April 17, 2008
By Rev. Ted Pike
The U.S. State Dept.'s Office of Global Anti-Semitism now says the New Testament is a book of conspiracy theory! Yes, our government now rules that the Biblical record that Jews had Christ crucified is not only anti-Semitic; it's conspiracy junk. This step toward criminalization of Christian beliefs directly threatens believers. It is also an act of blatant hypocrisy: While the New Testament is derided as "hate speech," not a word is said about the seething hatred contained in Judaism's most sacred book, the Talmud.
The State Department reports, "The tactics of many anti-Semitic groups include the propagation of conspiracy theories... Traditional conspiracy theories..." include the belief "...that the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ." 1 For tens of millions, the New Testament is anything but conspiracy theory! It's the written Word of God.
But now our State Department says the New Testament account of Christ's passion, culminating in rejection by the Jewish people and crucifixion by the Romans, is akin to the other conspiracy theories that inspired Hitler to attempt to destroy Jews. My previous article, "Bible is Hate, Says U.S. Government," documents the State Department's other charge: that the New Testament espouses "classic anti-Semitism." 2
Hitler is rightly considered a classic anti-Semite. But the State Department, in also labelling the New Testament "classic anti-Semitism," suggests it is morally and intellectually similar to Nazism. This implies the New Testament could lead to yet another Holocaust! This premise, legislated into "anti-hate" laws, will justify persecution of Bible-believers as "anti-Semites." After all, it will be reasoned, people with hateful ideologies, leading to violence against Jews should be restricted, even imprisoned.
Talmud Tells Us Who Killed Christ
Abraham H. Foxman, head of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, couldn't agree more with the State Department. His organization is the prime mover behind hate laws worldwide and the Office of Global Anti-Semitism. Foxman asserts that Jews of Jesus' time were innocent of the crucifixion; it was entirely the work of Romans. Foxman says New Testament writers concocted the vicious anti-Semitic lie that Jewish leaders and people goaded Pilate to condemn Christ. He says this falsehood -- that Jews are "Christ killers"--fanned into flame nearly two millennia of anti-Semitism and led to the Holocaust. He also says it creates "new anti-Semitism" which he warns is rapidly escalating worldwide. 3 ADL's "anti-hate" laws have already been used in dozens of western nations to infringe on the freedom of Christians.
Foxman, as an Orthodox Jew, knows plenty about another book whose vitriol is far darker than that of the Bible. The highest religious and ethical authority of modern Judaism, the Babylonian Talmud, states that Jewish leaders did have Christ condemned to death. In fact, the Talmud says they did it entirely without the Romans' help! Jewish authorities killed Christ not by crucifixion (illegal in Jewish law) but by the legal methods prescribed by Talmudic law.
The Talmud says:
On Passover Eve, they hanged Jesus of Nazareth. And the herald went before him forty days, and proclaimed 'Jesus of Nazareth is going out to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited and led Israel astray. Whoever knows of an argument that may be proposed in his favor should come present that argument on his behalf.' But the judges did not find an argument in his favor, and so they hanged him on Passover Eve. 4
The Talmud describes torture inflicted on Jesus before His death. "All four legal methods of execution - stoning, burning, decapitation and strangling were employed". 5 The Talmud elaborates on "burning." It involved Jesus being:
"lowered in dung up to his armpits, then a hard cloth was placed within a soft one, wound around his neck and the two ends pulled in opposite directions until he was dead, forcing him to open his mouth. A wick was then lit, and thrown into his mouth, so that it descended into his body, burning his bowels." 6
Jesus, says the Talmud, was excommunicated for the thought of seducing a woman. In His ensuing grief and confusion, He fell down and worshipped a brick. 7 The Talmud says Jesus "...was a fool and we do not pay attention to what fools do." 8 According to the Talmud, Jesus is now in hell, writhing in eternal agony. The Talmud asks: "'What is your punishment?' He replied, 'With boiling hot semen...'" 9
The Talmud defends the Jewish rulers who it says righteously executed four of Christ's disciples: Matthew, Luke, Nicodemus, and Thaddaeus. 10 It considers His followers to be worshippers of a false prophet and worthy of death. References in the Talmud to Christ and Christians are often veiled by terms not understood by Christian censors in previous centuries. Two of the most common are "Minim" and "Minith." The footnote to the Talmud in Abodah Zarah 16b (pg. 84) says that "Minith" refers to "...heresy with special reference to Christianity."
