Did Conservative Radio Host Ridicule Anne Frank & Say “I Don’t Get My Wisdom From Teenagers?”

My Response to Prager’s Critique of Anne Frank
and His Rebuke of the Media for Reporting it.


This is my first blog post. It started out as a Facebook commentary to a friend whose insights and perspectives I have always respected even when we have not always agreed. Being that I had invested a greater amount of time and research in composing it, I ultimately decided to turn it into a blog post, as well, in hopes to encourage a civic and constructive dialogue between people of different perspectives.


On January 7th conservative talk show host Dennis Prager wrote a blistering rebuke titled “Newsweek Hits a New Low” in response to an article written by Benjamin Fernow titled “Conservative Radio Host Ridicules Anne Frank: ‘I Don’t Get My Wisdom From Teenagers.’”

In his rebuke of the headline and article Prager explained the context of his comments and instructed readers: “next time someone challenges you for using the term “fake news” to describe mainstream media, just cite Newsweek and Fearnow.” However, the context did not leave me satisfied. There was something that was missing and I felt I needed to dig deeper to get the fuller picture.

My findings compelled me to offer some reflections from a different perspective in hopes to encourage a civic and constructive dialogue between people of different perspectives. It started out as a (somewhat lengthy) Facebook commentary to a friend whose insights and perspectives I have always respected even when we have not always agreed on the topic itself.

The context Prager provided was the following:

“To understand how terrible a lie this is, you need to know what happened:

Every week I do a video podcast for PragerU called “The Fireside Chat.” In it, I offer thoughts on life and then take questions from around the world (we have received questions from 52 countries). A few weeks ago, I received the following question from Sam in Meridian, Idaho:

On your most recent Fireside Chat, you said that people are not basically good. We’ve heard you discuss this topic before. Anne Frank is quoted as saying, ‘Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.’ How do you respond to her quote?

Here is my response (this is a word-for-word transcription, except for the words in parentheses added for clarity):

She wrote that in her diary, the most famous Holocaust document. (She was) a teenage girl, a Dutch Jewish girl, who hid with her family until they were betrayed by someone to the Nazis, who then shipped them to death camps. And she died, murdered by the Nazis in the death camps. She was about 16 years old, maybe 15. Her diary is very famous. It gives a face to the horror of the Holocaust.

I know she wrote that, and my answer is it doesn’t matter that she wrote it. I don’t get my wisdom from teenagers. That she was a wonderful young woman and wrote an unbelievably powerful document that will last forever is beside the point. I don’t expect 16-year-olds, unless they grew up in a religious Jewish or Christian home (where it is taught as basic religious doctrine that people are not born basically good). She was a secular Jew. Most kids believe that (people are basically good). But it is not true. So, it has never been an issue for me—‘Well, you disagree with Anne Frank.’ So what?

And, by the way, to be very serious for a moment, I would be very curious—I’ve thought about this a lot—if I were to be able to visit Anne Frank while in a concentration camp, would she have still believed that? We don’t know.

Only someone who deliberately seeks to smear someone would claim that what I said ridicules Anne Frank.”

_________________________________________________________________

Prager’s rebuke, even within the context he provided, left me somewhat restless. Something important seemed to be missing from that conversation. I felt there was more that needed to be said:

The headline by Fearnow was misleading given the larger context of Prager’s statement and unnecessary in reporting it. Yet, Prager’s statement about Anne Frank: “…it does not matter that she wrote it, I don’t get my wisdom from teenagers” was inappropriate in itself, more so when considering the circumstances under which Anne Frank’s rather remarkable reflections were written.

It might be worth noting that Newsweek had already changed the headline and article by January 8th, less than a day after Prager’s scathing rebuke. Nancy Cooper, global editor-in-chief of Newsweek spoke with him on the phone, listened to his concerns, recognized that Fearnow’s title was mis-characterizing Prager’s intent and took responsibility by changing the headline and article. Since January 8th the original article was no longer available and the updated one published under “Conservative Radio Host Counters Anne Frank’s View That People Are ‘Good at Heart.'”

Prager’s rebuke, however, remains online unchanged. Thus far I have not seen any recognition of responsibility on Prager’s part, regarding his unfortunate choice of words. A child, murdered in the Holocaust, should not be the subject of an radio host’s contentious debate of whether he agrees or disagrees with her private innermost feelings that she entrusted to her personal diary during times of tribulation, and that were never meant to be published for public debate and scrutiny. She is not a public philosopher or university professor whose established teachings he needs to refute.

