Selah! Harmony Commentary of the Four Gospels {ebook Volume 2}

SELAH!

Harmony Commentary of the Four Gospels

(with connotations on historical and relevant social, moral, religious, and political issues)

The King James or Authorized Version of the Bible, the Fourth Edition of 1769

The above edition of the 1611 Authorized Version was published in 1769 under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin Blayney (1728-1801).

This is the King James Bible that is popularly used today.

By Missionary Henry R. Pike, Ph.D.

Selah!

Harmony Commentary of the Four Gospels

© 2012 by Missionary Henry R. Pike, Ph.D.

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Selah! ISBN: 978-1-62020-040-7

Selah! (ebook volume 2) ISBN: 978-1-62020-121-3

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (Authorized Version), fourth edition, 1769.

Part of the material in this volume is due to the appropriation of other works by copying fractional portions from these sources. This has been used to criticize, confirm, teach, buttress, and clarify different statements in the Footnotes-Commentaries. All such quotations help support key points or introduce topics for further discussion. I have sought to keep all citations within the limits of the Copyright Policy for fair use. In some publications cited, the source details were illegible, untraceable, or missing. Upon written notice regarding oversights, omissions, or incorrect citations from copyright material used, these will be corrected in any future printings. This book may not be reproduced in any form beyond the copying permitted by Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Permission is granted for quotations of approximately two hundred words in reviews and articles. Persons citing from copyright materials used in this work that go beyond the fair use policy should seek permission from the individual copyright holders. Recognition of the copyright material used is located in the Selected Bibliography.

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Top: Scenes in the land of Israel

Bottom: Sea of Galilee

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Publisher’s Note

Due to the size of Selah! and ebook restrictions, the Selah! ebook has been broken into volumes as noted below:

1. Volume 1 – Chapters 1 – 5

2. Volume 2 – Chapters 6 – 10

3. Volume 3 – Chapters 11 – 15

4. Volume 4 – Chapters 16- 20

Each ebook includes the author’s instructions on how to use the commentary as well as the appendices.

The bibliography for Selah!  can be found in Volume 4.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Publisher's Note

How to Use this Harmony Commentary

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Appendix One

Appendix Two

Appendix Three

Appendix Four

Appendix Five

Appendix Six

Appendix Seven

Appendix Eight

HOW TO USE THIS HARMONY COMMENTARY

The miracle of Christ’s coming into the world resulted in a different style of historical religious literature. Though all Scripture was given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the four gospels are the crown of all biblical writings. A reliable harmony of these gospels is the first tool necessary in studying the life of Christ. One cannot properly understand the record of His earthly years without this resource. Nahum Tatian, a heretical Gnostic who lived for a time in Syria, composed the most ancient harmony known. Shortly after A.D. 150, he wrote a Diatessaron, meaning a harmony in four parts. Being a Gnostic, he doctored his work, leaving out references to the deity of Christ. None of it survived the ravages of time, but other ancient writers mentioned it in their writings. Over the centuries, hundreds of harmonies were produced, often taking varying approaches to the Master’s life and work. The Selah! Harmony Commentary of the Four Gospels is another attempt to harmonize (as far as possible) the records of Jesus’ life. This book has two major differences; first, it contains a massive commentary, and second, the author holds to the absolute inspiration of the four gospels as well as the entire canon of Holy Scripture. As explained later, God did not intend that all four gospels be totally harmonized. If so, we could dispense of three and use just one. The following briefly explains the methodology, literary tools, and techniques employed in producing this work.

Text: The Authorized or King James Version, fourth edition of 1769.

Authors’ names attached to the four gospels: It is incorrect to think that the names of the gospels prove that these men wrote them. Several centuries beforenameswere added, the belief existed that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote these documents. Their names were later attached at the heading of each book. Consequently, in time, the Holy Spirit, not men, vindicated their authorship.

The length of His ministry: This has been determined by the number of Passover celebrations the Savior attended. The author understands that the feast of John 5:1 has reference to this great annual event in Hebrew history. I have reckoned the length of His ministry, beginning at His baptism with four successive Passovers following. Writers have used this approach for centuries. This is discussed at the beginning of Section 52, footnotes a, b, and c. The author conjectures that Christ died at approximately thirty-four years old. His early years were in the reign of King Herod the Great. He was reasonably somewhere under two years old when Herod slaughtered the infants and Joseph fled to Egypt with his family. Shortly after Herod’s death in 4B.C., they returned to the land of Israel.

Disclaimer: British spellings remain as they are. For example the word fullness is spelt as fulness, the style used in the Scripture texts. Errors in quotations and some spellings (unless of serious nature) taken from the documentation sources have been retained as originally printed. A few quoted misspellings are tagged by the grammatical tool sic. Having read hundreds of books over the years, the author drew some of this work from a rusty memory and cannot now precisely document them. Quotations from an author are not my endorsement of all his theological beliefs. Citations from John Gill, F. W. Farrar, John Lightfoot, Adam Clarke, A. T. Robertson, Joachim Jeremias, and Alfred Edersheim illustrate this. The Soncino Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, the works of Josephus, Joseph Klausner, George Foot-Moore, Will Durant, and all other pseudo, or non-Christian sources are used for historical purposes, not theological. Doctor C. I. Scofield’s comments in his footnotes at John 5:3; Mk. 11:26; Acts 8:37; Col. 2:2; and 1John 5:7 reflect that he was slightly poisoned by German higher criticism.

Quotation marks, capitalization, and font styles: Quotation marks are inserted throughout the text of the four gospels. They help the reader to determine who is saying, what in the biblical passages. Capitalizations are used in the Footnotes-Commentaries when they speak of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, whether it is Christ the Word, or the Scriptures. Pronominal mentions of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are also in the uppercase. No punctuation marks exist in biblical manuscripts, including the Textus Receptus.Translators added these later. All words spoken by Satan and demons are in a heavy Gothic font to reflect their malevolent intentions toward God, man, and creation.

