The Acts 8.58: And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and
the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose
name was Saul.
Thus enters the biggest troublemaker in the history of the Western World. Jesus was just a figurehead, this guy became the instigator of the most perverse Christian scheme ever devised for creating a more ignorant and destructive world.
Paul was the inventor of Christianity. Jesus was the unwitting source and the foundation of Christianity but Jesus never had any intention of founding a church. Paul was the self-conscious creator and the energy that organized Christianity as a new religion. Paul willfully manipulated Christianity as a separate and distinct entity in relation to Judaism and Paganism. According to Joseph Klausner in his book <span>From Jesus to Paul</span>, "Without Jesus no Paul and no Nazarenes, but without Paul no world Christianity."(a)
I always felt that it was both ironic and somehow appropriate that the Founder of the Roman Catholic Church was apparently responsible for murdering the first Martyr of the Church. Saul had Stephen stoned or as the Bible says in The Acts 8.1: And Saul was consenting unto his death.
Not content with killing St. Stephen, Saul then goes about breaking into houses, kicking down doors, and dragging men and women off to prison for the crime of listening to stories about God's kid.
Now, one thing you have to understand about Saul was that he was a mixed up spoiled brat. He was from a wealthy upper class Hebrew family of the tribe of Benjamin, and was a Grecian from Asia Minor, born in A.D. 10 or A.D. 17(2) in the city of Tarsus. He was an educated citizen of Tarsus, and he was also a citizen of Rome. He spoke and read Greek, Latin and Aramaic. When of age, his parents sent him to Judea for a proper religious education where he allegedly became a Pharisee and professed to be a student of the liberal priest Gamaliel. The Romans probably tolerated him for his citizenship while distrusting his religion. The Jews tolerated him for his religion while distrusting his citizenship. As a member of the Hellenistic disphora he held convictions that were regarded with great suspicion by Palestinian Jews.
Glimpses of his personality can be ascertained through his writings, most notably his letters. He comes across as overly sensitive, intensely serious, manic-depressive, and totally lacking in a sense of humour. His letters also reveal deep frustrations and low self-esteem. In Jerusalem he was a man with something to prove. Using his authority as a citizen of Rome, he became the sword of the Orthodox Jews and began a reign of terror against the believers of Christ.
According to Acts 9. 1: And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord..... Again the Founder this time as terrorist and mass-murderer. This began a long tradition in the Holy Land of terrorists and murderers ruling nations. It's a tradition that continues to the present century with Jewish Stern Gang terrorist Menachem Begin planting bombs in Hotels (King David Hotel), killing men, women and children, and then becoming Prime Minister of Israel. The history of the Jews illustrates that when they themselves are not being persecuted and slain, they are busy doing the persecution and the slaying. The history of hypocrisy in the middle east carries on with mass murderers like Begin, Arafat, and Sadat actually winning the Nobel Peace prize, a hypocrisy in itself considering Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite and a great contributor to the record death tolls tallied in the Great War of 1914. But back to Paul, the original Christian terrorist.
Then this great killer, having run out of people to persecute in Jerusalem is called to Damascus to root out heretics there. The man must have been good at his profession to be called to another city as a professional hit man for the synagogues.
Long road journeys were not uncommon in the middle east of Saul's day. The Romans had built a first class system of roadways and travel was both safe and relatively comfortable during the time of the Pax Romana. The roads were heavily traveled and a system for changing horses and for repairing chariots was well established. The Roman equivalent of the highway patrol kept the highway safe from thieves.(!)
And it was on one of these Roman highways; the road to Damascus that Saul had his great conversion and the world was never the same again.
What was the cause of this conversion? I think that I have deduced the answer from the clues within the text of the Bible and Paul's own writings.
As a well-to-do Roman citizen on a mission to uphold peace and security within the Roman realm, it is reasonable to assume that Saul rode on horseback along with a retinue of Roman cavalry as an escort. These Roman soldiers would have carried with them, the traditional Roman meal which consisted of raw grains to be chewed while riding or marching. These grains included among others, wheat, barley and most importantly the grain rye.
