The Thought Police

Thirty-one years ago we took on an emergency family project -- we wrote a point for point rebuttal of a full page newspaper ad placed by Holocaust denier Bradley Smith in the Ohio State Lantern. In this podcast, I read the article we wrote, which was also published at the University of Michigan and other places where Smith had spread his lies.  Objective truth is often the only way to challenge lies -- especially when the lies are bold, outrageous, and dangerous. 
After a summer break, this episode marks the first in a new series of episodes that will explore significant areas of disagreement about what is true. We will try to avoid the common pitfall of painting those who disagree with us as the ones who are liars or believing falsehoods. But we will discuss all the tools we have for determining the truth of a claim. We will call in question what Christians have been doing lately, and attempt to contrast our cultural norms with what the Bible says in its writings about law, ethics, character, and prophecy. 

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro - 31 years ago ...
• 7:14 We wrote the ad. What did we call it?
• 10:43 "He who forgets the past is condemned to repeat it."
• 11:45 Fact: Jews were not enemies of Germany, but good citizens
• 14:51 Fact: Germany established a policy of exterminating Jews in Europe
• 18:00 Fact: Germans established several camps that were designed and built for the deliberate gassing and cremation of Jewish people. Rudolph Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz, and Adolf Eichmann were in charge of finding a method.
• 20:03 Fact: Jews did not promote anti-German hate propaganda. They did not, but they did try to flee, and were often sent back to Germany by allied countries. The allies were sympathetic, but usually did not increase their immigration quotas.
• 21:46 Fact: American government officials knew of the death camps and work camps, but military planners chose not to bomb the tracks to the death camps because they considered other military targets more important.
• 23:12 Fact: Courts have proven the truth of Holocaust eyewitness accounts multiple times.
• 24:42 Fact: Those who deny that gas extermination was even possible, are entirely discredited and disproven by photo and eyewitness evidence.
• 26:56 Fact: Eyewitness testimony is the most credible tool of courtroom truth-seeking, and thousands of eyewitness accounts are what make the Nuremberg Trials one of history's most important historic works.
• 29:09 Is there no standard for truth?
• 30:05 Cursed Memory
• 32:10 The greatest crime in history
• 33:48 Yes, Disbelief
• 36:44 Outrage is NOT Hate
• 37:55 A Remarkable Comeback
• 41:13 What Makes Israel Special?
• 45:21 "You Can't Handle the Truth"...

Transcript

Owen Kindig  00:10

Welcome to it is near.

Owen Kindig  00:13

This is episode six. And I have to begin with an apology. I have been traveling, and then I have been working on a very difficult episode. And I've spent almost a month on it. And it's still not quite finished. 

Owen Kindig  00:35

But today I was cleaning out a storage area that had been in use for oh my gosh, about the last three years. And the time came that I needed to clear it out. And I did that. And guess what I found I found a newspaper that my mom had saved from 22 years ago.? It was a newspaper that contained a reply by myself and a few of our friends to a horrible article, a full page denial of the Holocaust that a man named Bradley Smith had published in the Ohio State Lantern. 

Owen Kindig  01:19

And because they felt that it was a matter of "academic consideration", I guess you'd say, they allowed Mr. Smith to publish his article for free. They gave him an entire page in the Ohio State Lantern newspaper. In January of 1992. Oh my gosh, I said 22 years ago, it was 31 years ago, from 1992 to 2023. That's 31 years. 

Owen Kindig  01:52

At the time, we lived in Columbus, Ohio, which is where the Ohio State University is, of course, and I was working. I was driving to the Ohio State campus, meeting with someone to talk about a project that I was doing. And while I was there, on the campus, I was listening to NPR which is my habit as I'm driving, and I heard a Jewish man calling in to the radio station. I could tell he was Jewish, from Europe by his voice. 

Owen Kindig  02:26

He was an elderly man in his 90s -- a Holocaust survivor -- and he was weeping, just weeping. And it came out in the interview that he had read this paper -- the Ohio State lantern that day.  It was a Friday afternoon; that's when the paper came out. And he had just seen the paper. And it had this full page denial of the Holocaust. And the poor old gentleman was weeping because he could not believe that in 1992, roughly 50 years after the crimes had been committed, that people were now starting to actually deny that it even happened. 

