In the Book of Esther, Mordecai refuses to bow down to the ruthless Haman, who had been appointed as the right-hand-man to King Xerxes. After Mordecai revealed his Jewish ancestry, Haman ordered not only Mordecai to be killed, but all Jews. What happens next is for future posts, but Mordecai's refusal to kneel paints a picture of faith under fire.
In 1936, August Landmesser attended a rally, led by Adolf Hitler, to christen a new ship and was identified in this photo as the man with crossed arms refusing to salute Hitler. He had become disenchanted with the party when the party tried to intervene in his relationship with Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman. Both Landmesser and Eckler were sent to separate concentration camps. Eckler died among 14,000 others exterminated by the Nazi's there. Landmesser died performing dangerous service as a part of the penal battalion that he was assigned to.
We may not be faced with genocide and concentration camps, but every day we have the opportunity to stand up for our faith or hide it from the world. I want to stand more.
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