Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Whenever I speak, I cry out
    proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the Lord has brought me
    insult and reproach all day long.
But if I say, “I will not mention his word
    or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
    a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
    indeed, I cannot.

• Jeremiah 20:8-9

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

• Daniel 3:16-18

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

• Matthew 10:32-33

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

• Ephesians 6:10-12

“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me”

– Martin Niemöller, Then They Came

Martin Niemöller actually voted for the Nazi party in 1933, but on closer inspection, he realized the evil within.  He slowly lost his conservative views as he saw this new party’s discrimination against helpless people.

When the Lutherans, mostly in fear, supported the Nazi party, Niemöller organized one third of the clergy in Germany, calling themselves “The Confessing Church.”  The confession of the Confessing Church was the Theological Declaration of Barmen, which is used by some denominations as a useful confession. Niemöller did not write the declaration alone, only organized the churches.  The team included pastors Hans Asmussen, Karl Koch, Karl Iraruer, and Martin Niemöller, and theologian Karl Barth from Switzerland. The confession was written in the town of Barmen, just outside Wuppertal, Germany.

He was arrested and tried in 1937 at a “special court.”  In 1945 he was with other prisoners, transported by the SS with instructions to kill the prisoners instead of allowing them to be liberated, similar to the group of which Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a part.  But regular German troops took over the guard of the high-ranking officials and they were all surrendered to the US 7^th Army.

Niemöller would die in 1984 at the age of 92.

We have a variety of ills in this world today.  It was not by accident that Russia chose the time they did to attack Ukraine.  They sensed a weakness among the world powers.  And all the world has done has been to feed money to both sides.

The ethnic cleansing within Azerbaijan is complete, according to Rev. David Robertson’s website and within days, the Hamas attacks began.  The cries over those killed or displaced in Azerbaijan have been muffled.  Most news feeds did not cover the conflict.  Now people will think the truth is a conspiracy theory, dreamed up to cause trouble.

But God knows the atrocities that go on every day, in every country on earth.  The nations will be held to an account.  But as for the people of each country, they need to turn to Jesus, before someone gives no option in doing so.

Will we be silent as Niemöller says in his poem?  In Israel, the news today (as of writing this, and the military leaders are expecting a prolonged conflict) says that they got a 160% response for a call to arms, over fifty percent more people than they expected, but all may be needed.

While Israel has not been given a choice after the barbaric attacks have been recorded and spread around the world.  We have a choice.  We should have learned in Somalia that humanitarian aid can be weaponized.  There are reports of ammunition being hidden in bags of rice.  But providing medical supplies to an area controlled by terrorists means the terrorist control the medical supplies to help their military ends and the poor and needy continue to be pawns.

We do not need money thrown into this situation.  We need to turn to God, before the cancer of war spreads worldwide.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory