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Matthew 23,verses 8-11 are some of scripture’s most misunderstood verses. There are a variety of reasons for the gross misunderstandings of these simple texts. Most interpretations of these verses rendered and explained by many of the anti-Semitic churches of the world, are not only erroneous, but also openly venomous. There is grave danger in following many of the traditional religious understandings of these verses.

We must always keep in mind that most of the early church fathers, while sincere in their devotion to the gospel, were also sincerely hateful of Jews. Scathing attacks by such highly held luminaries such as Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, Iraeneus, Ignatius, Origen and thousands of others are infamous and nefarious! These religious zealots for Messiah, had several purposes in mind by practicing open hostility to the Jews who were and still are Yahshua's flesh and blood kinfolk (Romans 9:1-4).

A stated and pursued goal of totally divorcing New Covenant truth from its Jewish birthplace and Jewish womb. The desired goal of condemning an entire race of people, with the sole responsibility for Yahshua’s death. This blasphemous and vile charge of deicide ("god killing") would ultimately plant the seeds for genocide (Nation killing or ethnic cleansing). The demonization of the Jewish persona and character to lower his standing to that of a dehumanized creature.

As a knee jerk reaction to these goals and opinions, the early church fathers considered anything Jewish as subhuman and demonic, thereby rejecting Torah, Yahweh’s Feasts and the weekly Yahweh’s Sabbath ("Saturday"). Many of their anti-Semitic doctrines, having no biblical basis whatsoever, have been handed down to us through the centuries. Much of that doctrine lies deeply imbedded within modern Christianity. This includes many born again, bible believing churches and denominations. While many believers from Ephraimite backgrounds love Jews and cherish their Jewish heritage and are in no way, shape, or form anti-Semitic, the doctrines being espoused by their pastors from their pulpits probably is.

Doctrines such as "law versus grace" and "bondage versus freedom" (as if somehow Yahweh’s grace cannot be found in Tanach), are anti-Semitic teachings familiar to most of us in one form or another. The devilish doctrine that declares Torah as having been nailed to the cross and "replacement theology" are also examples of anti-Semitic teachings. Subtle chapter headings and indexes inserted into the pages and margins of most modern western translations by anti Jewish bible publishers, make historically inaccurate references to the "church" in the Old Testament. These blatant insertions, such as the "church at Sinai", or the "church leaves Egypt" or "the church crosses the Jordan". How can this hogwash be true when in scripture there is no such entity as the church, separate from the historic people of Israel?

The events of Shavuot in 33AD were the renewal of the first covenant with the same people. Acts 2 tells of devout Jews and Israelites in Jerusalem from all nations joining other Israelites for one of the three pilgrim ascension feasts. There is no church being born in the upper room, since the events in Acts 2 takes place in the temple or commonly known as “the House.” The final verse of Acts 2 verifies this. Therefore the myth of an upper room being the birthplace if a separate entity called the “church” is a diabolical attempt to relocate the events of that historic day across the Kidron Valley from “The House” or Temple Mount to a tiny upper room on the Mt of Olives. This is propagated in order to separate the entities of Israel (i.e. the Jews) and the church. If this church teaching is true, how does one squeeze and mikvah (baptize) 3,000 people in the upper room that did not have a mikvah facility (the Temple House did) or the space for 3,000 converts?

Thus since the church was never born it does not exist except in mans plastic theologies and thus could not possibly have crossed the Jordan and settled the Promised Land! Those events took place circa 1500 BCE! Let’s get real here! The Kirkbride Bible Company, which publishes the best selling Thompson Chain Reference Bible, is a classic example of this widespread gangrene. Their bibles are full of such trash. Companies and individuals like them knowingly and unknowingly print these blatantly anti-Jewish teachings in order to place "the church" in the Old Testament, in order to diabolically erase and replace any recordings, of the activities of the children of Israel. One idiot even traces the church’s presence and existence all the way back to the Garden of Eden, by stating that Adam and Eve went to “church”. Much of the church world is determined to get rid of pesky Jewish history by rewriting history to propagate replacement theology. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same clown who makes reference to the so called church in the Garden of Eden is one of those Jew haters who goes around the world in a church ministry, supported by Yahweh’s people, telling anyone willing to listen that the Holocaust never really happened. These examples are more than a case of poor hermeneutics or slips of the pen. They are flagrant attempts to remove the Jew as ever having been a recipient of Yahweh’s love and unconditional covenants. We must remember that Yahweh’s promises to Abraham were unconditional as were those made to David, without any performance or lack thereof, upon the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David.

In the short space that I have, I will present for your consideration one common anti Jewish teaching, that has been taught in most churches, while many innocent congregants often do not pick up on what is really being taught. You see my friend, the House of Israel (most non-Jewish believers) are often just as blind, as all those supposedly blind Jews!

