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A Texas politician wrote a book about Anne Frank finding Jesus
In Johnny Teague's fictional version, Anne Frank found Christianity and Jesus in the days before she was murdered by the Nazis
November 1, 2022 15:07
In Johnny Teague's fictional version, Anne Frank found Christianity and Jesus in the days before she was murdered by the Nazis
November 1, 2022 15:07A Texas Republican candidate for the US House of Representatives wrote a novel imagining that Anne Frank found Jesus in her final days in the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.
Johnny Teague, an evangelical pastor and business owner who wants to represent Texas's 7th district, published “The Lost Diary of Anne Frank" in 2020, a work that reimagines the end of the Jewish Holocaust victim's diary.
In the fictional version penned by Teague, Anne Frank found Christianity and Jesus in the days before she was murdered by the Nazis.
The novel, which was published by Histria Books, attempts to continue Frank's writing style as per her "original" diary of her experiences in the Nazi era. A promotional summary of the book says it "picks up where her original journey left off", according to the JTA.
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Beale claims to have visited the Anne Frank house and interviewed Holocaust survivors for the book. He also says that the went to a number of concentration camps, the major Holocaust museums, as well as Israel.
At one point in the book, Teague's Anne Frank writes: “I would love to learn more about Jesus and all He faced in His dear life as a Jewish teacher." He says that Frank's father, Otto, tried to get her a copy of the New Testament.
Otto Frank did survive the Holocaust, but in Teague's version, that was because of his interest in Jesus and Christianity.
Later in Teague's story, Anne Frank does learn about Jesus, and by the end, she is written as firm in her belief that “every Jewish man or woman should ask” questions like “Where is the Messiah? … Did He come already, and we didn’t recognize Him?”
In his biography as a candidate in next week's mid-term elections, Teague claims that he “has been affiliated with” the Association for Jewish Studies, and his book is on a 2021 list of AJS books by its members. AJS did not respond to a request for comment from the JTA.
On his candidate website, Teague lists his key priorities, which include "Close the Border", "Defend Oil & Gas", and "Eliminate Property Taxes".
Christianity is infused in every element of his platform, invoking God on everything from immigration to fossil fuels: "If you believe in a Creator and that everything is here for a purpose, then you have to realize that fossil fuels are not an accident. At the very beginning of time, God knew we would need automation and industry, so in His Wisdom, He gave us the fuels that we would need.”
The district in which Teague is running is a heavily favours the Democrats, and candidate Lizzie Pannill Fletcher is expected to win the race next week.
Teague previously ran for the congressional seat in the state's 9th district, receiving just 21 per cent of the vote. The election took place two days after “The Lost Diary of Anne Frank” was published.
Teague was approached for comment by the JTA but did not respond.