The back cover of the book reads, Who better to face the greatest evil of the 20th century than a humble man of faith? As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissident saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. And one of those dissidents and saboteurs was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian pastor in the Confessing Church in Germany. Let me just lay out a scripture at the outset as we're going to see many turns and twists of providence to know that everything is ordained by the Lord. Daniel 4, 34. For the Lord, His dominion, Nebuchadnezzar declares, who was a king, realizing that God rules over all, His dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He, the Lord, does according to His will in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can ward off his hand or say to him, what hast thou done?" Keep that in mind throughout all of this. These providences that seem so dark and seem so formidable, the Lord ruled over all of them. Just by way of pictorial review, we consider how Dietrich was born into a family there in Berlin. His dad's name was Carl, a psychologist, psychiatrist. Mom's name was Paula, very happy family life. There's Dietrich growing up, maturing, chose to be a pastor. His dad wished maybe he would have been a lawyer, but being a theologian was what Dietrich chose. He ministered to youth both in Berlin, in Spain, and also in London in his training. His sister Sabine was very close to him. As he grew up, Sabine married a Jewish man. As I mentioned last week Sabine in the hot conflict fled to Switzerland to get out of the cremation course. Bonhoeffer had a relationship with Karl Barth who was a neo-orthodox theologian of the day. Unlike the liberals who detested the scripture, Barth had a higher view of scripture, though it did have many things that left it to be deserved. Hitler made an allegiance with the church. Many in the German church, the state church, drew close to Hitler. Many of the pastors fawned on him like sycophants. Bonhoeffer realized that the true church would need to come out of the state church and it became the remnant. Martin Niemöller was a pastor who eventually, after having befriended Hitler, turned away from Hitler. Hitler imprisoned him. Hitler intimidated all throughout. Bonhoeffer had an interest in Gandhi and appreciated the community that Gandhi had in India, as he established Bonhoeffer his own seminaries. He had an interest in having the kind of community, he said, Sermon on the Mount type community that would be reflected by some of the common grace principles of Gandhi. We see Europe became a hotbed. We see Germany, Poland, France, Great Britain, Bonhoeffer struck up a relationship, and this is really basically where we ended the last time, a relationship with Maria von Weidenauer. And Maria was an 18-year-old girl. Bonhoeffer got to know her when he was 36 years old. And it was during this time when Bonhoeffer himself actually proposed to her, and they were engaged. The Olympics came to Germany and Hitler used it to showcase the Third Reich's prosperity, though the generals of Hitler, many of them were aristocrats of Prussian descent who had a noble view of warfare and military activity. They became very suspicious of Hitler, thinking Hitler was a madman as was going to lead the country to destruction and therefore a plot for a coup was established among the generals to dethrone Hitler and eventually to assassinate Hitler. Hitler attempted to having taken Austria to be a part of Germany. He then marched into Czechoslovakia and the generals were convinced that he was mad and his course was one of national destruction. Bonhoeffer, realizing that it was getting too hot in the kitchen in Germany, he thought maybe he would go off to America. And maybe he would ride out the conflict of the war and all the destruction that was going on. And many believed that Bonhoeffer would be the man to rebuild the church in Germany after the war. But upon getting to New York, Bonhoeffer walked about the streets of New York feeling like a ghost, considering his life was back in the country of Germany. Here he is on a ship bound for America. Poland was invaded. Bonhoeffer, having returned back, joined the Abwehr. In the U.S., we have the FBI and the CIA. They had there the Gestapo and the Abwehr. And so he was a part of the intelligence that was somewhat rivaling the Gestapo and its influence. And again, the relationship with Maria. as Hitler became a target. But let's go a little bit to the Maria relationship here. I had mentioned in June 8 of 1942, Bonhoeffer visited Ruth van Cleist and her daughter Maria van Weidenmayer happened to be there. She just graduated from high school. She engaged enthusiastically in the conversation with Bonhoeffer. And Bonhoeffer was smitten by this beautiful, intelligent, confident 18-year-old girl. Bonhoeffer was 36 years old. He had ruled out marriage six years earlier when his relationship with Elizabeth Zinn had ended. But now Bonhoeffer wrote, we shouldn't arrogantly push away the kind hand of God in the form of this young lady that came into his life. Soon after this first meeting, Maria's father died and the two of them providentially bumped into each other, occasioning deep talks with Bonhoeffer, even sharing about his role in the conspiracy. Then Maria's soldier brother Max was killed, and Maria's mother, thinking that romance and marriage was untimely, asked Bonhoeffer not to come to the funeral. You