And then there is evil, dark putrid, hellish evil—the kind that walks the smelly burning tunnels of damnation.

 

In 1999 three synagogues in Sacramento were firebombed. One was destroyed. The perpetrators were two brothers, white supremacists who also killed two gay men and bombed an abortion clinic. While much of the community came together and supported the Jewish community some failed in their concern and attitudes.

Picture by Penny Juncker

The Inter Faith director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center called me later, perhaps several months or a year, (I have forgotten) asking if I could help them find a Presbyterian church who would show a film on anti-Semitism. They had inquired of several different Presbyterian churches and the local PBS station and so far had been turned down. I did find a Presbyterian church, a small, Evangelical and multi-ethnic Church. It was where one of my daughters was a member. The meeting was small but fairly well attended given the size of the church.

What surprised me was the emotions of the two Jewish people who brought the film. One of them, who worked with a music association, as we talked after the film, told me that she was liberal in her politics but had become so discouraged with the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the left. She no longer would join them in their marches. Both were discouraged. That was over twenty years ago, and now, today how must they feel?

While as a Christian I believe all are sinners, there is evil, and then there is evil, dark putrid, hellish evil—the kind that walks the smelly burning tunnels of damnation. The kind that must lie where Hitler, Stalin and other horrid tyrants lie in a Dante like circle of hell.

This is the evil that visited the Jewish nation, raping women, beheading babies, burning families, blowing young people to bits as they hid in terror. Turning a merry dance into Satan’s awful ball. The perpetrators were religious in the same way the ancients of several lands were religious—worshiping the god of this world who cares nothing for the dignity of humanity despising the image of the Creator. The ancients sacrificed their own children to the monster Moloch, The Hamas terrorists sacrificed Jewish babes to Hamas’ dark gods.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer a pastor during the Nazi years experienced what is called Kristallnacht (night of the broken glass), a night when many Jewish shops, synagogues and homes were destroyed by the Nazis. Many Jews were beaten and even killed. Bonhoeffer was reading Psalm 74 which he marked because it speaks of the houses of worship being destroyed: “They have burned your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name. They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.” They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.” Psalm 74: 7,8.

There is much more but I found some verses at the end of this Psalm that in this time is so helpful:

Consider the covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of habitations of violence. Let not the oppressed return dishonored; -let the afflicted and needy praise your name. Arise, O God and plead your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day long. Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise against you which ascends continually. (74 20-23)

Too many on the left and the very far right are following behind Hamas praising their evil, calling it good. We need to pray for the Jewish people, pray against Hamas, pray against those who are backing Hamas, and pray for a great repentance among those who are cheering such evil. And, yes pray for ourselves that we will walk faithful to the Lord of creation whose holiness includes truth, kindness, compassion, forgiveness and redemption.