The
Plight of the Jews
Part
2 of a 4 Part Series
Jim
Croft
I apologize that this piece is lengthy. The length is
necessary to give Gentile Christians an elementary understanding of the plight
of the Jews throughout the past 2,000 years. It is important for every believer
to know the extent to which ignorance caused our spiritual ancestors to
persecute the Lord's ethnic kinsmen, the Jews. The article's introduction is in
the body of this email. The rest is the MS Word rtf attachment. Hopefully you
will read the download.
I will begin with a capsulated version of the testimony
of a dynamic minister friend of mine. His name is Cesar Leyva Nieto and he
pastors the Church on the Rock of Harrisonville, MO. He introduced himself as a
Mexican until about a year ago. It was then that he discovered that he is
actually 100% Jewish. His story confirms much of what is stated in this
article. That is especially so of how his family immigrated to the sector of
Mexico that is now called Texas; and how he came to the revelation of Christ
while alone in style of the Apostle Paul.
A Jewish historical society was doing a series of
articles on successful Hispanics who have Sephardic Jewish roots. When they
contacted Cesar, he vehemently and truthfully denied any knowledge of Jewish
lineage. He explained that he was a 6' 5'' Mexican preacher who prophesied and
spoke in tongues. The interviewer disclosed the history of both of his
parent's family names assuring him that he was a Jew. In disbelief he told his
mother about the call and she spilled the refried beans.
She explained that his paternal and maternal ancestors
had fled Spain on the heels of another phase of the Spanish Inquisition that
began in 1492. As usual, the Catholic Church played a heavy hand in authorizing
clergymen to assist and accompany arresting officers. Cesar's forefathers had
been tormented and tortured and their properties confiscated. They barely
escaped to the New World with little more than their lives.
The same Church was there to meet them in Mexico/Texas
with all of its prejudice and cruelty. One of his maternal grandmothers was
publically beaten by Americans because she had born a brood of despised Jews to
contaminate the culture. He had a grandfather who met discrimination and racial
slurs as a Military Policeman in the US Army. Therefore, the family decided to
hide their ethnic identity. The only remnant holdover was a curious lighting of
candles on Friday nights. Throughout his childhood, Cesar never had a clue
about the candles' announcement of Sabbath Eve.
It was customary for Sephardic Jews that immigrated to
Mexico to attempt to keep low vocational profile. However, blessed cream has a
way of rising to the top. In spite of their efforts, many became wealthy. A
few chose organized crime. Cesar Nieto's father, Abel was one who did so and
became one of the region's most powerful drug lords.
Cesar had a keen academic mind, but carried tough guy
ways prior the first stages of his salvation process. His first encounter was
through an angelic visitation. The angel walked into his room when Cesar was 17
years old. The visitor told him that he needed to “obey.” He did so and was
converted. Later on he was translated into heaven and found himself plastered
in a prostrate position between two sets of feet. The set on his right
glistened with a gloriously white light. The set on his left were human feet.
An angel picked Cesar up and placed him immediately in front of the human feet.
The revelation of what was happening permeated his entire being: He had no
right to approach the Father's feet without the necessity of obedience at Jesus'
feet.
I am so glad that Cesar Leyva Nieto has been faithful to
the implication of that divine encounter. After his Jewish discovery, he
adopted the middle name of Leyva in respect for his mother's Levitical family
heritage. Incidentally, Cesar married a Jewess and his married siblings all
married Jews. God has a way of guiding His chosen in every path of
life.
History
Abraham's
grandson, Jacob complained of ill treatment by his uncle Laban in Genesis 31:36,
38-42. His complaint was that Laban had changed the terms multiple times over a
twenty year period for the exchange of Jacob's labors for the right to wed
Rachel and to earn a livelihood. Jacob rebuked Laban by telling him that had it
not been for God's intervention that Laban would have sent him back to Israel
empty-handed.
