Jewish Extremists?

A Nun views damage from an arson fire at the Church of the Multiplication

While Islamic terrorism has been attracting a lot of attention across the world for several years, there are other terrorists who are causing significant trouble who've received only sparse attention from the global media.

Who are they? They're Ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists who've been attacking the homes, businesses and churches of Christians throughout Israel. They've gotten bolder in recent years by setting arson fires that have resulted in serious injuries and extensive damage to historical church buildings.

After the extremists torched the Church of the Multiplication last month, Father Nikodemus Schnabel accused the Israeli government of going soft on the Jewish radicals: The attacks have become more brutal and more aggressive. And we have not been happy with the political response.

The Israeli government has attempted to distance itself from the radicals, claiming that the religious zealots are disenfranchised youth with very few leaders who are messianic activists riding on waves of suspicion and ignorance.

According to the Israeli government's own information, the extremists have vandalized, burned and bombed dozens of churches and monasteries throughout the Jewish nation during the past three years. The radicals have also attacked mosques, but their rancor seems to be directed more toward Christians than Muslims.

Why are the extremists targeting churches? Because they believe Christianity is a pagan religion that promotes idol worship. Specifically how? Because of the Trinity that teaches that God consists of three persons; God the Heavenly Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. Not three gods, but rather one God who consists of three distinct persons.

The Jewish extremists consider that sacrilege because Judaism--specifically Rabbinic Judaism--teaches that God is a single being who can't be known or seen. That belief motivated the ancient rabbis to seek Christ's death and it fomented the intense persecution that Christ's early Jewish followers suffered at the hands of the Pharisees who were the forerunners of today's Orthodox rabbis.

Do the rabbis have a valid argument that Christianity promotes idol worship? Absolute not. Contrary to popular belief, the Trinity isn't a Christian concoction, but can be found in the Old Testament. For example, when the Lord created man He said this: "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26)

Who's us? Since God created mankind, He wasn't speaking to the angels, but to the preincarnate Christ and to the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, in Genesis 1:1, ("In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.") the Hebrew word used for God is Elohim, which is plural, meaning one God who consists of more than one person.

And furthermore, when the prophet Isaiah (8th century B.C.) revealed who the Jewish Messiah would be, he wrote this: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) Isaiah revealed that the Jewish Messiah would be the physical incarnation of God and possess His Holy Spirit. And Jesus Christ fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy when He appeared several centuries later.

Why can't the rabbis see that? Because they're following a counterfeit religious system that developed over several centuries. Their ancestors took the Torah (books of Moses) and the Haftarah (writings of the prophets) and changed them by adding their own rules and bizarre interpretations. And that was in violation of God's command that prohibited them from doing that. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

The Jewish extremists are motivated by a false religion that's a perversion of the truth. Though Rabbinic Judaism doesn't specifically encourage its followers to persecute gentiles and Jewish believers in Christ, it lays the foundation for that persecution with its elitist claim that it alone teaches the true wisdom of God. And those who dissent are considered apostates and fools worthy of contempt.

The terror attacks on Christians in Israel committed by Ultra-Orthodox religious fanatics is yet another fulfillment of end-time prophecy concerning the persecution of Christians in the last days. The apostle Paul wrote: "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:12-13)

The evildoers and impostors are the Jewish extremists who believe they're serving God by persecuting Christians. However, they're really serving Satan, who's the god of all false religions that can't save anyone. Hopefully, they'll wake up and realize that before it's too late. Otherwise, they'll be spending eternity with their "god" in a very miserable place.

Christ and Allah

Larycia Hawkins and her supporters at Wheaton College

It was Jesus Christ Himself who warned His followers that in the last days, "you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." (Matthew 24:9-11)

While none of the administrators at Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.) have been handed over to be persecuted and put to death since they suspended Professor Larycia Hawkins, they've incurred national outrage and condemnation for their disciplinary action.

Why was Hawkins suspended? She claims it's because she wore an Islamic hijab (headscarf) in her classroom, while the college claims she was suspended for promoting heresy by teaching that Islam and Christianity worship the same God.

Hawkins recently posted this message on her Facebook page: I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.

Indeed, Pope Francis, like his predecessors Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, has proclaimed that Allah is the same God that Christians worship. Is that true? Absolutely not! The Bible declares that God consists of three persons (the Trinity): God the Heavenly Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. 

However, the Quran declares that Allah is a single entity who has no son: O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa (Jesus) son of Mary is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Mary and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector. (Sura 4:171)

Many people believe that the Trinity was concocted by Christ's followers and can't be found anywhere in the Old Testament. They're dead wrong. Nearly 800 years before Christ appeared in the world, the prophet Isaiah wrote this concerning the Jewish Messiah: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

Isaiah identified the Messiah as the incarnation and embodiment of God; the Everlasting (Heavenly) Father, the Wonderful Counselor (Holy Spirit) and the Prince of Peace (Jesus Christ) who is the Son of God. Only a fool would deny that the prophet was referring to the Trinity. 

Thus, the biblical Judeo-Christian God and the god of Islam aren't the same. And if Professor Hawkins believes otherwise, then she shouldn't be teaching at Wheaton College or any Christian school because she's of those end-time false prophets that Christ warned us about.

Prophets do more than reveal God's will concerning the future. They also teach His laws and commandments. A true prophet upholds the biblical teachings concerning God while a false prophet perverts those teachings. And Hawkins is a false prophetess for claiming that the the biblical God and Allah are the same. They're not.

Who is Allah? Before Islam, he was known as Al-Ilah, the moon god of Muhammad's Quraysh tribe, and one of 300 idols worshiped in the pagan Kabah temple in Mecca. Hence, Islam's crescent moon is a reminder of Allah's ancient identity.

Surely, if Hawkins studied the ancient religions of Arabia, she'd know that. As someone who's employed by a prestigious Christian college where the Rev. Billy Graham graduated from in 1943, she should know that.

And she should know how ludicrous and mendacious it is to compare the true God of the universe to a detestable pagan god. In fact, that's not only ludicrous and mendacious, it's blasphemous as well. To Isaiah, the Lord said this: "I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God." (Isaiah 45:5)

Larycia Hawkins is a good example of what's wrong with modern Christendom. Instead of being that shining beacon on a hill that calls sinners out of darkness into the eternal light of Jesus Christ, too much of the modern church has fallen into laziness and compromise with the world and its many false religions.

And Islam is a false religion that can't save anyone. Professor Hawkins ought to know that. But either she doesn't or once did but doesn't believe that anymore. If she truly believes that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, then shame on her. And shame on all those Wheaton College faculty members and students who stood by her in solidarity after she was rightly disciplined.