Anti-Semitism in America

There is a rapidly growing problem with anti-Semitism in America. The worst part of this trend is in the Black community. Blacks are the perfect conduit for anti-Semitism because many believe they are incapable of being racist, and some believe they are the true Jews of the Bible.

I do not understand why Kanye West is a major celebrity. There are clear signs that this man has mental problems. He has currently taken on the name Ye, and I refuse to refer to him by this name because it is the shortest verse of his title of him claiming to be God (Jesus Christ).

West has amplified many anti-Semitic tropes and conspiracy theories. During an interview on Revolt 0TV’s “Drink Champs” series that was posted and then removed, he repeatedly blamed “Jewish media” and “Jewish Zionists” for numerous alleged misdeeds, stating that “Jewish people have owned the Black voice” and that “the Jewish community, especially in the music industry … they’ll take us and milk us till we die.” Referencing Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he also commented that he was “#MeToo-ing the Jewish culture. I’m saying y’all gotta stand up and admit to what you been doing.”

West doubled down on his anti-Semitism during an interview with NewsNation, criticizing the so-called “Jewish underground media mafia” and alleging that “every celebrity has Jewish people in their contract.” He also claimed that his life was threatened by his Jewish managers, lawyer, and accountant due to his political beliefs. On both “Drink Champs” and NewsNation, West is one who holds to the view that Black people cannot be anti-Semitic, stating that “we are Semite, we Jew, so I can’t be anti-Semite.”

West lost an Adidas deal that was worth $1.5 billion over his anti-Semitic remarks. He is apparently such a devoted Jew-hater, the loss of all that money had no effect on him. West is such a lunatic that many people ignore him. Even if his words are seen as crazy talk, more and more people agree with him.

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has been suspended due to a now-infamous tweet in which he included a link to a film chock full of antisemitic tropes. After Irving chose not to “disavow antisemitism,” the Nets had no choice but to sideline him.

The 2018 film Hebrews to Negroes, based on director Ronald Dalton Jr.’s book series of the same name, is a three-plus-hour effort to “prove” the Black Hebrew Israelite belief that certain people of color, including Black Americans, are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites.

The film includes passages from Henry Ford’s The International Jew and two purported (though seemingly fabricated) quotations from Adolf Hitler.

“[The Americans] plan on moving these false white Jews into a state of Israel. Because the white Jews know that the Negroes are the real children of Israel, and to keep America’s secret, the Jews will blackmail America. They will extort America; their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they are.” [Fabricated “quotation” falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler]

The suspension of Irving has done wonders for nearly all the books that promote the Black Hebrew Israelite lie. Thousands of people want to read or listen to the forbidden book/movie. The Book Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America has been out for several years, and now it’s in the top 10.

Some of the damage on the anti-Semitism front was done by Comedian Dave Chappelle. On SNL, he waded into the controversy caused by Kanye West and Kyrie Irving. “Before I start tonight, I just wanted to read a brief statement that I prepared,” he began. “I denounce anti-Semitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,” said Chappelle.

He then went on to make a number of jokes about the Jewish community, implying he secretly agrees with West and Irving on many points, saying: “If they’re Black, it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. But if they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”

He added: “I can see if you had some type of issue, you might go out to Hollywood and start connecting some kind of lines, and you could maybe adopt the delusion that Jews run show business. It’s not a crazy thing to think. But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”

“I’ve been to Hollywood … it’s a lot of Jews. Like, a lot,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean anything. There are a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri. Doesn’t mean they run the place.”

Soon after the show aired, writer Adam Feldman was among the first to criticize the performance on Twitter, suggesting that Chappelle’s comments “probably did more to normalize anti-Semitism than anything Kanye said.”

In response, fellow writer Mark Harris echoed the disapproval, saying, “It’s not brave or edgy to play games with the idea of anti-Semitism, and “We all know it’s kinda true, but we just can’t say it” is a glib, ugly approach to the subject that many anti-Semites who see themselves as embattled truth-tellers will love.”

Any sign of anti-Semitism should trigger alarm bells. Outbreaks of hatred against Jews have occurred multiple times in history. The Bible predicts that there will be a final global hatred of Jews that will force them to turn to Jesus as their Savior. As we enter into the last of the last days, make sure your love for God’s people remains strong.

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another” (Matt.24:9-10).

“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:26-27).

