Jonathan Bernis - Why Satan Hates the Jews?
Jonathan Bernis: Shalom and welcome to Jewish Voice. I wanna thank you for joining me today. I'm Jonathan Bernis, and I'm joined, once again, by my co-host, Ezra Benjamin. Well, anti-semitic incidents rose to historic levels in 2022 with over 3,600 incidents reported in the United States alone. That's an increase of over 30% compared to 2021, which was also a record setting year according to data released by the anti-defamation league. 2022 was the highest level of anti-semitic activity since the ADL started keeping records back in 1979 following an upward trend of hate directed against American Jews over the last five years.
Ezra Benjamin: That's right, Jonathan. This data is alarming, and it doesn't even include the record number of incidents that have happened since the war in Israel began in October of 2023. The ADL recorded a total of 312 anti-semitic incidents between October 7th and October 23rd alone, 190 of which were directly linked to the war in Israel. And during the same period in 2022, the ADL received reports of only 64 incidents, only four of which were Israel related. So, that's over a 300% increase in these Israel related anti-semitic incidents. And today, we're gonna take a look at the history of anti-semitism and why it's on the rise.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. It's really alarming. You know, five years ago, Ezra, the ADL reported that anti-semitism was at an all time high since World War II, since the holocaust.
Ezra Benjamin: Wow.
Jonathan Bernis: And it's just gone up from there.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Recently, I don't watch a lot of t.V., but recently, I've been seeing ads on television to convince people to be cautious of anti-semitism and actually combat anti-semitism.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: It's the first time in my lifetime I've ever seen anything like this.
Ezra Benjamin: It's an alarming enough issue in the Jewish community that Jewish entities, Jewish organizations, non-profits community activism organizations are actually spending millions of dollars to educate the public, "Beware of this issue. Beware of anti-semitism".
Jonathan Bernis: I felt it was really important for us to talk about anti-semitism since Jewish Voice is a ministry dedicated to helping you as followers of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, to understand the role of Israel in the last days, to understand God's heart for the Jewish people. Both the land and the people of Israel.
Ezra Benjamin: That's right.
Jonathan Bernis: And anti-semitism is a huge issue.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah, you know, Jonathan, we're always committed to, and we'll continue to be committed to helping you to understand the depth and the riches of the Jewish roots of your faith. But there's something that's required of you biblically as well, and it's to stand with Israel especially in times of trouble. And when we say Israel, we're not just talking about the land or the state of Israel. We're talking about the people of Israel, the Jewish people, whether they're living in Israel the state or whether they're scattered amongst the nations of the world. And so, you have a responsibility if you're wondering, "Why should I listen to a teaching on anti-semitism"? You actually have a biblical responsibly to stand with and to be a blessing to the Jewish people and to speak out on their behalf not only, but especially, when times get tough.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, that includes your neighbors, your coworkers. Jewish people that God puts into your life.
Ezra Benjamin: That's right.
Jonathan Bernis: You're to bless and, of course, the greatest blessing is to share your faith.
Ezra Benjamin: Right. Share the good news of Yeshua, Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.
Jonathan Bernis: So, I think there is some confusion in the minds of some about anti-semitism. "What is anti-semitism"? And it's a little bit of a misnomer. Anti-semitism, you would think is hatred of semitic peoples, but the Jewish people are not the only semitic people.
Ezra Benjamin: True.
Jonathan Bernis: The Arab world are semites also.
Ezra Benjamin: Absolutely.
Jonathan Bernis: But anti-semitism really is a illogical...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Hatred against the Jewish people and its root, Ezra, is spiritual.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities and powers unseen".
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly. And that's why, Jonathan, we feel this teaching is so important today. If you look up anti-semitism, okay, the official definition, you're gonna find a very sterilized short answer. Believe it or not. Look it up in the dictionary, Google it. It's gonna say, "A suspicion of or animosity toward Jewish people".
Jonathan Bernis: Right.
Ezra Benjamin: But it doesn't talk about where that comes from. It certainly wouldn't say it as spiritual roots.
Jonathan Bernis: Yes, if you don't look at it as spiritual it's illogical, it's irrational. Why single out a people group to hate?
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: And we're talking about not a short-term hatred. We're talking about centuries, millennium of hatred...
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly.
Jonathan Bernis: Against a specific people, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it goes all the way back to the time of Abraham, in fact.
Ezra Benjamin: It does.
Jonathan Bernis: When God said to Abram, "Leave your household and go to a land that I will show you".
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: "I'll give to you and your descendants as an everlasting possession".
Ezra Benjamin: That's right.
Jonathan Bernis: "And you will be a blessing to every family on the earth".
