I did not intend for this to be a part of my new small
series on the persecuted church but as I began to write I realized it would be.
Sometime after Hitler came to power, in 1934, pastor Paul Schneider,
the first Confessing Church martyr officiated at a funeral for a young man of
the Hitler Youth. It was supposed to be a Christian funeral. During the rite a
deputy of the Hitler Youth spoke of fate gathering him to his fathers and said
the young man, “had now crossed over into the storm of Horst Wessel.” This was
said twice and Schneider protested because this was a Christian ceremony. In a
letter to his superintendent he wrote, “I protest. This is a church ceremony,
and as a Protestant pastor I am responsible for the pure teaching of the Holy Scriptures.”[i]
This led to Schneider’s first arrest. He would be arrested several
times, lose his churches, be beaten in prison and finally poisoned to death.
But what is the storm of Horst Wessel. And who is he.
He was a soldier in the German army who was shot and became
a mythical creation of the paganized Nazis. They used his death to unite their rallies
and turn their followers as much as possible away from their Christian faith. Goebbels
speaks of Wessel’s immortalization. The
storm of Horst Wessel was meant to evoke a pagan eternity earned by Germanic patriotism.
Goebbels, Hitler’s chief propagandist, used this idea in at least two of his
speeches. He began the myth with a speech, Raise High the Flag,
the first part of a poem written by Wessel.
The author of Paul Schneider writes:
National Socialism wanted to
introduce its worldview to the German people openly but it did so surreptitiously
because it knew it was incompatible with a biblically based faith. Its “national”
faith was not permitted to know anything about the “full reality of sin so
deeply rooted in the heart and life of man” because it alone felt chosen to set
the standard and did not tolerate any critical discussion.
This can be seen in many of Goebbels’ and other Nazi
speeches and writings. There was always the righteous, (the Nazis) and the despicable
(all others who rejected Nazism). It is constantly there as here in an early
Nazi speech; The Storm is Coming:
You, men, women, and comrades, are
the bearers, witnesses, builders, and finishers of this unique people’s
uprising. Our policies have not been popular. We have served the truth, and
only the truth. For twelve years, they have insulted and outlawed and slandered
and persecuted us. Now that we are standing at the doorway to power, Marxist
lies have joined with bourgeois weakness to fight us. Were we only a party like
all the rest, we would collapse under the offensive of our opponents. But we
are a people’s movement. That is our good fortune. Here and everywhere else in
the land, the red shining Swastika flag flies over people of all camps,
parties, classes, occupations, and religious confessions. Our opponents laughed
at us in the past, but they laugh no longer.
You men and women standing before
me, a hundred or two hundred thousand in number, with heads high, upright,
proud, and brave, the carriers of Germany’s future, in your eyes it is written:
We think no longer in terms of
class. We are not workers or middle class. We are not first of all Protestants
or Catholics. We do not ask about ancestry or class. Together we share the
words of the poet:
“People, rise up, and storm, break
loose!” …
So our dead comrade Horst Wessel
wrote, and we are fulfilling his prophesy. The others may lie, slander, and
pour their scorn on us — their political days are numbered.
Adolf Hitler is knocking at the
gates of power, and in his fist are joined the fists of millions of workers and
farmers. The time of shame and disgrace is nearly over.
You are the witnesses, the
builders, the will-bearers of our idea and our worldview.
So this is the pattern; (1)a great need, (2)a hero to lift up,
(3) enemies who are worthless, (4)the righteous who are the builders. This is
the Fascist’s method of propaganda. But it came up against biblical truth which
declares all humanity sinners and only one solution the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ who gifts humanity with mercy, forgiveness and rather than immortalization,
eternal life and bodily resurrection.
As I have placed the suffering church in contrast to a
despotic government in my last posting, The
Historical Suffering Church: Its Image, Its Faith Extending Over Our Tomorrows:,
I will place this image of a suffering pastor and a despotic government beside
a government official who now pushes the same propaganda. Stephen Miller, President
Trump’s deputy chief, speaking at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, uses,
often the same words and concepts as Goebbels.
The image of storm is often used in Nazi speeches—Miller—"The
storm whispers to the warrior that you cannot withstand my strength and the
warrior whispers back I am the storm.” He then calls Erika Kirk the storm, but
hardly; she is the forgiving Christian. The praise of the hero; Miller’s
speech, “You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk. You have made him an immortal.”
The praise of the Nazi followers is often wrapped up in the
title builders, “You are the witnesses, the builders, the will-bearers of our
idea and our worldview.” Miller, “We are the ones who build, we are the ones
who create, we are the ones who lift up humanity.”
There is always the enemy in the Nazi propaganda, for Miller
that is also true:
You have nothing, you are nothing,
you are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy. You are hatred, you are
nothing, you can build nothing, you can produce nothing, you can create nothing.
Here is the anti-Christian attack on Christianity too often
used by Miller. Taking MAGA’s supposed Lineage all the way back to Athens and
Rome he places their humanity and goodness in a racial context which eliminates
the other. He adds righteousness to them because of their supposed lack of
sinfulness. He glorifies what is sinful and so shuts them out of the Kingdom of
God for the sake of the kingdom of man. At this funeral he shuts the door on
Christian faith never mentioning it—yes, he mentions angels whose tears put
fire into the hearts of the supposed righteous ones. That is unbiblical but
also borders on the edge of paganism as does his words of awaking a dragon in
them—in MAGA—in those who follow Trump. “you have no idea of the dragon you have
awakened, you have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization,
to save the west, to save this republic …”
The book of Revelation filled with metaphors speaks of a
dragon. His war isn’t good, he attempts to kill Jesus, he lives in rage and
gives his power to a despotic being—he ends in hell.
