Chapter FOURTY — Part 4 of 6

THE CHOSEN PEOPLE

The Babylonian Talmud states that God recognized the Israelites as "the only rulers of the world."193 Arthur Hertzberg stated in a symposium that "the essence of Judaism is the affirmation that the Jews are the chosen people, all else is commentary." (194)

Some mercenary evangelists and Christian Zionists repeat the Jewish claim that "Jews are the chosen people." The term "chosen people" was first used by Moses when relaying the word of God to the Israelites in Deuteronomy, "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth." (195)

But Moses in chapter 7 states the conditions laid down by God: "Know therefore the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

"And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face." (196)

Verse 12 states, "If ye hearken to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant ..." And in verse 26 Moses warns them that "Neither shall thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing." (197)

But the Israelites did not keep the commandments. They worshipped other gods. and therefore God did not keep His covenant with them, as the major and minor prophets told the Israelites.

The Scriptures, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, refer to those whom God called the "chosen people." All these verses indicate that the "chosen people" are those who will know Jesus Christ and believe in Christ. The following are examples:

1. The prophet Isaiah said:

Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. (198)

The Gospel of Saint John clearly establishes that the Jews of His day did not hear or believe Jesus Christ. Chapter 8 states:

36. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

37. I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

38. I speak that which 1 have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

39. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

40. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which 1 have heard of God: this did not Abraham,

41. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

42. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

43. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. (199)

Jesus Christ, as reported in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, condemned the Jews and pointed out that upon them will "come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth and that the land will be destroyed and they will not see Him until they say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," that is, to recognize Him. This they have not done until today.

31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Zacharias son of Barchias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36. Verily 1 say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (200)

The Gospel of Saint Matthew also shows that Jesus gave the Jews the parable of the Lord of the vineyard who sent his son to the servants who killed him. They were told that the Lord of the vineyard will destroy these wicked men and let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen. Jesus interpreted His parable as meaning that the kingdom of God shall be taken from them:

42. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the comer: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

43. Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

44. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

46. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. (201)

Christ's words that "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," was previously mentioned through the Prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah, chapter 31, which stated:

36. If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord. then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

37. Thus saith the Lord: if heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. (202)

The Gospel of Saint John relates that Jesus told the Jews that they did not believe in Him because they are not of His sheep. He told them "my sheep hear my voice, and 1 know them and they follow me":

14. Iam the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know 1 the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

24. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25. Jesus answered them. I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

26. But ye believe not. because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

27. My sheep hear my voice, and 1 know them, and they follow me:

28. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (203)

There could be no greater evidence that the Jews did not listen to, or recognize, Jesus Christ, and in fact rejected him, than that they called for his death and demanded that the Romans release the robber Barabbas rather than Christ. This fact is recorded in the Gospel of Saint Matthew as follows:

19. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this'day in a dream because of him.

20. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.

21. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.

22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall 1 do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

23. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

24. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

25. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

26. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. (204)

The Apostle John, in the First Epistle General of John, sums up the fact that whoever denies Christ also denies God. Thus the Old Testament dispensation forthe Israelitesexpired for those of them who denied Christ. The Apostle John states:

22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ, that denieih the Father and the Son.

23. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same bath not the Father: (but) lie that acknowledgeth the Son hath the feather also. (205)

Saint Paul very emphatically stressed that as the Jews had rejected Jesus Christ the promise of the old covenant was given to those who believe in Jesus Christ, who are the true "heirs according to the promise." In his Epistle to the Galatians. Saint Paul states as follows:

6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15. Brethren, 1 speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.


16. Now to Abraham and His seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

17. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

18. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

19. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (206)

In the Acts of the Apostles Saint Paul quotes the Christian martyr Saint Stephen:

51. Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your father did, so do ye.

52. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers. (207)

The epistles of Saint Paul to the various Christian communities clearly show that Saint Paul emphasized that the "children of the flesh are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are the children of God" and thus only those who believe in Jesus Christ are "heirs to the promise."

4. Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

5. Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

7. Neither, because they are the seedof Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed ...

26. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. (208)

Saint Paul emphasized to the Romans that the prophet Isaiah had specified that Christ would come for the Gentiles as well as for the Israelites: Isaiah stated: "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." (209) Saint Paul stated:

10. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.

11. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.

12. And again. Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

16. That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. (210)

To the Thessalonians Saint Paul clearly and emphatically denounced the conduct of the Jews against Christ:

14. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:

15. Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:

16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. (211)

In his epistle to the Hebrews Saint Paul made it perfectly clear that the old covenant had been superseded through Christ by a new covenant:

9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, 0God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (212)

15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

20. By a new and living away, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh;

21. And having an high priest over the house of God;

22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.) (213)

WHO ARE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE?

The chosen people of today are those who have faith in Jesus Christ. which includes the Christians and the Muslims. The Jews lost that privilege because they rejected Jesus Christ, called for his crucifixion, still reject him until today and defame him, his mother and his apostles in their Talmud.

Any person who claims that the Jews are the chosen people is, in effect, saying that Jesus Christ never came and that all the New Testament is a fraud.

According to the logic espoused by the Zionists, the Christian Zionists, and the mercenary electronic evangelists, a Jew who existed in Palestine during the time of Jesus and accepted Jesus Christ is not one of the chosen people, but a Jew who rejected Jesus Christ in his lifetime is one of the chosen people. So, all Jews today who still reject Jesus Christ are the chosen people, but the Christians and Muslims who believe in Jesus Christ are not of the chosen people, but outcasts. If the fallacious arguments of the Zionists and their Christian supporters were true, the Christians should close all their churches, and the Muslims should close all their mosques, and they should join Jewish synagogues.

90% OF THE JEWS OF TODAY ARE NOT DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM AND ARE NOT SEMITES

When the Israelite tribes conquered the land of Canaan under Joshua, and settled in the land, they intermarried with the indigenous Canaanites and Philistines and therefore, as the Bible records, they were absorbed by the different Semitic tribes which lived in the land of Canaan, namely, the Canaanites, Jebusites, Edomites, Philistines and others. The population of the land of Canaan under King David and King Solomon and their successors became a cohesion of races, to which the Bible testifies. As a proof, the mother of King David was "a daughter of Ithra, an Ishmaelite.'^^The mother of King Solomon, Bath-sheba, was aCanaanite, with her roots in the kingdom of Giloh. (215)

King Solomon married seven hundred wives and also had three hundred concubines. (216) The majority of his wives were from notable Canaanite and Philistine families, as well as from prominent families of each of the twelve Israelite tribes, and princesses from neighboring kingdoms such as Egypt, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Tyre, Aram and Yemen. (217) And therefore all of these progeny could not be considered to be Jews according to the Halacha. Many of the Israelites worshipped Baal and Ashtoreth among other deities. King Solomon built many temples for these deities and his wives worshipped in these temples. (218)

The succeeding kings of the royal house of David almost invariably married non-Israelite wives either from neighboring lands such as Ammon, Moab and Phoenicia, or from important Canaanite families, especially Jebusites, who continued to worship their old gods. The inhabitants of the land of Canaan, i.e., Canaanites, Israelites, Philistines and Edomites became a mixed population through intermarriage and could not be called Jews by today's Halachic standards claimed by Judaism.

One of the condemnations made by the prophets against the Israelites was that they continually married non-Israelite wives and worshipped the Canaanite gods. During the Babylonian captivity the Jews also intermarried with the various races in the Babylonian and Persian Empires. Ezra the Scribe, reports in his chapter 10 that even the sons of Israelite priests had taken strange wives. In verses 18 to 41 he mentions the names of the sons of all the priests who had married foreign wives.

