Secret History #23: The Organization of Evil

So let's review last class. We discussed the mission of Jesus. Who is Jesus? Jesus was a messenger from the monad who reminded us that there's a divine spark in us. And how you activate the divine spark is by focusing on Jesus and repeating his words. Jesus was like Zarathustra, like Plato, like Homer, like the Yahwehs, a poor prophet. And so if you just repeated his sayings, if you repeated his poetry, then you could activate that spark within you and glow. Okay? And this explains why he became so popular. It also explains to us why the Romans had to kill him. Because at this time, the Roman Empire, the main currency, the main economy is based on slavery. Most people were slaves. If they were not slaves, they were poor. And here's Jesus who's come to remind you that you don't have to be a slave. You are free to do whatever you want. There's a higher power than the Roman Empire, and it is the divine.

It is the universe. And so people started to defy their masters. And they were not allowed to do that. They were no longer afraid of death. And this is why the Romans had to kill Jesus. Because Jesus was stealing from them. Right? Slaves are property. If you let slaves run away, if you free slaves, that destroys the wealth of the Romans. Remember that Jesus, when he was killed, he was killed along with two thieves. He was crucified. And so Jesus was killed because he was a thief. He was stealing from the Romans. Another question then is, okay, how do we get from Jesus to the Catholic Church? Jesus teaches us that we are free to believe whatever we want. That if we just listen to our hearts, we will be in touch with the Monad again. And we have nothing to fear. The Catholic

Church, the Church teaches us that you believe in Jesus, and that's all you have to do in order to achieve redemption. Redemption and salvation. Jesus came to die for our sins. So therefore, we are now slaves to Jesus. These are two opposite ideas. The reason why is, the idea of the divine spark is the greatest threat to the Roman Empire. So the Romans had to somehow imprison the spark. And make it an economic commodity. Okay? And so that's why they created the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is a prison in order to control that divine spark. To hide it from you. And the main architect of the Catholic Church, his name is Paul. Okay? And most people agree that Paul, and not Jesus, is the real founder of Christianity. So let's discuss Paul. So Paul has a very interesting background. He is a Jew, but he grew up in Greek culture. He was very well educated.

He was very wealthy. And so we say he's a Hellenized Jew. And he's probably working for the Roman Empire as a spy or an agent. Now, in that time, your education was mainly in rhetoric. Okay? And the word we use for this is sophistry. So let me explain to you who the sophists were. Because they're very important. So back in classical Africa, in Athens, there's a major debate between Socrates, a philosopher, as well as a sophist. Okay? Philosophy. So what's interesting is that they both come from the same word, which is sophia, which is Greek for knowledge. The philosophers are people who love knowledge. What they believe is that there is an eternal truth and that we must try to achieve this eternal truth, right? Remember Plato's allegory of the cave. How you escape from the cave and into the light. Okay? That's what philosophy is trying to do. Trying to help you liberate yourself into the light.

Sophists believe something else. Sophists believe that eternal truth does not exist. Why? Because words are reality. Philosophists believe that words are an illusion. But sophists believe that words are a reality unto themselves. And so what's important is to learn how to master language in order to construct reality. Okay? So, sophists give us the word sophistry, which is basically trickery. Okay? So, in order to defeat the threat of the divine spark, what Paul does is he pulls a trick. And it's the greatest trick ever. The trick is this. Jesus says, Listen to my words and you will find the divine spark in you. What Paul says is, Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Okay? So he changes the focus from the words of Jesus to the person of Jesus himself. Alright? And so what Paul's going to do is he's going to construct a new religion called Christianity by synchronizing, synthesizing the three major cultures of that time.

The Roman culture, the Greek culture, and the Jewish culture. Okay? So remember, the Jewish culture is the Bible. And what Paul tells us is that Jesus is the promised Messiah. At this time in history, the Bible was heavily influenced by the Persians, right? Remember, the Persians were monotheists. They believed in good and evil. The Asher and the Druze. Okay? And so the Bible began to reflect the Persian belief, especially in the idea of eschatology, the end of the world. And what Jews believed is they're not afraid of the Romans because eventually the Messiah will return, or sorry, not return, the Messiah will come to lead them to war against the Romans and because the Messiah is anointed by God, they will triumph. Okay? So the Jews are waiting for the Messiah of war in order for them to reclaim the Davidic kingdom. Okay? The kingdom of David.

What Paul does that's very clever is that he uses this eschatology but he says that Jesus is not the Messiah of war. He's the Messiah of peace. Okay? And therefore, we Jews should not resist the Romans. Okay? So that's the first major culture that Paul uses. The second major culture that Paul uses is the Greek culture. So the Greeks have something called the mystery schools. And these are just cults. And it's important you know these mystery schools because they will become the basis of secret societies today. And in these mystery schools, there's lots of different ones, but Paul chooses a mystery school that worships Dionysus. Dionysus is the Greek god of creativity, wine. And the story of Dionysus is he is born of a virgin mother. His father is Zeus. And then Dionysus is killed by the enemies of Zeus. And Zeus finds him and resurrects him. Okay? It's important because this becomes the story of Jesus.

And how the people worship Dionysus is they have a ritual meal where they actually believe they're eating the body of Dionysus and they're absorbing his energy. And they're becoming one with Dionysus. They're coming communion with Dionysus. And the Christians have the same ritual. Okay? And this is what's called the Eucharist. Thanksgiving. Or communion. Okay? All Christians practice this today. Okay? So that's the second major culture. The third major culture that is the most important, of course, is the Roman culture. So the Roman social structure is called the paterfamilias. Okay? And how the system works is at the very top there's one patriarch. That's where we get the word patriarchy, right? And then he has lots of children, right? Sons. And also he has slaves as well. So it's a very top -down system, right? The patriarch is at the very top. In the system, the patriarch is always right. He is God. Here you have slaves.

Now what the patriarch will do is he will identify very promising slaves. Slaves with talent. He will turn them into clients. So clients are just business people. So he frees the slaves and they become his clients. So now they're able to conduct business on his behalf. And in this way, he will create a business empire. Okay? So this is the idea of the Roman Empire. So rather than just one system, the Roman Empire is actually a system, a platform where dozens of families control the empire together. And what happens is these families control a particular province. Okay? So it's more like a franchise model rather than a strict hierarchy. This is important because Paul will take the system and from the system, he will copy it to create the church. All right? So the church is exactly the same as a pattern of feminists where at the very top, you have a

person, a bishop, and then he might have some cardinals, but then everyone else is just followers, okay? Or disciples. So it mirrors the system. This is important because now what you can do is you can easily switch from the current system to the new system devised by Paul. Now, why would the Romans want to do this? Because if you think about it, this is the perfect solution to the problem with Jesus. As a patriarch, your main concern is getting your slaves to work hard, right? You want to suck the energy out of them. But now with Jesus, slaves are like, why should I work for you? Paul solves this problem by saying, oh, follow Jesus and you'll be saved, okay? So in this way, what happens is Paul's formulation of Jesus causes slaves to work even harder, right? Because the idea is before you have to work in order to stay alive. Now they work in order to go to heaven for all of eternity, right?

