The Worst Mass Murderer in History (It’s Probably Not Who You Think)
And the runner-up is…
Who’s the worst mass murderer in history?
It’s not who you think.
When you read the headline, the usual list of bad guys popped into your head. Right? Most readers likely answered one of the following:
Mao Zedong: Estimated death count — 49-78 million (1949-1976) [See Footnote 1]
Joseph Stalin: Estimated death count — 23 million (1925-1953) [See Footnote 2]
Adolf Hitler: Estimated death count — 17 million (1933-1945) [See Footnote 3]
Those all seem like pretty accurate guesses. Lock it in. Any of them make for a reasonable final answer.
Truth is, those three were dilettantes compared to another historical figure followed by millions and indeed, billions. By one widely-believed account, considered gospel by more than two billion worldwide (including the majority of people in the United States), someone in history is responsible for even more deaths. According to this reliable source, the worst evil-doer of them all murdered more human beings than Mao, Stalin, and Hitler — combined.
And then, he lapped them all, spiked the ball, and did an end-zone dance.
By now you’ve guessed the genocidal maniac who’s murdered over and over and over again for centuries as none other than the so-called divine creator who goes by the name:
Before we examine his documented record, let’s make one thing clear. This isn’t just an opinion. This is documented fact according to a book of texts called The Old Testament. Since three major religions including Christianity, Judaism, and even Islam all credit this book as an accurate historical reference, it’s fair then to conclude there’s no alternative other than to agree with the following historical events, as they were first reported. In other words, if you believe in the holy book, you must also accept that these historical accounts took place.
So far, God’s murderous reign of terror includes the following instances. These are listed according to the estimated number of deaths (the largest mass killings are ranked first):
— THE ENTIRE WORLD’S POPULATION [except for Noah and seven relatives]
According to Genesis 6, 7 — God became so angry with the world’s population that he killed all but eight people, who were spared the blade of the almighty sword. God also murdered countless animals, except for those lucky few who made it onto that funky thing called an ark.
— ALL FIRSTBORN OF EGYPT
According to Exodus 12 — Thousands of innocent people were killed in Egypt to prove the power of God to the Pharaoh. Collective mass murder is what it really was. Guilt by association.
— 70,000 PEOPLE
According to 2 Samuel 24 — Kind David ordered a census to be taken which resulted in a terrible plague, killing tens of thousands. Next time I get one of the U.S. Government Census forms, I think I’ll pass.
— THE ENTIRE POPULATIONS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH [except for Lot, his wife (who would be killed later), and their two daughters]
According to Genesis 19 — God became so upset at all the partying going on in these adjacent cities, that he wiped them both out by “fire and brimstone.” So much for mercy. I guess Sodom and Gomorrah must have been a lot more fun than Las Vegas because we’re still here.
— THOUSANDS OF ISRAELITES [14,700 by this account]
According to Numbers 16 — After followers of the Korah movement were murdered by God (see below), many people were upset. So, they had to be punished and were all wiped out by a plague. I guess God ran out of fire and had to use some other killing methods.
— PHARAOH AND SOME OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY
According to Exodus 14 — While pursuing Moses and the exiled Jews across the Red Sea, God intentionally flooded the miracle valley, drowning hundreds and perhaps thousands of men and horses. Just like in the movie. I gotta admit, this one rocked on the “wow” scale.
— AMORITE SOLDIERS
According to Joshua 10 — Soldiers who were retreating after pursuing the Israelites were killed by giant hailstones as divine punishment. Hailstones — now that’s what I call getting creative. God’s wrath is never dull.
— THE FOLLOWERS OF KORAH [estimated at 250 people]
According to Numbers 16 — After Moses won the Jews their freedom, another sect spun off from the main congregation. For this, the leaders were “swallowed by the earth,” and the followers were executed by fire. So far, I haven’t read of any Islamic radicals getting swallowed by the earth or burned alive. I’d like to file a complaint.
— SOLDIERS OF KING AHAZIAH
According to 2 Kings 1 — 102 soldiers were killed by fire for trying to capture Elijah. Message — “Don’t screw with Elijah!”
