15 Jan 2024

“Never Again!”

William L. Shirer wrote a final addendum to the last words of the epilogue to his famous book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:

If ever a new adventurer such as Hitler tried to lead the Germans to new conquests, he would be repelled by a nuclear response. That would put a quick end to German aggression. But, unfortunately, it would put afterward an end to the world too.

So maybe the H-bomb and the rockets and planes and submarines designed to deliver it, horrible threat though they are to the survival of the planet, will, ironically, help, at least, to solve the German problem. No more bloody conquests by the Germans, or by anyone else.

Perhaps it will help too if the erring governments and the wondering people of this world will remember the dark night of Nazi terror and genocide that almost engulfed our world, and that is the subject of this book. Remembrance of the past helps us to understand the present. (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1028–29, May, 1990)

The Jews who survived Hitler’s Holocaust put it more simply but with greater passion:

“NEVER AGAIN!”

Never again would they, the Jews, allow genocide brought about by Nazi, or any other, anti-Semitism.

While it is true that there hasn’t since that horrific era been a holocaust the size and scope of that perpetrated by the Nazi monsters, there is a rising putting forth of Jewish hatred every bit as virulent as Hitler’s. We witnessed it springing out of the Middle East cauldron called Gaza on October 7, 2023.

And the seeds of that Middle Eastern hatred of the Jews have taken root in, of all places, the very heart of where Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party arose to become the worst anti-Jewish force in modern history.

Jews in Berlin are facing an “extremely tense” situation amid rising hostility emanating from the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, the German capital’s top official combating anti-Semitism warned on Wednesday.

“Since the barbaric antisemitic terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, the security situation for Jews and Israelis in Berlin has been extremely tense,” Samuel Salzborn — the antisemitism officer for the state of Berlin — told the Taz news outlet.

“We had a series of extremely aggressive antisemitic gatherings and rallies, the daubing of residential buildings with anti-Semitic symbols, an attempted arson attack on the synagogue in Brunnenstrasse, and most recently, several destructions of Hanukkah menorahs. Since then, the whole thing has become more widespread, for example, at universities, where Jews are treated with hostility.”…

“The big risk is everyday life: situations and places in which you cannot provide full protection,” he said. “You never know exactly where in Berlin something can happen. Many live with the great, understandable, and justified fear that they could be spontaneously attacked if they are identified as Jews, for example, by wearing a necklace with the Star of David.” (“Berlin Jews Facing ‘Extremely Tense’ Situation, City’s Top Antisemitism Official Warns,” Algemeiner.com, Rapture Ready News, Jan 4, 2024)

The Muslim world, for the most part, embraced Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic hatred expressed in his book dictated to Rudolf Hess while in prison. Hitler’s hatred for the Jewish race was at the center of Mein Kampf, the rambling, satanic tripe on which the Nazi blueprint was based.

So while Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli defenders of the modern state of Israel declare, as did the Holocaust survivors, “Never again!” what seems an inexplicit hatred toward Israel and the Jewish race again arises from the blood-soaked land where Hitler first began his demonic rage.

And it is demonic hatred today. Satan is at work to do it all over again. He has even gotten American college students, who don’t understand the truth, caught up in the rage to drive the “occupiers” into the sea.

It is, in truth, an enragement that is going to soon drive the entire world into a great sea of Tribulation. It is again going to be for the Jewish people a holocaust that will be worse than the worst of the Nazi-perpetrated one, according to Jesus.

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). 

It will be the time of “Jacobs’s trouble,” according to the prophet Jeremiah.

“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7).

So the phrase “Never again!” cannot be an assured matter until the Jewish King—the King of all kings, the Lord Jesus Christ—returns to put an end to the madness.

And madness it is that we are witnessing at every level of human comportment these days.

Year 2024 doesn’t seem to offer much hope for relief from the luciferic lunacy, in humanistic terms. But 2024 just might assure “Never again” if the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13 intervenes into the wicked affairs of humankind, as Jesus promises to do at some point, as recorded in Luke 17:28–30.

