Covenants of God #8

Judaism vs Jesus Christ

Fred R. Coulter—12/24/1989

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We need to understand some basic things concerning the Jews and Jesus Christ—the Jews' 'religion' and Jesus Christ. This week we will cover Judaism and Christ. Next week we will cover Judaism and the Church.

You need to understand that in order to understand the problems when we get into the book of Galatians. I know we're taking a long time to get to the book of Galatians, but for us to understand that we must have all this background to get into it, otherwise we will make the same mistake that the Protestants have made.

I just got this book entitled, Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection by Des Griffin; he has several others as well. I am reading the book Jews Must Live by Samuel Roth. It's a Jew's story of how he was treated by Jews—very interesting. In the back it tells all about the different things concerning the situation with the Jews.

People are so brainwashed today, that anything you say against Jews is anti-Semitism and you shouldn't say it. You can bring out problems of everybody else, but if you dare bring out problems concerning the Jews, you're dirty, rotten, no good and fit to be thrown away. Some of these things have to be of necessity handled by special publications.

I recommend you get this and read it, and read some of these other things. Some of them you may get upset, just like with Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion by Victor Marsden. When you first read that you think this is something; anti-Jewish. Go through and do this: If it is not true then why are these things happening? That's what you need to ask. This is a good book, because it shows a lot of the situation concerning the Jews. It really has nothing to do with Jews as the tribe of Judah when they were called out of Egypt. We think that it does.

Just to give us a little direction as to where we will be headed, a little direction into understanding what the situation is. I'm not going to go into depth a great deal into this book or any of the other books concerning the problems of the Jews. I'll just give the titles of the books, but I think it's very important for us to understand what is going on.

• What is the biggest, #1 problem in the world today? The Jewish question!
• Why is that wherever the Jews go, they are either kicked out, persecuted or executed?

That's a question that you eventually have to have some understanding about.

• Why does it always happen?
• Is there some reason?
• If there is, why?

Let's look at some situations concerning the Church.
Revelation 2 & 3

• contains a prophetic history of the Churches of God
• shows the attitudes of the Churches of God
• shows the problems of the Churches of God
• shows the difficulties and encounters that they come into during the history of the Church of God

I want you to read all of Rev. 2 & 3; I want to focus in on just a couple of verses so we can get our bearings. First of all we know that there are false apostles. There were false Jewish apostles.

Church at Ephesus

We find that the Church at Ephesus found the false apostles to be liars, and rejected them.

Church at Smyrna

Revelation 2:9: "I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who declare themselves to be Jews and are not… [That's a very strong statement—isn't it?] …but are a synagogue of Satan." Synagogue means a gathering together—'sunagoge' in the Greek—a gathering together of the followers of Satan! So, the Church had a encounter with these people—didn't they? They were responsible for some treacherous things that happened.

Church at Pergamos

They're right there where Satan's seat is. Remember, Satan has many different avenues and 'religions' and things that he does. We've always said that the biggest problem with Satanism is manifest basically in what we call the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox churches. However, there's a problem with Jews, too, that we have not really looked into and how it effects the Church.

Church at Philadelphia

Revelation 3:8: "I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no one has the power to shut it because you have a little strength, and have kept My Word, and have not denied My name." We need to really focus in on that, how important that is. We have to keep the faith and not deny the name of Jesus Christ. That requires then some individual standing for Truth and love of God and those things constantly.

Verse 9: "Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who proclaim themselves to be Jews and are not, but do lie… [I want to emphasize that it's always based on lies. I want to emphasize that you're going to always find lying at the root cause and problems of Judaism.] …—behold, I will cause them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you."

I'm going to read several pages out of this book, Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection. What is Judaism? A lot of us think that Judaism is what is in the Old Testament, but that is not true. Judaism is not what is in the Old Testament. I want us to really bear in mind that Judaism is the heart and core of the problem of Galatians. When Paul said, 'I was more jealous in the Jews' religion, the Greek there specifically states that 'I was more zealous in Judaism than my contemporaries.'

When he rebukes Peter for the problem of separating from the Gentiles, he said, 'Why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize.' There's no law in the Old Testament that says you shall not eat with other people of other nations or races—it doesn't say it!

• What is Judaism?
• Where did it come from?
• Who controls it?

From: Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection by Des Griffin:

The overwhelming majority of Americans, particularly of the fundamental religious persuasion would answer without hesitation that Judaism is the religious belief system held by the Jews from time immemorial.

And the Jews would like you to believe that, but that is not so.

Judaism, they would say, is the 'religion' of the Old Testament, and it is based solidly on the teachings of Moses. Such an answer might be totally sincere by it is also totally wrong.
And I might add that people also make this conclusion without knowing a thing about Judaism. How many of us here really know much of anything about Judaism? I mean really, truly, we don't know a thing about it.

Judaism both in its present form and as it has existed since before the time of Christ is violently opposed to God, to the God of the Bible. Shocking? Yes, but true!

I'm going to make a statement here, which will be born out a little bit later: Judaism is anti-Christ! Judaism, by its nature, is anti-Christ. Now, Jews will not admit that because they don't want to bring persecution on themselves. But everything they teach, and everything they say, is anti-Christ. We will see in this one what they did to Christ, how they looked at Christ and so forth.

