“We are in a war.”
With these words, New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas opens his powerful, timely, and essential new book, Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil.
Metaxas expands his war analogy, pointing to previous battles fought to keep alive the glorious and noble values of America’s founding. The first and second—the Revolutionary War and the Civil War—were military conflicts fought by laying “blood and treasure” on the line for the ultimate prize of freedom. The third battle is currently spiritual in nature and has not gotten to this stage of violent destruction—at least not yet.
Religionless Christianity is designed as a wakeup call to those pastors and churchgoers who are carefully staying on the sidelines of the cultural and political fight. Many simply do not see, or will not acknowledge, that a popular new “secular religion” has filled the void left by churches that are currently “silent in the face of evil.”
The phrase “religionless Christianity” was used by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a positive sense. Metaxas explains it as “the radicalness of genuine Christianity,” whereas a “Christless religion,” which is practiced in many churches today, “is a watered-down faith that has made its peace with secular society—and with evil, too.”
In one sense, Metaxas’ Religionless Christianity dovetails off the groundwork laid by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn in his 2022 book, The Return of the Gods, showing chapter by chapter specifics of the infiltration and ugly effects of “gods” who have returned behind the scenes, as it were, to bring down America. In actual fact, however, Religionless Christianity is a pointed follow-up to Metaxas’ previous call-to-arms in 2022, Letter to the American Church. And both of these books rely heavily on the life and times of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which Metaxas covered extensively in his 2010 biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Throughout Religionless Christianity, Metaxas highlights the gloomy and uncanny similarities between what happened in 1930s and 1940s Germany and what is happening in front of our eyes this very moment in America.
What can and must be done?
Many Christians today feel that their primary task is to preach the Gospel. This, of course, is a good and worthy focus, but at this crucial hour, not only for this country but countries spread across the globe, we need to follow Bonhoeffer’s bold, unflinching example. He preached the gospel not only in word, but through every aspect of his life.
And for those who feel they are not necessarily stellar examples of a person living out their faith because they have made too many mistakes in life, Metaxas presents a chapter dedicated to “Bonhoeffer’s Moment of Failure.”
In the early days of Adolf Hitler’s chancellorship, Bonhoeffer made what was, in retrospect, an obviously cowardly decision to not deliver a sermon at his twin sister’s father-in-law’s funeral. Her father-in-law was a Jew. After soul-searching and an apology to his family, Bonhoeffer moved on. And it is possible that Bonhoeffer’s mistake and subsequent mea culpa only helped strengthen his resolve when the years ahead proved increasingly unbearably difficult.
In the chapter titled “Some Religious Idols,” Metaxas deals with ideas that sound noble but can become entrapments for those who would otherwise get their hands dirty in messy arenas such as politics. For the sake of “purity” and “respectability,” some might not want to associate with those viewed as forceful and crude. A Christian’s “witness,” they might rationalize, should be spotless and their demeanor lighthearted, even whimsical, in order to attract others to the faith. To remain on the fence regarding the burning issues of the day can be seen as the best way to steer souls to the God of love. However, as Metaxas points out, “the devil owns the fence.”
Metaxas illustrates this point with a scorching description of Pastor Martin Niemoller’s two totally naïve meetings with Adolf Hitler. In the first, before Hitler became chancellor, Niemoller was given a solemn guarantee from Hitler that the church was “safe” from governmental interference.
As Metaxas writes, “Niemoller was put at ease by Hitler’s assurances; he hardly could have imagined that Hitler was simply lying to him.”
However, it was not long after Hitler took power when the persecutions began against not only the Jews but also the “Confessing Church,” those German churches unwilling to bend a knee to the Nazi’s takeover of the Evangelical Church. Niemoller again met with Hitler, convinced that they had an understanding and that the Fuhrer could be reasoned with. In that meeting, Hitler did not mince words. “I built the Third Reich!” the Fuhrer scolded Niemoller. “You just worry about your sermons.”
Martin Niemoller eventually survived eight years in concentration camps. After that, he wrote the famous poem warning others of the dangers of remaining silent. The lines of that poem are a short litany of those who were initially demonized and “cancelled” in the Third Reich: “First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Communist.”
At the end of the list of Hitler’s deplorables was Niemoller himself, but, as he concludes, “there was no one left to speak out for me.”
We need an army of “full-throated religionless Christians,” not Christians who are halfhearted about what they believe, to effectively do battle against the “secular religion” currently poisoning this great country of ours. If we do not all step up and do our part wherever we find ourselves in the war this election year, America may no longer be recognized as it once was—that shining beacon, that “city on a hill,” referred to in the Bible and acknowledged by President Abraham Lincoln.
At some point, the opportunity to fight and make a difference will pass. For Bonhoeffer, who fought all his life knowing that when Jesus calls, it may not just be metaphoric but an unvarnished reality that “He bids a man to die.” However, Bonhoeffer knew as well—as all true believers must—that there really is an even better life after death.
Fortunately, through Metaxas’ potent reality check, Religionless Christianity wraps up with two very uplifting, motivational chapters, starting with “Be Greatly Encouraged.” Consider this: Does the God of Heaven still have exceptional plans awaiting this nation if we faithfully turn back to Him?
Metaxas leaves us with a truly inspired challenge:
“So the question before us now is whether we who call ourselves by God’s name will rise to this crisis with everything we have, living out our faith as though we actually believe it with our whole hearts.”
Since “we are in a war,” let us be bold and unwavering.
And let us win it.
Once the final page of Religionless Christianity is turned, a reader may be joyfully ready to put on the full armor of their faith and engage in the battle. After all, at the end of the day, do we want to be counted among those who are “on the side of the angels?”
A version of this article appeared previously at AmericanThinker.com.
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Albin Sadar is the author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries. Albin was formerly the producer of “The Eric Metaxas Show.”
This article nicely dovetails with a recent interview between Naomi Wolfe and Tucker Carlson. About halfway thru the interview, Wolfe admits that she came to the conclusion that the only way she could explain the unnaturally uniform messaging and coordination between Western nations during the Covid Plandemic was “spiritual evil”.
Wolfe noted that it was beyond human ability (and historical example) that so many Western governments could have been so seamless and coordinated in their actions during the Covid crisis.
So yes, we are indeed in spiritual war.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”