Jewish
people praying to Jesus
WHY
HAVE THE JEWISH PEOPLE BEEN SO HATED, PERSECUTED
& MISTREATED THROUGHOUT HISTORY?
The
first believers in Jesus Christ were Jewish. Jesus Christ
was the King of the Jews. They were called 'Maaminim'
and
comprised a spiritual movement within the scope of Judaism --The
'Maaminim'
had their own synagogues - and preached the 'Besorah' (Good
News) of salvation.
Dr.
H.H. Goldberg states, B"esides the Perushim (Pharisees),
Tzedukim (Sadducees) and Essenes, the 'Maaminim'
-
were an integral part of the Temple community and 'Ha-aam
Hayehudi' "(the Jewish people)". For the first eight
years after the resurrection of Jesus, the 'Maaminim'
ministered exclusively to Jews."
The
deacon, Phillip, the deacon broke tradition by preaching in
Samaria, among that city's Jewish-extracted, mixed-race
population. Cornelius' household were the first Romans to accept
the gospel - two years later - when 'Shimon bar Yonah'
(St. Peter) preached to them.
RABBI
SHAUL OF TARSUS WAS A PHARISEE, BUT WAS CONVERTED WHEN HE
MET JESUS
Rabbi
'Shaul of Tarsus' was a fanatical Pharisee, who was
crusading to exterminate the 'Maaminim'
.
Then he met Jesus of Nazareth - in a bright light - on the
Damascus Road and was converted.
Among
the evangelists, 'Shaul of Tarsus' was the most effective in
converting the heathen. Gentile believers became known as
Christians and their houses of worship were known as churches
(Hebrew fem. of synagogue).
At
the Jerusalem Council - A.D. 50, the 'Maaminim'
accepted gentile believers into fellowship - without forcing
them to embrace Jewish customs and disciples - except for
refraining from idolatry.
The
'Maaminim'
grew so large that in A.D. 90, Gamaliel II called the 'Yavneh
Council' of rabbis, to formulate a plan that would stem the
growth of the new Jewish movement. It was decreed by the "Yavneh
Council" that a disparaging verse against the 'Maaminim'
be included in the 'Amidah' (central prayer in synagogue
service).
PERSECUTION
INCREASED ON THE JEWISH
PEOPLE A.D. 132-135
The
persecution increased when Rabbi Akiba declared 'Shimon bar
Kochbal' the Messiah. "Shimon bar Kochbal" - had
been the leader of an insurrection against the Romans from
A.D. 132 to 135. The 'Maaminim'
remonstrated saying, "There is no Mashiach - except
Yeshua".
Shimon
bar Kochba's "messiahship" was later repudiated by
Jewish leaders, but the breach with the 'Maaminim'
remained.
Whatever happened to the Jewish believers? Why did the 'Maaminim'
- who
continued until the fifth century - disappear?
HISTORICAL
RECORDS SHOW TERRIBLE PERSECUTION
& TREATMENT OF JEWS BY CHRISTIANS
The
historical record exposes one of Christianity's most shameful
chapters. The Christians shameful unrighteous treatment of
the Jews and some of these Jews were the first followers of
Jesus Christ.
The
Jews who were God's chosen people. What was the point of
persecuting the Jews? What did people benefit from
persecuting the Jews?
What
persecuting the Jewish failed to do was to destroy the 'Maaminim'.
Instead, it was accomplished by proud, biased and spiteful
gentile Christians succeeded by their hate and rejection.
JEWISH
PREACHERS CONVERTED MANY PAGANS
TO CHRIST - BUT GENTILE CHRISTIANS BEGAN
TO PERSECUTE THEM
Jewish
preachers had many Gentiles converted and many pagan to Christ.
But after the first century, gentile Christians - who had become
dominant - began to persecute their Jewish brethren!
CHURCHES
DEMANDED THE JEWS TO RENOUNCE
THEIR JEWISH PRACTICES
Church
fathers and clergy demanded that Jewish believers renounce their
Jewish observances and practices. The religious leaders forgot
that the 'Maaminim'
in A.D. 50 embraced them - on the basis of their belief in Jesus
alone, without having to change the Jewish cultures.
