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The Cross and How Jews Perceive It

By Geri Ungurean



Through the years, I’ve shared by testimony of becoming a Jewish Christian. Upon telling my testimony to people in church, I have seen two reactions:

1. People are SO excited that a Jewish person has been born-again from above!

2. People give me the deer in the headlights look, nod and move on.

I have come to a conclusion based on these two distinct reactions:

The people who are happy and excited about my testimony belong to Jesus and really adore Him.

The deer in the headlights folks just might be lukewarm, and we know what Jesus says about them:

“So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

I am SO blessed that the couple who shared the message of salvation did not pass me by because they knew that I am a Jew. They were obedient to God and His Word, and shared truth with me that night. They knew that everyone must come to the Father through Jesus Christ. Praise God, I came into His family that night.

Everyone knows about the Holocaust. But in this article, I will be taking my brothers and sisters in Christ back in time, to give you a better understanding of why the Jewish people are so offended by the Cross of our Lord Jesus.

The Early Church

Here is an account of the anti-Semitic view of Replacement Theology, which surprisingly started with the early church.

Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-165) who was a Christian apologist, defended Christianity against its enemies.In his work titled, Justin Martyr With Trypho a Jew. He said that the seed of Jacob now referred to Christians and not the Jews. So began the infamous teaching of Replacement Theology.

Tertullian (A.D. 160-220) a church theologian from North Africa, wrote a derogatory and very anti-Semitic book titled, An Answer to the Jews around A.D. 200. This man twisted Scripture to fit his errant theology by claiming that the statement made to Rebekah about the twins (Esau and Jacob) within her (Genesis 25:23) was actually a reference to Jews and Christians.

He said that the older brother, Esau, represented the Jewish people. Jacob, the younger brother represented Christians. His premise was that the Christians would overtake the Jewish people. He said that the Jews would serve the Christians.

Origen (A.D. 185-254) was president of the school of theology in Alexandria, Egypt. He had a profound effect upon the church, by preaching that much of what is written about Israel in the Word, should be seen as allegorical - spiritualizing his interpretations. We know that the promises made to Israel are not open to interpretation. They should be taught and understood to be literal.

Origen took such liberties with the Word, claiming that the word Israel can mean the church. Not seeing and preaching God’s Word correctly (rightly dividing) becomes a slippery slope into myriad of heretical teachings. He was a Christian Universalist, believing in universal salvation for all people, and for the fallen angels.

Cyprian (A.D. 195-25 was a bishop of Carthage. He wrote, Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. He maintained that the Jews departed from the God who loved them, and that because they had departed from God, they lost His favor. He taught that God sought out a people who would obey him, and all promises were taken from Israel and bestowed upon the Christians.

John Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407) known as the greatest preacher of the gospel in the Eastern church, preached messages titled, Against the Jews in Antioch of Syria.Many preachers followed suit, and preached anti-Semitism from their pulpits.

An influential bishop of Milan, Ambrose, considered the Jews to be infidels, wholly perverse, and incapable of thinking any good thought. He said that the burning of synagogues was no crime and encouraged it.

Augustine (A.D. 354-430) was known as the most influential person since the apostle Paul. He wrote, Tract Against the Jews and influenced the church so dramatically against Jews, that derogatory comments about Jews during the Middle Ages were usually called “Augustinian.”

Augustine decreed a new eschatological view called Amillennialism, which actually means no Millennium. In doing this, the prophecies in Scripture could be spiritualized, and taught that these were all referring to the church.

The Roman Catholic church adopted and adhered to all teachings of Augustine.

Martin Luther in his later years turned on the Jews and wrote: “On the Jews and their Lies.” This sermon caused in one night the burning down of synagogues, and the slaughter of over 2000 Jews.

Adolph Hitler used Luther’s teachings on the Jews, to justify slaughtering Jews and finally ridding the world of them.

John Calvin, another father of the Great Reformation said:

“Their [the Jews] rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone.” (Ad Quaelstiones et Objecta Juaei Cuiusdam Responsio, John Calvin)

As you can see, Replacement Theology is NOT a new teaching in the history of the church.