ask the question, would you want your 18-year-old daughter getting involved with a man who was involved in the Abwehr in the heated days of World War II? This did not make the matchmaking grandma Ruth very happy, but it was wise to draw, the question was, was it wise to draw an 18-year-old into the relationship with somebody with such an uncertain future? Mom was aware of the Abwehr connections. So on November 27 of 1942, Maria wrote in her diary, and here we get to read from Dear Diary, Why am I suddenly so cheerful these days? The incredible fact remains, he actually wants to marry me. I still fail to grasp how that can be. So Bonhoeffer proposed and eventually Maria said yes on January 17 of 1943. They decided they would wait one year before marrying. But the Gestapo was on Bonhoeffer's tail and the conspiracy was racing toward yet another plan to kill Hitler. Werner von Heften was a staff lieutenant of the Army High Command. at a certain family gathering, he suddenly turned to Bonhoeffer and said this, shall I shoot? I can get inside the Fuhrer's headquarters with my revolver. I know where and when the conferences take place. I can get access. And this time Bonhoeffer explained how a random shooting might actually gain little. And so a plan of succession, he said, needed to take place. But regarding the question, shall I shoot? Bonhoeffer told him, I can't answer that question for you. Let me just read an account here regarding one attempt to actually assassinate Hitler on page 425. We see this rendition here. how I told you about the bomb that was put on the plane. It was said to be brandy. It had a fuse that was time-delayed, and eventually the bomb was recovered when the plane didn't blow up. Here's the account. On the train to Berlin, Schlabendorf locked the door of a sleeper car and opened the package to see what had gone wrong. Everything had worked perfectly. The vial had been broken, the corrosive liquid had resolved the wire, the wire had released the spring, the spring had sprung, and the detonator cap had been struck, but the detonator cap had not ignited the explosive. Either it was an extremely rare dud or the cold in the luggage compartment was to blame. In either case, the mysteriously durable Fuhrer had again escaped death. That's why I read from Daniel 4, the Lord does His will among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can thwart His hand. The die is cast into the lap. It's every decision is from the Lord. Why, Lord, did Hitler survive? Why did that detonator cap not spark and blow? And again, I told you about the time that Hitler was engaging in an inspection and a man had a bomb in his coat, but Hitler unexpectedly said, the inspection is over. It was supposed to have lasted a half an hour. Instead, it lasted seven minutes. Why, Lord, did such things take place? Bonhoeffer had been waiting for a call that Hitler had been killed with the overcoat plan, but he received no happy call that day, and it was clear the Gestapo was closing in on him. So, April 5, 1943, while studying in his parents' home in Berlin, Bonhoeffer called one of his co-conspirator friends, and an unfamiliar voice answered the phone. Bonhoeffer quickly hung up, and he knew it was the Gestapo, so he calmly reported that he'd soon be arrested. He was in his parents' home at this time. He was then fed a large meal. He began putting his papers in order in his study, and at 4 p.m., he was escorted to a black Mercedes, and he was then taken away, and he would never return back to his home. Now, leading up to the arrest, Maria had not heard from him and was very anxious for his safety. She writes, I find the thought that something might happen to you unbearable. This is in a letter that she penned. Don't you realize that? Don't you sense that? Ever since I've known, I haven't been able to shake off my fears for your safety. Tell me you're all right, Dietrich. Oh, Dietrich, just tell me you're all right. I beg you." Some of you ladies relate to the kind of emotion that was going on here. Then she was also able to speak to him on the phone. Dietrich Deris, this is before he was arrested. Can you still remember every word we exchanged? How the tears rolled down my cheeks, though I tried so hard not to cry. You laughed and you told me not to worry. But then on April 5, that day, when he was arrested, she sent something had gone wrong. And on April 5, in her own diary, she wrote, I'm afraid something very bad has happened. It wasn't until April 18, about two weeks later, that she got the news that he'd been imprisoned in Teagle Military Prison. And that's Teagle Prison there. And his room is right there. It's actually first floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor. This is the room where Bonhoeffer was located there at Tegel Military Prison. At Tegel, he wasn't told why he was arrested. It wasn't because of a conspiracy to assassinate in all probability. Maybe it was because they thought he was involved in some money laundering for the cause of Jewish fugitives. They probably just considered he was somewhat of an innocent pastor, though later evidence would lead to Bonhoeffer's execution. We see he was kept here in a cell all alone. This cell was opened only for bringing in meals and a bucket. He was allowed to have a Bible. In adjacent cells there were prisoners who were shackled. He reports that one man wept through the entire first night he was there. At first, he was on the prison's uppermost floor, that