In my last bog I referred to the house in which I am currently residing, as being that of a “‘family’ family of Christians, who take their religion seriously”. The lady of the house, one of my nieces, is an unofficial but intrepid interior decorator, who delights in fixing up her home. She is currently redecorating the small bathroom adjacent to the kitchen, and is to the point of starting to put things back in there, albeit around wallpaper sections still to be put up. One of said items is a sign (one of many similar motifed signs in various rooms around the house), that reads: ‘As For Me And My House/We Will Serve The Lord’. Oh dear….
I realize that many if not most people reading these pages are very busy in and with their lives (as is the case for my niece and her family), and don’t have the time to trace down various references that I provide to interesting research material, on a number of subjects. One of them is the modern ‘take’ on the creation of the Christian religion, as sleuthed out by one Joseph Atwill and reported on in his remarkable, eye-opening book ‘Caesar’s Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus’. The Story So Far:(1)
A Jewish general by the name of Josephus, during one of the Jews’s many revolts against the yoke of Rome, saw the writing on the wall, as it were, and, thinking to live to fight another day, went to the Roman general in charge of putting down this particular revolt in Judea - a man by the name of Vespasian - and said to him, in effect: I will help you become emperor, if you will give safe passage to me and some of my, er, friends. (Who happened to be members of the priestly line of the Jewish faith. As was he. A not so incidental part of the story.) One can imagine that Vespasian particularly raised his eyebrows at this upstart’s plea when Josephus made reference to having access to some of the secreted riches of the Temple in Jerusalem, which was being threatened with reactive retribution on the part of the Roman legions to the revolt. Particularly, since Vespasian, although ambitious, had no money, and thus had no means of greasing his way into the emperorship. So, to make the story short, a deal was struck, Josephus and ‘some of his friends’ (and their families) were adopted into what became the imperial household of Vespasian’s - called the Flavians (and thus the name for Josephus that has come down to our day, of Josephus Flavius) - and Josephus set about to make good on his promise.
Which was to help stop the Jews from their incessant and, to his eyes, futile rebellion against the might of Rome, which rebellion was fueled by one factor in particular: their religious belief in a Messiah who would come and deliver them from their enemies. Thus - in their minds - a militant Messiah.(2) Josephus - with the aid of some other members of the Flavian imperial household, who were well-educated Romans - saw the opportunity to change that mindset by concocting a story, which has come down to our day in the form of a religion called Christianity. The upshot (and only so to speak): The story of an itinerant preacher to the Jews who a) embodied all the characteristics of other god-men ‘known’ about in that day, from time immemorial; and who in addition b) counseled them to ‘Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,’ to obey authority, and to accept that ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ - that is, a pacifistic Messianic figure. Who could be made, by clever people, to ‘fulfill’ Jewish prophecy; and, after the fact, to be made to have ‘foretold’ the siege and sacking of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple there, back at the beginning of that very ('stiff-necked') generation. Thus, the fable about some goings-on in Judea back at the beginning of said generation, some 40 years before the actual historical event in what has come to be known in our day and Western calendar as 70 AD/CE.(3)
The gist of this subterfuge: the creation of a new religion, as an outgrowth of what became, in the creation of a New Testament, known as the Old Testament. A new religion that allowed the Jews ‘to live to fight another day,’ under new, less obstreperous - and thus reaction-creating - auspices. Which had two interesting features in particular:
1) the first members of it were - contrary to widespread belief, about the ‘downtrodden’ - members of the Flavian (augmented) household; and
2) the introduction into it of a) the primacy of the bishop of Rome (to give a central authority to the new institution of power), and b) the ‘policy’ of celibacy for its bishops (to make sure that no bishops outwith the control of those Jewish priests behind the scenes could pass on their power to their sons).
Not to say that it was an easy transfer of power. Rome already had its own such institutions, in the form of both religious ‘orders’ and military societies.(4) But patience, as they say, is a virtue.
In conclusion.
Another sign in another part of the house:
‘Family - It’s all about time.’
Indeed.
As to my title to this blog:
Nobody promised us a rose garden.
Until the End of
The Quest.
—
footnotes:
(1) I hesitate to use the expression ‘In a nutshell,’ for the opening it affords to critics - and zealous Christian believers especially - to make further comment on my state of mind. Hear me - and Mr. Atwill - out. That’s all I ask.
(2) And as acted out even after this time period by such zealots. Whom Josephus felt were causing more trouble for his fellow Jews than they were alleviating. Being too shortsighted to see the long picture. As he did.
(3) A particularly clever part of the charade was how Josephus wrote himself into his story as one of its characters: a Jew named Saul ‘become Paul’. Reflective of how he himself became another personage in the tale.
This feature of the overall story has been commented on by more researchers than Atwill. One of the main such researchers is Ralph Ellis; as recorded in a couple of his books on the general subject. Which I have also commented on in these pages previously. Another (part of the) story.
(4) Another interesting book as part of this whole ‘scene’ from our history: ’The Secret Society of Moses: The Mosaic Bloodline and a Conspiracy Spanning Three Millennia’ by Flavio Barbiero.
And this one really does need a read all its own, to those deeply interested in all this. To others: the title gives the gist away.
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