So the deal now is work as a slave for a few decades, but then you can enjoy an eternity of joy in paradise. Pretty good deal, right? And so this causes the slaves to be more obedient and to work harder, okay? Also, what's more important is now the patriarch switches from a king to a god, right? His private wealth now becomes spiritual authority. Not only that, but because he has spiritual authority, he can expand more rapidly outwards, okay? So before to get slaves, you have to buy slaves. Now you just have to convert people into your religion. So it's a much faster way to create wealth. And this is important because what you learn next class is this is a system that the Romans will use to take over the barbarians, okay? So next class, you'll learn about the barbarian invasions, basically the Goths,

and how because of the system, they were now able to assimilate these barbarians into the culture and maintain a social hierarchy, okay? And so in other words, Jesus was talking to slaves, but Paul was talking to patriarchs. And so these patriarchs would convert, and when they convert, they took the entire system with them. That explains the rapid growth of Christianity, okay? Also what's important is the religion that the patriarchs practice is not the one that the slaves practice. The slaves practice Christianity. But the patriarchs practice the mystery cults, okay? Why? Because this is the way that the patriarchs work together. And this becomes a basis for secret societies. So while the ordinary person worships a new religion called Christianity, the patriarchs themselves, in secret, still practice their Greek mystery cults. And this is a system that we still have even today, right? Okay, so this system now is able to spread really quickly because as

you can see from the system, those who convert are more advantaged than those who do not convert. At this time in history, most do not convert, but those who convert are able to see more rapid wealth generation, they're able to see more power generation, and they're able to expand much faster. And so this is a secret of Christianity, okay? And that's my main argument to you today. Any questions before I go into the specifics? Is this clear to you guys? All right, let's do the PowerPoint, okay? Okay, today we do the rise of the Catholic Church. Okay, so again, what Paul's going to do is he's going to negate the power of Jesus. He's going to imprison, sorry, he's going to imprison the divine spark in the church. All right, so this is Paul. And there's a lot of mythology around Paul, how he was a martyr who went around the world in order to spread Christianity, okay?

We don't know if it's true or not. If you're Catholic, you believe it's true. The other thing about Paul that's really important is that if you read the New Testament, a third is either written by Paul or about Paul, okay? There's more about Paul in the New Testament than there is about Jesus. And that's why we say that Paul is a true founder of Christianity. Christianity is a religion about Jesus, but not by Jesus, it's by Paul. And what's really important for you to appreciate is, what Jesus taught and what Paul taught are very different. In fact, they're opposite. Jesus taught that the divine spark is within you, so if you want to save yourself, if you want to go to the kingdom, you must do so yourself. But Paul says, no, Jesus came to us in order to redeem us from our sins, the original sin of disobedience to God, way back in the Garden of Eden.

If you believe in Jesus, you'll be saved. It doesn't matter what you do. You can do as much good as you want, but if you do not believe in Jesus, you will burn in hell, okay? That's why you must believe in Jesus. And that's also why we must get everyone to believe in Jesus. Because by getting everyone to believe in Jesus, we are literally saving them from eternal damnation. As you can see, this is a really good business model because now you can expand really quickly, okay? Second thing that Jesus taught is, he cannot save you. You can only save yourself. He can guide you. He can give you some poetry that you can decipher, but you must seek truth yourself. And what Paul taught is, don't think for yourself, just do what everyone else does. He believed the most important thing is for the church to be cohesive, okay?

For everyone to obey the word of Jesus, which is really the word of Paul. And the third thing is, and this is really important, Jesus teaches us the rich cannot enter heaven. Why? Because to enter heaven, you must focus on your own spiritual rejuvenation. But the rich only care about the here and now. They only care about the material acquisition. And as such, they become blind to the spiritual needs. And so they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Remember, Jesus tells a story of how the God has prepared a great feast for us, but the rich won't go because they're too busy making money. Paul teaches us, no, no, no, guys. It's the rich which will lead us to the kingdom. Why? Because the rich can finance the spreading of Christianity. What matters is metrics that help us spread Christianity. How many souls are we saving by measuring how many people we're converting?

How cohesive is our church? That's all Paul cares about. Paul is a business person. Jesus is a prophet, but Paul is a business person. And so it is Paul, really, that is the spiritual God of Christianity, not Jesus. Another thing that you need to appreciate is, at this time in history, maybe the year 40, 50, there are lots of different Christianities because Jesus taught us that the kingdom of heaven is within you, right? So it's all very diverse. It's all very democratic. And what's really important is, a lot of the early leaders are women, okay? People like Mary Magdalene. They tend to be wealthy and they tend to be very charismatic as well. But by the time you hit Paul Christianity, it's anti -woman, it's a strict hierarchy, and it's orthodoxy, okay? So in other words, you may have heard that early Christians were persecuted. Guess what, guys? They were being persecuted by Paul, okay?

They weren't being persecuted by the Romans, they were being persecuted by Paul. And at this time in history, the Catholic Church, okay, Paul in Christianity, it's only a very small minority. Because for most people, the Christianity of Jesus is much more appealing than the Christianity of Paul. Jesus taught freedom, empowerment, liberation. Paul taught obedience, discipline, sacrifice, okay? So Jesus is far more appealing, but because Paul is being supported by the Roman Empire, he wins, okay? What Paul will do is not only persecute other Christianities, but he will quickly spread his Christianity with the help of the Roman Empire. Alright, so as you can see, what's going to happen is, in the year 30, when Jesus dies, it's a very small group of people, but it spreads really quickly, okay? And Paul will build the foundations for this great empire that in about the year 300 reaches its peak, okay? In about the year 300, what will happen is, Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire.

And this is the beginning of the Catholic Church. But it's Paul that built the foundation for this growth. Okay, so as you can see, Jesus, he's spreading his poetry, and it's because his poetry is easy to memorize, his poetry is spreading really quickly throughout the empire, okay? But what will happen is that once Paul builds the structure of Christianity, the church system, based on the paterfamilias system of the Romans, it will spread even quicker. And eventually, these two Christianities will come into conflict, and eventually Paul's system will win out until the end until it conquers the entire Roman Empire, okay? Alright, so scholars agree that Paul is the founder of Christianity. But there are three mysteries to Paul that scholars can't really answer, okay? The first question is, why would someone like Paul, who is a literate and wealthy, Hellenized Jew, why would he join a movement of illiterate Jewish peasants?

Okay? The scholars don't really have an answer for this. The second question is, we know that Paul was a fanatical Pharisee, okay? He was hunting Christians. But then he converts to become a fanatical follower of Jesus. Why would he do that? Okay? And the third mystery is, and this is the most important is, he spends his entire life promoting Christianity around the Roman Empire. Where did he get the money to do this? Because not only did he go, but he also had secretaries who went with him to take notes. Where does the money come from? Okay, so if you just do some basic game theory analysis, he's clearly a spy, okay? Clearly a spy. He's an agent of a power. The question for us though is, who is he working for? The easy answer seems to be the Roman Empire. But in fact, you could also make the argument that he's working for the Jewish leaders, okay?