Brotherly love did not extend to the Minim: Christians may be legally thrown into a pit to die. As Abodah Zarah 26b says: "...'idolaters and [Jewish] Shepherds of small cattle need not be brought up, though they must not be cast in, but Minim, informers, and apostates may be cast in and need not be brought up.'" In Shabbethai 116, Rabbi Tarbon says, "The writings of the Minim [New Testament] deserve to be burned, even though the holy name of God occurs therein, for paganism is less dangerous than Minith [Christianity]..."
According to the Talmud "...Those who deny the Torah and the prophets of Israel [giving loyalty to the "false prophet" Jesus and the New Testament], the law is that they should be killed and those who have the power of life and death should have them killed. And if this cannot be done, they should be led to their death by deceptive methods. 11
Christians: Keep Out!
Concerning Gentile Christians who presume to make use of the Jewish Sabbath, The Jewish Encyclopedia tells us, "Resh Lakish...said, 'A Gentile observing the Sabbath deserves death' (Sanh. 58b)." This article says, "The Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel alone..." and the Talmud's death sentence "was probably directed against the Christian Jews..." 12 Sanh. 59a says, "A heathen who studies the Torah [Old Testament] deserves death, for it is written, Moses commanded us a law for an inheritance; it is our inheritance not theirs."
Christianity is vividly described in the Talmud as worse than even the most wicked behavior of a Jew. A.Z. 17a says: "Rabbi Eleazar B. Dordia did not leave out any harlot in the world without coming to her..." yet attained forgiveness because he had not committed the unforgivable sin of accepting Christianity. Likewise, incest is a "light sin" compared to faith in Jesus. The Talmud tells us "Minuth," along with the Roman government, are the two daughters of hell. One seduces Jews to idolatry; the other keeps them politically bound.
Does the Talmud teach the same "tolerance" and "respect for diversity" which Foxman demands from Christians toward Jews, homosexuals, abortionists, and pornographers? Listen to how the Talmud instructs Jews to respond to the death of a Jew who has become a Christian:
At the death of one who had severed all ties with his people no rites whatever should be observed. His brothers and relatives should dress in white and cloak themselves in white. They should eat, drink and be merry, for an enemy of God has perished. As it is written, 'Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And do not I strive with those that rise up against Thee? I hate them with utmost hatred; I count them my enemies.' (Psalms 139:21-4)" 13
Is this "hate?" Absolutely!
It's hard to imagine greater hate than the Talmud teaches against Christ and Christians. Jewish "civil liberties" groups such as ADL, ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, and People for the American Way set themselves up as lawgivers to the world. They propose to end "hate, intolerance, prejudice, and bias." Yet, the greatest religious and ethical authority for modern observant Judaism, the Talmud (which far exceeds the authority of the Old Testament for religious Jews) 14, cannot be surpassed in its hate, intolerance, prejudice, and bias against Christians. Chief among Jewish ethical pontificators is Abe Foxman, a devout Orthodox, Talmud-quoting Jew, who says he earnestly awaits the coming of Israel's "messiah." This, of course, is not Jesus but Antichrist. 15
"Christophobia"
With this in mind we can understand why Jewish activist groups exhibit such a loathing of Jesus and His name in public schools, government and the military and why they tirelessly labor to remove all symbols having to do with Him, especially at Christmas and Easter.
Jewish activists accuse evangelicals of "homophobia," preaching hate against homosexuals. Actually, out of love, Christians warn sodomites that, unless they repent, their sexual perversion will land them in hell forever. In contrast, Jewish activists are consummate "Christophobes," opposing Christ and His followers -- not out of love but from a morbid obsession to remove all memory of what their forefathers did, screaming, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him! His blood be upon us and our children!"
Like Lady Macbeth, who washed her murderous hands incessantly, muttering, "Out, out, damned spot!" the descendants of those who had Christ killed attempt to wash away their guilt with lies.
