Obama – We can create Kingdom of God on Earth
Obama depicted as Christ
In October of 2007, Obama declared at a Apostolic Church in
Greenville, South Carolina that he would create a millennial kingdom of
God on earth. The church is Redemption World Outreach Center.
Some
Pentecostals believe that the kingdom will be a real physical kingdom, a
theocracy ruled by men, and this appears to be such a sect. The
doctrine that the millennial kingdom will be a man-made physical kingdom
on earth created by political or military means is called
Dominion Theology.Obama’s Kingdom of God on Earth will, of course, be built with your tax dollars.
The doctrine of Obama’s own former church, based on Black Liberation
Theology, has a similar concept that the millennial kingdom will be a
physical kingdom, created by men with the advent of a black messiah, who
will be a real, flesh-and-bones man. Black Liberation Theology holds
that destruction of America, white society and the traditional Christian
church will bring on the millennial kingdom. Below is a clip of Obama
prophesying his creation of a millennial kingdom, only a few months
before his nomination for the presidency.
Obama heralds his Creation of a “Kingdom” at Redemption World Outreach Center.
.
Black Liberation Theology of Obama’s pseudo-Christian church was
inspired by black nationalist doctrine, as even its name indicates,
designed to be the state religion of the black “nation.” Obama is a
kind of black nationalist, who comes from an ethnic Muslim background
and has many indirect contacts to radical groups in the Middle East via
Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, his family and others. Black
Nationalists have an accretionary belief system that blends religious
beliefs together and have traditionally seen Islam as the natural,
original religion of blacks, even when they do not themselves explicitly
practice Islam.
The Black Liberation Theology of Obama’s church is, in fact, largely
derived from the hateful theology of Farrakhan’s black nationalist sect,
the Nation of Islam, and grafted onto a pseudo-Christian facade that
has little to do with traditional Christianity. In fact, the doctrine
condemns
traditional Christianity as being an apostate white religion, designed
with its promise of a reward in paradise in the afterlife to keep blacks
oppressed in this world. Black nationalist religions promise a reward
in a physical millennial Utopia brought on by the destruction of the
white “oppressors” and his tools of oppression, American democracy and
the so-called white church.
Redemption World Outreach Center
The “minister” of Redemption World Outreach Center is Ron Carpenter.
Carpenter motivates his followers by promising them wealth that the
“enemy” is taken from them or is preventing them from receiving. This
is a term that Obama has himself used to describe his political
opponents, who oppose his messianic wealth-redistribution schemes. It
is generally used by black nationalists to indicate the “white devil.”
Carpenter appears to be using it in a slightly broader sense, though, to
mean the existing system or those with financial means. This is the
kind of church that Obama favors, one with a social theology based on
exploitation of the jealousy of the have-nots and polarization of
society into hostile, opposing camps in order to maximize your own
power. Below is a clip of one of Carpenter’s “services,” in which he
whips the crowd into a frenzied mass hysteria reminiscent of medieval
times, urging them to “get angry.”
Ron Carpenter at Powerfest
.
Redemption World Outreach Center has a annual conference called
“Kingdom Momentum.” A featured speaker at the Kingdom momentum
conference has been Myles Monroe. This is a clip of him being
interviewed by Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church. He explains a
little in the clip what the vision of the Kingdom is. That it is a
real kingdom and the
opposite of democracy. He also explains that the “king” is king by birth and cannot be voted out or removed.
Myles Monroe describes his vision of the Kingdom of God on Earth
.
Benny Hinn, the interviewer, is a Pentecostal television evangelist and a faith healer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9t6abs7uPg
now here is hitlor
http://relevantrhetoric.com/wp-content/uploads/Hitlers-Rhetorical-Theory.pdf
Hitler compared to God/Jesus/Christians
by Jim Walker
- Originated: 20 May 1998
- Additions made: 29 Nov. 2005
- Indented quotes in green
Introduction
The history of Adolf Hitler reported by
Christian authors usually attempt to show him as un-Christian
or avoid discussions of his religion altogether. This should
not surprise anyone considering that publishing in a Christianized
country tends to protect itself from any stigma of wrongdoing
and could very well hurt book sales, not to mention damage the
reputation of its authors. Even many Jewish authors must take
care not to offend the religious sensibilities of their audiences.
Unfortunately most books about Hitler, from a religious
viewpoint, come as bowdlerized accounts containing flagrant inaccuracies.
There occur many versions, some of which view Hitler with combinations of
occultism, atheism, anti-religion, anti-Christian, etc. Some authors blend
the anti-clerical views of Martin Bormann or the mystical beliefs of Rosenberg
with Hitler in an attempt to rewrite history. Almost all the sources for Hitler's
alleged apostasy come from Bormann's edited version of Hitler's Table Talk
(for a closer examination, see "Hitler's table talk and other extraneous
sources"). But Hitler was not Bormann or Rosenberg and they were
not him. Hitler abscised himself from the views of Bormann and Rosenberg and
demanded support for his view of "positive" Christianity as was
written into the Nazi party program. If you examine the historical record
with raw honesty, you will find that these counter-Christian claims about
Hitler simply do not hold up.
Fortunately, I am neither a Christian,
Jew, or of any religious persuasion. Neither do I have a reputation
or sales to protect. Although I am certainly not the first to
point out Hitler's Christianity, from my non-religious point
of view, I can present a look at Hitler's belief-system without
a religious bias to get in the way. If the following offends
anyone, then I can, on reasoned grounds, declare that it can
only come from the facts themselves and not from any feeling
I may have against Christianity. In fact, although I see great
dangers of beliefs, especially those of violent belief-systems
such as Christianity, I have no ill feelings toward Christians
themselves, anymore than I do drug addicts, even though I may
abash the dangers of drugs. So from this viewpoint, I aim to
expose Hitler's Christianity in the expectation to open the door
somewhat to the light of examination, not only for Christians
to see (if they can) but to anyone who has a concern for the
mechanism of belief and the dangers it can produce.
My main aim intends to educate without
resorting to ad homenims or dishonesty. Indeed, it will take
certain courage and honesty for any Christian to read this without
feeling offended. However, I admire anyone who attempts to read
this, and hope that they will do further research, check the
sources, and reserve judgment.
My information comes not from my beliefs
or my interpretation of his beliefs. The information comes directly
from the very words of Hitler himself, from his private notes,
conversations, writings, speeches and the people who knew him.
I will show that he clearly reveals his Christianity, not only
from his paraphrasing of the Bible, but from his confession as
a Christian, his triune god-like actions and how his faith parallels
the belief of many Christians today.
I have clippped some of the Hitler quotes for brevity.
For a fuller quote, go to the page on Mein Kampf quotes (click here)
or to Hitler's speeches (click here).
Hitler, the Christian
Hitler not only got brought up as a
Catholic Christian, but he expressed his Christian views into
adulthood, including his period as Chancellor of the German Third
Reich. One only need read Mein Kampf to see the extent of his
Biblical beliefs. The German populace knew well about Hitler's
book and it became a best-seller second only to the Bible. Furthermore,
Hitler expressed his Christian feelings even more intensely in
his speeches and proclamations throughout his power reign.