— NADAB AND ABIHU
According to Leviticus 10 — These first two sons born to Aaron were sacrificed by the father to prove his devotion to God. They were burned alive. Burned alive!!!
— LOT’S WIFE
According to Genesis 19 — This poor woman was turned into a pillar of salt because she “looked back,” whatever that means. However, God is really getting creative with his torture methods, here. On a scale of 10 — this merits a 10.
— ER
According to Genesis 38 — The eldest son of Judah was killed by Yahweh (God) for unknown reasons. Hey God — at least tell us why you’re killing the poor bastard, okay? That’s just cruel.
— ONAN
According to Genesis 38 — After ER was killed (see above), the second son of Judah refused to impregnate his brother’s widow (“spilled his seed on the ground”), so he too was killed by God. Note to Sky Daddy — If spilling seed on the ground is sinful, there won’t be any men left.
What about in our future? Will even more people die?
WELL, OF COURSE!
REJOICE!
Millions more, in fact. Just in case you haven’t figured the game out by now, that’s the way God works. And it’s not just for punishment’s sake. We’re not just talking about murdering bad people here. It’s even a cornerstone of divine prophecy. Consider this disgraceful passage from the Book of Revelation which describes the cataclysmic events which are predicted just before the so-called “Second Coming” is to take place. According to Zechariah 13:8-9 — two-thirds of the Jews in “the whole land” will be killed.
“In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive.”
Two-thirds of the (Jewish) population of Israel will die as a part of God’s holy plan? I’m not sure even the most radical militants in Hamas would go that far with the killing frenzy.
What’s truly terrifying is that hundreds of millions (perhaps a couple of billion) people not only buy into this genocidal hogwash, but THEY WANT IT TO HAPPEN. They even WORK TOWARD’S IT HAPPENING.
Now please, you tell me — who among us are the crazed lunatics?
Note these facts and figures don’t include countless natural disasters that occurred well after The Old Testament was written. For instance, the Plague alone (years 1200-1450) killed an estimated 150 million worldwide. Then, add all the other weather-related catastrophes, and that’s an even greater number. All needless deaths.
However, to be both fair and accurate, no post-Biblical death (so far) has been prescribed as a punishment from God. Only the events brought up in The Old Testament were punishments dealt out by the hand of the big guy. The holy book makes it clear — he’s responsible. No one else. Not the forces of nature. God. Time and time again, his DNA is all over the crime scene. CSI could finger this killer in the opening credits.
From this, draw your own conclusions. But these absurd inconsistencies pretty much leave us with only two options.
Option 1 — Either “God” is undeniably a mass-murderer who has taken billions of innocent lives, seemingly without justification [See Footnote 5], or…
Option 2 — “God” is a fabrication of man and the historical accounts described above are pure fiction.
You decide.
Footnote 1 — A precise estimate is difficult to determine since Chinese records are scarce. Mao certainly bears responsibility for tens of millions who died from unnecessary famine, forced starvation, and mass executions that occurred during The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. SOURCE
Footnote 2 — This figure does not include World War II civilian and battle deaths, which are estimated at another 20 million. It’s difficult to assess how many lives were wasted by the Soviet Union in the battle with Nazi Germany (Axis Powers).
Footnote 3 — Hitler’s body count would be considerably higher if we included most of the World War II deaths which occurred in Europe and Africa, which resulted largely from his decisions and policies.
Footnote 4 — Many of these incidents were taken directly from The New Book of Lists (by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace), published in 2005.
Footnote 5 — Will all this massive killing going on, this begs the larger question — why is he called a loving God? And why would anyone worship this maniac?
Congratatulations on penning another well thought out and well written article on a difficult topic. It takes courage to declare ones beliefs in this day and age.
I’d strike one note of caution. Beware of the new left wing facist PC thought police. They strike at anyone that holds contrary opinions on gays, god, guns, or race.
Their tactics include public redicule, disrespect of institutions, and boycotts of employers. I’m sure the enlightened executives at Caesars Ent and the WSOP support you but the PC police are very persuasive and persistent.
