Coming Jewish ‘Utopia’ Ruled By Noahide Laws
By Rev. Ted Pike and Harmony Grant
Interview with Ted & Harmony, Pt II
Most of the world’s great religions teach that their own way will prevail in the end. Muslims believe the whole world will someday accept their one God, Allah, and Mohammed as his prophet. Most Christians believe that in a coming “millennium” Christ will firmly yet benevolently rule a restored and enlightened world. Religious Jews also await their future triumph, promised by the Talmud. They keenly anticipate the messiah they believe will exalt the Jewish people and Hebraic monotheism to dominate the nations.
The Encyclopedia Judaica says hope in the coming Jewish messiah is intense, especially among Orthodox Jews in Israel: “Orthodoxy retains unimpaired the traditional doctrine…Among Orthodox rabbis, there is no lack of speculation on the meaning of contemporary events in light of the messianic hope.” (“Messiah,” p. 1416)
In this ideal Jewish world, what happens to the rest of us? What is the status of Gentiles, especially Christians? The Babylonian Talmud, the highest ethical and religious guide for observant Jews, says Gentiles can join Judaism as proselytes today or in the future messianic kingdom, as long as they sincerely follow seven commandments. These “Noahide laws,” says the Talmud, form the basic moral code God gave Adam; they prohibit idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, “illicit relations,” eating meat with blood, and “failing to establish courts of justice.”
Medieval Jewish authority Maimonides, whose work remains highly influential, wrote in his 12th century work the Mishneh Torah that Gentiles should be compelled by Jews to practice Noahide law. In a recent article for the Jewish Press, America’s largest independent Jewish weekly, Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim says Gentiles can be improved just like Jews, but only through conversion.
“The Noachide laws,” writes the rabbi, “are the bare essentials that entitle a human being to retain his right to life.” Remember he is speaking of Gentiles as well as Jews and, yes, he said right to life. Ben-Chaim cites Isaiah’s prophecy that someday Gentiles will flock to Jerusalem to “learn Torah.” Jews must encourage this mass conversion, he says, by refusing to voice acceptance for other religions. “No, that deludes gentiles into believing we view their religions on par with Torah,” the rabbi writes. “Judaism views all other religions as imposters, since no other religion was God-given… Again, God said, “One Torah…for yourselves, and the convert.” This means no other laws are acceptable, for any people.”
In this rabbi’s words we find contemporary mainstream affirmation, in one of American Jewry’s biggest publications, that deviance from Noahide law cannot be morally tolerated by observant Jews. Ultimately, if things were as they should be, Gentiles should be forced to comply.
International Code of Justice
With increase of the power and influence of Judaism including its ultra-Orthodox branches, it is not surprising that Judaism recommends the seven Noahide precepts as international law. In a discussion with other religious leaders and President George Bush Sr., Rabbi Yakov Cohen said the road map to world peace is found in the seven Noahide Laws.
Worldwide Noahide observance was promoted by prominent Hasidic Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. The late rabbi was the seventh leader of the widespread Lubavitcher movement. Viewed as clannish and eccentric in dress, the Lubavitchers are nevertheless very powerful and well-funded, with enormous influence on the burgeoning ultra-Orthodox movement in Israel. Before his death in 1994, Schneerson was the reigning “temporary Messiah,” or “Tzaddik,” to a large segment of Kabalist ultra-orthodox Jewry. He said global observance of Noahide law would bring world peace and messianic redemption.
Schneerson and his movement are so powerful that they persuaded Bush Sr. to proclaim Education Day USA in which Schneerson is honored and Noahide law upheld as an exalted code of ethics to inspire and guide mankind. Schneerson trained thousands of rabbis to spread strict Jewish observance (centering around the “Zohar” or mystical/revolutionary Kabala) around the world.
“Influencing non-Jews to keep their mitzvos, the Seven Noahide Laws… will assist our task of making the world into a dwelling place for God, and help bring about the arrival of Messiah,” Schneerson said in 1987. He said, “Every Jew has the obligation to ensure that all the peoples of the world observe the Seven Noahide Laws…The religious tolerance of today, and the trend towards greater freedom, gives us the unique opportunity to enhance widespread observance of these laws.”
