How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think.

Greetings All,

     Yesterday I spent a good part of my day off reading a book on WWII and then watching a documentary about the same. That war still fascinates me. Not just the breadth of it, but the deception that fueled it, and how many intelligent people actually believed the lies. One of the things that scares me today is that the younger generation is no longer being taught much about it. So much so, that as I quoted a few weeks back, when asked: "70 million Americans (obviously the younger generation) did not know that Germany was our enemy in WWII."  And we can be sure that if they do not even know that Germany was our enemy, they surely do not know the tactics the Nazi party (not just Hitler) used to persuade so many to do so much evil.
     






That's why I share today's thought. It comes from the best-selling author Andy Andrews, and is titled: "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?  Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think."  It is rated "PG-13" and is not for the faint-hearted.  Yet I encourage you to read it -- and share it -- since I believe the old adage is true: "He who Does Not Know History Is Condemned to Repeat It."  It's a well-researched and insightful little book that would take less than an hour to read.  It has its sad parts, but would be well worth your time.  In our era of media spin, when truth seems to matter so little to so many, and its hard to know what to believe when you see numerous quotes of reports online -- it is a sobering wake-up call.  Read with caution.

     "How do you kill 11 million people? Obviously, most of us have never even considered such a thing. Yet when I began to closely research our world's recent history -- the last one hundred years -- that particular question made its unsettling way into my mind. How do you kill 11 million people? 11 million. The number is so large when the word people is attached to it that it becomes almost impossible to take seriously.  "Why 11 million?" you might ask.  What is the significance of that number? Actually the number is 11,283,000 -- the number of people killed by Adolf Hitler between the years 1933 and 1945.

     Incidentally, that particular figure only represents institutionalized killing. It does not include the 5,200,000 German civilians and military dead. Neither does it include the 28,736,000 Europeans killed during World War II as a result of Hitler's aggressive governmental policies.

     Within the same parameters, we could have used the number of Cambodians put to death by their own government: slightly more than three million between 1975 and 1979. Three million -- from a population of eight million.  We could have used the exact figure of 61,911,000. That is the number of people who were murdered by the government of the Soviet Union, shown by their own records, between the years 1917 and 1987.  But only 54,767,000 of the men, women and children put to death by the Communist Party were officially Soviet citizens. (That's almost 2500 per day for 70 years.)

     During World War I, the highest leadership council of Turkey's Young Turk government decided to exterminate every Armenian in the country, whether a soldier fighting for the government or a pregnant woman... all two million of them.  We could have used that number instead. Or, three million in North Korea, more than a million in Mexico, Pakistan, and the Baltic States. The choices available, and numbers of dead killed at the hands of their own government, are staggering. And in other places around the world, they are just getting started.

     But for our purpose, let's focus on the number that is the most well known to us -- the eleven million human beings exterminated by the Nazi regime... To be absolutely clear, the method a government employs in order to do the actual killing is not in question. We already know the variety of tools used to accomplish mass murder. Neither do we need to consider the mind-set of those deranged enough to conceive and carry out a slaughter of innocents. History has provided ample documentation of the damage done to societies by megalomaniacal psychopaths or sociopaths.

     What we need to understand is how eleven million people allow themselves to be killed?  Why, for month after month and year after year, did millions of intelligent human beings -- guarded by a relatively few Nazi soldiers -- willingly load their families into tens of thousands of cattle cars to be transported by rail to one of the many death camps scattered across Europe?...

The Answer is breathtakingly simple. And it is a method still being used by some elected leaders to achieve various goals today... You lie to them.

     According to testimony provided under oath at the Nuremberg Trials (including specific declarations made in court on January 3, 1946, by former SS officers), the act of transporting the Jews to death camps posed a particular challenge for the man who had been named operational manager of the Nazi genocide -- Adolf Eichmann.  "The Master" as he was known, was directed by written order in December of 1941 to implement The Final Solution. Eichmann went about the task as if he were the president of a multinational corporation. He set ambitious goals, recruited enthusiastic staff, and monitored the progress. He charted what worked, and what didn't, and changed policy accordingly. Eichmann measured achievement in quotas filled. Success was rewarded. Failure was punished.

     An intricate web of lies, to be delivered in stages, was designed to ensure the cooperation of the condemned (but unknowing) Jews. First, as barbed wire fences were erected, encircling entire neighborhoods, Eichmann or his representatives met with Jewish leaders to assure them that the physical restrictions being placed upon their community (in what later became known as ghettos) were temporary necessities of war. As long as they cooperated, he told them, no hard would come to those inside the fence. Second, bribes were taken from the Jews in the promise of better living conditions The bribes convinced the Jews that the situation was only temporary... After all, they reasoned, why would the Nazi's accept bribes if they only intend to kill us and take everything anyway?  These first two stages of deception were conducted to prevent uprisings or even escape.

