Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition (50 page)

When Titus arranged to have his father declared a god, he “deified” the events of Vespasian’s life. Thus, all of Jesus’ prophecies regarding God’s coming wrath upon Judea, flow without contradiction into the cult of Vespasian. In fact, the Gospels could have been presented to the Roman senate as “proof” of the absurd premise that Vespasian’s life had been that of a god.

To see this more clearly, simply subtract Judaism and Judea from the New Testament. What if Titus, in trying to convince the Roman senate that certain events of his father’s life proved that he was divine,
had claimed that a prophet had wandered about
Italy
in 30 C.E. predicting that two
Roman
gods, a father and a son, would one day destroy a “wicked generation” of Jews who rebelled against Rome and along with them the temple of Jerusalem? Every member of the senate would have understood that the gods this
Italian
prophet had “forseen” were Vespasian and Titus. Of course, no Roman senator would have been so gullible as to believe the story. Locating the prophet in Judea does not make such prophecies any more plausible, but Christianity was not created for a sophisticated audience.

The histories of Josephus, which prophesied that Vespasian would be the world ruler foreseen by Judaism’s messianic prophecies, likewise provided support for Vespasian’s deification. The New Testament and
Wars of the Jews
both make the case that the destruction of Judea was an act of a god—the same absurd premise as that made by the cult of Vespasian.

When we align the New Testament with
Wars of the Jews
a clear picture emerges. Jesus predicted that a “Son of Man” would encircle Jerusalem with a wall and destroy its temple and bring tribulation onto the “wicked generation” that rebelled against Rome. In fact, one man actually had these precise characteristics. A man who was a “son of god” and whose followers “fished for men” at Gennesareth. A man who encircled Jerusalem with a wall and destroyed the temple of Jerusalem. A man who brought the tribulation that Jesus had foreseen unto the “wicked generation” and then ended his “ministry” by condemning Simon and sparing John. The man was Titus Flavius.

Only one man at that point in history had the power to establish a religion. At the same time that the first real evidence of Christianity emerges, one man is known to have established a religion that, like Christianity, held that the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was the work of a god. The man was Titus Flavius.

Bear in mind that no one had a stronger motivation than Titus for finding a cost-effective method of containing militant Judaism, which was so expensive for Rome to control.

Finally, only one family other than Jesus’ is associated with the origin of Christianity. It is the family of Titus Flavius. Even if one discounts the tradition that regards Flavius Clemens as the first pope, as well as all the other Flavian traditions connected with Christianity’s origins, the inscription naming Flavia Domitilla as the founder of the oldest burial grounds for Christians in Rome still exists today. If one ignores even this, the works of Flavius Josephus would be sufficient to confirm the Flavian connection with the origins of Christianity. Josephus’ works deliberately falsified history to provide support for Christian dogma. And whoever or whatever he was, Josephus
was
an adopted Flavian.

Concerning the question of who knew Judaism well enough to create Christianity, this information was in abundant supply, even within the small circle of Titus’ known confidants. Titus’ mistress Bernice, though a Herodian, had Maccabean ancestors and claimed to have been a Jew. Though the Jews of the messianic movement would not have seen her religious perspective as Jewish, she would clearly have known much about the Judaism of her day and would have been able to contribute to the creation of the Gospels.

Tiberius Alexander was another individual within Titus’ innermost circle who knew of Judaism well enough to oversee the production of the New Testament. Tiberius was the nephew of the famous Jewish philosopher Philo, and Vespasian held him in such regard that he made Tiberius chief of staff to Titus during the siege of Jerusalem.

Though a Jew, Tiberius Alexander was a Roman knight who was morally able to order the murder of thousands of his race to maintain the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. When the Jews of Alexandria “made a disturbance,” Tiberius ordered the Roman troops not only to kill the rioters, but to plunder and burn their ghetto as well. Josephus records that “fifty thousand corpses piled up.” Tiberius, in his role as chief of staff to Titus during the siege of Jerusalem and the subsequent slaughter and enslavement of the Jews there, showed a slavish obedience to Rome. It would have been necessary for someone of Jewish descent who created a religion that was used to oppress his own people. His religious perspective was Romanized to such an extent that he was not even monotheistic. He often used the word “gods.” Josephus, who, it should be remembered, also claimed to be a Jew, recorded Tiberius’ close relationship to the Flavians.

… as also there came Tiberius Alexander, who was a friend of his, most valuable, both for his good-will to him, and for his prudence. He had formerly been governor of Alexandria, 

but was now thought worthy to be general of the army [under Titus]. The reason of this was, that he had been the first who encouraged Vespasian very lately to accept this his new dominion, and joined himself to him with great fidelity, when things were uncertain, and fortune had not yet declared for him. He also followed Titus as a counselor, very useful to him in this war, both by his age and skill in such affairs.
¹⁶⁵

To such individuals who were completely in thrall to the Flavians and who saw militant messianic Judaism as a threat to their financial interests, providing the information to construct a version of Judaism that was in alignment with Rome would have been automatic.

One of the primary causes for the war between the Romans and the Jews was the Jews’ refusal to worship the Roman emperors as gods. Though the rest of the empire did, the Jews would not call Caesar “Lord.” As I have pointed out, the cruelest deception of Christianity is that by replacing the Jewish God and son of God with Roman emperors, it tricked Jews into calling Caesar “Lord” without knowing it. Christianity stole the identities of the God of Judaism and his messiah Son, as well as those of John and Simon, the leaders of the messianic rebellion. Their identities were given to Vespasian and Titus and to the “Christian Apostles” John and Simon. These disguised characters were combined with other symbols of Roman conquest, the cross of the crucifixion and the “flesh of the Messiah,” to create a religion that both absorbed and ridiculed the messianic movement.

