The
Incredible
PASSOVER PLOT
Thousands of years ago, about a thousand years
before the
present era, an
incredible plot was hatched to destroy and
bury the true
Passover. That masterful "Passover
Plot" has
continued down
through the centuries, growing and developing,
and deceiving
millions. Among its victims are even the End-Time
Churches of God! Truly Satan the devil, that arch-enemy of all
mankind, has
"deceived ALL NATIONS" (Rev.12:9).
Could YOU
be a modern victim of
his fiendish, mind-boggling "Passover Plot"?
William F. Dankenbring
Strange as it
may seem, there really was a "Passover Plot" that has been carefully
nurtured and fostered down through the ages to obscure and hide the truth of
God, and to replace the truth with confusion, and ancient PAGAN rites and
ceremonies! Very few understand the
significance of this fact, or know how the plot began, how it was perpetuated,
and how it continues, even down to our very day, today!
Truly, Satan
the devil has deceived "the whole world" (Rev.12:9). Are you, perchance, one of the deceived,
deluded victims of this insidious, nefarious, cleverly devised and concealed
PLOT to hide the plain truth about the Passover, and its correct time and
observance?
The Mysterious Passover Plot
How has Satan
the devil, the master of intrigue, disguises and deceptions, pulled off one of
his greatest deceptions and coups of all time?
One so beguiling and clever that even many of God's own
"elect" have fallen victim to its influence and error?
You need to
know and understand the TRUTH!
The time has
come for all God's people, and those who think they are God's own chosen and
elect few, to RE-EXAMINE this issue, very carefully. As the apostle Paul says, to "PROVE ALL
THINGS!" (I Thess.5:21). As
Paul also wrote, "Wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall" (I
Cor.10:12). Are you willing to look into
this matter, objectively, and with an open mind, to PROVE the truth of
God? Or will you just "assume"
that your present practice and belief is right, and continue right along in
error? Solomon wrote centuries ago,
"There is a way that SEEMETH right unto a man, but the END thereof are the ways of DEATH" (Prov.14:12; 16:25).
The Original Passover
God gave the
Passover to
This Feast
was to become a perpetual observance.
God declared, "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the
generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD -- a
lasting ordinance" (Exo.12:14).
That Passover
lamb was to be slain "between the two evenings" (Exodus 12:6) -- that
is, as the sun goes down in the afternoon, "in the evening AS THE SUN GOES
DOWN" (Deut.16:6) -- not after sunset, when the sun has already gone down. The Hebrew expression, "Between the two
evenings," is the time the priests were to sacrifice the second lamb of
the daily burnt offerings -- one in the morning, and the second one in the
evening, or literally, "between the two evenings" (Numbers 28:4, 8). Since each day begins at sunset, and ends at
sunset (see Lev.23:32), the second sacrifice of the "daily sacrifice,
which was offered "between the two evenings," had to be sacrificed
before sunset! Otherwise, if it was
killed after sunset, it would have been sacrificed at the beginning of
the next day, which began at sunset!
The Jews have
always understood this expression "between the two evenings" to mean
between
However, the
ancient sect of the Samaritans understood it differently, and so did the
Sadducees. Says the Critical
Experimental Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown,
"In the early period of their history
the Hebrews had no proper divisions
of time, and accordingly periods of the day were indicated
in a very loose
and general manner . . . 'Between the evenings' is a phrase
of similar
import, denoting the part of the day between the declining
and the
setting sun, or between
of the numerous victims required would of necessity occupy a
consider-
able time, no particular hour was specified . . . But in
order to be within
the limits defined, it was necessary that it should be begun
and
completed between the commencement of the first and the
termination
of the second evening. . . In later times a controversy
arose in reference
to the time thus marked.
The Samaritans and Karaites considered it
as the interval between sunset and darkness. But the Pharisees and
Rabbinists, who maintained that the first evening began after
and the second with the sunset, taught that the paschal lamb
was to be
killed in the interval between the ninth and eleventh hour,
which, at the
time of the equinox, corresponded to one, three and
Josephus
states that such was the practice of the Jews in the time of
our Lord" (vol.1, p.310).
