When Christians learn the information presented thus far in this film, many are still hung up on the idea that the Jews are physically descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that the rest of us are all Gentiles...but is it really that simple?
Pastor Anderson: The only way a person could really prove that they are a Jew would be with a genealogy. In fact, most of today's so-called Jews don't know what tribe they're from. Do people know in the Jewish community, "Hey, I'm of converts," or "Hey, I'm actually of the tribe of Judah or the tribe of Benjamin or the tribe of..."
Rabbi Mann: As far as the tribe is concerned, we don't know. I don't know what tribe I belong to. The only ones who do know are the Cohen. They know because that's transferred from father to son, father to son. Because there are still certain things that the Cohens/priests...certain blessings that he says, and so on and so forth. So they've kept their lineage. They know. Myself, I have no idea what tribe my ancestors belong to.
Pastor Anderson: And you say probably most Jews don't know what tribe?
Rabbi Mann: Nobody. That wasn't preserved. Today it's not important at all. No.
Pastor Anderson: If it really made a difference who is descended from Israel and who is not, then why would God tell us to avoid genealogies?
Pastor Romero: The Bible says in Titus 3:9 that we are to avoid genealogies. The New Testament is very clear. It doesn't matter where your physical ancestors came from.
Pastor Anderson: In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The Bible says clearly:
"There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek."
So why do we think today that there is a difference between the Jew and the Greek? And we think that somehow if someone is descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they just somehow are automatically God's chosen people, whether or not they believe on Jesus Christ. They may be circumcised in the flesh, but the Bible says that it's the circumcision of the heart and the spirit that makes you a Jew in God's eyes.
Pastor Anderson: In 1 Timothy 1, it says in verse 4, "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies," - I want you to keep that phrase in your mind - "endless genealogies which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do." Now in Titus, he just said, "Avoid genealogies." Here he says to avoid "endless" genealogies. Now I am going to show you why genealogies are endless. They truly are endless. This is what a family tree looks like. Now at the bottom of this family tree, we just have one person, which is you. Now you descend from two people, don't you? Your mother and your father. So if we go back one generation, you come from two people as a direct descendant, but if we go back another generation, you don't just have two grandparents. You have four grandparents, and it keeps doubling because you have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents, and you have 32 great great great grandparents. That means that if I were going to do a family tree that went back 5 generations, I would have to have a piece of paper wide enough to where at the top of that paper, I would be able to have 32 peoples names because that is how many ancestors I would have directly in that 5th generation. Now if I went to the 6th generation, my paper is going to have to be twice as wide because now I am going to have 64 slots to put in names. Well, what happens, though, is that as we go back further, this number gets really big. In order to understand how this chart works, we have to know how long a generation is. How long is the average generation?
Dr. Donald Yates: Well, they say 20-25 years.
Pastor Anderson: Now a generation has nothing to do with lifespan. For example, my mother was 30 years old when she gave birth to me, and women generally give birth between the ages of 20 and 40, so let's just take 30 as an average. 30 is a nice round number, and 30 is a very conservative number for this calculation. So a generation is 30 years, meaning that someone has a child when they are 30, and then they have a child when they are 30, and they have a child when they are 30. It has nothing to do with lifespan. That means that if we go back 10 generations, then that is 300 years. Let's just round off and say that if we went back in our family tree about 10 generations, we are going to be at about the year 1700. Now because our family tree is getting wider, if we wanted to do a complete family tree showing all of our ancestors back to the 10th generation, we would have to have a piece of paper wide enough to have 1,024 slots because 10 generations ago, there would be 1,024 people that we would directly descend from. Here is what I noticed when I did my family tree though. When I went back 10 generations, do you know what I started noticing? These are no longer unique people because there had been some intermarriage in that 300 years that had unknowingly taken place. Let's go back 20 generations. So now we are back around the year 1400. Well, if I wanted to have a complete family tree, I would have to have a piece of paper that could fit 1,048,576 names. That is a pretty big piece of paper. So in the year 1400, if I am going to trace all my ancestors, and I am going to tell you who all of my ancestors from the 1400s are, I would have to show you a family tree that just at the top would have a million some people - just in the top row, let alone everything else coming downward. If I were to go back 30 generations, now I am only in the year 1100. I am not even close to the time of Christ yet, am I? No. If I went back to the year 1100, thirty generations, I would have 1,073,741,824 ancestors in that generation. Listen, they are not all unique. When I did my genealogy, I found this relative that was my 10th great grandmother on this side and my 11th great grandmother over here because people marry their 5th and 6th cousins without knowing it. There is a lot repeating going on. What that shows is that there are a lot of people descending from the same people. They cannot help but intermarry. It is impossible not to because of these numbers. But the real number that we want to go back to is not 1100 A.D. Let's go back to 70 A.D. because 70 A.D. is when all the Jews were scattered. Now when you say scattered all over the world, do you mean that in the most literal sense? I mean, all nations?
