by Pastor Don Elmore
February 2, 2014
Scripture Reading: John 8:39-48
What a brutal war of words! Jesus verses His enemies; the Edomite Jews. I would say that I have never had a conversation that was as full of hateful statements as is in this one. Jesus declared to this particular group of people that they were not related to Him at all; for they had a different father than He had. The proof of this was that they did not act like Abraham: they didn’t love Him; they didn’t obey His words and they didn’t believe Him. They were the fruit of a barren tree. He then declared to them that they were liars and murderers just like their father was; for their father was the entity that committed both of these sins.
Did you notice how the Edomite/Jews answered our Savior in verse 48? They replied that He was a Samaritan and had a demon! What did they mean by that statement; calling him a Samaritan? It wasn’t very complimentary because they also said that he also had a demon. This was blasphemous! We will try and answer this question in the remainder of this sermon.
Joe Biden's Speech at the Jewish American Heritage
The Vice-President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, offered lofty praise for the Jewish community. His statements raised some eyebrows and seems to have put anti-Jewish conspiracy theorists and true Bible reading Christians into a complete distrust of government officials. For when he spoke at the Democratic National Committee event for Jewish American Heritage on May 21, 2013, the Vice-President said that the Jewish people underestimated the impact of their Jewish heritage; that they underestimated the impact that have had on the development of this nation. He added that you can’t talk about the civil rights movement in this country without talking about Jewish freedom riders and you can’t talk about the women’s movement without talking about Betty Friedan. He noted that the Jews in this country had a:
- Disproportionate representation in the Senate (11%),
- Impressive share of Nobel Prizes (33% of all Nobel laureates), and
- Major role in the civil-rights and womens’-rights movements,
- Major role on behalf of gay marriage via their control of the media.
The Vice-President explained: “I believe what affects the movements in America, what affects our attitudes in America are as much the culture and the arts as anything else,” He added: “Think behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry.”
Biden also cited one of his favorite explanations for the success of gay marriage — “it wasn’t anything we legislatively did. It was Will and Grace, it was the social media. Literally. That’s what changed peoples’ attitudes. That’s why I was so certain that the vast majority of people would embrace and rapidly embrace the measure.”
In those developments, Biden explained, “the influence [of Jewish people] is immense.”