Although some might counter that Hitler's
admission to Christianity, by itself, does not make one a Christian,
how else can an individual convey to another his religion except
from their own confession? One of the tenants of Christian belief,
indeed the definition of a Christian, comes from the Pauline
epistiles in regards to faith in Jesus:
Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of
the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
-Galatians 2:16
-
- To declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law.
-
- -Romans 3:26-28
|
Paul, by declaring faith in Jesus
over law, effectively separated Christianity from Judaism. It
came from these Pauline declarations that first defined Christianity.
Belief in Jesus serves as the only requirement for membership
into the Christian community. Christianity does not require adhering
to Old Testament laws or membership to any Church or abstaining
from evil deeds. One need only have faith in Jesus for its justification,
period.
-
- Although Hitler did not attend church
regularly and later criticized the Church for their rejection
of his reformation of a unified German Church, at no time did
Hitler criticize God or Jesus. He always maintained an honor
and belief in Jesus. This alone put him as a Christian believer.
But Hitler went beyond just belief in Jesus; he devoted his entire
political life to deeds aimed at creating a race of people in
the pure image of God.
-
- Some claim that Hitler lied when promoting
religion, for political reasons (without citing a shred of evidence),
but nothing in the historical record indicates this, nor would
there appear any reason for him to do so. Even if he lied in
Mein Kampf, why would he continue to consider himself a Christian
after he held absolute German power? Why spend so much valuable
resources to rid Germany of Jews if not from some profound justification?
Hate of Jews alone cannot explain it. The hate must stem from
some source and the historical record shows that anti-Judaism
had long lived in the minds of Christians ever since Paul separated
his community of believers from the law and people of Judaism.
Just as revealingly, not only did Hitler present his religious
beliefs in his speeches, but his own private notes reveal the influence of
the Bible, long before he came into power. In one of his notes, he describes
the Bible as the monumental history of mankind and used the old testament
race laws as the foundation for his views against the Jews, which later turned
into the Nazi Nuremberg race laws [Maser,
p.282]
Many Christians have attempted to destroy
Hitler's claimed Christianity by pointing out that his actions
did not appear Christian-like (whatever that means). Therefore,
so the hypothesis goes, no "true" Christian would cause
"evil" deeds. But again, the Bible does not define
Christianity in terms of deeds regardless of how good or evil
they seem. Yet it came through his very deeds that Hitler confessed
his work for the Lord:
Hence today I believe that
I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator:
by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work
of the Lord.
-Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Hitler's work of the Lord only agrees with
Biblical scripture:
And whatsoever ye do in
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by him.
-Colossians 3:17
|
Hitler not only believed in Jesus (which
alone made him a Christian) but his work against the Jews came
straight from Christian theological reasoning just as had many
Christian saints of the past. His Christian expressions of "Lord
God," "Living Christ," and "Lord and Savior"
indicates his acknowledgement of Jesus as God and his acceptance
of a resurrected Christ (for what else can "Living"
and "Savior" mean except from a resurrected state?).
Hitler also believed in the supernatural concept of life after
death. In Mein Kampf he wrote, "a religion in the
Aryan sense cannot be imagined which lacks the conviction of
survival after death in some form."
Another indication of Hitler's beliefs
about religion comes from his private library of numerous books.
Although most of Hitler's books came as gifts from writers and
publishers, those where he penciled and underlined sections reveal,
not only the books that he read, but also those that he commented
on and had an interest in. Timothy W. Ryback, who examined Hitler's
books, found more than 130 books devoted to spirituality and
religion including the teachings of Jesus Christ. Some of the
titles included, Sunday Meditations; On Prayer;
A Primer for Religious Questions, Large and Small; Large
Truths About Mankind, the World and God; a German translation
of E. Stanley Jones's 1931 best seller, The Christ of the
Mount; and a 500-page work on the life and teachings of Jesus,
published in 1935 under the title The Son: The Evangelical
Sources and Pronouncements of Jesus of Nazareth in Their Original
Form and With the Jewish Influences. Ryback also found a
leather-bound tome -- with WORTE CHRISTI, or "Words of Christ,"
embossed in gold on the cover -- According to Ryback, it "was
well worn, the silky, supple leather peeling upward in gentle
curls along the edges. Human hands had obviously spent a lot
of time with this book.... I scanned the book for marginalia
that might suggest a close study of the text. A white-silk bookmark,
preserved in its original perfection between pages 22 and 23
(only the portion exposed to the air had deteriorated), lay across
a description of the Last Supper as related by Saint John. A
series of pages that followed contained only a single aphorism
each: 'Believe in God' (page 31), 'Have no fear, just believe'
(page 52), 'If you believe, anything is possible' (page 53),
and so on, all the way to page 95, which offers the solemn wisdom
'Many are called but few are chosen.'" [Ryback]
After reading Hitler's book and his speeches,
one cannot help but realize that Hitler believed in fate and
the guiding hand of Providence. Like many powerful religious
people, he thought of himself as a sort of messiah, chosen by
God. In 1943, while the war still raged on, the U.S. Office of
Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA) commissioned the psychoanalyst,
Walter Langer, to develop a "psychological profile"
of Adolf Hitler. Langer looked at all the, then, available material
about Hitler, including Mein Kampf, his speeches, and
interviews with former Hitler associates. Langer concluded:
| A survey
of all the evidence forces us to conclude that Hitler believes
himself destined to become an Immortal Hitler, chosen by God
to be the New Deliverer of Germany and the Founder of a new social
order for the world. He firmly believes this and is certain that
in spite of all the trials and tribulations through which he
must pass he will finally attain that goal. The one condition
is that he follow the dictates of the inner voice that have guided
and protected him in the past. |
Langer hypothesized the most likely scenario
if Hitler faced defeat where, in a "prescient moment,"
Hitler's belief in divine protection would compel him to fight
to the bitter end, "drag[ging] a world with us -- a world
in flames," and ultimately, he would take his own life.
[Ryback]
Fortunately Hitler did not drag us with
him in a world of flames but Langer pegged Hitler's profile.
Puzzling as it may seem, some Christians want to see a
suicidal Hitler as "evidence" for his alleged apostasy because,
according to Catholic doctrine, the act of suicide results in "mortal
sin." But these same accusers don't seem to realize that Hitler's suicide
occurred well after his preemptive war and the Jewish holocaust. Ironically
by using the mortal-sin argument, they have placed Hitler into Christianity
as a pre-Christian, the very Christianized Hitler that did the damage in the
first place! Of course none of this matters because, according to Christian
beliefs (Protestant or Catholic), regardless of how sinful one lives, sin
alone cannot excuse a person from Christianity, even though it may keep you
from Heaven (whatever that means).
Unfortunately, either through ignorance,
subterfuge or sheer self-deceit, modern Christians will adhere
to anything to escape a religious Hitler. Christians
love to point out that Hitler imprisoned priests and nuns, some
of them dying in concentration camps; therefore he must have
had anti-Christian feelings, so the reasoning goes. But the Nazis
imprisoned people of many faiths, including a few Nazis who stood
in Hitler's way. But the Nazis condemned these people for their
political views against the NSDAP government, never
for their Christian religious beliefs.