Owen Kindig  03:22

[Bradley Smith's article essentially] accused Jewish people of a conspiracy to try to convince the world that they had died by the millions in the Nazi death camps -- that 6 million Jewish people had been systematically murdered by the Nazis. If there's any truth in the world that could be well substantiated, one would think THAT would be [an obvioius] truth. And yet here we are, even today, we have Holocaust deniers in the United States, gaining more and more influence. [About the time] Bradley Smith came out with his article, a [so-called]  historian by the name of David Irving in England published a book also denying the Holocaust and using some of the same bad arguments that Smith used. 

Owen Kindig  03:58

One year later, [thirty years ago] one of my heroes, Deborah Lipstadt, wrote a book called "Denying the Holocaust" in which she systematically destroyed all of Irving's arguments, and many of the other arguments that Bradley Smith presented in his bogus newspaper ad. 

Owen Kindig  04:32

And in that ad, Smith kept talking about the "Thought Police" as though there was some organization, some high handed conspiracy, that was working to prevent free thinking people in a university from examining the "truth" [of this bogus historical revisionism] for themselves, and they were prevented from doing this by the quote, "thought police". So when I heard this discussion on the radio, I called my wife and daughters at our home. And I also called the man that one of our daughters was dating at the time, my future son in law. And I said, "Hey, we've got to do something. We've got to answer this. Because everybody is sputtering. Everybody's upset. But nobody's giving a point for point rebuttal. And surely, if we do a rebuttal and offer a full page reply, surely the newspaper will print it." As you know, it's only fair play, right? 

Owen Kindig  05:39

So we got busy that night, we met and we talked about it, had dinner together. And then we went home and got up early the next morning and came back to Columbus because we lived about 40 miles away. We came back to Columbus, Saturday morning, and we went to the Ohio State Library. My wife Beth, my daughter, Becky, my future son in law, John. And we went through the stacks. And we divided up the material that Bradley Smith claimed, and we found books and magazines and newspaper articles on microfiche to challenge every statement that he made. We spent the entire day Saturday, just doing research. And then Saturday night, we came home and we started writing. Sunday, we went to our Bible study, and we met with the folks, the other Christians in our Bible study group and told them what we were doing. And to my surprise, they said, "If you need to pay for this, we'll back it will will pay for the ad, whatever it costs to put a full page ad in." 

Owen Kindig  06:56

So we kept working on Sunday afternoon, and we started typesetting, Sunday night. And by Monday morning, we worked around the clock. And by Monday morning, when the Lantern opened, we went to the newspaper office with a finished ad. They opened at nine and we showed up at 9am. And We gave them the finished ad all pasted up and ready to run in the paper. And they said well, we can't do this without charging you full price and full price for you, since you're not a regular advertiser is top line price $1,400 As I recall cost. And we said, Okay, we think that's unwise and unfair, but we stand behind this, and we're going to pay for it. And that's what we did. And it appeared the next Friday that Friday. And we decided to call it reply from the thought police because after all, he thought there was an organization that was telling people how to think all right, if that's what you're going to accuse us of, we'll accept the epithet. You can call us the thought police. And that's what we did. So I'm going to read this to you. It happens that tonight is the night following. Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the saddest day of the Jewish year. Because it's the Day of Atonement. It's the day when every Jewish person examines their own heart and questions their own life, to find areas of ethical departure from the principles that they have learned in the Torah in the law of God as written down by Moses. It's on the 10th day of the first civil month of the year, which is which starts in the fall, usually September or early October. And so the first day of that lunar month is Rosh HaShana. And then the 10th day of that month is Yom Kapoor. And the activities of the priesthood on Yom Kapur, as written in the Torah, are written in the 16th chapter of the Book of Leviticus, if you care to read how they used animal sacrifices at the time, as a metaphor or a symbol of the kinds of compensation that would be needed to cover the sins of every individual in the nation in order to overco me the guilt that people incur in their attempt to live.