Ezra, having been given "full powers from the Persian King Artaxerxes to impose the law of the Torah on the Jerusalemites, decreed that mixed marriages with non-Jewish wives were annulled." (219)

The great Jewish historian, H. Graetz, writes that

The grief of the wives deserted by their husbands, and the sight of children disowned by their fathers could not fail to awaken and to increase the animosity of those who were closely related to them. (220)

As a result "the attitude of Ezra and Nehemiah, who opposed the assimilation of other ethnic elements, did not prevail." (221)

After the occupation of the land of Canaan by the Greeks, intermarriage increased between the different ethnic groups of the populations, namely Canaanites, Israelites, Philistines, Edomites and Greek colonists. The Greek language became the dominant language of the land, together with the Aramaic. Hellenic culture dominated. During the Roman period the cohesion between the different sections of the population became stronger. The land of Canaan took the name Palestine and after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the spread of Christianity in Palestine many Jews became Christians, such as Saint Peter and Saint Paul and many other leaders of the first Christian church. Strife took place between the Christians, the pagans, the Samaritans and the Jews. When the majority of the population of Palestine became Christian many of the Jews who had not become Christians left Palestine to neighboring countries such as Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Yemen and Anatolia. Many of these Jews intermarried with the local inhabitants.

Thus there was never a "Jewish race" in the land of Canaan, and those Jews who lived in Palestinian communities abroad at the time of Saint Paul, and then later in Mediterranean countries, intermarried with local inhabitants and became "Sepahardim of the most mixed racial origins." (222)

Some Oriental Jews had no family roots in Palestine at all, as they were Berbers who became Jews through conversion, such as the Jews from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, with the exception of the Jews from Djerba island, who had Palestinian antecedents.

The most important fact about the Jews of today is that 90% of them are not Semitic but are descendants of Khazars who adopted Judaism in the 9th century A.D. The present Jews of Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, and the United States, are of Khazar, Yiddish-speaking descent. The Zionist Jews who migrated to Palestine from the 19th century until 1948 were almost exclusively of Khazar origin, and the leadership of the Jewish community in Palestine, before and after 1948 until today, is of Khazar origin. They are not Semites, have no roots in Palestine, and are not descendants of Abraham.

WHO ARE THE KHAZARS AND HOW DID THEY BECOME JEWS?

The Jewish Encyclopaedia defines the Khazars as follows:

A people of Turkish origin whose life and history are interwoven with the very beginnings of the history of the Jews of Russia. The kingdom of the Khazars was firmly established in most of South Russia long before the foundation of the Russian monarchy by the Varangians (855) ... Driven onward by the nomadic tribes of the steppes and by their own desire for plunder and revenge, they made frequent invasions into Armenia ...
In the second half of the sixth century the Khazars moved westward. They established themselves in the territory bounded by the Sea of Azov, the Don and the lower Volga, the Caspian Sea, and the northern Caucasus ... In 679 the Khazars subjugated the Bulgars and extended their sway further west between the Don and the Dnieper, as far as the headwaters of Donetz ... It was probably about that time that the Khagan (Bulan) of the Khazars and his grandees, together with a large number of his heathen people, embraced the Jewish religion ...

It was one of the successors of Bulan, named Obadiah, who regenerated the kingdom and strengthened the Jewish religion. He invited Jewish scholars to settle in his dominions, and founded synagogues and schools. The people were instructed in the Bible, Mishnah, and Talmud ...

From the work Kitab al-Buldan written about the ninth century, it appears as if all the Khazars were Jews and that they had been converted to Judaism only a short time before that book was written ... It may be assumed that in the ninth century many Khazar heathens became Jews, owing to the religious zeal of King Obadiah. "Such a conversion in great masses says Chwolson (Izvyestiya o Khazarakh, p. 58), "may have been the reason for the embassy of Christians from the land of the Khazars to the Byzantine emperor Michael ...

The Jewish population in the entire domain of the Khazars, in the period between the seventh and tenth centuries, must have been considerable ...

The Russians invaded the trans-Caucasian country in 944 ... This seems to have been the beginning of the downfall of the Khazar kingdom ... The Russian prince Sviatoslav made war upon the Khazars...(c.974) the Russians conquered all the Khazarian territory east of the Sea of Azov. Only the Crimean territory of the Khazars remained in their possession until 1016, when they were dispossessed by a joint expedition of Russians and Byzantines ... Many were sent as prisoners of war to Kiev, where a Khazar community had long existed ... Some went to Hungary, but the great mass of the people remained in their native country. Many members of the Khazarian royal family emigrated to Spain ... (223)

Professor Graetz describes the Khazar kingdom as follows:

The heathen king of a barbarian people, living in the north, together with all his court, adopted the Jewish religion ... Their kings, who bore the title of Khakhan or Khagan, had led these warlike sons of the steppe from victory to victory ...
It is possible that the circumstances under which the Khazars embraced Judaism have been embellished by legend, but the fact itself is too definitely proved on all sides to allow any doubt as to its reality. Besides Bulan, the nobles of his kingdom, numbering nearly four thousand, adopted the Jewish religion. Little by little it made its way among the people, so that most of the inhabitants of the towns of the Khazar kingdom were Jews ... At first the Judaism of the Khazars must have been rather superficial, and could have had but a little influence on their mind and manners ...
A successor of Bulan, who bore the Hebrew name of Obadiah, was the first to make serious efforts to further the Jewish religion. He invited Jewish sages to settle in his dominions, rewarded them royally, founded synagogues and schools, caused instruction to be given to himself and his people in the Bible and the Talmud, and introduced a divine service modeled on that of the ancient communities ... After Obadiah came a long series of Jewish Khaghans, for according to a fundamental law of the state only Jewish rulers were permitted to ascend the throne ... (224)

During the loth, 1 lth, 12th and 13th centuries, the rapidly expanding Russian nation gradually swallowed up the Khazar kingdom and its neighbors directly to the south. Therefore the Khazars spread throughout Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. It can be stated that all the Jews in Russia, Eastern and Central Europe are of Khazar origin. They are not Semitic. They are not descendants of Abraham, but Khazars of Turko-Finn origin.

Professor Abraham N. Poliak, Head of the Department of Middle Eastern and African Studies in Tel Aviv University, discovered previously unknown sources on the Khazar kingdom. He published an authoritative book, Khazaria, in Hebrew in 1944, in which he stated that the descendants of the Khazars -"those who stayed where they were, those who emigrated to the United States and to other countries, and those who went to Israel -constitute now the large majority of world Jewry." (225)

Dr. John Wilmot states:

Nevertheless, if it be a question of again being given, under covenant long-standing, the land in possession, with tribal inheritances, statehood, temple, priesthood, sacrifices, the once chosen nation restored to favor and priority in rule over all nations for a thousand years, then the evidence of true descent from "the fathers" to whom promise was made becomes indispensable to support the claim. There are multitudes of Jews content with the lands of their birth or adoption, who have no wish or purpose to return "home." But what of those returned and returning? The Scripture describes the true Jew, and it refers to some "which say they are Jews and are not," which, if taken in its racial literalness may find explication in the following quotation from The Christian recommending discrimination between "the real Jews and the Zionists":

"Zionists throughout the world are overwhelmingly of Eastern European origin. These Yiddish-speaking 'Jews' have no racial connection with Palestine or the ancient Hebrews and are of Khazar origin ... Jewish historians such as Graetz, Dubnow, Friedlander, Raisin and others support this too. Zionists have long misrepresented that these races of Jewish faith have a right to go to Palestine as their home, misleading these unfortunate people by telling them that in Palestine was their only hope. It is because of political Zionism that anti-semitism spreads, and not because of Hebrew traditions and religion. To that remnant of Orthodox Jewry which believes in the authority of the Old Testament and holds fast to the laws of the Pentateuch, we can offer respect and sympathy. To the Zionist who has only the restoration of the land for his personal goal, we can only say that he is endeavoring to frustrate God's unalterable will, an impossible proceeding." (226)

The above-mentioned facts show that neither the Jews of Palestine at the time of Jesus Christ nor the Jews of today can be called a race. They are referred to as Jews because they profess the Jewish religion, in the same way that Muslims and Christians are of different races and nationalities.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica authoritatively states:

The findings of physical anthropology show that, contrary to the popular view, there is no Jewish race. Anthropometric measurements of Jewish groups in many parts of the world indicate that they differ greatly from one another with respect to the all important physical characteristics. (227)

This destroys the foundation of the Jewish historical claim to Palestine and destroys the religious arguments advanced by the Zionists, Christian Zionists and the electronic evangelists who falsely and fraudulently claim that the Jews of today are "the seed of Abraham," that they are "the chosen people," and that the establishment of the Jewish State, fraudulently called Israel, is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