Although Hitler may have deluded and blinded
himself by belief, he appeared brutally honest in his fanaticism
and beliefs. Nowhere do we find him denouncing Jesus; nothing
in the record shows him expressing hatred toward Christians for
their beliefs; not at anytime does he destroy Christian churches
or attempt to eliminate the Christian religion. Even though Hitler
had political problems with the hierarchy of the churches, he
spent inordinate amount of time attempting to unite the Churches
into one German Reich Church and spoke for establishing what
he called real Christianity. His reach for uniting Christianity
brought conflict within the denominations and created political
divisions. It came from this that Hitler sometimes spoke against
Christianity as a power structure, but never against Christianity
as a belief system. (Note that many prominent Christians, throughout
history, had spoken against their own religions, or other competing
Christian religions). Although the historical record does show
that, along with Jews and gypsies, a number of Christians did
die in extermination camps, these death sentences resulted from
their political views against Nazism, not because of their
religion, faith in God, or because Hitler hated Christians. His
religious reasoning for killing people aimed at Jews, not Christians
and this included Jews who converted to Christianity.
If imprisoning or killing Christians constituted
a condition for determining anti-Christianity, then we would
have to consider virtually all governments or leaders of society
who called for death sentences against Christians, as anti-Christian
as well. Note that the majority of criminals in U.S. prisons,
as well as those we execute, live and die as Christians. Does
that make our prosecutors anti-Christian? Should we consider
George W. Bush anti-Christian just because his Texas agenda for
the death penalty put many Christian criminals to death? Of course
not, and neither can one use this reasoning as an argument against
Hitler's Christianity. If, indeed, Hitler imprisoned priests
or Christians for religious reasons, then where does this evidence
exist? What proclamation or religious belief does Hitler cite
to justify this hearsay belief?
Hitler makes his position clearly known
about priests violating state concerns when he said:
So long as they concern
themselves with their religious problems the State does not concern
itself with them. But so soon as they attempt by any means whatsoever--
by letters, Encyclica, or otherwise-- to arrogate to themselves
rights which belong to the State alone we shall force them back
into their proper spiritual, pastoral activity.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech
delivered in Berlin on the May Day festival, 1937 [Baynes]
|
Hitler fully realized that his political
enemies were making accusations against him and although he didn't
have to, he explicitly makes his position known about his feelings
for religion:
Amongst the accusations
which are directed against Germany in the so called democracies
is the charge that the National Socialist State is hostile to
religion. In answer to that charge I should like to make before
the German people the following solemn declaration:
1. No one in Germany has
in the past been persecuted because of his religious views (Einstellung),
nor will anyone in the future be so persecuted....
The Churches are the greatest
landed proprietors after the State... Further, the Church in
the National Socialist State is in many ways favoured in regard
to taxation, and for gifts, legacies, &c., it enjoys immunity
from taxation.
It is therefore, to put
mildly-- effrontery when especially foreign politicians make
bold to speak of hostility to religion in the Third Reich....
I would allow myself only
one question: what contributions during the same period have
France, England, or the United States made through the State
from the public funds?
3. The National Socialist
State has not closed a church, nor has it prevented the holding
of a religious service, nor has it ever exercised any influence
upon the form of a religious service. It has not exercised any
pressure upon the doctrine nor on the profession of faith of
any of the Confessions. In the National Socialist State anyone
is free to seek his blessedness after his own fashion....
There are ten thousands
and ten thousands of priests of all the Christian Confessions
who perform their ecclesiastical duties just as well as or probably
better than the political agitators without ever coming into
conflict with the laws of the State....
This State has only once
intervened in the internal regulation of the Churches, that is
when I myself in 1933 endeavoured to unite the weak and divided
Protestant Churches of the different States into one great and
powerful Evangelical Church of the Reich. That attempt failed
through the opposition of the bishops of some States; it was
therefore abandoned. For it is in the last resort not our task
to defend or even to strengthen the Evangelical Church through
violence against its own representatives....
But on one point it is
well that there should be no uncertainty: the German priest as
servant of God we shall protect, the priest as political enemy
of the German State we shall destroy.
-Adolf Hitler, a speech in the Reichstag
on 30 Jan. 1939 [Baynes]
|
- Hitler emphasized that he attached the
greatest importance to cooperation with the Catholic church and
spoke of himself as a Catholic:
- I am absolutely convinced
of the great power and the deep significance of the Christian
religion, and consequently will not permit any other founders
of religion (Religionsstifter). Therefore I have turned
against Ludendoriff and separated myself from him; therefore
I reject Rosenberg's book. That book is written by a Protestant.
It is not a party book. It is not written by him as a member
of the party. The Protestants can settle matters with him.
-
- My desire is that no confessional
conflict arise. I must act correctly to both confessions. I will
not tolerate a Kulturkampf.... I stand by my word. I will protect
the rights and freedom of the church and will not permit them
to be touched. You need have no apprehensions concerning the
freedom of the church.
-
- -Hitler [quoted from Helmreich,
p.241]
|
As for schools, it was a matter of utmost
importance to the Catholic hierarchy, and agreed to by the Reich
Concordat between the Nazis and the Vatican. Hitler went on in
this chilling observation:
Secular schools can never
be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction
and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation
is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion
must be derived from faith. from our point of view as representatives
of the state, we need believing people. A dark cloud threatens
from Poland. We have need of soldiers, believing solders. Believing
solders are the most valuable ones. They give their all. Therefore
we will maintain the confessional schools in order to train believing
people through the schools, but this depends upon having truly
believing teachers, not by chance Marxists who do not stand fully
by their religious faith, as teachers.
-Hitler, [quoted from Helmreich,
p.241]
|
Notice how Hitler spoke of the schools
in the way Right Wing Christians do today in their attempt to
take control of public and private schools.
Although there did occur secret anti-Church
actions carried out (mostly by Bormann and Roesnburg), such as
requiring the resignations of the priests from the party, but
when Hitler found out about this, Hitler ruled that forced resignations
and expulsions of the clergy from the party should stop. Hitler
himself ordered his chief associates, Göring and Goebbels
to retain their church membership as did he too remain a member
until his death.
Although Hitler officially held Catholic status, his actual
religious views resembled that of Protestantism. He rejected many of the political
Catholic teachings and moved toward a Protestant view of Christianity. After
all, Germany gave birth to Protestantism which reflected a more Aryan view
compatible to Hitler's "positive" view of Christianity. Hitler had
confessed to Albert Speer, "Through me the Protestant Church could become
the established church, as in England." [from Richard Steigmann-Gall's
The
Holy Reich] This Protestant view, no doubt, gave fuel to the modern
(and ignorant) idea that Hitler opposed Christianity. Of course Catholics
had, up to that time, always opposed Protestantism as a form of True Christianity,
but they never accused Hitler of Christian apostasy. Today, however, the Catholic
propaganda uses Hitler's favoritism toward Protestantism as a bases to make
him look anti-Christian (while never mentioning his Protestant views) when
in reality Hitler opposed political Catholicism when it conflicted
with the Nazi state.
If you doubt the sincerity of non-Christians
to make claims about Hitler's belief in God, or from Hitler himself,
then on whose authority could you possibly derive the evidence?