Eschatology Affected by Replacement Theology

The original view of eschatology in the church was called Chiliasm. This word is from the Greek word for “one thousand.” It taught that Christ will return to earth at the Second Coming and that He would establish His Kingdom upon the earth and rule for the last thousand years of earth’s history. Today, we call this view Premillennialism. Even though this view of eschatology was based on the Old Testament, and taught by Jesus and His Apostles, the anti-Semitic teachers of the Word rejected Chiliasm as being a “Jewish view.”

This anti-Semitic view so permeated the Eastern Gentile Christians, that the book of Revelation was removed from the canon beginning in the fourth century, and it was kept out for many centuries - in hopes that Chiliasm would die and be remembered no more.

Persecution of Jews in the Name of Christ

Because of the teaching that the Jews had been discarded by God, Gentiles who professed to be Christians increasingly referred to the Jews as “Christ killers.” I remember as a child in the synagogue, learning that the Ecumenical Council had decreed that the Jews actually were not solely responsible for the death of Christ.

I remember thinking “So this is why they call me dirty Jew.”

Constantine, the first Roman emperor to call himself a Christian was hostile toward Jews. In 329 A.D. called for the death penalty for all who embraced the Jewish faith. He referred to the Jews as “beastial.”

Roman emperor, Theodosius I, from 379-395, decreed that Christianity was to be the only recognized religion. Declaring that marriage between a Jew and a Christian would be forbidden, he said that such a union would be deemed adultery.

Theodosius II, was the Roman emperor from 408-450. He restricted the Jews from building any new synagogues. He would incite mobs to enter the established synagogues and take possession of them - handing over all property and possessions of the Jews to the Christians.

Justinian I was the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 527 to 565. He was a professing Christian and did everything in his power to make the lives of Jews unbearable. He made sure that all Jews occupied the most hated civil offices in government. He decreed that Jews could not observe Passover before Easter, and told the Jews what they could and could not do in their synagogues. He finally took control of the synagogues away from Jews and proclaimed them to be churches.

In 589, King Reccared of Spain joined with Roman Catholic leaders and forced children born to Jews to be forcibly baptized as Christians. The penalty for not complying was death.

Around 629 A.D., Dagobert who was the ruler of the Frankish empire decreed that all Jews must convert (embrace Christianity) or face death.

Near the end of the seventh century, a law was passed that all Jews in Spain be enslaved and that their sons be taken away from them at the age of seven and reared as Christians.

The popes of the Catholic Church were brutal to the Jews throughout the Middle Ages. They made sure that Jews suffered and were separated from others because they were considered sub-human and beyond help.

The execution of Jews has been happening in every century, and all done in the name of Christ!In 1298, after a rumor that Jews had desecrated the sacred Roman Catholic host, Jews were burned at the stake. This was considered a horrendous holocaust - in the course of six months, approximately 120 congregations of 100,000 Jews perished.

This is a quote from Graetz, the author of the work titled, History of the Jews:

From the thirteenth till the sixteenth century, the persecutions and massacres of the Jews increased with frightful rapidity and in intensity, and only alternated with inhuman decrees issued both by the Church and the state, the aim and purport of all of which were to humiliate the Jews, to brand them with calumny and to drive them to suicide….The nations of Europe emulated of another in exercising their cruelty upon the Jews; and it was always the clergy who, in the name of a religion of love, stirred up this undying hatred. It mattered little to the Jews whether they lived under a strict government or under anarchy, for they suffered under the on no less than under the other.

There is not enough room in this one article to elaborate on all of the persecution and slaughter of the Jews done in the name of Christianity. In our generation, most people think of the Holocaust during World War II. They think of an insane man named Adolph Hitler. Certainly he was inherently evil, and his attempt at annihilating the Jews could never have been based in Christian thought, right?Wrong.

Hitler felt that he was just carrying out the final solution for the Jews, because of what he knew had been done throughout history by the church. He simply wanted to finish the job.

When Jews see the Cross of Jesus, they do not see or understand the love that sent our Savior to willingly die upon it. They know nothing about the blood of Jesus and how He died for the sins of the whole world. How could they think these things? They remember the pogroms, the forced conversions, the burning of their synagogues, the mass slaughter of millions of them - all done in the name of Christ.

Of course, they read about Corrie ten Boom and those like her, who had the love of Jesus in their hearts toward the Jews. But these stories pale compared to the horrific persecutions.

