“Pure Christianity … leads simply to the annihilation of mankind. It is merely wholehearted Bolshevism, under a tinsel of metaphysics.”

Those words were spoken by mass murderer Adolf Hitler, a demonically possessed leader who was no friend to Christianity or the Jewish people. His twisted vision for humankind demanded the eradication of both. “Do you really believe the masses will ever be Christian again? Nonsense. Never again. The tale is finished … but we can hasten matters. The parsons will be made to dig their own graves,” he once boasted. In the end, Hitler desired the death of anything reminiscent of the God of the Bible. His main target, however, was the Jewish people, because the salvation of humankind came through a Jewish Savior. Hitler could not compete with a sovereign, Creator God, so with full force and vengeance he sought to erase the very people who are the Lord’s chosen possession.

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Hitler and his Nazi regime met their demise in 1945, but the spirit of this demonic movement continues to infiltrate the hearts and minds of those who allow its resurgence around the world. Anti-Semitism did not die with Hitler or his SS guards. In fact, this dangerous ideology has survived, and it lives among us to this very day. It thrives within the chants of demonstrators screaming, “Death to Israel!” and in public statements that declare, “Glory to Palestine, glory to the resistance, and glory to our martyrs!” It festers in the charters of groups such as Hamas, whose covenant blatantly states: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it. … The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’ ” Shockingly, the spirit of anti-Semitism makes itself known in the words of world leaders such as UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who stated at a Security Council meeting on Oct. 24, 2023: “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.” Later, Guterres tried to walk back his comments, but the damage had been done. U.S. lawmakers such as Sen. Ted Cruz called for his resignation, as did Christian author and founder of All Israel News, Joel Rosenberg.

Certainly, those who know God’s Word should not fall prey to the lies and deceptions that anti-Semitism brings. Biblically sound minds understand the Jews’ historical and spiritual connection to God and to the land He gave them as an inheritance. They have read the Bible passages that say, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all peoples who are on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 14:2). But what happens when large populations of people (and even some Christians) are ignorant of what the Bible says about God’s promises to the Jewish people? This is exactly what Adolf Hitler was betting on when he laid the groundwork for his Final Solution. He knew that Christianity and the Bible would be a huge stumbling block to his grand plans for annihilating the Jews.

A biography written by British historian Alan Bullock titled Hitler: A Study in Tyranny reveals: “In Hitler’s eyes, Christianity was a religion fit only for slaves; he detested its ethics in particular. Its teaching, he declared, was a rebellion against the natural law of selection by struggle and the survival of the fittest.” Hitler’s contempt for Christianity became plain as day when, after assuming power in 1933, he told German politician Hermann Rauschning that his goal was “to stamp out Christianity root and branch.” In 1940, Hitler elaborated on his ideas by stating: “The religions are all alike, no matter what they call themselves. They have no future. … Fascism, if it likes, may come to terms with the Church. So shall I. Why not? That will not prevent me from tearing up Christianity root and branch, and annihilating it in Germany. … We will wash off the Christian veneer and bring out a religion peculiar to our race.”

Adolf Hitler realized that Christianity and the Word of God were a dangerous influence. Therefore, he embarked on a mission to change it all. His plan included rewriting the Bible and erasing true Christianity through the creation of a corrupted, false version of both. In this way, he could accomplish two goals at one time: erase all Jewish presence in Christianity, and design a new moral order.

In 1939, Hitler began his quest by establishing the Institute for the Study and Elimination of Jewish Influence on German Church Life, for the purpose of “defense against all the covert Jewry and Jewish being, which has oozed into the Occidental Culture in the course of centuries.” The brainchild behind the institute was founding Nazi Party member and theologian Walter Grundmann, who was put in charge of carrying out the institute’s primary goal: “… to cleanse the Protestant Church of all ceremonies with non-Aryan influences, and to compile alternative scriptures derived from the Nazi ideology and spirit of the Church.”

Susannah Heschel, a professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College and the author of The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, explains that in order to Nazify Christianity, Hitler and his followers needed to change the Bible. But more important, the Jewishness of Jesus had to be erased. In essence, Christ had to be “drained of all Jewishness” in order to perpetuate Hitler’s narrative of an anti-Semitic Jesus. To do this, “Nazi theologians invented a narrative that Galilee, the region in which much of Jesus’ ministry took place, was populated by Assyrians, Iranians, or Indians, many of whom were forcibly converted to Judaism. Jesus, therefore, was actually a secret Aryan, who was opposed and killed by the Jews.”

If this wasn’t enough, the institute omitted the Old Testament from the Bible and then revised the New Testament. One such revision included a genealogy of Jesus from which his Jewish roots were removed. Additionally, in this new version, Jesus was brought to the temple to be given a name, but not to be circumcised. Also, the blessing on the merciful was removed from the Sermon on the Mount. And in the Nazis’ new version of the Bible, Jesus was not portrayed as a Lamb of God, but rather as an “Aryan hero” who spent His time fighting Jews. Furthermore, John 4:22, which says that “salvation is of the Jews,” was omitted, and the words referring to Jesus as “being a Jew” in John 4:9 were changed to read: “… who comes from Judea.” Other publications of the institute removed such Hebrew words as hallelujah and Jehovah. Even Jerusalem was to be renamed “the eternal city of God.”

