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- Who was Jesus?
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Is he a historical character?
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Who wrote the gospels?
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Why are they written in Greek?
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Why did they have a pro-Romanperspective?
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Why was the religion
headquartered in Rome?
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Those were the mysteriesthat I saw about the gospels.
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- [voiceover] The originof the Christian religion
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has been a subject steep inmystery for nearly 2,000 years.
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[curious music]
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Joseph Atwell is one of
the number of scholars
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today from all around the worldwho are
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questioning the historic facts
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behind these ancient mysteries.
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When examining the actualhistory of this era,
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many of the answers providedby the church and Christian
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scholars do not hold up
to rigorous scrutiny.
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- This is reallyimportant for our culture,
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to understand where
Christianity came from.
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- [voiceover] No doubt,
Christians have done
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a lot of good
for the world,
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but then there are other
Christians,
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often the most dogmatic, whocreate war...
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Hatred, and other harm underthe disguise of religion.
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In studying how Christianityemerged,
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many of our scholars
agreed that it was used
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as a political tool tocontrol the masses of the day,
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and it is still being used this
way today.
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- The problem is thatChristianity has been used
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as a tool by government that
uses
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the goodness in people againstthem.
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For example, support forthe wars in the Middle East
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has been preached to
evangelical Christians
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as a way to speed up the end ofdays.
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This is just one exampleof the way that propaganda
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is used to control and
manipulate the populace.
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Actually, according to mystudy of the ancient text,
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the second coming of theChrist has already occurred.
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- [voiceover] Maybe weneed to expand the possible
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answers about how Christianity
originated
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and deeper questions need to beasked.
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Maybe we need to examine
what political motives
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were behind the formationof the Christian religion.
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- I think it's a requirementof alert citizens
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to know how the gospels werewritten,
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why they were written, whoproduced them,
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what was the purpose and back ofall this?
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This is good citizenry.
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Everyone should be involved inthis.
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- [voiceover] Today, we liveon the brink of an immense
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paradigm shift, and this moderntime
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is very parallel to the erain which Christianity emerged.
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Studying this ancient eracan give us the perspective
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needed for coming up withsolutions to today's problems,
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and for helping create a betterworld that we envisioned.
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[triumphant music]
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- And the penny dropped, thepenny dropped
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that Jesus as a human beingnever existed.
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- The presentation of the Jesuscharacter
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it's somewhat of a composite
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of many Messianic leaders of thetime.
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- Well, it's just that'sback to the drawing board,
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and we'll leave aside
all of the assumptions
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of Christian history
and let's just look at
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the texts afresh andconsider every possibility.
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Let's open the whole game up.
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- Can you think that
Christianity is really
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Paganism by a different name?
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Now, it feels completely
obvious.
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- Some of us are saying
that this was a sun god
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turned into a Jewish man.
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- In all of this, we're
dealing with literature.
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We're not dealing with history.
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So the answer is no, there is nohistory
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to this character, Jesus.
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It's entirely a literary
creation.
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- [voiceover] Some of ourBible scholars are mavericks,
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working outside the restrictionsof
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mainstream religious
institutions.
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This allows them the freedomto provide fresh insights
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and draw from startling
conclusions about how
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Christianity was born.
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- I began reading a numberof books on the subject.
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This turned into a decade-longresearch.
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- [voiceover] For Joseph
Atwill, the key was in
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the Dead Sea Scrolls, theonly Jewish literature
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ever discovered from the
first century AD or CE,
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the time that Jesus would'vebeen preaching among the Jews.
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- The characters in the DeadSea Scrolls were militaristic,
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and you could see that
this movement wanted
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to push the foreigners out ofIsrael.
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They were fundamentalists,whereas the characters
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in the gospel are different.
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They are pacifistic.
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They are turning the othercheek.
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They're giving to Caesar what isCaesar's.
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How did a movement like
Christianity
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come to exist in a
region that was occupied
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by Roman soldiers and hadJewish zealots within it
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that were going to push theseRomans out?
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How was that possible?
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I began studying the othertwo major works of the era:
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The New Testament and Warsof the Jews by Josephus,
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a Roman court historian
who described the war
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between the Romans and theJews in the first century.
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While reading these works sideby side,
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I noticed an amazing
connection between them.
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Certain events from the ministryof Jesus
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seemed to closely parallelepisodes from
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the military campaign ofRoman Caesar Titus Flavius,
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a campaign which took place 40
years
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after Jesus supposedly lived.
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My efforts to understand
these connections led me
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to an incredible discovery.
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Christianity had beeninvented by a little known
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family of Roman Caesars, the
Flavians.
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And they left us documents toprove it.
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- The Flavians are not a
household name,
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and yet it's the Flavians who
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completely reshaped the RomanEmpire.
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In Rome, of course, there's theColosseum,
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which is understood to bethe best known monument
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of the Ancient Roman Empire,perhaps.
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The Coliseum is, in fact,a Flavian construction
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produced during the FlavianPeriod.
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It's under the Flaviansthat both Rabbinic Judaism
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and Christianity take shape.
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- [voiceover] Why would the
Flavians
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be interested in creatingreligion?
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Much like today, their era wasmarked by
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political power struggles,a bankrupt economy,
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religious conflicts and endlesswars.
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In the midst of this turmoil,the Flavians
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seized control of theRoman Empire and ushered in
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an immense paradigm shift.
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To understand the Flavian's rise
to power,
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we need to go back to the reign
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of the previous powerful rulers,
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the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.
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Beginning with JuliusCaesar in the year 49 BCE,
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the Julio-Claudians ruled
Rome for over 100 years,
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transforming the governmentfrom a Republic into an empire.
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This family contained
all the famous Caesars.
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Julius, who predated the time ofJesus,
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Augustus who was Caesar at thetime of
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Jesus's supposed birth,
Tiberius,
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who ruled during Jesus's
supposed death,
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followed by the infamous
Caligula.
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Then Claudius and endingthe Julio-Claudian dynasty
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with Nero, whose reign begins in
54 CE.
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- The Julio-Claudiansenjoyed a god-like status.
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Until the family degenerated
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and began to damage the Roman
Empire.
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- [voiceover] By the time ofNero,
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his famous decadence was
bankrupting the empire,
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and the Jews of Judea werestaging a huge rebellion
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against their Roman rulers.
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- Judea was one of the
many conquered provinces
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that made up the Roman Empire.
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This region, which was
also known as Palestine,
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was controlled by a family thatserved as
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Rome's tax collector, TheHerods.
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- They were a Greco-Arabfamily, somewhat possibly
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judiais, though only judiais
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when it was convenient
to please the subjects
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they were given who wereput in power in Palestine
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and destroyed the previous
Jewish-ruling family,
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the Maccabean family, root andstump.
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- [voiceover] Besides beingheavily taxed
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and ruled by a non-Jewishfamily put in power by Rome,
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the Jews were furtherinflamed by the requirement
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that a statue of the Caesar
be placed for worship
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in every temple throughout theempire.
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- In the Roman Empire,you could pretty much have
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any god you want, butlegally, you had to submit to
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the emperor as a god as well.
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You had to at least acknowledge
that
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the Roman leader was also adivine figure.
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But the Jews would not have anyof it.
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- It's fundamental to Jewishbelief that you shall make
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no graven images.
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It's one of the commandments and
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given a sign by God.
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So the Jews never made
representations of God.
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- The Jews had a verydifferent type of religion.
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They had a religion which
was much more focused
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on the book, and lessfocused upon cultic statues.
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This presented a real
problems for the Romans.
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They tried to install statues ofCaesar,
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but the Jews weren'tgoing to buy that at all.
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In fact, it aggravated them.
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It enraged them, and
the Romans really are,
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I think, didn't understand this.
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It's not statues.
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It's books.
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- [voiceover] And those bookscontained what are known
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as the Jewish Messianic
prophecies.
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- The thing that most moved theJews'
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revolt against Rome
was an obscure prophecy
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from among their writingsthat a world ruler
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would come out of Palestine.
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- Holy books inspired the Jewsto expect
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a redeemer who would redeemIsrael, rescue Israel,
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restore Israel to power andleadership in the world.
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- The messiah that the
literature described
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was a
warrior.
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The messiahs would haveclaimed the same attributes
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the same attributes that David
did.
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David could overcome any armybecause
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God gave him the power to do it.
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If you had the power of God,
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you could easily defeat theRoman army.
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The people rebelled against Rome
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and were led by a Messianicmovement that
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had a series of messiahs
that had come forward
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to fight against the RomanEmpire.
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- [voiceover] The Hebrew wordMessiah
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is translated into Greek
as Kristos, or Christ.
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So the title of Christ candescribe any
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of the numerous messiahs of thismovement.
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- Yes, the word Christ orChristians
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can refer to the PalestineMessianic movement,
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but it's a later term,it's a later reformulation
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of the Messianic movement of
Palestine.
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- [joseph] This movement
rebels against Rome
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in 66 and is successful.
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It actually defeats them
militarily.
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So it must've been a hugemovement.
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The victorious Jews set up anation state
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directly in the Roman Empire.
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- And the Romans had to
do something about it.
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There was a real dangerthat this Messianic movement
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could not only boil
over into Judea itself,
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but could spread to
other Jewish communities
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in other parts of the RomanEmpire.
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- Rome ruled its colonieswith a rod of iron,
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and any resistance was goingto be met with brute force.
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- [voiceover] At this timeduring Nero's reign, two of the
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finest military men in theempire with the Flavians:
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Vespasian and son Titus.
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- [joseph] Vespasian and
Titus were military men.
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They spent a great deal oftheir life outside of Rome.
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For over a decade, they hadwaged war
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against the druids in Brittanyand Gaul.
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Vespasian and Titus were
successful
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in essentially destroying thedruids.
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They left behind no historicalrecord of their existence.
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- [voiceover] And it's
the Flavians who Nero
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calls upon when he needs to
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00:13:32,028 --> 00:13:35,423
suppress the Jew's rebellion inJudea.
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- Nero responded byasking his best generals,
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Vespasians and his son
Titus to go into Judea
253
00:13:43,735 --> 00:13:47,348
with a huge army, 60, 70,000troops,
254
00:13:47,478 --> 00:13:50,351
and a similar number of
supporting individuals.
255
00:13:50,481 --> 00:13:51,743
So they meant business.
256
00:13:51,874 --> 00:13:54,181
The Romans came down
to crush the rebellion.
257
00:13:54,311 --> 00:13:57,358
- [voiceover] In the
year 66 CE, the Flavians
258
00:13:57,488 --> 00:14:00,796
begin their militarycampaign against the Jews.
259
00:14:00,927 --> 00:14:03,146
They start further north in
Galilee,
260
00:14:03,277 --> 00:14:07,107
where the first of three
key events takes place.
261
00:14:07,237 --> 00:14:10,893
They destroy the Jewish town ofGalilee.
262
00:14:11,024 --> 00:14:13,374
They also captured a Jewishrebel,
263
00:14:13,504 --> 00:14:15,332
who later becomes a criticalfigure
264
00:14:15,463 --> 00:14:18,118
in the formulation of
Christianity.
265
00:14:18,248 --> 00:14:20,903
- This is where theycaptured one of the leaders
266
00:14:21,034 --> 00:14:25,865
of the rebellion, a Jewnamed Josephus Bar Mathias.
267
00:14:25,995 --> 00:14:31,348
Now Josephus presented himselfto the Flavians as a prophet.
268
00:14:31,479 --> 00:14:32,784
- He survived.
269
00:14:32,915 --> 00:14:35,875
He survived apparently
by telling Vespasian
270
00:14:36,005 --> 00:14:38,268
that the prophecies of
the Jews pointed out
271
00:14:38,399 --> 00:14:41,793
that Vespasian would becomeemperor, and of course he did,
272
00:14:41,924 --> 00:14:44,448
so Vespasian quite liked
Josephus.
273
00:14:44,579 --> 00:14:49,105
He used him as a translatorin his entourage.
274
00:14:49,236 --> 00:14:52,413
He used him to appeal to
the rebels to surrender.
275
00:14:52,543 --> 00:14:54,676
- At this point, Josephusbecame a turncoat,
276
00:14:54,806 --> 00:14:59,899
and worked with the Flaviansagainst the rebellion.
277
00:15:00,029 --> 00:15:02,945
- [voiceover] Meanwhile, chaosis increasing back in Rome,
278
00:15:03,076 --> 00:15:06,906
where Nero's rule is beingthreatened.
279
00:15:07,036 --> 00:15:09,996
- In the year 68, the
senate found the courage
280
00:15:10,126 --> 00:15:13,347
to depose Nero and he committedsuicide.
281
00:15:13,477 --> 00:15:17,264
Now in that circumstance,Vespasian was
282
00:15:17,394 --> 00:15:20,136
a prime candidate to becomeemperor.
283
00:15:20,267 --> 00:15:22,095
- [joseph] In the middle of thiswar,
284
00:15:22,225 --> 00:15:26,751
Vespasian returned to Romeand seized the throne.
285
00:15:26,882 --> 00:15:30,407
The Flavians then became
the imperial family.
286
00:15:30,538 --> 00:15:32,148
- [voiceover] WithVespasian becoming the new
287
00:15:32,279 --> 00:15:35,543
Caesar in Rome, Titus staysbehind on the battlefield
288
00:15:35,673 --> 00:15:38,285
and sets his sights on
Jerusalem,
289
00:15:38,415 --> 00:15:41,375
where the other two key eventstake place.
290
00:15:41,505 --> 00:15:44,900
Titus encircles Jerusalemat the wall, and finally,
291
00:15:45,031 --> 00:15:50,471
he razes the temple leavingnot one stone atop another.
292
00:15:50,601 --> 00:15:51,863
- It took a while.
293
00:15:51,994 --> 00:15:54,388
They eventually had to bring onstarvation
294
00:15:54,518 --> 00:15:58,522
by building a wall, a barricadeentirely
295
00:15:58,653 --> 00:16:00,742
enveloped in the city.
296
00:16:00,872 --> 00:16:02,613
- What happens, of course, isthe temple,
297
00:16:02,744 --> 00:16:07,270
in 70, is completely destroyed.
298
00:16:07,401 --> 00:16:09,838
- For the Jews, it was
the ultimate calamity
299
00:16:09,969 --> 00:16:12,275
because, of course, thiswas the house of their god,
300
00:16:12,406 --> 00:16:16,366
and it was destroyed by the
Romans quite thoroughly.
301
00:16:16,497 --> 00:16:20,327
Titus, of course, was thevictor of this great siege.
302
00:16:20,457 --> 00:16:24,113
Titus carried the spoils
of this captured city
303
00:16:24,244 --> 00:16:26,289
back to Rome for his triumph.
304
00:16:26,420 --> 00:16:28,509
He took the treasures of thetemple,
305
00:16:28,639 --> 00:16:31,642
their famous seven branchcandlestick.
306
00:16:31,773 --> 00:16:35,168
You could see it on the
Arch of Titus in Rome.
307
00:16:35,298 --> 00:16:37,953
It celebrates that tremendousvictory
308
00:16:38,084 --> 00:16:41,565
of Rome, again, triumphantand Titus, of course,
309
00:16:41,696 --> 00:16:45,178
is the hero of the day.
