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REVELATION
SEVEN CHURCHES
HISTORICAL OVERLAY
THYATIRA
Lesson 15
REVIEW ANTI-HEBRAISM
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum
EPHESUS 30-100 A.D.
The Didache written 80-90 A.D. “Chapter 8 suggests that fasts are not to be on
Monday and Thursday ‘with the hypo-
crites’— presumably non-Christian Jews— but on
Wednesday and Friday. Nor must Christians pray
with their Judaic brethren....”
Epistle of Barnabas Written after the destruction of
Temple 80-120 A.D. The writer argues that the
Christians are the only true covenant people, and that
the Jewish people had never been in a covenant with
Eternal One (9.9).
SMYRNA - ANTI-HEBRAISM
Ante-Nicene Church Fathers
100 – 313 A.D.
Origen 185 - 254 A.D.
Origen was a Neo-Platonist
philosopher of Alexandria,
Egypt. He is credited as the
father of the allegorical
method of interpretation and
made allegory the only way to truly understand
the Scriptures.
PERGAMUM – 313 – 606 A.D.
CONSTANTINE
COUNCIL OF NICEA 325 was
held in the city named for Nike,
the goddess of victory.
“At the Council of Nicea it was
decided that Easter (Resurrection
Day) should not be determined by the Jewish Passover
calendar, and that Christians should ‘have nothing in
common with this odious people, the Jews.’ ”
David Rausch, Legacy of the Jews, p.23
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 347– 407, Nicene
Church Father Sciolino states, “No one railed
against Judaism more vehemently (and effectively) than Chrysostom (‘golden mouth’).
He initiated Adversus Judaeo (anti-Judaic) sermon
genre. Known for his eloquence in preaching and
public speaking, he proclaimed:...Jews are the most
worthless of all men (who) are lecherous, greedy and
rapacious... perfidious murderers of Christ and for killing God there is not expiation possible, no indulgence
or pardon. Christians may never cease vengeance...
Jews must live in servitude forever...God always hated Jews. It is incumbent upon all Christians to hate
Jews....Don’t you realize if the Jewish rites are holy
and venerable, our way of life must be false?”
Augustine, 354-430 Some scholars
feel Augustine was not as aggressive
anti-Semite as Chrysostom. Carroll holds
that his benign supersessionism would
actually prove deadly for the Jews.
Walter Laqueur quoting Augustine exposes his antiSemitic feelings: “I wish that you would slay them (the
Jews) with your two-edged sword, so that there
should be none to oppose your word...Gladly would I
have them die to themselves....” Laqueur states, “St.
Augustine also wrote that Judas Iscariot, the traitor,
was the true image of the Hebrews and that the Jews
would forever bear the guilt for the death of Jesus.”
The Changing Face of Anti-Semitism.” p. 48
THYATIRA
Age of the Papacy
606 – 1517
The Church of the
Dark Ages
RUINS OF
THYATIRA
Church at Thyatira
Closely Relates to the
Pergamum
Church & State Joined
To The
Church at
PERGAMUM
He Revealed
Himself as a
Doubled
Edged
Sword
Rev 2:12
Heb 4:12
To The Church at
THYATIRA
He Revealed
Himself with Eyes
of Flaming Fire and
Feet of
Burnished Bronze
Rev 2:18
EXPOSING THE SIN OF IGNORANCE
THYATIRA THE AGE OF: • Church Councils /
Synods
The Spirit Calls the Church
•
Christian
Crusades
to Repentance
• Expulsions of the
Jews
• Spanish Inquisition
• Allegations against
Jews
“Most people would rather not read these
pages of history or simply circumvent the
reality - others like myself want to shut it out
because the truth is so alarming and the facts
so painful, but these are not God’s solutions they are all a great ‘cover up.’ ”
Fr. Edward Flannery,
Anguish of the Jews,
Twenty-Three Centuries
of Anti-Semitism
THYATIRA
Jezebel Spirit at Thyatira
(606 – 1517 A.D.) A lesson we must learn,
Papacy Age if the Spirit’s correction
goes unheeded, certain
Dark Period
judgment will come.
Anti-Semitism
Hatred & Cruelty
spreads throughout
Christendom.
Decadence,
Immorality and
Greed filled the
office of the
Papacy.
THYATIRA
Councils and Synods
By mid-second century the gathering of church
hierarchy became a practice. These institutional
meetings were called councils or synods.
The historical records show these councils
established Church policies that opened the door
to worldwide persecution of the Jews and paved
the way to the Holocaust.
