by Leonard V Johnson
I saw a documentary the other day. It was Hitler's Death Army: Das Reich – UNCENSORED, June 1944. And it was probably one of the worst documentaries I've ever seen in my life. It was uncensored. The ‘Death Squad,’ the ‘Death Head’ of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, where they committed all manner of atrocities on the French civilian population during World War II.
And it was the uncensored footage that made it so disturbing. The SS-Totenkopfverbände were the concentration camp guards who wore that skull insignia, and seeing unfiltered documentation of their actions was very difficult to watch. That kind of raw, uncensored material can be overwhelming even for someone like me who appreciates historical accuracy.
Often, it’s difficult to understand how the LORD God can forgive people like this. It’s one of the most challenging aspects of faith – wrestling with how divine mercy can extend even to those who committed such unspeakable evil. God’s living word shows us examples like the Apostle Paul, who persecuted those of the Way before his conversion. The mystery isn’t that forgiveness is unavailable, but that it requires TRUE REPENTANCE ── and only the LORD God can see into a person’s heart to know if that repentance is real.
~ be sure to read and study our A Morning Bible Study – What Is Repentance? ~
“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” – Luke 23:34.
Now, just because our Lord Jesus Christ, while on the cross, said, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,’ doesn’t mean that He just immediately offered them forgiveness. It means if they repent. It wasn’t an automatic blanket pardon – it was an intercession asking the Father to withhold immediate judgment and provide opportunity for repentance. The fact that many of those same people later came to faith at Pentecost (31 AD) shows how that “prayer” was answered. Christ’s words opened the door for forgiveness, but it still required their heart to turn toward Him in genuine repentance.
I myself pray the same prayer that the Apostle Peter prayed. I don’t want anyone to perish, but I want everyone to come to repentance, forgiveness, and to be saved.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:9.
The LORD God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It takes real spiritual maturity to hold both justice and mercy in tension like that. I pray that all those who committed those heinous acts during World War II, the Nazi Germans, I pray that they do repent, after their resurrection, of their atrocious acts and turn to the LORD God. We are to have Christ-like love – praying for the salvation of even the worst offenders. Our hearts should reflect the same Spirit that led Jesus to die for all humanity, knowing that His sacrifice was for everyone, regardless of their sins. It’s a profound witness to the transformative power of faith when someone can look at such darkness and still hope for redemption.
And I know that it’s not easy. But that’s the prayer we should pray.
“’ You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44) But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.’” – Matthew 5:43-44.
Because it takes tremendous spiritual strength to hold that kind of compassion in our heart. Sadly, our first emotion is to destroy those people because of our anger and our overwhelming emotions at such atrocious evils that they’ve done, but yet we need to have grace, mercy, compassion, just as our Lord Jesus does.
“’ Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.’” – Matthew 5:7.
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13) bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, …” – Colossians 3:12, 13.
“For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” – James 2:13.
It’s this battle between our human nature and the divine nature that the LORD God has embodied within us. The righteous anger is natural and even justified but then comes the harder calling to surrender that desire for vengeance to the LORD God (Romans 12:19) and for us to choose the path of intercession instead. It is one of the most difficult aspects of following Christ ── allowing His heart to transform our natural reactions into something that reflects His divine character.
It’s one of the hardest of commandments that the LORD God has given us. The natural human response is to seek justice or even revenge, but God calls us to something that goes completely against our nature. That’s what makes it so profound when someone chooses to pray even for the worst offenders ── it is, in a way, a supernatural act that only comes through our Lord Jesus’ strength working in us. CHRIST IN US!
It truly goes back to an important subject that I recently did an article on, “Let Us Work Out Our Own Salvation.” The Apostle Paul has to say: we need to seek out our own personal salvation because no one else knows our thoughts. Paul’s teaching in Philippians 2:12 about working out our own salvation with fear and trembling speaks to our personable responsibility. Only the LORD God truly knows the heart, and that’s what makes salvation so deeply personal. Each of us must wrestle with our own relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of what others might think or assume about their faith.