Owen Kindig  09:50

And whether their intentions are good or not. All of us fall short of achieving ethical purity and perfection. That's what the Jewish law attempted to provide mental and physical purity of thought and action. All right, so first I'm going to read to you what my son in law who has now passed away. He died at the age of 49. A few years ago, but his son, and my grandson is now a teenager, and his mom is my daughter. My daughter, Rebecca and my wife, Beth, were pivotally important in finding the facts that we used to disprove Bradley Smith's lies. And so I'm first going to read what John my future son in law at the time, 31 years ago, what he wrote. T

Owen Kindig  10:53

his is the center of the article. There's a box around this and then what I wrote is a point size bigger and rug wraps around it on the outside, and it has a more expository treatment of the subject. So this is a point for point rebuttal of the claims of Bradley Smith, and the title of it is He Who forgets the past is condemned to repeat it. Every statement in this section of the article starts with the word Smith, and then a quote from Smith's article. And then following it is the word fact in bold caps, and then a paragraph or two with factual material to argue against Smith's claims. Smith, quote, the Nazis also saw them as being an influential force behind International Communism. During the Second World War, Jews were considered to be enemies of the state, and a potential danger to the war effort, unquote. Fact. Prior to the events of World War Two, Germany was required to pay reparations to France, Belgium and England. According to the Treaty of Versailles. This created national unrest in Germany, which due to economic hardship, escalated during the Great Depression of 1929. This is from source number eight, page 107. And the source of that is, Palmer are are a history of the modern man in 1984. What was stated in this first paragraph is from a history of the modern man 1984 page 107. So we've established that there was unrest in Germany during the Great Depression. This unrest afforded Hitler with the opportunity to gain a political audience and to falsely accused the Jews of being the source of Germany's political and economic woes. Far from being radical communists. The German Jews made up a class of people who were mainly conservative entrepreneurs and small businessmen. Historically, the Jewish sentiment in Germany reflected a message of devotion and loyal service to Germany. During the pre World War, one build up the German Zionist weekly stated, quote, recognize that old Jewish interest is exclusively on the side of Germany, unquote. That's from source number nine, page 96. Source number nine is Sasha sh, ch, ar, H. M, comma A history of Israel 1979. Mr. Smith portrays the Jewish population as a threat to the war effort, when in actuality, the Nazi Party used Jewish assets to fund their war efforts. All Jewish businesses and assets were seized during the course of the war. And in 1923, a collective fine of $1.25 billion was imposed on the Jewish people. That's source seven page 44 source seven is Krosnick, H. M anatomy of the S S state 1968. So to repeat, there was a collective fine of $1.25 billion levied against the Jewish people at the Krosnick quote, on page 44 substantiates this claim. Far from existing as revolutionaries, the Jews remained conservatively loyal even to their own deaths. Smith, quote, revisionist deny that the German state had a policy to exterminate the Jews. People or anyone else by putting them to death in the gas chambers, unquote. So he's saying that he denies that they had a, an actual policy to exterminate the Jews fact. first bullet point, quoting a 1927, Nazi Party Nuremberg rally leaflet, quote, never forget that our day of reckoning with the Jews will not come about until we have the power of the state in our hands to carry out a thorough annihilation of this international racial parasite, unquote. That source 10 page 218 source 10 Is Taylor s a prelude to genocide 1985 bullet, again, under the facts section dealing with the policy of the German nation under Hitler bullet point from the CSSD operational order number eight dated July 17 1941. Quote, In addition to Communist officials, all Jews were to be included among those Soviet Russian prisoners segregated for execution, unquote. That's source 10. Again, page 63. And again, source 10. Is Taylor s a prelude to genocide 1985. Next bullet point under facts, a military report from the German unit Einsatz Group A stationed in occupied Russia on October 15 1941. stated, quote, The cleansing operations being carried out by the Security Police in accordance with basic instructions have as their objective, the total elimination of the Jews, unquote. That's source 10, page 63. And again, source 10 is Taylor, S., A Prelude to Genocide, 1985. 

Owen Kindig  17:08

* Figures reported to Heinrich Himmler regarding the execution of nonpolitical persons in the Ukraine and South Russia by the Einsatz group, occupational units: 

Owen Kindig  17:20

Einsatz group A, July 4, 1941; 365,473 Killed 

Owen Kindig  17:28

By Einsatz Group B, November 14 1941: 45,467 Killed

Owen Kindig  17:36

By Einsatz Group C, December 1941: 95,000 Killed

Owen Kindig  17:43

 Einsatz Group D, April 8, 1942: 92,000 killed. 

