- Although Reverend Ted Pike means well in his effort to
plug the flow from which Zionism may find its fountainhead by denying the
Book Of Esther as being part of the Old Testament canon, I find him chargeable
of "throwing out the baby with the bathwater."
-
- Indeed, the BIBLICAL Book of Esther is TOTALLY MISUNDERSTOOD
by the Synagogue, Christian Zionists, AND sadly, Rev Ted Pike, for this
book MUST BE UNDERSTOOD in its "cultural" / Old Testament Polity
context.
-
- First of all, the 4th Century AD Holy Fathers of The
Holy Orthodox Church RECOGNIZED the Biblical Book of Esther to be part
of the Old Testament Canon and Holy Scriptures.
-
- It was the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church THAT ESTABLISHED
the Biblical Canon of BOTH the Old and New Testaments.
-
- In Lecture IV of St Cyril of Jerusalem of the 4th Century
AD to those preparing for baptism - he states SPECIFICALLY that the Book
of Esther is part of the Biblical Canon.
-
- St John of Damascus of the 9th Century in his "Exposition
of The Orthodox Faith" asserts the same.
-
- Now, in TRULY understanding the Biblical Book of Esther,
the Orthodox Church teaches that The "Israel of God" - THE CHURCH
- was ABOUT to be wiped out throughout the Persian Empire, which would
have exterminated the race from which The Messiah was to come, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Yahweh of the Old Testament.
-
- THUS - SOMETHING DRASTIC HAD TO BE DONE.
-
- The HIDDEN PROVIDENTIAL HAND of God, (although God is
not mentioned in the Book of Esther), is SEEN in PRESERVING the Church
and INSURING the coming of the Messiah Jesus to overturn the curse of death
by using Queen Esther to avert the annihilation of The Church, "The
Israel of God," from which the Messiah Jesus was to come.
-
- For although Mordechai may not have had proper motives
in bringing his orphaned niece Esther to the palace to be hopefully selected
as the new Queen, after-wards he realized WHEN THE "Israel of God"
was about to be exterminated, that his niece had come be Queen for "SUCH
A TIME AS THIS" so that she could SAVE The Church and preserve the
race from which the Messiah Jesus Christ was to come.
-
- The Jewish people of today have forfeited the right to
be called the "Israel of God" since they denied, yes, and even
their leaders crucified their true Messiah, Jesus Christ.
-
- And in still using the methodologies of the Old Testament
of "warfare" which the New Testament did away with, (although
wars of justifiable self-defense are allowed by the Orthodox Church), the
Jewish people, as focused in their rogue State of Israel, use the Book
of Esther and the attendant Feast of Purim, to perpetuate hatred toward
the Gentiles through violent means.
-
- This said, by "throwing out the baby with the bathwater,"
that is denying the Book of Esther as being part of the Biblical canon,
Reverend Ted Pike avoids one error by making an even more serious error
in using his own opinion to decide which books of the Bible are valid and
which are not.
-
- This could only lead to denying the ENTIRE Bible as valid.
I call upon my good friend Reverend Ted Pike to thus see his error and
correct it.
-
- Brother Nathanael Kapner
- Monastic, Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR)
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