The Acts 9. 3: And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round him a light from heaven:
9.4: And he fell to the Earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Something caused Saul to fall from his horse to the ground. He saw a bright light and he heard a voice speaking to him. The nature of the voice and it's content may well have been caused by the guilt
I myself had the same experience in 1969, I saw a blinding continuous light, a flower and an orange spoke to me and said that I was one with God. My excuse was that I was tripping in the park on pure LSD 125 which I had recently liberated from the BioChem Department. The point is it was the exact same experience with the difference being that I didn't rush out and start a church, although come to think of it, I did rush out and became one of the Founders of the Greenpeace Foundation which is probably the modern equivalent of the same - - considering that Greenpeace has become wealthy, arrogant, revisionist and as useless as the Catholic Church. With luck, I'll be a green saint someday although some in Greenpeace have called me an Anti-Christ, hell, I'll go along with that.
But back to old Saul. He then opened his eyes and saw no man, he was blind. His followers led him by the hand into Damascus where he remained blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
In Corinthians 12:7, Paul says:
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelation, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure.
In his book, <span>From Jesus to Paul,</span> Joseph Klausner writes:
"Many have been the attempted explanations of this "thorn" ("sting") or "sharp stake" in the flesh of Paul; it is almost certain that it is the same as the "temptation" in his flesh which caused contempt and "spitting." Nearly all agree that a severe ailment is meant. But what sort of an ailment?"(b)
Klausner wrote that some speculation in the past had focused on Malta fever, malaria or neurasthenia. He rejected these theories because they did not produce the symptoms described. Instead he suggested the "falling sickness" or epilepsy. Klausner relies on the biblical reference to Saul having fallen down and suggests that this and his apparent blindness suggest an epileptic seizure.
These are classic symptoms of convulsive ergot poisoning caused by ingestion of the mold ergot, which grows exclusively on the rye plant.
In her book, <span>Poisons of the Past, </span> Mary Kilbourne Matossian describes convulsive ergotism as:
Convulsive ergotism might be better labeled "dystonic ergotism." It is characterized by nervous dysfunction, such as writhing, tremors, and wry neck, which in the past were frequently reported as "convulsions" or "fits". It is now known that ergot alkaloids do not produce true convulsions, in which consciousness is lost, but some ergot alkaloids interfere with the activity of dopamine in the body, causing muscle spasms as well as confusion, delusions, and hallucinations.
Now if we list Saul's symptoms and compare them with the list of matching symptoms of ergot poisoning, we can see the similarities quite distinctly.
Symptoms Reported Affecting Saul
Convulsive Ergot Poisoning Symptoms
Saw a blinding light. Acts 9.3
Hallucinations, confusion, psychosis.
Falls to the ground. Acts 9.4
Nausea, weakness, muscle pain.
Hears the voice of God. Acts 9.4
Hallucinations, delusions, psychosis.
Trembling. Acts 9.6
Tremors, spasms, writhing.
Temporary blindness. Acts 9.8 & 9.9
Temporary or permanent blindness
Assistance in walking. Acts 9.8
Weakness, lameness.
No appetite. Acts 9.9.
Nausea, diarrhea, depressed appetite.
Note: Symptoms of convulsive ergotism taken from pp. 11-12 of <span>Poisons of the Past Molds, Epidemics, and History </span>by Mary Kilbourne Matossian.
The similarity to my own single LSD experience in the sixties is understandable. Again referring to Matossian's writing on ergotism:
Ergot might also produce temporary or permanent psychosis. (1) Among the known ergot alkaloids with hallucinogenic properties are ergine, ergonovine and lysergic acid hdroxyethylamide.(2) In the laboratory it is now relatively easy to extract lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) from lysergic acid, which is the basic ergot alkaloid. Moreover, through the action of other fungi, LSD may appear in natural ergot as well. (3)
<span> </span>
<span>Poisons of the past. </span>pp. 9. (1) ref: Fritz Siemens, "Psychosen bei Ergotismus" Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten II, no. 1-2 (1880) pp. 366-390. (2) Richard E. Schultes and Albert Hoffmann. <span>The Botony and Chemistry of hallucinogens, </span>2d ed. (Springfield, Ill. 1980), p.37. (3) Ralph Emerson, <span>Mycological relevance in the nineteen seventies.</span> Transactions of the British Mycological Society 60 (1973), pp. 363-387.
