73 in the sacraments, but the people who served the world, even if it was hostile in response. Bonhoeffer noted that the church “must patiently endure aggression. Otherwise evil will be heaped upon evil. Only thus can fellowship be established and maintained.”26 The Church, then, must not be diverted from its Christologically derived focus, but must bear the taunts, persecutions, and punishments of a world that does not comprehend its motivation. As Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). Bonhoeffer and the Third Characteristic The third characteristic is the most extreme, visible, and identifiable of the characteristics. Yet, it is also the last resort of the prophetic leader. Thus, Bonhoeffer’s prophetic leadership is best represented in the first two characteristics, his devotion to God as ultimate authority and his commitment to cultivating and nurturing an alternative prophetic community, but it is the third characteristic that has visibly distinguished him as an iconic prophetic leader on history’s stage. While the prophetic leader recognizes the divinely ordered design of governing authorities as stewards of earthly authority, when they step away from God’s design and require citizens to break God’s laws, the earthly authority must be resisted. The Apostle Peter explained, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:21). Bonhoeffer found himself in a context that required him to do just that treacherous thing: resist the Nazi government in order to obey YHWH. His first prophetic criticism of Hitler and the Nazi ideology was a direct attack upon the cult of personality leveraged in the Führer’s establishment of the Third Reich. Bonhoeffer gave a radio address two days after Hitler became the Reich Chancellor titled, "The Leader and the Individual in the Younger Generation." In that address, he declared: The Leader will have to be conscious of this clear limitation of his authority . . . . If he allows himself to surrender to the wishes of his followers, who would always make him their idol—then the image of the Leader will pass over into the image of the misleadBONHOEFFER AND PROPHETIC LEADERSHIP
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