The clang after clang after clang of closing boxcar doors reverberated on train after train after train – until 11 million people died. But they didn’t just die. They were killed. They were killed because of the lies of multiple leaders who had influencers supporting them.
When the padlocks secured those doors, the lies were complete, liberties had been surrendered, and lives were lost.
“How can a condemned group of people headed for a gas chamber,” wrote Andy Andrews, “be compelled to act in a docile manner?” Andrews wrote How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think.
He only wrote three words to give the 50,000-foot view of how this atrocity occurred. These words are the same blueprint for some who want to destroy America’s liberties too.
“Lie to them.”
Before the clang of the boxcar doors, German Adolf Eichmann often appeared to the masses in the Jewish ghettos. The Jews had grown used to the barbwire, and some even bribed Germans for better living conditions. They thought it was temporary. Up to thirty people would be on stage, most unarmed, to lend support to his words, according to Andrews.
Truth (“We will all be terribly crowded on the trains”) mixed with his lies (“but the journey is short.”). He built truth upon truth (“You will work there”) mixed with lie upon lie (“and your wives will stay home and your children will go to school.”).
Complacency had been nurtured through a sinister use of power and influence.
Pray against this happening in America. Why?
Lies always chop at the roots of liberty, and America is in grave danger now more than ever.
Spiritual battles like these nearly always burst through to our physical lives. Sometimes we didn’t even know it was a spiritual battle until it breaks through. Anytime Christians are negligent in their obedience to God’s commands and the responsibilities He’s given them, they will be potentially deceived and caught off guard. Liberties God wants us to have will be stolen or destroyed.
“Give me liberty or give me death” aided in the birth and growth of our nation founded on many of God’s commands, on personal liberty, and on having a limited government.
What does the spirit of man cry out now? “I’m afraid of death; take my liberty.” But before that was, “Give me more for free; here’s my liberty.”
And the government grows.
Wouldn’t it take more brains, heart, and courage to let the government be less so people can be more? If you read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, you’ll see this to be true.
If, like John 10:10 states, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, then lies are a powerful tool of the trade.
Christians must pray for and elect leaders who fear God because leaders are given or take a position of power. One leader can affect thousands as we are finding out when the federal government leaders, the state government leaders, and local leaders fight for power to adopt the “best actions” during this pandemic.
Power does not corrupt, for God is the ultimate in power and is the Truth. Power and lies corrupt. Power and greed corrupt. Power and the fear of man corrupt. Power not rooted in the Most Powerful and Living God corrupts. Since the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, why not pray we have leaders who are wise like this?
With these facts before you, now do you understand why we are told in 1 Timothy 2:1-3 to pray for all, but especially our leaders?
What’s even better than this is God has graced us (for now) to live in a country where we can elect our leaders.
So, pray against those who desire ways which are counter to God’s commands – pray for their souls, yes. Yet also pray they get replaced whenever possible should they not turn to God. Pray God motivates those who are able and who fear Him. Pray He motivates those who tell the truth and who despise bribes just like Exodus 18:21 mentions. Pray they run and win.
We must pray our leaders are told the truth by those who influence them, and that they tell us the truth. Pray that they (and we) can discern the truth regardless of who speaks.
Pray that there not be “two classes” of American citizens, but one which is equally held under the law, not just in words but in actions too. Pray getting elected to office doesn’t mean leaders get a free pass to break the law from others who work in government too.
If we as Christians are foolish in our prayers and our votes, it means history repeating itself where liberty and lives will be lost by the millions upon millions. Doubt me?
America now lives in a time similar to those which forged the clanging boxcar doors in Germany.
“The National Socialist German Worker’s Party, led by Adolf Hitler, rose to power during a time of economic uncertainty in a nation of people longing for better times,” wrote Andrews.
Guard your heart and stand strong. In three pages Andrews shows us how much blood has been shed because of political leaders and influencers who lied: Germany (45.1 million), Cambodia (3 million of an 8 million population), Soviet Union (61,911,000), Turkey (2 million Armenians), North Korea (3 million), and more than a million each for three nation’s political leadership (Mexico, Pakistan, and the Baltic States).
This is not a complete list even for the 120 years it covers.
"To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees,” said Billy Graham
God may still cause America to fall, but let it not be because we as Christians neglected His commands. Let’s pray for our leaders and use our votes. There are Christians in other countries who would die to vote in their elections, and many have died because they couldn’t. The saddest of all were the German Jews and Christians who didn't vote when they could.
Come what may – pray, vote, pray. Most of all, trust God and obey.
