By using his Roman credentials, no one suspected a pretend Jew of being an undercover provocateur; tasked with establishing a unified Roman religion, subverting Jesus’ teachings, discrediting Judaism and creating a series of new understandings of the ancient mysteries for gaggles of gullible goyim, that would flock to his teachings like flies to shit.
Theology: © J. Russell October 08, 2015
If you would like to provide corrections or additional information, contact jrussell602@gmail.com
You may Quote/Copy/Share this article, provided a link is included to this page.
Saul/Pauls’s most likely Ancestry
Few Jews outside of Herod’s house were Roman citizens, however, Paul’s claim of being a “Roman citizen by birth” [Acts 22:27-8], could only have been obtained by a Jew in one of three ways: (1) As a member of Herod’s family, (2) Service in the Roman military, (3) Purchasing Roman citizenship. This rules out (2) and (3), so Paul must have obtained his Roman citizenship as a descendant of Herod.
In Romans 16:10-11, Paul sends a high five to “my kinsman Herodian”, a Jewish Hasmonean king of the family into which Herod the Great had married, when appointed king of Israel by the Romans. He also sends a hooray to his relatives; “. . . in the household of Aristobulus”.
Herod the Great, spawned numerous descendants called Herod and while Paul was around, only one Aristobulus and three Herods roamed the countryside. In Acts 13:1, Paul tells us that Manean his companion in Antioch, was the foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch, so he obviously liked to hang out with members of his family. Josephus, identifies Agrippa as a descendant of Herod and Saul/Paul as; “Saulus, a kinsman of Agrippa”. [Antiquities]
Epaphroditas, Paul’s friend who lived in Rome, was one of Nero’s secretaries and suspected of having helped Nero fall on his sword, when he allegedly committed suicide. Paul greets him in [Phil. 2:25-30; 4:10-18] as an old friend along along with Caesar’s household.
Epaphroditas was supposedly Josephus’ publisher and was put to death around 95 AD by the emperor Domitian, for his complicity in Neroe’s death. Coincidentally, Josephus disappeared from the pages of history, about the same time.
Herodian Jews of course were not real Jews. Originally from Edom (meaning “red”), Herod’s ancestors had been forced centuries earlier by others to become pseudo-Jews. Cleverly, they had developed friendships with the Romans and had married into the Jewish royal family. The Jews didn’t consider Herod or his descendants Jewish and treated them as foreign rulers.
In Paul’s case of course, claiming to be “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, and the Tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews” doesn’t relly mean anything and is just another example of his numerous grandiose claims.
Anyone can be circumcised, the tribe of Benjamin had disappeared at least 600 years previously and “Hebrew of the Hebrews” is a totally meaningless and redundant phrase, as he had already claimed to be; “of the stock of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin” and after waxing lyrical about his “special heritage”, he then says it’s of no value as he’s now “in Christ”, Philippians 3:4-6.
Paul fails to pass the Test
So here is the first problem; All of mainstream Christianity accepts that Jesus is the “sole prophetic authority” in the New Testament. The alleged writers of the Epistles of John, Peter, James or Jude etc, never claimed to be “divinely inspired” nor claim “inspired status”, for their own epistles.
The alleged author of Luke, says that he investigated Jesus as an historian [Luke 1:1-4] and disavows affirmatively he is writing under any sort of “inspiration”. Barnabas who allegedly authored Hebrews, doesn’t claim any “inspiration” either.
In actual fact, all the current books of the New Testament, were included in the Canon more as a “reading list” and neither the early Church or it’s incompetent Bishops at the time, bothered to put any of them through the “inspiration test”.
Even the Catholic Encyclopedia’s entry on “Canon of the New Testament” states; “The New Testament lacks a strong self-witness to Divine inspiration”. The Presbyterians take on the “inspirational status” of the New Testament is even more vague.
Pathetic really! There is a specific test to determine “biblically inspired writings”, however at this point we will leave that subject for another tome.
Our Paul though, was way ahead of everybody as he was driven by “Self Inspiration”, repeatedly claiming “Divine Inspiration” on every thought that wafted through his brain.
In fact, the way Paul told it, he was in a state of “continuous uninterrupted Divine Inspiration”, from that fine day on the road to Damascus until his alleged multi-versioned, but unknown death. His magic words were; “Thus sayeth the Lord” in; 1 Cor. 14:37, 1 Tim. 2:11, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 Thess.4:1-2,8, 1 Thess. 2:13, Eph. 4:17, 1 Cor. 7:25, 40, etc.
