How perplexing are Israel and the Jews to the world! No one, Jews especially, knows how to solve the problem of contention with, and hatred of, the Jew. There are those, like Hitler and Muhammad, who think extermination is the answer. They are wrong. God, the Savior of Israel, has the true answer, and He has given it to us to give to you. While this letter is addressed to the Jews and the nation of Israel, it is meant for everyone to read and, whosoever will, to share with Jewish friends and acquaintances, and with whoever professes a love for the God of Israel.
Dear Paul,
You write something distressing in your message below, namely equating Hitler and Muhammed’s respective positions on Jews. This is factually wrong, as Muhammed never advocated physical extermination of Jews—let alone adopting such a position practically–but rather their conquest and political submission to Islam. Certainly, this was terrible, but is not an exterminationist position.
Moreover, Islam historically has seen periods of time in various regions of relative tolerance for Judaism and other religions, albeit within an authoritarian context that marginalizes Jews and other non-Muslim faiths by demanding their political and social submission.
Certainly, there are many, many instances of grotesque anti-Semitism associated with Islam, and such tendencies are currently waxing in very dangerous ways. This recent waxing began of course with the persecution of Jewish communities throughout the Middle East following Israel’s creation in 1948, and the majority of Jewish populations in the region have migrated to Israel under such threats.
However, equating Hitler and Muhammed is itself a grotesque distortion which if publicized would only serve as ammunition for the already dangerously high levels of anti-Semitism in the Islamic world today, as well as serve as an excuse to continue stonewalling on recogntion of Israel. Moreover, it severely compromise the practical positions of Israeli and pro-Islaeli political leaders.
So do not unintentionally write things which may simply provide fodder for such anti-Semitic positions and inflames the recent, very dangerous growth of genuinely exterminationist positions towards Jews among Islamic fanatics in the Middle East today.
Remember as well that the history of Christianity is also replete with periods of ugly anti-Semitism which at times has been used to “justify” the unjustifiable, from routine prejudice though pogroms and even the Holocaust itself. Yet today in the United States, Jews and the majority of Christians are closely allied politically.
Muslim “moderates” (by which here I simply mean those who argue for some sort of political accommodation with Israel and co-existence with Jews in the Middle East) are working in a context with some similarities to medieval and early-modern Christianity, and all those committed to both fighting anti-Semitism and to a safe and secure future for Israel need to avoid making statements equating Hitler and Muhammed per se. To do so only inadvertently helps the rabid anti-Semites who plague the Islamic world today.
All best,
Marc Garcelon
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Belfer Hall
Yeshiva University
New York, NY 10033
Hi Marc,
Thank you for your letter. You made a legitimate point, which has led me to make the following change in my introduction letter:
How perplexing are Israel and the Jews to the world! No one, Jews especially, knows how to solve the problem of contention with, and hatred of, the Jew. There are those, like Hitler, who think extermination is the answer. There are those, like Muhammad, who think bullying into submission is the answer. They are wrong. God, the Savior of Israel, has the true answer, and He has given it to us to give to you. While this letter is addressed to the Jews and the nation of Israel, it is meant for everyone to read and, whosoever will, to share with Jewish friends and acquaintances, and with whoever professes a love for the God of Israel. [End]
There are some things, however, to correct in your arguments. You write:
“…Muhammed never advocated physical extermination of Jews—let alone adopting such a position practically–but rather their conquest and political submission to Islam. Certainly, this was terrible, but is not an exterminationist position.”
While Muhammad never made it his life’s work to exterminate the Jews, as did Hitler, it is not true that Muhammad did not exterminate Jews (Medina, 627 AD). By his own personal example and words, Muhammad justifies others who seek the extermination of the Jews to this day. Here is a Hadith often quoted at present-day Islamic meetings, invoking the words of Muhammad for the destruction of the Jews:
“The Hour [Day of Resurrection] will not arrive until you fight the Jews, until a Jew will hide behind a rock or tree and the rock and the tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!'”
