From Confessing Lutheran' Book of Concord to Martin Niemoller's Pfarrernotbund

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I have been accepted as a member of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I am preparing to argue for legally armed citizens as congregants to the congregation's governing board by reading the Confessions of the Lutheran Church, The Book of Concord (on-line http://www.bookofconcord.org/).

Today I was researching a book that I noticed in the 2007 movie Slipstream, that we watched last night. In the protagonist Felix Bonhoeffer's (played by actor, screenwriter Anthony Hopkins) home was a book, pictured, authored by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer and why was his book so significant to this very odd(!) movie?

Bingo! Shazaam! Wunderbar.

D. Bonhoeffer was a NAZI era German Lutheran Pastor and theologian founding member of The Confessing Church, and perhaps the first NAZI resister. The Pfarrernotbund , 'Emergency Covenant of Pastors', was formed by D. Bonhoeffer and Pastor Martin Niemoller.

I recognized that name, Niemoller, from my Second Amendment reading! He is the author of the poem

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out.

Click to expand...

This will be a wonderful argument someday.