We're going to have some quotes that Des Griffin gives in this book from the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia itself.

Quote from: Facts are Facts III from The Talmud by Arsene Darmesteter translated by Henrietta Szold (biblebelievers.org.au/facts2.htm)

Jews talking about Jews:

 "Now Judaism finds its expression in the Talmud, which is not a remote suggestion and a faint echo thereof, but in which it has become incarnate, in which it has taken form, passing from a state of abstraction into the domain of real things. THE STUDY OF JUDAISM IS THAT OF THE TALMUD, AS THE STUDY OF THE TALMUD IS THAT OF JUDAISM ...THEY ARE TWO INSEPARABLE THINGS, OR BETTER, THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME ... Accordingly, the Talmud is the completest expression of religious movement, and this code of endless prescriptions and minute ceremonials represents in its perfection the total work of the religious idea...

I'm just going to interject here: What is the problem in Galatians and partially in Romans? Salvation by works! That is the problem! Unless you understand what the works of Judaism are, you are not going to understand what works it is talking about. And particularly, if you have a Protestant background, because the Protestants equate that with the Ten Commandments and the laws of God. It's a double-whammy confusion we're living with today.

The miracle was accomplished by a book, the Talmud… The Talmud, in turn, is composed of two distinct parts, the Mishna and the Gemara; the former the text, the latter the commentary upon the text ...By the term Mishna we designate A COLLECTION OF DECISIONS AND TRADITIONAL LAWS EMBRACING ALL DEPARTMENTS OF LEGISLATION, CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS ...This code, which was the work of several generations of Rabbis ... Nothing, indeed can EQUAL THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TALMUD unless it be the ignorance that prevails concerning it...

The DAILY STUDY OF THE TALMUD, WHICH AMONG JEWS BEGAN WITH THE AGE OF TEN TO END WITH LIFE ITSELF, necessarily was a severe gymnastic for the mind, thanks to which IT ACQUIRED INCOMPARABLE SUBTLETY AND ACUMEN—SINCE IT ASPIRES TO ONE THING: TO ESTABLISH FOR JUDAISM A "CORPUS JURIS ECCLESIASTICI."

Which then is it is the basis, the jurisdiction, for their religion. {Back to Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection}

Following the destruction of the temple in 70A.D. the regulation of all Jewish affairs was left in the hands of the Pharisees.

A little later we're going to have an interesting study: Pharisees vs Sadducees and so forth because that will be important.

Quote: "The whole history of Judaism was reconstructed from the Pharisaic point of view. Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thought of all Jews for the future." (jewishencylopedia.com)

What was Paul? Paul was a Pharisee! Why did God call him? Because there had to be someone to teach why we don't do the laws of Judaism, but why we keep the laws of God! There is a distinct difference.

Quote: "The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single piece of that literature … and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism." (Universal Jewish Ency. 1943 [come-and-hear.com/dilling/chapt01.html] )

Here's what we have: Pharisaism, Talmudism, Judaism, they are all one and the same. We need to keep that in mind.

We can go back and cover some of the things that we have here of the history of the Jews going off into captivity and so forth. We'll cover that at a little later time.

According to the celebrated Aldolph Moses, it was Flabious Josephus writing for the instruction of Jews and Romans who coined the term: Judaism. It was only in comparatively recent times after the Jews became familiar with modern Christian literature that they began to name their religion Judaism.

This new modus operandi, which at first may well have had the appearance of being a great idea whose time had come, soon led to massive abuses. The interpretations of law rendered by the Scriptures soon became to have a unique legal authority of their own. They soon came to carry more weight than the books of the Old Testament.

I want to emphasize that, because we will see where Jesus said, 'Full well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition.'

As a top Jewish authority expresses it, 'a method of exegesis had to be developed that would permit the interpretation of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) beyond its literal meaning.' When the interpretations or vain reasonings of the Scribes were directly contrary to the Law of God, the Scribes 'attempted whenever possible not to abolish it (the Law), but to introduce some legal fiction whereby the authority of the law was upheld and yet at the same time rendered null and void for all practical purposes'" (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, article on Authority, p 634)

Now, that's worded just a little bit differently than what Jesus said, but it is true. {Back to Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection}

Soon there emerged another elitist group of individuals who considered themselves above the scribes. These were the Pharisees. Their exclusivist religion became known as Pharisaism. A modern day American researcher, who for many years has conducted an in-depth study of Pharisaism, explains: first the Pharisees said that as an architect uses blueprints to construct a building so God used the letters of the Hebrew alphabet to create the universe, including the Torah.

This gives us, also, a little insight into sacred names. Sacred-namers are going back to a 'Christianized Pharisaism.' That's exactly what they're doing.