I can share Prager’s biblical/Judeo views on humanity’s sinfulness and still find hope and beauty in Anne Frank’s writing. Hunted by the Nazis, her people being murdered, living in hiding and daily fear, she choose to state that “despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” This is not a theological doctrine we must accept or reject. This is a profound reflection of grace, humility and hope during excruciating times. Torn between people hunting to kill her and those hiding to protect her at great personal risk, Anne Frank was wresting with one of history’s oldest philosophical questions; whether man is mostly good or mostly evil. Yet, in the midst of trails and persecution she chose to believe that there is good in people.

Dismissing this as the belief of an uneducated child can indeed be demeaning. Similar views, right or wrong, have been held by notable philosophers throughout history. Yet, Prager seeks to discredit such view by attributing it to an unbelieving child lacking life experience, wisdom and spirituality. “She was a secular Jew. Most kids believe that. But it is not true,” he argued as if she was still believing in the Tooth Fairy. “While most secular Jews never learned this basic rule of life, religious Jews and Christians know by the age of ten that man is not basically good,” he wrote in another publication about Anne Frank’s diary entry. This could well be seen as condescending toward philosophical science in general, “secular Jews” in particular, and toward Anne Frank, her family and those promoting her thoughts and writings as a warning and inspiration to others.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I might humbly suggest that Prager might be mistaken on several fronts:

Anne Frank’s statement contains more truth than none. Christian and Jewish belief that men is inherently sinful does not necessarily contradict the secular philosophical view or a general societal belief, that man is generally good at heart, or at least that most people have a general capacity for goodness, kindness and compassion (such as those hiding to protect her.) It is interesting to note, that this view is passionately defended by conservative Christians and Jews in America when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. Their argument is that most people are good, decent and law abiding citizens who would never do harm and should therefore not see their rights to bear arms infringed because of the evil in the hearts of a few. I would assume that this conviction does not exclude the fact that even the good, decent and law-abiding citizens are still inherently sinful before God and in need of Salvation.

I think Prager might be conflating the spiritual with the philosophical argument. He also seems to equate liberalism with secularism and unbelief as if both were categorically the same. He is dismissing Anne Frank’s statement by arguing that she was a “secular Jew” who did not grow up in a religious family. But the Franks were “liberal Jews” who, also being Germans, did not practice all Jewish customs. That does not mean they had no faith, at all.

In her April 11, 1944 diary entry Anne Frank wrote:.

“Who has set us apart from all the rest? … It’s God who has made us the way we are, but it’s also God who will lift us up again. In the eyes of the world, we’re doomed, but if, after all this suffering, there are still Jews left, the Jewish people will be held as an example to the world. Who knows, maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that’s the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer. We can never be just Dutch or just English or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. And we’ll have to keep on being Jews, but then, we’ll want to be.”

These don’t sound like the thoughts of a spiritually ignorant child to me. Here is a young girl hiding in an attic from those who seek to exterminate her people, knowing that Jews around her are getting murdered, wondering if any of them will be left when this is over, and yet seeing God’s hands and purpose in the midst of this tribulation for His chosen people to be a witness to the rest of the world. I wonder how many adult believers in America would be capable of such reflections in the midst of profound suffering.

In contrast there is Dennis Prager: a popular radio show host with a reported $10 million net-worth and 250,000 Twitter followers, publishing from the safety and comfort of his US mansion in the freest country of the world, yet feeling that he is the one persecuted, wronged and mistreated because a journalist critiqued his unfortunate choice of words with a less than noble headline. Thus he must lead his readers into outrage against the evil in humanity, demonize the media as “fake news”, dig up as much unrelated dirt as possible about the author, demean him as a “very very sick person” (because someone else said that about him it must be true) and a “useful idiot for those who hate America”, and diminish his most basic human dignity to discredit his critique.

Meanwhile Prager’s followers inundated Fearnow’s social media sites with insults, calling him a truly hateful, manipulative, deceitful, extreme leftist or stating:

“After reading how Dennis Prager exposed your ugly lying @#$ to the world, I just had to see what you look like. Sure enough, you look like an ugly lying left wing punk. Ha….you got exposed. Punk….liar.”

Can we pause for a moment to ponder this contrast?

And are we certain that this radio show host could not benefit at all from the wisdom, insight and compassion of this remarkable teenager or from her humility, inner strength and dignity in the midst of real assault and persecution?