fourth floor there, but he was soon transferred to the third floor to a cell with, quote, sweeping view across the prison yard to a pine forest. This was a seven by seven cell. It was cell number 92, which was immortalized in the book, Love Letters from Cell 92. These were articles that were put together and documented. The cell featured a plank, a bed, a bench along one wall, a stool, a necessary bucket. a wooden door with a tiny circular window through which the guard might observe him, and a not so small window above his head that would provide daylight and fresh air. His family, living seven miles away, were able to visit him often, bringing him food and clothing and books and the like, as the Tegel prison was in Berlin. He was also allowed to send out one letter every seven days. He was restricted to one page in that letter. You look at some of the letters, it's the tiniest conceivable writing, as he was a man who had much to say and much to write, and he packed it very, very tight. Also, coded information could be sent out. He would get lended books, and then in the book, they may go backwards, and every 10th page she would put a almost imperceivable pencil dot under a letter. So there was a certain formula. You go every 10 page, you get a letter, and he could get a 50 to 60 word message out in a book that the guards never knew he was sending out. And some of the information that was sent to and from through lent books was quite significant information. In interrogation, Bonhoeffer simply played dumb, and he did it brilliantly. He just came across as a simpleton, knaif of a Lutheran pastor, holding to a simplistic understanding of Romans 13. But Bonhoeffer claimed that understanding Romans 13, submitting to authorities who've been ordained by God for the good, he considered that Bonhoeffer, excuse me, that Hitler's role had become the height of evil and he believed devotion to God, quote now, depended on his deceiving the evil powers ranged against him. He was serving God by taking them for a long ride in the interrogations. He wouldn't tell them the truth. We may have time to ponder this at the end. Bonhoeffer also had a significant advantage at Tegel. His uncle, Paul van Hees, was a military commandant of Berlin. He was the big boss of the Tegel prison and really all of the military installments near Berlin. He was above the warden at Teagle. Abel then, that warden, was able to oversee the nephew of Von Hays, and this gave Bonhoeffer certain privileges, including the ability to pastorally counsel other prisoners. In 1943, because of Uncle Paul, it seems, he was offered a cooler cell on the second floor of the prison, but he refused it, knowing that he'd be taking that cooler room from someone else Philippians 2, considering others more highly. He also refused the offer of larger food portions. Imagine guards wanted to be in good with General Von Hace, but Bonhoeffer refused the larger portions. He did use his position, though, in his role to speak out against guard abuses of other prisoners, and eventually his letter-writing privileges expand to one letter every four days. Maria, And the relationship, as he would get correspondence from her in occasional visits, brightened Bonhoeffer's eyes. With one letter, she ended this way, whatever I think or do, I'm always your Maria. And I can relate to this as a man who might be engaged in the brightening eye effect of having such a relationship with a lady. All told, she made 17 visits to Bonhoeffer at Tegel, never alone, always chaperoned. Once they actually embraced, as Maria counted in a letter, it transmitted a current that filled me up and left no room for thoughts. Well, he wrote a close friend's wedding sermon from his cell. The most memorable line of the sermon was this, and this is profound. I even quoted it once in a wedding sermon. It's not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage sustains your love. Referring to covenantal vow. Bonhoeffer did an impressive amount of reading and writing while he was there. He read anything that was available to him, even in the prison library, from the history of Scotland Yard to Don Quixote. Depression, which had previously haunted him, wasn't an issue now. Why? I don't know. The tonic of Maria probably was a variable. He actually expected to be released quite soon. On November 26 of 1943, he got a visit from four of his favorites, Maria, his two parents, and Bethge, bringing gifts, a cigar from Karl Barth, an advent garland from Maria, a large group of hard-boiled eggs. On his 38th birthday, Maria visited and brought news that the Gestapo had gotten Admiral Canaris. He was the one in charge of the Abwehr, the one who was really plotting the coup against and the assassination of Hitler. The Gestapo got him and eventually imprisoned Canaris. He would die together with Bonhoeffer eventually. Uncle Paul then at this time visited Tegel prison, spent five hours there, and not so subtly communicated his support for his nephew more than suggesting to Bonhoeffer in quiet whispering conversation that the coup was imminent. Von Hays himself was actually an integral part of the Valkyrie plot. Anybody who knows Valkyrie? Who saw the movie Valkyrie? Anyone? All right, it's the plot against Hitler. A certain conspirator named Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, you see Tom Cruise there on the right, he looked a lot like von Stauffenberg, Cruise in the movie Valkyrie. Stauffenberg said, it's now time for something