Rabbi Wiener: Yes, in the most literal sense.
Pastor Anderson: If we were to go back to 70 A.D., and we were to have a family tree that shows all our ancestors in 70 A.D. and how they are connected, that top line would have 18 quintillion, 446 quadrillion, 744 trillion names from 70 A.D. Now who thinks that there were 18 quintillion, 446 quadrillion, 744 trillion people living at the time of Christ or shortly thereafter? No. In fact, the approximate population at that time was 200 milllion. Of that 200 million, let's just call 7-8 million Jews. You say, "Well, I don't like that number." Well, that number is not going to matter in a minute, so let's just call it 7-8 million. So if there are 200 million people on the earth at the time of the temple being destroyed, and about 7-8 million of them are Jews, then that means that if I have an ancestor from that era, there is a 1 in 27 chance that they were of Israel. So think about this: what if I were buying a lottery ticket, and the odds of that lottery ticket coming up a winner are 1 in 27 because that's the winning ticket that says, "You're Jewish! You're of the chosen people! You are of Israel! You are an Israelite indeed!" I have a 1 in 27 chance. You say, "Well, Pastor Anderson, if you have a 1 in 27 chance, you are probably not going to win that lottery because you have 26 chances of losing." Okay, but what if I buy 18 quintillion lottery tickets. Do you think I am going to win? Let me ask you this: how many times do I have to hit it to be descended from Abraham? How many times do I have to hit it to be descended from Israel? You say, "Well, you know, I'm black. I'm of Africa. How can I be connected with Abraham?" Well, stop and think about it. Think about Israel's children. One of Israel's children, Joseph: guess where his wife was from? Egypt. Joseph's wife was from Egypt. Where is Egypt? Africa. Moses' wife was Ethiopian. His second wife was Ethiopian. We already see, even in Bible days, intermingling with Africa - intermingling with the sons of Ham. If you think about it, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were half of Ham and half of Israel because Israel's son Joseph married an Egyptian woman, who was of Ham. All of the Ephraimites and Manassites were descended from Ham. Not only that, but all throughout history you have had merchants and missionaries and conquerors. Think of the Mongolian empire that went all over the world and that conquered China, the conquered Japan, that conquered Korea - all the ships that sailed and went here and there and everywhere. You only have to have one ancestor, out of your millions and millions of ancestors, you only have to have one that descends from Israel, and you are a direct descendant of Israel today. You sit there and say, "Oh, I'm just purely a white person. Oh, I'm just purely Asian. I'm just purely African." No, you're not. No one is.
Teresa Yates: People have been marrying and intermarrying for thousands of years, so you can't have any pure population.
Pastor Anderson: The Bible was right when it said that we are all of one blood.
Teresa Yates: Even populations that we think, "That has got to be 100%!" They are not 100%. There is no 100%.
Pastor Anderson: You can sit there and have your endless genealogy. It won't even be accurate because do you know what you can't tell from a genealogy? Somebody who committed adultery and lied to their husband and said, "Oh, yeah, this is your son," and he's not. You know, people do their genealogy, and they kind of just take everything as Gospel, when in reality there could be, as you euphemistically call them, "non-paternity events."
Dr. Donald Yates: There is a non-paternity index which has been estimated at 0.05 (5%) per generation, so if you go back 20 generations, you are likely to have a non-paternity event. That's the soft way of saying it, and if you consider that a generation is 20-25 years, that means in 500 years, you're due in that line to have a non-paternity event.
Pastor Anderson: Every 500 years?
Dr. Donald Yates: In one line!
Pastor Anderson: On one line!
Dr. Donald Yates: In one line, but how many lines do you have?
