Chapter 3

The Divorce

“Then Jeroboam built Schechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and he built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem , then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah”. So the king consulted, and made two golden calves and he said to them, “it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel that brought you up from the land of Egypt”. And he set one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made houses on the high places , and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart;and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.”

1 Kings 12:25-33

The Council of Nicea

From the letter of the Emperor (Constantine) to all those not present at the council.

(Found in Eusebius, Vita Const.,Lib III 18-20)

When the question relative to the sacred festival of Easter arose, it was universally thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the feast on one day; for what could be more beautiful and more desirable than to see this festival, through which we receive the hope of immortality, celebrated by all with one accord and in the same manner? It was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of festivals to follow the customs (the calculation) of the Jews, who had soiled their hand with the most fearful of crimes, and whose minds were blinded in rejecting their custom,we may transmit to our descendants the legitimate mode of celebrating Easter; which we have observed from the time of the Savior’s passion (according to the day of the week).

We ought not therefore to have anything in common with the Jew, for the Savior has shown us another way; our worship following a more legitimate and more convenient course (the order of the days of the week) : And consequently in unanimously adopting this mode, we desire, dearest brethren to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jew for it is truly shameful for us to hear them boast that without their direction we could not keep this feast. How can they be in the right, they who, after the death of the Savior, have no longer been led by reason but by wild violence,as their delusion may urge them? They do not possess the truth in this Easter question, for in their blindness and repugnance to all improvements they frequently celebrate two Passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in error.

How, then, could we follow these Jews who are most certainly blinded by error?

For to celebrate a Passover twice in one year is totally inadmissible.

But even if this were not so it would still be your duty not to tarnish your soul by communication with such wicked people (the Jews). You should consider not only that the number of churches in these provinces make a majority, but also that it is right to demand what our reason approves, and that we should have nothing in common with the Jews.

Gleaned from Dr. Henry R. Percival’s “The Nicean and post Nicean Fathers”. Vol. XIV
Grand Rapid: Erdmans pub. 1979, pgs. 54-55

Already during the second and third centuries the ‘Church Fathers’ unleashed a cruel discrimination campaign against the Jews and anything Jewish, including the ‘Torah’ or the Law of Moses. In his book ‘Our father Abraham’, Marvin Wilson states: “Furthermore the Church Fathers taught that the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people resulted in a collective guilt which made them subject to the permanent curse of God.”

Among the biggest persecutors were Justin Martyr and Origen, but there are many other well known names as well.

In the year 325 Constantine adopted ‘Christianity’ as the official religion of the Eastern Roman Empire, called Byzantium. He made official what had already started happening in the second and third centuries- The total divorce from the Jews and anything connected with them including the Law of Moses. It was at that time that what we call ‘the New Testament’ today was canonized. Until then, the only Scriptures were the Tanach, (Old Testament). One of the characteristics of the Constantinic Era, is that Constantine changed the Biblical seasons and Feasts. He also set himself to be the head of the State Church. Constantine was a sun worshipper until the day of his death. He was never born again, and yet the whole Church fell into his trap. In the book of Daniel, (Daniel 7:25), we read that the Anti Christ will change the times and the seasons. Constantine was a type of Anti Christ. He forbade to celebrate Passover and instead instituted Easter, a feast and a name derived from the Babylonian Goddess Ishtar. He also changed the day of rest to Sunday instead of the Shabbat, (Friday night to Saturday night), because he was a sun worshipper who worshipped his ‘god’ the sun on the Sunday.

The entire church fell into his trap because Constantine commanded the persecution against Christians to cease. Until then believers were being thrown to the lions for their faith. Persecution was tremendously fierce during the time of the Roman Empire.

So when Constantine declared a ‘peace treaty’, the believers exhausted of persecution, welcomed the ‘peace treaty’ and thus compromised their faith. A compromise that has cost the lives of far more people than if the persecution would have continued.

The Constantine State Church has affected Christianity until this very moment and has deceived many people who worship dead saints and idols and statues of Mary into believing that they are saved. Yet the Lord says in Deuteronomy 5:8,9 and Exodus 20:5, that the sin of idolatry is visited upon the 3rd or 4th generation. On top of that, the hatred for the Jews institutionalized by Constantine has given birth to monstrous events such as the Spanish Inquisition, the bloody Crusades and the Nazi Holocaust. Every one of these massacres against Jews were perpetuated in the name of Christ and the cross. Countless of deceived people are burning in hell right now because of their hatred for the Jews as branches that have been ‘cut off’ because of their arrogance.(Romans 11: 18-22)

It is interesting to mention that a very similar thing happened to the Northern tribes of Israel during the 9-8 century BC. Because of the sins of King Solomon who went into idolatry, the Kingdom of Israel was divided into 2 kingdoms: The kingdom of Judah in the South and the kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim in the North. The king of Ephraim was Jeroboam. Jeroboam was not from the kingly lineage of David. He feared loosing the 10 tribes that were under his rule so he replaced the temple worship for idol worship, and the Mosaic Law, including the Feasts, for man made feasts. He divorced the Northern tribes of Israel from their roots in the same way that Constantine officially divorced the Church from its Jewish roots, replacing the Feasts and the Law for pagan customs.

Because of ‘the sin of Jeroboam’ God rejected Ephraim or the kingdom of Israel from being His people and sowed them into the Nations: “...For I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel that I will ever forgive them. But I will have compassion on the house of Judah.” Hosea 1:6,7

The sin of Constantine of divorcing from the Jewish roots I will name:

“The sin of Jeroboam in the Church”

The sin of Jeroboam led to the total rejection of God by the northern tribes as depicted in 2 Kings 17:18-

”So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his sight;
None was left except the tribe of Judah”. (The Jewish people of today).

The “Sin of Jeroboam” in the Church can have the same outcome; as God said that he will reject those that are arrogant against the ‘natural branches’, the Jews. And therefore repenting for the sin of Jeroboam in the Church is a matter of life or death.

The divorce from the Jews and the Jewish roots of the faith has born children of disobedience, ignorance, lawlessness and paganism . The Bible says: A false prophet is recognized by his fruit. The fruit of institutionalized Christianity has been murder, hatred and massacres; (Crusades, Spanish inquisition, Nazi Holocaust). But what about the Protestants and the Spirit-filled Christians?

Martin Luther was greatly used by God in the 16th Century to restore the Church from the Dark Ages, (caused by the divorce from the Jews and the Biblical roots), to the original truth of salvation by Grace through Faith. At the beginning he tried to win the Jews to the Lord, as he understood that they were still the people of God and that the Gentile Christians had alienated them. However the Jews by then had suffered several Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition and they totally rejected Luther’s attempts to win them to the gospel. Due to that, Luther became bitter and developed a vehement hatred against the Jews. He issued a series of articles and pamphlets including ‘On the Jews and their lies’. In those he labeled Jews as ‘venomous’, ‘thieves’ and ‘disgusting vermin’.

He had a real problem with the Law to the point that he wanted to leave the book of James out of the New Testament, because it talked about : “Faith without works is dead”,(James 2:20).

The seed of hatred and anti-Semitism was transmitted through Luther to all Protestant Christians. The ‘arrogance of the branches’ and the ‘Sin of Jeroboam’ in the Church continued its destructive course and it is still continuing until this very day.

A new reformation is knocking at the doors of the Church: Go back to the roots!

 


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