"One of the most shocking facts about the Nazis rise to power is that they used the church as a springboard to achieve that power. It was not the only institution they used, but it is one of the great examples in history of how the devil can take his seat in the temple of God, the church, and make himself out to be God. How did the church fail to recognize the nature of such an evil movement as the Nazis? Why did some church leaders even call Hitler the second coming of Christ, and the Third Reich the beginning of the kingdom of God on earth?...Even though we can learn much from the Nazi period in Germany's history, we should not expect what is coming to be wearing Swastikas, or to even gain power again exactly like it did…How can we be prepared for what is to come? These are questions that the wise are asking now." (Rick Joyner)

I recently read a very good biography on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) who "was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plots planned by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned, and eventually hanged just before the end of World War II in Europe" (Taken from Wikipedia.com at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer)

Bonhoeffer's life was incredible and there are many things in his life that are powerful prophetic pictures for our times, IF we will have the humility and hunger to learn the Truth that is laid out in it.

But there is something I found that caught my eye and really jumped out at me. Of course there are many things about his life that really need to be addressed but there is one event, during Bonhoeffer's life that started it all in regards to the "Christianity VS Religionless Christianity" (a.k.a. religion VS true Christianity) fight. (Dietrich was a strong advocate for what he called "Religionless Christianity.")

Let me share it with you:

After Adolf Hitler "became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and Fuhrer in 1934, combining the offices of President and Chancellor into one…" (Taken from Wikipedia.com at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler) he passed "a series of laws…that made it impossible for his power to be challenged. The first one (with the long and ironic name 'The Reich President's Edict for the Protection of People and State') took away all rights that in the United States are guaranteed by the First Amendment: the freedoms of speech, assembly, and the press. The 'Treachery Law' declared that anyone who opposed the Nazi party was a traitor to the country. The 'Enabling Act' dissolved the authority of parliament and suspended the German constitution. Finally, the 'Aryan Clause' set Jews apart as a separate group within the country, taking away almost every single one of their rights as German citizens. Five years later, this last law would see its logical culmination on November 9, 1938, a date that came to be called Kristallnacht, meaning 'night of broken glass.' On that night of rampaging, Jewish places of business were destroyed, and most of the synagogues in Berlin were burned down." (Taken from page 75 and 76 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Michael Van Dyke)

So these laws were passed by Adolf Hitler – the madman, the psychopath, the murder – and immediately affected and infected all of Germany. And get this, because the Christian Church in Germany wasn't gutsy enough to stand against this dictator, it too thought that these laws were good for Germany and began to implement them into their religious operations within the German Christian church.

How sick is that?

Of course, Bonhoeffer and others worked very hard to stop this infection from going too far but they couldn't stop it; the opposition to Hitler's leadership wasn't substantial enough. The majority of the Church was sold on Adolf's law and his religion, which eventually became the commonly accepted state religion of his day in Germany. They bought into the lie because, as Bonhoeffer understood, the Church was not founded on the Word of God enough to stand strong against the tide of evil, even when it "seemed," "looked" and "sounded" good.

Let me show you what I see in these 4 laws that Hitler passed and how they relate to some very serious LIES that have infected the Body of Christ through "the deeds (and influences) of the Nicolaitans" (those who LORD IT OVER and DICTATE the people of God, like Hitler did in his day; remember, everyone thought very highly of Hitler at the beginning of his career; they even saw him as their "savior," the "messiah." Like Satan, he came on the scene as "an angel of light," then took off his mask.)

1) "'The Reich President's Edict for the Protection of People and State' took away all rights that in the United States are guaranteed by the First Amendment: the freedoms of speech, assembly, and the press." The Nicolaitans STRONGLY frown upon our freedoms in many ways. For instance, they don't like it when someone says, does or writes anything they disagree with. And they say that they are trying to "Protect the People" but really, as with Hitler, they're just trying to protect their pomp, power and position.

2) "The 'Treachery Law' declared that anyone who opposed the Nazi party was a traitor to the country." The Nicolaitans don't like anyone who opposes them. They blacklist anyone who contradicts them, spread mud about them and even declare them to be traitors to the Kingdom of God. How ironic.

3) "The 'Enabling Act' dissolved the authority of parliament and suspended the German constitution." Nicolaitans nullify the commands of God and replace them with the traditions of men. They replace the principles of God's Word, which are upheld by the entire weight of Scripture, with "laws" (rules, traditions, customs, policies, procedures, protocol) that uphold their power and position.

4) "Finally, the 'Aryan Clause' set Jews apart as a separate group within the country, taking away almost every single one of their rights as German citizens." Nicolaitans segregate, ostracize, blacklist and "disfellowship" anyone who is "impure" or "undesirable" in their estimation [Remember the Holocaust and "The Final Solutions"? 17 million "undesirables" were murdered in cold blood]. And then these "Jews" are demoralized and attacked within their "church family" for their differences.

The parallels between the Nicolaitans and the Nazis is almost uncanny but I don't believe it's by coincidence.

This is why I like Bonhoeffer. He fought against these laws and those who wrote and enforced them and, MANY TIMES, directly disobeyed those laws in the process of warring against them.

I would encourage you to study the life of this very courageous man. He was a true prophet in his time, whose shown us that treason and rebellion against unholiness and religion is oftentimes very necessary in order to truly submit to the Kingdom of God.