When I was a babe in Christ, I bought a cross to wear. I knew what the Cross meant. I knew why He willingly went to that Cross. The scales had fallen from my eyes when I was born-again.

One day I went to a Jewish doctor who had been my pediatrician. He was now an allergist. He had known me and my family for years. He came in the room with a smile, but that smile turned to an angry scowl when he saw my cross. He snapped at me “And WHAT is that?”

I said to him “I am a Messianic Jew!”I’d never seen this man angry in all the years I had known him until that day. He yelled at me “DON’T call yourself a JEW!! You are no longer a Jew if you wear that cross!”

I do know that God is in control. He allows certain things to happen for His reasons. He knew that so-called preachers of the gospel would turn on His people, and He has allowed it. I have pondered this a lot lately.

If we look at the persecution of the Jews, starting with the early church and fast forwarding to 1948, we see that God did use the harsh mistreatment of the Jewish people to fulfill this prophecy:

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel’” (Ezekiel 11:17).

Much Jewish blood has been spilled throughout history.If it had been at the hands of crazed killers or mass murderers, the Jews might feel differently, but they know that these deeds were done by those who claimed to love Jesus.

Satan has been there from the beginning. He hates God. He hates Jews. He hates Christians.

I can just hear him say to the preachers of the gospel:

“Did God REALLY say that the Jews are His people? Surely these Christ killers have forfeited any promises made to them. God is certainly FINISHED with them.”

And if only these preachers had clung to the Word and read Romans 11 more carefully:

“I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!” (Romans 11:11-12).

“From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29).

Pray for your Jewish friends. Pray that God would draw them to Himself. We are approaching the end, brethren. It thrills my heart to think of my fellow Jews saying:

“BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!”

Endnotes
A historical account of anti-Semitism in the church and accounts of persecution of the Jews taken from: The Coming Apocalypse: A Study of Replacement Theology vs. God’s Faithfulness in the End-Times, Dr. Renald E. Showers.

Ibid

Ibid

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Zechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
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The Cross and How Jews Perceive It

By Geri Ungurean


“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel’” (Ezekiel 11:17).

“I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!” (Romans 11:11-12).

__________________

Upon reading this article by Geri Ungurean and all of the documented evidence is fact and is it any wonder that the reputation of the early church became badly soiled as it accepted pagan worship and traditions of man into it's belief system. And each of these early church fathers put his own interpretation upon what the Word of God meant. This was not the Apostolic ecclesia but the Replacement Church of the Holy Roman Empire which began it's work of destroying Christ's ecclesia. The daughters of Rome continue onward with many of these same teachings.

The pagan holidays practiced by them is ample proof but since they've applied a bit of Biblical history to these practices, the illiterate people believed what they were told. They've managed to eliminate Passover and introduced the Pagan holiday of Isthar (Easter). It is true, no matter how much Christians don't like to hear it. Until they clean up their own pagan beliefs, they are in no position to look down their noses upon others.

At this point, it needs to be understood who the True ecclesia includes. Notice the words of Jesus, ( Aramic Bible in Plain English - Matthew 15:24) "But he answered and said to them, “I am not sent except to the sheep that have strayed from the house of Israel.” The other versions say the same thing.

Next question: who are the Sheep that have strayed from the House of Israel? They are none other than those that made up the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which had been dispersed into all of the world. Jesus was not speaking about the Jews (who made up the Southern Kingdom). These are referred to as The Ten Lost Tribes but they aren't really lost and they have the Gentiles mingled within them so most do not even know their Hebrew roots.

To imply that Israel had to become Christian is such distortion of the facts. The Gentiles were grafted into the very 10 Lost Tribes of the House of Israel, whom Jesus said He had come to save.

There are 12 tribes in the House of Israel, and only two of them (as well as the Levites) are Jewish! They occupy the territory given to the Tribe of Judah, which includes the area around Jerusalem. Therefore, those not of the Jewish faith of circumcision, are all Gentiles, which obviously include all of these descendants from the other ten (scattered) tribes of Israel, as well.