Color system: All of Christ’s Words are in red letters. This idea originated in 1899 with a German immigrant, Dr. Steven Klopsch, and was used in the first edition of the Christian Herald Magazine. Old Testament quotations or allusions in the four gospels and selected mentions of Jesus as the Messiah are set in dove gray backgrounds with a dark letter font. The three times that God spoke audibly to Christ are shaded in gray with red font. The four Passovers Jesus attended during His ministry are set in a gray background. His entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the major events to His ascension are shaded in gray or typed in heavy red or black font. These two colors are used in some chapter and Section headings. Italics, gray backgrounds, or heavy black and red fonts emphasize certain words and subjects. Peter’s three denials, Pilate’s five innocent verdicts, Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross, and the five different mentions of the Great Commission are all set in a gray background with red letters.

Many repetitions and helps: Four histories, written about the same Man, contain numerous repetitions. This work has hundreds of these. Repetitions are not that painful, unless they become tautological. The gospels reveal that Jesus repeated Himself; even decades after His ascension (compare Matt. 13:9 with Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, and 29). Portions of the Footnotes-Commentary in one Section may be repeated in another Section. I reasoned it best to reiterate many things, instead of continually sending the readers back and forth through this work by using the ibid back-reference tool. The hundreds of cross references, many doublets, triplets, and quadruplicates will make this work difficult for some. Most references are identified by See Section ..., Note ..., or Refer to Section ..., and so forth. Frequent mention is made of the learned academicians, great scholars, and experts. These terms point mostly to the unsaved religious intellectuals who think they are qualified to translate and censure the Bible, a book in which they do not believe in the first place. Nothing rude is intended by these descriptive terms. Across the top of each Section is a long narrow Information Box briefly stating what is in that particular Section. The twenty chapters in this harmony commentary vary in length due to their contents.

Finding paragraphs easily: MostFootnotes-Commentary headings have numerous sub-paragraphs. These are marked by 2p-, 3p-, meaning second and third paragraphs. This literary tool will aid readers to locate quickly the desired sub-paragraphs under any of the Footnotes-Commentary headings. Some of these paragraphs are independent thoughts not connected with previous subjects.

Departures and styles used: Frequently,I have bypassed some of the standard methodology used in literary presentations. The ibid notation, referring to a text or book previously quoted, has been excluded. I chose to repeat the book title and author’s name. This will save the astute much reader time in backtracking through hundreds of pages to locate the original source. Technical theological terms have been avoided as far as possible. The grammatical tools, i.e., cit., e.g., op., cf., ampersand (&) except in book titles and the ellipsis, are used sparingly. The old term passim meaning here and there, is found in a few places. Symbols such as ►, ◙and ●, along with the asterisk identify or connect specific topics. Not every statement is documented. Such acute preciseness would require many extra pages and lay an unnecessary burden upon the readers. Academicians have the tendency to over-document their works, believing this demonstrates their great knowledge and vast research capabilities. Too much of this is a nuisance for the average reader. I have sought to mitigate this boredom. Devotional, exegetical, homiletical, and historical methodologies with literal and allegorical hermeneutics have been used. The Supplements attached to Section 23 and Section 38 are without Footnotes-Commentary.

A one-volume work: Every versein thefour gospels is in the twenty chapters of this work with hundreds of references and comments. Explanatory words are indicated by brackets within the Scripture texts and by inverted commas after the texts. The two longest Sections are The Sermon on the Mount, Sections 44–47, and the Olivet Discourse, in Section 163 with its parallels in Mk. 13 and Lk. 21. Chapters 1 and 8 are divided into four parts for precise explanations. Ancient Hebrew customs and manners are frequently explained. The genealogies of Christ are given from five slightly different angels in Chapter 3. They reveal that He was from the Hebrew nation; their promised Messiah. There are eight Appendices to expand specific topics, a General Subject Index, and a Selected Bibliography.

The world’s most hated Man: Theological liberalism with its cavalier attitude presents Jesus as another nice guy religious figure. He is unsaved mankind’s most despised person because He is the world’s only Savior. Never in the past two thousand years has the Son of God been so publicly ridiculed and blasphemed as He is today. The da Vinci Code and The Lost Gospel According to Judas Iscariot scandalized His perfect character. Islam fiercely hates His death and resurrection. He is maligned by the educational, political, and entertainment systems. Both the History and National Geographic television channels present Him as an ignorant Jew, trying to find His purpose in life. Experts are summoned from America’s hellhole seminaries to decide whether He arose from the dead! To pray publicly in His divine Name may insult the godless and bring litigation. Cultural and spiritual corruption is poisoning America. In this book, sin and Satan are described as they are. I have sought to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), while at the same time tell the truth without varnishing sin and its disastrous results in the bodies and souls of men. Unsaved theological academicians are slouched into a no-such-thing-as-sin posture. They pander to a Hollywood-style Jesus. The religious best sellers avoid controversial issues and are always positive. Naming sin, its effects, damnation, and hell are taboo. We shun habitual negativity, yet negatives are part of life. God gave Ten Commandments. (They have now become The Ten Suggestions.) Eight of these are negative and two are positive. Jesus was sorely abstract when confronting religious hypocrites. This book has negatives when dealing with apostasy and sin. We hold that all that is truly noble, good, and lofty in civilization is the fruit of Christ’s appearing among men.

If a genuine Christian seeks to live according to Scripture, he is politically incorrect. He is branded as a fundamentalist or the religious right. Dealing biblically with abortion, adultery, fornication, sodomy, same sex marriages, heresy, radical Islam, apostasy, false religions, and corrupt politics is hate crime language. Satanic tolerance is the god that rules American society. The confused masses are conditioned to be nice to sin and the Devil. Hell and damnation preached from the pulpit are insultingly inappropriate. Yet, the habitual use of these two words in the public domain is acceptable. The humanistic tolerance of today is not the highest expression of freedom. The vice of human indecision has turned millions of Christians into cowards. It is the seedbed of anarchy toward God. Men have enthroned themselves in their hearts. Immoral moralists have recast decency into a dirt mold. They connive to silence those who oppose their evil, believe in Christ, and stand for purity and right. Supporting wickedness is an act of individual cowardice. Once Americans believed that every man had the right to his opinion. Today, every man’s opinion is right! Where are the responsibilities and absolutes that are required of every man? Everything is fluid, relevant, and compatible. Men protest, We have our rights! Yes, even the right to go to hell. Sound reasoning is enslaved by passions and the will of the people. Animals do not practice what some do in the name of civil liberties. In public functions, traditional prayer is being replaced by a moment of silence. A man can almost marry his cow with court approval and possibly government tax support. Are America’s freedoms licenses to future doom?

