By Rev. Ted Pike5 Aug 10
Abraham Foxman, of the Anti-Defamation League, recently pronounced that acceptance of the New Testament record that the Jews had Christ killed is “anti-Semitic.” This implicates tens of millions of Bible-believing Christians worldwide. With ADL’s charge comes the necessity, especially for Christians, to reexamine the issue of who is to blame for the crucifixion.Scripture teaches no one is guilty for the sins of another. We all enter the world innocent of the misdeeds of our parents. This includes every Jewish child.
Yet the Bible also teaches we can become guilty of the sin of another by sympathy with it. Christ said the Pharisees were guilty of the murder of Abel and all righteous blood from the beginning of the world. (Mat. 23:35) Why? Because the Pharisees persecuted righteousness. Had they been present in the time of Abel, they would have murdered Abel. Thus, according to Christ, it is possible to become spiritually guilty of a sin, such as murder or adultery, even without physically committing the act. The will is there. All that is lacking is the opportunity.
Modern or rabbinic Judaism is a product of those very Pharisees whom Christ excoriated, and who ultimately had Him crucified. The authoritative Universal Jewish Encyclopedia explains:
"The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent without a break through all the centuries from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a great deal is still in existence.. The Talmud is the largest and most important single piece of that literature.." The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Article on "Pharisaism," p. 474If a Jewish child is born into an Orthodox Jewish family, he innocently enters a religious system entirely obedient to those who masterminded the crucifixion of Jesus. The Pharisees and their vast, rambling "anti-bible", the Talmud, possess greater authority for religious Jews than does the Old Testament. As the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia confirms: "Thus the ultimate authority for Orthodoxy is the Babylonian Talmud. The Bible itself ranks second to it in reality, if not in theory." Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, "Authority" p. 637.
What does the Talmud teach about Jesus? It says He seduced and deceived the people. Git.56b-57a. He was a bastard, his mother Mary being a whore. San.106b. He practiced sorcery and enticed His race to apostasy. San.43a. He was a fool. San.67a. He was stoned, burned, decapitated and strangled in His death. San. 106b, Git.57a. He was excommunicated for the thought of seducing a woman and in His shame fell down and worshipped a brick. San.107b. He is now in hell, languishing in boiling hot semen. Git.56a. The Talmud is emphatic that it was necessary to kill Jesus because He was "one of the three worst enemies of Judaism." Git.56a. He was a false prophet who seduced and deceived the people. Git.56b-57a.
Is the modern Jew guilty of the death of Christ? The answer is simple. If he agrees with the Talmud that the Pharisees did the right thing by having Jesus crucified, then that Jew today is as guilty as the Jewish mob that sided with the Pharisees 2,000 years ago, shouting "Crucify Him, crucify Him." Mk. 15:13. If, however, the modern Jew disassociates himself from loyalty to the Pharisees and their claims against Christ, then he is free from any guilt.
The New Testament Gospels present in clearest terms successful efforts by the Pharisees to persuade the Romans to crucify Christ. In the Book of Acts, the disciples, in face to face rebuke of the Pharisees, insistently identify them as the culprits: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on the cross." Acts 5:30; cf. Acts 2:22, 36; 3:13-15; 4:10.
Unfortunately, amid the shock waves of Mel Gibson's "Passion," many evangelical Christian leaders rushed forward to absolve all Jews of any spiritual guilt concerning the crucifixion. They declared, as many evangelicals believe, that we are all guilty of the crucifixion. The idea of "corporate guilt" for Christ's death is unknown to Scripture. While we "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), we have not all crucified Jesus. Such pandering not only makes God's law of none effect, it attempts to free the Jews from a burden of guilt they themselves invited. To hasten the crucifixion of Christ, the Jewish leaders said, "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Mk. 27:25. All adult Jews who still support the Pharisaic system which crucified Christ are thus linked in spiritual guilt with those who actively accomplished the act.
Of course, anyone, such as a gentile Satanist, who approves of the crucifixion, or a Christian who becomes apostate (Heb. 6:6), is spiritually guilty of crucifying Christ. Rabbinic Judaism however, because it constitutes the "synagogue of Satan" (Rev. 2:9) uniquely incurs blame for Christ's death upon all Jews who give themselves to it.
During the past century, Jewish apologists, for purposes of ecumenical harmony with Christians, have referred to Jesus in such terms as "a great teacher." Such a description is found nowhere in rabbinic Judaism's most sacred repository of authority, the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism, despite efforts to whitewash it, remains of all great religions (including Islam) the most vehemently opposed to the claims of Christ. To be a religious, observant Jew is to embrace the Talmud and its blasphemous opinion of Christ.
Someday, the Bible teaches, a remnant of Jews out of the Great Tribulation will believe on the One their fathers crucified. Yet for the present, the church must heed Christ's warning to "Beware of the leaven (teaching) of the Pharisees." Matt. 16:6. In other words: Beware of Judaism. Paul also warns the church, referring to unbelieving Jews as "enemies" (Rom. 11:28) "...who both killed the Lord Jesus and prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men." I Thess. 2:15
The Jews were given transcendent spiritual light, first at Sinai, and then through their prophets. When they rejected that light, they were plunged into incredible darkness. While individual Jews may not necessarily be held guilty of such apostasy, the fact is Jewish leadership and institutions remain formidably opposed to Christianity. Moses warned the Jews that if they rejected God's law, they would be cursed above all nations. Deut. 28:15. They not only rejected God's law, but crucified its giver, Jesus Christ. Christ said that the House of Israel, after its rejection of Him, would be left desolate. Lk.13:35.
Today, no evangelical leader has the privilege of removing guilt from Jews who still reject their Messiah and embrace the teaching of His murderers. Christ has both a long-standing love-affair and quarrel with the Jewish nation. He will settle that quarrel some day on His own terms, at last obtaining faith, obedience, and righteousness from what scripture repeatedly describes as a "stiff-necked people."
Such a people now control Hollywood and America's media. They dominate Congress. They dictate America's foreign policy in the Middle East. They are the fountainhead of anti-Christian activity and legislation, including so-called "anti-hate" laws which strip Christians of free speech. In short, they are more determined than ever that Christ will never prevail. Yet in the end, Christ will have righteousness from His people, the Jews. "They will look on Him whom they pierced and they will mourn ... as one mourns for an only son." Zech. 12:10.