The Christian, those who pray to always put Jesus above any
worldly ruler, needs no propaganda in its cruder form, they have the Holy
Scriptures—the Word of God, the promises of God.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep
seeking the things above, where is Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For
you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our
life is revealed then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Colossians
3: 1-4.)
[i] Rudolf
Wentorf, Paul Schneider: Witness of Buchenwald, (Vancouver: Regent
College Publishing 2008) 152-153.
26 comments:
Hello Viola,
I commend you for putting these historical events and speeches together in such obvious and unmistakable ways. I really hope people are listening and changing their minds.
I felt it was as if the Holy Spirit showed up at Charlie Kirk's funeral and inspired Erika, Trump and Miller to articulate, as clearly as possible, in a way no Evangelical could possibly miss, the choice that God is placing before the MAGA Evangelicals.
The Dragon is against Christ; and Miller made it clear, if it wasn't already obvious, they are the Dragon.
Erika presented the Gospel of Christ on the Cross: loving his enemies, praying for them, and forgiving them.
And Trump, speaking from the heart, rejected Erika's witness to His message from the Cross. Hugging Erika with a blank stare on his face, he proclaimed to disagree with her message, to hate his enemies, and to want revenge; not even against the killer but against the whole class of all of those who oppose him ("Vengeance is mine, says the Lord").
You could not better define a polar opposite to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The leader of the MAGA movement literally proclaims himself to be against Christ.
They all agreed they were at a turning point, but it's not the one they thought it would be. I think the Holy Spirit presented them the simple choice they now must make:
"Follow Jesus or Follow Trump"
Jodie Gallo
Los Angeles, CA
I was curious and read both speeches.
Goebbels quotes a popular poem written during the Napoleonic wars when he uses that line about the storm, and Miller quotes an anonymous saying that has been popularly used since at least 2006 by individuals of all political backgrounds to express resolution in the face of hardship.
Miller is not referencing Goebbel's poetry quotation, which calls on people to "rise up, and storm..." (verb). Rather, Miller's quote of a popular saying personifies those struggling as the storm (noun). This may seem like a silly distinction, but the former is encouraging people to engage in violence against their current government ("...storm, break loose!") while the latter is meant as encouraging to people undergoing a time of difficulty because they agree with their current government, not urging for revolution.
There is no racial reference in Miller's speech. He is very clearly talking about the lineage of western civilization, and specifically Democracy as practiced in the US, not white people or Aryanism. He brings up the roots of democracy as Athens, Rome, Philadelphia (known as "the birthplace of Democracy") and Monticello (another famous place where the meaning of Democracy in the West was teased out). Athens and Rome are in fact where the beginnings of western civilization took root. Is that in question? Is it somehow racist to believe that?
As far as addressing an enemy, it is pretty clear at this point that he was not talking about Jews, gays or people of color, but people who argue that Charlie Kirk deserved to be shot because they disagreed with him. I will add the full quote to give it the context you missed.
" And to those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us: what do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred. You are nothing. You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing. We are the ones who build. We are the ones who create. We are the ones who lift up humanity."
He isn't talking about a racial or ethnic or even specifically Democrat Party enemy. He is talking very clearly about people who have been calling him, (and Charlie Kirk) a new "Goebbels", and Trump a new "Hitler". He is talking about people who have been using rhetoric to describe the conservative movement that is so bombastic, misleading and overtly encouraging of violence that it is now inspiring mentally ill people on the left to kill out of fear and hate. That seems pretty clear.
Did you know that popular commentators on the left in the US and Europe are making out that the entire memorial service was like a nazi rally, and claiming this is "the Reichstag fire" moment for the US? The rhetoric is not peaceful and the clear implications are that if you care about democracy and justice you should take drastic measures.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthefringe/2025/09/republicans-have-found-their-reichstag-moment/
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/is-this-americas-reichstag-fire-moment/
You can certainly disagree with Miller and Trump about immigration policy, and have insightful and meaningful commentary about it. But sharing social media propaganda that literally demonizes someone as a nazi is not helpful or christian. It is playing into satan's hand, since he is the prince of lies, and it will only lead to more deaths caused by mentally ill leftists.
And as far as the lovely lady here in the comments claiming that the "Holy Spirit" is giving us the choice to "follow Jesus or follow Trump"--the spirit that you are speaking for is not Holy. No one in their right mind is following Trump as a spiritual leader or replacement for Christ; we voted for him to be the less-damaging than Biden/Harris/Waltz secular president of our post-christian nation, not God.
I would also quickly note that the whole Goebbels and Miller thing is being promoted by anti-Israel activists as well, who see Miller as a dangerous "Zionist". So when you share this false comparison, recall in whose company you are standing.
https://davidicke.com/2025/09/22/this-is-a-speech-by-ultra-zionist-trump-handler-stephen-miller-that-should-be-called-how-we-are-going-to-use-the-death-of-charlie-kirk-to-build-our-tyranny-by-targeting-all-those-who-would-challeng/
https://www.mind-war.com/p/rent-a-regime-change-bibi-and-the
Melissa you haven't left your name but I know its you so I want delete you. As far as the connection between Goebbels speeches and Millers I looked at Snopes and they basically said what I said,
"Miller's and Goebbels' speeches have rhetorical similarities, including the use of "storm" imagery, the call to people to "rise," the exhortations to "build," and the idea of seeking vengeance for the death of a key figure in their movements. Miller did not plagiarize Goebbels' speech word for word, but some similarities exist. Furthermore, Democrats and watchdog groups have accused Miller of frequently promoting and repeating neo-Nazi and white nationalist views.