Owen Kindig  17:50

That's source 10 page 63. Again, source 10 Is Taylor, S. A Prelude to Genocide.

Owen Kindig  18:01

 Smith: "There was no German policy at any of those camps to deliberately kill the internees, no execution gas chambers existed in any camp in Europe, which was under German control."

Owen Kindig  18:17

FACT: act. "I have a vivid memory of the gassing of 900 Soviet prisoners of war. This took place shortly afterward in the old crematorium. As the Russians were getting out of the train. several holes were drilled in the roof of the mortuary of the crematorium. The Russians undressed in the entrance hall, and then filed quietly into the mortuary having been told that they were to be deloused. Once they were inside the room, the doors were bolted behind them, and the gas was turned on through holes in the roof. I do not know how long they took dying, but they made quite a din for some time. As the gas was fed in some of the prisoners shouted, "Gas!" which was followed by prolonged shouting and furious battering on the door, but the door held. After some hours the mortuary was opened up and aired. I have to state quite frankly, that I was quite satisfied with the gassing of this convoy because we had soon to begin the mass extermination of the Jews. And up to that day, neither Eichmann nor I had any clear idea how to set about the task of mass executions. Thanks to this experiment, we had found both the gas and the method of use." Confessions of Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz. That is source seven, page 125 and source seven again is Krosnick H M. "Anatomy of the SS State", 1968 

Owen Kindig  20:04

Smith: "During the war and in the post war era, Zionist organizations joined with the Allied governments and became deeply involved in creating and promulgating anti-German hate propaganda.". 

Owen Kindig  20:20

FACT: The true relationship between Zionist organizations and the Allied governments is well documented. "In mid May 1939, the freighter boat St. Louis, carrying 1128 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecutions, was turned away from the United States, and sent back to Europe, where the majority perished under the German reign." That's source six, page 230. And source six is Jones D.P. "The New York Times Book Review, November 20, 1977. 

Owen Kindig  21:01

Continuing with the facts about Zionist organizations,: The Allied prisoners were well aware of the death camps, but refused to bomb the railroad tracks leading to the death camps. "To the American military effort, the Jews represented an unwanted burden". That's source 11, page 307 and source 11 is Weiman, D., "The Abandonment of the Jews" 1985. 

Owen Kindig  21:31

Still countering Smith's claims about the Zionist movement. "The Allied powers were sympathetic to the Jewish plight but refused to significantly increase the immigration quotas into their country." 

Owen Kindig  21:47

Smith:  "It is certain that if there had been, 'killing factories', Roosevelt, Eisenhower, etc, would have known about it and mentioned it." 

Owen Kindig  21:59

FACT: Eleanor Roosevelt, December 14, 1943: "The atrocities have continued and are continuing day by day. In Poland, it is estimated that between a million and a half and 2 million Jews have been massacred, starved, or worked to death by unspeakable sadistic measures." That's source number five, page 165. Source number five is Gilbert, M., "Auschwitz and the Allies", 1981. And continuing with more facts on this topic, about Roosevelt and Eisenhower: "Of all the distressing memories that will live forever with the American veterans of war, none will be more sharp or enduring than those of the Nazi horror camps." Dwight D. Eisenhower. And that's source number four, page 441. And source number four is Eisenhower D., Crusade to Europe", 1948. A book that Eisenhower obviously wrote.

Owen Kindig  23:13

Smith: "Revisionist arguments have never been evaluated or judged by the courts."

Owen Kindig  23:22

FACT: A January 6, 1986, Los Angeles Times article states that "Mr. Mel Mermelstein sued the Institute for Historical Review of the Holocaust regarding the accuracy of revisionist dogma, stating that the Jews were not gassed to death at Auschwitz. The article states "This case is historically important in that it was the first in which a Nazi death camp survivor successfully sued those who deny that the Holocaust occurred." 

