SONGS OF DEATH TO JEWS

CHRISTIAN SONGS OF DEATH

John Stone

All Christian songs (hymns) that tell of the “Soldiers of the Cross” have very catchy melodies and are church favorites. Unfortunately, Christians singing them do not realize the meaning or history behind these songs. If only church theologians would tell their congregations the real story, perhaps the horror of these songs would show through

The meanings are plain and simple; they honor Jesus’ soldiers who killed all who did not accept Jesus as their “savior;”¹ the infidels. And just who were these “infidels?” The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines infidel as:

1. One who is not a Christian or who opposes Christianity
2. An unbeliever with respect to a particular religion

3. A disbeliever in something specified or understood

So, Christian theologians, working hand-in-hand with reining monarchs, required that “infidels” had to die for Jesus’ name. Nice religion! Is Christianity, a religion of LOVE? Sure, ask any Christian. However, when historical facts of 2,000 years are laid bare, it is quite the opposite ― Christianity is a fictitious religion steeped in blood, slaughter and pillage!

One particular song is so offensive to Arabs and Jews; and should be to all Christians, if only they would stop and think about what they are really singing. Let’s take a look at some words to this song, “Onward, Christians Soldiers.”

“Onward, Christians Soldiers” marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!

Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle. See His banners go!”

Shmuel Golding, founder of the Jerusalem Institute of Biblical Polemics, said that this hymn

“… explains fully the evangelical aim to conquer the world through their doctrines. [Arabs and] Jews should be warned by these words and chilled by the ghostly echo of distant crusades.” ... “this is just one hymn that speaks of a united militant church. There are hundreds of others.”²

Throughout history, whenever Jews saw the “cross” coming, they hid (if they could) because they knew it meant DEATH!

“Onward, Christians Soldiers” was adopted from the themes of Christian Crusades. The Crusaders came to liberate the Holy Land from the "infidels" and woe to any non-believer who stood in their way. To our Western minds, reared on the Hollywood version of so much history, the Crusades mean noble knights rescuing damsels in distress. What a lie! It is true that there were knights; there were kings; there was a chivalric ideal and King Richard the Lionhearted, a Crusade leader was definitely a macho warrior. However, that is pretty much where truth and historical fiction part ways.

The Christian mobs (Crusaders) sharpened their battle skills on Jewish villages on their way to the Holy Land. The Crusades turned into campaigns of slaughter, rape, and pillage! Woe to the poor Jews in their way. Indeed, the Crusades marked the first large-scale mob violence directed against Arabs and Jews alike. Unfortunately, this became the pattern for the next five hundred years. The later pogroms were just a repeat of the crusade idea.

Between the 11th through the 13th centuries there were ten Crusades which wound up wiping out 30 to 50 percent of the Jewish community in Europe. The Crusaders’ mobs slaughtered at least 10,000 European Jews ― children, women and men ― of an estimated population of about 20,000-30,000. There is an historical account from Ibn Al Kalanisi, the Moslem chronicler, describing Christian hair-raising behavior of unnecessary brutality. Further, after the Christian Crusaders entered Jerusalem, they surrounded the poor Jews huddled together in synagogues and burned them alive, singing the themes of popular song of today’s churches, i.e. “This is the day the Lord has made.” [Note: The Crusaders’ cry of "Hep! Hep!" originated at this time. It was an acronym for the Latin of "Jerusalem Has Fallen." Eventually it became know as "Hip, Hip, Hooray!" ― a cheer that Jews never use.]

In 1076 CE, the first crusade captured Jerusalem from the Muslins. The History Learning site describes it as:

"The rest of the Crusaders got into the city when the gates were opened. The slaughter continued and the Crusaders "killed whoever they wished". Those Muslims who had their lives spared, had to go round and collect the bodies before dumping them outside of the city because they stank so much. The Muslims claimed afterwards that 70,000 people were killed and that the Crusaders took whatever treasure they could from the Dome of the Rock."

Other Christian death songs in one Christian Hymnal, under the section of “Spiritual Warfare” # 476 and in the index for Hymns, page 712 are:

1. I am a Soldier of the Cross

2. Am I a Soldier of the Cross?

3. Stand up, Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross

4. Soldiers of Christ, Arise

5. Lead on, O King Eternal

6. The Battle Belongs to the Lord

7. Faith is the Victory…Ye Christian Soldiers

8. Battle Hymn of the Republic

Just to name a few.

This Crusade heritage, the heritage of “Onward, Christians Soldiers,” is certainly nothing to sing about! Instead of singing, Christians should hang their heads in shame, crying rivers of tears to wash the blood away; the very blood of innocent Jewish and Muslim children, women and men ― blood that was demanded and preached from the Christian pulpits for centuries of their evil history.

“Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses. We should get rid of it as quick as we can.” ~Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Footnotes:

1. Luke 19:26-27 (NIV) " He replied, '... enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me."

2. Millennium Fever, p 108, Shmuel Golding, Director of the Jerusalem Institute of Biblical Polemics

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