I submit that the majority of believing German Christians believed
wholeheartedly in Hitler's sincerity toward God. If one cannot
take the word from fellow believers, the what does that say about
Christian beliefs? Moreover, Catholic and Protestant leaders
felt convinced of Hitler's belief. As an example, the Catholic
Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich visited Hitler at his mountain retreat
at Obersalzburg in November 1936. Faulhaber observed:
Without doubt the chancellor
lives in faith in God. He recognizes Christianity as the foundation
of Western culture.
-Cardinal Faulhaber [quoted from Helmreich,
p.279]
|
And if you think that the Church hierarchy
did not feel convinced of Hitler's belief in God and Christianity,
then why oh why would Pope Pius XII in 1939 instruct Cardinal
Bertram to send a birthday message to Hitler: "warmest congratulations
to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in
Germany" which was added, "fervent prayers which the
Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars."?
These greetings became a tradition and were sent every April
20th.
If you cannot take the word of Hitler's
own words in his claim of Christianity, or contemporary Christian
believers, or bishops, or cardinals or Popes, then what other
Christian authority could you possibly turn to?
The rest of the following text aims to
show that, not only did Hitler's actions compare with the actions
of the alleged Jesus, but that his deeds appeared similar to
God-like actions in the Bible. Indeed Hitler's beliefs and deeds
resemble the actions of many acknowledged prominent Christians
of the past and present. The comparisons to God and Jesus come
from the Bible and the comparison to past Christian deeds, comes
from the history of Christians themselves.
Comparing Hitler to the Biblical God
Except the Lord build the
house, they labour in main that build it: except the Lord keep
the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
-Psalms 127:1
|
Hitler had familiarity with this verse
and saw God as his aid to his German Reich when he said:
Except the Lord built the
house they labour in vain.... The truth of that text was proved
if one looks at the house of which the foundations were laid
in 1918 and which since then has been in building.... The world
will not help, the people must help itself. Its own strength
is the source of life. That strength the Almighty has given us
to use; that in it and through it we may wage the battle of our
life.... The others in the past years have not had the blessing
of the Almighty-- of Him Who in the last resort, whatever man
may do, holds in His hands the final decision. Lord God, let
us never hesitate or play the coward, let us never forget the
duty which we have taken upon us.... We are all proud that through
God's powerful aid we have become once more true Germans.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in March 1933
[Baynes]
|
And God said, Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness...
-Genesis 1:26
|
Hitler took this Biblical belief to heart;
he held justification for a superior race on the foundation of
his belief that man should fit God's image:
A folkish state must therefore
begin by raising marriage from the level of a continuous defilement
of the race, and give it the consecration of an institution which
is called upon to produce images of the Lord and not monstrosities
halfway between man and ape.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Genesis Chapter 3 speaks of the expulsion
from paradise and Hitler takes notice of this:
...the fall of man in paradise
has always been followed by his expulsion.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
With a belief in the dilution of the races,
Hitler prophesied that if no one did anything about the purification
of the races, the image of God would decrease:
But if out of smugness,
or even cowardice, this battle is not fought to its end, then
take a look at the peoples five hundred years from now. I think
you will find but few images of God, unless you want to profane
the Almighty.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Hitler's Biblical beliefs shows clearly
where he got the notion for offensive action:
...the world has no reason
for fighting in our defense, and as a matter of principle God
does not make cowardly nations free...
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Of course we well know that Hitler wanted
to get rid of the Jews but how many Christians realize that his
main justification aimed to protect the image of the Lord?
Certainly we don't have
to discuss these matters with the Jews, the most modern inventors
of this cultural perfume. Their whole existence is an embodied
protest against the aesthetics of the Lord's image.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
And it came to pass, that
at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the
firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the
firstborn of cattle.
And Pharaoh rose up in
the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and
there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where
there was not one dead.
-Exodus 12:29-30
|
Although no archeological evidence exists
for the Biblical slaughter of first-borns, Hitler actions compare
with the Lord's atrocities reported in the Bible. Through eugenics,
Hitler killed tens of thousands of children whom he felt did
not deserve to live. Not only did first-borns get exterminated,
but mid and later-borns as well.
Note that German eugenics did not originate
with Hitler. Rather the idea of eugenics as a moral necessity
began in the 1920s by theologians who advocated eugenics
legislation. Moreover, many German Protestants felt comfortable
with the racialist precepts that underlay Nazi eugenicism. This
fit in with their belief of physical abnormality as an index
of sin, a sign of moral and social degeneration. The Austrian
born Hitler simply incorporated the idea that existed within
Austrian-German Christians for years. Fully half of all victims
of the Nazi's euthanasia action came from church institutions.
[Steigmann-Gall]
The LORD is a man of war.
. .
-Exodus 15:3
|
Hitler, also a man of war, caused World
War II by himself.
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.
-Deuteronomy 2:34
|
Hitler took cities as well as countries.
Although he did not destroy all the people of every city, his
actions resulted in death to many men, women and children.
Now go and smite Amalek,
and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but
slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel
and ass.
-I Samuel 15:3
|
Hitler attempted to utterly destroy the
Jews and all that they had and had millions of men, women, and
infants executed. As for animals, Hitler had far more compassion
than the Biblical God; he felt kindness for animals.
(Note: In no sense do I mean that Hitler
fulfilled any prophesy, mind you, but rather that Hitler's actions
remained consistent with the actions of the alleged God described
in the Bible.)
Let burning coals fall
upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that
they rise not up again.
-Psalm 140:10
|
Through Hitler's orders, millions of people
(them) got burned in incinerators and cast into pits.
I make peace, and create
evil: I the LORD do all these things.
-Isaiah 45:7
|
Hitler created peace when it suited him
and created death and destruction when it fit his needs, which
by Christian standards means "evil." Hitler did all
these things in similar God-like actions reported in the Bible.
Proclaim ye this among
the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the
men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares
into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak
say, I am strong.
-Joel 3:9-10
|
Hitler appealed to the German populace,
building up their military might, and prepared them them for
war:
Their sword will become
our plow, and from the tears of war the daily bread of future
generations will grow.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Nuremberg Race Laws
It should also enlighten one to realize
that the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935, signed by Hitler, and according
to Julius Streicher, got based on the Old Testament laws forbidding
marriages between Jews and non-Jews.
These race laws forbade marriages between Jews and subjects
of the state of Germany and that Marriages between Jews and Germans became
invalid. Even extramarital intercourse between Jews and German citizens, or
related blood got deemed illegal. These laws began the elimination of Jews
from Germany which later escalated into a holocaust.
During the trials against Nazi war criminals,
Julius Streicher admitted that he influenced the racial laws
and said the following:
I have written such articles
again and again; and in my articles I have repeatedly emphasized
the fact that the Jews should serve as an example to every race,
for they created the racial law for themselves-- the law of Moses,
which says, 'If you come into a foreign land you shall not take
unto yourself foreign women.' And that, Gentlemen, is of tremendous
importance in judging the Nuremberg Laws.. These laws of the
Jews were taken as a model for these laws. When after centuries,
the Jewish lawgiver Ezra demonstrated that notwithstanding many
Jews had married non-Jewish women, these marriages were dissolved.
That was the beginning of Jewry which, because it introduced
these racial laws, has survived throughout the centuries, while
all other races and civilizations have perished.
