Higher Criticism: Similarity Number Eleven Between the False Church of Nazi Germany and Today’s Growing False Global Church

By Brannon S. Howse

In 1878, a German theology professor and author “discovered” that the Bible is a book of stories but not the divinely inspired Word of God. He proclaimed this new “truth” to countless Germans and taught that the Bible could not be trusted. Only human reason could. 

Known as higher criticism or German rationalization, this was the contribution to Germany’s cultural demise provided by Julius Wellhausen. It was also his contribution to the success of Adolf Hitler. In his landmark book, Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave, David Breese explains: 

[quote] The initial effect of German rationalization upon a Christian culture was on the schools, churches, and scholarship of Europe….Even so, religion still continued in Europe. There were still large churches, burning candles, beautiful choirs, lovely stained glass windows, congregations…all of that was still there….The Bible was only empty pages written by men who were now dead, rather than revelation of the living God. European Christianity was destroyed from within while still possessing the external form by which it had been known for centuries…the leaders quoted everything but the Bible and preached everything but the gospel, and reality was gone….It was because of religious liberalism that Europe lost its soul. [end quote] 

European Christianity was changed from within as higher criticism led people into an essentially humanistic religion. The acceptance of higher criticism allowed the German people to set aside absolute truth—even in their laws—and Germany became Hitler’s for the taking. The Gospel of Jesus Christ had long since been betrayed, and people came to believe that “the end justifies the means.” In return for regaining national pride and financial abundance, the populace granted Hitler his dream of hope and change. The masses went along, but as has happened throughout history, God preserved a remnant that remained true to Him and His Word. 

On trial after World War II, Hitler’s henchmen used the defense that they had not broken any laws. While it was true that they had not defied the laws of Germany, those laws had been rewritten to fit the goals and objectives of Hitler. Nazi leaders were nevertheless found guilty because the courts at the time recognized a “law above the law.” Now, though, even the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the law of nature and nature’s God by claiming that, as society evolves, morals evolve, and so the law, too, must evolve.

History screams that ideas have consequences, that worldview matters. Most Germans, including Christians, willingly traveled the road to Hitler’s hell, largely because they had lost the courage of their convictions. They had sold out to paganism, pragmatism, and a new gospel that promised everything and required nothing. David Breese sums it up this way:

[quote] It is obvious that Europe, despite its vaunted intellectualism, was unable to defend itself against the arguments and subversions of Nazism, Communism, fascism, the world of the occult, and other diseased ideas. External results in the life of any nation are ultimately caused by the presence or absence of a spiritual core made of divine life and spiritual blessings. [end quote] 

Does this not sound like churches, seminaries, Christian colleges, and some of the best-selling Christian authors today? The false global church is embracing higher criticism. 

Wellhausen’s liberal philosophy eventually jumped the ocean, became popular on the East Coast, and has spread throughout the United States and around the world as neo-orthodoxy. Many Christians are all too willing to go down a path that will surely lead to the destruction of our once great nation. Incredibly, many self-professing Christians are not just following but leading the way over the cliff. The false church is turning the grace of God into lewdness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4). 

Copyright 2015 ©Brannon Howse. This content is for Situation Room members and is not to be duplicated in any form or uploaded to other websites without the express written permission of Brannon Howse or his legally authorized representative.