The evidence is there. Roman meal was a common ration eaten during travels by Roman soldiers and citizens. Saul was Roman presumably with a Roman military escort. If not an escort he was a Roman citizen who would be inclined to travel in the efficient Roman manner. There is no absolute proof that he carried Roman meal but certainly the possibility is high that he did and the consequences suggest that he did. It is a fact that Roman meal did contain grain from the rye plant. The rye plant is the only plant that carries the parasitical mold ergot. Ergot is a natural source for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Thus there is reasonable evidence to suggest that Saul could have ingested ergot and the symptoms that he suffered are all known and observable symptoms of ergot poisoning.
The answer therefore is simple. Saul was tripping on acid (LSD from ergot) and his trip to Damascus was actually a high trip to Damascus.
And thus the foundation of the most Holy Roman Catholic church began with hallucinations and delusions suffered under the influence of a natural narcotic.
It is also very interesting that this is the only occasion that Paul writes of, that he heard the voice of God speaking directly to him. If this man were in reality the prophet of God, then why the one-shot conversation? In my own experience, the only time a flower and an orange ever talked to me and said that I was one with God was when I was under the influence of the narcotic LSD. I never took the drug again - it was my first and last experience and also my only vivid "Christian religious mystical" experience.
I do not reject out of hand that Klausner was completely wrong about his thesis that Paul suffered a fit of epilepsy. Paul could very well have been an epileptic and ergot could have instigated his "fit". I believe however that the evidence presented by the described symptoms is more symptomatic of ergotism then epilepsy and I would contend that it was ergot that was responsible for Paul's condition.
Paul's condition of being one with God i.e. his state of divinity was brief. There is little evidence after the "vision" of anything radically profound in his beliefs. True, he embraced the idea of Jesus as Saviour and rejected his allegiance to traditional Judaism both Palestinian and Hellenistic. However he remained very conservative in his continued adherence to established power and culture. He preached loyalty to the Roman state and accepted slavery, the inferiority of women, hierarchies and class injustice. He placed all of what he thought as alright with his world under the category of "God's will" and conveniently placed that which he thought was wrong i.e. sexual immorality, and challenges to his authority as the workings of Satan.
Paul himself stated that he was "all things to all men."
This great expounder of Christian love had little compassion for the plight of Roman slaves.
Ephesians 6:5, Servant, be obedient to them that are your
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,
in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
6:6, Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
6:7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to
men:
6:8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the
same shall he recieve of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
Paul the free man, the citizen of Rome spoke very lightly of the burden of servitude. He never once spoke against it and his preaching to Christian slaves admonished them to except their lot as the will of God.
Paul also preached female subservience to man. He advocated loyalty to the State and refrained from criticizing the political oppressions of the State although he openly was critical of the morality of Roman citizens.
The Romans were very tolerant of Paul and his Christian beliefs. He was expelled to Rome from Judea by Procurator Festus and escorted under guard by the centurion Julius (Acts 27). In Rome, Paul was allowed to dwell by himself.
Acts28:30 - And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired
house, and received all that came onto him,
31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things
which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no
man forbidding him.
Paul was successful because he was able to exploit historical circumstances to willfully create a new faith. There were four fundamental reasons for the rise of Paul's new religion. First, the dispersion of the Jews outside of Palestine. Secondly, the Hellenistic Jewish culture of the disphoric Jews throughout the Roman Empire and Paul's emergence from this culture coupled with his stature as a Roman citizen. Thirdly, the Pax Romana which allowed for efficient and safe travel and communications throughout the Roman Empire and fourthly, the spiritual conditions among the Gentiles during the time of the Emperors Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
Commentaires
When will the whole book be published?