     Finally, Eichmann would appear before a gathering of the entire ghetto. Accompanied by an entourage of no more than thirty local men and officers of his own -- many unarmed -- he addressed the crowd in a strong, clear voice.  According to sworn statements, these were very likely his exact words:

     "Jews: At last it can be reported to you that the Russians are advancing on our eastern front. I apologize for the hasty way we brought you into our protection. Unfortunately, there was little time to explain. You have nothing to worry about. We want only the best for you. You will leave here shortly and be sent to very fine places indeed.  You will work there, your wives will stay at home, and your children will go to school. You will have wonderful lives. We will all be terribly crowded on the trains, but the journey is short. Men? Please keep your families together and board the rail-cars in an orderly manner. Quickly now, my friends, we must hurry!"

     The Jewish husbands and fathers were relieved by the explanation and comforted by the fact that there weren't more armed soldiers. They helped their families onto the rail-cars... each was packed with no less than one hundred human beings and quickly padlocked. At that moment they were lost. The trains rarely stopped until well inside the gates of Auschwitz."

     Though all the blame often gets laid on Hitler, he did not act alone. He had a very intelligent and capable crew of master planners with him -- planners who were very gifted at the art of controlling the media, deceiving a nation, playing on people's national pride, and silencing all opposition. In a day when we have less and less ability to control what we see, or the agenda and message behind it, a little glance back at recent history can be helpful.

     As Andrews stated regarding his whether or not he had a "political agenda" for writing the book: "Of course. Here's mine. I want America's present and future to live up to America's core values as written by our Founding Fathers and set forth in the constitution.  In addition, I want the public to vigilantly hold them accountable for doing so." 

     I would encourage one more thing we need to hold people in positions of power accountable to.  It's found in the Bible: "You Shall Not Bear False Witness."  For when truth doesn't matter, as history shows, people's lives are at risk.

In the Service of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Safety, Fullness and Sweet Refreshment in Christ

Greetings All,

     This week's 'thought' comes from one who's writings have had an immense impact on my thinking. He's one of the most brilliant pastors, preachers, or theologians ever to grace the American scene - Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758).
     This selection is taken from his sermon, "Safety, Fullness and Sweet Refreshment in Christ."  It is found in the book, "Devotions From The Pen Of Jonathan Edwards."  I have taken the liberty to update or paraphrase some of the language. Enjoy.

The Excellency of Christ

"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." 

Colossians 2:9

     "Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great is that excellency that when believers come to see it, they look no further, but the mind rests there. 

     It sees a transcendent glory and an unspeakable sweetness in Him. It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance; that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but now it has found the ocean.

     The excellency of Christ is an object adequate to the natural yearnings of the soul, and is sufficient to fill it to its capacity. It is an infinite excellency, such as the mind desires, and in which it can find no bounds. The more the mind grasps Christ, the more excellent He appears.

     Every new discovery of Christ makes His beauty appear more ravishing, and the mind sees no end to it. Here is room enough for the mind to go deeper and deeper, and never come to the bottom. The soul is exceedingly ravished when it looks upon this beauty, and it never wearies of it. The mind never becomes tired of gazing upon His beauty. Christ's excellency is always fresh and new, and tends as much to delight, after it has seen a thousand or ten thousand years, as when it was seen the first moment. 

     The excellency of Christ is an object suited to the superior faculties of man, suited to entertain the faculty of reason and understanding.  There is nothing more worthy, to which the understanding can be focused, than His excellency. There is no other object so great, noble and exalted."

     It's not hard to see that Edwards was consumed with a passion for Christ and His glory. It's also not hard (if you read more of his writings) to see that his words are spoken from the personal experience of having found in Christ all that truly inspires and satisfies the soul.  His was a Christ-craving, Christ-adoring, Christ-satisfied soul.

     In Christ one finds the source of all that the human soul truly desires -- though so many mistakenly and sinfully pursue that soul-satisfaction in the "shadows" of the earthly things He has created. Trace any earthly "shadow" (any noble or worthy desire, yearning or craving) back to the One who's creative hand has cast that shadow, and you will find its true, better, and eternal substance in Jesus.