The Torah, the Pharisees believed, contained two distinct layers of interpretations: the literal (that is the surface interpretation) and a much more profound mystic interpretation hidden in the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

To the Pharisees, the letters of the Hebrews alphabet were not simply symbols, which stood for sounds which made up words for communication, quite the contrary. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet were tiny units, something like micro-chips in computer technology, which contained all the information about the history of the universe and God's will for man. Thus, a Hebrew letter held not only great significance in itself, but if it were combined with other letters, and those words with other words, as in the Scriptures, a tremendous source of mysterious knowledge became available (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, articles on The Kabala, p 620; Gnosticism, p 635).

And there were Jewish Gnostics! We need to make that very important so that when we come to the book of Galatians we can understand it.

The Pharisees believed that only they had the key to the understanding of all the information contained in the Hebrew alphabet and the Scriptures. They believed that their most imminent Rabbis knew how to decipher the true meaning of the Scriptures because they had previously lived in heaven…

A bit like Mormon doctrine? There is 'nothing new under the sun'—right?

…and were now recalling what God had told them.

How are you going to go against that Authority? That's what they were establishing. Every cult, of which Judaism is, must establish a human authority that supposedly has Divine, mysterious, connection that you cannot refute.

Isn't it interesting? It says, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and we've always been taught and have now learned and know that does not mean just the Catholics and Protestants, but we now also know it means the Catholics, a great majority of the Protestants, the Buddhists, Hindus, and Judaism. They have a mystery religion!

In their true meaning of the Scriptures, because they have previously lived in heaven and they were now only recalling what God had told them, the Talmud relates how Moses ascended to heaven…

The Bible doesn't; the Talmud does

…and there beheld Rabbi Akiba (still unborn) expounding the Torah "in a wondrous manner" (Menachoth 29b). Thus when the Pharisee read a verse from Scripture, which was contrary to his desires, he had to contempt for its obvious meaning. That meaning was for the simple minded and the unlearned. Instead, he would ponder the shapes of the letters, notice which letters were next to each other, count up the number of times a letter was repeated, tally the numerical equivalent of letters and words an so on.

After consulting with fellow rabbis the Pharisee would then come up with an interpretation which no one would have dreamed existed, but which now squared exactly with what he, the Pharisee, wanted to believe. (Israel, Our Duty, Our Dilemma by Theodore Pike, pgs 16-17)

That is called human justification! It happens all the time. You must not be a Pharisee to do it.

In Christ's Time: During the 400 years preceding the birth of Christ, these new laws and interpretations literally exploded in number. They became more elaborate and complicated as the religious leaders strove mightily to circumvent God's Law in every phase and facet of their lives. They wished to disobey God while retaining the appearance of great Godliness.

I need to interject here, the most diabolical thing that could ever be done is take those people who should be the custodians of the Word of God, who should know the Word of God and turn them into serving Satan the devil while telling them that they're serving God. That is exactly what has happened in Judaism.

The Pharisees also became increasingly self-centered and self-righteous and brazenly intolerant of anyone who might question their claim to what amounted to Divine rule.

They still do it today! 'We are the chosen people.' Part of the reason the Jews have received so many things upon them is because they're getting back their attitude that they've heaped upon everyone else.

The Pharisees considered themselves the crème de la crème, the select of the elect of the Judean society. Over a period of approximately 1,000 years the voluminous decrees of the scribes and Pharisees developed in what we know today as the Babylonian Talmud.

As Benjamin Friedman (a Jew) points out, the forms of religious worship known as Pharisaism in Judea in the time of Jesus was a religious practice based exclusively upon the Talmud. The Talmud in the time of Jesus was the Magna Carta, the declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights all rolled into one to those who practiced Pharisaism.

The Talmud today occupies the same relative position with respect to those who profess Judaism. The Talmud exercises virtually totalitarian dictatorship over the lives of so-called Jews, whether they are aware of it or not. Their spiritual leaders make no attempt to conceal the control they exercise over the lives of so-called Jews. They extend their authority far beyond the legitimate limits of spiritual matters. Their authority has not limit outside of religion. (Facts are Facts, pp 25-26).

This evaluation was confirmed by another leading Jewish rabbi, the Talmud is the legal code which forms the basis of the Jewish religious law, and is the textbook used in training the rabbis.

Let's see what happened with the Jewish religious leaders and Christ. Let's go right back to the very beginning. Why was Jesus born of the tribe of Judah of the house of David? Because God prophesied and promised it!—that is why. If you were Satan the devil don't you think that the most important project that you would have to do would be to seduce the Jews into your control, to take them away from the Messiah? Don't you think that would be one of the most important things you could do?

Wouldn't you think that one of the most important things you could do would be to take the religious officials, have them change from following the Bible to their own, but keep them in authority to change the religion; instead of worshiping God, you are now worshiping Satan. That would be paramount to do.

We're to have pure minds—right? We're to have clean thoughts—right? So therefore, it's hard for us to think of this conspiratorial type of thing that Satan would do; to literally entrap people into it. That's what he has literally done! But he has to have willing servants to do it.
Let's see exactly what is said. They all knew and we're just going to summarize certain verses, Matthew 2:3—after the birth of Jesus, Herod and the wise men and so forth "But when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And after gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people…" (vs 3-4). I want you to note: no Pharisees here. Pharisees did not really come into a chokehold power until after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Then after the destruction of the temple all of the priests were killed who were the Sadducees. I just want to make that statement here because that will become important, and I'll go through the Scriptures and show you later on.

