Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

'Ugh! That's Jewish! " the epithet rang out, loud and clear. "I don't want to have anything whatsoever to do with the Jews!"

Many people in the Church of YEHOVAH God, and even some who sincerely believe they are true Christians, seem to share a distinctly anti-Jewish, Anti-Semitic bias, or bigotry, without perhaps even realizing it! Could it be that some of us have unwittingly partaken of the attitude of the fourth century Roman Emperor Constantine who established a "Christianity" completely at odds with the Messianic Christianity of the apostles and Yeshua the Messiah himself?

The apostle Paul wrote that prejudice has no place in the heart of a true Christian. He declared, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all ONE in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:28-29).

Yeshua, our Saviour and Messiah, of course, was a Jew. He was descended from king David, himself a Jew, of the tribe of Judah. The apostle Paul wrote in the book of Hebrews, "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood" (Heb. 7:14). He is called "the lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5-6). He "came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11).

Yeshua told the Samaritan woman at the well in Samaria, "YE worship ye know not what: WE know what WE worship: for SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS " (John 4:22). The apostle Paul wrote further, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto SALVATION to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).

Do these comments suggest in any way that true Christians should repudiate the Jews, or have nothing to do with them? Salvation itself, Yeshua says, comes THROUGH them!

The original Church of YEHOVAH God, founded at Pentecost on 31 A.D., with the coming of the holy spirit, was composed overwhelmingly of JEWISH people, primarily those who had followed or were considered Pharisees (Acts 2:15) -- "devout men, out of every nation under heaven" who were assembled that year in Jerusalem for the holy day of Pentecost or Shavuot! Since the public Temple Pentecost services were conducted according to the rules and customs of the Pharisees, these "devout" men were diligent observers of the LAWS of YEHOVAH God, as taught by the Pharisees! They were, therefore, observant JEWS!

Should YEHOVAH's people today FEAR to be looked upon by others, or apostacizing church members, or friends or former associates, as "Jews" because they observe the SAME HOLY DAYS as the Jews do? YEHOVAH God forbid! Yeshua the Messiah himself observed the same days, and taught us to do so, following in his footsteps (I Pet. 2:21; I John 2:6). Yeshua is the SAME, yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). He will observe the SAME holy days in you today that he observed 1900 years ago, in the days of his flesh (Gal. 2:20) -- and none other!!!

The apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was not ashamed of being looked upon as 'Jewish." He said, "Follow ME, as I follow Christ " (I Cor. 11:2). He wrote, "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach " (Heb. 13:12-13). David wrote, prophetically of the Messiah, "Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children [not just physical family, but other "church members"!]. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me" (Psalm 69:7-9).

The apostle Paul applied this to the Messiah, saying, "For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me" (Rom. 15:3). If being looked upon as a "Jew" causes you embarrassment and shame, then perhaps you should consider the words of Paul to Timothy, who wrote, "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (I Tim. 4:10). Likewise, Peter wrote, "If ye be REPROACHED for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you" (I Pet. 4:14). "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him NOT BE ASHAMED; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (I Pet. 4:16-18).

True Christians should not be ashamed of being called "Jew," "Jewish," or any epithet, which identifies them with the customs and LAWS of YEHOVAH God as revealed in the Torah, the Scriptures, and the entire Word of the living GOD. Paul wrote, to the contrary, "For he is not Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:28-29).

We should not be ashamed of being looked upon as "Jewish" merely because we TRULY follow in the footsteps of Yeshua the Messiah, who was a TRUE JEW in every way. Remember, "What advantage therefore hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the ORACLES OF GOD" (Rom. 3:1-2). The apostle Paul refers to the Jews as "the natural branches" of YEHOVAH God's olive tree (Rom. 11:16-24), and Gentiles as "a wild olive tree, grafted in among them" (verse 17). We should not despise or look down our noses at the "natural branches," but rejoice that together we can stand by faith and obedience to YEHOVAH God, through His holy spirit!

Today, there is widespread and growing hatred, bigotry, jealousy, strife, enmity, and hostility toward the Jews, both in Europe, amonst the Arab world, and even in the United States of America! Synagogues have been defaced, graves and tombstones in France have been smeared with paint and swaztikas, and graffiti has been scrawled on Jewish buildings, homes, and businesses.

