FOR FURTHER NOTES ON THIS ITEM AND OTHER NOTES ON THIS THEME, PLEASE REFER TO MY WEB SITE,PAGE 47 ONWARDS, --
www. thechurchandisrael.org with its title –The Church and Israel.-
“ Comfort, My People.
Thank you for your interest, readership and prayers in this important theme.
FURTHER ITEMS WILL FOLLOWS AS TIME ALLOWS.
A popular understanding is that usury is the levying of exorbitant interest on a loan. In the middle ages usury involved the automatic increase on the capital lent from the day of lending. Interest on a loan arose only after a period of delay from the day of lending. The taking of interest on a loan was treated as a sin, and was forbidden in Europe until 13th. century, following the teaching found in Luke, ch.6,v.35. After that time interest was allowed in the matter of raising credit for trade. A Jew was permitted to raise interest by usury by a decision of the 4th. Lateran Church Council in 1215. This gave the Jews some advantage in money lending, but is also exacerbated resentment against them, as though they were preying on the vulnerable in society. Money lending was one of the few activities allowed to Jews because of the restrictions mentioned before.
Thomas Aquinas considered that the possessions of the Jews could be expropriated since those possessions came to them through usury.The church generally was not committed to one view on the subject of lending at a fair profit. This form of business was seen as disreputable and it involved the risk of disinheritance of the children of lenders.The trade in usury had some protection from the civil authorities, but at the cost of opprobrium and hatred.
Jewish usurers were never secure because of the threat of physical attack, mob violence, expulsion, arbitrary cancellation of loans to the “ owner “ or “ protector “ of the Jews, the diversion of repayment monies by the “owner”, or because of a moratorium on the loans enforced by the Jews’ “owner.”
The Jews themselves were often treated as “ chattels” by the “owners”, and a lust for their money sometimes prompted their murder. “The ready cash in the hands of the Jews was also a poison which killed them. Had the Jews been poor, they would not have been burned.” ( SOURCE: “Valley of Tears” by Joseph ha-Kahen.)
Immense risks attended this form of livelihood, but money lending by the Jews gradually disappeared before the end of the middle ages, largely because of expulsions from England, France, Spain and various German cities. Heavy exactions were made upon them by their royal “protectors”, and Jewish wealth was exhausted in Europe by 15th. century as a result of these punitive measures.
Citizenship for the Jews was a different concept from that accorded to any Christian. It was limited in duration, it did not confer any rights to a civic position and it was susceptible to arbitrary withdrawal. The Jew was basically a stateless or “homeless” person. The subservience of the Jew was enforced by the Roman Catholic church, and the effect of the Jews’ limited rights and powers,was to create in later centuries, an inbred sense of mental inferiority, –which was often the opposite of reality.
Trade and craft occupations were governed by corporations and guilds to which the Jew was not admitted. Agricultural work was virtually debarred for the Jew because sales and leases of land were limited to 10 years, and from the 9th. century onwards Jews were not permitted to own lands.
Areas of residence for Jews was often limited ; they were sometimes excluded from cities and provinces because of jealousy prompted by the privileges granted to them by European princes, by commercial rivalry , by resentment arising through the indebtedness of borrowers, and even sometimes, by the misguided piety of the clergy. An example of the latter was the request of Eleanor, prompted by the church, for her son, Edward 1 i n 1275 to remove all the Jews from Marlborough, Gloucester,Worcester and Cambridge.
The Jews often needed protection by civil powers from baseless clerical allegations, such as well-poisoning and ritual murder of children, and the outbursts of excitable mobs.Protection was sometimes only gained by means of bribery. An understanding soon grew which thought that the Jews used bribery in all their business dealings.,- a concept which bred ill-will and suspicion.
“ The Holy Office of the Inquisition, seeing now some Christians are endangered by contact and communication with the Jews, has provided that the Jews be expelled from all our realms and territories, and has persuaded us to give our support and agreement to this, which we now do…. We do so despite the great harm to ourselves, seeking and preferring the salvation of souls above our own profit.”
SOURCE: Pilar Leon Tello, –“ Judios de Toledo.”
ORIGIN : A letter to the Count of Aranda from King Ferdinand, 31st.March, 1492.
“Throughout the 1480’s the signs multiplied of the approaching end of the era of cultural co-existence in Spain between Christians, Moors and Jews. Religious considerations were partly responsible….Ferdinand and Isabella …were deeply afflicted by the genuine fear that Christian souls would be lost for eternity by the…influence of other faiths. It was expressly for this reason that they established the Castilian Inquisition in 1479 and extended it to all their realms over the following years.”
SOURCE : Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.- “ Ferdinand and Isabella.”( 1975)
The baptised JEW ,-the converso, was treated as a Christian heretic, and not as a Jew in any sense of the word, from whom he was segregated. Tensions between the “new Christians” ( the conversos) and the old Christians, who were the traditional Roman Catholics,led to killings in Toledo and Cordoba. The result was the introduction of the office of the Inquisition into Spain from its origin in Rome, where it was in force from 1233.
Heretics were invited to surrender within 30 days under an “edict of grace.” The exposure of divided loyalties in the conversos was followed by confiscation of property by the crown, public humiliation by wearing the “sambenito” ( a garment of shame and exclusion), flagellation and removal frrom any responsible office. Following this elimination, heretics were identified under 37 points of practice,-e.g.- the celebration of Jewish holidays, or the adherence to their dietary laws. A small proportion of the Jewish conversos who refused to abandon their old practices and views were executed in a religious ceremony ,- the auto-da—fe. Most accepted a “reconciliation “with the church and a lifetime of imprisonments and humiliations, such as , the loss of property and exclusion of their offspring from any public office.
Relapsed heretics endured the fires of the auto-da-fe, and by 1570 almost all conversos or secret Jews had been “ eliminated”,-e.g. in Castile 2000 were burned, in Seville 700 were burned and in Toledo 200 were burned before that year.
During the whole reign of the Inquisition in Spain from 1480 to 1834 not less than 100,000 “heretics” died in the burnings, most of whom were the descendants of Jews who had accepted baptism as conversos many years earlier. The last great burning took place in Madrid in 1721-27 when 75 “heretics “ were burned.
The expulsion of the Jews in 1492 was the result of a royal decree that all Jews should convert to Christianity within 4 months or leave the country. Approximately 200,000 Jews left for countries in the east of the Mediterranean area, and others “converted”. Of course, Jews and other “ heretics” were not allowed entry into the new Spanish colonies in the Americas.