Paul alone made all these statements and for all intents and purposes, claimed to be speaking as a “divinely inspired prophet” and a “Law Giver”, the “Moses” who came after “Jesus”. Everyone in mainstream Christianity fallaciously presupposes that Paul was “inspired”, yet there is no proof that he was.
He certainly doesn’t pass the clearly defined “inspiration test”, as defined in the Old Testament and doesn’t even come close to fulfilling the qualifications of an ”Apostle”, as described in Acts 1:21-22, regardless of how many of the 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses, descend from heaven to swear on their adulterated bibles.
Basically, Paul didn’t have much time for the masses of “untouchable poor Jews”, “Jewish teachings”, their “Law” and all the claptrap about ”Jesus” or his disciples. Once he got on the road and out of hearing of “the Twelve”, Paul started to teach anything that would attract people to himself and become his “new disciples”.
Paul urged his followers to follow him and used personal pronouns in his epistles such as”I”, “me”, “my” and “mine” three times more frequently than any other writer in the New Testament. Paul’s novel, unusual and “Comforting Gospel” began to “inspirationally emerge”, as an antithesis of Jesus’ very “Uncomfortable Gospel”. Paul’s only “divine inspiration”, was to give the Gentiles a message they wanted to hear.
Paul of course, cunningly claimed additional credibility, by alleging he was; “caught up into the Third Heaven but was forbidden to speak of the things he saw and heard”, 2 Corinthians 12:2. What a crock! Basically he was saying that, “I went and learned stuff you don’t know about, and I’m not going to tell you about it either”.
This of course is very different to when Enoch and numerous others journeyed to the various heavens in the biblical recounts, who all, once back on earth and having recovered from the shock, told us all about it.
One thing is very clear, it seems that Paul didn’t actully meet God at any stage during his celestial voyage and was relegated to having to liase with “the angels”, which he mentions numerous times in his epistles and warns us; “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind”, Col 2:18. Ironic really, as he never followed his own advice.
Jesus gave his “Twelve Apostles” specific instructions to carry his message to the four corners of the world and never instructed or suggested that they should adapt, change or re-interpret anything he had taught them. All twelve complied faithfully during their life long missions and it never occurred to any of them to “re-interpret any of Jesus’ mysteries”, which is something you have to really admire about them.
Not so with our Paul, he circled constantly like a vulture smelling imminent death of it’s prey, probing it’s weaknesses and wounding. In short, Paul disagrees with, contradicts and rejects more of Jesus’ teachings than those he agrees with.
The general tenor of Paul’s missionary activities in the book of Acts is clearly pro-Roman and pro-Herodian and he clarified this philosophy in Romans 13, contradicting the “Zealots” political position on almost every point; including taxation, overseas rulers and armed resistance, etc.
During a moment of good natured banter, between Paul and King Agrippa, Paul says to Agrippa in the presence of the future apostate Bernice;“I know that you believe” and Agrippa humors him with; “a little more and you would have made me a Christian”.
Agrippa then pronounces a friendly judgment of; “this man has done nothing to deserve death or imprisonment” [Acts 26:27-32], which was subsequently time-shifted by persons unknown, into the narrative of Jesus in the Gospels.
Paul’s Contradictory Teachings
Paul’s doctrine was all about “revelation”. He used the word “mystery” (Greek musthrion) seventeen times in his epistles. Outside of The Book Of Revelation, the word “mystery” is used only one other time in the New Testament, and not once in the Hebrew Old Testament.
Through “revelation”, Paul revealed to us the “mysteries of God, Jesus, wisdom, and the faith”, Romans 16:25, Ephesians 3:3-4, 9, 6:19, Colossians 1:26, 2:2 and I Timothy 3:9.
Paul is a total know-all on everything. He instructed his own followers in all manner of things: “Law, circumcision, grace, faith, salvation by faith, women, lying, angels, the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, the armor of God, relationships, humility, worship and church qualifications” etc. His “revelations” were inexhaustible and the majority would have been a total “mystery” to Jesus.