Therefore, while it is not an appropriate comparison in some ways, in other ways Muhammad is even worse than Hitler. Hitler never claimed to be the direct messenger of God, superseding the prophets of Israel and the Messiah Himself, Jesus Christ, Who came in the flesh as a Jew. Hitler’s work and wrath were spent in a few short years, but here is Muhammad, wreaking havoc well over a thousand years later, stronger than ever in his clamor for the subjugation or death of the Jews.
Muhammad’s word is presumed by over a billion people today to be the Word of God. He has far more influence for evil than Hitler ever had. And the Jews, the physical descendants of the prophets and patriarchs of the faith of Abraham, by rejecting Muhammad’s authority over them, are a counter witness to his claim to be the greatest prophet of God. For this alone, Muhammad would have them removed from the face of the earth. But what makes the matter even more urgent is that Israel occupies land that Muhammad, through his Islamic followers, once ruled. There is no question about it, and there never has been for the Muslims – Israel must go. This is the will of Muhammad, a corrupt man who has usurped the throne of God.
Jesus Christ is so very different from Muhammad. Jesus Christ laid down His life for the Jews and the nation of Israel. He did not use them for personal gain in physical things and then slaughter them when they weren’t compliant with his megalomania (I speak of Muhammad). Jesus never persecuted anyone or taught such as a way for world conquest or for any other purpose. He taught the opposite. His Kingdom, He said, is not of this world.
Those who have claimed to represent Christ, like the Catholic Church, demonstrate by their persecution of the Jews that they are blatant frauds, having nothing to do with Him. We tell them so directly on our site.
The point here for you is that while men have done great evil in the Name of Christ, this is not the same as men doing evil in the name of Muhammad. Those who do evil in the Name of Christ dishonor Him, but those who do evil in the name of Muhammad honor their prophet. They carry on his work. (You should read The Answer to Islam and other writings in our Islam section.)
Jesus Christ, expressing God’s mind and will, said that men shouldn’t fear those who can kill the body, but should fear God alone (Matthew 10:28). As a Jew, Hitler gave you no choice but to die. Muhammad, however, gives the Jew the choice to acknowledge and bow down to him – a lying, thieving, fornicating, blaspheming murderer – or to be killed. That may seem more humane to men than Hitler’s dictum, but according to the Lord Jesus Christ, one has something to truly fear by honoring Muhammad, because doing so means dishonoring and denying God.
Other Jews, faced with a similar decision to dishonor God, chose to die. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions for such a cause, and God preserved him, though He did not preserve those who had conspired against Daniel when they were thrown to the lions. Then there were the three Jewish counselors, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who would not bow down to the king of Babylon’s image. When the king threatened to throw them into a fiery furnace, they answered him:
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to return a word to you on this matter. If it is so that our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, then He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18 MKJV).
God did keep them, appearing as a man among them in the furnace and preserving them from any harm. Are these things not recounted to assure all Jews that they ought not to fear man and concede to evil, but should honor God in all their ways and put their trust in Him?
That is not the course you are advocating. You are proposing fear of man. No, you haven’t converted to Islam, but you are paying homage to Muhammad in a more subtle way, allowing some equivalence of his claim to authority with the authors of Scripture. You are tacitly honoring Muhammad as an equal to the servants of God, speaking as though he has some virtue and as if it is a perfectly fine thing for any human being to follow his teachings of “submission” to “Allah.”
Nothing could be further from the truth! Have you not red the Koran? If you have, are you able to perceive what it is saying? “Allah” is a devil, having nothing to do with the God of Israel, except to serve as an adversary for the rebuke and chastisement of unbelieving Jews and Christians. Allah’s greatest victims are the Muslims themselves (though they are not guiltless), who have been taught a pack of lies that lead them into death and destruction.
So why in the world, knowing these things, should I not tell them the truth about Muhammad and the illegitimacy of his claim of having been sent by God? You say:
“However, equating Hitler and Muhammed is itself a grotesque distortion which if publicized would only serve as ammunition for the already dangerously high levels of anti-Semitism in the Islamic world today, as well as serve as an excuse to continue stonewalling on recogntion of Israel.”