Ezra Benjamin: Right. Genesis 12:3 and Genesis 17:8. Write it down. Do a verse study later. If you don't believe us on this, you'll find it to be true in the Bible. So, Genesis 12:3 as you said, God says, and we talk so often about the first half of this verse, right? "I will bless those who bless you". And it's you're calling as a follower of the Lord to be a blessing to, to bless Jewish people. But then it says God says to Abraham, "And I'll make you and your seed, your physical descendants," Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as you said, "To be a blessing to all the families of the earth". So, there's this destiny kinda, if you will, baked into the DNA, the irrevocable calling of the Jewish people to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. And how do we do that? As you said, there is no greater blessing that can be given than to proclaim Jesus, Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, and the Savior of the world. So...
Jonathan Bernis: Now, there's two meanings. I think there is two realities. One, the Jewish people, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be a blessing to the world. If you look at the arts, at science and technology, medicine...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Literature, economics, and so on. There's a disproportionate contribution of the Jewish people throughout history.
Ezra Benjamin: Isn't that interesting?
Jonathan Bernis: So, that's one blessing. But the greater blessing, of course, is the promise of the Messiah...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: That the Messiah would come through the loins of Abraham, through the descendants of Abraham and that's exactly the case. Jesus was a Jew, is a Jew.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: He is the physical descendant of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob. And you see that the lineages Mark that. That's why the lineages are there. They're born to most, but they're really important.
Ezra Benjamin: Where do you we have, as my grandma would say, the chutzpa, right? What nerve do we have to dare say that anti-semitism has spiritual roots? It's three chapters into the Bible.
Jonathan Bernis: There's no other explanation other than the spiritual roots.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: So, you have Genesis 3:15. And then, it is expounded when we reach Genesis 12...
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly.
Jonathan Bernis: That that promise is gonna be fulfilled through Abraham and his offspring...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Isaac, Jacob, and future generations.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: The Messiah would be the one that would come and crush the head of the serpent, which is still in motion. Jesus came the first time, but it's his return that will, if you will, seal the deal.
Ezra Benjamin: Absolutely.
Jonathan Bernis: Bring about the fulfill redemption God ordained for not for the Jewish people, but for the world.
Ezra Benjamin: Right. And so, right in Genesis 12 we have this promise to Israel to bring that message of salvation, to proclaim Yeshua to all the families of the earth, which requires the Jewish people to be sustained.
Jonathan Bernis: So, here is the...
Ezra Benjamin: To be preserved.
Jonathan Bernis: Here's the logic and the simplicity, if you will, of anti-semitism. Satan is given a death sentence. "Your head will be just crushed. You'll be destroyed". Right? So, he understands that Abraham and his offspring will bring about this decree, this sentence of death.
Ezra Benjamin: So, part of the spiritual roots of anti-semitism, I hope you can see it now. And again, check those verses out. They're in there. Are this ongoing from generation to generation and every epic, every era of world history, this demonically inspired plot to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth. And then, there's a second thing, Jonathan, as promised, Genesis 17:8, right? So, God's promise to preserve the Jewish people. Satan's demonic attempt to destroy the Jewish people. But now we have the land, so there's the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Genesis 17:8.
Jonathan Bernis: Interconnected, of course.
Ezra Benjamin: Right. Connected. And we'll talk about how that's kinda manifesting itself today in just a moment. So, Genesis 17:8. God's again speaking to Abraham and saying, "I'll give this land". It says specifically, which land? Canaan. Canaan we say in English, right? "I'll give the land of Canaan to you and your descendants as an everlasting possession". So, everlasting means ever lasting. We don't need to be doctors of theology to figure that out, right? A possession forever. So, now we have the second promise. "I'll preserve you and make you a blessing as a people and I'm going to give you this land forever". So again, the enemy, satan, hates the Jewish people because they are his death sentence. The Messiah who would come through him and come back to rule and reign, his death sentence. And he hates that the Jewish people have been promised a land.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. So, again, going back to the whole idea of anti-semitism, according to many scholars, completely illogical, irrational.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: But it's not when you understand the spiritual roots.
Ezra Benjamin: Well, we need to take a short break, but we wanna show you some of the ways you can partner with Jewish Voice to directly impact those living in Israel. Take a look.
Jonathan Bernis: I wanna illustrate further just how spiritually rooted anti-semitism is. And I wanna give three examples.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: Just so you, this is clear for you. This is so important. Again, Ezra mentioned Genesis 3:15. This is the beginning of it all. It's the death sentence proclaimed by God himself over hasatan, over the devil. "Your head will be crushed by the Mashiach, by the Messiah".
