Hijacking the Real History of Jesus “€“ With Rabbi Feldstein: With all the moral relativism in our culture, society is crumbling. Now, there are even falsified stories about our Savior Himself. Is it possible for people to have their own truth? Tune in to hear this message about the importance of returning to a solid foundation.

Air Date: 02/10/2020

Guest: Rabbi Feldstein

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith and the Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live!  where we’re talking about today’s hottest topics on policy and faith and other areas of the culture. We always do that from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. My name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator and America’s constitution coach. I’m here with David Barton. He’s America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Tim Barton is a national speaker and pastor and the president of WallBuilders.

And all three of us are just thrilled that you’re here with us on WallBuilders Live!  because it tells us you’re interested in knowing what to do in the culture, in our society, in this nation, how to use the freedoms that we’ve been given to do our part, fulfill our responsibilities that come with our rights. Everybody loves to talk about their rights under the Constitution. But what about the responsibilities? And if you’re listening today, we know that you want to be a part of the solution. You want to fulfill those responsibilities. And so our goal is to equip and inspire, to entertain, yes. to have a fun program that’s entertaining with lots of great information, but also to equip and inspire you. We want to make sure you have the tools you need to go out there and make a difference in your culture and in your society.

If you want to help us do that, and spread the word and reach more people, you can do that very simply by going to wallbuilderslive.com, click on the contribute button and that’s a great way to come alongside us.

Moral Relativism

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Alright, David, Tim, Rabbi Feldstein will be with us later in the program. We’re going to talk about his article, “€œHijacking Jesus,”€ you know a truth about even the Savior matters. And I know we have this moral relativism thing in America and anything goes, people can make up their own beliefs about even what, you know, gender they are. So truth has been hijacked in general. Men, now we’re even telling stories about the Savior himself and we got, you know, just a total lack of bedrock truth. Anybody can believe anything they want even about our Savior.

David:

But see, the problem is when you when you can believe anything you want and truth can be relatively anything you want, that affects your behavior. You know, what does it care if somebody has their own truth? Well, I care, because what you believe and what you think, you will act on what you believe what you think.

Thinking Wrongly Leads to Acting Wrongly

So, what if what you believe, what you think is wrong? Well, you’re going to act on it, which means you’re going to do the wrong things. And you may say that’s relative and it’s okay for me. Well, it’s actually not. I love the way the Bible puts so much of an emphasis on truth and knowing truth and having truth and it also is very clear about telling us what happens if you don’t pursue truth.

And there’s a great one in Romans one where it says, well, they change the truth into a lie and it points out how much their behavior changed when they did that. So there’s certain standards of behavior that are right and wrong and certain things that don’t harm others and that don’t harm yourself and they’re good and they’re beneficial. But when you change your standard of truth and the truth becomes a lie, then it changes your behavior.

Tim:

Yeah, this notion that when everything is true, then really nothing is true. Right? Because if truth is subjective, then nothing is ever wrong for somebody because that was their opinion and perspective. And in a culture where truth is subjective, you have no foundation to build on and this is where societies crumble. Right?

This is where as freedom loving people, we can point back to the founding fathers who promoted the Bible as a foundation of morality, because that they knew that was true. And from the moral structure, you can allow people to be free because they’re going to behave the right way. But if there is no truth, there is no Bible, then you have no morals which guide society and then you can’t have freedom.

Tyrannical Societies

This is what you see in tyrannical societies where you need the government to come in and control people because they have no internal behavior. There’s only two options. Either we’re going to be internally controlled or externally controlled. But this is where it all hinges on truth.

And so truth is something that I mean, guys, in the midst of what we’re looking at summer programs coming up and we have our leadership training program and we do Patriot Academy, we do high point and all these things we do, everything we do starts with the notion of truth. Because if truth doesn’t exist and nothing we say, for the next week or two weeks, however long we have the students, nothing we say matters. Truth has to be a foundation we build on. And this is why it’s utterly ridiculous and culture that we’re saying, truth is malleable and it’s flexible, it’s whatever you want. And so if you’re a boy, well, you don’t have to be, you can be what you want to be. That’s not how science works. It’s not how chromosomes works. Is not how DNA works. And yet this is where we are in culture and all that can produce is what is destructive, which is also something the Bible shows when people decide to make truth whatever they want. When everybody does what’s right in their own eyes, that never went very well when you study history of the Bible.

