We mentioned that there were three entities spoken of by our Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostles John and Paul; namely “anti-Christ” as mentioned by John, “the Man of Sin” as mentioned by Paul, and “the synagogue of Satan” as mentioned by our Lord.  We also suggested that these were different titles for the one entity.

So we now turn to the third of these entities, namely:-

 This is that spoken of by our Lord Jesus Christ, and when added to what has already been studied, leaves us in no doubt whatsoever as to whom the real enemies of God are.  He identifies them in the following verses:-
 

“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.
I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich),
And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the Synagogue of Satan.
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.  Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried.  And ye shall have tribulation ten days.  Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches.  He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

(Revelation 2:8-11)

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write;  These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth.
I know thy works.  Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.  For thou has a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Behold, I will make them of The Synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie;
Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.”

(Revelation 3:7-9)

 The context in which this phrase ‘THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN’ is used is quite interesting.  The period of history covered by the ‘church in Smyrna’ included the worst persecution suffered by the early Christians.  During this time, Satan made an all-out attempt to destroy this new-found faith by every means at his disposal, and the instrument that he used was the Roman Empire, the part of his own kingdom, or succession of Empires as revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, which was in power at that particular time.  It is more than significant that within this context, Christ warns of the activities of something which He identifies as THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN, which would be comprised of people calling themselves Jews, but who were NOT Jews.  He refers to their work as “blasphemy”.  This word means ‘to abuse by the very worst king of slander’.  The activities of these people, and the part that they played in the persecution of God’s people was to be so intense that the Lord encouraged His people to ‘fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer’.
 The second use of the phrase THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN is found in the message to the church at Philadelphia.  This was the period during which the great covenants which God made with our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob came into their fullness.  As Christ said, He had opened a door that no man could shut.  But that didn’t prevent Satan from trying to shut the door, of course.  He tried everything that he could, as history confirms, and it is within this context that Jesus again introduces THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN.  Again, this entity, which calls themselves Jews, but are not Jews, is the weapon which Satan used.  These people are referred to as LIARS.  The same Christ had already, on a previous occasion, referred to the very same people as being the children of the devil who was ‘a liar from the beginning’.  But their fate is sealed.  They are fated to worship at the feet of the very people that they tried so hard to destroy, and to finally accept the fact that it is God’s TRUE Israel people whom He loves, not these liars and usurpers whom God stated so emphatically that he hated.  (See Malachi 1:1-2, & Romans 9:13)
 The word ‘synagogue’ is translated from the Greek work sunagoge, and means ‘an assembly or congrega-tion'.  This word is never rendered ekklesia, which is the word always used of the body of Christ.  It appears to have been first introduced during the Babylo-nian captivity.
 In the context in which our Lord used this title, it is most important to recognise the differentiation that Jesus made between the ‘congregation, or shall we say body of Satan’, which He calls the synagogue of Satan, as distinct from His true congregation or body which He calls THE TEMPLE OF GOD.
 Yes!  Satan has a BODY of devoted followers who are motivated by his spirit and principles, just as our Lord Jesus Christ has a BODY of devoted followers who are motivated by His Spirit.  That will no doubt come as quite a shock to a lot of unthinking Christians.
 Satan’s BODY comprises his kingdom which includes all those who constitute the enemies of Christ.
 Christ’s BODY, on the other hand, comprises His Kingdom, and includes all those who constitute those who will rule and reign with Him over that Kingdom.

