Introduction: According to US President Thomas Jefferson, St. Paul was the "first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus". Paul (5-67 AD), known as Saul of Tarsus before his "conversion" to Christianity, maintained that we may "eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience" (1 Corinthians 10:25-26 NIV) whilst Jesus died for the cause of animal liberation (Matthew 21:12; John 2:14-15; Akers 2000; Chen 2020). 37 times in the Scripture did Paul bad-mouth Moses' Law, including abstinence from pork and meat sacrificed to idols, whereas Jesus unequivocally said that "I have not come to abolish [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:16 NIV). Paul upheld justification by faith alone (Sola Fide) (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:28; Philippians 3:9: Ephesians 2:8-9), while Jesus castigated the Pharisees for "all talk and no action" (Matthew 23:2-3 RAD Bible).
Now, was Paul a mole sent by the Roman Empire and/or Satan to corrupt Jesus' vegan church? In order to answer this question, we will examine Paul's family background in this article. In forthcoming articles, we will carefully go through suspicious points of Paul's conversion story as told by himself, how Pauline Christianity deviates from Jesus' teachings, and Paul's power struggle with early vegan Christians.
A Benjamite like King Saul
First of all, Paul was a Benjamite (Romans 11:1). And according to Genesis 49:27, "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divided the plunder" (Genesis 49:27 NIV). The first king of Israel, also named Saul, was a Benjamite who badly persecuted David (I Samuel 18-19).
A Relative of Herod Antipas'
Secondly, Paul was a relative of Herod Antipas (Romans 16:11; Acts 22: 26-29), who directly beheaded John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29 NIV) and indirectly caused the death of Jesus.
In driving out from the Holy Temple those vendors who were buying and selling animals for cruel sacrifice (Matthew 21:12), Jesus offended the chief priests and teachers of the law, for the reason that he was disrupting their revenue stream. Immediately afterwards, "the chief priests and the teachers of the law heard about this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed at his teachings."(Mark 11:18)
But then only the Roman authorities had the power to mete out a death penalty. As Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor would see a charge of blasphemy as a Jewish matter rather than something he cared to be involved in, Jesus was sent to Pilate on a charge of high treason. Pilate was reluctant to pass judgment on Jesus. So when he heard that Jesus was a Galilean, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee. Herod may have been interested in Jesus, but Jesus was not interested in performing tricks for this man. Piqued when Jesus would not reply to his questions, Herod joined his soldiers in mocking Jesus by draping his body with rich clothing suitable for a king, and sent him back to Pilate. He was apparently indifferent to Jesus’ fate. Under the pressure of the chief priests and law teachers, Pilate eventually sentenced Jesus to be crucified, though he deemed Jesus innocent (Luke 18-19).
A Supporter of the Roman Empire
Thirdly, quite unlike Jesus who was born and raised in a grass-root family, Paul came from a wealthy, elite, merchant family. He primarily conversed and wrote in Greek though he also spoke Hebrew. He was a Roman citizen and supported the Roman Empire throughout his entire life. "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities... The authorities that exist have been established by God...he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted," wrote Paul (Romans 13:1-2).
In fact, Obery M. Hendricks, the author of The Politics of Jesus (2006), points out that as a Roman citizen, Paul "was exempt from the economic pressures that weighed upon the people of Israel" and that he "did not grow up with the insecurity and fear that permeated the rural peasant culture in which Jesus spent his life" (22).
Paul was also a Pharisee who, before his "conversion", had endorsed and taken part in the persecution and killing of vegan Jewish Christians like St. Stephen (Acts 6; 7; 8:1-2,4).
Like Father, Like Son
In conclusion, like father like son. Given his clan history, Paul was apparently a perfect candidate to be employed by the Roman Empire and/or Lucifer to destroy the house of David and to subvert Jesus' vegan Christianity.
For proofs that Jesus was a vegan, please read Chen (2020).
Article link: https://www.hkbnews.net/post/the-family-background-of-st-paul-who-corrupted-jesus-vegan-church-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews Amen!
Bibliography
Akers, Keith (2000). The Lost Religion of Jesus. Lagos: Lantern Books.
Chen, Chapman (2021). ”Jesus Asks us to Serve the Animals. Go Vegan!" HKBNews, July 10 (https://www.hkbnews.net/post/jesus-asks-us-to-serve-the-animals-go-vegan-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews)
Chen, Chapman (2020). "Proofs that Jesus was Vegan." HKBNews, Dec. 28 (https://www.hkbnews.net/post/proofs-that-jesus-was-vegan-%E6%85%88%E6%84%9B%E8%80%B6%E7%A9%8C%E9%A3%9F%E5%85%A8%E7%B4%A0-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews )
Hendricks, Obery M (2006). The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of the Teachings of Jesus and How They Have Been Corrupted. Houston: Three Leaves Publishing.
Linzey, Andrew (1994). Animal Theology. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Washington, H. A. (1854) (ed). The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being his Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private. Vol. VII. Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Maury.