…I recently came across this fragment of text that appears to fit well between Genesis 3 and 4…The LORD God drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. And Adam and his wife tilled the ground and ate bread by the sweat of their faces, as God had said.  And it came to pass, as Adam ha...  Read More

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  (Matthew 23.37 // Luke 13.34)Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?  (Acts 7.52)The first quote is from Jesus, the second from Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  We read these words and simply recognize them as statements about the history of Israel.But let’s think about Israel’s killin...  Read More

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righte...  Read More

The piece of conspiracy propaganda that has carried perhaps the most weight throughout the 20th century is a booklet entitled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.First appearing in Russia in 1903, the origin of The Protocols is still something of a mystery, though it is widely believed to be the work of Tsar Nicholas’ secret police.  Tsar Nicholas’ authority (and European autocratic power in gener...  Read More

European antisemitism took a more secular turn in the 19th century when the Rothschild family rose to prominence in the banking world.  Nearly every modern antisemitic conspiracy theory about “organized Jewry” running Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, the media, Hollywood, the American government, or the entire world is based on the famous Rothschild family of the 19th century.Mayer Amschel Rothsc...  Read More

One of life’s little wonders is that during your sleep and at a very young age, you learned how not to fall out of your bed.Julius Caesar thought elk have no knees.A friend once posted a controversial point on Facebook.  I disagreed and responded at length, explaining my disagreement.   The friend responded; we volleyed a few times.  Finally, frustrated that I still wasn’t persuaded, my friend wro...  Read More

In the 19th century, each European nation was held together by common religion, land, ancestry, or history.  The Jews couldn’t blend in on any of these points.European nations were Christian.  Jews rejected Christ and were viewed as spiritually blind, hard-hearted God-killers.  They couldn’t fit in.As they had a different history and a different ancestry and as they remained a distinct community w...  Read More

European Jewry of the 1800s found itself at a social disadvantage no matter which way it turned.  Every European nation favored, whether officially or unofficially, some branch of Christianity.  Jews who retained and practiced their cultural heritage faced suspicion and antisemitic prejudice and were often prevented by law or custom from fully participating in European society.  Full assimilation ...  Read More

Early Christians believed that the Jews had fallen out of favor with God for the crucifixion (“God-killers”) and were therefore driven from their homeland by the Romans (c. AD 135) and dispersed through the nations of the world.  Christians believed that their own religion superseded Judaism. After its legalization, Christianity spread through medieval Christendom, seeming to confirm all those ide...  Read More

[Pilate] took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”  And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”  (Matthew 27.24-25)Matthew here portrays the Jewish crowd accepting responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus, and Peter (Acts 2.22-23; 3.13-15; 4.10), Stephen (Acts 7.52) and Paul (1 Thessalonians 2....  Read More

The first Christians were Jews, but it didn’t take long for the gospel to be accepted by Samaritans (Acts 8) and then Gentiles, first through Peter (Acts 10) and then Paul (Acts 13-28).  Though there appears to be a Jewish minority in most churches, the influx of Gentiles creates problems in cultural and religious practice.  Must Gentile Christians be circumcised?  Observe the Sabbath?  Eat kosher...  Read More

Judaism was a legally accepted religion in the Roman Empire and Christianity began as a sect within it.  After the death of the apostles the growing separation between the two faiths opened the door for the birth of an antisemitic streak in Christianity.The gradual shift of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday (the Lord’s Day) was a key division between the two faiths.  The resurrection occurred on ...  Read More