Pastor Anderson: So really, if somebody traces their genealogy, they couldn't really say, "Hey, I know for a fact that I know the whole story because I am looking at this genealogy," because the DNA test is going to reveal more.
Teresa Yates: Well, DNA doesn't lie. People lie. DNA doesn't lie.
Pastor Anderson: Right! So people could say, "Hey, I'm Jewish," or "I'm not Jewish," but the DNA...
Teresa Yates: DNA doesn't have an agenda. People have an agenda. People have reasons to lie, and also they just might not know the truth.
Pastor Anderson: Sure, so it's not even that they're lying, it's just that they're mistaken.
Teresa Yates: They're just passing on mistaken information.
Dr. Donald Yates: 1 out of 15 Americans is adopted or has a parent that was adopted. That's a pretty high number, too.
Pastor Anderson: Who can tell me all the people in your lineage that were adopted? "Oh yeah, my ancestors 300 years ago were adopted." You're not going to remember that. So, there are adoptions, there is infidelity, there is travelling, there is conquest, there are merchants, there are missionaries.
Teresa Yates: Different people have different things that they wanted to hide, and so they only tell you what they want you to hear.
Pastor Anderson: It doesn't matter where you're from, folks. Do you know why God said to avoid this? Because it hurts your mind to even think about this number! These numbers bend the mind! Just avoid it. Avoid endless genealogies. They minister questions. Does this make you feel really sure about your nationality now? No, it raises a lot of questions. So what do you think about somebody going down to the DNA lab and getting their DNA tested, and it comes back and says, "You have these Jewish ancestors."
Rabbi Wiener: I have no quarrel with them.
Pastor Anderson: Would you accept that?
Rabbi Wiener: Absolutely.
Pastor Anderson: It is so possible because they were so scattered.
Rabbi Wiener: Yeah, I would never argue with it.
Pastor Anderson: The director of this film, Paul Wittenberger, and I are just a couple of white guys. We've never been told that we're Jewish or have any Jewish ancestors, but we're going to go down and get our DNA tested and just find out if we do.
Lab Technician: We match your DNA profile against over 400 population groups worldwide, and we present you with the top 50, and for ancestral DNA, we don't have to get thumbprints. There is not a legal document, so that's all we need: the swab and the name. So these will go out tonight. We should get results back in about 3-4 weeks.
Pastor Anderson: A few weeks later Paul and I got our results back, and just like they said, we were a mixture of a whole bunch of different nationalities. We had everything from Arab to Brazilian, Native American, and there were a lot of things on there that were a big surprise. And sure enough, when we looked at our deep ancestry, which goes back further than the top 50, we both had markers for Jewish DNA, so I figured I'd get my grandma's DNA tested to see if Jewish made it into her top 50. We tested my grandma. She is 94 years old, and we wanted to swab her while she is still with us.
Teresa Yates: Oh, yes, that's very important.
Pastor Anderson: So, we got it. All right, grandma's results are in. Let's check them out. All right, let's see her top 50 first of all. Number 1 - Ashkenazi Jew - number 1.
Paul Wittenberger: No way!
Pastor Anderson: So that explains why it was in my deep ancestry because it's her number 1 of her 50 nationalities. And her number 1 result was Hungarian Ashkenazi Jew, so her number 1 result was Ashkenazi Jewish.
Teresa Yates: Wow! Well, with DNA Consultants, we've done this for many, many years. I haven't seen that very often, and every report, like I'm saying, is unique. People are like, "Oh, it's probably very general." No. Everybody's very unique. I don't know when I've seen number 1 Ashkenazi.
Pastor Anderson: Really? Cool!
Teresa Yates: Maybe 3 or 5 times.
Pastor Anderson: So, let me ask you this...
Teresa Yates: That is very rare.
Pastor Anderson: So if grandma's DNA had number 1 Ashkenazi, is there any doubt that she is an Ashkenazi Jew?
Teresa Yates: No.
Pastor Anderson: And if she is my grandmother, then what does that make me?
Teresa Yates: You're Jewish.
Pastor Anderson: So I'm Jewish?
Teresa Yates: You don't have to accept the religion.
Pastor Anderson: Right, but I mean ethnically speaking...
Teresa Yates: Ethnically you are.
Pastor Anderson: So you've now pronounced me...
Teresa Yates: I now pronounce you Jewish!
