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Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001834S
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00:02 Hitler murdered millions of innocent people.
00:05 What caused the greatest nation in Europe to follow him? 00:09 Why did Catholics and Protestants shout Sieg Heil 00:13 and look the other way 00:14 as six million Jews were butchered and burned? 00:19 What is the Hitler Syndrome? 00:22 Could it happen again? 00:31 Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. 00:32 We're talking today about the Hitler Syndrome, 00:37 when people give up their freedom 00:40 for power and security. 00:43 In the last segment, I was talking about this book. 00:46 It's written by Dr. Alec Ryrie and it's called "Protestants." 00:51 I just want to read a little section out of this book 00:54 because it talks about the third Reich. 00:59 So let me just give it to you. 01:01 He says, "The best modern scholarship 01:05 was telling Christians 01:07 that the universe was eternal with no beginning and no end." 01:11 This is what they were taught in Germany, 01:14 before the third Reich. 01:16 "So the universe is eternal," which means there's no God, 01:21 "that of progressive life force of some kind 01:24 drove the world's development, 01:27 that the Bible was a collection of myths, 01:30 forgeries, 01:32 with almost no roots in real history, 01:36 and that humanity was evolving 01:38 to ever greater wisdom and virtue, 01:43 a virtue being defined in social Darwinian terms, 01:48 that left little space for quaint notions 01:51 like justice and mercy." 01:56 And so Germany was infiltrated in these liberal ideas, 02:03 like other parts of the world today. 02:06 I shouldn't tell you where. 02:09 But did you know this that Nietzsche 02:11 who was the great architect of the third Reich 02:16 is possibly in the schools of philosophy 02:20 in the great American universities. 02:23 He is the most popular author. 02:26 Nietzsche. 02:28 No God that might is right. 02:32 And the Bible is just, 02:35 what he called, it's a lot of myths. 02:37 And so when they got rid of the Bible, 02:39 they got rid of the Old Testament. 02:42 And when they got rid of the Old Testament, 02:44 Hitler said, 02:45 "Well, now we're going to get rid of the Jews." 02:48 And so, they murdered the Jews by the millions. 02:55 It was like a repeat of the inquisition. 02:58 We spoke about the inquisition. 03:01 How can you understand 03:04 that priests and bishops and religious people 03:09 are going to burn men, women, and children? 03:13 And they're going to burn them, 03:15 and while the fat is fizzling in the fire, 03:19 they will be singing their hymns. 03:22 That's what they did. 03:24 The Grand Inquisitor in Spain says 03:26 that he personally burned 31,000 heretics. 03:33 And most of those were Roman Catholics. 03:38 Well, Hitler did the same. 03:41 He had the guest chambers, crematoriums, 03:44 he had the great processions, just as they had auto-de-fe. 03:49 And singing of the hymns, 03:51 and the tortures, and the fires, 03:54 Hitler had exactly the same thing, 03:56 and he had the guest chambers, the crematoriums, 04:02 and the great religious marches. 04:04 If you see the great marches of the Nazis, 04:08 they're like the great religious procession. 04:12 They don't have the cross, they have the swastika. 04:15 And they have the singing of tremendous hymns. 04:19 You know, you listen to the German soldiers, 04:21 as the German soldiers are marching down the road, 04:25 and they're singing these great tremendous patriotic songs. 04:30 And everybody, millions and millions of people 04:32 are shouting out, "Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!" 04:35 Almost all Christian churches behind it. 04:41 Say, no, no, that's not true. 04:42 Now the atheists were behind it. 04:44 The communists, 04:46 no, no, they were killing the communists. 04:47 Almost all the priests, few exceptions, 04:51 the Pope himself was a supporter of Hitler, 04:55 our fellow catholic. 04:57 You say, it's not true, it is true. 05:01 It is history. 05:04 Almost all ministers like me, almost all of the Protestants, 05:11 and they did it because Hitler was against communism. 05:14 Communism was atheism. 05:17 So almost all supported Hitler, but 95% at least. 05:22 And look the other way when the Jews were murdered 05:24 why because Hitler offered them bread, 05:28 miracles, magic, power, security. 