The very idea of praying that someone like Adolf Hitler will seek repentance challenges everything we feel about justice and evil. But that’s exactly what makes the faith our Lord has blessed us with so profound ── we wrestle with our Savior’s most radical teachings, even when it goes against every human instinct for righteous anger. It’s important to keep in mind that our Lord Jesus looks at people completely different from the way that we view people. He looks at people as potential brothers or sisters within the God family.
“ … ‘Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” – 1 Samuel 16:7.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” – Isaiah 55:8-9, KJV.
Our Lord Jesus Christ sees beyond the fallen nature to the very image and likeness of God that still exists in every person. Where we might see irredeemable evil, He sees someone who could potentially be transformed by grace. It’s that divine vision that makes His love so radical and challenging for us to comprehend, let alone emulate. And because we’re human, it’s often difficult for us to see someone other than pure evil, yet the Lord Jesus looks upon them and is willing to forgive and redeem them. Our finite understanding limits our perspective, while Christ’s divine nature allows Him to see the eternal potential in every person ── past, present, and future. We look at someone’s actions and judge them as irredeemable, but He sees past the corruption to the original Plan of a future spiritual image and likeness of God that is potentially within them. His divine love operates on a completely different level than our human emotions and sense of justice.
He Without Sin, Cast the First Stone
We can certainly use as an example where our Lord Jesus wrote in the sand and said to them, ‘Anyone that does not have sin, cast the first stone.’
“ … But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7) So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ 8) And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9) Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. …” – John 8:6, 7-8, 9.
When those self-righteous religious leaders brought that adulterous woman to Him, ready to stone her for her act of adultery, Christ’s response revealed their own hearts. By challenging them to examine their own sins first, He demonstrated that divine perspective I speak of ── seeing beyond the immediate offenses to the universal need for grace, forgiveness, and redemption.
It was our Lord Jesus’ ability to see both the depths of each person’s sins and their ultimate potential for transformation. O’ He knew every secret sin of those accusers, yet He also saw what they could become through grace. That’s what makes His love so radical ── it’s based on complete knowledge rather than on ignorance. And it’s this divine perspective that makes our Lord Jesus’ teachings so challenging and transformative ── seeing people not just as they are, but as they could become through grace.
It is truly one of our ultimate tests of real faith ── believing that even someone who has done you wrong, or who has committed such horrific acts could potentially find redemption. It shows our deep understanding that the LORD God’s mercy extends beyond what we can humanly comprehend, even to those that were most evil. And surely, if anyone deserves eternal punishment, it would be Adolf Hitler. Yet, again, that’s what makes our faith so challenging and profound ── knowing that even the architect of the Holocaust could potentially find redemption through divine grace.
And I know that people often react with shock or even anger when we teach these deeper truths about divine grace. Many people can’t wrap their minds around the idea that someone who has caused such immense pain, suffering, destruction, and death could ever be forgiven. But the person can’t be forgiven if the person never truly repents, if the person never genuinely seeks the LORD God with all their heart, mind, and soul. That’s the key distinction ── divine grace is available, but it requires authentic repentance and surrender unto the LORD God.
“’ Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.’” – Jeremiah 29: 12-13.
“ … seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” – Deuteronomy 4:29.
“Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!” – Psalm 119:2.
You must completely surrender to the LORD our God. You have to repent ── and repentance means changing your way, your life, your heart. The way you live completely. A complete transformation ── TRUE REPENTANCE isn’t just saying, “I’m sorry,” it’s total heart change that transforms how someone thinks, acts, and lives. It’s surrendering everything to the LORD God and allowing them to completely remake you from the inside out.
And surely, a person like Adolf Hitler would have to learn ── for the first time ── just who and what God is. Because someone who twisted and corrupted religious concepts for such evil purposes would need to completely start over in understanding who God truly is. His distorted worldview would have to be completely dismantled before genuine repentance could even begin. Real spiritual transformation takes time and genuine effort. It’s that patient, hopeful perspective that makes our faith so compelling, brethren. □
