The rise of antisemitism in our nation and around the world is alarming. Those who demonize Israel and the Jews are no longer hiding their views. Political pundits like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are mainstreaming hatred as they propagate the same kinds of views as Adolf Hitler. Here are a few videos from Rabbi Jonathan Cahn that explain how this new antisemitism is infecting conservatism and Christian circles. Here, here, and here.

It is sad to note that much of the rising antisemitism came about after Israel was attacked on October 7, 2023. While the world was somewhat sympathetic the first week after the massacre of over 1,200 people in Israel, and over 200 hostages snatched, that quickly vanished and morphed into hatred for the victims, rather than the perpetrators. The world began siding with Hamas and Islamic terrorism rather than the nation of Israel. This trend has only increased as young people on college campuses continue to demonize Jewish people. Antisemitic attacks have increased significantly. All the while, Islamic terrorism abounds while people look the other way. It’s an upside down world, but it’s not that different from what was happening during the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Final Solution for the Jews in the 1930’s and 40’s.

In the midst of all this, we must remember that God and His Word literally have the last Word! Even though the antisemites spew their lies, the Bible reminds Christians that it is GOD who brought the Jewish people back to their land. More about that here…

YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUIT

As the Jewish holiday of Tu B Shevat nears, I am thinking about the fruit of our nation. Tu B’ Shevat is a minor holiday on the Jewish (biblical) calendar, but it’s still considered a special and symbolic time of year. Today in modern Israel it’s customary to plant new trees and have a meal with fresh fruit and almonds to celebrate the future harvesting of the fruit of the trees. It’s marked as a time when the trees begin to wake up from their winter slumber. Some begin producing sap as they prepare to bear fruit in the coming months. This year, Tu B’Shevat will arrive at sundown on February 1, 2026 and end at sundown on February 2.

Traditionally, Tu B’ Shevat is a time when a nation looks at the fruit they are producing. Is it good fruit, or bad fruit? As a nation, if we were to look at the fruit we are producing, the truth is that we are making progress in many areas, especially when it comes to pushing back on the LGBTQ indoctrination agenda, abortion, wasteful government spending, health freedom, and “wokeness” in general. But when it comes to antisemitism, we definitely have some problems. Many people in our nation, including some Christians, are simply not knowledgable when it comes to God’s love and care for the Jewish people. They are ignorant when it comes to the promises of God.

 The prophet Isaiah spoke of the extraordinary rebirth of the nation of Israel in Isaiah 66:8.

“Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.”

Ezekiel echoed Isaiah’s message vividly when he also foretold the rebirth of a dead nation.

“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones’: ‘I will make breath  enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord,’” Ezekiel 37:4-6.

God brought life to a dead nation just a few short years after the Holocaust. Hitler tried to annihilate the Jews, but God revived and resurrected them. Their providential rebirth was a testament to God’s faithfulness and his great love for the Jewish people.

GOD WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER AND CARE FOR ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE

Before Israel became a sovereign nation again, many believed God had washed his hands of his chosen people. Many even said, “God was finished with the Jews.”  Those who ascribe to antisemitism believe this is still the case. Their hatred for the Jews stems from Satan whether they know it or not, but antisemitism can only happen when a person doesn’t recognize or understand that God has a plan of restoration for the Jews.

Those who believe that God is finished with the Jews are in denial of what biblical scripture says. Jeremiah 31:35-36 declares, 

“It is the Lord who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and this is what he says: ‘I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature.’” 

This means God will NEVER reject or forget Israel or the Jewish people. God’s creation stands as a testament to his faithfulness and dedication to Israel. Do the antisemites really think that the fixed order of the universe will suddenly collapse? Do they really believe that the laws of nature will cease to exist? God is being crystal-clear in this verse—he will never reject his people because it is fixed—it is ordained and set by God that he chose the Jewish people and he has a plan of restoration for them. (Read Romans 11 if you need more clarity about this).

When it comes to truly understanding God’s love for the Jewish people, heroines like Corrie ten Boom, and her father Casper ten Boom, are wonderful examples. They also understood what antisemitism looked like, and how it operates.

THE HIDING PLACE

Corrie ten Boom’s book, The Hiding Place, tells the amazing story of how she and her family hid more than 800 Jews during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Their home became a refuge and a hiding place for those who needed protection.

Corrie describes how the Nazi occupation first began:

“The true horror of occupation came over us only slowly. During the first year of German rule, there were only minor attacks on Jews in Holland. A rock through a window of a Jewish-owned store. An ugly word scrawled on the wall of a synagogue. It was as though they were trying us, testing the temper of the country. How many Dutchmen would go along with them?”

