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Anyone but 'Him'
Christian Anti-Semitism & Faith in
Messiah
by Sam Nadler |
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In the September and October
Shmooze Letters we examined two historical issues that hinder the Jewish
community from seeing Yeshua* as the Messiah from the Scriptures:
(1) Interpreting Scripture through
‘traditions of men’, which obscure Messiah’s authority as Lord, and...
(2) The destruction of the Temple in ad 70, resulting in the idea that
Messiah’s atonement for sin is unnecessary.
Although these issues are important, the third historical issue
outweighs them all: |
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‘Christian’
persecution of the Jews. ‘Christian’ Anti-Semitism has historically
sabotaged the Jewish people’s consideration of Yeshua’s claims to be the
Messiah. To most believers in Yeshua, it
seems unfair, if not completely unreasonable, for Jewish people to
completely dismiss Yeshua because of what some ‘medieval skinheads’ did
in His Name. But, as strange as it may seem to us in our “enlightened”
society, the historical leaders of Anti-Semitism were not peripheral
Christians: they were leaders in the Church!
A Tragic History
In the 2nd century ad the groundwork was
laid for a course of history where eventually the government and the
church would declare the Jewish people as ‘fair game.’
Y
Church father Justin Martyr wrote in Dialogue with Trypho
that Jewish misfortunes were divine punishment from God: “Tribulations
were justly imposed on you [Jews] for you have murdered the Just One.”
Y
In the fourth century under the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great,
the so-called ‘Christian faith’ was legalized and made the state
religion. With the legalization of ‘Christianity’ throughout the empire,
this hostility toward the Jewish people became widespread.
Y
Concerning the Jews, Aphrahat (bishop at Mar Mattai, near
Nineveh) wrote in ad 344, “He [God] has truly abandoned them,” while mis-quoting
Old Covenant portions to substantiate this claim (see, for example,
Isaiah 1:4).
Y
Augustine, in his Reply to Faustus, the Manichean, wrote
of “the Jews as being guilty of Christ’s blood” and as being “cursed
from the earth” and therefore “cursed by the Church.” Their subjugated
and miserable state was to be preserved as “proof to believing
Christians of the subjection merited by those who in the pride of their
kingdom put the Lord to death.”
Y
In ad 386-387 John Chrysostom delivered eight sermons degrading
Jews in religion and customs: “God always hated the Jews”, and “It is
incumbent on all Christians to hate the Jews.” On the occasion of a
procession honoring the Maccabees (Hanukkah) in ad 388, the destruction
of the synagogue of Calinicon took place immediately after a series of
these anti-Jewish sermons were delivered.
Y
In the Middle Ages during the Crusades, Jews were routinely
murdered by Crusaders enroute to the Holy Land. Upon arriving in
Jerusalem in 1099, the Crusaders rounded up all Jews, herded them into
the Great Synagogue there and set it ablaze. While it burned to the
ground, the Crusaders marched around it singing “Christ We Adore Thee.”
Luther’s
Errors = ‘Final Solution’
Anti-Semitism continued even during the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther, who is a hero of many theology professors because of
his historic stand for justification by faith, wrote three anti-Jewish
tracts later in his life. These tracts expressed the following ideas:
(1) Jewish synagogues should be burned;
(2) Jewish homes should be destroyed;
(3) Jewish workers should be given menial tasks;
(4) Jewish money should be confiscated; and...
(5) Jewish people should be forced out of their communities.
The Church’s writings were not only theoretical, but they were applied
with deadly effectiveness. For example, charges against the Jews
included Blood Libel, Desecrating the Host, Die
Judensav (The Jewish Sow), Jewish economic conspiracies, and alleged
Jewish rape of Christian women. During the Spanish Inquisition
1000’s of Jews either died at the foot of a cross or were expelled from
Catholic Spain. The “Final Solutions” of Orthodox Russia (1900)
and Lutheran Germany (1935), proposed the elimination of Jews
from Russia in the former, and from Europe in the latter (known as “Judenfrei,”
or “Jew Free” Nazi policy) .
