Is Your Way of Life Truly the Peculiarly Christian Way of Life?

(NB. The material below has the style of a bulleted response, which I chose as a way to make response to some sentiments I read, but which would have been better presented had they been made from purely -- and thus peculiarly -- a true Christian's worldview, and not from a worldview that Humanists espouse as a thing realizable without need for obedience to God's standards revealed in the Bible.)

How inclusive is the true Christian brotherhood? It does not tolerate in its membership those who practice racism, nationalism, sexual immorality — anyone who has not repented works of the flesh. We can forge no bonds with those who wish to remain in spiritual darkness.

How empathetic are true Christians? We have no sympathy or affection for those who are unrepentant, willful practicers of wickedness. But true Christians do indeed empathize with those conscious of their spiritual need.

As to dignity, whatever Jehovah hates are things a Christian cannot dignify, but are things he hates, too.

As to diversity, we are all of us free moral agents able to choose from any of a number of diverse lifestyles; however, there are hurtful consequences for bad choices.

As to community, Christians have the only international community/brotherhood on earth.

As to kindness, if one does not have holy spirit at work in his life, then he does not have, as a fruit of holy spirit, kindness.

As to integrity, the Bible defines it. The vast majority of men reject letting the Bible instruct them as to God’s standards for an honest, good (morally excellent) way of life.

A Christian must respect a man’s right to make a free-will choice as to what way of life he chooses for himself; however, that does not mean that we necessarily respect the very way of life some man has chosen for himself. For example, we respect that men have free moral agency; however, that means that a man can speak lies that are harmful to others. So, if he is a habitual liar, who can respect him or his words—his way of life?

As to justice, a Christian has chosen to abide by how God, in the Bible, wants us to treat others.

As to facts, every proposition of any moment to a Christian’s way of life must be weighed against whether or not the proposition is in harmony with relevant facts, which are the substance of the holy Scriptures’ record of God’s revelation of Himself to us, and of His will for us.

As to peace, a Christian has, as a fruit of holy spirit from God given us because of our obedience to Jesus Christ’s teachings, real peace.

Planet Earth has for its protector none other than its Creator, Jehovah God, who says this about the earth: “For this is what Jehovah says, the Creator of the heavens, the true God, the One who formed the earth, its Maker who firmly established it, Who did not create it simply for nothing, but formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18). Jehovah is jealous for the future of the earth; he does not leave its future in the hands of men who have proved themselves to be enemies of the earth. So, what will He do to ensure fulfillment of His original purpose for the earth? He will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth” (Revelation 11:18). God’s earthly servants will not participate God’s rescue of planet Earth; no, but it will be by supernaturally conducted warfare against wicked men at Armageddon that God, through His warrior Son Jesus Christ, brings needed action for stopping men from ruining the earth (Revelation 19:11-18). Neither politicians nor bold action by Greenpeace can bring about the needed rescue. It will take Armageddon and, after Armageddon, the binding of Satan and his demon angels before men now obedient to God’s commands will in future participate under heaven’s direction bringing about significant change for better ecosystems. 

If you have truthfully chosen in favor of a humanity that soon enough will no longer be beset by strife, warfare, famine, pandemics, racism, nationalism, misogynism, greed, sexual immorality, murder, and life-debilitating pollution of earth’s ecosystems, then you have chosen a way of life that shows that you favor God’s heavenly Kingdom government, and have chosen to reject anti-Biblical doctrines, whether they be Humanism, materialism, evolution, hedonism, or whether they be superstitions of religionists who do not really know the Bible, God’s message to mankind. 

So, what is a Christian's love for unbelieving neighbors? It always includes that we neither wish nor do harm against our neighbors--even though they may be deceived into working to suppress the truth of the Gospel (Good News); we must rather seek to educate them as to what is God's will, and should they begin to see the truth, then we work to support their genuine effort to break free from Satan's captivity of them, and for them to have fine relationship with the God of the Bible (q.v. Acts 26:18). They cannot have that fine relationship with God until they have repented from dead works of the flesh, turned around in order to follow closely in the footsteps of Jesus Christ; they must disown themselves in unreserved dedication to do God's will forevermore, and accept baptism into the Christian brotherhood as public demonstration that they are requesting God for a good conscience (1 Peter 3:21). That is our fervent wish for all our unbelieving neighbors, people who need to obey the Good News about our Lord Jesus Christ. So, we Jehovah's Witnesses let the Bible put it this way for us vis-à-vis our unbelieving neighbors: "For I am not ashamed of the good news; it is, in fact, God's power for salvation to everyone having faith, to the [unbelieving] Jew first and also to the Greek.... For God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who are suppressing the truth in an unrighteous way" (Romans 1:16, 18). 