THE JEWS WHO ARE NOT JEWS

 Probably the most important words to understand in the above quoted passages from the Book of Revelation are “those who call themselves Jews, but are not”.  It must be quite evident that if Christ is referring to a group of people who claim to be Jews but are NOT Jews, but are liars, then there must be a group of people who claim to be Jews and are telling the truth because they ARE Jews.  You cannot have a forgery without an original.  Thus it becomes of the utmost importance to understand what is meant by the word “Jew”.  We must, if we are to understand what our Lord was saying, understand exactly who the “Jews” were in Biblical terms, and who they are today in historic terms.
 The word “Jew” is probably the most loosely and incorrectly used word in the whole Bible.  And if we are to judge by the promiscuous way that it is used theologically, the least studied word.  There seems to be a real mental block within people which automatically triggers whenever the word “Jew” is used, which is the greatest example of mass brain-washing and hypnotism that could ever be found.  This brain-washing reacts in three ways.  Firstly, all too many preachers and teachers insert some comment about the Jews and the so-called fulfilment of prophecy they see in the present State of Israel into their sermons, even though such comment often has absolutely no connection with what they are saying, with the apparent impression that God will more bountifully bless their preaching just because they have used the magic word ‘Jew’.  Secondly, the hearer instantly accepts that what they are being taught about, or read about ‘the Jews’ automatically applies to God's chosen people Israel.  And thirdly, they automatically accept what they are hearing or reading as indisputable truth, because those who are teaching it are usually recognised as qualified ministers, and of course must be right, and everyone believes that the Jews are God’s chosen people don’t they?  And of course, to believe otherwise, or to oppose this teaching in any way, would be ‘anti-semitic’.  And we certainly can’t have that, can we?
 The ridiculous thing however is that people don’t even know the real meaning of the word ‘anti-semitic’.  According to the dictionary, the word means “opposed to, or be hostile to Jews”.  Now this is quite wrong, or at best, quite misleading.  In its strictest sense, it means to be ‘opposed to or hostile to SEMITES’.  Semites are the descendants of Shem, the son of Noah.  To automatically apply the word to mean opposition to the Jews implies not only that the Jews are descendant from Shem, but that they are the ONLY descendants from Shem.  This is not only absurd, but totally unscriptural.  To be ‘anti-semitic’, all you have to do is to be opposed to any member of the Caucasian race, as they are ALL ‘SEMITIC’.  Why then have we been brain-washed into accepting the lie that the phrase only applies to the people presently known as Jews, and not to any other member of the Semitic family?  We can only answer this question when we realise that the phrase ‘anti-semitic’ was first coined by the Jews themselves as a deliberate method of protecting themselves from criticism, and of gaining an hypnotic hold over everyone, especially Christians, so as to perpetuate the acceptance of their claim to be God’s chosen people Israel.
 Let us keep in mind that there are those who call themselves Jews who ARE Jews, and there are those who call themselves Jews who are NOT Jews, but who are liars.  This is the clear statement of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 Who then are these people who wrongfully and dishonestly call themselves “Jews”?  To understand this question, we must go right back to the Old Testament.
 The word “Jew” first appears in the English translations of the Bible in II Kings 16:6.  It is the translation of the Hebrew word “Yehudim”, which means a descendant of Judah, or a Judahite, and is so translated throughout the entire Old Testament.  In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word “Judean”, and is so translated throughout the entire New Testament.
 The important thing to be noted at this point, is the fact that the word “Jew” does not appear in any of the original manuscripts!!!  It did not even appear in the original translation of the Authorised King James Bible.  Up until only a few hundred years ago, the word used in the English translations was “JUDAHITE” in the Old Testament, and “JUDEAN” in the New Testament.  The word “JEW” is only a comparatively new word introduced into the English language, and into the translations of the Bible!
 There are no prizes offered for guessing who did the introducing.
 The deliberate intention of this interpolation was to identify a particular group of modern-day people with the people of Israel in the Bible, with the deliberately deceitful intent of passing themselves off as these same people.
 The success of this plan has been beyond human comprehension. The result has been nothing less than catastrophic.
 The word “Judahite” applied initially to the members of the tribe of Judah, and later, following the division of the twelve-tribed House of Israel into two Houses, to the members of the southern House of Judah, which included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and a portion of the tribe of Levi.
 As a result of continual sin by the whole twelve-tribed nation of Israel, and in accordance with the judgments pronounced by God, the northern House of Israel, comprising ten of the tribes, together with a large proportion of the southern two-tribed House of Judah, were taken captive as a result of several attacks made upon them over a period of years, and deported north to Assyria.  This left only a small proportion of the southern House of Judah in their original land, with the major proportion of the whole twelve tribes in captivity in Assyria.  These are the twelve tribes to whom the apostle James later wrote his epistle.  (See James 1:1.)  This small remnant of the southern House of Judah were those who were finally deported to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar, and it was these people who were eventually referred to as JEWS.  The word Jew was NEVER used of the balance of the people of Israel, and the modern theological practice of doing so is at best totally irresponsible, and at worst, the height of dishonesty.
 

