Session Understanding the Times Part 2 o

Unknown: Well, Shalom, and
welcome back for part two of our

series on understanding the
times. And last week we covered

a lot of information and I
realized that and we're going to

do the same thing this week. So,
I want you to know I'm offering

you a free outline of this
seminar series, all four parts.

All you have to do is email me
at Susan at ice j usa.org. That

Susan at ice j usa.org. requests
the outline for understanding

that times and we'll be happy to
send it to you because we do

cover a lot of information. And
you might even want to get that

outline and then listen to it a
second time and follow along.

We're living in absolutely
historic days, and just as

miraculous as the gathering of
the Jewish people to the land of

Israel. So is the miraculous
shift of the Christian world

away from an anti semitic past
and towards the Jewish people in

our days, we are getting grafted
into that olive tree that

supports our faith. But before
we began talking about this and

what a miracle it is, we must
understand the past and

understand where we come from.
So first, I want to talk to you

about anti semitism. And then I
want to talk to you about its

influence on Christian history.
You know, the hatred of the

Jewish people, anti semitism.
It's a unique phenomenon in the

human experience. There's really
nothing else that compares to

it. The first documented
instance of anti semitism we

actually read about in the Bible
and the story of Esther, where

we have Haman who wanted The
Jews to bow down and reverence

him. And when they wouldn't, he
turned against him with all the

might of the Persian Empire and
he fully intended to wipe them

out. The reason we have that
story, the Book of Esther, is

because of the absolute
significance of what Esther did.

She saved the Jewish people from
extinction, not just of the Jews

of the Persian Empire, you you
have to understand, the Jews of

the Empire of the Persian Empire
were the majority of the Jews of

the world had Haman succeeded in
annihilating the Jews within the

Persian Empire. That would have
been it for Jewish history, we

would have had no birth of Jesus
500 years later. Now, you would

have thought then, eventually
when these ancient kingdoms and

empires that were a little
ruthless, once they gave way to

Christianity, you would expect
the story to change but

unfortunately, we have the story
of how The Christian kings who

were also the head of the
Christian church, persecuted the

Jews, because of the church's
teaching against Judaism. They

blame the Jews for killing
Christ and said that they

deserved punishment and to be
persecuted due to Jesus's

crucifixion. So I'm going to
talk more about that in a

minute. But I want to give you
an idea here about the

seriousness of anti semitism.
Because once Christianity then I

have to say the age of the
Enlightenment came and science

replaced Christianity as the
primary source for authority in

the world. Now it was science.
And so here we have science as

the backbone of the Nazi
ideology of saying that there

were differences in races, and
that the Jewish race was

subhuman. And it needed to be
wiped out.

So these older forms of anti
semitism, whether it's It was

the ancient empires or it was
Christian anti semitism or it

was Nazi anti semitism based on
racism. None of that's really

accepted today, thankfully. But
instead, we have a whole new

form of anti semitism. It's
raising its ugly head, actually

with two faces. One anti
semitism is rife throughout the

Muslim world. And secondly,
there's a political form of anti

semitism that is against the
Jewish state, called anti

Zionism. So we're going to talk
more about all of this. What I

want you to take away from this
brief introduction is that the

evil pursuit of the Jewish
people has continued for

millennia. And this is why the
historian Robert wistrich called

it the longest hatred. It
doesn't stop all it does is

reinvent itself with a new
generation and a new ideology

with a new face. But the goal is
always the same, and it's to rid

the world of the Jewish people.
So now that you understand the

spiritually evil nature of anti
semitism, I want to talk to you

specifically about its influence
on the Christian story on

Christian history. Now, we all
know that Jesus and the early

Christians were all Jewish. They
kept the Sabbath, they kept the

feast. In the beginning, they
worshiped right alongside the

Jewish people in the temple. But
over time, certain tensions did

develop and a record of one of
the earliest tensions is found

in the book of Acts, chapter 15.
And this is when the Holy Spirit

has begun to fall on Gentiles.
And the mainstream Jewish

community did not like this
because it was bringing pagan

influences in through this
messianic body. And the

Messianic Jews didn't know what
to do with it. They hadn't been

expecting God to fall for the
Holy Spirit to fall on the

Gentiles. So they had a church
Council and thankfully the

finding of the church Council in
Acts 15 was that you and I, the

Gentile believers coming into
the body of Christ did not have

to become Jewish. We did not
have to be sec circumcised. We

did not have to obey the law in
order to follow Jesus. But this

did indicate to us that there
were some tensions going on in

the book of Acts. It was between
the Gentiles coming into the

body of Christ it was with
between them and the Messianic

believers. And then it was
between the Messianic believers

and the largest, the larger
Jewish world. Now, as a result

of this ruling, and large scale
missionary activities of the

Apostle Paul and the other
apostles More and more Gentiles

are coming into the

church.