Throughout the
past 3,500 years of Jewish history, the treatment of Jacob's descendants in
countless Gentile nations has been far harsher than what Jacob experienced.
Jews have experienced incidents of divine interventions, but they have been far
and few between after the birth of the Church. Though they have been
instrumental in blessing Christianized employers and societies, the terms for
them to be accepted have never been firmly established. Without question, the
Jews have been persecuted more extensively and for a longer duration than any
other single ethnic group.
The Old
Testament testifies that the Egyptians enslaved the Jews for 430 years. The
Babylonians did so for 70 years and the Persians for 84 years. That totals 584
years. That is considerably longer than the indignities suffered by Africans
who were sold by fellow Africans into the hands of European slave traders for
export to the Americas.
In addition, the
Jews have undergone excessive persecution, prejudice and job discrimination in
every nation they have inhabited since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their
properties and fortunes have been confiscated. Their homes and synagogues have
been torched and their families brutalized, raped and slaughtered. In the
majority of cases these political/religious motivated injustices culminated with
Jewish expulsion from those nations. Time after time, Jews were forced to
wander as refugees into other nations only to undergo a similar
plight.
Persecuted
Assets
Yet, in every
nation and culture the Jews have consistently been a blessing. The God of
Abraham has always faithfully empowered them to be creative and innovative in
the midst of adverse circumstances. Brilliant Jews have never failed to enrich
their persecutors through their God given abilities in the sciences, medicine,
the arts, and business. A candid examination would reveal that wherever there
have been advances in any society graced with a Jewish presence, the key figures
responsible have been Jewish more often than not.
The Nobel Prize
has been awarded to at least 139 Jews. It is likely that the number of Jewish
recipients exceeds that of any other single religious group. They certainly
leave Muslims sitting in the dust. Muslims represent 20% of the global
population and Jews represent 0.2%. Muslim recipients of the Nobel Prize number
under a dozen and most of them were educated in the universities of Christian
nations.
It is often said
that the most important commodity that one can possess is his health. We have
the Jews to thank for many of the advances that have been made in the field of
health. On a per capita basis, their lead in medical innovations is
disproportionate to those of any other ethnicity.
Here are just a
few of their accomplishments: Vitamins; the concept of a balanced diet for
health; the Schick test for diphtheria; scratch test for allergies; the first
doctor of pediatrics; the Salk polio vaccine; the March of Dimes; the antibiotic
streptomycin; the drug Salvarsan to cure syphilis; appendicitis surgery and
pioneering the study of human psychology. In addition, America's system of
public school nursing, city playgrounds and public bath facilities to promote
health were launched by the efforts of Jewish citizens. Surely we can make it
through life without Jewish help, but not in health!
In the area of
religion they gave us: The Scriptures; the concept of a Loving Heavenly Father;
the covenant promises of the blessings of prosperity, healing and harmonious
marital relationships; our prophets and apostles; and most of all, our Eternal
Savior. We owe the Jewish people a tremendous debt of love and respect for all
the contributions that they have made to our spiritual, financial, and physical
well-being.
Spiritual
DNA Hinders Christian Conversion
God has two
covenant people, the Church, and the Jews. The Christian Church is presently
incomplete in fulfilling its description as the true Zion or Israel of
God. Jesus, when speaking to the Jews, said that He had sheep that were not of
their fold. (John 10:16) The implications are that Jesus has one
flock, but two folds. The two folds are the Jewish fold and the Gentile
fold. He will ultimately draw them together into one flock for His
glory. Individuals who are permitted to come into His flock must come to God
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, The Father's timing and manner
of wooing people to the Cross is different for those of the two respective
folds.
Historically,
God blesses the Gentiles through the Jews. They gave us our Savior and the
revelation of His Lordship through the preaching of Jewish apostles and
prophets. These men penned the Bible that directs us to the path of repentance,
faith, and salvation. Non-Jewish converts often testify as to how they met the
Lord through the witness of the Christian Bible, evangelistic preaching, or
another believer's testimony. This is rarely the case with Jews.