05:32 Exactly what Satan offered Christ, 05:34 and Christ turned him down. 05:36 Now I spoke about Bonhoeffer. 05:40 He's one of my heroes. 05:43 Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 05:46 The British said, look we've got a church here, 05:48 Lutherans, come on. 05:49 "No," he said, "I can't." 05:50 He went over for a while, but he said, 05:52 "I got to go back to be with my people." 05:56 The Americans said, "We'll give you safe passage 05:58 to the United States of America. 06:01 And this is a great country." 06:02 He came over to America. 06:04 He went to Harlem. 06:05 He worshiped in the black churches 06:07 and enjoyed it. 06:08 He said, "They've got some spirit." 06:11 And they've got some soul, and we've lost that in Germany. 06:18 But when he smelt the burning flesh 06:22 from the crematoriums, 06:24 he said, "I am going back to be with my people." 06:30 He was a soldier. 06:36 What about the others? 06:40 April 9, 1945, 06:44 just 2 weeks before the American soldiers 06:47 got there and liberated the death camp, 06:50 they let him out, and they hung him up. 06:54 This man hung up, strung up, 06:57 put to death 07:01 because he had the power of no. 07:03 He was not a conformist. He didn't thief in. 07:08 Some people get on even church committees 07:12 and all you can see them do, they say, "Yes, yes, yes, yes. 07:16 It's my job. Yes, yes, yes. My security, yes, yes." 07:21 What about your conscience? 07:22 "It doesn't matter, doesn't matter. 07:24 Yes, yes, God understands." Yes, He does. 07:27 He understands you're a coward. 07:31 But this man was no coward, 07:34 a Lutheran minister strung up by the neck. 07:38 I think they used a piano wire. 07:43 So he'd lived longer. 07:45 The question, of course, is what would we have done, 07:49 the author of this book, Alec Ryrie says, 07:53 "Don't be too hard on the Germans," 07:55 we weren't there. 07:57 If we had been there, 07:58 we probably would have done the same thing. 08:01 You see, we would have done the same thing, 08:05 but I'm not a fatalist 08:06 because we have the capacity of choice, 08:09 because God loves us, 08:11 He made us as free moral agents 08:14 with the capacity to choose. 08:19 You can't force me to go against Christ. 08:24 And Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, 08:28 "I will follow my Christ." 08:32 And he stood out against Hitler 08:35 when his church supported Hitler. 08:40 Of course, all the churches, 08:42 all the churches with a few exceptions. 08:49 Now a last day scenario, 08:51 please look at Revelation 13:11, 08:55 Revelation 13:11, "Then I saw another beast," 08:59 kingdom or power, "coming up out of the earth, 09:03 he had two horns like," what does it say, 09:06 "a lamb spoke like a dragon." 09:09 Now many, many good Christians 09:12 here in the United States of America say, 09:17 "This is Protestant America." 09:21 Goodness. 09:23 The United States of America born in greatness, 09:27 nurtured on the Protestant faith, 09:30 immersed in individualism. 09:35 What do you think of when you think of an American? 09:37 I believe in freedom. 09:39 That's what you think, 09:41 a champion of civil and religious liberties, 09:43 a defender of freedom. 09:49 America has, I think above all other nations, 09:52 the most glorious heritage. 09:54 But the Bible says to speak like a dragon. 10:01 Look at Revelation 13:12, 10:02 when did you last hear that preach, my friend? 10:05 Revelation 13:12, 10:09 I know of at least 20 million people in the world 10:11 who believe this 10:13 "And he exercises all the authority 10:16 of the first beast," 10:17 that's the beast of the inquisition, 10:19 "in his presence, 10:20 and causes the earth and those who dwell in it 10:24 to worship the first beast, 10:26 whose deadly wound was healed." 10:29 Therefore, he sets up an alliance 10:33 with the beast of the inquisition. 10:36 You can read this in Great Controversy. 10:41 And then verse 13, 10:45 "He performs great signs, 10:47 so that he even makes fire come down from heaven 10:50 on the earth in the sight of men." 10:52 There you have miracles, mystery, magic. 10:59 "Cast yourself down, do a miracle." 11:03 Christ said, "No, I don't want you to follow me 11:05 because of the miracles." 11:06 It is written 11:09 miracles, mystery, an appeal to the senses. 11:15 And then verses 16 and 17, 11:18 Revelation 13:16 and 17. 