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A wise person once said that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In a little German village nestled in the hills,
A train went by on Sundays and blew its whistle shrill.
Its cars were full of people on their way to die:
Women, men, and children--we could hear them cry--
"Help us, won't you help us?" they wailed, but what to do?
We sat in church distracted, conscience-stricken, blue.
"Let's sing a little louder," we said, "to drown the din."
So we sang about a Savior who died to pay our sin.
Today, another era, another train comes 'round,
This time full of babies, now without a sound.
Shall we continue singing to drown our conscience din,
Or be our brother's keeper in this broken world of sin?
This poem was inspired by the article which follows:
After a speech, pro-life activist Penny Lea was approached by an old man. Weeping, he told her the following story:
"I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. What could anyone do to stop it?
A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews. They were like cattle in those cars!
Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry out to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time the train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we’d just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.
Now, so many years later, I see it happening all over again in America. God forgive you as Americans for you have blocked out the screams of millions of your own children. The holocaust is here. The response is the same as it was in my country - SILENCE!" Have you ever wondered how people could have stood by and just let this happen? Do you wonder why the Christians in this true story chose to just sing their praise to God a little louder to drown out the victim’s cries?
The old man’s story is in the past - it cannot be changed. It is easy to think we would act differently now. But the old man’s last words are haunting: "It’s happening all over again in America with abortion."
As American Christians, we have become so comfortable in our lovely buildings and padded pews. We have beautiful fellowship halls for our many banquets. We have the latest sound equipment for our praise and worship. We have computers to keep our records. We gather together each week and shut ourselves inside our buildings. We raise our voices as loud as we can in the name of God.
And yet, in the heavenly realm, our voices raised in praise are drowned out by screams of agony from millions of babies who are being executed before they are born. We can’t see them. We can’t hear them. But it is happening as you read this!
Babies are being aborted up until the day of birth in this country. Their organs and brains are "harvested" for use in medical experimentation. In Wichita, Kansas, the smoke stack from the furnace of Dr. Tiller’s abortion clinic belches black smoke and the sickening smell of burning flesh. These are the bodies of preborn 7th, 8th, and 9th month old babies being "disposed of."
If the Christians in the old man’s church had done something, they probably would have been killed. That is not the case with us today. We don’t even have that excuse for our silence.
Years from now will you be like that old man trying to explain your apathy as millions were led away to slaughter in abortion clinics? Or will you raise your voice and cry out in protest for those who have no voice? The choice is yours.
Copyright 2006 Heritage House '76, Inc., 919 Main St., Snowfalke, AZ 85937
1-800-858-3040 Item No. 909SL
Reprints and quantity discounts available www.hh76.com.02-15-76
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