Peter's Joke about  Jonathan's

"God" Trick

   Dr. Barbara Thiering PhD also writes in her book that it is Simon Peter who is responsible for what we are reading in the Gospel of Mark. Why we are reading about the "paralytic" being let down through the roof in Peter's book, the gospel of Mark, not in Matthew Annas' book, the Gospel of Matthew, is that there is a limit on how much "fun" Matthew is willing to make about what his own family (his brother Jonathan) is doing! And  if what I'm about to propose is correct, Matthew did later!

     Mark 2:1 "And again he entered into Capernaum, after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.  2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch  that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them."

     "CAPERNAUM' is here Kherbit Mazin [which I have visited], 6 Km south of Qumran on the Dead Sea Shore, where there is the ruins of an Essene synagogue, and the ruins of some 'village' huts beside the synagogue.

      "No room to receive them, (even) beside the door" is proper editing to make it a necessity to make a hole in the roof -- the punch line of the "joke"--

     "The word' is here 'the WORD" of John 1:1-3, a code name for Jesus and his 'new gospel' -- that he, Jesus, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life---

       3 "And they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four."

      This is Jonathan Annas, playing 'God'.   God is not really a paralytic, someone with the 'palsy', but He doesn't need to walk because He is "God". It's demeaning for God to have to walk, like a man.   God has a divine throne-chariot described in Ezekiel chapter 1, carried or propelled by "four living creatures with the likeness of a man (verse 5).

       4 "And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when  they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay."

     Peter, in Mark, is telling this story for two audiences (three, actually, because I am reading it, too).   To the first audience, the Essenes of his own time, it is a joke.   The Essenes of the Qumran area all know who this guy is who gets up on a roof in the Kherbit Mazin village and prays for three hours, then comes down through the roof (as Santa Claus and any God should do) and receives requests for gifts of grace and forgiveness of sins.   It's that Annas guy from the Jerusalem temple, making has rounds as God. So prayer time has ended, and here he comes, down through the roof.  "My, what a nice crowd today!   And what do you want for God to do for you, sir?"

    The second audience is those thousands of poorly educated and superstitious people of the Middle Ages, and even the better educated but almost completely brain-washed congreagations of our present-day churches, Willing to see this as another real miracle of  Jesus, and a bit more assurance of the certainty that Jesus can and will give them, when they die, the gift of Eternal Life, which only He can give.

     The third audience is me (and a few others like me) who have read Thiering's book, know "Gospel Pesher", and are laughing, like Peter's Essene audience laughed.   All but, perhaps Jonathan Annas, who's embarassed.

      5 "When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."

      Well now, you've heard the expression, "You took the words right out of my mouth?"   Here's a prime example, right here in the Bible.   That's what Jonathan Annas, here on the floor, in front of all those people, as God, was prepared to do for each one of those people who asked him --- to forgive their sins!   And instead this new preacher he had never seen before this moment. bends over and says it to him first --"Son (demeaning greeting for God, wouldn't you say?), thy sins be forgiven thee.    Here's a man forgiving God!  What's my world coming too, anyway?

       6 "But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,  7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?   Who can forgive sins but God only?"

      The 'certain of the scribes' may have included Matthew Annas, who knew what his brother was about to say, and would be as shocked as Jonathan was when Jesus took over his line.    And of course all the others there knew how this play was supposed to be played!    It's blasphemy for anyone other than the Annas priests to say what this new dude just said.  What's this guy up to anyway?

       8 "And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye so in your hearts?"

       Of course Jesus knew what they were thinking.   There they all sat, with their eyes bulging, and their jaws slack.   You could hear a pin drop!

       9 "Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?"

       Two audiences again.   Peter wants another laugh from the Essenes who will be reading this.    It's the easiest thing in the world to claim to be God so long as you don't have to do anything special to prove you are.   But if you do have to do something, what could be easier than to forgive someone's sins?

      Second audience:  Those slack-jawed superstitious millions sitting in pews all over Europe waiting for their hero Jesus to put another one over on the Scribes and Pharisees.   He's got his critics in a spot.   Can he indeed get this quivering mass of paralyzed flesh off that bed and standing on his legs?   Give us the next line, preacher!   You know that very few of us, if any, can read or write!  Brother Martin Luther, give us the next line in our own German, please.