There's only One, however, who can wash away anyone's sins. Scripture repeatedly promises He will come again and "...they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn..." 16 He who makes the vilest sinners clean will put "a heart of flesh" in Israel, wherein now resides "a heart of stone" against Him. At last God will remove the obsession to defame Him out of Israel.
The saga of Christ's dealings with the Jews is thus one of radical extremes: vitriolic hate, as Talmudic Jewry strives to prevent His appearance, and astonishing love, as Christ eventually proves His power to save a whole nation of repentant Jews.
Someday all the earth will gasp in amazement saying, "Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?" 17
Endnotes:
1. See, Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism: A Report Provided to the United States Congress, p. 31.
2. See, Bible is Hate, says U.S. Government.
3. See, ADL's Foxman: New Testament is Anti-Semitic.
4. The Babylonian Talmud, translated by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Random House, New York, 1989 - ca.97.
5. "Balaam," Jewish Encyclopedia, pg. 469.
6. Mishnah, Sanhedrin, 52a, The Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Press, 1948, London.
7. Sanhedrin, 107b. This is confirmed by The Jewish Encyclopedia article on "Jesus," p.170.
8. Sanhedrin 67a, cited. in The Talmud Unmasked, by Rev. I. B. Pranaitis, p. 34. A number of anti-Christian and Gentile passages of the Talmud, too inflammatory to be included in the 1948 Soncino translation, are presented in this credible work by a dedicated scholar and Hebraist. Many of these passages resurfaced in Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's recent translation of the Talmud. The Talmud Unmasked is available from Christian Book Club, P.O. Box 566, Palmdale, CA, 93550. ph. (661)274-2240
9. Gittin, 57b.
10. Sanhedrin 43a.
11. Choschen Hammishpat, 156 Haggah.
12. "Gentiles," Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 623.
13. Treatise Semahot, ch. 2, p. 35; translated by Dov Zlotnick of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New Haven and London, 1966.
14. Articles on "Talmud" and "Authority" in the three major encyclopedias of Judaism, The Jewish Encyclopedia, The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia Judaica, agree on the Talmud's vastly greater authority.
15. See, ADL's Foxman: Man of Faith?
16. Zechariah 12:10.
17. Micah 7:18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The U.S. State Dept.'s Office of Global Anti-Semitism now says the New Testament is a book of conspiracy theory! Yes, our government now rules that the Biblical record that Jews had Christ crucified is not only anti-Semitic; it's conspiracy junk. This step toward criminalization of Christian beliefs directly threatens believers. It is also an act of blatant hypocrisy: While the New Testament is derided as "hate speech," not a word is said about the seething hatred contained in Judaism's most sacred book, the Talmud.
The State Department reports, "The tactics of many anti-Semitic groups include the propagation of conspiracy theories... Traditional conspiracy theories..." include the belief "...that the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ." 1 For tens of millions, the New Testament is anything but conspiracy theory! It's the written Word of God.
But now our State Department says the New Testament account of Christ's passion, culminating in rejection by the Jewish people and crucifixion by the Romans, is akin to the other conspiracy theories that inspired Hitler to attempt to destroy Jews. My previous article, "Bible is Hate, Says U.S. Government," documents the State Department's other charge: that the New Testament espouses "classic anti-Semitism." 2
Hitler is rightly considered a classic anti-Semite. But the State Department, in also labelling the New Testament "classic anti-Semitism," suggests it is morally and intellectually similar to Nazism. This implies the New Testament could lead to yet another Holocaust! This premise, legislated into "anti-hate" laws, will justify persecution of Bible-believers as "anti-Semites." After all, it will be reasoned, people with hateful ideologies, leading to violence against Jews should be restricted, even imprisoned.
Talmud Tells Us Who Killed Christ
Abraham H. Foxman, head of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, couldn't agree more with the State Department. His organization is the prime mover behind hate laws worldwide and the Office of Global Anti-Semitism. Foxman asserts that Jews of Jesus' time were innocent of the crucifixion; it was entirely the work of Romans. Foxman says New Testament writers concocted the vicious anti-Semitic lie that Jewish leaders and people goaded Pilate to condemn Christ. He says this falsehood -- that Jews are "Christ killers"--fanned into flame nearly two millennia of anti-Semitism and led to the Holocaust. He also says it creates "new anti-Semitism" which he warns is rapidly escalating worldwide. 3 ADL's "anti-hate" laws have already been used in dozens of western nations to infringe on the freedom of Christians.