Adam Clarke's Commentary elucidates this vital point of truth further:
"The Jews divided the day into
morning and evening: till the sun passed
the meridian, all was morning or forenoon; after that, all
was afternoon
or evening. Their
first evening began just after
continued till sunset; their second evening began at sunset
and
continued till night. . . .
"The
day among the Jews had twelve hours, John 11:9.
Their first hour
was about
By
this we may understand that the time in which Christ was crucified
began at the third hour, that is,
time for the DAILY MORNING SACRIFICE, and ended at the ninth
hour, that is,
EVENING
SACRIFICE, Mark 15:25, 33, 34, 37. Wherefore their ninth
hour was their HOUR OF PRAYER, when they used to go into the
temple AT THE DAILY EVENING SACRIFICE, Acts 3:1; and THIS
was the ORDINARY TIME for the PASSOVER" (vol.1,
p.350-351).
Many Scriptures show that the Passover was to be slain on
the 14th of Nisan, which ended at SUNSET.
For the Jews, each day begins and ends at SUNSET. Concerning the Day of Atonement, God inspired
Moses to write: "Mark, the tenth
day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you. . . On
the ninth day of the month at evening, FROM EVENING TO EVENING you shall
observe this your sabbath"
(Lev.23:26-32, the Tanakh).
Notice! The holy day of Yom Kippur, or Atonement, was
the 10th day, and it began at evening, or sunset. Yet the instructions of God clearly
state: "From the ninth day, at
evening." Thus in God's sight, the
"evening" portion of a day is the latter part of the day, or the
afternoon, before sunset! Thus we are to
celebrate Yom Kippur from the evening of the ninth day, sunset, which follows
the afternoon, till the evening (afternoon) of the tenth day, until
sunset.
The ninth day
ENDED at evening, or sunset, and the 10th day BEGAN at sunset, which began the
"second evening." Thus when
God told Israel to keep the Passover lamb until the 14th day of Nisan, and then
"kill it in the evening" (KJV), the evening of the 14th of
Nisan would have been the afternoon portion of the day, leading up to
sunset! Since the Passover was to be
killed in the "evening" of the 14th, it means it was to be killed in
the LATE AFTERNOON of Nisan 14. If the Israelites had slain the lamb after
sunset, it would have been Nisan 15 -- the following day! But God clearly said they were to keep the
lamb until the 14th of Nisan, and slay it on that day, not on Nisan 15 (Exodus
12:6). They were to slay it between
Further
evidence of this truth concerning the Passover comes to us from the
"Passover.
Heb. pesah from pasah
(to pass over in the sense of sparing)
. . . It was instituted in
in the redemption of
the Israelites (Ex.12;1, 14, 42;
THAT NIGHT was to be much observed to the
Lord, when he smote
all the firstborn in the
Israelites
where the blood had been sprinkled and the inmates were
standing, staff in hand, awaiting the deliverance promised
by the Lord.
The
festival began on the 14th of Abib AT EVENING, THAT
IS,
IN
THE BEGINNING OF THE 15TH DAY, with the sacrificial
MEAL
(Lev.23:5-6). A lamb or kid was slain
between the evenings,
that is, TOWARD SUNSET (Exo.12:6; Deut.16:6; cf. between the
9th
and 11th hours, Josephus, War, vi .9, 3) . . ."
("Passover," p.705).
During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, no leaven was to be
found throughout the homes of the Israelites.
God says, "For seven days you are to eat bread made without
yeast. On the first day remove the yeast
from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day
through the seventh must be cut off from Israel" (Exo.12:15). Some have been confused about which day this
would have been. The "first"
day, however, of the entire sequence of Passover events, begins with Nisan 14,
when the Passover lamb was slain.
Therefore, the leaven was to be put out on the 14th of Nisan -- not on
the first Holy Day of Nisan 15, a day in which no "work" was to be
done except that required for cooking (Lev.23:6-7). They could not have been instructed to wait
until Nisan 15, and then to put the leaven out, for verse 19 explains,
"For SEVEN DAYS NO YEAST IS TO BE FOUND in your houses." This does not say 6 1/2 days, or 6 days and
part of a seventh day, but SEVEN (WHOLE) DAYS.
The Jews have always understood it thus.