From a Biblical frame of reference, Christianity is
to be known by love. But the shocking fact is the
origin and root structure of Anti-Hebraism, AntiJudaism, Anti-Semitism is Christianity, the very
offspring of Judaism.
Church History Masked by Ignorance
The Jewish Rabbi of Nazareth taught,
“Love your neighbor as yourself” Matt 19:19
“Love one another as I have loved you” Jn 15:12.
“By this shall all men know you are My disciples if
you have love for one another” Jn 13:35
“Love your enemies” Matt 5:44
Hence, for spiritual leaders and believers without
the historical background, the facts seem exaggerated that anti-Hebraism has its origin and
complete root structure in Christianity. However,
those desiring truth will find volumes await their
perusal. Each historian records the same dreadful,
appalling account of the Church.
ANTI-HEBRAISM ENGENDERED
Christianity’s Controversy with Judaism
Expressed in Anti-Semitic Diatribes and Atrocities
The historical record witnesses to the Church’s
diatribes and atrocities against the Jews. Jewish
scholar, Paula Fredriksen writes, “If history, for the
church, is important, then undistorted history is very
important. Only by meeting this obligation with
intellectual integrity can the church, with integrity,
continue to witness to the message proclaimed by
the first apostles, expounded by Paul, and reflected
in the gospels: that the horizontal plane of the
human and the vertical plane of the divine met at
the cross of Jesus of Nazareth.” From Jesus to
Christ, second edition 2000, p. 215
Background for the Councils and Synods
Before addressing anti-Semitic edicts of councils and
synods, it must be remembered they did not come out
of a sterile vacuum. Some scholars begin the
downward spiral with the Constantine and Pergamum
Church period. However, a closer search of the
historical records reveals the departure from our
Father’s Hebraic Word and Ways began at Ephesus
and Smyrna as substantiated in the Early Church
Fathers’ writings for those periods of Church History.
Ignatius of Antioch 40-115 A.D. stated “if any one
celebrates the passover along with the Jews, or
receives emblems of their feast, he is partaker with
those that killed the Lord and His apostles.”
Background for the Councils and Synods
John Cornwell in Hitler’s Pope, points out,
“Christian antipathy toward the Jews was born out of
the belief, dating from the early Christian Church, that
the Jews had murdered Christ-- indeed, that they had
murdered God. The Early Fathers of the Church, the
great Christian writers of the first six centuries of
Christianity, showed striking evidence of anti-Judaism.
‘The blood of Jesus,’ wrote Origen, ‘falls not only on
the Jews of that time, but on all generations of Jews
up to the end of the world.’ St. John Chrysostom
wrote, ‘The Synagogue is a brothel, a hiding place for
unclean beasts.... Never has any Jew prayed to
God....They are possessed by demons.’ ” p. 24-25
Synod of Elvira 306 (will be addressed more fully
under Church Councils). At this point it serves to
remind us that ecclesiastical gatherings were held
prior to the Constantinian era.
Constantine’s Christianity became the official
religion of the Roman Empire. Overnight, Christianity
went from a persecuted religious minority to the state
religion of the greatest empire on earth. Christians now
had a vast state contrivance and powerful army at their
command. The marriage between Christian theology
and state power would prove disastrous for the Jews.
Walter Laqueur, The Changing Face of Anti-Semitism
“ Under Constantine, Jews were forbidden to live in
Jerusalem (315 CE)....by 337 marriage with Jews and
sexual intercourse was punishable by death.” p. 50
Christianity’s Controversy with Judaism
David Brog In Defense of Israel states, “replacement
theology and the degradation that flowed from it were
gradually transformed from abstract theological concepts into the law of the land.”
Walter Laqueur cites, “The first case of burning a
synagogue following a local anti-Jewish campaign
occurred in 388 in Kallinikon in Mesopotamia. Emperor
Theodosius wanted the culprits punished and to pay
for the restoration. But Ambrosius, Bishop of Milan,
persuaded the emperor that this had been an action
pleasing to God, something akin to divine
punishment.”
The Roman Catholic Councils and Synods
St. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria 412 444 had the Jews expelled from the city.
Cyril was a central figure in the First
Council at Ephesus in 431. At a later
council at Ephesus he was declared
heretical.
Justinian I Byzantine 527-565
prohibited reading the Bible in Hebrew,
building synagogues and barred Jews’
from assembling in public.
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Synod of Elvira, 306 Prohibition of intermarriage
and of sexual intercourse between Christians and
Jews. Christians and Jews not permitted to eat
together. (under Constantine’s edicts, 315-339 Jewish
missionary activity was a criminal law).
