Repeating History: Dancing with the Devil

Some Christians say that theology doesn't apply to real life. Here's a case in point that refutes such naïveté.

All on the left of the American political spectrum – and, unfortunately, far too many on the right – think man is basically good. We’re all “sinners,” most agree, but “deep down inside, we are all basically good people.” This view of humanity is aptly called Pelagianism (or Semi-Pelagianism). Interestingly enough, it was the most condemned heresy in Church history. (Not anymore; sadly, we openly embrace it in our churches across America today.) What follows from such empty thinking (Colossians 2:8) in our foreign affairs is the idea that if we just reason with these people (Osama, Hitler) then we will all come to an understanding with each other and can broker peace. Incidently, this is the same approach taken by liberal bureaucrats towards hardened criminals in our prisons. ("They can change" they say with their Oprah worldview. “Impossible!” I say, that is, unless God chooses to do a miraculous work in them.)

Oh, how foolish this approach to evil is! Chamberlain took such an appeasement approach with Hitler. "Peace for our time" the British Prime Minister glibly proclaimed back in 1938. Hitler just smiled and kept on trucking across Europe. Instead of less men dying to stop the German machine by taking proactive steps against the threat, our Allied hesitations, later on led to many more soldiers dying in WWII. (FYI: Almost 10,000 American soldiers died on the beaches of Normandy in one day. Around 3,500 American soldiers have died at this point in the 4 1/2 years of fighting in Iraq.)

I'm afraid we are repeating history. It looks like we are now living in the fall of 1938, as our leaders and media elite continue to ask for one more dance with the devil.