But until an unbelieving neighbor becomes a true Christian disciple, then members of the true Christian brotherhood are limited as to what will be the extent of the love they show unbelievers. Jesus has not put us his disciples under command to surrender our lives for those who are not our friends. Jesus put it this way: "No one has greater love than this, that someone should surrender his life in behalf of his friends. You are my friends if you do what I am commanding you" (John 15:13, 14). If they are not friends of Jesus, then they are not our friends, either. 

Christians Are Not Authorized by God to Participate Politics

Sometimes we Jehovah’s Witnesses are asked, “Why won’t you vote in political elections? Aren’t you interested in voting into office a good man?”

The truth is, there are no men who can match the righteousness of our ruling king, the glorified Jesus Christ, who has proved himself loyal to all the righteous decrees of God, and who was completely — perfectly — absent any struggle that might have inclined him to lying, greed, or cowardice. So, until this perfectly qualified Ruler takes unhindered control of the world of mankind, we his followers expect to suffer. Our relief comes when Jesus strikes the earth with the rod of his mouth, and the wicked are put to death at command from him (q.v. Isaiah 11:4, 5).

You may be asking, “We may expect to suffer?” Yes, and accept it joyfully, too! The Bible at Hebrews 10:34 says this about persecuted Christians in Judea: “You accepted joyfully the plundering of your belongings, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession.” That verse but echoes what Jesus himself said at Matthew 5:11-13: “Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake, since the Kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake. Rejoice and be overjoyed, since your reward is great in the heavens, for in that way they persecuted the prophets prior to you.”

No, it does not please us whenever we witness that our Heavenly Father is being made sad because He is seeing His people harmed and His name blasphemed. That is something we wish that God did not have to let happen. But it is not our will that counts here; it is our heavenly Father’s will that counts (compare Luke 22:41, 42). And Jehovah’s name and sovereignty are being vindicated when we endure under hardship and prove the Devil a liar. We can certainly rejoice and be overjoyed that our being strengthened by holy spirit to endure persecution is a share we have in sanctifying God's name and proving the Devil a liar against God.

Politics is a fight against flesh and blood. A Christian’s fight is not against flesh and blood, just as we read at Ephesians 6:12: “We have a struggle not against blood and flesh but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.” Yes, our struggle is against superhuman persons invisible, in the spirit realm, namely, against Satan and his demon angels. Until they are dealt with by Jesus Christ, human effort (political, manmade governments) will continue, and continue to fail, too: we will continue to witness the terrible absence of real peace and happiness for the entire human family.

Christians may not even express wrath and reviling speech against any person. We may rebuke the wicked, and try to reprove them with the Scriptures; however, for as long as we have breath, we can express our confidence that the God of the Bible will protect His namesake people as a whole; moreover, any individual servant of God who is harmed will not suffer irreversible harm. It pleases God to allow us His earthly servants to prove our love for Him, to show forth our indomitable faith, courage, and loyalty--yes! prove such things even though it may involve some of us being martyred. How do we know that is what God expects of any of us followers of Christ? Consider the following Bible verses:

1 Peter 2:19-21: “For it is agreeable when someone endures hardship and suffers unjustly because of conscience toward God. For what merit is there if you are beaten for sinning and you endure it? But if you endure suffering because of doing good, this is an agreeable thing to God.”

1 Peter 3:17: “For it is better to suffer because you are doing good, if it is God’s will to allow it.”

Revelation 2:10: “Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. Look! The Devil will keep on throwing some of you into prison . . . Prove yourself faithful even to death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

As was pointed out above, nowhere in the teachings of the “New Testament” (Christian Greek Scriptures) do we read that Christians are authorized by God to take up a political struggle against men. We will try to conceal ourselves from their attacks, of course (cf. Matthew 10:23), but wicked men will be permitted to persecute us until Jesus Christ brings about our relief at the time when armies of angels under the command of Jesus Christ will annihilate our enemies. That very thing is promised us in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10: “This takes into account that it is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you. But you who suffer tribulation will be given relief along with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance on those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength, at the time when he comes to be glorified in connection with his holy ones and to be regarded in that day with wonder among all those who exercised faith, because the witness we gave met with faith among you.”