Now
the Churches demanded that the Jews change their customs - as
the basis for salvation. (Romans 11)
Regarding
the 'Maaminim',
Irenaeus wrote: "They circumcise their sons, observe their
holidays and customs of the Law and lead a life as Jews and love
Jerusalem as if it were the House of God."
ANTI-SEMITISM
AGAINST THE JEWS BEGINS IN
A.D. 325 BY NICEAN COUNCIL
The
A.D. 325 Nicean Council, with 318 bishops present, which
included no Jews, changed the Resurrection Day from the 14th day
of Nisan to a perpetual Sunday. Hence the gap between Passover
(Pesach) and Easter.
Note
the anti-Semitism: "We ought not, therefore, to have
anything in common with the Jews...our worship follows a...more
convenient course...we desire dearest brethren, to separate
ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews...How, then,
could we follow these Jews, who are almost certainly
blinded."
-
Eusebius, Vita. Const. Further humiliations were decreed
against the Jews at the Laodicean Synod (A.D. 343-381): "It
is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to
be partakers of their impiety" (Cannon XXXVIII).
A.D.
538 - JEWS MAY NOT APPEAR IN THE
COMPANY OF CHRISTIANS
The
Third Synod of Orleans (A.D. 538) ordered: "From the
Thursday before Easter for four days, Jews may not appear in the
company of Christians" (Cannon XXX).
QUINISEXT
COUNCIL A.D. 692
- No priestly order or layman may eat unleavened bread of Jews
The
Quinisext Council (A.D. 692)
stated: "Let no one in the priestly order nor any layman
eat the unleavened bread of the Jews, nor have any familiar
intercourse with them, nor summon them in illness, nor receive
medicines from them, nor bathe with them; but if anyone shall
take in hand to do so, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed,
but if a layman, let him be cut off" (Cannon II).
FALSE
DOCTRINE INVENTED SAYS CHRISTIANS
ARE
THE TRUE ISRAEL A.D. 165
Justin
(died ca. A.D. 165), invented the doctrine that Christians are
the true Israel and that the Church must reject its Jewish past,
His 'Dialogue with Tryphon' was riddled with falseness
against the Jews.
JEWS
CALLED CAINS WERE CALLED MURDERERS
& NOT CHOSEN PEOPLE OF GOD
Tertullian
(A.D. 150-225) stated that the Jews were the Cains, the
murderers, and "were rejected as the Chosen People of
God". - 'Adversus Judaeos'.
Origen
(A.D. 184-253) declared the Jews dangerous enemies of
Christians, and stirred up the pagans against them.
Jerome
(A.D. 342-420) wrote that the Law was God's deliberate trick
to destroy the Jews.
And
Bishop Epiphanius (died ca. A.D. 403), declared Jewish
believers - heretics - because they observed Jewish holy days.
St. Chrysostom (A.D. 345-407) called the synagogue "a
brothel, home of vice, refuge of the devil, citadel of
Satan". He stated "God hates the Jews and has
always done so".
FALSE
STATEMENTS ABOUT THE JEWS DIRECTLY CONTRADICT THE SCRIPTURES
How
these false statements about the Jews contradict the Holy
Scriptures that remind us of God's great love for Israel and His
Chosen People, the Jews!
A.D.
1236 - OFFICIALS DEMAND THAT ALL JEWISH BOOKS BE CONFISCATED
& BURNED
In
A.D. 1236, Pope Gregory commanded all church officials in
France, England, Spain and Portugal to confiscate Jewish
books on the first Saturday of Lent. Subsequent to the
decree of A.D. 1242, thousands of volumes - filling 24 wagons - were
publicly burned in Paris.
A.D.
