The Berlin Wall

Once not very long ago, the Berlin Wall was a literal wall of separation between East and West Germany. Itl stood 12 ft high and created a 28 mile border, (complete with a corridor of death,) The Wall was a physical barrier, a symbol of the "Iron Curtain" that preceded it, and divided the country of German into two parts, East Germany and West Germany.

The wall was fortified with electrified current, covered with barbed wire and it was guarded by armed guards who would kill anyone attempting to defect from East Germany to the West. Now, why was that? (You may wonder...) Well, let me ask, "Have you ever heard of Joseph Stalin?" " Do you know what Communism is?" The Wall was a matter of politics and it was built because communist thinkers like Stalin, had an ideology that stood in direct opposition to that of the west and it was to be an impenetrable barrier, a separator, of two very distinct and opposing political ideas, one that held within it's barbed wire, something known to the world, as communism.

In his lifetime, Communist leader Joseph Stalin dictated policies that made him directly responsible for at least 20 million deaths, mostly deaths of his own countrymen during what is commonly called, "the Great Purge" which rid his world of any known dissenters to his ideas of collectivism or his dictatorship. He rid his world of uncontrollables and undesirables by murder or starvation. Joseph Stalin, who joins the ranks of other dictators like Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, Fidel Castro... Communists, have had their share of inducing terror in the minds and hearts of humanity by their political beliefs and practices.

In a communist system, the government rules and owns everything,- every buisness, every industry, every parcel of land, every morsel of food, every stitch of thread, and ultimately every citizen who has a role to play in the machine that feeds and serves itself. Everything is measured, allocated, and properly dispensed, to the point of total control over what business a person will be in and how much product they must or may produce. Politcal incidents like Berlin 1953, Budapest, 1956, Prague 1968, do have some survivors, eyewitnesses and historians who tell the treu tales of communist horrors and oppression.

In a communist country, the leader does not humbly serve, he dictates and rules by force and tyranny, often with an iron fist that can and will smash and destroy everything and anyone that would compromise his political position. Only those who dare not color their minds outside of the Communist's party lines and it's purposes survive another day in such a sytem. The rest are simply, most often heartlessly, eliminated.

For years the Berlin Wall stood as a visible symbol of what had become known in the west as the “Iron Curtain.”This was not a literal "curtain" made of iron, but a mindset. It was the invisible and seemingly impenetrable force of the communistic, totalitarian mindset; impenetrable to western ideologies of personal sovereignty and freedom as well as to the idea of believing in God, and certainly not the God of Christianity or an economic sytem of free enterprise like western Capitalism. The Wall of Berlin was erected because western ideas were fast approaching east, and communists did not want their people to see, or feel the western winds of freedom.

The wall stood, firm, strong, harsh and overbearing, separating east from west between the years 1961 until 1989, during which time many German people longed to escape the darkness they knew in the shadow of the Wall. Many longed for freedom. And many people died as they dared to scale the wall and cross the border to another world that offered a hope that offered them something called freedom.

It was June 12, 1987, when a historical event occurred. Ronald Regan, then President of the United States, stood at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, Germany and said some remarkable words that the world will not soon forget. He said, “Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.” And he petitioned, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

You might recognize the name, Mikhail Gorbachev. He now resides in the United States but at the time he was a powerful, if not the most powerful, communist leader.

It was Thursday November 9, 1989, when at last, the world watched Gorbachev respond to Regan's invitation. The Border separating Western from Eastern Germany was to be opened. TV cameras filmed as people demolished The Wall with both bare hands and sledgehammers. For the first time in a long time, East Germany and West Germany were physically united.

One witness to this eventful time in history from a German perspective reported that shops stayed open as long as they wanted and transportation systems did not stop. (The usual, mandatory closing time for businesses in 1989 was 6:30 PM.) In celebration of unity, people could travel anywhere east or west on public transport.

To the people of the world watching via television, the fall of The Wall represented an end to communism and a rise to true freedom for everyone all over the world. They listened as Gorbechev told Eastern Europe to chose their own future; They watched over time as what began in Germany spread to Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia, and even to the Soviet Union; They watched as Communist USSR became 15 independent republics and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States, (CIS.) Communism was declared to be dead, and the victor was "freedom."

But once the Wall was no more, some people began to think and vocalize that perhaps the people had too much "freedom." Others said, "The physical Wall may be down but there is still a wall in the heads.” It was a clash, a clash of old ideas.

Communism, is a way of thinking. It's a barrierier to freedom and you cannot always see it.
At it's core, it's a belief. You might even call it a religion as it religiously opposes the notion of God and worships humanity instead, hoping to create a world where everyone is equal and there are no opposing ideas. The funny thing is that while it is so intoleratnt of difference, intorerant of freedom, some people think that Communism and it's sister, socialism, offer people freedom.