Do we read anywhere in the Scriptures that Christians may form — or even seek to inform — a polity (a manmade government) for assurance of “human rights”? No. Politics is a thing of the world, but Jesus has commanded us to be no part of the world. Our future is assured not through political struggles, but through blessing from Jehovah. He has a blessed Kingdom government in the hands of His Son, Jesus Christ. That government will be an everlasting government for us, one that will never disappoint us the way manmade governments do.

This faith in God's heavenly Kingdom government is not the possession of all men; indeed, by far the majority of men lack this faith. And faithless men are easily manipulated by Satanic propaganda to oppose true Christians and hate them. Jesus prayed about the matter to his heavenly Father, and stated: “I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world” (John 17:14). And Jesus has addressed us on the subject several times. For example, we read this: “I have said these things to you so that by means of me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage! I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33).

Yes, Jesus conquered the world because he did not let his faith and hope become ruined out of fear of men. It is the same for us, too! Already we have conquered the world if we do not let our faith, hope, and love for God and neighbor become ruined out of fear of men. “Because everyone who has been born from God conquers the world. And this is the conquest that has conquered the world, our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Men without faith cannot excite us with dire warnings that if we do not vote the right man into office, then our peace and security will be lost. That is not true. Jesus' words to us his disciples can never become untrue. We will continue to have the peace Jesus gives us: "I leave you peace; I give you my peace. I do not give it to you the way that the world gives it. Do not let your hearts be troubled nor let them shrink out of fear" (John 14:27).

Child Sacrifice for a Society's "Well-Being" Is from Ancient Times

 https://youtu.be/g1fRF5xLPZs

“Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed what is believed to be the largest single mass child sacrifice in history. The bodies of 227 victims, aged between five and 14, were found near the coastal town of Huanchaco, north of Peru's capital Lima. The children were believed to have been sacrificed over 500 years ago.

"The discovery comes barely a year after 200 child victims of human sacrifice were found at two other sites in the country. Archaeologists told AFP news agency that some of the bodies in this latest collection still had hair and skin when they were dug up.

"The children show signs of being killed during wet weather, and were buried facing the sea, meaning they were probably sacrificed to appease the Chimú's gods.” (See https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49495167)

Child sacrifice was also practiced among the ancient Incas. And the ancient North African city-state of Carthage is said to have sacrificed 500 children on one occasion.

It was also practiced by apostate Israelites, becoming entrenched among the Israelites in general after the rule of the Judean kings, Ahaz and Manasseh, who gave impetus to child sacrifice when they sacrificed their own children.

Today, human sacrifice of babies yet in their mothers’ wombs occurs. “U.S. Abortions [( through surgical and medical methods)] in 2017: ~862,320 (Guttmacher Institute)….

“[It] is important not to overlook the number of children killed by chemical abortions . . . [P]harmacy experts project that about 14 million chemical abortions occur in the United States each year, providing a projected total of well in excess of 610 million chemical abortions between 1965 and 2009.”

Induced abortion where “the sole purpose . . . is to avoid the birth of an unwanted child is an act of high crime in the sight of God.” (See Insight on the Scriptures, [Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York: 1988] vol. 1, p. 29.) Those who commit it and those who defend it are bloodguilty in God’s sight. Those who are unrepentant of their bloodguilt make themselves liable to God’s wrath.

The Bible in Romans 1:28-32 gives this warning against those who are emboldened to practice/defend ungodliness: “Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a disapproved mental state, to do the things not fitting. And they were filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and badness, being full of envy, MURDER [emphasis mine], strife, deceit, and malice, being whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, schemers of what is harmful, disobedient to parents, without understanding, false to agreements, HAVING NO NATURAL AFFECTION, AND MERCILESS. Although these know full well the righteous decree of God—that those who practice such things are deserving of death — they not only keep on doing them but also approve of those practicing them.”

True Christians are no part of the world. We stay away from politics that in one way or another involves a politicians’ supporters — no matter the “party” to which they adhere — in violations of God’s laws and principles.