-
- -Trial
of The Major War Criminals Before the International Military
Tribunal, Nuremberg, 1945, Vol. 12)
|
If anyone doubts the Biblical laws against
marriage, one need only read: Genesis 28:1, 6; Deuteronomy 7:1-3;
Leviticus 20: 2, 26; Ezra 9:1-2, 12; Nehemiah 13: 23-30.
A few of the Ezra verses that Streicher
refers to, read as follows:
Now when these things were
done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and
the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from
the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations,
even the Cannaanites, the Hitites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites,
the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
- For they have taken of
their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the
holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands:
yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this
trespass. (Ezra 9:1,:2)
-
- And now, O our God, what
shall we say after this? for we have forsaken they commandments. Which
thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The
land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with
the filthiness of the people of the lands with their abominations,
which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither
take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or
their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good
of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children
for ever. (Ezra 9:10-12)
|
We know that the Bible influenced Hitler's views
on race laws because Hitler says so in his own private notes. In one of these
notes, Hitler included his religious views of race laws under the outline
of The Bible-- Monumental History of Mankind. (see the transcript by clicking
here).
Given this frightening information, it
should come to no surprise why Christians and even Jews, for
fear of condemning their own religion, had not mentioned this
embarrassing revelation in their defense against Nazism.
Comparing Hitler to the Biblical Jesus
-
-
Hitler with Whip
|
My feelings as
a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It
points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only
by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were
and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth!
was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless
love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which
tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the
scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders.
How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison.
To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize
more profoundly than ever before in the fact that it was for
this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian
I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the
duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.... And if there is
anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it
is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also
a duty to my own people.... When I go out in the morning and
see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched
faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil
if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two
thousand years ago, turn against those by whom to-day this poor
people is plundered and exploited.
--Adolf Hitler, in his speech
on 12 April 1922
|
Hitler not only believed he did the Lords
work, but he thought of himself as a sort of saviour of Germany,
and emulated Jesus of the New Testament. His friend Dietrich
Eckart told of overhearing Hitler showing off to a lady by denouncing
Berlin in extravagant terms: ". . . the luxury, the perversion,
the iniquity, the wanton display and the Jewish materialism disgusted
me so thoroughly that I was almost beside myself. I nearly imagined
myself to be Jesus Christ when he came to his Father's Temple
and found the money changers." Eckart described Hitler as
"brandishing his whip and exclaimed that it was his mission
to descend upon the capital like a Christ and scourge the corrupt."
[Toland p. 143]
(See John 2:14-15 where Jesus drove out
the moneychangers with a "scourge of small cords" [a
whip]).
The following examples show further how
Hitler compared with Jesus of the Bible.
Think not that I am come
to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
-Jesus in Matthew 10:34
|
Who can deny that Hitler also did not send
peace on earth? Through the sword of his speeches and commands,
he created the most destructive war in human history to this
date.
Suppose ye that I am come
to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
-Jesus in Luke 12:51
|
Hitler not only divided countries on earth,
but divided Jewish families, many times setting family members
against each other.
If my kingdom were from
this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being
handed over to the Jews.
-Jesus in John 18:36 [NRSV]
|
Of course Hitler lived in this world and,
indeed, his followers fought for him against the Jews.
On the 4th of June, 1922, as Hitler entered
Stadelheim prison for inciting a riot, he compared himself with
Jesus when he told his followers:
| Two thosand
years ago the mob of Jerusalem dragged a man to execution in
just this way. [Toland, p.115] |
Ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
-Matthew 23:33
|
Hitler took Jesus to heart when he said:
My feelings as a Christian
points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to
the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers,
recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to
fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as
a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian
and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the
Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive
out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific
was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day,
after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more
profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that
He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have
no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to
be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything
which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the
distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty
to my own people.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April
1922 [Baynes]
|
And when ye shall hear
of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things
must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes
in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these
are the beginnings of sorrows.
-Jesus in Mark 13:7-8
|
Although Hitler did not take it to such
Biblical extremes, He certainly did not appear troubled by war.
He considered war a necessity (needs be) to save Germany for
his future Reich.
But those mine enemies,
which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither,
and slay them before me.
-Jesus in Luke 19:27
|
Anyone not conforming to political desires
of Hitler would either get executed or imprisoned.
And I will kill her children
with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which
searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one
of you according to your works.
-Jesus in Revelation 2:23
|
Hitler killed the children of other faiths (her children),
especially of the Jewish religion during the 20th century holocaust.
Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of
Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
-Revelation 20:6
|
Many of Hitler's followers thought that
his "Third Reich" would last a thousand years, and
in the autumn of 1941, at Wolfsschanze, Hitler said:
| I am Fuhrer
of a Reich that will last for a thousand years to come. No power
can shake the German Reich now. Divine Providence has willed
it that I carry the fulfillment of a Germanic task. |
In an interview with Richard Breiting,
Hitler said:
We judge by the spiritual
energy which a people is capable of putting forth, which will
enable it in ten years to recapture what it has lost in a thousand
years of warfare. I intend to set up a thousand-year Reich and
anyone who supports me in this battle is a fellow-fighter for
a unique spiritual-- I would almost say divine-- creation.
Adolf Hilter, June 1931, [Calic]
|
For Jesus himself testified
, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
-John 4:44
|
And Hitler wrote:
...that is why the prophet
seldom has any honor in his own country.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
But when thou doest alms,
let not thy left hand know what they right hand doeth.
-Jesus in Matthew 6:3
|
And Hitler:
First, therefore, he goes
about making up to the people for his previous sins against them.
He begins his career as the 'benefactor' of mankind. Since his
new benevolence has a practical foundation, that the left hand
should not know what the right hand giveth; no, whether he likes
it or not, he must reconcile himself to letting as many people
as possible know how deeply he feels the sufferings of the masses
and all the sacrifices that he himself is making to combat them.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Ye know that after two
days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed
to be crucified.
-Matthew 26:2
|
In the last days of the war, Hitler realized
that the end would come. Many of his generals betrayed him and
he committed suicide.
Comparing Hitler to Christians
Although many Christians may want to deny
it, there simply occurs no way to honestly avoid the destructive
actions by Christians throughout the history of Christianity.
Not only did many prominent Christians perform or condone atrocities,
but the established Christian denominations supported wars, inquisitions,
and exterminations of other faiths and even heretical sects of
their own religion. Adolph Hitler simply acted as one of many
along a long line of Christians who used his beliefs as a foundation
for his actions.
Hitler grew up in the anti-Semitic Austrian/German
Catholic culture of his time. A priest baptized him. He got educated
in a Catholic monastery under the schooling of Padre Bernhard
Groner. On the way to the monastery, Hitler had to pass by a
stone arch which had a carved monastery's coat of arms which
included a swastika (which some speculate gave him the inspiration
for the Nazi cross). He attended the choir. He attended religious
services and festivals. An abbot became his idol and he hoped
to join the Church as a priest. As a child he used to wear a
kitchen apron pretending himself a priest giving sermons. In
1904 Hitler got confirmed at the Linz Cathedral. [Toland] As
he grew older, other Christians influenced him, Catholic and
Protestant alike. He always paid his church taxes on time. He
remained a member in good standing of the Church of Rome until
his death. And in 1941 Hitler said:
| "I am
now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." |
Although Hitler had a strong Catholic childhood, he slowly
became more Protestant-like as he grew older. He read evangelist literature
and he greatly admired Martin Luther (a Jew hater). Many of his actions fulfilled
what Luther desired in his book "On
the Jews and their lies" (1543). It appears clear from Hitler's own
writings that his anti-Semitism came directly from the community of Christians:
I was not in agreement
with the sharp anti-Semitic tone, but from time to time I read
arguments which gave me some food for thought. At all events,
these occasions slowly made me acquainted with the man and the
movement, which in those days guided Vienna's destinies: Dr.