Is it any wonder that a modern Jewish writer, Jules Isaac, author of
Has Anti-Semitism Roots in Christianity? writes, “Hitler’s genocide
was a final offshoot of the church’s perennial “teaching of contempt”
and “system of degradation of Jews” (pp. 17,18). He goes on to say,
“Christian anti-Semitism, the powerful, and strongly rooted trunk upon
which [in the Christian world] all other varieties of anti-Semitism are
grafted, even those of a most anti-Christian nature” (ibid. p. 40).
Problem: Countering a
Convincing History
To the Jewish person who is only aware of
secular history, but not of what Yeshua taught, there remains no other
conclusion: Christianity is anti-Semitic. Therefore when Jewish people
are pointed to the prophecies in Scripture regarding Messiah (Isaiah
7:14; 53; Micah 5:2; etc.), they cannot imagine these refer to Yeshua.
After all, they reason, how could a Jewish scripture point to a Jewish
Messiah who is the leader of an anti-Jewish religion? |
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“The Hiding
Place”
The Ten Boom family helped Jewish people escape the Nazis during WWII. |
Exception or
Rule ?
Throughout history there have been
Christians who loved the Jewish people, such as Corrie ten Boom, who
lived sacrificially rescuing Jewish people during the Holocaust. Many
Christians would point to her as representing their concern for Jewish
people.Unfortunately, believers like Corrie appear to Jewish people as
the exception, rather than the rule.
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Captured in 1944 Corrie and her sister
Betsie, were sent to Ravens-bruck concentration camp where Betsie died. Corrie was later released &
spent the rest of her life traveling the world speaking for the Lord.
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The Kiss of Death
Other well-meaning Christian leaders have
responded to Christendom’s persecution ofJewish people with
an unbiblical, tragic attitude: “Let’s not offend our Jewish friends any
further by preaching the gospel to them.” This perpetuates the canard
that ‘Jewish people don’t need Jesus’, effectively cutting them off from
the only hope for Life Eternal (see John 14:6).
A Hardened Heart
Still other Gentile believers disregard
history, the scriptural instruction to “speak the truth in love” (Eph.
4:15), and common sense. Rather, they attempt to justify a continued
insensitivity to Jewish people. How? Instead of preaching a gospel
whereby one turns from sin to God, a ‘cultural gospel’ is proclaimed for
one to turn from his Jewishness, and be converted to “Christianity.”
History has handed down to Jews and Christians an “us vs. them”
mentality. Thus Jewish people are often made to feel that their sin is
that they are Jewish, and that they should turn their back on their
Jewish heritage (forget Passover, Hanukkah, etc.). This is confusing,
and presents a false view of the issues sin and forgiveness. Of course,
being Jewish is no sin, lest Yeshua be the chief sinner, for He is King
of the Jews.
God's Solution: Living
The Truth in Love
If because of history Jewish people cannot
‘see’ Yeshua in the Scriptures, and if it’s unscriptural to be
insensitive to Jewish people in our witness, what then, are we as
believers to do? Our Jewish friends need to see us as Yeshua’s
representatives. Our committed love and concern for Jews, and all
people, is needed to overcome the historical horrors that have been said
and done “in Jesus’ name”. Let’s not allow the sad history of the past
19 centuries to be the only witness of the Lord that our Jewish friends
have. Rather, let us become ‘living epistles’ (2 Cor. 3:2,3)
demonstrating God’s love for Israel. We can help Jewish people look at
the Scriptures with ‘new eyes’ and favorably consider Yeshua as Lord and
Messiah.
Satan has done all he can to ruin our Lord’s testimony to Israel.
Although he has deceived even Church leaders regarding God’s program for
Israel, still the Bible says “Greater is He [Yeshua] that is in you,
than he [Satan] that is in the world” (1 John 4:4), and you with your
testimony can gain victory in the Lord! I know that this victory is
real. Years ago non-Jewish believers simply and sincerely shared Jesus
with me. At first I mocked them because, of course, I ‘knew’ from
history what Christianity was all about. Still, a spiritual seed was
planted in my heart, and soon after, I came to believe the truth about
Yeshua and I was saved.
You too can make a difference! God has strategically placed you in the
lives of your Jewish friends to demonstrate the love of God, that my
people chosen by the Lord, will never again say, “Anyone but Him!”
Instead, may they say, “No one else but Him will do!”
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