The Jewish priests as well, okay? So we'll go over this. All right. So what we're going to do is, we're going to read the Bible now, okay? Now, one thing about the Bible that is very confusing is the Bible says that the Jews killed Jesus. And as we discussed last class, the Jews would not kill Jesus for a variety of reasons, okay? But the main reason is Jews don't kill each other. I'm sorry. Jews do not turn each other over to the Roman authorities. If you commit blasphemy, if you insult their God, they kill you by stoning you, okay? They don't have a habit of turning people over to the Roman authorities. So we know the Romans killed him, and it's most likely the Romans killed him because Jesus was a threat to their social structure. But the Bible says that, nope, it was the Jews who killed Jesus.

So, Emma, could you read, please? Okay, so this is from John, the Gospel of John.

Then Pilate took Jesus... Pilate.

Pilate. Pontius Pilate is the Roman governor who orders Jesus' execution, okay? Yeah, Pontius Pilate.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I can find no case against him. Okay, so what's happening is

Jesus is arrested by the Jewish priests, and they accuse him of blasphemy, of pretending to be God. And they bring him to Pontius Pilate, the governor, and says, You must execute this man because he has insulted our religion. And so Pontius Pilate interrogates Jesus, and he doesn't really think he did anything wrong, okay? But to appease the priest, he beats, he whips Jesus. And now he's like, You know what? I whipped this guy. I punished him. Now can you please go away? Okay? Keep on going.

Pilate went out again and said to them, Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I can find no case against him. So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Here is the man. When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no case against him. The chief priests and the Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die because he had claimed to be the son of God.

Okay, so do you understand what's going on, okay? The Bible claims the Jews killed Jesus, all right? So this shows us that the Bible is not that reliable, all right? Okay, so let's go into the story of Paul. Alan, can you please? Okay, so let me give you the context, okay? This is from the Acts of the Apostles and it's mainly about Paul and how he became a follower of Jesus. And at this time, Paul is persecuting Christians. We don't know why he's persecuting Christians. We don't know what, why the Jews hate the Christians, but Paul is going around persecuting the Christians as a Pharisee. And then on the way to persecuting more Christians on the road to Damascus, a light seizes him and it's Jesus telling him, Paul, why are you persecuting me and my followers? And then that converts Paul. It makes no sense as a story, okay? But this is what Christians believe.

Okay, can you read, Alan?

Meanwhile, Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogue. Synagogue. Synagons.

The synagogue is a place of worship for Diaspora Jews because Jews worship the temple, right? But the temple's in Jerusalem. So if you're outside Jerusalem, then you go to synagogue, right? Which is basically a Jewish church.

Synagons and Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he 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? He asked. Who are you, Lord? The reply came, I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 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. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drink.

So this is a miracle, right? This guy hated Christians and now because he was blinded, he loves Christians. What you will notice is this is very similar to Plato's allegory of the cave. Because remember, Paul is trained in Greek culture. So he knows about Plato and this is a model of the allegory of the cave where you're in darkness and suddenly you go out and you're blinded by the light and then you see the truth, okay? Another thing that's important is that clearly Jesus favors Paul. What's interesting is that if you read Paul's letters and we all read his letters, if you read Paul's story, he doesn't really talk about Jesus that much. He doesn't even quote Jesus, okay? So that's kind of weird if, you know, you're a follower of Jesus but you really don't quote Jesus and Jesus has a lot of quotations, you really don't talk about Jesus that much. And he doesn't really refer to the story that much in his letters.

The other thing that I will note is that if you read Jesus, okay, Jesus doesn't really talk about good and evil, doesn't really talk about the Bible, doesn't really talk about himself as a son of God, but Paul will talk about this a lot, okay? All right. So again, Paul's amazing because he'll go on three different voyages, missionary journeys around the Roman Empire in order to spread the gospel of Jesus. This is very, very hard work. It's also expensive work, okay? Because you can see how he's going from different cities, he's going to synagogues, and he's preaching the gospel, okay? What's important for us to understand is that as Paul is doing this, he's winning a lot of converts because he's, but he's coming in conflict with James the Just. Remember, James the Just is the brother of Jesus who inherits the movement.

James the Just is in Jerusalem and Paul is going around and spreading the gospel of Jesus. And so James the Just hears about this and people are saying to him, Paul's saying Jesus is God. Is Jesus God? And James the Just is like, of course he's not God. He's my brother, man. And so there's all this conflict and eventually what will happen is it forces Paul to confront James the Just in Jerusalem. According to the Bible, the main conflict is one of, of ideology, okay? So the Bible says that James the Just and Paul both agreed that Jesus is God, the Son of God, who's come to our planet to redeem us. But James the Just believes what's important is to maintain the faith within the Jewish tradition. Whereas Paul wants to expand this tradition outside the Jewish tradition to encompass the Greeks as well and the Romans as well, okay? The Gentiles. And that's where the conflict arises.

And so the main point of conflict is one of circumcision. Remember, Jews circumcise themselves, but the Greeks and Romans do not circumcise themselves. This is important because in this time, most of these cities are Greek cities. Greek cities have a place called gymnasium where men go to play sports. But you play sports naked. So if you're a Jewish man, they know automatically you're Jewish. So circumcision is a huge point of division between the Gentiles and the Jews. And Paul's point is that if you want to convert, you don't have to circumcise. And so the Jews are complaining to James the Just and says, hey, Paul is subverting our tradition. He's saying that Jewish men, he's saying that Greek men can come and follow religion without being circumcised. And so there's a lot of conflict between James the Just and Paul. And so Paul actually goes to Jerusalem and he confronts James the Just and they come to an agreement with each other.

Okay? So when Paul goes to Jerusalem, people recognize him. And so a mob wants to kill him. Okay? Can you read, Amber?

Up to this point, they listened to him. But then they shouted, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he shall not be allowed to live. And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks and ordered him to be examined by flogging to find out the reason for this outcry against him. But when they had tied him up with songs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, Is it illegal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen. The tribune came to ask Paul, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? And he said, Yes. The tribune answered, It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.

Paul said, But I was born a citizen. Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

So certain things to notice about this writing. First of all, you can see it's very anti -Jewish. The Jews just want to kill Paul for no particular reason. Paul is speaking the truth and the Jews want to kill him. It's a Jewish mob. That's the first thing. Second thing is that it's very pro -Roman, right? It's the Roman soldier come and save Paul from the mob. And this story is very similar, in fact, to the story of Jesus. So Jesus was arrested and the mob wants to kill him, right? And the Romans want to save Jesus, but they cannot stop the mob. But Paul, it's the same situation with Paul, but what Paul says, he is a Roman citizen, okay? So that's what saves him. Rome saves Paul. God can't save Jesus, but Rome saves Paul, okay? So this is propaganda. And this propaganda written, of course, for Hamanized Jews like Paul who are waving between loyalty to Rome or loyalty to the Jewish tradition.

