INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY is held annually on JANUARY 27, which is the day prisoners were released from the Auschwitz Concentration Camp at the end of WWII in 1945.
WHAT IS THE HOLOCAUST? The Auschwitz Concentration Camp located in Southern Poland was the largest and most notorious of all the Nazi death camps. These death camps existed for the sole purpose of killing “undesirables,” in what became known as the HOLOCAUST. I saw evidence of the Holocaust firsthand. I visited Auschwitz in the Spring of 1988, while ministering to pastors and others behind the “Iron Curtain” during the reign of the USSR.
There are no words to describe what I saw and felt that day. I was so stunned that I could not even take photos. The atmosphere of darkness, destruction and death was intense. To see the piles of clothing, shoes, hair and glasses was shocking. The people brought to these death camps were stripped of every vestige of their humanity. It was overwhelming to look inside the gas chambers where so many were executed. I write with a heavy heart at the very remembrance of my time at Auschwitz.
WHY THE HOLOCAUST? In order to develop a “superior” race of people, it was deemed necessary to eliminate all the deplorable people who did not fit the acceptable standard of the ruling society—in this case Hitler’s Nazi Germany. It is important to know that the Holocaust was not just against the Jewish people. According to the History Channel Hitler determined to eliminate “every Jew in his domain, along with artists, educators, Romas, communists, homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped and others deemed unfit for survival in Nazi Germany. Estimates are that 11 million people died during the Holocaust 6 million of which were Jewish.
This included anyone who was considered to be an enemy of Nazi Germany. For that reason many different people were also executed. Christians, such as the family of Corrie ten Boom and others like them, who were motivated by their Christian beliefs, took a stand in defense of those being persecuted under Hitler. The love of Christ compelled these Christians to risk their lives in order to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. And so, because of their Christian convictions they too experienced the Holocaust!
WHY SHOULD WE REMEMBER THE HOLOCAUST? Because if it could happen to them it can happen to you! The similarities in the trends occurring in our global society are quite alarming. YOU COULD BE NEXT . . . But regardless of what may come our way, for those who rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. His grace will be sufficient for you! “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’” 2 Corinthians 12:9
The life of Corrie ten Boom makes this very evident. I can attest to her character. I had the honor of meeting and praying with her along with a small group of ministers prior to a conference. In spite of all she had been through, her radiant countenance exuded the love of God! After her release from prison, she became a Christian missionary and Holocaust advocate emphasizing forgiveness as a solution to the devastating effects of this atrocity.
READ: I Am Still Learning to Forgive – https://www.sourceministries.net/go/2015/09/supplemental-teaching/#Forgiveness
WATCH: The Hiding Place movie – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073109/
Dr Lewis W Gregory © 2024
Sun, Jan 28, 2024
Adversity, Character, Demonic, Faith, Government, Miscellaneous, Prayer, TEACHING, Written Articles