GUEST POST: SPANISH WRITER SEBASTIAN VILAR RODRIGUEZ with comments by Lorilyn Roberts: “What Really Died at Auschwitz?”

The Garden of Gethsemane

The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper. It doesn’t take much imagination to extrapolate the message to the rest of Europe - and possibly to the rest of the world. 

“I walked down the streets in Barcelona and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz . . . We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz, we burned a culture, thought, creativity, and talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.

“The contribution of these people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.

“And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime, and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.

 

“They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime. Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.

“And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition. We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.

“What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe.

“Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it ‘offends’ the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving in to it.

 

Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem

“It is now approximately seventy years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, twenty million Russians, ten million Christians, and nineteen-hundred Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated. Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem

“How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center ‘NEVER HAPPENED’ because it offends some Muslims in the United States? If our Judeo-Christian heritage is offensive to Muslims, they should pack up and move to Iran, Iraq, or some other Muslim country."

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One of the things I did (Lorilyn Roberts) when I went to Israel is I visited many of the Holocaust memorials, including Yad Vashem. I also toured the Old City of Jerusalem. The jpegs in this article are mine.

I want to note something that struck me when I went to Israel, something I’ve never written about because I didn’t have an answer: 

When I visited the Muslim Quarters of the Old Historical City, their section of the Old City was filthy. There was no pride in preserving anything. Precious sites mentioned in the Bible appeared to have been deliberately abandoned or polluted, such as the Pool of Siloam. 

Archeological work is hampered throughout Israel because of the political situation. If the Muslims valued knowledge, history, and technology, why don't they let scientists come in and preserve this precious history?

Wilderness of Israel

Throughout history, scientists from different political persuasions have been able to overcome ideological differences and work together for the betterment of mankind. I see the space station as an excellent example of how scientists can share knowledge even when the home countries which sent them have different political and religious views. 

I truly believe much of history has been rewritten to make Islam look good. I have done a lot of reading on the history of Islam in preparation for my next book in the Seventh Dimension Series. That research has shown me as a Christian and as an American, I have been misinformed about the Muslim faith. 

Deliberate or just naivete, I don’t know, but now I'm reading as much as I can to become knowledgeable so I’m part of the solution to peace and not part of the problem.

Books I recommend to understand Islam and its relationship to Jews and Christians are:

• Slavery, Terrorism and Islam, by Peter Hammond. 
• Islam and the Jews, by Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D. 
• Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity by Nabeel Qureshi

I will leave the reader to ponder this quote from Ephesians 2:12-22 and challenge Christians to become educated on how to reach their Muslim friends, colleagues, and neighbors with the Gospel. Jesus is ONLY way to peace and reconciliation. Jews and Muslims need us to make that reconciliation happen.  

Israel

*~*~*~*

“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

¹⁵ Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

¹⁶ And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

¹⁷ And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

¹⁸ For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

¹⁹ Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

²⁰ And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone ”(Ephesians 2:12-20 KJV).

GOD'S LOVE REVEALED IN A CAT: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts

Kenobi 2016, double hip surgery

Recently my two-year-old cat had a terrible accident. We became aware something was wrong when we couldn’t find him. We searched all over the house and looked outside, although he’s not an outdoor cat. Perhaps he ran out without us noticing. No matter how many times I called his name, he didn’t come. I started moving the furniture around to see if he was hiding. When I pulled the sofa away from the wall, he popped out.

Our excitement at finding him dissipated when we noticed he was limping, but I had no idea of the severity of his injuries. My daughter then remembered seeing something white flash behind her when she was vacuuming. We then realized he must have run to escape the vacuum cleaner by hiding underneath the sofa.

That night, Kenobi rested in the corner of my bedroom on a rug with his hips propped up. I noticed he was breathing heavily, but when I approached him, he hissed at me. He felt feverish, and the next day I took him to the vet. X-rays revealed he had broken both hind hips.

The vet prescribed some pain medicine, and we elected to try the conservative approach first – bed rest for two months in a crate. Follow-up X-rays revealed his hips had not healed, and the left hip was actually more displaced than before. He didn’t appear to be in as much pain, but he walked with a noticeable limp and couldn’t run or jump up on the sofa or bed.