NO PROPHECY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT OR IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CONCERNING THE RETURN OF JEWS TO PALESTINE AFTER THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST

The Zionists, the Christian Zionists and the mercenary electronic evangelists have willfully misinterpreted and misrepresented the Scriptures in the Old Testament in order to prove the false statement that the Zionist occupation of Palestine in 1948 was a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

There are no prophecies in either the Old Testament or the New Testament which indicate directly or indirectly that the Jews, who rejected Jesus Christ, will return to Palestine after the coming of Jesus Christ. All the prophecies for the return of the Israelites to the land of Canaan were made by major and minor prophets before their exile to Babylonia in the sixth century B.C. These prophecies were fulfilled by the return of all the Israelites who wished to return after 70 years of exile.

The mercenary evangelist Mike Evans, who is a Jew masquerading as a Christian, published a book, The Return, in which he propagates the Zionist cause, misquotes and misrepresents the Scriptures. So did Tim LaHaye in his book, The Coming Peace in the Middle East.

The most well-known evangelist author, Hal Lindsey, exceeded all the others in his misrepresentations in his book, The Late Great Planet Earth. Millions of copies of this book were sold to innocent Americans who were thereby unwittingly brainwashed.

As Lindsey's book is the most read, we would like to analyze his arguments and show that they are fraudulent. He states in the 1970 edition of his book:

This writer searched through many commentaries on the subject dating back to A.D. 1611 and found that many scholars clearly understood that the Jews would return to Palestine and re-establish their nation before the Messiah would come. These men held this position in spite of mocking and ridicule on the part of the majority of Christendom. (228)

Then Lindsey refers to Dr. John Cumming and quotes from his book, The Destiny of Nations, which was published in 1864, as follows:

The predictions of their restoration are in words as definite only not yet fulfilled. As a nation they were cut off and dispersed, and it is as a nation that they shall be gathered and restored.

But one closing act in this great dramatic history of an extraordinary people is yet wanting to complete the whole. Theirrestoration is predicted anddemanded. Who will stretch out his hand to move the scene and call forth the actors. (229)

But neither Lindsey nor Cumming state their scriptural authority for such baseless assertions. Lindsey also relies on James Grant, an English writer, who published a book, The End of Things, in 1866, in which he stated the following:

The fact that the Jews had to be restored as a nation before Christ could return was seen by James Grant, an English Bible scholar writing in 1866.

The personal coming of Christ, to establish His millennia1 reign on earth, will not take place until the Jews are restored to their own land, and the enemies of Christ and the Jews have gathered together their armies from all parts of the world, and have commenced the siege of Jerusalem ...

Now the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the mustering and marshalling of these mighty armies, with a view to capturing Jerusalem, must require a considerable time yet. (230)

Lindsey also relies on a book by Increase Mather, The Mystery of Israel's Salvation, published in 1669. He does not quote from this book, but paraphrases an alleged opinion "that the Jews would return to Palestine and become a nation before their spiritual conversion and the return of the Messiah, Jesus Christ." But neither Lindsey nor Mather cite any verse from the Old Testament or the New Testament which supports this opinion.

Lindsey relies on these three writers, none of whom are known as Biblical scholars, and he ignores the hundreds of Biblical scholars who dispute that the migration of the Jews to Palestine in the 19th and 20th centuries was a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

Lindsey sums up his preposterous claims as follows:

To be specific about Israel's great significance as a sign of the time, there are three things that were to happen. First, the Jewish nation would be reborn in the land of Palestine. Secondly, the Jews would repossess old Jerusalem and the sacred sites. Thirdly, they would rebuild their ancient temple of worship upon its historic site. (231)

Lindsey then cites chapter 38, verse 8 of Ezekiel. In order to show how Lindsey misrepresents this verse it is important to read its full text and the surrounding verses in this chapter of Ezekiel, as well as preceding chapters. Ezekiel 389 reads as follows:

After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely allof them.

Ezekiel 36, 37, 38 and 39 all refer to the exile following the Babylonian conquest and the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian and Persian empires.

Lindsey offers four clues to interpret Ezekiel.

