Plucking the Eagle's Wings

Healing the Breach Between the Jews and Gentiles

The monk was not familiar with Teek Otheoos' story or the discovery of the pottery and the ancient seal. The 1969 discovery was made years before he came to the school to teach. He told us about others who might be willing to share information about the seal. Typically, without an inside contact, it is almost impossible to gather such research information. According to Ludwig, Otheoos was in his nineties when he gave the eight pieces of pottery to him. Soon after, Otheoos passed away and the remaining pottery was removed from his home, along with his possessions. Some believe that the pottery is in the possession of a Greek monastery whose inhabitants refuse to discuss the subject. Fortunately, Ludwig has his visible evidence of the discovery under lock and key in Israel. Gideon Shor saw a picture of a small stone block with the letters carved on the front. He confirmed that the letters were old Hebrew letters that were used during the first century. Reading right to left, the two words are Shemon Ruach, meaning the oil of the Spirit . The old Hebrew was used until about the fifth century, then the form of the letters changed. These Hebrew letters are physical evidence of the fact that believing Jews formed a sect of the early church in Jerusalem. In 1996, Ludwig opened a gift shop in the old city and began selling souvenirs with the emblem he believed was the "Messianic Seal of the Jerusalem Church." Certain orthodox Jews learned of the souvenirs and became angry over the use of the seal. They stoned Ludwig's shop and he was forced to close it down. Apparently, the Jews were angered over the use of what appeared to be a Star of David on the souvenirs. By placing the menorah (a Jewish emblem) and the fish (an early Christian emblem) together, few people would be upset. But on each piece of pottery, the menorah and the fish seemed to create a Star of David. Prophetically, the menorah signified the old covenant and the fish signified the new covenant. Tradition teaches that before Christians were martyred in Rome, one Christian was made to draw half of a fish in the sand, and the other Christian drew the other half, forming the fish emblem. The fish signified the martyrs' faithfulness to Christ. Others say that the fish represents the words of Jesus, "I will make you fishers of men" (Mark 1:17). Imagine pottery from the early church containing an emblem that links to Christians who died 1,700 years before, and that the pottery was discovered shortly after Jerusalem was reunited as Israel's capital. Some 177