File Name: The Gospel of the Nazirenes
File Submitter: greensheen
File Submitted: 27 Dec 2016
File Category: Reference Books (topx)
Author: Alan Wauters, Rick VanWyhee-Sword Version: 9.x - 10.x
Suggest New Tag:: Pre-Council of Nicaea
In the 4th century the Roman Emperor Constantine had a serious problem. There were no more easy prey to absorb and plunder anymore to pay for "his" increasingly expensive to maintain armies and empire. He himself, along with many in his army worshiped "Sol Invictus" their pagan sun god. What to do? He realized that "his" empire was full of division and diverse cultures and belief systems. With no easy external prey he needed to raise plunder in a new more effective way, but people do not choose to remain in subjection as tax slaves unless they can be bludgeoned into obedience (a very expensive way to collect taxes) or be convinced that the "leader" has some kind of moral authority to prey upon them. And after many centuries of theft, fraud, and murder, such authority was running rather thin at this point.
This is the idea Constantine came up with: he took some of the themes of the popular Jesus movement extant in his empire and clothed his old Mithraic sun worship religion with this new external form. He was able to bribe some corrupt "leader" elements of this movement with power, position, and/or wealth but he needed consensus in his new system, for unity, and for easy taxation purposes his subjects had to be convinced that he was their rightful god-ordained ruler. So he got his "Christian" co-conspirators to call an empire wide council where they could proclaim the "one true faith" that was pleasing to both themselves and Constantine.
History records this as the 1st Nicene Council of AD 325. From this comes the "Nicene Creed" and a group of "correctors" who had the task of "clarifying" some of the extant scriptures to better support this new invention of the conspiracy. Those who would not go along with this "Nicene Creed" and specific groups that the empire wished to plunder were branded as "anathema", a serious capital offense, and the best part for the emperor: after they are executed or banished, all their property is confiscated by the empire! Now to establish the emperor's authority to tax he needs his religion to establish Earthly authority, part of that is proclaiming Jesus as a man-god substitute for the previous incarnated Mithraic sun god that his loyal army knows and loves, the one and only Son of God who's "Kingdom" rules the earth! Naturally once this sun god in the flesh is no longer around you have to have a successor to maintain "god's" kingdom.
For the simple minded many would just be convinced by this new religion and so become obedient tax slaves. For the wiser ones who knew what was happening, the sight of others receiving "justice" was enough for some to become obedient followers of the "one true faith". Others wanted to help with the process to get in on the loot. The emperor was pleased because his empire "flourished". For the minority who chose to reject this religious innovation despite the consequences, what can you conclude about people who will choose to uphold their truth, even under threat of execution rather than choose to live under the tyranny of a mass-murderer?
Among the "anathema" were the Gnostics and Ebionites, some of whom were actual descendants of families who lived with Jesus, that understood that the "Kingdom" does not come in the earthly sense: "My Kingdom is not of this world"...(John 18:36). But is to be sought within the individual: "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luk 17:21). Further they understood that all must come to perfection just as Jesus (Yeshua) their "elder brother", (not their "God"), had done by following the true teacher of all, the inner "Logos" - Son of God. The laws of Nature's God are the same for all, and always have been. You can understand why the emperor and the corrupt clergy would not want such ideas continuing in their empire!
Some who foresaw the dark age to come chose to hide several libraries containing their scriptures that had not been modified by the "correctors". One such library was discovered not too long ago: the Nag Hammadi Library. Also some scriptures were sent east beyond the armies of the emperor. One such scripture: The Gospel of the Holy 12 survived and in 1997 a new translation was published under the title "The Gospel of the Nazirenes". This file is a copy of that translation.
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