Today, the “Chosen People” status has been awarded to one tribe of the 12 tribes of Israelites. (That would be
According to Yahweh (LORD), he brought the Israelites out from the hand of Pharaoh of Egypt (Deut. 7:6-9). Yet Schneider assigns Deut.7 as well as Ezek.36:22-25 to today’s Israelis living in the State of Israel. In point of fact, the
cited passage in Deuteronomy is directed to the entirety of the 12 tribes while the Ezekiel passage is directed toward people sent
into
Schneider writes that Jews and Christians “belong together” because they share the same “root.” This is wrong. Orthodox Christianity has severed itself from the “root.” He says that non-Jewish Christians have been “grafted in to the same
olive tree of God that also sustains
Certainly, there is a religious connection between Jews and Christians,
but polytheistic orthodox Christianity deliberately moved away from God’s Hebraic monotheistic concept (which concept is also Jewish). They instituted an incoherent “trinity” of gods, and they have ceased to be a viable graft. I think that Christians, in the
main, as nice as they are and as sincere as they may be, do not have such a connection to the “root” of the olive tree. Absolutely,
Yahweh will have mercy and compassion upon whomever he will, but Jesus wanted people to come back to the singular God he worshiped,
not to create another one or two or more additional Gods (and saints) of their own to worship and to whom they might sing hymns and
pray!
Further, the wild olive tree concept mentioned by Paul has a warning: “For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither
will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness
to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off” (Rom.11:21-22). Notice carefully how
the “once saved, always saved” doctrine is blown away. A person must continue with God (Paul leaves Jesus out of this formula). Otherwise that person will be severed, cut off, from God. It is God, Yahweh, to whom we owe allegiance if we are to be saved
in the end. Who is the natural olive tree? Is it modern or ancient
Paul tells us in Rom.11:17 how the wild olive
tree partakes of the root and fatness of the natural olive tree—it was through the breaking off of other natural branches. Verses
18-20 warn against boasting and pride and tell us that it was unbelief that caused others to lose their place on the tree. Schneider
writes: After all, as long as Jews and Christians exist, they are confirming what the Bible says: the one and only God will lead his
people
What is that “promised destiny” for these two contrasting religious
groups? The writer does not say. At the end, the writer claims: A true Christian is a Zionist because he receives his
inspiration from the same root as the Jews.
So, we have come full circle. As a Christian, are you obligated to be a friend
of the State of Israel or of the Jews there or anywhere else? I have found no relevant passage in the Bible that suggests one
must be a supporter of any particular religiously-oriented people in order to be saved. Am I against befriending the Jews or
On the other hand, if
you hate the Jews, or any other ethnic group, because they are an ethnic group, your professed religion, no matter what it is called,
is worthless.
A Progressive Revealing
Finally, for what it is worth, I see Four
Primary Stages of the progression of Yahweh’s religious dealings with man; the revealing of his desires. In the Old Testament,Stage One, Yahweh drew out a people (the Israelites, not just Jews) for himself from among all the nations. He gave them statutes,
laws, judges, and revealed the way by which they were to exist and become the greatest nation on the earth. One part (1/12)
of this people was the tribe of Judah, whom we now call Jews. There was no “Judaism” at that time—it was yet to be formulated. Theirs during this ancient period was a monotheistic religion. But this “chosen people” refused to obey God. As a result,
they were turned out from God into the world (like Adam and Eve were turned out and thrust into the world) and made to survive on
their own. This was Stage One.
Eventually, in Stage Two, these thrust-out people reorganized and created Judaism, or the religion
of the Jews. They retained many of the mandates of Yahweh and his laws, kept his monotheism, but added many restrictions of
their own and set up their own concept of God’s religion. Jesus himself railed against Judaism as the “doctrines of men.” He said, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart
is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’ ” (Matt.15:7-9). Jesus Christ represents
the dividing line between Stages Two and Three.
Stage Three began with Jesus. He spoke out in a crusade, as it were, to bring
all peoples back to Yahweh, the creator of the universe, back to Stage One, to a time prior to the advent of Judaism. He wanted
to bypass Judaism. He did not call them in order to be personally worshiped, but rather sought obedience to his God and their God(Jn.20: 17). The Father calls spiritually (Jn.6:65;