BBC.COM

Mass child sacrifice discovery may be largest in Peru

Researchers find 227 child victims of human sacrifice, believed to h

Jehovah-- not Politicians -- Protects Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

 "In last week's Watchtower [are] found a few paragraphs of interest. In paragraphs 15-17 it mentioned the brothers and sisters of the Nazi era and their faithfulness. Interesting that this should be in that issue, as it was 75 years ago, 1945, to the month that WWII ended and [JWs] were freed from Nazi persecution. The JV book [(Jehovah's Witnesses -- Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993))] said, “The following year, 1946, the brothers in Germany arranged for a convention in Nuremberg. They were granted the use of the Zeppelinwiese, Hitler’s former parade grounds . . . The final day of that convention proved to be one when sentences were to be announced at the war-crimes trials there in Nuremberg . . . [JWs] saw the hand of Jehovah in what was taking place. At the very time that men [(viz., 24 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich)] representing a regime that had tried to exterminate them were being sentenced [-- 12 sentenced to death, 7 sentenced to prison from 10 years to life, 3 acquitted, and 2 not charged --], Jehovah’s Witnesses were meeting to worship Jehovah at the place where Hitler had put on some of his most spectacular displays of Nazi power....

"In the 1980’s in Israel a well known and extremely controversial figure, Meir Kahane [(see photo below)] was active in Israeli and American news. Kahane was an American born Israeli Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-orthodox politician who served in the Knesset. He had militant views and was an influence in far-right political groups today in Israel. Back in 1968 he was a co-founder of the JDL, Jewish Defense League. He was militant in his religious and political views from top to bottom. He inspired much violence.

"In the 80’s while he was in Israel, a missionary who had been a Brooklyn Bethelite, . . . recounted [that] Kahane who was in the news a lot, said of Jehovah’s Witnesses that, ‘he would push [them] into the sea.’ Yet just a few years afterwards in 1990 in New York he was assassinated by a naturalized Egyptian. God's people are still there [in Israel] and growing due to Jehovah’s blessing. How about that?

"[One of JWs] on the Branch committee . . . recalled that one evening at the Telaviv [sic; should read "Tel Aviv"] Bethel, Kahane was the guest speaker at a Haradi demonstration across the street saying that “the building [(the Branch Office for JWs in Israel)] should be burnt down on it’s inhabitants.""

Now, where is Kahane? Murdered. And what about Israeli JWs whom Kahane wanted to see burned alive? Stronger than ever before!

FYI: Beware Infection by the Gaslighting Spirit of Satan the Devil, the Father of the Lie

Jehovah’s Witnesses have published material that has exposed the fanaticism of the kind of fascism that informed Hitler’s Nazism, and has exposed the way that the Roman Catholic Church and other religions became bloodguilty both by their silence in the face of the Holocaust, and by their not censuring their members who actively participated the persecutions that resulted in the deaths of millions in WWII. For examples:

“[We should not forget] the illicit religio-political relationship that catapulted Hitler into power in Nazi Germany . . . Did the Catholic Church condemn Mussolini’s barbarity? While the pope issued ambiguous statements, his bishops were quite vocal in blessing the armed forces of their Italian “fatherland.” ….

“The Civil War of 1936-39 in [Spain] was sparked, in part, by the democratic government’s taking steps to reduce the huge power of the Roman Catholic Church. As the war got under way, the Catholic Fascist leader of the revolutionary forces, Franco, described himself as “the Christian Generalissimo of the Holy Crusade,” a title that he later dropped. Several hundred thousand Spaniards died in the fighting. Apart from this, according to a conservative estimate, Franco’s Nationalists had murdered 40,000 Popular Front members, while the latter had murdered 8,000 clerics —monks, priests, nuns, and novices. Such is the horror and tragedy of civil war, illustrating the wisdom of heeding Jesus’ words: “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” ([Matthew 26:52]) How disgusting that Christendom gets involved in such massive bloodshed! Her clergy have indeed failed utterly to “beat their swords into plowshares”! — [Isaiah 2:4]”….

“ . . . since Catholic intrigue helped to bring Hitler to power in Germany, the Vatican shares in a terrible bloodguilt with regard to the six million Jews that died in Nazi pogroms.”

(All quoted material was taken from Revelation — Its Grand Climax At Hand, [Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, New York: 1988] pp. 262-263.

