Subject: Desert Trumpet Roots/Antisemitism Article - Part II
Date:    Fri, 29 May 1998 02:58:47 +0000
To:      "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

>From  Phyllis Petty  
Organization: Kyrie Ministries
To:  heb_roots_chr@geocities.com


                   THE DESERT TRUMPET   (May 1998 Vol. 12)

                            A Publication of Kyrie Ministries, 
          50-855 Washington Street, C-130, La Quinta, CA 92253

                                          (Part 2 of 2)



HOW DID THE CHURCH LOSE ITS JEWISH ROOTS?

Anti-Semitism: Christian Hatred and Persecution of the Jews


How did the Church get so far from its Jewish roots? Unfortunately, 
it has its basis in anti-semitism--the hatred of God's chosen people, 
the Jews.

SATAN IS THE AUTHOR OF ANTI-SEMITISM, THE HATRED OF THE JEWS

The term 'anti-semitism' was coined in 1879 by a German journalist 
Wilhelm Marr to designate anti-Jewish campaigns then appearing 
throughout Europe. Since that time, the term has been universally 
applied to any form of behavior or literature which evidences 
hostility toward the Jews (9).

With every fiber of his depraved, sinister being, Satan despises the 
Jews. He hates them with a perfect hatred, and his demented nature is 
revealed in his treatment of the Jewish people. This hatred is a 
reflection of his hatred for God (as Jews are God's chosen people). 
Their total destruction is his goal. He is the author of the spirit 
of anti-semitism (15). 

He has tried to persecute God's people, the Jews, in order to 
eliminate them so that the promised seed of Genesis 3:15, Yeshua, 
would not be born, and mankind would not be redeemed. The Book of 
Esther details how the enemy of God and his people tried to eliminate 
the Jewish race, but God raised up Esther for "such a time as this"  
to deliver her race.  King Herod tried to eliminate Yeshua by having 
all the male babies in Bethlehem under two years of age killed.

In our generation the Holocaust is ever mindful of Hilter's outrage 
against millions of Jews, while Stalin's killing of thirty million 
Jews goes hardly mentioned. Today, one out of every five people in 
the world is committed to the death of the Jews. Islam requires the 
death of the Jews (7). 

Arafat has said "Kill the Christians on Sunday, kill the Jews on 
Saturday," as well as "Kill a Jew and save your soul"(10).

Proof that anti-semitism is satanically inspired is in the multitudes 
of nations that have sanctioned and condoned it within their borders. 
It is not a sickness of just one nation or religion. Rather, it 
crosses all regions and nations: England, France, Italy, Germany, 
Poland, Lithuania, Russia, etc., indicative that a higher power than 
mankind was at work. The persecution of the Jewish people is not a 
simple flesh and blood issue. It is Satan's last-ditch effort to 
prevent the second coming of Yeshua . . .(4).


     ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

More Jews have been killed in the name of Yeshua than by anyone else. 
There is so much documentation that it is absolutely appalling to any 
lover of the Bible. Volumes could be written, but this will only 
highlight a few.  Not only did our Christian forefathers hate the 
Jews and disengage themselves from them, they persecuted them 
throughout history, beginning as early as 69 A.D. Indeed, from the 
day that Stephen was stoned to death, there arose intense persecution 
against the Messianic community in Jerusalem (11).

The early Church lodged two big accusations against the Jews:

The first false accusation was "Deicide" that the Jews killed the son 
of God and that the Jews are ritual murders (11).

Let's get it straight, once and for all--labeling the Jews as "Christ 
killers" is not accurate. The death of Messiah was God's plan from 
the beginning. Whole congregation of people were involved in the 
death of Yeshua. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John show how 
the Sanhedrin, the priests, the Romans, and the people of Israel all 
clamored for the crucifixion of Yeshua and for his blood to be shed 
(Matt.27:17,20-22;25; Acts 4:26-28)=D3(13). The few Jews who were at 
Yeshua's trial represented a small percentage of the Jewish 
population in Jerusalem at that time.  As stated in Acts 5:14: . . 
throngs of believers were added to the Lord, both men and women(11). 

We see there were manymore Jews who believed, and that is why the 
head Pharisees were afraid more Jews would follow Him. The Jews alone 
did not kill Yeshua. They could not put Yeshua to death without Roman 
authority. Jesus Himself bore the responsibility for His death. He 
said that He alone had the authority to lay down His life, and no one 
could take that away from Him (Jn.10:17-28). He had to lay down His 
life for the salvation of mankind and to fulfill the Law and the 
Prophets. No human being had the power to take his life (Jn.10:17-18) (13). 