Verse 4: "And after gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ should be born." They knew, and we know what happened.

Verse 16: "Then Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the Magi, was filled with rage; and he sent and put to death all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in the area all around, from two years old and under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the Magi." Herod was an Idumea of Esau, if you didn't know that.

Notice that when Jesus was 12-years-old He stayed back at the temple; Luke 2:46: "Now it came to pass that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers… [doctors of the law; who understood the law] …both hearing them and questioning them. And all those who were listening to Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers" (vs 46-47).

John 1 in time setting is some 30 years after Jesus' birth. Here we find the Pharisees mentioned, along with the priests and the Levites.

John 1:19: "And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' Then he freely admitted, and did not deny, but declared, 'I am not the Christ.' And they asked him, 'Then who are you? Are you Elijah?' And he said, 'I am not.' Then they asked, 'Are you the Prophet?' And he answered, 'No'" (vs 19-21).

I've gotten literature from four different people each claiming to be 'the voice in the wilderness.' If this keeps up there's going to be a 'howl in the forest.'

Verse 23: "He said, 'I am a voice crying in the wilderness… [he had his message directly from God; I don't see that from these other people.] …"Make straight the way of the Lord," as Isaiah the prophet said.' Now, those who had been sent belonged to the sect of the Pharisees" (vs 23-24).

Let me say something about some of the religious parties. They had political affiliation. A Pharisee was a religious political organization. A priest could belong to the group of Pharisees, or he could belong to the Sadducees. A scribe could belong to either one. The Sadducees were of the priesthood and controlled the temple.

Matthew 3—again, we're going to examine the situation of John the Baptist preaching, teaching and baptizing. We will see what he told those wondrous Pharisees. If you want to know who was anti-Jewish, in the sense of being anti-Judaism, Jesus Christ was! Maybe that will help you understand why they are so anti-Christ. And we'll see next time why they so hated Christians. Even today, the movie put out by the Jews—The Last Temptation of Christ—to blasphemously attack Jesus

Matthew 3:7: "But after seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who has forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath?'" That's a pretty strong statement. I don't have to tell you what a Palestinian viper is like, I've described that several times in other sermons. Nevertheless, notice the 'kind, Christian attitude' that He had toward the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

"…'You brood of vipers, who has forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, produce fruits worthy of repentance" (vs 7-8). In other words, works showing that you have a change of heart and repentance from, obviously, your religious works and attitude to God!

Verse 9: "And do not think to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'"… That's the thing that is used today. I suggest you read anything; the Jews say: they are the full 12 tribes of Israel, Abraham was a Jew; Isaac was a Jew. No they weren't! But that's their interpretation of it. They say the same thing to this very day. God is saying you can't rely upon who your progenitors were.

John 3—we're going to read a little bit about a 'good' Pharisee. Let's see how he had to be good. This is about Nicodemus. Do you think Nicodemus was welcomed into the council after he buried Jesus? You can be guaranteed he was not.

John 3:1: "Now, there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher Who has come from God; because no one is able to do the miracles that You are doing unless God is with him.'" (vs 1-2).

What did Jesus do? Warmly embraced Him and patted Him on the head and said, 'bless you.' NO! He corrected him, v 3: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again… [doesn't matter who you are] …he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'"

Verse 9: "Nicodemus answered and said to Him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'You are a teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?'" (vs 9-10) 'What would you do if I told you heavenly things?'

I'm picking out verses so we see how Jesus and the Pharisees got along.

Matthew 12:34: "Offspring of vipers, how are you able to speak good things, being evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Then He goes on to say that you're judged by every word that you have to say and so forth.

Mark 12:37: "…And the whole multitude listened to Him eagerly. And He said to them in His teaching, 'Beware of the scribes, who take pleasure in walking around in robes, and in salutations in the marketplaces, and in the chief seats in the synagogues and the chief places in the Feasts; who devour the houses of widows, and for a pretext make long prayers. These shall receive the greater condemnation'" (vs 37-40). The common people gladly heard Him. They were probably relived that they didn't have to do all this nonsense and falderal that the Pharisees were telling them to do.

We find in Matt. 9:36 that Jesus had compassion on the people. Nowhere did He have compassion on the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the scribes. As a matter of fact, when you go through and read it, you find it was a verbal war going on all the time.

Luke 4—Let's see the wondrous reception that He received. This will kind of change your attitude a little bit about Jesus of the New Testament. A lot of Protestants have this feeling that Jesus was a wonderful man and everywhere that He went that everyone just became beautiful and wonderful and it was nice. No, it wasn't! After He got done preaching:

Luke 4:28: "Now all in the synagogue who heard these things were filled with indignation…. [It wasn't quite that loving reception—was it? They were filled with wrath!] …And they rose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the edge of the mountain… [a cliff] …on which their city was built, in order to throw Him down headlong… [they were leading Him out] …but He passed safely through their midst and departed." (vs 28-30). So, He got away!

