Matthew 18:6
December 29th, 2010Church Adopting Arab Propaganda as Policy?
Today in The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, I read something infuriating. A Catholic bigwig, with the approval of the Vatican, has declared that there is no chosen people.
Yes, you read that correctly. And in case you think this guy is an isolated nut, let me quote an October 23 Jerusalem Post article about Vatican-sponsored gathering at which this announcement was made:
Bishops from the Middle East who were summoned to Rome by the pope demanded on Saturday that Israel accept UN resolutions calling for an end to its “occupation” of Arab lands.
More, from the same guy:
We Christians cannot speak of the ‘promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people – all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.
So evidently (given the conspicuous absence of a repudiation from the Pope) anti-Semitism may still be official church policy. Here’s some more info about this disgusting, evil pronouncement:
“The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, [Lebanese-American] Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the “Commission for the Message,” said at Saturday’s Vatican press conference.
All I can say is, may God correct you quickly and mercifully. May he lead you to repudiate your own words publicly, so you will not have to suffer his chastisement.
What greater attack could you make on the Jewish people than to claim they are no longer chosen? That isn’t just anti-Semitism. It’s anti-Semitism per se. It is a denial of the sole valid justification for the existence of Jews as a people.
It is also a rebellious, insolent, arrogant denial of God’s many express acknowledgements, in both testaments, of the special status of the Jews. Nowhere in the Bible does it say or imply that God’s covenant with the Jews has been “nullified.” In fact, the still-unfulfilled prophecies of the Revelation cannot come to fruition without 144,000 undefiled Jewish males who refuse to serve the Antichrist. Where is the passage about 144,000 displaced Palestinians or 144,000 Catholics? I must have overlooked it.
The Bible says that he who harms the Jews touches the apple of God’s eye. That means the pupil. Can you imagine anything that makes God angrier?
And denying the right of the Jews to reenter their given land…how do you respond to a position so ridiculous? It has supporters. Unfortunately, Satan is foremost among them. Evidently, Bustros has never read Exodus, Joshua, or 1 Kings.
From a practical standpoint, where does Bustros expect the Jews to go, if they can’t have Israel? The alternatives are forced conversion and death.
Diaspora nations always turn on the Jews sooner or later, because the spirit of Antichrist works in the minds of those who are not baptized with the Holy Spirit and fans the flames of anti-Semitism. Assimilation is not a realistic alternative. Even the United States, which has a pretty good record when it comes to asylum for immigrants, allowed Jews to go to the gas chambers instead of welcoming them. The Germans and Austrians slaughtered valuable Jewish citizens, including distinguished World War I heroes. Man–in the form of Gentile host nations–is not going to save the Jews the next time the tide (to use God’s own metaphor) rises against them. God and a defensible homeland are their only hopes. And if they are not given preferential treatment in that land, their enemies will outpopulate them, and Israel itself will be like a Diaspora nation.
If the Pope doesn’t loudly disavow the vile things Bustros said at the press conference, we will be back where we were at the end of the Holocaust. The Catholic Church will be anti-Jewish again. Not just “anti-Judaism,” which could be rationalized as an extension of the desire to win souls, but quite literally opposed to the existence of the Jewish people and their state. The church will also be endorsing replacement theology, which has always been a convenient cover for a desire to see Jews disappear.
The worst thing about this is that uneducated Catholics the world over will see Bustros’s words as code for “It’s okay to get the Jews.” God is all for it now! It’s the convenient thing to do here on earth, and you’ll be rewarded in heaven. They’ll see Jews the way the Philistines (literally synonymous with “Palestinians”) saw Samson after he was shorn. If God isn’t on their side, and they’re driving up oil prices and causing terrorism, why not persecute them?
It’s typical of Satan to put this kind of rhetoric out. It’s a different spin on the 72-virgins myth. Act on your hate, and God will either ignore it or reward you.
How can anyone oppose prophecy and the wellbeing of Jews while claiming to speak for God? This is a textbook example of taking the Lord’s name in vain. Jesus never denied the Jews (or his Jewishness), nor did Paul, nor did any of the New Testament authors, all of whom were Jewish. Nowhere does the Bible say we are to replace the Jews. The very notion reeks of ignorance.
The Bible tells us the temple will be restored, as will sacrifices. Who does Bustros expect to do that work? Who will make the incense? Who will inspect and slaughter the animals? Who will recite the proper prayers and blessings? Catholic priests? Jew-hating Muslims? Assemblies of God preachers from places like Georgia and Texas? Jews, and only Jews, can do that work. There are no Gentile Levites, and there never will be.
God says Israel, including areas currently under Muslim control, belongs to the Jews. Forever. Cyril Bustros says part of it is “Arab land.” You can believe Bustros if you want. I believe God.