       10 "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house,"

       Mark was not written until after 37 AD, at which time Jesus was the acknowledged High Priest of the faction that would later become Christians.  In this period Jesus could do anything that Jonathan Annas could do, and indeed watch as Jonathan Annas, as "Stephen" was "stoned" excummunicated from the position of High Priest at the Jerusalem temple.  So Jesus was there when Jonathan, as God, had to get up out of his divine throne-chariot, and walk like any other man.

      12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they all were amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion."

      Back now to Kherbit Mazin village in the fall of 29 AD, and Jonathan coming down, as God, through the hole in the roof.    Once he hit the floor, and saw that crowd completely captivated by the words of this new preacher, he didn't bother to even attempt his usual routine, but instead got up, because there was absolutely nothing wrong with his legs.  He said "Hi" to the new preacher, dismissed his four living creatures, folded up his bed, and went home, a 6 Km walk, to the Qumran monastery.

The Best of Both Worlds --

Greek Mythology and 

Jewish  Tradition!

       Matthew, as part of the Annas family, was involved with the Greek-speaking and liberal-minded faction of the Essenes known as the Hellenists in Thiering's book (Hellenist means Greek, or appreciative of Greek culture and ideas).    He was also a part of the "Vineyard", that part of the Hellenists who advocated Peace with Rome, and felt that Rome would one day be the capital of the Essene movement.  By 42-43 AD, when Matthew published his gospel, this group of Hellenists had not as yet been called "Christians" but they would be called that in far-away Antioch the very next year, 44 AD.

        Sometime in the period that Matthew had contact with Jesus, 29 to 42 AD, 13 years, Matthew must have had some very long talks with Jesus, and maybe even taken some time-space rides with him, because all that information about the future in Matthew 24, in chronological order if "Gospel Pesher" techniques are used, did not just fall out of an apple tree.  And the cues are there that Matthew know about the "Torah Codes", the ELS codes only assessable after we had modern computers, also.   The Essene "Millennial Week Prophecy" has one of its most complete presentations in the parables of Matthew 13.    And in third-level codes in Matthew can be found information about Jesus' activities in India and Kashmir also.    So Matthew was completely comfortable with Jesus' non-Jewish and Gentile-oriented future activities.    Sadducees did not believe in Angels, or a resurrection of the dead, and so Jesus could not hold out in front of Matthew an offer of resurrection and Eternal Life if he was helpful, as he has to so many others, so he and Matthew had a completely honest and straightforward relationship, not a God-slave relationship.    Which may have been quite refreshing for Jesus.

What Matthew Knew,

and When He Knew It!

     Modern religious professors in our Universities and Religious Seminaries do not really know who "Matthew" was, nor can most of them accept that his gospel was written as early as 42-43 AD.   And this uncertainty on their part is due to the existence in that gospel of chapter 24, the long-term prophecy of Jesus that the Jerusalem temple would be destroyed,  not leaving "one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Matthew 24:2)  Rome was not in the business of tearing down temples.   Yes, Rome fought wars, but then they allowed their conquered nations to worship as usual.  Beautiful temples were cash in the bank, something to be exploited, not destroyed!   That this temple would be destroyed 40 years after Jesus made this prophecy did occur, these professors admit, but Jesus could not have foreseen this, so Matthew was written after 70 AD  -- that's their reasoning.

     However, I have something at my disposal that these professors also do not recognize as existing, "Gospel Pesher".   These professors and scholars consistently marginalize Dr. Barbara Thiering's research and superb detective work as being purely a figment of her imagination.  They can't (or won't) see in the gospels and Revelation what she sees (an now I see) therefore none of this exists!    They are the experts, they are the accepted authorities, therefore they are right and we are deluded.

       That being said, we're back in the real world of 42-43 AD, and the real "Matthew",  Matthew Annas, is having his gospel published in the Essene Scriptorium at the Qumran monastery.    In this gospel is the prediction that the Jerusalem temple will be destroyed, with not one stone remaining on the other.   Let's consider the implications of these facts, and try to understand Matthew the man, and Peter and Paul, and above all Jesus.  All men (not gods) caught up in a religious enterprise that all of them knew (although men, not gods) would take over most of the civilized world and become the predominant driving religious force of the 2000 years of the "Age of Pisces".   Anyway you see "God", and whatever power you alot this divine "overseer" this must be "God's Will."  Or if not, a matter of "Fate" and "Destiny".