Mark 2—Jesus was in Capernaum. The whole house was surrounded by people, and here's the man with palsy that wanted to be healed. When they couldn't get in:

Mark 2:4: "And since they were not able to come near to Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was; and after breaking it open, they let down the stretcher on which the paraplegic was lying. Now, when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paraplegic, 'Child, your sins have been forgiven you.' But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak such blasphemies?….'" (vs 4-7). We're going to find that they accused Jesus of using Beelzebub; of blaspheming; being born of fornication, and so forth. That shows their attitude.

"'…Who has the power to forgive sins, except one, and that is God?' And Jesus immediately knew in His spirit what they were reasoning within themselves, and said to them, 'Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?'" (vs 7-8). Just think of the power that Jesus had. He knew what they were thinking.

He said, "…'Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paraplegic, "Your sins have been forgiven you"? or to say, "Arise, and take up your stretcher and walk"? But in order that you may understand that the Son of man has authority on the earth to forgive sins,' He said to the paraplegic, 'I say to you, arise and pick up your stretcher, and go to your house.' And immediately he arose and, after picking up his stretcher, went out in the presence of them all… [walked out right in the middle of them] …so that they… [the people] …were all amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We have never seen the like!'" (vs 8-12). So then, He went out.

Verse 15: "And it came to pass that, when He sat down to eat in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. But when the scribes and the Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, 'Why is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?' And after hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'Those who are strong do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' Now, the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, 'Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?'" (vs 15-18). They were continually criticizing what Jesus did and what He taught.

Mark 3—here's where Jesus came into the synagogue, healed the man with the withered hand. They were mad at Jesus; they were angry, so Jesus again turned in anger:

Mark 3:5: "And after looking around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as sound as the other. Then the Pharisees left and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him as to how they might destroy Him" (vs 5-6).

(go to the next track)

Who were the Herodians? The Herodians were the political part of Herod! This sounds a little bit like Israeli lobbying in Washington, D.C., today; to get what you want. The Jews use the same tactics today. Later we'll see what they did in the book of Acts, it's going to surprise you; the methods are exactly the same. So, Jesus withdrew Himself.

Now let's go back to Matthew 11:20[transcriber's correction]: "Then He began to castigate the cities in which most of His miracles had taken place, because they did not repent: 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that have taken place in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon… [Those are the people that the Jews hate, even to this very day.] …they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who have been exalted to heaven, shall be cast down to the grave. For if the miracles that have taken place in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you'" (vs 20-24).

You cannot get any greater of an insult. It would be like going to the Jewish political gathering today and insulting them. They would rise up in wrath and get rid of you! Write articles! Get the government against you! Is that not what they did with Jesus?

Matthew 12:22: "Then was brought to Him one who was possessed by a demon, blind and dumb; and He healed him, so that the one who had been blind and dumb both spoke and saw. And the multitudes were all amazed, and said, 'Is this the Son of David?' But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, 'This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, prince of the demons.'" (vs 22-24). And we will see, as we go along, that the encounter got more intense and more ferocious and more mindset.

Verse 34: "Offspring of vipers, how are you able to speak good things, being evil?…."

Verse 41: "The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here." Jesus is making some pretty powerful claims to these Jews.

Verse 42: "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. But when the unclean spirit has departed from a man… [notice the implication that is being given here talking to the scribes and Pharisees] …it goes through dry places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house, from which I came out.' And after coming, it finds it unoccupied, swept and set in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Likewise shall it also be with this wicked generation" (vs 42-45),

He's also telling from whence their religion came from. I submit, when I look back at our experience in Worldwide (Church of God) whenever we came up against prominent Jews all they did was destroy; all they did was take. That can be pretty well documented.

Sometimes you have to pullout and isolate these verses so that we get the attitude and feeling of the Pharisees and so forth. This is when they were talking about John the Baptist and so forth:

Luke 7:28: "'For I tell you, among those who have been born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but the one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.' Now all the people and the tax collectors who heard this justified God because they had been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the doctors of the law had set aside the counsel of God concerning themselves, and had not been baptized by him" (vs 28-30).

They couldn't take it. John was saying, 'You generation of vipers; you're coming out here to be baptized. I 'ain't' baptizing you!' They weren't baptized!

Verse 36: "Now, one of the Pharisees invited Him to eat with him. And after going into the Pharisee's house, He sat down at the table." You know the whole account there, I'll just summarize it: He didn't say, 'Now, Simon, this is wonderful, oh this is nice food, this is great!' NO!

Verse 37: "And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner… [v 38]: …began to wash His feet with her tears…anointing them with the ointment…."

And Simon said in his heart, v 39: "…'This man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what the woman is who is touching Him because she is a sinner.' Then Jesus answered and said to him, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.' And he said, 'Teacher, say on.' 'There were two debtors of a certain creditor; one owed five hundred silver coins, and the other fifty. But when they did not have anything with which to pay him, he forgave them both. Tell Me then, which of them will love him most?' And Simon answered and said, 'I suppose the one whom he forgave the most.' And He said to him, 'You have judged rightly.' (vs 39-43).

