May 2008

Dear Friend,

May 1 is a solemn day of remembrance for Jews around the world. It is Yom HaShoah. Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust, so it is “Day of the Holocaust” or Holocaust Remembrance Day when homage is paid to the memory of the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the murderous Nazi regime as it sought to conquer all of Europe and make it Judenrein (German, “Jew-free”), inspired by the diabolical ranting of its leader.

In Israel, observance is particularly poignant as, with the sounding of sirens throughout the country at 10:00 A.M., everyone halts what he is doing (including motorists who stop on the streets and highways and get our of their cars) and stands silently, pondering and recalling the horror of the concentration camps whose names—Auschwitz, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, and others—will forever remain a blight on human history.

The hope is that, by remembering what happened in the past, it can be prevented in the future, so the words, “never again,” are frequently uttered on, and regularly associated with, this day of remembrance.

The sad reality is, though, that the Bible indicates that national Israel will, in fact, experience an even worse period than the Holocaust. It is described in Jeremiah 30:7:

Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

Zechariah indicates that two-thirds of the world’s Jewish population will perish during this period (Zechariah 13:8-9).

Can there be any doubt that it is a good thing to share the Gospel with Jewish people now, in the hope that many of them will come to faith in Jesus and will, along with Gentile believers, “wait for his (God’s) Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come?” (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

May God’s richest blessings rest on you and yours as you seek to faithfully serve and honor Him.

Sincerely in Messiah Jesus,

Rev. Roger L. Wambold,
General Director