The right hip didn’t seem symptomatic, so the vet recommended we just do surgery on the left hip, but there was another problem. He had a heart murmur. Who heard of a two-year-old cat having a heart murmur? Surely that couldn’t be anything serious. 

Our vet recommended we take Kenobi to the University of Florida Small Animal Clinic to diagnose the cause and make sure he was healthy enough for surgery. I set an appointment, realizing the costs were mounting for his treatment and questioning how much money was too much to spend on a cat.

The results came back from the heart tests—Kenobi had heart disease. As the vet described it, if you have to have heart disease, his is the best kind to have. It was somewhat treatable with medication, and the doctor felt he should be able to survive hip surgery.

I packed Kenobi up in the van and brought him home. How difficult would it be to give a cat a tiny pill twice a day? Maybe giving Kenobi his medicine would help me to remember to take my blood pressure medicine. 

We scheduled Kenobi for surgery, but then he did something to his other hip. He couldn’t walk at all, and he was in as much pain as when he originally broke both hips. It was Saturday and our vet was closed, so I took him to the Small Animal Clinic at the University of Florida. They sent me home with pain meds to make him comfortable until our vet did the surgery on Tuesday.

I dropped Kenobi off at the vet three days later, informing the doctor of the recent change in his other hip. They did X-rays, and the doctor called me on the phone and said Kenobi needed surgery on both hips. He believed both hips should be done at the same time because of Kenobi’s heart murmur, but he couldn’t do both hips that day.

Arrangements were made to have the surgery done the next day by an orthopedic specialist. He also arranged to have an anesthesiologist to assist with the surgery because of Kenobi’s heart disease. The costs had become steep, and several well-meaning friends suggested I should put him down.

 

“Never,” I told them. God would provide the money, even if it meant working a lot of overtime to pay for it.

The next day I took Kenobi in for surgery and prayed. Matthew 10:29 came to mind: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” Kenobi as well as my seven other animals have all been rescued, and each one brings me joy.

The night after Kenobi’s surgery, I called the vet and asked how Kenobi was doing. 

“He’s doing okay,” the nurse said.  “But he’s not eating or urinating on his own.”

“Can I come down and see him?” I asked.

She put me on hold for a few minutes before replying. “If you make it brief,” she said.

I drove to the vet and arrived within minutes. Not many people are awake in the wee hours of the morning. The nurse took me to Kenobi where he was resting in a small crate. As soon as he saw me, his eyes lit up. The tech opened the cage and I reached in and stroked him gently on the head. Sweet purrs filled the air. I smiled. He just needed to know I hadn’t forgotten about him.

The next day I took Kenobi home and made him comfortable. The vet prescribed morphine and he wore a small fentanyl patch on his back. Eventually, the pain faded, and he became his old self again. As I write this, he is even starting to play with toys and walk at a brisk pace. He can now get up on the sofa using cat stairs I bought at the store.

Surprisingly, a few days ago, my back started bothering me. Maybe it was from leaning over taking care of Kenobi. Maybe it was from some heavy cleaning I did and hauling away dozens of books and donating them to a local bookstore.

I went to the doctor and got some muscle relaxants, and now I’m taking lots of walks, hot baths, Ibuprofen, and Tylenol.

As I thought about the coincidence, I wondered if God had something He wanted me to remember. Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross, died for our infirmities. He took upon Himself the weight of the world— our sins, our pain, and our hurts, and suffered an inhumane death on the cross. Isaiah 53:4 states: Surely He (Jesus Christ) has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Perhaps God was showing me once again when we care for others deeply, we feel their pain. We hurt for them and with them.

Did God use Kenobi, a two-year-old kitten from the Human Society, to draw me near to Him? I feel God’s love when I love Kenobi, knowing without my sacrificial love, he wouldn’t be alive. I saved his life because I esteemed his value even if others didn’t. I saw a greater lesson, a greater message, and a greater story of love. Just as God cares for the sparrow that falls from a tree, God revealed His eternal love for me through Kenobi’s brokenness and healing.

Kenobi's hair is already growing back.