The Reactions to the Action of Jesus and the Apostles, and their Evolution

The Reactions to the Action of Jesus and the Apostles, and their Evolution

Writer: Evangelos D. Kepenes (Athens, February 19, 2020, 23:59)

The "Pax Romana" (Peace of Rome) achieved militarily by Caesar Augustus contributed to the economic and social stability of the multinational Roman Empire. What all pagan nations believed was also believed by Roman politicians, for whom the continuation of Roman power depended on the religious devotion to its objects of worship, especially on the religious devotion to the person of "the divine son of god," Caesar (the surname of the monarch Julius Caesar was adopted as a royal title) and "Eternal Rome." Anyone who called himself a king was considered an enemy of Rome and was killed.

The latter was the cause of the crucifixion of Jesus, whose death sentence was not religious, "because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (John 5:18)," but political, because "every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar (John 19:12)," according to the misleading accusation of the Jews whose intension was to kill Jesus.

“Then the Pharisees went out, and took counsel against him, how they might kill him.” (Mat. 12:14)

But the reason for the destruction of Jerusalem and its earthly Temple, which was the result of the failed revolution of the Jewish nationalists / Zealots, who thought they would emerge victorious because of their fine biological origin, was both political and religious. It was political because they denied the Roman occupation, and religious because those who did not worship the image of the Emperor and Eternal Rome and did not receive the mark of the beast or the number of his name, were killed. (See: "The Beasts of Revelation”)

However, the consequences of the "Pax Romana" (application of Roman law, common language, road and seaport network, common currency), were favorable for the realization of all kinds of missions and the circulation of goods and ideas. In addition, the organization of the Jewish synagogues in the nations facilitated the spread of the divine message, which united the scattered elect, from the ten-tribe house of Israel and from the two-tribe house of Judah, under Jesus, the Prince of life; a union that fulfilled Hosea's prophecy and was the "womb" of the first Jewish disciples (beginning). (Hosea 1:9-11, 1 Peter 2:10, John 11:51-52)

The preaching of the chosen Jewish apostles, who said what they saw and heard from Jesus and "who did not follow cunningly devised fables," had two fronts of resistance and reaction. It was first confronted with the Jewish, Davidic, nationalistic faith (Pharisaic Judaism) and the occult Jewish tradition, which were powerful Jewish sects, and Jewish magicians (Acts 13:6). Then, through the apostle Paul and his associates, it was confronted with the local, national religious faith, with forms of occultism and magic, and with the then widespread contradictory Greek thought and Mythology.

These fronts were confronted by Jesus' authorized representatives and servants of the Word, not by imperial threatening laws (edicts) or by armed violence, but by preaching and teaching and by the actions of the Holy Spirit [1]. The reactions and plots of those opposed, as well as the biblical deviations and theological mixtures caused by those who came to the faith of Jesus with a Zionist or mythological pagan history, were strong and varied.

Thus, those of the Jewish believers (Judeo-Christians) who were zealous of the Law and the patriarchal traditions (Acts 21:20) brought Zionist ideas, Old Testament practices and Jewish occult myths into the newly formed Jewish Christian communities. Likewise, the Gentile Believers (Ethno-Christians) brought their own ancient religious, mythological perceptions and prejudices, and occult knowledge, which they mixed with the apostolic Doctrine; a fact which contributed in the institutional imposition of the "Orthodox" point of view and to a large extent in the consolidation of the transformed Christianity in the national world, since the National converts recognized common elements of faith.

The result of these mixtures was the creation of new religious tendencies and currents and the establishment of unorthodox and rival, personal, religious, messianic movements and churches, named after either their respective founder, who as a bearer of a liberating message was unquestionable, or their practices.

These movements provoked chronic dogmatic controversies, often violent, with the "Orthodox" philosophical mystical tendency, which was stronger financially and supported by the ruling elite, resulting in their marginalization or persecution. Apart from their beliefs, another reason for their persecution was that they denounced the arbitrariness of power and the greed and immorality of the rich and the clergy. Those who survived the persecution moved to other parts of the East or elsewhere to be rescued. As a result, they came in contact with new beliefs and local cultures, and they produced again new religious mixtures and sects.

