Comfort Ye My People: The Church's Mandate toward Israel and the Jewish People
by
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A Proper course of action:
During the German occupation of Denmark, on 1st October, 1943, Hitler had issued orders for Denmark’s Jews to be arrested and deported to death camps. The bishops of the church of Denmark took an extraordinary stand. As the heads of the Danish state church, they authorized Bishop Hans Fuglsang-Damgaard to write a letter that would be sent throughout the country of Denmark and read in all the churches. The letter gave logical reasons as to why the people of Denmark should stand against the persecution of the Jews, as a Christian nation. This letter was indeed read on the 3rd of October, 1943 in all the churches of Denmark:
A Letter expressing the Church of Denmark’s position concerning the Jews:
“Everywhere, where persecutions of Jews are taking place due to racial or religious reasons, it is the duty of the Christian church to protest against it.
1. Because we would never be able to forget, that the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Virgin Mary in accordance to God’s promise to his own people, Israel. The history of the Jewish people until the birth of Christ, consists of the preparation to that salvation, which God has prepared in all humans through Christ. This is signified by the Old Testament being a part of our Bible.
2. Because the persecution of Jews contradicts the Church of Jesus Christ’s message of human compassion and charity. Christ is no respecter of persons, and he has taught us to see, that every human life is precious in the eyes of God.
3. Because it contradicts the concept of justice, which is possessed by the Danish people, enshrined in our Danish-Christian culture throughout the centuries. In accordance to this, all Danish citizens have through the words of the constitution equal right and responsibility before the Law and [also] Religious Freedom guaranteed. We perceive the freedom of religion as the right to practice our worshiping after being called [to service], and conscience, so that race and religion never alone may serve as an occasion to depriving the rights, the liberty, or the property of a man. Regardless of difference in religious views, we will fight to ensure that our Jewish brothers and sisters retain the same liberty, which we ourselves value higher than life itself.
There exists among the Danish church’s leaders a clear understanding of our duty to be law-abiding citizens, which does not mean we will not respect those who have authority over us, but at the same time we are by our conscience compelled to enforce the law and protest against any violation of law, (concerning human rights). Therefore, we will in this context unequivocally acknowledge that we must obey God more than man when these laws are violated..
29 September, 1943.
As a result of the action of the bishops, 99% of Denmark’s Jews survived the Holocaust. Under the inspiration of Bishop Foglsang-Damgaard’s letter to the churches, the people of Denmark worked through the night. They used fishing boats and every sort of sea craft to carry the Jews of Denmark out of the country to safety in Sweden.
We each need to ask ourselves this question: “What would I have done if I had been living in Europe at that time. There is a way to know what you would have done had you been alive at that time.. The answer lies in your response to this question: “What am I doing today to stem the current tide of anti-Semitism?”
Across Europe there was a remnant who took their stand against the hideous injustice and evil which was being committed against the Jewish people. They risked their lives and the lives of their families to do good in saving Jewish lives. One might ask: “Who were they and how did they make the decision to do what they did?”
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About the Book
“The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference.”
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Author and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
The predominant attitude over the past 1,700 years among Christians toward Jews has been both indifference and hatred. The decision of the First Nicaean Council to abandon the traditional Christian Passover for Roman Easter began the divorce of the church from its Jewish roots. This decree was followed by an onslaught of Jewish suffering at the hands of Christians: the “blood libel” fallacy, the Inquisition, Martin Luther’s invectives against the Jews, countless pogroms in the name of Christ, and the formation of the “German Evangelical Church” (the puppet church which Hitler used to create an “Aryan” version of Christianity, devoid of its Jewish roots). This resulted in the murder of over six million Jews in the Holocaust while the majority of the Church silently watched. The Church’s legacy throughout the centuries is covered with innocent Jewish blood. In this treatise Dr. Smith explores:
- Anti-Semitism in the Church from the time of the Emperor Constantine to the present
- Eye-witness accounts by Jewish Holocaust survivors and leaders of the Resistance
- Current threats to Israel and the Diaspora due to an upsurge of anti-Semitism
- The roots and consequences of “replacement theology” in the church
“Comfort Ye My People” is a source book for information on anti-Semitism in Church history and in the world today, as well as a spiritual analysis of implications arising from the divorce of Christianity from its Jewish roots. A commissioning is offered to those who would receive it to “Comfort my people” - to support and to speak out for the welfare of Israel and the Jewish people. “A must read. . .This is the “definitive” book to be read in the times in which we live to be fully aware . . . of what is happening (and has happened) behind the scenes..” Ardoine Clauzel, Attorney at Law, Author and Co-Director: Étoile du Matin Ministries, France
About the Author
Dr. Martha Smith is active with her husband, Dr. Haakon Smith, in Holocaust education through music and the arts in Europe. As a playwright, composer, author, and designer of theater and opera projects, Martha J. Smith’s works have been produced in many nations of Europe and in the United States.
Martha J. Smith holds a doctorate from Columbia University and has completed post-graduate studies at the Mozarteum in Austria. A professional singer and educator in music, Martha has served on the faculties of universities and colleges in the United States and Europe.