{"id":43535,"date":"2012-05-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/german-christians-sang-hymns-while-jews-were-hauled-away\/"},"modified":"2012-05-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T00:00:00","slug":"german-christians-sang-hymns-while-jews-were-hauled-away","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/german-christians-sang-hymns-while-jews-were-hauled-away\/","title":{"rendered":"German Christians Sang Hymns While Jews Were Hauled Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book When a Nation Forgets God<\/em><\/a>, Erwin Lutzer retells one Christian's story of living in Hitler's Germany. The man wrote:<\/p>\n\n

\n

I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because what could anyone do to stop it?<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars!<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

We knew the time the train was coming, and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Years have passed, and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3651,3802,4118,4199,4236,4250,4533,4569,4579,4821,5210],"tax_ctp_topics":[388],"class_list":["post-43535","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-complacency","tax_ctp_tags-disobedience","tax_ctp_tags-hardness-of-heart","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-indifference","tax_ctp_tags-injustice","tax_ctp_tags-negligence","tax_ctp_tags-oppression","tax_ctp_tags-outreach","tax_ctp_tags-responsibility","tax_ctp_tags-unfaithfulness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nGerman Christians Sang Hymns While Jews Were Hauled Away - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/german-christians-sang-hymns-while-jews-were-hauled-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"German Christians Sang Hymns While Jews Were Hauled Away - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book When a Nation Forgets God, Erwin Lutzer retells one Christian's story of living in Hitler's Germany. 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