Image from Grace and Peace |
Chuck Roots
27 February 2017
The despicableness of anti-Semitism raises its ugly head today in the news just as it has in days gone by. The fearfulness of this hatred is creeping back into societies around the world. Yes, even right here in America.
In the nightly news, we are being shown pictures
of Jewish cemeteries around America being vandalized. Tombstones are toppled
over by the score. Row upon row of granite markers lie in broken pieces where a
loved one was laid to rest.
Add to this a rash of more than 30 bomb threats
on Jewish Community Centers across our nation, and you have a real problem with
anti-Semitism. Such hatred for Jews has occurred far too often throughout
history. We, as Americans, would be foolish to believe that the Holocaust
couldn’t happen again; and certainly not in America!
Have we forgotten about the death camps of 75
years ago in Auschwitz
(Poland), Belzec (Poland), Bergen-Belsen (Germany),
Buchenwald (Germany), Chelmno (Poland), Dachau (Germany), Dora-Mittelbau
(Germany), Flossenburg (Germany), Gross-Rosen (Poland), Janowska (Ukraine),
Kaiserwald (Latvia), Majdanek (Poland), Mauthausen (Austria),
Natzweiler-Struthof (France), Neuengamme (Germany), Oranienburg (Germany),
Plaszow (Poland), Ravensbruck (Germany), Sachsenhausen (Germany), Sobibor
(Poland), Stutthof (Poland), Terezin (Czech Republic), Treblinka (Poland), and
Westerbork (Netherlands)?
And these are only the major camps where Jews were
herded to their deaths like cattle in ovens, gas chambers, “scientific
experimentations”, firing squads, and so forth. Whatever heinous ways the mind
of depraved men could conger up was used against the Jews. And just for good
measure, other societal misfits were thrown in, such as those with Downs
Syndrome, the mentally retarded, Gypsies, and anyone else who did not fit the
Nazi model of the Aryan Race.
Let’s
be clear about some things if we’re going to understand the terms. The Aryan
Race, as touted by Hitler’s Third Reich (a.k.a., Nazis), believed the Aryan
Race was a pure race of Nordic people with predominantly blue eyes and blonde
hair. In this, Hitler was mistaken, as in reality, the peoples who made up the
Aryan Race lived in the region of India through Iran. To explain the distortion
of meaning for Aryan would take too much time in this article. Suffice it to
say, Hitler envisioned a “noble” race that would conquer and subdue (eliminate)
all others.
What,
then, does anti-Semitism mean? “Anti-Semitism
is hostility, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds
such positions is called an anti-Semite. Anti-Semitism is generally considered
to be a form of racism.”
A
Semite is someone from the people group or culture of Semitic peoples who speak
or spoke Semitic languages (predominantly Jews and Arabs). The name Semite is
derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah.
Here’s
where things get dicey. If the God of the Bible is indeed the true God of the
universe as we are assured in Scripture, then we clearly understand that God
has had a very significant relationship with the Jews. There is great
controversy as to whether that relationship is still in effect. I, for one,
believe that it is. And as Corrie ten Boom’s father said in the movie, The
Hiding Place, “They (the Nazis) have touched the apple of God’s eye (the
Jews).” If the Jews are still a prime
focus for God, and Christians are enfolded into God’s eternal family through
the blood of Jesus Christ, then it is truly unwise for anyone to strike a blow
against the Jewish people (Zechariah 2:8 says: “For whoever touches you touches the apple of God’s eye.”).
Now,
for those of you who may think I’m theologically granting a free pass into
heaven for the Jews, rest assured, Jews, too, must recognize Jesus Christ as
the Son of God and be willing to bow the knee to him. Jesus’ words are as true
today as when he spoke them 2000 years ago, “No
one comes to God the Father except through me.”
In
my study of Scripture over the last 40 or more years I have yet to see where
God has withdrawn his hand from the Jews in rejection. In fact, I believe the
Bible tells us that in the period called the End Times, many Jews will have
their spiritual eyes opened and see that God intended for them to embrace Jesus
as their Savior along with the rest of the world.
President
George Washington, in office little over a year, in August of 1790, visited the
Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, the oldest synagogue in America (It
was my pleasure to have visited this place of worship in 1984). In returning to
Philadelphia, Washington penned a letter of thanks. The letter “is small in
size, but its impact on American life is immense. In 340 well-chosen words, the
letter reassures those who had fled religious tyranny that life in their new
nation would be different, that religious “toleration” would give way to
religious liberty, and that the government would not interfere with individuals
in matters of conscience and belief.” Quoting the Bible’s Old Testament,
Washington writes, “Everyone shall sit in
safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him
afraid.” He continues, “For happily
the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to
persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its
protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all
occasions their effectual support.” (tourosynagogue.org)
In
recent days, I have been greatly encouraged with the news from the Trump
administration that the United States Embassy in Israel is to be relocated from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is a profound statement to the rest of the world
that the United States is taking its partnership with Israel seriously again.
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