My grandfather hated mayonnaise. So when my dad and grandfather would get burgers after a hard day’s work in their Unicurve valve factory, the person taking the order always knew to hold the mayo. But as a Holocaust survivor, life wasn’t always this grandiose.

My grandfather, David Tibor Szloboda, was a man of many talents.

Originally a blacksmith from Eastern Europe, he became an inventor and held certifications in mechanical and chemical engineering. His most prized patent, the Unicurve valve, made a legendary entrance, boasting the ability to power a car on mere vapor! Hearing stories of my grandfather gave me a powerful zeal to understand my roots and where I came from…

My grandfather, David, was born in Hungary to humble beginnings. As a young Jewish blacksmith in Eastern Europe, he spent his early years learning the trade; long exhausting hours and measly pay was his reward. Those things didn’t matter; I was so fascinated by this man! I read pages of his patents. He published things like “the destructive distillation of garbage” and “a new method of energy: substitute for fossil and atomic.”¹ He spoke many different languages: Hebrew, German, Hungarian, English, to name a few in his arsenal. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and broad shoulders! Shoulders so broad that when Nazi Germany came rolling in, they thought he would be a great fit for their slave labor camp.

The Nazis had him watch as they brutally murdered his whole family.

Then they imprisoned him. Day after day, slaving away to survive, sometimes shoveling bodies of those who worked to death. They burned the bodies. There wasn’t enough time to bury them, nor did the Nazis care. He survived a year and a half of these atrocities. When it was over, he moved back to Hungary, then to Israel when it became a nation again, and finally, to Canada (so that my dad and aunt would not have to face the hardships of war).

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Writer and philosopher, George Santayana, most likely wrote this quote.² In its original form, it read: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Though 75 years is only a relatively short amount of time, have we as a society already moved on and all-but-forgotten one of the world’s most execrable atrocities? Have we instead chosen as a people to turn a blind eye?

Far be it from the Christian who knows God’s Word! Did the apostle Paul not write to the church in Rome: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:4-5). If by ignorance you are still not convinced that God has a plan for the Jews, Paul continues, “For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree” (Romans 11:24).

What would it be to allow ourselves to feel the weight of this burden, and at some level, take ownership of the past? It is all too easy to say, “God has this handled. If He wanted to change the outcome, He would have changed it,” or like Pontius Pilate, “wash our hands of the situation.”³ I believe God has chosen to use the mechanism known as the Church in His divine mission to renew all things.⁴ It is to this end that God will cause change.

We were wrong. We failed.

Where were we as the Church? Why wasn’t every Christian involved in the prevention of the Holocaust? Why wasn’t every Christian involved in saving Jews from impending death?⁵ These failures started early on in our history. We allowed for our theology to become so vile that we said, “God has replaced Israel with the Church,” in a heinous viewpoint known as replacement theology.⁶ This view was prominent amongst one of our great reformers, Martin Luther. Near the end of his life, he had such a disdain for the Jew that he wrote, “Jews are a serpent’s brood, and one should burn down their synagogues and destroy them.”⁷ I believe the church allowed the magnitude of how God used Martin Luther to completely eclipse his sinful, increasingly anti-Semitic doctrines. Such anti-Semitic theology is completely unacceptable. But we allowed this to happen. And regardless of how much good was done, without condemning this view as the Church, and by remaining silent about this man’s actions, we partake in the great failure.

Never forget.

When we submit our weakness and failure to the Lord, we are able to usher in His strength. Consider the Apostle Paul when dealing with the thorn in his side.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Pastor David Guzik said it best:

“Think about this man Paul. Was he a weak or strong man? The man who traveled the ancient world spreading the gospel of Jesus despite the fiercest persecutions, who endured shipwrecks and imprisonment, who preached to kings and slaves, who established strong churches and trained up their leaders was not a weak man. In light of his life and accomplishments, we would say that Paul was a very strong man. But he was only strong because he knew his weaknesses and looked outside himself for the strength of God’s grace. If we want lives of such strength, we also must understand and admit our weakness and look to God alone for the grace that will strengthen us for any task.”⁸

Our weakness reminds us that we are not ultimately in control. Our weakness reminds us that our own strength fails. Our weakness reminds us of how powerful our God is.

What will be the next great challenge for the Church to overcome? What great evil will arise that will need to be opposed or addressed? World War III? Death by refugee encampment? The seemingly endless abortions? Will we find in our weakness the strength of the Lord to do the unthinkable; to reach the unlovable and play our role in God’s plan to renew all things?

My grandfather hated mayonnaise. He hated it because the scent reminded him of the odor of burning Jews in the Holocaust. The smell was a constant reminder of atrocities that he could never forget. He was not allowed to forget. We are not allowed to forget. Never forget our great failure of allowing the tragedies of the Holocaust.

Oh, that we would remember the painful past long enough to eradicate its atrocities for a flourishing future!

_Notes:

_{¹ Szloboda, David T. “Patent Search.” Espacenet. Accessed January 29, 2020.
² Clairmont, Nicholas. “‘Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It.’ Really?” Big Think. Big Think, July 31, 2013.
³ “Matthew 27.” ESV Bible. Accessed January 29, 2020.
⁴ Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 62.
⁵ While there were some prominent Christians who took action, the majority of the Church remained silent
⁶ GotQuestions.org. “What Is Replacement Theology / Supersessionism?” GotQuestions.org, January 15, 2010.
⁷ Howard, Bernard N. “Luther’s Jewish Problem.” The Gospel Coalition, October 19, 2017.
⁸ “2 Corinthians Chapter 12.” Enduring Word, May 9, 2019.}

Thursday, June 6, 2019, marks the 75th anniversary of the D-day invasion of France by American and Allied forces.

