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1.Dr Michael Brown writes that "I have a supernatural, biblical explanation for the phenomenon of anti-Semitism, one which even includes the devil himself".

2.Today, anti-Semitism is at its highest levels since immediately before the Holocaust, equaling, in fact, those pre-Holocaust levels. How can this be?

These words, penned 25 centuries ago, still ring true in the hearts of many anti-Semites today: "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples..whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey [international] laws; it is not in our best interest to tolerate them" (Esther 3:8 with slight modifications made to make this more contemporary). Why has this hatred and fear of the Jews persisted for so long?

3.To this day, Jerusalem remains the centre of international controversy, the only capital city not recognized by the rest of the nations. Why Jerusalem? Why the Jews? Anti-Semitism is the most widespread hatred of all time. It can be traced from the Greco-Roman work to Christianity, including vicious comments from some of the Church's greatest leaders; from Islam to Fascism to Communism; from White Supremacist to Black Supremacists; from Japan to Russia to Iran. Why the Jews? "It all traces back to Christianity,"meaning that the charge that the Jews killed Jesus, thus making them guilty of deicide (killing God), has so permeated Western history and culture that "Christian" anti-Semitism provides a link between all manifestations of anti-Semitism. But this theory is seriously flawed. How do we explain pre Christian anti-Semitism? And does Christian anti-Semitism adequately explain Islamic anti-Semitism?

4.It is because there always has to be a scapegoat," meaning that someone always has to be blamed for bad things that happen in the world. Also because of the Jewish religion, which makes the Jewish people different," and so people attack what they don't understand.

The problem with this view is that secular Jews have often been singled out for persecution. In keeping with this, it has often been said that at the time of the Holocaust, most German Jews were more German than Jewish.

5.Clearly, all of these theories fall short in one way or another, failing to explain the intense, irrational and long-lived nature of anti-Semitism and failing to connect all the dots. What, then, links the explanation for anti-Semitism in the world? It is simply this: God has singled out the Jewish people as his instrument for the world redemption, He has promised that they will always remain on the earth as a distinct people-despite their sins and failures-and the devil himself has marked them out for destruction. Ultimately, it is through the Jewish people that the knowledge of the one true God has come to the world, through the Jewish people that the Messiah has come, and through the Jewish people that the message of the Messiah went to the nations. And it is the Jewish people in Jerusalem who will ultimately welcome the Messiah back to earth to set up His Kingdom. That's why the devil hates them so!

6.Why does Satan so passionately despise the Jews? For one thing, it is a reflection of his hatred for God. The Jews are God's chosen people! By hurting them he seeks to hurt the Lord and take revenge for his own sentence of death. His effort to annihilate the Jews is also an attempt to discredit the Lord, since He has sworn in His Word that they will never be destroyed. But there is another reason the devil despises the Jews: The salvation of Israel means the return of Jesus, the resurrection of the righteous, the revival of the Church and the restoration of the earth. The fulfillment of the Jews' destiny will seal the devil's doom. Yes, "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom. 16:20). The time to favour Israel is upon us and Satan is quaking with fear. The countdown has begun! Understanding, then, that anti-Semitism is ultimately a spiritual phenomenon rather than a cultural, ethnic or even religious phenomenon, we can also understand that anti-Semitism has to do with God and His purposes rather than with the Jewish people themselves.

These six facts relate to.........why have Jewish people been so hated and persecuted through the centuries?..........

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