The Christian Church has been plagued by an infectious disease for centuries. The viral disease of Replacement Theology; which, in itself, is antisemitism. Teachers of Replacement Theology are filling pulpits of churches across the globe. We cannot stand aside and watch as these lies permeate under the surface of our own churches. There is nothing in the Holy Bible on which Replacement Theology can stand. It is unbiblical, antisemitic and cannot be accepted as truth.
Replacement Theology disregards Israel’s biblical covenant with God, replacing Israel with the church. All of God’s covenant with Israel is shifted on to the church and Israel is pushed aside and diminished in every sense. Israel is cast aside and cut off from God’s plan and the church does not have any responsibility to stand with Israel or the Jewish people.
Pastor John Hagee in his book In Defense of Israel says this of Replacement Theology:
“Replacement theology is the underpinning of most of the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity against the Jewish people over the centuries.”
It has given license to the church to spread antisemitism and commit violence toward the Jewish people. How many Jews have died because lies like Replacement theology had become the norm?
“Early church fathers told their illiterate congregants that the Jews were the odious assassins of Christ. Century after century this vicious label was tied about the necks of the Jews, and as a result, the Crusader, the Iquisitors, and the Nazis turned Europe red with Jewish blood—all believing they were acting in accordance with God’s will.” —John Hagee, In Defense of Israel
Some may argue that those who committed such heinous crimes were not true Christians. That may be, but it does not excuse the fact that they did it in the name of Christ and for the betterment of the Christian church. It is a debt that we as Christian’s can never repay to the Jewish people. I need not remind you that Martin Luther, the great reformer of the church, was antisemitic and his teachings on the subject have been quoted on numerous occasions as further affirming for antisemitic causes. David Allen Lewis, the founder of Christian’s United For Israel, speaks about this in his book, Can Israel Survive in a Hostile World :
“Martin Luther, beloved among Protestants and Evangelicals made strong anti-Semitic statements late in his life. “All the blood kindred of Christ burn in hell, and they are rightly served, even according to their own words they spoke to Pilate . . . . Verily a hopeless, wicked, venomous, and devilish thing is the existence of these Jews, who for 1,400 years have been, and still are, our pest, torment, and misfortune. They are just devils and nothing more.” Malcolm Hay comments, “His doctrine provided many suitable texts for Hitler’s program of extermination.”"
He further explains the role the church played doctrinally in pre-Nazi Germany:
“The Church in pre-Nazi Germany was preaching the twin doctrines of Christian anti-Semitism. They are the doctrine of replacement theology and the doctrine of contempt. The theology of replacement contends that the Church has replaced Israel and that God no longer has any purpose for Israel. Contempt declares that the Jews crucified Jesus therefore they are under a curse and whatever happens, including the Holocaust, is their just dessert. We should not concern ourselves.”
We MUST not turn a blind eye to the antisemitic doctrine of Replacement theology which is rapidly becoming the prevailing theology in the church. Israel has an everlasting/eternal covenant with God. God revealed Himself to Abraham and made a covenant with him. It is recorded in Genesis chapter 15. In Chapter 17 God tells Abraham this specifically:
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; I will be their God.” Genesis 17:7-8 NKJV
That was pretty straight forward right? God made an “everlasting covenant” with Israel and they have an “everlasting possession” of their land. How could anyone say that God broke His covenant with Israel after reading that? The last time I checked God was the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). If God can abandon Israel, who’s to say that He wouldn’t abandon His covenant with the church? In Malachi 3:6-7 the Lord declares:
“”For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts.”
God has NOT abandoned His covenant with Israel. The Jews are God’s chosen people and we must stand with them. It is our biblical mandate to stand with Israel. Isaiah 62:6-7 says:
“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
We are called to be watchmen on the wall. We must pray and speak up for Israel. That is the only way we can combat the false doctrine of Replacement Theology.
http://skylanthezionist.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/the-replacement-theology-lie/
No one can be a true believer in Christ and believe in replacement theology. Replacement theology denies the word of God and plays beautifully into Satan's hatred of the Jews and obsession with eliminating them.
If someone claims to be a Christian and tells you that the Church has replaced Israel, they are lying. They are not Christian.
That argument itself is bogus theology. Stick to the Bible; don't argue that a position is wrong because some people abuse it. You might as well argue that the Bill of Rights is wrong because some people abuse that, too.
The Christian Church has been plagued by an infectiouss disease for centuriess.
Load them all up on trains and send them to camps, maybe?
That was pretty straight forward right? God made an “everlasting covenant” with Israel and they have an “everlasting possession” of their land. How could anyone say that God broke His covenant with Israel after reading that? The last time I checked God was the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). If God can abandon Israel, who’s to say that He wouldn’t abandon His covenant with the church?
Great Point!
I think we can forcefully disagree with theologians and church leaders that believe in supersessionism, but most Christians don't understand the point you just made that "if God can abandon Israel, who's to say that He wouldn't abandon His covenant with the church?".
It seems clear to me that most Christians have a hard time understanding The Revelation of Jesus Christ because of supsessionism. If you read this book from the perspective that Christians are not there and it is about God taking the blinders off Israel it is easy to understand. Where dispensationalists diminish their credibility is by stating that Israel does not have to come to faith in Jesus Christ to be saved.
BRAVA! BRAVA! HEAR! HEAR! Brilliantly stated! Encore!