Silence Where Suffering Speaks

A Message from the Minister of Balance on Silence

My dear friends, the universe is built on a delicate balance, and today I must speak to you about the heavy price of silence. Suffering has a voice. It has always had a voice, echoing from the gallows, the streets, and the stages of history. It whispers from the forgotten graves of Bergen-Belsen and shouts from the pulpits of Harlem. The question is not whether suffering speaks, but whether we have the courage to listen.

We must begin with a story that chills the soul, the account of the female SS guards at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. When British forces liberated the camp, they found scenes of unimaginable horror. Among those responsible were women, figures like Irma Grese and Elisabeth Volkenrath, who were arrested and tried for their crimes. Grese, at only 22, was convicted for her sadistic acts of cruelty at both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, including sending people to the gas chambers. She and others were executed for their actions. 

It is a grim chapter, but one that reminds us that evil is not bound by gender. Some of these women were volunteers, while others were conscripted. Their motivations were a dark cocktail of a desire for power, ideological brainwashing, and, in some cases, pure sadism. Irma Grese was infamous for her extreme cruelty. While some, like Herta Ehlert, claimed they were forced into their roles, survivor testimonies often told a different story. The image of these female guards shatters the myth of women as mere passive bystanders in times of war. Many escaped justice after the war, disappearing back into society. But believe me they didn’t escape god’s judgement. 

From the ashes of the Holocaust, we turn to the prophetic fire of Malcolm X. He looked at America and saw a system “rotten to the core.” He argued that the government was built on racism, from the White House down to City Hall. For him, the struggle of Black Americans was not just a domestic issue but a global one, connected to the anti-colonial movements in Africa, Asia and The Middle East. He called for Black nationalism and self-defense, urging the creation of independent Black institutions. Malcolm’s voice was a powerful indictment against a nation that preached freedom while practicing (still to this day) oppression, warning that America must confront its racism or face collapse which we are witnessing at an alarming rate right now. America has lost God’s favor; due to its systemic racism of colored people, its financing of wars using American taxpayer dollars while double dealing under the guise of investing into the economic interest of the less fortunate.

So, what connects the Nazi guard to the civil rights prophet? The thread is the devastating cost of inauthenticity and moral silence. Both historical moments reveal a profound spiritual truth: complicity in evil is a sin, and inaction in the face of wrongdoing is itself a damning choice.

Scripture is uncompromising on this point. It calls us to three key principles:

• Repentance: We must acknowledge our complicity and turn away from it.
• Courage: We are called to speak truth and resist evil, even when it is uncomfortable.
• Integrity: We must refuse to be part of systems or relationships that perpetuate injustice.

The Bible warns us that God condemns not only those who commit evil acts but also those who “approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). We are told that “the accomplices of thieves are their own enemies” (Proverbs 29:24). Consider Pontius Pilate, who tried to wash his hands of Jesus’s death but still authorized the crucifixion, failing to absolve himself of guilt. Or Eli, the high priest who was judged by God not for his sons’ sins, but for his failure to restrain them. 

The most sobering truth comes from James 4:17: “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” There is no middle ground. Silence in the face of suffering is a choice, and it is a choice that aligns you with the oppressor. We are commanded to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). 

I speak to you today not to condemn, but to awaken. Examine your own lives. Where has your silence allowed suffering to fester? In your communities, in your workplaces, in your own hearts? The voices of the past are calling out to us, from the horrors of the Holocaust to the ongoing fight for racial justice. They implore us to choose courage over plausible deniability, truth over silence.

The path of righteousness is not an easy one. It demands that we listen to the cries of the oppressed, that we stand against injustice even when our voices shake. But it is the only path that leads to true balance and transformation. Let us honor the memory of the silenced by refusing to be silent ourselves. Let us choose to be agents of justice, integrity, and courage. ~Balance Due