Jesus, a great teacher,
considered himself to be the
long-awaited Messiah for the
Jews. He believed that God would
overthrow Rome and bring His
kingdom to earth. In preparation
for this, Jesus taught a message
of unconditional love, tolerance,
and non-judgmental acceptance
of everyone. Alas, Jesus mission
of inaugurating a new earthly
age failed when the Romans
crucified him.
Jesus followers, believing that
God had raised their rabbi from
the dead, continued to meet in
Jerusalem under the leadership
of James, Jesus brother. Their
intention was to await the still-
coming kingdom and continue
observing Jesus brand of
enlightened Judaism. But along
came Saul of Tarsus, who faked a
conversion in order to infiltrate
the church. Peter and James and
others who had actually known
Jesus were suspicious of Saul,
who had never met Jesus.
Then Saul, who started calling
himself Paul, had a stroke of
genius. He artfully combined
traditional Hebrew ideas with
those of pagan Greek philosophy,
creating a new religion that
could appeal to both Jews and
Gentiles. He began preaching that
Jesus was actually God, that
Jesus death was linked to the
Jewish system of sacrifice, that
one could be saved by simply
believing, and that the Mosaic
law was obsolete. Pauls zealous
missionary activity and
persuasive writings took his new
gospel around the Roman
Empire. The Jerusalem Church,
including Peter and James,
disowned Paul as a heretic and
cult leader.
After the destruction of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the Jewish
Church lost authority, but the
Gentile Church founded by Paul
increased its influence. One of
Pauls fervent followers wrote the
book of Acts, which gave Paul
legendary status with its glowing
portrayal of him as the hero of
the church. Later, four unknown
writers gathered scraps of
information about Jesus and
wrote books they called
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
Johnbut Pauls theology,
already dominant in the church,
tainted the writers perspective.
Thus, Pauls religion won out
over Jesus religion.
In short, Paul was a charlatan, an
evangelical huckster who
succeeded in twisting Jesus
message of love into something
Jesus himself would never
recognize. It was Paul, not Jesus,
who originated the Christianity
of today.