Jesus is nowhere to be found in most of Paul’s writings other than in phrases such as: “Servant of Jesus Christ . . . through Jesus Christ . . . in Jesus Christ . . . by Jesus Christ . . . Jesus Christ our Lord . . . by the revelation of Jesus Christ . . .” and so on. He used these phrases to imply his “revelations” had authority from God through Jesus, yet his epistles provide no references to Jesus’ actual teachings in the gospels.
Instead, Paul invented things that aren’t in the gospels, such as his recurring theme of “submitting to earthly authority” (governmental authority), claiming that it shows us to be “approved of God”. Jesus didn’t say to do that, so the question is, why does Paul constantly stress submission to earthly authority?
Clearly, Paul made up his doctrine as he went along, admitting he preached by “revelation”, II Corinthians 12:1, Galatians 1:11-12. Regardless of any good things he said (yes, some are good), the problem lies in the many “contradictory revelations” he promoted in the name of Jesus.
Christians come to God via Jesus, not via Paul, John 14:6. Jesus says; “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them”, Matthew 7:16, 20. Paul’s ”fruit”is a legacy of “Divinely Inspired Dissension” and the direct cause of more than 60,000 different Christian sects, plaguing the world today.
At no stage did Paul repent for his earlier persecution of those of “the Way”; instead, he boasted about it, his excuse being that he had been a Pharisee.
He was at odds with the real apostles and Galatians Chapters 1 & 2, are powerful examples of his conflict with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. He pooh-poohed the importance of the real apostles, but; ”. . . just in case the Galatians cared about what he said, he lied, by assuring them his doctrine had their full support”.
Jesus and the Apostles taught obedience to God’s Law. Paul taught (in Christ’s name) that the Law passed away.
As we will see, Paul constantly taught against what Jesus said.
- Paul said all the Law was fulfilled in one word (a Pharisaic teaching), Romans 13:8- 9, Galatians 5:14. Jesus said otherwise, Matthew 22:27-40, Mark 29-31.
- Paul declared “ALL things lawful”, I Corinthians 6:12-14, Colossians 2:16. Jesus said otherwise, Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17, John 14:15.
- Paul declared nothing unclean, Romans 14:14, I Timothy 4:1-5. Jesus and James said otherwise, Acts 15:28-29, Revelation 2:14.
- Paul claimed Christ abolished the Law, Romans 6:14, 7:4, Ephesians 2:15-16. Jesus said otherwise, Matthew 5:17-20, 19:17, 28:20, Luke 16:17.
- Paul claimed no one was justified by the Law, Romans 3:20, Galatians 3:11-12, 21. The scriptures say otherwise, II Samuel 22:21, Ezekiel 14:14, 20, Job 27: 29:14, Luke 1:5-6, James 2:20-22.
- Paul claimed no man was justified by works of the Law, Galatians 2:16, 21. Jesus and James said otherwise, Matthew 16:27, James 2:20-22.
- Paul claimed the Law was “veiled” (too hard to understand), II Corinthians 3:12-16. Moses said otherwise, Deuteronomy 30: 10-14 and John tells us the law is not burdensome, I John 1:53.
- Paul called God’s Law a “curse”, Galatians 3:13. (Galatians Chapter 3 and Romans Chapter 3 detail Paul’s attack on the Law). Jesus instructed us to keep the Law, Matthew 19:17. He came to fulfill the Law, not destroy it, Matthew 5:17- 18. The Law was a blessing, Deuteronomy 7:11-13, 11:26-27, 30:19-20.
- Paul referred to the Law as “the ministry of death”, II Corinthians 3:7. Moses said otherwise, Deuteronomy 4:40, 5:29, 6:24-25, 30:15-20.
- Paul declared he sinned because of the Law (this passage is really a piece of work), Romans 7:7-13. James told us that’s not so, James 1:13-14.
- Paul speaks against questions he considers foolish, and genealogies, Titus 3:9. Since genealogies are immensely important to Adam’s seed and Satan’s seed, one must wonder why Paul tells Titus to avoid them.
- Paul told slaves to be obedient to their masters, Ephesians 6:5. He re-enslaved Onesimus, Philemon 10-16. This is in direct conflict to the law, which provides freedom from slavery, Deuteronomy 23:15-16, Jeremiah 34:13-17. If Paul had been obedient to the Law, Onesimus would have been free. But, as we see from Paul’s action, he sent Onesimus back into bondage. God’s Law brings freedom; Paul’s freedom brings bondage.