Looking forward to your next article.
What a crock of crap. Guns and God do not belong in the same sentence Clare! It’s people like you who have ruined America, not gays OR the PC police. So typical of right-wingers.
I agree with you on how the left wing progressives are over sensitive idiots who try to censor everything they see and i like this guy pointing out his opinion even if he took plenty of it out of context and didnt understand the meaning behind a lot of it
god sucks
Yet another superb piece. It’s a pleasure reading your thoughtful prose.
Amen!
To be a mass-murderer you would suggest that these people are innocent and that what was carried out was not in fact a sentencing from a judge without a trial by a jury. If you were to concede that God was real and concede that He did the things recorded, then you would need to concede that he is in fact Judge and jury. He defines the rules and laws and the punishments for disobeying such laws. He recorded them so that people who disobeyed would know. If I steal from a store, I can’t claim ignorance just because I’ve never read that it is illegal to steal. I would still be tried and go to jail or pay a fine etc. This would be a “nice” idea if you removed the God element from the equation. If you removed the Judge part from the equation. If you removed Father part from the equation. This would be a fine notion if in fact you made God as fallible as any person. But I cannot conceded that if I’ve conceded those other facts. If I made a wall out of straw it would be just as easy to knock down.
Precisely. The difference being, Creator has authority over His creation, & can do whatever He wants to it, no differently than I can do to my painting. The created has no similar authoritative right over other created beings. By the weak reasoning of this author, God has ‘murdered’ nearly everyone who ever lived, because everyone dies, eventually. And the means of death are all within theistic control, brought largely on account of the will of free men. I don’t know a theist who denies that God lacks the authority to bring about any death, especially toward those who are deserving on account of sin (ie. everyone). But, of course, I wouldn’t expect an infantile intellect like his to understand this.
Ad hominem smears (“an infantile intellect like his”) are facile and infantile. Adds nothing but meaningless dust to the mix. Too bad, because Sage’s post started off well.
Amen.
The Questions raised by this article truly does require a clear and accurate response.
And the one given above is very helpful in that regard …
When an individual, group, or whole community crosses the line, justice decides when it is time to take action against those who have crossed the line.
Of course only God can judge the heart, but He has given his laws by which we can judge behavior. We do not have to be completely ignorant.
Pagans throughout history have practiced human sacrifice of innocent children … and God has stepped in and stopped that practice throughout history … whether it was practiced by His Own chosen people, or by other groups … the worship of demons has many evil practices that would easily be seen as contemptible in our day … as much as they were in their day.
The Label Christian is thrown around as uselessly as the label “American” as it relates to religion and ethics.
If a Christian can kill others in the name of religion … then I could never be one … Thankfully, a believer and follower of Jesus has not been given that right, authority, or mission … anywhere in the scripture …
Since 313 AD, being a Christian is about as meaningless as being an American. When Constatine baptized his whole army in the river and claimed they now were all christians and called to go and kill pagans
This could not be farther away from the truth presented on every page of the New Testament … Only an uninformed unread, and person amazingly open to deception would not be able to see the incredibly wide discrepancy.
Anyone calling Constatine a christian (meaning a follower Jesus) has lost his ever loving mind. And you might as well call Hitler a “good” Christian.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
I John 2
Can we not tell the difference between a bad tree and bad fruit and a good tree and a good fruit? Jesus said you can tell a tree by its fruit.
The label christian was give to “little followers of Christ” in the first century AD, in Antioch. It was a derogatory term that lost it’s meaning about 17 centuries ago.
The only legitimate war a true follower of Jesus … one following the example of Jesus is to lay down one’s life for one’s friend … like in the Colosseum … like Jesus did on the Cross …
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
NOLAN REPLIES:
Thank you for your thoughtful response.
— ND
Person with a comment.
Infants are always innocent. Will you concede that yahweh murdered millions of innocents?
How do you know he wasn’t saving them from a worse fate?
How can you forget Leopold II of Belgium!