Prager, as a populist millionaire in America, might never have experienced existential fear and suffering to the degree Anne Frank did. Yet, he seems unable or unwilling to show or teach a fraction of the grace towards those he believes have wronged him, than Anne Frank was capable of extending to mankind that was seeking to exterminate her people.

* * *

Anne Frank’s ability to see general good in humanity and her grace and humility toward men are so important for our times! She was the victim of the worst demagoguery, prejudice and men’s darkest impulses to find scapegoats and demonize others. Yet, while being hunted to be murdered, she refused to respond in kind. She rejected demagoguery and prejudice. She refused to judge all men by the actions of a few. She was able to look beyond the stereotype and personal anger that feeds our worst impulses and focus on the good humans are still capable of. Her ability to not loose faith in humanity while experiencing the worst (and best) of it is amazing and should leave us deeply humbled!

In contrast, Prager’s rebuke of Fearnow and the media was harsh and showed little grace. It was evoking the very demagoguery, prejudice and stereotype that Anne Frank so courageously rejected. Because a reporter, who appears ideologically at odds with him, sensationalized a headline about him to get views, Prager seeks to convince all of us to regard all media as fake news. He asks us to dismiss Anne Frank’s graceful example as childish, immature and unspiritual and instead follow the harsh mantra of those in power who teach us to never apologize, never admit fault, but double down and attack, discredit and demonize those who have criticized our words or actions even when such critique itself might have been warranted.

No doubt, Fearnow’s original article was equally void of grace and compassion for the rhetoric misstep of a fellow publicist. (And since Prager has demonized the Left for years as a malevolent, dangerous, and destructive force to society, there was probably some ideological payback in it, as well.) Nevertheless, mean-spirited as it might have been written, it was still reporting on a true story. Prager did say, “I don’t take my wisdom from teenagers.” That is not fake news. That is not “the most glaring example of a lie in a life time.” These are his exact words. Prager did dismiss her thoughts as those of a secular child who does not know better. He denied her personal faith. He portrayed her as a person from a secular home lacking insight, wisdom and spirituality.

I am not so certain that this might not even qualify as ridicule. Perhaps not ridicule toward Anne Frank “the Holocaust victim”, but toward the “secular Jew” Anne Frank’s philosophical musings we are privileged to read but which he so casually dismissed as childish and immature.

Already in a 2018 article, Prager cited Anne Frank’s statement ‘despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart,” as a reason “why most Jews have learned nothing from the Holocaust.” In an earlier book he expressed his beliefs that ‘secular Jews have lost their way and apply Judaism in ways that tend to be leftist, totalitarian, and destructive.’ In his publications he further decries leftists Jews as a “tragedy of Judaism, immoral people who pervert Judaism and poison the synagogues.”

Since Prager insists on context, he cannot ask of us to view his statements about Anne Frank and the harsh response he received, in isolation of his general disdain for the secular and leftist Jews, to which he seems to count Anne Frank and her family, – along with Karl Marx and Goerge Soro. And I would assume that this context might not be lost on his liberal critics, either.

____________________________________________________________________

History, philosophy and literature offers many thinkers that held similar views like Anne Frank expressed privately in her diary. These published thinkers are fair game to be debated and refuted on his radio show. But that Prager chooses Anne Frank, a child killed in the Holocaust, who never meant to speak publicly, as a negative example of what he perceives as a false and dangerous teaching corrupting orthodox Jewish minds, is admittedly a little perplexing to me.

I am also conflicted about his general demagoguery against the “secular and leftist Jews” as immoral people and a poison and destructive force to society. Is Prager aware that similar views about the Jews were adopted by those who eventually took Anne Frank’s life and the life of her people? Even at that time, many of such dogmas were derived from, or at least defended by, the writings of religious leaders like Martin Luther and what they perceived as their “righteous anger” against the unbelieving Jew, an anger also reflected in many of Prager’s writings.

It is possible that Prager might not be aware of the potential problem with some of the rhetoric he expresses in good faith to defend religious morality. “If Newsweek has any honor, it will remove Fearnow’s article and apologize to me,” he insists instead. But to be “Frank,” I am not so sure he is the only one deserving an apology.

It would be really nice if Prager himself could find the humility to express some regret and perhaps consider rewording his statements, as well, or rethink his less than honorable use of Anne Frank and her writings in his publications or his general demagoguery against secular and liberal Jews and everything “left-wing”.

