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To reiterate one of my key points, as tragic as the Holocaust may have been, to deny that God allowed those horrible events to occur, just because we personally do not understand His motivations, is to also deny His Sovereignty, and His power and control over human affairs. Are you, as a Bible-believing Christian, prepared to do that? Perhaps those Jews may have been innocent in the eyes of the people of the world who have been so often duped by Zionist propaganda and the controlled mass media; but apparently, God viewed them differently. To suggest that those people were innocent, is to indirectly say that God made a very serious mistake in allowing those events to happen.

If you really stop and think about it for a moment, it is really to criticize and judge God; and that is precisely what Satan did. Through his actions of trying to usurp God's Throne, he was basically saying "Well, if I were God, that isn't how I would do things. If it were up to me, I would run things differently." As you know, and as I explain in articles such as "Satan: His Origin, Purpose and Future", his vile plan did not work out to well. To judge God is a very serious matter, as we can determine by such verses as the following:

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?"


"Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?"


"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few."


"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"


But regarding this issue of the persecution of "six million innocents", as one of readers phrased it so many years ago, this is a very troublesome, delicate, sensitive issue. Why? Because of the people, and the age groups, who were targeted by Hitler's madness. Many of you will already know that with his "Final Solution" -- that is, Hitler's outrageous policy of the extermination/genocide of all Jews found within the areas controlled by Germany -- he did not discriminate. What he deemed a "good" solution for one, was "good" for all the rest too. I am referring to the sad fact that so many young children were mercilessly slaughtered by the Germans during that horrible time. Gassed with pesticide. Those children posed absolutely no threat to Hitler or his vile plans. It was simply that they were Jewish, and thus not "pure" in his view.

Ironically, as we have already seen, none of us are really pure in God's sight; yet He is ever so patient and merciful with us all, time and time again. Rather than just murder us -- Satan actually did that when he tempted Eve -- God in fact did the exact opposite when He sent His Son to die for us all, so that our relationship with Him could be restored through faith and repentance. Concerning God's Mercy, I am reminded of verses such as the following:

"But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth."


"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."


"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."


"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village."


"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"


"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance . . . Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;"


But regarding the children who were murdered by Hitler's men, as I mentioned in part one of this series, the impression I receive from the Scriptures is that God has set a certain age where He begins to hold people morally responsible for their actions and sins. In the case of the murmuring Israelites who were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty long years, the cut-off age was twenty. So in that regard, yes, I believe all of those murdered children may very well indeed be viewed as "innocents". While they were obviously born with a sinful nature, just like the rest of us, unlike their parents, many of them had not yet reached an age of accountability where they could really make an informed, mature decision regarding Jesus Christ. We also know that Jesus dearly love children, as we see by verses such as the following:

"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."


"Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence."


Yet at the same time, there is another side to the coin; and it is a very hard Biblical truth which some of you may find rather difficult to accept. We discover this truth in a verse that is found in the Book of Numbers. Consider the following:

"The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."


I have read and contemplated this verse a number of times over the years, including looking up some of the original Hebrew words which are used in it. My current understanding of the verse is that it is saying two contrasting things. On the one hand -- and similar to the previous verses I shared with you -- it is saying that God is very patient -- that is, longsuffering -- and merciful. Yet on the other hand, this verse also appears to be saying that not only will He find the guilty parties guilty, and not just overlook their guilt, but He will in fact punish the children of the guilty party for up to three or four generations after that, if the sin that was committed is serious enough.

I believe that this is what some people have referred to as "generational curses". Now, if there is any truth to this, and if I have understood the previous verse correctly, then it might possibly explain why God may have turned away, even though young children were being victimized by Adolf Hitler and his devilish cohorts until the Allied Powers put a stop to it. As I said, this is a very sensitive issue, even for me, and I am likewise trying to understand why God allowed this to happen to those little ones. It is not as if they personally had committed some grievous sin against God.

If you have read my controversial article entitled "God of Peace, God of War", then you will know that the wholesale murder and genocide of young children is one of the most difficult Biblical issues for me to grasp and accept. I am referring to the fact that, according to the Scriptures, God ordered the invading Israelites to murder both the women and children of their enemies on some occasions. Likewise, God on occasion ordered the destruction of both Israelite women and children when the Israelites were extremely backslidden from the Lord. I won't hide the fact that this Old Testament harsh version of God is hard for me to accept, even as a long-time Christian. Consider the following sample verses:

"Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and UTTERLY DESTROYED THE MEN, AND THE WOMEN, AND THE LITTLE ONES, of every city, we left none to remain: Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took."


"So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, UTTERLY DESTROYING THE MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves."


"And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts . . . Now therefore KILL EVERY MALE AMONG THE LITTLE ONES, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."


"Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, WITH THE WOMEN AND THE CHILDREN. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man."


"He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: LET NOT YOUR EYE SPARE, NEITHER HAVE YE PITY: SLAY UTTERLY OLD AND YOUNG, BOTH MAIDS, AND LITTLE CHILDREN, AND WOMEN: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city."


In the story of Queen Esther, we are informed that after evil Haman's murderous plot against the Jews had been exposed, Esther convinced King Ahasuerus to give the Jews permission to kill those people within the king's vast empire who posed a serious threat to the Jews. The king acquiesced to Esther's petition, and his permission included killing both women and young children, as we see by the following verses:

"And he [Mordecai] wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace. And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them."


