[Darris McNeely] There's been a ceasefire called in the recent war in the Middle East and with the State of Israel against the terrorist group, Hamas and the rockets that they were firing out of Gaza raining down on Jerusalem. And the State of Israel, we hope that it will hold but the prospect of enduring peace is very slim. No doubt in time, it will all start up over again.

In the aftermath of that, however, I've been watching a number of articles that have described another phenomenon that has raised its ugly vile head, as a result of this latest conflict in Israel with Hamas and the Israelis, is what we call antisemitism. The hatred of Jews. An evil long problem, Christian pogroms going back hundreds of years in Europe created all kinds of problems for the Jewish populations of those countries. We're all familiar with the Holocaust of World War II and the Nazi effort to exterminate more than 6 million Jews and to eliminate what they consider to be a problem.

Antisemitism and this Jewish hatred and hatred of things Jewish has not disappeared, unfortunately, from the world seen in this most recent outbreak of violence many have seen has caused this to come to the fore even more. There was an article that I was reading in "The Wall Street Journal" that brought out a statistical fact on antisemitism that should shock us. And I quote from this article, that "Contemporary hatred of Jews is still on the rise. The Federal Bureau of Investigations Hate Crime data shows that since 1996 and 2019, hate crimes against blacks have gone down significantly." And that's a good thing. But in the corresponding time, hate crimes against Jews, antisemitism, has not gone down. In fact, it's scarcely changed. And, of course, most recent events show that it has come up. Jews dining in a restaurant in Los Angeles were physically attacked by crowds shouting antisemitic slogans. In London, parades going through the streets of people who were against the Jews and shouting antisemitic slogans as well took place, and in other parts of Europe.

It's been shocking. What do we learn from this? What is it that you need to understand? You may not be a Jew, ethnically, but if you keep God's Sabbath, if you keep God's holy days, if you keep the Passover, you will be considered Jewish by some standards, by some people who may have a particular problem or animus. To obey God, Biblically, puts us in the entire line of the Jewish people who have kept their identity, who understand that they are descended from the tribe of Judah, part of Ancient Israel, their father is Abraham. And they understand their heritage, their lineage, their descent.

A Christian who keeps God's Sabbath, who keeps God's laws today can be lumped into those who are Jewish. I've had that happen to me years ago and been thought that I was Jewish because I kept the Feast of Tabernacles, the Holy Day, mentioned, of course, in the New Testament, the Old Testament there. What do we learn from this? That persecution, hatred of God really is at the heart of antisemitism.

Years ago, I read an article, actually a book called "The Gift of the Jews" by the author, Tim Cahill. And he actually got to the heart of the problem as to what is antisemitism. He said, it's really a hatred of God because the Jews have kept their identity, and they keep Torah, they keep the law. And he boiled it down to what he called the hated 10 because man doesn't wanna keep a law of God. And that is, as he said, the core problem with antisemitism. It's what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 1, that they did not want to keep God in their knowledge. And there's a hatred built into the human nature, it seems, for God. And so, you keep God's law, you keep God's commandments, you should understand what antisemitism is.

There's a Scripture in Revelation 12 (Revelation 12:17), that I always take people to illustrate this. It describes a time in the age prior to just before the return of Jesus Christ, when Satan the devil is enraged because his purposes are being foiled. And he goes out knowing that he has a short time to wreak one final persecution upon believers on the Earth. And it says in verse 17, "The dragon was enraged with a woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring." The woman is the church, the church of God, the offspring are its members of that church. The dragon makes war with them. And they're identified as those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Those who keep the commandments of God, the 10 commandments, the law of God, who understand how that fits with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is exactly what God's Church does.

Antisemitism is something that any believer in God who obeys the Word of God and the Bible, those of the Church of God should be aware of, should understand, as it rears its head and take note, guard yourself, certainly recognize God is in control and God is in charge. But there will be a consequence for obeying God.

Antisemitism is a problem. It's an evil and it has impacted the Jewish people. And it will impact ultimately, as the Scripture shows, by the time of the end, many beyond even the ethnicity of the Jewish group. And so, Christians who keep God's Word, the commandments, and the testimony of Jesus Christ should take note, watch, and be aware.

That's "BT Daily." Join us next time.