     Yet, it's only the one who has tasted of the exceeding excellency of Christ through personal experience -- by grace, through faith -- that can testify to the unmatched sweetness of His beauty and glory.  For only when He is recognized as the redeeming Lord of heaven and earth, does that illumination sweeten the taste of one's personal discoveries regarding Christ.

     The words of theologian John Hannah (which I've shared before) apply well here: "The day you find anything more beautiful than Jesus, is the day you can know you never knew Jesus."  Edwards would agree. I trust you do as well. But if not, then remember the invitation of the psalmist: "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).

     Just one taste of the soul-satisfying pleasure of intimate union with Jesus and it is near impossible not to be driven to want more. Yet you have to experience it to ever know it.

In the Bonds of Christian Affection, Pastor Jeff 

Not Enough

Greetings All, 

     This week's 'thought' comes from a book I picked up at a local "bargain basement" for a couple bucks.  It's by a lady named Tammy Maltby, and is entitled: "Confessions of a Good Christian Girl -- The Secrets Women Keep and the Grace that Saves Them."  It caught my attention because as I skimmed through it I found that she was tremendously honest and transparent and cut through a lot of the religious facades people put on to hide the reality of their human brokenness.  

 

     She speaks of how earnest ('good') Christian women stuggle to deal with things like suicidal thoughts, sexual brokenness, family violence and abuse, broken relationships, divorce and addiction.  And she offers good practical advice about the grace which alone can heal it. In fact, it almost seems like a female version of the book, "Red Like Blood" by Joe Coffey and Bob Bevington (which is also a very captivating and helpful read for the same reasons).

     Although the book is addressed to women, the selection I chose can apply across the board to anyone who has ever wrestled with a sense of inadequacy, or what she calls feeling like we're "not enough" -- an inner sense that pushes us to the driven-type-behaviors we often use (and even justify) in our attempts to mask our sense of lack, or make it appear to outsiders like we're just plain good motivated people.

     I hope you find it helpful. And if you do have a Women's Study Group that wants to go through a book that helps you to take a good, hard, honest look inside, and shoot for healing and transformation instead of reverting to the common forms of religious pretending, it might be a good book for you to look at.  Enjoy.  

     "The entire message of the Bible, as I see it, has to do with how God sees us.  And the Bible has both good news and bad news about that.  The truth is that were not enough -- because we're incomplete and imperfect and weak. Because we're sinful and rebellious.  Because we're supposed to work together and we just can't get along.  Because we need God desperately and we forget that reality on an hourly basis.  We're so inadequate, in fact, that it's downright pitiful.  

     And that's the bad news... Because the truth is we will never be enough.  We're mortal.  We have limited physical endurance and emotional strength and intellectual capability. We're fallible and make mistakes. We need help and encouragement.  We feel inadequate, in other words, because we are inadequate.  God's made us that way.  God created us for relationship, to depend on one another.  He gave us different, complimentary gifts that are supposed to work together like the parts of the body do (see I Cor. 12:12-31). He called us to love each other, to support each other, to encourage each other, to carry each other's burdens -- to be an interdependent community, not a universe of independent superstars.  And He calls us into fellowship with Him too.  It's part of our nature to feel restless and incomplete if we're not connecting to God and depending on Him. So in the economy of God, 'not enough' is not really an issue.  What is an issue is our skewed thinking about who we are and what's expected of us -- when our 'not enough' reality turns into frantic attempts at self-sufficiency...

    But here's the good news -- and it's amazingly good.  Even in the midst of our inadequate, lying, sinning reality, God loves us passionately. Tenderly. Enthusiastically.  With a Father's care and tenderness.  He sees so much potential.  He wants so much for us.  For thousands of years He's been pursuing us, making it possible for us to draw near to Him.  He even sent His Son to save us -- not because of our efforts, but simply because we're His.

    That's hard to understand, I know.  Believe me -- I know!  I still struggle with my compulsive, workaholic tendencies.  I still wrestle with the pain my inadequacies cause me and those I love.  I'm still ashamed to be 'not enough,' and I keep bustling around to rectify the situation when what I really need to be doing is turning to Jesus... 

     Our inadequacies, our failures, our 'not enough' issues are simply beside the point when it comes to the Father's love.  Yes, He has His standards.  Yes, He wants to help us be more like Him.  Yes, He has work for us all to do, and I believe He delights in our hard work and creativity when it's combined with obedience and honest truth.  But even if we never did a thing, our Father would still love us.  He continues to love us when we fail, when we run from Him, when our thinking is skewed and our intentions are all wrong.  Even when we persist in thinking we can never be enough through our own efforts. 

