“Yet, nearly six decades after the Holocaust concluded, anti-Semitism still exists as the scourge of the world.” –Eliot Engel
While anti-Semitism worldwidehas continued to manifest for over the past six decades, it still remains an extremely shameful matter—the cursing of Israel. God clearly warned mankind against this mistake in His word. “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great…and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee…” (Genesis 12:2-3). However, an even greater disgrace, is Christian anti-Semitism, in view of the fact that “…judgment must begin at the house of God…” (1Peter 4:17). We who love the Lord Yeshua with all of our hearts, should know better than to participate in the violation of the above Scripture. While I do not claim to have all the answers, I am certain that there will be absolutely no anti-Semitism in the hearts of any person in God’s Coming Kingdom.
A Plumb Line Dividing Churches
Today, we see churches split over Israel. Lance Lambert taught that Israel would be a plumb line for the Church. “A plumb line is used for determining whether or not something is perfectly vertical, i.e., upright. Used since very ancient times, a plumb line consists merely of a line and a weight of some sort…Jesus would, most likely, have owned a set of various weights for His use in the building trade. The Word of God is a “plumb line” to determine how upright His people truly are…How upright they proclaim themselves to be, means nothing to God…What He said was wrong back then is just as wrong today because the Word of God is timeless…” (Wayne Blank).
What God saw in Israel which offended Him in the days of Amos (7:8), He also sees in the Church behavior today. In view of the fact that “…judgment begins at the House of God…” (1 Peter 4:17) the spiritual standard of measure will be similar to a measuring rod (or plumb line). Do we as followers of Yeshua exhibit Godly righteousness, acceptable to Him, in regard to His Chosen People in these last days? Israel will play a major part in God’s judgment of the nations (read Matthew 25:31-46).
Many churches today are involved in the boycotting, divesting and sanctioning of Israel as they continue to draw further away from her. The World Council of Churches, United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church, various Quaker bodies and the Anglican church in America and other nations support the movement of removing Jewish “occupiers” from their Land along with the Episcopal Church and the Mennonite Church. What is ludicrous is that Islamic hate for the Christian Cross is not spoken against.
Connecting the Dots
Part of our problem in the Church is a lack of understanding of Hebrew among our clergy. The Hebrew Scriptures (both Testaments) can truly be fully understood correctly only in their original Hebraic context. I quote some great Bible scholars who have tried to connect the dots for us by creating a picture for Christian clergy who have been unable to draw deeper from God’s Word. We will examine briefly, as an example, the Book of Revelation.
Dr. Alfred Edersheim, (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah) identifies Revelation’s prophetic symbols as practices associated with the Jerusalem Temple and that its message is addressed mainly to Jewish people. Dr. David Stern (Jewish New Testament Commentary and Complete Jewish Bible) states, “…there are over 500 allusions to the Tanach (Hebrew Scriptures) from Exodus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah (in Revelation).” And Dr. David Bivin (Director of the Jerusalem School for the Study of the Synoptic Gospels) says “Christian lack of knowledge of Jewish customs has led to misunderstanding Yeshua. Connecting the dots has not been easy in a gentile church with a lack of Bible scholars who know nothing about the original language of the Bible—Hebrew.
Christian Education Shortfall
Sadly, the shortage of Hebrew Roots professors in our seminaries and Bible colleges, has produced ordained clergy who prepare sermons with no knowledge of Jewish customs, traditions or Hebrew idioms of ancient Israel. This has led our pew-sitters into error as they leave the sanctuary of the church after incorrect interpretations of the Bible have been delivered. Do we wonder why we have so much Christian anti-Semitism? Sermons delivered using eisegesis—the reading into God’s Word something that is not meant, instead of utilizing exegesis, the pulling out from God’s Word the original intended meanings—are commonplace in Christianity. Using eisegesis we end up with a preacher imposing his interpretation on the text. The worldwide Church is in desperate need of Reformation and Jewish-Christian Education. New materials are needed in our halls of learning to avoid the historically repeated mistake of abusing Scripture regarding the Jewish people. Many wonderful shepherds have no idea they are doing this—it is simply the way they were taught in their Seminary classes.