Nolan Replies:
You are absolutely correct to cite this glaring omission. Outside of academia and some references in classic literature (Conrad, Twain, etc.), few probably remember that Leopold II rule over the Belgian Congo may have been responsible for 10-12 million deaths.
— Nolan
I stumbled across this article of yours, and my heart stood still and is burdened for your sake. You sir, are an example of why God Almighty sent the flood in the first place -“GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-7
Once again, our earth is full of people who lack any understanding of who Jehova is. You try to make him human. Your limited understanding and human reasoning will not allow you to accept His Deity. Remember, there’s a way that seems right to a man but the end there of is destruction!
Did God create all things visible and invisible? Is evil an invisible thing? Who created evil? Is it something not created by God?
Fundamental, critical questions.
Everything that exists, other than God himself, is either something that he created or a perversion of something that he created. Evil falls into the latter category—behind every evil act or intent you may confidently expect to find something good that was misused or corrupted.
So why does evil exist? Because when God created people as moral beings, he gave them something that he himself enjoys: free will. It is that free will that gives us the ability to misuse good things for evil purposes.
This is the most ignorant thing I have ever read. I have never heard such foolishness in my life. Who actually makes a website to discriminate God? The devil thats who!
God isn’t real …
If you are relying on the Bible as the source of your data, there is a character responsible for far more deaths than the list that you compiled. According to the Bible, man’s sin is what caused death to enter the world, and that sin was deliberately engendered by Satan, which would make him by far the greatest foe of humanity to have ever existed. “He was a murderer from the beginning” is the way that the Bible puts it.
You’re logic is beyond flawed. God created man. Stalin, Hitler and Zedong didn’t create man. I don’t worship and don’t pretend to know everything about God, but by your own logic God should be second and Satan should be número uno…..
Hitler is not the one who started the second world war… watch this video:
The Greatest Story Never Told; Adolf Hitler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9bF0Pc-GRI&spfreload=10
… meine erfahrung ist die: es gibt einen lebendigen liebevollen Gott. alles was Er erschaffen hat tat er aus Liebe. Gott hat niemanden getötet noch töten lassen und Er wird auch niemanden in der zukunft umbringen. zum einen: das was in der bibel steht ist eine sache die ausschließlich mit uns menschen selbst zutun hat. und zum zweiten: da draußen in diesen unendlichen weiten des universums sind mit sicherheit spezies die in/zu unsere geschichte viel “beigetragen” haben, sowohl negatives wie auch positives.
… my experience is that: there is a living loving God. He has created everything he did out of love. God has not killed anybody yet to be killed and he will kill anyone in the future. On the one hand: what is in the Bible is one thing that has to do exclusively with us people themselves. and the second: out there in this endless expanse of the universe are certainly species that have “contributed” in / about our history a lot, both negative as well as positive.
The Bible has a total of 0 evidence for any of that shit. stupid. don’t use folktales as a reasonable source for anything. so the answer is in fact the Asteroids that caused multiple mass extinctions for many of things. not “God” that recycled story told since Sumerian’s texts. copy everything you know from other religions, then say all other religions are sins.
How could you possible be so blatantly stupid.
A few additional points to consider, if you use the Bible as your source: (1) God is the only person who offers new and eternal life after death. (2) Death is an enemy of God and one that he will eventually destroy. (3) Death was not part of the initial plan, and is contrary to God’s ways.
God may use death for his purposes, but He is first and foremost the author of life.
If God doesn’t exist as atheists contend & are imagined by man,then we’re back to the original list. If 1 subscribes to the Nietzsche school of God is dead, then the very concept of good & evil is in question as it is determined by Man, specially those that are in control & that compassion is a weakness used to subdue the masses. After all, slavery was acceptable for the majority of history as were public torture & execution.
Interesting aside @ Nietzsche; spent the last decade of life in a mental institution with his last moment of sanity being to embrace a donkey that was being beaten, weeping uncontrollably.