Most Jews will
not read the New Testament and are seldom impressed by a Gentile's testimony of
salvation. The thought of exposure to Christian evangelistic preaching is
shunned. In the isolated instances where Jewish hearts are opened by the Holy
Spirit to receive the testimony of others, it is most often that of a Messianic
Jew. For most of them, only the testimony of a fellow Jew would have the remote
potential to be deemed as credible. Normally when a Jew finds Christ it is
commonly reported that he has experienced a direct, personal, spiritual
encounter with Jesus while alone.
Why?
Why is it that
Jews reject the evangelistic efforts of Gentiles that use the truths of
salvation based upon the Scriptures written by Jews? They find it difficult to
comprehend the messages as credible because the Lord has often historically used
the Gentiles as instruments to judge them for their disobedience. In biblical
times they were judged at the hand of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians,
Persians, and Romans. During more recent history it has been Czarist Russians;
Nazi Germans; and Muslim and Communist regimes.
It is
interesting to note that the truth of Jesus' warning that we are justified or
condemned by our words is born-out by the persecutions of the Jews at the hands
of the Romans, Russians and Germans. They chose Barabbas to be released and
opted that their own Messiah would be crucified in his place. In addition they
said, “His blood be on us and on our children” and “We have no king but
Caesar” (Matt. 27:15-26, Mk. 15:6-15, Lk. 23:1-25, Jn. 19:15) This
was a self-inflicted curse.
Barabbas was a
murderer and political agitator. In 70AD the Romans destroyed
Herod's Temple and lined the streets of Jerusalem with crucified Jews. The
Russian word Czar
is derived from the word Caesar. The
Czars instigated the Pogroms that mercilessly wiped out thousands of the Jewish
inhabitants of Russia. Adolph Hitler based Mien
Kampf on
a book titled, The
Decline of the West
by Oswald Spengler. One of its themes was that the world needs another
Caesar. Hitler comprised his elite SS henchmen from the murderers and political
activists that he freed from German prisons.
It
should also be noted that what goes around comes around. The Bible says that
whoever curses the Jews will be cursed in return. (Gen
12:3) The Roman Empire collapsed. The Czarist rule of Russia was
ruthlessly ended by Bolshevik Communists who had been inspired by the writings
of Marx and Engels who were both Jewish. The Communist leader Stalin butchered
millions of Russians. The two World Wars coupled with pro-abortion policies
have put the German nationality in danger of extinction. In a sense, they are
threatened with the eradication that they intended for the Jews. In an attempt
to counteract this, the German government pays those who have children
“kinder-gilt”. It is a benefit awarded only to German citizens who have
children.
Many
contemporary evangelicals find it difficult to understand the Jew's aversion to
the Christian faith and the Name of Jesus. They are often mystified as to why
their syrupy expressions of Jesus' love are met with a cold shoulder and in some
instances mocking hostility.
I
believe that there are two reasons for this. One is the brutal inhumanity that
those who call themselves Christians have demonstrated against the Jews for the
past 2,000 years. The other is the timing of God's plan for a mass in gathering
of the Jewish people prior to the Second Advent of the Lord.
Most
Gentile Christians are oblivious to the negative imprint that the Church has
made in the name of Christ on the collective Jewish psyche over the past two
millennia. Historically, Christians have demonstrated anything but the love of
God to the Jews. Under the banner of the Church and our love for Jesus we have
either actively participated in or ignorantly allowed the persecution of the
Jews in nearly every nation that calls itself Christian. Our unscriptural,
anti-Semitic theology has paved the way for habitual expressions of animosity,
social degradation, and forced baptisms. The histories of Christian nations
reflect the shameful practice of awarding custodial rights of Jewish children to
Gentiles; and the unjust persecutions, torture and exiles of Jewish
citizens. For centuries misguided Gentile Christians chose the Holidays of
Christmas and Easter as occasions to perpetrate barbarous crimes against the
Jews who lived among them. Because of this, one could say, that it is as though
there is something in most every Jew's historical and spiritual DNA structure
that interprets the Cross as a symbol of disaster.
