People We Would Be Surprised To See In Heaven

Dr Victor Pearce

'Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See darkness is on the land and deep darkness on the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.' We live in days when this scripture is beginning to be fulfilled. But the time of darkness and light together, will bring about a greater time of 'spiritual warfare' and will necessitate a deeper call to prayer. To help us get a sense of the power of prayer and the revealing of God during warfare we need look no further than WWI and WWII. These were extraordinary days in our nation to live through. Dr Victor Pearce (now 94) lived in both wars and chronicled the amazing stories of the revealing of the power of prayer and the intervention of the Lord during warfare. This is the first in a series of articles revealing these stories. I think you will be moved and inspired, and I pray the Spirit of God will speak into your spirit through what you read - Jonathan Bellamy, Cross Rhythms CEO.

Would you be surprised to see Nazi war criminals and Japanese war camp tyrants in heaven?

It is a hard lesson to learn that God's purposes are sometimes served through the destructive course of worldwide wars, as we shall see in the next chapter. Meanwhile, we consider the miracle of God's mercy towards some of those who were wartime tyrants.

Seven Nazi War Criminals

Figure 5.1. Nazi chiefs in the dock. Source: Daily Graphic, October 1st, 1946.

After World War II had ended, twenty-two Nazi leaders were tried and sentenced in October 1946. Twelve of them were sentenced to death by hanging, seven to imprisonment, and three were discharged as not guilty. I still have the newspaper reports and pictures, which I have pre-served all this time, some of which are shown here.

Also shown here is part of the report which I sent to one newspaper soon after the executions, telling of an amazing event. It describes how the prison chaplain to the Nazis witnessed Goering break down in tears when told of his daughter's reaction to his death sentence: 'I hope to meet Daddy in heaven.' Despite this, Goering ridiculed the Bible and said, 'Death is death. She believes in her manner, and I in mine.' Later he committed suicide with poison.

Figure 5.2 Twelve Nazis to hang. Source: Daily Graphic, October 2nd. 1946.

One Who Saw Jesus

However, this ultimate rejection of God's mercy was not the fate of all of the Nazi prisoners. One of them told the chaplain that Jesus had appeared to him. He was one of seven who claimed that they had been converted.

Such a report would be viewed with much scepticism of course.

Was this their final trick? Their final escape? A clever trump card to cheat divine justice? They were all well-known names linked with war crimes, cruel concentration camps, and invasions killing millions of people. Did they think it right that they should think to escape divine justice by claiming repentance and conversion?

The one who said he had seen Jesus was Wilhelm Crick, aged sixty-nine. He helped Hitler impose a reign of terror over Czechoslovakia, a ruthless killer who suppressed the Jews. Yet in the last minutes when the chaplain visited his cell to pray for him and then lead him to the gallows, he said: 'I've got something to tell you. Jesus appeared to me and told me I was forgiven. I believe the blood of Jesus has washed away my sins.'

Figure 5.3. The Goering story: newspaper article as reported by the author about 1949. Source: Daily Graphic.

The chaplain rejoiced - an extraordinary thing to do a few minutes before the man dangled dead at the end of the rope. For twelve months the chaplain had spoken about repentance and forgiveness, but Crick's response had only been cold legalistic phrases, which might have been customary for one who was a Doctor of Law. The only sign of progress had been when he said, 'We Nazis broke a divine law in persecuting the Jews. By it we were doomed to defeat!'

What about the other six who claimed forgiveness? Were they just doing it to escape divine wrath? The answer came when I remembered that two of them were those sentenced to imprisonment and not execution, so their motive could not be escaping judgement. Both had a sentence of twenty years, and one of them, Albert Speer, went to live in his house in Berlin when he was released.

Albert Speer was aged twenty when sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. He had been Reich Minister of Armaments and war production and head of State production. The greatest manager Europe had ever known, Speer possessed remarkable powers of organisation and Hitler respected him more than anybody else. He mobilised a slave labour force of eight million people. A friend of mine, Fred Grossmith, went to visit him in Berlin and found that he was still an earnest Christian. He said, I cannot explain the change that came into my life when I accepted Christ.'