Even among those that call themselves Jews, there is not an understanding of the difference between the two Kingdoms who are, as yet, not united. There-fore it is a misnoimer to apply the term to yourself unless you know you are one of the Tribe of Judah, Benjamin or Levite. If you are a Hebrew who has found her Messiah as Lord and God in your life, you now are one of the ecclesia, which is made up of both the Northern Kingdom and the Gentiles.

The Ten tribes lost their law giving and law abiding identity; therefore, the remaining tribes (Judah, Benjamin and the Levite priests) are the only ones who still abide by the Levitical laws given to Moses.
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By now, Christians ought to understand the difference between the Jew and the Israelites.....but they don't, they lump all together under the title of "Jew". And over centuries, the Roman Catholic Church and many of her daughters have ingrained within their own people a hatred for the Jews that can only be explained as a clever "snow job" on the ecclesia, by Satan and his minions.

Israel and Judah are not one and the same but two separate kingdoms, two separate sticks that will one day be united. Yes, there is the Nation of Israel that bears the name of the Northern Kingdom and not surprising since these 10 Northern Tribes have the Gentiles grafted into their fold. The Jew, by and large, are segregated, who still await the Messiah. They live under the Law of Moses. They will be the ones that will, one day cry out, Blessed is He That Comes in The Name of the Lord.

Within that Southern Kingdom remains the Scepter of Rule that belongs to the Tribe of Judah. Is this now understood? Once it is, you want to hit your head and ask, "Why didn't I realize this before...it's been in the Bible all along?" And it has. It will be the return of the Jesus Christ that will unite the two tribes into one. Why does it have to wait until then? Because the Southern Kingdom of Judah has still not cried out, "Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord".

It is very plain that this Replacement Theology taught by those early church fathers instilled a hatred for the Jews that has been carried on down to modern days. But here is the very ironic part to this whole historical fact.

The Israelites, who are made up of both Hebrews and Gentiles who preach that the Messiah has come and paid the Redemption price, settled, by and large, in Europe (mainly the UK) and America. They are the Covenant Nations. But also, among these Israelites are those that make up the Tribe of Dan who rejects Jesus Christ and have aligned themselves with the Seed of Satan (Illuminati) who are determined to steal the crown away from the Jews of the Southern Kingdom and who control Jerusalem. But more on that later.

Do you think there has been a blinding in part upon the New Testament Church to make them think they are more special than the original Children of Faith Called Out by God? It appears to be that way.

Does this modern Christian Church really believe that the generations of Faith Believing Israeli weren't saved? Apparently so. They teach that the Jews/Israelites must become Christians in order to receive that Salvation. That is almost funny if it weren't so pathetic. Because they believe this way, they also believe that they, the Gentiles must be taken out in a Rapture, so God can get on with the business of the Jews. What a mess of lies. If people would get their facts straight, just think how much easier it would be to understand the Bible and put it all in it's proper perspective.

They teach that the Jew must be grafted into their Christian Religion. Most do not even understand the difference between an Israeli and a Jew.

Look what the Word of God teaches. It is quite different, to say the least.

Quote:
Ephesians 2:11-20New International Version (NIV)

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross , by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets[color] , with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (underlining done for emphasis by me)

Notice the words "excluded"?

Who was once excluded?

Notice the words, "destroyed the barrier"?

Who destroyed the barrier...the Church or Jesus Christ?

Who made the two One?

And then, read again these words, "you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 , with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.' (underlining done for emphasis by me)

What was the foundation? That's right; it was the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.

The body, the ecclesia, was called up long ago, at the first when God called A BODY out of the Gentiles and made a "Peculiar People" through whom the Savior of the World come and through whom the Gospel would be spread into all the world to anyone that would gladly ask for this free gift called Salvation. It was Grace granted unto the Gentile.
It is as Joe Ortiz says in his book,

Quote:
"Therefore, newly engrafted Gentiles are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people. If this body wants to call itself the Christian Church (as it obviously has since Pentecost) so be it! But this new indentification (Christian) which was adopted by this one new body about a year after the Day of Pentecost, does not negate the fact that God's people, His children of promise, are and have been His called Out ones (Greek ecclesia, assembly, congregation) as far back as Abraham, and possibly as far back as Abel, the slain brother of Cain, Adam's son.)

