The Cult of Paul

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It is also intriguing that Paul only quotes Jesus a few times in all of his letters, and that the few times he does so are done curiously. In Acts 20:35, Paul has Jesus quoting a common Greek proverb – a saying from Jesus that is found nowhere else in the Gospels. Later, Paul supposedly quotes Jesus at “the last supper” in 1 Corinthians (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) – a letter that was in all likelihood written before the biblical Gospels were penned at all. As such we are left to wonder: what were Paul's sources for these quotations, and how are we to consider those sources, seeing as how neither of them belong to the canonical record? Indeed, as the rest of the latter pages of this tome will show, not only does Paul fail to even indirectly summon the moral majesty of the teachings of his self-professed “Lord” but the unique theology he creates actually abandons and in many ways openly rejects the same. As such, it can really be no surprise to the ardent student of the Scriptures to read thereafter about the intense conflicts Paul experienced with Jesus' actual disciples (see Acts 4:15-31, 2 Corinthians 11:4-5, 2 Corinthians 11:22-24, Galatians 1:6, Galatians 1:18, Galatians 2:11-21, & Galatians 3:1-3 et al) – with those men who had actually spent time with Jesus and watched him enliven his Way in his interactions with others, with those men who had actually heard Jesus' teachings directly from his lips, with those men who were actually striving to follow and emulate the same. Possibly as a consequence thereof, in Acts 15:7 we see Peter (upon whom Jesus himself said his true followers should rest their spiritual fellowship – see Matthew 16:18) in effect banishing the rogue Paul to the Gentiles, whereafter Paul mutinies once more and remains instead primarily ensconced in the comfortable confines of the Jewish communities with which he was already familiar (see Galatians 2:7 et al). In essence then, what we see in the Scriptures is not Paul going forth to help the disciples spread the “Good News”, but rather Paul going forth – without any authority from those original apostles to do so – and spreading a Gospel message that directly contradicted their own. In truth, Paul actually had the gall to proudly claim in his letters that he needed no external authority to preach his self-engendered version of the Gospel (Galatians 1:1 et al). And so it can again come as no surprise that all Hell broke loose (literally – pun intended, with my humble apologies) when the envoys that James had sent to check up on Paul heard his heresies firsthand (Galatians 2:11-13). Indeed, several of Paul's other letters also appear to have been written in no small part to quell a similar unrest amongst his Jewish Christian critics (see Galatians 1:20 and 2 Corinthians 11:31 et al). As such, one might wonder how it was that Paul's heavily criticized Jesus-based theology became the basis for our modern, later-day versions of Christianity, and yet the answer thereto seems to be a relatively simple one. For the community of Jewish Christians of Paul's time were clustered in and around the city of Jerusalem, and after their leader James the Just was murdered in 62 C.E. and their Temple then razed by the Romans a few years later, the Followers of Christ movement was essentially crippled. On the other hand, it is easily understandable that Paul's “Jesus as the resurrected Son of God” religion – sprinkled as it was throughout the Roman Empire, and founded as it was in the relatively comforting doctrine of atonement via mere faith alone – would thrive. Regardless of how it came to pass, of course, come to pass it did. The theology of Paul was steadily and assuredly adopted as the cornerstone of the Christian Church, and The Way of Jesus Christ steadily faded into its now-shadowed background. 12
“Now as Saul was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? … I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do' … Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight.” ~ Acts 9:3-9 [And Jesus] said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” ~ Luke 10:18 13
Page 1 and 2: The Cult of Paul examining the cont
Page 3 and 4: “For the time is coming when peop
Page 5 and 6: “I have set you an example, that
Page 7 and 8: Forward … the WHY of it all While
Page 9 and 10: And yet as far as this particular t
Page 11: An introductory look at Paul of Tar
Page 15 and 16: A few of the Bible's“smaller hint
Page 17 and 18: *Paul downplays the innate holiness
Page 19 and 20: "Paul avoids quoting the teaching o
Page 21 and 22: As the previous pages have shown, t
Page 23 and 24: In marked contrast, Jesus is seen t
Page 25 and 26: Contrast #04: their affiliations wi
Page 27 and 28: Contrast #07: how they dealt with t
Page 29 and 30: Jesus & Paul: a look at their perso
Page 31 and 32: Contrast #12: Paul's condemnation &
Page 33 and 34: In quite marked contrast, Jesus Chr
Page 35 and 36: And finally, where Paul is frequent
Page 37 and 38: *Paul lied to King Agrippa about hi
Page 39 and 40: Jesus & Paul: a look at their preac
Page 41 and 42: Jesus Christ, on the other hand, ma
Page 43 and 44: In marked contrast, while it is tru
Page 45 and 46: *Paul was inconsistent in his teach
Page 47 and 48: *Just as revealing, every single on
Page 49 and 50: Jesus & Paul: their conflicting the
Page 51 and 52: Conflict #03: Paul guided by conven
Page 53 and 54: In truth, in the Gospel of Matthew
Page 55 and 56: Conflict #05: Paul believing God to
Page 57 and 58: And yet the nature of God is not th
Page 59 and 60: Conflict #06: Paul believing God to
Page 61 and 62: Conflict #08: Paul equating the “
Page 63 and 64:
Finally, and in full harmony with t
Page 65 and 66:
Even the parable of The Sower in th
Page 67 and 68:
Paul: an apostle of delightful iron
Page 69 and 70:
“There is, on the one hand, the a
Page 71 and 72:
Conclusion: Returning to The Way of
Page 73 and 74:
As such, now that the dichotomy bet
Page 75 and 76:
“The body that is sown is perisha
Page 77:
“I praise You, Father, Lord of he
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The Cult of Paul

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