And it's taking on a different

face a different look. A lot of
these Gentiles coming into the

church, they didn't have any
appreciation for the Jewish

roots of Christianity. I mean,
they didn't even understand a

lot of the laws or know about
it. And so they were leading the

church in kind of a foreign way.
And so there's more and more

tension. But then in 70 ad, we
have a traumatic moment for the

people of Israel. When the Roman
Empire comes in, they do a siege

of Jerusalem. It ends very
badly, they destroy Jerusalem,

they destroy the temple. And now
the headquarters for Judaism has

been destroyed. The temple was
the headquarters,

the high priests that serves in
the temple they were the

leaders.

So the the headquarters for
mainstream Judaism moved up

north of the country into the
region of time period. The early

church is still they're coming
back to Jerusalem but they

actually had fled because of the
Roman siege. So there's now like

a geographic difference between
mainstream Judaism and the head

of the church, and then the head
of the church is becoming more

and more Gentile. And we have
leaders developing in other

cities like Antioch or
Alexandria or or in areas that

are primarily Gentile and
primarily pagan. Another main

moment in the history of this
growing rift taking place was in

135 ad a hole 50 years later, 60
years after the destruction of

Jerusalem, we have a small band
of Jews that still try to rebel

against the Roman rule and try
to reestablish Jewish

sovereignty and they followed a
leader who was known as bar

coke. The bar kokhba revolt did
not succeed. It failed. But in

the meantime the the Jews that
were trying to follow bar kokhba

and trying to make this
rebellion succeed actually

proclaimed him to be Messiah. So
those Jews that follow Jesus as

Messiah could not have anything
to do with following bar kokhba.

And it actually became bloody.
There were missing Anik Jews

that believed in Jesus were
actually killed during this

revolt because they didn't join
in. This is known as the real

split. This is the Rift, this is
it. It's all over between any

kind of unity between Judaism
and Christianity between the

synagogue and the church. It's
divided now. So throughout the

Gentile world, though we have
the churches growing and growing

and church leadership is
developing in these other areas.

areas of the Roman Empire. And
then there's another form of

tension. And that is that
throughout the Roman Empire,

Judaism was recognized as a
legal religion. They were

allowed to practice Judaism. And
as long as Christianity was seen

as a part of Judaism, it was
protected. But once this

division took place, now the
Christians are completely

unprotected. They're persecuted
by the Roman authority. And

because of the bar kokhba
revolt, then eventually the

Jewish religion is also
outlawed, and it's a time of

great persecution of both Jews
and Christians. And, but there's

a little bit of animosity here,
between the two groups. All of

this changes in an a moment, in
the year 312 ad, when the

emperor of the Roman Empire
becomes Christian, and he

declares the state religion of
the Roman Empire to be

Christian. Now this is a major
thing for the Christians, all of

a sudden, they're no longer
persecuted. They won. They're

victorious. But the poor Jews
are still persecuted now, not by

the Romans as a pagan Empire,
that by the Christian empire of

Rome. So as the church left its
position as a persecuted

minority and took on political
power, it became spiritually

corrupt, and its stance towards
the Jews was very negative. As

the Church Fathers began to try
to differentiate between the

church in those ugly Jews, those
persecuted Jews, they began to

preach against Judaism. Now, the
reason is that they didn't want

there to be any confusion
between the Christians and the

Jews. Jewish religion so they
they taught against Judaism that

this is the root of a problem
that lasted for centuries. So

it's very important that you
understand here. The preaching

was not against the Jewish
people as individuals. It was

against the Jewish religion as
Church Fathers attempted to draw

a distinction between
Christianity and Judaism. But

they preached so negatively
against Judaism, that they

actually paved the way for anti
semitism and the persecution of

the Jewish individuals. So I'm
just going to give you one

example. St. JOHN chrysostom,
because he is known as the

golden tongue. He was a
beautiful orator

of the love of God. Now listen
to what he said. He said, The

synagogue is worse than a
brothel.