    We must sound so silly as we huff and puff and whine and wheeze and try harder and harder and wallow in our worries.  But if we let Him, He can love us back to sanity.  He'll give us rest.  Even better, He'll give us peace. Remember what He said to the woman with the issue of blood? He told her to go in peace.  He said the same thing to the Luke 7 woman, the notorious sinner who annointed His feet with perfume. And I believe that's His word to us... who try and try and still don't feel like we're enough.  That word of 'peace' means 'nothing missing, nothing broken.'  It means being whole, enough, sufficient.  It means being able to relax, not strive, because we're so confident that we're loved.  It means doing all our work with a changed perception.  An attitude of grateful, peaceful confidence. Because we're His children.  Because, to Him, we are never anything less than beloved."  

 

         As you enter each day, remember the words I often share from the pulpit: "As God's grace-adopted children, we work FROM acceptance, never FOR acceptance."  And that little change makes a big difference!  In fact, maybe a little daily reminder of her advice would be helpful as well:  Begin each day by reminding yourself: I can relax, not strive, because I know I am loved. I am confident of His love.  I am His child. And in Him, I am never anything less than beloved. 

 

To the further glory of His grace, Pastor Jeff

Far Worse than We Thought

Greetings All,

This week's thought comes to you from Rebecca Manley Pippert, and is found in her book, "Hope Has It's Reasons." I recently loaned the book to a friend who returned it to me saying: "Every new Christian needs to read this book." She's right. It is extremely good. J. I. Packer, the well-respected theologian and author called it, "a first-class introduction to the basics of real Christianity."

This thought has to do with the joy and liberation that comes from knowing we are far worse than we ever dared imagine or even thought possible! Yes, you read that right! To understand how that works, read on! Enjoy.

"Amazing as it sounds, we come with remorse and guilt over one thing and the Bible tells us we are far worse, much more guilty than we could ever have imagined. But surely this only confirms the accusation that the Christian faith is psychologically unhealthy. How are we ever to recover any healthy self-esteem with an attitude like that? What would ever possess a person to call a message like that, "Good News"?

The fact is that in the cross God demonstrates the deepest law of acceptance. For to be convinced that I have been accepted, I must be convinced that I have been accepted at my worst. This is the greatest gift an intimate relationship can offer--to know that we have been accepted and forgiven in the full knowledge of who we are, an even greater knowledge than we have about ourselves. This is what the cross offers.

I think the woman (who had aborted her baby) understood it intuitively, and thereby walked into the heart and mystery of the cross. She thought she was too bad ever to be forgiven, that somehow her sin had taken even God by surprise. But the surprise was on her. For what God reveals through the cross is that we are far worse than we ever imagined and yet forgiveness is offered to us. Did the revelation of her deeper guilt [that she had not only killed her baby but was responsible for putting Jesus on the cross] produce psychological unhealth in the woman? On the contrary, she experienced relief, joy and gratitude. She no longer felt condemned, she felt free! Why? Because there is nothing others can do to you when you have seen the worst about yourself and it has been forgiven.

Sin always seeks to disguise itself, but nowhere is it more unmasked than at the cross. We finally see the very thing we dreaded to discover. At last we find out who we are. The cross brings us out of hiding. It breaks our denial, but only in the very instant that it shows us the possibility of forgiveness. It shows us our corruption, but in the same breath it tells us the price has been paid.

We may keep on foolishly building a case for ourselves and pursuing our own path of self-justification, but the cross will still be standing there waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves, and kneel and repent. The Christian view of sin is radical, but that sin can be forgiven. That really is freedom. That really is amazing grace. That means that we can face our problems squarely. That means we can confess the darkest, most humiliating things of our lives without despair and paralysis. No one can say, 'All this talk about God being loving is very touching, but if he really knew me he would change his tune fast.' The biblical message to us is, 'I do know you. I know you far better than you know yourself. And you're in worse shape than you even realize. But do you think you have done something worse than killing my son? And if I am willing to forgive you for that, then how can I not forgive you for anything else?'

Jesus died and we crucified him. And the Good News is that because of the price God was willing to pay we can be forgiven and reconciled back to God. But to experience and benefit from the cure we must turn back to him and quit pretending there is nothing wrong with us. That is true sacrilege, pretending that there is nothing wrong with us when it cost God the life of His son to rectify the problem."

Nothing is more life-sustaining and life-transforming than the knowledge of these Gospel truths: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). And again,"When we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son..." (Rom. 5:10).