Synod of Clermont, 535 Jews not permitted to hold
public office
Third Synod of Orleans, 538 Jews not allowed to
employ Christian servants or possess Christian
slaves.
Jews not permitted to show themselves in the streets
during Passion (Easter) Week .
Roman Church Councils and Synods
7th – 11th Centuries The attacks on the Jews were
primarily from the popes and bishops. Jews were
barred from all leading positions in public life.
(Cited in Walter Laqueur, p. 51)
Spain, 613 Jews had to either embrace Christianity
or leave the country.
Synod of Toledo, 681 The Talmud and other Jewish
writings were burned. Walter Laqueur states, “After
the spread of Islam, most Jews lived under Islamic
rather than Christian rule.”
Trulanic Synod, 692 Christians not permitted to
patronize Jewish doctors.
Pope Leo III, 795-816 outlawed Judaism.
In 855 the Jews were exiled from Italy.
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Third Lateran Council 1179, Canon 26 Jews were
not permitted to be plaintiffs or witnesses against
Christians in the courts.
Jews were not permitted to withhold inheritance from
descendants who had accepted Christianity.
Pontifex Maximus, Innocent III (1198-1216) one of
the most powerful popes in church history. His pontificate is considered to have been the summit of the
medieval papacy. He claimed authority over the whole
Church and over the whole world. “Princes have power
on earth, priests over the soul, As much as the soul is
worthier than the body, so much worthier is the priesthood than the monarchy.” Cited in Sciolino, p. 22
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Pontifex Maximus, Innocent III (1198-1216) Represents the apex of the medieval papacy and was the
pope who made popular the title “Vicar of Christ.”
“Innocent thought of himself as Melchizedek, the
biblical priest-king. Although not the first pope to use
the title Vicar of Christ, he was among the most
emphatic in its use. In a letter to the patriarch of
Constantinople, for example, he wrote: ‘The Lord left
to Peter the governance not of the Church only but of
the whole world.’ ” Sciolino p.22
“In 1205 the Pope (Innocent III) wrote that the Jews
through their own guilt were consigned to perpetual
servitude, and Pope Gregory IX in 1236 ordered the
confiscation of Hebrew books.” Laqueur p. 54
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Innocent’s Fourth Lateran Council heightens....Jewish suffering: “We decree that Jews
and Saracens both sexes in every Christian
province and at all times shall be marked off in
German
the eyes of the public from other peoples
through the character of their dress....” The
marking of Jewish clothes with a badge.
“The council adopted the doctrine of transubstantiation, holding that during the sacrament
France
of Holy Communion...the consecrated bread
and wine are fully transformed into the body
and blood of Christ.” Abba Eban, Heritage,
Civilization and the Jews p. 167
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Fourth Lateran Council, 1215 Jews were obligated
to pay taxes for support of the church to the same
extent as Christians.
The Council called upon secular powers to exterminate all heretics. The edict inspired the Crusades
and Inquisitions, resulting in mass extermination of
the Jews. Thousands were burned at the stake, property confiscated, wives raped and children enslaved.
Council of Oxford, 1222 Construction of new
synagogues prohibited.
Synod of Vienna, 1267 Christians not permitted to
attend Jewish ceremonies.
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Synod of Vienna, 1267 Jews not permitted to dispute
with simple Christian people about the tenets of the
Catholic religion.
Synod of Breslau, 1267 Jews forced to live in
ghettos away from Christians.
St. Thomas Aquinas, 1270 “a doctor of the Church,
wrote that Jews sin more in their unbelief than do
pagans because they have abandoned the way of
justice ‘after knowing it....’ ” Sciolino p. 27
Synod of Often, 1279 forbade Christians from selling
or renting real estate to Jews.
Roman Church Councils and Synods
Synod of Mainz, 1310 declared that Jewish converts
who reverted to the practice of Judaism were guilty of
heresy.
Council of Basel, 1434 Sessio XIX Jews not
permitted to act as agents in the conclusion of
contracts, especially marriage contracts, between
Christians.
Jews not permitted to obtain academic degrees.
Raul Hilberg, in The Destruction of the European
Jews, shares that the papal regime and the policy of
the Church gave rise not only to ecclesiastical regulations for more than a thousand years, but the will of the
Church was also enforced by the state. (continue)
Roman Church Councils and Synods
“The decisions of the synods and councils became
basic guides for state action. Every medieval state
copied the canonical law and elaborated upon it. Thus
there arose an ‘international medieval Jewry law,’ which
continued to develop until the eighteenth century.”