Perhaps he still might. For right now, however, Prager choose to conclude his article with more demagoguery: “As I wrote 30 years ago, “Being on the left means never having to say you’re sorry.” This stereotype stands in contrast to the fact that so far only Newsweek admitted responsibility and offered a retraction and changes. He has not responded in kind but instead called for disciplinary actions against the author. His final message to his audience is more like a battle cry: “Next time someone challenges you for using the term “fake news” to describe mainstream media, just cite Newsweek and Fearnow.”

Yet, I am not so convinced that their reporting about his debate actually equates “fake news.” I think it testifies to the erosion of journalistic integrity in general and across society and politics, and is very representative of the current ideological warfare between both sides. Yet, I am still inclined to think that Prager’s harsh rebuke might better serve as an example of the demagoguery that ails our society today, and how easy it has become for public figures to demonize the media as “fake news” in response to unfavorable reporting, even if ones words or actions might have been worthy of critique.

I have no reason to doubt that Prager is a good person at heart, as well. Perhaps he might still come to recognize that in the midst of this heated political and ideological battle raging on both sides, and despite all the good and bad players involved across the playing field, and despite the frustrations and anger he (and his counterparts) might have personally experienced so often, there are still decent people with good hearts on all sides, who live their lives, go to work and generally want to do right and could all benefit from re-learning to treat each other with respect, civility and dignity.

And perhaps Prager himself could benefit at least a little from gleaning a bit of wisdom and hope from this Jewish teenager and her gentle humility amidst great suffering, even if that could cause him to forfeit an argument on his radio program now or then…

I sincerely thank you for your time and consideration and must apologize for the length in expressing my thoughts. Please do let me know if you think that there is any merit to these reflections at all, and please feel free to respond to them with reflections of your own…

ACTS Introduction Video

Announcing Partnership with American Christian Tours

 (Photo credit: Destination360 US Capitol)

INSPIRING WORLD CHANGERS FOR A TIME LIKE THIS.

 

Michael Furchert Ministries and American Christian Tours (ACTS) proudly announce their partnership. Together, these two unique ministries seek to impact lives across this nation and inspire a new generation of leaders to live for Christ and change the world.

ACTS has committed to sponsor Michael’s speaking engagements at Christian schools affiliated with its tour ministry and at educator’s conventions across the USA. Michael will also join American Christian Tours in Washington, D.C. to share his story as ACTS students explore their nation’s heritage of faith and freedom.

ACTS“We are so thankful about our partnership with Michael which allows us to provide a complimentary visit with our member schools,” Sabrina Carlson, president of American Christian Tours states.

“Michael’s story is such a powerful example of a young person who stood strong for Christ even in the face of ridicule and persecution.  We believe young people need to hear his story to be encouraged that they too can stand strong, no matter what the price.  Michael is a world-changer for our time.”

Learn more about this exciting opportunity and how to bring Michael to your school or community.

American Christian Tours & Michael Furchert Ministries

Michael’s story must be told! His candid telling of his life behind the Berlin Wall makes you laugh and cry. His real-life stories of choosing Jesus despite ridicule are the ‘hero’ stories that people need to hear. His message speaks on so many levels, from valuing our freedoms and understanding history, to knowing and sharing Christ in a much greater way. He will impact, inspire, and challenge through his messages, insight and original music.

ACTS-ACSI

American Christian Tours (ACTS) is America’s oldest Christian Touring Company

and the longest standing National Corporate Partner of the Association of Christian Schools, International (ACSI).

https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/november-2014/let-the-wall-come-down/

In 1987, American President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin and called out to the leader of the Soviet Union with words that would soon become known across the world: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Two years later, our East German dictator, Erich Honecker, responded with defiance. The Berlin Wall would stand for another 100 years, he declared in January 1989. He was sure that no democracy, no religion and no god could triumph over communism. Yet, the spirit of liberty that had echoed from the Brandenburg Gate to the reforms in the Soviet Union and into the hearts of many East Germans would prove him wrong…

 

read more at:

https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/november-2014/let-the-wall-come-down/

Power Source>> Victory in Christ

The Nashville Music Magazine 

“When I was growing up in Berlin, Germany, my biggest dream was to visit my grandparents who lived on the other side of our city. There was a wall between us, however, and that wall was all too real. It was a ten-foot high wall made of concrete block, secured by electric fences, guarded by armed soldiers on security towers, and made even more inaccessible by hidden mines in the ground. This was the unquestionable reality that surrounded my life. Freedom was a privilege denied to those of us who lived on the East side of the Berlin Wall. I never dreamed then that I would be touring the United States as a Christian pianist and speaker.