Hastings
Bible Dictionary points out:
"On the evening of the 13th [end of
the 13th) the head of the family
searched
the house with a lighted candle, that he might seek out all
the
leaven. The hour on the 14th at which
one must refrain from eating
leavened
cakes was variously fixed. It was always
before noon,
however,
the precise time being indicated by the disappearance of two
cakes
which were exposed before the temple.
When the signal was thus
given,
all leaven must be burned or scattered to the winds. . . . Work
ceased
on the morning, or at noon, of the 14th, save in a few occu-
pations (tailors, barbers, laundresses). . . .
"The
time of the Passover sacrifice is defined in the Law as 'between
the
two evenings' . . . This was interpreted by the Pharisees and
Talmudists
to mean FROM THE HOUR OF THE SUN'S DECLINE
UNTIL
ITS SETTING; and this was the LATER TEMPLE PRACTICE
. . . The Samaritans, Karaites,
and Sadducees, on the other hand,
held
that the period between sunset and dark was intended" (vol.3,
"Passover,"
p.691).
This ancient controversy, over the meaning of "between
the two evenings," and its erroneous interpretation by the Samaritans,
Sadducees, and their successors the Karaites in the
eighth century after Christ, has led to serious consequences and errors as to
the observance of Passover, even today among the end-time churches which have
sought to observe this holy celebration ordained by God!
Even today,
strangely, we see people attempting to keep and observe the PASSOVER -- and
they call it precisely that -- not at the time the Jews observe this annual
festival dinner, at night on Nisan 15, AFTER the Passover lambs were slain and
roasted. Rather, we see people
attempting to observe this sacred memorial at the BEGINNING of Nisan 14,
twenty-four hours too early! Why is
this? How did this happen? How did Satan the devil deceive so many into
following the errors of the Samaritans, Sadducees, and Karaites,
and misunderstanding the Passover?
Satan's Great Deception and
Hoax
The Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia states:
"Paschal Lamb. The Pharisees
and the Sadducees had a dispute as to the time when the slaughtering should
take place; the former held it should be in the last three hours before sunset
[near the end of the 14th], the latter, between sunset and nightfall [beginning
of 15th] . . . The Samaritans have retained the ancient rite to the present
day" (vol.8, p.406).
The
Samaritans and Sadducees claimed that they observed the laws of God according
to the strict "letter" of the law.
They, as well as the Pharisees and Rabbis, knew that the Passover was to
be slain on Nisan 14. However, since
they interpreted the expression "between the two evenings" as meaning
"AFTER
SUNSET," they waited until sunset, when Nisan 15
began, and then sacrificed the Passover, after preparing for the sacrifice on
the afternoon of Nisan 14.
We read in the book The Jewish
Festivals: History and Observance, by
Hayyim Schauss,
"The Samaritans and the Jews became
blood-enemies who hated and
despised
each other, just as in later years the Karaites and
the Rabbinic
Jews
hated each other.
"In
the days of the second Temple almost the entire central part of
Palestine
between Judah and Galilee, was thickly populated with this
Jewish
sect of Shechem; there were also many followers of
the sect
in
southern Syria and in other eastern lands.
Today, however, there
are
barely two hundred left; they speak Arabic and inhabit a special
quarter
in Nablus.
They have a synagogue there and a High Priest,
who
is their teacher and spiritual leader.
"These
two hundred Samaritans observe Pesach to this day on Mount
Gerizim, in a manner that other Jews ceased practicing
thousands of
years
ago. The custom of offering sacrifices
has died out with the
Samaritans,
except on the fourteenth day of Nisan, when they offer
the
ceremonial Pesach sacrifice" (p.61).
Schauss points out that these Samaritans go up to Mount Gerizim, and half an hour before sunset, as the 14th of
Nisan draws to a close, the High Priest leads the assembly in silent
prayer. "Exactly at sunset the High
Priest faces westward and reads that portion of the Pentateuch which orders the
slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice.
About twelve or fourteen of the younger Samaritans busy themselves,
meanwhile, with preparing the sacrificial animals. They form a circle about the pit of fire,
holding the lambs between their legs, and as the High Priest utters the words,
'And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk,'
they utter a benediction and throw the lambs, throats to the pit, where they
are slaughtered by two ritual slaughterers.
Six or seven sheep are slaughtered" (p.63).