If you are a Bible-knowledgeable Christian yourself, then you will probably also know that following God's extremely harsh judgment against Jerusalem and the rest of Israel by the forces of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the situation became so dire for those Jews who remained in Israel, that the Prophet Jeremiah informs us in the Book of Lamentations that Jewish women were even eating their own children, as we see by the following set of verses:

"Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people."


Isn't that absolutely pitiful and rather sickening? We all know what a person looks like when they have not slept in a while, or after they have been seriously sick for a while. We get these dark, black rings and bags under both eyes. Perhaps this is what Jeremiah means when he says that "their visage is blacker than a coal." The word "visage" is translated from a Hebrew word which means shape, form, outline, figure or appearance. These people were so skinny, that they looked like sticks with their skin tightly clinging to their bones; and their skin was probably dry and scaly, just like the bark on a branch.

Notice that Jeremiah says that they were suffering so much from a slow death by starvation -- or pining away -- that those Jews who had died by the Babylonian sword were more blessed, because at least their suffering had ended in a moment. Finally, we come to the last part of the verses. Just as the rebellious Jews had sacrificed their very own children in the Valley of Hinnom to the false god Molech, now they were being forced to kill, cook and eat them, in order to survive the famine. While the Hebrew word that is used in that verse is translated as "sodden", the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon states that what it actually means is to boil, cook, bake or roast. Truly, the rebellious Jews had reaped exactly what they had sown to the full.

As I said, all of this can be extremely difficult to accept; particularly the part regarding God ordering the murder of women and young children. Not only does it reveal how stern, harsh and unforgiving of a Father our God can be when we are extremely backslidden and rebellious in His sight, but it likewise sheds some light on why He may have allowed some of the Jewish children to perish -- along with their parents -- during the Holocaust and Hitler's "Final Solution". In short, as we learned in an earlier verse, sometimes the children are forced to suffer the same punishment as their rebellious parents.

Now, concerning the unbelieving Jews in general, they may claim that they are still God's chosen people, but in my view, and as I have clearly explained in a number of other articles, according to the Scriptures, until they repent of their rebellion and unbelief, they are ungodly, and they are antichrist. They cannot possibly make the ridiculous claim of being God's chosen, when they outright reject, mock, and take in vain the name of Jesus Christ. Contrary to what some popular -- but seriously misguided -- pro-Israel preachers like John Hagee and CUFI may claim, if anything, I suspect that God has now turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to their cries. How can He possibly bless their staunch rebellion and disobedience? That is why they must now depend upon the arm of the flesh and their military might to defend themselves against their enemies in the Middle East.

As cruel and as heartless as my remarks may sound to some people -- particularly to some of my pro-Israel Christian friends -- what I have stated is nevertheless a Scriptural truth which any openminded person can discover, if they are willing to seriously study the Bible. To give you an idea of what I am referring to, consider the following verse group. Jesus and the Apostles had nothing good to say about their unbelieving brethren:

"Ye [speaking to the Jewish leadership] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."


"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."


"In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them [the Jews] which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."


". . . Did ye [speaking to the unbelieving Jews] never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected [meaning the Jews rejecting Jesus], the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, [from the Jews] and given to a nation [God's new born-again Christian nation] bringing forth the fruits thereof. [meaning the fruits of true repentance]"


"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost."


"And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom [the Jews who falsely claim to be God's "Chosen People"] shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."


"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."


"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."


"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."


"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."


"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."


As I have already made quite clear to you since part one of this series, when a person, or a nation, rejects God's love and Salvation through His Son; when a person or a country blatantly defies God's Laws, and His prescribed manner of behavior, and creates their own laws, and follows their own rules of conduct, sooner or later, they are going to run into serious trouble with the Lord. When that happens, and unless they repent, sooner or later, His Wrath is going to fall upon them. For some people, it seems that this may happen in this current life, if they are evil enough.

In the case of the Jews, the Bible is quite clear that they have had a very bad track record with the Lord for literally thousands of years now. As we have already seen, God has been dealing with them non-stop since the Old Testament. You can count them yourself. At least three Diasporas, and the city of Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed twice. What more does it take to get the message behind this? Do you honestly think that all of a sudden God has just stopped dealing with the Jews for some mysterious reason because we are now living in the Twenty-First Century? Do you think that He has stopped working in the world because the pages of the Bible ended almost two thousand years ago?

In light of everything I have shared here thus far, I have considered that some people might argue, "Well, what about the Prophets who died during the Old Testament era? What about all of the Christians who died as a result of harsh Roman persecution during the First Century, and in the first few centuries after that time as well? What about all those Christians who were tortured and died due to the Catholic Inquisitions? What about all the Christians who have died in foreign countries since then? Was God dealing with them as well? Did He remove His Protection from them due to their sins against Him?"

Quite frankly, I think that such questions are totally unrelated to our current discussion regarding the Holocaust. In my view, to lump Christians and non-believers together in one pile is not only grabbing at straws, but it is also an error in judgment. I discuss the topic of persecution against Christians in articles such as the four-part series entitled "Civl Disobedience and Christian Persecution". As the Apostle Paul and others clearly point out, when those early Prophets and then the Christians died at the hands of their enemies, they were martyrs for the Faith. They died for the testimony of Jesus Christ, as we can easily determine by these sample verses:

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another."


"But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls."


"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."


"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:"


"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."


"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth . . . And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."


"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:"


"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."


Please go to part four for the conclusion of this series.

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