Franz Pieper on Henry Ford, International Jew publication

In a previous post, I briefly mentioned a point made by Franz Pieper on Henry Ford and the Jews.  In this blog post, I will bring the full text of Pieper's comments which include several of his observations and corrections.  Henry Ford published a four-volume set of booklets on "The International Jew" (also in Ford's weekly newspaper The Dearborn Independent).  There is a Wikipedia article, a Wikisource reproduction, and an Archive.org download available online.  Pieper's comments were made in Lehre und Wehre, volume 68 (1922, August/September issue, pages 281-282).  I have split up Pieper's short article into the sections (in dark green) that he designated himself:

Ford and the Jews. The fourth issue of  Ford's International Jew has been received: "Aspects of Jewish Power in the United States." The booklet contains some truth.  But the error of representation is the one-sidedness. International Jews are accused of being "getters" in the sense that they do not create values themselves, but financially exploit the values created by others.  That the International Jew herein has a special skill cannot be denied.  It is only to be added that the representatives of the Anglo-Saxon race, which is compared to the Jewish race, have developed an important skill to procure the financial exploitation of the labor of others.

Pieper shows Ford's "one-sidedness" when pointing out that "financial exploitation" is common to non-Jews as well as Jews, only in different ways.  The description of "getters" seems to appear first in Chapter 65 of Ford's publication.

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— The International Jew is also accused of being held for God's "chosen people" – making propaganda in this sense, and claiming a dominant position in the world.  Also this cannot be denied.  In the Zionist movement, Orthodox and Reform Jews come together.   But Ford – or the man who writes for Ford – takes the position of ruler that he begrudges the Jews when he claims for the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic race: "They are the ruling people, chosen throughout the centuries to master the world."

The point that Henry Ford makes here is the same that Martin Luther made against the Jews... and Franz Pieper affirms.  However the great difference is that Ford takes another step, a false step, a step of taking the "position of ruler".   This is the step that Martin Luther did not take against the Jews for he spoke only of spiritual matters.  Martin Luther understood Romans 11 and especially Romans 11:20 – "Be not highminded, but fear".  It is reported that Henry Ford was a "Protestant Episcopal" and was perhaps chastened on his misstep when he recanted his publication.
History reports what happened to Germany with it's misstep, a misstep largely fueled by it's departure from it's spiritual leader, Martin Luther, and true Christian teaching.  Not so with the old (German) Missouri Synod for we see Franz Pieper showing the true Christian way, a way that is "not highminded", but fears... and does not recant the true spiritual charge against Jewish unbelief.

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—  The International Jew, in another reproach, is a revolutionary.  This is certainly true, as recent history proves.  But recent history proves both, that just representatives of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic race have made common cause with the Jews, in order to foment revolution in Germany and so to win the war.

There is so much history surrounding World War I and Germany that I do not understand.  British accounts and even American historians leave me wondering, or even doubting them.  I consider Franz Pieper's judgments of history during this critical period to be definitive. The outcome of this war and it's aftereffects were the major backdrop for the next World War.  But Pieper brings some insight to the underlying forces at work during this period.  And he clearly lays partial blame for revolutionary behavior with the Jews, even if the blame must be spread around.

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—  About the occupation of the Jews in the world, it is said: "They are now without a mission of blessing."  Again there is a need for some restriction.  The International Jew or the Jewish people in their dispersion among the nations has this purpose – to warn all people against the contempt of the gospel of Christ crucified.  Would that the people take to heart this purpose of the Jewish people!  At the same time God has in mind, as we know from the Scriptures with the dispersion of the Jews among the people, that the Jews are stimulated by the example of Christians to faith in the Gospel, not to faith in the "Anglo-Saxon religion", as Ford writes.  Also the plagues, with which they are mutually plaguing, should cause both parties, Jews and Gentiles, to repent because there is still time for grace.    F.P.

Let me emphasize this point that Pieper makes: The Christian religion is for all the peoples!  Anyone who limits this is removing himself from a truly Christian world view.  Anyone who judges other peoples as an "overlord", is either a weak Christian or a non-Christian.  No one is better before God – read Romans 11.
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To reiterate the two points made by Pieper:

1. Pieper affirms several of Ford's points against the Jews
2. Pieper corrects some points, especially spiritual in nature, that make Ford's work "one-sided" against the Jews

Why should you and I care about what Pieper thinks of all this?  Because he is "The Twentieth Century Luther".  And just as modern history misjudges Luther on the Jews, so it misjudges the Jews in the 20th century (and now the 21st century).  But Pieper judges history correctly for his judgment is from a truly Christian standpoint, the only true spiritual "world view".

Someone might say the Pieper might judge Martin Luther's writings against the Jews as too "one-sided" like he does Henry Ford.  But that would be a mistake for Pieper knew that Martin Luther always confined his comments to the spiritual sense.

So if Hitler and the Third Reich, or Islam, or any other non-Christians speak against the Jews, it is nothing spiritually.  But when Luther speaks against the Jews (or the Turks and the Pope) or when Pieper speaks against the Jews (or Henry Ford), it is entirely spiritual.  They wrote entirely through faith in the Gospel, a Gospel message for all people!

To end this blog post, I will repeat Pieper's great plea:

The International Jew or the Jewish people in their dispersion among the nations has this purpose – to warn all people against the contempt of the gospel of Christ crucified.  Would that the people take to heart this purpose of the Jewish people!