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BET EMET MINISTRIES
Hebrew For "The House Of Truth"
PAUL...THE TRUE FOLLOWER OF THE JEWISH CHRIST...OR...SUBVERTER OF THE FAITH OF THIS JEWISH CHRIST AND FOUNDER OF A NEW RELIGION?
Disclaimer: It is important for the reader to understand that in this website, in comparing the teaching contained in the New Testament concerning this monumental figure of Paul, we must make some "assumptions" right from the beginning in order to contrast the two conflicting "Pauls" of the New Testament. Scholarly study today shows us that there are two completely different Pauls that are portrayed in the New Testament and many of our readers have surmised as such by noticing for themselves the many "conflicting" and "contradicting" passages assumed from the pen of the Apostle Paul. Something is amiss and most of us at first just cannot figure this out or put our finger on the reason. But with in-depth study the answers come. First we find the traditional Paul of Christian theology and this is the Paul we have been taught our whole Christian lives. With deeper study, however, we uncover the "Gnostic Paul" which I have found in my personal study over these last 20 years, to be the more "authentic" and "historical" of the two. But behind these two depictions of Paul we find a 5 century battle of conflicting "theologies" between Gnosticism and early Gnostic Christianity and a later Roman presentation of a "remanufactured Paul" whereby all "Gnostic" understandings of Paul and his original presentation of a "non-historical" Christ Jesus, the "Christ Within", have been "literalized" and "carnalized". This is the Paul we never hear about in the New Testament but lies on the pages of our Roman New Testaments. We have been taught our whole lives to "literalize" everything we read assuming that this is the normal and correct way to interpret these 2000 year old texts we read. Nothing could be further from the truth once you separate out the "Gnostic Paul" form the "Literalized" and "Romanized Paul" which is so negative to the Law as found in the this New Testament given us by Rome. Finally this destruction of the Gnostic Paul by the early Gentile Church will win out by the 5th century and the truths of Judaism as well as the truths surrounding this "Gnostic Jesus" or the "Gnostic Christ", which have been taught for thousands of years pervious in almost every nation, will be destroyed almost beyond recognition by Rome. To cap it all off Rome will cover-up this deception by burning down the libraries of the world to hide this Ancient Wisdom that has taught the "Christ in you" as the "ONLY " Christ since the foundation of the world. In analyzing this Paul in the New Testament and his divergence, or should I say the "Roman divergence" from first century Judaism and what they taught about the "human" Messiah as well as the "pattern of worship" given to the "non-Jew" by God we present the facts and evidences in the forthcoming articles on this Website for your evaluation and study. We will be unveiling the many historical truths concerning the non-Jewish "believer" in the first century against the later alterations and changes made to this "pattern of worship" by the emerging Roman Gentile Church of Rome in the 3rd century and in so doing I will use a "literal-historical" approach to the "Jesus Story". In other words I will compare the "Romanized Paul" as found in the New Testament and his supposed teaching of a "historical" and "literal Jesus Christ" as well as the Roman theology presented in his name with the older Hebrew texts which are later forged by Rome in this "anti-Gnostic Paul's name".In so doing I will show you that this Romanized presentation of Paul's supposed teaching of Jesus as the "historical Messiah" is absolutely contrary and opposite to what the "unforged" Hebrew Scriptures teach. I will further demonstrate beyond any doubt how the purposeful mistranslation, purposeful misquotation, and purposeful taking of the Hebrew Scriptures out of context, as well as pure "Scriptural Invention" served the purposes of a Judaism-rejecting Rome and how they put these contrary "theologies" and "religious doctrines" into the mouth of this "non-historical" Paul of their own invention. In other words the "Romanized Paul" is a lie and the teachings that emanate from him. The only hope of ever recovering the truth about this real Paul is to become acquainted with him as the "Gnostic Paul" who only taught one "Christ"; that being the "Christ within" all mankind. This dear one is important, very important, and I strongly suggest that the reader keep this in mind because in this website I am not kind to this "Roman Paul" but on others I am very kind and redemptive to the real Paul, that being the "Gnostic Paul" to which Rome will give greats to effort to destroy over the next 5 centuries of the emerging Gentile Roman Church. In doing these studies it is my intent that you, the reader, come to understand that both within Judaism of yesterday, as well as today, is the place God gave the "non-Jew" to find his relationship with Him. We call this today being a "Godfearer" and not a "Christian" if I might be so blunt for the theologies for each are completely different in many regards. But you will see this as you go through his website as I compare for you the truths of Judaism vs the lies of the emerging Roman Gentile Church as they literally alter and change the teachings of this authentic Paul let alone the presentation of this "Jesus Christ". I don't expect you to believe this right now until your studies advance to the study of Egypt and Egyptian religion but we find the concepts that the real Gnostic Paul taught about "the Christ" all the way back in Ancient Egypt some 10,000 years B.C.E. as well as (you better set down for this one) the name of "Jesus Christ" as well. But along with this is the reverence for the Laws and Commandments of God in Ancient Egypt as well and Rome will not have this so they alter these concepts at the point of a sword and the rest is history. A history by the way that so few ever knew.