Jews were expelled from Portugal in 1496; prior to that time they had been subject to the same treatment as Spanish Jews. The expulsions from Spain and Portugal marked the onset of the decline in both countries of their naval, economic and colonial powers. The missionary impetus of Christianity also moved to northern Europe with the expansion of the Reformation there.
The Inquisition was inaugurated in Seville in 1480 as a royal and ecclesiastical institution,and its initial purpose was to discover among converted Jews ( conversos) and converted Muslims (moriscos) whether or not they actually practised their former Judaic or Islamic rituals. Before that time there had been toleration in Spain between Christians,Jews and Muslims in the period known as the “ conviviencia”, although massacres of Jews had taken place in 1391 in Toledo and in 1449 in Avila and Toledo.
TO BE CONTINUED…
After 410 A.D. the effete Roman Empire collapsed in its civil, military and moral life, life, aided by the onslaughts of Alaric, the Visigothic leader; from that point onwards the Roman Catholic church became the dominant power throughout the old Empire, endorsed , of course, by Constantine 1 and his successors . The church, the cloistered communities, the great landowners, the ruling princes, and their underlings took control of religious and much social life. Roman law, which had given the Jews a “place in society” was gradually replaced by local feudal and ecclesiastical law, and the “Jew” was deprived of his “rights”, and so became dependent on the variable and unreliable favours of his “protectors”. Differing local and national law codes replaced the Theodosian code in the west, while in the east the laws of Justinian continued to be in general use. Laws, too numerous to mention, controlled all Jewish economic and social activity,e.g.- loans needed to be registered, a licence was needed to engage in trade, on marriage a payment was exacted, and so too for a change of residence, burial of the dead, or employment of a servant.
Charters of Settlement were granted to Jewish communities by the ruling authorities or princes, the most well-known being the Pale in Russian and Polish lands. The attitude of such rulers could change overnight from one of acceptance to rejection and expulsion. For the privilege of being granted a right of settlement an annual rent was exacted from the Jewish community . That community then became the “property” of the ruler,-eg. Edward 1 in England had ownership of some Jewish communities.
TO BE CONTINUED…
PAPAL BULLS, EDICTS AND LAWS.
The bulls were intended to ensure some legal recognition of the rights of the Jews, but in reality their provisions were often evaded by mob aggression , aided and abetted by some local clergy. The bulls were pronounced by Gregory 1 (590 –604), later by Alexander 111 (1159-81),and renewed by 23 subsequent Popes. By such ordinances Christian leaders were not permitted to enforce baptism upon Jews, kill, injure or rob them. They were not allowed to alter their traditional religious laws, disturb their feasts and rituals, exact military service from them, while giving a few other protections of Jewish social life.
Throughout Europe laws and ordinances did have the effect of regulating much Jewish social, cultural,economic, legal and domestic life. The same laws were also intended to protect Christians from a silent religious contamination by a close association with Jews in their midst.
The Jew’s status became that of a rejected, degraded and servile people, but whose lawful rights under the Theodosian code were theoretically respected in the hope of their eventual spiritual salvation at the end of the age. No rights were allowed other than those permitted by laws enacted by the church authorities.
TO BE CONTINUED …
This basic division between the ancient church and Judaism grew throughout the 2nd. century over the opposed responses to the rabbinic oral laws and the significance of the Levitical ceremonial rules and ordinances on the one hand, and the new, spiritual life offered to all believers in Jesus as the Messiah or Christ. The stumbling blocks for the Jews were the setting –aside of their oral laws and the revelation that in their midst had appeared the Anointed One of God, Who was the suffering, obedient Servant of God, who vicariously suffered, died, was raised to life, and was exalted to the highest place in the heavens at the right hand of God. These foundational truths for the Christian created an unfathomable gulf between the church and Judaism, which became increasingly subservient in “Christianised “ Europe.
After the accession of Constantine in 306 A.D. conversion to Judaism became a “crime”; before that time Jews were treated as “ disbelievers” in the Roman gods and unworthy of Roman legal protection. They had been expelled from Rome much earlier by Tiberius and Claudius.
The young church had the spiritual insight to realize that Judaism was ineffectual in the salvation of men and women because it was powerless to completely set free its people from the burden of guilt for past sins, or to confer an ability not to sin in the present. Judaism’s rituals and customs were seen to be only types or shadows of spiritual realities which faith in Jesus Christ could apprehend . Judaism’s rabbinic rules and rituals were seen to be superseded by saving faith, which itself was the gift of God.
After the 4th. century the teaching of the church implied that the Jews, as a people, had been rejected by God , that its people had been placed under a curse and a divine punishment for their role in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A racial hostility began to appear , in which it was considered justified to oppress and despise the Jewish people. Yet they were afforded some limited protections in order that the Jewish race could endure as a “witness people “ to the truth of the scriptures and the origins of the church.
e The continued existence of the Jewish people was thought to serve as a witness, a perpetual evidence of God’s curse upon unbelief , and of the truth of the scriptures. The attitude of society in general was that the Jews were to remain as continual wanderers among the nations because of their rejection of the Messiah. The premise supposed that the Jews live under “servtus perpetua”, a curse shown then in the destruction of the temple, their dispersion or enslavement under Roman society and by later authorities, and the final catastrophe of the Bar –Kokhba revolt of 135 A.D. This perpetual servitude and condemnation will remain until the end of the age . To preserve the “witness people” the Jews were to be protected by the civil and religious powers, even as they were kept in bondage.(A teaching held by Tertullian, Augustine and Jerome.)
The church was thought to have “replaced” Israel in God’s dealings, and was thought to be the “new Israel”. The Jewish loss was the result of their rejection of their Messiah; consequently God had “rejected “ them as the “people of God” during this present age.( according to Augustine, Ignatius and others.) The Jews were thought to be eternally and uniquely guilty of deicide, the crucifixion of the Son of God, according to Origen, Chrysostom and others.
Yet the church owes a debt to the Jews, who wrote and preserved the Old Testament writings, though they themselves are almost always blind to its inner spiritual truths. But they have acted as the “librarian “ for the church by treasuring the scriptures.
