Jews and Christians
No one has experienced more persecution than the Jewish people. The Jewish people are God's chosen people.
Probably the largest known persecution of Jews was when Hitler was on the scene during World War II. Just because they were Jewish, 6 million Jews were killed in concentration camps. Probably the worst camp was Aushwitz-Birkenau, known as an extermination camp in Poland, where it was reported that 2.1-2.5 million people were killed mostly, European Jews. However, it is said the more true number is 4 million.
(Per https://www.jewishgen.org/forgottencamps/Camps/AuschwitzEng.html.)
It seems most deaths occurred in Poland at the many camps.
Several times, I have read the book "Angels in the Camp," written by Anita Dittman and Jan Markell. Currently, the book has been renamed "Trapped in Hitler's Hell." The book is about a young girl (Anita Dittman) taken by the Germans, but her mother was taken before her. The Germans began taking Jews away and sending them to camps spread out throughout Europe. Those considered to be 100% Jewish were taken first. The least amount of Jewish in your pedigree meant you were some of the last to go. That is how it happened in the book. These two women survived the holocaust and lived to tell about it. Then the daughter (Anita Dittman) decided to write her story of what happened to her and her mother. Within the book, the daughter writes about Jesus and the many miracles He performed to keep her safe and bring her through things. After the book was published, she went around to many venues, like churches and schools, telling her story.
Today, the Jewish people are still being persecuted. Many countries in the middle east surround them and several of them hate the Jews. The Bible says in the last days, every nation will be against Israel. No nation on earth will come to their aid, not England, not the United States of America, who have been long-time allies and friends to Israel. Many nations want to eliminate the nation of Israel.
Zechariah 14:1-2a (ESV): "Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle."
But God stands with Israel. When the day comes when no nation will stand with Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ will come to her aid.
Zechariah 14:3-4(ESV): "3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward."
Christians have been and also will be persecuted.
I want to share some Scripture on persecution that Jesus Christ told us would come.
Because of Me - Jesus Speaking Here
Matthew 5:10-12 (NIV): 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 24:8-10 (NIV): 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
Luke 21:16-18 (NIV): 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
Persecution
Mark 10:29-31 (NIV): 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (NIV): 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 11 I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-5 (NIV): 3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
Revelation 2:9-11 (NIV): 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. 11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Thank you for reading. Keep the faith. Keep your ears open and listen for God to speak to you. Trust and obey Him.
Pastor Vicky Conklin-Johnson
Prayer Ministries Pastor