Many people work all their lives trying to convince themselves they are good enough to be worthy of God's love and acceptance (and their own). They build their self-esteem upon some "thing" of value they find within themselves, which they can then (so they think) offer to God in exchange for His love and acceptance. "Surely God will love me because of this," they will say, "and I can love myself because of this."

Yet in doing so they condemn themselves to a life of futility and unending insecurity. A life bound (to one degree or another) by the constant fear of losing that "thing" (or set of things) which they think has secured God's favor for them, and given them the ability to love and accept themselves as well. What a miserable state of existence!

They fail to grasp the amazing message of the Gospel, which tells us we don't have to find, nor do we need to bring any such "valuable thing" to God in order to "purchase" His love and acceptance. In fact, the amazing message of the Gospel is that even if I have nothing but my brokeneness and sin and evil desires and darkness of soul to bring to Him, he will still receive me if I will simply come.

God's love, after all, is never purchased or secured by anything "good" in us or done by us. We need bring no such thing to God for His acceptance, because we have nothing of the sort to bring! (Isaiah 55:1-13 / Jer. 17:9 / Rom. 3:9-20) Pippert is right, "we are far worse, much more guilty than we could ever have imagined."

Yet that's why the Gospel is such good news! Because it tells me that God loved me in that condition (and still does) -- and nothing can be more liberating! Nothing is a more secure foundation for life and hope and eternity; for a 'healthy self-esteem' or the ability to confront the unknowns of my future, than the knowledge that I was loved and am loved (and fully accepted in Christ) even though the condition of my soul is far worse than I ever could have imagined!

Rejoice in it my friends! You'll be hard-pressed to find news that is better than that!

Pastor Jeff

Identity

Greetings All,

       This weeks "thought" comes from Tim Keller, in his book: The Reason for God.  Keller is by far my favorite contemporary preacher. His messages are always insightful, challenging and filled with the Gospel.  (You can access them on line at:  http://redeemer.com/ or another phenomenal site:   http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/)  This thought has to do with what we base our value in.  It's a small piece from a book well worth your reading!   Enjoy.

       "Everyone gets their identity, their sense of being distinct and valuable, from somewhere or something.  Kierkegaardasserts that human beings were made not only to believe in God in some general way, but to love him supremely, center their lives on him above anything else, and build their very identities on him.  Anything other than this is sin.

       Most people think of sin primarily as 'breaking divine rules,' but Kierkegaard knows that the very first of the Ten Commandments is to 'have no other gods before me.'   So, according to the Bible, the primary way to define sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things.  It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship with God. 

       In the movie Rocky, the title character's girlfriend asks him why it is so important for him to 'go the distance' in the boxing match.  'Then I'll know I'm not a bum,' he replies.  In the movie Chariots of Fire one of the main characters explains why he works so hard at running the hundred-yard dash for the Olympics.  He says that when each race begins, 'I have ten lonely seconds to justify my existence.'  Both of these men looked to athletic achievement as the defining force that gave meaning to their lives... Our need for worth is so powerful that whatever we base our identity and value on we essentially 'deify."

 

       Then after showing how people look to work or career or romance or people for their sense of self, he says (quoting Ernest Becker):

       "'But all this only sets the stage for continual disappointment:  No human relationship can bear this burden of godhood...  If your partner is your 'All' then any shortcoming in him becomes a major threat to you... What is it that we want when we elevate the love partner to this position?  We want to be rid of... our feeling of nothingness... to know our existence has not been in vain.  We want redemption --nothing less.  Needless to say, humans cannot give this.' 

       This is exactly Kierkegaard's point.  Every person must find some way to 'justify their existence,' and stave off the universal fear that they're 'a bum.'  In more traditional cultures, the sense of worth and identity comes from fulfilling duties to family and giving service to society.  In our contemporary individualistic culture, we tend to look to our achievements, our social status, our talents, or our love relationships.  There are an infinite variety of identity bases.  Some get their sense of 'self' from gaining and wielding power, others from human approval, others from self-discipline and control. But everyone is building their identity on something...  Only if your identity is built on God and his love, says Kierkegaard, can you have a self that can venture anything, face anything.  There is no way to avoid this insecurity outside of God... An identity not based on God also leads to deep forms of addiction... A life not centered on God leads to emptiness..." 

       If you're looking for a good read or an insightful explanation of our contemporary cultural situation, this book is a good start! 

                       

                                         In the Service of the Gospel,  Pastor Jeff

 

Dr. Jeffrey F. Evans