The separation of the early church and Judaism occurred around 100 A.D., and more markedly after the rebellion in 135 A.D.,which Christians of Jewish origin did not support. Before that time Jews viewed Christians as a disruptive sect within Judaism, and issued a curse against them,- the “Birkath-ha-Minim”,- a curse of the heretics. This was added to the 18 Benedictions by Samuel the Small, but it remained known only to a few academics and rabbis.
This time was known the rabbis as the “ Yavneh period “ during which an intense examination of the Torah and all Jewish practices was undertaken in order to preserve Jewish identity. Total separation of Jews and Christians took place after 135 A.D., when the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem, a Gentile Christian bishop was installed in the “Roman city “ ( re-named Aelia Capitolina.,- to commemorate the victory of the Roman “deities” over the invisible Yahweh of Jerusalem), and when Jews were alleged to have been engaged in the persecution of some of the first Christian martyrs,-e.g.- Polycarp in 150, and Pionius in 250 AD. ( See a later note on the martyrdoms of Christians during the Roman era.)
These laws and church council edicts referred to above –( described in “The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue”,-by J.Parkes;pp379-391 (Soncino Press, 1934),of which these are only a small selection) were probably inspired by a remembrance of past hostility by the Jews towards the emerging church, which the Jews viewed as an heretical sect.-eg. see Acts,ch.14,v.5.; ch.22,v.22ff. The severe and ungracious treatment of the Jews by these ancient authors may also have arisen because of their fear of a reversion by young converts towards legalism and Jewish religious customs. The most potent seed of church hostility was the obsession that the Jews were solely responsible for the crucifixion of the Lord of the church,- Jesus Christ.
Any modern criticism of these ancient church writers must be tempered and considered alongside the truth that these same men were the foundational authors of most Christian doctrines, expositors of all the scriptures and the interpretations flowing from them, and the leaders who codified Christian theology in the church councils. A few outstanding names and doctrines may be mentioned, because such detail is beyond the competence of the writer of this blog note.-
Tertullian and Justin Martyr… the doctrine of the Trinity.
Athanasius, Justin Martyr, Origen and Augustine…the Person of Christ, the incarnate God.
Augustine…the doctrine of man and original sin.
Anselm…. the doctrine of the atonement, by Christ’s satisfaction for the sin of man.
Luther.. the doctrine of justification by faith by faith alone.
Calvin… the doctrine of the authority of scripture, and Christ’s substitutionary and sacrificial death.
The church councils formulated most of our Christian doctrines;-
NICEA- 325…Jesus Christ has the same nature as God the Father.
CONSTANTINOPLE .-382…the full human nature of Christ.
EPHESUS- 428…the unity of the human and divine natures in Christ.
CHALCEDON-451…the Christ is “complete as to His Godhead and complete as to His manhood.”
As most Christians realise, since the early medieval period one large part of the body of the church has adulterated the original doctrines with non-Biblical teachings and church traditions, such as the cult of Mary, the invocation of Mary, saints and angels, prayers for the dead, salvation by means of the sacraments, rather than by faith in the value of Christ’s death ,etc. This mixture or adultery of teachings has some resonance with “babel” ( confusion, cf. “The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English,” by Fowler, (Oxford, 1934,)p.77.)
A SURVEY OF SOME OF THE MORE SEVERE LAWS,-
THE BREVIARY OF ALARCIC 11 ( the Visigoth),i.e. a church’s summary,etc.
Intermarriage between Jews and Christians was treated as adultery. Jews were not allowed to build new synagogues; if some were built, they were to be handed over to the Catholic authorities, Jews were not allowed to set their own market prices. If a Christian slave was circumcised, the Jewish owner was to be executed, and the slave set free.
THE LAWS OF CHARLEMAGNE,- 814. – A SELECTION ONLY.
A Jew was allowed to “have money in the house”, or to sell wine, corn or other produce. If a Jew was engaged in a case against a Christian he had to submit to trial by ordeal, either by swearing upon a reliquary, or by holding a red hot iron. If a Jew was convicted of an offence against a Christian he had to be condemned to drowning in a sack.
THE LAWS OF ARCADIUS,-397.
Jews may not become Christians for economic reasons; they are to adopt Roman laws, except for religious cases. Their synagogues are to be protected.
A LAW OF THEODOSIUS ,11 – DATED 415.
The Jewish Patriarch in Jerusalem was abolished.
LAWS OF THE VISIGOTHS,- EXAMPLES ..-
Christian teachings are not to be criticised; Jewish feasts are not to be observed; a prohibition of circumcision,food distinctions, or of legal action against Christians; law-breakers to be stoned to death or enslaved.( By decree of Recceswinth,652)
All Jews must submit to baptism, and their books and teachings to be suppressed.(By decree of Erwig,680.)
COUNCIL DECISIONS OF THE VISIGOTHS.
Unconverted Jews are not allowed to trade, and Jews must surrender property gained from Christians ( at Toledo xv1 in 693)
Because the Jews were accused of a plot against Spanish security by an alliance with a king in N.Africa, all Jewish property was confiscated, and all Jews except those of Septimania, were reduced to slavery; all Jewish rites and practices were banned, and all Jewish children over 7 years of age were to be reared as Christians. ( By order of the council in Toledo XV11, –694.)
THE CANONS OF CARTHAGE.
Jews, heathens and heretics are allowed access to parts of Christian worship services; but Jewish practices are to be suppressed. Jews are not allowed to give evidence in court.
MANY OTHER COUNCILS ( e.g. Chalcedon, Trullanum, Nicea) promulgated a variety of restrictions, but some rights were granted to Jews.
END OF THE SURVEY OF SOME MEDIEVAL LAWS AND EDICTS.
CODEX THEODOSIANUS… 438 A.D.
This has four main areas of law: Judaism was recognised, injustice or violence against Jews was prohibited, anti-Christian practices by Jews were prohibited, and various restrictions were applied to the Jewish religion, viz : conversion to Judaism was forbidden, converts to Judaism were made intestate, proselytising by Jews was made a criminal act, the circumcision of slaves of Jewish owners was forbidden on pain of death, a later law forbade a Jew buying a Christian slave, the building and care of synagogues and the repair was made the subject of control, Jews were excluded from service in the army, civil administration and the law, marriages to Jews were treated as adulterous and therefore forbidden, Jews were not allowed asylum in any church, Jewish tribunals were allowed to make decisions only for religious disputes and not for civil matters.
Generally, Judaism was referred to as a superstition, or a wicked sect.
SOURCE: CODEX THEODOSIANUS, ed,. J. GOTHOFREDUS; LEIPZIG. WEIDMANN, 1736.