In fact, every person who has ever lived on planet earth and sinned
 is guilty of killing Yeshua, because He died for all sinners 
(Rom.3:10,23). It is now easy to see how down through history the 
Jews have been falsely blamed for Yeshua's death.

"Ritual murders" were false accusations that Jews were kidnapping, 
torturing, and killing Christians, and either drinking their blood or 
using it for their festivals. The only evidence of this was when Jews 
under extreme torture confessed to crimes not committed (15).

The second false  accusation was supersession, now called 
"Replacement Theology". This false teaching says that since the Jews 
had rejected Yeshua as the Son, that their special bond with the 
Father was no longer valid, and the Christians were now "the new 
Israel". The triumph of the elect (Christians) over the rejected 
(Jews) justified the inferior status of the latter and showed them up 
as the "living witness" and the One and True Faith (Christianity) (11). 

On the contrary, God says in Romans 11:25, 26 that the "hardening in 
part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has 
come in (3).  

Here is where the Church, which has been primarily Gentile since the 
second century, has made a big mistake. It has been guilty of 
boasting over the natural branches (Rom.11:17,18), forgetting her 
root, and misinterpreting Israel's hardening (15). 
(See also Jer.31:35-37; 33:23-26.)

The following is just a sampling of how the Church fathers spoke 
against the Jews:

The Epistle of Barnabus shows the Church exalted at the expense of 
the synagogue and the deadly word "Deicide" (the
killing of God) appeared in Christian writings.  

Justin Martyr charged that the Jews crucified Christ in the highest 
pitch of their wickedness. It was during this time (150 A.D.) that the first 
encounter with Replacement Theology was embraced where the church 
replaced the Jews as God's chosen people(5).  

Tertullian argued that divine judgment is upon Israel, and Jews are 
destined to suffer for the crucifixion(9). 

New ideas opposing "law" sprang up as early as 160-320 A.D. Marcion, 
2nd century, adopted Matthew 5:17 as key theme to ending God's law 
and taught that the grace of God superseded it, rejecting the Old 
Testament (5).

Several Church Councils from 341 A.D. to 626 A.D. prohibited 
Christians from celebrating the Sabbath, festivals, and even eating 
with the Jews.  It seemed that the greatest concern with Judaism on 
the part of Christians leaders was the attraction that it held for 
Christians. . . . These rules do not come out of bad relations 
between Jews and Christians (what would now be called, erroneously, 
antisemitism), but rather were enacted because relations were good 
and the authorities wanted to separate the two peoples (11). God has 
always had a remnant who has followed the Torah.

John Chrysostom, 344-407 A.D., preached:  "The Jews . . . are worse 
than wild beasts . . . lower than the vilest animals. Debauchery and 
drunkenness had brought them to the level of the lusty goat and the 
pig. They know only . . . to satisfy their stomachs, to get drunk, to 
kill and beat each other up . . . I hate the Jews . . . I hate the 
Synagogue . . . it is the duty of all Christians to hate the Jews (11).

Origen, 185-254 A.D., was most responsible for changing the way the 
Church interpreted prophecy, creating the atmosphere in which 
Christian anti-semitism took root and spread. He developed a new 
teaching on "legalism" setting the stage throughout history for the 
term "legalism" becoming synonymous with Judaism and  both being 
condemned (5).  (Legalism is not the following of the Old Testament 
Torah as is currently defined by some present-day teachings. 
Webster's Dictionary defines legalism as "the doctrine of salvation 
by good works." (3)

Using his method the Church began to develop the idea that the 
Israelites had permanently forfeited all their covenants by rejecting 
Jesus as the Messiah, that these covenants now belong to the church, 
and that the church is the only true Israel now and forever. In order to
alleviate himself of his sin nature, he castrated himself. Considered 
to be a heretic, he was excommunicated by two church councils. His 
later disciples consisted of Gregory, Dionysus, Hieracas, Pamphilus, 
Eusebius of the Nicene Age (9,11). 

If the early Church considered him a heretic, why are we still 
embracing his teachings on legalism today?

The Crusaders (11th and 12th century) theological tenets supported 
the mass murder of Jews  and launched what our generation has come to 
know in Bosnia as "ethnic cleansing operations"(11). 

The Spanish Inquisition still has the country of Spain in bondage to 
its many curses due to the shedding of innocent blood. These 
campaigns were both done "in the name of Yeshua and for the glory of 
God."

