The release of the movie “Bonhoeffer” could not have come out at a better or more opportune time. There is an ever-increasing rise of antisemitism both in Europe and here in America, and even more tragically still, even in some factions of “the church”! But the example of Bonhoeffer, the man’s story and what he stood for is a much-needed message for this hour! It is clearly a message, “…for such a time as this”!
Many of us are familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous words: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” That often-cited quote from Bonhoeffer has unfortunately to some degree almost become something of a glib cliché in our generation. But let’s put it back into its original context. Bonhoeffer said those words out of his anger and frustration with German Christians in the 1930s and 40’s, most of whom remained silent in the face of horrific Nazi brutality against the Jews.
“Silence in the face of evil…”
I assure you that the purpose of this article is not to be an exercise in silence! I intend to speak quite frankly and bluntly. I intend to stare right into the face of the hatred and evil of antisemitism and call it out for what it is. Let there be no doubt that, antisemitism is an evil that is Satanically inspired! It is an evil that flows out from a mind and spirit that has been poisoned by doctrines of demons. The antisemitic tropes, the blood libel’s, the Jewish cabal conspiracy theories, the mindless labeling of “fake Jews” and the completely debunked Khazarian theory, all flow out from a cesspool of evil filled with the demonic sludge of hell!
“Not to speak is to speak…”
There are sins of commission and there are sins of omission. The Book of James tells us, “…anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” (James 4:17). When we say nothing to people or to someone who is harming someone else, when we do nothing to help someone who is in urgent need, that lack of action are sins every bit as real as when we actively say or do the wrong thing. Therefore, “God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” This article is a call both to act and to speak loud and clear.
A Satanic Flood
World War II ended almost 80 years ago, and yet, the age old Satanic hatred of antisemitism is rearing its ugly head once again and Jews are being persecuted all over the world once again. Sadly, there is no shortage of news reports and articles about the rising wave of antisemitism that is now going on around the world. All you need to do is scroll through your daily news feed to find headlines like a CBN headline that read: An Anti-Semitic 'Tsunami'- Jew Hatred Explodes Across Europe (See here) https://cbn.com/news/world/anti-semitic-tsunami-jew-hatred-explodes-across-europe
Another headline reads: Canada is no longer safe for Jews. (See here) https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-diaspora-minister-canada-is-no-longer-safe-for-jews/
I cannot even begin to list all the reports and the things we have been witnessing across college campuses both in Europe and America the last few years! And even more alarming is that recent surveys are showing that anti-Jewish sentiment is growing amongst the youth.
What is the root cause of this Jew hatred? Is it white nationalism? Nazism? Is it Islam and Islamic Jihad? In the West it has its manifestation in Nazism and in the east, it has its home in Islamic Jihadism. All hatred has its roots in Satan. However, Satan particularly hates what God loves! And Satan wants to destroy what God wants to restore! Ultimately, antisemitism finds its source in the Spirit of Antichrist, which is fueled by the wrath of Satan, (See Revelation 12).
Author Fred London, in his book “Morning Comes but also night,” sums it up well writing: “Some have said that education is the answer to solving anti-Semitism. Germany proved that to be a fallacy. It can be argued that pre-World War II Germany was the most sophisticated, educated, and cultured society of that time. Many of the greatest intellectuals, educators, authors, philosophers, inventors, engineers, scientists, those of the arts, along with theologians were produced in Germany, some of whom became part of the leadership of the Nazi regime. It was not a lack of education. It never has been. It was a heart problem. It was a spiritual problem.” (Emphasis mine)
Willful ignorance is not a virtue! I find virulent antisemites to not only be filled with hate, but a hatred founded upon ignorance and fabricated lies. With an irrational and blind hatred these antisemites incessantly go about mischaracterizing and ripping passages such as John 8:44 out of their context in order to misapply and misrepresent what, why, and who Jesus was referring to. They have poisoned their minds having been taken captive by Satan to do his will. They are the modern-day version of the Pharisee’s that Jesus declared were of their father the devil! Such irony! However, as the Lord said. “Salvation is of the Jews.” Five words that Jesus spoke that ought to shut the mouths of every Jew hating, Israel bashing, antisemitic ignoramus who would dare to pose themselves off as “Christian.” Besides the ugliness of being a bigoted antisemite, you are stupidly ignorant. Ignorant of history, ignorant of biblical prophecy, and ignorant of the Bible as a whole regarding God’s eternal redemptive purposes. Furthermore, to add to your ignorance, you further show yourself to be morally depraved when you try to veil your ignorance and stupidity in the cloak of a perverted, twisted, and corrupt reading of the scriptures. You prove yourselves to be the “synagogue of Satan” that Jesus was actually speaking about. And if you find my words to be harsh, rest assured, I can’t even begin to find the words to fully express my contempt of both your twisting of the Word of God and your anti Jewish tropes, incessant lies, and blood libels you level against those whom the Bible declares to be “…beloved for the sake of the fathers…”. (Rom. 11:28) Oh! But “they are enemies of the Gospel” you retort! Yes! But why? What does Paul write in the scripture?