It’s good that Bustros said this, because he was clarifying a very vague message the bishops had issued. Few would bother reading the message itself (it’s online), and if they did, they would not see in it the anti-Semitism from which it sprang. In fact, it affirms God’s covenant with Abraham, in direct contradiction of the remarks Bustros made (see bold text):
8. The same Scriptures unite us; the Old Testament, the Word of God is for both you and us. We believe all that God revealed there, since he called Abraham, our common father in the faith, Father of Jews, of Christians and of Muslims. We believe in the promises of God and his covenant given to Abraham and to you. We believe that the Word of God is eternal.
The Second Vatican Council published the document Nostra aetate which treats interreligious dialogue with Judaism, Islam and the other religions. Other documents have subsequently clarified and developed the relationship with Judaism. On-going dialogue is taking place between the Church and the representatives of Judaism. We hope that this dialogue can bring us to work together to press those in authority to put and end to the political conflict which results in separating us and disrupting everyday life in our countries.
It is time for us to commit ourselves together to a sincere, just and permanent peace. Both Christians and Jews are called to this task by the Word of God. In his Word, we are invited us to listen to the voice of God “who speaks of peace”: “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his holy ones” (Ps 85:9). Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable. On the contrary, recourse to religion must lead every person to see the face of God in others and to treat them according to their God-given prerogatives and God’s commandments, namely, according to God’s bountiful goodness, mercy, justice and love for us.
Without Bustros around to say what was really on the bishops’ minds, that would be seen as a meaningless, toothless, platitudinous, feel-good ramble put together by harmless old men. With his words added, it becomes ominous and menacing.
There will be no political or church-driven solution to the conflict in the Middle East. Those solutions would be carnal, and no church should put any faith in them. The conflict is based in the supernatural. The physical overlays the supernatural like a Band-Aid on a festering sore. Apply all the patches you want; the disease will not die until Satan is bound. We have to work for peace with our physical tools, but we have to realize that all we can do is minimize the pain. It will never go away while Jesus tarries, and we should not try to accelerate the healing process by doing things that infuriate God and contradict his word.
Thank God the Catholic Church has no army these days. Thank God Israel has a good one.
None of this will affect Israel in a macroscopic way. God watches over her continuously, and a few mistaken, bigoted men can’t oppose him. They will make fools of themselves and fail, and Israel will prosper. But these foolish words could cause suffering or death for many individual Jews, and they could also cause many Christians to commit atrocious sins and bring God’s judgment on themselves, their families, their churches, and their nations.
I hope people will pray that Catholic leadership (and the leadership of other liberalized mainstream churches that do not support Israel) will have a change of heart, and that the Holy Spirit will protect them from causing their followers to offend.
December 29th, 2010 at 1:11 PM
Nullify is the wrong word and it is certainly theologically incorrect. The New Testament does not nullify the old.
But in John 15, Jesus points out that God is continuously pruning out unfruitful branches and trimming fruitful ones from the vine that is the People of God. In Romans 11, Paul explicitly states that the Jews are being pruned out and the wild branches of the Gentiles are being grafted in. Paul warns not to be arrogant about this or feel superior, instead be thankful that you too could share in the nourishment from God’s roots.
Still the point of this is that while the Jews have a special place within the People of God, that place is no longer exclusive and is now shared with many peoples and groups through Christ. In reality the Chosen People in the New Testament context are believers in Christ no matter what their nationality or origin.
December 29th, 2010 at 2:21 PM
As I’m sure you agree, the “pruned out” reference has to do with accepting salvation and becoming the primary agents of God’s will in the world. It has nothing to do with being rejected permanently by God or being replaced by Gentiles, and it doesn’t even mean that God has stopped working through the Jews and Israel. His obsession with the chosen has never abated, and it is now more obvious than ever. The Bible refers to the “age of the Gentiles.” That age appears to be almost at an end, and it may well be that from here on out, our role will be peripheral and supporting.
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While the Jews do not have an “exclusive” closeness with God, and while they were never the only people who were able to have relationships with God, they are unique, and they cannot be replaced. They can’t be replaced spiritually by Christians, and they can’t be replaced as the owners of Israel, by the descendants of the people God sent them to drive out.
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We will never be Levites. We will never have a property interest in Israel. We will never restore the Temple. We cannot fulfill the Jewish role in prophecy.
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It is extremely dangerous to give people the impression that we are somehow interchangeable with Jews. Paul did not consider that to be true, and God himself chose to be born as a Jew.
December 30th, 2010 at 4:06 AM
Wow Steve, thank you so much for bringing this to everyone’s attention.
PS-Thank you so much for the prayers for my mom. I haven’t had time to update the blog or email, but they are trying to build up her strength(she hasn’t been out of bed since the last time they tried walking her last week) so she can come home.
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:31 AM
Jeff, John 15 says “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit..”