Rejecting ecumenical pluralism. This work contains no ecumenical inter-faith appeal. Apostasy is rejected because Scripture teaches it is wrong. Cults, sects, religions, denominations, philosophies, educators, academicians, theologians, and politicians who oppose foundationalBible teachings are the enemies of God and men. We are not one global family. Sin has divided humanity beyond repair; all need Jesus Christ. Man is not the measure of all things. He is a failure without the Savior. An apologetic stance upholds the major doctrines of Scripture. Calvinism, Arminianism, and academic infidelity are demonic departures from sound biblical doctrine. I have sought to mitigate my judicial opinions with Christian candor and calm. If describing Satan and his imps for what they are is unchristian, then this book is unchristian. Contemplating heaven or hell and the destiny of men, demands brutal honesty. Thus, it has been impossible to write in a total dispassionate style. In spiritual matters, most people prefer a sweet lie to the bitter truth. A Christian who disbelieves the total inspiration of Scripture cannot be trusted very far with spiritual issues. Soon, he will miss the mark, for he has no infallible guide. Education without Christ and God’s Word makes unsaved religious men clever devils.

Personal experiences and other points: Selected events from my Christian life are included to enhance particular subjects. Comments that are relevant in today’s social, economic, political, moral, and spiritual crises will frequently appear. Some of these are repeated later in other Sections. Questions regarding chronology are touched upon several times. A few Hebrew and Greek words are used for clarification not correction. King Herod died in 4B.C. Christ was born shortly before this date. About the first five or six years of our Savior’s life lapsed back into theB.C. era of King Herod. As mentioned, it is assumed that Jesus died at thirty-four years of age in about A.D.30. Thus, His death was approximately forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70. Accuracy, without pretending to know all the answers, let alone the questions, has been the prime goal. No work of man is infallible, but genuine effort should be expended to make it the best that he can produce. In a book this large, so extended, and intricate, the author could not escape all errata. Over time, some will find problems, inadvertent inaccuracies, errors, and questions that need answering. My conjectures are given as possibilities, not facts. Most of these appear in italics. I have prayed for heavenly help from the start to finish. Now, I ask all readers for patience and pardon where necessary. The world crowns success; the Lord of heaven crowns faithfulness. To wear the diadem of His approval is the highest honor for any true Christian.

In the Bible, God established all divine doctrine that He wants us to know. It is found nowhere else. The history of this afterward is the story of divine preservation. Intermittently, this work carries an appeal to prepare for eternity. The gospel brings life and immortality into the darkness of sin for all who receive Christ as personal Lord and Savior. At death, we step through one door and enter another called eternity. This cannot be spent! The prudent person will ponder this inevitable fact and hurry to Jesus, the Son of God, for forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Selah! Think of that.

CHAPTER 6

EMPEROR CAESAR AUGUSTUS ISSUES A DECREE. THE GOVERNOR OF SYRIA PROBLEM. JESUS THE SAVIOR IS BORN AT BETHLEHEM.* HIS FIRST VISITORS APPEAR. HE IS CIRCUMCISED AND TAKEN INTO THE TEMPLE AT FORTY DAYS OLD. SIMEON AND ANNA APPEAR.

Time: The above events took several months

Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel and Savior of men is born.

*The Lord Jesus was born without the inherit sin of Adam, yet with the potential to be tempted in His human frame. This miracle is beyond explanation and presented no problem to the Holy Trinity. See main heading Section 23 for other comments. Adam was created sinless by the act of God. Man did not beget him. The Son of God was born sinless, yet still in the form of man. The Holy Spirit begot his body. As the first Adam disobeyed God to the wreck and ruin of the human race, so the last Adam obeyed God to the bringing of forgiveness and salvation to all who will repent and believe in Him (Rom. 5:17-19).

Footnotes-Commentary

(a) In those days indicates that Luke wrote his book some years later, looking back on the past.

(b) Caesar Augustus, who died in A.D. 14, was the nephew of Julius Caesar. He adopted the name Augustus (meaning honorable), as a compliment to his self-assumed greatness. He changed the name of the month Sextilis to Augustus (or August) in his own honor, which is still used in our present day calendars. He ruled from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14, which would be into the early teenage years of Jesus. Charles Ludwig wrote of Augustus, He had sandy hair, merging brows, an odd–shaped head, and penetrating eyes. He suffered from a kind of ringworm that caused his skin to itch; [and] had gallstones. He was also crippled in his left leg and walked with a limp. See Ludwig’s work Rulers of the New Testament Times, page 27-33. Little did this heathen maniac realize it, but God used him to fulfill Holy Scripture in bringing Mary to Bethlehem. Here, we see God’s sovereign rule in world history. While she and Joseph were there, the prophecy of Micah 5:2 was fulfilled about seven hundred years after it was written.

(c) All the world should be taxed. This meant the all the world under the domination of Rome. In other references, it means the entire habitable world, as in Mk. 16:15 and John 3:16. Taxed, refers to a government enrollment in which names, occupations and addresses of Roman subjects were listed as well as their birthplace. The purpose of this enrollment was to levy taxes upon all persons under the fist of Caesar’s might. There is no reason to change taxing into enrollment for the taxing began with the listing of thousands of names. Hence, both occurred at the same time. It was a registering for taxation to follow. The Jews were exempt from service in the Roman army but were obligated to pay taxes. This was the only government taxing in world history that has fallen out to the good of the human race. Later, the leaders of the Jewish religion tried to entangle the Lord Jesus in a tax evasion plot, which backfired in their faces. Note this in Section 155.

2p-For decades, infidel skeptics have attacked Luke’s words about this taxation. There is a powerful and unanswerable defense of this historical event recorded in The Works of Nathaniel Lardner, vol. 1, pages 260-345. Dr. Larnder’s old work, like a new broom, swept into oblivion the wordy dust and trash of the religious skeptics who spend their lives trying to prove errors in the Bible.