If you have studied and ran across some of our other websites then you know that "the Christ" can be interpreted from 3 different perspectives down through recorded history: "mystical", "mythological", and "literal-historical". Only after one has spent a considerable time in dedicated and scholarly studies in such areas as Biblical Judaism, the facts concerning the true Jewish Messiah and true Messianic prophecy as taken from the Hebrew Scriptures and not the later forged texts of Rome and their false presentation of Paul, comparative manuscript evidences which show these forgeries, the real history and origin of the "Second" Roman New Testament which replaces the "First Gnostic New Testament", the true origin and creation of the New Testament which we carry today, the "Gnostic Paul" vs the "falsified Roman Paul", the Essenes and their "literal godman", Ancient Wisdom literature, Jewish and Gentile Gnosticism, Egyptian religion and the ancient "Jesus Story" that begins with Ancient Egypt, Comparative religions, Astronomy and Astrotheology, etc. can one understand and be certain which two of the above three methods of interpretation of "the Christs", let alone the "real Paul", are accurate and factual. Again for purposes of comparing Judaism's truths vs Gentile Roman Christianity's alterations of it over the early centuries and the implications that this holds for the "non-Jew" and "Godfearer" today then we adopt in this website and for all studies in this website a supposed "literal-historical" interpretation of "the Christ" as well as this Jesus of the New Testament. Only in so doing can we adequately contrast the truths of Judaism vs Christian theology and by so doing follow the lineage of these "Divine Truths" back down the corridors of history to the earliest Divine revelations given to mankind by the Creator which were intended for both "Gentiles" and "Jews" as well. You will, in time, come to see that there is a "Pattern" to the worship of God given all mankind in the beginning of recorded history of the race and this "pattern" can be traced throughout recorded history and will culminate with Biblical Judaism and you will come to see in time by your own personal study that the true Gnostic Paul and this "Pattern of Worship" originally given all mankind by God will subsequently be destroyed in the 3rd century and later by the emerging antisemitic Roman Church. I will let you be the judge of the results of such studies and leave to the reader to draw the necessary conclusions as we attempt to compare Jewish and Christian theological perspectives, and especially in this Website the "real" vs "the false" Paul all the while dealing with the "New Testament Jesus" in a "literal-historical" manner in order for such an accurate comparison to be done effectively. Now let us begin such a serious study that goes to the very core of what we are taught in our Christian Faith. Craig Lyons M.Div.
Two people dominate the pages of the New Testament more than any others: Jesus and Paul. These two men were quite different from each other in many ways:
Jesus was a charismatic prophetic figure from Galilee, Paul a Greek-speaking intellectual and letter writer. But both played a vital part in the establishment and early development of the Christian movement. A question has been asked for ages with varying responses but today we have the ability to answer it correctly when those long before were deprived of the information and facts necessary to come to the truth regarding this question.
Answer for yourself: What was the relationship between these two influential men and was Paul a true follower of Jesus or did he purposefully alter and change the religion of Jesus in his preaching to the Gentile world and thereby lay the foundation for the creation of a new and competing world religion by Rome that is called Christianity today?
As far as we know, they never met during Jesus' lifetime. Paul was in Jerusalem not long after Jesus' death, and some people have suggested that he must have seen Jesus during his ministry. But there is no indication of this in his letters. When he does speak of having "seen the Lord" the reference is to his conversion experience [1 Cor 9:1; 15:8] (Fraser, Jesus and Paul, p. 46-47. But according to the book of Acts, Paul came into contact with followers of Jesus very soon after Jesus' death. He fiercely opposed them at first, but then after his dramatic conversion he joined them and became (in his own words) a "slave of Jesus Christ" (Rom 1:1).