310
00:16:45,308 --> 00:16:49,269
[triumphant music]
311
00:16:49,399 --> 00:16:52,315
- All of the artifacts from thetemple
312
00:16:52,446 --> 00:16:55,449
that they seized, they
put on public display
313
00:16:55,579 --> 00:16:59,148
in what to they refer to
as the Palace of Peace,
314
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:03,457
except for one item, the Jewishscripture.
315
00:17:03,587 --> 00:17:06,415
Josephus records that theFlavians took
316
00:17:06,547 --> 00:17:09,157
and placed in their privatepalace,
317
00:17:09,289 --> 00:17:13,989
where no one was allowed to seeit.
318
00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:15,295
- [voiceover] Although TitusFlavius
319
00:17:15,425 --> 00:17:18,166
successfully ended the rebellionin Judea,
320
00:17:18,298 --> 00:17:21,910
another rebellion soon brokeout in Alexandria, Egypt.
321
00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,868
The Flavians were clearthat this was not the end
322
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,523
of the Jewish Messianic
movement.
323
00:17:27,655 --> 00:17:30,136
They also recognized thatit was the Jews' Messianic
324
00:17:30,266 --> 00:17:34,140
literature that was fueling thismovement.
325
00:17:34,270 --> 00:17:36,533
So once they captured
the Jewish scripture,
326
00:17:36,664 --> 00:17:40,798
they had all other copies of itdestroyed.
327
00:17:40,929 --> 00:17:42,322
- [joseph] And that's
why the Dead Sea Scrolls
328
00:17:42,452 --> 00:17:44,976
had to have been buriedin a cave because that was
329
00:17:45,107 --> 00:17:48,067
the only way it could be safefrom the Roman destruction.
330
00:17:48,197 --> 00:17:51,287
There was not a single scrap of
literature
331
00:17:51,418 --> 00:17:53,028
found from the Messianic
movement
332
00:17:53,159 --> 00:17:55,248
until the scrolls were
discovered.
333
00:17:55,378 --> 00:17:57,250
That's why they're such atreasure because
334
00:17:57,380 --> 00:17:59,165
they're the only real voice
335
00:17:59,295 --> 00:18:02,864
of the Messianic movement thatwe have.
336
00:18:02,994 --> 00:18:05,084
- [voiceover] And the realvoice of the Jew's Messianic
337
00:18:05,214 --> 00:18:07,216
movement, according to ourscholars,
338
00:18:07,347 --> 00:18:09,566
was violent and militaristic,
339
00:18:09,697 --> 00:18:14,354
not the pacifistic versiondepicted in the gospels.
340
00:18:14,484 --> 00:18:16,486
- War against Rome was a
Messianic war.
341
00:18:16,617 --> 00:18:19,141
So that's why I say that
the scrolls are not only
342
00:18:19,272 --> 00:18:21,709
the literature of the Messianicmovement in Palestine,
343
00:18:21,839 --> 00:18:25,147
they're also the literatureof the war against Rome.
344
00:18:25,278 --> 00:18:26,366
- [voiceover] The Romans neededto
345
00:18:26,496 --> 00:18:27,976
subdue the Jes' religion.
346
00:18:28,107 --> 00:18:31,849
So they set about influencingit and changing it.
347
00:18:31,980 --> 00:18:33,242
- They realized they can'tdestroy
348
00:18:33,373 --> 00:18:35,026
the Jewish religion altogether.
349
00:18:35,157 --> 00:18:36,550
That's not their objective.
350
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:37,942
They realized, they'resensible enough to realize
351
00:18:38,073 --> 00:18:39,683
that they can't do that.
352
00:18:39,814 --> 00:18:43,470
So what you have to do is tryto create a type of Judaism
353
00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:48,475
that is benign and it'sexactly coinciding with the
354
00:18:48,605 --> 00:18:50,955
rise of the Flavian dynasty is
the arrival
355
00:18:51,086 --> 00:18:56,613
of two benign forms of Jewishideology.
356
00:18:56,744 --> 00:18:59,138
- [voiceover] It's during thisperiod that a new literature
357
00:18:59,268 --> 00:19:02,228
enters history whichdescribes a peace-loving,
358
00:19:02,358 --> 00:19:04,230
turn the other cheek preaching
359
00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:09,017
Jewish messiah named Jesus
Christ.
360
00:19:09,148 --> 00:19:10,671
But if the Flavians wrote thegospels,
361
00:19:10,801 --> 00:19:13,195
how could a Roman family knowhow to write
362
00:19:13,326 --> 00:19:16,851
Jewish literature thatrefers to Jewish prophecy?
363
00:19:16,981 --> 00:19:19,549
The answer lies in the
Flavian's collaborations
364
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,335
with a number of Jewish
intellectuals,
365
00:19:22,465 --> 00:19:26,469
beginning with their owncourt historian Josephus.
366
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,037
- Josephus arrives back
in Rome with Titus.
367
00:19:29,168 --> 00:19:32,606
He becomes an adopted memberof the Flavian family,
368
00:19:32,736 --> 00:19:37,828
an amazing turn of eventsfor the Jewish turncoat.
369
00:19:37,959 --> 00:19:41,789
He becomes Flavius Josephus.
370
00:19:41,919 --> 00:19:44,748
Josephus, at this time,begins writing the history
371
00:19:44,879 --> 00:19:49,666
of the war, and he records
that Titus gave him
372
00:19:49,797 --> 00:19:51,364
the Jewish scripture.
373
00:19:51,494 --> 00:19:54,018
Josephus's histories has
always been associated
374
00:19:54,149 --> 00:19:56,499
with the origins of
Christianity.
375
00:19:56,630 --> 00:19:58,893
- Time and again you could findparallels
376
00:19:59,023 --> 00:20:01,156
between what Josephus writes
377
00:20:01,287 --> 00:20:03,898
and what turns up in the
Gospels.
378
00:20:04,028 --> 00:20:07,467
It's a powerful evidence
of their true origin.
379
00:20:07,597 --> 00:20:09,077
- [voiceover] In reading
the works of Josephus
380
00:20:09,208 --> 00:20:12,341
side-by-side with thegospels, scholars have noticed
381
00:20:12,472 --> 00:20:14,909
parallels between the two works.
382
00:20:15,039 --> 00:20:17,346
It appears as though
the history of Josephus
383
00:20:17,477 --> 00:20:20,131
records events thatfulfill the prophecies of
384
00:20:20,262 --> 00:20:22,308
the Old and New Testaments.
385
00:20:22,438 --> 00:20:25,659
Early Christiansunderstood this connection.
386
00:20:25,789 --> 00:20:28,227
In fact, when the Biblefirst began to be printed
387
00:20:28,357 --> 00:20:33,057
in the Middle Ages, it included
the history of Josephus.
388
00:20:33,188 --> 00:20:34,407
- He was employed to write
389
00:20:34,537 --> 00:20:36,235
the official history that wehave.
390
00:20:36,365 --> 00:20:37,932
The other histories from thisperiod
391
00:20:38,062 --> 00:20:41,588
have been destroyedruthlessly by the Romans.
392
00:20:41,718 --> 00:20:44,417
Josephus tells us thisin very chilling passages
393
00:20:44,547 --> 00:20:47,202
how the Romans exerted complete
control
394
00:20:47,333 --> 00:20:48,899
of the literature of thisperiod.
395
00:20:49,030 --> 00:20:51,380
There were alternativehistories of the Jewish war
396
00:20:51,511 --> 00:20:54,253
written while the Romans
rounded up the writers
397
00:20:54,383 --> 00:20:58,605
of those histories and executedthem.
398
00:20:58,735 --> 00:21:00,650
They rounded up all the copies
399
00:21:00,781 --> 00:21:03,087
of those histories and destroyedthem.
400
00:21:03,218 --> 00:21:05,525
That is to say they ruthlesslywiped out
401
00:21:05,655 --> 00:21:09,006
any alternative history sothat the only history we have
402
00:21:09,137 --> 00:21:14,055
is written by Josephus, andlet's remember who Josephus was.
403
00:21:14,185 --> 00:21:17,014
- Chief propagandist
of the Flavian dynasty.
404
00:21:17,145 --> 00:21:18,146
He was very, very successful.
405
00:21:18,277 --> 00:21:19,843
He moved back to Rome.
406
00:21:19,974 --> 00:21:24,544
He was given an apartment inthe emperor's own townhouse,
407
00:21:24,674 --> 00:21:26,850
and he was appointed
the Chronicler
408
00:21:26,981 --> 00:21:28,330
of the Roman
Jewish War
409
00:21:28,461 --> 00:21:31,899
using Vespasian's own
diaries of the events.
410
00:21:32,029 --> 00:21:33,857
- [voiceover] Also inthe pages of his history,
411
00:21:33,988 --> 00:21:37,078
Josephus declares that the Jew's
messiah
412
00:21:37,208 --> 00:21:39,254
or Christ is none other than
413
00:21:39,385 --> 00:21:43,389
Flavius Vespasian and hisdynastic family.
414
00:21:43,519 --> 00:21:45,652
- To put it succinctly, Josephussays that
415
00:21:45,782 --> 00:21:48,045
there was a prophecy that aworld ruler
416
00:21:48,176 --> 00:21:49,612
would come out of Palestine.
417
00:21:49,743 --> 00:21:52,311
The Jews thought thisapplied to one of their own.
418
00:21:52,441 --> 00:21:56,967
They were wrong in their
interpretation.
419
00:21:57,098 --> 00:21:58,665
He uses the most cynical
interpretation.
420
00:21:58,795 --> 00:22:00,536
He applied it to the rise
421
00:22:00,667 --> 00:22:02,930
of the Roman Emperor in
Palestine.
422
00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:06,194
- Josephus recorded that
the Messianic prophecies
423
00:22:06,325 --> 00:22:11,330
foresaw not a Jew, butVespasian and his dynasty.
424
00:22:11,460 --> 00:22:15,682
In fact, all of theFlavian historians recorded
425
00:22:15,812 --> 00:22:21,252
that the Flavian Caesar was the
Christ.
426
00:22:21,383 --> 00:22:23,298
- [voiceover] It wasimportant to the Flavians
427
00:22:23,429 --> 00:22:26,345
that they be seen as the Christ,
asdivine
428
00:22:26,475 --> 00:22:30,653
and god-like and this was notmere vanity.
429
00:22:30,784 --> 00:22:33,090
The Julio-Cladians before themhad already
430
00:22:33,221 --> 00:22:35,832
established that presentingthemselves as Gods
431
00:22:35,963 --> 00:22:39,967
was a powerful tool incontrolling their subjects.
432
00:22:40,097 --> 00:22:41,882
When the Flavians took over the
throne,
433
00:22:42,012 --> 00:22:44,624
they inherited an enormousbureaucracy
434
00:22:44,754 --> 00:22:49,368
that was already inplace, the Imperial Cult,
435
00:22:49,498 --> 00:22:52,371
which was dedicated to promoting
the idea
436
00:22:52,501 --> 00:22:59,029
of Caesar as a god.
437
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,207
- Another part of the puzzleis the Roman Imperial Cult.
438
00:23:03,338 --> 00:23:04,905
Why is it important?
439
00:23:05,035 --> 00:23:08,256
Well, because it coincideswith that same period of time
440
00:23:08,387 --> 00:23:11,172
as the emergence of the Christcult.
441
00:23:11,302 --> 00:23:13,566
- You had a whole social
community,
442
00:23:13,696 --> 00:23:16,264
the whole social structure ofthese conquered territories
443
00:23:16,395 --> 00:23:18,397
was governed by the ImperialCult and
444
00:23:18,527 --> 00:23:21,312
if you wanted to succeed,the key social community
445
00:23:21,443 --> 00:23:23,532
to drive was the Imperial Cultbecause
446
00:23:23,663 --> 00:23:26,056
that's where all themovements and shakers were.
447
00:23:26,187 --> 00:23:30,104
- This idea of the emperorbecoming an object of worship
448
00:23:30,234 --> 00:23:33,412
was well-established in the
Roman system
449
00:23:33,542 --> 00:23:36,545
before Vespasian and Titus camealong.
450
00:23:36,676 --> 00:23:39,592
It was prevalent in all majorcenters.
451
00:23:39,722 --> 00:23:41,289
It had its own priesthood.
452
00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:44,292
There was a ceremony,
an annual celebration,
453
00:23:44,423 --> 00:23:48,078
annual games for the ImperialCult.
454
00:23:48,209 --> 00:23:51,386
Now it had many characteristics
455
00:23:51,517 --> 00:23:55,564
which would later color
the Christian cult.
456
00:23:55,695 --> 00:23:57,784
It grew in the same centers.
457
00:23:57,914 --> 00:24:01,875
It made claims that werelater transferred to Christ.
458
00:24:02,005 --> 00:24:04,094
- The Julio-Claudians had
claimed that they were
459
00:24:04,225 --> 00:24:07,576
of divine descent and that theywere, therefore, legitimate.
460
00:24:07,707 --> 00:24:09,535
Their appeal base was the
461
00:24:09,665 --> 00:24:12,538
Roman aristocracy, the Romannobility.
462
00:24:12,668 --> 00:24:16,716
All of that collapsed
into this power vacuum.
463
00:24:16,846 --> 00:24:19,588
Vespesian was declared
emperor by the troops,
464
00:24:19,719 --> 00:24:21,851
by the Roman army.
465
00:24:21,982 --> 00:24:25,855
So effectively, it was a
military coup.
466
00:24:25,986 --> 00:24:28,945
With the change of dynasty,they have to create
467
00:24:29,076 --> 00:24:32,601
a whole mythology to
legitimize that dynasty.
468
00:24:32,732 --> 00:24:34,516
At the same time they're
creating a whole
469
00:24:34,647 --> 00:24:38,433
mythology to counter JewishMessianism.
470
00:24:38,564 --> 00:24:39,695
Somewhere along the line,
471
00:24:39,826 --> 00:24:43,351
those two things get mixedtogether.
472
00:24:43,482 --> 00:24:45,875
- When Vespasian died,
Titus began the process
473
00:24:46,006 --> 00:24:47,660
of having his father deified.
474
00:24:47,790 --> 00:24:49,792
This is a complicated processbecause
475
00:24:49,923 --> 00:24:52,926
only the Roman senate canbestow on an individual
476
00:24:53,056 --> 00:24:55,885
the title of Deus or God.
477
00:24:56,016 --> 00:24:59,236
Titus came to the senate
and presented evidence
478
00:24:59,367 --> 00:25:01,848
that the life of his
father had been divine.
479
00:25:01,978 --> 00:25:04,546
Certainly, this would haveincluded the military campaign
480
00:25:04,677 --> 00:25:09,333
that the Flavians waged throughJudea.
481
00:25:09,464 --> 00:25:10,465
And it's at this time, I think,
482
00:25:10,596 --> 00:25:12,206
that the gospels were written
483
00:25:12,336 --> 00:25:14,948
because the theological
structure
484
00:25:15,078 --> 00:25:19,648
in the gospels of a god, thefather and the son of God
485
00:25:19,779 --> 00:25:22,085
is the same one that Titus wouldhave been
486
00:25:22,216 --> 00:25:24,348
presenting to the Roman Senate.