(d) Cyrenius was governor. This statement has caused tremendous stir for years, the difficulty supposedly being that Cyrenius was not the governor of Syria until some twelve or fifteen years after the birth of Christ. Infidel critics would do well to leave God’s Word alone, since all the information regarding Cyrenius and every other Roman governor is not available and will never be. Surely, Doctor Luke was in a better position to know the facts than modern day scholars living some two thousand years later. Since the original recipient of the book, Theophilus, was a political official of some high rank, he could easily have checked Luke’s assertion to affirm its authenticity. Because Luke wrote by inspiration, his claim is historically accurate. The error lies in the sources used by the critics to disclaim Luke’s words. The missionary doctor had written with perfect understanding of all things from the very first (Lk. 1:3). The overwhelming majority of commentaries call Luke’s words into question. Originally, an infidel German critic put this untruth in print, and the masses simply accepted it without considering this an attack on God’s Word. True scholarship does point out the mistakes and errors in Scripture.

2p-The work of Professor William Ramsay is rarely cited regarding this issue. Is it because Dr. Ramsay, who was a skeptic infidel, later found the Lord Jesus as personal Savior and worked tirelessly proving his fellow critics wrong? Dr. H. C. Thiessen wrote concerning this textual problem, Ramsay shows that the inscription at Tibur proved this man [Quirinius or Cyrenius] twice governed Syria under Augustus, and that Josephus referred to the one of them and Luke to the other. See Introduction to the New Testament, page 154, by H. C. Thiessen. Even though this historical fact has been engraved in stone and preserved for almost two millennia, infidel critics, possessed by their academic superiority, are obsessed with trying to prove the Bible wrong. For a brief work demonstrating the New Testament’s historical reliability, see History and Christianity by J. W. Montgomery. In 1860, George Rawlinson produced an apologetic work entitled, Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records. In the field of Scripture apologetics, no work has ever been written like that of Nathaniel Lardner (born in 1684), who, in a most profound way, proves the trustworthiness of the four gospels beyond honest refutation. His seventeen-volume opus, entitled The Credibility of the Gospel History, was produced between 1727 and 1757. See Author’s Introduction for more on this subject.

(e) The trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, traveling on the eastern side of Jordan, was about seventy miles one way. Normally, it would take at least three days. Mary, great with child, found it seriously difficult at best. She either walked or rode on the back of an animal or on a wagon. Verse 3 unequivocally demonstrates that Joseph was originally from Bethlehem. It is called his own city, and he must have known the little village quite well, with perhaps some of his family members or acquaintances still living there.

2p-The lineage of David. Numerous Old Testament passages affirm that Messiah would come into the world through the family of King David. This carried great weight religiously with every pious Jew well informed by his Old Testament. Not only, Christ’s foster-father, but His mother, as well, descended from the Davidic line. See verse 5 in the following paragraph. Over twenty years later, Paul, preaching in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, affirmed to his congregation the fact that Jesus of Nazareth descended from the line of King David (Acts 13:22-23). Every informed and sensitive Jew understood exactly what Paul was saying, for this was necessary for Messianic credibility. Israel’s Messiah had to be from the line of David. For a sweeping examination tracing Christ from Abraham to David to Mary, refer to Sections 6 and 7.

3p-Verse 5. Mary’s family line. The controversy over whether or not Mary was of David’s lineage is put down by a brilliant comment from Samuel J. Andrews. In 1899, he penned in The Life of our Lord Upon Earth, page 59, these pungent words, As his [Joseph’s] wife, she became a true member of David’s family. Marriage to Joseph automatically counted her as being part of his family line, which was that of King David. The words, To be taxed with . . . include Mary in the taxing. Thus, she was also counted as being from the village of Bethlehem.

4p-Espoused wife. Though Joseph was already legally married to her, Mary was still called espoused. This was another ancient Hebrew social customs that westerners find difficult to understand.

(f) She brought forth. God comes to earth in human form! Refer to Section 1, Part 4, John 1:14, footnote j for more on this amazing fact of history and Satan’s age-long madness to counterfeit it through pagan idolatry. Regarding this truth, Augustus Neander wrote, The extraordinary circumstance of the birth of Christ . . . served as portents of the greatest event in the world’s history. See The Life of Jesus Christ, page 33, by Neander. This greatest event was the atonement for the salvation of men and His resurrection from the dead. From His place in eternity, God projected himself into the limits of human time that we might join Him forever in heaven some day.

2p-Her firstborn. The obvious meaning is that Mary had other children of which the Lord Jesus was the one born first. This single passage explodes the myth of perpetual virginity for the mother of Christ. The same word is used in Section 12, Matt. 1:25, footnote j. Again, Catholic apologists annotate, twist, change, pervert, and corrupt this statement for it exposes more of their false teaching. For the names of Jesus’ four half-brothers and the mention of at least two half-sisters, refer to Section 91, Matt. 13:55-56, footnotes e and f. For the early attitude of His half-brothers toward His Messianic claims and work, note Section 111, John 7:5, footnote b. Tradition, gossip, fear, hearsay, and religious imaginations unchecked by Scripture have invented countless errors, and then convinced the ignorant, religiously inclined masses that they are divine truth. In the 16th century, the Papal Church reintroduced the Mary myth, announcing that the other children in Joseph and Mary’s family belonged to Joseph by a previous marriage. See Section 18, footnote a; Section 28, footnote b; and Section 69, footnote b. For a penetrating look into the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, see Secrets of Romanism by the converted Italian and ex-priest, Joseph Zacchello. Dr. Loraine Boettner’s work, Roman Catholicism, is a standard classic on this subject. For the last mention of Jesus’ human family in the New Testament, refer to Section 207, Acts 1:14. The final mention of Joseph, Jesus’ step-father in Scripture is in Section 95, John 6:42. This was about seven months before the cross.

