Paul

Those of you that have read my previous blog entries have probably noticed a theme. I base all of my principals on the words of Jesus. I mostly quote the gospels, Peter, James and John. I think Jesus Words can speak for themselves and are the perfect and complete guide to our salvation. I also never quote Paul on matters of doctrine. I have in essence preached the gospel to you without ever having referred to Paul. In case you are wondering here are some the reasons why. This list is in no way exhaustive. 

Jesus the Messiah never chose Paul as one of his disciples during his earthly ministry.

Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh and never listened to Jesus teachings during Jesus’s earthly ministry.

Jesus taught to keep Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 5 verses 17 to 19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus told his 12 Apostles to teach Gentiles to obey everything that he taught them (Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20). Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Matthias was the twelfth Apostle.

Acts 1, Judas Iscariot was replaced by Matthias as the twelfth Apostle. Matthias was with Jesus and his Apostles from the beginning of his ministry all the way to the ascension so therefore was qualified to be a witness to the events of Jesus’s ministry. Paul was not qualified in this way.

Only Paul claims that Jesus Christ chose him. There is a long standing precedent in jewish law stating that everything must be established by at least two or three witnesses.

Deuteronomy 19:5 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. Paul has no other witnesses. Three times Paul gives a testimony of his Damascus road experience and each time he tells it differently. In one account he claims that his companions did not see anyone but heard the voice  Acts 9:7- but in the other account, it is directly contrary: they saw the light but did not hear the voice. Acts 22:9  In one version, his companions hear the voice, but in the other version, his companions do not hear the voice.

Here are Jesus own words in John 5:31, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true”. Paul bore witness to himself only.

Paul taught contrary to Jesus, five examples

1) Romans 13:1 – “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Let’s look at Hosea 8 verse 4.

Hosea 8:4 – “They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.”

2) Galatians 2 verse 21 – “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 3 verse 21 – “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.”

These writings of Paul completely contradict with what is taught in Deuteronomy 6 verse 25, Matthew 19 verses 17 to 19, etc.

Deuteronomy 6 verse 25 – “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.”

Matthew 19 verses 17 to 19 – “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.”

3) Romans 10 verse 9 – “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

This contradicts with what Jesus taught.

Matthew 7 verses 21 to 27 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

4) Ephesians 2 verse 17 – “He (Jesus Christ) came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.”

This contradicts with what Jesus Christ taught in Matthew 10 verses 34 to 35 

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. 

5) Romans 3 verse 10 – “There is no one righteous, not even one;”

Jesus names a few of the righteous saints that were under the law in Matthew 13:34 “For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 35. so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar”.  It must be noted that you can keep the law. That is why we read that Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly, Luke 1:5-6 During the reign of Herod king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron. They were both righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.

The Jesus that Paul taught failed to cast out demons.

Acts 19:13-16 Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

Eventually, one of the evil spirits answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded.

Paul’s name is not mentioned in Revelation 21:14 where the twelve apostles of the Lamb are listed. 

Jesus did not give us a new teaching that there would be a thirteenth Apostle which Paul would surely have been. Paul was a Pharisee. One day he had a ‘revelation’. He changed his name from Saul to Paul, and straightway preached his revelations about the ‘Christ’ in the synagogues. Paul continued to have new ‘revelations’ that spoke ‘of’ and ‘for’ a Christ, but he was glaringly silent about the actual life of Jesus and his teachings. In Paul’s epistles we find him using the words ‘Christ, Son of God, grace, redemption, resurrection, etc.’, but we learn little or nothing about Jesus and his actual teachings. They’re virtually absent from Paul’s epistles. Paul quotes Jesus exactly once in all his writings and that was only the words Jesus spoke at the last supper when he gave the Apostles the bread and Wine. Paul was a man that was not an apostle and only taught through unsubstantiated self revelation.

Ezekiel 13:2-9, 2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the LORD! 3‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. 4“O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. 5“You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the LORD. 6“They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The LORD declares,’ when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. 7“Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The LORD declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”.

Paul was rejected by Jewish Christians and the Asian churches alike.

He was forced to seek converts who knew nothing of Judaism and the Law. Paul’s doctrine was different from the teachings of Jesus; and he was often in conflict with James, Peter, and John; the real apostles.

Paul spent an inordinate amount of time defending himself and his teachings from accusations of guile, lies, and covetousness. None of the real apostles were so accused. Paul’s core philosophy of justification by faith and abolition of Torah Law stands in opposition to Jesus’ statements in the gospels. Paul thought nothing of lying or practicing pagan customs if it meant gaining a new convert to his own brand of salvation,

Romans 3:7, Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”

 I Corinthians 9:19-22, 19 Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. 21 To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means.I might save some.

In conclusion

John 5:43

Jesus says “ I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.

I contend that these words from Jesus’ own mouth were prophetic. The Church founded in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost by Jesus and his twelve true Apostles has been taken over by Roman pagans and converted into a religion very unlike its jewish roots. It is no longer founded on the solid rock that is the teachings and doctrine of Jesus. But, is now a product of the teachings of Paul and pagan practices and philosophy. Far removed from the Torah (commandments) and prophets, Jesus our Messiah being chief among the prophets. 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death’.

In Matthew 19:16, Jesus was asked what must be done to inherit eternal life. His answer: “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments”. Not believe and you will be saved as Paul taught. For these reasons and many others I follow Jesus only. I can get to heaven with Jesus only, you will fail to go to heaven with Paul only I guarantee.