The word “Jew” is NOT synonymous with the word “Israel”!  They are NOT inter-changeable words or terms!
 

 The modern practice of so misusing and confusing these words has caused chaos in the understanding of God’s Word, and has promulgated and supported a conclusion that has absolutely no support whatsoever from the Word of God.
 If God was so scrupulously careful in His choice of phrases such as Israel, the House of Israel, Judah, the House of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, etc., then why can’t we be just as scrupulous in our application and understanding of these same terms?  I am completely convinced that the Lord is going to require a very good explanation from those who have so carelessly, and at times so deliberately, misused His Holy Word.
 Now it is generally recognised that while the emblem used of Israel in the Scriptures is the ‘vineyard’, (see Isaiah 5:7), the emblem used of the portion of the House of Judah  known as Jews is the ‘fig’.  (See Jeremiah 24.)  And a study of this 24th chapter of the prophet Jeremiah reveals something that very few students of God’s Word ever seem to realise.  And that is that the southern House of Judah, following the captivities and deportations of the northern House of Israel and the major section of the southern House of Judah, was itself divided in God’s plans into two separate sections.  This is what God had to say about these people:-
 

“The Lord shewed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim King of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe.
And the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou Jeremiah?  And I said, Figs; the good figs very good; and the evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.”

  (Jeremiah 24:1-3)

“And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying,
Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel.
Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans FOR THEIR GOOD.
For I will set mine eyes upon them for GOOD, and I will bring them again to this land.  And I will build them, and not pull them down.  And I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord.
And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.  For they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”

  (Emphasis added.)                                (Jeremiah 24:4-7)

 Compare what God had to say about the ‘good’ figs now with what He had to say about the ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ figs:-
 

“And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil.  Surely, thus saith the Lord, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave them and to their fathers.”

(Jeremiah 24:8-10)

