Category: faith

The house just passed the antisemitism bill HR 6090 320 to 61. It codifies the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. This means that certain historical facts, such as Jesus was condemned by the Jewish leadership for being a blasphemer, proclaiming that He and God the Father are one, and as such he could forgive sins. This was of course blasphemy, punishable by death, but since only the Romans could execute the death penalty Jesus was handed over to the Romans to be crucified.

To blame this generation of Jews for a historical fact that happened 2000 years ago is of course wrong and antisemitic, but history is history cannot be changed. It happened. The Jewish leaders even helped to prove the resurrection by setting a guard to prevent it from happening. To call historical facts antisemitism is as ridiculous as blaming a Swedish immigrant (of which I am one) for being guilty of lynching a black youth in Mississippi in the early 1900’s just for being white too.

From one to another I hear the college uprisings “From the river to the sea. Palestine shall be free” . A reporter asked demonstrators what river they referred to. A few, but not all knew it reo the Jordan river. Then an old song came back to me from the time 50 ears ago when I was just saved, and it has been ringing in my head every time I see video clips from the ivy league colleges. It goes like this:

We have heard the gospel sound; Jesus saves! Jesus saves;

Spread the Good News all around! Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

From the River to the sea; Jews and Gentiles,Muslims be,

Born again and so set free: Jesus saves, Jesus saves

The land between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea is called the holy land by Jews, Christians and Muslims. These are the three religions that claim the land is Holy. The Jews claim the land was given them by God himself, being descendants of of Abraham from ISAAC, the Son of Promise, The Christians claim it is holy by adoption, and the Muslims by Ishmael, the firstborn son of Abraham. It all points to Jerusalem, being the Holy City

First, the Jews: They are looking for their Messiah. The Messiah is fully described in Isaiah 9:6

Child: Shows the humanity of Christ

Son, shows the deity of Christ, being given bu God, of the same kind.

It also shows the unity of God, Father, Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, three aspects of God, three in one, the triune God, the Trinity.

There is one more instance of El Gibbor in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 32:18 it says: “Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, (El Gibbor) YHWH of hosts, is his name,”

This time there is no question that El Gibbor is Jehovah himself.

The other big prophesy is found in Chapter 53, the Suffering servant. It begins in chapter 12, verse 13. The passage on the suffering Servant is never read in Jewish Synagogues, not in the triennial reading, nor at Holy days. Up to now the LORD, through the prophet Isaiah has referred to his servant Israel, and in one case, in Isaiah 45:1   Cyrus: Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, and 45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

Here God refers to the other anointed, the Messiah. No other chapter in the Bible is quoted more in the New Testament.  because of this it was more or less mathematically proven that Isaiah was edited and Isaiah 53 was added about 400 A.D. as well as a number of other prophecies. Then in 1947  they found the Dead Sea Scrolls and more than a hundred years of source critical Bible analysis had to be abandoned. The Dead Sea Scrolls had been copied from even older copies more than 140 years B.C. Let God’s word speak for itself.

Chapter 53, the Suffering servant really begins in chapter 12, verse 13. The passage on suffering Servant is never read in Jewish Synagogues, not in the triennial reading, nor at Holy days. Up to now the LORD, through the prophet Isaiah has referred to his servant Israel, and in one case, in Isaiah 45:1   Cyrus: Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, and 45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

Here God refers to the other anointed, the Messiah. No other chapter in the Bible is quoted more in the New Testament.  because of this it was more or less mathematically proven that Isaiah was edited and Isaiah 53 was added about 400 A.D. as well as a number of other prophecies. Then in 1947  they found the Dead Sea Scrolls and more than a hundred years of source critical Bible analysis had to be abandoned. The Dead Sea Scrolls had been copied from even older copies more than 140 years B.C. Let God’s word speak for itself.

Yet, when Jesus came, he was rejected, not by the people for they loved him, but condemned by the leadership of the Jews, he performed miracles, even on the Sabbath, but worse than that, he forgave sins, which only God can do, so he committed blasphemy and was sent over to the Romans to crucify him, since the Jews did not have authority to execute people. It was all in accordance with scripture, and the Jews of today cannot be condemned for that. They still have the opportunity to embrace Jesus as their Messiah, and thus be redeemed.

For Gentiles shat embrace Jesus it is simple; They become children of Abraham by adoption. This can be best explained in Paul’s epistle to the Romans; Chapter 4.

The important takeaway from this passage is that Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins, the death on a cross. He was buried and the tomb was sealed by the Jewish leaders to prevent him from being taken away from the tomb. But Jesus was risen from the dead. Thar is why the empty cross is the symbol for us, who worship the risen savior! The empty cross symbolizes redemption, we live in the time of grace, our sins are forgiven.

With the Muslim,also claiming Al-Qudz (Jerusalem) as their Holy City. Now it is getting more complicated. The Oslo accords tried to establish a two state solution, Both Istael and Palestine should be recognized as states. Now Yasser Arafat entered and tried to establish a diplomatic solution. In an interview he grudingly accepted Israel as a state, but when the interviewer tried to make him repeat his acceptance in Arabic he hemmed and hoed and could never get himself to do so. Why was that? It is because their Holy Quran states that Israel will never again rise to be a nation. If Israel becomes a nation again that would make Muhammad a non Prophet. There are other diffences between the Bible and Quran The Bible lists ten plagues of Egypt, The Quran has only nine, the death of the firstborn is missing. This plague lead to the passover, one of the most important commemorations in the Jewish Calendar. It is also the day when Jesus was crucified, very important for Christians. The Quran teaches that Jesus was never crucified, it only seemed so to the Jews; instead Jesus was directly translated to heaven. A holy God would never punish his son that way!

The final thing that separates Muslims from Christians is the claim that the Bible is falsified, and when Jesus speaks of another comforter, he really meant Muhammad. This can be found in John 14:

Another Comforter: αλλον παρακλητον ( allon parakleton) meaning one of the same kind as Jesus.

Some Muslims say the Bible has been altered and should have read perikleton rather than parakleton, claming the Bible has been falsified to fit Jewish and Christian beliefs and only the Quran is true.

This requires many steps of faith on account of the Muslims. 1. Jesus, Mary and Moses were really Muslims and spoke of Muhammad. 2. The New Testament is falsified.  3.  Ignore the Dead Sea Scrolls, and 4. When Jesus speaks of the Spirit of Truth he really means Muhammad, not the Holy Spirit as He says in verse 26.

As a Christian I am free to take God’s Word for what it says.

What separates Christianity from both Judaism and Islam is the redemption, the forgiveness of sins by the cross, and by accepting this we can participate in his resurrection and have everlasting life. The life will change as we transition from earthly life into the presence of Jesus, and that is why our symbol is the empty cross: We serve a risen savior!