When
they are confronted with the Gospel, especially through a Gentile, there is
often something that is alerted within them which says; “Danger, danger, fight
or flee”. This phenomenon could be compared to the ability of various species
within creation to adapt to their environments. If there is a poisonous plant
indigenous to an area, the wildlife adapts and over time learns to avoid
it. Once the adaptation is secure, an alarm imprint within animal DNA causes
all future generations to have an aversion to that which their ancestors found
toxic.
The
following is a brief overview of what has caused the negative imprint in the
Jewish mind that hinders them from embracing Christianity. This overview
features some overlaps where persecutions by Christian, Communist and Islamic
regimes occurred simultaneously.
The
First Century - There
was a war between the Jews and Rome. At that time there were well over 50,000
Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. When the Romans assaulted the Holy City, the
Christians interpreted it as the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy of Matthew
24:15-17. As a result Messianic Jewish Christians refused to defend their
homeland and fled to the city of Pella that is in modern day Jordan. Israel's
fighting forces were diminished by the exodus of Messianic believers.
Jerusalem was captured, 600,000 Jews were butchered; 115,000 were exported as
slaves and their national temple was burnt to the ground. This particular Roman
siege took more lives than all the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Tokyo
combined.
The
Second Century -
A Jewish nationalist named Bar Kokohba led a revolt against Rome. He was
defeated in 135 AD and the emperor Hadrian vindictively decided to wipe out the
name and memory of Israel. Therefore he renamed Israel after their age-old
enemies the Philistines. He called the area Syria et Philistia. Up until that
time, it had always been known as Israel or Judea, the home of the Jews.
The
word Palestine is
a corruption of the word Philistine. Every
believer with Bible knowledge understands that God delivered
the land of Israel from the Philistines and gave it to the Jewish descendants of
Isaac. During the years in which the world maps of Christian nations
labeled Israel as Palestine it was a subtle insult to the Jewish
people.
The
Fourth through the Sixth Century -
St. John Chrysotom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Hilary of Poiters, and many other
noted church leaders preached that synagogues were the caverns of brigands and
the dens of wild beasts. Jews were denounced in hundreds of sermons as greedy,
lustful, inveterate murderers who were possessed by the devil. Jews were
forbidden to serve in any public office and marriage to a Jew was considered a
filthy union punishable by death.
Islam
from the Seventh Century onward
- The Arab, Mohammed instituted the political religious system of Islam in
610AD. He envisioned that Christians and Jews would adopt his faith. He was
enraged when they resisted. Since that time, Islam has waged discrimination, war
and genocide against Jews and Christians in every nation where Islam has
dominance. The subjugation and eradication of Christianity and Jews is Islamic
policy. Modern leaders of Islamic stronghold nations such as Iran and Egypt are
calling for wiping Israel and the Jews from existence. As recently as the
summer of 2012 the Muslims of 14 nations burned down churches and synagogues and
thousands of Christians and Jews were forced to flee their homelands.
The
Twelfth and Thirteenth Century -
In England all Jews and their properties were considered the property of the
king. A wealthy Jew of Bristol refused to pay exorbitant taxes. His punishment
was to have a tooth extracted for each day that he withheld payment. Between
1262 and 1279AD there were 1,780 Jews executed in London alone. King Edward I
ordered every living Jew to leave his realm by All Saints Day of
1290.
The
Catholic Church incited thousands of its members to make Crusades to the Holy
Land to liberate it from the hands of Islamic and Jewish
infidels. In England, France
For
instance, when Richard the Lion-Hearted left England it is estimated that
Londoners slaughtered 1,500 English Jews. On their way to Jerusalem the
Crusaders raped and pillaged their way through the Jewish communities of
the Mediterranean and Middle East. Their justification for killing thousands
and impaling infants on their lances was that they were of the hateful race that
had killed Jesus.