It is pretty plain that Israel, the Northern Kingdom, which had dispersed into all the world is the Lost Sheep, to whom Christ sent the believing disciples gathered from the Land of Israel; "Go, preach to them and gather them into the fold." is a clear message. The story of the Good Shepherd is a prime example of Him going out to reach the one that is lost and carry him back into the Shepherd's fold. Any Gentile that got attached to Israel became a part of that fold, "Congregation" (ecclesia).

The Gentile Church does not save Israel.....it is through the Lost Sheep of Israel that the Gentile was allowed to become a part of God's Called Out Ones, the ecclesia and became saved. Why is that so hard to believe?

I'll tell you why...the present day church has been brain-washed into believing that "they" are the primary Chosen One when it is the other way around . The Modern Church does not want to believe this truth; they have been convinced and continue to be convinced that salvation only comes through the Gentile Church. To put it into it's proper context would take away their self-imposed importance.

The Roman Church, made up of the Babylonian priesthood have instilled this hatred for the very ones whose destruction they've been busy committing through the various evil rulers that have aligned themselves with Rome.

To know the real truth It also destroys the reason for a pre-tribulation rapture for a Gentile Church so God can get on with the business of dealing with the Jews. Now really, God needs a Gentile Church, which isn't even the complete ecclesia, to do this????

Replacement Theology is the term that is used for any group that tried to take the place of Israel. And the thing that is nuts about this is that most teachers/preachers that use that term don't even understand whom the Bible says is Israel.

The Gentile Church (whoever that is suppose to be) should not be teaching that they need to be removed before Jesus Christ will deal with the "JEWS" because it is not true. The Time of the Gentiles ended in 1967 when Jerusalem was once again, totally, under the control of Israel....no more Gentile rulers. That is what it means for the End of the Gentiles, not a some Gentile church to be gone. For one thing, the True Church is made up of Gentiles and Children of Israel.

Their problem is that they do not know the difference between Israel (those of the Northern Kingdom, who in large part, accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior) and the Jews, which to this day, still are the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin and the Levites who did not accept Him as their Savior.

They remain divided on the issue of the Messiah. But God, in His Wisdom knew all of this and even let us know this fact when the scriptures tell us that Jesus said He would not return until they called out to Him.

Gentile Church....you do know that Judah (the Jews) are the separate stubborn part of God's Calling, that have still not had their blinders removed and practice their OT religion, don't you? If you do not, then read Romans, Hebrews and go back to Acts and get the complete story. You will find out there was a reason, why they were kept in the dark, you could say. They had their role to play out for the End Time Prophecies to be fulfilled.

So, who do you think has been behind this "Hatred of the Jews" and "The True ecclesia"? It is none other than the one tribe that is not included in the 144,000 of Revelation. The reason for that is because the A/C whose carries the blood of a Hebrew, Roman, Assyerian, Greek and The Seed of Satan, is determined to steal the Royal Scepter that rules and control Jerusalem of today. As we've said, it is Judah, the Southern Kingdom hold that Stick and Dan is jealous and doing all he (from the Tribe of Dan along with all of his cohorts) are determined to steal the crown for themselves.

The day will come when God will reveal to the ecclesia that they are Natural Israel and Grafted in Gentiles....these make up the Body of Christ.

Then the scripture cited by Geri Ungurean will come to pass, “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel’” (Ezekiel 11:17).

But Geri, if you read this, please understand that you are not a Messianic Jew but are of the Body of Christ. I know the term is popular now; which I once used myself but it is not accurate.

The Antichrist will come against those born of the Woman and also against the rest of those that keep the commanments of God. Notice how both groups are still there? No pre-trib. Rapture?

Rev. 12:17
" And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Gerlinda

Hi Sister,

You have learned well. Father has blessed you, I am happy for your knowledge because you are putting it to good use.

You are truly being led by the Holy Spirit and I second witness this truth!

I pray that these words will be understood by all who hear or read them.

You can read it all for yourself in the Holy Bible. A good place to start is in Genesis. Chapter 49 begins by Jacob (the man renamed Israel by God) giving his 12 sons their blessings for the last days (the time we are now witnessing):

Genesis 49:1....And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

There you have it, prayer has been said and so it will be. Take all things to the Father in prayer and supplication and you will receive these words in truth.

Michael

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