Most of these movements had various dyarchic Gnostic systems, world-renouncement, messianic expectations, lost paradises, and the expectation of the dominant appearance of evil (Antichrist) as a common denominator of faith. According to them, the appearance of the Antichrist as a world leader, will drag God a) into the "Final" war between good and evil [2] (eschatological war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness), b) into the "Judgment" of people and c) into the classification of people in Paradise or Hell (in the Paradise of Hymns or in the House of Lies, according to the Zoroastrians). Then, the "End" of the existing sensible world through ekpyrosis (conflagration) and the appearance of a new "ideal world" with the Divine Order restored will come.

These mythological notions present God, about whom the psalmist sings, "O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." (104:24) as an experimental maker of the world, who toils to achieve the ideal creation and ultimately save Himself, since His ultimate goal, according to the Gnostics and others, is the restoration of His fullness, that is, the reunion of "His pieces" that fell from their heavenly home and incarnated in matter.

Most of these eschatological fantasies are also found in the worldview of Persian Zoroastrianism or Mazdaism, founded by the Persian magician Zarathustra or Zoroaster, with Zurvanism as a variant [3]. The Zoroastrians believed in a competitive dualism and evolved to invent their own peculiar trinity, Oromasdes or Ahura Mazda (the incarnation of the good), Mithras (the good spirit, god of light, mediator, savior, overseer and ruler of the world) and Ahriman (the incarnation of evil), which is related to the three primordial Principles of the Sethian Gnostics, "Light - Breath (Spirit) - Darkness" [4].

Contrary to some philosophical tendencies, such as Platonism, which taught that the world is eternal like its archetype, eschatological fantasies are also found in other ancient religions and demonic oracles (Sibylline oracles) and are reproduced to this day by various Eastern and Western religions, thus altering both the Old Testament worldview and the New Testament worldview, and putting humanity in anticipation of its end, turning the "here and now," the non-fixed-term, the eternal, the life-giving message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, into a utopia.

«Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.» (John 3:36)

«And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.» (Luk. 1:5ο)

According to their dynamics and usefulness, these religious movements received the appropriate political support, which determined their consolidation and classification in the secular religious scene. Through these underground historical paths of interaction and institutional or extra-institutional mutual annihilation (religious wars, persecutions) of the Zionist, Gnostic, Zoroastrian, "Orthodox," mythological and other religious movements, the modern mosaic Christian doctrines and national Churches was formed and evolved.

However, their exponents failed to convince humanity of the existence of a "Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" and of the fixed truths that God is love in a universal sense, that He is One (not dyadic or triadic or tetradic, etc.), and that he is the Giver of Eternal Life, without the need to perform dead formal rituals or theurgies, and without the need for the existence of institutionalized and hierarchical -paid (professional) or unpaid- priesthoods.

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

It should also be noted that since the Middle Ages, Kabbalah (originated from the word "Kibbel," which means "reception"), a timeless system of Jewish theosophy based on the occult Jewish oral tradition, Neoplatonism and its theology, and biblical beliefs, has played an important role in the interpretation of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity, influencing the Renaissance. Kabbalah is likened to a "tree of life" by its followers, is based on the geocentric system and has close relations with Gnostic beliefs and the search for ideal worlds. Today, Kabbalah plays an important role in the internet (See: "The Internet as a New Way of Initiation") and in the transformation of the real world into a digital world (virtual reality), which is the fulfillment of its utopia for a new future world.

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Notes

[1] The first church did not persecute the opposed ones. The books of the magicians were not burned by the Apostles, but by the magicians themselves, who performed magic. “And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.” (Acts 19:19)

The Romans hated magic. According to the Roman historian Suetonius, in 13 BC, Caesar Augustus ordered two thousand books of magic to be burned. In 95 BC, the Roman Senate forbade the human sacrifice made by the Celtic magicians (Druids). Also, Claudius expelled the astrologers, the Druids and the Jews from Rome. (Acts 18:1)

[2] "The kingdom of God will be fulfilled not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil..." ("Catechism of the Catholic Church," Kaktos publications, Athens, 1996, p. 227)

[3] In the 8th century, Persia converted to Islam violently. Today, ambassadors of Zoroastrianism exist in India, Iran and Iraq; they are called "Parsis" and they worship fire as a means of spiritual insight and prevention of spiritual darkness and evil, and as a symbol of purification. In the 17th century, fire-worshipers were also referred to as "Guebres."

[4] "The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics" by Jean Doresse.

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