While we cannot outright confirm that Miller copied Goebbels' speech, we can observe the similarities. Whether Miller intended for such similarities to appear can only be confirmed by Miller himself. We have reached out to The White House to learn more about Miller's inspirations for the speech. A spokesperson did not respond to our queries and questioned the basis for writing such an article."
I added what I believed to be the purpose and here is the reason I would do that. I have written before about Miller using a group that writes about hate groups, The Southern Poverty Law Center. I don't agree with their views on marriage but they do a great job of writing about hate groups. This is from my other article:
"In their article, one of several, they speak of his early bent toward racism, but it is his e-mails sent to Breitbart’s editor I want to highlight. This went from 2015 to 2016. I will quote:
“The emails show evidence of Miller’s indulgence and sharing of the racist source material he relied upon to define the ethos of his immigration policies. Throughout the emails, Miller promotes literature, conspiracy theories, and policies supported by white nationalist and anti-immigrant hate groups. In a Sept. 6, 2015, email to Breitbart’s McHugh, Miller suggested that they write about Jean Raspail’s, “The Camp of the Saints,” a racist French novel popular among white nationalist and neo-Nazis.
The novel is popular within extremist circles because of its dramatized depiction of “white genocide,” also referred to as the “great replacement” conspiracy theory. According to this theory, white people of European descent are being systematically displaced in the Western world.” When Raspail died in June 2020, VDARE author Steve Sailer, who Miller linked to in his emails to McHugh, publicly mourned his loss.”
I am familiar with the book, The Camp of the Saints, it is often referred to by racists. When I read that this was in Miller’s e-mails I knew for certain that he is a racist and his deportation polices which he uses to advice President Trump are couched in his racism. SPLC continues with their article:
“The novel utilizes an apocalyptic plot in which Indian refugees invade France, and their failure to assimilate or adopt French cultural norms ultimately leads to the domination of the white population. The main antagonist is referred to as the “turd eater.” In one section of the novel, a white woman is raped to death by a group of brown-skinned refugees. Additionally, another part of the novel depicts the killing of a pro-refugee leftist by a nationalist character because of the leftist’s support of race mixing.
Miller recommended that Breitbart write about the novel in response to Pope Francis’ expressions of sympathy for refugees. Miller wrote, “you see the Pope saying west must, in effect, get rid of borders. Someone should point out the parallels to Camp of the Saints.”
I have seen that book used by many white supremist groups- it is to me at least a clear sign of Miller's racism.
Tonight is my mystery night= watching I mean. So I won't write more now. But later to you and Jodie who by the way is a guy.
Yes, this is Melissa, I didn't realize Google was posting these as anonymous, it's supposed to show my name at the top, but it looks like that's not working.
Rod Dreher thinks Camp of the Saints is offensive but also an important critique of the European attitude of cultural self-hatred that is destroying countries like France and England and Germany, where immigrants are given legal protections and social care that native Europeans are not, and where muslim populations are now literally replacing the native European populations numerically.
There is no "great replacement theory" as far as statistics go. It is already a thing. In places like England it will almost certainly lead to civil war within my lifetime or that of my children. The government there continues to allow in illegal immigrants and give them priority over the native English poor in allocating all kinds of government help that used to be given to the poor. The local and national government also spent years covering up a huge issue with organized gangs of Pakistani men grooming, horrifically sexually abusing and pimping poor underage white girls, including in one case killing and cooking a girl. This involves thousands of girls, now young women, and may in fact still be going on. The police and local governments for years would not do anything about it because they did not want to be perceived as racist. It has only recently been admitted and the government is still fighting attempts to address it on a national level.
Violence in general, and specifically violence against women, is happening at a higher rate specifically because of Muslim immigration in Europe.
According to the European new page DW, " Overall, the number of crimes recorded in Germany rose to 5.94 million last year, an increase of 5.5% over 2023 and 9.3% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic.
The number of suspects arrested rose by 7.3% to 2.246 million and 41.3% of them did not have a German passport.
Among the people without German nationality who were charged, 402,514 were described as refugees, asylum seekers and those who entered the country illegally."
According to Eurostat, an official data page of the EU:
"From 2013 to 2023 the number of sexual violence offences, including rape, as recorded by police in the EU, has shown a steady increase, reaching a 79.2% increase in 2023 as compared with 2013. The number of rape offences, as a part of sexual violence offences, more than doubled during this period (a 141% increase) (Figure 3). In 2023, 243 715 sexual violence offences (including 91 370 rape offences) were registered, showing a 5.5% increase (including a 7% increase in rape) compared with 2022."
According to Wikipedia, in England: "According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), human trafficking in the United Kingdom is rapidly increasing.[9] The number of potential victims referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) rose from 2,340 in 2014 to more than 10,000 in 2020.[10] There was also an increase in convictions from 71.9% in 2019 to 73.8% in 2020.[11]"
The only countries not suffering from huge increases in sexual violence in the EU are those like Hungary, who refused to accept mass immigration. The Camp of the Saints is certainly offensive, but to say that it's just racist screed is to miss the whole point of the book. Even First Things had an article about it recently, expressing this same view.
Are First Things and Rod Dreher nazi or fascist, or even racist, simply because they view with dismay what is happening in Europe and what may happen here without intervention?