In the same publication, we read this, too: “From Jehovah’s viewpoint, the world’s religions are bloodguilty because they have not convincingly taught their followers the truth of Jehovah’s requirements for his servants. They have not convincingly taught people that God’s true worshippers must imitate Jesus Christ and show love toward others regardless of their national origin. (Micah 4:3, 5; John 13:34, 35; Acts 10:34, 35; 1 John 3:10-12) Because the religions making up Babylon the Great [ = all false religion in all the world] have not taught these things, their adherents have been drawn into the vortex of international warfare. How evident this was in the two world wars of the first half of the 20th-century, both of which started in Christendom and resulted in fellow religionists’ slaughtering one another! If all who claimed to be Christians had adhered to Bible principles, those wars could never have taken place” (ibid. p. 271).

The autocratic governments in Hitler’s Nazi empire, Lenin-Stalin’s USSR, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain, and Castro’s Cuba operated, at different times in the 20th-century, contrary to principles that are called “human rights,” namely, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly — freedoms traditionally informing the heretofore more stable (democratic) governments, more or less so, because even their record is anything but righteous. Witness their murderous racism, white supremacist doctrine, nationalism, exploitative treatment of labor, pollution of the environment, etc.

So, is there once again becoming an ascendancy of fascism for an “illicit religio-political relationship” that threatens “human rights”? Yes, there is right now much of that in evidence; for example, we see it in Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation’s liaison with the Russian Orthodox Church. They use gaslighting techniques to make people believe that they need to fear certain ones they label as extremists when, in fact, if the people were not gaslighted/brainwashed, then they could plainly see who are the real extremists and persecutors, that they (the latter, i.e., the extremists and persecutors) are the ones who play the role of a victim when in fact they have the role of a villain, all this in imitation of their father, the Devil. And time will again tell if the rising tide of fascism will embolden certain clergymen, e.g., evangelicals, to intrigue with politicians in gaslighting their “flocks” in traditionally democratic countries by psychologically manipulating them (the masses) into support of state-sponsored suppression of freedoms of speech, worship, assembly, proselytization, and press — with the likely result of imprisonments and tortures that Satan the Devil wants to see visited upon Jehovah’s Witnesses. We Jehovah’s Witnesses know that our real fight is not against gaslighting politicians — no, not against flesh and blood — but is rather against the original Gas-lighter, the father of the lie, as Jesus called him. The Bible at 2 Corinthians 11:4 warns us against him in these words: “And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps disguising himself as an angel of light.”

My friends and I have a tremendous wealth of resources at hand in http://JW.ORG/ -- resources that encourage us by setting forth the reminders in God’s Word the Bible so that we do not fall victim to Satan’s wily efforts to manipulate our minds and conduct in ways that are opposed to God’s will for us in these last days. Anyone reading this can go online to http://JW.ORG/ for such encouragement. And you may also contact any of Jehovah’s Witnesses for Bible-based conversation, for building a firm hope for a happy future when the God of the Bible has brought an end to the rule of Satan and his minions, the ones who cause so much chaos in manmade governments today.

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Ecclesiastes 4:1: "Again I turned my attention to all the acts of oppression that go on under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and there was no one to comfort them. And their oppressors had the power, and there was no one to comfort them."

Some political rulers today want you to think of them as "the Leader," "the Savior," "the Anointed One." They have no commission from the God of the Bible. Those men dominate their fellow men to their harm, just as we read at Ecclesiastes 8:9: ". . . and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun, during the time that man has dominated man to his harm." But their apologists -- very many clergymen -- want you to excuse a politician's immorality on the basis that God used King David even after he had committed adultery and had successfully schemed the violent death of the adulteress' (Bathsheba's) husband. Apparently those clergymen overlook a key difference between King David and those politicians whom the clergy extol. King David repented, but certain politicians guilty of lying and sexual immorality have not repented their sins against Jehovah. They do not know how to do so, and they have no disposition to want to learn how to do so. But the greater sin here belongs to the clergy who continue to tell God-condemned lies that directly assail the loving and holy character of our God, Jehovah.

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"Why Gaslighters Accuse You of Gaslighting

"Some gaslighters unconsciously project out of guilt or shame. In the case of narcissistic personality disorder, narcissists feel they are totally okay, and think that everyone else has a problem. This is called ego-syntonic behavior. It is very difficult to get a narcissistic gaslighter to get help through counseling, because they think you have the problem, not them. Projecting behavior can get to the point where a gaslighter delusionally believes that they are being persecuted by the victim, when in fact the opposite is true."

PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM

Why Gaslighters Accuse You of Gaslighting

Accusing you of their own behavior is a classic gaslighter's tactic.

 

Though Their Boasting Threats May Fly, Jehovah Keeps Us As the Apple of His Eye

This is a plaque in the Jewish Holocaust memorial in Sheepshead, Brooklyn. It is one of several plaques that acknowledge that non-Jewish peoples were persecuted and killed in the Nazis' concentration camps.  

A “world famous German Protestant and leader of the World Council of Churches,” Martin Niemöller, excoriated himself immediately after WWII for his own cowardice — a cowardice he had earlier disguised as merely being his good politic (namely, his endorsement of Hitler’s National Socialist party’s ascendancy to power in 1933). In a July 3, 1946 speech in Stuttgart, published under the title "The Path to Freedom," Martin Niemöller spoke the following words: 

“One day I drove by near Dachau in my car. My wife was with me and said, "Couldn't I see your cell, where you were imprisoned for the past four years?" I said, "I'll see what can be done." And drove there and was allowed to enter the cell block and show my wife the cell. Then something happened. When we came out the American officer accompanying us led us along a wall. I had often walked along it. There was a large gate in it. I had never seen it open. This time it was open. I knew what was behind it, but entered anyway. I stood with my wife in front of the crematorium in Dachau, and on a tree in front of this building there was a a white-painted board with black lettering. [...] There one could read: "Here in the years 1933-1945 238,756 people [see footnote 13 below] were cremated." While I read it, not aloud, I noticed that my wife fainted and sank trembling into my arms. I had to support her and noticed how at that moment a cold shudder ran down my spine. I think my wife fainted when she read the quarter-million number. That hadn't moved me. Because it didn't tell me anything new. What ran through me hot and cold at that moment was something else. That was the other two numbers: "1933-1945." I groped for my alibi and knew that the two numbers were the wanted poster of the living God for Pastor Niemöller. My alibi reached from July 1, 1937 to mid-1945. There stood: "1933-1945." Adam, where are you? Mensch, where were you? Yes, I know, from mid-1937 until the end you have an alibi. Here you're being asked: "Where were you from 1933 until July 1, 1937?" And I couldn't avoid this question any longer. In 1933 I was a free man.” 

[Footnote 13: “ . . . this number from 1945 has long since proven to be incorrect. About 200,000 inmates were registered in Dachau; ca. 42,000 of them died during their imprisonment. The number cremated in the camp is probably around 15,000-20,000. See Harold Marcuse, "Dachau," in: John Merriman & Jay Winter (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction, vol. 2 (New York: Scribners, 2006), 763-766.”] 

So, why had he not suffered martyrdom, which is what had befallen his fellow Churchman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was ardently anti-Nazi? Niemöller was a coward, but Bonhoeffer was not. Niemöller, in a print out of one of his speeches he made in 1946, confessed the following out of pangs of his post-WWII conscience, a conscience that had not bothered him from 1933-1937; he stated this: 

“God didn't ask me where I was from 1937 to 1945, he asked me where I was from 1933 to 1937. From 1933 to 1937 I didn't have an answer. Should I perhaps have said: I was a brave pastor of the Confessing Church in those years, I risked speaking out [ein Wort riskiert] and thus risked freedom and my life? But God didn't ask me about all that. God asked: Where were you from 1933 to 1937, when human beings were being burned here? Those weren't my Christian brothers, who were burned there, those were Communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. [ernste Bibelforscher usw.]. That's why I didn't care [mich nicht gekümmert].” — Martin Niemöller, Die Erneuerung unserer Kirche (Munich, 1946); reprinted in: Reden 1945-1954, p. 19. 

But Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany did courageously speak out against the Hitler government’s persecution of them, in a letter sent by every congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany to officials of the government, on October 7, 1934. The letter warned the Nazis in these words: “If your government or officers do violence to us because we are obeying God, then our blood will be upon you and you will answer to Almighty God.” And in an open letter that was given wide distribution, the very names of those Gestapo officers who had fiendishly abused Jehovah's Witnesses were published in that very letter! Also, Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the world on October 7, 1934 joined their German brothers by sending cablegrams that warned the Hitler government in these words: “Your ill-treatment of Jehovah’s witnesses shocks all good people on earth and dishonors God’s name. Refrain from further persecuting Jehovah’s witnesses; otherwise, God will destroy you and your national party.” 

