{"id":44853,"date":"2009-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/even-in-midst-of-war-german-pastor-thankful-for-gods-faithf\/"},"modified":"2009-11-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T00:00:00","slug":"even-in-midst-of-war-german-pastor-thankful-for-gods-faithf","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/even-in-midst-of-war-german-pastor-thankful-for-gods-faithf\/","title":{"rendered":"Even in Midst of War, German Pastor Thankful for God&#8217;s Faithfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>German pastor Martin Rinkart served in the walled town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. The fugitives suffered from epidemic and famine. At the beginning of 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. But one abandoned his post for healthier areas and could not be persuaded to return. Pastor Rinkhart officiated at the funerals of the other two. As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 persons a day&mdash;some 4,480 in all. In May of that year, his own wife died. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services.<\/p>\n\n<p>Yet living in a world dominated by death, Pastor Rinkart wrote the following prayer for his children to offer to the Lord:<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Now thank we all our God \nWith hearts and hands and voices;\nWho wondrous things hath done,\nIn whom this world rejoices.\nWho, from our mother&#39;s arms,\nHath led us on our way,\nWith countless gifts of love,\nAnd still is ours today.<\/em><\/p>","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":[3366,3504,4084,4092,4153,4246,4584,4618,4633,4800,5103,5140,5144,5146,5147,5191,5224,5230,5260],"tax_ctp_topics":[378,382,386,388],"class_list":["post-44853","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abundant-life","tax_ctp_tags-blessing","tax_ctp_tags-goodness-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-gratitude","tax_ctp_tags-holidays","tax_ctp_tags-ingratitude","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-pearl-harbor-day","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-remembrance","tax_ctp_tags-suffering","tax_ctp_tags-testing","tax_ctp_tags-thankfulness","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving-day","tax_ctp_tags-trial","tax_ctp_tags-valleys","tax_ctp_tags-veterans-day","tax_ctp_tags-war"],"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},{"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":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Even in Midst of War, German Pastor Thankful for God&#039;s Faithfulness - 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\/even-in-midst-of-war-german-pastor-thankful-for-gods-faithf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Even in Midst of War, German Pastor Thankful for God&#039;s Faithfulness - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"German pastor Martin Rinkart served in the walled town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. The fugitives suffered from epidemic and famine. At the beginning of 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. 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