Acts 15:16-18

Satan loves to go to church. As an observer, he is powerless, but when he can influence the thinking and beliefs of Christians, his power becomes horrendously destructive. Satan influences people’s thinking by using half-truths and outright lies.

The early church in Jerusalem was a Jewish church. Jews who believed in Christ and trusted him for their salvation made up the local congregations. By believing in Christ, they were not giving up their Jewishness, but rather saw that belief as a natural continuation of God’s work among His people. They believed that the Jewish church was the foundation of the rebuilding of David’s fallen tent. God would not restore the nation of Israel as a political power, but rather would rebuild it into a beacon of truth and light. The Jewish church would be the center of an evangelical movement that would spread the gospel to the gentiles and all the rest of mankind, culminating in the whole world being evangelized. They recognized that while they remained Jews, God did not want them to require the rest of the world to become Jewish. God made clear that salvation did not come from being Jewish, but came to all who believed in Jesus.

Within 400 years, the Jewish church had ceased to exist. There were Jews who still had faith in Jesus, but they no longer functioned as distinct congregations. Lies and half-truths destroyed the Jewish Christian community from two sides. On one side, the non-believing Jews had reached the conclusion that accepting Christ meant that you were no longer a Jew. They began to disassociate from all believers. On the other side, among the gentile Christians, a fear and hatred of the Jews had taken root. The lie that all Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ fed this hatred. Acts of hatred by those claiming the name of Jesus destroyed the link between Christian Jews and Gentile Christians.

Destructive and unrighteous hatred destroyed the Jewish church. Hatred was not, is not, and never will be Christian.