THE JUSTINIAN CODE ( 483-565 A.D.)
Jewish property rights and the right of entry to public offices were again severely limited, and Jews were not allowed to testify against Christians . By the Novella 146 (dated 553), the scriptures used in the synagogues were to be read in Greek, Latin or the vernacular,- not in Hebrew. The Mishnah was forbidden to be used. Those Jews who disbelieved in the resurrection, angels, or the last judgement were to be put to death !
SOURCE : PANDECTAE JUSTINIANEAE, ed. R.J. POTHIER, ( PARIS: BELIN-LEPRIEUR , 1818.)
TO BE CONTINUED….
RULES AND PROHIBIITIONS ENACTED AGAINST THE JEWS BY EARLY CHURCH COUNCILS.,…THE SUBJECTS AND THE PLACES AND DATES.
Mixed marriages forbidden ….ELVIRA-306; ORLEANS –533; CLERMONT –535; TOLEDO-589 & 633; ROME-743; SZABOLIS-1092.
Christians forbidden from joining with Jews at meal times…. ANTIOCH-341; VANNES-465; AGDE-506; EPAONE- 517; ORLEANS- 536; MACON- 583; CLICHY-626; METZ-888; COYANZA-1050.
Jews not admitted to public office- CLERMONT-535; MACON-583; TOLEDO-589; PARIS-614; CLICHY-626; TOLEDO-633; MEAUX & PARIS-845; PAVIA-850’ METZ- 850; ROME-1078.
Jews prohibited from owning Christian slaves- ORLEANS-538; MACON-583; CLICHY-626; TOLEDO- 589 & 633; CHALON- 650; ROUEN- 1074.
Christians ordered not to use the sabbath day as a day of rest… LAODICEA- 434 & 481; ORLEANS- 538.
Jews ordered not to appear in public during Easter… ORLEANS-538; MACON-583; PARIS & MEAUX – 845.
Jews not allowed to work on Sundays…NARBONNE- 589
Baptised Jews forced to conform to church practices… TOLEDO- 633 & 694
Landowning Jews forced to pay church tithes…GERONA- 1068
Jews compelled to hear Catholic priest’s sermons…LYONS & CHALON- 816 & 825; MACON & MAINZ- 937 & 939.
Compulsory baptism of Jews… TRIER- 1066, AND LATER DURING THE 2ND. CRUSADE IN MANY TOWNS IN GERMANY & FRANCE,e.g. – COLOGNE,MAINZ WORMS, SPEYER, STRASBOURG.
Jews compelled to wear the badge or 6-pointed star…ENFORCED THROUGHOUT ROMAN CATHOLIC LANDS BY ORDER IN THE 4th. LATERAN COUNCIL- 1215
Christian contacts with Jews forbidden…CHALCEDON- 451; TRULLO- 691
Baptised Jews compelled to observe Jewish and Christian festivals in the presence of a ;;bishop… TOLEDO- 655.
Walled ghettos created for Jews…SPEYER; NAPLES; OXFORD; BRESLAU; BUDA’ PALERMO; TARASCON; RHODES; BARCELONA;VALENCIA;TURIN; FRANKFURT; PRAGUE; MADRID; MURCIA; KAZIMIERZ; FEZ; VIENNA;VERONA; FERRARA; MAINZ. IN PORTUGAL JEWS WERE FORCED TO LIVE IN “JUDIARIA. IN RUSSIAN LANDS JEWS WRE RESTRICTED TO THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT, SITED IN THE UKRAINE UNTIL 1917
TO BE CONTINUED…
After rehearsing the many negative comments made by authors in the past, here is a positive exhortation from God regarding prayer for Israel and the Jews.
The gospel is first for the Jew.- “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” – Romans,ch.1,v.16.
God’s purpose is for all Israel to be saved, –“Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel ill be saved.”- Romans,ch11,v25-26.
God has commanded all believers to pray for Israel.-“ You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.”-Isaiah,ch.62,v.6-7. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “ May those who love you be secure . May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”-Psalm 122,v.6-7.
The apostle Paul prayed earnestly for his people…-“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”-Romans,ch.10,v.1.
Judaism is without the power to achieve salvation: it is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit alone. –“We who are Jews by birth ….know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ….because by observing the law no-one will be justified.”- Gal.ch.2,v.15-16 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not of works.”- Eph.ch.2,v.8-9
All believers are in Jesus Christ are part of one body.-“For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body,- whether Jews or Greeks…” 1 Cor.ch.12,v.13.
Jews now are beginning to hear and respond to the gospel of salvation in increasing numbers.-“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”-Ezek.ch.37,v.4
There is a debt which everyone owes to the Jews…”for salvation is from the Jews”- John,ch.4,v.22.
God has promised to rebuild Israel with a faithful remnant,-“After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent… that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles…Acts,ch.15,v.16-17.
God has promised to favour those who pray and bless Israel.-“I will bless those who bless you…”Gen.ch.12,v.3.
We are urged to pray for all governments that they make decisions in God’s will, and this applies to the leadership in Israel too.-“ I urge then , first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority, that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”-1 Tim.ch.2,v.1.
Pray for God to defend Israel against the non-democratic nations which surround it.-“Hear O Lord, the cry of Judah…Oh, be his help against his foes.” Deut,ch.33,v7.
The victimisation of Jewish minorities which was suffered in Occupied Europe during world war 11 has since then undergone a metamorphosis and has become a mindless hatred of “absentee Jews”,- Jews who have migrated from their old host countries to settle in their homeland, while a hatred lingers in the lands they have left. The relics of this age-old hatred are known as “ anti-Zionism”. This form of hatred is now rampant in most Muslim cultures, and has become more evident in the pan-African organisations, and within the great international organisations, such as the U.N.O. and the E.U.
It was this insane hatred of the Jews which impelled the Nazi regime towards genocide, and, of course, caused the self-destruction of that regime by its diversion of resources towards mass murder. The same hatred prompted the genocides attempted by Pharaoh, Haman, Nebuchadnezzar and Titus. This hatred was defined by Elie Wiesel in March, 2005 :- “ It was man’s inhumanity to man - NO ! It was man’s inhumanity to Jews. Jews were not killed because they were human beings. In the eyes of the killers, they were not human beings. They were Jews.”