The institute also took aim at the Ten Commandments. They wanted these pillars of the Christian faith to exemplify Nazi ideals. Thus, “thou shall not kill” and “thou shall not steal” were removed and replaced with Hitleresque guidelines. They also increased the number of commandments from 10 to 12. Below are these rewritten “commandments”:

1. Honor God and believe in him wholeheartedly.
2. Seek out the peace of God.
3. Avoid all hypocrisy.
4. Holy is your health and life.
5. Holy is your well-being and honor.
6. Holy is your truth and fidelity.
7. Honor your father and mother — your children are your aid and your example.
8. Keep the blood pure and your marriage holy.
9. Maintain and multiply the heritage of your forefathers.
10. Be ready to help and forgive.
11. Honor your Führer and master.
12. Joyously serve the people with work and sacrifice.

Such commandments as “Honor your Führer and master” and “keep the blood pure” were a clear indication that Hitler likened himself to God, and they also reinforced the idea that Jewish blood would never be welcome in Hitler’s “kingdom.”

Heschel comments: “The Institute shifted Christian attention from the humanity of God to the divinity of man: Hitler as an individual Christ, the German Volk as a collective Christ, and Christ as Judaism’s deadly opponent.”

Thousands of churches received copies of the institute’s rewritten works, but there were many who rejected its lies. The “Confessing Church” movement, which included strong opponents to Nazism such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, refused to go along with the Third Reich and its evil plan to erase the Jewish people.

Today’s world bears similarities to the days of Hitler and his Nazi cohorts. As we see anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head, and even as we witness artificial intelligence trying to rewrite the Bible, one can only imagine the danger that lurks ahead. As man seeks to become his own god, the goal is to remove Jesus Christ from the picture, or to mold Him into something new. Now, more than ever, Christians must know the Word of God and cling to it like the Old Rugged Cross. The gospel cannot be rewritten, for it is written on our hearts by Jesus, an observant Jew who loves the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

Ever since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel, I have been wearing my Israel-USA friendship pin. One particular day, however, I was in a hurry and decided I didn’t have time to put it on. But as I dashed out the door, the still, soft voice of the Holy Spirit urged me: “Get your pin.” I stopped for a moment, wondering if this was just a fleeting thought. But then I heard it again: “Get your pin.” That was enough for me. I grabbed the pin, putting it on as I walked out the door.

Shortly afterward, I arrived at the local bird store, where my cockatiel would get his wings clipped. As I stood there waiting for the technician to come out, I noticed a woman looking at me and smiling. Pointing at my pin, she said: “Thank you for wearing that. It means a lot to me.” I could see the tears in her eyes as she explained: “I’m Jewish and my mother is in Israel right now. She’s so frightened. Sometimes it feels like nobody cares. The world doesn’t understand.” She also shared her concerns about anti-Semitism and how its sudden rise made her feel saddened and alone. At that moment, I realized why the Holy Spirit reminded me to wear the pin. Though it was a small gesture, it made an important statement to someone who needed to know that there are still people who care about the Jews. I immediately told the woman that there are intercessors connected with IFA who are praying for the Jewish people and for the peace of Jerusalem. This made the woman very happy, and she was eager to hear details about what Christians are doing to help.

Intercessors, we cannot let the dark moments of history repeat themselves while on our watch. We must continue to read our Bibles and to profess the truth to others. We cannot be influenced by the anti-Semitism of the liberal media, world leaders, or those who simply do not know or understand the Word of God. The Jewish people often say, “Never Again,” but we too must be willing to do our part to never let the spirit of Hitler and Nazism rise up again on our watch. We have an “Eisenhower moment” in which we can expose what has happened in Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks of Hamas. Olivier Melnick, a Messianic Jewish believer with Chosen People Ministries and a descendant of Holocaust survivors, writes: “The Jewish people need to know that there are Christians who are ready to commit to their rescue and safety. Where is the Church when the pro-Hamas people are chanting ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free!’ or ‘Gas the Jews!’ ?” He adds: “Israel needs you, the Jewish people need you, and now is not the time to sit on the fence!”

Join me to pray:

Lord Jesus, help us, as the Body of Christ, to squelch the fires of anti-Semitism by proclaiming the Word of God and standing up for the Jewish people. Tune our hearts and minds to crucial lessons from history, so that the wrongs and atrocities of the past will not be repeated in the present or the future. 

How are you praying about anti-Semitism? Share Bible verses that testify of God’s love for the Jewish people!

Angela Rodriguez is an author, blogger, and home-schooling mom who studies the historical and biblical connections between Israel and the U.S. You can visit her blogs at 67owls.com and 100trumpets.com. She is the author of Psalm 91: Under the Wings of Jesus, and her first children’s book, Hallelujah’s Great Ride, was released in September 2023. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.