It was 20 years ago this November that the Berlin wall came crashing down. What began as a barbed wire fence in 1961, within 24 hours turned into a massive, immovable, concrete wall. The people in Eastern Germany were told that this wall was the “Anti Fascist Protection Wall”, built to keep the people from the “West” from polluting the people from the “East” or as they now called themselves… the GDR (German Democratic Republic). 
I knew all about East Germany because I grew up next door to a dear friend and neighbor, Mrs. Staege. Mrs. Staege was a stout, rough looking, German lady who always seemed like an old person to me. It must have been because for as long as I knew her, she had long, silvery, white hair, which she always kept carefully piled up on top of her head like a beautiful crown, surrounded by a neatly fashioned braid. Mrs. Staege would always wear great, big, sparkly earrings clipped to her long, dangly earlobes. Her earrings were worn at all times…whether dressed in fancy dresses or wearing jeans. I grew up on a lake in Minnesota, and our neighbor, Mrs. Staege was the person who taught me how to swim. My biggest memory was seeing my friend, almost every day in the summer, just floating around on her back, in the middle of the lake with her head and feet sticking up out of the water. She would swim out and float for the longest time, with her hair piled up in that perfect crown…wearing her big, sparkly earrings! I often marveled that some big, old fish didn’t jump up and bite her ear thinking that her sparkly earring was really some fancy bait!
Mrs. Staege’s heart was always back in East Germany with her family. I would sit for hours in her purple and green living room, at her home on the lake, eating cookies and listening to her stories about her life in Germany. She and her husband escaped Nazi Germany right before the war broke out, but the rest of her family were not so fortunate. They were living in a world of oppression first under Hitler and then under the Communist regime. The Berlin wall and the Iron Curtain were unique. Most walls are erected to keep enemies out of a country. This wall was built to keep the East Germans IN. They were prisoners in their own land… not allowed to escape. Thousands tried to cross the wall and hundreds were killed in the process. The guards were ordered to “shoot to kill” anyone trying to get to the West. The government tried to destroy the personalities of their people. The secret police, “Stasi” enlisted neighbor to spy on neighbor…children tattled on parents…husbands and wives informed on each other. Goods were scarce and of very poor quality due to the lack of raw materials. Food was scarce. Living conditions were really bad for you if you were an elderly person. The students received the best treatment because they had young, impressionable minds that the government could mold and brainwash. The GDR controlled everyone’s thoughts and actions. There wasn’t a person that could be trusted. Mrs. Staege was able to pass through the Berlin gate a few times to visit her family in East Germany. She risked her life many times. She would hide money and provisions in her clothing and smuggle them to her needy relatives. I remember how angry she was when she told me about going to shop at a store in East Berlin. There were pots and pans in the window, so it looked like the store was stocked with merchandise. The problem was that these pots and pans were all for show. Once you entered the store, it became apparent that the pots and pans weren’t for sale. This didn’t stop Mrs. Staege! She plopped some German money down, grabbed a pot and walked right out of the store and the owners just let her go! She was one German lady you didn’t want to mess with!
The East Germans were told that their life behind the wall was wonderful! A big lie! They were taught to spout the “wonderfulness of the East” to everyone that asked! They were bound to carry out this lie. They knew the truth about their situation, but they had to lie to themselves and others to survive.
What walls are we living behind? It may be a wall that you’ve been building brick by brick for years, or it may be a wall that’s been erected in 24 hours or less! We so often lie to ourselves and say that the walls we’ve built are to keep the enemy out, but in reality they’re walls that are keeping us prisoners in our own oppressive situation. Are you hiding behind the wall of “Good Works” and the “Law” thinking all the time that you are being religiously, righteous? Behind that wall lies the country of pride and self-worship. Paul calls that wall in Acts 23: 3…”you whitewashed wall!” What about you who have been hurt by the world and you’re hiding behind the wall of self-pity? Behind that wall is also the country of…self! Self- worship. Thinking that you’re not as good as someone else is still thinking about “YOURSELF”! How about the wall of addiction? Behind your wall is the town of destruction for you and everyone around you! And what of the wall of human wisdom and intellectual thinking and debate? Behind your wall…you know you live in the city of doubts. You can’t accept truth when you see it simply because it will conflict with the wall you’ve built. You are a prisoner in the lies you have believed
. 1 Corinthians 1:2o says this…“Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world!
Dear friends…people called it a miracle when the Berlin wall came down. It didn’t fall because it was knocked down by the West. It fell because the people from the East, in their oppression reached out and sought the truth and fought for their freedom. Freedom is a choice! It must be fought for and defended time and again. Knocking down the walls in your heart is also a CHOICE! The Truth is out there! You can find it in the Bible! You can find it in a life surrendered to Christ! He doesn’t keep you captive in lies…No, He frees you in Truth! Jesus loves you…He came to redeem you! He came for us while we were trapped behind the WALL of DEATH! He died to set us free! His desire is that EVERYONE will be saved! His will is that all who CHOOSE to come to Him will be saved! Will you choose to break through your wall and come to Him? “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31,32.
Blessings, Linda
