Who were the ten Booms and how are they relevant today?
The Ten Booms were a family of devout Christians living in Holland during World War II. When the Germans occupied their city and began rounding up the Jews, the ten Booms organized an underground railroad, hiding Jews in their home and then leading them under cover or darkness to hiding places that other like-minded Christians ran in the countryside. At the time of their arrest by the Nazis in 1944, the ten Boom family had organized a network of more than eighty volunteers who had rescued more than seven hundred Jews.
The ten Boom family paid dearly for its heroism. Casper ten Boom, the family patriarch, became sick in prison and died within days of his arrest. Both his daughter Betsie and his grandson Kik died in Nazi concentration camps. His son Willem ten Boom survived the concentration camps but emerged terribly ill and died shortly thereafter. Casper’s daughter Corrie ten Boom survived the concentration camps and spent the rest of her life sharing her family’s faith and story.
The ten Booms are highly relevant today because they demonstrate the sincerity and depth of the evangelical commitment to the Jewish people. The Ten Booms were explicit in their rejection of replacement theology. And they were explicit in their love for the Jews. They risked (and lost) their lives to save Jews because of this Christian faith, not despite it.
There is a direct theological line from the ten Booms to the Christian Zionists of today. While Jews no longer need to be hidden in Jewish homes, we do need Christian support in confronting new threats such as those from Iran and Hamas. We should embrace these modern-day righteous Gentiles and work with them to defend Israel.
How are Christian Zionists obsessed with the Holocaust?
When it comes to the Holocaust, Christian Zionists remind me of Jews. The Holocaust is the point of reference, the great calamity against which all actions and threats are judged. Yet the obsession may even be greater among certain Christians because they feel guilty about the fact that people claiming to share their faith permitted this atrocity. Thus they seize every opportunity to stand up for the Jews and in so doing demonstrate how true Christians behave.
A longing to make amends for the Holocaust often figures prominently in Christian Zionist speeches and fund-raising literature. And the desire not to permit a second Holocaust drives their mounting alarm over Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. No other community – with the possible exception of the Jews themselves – stresses the parallels between Hitler in the 1930’s and Iran’s President Ahmadinejad today as do the evangelicals.
You defend Pat Robertson. Why bother?
Because Pat Robertson is a good man. Because he has served America and Israel admirably over a long career. Shame on us if we let the mainstream media decide for us whom to honor and whom to cast aside.
Does Pat Robertson say some regrettable things? Sure. Does he apologize for these statements? Yes. Should the occasional inappropriate comment lead us to forget all he has done for Israel? I certainly hope not.
Time after time Pat Robertson has thrown his significant political support behind Israel. He has visited Israel so many times he has lost count. And Robertson runs a major Christian university (Regent Unversity), where he teaches the next generation of Christian leaders to support Israel. We should stand by our friends even when they err.
Do you think you needlessly look too hard for specifically Christian reasons for the president, the secretary of state and others to support Israel? Doesn’t it just make good geopolitical sense?