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: "By the seed of the woman".
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: And that's why we have the virgin birth is so important. But three examples. The first example is the Exodus out of Egypt. There is this growing sense of redemption in the air. God is going to redeem the Israelites out of Egypt. The Israelites are crying out for a redeemer...
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And redemption is in the air. And not only do the people of Israel know that, the Israelites, but the Pharaoh knows it also and his leadership knows it.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: And so, he decrees that the male children are all to be slaughtered. Now, you talk about demonic.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: So, Moses survives, right, because he's sent out into the nile.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: In this, in this little, this little...
Ezra Benjamin: Basket.
Jonathan Bernis: Basket...
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And redeemed by Pharaoh's household, which I think is humorous that he's raised by Pharaoh. The redeemer is raised by Pharaoh. But notice that before the redemption comes, and they all know it. It's in the air. Moses is really a type of Messiah, is a redeemer. But the demonic activity is the destruction of the male children.
Ezra Benjamin: The attempted destruction...
Jonathan Bernis: The attempted destruction of the male children and he fails. Okay. That's one example. So, before this redemptive act of God, there's this demonic spike of just a horrible a slaughter of innocent children...
Ezra Benjamin: By a leader of the known world.
Jonathan Bernis: By a leader of the known world. Example one. Example two is Herod.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Right?
Ezra Benjamin: During the times of the 1st century.
Jonathan Bernis: So, there's the sense of Messianic expectation in the air. The Messiah is about to come. The Jewish people know it, but the Romans know it too. And the occupiers know it also. So, the question is, where is this redeemer, this Messiah going to be born?
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: And the answer is from the sages, Bethlehem, of course, from Micah 5:2.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: And so, what's the demonic activity? What's the demonic response? "Kill all the male children under two years of age".
Ezra Benjamin: Which is why Miriam and Yoseph, Mary and Joseph have to take Yeshua and flee to Egypt or he would have been killed. He would have been killed prematurely.
Jonathan Bernis: But here's this, here's this kairos moment, this redemptive act of God, and it's at a specific time...
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: In history and everyone knows it, including satan, of course. And so, you have the satanic effort to keep this from happening...
Ezra Benjamin: Absolutely.
Jonathan Bernis: With the redemption out of Egypt, with the birth of Messiah. And then, the third example, modern example, is Hitler, nazi, Germany.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: You have this sense of God about to do a redemptive act. In this case, the restoration of the Jewish people back to their land...
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: Which didn't happen till 1948, but it was in the air. And it began in the late 19th century with the return of Jewish people to plow the land, to prepare the land.
Ezra Benjamin: The reestablishment of the language of Hebrew as a modern spoken language.
Jonathan Bernis: Exactly. All of this is going on in preparation for a redemptive act of God, the return of the people of Israel back to the land of Israel. And what happens? This demonic dictator...
Ezra Benjamin: A leader of a portion of the known world, again.
Jonathan Bernis: Again, is raised up in a demonic sense and what's his number one agenda? "destroy the people of Israel".
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: This is demon, again, a third demonic spike right before the redemptive act of God. And the outcome is the Jewish people do return...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Sadly, after six million are slaughtered.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah, tragically. I mean, we can't even, words don't do justice.
Jonathan Bernis: You've gotta see this thread through history that there's this demonic effort to destroy the Jewish people and it's spiritually rooted.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: If you don't understand that, then it's irrational, illogical. It doesn't make sense.
Ezra Benjamin: Right. And Hitler's a great example. We'll unpack this more of what was the progression? He didn't just stand up on a podium one day and say, "We're going to murder the Jews". He slowly over time introduced anti-semitic propaganda, anti-semitic rhetoric that became anti-semitic laws and regulations, that became anti-semitic actions condoned by churches and governments, carried out by people and armies that ultimately led to the annihilation.
Jonathan Bernis: The final point in why we're, I'm laying this out, why we're discussing this is because it's happening again.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: It's happening again through anti-Zionism, through organizations like, Hamas and Hezbollah, jihadists...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: That have not only a commitment to push Israel into the sea. And there's a fallacy here that anti-Zionism has nothing to do with anti-semitism.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Wrong.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: They are connected.
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly.
Jonathan Bernis: They're one in the same. The same spiritual root, the same demonic spirits.
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly. Anti-semitism isn't anti-Zionism. Well, we like you as a people, you just can't have your own land. I mean, America is a melting pot. We're not one ethnic group. But imagine if somebody from another, China said, "We love Americans. You just can no longer have the United States, but we're for you". Come on. You can't be anti-Zionist and not anti-semitic.
