Paul - the First Heretic

St. Paul and his False Christianity

Saul of Tarsus aka Paul near singlehandedly usurped the oral apostolic tradition, those men who initially preached the Word, and walked, listened and personally knew Jesus of Nazareth. After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, obeying their master’s command, travelled and taught Jews, Gentiles and anyone that was prepared to learn the true path to His Father. Paul’s remarkable energy, intelligence and over-compensated ego, traversed the country hailing the infant religion throughout the Middle East, Asia Minor and certain areas of Europe. This new zealot of “The Way” recorded his self-proclaimed, personal connection to the Divine. These God inspired words and thoughts, the zealot scribed in many letters, which were copied and disseminated throughout the ancient world. Paul’s “divinely” inspired writings influenced many, evolving to become the most popular religion on the planet.

History can be a hard task master. The winds of change catapulted the original followers of Jesus into a darkness of anonymity. The inner circle of Christs’ most devout disciples, were dispersed in all directions, across the Middle East.  This cruel deconstruction of the first converts to Christ was largely due to theological in-fighting, and later, the “Great Rebellion”, the violent Jewish uprising against the Roman occupation, resulting in the near genocide of the Jewish population living in Judea during 70-74 CE. According to Josephus, a Jewish historian and Roman citizen recorded that over one million Semites perished in the conflict. Combine the unrelenting Roman persecution of the early Christians; it is remarkable the church survived at all. Early on in the movement, we must include civil unrest simmering under the surface across Judea because of Roman occupation. More pressing again, however, specifically, the internal conflict, manifesting in religious power struggles between Conservative Jews, Moderate Jews, and Christian Jews, concerning the Law in relation to Gentiles coming into the fold. In the end, a complete separation from the Jewish Christian sect, resulting in Gentile dominance, due to the heretical teachings of Paul, in the Church.

Information about this tumultuous time is limited to a few sources. According to the scribe of the Acts, Luke, an alleged publican, whom we are told was a devout follower of St Paul, informed us subtly that the holy teachings during this period were unstable. The “prince of the apostles”, for example, is conspicuously absent after Chapter 12.  Peter is mentioned again, perhaps twice, to then drop off the map completely. The Apocrypha texts, The Gospel of Peter, et al, decidedly viewed as unreliable, attempt to fill in the blanks, but most read like fiction or mythical tales.  If Peter did travel to Rome, converting numerous Roman Gentiles, and consequently martyred, this would only further substantiate our thesis. (See Chapter xx)

The Acts of the Apostles inform the reader of a disturbing and sudden shift for the new Christians. Rising from this intended, imposed violence, and theological conflict between the radical Orthodox Jews, Christian Jews and Gentile converts’, reaches a violent pitch, a drastic and vastly heretical interpretation of Christianity goes on to rise 

Regarded and interpreted by many theologians, the man’s fanatical genius for confusion and pubescent bravado, Paul of Tarsus, turned his back on the inner circle of Christian Jews. He then confronted the “lead” apostle, and later wrote about the hypocrisy of Simon Peter in a letter, wallowing in doubt between the Orthodox hierarchy, ordering all gentile converts to adhere to the Law, demanding circumcision, or to follow Paul’s interpretation of the Word of Jesus, revealing the path of faith, redemption and salvation. We see Peter’s sudden reversal of loyalty, having previously sent a vision by the Spirit informing him that Gentiles are not unclean, thus the first of gentiles blessed by the Holy Spirit .He hypocritically sides with the Jewish elders, turning his back on Paul. The Nazarene told the apostles their mission and stewardship, to travel into friendly lands and enemy land, too, There is never a command to avoid gentiles, but to tell all about the son of man. Peter betrayed Jesus by denying Him once before his death, only to betray him again after death. Granted, he was given responsibility to convert the circumcised, and Paul assigned to the gentiles, however, he turns his back on the Nazarene, again.     

The “lead” apostle, he that was handed the keys to heaven and hell from the Son of Man, caved under the strict presence of the Jewish Elders. Further, our reluctant apostle, on the surface, betwixt and between, appearing as he has for many years: weak with no idea of the virtuous or holding steadfast for others or indeed for himself – a false persona, intent on never dropping his mask- “Fallen Angel as sociopath”, fooling all and sunder  however, this behaviour has never made sense. Once again, Simon Peter, supported by Church Fathers down through the ages, changed his mind about gentile converts siding with the Nazarene elect. Paul then boasts about standing up to the inner circle, calling Peter a hypocrite. The heretic from Tarsus walked away from that meeting, and the inner circle, going against James the Just, in a much more violent manner, than we read in Acts. Reading the exchange between James the Just (Brother to Jesus) and Paul of Tarsus, in their respective Epistles, on closer examination, reveals the schism as anything but peaceful.

To many disturbed and embarrassed followers of Jesus Christ, the “Wind-bag” from Tarsus was victorious. Then and now and in the future, converts to Christianity will no longer be too concerned about their souls’ future health. Paul of Tarsus has guaranteed their blissful salvation in the After Life. All due, of course, because of a humble Jew from Nazareth, having suffered and sacrificing his life to cleanse all our sins. There is no obligation for us to act like honest men, love and put Jesus’ teachings into action – simply believe and have faith - following the ranting promise of this self-proclaimed apostle. Relax and be patient. Our gift of salvation will come upon our death.

The contradictions and abnormal behaviour of Paul of Tarsus, particularly in the Acts, running circles around the original Christian Jews, including James, the brother of Jesus, is difficult to absorb and comprehend. Paul’s behaviour borders on the pathological. James the Just was a respected member of the Semitic community in Jerusalem. He had a sharp mind, observant, and intelligent enough to compromise with Paul of Tarsus, when the Jewish/Gentile controversy was reaching an explosive moment amongst the vastly opinionated Semitic community. The brother of Jesus was a man that held firm to his convictions. He was a unique individual. James was the type of person that always needed to get right to the point, and never suffered fools gladly. Before James was executed, (ordered by a jealous and fearful High Priest of the Sadducees for disobeying the Law) wrote to Paul, arguing that salvation cannot be attained through faith alone; his brother Jesus preached that works, i.e., loving one’s fellow man, giving to the poor and loving God is essential. Faith is important, in so far as motivating one to do good works. James’ execution, we believe, had a drastic effect on the early Christian’s, enabling the inverted and invented writings of Paul to take dominance. 

Again, we can glean from the Acts that Simon Peter was heard to be involved in a religious scandal, causing a significant upset across the Nazarene community. This scandal could have harmed the reputation of the fledgling religion. Again, Simon Peter vanishes from the scene. (See chapter 7.)

Reading the Homilies of Clement 1 and the histories of Flavius Josephus, the leader of the Nazarenes, James the Just, is reported to have been involved in an assault. Anti-Nazarene terrorists invaded a synagogue where James was preaching. After causing havoc verbally, the terrorists started beating on members of the congregation - a full blown riot ensued. A “Saul” attacked James the Just, tossing him down the temple stairs, breaking both his legs. The attacker, believing the apostle was dead, retreated into the night. As said above, some years later, James is charged by a High Priest, Ananus ben Ananus, and brought before a Sanhedrin (council of judges) and condemned to death by stoning for breaking the “Law”. James’ untimely death was a savage blow for the Nazarenes. Josephus the Roman historian, recorded in his texts, that many Jews believed his death sparked the Great Rebellion. Consequently the original apostles’ fall silent, except for St. Paul’s tireless, boastful evangelism.

End of Part 1.