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estimated that around 1.7 million people died in all the Crusades. Historians estimate the only 1 in 20
volunteer crusaders survived to even reach the Holy Land from Europe.
The Roman Catholic Church which claimed the name “Christian” called a
council in Vienna in 1311 and prohibited all relations between “Christians” and
Jews. Two years later, the Council of Zamora ruled the Jews be held in
absolute servitude and in 1431-33 the Council of Basil reestablished canonical
decrees strictly separating Christian and Jews. Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447)
proclaimed that Jews could not hold public office, inherit property from
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Christians, nor build synagogues. They must have ignored the fact that the
founder of their faith was a Jew.
It is obvious that the Crusades, encouraged and sponsored by the “Christian” church at the time, and
their treatment of Jews was certainly not in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Word of God. It
is unfortunate that they claimed to follow Christ, but the fruit of their lives was certainly evil and
opposite of what is taught in Scripture. They named the name but did not follow the Book. It is the
belief of this author that most of the leadership in the “Christian” world at the time of the dark ages
were not true believers in Christ and certainly did not teach the truth of God’s Word. The fruit coming
from their lives demand such a conclusion.
Is religion the cause of most wars? | Andy Bannister
55 Robert Cornuke, Temple, p. 27
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