Beneath this hatred and mindless fear of the Jews is an unconscious spiritual carcinoma. Among the complex forces which generate this hatred of the Jews or anti-Zionism is a spiritual issue. Its origin does not lie in politics,economics,financial acumen of the Jews, the occupation of land, religious practices,race, or history. It is to do with the sovereign purposes of God in His choice of Israel, and His identity as the Judaeo-Christian God and His Messiah, Jesus Christ. If this issue is re-phrased, then this hostility is generated by the negative spirit which rejects the salvation which is from the Jews in the Person of the Messiah Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the King of the Jews.
Therefore it could be stated that beneath all the pretexts and excuses for the hatred of the Jews is an age-old, futile opposition to God and His Messiah, and the human attempts to ignore, disrupt or circumvent His sovereign purpose to offer the only salvation which is acceptable to Him, which is, salvation by grace through faith and simple trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said ,” He who hates Me hates My Father also,” and “They hated Me without a cause.” John’s gospel,ch.15,v23, v25.
qui s’excuse, s’ accuse.
( If expanded, I think that this means :” The one who makes excuses for himself, in effect, accuses himself.)
THE END OF PRETEXTS FOR HATRED OF THE JEWS.
( A MORE POSITIVE BLOG SHOULD FOLLOW THIS ! PRAISE GOD !)
It was a grievous fact that these same non-democratic states were the home of most European Jews, where they faced the murderous intentions of the local militias ,- the Iron Guard in Romania, the Ustashe in Croatia, the Arrow Cross in Hungary, and the Hlinka Guard in Slovakia. Some local populations were more more brutal in their murderous activity than their German invaders.One instance could be cited : in the Polish village of Jedwabne in July,1941 more than 1600 Jewish villagers were done to death by their neighbours.
TO BE CONTINUED…
During the years in which the Holocaust took place (1941-45) many fleeing refugees and escapees were given compassionate and risky reception and sacrificial assistance by their neighbours and those in authority. Even before those years, the Jewish community in Germany realised that a storm was gathering after the events of “Kristallnacht” ( November, 10th. 1938), when 1000 synagogues were destroyed and 91 Jews were murdered. The Jewish authorities asked for the British to allow their children to be evacuated to the Mandated territory in Palestine. Britain refused this request in order not to offend the resident Arabs. Despite this set-back, the Jewish leaders in Britain persuaded Parliament to admit some Jewish children and give them refuge , and 198 children arrived in December of that year at Harwich.
There is the testimony of many hundreds in Occupied Europe who were saved from certain death by friendly small-holders, farmers, partisans, officials, and even the local police. Such unsolicited favour and mercy shown to so many stands in sharp contrast to the malicious treatment accorded to many Jews by local populations who collaborated readily with the S.S. squads and the Einsatzgruppen in the detention and murder of their erstwhile Jewish neighbours throughout Occupied Europe. In many countries the civil servants, gendarmerie, police, and partisans willingly co-operated with their Nazi overlords in the extermination programme devised by their conquerors. Such localised hostility towards indigenous Jews seems to have been the outworking of a pan-European phenomenon which welled-up as a release valve in the newly-created autocracies which arose on the ruins of old monarchies after world war 1. These illiberal autocracies in Soviet Russia, Italy, Austria, Romania,Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stifled popular dissent. As a result there was a surrender of individual and collective social responsibility to the powers of the state machine, which was generally anti-Semitic in outlook. Communal aggression and a craving for plunder was given opportunity to exercise itself by official sanctions by these anti-Jewish governments.
After the revolutionary outbreaks in various European centres (1848-49), such as Milan,Sicily, Paris, Venice, Berlin,Vienna, Bavaria and Hungary, it was thought by some writers that the Jews were sponsoring or supporting dangerous,nationalistic ideologies. As the century wore on Jews were associated with liberal, radical, socialist and finally, communist ideals. Of course, other Jews were freely engaged in capitalist ventures as entrepreneurs. Some writers put forward the paradox that if Jews could be expelled from Germany and France then both capitalism and socialism could be overthrown.
A new focus for hatred of the Jews appeared after the Russian revolution of 1917. The prominence of several Jews, such as Marx (an apostate Jew), Trotsky, Radek, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bela Kuhn in Hungary was taken as proof that Bolshevism was Jewish in origin and nature. The Communist International and the leadership of the Bolshevist movement was thought to be entirely in the hands of Jews, and the fear of an “eastern Bolshevist assault “ became the basis of much of the national-socialist ideology in Germany in the 1920-30’s
All these phobias became fused into an ominous phantasmagoria in Germany in the early 20th.century where the mixed illusions appeared as Jews, Masons, Bolsheviks, international capitalists, atheists and arch conspirators, all of whom formulated their plots in “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” after 1905. Much of this fantasy script is a direct plagiarism of a work of 1865 written by M.Joly. The compiling of this work was done by Ratshkovsky ( an agent of the Russian secret police- the Ochrana), and it became the veritable document which created the warrant for the Holocaust .
TO BE CONTINUED…
Jews were frequently proficient in many trades and crafts, but because the relevant guilds excluded them, they often had to resort to financial dealing and banking for the courts of princely rulers. Trades people also treated them as economic rivals with allegiance to a “different “ culture.
Because Jews, even “converted” Jews pursued a different life-style from others in Christianised Europe their lack of conformity engendered suspicion, which was given some substance by the Jews’ self-induced exclusivity and ghetto mentality. Christians in medieval Europe rigidly observed its three main celebrations and its numerous saints’ and holy days, while the Jews proclaimed their dissonance in their feasts,- Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles, Trumpets, the day of Atonement, Purim and Hanukka. The Jewish observance of the Sabbath rest and the evident work and business activity on the first day (Sunday) provoked more discord between them and their host societies.
Resentment of the Jews’ competence in finance and money-lending, and their association,- and even employment,- with many ruling houses in medieval Europe as “court Jews” caused a vague distrust of Jews among the poor in society.
The old resentments against the Jews grew into a nameless fear of their power and influence, prompted by a feeling of inferiority and impotence because of the Jews’ remarkable successes and survivals through many centuries of suffering, pogroms and expulsions. Their many accomplishments in the realms of commerce,finance,medicine, the arts, science, philosophy, economics, and a general acuity in the reasoning processes,- itself the outcome of centuries of close study of the scriptures and rabbinic writings,- all these factors aroused an envy and a subconscious fear of a “Jewish ascendancy “ in late medieval Europe. This phobia found expression in the myths on which the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were founded.