1259 - MAINZ ORDERED JEWS TO WEAR YELLOW BADGES / BUTTONS TO
IDENTIFY THEM
In
A.D. 1259, a synod of the archdiocese in Mainz ordered
Jews to wear yellow badges. In A.D. 1434, Jewish men in
Augsburg had to sew yellow buttons to their clothes. Across
Europe, Jews were forced to wear a long undergarment, an
overcoat with a yellow patch, bells and tall pointed yellow hats
with a large button on them.
MARTIN
LUTHER, WHO IS THE GREAT REFORMER, TREATED THE JEWISH PEOPLE
TERRIBLY
Martin
Luther - the great reformer - was no better than the popes, in
his treatment of the Jews!
A.D.
1543 - MARTIN LUTHER WROTE 'ON THE
JEWS AND THEIR LIES'
In
A.D. 1543, Martin Luther wrote in 'On the Jews and Their
Lies' "What shall we do with this rejected, damned
Jewish people? I will give my true counsel. First that their
synagogues and schools should be set on fire.. Second,
that also their houses be demolished and destroyed. Third
that their prayer books and Talmuds be confiscated...
Fourth, that, under penalty of death, their rabbis be forbidden
to teach...that their freedom to travel be restricted...and all
their money and valuable in gold and silver be taken".
HITLER,
THE JEWS AND THE HOLOCAUST
Hitler's
holocaust was a culmination of 1800 years of anti-Semitism by
early Church Bishops, medieval Popes and Protestant reformers.
May
God forgive the Church for the horrid treatment of the Jewish.
May almighty God forgive the Church for all the hatred, bias and
erroneous teaching that has fueled the perverse anti-Semitic
prejudices for so long.
COUNCIL
OF EVANGELICAL CHURCH, GERMANY - ADMITTED
IN 1945 TO GUILT IN TREATMENT OF JEWS
The
Council of the Evangelical Church met in Stuttgart, Germany -
October, 1945. Lutheran clergymen went on record as saying: "We
are bound to our (German) people not only in a community of
suffering but also in a solidarity of guilt. With heavy pain we
say: Through us, unending misfortune was brought to many".
And
the German Bishops' Conference - June 11, 1961 - ordered that a
special prayer for forgiveness concerning the murdered Jews,
should be offered in all Catholic churches in Germany for "the
immeasurable guilt which cannot be blotted out by human
penance".
1961
- POPE JOHN XX11 PRAYS PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS FOR MISTREATMENT
OF JEWS
Pope
John XXII prayed the following prayer of repentance, shortly
before his death June 3, 1961: "We now recognize that
many, many centuries of blindness have covered our eyes so that
we no longer see the beauty of Your Chosen People and in their
face no longer recognize the features of our first-born
brother."
"We
realize that the sign of Cain is marked on our forehead. For
centuries, Abel was lying in blood and tears because we forgot
Your love. Forgive us the damnation we pronounced unjustly upon
the name of the Jews."
"Forgive
us for having crucified You a second time in their flesh. For we
knew not what we were doing."
It
is most unfortunate, that after all the sufferings the Jews have
experienced - much of it at the hands of the Roman Church - that
it took the Vatican so long to finally recognize Israel as a
nation.
No
doubt the very recent "turn around" resulted in
the Pope's proposed journey to Jerusalem!
POPE
JOHN XX11 WAS INVITED TO VISIT ISRAEL
BEFORE HIS DEATH
Pope
John Paul II - being the consummate politician that he is,
realized the need to do so in order to be invited to Israel
before His death. In any event, the Vatican was forced to
finally change their bigoted and prejudiced attitude toward
Israel.
With
the rebirth of the Jewish State however, there is also a
re-emergence of the 'Maaminim',
in Israel.
And
since hundreds of thousands of Jews have returned to Israel
during this past decade (some of them born again, spirit-filled
Christians from South America & Eastern Europe) the
Evangelical Christian Church is growing rapidly in Israel.
Praise God!
Dr.
H.H. Goldberg, spirit-filled rabbi of a Los Angeles Maaminim
congregation says, "A true Jew is committed to God, to
the land of Israel and to the Jewish people. And many Jews today
believe in Jesus as their Mashiach".
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