Many Gentile believers held this attitude for hundreds of years, a fact that 100% of churchgoers are never told because 100% of "pastors" are unaware of this reality. Picture it! Gentile believers went to Jewish instructors for teaching and to learn the faith. And what did the Jewish instructors teach? The Old Testament! What was the main focus of the teaching? The first five books of Scripture, which are referred to as the Torah. The next important focus was on the prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, not Daniel, Esther, or Nehemiah! The Hebrew Scriptures, which we call the Old Testament, is called the Tanakh by the Jewish people. The order of books is different in the Tanakh than in our English bibles. They separate the Tanakh into three parts, The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Daniel is not included in the Prophets! It is listed in the Writings, as is Esther and Nehemiah. Most are unaware that there has been a huge debate for thousands of years among the Jews as to whether or not Esther should even be included in the Tanakh! I mention this because Esther is taught much in church buildings instead of Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. After Psalms and Proverbs, Job should be the main focus of teaching from the Writings. After Job, Ecclesiastes should be studied, not Ruth, Esther, or Nehemiah! Far too much time is spent and wasted on these three little books. Even after the "New Testament" was compiled and started being used by Gentile "teachers", the Jewish instructors still taught 95% of the time from the Tanakh.
While the Apostles and Paul were still alive, nobody questioned the "Jewishness" of Yeshua and what he taught. No Gentile denied the authority and importance of the Old Testament, especially those Gentiles who learned at the feet of the Apostles, those who, in turn, would become the leading Gentile teachers of Scripture to other Gentiles. But, as the Gospel started spreading among the Gentiles, an animosity toward Jewish people began to arise in the Gentile world. And as the Gospel spread among the Gentiles, a new reality set in. The further away, geographically, from Jerusalem the gospel was taught, the less importance the Gentiles put upon the value of the Tanakh, the Jewishness of Scripture and the great value of Jewish men teaching true Judaism! Those Gentiles who desired to be "leaders" among the Gentiles became very jealous of the Jewish instructors. There arose an attitude of "Who made you the boss?" As there is now, there was an arrogant attitude combined with base pettiness among the Gentle leaders, that they wanted to be "the experts" on all things Scripture. They had a goal in mind. Instead of a simple desire to teach Scripture, these men wanted to use Scripture to control the Gentiles. There was no hierarchy in a synagogue. Any male member was allowed to speak about Scripture. There were men in charge of different events in a synagogue, but the idea that a few teachers were in control of all of the members and of all of the teaching did not exist. On the other hand, as soon as the "church" concept began, the very first step was to put a hierarchy in place. And do you know where that came from? From how the pagans ran their Temples. And later on, when the Catholic Church was formed, their system of operation was a copy of how the Roman government worked. The idea of choirs, somber music, chanting, processions, extravagant clothing for the priests, statues, lighting candles, etc., all came from pagan Rome and the Roman government! You won't find any of that in Scripture. But that's what you do when you place Scripture as a secondary source of teaching and override it with man-made traditions.
After the death of John, there were no longer any of the original Apostles around, Paul having died before John. The evil Gentiles, who were the beginning of the Catholic Church, no longer had to worry about being refuted in what they taught. Those Jewish leaders were the authority, but any other Jewish instructor could easily be discounted after their death. But, the influence of the Jewish instructors was a huge obstacle not easily overcome. So, taking a cue from the growing animosity among the Gentiles, especially the leading influencers of Roman government and society, against the Jews, an attitude developed among those Gentiles who wanted to present the faith as a "Gentile faith," to destroy the auenthencity of what the Jewish instructors taught. While they couldn't ignore or disprove the Tankah (words don't lie, but men do.), the next best approach was destroying Jewish scripture teachers' credibility.