Also a note, you will not find much information about what is happening in Europe in American media, or the BBC, all of which tend to cover it up and claim that anyone who speaks up about it is racist. Popular uprising because of immigration in England are often characterized as "far right" and racist, even though they include non-white English citizens and are happening because of government prioritization of immigrants, not race. You have to look for more conservative European news sources like UnHerd, or make very specific internet searches for accurate information.
For those interested here is First Things article on Camp of the Saints, https://firstthings.com/spiritual-death-of-the-west/ And here is a review by the New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/books/stephen-miller-camp-saints.html and just for fun here is an article about the man who coined the term "the great Replacement" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/world/europe/renaud-camus-great-replacement.html I envy him his French Castle.
Melissa I did read the First Things article and I have to tell you I didn't care for it. Too much intellectualizing so much it covered up the racism of the book. That might just be me but ever since Father Newhouse (sp) died I have not cared so much for First Things. Maybe it was his past Lutheranism that made it better. (Just teasing) I still believe it is an extremely offensive book, I do know it is loved by racist.
as far as your hard work of gathering all of the statistics on the population of Europe and England and crime rates, I'm not convinced that has anything to do with what I was writing about. Yes, we should not have totally open borders but neither should we be unmerciful to those who came here as children or have been here for years. This is all wrong. Before the election there was a group of bipartisan congresspeople who put together a reasonable immigration bill which would have passed but Trump told the republicans to not vote on it because he wanted to campaign on immigration. If we had that and ICE was truly arresting only criminals, I don't think any of us would be complaining.
"Complaining" is not the same thing as comparing someone to Goebbels over the use of three thematic elements in a speech, or calling them a racist because they think a controversial book is important. I am going to post the two speeches one after the other in case anyone who IS open to reason wants to compare them as they actually stand.
Goebbels first half:
"I am speaking as the representative of the greatest movement of millions ever seen on German soil. I am here not to beg for your vote, your favor. or your forgiveness. I only want you to be just. Give your verdict on the past 14 years, on its shame, its disgrace, its collapse, and our growing national political humiliation. You must decide if the men and parties that are responsible for these past 14 years should have the right to continue to hold power in the government.
Comrades, this new system was born 14 years ago. One never judges systems or governments by what they want or what they promise, but rather always by what they can do, and what they accomplish. The men of November [1918] took power by lying to the people, by telling them they had won. They promised you, workers, citizens, and creative Germans, a Reich of freedom and beauty and dignity. They promised you socialism, they promised a people’s state, they promised the broad masses the fulfillment of their dreams — peace, work ,and prosperity.
We have lived this lie for 14 years. For 14 years we have worshpped this government; we have lived in want, suffered, sacrificed, starved, sometimes wept. And now we see the worst results of these 14 years: the German economy is in ruins, there are huge budget deficits, the nation’s fortune is squandered, people are robbed of their inheritance, people are desperate and without hope, the streets of our big cities are filled with an army of millions of unemployed, the middle class is vanishing, the farmers driven from their land. To our shame and disgrace large areas of German territory have been lost. Our territory is divided by the bleeding wound of the Polish corridor, and Germany is drained by stupid and unnatural tribute payments.
More than that, the red battalions preach civil war and bloody class conflict that are tearing our nation apart, giving the German people no peace. In such a situation, the leaders and parties of the old system are making the hopeless attempt to free Germany from its foreign chains. We go from one conference on reparations to another. We signed Versailles, Dawes, and Young. Each meant more hunger, more torture, more terror, more horror for the suffering German people.
It is not hard to determine who is guilty, who bears the responsibility, to the people, to history and to God for these conditions. It is those men and the parties who have misled the German people for 14 years, promising them lives of beauty and dignity, of heaven on earth, but who in the end gave us empty words and stones instead of bread. They stand now before the court of the nation to give an account of the unparalleled disaster they have brought about in the last 14 years. Five weeks ago the last cabinet of this system fell. New men came on the political stage and declared that they had the goal of replacing the November System and setting Germany on a fundamentally new political course. You men and women know that we viewed this attempt with suspicion from the beginning. We see the resurrection of our people as coming not from a small clique that has no strong connection to the people; only a movement of millions has the active strength and the ability to change Germany.
What has the new cabinet done in these past five weeks?
It wanted to bring the budget in balance. That was necessary, since the coffers were empty as it took power. But balancing the budget will not solve our problems. The real cause of our need is unemployment. Asking the people to sacrifice makes sense only if that sacrifice is the first step to recovery. What did this so-called cabinet of national concentration do? It relied on the Brüning Emergency Decree, and intensified it. This cabinet cut the meager unemployment compensation, reduced the pensions of war victims, adopted the salt tax, the most unsocial measure. This cabinet should not think that we National Socialists will support its harmful policies.
Goebbels part 2:
I ask you, men and women, how can the Social Democratic Party find the gall to accuse us of intolerance, when that is exactly how they have behaved during the last two years under Brüning? The Social Democratic Party would be ready to swallow the Emergency Decree if it were assured that the new cabinet would fight our movement as hard as Brüning’s government did.
What has changed?
Nothing at all, except that the ruling men have different faces. The economy is running on empty, the government has failed to begin a new job creation program. The misery of the broad masses is continues to increase and the starving do not know how they can survive from one day to the next. The middle class is collapsing under heavy taxes and the farmer is leaving his farm because he can no longer pay the interest, mortgages, and debts. All the cabinet can say is this: “We cannot fix in five weeks what went wrong in fourteen years!” Well, OK! But one should at least be able to see that a start is being made. We agree that not much can be done with Article 48. But at least we should be able to expect that the government would be making attempts to resolve the political problems we face. But what do we see?
