Just for the record, I do not own the cropped image featured on this page. It originated from an American magazine in 1942 and the main message of the magazine image was that in America, as opposed to Nazi Germany, the people are allowed to listen to whichever broadcast they so choose and form their own opinion. They are also able to do so in their living room instead of a hideout. I cropped those details out, so the image would fit better on this page.

I’ve been told all my life, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I find that statement to be entirely true. And not only that, God has given me a gift in which I can create stories by just looking at certain works of art. I began to utilize this gift around the age of 31 when I started my “Christmas in July” posts on Facebook and Instagram. I can also credit my Mom for helping me realize this gift because when I was a toddler, she would show me images in “The Reader’s Digest” and tell me stories about them on the spot.

So, I’ve been well aware of this image for some time now. For almost as long as I have been aware of it, I’ve wanted to turn it into a story detailing the lives of the four persons pictured:

It is my guess that they are in a secret hideout listening to an illegal radio which is capable of receiving foreign broadcasting services (definitely not a Volksempfänger AKA People’s Receiver.) They appear to be very troubled over the news they are hearing. In addition, their troubled facial expressions are also probably indicative of the fact that they are hyper-vigilant as to not get caught listening by the Gestapo…

The older gentleman on the far left is a skilled 60-year-old blacksmith living in Nazi-era Germany. He worked his way up from an apprentice and eventually obtained his own shop. Even though Germany has been a poor state from the end of World War 1 until the rise of Hitler, he has prospered because his business has several contracts to forge hand tools for those employed as electricians and telephone/telegraph linemen. Therefore, he is well established and has the money and connections to afford one of those sophisticated but illegal radios and furnish a hideout to secretly listen. At the beginning of World War 2, he was listening with his wife and daughter, they were all listening to a Christian broadcast and because of their uncertain future in addition to realizing their sinful conditions, they all gave their lives to Jesus Christ and subsequently began attending their local church. This gentleman has secretly been supporting underground churches financially and otherwise.

Next is the young lady, the blacksmith’s 25-year-old daughter. Up until recently was employed by their local church as a children’s Sunday School teacher. Their church has now gone underground, due to extensive persecution from the Nazi authorities. She realized that God had gifted her with the ability to teach and out of her love and dedication to Him decided to teach the very young of Germany in hopes that they too would come to Christ. Whilst attending the church, she met and fell in love with her future husband, a young minister and pastor’s assistant.

Further along is an older lady who is the blacksmith’s wife, a 52-year-old former socialite. She has been married for 36 years and was employed in her parents’ bakery since her early teens. Up until recently she and her siblings were still running it, where she was employed as the manager. The bakery was raided and shut down by the Gestapo as punishment for their kindness to Christians and Jews among other groups tormented by the Nazis. Because of her husband’s connections, she manages to escape further trouble but secretly uses her baking skills to provide food for the underground churches.

Finally, on the far right, is the bespectacled young gentleman, a 31-year-old Christian minister who up until recently was furthering his education and employed assisting the head pastor of the aforementioned church. A troubled child, he came to Christ in his late teens and subsequently felt the call to ministry, thus entering seminary. They met when he graduated with a Bachelor’s and had been appointed to this local church as the pastor’s assistant. There was an instant spark of mutual attraction between them, both physically and emotionally. Not long after, he began courting her. The young lady’s parents were impressed by his strong morals, eloquence, sobriety, and dedication to Christ that they were overjoyed when he asked for their permission to marry her. When the Nazis began persecuting The Church, they were quietly married and her family hid him from the Gestapo. From his hiding place, he would secretly write letters of encouragement to Christians who were scattered about and Gospel tracts for anyone who wished to know Christ. He also received secret cash payments for his ministry, to help support his young wife and his in-laws.

What will become of these four Christians?

Now, these people are definitely in love with their spouses.  For the younger couple, though, it is a much Greater Love in them that drew them to each other.  It is also that Greater Love that keeps the marital bonds of the older couple so strong.  This Greater Love is so powerful that it compels those who possess it to propagate it even under the threat of torture and death.  It is the Greatest Love there is and best of all it is available to all who accept it.  Furthermore it does not have the stringent prerequisites and conditions that carnal human love associates itself with.

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