EXTRACT FROM DUST COVER OF “FAITH STRENGTHENED”
BY ISAAC TROKI
Note: The copyright owner of the reprint of this Public Domain work has protected this work, and unauthorized reproduction thereof is prohibited.
INTRODUCTION
None of the many polemic responses to the relentless missionary activities of the church over the last four hundred years achieved as wide recognition from Jew or Christian as did Faith Strengthened (commonly known to Jews as “Chizzuk Emunah”).
Written in 1593, one year before his death, by Isaac Troki; a Lithuanian Jew notorious for refuting important Christian clergymen of his day; during the next two and a half centuries publication and dissemination was suppressed by the Jewish world in response to Christian persecution. (The English translation by Moses Mocatta bears the striking message: “Printed But Not Published. 1851.”) But even the threat of persecution was not able to prevent truth from undermining the “holy edifice” of lies erected to entrap the ignorant. In 1665, Johann Christoph Wagenseil covertly translated the manuscript into Latin under the title, “Satan’s Fiery Arrows.” Released with the fermenting of the French Revolution onto a public desperate to free itself from the intimidating shackles of the “Dark Ages” and the church’s suppression of any challenge to her authority, eminent intellectuals such as Voltaire immediately recognized the power of the work’s incontrovertible logic.
Today no less than before, Chizzuk Emunah presents readers with the most solid and comprehensive defense of the Jewish faith against the challenge of Christian dogma. Written primarily for Jews (not Christians), the object of this hallmark work is to equip them for encounters with Christian missionaries by revealing the lies and distortions used to entice Jews to convert. Under the light of a systematic analysis of the Hebrew scriptures – which Christians call the “Old Testament,” and the Christian scriptures – which Christians call the “New Testament,” all manner of falsifications are torn to shreds, one by one.
This publication includes an original and comprehensive Table of Contents. The book is divided into two parts. In Part I, the author examines the most common objections raised against the Jewish tradition by so-called “fundamentalist” missionaries, and explains from the plain and simple interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures how God’s covenants with His people have not been abrogated since the creation of the world. The erroneous use of these sacred scriptures to justify Christian doctrine is indisputably refuted. Part II highlights internal contradictions within the New Testament (including glaring inconsistencies between New Testament books) and the multiple-occurring texts of the Hebrew Scriptures (from the Greek Septuagint) endlessly and arrogantly misquoted in the “New Testament.”
Often time the unwary has been trapped by missionaries who quote intricate and difficult texts from the Jewish scriptures using biased Christian translations. (In our modern day and age, reliable translations by Jewish scholars are available which reveal the true context and nuance of even the most obscure passages.) The scriptures quoted are often called “proof-texts,” as though to suggest that Jesus can be “proven” to be the “Son of God” and the Jewish messiah from the Jews’ own scriptures. The author quotes from a version of the Bible by Simon Bundi, whose edition he considered to be most authentic at the time. Under the helpful guide of the author’s painstaking analysis of each scripture text, even the reader who lacks knowledge of the Hebrew mother tongue is able to discriminate between the clandestine devices of the Christian translators – designed to turn the Jewish scriptures against their own progenitors – and the true context.
Jews see conversion to Christianity as a subtle and spiritual form of the destruction of the Jewish People – a human chain, the transfer of which has continued unbroken from generation to generation in fulfilment of all the Bible prophecies – much to the amazement of the rest of the world.
“Faith Strengthened” is an eloquent declaration of title by the Jew against all false contenders to the eternal and irrevocable inheritance he acquired through Abraham, the father of faith in the One and True God.
Abraham – together with Sarah – taught that all human beings can have a direct relationship with their Maker. In this spirit, “Faith Strengthened” reminds us of the ancient Jewish tradition that the righteous of all nations have a part in the World to Come.
Now let the One and True God have the final word: “Any weapon sharpened against you will not succeed, and any tongue that will rise against you in judgment, you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness from Me – the word of the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:17)
Reprinted with permission.
Zeev Breier
Ph. 02-9919974, 0533119974
Email: zeevbreier@gmail.com