I have spent the last 6 tidbits writing just ‘some’ of the terrible things past church leaders have said about Jews; however, those were just words! Now, what’s even worse…are the things that actually happened. In other words, whether the words of past ‘Christian’ leaders directly inspired the past horrendous violence against Jews or not, the acts of unmitigated terror—both past and present--require tears and introspection from every Christian…because as ongoing demonstrations around the world against Israel after the infamous October 7, 2023 Hamas attack testify--antisemitism is still alive and well!!
   Although there were many Catholic European Inquisitions, I would like to begin with what is arguably the most brutal: the Spanish Inquisition , beginning in 1478. Tragically, and of course unbiblically, the Spanish sought to uncover and destroy a “heresy” among baptized Jews. The Catholics created names for these Jews:
1.The Conversos, which referred to those Jews who were new converts.  
2.Marranos, which referred to those who were converts but still secretly
   practicing Judaism.
   The Church in Spain determined these groups needed to be watched closely to weed-out heretical practices. And, what was their heresy? “failure to eat pork; failure to work on Saturday; failure to where their best clothes on Sunday; keeping the Biblical feasts; observing Jewish customs of any kind; saying Jewish prayers; preparing food according to Jewish law; associating with non-baptized Jews; intermarriage of children of Marrano families with children of other Marrano families.”* Biblically, none of these things are heresy, but were invented accusations, unveiling the actually motive of the Inquisitions: antisemitism, i.e.Jew-hatred.
  Shockingly, many Jews were forced to adopt Spanish Catholicism to avoid torture, and even death. However, because conversion to Christ can only occur through love(2Cor5:14**) and free choice (Rom10:9,10); and because these Spanish Jews were converted by force, means more than likely, few became authentic Christians. And what’s worse, because these ‘so-called Christians’ tried to convert the Jews using force, means few of these Spanish Catholics were themselves ever actually converted to Christ!!
   Let’s allow Dr Michael Brown to continue to tell this absolute horror story. “Violators, or frequently those merely accused of being violators, would have their property confiscated. They would be subjected to harsh confinement and horrible torture, leading to mock trials, degradation and often death at the stake. If those sentenced to die would renounce their “heresies” and publicly confess ‘the Faith’, then the Church would show them mercy: they would be strangled and then put to the flame, burned dead instead of alive!”
“It is estimated that 30,000 Marranos were burned at the stake in Spanish Inquisitions from the fifteenth century until 1808. In addition to this, in 1492, all non-baptized Jews were expelled from the country. Stripped of their possessions, and without any means to defend themselves, the sentence of mass expulsion against these poor souls was virtually a sentence to mass death. Those who “converted” did not fare much better—they were treated as second-class citizens by the other Catholics, and just one wrong move could consign them to the fire.”  (pg78)
“Baptized Jews who wavered but then wanted to be reconciled to the Church were subjected to an act of penance called the “verguenza”(“shame”). They were paraded through the streets, men and women alike, bareheaded, barefooted, and naked to the waist. The procession was headed by a group of monks, followed by the half-naked penitents, cruel physical discomfort being added to their mental torture, for the weather was so raw and cold that it had been considered expedient to provide them with sandals, lest they should have found it impossible to walk.
   They held unlit candles in their hands (indicating that they were yet in spiritual darkness), and they were marched through the city until they arrived at the Cathedral. A chaplain would make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of these Jews---many of whom had been prominent citizens and respected leaders of their city before the Jew-hate craze erupted---and then he would recite these words: “Receive the Sign of the Cross which you denied, and which, being deluded, you lost.”
   After this, a sermon would be preached, and the sentence would be announced: They were to be whipped in procession on each of the following six Fridays, being naked to the waist, bareheaded and barefooted; they were to fast on each of those six Fridays, and they were disqualified for the rest of their lives from holding office, benefice, or honorable employment, and from using gold, silver, precious stones, or fine fabrics.
   When their six-week penance was completed, they had to give alms to the extent of one-fifth of the value of their property.
   THIS was how ‘the church’ treated those who returned to the fold!”  (pg78-79)
 
   Tens of thousands of Spanish Jews were humiliated, tortured, and murdered…in the NAME of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah! I have two questions:
            1.What scripture did these pseudo-Christians use to support these
                 actions?
            2.From what example of Jesus did they use to behave in this
​               manner?
 
   On the contrary, the people*** that did these things were demon-possessed!!!
 
 
*“Our Hands are Stained with Blood” Dr Michael Brown pg 77
** “…love of Christ controls us…” 2Cor5:14 (NAS)
***I will not call them Christians!!!

