The 'Nazi connection' will shock Christians of even nominal sensitivities. Adolf Hitler's name is a household word, used synonymously with the consummate evil of this century. Gerhard Kittel's name is a household word—among New Testament Greek scholars. It would seem the chasm between two such men would be monumental. Kittel edited the ten volume standard reference work used in New Testament Greek word studies, the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. The NIV translators relied on its judgements when selecting words, as do all translators. When a pastor or 'media preacher' elaborates with reference to 'the Greek', it is virtually certain he is citing a judgement about the correct meaning or choice of a word from this dictionary or an abridged compendium which has adopted its citations.

      Kittel's labors on his ten volume Greek New Testament dictionary began the same year he became Hitler's 'hired man'. Kittel's trial, conviction and imprisonment for his key part in the extermination of two thirds of Europe's Jewish population is a harsh fact, hidden to those pridefully seeking 'hidden' meaning in the Greek. This same pride impels New Age mystics in their pursuit of hidden 'gnosis' or knowledge.

      In Gerhard Kittel, Satan found a man who could destroy both the seed of Israel and the "incorruptible seed" of the word of God. His writings penned between 1937 and 1943 caused the physical death of millions of Jews and spiritual death for untold others. Using the cloak of 'Christianity' and 'science', Kittel was the chief architect of the so-called 'racial science' and 'Christian base' for Hitler's anti-Semitism. William Foxwell Albright, a prominent archaeologist and Semitic scholar, writes: "Kittel is...even darker and more menacing...than Goerring or Goebbels...[He credits Kittel with]...the grim distinction of making extermination of the Jews theologically respectable."

      This spiritual treason by the 'Christian' academic and theological community, provides the answer to the weighty question, 'How could civilized young men of a modem culture brutally torture and murder their fellow man and why did a whole generation of Germans sit by and allow it?' Author Joseph Carr answers: "Satan's gospel of racial hatred had been preached loudly in Germany for more than a decade..." This war of words preceded World War II, preparing the minds of some Germans for their unholy betrayal of humanity. Scholars explain: "[T]here was a cancer in 19th century Germany. The German theologian...had deteriorated to an unbelieving liberalism...Understanding the moral treason of churchmen required knowledge of the doctrinal state of much of Europe during the first four decades of this century...the satanic influence."

      Only a few years earlier, Madame Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891), refered to as "godmother of the New Age movement", who was a Spiritualist (necromancer - one who acquires knowledge through alleged communication with the dead), and founder of the Theosophical Society (an international group of occultists), exhumed her Luciferian doctrines from Philo's School in Alexandria, Egypt. This same school also produced manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments—altered to conform to their esoteric teachings.

      What was the source of these bizarre notions of 'Aryan' superiority and Jewish inferiority? Kittel's 'volkish' mysticism and Hitler's occultism were at the root of their mutual anti-Semitism. The U.S. Army discovered Hitler's library of personally marked occult books and noted that he kept a copy of Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine by his bedside! Its fables of the new fifth root race of 'divine' Aryans, battling the inferior old Jewish root race, coupled with its call for the open worship of Lucifer over Jehovah, (who Blavatsky identifies as 'Satan'), explains this monstrous phenomenon. Without an awareness of the contents of Hitler's bedside reading, his actions would remain a strange mystery. Blavatsky's book was also used by the mystical societies of Germany after World War I and was perhaps a source for Kittel's anti-Semitism as well. One writer notes: "[M]ost of these groups used the writings of Madame Blavatsky as their bible."

      Root-race rhetoric is evident in the writings of Origen, Westcott and Hort, showing further their sympathies with 'the tares'. Origen wrote that the 'outer darkness' of which the bible speaks is a "black body of flesh." Knowing that Origen, the Platonist, wrote the first draft of Sinaiticus (Aleph) helps clarify the meaning of Hermas 'black ones'. Hort's hours spent in Plato give rise to his comment: "[T]he niggers themselves...they have surely shown themselves only as an immeasurably inferior race, just human and no more, their religion frothy and sensuous, their highest virtues those of a good Newfoundland dog."

      Numerous books, even some written prior to 1941, have exposed occultism as Hitler's driving force. AdoIf Hitler was a disciple of Madame Blavatsky and was initiated into the meaning of the secret doctrine. 'Voices' told Hitler before 1920 that he had been selected 'by God' to be Germany's messiah, saving the nation from "the claws of international Jewry." Erickson notes that "Kittel...did see God's hand in the elevation of Hitler to power." Kittel's defense, during his trial for war crimes, included his assertion that his actions had been "imposed upon him 'by God'." The God, heard by both, was the "god of this world." (Luke 4:6; II Cor. 4:4)

      Kittel recommended that all German Jews be dismissed from their jobs, stripped of their German citizenship and their property confiscated. He said, "[T]hough this would cause hardship it was a necessary price to pay for past excesses." Doesn't this sound like the Antichrist's plan for the 'unevolved' non-compliant Christians who refuse to take 'the Name' of the beast? The same plan comes from the same source—Satan.

