Why Are Jews Universally Despised?

Since the Jews are God's people, why do they end up being uniformly hated? Of all the world's ethnic groups, and as far as I know, they've suffered the most. That doesn't seem right if they're chosen by God.

The Devil hates God and anybody who follows him. But the Lord punished his people through Satan's servants whenever they turned away from worshipping and loving him. The Bible is filled with instances when foreign powers oppressed his people. As Jeremiah 36:31 (KJV) forewarned, "And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not."

But God didn't leave his people in bondage. In fact, he punished those who punished Israel for being so wicked. Jeremiah 25:12 (KJV) reads, "And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations."

The faithful of Israel and the followers of Christ receive persecution because Satan and his followers hate being rebuked. As Amos 5:10 (KJV) explains, "They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly."

In fact, anybody who follows the one and only true God will be persecuted by Satan. As Christ said in Luke 6:22 (KJV), "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake."

The Apostle Paul also explained how those of Israel who were faithful and the believing gentiles are one people. In Galatians 6:16 ((KJV) he wrote, "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."

Paul also explained how there are those in Israel, the ethnic group, who are united with gentile believers through faith in the Lord. Romans 9:6 (KJV) and onward explains this. "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:"

I'll write more about this in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is one long story of God's plan to rescue humanity through Christ and present those who believe to himself. This key makes the entirety of holy scripture come together and make sense to we who believe in its author. But he has graciously allowed people to choose to follow or reject him.

Saturday Song: C. W. McCall, Convoy

Who here remembers the Citizen's Band craze of the seventies? I was one of millions of people who became fanatical regarding this public form of communication. All a person needed was a radio, coaxial cable, and an antenna. Unlike amateur radio with its strict rules, CB was a much easier choice for millions of folks.

CB radio became so popular that movies were made around the hobby. C. W. McCall also released a song called "Convoy" in 1976.

Here the song here.

But like anything fun in life, a few idiots had to ruin it. People often had their conversations interrupted by "turkeys," as we called them. Rude individuals would deliberately play music to blot out somebody's signal. Sometimes people got so angry that physical fights broke out.

Because of CB radio's bad reputation, the elders of the house church worried that I'd be influenced by the swearing and dirty jokes I heard on the air. As I've written before, they considered CB radio to be a waste of time and an outlet for the Devil.

But those superstitious fools didn't realize what Jesus said in Matthew 15:11 (KJV). "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."

Instead of being "defiled" by CB radio, I chose the handle Cosmic Christian and I often spoke about the gospel on the air. This angered many CBers but I persisted.

So, what are your memories and experiences of CB radio? Were you active or was it just a passing phase with you. Please leave me a reply in the box below. And if you don't feel like doing that, have a good weekend anyway.

Why Were the Jews God's People?

I pointed out before why God chose the descendents of Israel. But why would he do that? Couldn't the Messiah have been born into any family?

We see one reason for this seemingly strange way of saving humanity in Genesis 12:3 (KJV) which explains, "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

God chose the most stubborn of all peoples to work his will through in order to display his awesome power. Judges 7:2 (KJV) shows why he worked through the Jews. "And the LORD said unto Gideon, 'The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, "Mine own hand hath saved me"'."

The preservation of the lineage of Judah is also a miracle. Through the times of punishment, when God let other nations afflict Israel, there were always some left to carry on the line of the Messiah. As Jeremiah 29:10 and 11 state, "For thus saith the LORD, 'That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,' saith the LORD, 'thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.'"

Furthermore, the nation of Israel was chosen to be messengers of the Lord to the world. Isaiah 66:18 and 19 (KJV)states,  "For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles."

I'll be writing more about how the Lord worked through Israel to save humanity in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? The entire Bible is the story of how God rescued humanity. Understanding that truth makes the whole of holy scripture make sense.

Has God Forsaken the Jews?

Along with the mistaken idea that all Jews will be saved, there's the opposite error preached by some that God has forsaken his chosen people. Had these people read all the passages in the Bible, they'd see that some will indeed be saved.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 9:27 (KJV), "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:"

There's also the mention of these people in Revelation 12:17 (KJV) which says, "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Knowledgeable students will realize that chapter twelve is a recapitulation of Christ's time on earth. When he was born, Herod wanted him dead but Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt. The flood of waters was the soldiers which were sent to kill all infant boys two years or younger. Christ became the one who was taken up to heaven and will rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

I also agree with Hank Hanegraaff that The Revelation of John the Divine was written for the seven churches of Asia Minor during the first century, not to twenty-first century North Americans. John wrote the book in a code which only Jews would understand. Therefore many passages allude to Old Testament scriptures as an analogy of what would SHORTLY come to pass.

The utter destruction of Jerusalem was the fulfillment  of what Christ prophesied about the people of his generation. Matthew 23:35 (KJV) records him as saying, "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."

This is such a vast topic that I'll save the details for my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? People come up with the weirdest ideas from the Bible because they read it literally rather than literately. And as rock singer Larry Norman sang about doubters of Scripture, "I bet they all own a Bible that's never been read.

Saturday Song: Anthony Moore, World Service

Ever since I discovered the joys of shortwave listening on the Pye table top radio at the school for the blind I attended, I've loved listening to foreign broadcasts in English. Tuning in stations from Japan, the USSR, and other lands thrilled me. Instead of going outside for recess, I searched the shortwave bands for distant signals.

Here Anthony Moore's "World Service" song here.

To me, shortwave radio has a glamour all its own. The thought of distant signals bouncing off the ionosphere and down to me fired my imagination. No wires or satellites were needed. All a person had to purchase was the radio.

This interest in the countries and peoples of the world has helped me identify with the Great Commission. Mark 16:15 (KJV) reads, "And he (Christ) said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

By that, he meant anybody. Christianity isn't a white man's religion as some people suppose but an inclusive faith for all the world. It doesn't matter which country you're in or from wich ethnic background you came. All that is irrelevant. Belief in Christ and following him after repenting of your sins is the only requirement.

If you liked what I wrote and the song I chose, please let me know. Otherwise, have a great weekend anyway.

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Are Jews Saved?

Since God calls the Jews his chosen people, some folks might say they're all saved. But as we see from the most famous Bible verse, it's whosoever believes on Jesus that are saved.

So if the chosen people weren't chosen to be saved, what does it mean that they were chosen? It was so that the Messiah would be born through the lineage of Abraham. As the Apostle Paul explains in Galatians 3:8 (KJV), "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."

This shows that the purpose of God to work through Abraham was to lead humanity to salvation. These people are what Paul calls the Israel of God. As he wrote in Galatians 6:16 (KJV) regarding those who are in the body of Christ, "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."

Some folks might argue that Romans Chapters nine to eleven claim that all Jews will be saved. They quote Romans 11:26 (BBE) which says,  "And so all Israel will get salvation: as it is said in the holy Writings, There will come out of Zion the One who makes free; by him wrongdoing will be taken away from Jacob:"

But look at the context of the verse and you'll see that Paul's writing about those of Israel who are faithful to the Lord verses those who were not. Likening them to olive tree branches, he said that it's possible to graft them back into the tree. Therefore, this Israel of God is all the faithful believers in the Lord down through the ages without regard to ancestry. Like wild olive branches, we gentiles who trust in Christ are grafted into the Israel of God tree.

There's so much more I could write but I'll save that for my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? It isn't a matter of genetics but of trust in God and his son which saves us from eternity in hell.