Martin Luther, 1483-1546 A.D., was by far the worst proponent of 
anti-semitism.  During his early years, he stated that the Jews were 
special. When they did not convert to Christianity after the 
corruption of the Roman Church was exposed, he turned on them, 
writing: 

"Set Jewish synagogues on fire for the honor of God. God will see we 
are Christians when we get rid of the Jews. Likewise homes should be 
destroyed; they should be put in a stable; they are not heirs of promises
of God and deserve to die. Deprive them of all prayer shawls, prayer 
books and communication, revoke all passports, stop them from doing 
all business, everything they possess we believe they stole and 
robbed from us. They do not have God's blessings, drive them out of 
the country. . . get rid of them (7).


   In 1924 at a Christian gathering in Berlin, Adolf Hitler, a 
professed Christian, stood before thousands of Christians, and with a 
standing ovation said: 

"I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of 
Almighty God. As I announce the most important work that Christians 
could undertake and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of
them once and for all. We are doing the work of the Lord and let's 
get on with it. Hitler stated, Martin Luther has been the 
greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a 
giant. Within one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the 
new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed and we're 
only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on. Hitler 
followed to the letter, Luther's treatise on how to exterminate the 
Jews. Martin Luther preached his last sermon avidly against the Jews 
and died four days later.  Indeed, Nazi leader Striker at his 
Nuremberg trial stated,  "I have never said anything that Martin 
Luther did not say" (7).

Other Christian leaders that were strong proponents of anti-semitism 
include: Constantine the Great (280-337 A.D.); Saint Gregory of Nyssa 
(335-394 A.D.); Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.); Saint Jerome (374-419 
A.D.); Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (467-533 A.D.); Pope Innocent III 
(1160-61-1216 A.D.); Pope Pious IV (1499-15654 C.E.) (4). 

John Calvin became a proponent of  "grace over law" found in his 
Institutes of Christian Religion, which became the guide for the 
Reformed Church of Protestantism (5). 

John Wycliffe and translator Miles Coverdale were heavily influenced 
by Augustine's teachings. Notable anti-semitists of the twentieth 
century include Joseph Stalin and Henry Ford.

The most destructive pieces of anti-semitic literature ever produced, 
especially with its fabrication of the Jews plan to take over the 
world, is The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, (16) published 
by Sergyei Nilus of Russia in 1905. The Jews have even been blamed 
for the Black Plague, and as a result were put to death (16).

Church law throughout the ages has been extremely anti-semitic. Jews 
were not permitted to eat with Christians; nor permitted to hold 
public office; nor permitted to show themselves in the streets during 
Passion Week; Christians were not permitted to patronize with Jewish 
doctors nor permitted in Jewish homes nor to attend Jewish 
ceremonies. Other laws included the burning of the Talmud and other 
books; the marking of clothes with a badge; and compulsory ghettos (1267 A.D.).

While all these laws were instituted against the Jews, they were 
still obliged to pay taxes for support of the Church to the same 
extent as Christians (1). 

This is only a short list of the atrocities instituted against the 
Jews. Many of the things believed to have been originated with Hilter 
truly found their source with the Church fathers. Hilter was just
following what he thought to be early Church doctrine.

Is it any wonder why Jews don't believe Yeshua is their Messiah?  How 
are we going to provoke the Jews to jealousy (Rom.11:11) with a pagan 
set of holidays and teachings that are against the Torah of God? 
Because of the paganism which has been in the Church for centuries, 
Jews don't see Christians as even worshipping the same God. Knowing 
well the history of Christian persecution, the Jews stay at arms 
length from a group who profess the love of the God of Israel, but who
practice paganism, not following the commandments of God. Yet 
Christians, for the most part, are unaware of the Church history of 
persecution of the Jews and are equally unaware of worshipping on 
pagan holidays instead of God's appointed Sabbaths and feast days.

There were 160,000 Christian martyrs in 1996 (12). Could 
Christians be reaping what was sown down through the centuries by 
their persecution and killing of so many millions of Jews? Actually, 
the worst persecution of Christians and Jews is soon to come, as the 
innocent blood of the martyrs is yet to be fully avenged.  Are you 
preppared?


                 CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARDS ISRAEL

What about our heart attitude towards the Jews and Israel? If we long 
for more blessings in our lives, let's begin to bless Israel in our 
hearts, as well as with our words and actions. Are you like Moses 
willing to suffer with God's people by maintaining a positive 
attitude towards Israel in spite of the negative reports in the news 
media? Will you carry a burden in the Spirit for their sake before 
the throne of God? (9). 

Perhaps when Christians have an understanding of the world's past 
dealings with the Jews, they will develop a sensitivity toward Israel 
and the Jewish people. Perhaps then they will stand up for the Jews 
when atrocities threaten, even when doing so could risk their own 
lives and well-being (4).