It's a den of scouts.

It's the temple of demons. It's
a place of meeting for the

Assassins of Christ. And as for
me, I hate the synagogue. I hate

the Jews for the same reason.
And he actually said, God hates

you, too. So this is the
beginning of what we call

replacement theology. This is
where the Church Fathers

preached that Judaism had been
completely rejected by God,

because they had killed Christ.
They were rejected, they were

cursed, and they were now
replaced by the church, in the

plans and purposes of God. This
teaching brought great damage to

the Jewish people for centuries.
During the long ages of the dark

ages of the Middle Ages, every
type of degrading law was then

passed against the Jewish people
because remember, you know, Most

of us, we, I know, speaking as
an American, I live in a

democracy and I don't really
understand the whole concept of

a state church, and that the
head of my government is the

head of my church. Back in the
Middle Ages, this was very much

the case. And these

corrupt

secular leaders were the head of
the church and they took this

anti Jewish preaching in the
church and used it to pass laws

against the Jewish people. So
the Jewish people weren't

allowed to work certain jobs,
they weren't allowed to own

property, they weren't allowed
to prosper in any way. And they

were frequently given the option
of being baptized or being

persecuted or being even
expelled and sometimes their

children were kidnapped and
forced to be baptized. Now, I

want to read for you some
excerpts from A confessional

that a Jewish person had to
confess when they were baptized

into Christianity. You'll
understand now why the Jewish

people look upon conversion in
such a negative way because this

is what was forced upon them.
And this is what a little bit of

what they had to say it's a very
long confession. I've only

pulled out a few sentences. But
this is the heart of it. They

had to say, I renounce every
right and observance

of the Jewish religion.

I promise that I will never
return to the vomit of Jewish

superstition. We will not
practice carnal circumcision, or

celebrate the Passover,

the Sabbath, or any of the feast
days connected with the Jewish

religion. I renounce absolutely
everything Jewish so you can

understand why baptism became a
very dirty word for the Jewish

people, it meant a betrayal of
everything that they'd ever

known as Jewish and against
their families and against their

heritage and against their
forefathers. So it's very, very,

very sad part of history. Now,
in addition to force baptisms,

we had them being forced to live
in walled in neighborhoods in

the cities called a ghetto. This
began in Venice, Italy. But then

they that progressed, and it
wasn't enough just to have them

living in a Walden section of
the city that was locked on

Sundays and locked on Christian
holidays so that these dirty

Jewish people couldn't come out
into the streets and mix with

the Christians as they went back
and forth to church or as they

celebrated their Sunday. That
wasn't bad enough. So churches,

some countries began to expel
the Jews. You know, the The

first country to expel the Jews
was England. And in 1290, King

Edward the first of England was
the first to expel Jewish

citizens from his nation. And
they were expelled from them

France and Italy and Hungary and
Switzerland and Germany and

Austria. And if you know your
map, you can see how that they

would flee one country into the
neighboring country. And then

they'd have to flee that country
and go into the neighboring

country. And then they had to
flee that one and they went

next, and then they had to flee
there. And you can actually

follow this on the map. You
know, here in the United States,

we we have a little saying that
in 1400 92, Columbus sailed the

ocean blue and Columbus founded
America. But in 1492, Spain also

expelled every two. This was
during the Spanish Inquisition.

So I know that at this point in
the story, a lot of you are

thinking, but I'm not Catholic.
I have nothing to do with that

background. I'm Protestant. I'm
evangelical, I'm a boring

employee, real Christians
wouldn't do that. And that's why

I'm, we always have to tell you
the story about the father of

the Protestant Reformation,
because it's just more of the

same. Martin Luther, and when he
broke away from the Catholic

Church, and he had a lot of very
tough things to say about the

Catholic Church. But one of them
was that he said, No wonder the

Jews have been converted to
Christianity. You know, our

Pope's and our monks have
treated them, like dogs, not

even human beings. And so he
began to reach out in a very

friendly way to the Jewish
people. But it wasn't genuine.