Foxman, as an Orthodox Jew, knows plenty about another book whose vitriol is far darker than that of the Bible. The highest religious and ethical authority of modern Judaism, the Babylonian Talmud, states that Jewish leaders did have Christ condemned to death. In fact, the Talmud says they did it entirely without the Romans' help! Jewish authorities killed Christ not by crucifixion (illegal in Jewish law) but by the legal methods prescribed by Talmudic law.
The Talmud says:
On Passover Eve, they hanged Jesus of Nazareth. And the herald went before him forty days, and proclaimed 'Jesus of Nazareth is going out to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited and led Israel astray. Whoever knows of an argument that may be proposed in his favor should come present that argument on his behalf.' But the judges did not find an argument in his favor, and so they hanged him on Passover Eve. 4
The Talmud describes torture inflicted on Jesus before His death. "All four legal methods of execution - stoning, burning, decapitation and strangling were employed". 5 The Talmud elaborates on "burning." It involved Jesus being:
"lowered in dung up to his armpits, then a hard cloth was placed within a soft one, wound around his neck and the two ends pulled in opposite directions until he was dead, forcing him to open his mouth. A wick was then lit, and thrown into his mouth, so that it descended into his body, burning his bowels." 6
Jesus, says the Talmud, was excommunicated for the thought of seducing a woman. In His ensuing grief and confusion, He fell down and worshipped a brick. 7 The Talmud says Jesus "...was a fool and we do not pay attention to what fools do." 8 According to the Talmud, Jesus is now in hell, writhing in eternal agony. The Talmud asks: "'What is your punishment?' He replied, 'With boiling hot semen...'" 9
The Talmud defends the Jewish rulers who it says righteously executed four of Christ's disciples: Matthew, Luke, Nicodemus, and Thaddaeus. 10 It considers His followers to be worshippers of a false prophet and worthy of death. References in the Talmud to Christ and Christians are often veiled by terms not understood by Christian censors in previous centuries. Two of the most common are "Minim" and "Minith." The footnote to the Talmud in Abodah Zarah 16b (pg. 84) says that "Minith" refers to "...heresy with special reference to Christianity."
Brotherly love did not extend to the Minim: Christians may be legally thrown into a pit to die. As Abodah Zarah 26b says: "...'idolaters and [Jewish] Shepherds of small cattle need not be brought up, though they must not be cast in, but Minim, informers, and apostates may be cast in and need not be brought up.'" In Shabbethai 116, Rabbi Tarbon says, "The writings of the Minim [New Testament] deserve to be burned, even though the holy name of God occurs therein, for paganism is less dangerous than Minith [Christianity]..."
According to the Talmud "...Those who deny the Torah and the prophets of Israel [giving loyalty to the "false prophet" Jesus and the New Testament], the law is that they should be killed and those who have the power of life and death should have them killed. And if this cannot be done, they should be led to their death by deceptive methods. 11
Christians: Keep Out!
Concerning Gentile Christians who presume to make use of the Jewish Sabbath, The Jewish Encyclopedia tells us, "Resh Lakish...said, 'A Gentile observing the Sabbath deserves death' (Sanh. 58b)." This article says, "The Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel alone..." and the Talmud's death sentence "was probably directed against the Christian Jews..." 12 Sanh. 59a says, "A heathen who studies the Torah [Old Testament] deserves death, for it is written, Moses commanded us a law for an inheritance; it is our inheritance not theirs."
Christianity is vividly described in the Talmud as worse than even the most wicked behavior of a Jew. A.Z. 17a says: "Rabbi Eleazar B. Dordia did not leave out any harlot in the world without coming to her..." yet attained forgiveness because he had not committed the unforgivable sin of accepting Christianity. Likewise, incest is a "light sin" compared to faith in Jesus. The Talmud tells us "Minuth," along with the Roman government, are the two daughters of hell. One seduces Jews to idolatry; the other keeps them politically bound.