      Dr. Josef Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment, believed Hitler was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Goebbels and his SS began the first mass murder of German-Jewry on November 9 and 10, 1938. In 1939, Kittel closed one of his speeches with a tribute to Hitler calling him the, "saving force which stemmed the tide of Jewish infiltration. " "Knowledge of the killings was widespread within Germany itself," notes one observer. As early as 1942, the London Times reported the mass murder of Jews; Swedish diplomat Baron von Otter also publicly reported mass gassings. The B.B.C. reported the massacre by A.M. and short wave radio. "They all knew what was going on." Even with such clear awareness of what was going on, Kittel continued to write for the Fuehrer. In 1943, Goebbels asked Kittel to write for his Anti-Judische Aktion (Anti-Jewish Action), a publication laced with Goebbels' astrological predictions about a German victory in the war. Kittel admitted knowing "about Jewish murders" and wrote of his support for Adolf Hitler's actions. Kittel writes: "...full freedom to murder...just as you should smash the brains of even the best snake ...[This is] justification for the most anti-Jewish acts."

      "But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee...Thou givest thy mouth to EVIL and thy tongue frameth deceit· Thou sitteth and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son." (Psalm 50:16-20)

      First—we question God's word. Its authority is moved out of the way. Then, our "impressions," "feelings," "reasonings" or "associates" become our authority. We have now moved to step two and become our own gods. Then the EVIL comes. It is a shorter route than one might imagine.

      If you feel that perhaps you have been deceived, you are not alone. At the very end of Kittel's life, he confessed that the years of his editorship of the Dictionary and his propaganda 'ministry' for Hitler, "...was based upon the most bitter deception of my life."

      The next time you hear a pastor proclaim, "The Greek here really means .... "(yea hath God said?), be forewarned that his pronouncements are an echo from history past. Their hollow sound is one of Kittel's spiritually bankrupt grammatico-historico method of exegesis used by today's lexicons. Carson (The King James Debate, p. 89) reveals: "I have heard pastors with two or three years of Greek behind them explain to their congregation what a certain Greek word means by citing all the entries in some lexicon."

      The Greek and Hebrew Lexicons and dictionaries are written by men, "most of whom are unbelievers," writes Princeton and Yale scholar Edward Hills. A few examples will suffice: 1) The New Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon's editor (Briggs) was defrocked by the 'liberal' Presbyterian Church for his 'liberalism'. 2) Trench, author of the much used Synonyms of the New Testament, was a member of Westcott's esoteric clubs, as was Alford, whose Greek reference works are still used. 3) J. Henry Thayer, author of the New Thayer's Greek Lexicon, was a Unitarian who vehemently denied the deity of Christ. (Thayer was also the dominant member of the ASV committee!) His Lexicon contains a seldom noticed warning by the publisher in its Introduction (p. vii). It cautions readers to watch for adulterations in the work relating to the deity of Christ. 4) The acclaimed A.T. Robertson's Greek Grammar also sends up a red flag in its preface saying, "The text of Westcott and Hort is followed in all its essentials." 5) Conclusions drawn by Kurt and Barbara Aland of the Nestles-Aland Greek New Testament elicit the response by Phillip Comfort that "the Alands' designations must be taken with caution. 6) James Strong, author of Strong's Concordance was a member of the corrupt ASV Committee.

      Just as Black's Law Dictionary switched definitions to match progressively liberal legal interpretations, likewise most Greek and Hebrew dictionaries and interlinears have now adopted definitions based on Kittel's expanded dictionary, or the like, which define words based on citations by ancient Greeks like Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and other pagan sources. When applied to bible words, these pagan interpretations serve, not as a magnifying glass, as most suppose, but as a glass darkened by the shadow of fallen men. One example will suffice. The word 'love', if defined from the daises of our day, would elicit a definition embracing such connotation as 'a feeling', 'an emotion' or perhaps a sexual sentiment. We have all heard bible teachers, following a Kittel-like Lexicon cite phileo and agapao, as the two Greek words which are translated 'love' in the New Testament. Phileo, according to their grammatico-historico method of exegesis, would mean 'to be a friend'; agapao would mean 'an unselfish Godlike love'. These definitions, garnered from the secular Greek writers of the time, do not represent God's use of the terms.

      "Every word of God is pure" and "given by inspiration of God"; reference works are not. The bible calls us to "compare spiritual things with spiritual" things (I Cor. 2:13). Studying the context of other verses which also contain the word (listed in a concordance) will reveal God's definition of the word. ('Love', for example, is defined in I John as "keep his commandments." We are to 'act' in love, not to 'feel' love. Going along with the New Age, new versions render Mark 10:21, "felt a love for" rather than "Jesus loved him.") New versions hid this key to understanding bible words by mistranslating I Cor. 2:13. They say, "combining (or expressing) spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." The NASB italicizes 'words' and 'thoughts' because they do not occur in the Greek. The command in all Greek Manuscripts is "comparing," not 'combining' or 'expressing'.

      The Nazi worldview and major elements of the New Age Movement worldview are identical. They should be, after all, for they both grew out of the same occult root: theosophy...the teachings of Helena P. Blavalsky (The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled).

      The heartland of America was pierced to find it harbored a large crematorium with bleacher seats in the now abandoned multimillion dollar ashram of the exiled guru, Rajneesh. Their spokesman chaffed to Constance Cumby, "[It is] for Jews, for Christians." New Age books, such as Return of the Bird Tribes (p. 62), Revelation: The Birth of a New Age (pp. 63-65) and Prophecies and Predictions (pp. 57, 58), all predict an upcoming "cleansing action" to purify "the race." Sane Occultism, another New Age tome, says: "The Beast whose number is 666...[tells us] we must not forget that destruction is always the first phase of construction."

      The final chapter of the New Age Version of the story finds the pens of the scribes lining up a barricade against the second coming of Jesus Christ. Their banter serves as a battering ram, opening hell's door to unleash persecution of those who are saved during the seven year "kingdom" of the Antichrist.