All he wanted was for them to
convert to Christianity and when

they didn't convert, then at the
end of his life when he was

older, and according to the
historians, he was quite grumpy

in many ways and his health was
bad. But he really turned

against the Jewish people. And
he wrote a book called The Jews

and their lies. And I want to
quote to you from Martin Luther,

the father of the Protestant
Reformation. He said here,

perhaps I will attract some of
the Jews to the Christian faith.

But when he didn't, sorry, on to
the next quote, next quote, he

said, First, their synagogue
should be set on fire. Secondly,

their home should likewise be
broken down and destroyed.

Thirdly, they should be deprived
of their prayer books and town

moods and their rabbis must be
forbidden under threat of death

to teach anymore and their
parents Sports and traveling

privileges should be absolutely
forbidden to the Jews. To sum it

up dear princes and nobles who
have Jews in your domain, if

this advice of mine does not
suit you, then find a better

one, so that you and we may all
be free of this insufferable

devilish burden the Jews.

Now what's so alarming is that
400 years later, in luthers,

country, Germany, Hitler came up
with the final solution, and it

was extermination. So I want to
be very clear here now that

Christianity did not create the
Holocaust. Nazi ism was not

Christian. It was anti
christian. But Christian anti

semitism made the Holocaust
possible. Without the history of

anti Jewish persecution and anti
Jewish legislation, the

Holocaust would have been
inconceivable. Hitler and the

Nazis found in medieval
Christian legislation, a model

for their own and they read, and
they reprinted and distributed

Martin Luther his writings in
order to validate what they were

doing and get public support for
it. Hitler told to Catholic

Bishops that did actually
question his policies on the

Jews and he said he was only
putting into effect what

Christianity had preached and
practiced for 2000 years.

Now, the

Holocaust historian Raul
hilberg. In his book The

destruction of the European
Jews, he said it this way He

said First, the early church
declared, you have no right to

live amongst us as Jews. Then
their secular rulers followed

and said You do not have the
right to live amongst us. And

then the Nazis came and said,
you do not have the right to

live. Now, this is the deadly
progression of anti semitism.

And the fact that the Christian
church had any role to play in

this history is a shame. And
it's something that we all have

to come to terms with. But the
good news is after such a sad

history, and as such a terrible
stain on the history of

Christianity in the world, that
today, you and I are privileged

to be a part of an amazing shift
in history away from that anti

semitic past and towards the
Jewish people. And to understand

how this shift is taking place,
there's three things The

foundation for it began about
500 years ago, when the Bible

began to be translated into the
everyday languages of the

people, and was mass distributed
through the printing press. More

and more people were then able
to read the Bible for

themselves. And they began to
see that the Bible was full of

promises to the Jewish people
that one day, they would be

drawn back to their land, and
that God had made all these

promises that were still yet to
be fulfilled. And they began to

actually pray for the
restoration of the Jewish people

to their homeland, and the
fulfillment of God's promises to

them. Of course, these prompt
these Christians also knew that

a one of those promises was the
return of the Messiah to the

land. But that laid a great
foundation. But there's two

other things in history that
have happened that have

solidified This turn from our
anti semitic past because

remember, even Martin Luther had
the scriptures in his language.

So that's not a failsafe. But we
have learned from the heart and

the tragedy of the Holocaust.
And we have understood the role

of Christian anti semitism. And
it brought about a monumental

shift nothing less than an
earthquake within Christianity.

