"Never Again"

A statement on the wall of a Nazi death camp read, "He who does not learn from the lessons of history is doomed to repeat them." Could this statement be a prophetic word for the modern day Christian church? Most people are aware of the horrendous results of the Holocaust in which Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich murdered 6 million Jewish people. However, few people realize that official policies of Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders helped birth the Holocaust. Also, most Christians in Europe knew what was happening but simply looked the other way.

The Holocaust is the most severe form of persecution of the Jewish people but there are other examples. In 1095, Pope Urban preached a sermon that urged people to liberate Jerusalem. He also said, "A journey to Jerusalem will be a substitute for all penance." This resulted in fifteen Crusades to Israel,12,000 Jews were killed in Europe during these journeys. Jerusalem was captured in 1099 with an additional 10,000 Jewish people being killed.

After the Crusades most European countries became closed to the Jewish people except for Spain. However, the Spanish Inquisition started in 1480 outlawing the Jewish religion. The church required Jewish people to be baptized as Christians or become slaves. This resulted in 50,000 Spanish Jews losing their lives.

Presently, God's Covenant People upon greeting each other or in conversation make the following proclamation, "Never Again!" They are proclaiming that they will "Never Again" allow events such as the Holocaust, the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition to happen again. However, as Anti-Semitism is growing around the world there are terror attacks, Israeli products banned, anti-Israel bias at the United Nations and Iran threatening to destroy Israel.

Why have God's Covenant People become the most persecuted group of people in all of history? Satan knows the Jews are God's Chosen People and that the Savior of all the world is indeed Jewish. He also knows God's plan to bring Jesus back to earth to rule and reign from Jerusalem. Satan's goal is to destroy God's plan by eliminating the Jewish people and Israel so he can rule the world.

What can we do as part of the modern day Christian church? Most important, we need to ask our Lord God to forgive the sins of the early church toward the Jewish people. Also, we need to know for sure that our church is not anti-Semitic in any form. Lastly, we need to defeat our enemy everyday for ourselves, our family, Israel and the Jewish people by putting on the Whole Armor Of God as illustrated in Romans chapter six. Hallelujah!

May The Lord Bless You This Day And Every Day,

Frank