The night of November 10th marked the 70th anniversary of an event known as “Kristallnacht” or the night of broken glass. It was on this night in 1938 that 92 Jews were murdered and between 25,000-30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps by the Nazis in Germany and German controlled lands.
On this one night, more than 200 synagogues were destroyed and countless homes of Jewish families were ransacked and rummaged through. This night was the unofficial start of what became the Holocaust.
Who are we to complain about the state of affairs in this country or any country in the world today? Who are we to dare utter a word of dismay about the conditions we must work under or the state of our bank accounts or the people we must work with? Who among us has had to endure a time such as those who came before us endured in Europe 70 years ago?
We all spend so much of our time complaining that we have totally forgotten how weak we all have become. We are pampered in the lap of luxury and are fed as kings. We know nothing of the suffering endured by our ancestors as they labored night and day to eke out a living during times when no one prospered. All we know is what we have enjoyed the past 50 or so years. We know nothing of the hardships suffered by our grandparents and those who came before them.
We have all been spoiled rotten by the affluence of Western society. We have grown fat in our laziness as we have lived as royalty would have lived a mere century ago. Every desire has been met and our lives have take on such ease that the idea of hard work is foreign to most people. We of the Western world have grown to be the most pampered and spoiled and selfish people in the history of this earth.
Who of us has ever had to endure what the Jews in Germany endured 70 years ago? Who of us has had loved ones grabbed from our arms and hauled on to trains to be killed only because of their race and religion? Who among us has had endure the rioting crowds intent on our destruction and whose burning desire is nothing but hatred?
Those in India, China, Iraq, Burma and dozens of other places around the world know what it was like 70 years ago in Germany, for they are going through the same thing now. The true Christians who are forced to live in seclusion and who have lost family, friends and jobs because of their faith; they are the ones who know what those who endured “Kristallnacht” went through.
Churches were invaded and services disrupted this past weekend in various places in California and Utah by those violently expressing their hatred for the vote on Proposition 8 in California last week. Even Catholic churches were ransacked and threats made against men of the cloth for their stand on the issue. Is this the beginning or is this the end of what is to come?
Those who choose to live godly in Christ Jesus are going to suffer persecution for the Bible says they will. If you are not willing to endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, then remove yourself from the frontlines pronto. The day is coming shortly when spiritually, what took place 70 years ago in Germany is going to happen in the United States of America and Great Britain and elsewhere in the Western world.
The day may not come when physically we face a night such as happened 70 years ago, but spiritually that night is fast approaching. We are living in the twilight of a golden era when God and His Word reigned in men and women’s hearts instead of make believe characters invented by computer geniuses and lived out on the big screen by entertainers who are bigger than God in most people’s minds.
Speaking on behalf of my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ; let me warn and advise anyone and everyone that the days are dark and getting darker. Those who are living in shame are rejoicing as the darkness is cloaking their wickedness. Those who are afraid of facing God and His truth are scurrying around like rats, enjoying the darkness which hides their evil ways.
But, the darker the night, the brighter the light will shine. Those of us totally committed to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are under obligation to turn the light up to full wattage. The brighter the beam, the greater the chance those searching for the way home will find it.
It is high time to set our light on the nearest hill and let it shine. It is high time to awake and cast off the stupor which has settled on this land as an oppressive blanket for the past week. The days and hours of feeling sorry for ourselves must end and end now. We do not know what the night will bring, whether howling winds of cold or lanterns filled with the hatred of those bent on our destruction. Either way, we must be ready and waiting and awake lest we be taken captive and led as sheep to the slaughter.
Awake oh Christian brother and sister. Awake to righteousness and let your light shine. Awake and arise and put on the whole armor of God. Unleash the sword of the spirit and speak the truth in love. Above all, STAND, my brethren. Stand be counted as those the Lord can trust to never let Him down.