       Matthew knew that the Jerusalem temple would be destroyed at the time he was elected High Priest of that temple, as Jonathan Annas had been High Priest for 6 months in 37 AD, and Theophilus Annas had been High Priest from 37 AD to 41 AD. During his two years as High Priest, Matthew saw to it that Peter, now in charge of the Qumran Scriptorium, published the book of Matthew.   Peter's own book, the gospel of Mark, had already been finished, and was still being published, and Peter allowed Matthew to reuse a lot of his stories.  In return, of course, for the support and approval of the most powerful religious authority of that nation in 42 and 43 AD.   And one who, unless I miss my guess, was showing up regularly, at least on a weekly basis, at the Kherbit Mazin village 6 Km south of the monastery where Peter still lived with his wife and children. And there Matthew "played God" on the designated roof-top, dropping in through the roof afterwards to accept the worship and "tithes" of those gathered below.   If you've got a "good thing" going, there's really no god reason to bring it to an end, until "Fate" decrees it so.

Almost Honest and Truthful

   The Sadducees were the most dedicated to reality and truthfulness of the four major religious sects of the Jews in that Era.   The Pharisees promoted a belief in the resurrection of the dead, which allowed them to be reckless of their lives, believing they would live again as themselves, with the same memory and personality.  The Zealots were extreme Pharisees who would give their lives for the advancement of Jewish nationalism.  The Essenes were dedicated to Holiness, and believed that by their exemplary lives they could atone for the misdeeds of others.  But the Sadducees were realists, lived the best possible lives for the moment, knowing that death was the end, and if there was a resurrection, it would be only for God's final judgment, not for any "Eternal Life" or later reward for them.

      Matthew, the Sadducee, was of this group of "Conspirators", John Mark, Peter and Paul, and Jesus and Luke, the one most likely to tell the truth.  When he got the chance, and in a somewhat sneaky way.    Mostly he left a hidden trail of "Truth" where others, including Dr. Barbara Thiering PhD, and myself Dr. Robert Holt MD, MPH, could find it.   Yes, Matthew promoted a major "Delusion" by various deceptions, but I feel his heart was in the right place, and he only did what he had to do.   He knew, of course, that he was not "God" while he was playing God for the village Essenes.   And he knew that Jesus was not miraculously conceived even though he lets his readers think so in Matthew chapter one.   And he knew that the "Wise Men" (Magi) from the East of chapter 2 were from the Qumran area, not Babylon, Persia, or India.   One does what one needs to do that will support the Grand Delusion that will rule the Age of Pisces.

       Other gospels, particularly John's gospel, promote the idea that Jesus will come back to earth at the end of 2000 years, and create a new world.   Matthew ends his gospel with Jesus only promising to remain with his followers until the "End of the Age", which Jesus was indeed doing in 42-43 AD, when Matthew was publishing his gospel.

      Matthew 28:20b "--and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the (Greek, aeon, "age", era) (KJV mistranslation - "world")

      Matthew knew that Jesus was resuscitated, not resurrected.  Sadducees did not believe in "resurrection".   John in his gospel reveals the details of "how" Jesus was resuscitated.   Matthew tells us, while seeming to deny it, what really happened after this resuscitation.

       Matthew 28:11 "Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests (including, of course, Matthew) all the things that were done.  12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers (another bribe for Pilate),  13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples (Pesher=John Mark) came by night (correct), and stole him away while we slept.   14 And if this come to the governors ears (which it did), we will persuade him (which they did, with a bribe), and secure you (the ones involved in the cover-up that Jesus was indeed, alive).  15 And so they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day (43 AD, 10 years later).

Matthew, a Practical Money Man

     Although Matthew was willing to play Yahweh at the Essene village, he pretty well knew that Yahweh did not create the earth in seven literal days, and that the Essenes were using this story in Genesis to support a prophecy that the world would end with a one thousand year "Sabbath" after 6000 years of ordinary activities.    Matthew knew this because he cooperated with Jesus in presenting this Millennial Week Prophecy in the parables of chapter 13 of his gospel.   He, along with Peter and Paul, John Mark and Luke, and behind all these the living and planning ahead Jesus, flitting hither and yon "behind the scenes", knew that this new, soon to be world-wide, religion, could not long exist without financial support.   And Matthew, as the recipient of the tithes and offerings of the Jews of his day, knew that the Jews considered this as a duty, a tradition they must support as God's favored nation, or risk divine disapproval and be cast off, and perhaps perish.    Gentiles could not be persuaded to finance Judaism and the Jewish temple.   Especially so after that temple was destroyed.   Which Matthew very well knew would happen.   So Matthew kept still while John Mark and the others promised the Gentiles "Eternal Life" in exchange for money.