 Thus, in the Babylonian captivity, we had both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ figs.  We find a section of Judah, who subsequently became subject to God’s blessings, and a section of the same people who subsequently became subject to God’s curse, both sections being referred to as ‘Jews’.  What was it that differentiated between these two sections of the people?  What was it that caused some of them to be called by God, ‘good’, and caused others to be called by God, ‘evil’?  What was it that caused our Lord Jesus Christ to differentiate so strongly between the “good” Jews who truthfully claimed to be Jews, or more correctly Judeans, and the “bad” Jews who were liars, and were NOT Judeans at all, but were in fact usurpers, and actually THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN?  In fact, what actually IS “The Synagogue of Satan”?  What was our Lord talking about?  The phrase had never been recorded anywhere else in the Scriptures.
 I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that most Christians read this phrase, “The Synagogue of Satan” without really having any idea at all of what our Lord was talking about.  As a matter of fact, I wonder what sort of answers we would get if we took a dozen Christians and asked them their definition of the phrase.  We would probably get a dozen different answers, all adding to the confusion.
 So at the risk of going over some ground which may have been previously covered, I think we should at this stage of our study clarify our mental picture and understanding of the overall teaching of God’s Word in regard to the two major forces of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ which govern every aspect of our lives and history.  I’m sure that many Christians get so bogged down in their individual and spiritual application of the Scriptures to their own lives, that they completely forget the far wider scope of God’s plans and purposes, and particularly of the place of present world events in these plans.
 When our parents Adam and Eve defied God and sought the knowledge of both ‘good’ and ‘evil’, instead of being satisfied with just the knowledge of ‘good’ as God intended, they set in motion, or let loose among Adam’s descendants, a force or power so evil that it has taken the very best that God can do to overcome and repair the damage it was able to accomplish.
 There is no doubt from the Scriptures that when God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and then formed Eve from Adam, that He had formed a very special race of people which He referred to as “The Sons of God”.  (Luke 3:38.)  They were a ‘living’ race of people.  (Genesis 2:7 & 3:20.)  They had a very special responsibility, and a very special part in God's plans, especially through their descendants the Hebrew and subsequently the Israel people.  They were formed as the nucleus of the Kingdom of God on this earth, and it was to be their duty to show forth to all the other nations and families of the earth the blessings of this Kingdom.
 But running parallel with this ‘kingdom nucleus’ which was under the control of Jehovah, was another power which was under the control of God’s arch-enemy, Satan.  It appears from the Scriptures, that this Satan was originally the Archangel Lucifer whom God allowed to become jealous of God’s power and who tried to set himself up above, or at least equal to, God Himself.  (See Isaiah 14:12-14.)  We can only speculate as to the full reasons why God allowed this to happen, but one thing is certain.  God provided a means whereby those who were to actually inherit the ultimate position as His Sons could be tested to the very limit.  There are not going to be any also-rans among His Sons.  Those of us who finally stand before His throne in the full glory of our Sonship will have well and truly qualified for it.
 There have been several titles used of these two groups, but the original names applied to them by God are found in Genesis 3:15 as ‘the seed of the woman’, and ‘the seed of the serpent’.  Some of the deeper implications of this subject are quite beyond the scope of this writing, but the great controversy which has continued from that very time, and which predicates the entire Bible story, is that between God and Satan, and through them, the children of God and the children of Satan.  If we reduce this controversy to merely a personal level and deal with the subject purely on an individual spiritual or spiritualised basis, we lose the whole point of the matter.  That there is an individual spiritual relationship between ourselves and God which has to be rectified and raised to the highest level is not questioned, and should never be overlooked, but this does not in any way relieve us of the responsibility of recognising the far greater implications of this great battle.  You and I are of infinite importance to God as individuals, but not simply in an isolated individual context.  We must, I believe, look at ourselves as God looks at us, and that is as His Sons and Daughters within the context of His Kingdom.
 It is apparent as we study both the Scripture and secular history that the line of the ‘seed of the serpent’ has continued right down through the pages of history.  The first person of this line or seed of the serpent recorded in the Bible was Cain, the very first son of Adam.  As a result of his crime in murdering his brother Abel, he forfeited his position as a son of God, and became instead a son of the serpent, or the evil or wicked one, as Satan is variously referred to.  For instance, we read in 1 John 3:12;
 

"Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother."

 It should be emphasised that we are not necessarily referring to a line of human descent here.  For argument sake, every Christian is not directly related to every other Christian just because they are Christians.  Just as we refer to individual Christians, being those who accept and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, as part of the ‘body of Christ’, so those who align themselves with Satan and do his will are part of his ‘body’.  As we are given the authority to become the seed or Sons of God by acceptance of Christ, so others are given the authority of becoming the seed or sons of Satan by acceptance of him.  It is entirely our own choice.  There is no neutral ground!  Every human being must be one or the other.  We are either of the seed of God, or we are automatically of the seed of Satan.  That is a frightening thought.  Jesus Himself said;
 

"He that is not FOR Me is AGAINST Me."             (Matthew 12:30)

 You don’t become a Christian by default, that is, by not actively following Satan.  But you DO remain a non-Christian by default by not actively following God.  I repeat.  This is a most frightening thought, and one to which we should give the gravest consideration.
 On the wider national application, this division became evident with the birth of the twin sons of Isaac, Jacob and Esau, as recorded in Genesis chapter 25.  In reply to Rebekah’s inquiry, the Lord said to her:-
 

“Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels.  And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger."                 (Genesis 25:23)

 You will notice by the words which I have emphasised above, that God was referring to the national descendants of the two unborn lads, not just to the lads themselves.  He was referring to the birth and the future inter-relationship of NATIONS.  Here was the very beginnings of the people who would be known as Jacobites or Israelites, and the people who would be known as Esau or Edomites.  And the enmity which began in Rebekah’s womb, when Jacob had hold of Esau's heel, has never ceased to this day.