Red murder rages through the streets. Barricades are built in Moabit [a working class district of Berlin]. Every evening 50, 60, or 70 of our members are seriously wounded, and every day we bury one or two or three comrades. The lying Red press is more active than ever, and in the south and west of Germany the Center Party and its ecclesiastically related Bavarian People’s Party threatens a splintering of the Reich.
What is the Reich interior minister doing about it?
He sits with his hands in his lap. He wants to treat the right and the left impartially, but thereby treats us unjustly. You, my comrades, stand here in your worn-out brown uniforms. The government has allowed you to be slandered, and your uniforms are paid for by the contributions of the poor. The government has not fallen wholly into the arms of the Reds. It claims to be national, but we are convinced that were it not for us National Socialists, this weak government would long have used up the capital that national Germany has built up over a twelve-year struggle for rebirth.
A new Germany has arisen! It is a Germany that has fought for twelve years against Marxist betrayal and bourgeois weakness.
You, men, women, and comrades, are the bearers, witnesses, builders, and finishers of this unique people’s uprising. Our policies have not been popular. We have served the truth, and only the truth. For twelve years, they have insulted and outlawed and slandered and persecuted us. Now that we are standing at the doorway to power, Marxist lies have joined with bourgeois weakness to fight us. Were we only a party like all the rest, we would collapse under the offensive of our opponents. But we are a people’s movement. That is our good fortune. Here and everywhere else in the land, the red shining Swastika flag flies over people of all camps, parties, classes, occupations, and religious confessions. Our opponents laughed at us in the past, but they laugh no longer.
Goebbels part 3:
You, men, women, and comrades, are the bearers, witnesses, builders, and finishers of this unique people’s uprising. Our policies have not been popular. We have served the truth, and only the truth. For twelve years, they have insulted and outlawed and slandered and persecuted us. Now that we are standing at the doorway to power, Marxist lies have joined with bourgeois weakness to fight us. Were we only a party like all the rest, we would collapse under the offensive of our opponents. But we are a people’s movement. That is our good fortune. Here and everywhere else in the land, the red shining Swastika flag flies over people of all camps, parties, classes, occupations, and religious confessions. Our opponents laughed at us in the past, but they laugh no longer.
You men and women standing before me, a hundred or two hundred thousand in number, with heads high, upright, proud, and brave, the carriers of Germany’s future, in your eyes it is written:
We think no longer in terms of class. We are not workers or middle class. We are not first of all Protestants or Catholics. We do not ask about ancestry or class. Together we share the words of the poet:
“People, rise up, and storm, break loose!” [From Theoder Körner’s poem “Männer und Buben,” written after the 1813 Battle of Nations in Leipzig. Goebbels also used it to conclude his 1943 “Total War” speech.]
Comrades, men and women, fate has given us a last chance. We have one more opportunity to speak to the people. Our campaign spreads to all of Germany, and once again the ears hear, the eyes see, the heart beats faster, and the senses clear:
“The day of freedom and prosperity is coming!”
So our dead comrade Horst Wessel wrote, and we are fulfilling his prophesy. The others may lie, slander, and pour their scorn on us — their political days are numbered.
Adolf Hitler is knocking at the gates of power, and in his fist are joined the fists of millions of workers and farmers. The time of shame and disgrace is nearly over.
You are the witnesses, the builders, the will-bearers of our idea and our worldview.
The party hacks of the Socialist Party are suddenly remembering the people. For a decade, the illustrated magazines pictured them only in frock coats and cylinder hats at tables filled with oysters and champagne bottles. Now they wear workers’ caps and fill their newspapers with urgings like “People, wake up!”
Well, we the people have awakened! We have risen against oppression, 15 million people have joined in an army of revenge. They who accepted their nice suits from the Sklareks [Jewish brothers involved in a major Berlin financial scandal] can hardly imagine that an honest German worker will spend his starvation wages for a decent brown shirt. They who have grown fat on caviar, who are paid seventy or eighty or a hundred thousands marks a year, who have spread the stink of unprecedented corruption over all of Germany, they want to pretend they are an opposition. “To the barricades!”, they cry.
Our answer: “The good old days of party bigwigs are over. A new Germany is coming, a Germany raised on the Spartan laws of Prussian duty. It is a Germany not grown fat, but one that is starving! It is a Germany with strength, with will, with idealism! It is a Germany that is done with Marxist betrayal and bourgeois white gloves.”
Goebbels part 4:
And you are the witnesses of this Germany. You, people, have affirmed this Germany. And we, people, speak in your name. We the leaders of this exciting movement of the millions, we come from you, the people. We too, comrades, were once unknown men marching with the gray masses. People, we have shared in our hearts your torture, your misery, your tribulations, your desperation. We are a piece of the people. When the bourgeois know-it-alls ask what we have accomplished, you, men and women, must save us from the necessity of giving answer. When they ask what we have done, you 15 million must answer: “They have given us faith once more, they have given us hope. They have awakened a sleeping Germany. They have organized and mobilized millions and set them to march. These millions are in motion, following the laws of history. Just as this small sect grew from seven unknown men to a movement of 15 million, so, too, I swear to you, will this movement of 15 million grow to encompass a people of 65 million.