 

Out of tears and memories of my past has grown a music that seems to touch the heart and soul of many who hear it. It is a music that brings reflection and inspiration. I use my melodies and compositions to tell a story of sadness and triumph that has led me from a dictatorship of men to a victory in Christ.

 

A few weeks after arriving in the United States to share my music and life story with people here, I was invited to the Billy Graham radio program, “Decision Today.” I was asked to write for that ministry’s magazine, “Decision.” As I shared the difficulties and hardships of my childhood behind the Berlin Wall, and my stand for Christ under the discrimination and persecution, people felt challenged and inspired not to take their freedom for granted, but to use it for a deeper commitment in following Christ.

 

“Decision Today” marked the beginning of sharing my music and testimonies on Christian radio while touring the United States. I was so amazed to see public radio stations spread the Word of God and play Christian music. This could never have happened behind the Berlin Wall with government-owned media. Communist East Germany was a dictatorship that had banned God from the public life and oppressed any open proclamation of the Word of God and encouragement of believers. We were not only deprived of freedom and liberty, but we were also denied the right to share our faith in public. Christian recording artists were unheard of, and Christian media certainly did not exist. We practiced our faith mostly behind closed doors.There was no spotlight as I took my stand for Christ. There was no applause, no standing ovation, no rewards, and no fame to gain for a Christian commitment under Communism. There was only my love for Him, my gratefulness for what He had done for me, and my willingness to follow Him no matter the cost. Yet I had a freedom that surpassed all freedom in Christ. I had a God with whom I could overcome the efforts of the Communist government to suppress any show of Christianity.

 

The Berlin Wall has come down. The dictatorship of East Germany has gone. My faith in Christ has remained. Once Communism tried to silence by belief in God, but now my piano composition “Cascades of God’s Passion and Love” is starting to play on Christian radio stations throughout America to reach the hearts of many. That I feel humbled and honored is the least I can say. I give glory to God for the gift of music he has given me, the opportunities to share it with others and the priceless gift of personal and spiritual freedom. This is a freedom I cannot take for granted.

 

It is my genuine desire to make people aware what a privilege freedom is. How wonderful it is to have the privilege of serving Christ with our gifts and talents. I challenge people I meet not to take being allowed to publicly practice their Christianity for granted. I urge them to support Christian music ministries and media with enthusiasm and commitment. I also challenge those involved to always remember that it is for Christ that we do what we do. Once deprived of freedom and liberty, it has now become my desire to use freedom to reach out to others with a challenging message of hope and faith and music of encouragement and inspiration. Using the title of my new album, I never leave a city or a concert without leaving behind my most sincere wish and prayer for everyone, that the “Peace of God Remains”.

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Michael Furchert TV Interview Seattle

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Decision 2009>> Miracle Behind the Berlin Wall

Editor’s note: November 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the symbolic end of the Cold War Era. Before the construction of the wall, Billy Graham preached twice in Berlin, in 1954 and 1960. In 1982 he preached in East Berlin and several other East German cities. During these visits he met many believers who faithfully severed Jesus Christ even under the Communist regime.  
 
The following article shows how, in the months prior to the fall of the wall, God worked through one Christian family to demonstrate his power to officials in the atheistic state of East Germany.
 

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association 

 
* * * 
With God all things are possible!” my mother replied to the East German border guard. He starred at us in disbelief. Before him stood an East German family of seven with valid passports, the oldest child was 17, the youngest 4. The guard had never seen his Communist government make such an exception.
  
This was the Cold War – a time were many were killed trying to escape over the Berlin Wall into freedom. Now he looked at this pastor’s family with visas to cross through the Berlin Wall into West Berlin to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of the pastor’s wife’s parents. The guard was perplexed.
 
“There is no God!” he responded defiantly to my mother’s comment. “Someone in high places must have shown favor to you.” My father smiled. “Someone above! This is what my wife just said.”
 
For three decades our family had been separated by the Berlin Wall, a 12-foot-tall concrete barrier fortified with barbed wire, electric fences and armed soldiers on high security towers. It was a world-known symbol of imprisonment and injustice.
 
For years we had petitioned to visit our family on the other side. We had prayed, hoped, and endured. The petitions were rejected. Why would the government make an exception for us? My father had been fired from City Hall because he would not join the Socialist Party and end his church membership. Now he was a pastor proclaiming the Gospel. My siblings and I refused to join the Young Communist Pioneers at school and to pledge allegiance to our socialist fatherland. Despite disadvantages and sacrifices, we had taken a stand for our faith and had refused to conform. Should the government show favor to those who opposed them?
 
