An old man wept as he recalled this haunting story from his childhood in World War II-era Germany, as told by Penny Lea in the tract and recent short film “Sing a Little Louder”:
“A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from the distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews. They were like cattle in those cars! Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time the train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we’d just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. G-d forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.”
In his 2022 bestselling book Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas likens the American church’s silence in the face of today’s evils to the silence of the German church in 1930s Germany as Hitler rose to power. I interviewed Metaxas about this book for SWRC’s Watchman on the Wall radio program for two programs that aired in March 2023.
Recently, a documentary film based on the book was released. The goal of the film, also called Letter to the American Church, is described on LetterToTheAmericanChurch.com. “Eric and several leading conservative voices of today, explain how cultural Marxism has taken over America, including the church. This film is a wake-up call to the church to stand up and speak out against the evil that is manifesting in our country. Our cast gives practical examples on how to take action and turn our country back to freedom, liberty and ultimately, God Himself.”
It Is Time to Speak Up
The book and the film are clear calls to action for the church. Metaxas lays the blame for the evangelical church’s overall whimper of a response to cultural Marxism on the doorstep of pastors. According to Metaxas, pastors who are ignorant about these topics beget churches who are distracted and silent as society drifts farther away from God. He urges pastors and church members to get their heads out of the proverbial sand and realize how close America is to the elimination of core freedoms enjoyed for many years.
More concerning than the distractions, Metaxas says, is the grievous willful silence in the face of sin on the part of some pastors. He parallels the logic behind the excuses offered by some American pastors and those of German pastors in the 1930s. For example, Metaxas argues that pastors who refuse to lovingly preach what God’s Word says about marriage because people might leave the church are doing a disservice to God and His Word.
A 2022 survey of evangelical church members and their political views reveals a growing political partisanship in American churches. According to Lifeway Research, “Half of U.S. Protestant churchgoers (50 percent) say they’d prefer to attend a church where people share their political views, and 55 percent believe that to be the case at their congregation already.” Is the American church allowing partisan politics to usurp the role of Scripture and Christ’s headship of the church?
The Responsibility of a Watchman
God’s Word offers a sobering message that cannot be avoided by those who wish to stay silent against sin. Ezekiel 33:1-9 describes the responsibilities of watchmen on the wall. To paraphrase this powerful passage, God told Ezekiel that watchmen needed to be on the lookout for enemies who could attack a city. They were responsible for staying awake and alert as they watched for the enemy’s advance.
When they saw the enemy coming, the watchman should blow his trumpet to alert the people of coming danger. If the people ignored the watchman’s warnings, their blood would be upon their own heads. The watchman had done his job. If, however, the watchman failed to sound the alarm, God would hold the watchman responsible for the blood of the people who were never warned. Their blood is on the negligent watchman’s hands.
Imagine a watchman who knows the enemy might approach, but night after night, nothing happens. After a month of this, he grows drowsy, so he starts taking short naps through the night. Eventually, he starts sleeping instead of watching. The people sleep in peace thinking that the watchman is doing his job, yet as he sleeps, the enemy quietly approaches and conquers the sleeping city.
Church leaders today face the same temptation to remain silent about sin. However, the church and its pastors must strive to honor God instead of pleasing people. The Apostle Paul spoke directly about this issue, addressing the spirit of people-pleasing that infiltrated the Galatian church. To paraphrase part of Galatians 1:10, Paul said that if he sought the approval of people, he would not be the servant of Christ. He desired the approval of God above anyone or anything else. All Christians should crave the smile of God more than the smile of people. Sadly, peer pressure changes some people’s loyalties because they want other people to like and accept them.
Pastors are not immune to this pressure and perhaps they feel it more strongly than most other occupations. An over-emphasis on church growth in American evangelicalism over the last few decades has produced some pastors who do all they can to get and retain a bigger audience each Sunday. Why would they rock the boat by preaching on a controversial issue that could drive people away? When people praise the pastor each week for how the church is growing, the drive to keep a good thing going becomes intoxicating. But continued intoxication from people’s praise creates an unhealthy addiction that changes one’s allegiance from God to people.
Have some American pastors fallen asleep as watchmen on the wall? Are some too afraid of waking people up during the night that they refuse to blow their trumpets even though they see the danger approaching? Is this one reason why some pastors refuse to preach on Bible prophecy?
It Is Time to Wake Up
An urgent heeding of the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 13:11-12 is needed at this hour. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”
Peter echoed these words in 1 Peter 4:7. “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”
Peter knew how easy it was to fall asleep as a watchman. In the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest, Jesus admonished Peter to watch and pray so that he would not enter into temptation. However, three times Jesus tried to wake up the sleepy-eyed Peter (Matt. 26:36-46).
Peter quickly caved to the peer pressure to please people when he denied Jesus three times. Thankfully, Jesus restored Peter three times and gave him a greater ministry after his failure. As an older man, he penned the words of 1 Peter 4:7 to remind his readers how dangerous it is for watchmen to fall asleep.
Sound the Trumpet
I firmly believe that all pastors are watchmen, but not all watchmen are pastors, as I noted in my book Rise of the One-World Mind. One can serve as a watchman without serving as a pastor, but a pastor cannot serve as a shepherd of God’s flock without simultaneously being a watchman.
The call to shepherd a congregation involves watching over their souls and warning them of approaching dangers from without and disease from within. Just as the Great Shepherd nourishes His flock to optimal health, so, too, a faithful under-shepherd lovingly cares for his Master’s flock.
Sometimes the most loving thing the faithful watchman can do is sound the alarm. Follow the Lord’s leading as you speak up and alert others to the approaching danger. Do not ignore the sound of the train.