487
00:25:24,479 --> 00:25:29,484
Well, the Roman senate didaccept Titus's evidence
488
00:25:29,615 --> 00:25:33,967
and Vespaian was deified andbecame a god.
489
00:25:34,097 --> 00:25:42,845
Titus, therefore, became a sonof God.
490
00:25:42,976 --> 00:25:44,891
- [voiceover] The Arch ofTitus that still stands
491
00:25:45,021 --> 00:25:47,458
in modern Rome today is
inscribed
492
00:25:47,589 --> 00:25:50,505
to the dedication to the DivineTitus, son
493
00:25:50,636 --> 00:25:56,163
of the Divine Vespasian or Sonof a God.
494
00:25:56,293 --> 00:25:59,166
This Imperial Cult set upto worship Caesar as God
495
00:25:59,296 --> 00:26:01,951
also provided the basis for thestructure
496
00:26:02,082 --> 00:26:04,998
of the Roman Catholic Church.
497
00:26:05,128 --> 00:26:07,783
- Now the rituals,paraphernalia and symbols
498
00:26:07,914 --> 00:26:10,960
of Paganism were transferred
wholesale
499
00:26:11,091 --> 00:26:13,876
to the Christian church.
500
00:26:14,007 --> 00:26:16,052
The most obvious and clearexample
501
00:26:16,183 --> 00:26:19,882
is where the title of thePagan chief, priest of Rome,
502
00:26:20,013 --> 00:26:23,843
the Pontifex Maximus, became thetitle
503
00:26:23,973 --> 00:26:27,803
of the pope, the Christian pope.
504
00:26:27,934 --> 00:26:31,111
If you look at who held
the original bishop
505
00:26:31,241 --> 00:26:34,680
positions in the Catholicchurch in those early times,
506
00:26:34,810 --> 00:26:36,290
you will see that they are
507
00:26:36,420 --> 00:26:39,380
members of the same Paganaristocracy.
508
00:26:39,510 --> 00:26:42,992
They simply changed theirclothing a little bit.
509
00:26:43,123 --> 00:26:44,733
They wore the same garments,
510
00:26:44,864 --> 00:26:47,344
but they wore slightly
different headdresses.
511
00:26:47,475 --> 00:26:50,783
They had became from beinga priest of a Pagan cult
512
00:26:50,913 --> 00:26:53,394
to being a priest of Rome.
513
00:26:53,524 --> 00:26:55,352
- Where the Vatican now stands,
514
00:26:55,483 --> 00:26:57,093
there was once a Pagan temple,
515
00:26:57,224 --> 00:27:00,357
which celebrated the mysteriesof a dying and resurrecting
516
00:27:00,488 --> 00:27:04,013
God man who wasn't Jesus.
517
00:27:04,144 --> 00:27:05,711
There are many churches in Rome.
518
00:27:05,841 --> 00:27:08,888
I've been to a few whereyou go above into the church
519
00:27:09,018 --> 00:27:11,804
and there's Jesus, and
you go underneath and
520
00:27:11,934 --> 00:27:14,371
there's a little sanctuary ofMithras,
521
00:27:14,502 --> 00:27:17,766
and it's basically the samefigure.
522
00:27:17,897 --> 00:27:20,943
- So the Roman plot to inventChristianity
523
00:27:21,074 --> 00:27:24,468
is just so clever when you thinkabout it.
524
00:27:24,599 --> 00:27:29,299
Through the pope, who isGod's representative on Earth,
525
00:27:29,430 --> 00:27:33,739
they no longer neededexpensive standing armies,
526
00:27:33,869 --> 00:27:36,698
wars and punishment of
disobedient peasants.
527
00:27:36,829 --> 00:27:45,881
They could, through religion,rule their subjects.
528
00:27:46,012 --> 00:27:47,883
- [voiceover] Over
time, Roman Christianity
529
00:27:48,014 --> 00:27:51,452
propagated over the empireby way of the mass media
530
00:27:51,582 --> 00:27:54,803
of the day, the Roman roads.
531
00:27:54,934 --> 00:27:57,588
The Romans must haveapproved of this new religion
532
00:27:57,719 --> 00:27:59,852
because, as some scholars ask,
533
00:27:59,982 --> 00:28:02,985
"If the gospels really
were Jewish literature
534
00:28:03,116 --> 00:28:05,684
"about a Roman sentenced
criminal,
535
00:28:05,814 --> 00:28:08,817
"why wouldn't they have beendestroyed?"
536
00:28:08,948 --> 00:28:11,080
- One of the really
surprising things for me
537
00:28:11,211 --> 00:28:15,476
was to realize the extent ofRoman control
538
00:28:15,606 --> 00:28:17,957
of propaganda and literature.
539
00:28:18,087 --> 00:28:20,916
So that when you suddenlyget all these Christian
540
00:28:21,047 --> 00:28:22,701
literature arising in thisperiod,
541
00:28:22,831 --> 00:28:25,660
one has to ask, "Well,
how did that happen?"
542
00:28:25,791 --> 00:28:27,053
The conclusion that one has toreach
543
00:28:27,183 --> 00:28:29,272
is that that could not havehappened
544
00:28:29,403 --> 00:28:32,928
without some degree of
complicity
545
00:28:33,059 --> 00:28:36,018
on the part of the Romans.
546
00:28:36,149 --> 00:28:38,717
So then one is lead to theconclusion
547
00:28:38,847 --> 00:28:41,284
that the Romans must be involved
548
00:28:41,415 --> 00:28:50,380
in the production of theseliterature.
549
00:28:50,511 --> 00:28:52,469
- [voiceover] To produce anddisseminate this literature
550
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:55,124
was a huge under-taking and theFlavians
551
00:28:55,255 --> 00:28:57,561
undoubtedly had collaborators.
552
00:28:57,692 --> 00:29:00,695
We know they were funded
by the wealthiest family
553
00:29:00,826 --> 00:29:04,612
in the world at this time, theAlexanders,
554
00:29:04,743 --> 00:29:06,440
a Jewish family who served as
555
00:29:06,570 --> 00:29:09,835
Rome's tax collectors in Egypt.
556
00:29:09,965 --> 00:29:12,446
Like the Herods in Judea, theAlexanders
557
00:29:12,576 --> 00:29:16,363
had strong motivation to keepthe Jew's Messianic movement
558
00:29:16,493 --> 00:29:20,236
from threatening theirposition and their wealth.
559
00:29:20,367 --> 00:29:23,718
One of their family members
was Philo of Alexandria,
560
00:29:23,849 --> 00:29:26,721
a famous Jewish theologian whowas already
561
00:29:26,852 --> 00:29:29,071
writing works that combinedJewish beliefs
562
00:29:29,202 --> 00:29:33,554
with the modern Greek andRoman pagan beliefs of the day.
563
00:29:33,684 --> 00:29:35,904
Many scholars agree that hiswritings
564
00:29:36,035 --> 00:29:41,910
formed the basis for much ofthe philosophy of Christianity.
565
00:29:42,041 --> 00:29:46,219
- In these pages ispractically every concept
566
00:29:46,349 --> 00:29:48,525
that you can find within
Christianity.
567
00:29:48,656 --> 00:29:51,790
He combined Greek philosophy,
568
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,445
and he took that andcombined it with Judaism.
569
00:29:55,576 --> 00:30:00,407
On top of that, he was froman extremely wealthy family,
570
00:30:00,537 --> 00:30:03,323
and this is important because
you have to
571
00:30:03,453 --> 00:30:05,107
follow the money when you'relooking at
572
00:30:05,238 --> 00:30:07,980
major trends, new paradigmsbeing set.
573
00:30:08,110 --> 00:30:09,546
And if you look at his family,then,
574
00:30:09,677 --> 00:30:11,766
you start seeing, "Well,this is interesting because
575
00:30:11,897 --> 00:30:17,119
"now we're starting to comeacross the Flavians again."
576
00:30:17,250 --> 00:30:20,209
His relatives are veryinvolved with the Flavians.
577
00:30:20,340 --> 00:30:22,342
That whole area is where wewant to look very closely
578
00:30:22,472 --> 00:30:23,996
for the Christian origins.
579
00:30:24,126 --> 00:30:26,825
- It's from exactly the
same circle of people
580
00:30:26,955 --> 00:30:31,394
that you get the firstsigns of Christian ideology
581
00:30:31,525 --> 00:30:40,186
and they all lead to therise of the Flavian dynasty.
582
00:30:40,316 --> 00:30:42,362
- [voiceover] Another wealthy
influential character,
583
00:30:42,492 --> 00:30:46,279
Princess Berenice, was fromthe Herod family in Judea.
584
00:30:46,409 --> 00:30:49,195
She's the granddaughter of Herathe Great,
585
00:30:49,325 --> 00:30:51,632
a product of the Herod's
intermarriage
586
00:30:51,762 --> 00:30:57,464
with the conquered Jewishruling Messianic lineage.
587
00:30:57,594 --> 00:30:59,640
- Princess Berenice appearsin the New Testament,
588
00:30:59,770 --> 00:31:01,511
which makes her an interestingcharacter.
589
00:31:01,642 --> 00:31:03,862
She had two or three husbands
590
00:31:03,992 --> 00:31:08,083
and then became the mistress ofTitus.
591
00:31:08,214 --> 00:31:12,696
So you can see this, again,rather-like dynasty here.
592
00:31:12,827 --> 00:31:15,134
You know, powerful
people, mixed marriages.
593
00:31:15,264 --> 00:31:19,312
You know, checking up with theconqueror.
594
00:31:19,442 --> 00:31:22,228
Yeah, and it's really whereJoe Atwill takes his idea
595
00:31:22,358 --> 00:31:26,449
of the conspiracy to
write the New Testament.
596
00:31:26,580 --> 00:31:29,278
But let him say it in his ownwords.
597
00:31:29,409 --> 00:31:31,672
- Berenice was a Herod relatedby marriage
598
00:31:31,802 --> 00:31:33,804
to the Alexanders, and ofcourse, later,
599
00:31:33,935 --> 00:31:36,503
she became the mistress toTitus.
600
00:31:36,633 --> 00:31:38,809
The fact that she was soclosely linked with the Flavians
601
00:31:38,940 --> 00:31:42,248
shows you that the threefamilies were very unified
602
00:31:42,378 --> 00:31:46,339
in financial, romantic andlikely theological issues.
603
00:31:46,469 --> 00:31:48,994
- By the looks of things, this
coalescence
604
00:31:49,124 --> 00:31:51,170
seemed to have brought about adynamic
605
00:31:51,300 --> 00:31:54,738
that led to the synthesisof Judaism and Paganism,
606
00:31:54,869 --> 00:31:57,176
and eventually became
Christianity.
607
00:31:57,306 --> 00:32:00,048
So this is a very key timeperiod.
608
00:32:00,179 --> 00:32:02,877
- I believe that the gospelswere actually
609
00:32:03,008 --> 00:32:06,098
written under the control of theHerods,
610
00:32:06,228 --> 00:32:08,796
the Alexanders and the Flavians.
611
00:32:08,927 --> 00:32:11,625
These families
had the motivation
612
00:32:11,755 --> 00:32:13,279
to create
Christianity
613
00:32:13,409 --> 00:32:16,760
and with the expertise inJudaism that the Alexanders
614
00:32:16,891 --> 00:32:21,765
and the Herods had, they
had the actual technical
615
00:32:21,896 --> 00:32:24,203
ability to come up with thesestories
616
00:32:24,333 --> 00:32:27,032
that were a fulfillment
of Hebraic prophecies.
617
00:32:27,162 --> 00:32:28,903
- [voiceover] So it seems theFlavians had
618
00:32:29,034 --> 00:32:32,167
the motivation, the meansand the collaborations
619
00:32:32,298 --> 00:32:34,953
through which they likelyconstructed
620
00:32:35,083 --> 00:32:37,999
and began disseminating
Christianity.
621
00:32:38,130 --> 00:32:40,915
And if our scholars arecorrect, one of the documents
622
00:32:41,046 --> 00:32:45,833
they left behind are
the gospels themselves.
623
00:32:45,964 --> 00:32:48,444
[curious music]
624
00:32:48,575 --> 00:32:51,839
- I began working on
the study of the Gospels
625
00:32:51,970 --> 00:32:55,277
in the 1970s, and I look attexts in terms
626
00:32:55,408 --> 00:32:58,498
of how were these composed,what does understanding
627
00:32:58,628 --> 00:33:01,196
their structure tell
you about who wrote them
628
00:33:01,327 --> 00:33:03,285
and why they were written.
629
00:33:03,416 --> 00:33:06,158
These texts were notindependent Jewish texts,
630
00:33:06,288 --> 00:33:08,595
but they were created
as literary works using
631
00:33:08,725 --> 00:33:10,901
classical literature models.
632
00:33:11,032 --> 00:33:13,992
- If we expect that this is thetestimony
633
00:33:14,122 --> 00:33:16,777
of witnesses, we've got a majorproblem.
634
00:33:16,907 --> 00:33:21,042
We actually have four anonymousdocuments.
635
00:33:21,173 --> 00:33:23,610
They were not written by thenamed people
636
00:33:23,740 --> 00:33:25,177
on those documents.
637
00:33:25,307 --> 00:33:28,441
This is simply churchtradition that the gospels
638
00:33:28,571 --> 00:33:33,489
are so named according toMark, according to Matthew.
639
00:33:33,620 --> 00:33:37,624
So this idea that the gospels
are reliable testimony
640
00:33:37,754 --> 00:33:39,800
is patent nonsense.
641
00:33:39,930 --> 00:33:42,672
- Why are the gospels calledgospels?
642
00:33:42,803 --> 00:33:44,500
That's a critical question.
643
00:33:44,631 --> 00:33:47,547
The word gospel in Greek isEvangelion,
644
00:33:47,677 --> 00:33:52,682
and it means good news
of military victory.
645
00:33:52,813 --> 00:33:54,423
Whose military victory are wecelebrating
646
00:33:54,554 --> 00:33:55,816
here in these gospels?
647
00:33:55,946 --> 00:33:58,775
Well, seems to me that we arecelebrating,
648
00:33:58,906 --> 00:34:01,387
clearly, the Roman
military victory because
649
00:34:01,517 --> 00:34:04,042
these events, the Battle ofGadara,
650
00:34:04,172 --> 00:34:05,347
the Battle of the later Galilee,
651
00:34:05,478 --> 00:34:07,132
the success at the Battle ofJerusalem,
652
00:34:07,262 --> 00:34:10,264
these are battles that theRomans won.
653
00:34:10,396 --> 00:34:15,313
Why are the gospels celebratingbattles that the Jews lost
654
00:34:15,444 --> 00:34:17,880
if these things were written bythe Jews?
655
00:34:18,012 --> 00:34:21,275
- The fact that the gospelsare known to us in Greek
656
00:34:21,407 --> 00:34:26,150
and not in Aramaic or Hebrew, isI think,
657
00:34:26,281 --> 00:34:28,891
just evidence of their
authorship.
