Len:
Although anti-semitic would appear to include all semites including sons of Ishmael, it actually refers specifically to Jews.
The reference I was looking for is a book by Malcolm Hay, entitled "Thy Brother's Blood", Hart Publishing.
The false teaching of the Church centered around the concept that Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. They were "Christ killers".
This is refruted plainly by our Lord in John 10:18. "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father."
Or again, in the Acts, ch 4:27, we read that is was Herod, Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel that gathered there.
But, we know who is the real enemy of the Lord's chosen people, Satan. He has sought to destroy the woman's seed from the very beginning. He used Phaeroh in Egypt to kill the children, Haman in Babylon, and Herod during the time of Christ. He has failed, but he doesn't stop trying.
In the book I mentioned, it was the custom at Eastertime in Tollouse during the Middle Ages to take a jew into the Church of St. Stephen and slap him on the cheek. In fact, this custom often got 'out of hand' and resulted in the death through beating of the chosen jew.
The Jews were blamed for the earthquake in Rome at Easter, resulting in the killing of many thousands of Jews.
St. Bernard said that the killing of a jew would guarantee a place in heaven.
... and on and on it went.
There is an old hassidic saying: If you truly love me, you must know my pain. If we truly love the Jewish people, we must know the history of anti-semitism in the Church.
Lee |
