The Roman Catholic Synod of the Bishops of the Middle East
The Vatican Synod on the Middle East closed and the Synod proclamations immediately began to ricochet around the world. The final Synod statement was presented by U.S. Maronite Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, who headed the Synod commission. As a Lebanese native, he spoke for the Vatican and theSynod with this statement:
Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros – “For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people…There is no longer a favored people, a chosen people; all men and women of every country have become the chosen people…”
These proclamations were aimed directly at the Jewish settlers, the Patriots and Pioneers of Israel who properly claim the biblical birthright, not in the “West Bank” for it was not a biblical region but to “Judea and Samaria” which was the “homeland” of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the “heartland” of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and the “Covenanted Land” of the House of Judah that was given by the G-d of Israel to His chosen people forever.
The following statements may seem to contradict the additional Synod statement that stated;
Vatican Synod on the Middle East – “The same Scriptures unite us; the Old Testament, the Word of G-d is for both you and us... We believe in the promises of God and his covenant given to Abraham and to you. We believe that the Word of G-d is eternal.”
What the Synod did not say, but whose intent was clearly heard was, “The Universal Catholic Church now carries the mandate of the “covenant” for you, the Jewish people are no longer a “favored people” or a “chosen people” with the God of Christianity. The Holy Catholic Church now replaces the honored position that you once held.
Becoming one with the Catholic Church, the Jews may continue to participate in the ‘chosen covenant’. We believe in the Old Testament, but that era is over. The covenant to the Jews and to the Lost Tribes of Israel is voided and the One Universal Catholic Church now carries the New Testament mandate and the New Covenant.”
How then was this covenant voided and changed? The American Maronite Archbishop Salim Bustros went on to say;
Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros – “The Creator’s promise in the Bible that the Promised Land belongs to the Jewish People is no longer valid…the promise of the Creator was abolished by the presence of Christ…”
Immediately around the world the Jewish response was furious when the Synod concluded that “recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of G-d to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable.” Bustros quickly identified that the whole thrust of the Synod was to establish a Church policy that the two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority ruling over most of the Land of Israel is mandated by the Roman Catholic Church’s interpretation of scripture. They felt that this would dampen the mass exodus of the Christian Palestinians in the region.
Little did the Catholic Church comprehend, that while the Catholic Church declares that the “Jewish covenant with G-d was voided” because they rejected Jesus Christ, that erroneous belief is not justified by the Word of the G-d of Israel through His prophets of Israel and by the testimony of G-d’s Messiah, Yahshua HaMaschiah (Jesus the Messiah). Did not the Nazarene, Rabbi Yahshua (Jesus) proclaim to the Samaritan woman:
John 4:22 – “You worship what you do not know; we (the Jews) worship what we do know, for Salvation comes from the Jews.”
So what was the purpose of the Vatican’s “Synod of the Middle East”? Are they not setting the stage for the delegitimization of the State of Israel and the Jewish people in the eyes of the world? Are they not trying to take away the G-d of Israel and His mandate for the Jews, and replace it with “Jesus Christ and the Triune God of Christianity” and the mandate for the Universal Catholic Church.
Take away G-d’s covenant for the Jewish people and even the literal Promised Land. Now take away Jerusalem and the site of the Holy Temple, and what has Pope Benedict XVI done; render the Jewish people as a people to be without a nation, a mandate, a covenant, or even a G-d. The Jewish people, according to the Vatican’s Synod, can once again, like they have so many times over the centuries been consigned as the pariah of the nations? G-d forbid!
Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros – “The concept of the Promised Land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians. The justification of Israel’s occupation of the land of Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures.”
Their purpose is to give the tribal homelands for the Jews in Judea and the tribal covenanted homelands for the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel in Shomron or Samaria to the descendants of the ancient Jews most implacable enemies; the Philistines of Gaza. Concerning the Palestinians we read Bustros proclamations:
Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros – “We recognize the “suffering and insecurity in which the Israeli’s live” yet this had to be balanced with the Palestinian “suffering (of) of the consequences of the Israeli occupation: the lack of freedom of movement, the wall of separation and the military checkpoints, the political prisoners, the demolition of homes, [and] the disturbance of socio-economic life and the thousands of refugees."
This led the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, Danny Ayalon to respond to the Synod of Bishops of the Middle East to state:
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon – “Israel regretted the comments…to end the Israeli occupation….It seems that the important synod has turned into a forum for political assaults on Israel with the very best Arab propaganda. The synod has been taken captive by an anti-Israeli majority…and the language used by some of the archbishops is particularly appalling."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center was swift to respond to the latest Vatican missive:
Simon Wiesenthal Center – “This political stunt, wrapped in theological garb, not only insults every Jew, but flies in the face of the statements and actions of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, both who have visited Israel and expressed solidarity with her people,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, dean and founder and associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, respectively. The two men had audiences with both pontiffs.
The archbishop’s statement comes at the end of the conference wherein the so-called ‘Palestine Kairos’ document – which openly denies the right of Israel to be a Jewish state – was presented at the Vatican for the first time. These developments demand immediate action by the pope. Hopes for peace in the Middle East will only come when both sides recognize the rights of the others. These latest moves, left unchallenged, will damage interfaith relations and embolden anti- Semites and terrorists,” said Hier and Cooper.”
The Anti-Defamation League with its director Abe Foxman stated that the Vatican proclamations were “the worst kind of anti-Judaism, bordering on anti-Semitism.” To Cardinal-elect Kurt Koch, the newly appointed president of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Foxman wrote:
Anti-Defamation League Abe Foxman - “By stating that God’s covenantal promise of land to the Jewish people ‘was nullified by Christ’ and that ‘there is no longer a chosen people,’ Bustros is effectively stating that Judaism should no longer exist.”
Concerning the city of Jerusalem, the Synod proclaimed that it was “anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance.” At the same time, the Synod refused to recognize either the legitimacy of the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem where no Jewish or Christian holy sites were open for the Jews or Christians to worship, prior to 1947.
Neither did the Synod recognize that in 1967, all Jewish, Christian and Islamic holy sites were open to all people when the State of Israel assumed control over Jerusalem. Pilgrimages by Christians to Christian holy sites, and Jews visiting Jewish holy sites except for official visits by Jews approved by Jordan were banned prior to 1948 by the Islamic monarchy of Jordan.
Let us see what the G-d of Israel proclaims:
Jeremiah 31:27-28, 35-40 – “‘The days are coming’, declares HaShem, ‘when I will plant the House of Israel and the House of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,’ declares HaShem…
This is what HaShem says, ‘He who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar’ - HaShem Almighty is his name: ‘Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares HaShem, ‘will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.’
This is what HaShem says: ‘Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares HaShem.
‘The days are coming,’ declares HaShem, ‘when this city (of Jerusalem) will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate…The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.’”
The Roman Catholic Synod; Jews and Israelites not Relevant to Salvation
Go to Part One – “Vatican Synod proclaims: Salvation does not come through G-d’s Messiah and Israel; Salvation comes through Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church”
Go to Part Two – “Head Archbishop of Vatican Synod – Jews are no longer a ‘Chosen People’”
Go to Part Three – “The Vatican is Prepared to Control the Temple Mount and Jerusalem”
Are you concerned for the Future of Israel and G-d’s Covenanted Plan to Return the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel back home?
Contact “Kol Ha Tor”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Here is an Orthodox and Rabbinic website by the House of Judah to Welcome and Assist in this Prophetic Mandate; the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel
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