658
00:34:29,023 --> 00:34:31,721
They were not written by
any followers of Jesus,
659
00:34:31,851 --> 00:34:33,679
who would've surely spokenAramaic,
660
00:34:33,810 --> 00:34:36,813
and if they had beenfisherman and simple folk,
661
00:34:36,944 --> 00:34:38,902
they would not have
had the literary skills
662
00:34:39,033 --> 00:34:40,687
to write them anyway.
663
00:34:40,817 --> 00:34:41,949
- [voiceover] If we look
closely,
664
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,168
there actually are clues in thegospels
665
00:34:44,299 --> 00:34:47,302
that point to who the trueauthors were.
666
00:34:47,433 --> 00:34:49,435
- A lot of the Christian
literature advocates
667
00:34:49,565 --> 00:34:53,264
turning away from the Jewishlaw and obeying Roman law.
668
00:34:53,395 --> 00:34:55,266
Well this, this fits perfectly
669
00:34:55,397 --> 00:34:58,748
into Roman propaganda purposes.
670
00:34:58,879 --> 00:35:01,969
And then you have, in general,the portrayal of Jesus
671
00:35:02,100 --> 00:35:04,580
as the peaceful Jew
who is wandering around
672
00:35:04,711 --> 00:35:08,584
in what is depicted assort of a pastor or saint,
673
00:35:08,715 --> 00:35:11,457
talking to fisherman and
farmers and so forth,
674
00:35:11,587 --> 00:35:14,068
when in fact, this is a warzone.
675
00:35:14,199 --> 00:35:17,419
Judea is a war zone, and you askyourself,
676
00:35:17,550 --> 00:35:20,335
"Well, why is it notportrayed as a war zone?"
677
00:35:20,466 --> 00:35:22,772
- I mean, they really had it
down pad
678
00:35:22,903 --> 00:35:25,297
because they had Jesussaying, "Render unto Caesar
679
00:35:25,427 --> 00:35:27,603
"what is Caesar's", which is
basically
680
00:35:27,734 --> 00:35:30,040
in response to talking aboutmoney.
681
00:35:30,171 --> 00:35:32,956
Whose benefit would that be?
682
00:35:33,087 --> 00:35:34,262
It's so blatantly obvious.
683
00:35:34,393 --> 00:35:36,221
- The perception of Romancharacters
684
00:35:36,351 --> 00:35:38,745
in the gospels, they're allinterpreted
685
00:35:38,875 --> 00:35:40,225
in a favorable light.
686
00:35:40,355 --> 00:35:42,575
They are pro-Roman.
687
00:35:42,705 --> 00:35:46,361
They do not depict theRomans as the forces of evil.
688
00:35:46,492 --> 00:35:47,797
They reverse that.
689
00:35:47,928 --> 00:35:53,890
It's the Jews who become
the forces of darkness.
690
00:35:54,021 --> 00:35:56,545
It's very striking that variouspassages
691
00:35:56,676 --> 00:35:59,069
in the gospels refer to the Jews
692
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,203
as some people separate from
693
00:36:02,334 --> 00:36:05,206
the heroes of Jesus and hisdisciples.
694
00:36:05,337 --> 00:36:07,730
The Jews are those who object.
695
00:36:07,861 --> 00:36:11,517
The Jews are those who tryto thwart the divine plan.
696
00:36:11,647 --> 00:36:14,389
Now that gives us a clue,certainly,
697
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:19,002
to who were the true authors ofthis book.
698
00:36:19,133 --> 00:36:21,918
- They are works of literaturecreated by
699
00:36:22,049 --> 00:36:24,965
people who are trained
in Jewish literature
700
00:36:25,095 --> 00:36:28,621
but whose values are pro-Roman.
701
00:36:28,751 --> 00:36:31,319
- The Romans wanted to
promote Antisemitism,
702
00:36:31,450 --> 00:36:34,888
and so they bring the storyof the beloved man god,
703
00:36:35,018 --> 00:36:37,934
Jesus Christ, to appear as if
704
00:36:38,065 --> 00:36:40,807
the Jews had brought about hisdeath.
705
00:36:40,937 --> 00:36:43,853
Because of this, the Jews wouldhave to
706
00:36:43,984 --> 00:36:47,074
suffer Antisemitism throughouthistory.
707
00:36:47,205 --> 00:36:51,209
- So this was a piece of workthat could not have been done
708
00:36:51,339 --> 00:36:54,081
except by fairlyestablished literary team,
709
00:36:54,212 --> 00:36:56,997
such as the literary team that
was in Rome
710
00:36:57,127 --> 00:36:59,869
actually writing the books ofJosephus.
711
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:01,610
I mean, that was written
by a literary team,
712
00:37:01,741 --> 00:37:04,961
and it was written as one of theattempts
713
00:37:05,092 --> 00:37:09,357
to give prominence to theFlavian Caesars,
714
00:37:09,488 --> 00:37:11,968
which the gospels obviously do.
715
00:37:12,099 --> 00:37:13,970
So it is extremely likely thatthe gospels
716
00:37:14,101 --> 00:37:18,975
as a form of epic designed tomagnify
717
00:37:19,106 --> 00:37:21,543
allegorically, the Roman
Caesars,
718
00:37:21,674 --> 00:37:25,939
is also written at the courtof the Flavian emperors.
719
00:37:26,069 --> 00:37:28,985
- [voiceover] But the Jesusstory takes place many decades
720
00:37:29,116 --> 00:37:31,553
before the Flavians came topower.
721
00:37:31,684 --> 00:37:34,121
Why would the Flavians create awork about
722
00:37:34,252 --> 00:37:39,039
a Jewish Messiah that wasn'teven from their own era?
723
00:37:39,169 --> 00:37:44,174
- The gospels were veryprecisely backdated 40 years.
724
00:37:44,305 --> 00:37:48,222
Jesus's ministry was started in
30 CE,
725
00:37:48,353 --> 00:37:52,226
exactly 40 years from thedestruction from the temple.
726
00:37:52,357 --> 00:37:56,709
His ministry ends at Passover,33 CE,
727
00:37:56,839 --> 00:38:00,147
which is 40 years before theend of the Jewish-Roman War,
728
00:38:00,278 --> 00:38:03,846
which occurred atPassover in 73 CE with the
729
00:38:03,977 --> 00:38:08,590
famous battle of Masada.
730
00:38:08,721 --> 00:38:10,766
- The gospels are backdated into
731
00:38:10,897 --> 00:38:12,855
the period of Pontius Pilate.
732
00:38:12,986 --> 00:38:15,031
That is to say before
the first Jewish war,
733
00:38:15,162 --> 00:38:17,860
which is to say, in the
Julio-Claudian period.
734
00:38:17,991 --> 00:38:21,255
But this is typical of Flavianliterature.
735
00:38:21,386 --> 00:38:24,432
It's a Flavian technique.
736
00:38:24,563 --> 00:38:27,783
What they do is backdatethe story into the period
737
00:38:27,914 --> 00:38:31,526
of their enemies, namely,
the Julio-Claudians.
738
00:38:31,657 --> 00:38:35,574
And so, generation aftergeneration of Christian scholars
739
00:38:35,704 --> 00:38:39,273
and even secular historians
go hunting in the
740
00:38:39,404 --> 00:38:43,233
Julio-Claudian period forthe origins of the gospels.
741
00:38:43,364 --> 00:38:45,714
They don't really find anyanswers there.
742
00:38:45,845 --> 00:38:48,500
There are allusions in thegospels
743
00:38:48,630 --> 00:38:50,719
to the destruction of thetemple,
744
00:38:50,850 --> 00:38:52,852
the most reasonable answerto that is that these
745
00:38:52,982 --> 00:38:56,116
texts were written after thedestruction of the temple.
746
00:38:56,246 --> 00:38:58,292
That is to say in the Flavianperiod,
747
00:38:58,423 --> 00:39:00,381
after the change of dynasty.
748
00:39:00,512 --> 00:39:03,123
- [voiceover] This backdatingof the story of Jesus Christ
749
00:39:03,253 --> 00:39:05,821
40 years earlier from the timethe gospels
750
00:39:05,952 --> 00:39:08,433
may actually have been writtenexplains
751
00:39:08,563 --> 00:39:11,436
why many of the propheciesof Jesus came true
752
00:39:11,566 --> 00:39:15,527
within exactly 40 years.
753
00:39:15,657 --> 00:39:17,920
- What does this all add up to?
754
00:39:18,051 --> 00:39:20,880
In my view, the thing thatis the most significant
755
00:39:21,010 --> 00:39:23,404
is the research by Joseph Atwill
756
00:39:23,535 --> 00:39:25,275
in his book Caesar's Messiah,
757
00:39:25,406 --> 00:39:28,757
which suggests that the
gospels were actually
758
00:39:28,888 --> 00:39:32,587
created as works of Romanpropaganda
759
00:39:32,718 --> 00:39:34,459
at the end of the Roman-Jewishwar
760
00:39:34,589 --> 00:39:36,852
under the reign of the Flavianemperors,
761
00:39:36,983 --> 00:39:41,553
that is Titus Caesar and
Vespasian Caesar.
762
00:39:41,683 --> 00:39:43,946
And if you end up worshipingJesus,
763
00:39:44,077 --> 00:39:45,731
what you will really end updoing
764
00:39:45,861 --> 00:39:49,822
is worshiping Caesar in
disguise.
765
00:39:49,952 --> 00:39:51,345
- [voiceover] This mayhave been how the Flavians
766
00:39:51,476 --> 00:39:54,740
finally got the Jews to
worship Caesar as a god,
767
00:39:54,870 --> 00:39:57,873
by giving them Jesus Christ,
768
00:39:58,004 --> 00:40:00,833
a Messiah more to the Roman'sliking.
769
00:40:00,963 --> 00:40:04,358
But is there any actualhistory to this character?
770
00:40:04,489 --> 00:40:07,666
Where did he really come from?
771
00:40:07,796 --> 00:40:10,320
- The mystery, to me,begins with his very name.
772
00:40:10,451 --> 00:40:15,543
In Greek, Jesus means saviorand Christ means the messiah.
773
00:40:15,674 --> 00:40:17,110
This didn't strike me as
something
774
00:40:17,240 --> 00:40:19,112
you would call a young child.
775
00:40:19,242 --> 00:40:24,813
- These two words are alreadyimportant
776
00:40:24,944 --> 00:40:31,124
within Judaism before JesusChrist supposedly existed.
777
00:40:31,254 --> 00:40:35,215
Major biblical figures toa Jewish Greek-speaking
778
00:40:35,345 --> 00:40:39,001
populace would already be calledChrist.
779
00:40:39,132 --> 00:40:40,873
Their ears would already beacclimated
780
00:40:41,003 --> 00:40:44,180
to accepting this title.
781
00:40:44,311 --> 00:40:46,574
So it isn't just a unique name
782
00:40:46,705 --> 00:40:50,273
of a single person that
just suddenly popped up.
783
00:40:50,404 --> 00:40:54,060
- What did we actually knowabut Jesus Christ the man?
784
00:40:54,190 --> 00:40:57,846
- I don't think that Jesuscan be historically defended.
785
00:40:57,977 --> 00:40:59,718
I don't think there's
any evidence that we can
786
00:40:59,848 --> 00:41:03,069
extend to that particular Jesus.
787
00:41:03,199 --> 00:41:06,768
- So when you actually
set out to investigate
788
00:41:06,899 --> 00:41:12,165
the historical Jesus asopposed to the Christ of faith,
789
00:41:12,295 --> 00:41:15,603
you very abruptly enter a void.
790
00:41:15,734 --> 00:41:18,650
You find that whereas you might
imagine
791
00:41:18,780 --> 00:41:21,740
the core details of
Jesus are readily known
792
00:41:21,870 --> 00:41:27,093
and accessible, you actuallydiscover there's no such thing.
793
00:41:27,223 --> 00:41:30,488
- Further, there had never beenany archaeological evidence
794
00:41:30,618 --> 00:41:33,403
of Jesus Christ that had
ever been discovered.
795
00:41:33,534 --> 00:41:38,408
- You cannot find anestablished and incontrovertible
796
00:41:38,539 --> 00:41:40,933
biooraphy of Jesus at all.
797
00:41:41,063 --> 00:41:42,674
It doesn't exist.
798
00:41:42,804 --> 00:41:47,679
You enter a strange TwilightZone of early Christian belief.
799
00:41:47,809 --> 00:41:50,290
What we have here is not amovement
800
00:41:50,420 --> 00:41:54,424
that's grown on the accretionof legends on a real
801
00:41:54,555 --> 00:41:59,647
flesh and blood man, but
instead, the development
802
00:41:59,778 --> 00:42:04,739
of a religious movementaround the idea of a man.
803
00:42:04,870 --> 00:42:06,480
- [voiceover] There isn't
even an actual physical
804
00:42:06,611 --> 00:42:11,616
description of what Jesus lookslike anywhere in the gospel.
805
00:42:11,746 --> 00:42:14,880
- The presentation of the Jesuscharacter,
806
00:42:15,010 --> 00:42:17,404
it's somewhat of a composite of
807
00:42:17,535 --> 00:42:21,103
many Messianic leaders of thetime.
808
00:42:21,234 --> 00:42:22,540
Many Messianic leaders of thetime,
809
00:42:22,670 --> 00:42:25,630
most or all of whom came to abad end,
810
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,981
usually by crucifixion becausecrucifixion
811
00:42:29,111 --> 00:42:32,550
was the Roman punishment
for seditious activity.
812
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:34,203
- And the penny dropped, thepenny dropped
813
00:42:34,334 --> 00:42:39,644
that Jesus, as a human
being, never existed.
814
00:42:39,774 --> 00:42:41,994
- In all of this, we're
dealing with literature.
815
00:42:42,124 --> 00:42:43,517
We're not dealing with history.
816
00:42:43,648 --> 00:42:47,913
So the answer is, no there is nohistory
817
00:42:48,043 --> 00:42:49,262
to this character of Jesus.
818
00:42:49,392 --> 00:42:51,656
It's entirely a literary
creation.
819
00:42:51,786 --> 00:42:55,094
- [joseph] What the Romansdid was they saw the Jews'
820
00:42:55,224 --> 00:42:56,922
reliance and belief in prophecy.
821
00:42:57,052 --> 00:43:00,099
So they said, "Okay, they want aprophet.
822
00:43:00,229 --> 00:43:01,883
"Let's give them one."
823
00:43:02,014 --> 00:43:03,711
- [voiceover] It seems
that in the construction
824
00:43:03,842 --> 00:43:06,192
of the literary character JesusChrist,
825
00:43:06,322 --> 00:43:08,977
the Roman authors borrowedreligions concepts
826
00:43:09,108 --> 00:43:12,502
not only from Judaism,
but also from other gods
827
00:43:12,633 --> 00:43:14,461
and religions that they knew.
828
00:43:14,592 --> 00:43:16,768
Some scholars have
noticed the similarities
829
00:43:16,898 --> 00:43:22,643
between the story of Jesus andthe ancient Pagan mysteries.