And what Paul says is, the solution is to become a Christian because now you can become both. You can now become like me, loyal to the Jewish tradition, but also loyal to Rome, okay? All right, Alan, can you read, please? When we came into Roman, Paul was allowed to...

Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry. I need to set this up, okay? So the Romans say to Paul, why do the Jews want to kill you? And Paul says, because they think I'm insulting their religion. And Paul says, I'm a Roman citizen, so I want an audience with the emperor. Only the emperor can decide my fate. So the Romans sent him with a soldier escort back to Rome, okay? And this is how the Acts of the Apostles ends. Okay, can you read, Alan?

When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldiers who were guarding him. Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of all ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. When they had examined me, the Romans wanted to release me because there were no reasons for the death penalty in my case. But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to the emperor, even though I had no charge to bring against my nation.

Okay, this is really interesting, okay? This is changing the story. Before Paul said that he wants to return to Rome in order to face judgment from the emperor. And what Paul is saying now is, you Jews attacked me. And if I wanted to, I could complain to the emperor and bring charges against you Jews. Okay? So he's changing the story. He's showing how powerful he is. Okay, keep on going.

For this reason, therefore, I had asked to see you and speak with you, since it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain. Okay, so he's saying, listen, those guys in Jerusalem harass me.

And so I've come back to Rome and I want to speak to you Jewish leaders. And let's see if we can work together because you piss me off in Rome, I can unleash the empire on you. Okay, so he's now threatening these Jewish elders. Keep on going.

They replied, we have received no letter from Judah from about you. And none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken anything evil about you. But we would like to hear from you what you think. For with regard to this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.

Okay, so what they're saying is, it's all misunderstanding, Paul. We don't know what's going on. Why don't you tell us what's going on? Keep on going.

After they had set a day to meet with him, they came to him at his longings in great numbers.

Okay, so basically, all the Jewish leaders have to come because they understand that Paul represents the empire. Okay? Keep on going.

From morning until evening, he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.

So again, what Paul's saying is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Bible. He's the fulfillment of prophecy. He is the Messiah. Keep on going.

Some were convinced by what he had said, while others refused to believe.

Okay, so now some of these Jewish leaders are being converted by Paul. They are now moving towards the Christian faith. That's how powerful Paul is, okay? Keep on going.

So they disagree with each other, and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement. The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestor through the prophet, Isaiah, go to this people and say, you will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, and they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn, and I will hear them. Let it be known to you that as salvation of God had been sent to the Gentiles, they will listen.

Okay, so he's saying, so he's convincing some Jewish leaders to convert, right? But not all convert, and so Paul gets pissed off and says, you Jews are so stubborn. You don't get it, man. Okay, but don't worry. If you don't get it, the Gentiles, the Greeks and Romans will get it. We will win eventually. Okay, keep on going.

He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Okay, so something I will point out is this. It looks like, Paul is an agent of Rome, okay? It looks like he represents the empire, but why would he write in such a way as to be so blatant? And so you can also argue that Paul could be a double agent, okay? He pretends to be an agent, a spy for Rome, but he's actually working for the Jewish leadership. Why would the Jewish leader support Paul? Because by spreading Christianity, he's spreading the Bible. And the Bible says that Jews are God's chosen people. So he's elevating the status of Jews in Rome, okay? So it's not as simple as it looks. From this, if you just read it, it seems like Paul is a spy for Rome. But if you think much more deeply about what he's doing, why would he be so blatant and tell people, ha, I represent the empire? Well, maybe because he's being a real, maybe because he's being a double agent, right?

The thing that you have to remember with spies is they have no loyalties. They are double agents, they are triple agents, okay? They're always switching loyalties back and forth. Okay, so now what I want to do is I want to go into the actual thinking and writing of Paul. This is Romans, which is one of his major letters. And in these letters, what he's going to do is he's going to articulate to you this new philosophy of Christianity, okay? These letters become the basis for the Catholic Church, okay? So can you read, Amber, please?

Okay, so stop.

So this is Paul. And what you can see is he's a master of rhetoric, okay? The Jews are very clear if you are Jewish, you must be circumcised because circumcision is the sign of a covenant between our people and God. If you're not circumcised, you're not Jewish. And what Paul says, no, what matters is your heart. What matters is your spirit. If you have faith in God, that's what matters, okay? Keep on going.

Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For a person is not a Jew, who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision is something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew, who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart. It is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God. Then what advantage has the Jews?

Okay, so do you guys understand this is rhetoric, right? This is sophistry. We're changing the definition of the word. We're changing the idea of the word. Circumcision is a covenant between the Jews and God. And what Paul says, what matters is not the physical act. What matters is the faith in God, okay? That's a covenant, right? And as such, you do not have to be circumcised, okay? Can you read, Alan?

But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the law and the prophets. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are now justified by His grace as a gift. So the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood, effective through faith, He did this to show His righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over the sins previously committed. It was to prove at the present time that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

Okay, so Jews believe what's important is to follow the laws, okay? To be circumcised, to rest on the Sabbath, to only marry within the tribe. And what Paul says is, what's important is your belief in Jesus, your belief that Jesus came in order to redeem us from our sins, the original sin, okay? That's what matters now. Before it was these laws, before it was these actions, and now what matters is what you truly believe, okay? It is only believing Jesus that can save you. You can do as many good works as you want, you can follow as many laws as you want, does that matter? The key is faith in Jesus, okay? Alright, okay. Okay, can you read?

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, I belong to Paul and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not merely human?

Okay, so what Paul is doing is he's going around and corrupting the teachings of Jesus. And other people are calling him out and saying, Paul, this is not what Jesus taught, okay? And so what Paul's saying is, guys, guys, we shouldn't argue, okay? Because who's right? Jesus is right, okay? It's not what you say, it's not what I say, it's what Jesus says. So this again is sophistry, it's rhetoric. He's positioning himself above the debate. Rather than engaging in debate directly and saying like, what did Jesus actually teach and what are the true teachings, Paul's saying what's important is to obey Jesus, okay? What's important is obedience, not debate. Keep on going.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord has signed to each. I planted Apollos water, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wage according to the labor of each. For we are God's servants working together. You are God's field, God's building.

Okay, so Paul is evil, okay? Everyone's saying to Paul, Paul, you're corrupting the teachings of Jesus. And Paul's saying, no, what matters is we spread the message of Jesus. And everyone's saying, but what's the message of Jesus? Paul's saying, it doesn't matter. What matters is the growth of Jesus. Okay, this is sophistry. I'm going.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, the work of each builder will become visible. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed to the world. The day will be filled with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built onto the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss. The builder would be saved, but only as through fire.

