Blog by Douglas J. Lanzo
January 3, 2026
Especially during these times of increasing antisemitism and persecution of both Christians and Jews worldwide, it is important to clearly denounce religious hatred, to remember that Christ preached a message of love and forgiveness for all, extended grace to all sinners such that neither Jews nor Gentiles would be able to boast of salvation by works (Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast”) and explained that He did not come to abolish Judaic law or the Old Testament prophesies but rather to fulfill them, stating: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17 NIV)
Not only did the Apostle Paul teach believers not to boast of their works, but he exhorted Christians to be humble and cognizant that the Jewish people remain God’s chosen people by eternal covenant and that we have been by God’s grace grafted into the tree of life, stating:
“Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2 NIV); and
“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” (Romans 11:17-24, NIV)
While in Paris this past October, of all the magnificent memorials, museums and attractions, I was most deeply moved by a simple yet stunningly beautiful and powerful crypt within the Memorial of the Deportation of the Martyrs which contained the following engraved words (which indelibly etched themselves upon my heart):
“They went to the other side of the Earth but they did not return.”
In a stunningly impactful manner, it memorializes the tens of thousands of Jews who were rounded up and deported from France during the Holocaust, with fewer than 3,000 surviving that barbarism. The enclosed poem below, titled “The Starkest Truth Eternally Lit,” is written in memory of, and as a tribute to, these French Jews and as an admonition to everyone living today never to allow similar hatred to take root.
The Starkest Truth Eternally Lit
By Douglas J. Lanzo
©2025
How stark the truth
that stood before me:
117 meters of memories
searing 200,000 rods of glass —
memories of Jewish lives
lit by an eternal flame,
illuminating the crypt
bearing the ashes
of an unknown deportee
entombed in cold, lifeless black,
colored only by a bouquet
of white tulips,
laid in broken beauty,
strewn across its face.
In the heart of the crypt,
engraved in bronze,
flashed burnished words
of unalterable truth,
lit by yet burning lives
so cruelly extinguished:
“They went to the other side of the Earth
but they did not return.”
I stared—silent and motionless —
bereft of everything —
naked, alone, trembling…
a kindred pierced soul
engulfed by their fire
and crushed by men’s weight.
Please note that this striking photo of the Crypt is by Guilhem Vellut of France.
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