A great book

a wake up call to the church

I cannot see comparing America the WW2 winner to Germany the WW1 loser. However the idea that Luther introduced cheap grace by selectively using of the book of James, instead of the all of James, is strange for Metaxas. This is an old arguments of Catholic critics, who firmly believe in grace plus works, because the Latin language does not grasp justification the way the Greek language does. Luther wrote repentance is a lifetime activity, that's not a view of the cheap grace advocate, in fact it is more the result of decisional regeneration. We cannot prove that had people listed to Bonhoeffer Germany would not have had Hitler come to power, as Metaxas is suggesting. Eric makes some points about the church being compromised, he has some things to say, but his dragging Martin Luther through the mud is ridiculous. So few parts of the American Church hold onto the reformation, the teachings or creeds. I am weary of the critics, and too much of this sounds like a conservative version of countless woke criticisms, be it critical race theory, 1619, or climate craziness. I am really tired of the Hitler comparisons. We battle against principalities not dead preachers. This writing is not the best from Eric Metaxas.

This book is a must-read for the American Church. Every American, male or female, who identifies as a Christ follower must read this book.

Make no mistake about it, this is a wake up call for those who know they have been called to do the work of the Lord in this day and age. For those that are floating along, just casually attending a church and doing the religious duties, this is a loud clanging gong that they need to get out of bed and get to work, seriously following Jesus as the Bible instructs them to do.

For people that are far removed from the horrors of Germany in the 1940s, you young folks, this book is a much needed reminder or education of what happened in a well educated and sophisticated culture of 1930s Germany.

I, like many others, have asked How did Germany (or the German people) allow that to happen? How could the Church, the Body of Christ, stand by and let 6 million Jews be slaughtered, as well as many other atrocities?

Eric Metaxas answers this question and draws ample analogies between the German Church and their circumstances and the American Church and our circumstances, the evils we face today, Marxist ideologies being one of them.

If there is one criticism I have with this book, it is that people know that they need to Love God (or at least they should know), but they do not necessarily know how to love Him, which means there is a major disconnect in our Church today because we have not been making true disciples, which is why we are in the mess we are in.

I think Mr. Metaxas could have spent a little time on this issue, because if we have been successfully making true disciples all along, this book would not be necessary.

Metaxas sounds a prophetic warning to America in his Letter to the American Church. He illuminates and contrasts the path of the German church that failed to stand up to the growing threat of the Nazi party in the 1930s with an attitude much like the current American church. The German Church politely listened to Bonhoeffer and then returned to their comfortable lives without heeding his call to action. Metaxas serves as a modern day Jeremiah (Bonhoeffer) sounding the same prophetic warning. Wake up! Look around you! Return to God and stand for truth. See the evil encroaching on our nation.

American churches should not be silent in the face of evil because the truth and love of God must be applied beyond the Church. In A Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas directs the reader to consider bold and courageous heroes: King David, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, William Wilburforce and President Ronald Reagan. These men knew and acted on Biblical truth while ignoring the opposing voices. Despite prophetic warnings from Bonhoeffer to the German Church in the 1930s, the Church miserably failed to act. Eric highlights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s which began to silence many churches. As a result of continued silence, we are now faced with anti-God and anti-human ideologies, including radical transgender, pro-abortion, and atheist Marxist Critical Race Theory. Eric humbly presents the evidence of our current crisis, the spiritual battle between truth and lies, and challenges us all to live out our faith by speaking truth in love.