David:

It doesn’t and it goes back to the point you’re making, Tim, there is truth. And that’s what we teach in these programs in the summer. And so what that means is, it lines up with science, it lines up with reality.

Facts vs. Reality

But what if you don’t like reality? What if you want something different than reality? I don’t care what DNA says, that’s how I feel. But the Bible has some pretty strong warnings.

And so out of Romans one where the Bible says, look, if you don’t love the truth and you choose to believe a lie, it will change your behavior into something that is self-destructive or destructive to others. It will lead to bad consequences. So if you refuse to believe the truth”€¦ I disagree with that. Well, you can disagree with it, but it’s going to be bad for you in the end or it’s going to be bad for those around you, but will always turn out that way.

So the warning in Romans 1 is, look, if you change the truth into a lie, if you say I reject the truth and truth is actually a lie, I believe the opposite. It will change your behavior into something that’s destructive to you or to others, but the other one, I think maybe even more powerful than second Thessalonians 2, it says they refused to love the truth, and for that reason God sent them a delusion. You say, oh, you don’t love the truth? Let me just wrap you up in a bunch of false hopes and lies and let’s see how that turns out for you. And it’s like you immerse yourself and all this this fall stuff and it really becomes super self-destructive to those around you and yourself as well.

Tim:

You know, it’s interesting to in this conversation of truth that faith really is significant in your view of what truth is.

David:

That”€™s right.

Science and the Bible

Tim:

Because as a Christian, I would say, I believe what the Bible says. But what if science comes along and shows the Bible is wrong?

David:

Or claims the Bible is wrong.

Tim:

Well, that’s happened several times for a couple years or decades and they realize, oh, no, science was wrong here. Right? But this is why how we determine truth makes a difference. Because if we’re saying no, we believe in truth, well, there are some areas we would say, yeah, science is totally accurate here, but then there’s others would say, yeah, that’s not really a very good scientific method of discovery. Right?

There’s some theories out there. But this is where even the way we determine truth becomes very significant in our faith. Even though there is a component right in Hebrews, that it’s the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen is what the Bible says about faith, without faith, it’s impossible to please God. We need to have faith, but our faith is not a blind faith. Our faith is grounded, that everything that was ever created had a creator.

It is logical to go, if we are here, we were created, there must be a creator. If there is intelligent design, which is what our bodies are, then there must be an intelligent design or there are logical steps in our faith that give us a foundation for reality, for believing in truth. But even the way we come to acknowledge what is true is significant. Because if we don’t have an objective standard of measurement which is what we largely get from the Bible, then truth becomes very subjective, very relativistic and then there’s a problem and this is what we’re seeing in culture.

History Confirms What the Bible Says

Well, culture says, well, here’s what I think is true. Well, this is true to me. And this is where so many conflicts come from because there’s not a standard of measurement for truth anymore.

David:

Well, the Bible gives us a clear definition of who Jesus is, where he lived, what he did. We know all about Jesus from the Bible. So the Bible tells us about Jesus, that’s what we’re we know it. And by the way, history confirms what the Bible says, which proves the Bible is true again.

Tim:

Yeah, even if you didn’t believe the Bible, there are so many records, from the Greeks, from the Romans, from the Jews, right from the Christians, there are so many records that confirm who Jesus was, that he was a real person that he walked this earth, that he was crucified. Now, not every record specifies that he rose from the dead, although I believe he rose from the dead. Certainly what the Bible says, what the Christians believe is what they acknowledge. But everybody agreed that Jesus was a real person who walked the earth”€¦

David:

And we know where he walked and what he did when he was here. But what if you disagree with that outcome? And what if you want a different outcome? What if you want to manipulate history to get a different result for your side? And that’s what’s happening right now. So Rabbi, Feldstein has seen what’s happening with the redefinition of Jesus, the remaking of the historical Jesus into something he never was, something history shows he was not. It’s for a political purpose and a political end, but he did a great article on it called “€œHijacking Jesus”€ showing what’s happening with the remaking of historical Jesus.

