There are times when we must turn to history to help us grasp the past and allow it to speak to the present in order to change what is damaging and prepare a future fit for our generations yet to come. To use some famous words, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

My memories — when dealing with the past — go back to my seminary days and when I was introduced to some extraordinary theologians who lived and died in a time when truly evil leaders ruled the world. My choice was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote to those who led the church and to those who followed the church's teaching that believers must be more faithful and radical in their obedience to Christ and throw off the demands of the German Nazi leadership.

Here's what some pastors said, "The time is fulfilled for the German people. It is because of Hitler that Christ — God, the Helper and Redeemer — has become effective among us. Hitler is the way of the Spirit and the will of God for the German people to enter the Church of Christ. Christ has come to us through Adolph Hitler."

Bonhoeffer taught and wrote about was for the people of God to oppose Hitler and his plans to raise a "master race", commit genocide and create a totalitarian state, which meant destroying everything that stood in his way. Education must be controlled, the press must only present one agreed upon point of view, the church is to preach God's approval of Hitler's methods, destruction of inferior races or questionable beliefs and territorial expansion.

Here are some of Bonhoeffer's teachings. "There is not a place to which the Christian can withdraw from the world. We must not be dazzled by false security. We can only understand our history from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed. In short, from the words of those who suffer. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power.

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children. If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction. Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility."

And finally, "Jesus Christ lived in the midst of His enemies. His disciples deserted Him. On the cross, He was utterly alone. So we Christians do not belong in the seclusion of a safe sanctuary, but in the thick of foes. To be in His kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies."

Bonhoeffer did not just preach and write, he acted. He was removed from the safety of the church, arrested, imprisoned in a concentration camp and hanged by the Nazis on April 6, 1945.

Am I suggesting that citizens grab their weapons and destroy those who use their powers in harmful and hurtful ways? Absolutely not!

What I am saying is that Christians must obey the highest power of Almighty God in their daily lives, and that means that His authority is above all earthly power. The church does realize that, as stated in Romans 13:1—7, we are to obey governing authorities, but this requirement is not absolute. If that were the case, the German Church of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was way out of line. "Disobedience is permissible when it involves upholding God's laws over unjust laws."

Han behavior, which runs out of control when God is left out of the equation, is sin. No question about it. "I don't need rules or anyone telling me what to do. I'll do things my way."

Our history teaches great lessons. God's history teaches the answers.

Thanks, God!