The recent Portland riots are the worst in Oregon’s Rose City in over three decades. Black Lives Matters protests recently took an ugly turn when some protesters went beyond burning buildings and throwing lethal concoctions at police. This time they burned Bibles along with the American flag. If this movement was originally about the tragic death of George Floyd, in some quarters the cause has been co-opted. Throwing explosives into a police station is an act of civil criminality with legal implications. Burning Bibles is blasphemy with eternal consequences.
It may be that some well-meaning protesters concerned about black justice don’t condone such behavior. But the actions of the militant few seem to be steering the cause for social equity in a dangerous direction. These anti-Christian radicals want to see both America and Christianity destroyed. May 10, 1933, the Nazis initiated the Holocaust with the public burning of books deemed “un-German.” This symbol of intolerance set the stage for Hitler’s genocidal mania. Demonic worship of pagan, Nordic deities was at the heart of Nazi Germany’s beliefs. Hatred for the Jews was based on reverence for violent, white supremacist gods like Odin and Thor. The same demons were likely summoned by the Bible-burning in Portland.
Some may argue, “It was just a few Bibles, and the burning doesn’t speak for all protesters.” But in 1933, how many Germans were worried about a small group of radicals burning a pile of books by Jewish writers? Some states in America have made it illegal to attend any kind of church meeting, blaming COVID-19. Now Bibles are publicly burned. Those who can’t see the connection between Hitler’s Reich and the Portland book burnings are naïve and spiritually blind. One Bible burned is one too many. From small beginnings, terrible evils can arise. Portland doesn’t need another protest. Portland needs an exorcism!