Front Sight Firearms Training Institute

Rick:

Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein, our guest today. Stay with us, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live! 

BREAK

Hey friends, Rick Green here from WallBuilders Live! 

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Welcome Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein

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Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us. Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein back with us, good to have you, sir.

Rabbi:

It’s great to be back with you, Rick.

Rick:

What will part of the world are you traveling in as we chat today?

Rabbi:

You’re reaching me in southern Florida. I landed today and here for a week working with some major Hispanic pastors and leaders. It’s really exciting to be here.

Rick:

Nice. Alright. Well, you’ve had since our last time, several great articles we’ve been wanting to chat with you about, but we’re going to try to stick to this one a day if I can stay on topic. You had a great article on “€œHijacking Jesus”€. And this goes to this whole kind of effort to basically say Jesus is not even Jewish, that he’s a Palestinian.

Rabbi:

Yeah, it’s shocking. First and foremost, as Jews and Christians, we need to be”€¦ we should are really on guard for this because any such narrative other than it being a lie undermines Judaism and Christianity. So some people will just shrug and say, it’s just the Palestinians again, they pay no, as if it was about pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Undermining the Fundamentals of Christianity

But it’s serious stuff. It’s undermining the fundamentals of Christianity and Judaism and it has a really important modern implication in terms of the Jewish legitimacy in the land and now today, the State of Israel.

Rick:

Well, you point out in the article to that this is not something that’s new. I mean, this goes back even Arafat was saying these kind of things back in the mid-90s.

Rabbi:

Yeah, it was funny. I actually reread that recently. And when I read it, I thought how ironic it was, because Arafat was a Muslim. And so when Arafat would say something about Jesus being the Messiah, he didn’t even believe it. It was total pandering, it was absolute lie upon lie, as if he was trying to get Christians theory”€¦ it was sort of like pulling the wool over someone’s eyes who’s Christian who believes that Jesus was Messiah and saying, oh, yeah, I believe that too when he didn’t believe it. It’s all just a sham.

And I want to say something. We have a reality of Palestinian Arabs on the ground who are our neighbors in Israel and we need to deal with that. But they need to exist in the world of reality, not making up a narrative that’s based on nonsense. Everyone can can’t disagree, but you have to have fundamental reality and this is out the window. It’s not even real. It’s made up and it needs to be called out.

Shifting History

Rick:

Well, and I said 90s, I apologize, meant 80s and is back in 83 of the United Nations. So that’s been what, gosh, 30″€¦ What is that? 30, almost 40 years, 38 years ago. But like you said in the article I love, some people won’t like, but I like of course Arafat never met a law he didn’t like. So I mean, he was a propaganda machine all the time. But like you said, this one has an impact. So teach us a little bit here just historically, I mean, how do they even stake that claim and try to shift that history completely?

Rabbi:

Well, let’s see. The thing is, it’s none of their claim is based in any historical reality, so they can say anything they want. And one of the lines that I like the most is that they’re going to say that the Last Supper, it was a Ramadan breakfast. I mean, really, it could be that legitimate. And actually, you know what, that’s a funny thing.

Living in Israel, I honestly have a much more and deeper appreciation for Islam because we are surrounded by approximately 20% of the country and the additional Palestinian Arab population that are Muslim. And it’s fascinating in a country that’s alleged to be an apartheid state, how much I learned about and respect Islam from Israeli national TV and radio.

The Quranic Narrative

One of those ironic things, so you’re talking about something going back a few decades. They have a holiday and I forget which fast day it is that they celebrate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, except which son are they will celebrating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice. Not Isaac, not the biblical narrative that we all know. The Quranic narrative that they made up that Isaac, that Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael.

So if you go back that far, that many centuries, that many millennia ago and you want to start changing facts, now it underpins everything in terms of reality. And that’s the reality that we live in that anything that they say, almost anything that they say is not based in historical reality. We can’t make peace with that. We can’t live with that. And in recent current events, we have a similar narrative coming from our friends in Iran and that’s just perpetuating the same nonsense.

