The Messianic Seal of the Jerusalem Church - Suppressed since 135CE by the Orthodox Rabbis! - Buried for millennia by the Roman Catholic Church! - Key to understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls!

Resurrected after nearly 2,000 years of silence, from an ancient grotto adjacent to the very first Christian Church on Mount Zion!

Scribed and drawn on ceremonial artifacts most likely used by Pastor James the Just, the brother of Jesus and the Twelve Apostles!

The ancient three part symbol: Menorah, Star of David and Fish, once again proclaims to the world the pervasive Jewishness of Jesus Christ and the decidedly Jewish foundation and roots of the Church founded in His name.

The Messianic Seal of the Jerusalem Church strikes at the very roots of anti-Semitism while proclaiming a compelling message that breaks down barriers and restores unity: Jew with Jew, and Jew with Gentile.

In their monumental work, Reuven Schmalz presents a fascinating and exciting historical account leading up to the founding of the First Century Jerusalem Church on Mount Zion until its final disappearance in the 4th Century. Bob Fischer then presents a compelling biblical interpretation on the meaning of the ancient three-part symbol and its contemporary relevance to the Church and the world beyond.

A must read for all Christians!

Foreword

The rediscovery of the first century Judeo-Christian synagogue on Mount Zion has been both the most exciting and challenging experience of our lives; exciting, because the Messianic Seal of the Jerusalem Church, reemerged after nearly 2,000 years of burial, carries with it implications that, we believe, can literally change the world; challenging, because we have, in our separate research, “unearthed” an enormous amount of information, some entirely historical, some more biblically oriented.

The challenge was how to best present Reuven’s decidedly historical information, an incredibly interesting story in itself, as a solid background for Bob’s (R.R. Fischer’s) more biblically oriented interpretation and commentary. After testing several approaches, we determined to present this book in two parts: Part One, an entirely historical presentation of the events spanning several centuries, leading up to the emergence of the Nazarene Sect of Judaism and ultimately, to the Jerusalem Church the Nazarenes established on Mount Zion; Part Two, a biblical interpretation of the Messianic Seal and a suggestion regarding its contemporary implications.

This entirely Jewish “Mother Church” was the genesis of all subsequent ecclesiastical Christianity, until the present day, when more than two billion adherents world-wide can look to the “Stump of Jesse” astride the very throne of King David on Mount Zion from which both Jesus and the church “sprouted” forth.

Although it was carved and painted by the hands of the very first believers, perhaps even by one or more of the twelve apostles themselves, we believe the Messianic Seal proclaims several monumentally important messages, all of them just as applicable today as they were when they were first scribed.

It is our profound hope and expectation that these messages of the Messianic Seal of the Jerusalem Church will strike at the very roots and foundations of the several man-made barriers that have, over the centuries, separated Jew from Jew, and Jew from Gentile, while they have simultaneously spawned the horrors of anti-Semitism.

May there also evolve from all this, a new sense of unity as the church returns to Mount Zion, and together, Jewish and Gentile believers alike can finally find the common Jewish roots of their faith.
RES and RRF

Preface

On Friday, February 5, 1999, we were ushered by a uniformed maid into Ludwig Schneider’s voluminous library in the Schneider residence in Jerusalem.

Ludwig Schneider is a man with a powerful, classic German face, a bright smile, and piercing, sky blue eyes. His obvious vitality and almost boyish manner seem somehow to conflict with his easy flowing Germanesque formality, belying his 58 years.

Within moments we were holding the first of the eight awesome relics in our hands—a
brick size rectangle of local marble, adorned with an etched version of the ancient symbol, and words in archaic Aramaic letters proclaiming: "For the oil of the Spirit." An interesting difference in this piece from the others: a tiny etched cross formed the fish’s eye.

One of the other remarkable pieces was a small ceramic vial, appearing like it could well have been used to hold anointing oil, and originally have been placed upon the “stand for anointing oil.” Both of these, like all of the artifacts, were found in the same place, in a grotto adjacent to the upper room, which is located directly astride the ancient and revered tomb of King David.

Another piece is the remains of a small marble pillar, and the others, a small ceremonial oil lamp and an assortment of various size pottery shards with painted versions of the symbol. All of these artifacts are etched, embossed or painted with renditions of the same three-part symbol of menorah, star of David and fish.

All of the pieces were unquestionably authentic to even an amateur eye. To Reuven, a self-trained historian and archeologist, sculptor, and a long-time student of the early church and first century history in general, these pieces were clearly genuine.

Finally, after we both, with awe, had carefully examined each of the eight pieces, Ludwig's wife served us Turkish coffee which we sipped as Ludwig told his tantalizing story:

“In 1990,” Ludwig began in good English, flavored with a delightful old world sounding German accent, "I became acquainted with Tech Oteeoos, a Greek Orthodox monk in his nineties who lived by himself in an obscure, dank and foul smelling, small building in the Old City of Jerusalem. I was drawn to the ancient monk whom I visited several times. I kept my distance until he could emerge into the fresh air. The human stench of the dwelling kept me from exploring its interior.