In
reality the Jews were not solely responsible for the death of Christ. It was
actually the Romans who crucified Him due to pressure from the religious sect of
the Pharisees. They, in turn were being motivated by satanic influences that
were permitted to fulfill the pre-determined plan of God.
The
Fourteenth Century -
The Black Death plague hit Europe and the Jews were blamed. In Spain, Jews were
coerced through torture to confess to poisoning wells with a concoction made of
lizards, frogs, spiders, human hearts, and the sacred hosts. The story spread
like wildfire throughout Christendom. In Switzerland,
Germany, France, Belgium,
The
Fifteenth - Seventeenth Century -
The Catholic Church in Spain and Portugal had vicious Inquisitions. Jews and
Marranos (Jews who had converted to Christianity, but were suspect of secretly
practicing Judaism) were tortured and killed by the thousands. Those who
refused baptism died, their properties were confiscated and their kidnapped
children were raised as Christians in homes throughout Europe. Under the
leadership of Martin Luther came the reformation and the Protestant
Church. Luther began his ministry with high hopes that the Jews would join his
new denomination. When they did not, he became enraged and began to preach and
publish scurrilous sermons accusing them of being doomed to hell as anti-Christ
devils who were guilty of ritualistic murders. In his last sermon before his
death he called for all Jews to be expulsed from Germanic provinces.
1648-58
AD -
This decade was perhaps the bloodiest in Jewish history until the Holocaust.
Czarist Cossacks incited by the Eastern Orthodox Church blitzed through 700
Jewish communities of the Ukraine and Poland. It is estimated that at least
500,000 Jews died. Historians report that victims were skinned alive and left
to the agony of a lingering death. Infants were slit like fish before their
mother's eyes. Pregnant women were ripped open and then sown back again with
live cats thrust into their wombs.
The
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century -
Czarist pogroms or purging of Jews from Russian cities caused thousands to flee
to other nations as synagogues and homes were plundered and burned.
1939-45
AD -
6 million European Jews perished in the Holocaust. When Hitler wrote Mein
Kampf, he appealed to German Christians whose minds had already been polluted by
hundreds of years of anti-Semitic Lutheran and Catholic theology. He wrote: “I
believe that I am today acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty
Creator: by defending myself against the Jews I am fighting for the work of the
Lord.”
After
the war it was inconvenient for the European nations to have Jews wandering
about as displaced persons. Therefore, the Allied Forces returned scores of
thousands to the very camps from which they had been liberated. In reality, the
only things that had changed were the nationality their captors and the amount
of food supply. The Nazis had killed them. The United Nations would not allow
them to live as free human beings. Tragically, the Jews were not actually
completely liberated from the concentration camps of Europe and Cyprus until
1947.
The
victorious Allied Forces discovered the Nazi's cache of gold bullion. Much of
it had been cast from the fortunes and dental work of Jews who had perished in
the work camps. Conscience would dictate that these resources rightfully
belonged to the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. It could have been a
tremendous asset to help resettle European Jews in new homes and vocations. It
would have gone a long way in helping establish the State of Israel as a
homeland for Jewish people. However, the Allied Forces shamefully opted to give
$44 million of Jewish fortunes to the Gentile industrialists of the nations that
had sided with Germany during the war in order to help them rebuild their
economies.
1960-Present
Day -
The sentiments of Europeans and their governments remain anti-Jew and
anti-Israel. To their own hurt, they reject the Jews and welcome Muslims. They
have most definitely chosen the wrong group of the sons of Abraham. Immigrate
Muslims have been draining the socialistic welfare systems of European nations
dry for the past 50+ years. Muslim birth rates outpace that of Europeans and
they are now empowered to take Europe over politically. It is estimated that
the entirety of Europe will be under Shariah Law by 2050. That will intensify
everything related to anti-Semitism.
