|
|
Unbenanntes Dokument
|
|
"A COST TO CONSIDER"
A Stand for Christ
from Nazi Germany to the Raise and Fall of the Berlin Wall
A Challenging and Inspiring Story of Faith
by Michael Furchert
When the Nazis marched into the house of my grandfather in 1938, they demanded that he had to take down the painting of Jesus Christ he had over his study desk and join the Nazi party. My grandfather took courage, stood up to them and declared: "This painting remains!" refusing to join their party or turn away from his Christian faith. The Nazis, angered by his resistance, took action against him. He was exposed to discrimination and persecution, finally dismissed from his position as a German school teacher and sent into the battlefields of World War II.
After Hitler was defeated, the Communists ruled over East Germany. My grandfather, who after a series of miraculous protections from danger, death and two certain executions, had returned safe from World War II, had regained his teaching position at an East German school. Now it was the Communists who marched into his house demanding he had to take down the painting of Christ over is study desk and join the Communist party. Once again he took courage, stood up to them and declared "This painting remains!". He refused to join their party, refused to submit to their beliefs and would not compromise his Christian faith. As before, discrimination and persecution were the inevitable response. Once again, he lost his job and was sent into retirement, deprived of his rightful pension after three decades of teaching...
But my grandfather would rejoice in all circumstances. "I know that my Redeemer lives" was his firm proclamation under freedom as well as under persecution. He knew that following Christ was not always easy and that the Bible didn't speak about comfortable Christianity. Faith was free but it wasn't cheap. There was a cost to consider and a price to pay. But he also knew the price that Christ had paid for his Salvation. This was the greatest gift of all and he never wanted to turn away from God's love and faithfulness. His stories of an uncompromised Christian faith intrigued me, his unwavering example inspired me
I wanted so much to visit him, listen to his life stories, see the paining of Christ over his study desk, eat the cooking of my grandmother, listen to her devotions and Bible readings. But this dream was shattered by the reality of the Berlin Wall, a 12 foot tall concrete block with electric fences and barbed wire, guarded by armed soldiers on high security towers. My grandparents, who had been able to immigrate to the West before I was born, now lived in a world I was not privileged to visit. Our family had to remain behind the Iron Curtain that separated our families, our city and our nation.
Now I myself had to make choices. Growing up behind the Berlin Wall, I faced a Communistic regime that deprived us of freedom and liberty and fought to install Communist teaching in our hearts and minds. God did not exist in their ideology and had no room in their beliefs. At the same time, I grew up in a Christian family. My parents stood up to the challenges and difficulties of pastoring a church under Communist East Germany and taught me that there was a God and that He has loved me enough to send His son Jesus Christ into this world, to grant me Salvation and Eternal Life. I knew it was my time now to make choices... And it was my time now to consider the cost...
Refusing, at the age of 7, to join the mandatory Communistic organizations at school, and taking a stand for my faith in Christ, I found myself a target of mocking and ridicule. Being the only boy during flag raising without the Young Pioneers uniform gave me no place to hide. There were two more girls who did not wear this Communist uniform. They happened to be my sisters. This statement of faith was only the beginning of a childhood of choices and challenges as the Communist regime sought to break our faith and resistance with ever increasing pressure.
Refusing to compromise my faith in Christ, I found myself being deprived of the privilege of getting a drivers license. When my class traveled around for a one week vacation trip and sightseeing, I was put on a construction site to carry stones and clean up the trash. Not willing to betray my faith in Christ, I found myself unable to attend my own graduation ceremony. As I had witnessed in the lives of my parents and grandparents, I learned to rejoice in all circumstances. All I wanted to do was to look up to Christ and remember what he had gone through for me, how he was mocked and ridiculed for me. Beaten and spit at. They pierced thorns into His head and nailed Him to the cross to die. And there He died for me. But He had risen. He had overcome death and He was alive. In Him I had the victory.
Against all odds the Berlin Wall came down. Our little country made history. It started within the churches, with people earnestly praying to God. And out of the churches we marched, with burning candles in our hands and songs of freedom on our lips, as we approached the soldiers that were lined up around the churches and given order to shoot. Not one shot was fired... Instead, the Berlin Wall came down. After years of dictatorship, we gained freedom and liberty. By the grace of God, Communism in East Germany is no more. The Berlin Wall is part of history, is now sold in little pieces in souvenir stores... What remains - is our faith in Jesus Christ.
Finally we could be reunited as a family. I could walk hand-in-hand with my grandfather through the streets of his city, listen to his life stories and see the painting of Christ over his study desk, - the painting that I had heard so many stories about, that he had never taken down, no matter the cost or consequences. But my grandfather had grown old by now. He gathered us around him and thanked God in gratefulness that he could still live to see the day that the Berlin Wall would come down and his family be reunited once again. He knew his remaining time with us would not last forever and asked us what we would like to inherit so he could pass it on to us. As I walked through his apartment there was one thing that most of all captured my attention:
"Grandfather" I said "I really would like to have this painting of Christ over your study desk..." He looked at me with a gentle smile "This painting has carried me through life, I have never taken it down." he said. "Not when the Nazis demanded so, not when the Communist demanded so. I always wanted to put Christ first in my life. It was not always easy. There was a cost to consider and a price to pay. There was unrighteousness to endure for our faith, at times discrimination and persecution. But God has always been faithful to us. I have never taken down this painting... I should not take it down now either. I would like it to remain over my study desk until the last day of my life. But once the Lord has called me home I shall pass it on to you - as my legacy."
A few years ago my grandfather died. And though we were sad and mourning and missed him dearly, we were rejoicing. We rejoiced that he was about to see the One he had believed in and followed so faithfully his whole life long. He had always proclaimed "I know that my Redeemer lives". Not "I think so", not even "I believe".... "I KNOW!" We were rejoicing for his example of an uncompromising and unwavering Christian faith in the middle of hardships and trials. It had meant so much encouragement and inspiration to us as we lived our own lives and faith behind the Berlin Wall. We were grateful for the legacy he left behind for us to carry on...
The painting of Christ now hangs over my study desk. I have promised to God I shall never take it down. It has become a daily reminder of the price that Christ has paid for our Salvation. It is a reminder to me of the choices we have to make in life, a reminder that we can only follow one Lord in our lives. We can take Salvation for free, but we should not take it for granted. If we do not make Jesus Christ Lord of all, we actually don't make him Lord at all... This painting shows the The Great Commission, Jesus Christ sending out his disciples into all the world to preach and live the Good News that God, who loves us, has provided for us a way of Salvation, forgiveness of sin, everlasting life and everlasting freedom through Jesus Christ...
* * *
As I now tour the USA to share my testimony and music with the American people, speaking and performing in churches, youth groups, schools, camps and colleges, and occasionally on radio and television, it has become my genuine desire to challenge people not to take freedom for granted, nor their faith in Christ too lightly. Rather, it is my prayer that they might use this priceless privilege of freedom for a deeper commitment and more faithfulness in following our Lord and Savior and to stand up for Jesus Christ, as he has stood up for us.
May God richly bless you
Michael Furchert
|
|
|
|
Home