Who were
these strange people known in history as the "Samaritans"? And how did their practice influence people
of later generations, including end-time remnants of the Church of God?
Who Were the Samaritans?
The Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible declares
concerning the Samaritans and their observance of the Passover:
"The sacrifice still survives in the
dwindling Samaritan community at
Nablus, Jordan. This
schismatic Jewish group SEPARATED
from the
temple
at Jerusalem in ca. the fourth century B.C. . . . The slaughter is
made
at the foot of Mount Gerizim, precisely at sunset
rather than earlier
.
. . The actual communal eating of the sacrifice does not occur until
after
midnight and is done in great haste . . ." (article "Passover,"
vol.3,
p.665).
Putting the evidence together, it is obvious that the
Samaritans, who long preceded the Karaites and
Sadducees in existence, were the ones who began the observance of
"Passover" by slaying the Passover lamb after sunset of Nisan 14,
instead of in the afternoon of Nisan 14.
Thus they actually slew the Passover after sunset -- at the beginning of
Nisan 15. The Samaritans also had their
own calendar, and own leap year system, and did not follow the Jews of
Jerusalem. They even had their own
temple at Mount Gerizim where they sacrificed their
lambs.
The Ancient Samaritans Unmasked
Just who were
the ancient Samaritans, who took it upon themselves to observe the Passover at
a different time than the Pharisees and the main body of the Jews?
In 718-721
B.C., Sargon, king of Assyria, conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and led
them off into captivity beyond the Euphrates River. Israel had plunged into Baal worship,
provoking the LORD to anger. Despite
repeated warnings, they remained obstinate in their rebellion and idolatry, and
would not listen to God's prophets -- which seems to be the eternal truth of
how Israel deals with true prophets of God.
The Scriptures say, "They followed worthless idols and themselves
became worthless. They imitated the
nations around them" (II Kings 17:15).
We read, "So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them
from his presence. Only the tribe of
Judah was left" (v.18). They were
exiled into Assyria.
Replacing the
Israelites in northern Israel, to occupy the vacated land, "The king of
Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them into the towns of Samaria to
replace the Israelites" (v.24).
However, lions had multiplied in the area, and killed some of the
people, creating fear. They saw that God
was responsible for the lions, so they besought the king of Assyria to send
them an Israelite priest to teach them the laws of the God of the land
(v.27-28). This priest was one of the
priests teaching the doctrines of Jeroboam, who led Israel into sin (compare
verse 16 with I Kings 12:25-33). He
lived at Bethel, the religious site for Jeroboam's false system of worship (I
Kings 12:33; II Kings 17:19).
As a result
of this policy, elements of the truth of Scripture, and misinterpreted
Scripture, began to be mixed together with elements of pagan worship and
idolatry. The priest taught them a
schismatic system to worship the Lord, the system imposed by Jeroboam to wean
his people away from the worship of the Jews and the Temple at Jerusalem. "Nevertheless, each national group made
its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the
shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. . . . They
worshipped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to
officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshipped the Lord, but they also
served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which
they had been brought.
"TO THIS
DAY THEY PERSIST IN THEIR FORMER PRACTICES. They neither worship the LORD nor adhere to
the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commandments that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel . . . [They] persisted
in their former practices. Even while
these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. TO THIS DAY their children and grandchildren
continue to do as their fathers did" (II Kings 17:29-41).
The
Samaritans were PAGANS to the core!
Their paganism was not rooted out of them. They had a false, perverted, syncretic system of worship -- combining their
interpretation of the "Torah" or five books of Moses with a huge dose
of PAGANISM! Subtle differences were
introduced in the observances and festivals of God. Instead of following the official Jewish practices,
as were maintained by the Pharisees, they opted for their OWN PRIVATE
INTERPRETATIONS. Rather than slay the
Passover lamb in the late afternoon of Nisan 14, they slew it AFTER SUNSET --
at the BEGINNING of Nisan 15! Therefore,
they ate their "Passover" very late on the night of Nisan 15, whereas
the faithful body of Jews in Judea ate the Passover earlier during the night of
Nisan 15, which they had slain late in the afternoon of Nisan 14!
Says the New
Westminster Dictionary of the Bible
about the Samaritans:
"They erected images of their gods on
the high places of the Israelites, and
COMBINED
their idolatries with the worship of Yahweh . . . This DUAL
WORSHIP
they kept up until after the fall of Jerusalem" ("Samaritans, p.823).
