The Second World War drove true Christianity underground in Poland but then made it more necessary than ever. The clergy were given special attention by Hitler’s National Socialist Party. “Priests will preach what we tell them to preach and if any priest acts differently, we will make short work of him; the task of a priest acts to keep the Poles quiet, stupid and dull-witted,” said an order from Hitler to Hans Frank, his Governor General in Poland, on October 2, 1939. The appearance of the “New Age Socialism” will again eventually demand an underground church that refuses to serve narrow political ends.
Although the above statement may seem outlandish to the typical prosperous, confident, materialistic American Christian who has the inclination to brush aside talk of crisis, the truth is that a large branch of the Body of Christ in the world is being tortured, martyred and worships underground. Christians must understand there is an attack on nationalism and religion which in combination are significant influences that are alive and viable.
Why do we feel so secure and protected from these controlling evil forces? Are we God’s unchallengeable Christians who do not have to be troubled because of our birthright of freedom? Is the Church of America asleep about the important question of the government orchestrating a possible campaign to persuade our people to embrace socialism of the New Age?
Born again Christians are supposed to be children of the light and not in the dark!
We must reaffirm our faith, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Prayerfully, we must grasp this text until it becomes alive to us. For the Jesus who lives within us is the victorious Lord. As Paul writes about the cross in Colossians 2:15, “And, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Jesus Christ is the victorious Lord. He has defeated all the forces of darkness. Inasmuch as He is the victorious Lord, He can therefore declare, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus can truly assert “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Therefore Paul makes a statement which has the earsplitting accompaniment of tens of thousands of Jesus’ followers: “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Romans 14:8).