Okay, so what Paul's saying is this. We're all going to work together to spread the message of Jesus. You may believe Jesus says one thing, I believe another thing, but let's not argue, okay? Let's just keep on spreading the word of Jesus, and we'll see which person has the biggest church, and we'll know who's right, okay? So he's using the metric of business success, of wealth, of material acquisition to justify his faith in Jesus, okay? And this is the opposite of what Jesus taught. And some people are saying, Paul, this is not what Jesus taught us. Paul's like, no, no, no, we're going to see who wins out in the end, okay? Keep on going.

Do not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are the temple. Do not deceive yourself. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools, so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. So let no one boast about human leaders, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world of life or death or the present or the future, all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

So he's very clever, right? He's saying, yes, Jesus taught us that God's spirit dwells in you. What this means isn't that you have free will. What it means is you don't have free will because you must do the work of God, which is to spread the message of God, which is to extend the power of God in this world. Okay? So you see how this is sophistry, right? He's tricking people. He's deceiving people. Jesus taught you the light is within you, and therefore you know God. You just trust yourself, and that's good. And then what Paul says, no, you are a tool of God. Okay, keep on going.

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.

Okay, okay. All right. So let's keep on going. Allen, can you read, please?

When you are a slave when caught, do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was caught in the Lord as a slave is a free person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was freed when caught is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price. Do not become slave of human masters. In whatever condition you were caught, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.

Okay, so Paul's being very clever again, okay? Because this message is appealing to slaves. Jesus taught the slaves, you're free. And the slaves say to Paul, we're free, right? And Paul says, you are free, but you are a slave to God. Do you understand? Okay? Therefore, no human can be a master of you because you're all slaves to God. He's confusing people, okay? Can you keep on reading?

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I become as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I become as one under the law, under the law. Though I myself, I'm not under the law, so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, though I am not free from God's law, but I'm under Christ's law, so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I become weak, so that I might win the weak. I become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessing. Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?

Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self -control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wealth, but we an imperishable one, so I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air. But I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others, I myself should not be disqualified.

So it's almost like a pep rally, right? He's a business person. He's telling his workers, go out and sell those damn hamburgers, man. I don't care what you do. I don't care how many lies you tell. Go sell those hamburgers. Pretend they're healthy. Pretend you love hamburgers. Just pretend. What matters is you go sell those hamburgers. And guess what, man? Whoever sells the most hamburgers gets a car. Okay? But this is better than a car because the reward is heaven. Eternal paradise, guys. So go out and sell those hamburgers. All right? All right. Can you read the highlighted part, Amber?

Now in the following instructions, I do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse. For to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord's supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What? Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter, I do not commend you.

Okay, so what he's saying is this. When you come to a church, it's very important that you obey the ritual. Okay? The ritual is communion, the Eucharist. And we must remember this is a ritual where you must follow the exact protocols. If you do not, then there's no point in coming to church. So the church is not a place to discuss Jesus, not to debate Jesus, but to worship Jesus. Okay, keep on going.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you. And the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves and only then eat the bread and drink it. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body eat and drink judgment against themselves.

For this reason, many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. And when you come together to eat, if you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things, I will give instruction when I come.

Okay, so this is a really important ritual. It's the most important ritual in Christianity called the Eucharist, Thanksgiving, okay? And in this, it's basically, they eat some bread and they drink some wine and they believe it is the flesh and blood of Jesus. So Jesus is entering them, okay? And as you can imagine, what they're doing really is negating the divine spark in you. Divine spark is free. It's individual. It's independent. When you partake in the body of Jesus, you become one with everyone else, okay? That negates your individuality. That negates the spark within you and you become just the church itself, okay? And that's the idea of the Eucharist, to destroy your individuality, all right? And so when Christians do this, they literally believe the bread they're eating is the flesh. It is the body of Christ, of Jesus. So Jesus is entering into you and taking you over, okay? It's possession by Jesus.

Yes?

Can we see this as a way that they abuse or exploit Jesus because they're just eating their body, although the body of Jesus is hollow?

No, no. The idea here is that Jesus is your master, okay? And when you partake in Jesus, you become a part of Jesus. And therefore, you must obey exactly what he wants, okay? All right, so this is confusing because it's cannibalism, okay? But as I told you before, this is actually a very common thing among the Greek mystery cults where they come together and they believe that when they eat food, they're actually eating the body of Dionysus. And Dionysus, his energy is being consumed into you, okay? What's important for us to appreciate is like these mystery cults are demonic, okay? So what else they do is they will have ritual sacrifices where they will tear people apart and consume the flesh, okay? So this is from a painting from the Euboides play describing one of these mystery cults, okay? So they will actually tear a person's body apart to replicate the death of Dionysus and they consume the body part, all right?

And guess what, guys? The secret society still do this today, okay? So, but what's important to understand is this actually has a long tradition. So if you go back to 15,000 years to Europe in the Magdalenian age, cannibalism was actually very common. It was common for religious purposes. So maybe there's someone that you love and he died. What you would do is you consume his body when he died in order to remember him forever, okay? So that you would have an eternal communion with him. Because his soul would go into the spirit world but if you had his body, right? He would always communicate with you. And that's the idea of commemorating Jesus like in such a way. When you consume Jesus, Jesus is always with you. He is now taking possession over your body. You are now just a body for Jesus, okay?

Does that make sense? You've lost your individuality. You've lost your freedom. You are now completely possessed by Jesus when you are, when you engage in the Eucharist, okay? Yes?

So during that time, nobody found that like this is disobeying the original belief of Jesus? Like Paul is just using all peoples to obey?

Yeah, that's a really good question, okay? Most people at this time think Paul is just evil, okay? It's like this is not what Jesus taught us. Jesus taught us to believe in ourselves. Jesus would never teach us this demonic thing of sacrifice, okay? Jesus came to teach us like, I don't sacrifice. Human sacrifice, it's all evil, okay? He got rid of that. But again, so at this time in history, Paul's church, Paul's followers are only limited amount, okay? Very few people. But he doesn't care because he's building the, found the blueprint for an empire. Does that make sense, okay? So the Romans forced this religion on everyone. Now everyone has to obey this. You understand? If you actually from first principles try to convince people the Catholic church is right, you can't really convince that many people. But guess what, guys? Doesn't matter because most people are born into the Catholic church. So they are born believing this stuff, okay?

So they can't really think for themselves. All right. But also remember, Catholicism is very common throughout history. So these are the Aztecs who will engage in Catholicism in order to prepare for war, in order to sacrifice others for the gods, okay? Again, this is the Magdalenean culture. And we found lots of places where they engage in Catholicism during funerals, okay? And as you can see, it's very common. It's very common throughout the world at this time. And it makes sense if you think about it, right? If this person is someone you love and he was very special to you and you want him to still help you in life, to guide you in life, then you consume his body, a part of his body, then he'll stay with you forever, okay? And this is a way to build group cohesion in this time. Remember, this is the Ice Age. So it's very hard to survive.