And Jesus said, paraphrasing: 'Simon, I came into your house and you didn't wash My feet, you didn't take care of Me, but this woman did, and her sins—which are many—are forgiven! Go your way in peace!'

Can you imagine what that Pharisee was thinking with this? Jesus insulted him, corrected him, after He [Jesus] had been invited to dinner. Now, if you've read a book of etiquette how to treat your guests, that's not how you treat your host or your guests—right? When you go to someone's house, you don't say anything against the host. You always praise their food, though it's burned. You always tell them how delicious it is, though you choke on it. Jesus didn't!

John 5:15—this is the healing of the man by the pool. After Jesus told him that He had healed him: "The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had made him whole. And for this cause, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on a Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I work.' So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath, but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (vs 15-18).

In the book of John {note sermon series The Gospel of John} the Gospel written by the apostle of love, there were an awful lot of confrontations and some very nasty sayings.

Verse 37: "And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time. And you do not have His Word dwelling in you…" (vs 37-38). Please understand and let's make it absolutely clear: Judaism, Pharisaism, Talmudism does not have the words of God abiding in them, here referring to even the Old Testament.

They refer to it because from there they derive their 'authority.' Once they establish their authority they go on an do their own teachings, their own thing, and their own traditions! Jesus said:

"…you do not have His Word dwelling in you, for you do not believe Him Whom He has sent. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life; and they are theones that testify of Me. But you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I have known you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves" (vs 38-42).

Strong, disastrous, attacking words—right? You can tell that to a Jews today and you might have the JDL throw a bomb on your porch for anti-Semiticism! You might read this book about anti-Semiticism—Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection by Des Griffin—it is a thing that has been created by the Jews so that they can control the press, movies, books, people, politicians—if you don't believe it, just view the scenery today.

Verse 43: "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; but if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How are you able to believe, you who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, in whom you have hope. But if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me; for he wrote about Me. And if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My words?" (vs 43-47). Those are strong sayings—aren't they? Very strong sayings!

Mark 7—here's a very critical chapter; very important for us to really grasp the heart and core of what it's saying and it's meaning. Not the technical terminology of whether to eat clean or unclean meats; that's not the subject here. What I want to focus in on is the attitude of Pharisaism in relationship to Jesus Christ. Pharisaism and Judaism are—still are today; have been—anti-Christ. That's why when people talk about Judeao-Christian 'religion,' there is no such an animal.

Mark 7:1: "Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes from Jerusalem came together to Him. And when they saw some of His disciples eating with defiled hands (that is, unwashed hands), they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, holding fast to the tradition of the elders, do not eat unless they wash their hands thoroughly…. [with the fist] …Even when coming from the market, they do not eat unless they first wash themselves. And there are many other things that they have received to observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and brass utensils and tables. For this reason, the Pharisees and the scribes questioned Him, saying, 'Why don't Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?'…. [I'll explain this to you very nicely'—NO!] …And He answered and said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written…'" (vs 1-6).

I tell you one thing, if you want to really get into any argument and a fight; if you've ever been in an argument or fight and you point your finger at someone and say, 'You're a lying hypocrite,' I guarantee you that's not going to be a sweet ending. I guarantee it's going to be more adamant, more hostile—isn't it? Yes! The truth is, this was not a fight against Jesus and the Pharisees man-to-man, this was the fight of the Son of God against the sons of the devil!

"'…"This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me… [uselessness, faulty, wrong] …teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." For leaving the commandment of God…'" (vs 6-8). Isn't that what we read here, what the Pharisees did from their own Jewish Encyclopedia? They set aside the words of God so they could have their own interpretation or traditions! That's what Jesus said.

"'…you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this.' Then He said to them, 'Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition'" (vs 8-9). Judaism is based upon tradition. Tradition existed even during the days of Jesus. It was not wholly compiled into its modern form until it was in Babylon some 200 years after Jesus, when that was one of the safe havens for the Jews.

Verse 10: "'For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother"; and, "The one who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death." But you say, "If a man shall say to his father or mother, 'Whatever benefit you might receive from me is corban' (that is, set aside as a gift… [dedicated to the temple] …to God), he is not obligated to help his parents." …. [that is the sum of the thought there] … And you excuse him from doing anything for his father or his mother, nullifying the authority of the Word of God by your tradition which you have passed down; and you practice many traditions such as this'" (vs 10-13). That is about as strong a condemnation as you can get.

Imagine that if any one of the ministers of God were to march into an assembly of the bishops of America and walk up there as guest speaker and stand there and tell them these things, or to the convention of rabbis and tell them these things, can you imagine what a wild time he would have getting out alive? That's what Jesus was doing here. He was making it clear!

John 7:1—again, this intensifies all the way through: "After these things, Jesus was sojourning in Galilee, for He did not desire to travel in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him." We know the account about the Feast of Tabernacles.

Verse 16: "Jesus answered them and said, 'My doctrine is not Mine, but His Who sent Me. If anyone desires to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak from My own self. The one who speaks of himself is seeking his own glory… [That eliminates a lot of televangelists today—doesn't it?] …but He Who seeks the glory of Him Who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Did not Moses give you the Law, [True? Yes? or No? Yes, he did!] …and not one of you is practicing the Law?…. [Why? They rejected the Law, as we read, keeping their traditions!] …Why do you seek to kill Me?'" (vs 16-19).

