When Emperor Hadrian died in 138, the Roman Christian Church which he had founded to pacify the Jewish religious warriors that the Romans called Chrestiani lived on. But, just like the original religion of the Maccabees, the Roman variant was afflicted by internal battles.
Hadrian's new Christianity had a double face. Jesus is described in the gospel both as a zealous member of the Jewish Jahad who had warred to prepare the way for the Messiah for more than 200 years, and a Greek philosopher and initiated adept of the mystery who preached love and forgiveness.
Until the 170's, different groups of the new Roman Christianity had brought forward their own interpretations of the gospel, often supported by alleged revelations and traditions directly from Jesus and his apostles. Significant Christian movements were based on Valentine's and Marcion's teaching that rested on Greek philosophy.
Irenaeus was a Christian, originally from Asia Minor, who lived in Lugdunum (Lyon) where he was a priest. He travelled to Rome in 177 or 178 to complain about the heresies of the Montanists. Irenaeus was a violent opponent of all attempts to put forward Christianity in terms of Greek philosophy.
After his trip to Rome, Irenaeus became a bishop in Lyon. He then wrote, probably in the early 180's, parts I and II of Adversus Haereses. These texts were directed against Christian teachings with Greek influence, such as gnosis, the quest for direct, personal knowledge of the divine.
When Irenaeus was working on his rejection of all heretics, he discovered that the Church in Rome had no message of its own to oppose followers of "heretics" like Marcion and Valentinus. To correct that, Irenaeus invented the Apostle Paul who would have been the one who had written Marcion's epistles. Irenaeus introduced Paul in Part IV of Adversus Haereses.
From Chapter XX of Adversus Haereses IV and in Adversus Haereses V, Irenaeus established Paul as the author of the epistles and the disciple John as the author of the Book of Revelation (which originally was a Jewish Messianic Apocalypse). Irenaeus took control over Marcion's epistles and Valentinus's texts by incorporating them into epistles that he claimed that Paul had written.
Irenaeus also introduced his own opinions on how a Christian would be and how the Christian church would operate in the new epistles. He also put his own condemnations of all competing Christian congregations in the mouth of John in the Book of Revelation.
During the work with Adversus Haereses I, II, IV and V, Irenaeus had realized the problem that there were no historical evidence for Jesus and his Christian church before Emperor Hadrian's time (120s and 130s). Therefore, Irenaeus created the Acts of the Apostles, a history about the origin of Roman Christianity.
Irenaeus connected the story in the Acts of the Apostles to Paul's epistles by mentioning the same names in both contexts. Paul was also initially said to be the author of the Acts of the Apostles. Because Paul was said to have received a direct calling of Jesus through a revelation on the way to Damascus, Irenaeus and the Church of Rome became holders of the only true Christian apostolate.
It was unclear who had written the Christian gospel. The established perception was that the gospel was discovered in the Imperial Archives among the acts that Pontius Pilate would have sent to Rome. But that story also provided support for those who said that the Christian gospel was a late invention, and that Jesus actually was an anti-Messiah (anti-Christ) brought forth from Rome for political reasons.
For that reason, Irenaeus divided the original gospel (Diatessaron) created by Hadrian into four parts, claiming that these had been written by four different people who had been part of the circle around Paul. Luke, one of the alleged evangelists, was now also made the author of the Acts of the Apostles.
Sometime before 189 Irenaeus wrote Adversus Haereses III. In this book the new Christian history of evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles was used to motivate the supremacy of the Roman Church and Irenaeus own interpretation of Christianity. Adversus Haereses III was then placed in the middle of the earlier parts of the work to give the impression that Irenaeus had known this history when he wrote the first parts of Adversus Haereses.
Irenaeus created a canon for Christianity in the form of the Christian Bible. This canon consists of the Tanakh / the Old Testament as well as the New Testament with four separate gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles of Paus and other Apostles, and the Book of Revelation.
Among the epistles in the New Testament are three not mentioned in the Muratorian fragments. These are the letter of Jacob, the second letter of Peter, and the third letter of John. Therefore, it is possible that these epistles were created by the Christian Church in Rome after Irenaeus time. But they convey the same message as Irenaeus did.
Irenaeus also intended that the first letter of Clement (1 Clement) and the letter of Polycarp to Philippi, that he had created, should include in the Christian canon. However, these epistles were not accepted into the final version of the Christian Bible.
Irenaeus sealed the new canon of Christianity forever through the curse over those who add or remove something from the book of prophecy (the Bible) last in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 22:18-20). By this, he left the power to decide what was the correct Christian doctrine in the hands of the Church of Rome and at the same time he disarmed all alleged revelations of all the "heretics" whom he hated so much.
Irenaeus condemned the Greek philosophy that Hadrian had tried to bring to Jahad through his gospel. Instead, he brought together Christianity with Judaism by emphasizing the Jewish prophets in the Tanakh as the foundation of the Christian faith.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Irenaeus described the first Christians as members of the Way (the name of the Jewish Jahad). Which, of course, was totally right. Irenaeus described in the Acts of the Apostles the first Christians as "the saints" that Daniel had prophesied of. Thus, he made himself and the church in Rome, as being the only true heirs of the apostles, to the saints who the Jewish prophets had prophesied about.