3p-Origin of the first Pope. With the death of Constantine (who in a unique sense was the first Pope) in A.D. 337, he left behind a network of churches whose bishops were state-government orientated puppets. The bishops (pastors) at Rome became bold in their claim of universal jurisdiction over all churches. Robert A. Baker tells us in A Summary of Christian History, page 73, that a religious prelate named Leo I was called the first pope (father) of the church. Andrew Miller, in Miller’s Church History, pages 297-298, plays down Leo’s claim to have ascended to the chair of St. Peter and tells us to make allowances for the character [spirit] of the times. This spirit possessed Bishop Leo. He announced that Peter had been the first bishop of Rome and had authority to rule all Christendom. With the rise of Emperor Valentinian III, the die was cast. He declared that no one could do anything contrary to the venerable pope of the Eternal City. Next, was the lie that there must be on earth an infallible religious authority to interpret the Scriptures and guide the church. Roman bishops (later called Popes or fathers) appointed themselves and their successors to this mythical position. The fraudulent claim purported by Valentinian III, spread across the world of that era. Thousands of Christians refused these heresies and were put to death. For more on the Roman Church and its barbaric history, see Section 12, paragraphs ten through twelve under footnote k.

4p-Kiss Peter’s toe and peep at the Pope. In May 1966, while preaching in Rome, Italy, the author visited the Vatican. There stood a giant black statue of Saint Peter. Hundreds of people were in line waiting to kiss his toe. This act granted them less time of suffering in purgatory after death! At the airport was a peep machine. Inside was a photo of the Pope with a promise that all who looked at him would have 500 years reduced from their appointed time in purgatory. It cost .50 cents in American coinage for each peep! A converted ex-priest told me that while serving in the Roman Church, a pregnant nun came to the confessional. He told her, Say three Hail Mary’s and God would forgive you. Millions trust these lies for the forgiveness of their sins. What blasphemy when mortal man thinks, he acts in the stead of God and can grant forgiveness! Millions of sincere people in this religious system are fulfilling the frightful passage, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 16:25). For factual reading regarding priests who were saved and left the Roman Church, see Far From Rome, Near to God: Testimonies of Fifty Converted Roman Catholic Priests, edited by Richard Bennett and Martin Buckingham. For more on the dark errors of the Papal machine, see Section 95, John 6:52, footnote r.

5p-Christianized paganism. Mother and child or Madonna. Sacredotalism. Emperor Constantine ordered all pagans to submit to Christian baptism (sprinkling). Thousands of unsaved heathens (escaping death) obeyed. They brought countless pagan religious practices and mysterious rites into the Emperor’s state churches. The existing worship of mother and child or Madonna was one of them. Many of these rites remain in churches to this day, still practiced in revised editions. Gradually, the curse of sacredotalism, which goes hand in hand with dead formal religion, ruled. Soon, many ceased to worship Jesus Christ in Spirit and truth. Among the pagan practices brought into the body of believers was that of Mariolatry. Millenniums before these events transpired at Rome, ancient Babylon had been saturated with the worship of the female goddess. She had become a Babylonian deity with her son in arms. (This originated in Egypt with the worship of Isis, called the Queen of heaven, and Mother of God. Afterward, it spread to Babylon.) The veneration of mother and child spread over the heathen world. Ancient Germans worshiped her as the virgin Hertha, with a son. Scandinavians called her Dias; Egyptians, Isis. In India, it was Devaki and son Krishna. Asia had Cybele, early pagan Rome had Fortuna both with sons. Mexico, Central, and South America have all yielded figures of this idolatry from their ancient ruins. The cruel Aztecs had their own mother goddess, called Tlazolteotl, who reigned over filth and virtue. She became pregnant and bore Huitzilopochtli, chief god of all men. Museums across the world have many depictions of pagan women holding a baby. In 1966, the author of this book saw in the Louvre Museum at Paris, a massive stature of Isis nursing her infant son. It was dated two thousand years before Christ. The Papal and Orthodox churches have presented this paganism for centuries in modified forms to their parishioners. Today the Catholic Church calls Mary the mother of God and Queen of heaven just as the heathens of ancient Egypt did Isis thousands of years ago! As stated, it was brought into churches by pagans in the days of Constantine’s state church, and developed into Christian worship. An atheistic medical doctor, Thomas Inman, in Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism, published 1912, gave a historical coverage of these things. In spiritual blindness, Inman accredited all doctrines of Scripture to heathenism, stripping Christ of His deity, and atoning sacrifice. This has been the fate of millions over the centuries; good with history, but doomed without Jesus Christ the greatest figure in world history.

6p-Mary, the mediator? As with ancient pagans, the Papal Church teaches that a woman is a mediator or mediatrix and that men must pray to her. Her name is Mary. There is not one verse in the Roman Catholic Bible that even suggests this doctrine. It is a demonic revision of ancient heathenism. It was no accident that an early Babylonian goddess was also called Mylitta, or Mediatrix. The hundreds of materializations of Mary are demonic apparitions, created by evil spirits to deceive people. Millions of sincere Catholics make pilgrimages to various Marian shrines, seeking miracles of healing and answers to prayer from Mary. Shrines built at these sites attract the superstitious and biblically untaught masses. In some places, horrible satanic apparitions also appear! These evil beings terrorize the worshippers by keeping them in the bondage of superstition. Any miracle that occurs by praying to Mary, or making her promises, is the work of demons, not God! For satanic miracles, see Matt. 7:21-23; Rev. 13:14, 16:14, and 19:20. It is high blasphemy to pray to Mary to save one’s soul, bless life, protect children, provide needs, and unite us to the Holy Spirit. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is degraded and reduced to a back seat driver by this heresy. Mariology is idolatry. Across the Bible, God hates and has cursed all forms of idolatry and idolaters. The final mention of this sin is Rev. 21:8. It declares, idolaters . . . shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. It is mentioned again that the earmark of every false religion, cult, sect, fellowship, and denomination is their claim to be God’s only voice of truth on earth, that all others are wrong. The Catholic Church and hundreds of others teach this untruth. Jesus Christ alone is the way to God (John 14:6). He is received into one’s life by simple faith, apart from the mass, creeds, churches, religions, ceremonies, baptisms, confessions, rituals, and anything else. Those who teach Him in truth are right; those who do not are wrong.

7p-Manger. Places of confinement for domestic beasts are not clean, refreshing, and beautiful. The colorful pictures and Christmas cards of the manger scene fail to portray what the place was like where Jesus was born and how it smelled! It was amid such surroundings that the Son of God entered the human race as a baby.