Owen Kindig  23:56

The February 1988 issue of McLean's states that "in 1985, a Toronto court found Ernst Zundel, guilty of disseminating false information with a pamphlet entitled, "Did 6 Million Really Die?"  I might add that in 2005, Deborah Lipstadt, published a book called "History on Trial: My Day in Court," and it documents how she went to court with Mr. Irving, and won the case -- proving that his statements were lies and that the Holocaust was a fact.

Owen Kindig  24:39

Now here we go again with Bradley Smith's lies: 

Owen Kindig  24:42

Smith: "British historian David Irving states that 'there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.'" That last part, 'there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz' is a quote of David Irving. And now we're still in Smith's quote: ..."He says, "Fred Leuchter, America's leading execution expert, [that's a joke] concludes that no mass gassings ever could have taken place in the so-called 'gas chambers'." 

Owen Kindig  25:14

FACT: The following book reviews of Irving's book, "The Trail of the Fox" aptly describe Irvings credentials: "This book is dangerous -- besides being historically inaccurate." That's from source number three. Chapman, S, "The New Republic, November 1977." And here's another book review excerpt dealing with Irving: "Irving here attempts the seemingly impossible -- to exonerate Hitler! Depending heavily on the lack of written commands from Hitler, Irving acquits him of responsibility for the Nazis' most egregious sins." That's source number one. And source number one is Allen, J. S., Saturday Review, March 19, 1977. 

Owen Kindig  26:07

And again, going back to the facts that we offered against Bradley Smith's claims: Continuing it says: "An October 22, 1990 Newsweek article sums up Mr. Leuchters impeccable engineering credentials, stating that "Leuchter is scheduled to be arraigned on charges of practicing engineering without a license. Holocaust survivors complained that Leuchter is passing himself off as a scientist to lend credibility to his revisionist views of World War Two. Leuchter has a BA in history". And that was cited as an article in Newsweek dating October 22, 1990. 

Owen Kindig  26:53

Okay, back to Smith's lies. SMITH: " Holocaust historians depend increasingly on eyewitnesses to support their theories. Many of these testimonies are ludicrously unreliable". 

Owen Kindig  27:09

FACT: Eyewitness testimony is the single most credible tool our courts hold to administer justice. The concept of a jury of the people deciphering between the false and true witnesses is at the foundation of most of the world's legal systems for one reason: it works. Most people are poor liars. The legal provisions of discovery and cross-examination allow the legal system to separate true testimony from false. Granted, the system does not work perfectly, and a few false witnesses are credited as being truthful, but not thousands! With a brief wave of his casual hand, Mr. Smith has brushed aside the detailed accounts of thousands upon thousands of vivid, dramatic and truthful accounts. The Nuremberg trials alone consisted of 403 public hearings, in which eyewitness testimony was used as the main source of information. Perhaps the need for truth is best summed up in the following statement issued at the Nuremberg trials: "We are here to define a standard which in the future can properly be applied to men and officials of every state. Any other approach would make a mockery of law and result in wrongs as serious as those which were sought to be remedied." That is source number two, Benton, W F, et al., editors, Nuremberg, 1955. 

Owen Kindig  28:58

And finally, after citing all of these sources, my son in law asked, "Is there no standard for truth?" 

Owen Kindig  29:09

Is there no standard for truth? A very good question, indeed. Okay, so now, I've read the factual portion of our reply to Bradley Smith's article in the lantern from 1992. Now I'm going to read what I wrote. And I feel like this might be the best thing I've ever written. It was written in in a hurry, as we worked all night to get this ad written. And I'm just going to read to you what I wrote and hopefully you'll hear the passion with which I was writing. And I hope that you find it encouraging and truthful. Because that's the standard. The only standard I want to follow is the standard of truthfulness. 

Owen Kindig  29:59

The first heading under my article, "Reply from the Thought Police" says this:

Owen Kindig  30:05

CURSED MEMORY. Every American school kid has heard of D-Day, the day when a million Allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy to kick Hitler out of France. It looks glorious in the movies and the newsreels. But it was a terrible and tragic day, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives, many of them before they even stepped ashore. Yet the Commanding General, Dwight Eisenhower did not speak of D-Day, as the worst day of the war in the soldiers' memories. He recalled that his men suffered the most anguish, not when they were under fire and being killed, but when they discovered, "The Nazi horror camps". And that is source number one in my section -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, The Last Crusade, page 441. 