Calling attention of the Hitler government's crimes against Jehovah's Witnesses, and giving it fair warning, and calling for the attention of all German citizens to the Hitler government's crimes against Jehovah's Witnesses -- which crimes had outraged good people throughout the world -- was courageous, even though it more deeply infuriated Hitler against Jehovah's Witnesses. 

Yes, there are dedicated Holocaust deniers, and neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists in Germany . . . enough of them having positioned themselves in the military and in the state's intelligence service so that an armed coup against the German government is not as preposterous an idea as it would have been a few decades ago. And here there is no surprise to us Jehovah's Witnesses that the world's powerful governments in recent years have become unusually plagued with chaos in their institutions so that results bode even worse evils for populaces that have heretofore put their faith in manmade government for assurance of rather high ideals (e.g., freedom of assembly, freedom of religion/worship, freedom of speech and solicitation, etc. constitutionally enshrined and supposedly protected by those governments). The Russian Federation under Putin is just one example of how dangerous a country's government can become for Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups, this because fascism is once again becoming quite the phenomenon as evidenced by the popularity that autocrats ("strong men") have among a sizable electorate in their respective countries, an electorate willing to engage in armed atacks for its cause. That is the very sort of thing that played a significant role in Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s when he had the backing of a paramilitary organization, De Sturmabteilung ("The Storm Detachment," aka Braunhemden, that is to say, in English translation, "Brownshirts"). Hitler finally received the adulation and hero worship he wanted; it was given him by what had become, in the 1930s, a majority of Germans in support of him. 

 https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/07/15/inte-j15.html

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Practice/Espouse a Works-Righteousness Scheme for Salvation?

Sometimes we Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) are accused of teaching a works-righteousness scheme for attainment of salvation, as though we might do enough in God’s sight to earn salvation on our own merit. No, that is not true. We JWs do not teach any such thing. It is, however, quite a different matter should we downplay the requirement that we Christians must do the fine works informing God’s will for us as taught us by Jesus Christ, because even though such fine works do not earn salvation — are not in and of themselves sufficient for salvation —, they are nonetheless necessary for salvation. It is a matter of “everyone who comes to [Jesus] and hears [his] words and does them” who gets everlasting life. It is a matter that we be “the ones, after hearing the word with a fine and good heart, retain it and bear fruit with endurance,” this so that we may hold on a valid hope of everlasting life, yes, that we thereby appropriate God’s undeserved kindness He extends to us on the merits of Jesus’ shed blood for forgiveness of our sins, another necessary thing if we will lay hold on the gift of everlasting life. When Jesus answered the rich young ruler’s question, “Good teacher, what do I need to do to inherit everlasting life?”, did Jesus in any way intimate that our salvation does not involve us in what we may or may not do as respects showing our love for all who are our neighbors? Did Jesus say that salvation involves only our giving intellectual assent/approval to the proposition that Jesus came to Earth to become our ransomer from Kings Sin and Death? No! Jesus’ answer was that we must ‘keep on doing’ something if we will get everlasting life. What work was that? We must keep on showing our love for God with all our soul (life), with all our strength, and with all our mind (sound reasoning). Yes, we must keep on showing love — doing spiritually beneficial works — even for neighbors who presently may remain unbelievers, and who may even persecute us and make themselves enemies of our hope. Why else did Jesus make it a point to remind us that our love for God should involve our whole strength unless work is involved — is required? We must keep on reaching out in a show of love for our neighbors in need of mercy. And we teach them the need for their being and remaining a disciple of Jesus by their living by all the teachings of Jesus Christ, which certainly includes our show of faith in Jesus’ teaching that he was sent to the Earth to become a ransom sacrifice for us (cf. John 6:27 — “Work not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you; for on this one the Father, God himself, has put his seal of approval”). Yes, Jesus has become the one “responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him” (Hebrews 5:9). So, even though salvation is not per a legalistic works-righteousness barter / scheme for salvation, it is certainly a matter of a Lordship-salvation — a matter that we recognize that Jesus has purchased us by his blood, that we “have been called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6) —and “to follow his steps closely” (1 Peter 2:21).