(g) No room. Thousands of travelers packed the roads, byways, and lanes, moving to their respective cities and villages for registration. From their home at Nazareth, in the mountains of Zabulon, Joseph, the village carpenter, and Mary, great with Child, made their way along the winter roads. Upon arrival at Bethlehem, he found no place for Mary at the local inn or tavern. Finally, a crude form of covering was secured in a shelter used for domestic animals, possibly a cave. Upon the birth of our Savior, He was washed, wrapped in swaddling (long strips of linen cloth), and laid in one of the mangers or feeding troughs used for livestock. (These same types of swaddles were used for binding up dead bodies!) Years later, Christ’s dead body was swaddled again in His burial, but He gave these up also in His resurrection. See John 20:5-7. A Hebrew midwife assisted in the birth of Christ, as this was standard Jewish practice. Older women did this work. Rabbinical law allowed midwives to travel and work on the Sabbath day. The Savior of men was born in the poorest of surroundings (2 Cor. 8:9).

2p-While the masters of Jewish religion pillowed their heads under a peaceful Jerusalem night sky, mumbling a final prayer for Messiah’s soon appearing, their long-awaited King breathed out His first cry amid the lowing of cattle and bleating of sheep. With this infant sob, Israel’s Messiah entered into the world that would hate and kill him. Years later, He gave His final earthly cry hanging on a Roman cross, dying for the sins of mankind. Ah! What were the first words and thoughts of Joseph and Mary as they looked wonderingly upon that helpless little boy? The eternal God of heaven, wrapped in flesh, is held in the rough hands of a quiet carpenter from Nazareth. He nurses at the bosom of His youthful mother. It was the dawn of world redemption. The Sun of righteousness had risen with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2). The desire of the nations had come (Haggai 2:7). And it happened in a cow-barn near little, unimportant Bethlehem. When kings were born, the whole realm would ring with joy. When the Messiah came, earth held her breath and waited in silence before her Creator.

3p-The error of date setting. For an exhaustive, but difficult to read examination into the time of Jesus’ birth and various other Scripture dates, see Handbook of Biblical Chronology, pages 279-328, by Jack Finegan. For a massive volume covering all the periods of Bible chronology, see The Annals of the World, by Archbishop James Ussher (revised and updated by Larry and Marion Pierce, first printing October 2003). Ussher’s amazing book is thrown off balance by his exact date settings before Abraham was born. Such chronology is impossible. Numerous reference Bibles, borrowing his assumed dates for Adam’s creation down, have built a complex guesswork chronology, and then printed it as established history. Millions have believed this error and teach it as truth.

4p-The astute Presbyterian minister, Oswald T. Allis (died 1973) gave a terse response to Ussher’s incorrect chronology for the dawn of human history. In his work, The Five Books of Moses, page 298, Allis wrote, to insist on the acceptance of that [Ussher’s] chronology is to place a stumbling block in the way of those who sincerely desire to accept the Book of Genesis as historically reliable. Allis affirms that the Genesis record of creation cannot be squeezed into a seven-thousand-year mold. It is from this kind of exegesis, mixed with an extreme form of dispensationalism, that the pick a date for the return of the Lord Jesus cults were born. From this error, thousands of well meaning but misguided Christians have attempted to determine the day of Jesus’ appearing. They are always wrong. Later, in Matt. 16:1 we see that the Pharisees and Sadducees were also date setters. They wanted positive signs that would prove when the materialistic kingdom on earth would be established. Refer to Section 100, Matt. 16:1-4, footnotes a and b for details regarding these predictors of the end time and Jesus’ response to their foolishness. Appendix Eight also deals with the issue of end time date setters and sign watchers.

History’s greatest announcement made to lowly shepherds. The Savior of men is born. He is Christ [Messiah] the Lord.

Footnotes-Commentary

(a) The fields near Bethlehem (meaning house of bread) were famed for rich pastures and attracted shepherds far and near. Here, a thousand years before, David had kept his father’s sheep (1 Sam. 17:15). In a stable-shelter near Bethlehem, the living bread of God sent down from heaven to dwell among men (John 6:51). R. C. Foster wrote that an early believer named Justin Martyr, who was born in Israel and died in A.D. 166, wrote that Jesus was born in a cave near the village of Bethlehem, which served as a shelter for domestic animals. See Foster’s Studies in the Life of Christ, page 29. Dean F. W. Farrar, in his work The Life of Christ, page 4, also wrote of the same thing. Because Martyr was one of the infamous church fathers, many true conservatives are skeptical of his statement. For comments on these men, see Section 12, sixth paragraph of footnote k.

(b) Shepherds. Elite Jews frowned upon those involved in sheep herding. They were considered commoners and unclean. Their work was looked upon as menial, even vile, and embarrassing. The Talmud tractate, Berchoroth 35b said shepherds were ignorant people. Baba Kama 94b stated that it was difficult for them to repent. How marvelous that God chose common persons of this nature and first revealed to them that Messiah had come. The announcement that millions of pious Hebrews longed to hear was made to unclean men, who found it impossible to get to the temple regularly for ritual cleansing. For more on shepherds, see footnote d below.

2p-Jewish tradition held that the first sign of the Messiah’s appearing on earth would be near Bethlehem. Further, that He would be revealed at the tower of the flock (Migdal Eder) which was located on the road near to the small town. This was a popular haunt for shepherds and their flocks. It should be noted that the word shepherds is in the plural form. Verse 9 states the angel came upon them. Only one shepherd tended a flock. Can this mean that numerous shepherds had gathered on some occasion, and suddenly heard the heavenly herald? Was the supposed cave of His birth located near this tower of the flock, or was it at the tower, which was abandoned at this time in history? See footnote a above. This was based on Micah’s prophecy as recorded in Micah 4:8 with 5:2. Curiously, all lambs born within this area were selected for the Passover sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem, according to the Talmud tractate, Baba Kama 80a. Further, the rabbis had decreed that the lambs and sheep at this location were to remain there all year long and could not shift to other areas for better grazing. Hence, all the prattle about sheep not being in the fields on a cold, wintry night falls on its face. See Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, pages 131-32, and Appendix 7 for Alfred Edersheim’s explanation of these interesting matters.

