During a recent trip to preach the Gospel in Poland, Franklin Graham, the President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse, walked through the Nazi’s most infamous and deadly concentration camp “Auschwitz.”
Eighty years ago, this was the place in which the satanically inspired Nazi regime—bent on the eradication of the Jewish people—mercilessly executed over one million Jews.
“Multitudes were gassed to death with cyanide, and their bodies then put into ovens and incinerated,” Graham described, writing in his monthly Decision Magazine column. “In total, the brutal Nazi regime slaughtered more than 6 million Jews across Europe during the Second World War.”
“Auschwitz made me wonder if mankind has learned a lesson. Could such virulent antisemitism ever erupt again?” he asked. “It didn’t take too long to find out.”
Following his preaching in Poland, Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, was scheduled to meet with missionaries in the Middle East in mid-April. Graham recounted how his plans were interrupted by Iran—a nation whose antisemitic ideology closely resembles that of the Nazi regime.
“Iran, a terrorist state, launched more than 300 missiles and drones against Israel,” Graham explained. “Thanks to defensive assistance from the United States, U.K., and regional forces, most were shot down. Otherwise, many Jewish citizens might have perished—perhaps even more than the 1,200 who died last October when Israel was attacked by Hamas, Iran’s agents on Israel’s border.”
‘Antisemitism Has Infected Much Of American Culture’
Upon returning home, Graham was astonished to find that demands for the extermination of Jewish People, a call often heard from the lips of Adolf Hitler 80 years ago, were being exclaimed from American soil.
“From coast to coast, loud protesters filled streets and took over college campuses, not only claiming to support Palestinians but also raging against Israel,” he lamented. “The protesters seemed oblivious to the brutality of Hamas, which butchered men, women, and children; decapitated babies; and ripped women’s wombs open in the Oct. 7 raid on Israel.”
“Incredibly, college campuses such as Columbia, NYU, Harvard, MIT and Yale—supposedly where America’s best and brightest are educated—were filled with hateful rants and deadly threats from pro-Hamas supporters,” Graham described. “They shouted obscene and despicable rants, such as: ‘We are Hamas … Hamas makes us proud, kill another [Jewish] soldier now … Burn Tel-Aviv to the ground.'”
The evangelist called the scenes “hard to fathom” and highlighted a recent poll which found that “one-third of Gen Z thinks Israel does not have the right to exist as a country.”
“Clearly, antisemitism—the hatred of Jewish people—has infected much of American culture, and remains as poisonous and prevalent as ever on the global stage,” Graham underscored. “I have no idea if there will ever again be anything on the scale of Auschwitz. I certainly hope not, but we must be ever vigilant.”
Why Does The World Hate The Jewish People?
The Jewish people have been on the receiving end of an irrational hatred for thousands of years. Antisemitism did not start or end with the Nazi regime. As Graham highlighted, “The Bible gives a straightforward answer for those who have so fervently despised the Jews through the centuries.”
“I believe it is because God chose them out of all the nations on Earth as His special people in order to bring us a Savior,” he stated. “He didn’t choose the Scots or the Irish or any other people group. As a result, the devil and all his demons do everything they can to destroy the nation of Israel, to destroy the Jewish people.”
“God still has a special place in His heart for His covenant people, and that He promises to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:3),” he asserted.
“We know that He has promised to preserve a remnant of believing Jewish people, and that in the End Times many of His people will be gloriously saved, people representing all 12 Jewish tribes,” Graham reminded. “In the meantime, let’s always be careful to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ (Psalm 122:6).”