Verse 20: "The people answered and said, 'You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?'" Isn't that the same derision that is used today if you try to say something about some of the religious practices. 'Who are you? Who do you think you are? You must be demon possessed.' They accused Jesus of being born of fornication, following Beelzebub, blaspheming God. They accused Him of being demon possessed. Is that not anti-Christ? It's got to be!

John 8:19: "Then they said to Him, 'Where is Your Father?' Jesus answered, 'You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would also have known My Father.' Jesus spoke these words in the treasury while teaching in the temple; but no one arrested Him because His time had not yet come. Then Jesus said to them again, 'I am going away; and you shall seek Me, but you shall die in your sin. Where I am going, you are not able to come.' Therefore, the Jews said, 'Will He kill Himself? Is that why He says, 'Where I am going, you are not able to come'?' And He said to them, 'You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. That is why I said to you that you shall die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins'" (vs 19-24). Jesus told them, 'I have told you who I AM.'

Verse 28: "Then Jesus said to them, 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you yourselves shall know that I AM, and that I do nothing of Myself. But as the Father taught Me, these things I speak. And He Who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone because I always do the things that please Him.' As He spoke these things, many believed in Him. Therefore, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free'" (vs 28-32).

Verse 33: "They answered Him, 'We are Abraham's seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. What do You mean by saying, "You shall become free"?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a servant of sin. And the servant does not live in the house forever; but the Son lives forever'" (vs 33-35). He's telling them they are going to be evicted out of their land and their home.

Verse 36: "'Therefore, if the Son shall set you free, you shall truly be free. I know that you are Abraham's seed; but you are seeking to kill Me… [even the ones that believed on Him; think of that] …because My words do not enter into your minds. speak the things that I have seen from My Father, and you do the things that you have seen from your father'" (vs 36-38).

Verse 39: "They answered and said to Him, 'Our father is Abraham.' Jesus said to them, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has spoken the Truth to you, which I have heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father.' Then they said to Him, 'We have not been born of fornication. We have one Father, and that is God.'" (vs 39-41)—and the Talmud said that He was conceived during a 'menstrual time,' too, by the way. And more blasphemous things of Jesus are in the Talmud than I care to bring in and read here in the Church.

Verse 42: "Therefore, Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded forth and came from God. For I have not come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why don't you understand My speech? Because you cannot bear to hear My words…. [Why can they not hear His words?] …You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you desire to practice. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the Truth because there is no Truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he is speaking from his own self; for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I speak the Truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you can convict Me of sin? But if I speak the Truth, why don't you believe Me? The one who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God'" (vs 41-47).

What is the sum of all of this? Jews who follow Judaism are not of God!Jesus clearly said so!

Verse 48: "Then the Jews answered and said to Him, 'Are we not right in saying that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?'"

You know the rest of the account. He ended up by telling them, v 58: "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.' Then they picked up stones to throw at Him…. [There seems to be a good supply of stones still in Judea] …But Jesus concealed Himself and went out of the temple, passing through the midst of them, and in this manner departed" (vs 58-59). Strong!

John 9:16—this is the account when the blind man whom Jesus gave sight to was testifying to the Pharisees: "Then some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God… [Do the Jews believe that to this day? Yes!] …because He does not keep the Sabbath.'…."

Verse 40: "And those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things; and they said to Him, 'Are we also blind?' Jesus said to them, 'If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore, your sin remains'" (vs 40-41). What did Jesus say, 'You will die in your sins because you believe not on Me and on Him Who sent Me.'

John 10:30: "I and the Father are one.' Then the Jews again picked up stones so that they might stone Him" (vs 30-31). The rest of the account there they said, 'You're blaspheming because you say that You're the Son of God.'

John 11:46—after the raising of Lazarus from the dead: "But some of them… [spies and tattletales] …went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council…" (vs 46-47). Isn't it interesting, that today the Jews always have some sort of council? They always have some sort of group that they always go to? That's incredible—isn't it?

"…and said, 'What shall we do? For this man does many miracles. If we allow Him to continue in this manner, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away from us both this place and the nation.' But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, 'You have no understanding, nor consider that it is better for us that one man die for the people, than that the whole nation should perish'" (vs 47-50).

What did Jesus say? He who seeks to save his life shall lose it! Did not the Jews lose their nation? Yes, they did!

Verse 51: "Now he did not say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but also that He might gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Therefore, from that day they took counsel together, so that they might kill Him" (vs 51-53).

I want to cover just one thing here, which we will come back and cover in detail later on. Matthew 23:1: "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat as judges'" (vs 1-2). A lot of people refer back to that saying that they still sit in Moses' seat. I would have to say that this refers to only when they are reading the Scriptures. Could not mean anything else, after He called them the sons of the devil, followers of Satan, and so forth.