Michael Kress, in an article for the Noahide.org thinktank, approvingly describes a growing number of Noahide-observant ex-Christians who reject the gospels’ account of Jesus and center their lives around the Seven Laws. In 1991, Yeshiva University’s law school hosted a symposium of Noahide scholars. Their press release notes, “In previous generations, the precarious or outright hostile conditions in which world Jewry survived precluded any public discussion of the Code [presumably because host nations were not at all pleased to hear about Jewish plans for worldwide legal control].
“In our generation, however, discussion of the Code both in print and on the Internet has increased noticeably. The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of both rabbinical and academic writings as well as the new phenomenon of books and web pages written for a lay or popular readership.” The press release says an unprecedented number of Gentiles want to live according to the Noahide laws and form an audience for scholarship about them.
Life in the Jewish Utopia
Would worldwide coerced observance of the Noahide laws create more religious freedom and tolerance? Not a chance. The first law is against idolatry, and what’s idolatry? The Babylonian Talmud repeatedly says worship of the false prophet Jesus Christ is idolatry, a crime worthy of death. The Talmud also says Christ was a blasphemer, a violator of the second Noahide precept. This makes His worshippers, who claim He’s the second member of a three-party Trinity, blasphemers also. 1
In his Noahide.org article, Michael Kress confirms that many observant Jews believe Christianity (with its “polytheist” belief in the Trinity) violates Noahide law. If Noahide law were globally enforced, Christians and all other “idolaters” would face extermination under this “peace-creating” universal code!
A visionary book, published in 1932 by Jewish Talmudic scholar Dr. Michael Higger, describes the brave new Jewish world. 2 Higger says when a Jewish one-world ruler, messiah, comes, he will enforce Judaic monotheism. There will be no room for the “idolatrous.” “…Only those who are convinced of Israel’s divine purpose in the world, will be welcome to join Israel in the upbuilding of an ideally spiritual life on earth. Israel, the ideal, righteous people, will thus become spiritually masters of the world…” (p41)
Before the messianic era begins, “in general, the peoples of the world will be divided into two main groups, the Israelitic and the non-Israelitic. The former will be righteous; they will live according to the wishes of one, universal God…All the other peoples, on the other hand, will be known for their detestable practices, idolatry, and similar acts of wickedness. They will be destroyed and will disappear from earth before the ushering in of the ideal era.” (p37) “Consequently…idolatry and idol-worshippers, wicked people, unrighteous nations, will disappear from the earth.” (p39) Goodbye, Christians.
The ravings of a fanatic? Solomon Schechter, founder of conservative Judaism, along with the council or “Kallah” of Texas Rabbis, did not think so. They gave the book official endorsement.
The Nations Must Suffer First
Higger provides extensive references from the Babylonian Talmud, describing enlightened monotheism under messiah. But the Talmud teaches such tranquility will be dearly bought; a time of Gentile anguish is necessary to displace Gentiles from their control of the nations and dominion of Jews. Such suffering will be so great, says the Talmud, that even “the Almighty Himself will bewail it.” 3
The Zohar, or Kabbalah, rivals the authority of the Talmud for most deeply religious Jews. It teaches that, as the divine yet visible, practical manifestation of God’s will in this world, it is Israel’s job to “wage war” against Gentile control by any means possible. “Proper order” can only be restored by breaking down Gentile and Christian influence. 4
This explains how a devout Orthodox Jew and head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, can rationalize being a man of prayer and piety and yet energetically promote homosexuality and immorality among the “goyim.” According to the Zohar’s reasoning, causing “travail” among the Gentiles such as Communism, wars, financial panic, media corruption of society, breakup of families, abortion, pornography, and homosexuality is necessary to bring about a great good. 5 The Talmud and Zohar teach that this period of “birth pangs” among the Gentiles will eventually recede as humanity is ushered into a new age of Judaic enlightenment—in which belief in one true God and observance of His laws will prevail over the “confusion” of Christian “polytheism.”