Where is the independnetly verifiable evidence to support this hypothetical god of which you speak? Or are we supposed to believe some account by a primitive scribe long dead that cannot be independently validated, adapted for the consumption of a particular set of ignorant peasants by other scribes long dead, before mankind developed scientific method and solved most of the unknowns the relious leaders exploited to pray upon to control people? Because they said so, backed up by physical punishment wholly inappropriate to a caring god. etc. Or utter bollocks for the hard of thought, as its known.
You cast aspersion far and wide, but have you ever considered the evidence? There is in fact a wealth of evidence, historical, archaeological, and textual, but then very few people change their position based on factual arguments. Most change their position when they understand that God truly loves them. I would encourage you to test that hypothesis—I believe you’ll find that it holds up to the most rigorous scrutiny. A great way to start is this: “God, show me if you’re real.”
God is actually the greatest giver of life in human history, eternal life through belief in Jesus Christ. A pity you can’t see that.
Pure speculation , there are no real numbers . Otherwise how many people were killed in the flood or Sodom or the other times….. 5 or 5 million . please tell me . The other important thing , is why did God do this . You hate God so much that you blame him for stopping evil . I guess you just ignore the fact that the good guys are spared .
My dear name-calling fellow commenters: His piece is Modest Proposal tongue in cheek humor! So how ’bout a few LOLs instead of growls ?
God created a sinless paradise where men and women would live procreate and be happy forever,,your god satan entered the picture and thru temptation allowed sin to enter the world which precipitated every thing you foolishly wrote. one final question,,the only question that you and millions have to or will one day have to answer before God…What did you do with The total love motivated sacrifice of the blameless one Jesus Christ.
Please dont censor my remark above, i took the time to write you, surely you would not censor a difference of opinion??
Certainly a very sensitive subject to talk about. I can understand one being upset over mass murder. Having said that, you have to admit, when we see outright, cold blooded, uncaring evil such as has been perpetrated by such men as mentioned above, many would agree that such men should be put to death, so why criticize God for doing the same……something to think about.
Rachel Carson should have at least gotten an honorable mention.
God did not create us in his image. We created him in ours.
What a bag of crap!!!
Allow me to suggest another superb candidate for the list, comparing favorably with Mao, Stalin, and Hitler: Margaret Sanger, proponent of eugenics and abortion. The number of abortions in the United States alone since Roe v. Wade is around 56 million, and the United States has been proactively exporting this practice to other nations under the guise of humanitarianism. The disproportionate impact of her ideologies on blacks and minorities (one third of all black babies are aborted) also makes this a serious case of genocide.
well put Neil…and BTW Stalin and Lenin killed, according to Solzhenitsyn, over 100 million Christian peasants. And unfortunately for this web fool, he will see them in hell. Google the “Miracle of the Sun”, Fatima, Portugal to see the Lord’s merciful warning to the 20th century. And remember if the Chosen had obeyed His laws, we would have no flood or the fire from the heavens that’s about to strike our planet. Pray the Holy Rosary for peace everyone, please.
You forget the death of the body is not end of the Life.
Your physical death is not the end of Life.
Your bodily death is the end of the capability for repentance.
If you have cancer, you prefer a doctor to cut out/destroy your cancerous tumors, not?
Cancer otherwise spreads, and kills the whole body.
Anyways, you will come to the point that maybe, just maybe you will be allowed to somehow request an answer; Why he did it.
Though, interestingly enough, you can already have that answer.
Yeah but God’s a lot OLDER than those other mass murderers and he has a LOT more power than even Hitler, so it makes sense he puts up the numbers like none other.
This is of course going off the notion that God is a big invisible Mao, which is sillier than both the real God AND the real Mao.
idiotic nonsense.
i guess you have never heard of hyperbole ?
Its not genocide to enforce ones laws on the universe. You as a creature know the risk of breaking the laws. You have free will to make your own choices. Youre not a robot. So by this reasoning you and anyone else is at fault for their own death minus murder. God doesnt force or cause others to pull the trigger. In thr case of telling the israelites to wipe out every man, woman and child of said cultures is because their time had come bwcause they wouldnt repent of their wickedness. God doesnt make people sinners. People make choices that violate the laws they violate.