830
00:43:22,774 --> 00:43:27,213
- In ancient mythology,we find this whole strain
831
00:43:27,343 --> 00:43:29,389
of thought called Solar
mythology.
832
00:43:29,519 --> 00:43:31,913
Many gods start taking on solarattributes
833
00:43:32,044 --> 00:43:34,742
because as agricultural
communities
834
00:43:34,873 --> 00:43:38,920
become more important, thesun becomes the big focus
835
00:43:39,051 --> 00:43:42,489
for the most obvious reasonof planting and harvesting.
836
00:43:42,620 --> 00:43:44,578
The sun is then personified.
837
00:43:44,709 --> 00:43:48,103
So now we have a male sun god.
838
00:43:48,234 --> 00:43:52,542
Becomes a religion in
many parts of the world.
839
00:43:52,673 --> 00:43:55,110
Christianity usurped a
tremendous amount
840
00:43:55,241 --> 00:43:59,811
of sun worship. Some of usare saying that this was
841
00:43:59,941 --> 00:44:05,338
a sun God turned
into a Jewish man.
842
00:44:05,468 --> 00:44:07,253
This December 25th birthday was,
843
00:44:07,383 --> 00:44:10,125
in fact, the Winter Solstice.
844
00:44:10,256 --> 00:44:13,172
This is really, in fact, the Godof Light.
845
00:44:13,302 --> 00:44:15,391
December 25th actually is theend
846
00:44:15,522 --> 00:44:18,743
of a three-day period ofwhen the sun stands still.
847
00:44:18,873 --> 00:44:22,616
The sun appears to be dyingas the days become shorter,
848
00:44:22,747 --> 00:44:28,143
and the sun is reborn at that
point.
849
00:44:28,274 --> 00:44:30,406
- Across the ancientworld, there was this form
850
00:44:30,537 --> 00:44:33,453
of experiential andphilosophical spirituality
851
00:44:33,583 --> 00:44:36,021
in these mystery cults or
mystery schools.
852
00:44:36,151 --> 00:44:38,850
And at the center of theseschools,
853
00:44:38,980 --> 00:44:43,768
you would find a mythoswhich was an initiatory myth,
854
00:44:43,898 --> 00:44:46,945
so symbolic myth, whichwould help people who were
855
00:44:47,075 --> 00:44:49,382
going through the initiating
process come to the
856
00:44:49,512 --> 00:44:51,340
spiritual awakenings knowledge.
857
00:44:51,471 --> 00:44:53,038
This, they called Gnosis.
858
00:44:53,168 --> 00:44:55,910
And what you see in thesemyths is the elements
859
00:44:56,041 --> 00:44:58,521
that would later become theJesus story.
860
00:44:58,652 --> 00:45:01,699
- Let's ask the question,"Is Jesus developed
861
00:45:01,829 --> 00:45:06,138
"from pre-existing literarycharacters?"
862
00:45:06,268 --> 00:45:09,924
Jesus has certain episodesin this so-called life
863
00:45:10,055 --> 00:45:12,100
and each one of them can betraced
864
00:45:12,231 --> 00:45:17,802
to a prior representation ofthat time.
865
00:45:17,932 --> 00:45:19,629
- If you look at the
elements which we found
866
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:23,242
in the Pagan mystery schoolmyths,
867
00:45:23,372 --> 00:45:25,331
you find the story of a
dying and resurrecting
868
00:45:25,461 --> 00:45:29,596
son of God whose born of avirgin,
869
00:45:29,727 --> 00:45:33,513
has 12 disciples, turnswater into wine at a wedding.
870
00:45:33,643 --> 00:45:36,081
He brings a new religion of
love,
871
00:45:36,211 --> 00:45:43,392
is accused of heresy orprovocation by the authorities.
872
00:45:43,523 --> 00:45:45,481
He's put to death,sometimes by crucifixion.
873
00:45:45,612 --> 00:45:48,006
And then if you want tocommune with the god man,
874
00:45:48,136 --> 00:45:49,747
you take bread and wine and then
875
00:45:49,877 --> 00:45:51,357
you can come to eternal life.
876
00:45:51,487 --> 00:45:56,101
Well, all of this is,
of course, Christianity.
877
00:45:56,231 --> 00:45:59,104
- Easter itself is a longpre-Christian celebration
878
00:45:59,234 --> 00:46:03,848
of the resurrection of springfrom the death of winter.
879
00:46:03,978 --> 00:46:05,414
- This is an ancient Shamanicrite
880
00:46:05,545 --> 00:46:07,677
you'll find all over theworld, but you go through a
881
00:46:07,808 --> 00:46:10,419
ritual death where you get
reborn,
882
00:46:10,550 --> 00:46:12,857
but you're reborn as an awakebeing.
883
00:46:12,987 --> 00:46:14,728
So you died just to your lowernature,
884
00:46:14,859 --> 00:46:19,124
and you're woken up to a highernature.
885
00:46:19,254 --> 00:46:21,474
[soft flute music]
886
00:46:21,604 --> 00:46:23,737
- You can find them in the OldTestaments
887
00:46:23,868 --> 00:46:26,305
and the Jewish mythology aswell.
888
00:46:26,435 --> 00:46:28,394
It isn't just Pagan parallels.
889
00:46:28,524 --> 00:46:30,396
I mean the New Testament,for example, the Ascension.
890
00:46:30,526 --> 00:46:33,921
We have an ascension withthe Old Testament figure
891
00:46:34,052 --> 00:46:38,099
of Elijah, and it's a
very dramatic ascension.
892
00:46:38,230 --> 00:46:39,971
- Elisha, Elijah cycle.
893
00:46:40,101 --> 00:46:42,930
These are two Jewishprophets, one followed on
894
00:46:43,061 --> 00:46:46,673
from the other which have many
of
895
00:46:46,804 --> 00:46:50,155
the story elements found inJesus.
896
00:46:50,285 --> 00:46:53,811
For example, there is amultiplication of food miracle.
897
00:46:53,941 --> 00:46:56,204
There is a raising of the dead
miracle.
898
00:46:56,335 --> 00:46:59,773
There is a water miracle.
899
00:46:59,904 --> 00:47:05,779
There is an, ultimately, anascension to heaven miracle.
900
00:47:05,910 --> 00:47:07,737
Is this fulfillment or is this
901
00:47:07,868 --> 00:47:13,700
simply copying of a usefultheme?
902
00:47:13,831 --> 00:47:16,485
- You can see where they
just used Old Testament
903
00:47:16,616 --> 00:47:19,749
characters and scriptures as ablueprint
904
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:22,317
to create this new one.
905
00:47:22,448 --> 00:47:24,363
- A lot of the ethics
of Christianity actually
906
00:47:24,493 --> 00:47:26,887
were around before Christianity.
907
00:47:27,018 --> 00:47:29,498
Do unto others as youwould have them do unto you
908
00:47:29,629 --> 00:47:31,761
is in fact from the Old
Testaments.
909
00:47:31,892 --> 00:47:33,807
So Jesus didn't make that up.
910
00:47:33,938 --> 00:47:36,854
Many of the other aspectsof Christian ethics,
911
00:47:36,984 --> 00:47:39,857
many things which we might liketo applaud
912
00:47:39,987 --> 00:47:42,120
as very good aspects of
Christian ethics
913
00:47:42,250 --> 00:47:45,688
can be found in theStoic philosophy in Rome,
914
00:47:45,819 --> 00:47:49,301
which, by the way, isexactly the philosophical
915
00:47:49,431 --> 00:47:53,740
and ethical schoolpromoted by the Flavians.
916
00:47:53,871 --> 00:47:56,569
- There's little that
is original about Jesus.
917
00:47:56,699 --> 00:48:00,138
If one separates from his words,
918
00:48:00,268 --> 00:48:03,054
advice that was in theinterest of the Roman Imperial
919
00:48:03,184 --> 00:48:05,795
family, all that you have left
are
920
00:48:05,926 --> 00:48:08,668
snippets of widely known
philosophies,
921
00:48:08,798 --> 00:48:13,064
truisms and concepts that camedirectly
922
00:48:13,194 --> 00:48:15,544
from prior Hebraic literature.
923
00:48:15,675 --> 00:48:18,721
- The reason I am nowconvinced there's no historical
924
00:48:18,852 --> 00:48:20,941
Jesus, which seems a real, like,
whoa,
925
00:48:21,072 --> 00:48:22,812
to people that are not
familiar with the idea
926
00:48:22,943 --> 00:48:24,858
is a combination of things.
927
00:48:24,989 --> 00:48:28,949
First of all, there's noevidence for a historical man
928
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:31,778
which stands up to proper
scrutiny.
929
00:48:31,909 --> 00:48:37,218
Secondly is the story of Jesusis
930
00:48:37,349 --> 00:48:40,874
full of these motifs whichcome from the Pagan mysteries,
931
00:48:41,005 --> 00:48:44,922
and the third reason is becausein the
932
00:48:45,052 --> 00:48:47,054
early Christian movement,there's these two types
933
00:48:47,185 --> 00:48:49,404
of Christians, certainly
by the second century,
934
00:48:49,535 --> 00:48:52,277
which are, I think of asGnostics and Literalists.
935
00:48:52,407 --> 00:48:54,279
What marks out theLiteralists, who will become
936
00:48:54,409 --> 00:48:56,846
the Roman Empire and the
Roman Catholic Church
937
00:48:56,977 --> 00:48:59,327
is that they've got a historicalman.
938
00:48:59,458 --> 00:49:01,982
What marks out theGnostics is that they see
939
00:49:02,113 --> 00:49:03,897
it allegorically and their great
heresy
940
00:49:04,028 --> 00:49:06,117
is that Christ didn't come intoflesh.
941
00:49:06,247 --> 00:49:10,382
Now, the winners write history,
942
00:49:10,512 --> 00:49:14,473
and the history books have beenwritten by the Literalists.
943
00:49:14,603 --> 00:49:16,736
- And all of the tradition aboutthe
944
00:49:16,866 --> 00:49:20,479
Romans trying to torture
and suppress Christians,
945
00:49:20,609 --> 00:49:22,307
these traditions are correct.
946
00:49:22,437 --> 00:49:25,353
They definitely persecuted theMessianic
947
00:49:25,484 --> 00:49:28,356
militaristic Christians and theycertainly
948
00:49:28,487 --> 00:49:31,969
would have frowned on theGnostic independent thinking
949
00:49:32,099 --> 00:49:36,147
Christians, but the Romanpacifistic
950
00:49:36,277 --> 00:49:38,018
giving to Caesar what
is Caesar Christians,
951
00:49:38,149 --> 00:49:39,802
that group would have beenpromoted.
952
00:49:39,933 --> 00:49:41,587
- Which makes it perfect
for the Roman Empire,
953
00:49:41,717 --> 00:49:43,676
and it's a fascist empire.
954
00:49:43,806 --> 00:49:45,417
It's got a very simple message.
955
00:49:45,547 --> 00:49:46,548
"Just believe this.
956
00:49:46,679 --> 00:49:48,289
"You don't have to transform,
957
00:49:48,420 --> 00:49:50,074
"and you have to go
through the authorities,
958
00:49:50,204 --> 00:49:55,166
"through the bishops, throughthe states, ultimately."
959
00:49:55,296 --> 00:49:57,342
It's the perfect thing
for them to pick up,
960
00:49:57,472 --> 00:50:00,823
and that's what they did.
961
00:50:00,954 --> 00:50:02,825
- [voiceover] Our scholarsagree that the gospels
962
00:50:02,956 --> 00:50:06,786
are complex literarycreations, drawing from both
963
00:50:06,916 --> 00:50:10,355
Pagan and Jewish myth,
but Joseph Atwill goes
964
00:50:10,485 --> 00:50:13,488
a step further to say
that the Flavians wrote
965
00:50:13,619 --> 00:50:17,231
passages directly into
the gospels which show
966
00:50:17,362 --> 00:50:27,763
they were the authors.
967
00:50:27,894 --> 00:50:29,896
- One of the most famousprophecies that Jesus makes
968
00:50:30,027 --> 00:50:32,246
is about the coming of someone
969
00:50:32,377 --> 00:50:34,074
he refers to as the son of man.
970
00:50:34,205 --> 00:50:37,860
Now many people believe
that he's talking about
971
00:50:37,991 --> 00:50:41,342
a second coming of
himself, and many people
972
00:50:41,473 --> 00:50:44,389
believe this was going tooccur some point in the future.
973
00:50:44,519 --> 00:50:46,347
Well, the fact is, this coming
974
00:50:46,478 --> 00:50:49,655
of Jesus has already occurred.
975
00:50:49,785 --> 00:50:52,266
Jesus makes very specificprophecies
976
00:50:52,397 --> 00:50:53,746
as to what will happen when
977
00:50:53,876 --> 00:50:56,270
the son of man makes his
visitation.
978
00:50:56,401 --> 00:50:59,360
He refers to three key events:
979
00:50:59,491 --> 00:51:02,233
The Galilean towns will
be crushed, Jerusalem
980
00:51:02,363 --> 00:51:06,280
will be encircled with a wall,and the temple will be razed,
981
00:51:06,411 --> 00:51:09,240
leaving not one stone atopanother.
982
00:51:09,370 --> 00:51:13,070
He also states exactly whenthis individual will come.
983
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:16,464
He says that the son of
man will appear before
984
00:51:16,595 --> 00:51:18,727
the generation that is alive
985
00:51:18,858 --> 00:51:22,253
and listening to Jesus's
words passes away.
986
00:51:22,383 --> 00:51:27,693
Now to Jews of this era,a generation is 40 years.
987
00:51:27,823 --> 00:51:31,088
And so the only individual
that could possibly be
988
00:51:31,218 --> 00:51:34,917
the son of man that Jesuspredicts is Titus Flavius.
989
00:51:35,048 --> 00:51:39,183
Titus Flavius did destroythe Gallilean towns.
990
00:51:39,313 --> 00:51:43,143
He did encircle Jerusalem with awall,
991
00:51:43,274 --> 00:51:48,714
and he razed the temple andleft not one stone atop another.
992
00:51:48,844 --> 00:51:56,330
And he did this within 40 years.
993
00:51:56,461 --> 00:51:59,725
Josephus recorded that nomatter how Titus tortured
994
00:51:59,855 --> 00:52:04,338
the Jews, they refused
to call him lord or God.
995
00:52:04,469 --> 00:52:06,210
So to circumvent this
stubbornness,
996
00:52:06,340 --> 00:52:10,649
the Flavians wrote thegospels in which a son of man
997
00:52:10,779 --> 00:52:13,391
was predicted to come in the
future.
998
00:52:13,521 --> 00:52:18,744
Titus fulfilled these propheciesand became the son of man.
999
00:52:18,874 --> 00:52:28,275
So you end up worshipingTitus without knowing it.
1000
00:52:28,406 --> 00:52:29,929
- [voiceover] To further
support his thesis
1001
00:52:30,059 --> 00:52:32,671
that the Flavians originatedChristianity,
1002
00:52:32,801 --> 00:52:35,848
Joseph Atwill points tothe Roman Catholic Church's
1003
00:52:35,978 --> 00:52:46,859
earliest saints known as
the Christian Flavians.