  In his great work “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”, Eric Metaxas writes regarding Martin Luther: “In the beginning of his career, Luther’s attitude toward the Jews was exemplary, especially for his day. He was sickened at how Christians had treated the Jews.  In 1519 he (Luther) asked why the Jews would ever want to become converted to Christianity given the…
            ‘cruelty and enmity we wreak on them----that in our behavior
             towards them we less  resemble Christians than beasts?’” (pg 92)
Metaxas continues, “Four years later, in the essay ‘That Jesus Christ was born a Jew’, he (Luther) wrote, ‘If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian. They had dealt
with the Jews as if they were dogs rather than human beings, they have done little else than deride them and seize their property.’”  (pg 92)

   Edward Flannery* continues quoting from Luther’s essay ‘That Jesus Christ was born a Jew’:
“They (the papists) have dealt with the Jews, as if they were dogs rather than human  beings….If the Apostles, who were also Jews, had dealt with us gentiles as we gentiles deal with the Jews there would never have been a Christian among the gentiles…we in our turn ought to treat the Jews in a brotherly manner in order that we might convert some of them…we are but gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws, they are blood relatives, cousins and brother of our Lord.” (pg152)
   However, Luther later dramatically changed from his previous opinions on the Jews; and Metaxas attempts to offer a reason: “For much of his adult life Luther suffered from constipation, hemorrhoids, a cataract in one eye, and a condition of the inner ear called Meniere’s disease, which results in dizziness, fainting spells, and tinnitus. He also suffered mood swings and depression. As his health declined, everything seemed to set him off. When a congregation sang anemically, he called them “tone-deaf sluggards” and stormed out. He attacked King Henry VIII as “effeminate” and blasted his theological opponents as “agents of the devil” and “whoremongers”. He called the pope “the Anti-Christ” and “a brothel-keeper above all brothel-keepers and all lewdness, including that which is not to be named.” He blasted the Catholic church’s regulation of marriage and accused the church of being “a merchant selling vulvas, genitals, and pudenda.” Expressing his attempt for the devil, he said that he would give him “a fart for a staff.” He viciously mocked Pope Clement III’s writings: “Such a great horrid flatus did the papal arse let go here! He certainly pressed with great might to let out such a thunderous flatus—it is a wonder that it did not tear his hole and belly apart.” “So it is in this context that one has to take his attitude toward the Jews, which, like everything else in his (Luther) life, unraveled along with his health.”   (pg93)
   Metaxas continues, “The troubles started in 1528 when, after a large meal of kosher food, he suffered a shattering attack of diarrhea. He concluded the Jews had tried to poison him. …In his last decade, his list of ailments ballooned to include gallstones, kidney stones, arthritis, abscesses on his legs, and uremic poisonings. Now his nastiness would hit its stride. He wrote in the vile treatise, ‘Concerning the Jews and Their Lies’, and the man who once described the Jews as “God’s chosen people” now called them “a base and whoring people.” “…three years before his death, Luther advocated actions against the Jews that included, among other things, setting fire to their synagogues and schools, destroying their houses, confiscating their prayer books, taking their money, and putting them into forced labor.” (pg93)
  Edward Flannery* offers his rendition on Luther’s treatise, “In 1542 he (Luther) published a tract “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies’ followed shortly thereafter another entitled ‘Shem Hamphoras’, in which he (Luther) raged at them in a language that at least equaled in violence anything uttered against them before or after. With biting sarcasm and occasional scatological insult, he renewed all the old charges of the past: Jews are poisoners, ritual murderers, usurers; they are parasites on Christian society; they are worse than devils; it is harder to convert them then Satan himself; they are doomed to hell. They are, in truth, the anti-Christ. Their synagogues should be destroyed, and their books seized; they should be forced to work with their hands; better they should be expelled by the princes from their territories.” “During his last years Luther made repeated efforts to have the German princes oppress and expel Jews. In his last sermon, delivered a few days before his death, he called urgently for their expulsion from all Germany.” (Pg152).
   Metaxas concludes, “One may only imagine what Luther’s younger self would have thought of such statements. But Goebbels and the other Nazis rejoiced that Luther’s ugliest ravings existed in writing, and they published them and used them with glee, and to great success…” (pg93).
   Even if we can explain Luther’s rantings and ravings by his ailments, his blasphemous words echo in eternity and cannot be excused…period! For this reason, Luther and John Chrysostom lead the way as the greatest of the historical ‘Christian’ antisemites!
   In conclusion, no human in history suffered like Christ, yet as our example, He offers us power to suffer with dignity (Heb12:4), by standing on the Word of God, dependent on the Holy Spirit! Therefore, I think it would have been so much better if Luther had chosen---in his sufferings---to declare the Word of God:
         
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. -Ps149:2
 
But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. -Isa 45:17
 
*Edward Flannery, ‘The Anguish of the Jews’