Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:05 Anyone that pays attention to the mainstream media, and I'm not advising that you do, but we'll notice that every year, just before holy week and just before Christmas, there'll be all kinds of stories that will break about scandals in the church, dotting the divinity of our Lord, et Cetera, et cetera. All kinds of things that will explicitly attack Christ. Christianity in general in his church. It's not a coincidence. It's not accidental that every year without exception, these sort of stories break out and they're always trotted out at that time. Why do we see that every year before the great feast? Because the spirits never change. What's going on here is something that was going on when our Lord first appeared. There was a real, uh, classical, I guess, or extreme examples, behavior, which is a response for anyone that remembers of it some years ago, uh, to the release of the passion of the Christ.
Speaker 1 01:09 If you remember that, uh, there were really priceless responses. Some of them, some of the best ones came from Abraham Foxman. Now he was the former head of the anti-defamation, like the end. Uh, I'll read one of his quotes, but the film from our perspective, unambiguously from beginning to end, blames the death of Jesus on the bloodthirsty vengeful Jews and absolves the peaceful, loving, kind, warm, sensitive parts of pilot. And the Romans close quote, it's hard not to break into lecture when you, when you read something, just any sane human being who's actually watched that movie and seen the scourging think for a minute that the Romans are portrayed as quote, peaceful, loving, kind, warm, and sensitive. I mean a, what planet are you on? Consider this line. Abraham Foxman quote, the showing the passion throughout the ages was a precursor for pogroms and persecution. And this film would in several months, project the passion and it's Middle Ages, mil you to more people than would have seen or witnessed the passion play for almost 2000 years. It will feel hatred, bigotry, and antisemitism. Close quotes will years, years have come and gone. And that time millions upon millions of people have seen the passion of the Christ.
Speaker 0 02:34 <inaudible>.
Speaker 1 02:36 Can anyone give me a count on the number of pogroms in persecutions that have arisen in response to this film? If you said one, you'd be one to, hi, I searched the ADL site in regards to this film. They're well over 400 results, but not one of them to this date sites a single pogrom or persecution that is risen in response to this film. Maybe I missed something. Are we supposed to believe if we're taking this man seriously, that just by watching this movie some sort of bloodbath or terrible persecution of the Jews would suddenly break out? Isn't that what he's saying? Of course. That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying, but really it was Abraham Foxman really worried about a persecution. Is that what was really bothering me after seeing the passion? Does that make any sense at all?
Speaker 0 03:37 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 03:38 this is a very intelligent human being. He wouldn't be in that position otherwise. So what's really going on there to the same thing that's going on in the mainstream media before we leave a Foxman behind, and I will talk about what's going on here. Keep him in your prayers as he tells us in his autobiography, and I quote, I learned how to play the rope with a rose or Neil to alter the church clothes. Cool. His, uh, his baptismal name is actually Henrik Stanislaus. He's a Catholic.
Speaker 1 04:11 So what's really going on here? Maybe we can get a clear idea of the issues at stake if we consider an article on the very same talk found in Ruth Shava. So this is Israel national news. It's from March 1st, 2004, quote, the Orthodox Jewish Union has prepared response to the controversial and I Semitic and violence saturated film The Passion Robby, Doctor CV Hirsch Weinreb stated quote. What I'm concerned about, what I'm concerned about is that Jews who see this film will identify deeply with cheeses, the movies, heroic, good guy. And we'll decide entefy with their own God given identity as the Jewish people. Close quote, the rabbi is being honest, unlike Abe Foxman.
Speaker 0 04:56 Yeah,
Speaker 1 04:58 the rabbis being honest. He's worried about the passion precisely because the possibility it might promote conversions. That's what's really going on here. And once we see that that's just a miniature, we realized that all these attacks that we see in the media, especially during holy week or before Christmas, are really concerned with one thing and one thing only. Nothing has changed. It's been the same story from the beginning. These kinds of attacks by the enemies of Christ are nothing. No, it's been this way from the beginning. The Gospel for the Friday of the fourth week of lent tells a story of how after Lazarus had been risen, he'd led dead in a tomb for four days, and then our Lord raised him from the dead and a response to that miracle. The Gospel tells us, quote many therefore, the Jews who had seen the things that Jesus did believed in him. Well, who wouldn't?