1004
00:52:46,989 --> 00:52:49,340
- The Flavian family is
connected to
1005
00:52:49,470 --> 00:52:51,820
early Christianity in a
number of unusual ways.
1006
00:52:51,951 --> 00:52:54,127
So many members of the
family were recorded
1007
00:52:54,258 --> 00:52:57,739
as having been among thefirst Roman Catholic saints.
1008
00:52:57,870 --> 00:53:01,352
These include Flavia
Domitilla, who is either
1009
00:53:01,482 --> 00:53:06,008
Titus's sister or his niece,and there is an inscription
1010
00:53:06,139 --> 00:53:10,143
honoring Flavia for donatingthe land that became
1011
00:53:10,274 --> 00:53:13,799
the first Christian catacomb,and Flavia Domitilla
1012
00:53:13,929 --> 00:53:17,759
was the first Christian saint.
1013
00:53:17,890 --> 00:53:20,849
Her son, Clement, is
recorded as having been
1014
00:53:20,980 --> 00:53:26,028
the first Roman Catholicpope after the apostle Simon.
1015
00:53:26,159 --> 00:53:29,467
In addition, there weretwo members of the Flavian
1016
00:53:29,597 --> 00:53:34,080
household staff, Nereus and
Achilleus.
1017
00:53:34,211 --> 00:53:36,604
Both of them had churches namedafter them
1018
00:53:36,735 --> 00:53:43,002
in the very earliestChristian Diocese in Rome.
1019
00:53:43,132 --> 00:53:45,918
There was a Christiantheologian whose name was
1020
00:53:46,048 --> 00:53:51,053
Titus Flavius Clemens,
Clement of Alexandria,
1021
00:53:51,184 --> 00:53:53,099
and he's the one who actuallydescribed
1022
00:53:53,230 --> 00:53:55,971
the first christian symbols andhe said
1023
00:53:56,102 --> 00:54:00,237
they were the anchor, the boat,the fish,
1024
00:54:00,367 --> 00:54:04,676
the olive branch, the star, andoddly,
1025
00:54:04,806 --> 00:54:06,373
these are the very symbols
1026
00:54:06,504 --> 00:54:12,814
that the Flavian Caesars
used on their coins.
1027
00:54:12,945 --> 00:54:14,903
The final connectingpoint between the Flavian
1028
00:54:15,034 --> 00:54:18,124
family and Christianity isthat in the fourth century,
1029
00:54:18,255 --> 00:54:21,127
Flavius Constantine made
Christianity
1030
00:54:21,258 --> 00:54:26,219
the state religion of Rome.
1031
00:54:26,350 --> 00:54:28,352
The military achievements ofCaesar's
1032
00:54:28,482 --> 00:54:31,137
were important to all Romans.
1033
00:54:31,268 --> 00:54:34,967
So certainly, the FlavianChristians, the group
1034
00:54:35,097 --> 00:54:38,536
that the Roman CatholicChurch states were the first
1035
00:54:38,666 --> 00:54:41,800
saints of the religion, would
have known
1036
00:54:41,930 --> 00:54:45,630
the identity of the son ofman that Jesus predicted
1037
00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:50,287
who would crush Galilee,encircle Jerusalem with a wall,
1038
00:54:50,417 --> 00:54:57,206
and raze the temple was Titus
Flavius.
1039
00:54:57,337 --> 00:54:59,687
- [voiceover] So it seemsif a person knows how
1040
00:54:59,818 --> 00:55:02,299
to uncover them, there
are actually many clues
1041
00:55:02,429 --> 00:55:06,128
pointing to the Flavian
origin of Christianity,
1042
00:55:06,259 --> 00:55:09,131
and perhaps the most intriguingone that Joseph Atwill
1043
00:55:09,262 --> 00:55:12,787
uncovered is a secret
code the Flavians used
1044
00:55:12,918 --> 00:55:15,573
in their documents,which enabled him to make
1045
00:55:15,703 --> 00:55:18,967
his startling discovery.
1046
00:55:19,098 --> 00:55:21,100
- So the Romans had the Jew'sscripture
1047
00:55:21,230 --> 00:55:25,887
locked up inside their imperialcourt and they studied it.
1048
00:55:26,018 --> 00:55:29,238
And what they discoveredwas that there was a unique
1049
00:55:29,369 --> 00:55:33,025
literary code hidden in the
text.
1050
00:55:33,155 --> 00:55:34,896
- [voiceover] This hiddencode, which was common
1051
00:55:35,027 --> 00:55:38,944
in Jewish scripture, was usedby the Flavian literary team
1052
00:55:39,074 --> 00:55:42,469
to place passages intothe gospels that had to be
1053
00:55:42,600 --> 00:55:45,342
deciphered to be understood.
1054
00:55:45,472 --> 00:55:56,570
This hidden literary technique
is known as typology.
1055
00:55:56,701 --> 00:56:00,661
- Typology is used throughoutthe ancient Hebraic literature
1056
00:56:00,792 --> 00:56:05,753
and it's a genre that isreally no longer understood
1057
00:56:05,884 --> 00:56:12,151
or used today, but simply
put, typology is using
1058
00:56:12,281 --> 00:56:15,589
events from the past to provide
1059
00:56:15,720 --> 00:56:18,375
form and context for subsequentones.
1060
00:56:18,505 --> 00:56:22,030
- What we're talking aboutis stereotypic, stereotypic.
1061
00:56:22,161 --> 00:56:25,599
In other words, there's
an idolized prototype
1062
00:56:25,730 --> 00:56:29,211
which shows certain
characteristics
1063
00:56:29,342 --> 00:56:31,257
are performed in certain ways.
1064
00:56:31,388 --> 00:56:33,651
- For instance, one of thethings they do
1065
00:56:33,781 --> 00:56:37,785
is they take an old story andthey retell it in a new form,
1066
00:56:37,916 --> 00:56:42,268
and they superimpose
contemporary history
1067
00:56:42,399 --> 00:56:48,579
upon old stories, and theycreate these multi-layered text.
1068
00:56:48,709 --> 00:56:53,061
- In Hebraic typology, textswere designed
1069
00:56:53,192 --> 00:56:55,673
to be read in comparison to oneanother
1070
00:56:55,803 --> 00:56:59,154
or inter-textually and in doingso,
1071
00:56:59,285 --> 00:57:02,027
a meaning that would not bevisible
1072
00:57:02,157 --> 00:57:04,856
in the surface narration wouldbecome
1073
00:57:04,986 --> 00:57:08,163
apparent to someone who
understood the typologic
1074
00:57:08,294 --> 00:57:12,907
connection between the stories.
1075
00:57:13,038 --> 00:57:15,736
Hebraic typology connectsprophets.
1076
00:57:15,867 --> 00:57:17,651
Events from the life of oneprophet
1077
00:57:17,782 --> 00:57:21,655
are placed into the life
of a subsequent prophet,
1078
00:57:21,786 --> 00:57:24,528
and this shows thatthere is a divine pattern
1079
00:57:24,658 --> 00:57:28,619
established by God, connectinghis prophets to one another.
1080
00:57:28,749 --> 00:57:30,577
- [voiceover] The gospels
actually show how we can
1081
00:57:30,708 --> 00:57:34,451
decipher for ourselves thishidden code or typology
1082
00:57:34,581 --> 00:57:39,194
that was used to create theJesus story.
1083
00:57:39,325 --> 00:57:45,331
[dramatic music]
1084
00:57:45,462 --> 00:57:47,376
- [joseph] At the verybeginning of the gospels,
1085
00:57:47,507 --> 00:57:50,162
there is a primer of this
typology.
1086
00:57:50,292 --> 00:57:52,860
What the author of Matthew hasdone is
1087
00:57:52,991 --> 00:57:55,472
take events from the Old
Testament
1088
00:57:55,602 --> 00:57:59,040
and place them into the life ofJesus.
1089
00:57:59,171 --> 00:58:01,434
These events occur in the samesequence
1090
00:58:01,565 --> 00:58:06,439
in the story of Jesus as theyoccur in the Old Testament.
1091
00:58:06,570 --> 00:58:08,223
- [voiceover] Numerousbible scholars had already
1092
00:58:08,354 --> 00:58:13,011
identified the following
parallels.
1093
00:58:13,141 --> 00:58:15,230
- [joseph] Both stories havea patriarch named Joseph
1094
00:58:15,361 --> 00:58:21,323
who goes from Israel to Egypt.
1095
00:58:21,454 --> 00:58:26,415
A ruler who massacres innocentboys.
1096
00:58:26,546 --> 00:58:28,113
A divine character who statesthat,
1097
00:58:28,243 --> 00:58:35,294
"All the men are dead
who sought your life."
1098
00:58:35,424 --> 00:58:40,691
And then a return from Egypt toIsrael.
1099
00:58:40,821 --> 00:58:45,565
This is followed by events whichhave passing through water.
1100
00:58:45,696 --> 00:58:47,001
In the Old Testament, theIsraelites
1101
00:58:47,132 --> 00:58:50,091
pass through the Red Sea.
1102
00:58:50,222 --> 00:58:53,660
In Matthew, Jesus is given abaptism
1103
00:58:53,791 --> 00:58:56,837
in which he passes throughwater.
1104
00:58:56,968 --> 00:59:00,232
We then travel into the
wilderness.
1105
00:59:00,362 --> 00:59:03,496
The Israelites are in thewilderness for 40 years.
1106
00:59:03,627 --> 00:59:08,066
Jesus goes into the
wilderness for 40 days.
1107
00:59:08,196 --> 00:59:10,895
Finally, we have the threetemptations.
1108
00:59:11,025 --> 00:59:14,028
In the Old Testament, wehave the temptation by bread,
1109
00:59:14,159 --> 00:59:16,683
the statement, "Do not tempt
God."
1110
00:59:16,814 --> 00:59:19,686
And the commandment to worshiponly God.
1111
00:59:19,817 --> 00:59:22,167
These appear again in Matthewwhere Jesus
1112
00:59:22,297 --> 00:59:26,693
is tempted by bread, tellsthe Devil, "Do not tempt God."
1113
00:59:26,824 --> 00:59:30,828
And instructs him to worshiponly God.
1114
00:59:30,958 --> 00:59:33,613
Therefore, when youcompare the life of Jesus
1115
00:59:33,744 --> 00:59:36,616
with the life of Moses, you see
a linkage
1116
00:59:36,747 --> 00:59:40,011
that shows that thecharacter in the gospels was
1117
00:59:40,141 --> 00:59:44,668
divinely connected to thecharacter in the Old Testament.
1118
00:59:44,798 --> 00:59:47,453
The life of the first
savior of Israel, Moses,
1119
00:59:47,584 --> 00:59:51,152
foresaw the life ofJesus, who's now claiming
1120
00:59:51,283 --> 00:59:55,548
to be the next savior of Israel.
1121
00:59:55,679 --> 00:59:58,029
- [voiceover] To understandthe rest of the Jesus story,
1122
00:59:58,159 --> 01:00:01,554
his adult ministry, we simplyneed to know that the same
1123
01:00:01,685 --> 01:00:06,690
system of parallel names,
locations, and concepts
1124
01:00:06,820 --> 01:00:09,606
occurring in the same sequencewas used
1125
01:00:09,736 --> 01:00:12,173
to connect Jesus and the gospelsto
1126
01:00:12,304 --> 01:00:15,612
Titus and the works of Josephus.
1127
01:00:15,742 --> 01:00:18,223
Our scholars explain this gospeltypology
1128
01:00:18,353 --> 01:00:27,232
in the following three examples.
1129
01:00:27,362 --> 01:00:28,799
- Jesus comes to the sea ofGallilee
1130
01:00:28,929 --> 01:00:30,496
at the beginning of his
ministry.
1131
01:00:30,627 --> 01:00:32,890
He gathers his disciples to him
1132
01:00:33,020 --> 01:00:36,633
and he says, "Do not be afraid.
1133
01:00:36,763 --> 01:00:40,767
"Follow me, and become fishersof men."
1134
01:00:40,898 --> 01:00:44,771
In the gospel of Luke, Jesusactually says catchers of men.
1135
01:00:44,902 --> 01:00:49,558
Titus comes to the samelocation, to the sea of Galilee.
1136
01:00:49,689 --> 01:00:52,997
He gathers his troops,
his disciples together
1137
01:00:53,127 --> 01:00:54,433
and he says, "Don't be afraid."
1138
01:00:54,563 --> 01:00:56,174
And then he leads them.
1139
01:00:56,304 --> 01:01:02,789
They follow him, and theyattack a group of Jewish rebels.
1140
01:01:02,920 --> 01:01:04,486
They sink the Jews' boats.
1141
01:01:04,617 --> 01:01:08,099
The Jews attempt to swim
to safety and the Romans
1142
01:01:08,229 --> 01:01:11,276
use their spears to catch them.
1143
01:01:11,406 --> 01:01:16,934
They become fishers of men.
1144
01:01:17,064 --> 01:01:18,283
- The match isn't exact,
1145
01:01:18,413 --> 01:01:20,241
but we should never expect it tobe exact.
1146
01:01:20,372 --> 01:01:24,419
It's simply a type
which is repeated across
1147
01:01:24,550 --> 01:01:31,426
the whole of the New Testament.
1148
01:01:31,557 --> 01:01:34,081
[foreboding music]
1149
01:01:34,212 --> 01:01:37,519
- Jesus is constantly dealingwith devils.
1150
01:01:37,650 --> 01:01:40,871
Josephus also deals with
devils, but Josephus
1151
01:01:41,001 --> 01:01:43,221
defines who these devils are.
1152
01:01:43,351 --> 01:01:46,137
He states that the devilsare those individuals
1153
01:01:46,267 --> 01:01:51,795
who have a rebellious spiritand rebel against Rome.
1154
01:01:51,925 --> 01:01:55,363
At Gadara, Jesus encountersone man who has a legion
1155
01:01:55,494 --> 01:01:57,322
of demons inside his mind.
1156
01:01:57,452 --> 01:02:00,238
They, then, are driven out byJesus.
1157
01:02:00,368 --> 01:02:03,632
They infect a heard of swine andthis herd
1158
01:02:03,763 --> 01:02:06,026
rushes wildly into the water.
1159
01:02:06,157 --> 01:02:09,769
This is a parallel to
Titus's battle at Gadara
1160
01:02:09,900 --> 01:02:14,731
where one individual
infects an entire legion
1161
01:02:14,861 --> 01:02:17,864
of Jews with his demonic spiritand then
1162
01:02:17,995 --> 01:02:21,085
that group, in turn, infectsanother group
1163
01:02:21,215 --> 01:02:22,739
and this combined group
1164
01:02:22,869 --> 01:02:27,221
is driven by the Romans into thesea.
1165
01:02:27,352 --> 01:02:29,397
- What's being suggested
here is that this story
1166
01:02:29,528 --> 01:02:31,573
that you find in thegospels is, in some ways,
1167
01:02:31,704 --> 01:02:36,796
sort of like a grim parallelabout that military event.