Communism today has roots in the Bolsheviks, an organization founded by the predecessor of Joseph Stalin, Vladimer Lenin. They had a catchy political "slogan" that helped them come to power. It was, "Peace, bread, and land." They also offered their citizens their own flavor of "freedom." In their reign, workers controlled the factories, divorce was made legal, freeing a person from the drudgery and responsibility of marriage, and self-determination (otherwise understood as survival of the fittest) was the philosophy of the masses. The people enjoyed the Bolshevik's massive governmental land reforms that put an end to common peasantry and homelessness, decriminalized homosexuality and initiated education for the masses. The Bulsheviks even and freed women from the burden of housework and allowed them to work by setting up communal kitchens, laundries and free nurseries for their children. The Bulsheviks insituted Communism, and became experts in making people think it was the ultimate answer to life's hardships, even the almighty liberator of those who's lot in this life is toil and work.

Communism was said to be dead, demonstrated of course by the fall of the Berlin Wall, but really it was only mostly dead. IT may have changed it's shape and it's colors, but it is still alive. Even today is alive in the good ol’ US of A. This is because in the USA, people do believe in freedom.

It is part and parcel of the American Constitution to allow people the freedom to think and behave under a sense of moral justice dictated by the Law of nature's God and this with justice, not with tyranny and oppression. It was in such freedom that the Communist Party USA was formed in 1919 by John Reed. Even today the Communist Party USA has a webpage and there they proudly announce for us, “Communism isn’t dead!" (CPUSA;.com; 2003) indeed, for there is still a worldwide movement of Communists, who are active in the struggle to control what people think and do, and who apply Marxism to their way of life and desire to “organize international solidarity.” The goal of the Communist program, according to the “28th National Convention” (July 2005) is: “to defeat the Ultra Right and expand democracy on the road to an anti-monopoly coalition and socialism." (The same socialism that built the Berlin Wall and elsewhere. only their clear objective of the Communist Party of The United States of America, (CPUSA) is to implement socialism on American soil.

Following in the mindset of Karl Marx who wrote the Communist Manifesto and his contemporary Friedrich Engels, the communist thinker believes in the doctrines of socialism. They want people to believe that the answer to all the hopes of “women and men shackled by exploitation, poverty, oppression, and war,” is to be a creative, altruistic worker, devoted to the system of the state.

This is where they go wrong.

In a socialist system, life in the family and community at large is not based upon what is true, noble, pure, right, or good, it is not even based on love, but on survival and on fairness. Like a productivity machine, it's a life that is based upon labor, and it's just rewards. Those who labor are considered to be happy because they are given a “fair” share of the productivity and assured that no one gets preferntial treatment, after all, everyone is always just the same. True Socialists believe that when such unfair and unjust "class struggles" are eliminated, so too will be the vicious cycle of war and poverty caused by such strife.

Communism has a legacy as a world philosophy, one that stands in direct competition with the Hebraic and Christian religions. This is because at it's core it is man’s wisdom, and as man ‘s wisdom is in conflict with God’s pure wisdom, there is a sort of warfare between the two. In the end, as with most wars, winner takes all, and the winner in this case rules the mind, heart and even soul.

In true Communist form, Mikhail Gorbachev, in his book titled, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country (Perestroika means "restructuring”) explains, “We are seeking to make the whole intellectual potential of society and all the potentialities of culture work to mold a socially active person, spiritually rich, just, and conscientious. An individual must know and feel that his contribution is needed, and that his dignity is not being infringed upon, that he is being treated with trust and respect. When an individual sees all this, he is capable of accomplishing much."

This same man has also stated, "Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind." Using Jesus Christ as an example for socialism, Gorbachev espresses the notion that Socialism, and not necessarily Jesus, is the salvation of the world.

With the fall of the Berlin wall, people on both sides faced new crossroads of decision and greater opportunities to make choices about what they believed and valued. It was for some a lesson in how the road to freedom is filled with barriers and hindrances, some that will keep a soul as hostage if they can. But being a prisoner is not just merely a matter of being held captive behind a physical barrier, like a wall or even an invisible curtain. Sometimes our barriers to freedom, true freedom, are simply in our mind except for one, death.

This is why until we know the One who sets men free, (the one who gives impartially to anyone who asks, the gift of eternal life, the one who loves and is the source of love itself,) Jesus Christ, men, and women are never truly free.

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John Chapter 8)

It's not capitalism nor socialism not any other "ism" that Christians believe in. It's Jesus. It's Jesus who gives us a real hope and future when this life is done, and in free countries like America, we have the freedom to love and worship God with all of our hearts, all of our minds and all of our souls.