘God’s will’. Those rampant views became widely influential in his book The Cost of Discipleship, which has been described as a modern classic.

“the time is very near when we shall have to decide between National Socialism and Christianity.”  —  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In April 1933, Bonhoeffer raised opposition to Nazi ideology infiltrating the church. Bonhoeffer said the Christian Church had a responsibility to act against this kind of policy and sought to organize the Protestant Church to reject national socialism. This led to “The Confessing Church” which Bonhoeffer helped form with Martin Niemoller. The Confessing Church sought to stand in contrast to the Nazi supported German Christian movement.

These thoughts bring us to the Church in America today. It is widely known that the contemporary church has fallen prey to political movements and antiChristian doctrines that are destroying the church from within. We have seen over the recent past, many errant doctrines emerge, such as identity politics, Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, liberation theology, the “&” campaign, social justice movement, Cru19 (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), and Marxism in the church and para-church.

The American Church has in many places been infiltrated by Marxism, similar in to how the church was infiltrated in Germany by Nazism and in Central America by liberation theology. And today, the doctrines and strategy of Marxist Communism are spreading like wildfire throughout the church due to Marxist infiltration of state education and the media. The State or political parties are not the authority of the Church, nor is the church to kowtow to governments, parties, popular culture education or media, yet that is exactly what is happening. The Church has its own authority in the Almighty King of the Holy Scriptures.

So, what’s the point? Bonhoeffer said that long ago, “the time is very near when we shall have to decide between National Socialism and Christianity.” We are in that stage now. A quote from an indefinite source, but often attributed to Bonhoeffer by many including Eric Metaxas, says, “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.”

The time to speak up and act against Marxism in the Christian Church and in our society in general is a responsibility and duty of all Christians. As a sports coach I often used the phrase, “know your role, do your job.” Christians have a duty, know your role, do your job. Nobody else will.

Michael Reed is Editor and Publisher of The Standard newspaper and TheStandardSC YouTube channel. Please share freely and donate to The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is too often ignored by the dominant media.

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