Clue one: Lindsey relies on an interpretation of Arthur W. Kac, a Jewish medical doctor, who is not considered by Jews or Christians to be a Biblical authority, but merely a Zionist propagandist who, in 1958, wrote a book, The Rebirth of the State of Israel, in which he stated:

The phrase "latter days" always refers in the Old Testament to the time of Israel's final and complete national restoration and spiritual redemption. (232)

The phrase "later days" or "latter days," in fact, refers to the restoration of the Israelites from Babylon, for example in Jeremiah 30:24 and Daniel 2:28 the phrase "latter days" is used to describe the prophecy of the destruction of the Babylonian Empire by the Persian Empire. Ezekiel 38:8 refers to the promise which was given in 594 B.C. at the time the Israelites were led into captivity for 70 years and God promised to return them to the land, as was also expressed in Ezekiel 11:17-19.

Clue two: Lindsey states that "the restoration is clearly after a long-term desolation of the land of Israel." This definitely refers to the period after the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as is stated in many verses in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. This could not possibly refer to Palestine in 1948.

Palestine in 1948 had 833 small towns and Arab villages, four mixed Jewish-Arab towns and eight Arab large towns and cities. It had a very prosperous agriculture and industry. It had olive trees, citrus groves, vineyards and all kinds of grains and vegetables. It had 1,350,000 Christian and Muslim Arabs who were very religious and believe in Jesus Christ, and 650,000 Jews. Its mountains were planted with olive trees and all kinds of fruit trees and was never desolate. Lindsey fraudulently states that Palestine's "mountains have always been waste." Every comer of Palestine's mountains was planted. Palestine also had six Jewish towns, 21 Jewish urban settlements and 266 Jewish rural settlements. How could Lindsey have the "chutzpah" to say that Palestine was desolate and waste?

Clue three: Lindsey relies on Ezekiel 37, but he ignores chapter 36 which is connected with it. Both chapters refer to the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel 36:24 states: "for I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land." If Lindsey's interpretationis correct, then all the European countries and the United States from where the Jews came to Palestine are heathen countries! In fact the verse quoted by Lindsey perfectly applies to the Persian Empire which extended from Anatolia to India and had many countries and heathen nations in it.

Clue four: Lindsey repeats the fallacy that "the physical restoration of the Jews to Palestine will trigger the hostility that brings about the great judgment upon all nations and the messiah's return to set up God's kingdom."

Evidently Lindsey is ignorant of the meaning of "God's kingdom" or "the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God is present in the faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 21:43:

Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bearing the fruit thereof.

The Gospel of Saint Mark, chapter 1, verses 14-15, states:

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

The Gospel of Saint Matthew 12:28 quotes Jesus Christ stating:

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Lindsey refers to chapters 23 and 24 of the Gospel of Saint Matthew and tochapter 21 of the Gospel of Saint Luke, which refer to the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem made by Jesus, which actually took place in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the final dispersal of the Jews from Palestine. But he wrongly interprets these chapters as referring to "putting the Jews back in the land as a nation."

Lindsey quotes from the book of Daniel which refers to the Babylonian era as if it were referring to the 20th century or thereafter. He quotes Daniel 9:27 as predicting "the long awaited kingdom of God," while this verse has no relation to the 20th century but to the era of Darius, king of the Persians and conqueror of the Chaldeans.

Lindsey considers himself a prophet and states:

We must conclude that a third Temple will be rebuilt upon its ancient site in old Jerusalem.
If this is the time that this writer believes it is, there will soon begin the construction of this Temple. Are there any evidences of such intentions in Israel?

Then Lindsey refers to a saying by Israel Eldad, whom Lindsey describes as "a famous Israeli historian." Lindsey is ignorant of the fact, as of all other facts relating to the Palestine problem, that Israel Eldad (alias Sheib) was one of the top three leaders of the Stem Gang. "If Shamir was the body, Eldad was the spirit of LEHI (Stem gang)." ( 33) He was one of the three terrorists who decided on the assassination of the United Nations Mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte. (234) This is the terrorist who Lindsey is quoting as a serious "historian" and an authority on the destruction of the Dome of the Rock, one of the most important Muslim sites in the world, and the building of the Jewish temple in its place.

Go to part 5