11:20 "He causes all, 11:22 both small and great, rich and poor, 11:25 free and slave, 11:27 to receive a mark on their right hand 11:30 or on their foreheads, 11:31 and that no one may buy or sell 11:34 except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, 11:39 or the number of his name." 11:42 So I'm not going to go into this now 11:45 because I'm going to tell you something, 11:47 it's a lot more than what you think it is. 11:52 It is a mark of universal conformity. 11:57 Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 12:01 He says, "Unless you do it, 12:03 you're not going to get your bread. 12:06 You won't be allowed to buy or sell." 12:10 But join us, we're going to have the miracles. 12:12 We're going to have the fire. 12:16 And you're going to have security, 12:18 but give us one thing, freedom. 12:23 Give us freedom of choice, and as the old inquisitor said, 12:26 why not, it's a terrible burn. 12:31 "Christ, you made a big mistake. 12:35 Freedom is an intolerable burden, 12:39 most people don't want freedom, they want bread." 12:46 And that of course is the voice of the antichrist. 12:52 So in the last days, 12:54 people will be asked to give 12:57 total conformity, 13:02 they will come a great religious movement 13:05 to force people into conformity. 13:08 Look at me, 13:14 we should not be conformists because we're simply pains. 13:19 There are some and we should not be, 13:21 should I say, individuals, 13:25 just because we want to be different, 13:29 we shouldn't be different for different sake, 13:35 but we should be different for Christ's sake. 13:39 And conformity 13:43 in a religious crisis 13:46 is kissing Christ on the cheek and saying, "Hail Master." 13:52 It's the act of Judas, 13:58 the kiss. 14:00 I ask this question, "Could it happen in America?" 14:05 Now you'll understand, I'm not talking politics, 14:07 I'm not slightly involved in politics 14:11 in Australia or in America. 14:16 And I'm not ashamed to tell people 14:18 I am fiercely independent. 14:22 And I know I'd probably fall out with everybody, 14:25 but so be it. 14:28 Let me tell you folks something, 14:31 I don't want another bunch of people 14:34 telling me how I ought to think. 14:38 I don't want to big political party saying, 14:40 "You've got thinking, 14:42 you got to march here and step." 14:44 No, I don't want that. 14:47 That's getting close to the mark of the beast. 14:54 I don't want a church hierarchy saying to me, 14:57 "You've got to see it this way because I say, 15:00 'My authority is not a hierarchy of the church, 15:03 it is Jesus Christ 15:06 speaking through His Word, the Bible.'" 15:09 You see. 15:10 That's what a Protestant is supposed to be. 15:13 And a lot of Catholics agree with me today on this. 15:16 Okay, could it happen in America? 15:19 We're not talking politics. 15:21 I asked these questions, don't answer them. 15:24 Are people in America 15:25 swayed by oratory in great rallies? 15:31 Do people in America 15:33 easily swallow and digest lies? 15:38 Are people inflamed with hatred for each other? 15:42 Do people put political parties 15:45 before honor, duty, and country? 15:49 Honor, duty, and country. 15:54 God, honor, duty, and country. 15:58 But do people put politics before that? 16:01 Are people stirred up to hate other races, 16:05 like Hitler, stir them up to hate the Jews? 16:09 I've got lots of Jewish friends. 16:11 I've got two great Jewish doctors 16:14 who work really hard to keep me going. 16:20 Some of my best friends are the Jews, 16:26 but the Christians and the rest were stirred up in Germany 16:29 to hate the Jews... 16:34 And to sing songs 16:36 and much as they can smell them burning. 16:43 Now if you can say yes to any of these questions, 16:45 then now is the time to resolve 16:48 to follow Christ and not man. 16:51 Remember, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 16:56 Number two... 16:58 to be, when needed, a non-conformist. 17:02 Not a troublemaker, some people, you know, 17:04 I've been a pastor for more than 50 years, 17:07 and you have some people 17:08 who just like to be non-conformists 17:11 because they just want to cause trouble. 17:13 We're not talking about pettiness and stupidities. 17:17 We're talking about moral and integrity. 17:21 Not a troublemaker, but a person of conscience. 17:24 To refuse to go with the crowd 17:26 when the crowd is going in the wrong direction, 17:33 to vote against the hierarchy 17:35 when the hierarchy is wrong. 