It is commonly assumed that from this point on Paul's relationship to Jesus was that of a faithful follower. As a self-confessed "slave" of Jesus - and like other Christian converts through the ages - he was very interested in the life and teaching of his master. He held Jesus in the highest regard and tried to base his own life and teaching on what he knew of Jesus. So it is supposed when one regards the testimony in the New Testament?
Answer for yourself: Could this "tradition" and "testimony" of the New Testament be fraudulent since today it can be prove than non-Jews were responsible for the writing of the New Testament and not the Jewish apostles who knew Jesus best?
Answer for yourself: Has the New Testament faithfully committed down through the ages the testimony of the Jewish Church of Jerusalem as they knew and understood Paul, or could the story of Paul have been altered on purpose to make him the hero of Gentile Christianity?
However, that assumption about Paul, which we have heard since childhood and as recorded in the New Testament, has not gone unchallenged. Indeed, in recent years a quite different view has become influential. Far from meekly following Jesus, it has been and is suggested by many scholars of high repute, that Paul, or this "Romanized Paul" was an innovator who brought into Christianity all sorts of ideas and emphases that complicated and spoiled the original, simple religion of this assumed "historical Jesus".
This sort of view was and has been put forth forcefully to many over the centuries by many who, throughout history, have had access to information that the vast majority of Christendom today does not even know exits. I, as well as many others, have located personally and collect vast amounts of information amassed over the centuries that reveals a completely different perspective to this "Apostle to the nations" and this "first Christian." If you begin a comprehensive study into this area of Christian history, and have the ability to go beyond the "spin doctoring" by Gentile religious authorities over the ages, you can find "earth shattering evidence" that brings the traditional understanding of Paul crashing to the ground. These many "true followers of Jesus" as well as scholars throughout history who have such information come together in a unanimous conclusion that informs the interested reader that many of the "unhealthy" and "unpleasant" aspects of Christianity "find their origin in Paul." Among the things for which Paul may be held partly responsible are negative attitudes toward women, sexuality and the human body, and Jews. He also had authoritarian tendencies, and supported (implicitly) the social status quo in regard to slavery. Karen Armstrong comments:
"When I turn back to study the life and teachings of Jesus it seems that Paul has not only been an important influence on Christianity, but that in a very real sense he was its founder. He could be called the first Christian" (Armstrong, The First Christian, 12, 13).
The fullest and most forceful scholarly presentation of this view in recent years was published in 1986 by the well-known Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby. In his significantly entitled book The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity, Maccoby calls Paul "an adventurer" and "the greatest, fantasist of all"; he explains that "it was Paul who founded Christianity" as we know it today (and, indeed, as it is found in most of the NT). Paul, influenced by Greek ideas and the Greek mystery religions, invented the "myths" of Jesus' divinity and sacrificial death and was also the "creator of the eucharist" (Maccoby, Mythmaker, 15, 113, 204, etc.). Let me stop right here and recommend for all interested readers that there is probably not a more earth shattering expose on the truth about the Apostle Paul ever done to my knowledge and I personally consider this book a "must read" for anyone wanting to meet God and not be guilty of idolatry because it reveals the insidious synthesis of Paul in the presentation of "his gospel" instead of the "gospel of Jesus." He agrees with Armstrong about Paul's other unpleasant contributions to Christianity.
This view of Paul, even though it is stated polemically and in an extreme form by Maccoby, is one with which many less extreme scholars have had and still have sympathy. The view of Maccoby, Armstrong, and others, has a long and respectable scholarly pedigree. If you would like to read and see for yourself the history of scholarly discussion of the Jesus-Paul question I recommend Furnish's "The Jesus-Paul Debate" and Wilson's From Jesus to Paul. Both trace the modern debate back to F. C. Baur, the influential nineteenth-century Tubingen scholar, who postulated a major divergence in the early church between the Jerusalem apostles and Paul. Fraser, in Jesus and Paul, p. 9, lays some of the blame for this view on the philosopher Nietzsche, who saw Paul as "the genius of hatred" and as a "morbid crank" who ruined the good news of Jesus the Savior.