      Wrote John: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ETERNAL LIFE--" (John 3:16, perhaps the most quoted of Bible Texts!).  Gentiles, the Greeks and Romans, believed in ETERNAL LIFE, and that the gods, their gods, not the Jewish God, could indeed bestow ETERNAL LIFE on the children of the gods, the heroes of Greek and Roman mythology.    John Mark, as a Greek was well aware that this was the case,  Also John had sat at the feet of the Essenes known as the Egyptian Therapeautae, and he knew his Egyptian theology as well.  In John 3:16 John Mark is merely paraphrasing and summarizing the basic core of ancient Egyptian theology.   For God (Osiris) so loved the world (basically Egypt) that he gave his only-begotton Son (Horus), [the child of the eternal Isis, his sister-wife] that whosoever [all the Egyptians] believeth on him [on Horus, personified in the latest Pharaoh] should not perish [individually and as a nation] but have ETERNAL LIFE."  Specifically it was the latest pharaoh who was promised "Eternal Life", but the people were glad for him, and worked hard (or died trying) to make sure he got that reward.

Egyptian Trinity, Christian Trinity

  The associates of Jesus in this "Conspiracy", the Conspiracy to make "Eternal Life" the new bait to gain the money to support world-wide Christianity, knew how effective it had been in Egyptian theology, and this even though the vast majority of the ancient Egyptians had not been promised "Eternal Life" and had no hope of attaining it.    And they knew also how dedicated the Greeks and Romans had remained to their own mythology, even though only the children of the gods and their national heroes (Hercules, etc) had been able (in this mythology) to achieve this reward.   So they proposed, and Jesus accepted, that all Gentile Christians be offered ETERNAL LIFE, irrespective of who they might be, and what they had done, or not done, to deserve it.    Jesus, in John Mark's gospel, the gospel of John, uses the opportunity of the supposed resurrection of Lazarus (another name for Simon Magus, Jesus' magician partner at Qumran) to make this astounding offer to all those who will believe on him (as "God" not just an Essene "Messiah").

      John 11:21 "Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." (a small step in the right direction-- Jesus is the One who can keep people alive).

       22 "But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee." (Another step, the power of prayer, and the prestige of being God's "Son").

      23 "Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again." (Faith, to be sure, but only the faith of a Pharisee referring to another Pharisee, a belief in the resurrection of the dead.   Sometime, somewhere, maybe not today.)

      24 "Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (Even the Sadducees, like Matthew, believed in a resurrection at the 'last day', the day of God's final judgment, but Martha was hoping for more.  More life with her lover Simon Magus (Lazerus) here and now.)

      25 "Jesus said unto her, I AM (the title of Yahweh) the RESURRECTION and the LIFE: though he were dead, yet shall he live; 26 And whosoever (everybody, everywhere) liveth and believeth in me SHALL NEVER DIE."    That, my friends, is IMMORTALITY, a promise of ETERNAL LIFE for everyone, and the only requirement, at least initially, as stated here, is belief in Jesus."

    It turns out that details of this story, now revealed by "Gospel Pesher" show that Lazarus (Simon Magus) was not really dead, but play-acting at being dead as part of an excommunication ceremony being held at Qumran because the Essene authorities had discovered that he had taken part in the Zealot demonstration and riot in Jerusalem in which several Roman solders had been killed.   Many months later he, Jesus, and Judas Iscariot would be crucified for this evvent, but for now, Lazarus had a reprieve, could come out of that smelly hot cave, and "live again" -- for a while.

     Osiris, Isis, and Horus, of course, never kept even the pharoahs alive past their alloted lifetimes,  and Lazarus, so far as we know, is dead also. But Constantine, a believer in the power of the "Invincible Sun" liked the Egyption allusions to the "Sun God" in John's gospel, and proposed to the gathered Christian bishops at Nicea in France, in 325 AD, that they make Jesus a "God", like Yahweh, the Jewish God, and the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods, to which were added one by one, the Roman Caesars such as himself, as they died.    It seemed a small request to those Christian bishops, and all but one, Arius, signed on to the resulting document, the Nicene Creed.