Karl Lueger and the Christian Social Party.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
How many of my basic principles
were upset by this change in my attitude toward the Christian
Social movement! My views with regard to anti-Semitism thus succumbed
to the passage of time, and this was my greatest transformation
of all.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
And we know that were the
great German reformer [Martin Luther] with us to-day he would
rejoice to be freed from the necessity of his own time and, like
Ulrich von Hutten, his last prayer would be not for the Churches
of the separate States: it would be of Germany that he would
think and of the Evangelical Church of Germany.
-Adolf Hitler, in his Proclamation at the
Parteitag at Nuremberg on 5 Sept. 1934 [Baynes]
|
Throughout the history of Christianity,
priests and religious leaders have excommunicated those who desecrated
the image of the Lord. Hitler appears just like a medieval priest
when he wrote:
Anyone who dares to lay
hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against
the benevolent creator of this miracle and contributes to the
expulsion from paradise.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Note how the following reads like many
Religious Right sermons of today:
Parallel to the training
of the body a struggle against the poisoning of the soul must
begin. Our whole public life today is like a hothouse for sexual
ideas and simulations. Just look at the bill of fare served up
in our movies, vaudeville and theaters, and you will hardly be
able to deny that this is not the right kind of food, particularly
for the youth... Theater, art, literature, cinema, press, posters,
and window displays must be cleansed of all manifestations of
our rotting world and placed in the service of a moral, political,
and cultural idea.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Many Religious Right rail against liberals
and far right groups such as the KKK use Jews and liberalism
as a sword for their holy cause. Notice how Hitler appears like
a Christian extremist here:
But even more: all at once
the Jew also becomes liberal and begins to rave about the necessary
progress of mankind.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
|
Just as many preachers today speak against
the unfaithful, Hitler fought against atheism and felt convinced
that people require faith:
We were convinced that
the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken
the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely
with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on
24 Oct. 1933 [Baynes]
|
Most Christians rail against occultism
and mystical thinking. So did Hitler:
We will not allow mystically-minded
occult folk with a passion for exploring the secrets of the world
beyond to steal into our Movement. . .
-Adolf Hitler, in Nuremberg on 6 Sept.
1938 [Baynes]
|
Hitler even defines Christianity in his
own terms, just as many Christians do today in opposing communism,
atheism, degeneracy and crime in what he calls "real"
Christianity:
National Socialism neither
opposes the Church nor is it anti-religious, but on the contrary
it stands on the ground of a real Christianity....
For their interests cannot
fail to coincide with ours alike in our fight against the symptoms
of degeneracy in the world of to-day, in our fight against a
Bolshevist culture, against atheistic movement, against criminality,
and in our struggle for a consciousness of a community in our
national life... These are not anti-Christian, these are Christian
principles!
-Adolf Hitler, in his speech at Koblenz,
to the Germans of the Saar, 26 Aug. 1934 [Baynes]
|
Politically, Hitler acted from a dictatorial
stance to enforce what he called "positive Christianity."
The original twenty-five point party program, a Constitution
of the Nazi party, included a demand for liberty "for all
religious denominations in the State" and that it stood
for "positive Christianity." Hitler insisted and declared
the twenty-five points as unalterable [Toland p. 218] (in spite
of the anti-Catholic feelings of Martin Bormann). Hitler got
his way.
Hitler stressed the importance of a strong,
well-organized Evangelical church which would work in close cooperation
with the state. He conceived of creating one large united Protestant
church to stand parallel to the Catholic Church. And to the Catholics,
Hitler wanted their freedom of spiritual and educational power,
as long as they did not come in conflict with the political will
of the government. Thus, the Nazis and the Vatican worked for
an agreement, conducted by Eugenio Pacelli (who became Pope Pius XII in 1939). On
July 20, 1933, the Nazis and the Vatican singed the Reich Concordat,
establishing the freedom and power of the Catholic Church in
Germany.
If anyone has doubts as to the support
of the German Churches for Hitler, one need only to examine the
respects paid to him during his birthday by Church leaders throughout
Germany and the Vatican. For example, Pope Pius XII initiated
the celebration of Hitler every April 20, whereby Hitler received
a message stating: "warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer
in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany with "fervent
prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven
on their altars."
Hitler once celebrated Christmas in a speech
which asserted his Christian feelings: "Christ," he
said, "was the greatest early fighter in the battle against
the world enemy, the Jews." Hitler thought of himself prescribed
by Providence when he said, "The work of Christ started
but could not finish, I-- Adolf Hitler-- will conclude."
[Toland p.222]
[Note that the Mischling regulation
saved Jesus from being Jewish, who by Hitler's argument, being
the son of God, had but two Jewish grandparents; neither did
he practice the Jewish religion (as he saw it), nor did he marry
a Jew.]
Like military leaders of the past and present,
Hitler thought of God as on his side. On January 1, 1932, Hitler
told a Munich audience that God was on his side in the battle
for a better world. [Toland p.260]
According to Toland, "The born and
bred Catholic Hitler rebuilt his SS on Jesuit principles by assiduously
copying "the service statutes and spiritual exercises presented
by Ignatius Loyola." [Toland p. 760]
When the Law Against Overcrowding of German
Schools reduced the number of Jews in higher institutions, Hitler
defended his action by reminding the priests that the Church
had banished Jews into ghettos and forbidden Christians to work
with them. Hitler only did more effectively what the Church of
Rome had attempted to do for many centuries. [Toland p. 311]
Note the Church of Rome not only condoned Hitler but blessed
him as well! Pope Pius XII subscribed to the same principles
as Hitler and proved by a concordat signed between the Vatican
and Hitler. The Vatican felt so appreciative of the recognition
as a full partner that it asked God to bless the Reich. There
followed an order for German bishops to swear allegiance to the
National Socialist (Nazi) regime. The oath went as follows: "In
the performance of my spiritual office and in my solicitude for
the welfare and the interest of the German Reich, I will endeavor
to avoid all detrimental acts which might endanger it."
Hitler campaigned to convince the German
people to back his withdrawal from the League of Nations. The
Church gave enthusiastic support. Every bishop approved as well
as did Cardinal Faulhaber. [Toland p. 320]
During Hitler's re-education program, deification
of Hitler showed itself though a required invocation recited
by the children of Cologne:
- Fuhrer, my Fuhrer, bequeathed
to me by the Lord,
- Protect and preserve me
as long as I live!
- Thou hast rescued Germany
from deepest distress,
- I thank thee today for
my daily bread.
- Abide thou long with me,
forsake me not,
- Fuhrer, my Fuhrer, my
faith and my light!