Jews in the 19th. century came into view in a new light: they were then seen as a threat to the racial purity of the Nordic or Teutonic peoples of Germany and Austria, where an “Aryan myth “ was voiced by some writers. The Jews were considered to be “Orientals” who would weaken the purity of “Aryan blood”. This had some resemblance to the fear which arose among the Spanish nobility in the 16th.century because of the presence of alien blood traits in society. The emphasis on a racial dissimilarity was supported by a form of social Darwinism, which upheld the theory that the Teutonic peoples had evolved as the superior race over many generations.
A strange feature of this so-called racial difference between Jews and northern Europeans was the physiological distinction which was thought to exist between them , coupled with with medieval fantasies that the Jews were lecherous and emanated a distinct smell ,- the “foetor Judaicus.”
After the gradual emancipation of the Jews from their civil disabilities in the 19th. and early 20th. centuries they achieved a new status of equality. Many enterprising Jews became socially mobile and aroused some resentment; they were seen as the latest parvenues. Despite this, many Jews plied their trades in lowly and despised positions.
Hatred of the Jews developed in medieval Europe as a release valve for the disadvantaged and oppressed lower classes in society in the midst of the tensions imposed on them by autocratic rulers. This form of antagonism against the Jews re-appeared in the period 1920-1940 in Europe, where autocratic regimes took control in many national states where imperial rulers had been discarded in the chaos which followed World War 1. The Jews in medieval Europe were perceived as a vulnerable,defenceless minority, often confined in the ghettoes prescribed by the authorities. The Jews were given the mantle of the medieval scapegoat, who suffered, vicariously but not voluntarily, in times of war, famine or depression.
Jews were sometimes accused of being traitors within a host society , and lacking in genuine patriotism,eg.- the “betrayal “ of Spain into the hands of invading Moors, or the “invitation” given to the Mongols to invade S.E. Europe.
Those Jews engaged in commerce were often vilified as exploiters of the poor through profiteering and the practice of usury, a system forbidden in medieval Europe. To increase capital by means of usury aroused great resentment among Muslim communities, where this was forbidden by the Koran ,viz. “Those who devour usury shall not rise again except as he rises, whom Satan of the touch prostrates; that is because they say,” Trafficking is like usury; God has permitted trafficking , and forbidden usury.” (Koran , sura 2 (276.)
TO BE CONTINUED…
The Jews suffered during several deportations into varying degrees of bondage,- into Assyria in 721, into Babylon during 597-581, and throughout the lands surrounding the Mediterranean in 70 A.D.,followed by a final “dispersion” after the revolt in 135 A.D. The many expulsions they endured in Europe ensured that the Jews remained a minority group in their host countries, and being without a national state or a means of defence, they subsisted in highly vulnerable enclaves and ghettoes throughout medieval Europe.
Jewish insistence on observing their ceremonial laws was resolved under the guidance of the Holy Spirit during the council of Jerusalem (52 A.D.) for all Christian converts. But Judaism’s attachment to its ancient rituals became a cause for continuous accusation by ancient theologians, who saw the dangers of a reversion to legalism, textualism and ritualism in the incipient church, which generally was eager to escape from a bondage to outward “forms.”
The first Christian writers saw the Jews as a people enslaved or wedded to their rabbinic interpretations of the Torah, that is, the Talmud and its associated commentaries. The were despised as being slaves to the Law and devoid of the inner light of faith, which is the grace gift of the Holy Spirit. Some Christian converts yearned for the observances of the Mosaic law, and so drew hostility upon themselves within the Church.
The writings of some of the “fathers” in the church emphasised the struggles of the faithful remnant in the Israel of the Old Testament as they lived in the midst of the recalcitrant and disobedient race. That race was thought to be congenitally perverse and wayward.
There was adverse reaction towards the Jews by those who adhered to the ancient, pagan cults of Egypt, Greece, Rome and Babylon because of the Biblical doctrine of the divine election of the Jews. The ancient world saw this as an evidence of a concealed arrogance and religious conceit.
Judaism became grounded in the Talmud and was seen as the antithesis of Christian salvation by the grace offered to all mankind through faith in the atoning sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on the cross. Salvation is the gift of God ,- it is received in faith, which itself is a gift from God. It was realised in the early church that Judaism was an empty and spiritually cursed human method of achieving salvation through human effort, or the “works of the flesh”. Judaism was associated with legalism in religion and was inveighed against as a threat to the Christian’s faith in Christ alone. “Judaizers” were thought to be doing the work of the devil.
The Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and it was concluded that the whole of the Jewish people was an accomplice in the injustice and sufferings inflicted upon Jesus Christ. The “fathers” of the church therefore deduced that God had also rejected the Jews as the “chosen people”. The sufferings and disgrace which enveloped the Jews after their failed rebellions in 67-70 A.D.and 135 A.D. were thought to be rightful punishments inflicted by God.
Soon all Jews were assimilated under one banner as betrayers and crucifiers of the Son of God, – the incarnate God. The Jewish race was thought by many of the “fathers” of the church as abandoned by God and subject to His curse until the second coming of the Lord from heaven. Neighbours of Jewish groups felt that they had sanction to abuse, harass and curse the “rejected “ race.
In ancient and medieval societies the Jews were exhorted by their mentors in the faith,- prophets, teachers of the law and rabbis,-to avoid compromise with their idolatrous and immoral neighbours. The consequence was that the Jews were then perceived as misanthropic, aloof and contemptuous of all Gentile aspects of life-style. This engendered many unfounded suspicions and distrust of all Jewish people in these early centuries.
Judaism was often misunderstood or misrepresented by some classical authors, who concluded, without evidence, that its worship and rituals gave a special place to animals; the pig was even thought by some to be a sacred animal in Jewish worship rituals.
Living in the midst of the polytheism which pervaded the ancient world a suspicion arose because of Judaism’s strange, monotheistic faith. Yet, the monotheism of Christianity gradually found acceptance in the Roman world, even before the time of Constantine because of the spirit-inspired witness of the first Christian converts to faith in Jesus Christ. The monotheism of Islam throughout North Africa, the near East and beyond was achieved by force of arms and intimidation from the 8th. century onwards. These faiths never aroused such suspicion, but the abnormality of the faith of the Jews in their One ethical God remained a source of fear in their pagan neighbours.
Jewish exclusiveness was interpreted in their host societies as an hostility towards any culture or life-style which was non-Jewish.