(c) Sore afraid. The greatest of men throughout the Bible were terror-struck by the visible presence of angelic beings: hence, these shepherds were smitten with fear. Angels played a leading role in the entrance of both John the Baptist and Jesus into the world. They appeared to Zacharias, Section 8, Lk. 1:11; to Mary, Section 9, Lk. 1:26-27; to Joseph, Section 12, Matt. 1:20; to the shepherds in Lk. 2:8-9 above; and to the wise men, who also literally heard them. Refer for this to Section 17, Matt. 2:12.

(d) I bring you. Poor despised shepherds, often looked down upon by society, were chosen of God to first hear history’s greatest announcement! The angel’s words, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord struck them with awe and overpowering amazement. These simple men of toil knew very well that Christ meant Israel’s promised Messiah. Suddenly, they hear the news that millions have longed to hear, The Messiah of Israel has come! Such a glorious proclamation stunned these men of humble occupation. Tiny sparrows often get the best of crumbs!

(e) Born this day. Some understand this to mean that our Lord was born in the daytime, not at night. The Jewish day actually began at sundown, and though it was dark, it was called the beginning of a new day. This may be what Luke was writing in this passage. Regardless, it is no marvel that Scripture declares, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift (2 Cor. 9:15). Here, the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men (Titus 2:11). A child is born almost every heartbeat, but that was the most wonderful birth that had ever occurred. Many glorious wonders accompanied it. A mystery of holy awe surrounds this event. The eternal God of heaven who does not slumber (Ps. 121:3), slept His first human night in an ox manger at Bethlehem! With no badge of royalty, He was wrapped in swaddling cloths. He carries none of the world’s honor. O the condescending of grace to rescue perishing sinners. How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways are past finding out!" (Rom. 11:33).

2p-Messiah. These shepherds instantly understood what this meant! See Section 5, Matt. 1:1, footnotes a, and d with footnote b above. The writer of Hebrews says when Christ was born, all the angels of God were commanded to worship him (Heb. 1:6). Did this angelic worship service occur during the heavenly praises recorded in Lk. 2:13-14? It is noted that the angel applied three title-Names to the virgin-born infant. He was called Savior, then Christ or Messiah, and lastly Lord or Jehovah God. He was recognized as both God and man even at His birth. Charles Wesley put it beautifully in the words, Pleased as man with men to dwell.

3p-Isa. 9:6. This is one of the most profound predictions about the coming Messiah-Savior. He is a Child and Son. God’s government will rest upon Him. He will be called Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Clearly, Mary’s baby became these things to every mortal who reaches out to Him in faith. This is possible because He is, in fact, The Mighty God of heaven. Liberal theologians debate this last Name of Messiah by reminding us that Isaiah used it as the custom of the easterners did in those days. It was employed to accredit or describe the mighty attributes of kings and great rulers of that era and had no meaning of deity. Rationalists work overtime to set aside the deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. For a gigantic dissertation on Isa. 9:6-7, see the work on this subject, Christology of the Old Testament, pages 193-199, by E. W. Hengstenberg. Refer also to Section 1, Part 1 footnotes a, b, and c for more on the deity of Christ. For the astounding angelic predictions concerning the Lord Jesus, see Section 9, Lk. 1:32, footnote g.

4p-His first clothing. These words mean swathing bands, similar to those used to bind a wound or wrap the dead. The term does not mean rags as popularly believed. Angelic messengers gave a sign whereby the shepherds could identify the promised Messiah: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The King of Israel, the Lord of the universe, had been born in a cow stable. Amazed and terrified, the shepherds hastened to Bethlehem to see this great sight, their Messiah! How contrary to what the rabbis had taught.

(f) Peace on earth. Modern day Jewish rabbis quickly point to this passage as proof Jesus was not the promised Messiah. For, they say, he has brought neither peace on earth nor good will to men. Our Hebrew friends seem to miss continually the words in Lk. 12:51-52. Here, the Lord Jesus said that He had not come to bring world peace! May all Jewish readers understand that the peace Jesus the Messiah brings is personal peace in the human heart regarding sin, its terrible guilt, and the blessed assurance of forgiveness. The Messiah of Israel gives individual peace on earth, as well as justice and good will toward men. Christ did not come to convert nations or ethnic groups. He came to save individuals from their sin and hell, giving them new life and hope. It is clear in Rev. 5:9 that people are saved out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Jews and Gentiles, alike, receive these gifts when they accept by faith Jesus of Nazareth as personal Lord and Savior.

2p-Religious Jews make the mistake of judging Jesus Christ by twentieth-century Judaism rather than first-century Judaism. The Jews of that era knew He was their Messiah and rejected Him. The question is not, Is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah of present day Judaism? Rather, it should be, Is He the Messiah according to the predictions of the Hebrew Scriptures? Judaism today is vastly different from the Judaism of Jesus’ day. Those who teach that Judaism is the father of Christianity are wrong! At best, we could say that Judaism is Christianity’s fellow, but never its father. Today, Judaism is greatly fragmented. Their views of the Messiah range from the sublime to the absurd. Reformed Jews do not believe in any Messiah! Many Hebrews simply could not care less. The multiple opinions on the Messiah as expressed by Jews today reflect their deep confusion. The great question that hangs like a sword over their heads is, Did Jesus fulfill the criteria of their Tanakh (Bible) that qualified Him to be the Messiah of Israel? Any honest Jew who searches the Tanakh and compares his findings with the four gospels will discover that Jesus is their promised Messiah. The only excuse left for our Hebrew friends is the old cliché, The New Testament documents are unreliable. If so, then neither is the Jewish Tanakh on which the gospels are based.

3p-Christian tyrants. We fail to realize how painfully difficult it is for devout Jews to confess freely that Yeshua ha-Notzri, or Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel. One primary reason is that the Hebrew people have suffered unspeakably at the hands of so-called Christians in centuries past. The examples listed below are to assure every unsaved Jew, who reads these lines, that some of us do understand their plight and seek to bring them to Jesus, their Messiah, and Savior. The Christians listed below understood nothing of what the Scriptures taught about the coming of Christ into the world through the Jewish nation, and why He died on the cross. The following quotations ring with the anti-Semitic lie, Get even with the dirty Jews for killing Jesus. For the explanation of who killed the Savior, see Section 153, footnote f. Below, read the words of famed Christian Jew haters of the past, who are oddly, hailed as great men of the faith. These words are not signs of human error and youthful ignorance. They are the fruits of venomous satanic hate. Certain historians struggle to cover up or mitigate these savage words from Christian tyrants. The next eight sub headings deal with this and related subjects over parts of church history.