An
Important Question
Is there any
hint in the Scriptures that there was a potential for something like the
Holocaust to happen? I think so. Jeremiah 16:15-18 it says that fishermen and
hunters would pursue the Jewish people to get them back to their own land. The
fishermen could be the Zionist beginning with Theodore Herzl who entreated the
Jews of Europe to return to Israel. The hunters could be the Nazis who
relentlessly hunted them down. Without question, had it not been for the
population growth within Israel spawned by those two movements, Israel would not
have the strength to thwart the intents of Islamists today
(Rom. 8:28).
The
Twenty-first Century -
In America and Europe anti-Semitism flourishes through the efforts of the Klue
Klux Klan, neo-Nazi, and Aryan purist groups. They label Jews as Christ-killers
who manipulate the world's economy for their greed. More often than not they
use the Gospel of John and other New Testament passages as their proof
texts. Using isolated texts like John 9:22, 19:38 they punctuate that the true
Christians were apprehensive of reprisals from “the Jews.” They fail to
discern that the authors of the texts were themselves Jews who were referring
solely to the Jewish clergy and political leaders who had rejected
Christ.
Contemporary
anti-Semitic groups also erroneously assert that the Jews, the Hebrews, and the
Israelites are separate, distinctive people groups. They try to persuade their
adherents that Christians are the true Hebrews. They assert that the Church,
independent of a future massive ingathering of Jews, is the sole true Israel of
God and that Jews are despicable enemies of God.
The Apostle Paul
certainly had an excellent understanding of the terms Jews, Israelites, and
Hebrews. He claimed to be all three. Though he was born of the tribe of
Benjamin he proclaimed that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, an Israelite and a Jew.
(Rom. 11:1, Philip. 3:5, Acts 21:39) In reality, the words Jew
and Jewish
refer to religion and culture. Hebrew
and Hebrews
refer to a language and a genealogy which can be traced back to Abraham and
Isaac. And, Israelites are those born to citizens of Israel or within Israel's
borders.
With
this horrendous history how can we Gentiles expect to win Jews for Christ? The
truth is that it is unlikely that most Gentile believers will be primary
participants in the process through any means beyond intercession and the
support of Messianic Jewish ministries that are effective in reaching their
kinsmen. In most circumstances, Jewish evangelism is a privilege that the Lord
has reserved for Himself. He will bring the Jews into His flock, in His own
time through a global sovereign move of the Holy Spirit on Jewish
hearts.
When
this happens it is unlikely that it will be Gentile missionaries who can claim
the credit. We can pray for that day and soften Jewish hearts through acts of
gratitude and kindness. However, it is doubtful that our preaching will be a
common factor in the conversion of the majority of Jews. The Lord will meet
them in divine visitations as He did Jacob and the Apostle Paul. He will begin
to take them aside individually to reveal Himself to them as their
Messiah.
These
private encounters will be much like that of Joseph when he made his identity
known to his brothers in Egypt. As the Messiah's identity is made known to
their spirits they will look on Him whom they pierced and mourn. Jesus will
comfort them by telling them that even though they ignorantly meant it for evil,
that God meant it for good. In a relatively short time millions of Jews will
pass under the rod and into the bond of the New Covenant.
Ezekiel
20:33-37 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely with a mighty hand, with an
outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. [34] I will
bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are
scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured
out. [35]And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I
will plead My case with you face to face. [36] Just as I pleaded My case with
your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case
with you," says the Lord GOD. [37] "I will make you pass under the rod, and I
will bring you into the bond of the covenant;
The
Jews, as the natural branches of the olive tree will be grafted in among
Gentiles who are the wild olive branches. Their initial rejection of the Gospel
brought us salvation. Their acceptance will usher in life from the dead or the
resurrection of all deceased believers from their graves and the Second Coming
of the Lord to planet earth. (Rom 11:11-12, 15, 23-29)