Wrede, the influential German scholar, who in his book on Paul at the start of this century called Paul (or should I say this Romanized Paul) "The Second Founder Of Christianity" (Wrede, Paul, p. 179). Many scholars since then have argued that Paul (along with others) turned the Jewish prophet Jesus into a Gentile God and made Christianity what it has been ever since. One only need read Joseph Klausner's From Jesus to Paul, on page 581 to see the same testimony by a Jewish Scholar no less.
More recently Geza Vermes comments in Jesus and the World of Judaism, p. 56-57, that "little by little, the Christ of Pauline theology and his Gentile church took over from the holy man of Galilee." Similarly in Religion of Jesus, p. 212, he asks:
"Is it an exaggeration to suggest that oceans separate Paul's Christian gospel from the religion of Jesus the Jew"?
It is not only Jewish scholars who have seen things in this way: others who posit a significant gap between Jesus and Paul include Casey in From Jewish Prophet to Gentile God and B. Mack in The Lost Gospel. Mack, like Maccoby, uses the language of "mythmaking" when speaking of Christian origins and traces many of the central Christian "myths" to Paul and the Pauline congregations (e.g., pp. 215-22).
It is not only scholars who have argued this. Many ordinary Christians, as well as non-Christians, have found Paul extremely difficult, and feel that Christianity would be very much better off without some of the dogmas that "he propounds (e.g., the divinity of Jesus and Jesus" death as a blood sacrifice), not to mention his teachings on sex, women, and slaves. They would be quite happy if we could keep Jesus, but quietly lose Paul. I can add my own personal testimony of finding the same as I began a serious study of Paul many years ago and I uncovered what the many before me had found existing "outside the New Testament." It never ceases to amaze me how the hundreds of different pieces of evidence, manuscripts, books, archeological evidences, and facts that exist that expose the Pauline Problem have been kept from the general populace, and in their place, we find that "one book" rules supreme.
Answer for yourself: Was Paul a faithful follower of Jesus or the founder of a new religion that would eventually replace Biblical Judaism as a world religion?
Answer for yourself: What evidence exists, both inside and outside the New Testament, that will help us determine the answer to the above question and have you ever seen such evidence for yourself in order that you can give an intelligent answer to the above question?
Bet Emet Ministries is devoting this website to providing such evidence in hopes that the normative Christian can learn from it and make necessary adjustments in both his religious belief system as well as his conduct. It is not my purpose to hurt anyone or their faith, nor is it my purpose to unfairly judge the Apostle Paul, but truth is paramount and I will let the evidence speak for itself. If you have the courage and strength for such a study, then as a typical Christian your life will never be the same. I will warn you beforehand that you will experience every emotion possible as your study this material; grief, tears, heartbrokenness, anger, etc., as you finally, possibly for the first time in your life, come to the truth about many things that up to now you accepted by "faith only" when serious study could have prevented both of us living parts of our lives deceived.
When one is finished with this website and the facts and evidences presented in it I strongly urge the student and reader to balance out what he has been shown here with the other side of the coin where he can see for himself the truth behind the "Gnostic Paul" and the truth behind what this Gnostic Paul originally taught concerning the "Gnostic Christ" and that can be found at our other Website revealing this "Historical Gnostic Paul" and the truth behind the early Gnostic Christian Faith before it was destroyed by the emerging Gentile Roman Church. But first things first. Let us look at this "Romanized Paul" which we have been taught our whole lives as Christians and followers of "the Jewish Christ" and let us see how Rome has destroyed and altered this earlier truths that the real historical Paul believed which both were and are yet taught by Biblical Judaism. We trace in this website how the earliest "Christian" believed in the "Christ within" and not "a Christ without" as this Romanized Paul will present at the hands of Rome. We see how the ancient religious allegories were understood not only by these ancients who were given them by God and Spiritual Revelation but by the Gnostic Jews and Gentiles in the earliest centuries of the church as well long before Rome will come an "literalize" all of it and give it a fictitious historical timeline in creating a "historical Jesus". In so doing we will see how the earliest New Testament expressing these allegorical Divine truths is butchered by Rome and destroyed and how we end up with the forgery we have today. Never let it be said that archeology and hard study are not our friends. Now let us be ruthless in our search for truth as we examine this Paul given us by Rome in their New Testaments.
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