 The first shot was fired when Esau despised his God-given Birthright as the elder son, and sold it to his brother Jacob, as recorded in Genesis 25:29-34.  I am constantly amazed at the fact that when we hear sermons on this incident, theologians always seem to concentrate on what they consider to be the dishonourable practices of Jacob, and completely disregard the far worse action of Esau.  Let us realise that God had already ordained that Jacob would be senior to Esau, thus indicating that in some way the birthright would pass to him.  We can criticise Jacob all we like, but the fact remains that what happened, as distinct from the way it happened, was within the will of God.  The second shot was fired when Isaac ratified, even unknowingly, the transfer of the birthright to his younger son Jacob, as recorded in Genesis chapter 27.  Again, we should not be mislead by the method used by those involved.  If it had not happened this way, it most certainly would have transpired in some other way, because it is obvious that the final result was fully in accord with God’s will and purposes.
 Now don’t misunderstand me here.  I am not suggesting that we can do what we like, how we like, just because we believe that we are in the overall will of God.  That can be a real mistake.  What we should realise is that the actions of both Rebekah and her son Jacob could not circumvent or alter the stated purposes of God.  All that was altered was the method by which those purposes were manifested.  There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that if Rebekah and Jacob had left the matter entirely in God’s hands, instead of giving Him a helping hand as so many seem to insist on doing, that the course of history from that time would have been substantially different.  We have paid a terrible price for their presumption.
 The third shot was fired when God put His seal on Jacob and his descendants, as distinct from Esau and his descendants, by blessing him and changing his name to ISRAEL, and appointing him thereby a Prince with God.  You see, God looked not upon the sinfulness of the individual, but at the far greater importance of His own integrity and faithfulness.  And thus the battle was joined.
 Ever since that day, the descendants of Esau have tried by every method that they could employ to regain the birthright, and all it contained and implied.  Just as Israel became the instrument in God’s hands to bring blessing upon all the nations and peoples of the earth to the glory of God, so Esau became the instrument in Satan’s hands to break down and destroy both these people and their works, with the final intention of even supplanting God Himself.  From that time onwards, the descendants of Esau have infiltrated the descendants of Israel, and have been the cause, under the direction of their leader Satan, of every evil which has permeated the Israel people to this day.

What we are experiencing today is spiritual warfare in its most intensive form.  It will only be resolved and overcome when our Lord Jesus Christ Himself returns, takes over the Throne of David, and assumes the government firmly upon His own shoulders.
 With the foregoing as a background, we can now more readily understand the meaning and application of many portions of God’s Word which hitherto may have been obscure.  The people of Israel became subject to infiltration and perversion by not only the non-Israel nations which joined themselves to her, (referred to as ‘the strangers in their midst’), but also by the Edomites.  Initially, it was the stranger, with their false gods, who caused the damage.  This can be traced back as far as Aaron and the calf of gold which he allowed to be built.  We see its evidence in the latter life of Solomon.  But there is one important thing which we also notice.  The northern ten-tribed House of Israel, together with a substantial portion of the southern two-tribed House of Judah was taken into captivity away from Palestine before they could be infiltrated to any great extent by the real enemy of God.  You see, the other nations may have been the enemies of Israel, but the descendants of Esau were the enemies of God.  That made them a very special enemy.  On top of this, the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, were of mixed Hittite blood, (see Genesis 26:34-35), thus compounding their evil nature.  These Edomites, through Esau’s grandson Teman, were the subject of Obadiah’s prophecy.  After the death of Isaac, they moved into the region south of the Dead Sea.  They became known as the Idumeans, and finally became absorbed into Judah complete with their Hittite/Syrian strain and characteristics.  So that at the time of the Babylonian captivities, the balance of the House of Judah, or Jewry as it is called, were very heavily infiltrated with the seed of the Amorite and the Hittite.
 Dr. William Smith, in his “New Testament History” (pages 58-71) says; “The Idumeans had been conquered and brought over to Judaism by John Hyrcanus (130 B.C.), and from the time of their conversion they remained constant to their new religion, looking upon Jerusalem as their mother city, claiming for themselves the name of Jews”.