17:38 Oh, dear. 17:41 To refuse the Hitler Syndrome. 17:46 So in the last days, 17:49 the vast majority are going to not say Sieg Heil, 17:54 but they are going to do the equivalent. 17:57 They're going to get in lockstep, 18:00 and today, in the western world, 18:03 as an Australian, as an American, 18:05 I can tell you people are taught to conform 18:09 and to go with the majority 18:11 and not to think for themselves. 18:16 That's getting people ready for the mark of the beast. 18:21 And if you're that sort of person 18:24 and if you think you're secure in your salvation, 18:28 so do the people in Germany 18:32 who put Hitler 18:36 on the seat of authority and great power. 18:42 It's good to be a non-conformist 18:45 when the time is demanded. 18:48 I'm going to take you now 18:50 to the plains of Dura in Babylon. 18:53 I want you to take your Bible and turn to Daniel 3:1 and 6. 18:57 Daniel 3:1 and 6. 19:02 "Nebuchadnezzar," type of antichrist, 19:04 "the king made an image of gold, 19:07 whose height was 60 cubits, width 6 cubits. 19:11 He set it up in the plain of Dura, 19:13 in the province of Babylon." 19:16 And he cried out. 19:18 He said, here's the thing, 19:19 "Whoever does not fall down and worship 19:21 shall be cast immediately 19:23 into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." 19:26 Now please, 19:30 let's just think about it. 19:32 Here are three young guys, 19:35 a long way from home. 19:38 And when you are a long way from home 19:40 and when you are a hated religious minority, 19:45 it is not a comfortable feeling. 19:47 Some people say, 19:48 "Oh, I couldn't do this, I wouldn't be comfortable." 19:54 God help you. 19:58 We need to be uncomfortable for Jesus, 20:00 but He asks us to be. 20:03 Goodness me. 20:05 I've heard people say, 20:06 "Oh, it puts me out of my comfort zone." 20:08 "So would you like my handkerchief 20:10 so you can cry?" 20:11 Come on. 20:14 So here you've got three young men. 20:16 This big image that represents the antichrist. 20:19 The King says, 20:20 "You got to fall down and you got to worship this, 20:23 if you don't worship it, 20:24 into the burning fiery furnace." 20:27 Now Daniel 3:7, 20:30 I think is the next verse I'm looking for. 20:32 I think it's verse 7. 20:33 "So at that time, when all the people heard 20:35 the sound of the horn, flute, harp," 20:37 had a big orchestra by the looks, 20:40 "the lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, 20:42 all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down, " 20:48 on their noses in the dust, 20:50 "and worshipped the gold image 20:51 which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." 20:53 So over goes the music. 20:56 What did they all do? 20:58 All down. 21:01 That's the tyranny of the crowd, 21:03 that's the Hitler Syndrome, 21:06 that's to go along with the majority, 21:09 whether the majority is right or not, 21:10 but I've got to get my bread, I've got to get my security. 21:15 What's my freedom? 21:17 Freedom is not very important if I don't have security. 21:20 So what's the choice? 21:21 Well, if it is a choice, I'll have security any day. 21:25 That of course leads to the mark of the beast. 21:28 There were three who wouldn't fall down, 21:31 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 21:35 They wouldn't get down. 21:39 Daniel 3:15, it's just a little summary. 21:43 The king says, 21:44 "Now if you're ready at the time you hear 21:45 the sound of the horn, flute, 21:47 the harp, the lyre, and psaltery, 21:49 in symphony with all kinds of music, 21:51 and you fall down and worship the image 21:53 which I have made, good! 21:55 But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately 21:58 into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 22:00 And who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?" 22:04 So he says I'm giving you one last shot at it. 22:09 You better do it. 22:10 And verse 16. 22:12 He didn't realize whom he was dealing with. 22:16 Verse 16, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 22:19 answered and said to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, 22:22 we have no need to answer you in this matter." 22:25 What don't you understand about no? 22:29 That's the power of no. 22:33 We will not bow down. No. 22:35 What don't you get? 22:38 So what did they do, they take these three young guys, 22:41 these young Jewish guys, 22:42 they throw them into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22:48 People say about the martyrs when they were burned, 22:51 "Oh, of course, you know, they didn't feel any pain." 22:55 Oh, were you one of the martyrs? 