Happy Sunday,

The following is a draft section of my book, Broken News, scheduled for release in ~Fall 2027. 

I add/revise/cut content based on feedback from this newsletter each week, so if something stands out as wrong, confusing, or wow-that-actually-helped-please-don’t-change-it… hit reply and let me know!

Scriptural Basis
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.”

Luke 6:32

In 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, and a family of Christian watchmakers, the ten Booms, opened their house to Jews fleeing persecution. 

Their upper bedroom became known as “the Hiding Place,” sheltering a stream of over 800 Jews and resistance workers until 1944, when they were betrayed by a Dutch informant. Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were interrogated and spent months in solitary confinement before landing in Ravensbrück, a notorious women’s concentration camp in Germany. The conditions were horrific—overcrowding, lice-infested barracks, forced labor, and daily brutality. But Corrie and Betsie continued to minister to others, leading a secret Bible study, sharing food, praying, singing, and spreading hope. Betsie died in Ravensbrück in December 1944. Days later, a clerical error put Corrie on the list of prisoners to be freed instead of the list of prisoners to be executed.

All the other women her age were sent to the gas chambers, but Corrie was released. 

After the war, Corrie began traveling and speaking about God’s call to love and forgive. During one of those events, a former SS guard at Ravensbrück approached her. In her memoir, she writes:

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.’ He said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

I’m far from the first to be captivated and challenged by The Hiding Place, but oof! This hit me.

Many people working to bridge the gaps in America today point out that the vast majority of people who vote Democratic look nothing like Stalin, and the vast majority of people who vote Republican look nothing like Hitler. I agree. But The Hiding Place reminded me that it shouldn’t matter.

Because even if I accidentally love a literal Nazi… Well, then I’m in great company with Corrie ten Boom.

Was this valuable? Was this heretical? Do you have a rebuttal? Should it not make the book?

Please hit reply and let me know! Your replies are genuinely a huge help and are massively shaping this book. I don’t have time to respond to each one, but I personally read every email.

Recommended*: I’ve had meaningful quiet times for 14 days in a row. Sure, it may be ‘cause I’m just super holy (and humble)... but at least some credit is due to the Daily Kairos Prayer Journal. There’s a lot to like about it, but the best endorsement I can give is that Daily Kairos helps me be consistent. And, based on the thousands of 5-star reviews, I’m not alone. If you want more consistent quiet times, try Daily Kairos.

*I’m fortunate enough to be paid to promote products I actually use and genuinely recommend.

Pre-Orders: I worked out a special deal with Tyndale! Broken News will be paperback, but we’re doing a limited run, exclusive hardcover edition just for News Health subscribers. Thanks for all your feedback! Books ship Fall 2027.