Owen Kindig  31:06

These were no bleeding hearts, the American soldiers who liberated the Nazi death camps. They were tough veterans, many of them had seen their own buddies blown up in the terrors of combat. But nothing had prepared the soldiers for the horror they saw at Nordhausen Buchenwald, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, or any of the hundreds of camps that they found. These men were speechless in the face of this horror. Silent tears and rage at the people who committed these crimes were the reaction of our soldiers. The footnote for that is my source to the book called The Liberators, pages 4 and 13. 

Owen Kindig  31:55

If there was anti German feeling after the war, it was not because some imaginary Jewish conspiracy had tricked American soldiers into feeling sorry for them. It was because the Nazis were beasts.

Owen Kindig  32:10

THE GREATEST CRIME IN HISTORY. It was such a monstrous idea, the destruction of an entire people. Why? Certainly not because they were a threat to the war effort. Many Jews were loyal subjects, working in weapons factories, or making needed materials for the Fatherland. It was not because of their politics, because while a few Jews were communists, most were merchants, traders, commercial workers, who contributed to the free enterprise system of Germany. It was not because of their ethnicity, because they had wide differences of speech and dress and customs. It was not their nationality. They were Germans, French, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, Italians, Ukrainians, and so forth. It was not because of their race: they were dark or light, with every kind of facial feature. 

Owen Kindig  33:14

The Jews of Europe were not even exterminated because of their religion. Many of those murdered did not practice Judaism. The Nazis killed Jews who had converted to Christianity, as well as some Christians who tried to help the Jews. The Jewish massacre was unique. It was aimed at a particular family of man, a single bloodline, a single gene pool. It was genocide. 

Owen Kindig  33:49

YES, DISBELIEF -- Belief can only flow from understanding and no one can understand the full scope of the Nazi crimes. No one can understand even one baby skewered on a bayonet, let alone the brutal murder of millions. German and Polish people who daily lived with the stench of burning bodies claimed they did not believe it, though it was happening literally under their noses. Jews who had heard stories of death camps did not allow themselves to believe it. Many of them came out of hiding to buy fake title deeds for land in Israel, only to be shipped to the gas chambers instead. American and British officials did not believe the reports of death camps which began to appear early in the war. Were they willfully ignorant? Very likely, just as the Germans and the Poles and the Ukrainians and the Hungarians were. 

Owen Kindig  34:51

Remember, there were many influential people including Christian leaders from several denominations, telling outside writers not to believe the stories they were hearing. That source for that statement is Arthur D. Morse,While Six Million Died.

Owen Kindig  35:13

 Even after the war, after photographs taken by the Nazis had been published in "Life", after films of the living dead had been shown in newsreels, returning American soldiers who were eyewitnesses and who brought home their own snapshots of the camps were still met by disbelief. "No one would do that". That was that was the kind of quote they encountered. "No one would do that". The source for that statement is The Liberators, page 14. And so today, it is understandable that anyone who does not force themselves to confront the overwhelming horrifying evidence could not fully believe the Holocaust took place. People are so accustomed to finding a logical cause behind every action that they look for a reason to explain why the Nazis exterminated the Jews. The very magnitude of the Nazi action seems to give credence to their slander of the Jews. Somehow, the victim gets blamed for the crime. 

Owen Kindig  36:22

Even the eyewitness accounts of Holocaust survivors are very hard to accept at face value. We are used to discounting all extreme statements. We assume these people are exaggerating, but they are not. The horror is broader, deeper and darker than their feeble words could ever make us see. 

Owen Kindig  36:45

OUTRAGE IS NOT HATE. Evelyn Irons, a French journalist who was decorated for courage under fire, interviewed hundreds of camp inmates as the Allied forces moved through Germany. She recalls one emaciated man, hoarse with rage. "It is too late. They killed my wife and my children, my parents and my sisters!" Then he wept: "I am a man with nothing to lose. The only thing I have left is my hate." That's from The Liberators, page nine. 