This was the ultimate triumph of the imperial family. This dark comedic concept of switched identities is in play to such an extent that the New Testament and the works of Josephus  together  are  a  puzzle  whose  solution  produces  the  true  identities  of  their characters.  Why was it necessary to create this vast literary puzzle?  Because it was the only method by which Titus could both create a religion that solved the problem of the Jews’ refusal to accept the Roman emperor as a god, and also make it known to posterity that he was the one who did it.

But what was most of all astonishing to the beholders was the courage of the children; for not one of these children was so far overcome by these torments, as to name Caesar for their lord. So far does the strength of the courage [of the soul] prevail over the weakness of the body.
¹⁶⁶

The authors of Christianity intended that their puzzles would eventually be solved and Titus’ complete triumph be thereby revealed, a sorry task that has fallen to this author.

I suspect that Christianity, as the parodic version of the imperial cult, was first inserted into the areas surrounding Judea to serve as a theological barrier to the spread of militaristic Judaism. The religion flourished and in the fourth century Flavius Constantine saw a larger potential for it and decreed it the state religion. The religion thus became a prophylactic for all the potentially rebellious slave populations throughout the empire.

To make the cult as efficient as possible in promoting their interests, its inventors had their satiric Messiah advocate both pacifism and stoicism, whereby Christians would learn to subdue their rebelliousness and find holiness in subservience. This combination of Christian theology and Roman imperial might was so effective that it kept European civilization frozen in place for over 1,000 years, throughout the Dark Ages.

A Roman bureaucracy called the
Commune Asiae
, an organization that administered the imperial cult in Asia, would probably have overseen the original implementation of Christianity. Notably, all the seven “churches of Asia” mentioned in Revelation 1:11 were known to have agencies of the
Commune
located within them. Five of these seven cities were sites of the imperial cult’s festival, which was held once every five years. In these cities it would have been possible to oversee two versions of the imperial cult, one for Roman citizens and the other for the “slaves and scum
”
seen as susceptible to the lure of the Messiah
.

The puzzle of Decius Mundus described earlier indicates that “wicked priests” accepted money to build congregations for the new Judaism. Following the destruction of the temple, some of the 18,000 priests who had previously worked there were, presumably, still alive and would have needed to seek new employment. The first Christian priests may have been hired from the remnants of the enormous group that had once ministered to the now destroyed temple.

However these facts may be, the Roman version of Judaism was introduced to the masses by some group of “wicked priests” who had been employed by the Flavians to preach the “Gospels”—a word that technically means “good news of military victory.” The first people to hear the story of Jesus would most likely have been slaves, whose patrons simply ordered them to attend services. After a while some began to believe, then many.

CHAPTER 13
 
Josephus’ Use of the Book of Daniel

Thus far, I have shown the reader the parallels, allegories, and puzzles that lie within the New Testament and the works of Josephus to indicate that the Flavian family created Christianity. However, the reader can take another route to this understanding, using only the literal meanings of the words in these works.

As I have stated, the works of Josephus provided support for the religious doctrine of Christianity. Early Christian writers held that the parallels between Jesus’ prophecies and Josephus’ histories prove that Jesus could see into the future. Moreover, in addition to simply recording that Jesus’ prophecies had come to pass, Josephus falsified the dates of the events that he describes in
Wars of the Jews.
He does this so that the sequence of events appear to “prove” that Daniel’s prophecies came to pass within the first century C.E. and that Jesus is the son of God that Daniel envisioned.

The following passage from St. Augustine exemplifies the early church fathers’ belief that the 70 C.E. destruction of Jerusalem simultaneously fulfilled the prophecies of both Daniel and Jesus.

Luke, to show that the abomination spoken of by Daniel will take place when Jerusalem is captured, recalls these words of the Lord in the same context: When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. For Luke very clearly bears witness that the prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled when Jerusalem was overthrown.
¹⁶⁷

It is not well known today that Josephus falsified the dates of the events in
Wars of the Jews,
so that his work would be seen as the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecies; this is remarkable because he constantly reminds his readers that he is doing just that.

… And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel’s vision, and what he wrote many years before they came to pass. In the very same manner Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them.

All these things did this man leave in writing, as God had showed them to him …
¹⁶⁸

The passage above could not state the proposition any more clearly. Josephus is claiming that the events he describes in his works are part of the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecies. He shares this understanding of the events with Jesus, who also believed that Daniel’s prophecies foresaw the 70 C.E. destruction of Jerusalem.

Daniel’s prophecies foresaw events that spanned five centuries. They predicted that toward the end of this time period a Messiah, who would be a son of God, would appear and then be “cut off.” This cutting off of the Messiah is then followed by the destruction of Jerusalem. Therefore, to demonstrate that the war between the Romans and the Jews is the one that Daniel envisioned, Josephus begins to align his history with Daniel’s prophecies many years before the events of the first century C.E. Josephus begins
Wars of the Jews
with a passage that describes Antiochus Epiphanes’ assault on Jerusalem, which occurred approximately 200 years before the birth of Christ. Josephus clearly indicates that the assault was an event on Daniel’s prophetic continuum—specifically, the desolation Daniel predicts in Daniel 7:13–8:14.
He does this by using a phrase found only in the Book of Daniel, the “ending of the daily sacrifice,” and by documenting the amount of time during which the daily sacrifice was halted, “three years and six months.” By using these phrases, Josephus is flatly stating that Daniel’s prophecies are coming to pass. This position cannot be disputed because Josephus himself writes the passage above that “our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel’s vision.”