Nazi German Church vs the Contemporary American Church-10

12/14/15
 
Nazi German Church vs the Contemporary American Church-10
   History has recorded anti-semitism as one of, if not the church’s greatest sin! And, in my opinion, Germany’s fall into Nazism was firmly rooted in its cultural anti-semitism.
   Victoria Barnett* writes, “…the Jews were blamed for a number of crises, even when their purported role in one would logically eliminate their role in another. In 1819, German farmers rioted and burned Jewish businesses, blaming the Jews for industrial changes. Following the attempted revolution in 1848, Jews were linked to the workers’ movement; thirty years later (1870’s), after the stock market crash, the Jews were blamed for controlling all the money. In 1918, an ‘international Jewish plot’ was blamed for the terms of the Versailles Treaty.” (pg126)
   “In the 1880’s, German philologist Paul de Legarde compared the Jews to a dangerous form of bacteria, breeding uncontrollably to spread cultural weakness and disease in the German people, and he recommended the forced deportation of Jews to Eastern Europe. Other writings compared Jews to spiders, worms, and other insects that lived in darkness. As early as the 1840’s the ‘Jewish question’ was discussed as a biological or racial problem.” (pg124)
   “Anti-semitism is justified, argued one German pastor, but this anti-semitism must remain within the biblical set limits.” (pg125)
   Anti-semitism ran rampant in Germany…even among some Jews who had converted to Christianity! “Dietrich Goldschmidt, son of a Jewish Christian father and a non-Jewish mother, recalled that his father, an historian who lost his job at the end of 1934 because of the Aryan laws, was baffled by what happened to him.” “My father (Jewish) said, ‘Oh, we wouldn’t have all these annoyances with the Jews if so many Easter European Jews hadn’t immigrated here after World War 1….If that hadn’t happened, things wouldn’t have reached this difficult state.” “To a certain extent, my father is a typical case of a baptized Jew who was fully assimilated, who couldn’t imagine that he wouldn’t be accepted as assimilated by the other side.” (pg127)
  Furthermore, “Around 2000 racial laws were passed during the course of the Third Reich, 1219 of them passed before the Kristallnacht** in November 1938.” (pg127)
  Jews were blamed for all manner of evil in spite of the fact that “In 1933, only 1 ½% of the German population was Jewish and the actual numbers of Jews in influential positions was far less than popularly assumed. Although many Germans blamed the uncertainties on the Weimar years on too much Jewish influence in the government, for example, only 4 of the 250 government ministers during the entire Weimar Republic were Jewish. Yet in April 1933, Berlin church leader Otto Dibelius wrote, “In the last 15 years in Germany, the influence of Judaism has strengthened extraordinarily. The number of Jewish judges, Jewish politicians, Jewish civil servants in influential positions has grown noticeably. The voice of the people is turning against this.  (pg124)
 
   Although Jew-hatred was not the only form of wickedness that pervaded Germany, it certainly contributed the most to their blindness! Remember, pre-Nazi Germany declared themselves to be 95% Christian! Therefore, having access to the Holy Spirit (Jn14:26), they should have known better!
    As for America, though anti-semitism is also on the rise, I give God all the glory because we have not seen anywhere near the type of thick anti-semitism as pre-Nazi, Germany. As a matter of fact, the pro-Israel, pro-Jewish stand of the average American is not only a direct result of Gotd’s grace and God’s word preached across this nation, but is also the primary reason God has not judged America more severely for such blatant sins as abortion and gay marriage. Of course, this does not mean God winks at those grave sins, or that he will not hold us accountable, but rather means that He has simply chosen greater long-suffering, giving us more time to repent! Furthermore, America’s pro-Jewish stand also gives me great hope that the Beast may not necessarily be an American President. However, things can change quickly if the wrong person gets into office (Ps140:11,Hos8:4). Pray for a president who loves the Jew! Never vote for a political leader—at any level of government--who stands against Israel (Gen12:1-3)!
 
*These series of tidbits use Victoria Barnett’s work, “For the Soul of The People”
**Kristallnacht means night of the broken glass. In one night, Germans attacked and destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues, murdering hundreds and imprisoning up to 30,000 people.
 
Tidbit
Success happens when preparation meets potential.
-Unknown