recognizing Replacement Theology

[HelenaZF]

Replacement Theology and anti-Semitism go hand in hand. It is based in pride (we are better than the Jews, after all, because they rejected the Messiah...) and in ignorance of the scriptures that tell us that God will always be faithful in his promises to Israel.



One of the things that becomes apparent when awakened to the reality of our "grafted-innedness" is that we must repent of these wrong beliefs, our anti-Semitism (whether conscious or just assimilated through osmosis) and of our ignorance. That place of humility then becomes a place of revelation for the Lord to bring us to truth about all these things.



The lies of replacement theology:



The lie: God has rejected Israel, because the Jews killed Yeshua.

The truth:Many Jews have become believers in Yeshua (see Acts 21:20) and Israel's rejection of the Messiah was part of God's plan for the spreading of the Gospel. Yeshua died of his own volition for the sins of all mankind, not because a certain people interfered with the plan and killed him.



The lie: The Church has replaced Israel in the prophecies and the promises of God.

The truth: The church is grafted in to Israel's olive tree. A tree that was already there. Not a new tree that was put in a hole where the old one had been dug up and discarded. Nowhere in the scripture can one support the position that God is finished with Israel and has replaced her with the Church. The Church is the Bride of Messiah, but Israel is the wife of God.



The lie: The The Holocaust was God's punishment on the Jewish people.

The truth: The enemy knows that if he can postpone Jewish revival, the Day of the Lord will also be postponed. This is the power and impetus behind the intellectually irrational efforts to wipe out the Jewish people---from Haman to Hitler, and now radical Islam.



The lie: The Jews will only experience revival after the Rapture, therefore it is pointless to minister them in any way.

The truth: God has never stopped trying to draw the hearts of his people. He wants revival for Israel, not wrath and judgement. He does not intend for them to be assimilated into the Gentile church and out of their Jewishness either. God's plans and punishments for Israel never entailed a loss of their Hebraic identity.



The lie: The Jews are going to hell.

The truth: We can never know the complete end of the heart of any man. Who is to say what happens between man and his Creator as he passes from life to death? In Romans, we are told that some who never hear the Gospel, but have a seeking heart, know God because he has spoken to them through His creation. Can he not deal with the Jewish people who earnestly seek him in the same way? To think otherwise is an arrogant position.





The stages of Anti-Semitism in history:<LIST>

• <LI>
• The Council of Nicea. It was declared that you could not be in the Church and live a Jewish lifestyle. It was at this point that Christianity became completely severed from it's Jewish roots.</LI>
  <LI>
• The Inquisition and the Reformation took the postion that you can not live among the Church if you lived a Jewish lifestyle.</LI>
  <LI>
• Nazi Germany (and now radical Islam) say that you cannot live at all if you are a Jew.</LI>
  

</LIST>This is a very good article giving background, scripture and argument against replacement theology for anyone who wants to explore this in greater depth than presented in this topic.



Why Replacement Theology is wrong by Kevin S. Johnson, Institute for Christian Apologetics.

<URL url="http://www.contender.org/articles/repisrl.htm">http://www.contender.org/articles/repisrl.htm