Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Was Jesus Christ a political activist? Yes he was!

Jesus Christ was a humanitarian activist for human rights.

 According to a Three hour long documentary on Television, Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were cousins and after king Herod Antipas kidnapped John the Baptist, Jesus Christ took over the leadership of John's religious movement and entered Jerusalem with several thousand religious followers. They entered Jerusalem during the ceremony of Tabernacle and Jesus with his army of poor remained in Jerusalem for six months during which time he had the audacity to push over the tables of money lenders working in a Temple. Try going into a Bank and doing the same thing today!

 This behavior was interpreted by the priests of the  temple and their Roman guards, as a direct attempt to assume religious leadership in Jerusalem. This may very well have been true because Jesus did have a political connection in King Herod's court; but that needs to be fully verified. The Temple guards, however, did nothing to stop Jesus. There may have been just too many thousands of followers for the guards to handle. It scared and angered the corrupt high priests and when their usually dangerous  guards did nothing to stop Jesus and his followers, they went to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilot, to complain.

  Pilot did not want a Jewish uprising on his hands. He crucified or used his soldiers to beat thousands of Jews who dared cross his path or who failed to pay their burden of taxes,
 however, Pontius was afraid of the leadership in Rome.  A Jewish uprising would put his own head on the block along with that of the wannabe king of all the Jews, Herod. He may have told his guards and the priests to back off and allow Jesus and his followers to remain in Jerusalem. The high temple priests, however, had other ideas. They went to Rome and then to Capri to talk to Tiberius. 
Having convinced the Roman emperor Tiberius to retire to Capri, the Praetorian Prefect: Aelius Sejanus quietly took over as leader. To back him up was his large and very dangerous Praetorian guards. They were the elites of the Roman soldiers. Sejanus wanted to quietly assume power and become Emperor of Rome. He did not need or want the Jews to create a problem for him during this transition period and he ordered all the prefects of the Roman Empire to keep the peace. One political hot spot was Jerusalem and both Pontius Pilot and Herod were listening attentively to the edicts Sejanus released from Rome.

 Herod was disliked by the people he ruled and the Roman emperor, Tiberius. ignored him. Herod however, felt he had a chance with Aelius Sejanus, and he kept John the Baptist as a political prisoner for a full year to block any insurrection by John's followers. John had been publicly critical of Herod's marriage.  Herod had married his step-brother's ex wife and that was considered to be a moral weakness.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Herod was both frustrated and angry but as long as Aelius Sejanus was in charge of the Roman government, Herod felt he had a chance to be named king of all the Jews as opposed to King of only two provinces. Keeping the peace in Jerusalem was an imperative. He kept John the Baptist alive for a year until he was told that Jesus Christ was leading thousands of followers in Jerusalem. Herod hesitated to kill John the Baptist but his wife and her entourage forced his hand. They murdered John and served his head on a plate. Apparently Herodias did not like John's moralizing against her marriage to Herod.  Today the old saying "beware of a woman scorned!" still remains true.

 Herod Antipas captured and murdered John the Baptist because he perceived John to be a political threat to his power. Now he was hearing how John's cousin, Jesus Christ, was the moral leader of thousands of people in Jerusalem. Some were even proclaiming Jesus as the King of all Jews and this created resentment in Herod. For many years he was  trying to be named King of all  Jews but angry or not, Herod obeyed the edicts of Sejanus. The dangerous Roman prefect was pretender to the throne of the Roman Empire and Sejanus had to be obeyed.

 Pontius Pilate also refused to convict Jesus Christ in fear that a Jewish uprising would anger the new boss  in Rome. The Temple guards who were assigned to protect the high priests and the money lenders did nothing to stop Jesus. Back in Rome the very dangerous Praetorian Prefect: Lucius Aelius Sejanus, was attempting to assume the job of Emperor and Sejanus did not want the Jews disturbing his transition process. With his powerful Praetorian guards behind him, Sejanus convinced the Roman Emperor Tiberius to retire to his palace in Capri while he, Sejanus, took over the job as Emperor. 

 Tiberius, however, was no fool!  He moved to Capri and from there investigated the death's of both his sons. He then wrote a letter to the Senators in Rome detailing how Sejanus had murdered his sons and he charged Sejanus with treason. Sejanus was then tricked and trapped and thrown into a dungeon where he was quickly garroted to death. Tiberius returned to Rome and he regained his status as Caesar. With an eye towards his tax collections, he also returned the power to the high priests of Jerusalem and they quickly arrested Jesus and had him crucified. They could not stop what John and Jesus started however and Christianity today has millions of followers who believe that caring and sharing and compassion are worth a place within the eternal energy of the universe...God for short! 
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Roman Empire records say Herod was a capable administrator of the provinces of Galilee and Perea. They were, however, only one quarter of the total empire Herod wanted to rule.

"HEROD ANTIPAS' 
  He married Herodias, the ex-wife of his half-brother Philip.
  John the Baptist criticized Herod for this and Herod threw him in prison. Then, Herod gave in to the plot of Herodias and her daughter and had John beheaded (Matthew 14:6-11). However, the Jewish people loved John the Baptist and considered him a prophet. John's murder further alienated Herod from his subjects."
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"After the death of his son Drusus Julius Caesar in 23 AD, Tiberius became more reclusive and aloof and in 26 A.D., removed himself from Rome and left administration largely in the hands of his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefects: Lucius Aelius Sejanus and Quintus Naevius Sutorius Macro."
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PONTIUS PILATE (or Pontius Pilatus), a knight of the Samnite clan of the Pontii, is appointed governor of Judaea  (Prefect – Praefectus Iudaea) through the intervention of SEJANUS, a favourite of emperor TIBERIUS.

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