TO BE CONTINUED..
“ This failure by the French Church in its responsibility towards the Jewish people is part of our history. We confess our sins and we implore God’s pardon and we ask the Jewish people to listen to this word of repentance.”
Bishop of Saint-Denis, Oliver de Berranger, speaking in Drancy, 1997.
THE LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN … WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO THEM ?
“In the last days many Christians will awaken. They will see what they have done ,- injured and persecuted the chosen people of God. Just as the Jews will break out in lamentation “ when they look on Him whom they have pierced “ and “ shall mourn for Him , as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first-born .”(Zech. ch.12,v.10), so will Christians on their part be filled with grief and lamentation for having afflicted the people dear to God.
But ten it will be too late to show them kindness. Now is the time for the New Testament people to awaken – now before the last hour comes, and with it judgement. Today let us take our place at Jesus’ side and look upon His people with His eyes, full of love and mercy. Then our hearts would ache to see this chosen people of God wandering through the centuries, wretched, despised, shunned, ostracized and afflicted with pain like the suffering Servant in Isaiah ch.53. Then, looking on them, we would be reminded of Him.
I Israel, unintentionally and unwittingly, has become a spectacle before heaven and mankind, because she bears the features of the Servant of God. The sight of her should continually remind Christians of Jesus, despised,destitute, covered with bruises, afflicted, hated, persecuted, tormented, and hounded to death. Even if these marks borne by the people of God also betoken the chastening hand of God stretched out in judgement on sinners, the fact remains that by these very dealings God proclaims Himself to be the Holy One of Israel.
…Where was the good Samaritan when when the Jews among the robbers ? Where was the Christian church, which is supposed to follow His example ? Apart from the odd Christian here and there who secretly sheltered Jews in his home or helped them in other ways, the Christians in general failed in the hour of Israel’s greatest need. It became evident that the Christian church was not like Jesus nor a true disciple of His. Instead of acting like the good Samaritan, it passed by on the other side like the priest and the Levite )Luke ch.10). We know that Jesus pronounced His woe upon the scribes and Pharisees . That woe is also upon us.”
M. Basilea Schlink, “Israel, My Chosen People.” –Kanaan Publications, 2000. pp.39-43.
CONTINUED…” I say and maintain that the fate of Israel did not take on a truly inhuman character until the 4th. century A.D. with coming of the Christian Empire. This is an additional reason why Christians who value religious liberty should be especially sensitive to oppression of the Jewish community.”
Jules Isaac, “ Has Anti-Semitism Roots in Christianity ?” National Conference of Christians and Jews, –New York, 1961, p. 45.
“In the final analysis there can be no debate. There are too many signs that stake out the permanence, the importance and the gravity of Christian anti-Semitism : contempt, calumnies, animosity, segregation, forced baptisms, appropriation of children, unjust trials, pogroms, exiles, systematic persecutions, thefts and repine, hatred- open or concealed, social degradation.
F. Lovsky,-“Antisemitisme et mystere d’ Israel.” Michel,Paris. 1955,.p.116.
A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRAYER OF REPENTANCE.
“We recognise today that many centuries of blindness have veiled our eyes so that we no longer see the beauty of your chosen people and no longer recognise the features of our first-born brother. We know now that the mark of Cain is on our forehead. Over the course of centuries our brother Abel has lain in the blood we have spilled and has wept tears which we have caused because we forgoy your love. Forgive us for the curse which we unjustly placed on the name of Jews. Forgive us for crucifying you a second time. For we knew not what we were doing.”
Pope John, xx111, speaking in 1963.
TO BE CONTINUED..
BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF HISTORY.
“ What have you done to us, you freedom-loving peoples, guardians of justice, defenders of the high principles of democracy and of the brotherhood of man ? What have you allowed to be perpetrated against a defenceless people while you stood aside and let it bleed to death, without offering help or succour, without calling on the fiends to stop, in the language of retribution which alone they would understand. Why do profane our pain and wrath with empty expressions of sympathy which ring like mockery in the ears of millions of the damned in the torture house of Nazi Europe ? Why have you not even supplied arms to our ghetto rebels , as you have done for the partisans and underground fighters of other nations ? Why did you not establish contacts with them, as have done in the case of the partisans in Greece and Yugoslavia and the underground movements elsewhere ? If, instead of Jews, thousands of English,American or Rusian women, children,and aged had been tortured every day, burnt to death, asphyxiated in gas chambers – would you have acted in the same way ?”
Ben Gurion, part of an article in the Zionist Review., 22nd. September, 1944.
“Christianity in Germany bears a greater responsibility before God than the National Socialists, the S.S. and the Gestapo. We ought to have recognised the Lord Jesus in the brother who suffered and was persecuted despite his being a Communist or a Jew.”
Pastor Martin Niemoller, speaking in Zurich, March, 1946.
“ I must make heard the indignant protest of the Christian conscience and I proclaim that all men, Aryan or non-Aryan, are brothers, because they are created by the same God,,,, the current anti-Semitic measures are in contempt of human dignity, a violation of the most sacred rights of the individual and the family.”
Bishop Pierre- Marie Theas, speaking of the deportation of French Jews, September, 1942.
“Guilt lies with the Nazis….But can we escape blame if, having it in our power to do smething to save the victims, we fail to take the necessary action, and take it swiftly ? …if the British and American governments were determined to achieve a programme of rescue in some way commensurate with the vastness of need , they could do it. “
Bishop George Bell, bishop of Chichester,speaking on 18th. May, 1943.
A CHARLES WESLEY HYMN..-
“Them, snatched out of the flame, Through every nation send, The true Messiah to proclaim, The universal Friend; That all the God unknown May learn of Jews to adore, And see the glory in Thy Son, Till time shall be no more.”
“ O that the chosen band Might now their brethren bring, And, gathered out of every land, Present to Zion’s King ! Of all the ancient race Not one be left behind, But each, impelled by secret grace, His way to Canaan find.
“We know it must be done , For God hath spoke the word; All Israel shall the Saviour own, To their first state restored; Rebuilt by His command, Jerusalem shall rise; Her temple on mount Moriah stand Again, and touch the skies.”
“Send them Thy servants forth, To call the Hebrews home; From east,and west, and south and north. Let all the wanderers come; Where’er in lands unknown The fugitives remain, Bid every creature help them on, Thy holy mount to gain.