                                    CONCLUSION

God's present great move of His Spirit is a restoration of our 
Hebraic/Jewish roots. Because of the Church's "we are not under the 
law" doctrine, many cannot identify with "Hebraic Roots" and think 
that those who are 'into that' are strange and weird. Christians are 
so tightly connected with Christmas and Easter through Church 
tradition that they find it difficult to accept that God gave the 
festivals to be celebrated by ALL believers rather than the pagan
substitutes. Great disputes among Christians are beginning to arise 
over this issue of embracing our Hebraic Roots and the role of the 
Jewish and non-Jewish believer toward the Torah just like has arisen 
in the past 500 years when God began to restore other various truths 
that have been lost for hundreds of years (1).

Meanwhile, God is calling out His people within the Church to come 
out of Babylon and be separate from the world and the ways of the 
world. He is calling His people to discover their Hebraic/Jewish 
roots, to love and stand with the Jewish people, to fight 
anti-semitism, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and have a heart 
for the land of Israel. I pray that YOU will receive the heart and 
vision for His people in these last days prior to the return of 
Yeshua, the Messiah, to the earth at His second coming to rule and 
reign with His Bride for 1,000 years during the Messianic Age(1). 

Those Christians who are unwilling to come out from the system and 
return to the Torah will still be saved, but it will cost them dearly (Matt.7:21-23).
The rich young ruler had this same problem (Luke 18:18-25). While the 
rich young ruler couldn't give up his possessions, neither can some 
Christians give up their positions and titles in their churches nor 
are they willing to receive the persecution it would take to turn 
their congregations towards "delighting in the Torah."

So to answer the questions posed at the beginning: Yes, Christianity 
has Jewish roots which started with Abraham. And yes, because of the 
anti-semitic teachings of our Christian forefathers, we have lost 
these Jewish roots. Christianity is a continuation of Judaism and was 
never meant to be a separate form of worship. God in His mercy and 
grace is now bringing our Jewish roots back into the Church for all 
those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying. I encourage 
each of you today to lend an ear and come into the fullness of your 
Jewish roots by embracing the teachings of the Torah with a new 
enthusiasm for the second coming of our Messiah draweth nigh.
 
Remember, grafted-in Gentile believer, that you do not support the 
root (Israel), the root supports you (Rom.11:18). May it be 
understood clearly and never forgotten: Gentile believers have been 
grafted into Israel's tree, and they are nourished by the ancient 
Jewish root (15).

The ten virgins in Matthew 25 were all believers waiting for the 
return of Yeshua. Five wise virgins went into the marriage feast, 
while five foolish virgins did not have that privilege. Will you be 
one of the wise virgins or one of the foolish virgins?

I challenge you to seek the Lord and search the Scriptures to see 
whether these things be true (Acts 11:17).
________________________________________________________________________

References:

(1) Chumney, Eddie, Hebraic Heritage Ministries International, 
      various teachings on  Internet, heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
(2) Stern, David H. Jewish New Testament, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1989.
(3) The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985.
(4) Chumney, Eddie, Who is the Bride of Christ?, Serenity Books, Hagerstown, MD, 1997.
       Write for copy: Hebraic Heritage Ministries International, P. O.  
       Box 81, Strasburg, Ohio,  USA 44680. Cost $25,  Also, The 
       Seven Festivals of  Messiah, $10.
(5) Moseley, Dr. Ron, The Spirit of the Law, Mozark Research Foundation, 1993.
(6) Bierman, Dominique, The Healing Power of the Roots, Kad-Esh Map 
      International, 1996;    very important book, call 1-800-343-8584 pin 2713.
(7) Hocking, David, Why Jews Don't Become Christians, tape 1997.
(8) Botkin, Daniel, Gates of Eden, May-June 1996.
(9) Christians for Israel Today, Year of Jubilee issue, p. 7.
(10) Byers, Marvin, Arafat, an Apocalyptic Character, 1997.
(11) World Zionist Organization, Anti-Semitism of the Church,    juice@wzo.,org.il,3/17/98).
(12) Eklor, Frank, at Ohav Shalom, Palm  Springs, CA,  3/28/98).
(13) Kasden, Barney, God=D5s Appointed Feasts, Lederer Press Publishers, 1993.
(14) Chumney, Eddie, The Seven Festivals of Messiah, Treasure House, 1994.
(15) Brown, Michael, Our Hands are Stained With Blood, Destiny Image, Publications, 1992.
(16) Arthur, Kay, Israel, My Beloved, Harvest House Publishers, 1996.

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