to be done. He who has the courage to act must know that he will probably go down in German history as a traitor, but if he fails to act, he will be a traitor before his own conscience. Stauffenberg, Metaxas, I believe Metaxas is a Catholic, am I right in saying that? Who said yes? Stauffenberg, Metaxas says, was a devout Catholic from an aristocratic family who had seen the SS brutality in Poland. So the date was set, July 11, 1944, Stauffenberg visited Hitler at Obersalzburg carrying a bomb in his briefcase, but the attempt was aborted. And someone said, they'll never do it, they'll never do it, because so many attempts. were aborted. But on July 20, 1944, at Wolfshans, which is a gloomy East Prussian woods area, Stauffenberg had his briefcase as he slipped past the SS guards. The Hitler meeting was to be in an underground bunker, magnifying the bang of the bomb, but then the heat resulted in the venues being changed to above ground, but it was considered the bomb was still powerful enough. Let me just read some of the account of what took place there. And again, if you saw the Valkyrie movie, you saw the dramatic rendition of it. Stauffenberg went into a changing room to change his shirt. He quickly opened up his suitcase, unwrapped the bomb, put it, put on the shirt which he had wrapped it in and crushed the vial. The bomb would then explode in 10 minutes. Stauffenberg hurried to Kittel's car for a moment and they arrived there at the barracks. He took his place near Hitler at the table, placing the briefcase under the table. It was just six feet from the Fuhrer's legs, which, unless he moved, should be separated from the ill-tempered master in five minutes. But something called Sokol, a Sokol, would literally get in the way. It would divide the vector of the historic blast away from the intended target. Sokol is a massive leg of a table and when the bomb actually exploded it killed many people around Hitler, but for some reason Hitler was guarded by this massive leg under the Sokol. And again you go back to the issue of the Lord doing His desire among the inhabitants of the earth. The die is cast into the lap. Lord, why? Why would this take place? The oak table was blown to smithereens. Hitler's hair was on fire. The ceiling had descended to the floor. Several men lay dead, but contrary to what Stauffenberg believed as he rushed toward the airfield, none of these dead men was evil incarnate. Hitler was fine and dandy, albeit cartoonishly mused. His secretary, Gertrund Jung, recalled, the Fuhrer looked very strange. His hair was standing on end like quills on a hedgehog, and his clothes were in tatters. But in spite of all, he was ecstatic. After all, he had survived. It was Providence that spared me. Hitler declared, this proves that I'm on track and I feel that this is conversation, this is confirmation of all my life work. Again, you ask the question, why Lord? Why did this take place? Hitler then spoke to the nation about the conspiracy against him. Goering then came on the radio and says, the Fuhrer was saved as by a miracle. Long live the Fuhrer, whom almighty God so visibly blessed this day. But when the breadth of the conspiracy was comprehended, it was a devastating blow to Hitler's ego and the vengeful purge was brutal. In his cell, Bonhoeffer knew the ramifications of this. He'd been involved in the conspiracy and there were breadcrumbs that would eventually lead the Gestapo to him. Stauffenberg was executed shouting, long live sacred Germany. And many took their own lives for fear of revealing the names of others under torture. A killing spree was unleashed. On August 8, 1944, General Paul von Haess, Uncle Paul, was actually sentenced to death at the age of 59. There was a people's court where the conspirators were brought into court and many of these court proceedings were telecasted over the radio. A man named Wander Schulenberg made a final statement before he was sentenced. We resolve to take this deed upon ourselves in order to save Germany from an indescribable misery. I realize that I shall be hanged for my part in it, but I do not regret what I did and only hope that someone else will succeed in luckier circumstances." Powerful in the ears of Germans and Hitler shut down after that statement any broadcasting of the people's court. Maria feared the worst and on August 23 she visited Tegel and as things turned out it was the last time that Maria and Dietrich ever saw each other. Bonhoeffer planned with a loyal friend his own escape from Tegel but then the escape was scrubbed probably because Bonhoeffer realized I can get out of this prison. but I probably can't get out of Germany without endangering other people who might be implicated." And soon after he was then moved to a Gestapo prison, and there he was threatened with torture. They realized that this endangered his brother, whose name was in his own head, hidden there, On February 3 of 45, nearly a thousand U.S. B-17 flying fortresses brutally bombed Berlin, reducing an area east of the zoo to flames and smoke and ash. Some bombs actually hit the Gestapo prison where Bonhoeffer was present. Reports tell us that Bonhoeffer was a man who was comforting others. As the bombs were blasting, one wrote, he showed his mettle as a strong man, bringing words of comfort and stability to other prisoners. And at this time, it was clear the war was winding down. On February 7, Bonhoeffer and around 20 other principal figures in the conspiracy were taken from