My grandparents’ only wish for their diamond wedding anniversary was to celebrate with their family. East German officials told us that it was impossible and that this time they would not even read our applications. Yet we continued to petition with persistence and faith. On both sides of the Berlin Wall, our separated family members prayed fervently, believing that God could make the impossible possible.

Then one day the phone rang. Our family was called to the police station. Under the dictator’s painting, a nervous officer paced back and forth. “I do not know who has made this decision,” he finally said. “Your petition has been approved.” He handed us seven passports and left the room.   

 

“We could have stayed in freedom, but my father had given his word to the Communist officials that we would return, and he would not abandon his church, the place where God had called us to serve.”

 
That night we gathered around our kitchen table, our hearts filled with joy as we opened our daily devotion book. For this day it read: 
“God, You have many silent ways in which You make possible what seems impossible to men. Yesterday it was not visible yet, today not much, but tomorrow it will stand before us in all its glory and we will recognize how You have accomplished what none of us could have achieved.” The next morning we could leave. Our daily devotion book read from Psalm 31:8.  
 
“You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet on spacious ground.” (NIV)  
 
As we crossed to the West, the border guards were stunned. So were the West German officials when we arrived. The senator of West Berlin wanted to call the media. My parents declined. They wanted to enjoy this miracle in humble gratefulness to God. Together with our relatives we celebrated our grandparents’ 60 years of marriage. God, who was stronger than any dictatorial regime and the powerful Iron Curtain, had fulfilled our greatest wish. Faith had triumphed.  
 
Our ten-day visas passed quickly. We could have stayed in freedom, but my father had given his word to the Communist officials that we would return, and he would not abandon his church, the place where God had called us to serve.  
 

“Communist East Germany didn’t last but our faith in God remained. We look back with gratefulness. We look forward with hope. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

 
The large iron gate of the Berlin Wall closed behind us. Back under dictatorship we stood, in East Berlin, a city shrouded in grey. Yet we were grateful and our hearts rejoiced. We had witnessed the power of prayer. We knew that God was real and He was faithful. With Him we could overcome obstacles that seemed insurmountable, and we could experience His favor in the midst of adversity.  
 
That evening my father received a phone call: “Family Furchert, are you back?” My father assured the anonymous caller that we had returned. “Thank God,” the man said and hung up.  
 
Years later we learned about the Communist official who approved our visas. He had never entered a church, but when his mother had died, my father preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Communists at her funeral. It made an impact on this man. When the petition had come across his desk, he approved it and said to his superiors, “I vouch for this man and his family. This pastor will not abandon his church. If he says he will return, he will return.”  
 
Half a year later, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. We were free and our family was reunited. Communist East Germany didn’t last but our faith in God remained. We look back with gratefulness. We look forward with hope. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  
 
Copyright 2009: Michael Furchert
 
Scripture Quotation taken from the Holy Bible New International Version
 
Decision: November 2009

MORE THAN CONQUERORS

Standing Firm On Faith In A Secular World

AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN!

An inspiring account of a familythat would not let life’s circumstances keep them down.

Persecuted by Hitler. Separated by the Berlin Wall. One family held true to their faith in God and experienced a journey from trials to triumph, from defeat to victory.

How do we live our faith in a society that is turning increasingly secular? How do we build strong families, instill Biblical values and raise children in the Word of God?

Michael grew up behind the Berlin Wall under an atheist dictatorship, yet in his family he learned about the love of God and the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall…

…we face times of great uncertainty in our own country. This inspiring account of a family that overcame life’s difficulties under two dictatorships and rose to a joyful witness of Christ’s strength, will encourage us to trust in God’s promise to be more than conquerors.

Michael will share with us what kept his family strong in trying times, throughout Nazi Germany, WWII and Communism, what helped him to make tough choices as child and teenager behind the Berlin Wall, and why it is so important to build our lives on a firm foundation that will last.

Michael’s message is timely and relevant. It will challenge us not to take our freedoms for granted, nor our faith too lightly, but to take a stand for Jesus Christ. It will convict us to resist complacency, indifference and compromise and encourage us to become a bolder witness for our faith and make a difference in our lives, our families, our communities and our nation.

Favor In The Midst of Adversity

In The Masters Hands

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