–Todd

Young Adults’ Plans and Prophecy

This commentary is offered in consideration of Christian young adults—those who are God’s children. That is, they are God’s own through belief in Jesus Christ according to perhaps my favorite scriptural passage on how to be saved from sin’s dread sway:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

We will delve a bit into the plans of these young adults in consideration of Bible prophecy. The concerns they have too often go without much notice by those of us in the Bible prophecy ministry, I’m afraid. Their worries, which might have at one time been the very ones of my generation and younger, now can be easily overlooked by us older ones. We have lived our lives, we’ve had and raised our children, and we’ve completed many of our family, social, and business desires and expectations.

I can remember when, on the rare times when those of us in our twenties and thirties had discussions about the Rapture and of the Second coming, some—perhaps most—would say something like: “I want the Rapture and Jesus to return, but I hope I get to enjoy life and see my kids grow up.”

Otherwise, we didn’t talk about Bible prophecy much in our social gatherings—or even in our church gatherings, as I recall. The subject was almost taboo, because it engendered thoughts of separation. Somewhat like the thought of death, the Rapture threatened to separate us from those we loved –especially in thinking about our babies or our future life with family and children.

Of course, this was because even back then, pastors rarely taught about Bible prophecy. Our Sunday schools and other forums almost never dwelt on God’s prophetic Word, either. Those of my era and subsequent eras of young adults, like today’s young adults, never were led to understand the promises our Heavenly Father has made in His prophetic Word.

So it is understandable why today there is little interest in the teachings of Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. I, too, am guilty of pointing only to the gloom and doom of these darkening times. There’s not much hope—or certainly not much fun—in thinking about the evil that permeates our world in ever-increasing virulence.

We who are commissioned to analyze and dissect the prophetic implications of these days leading to the Tribulation too often don’t take into account the fact that the young adults of our time don’t see the final outcome of the prophetic stage-setting as wonderful and magnificent as we do.

The young people only see the problems of making their way into life’s mainstream and preparing for or working toward building their families and security for those families. Looking up for the any-moment Rapture is, most times, far outside of their worldview. All they know is the here and now and trying to find their way through the maze of growingly difficult social and cultural situations they face daily. And, again, the Rapture seems to be something more to be feared than looked forward to with great anticipation, as we are exhorted in Paul’s words of Titus 2:13.

As I write, I’m reminded deeply in my spirit how the Lord wants those who are in His family to gather within their redeemed spirits the astonishingly wondrous things He wants them to anticipate—the things that are coming much sooner than we can realize.

My spirit tells me that reaching the ability to have this kind of anticipation comes most often from years of studying Bible prophecy. And every generation has failed to properly bring the young to such a level of study.

In other words, I and others who have spent most of our adult lives deeply rooted in the study of and prayer about Bible prophecy now know in the deepest reaches of our being the wonders that await just after the final heartbeat or that glorious moment when Christ shouts for His Bride to come to Him. The young ones, and even older Christians who haven’t studied the prophetic Word on their own or in churches or other venues, don’t have the assurance or even knowledge of that magnificent future on the very cusp of pulling them instantaneously into glory.

It is not possible for a writer or a preacher to make these folks understand the joy that awaits the believer in Jesus Christ. But it is possible, if they can just be convinced to take God at His Word, that a fantastic future beyond anything imaginable is approaching at a speed never before experienced by God’s people.

The Scripture I would encourage every young person to include in their plans is given by the Apostle Paul—the same prophet who revealed the mystery of the Rapture:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

It seems, then, that no one can know with great inner assurance of the glories that await believers. But God’s promise goes beyond this seeming inhibition against knowing Heaven’s wonders.

Paul tells us further the following about knowing that blessed eternal life to come:

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:10–13)

Those words from the very heart of our God tell His family that the desire to know of the never-ending life of glorious exultation can be fulfilled through Holy-Spirit revelation. This is what each believer needs to understand and apply—study, prayer, and a deep belief in God’s promises. The Holy Spirit will give understanding and deep, abiding faith in the promises of God regarding our eternal life with Him.

To the younger and older members of God’s family—who are already citizens of that place called Heaven: Make Bible prophecy a big part of your plans for the future. God’s powerful promises will bring your earthly plans into focus with a heavenly perspective. And you will begin to understand that leaving this earth doesn’t mean you will lose the children and family you love so much. You will begin to know beyond any doubt that the life God has prepared for you is billions of times more wonderful and fulfilling than any time you spend with them on earth. Your life with loved ones will be enhanced beyond what you can fathom.

–Terry