You want to be with Christ as He returns to put an end to anti-Semitism and all other sorts of evil. Here is how to be with Jesus when He comes to make all things right on planet Earth.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

—Terry

The World Versus Israel

When it comes to Israel, we live in an upside-down world. One would think that after the atrocities committed against its people on October 7, 2023, the world would fully support their efforts to destroy the terrorist organization behind the attack, but such is not the case.

Although many polls show that the so-called Palestinians overwhelmingly approve of Hamas’ barbaric attack, the prevailing world sentiment favors their cause. Many world leaders, including the Biden administration, are urging Israel to step back from its efforts to bring the Hamas terrorists to justice and prevent future attacks.

Why does the world so strongly oppose Israel?

Satan Hates Israel

Satan is the culprit behind the current hatred of the nations for the Jewish people. He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:1), and his dominance over the affairs of the nations is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

The devil possesses a deep hatred for God and for all those that He loves. With Israel, however, it’s also a matter of preventing Jesus’ future reign over the nations. If he can wipe out the Jewish people, then the Lord cannot fulfill Bible prophecy by returning to a repentant remnant who will welcome Him into Jerusalem with shouts of “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39).

When tempted, Jesus rejected Satan’s offer of “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Matthew 4:7-10). Rather than accept this offer, Jesus chose to obey His Father, endure the cross for our sake, and receive the nations in the future as His inheritance (Psalm 2:8).

In a vain attempt to stop this transfer of power to the Lord, Satan is now seeking to eliminate the Jewish people along with destroying all humanity by significantly reducing the world’s population and changing those that remain into zombies via pharmaceutical methods. He will fail, of course, but he will continue to do great damage until the Lord takes the world’s kingdoms away from him during the Tribulation period.

It Fulfills Biblical Prophecy, Thus Demonstrating God’s Sovereignty Over All Things

The Bible long ago predicted that this day would arrive. God controls humans and will accomplish His purposes through the world’s hatred for Israel.

We see His sovereignty over history in the well-known Gog-Magog prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39. From these chapters, we learn that God will bring these forces to the borders of the nation so that He alone might destroy them and receive all the glory for Himself. Some nations will protest the motives for the invasion of the Land, but Israel will stand alone. No other country will defend the nation.

Given the current hatred for Israel, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the nation stands alone.

We already see what the Lord spoke to the prophet Joel concerning the last days through the efforts of the nations to divide the Land God promised to Israel (Joel 3:1-3). The goal of Satan is to eliminate the nation; however, the Lord will use his ploys to destroy both his forces and the antichrist. At the end of the Tribulation, God “will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there” (Joel 3:2; see also Revelation 19:17-21).

Although this decisive battle, which we call “Armageddon,” does not happen until at least another seven years or longer, we already see the devil stirring up the hatred of the world that will later lead to it. God will use our adversary to bring about the conflict that will forever end his power over the nations. His sovereignty will trump Satan’s hatred for Israel.

I don’t know what will happen next in the current war. Some say that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent, which could rapidly expand to a regional war with grave consequences for the entire world.

The Bible says that Damacus will experience total destruction (Isaiah 17:1), but this has never happened. Could we see the fulfillment of this prophecy as a consequence of the predicted expansion of current hostilities? It’s possible.

We know two things for sure. First, the continual warfare will make Israel all the more eager to make a future deal with the antichrist, which the prophet Isaiah referred to as the “covenant with death” (Isaiah 28:14-18; see also Daniel 9:27). By the time the man of lawlessness arrives on the scene, Israel’s leaders will readily accept his terms, believing he can assure them of enduring peace.

Second, the murderous opposition of the antichrist during the second half of the Tribulation, along with the Day of Lord judgments experienced worldwide, will cause the Jews that remain alive to repent and welcome their Messiah into Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:10-13:1; Matthew 23:37-39). Satan can never thwart God’s purposes: Not for Israel. Not for us.

The increased loathing of the world for Israel tells us that the time of Jesus’ appearing to take us home to glory is ever so close.

-Jonathan

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