Speaker 1 06:06 That's not surprised and they believed him. Our Lord has spent three years teaching the people making statements like I and the father are one before Abraham was I am you believe in God, believe also in me. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me all things whatsoever that the father hath their mind. So the Lord has very clearly claimed to be God, and then he's backed up those claims with miracles like raising Lazarus from the dead, and so the people have come to believe in him. But what is the response of the Jewish leaders to this incredible miracle of raising a man from the dead? Dolan done only a few miles outside of Jerusalem. Quote, the Chief Priest, therefore in the Pharisees gathered accounts and said, what do we do for this man? Death. Many miracles closed quote the inerrant word of God. No. Well, what they said, this man Duff, many miracles.
Speaker 1 07:09 They know he did many miracles. It's no surprise to them. The leaders had known our Lord was a miracle worker from the very beginning, right from the very beginning, they'd known that our Lord was sent from God some three years before, right at the very beginning of his public ministry, just after our Lord had turned the water into wine, one of the rulers, the Jews, a prominent pharisee named nicotine buzz had come to seen our lord one night and told him, quote, rabbi, we know that dark come a teacher from God for no man can do these signs with Shell dust unless God be with him. Close quote right from the beginning, they knew he was a teacher sent from God, so the leaders knew that our lord had been sent from God, but they weren't looking from a sigh like this. They expected the rule and rule.
Speaker 1 08:03 Absolutely, but that wasn't the message he was preaching here. He was eating with sinners, talking with Samaritans, even help pig and swine like this Canaanite woman and the Roman soldier. All of this stood and really start contrast this tyrannical cast structure they had imposed on society. And to make matters even worse, he didn't hesitate to perform miracles or heal people on the sabbath in direct opposition to their oppressive rules and their oppressive teaching. They were not looking for messiah like this, and so his behavior absolutely outraged them. They couldn't deny as miracles the best they could come up with in their hatred. Rage, which had tried to blame his powers on the devil. They we went even so far as to accuse him of being possessed. He cast out devils by BLS above the Prince of the devils. Do we not say well at the artist Samaritan and has it devil, but in the face of his personality teaching miracles, these blasts hadn't worked.
Speaker 1 09:09 The people still kept falling in and now just outside Jerusalem, he had raised Lazarus from the dead. So leaders called the council and asked, what do we do for this man? Death, many miracles if we let him alone. So all I believe in him and the Romans will come and take where place nation, one of them named Caiaphas being the high priest that year prophesied that Jesus should die for the sins of the nation and not only for the nation, but to gather together into one the children of God that were dispersed from that day forward. They just the defy, they devised to put him to death and the chief priest started to kill Lazarus also because of many of the Jews by reason and believed in Jesus. Those are all quotes from God's holy word, so they're losing their following. They've tried to destroy our Lord's reputation just like the mainstream media does every year at this time, but that didn't work, so now they've settled on the final solution.
Speaker 1 10:09 They're going to destroy our lord himself. They're going to kill him and then kill Lazarus, destroy the evidence. Now stop and consider how insane these leaders have become by this point. Obviously, if our Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, once he can do it again. They're dealing with someone who has power over death itself, even though they have a politik pretty clear idea who he is, even though they have a pretty clear idea what he can do, their minds have been darkened by hatred and rage. They still want to kill him. We don't want a god like you. We don't want a king like you. We have no king but Caesar, and then suddenly unexpectedly falls into their hands and they pour out their hatred and fury upon him and Seq, successfully managed to manipulate the Romans had to crucifying him and then even after he died on the cross, the Romans with their military efficiency, it made absolutely sure that he was dead by Pierce's heart with the thrust of Lance as one of the requirements to make sure somebody's debt. So Lord is dead. There's no possible doubt about that. The Jewish leaders had seen his dead body laid in the tomb of Joseph Air Matthia, but now think about this. Even though the leaders had clearly seen our dead, our lord dead and laid in the tomb, there's still so worried that they had taken incredible precaution of sealing the tomb and posting an armed guard around it. The Jewish leaders, a military guard at a grave site just to make sure the dead man inside doesn't escape.
