Bloodlands (3) Where Next

The situation in the world has now changed. There are very few Jews in Poland and Ukraine. The largest Jewish populations are in Israel and the United States. The forces of evil that created the Bloodlands are now working in these two places. They are experts on killing and death and they are experts on using dictatorial political power. (Recent events in Ukraine show that a few of them are still working there too).

The nation of Israel have no spiritual protection. Worse still, they have no ability to see into the spiritual realms, so they do not know what they are up against. They think the worst threats are military. They do not understand that the greatest threat comes from the spiritual forces of evil, working amongst them to stir up dictatorial political power and killing and destruction. By relying on military and political power for their protection, they are unwittingly working with the spiritual forces that are trying to destroy them.

Most Christians are not helping, because they too are stuck in physical seeing and thinking. They are praying for the military and political power of Israel. This is exactly want the spiritual forces that they cannot see want, because it empowers them. Very few Christians are praying for the spiritual protection of Israel, though that is what is really needed.

I presume that the same spiritual forces are at work in the United States, using all the authority that the old covenant gives them. We can expect to see these spirits, which are experts in using military and political power to cause destruction and death, going to work. May be they are already achieving more than we realise.

Bloodlands (2) Spiritual Persepctive

Timothy Synder is a secular historian, so in his book called called Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin, he attempts to explain these terrible events by examining the political and social events of the time. He concludes that the worst killings took place in areas that were invaded by both Stalin and Hitler, so that was the cause. Because he focusses on the physical world, and ignores events in the spiritual realms, he fails to understand the real cause of this terrible death and destruction.

When Jesus had finished challenging the Jewish leaders, he gave a terrible prophecy.

Look, your house is left to you desolate (Matt 23:38).

The cause of this desolation is rooted in the covenant. The Jewish people have a marvellous covenant with wonderful promises, but they are incapable of fulfilling it. Jesus satisfied the covenant by living a perfect life, but the Jews rejected him so he could not impute his righteous to them. Worse still, they have no way of dealing with their sin. The sacrifices of the covenant worked in OT times because they pointed to Jesus, but once the temple was destroyed, there could be no sacrifice for sin.

The Jewish people are now stuck on the wrong side of a good covenant, under the curse, rather than the blessings. The spiritual forces of evil, who are expert accusers, demand the right to enforce the covenant against the Jewish people. The Jews have no spiritual protection, because their covenant, agreed by God, gives the powers of evil authority to inflict the evils specified in the curses of the covenant (Deut 28). Although Jesus defeated the powers of evil by dying on the cross, they still have authority to attack those who have chosen to live under the old covenant, but cannot fulfil it.

Their only source of spiritual protection is people under the blessings of the covenant because they have the righteous of Jesus imputed to them under the terms of the new covenant. Unfortunately, Christians have been better at persecuting Jews than praying for their spiritual protection.

So whenever the powers of evil want to do great evil on earth, they attack the Jewish people, because the old covenant gives them authority to act on earth. Throughout New Testament history, they have used this last vestige of authority to do great evil in the world.

The worst killing in the Bloodlands described by Timothy Snyder was centred on Poland and Ukraine. These were the two countries with the largest population of Jews. This is why the terrible killing took place. The spiritual forces of evil gathered in huge numbers in this region. They raised up and empowered two terrible political dictators: Stalin and Hitler. They infused the people with hatred and callousness. They inspired others to kill and destroy. The result was the worst killing and death that history has known. The powers of darkness were able to achieve this terrible destruction by using authority claimed under the old covenant.

Bloodlands (1)

Last year I read the book by Timothy Snyder called Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. He tells the story of Eastern Europe between Germany and Russia during the period between 1930 and 1945 when 14 million civilians were killed. This number of deaths is probably unmatched in human history.

The killing began when Stalin starved the people of Ukraine by stealing their grain to pay for the industrialisation of the Soviet Union. Nearly three million people died in three years. Many more people died when Hitler and Stalin divided Poland between them. When Hitler invaded Russia, his troops slaughtered thousands of civilians and even more prisoners of war. Nearly a million died. In the areas that Hitler’s forces controlled, millions of Jews were killed, by bullets to the head, starvation in work camps, or gassing in death facilities. When Stalin’s army defeated Hitler’s forces and pushed them back into Germany, many more people were killed or died of starvation.

Hollywood gives the impression that the Second World War was won by British airmen lying Spitfires and the American army invading France. This book is and important counterpoint. Snyder show that that the real war was fought and won on the Eastern front.