Judaizing Christianity
Even today, encouraged by Jewish leaders, Christianity is being heavily Judaized as Israel is slavishly venerated and Old Testament rituals and observances are increasingly practiced by evangelicals. Talmud-quoting Messianic Jews and false prophets such as Dr. John Hagee set the standard for millions of evangelicals, inviting them to transition toward Talmudic Judaism. (See, To Pray or Not to Pray … in Jesus’ Name) This is part of Jewish activism’s strategy to take faith in Christ out of Christianity, ultimately replacing it with the seven Noahide laws.
Both Talmud and Zohar proclaim the Jewish people to be semi-divine and occupy a position even above angels. “He who smites an Israelite on the jaw is as though he had thus assaulted the Divine Presence, for it is written, One who smiteth man (i.e., an Israelite) attacketh the Holy One.” (Sanhedrin 58b) Already, through ADL hate laws in countries like Canada and Britain, Judaism and rabbinic literature cannot be verbally “assaulted” through criticism. Such “anti-Semitism” is punished severely as a hate crime. ADL’s U.S. State Department “Office of Global Anti-Semitism” defines “anti-Semitism” as “strong criticism of Israel’s leaders.” Suggesting a Jewish conspiracy or even repeating the New Testament allegation that the Jews had Christ crucified are among 14 offenses considered anti-Semitic. (See, The Real Motive Behind the ‘Department of Global Anti-Semitism’)
These laws are precedents which can be joined with Noahide law and enforced from Jerusalem, to make it a capital offense in the new Jewish world order to “blaspheme” the “holy people” by criticism. Just this year, Knesset members tried to get Jewish Italian scholar Prof. Ariel Toaff indicted in Israel for his book that said there was truth to the 15th century “blood libel.” Israel already has authority from Knesset to demand extradition from any nation of persons who “insult the memory of the Jewish dead” by questioning the accuracy of the six-million figure of Holocaust victims.
Hate laws, emerging worldwide, have one real purpose—to criminalize that religion which perpetually reminds and accuses Jews that their forefathers were guilty of deicide and that they share that guilt as long as they venerate those who had Christ crucified, the Pharisees, authors of the Talmud and Zohar.
Mortal Combat
Devout Jews have real reason to seek to outlaw Christianity as a form of idol-worship. Why? Because Christianity does threaten Judaism. It is fundamentally subversive and threatening to Jewish power and religious authority. It undermines the whole concept of “chosenness” or salvation through belonging to a particular race. That’s part of why Christianity has been persecuted and resented by Jewish leaders since the beginning of the church age. That’s what makes the unholy alliance between evangelicals and Israel such a strange state of affairs.
The Book of Acts describes how different from Judaism was the early Christian church. It relates how the Holy Spirit’s first infilling caused a group of Christians to speak in the languages of their listeners—Africans, Arabs, Jews and Romans alike. In explanation, Peter quoted the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Peter then preached an eloquent overview of the life and crucifixion of Christ, Who was raised from the dead for the salvation of every person –Jew and Gentile—who would repent and trustfully obey Christ for life. When his listeners asked what they should do, Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2)
Christ’s message was of radical inclusion, open arms so broad they crossed all boundaries of race, gender, and religion. His once tiny church grew faster than a pro-athlete on steroids as missionaries traveled the early world, preaching the good news that salvation was now possible (for everyone!) through simple faith and forsaking of sin. Few things could have been more threatening to the racism of the Pharisees, which depended on firm physical barriers between Jew and Gentile. By the gift of His Spirit and union of all believers into one church, Christ ended the need for dramatic physical separation from “unclean” non-Jews. He also ended any need for the Pharisees as an institution of guidance for the Jewish people. Because Christ rejected and excoriated them, the Pharisees masterminded His crucifixion.
Every individual, Jewish or not, must face the sobering question, “What will you say of Jesus, who is called Christ?” Was He the Jews’ true Messiah, whose living Spirit can redeem our souls? Or should we look for peace to more government, to the solutions of Jewish rabbis administered from a global court in Jerusalem?