But of course, not everyone practices this as well, okay? The red are those who practice cannibalism during funerals. The blue are just those who just bury the body and don't practice cannibalism. So what you're not taught is, among the elite, this sort of stuff goes on a lot. So this is 19th century in Victorian Britain. And this is, you know, the British Empire. And guess what, guys? What they like to do is, they like to steal mummies from Egypt and eat these mummies because they believe that these mummies had some magic qualities, okay? So this goes back to the 19th century. And you think to yourself, oh, you know what? In the 12th century, we are so much more advanced. We don't do this crap anymore, right? Unfortunately, this is Albert Einstein's brain. Albert Einstein, before he died, said, please, please, whatever you do, do not dissect my brain, okay?

I know you think I'm the greatest genius in the world and you want to know how my brain works, but I'm telling you right now, my brain is no different from your brain. Please, whatever you do, do not dissect my brain. So of course, a doctor steals his brain and cuts it into different pieces, okay? Now, let me ask you this question. Let's just say this doctor were to take this brain, and make some medicine out of it, okay? If he takes his brain, he cuts it up into like a hundred different parts. And then he takes this medicine and he sells it to rich people for a million dollars. Could he find a hundred rich people who would pay a million dollars to eat everything in his brain? Yes, okay? So as I keep on telling you, the rich are insane, all right? My wife tells me that when I die, it's possible they might want to dissect my brain as well.

So please don't do so, okay? Because my brain is no different from anyone else's brain, okay? You won't find the secret of my creativity with my brain, all right? All right, so, yup. Allen, can you read, please?

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the food would say, because I am not a band, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the air would say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the pairing be? If the whole body were pairing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranging the member of the body, each one of them, as He choose, if all were a single members, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor against the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

On the contrary, the members of the body that seems to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable, we close with greater honor. And our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Okay, so what he's saying is this, when you consume the body of Christ, you've all consumed a part of Him, right? And so we need to come together as a people, as a church, to form the whole body of Jesus. And that means that you must do what others tell you to do, okay? This requires complete obedience if we are to resurrect Jesus, in our church. Does that make sense, guys? Okay, keep on going.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually member of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, form of assistance, form of leadership, various kind of tongues. Are all... Are all... Apostles? Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all... Are all teachers? Do you all work miracles? Do you all possess gifts of healing? Do you all speak in tongues? Do you all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts, as I will show you a still more excellent way.

Okay, so do you understand what's going on, okay? No matter who you are, no matter what you do, what's important is your sacrifice to Jesus, to obey Him completely, okay? So this is all ordained by Jesus. All right. Amar, can you read the yellow, please?

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not envious, rebustful, arrogant, or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not...

Irritable.

Irritable and resentful. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoice in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endears all things. Love never ends, but as for prophecies, they will come to an end. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we all know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part. Then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

Okay, so you understand. Paul does sophistry. So you think the word is love. Great, love! We love Jesus. The word actually means obedience, right? If you join a church, what is required for you is complete obedience to Jesus. So understand that you are now a slave to Jesus. Remember, when we commit the original sin, when we did evil, we became slaves to the devil. When Jesus killed us, it's because he, sorry, when Jesus died, it was to ransom us from the devil. So now we are slaves to Jesus. And therefore we must obey him completely. Okay? No argument, no opinion, no individuality, just complete obedience to Jesus. So you can see the power of this, right? He changes, he switches these words. He's saying that slavery is now love. Okay? When a human master enslaves you, that's evil. When Jesus enslaves you, it's good because now it's love. It's because Jesus loves you. That's why he enslaves you.

But now because he loves you, you must obey him completely. And that means never ever question the authority of the church. Never ever do that because that's evil.

Okay.

All right. Can you read it, Alan?

What I'm saying, brothers and sisters, is this, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does a perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery. We will not all die, but we will all be changed. In the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet went sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishably, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled. Death has been swallowed up in victory, where, O death, is your victory, where, O death, is your sting. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,

my beloved, be steadfast and movable, always excelling in the works of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Okay, so this is why you must obey Him completely, because now you are guaranteed access to heaven, eternal paradise, okay? Pretty good deal, right? Be a slave for 40 years, 50 years, be the best hard worker, be a hardworking slave for the next 40, 50 years, and then you have eternal paradise, because that is Jesus' promise to you, okay? The defeat of death.

I think according to the original belief of Jesus, which Jesus led us to pursue our divine spark, right? That's the real way to heaven, but doing this, I think, like, after people die, they will find out that they cannot really go to heaven, because they are slaves.

Yeah, no one cares, right? It doesn't matter, because you're dead, right? Because the entire point of the system is to extract as much energy out of you as possible while you're alive, right? Because Paul's real customers are the patriarchs. It's the patriarchs who are paying for this, and the patriarchs who will force their slaves to convert to this religion, okay? So maybe the slaves don't buy this, but their children will, because their children will be brainwashed into this, okay? And this explains why the Catholic Church is the most powerful organization today. So now that we've gone into how he actually thinks, let's go over to his psychology, okay? So what motivated Paul to do what he did? Because he worked really hard. And so there are three possible explanations. The first explanation is he was a Roman agent, and his mission was to destroy Mesonic Judaism from within. What we'll learn next class is that Judaism is a huge problem for the Romans.

And so while the Jews are printing, waiting for a Messiah of war, Paul says, no, no, Jesus was a Messiah of peace, okay? So he's trying to subvert the Jews from within. But you could also argue that Paul was actually a Jewish spy who was trying to subvert the Roman Empire by spreading the Jewish faith, okay? You could also argue that. I would argue it's both. Both are true, right? So I think that what really happened is Paul had a Mesonic calling to create his own religious empire, okay? He wanted to become God himself. So there's a famous joke. The joke goes like this. God and Satan are having an argument. God says, my people, the humans, have found religion. Therefore, you've lost. And Satan says, well, I'll just organize it, okay? I'll create churches out of it. And that's what Paul did. Jesus came to tell

us the truth, and Paul says, I'll use this truth, and I'll make an empire out of it, okay? All right, so there's an analogy here. His name is Ray Kroc, and he created the McDonald's. Okay? How did he do so? He took an idea, McDonald's, and he went around America, and he created McDonald's, okay? So McDonald's is like the church. If you go to McDonald's anywhere in the world, it's almost the same building, same menu, okay? So it follows a very similar pattern to Paul's building of the church. Paul was able to succeed because he spread a religion. Ray Kroc succeeded because he also spread a religion as well, all right? So what he did was not convince people to eat hamburgers. He didn't need to do that. What he needed to do was convince small business owners to invest in McDonald's, to buy the franchise on McDonald's by spreading the idea of the gospel of wealth.

If you invest in me, if you open a McDonald's, you'll become wealthy, and that is paradise. Okay? So basically, Ray Kroc and Paul were doing the same thing. All right. So Paul has this business idea. Let's just take Jesus and turn him into an empire. And so he's gonna make different sales pitches to different people, okay? So we're gonna imagine, okay, and this is a thought experiment. It didn't really happen. We're gonna imagine Paul making a pitch to the Roman patriarchs, right? He's saying, why should you invest in me? Because one, we will cause debate and division within the Jewish diaspora, okay? So some will convert, but some will not. But who cares? Because now they're fighting each other and not fighting us. That's number one. Number two is, we will make their Messiah of war into Messiah of peace, okay? And that will weaken their resolve. And the third is, we can now spiritually enslave the people, okay?

