We studied three villains of WW2: Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. There are several common threads between the three, but a few common threads spoke to me personally.
Each man
1. spread fear,
2. spread accusations (blamed others), and
3. dehumanized people.
Each of these three behaviors contradict the teaching of my God.
1. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. (Joshua 1:9, 2 Timothy 1:7)
2. Satan, our enemy, is the great accuser (Rev 12;10). He accuses us before God. He accuses God before us. He accuses us before each other. His very name means accuser.
3. We are made in His image (Genesis 1:26). Even the ones who don't "look" like me are made to like Him. Christ died for all (John 3:16).
What do I learn from the study of these three villains? I may not know exactly what to do in every situation, and I may not have the answer to every problem, but I do know that thoughts of fear, accusations and dehumanization have no place in my heart. When those thoughts begin to creep up inside of me, I will run the other direction, toward the ways of my Savior as fast as I can. Further, I will not follow a man who is doing any of those things. Is a leader spreading fear? I won't follow. Is a leader laying blame or spreading accusations? I won't follow him. Is a leader dehumanizing a people group? I will have nothing to do with him. He won't be my leader.
These are the sorts of things that should be takeaways from History - not the mundane memorization of facts and dates.
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