(laughter)
Pastor Coleman: Is that really what it all boils down to? Good night! DNA? Are you kidding me? What about Jesus? What about faith in Christ? How in the world can God's people be determined by DNA?
Pastor Berzins: Look, it doesn't matter what our genealogy says. It doesn't matter what our DNA results are. None of that is even important. The only thing that really matters is that we are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Coleman: And I found so much proof that Israel over there is not the Israel that God is talking about. We who have believed in God, who have the faith of Abraham, are the children of God. We are the seed of Abraham.
Pastor Romero: It says in Romans 9:7,
"Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
Pastor Romero: So the Bible says the children of the flesh, the physical children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - it specifically spells out and says that they are not the children of God.
Pastor Berzins: In fact, in Galatians 3 it explains that we're the children of Abraham. It says,
"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham."
Texe Marrs: It's amazing to me though how Christians overlook Galatians 3. Now I'm almost 70 years old. I'm an old man, but I never, ever heard a sermon on Galatians 3:29.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Texe Marrs: Both of those are fantastic. Who is the heir to the promise? Whoever has Jesus!
Pastor Anderson: Ephesians 2:11 reads,
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
Verse 19: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"
Pastor Anderson: According to this scripture we are fellowcitizens of Israel because back in verse 12 he said that when ye were without Christ, ye were aliens of Israel. You were strangers and foreigners to Israel, but in verse 19 he says that now you are fellowcitizens with the saints. So who is the true Israel? Is it some guy over in the Middle East who doesn't even believe in Jesus and is worshiping Shekinah? Or is it the true believer of the Lord Jesus Christ who has been grafted in and brought nigh unto Israel.
Texe Marrs: It's very simple. Jesus said in Matthew 21:43,
"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
Texe Marrs: Wow. They didn't bear fruits. They refused Jesus. They refused redemption. They refused to recognize the deliverer of Zion: the very Christ Jesus! And Jesus said that because of that, the kingdom is taken from you and given to another nation. Well, what is that nation? Is it Syria? Is it America? Is it England? Is it Germany? No, no, no! A spiritual nation!
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
Pastor Anderson: The Bible is not a book about God blessing one nation. That's why God told Abraham, "In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed," and that blessing is through Abraham's seed, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Furse: You know, the Bible says in Hebrews 11 that Abraham wasn't looking for a physical land. He looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Pastor Berzins: We as Christians are looking for a new Jerusalem. We're looking for a heavenly city as Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, points out,
"But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."
Pastor Berzins: God has prepared a city for us - a city that we can't find physically on this earth because it is a heavenly city. It is something that God has prepared for those who have faith in him.
Pastor Jimenez: When we're looking for Zion, and when we're looking for Jerusalem, we're not looking for the one which now is. We're not looking for the one that we can touch. We're not looking for the one that is spiritually Sodom and spiritually Egypt. We're looking for the one that is heavenly - the one that is to come.
Pastor Anderson: The Bible says in Hebrews 12:22,
"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,"
Pastor Anderson: So according to the New Testament, Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem, not the physical Jerusalem that now is. The heavenly Jerusalem will descend down from Heaven. That is our capital city. That is our Zion.
Pastor Coleman: And so, I'm Israel! Those people over there are not Israel. That's why Paul said, "They are not all Israel, which are of Israel:" They may be of Israel genealogically speaking, but they are not Israel as God counts it - what his original intent was - a people that are a praise and a glory to him.
Pastor Anderson: We as Christians are the chosen people of God. We are the true Israel, and we are marching to Zion.
Texe Marrs: The name of this video is Marching to Zion. We know that as a great title of a Gospel song. It means marching with Jesus at the very head of the formation.
Pastor Coleman: We sing songs like, "We're marching to Zion." I love that song! I just love it. "We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God." It's the city of God. It sits on the sides of the north. That's God's home, and one day he is going to bring it down to earth. It is going to be on the earth. We are going to inherit the earth because we are God's people. We who have believed in Christ are God's people. We are Israel. We are princes with God, and we're going to reign with him forever.
Texe Marrs: I would love to see the Quran thrown away, destroyed, put in a bonfire, not because I hate the Muslims. No! I would love for them to become Christians. I would love to see the Talmud and all its 36 volumes - oh, what a bonfire we could have with that! As a Christian, I say, let these books exist. Let the Quran exist. Let the Talmud exist because if people read those, and then they read the New Testament, you must come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is Lord.