Owen Kindig  37:26

But that poor victim was mistaken. What he felt was not hate. The passion that motivates other Holocaust survivors to keep their memories alive is not hate. It is righteous indignation -- anger and wrath that is appropriate in the aftermath of the most monstrous crime of human history -- the legitimate anger that flows from the morality of the people who feel it.

Owen Kindig  37:53

A REMARKABLE COMBACK. How did the Jews handle their anger? Did they spend the next 50 years bombing German factories? No. They reacted with hard work and diligence, and created one of the most productive nations on the face of the earth -- the State of Israel. Born in the ashes of the Holocaust, despite the fact that Nazi hatred robbed the world of many of its greatest thinkers, artists, musicians, scientists and doctors -- those who survived have contributed greatly to the intellectual and moral vitality of the world. Under their leadership, Israel has become the only true democratic state in the Middle East. Israeli settlers purchased worthless swamps and deserts, transforming a barren rocky wilderness into rich agricultural land, which supplies much of Europe's citrus fruit from an area the size of New Jersey.

Owen Kindig  39:02

 Israeli agriculturalists redefined the science of desert farming. Israeli teaching teams now share this knowledge with third world countries all over the globe. Israeli scientists have pioneered the medical use of lasers and are at the forefront of theoretical mathematics. Jewish scientists are now found in the top ranks of almost every discipline. 

Owen Kindig  39:27

How has the world reacted to Israeli success? With jealousy, anger, and bitterness. Israel has been attacked repeatedly on all sides. On the day Israel gained its independence, the Arab states which surrounded Israel declared an all-out war, outnumbering the poorly equipped Israeli citizen-soldiers one hundred to one! These massive armies attacked on three fronts. 

Owen Kindig  39:58

Then in 1967, Israel was again threatened by the Arab world, Nasser vowed to drive Israel into the sea. I remember that by the way, I saw that as a kid, I watched that I was about 14 years old, and I saw it on television. I could not believe it. But I remember distinctly: Gamal, Abdul Nasser, the president of Egypt. He said, "We're going to drive Israel into the sea!" And they mobilized along Israel's borders. This time, Israel struck first and won a decisive victory in six days. And I remember that too. That was amazing. 

Owen Kindig  40:39

Once again, Israel forgave her enemies, and gave back the oil-rich Sinai to Egypt. [The source for that is The Terms of the Camp David Accords - 1978.] Today, we see world leaders demanding that Israel give back still more of their land. What more will the world ask of Israel?"

Owen Kindig  41:01

 I wrote those words in, as I said, in 1992 -- 31 years ago. And I think it's still a valid question today. 

Owen Kindig  41:09

The final heading of this article is: WHAT MAKES ISRAEL SPECIAL? God does not play favorites. He is not a racist. 4000 years ago, he promised to bless ALL the families of the earth. More than that, he swore he would do so. But sooner or later, every human being is going to have to come to grips with the fact that Israel is the nation that God chose to bless the world. 

Owen Kindig  41:42

"Israel is my son, my firstborn." That's Exodus 4:22. 

Owen Kindig  41:46

"I will give you [Israel] praise and a name in every nation where you have been put to shame." That's Zephaniah, chapter three, verses 14 to 20. 

Owen Kindig  41:59

"I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed." That, of course, is what God said to Abraham In Genesis 12, verses one through three.

Owen Kindig  42:17

"God has not cast away His people.... They are beloved for the father's sakes." This is especially meaningful to Christians. And it's a quote from Romans, the 11th chapter, verses two and 26 to 29. (And that's a quote by Paul, of course, the apostle.) 

Owen Kindig  42:35

"Do Christians need to stop treating Jews like errant children, and recognize that God has not cast away His people?" That's the question I asked in this article 31 years ago. And I think it's still a good question today for all my Christian friends. And I would say, just as I wrote, then, "I think so".

Owen Kindig  43:01

Does the world need to relax its demands and live with Israel in peace? I think so. Do all people need to read the promises of Israel's prophets to catch a glimpse of the heart of God? Well, of course, all people won't do that. But anyone who does read the Bible, will I think, be comforted. 

Owen Kindig  43:26

And for a good starting point to read a list of what some of the prophets said, check out Isaiah, chapters 35, and 42 and 60. I also recommend chapter 40. And Ezekiel chapter 36. Hosea, chapter two, verses 14 to 23. Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 29 to 34. And Zechariah, chapter 14. 

