How the Leaven of False-Christian Jew hatred entered the modern Body of Yeshua
By the end of the first century, A.D., with the passing of the Disciples of Yeshua Jesus and his earliest Jewish Apostles such as the Apostle Paul, many Gentile sinners had come to faith in the Yeshua HaMashiach the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of all mankind. The number of Gentile leaders eventually surpassed the number of Jewish leaders in the Body of Yeshua. As a result, Gentile leadership began to form doctrines that excluded elements of “Old Testament” worship of our heavenly Father YHWH as was commanded to us in the Scriptures of the Torah (Hebrew for “Law”), the first five books of our Bible.
By the year 321 A.D., authentic Jewish worship of Yeshua the Messiah gave way to Roman Emperor Constantine I, when he issued a civil decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor, stating: “All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun” Emperor Constantine is considered by some to have been a convert to Christianity.
By the year 363 A.D., the Council of Laodicea enacted three anti-Jewish canons into the Body of Yeshua:
- Canon 29. Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema (ex-communicated) from Christ.
- Canon 37. It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them.
- Canon 38. It is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety.
The Jewish Body of Yeshua was officially abolished, only to be replaced with a new entity known as the Romanized Gentile Church stripped of its essential Jewish constituents. From that time forward, Jewish people suffered the horrors of pogroms, expulsions, the crusades and False-Christian “Replacement Theology” of the early “Church”.
By the start of the sixteenth century, German theologian Martin Luther aspired to befriend the Jewish people in an attempt to convert them to Romanized Christianity. When Luther realized he was unsuccessful, his true nature became manifest in a tirade of venomous Jew hatred. He published a book in 1543 entitled “On the Jews and their lies”. The following are only two quotes out of many showcasing Luther’s hatred for the Jewish people:
“Shame on you, here, there, or wherever you maybe, you damned Jews, that you dare to apply this earnest, glorious, comforting word of God so despicably to your mortal, greedy belly, which is doomed to decay, and that you are not ashamed to display your greed so openly. You are not worthy of looking at the outside of the Bible, much less of reading it. You should read only the bible that is found under the sow's tail, and eat and drink the letters that drop from there. That would be a bible for such prophets, who root about like sows and tear apart like pigs the words of the divine Majesty, which should be heard with all honor, awe, and joy”.
…..and the most shocking quote from this “Christian” book……wait for it…….
"We are at fault in not slaying them. Rather we allow them to live freely in our midst despite an their murdering, cursing, blaspheming, lying, and defaming; we protect and shield their synagogues, houses, life, and property In this way we make them lazy and secure and encourage them to fleece us boldly of our money and goods, as well as to mock and deride us, with a view to finally overcoming us, killing us all for such a great sin, and robbing us of all our property (as they daily pray and hope). Now tell me whether they do not have every reason to be the enemies of us accursed Goyim, to curse us and to strive for our final, complete, and eternal ruin!"
***Reference https://www.prchiz.pl/storage/app/media/pliki/Luther_On_Jews.pdf by Martin H Bertram
Here is a close-up image of that sculpture on the Church......
The following is Martin Luther's comment regarding the Judensau sculpture:
“Here on our church in Wittenberg a sow is sculpted in stone. Young pigs and Jews lie suckling under her. Behind the sow a rabbi is bent over the sow, lifting up her right leg, holding her tail high and looking intensely under her tail and into her Talmud, as though he were reading something acute or odd, which is certainly where they get their Shemhamphoras.”
Where is the Church today, 477 years later?
503 years after "Reformation", and 477 years since the publishing of "On the Jews and their lies", not much "reform" in the Church is evident from the point of view of traditional Jewish Christian leaders within the Body of Yeshua. At best, Martin Luther was successful at abolishing the practice of selling indulgences for atonement of sins. Martin Luther also came short of renouncing the doctrine of purgatory. He never repented of his hateful tirades against the Jewish people.
The modern non-Christian Jewish people of today associate the name of Martin Luther and Christianity with the Holocaust, as German Chancellor H*tler justified the slaughter of 6 million Jewish souls, often citing the writings of Luther.
Luther's writings are nothing short of a shameful reproach to the cause of Christianity and the Glory of Yeshua Jesus our Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the world. The Gentile Body of Yeshua are called to be grafted into the Jewish people who were chosen to bring the Torah of the Father and the Messiah to the Gentile world and Yeshua Jesus would reconcile all peoples into one new man.
Ephesians 2:14-16 "For He is our shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility— the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death."
We here at Ashkenaz Ministries call upon believers within the Body of Yeshua to pray and renounce all forms of anti-Semitism and Jew hatred within the Church. Please pray for the peace and salvation of Israel, as our Saviour reminded us all that salvation is of the Jewish people. This is the only way we can begin to heal the wounds that false-Christians have caused to the Jewish people for the last 2000 years.
Shalom
The warning against the sin of Antisemitism within the Gentile Body of Yeshua was issued in the Book of Romans in chapter 11. There are no warm and cuddly promises in this passage, only warnings and “somber” points of very heavy theology. Please read this passage very carefully and very prayerfully. There is blessing that comes from heeding this passage of Scripture and applying it directly to your walk with Yeshua and placing it at the core of your Christian beliefs. Genesis 12:3 states “all who bless Israel will be blessed by YHWH God the Father and all who curse Israel will be cursed by YHWH God the Father.
1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected His people whom He knew beforehand. Or do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
8 just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes not to see and ears not to hear, until this very day.”
*** Isaiah 6:9-10 “Then He said: “Go! Tell this people: Hear without understanding, and see without perceiving. Make the heart of this people fat, their ears heavy, and their eyes blind. Else they would see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and be healed.” Why? See verse 25” that a partial hardening has come upon Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”
11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their false step salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy.
*** is the Body of Yeshua provoking the Jewish people to jealousy? Yes, but most often in a negative way. Yeshua longs for His sheepfolds to be united.
15 For if their rejection leads to the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
17 But if some of the branches were broken off and you, Gentile, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root of the olive tree with its richness,
18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, it is not you who support the root but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
20 True enough. They were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear
21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
22 Notice then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell; but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off!
*** The Gentile members of the Body of Yeshua are called to walk with Yeshua as Yeshua and His Jewish Disciples and Apostles walked, not as Constantine or Luther walked, as “Wild Olive Branches”, each of them abusing the Jewish people and cutting themselves off the “Natural Jewish Olive Tree”, a self-imposed result of their own willful Jew hatred.
23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of that which by nature is a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be ignorant of this mystery—lest you be wise in your own eyes, that a partial hardening has come upon Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
26 and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer shall come out of Zion. HE shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
27 And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the Good News, they are hostile for YOUR sake; but concerning closeness, they are loved on account of the fathers
29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For just as YOU once were disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because of THEIR disobedience,
31 in like manner these also have now been disobedient with the result that, because of the mercy shown to YOU, THEY also may receive mercy.
32 For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He might show mercy to ALL.