Constantine and the Council of Nicaea were fiercely anti-Jewish. This meeting of churches convened in A.D. 325 under the direction of Emperor Constantine. He theoretically converted to Christianity in A.D. 312, after seeing the sign of a cross in the sky! His reign marked the union of the church with the state. Pagans no longer persecuted Christians; instead, they joined them! One year after the council, Constantine had his eldest son killed by cold poison, and his wife Fausta, suffocated in an overheated bath. Civil law and the point of the sword enforced decisions made at church meetings. The Christian Emperor used intimidation, persecution, arrests, prisons, torture, and death. Jews were fiercely hated. The state-church of the Roman Empire gradually became a bloody tyrant. (The Roman Catholic Church came out of these unholy union years later.) True Christians, by the thousands, fled the emperor’s ecumenical monster. Within this fleeing Pilgrim Church, God’s truths were cherished and handed down from one generation to the other. The church fathers before this era and during it began to express hatred for the Jews. Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Origen of Alexandria, Peter the venerable (called the meekest of men) and others were guilty. Some of the details are given below. Refer to The Roots of Christian Anti-Semitism, by Malcolm Hay for the shocking survey. For other details on the mentally unstable Constantine, see Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History, by James Carroll.

Augustine, a Christian lawyer-bishop, (died A.D. 430), wrote of the Jews, Slay them with a two-edged sword, so that there should be none to oppose your word! See his Confessions 12:14 and City of God 18:46. He is a canoninzed saint of the Roman Church, and people may pray to him! Canonization is a high honor given by the Papal system. The Pope canonized him in A.D. 1303. He was also donned the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, and sore eyes! Oddly, a convert to Orthodox Judaism, Dr. Paula Fredriksen, of Boston University, published a work called, Augustine and the Jews. She portrays him as a fatherly protector of the Hebrew people who influenced others to shield Israel. The raw truth is that this ex-lawyer from Hippo, like the other church fathers, was a Jew hater. He vacillated from Bible truth to bizarre forms of theological extremes and radicalism. For extended comments on the brilliant but erratic Saint Augustine, refer to Section 135, fourth paragraph of footnote e. For a shocking critique of the doctrinal perversions of Augustine, see Calvinistic Paths Retraced, by Samuel Fisk, pages 95-152.

John Calvin, (died in 1564), was no better. In A Response to Questions and Objections of a Certain Jew, pages 22-23, he wrote, [The Jews] deserve to be oppressed and die without measure or end, and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone. Nice words from the world’s greatest theologian.

The Roman Catholic Church has a bloody record of murdering thousands of Jews. The insane Emperor Constantine popularized the pseudo sign of the cross. It has become an emblem of infamy to Israel, especially those learned in their history. During her inquisitions, the Roman Church murdered millions of Jews and Gentiles, who would not kiss the cross and confess loyalty to the papacy. Professor David Kertzer (a pen name), published in 2001 the amazing book, The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism. This book shows how the Catholic Church, because of its historical campaign of hatred against Jews, helped make the Holocaust possible. An earlier book by Dr. Kertzer, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, told the factual story of how a six-year-old Hebrew child was kidnapped by Vatican thugs, taken to Rome, and reared by the Pope to become a priest. This revelation caused an international stir and fueled anti-papal sentiments among thousands of readers. Kertzer’s works are not anti-Catholic but factual and impeccably documented. Later, history also revealed that officials in the Roman Church secretly aided Jew hating Nazi war criminals in escaping to South America at the end of World War II. (American intelligence services did the same!) The Papacy and its thugs covered up the Odessa plot for decades. See The Real Odessa: How Peron Brought the Nazi War criminals to Argentina, released in 2002, by Uki Goni, for the details. This work produced a tremendous upheaval in governments and churches.

Martin Luther (died A.D. 1546) fiercely hated the Jews. Marius Baar, in The Unholy War, page 121, records some of Luther’s vitriolic words: The Jews deserve the most severe penalties. Their synagogues should be leveled, [and] their homes destroyed, they should be exiled into tents like gypsies. Their religious writings should be taken from them. All professions should be closed to them. Only the hardest and coarsest work should be permitted them. Rich Jews should have their fortunes confiscated, and their money used to support Jews, who are willing to be converted. Luther concluded his tirade of racial hatred with this policy: If these measures are unsuccessful, the Christian princes [magistrates] should have the duty of driving the Jews from their lands as they would rabid dogs. Luther’s confusion regarding Israel is reflected in another statement, where he wrote, we should love Jews, and bring them to Christ! Kill or convert is anti-Christian. Hitler used Luther’s vitriolic words to inflame the German people during his rise to power and later to justify his genocide of millions of Hebrews. Luther’s work, On the Jews and Their Lies, reeks with hatred for these people. For his shocking opinion of communion and baptism, see Section 203, the eighth paragraph of footnote d.

John Chrysostom (died A.D. 420), the renowned Christian preacher referred to as the golden voice one, was fiercely anti-Semitic. Some of his words about the Jewish people are anything but golden. Edward H. Flannery records these in The Anguish of the Jews, pages 48-49. As with Luther, mentioned above, during World War II, the Nazi Party also used Chrysostom’s writings to legitimize their slaughter of Jews. Chrysostom’s objection that the Jews killed Jesus is theological ignorance. Jaroslav Pelikan, in his work, The Christian Tradition, vol. 1, page 25, cites him as saying of communion, the Lord being sacrificed and laid upon the altar and the priest standing and praying over the victim. The Jew-hater Chrysostom (like Augustine) is listed as a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. How great men failed to understand that Christ’s death was not the work of the Jews, the Romans, and Pilate, so much as it was the plan of God for man’s redemption, is odd. How they did not see their sins as the first cause of Jesus’ death, and rejoice that He died for them, is troubling. Did they even understand why Jesus went to the cross in the first place? This is a terrible, lingering, unanswered question hanging over church history. Just as bad was their dogma on how one partakes of the atonement of Christ and salvation. To John Chrysostom and his kind, it was by sprinkling water on their heads and partaking of communion.

The crusaders. The word means, "The war of