This authority continues:
"There was early an antipathy on the
part of most of the Jews to social and
religious
association with the Samaritans, and this feeling developed into
intense
antipathy as years rolled on (Ezra 4:3; Ecclus.50:25-26; Luke 9:
52-53;
John 4:9; 8:48). The Samaritans were
neither of pure Hebrew blood
NOR
OF UNCONTAMINATED WORSHIP. . .
"There
is no agreement on the date of the BREACH between the Samaritans
and
the Jewish community, but it seems to have started in the time of Ezra
and
Nehemiah and gradually widened. The
political separation of Judah and
Samaria
and the work of Ezra made the SCHISM inevitable. It may be that
the
Samaritans did not build a temple at the beginning of the cleavage because
they
hoped that someday they would secure at least partial control of the
Temple
in Jerusalem. Sanballat
declared his allegiance to Alexander the Great
and
asked to build a temple where his son-in-law might be the high priest.
Alexander
gave his consent and Sanballat built the temple. . .
.
"During
the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes they
declared that
they
were not of the same race as the Jews, and gratified the tyrant by
expressing
a desire that their temple on Mt. Gerizim might in
future be
dedicated
to Jupiter, the Friend of
Strangers (II Macc.6:2). About
128
B.C. John Hyrcanus took Shechem
and Gerizim, destroying the
Samaritan
temple (Jos. Antiq. XIII, 9, 1); but the
worshipers continued
to
offer their adorations on the summit of the hill where the sacred
edifice
had stood. They did so when our Lord was
on earth (John
4:20-21)"
(p.824).
The Samaritan
religion was a syncretic blend of paganism and
misinterpretations of the Torah, or the Law.
They outright rejected the prophets and writings, and only accepted
their version of the "Law" of Moses.
They rejected the "oral law" handed down from Moses through
the elders of Israel, the scribes, and to the Pharisees as not binding or
authoritative, despite the great problems this would create concerning the holy
calendar and holy day regulation! They
even devised their own sacred calendar, and tried to frustrate the Jewish
calendar authorities by imitating the fires the Jews originally used to notify
those far from Jerusalem of the new moons.
The
Samaritans, following the paganized footsteps of King
Jeroboam of Israel, REJECTED the revelation of God, and put their OWN
interpretations on the Passover and Pentecost, and the Word of God! But where did they obtain their heretical
views and practices concerning God's Holy Days?
The answer to this question reveals how subtle and sly that old serpent
the devil has been in deceiving and deluding one generation after another!
The Apostasy of King Jeroboam
This great Apostasy actually began during the days of
Jeroboam, king of Israel. After God gave
him ten of the tribes of Israel to rule over, because of the wickedness of King
Solomon, Jeroboam grew worried that the people of his kingdom might revert in
their loyalty to the King of Judah, Rehoboam, because
the Temple and Priesthood and religious center of worship for all Israel was
then in Jerusalem!
This caused
Jeroboam and his advisers no end of anxiety, doubt, and worry. Jeroboam, therefore, decided to set up a
COMPETING RELIGIOUS THEOLOGY, also based on the Torah, or five books of Moses,
but with an ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION of basic concepts and doctrines. Most importantly, his priests rejected the
teachings of the Jews, and Levites in the southern kingdom of Judah, and
presented to the people a contrary view of Passover and Pentecost -- as well as
a celebration taking the place of the Feast of Tabernacles which occurs in the
seventh month, delaying their harvest festival until the eighth month. Thus
Jeroboam introduced changes in all three of the "pilgrimage
festivals," so that the people would not go up to Jerusalem to keep God's
Laws. They undoubtedly kept
"Passover" at Mount Shechem or Samaria, or Gerizim, or at the place he placed his two golden calves,
one in Bethel and one in Dan. We read of
his plot to subvert the truth of God as follows:
"Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and
lived
there. From there he went out and built
up Peniel.
Jeroboam
thought
to himself, 'The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of
David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at
the temple of the
LORD
in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord,
Rehoboam king of Judah.
They will kill me and return to Rehoboam.