The quote above reminds me of some of the very things that are happening right now around the world. Whether it's on a college campus, or at a protest on a city street, these same things are unfolding without much push-back. The quote above says, "How many Dutchmen would go along with them?" My question today is, "How many Americans are going along" when it comes to attacks against the Jews through words, boycotting, social media conspiracy campaigns, or attending pro-Palestinian protests?  

Only one bird is going the opposite way in this painting. During the Holocaust, the majority went along with the crowd. Few did the hard thing and “flew” the other way.

The Ten Booms would not go along with the Nazis. In fact, years before war ever came to their doorstep, they had prepared for this day. Corrie’s father, Casper, had taught his family to honor, love and pray for the Jewish people. They held weekly meetings where they prayed for the Jewish people, and for the peace of Jerusalem. In 1844 Casper’s father Willem, had begun this tradition of faithfully praying for God’s chosen people. At the time, it was considered unusual among Christians to do something like this. The Jews were scattered throughout the world and they were not living in their biblical homeland. The city of Jerusalem was divided. The promises of Ezekiel 37 and Isaiah 66 had not come to pass yet. Nonetheless, for 100 years, and over the span of three generations, the Ten Boom family prayed for the return of the Jewish people to the biblical land God gave them. All these prayers happened in their house and watch shop on 19 Barteljorisstraat. Casper, Corrie, and the rest of the family continued to intercede for the Jews, even at their own peril.

As the Nazi occupation continued, things got progressively worse. Jews were forcibly removed from their homes and businesses without reason. Eventually, the Nazis began making public spectacles of Jews as they were arrested. Men, women and children were forced into trucks without mercy. Seeing the Jews being taken away one day, Corrie’s father Casper said, “Those poor people.” But he wasn’t talking about the Jews. He was referring to the Germans. “I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God’s eye,” he remarked.

How many of the pro-Hamas protesters understand that they have touched the apple of God’s eye? Do Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have any clue that their hatred of “Zionism” and the people of Israel is demonic? By the way, the word “Zionism” simply refers to the belief that the Jewish people should be able to live in their ancestral land peacefully, and without being attacked. Antisemites fail to realize that God is a Zionist. His Word declares that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and that there’s a magnificent plan of restoration for them. Zionists pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Zionists pray for the protection of the nation of Israel, especially as they are attacked by enemies who want to “wipe them off the map.”

Unfortunately, like the Nazi sympathizers during WW2, antisemites believe they are doing a service to the world by informing their followers that the Jews are “in control of everything from banks to the media.” This is what happens when people do not read or understand the Bible. Tucker and Candace are deceived and they are oblivious to it.

Corrie ten Boom and her family KNEW the BIBLE and they understood it very well. That’s why generations of their family were praying for the Jewish people before they were ever brought back to their land!

From their watch shop, Corrie and her father could see the time had come. Something had to be done. Someone would have to help the Jews. It would be risky, but absolutely necessary. Corrie and her family would become part of the underground. This meant they would hide Jews.

This was no easy task. A secret room had to be built into the wall of Corrie’s bedroom. It needed to be as inconspicuous as possible because the Nazis made a regular habit of raiding homes. Getting caught hiding Jews would invoke severe punishment. Nonetheless, it was a chance Corrie and her family were willing to take. Casper ten Boom is quoted as saying, “In this household God’s people are always welcome.” He had every intention of helping the Jews at all costs. He also said, “I would consider it an honor to give my life for God’s chosen people.”

On February 28, 1944, the Nazis raided the Ten Boom home and arrested the entire family. Incredibly, the Jews they were hiding at the time were not discovered. They did find ration cards, however, and this was all they needed to prove the Ten Booms were guilty. Initially, they were taken to a local gym, where they were held with others who had also been arrested. In the midst of this, Casper held evening prayers as he’d always done. A quote from The Hiding Place describes this moment: 

“Every day of my life had ended like this; that deep steady voice, that sure and eager confiding of us all to the care of God. The Bible lay at home on his shelf, but much of it was stored in his heart. His blue eyes seeing beyond the locked and crowded room, beyond Haarlem, beyond earth itself, as he quoted from memory, ‘Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word…Hold thou me up…I shall be safe…’” 

Amazingly, the year of his family’s arrest was 1944 and it had been 100 years since Casper’s own father began the weekly prayers in 1844 for the Jewish people and the peace of Jerusalem. In that span of time, the Ten Booms had held at least 5,200 intercessory prayer meetings. They would pay a heavy price for this dedication. Corrie, her sister Betsie and Casper would be sent to Scheveningen Prison. Actually, Casper was offered a chance to avoid this fate. A Gestapo chief said to him, “I’d like to send you home, old fellow…I’ll take your word that you won’t cause any more trouble.”  Casper answered, “If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.” Casper would die in prison ten days later. Corrie and Betsie were eventually sent to Ravensbruck–the notorious death camp for women.