The parties must go! The political hacks must be thrown out of their chairs. We will give no pardon. We will not allow Germany to sink into disgrace. We will give back to Germany a reason for its existence, a meaning to life. That is why you men and women are here, an army of two hundred thousand. Never has the Reich capital seen a popular movement of such force. You have come here from everywhere. The middle class has come from the west, the workers from the east and north. You have come from dark and joyless apartment houses. My S. A. comrades are before me, heads high, as if they were the kings of Germany. I know, comrades, that there are some among you who do not know where tomorrow’s meal will come from. We have shown these materialist party hacks that idealism is alive in Germany. We have shown them that even in the midst of hunger, sacrifice, and need, the people can be shown the way to betterment. We pledge loyalty to this people. We solemnly raise our hands and pledge:
As long as we breathe, we are obligated to the German people. We came from the people, and return ever to it. The people is the center of all things to us. We sacrifice for this people, and if necessary are ready to die for it.
Loyalty to the people, loyalty to the idea, loyalty to the movement, and loyalty to the Führer! That is our pledge as we shout:
Our Führer and our party — Hail victory!
Now Miller, which will hopefully fit in one comment!
Hello to millions of Americans all across this land who are gathered in sadness and sorrow to mourn Charlie Kirk, but also to dedicate ourselves to finishing his mission and achieving victory in his name.
The day that Charlie died, the angels wept — but those tears have been turned into a fire in our hearts. And that fire burns with a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.
When I see Erika and her strength and courage, I’m reminded of a famous expression: the storm whispers to the warrior, “You cannot withstand my strength,” and the warrior whispers back, “I am the storm!” Erika is the storm. We are the storm. And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion.
Our lineage and legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello. Our ancestors built the cities; they produced the architecture; they built the industry. Erika stands on the shoulders of thousands of years of warriors — of women who raised up families, raised up cities, raised up industry, and raised up civilization, who pulled us out of the caves and the darkness into the light. The light will defeat the dark. We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil. They cannot imagine what they have awakened. They cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us — because we stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble.
And to those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us: what do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred. You are nothing. You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing. We are the ones who build. We are the ones who create. We are the ones who lift up humanity.
You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk? You have made him immortal. You have immortalized Charlie Kirk, and now millions will carry on his legacy, and we will devote the rest of our lives to finishing the causes for which Charlie gave his last measure of devotion. You cannot defeat us. You cannot slow us. You cannot stop us. You cannot deter us. We will carry Charlie and Erika in our hearts every single day and fight that much harder because of what you did to us.
You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization, to save the West, to save this republic — because our children are strong and our grandchildren will be strong and our children’s children will be strong. What will you leave behind? Nothing. Nothing.
To our enemies: you have nothing to give, to offer, or share but bitterness. We have beauty, light, goodness. We have determination, vision, and strength. We built the world that we inhabit now, generation by generation, and we will defend this world, we will defend goodness, we will defend light, we will defend virtue. You can not frighten us, you can not threaten us, because we are on the side of goodness and God.
To my brother Charlie, I know you're watching us right now, I promise you we will prove worthy of your sacrifice. We will make you proud, we will finish the job, we will defeat the forces of darkness and evil,, and we will stand every day for what is true, what is good, and we will acheive victory for our children, our families, our civilization, and for every patriot who stands with us.
I have reread these a few times. Not similar. One is about a political party taking over Germany for Hitler. The other is about Charlie Kirk and his mission in life--which was not making America a fascist, racist dictatorship, by the way.
"Our lineage and legacy..." Who is he talking about?
"You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk? " Who is he talking to here? Who is this "you" who "thought"?
"You have no idea the dragon you have awakened."
In Christianity the Dragon is a metaphor for Satan. Is that the Dragon he is talking about? Because it's not Jesus, it's not the Gospel, it's not even Democracy; so really, who or what do you think he is he talking about here? Did Charlie Kirk talk like that?
"We have beauty, light, goodness. We have determination, vision, and strength"
Who is this "We" here? And what is this "light" he is talking about? Given the reference to the Dragon earlier, is this a reference to Lucifer, the Angel of Light? It's apocalyptic language. Where is he getting his vocabulary?
"and we will achieve victory for our children..." In the famous footage that used to be used to display Hitler's body language passion and madness, and the rock star adulation the masses gave him, that's literally what he was talking about: "We do this for our Children!"
(My neighbor was a classmate of Miller's at Santa Monica High School and he remembers him running for class president on a racist platform that focused his ire on the Mexican janitorial staff - and he says he hasn't changed much since then except in the power and influence he wields)
Either way, whatever and whomever he was talking about, between Erika's words and his, there was a decision put on the table for all who were present. There were talking about mutually exclusive paths. Trump was very clear about that. He very clearly did not agree with Kirk on what Erika said was his witness. This foundational core principle of the Gospel of Jesus! Whatever the self contradictions of Kirk, in this Trump and Miller are no brothers of Kirk. Now those people present at his funeral must choose which path to take:
The Way of the living Jesus, or the way of the Dragon.
Jodie Gallo
Los Angeles, CA
Jodie, you don't think that Miller was talking about the lineage and legacy of western civilization and specifically American democracy? Do you believe he was talking about race? If so, why did he mention Athens, Rome, Philadelphia and Monticello--places that are foundational to western civ and US democracy? Just to throw us off the scent of his racism? Or, do you believe that it's racist to suggest that western civilization and American democracy have their roots in those places? These are legitimate questions you need to answer for yourself in order to have a reasonable argument.
When he says "you thought you could kill Charlie Kirk", who do you think he's talking about? It seems pretty clear he is talking about the ideologues that believe freedom of speech is dangerous, and specifically that tiny percentage of the leftist population who believe that certain kinds of speech are so reprehensible that they are worth killing the speaker over. For example: the man who killed Charlie Kirk. Or the myriad people who publicly declared online and in interviews after his murder that he was asking for it because of the things he said. Do you believe Miller is talking about non-whites here? Or that he was talking about Democrats in general? Does the interpretation that you give the speech make sense in light of the events surrounding it?
