Recently my wife Danielle and I had the joy of visiting Berlin with a group of fellow believers and good friends of ours from Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast . It was a fantastic experience and we saw things that both thrilled and saddened us.
On our first day we visited Wittenberg, standing at the door where Martyn Luther nailed his famous 95 thesis. We saw his church and his home, and we are aware that even to this day there is a carryover of the gospel message affecting that place.
Romans 1v17 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” That was a pivotal verse used to spark the reformation where multitudes of souls were saved.
On the final day of our tour, we visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp where many lives were extinguished under Nazi control and ethnic cleansing policies. It was so sad to see what human beings are capable of when the common grace of God is lifted from us.
There were pictures of horrific atrocities and even of the perpetrators smiling while overseeing them. It reminded me of the final verse in Romans 1. V32 “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”
Two verses from the same chapter but two entirely different outcomes. Our prayer is that we will again see people returning to Gods book and His ways. May He open our eyes and soften our hearts to the things of God and to our fellowman.
Love and blessings- Pastor John & Danielle