A Reply to Eric Metaxas’ “Letter to the American Church”
Published by Townhall, February 6, 2022
I just completed Eric Metaxas’ latest book, Letter to the American Church, in which he masterfully takes apart the various excuses and justifications many Christians have offered for doing nothing—i.e. remaining silent—in the face of tyranny.
The takeaway message of the book?
We do not serve a God who expects us to keep our head down and stay out of trouble.
The look of Goebbels when he learned the photographer was Jewish.
In short, Mr. Metaxas’ book implores the churches in America today to do something more than the churches of Germany did in the 1930s when they sat by and silently watched the evils of tyranny unfold before their very eyes … and did nothing to stop it.
Whereupon, Metaxas then closes out his book’s narrative by saying:
“If a holy remnant will now do that—and exhort others to join them…. We will see God’s hand move in our time, for His purposes. We will see God’s will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Amen.”
However, the book stops short of telling the reader exactly what the “that” is that he is suggesting true Christians must now do to rebuke the evils of the tyranny now emerging before them in America. This is THE conundrum that we all face when confronting a tyranny that many of us have never before experienced.
The true test would be to let the churches know what they can do to protest or stand up against those matters before them that have been created by the tyranny for which there is no readily apparent lawful or peaceful means available for their appeal to be heard.
A ready example of this was when the Supreme Court took matters into their own hands and—pushed by the Obama Administration—legislated from the bench that in all 50 states, gay marriage shall henceforth be the law of the land. From this edict, there did not appear to exist any lawful or peaceful means that was available to churches by which they might appeal such a decision … even if they were inclined to want that appeal. So what would God have the churches do?
Consider also these additional three examples.
First, our nation was forced to witness treason when certain factions within the Obama Administration attempted to overthrow his lawfully elected successor—President Trump— by fabricating a Russian hoax based on a fraudulent dossier. And, by doing so, they knowingly committed treason … but have yet to be held accountable. Indeed, to the contrary, the traitors like the Hillarys, Comeys, Strozks, Pages, McCabes and Ohrs of this world have been enabled to pursue their television interviews, speaking engagements and book tours, unhindered by John Durham or, for that matter, anyone else in our present government. All of which has left the public—not to mention our churches—with no readily obvious lawful or peaceful means by which to rectify this glaringly obvious, and yet blatantly unconstitutional two-tier system of justice … even if some among us were inclined to want the tyranny it represents to be reckoned with, removed and replaced.
Consider next the election debacle that occurred in 2020 when many of these same insurrectionists within our government unlawfully laid claim to power by defeating a legitimately elected President via widespread and well-orchestrated election fraud they perpetrated in certain key battleground states. And then consider further that to help deflect attention away from their treasonous acts committed in the course of the 2020 election, they both planned and staged a fake insurrection at the Capitol with the help of people like Ray Epps, who encouraged supporters of the lawful President to enter that building to take selfies on January 6th, 2021. Then, consider further that all this was done so that the true traitors among us might falsely claim that President Trump had attempted an insurrection by using these patriotic selfie-snapping tourists to overthrow the U.S. Government. Then, consider even further, that the “selected” Resident’s supporters within his newly installed illegal government next arrest as many of these patriots as they can round up and to this day—now over two years later—are still holding many in custody by manipulating a now-weaponized judicial system, denying many of these Americans, among other things, their Constitutional rights to be afforded:
Humane custodial conditions;
Competent legal counsel;
Unfettered access to any and all available exculpatory evidence in the possession of the “government;” and
Any due process; much less
A speedy trial.
Go figure. Again the tyranny staring us in the face appears to have placed us—and our churches—in a position of having no lawful and peaceful means by which to address—much less, put an end to—this tyrannical travesty.
Lastly, consider that, in connection with the Kari Lake affair, a corrupt judiciary in Arizona at both appellate levels—i.e. the Arizona Court of Appeals followed by the Arizona Supreme Court— is likely to uphold the Arizona “trial”—a.k.a. Kangaroo— court’s cowardly dismissal of what that court allowed to remain of Ms. Lake’s election lawsuit. (Without good cause, that lower court summarily dismissed all but two of the counts she alleged and then only afforded her attorneys 6 hours to present a limited number of witnesses to prove them.) Then, consider further the very real possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will refuse to grant her a hearing to rectify this series of unlawful Arizona court decisions. In effect, all who care about election integrity will thereby again be informed by the highest court in our land that their only remedy is to try again to win in another corrupted election at some point in the future. Something which everybody concerned knows will only serve to allow those who corrupted the elections of 2020 and 2022 in the first place to place the availability of any effective remedy once again beyond the reach of any legitimate challenge by true patriots that is both lawful and peaceful.
Why can wrongs like the foregoing not be remedied in the America of today?
Because the tyrants who have been allowed to unlawfully seize control of this country say they can happen. That’s why.
Much like the Nazis in the 1930s, they know that, as long as they have their hands on the levers of power, there is nothing lawful and peaceful that anyone can do to stop them.
Which brings us around full circle to ask: In the face of such tyranny, what is it exactly that God would have Christians do today that the German church in the 1930s failed to do?
If a lawful and peaceful option exists, please tell us. And if the only options available are neither lawful nor peaceful, should true Christians be expected to encourage their fellow Christians to publicly exhort that as well?
Just asking … for a friend … who is praying fervently for God to make the path out of our nation’s present nightmare to be both lawful and peaceful.
Cliff Nichols is the author of A Barrister’s Tales, the curator of The American Landscape, the drafter of The Declaration of Liberty and is on https://truthsocial.com/@cliffnichols.
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