And they'll work harder for us. So that's a sales pitch of Paul to the Romans. But there's also a sales pitch he can make to the Jewish leaders as well. Let us spread our faith to the Gentiles and elevate our status as a chosen people, okay? Let us make our Torah and Jerusalem divine in the eyes of the world. And guess what? It worked, right? Even today, everyone thinks that Jerusalem is the holy city in the world. Let us make ourselves the servants of the empire and ally with the Roman patriarchs so that we can subvert them from within. All right? And it worked. Now, not all Jews did this, but a lot did follow Paul into Christianity. Christianity is a platform for the Jews and the Romans to work together.

All right?

But now, Paul is going to make a sales pitch to the Greeks and the Jews, okay? And this is what he says. A few decades of obedience for a turning of Jordan's paradise, right? That's number one. Number two is, it's true to join. You don't have to get circumcised, okay? And the third is, Jesus will return any day now, so hurry up before it's too late. Guys, 50 % off today! All right? Do it now! 50 % off! All right? That's literally his message, all right? And that's why he's so successful. 50 % off! All right. So, what... This is Augustine, okay? And this is after the Catholic Church becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire. And what Augustine will do is, he will write a book called City of God, and he will put the Catholic Church above Rome, okay? Because Rome is just a temporal, earthly city, but Jerusalem is a divine city.

And he's saying, the Catholic Church is now Jerusalem. We don't need the Roman Empire anymore because now we have the Catholic Church, okay? The Catholic Church is a community of believers. As long as you believe in Jesus, you'll be saved. So, obviously, it's going to take Paul's ideas and systemize it to create the Catholic Church, okay? So, Emma, can you read, please?

It was in secret that the first human beings began to be evil, and the result was that they slipped into open disobedience.

Okay, so this is really important. Jesus said there's a divine spark in us, right? In other sense, yes, there's a divine spark, but it's from Satan, guys! It's not from God, it's from Satan! That's why we cannot trust the divine spark. Because we're evil. Keep on going.

For they would not have arrived at the evil act if an evil would have not preceded it. Now, could anything but pride have been the start of the evil will? For pride is the start of every kind of sin.

So, you know, Jesus says to follow your own heart, right? And Augustine says, no, no, no. That leads to pride. And pride is evil. Pride means you want to be better than God. Pride means you want to kill God. Therefore, it is inherently evil. Therefore, the heart inside you comes from Satan. Okay? Keep on going.

And what is pride except a longing for a preserved kind of exaltation? Exaltation. For it is a preserved kind of exaltation to abandon the basis on which the mind should be firmly fixed and to become, as it were, based on oneself and so remain. This happens when a man is too pleased with himself, and a man is self -complacent when he deserts that changeless good in which, rather than himself, he ought to have found his satisfaction. This desertion is voluntary, for if the will had remained unshaken in its love of the higher changeless good, which shed on it light to see and kindled in it fire to love, it would not have been diverted from this love to follow its own pleasure. And the will would not have been so darkened and chilled and consequent as to let the woman believe that the serpent had spoken the truth, and the man to put his wife's

will above God's commandment, and to suppose that his was of venial transgression when he refused to desert his life's companion, even though the refusal entailed companionship is in sin.

Okay, so we are, we exist to obey God. Alright? Jesus taught us that we exist in order to be creative, in order to seek truth for ourselves. But Augustine Paul teaches us that we exist in order to obey God. Why? Because we cannot trust ourselves. Okay? Yeah?

I have a question. So, does that mean the believers of the Catholic Church should not take pride in their identity as a part of the, like, a part of the Church? Or does that also mean that they cannot be, well, in a way, they can't find satisfaction in partaking in the great mission of the Catholic Church?

Okay, so the Catholic Church has certain teachings, okay? The first teaching is the idea of original sin, which is we are born evil, and it is Christ that redeems us. That's number one. Number two is we cannot think for ourselves because we will be led astray by the devil. We must listen to the priest. We should not read the Bible for ourselves because we'll get confused by it. Okay? Alright? And that's what leads to the Protestant Reformation. Okay, so, what does that mean? And the priests are the representatives of God on earth. The Pope has supreme authority. Okay? Yes?

So if the Pope tells you to take pride in being a part of the Church, you can't be, like, you are allowed?

The Pope is the Word of God. Whatever the Pope says is the Word of God. Okay? Okay, it's that simple.

So, I have a question.

Yeah, go ahead.

Like, if we really, like, try to pursue the original Jesus to believe that is to pursue our divine spark, but pride is a thing that we cannot avoid, right?

Yeah, so you will make mistakes. Right? Yeah. So Jesus says it's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to screw up. You'll be forgiven. Whereas the Catholic Church says it's not okay to screw up.

Oh.

Yeah, do you understand? Alright. Okay, can you read out there?

Thus the evil act, the transgression of eating the forbidden fruit, was committed only when those who did it were already evil. That bad fruit could only have come from a bad tree.

Okay, so we're born evil, okay? It's that simple. Keep on going.

Further, the badness of the tree came about contrary to nature, because without the fault in the will, which is against nature, it certainly could not have happened. But only a nature created out of nothing could have been destroyed by a fault. Consequently, although the will drives its existence as nature from its creation by God, its failing away from its true being is due to its creation out of nothing.

Okay, so why are we evil? Why can't we trust ourselves? Why can we be easily swayed by Satan? The reason why is the Bible tells us that we are created out of dust. We're created out of nothing, okay? In other words, we are a failed science experiment. Okay? That's why we suck. That's why we must believe in God. We must believe in the church. All right? So this is the Augustine. All right, can you read?

Yet man did not fall away to the extent of losing all being. But when he had turned towards himself, his being was less real than when he adhered to him who exists in a supreme degree. And so to abandon God and to exist in oneself, that is to please oneself, is not immediately to lose all being, but it is to come near to nothingness. That is why the proud are given another name, in holy scripture. They are called self -pleasers. Now it is good to lift up your heart and to exalt your thoughts, yet not in the self -worship of pride, but in the worship of God. This is a sign of obedience, and obedience can belong only to the humble.

So you must obey the church completely. Okay? Because the divine spark in you, it's out of nothingness. It can only lead you to evil. Okay? So the only way, the only solution now is to obey the church completely.

And I think that kind of answered my question.

Yep.

So like for, because I think I believe in the original.

No, no. It doesn't matter what you believe. I don't care what you believe. I only care about what the Catholic church is teaching you. Okay?

Can we also see?

We're not having an argument about who's right, who's wrong. I don't want that. Okay? I want you to understand what the Catholic church is teaching you.

Like can we also see the, like people eat the fruit from that tree also as a mistake that we can, just like the original, Jesus believed that we can be forgiven?

Jesus thought that what Eve did was correct.

Oh. All right?