1168
01:02:36,927 --> 01:02:39,277
It's sort of like a bittongue and cheek, I think.
1169
01:02:39,407 --> 01:02:41,366
The Romans has a vicioussense of humor like this,
1170
01:02:41,496 --> 01:02:44,673
a very black sense of humor.
1171
01:02:44,804 --> 01:02:46,414
In a medieval text that I
studied,
1172
01:02:46,545 --> 01:02:49,983
which is called the Gospelof Barnabas, when you read
1173
01:02:50,114 --> 01:02:52,812
that story, the way
it's presented is in an
1174
01:02:52,943 --> 01:02:54,553
unsophisticated form.
1175
01:02:54,683 --> 01:02:57,861
That is to say it's sort of beendecoded
1176
01:02:57,991 --> 01:03:00,298
in some ways, and it becomesclear
1177
01:03:00,428 --> 01:03:06,304
what we're talking about
here are Jewish rebels
1178
01:03:06,434 --> 01:03:09,916
chased into the sea and
they drown into the sea.
1179
01:03:10,047 --> 01:03:14,094
In the gospels, these
are presented as pigs.
1180
01:03:14,225 --> 01:03:17,924
This is a, once again, a verydark,
1181
01:03:18,055 --> 01:03:20,318
black, sort of, Roman sense ofhumor.
1182
01:03:20,448 --> 01:03:22,407
Some of this literature really
1183
01:03:22,537 --> 01:03:30,502
needs to be understood likethat.
1184
01:03:30,632 --> 01:03:33,374
- In Josephus's biography, hedescribes
1185
01:03:33,505 --> 01:03:36,334
when he was in theentourage of Titus during
1186
01:03:36,464 --> 01:03:39,163
the closing stages of
the siege of Jerusalem,
1187
01:03:39,293 --> 01:03:42,862
he chanced upon three ofhis friends who were being
1188
01:03:42,993 --> 01:03:45,778
crucified, and he pleaded with
Titus
1189
01:03:45,909 --> 01:03:50,827
for their release, andTitus gave that permission
1190
01:03:50,957 --> 01:03:53,742
and the three figures were
removed from the cross.
1191
01:03:53,873 --> 01:03:57,529
Two of them died, and onerevived.
1192
01:03:57,659 --> 01:04:02,577
Now, if you're lookingfor a stereotypic example
1193
01:04:02,708 --> 01:04:07,800
of how some idea was floated
into the mind of someone
1194
01:04:07,931 --> 01:04:10,847
writing the gospels, thatis a pretty clear example.
1195
01:04:10,977 --> 01:04:13,806
It's certainly a strange
occurrence that we find
1196
01:04:13,937 --> 01:04:16,722
such an incident that wefind in the work of Josephus
1197
01:04:16,853 --> 01:04:20,813
when it shows up in such adramatic form in the gospels.
1198
01:04:20,944 --> 01:04:24,382
- [joseph] In the gospels,Joseph of Arimathea asked
1199
01:04:24,512 --> 01:04:28,255
the Roman commander to takeJesus down from the cross.
1200
01:04:28,386 --> 01:04:32,390
In Josephus's history, Joseph
Bar Mathias
1201
01:04:32,520 --> 01:04:33,695
asked the Roman commander to
1202
01:04:33,826 --> 01:04:36,089
take someone down from thecross.
1203
01:04:36,220 --> 01:04:42,661
Arimathea is a pun on Josephus'slast name, Bar Mathias.
1204
01:04:42,791 --> 01:04:46,056
- When you read oursources really carefully,
1205
01:04:46,186 --> 01:04:48,885
and you have to do it
really, really carefully
1206
01:04:49,015 --> 01:04:51,844
because they didn't spell it outfor us.
1207
01:04:51,975 --> 01:04:54,673
It's effectively very
well-hidden.
1208
01:04:54,803 --> 01:04:56,893
We have to understand that ourliterature,
1209
01:04:57,023 --> 01:05:00,505
a lot of our literatureis essentially propaganda.
1210
01:05:00,635 --> 01:05:02,768
The Romans are notwriting objective history,
1211
01:05:02,899 --> 01:05:06,728
and all of our literature hasbeen through Roman filters.
1212
01:05:06,859 --> 01:05:09,166
Perhaps that's the significance
of the Dead Sea scrolls
1213
01:05:09,296 --> 01:05:10,602
that this literature that
1214
01:05:10,732 --> 01:05:13,648
hasn't been through the Romanfilters.
1215
01:05:13,779 --> 01:05:16,260
- It's important torealize that Josephus wrote
1216
01:05:16,390 --> 01:05:21,352
in an era when allegorywas regarded as a science.
1217
01:05:21,482 --> 01:05:23,658
Educated readers were expected
to be able
1218
01:05:23,789 --> 01:05:27,836
to see another meaning inreligious texts
1219
01:05:27,967 --> 01:05:30,752
than the one that appearedin the surface narration.
1220
01:05:30,883 --> 01:05:32,319
- We're dealing with Romanliterature on the one hand
1221
01:05:32,450 --> 01:05:33,886
and Jewish literature on theother,
1222
01:05:34,017 --> 01:05:37,020
and it has to be said that inboth cases,
1223
01:05:37,150 --> 01:05:42,112
they're much more sophisticated,much more multi-layered
1224
01:05:42,242 --> 01:05:45,680
and allusive and much trickier
1225
01:05:45,811 --> 01:05:48,466
than modern readers suspect.
1226
01:05:48,596 --> 01:05:50,076
No, it's not a very simpleliterature.
1227
01:05:50,207 --> 01:05:53,166
It's very, very complex
allegorical literature
1228
01:05:53,297 --> 01:05:55,429
that indulges into the literarygames
1229
01:05:55,560 --> 01:05:57,040
that the Romans played.
1230
01:05:57,170 --> 01:05:59,390
The more you understand
about Roman literature
1231
01:05:59,520 --> 01:06:02,219
in this period and then
you place the gospels
1232
01:06:02,349 --> 01:06:06,310
and other Christian literaturein that same mirror,
1233
01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:07,789
you can start to see the games
1234
01:06:07,920 --> 01:06:11,184
that are being played in thatliterature.
1235
01:06:11,315 --> 01:06:14,492
- Now these parallels havebeen seen by other scholars,
1236
01:06:14,622 --> 01:06:17,886
but what they failed tonotice is that they occur
1237
01:06:18,017 --> 01:06:20,628
in the same sequence, and
thereby,
1238
01:06:20,759 --> 01:06:22,979
they create a typologic pattern.
1239
01:06:23,109 --> 01:06:26,069
- The Flavian thesis, it'strying to read these texts
1240
01:06:26,199 --> 01:06:29,115
in context because in any giventext,
1241
01:06:29,246 --> 01:06:31,770
you've got the text in the firstinstance,
1242
01:06:31,900 --> 01:06:34,903
and then you've got the
context, the environment
1243
01:06:35,034 --> 01:06:37,689
in which it happens, and ofcourse, in all of these texts,
1244
01:06:37,819 --> 01:06:39,386
also, you've got a subtext.
1245
01:06:39,517 --> 01:06:42,172
So you've got text, context andsubtext,
1246
01:06:42,302 --> 01:06:45,349
and you have to be able toread all of those things
1247
01:06:45,479 --> 01:06:47,873
and unfortunately, many
religious people
1248
01:06:48,004 --> 01:06:50,615
who are coming out ofseminaries, who are coming out
1249
01:06:50,745 --> 01:06:52,573
of religious colleges, they're
just not
1250
01:06:52,704 --> 01:06:55,446
being trained in thissort of level of reading.
1251
01:06:55,576 --> 01:06:57,361
They're, instead, justbeing trained to just read
1252
01:06:57,491 --> 01:06:59,972
on one level, which is a literal
level,
1253
01:07:00,103 --> 01:07:02,235
and I think that that's veryunfortunate
1254
01:07:02,366 --> 01:07:08,328
and that really needs to bechallenged.
1255
01:07:08,459 --> 01:07:10,330
- [voiceover] By studyingthe multiple layers
1256
01:07:10,461 --> 01:07:14,030
in these ancient texts inthe original Greek language,
1257
01:07:14,160 --> 01:07:17,555
Joseph Atwill was able todiscover not just a handfu0l,
1258
01:07:17,685 --> 01:07:20,949
but over 40 typological
parallels between
1259
01:07:21,080 --> 01:07:23,213
the gospels and the works ofJosephus,
1260
01:07:23,343 --> 01:07:26,955
which show that the ministryof Jesus Christ followed
1261
01:07:27,086 --> 01:07:31,047
an exact sequence the militarycampaign of Titus Flavius
1262
01:07:31,177 --> 01:07:36,878
through parallel names,
locations, and concepts.
1263
01:07:37,009 --> 01:07:39,098
- Once I understood the
system that the Flavians
1264
01:07:39,229 --> 01:07:41,796
were using to link Jesus andTitus,
1265
01:07:41,927 --> 01:07:45,365
I was able to discoverdozens of these parallels
1266
01:07:45,496 --> 01:07:48,760
between Jesus and Titus,
and what was amazing
1267
01:07:48,890 --> 01:07:51,719
is that they occurred
in the same sequence.
1268
01:07:51,850 --> 01:07:54,983
And this simply provesthat this was deliberate,
1269
01:07:55,114 --> 01:07:58,509
that these unusualparallels had been created
1270
01:07:58,639 --> 01:08:01,077
by the Flavians as a signature.
1271
01:08:01,207 --> 01:08:04,776
It is their way of telling
posterity that
1272
01:08:04,906 --> 01:08:06,604
they authored the gospels.
1273
01:08:06,734 --> 01:08:12,175
These parallels are the Flaviansignature of the gospels.
1274
01:08:12,305 --> 01:08:26,102
[triumphant music]
1275
01:08:26,232 --> 01:08:27,929
Both Jesus and Titus began their
1276
01:08:28,059 --> 01:08:30,062
campaigns at the Sea of Galilee
1277
01:08:30,193 --> 01:08:32,890
and then go into the Galileancountryside
1278
01:08:33,021 --> 01:08:35,719
followed by a journey to
Jerusalem.
1279
01:08:35,850 --> 01:08:37,983
Once they reach the city'soutskirts,
1280
01:08:38,113 --> 01:08:40,898
they pause for a period beforethey enter.
1281
01:08:41,029 --> 01:08:42,901
Finally, they leave the city
1282
01:08:43,031 --> 01:08:48,036
where their campaigns come to anend.
1283
01:08:48,166 --> 01:08:50,822
To catalog the manyparallels, I gave each one
1284
01:08:50,952 --> 01:08:53,912
a convenient name that
related to the concept
1285
01:08:54,041 --> 01:08:56,219
in that particular parallel set.
1286
01:08:56,349 --> 01:08:59,526
Starting at Galilee, eachof these are episodes
1287
01:08:59,657 --> 01:09:02,268
that occurred both in thegospel stories of Jesus
1288
01:09:02,398 --> 01:09:08,448
and in the history ofTitus's military campaign.
1289
01:09:08,578 --> 01:09:14,845
[upbeat music]
1290
01:09:14,976 --> 01:09:17,675
Both Jesus and Titus
journeyed to Jerusalem,
1291
01:09:17,805 --> 01:09:20,460
each sending messengers ahead tomeet him
1292
01:09:20,591 --> 01:09:28,512
when he gets to the city.
1293
01:09:28,642 --> 01:09:30,077
When the Romans get to
Jerusalem,
1294
01:09:30,209 --> 01:09:32,210
they notice that the Jewishfactions are fighting
1295
01:09:32,342 --> 01:09:33,778
against themselves.
1296
01:09:33,907 --> 01:09:35,780
At this point in the gospels,
1297
01:09:35,910 --> 01:09:39,175
Jesus talks about a housedivided
1298
01:09:39,305 --> 01:09:43,613
against itself cannot stand.
1299
01:09:43,744 --> 01:09:47,139
Then Josephus wrote thatin preparation for battle,
1300
01:09:47,270 --> 01:09:49,707
Titus ordered all of the fruit
trees
1301
01:09:49,836 --> 01:09:51,056
between the Roman camp
1302
01:09:51,187 --> 01:09:53,928
and the walls of Jerusalem cutdown.
1303
01:09:54,059 --> 01:09:57,628
At this point in thegospels, Jesus states that
1304
01:09:57,758 --> 01:10:07,202
if a fruit tree does notbear fruit tree, cut it down.
1305
01:10:07,333 --> 01:10:10,423
Titus goes around the walls of
Jerusalem
1306
01:10:10,554 --> 01:10:13,861
looking for the bestplace to construct a tower
1307
01:10:13,992 --> 01:10:17,038
from which they can launch their
attack.
1308
01:10:17,169 --> 01:10:20,346
At this point in the gospels,Jesus asks,
1309
01:10:20,477 --> 01:10:23,784
"Which one of you who is
going to build a tower
1310
01:10:23,915 --> 01:10:29,702
"doesn't first sit downand think about the cost?"
1311
01:10:29,834 --> 01:10:33,446
At this point in thehistory, Titus sends Josephus
1312
01:10:33,577 --> 01:10:37,885
to ask the Jews what termsthey will accept for peace.
1313
01:10:38,016 --> 01:10:41,846
In the gospels, Jesusdescribes a king who sends
1314
01:10:41,976 --> 01:10:48,505
a delegation to ask for terms of
peace.
1315
01:10:48,635 --> 01:10:51,508
Both Jesus and Titus atthis point have triumphant
1316
01:10:51,638 --> 01:10:56,513
entrances into Jerusalem,
during which amazingly,
1317
01:10:56,643 --> 01:11:06,349
stones are said to cry out.
1318
01:11:06,478 --> 01:11:08,699
Each, then, drives a den ofthieves
1319
01:11:08,829 --> 01:11:11,528
out from the area from
in front of the temple.
1320
01:11:11,657 --> 01:11:14,487
This is followed by Titusencircling Jerusalem
1321
01:11:14,618 --> 01:11:17,534
with a wall, and Jesus
predicting that
1322
01:11:17,664 --> 01:11:24,105
Jerusalem will be encircled witha wall.
1323
01:11:24,236 --> 01:11:27,544
Because of the walls,starvation sets into Jerusalem.
1324
01:11:27,674 --> 01:11:30,155
Josephus wrote that a woman
named Mary
1325
01:11:30,286 --> 01:11:33,245
who called her son a myth forthe world
1326
01:11:33,376 --> 01:11:36,814
slayed him, ate him,
thereby turning him into
1327
01:11:36,943 --> 01:11:40,296
a human Passover lamb.
1328
01:11:40,425 --> 01:11:44,822
In the gospels, we now
have the Last Supper.
1329
01:11:44,952 --> 01:11:47,955
Jesus tells his disciples,"Take, eat.
1330
01:11:48,085 --> 01:11:49,305
"This is my body.
1331
01:11:49,434 --> 01:11:50,915
"This is my blood."
1332
01:11:51,045 --> 01:11:56,702
Therefore, turning himinto a human Passover lamb.
1333
01:11:56,834 --> 01:11:59,532
Here, then, is theFlavian signature of their
1334
01:11:59,663 --> 01:12:03,449
authorship of the gospels.
