Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work, I'm Keith Simon.

On November 9th,, Nazi forces smashed windows and set fire to 1400 synagogues all across Germany

and Austria. In the process they destroyed thousands of

tourist scrolls containing the first five books of the Bible. We've been going

through the Torah here on t. M since the beginning of 2022.

Intending to intimidate, the Nazis made a public spectacle out of demolishing the

Torah scrolls.

In one small town, the scrolls were sent rolling down a street. the major public square. This was the night called Crystal Knocked or in English the night of the broken

glass. A new book that just came out this summer called A World Without Jews argues that

in order for the Nazis to redefine Christianity

they had to cut Christianity off from everything Jewish including the

Hebrew scriptures. The symbolic and very public act of burning the Old Testament scrolls they thought would liberate Germany from the constraints of Judeo-Christian morals, ethics, and beliefs.

You see, the Nazis rightly recognized that the New Testament was rooted in the Old Testament.

Now of course they were not trustworthy scholars, but the truth is that the story of Jesus doesn't make sense apart from the story of Israel.

Sadly though, it doesn't take much to cut modern Christians off from their theological

roots. Too many Christians avoid the Old Testament other than having a few favorite Bible verses that most likely come from the book of Psalms.

But without the Old Testament story, a person is going to have a very incomplete picture of Jesus.

You might even be surprised to find that some of Jesus' most well-known teaching

comes right out of the Torah, the very scrolls that were burned by the Nazis and ignored by Christians.

Here's Deuteronomy 6. See if it sounds familiar.

Here O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

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