THE ROLE OF PAUL

THE ROLE OF PAUL
Any discussion about Christianity and its beliefs and practices cannot be complete
without an examination of the influence of Paul. Christian Bible scholars unanimously admit
that the formulation of what is now known as Christianity did not begin with Jesus but with
Paul. Every Bible produced contains more writings from Paul than anyone. In fact, all of the
books written by Paul in the Bible were written before any of the four gospels. This is a very
important fact. Does the layman Christian reflect on the radical differences between the
teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul? The gospels were written at a time when Paul’s
ideas had already begun to take hold among the ‘gentiles’. We have already touched upon the
prevalent religious ideologies that formed Paul’s interestingly diverse background. We know
that he was a Roman citizen who was a Jew and a murderer of Jesus’ followers from
amongst the Jews. He claims to have ‘seen’ the light on a road to Damascus wherein he saw
Jesus and was filled with the ‘Holy Spirit’ and was commanded to preach to the masses.
However, when we examine closely his recounting of this very convenient story as written
by someone called ‘Luke’ in Acts, we find that there is a mountain of inconsistency in these
testimonies. In the first account of the incident that appears in Acts 9:7, it is says, ‘And the
men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.’
Just a few pages later however, the testimony changes;
‘And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that
spake to me.’ (Acts23:9).
In these first two examples we see a major discrepancy. In one account the men with Paul
heard the voice but did not see a man. In the second account, they saw ‘light’ but did not
hear anything. In both examples, Jesus supposedly tells Paul to Arise and go into the city
(Damascus) and there he shall receive instruction. (Acts 9:6; 23:10) Alas, just a few chapters
later in his testimony to the King Agrippa, he says that Jesus actually gave him his mission
and instructions in detail right there on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:16-18). Could any of
this even hold up in a court of law? Are we to excuse these major inconsistencies from an
acknowledged enemy of Jesus and friend of Rome? How can we not accept similar disparate
witness testimony in judicial matters but in religious matters, we base our entire creed upon
accounts that are shaky at best? We have already shown the vast difference between the
gospel reports of Jesus painstakingly exhorting the people to stick to the letter of Moses’ law
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and Paul’s renunciation of the law. In Galatians 3:13 he writes, ’Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law’. And, ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law’
(Romans 3:28). This is the very opposite of what Jesus is reported to have said in the gospels;
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.
And Matt 19:16, 17;
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have
eternal life?
And He said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Paul even gives himself absolute authority to convert people to his way by any means, ‘All
things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.’(I Corinthians 6:12)
Jesus not only preached that the commandments of God be kept but he also kept them
himself. One cannot even imagine Jesus uttering such words yet they flow easily from the
pen of Paul without remorse. So who do the Christians actually follow, Jesus or Paul. Do
Christians follow Jesus in the worship of the One God;
Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy
mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. (Matthew 22:36-39) And Mark 12:29,
”…The first of all commandments is , Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord…”
Or do Christians follow Paul in the worship of Jesus as a resurrected man-deity who was
born on December 25th and who was killed and resurrected as a blood sacrifice on the 3rd
day during the spring re-birth season?
So what was Paul’s objective? It has been suggested that from the outset he was an open
enemy of the early Jewish sect of the followers of Jesus. Perhaps what is even more
intriguing is the suggestion that he went from open opposition to the early followers of Jesus
on behalf of the Roman Empire to what we have come to know today as ‘covert ops’. To
put it plainly, he may have been history’s most famous ‘secret’ agent.
A.D Ajijola states,
“Startling though the suggestion may be, it does seem at least possible that Paul was some species of Roman
agent. ’Eisenman in his book Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran’ was led to this conclusion on
reading the scrolls themselves, then found the references in the New Testament to support it “( The Hijacking
of Christianity).
Ajijola goes on to say,
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“St. Paul urged his disciples to obey Rome who was ordained by God. This was an acquiescence in the
political status quo. Consequently, the Pauline Christian doctrine was fitted from the start to become the
official religion of the Roman Empire.”
Is this the person that the Christian derives their concept of the Creator of all that exists in
the universe? Is Paul a reliable enough authority in monotheism for the Christian to take his
religion from? If we take the Bible as a whole and examine the God that was described and
worshiped by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David,
Solomon, Isaiah, and all of the Prophets including the clear description of God and that was
worshipped and praised by Jesus in the gospels and contrast this with the concept of God
beginning where Paul’s writings monopolize the rest of the Bible, we must conclude that the
part that does not align with the basis laid down by the previous Prophets must originate
from somewhere else. When we also take into consideration the fact that the worship of
sun-gods, man-gods, sacrificed and risen deities who were all born during the winter solstice
of December 25th permeated the Roman Empire, parts of Asia, North Africa, and Northern
Europe, we began to see the influence of those beliefs and practices in Paul’s formation of
Christianity.