In Matthew 23:8, Yahshua supposedly commands His disciples that no one must be called or refereed to by the title of "Rabbi". Yahshua supposedly claims to be our only Rabbi, therefore apparently forbidding His followers from using the term. Is this really true? The rest of scripture totally contradicts this anti Jewish interpretation. Rabbi simply means teacher. Nothing more, nothing less. In Ephesians: 4:11,Yahshua tells Rav Shaul (Paul) that teachers or rabbis are Yahweh’s personal gift to His body in order to teach, build up and encourage people to walk in truth. Why would Yahshua supposedly first forbid teachers or rabbis, then boldly state that they are one of His fivefold office gifts to His people! Have you ever asked yourself that, or perhaps wondered about that?

In Matthew 23:9, Yahshua also supposedly forbids calling anyone on earth "father". Then John the beloved, one of the original 12 disciples, in First John 2:13-14 refers to mature spirit filled believers as "fathers" in and of the faith. Wasn’t John paying attention to Yahshua’s teachings? Was John sleeping instead of taking notes? Why would John who lived daily with Yahshua for three and a half years, suddenly turn around and disobey Yahshua, by referring to mature born again believers as "fathers" of the faith? Weren’t you and I supposedly taught that both these titles are forbidden titles?

In Matthew 23:10, Yahshua also tells us to avoid using the title of leader. He supposedly claims that since He is our one true leader, that we should not have other leaders. Could this possibly be right? Wouldn’t lack of leadership result in chaos within divine government. Messiah would then be ruling over an anarchistic body. Yahweh’s word tells us that Yahweh is not the author of confusion in the kehelot! As a matter of fact, in Second Thessalonians 3:7 –9 and several other places, Rav Shaul (Paul) asks through apostolic authority to be followed. He asks and even demands to be followed as He walked with Yahweh. He is asking others to accept his role as a leader. Rav Shaul further instructs Timothy and Titus to lead and appoint other leaders in other local assemblies.

Due to these seemingly irreconcilable contradictions, we must reread Matthew 23:8-10, asking Yahweh to shed pure gospel light on these verses. We must never make the mistake that so many make by taking a verse out of context in order to develop a pretext. Does Yahshua pick on three titles above all other titles and forbid their usage among his followers? No, he does not! The anti-Semites in the church would like you to think just that!

The heart of Yahshua’s discourse regarding the titles of rabbis, fathers and leaders, is that men must always resist the tendency to label themselves with man-made titles and with self awarded designations. Any title that we assign to ourselves, in order to be noticed and to lift our fragile egos with pride, is sinfully corrupt and wrong. Yahshua was not attacking Jews or rabbis. He Himself was a rabbi as was Rav Shaul (Paul). He is exposing the religious mental gymnastics that men play with each other, by granting, withholding, interchanging and exchanging meaningless self imposed titles, designed to feed the fleshly desire for acknowledgment!

When and if Yahweh calls you a rabbi, you are a rabbi! When Yahweh calls you a congregational father, you become a congregational father. When Yahweh calls you a leader of His people you are a leader. If on the other hand, you or I grab any title (not limited to these three), that has not been divinely imparted by Almighty Yahweh Himself, then we are being hypocritical, vain and self seeking. Yahshua does not merely single out three titles for prohibition in a world having a plethora of man made titles and declaring only these three to be inherently evil! He prefers rather to single out the sinful tendency in man to promote himself through public recognition, without divine sanction.

Considering these truths, we Messianic Nazarene Yisrael leaders are quite comfortable with our designation as rabbi’s and teachers. Only a heart filled with incorrect doctrine and teaching through years of anti-Semitic indoctrination would fail to see and comprehend the above outlined truth from Yahweh’s Word.

It is safe therefore to conclude that if Yahshua was addressing Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and other modern day groups, His message would remain unchanged. He would clearly condemn the usage of titles such as Reverend, Doctor, Pastor, Monsignor and others tossed around, unless the individual had been previously sealed separated and chosen by the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit), for a life of service. Yahshua obviously chose to make a point and simply used the title of rabbi, because He was addressing a Jewish audience, not because that title was inherently evil. He was not picking on three specific titles in a world full, of false titles. His own rabbinical discourse in no way teaches the intolerance of fellow rabbis (Matthew 23:1). He was condemning the practice of using titles, without His permission and His calling upon their lives.

Perhaps you and I will feel released from this religious legalism handed down to us through faulty church doctrine and unbiblical traditions. You and I are free in Yahshua to refer to the leaders of this great Messianic Nazarene Yisrael movement as rabbis without any hesitation, reluctance or guilt on our part. Perhaps if you have been referring to yourself as a Messianic Pastor, the time has arrived for you to realign your thinking with Yahweh’s and become part of the new wine of biblical Messianic faith, the kind Yahshua died to establish. Since Yahshua was a Rabbi, it would stand to reason that any of His shepherds from both houses of Israel, would be honored to be called by the exact same title, that He Himself used freely.

