Why Did It Happen?

by   Katherine Camp                                                                                                                                     Vol. VI, No. 6, August 1993

[Katherine Camp was born into a Southern Baptist family, works in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and is a member of Abundant Life Baptist Church, Woodbridge.]

On a recent trip to Europe, I visited Dachau, the site of the first concentration camp under Hitler and his Nazis. Opened on March 22, 1933, it served as a prototype for other such places of torture and death. Left intact, it stands now as a memorial to an era of man’s inhumanity to man.

After visiting Dachau, I returned home and toured the recently opened Holocaust Museum in our nations capital. Its exhibits depict the many other places of horror operated by the Third Reich. A close-up view of this evil period in history moves the hearts of responsible people everywhere. And our stunned, disturbed emotions cry for answers to the question, "Why did it happen?"

The Dachau camp was a former munitions factory made into workshops for its prisoners – Jewish and others. By the time they arrived at Dachau the European Jews had already forged a long, historical struggle for survival. At Dachau they lost the effort and became a hopeless people.

The history of dispersed Jews is well documented by an authority on the subject, Raul Hilburg. In his book The Destruction of the European Jews, he explains their sad history. The conditions under which these Jews lived, suffered anti-Semitism, and died, the author points out, took several forms over the centuries. These were: conversion, expulsion, and annihilation.

Conversion attempts began in the fourth century A.D. and lasted for about 1200 years. The conversion effort was an attempt by the Catholic Church, believing it their duty, to force Jews to accept the Christian doctrine.

The Jews, however, would not accept Christianity. And hatred for them grew. Thus, expulsion (emigration to other lands) became the next idea to "put away" the Jews who had been labeled a menace to the civilized world. The notion that they were a menace had taken root on many fronts: they were considered a burden, a political threat, criminals (killers of Christ and Christians), and a plague. The labeling strategy worked. And its hellish goals are difficult to describe, but one thing is clear. This kind of persecution over centuries is the epitome of sustained human injury – lies repeated long enough and acted upon systematically enough become a "fabricated truth."

Thus, this "fabricated truth" " this lie " became the basis for all activity against the Jewish people, the "menace" to society. Christianity was the state religion of Rome. As a result, the church and the state worked in concert against the Jews. This lasted in one form or another until the late 1800s.

Moving to the 1930s and 40s, we can see how the time was right for Hitler's barbaric move. All dark sentiments were in place. And hatred reigned. To set the stage for what followed, the Nazis had only to build on established hatred of the Jewish people affixed in earlier times.

Why did it happen? We can reach only one conclusion. Godlessness.

Godlessness is the most devastating characteristic that can claim a person, a nation, the world. Godlessness takes many forms and can flourish in any setting. It is an anti-Christ spirit, with an absolute absence of God. The Holman Bible dictionary defines it this way: "An attitude and style of life which excludes God from thought and ignores or deliberately violates God's laws." Romans 1:20-32 is God's word on the subject. It is clear. Those described in these verses not only do these things and have no fear of God's judgment, but seek to involve others in their wickedness (v 32).

This is what produced Dachau and all other destructive forces brought against mankind.

The reminder of Dachau and the holocaust brings chills to our souls as we see what's happening in our own nation and the world today. Significantly, the downward trend toward darkness began when the Bible and prayer were removed from our public schools. And now, an evil, anti-Christ spirit of godlessness is on every front. Its alarming growth is shocking.

Former Education Secretary William Bennett's recent Index of Leading Social Indicators tells the story. Measuring statistics available over the past 30 years, Mr. Bennett shows that violent crime rose 560%. Illegitimate births grew by 400%, as did divorces. Teen-age suicides swelled by 200%. It's easy to see that evil seeks to capture anyone, any way it can. And in this setting our children are especially vulnerable. They are prey for abuses of every hue including those of the new age ideology. What must we do?

Priorities are evident. Number one, the church must awaken out of its slumber. Missionary friends recently back from a lifetime of work on foreign fields remarked, "we are shocked at the apathy of the church in America." It's a valid assessment of the church in our day. Needless to say, it is time for the church, God's people, to awaken, to take seriously the command the Lord Jesus gave us 2000 years ago in Matthew 28:18-20. It is still His command to us today! How do we start? The answer seems clear.

Awakened, the church must preach and administer the pure Word of God, powerfully and faithfully. This is a self-evident challenge with self-evident terms. Webster's dictionary describes the word administer: "to bring into use or operation; dispense; to make application of." Applied to Scripture, this is an exciting definition.

The urgent message for the church can be heard loud and clear. It is heard in the alarm clock of present day evil so well described by Mr. Bennett's report, and encountered every day on the streets of America. It is heard in the wake up call for messengers of the gospel to rise and shine.

The church must not turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. There's no time left for snooze alarms. Evil is at the door! The church must hear and heed God's clarion call that prescribes the remedy for its weakened condition:

"If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

Only then will the church have the strength and authority to call others to Jesus Christ. It's the only way to save our children and rescue the perishing; it's the only way to avoid another Dachau brought on by godlessness and executed by its attending evil spirits.

May God help us, the church, this very day to hear our spiritual alarm clocks. And may we so administer God's Word that the world spirits that fostered Dachau will cower in their dark recesses, afraid as the sounds of revival sweep across our land and the world – afraid when they hear the shout of our victory anthem, "Our God Reigns!"