“One day,” Ludwig continued, “ I believe it was on my third visit, Tech Oteeoos showed me, to my absolute amazement, several ancient artifacts which he had excavated at a site on Mount Zion, in the vicinity of the building traditionally known as the original church founded by James the Just, the brother of Jesus. The central feature of each piece was a hand-executed rendition of the symbol, either etched into or painted upon the surface.

“Needless to say, I was fascinated by both the symbol and its obvious significance. It was clear to me that God Himself had laid before me a long-forgotten testimony informing the world about the true roots of the Church.

“Several visits later, the old monk finally lured me into the interior of his foul smelling dwelling. It was there that I saw for the first time his collection of about 30 to 40 beautiful and varied pieces, all bearing the three-part symbol. As I stared at this treasure in wonder, my host carefully selected eight of the pieces which he later, during a subsequent visit, presented to me as a gift. On this occasion, I excitedly photographed the eight artifacts which had been set aside for me.

“But an even greater gift from this dear messenger of God lay in store for me. During a subsequent visit, after he had, as usual, devoured my chocolate bar gift, he took me by the hand and led me to the nearby site where he had personally excavated his entire collection. This special place was an obviously very old Jewish mikva located near the Tomb of David.

“After we had climbed over an unimposing fence, the old man led me down the traditional seven cosmic stairs leading to the place used for ceremonial cleansing. We proceeded past this place, and entered a catacomb that continued on into the quickly fading light. After what seemed like a short distance, just before the first bend, my ancient monk friend and benefactor was excitedly pointing out his special gift to me on one of the walls, a perfect rendition of the three-part symbol etched into the stone.

“In my initial excitement, I rushed back to the priests of the Monastery to report this incredible find. I was shocked by the audience I received. They rebuffed me, refused to answer my questions about the “Seal” and locked me outside of the Monastery gate.

“I was overwhelmed by the great significance of the find, and its meaning to the Church and the entire world,” Ludwig continued, “and I determined with confidence, that I should bring these artifacts to the attention of the Israel Museum, so they, in turn, could promulgate their incredible message to the world. Thus, I called the curator of the museum and made an appointment.

“The curator was most friendly, even gracious. I was ushered into his office with the pictures of the eight pieces which he examined with careful and studied interest. He then told me, matter of factly that the museum already had other artifacts with this very same three-part symbol that had come to them from other sources which he did not specify. The curator assured me that the museum had firm plans to have a special exhibition of these artifacts and their unique symbol, and that they would make an announcement regarding them to the world press in the near future. This was in 1990. Quite frankly, I am not surprised that these artifacts or the three-part symbol with which they are adorned have as yet—as far as I know, never emerged, nor has any information about them. Israeli officialdom, perhaps, was afraid of what the world might think if the truth became known: the early church was Jewish, and the original believers in Jesus were Jews.

“You can't imagine my frustration over this seeming suppression, but even more, my sorrow when I returned for a somewhat delayed visit to my dear benefactor Tech Oteeoos. Tearfully, I learned that he had died, and irrespective of his earlier promise that the rest of the pieces were to be mine, his dwelling had been completely emptied, and all of his remaining treasure had vanished.

“Despite the passage of years, I couldn't stop thinking about the importance of the symbol and the need to present it to the world. It was thus in 1996 that I opened a small gift shop in the Old City where I sold traditional tourist gift items, to which I added several products bearing a simple artist’s rendition of the ancient symbol.

“Within days, I was threatened by Orthodox Rabbis who insisted that I remove these 'evil, heathen' objects from my shop. By now, although none had any idea about the profound significance of their purchases, tourists had begun to enthusiastically buy my symbol adorned souvenirs in sufficient quantity to entice my nearby competitor shops (some owned by orthodox Jews) to produce and offer for sale, copies of my unique products.

“This unfriendly competition wasn't to last long. When I refused to remove these items from my shop, the orthodox gathered outside in large numbers and stoned the place, breaking my windows: not once, but several times. I finally gave up, and closed my shop less than a year after it had been opened, taking little satisfaction from the fact that the other shops had also soon removed the symbol-carrying products from their own shelves. Presumably, between the combined efforts of the Israel Museum and the orthodox rabbis, the precious symbol proclaiming the true origins of the Church had vanished from public view.

“My earnest prayer,” Ludwig concluded, “is that the truth about the Jewish origins of the Christian Church will be made known throughout the world so that all might know: Jesus was a Jew, the early (first century) church in Jerusalem was attended exclusively by a sect of Essene Jews who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and the entire church in the world today has been built upon this precious Jewish foundation.”

RES and RRF

Copyright 2011 by Raymond Robert Fischer