Jonathan Bernis: Absolutely. You've heard this story from me before. I was in uk a number of years ago, and outside my hotel there's this anti-Zionist...
Ezra Benjamin: Protest.
Jonathan Bernis: Protest going on, thank you, and they're handing out anti-Zionist literature. And I walked out and almost was beaten to a pulp. But I said, "This is anti-semitic". And they said, "No, this is, we're just against Israel, not against Jewish people". Well, I took a piece of their literature, and it had all the reasons why the state of Israel was illegitimate. When I turned the paper over, it had excerpts from the protocols of the elders of Zion. That's a 19th century publication, total fallacy.
Ezra Benjamin: One of the most brazenly anti-semitic publications in history.
Jonathan Bernis: Right. That portrays this picture of the Jewish peoples plotting to take over the world.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: One side anti-Zionism, the other side anti-semitism. They're one in the same. They're interlinked. It's the same demonic spirits at work.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah. One point, Jonathan, related to the last example and this relates to anti-Zionism. History treats Israel as the consolation prize of the holocaust, right? "6 million dies. The United Nations has pity and so let's give them some land". But as you said, God promised thousands of years ago through the prophets, that a nation would be born again in a day, and it would be his doing. So, the holocaust was the anti-semitic, demonically inspired attempt to prevent the reestablishment of the modern state.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. The reestablishment of Israel was not the outcome of the holocaust.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: The holocaust was the outcome of God's plan to bring the Jewish people back at a set time in history which was at that time.
Ezra Benjamin: And even with the tragedy, and even with the uprising of Hitler, a type of an anti-semitic leader and all the destruction he caused, the Lord still reestablish the state.
Jonathan Bernis: I just, I wanna summarize this again because it's so important. When God has a redemptive act planned at a specific time in history, there is always a demonic spike to try to prevent that from happening. We're back in that period of time again. We're in a period of time known as the last days, the end of days, the end times, whatever you want to call it. And there's very specific things that are ordained to happen including the people of Israel crying out, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord".
Ezra Benjamin: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: The enemy is trying to prevent that. And one of the ways that we're seeing this happen now is the attack against the Jewish people in Israel. But that is now spread into worldwide growth of anti-semitism. Isn't it interesting that after October 7th the leaders of some Hamas were encouraging Muslims all over the world to attack Jewish people? Not just Israel, the state of Israel, not just Israelis in the land of Israel, but Jewish people wherever in the west. That's the link. It's demonic and you need to be aware of what's going on. The Bible says that, "The men of Issachar were wise because they understood the times". We need to understand the times. You need to understand the times. We are living in the last days, and you're being called off of the shelf, off of the bystanders stands to be actively involved in proclaiming, in praying, and making a difference because you can. Because you have the power of God within you and God is calling you to get involved now.
Jonathan Bernis: We've received so many requests for prayer, people asking for prayer for financial needs, for family issues and certainly for healing, for loved ones. Some of you have written to us and said that you have cancer and there's no hope other than a miracle. Well, I wanna tell you God is a God of miracles. Ezra, I've seen it. I've experienced it.
Ezra Benjamin: Have experienced it. Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And God really does care. You need to know that. Some of you are in despair, depression, even hopelessness. God wants to give you a great breakthrough. He's here today, now, and we're gonna agree with you in prayer. Ezra, will you join me in prayer?
Ezra Benjamin: I will. Absolutely.
Jonathan Bernis: I'll start, and then you finish.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: But I also wanna encourage those that haven't made a full commitment to serve the Lord, haven't experienced what we call a born-again experience, where you actually experience a transformation by calling out to the Lord. And that's what God says, "If you call upon the Lord, you shall be saved". And we want to help you to find salvation, eternal and abundant life that's found only in the person of Yeshua, Jesus. He's Messiah. He's Savior. He died for your sins, and even more importantly, he rose again from the dead for you, so that you also can be resurrected from the dead and live eternally. So, if you haven't done that, I want you to call out to the Lord and just agree with me in prayer. "Lord, we pray for those that haven't yet made that commitment of faith. May they cry out to you now". Just say, "Lord, come into my life. Jesus, thank you for dying for me and I want to live for you. Change me, transform me. I'll live for you all the days of my life". If you'd like more information about our ministry, you can log on to our website, jewishvoice.tv and you'll find many helpful resources. And you can also send your prayer request to us right from the website. I want you to know that we care about you and more importantly, God cares about you. And we will pray for your needs. We won't just read your prayer request. We will pray for your needs. As we close our program, I also wanna remind you to, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem". Now more than ever, Israel needs our prayers. Until next time. This is Jonathan Bernis along with Ezra Benjamin saying shalom and God bless you.