- Heil, my Fuhrer! [Toland p. 404]
|
When Hitler survived a bomb assassination
attempt, instead of feeling depressed, he felt ecstasy, repeating
over and over, "Think of it. Nothing happened to me. Just
think of it. . ." He thought of himself as fated by Providence.
On July 20, 1944, he remarked that it "only confirmed the
conviction that Almighty God has called me to lead the German
people-- not to final defeat but to victory." [Toland p.
799]
His mistress and later, his wife, Eva Braun,
who decided to commit suicide with Hitler came from the product
of a convent and had faith in God. In many of her letters she
appealed to God and prayed for Hitler. [Toland p. 236, 377]
Note, I could have given examples of Hitler's
more conventional thoughts of Christian actions which include
sacrifice and giving to others, but the intent here aims to show
that Christian theology and expression goes far beyond just the
kinder and gentler kind. For example, in Hitler's Winter Help
program he spoke of the spirit of Christian giving:
If positive Christianity
means... the clothing of the poor, the feeding of the hungry...
then it is we ware are the more positive Christian. For in these
spheres the people's community of National Socialist Germany
has accomplished prodigious work.
-Adolf Hitler, speaking to an assembly of Alte
Kampfer in Munich, 26 Feb. 1939, [from Richard Steigmann-Gall's
The
Holy Reich] |
But as we now know, Hitler expressed the
worst elements of Christian expression along with the good but
it goes to the worst that needs addressing.
Humanitarian acts alone
cannot cannot support Christian identity
If any Christian for one moment attempts
to support Christianity through example from humane actions by
Christians, then I submit that the same reasoning could apply
toward a support of Nazism as well.
Virtually any Christian who argues against
Nazism but supports Christianity usually trots out examples of
humanitarian acts by unselfish Christians who opposed Hitler
and saved Jews from extermination. But, sadly, there exists only
meager examples to choose from. The unfortunate truth reveals
that most Catholic and Protestant institutions as well as mainstream
Christians in Germany, not only supported Hitler but held antisemitic
beliefs as well. In fact, of the few who opposed Nazism, the
majority of them opposed it not for humanitarian or religious
reasons but for political and power control reasons. In any case,
I submit that it appears just as dishonest to support Christianity
through its few examples of humanitarism than to support Nazism
from its few examples.
For example, people well know that Oskar
Schindler spent a fortune to save twelve hundred Jews from the
Auschwitz gas chambers. John Rabe in the 1930s saved many Chinese
from slaughter from Japanese soldiers in the rape of Nanking
even though Germany aligned itself with Japan more than it did
with China. Schindler held membership in the Nazi party and Rabe
acted as the leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking China [Chang].
If we take the very few Christians who saved lives as
examples for the support the Christian faith, then should we not also take
humanitarian acts by a few Nazis as support for Nazism? Why not? In fact,
there live many Neo-Nazis today who wish to bring back the ideas of Hitler's
idealism. Many of them declare that the Jewish holocaust either never occurred
or that the Jews concocted the math to make it appear more atrocious than
it "really" happened.
Of course, appealing to transient acts
of kindness by itself cannot support Christianity or Nazism.
Most Christians see clearly the problems with Nazism, but unfortunately
they use similar mental barriers to shield themselves from the
problems of Christian belief.
Moreover, one's humanitarian or inhuman
actions have little to do with the historical definition of Christianity.
As stated above, Paul established Christianity by faith alone.
And from the earliest 1st century priests, faith alone served
as the bases for defining one's Christianity. As an example,
Clement wrote, "We are justified not by our own works, but
by faith."
Through the operation of
His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus,
are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding,
or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart;
but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty
God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever.
-Clement (The First Epistle of Clement
to the Corinthians, Chap. XXXII)
|
At best, one's works can only show the
parallel and consistency to one's faith, and in this, Hitler
showed a pattern of actions in agreement with his faith and with
the horrific works of past faithful Christians.
Violence does not exclude
one from Christianity (doctrine of sin)
Christians who try to deny Hitler's Christianity
tend to argue with a fallacious syllogism that goes something
like:
Christians don't do bad things
Hitler did bad things,
Therefore he was not a Christian
If Hitler had never condemned the Jews,
Christians today would most likely not question Hitler's Christianity.
If Hitler had not started World War II, Christians would have
no reason not to include him into their faith. And if Hitler
had been a successful politician, Christians would loudly proclaim
him as an example of a great Christian leader.
Of course virtually all Christians (and
everyone else), do some bad things in their life. Although most Christians, indeed, do not adhere
to violence and many do not view themsleves as political, non-violence
or abstaining from political action by itself does not make one
a Christian. One can also argue that most Nazis thought of themselves
as peace loving and most did not kill Jews, but non-violence
never excluded one from the Nazi party, nor does it supply any
fuel for supporting Nazism. Similarly, neither can one defend
Christianity on the grounds of non-violence, nor can one deny
a person's Christianhood simply because that person did bad things.
Most soldiers never go into battle but
that does not make them any less a soldier. And one must apply
the same logic to leaders who opt for war, including those who
create holocausts. Hitler and the Nazis may have acted uniquely
in their destruction, but they acted according to their beliefs,
just as the majority of believers do today.
Interestingly, most German Christians supported
Hitler before and during the war. They felt empathy for him and
loved him, sometimes, in messiah-like fashion. (There even exist
news reels showing Hitler giving a laying-on-of-hands, Jesus-like,
to his admiring German audience.) Although the German citizens
may not have desired to kill their enemies themselves, they felt
perfectly willing to support others to do the killing for Germany.
Even in the United States today, most Christians
support a strong military and (as has been shown in the Gulf
wars) will willingly condone the killing of others through "legal"
war. Religious leaders such as Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy,
Billy Graham, et al, preach the need to defend the Christian
faith through war if necessary, and will even condone the "unfortunate
but sometimes necessary" deaths of innocents.
Clearly, violence, nor non-violence cannot
determine a Christian from a non-Christian. Many freethinkers
and atheists, for example, live peacefully, but that does not
make them, in any sense, a Christian or even Christian-like.
Moreover, the Christian use of the doctrine
of sin prevents any meaningful argument against ousting one's
claimed Christianhood, regardless of how atrocious the crime.
According to Christian interpretation, ever since Adam's fall,
all humans live in a 'state of corruption.' Thus all people,
including all Christians commit sin. No one in Christian
theology makes the claim that Christians subsist in levels of
degrees of Christianity depending on how sinless or sinful one
lives. Any person, regardless of how much misery he or
she has caused in the world, can achieve Christianhood along
with an alleged redemption right up to the last second of his
or her death. Belief alone determines one's Christianity, not
how one acts. However odd it may seem, any conscious human who
has the neurological makeup that maps into a belief in God &
Jesus, determines his ownership into this belief system.
Clearly, the common denominator for any
Christian comes from a self identification to Christianity through
belief and faith, and this alone can only come from personal
confession. Only from the use of religious language, spoken or
written with an apparent honesty, can anyone determine the identity
of its believers. Hitler stated his position in clear words with
an honesty that never contradicted his actions or his faith;
his personal beliefs through his own words identified himself
as a Christian.
What other group?
