
We have ways of making you…
Picture a tall, thin man, dressed in a uniform with a Nazi insignia walking smartly into a room where the woman above is being held. She has been literally stripped of her dignity, bound and abused. Yet, the officer who approaches sees none of that, only a prisoner that must be bent to his will at all costs.
Plainly, because she has dared to resist the Fuhrer, she is an enemy of the Nazi state and must be dealt with accordingly. The officer begins with a slight smile, “How do you like your accommodations Fraulein?” The prisoner remains silent. “I see you have resisted all our attempts to rehabilitate you from your error. I have been sent to give you one last chance to choose what is right.” Shivering slightly, the woman answers not a word.
The spirit of control
“Come now, Fraulein, let us be reasonable people. There is no need to prolong this charade,” he says sitting down at a small table in an otherwise bare room. Clicking his fingers, a soldier enters, bringing a dossier. Looking up at his prisoner, he motions her to sit, but when she refuses, the soldier forces her into the chair opposite him.
Staring at her for a moment, as she looks down, arms trying to cover something of her dignity, the Nazi slowly opens up the folder and spreads some pictures out in front of her. Arranging them neatly, he allows their effect to take hold as she begins to sob softly.
See the pain you have caused
“You see, Fraulein, the pain you have caused these people?” the officer begins. They did nothing to deserve this pain, yet nevertheless, you have made them endure it. Your children are grieving for your error. Also, we have your grandchildren and you will never see them again if you fail to cooperate. Do you understand me?” Still, his sobbing captive says nothing.
If you will only admit your error
“I have the power to restore everything to you if only you will admit your error and testify of how wrong you are. I’m not a harsh man, Fraulein, you have lovely children and beautiful grandchildren. I can only guess at how difficult it is to not be able to hold them in your arms.”
At that moment, the woman lifts her head and stares straight into His eyes, unflinchingly and without fear. The officer, despite his best efforts, momentarily looks away.
I do not want my children or grandchildren to grow up in your world
The woman says, with a dry throat, “Yes, I love my children and my grandchildren and, you are right, I miss them dearly”. She takes one of the photos in her swollen hands, holding it up; it is of her granddaughter. “Yet, I sit here in front of you, naked, hungry, thirsty, and cold, not because I am wrong, but because I do not want her to grow up in a country controlled by ungodly and corrupt people like you.
People, who like you, care more about a system than those whom that system crushes. People that would cause everyone around them to become meaningless slaves to your Nazi beliefs rather than be decent and compassionate people. Deluded people that, like you, would use a person’s family against them if they disagree and refuse to obey you. I sit here today precisely because I love my children and grandchildren and want to help deliver them from the world that you desire to create.
Breaking the spirit of control
Stunned by her courage and clarity of thought, the officer remains silent for a moment. Suddenly, as if coming to a decision, he stands and walks out of the room, leaving the photos on the table. She remains seated, crying as she caresses each one of the pictures, knowing that she has just signed her death warrant.
After a while, the door opens. Two women enter. They bathe, feed, and clothe her. They set up a cot by the wall with a small pillow and blankets also.
Amen.
Dear Connections,
We all agree that the way the fictional Nazi officer was treating the woman prisoner in the most reprehensible way. In fact, it is hard to imagine a human being doing that to another person. Yet, all too often, we see this type of scenario playing out in religious groups all across our fair nation.
Each religious group, be it Baptist, Pentecostal, Mormon, or some other structured organization, maintains it’s control over it’s members through doctrine. Many times mainline Christian groups point to what they deem to be “cults” as abusers of their members. Yet, these same people, when someone disagrees with them and violates their beliefs, turn just as nasty and controlling as the Nazi officer in the essay above.
I was in such a church, Pentecostal in belief system, that would literally dis-fellowship you if you disagreed with the pastor. If your family, even your wife and children, attended the church, they were counseled to shun you and treat you as an infidel. They believed that, if you violated some of their core beliefs, that they were bound by scripture to cast you out for Christ’s name sake.
People who said they loved me treated me as if I was no longer saved when I dared to say the pastor was wrong. I ask you, if someone can change that quickly and savagely from love to hate, did they ever love you in the first place?
The way that the Nazi tried to coerce the woman to come in line with his belief system is the height of evil. Yet, some come to those they disagree with and say, “We cannot have you in our house or around our children because we fear that you will be a bad influence on us and them.” Yet, in the same breath they say, “If you repent, admit that you are wrong, and come back into the fold, we will accept you with open arms and “love you” again.” Are such people exhibiting the love of God or the heart of evil when they withhold love and acceptance from someone they disagree with?
In the end, we can never submit to such tyranny and evil tactics. Those who serve God must do so because they believe, not because someone else forces them to adhere to their doctrine. We must resist the spirit of control that permeates much of the church leadership and trust God’s voice more than their threats and mistreatment.
Sincerely,
Michael
Dear Connections,
Those who believe they should be mean for the gospel’s sake are deceived. Those who treat others in harsh and uncaring ways are deceived and dead in their sins. If there ever was a time to fight, it was at the Garden of Gethsemane, yet Jesus told Peter to put away his sword and healed the injured man. If Christ did not fight then, why do you presume to think you should fight now?
The truth is, those who oppose God are already twice dead and burred and they are in danger of the second death. Brethren, we are not called to kill but to heal, not to hate but to love, not to judge, but to mend up the brokenhearted. If your doctrine causes you to be mean and disrespectful on a consistent basis, your doctrine is of Satan and not of God.
The truth is, the same legalism and spirit of control that thrust out believers in The Way during the first church is very alive and well in portions of the church today. Children rise up against those who bore them, simply because they have been infected with a terrible form of self-righteousness. The Bible says, “There is a generation” and I say, without hyperbole, we are living in it.
The central thing that is taking place right now is that little Pharaohs, who do not know Joseph, have risen up and are controlling, while abusing God’s people. In fact, those who count themselves as rulers in God’s vineyard are casting out those God sends to them just like the Jews did in the lead up to Christ.
The truth is that not even God manifest in the flesh could convince the Jews out of their error. Likewise, even God manifest in our flesh today, as the body of Christ, can convince modern day Pharisees out of their offense.
I tell you, my ears smart from the things God says He is about to do. It is so much different than what natural minded believers think, I say, “who has seen such things?”
Truly, no man or woman will make heaven their home because it made sense.
Sincerely,
Michael
Dear Connections,
Essentially, what is going on in the church at large is a struggle for control of God’s Bride. On one hand the church wants to retain and control her because she is what legitimizes their power. However, on the other hand, God wants her to be free to worship Him as He pleases. This is going to be an epic show down, one that literally causes the great falling away. For as those who want to control God’s wife try ever more desperate measures to make her fit into their worldview and serve their interests, they will be consumed by darkness and deception. It would have been better for Egypt and everyone in it if they would have simply allowed God’s wife to leave, yet it was not in their nature to do so.
Sincerely,
Michael