Imperial Brotherhood of Jesus Christ
The Imperial Brotherhood of Jesus Christ is a Christian - Chiliastic denomination .
history
Abram Poljak (1900–1963) was the founder and spiritual leader of the movement . He came from Eastern European Judaism and came to Germany with his parents as a child. He worked as a journalist until 1933 and was then arrested by the Gestapo . When he was surprisingly free, he saw in it a wonderful salvation through Jesus, the Messiah of the Jewish people.
In 1935 he founded the Jewish Christian Union in Jerusalem . In the following years he tried to attract supporters for his idea of a Jewish Christian colony in various European countries . In May 1940 he was interned in England. After his release in March 1944, he went to London to build up The Jewish Christian Congregation there. In the summer of 1945 this circle was expanded to include Gentile Christians .
In December 1950 a Jewish-Christian conference took place in Jerusalem, but the Union of Messianic Jews founded there collapsed as early as 1951. Poljak was now all the more successful in Europe. He was particularly successful on a lecture tour through the Federal Republic of Germany , after which he settled back in Germany. In June 1952, the new name Juden-Christian Reichsbruderschaft was chosen in Basel , which was changed in 1954 to the Reichsbruderschaft Jesu Christi . In 1953 and 1954 major events with several thousand participants took place in Stuttgart . The predicted spectacular events in politics and salvation failed to materialize.
Poljak retired to Möttlingen in 1955 and founded a settlement there with some friends, where he also published the magazine Judenchristliche Gemeinde . Poljak, who also suffered a stroke on April 15, 1960, had to distance himself repeatedly from employees. In September 1962, a piece of land was acquired in Israel for the first time , but it was insufficient to establish a settlement.
Since the religious community in Germany no longer existed, Poljak founded the first group of the Reich Brotherhood in Germany in October 1962. In 1963 Poljak found a suitable place for a settlement in the Negev and opened an Israel settlement account after his return to Germany .
Poljak died on October 28, 1963. Albert von Springer became the new head of the Jewish Christian community .
Teaching and organization
An essential feature of Poljak's teaching is the great expectation . Poljak therefore also made calculations for Judgment Day : In 1954 Christ would come again and in 1994 Christ would be visible to all the world. Again and again through his prophecies the basic idea that the satanic forces will destroy the Church and the State of Israel was drawn.
The Jewish people were temporarily rejected because of the crucifixion of Jesus. The history of the Jewish-Christian Church, which began with the election of Israel, could therefore not be continued for the time being. The Church of the Gentile Christians (the “physical community”) founded by Paul was adversely affected by Emperor Constantine and the “imperial Christianity” founded by him. It will end (raptured) at the first return of Christ. Then the hour of the Jewish Christians had come with a new Jewish Church, beginning with the Jewish Christian Congregation (the "Reichsgemeinde").
This congregation also accepts non-Jews as members with full rights, but prohibits them from joining a church. Israel itself must go through Armageddon before it is converted . Only then will the millennium begin.
Poljak left the baptism to each individual, he refused the baptism of children and created a child blessing called an offering in its place . The Lord's Supper is celebrated.
The organization is headed by a council of elders with a president.
development
In addition to Möttlingen, other community centers were established in Breganzona (1955), on an estate near Valence (1960) and north of Strasbourg (1962). Even during Poljak's lifetime the movement stagnated. Thereafter, due to disputes and exclusions, a decline was concluded. The mission was limited to lectures and the distribution of writings and records.
The Reich Brotherhood is organized in house groups. The number of its members is estimated to be very small, exact figures are not available. According to a private website, an insider said they had around 30, mostly very old, members.
literature
- Horst Reller (Ed. For the VELKD working group on behalf of the Lutheran Church Office): Handbook of Religious Communities. Free churches, special communities, sects, ideological communities, new religions. 2nd Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1979, ISBN 3-579-03585-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Imperial Brotherhood of Jesus Christ at religio.de