“…through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!…For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in…Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.”
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant...”
Yet! Many willfully choose to be ignorant! Stupidity is sad. But stupidity wrapped up in a cloak of spirituality is especially damming! All antisemitism is an abomination but when it comes from so called professing “Christians” it is especially egregious! "Christian" antisemitism is an oxymoron! Let me say this in no uncertain terms. You call yourself a Christian? A believer and follower of Jesus Christ? Yet you post, spout, promulgate, and engage in antisemitic tropes and slurs all over social media? While also spreading lies and conspiracy theories that have been debunked a thousand times over? And then you add to your abominable hatred and heap up even more condemnation upon yourself by twisting and falsely manipulating the scriptures in order to justify your demonic obsession? You trample upon, and pervert the Word of God unto your own ruin and damnation! If you claim to be a Christian and engage in these things you are a disgrace to the cause of Christ and the Gospel! And unless you repent you will reap the coals of God’s anger upon your own head!
The (true) synagogue of Satan!
The word synagogue comes from a Greek word (synagoge) meaning "assembly" or "congregation," and it was used much like the English word "church. The “synagogue of Satan” referred to in Revelation were specific religious assemblies in Smyrna and Philadelphia that were persecuting the church.
To the church in Smyrna, Jesus says, “I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9). And then, to the church of Philadelphia in Asia Minor, Jesus says, “I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars— indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” (Revelation 3:9).
In these passages Jesus wasn’t talking about the genetics or the biology of these false believers but of their false theology and doctrine. He wasn’t talking about their ethnicity but rather their ideology and theology! Many Jews today don’t consider Messianic Jews to be “real Jews.” Again, the implication being that the terms “real Jews” or “fake Jews” is implying something about their theology, not their biology.
It is both historically and intellectually dishonest to use these passages of scripture to attack the state of Israel or Jews in general. And the irony that eludes those who engage in that rhetoric and embrace that deception is that THEY ARE the ones that Jesus was actually describing! They are the frauds and deceivers! They are slanderers and liars! And they are of their father the devil! That is the very essence of what Jesus is saying. The fools that postulate the absurd notion that the modern state of Israel isn’t really Israel and that it doesn’t consist of genetically descendent Jews are suffering from a demonic and Satanic delusion. These haters who rip Jesus’s words out of their historical context and misapply them to the state of Israel and claim that modern Israel is composed of “Fake Jews” are beyond delusional! It is beyond an absurdity, bordering on insanity! Let’s just put the shoe on the other foot and flip the script a bit! "To the church in ___ Jesus says, “I know about the slander of those who say they are Christians and are not but are a synagogue of Satan”!
For those who seek to misconstrue and misapply these passages in Revelation here’s a little bit of historical background concerning these passages. Under Roman law Jews were exempt from having to participate in Roman religious laws. As long as Christians were considered a sect of Judaism, they were exempt from the required observance of certain aspects of Roman state religion. However, as followers of Jesus were increasingly being expelled from synagogues and denounced by the Jewish leadership, Rome began to see Christianity as a new religion that did not have these same exemptions. Therefore, Christians outside the protective umbrella of the synagogue were open to Roman persecution. So then, this “synagogue of Satan” was one of two things or maybe a combination of the two. They were either,
1. Ethnic/Biological Jews that were persecuting Jewish believers in Jesus,
Or,
2. Gentile’s pretending to be Jewish believers in Jesus in order to evade Roman law and persecution. The historical record seems to indicate that Gentile Judaizers were pretending to be Jewish to avoid the Roman religious regulations while at the same time persecuting the Christians who were not following the Judaizer’s teachings. (Very much like today’s Hebrew Roots cult who claim to be Jews and are not and teach you must keep the Law.)
