Jew-hatred is thousands of years old. It is a spiritual sickness that comes from another dimension. As an evangelical Christian, I’ve had many conversations with Jewish friends who wonder why the world hates them. I believe this spiritual dimension is an overlooked reason — overlooked by many, non-Jews included.

It is almost unfathomable that 70 years ago, the Nazis murdered a third of the world’s Jews. A third!

I find that while Jews struggle with the question of Why?, my fellow Christians have a woeful lack of understanding of not only the Holocaust, but the broader history of Christians and Jews. In short, the Jewish community has suffered greatly at the hands of “Christians” and “Christian nations.” The Nazi leadership found itself in Catholic and Lutheran churches most weekends. Extermination camp victims who were used as slave labor in bombed German cities were exposed to vicious anti-Semitism at the hands of self-identifying Christians.

Railroad car used to transport Jews during World War 2, now on display at Yad Vashem.
Railroad car used to transport Jews during World War 2, now on display at Yad Vashem.

There is a great need for Christians to understand the Jewish experience over millennia, but especially the tragic relationship with the Church for at least 1,500 years.

I’ve visited the Holocaust museums in Washington and Jerusalem. Most of it is gruesome, but especially when one sees images of the murdered 1.5 million Jewish children. The fiends who sent them to their deaths were enabled by too many.

I personally believe the Jews are a noble people. They are a great people. As I age, I have mostly shed grudges I nurtured as a young man, but in watching my Jewish friends still hated by much of the international community (the UN’s Ban Ki-moon said this week that terrorism is justified under the “occupation.” What a repulsive individual), I am certain of one thing: taking the long view is important.

Much of the world might not believe God exists, but I know He does.

And where the mistreatment of Jews is concerned, a reckoning is coming.

Soon.

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