Bonhoeffer was a crucial leader in the German underground movement and a determined and courageous opponent of the Nazi regime from its first days in 1933—a commitment of conscience before God which ultimately cost his life. “He raised the first and virtually lone voice for church resistance to Hitler’s persecution of Jews when he declared that the church must not simply ‘bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the wheel itself.’“

I am reading Gary Haugen’s book, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World. Haugen is President and CEO of International Justice Mission, “a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.”

His book is a well-written, honest look at the horrors of injustice in our world. Readers will want to buckle up. But Haugen is not merely exposing evil. He is also asserting an unbending hope in the God of justice who intends for his image bearers to “jam the spokes in the wheels” of evil. Haugen issues a necessary call to action aimed at all believers both individually and corporately.

As Christians, we need to educate ourselves about what’s happening today and then we need to act. Haugen’s book is a good place to start. He leaves me (and I suspect you too) asking what I can do to be part of a global effort to both “bandage and recover the victims under the wheel” and “jam the spokes in the wheel itself.”