The Catholic Church learned and
and has repented of its guilt

here. They have they reevaluated
their theology towards the

Jewish people, they actually
even change some of their

liturgy, their Good Friday
liturgy, and they have really

made a great effort to build a
relationship of mutual respect

with the Jewish people and the
Jewish religion. Now, the other

thing that has happened, though,
has been the birth and the

existence of the State of
Israel. So you and I were not a

part of the Catholic Church,
maybe in that shift, maybe you

are. Also the Lutheran Church
made a huge shift. They actually

disavowed the writings, the anti
semitic writings of their

founder, Luther. There's been
other moves in the historic

churches in Europe, but but some
of us don't feel connected to

that we're a part of an
evangelical church and, and we

have been more profoundly
affected by the existence of the

State of Israel. Because we've
been able to go there on tour,

we've been able to see where
Jesus walked. But while we were

there, we came to know the
Hebraic culture, the Jewish

religion of Jesus and to meet
his brethren, the Jewish people,

and we have begun to build a
relationship with the Jewish

people built on mutual respect.
So these three things together

the translation of the Bible The
which brought about a whole

movement of Christianity, which
today is the fastest growing

segment of Christianity, the
evangelical segment, and will

one day be the largest segment
of Christianity. So the

translation of the Bible, the
lessons of the Holocaust, and

here the existence of the State
of Israel has brought about a

change that you and I are
privileged to be a part of. No

longer are we looking down on
the Jewish people and heaping

condemnation on them and
instead, or honoring them, just

as the Apostle Paul said, to
honor them as the roots of our

faith, because they support us.
He said, We don't support them.

They support us. So this is a
major

change and what a privilege to
be a part of this generation,

that we can be a part of the
positive part of Christian

history, and our relationship
towards Israel and the Jewish

people. This is at the very
heart of the Ministry of the

International Christian embassy
Jerusalem, we have helped to

pioneer a whole new relationship
with the Jewish people in

Israel, and through our branches
all around the world. I know

that here in the United States,
I've been a part of a major

shift, and a tremendous
relationship between Jews and

Christians. It's been such a
blessing, such a privilege to be

a part of this. I'm so thankful
that I'm a part of this

generation. But we don't
understand what a miracle that

we are a part of. And the Jewish
people look at us as a miracle.

Sometimes they look at us and
they don't really believe us

because they know all that
history. And that's why it's so

important that you also know
that history so that as you

engage with the Jewish people in
your nation, that and here in

Israel, that you know, this
history because they certainly

do and You can help build a
whole new relationship with them

built on mutual respect, and
unconditional love or not in

this because of anything, we
think we're going to get back

out of it. We're in it because
God's hand is on them. He's

brought them back to their land.
He's blessing them. And we want

to be a part of that blessing.
Praise the Lord. So as I said in

the beginning, if you'd like to
have an outline of today's

teaching, along with actually
the whole series, send me an

email at Susan and ice j. u. s.
a.org. asked for the

understanding the times outline
and we'll send it to you and

I've got another free offer for
you. If you want to know more

about anti semitism, I have a
free booklet that you can

download. Just go to www.ic e
jusa.org. forward slash Asch

free booklet and you can
download a free booklet on anti

semitism. It reviews this
history. It reviews anti

semitism around the world today,
and what you and I can do in

order to stand against it. I'm
so grateful that you spent this

time to learn about this painful
history and the miracle you're a

part of I asked the Lord to
bless you as you go forward in

your week. Please come back.
Listen to part three. We're

going to talk about the
spiritual battle against Israel

and the Jewish people how we see
that and how we can stand

against it. So be sure not to
miss part three, and I'll see

you there.

God bless you. Shalom, Shalom.

like everywhere else Israel has
been hit by the Coronavirus. You

come here to Ben Gurion Airport
and you see that there are very

few planes in and out of the
country. But the few that are

coming are bringing Jews on them
from all around the world who

are desperate to make aljada
Israel they see Israel as safer

as having a better economic
potential for the future for

them. And Israeli officials have
managed to bring evacuation

flights even amidst all the
corona travel bans and it's

exciting to report that the
Christian embassy has brought

over a thousand Jews on these
rescue flights over the past

four months since February.
Every month around 250 Jews

coming home to Israel on flights
sponsored by the Christian

embassy. And we want to
challenge you to help us keep up

this pace. In the coming months
that we bring at least 250

Jewish people home on alioth
flights, you can go to our site

on.ice.org slash rescue 250 and
you can help book a seat for

some Jewish family to come home.
The flights that are coming now

are bringing Jews who are stuck
in limbo. They thought they were

going to make Ollie all this
year and they left their jobs.

They sold their apartments and
all of a sudden Corona hit. And

many of them have been
destitute. We've also had cancer

patients who needed to Get to
Israel for life saving surgery.

Many emergencies help us with
our rescue 250 campaign,

bringing at least 250 Jews home.
Despite the corona you could be

part of this remarkable story
that even amid the Coronavirus,

all the Bible prophecies about
the Jewish people coming back to

the land of Israel in the last
days, it is still happening.

Nothing has been able to stop
it. But we need your help. Go to

our site and help book a flight
for a Jewish family today.