All Doves:

In my initial post I showed how the early church fathers, Constantine, and the revered Augustine were deceived by the Luciferian doctrine.  It should then come as no surprise to learn that Martin Luther became, perhaps, the greatest supporter of "Replacement" theology doctrine.

The "Reformation" was centered on the incredulous apostasy of Rome.  While Luther is mostly known for the issue of conflict, "Salvation is by justification of faith and God's grace," he posted 94 other objections to the church doors at Wittenberg, Germany.  I encourage the reader to read the full list of Luther's 95 theses.

Luther lived from 1483-1546 AD, and the churches that identify with him hide the fact that Luther was a major name in the hall of the Anti-Semitism doctrine.  In his pamphlet  "The Jews and Their Lies", Luther wrote, "What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews?  Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling and blaspheming.  If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing, and blasphemy.  Thus we cannot extinguish the unquenchable fires of divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the Jews.  With prayer and the fear of God we must practice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames.  We dare not avenge ourselves.  Vengeance a thousand times worse we could wish them already had them by the throat.  I shall give you my sincere advice:

First set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them.  This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of His Son and of His Christians for whatever we tolerate in the past unknowingly - and I myself was unaware of it - will be pardoned by God.

Second, I advise that their houses be razed and destroyed.  For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues.  Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn like the gypsies.  This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly war and lament about us before God.

Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursings and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.

Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb.  For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the sayings of Moses.  They wantonly employ the poison, cursing, and blasphemy.

Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highway be abolished completely for the Jews.  For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like.  Let them stay at home.

Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping.

Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an axe, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle unto the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam.  For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat.  Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them, as Moses did in the wilderness, slaying three thousand lest the whole people perish.  They surely do not know what they are doing: moreover, as people possessed, they do not wish to know it, hear  it, or learn it.  There it would be wrong to be merciful and confirm them in their conduct.  If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs, so that we do not become partakers of their abominal blasphemy and all their other vices and thus merit God's wrath and be damned with them.  I have done my duty.  Now let everyone see to his.  I am exonerated."

These were the precise words of the great Reformer!

The Bible declares that there is nothing new under the Sun.  It was happening back then and it is happening today as well.  We are only building upon the sins of the fathers.

There is a saying that "the church" started it all with forced conversions declaring: "Jews cannot live among us as Jews!"

Then the nations of the world followed up on what the church said and declared, "Jews cannot live among us".

Hitler simply built on that foundation the church had laid and simply stated, "Jews cannot live".

What happens when a church replaces Israel?

1.  The church becomes arrogant and self-centered.
2.  It boasts against the Jews and Israel.
3.  It devalues the role of Israel.
4.  These attitudes result in Anti-Semtism in word and deed.
5.  Without a place Israel and the Jewish people today, you cannot explain the Bible's prophecies, especially the very specific ones being fulfilled in Israel today.
6.  Many New Testament passages do not make sense when the Jewish people are replaced by the church.
7.  You can lose the significance of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, for today, many Christians boast of being a New Testament Christian or a New Testament Church as in the book of Acts.  However, the Bible of the early church was not the New Testament, which did not get codified until the 4th century AD, but rather the Hebrew Scriptures, of what we call the Old Testament.
8.  You can lose the Hebraic/Judaic contextualization of the New Testament.
9.  The church loses out on the opportunity to participate in God's plan and prophecy for the church, for Israel, and the world today.

Those that follow the "Covenant/Reformed" theology hold to a two/three covenant Bible, the Old and the New Testament.  They do not recognize the "seven" covenants and their relationship to the "seven" dispensations of God's economy.  When I was a pastor in a "Covenant/Reformed" theology denomination (the United Methodist Church) I would ponder why this was the case.  After many years of study, discussion, reflection, it came to me that this over-simplified the Biblical message and the denomination's justification of Anti-Semitism on the part of the church at large.  You may not understand this or recognize wht I am alluding to here.  As I have stated in my "Bible Understanding" series on Hermeneutics, the "Covenant/Reformed" theology churches allegorize Scripture, and force it to say something entirely different from what the Bible states.  Keep in mind all of this originated with the Roman Catholic Church and was passed on through the daughter churches of Rome.  They merely intepreted the Bible as a two-covenant system: Old = Law and New = Grace.  Even the Old was distorted by calling it the system of Torah Law ("nomos") in Hebrew, when it really mean so much more  than law, as the "Teachings" of God.  There is a huge difference in meanings.

The idea of the New Testament being a testament of merely about grace further confuses the Christians, especially in "easy grace" the realm of understanding "cheap grace", etc.

Suffice it to say, anyone hold a person belief in "Replacement" theology has, either wittingly, or unwittingly, aligned with the church that aligned itself with Constantine, Augustine, Luther, Hitler, Rome, Istanbul, and mainline Protestantism.  Hitler was a Roman Catholic, and the RCC never excommunicated him from the RCC for his crimes against humanity.  When I left the UMC, I walked away from one of the best retirement packages, without exception, and only bettered by the Anglican and Presybterian systems.  The UMC has $80-billion in pension assets invested in the financial markets.

"Replacement" theology as a doctrine is a subtle doctrine in most theological seminaries today.  It is not even mention as such.  The term used is "supersessionism" and it is largely hidden from naive seminary students.  By the time they wake up later in their ministry, they are forced to "go along to get along".  When I brought the issue up with my District Superintendent, his words to me were you don't want to make waves in the church and jeopardize your career.  He even went so far as to state I would be an excellent superintendent, so long as I kept the team focus.  I had unknowingly transitioned from the "Covenant/Reformed" school of hermenutics to the "Dispensational" hermeneutic.  On one occasion, a member of the church I was pastor said to me, "You sound more like a CM&A pastor than as a UMC pastor."  This lady had known me for decades because I had been appointed to my home church where I was a lay-member years prior.  I must admit that others recognized my transition/transformation long before I acknowledged my change.