Rick:

Well, in fact, you say in the article, it’s becoming”€¦ denying Jewish connections to the land of Israel, become a Palestinian Arab national sports season is year round. So there’s not just a one or two, you know, shot here or there in rhetoric, it’s kind of part of the overall narrative.

Rabbi:

It’s entirely the overall narrative. And, you know, the funny thing is I have three interesting connections with myself and the Palestinians other than I live among them. First of all, Yasser Arafat and I both had the distinction of being person of the week on ABC News. Second of all, we were both born on the same day of the PLO and I, are both 55 years old.

The Palestinian National Movement

And that the importance of that is, I hit double digit, 55. But the importance is that the whole Palestinian National Movement, which I say in quotes, is only 55 years old. Right? So and that’s pre-1967. So when they talk about recapturing occupied lands, they need all of Israel and they still do today.

And the third of which if my father was a Palestinian. My father was a Jewish man, born in Palestine in 1937 when the British controlled the Land of Israel and the people to whom the British referred as Palestinians were Jews. So again, we need to just deal with reality and okay, fine. There are millions of Palestinian Arabs who are not citizens, who don’t want to be citizens and frankly, we don’t want them as citizens. That all needs to be dealt with. But lie after lie after life just compounds the nonsense of the inability to live in peace, much less actually have any kind of real resolution.

Rick:

Well, but how did you respond Jonathan to the, I mean, didn’t the Romans actually put the sign up and it said, King of the Palestinian Arabs? I thought that’s what it said? No?

Rabbi:

The Roman put aside, wasn’t there. And I’m an Orthodox Jew, so I’m not adept in New Testament, but I understand that the Romans put a sign on Jesus that said he was the king of the Jews.

Rick:

Oh, that’s right.

Rabbi:

Right. Now the Romans also, we’re talking about almost 2000 years ago, but the Romans also renamed Judea. And let’s remember what the root of Judea is and where we derive Jewish from today. Judea was renamed after the Romans conquered Judea and sacked the temple affirming, yes, indeed there was a temple.

Lie After Lie

They looted the temple. They destroyed the Jewish community. They enslave the Jews. And if you go to Rome today, you still see the famous milestone, the celebration of their victory against Judea with the looting of the temple in central Rome. And only then, in the year 132 did the Romans changed the name to Palestina which was to kind of rub it in our face and say, yeah, not only did we capture and sack you and destroy your temple and looted everything and enslaved your people again, but we even changed the name, wiped out the old name and now we”€™re making up a new name. That’s the first time that Palestine was ever used.

So anything going back to Ishmael and all this other nonsense and Mohammed was a relatively recent presence in the monotheistic world. I don’t believe that they believe in this that they worship the same God as we do, but that’s but they only worship one. So we’ll give them credit for that. But it’s all kind of made up. It’s based on lie after lie. And it’s a real shame. I mean, and again, the purpose of me writing this article, the purpose of me speaking out with you today and any other forum is we need to just base reality on facts. And if you can’t base it on facts, then you never ever going to get anywhere.

Truth Matters

Rick:

And in truth matters. I mean, that’s the reason, you know, I guess sometimes we get frustrated because these are basic facts that have been distorted to the point that it’s not just a few people that end up believing them. I mean, it’s a big chunk of the entire planet. And so it does get frustrating when just simple basic facts like this can be so distorted that it has such an impact on what’s happening out there, which is why speaking truth is so important.

Rabbi:

Speaking truth is important and all of that’s important and as Jews and Christians, all the more so. Because anyone and by the way, we’re not exempt from this, Jews and Christians to believe that narrative, to want to hear and believe that they’re the underdog and care and I applaud all of that. But, Jews and Christians first and foremost, need to understand that all of that narrative undermines Judaism and Christianity.

Rick:

Yeah. Amen. Alright, the website where you, this article is actually townhall.com, we’ll have a link today at wallbuilderslive.com. Always good to have you sir, we’ll do it again soon.

Rabbi:

Pleasure. It”€™s great to talk to you. Blessings to everybody.

Rick:

Stay with us, folks, we”€™ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Constitution Alive!