      The conspiracy of Matthew, John Mark, Peter, Luke, and Paul (but especially Paul) to make this happen; a conspiracy carried out slowly but deliberately 2 centuries previously to Constantine's tribunal, had finally reached fruition, and Christianity's future funding, and almost unlimited world power was assured.    Can we believe that Jesus is smiling?   Perhaps.   But I suspect that, like Matthew, he planned on leaving a trail of "Truth" behind, so people like Dr, Barbara Thiering PhD, and myself Dr. Robert Holt MD, MPH, could find it.   And tell you.

     Tithe was no longer needed!  For true believers will give EVERYTHING THEY HAVE for "Eternal Life"!

Not 10% but 100%

     Matthew 10:37 "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.     38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.    39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

The Ultimate Cost for the 

Ultimate Reward!

TITHE  PLUS

FREEWILL OFFERINGS

The Dirty Little Secret of the Early Christians

was that their ministers, such as the Apostle

Paul, had to support themselves by their

 own manual labor while they preached !

(at least that's the story Paul told in Acts 18)

 

Preachers preaching for free wherever they could find an audience!

     Acts 18:1 "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.  3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.  4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and Greeks."

     Paul was following here, it seems, the advice of Jesus some years before, before the crucifixion, as given to his 12 disciples. Jesus gave the following advice about how to preach the message of the "Kingdom of God" depending on "Freewill Offerings".

    Mark 6:7 "And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; 8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:  9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.  10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place."

    Adventists have vastly improved upon Jesus' archaic advice by "borrowing" the "Tithe System" that supported the Jewish "High Priests" in Herod's Temple in high style!"

Twas the night before Sunday Law, when all through the sect
Not a creature was stirring among the elect
The tithe envelopes were placed near the chimney with care
Because withholding the tithe, well, no one would dare!

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The Pope and the Devil, who appeared in a *poof*
As I drew in my head and was turning around
Down the chimney old Antichrist did bound

He was dressed all in white from his mitred head to his cloven feet
Looking for those who refused to eat meat.
A bundle of weapons he had flung on his back
And I knew that his followers soon would attack.

His eyes gleaming evil, on his brow Six-Six-Six
Why this must be the Antichrist, up to his tricks!
With a wink of his eye, and a twist of his head
His Masonic gang signs gave us reason to dread

He spoke not a word but went straight to his work
Took the tithe from the envelopes, that non-Adventist jerk!

O     In a system honed to almost perfection over the 170+ years of Adventism all members are convinced that this system is Biblical and applies personally to them, even though as I have shown, Abraham paid "tithe" to a non-Jewish priest-king named Melchizidek once only, and not on his own money.  Then Jacob promised 10% to God,  then went on to gain flocks and herds by devious means with no record he paid "God" that promised 10%.   Malachi (whoever he was) blessed those who paid tithe and cursed those who didn't in order to help those restoring Jewish temple worship.  Nowhere in the Old Testament is "tithe" used for anything other than supporting priests, Levites, and the Jewish temple.

       Once the tithe is collected from modern Adventists, not a cent ever goes to Jews or synagogues or any plans to build a Jewish temple in Jerusalem (anathama to SDAs) but goes directly to a regional SDA conference.   The Conference officials (Adventist equivalent of the High Priests of Jesus' day) bestow on the local ministers their wages and retirement benefits in return for doing their wishes and preaching what they are taught to preach (no deviations permitted).   But there would be no churches to preach in, and no outreach programs unless the ministers now convince their congregations to fund, outside the tithe and beyond this magical 10%, a lot of other programs which will be supported by free will offerings.

       This program of tithe PLUS free will offerings has proved so successful over these 170+ years that there are now 16 million Seventh-day Adventists.   Not quite as successful as Pope Benedict's church, but almost.   Meanwhile the Jews, who probably invented "tithing" in the days of King Josiah, must depend for their support on those Jews who have survived the Holocaust and the US government.

       Not a cent of this new "ransom of our souls" is ever willingly given by any regional SDA conference to those ministers not on the payroll of the Seventh-day Adventist church such as, for example, the fellow pictured here.  Who dares to interpret Scripture in an unorthodox way.