As the true people of YEHOVAH God, we should in no way partake of the bitter anti-Jewish hostility in the world, but rather love the Jews, and pray for them. YEHOVAH said to Abraham, our forefather, and the father of the Jews, "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that blesseth thee, and curse them that curseth thee..." (Gen. 12:2-3). In a very real sense, those who bless the Jews will be blessed, and those who curse them and revile and reproach them, will suffer the curses of Almighty God! They are the seed of Abraham, and the ONLY people that have maintained and preserved the Torah and the LAWS and Word -- the "oracles" -- of Almighty GOD!

Clearly, we should BLESS the people of YEHOVAH God, and BLESS the Jews, who have maintained and preserved the holy oracles of YEHOVAH God so that we can obey His commandments and statutes!

The truth is, the spirit of anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish thinking and emotion is the spirit of Antichrist! This is the same spirit and attitude as that of Antiochus Epiphanes, who viciously persecuted the Jews in 167-164 B.C., because they would not conform to the prevailing worldview of Hellenism and Greek religious philosophy. Those who held on to the Torah and Law of YEHOVAH God were hunted down, tortured, killed, and their property confiscated.

The attitude of the Antichrist was summed up by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century of the present era. He exhorted the so-called nominal "Christians" of the visible church, with its headquarters at Rome, in the council of Nicea in 325 A.D. to establish a worldwide church free from any and all vestiges and influences of the Jews. His attitude was distinctly hostile and full of venom and hatred of everything Jewish. He wrote in a conciliar letter:

"It appeared an unholy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast that we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of the soul...Let us then have NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THE DETESTABLE JEWISH CROWD: For we have received of our Saviour a different way...Strive and pray continually that the purity of your souls may not seem in any thing to be SULLIED BY FELLOWSHIP with these most wicked men...All should unite in demanding that which sound reason appears to demand, and AVOIDING ALL PARTICIPATION IN THE PERJURED CONDUCT of the Jews" (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 3, 18-19, NPNF, 2nd, I, p. 524-525).

Writes Samuel Bacchiocchi in From Sabbath to Sunday, his epochal work on the history of the early Church,

"The anti-Judaic motivation for the repudiation of the Jewish reckoning of Passover could not have been expressed more explicitly and forcefully than in the letter of Constantine. Nicaea represents the culmination of a controversy initiated two centuries earlier and motivated by strong anti-Judaic feelings and one which had Rome as its epicenter" (p. 206).

The spirit of hostility to the truth and people of YEHOVAH God is an age-old spirit -- it is the spirit of Satan the devil, who hates the ways of YEHOVAH God (John 8:44). He reviles the things of YEHOVAH God, and tramples on that which is holy. The carnal mind of man follows him in rebellion and enmity against the laws of YEHOVAH God (Rom. 8:7).

However, the Spirit of YEHOVAH God LOVES the things of YEHOVAH, the people of YEHOVAH, and the TRUTHS and LAWS of YEHOVAH God (Acts 5:32; Rom. 5:5; I John 5:3).

Those of us who truly desire to follow the Messiah, and the apostles, and recapture the faith which was once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), need to re-examine our attitudes toward the Jews and the things regarded as "Jewish." Ignorance creates fear. But as the old song goes, "To know, know, know him, is to love, love, love him." To really get to know the Jews, is to LOVE them. To live in ignorance and fear of them, is to grow in hatred, hostility, enmity, and folly.

The day is coming, very soon now, when as the prophet Zechariah foretold, that the whole attitude of the world will change toward the Jews. Zechariah declared:

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of HIM THAT IS A JEW, saying, we will go with you: for we have heard that GOD IS WITH YOU" (Zech. 8:20-23).

If we are truly converted people, then in YEHOVAH's sight we are "true Jews." For true Judaism does not deny either the laws and commandments of YEHOVAH God, the Torah, nor does it deny the Messianic aspect of Judaism -- and its fulfillment in the Messiah, Yeshua! If you are indeed a "true Jew," then rejoice -- for your name is written in Heaven!

-- Edited By John D. Keyser.