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Buying into the Lie

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live! Thanks to Jonathan Feldstein for joining us today. We’ll have a link to his article today so you can read the entire thing as well. Back with David and Tim Barton now. And guys, I mean, you can hear it, the frustration almost with the fact that I mean, these are basic facts here. And but you know, we’ve said it, it’s a famous expression you tell a lie, you know, loud enough, long enough, people begin to believe it and that’s why this is so dangerous. But you have a lot of people that have already bought this lie, so now we have to counter that lie by, you know, making sure we’re speaking the truth loud and long.

David:

Well, you know, Rabbi said when it’s not based in historical reality, they can say anything they want. And that is true. And he mentioned they actually have a holiday they celebrate of Abraham being willing to sacrifice Ishmael. Now, I looked it up while he’s talking and I don’t speak Arabic, but the holiday appears to be called Qurbani Eid or also known as Eid Al, [inaudible 22:58] whatever. Anyway, it’s on the 10th day of the last month of the Muslim year, whatever that happens to be. I don’t know where the Muslim falls. Nonetheless, it is a genuine holiday where they celebrate that Abraham was willing to sacrifice Ishmael. Now here’s the problem.

Lies in the Quran

That version was written in 600 AD with Mohammed when he was writing the Quran. The actual original version of Abraham and the sacrifice was written 2500 years earlier in 1900 BC and it says Abraham took Isaac and was willing to sacrifice him. Now, for 2500 years, every source said, Abraham-Isaac, Abraham-Isaac, Abraham-Isaac and 2500 years later, a guy says, no, it was really Ishmael. Everybody got it wrong, except me, it’s not Isaac, it’s Ishmael.

And so what happens is you believe that lie, you believe something that contradicts historical truth and contradicts Bible etc. It leads to a different behavior, leads to a different outcome. It leads to a delusion, if you will. And so if you’re going to take this, I mean, if you can’t keep it based in historical reality, if you’re going to say Jesus is Palestinian and not Jewish, if we’re going to ignore history, I’ll just point out that George Washington was the first president to be broadcast on ABC TV when he gave his inaugural address in 1789.

Tim:

I think ABC claim that and that was proven to be fake news. Actually, they didn’t claim that, but that’s totally fake news. But that’s ridiculous.

David:

It is.

Tim:

Who would ever believe George Washington was, well, actually maybe some modern students because that’s how bad their history is. Right? But no, there’s no way anybody believes that. And yet, we have people believing things just as stupid and historically, we can show that never happened. But because we don’t know what’s true or we have no foundation of truth, no standard of truth, we believe all kinds of stupid things.

Back to the Foundation of Truth 

David:

And so with Jesus, you’ve got to go back to a foundation of truth. Jesus was Jewish. He was a Jew. He was actually called a Rabbi. He was in the temple recognized as a Rabbi. He is not a Palestinian. But to change the truth into a lie, change his behavior, change his the narrative and it seeks a different political outcome, which is why truth is so important. We have to stay with it. We appreciate Rabbi having written that article, pointing out the truth, you can’t hijack Jesus. Jesus is actually Jewish, he is not Palestinian.

Rick:

We’re out of time for today, folks, there are more programs available right now at wallbuilderslive.com, you can click in the archive section there. If you’re a podcast listener, download those podcasts throughout the week. We have great interviews like the one today with President Munsil from Arizona Christian University as well as with US senators and congressmen and attorneys that are arguing before the Supreme Court and individuals just like yourself that are making a difference in their communities, that are some of our constitution coaches out there that host classes, biblical citizenship classes in their churches and use the materials that WallBuilders makes available for all kinds of educational opportunities. So all kinds of ways that you can be a part of the solution.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the program, one of the easiest ways and most important is through dollars, yes, finances, so our lives”€™ fortune sacred honor. Sound familiar? Right there, the Declaration of Independence, fortunes was a big part of it. Yes, we got to invest our dollars in freedom and one of the best places you can do that is right here WallBuilders.

Hijacking the Real History of Jesus “€“ With Rabbi Feldstein

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God bless you. Hope you enjoyed listening today? You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live!