In March 1997 I had been invited to travel to southern Poland to share as the Bible-hour speaker for a conference of missionaries and national staff affiliated with International Messengers, a mission organization located in Clear Lake, IA, whose ministry included English Language Camps in Eastern Europe. God had blessed that week with His blessings. Following the conference I was invited to spend a couple days with the IM staff team located in Krakow, an invitation which I eagerly accepted.
It was a cold, windy morning, with flakes of snow flying through the dark-gray skies, when Greg McKelvey, an IM staff leader living at the time in Krakow, and I traveled the few miles from Krakow to one of the most infamous and notorious killing fields of all times - Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of course I had heard about this "death camp" and had even seen scenes of it in the recently released film by Steven Spielberg, "Schindler's List." But I was not ready to experience Auschwitz itself. I remember walking through those double fences of electrified wires, underneath that iron sign that hung over the gate reading, "Arbeit Mach Frei," translated "work makes free." We walked over to the underground gas chamber. I remember feeling so uneasy as we entered and stood under those shower heads. If one were quiet the screams of those who had entered in the past could still be heard. I was never so excited to excit a place as I was that gas chamber. To walk the grounds and through the barracks that remained at Auschwitz provided images that my mind, yet today, still wants to deny. Rooms filled with nothing but hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes. Another room filled with wheel chairs and prosthetics. Yet another room filled with hair - human hair - tons of it. And wherever you walked there were the ghosts of the past that lingered in the shadows, crying out, "Why didn't you care?" I remember walking past those rooms where Dr. Josef Mengele performed his medical experiments that could only be described as subhuman. And there were the gallows where many were hung, as a warning to those within the camp as to the penalties of violating camp rules.
As difficult as Auschwitz was, the journey into Birkenau was more so. Birkenau was established, not as a labor camp, but purely as a death camp. The clapboard barracks were built not to house people, but merely to shelter them until it was their turn to enter the gas chambers and then to have their bodies consumed in the gigantic crematories. As we entered one such building, with the cold and snow swirling around us, I tried to envision what it must have been like to have been in this place; yet my mind could not comprehend such a thing.
I remember leaving Auschwitz feeling totally drained emotionally. There is a spirit of darkness that hangs over that place. Your heart and mind cry out, "How could human beings do these things to other human beings?" That verse from Jeremiah came to mind reminding me that "the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it?"
I know you are asking me, "Max, why this 'memory lane' trip to Auschwitz?" Well, last week I read the newest novel from the pen of Joel Rosenberg. It is titled, "The Auschwitz Escape." Friends, it was a gripping book, yet, I must add, one of the most depressing books that I have read. And perhaps that was caused because of the flashback memories to that cold, windy, snowy day in March 1997. This novel is Joel's first entry into the world of historical fiction and he has done a masterful job, howbeit a difficult job of telling the story of those who dared to plan to escape from Auschwitz to tell the world what was happening there. Joel tells the story as graphically and as realistically as possible. Yet, throughout its pages, there is the story of hope: Perhaps if but one person can get out safely, then others will come to our rescue. As Joel recounts, for many there was the absence of God in Auschwitz, yet for others God was still there. I will not share with you how the story ends, only to say that the ghosts of decisions made concerning Auschwitz and the other labor-death camps still haunt world leaders. Friends, I highly recommend this book. Its story will keep you turning pages. Your heart will call into question about the conditions of the human heart. Yet your spirit will see the hand of God at work even in the midst of the darkest period of modern history.
I just want to comment on a couple of others stories that caught my attention this past week. The first is an article found at www.foxnews.com/health/2014/04/08/scientists-grow-human-body-parts-in-lab. The article begins, "In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells. It is among several labs around the world, including in the U.S., that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab." Let me close with the final paragraph, "'If people are not that fussy, we could manufacture different sizes of noses so the surgeon could choose a size and tailor it for patients before implanting it', said Alexander Seifalian at University College London. 'People think your nose is very individual and personal but this is something that we could mass produce like in a factory one day.'" I can only wonder if God will allow that to happen. We are certainly entering into an area of uncharted waters ethically and morally.
A second article was equally disturbing. It was found at www.wnd.com/2014/04/supremes-serious-about-gay-suits-vs-Christians. This past Monday, the United States Supreme Court "refused to hear the appeal of a New Mexico photographer sued by a lesbian couple after she refused to take pictures at their commitment ceremony because of her religious convictions. The case centered on Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin and their business, Elane Photography. In 2006, they refused to work at the commitment ceremony of Vanessa Willock and Misti Collinsworth. The lesbian couple was able to find another photographer but still filed a discrimination grievance against Elane Photography with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission." The article continues by recording that at each judicial level, the Huguenin's lost. Jordan Lorence, of the Alliance Defending Freedom organization, said that while the refusal by the Supreme Court to hear the case was a disappointment, there was still a silver lining. He said, concerning the actions of the Court, "They do have a general habit of waiting for an issue to percolate in the lower courts and not necessarily take the first one but take the third or fourth one or something like that."
This case in New Mexico joins with dozens of other cases around the country. Lorence cited a case in Maine: "I had a case in Maine, where a social worker spoke out in a political campaign in support of marriage. He had complaints filed that he should lose his professional license as a social worker because of his position on marriage. I think the imagination of those zealots on the other side knows no boundaries, and they will be pushing this to ostracize and marginalize people as much as possible." His words of advice are sound and so necessary, "Americans need to stand up and just say, 'This has gone too far, that we can have reasonable debates without demonizing and ostracizing the losers of the debate or people that are on a side that the courts and others are not supporting right now."
Friends, I believe Attorney Lorence is correct. We have created a society where we can no longer have a debate over issues. We live in a culture where there are winners and losers. If I am on the winning side, I certainly do not need to listen to you, the loser. And, if I am on the losing side, then how dare I speak against those on the winning side. And so we put people into categories. Our Founding Fathers, in their marvelous creation known as the Constitution, believed that people had the right to freely speak what was on their hearts. Within that freedom comes the power of persuasion, not of intimidation. We have lost the ability today of persuading people. Instead we intimidate them with threats of legal action. Read or listen to some of the greatest speeches of all time - the words of George Washington in his "Farewell Address" or of Abraham Lincoln in his "Second Inaugural" or of Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall. These were leaders who spoke words that persuaded and influenced generations. But, as long as intimidation works, there will little opportunity for civil dialogue and decency.
Yet what a marvelous hope we have as believers as we look forward with enthusiasm to the coming of Jesus. "Lord, come quickly!"
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