The upper Normandy region has doubled in population this week. It’s impossible to find a hotel, difficult to lock down an Airbnb, the main highway, the N13 that links Cherbourg to Caen is closed to allow the passage of the world leaders who have come to remember. In fact, it’s more accurate to say, the French have never forgotten. From the first time I visited Normandy, I’ve heard—from people of all ages and with deep sincerity—“We will never forget.” True to their word, this week has served as proof in the form of conferences, films, reenactments and parachuters jumping from real C-47 paratrooper airplanes within view from the freeway! Add to that the many people dressed authentic 1940’s US military uniforms and French Resistance fighters. Traffic has been slowed to a crawl due to all the Jeeps, Ambulances and Military transportation vehicles from the day. To be honest, there are times when it feels like we are on the set of a World War II movie.

In quieter times, I like to take friends and family to the D-Day Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, (otherwise known as Omaha Beach.) There is nothing like surveying the field of crosses and stars of David which stand up from the perfectly manicured lawn like stalks of wheat in an immense harvest. I’ve walked through the crosses in the rain when hardly a soul was present; I’ve sought shelter under the trees while the sun beat down and the grounds were covered with visitors from all over the world. I’ve never gotten over the prevailing hush as one looks over the thousands of lives laid down to save Europe from Nazi oppression.

Last time I visited this sacred ground, it was a particularly cold day with a light wind sweeping off the shore finding its way into my bones. We walked over to the edge of the Memorial to a stone wall that stands waist high to take in the breathtaking view of the beach. Three shades of blue appear to be painted as if by the brush strokes of the wind, sun and waves. The beach itself, covered with white sand, so quiet, it could have been a postcard picture of any other place in the world. If it were not so terrible, not so… hallowed. We met a Veteran from the War in a wheelchair. He wore a picture of himself in his youth with the phrase “Forever young” printed on the bottom. We talked for a moment and thanked him for his service. As we walked back to the car, I mulled over the words of the troops assuring General Eisenhower before loading up, “Don’t worry about it General, we’ll take care of things for you.”

And the freedom we enjoy today is proof that they kept their word.

Even amongst friends, the ride home is less talkative. It takes some time to process through the heaviness of such a scene. As I drove home that day, I couldn’t help thinking about all that’s changed since the invasion. Here I was, a US-born citizen, a pastor of a church in Paris, France, living in a suburb that as I was told by a man who lived there during the Occupation, was once “inhabited by German officers in black uniforms.”

I wouldn’t be here, nor would my church, nor would many of the gracious people I’ve met over the years in France. Those men who gave their lives that day are heroes.

As I pondered over all that I had taken in that day, I was reminded of a place in Scripture that also describes heroes of the faith who paid the ultimate price. Theirs was not so much as soldiers but as those who lived by faith and testified in death to God.

“Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35-38).

Those of whom the world wasn’t worthy… They are heroes also, heroes for eternity. We don’t know their names, but if not for them, something great would be missing. They lived and gave their lives in the image of the Savior. Who didn’t hold on to His divine privilege as we often do our own rights. He humbled himself. Jesus took on our humanity, lived in obedience and gave his life to end the wretched oppression of sin and death that keeps humanity in the Devil’s clutches. Our lives will not be the same because of His great sacrifice and life now filling our mortal bodies. That’s the path those amazing believers of the past followed. Each one had a role to play in the glorious work of God throughout the ages. We may not know the impact now, we may not even get to visit the place where they fell for the Kingdom, but we long to join them in Heaven.

That’s when my mind turned to the many unsung heroes who are still tortured, executed, imprisoned and excluded for their faith today.

These men, women, children, and even the elderly lay down their lives, oftentimes willingly. We know they are given a special measure of grace, that they receive eternal rewards, but we also know they cry real tears. Some still hunger and thirst, crying out for proper medical attention. They pray with all they have within them for freedom. Their pain is real, and their lives will probably never go back to what we call normal. These are my heroes too. They probably would have chosen a different lot for their lives, if they had been given the chance. But what a precious place they will have in the Kingdom.

“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also” (Hebrews 13:3).

Remembering these things has given me a new perspective. I want to remember those men fallen on June 6, 1944. In the same way, I want to remember those saints who died through persecution. I also want to remember those who are suffering right now for the name of Jesus.

It’s true, we can petition our Representative on their behalf. But there is more. We can subscribe and support ministries and missionaries that are involved in these very points of conflict. And still, we need to pray. May we never forget them and may we pray for them as we do for our own family. This is the hardest part. To be honest, I need to pray that the Lord would remind me to pray!

That brings me to my last point, knowing that it’s not by works we are saved, we need the Spirit in our lives. In our world today, anyone is on the front lines, in the image of a paratrooper who is willing to live openly for Jesus. We need His Spirit because we are sinners and sometimes we do fall. But the Lord will help us get up. He will even rescue us and bring us through to a place that reflects His love and grace in flesh and bones. So let’s remember the heroes of the past and present. Let’s especially not forget the One who through His ultimate sacrifice, became the greatest Hero to the glory of the Father.