The Chalice of Deception
Our churches today are also steeped in Replacement Theology and the general prejudice that God hates the Jews. Proclaiming Israel blind because of rejecting Jesus, they say God has cast away His People and that He no longer loves them. The Church now is the “New Israel” and the only beloved of God. While it may sound right, Christians today who aspire to be the New Israel are swallowing the same deadly toxin that spilled out of the Cup of Deception from which Christendom has been drinking for over 20 centuries.
It is historical fact that the highly venerated Martin Luther (leader of the Reformation of 1517) turned his back on the Jewish people after they refused his branch of Christianity. He then accused them of “poisoning the wells” of Christendom. In reality a poisonous tumor had attached itself to his teachings and ended up infecting the spiritual life of the entire Church in Europe, which then spread to other continents. For instance, many Christians in Germany attended local churches but also worked in Nazi death camps—which were built to extinguish the light of the entire Jewish race. Church leaders and hierarchal councils drank deeply from a cup of anti-Semitic poison. Sadly, today scores of Christians are sipping from the same vessel!
“In the archives of Christian history lies an unedited form of raw film footage, which has yet to be brought to the surface and played out at the final judgment. Any such replay of Christendom’s anti-Semitic history will reveal Church sponsored Crusades, Pogroms, massacres, exterminations, humiliations, segregations, separations, exclusions, superiority, arrogance, vexations, prejudice, and apathy toward the Jews…” and ashamedly, the longest religious hatred which brought on the Holocaust. Added to Christendom’s Hall of Shame are the “…false accusations, disgrace, forced conversions and baptisms, castigation by Church fathers, lies…all of this brought on a spiritual decline in Christendom. Ironically, however, at the first Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Amsterdam in 1948, it was stated that “anti-Semitism is sin against God and man.” It was made clear that “no Christian can have his relationship to God in order, unless his relationship to the Jews is right!” (William H. Heinrich, In the Shame of Jesus). To their disgrace, the World Council of Churches today has changed its stand. The chalice of deception has taken many church-goers to their grave arrogantly looking down on the Jewish people. It is a sad saga, but true, and once again Christian anti-Semitism has escalated into the heights of embarrassment and shame leaving our Jewish friends feeling as isolated as ever.
Speeches by Church Forefathers
Volumes of slanderous talk addressing the Jewish people came also from the lips of Christendom’s forefathers who influenced Christian communities all over the world. Sermons given by Church Fathers assisted in the spreading of lies about the Chosen People and damaged hearts—people ended up prejudiced against the Jewish people from drinking barrels of “tainted wine.”
Epistle of Barnabas: “Take heed to yourselves and be not like some…saying that the covenant is theirs as well as ours. It is ours, but they lost it completely just after Moses received it.” “The custom of circumcising the flesh, handed down from Abraham, was given to you (Jews) as a distinguishing mark, to set you off from…us Christians…that you might suffer the afflictions that are now justly yours…and…God imposed upon you the observance of Shabbat as a mark.”
Justin Martyr: “The Jews…have committed the most abominable of crimes, in forming this conspiracy against the Savior…”
Origen: “The synagogue is worse than a brothel…the temple of demons…the cavern of devils…I hate the Jews…”
John Chrysostom: “How I wish that you would slay them (the Jews)…”
St. Augustine: Known as “the meekest of Christian men, he said: “How I wish that you would slay them (the Jews) with your two-edged sword, so that there should be none to oppose your word!…”.
Peter the Venerable: “…I doubt whether a Jew can be really human…”
Martin Luther:Their synagogues should be set on fire…their homes should likewise be broken down…deprived of their prayer-books…their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach…next to the devil, a Christian has no more bitter and galling foe than a Jew….”
John Calvin: “…without measure…I hope…that they (the Jews) die in their misery without the pity of anyone.”
