Another Holocaust? At 102, Walter Bingham Sees Disturbing Signs of Repeating History
Summary
At 102, Walter Bingham recounts experiencing antisemitic discrimination in Nazi Germany, including classroom segregation, the Nuremberg Laws, the destruction of Jewish life, and Kristallnacht, which he witnessed in Mannheim in 1938. He escaped Germany in 1939; his father later died in the Warsaw Ghetto, while his mother survived forced labor. Bingham now compares rising antisemitism and attacks against Jews with the 1930s, warning that prejudice can progress from social hostility to exclusion, legal discrimination, and violence. He urges Jews to consider immigrating to Israel and Christians to support Israel.
Watchmen Signals
Biblical Context
The persecution of Jews and the use of Jews as scapegoats for a society's troubles connect meaningfully with Scripture's treatment of Israel and the nations. Genesis 12:3 records God's promise concerning those who bless or dishonor Abraham's offspring. That passage supports taking hostility toward the Jewish people seriously, although it should not be used to claim that every historical event or modern political position is a direct act of divine judgment. Romans 11:28-29 places Israel within God's continuing redemptive purposes, describing the Jewish people as beloved in relation to the patriarchs and affirming that God's gifts and calling are irrevocable. This provides theological context for why contempt, coercion, and violence against Jews cannot be treated as morally or spiritually insignificant. It does not, by itself, validate every political claim made on behalf of the modern state of Israel. The progression Bingham describes—from prejudice to exclusion, law, and violence—also conflicts with biblical demands for justice and impartial treatment. Leviticus 19:33-34 commands Israel not to mistreat the foreigner and to love him as oneself, while James 2:1-9 condemns partiality and identifies the law of love as central Christian conduct. These passages do not specifically predict the Holocaust or establish that current antisemitism fulfills prophecy; they provide ethical standards by which discrimination, scapegoating, and abuse of vulnerable people should be judged. No specific prophetic event is established by the facts reported here.
Biblical Sources
Scripture references supporting the biblical context above.
God's promise concerning those who bless or dishonor Abraham's offspring provides a meaningful biblical basis for treating hostility toward the Jewish people as spiritually and morally serious, without equating the article's events with a specific judgment.
James condemns partiality and grounds impartial treatment in the law of love, which materially illuminates the discriminatory treatment and social exclusion described in Bingham's testimony.
The command not to mistreat the foreigner and to love him as oneself establishes a biblical standard opposed to exclusionary discrimination and abuse of vulnerable minorities.
Paul describes Israel as beloved in relation to the patriarchs and affirms that God's gifts and calling are irrevocable, providing theological context for rejecting contempt and persecution of Jews.
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