The Jewish Jahad had believed in the need for a final apocalyptic war that would precede the return of the Messiah. Irenaeus brought this faith into Christianity, by making one of Jahad's Messianic Apocalypses into a Christian canonical text in the form of the Book Revelation.
The Jewish Jahad saw religious martyrdom as a sacred duty. Irenaeus introduced this faith in Christianity by adding the story of Stefanos martyrdom in the Acts of the Apostles and by creating stories that said that both Bishop Clement in Rome and Polycarp had suffered a glorious martyrdom.
Irenaeus introduced the destructive fear of God, fetched from the Jewish religion, to the Roman Christianity through writings in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles.
Following the actions of Irenaeus, the Roman Christians came to be similar to the warlike Jahad in that they:
• believed in a divine power in the form of the Messiah (Christ) who led them
• saw themselves as God's chosen people and the sons of the light mentioned in the Bible
• saw all others as the sons of the darkness and as sinners who were led by Satan and would be sentenced to burn in the eternal fire
• used baptism in water for purification and for union with the Holy Spirit
• not were allowed to have any contact with those who had been expelled from the congregation
• shared holy meals where bread and wine were the sacraments that the Master (priest) stretched out his hands over and blessed
• believed in the resurrection of the physical body
• preferred to die as martyrs rather than to compromise with the religious laws
• believed in one last big war that would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah to the earth and an eternal kingdom of God with Jerusalem as the centre
• believed that they lived in the last days before the apocalyptic war and the arrival of the Messiah
• finished their prayers with "Amen".
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• The first who mentioned the apostle Paul who would have been the author of the epistles, was Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses.
• The fact that Marcion's epistles were attributed to Paul by Irenaeus in a hostile takeover is shown by the fact that Tertullianus in Five Books against Marcion V from around 207 associated Marcion with some of the epistles and claimed that Marcion had truncated them. However, the epistles that Marcion, according to Tertullianus, had truncated, were in fact Marcion's original epistles that Irenaeus had taken over, attributed to Paul and supplemented with his own dogmas.
• The fact that Valentinus's epistles were attributed to Paul by Irenaeus in a hostile takeover is shown by texts discovered in Nag Hammadi. In these texts from Nag Hammadi, sections that now in part are contained in Paul's epistles, appear in their original gnostic condition and context.
• Even though Irenaeus condemned Valentinus with all his might in Adversus Haereses, he used material from Valentinus's "The Interpretation of Knowledge" in Paul's epistles. First Corinthians Chapter 12 even contains an almost word-for-word copy of a part of Valentinus's text.
• Also in the Epistle to the Ephesians, Irenaeus used material from Valentinus's "The Interpretation of Knowledge", more specifically in the representation of the Savior as the head and the church as the body.
• Examples of concepts used by Valentinus that recur in the epistles of Paul are the Pleroma, matter as the kingdom of death (the kingdom of darkness with Irenaeus), Soter as an image of the Father, Christ as an eon that is an image of the eon he originally came from and the perfected ones as the owners of a perfect spiritual body. But as these concepts were embedded in the story of Paul, who allegedly was the founder of the only true Christian Church, Irenaeus took the power over Valentinus concepts.
• Irenaeus's motive for creating Paul and claiming that he had written texts that in reality had been written by Marcion and Valentinus, was to fight those competitors about the interpretation of what was the right Christianity. By attributing the texts of Marcion and Valentinus to Paul, a person whom Irenaeus himself had invented, he took control over these texts and could tie them to his own doctrines, thus controlling the Christianity of Marcion and Valentinus.
• Irenaeus had the means to create Paul because he was an author, which is shown by his books in the series Adversus Haereses. Irenaeus also had the opportunity to create Paul. Because he had the support from Bishop of Rome and he himself was the Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon), he could freely spread the epistles that he said were written by the new apostle Paul.
• The fact that the Acts of the Apostles were created by Irenaeus are indicated by Codex Bezae, preserved in Lyon, where Irenaeus lived. Codex Bezae contains a preliminary version of the Acts of the Apostles that seem to have been created between Adversus Haereses III and the final version of the Acts of the Apostles.
• In Stromata (from around 192-202), Clement of Alexandria knew about the epistles of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles. But he seems to have believed that the Acts of the Apostles were written by Paul. Apparently, the Acts of the Apostles were first distributed with Paul as the author.
•Irenaeus, in Adversus Haereses, is the first to describe the relationship between Paul, the evangelists and all the other witnesses of the early Christian history in Paul's circle. The fact that Irenaeus can describe the logic behind this story in detail is proof that he has also created it.
• Paul's biography in the Acts of the Apostles was created from Josephus's biography (Life of Josephus Flavius).
• Events in the Acts of the Apostles were created based on stories in Josephus's War and Antiquities XIX and XX from about the time when Paul would have been active.
• Names of people in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles were largely derived from the story about the murder of the Emperor Gaius (Caligula) in Antiquities XX and from stories about the Herodian royal family in War 2 and Antiquities XX.