- Paul pretends to be humble before Philemon, stating that he has written him with his own hand, and that if Philemon has been wronged, he (Paul) will repay (the debt), Philemon 1:19-20. He then adds a cheap shot stating that Philemon “owes” him. Paul says that he won’t say the very backhanded comment he actually says and stands judged by his own words.
- Paul claimed we should submit to governing authorities because they are established by God and give them whatever they demand and that if we don’t, we’re evil Romans 13:1-7, Titus 3:1. There is no biblical basis for this statement, unless it’s obedience to God’s Law.
Let’s take a look at some more of Paul’s claims;
- Paul claimed to be blameless (sinless) in the Law, Philippians 3:4-6.
- Paul devalued the Sabbath, Romans 14:5-6.
- Paul drew the church (ekklesia) to himself, not Jesus. Jesus warned of this happening, John 21:15-23. Jesus expressly told Peter to “follow thou me”.
- Paul claimed to be the “apostle to the Gentiles”, Galatians 2:7. Not so. All the apostles were told to preach the gospel to all the world, Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:27. Jesus didn’t teach or have a separate gospel for the Gentiles.
- Paul lied to the Gentile Galatians, because he was rejected by the Law abiding Jewish converts. The Gentiles didn’t keep the Law nor did they understand the Law, which made them easy converts for Paul’s doctrine.
- Paul claimed to have laid the foundation of the church, I Corinthians 3:10. Jesus said those “called out” would be built on Himself (the petra-rock), not Paul (or Peter), Matthew 16:18. (Greek ekklesia, means ‘a calling out’). Jesus didn’t promote a physical church hierarchy. He detested it.
- Paul claimed the title of “Father”, I Corinthians 4:15-16. Jesus said not to do this, Matthew 23:9.
- Paul preached his own gospel, Romans 16:25, I Corinthians 15:1, Galatians 1:6-7, I Timothy 2:8, 3:10. Jesus said to preach His gospel.
- Paul instructs the Corinthians “be ye followers of ME”, I Corinthians 4:16. To the Thessalonians: “ye became followers of US . . . and of the Lord”, I Thessalonians 1:6. To the Galatians: (Syria and Cilicia) “they glorified God in ME”, Galatians 1:24.
- Paul refers to his teachings as “MY gospel” and “ye are all partakers of MY grace”, Romans 2:16. 16:25, Philippians 1:7, II Timothy 2:8.
- Paul says “(I) suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man . . .” I Timothy 2:12.
- Paul “cursed” those who preached any other gospel than his, Galatians 1:8-9. Therefore he’s cursing James, Peter, and John, whom he mocks in Galatians Chapter 2.
- Paul (flat out) tells us he doesn’t speak for (pertaining to) Jesus, in a prelude to his boasting, II Corinthians 11:17.
- Paul said God revealed his Son in him, Galatians 1:15-16. What does he mean by this double entendre?
- Paul declared he was the last to see Jesus, I Corinthians 15:8.
- Paul bragged about speaking in tongues, I Corinthians 14:18-19. Neither Jesus nor the real apostles spoke in tongues. Speaking in tongues is only ever mentioned in Paul’s epistles, and the book of Acts, written by Paul’s alleged biographer Luke.
- Paul dispenses some Pharisaic teachings, Mithraism, and Kabbalahistic mysticism in I Corinthians 15:51, II Corinthians 12:2 and Ephesians 3:2, 4, 6:19. The third heaven is Ma’on, well known to Pharisees who practiced Kabbalah black magic.
- The real apostles never mentioned the word “Christian”. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, under the tutelage of Paul and Barnabas, Acts 11:25- 26. Christianity came from Paul’s teachings, not Jesus and the genuine apostle’s.
- Paul’s epistles had “things” that Peter declared “hard to be understood”, II Peter 3:15-17. Peter is not supportive of Paul in this passage. It’s anything but, and warns the reader to beware the error of the wicked (lawless, Greek aqesmos).
Some of Paul’s unique “inspirational gifts” to us, include the creation of unique words and terms found exclusively in his epistles such as:“Bishop, Deacon, Evangelist” and “Communion”, all “self inspired inventions”, that certainly turned out to be incredibly useful, to the church/state apparatus.
- Paul said that when the law was still in force, faith had not yet come, Galatians 3:23. However, he contradicts this in Romans 4:3, 22.