The illiteracy of the average Gentile played a big part in this. Even the more educated Gentiles, who knew Greek, Latin and later on English, didn't know how to read or speak Hebrew. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Tankah, was a well-kept secret among the Gentile religious elite. The average Gentile believer only knew what the Jews told them. So, if the Gentles could be convinced that the Jews were evil people who lied, specifically the Jewish teachers, then the Gentiles would not believe anything the Jewish teachers taught. And the campaign began.
A man named Oliver Jack Melieck wrote (caps mine)" To understand the relationship between Christians and Jews, it is crucial to survey some of Church Fathers (some, not all, the most prominent) to understand how their EXEGETICAL DEVIATION paved the way for modern anti-Semitism. As many of them PREFORMED ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS of God's word (a favorite practice still going on strong today), the early Church Fathers (any time you see "Church Fathers," think Catholic Church) developed a warped view of Israel and the Jews. They had a distorted view of Biblical Judaism. The PERCEIVED MONSTROSITY of the Jews was their main concern. As they saw it, (Old Testament), Israel had continually disappointed God. They needed to separate the "evil" from the "righteous," the "sinful" from "the holy." So they started to demonize and ostracize the Jewish people.
If I was teaching Scripture to people in a park and a crowd began to gather, I would be teaching the truth, and if some or many in the crowd believed what I was saying, things would be off to a good start. But, if there was a group of false teachers who didn't want people to listen to me, and they found out where I was teaching, showed up and start shouting out, "This man is a drug dealer," "This man is involved with sex trafficking," or, "This man beats his wife," chances are excellent that the majority of the people in the crowd would believe the lies, the false teachers would have destroyed my character and, as a result, would have destroyed the notion that I was speaking the truth.
About the time John passed away, the Greco-Roman world (There is a reason the Catholic Church originally called itself the Roman Catholic Church) already scorned the Jews and their monotheism and practices. The Roman people held fierce animosity toward the Jews. The average Roman citizen considered Jews anti-Rome and anti-Roman Society because of their monotheism; some even considered the Jews as rebels and enemies of the state. They considered circumcision a form of mutilation, and because the Jews performed circumcision on newborn males, they thought this was horrible. Many Romans thought that since the Jews refused to eat pork, the god they served was a "pig god."
A famous Roman historian, Tacitus, 56-120 A.D., called Jerusalem a "notorious" city, and the Jews were an "infamous" people, hated by their God. Their practices are base and wicked. The Jews are depraved and ruled by lust. They are bizarre, uncivilized, and misanthropic.
Around 100 A.D., away from Jerusalem and Judiah, teaching sprang up that claimed the Jews had lost their birthright, had murdered the Messiah, were excluded from the Church, and that God's covenant with Abraham and Moses was never established due to the Jews sinfulness, and that the Laws should be understood allegorically, that they were, in fact, referring to "Christian virtue and the sacraments." (Sacrament is not a biblical word and was, and still is, heavily used by the Catholic Church and other denominations)
The three most stressed things touted in the effort to separate Gentiles and Jews were 1. That the Jews murdered Jesus. 2. The lies of the Jews. 3. Jews were the enemies of Christians.
Ignatius of Antioch 40-110 A.D. He was a big fan and proponent of Greek philosophy. He introduced the mystical idea that the "church" was pre-existent before Old Testament Israel. At the end of the 1st Century, he wrote, "If we Christians are still practicing Judaism, we admit that we have not received God's favor...It is wrong to talk about Jesus Christ and live like Jews... Those who partake of the Passover are grouped together with those who killed Jesus. His motto was "For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, Judaism believed in Christianity."
At the end of the 1st century, Gentile believers were practicing Judaism! They were participating in the Feast of the Passover! Some were living like Jews! Where is the "church" in all of this? Where is the entity that Jesus "started" for Gentile believers, known as the "church?" By logic and history, one would have to say the "church" is Judaism! And Jesus, as a man, didn't start Judaism! He came living and teaching true Judaism!
