Thirty-one years ago, I was teaching a Sunday school class on prophecy and we were concentrating on the Book of Revelations. I had never heard the term Jewish Roots of Christianity, but as we studied various portions of Scripture, Old and New Testaments, both my wife and I came to realize that the Jewish people, as a distinct group, were vital to prophecy. Since that time, I have studied much and came to truly appreciate the unique role that God has given to the nation of Israel. I do wish that books like Future Israel would have been available in the 80s, but it just wasn't there. This book is a wonderful resource to understand why so many people are not only abandoning Israel politically, but why the church is losing so many blessings in this day and age.
Regarding my review, I can't add a lot to the favorable reviews previously given by Truth, John A. Battle's extensive review of the book, Derek Leman (Leman has written some very good books, too), and Pieter "Toypom." However, I would like to address some things specifically that are mentioned in the book, that were challenged in the negative reviews, and some thoughts from my own 31 years of study on this subject.
Two people made comments about how salvation occurs and gave the wrong message about what Pastor Horner truly said. One said, "This is another wicked deception which the Judeo-Christian system puts out in favor of the saved-by-race thesis of the Talmud of the Pharisees as reflected in Churchianity." The other said, "Jew-worship is poisonous to Judaics as well as everyone else. They are saved only through faith in Jesus Christ." Interesting comments considering that early in the book (p. 70), Horner addresses this issue twice. First he says, "Without qualification, I join in upholding the glory of God's one gospel that saves both Jew and Gentile according to His elective grace through faith alone. However, just as the saved man and woman retain their gender identity following conversion, so the Jew and Gentile retain their ethnic identity." Then he says, "Regarding God giving Israel the land, "in no way is this to suggest that the working of God's saving grace is compromised."
Horner states his primary goals in the very beginning of the book. He states, "As our study will unquestionably prove, the wrong perception of Israel and the Jews by Christians, biblically speaking has produced consequences of horrific proportions during the history of the Christian Church in all its strands. Such a shameful legacy, perpetuated during the illustrious Reformation and onwards, is still prevalent in substantial degrees in many Calvinist, Reformed, and Sovereign Grace environments." He also states, "This volume is dedicated to the elucidation of the premillennial perspective, especially as it focuses on national Israel that has been ignored, belittled, and distorted in Calvinistic, Reformed, and Sovereign Grace Circles."
Then he takes it a step further and states that he agrees with much of the Reformed doctrines, but not the ones about Israel/the Jews future. He says, "I agree that the salvation and sanctification of the human soul is more important than the salvation and sanctification of the land of Israel. But on the other hand, the NT emphatically repudiates as heresy the concept of salvation and sanctification of the soul nullifies the importance of the salvation and sanctification of the human body. Hence we must reject the implied Gnostic spirit whereby the land is regarded as eschatologically insignificant." (p. 51) Horner goes on to say, "To be sure, Christ is the ground of covenant blessing, but this does not nullify national blessing as is plainly indicated (in the scriptures). (p. 73)
When I visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Israel and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., I was numbed and greatly sadden at what the Christian Church failed to do, not only in Germany, but around the world prior to and during the reign of Nazi Germany and it's persecution of the Jews. What I have learned since is that one of the primary reasons for the Church's non-action was because of the teachings of the church itself. That horrified me! Horner shows in great detail the many forms of anti-Judaism that can result whenever the church applies OT promises given to Israel as belonging to the church. To clarify, Horner says, "by theological anti-Judaism" I mean the understanding of the present NT age in which the Christian Church is now alleged to have superseded or fulfilled (become) the OT people of God. As a result, it is asserted that covenantally in the sight of God, there is now no such person as a "Jew" or "Hebrew" with distinctive national and territorial identity."
Horner's quote of Clark Williamson (p. 35) is not new to me, but it does make the point well. Williamson says, "all the literature one reads on the final solution leaves the clear impression that the pervasiveness of classical Christian anti-Jewish theology was a significant factor in the success of Hitler's program. When it did not directly contribute to support for Hitler's policies - and it often did - it created an apathy toward the Jews that was equally decisive in permitting the Holocaust. The great majority of the German people did not actively support or actively oppose Hitler; they were merely indifferent."
This approach has consequences regarding the current nation of Israel and the Jewish people. This is pointed out by Horner when he states, "whereas racial anti-Judaism in the twentieth century culminated in a process of physical elimination, the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust, theological anti-Judaism in the twenty-first century culminates in identity elimination, the extermination of Jewishness in the name of Jesus the Jew." Both forms of anti-Judaism end at the same place, "no more Jews."
In one section of the book, which wasn't new to me, but more extensive than most books of this nature provide, Horner even shows how this effects the translations of different editions of the Bible, because of the interpreters fixed beliefs. Regarding the way a Bible verse is interpreted, Horner shows how the NLT rendered Gal. 6:16 to change the promise from including a distinct Israel and makes it "just" the church by removing "Israel" and changing it to "new." The NLT rendering reads, "May God's peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God." The KJV reads, "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."
Horner's comments on how Eph. 2:15-16 has been used to justify this stance of eliminating the Jewish people from having a "distinct" promise in the future, are well worth the price of the book. He states, "The main point many Augustinian amillennialist attempt to derive from this passage is that the "one new man" and "God in one body" (Eph. 2:15-16), evidence a homogenous unity that does not allow diversity, namely, divine recognition of Jewish and Gentile Christians. This I believe to be a fundamental error since the "one Spirit" and "one Lord" and "one God and Father" (Eph. 4:4-6) constitute a personal diversity in the essential unity of the Godhead. In Eph. 2;13-16, and in I Cor. 12:12-30 where there is one body of Christ that is composed of distinctively gifted members, over all unity comprises a complementary diversity, as in the marriage union. Thus the `one new man" and the "god in one body" - indeed, "the whole building [is] a holy sanctuary in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21) - represent a unity that incorporated Jewish and Gentile individuality ordained of God (Gal. 3:28-29; 6:15-16)."
The issues Horner brings out does not have to do with the means of salvation, it is about God's promises to the nation of Israel, to the Jews specifically as a distinct group of people. It is about whether or not God's "Word" is dependable. However, when the church changes the words and meanings, they make God's promises "untrue." That isn't acceptable, but it shows in another sense that God even foreknew that the church would take this stance. God states that at the end of time, all nations, and the apostate church, will abandon Israel but "He" will not. The sad part, as Horner points out in many ways in his book, is that some groups within the church, throughout history and presently, are helping that wrong action take place even now.
Horner traces all of this thought process from Jerome to present day advocates like O. Palmer Robertson, R.C. Sproul, Stephen Sizer, and others. Some of the other reviews covered these in detail. This is really staggering at times as he painstakingly shows the process in the people's own words.
The book is extremely detailed, sometimes painful to read, but I commend Rev. Horner for writing it. I just hope others will read it and grasp the truths he presents in the book. I can't recommend this book enough.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
From the brand