Raul Hilberg, p. 11
(The governmental adaptations of the papal synods and
councils will be seen in Marty Luther’s writings and
noted in Hitler’s “Final Solution,” the historical overlay
for the Church at Laodicea).
CRUSADES
The Popes’ / The Church’s
Holy Wars
CRUSADES
The Popes’ /
The Church’s
Holy Wars
Seven Church
Councils
at Clermont,
the most
important being
1095
Pope Urban II
Preached the
First Crusade
CRUSADES
The Pope’s
Christian
Holy Wars
Second Crusade
Pope Eugene II
1147-1148
Third Crusade
Richard the
Lion-hearted
1189-1192
Pope Urban II called forth the First Crusade at Council of Clermont November
27, 1095. Crusaders were given numerous incentives to join the ranks of those
on their way to take the Holy Land.
The Crusade was to reclaim Jerusalem from the “Saracens” (Muslims). The Crusaders had more than one
motive and there was a religious incentive. “To each
Crusader the Church offered a plenary indulgence—
that is, full remission of all penalties either in purgatory
or on earth previously due any sinner. But the prospect
of eternal salvation was not the only great reward a
Crusade promised. For a peasant the Crusade meant
a chance of food, new land and Eastern riches.
Prior to the Crusade, Rodulfus Glaber
completed Five Books of Histories while
living at the abbey of Cluny. It was the
typical Christian literature of the period
uniformly hostile to Jews and Judaism.
Though the Crusaders’ call was to capture Jerusalem
their fury was turned on the Jews. They were envisioned by the hierarchy “We have before our eyes certain
Jews, a race more inimical to God than any other.
Crusaders dragged the Jews into church, and those
who refused baptism were murdered....The Crusaders
exterminated by many massacres the Jews of almost
all Gaul, with the exception of those who accepted conversion....With in months the massacres had claimed
the lives of a least 5,000 Jews.” Eban p. 156
Forced by the Christians to choose
baptism or death, some Jews did allow
themselves to be baptized. Many of these
unwilling converts continued to practice
Judaism in secret.
“Another response was to elevate death to the level of
spiritual resistance. The Jewish concept of kiddush haShem (“sanctification of the Holy Name”) encompasses both prayer and righteous action as means of glorifying God, but in times of persecution its corollary of
martyrdom...Jews are commanded to choose death
rather than commit idolatry, unchaste acts (i.e., incest,
adultery), or murder. They regarded martyrdom as not
merely commendable but mandatory under extreme
provocation.” Eban p. 158
Many Jews, echoing the Old Testament
prophets, must have seen the coming of
the Crusaders as a judgment by God on
their own transgressions. Solomon bar
Samson wrote,
“The sins of the Jews brought it about that the enemy
overcame them and took the gate. The hand of the
Lord was heavy against His people.” Abba Eban offers,
“It would seem that some Jewish communities chose
not to offer concerted resistance in the hope that if they
concentrated on piety, prayer, and repentance (rather
than collective self-defense), the Lord of Israel would
intervene to save them. But in fact, once the Crusaders
attacked, the odds against them were overwhelming.”
The murderous acts of the Crusaders were barbaric.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS
• Began at Alexandria 415 &
• Antioch. Bishops burned
synagogues on the accusation
of Ritual murder during Purim.
Christians confiscated Jewish
property and synagogues. A Jewish website states
these were not hooligans but Church Fathers, Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, St. Chrysostom and Cyril had
prepared the way with accusations that Jews were
dishonest and prone to sexual perversions.
• 1012 Emperor Henry II of Germany expelled Jews
from Mainz, the beginning of persecutions against
Jews in Germany.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS
• 1290 from England
• 1306 from France
• 1483 expulsions from
Warsaw, Sicily, Lithuania,
Portugal
• 1492 Jews expelled from Spain
• 1510 Expelled from Brandenburg, Germany
• 1593 Expulsions from Italy and Bavaria
• 1614 Jews attacked, driven out of Frankfurt, Germany
• 1939 Evian Conference to consider the plight of the
Jews. Not one of the 32 nations opened their
doors to a people marked for death.
Spanish Inquisition 1492
Ferdinand / Isabella
On July 30, 1492, the same month /
year Christopher Columbus set sail,
the Jewish people, 200,000 were
expelled from Spain. Tens of thousands of refugees died while trying
to reach safety. In some instances,
Spanish ship captains charged
Jewish passengers exorbitant sums, then dumped
them overboard in the middle of the ocean. In the last
days before the expulsion, rumors spread throughout
Spain that the fleeing refugees had swallowed gold
and diamonds, and many Jews were knifed to death
by brigands hoping to find treasures in their stomachs.
