Will you speak up?

    
No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:15-16). ESV

According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Martin Niemoller was a Protestant pastor and head of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church. Arrested for 'malicious attacks against the state', he spent seven years in the Dachau and Sachsenhausen Released in 1945 by the Allies."

He penned the moving and oft quoted poem:

In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. 

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. 

 Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. 

Then they came for me -- and by that time there was nobody left to speak up. 
Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't afraid to speak up. This excerpt from a message he spoke in Memphis the night before his death has always moved me: 
"Like anyone, I'd like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up the mountain, and I've looked over and I've seen the Promised Land. I might not get there with you. But I want you to know that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!" 
Someone well said: “A silent friend is no friend at all"

Listen to Dr. King and decide to not be silent when your voice is needed!

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