• The fact of the books attributed to Josephus is the basis for names and events in the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles shows that the Acts was created after Hadrian created Josephus around 120, long time after the time when the Acts of the Apostles would have been written (around 64).
• Irenaeus's motive for creating the Acts of the Apostles and the historical parts of the epistles was to create legitimacy for Paul, who Irenaeus had created to take control over Valentinus's and Marcion's texts. Irenaeus needed a new history about the first Christians that confirmed that Paul had been the greatest apostle and had founded the first Christian churches. Irenaeus created this story through the Acts of the Apostles and the historical parts of the epistles.
• Irenaeus had the means to create the Acts of the Apostles and the historical parts of the epistles by being a writer, as evidenced by the fact that he wrote Adversus Haereses. Because Josephus's books were available in the Christian Church in Rome, he gained access to them and could use them to create the Acts. Irenaeus also had the opportunity to spread the Acts of the Apostles and the historical parts of the epistles. Through the support from the Bishop in Rome and by himself being Bishop of Lugdunum, Irenaeus could spread the Acts of the Apostles and the new versions of the epistles in the churches in this area.
• Doubled sections in the first three gospels in the NT show that these gospels must have a common origin.
• Important stories in Diatessaron - such as the Sermon on the Mount, the story of how Jesus was imprisoned, the Last Supper and the various occasions when the resurrected Jesus showed himself to the disciples - have been broken up and distributed among the four new gospels.
• The fact that the common origin of the four Gospels is Diatessaron, is shown by different descriptions having a more logical and coherent description in Diatessaron than in the present Gospels. Texts, that are found in one single context in Diatessaron, have been cut up and stored in various places in the present gospels.
• It is not possible to put together Diatessaron from the canonical gospels (as the Christian church claims). On the other hand, it is fully possible to cut up Diatessaron in parts to create the canonical gospels.
• Clement of Alexandria wrote Stromata sometime between 192 and 202. Clement refers in Stromata VII to one single gospel and he saw John as the author of it.
• Irenaeus was the first to mention that there are four separate gospels, which he did in Adversus Haereses III, completed in the late 180's.
• The same person who created the Acts of the Apostles must have created the story about the four evangelists, because Luke is alleged to have written both the Acts and one of the Gospels.
• Luke and Paul were instrumental in guaranteeing each other's credibility. If one rejected Paul, he also rejected the Acts of the Apostles. If one rejected the Acts, he also rejected its author, the evangelist Luke. If one rejected the evangelist Luke, he also rejected the stories of Jesus' miraculous birth and other things that this evangelist had conveyed. See Adversus Haereses III chapter 14.
• Irenaeus's motive for dividing the original gospel into four parts with four different authors was to obscure the parts of the gospel that were based on the philosophy of the mystery and of Logos, as well as creating legitimacy and taking control. Luke gave legitimacy to the Acts of the Apostles by the claim that he would have written both the Acts and one of the Gospels. By claiming that all four gospels had been written by members of Paul's group of Christians, Paul gained legitimacy. By controlling Paul and the four evangelists, Irenaeus took full control of both the Christian history and over what gospels were to be seen as genuine. By claiming that Peter and Paul had founded the Church in Rome, this church gained power and primacy over other Christian churches.
• Irenaeus had the means and opportunity to create the four gospels. By having the support of the Bishop in Rome and himself being the Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon), he could divide the original gospel (Diatessaron) into four parts and freely spread the new gospels.
Paul and his epistles were created by Irenaeus as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Irenaeus also divided the original gospel (Diatessaron) into four parts and created four evangelists who would have written these texts. The Book of Revelation is at bottom one of the Jewish Jahad's apocalyptic texts.
Paul and his epistles.
Origin: Paul was created by Irenaeus to give the Roman Church control over an apostle of their own and to take control over the epistles of Marcion.
The Acts of the Apostles.
Origin: The Acts of the Apostles were created by Irenaeus to give Paul and the Roman Church a historical foundation.
Four evangels and four evangelists.
Origin: Irenaeus divided the original gospel, Diatessaron, in four parts. Irenaeus also invented the four evangelists.
Propaganda for oppression of women in the Epistles of Paul.
Origin: The myths of the Tanakh/OT about Eve's creation from Adam's rib, her being the cause of the fall and the hatred of the goddesses in that book. Irenaeus's hate against women and his propaganda against other Christian groups that allowed women to preach.
The belief that the Old Testament in the Bible is the word of God.
The requirement that the Jewish Tanakh should be included in the Christian canon (Bible) was created by Irenaeus. He saw the first Christians as followers of the Way, that is Jahad/Chrestiani, and the Jewish prophets as the prerequisite for the Christian message.
Propaganda in the Revelation about the last religious war, the Last Judgment, the hell for sinners and the heaven for the righteous.
Origin: The Book of Revelation is one of Jahad's Apocalypses, that was included in the Christian Bible by Irenaeus.
Belief in the Holy War and the requirement to eradicate all apostates and unfaithful heathens.
Origin: The propaganda in the Tanakh/OT and the Book of Revelation about the holy war and the Messiah as the commander of the holy warriors.
Roman Christianity brought with it a spirit of conflicts and division, starting from:
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