Verse 3: "Therefore, every judgment that they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say and do not." That's the only way you can reconcile the Scriptures together. It would only be when they are reading out of the Scriptures that they are sitting in the seat of Moses. They're actually reading the Scriptures of Moses that they have that authority. He said they don't have authority to do anything else.

Verse 27: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but within are full of the bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness. Likewise, you also outwardly appear to men to be righteous, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous; and you say, 'If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' So then, you are testifying against yourselves, that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets; and as for you, you are filling up the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of Gehenna?" (vs 27-33). Those are strong, strong words!

I've preached some tough sermons once in a while, but never like that! I mean never, never like that!

Verse 34: "Because of this, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes; and some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in your synagogues, and some of them you shall persecute from city to city." We'll see that in the book of Acts and also some of the other histories of the Jews; attitude toward the Christians.

Verse 35: "So that upon you may come all the righteous blood poured out upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation" (vs 35-36). That's tough! And it did come upon that generation! If you want to know how bad it came, just read some of the history of Josephus and what happened. It was gruesome and awful!

Verse 37: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who have been sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused! Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see Me at all from this time forward, until you shall say, 'Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord'" (vs 37-39). I'll tell you one thing: The Jews today have not yet said that!

Matthew 27—this will help explain some of the Jewish problems today in their anti-Christ attitude and why they have gone through so many things, and why these things have occurred in every nation wherever the Jews have been gathered. I'll have to give some references for some other books:

I remember reading a magazine by J.R. Church, how he had in there a writing of a Jewish rabbi in 1932 warning the Jews that they better change, because they were going to have God's hand raised up against them. That was really something. I couldn't believe it when I read that, but it was really just astounding.

Here is part of the problem the Jews have today, and it cannot be denied. They don't like anyone to say this to them; they don't like the Catholics to say, 'You are the people that crucified Jesus.' But it is true!

Matthew 27:22[transcriber's correction]: "Pilate said to them, 'What then shall I do with Jesus Who is called Christ?' They all said to him, 'Let Him be crucified!' And the governor said, 'Why? What evil did He commit?' But they shouted all the more, saying, 'Let Him be crucified!' Now Pilate, seeing that he was accomplishing nothing, but that a riot was developing instead, took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, 'I am guiltless of the blood of this righteous man. You see to it.' And all the people answered… [at the instigation of the priests, Pharisees, and the scribes] …and said, 'His blood be on us and on our children'" (vs 22-25). And it is to this very day!

• until the Jews repent of that attitude
• until the Jews throw away their traditions
• until they get away from their anti-Christ attitude and stance

that is going to happen time and time again! When you couple that together with what they do in every society where they go, that eventually it ends up that you must do something about the Jewish problem to get rid of them and their control, or the nation is destroyed!

• How close are we to destruction because of the Jews taking over financially in America?
• educationally in America?
• philosophically in America?

We are closer and closer to destruction! Wait until you read some of the things in this book—Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection—it will make your hair stand on end; we are right there. Wait until you read what Benjamin Franklin had to say about letting the Jews take over. It's going to be something!

I think we have discounted the Jewish problem and the rise of 'one-worldism' and we have viewed—since some of the Jews are back in Palestine—that everything is hunky-dory. NO! They will be a—not the—major factor in the rising of the antichrist, because they are of themselves anti-Christ.

Wherever a Jew has repented and accepted Jesus, then that's a different story. But they, at that point, have to get rid of all of their traditions and get rid of all of the presumptuousness that they have of coming to come and teach Christians how they ought to live.

That's how Jesus got along with the Jews and what they were: They were of their father the devil! They took upon themselves and their children the blood of Jesus Christ.

We'll see how the Jews are the only people of the tribes of Israel that have a double curse upon them! Prophesied right in the book of Ezekiel and Isaiah. That's tough! I feel sorry for the Jews. We can't change it. We didn't make it that way. I'm not anti-Jewish. But I'm anti anti-Godism! That's what I'm against, whether it be of Jews, Catholics or whatever.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 2:9
• Revelation 3:8-9
• Matthew 2:3-4, 16
• Luke 2:46-47
• John 1:19-21, 23-24
• Matthew 3:7-9
• John 3:1-3, 9-10
• Matthew 12:34
• Mark 12:37-40
• Luke 4:28-30
• Mark 2:4-12, 15-18
• Mark 3:5-6
• Matthew 11:20-24
• Matthew 12:22-24, 34, 41-45
• Luke 7:28-30, 36-43
• John 5:15-18, 37-47
• Mark 7:1-13
• John 7:1, 16-20
• John 8:19-24, 28-48, 58-59
• John 9:16, 40-41
• John 10:30-31
• John 11:46-53
• Matthew 23:1-3, 27-39
• Matthew 27:22-25

Scriptures referenced, not quoted: Matthew 9:36

Also referenced:

Books:

• Anti-Semitism and the Babylonian Connection by Des Griffin
• Jews Must Live by Samuel Roth
• Protocols of the learned elders of Zion by Victor Marsden (biblebelievers.org)
• Israel, Our Duty, Our Dilemma by Theodore Winston Pike
• Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (jewishencylopedia,com)
• Josephus

Sermon Series: Gospel of John

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 12-27-12