The first and foremost definition of Christianity is: The religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus. From Merriam-Wester: 1. the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture. Since there was no "bible" in Jesus's day and no New Testament, this definition should read: the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Old Testament as sacred scripture. Acts 11:26...And the disciples were first called Christians. Guess what? In Antioch, at that time were both Jewish and Gentile believers! There were anywhere from 20,000-40,000 Jews living in Antioch at this time.
For any who are unaware, as I pointed out in part 1, it was the nation of Israel, the Jewish people, that God planted and established true Judaism. At no time did God ever claim that He would replace the Jews with Gentiles as representing and being the source of truth and faith. I used to believe this because that is what Gentile people are taught. What is the source of this erroneous belief? It comes from one of the Pharisee's favorite tricks, the "proof text method." And what is the "proof text" for the teaching? Mk 12:9, after reading Mk 12:1-9.
I realize many commentators have drunk the Kool-Aid here, but let me tell you the truth. First, one verse is not a sole source of truth or doctrine. Second, This is a parable, Mk 12:1. Third, there is no mention of God turning over everything He established through and with the Jewish people to the Gentiles anywhere in Scripture. Fourth, Jesus said "others," not Gentiles. Fifth, the idea that "others" meant Gentiles is an inference made based on faulty logic, with no Scripture to back it up. Sixth, Many of Jesus's parables were direct attacks against the false teachers of the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, scribes and priests. Read Mk 12:12. Seventh, If the crowd listening to Jesus thought he was referring to Gentiles, they would have been filled with rage and stoned Jesus on the spot!
A lie gets started and is believed. The lie spreads and others are believing and teaching the same lie. Soon, the lie is widespread and accepted by all. At some point it becomes part of "church lore," and from then on is established as a truth.
Starting in Isaiah, God purposed that at a later time, there would be Gentile believers and they would enter into the kingdom of God.
Is 11:10, 42:1, 6, 49:6, 60:3, 61:9, 62:2
Amos 9:11-12
Lk 2:32
Acts 15: 5-9,13-17
Rom 9:23-26
But it has always been the Jew first, Rom 1:16, 2:9-10.
Since the kingdom of God that Jesus established is a spiritual kingdom, how do Gentiles enter the kingdom? God makes the Gentile sheep spiritual Jews, Rom 2:29. Read Eph 2:11-22.
In Romans, Chapter 11, Paul teaches how all Gentile believers are grafted into the Vine. In verses 18-25, Paul warns the Gentiles not to be arrogant and look down upon the Jews, which shows how early some of the Gentile believers were already feeling a sense of superiority over the Jewish believers.
Justin Martyr 100-165 A.D. The first to introduce "Replacement Theology," whereas the "Church" had replaced the Jews as the keepers of the Covenants and that all of the blessings and promises of God had passed from the "evil Jews" onto the Gentile Church. He said that the Old Testament no longer belonged to the Jews, the O.T. only applied to Gentile believers, that Judaism was a false religion, and that the Israel of the O.T. was actually the "undeveloped" Gentile Church. He claimed the Jews were "unspiritual" people who were so out of control that God could only deal with them by putting laws on them. He accused them of rejecting and killing Jesus and that they were leading good Gentiles away from Jesus. He said that God destroyed the Temple as punishment for the Jews.
Irenaeus 135-202 A.D. "Christians should avoid any relationship or contact with the Jews to prevent confusion." He wanted the "church" to be cleansed of anything Jewish, especially any hint of Judaism. He said the Jews were cut off from the grace of God.
While I have only mentioned a few names, other Gentiles in leadership positions were spouting off the same garbage. Every single thing they said was nothing but lies! Even though we are nearing the 2nd Century, it is easy to see that the Gentile believers, the majority, were still learning from Jewish teachers, who kept teaching from the Tanakh! This is all documented history, people! Anyone can research this for themselves. The Gentiles consistently used the words "Church" and "Christian" to build a divide between Jews and Gentiles.
End of part 2
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