“An offering to their God, There let them all be seen, Sprinkled with the water and the blood, In soul and body clean; With Israel’s myriads sealed, Let all the nations meet, Ans show the mystery fulfilled, Thy family complete.!”
Perhaps the most apt, poignant and prophetic appeals reach us through the pens of the poets and hymn writers of the past.;-
William Cowper ( 1731- 1800) wrote ;-
“Oh Israel ! of all nations most undone, Thy diadem displaced, thy sceptre gone; Cry aloud, thou that sittest in the dust, Cry to the proud, the cruel, the unjust ! Knock at the gates of the nations, rouse their fears, Say wrath is coming, and the storm appears, But raise the shrillest cry in British ears.”
And Charles Wesley wrote in the Wesleyan hymn book of 1799 : “Almighty God of love, Set up the attracting sign, And summon whom Thou dost approve For messengers divine From favoured Abraham’s seed The new apostles choose, In isles and continents to spread the dead –reviving news.
It is clear also that the churches have a God-given function or office with respect to the Jewish people, and it is to be the “shamash”, – the ninth and central candle on the hanukkia, the nine branched candelabra, which is symbol of Israel’s faith in God. The ninth light is the servant light from which all the other candles are ignited. The churches are in that privileged position of being able to display the True Light “ which gives light to every man” – Jesus the Light of the World. The real and desperate but unspoken need of the Jewish people is to see the True Light shining out for them from our churches to guide the blind out of darkness into the new and living Way .
Jesus the true Messiah came with the mission first to seek and to save “ the lost sheep of the house of Israel” –(See Matthew,ch,10,v.6; ch.15,v.24; Romans ch.1,v.16 and Jeremiah ch.50,v.6; Ezekiel ch.34,v.6) The churches if they are to remain faithful to their calling from God must lead the people of Israel with “cords of human kindness, with ties of love.” (Hosea,ch.11,v.4) and remind His people that God has made a “ new covenant with the house of Israel” for He has “ made the first one obsolete ; and what is obsolete and ageing will soon disappear.” That new covenant of grace is offered to Israel and all peoples ; it is a salvation by grace alone, not on account of any human merit, or by virtue of any human suffering or trial. Eternal salvation is offered to all men by God’s grace through faith in the sacrificial, substitutionary and vicarious death of Jesus Christ.
This present generation of “ liberal “ and nominal Christians who thrive in some churches seem to be unconscious or forgetful in regard to the church’s debt to Israel. They are also indifferent to the need to support Israel in its fight for survival in the midst of many hostile neighbours.This is not a call to endorse all the policies and political activities of the government of Israel. Strangely, also many churches have fallen into a state fond forgetfulness in regard to the collective responsibility for the historic abuse heaped upon the Jewish people. The true church of born-again believers is one invisible and indivisible body, whether parts of it lived in the first, tenth or twentieth centuries. That church should now bring before God a plea for pardon for the past mistreatment of His chosen people by those who in the past claimed to be Christians.
By way of conclusion it can be said that the response of Christians today should be : repentance towards God and the people of Israel, acceptance of Israel as His chosen people, intercession for that people, and an active Christian outreach to them.
Any Christian could become prolix at this point, and I believe that the final words in this brief discussion are best left to the “ unacknowledged legislators of the world” and the true prophets of this present age ,- the poets and hymn-writers, some of whom are quoted below .
“You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah. “Here is your God !” His NAME IS JESUS. YESHUA HA MASHIACH.
( Isaiah ch.40,v.9 )
“NACHAMU, NACHAMU, I- MI “ ( literal translation :- “Comfort, comfort My people with Me.” –Isaiah ch.40.,v.1)
“Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion, “ declares the Lord.” (Jer.ch.51,v.24.)
“There I will enter into judgement against them ( all nations,) concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land.”( Joel,ch.3,v.2.) Most of the nations,even now, are intent on “ dividing up” the land of Israel among her Arab neighbours !
“I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.”(Zech.ch.1,v.14-15)
“I was angry with My people and desecrated My inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy….A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom.”( Isaiah,ch.47,v.6, & 11)
Basilea Schlink has reminded everyone :” Israel is, and always will be the first-born son. Though the Jews have been two thousand years under God’s chastening hand, they were no less precious to the Father during this time of judgement…. And if in the trials of the Dispersion it appeared that the Jews were no longer beloved by God, in actual fact such times were a proof that they were dearly beloved as the chosen ones of God. Only because God loved them did He chasten them.” ( “Israel, My Chosen People;” p.74; Kanaan Publications ,2000)
The Holocaust seems to point up and crystallise the essence of all the sufferings inflicted upon the Jewish people over many centuries, and it now presents a fourfold message to all European Christians. If we now fail to respond to that message it may be that the revival or spiritual awakening which these same Christians are dreaming of will be withheld from us by the Judge of all the earth. European “Christianised” culture is the beneficiary of many centuries of Biblically inspired law-making,devotional and expository scholarship,hymnody,liturgy,traditions, revivals and missionary outreach to the ends of the world, and yet it is now lapsing into spiritual impotence and complacency as the Christians living in the third-world lands suffer persecution and oppression. Even more harmful is the accommodation and compromise with alien religions, and with the mores and culture of this present evil “world.”
(TO BE CONTINUED…)
It is evident that Christians and Jews share a common base in the Old Testament scriptures with its promises, commands and admonitions , but they are united also throughout history in the bond of suffering for their faith and its traditions. The numbers of Jewish people who have suffered in Europe in massacres, pogroms, torture, expulsions, forced baptism and expropriation of goods is quite unknown, apart from he six millions who died in the Holocaust. The proportion of Jews who have died is far higher than that among Christians , although it has been estimated that during the two millennia seventy million Christians have died for the name of the Lord Jesus.Even in the twentieth century forty-five millions have suffered for His name, and each year from 2000 at least 200,000 Christians have been martyred ( according to the Voice of the Martyrs, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release International.) In the 1970’s about 400,000 died for their faith during the brutal tyranny of Idi Amin in Uganda. During the recurring persecution of Armenian Christians in the old Turkish empire the sufferings of that small minority during jihad against them are unimaginable. The figures do not convey the realities: 1894-96….150,000 died; 1908-09 …..30,000 died; 1915… 800,000 died ; 1916-1918… 300,000 died; 1919-22… 250,000 died. The Turkish authorities and many other governments fail to recognise these atrocities, and the Turkish government does not admit their failure to protect these minorities.