Owen Kindig  43:58

Well, that was the newspaper article I wrote 31 years ago with my family. And I'm happy to say that it had a good impact. In fact, not only did it appear in the Lantern as a direct rebuttal to Bradley Smith, but when he went to other colleges, such as the University of Michigan, and I believe the University of Pennsylvania, we sent it to our friends in those places, and they did the same trick. They followed up with our article and paid to have it submitted to those college papers as a full page rebuttal. And so wherever Smith was going, the Thought Police -- the people who know and realized that Holocaust denial was a dangerous and incendiary idea -- they stood up and fought. They stood up and resisted lies with the truth. And for that, I'm grateful and thankful. 

Owen Kindig  44:55

So what about today? What about the issue of lies versus truth? Today, almost 31 years after this article that we wrote in 1992, it almost seems quaint to take a stand on a matter of truth in the public sphere, doesn't it? Those were different times. But it was a positive issue for more than just us: eleven months after this article, the "Reply from the Thought Police" was published in one little college newspaper, and then two or three more across the country -- 11 months later, a movie came out that focused on the same kind of issue. "A Few Good Men" was released. And in that movie, Tom Cruise plays a JAG defense attorney, along with Demi Moore, and he confronts a colonel who he suspects of being involved in the unjust death of one of his men. It is one of the most famous scenes in cinema history. I think Aaron Sorkin did a masterful job of writing the screenplay. And in that conversation, Jack Nicholson plays the irate colonel Jessup, who allows Tom Cruise to get under his skin and press him for the truth. They focus on the facts. In that courtroom drama, Jessup says, "You want answers?" And [Tom Cruise's] Caffee says, "I think I'm entitled to them." Jessup says, "You want answers???" And Caffee says, "I want the TRUTH!". 

Owen Kindig  46:32

And in one of the most famous lines in all of cinema, I think, Nicholson says with a camera tight on his mouth: "You can't handle the truth!" This was the sort of thing that people were thinking about in 1992! The truth was a big issue in popular culture. And it certainly was for me and for my family, when we made our attempt to set the record straight in the public sphere. 

Owen Kindig  47:04

But now, 31 years later, I wonder if the same sort of thing might happen. It almost appears that we're in a post-truth world. [In which people are largely disillusioned and doubt that it's possible to find reliable sources of information.] 

Owen Kindig  47:15

And that's going to be the topic of our next couple - three episodes, we're going to be looking at the Christian community, the Christian establishment. And we're going to be looking at the way in which Christians look at truth or falsehood, fact or fiction, in the political, religious and legal realms.

Owen Kindig  47:34

Christianity has always claimed truth as its own territory, Jesus before Pilate says, "For this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the Truth." That's what Christianity stands for, or is supposed to stand for. So over the next several episodes, we're going to be looking at prophecies that talk about Christian deportment in our era, and whether or not Christianity as an institution stands for truth. And we'll be looking at the individual decisions of Christian people in terms of how they live their lives, and the decisions they make, and the leaders they choose. vis-a-vis the issue of truth. So I hope you come back to the next episode, I think it's going to be very interesting. And remember, even the bad news is good news.

Owen Kindig  48:35

As we close with a little bit more Yom Kippur music, I'd just like to say thank you for listening to It is Near. I want to repeat that it is focused not only on Christian prophecy, but on Jewish prophecy, especially the good things that are awaiting the world of mankind are going to be revealed first in Israel, not from the Christian world. And so Jews are welcome to listen to these presentations without any fear that there's a Christian hook at the end, that there's some sort of call to Christianity, or to believe the Orthodox doctrines of Christianity that have haunted Jewish people for so long, and hunted Jewish people for so long. There is absolutely no proselytizing happening here to attract Jewish people. But I do believe that this message, this podcast can be a comfort to Jewish people as well as secular people, atheists even  -- who will enjoy, I think, hearing messages that are sane and bathed in justice and history. That's my goal. And I hope that you'll keep listening for a while and see if I'm correct in what I'm hoping to do here. You can learn more about this podcast at itisnear.com.  It is near dot com -- Thank you for listening