Does the Talmud teach the same "tolerance" and "respect for diversity" which Foxman demands from Christians toward Jews, homosexuals, abortionists, and pornographers? Listen to how the Talmud instructs Jews to respond to the death of a Jew who has become a Christian:
At the death of one who had severed all ties with his people no rites whatever should be observed. His brothers and relatives should dress in white and cloak themselves in white. They should eat, drink and be merry, for an enemy of God has perished. As it is written, 'Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And do not I strive with those that rise up against Thee? I hate them with utmost hatred; I count them my enemies.' (Psalms 139:21-4)" 13
Is this "hate?" Absolutely!
It's hard to imagine greater hate than the Talmud teaches against Christ and Christians. Jewish "civil liberties" groups such as ADL, ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, and People for the American Way set themselves up as lawgivers to the world. They propose to end "hate, intolerance, prejudice, and bias." Yet, the greatest religious and ethical authority for modern observant Judaism, the Talmud (which far exceeds the authority of the Old Testament for religious Jews) 14, cannot be surpassed in its hate, intolerance, prejudice, and bias against Christians. Chief among Jewish ethical pontificators is Abe Foxman, a devout Orthodox, Talmud-quoting Jew, who says he earnestly awaits the coming of Israel's "messiah." This, of course, is not Jesus but Antichrist. 15
"Christophobia"
With this in mind we can understand why Jewish activist groups exhibit such a loathing of Jesus and His name in public schools, government and the military and why they tirelessly labor to remove all symbols having to do with Him, especially at Christmas and Easter.
Jewish activists accuse evangelicals of "homophobia," preaching hate against homosexuals. Actually, out of love, Christians warn sodomites that, unless they repent, their sexual perversion will land them in hell forever. In contrast, Jewish activists are consummate "Christophobes," opposing Christ and His followers -- not out of love but from a morbid obsession to remove all memory of what their forefathers did, screaming, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him! His blood be upon us and our children!"
Like Lady Macbeth, who washed her murderous hands incessantly, muttering, "Out, out, damned spot!" the descendants of those who had Christ killed attempt to wash away their guilt with lies.
There's only One, however, who can wash away anyone's sins. Scripture repeatedly promises He will come again and "...they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn..." 16 He who makes the vilest sinners clean will put "a heart of flesh" in Israel, wherein now resides "a heart of stone" against Him. At last God will remove the obsession to defame Him out of Israel.
The saga of Christ's dealings with the Jews is thus one of radical extremes: vitriolic hate, as Talmudic Jewry strives to prevent His appearance, and astonishing love, as Christ eventually proves His power to save a whole nation of repentant Jews.
Someday all the earth will gasp in amazement saying, "Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?" 17
Endnotes:
1. See, Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism: A Report Provided to the United States Congress, p. 31.
2. See, Bible is Hate, says U.S. Government.
3. See, ADL's Foxman: New Testament is Anti-Semitic.
4. The Babylonian Talmud, translated by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Random House, New York, 1989 - ca.97.
5. "Balaam," Jewish Encyclopedia, pg. 469.
6. Mishnah, Sanhedrin, 52a, The Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Press, 1948, London.
7. Sanhedrin, 107b. This is confirmed by The Jewish Encyclopedia article on "Jesus," p.170.
8. Sanhedrin 67a, cited. in The Talmud Unmasked, by Rev. I. B. Pranaitis, p. 34. A number of anti-Christian and Gentile passages of the Talmud, too inflammatory to be included in the 1948 Soncino translation, are presented in this credible work by a dedicated scholar and Hebraist. Many of these passages resurfaced in Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's recent translation of the Talmud. The Talmud Unmasked is available from Christian Book Club, P.O. Box 566, Palmdale, CA, 93550. ph. (661)274-2240
9. Gittin, 57b.
10. Sanhedrin 43a.
11. Choschen Hammishpat, 156 Haggah.
12. "Gentiles," Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 623.
13. Treatise Semahot, ch. 2, p. 35; translated by Dov Zlotnick of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New Haven and London, 1966.
14. Articles on "Talmud" and "Authority" in the three major encyclopedias of Judaism, The Jewish Encyclopedia, The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia Judaica, agree on the Talmud's vastly greater authority.
15. See, ADL's Foxman: Man of Faith?
16. Zechariah 12:10.
17. Micah 7:18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