Speaker 1 11:47 But on this Easter Sunday morning, the tomb is empty and the Jewish leaders know what had happened. In fact, the empty tomb left them scrambling for an explanation to the obvious. The very best they could come up with was to bribe the guards to testify that while they were sleeping, they saw the disciples come and steal the body. Now there's a brilliant explanation as Saint Augusta Naz. How has this you call in witnesses that are asleep? So the best the Jewish leaders could do is ask everyone to believe that sleeping man watched a crime being committed. But think about this. Why didn't they order an investigation or find out which of the disciples were actually guilty of grave robbery? Why didn't they order an investigation to find the body?
Speaker 1 12:34 And the reason is because they knew what had happened. They knew what had happened at very best response they could give was this pathetic lie which falls apart in the face of even the slightest scrutiny and then they simply ignored the empty tomb, but they know what had happened. Everyone around there knew what had happened. The Great Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who was himself a pharisee from a distinguished family of Jewish priest, he was born at 37 a d says, quote, Jesus was a doer of incredible things and the teacher of such as gladly accepted the truth. He does attract himself many Jews and many of the gentiles. He was the Christ on the accusation of leading men, of our people. Pilot condemned him to death on the cross. Nevertheless, those who had previously loved him still remained faithful to him. From third day he appeared to them alive again just as the divine profits at four toll and at the present day, the tribe of those who call themselves Christians after him has not ceased close quilt.
Speaker 1 13:31 Now that's written about 93 80 but Flavius Josephus of course, everyone there around there, new on Easter. Our Lord wasn't the only one who rose from the dead. Saint Matthew points out quote many of the bodies of saints that had slept a rose and coming out of the tunes after his resurrection came into the Holy City and appeared to many close quote. That's the word of God. Quadratus. Now he's one of the earliest fathers in the church in a work presented to the emperor Hadrian in the early second century wrote about these men quote those who are cured by savior and those we raised from the dead. We're seeing not only wellbeing, cure to wellbeing raised, they were ever present. Not only will our sailor dwelt amongst us, but also for considerable time after he had departed. In fact, some of them have survived her own time. Close quote, sue had living visible proof walking around in the holy city.
Speaker 1 14:25 Men that had met our Lord in limbo while still walking around in the Middle East. Well after his resurrection, they had met our Lord in limbo and they're still walking around decades later cause they were resurrected on Easter Sunday as well. So the Jewish leaders knew what had happened. Everyone around there knew what had happened. So why would they want to ignore the empty tomb? Even though they knew what had happened? For the same reason they ignored his other miracles for the same reason they ignored his teachings for the same reason they wanted to blame his teaching on the devil for the same reason they wanted to kill him. And why is that? Because the implications were just so painful, so costly to consider. Maybe we've grown used to the idea, but just think about this incredible event. A dead man by his own will and by his own power, raised himself up from the dead, lifted himself up out of the grave, do a new and glorified bodily life. A dead man raised himself up from a dead, lifted himself up from the grave into a new and immortal life. By performing this miracle upon himself and by his own power. Jesus has proved his claim to be the Messiah and the true son of God. Since the resurrection proves his claim to be God the son, that means it. Since God cannot deceive us, everything, every single thing our Lord taught us must be absolutely true.
Speaker 0 15:56 Oh,
Speaker 1 15:57 that's the significance of Easter, and since we're all weekend sinful men, the reality that everything our Lord says is absolutely true. It can be painful because the gospel makes demands and they're real demands. Our Lord doesn't say, let's make a deal. You can do anything you feel like as long as you're basically a good person. Our Lord doesn't say, let's make a deal. Lord says, this is the deal. If you love me, be holy. Keep my commandments, deny yourself. Pick up your cross and come and follow me. It's black and white or lord has divided the world into two and only two camps, the lovers of the Cross of Christ and the enemies of the Cross of Christ on Judgment Day, we'll each have our own Easter. Each one of us is gonna rise from the dead. Each one of us better ask himself, which camp am I in?
Speaker 0 17:15 Yeah.
Speaker 1 17:16 Am I keeping the commandments?
Speaker 0 17:20 Am I in the state of grace?
Speaker 1 17:25 Why be with the goats
Speaker 0 17:27 are the sheep.
Speaker 1 17:31 The tomb was empty. Christ has risen from the dead,
Speaker 0 17:39 and someday so away.