Casper’s spirit would live on in Corrie and Betsie as they shared the gospel with the women of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. The daily torture of biting lice and fleas would not hinder the message that Jesus saves. Filthy barracks, blistering cold and empty stomachs would not keep them from telling others that Jesus is their hiding place, as Psalm 119:114 declares. In the midst of so much misery, Corrie says, “For I, too, had a hiding place when things were bad. Jesus was this place, the Rock cleft for me. I pressed a finger to the tiny crevice.”  Many women became Christians in that terrible place, where the love of Jesus would transform misery into hope.

Unfortunately, Betsie would die at Ravensbruck. Two weeks later, Corrie would be released because of a clerical error. Both the paperwork error and the timing were divine interventions because all the women in her age group were killed just a week after her release.

Corrie would travel the world, speaking about her experiences in the concentration camp, the power of forgiveness and her love for the Jewish people. Her story continues to inspire Christians to live out their faith without fear. In addition, her life reminds us that God’s love for the Jewish people should reside in our hearts, just as it did with Corrie and her family. Casper and his family made their home a Psalm 91 for Jewish people who would have been killed by the Nazis. The Jews were covered by the wings of a family that did not cave into tyranny or fear. Instead, they provided shelter, knowing God would sustain them with his shelter, no matter what fate awaited them.

Corrie and Betsie dwelled in the shelter of the Most High, as Psalm 91 describes, long before they ended up in the concentration camps. When they decided to hide Jews, they were already under God’s wings. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge,” Psalm 91:4. To be part of such an undertaking would be more than risky. The Ten Boom family lived less than a block away from the police station, but they jumped feet first into the danger. Their faith was strong and their connection to God was secure. They did not “fear the terror of the night” as described in Psalm 91:5. They knew dwelling in God’s shelter meant taking risks and letting God handle the rest. They did not let fear slow them down, or stop the work they needed to do. They knew they could “trample the lion and the cobra” as stated boldly in Psalm 91:13.

As the world continues to criticize and ostracize the nation of Israel, let us be like the Ten Boom family as we firmly and passionately pray for the protection and salvation of the Jewish people. As antisemitism rises, let us be the ones to rise above it and stand up for Israel and the Jews.

The Ten Booms knew the importance of Genesis 12:3 which says, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.”

Those who propagate antisemitism will not be blessed. One day they will stand before God and answer for their hatred. No one is saying that the nation of Israel does everything right politically or morally. But this new form of antisemitism is demonizing an entire nation and race of people based on “theories” being put out by political pundits and influencers who are using the same talking points that the Nazis used. There’s an old debunked document called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion that’s been around since the early 1900’s and sadly, it preaches the same lies that have been around for centuries. The Jews are blamed for everything under the sun. The unsubstantiated lies in this document continue being repeated across social media, but are repackaged and delivered as news.

Antisemitism is a Satanic, irrational hatred of Jewish people. Of course, we know that Satan hates what God loves and he loves what God hates. His fingerprints are all over this agenda.

Like the Ten Booms we need to continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the protection of the Jewish people. Also, if we hear people spreading lies and hate about the Jews, we need to speak up. This is not the time to be silent. After the Holocaust the Jews said, NEVER AGAIN. We should all be saying this! NEVER AGAIN should we allow the Jews to be mocked, blamed, and persecuted. We should be a HIDING PLACE FOR THE JEWS.

Perhaps we can follow the hundred-year tradition of the Ten Booms by starting intercessory prayer groups. We can also join or follow organizations, whose goal is to bless and pray for the Jewish people, such as One for Israel, Chosen People Ministries, Jews for Jesus, Christians United for Israel, Behold Israel,  Friends of Zion, Shalom in Messiah Ministries, and Intercessors for America to name a few. Our biggest prayer should be that the Jewish people and the nation of Israel would know true peace–the Prince of Peace himself–Jesus Christ.

Antisemitism in the End Times by Olivier Melnick, is an excellent book that explains the history of antisemitism and how it is manifesting in our world today…