"After
seeking advice, the king made TWO GOLDEN CALVES. He said
to
the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your
gods,
O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'
One he set up in Bethel,
and
the other in Dan. And this thing became
a SIN; the people went even
as
far as Dan to worship the one there.
"Jeroboam
built SHRINES on high places and APPOINTED PRIESTS
from
all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He INSTI-
TUTED
A FESTIVAL on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the
festival
held in Judah, and
offered sacrifices on the altar. This he
did in
Bethel,
sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also INSTALLED PRIESTS at the high places
he had made. On the fifteenth
day
of the eighth month, a month of HIS OWN CHOOSING, he
offered
sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel.
So he instituted the
festival
for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings"
(I
Kings 12:25-33).
This great Apostasy, therefore, began during the days of
Jeroboam, king of Israel, who began to reign in 975 B.C. We do not know a great deal about all the
alterations Jeroboam and his new hierarchy of priests made to the Laws of God
by direct evidence, as little has been preserved. However, we do know that the SAMARITANS got
their interpretations of the Torah and laws of God from the renegade priests of
Jeroboam's competing religion, because of their fear of being devoured by the
lions of the land (II Kings 17:25-28).
By carefully
studying the beliefs and traditions and
practices of the Samaritans, we can get an idea of just what the subtle and
devious doctrinal changes to the Laws of God, inaugurated by king Jeroboam,
actually involved! These changes even
Scripture says pointedly INVOLVED THE DATES AND TIMES OF GOD'S FESTIVALS! The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles,
the great Harvest festival, was delayed one month -- to October/ November. There can be no doubt that Jeroboam also
altered the dates of Passover and Pentecost, since Pentecost depends on
Passover, and because Passover is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT of all the Jewish
or Hebrew Festivals, mentioned 77 times in the Scriptures, far and away more
often than any other Feast of God!
The
Samaritans, therefore, obtained their heretical, schismatic, divergent theology
of the "two evenings" and the time of slaying of the "Passover
lambs," and their "Sunday Pentecost," derived from counting the
"weeks" till Pentecost from the Sunday that fell during the Days of
Unleavened Bread, from the apostate king JEROBOAM and his heretical
advisers!
Those who
today follow the Samaritans, are therefore actually following the ancient,
original APOSTASY OF KING JEROBOAM who introduced the two calves into the
worship of the Northern Kingdom -- probably as two representations of the
two "Elohim" that brought Israel out of
Egypt, the two representations of the Godhead!
This was utter idolatry -- the
original APOSTASY! Continuing this
ancient heresy and apostasy, the Samaritans calculated Passover and Pentecost
differently from the Jews. They followed
a different, alternative path to that followed by the Jews, the Pharisees, and
Rabbinic Judaism -- that of the apostate Jeroboam and his priests personally
chosen by himself of the lowest of the people in the northern kingdom!
Interestingly
Jesus Christ Himself addressed the religious beliefs of the Samaritans, as we
find in the Gospel account of John. What
did He say about the religious teachings of the Samaritans? Did He endorse them, give them credit for
maintaining the truth, or show respect for their divergent teachings?
What Jesus Said about the Samaritans!
What was
Jesus' attitude toward the Samaritans?
Jesus had no racial prejudice against them or any other race or
group. He praised the "good
Samaritan" whom He used as an illustration of brotherly love and kindness,
because he stopped to help a man who had fallen among thieves, and was left
along the roadside wounded and bleeding (Luke 10:30-36).
However, when
it came to religious doctrine and teaching, Jesus said to a Samaritan woman
whom He met at Jacob's well: "You
Samaritans WORSHIP WHAT YOU DO
NOT KNOW; we [Jews] worship what we
do know, for SALVATION IS FROM THE JEWS" (John 4:22).
How
plain! How crystal clear!
Jesus brooked
no nonsense. He didn't stop using plain
language just because the woman could become offended. He spoke the TRUTH. He made it absolutely PLAIN. The Samaritans, who observed different
Passover traditions, WERE SACRIFICING TO DEMONS, and not to the true God!
When they
continually observed "Pentecost" on a Sunday, the day of the SUN GOD
BAAL, they were guilty of IDOLATRY!
What
Jesus Said about the Sadducees
The teachings and doctrines of this ancient conspiracy continued through the vehicle of the Sadducees, a sec