Okay? All right. So Alan, can you read please?

This is why humility, humility is highly prized in the city of God and especially enjoyed on the city of God during the time of its pilgrimage in this world. And it receives particular emphasis in the character of Christ, the king of the city. We are also taught by the sacred scriptures that the thought of exaltation, the contrary of humility, exercise supreme dominion in Christ's adversary. The devil, this is assuredly the greatest difference that thunders the two cities in which we are speaking. The one is a community of devout men, the other a company of the irreligious and the other, and each has its own angels attached to it. In one city, love of God has been given first place, in the other, love of self. Okay.

So it's that simple, okay? If you obey, you are doing the work of God. If you disobey, you're doing the work of the devil. It's that simple, okay? All right. Can you keep on reading? And this will end the, yeah.

In the heavenly city then, there will be freedom of will. It will be one and the same freedom in all. And in this, in the visible and the separate individuals, it will be freed from all evil and filled with all good, enjoying unfailingly the delight of internal joys, forgetting all offenses, forgetting all punishment.

So when we have freedom, okay? We're slaves now, but when will we have freedom? When we have, when we're with God, because only when we're with God can we know what is good, okay? And then we have complete freedom. But what he means by freedom, of course, is complete obedience. Now we won't even think about disobeying God, okay? That's what freedom is. All right. So the Catholic Church grows, the Roman Empire makes it the official religion because it does three things, okay? And we discussed this. The first is that now you're better to exploit your slaves. They're now more hardworking because before, if they were lazy, they might get whipped, right? But they're lazy now, they will burn in hell for all of eternity. That's number one. Number two is, this is really important. You have all this gold, right? The problem with all this gold is people can steal it. People can kill you for it, right?

But now you have spiritual authority. Now you represent God. Now you're head of a church, right? And therefore, people can't kill you because if they kill you, God will come and kill them, okay? It's a pretty good deal, right? Before you were a king, but now you're a God. What a great deal. And the last thing, of course, is now what you can do is you can now expand and expand and expand your empire, okay? So let me explain why this is relevant today, okay? Because now that the Catholic Church is around, these dynasties of Rome can continue on to today through the Catholic Church, right? Does that make sense to you guys? Because now they can store their power in the Catholic Church. If you put your gold in the Catholic Church, no one's going to come and steal it, right? Because they don't want to incur the wrath of God.

That's why the Catholic Church will give rise to some people called the Black Nobility, okay? These are 13 families from Rome that still run the world today, okay? We'll discuss this later on, all right? We'll discuss how the Catholic Church and the Black Nobility work together. Second thing you need to understand is what allowed the Catholic Church to dominate is this alliance between the Black Nobility and Jews. Guess what, guys? It still happens today, okay? And the third thing is what allows for the system to work are the secret societies where, through rituals, these powerful people are bound together, okay? And so these three ideas, the Black Nobility, the alliance between Black Nobility and the Jews, and the third, the secret societies, is the power structure we have today, all right? That's the power of the Catholic Church. That is the genius of Paul, to create a system that continues even today because it is so powerful and so strategic, okay?

Does that make sense? All right, and we'll discuss this later on as well, but I present the idea to you today. All right, some questions, okay. My wife sends me more questions, okay? This person wants to know what's the difference between the Catholic Church, the Protestants, and the Eastern Orthodox? So the Eastern Orthodox is the Church of Augustine. It didn't really change. The Protestants are those who rebel against the teachings of Paul and Augustine, and the Catholic Church is sort of in between, okay? But we'll discuss this more as we go along. All right, the Greek mystery schools, are they still around today? And the answer is yes, of course, they're still around today because they allowed the elite to work together, okay? They allowed the elite to trust each other, okay? And again, they come from the Greek mystery schools. All right, psychopaths, what do we do with these people, right?

You have these psychopaths who run the world. They don't feel regret. They don't forgive each other. So how do we perceive these people, okay? And there are different solutions. The first solution is to appreciate the idea of karma. So yes, they are powerful in this lifetime, but in the next lifetime, they become slaves. So they can feel for themselves the evil that they've done onto other people, okay? Another idea is in the world of today, psychopaths will always war. Only evil will war because that's just the structure of this universe. In this universe that we live in, the devil is always king, okay? And there's no way around it. So we're here not to fight these people. We're here to learn wisdom in a world of evil. So don't worry about them. Just worry about yourself, okay? And the third thing to think about is if you really understood how these people lived their lives, you would feel sorry for them, all right?

So remember the Iliad where Achilles triumphs over Hector, but rather than feeling joy and happiness, he feels only sadness, and he can't even cry, okay? He becomes a zombie. And you can make the argument that the wealthy people are like that today. Yeah, they look like as though they're happy. They have billions of dollars, but they're not happy, okay? If you actually lived their lives, if you see the world through their eyes, you would see that they're very unhappy people. So don't hate them. Feel pity for them, okay? So there are different ways of understanding this. All right. Okay, this is a great question. Okay, I love this question. If the Romans are the ones who killed Jesus, why don't the Jews don't speak up? Why don't the Jews say, we didn't do it, man? Okay, so this is really complicated. But the simple answer is there's an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Jews, okay?

And the agreement is this. The Catholic Church needed scapegoats, needed people for other people to hate, okay? And the Jews agreed in order to practice their religion. Does that make sense? All right, I know this sounds terrible, but the only way for the Jews to survive as a people is if they agree to be scapegoats for Christians. All right? And we'll discuss this later on. And that's why if you look at Europe for the past 2 ,000 years, what the Christians did to the Jews was just horrific, okay? And the Jews could not speak up because if they did, the Catholic Church might get rid of them, okay? This person says, James the Just, Jesus' brother, he was killed by the Jews, right? No, no, no. Ask yourself this question. Who is most threatened by James the Just? The answer, of course, is Paul.

It was Paul who had him killed, okay? In 70, the Romans destroyed the temple. And that time would have been the perfect time to kill James the Just. James the Just was probably protected by the Jews, okay? But Paul saw him as a threat because as long as James the Just was alive, he's ultimately a thorn in Jesus', right? Paul could not steal the legacy. The legacy from James the Just. Therefore, he had to get this guy killed, okay? Does that make sense? All right. How do you know if you see the truth and reject the lie? The answer is really simple, guys. How do you know if you love someone? You just do, guys. Okay, I'm sorry. If you don't know you love someone, you probably don't love that person, all right? When you love someone, your heart glows. You feel stronger. You are more energetic, all right? If you are in

a relationship, but you become weaker, you feel tired, you lose hope, you probably don't love that person. That person probably doesn't love you, okay? It's that simple, guys. How do you know you love? You just do. How do you know you see the truth? You just do, all right? You cannot trust a human. The Bible clearly states the one who brings evil to this world stands above all humankind. Therefore, you will find the truth. No, no, no. This is what Paul says. This is what Augustine says. You do know. You know in your heart, okay? All right, that's it. Any questions, guys, before we conclude? Okay, great. So, we'll continue this next class, okay?