their cells, packed into two vans, waiting to take them to distant concentration camps. Bonhoeffer had just celebrated his 39th birthday, and with the others, they were encouraged by the daylight that they were able to see for the first time in four months. Clearly, the war was ending. Hitler was finished. But the question was, would any of this group ever see Hitler being finished and the war ending? The handcuffed Bonhoeffer assumed he was on his way to his execution 200 miles away in Buchenwald and here are some prisoners there in Buchenwald. This was a place where people were cremated and gassed. It was a grisly place and Bonhoeffer would wake up day after day wondering if this was the day that he would either be shot or taken to the gas chambers or eventually put into the ovens. During these seven weeks, Bonhoeffer and his companions considered that, again, the dawning of each day might be their last, but by April 1, Easter, the thunder of the American guns could be heard in the distance. And he wondered. Maybe the Allies will get here before I get executed." But then on April 3, Bonhoeffer and 15 fellow prisoners were told to pile into a van fueled by a wood-fed generator. They were leaving Buchenwald. And the conditions of the smoky van almost asphyxiated the 16 passengers within, who discovered that they were on their way to Flossenburg, which was known to be an extermination camp in Bavaria. After 13 hours of travel, they got to Flossenburg. It was so packed, they said that only three prisoners could be taken. Bonhoeffer was packed way back in the van. It seems that they wanted Bonhoeffer, but someone else went for Bonhoeffer, and then the van went on away from Flossenburg. The van chugged further on now with only 13 prisoners and stopped at a farmhouse where a farmer's wife provided several loaves of rye bread and a jug of milk. It was a veritable king's feast for this starving little group. They even got to sit for a few moments in the sun. They eventually were taken to a state prison at Rangstenburg on the Danube River. There they were housed that night in a facility with a number of aristocratic political prisoners. The guards were very humane. They provided on that first night, quote, a quite passable vegetable soup, a hunk of bread, and a cup of coffee. Bonhoeffer found distant acquaintances there that night. He was able to piece together some of the puzzle pieces regarding what had happened to some of his friends. The next day, though, they resumed their bus trip through the Bavarian countryside where they were able to find a cap full of eggs to share among themselves after 24 hours of forced fasting. Finally, they reached their destination at Schoenberg, where they were taken into a school and shown a large room on the first floor, quite cheerily furnished with feather beds and bright colored blankets. Potatoes and jugs of coffee were made available to the political prisoners. One of his companions wrote about that night, My bed was so soft that I seemed to float on air. And very soon I was asleep, really the first sound sleep I had had for almost a week. And the next morning brought a potato salad and two large loaves of bread. The special prisoners were very grateful for the food. I can't help but consider Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and before they went to the river that they had to cross, the River of Death, they were in the Delectable Mountains. pleasant place for Bonhoeffer. It was at least a few hours. But it was April 7 and likely to be the last food Bonhoeffer ever ate. The next day, April 8, the first Sunday after Easter, Bonhoeffer was asked to conduct a worship service. He prayed and read from Isaiah 53.5. With his stripes we are healed. And 1 Peter 1.3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by his great mercy we've been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. And he spoke a few words of meditation to the hearts of his fellow prisoners. When he had hardly finished the final prayer, the door to the room opened and two now, quote, evil-looking men in civilian clothes came in and said, Prisoner Bonhoeffer, Get ready, come with us." The experienced prisoners knew that this meant the scaffold and Bonhoeffer drew someone aside and said to him, this is the end. For me though, the beginning of life. Let me just read the account here that Metaxas provides for us. Bonhoeffer's sentence of death was almost certainly decreed by Hitler himself, as were the sentence of others. Even Hitler must have known that it was all lost for him, as well as for Germany, and that killing others made no particular sense, but as he was Every atom a petty man, he was accustomed to diverting exceedingly precious resources of time, personnel, and gasoline for the purpose of his own revenge. And even though Hitler knew that his days were numbered, the writing was on the wall, he would go after those who attempted to assassinate him. Turns out Bonhoeffer was supposed to have been in Flossenburg. The three who were called out, one of them was supposed to have been Bonhoeffer four days earlier. When the court was meeting in Flossenburg, the question was, where is Bonhoeffer? And when it was found out that Bonhoeffer wasn't one of the three, the judge sent two men off to find Bonhoeffer and thus they opened the door on the service and called him back to fetch him to Flossenburg. Two years earlier in London, Bonhoeffer had preached, death is hell and night and cold if it's