Nancy Pelosi was introduced at a recent Democratic convention as "The Mother of Dragons" by fan Mindy Kaling. Did she mean that Nancy Pelosi was the great Whore of Babylon, or somehow associated with the dragon of the Bible? Probably not. The average contemporary idea is that a dragon is an unstoppable force in the world, a great mythical power. A Jew (like Miller) or a Hindu (like Kaling) is not going to be thinking about the idea of a dragon as it is given in the Revelation of Saint John, which is not part of Jewish or Hindu scripture. Remember we are living in a post-christian culture that is not Biblically literate at all. Your idea about what a dragon means is not the idea that most of the populace has about it, and especially not parts of the populace that were raised with a totally different religious tradition--like Miller or Kaling.
I do lots of things for my children, including voting for whom I believe will give them the most opportunities to live religious lives with freedom from persecution. Does that somehow make me like Hitler? Is everyone who makes a choice or performs an action with the children of their nation in mind have fascist beliefs or ties to Hitler? Or is the reverse true--Hitler was using the normal human desire to protect and build up culture and community for our children and future generations as a way to popularize his rule and legitimize his terrible plans?
Would you like the trans and antifa and anarchist fringe movements on the far left to result in the slow death of freedom of speech because everyone becomes afraid of saying the wrong thing and taking a bullet for it? Probably not. If so, you too share Miller's desire to "achieve victory for your children." Congratulations. If not, maybe you just don't understand the crazy and violent rhetoric being shared on the darker side of the internet, or see that it is resulting in actual deaths and damage to humans.
Besides Charlie Kirk, there are the people killed at the Baptist School by the trans shooter there, the kids killed at the Catholic school by the trans shooter there, the ICE agent shot by an Antifa member last week, and the 6 people murdered by trans-anarchist cult members the "Zizians". Then there have been multiple attempts to assassinate politicians that were not in line with the far left in recent years by crazed far-leftists: Trump, Kavanaugh, the entire Republican baseball team during Trump's first term, Josh Shapiro etc.
The people who committed these acts and the rhetoric that encouraged them online and in the mainstream media are pretty clearly the enemy that Miller is speaking of. Not Mexican janitorial staff, God bless them.
Below I am going to post something that I found, a letter that Stephen Miller sent in High School to a local newspaper. I find it pretty indicative of his current ideas, and also fairly laudable, minus the puerile rudeness about finger painting and teepees.
According to his own words Miller thought the way the school treated kids from ESL backgrounds was demeaning. And it is. Two of my Spanish-speaking neighbors have asked about if I would teach English to them because they recognize without that skill they are severely handicapped in an English-speaking nation. Total immersion is the fastest way of becoming a fluent speaker and writer in any language.
As far as his views on teen sex and schools having LGBTQ clubs, well, that would qualify him as a nazi in a lot of leftist circles today. But I agree with him there too. I suspect in a lot of leftist circles I would qualify as a nazi too, alas.
How ironic this miniature future Goebbels-wannabe includes the victory over Hitler as one of his examples of American excellence in world history.
By providing a crutch now, we are preventing Spanish speakers from standing on their own. As politically correct as this may be, it demeans the immigrant
population as incompetent, and makes a mockery of the American ideal of
personal accomplishment.
Political Correctness out of Control
By Stephen Miller
My name is Stephen Miller. I am a sixteen year-old junior at Santa Monica High School, and I was recently a guest on the Larry Elder Show to discuss the rampant political correctness that has consumed Santa Monica High School and the entire Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District.
When I entered Santa Monica High School in ninth grade, I noticed a number of students lacked basic English skills. There are usually very few, if any, Hispanic students in my honors classes, despite the large number of Hispanic students that attend our school.
Even so, pursuant to district policy, all announcements are written in both Spanish and English. By providing a crutch now, we are preventing Spanish speakers from standing on their own. As politically correct as this may be, it demeans the immigrant
population as incompetent, and makes a mockery of the American ideal of
personal accomplishment.
And while we are on the subject of personal accomplishment, should any student accomplish the opportunity to have sex, our school is happy to help. As district policy says: "Condoms are available to students in grades 9-12 in a manner which promotes greatest accessibility." Problem here?
Legally speaking, sex between minors is statutory rape. Not to mention 14-year olds are a little young to be having sex regardless of the law. And just in case your son or daughter decides at their tender age that they are gay, we have a club on campus that will gladly help foster their homosexuality. Do they notify parents if their teenagers have chosen an alternate lifestyle? Of course not.
continued...
Santa Monica High School doesn't always obey district policy though. For instance, despite district policy, our school refused to say the pledge of allegiance in classrooms for years. In other words, they only adhere to the liberal guidelines. It took months of effort to get the School to stop resisting and finally bring back the pledge, and required intervention from the Superintendent. Even then, it is still only said twice a week, while policy dictates it should be said every day.
At least, one would hope, that on Veterans Day or thanksgiving students are taught about our brave US soldiers or the courageous pilgrims. But no such explanations are given. And rightly so, many misguided people would say.
After all, the United States has used our soldiers to kill innocent people, and the same Indians that helped the pilgrims were either shot, or put on reservations. I suppose then, that our country would have been better off if our soldiers never killed anyone, and we watched as our nation was obliterated by the evil in the world, as we sung songs of peace and love.