The heresy of Judaizing was first addressed by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. The Judaizers tried to put gentile Christians under the bondage of Jewish legalism, preaching what Paul termed “another gospel” and who were “ministers of Satan” thus really doing Satan’s work. They are what Jesus referred to as “an assembly of Satan”. The point to be made is Jesus wasn’t denigrating their heredity but their theology! His statement wasn’t about their ethnicity but rather about their ideology, false teachings, and hypocrisy! Jesus wasn’t calling the nation of Israel or the Jewish people as a whole “a Synagogue of Satan” despite what these present-day antisemites and slandering smear merchants try to peddle. Ironically, they themselves are a picture of what Jesus was referring to as an “assembly of Satan”. It is with a blind hatred that these antisemites incessantly go about mischaracterizing and twisting passages of scripture such as John 8:44 and the others that I've mentioned, tearing them out of their context in order to misapply and misrepresent what, why, and who Jesus was referring to. Their minds have been poisoned by Satan having been taken captive by him to do his will. They are the modern-day version of the Pharisee’s that Jesus declared were of their father the devil!
The Debunked Khazarian Myth
But where do these nonsensical ideas come from? One source is the Turkic Khazar myth which is promulgated by anti-Zionists. But calling it a “myth” is putting it mildly because the Khazar theory is a malicious fabrication created for the sole purpose of delegitimizing the Jewish Nation. However, to reiterate, the Khazar theory has been completely debunked on multiple levels. Not the least of which is the fact that multiple modern genetic studies have proven that the theory is baseless and completely without merit. To quote a geneticist of just one of the studies, “If Ashkenazis were the spawn of Khazar royals, their DNA would show it. But those Y chromosomes were as Levantine as a levant sandwich. The same genetic "signature" popped up on every Levite sampled (as well as a significant number of non-Levite Ashkenazis), strongly indicating descent from a single common ancestor who lived in the Fertile Crescent between 1,500 and 2,500 years ago. That signature is absent in the Y chromosomes of modern European non-Jewish men, and in male inhabitants of what was once Khazaria.”
(Here’s the actual peer reviewed study that disproves and debunks the Khazarian lie that has been woven by Satan and believed by his gullible dupes. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3928
And another article out of Stanford University. https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/12/20/new-genetic-study-more-evidence-for-modern-ashkenazi-jews-ancient-hebrew-patrimony/ )
Did Israel Cease to exist?
There is no doubt there are those who certainly wish it to be so! I saw someone comment recently on a post regarding Israel commenting that “There is no such thing as an Israelite anymore, they ceased to exist. The people there today are Israeli’s not Israelites.” Seems to me that is a distinction without a difference. Nevertheless, according to this ill-informed person, Israelites “…ceased to exist…” So, tell me. When did they “cease to exist”? Once again, we can see that Biblical ignorance is at the core of such statements. Therefore, let’s definitively and biblically answer the erroneous statement once and for all that…"There is no such thing as an Israelite anymore, because they ceased to exist…” Let’s hear what God has to say about that!
“But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring (who? your offspring!) from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid. Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord, “For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you, But I will NOT make a complete end of you….” (Jeremiah 46:27–28). This passage of scripture alone should be the end of that discussion. Nevertheless let 2 or 3 witnesses speak! “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord.” (Amos 9:8)
Never again?
Since the Holocaust of WWII Jews today say “never again” to convey the idea that they won’t ever go compliantly and quietly as sheep to the slaughter again, in like manner we the church ought to say “Never again” as well, in regard to our previous silence in the face of evil and our looking the other way!
Never again will we not speak up!
Never again will we fail to act!
Never again will we say - "it's not our problem!"
Never again will we sit idly by as innocent people are carried away for the slaughter!
My dear Christian brothers & Sisters! Antisemitism is the spirit of Antichrist! It has no place in the life or thoughts of a follower of Jesus! And it needs to be called out and rooted out of every place it rears its ugly Satanic head!
One of the greatest challenges of these last days will be how we as individual Christians and the larger corporate body of Christ will respond to the rising onslaught of antisemitism and the persecution of Jews. This challenge is already here, and it will increase in the days ahead, because the Scriptures tell us that it will. And the challenge and question I raise today is: What side of history will you find yourself on? Will you be on the wrong side of History? Will we be like the majority of the German churches in Nazi Germany that when they saw and heard the freight trains rolling by their churches with the cries of multitudes of Jews who were being transported to concentration camps, which then the pastors would exhort the congregation to sing a little louder in order to drown out the cries of the Jews! "Sing a little louder! Sing a little louder!"' Well folks, I for one am not going to be one who’s just going to sing a little louder and look the other way! I pray that the Lord would raise us up in this hour as a Corrie Ten Boom Generation, and as a Dietrich Bonhoeffer generation! But not just a few single individuals here and there, but as the true and whole corporate body of Christ who will have no reason to shrink back at His appearing! I pray that we will be an end times church and a true "confessing church" as Bonhoeffer called it, that stands both for justice and Biblical truth!
Unapologetically standing in the Truth of the Word of God,
Andy White
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