Before and during World War II, the Nazi Party did not gain and maintain power through military force alone. It worked patiently to shape the way ordinary Germans thought, spoke, worshipped, learned, and related to one another.

A historical correction is necessary: Germany was not merely a Catholic country. It was overwhelmingly Christian, with approximately 40 million Protestants and 20 million Catholics in 1933. Some courageous Christians resisted Hitler. Others remained silent, compromised, cooperated, or allowed nationalism and antisemitism to corrupt their faith.

The Nazis understood several principles of mass control that remain relevant today. That does not mean every modern church, media company, university, social-media platform, or democratic government is equivalent to Nazi Germany. Communist China and North Korea use levels of state coercion that are fundamentally different from life in the United States or United Kingdom.

Nevertheless, institutions do not have to be identical to employ some of the same methods of influence.

First, Control the Information People Receive

Repeat one interpretation through newspapers, television, classrooms, entertainment, social media, and trusted leaders until it no longer feels like an opinion. It begins to feel like reality itself.

You do not always have to prohibit contrary information. You can bury it, ridicule it, remove its context, attach a warning label to it, or make people afraid to share it. Today, algorithms can determine which stories millions of people see and which quietly disappear. Partisan media can report only the portion of a story that serves its audience. Authoritarian governments such as China and North Korea go even further by censoring information and punishing dissent.

Second, Capture the Institutions That Form Identity

The Nazis understood that controlling adults was not enough. They wanted the youth. They used schools, youth organizations, public ceremonies, physical training, nationalism, and constant propaganda to form children who would place the movement above family, church, conscience, and truth.

Today, formation occurs through schools, universities, churches, seminaries, entertainment, television, social media, corporations, and government institutions.

A church may preach Jesus Christ—or slowly replace Him with a political ideology. It may substitute racial politics, nationalism, liberation theology, prosperity teaching, institutional loyalty, or emotional experience for repentance, biblical truth, holiness, sacrifice, and salvation.

Replacement theology can cause Christians to disregard Israel’s continuing biblical and prophetic significance. Prosperity preaching can turn the cross into a financial program. Political churches on either the left or right can make allegiance to a movement the practical test of Christian faithfulness.

Whenever an institution teaches people not to examine its claims against Scripture and evidence, it is no longer forming disciples. It is manufacturing followers.

Third, Enforce Conformity Through Social Pressure

Not everyone must be arrested. Most people can be controlled through fear of being rejected.

People fear losing friends, employment, academic standing, professional opportunities, social acceptance, or membership in their church and community. They watch what happens to those who disagree and learn to remain silent.

Labels become especially useful: racist, fascist, extremist, heretic, traitor, conspiracy theorist, enemy, or spreader of misinformation.

Some people genuinely deserve criticism. Racism, fascism, false teaching, and deliberate deception are real. But when accusations replace evidence and debate, labels become weapons of social discipline.

The message is simple: do not investigate the argument; look at what we will do to anyone who questions us.

Fourth, Create a Permanent Moral Emergency and Identify an Enemy

A population is easier to control when it believes catastrophe is always moments away.

The leaders identify a threatening group. They divide society into the virtuous and the dangerous. They tell people that neutrality is betrayal, questions are harmful, and normal restraints must be suspended to defeat the enemy.

Once another human being has been reduced to a label, mistreatment can be presented as justice.

This is how propaganda works. It simplifies complicated realities, appeals to fear and resentment, repeats emotionally powerful claims, isolates people from contrary evidence, and rewards loyalty over truth.

This danger exists across the political spectrum.

It can come from a communist government, a fascist movement, an unaccountable religious hierarchy, a corrupt preacher, a partisan news network, a university ideology, a corporate bureaucracy, or a social-media algorithm designed to keep us angry and clicking.

A Warning for Free Societies

The United Kingdom is not Nazi Germany. Neither is the United States. But free people must question any system that gives government officials, technology companies, media organizations, educators, or religious authorities excessive power to determine which lawful ideas may be heard and which people may be silenced.

The answer is not to exchange one propaganda system for another. It is not to believe every rumor that confirms our own politics. It is not to assume that only the opposing side can be manipulated.

The answer is discernment.

Ask who selected the information you are receiving. Ask what facts were omitted. Read primary sources. Listen to opposing arguments. Test political and religious teaching against Scripture. Refuse to surrender your conscience merely to remain accepted by the crowd.

Most importantly, Christians must remember that our ultimate allegiance is not to a party, denomination, government, news organization, social movement, or charismatic leader.

It belongs to Jesus Christ.

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
—1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV

Control succeeds most completely when controlled people believe they are thinking entirely for themselves.

That is why every one of us—not merely those on the other side—must remain watchful.