Vets and Heroes
We
passed a couple holidays, Veterans Day and German Re-unification Day and both
have an untold Christian story. In the
case of the Germans, Nov. 9 marked the 25th anniversary of the
falling of the wall. Oddly enough, the historic story is not what
Americans—either left or right—often believe.
Mary Sarotte, history prof at USC has written a book that absolutely
confirms what our German exchange kids remembered.
There are two American myths. The one on the left attributes Gorby and
perestroika and glasnost with the credit.
The trouble with this myth is that none of the governments of the
communist countries went quietly. All
resisted but the mass of humanity overwhelmed their staid defenses. Myth of the right is that Reagan told Gorby
to tear down this wall and what with the inevitability of the bad economy and
longing for western lifestyle brought down the Wall. The trouble with this story is that E.
Germany had the highest lifestyle of all the eastern block countries and most
of the people did not know what they were missing.
What brought down Honnecker’s
government was faith, determination to be free, and the conduct of provincial
actors—pastors, students, artists, journalists, information smugglers, farmers
and miners. Sarotte says that the myth
is that the opening of the wall brought freedom. Events show it to be the other way around, “First
we fought for our freedom; and then, because of that the wall fell.” The Monday Marches occurred in Leipzig, a
town of 500,000. 4 churches started the
habit of prayer meetings followed by marches to the center of the city where
these Protestants sang that famous Reformation hymn,Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress is Our God). This
went along placidly, attended by old folks and poor people for ten years. The communist government came to accept it as
“a lame tradition.” But by 1989, two
other groups began to attend. First
ordinary citizens who longed for freedom and wanted to uphold the the fact that
no matter how bad things get, God is still in control. Secondly, dissidents began to come to the
churches and use the meetings as a mild protest. By the time September rolled around over a
thousand participants were gathering in the city square. Now the communist secret police were closely
monitoring the meetings, but how do you arrest a pastor who leads a prayer for
the community leaders, for peace, and forgiveness. On October 9, 1989, the communists had
resolved to stop the gatherings in the square.
They posted 50,000 army soldiers in and around the city, 3000 police and
another 600 members of the communist paramilitary organization. They were expecting 10,000 marchers, but
100,000 showed up. The streets were
clogged, the soldiers were given votive candles and asked to sing. And perhaps
the local communists did nothing because they expected Honnecker to abdicate
and a new guy, Ergon Krenz was in line.
And on October 16, almost 500,000 people turned out to march, an
estimated 95% of the population.
The Monday Marches were copycatted
all over Germany. In Berlin, the new
Krenz government decided to strike a conciliatory note and they asked West
Germany for a loan in return for opening the border. This was a visceral issue with Germans, many
who had relatives on the other side.
Again the communists and police intended to stop the marches, but on
Nov. 9 a lowly official named Schabowski made a gaffe and announced that the
border was to be opened right away. Tens
of thousands flooded the Brandenburg gate, demanding it be opened. The guards didn’t know what to do, and
eventually capitulated when they received no orders. The rest was an enormous storming of the wall
and sledge hammers came out of houses to accomplish the task.
It has been said that the left has
little moral certainty and that is why they don’t like wars. To fight you have to have that certainty that
you’ll defend your beliefs. If you have
relative morality and don’t know the difference between right and wrong, you
won’t fight. That was also a factor in
the fall of the wall. And of course the
economy and political intrigue were factors too.
Thus it is that the left in USA
hates patriotism and flag-waving. The
still remaining a few Christian leftists say the bible forbids war. “Thou shalt
not kill”. Yet this seems an odd stance when Jesus told Peter to buy a
sword. The OT lionizes warriors like
David who killed “ten thousands” in defense of Israel. The first Gentile to become a follower was a
soldier at the foot of the cross, and Cornelius, a Roman centurion and his
whole household became followers. Nobody
told Cornelius he had to quit the army. “No
greater love hath he than to lay down his life for his friends,” Jesus said.
Common sense at work there! And now that
our archeology is uncovering the fact that soldiers were instrumental is
spreading the gospel far and wide in the empire, we realize that even though
the state made them swear allegiance to Caesar, they kept a higher power in
their hearts.
“We support the troops,” mantras the
left. But they don’t support their job
or their mindset—a dishonor to our veterans.
A soldier would be home if he could but he volunteered to defend the
United States and the Constitution. It
is more important that America be free and free to worship God without
fear. That’s why they do what they do.
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