Or, better yet, we could have lived with the Indians, learning how to finger paint and make tepees, excusing their scalping of frontiersmen as part of their culture. Forget about being the nation that stopped Hitler, brought communism to its knees, and feeds more hungry people around the world than any other country -- forget all of that, and let us just agree that we're a horrible nation. Or, we can raise our flags, lift our guns, and proclaim that we are Americans, that we enjoy personal freedoms Islamic nations could only dream about, we are the land of the free, the home of the brave.
Sadly, my school has forgotten all of this. That is why we do nothing for American holidays but everything for Mexican holidays. That is why history teachers denounce the US as wickedly imperialistic, some supplementing standard history texts with something comfortably more liberal. That is why teachers insult and demean the President. That is why we invited a Muslim leader to the school to explain the splendor of Islam, but no such proclamation was ever made about America.
That is why scarcely a student at my school covered their heart when the national anthem was played in the September 11th memorial, but instead of finding error in that, our school found error in our attack on Afghanistan. The school newspaper condemned our military response. Administrators, worried students might become
patriotic, were also quick to preach non-violence. Osama Bin Laden would feel very welcome at Santa Monica High School.
If you feel, like me, that political correctness has crossed the line, call the school or the district. Ask them to leave their liberal agendas at the front gate. Enough politics, it's time for common sense.
In case you more information would change your mind about violence and immigration, here is an interview with the head of a German police union: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/interviews/migration-german-police-union-leader-manuel-ostermann/
Rereading this i will not change my mind about this: "So this is the pattern; (1)a great need, (2)a hero to lift up, (3) enemies who are worthless, (4)the righteous who are the builders. This is the Fascist’s method of propaganda. But it came up against biblical truth which declares all humanity sinners and only one solution the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who gifts humanity with mercy, forgiveness and rather than immortalization, eternal life and bodily resurrection.
As I have placed the suffering church in contrast to a despotic government in my last posting, The Historical Suffering Church: Its Image, Its Faith Extending Over Our Tomorrows:, I will place this image of a suffering pastor and a despotic government beside a government official who now pushes the same propaganda. Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief, speaking at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, uses, often the same words and concepts as Goebbels.
The image of storm is often used in Nazi speeches—Miller—"The storm whispers to the warrior that you cannot withstand my strength and the warrior whispers back I am the storm.” He then calls Erika Kirk the storm, but hardly; she is the forgiving Christian. The praise of the hero; Miller’s speech, “You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk. You have made him an immortal.”
The praise of the Nazi followers is often wrapped up in the title builders, “You are the witnesses, the builders, the will-bearers of our idea and our worldview.” Miller, “We are the ones who build, we are the ones who create, we are the ones who lift up humanity.”
There is always the enemy in the Nazi propaganda, for Miller that is also true:
You have nothing, you are nothing, you are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy. You are hatred, you are nothing, you can build nothing, you can produce nothing, you can create nothing.
Here is the anti-Christian attack on Christianity too often used by Miller. Taking MAGA’s supposed Lineage all the way back to Athens and Rome he places their humanity and goodness in a racial context which eliminates the other. He adds righteousness to them because of their supposed lack of sinfulness. He glorifies what is sinful and so shuts them out of the Kingdom of God for the sake of the kingdom of man. At this funeral he shuts the door on Christian faith never mentioning it—yes, he mentions angels whose tears put fire into the hearts of the supposed righteous ones. That is unbiblical but also borders on the edge of paganism as does his words of awaking a dragon in them—in MAGA—in those who follow Trump. “you have no idea of the dragon you have awakened, you have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization, to save the west, to save this republic …”
The book of Revelation filled with metaphors speaks of a dragon. His war isn’t good, he attempts to kill Jesus, he lives in rage and gives his power to a despotic being—he ends in hell."
As for the racism of his language it is his connecting Athens and Rome with the future two important places of Democracy in the US. I looked, remembering in my Historiography textbook but couldn't find it. But early Roman and later medieval historians liked to connect their linage to ancient mythical heroes of the Greeks. It became important to not only have the republican heritage but also the cultural and racial heritage and that has lingered to this day. Sorry while I know this connects the past to democracy it also carries all of the other baggage with it.
Miller never mentions Christianity and he makes a sharp distinction between some he seemingly hates and those he agrees with that he takes their humanity away from them.
You write this, "It seems pretty clear he is talking about the ideologues that believe freedom of speech is dangerous, and specifically that tiny percentage of the leftist population who believe that certain kinds of speech are so reprehensible that they are worth killing the speaker over." you can only be conjecturing given that both Miller, Trump and others have called all the Democrats and so called Rhinos, or anyone who disagrees with their politics terrorist I believe he is talking about many including those who are critical of the administration. And his hatefulness in his division of peoples, some all wonderful others despicable is certainly unchristian.
Where and when did Trump or Miller call "anyone who disagrees with their politics" a terrorist? When has he called all Democrats terrorists? More importantly, has either of them tried to have them officially listed as terrorists?
This is a reply to your question about calling Democrats, etc. terrorist. This one is an extremist organization by Miller- https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stephen-miller-democrats-extremist/ I couldn't read it all but here is this https://www.axios.com/2025/09/15/charlie-kirk-killing-stephen-miller-terrorist-networks-shooter There is a video here of Miller saying that https://www.thedailybeast.com/gavin-newsom-laughs-at-stephen-millers-democrat-terrorism-fox-news-meltdown/ As far as I can tell Trump so far has only called Antifa a terrorist group. But he certainly has some other awful names for them.
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