Pruning means to trim, to cut away the dead parts so that the live parts can grow more fully. Those that bear fruit (believers) will be given special attention. This speaks to purification, silver vs. dross, etc.
Nowhere does it speak of cutting out the old branches and replacing them with others.
Read Romans Chap 11. It deals specifically with the grafting in to the True Vine (Israel).
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root [fn] of the olive tree,”
It says “some of the branches.” If you cut off all the branches, the tree dies. It also says we are allowed to “share” in the nourished provided.
The reality is not that Christians have replaced the Jews. We become Jews. We are just a bit ahead of the curve in acknowledging Christ as the foretold Messiah, something Israel as a nation will eventually do as well.
Rom 11:23-24: “And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. ”
God has not forsaken or replaced Israel.
January 3rd, 2011 at 10:14 AM
We are not Jews. We share in some of the promises, but we are definitely not Jews.
January 4th, 2011 at 5:03 AM
Romans 8:15 speaks of being “adopted” as sons and daughters of God.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ
And Gal 3:29:
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
When we become Christians, we inherit the promises of God’s chosen people.
1 Peter 2:9:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession”
Terms traditionally used to describe the nation of Israel, here used to address the new Church.
True, obviously, we do not become ethnic or cultural Jews, but in receiving and accepting God’s promise, we become one of God’s chosen people. The Jews are the Firstborn, but we still become legitimate heirs and share in the “family name.”
January 4th, 2011 at 8:01 PM
“Abraham’s offspring” is a Jewish way of saying “faithful proponents of Abraham’s way of dealing with God.” That is probably its main significance. To the ancient Jews, referring to a person as someone’s descendant was a metaphorical way of noting similarities. For example, calling close-minded Jews sons of Satan meant only that they behaved and thought like Satan. It did not make them his literal sons.
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No matter how you slice it, we will never be Jews, and they will always be a separate group. It’s great that we get a lot of the same blessings, but we will never own one square inch of Israel, we will never be Levites or cohens, and we will never be under the law. As you know, the first believers continued observing the Jewish law, even though they recognized the gift of salvation.
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There is nothing wrong with being a Gentile, and it’s not like we’re second-class. Look at Noah and Enoch. I’m not even sure Abraham is considered a Jew, since “Israel” refers to Jacob’s descendants. Esau and Ishmael were not Jews.
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Jews are rightly nervous about non-Jews claiming to be “the real Jews” or “the new Jews” or “supplementary Jews” or whatever. I don’t contribute to that kind of dangerous rhetoric.
January 5th, 2011 at 5:58 AM
I guess the way I read these passages, is that by denying the Messiah, the Jews are essentialy being “held in abeyance” until such time as they come around. However, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that this is a temporary situation, and foretells a time when the Jews will be restored.
Believers have gained access to those blessings previously reserved soley for the Jews by accepting the Messiah. I fully agree that Believers have not displaced or replaced the Jews. The Jews are clearly still under the Law, because they are not under “grace” as Christians understand it.
I guess that leads to the question, at such time as the Jews, as a people, DO accept and confess Jesus as the Messiah, where does that leave the “us and them” between Jew and Gentile? Will they still be called Jews?
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal 3:28
I guess if by Jew you mean “one who is under the Law”, then clearly we will never be Jews, because we are no longer under the Law.
For if those who are [fn] of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified;
for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, Rom 4:14-16
Agree that Abraham was not Jewish, because he predates them as a people. But, if I’m reading this correctly, Abraham is the father of ALL those who can be counted as God’s people, which obviously extends well beyond the Jews.
I guess, then, yes I am incorrect. We do not become Jews, because to be Jewish is to remain bound by the Old Covenant. In accepting the Messiah, we all become part of the New Covenant which include anyone who believe in Christ as the Messiah (to include cultural Jews). Essentially, the definition of what it means to be one of “God’s chosen people” has expanded.
My impression is that, while there is a distinct role and place for the Jewish people in the coming kingdom, the distinction will be far less important.
Jesus has become the High Priest, for ever.
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 1 Peter 2:9-10
In Peter, it would seem he refers to those who have not yet believed as gentiles, and those who do believe as the Chosen of God. “Gentile” seems to be the Judeo-christian equivalent of “infidel” (unbeliever, unclean). So through the confession of our faith, we are no longer gentiles, but God’s chosen people. If you don’t want to call those outside the levitical tradition, those from Israel as “Jews” that’s fine and probably accurate. But it’s basically semantics.
The Jews are considered God’s chosen people, but according to what I read the NT, Christians are ALSO God’s chosen people. Jeremiah 31:31 fulfilled, a new covenant that now includes not just the Jews, but anyone who confesses the Messiah.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:43 AM
I agree with “chosen.” Just not “the chosen.”