1335
01:12:03,580 --> 01:12:05,059
- You can see the fingerprints
that
1336
01:12:05,190 --> 01:12:08,062
they've left their fingerprintsall over these texts.
1337
01:12:08,193 --> 01:12:12,937
You can start to, as it
were, decode these texts
1338
01:12:13,067 --> 01:12:16,419
and start to arrive at somereally startling conclusions
1339
01:12:16,549 --> 01:12:23,643
about how early Christianityfirst arose.
1340
01:12:23,773 --> 01:12:25,384
- [voiceover] Our scholars haveshown
1341
01:12:25,514 --> 01:12:27,821
that the gospels were not theproduct of primitive Jewish
1342
01:12:27,952 --> 01:12:31,389
fisherman, rather they are asophisticated literary work
1343
01:12:31,521 --> 01:12:33,958
combining religious ideas of theday
1344
01:12:34,088 --> 01:12:38,397
with Roman political
perspective and power.
1345
01:12:38,528 --> 01:12:40,181
Joseph Atwill's research revealsthat
1346
01:12:40,312 --> 01:12:42,619
reading the works of Josephusconcurrently
1347
01:12:42,749 --> 01:12:44,969
with the New Testament
shows that the events
1348
01:12:45,099 --> 01:12:47,101
of Jesus's life were not
historical,
1349
01:12:47,232 --> 01:12:49,843
but rather all of them aredependent
1350
01:12:49,974 --> 01:12:54,413
on the events of the militarycampaign of Titus Flavius.
1351
01:12:54,544 --> 01:12:58,374
Jesus Christ was an allegoryfor the Roman Caesar Titus,
1352
01:12:58,504 --> 01:13:01,725
the Messiah of the Roman
Empire, the Roman son
1353
01:13:01,855 --> 01:13:10,081
of a god that Christianitywas set up to worship.
1354
01:13:10,210 --> 01:13:11,343
- I certainly don't want toundermine
1355
01:13:11,474 --> 01:13:14,128
the positive things in
Christianity.
1356
01:13:14,259 --> 01:13:16,434
I'm happy to admit thatthere are positive things
1357
01:13:16,566 --> 01:13:19,699
in Christianity and in
other religions as well.
1358
01:13:19,830 --> 01:13:21,745
What's an issue here are the
1359
01:13:21,875 --> 01:13:24,530
historical claims of thesereligions.
1360
01:13:24,661 --> 01:13:26,837
- [voiceover] Traditionally,religious dogma
1361
01:13:26,967 --> 01:13:30,362
has forbidden the examinationof historical discoveries
1362
01:13:30,493 --> 01:13:33,974
or the inclusion ofcertain scientific findings
1363
01:13:34,105 --> 01:13:37,151
in their teachings, asking
their followers instead
1364
01:13:37,282 --> 01:13:39,675
to blindly believe as they say,
1365
01:13:39,806 --> 01:13:43,680
not as the objective facts mayshow.
1366
01:13:43,809 --> 01:13:45,638
- Even if a time, perhaps it's anew
1367
01:13:45,769 --> 01:13:47,597
intellectual renaissance whichis
1368
01:13:47,727 --> 01:13:50,513
getting fed up with many of thestructures
1369
01:13:50,643 --> 01:13:53,037
that we live with, which isrecognizing
1370
01:13:53,166 --> 01:13:55,822
major frauds at the
hearts of our financial
1371
01:13:55,952 --> 01:13:57,911
market and the heart of ourindustry
1372
01:13:58,041 --> 01:14:00,348
and the plug is being pulled onthem.
1373
01:14:00,478 --> 01:14:04,091
And my view is that we
have yet another fraud,
1374
01:14:04,222 --> 01:14:06,224
the biggest of them
all, and it's the fraud
1375
01:14:06,353 --> 01:14:08,618
of the heart of Christianity.
1376
01:14:08,748 --> 01:14:12,752
And it is a time for thewhistleblowers to come out
1377
01:14:12,883 --> 01:14:15,538
and to make this information
available
1378
01:14:15,668 --> 01:14:18,279
not just to scholars in academicjournals,
1379
01:14:18,410 --> 01:14:19,977
but to have it widely available
1380
01:14:20,107 --> 01:14:23,284
to anybody who wants to know.
1381
01:14:23,415 --> 01:14:24,721
- [voiceover] It's helpful tohear
1382
01:14:24,851 --> 01:14:26,679
a wide diversity ofvoices in order for people
1383
01:14:26,809 --> 01:14:29,116
to arrive at their own
conclusions,
1384
01:14:29,246 --> 01:14:31,771
and the theories brought
forth by our scholars
1385
01:14:31,902 --> 01:14:35,253
are a part of that diversity.
1386
01:14:35,383 --> 01:14:36,907
- When they hear that theJesus story is a myth,
1387
01:14:37,037 --> 01:14:38,648
people feel like you're
taking something away,
1388
01:14:38,778 --> 01:14:40,954
but you're really not.
1389
01:14:41,085 --> 01:14:43,000
You push people and you
go, "Why do you believe
1390
01:14:43,130 --> 01:14:44,001
"in the historical Jesus?"
1391
01:14:44,130 --> 01:14:45,393
Often people will go,
1392
01:14:45,523 --> 01:14:46,699
"Well, you know, the Bible orsomething."
1393
01:14:46,830 --> 01:14:48,179
But when you go, "Well,
have you studied it
1394
01:14:48,309 --> 01:14:49,397
"as a historical document?
1395
01:14:49,528 --> 01:14:50,790
"Have you looked at the
evidence?"
1396
01:14:50,921 --> 01:14:52,226
They'll go, "Well, no, I
haven't."
1397
01:14:52,357 --> 01:14:53,837
So that's not the real reason.
1398
01:14:53,967 --> 01:14:56,579
The real reason, when you pushpeople is,
1399
01:14:56,709 --> 01:14:59,625
"Well, I have a relationshipwith Jesus.
1400
01:14:59,755 --> 01:15:02,498
"I have a personal
relationship with Jesus,
1401
01:15:02,628 --> 01:15:03,760
"and that's what I don't want tolose."
1402
01:15:03,889 --> 01:15:06,589
And that's a really good reasona Gnostic,
1403
01:15:06,719 --> 01:15:09,896
and really bad reason
to be a Literatalist.
1404
01:15:10,027 --> 01:15:11,289
- [voiceover] The Gnostics, aswell as
1405
01:15:11,419 --> 01:15:13,465
pre-Christian pagan mysteryschools
1406
01:15:13,596 --> 01:15:16,250
believed that the myth ofthe dying and resurrecting
1407
01:15:16,380 --> 01:15:20,341
god man was an allegory tobe used for personal growth,
1408
01:15:20,472 --> 01:15:22,648
to die to their lower nature
1409
01:15:22,779 --> 01:15:25,303
and arise to their highernature.
1410
01:15:25,433 --> 01:15:28,132
The Literalists took controlof the original myths
1411
01:15:28,262 --> 01:15:30,787
and shaped it so it would takethe power
1412
01:15:30,916 --> 01:15:32,440
away from the individual
1413
01:15:32,571 --> 01:15:35,487
and place it into a centralauthority.
1414
01:15:35,618 --> 01:15:38,184
Rediscovering the originalmyths gives people
1415
01:15:38,316 --> 01:15:43,713
the freedom to choose thebeliefs that truly served them.
1416
01:15:43,843 --> 01:15:46,367
- Okay, some Christians havedeveloped
1417
01:15:46,498 --> 01:15:50,327
their personal faith to theextent that
1418
01:15:50,458 --> 01:15:55,420
that Christ is this energy orforce of power within them.
1419
01:15:55,550 --> 01:15:59,293
This is how they haveinterpreted the story now.
1420
01:15:59,424 --> 01:16:02,469
The story has become, again,
1421
01:16:02,601 --> 01:16:06,562
what it actually began as, an
allegory.
1422
01:16:06,692 --> 01:16:08,564
I have no issue with the Christwithin.
1423
01:16:08,693 --> 01:16:13,830
I have an issue with the churchmilitant.
1424
01:16:13,960 --> 01:16:18,530
What threatens humanityis organized, regimentized
1425
01:16:18,661 --> 01:16:22,665
religion on the march, taken so
seriously
1426
01:16:22,795 --> 01:16:30,803
that you will act out its worstpresets.
1427
01:16:30,934 --> 01:16:32,544
- [voiceover] If weexamine all the religions
1428
01:16:32,675 --> 01:16:35,852
of the world, we find that
there is a common threat
1429
01:16:35,982 --> 01:16:38,985
that connects all faiths and allpeople,
1430
01:16:39,116 --> 01:16:42,075
and it is from thisconnection that we can make
1431
01:16:42,206 --> 01:16:48,168
the choices that have now becomeso critical to our future.
1432
01:16:48,299 --> 01:16:51,998
- I like to focus on theorigins of religious ideas
1433
01:16:52,129 --> 01:16:55,088
and it turns out that they're
very unifying underneath
1434
01:16:55,219 --> 01:16:58,744
all of the divisivenessthat we see on the surface
1435
01:16:58,875 --> 01:17:02,052
that would be extremelyhelpful for all of humanity
1436
01:17:02,182 --> 01:17:05,838
to realize that there
is this underlying unity
1437
01:17:05,969 --> 01:17:10,800
and those origins arebasically nature worship:
1438
01:17:10,930 --> 01:17:14,281
the study of the sun, themoon, the stars, the planets.
1439
01:17:14,412 --> 01:17:19,025
This is all what humanity
has been looking at,
1440
01:17:19,156 --> 01:17:21,811
of course, with great awe andreverence
1441
01:17:21,941 --> 01:17:24,987
for thousands of years andit's extremely important,
1442
01:17:25,118 --> 01:17:27,077
I think, for us, to get
back to those roots.
1443
01:17:27,207 --> 01:17:29,383
The destruction of the
planet is also directly
1444
01:17:29,514 --> 01:17:32,473
tied to religious ideas.
1445
01:17:32,603 --> 01:17:34,867
This can help to restore
balance to the planet,
1446
01:17:34,998 --> 01:17:37,434
in this very, veryprofoundly significant way.
1447
01:17:37,565 --> 01:17:39,916
- [voiceover] The very
survival of humanity
1448
01:17:40,046 --> 01:17:42,962
depends on the viewinghistory from a new perspective
1449
01:17:43,093 --> 01:17:46,313
so that we can be clearer
on the historical facts
1450
01:17:46,443 --> 01:17:51,797
and still honor the myths thatoffer us the greatest wisdom.
1451
01:17:51,928 --> 01:17:54,103
- It's what the myth, what thepoetry says
1452
01:17:54,234 --> 01:17:58,151
that matters, not what actuallyhappened.
1453
01:17:58,282 --> 01:17:59,936
So each new generation, whateveryou say,
1454
01:18:00,066 --> 01:18:05,289
is going to hear the myth andthat's what is true for them.
1455
01:18:05,419 --> 01:18:08,335
And what follows is theactual history and it's much
1456
01:18:08,466 --> 01:18:10,642
too complex for the average
person to ever
1457
01:18:10,773 --> 01:18:12,949
put their head around.
1458
01:18:13,079 --> 01:18:15,516
- [voiceover] Though theactual history is complex,
1459
01:18:15,647 --> 01:18:17,693
and we may never know
all of the facts about
1460
01:18:17,823 --> 01:18:20,173
what happened 2,000 years ago,
1461
01:18:20,304 --> 01:18:23,133
the voices of ourscholars are contributing
1462
01:18:23,263 --> 01:18:26,005
to an ever-widening
dialogue and the growing
1463
01:18:26,136 --> 01:18:29,400
paradigm shift beingwitnessed all around the world
1464
01:18:29,530 --> 01:18:32,403
today that can lead to a more
empowered
1465
01:18:32,532 --> 01:18:36,755
and enlightened humanity
tomorrow.
1466
01:18:36,886 --> 01:18:39,671
- This is reallyimportant for our culture,
1467
01:18:39,802 --> 01:18:42,892
to understand where
Christianity came from,
1468
01:18:43,022 --> 01:18:45,111
and this is direct evidence.
1469
01:18:45,242 --> 01:18:49,202
You can actually walk this pathand come to this conclusion.
1470
01:18:49,333 --> 01:18:51,378
You can know that Christianity
1471
01:18:51,509 --> 01:18:53,119
was an invention of the Romans.
1472
01:18:53,250 --> 01:18:56,949
It was done to pacify theirsubjects,
1473
01:18:57,080 --> 01:18:58,907
and this is important because itgives us
1474
01:18:59,038 --> 01:19:01,171
a different way ofunderstanding government,
1475
01:19:01,300 --> 01:19:04,130
how government operates, thetools that government uses,
1476
01:19:04,261 --> 01:19:06,350
the purpose that government has
for the
1477
01:19:06,480 --> 01:19:09,875
various propaganda apparatus.
1478
01:19:10,005 --> 01:19:12,094
Evangelical Christians aregetting away
1479
01:19:12,225 --> 01:19:14,662
with debunking facts as meretheories.
1480
01:19:14,793 --> 01:19:16,708
Even subjects like evolution,
1481
01:19:16,839 --> 01:19:19,276
but they provide noevidence for their position
1482
01:19:19,406 --> 01:19:22,061
other than to simply cite
religious dogma,
1483
01:19:22,192 --> 01:19:24,585
and if you look at the
influence that dogma
1484
01:19:24,716 --> 01:19:26,674
is having in the media today,
1485
01:19:26,805 --> 01:19:29,634
you can easily see it is
increasing.
1486
01:19:29,764 --> 01:19:31,723
I would like to challenge theseextremists
1487
01:19:31,853 --> 01:19:36,989
to consider the possibilitythat my findings are correct.
1488
01:19:37,120 --> 01:19:40,123
Though their is much good inChristianity,
1489
01:19:40,253 --> 01:19:45,215
we have to understand how rulershave used it to control us,
1490
01:19:45,344 --> 01:19:50,175
and how they are still usingit to control us today.
1491
01:19:50,307 --> 01:19:52,178
I hope citizens will be moreskeptical
1492
01:19:52,309 --> 01:19:54,267
when they hear an authorityfigure
1493
01:19:54,398 --> 01:19:58,358
using faith to interpret laws ora belief
1494
01:19:58,489 --> 01:20:01,971
in Armageddon to create
governmental policies.
1495
01:20:02,101 --> 01:20:05,278
The Flavians encoded a secretmessage into the gospels,
1496
01:20:05,409 --> 01:20:08,499
which we can nowunderstand in a new light.
1497
01:20:08,629 --> 01:20:16,507
"You shall know the truth andthe truth shall set you free."
1498
01:20:16,637 --> 01:20:55,285
[triumphant music]
1499
01:20:55,415 --> 01:21:20,701
[upbeat music]
1500
01:21:20,832 --> 01:21:50,601
[upbeat music]
1501
01:21:50,731 --> 01:22:20,457
[upbeat music]
1502
01:22:20,587 --> 01:22:45,395
[upbeat music]
1503
01:22:45,525 --> 01:22:49,525
[upbeat music]
115927
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