- Paul defended a lie because it “glorifies God” and then wondered why he was judged a sinner, Romans 3:7. He was caught lying and tried to wriggle out of it. He never grasped the concept that a lie is a lie and that it never glorifies God.
- Paul keeps insisting he’s not deceitful and does not lie. Why? Romans 9:1, II Corinthians 11:31, Galatians 1:20, Philippians 1:18, I Thessalonians 2:1-12, I Timothy 2:7.
- The real apostles are never once accused of lying as Paul is. Would Jesus lie “for the glory of God” as Paul did? It’s doubtful!
- Paul lied before the Sanhedrin, Acts 23:6-7. He said he was “called into question for the hope and resurrection of the dead”. The truth of the matter is that he was called into question on account of his anti-Law teachings, Acts 21:27-28.
- Paul lied again before Agrippa, about his conversion, Acts 26:12-19.
- Paul claimed Christ preached peace, Ephesians 2:17. Jesus said otherwise, Matthew 10:34-37, Luke 12:51.
Paul set himself equal to or above the apostles:
- Paul boasted he was equal to the chiefest apostles, II Corinthians 11:5, 12:11. Amazing! He’s not only boasting, he’s not even an apostle.
- Paul seems to be completely unaware that Jesus said; “the last will be first, and the first, last”, Mark 9:34- 35.
- Paul boasted of himself through God, II Corinthians 7:14, 10:8, 13; 11:16-17; 12:9. (He tells us he “could” boast, but “won’t” because he is the least. He used a disclaimer to tell us he wouldn’t do what he does.) James instructed against this, James 4:16.
- Paul’s boasting and declaration that he does not lie is creepy when you read II Corinthians Chapters 11 and 12.
- Paul states he is the one who may present the Corinthians as chaste virgins to Christ. In II Corinthians Chapter 11, verse 2. Not at all arrogant!
- In verse 8 Paul declares he “robbed” (despoiled) other churches to do service to the Corinthians. Nice! .
- In verse 10 Paul states that no man shall stop him from boasting in Achaia (Greece). He cleverly omits mentioning Asia and Judea, as the real apostles there would have stopped him.
- In verse 18 Paul glories after the flesh. He then tells us how great he is, but in Christ, more so than other ministers (verse 23).
- Paul’s humbleness is such, that if he needs to glorify himself (which he does), he will confine it to his infirmities (verse 30). Once again, he feels the need to assure his audience he doesn’t lie (verse 31).
In the Old Testament, God changed Abram’s name to “Abraham” and Jacob’s name to “Israel” and in the Gospels, Jesus changed Simon’s name to “Peter”. These were all divine name changes and meant for a purpose.
Paul on the other hand, just unilaterally changed his own name from “Saul” (which means “borrowed”) to “Paul” (which means ‘little’ or ‘small’), for his own purpose. No instruction there from God, Jesus or the angels to change his name.
Next we have Paul referring to Jesus as a “carnal” man (anthropos, a carnal man bereft of deity) who mediates between God and us, debasing Jesus’ stature, divinity and authority in one sweep. This is an overt act of blasphemy. Paul didn’t misunderstand the meaning of “anthropos”, as it’s used 560 times in the New Testament, 136 times by Paul alone.
Looked at in context, I Timothy Chapter 2 is typical of Paul. He begins by telling us to support those in authority and ends by bagging women. To make it sound nice, he throws in some fluffy and vague superlatives about God and Christ, but really says nothing.
The only meat we find is in verse 5, where Paul slips in one of his magnum doctrinal gems, hoping it will go unnoticed and calls Christ Jesus, the mediator,“anthropos” (a carnal man bereft of deity).
In verse 7, he decides to give himself some credibility, touting his ordination as a preacher. The question is, who ordained him? According to Paul, he was “ordained by his own apostleship” and by his “truthful speech in Christ”. Worried that someone may question the veracity of this tall tale, (as we certainly do), he assures us he “does not lie”.
Having pointed out numerous disturbing anomalies in Paul’s doctrine, it’s blatantly self evident that he didn’t go along with most of Jesus’ teachings, went to great lengths to hide what he was teaching from the original twelve apostles and had his own agenda.
This should be a gigantic red flag to everyone in Christianity, however, because it’s about Saint Paul, who over the last 2,000 years has been systematically elevated to a position just a smidgin below Christ, it’s clear that most of the facts have been conveniently ignored, for the sake of clarity.
The real Saul of Tarsus – Chapter 1