How strange that people who believe in
a non-Christian Hitler never see the elephant standing in the
room. Something must have caused Hitler's antisemitism
and I submit an interesting question to ask: From what other
group, religion, or ideology could Hitler have inherited his
antisemitism? Of course Christianity provides the only answer.
In fact the very survival of Christian
theology depended on distancing itself from Judaism. The
history of Christian beliefs reveals an abundant practice of
Jewish hatred throughout its long history of evolution. The ill
feelings toward Jews lives in the very scriptural words that
all Christians depend on: the New Testament. One cannot blame
atheism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Communism, or any other group. Only
Islam comes in at a distanced second place, but since Germany
and Hitler had little relations with Islam, Islam could hardly
have influenced the vicious attacks against the Jews as had Christianity
in Germany. And you cannot blame Jewish hatred on social Darwinism
or theories of racial discrimination because in the end, they
lead right back to its Christian origins which existed long before
Darwin or even modern science. Nor can one blame German antisemitism
on the Nazis because Jewish hatred, again, existed long before
the Nazis came into power.
Christianity stands alone as the only
source from which Hitler, the Nazis and, indeed, the general
population of Germany could have possibly cultivated a deep seated
hatred for Jews. Both Catholicism and Protestantism contributed
to the centuries of ill feelings for the Jewish people in general.
Christians taught antisemitism in their schools. They taught
it in their churches. They preached against the Jews in their
sermons. And since Hitler and his Nazis incorporated this ugly
silent tenet of Christian faith into their ideology, one cannot
deny that this Christian belief lived in the very heart and minds
of Hitler and the Nazis. When the Nazis acted against the Jews
they acted through Christianity itself. And although the Nazis
elevated the horror, it nevertheless stemmed from the very core
of Christianity itself. Thus Nazi antisemitism and Christian
antisemitism describe the very same thing.
Even if you have convinced yourself
of the apostasy of Hitler, his words and ill-deeds against the
Jews describe words and deeds inherited from from religious culture, which
makes him, at the very least, a part of this religion, and that
which screams the ownership of his criminal acts: Christianity.
Conclusion
We must not forget that Hitler's own contemporaries,
the highest Protestant and Catholic leaders (including Popes
and Bishops) thought of Hitler as a Christian. How can one sit
here, decades from his history, and judge against Hitler's Christianity,
when his own fellow Christians thought of him as a Christian?
We must also not forget that Hitler ruled
the most devoutly Christian country in the world, a country that
spawned Protestantism while still embracing Catholicism, a country
where its Christian citizens and soldiers exterminated political
enemies, gypsies, homosexuals, atheists, and six million Jews.
Not only did Hitler's atrocities remain
consistent with God and Jesus' actions in the Bible, but his
intransigent attitude parallels many of the fanatical beliefs
of Right-wing conservatives of today. Hitler even used his faith
in the same way as many mainstream American Christians. It appears
clear from the history of Christianity that Hitler brought nothing
new to Christianity, albeit he brought its violent nature to
new heights.
Like the Biblical God, Hitler created war
and destruction.
Similar to the Biblical laws against marrying
outside one's group, the Nazi race laws outlawed Jews from marrying
Aryan Germans as outlined in Hitler's private notes. Julius Streicher
confessed that the race laws got based on Old Testament laws.
Like the Biblical Jesus, Hitler did not
live for peace. He created many divisions among the people.
Like many Christians in the past and today,
Hitler aimed to protect the image of the Lord.
Like Christian leaders of the past, Hitler
wished to unite the churches. He fought for his beliefs using
the Lord as his justification. He created intolerance, divisions,
and hatred as have Christians of the past.
Hitler lived as a confessed Christian.
His parents raised him as a Catholic and he spoke and prayed
as a Christian. He believed that the Bible represented the history
of mankind. Nothing in his rhetoric spoke against Christian faith.
Although he did have a few Christian enemies, they posed a political
danger, not a religious threat.
Hitler allowed the destruction of Jewish
synagogues and Temples. But if for one moment you still harbor
the thought that Hitler acted against Christ belief, then ask
yourself why he never ordered the destruction of Catholic or
Protestant churches? Why did he not prevent his Nazis from worshiping
in Christian churches, but instead encouraged it? And why did
he spend so much time in trying to strengthen and unite the Christian
denominations into one Christian Reich Church?
Even acknowledging Hitler's most atrocious
acts as sinful cannot exclude him from Christianity. Tenets of
Christian belief allege that all people sin and only
redemtion through faith in Jesus Christ can absolve them.
A Christian, therefore, can never use sin
alone, regardless of how horrible or atrocious, as an argument
against Hitler. Clearly, Hitler's own words reveal his Christian
faith, and Christians must, by their own tenant and upheld by
their Bible, not to judge others.
Under all possible conditions then, Hitler
lived and acted as a Christian and anyone who does not think
so can only redefine Christianity from their own ignorance and
denial.
For those who have begun to acknowledge
Hitler's Christianity, they might also see that Christianity
itself does not create the root problem but rather that the foundations
of any faith (reliance on hope and ignorance) creates
a defense mechanism that must act to protect itself at all cost,
including the slaughter of innocents if necessary. It can come
just as well from any belief-set such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
communism, or from any of the Christian denominations. A fanatical
believer who gains political control of destructive weapons cannot
help but use these instruments to favor his religious and political
inclinations. A belief-system that contains violent scripts such
as Bibles, Korans or manifestos, can easily create similar intolerances
that occurred in Germany in the 1930s. Hitler's faith, his Christian
actions, the majority of Christian churches who supported him,
his followers who believed in him, and the very Bible with its
appeal to superstition, provides important examples of how beliefs
can create dangers to society.
References (click
on a book title highlighted in blue if you want it):
Baynes, Norman H., ed. The Speeches of
Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, Oxford University
Press, 1942
Chang, Iris "The
Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," Basic
Books, 1997
Cornwell, John, "Hitler's
Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII," Viking, 1999
Calic, Edouard, ed., "Secret Conversations
with Hitler: The Two Newly-Discovered 1931 Interviews,"
The John Day Co., 1971
Helmreich, Ernst Christian "The
German Churches Under Hitler," Wayne State University Press, 1979
Hitler, Adolf "Mein
Kampf," translated by Ralph Manheim, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971
Goldhagen, Daniel Johah , "Hitler's
Willing Executioners," Alfred A. Knoph, NY, 1996
Maser, Werner, (translated by Arnold Pomerans) "Hitler's
Letters and Notes," Harper & Row, 1974
Ryback, Timothy W., "Hitler's
Forgotten Library: The Man, His Books, and His Search for God"
Shirer, William L. "The
Rise and Fall of the Thired Reich," Simon and Schuster, NY, 1960
Steigmann-Gall, Richard "The
Holy Reich: Nazi conception of Christianity, 1919-1945," Cambridge
University Press, 2003
Toldand, John , "Adolf
Hitler," Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1976
For a few selected quotes from the above
material, see:
Hitler's religious
beliefs and fanaticism
The Christianity
of Hitler revealed in his speeches and proclamations
Religion and The Holocaust: Was Hitler
a Christian:
http://ffrf.org/fttoday/1997/march97/holocaust.html
Trial of The Major War Criminals Before
the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945
-- 1 October 1946, Published at Nuremberg, Germany, 1947, Vol.
12
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