SID: Hello, Sid Roth here with Rabbi Jonathan Bernis. And what I want to understand is, according to the Jewish historian, Neander, there were approximately a million Jewish believers in Jesus at the turn of the first century. But somehow something happened and these Jewish people weren’t identified as Jewish believers any more, and it resulted in the church losing its ability to walk in large numbers of people in the miraculous. Jonathan, tell me that scenario.
JONATHAN: Well again as you said, the church, the first church, were all Jews. They never converted to Christianity. They lived as Jews. But of course in Acts, Chapter 10, the Gospel goes to Cornelius, Paul becomes the apostle to the gentles and the Gospel quickly spread in the gentile world. And sadly, by 135, you have writings like Justin Martyr writing against the Jewish believers and saying, “He who claims to be Jewish and Christian is neither Jew nor Christian.” And sadly, the church begins—and there are reasons for this we don’t have to go into, and I think it’s important that Christians do study to understand this—begins to move away from their Jewish roots. And the second century all the way up to the culmination with the Nicene Council in 325 A.D., you have the church severing what’s now the dominantly Gentile church, severing themselves from their Jewish roots. And when that happens, Sid, the power drains out of the church. This is turning your back on your father, I believe. I think that until this is restored we’re not going to see the fullness of power coming into the church. And let me say it the other way. When the Jewish roots of the faith are restored, or the Hebraic roots, we’re going to see an outpouring of the Spirit we haven’t seen since the first century. It’s coming.
SID: I believe that, and that’s what I call the One New Man, when the middle wall comes down between Jew and gentile, to form one new humanity, which will result in the full dwelling place of God by His spirit. Now Jonathan has told me about a heresy that I understand, too, that so few understand. It’s the difference between you being in the blessings of God or the curses of God. Tell me about this heresy.
JONATHAN: I’d have to set it up by saying this. Genesis 12, “I will bless those that bless the children of Abraham and curse the one that curses the children of Abraham,” I believe is just as true and powerful, and real today as when it was written. And that’s the danger here, because we can be under the blessing of God, based on how we treat the Jewish people, or the curse of God. And the heresy is called replacement theology, or Cessationism. And very simply again, in the beginning of the second century this erroneous teaching that the church has replaced Israel. In other words, the Jews killed Jesus. They were responsible for his death. They committed deicide, and now God is through with them, He’s given up with them, they’re under His curse. And so now the new people of God, the new Israel is the church. Now the truth is that Christians become spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham and receive all the blessings given to the Jewish people, or given to the children of Abraham. But they join; they’re grafted into the natural olive tree, which is Israel. Replacement theology, most Christians don’t even know the name, still has vestiges and there’s residue that affects every Christian, and it cuts out the blessing of God.
SID: In Romans 11, that deals so clearly with it. Give me a couple of verses.
JONATHAN: Very simply, “Boast not against the natural branches,” because if God cut them off, how much easier to cut you off. And if he can graft a wild olive branch, which is the Gentile believer, how much easier to re-graft back in the Jewish person and bring them to faith. So it’s very clear. Paul says three times in Romans 11, God has not rejected Israel. It’s so clear, Sid. And we have to come against this heresy if we want to see supernatural outpouring of God’s spirit return to the church.
SID: Well I believe that it’s time for the greatest favor of God to hit Bible believers. It’s time to move from the curse to the blessing. And we have a mezuzah that we’ve designed for the people that we mentor. It’s got millions of Jewish names that do not know the Messiah in this mezuzah. We’re instructed in Scripture to put it on our door. And Jewish people kiss it when they enter their door or when they leave their door, and they pray for God’s blessing over them when they’re in their house and when they leave their house. How much greater blessing when we pray for the salvation of millions of Jewish people. Jonathan, I want you to agree in prayer with me, as we pray over this mezuzah, and I want you to agree in prayer with me as we pray that these millions of Jewish people come to know their Messiah, and you will walk under the blessings of Genesis 12:3, the favor of God. We agree in Yeshua’s name that the spiritual scales will come off the eyes of Jewish people. We agree in Yeshua’s name the spiritual scales will come off the eyes of Christians to be able to share the Good News with Jewish people. We agree in the name of Yeshua’s name that there are modern day Paul the Apostles in these names that will lead the world in righteousness, and yea, once again, the Word of the Lord will go out from Zion. And I am so excited when these Jewish people become one with Gentile Christians and the middle wall of separation is finally coming down.
SID ROTH: Next week on It’s Supernatural. Is it possible that there is an ancient mystery that holds the key to America’s future? Could this same mystery be behind current events from 9/11 to our economic meltdown, to even the war in Iraq?