 Of the Babylonian captivity period, the eminent scholar David Davidson writes in his “Through World Chaos to Cosmic Christ”:-
 “At this time, the surviving elements of the House of Judah are representative of Jacob in the land as the Idumeans, and are of Esau . . . .  Here is the withered branch of Jewry broken off the tree of Jacob, blossoming anew with the sap of Esau, and being presented to the world as of ‘the chosen tree’ of ALL Israel.  The very climax of irony in the Mystery Drama of History.”

 This in-grafting of Edom made the fig tree of Judah bring forth the evil fruits of Jeremiah’s prophecy as the ‘bad figs’ to which we previously referred.  They are the ‘tares’ to which our Lord Himself referred in His parable of ‘the wheat and the tares’ as recorded in Matthew 13:24-43.  They are still in our midst, and will remain so until the Lord Himself forcibly removes them at His return.
 But we must not overlook the fact that within this conglomeration of misfits were elements of the true people of Israel who were also taken to Babylon, one of the most noted of the individuals being the prophet Daniel.  There were also some from the Tribe of Benjamin.  This tribe was not originally of the southern House of Judah.  It was a “dominion” tribe, which God loaned to David in order to provide a light before him.  We read in 1 Kings 11:36:-
 

“And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before Me in Jerusalem.”

 This tribe of Benjamin was referred to thereafter as ‘the light-bearing tribe’.  It was a ‘Kingdom’ tribe co-opted by God to serve the House of David within Judah.  It was the only ‘kingdom’ or ‘dominion’ tribe in Palestine at the time of our Lord’s first advent, and gives much greater meaning to Christ’s statement that “The Kingdom of God was among them” as recorded in Luke 17:21.  It is also of importance to note that all the disciples except Judas was a Galilean, who were actually the Benjamites who had returned from the captivity in Babylon and settled together in Galilee.  They were in a very literal sense therefore ‘the light of the world’ as Jesus told them.  The great apostle Paul was also a Benjamite.  It was these people, together with others of true Israel descent who escaped from the Babylonian captivity but didn’t return to rebuild Jerusalem, who constituted the ‘good figs’ of Jeremiah's prophecy, and were the recipients of God's future blessings.
 The reader will by now have realised that this is a subject of far too wide a scope to be fully dealt with in an article such as this.  I have been only able to give a general outline of the situation as it developed.  Many factors have been necessarily omitted.  But the final picture that emerges relative to the time of our Lord’s first advent is that the people of His day were a grossly mixed people, many of whom had not a drop of Israelitish blood in their veins.  Even many of the Samaritans were the descendants of completely non-Israel people who had been introduced to the country many years earlier following the deportations of the people of the northern House of Israel from that area.  It was to the Edomite-Idumean section of these people that Jesus addressed His most cutting condemnation and antagonism.  These constituted the leading and most prominent portion of what were referred to as the Jews of His day.  But He knew who they were.  He made no bones about it whatsoever.  You will not find one word of commendation of these people by our Lord in the entire Bible.  If I can say this without being irreverent, He did everything but swear at them.  He identified them for who they actually were, THE SEED OF THE SERPENT!
 Here is the true enemy, THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN.  These are they who deny, and with the most horrible and dreadful oaths, (as evidenced in their Talmud), that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God and has come in the flesh.  Here, as clearly identified by John is ANTI-CHRIST.
 It totally defies all reason and all intelligence how the church and its blind leaders today can promulgate and virtually fight to the death to preserve, the ill-begotten teaching that these sons or followers of Satan are the literal Israel of God.  What a mockery has been made of God’s Word.  No wonder people are confused.  No wonder God declared that in the last days there would be a famine of the Word of God.

 Professor Arnold J. Toynbee wrote many years ago:-
 

“The nature of the attack itself is our betrayal by what is false within, leading to finding ourselves spiritually paralysed in the face of the most deadly peril with which humanity has ever been confronted”

 With this background, we can now understand the continuing attacks upon our Christian heritage by those who have for centuries tried to usurp to themselves the sacred Covenants and Promises which God made with His people Israel through our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We can only continue to fervently pray that the Lord will not tarry too long before returning to destroy this cancerous enemy in our midst, and to restore to their rightful owners, the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples, the great heritage to which we have been appointed.