22:57 You come back to tell me. 22:59 No, on the whole, the modest felt a lot of pain. 23:04 If you will being frizzled with a slow fire 23:07 because sometimes that would wet the wood. 23:11 So it took hours to burn them. 23:15 Christians did this. 23:18 In the name of God, people do all sorts of wicked things 23:21 in the name of God. 23:26 So these three young guys 23:27 are thrown in the midst of a burning fiery furnace, 23:31 probably fueled with oil, 23:33 I've been to that part of the world, 23:35 I've been to the part of the world there 23:37 where the oil is seeping out of the ground, 23:39 I've been there. 23:44 But the Bible tells us 23:47 they wouldn't budge, 23:50 they wouldn't bow, 23:52 they wouldn't bend, 23:53 and hallelujah, they wouldn't burn. 23:55 Amen. 23:58 They wouldn't burn. 24:01 And so the king in the old translation, 24:04 says, he's astonied. 24:06 Now I swear he's astonied, he's astonished. 24:09 He says, come out. 24:12 And we're told also in the Bible 24:17 that there was another person who came down there, 24:20 not just three, another person came down. 24:22 And he came and stood with them in the fire. 24:25 That's the good thing, that's the gospel. 24:28 When you're thrown into the fire, 24:30 then somebody who come down and stand with you in the fire. 24:36 And so they come forth and the king says, 24:38 "I can't even smell the fire on you." 24:41 This is a prelude to the story 24:43 of the mark of the beast and the image of the beast. 24:45 In the last days, 24:48 in spite of the weak conformity 24:52 that is encouraged in the world, 24:56 God is going to have people, 25:00 and they won't budge. 25:03 No, they won't bow. 25:07 They're not going to get down with their noses in the dirt, 25:09 they're not going to be crawlers, 25:10 not going to be wimps, they will not... 25:14 just won't bend, they're not going bend, 25:16 they're not going... 25:18 Man, you're not going to be bow down 25:20 or bend or any of those things, 25:22 and by the grace of God, they will not burn. 25:28 And this story in the Book of Daniel is written 25:33 so that we who live 25:35 in the time of the Hitler Syndrome 25:41 will have faith in God 25:44 to stand for the truth 25:47 though the heavens fall and to stand for Christ, 25:52 even when the fire is hot. 25:55 God, my friend, will have a people in the last days 26:01 who will defeat the Hitler syndrome 26:04 and will go home with Jesus 26:07 to glory for his praise. 26:10 Amen and amen. 26:20 There is only one thing 26:21 that really counts in this lifetime, 26:24 your relationship to Christ. 26:27 And then if you have a right relationship with Christ, 26:30 you want to tell people about Christ. 26:33 That's why Jesus said, "Go into all the world 26:36 and preach the gospel to every creature." 26:40 By the grace of God, we're going to do that. 26:42 We are doing that. 26:44 That is why we're going back to Cuba 26:47 to this communist land to preach Christ. 26:51 We're accepting an invitation 26:53 to go to the vast and huge city of Manila, 26:58 the capital of the Philippines, been there before, 27:01 but by the grace of God, we're going back. 27:05 Please support us. 27:07 Please stand with us 27:09 in the preaching of the everlasting gospel. 27:12 You say, "How do you do it? 27:13 Who pays the bills?" 27:15 We do. 27:16 "Do you get any financial help from the church?" 27:19 No, my friend, we don't, 27:21 but we get a lot of help from God 27:24 and from his children. 27:25 Please support us 27:27 in the preaching of the everlasting gospel. 27:30 It's the most important work in all the world. 27:33 Everything else is almost trivia. 27:36 So would you please write to me, 27:40 John Carter, Post Office Box 1900, 27:44 Thousand Oaks, California, 91358. 27:48 Do your best for Jesus. 27:50 Do your best for the gospel. 27:53 And in Australia, write to me at Terrigal, 27:56 and we promise you this, 27:59 every dime, every dollar is going to be used 28:03 to win souls to our Lord Jesus Christ. 28:07 Please write to me today. 28:11 Thank you and God bless you. 28:22 For a copy of today's program, 28:24 please contact us at P.O. 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Revised 2024-01-24