The following are just a short sampling of those the church has tended to venerate in her history. Unfortunately, besides being the fathers of the early Constantine church, they are the fathers who planted generational hatred in Christianity towards the Jews. Two thousand years later lovers of Israel still have to deal with their hatred. Their hatred has been used down through the centuries by political Jew haters such as Hitler and Stalin, who relied on the teachings and writings of the early church fathers to find theological justification for their planned attempts at genocide.

In recent years there has been a smattering of weak apologies by the Vatican (at Vatican Two where popery still decided to continue teaching that Jews are saved by Moses through the Old Covenant) and by Lutherans, yet both groups continue to want the Jews out of Jerusalem, so that a Palestinian capital may emerge. Many "Christian" groups have still failed to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, choosing to snub their noses at the revealed truth of scripture. The scriptures tell us that Jerusalem belongs to the people of all Israel including the Jew as its eternal capital! Period! End of argument! If the churches of the world really repented wouldn’t they adopt that plainly declared biblical position? Repentance means an action taken to correct a sinful behavior. Supporting the sons of Esau and not the sons of Jacob, is just the latest church arrow of love shot at the Jew. Has the so-called “church” really repented and distanced itself from its history? I think not! How about you? Below are those promised quotes, from a few of paganized churchianity’s heroes.

To the utmost of your power you dishonor and curse in your synagogues, all those who believe in Christ. In your synagogues you curse those who have become Christians and the Gentiles put into effect your curse by killing all those who merely admit that they are Christians. (Justin Martyr 165 AD Dialogue with Trypho, a Greek Jew).

How can Christians dare have the slightest conversation with the Jews, most miserable of all human beings, who are rapacious greedy, perfidious, bandits, ravenous murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil. The synagogue is the domicile of the devil as is the soul of the Jew. Their religion is a disease. (John Chrysostom 520 AD)

I hate the synagogue precisely because it has the Torah and the Prophets. I hate the Jews because they outrage the Torah. (Chrysostem 520 AD)

We too would observe your circumcision of the flesh, your Sabbath and in a word all of your festivals, if we were not aware of why they were imposed upon you, namely because of your sins and hard heart. (Barnabas Epistle Of Barnabas 130-138 AD.)  Note: This is not the Jewish disciple Barnabas of the Book of Acts, but a supposedly converted pagan who wrote a forged letter and gospel by pilfering the name of the real Barnabas.

First, their synagogues should be set on fire, secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed, thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer books and Talmuds, fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach anymore, fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be absolutely forbidden for Jews, sixthly, they ought to be stopped from usury. Let the young strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, ax, hoe, spade distaff, spindle and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses. We ought to drive the rascally lazy bones out of their system. Therefore away with them. To sum up dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domain, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may be all free of this insufferable devilish burden-the Jews. (Martin Luther 1523 AD)

To quote Raul Hillberg a “Christian” Holocaust scholar:

Since the fourth century after Christ there have been three anti Jewish policies: Forced conversion, expulsion, annihilation. The second appeared as an alternative to the first and the third emerged as an alternative to the second. The missionaries of Christianity had said in effect: "you have no right to live among us as Jews" .The secular rulers who followed proclaimed "you had no right to live among us". The Nazis at last decreed "you have no right to live!"

The process began with the attempt to drive the Jews into Christianity. The deployment was continued in order to force the victims into exile. It was finished when the Jews were driven to their deaths. The German Nazis did not discard the past, they built upon it. They did not begin deployment of the final solution to the Jewish question, they completed what the church had started. The destruction of European Jews (Raul Hillberg 1985,  a “Christian” scholar).

The above is just the tip of the iceberg. We do not have enough space and you our readers do not have enough of a stomach to digest much more. As you can see The Holocaust was already blueprinted by apostate church leaders and all it took was an Adolph Hitler, a Yahshua hater, but a papal lover, to boldly and grotesquely enact the unthinkable, the murder of six million Jewish men, women and children. Your Arms to Israel will never forget the Holocaust and it victims, as long as the church continues in its ugly denial about her role as theological overseers of German National Socialism. No wonder Adolph Hitler boldly proclaimed "I am involved in the work of Yahweh!"

For a full treatment of the ugly history of the church and the Jews we recommend the excellent book by Dr. Michael Brown entitled Our Hands Are Stained With Blood, with a foreword by Pastor Don Wilkerson of Times Square Church in New York. The book is must reading and vital for individuals in the "church" who feel the need to bring repentance toward Yahweh for the church’s treatment of the Jewish people. All quotes are historically quoted, documented and footnoted for even further research. To order copies of Our Hands Are Stained With Blood write to: Destiny Image Publishing PO Box 310 Shippensburg, Pennsylvania 17257. Or call Baruch Hashem at 305 748-0029 or 1-800 329-4039 Baruch Ha Shem is a Florida distributor that carries this vital resource.