Thomas Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor
“The Hammer of Heretic” Torquemada’s tortuous acts would not be equaled until Adolph
Hitler. In 1490 he burned 6,000 volumes of
Jewish manuscripts. As Isabella’s spiritual advisor he
was appointed Grand Inquisitor. Local inquisitors
could seize the property of any person accused of
heresy. Their property would fall into the hands of the
monarchy. The accused had the option of buying an
expensive pardon from the Vatican. Both the pope and
monarchs stood to profit from the Spanish Inquisition,
especially because the heretics targeted by Torquemada were reputed to be a prosperous lot--conversos
(Marranos), Jews who had converted to Catholicism.
1492 Inquisition, Thomas Torquemada
Scholars disagree over the number of Jews
executed by the Spanish Inquisition during
Torquemada's reign as Grand Inquisitor (1483-1498).
Some believe he was responsible for the deaths of
2,000 Jews. Torquemada’s savagery was motivated
by anti-Semitism under the guise of protecting the "one
true faith," Roman Catholicism. His agenda was as
cold-blooded as any of the dictators who followed him.
Simon Whitechapel writes “although Torquemada's
death count did not approach that of later mass murderers, qualitatively Torquemada
stands shoulder-to-shoulder with
Hitler and Stalin."
Accused Before Inquisitional Committee
Accused asked to confess. If replies were unsatisfactory torture was used to substantiate what the inquistors already knew. Repentance and punishment took
place in public. Various penalties were imposed: fasting
each Friday for six months, being paraded through the
town naked to the waist and carrying an
announcement of the offense, for men, three years to
life in the galleys. Those who would not confess were
handed over to the secular authorities and burned alive
at a special burning site. The inquisitional apparatus
set in motion by Torquemada was ultimately responsible for the murders of 30,000 Jews. Chaim Potok,
Wanderings, History of the Jews p. 417
Masking His Identity Satan
Deceives the Church
Releasing His Hatred for the Jews
Satan’s Lies and Allegations
Against The Jews
When Satan lies, he speaks out of his own character,
for he is a liar and the father of lies. He is a thief who
comes to steal, kill and destroy; a murderer from the
beginning. Jn 8:44, 10:10
Gen 3:11 Prophetic: Satan’s deceptive plot began in
the Garden, Eve was deceived, left Adam’s word
(Hebrew) and lost her covering.
Rev 2:4 – Church Fathers’ left the Apostles’ word
(Hebrew) and lost Hebraic understanding / ways / their
covering. The effects are with us to this present day
Lies / Allegations Against The Jews
300 A.D. Lies spread that Jews kill Christians for sacrifice. Emperor Severus said
Jews purchased 90,000 Christians to kill them.
415 Ritual Murder – human sacrifice to appease a
deity. At Alexandria, St. Cyril accused Jews of Ritual
murder, confiscated their property and synagogue.
1095 Well Poisoning & Black Death – Jews maliciously blamed for the plague that killed thousands.
1144 Blood Libels –Jews were accused of taking a
Christian child before Easter, to torture and use his
blood for the Passover. These trumped up lies were
sent forth to the nations via Grimm’s Fairy Tales which
led to unjust trials and massacres of Jews. (Blood
rituals are forbidden in Judaism, Lev 17:11.)
The Church’s Allegations Against The Jews
1348, A story spread that a rabbi gave out a bag of
poison to Jews to empty into wells, cisterns and rivers
to destroy all of Christendom.
In September Jews in Chillon were tortured and made
to confess to the crime of poisoning wells. Some
leading Germans defended the Jews but the populace
went wild. Jews were massacred. No one knows how
many thousands were slain but 6,000 died in Mainz.
“In Strasbourg a wooden scaffold was built over a
huge pit and two thousand Jews were burned alive.
The men were granted permission to wear their prayer
shawls. The slaughter spread into France and Spain.”
Chaim Potok, Wanderings, The History of the Jews, p.
426
“Most people would rather not read these
pages of history or simply circumvent the
reality - others like myself want to shut it out
because the truth is so alarming and the facts
so painful, but these are not God’s solutions they are all a great ‘cover up.’ ”
Fr. Edward Flannery,
Anguish of the Jews,
Twenty-Three Centuries
of Anti-Semitism
THE OVERCOMERS AT THYATIRA
“The one who
conquers and
who keeps My
works until the
end, to him will I
give authority
over the
nations, and he
will rule them
with a rod of
iron...”
Rev 2:26-27a
“And I will
give him the
morning star
Rev 2:28
The Word
has all
authority
and power.