Those Who Are Not a Christian's Friends

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/10/10/04/27/jerusalem-980328_1280.jpg

1 John 1:3. " . . .you too may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."
So, there is no fellowship with us true Christians except that those wanting such fellowship have met spiritual qualification for it through their being in real fellowship "with the Father and with the Son." There is no fellowship/relationship with the Father except that those wanting it also have fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

1 John 2:22, 23. "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. But whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

So, there is no such thing as a polity/nation of Jews who somehow have a fine relationship with the Father. How could there be such a thing for the Isreali state when it and its religious leaders give no recognition to the good news that Jesus Christ was sent from Heaven as the become-flesh, only-begotten Son of God? But the state of Israel's failure here is also the failure of all other nations that comprise this ungodly world of mankind, for all nations of the world have been misled by the Devil into opposing the Good News about Jesus Christ's heavenly government.

So, true Christians can have no spiritual fellowship/camaraderie with liars and antichrists as defined in 1 John 2:22, 23, regardless of whoever they are and whatever organizations they have forged.

The Cravenness That Informs a Lynching Mob

What accounts for an armed mob's presence, whereby it wants to intimidate unarmed men into acquiescing to the mob's demands? Mark Twain, writing in 1901 about a growing lynching mob mentality in the United States (q.v., his essay "The United States of Lyncherdom," a 3-part essay redacted and published posthumously in 1923), offered his insight as to what motivates men to join a lynching mob. As to his insight on that question, Twain seems to me to be largely 'spot on' in what he argues is the answer, with a possible exception that may be made on the basis that he may have somewhat exaggerated the numbers he used -- not that any such exaggeration that may exist in his numbers can throw a more favorable light on a culture supposedly Christian, but which was truly given to a lynching mob mentality. Besides that, there is a place in the quoted material that strikes me as being a bit too optimistic about what might lie secretly in the hearts of men before they are too easily whipped into a murderous frenzy by one lone agitator. Judge for yourselves. Here follow below Twain's words:

"It must be the increase [in lynching] comes of the inborn human instinct to imitate - that and man’s commonest weakness, his aversion to being unpleasantly conspicuous, pointed at, shunned, as being on the unpopular side. Its other name is Moral Cowardice, and is the supreme feature of the make-up of 9,999 men in the 10,000. I am not offering this as a discovery; privately the dullest of us knows it to be true. 

"History will not allow us to forget or ignore this commanding trait of our character. It persistently and sardonically reminds us that from the beginning of the world not one revolt against a public infamy or oppression has ever been begun but by the one daring man in the 10,000, the rest timidly waiting, and slowly and reluctantly joining, under the influence of that man and his fellows from the other ten thousands.... 

.... "No mob has any sand in the presence of a man known to be splendidly brave.

"Besides, a lynching-mob would like to be scattered, for of a certainty there are never ten men in it who would not prefer to be somewhere else -- and would be, if they but had the courage to go. [I am not so convinced that Twain's observation just here is accurate. Maybe his observation is largely accurate; but be it even so that a mob's cravenness -- its shameful cowardice -- has led that mob into falling in with -- participating in -- a murderous agenda, that is not enough to excuse them their murderously immoral and spiritual failures. Why, unrepented cowardice is given in the Bible as one of the reasons why many men enter into "second death" (eternal annihilation), and precedes a number of other moral and spiritual failures, including murder that is also in the list of bad things that lead to "second death"; see Revelation 21:8.] 

... "Then perhaps the remedy for lynchings comes to this: station a brave man in each affected community to encourage, support, and bring to light the deep disapproval of lynching hidden in the secret places of its heart - for it is there, beyond question. Then those communities will find something better to imitate - of course, being human they must imitate something. Where shall these brave men be found? That is indeed a difficulty; there are not three hundred of them in the earth. If merely physically brave men would do, then it were easy; they could be furnished by the cargo.

.... "No, upon reflection, the scheme will not work. There are not enough morally brave men in stock. We are out of moral-courage material; we are in a condition of profound poverty." 

Apropos Mr. Twain's pessimism, we may say that his pessimism about the human race, despite the race's lip-service religiosity -- which he also justly pilloried on occasion --, was certainly shown to be even more depressingly justified by events throughout the world of the 20th century; and now, 2 decades on into the 21st, such pessimism is still justified. Witness the armed mob that recently stormed inside the Michigan Capitol building.