not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death. The camp doctor at Flossenburg gave the following account of Bonhoeffer's last five minutes. On the morning of the day between five and six o'clock, the prisoners, among them Admirable Canaris, General Oster, General Thomas, were taken from their cells and the verdicts of the court-martial were read to them. Through the half-open door in one room of the huts, I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor, praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In almost 50 years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God. On July 27, there was a memorial service in London for Bonhoeffer. Karl and Paula Bonhoeffer listened on their radio back in Germany. The congregation sang, for all the saints who from their labors rest, the service remembered their son as a mighty man of God, a man who remained faithful to truth and to Christ to the end. And when the service had ended on the radio, Karl and Paula Bonhoeffer turned off the radio. and thus ends the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who was faithful to the end. Do you have any questions, any comments about the life of Bonhoeffer? Rick? Just yesterday, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were over. We were talking about praying for our leaders. And they, I said, well, my prayer is, I've been angry with the attorney defense in Washington. And I said to them, I said, I'm praying prayers of judgment. And they said, well, you can't do that. You know, we're in the Bible doesn't support that position. You have to just pray for your leaders or so we can lead quiet and peaceful lives. Okay. And so, I read this book right before the last election, a year ago, this final report. I'm wondering at what point in the face of evil do you take a position? Let me just comment. We discussed last time in Romans 13 subjecting ourselves to authorities. I do not believe that we have any right to kill abortion doctors. Let me say that. I certainly do not. I do not believe that, even though there are indeed parallels, and even my father-in-law, Arnold, who was in Hitler's army during this time, as I was reading this book during the summer, I said, Arnold, what were you doing during this time? We had very animated conversation. And his response back to me was, Mark, what are you doing during this time? where abortion is taking place here in the US, even though he's 87 years old, he's quick and sharp as a razor's edge, Arnold is. But yeah, there are many questions that come to us. I think if anything, Bonhoeffer certainly calls us to be people of action. in a dark era, and for us not really to sit back passively. He considered there were things that needed to be done, and he went out and acted, and he chose not to merely be passive and fall in line with the church of his day. He was a man who sought to stand for truth and even pay the price with his own life. Any other thoughts? Any other comments? Joe? First question, he was executed in April of 45? The date was, I believe it Joe, I believe it was April of 45. And when did Hitler commit suicide? I believe it was like nine days later. Okay. It was nine days later. That's what I thought, it was very close to the end and just how Like you said, Hitler had these personal vendettas on him that he wanted to take care of, even right to the end. And my ache, just reading through it. John, you read through the book, the ache, for all various reasons, but one ache. Lord, Bonhoeffer could have been used to rebuild the church. rebuild Germany afterwards why did you take him Lord even at Y cafe we had a conversation about predestination Libby led the discussion and there was one young man was a very bright young man but he was quoting from Greg Boyd and his book called God of War on Open Theism and the young man said in Germany during World War II there was a young girl and her mother and two German officers came and one of the German officers, it was like a Buchenwald or some other concentration camp, and said, I like the color of your eyes. I'd like them for the earrings of my wife. he had the other soldier gouge the eyes out while the mother watched. The mother went mad and the daughter lost her eyes and this young man then said, if God is a God who predestined this, I want nothing to do with such a God who would allow a child to be treated in such a way. There's no way that such can ever be ordained by God. It was interesting how we were able to turn to Acts chapter 2 about a very precious child who was one who had worse than his eyes gouged out. Peter says to the Jews, This man, Jesus, you delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. Why does God permit these evil things to take place in his foreknown providence? We don't understand. One thing we can understand that even in the most gruesome of historical acts, God is strangely, wonderfully working all things for good. It was so in the death of his son, his precious son. And so it is even in the gouging out of eyes of a precious little girl. He causes all things to work for the good. And so we put our hands over our mouth, which is our conclusion on Wednesday night at the Y cafe. I think even in reading Bonhoeffer's life to put our hands over our mouth and say, will not the judge of all the earth do what is right and do all things well? We could talk more, but I encourage it as a read if you're thinking about something to peruse. And may the Lord help us as we converse regarding the life