Jeremiah tells us of a day of soul searching and confession which will come, in the future, from the Gentiles to Israel. He saw that day and prayed “O Lord…the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies…things wherein there is no profit” (Jeremiah 16:19). Moffit translates, “nations will come from the extremity of the earth” and the Septuagint translates “nations from around the world will come to you” admitting they were deceived. And to think that the Lord counted us, non-Jews, worthy to bear His Name. What has the Church done in the Lord’s eyes?
God Loves His Jewish People
In no unspoken terms many Church leaders, in the past and still today, proclaim that God no longer loves His Chosen People and that He has broken His Everlasting Promises to Israel. God, however, seems to have spoken differently. “…I have loved you…” (Isaiah 43:4). “…Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love…” (Jeremiah 31:3). “…I said, I will never break my covenant with you” (Judges 2:1). “…concerning the election they (the Jews) are beloved…” (Romans 11:28). Our Jewish friends are asking “Are we still alone?” confused by the “mixed signals” being sent by large sections of Christianity, reminiscent of Church history. This causes all Christians to lose credibility in the eyes of the Jews. Once lost, such credibility is difficult to win back.” (Aviel Schneider, January 2013).
New Israel Theology
“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9). Greek scholars tell us that Jews were slandering Gentiles in the congregations. However, when we examine Scripture closer through Hebraic study, we see that some Gentiles were claiming to be the “New Israel” as do many today.
Why the Jew?
“But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.”(Revelation 2:14).A teaching in the early congregations held to the spiritual deception of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel by breaking God’s law through fornicating with foreign women and idol worship. Again, taking a closer look at history, the Church also put a stumbling block before the children of Israel by asking them to convert to another religion than what God established for them as a Chosen People. Jesus never asked His Jewish Disciples to join Christianity but only to follow Him. Historically, if they did they were told not to worship on the Shabbat, they were forbidden to circumcise their children, and they had to forsake all commandments which God gave them at Mt. Sinai. In essence, they could not remain Jewish, a huge mistake made by Christian missionaries. By ordering the Jews to disobey God’s laws, the Church cast a “stumbling block”before the Jewish people and were no better than Balaam. A person born a Jew should be allowed to remain a Jew if they follow Yeshua. Would one ask a Mexican to reject his culture and background or an African or European to do so? Why the Jew?
We are definitely in a colossal spiritual battle and multitudes are in a valley of decision today. They have a choice of whether to stand on the Lord’s side or not. The kingdoms of the earth are ruled by the evil one but they will soon become the kingdoms of our Lord and He shall reign forever and ever. The nations are angry with Israel, because the world has turned from following God’s laws. “…the nations were angry…” (Revelation 11:18). The devil will use nations, and church leaders, against Israel, to prevent God’s Kingdom from being re-established in Jerusalem. The end time battle is on and will be fierce. It may seem, at times, that Israel is defeated and all is lost but God will keep His Covenant, for He Himself will make Jerusalem “…a praise in the earth”(Isaiah 62:7).
Yes, Christian anti-Semitism still remains a scourge on the Church. We need to pray and speak truth (in love) to our own brethren. On one hand, anti-Semitism is driving the Jewish people home to Israel, but our task is to comfort Israel (Isaiah 40:1), bless Israel (Genesis 12:3), pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), function as a healing balm, (Jeremiah 30:17), provoke them to jealousy (Romans 11:14), continue to remove the stones of stumbling, (Isaiah 62:10) and keep preparing the way of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3). Most importantly, we need to be His Godly “witnesses” which He always expected of us.
When the Carpenter of Nazareth, made use of his tools, He would have needed a plumb line. Yeshua applies Israel as a plumb line to perfect His Followers. When Gentile Christians recognize Israel in God’s Plans and Purposes and make amends for historical wrongs done in His Name. To be a part of the Bride, there can be no anti-Semitism and no separation from Israel. “Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from His People…”(Isaiah 56:3). The true Bride will separate herself only from the “shame of the heathen” (Ezekiel 36: 6,7) who have reproached God’s People (vs. 15) as she cleanses herself from spot and wrinkle. Remember: in the true Church – there will be no trace of anti-Semitism!
-Sharon Sanders-