A “grotesque distortion”? Hardly. I don’t know if the change I have made to the introductory letter will allay your fears; I doubt it, because your fear comes from not trusting or believing God. If you did trust and believe Him, you would not be afraid of men. You would not be afraid of Muslims or of the truth being spoken to them. The only reason the “rabid anti-Semites who plague the Islamic world today” have power is because people fear them and their two-faced co-religionists who support them. But if people believed and honored God, they would not tolerate the lies and treachery of Muhammad and his followers.
Not all Jews have behaved your way. Another example of one who trusted God is King David, a man after His own heart. David said of the warrior Goliath, who represented those like Islam that tried to subjugate Israel, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26 MKJV). Then David said to Goliath’s face these words that God honored in short order:
1 Samuel 17:45-47 GW
(45) “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the Name of the LORD of Armies, the God of the army of Israel, Whom you have insulted.
(46) Today the LORD will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And this day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. The whole world will know that Israel has a God.
(47) Then everyone gathered here will know that the LORD can save without sword or spear, because the LORD determines every battle’s outcome. He will hand all of you over to us.”
That brings us back to the point of the article I sent you, The Key for Israel and the Jew: The nation of Israel and the Jews are not walking in the faith of David or the patriarchs. They have not believed in their God, and there is one major stumbling block preventing their return. God has given us to present them with The Key that is necessary for their reconciliation and victory.
Your attempts to appease and be diplomatic will go nowhere, and truly, hasn’t that already been well demonstrated? The enemy is too shrewd and perceptive for this approach. As long as the enemy sees apology and mealy-mouthed, fearful acquiescence or senses in the slightest any timidity, he will move in to do his damage at his pleasure.
Do you seriously think that those who are persuaded to any degree negatively towards Jews by our words and expressions will not find, yea, actively search out, any excuse to wreak their havoc on Jews when opportunity arises? This is your fear talking, not faith.
Things will only change when the Jew stands up and says, “No, you are wrong; I will not accept this; I appeal to God for justice.” Until then, he will get nowhere with the Muslims and with the world that sides with the Muslims.
But how does the Jew get to that place? It is when his conscience no longer convicts him before God; hence the need for The Key God has provided us with for Israel and the Jew.
Then can and will the following Scriptures be fulfilled on the positive side for the believing Jew (and the world will be his):
1 John 3:19-23 MKJV
(19) And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him,
(20) that if our heart accuses us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
(21) Beloved, if our heart does not accuse us, we have confidence toward God.
(22) And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
(23) And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Hebrews 10:19-23 MKJV
(19) Therefore, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus,
(20) by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh;
(21) and having a High Priest over the house of God,
(22) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies having been washed with pure water.
(23) Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful Who promised).
The answer is not that the Jews need men to recognize Israel; but that they themselves need to recognize the God of Israel.
It was expected, as one would expect pus and putrefaction to emerge from a boil that was lanced. Cleansing and healing will follow, because God has ordained it for His people. Will you, Israel, identify with the pus or the Doctor?
What the God of Israel has done for me, and what He will do for you.
A Letter of Promise, Hope, and Exhortation to the Dispersed and Oppressed Uncircumcised-in-Heart Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
We witness the ungodly and unjust hatred for Jews everywhere and consider there is something important going on. We are also in awe of the marvelous historical developments and events, knowing very well, by God’s grace, that man cannot do what has developed concerning the Jews at any time, perhaps especially in this last century. Here is a letter of promise to God’s chosen in the flesh, based on His faithfulness and awesome power:
“I, even I, am He Who comforts you: who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass; and have forgotten the LORD your Maker, Who stretched forth the Heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth…?” (Isaiah 51:12-13 HNV)
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts” (Proverbs 21:2 HNV).
Israel, come hear the Word of God, and let your hearts be revealed; know the Truth and be reconciled to Your Father. It is time. Of what value is it to continue in darkness, not knowing Him and His heart towards you, Who has loved you from days of old and draws you with lovingkindness?
Israel, your God knows and sees what you suffer. He is not remote, unfamiliar, or unaffected by what is happening with you. There is a reason for your predicament, however, a reason that holds the key to the solution for all. There is an answer from God, which you need to hear and know.
Jews, you have tried everything to be at peace, to have dialogue with, and to appease, the world. You have tried everything, and nothing has worked, because you lacked the simple solution. Here is the key for Israel, the Jew, and the whole world.