We know our answer. What’s yours?
Endnotes:
1 The Talmud said Jesus was, along with Balaam and Titus, one of the three greatest enemies of Judaism (Gittin 56b-57a). The New Testament confirms that the Pharisees considered Christ demon-possessed (John 8:48), a charlatan empowered by the devil (Matt. 12:24), a deceiver (Matt. 27:6), a blasphemer (Jn. 10:36), and having an unclean spirit (Mk. 3:30). The Talmud says He was a bastard, son of adulterous Mary (Sanhedrin 106b). He was hung on the eve of Passover because He was a sorcerer and apostate (Sanh. 43a). He was a fool who fell down and worshipped a brick (Sanh. 67a). He was executed by stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangling (Sanh. x.2:90a). Jews are encouraged to lecture against Christ (Sanh. 106b). Christ is in hell, wallowing in boiling hot excrement (Git. 56b-57a).
The Talmud recommends persecution of Christians. Christians are heretics (Abodah Zarah 16b), apostates (Shabbethai 116). Christians may be legally thrown into a pit to die (AZ, 26b). Christians deserve death for observing the Sabbath (even though they observe the Noahide laws) (Sanh. 58b) and studying the Old Testament (Sanh. 59a). Christianity is an unforgivable sin, seducing Jews to idolatry (AZ 17a). The testimony of a Christian is unworthy to be admitted to a Jewish court (Shulshan Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat 34,31). Jews are forbidden to return a lost article to a Christian (HM 266,2). Matthew, Luke, Nicodemus, and Thaddeus were executed as heretics (Jewish Encyclopedia, “Jesus,” page 171). Jews should rejoice, dress in white, and eat, drink, and be merry at the death of a Christian. They should hate a Christian with utmost hatred and consider him an enemy (Semahot ch. 2, p. 35).
The Zohar sanctions killing of Gentiles, including Christians. “Take the life of the Kliphoth [Gentile and Christian] and kill them, and you will please God the same as one who offers incense to Him.” (Sephar or Israel 177b) “The people of the earth are idolaters, and it has been written of them, ‘Let them be wiped off the face of the earth.'” (I 25, Pranaitis translation, “The Talmud Unmasked,” p. 80) “When these shall be exterminated, it will be as if God had made heaven and earth on that day.” (I, Bereshith, 25b) “At the moment when the Holy One, blessed be he, will exterminate all the goyim of the world….the Lord alone will appear great on that day.” (Sec. Vayschlah, folio 177b, de Pauly translation) “It is certain our captivity will last until the princes of the Gentiles who worship idols are destroyed.” (I, 219, Pranaitis, p. 80) “In the palaces of the fourth heaven are those who lamented over Sion and Jerusalem, and all those who destroyed idolatrous nations, and those who killed off people who worship idols…” (I, 38b, 39a)
The preface to the Soncino edition of the Zohar says: “The Zohar appeals to many Jews in a way that makes them regard it as the most sacred of sacred books! For it mirrors Judaism as an intensely vital religion of the spirit. More overpoweringly than any other book or code, or even than the Bible, does it give to the Jew a conviction of an inner, unseen spiritual universe – an eternal moral order.” (p.12)
2 The Jewish Utopia, Michael Higger, Ph.D., The Lord Baltimore Press, 1932, 160 pages. This book is available for $15 postpaid from Emissary Publications, P.O. Box 294, Colton, OR 97017 (503-824-2050).
3 Sanh. 98b, 99a.
4 Zohar I, 160a.
5 Discussion and documentation of virtually all these topics can be found in articles archived at www.truthtellers.org, in my book Israel: Out Duty, Our Dilemma, or in my four video documentaries airing at video.google.com.
May 30th 2007
Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watch dog organization.
Let the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith teach you how they have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
Learn how ADL took away free speech in Canada and wants to steal it now in the U.S. Congress. Watch Rev. Ted Pike’s Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com. Purchase this gripping documentary to show at church. Order online at www.truthtellers.org for $24.90, DVD or VHS, by calling 503-853-3688, or at the address below.
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