Summer/Fall 2007

Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. Volume 13 No. 3 “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Galatians 4:16 Summer / Fall 2007 By L.L. (Don) & Joy Veinot elcome to Independent Lens. I’m Terrence How- JWs and the Holocaust ard, your host. Now, they’ve probably knocked Engardio extols the Jehovah’s Witnesses for their sacrificial on your door with a Bible message, and in fighting for stand against Nazism in WW2 Germany: the right to do that, they’ve won rights for us to live During WWII, Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to fight. the way we want to. Few of us know how Jehovah Wit- They wouldn’t follow Hitler in Germany and wouldn’t nesses have shaped America. With the record Supreme support the war effort in America … By the 1930’s, the Court victories that have expanded freedom for every- Jehovah’s Witnesses had 25,000 members in Germany. one, or how their refusal of blood transfusions led to Like their American counterparts, the German Witness- medical breakthroughs, es were nonviolent and apoliti- and that they spoke out cal. They refused to say, “Heil against Hitler—choosing Hitler” or serve in the army. to suffer in concentra- Instead, they stood on street tion camps rather than corners proclaiming their al- renounce their religion. legiance only to God … 10,000 They’re people with un- Witnesses were sent to prison compromising faith. and concentration camps. The Working with indepen- rest went underground … The dent producer Tom Shep- Nazis offered the Witnesses herd, first-time film-maker a deal. If they signed a docu- Joel P. Engardio takes us ment renouncing their faith inside the world of Jeho- they could leave the camps for vah Witnesses. Raised good. No other group was giv- in a religion, trained as a en this choice. Overwhelming- journalist, he asks what ly, the Witnesses refused … Six happens when fundamen- decades after the holocaust, talism and freedom meet Auschwitz has opened its first at your front door, knock- exhibit, recognizing the experi- ing, next on Independent 1 ence of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Lens. the camps and honoring their memory.2 So began a PBS special about Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) Jehovah’s Witnesses did suffer greatly at the hands of the that aired in May of 2007. Produced by a first-time film-maker Nazi’s during World War II. Many bravely refused to recant their Joel P. Engardio, who was raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, religion and went to the camps as a result. The Watchtower So- it presents the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS, ciety often brags about its supposed integrity in Nazi Germany aka Jehovah’s Witnesses) in the best possible light. The produc- in World War II. The August 22, 1995 edition of AWAKE!* gives ers appear to make a stab at impartiality by quoting a grieving a highly propagandized version of the events surrounding the grandmother who basically has lost her family to this cult, when JW persecution in Germany in the early thirties. It relates how her adult daughter converted and left her out in the cold. How- the Nazis seized the Society’s branch office in Magdeburg and ever, the documentary is overwhelmingly favorable to the Je- launched a persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in June of 1933. hovah’s Witnesses, while casting Christians as intolerant bigots. WTBTS President Rutherford bravely (from a safe distance and It is a puff piece extraordinaire—a very carefully guided tour from a free land) stood up to Hitler, issued him an ultimatum, through the mine-field of false and dangerous doctrines that con- and threatened to expose Nazi persecution to the world if the stitute the body of beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is also persecution of JWs did not cease by March 24, 1934. Would the an exercise in rewriting embarrassing history. —Continued on page 2 “Freedom Fighters” Continued from page 1 The WTBTS have exposed the persecution of other groups if the Jehovah’s Witnesses had Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. been exempted? I guess we’ll never know that for sure, but we do know that Rutherford Journal was no friend of the Jewish people. You see, what the AWAKE! article leaves out of this is a publication of: narrative, and what Engardio leaves out today, is far more telling than what it includes. Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, can be found in the WTBTS’s 1934 Year P.O. Box 446, Wonder Lake, IL 60097-0446 Book. Page 130 of that book tells us: Phone: (630) 627-9028 In June [of 1933] the president of the Society visited Germany to take some Fax: (630) 627-6829 action to get the Society’s property restored to our possession and to carry on E-mail:[email protected] the work further.3 Don Veinot .......................................President Pages 131-138 inform us that a “Declaration of Facts” was prepared and unani- Joy Veinot ........................................Director mously adopted by the Witnesses at the 1933 Berlin convention, and that the resolu- D.L. McGehee .................................Editor tion was printed and distributed throughout Germany. This “Declaration of Facts” was S. Todd McGehee ............................Layout/Art Rutherford’s pusillanimous attempt to appease Hitler. In it Rutherford says: It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this ADVISORY BOARD hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him Dr. Norman L. Geisler President, as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and Southern Evangelical Seminary emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world, … This of itself should be Charlotte, NC sufficient proof to show that we receive no support from Jews … The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By Janet Brunner Layman, that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms Glen Ellyn, IL a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppress- G. Richard Fisher Senior Pastor, ing the peoples of many nations … This fact is so manifest in America that Laurelton Park Baptist Church there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says; “The Jews own Brick, NJ it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.”4 The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Dr. Jerry Buckner Senior Pastor, Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in Tiburon Christian Fellowship the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our opinion …5 Tiburon, CA Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of 6 Jhan Moscowitz Germany, we stand squarely for such principles … North American Director, Instead, therefore, of our literature and our work’s being a menace to the Jews for Jesus principles of the present government we are the strongest supporters of such Brooklyn, NY high ideals.7 Ray Kollbocker So much for the vaunted “neutrality” of the WTBTS. Sounds as if Rutherford knew Senior Pastor, which side he was on, and it was not the side of that supposedly “most oppressive” … Parkview Community Church Glen Ellyn, IL “British-American empire.” No, he found Nazi Germany more in line with the WTBTS “ideals.” Even more importantly, please note Rutherford’s cruel willingness to throw the Dr. Ron Rhodes President, persecuted Jews right under the bus! Don’t worry, Hitler—we agree with you that the Reasoning From The Scriptures Min. Jews are the problem! They are “Big Business oppressors” who are “exploiting and Frisco, TX oppressing the peoples of many nations”—they own New York! We’re on your side, Bill Honsberger Hitler—surely you can see that the Jews are no friends of ours! Director, However, Herr Hitler was not impressed with Rutherford’s attempted “bedfellow- Haven Ministries Aurora, CO ship,” so the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany continued. This enraged Rutherford, who then threatened to publish a worldwide exposé of the Nazi’s brutality if Gino Geraci Senior Pastor, the persecution of JWs did not cease. Again, Hitler was unmoved, and that is why Ruther- Calvary Chapel South Denver ford began denouncing Hitler and Nazism—safely from his home in the evil, oppressive Littleton, CO Jewish-owned (in his view) American empire. He agreed with Hitler’s “high ideals” so Phil Ballmaier long as his “idealism” was directed at other groups. The aforementioned AWAKE! article Senior Pastor, ironically states that in October of 1934, JWs from 49 countries sent a telegram to Hitler Calvary Chapel Elk Grove, IL warning him that he must refrain from persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses or “God will destroy you and your national party.” God eventually did destroy Hitler and the Nazis. And Your response to this publication how did He accomplish this destruction? With fire and brimstone from Heaven? No, God would be greatly appreciated!!! Please send all correspondence and used the brave armies of the Allies—the most evil and oppressive empire on the face of subscription inquiries to the above address. the earth according to WTBTS’s President Rutherford! Thank you for reading the Journal. What about the 10,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses detained in Nazi concentration camps? Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc.

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