Interestingly, Bible prophecy has been fulfilled so literally and exact to this point, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that everything it says for the future will be fulfilled in like manner.  According to Bible prophecy, the following great events lie in Israel's future, and these are getting closer in our windshield of coming events:

++The Pre-Tribulation Rapture
++Daniel's Seventieth Week
++The Times of the Gentiles
++The Antichrist/The False Messiah and his False Prophet.
++The Rebuilding of the Third Temple
++The Building of the Fourth Temple (the Millennial Temple)
++The 144,000 Jewish Evangelists
++The Two Witnesses
++The Conversion of Israel
++The Battle of Armageddon
++The New Covenant Implementation
++The Battle of Gog and Magog
++The World-Wide Regathering of Israel in Belief
++Israel and its surrounding Muslim Issues
++Israel Occupies Her Promised Land
++The River of Life
++Christ's Glorious World-Wide Millennial Kingdom

These are the major events that are going to come about in a relatively short span of time.  Few Christians are aware of the construction of a full-scale model of the Temple near the Dead Sea to use for the training of the Temple priesthood.  It is 269,000-square feet, occupying an area slightly larger than 650-feet X 400-feet.

Joel 2:18-29 says that after the Jews are reestablished in their land in the end times, the Lord will pour out His Spirit on all mankind.  The Jewish regathering to their homeland began in the late 19th century.  It resulted in the reestablishment of Israel in May of 1948.  Since that time, the Spirit of God has been poured out, as promised, with many manifestations.  Certainly one of those manifestation of the Spirit is the modern day rebirth of Messianic Judaism.  Like all great moves of the Spirit, there is always a counter move of Satan to confuse, frustrate, deceive, and destroy.

Jesus Himself said He would not return until the Jewish people are willing to cry out, "Blessed is He ho cmes in the name of the Lord"  -(Matthew 23:39).  Messianic Judaism, through its proclamation of the Gospel to the Jewish people, is planting the seeds in Jewish hearts that one day very soon that will produce the salvation of a great remnant.

The greatest Anti-Semitic and proponent of "Replacement" Theology is Steven Sizer, an Anglican priest in England and Hank Hanegraff in the USA, known popularly as the "Bible Answer Man".  Both men are virulently Anti-Semitic.  Hanegraff bluntly asserts that "Israel is the Harlot of Revelation."

In this post, I will sum up the arguments of these men and other "Covenant/Reformed" churches, ministries, and groups, including the cults.

1.  The Jews have been set aside by God because of their unbelief.
2.  The church has replaced Israel.
3.  The Jews were dispossessed of their land because of their unbelief.
4.  The regathering of the Jews in the 20th century could not be an act of God because the Jews have not repented and accepted Jesus as their Messiah.
5.  The Jews stole the land of Palestine from the Arabs and exist there illegally.
6.  The State of Israel is an accident of history. 
7.  Christian Zionists believe that God has a different way of salvation for the Jews.
8.  Christian Zionists are trying to manipulate American foreign policy toward Armageddon in order to hasten the Lord's return.
9.  Christian Zionists blindly support every action of the Israeli Government.
10.Christian Zionists have no sympathy for the oppressed Palestinian people.

All of these accusations are patently wrong, despite minute bits of truth in certain groups aligned with Israel.  I'll share more on these false premises presented by the 'Bible Answer Man' and mainline Protestant churches.  During the second and third week of June, 2014, both the PCAUSA and UMC churches voted to withdraw denominational pension fund assets from companies doing business with Israel.

One of the most important things Christians can do is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, a command in Psalms 122:6.

There are over 80 passages of Scripture that speak to the blindness of Israel.  There are 30 passages that speak about God's dealing with Israel.  As I close off this post, I'll give the reader a prime example of this overarching theme of God's dealings with His chosen people.  Ezekiel 36:21-24 speaks loudly and clearly, "But I had pity for My Holy Name, which the House of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.  Therefore say unto the House of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O House of Israel, but for Mine Holy Name's Sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whiter ye went.  And I will sanctify My Great Name, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I Am the Lord, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.  For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land."

That return will be in two phases:  First in unbelief and secondly in belief.  The Scriptures and particulars are for another post.  It is said that World War I provided the land for the Jewish nation, but it would take World War II and the Holocaust to provide the motivation to return to the land.  We are seeing Bible prophecy being fulfilled and provide us a foreshadow of what is to come.  We ought to be praying for the peace of Jerusalem for at least three reasons"

1.  The events in the Middle East are proof that God is faithful to His promises.
2.  The events in the Middle East are a testimony to God's unfathomable grace.
3.  The events in the Middle East are evidence that Christ Jesus is returning soon.

Isaiah 11:11-12:6 is speaking of the final worldwide gathering and return of the Jews.  It might appear to be irrelevant to our discussion, but it is relevant because of the way Isaiah numbers the final worldwide gathering in faith for the preparation for the Messianic Kingdom.  In verse 11, he labels it as "the second" one.  If the last one is the second one, how many can take place before the that?  ONLY ONE!

The Bible does not allow for several world-wide gatherings in unbelief.  It allows for one world-wide gathering in unbelief, followed by one gathering in faith.  The text only permits the world-wide gathering from the four corners of the Earth.  Therefore, the present State of Israel is very relevant to Bible prophecy.  There are a number of associated issues that are relevant to the modern State in Bible prophecy.  While many critics maintain the first return was the Babylonian return from exile that began in about 536 BC.  The fact is just under 50,000 came back, and the majority of them remained in Babylon.  It could not have been described as a world-wide return as Isaiah 11:11-12 sets forth.

God bless till next time,

Pastor Bob