AND NOT ON A HISTORICAL FIGURE

It is important to note that it was a revelation OF Jesus Christ and not FROM Jesus Christ as some modern Bibles like the NIV falsely translate it.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,"

1 Corinthians 15:3-4
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

Romans 16:25-26
"Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him"

Romans 10:11
"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."

_{Note that Paul did not say "Jesus saith" but rather "scripture saith."}

English = Jesus
Latin = Iesus
Greek = lesous
Arabic = Yeshuah
Hebrew = Yahu'shuah

Psalms 2:7-12
"I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

Proverbs 30:4
"Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?"

NO ONE KNEW OF JESUS PRIOR TO PAUL

Colossians 4:3
"..the mystery of Christ.."
Colossians 2:2
"...the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;"
Ephesians 1:9
"...made known unto us the mystery.."
Ephesians 6:19"
"...to make known the mystery of the gospel"

Ephesians 3:1-5
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;"

Romans 16:25-26
"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:"

Jesus' coming referred to as a "COMING"
1 Corinthians 4:5, 11:26, 15:23, 16:22, 2 Peter 1:16, 3:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23, James 5:7, 5:8, 2 Thessalonians 1:10, 2:1-2, 2:8, Hebrews 10:37, Revelation 1:4, 2:16, 2:25, 3:3, 22:20, 1 John 2:28

Jesus' coming referred to as a "APPEARANCE"
1 John 2:28, Colossians 3:4, 1 Peter 5:4, 1 Timothy 6:14-16, 2 Timothy 4:1, Titus 2:13

Jesus' coming referred to as a "REVELATION"
1 Peter 4:13, 1 Peter 5:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 1 Peter 1:13, 1 Corinthians 1:7

NOTE:Hebrews 9:28 says Jesus will appear a second time but this passage does not say he will appear before his followers a second time, just simply appear back on earth where is first appearance was unknown to humans.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 Jesus does not appear in flesh and blood but only in the same manner he appeared to Paul, by being revealed by the Spirt as mentioned in Ephesians 3:1-5.

Ephesians 6:12 tells that "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Secondly in 1 Corinthians 2 it states that the Rulers of this Age would not have killed Jesus if they knew it was part of God's plan for glory and salvation for mankind. Obviously that excludes the possibility of the Jews, Romans, or any human as the executioners in question since they would all eagerly take part in aiding their own salvation.

So who or what where the Rulers of this Age that Paul referred to? There is one group of rulers from Biblical scriptures who would not want to see God's plan of glory and salvation for mankind set into motion. Ephesians 3:9-10 clearly states that there are rulers and authorities in Heaven that are unaware of God's wisdom and Smyrneans 6:1 says these rulers in Heaven do not believe in the blood of Jesus. Have you guessed who the rulers are yet that Paul believes crucified Jesus? The answer is in Ephesians 6:11-12 where evil wicked demons in Heaven are referred to as the rulers of this age.

If someone in any part of the world outside of the Mediterranean area during the 1st or 2nd century CE was "inspired by God" to write about Jesus' supposed life that would be far more impressive. No such luck. Not a single person anywhere else on the planet had any clue of who Jesus was until much later, sometimes several centuries later, when the tales of Jesus were personally shared by those who have already heard the stories. If the New Testament stories were shared by God then why would God's ability to share it with the world be subject to the exact same limitations of man's ability to share a story at the time?

Generally their teachings involve the idea that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect spirit. In order to free oneself from the inferior material world, one needs "gnosis" which is spiritual knowledge available only to the elite. When the stories of Jesus arose many sects of the Gnostics identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Supreme Being who would bring the "gnosis" to Earth. Gnosticism was quite popular in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions in the first centuries CE and today a few isolated communities of Gnostics still exist.

The Ebionites believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah sent from the Jewish God to the Jewish people in fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures. The Ebionites did not believe in the virgin birth. For them Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary and then later became adopted by God, thus becoming the son of God. They still insisted on following the old laws since they believed their god selected Jesus to be his adopted son because Jesus kept the Jewish Law perfectly and was the most righteous man on Earth. Since he was so righteous Jesus was assigned the special mission of sacrificing himself for the sakes of mankind.

The Marcionites were the followers of Marcion and unlike the Ebionites they believed Jesus came to abolish the old laws and defeat the evil god of the Old Testament. The god of the Old Testament is murderous, demanding, and jealous. The God of the New Testament appears to be largely removed, highly spiritual, and quite a bit more peaceful. Because of this Marcion believed in 2 gods. The God of the Old Testament was actually a different god than the god of the New Testament.

The Marcionites also believed that Jesus was really pretending to be a human in order to trick the Old Testament god. Only another god could obey the OT laws perfectly but only a person who followed them perfectly and then sacrificed himself could end the rule of the old god. This is why the NT god appeared on Earth pretending to be a human. After Jesus, the NT god, made himself the perfect sacrifice the OT god's power was reduced.

It was not until the Emperor Constantine of Rome adopted Christianity as his personal religion that it spread out of the Mediterranean area and really caught on. Constantine converted in 312 CE to Christianity after claiming to have a vision on the battlefield of the Holy Cross in the heavens with the words "In this sign you shall conquer." During that time Rome was a crumbling nation that was divided within and under heavy attack from the outside. Constantine decided to use Christianity as a way of unifying his fragmented empire but before doing so he had to organize the religion its self. Using his powers to directly influence Christian doctrine, Constantine introduced and presided over the first ecumenical council at Nicaea in 325 to settle ideological disputes in the Church. Constantine treated religious questions solely from a political point of view and assured that his decisions were unanimous by banishing all the bishops who would not sign the new profession of faith.

Inspired by Marcion who was the first to make a set collection of "acceptable" Christian scriptures Constantine set forth to gather the Council of Nicaea and assemble the first major canon of scriptures. During this canon process Constantine's council decided which texts would be considered divine and which ones would be considered heresy. If Constantine never converted to the faith then neither would have the Roman Empire and we would never have the Western Christianity that all of us know of today.

The Bible we know today did not exist in its current form until 1647 at the Assembly of Westminster, the most recent major Canonizing of the Bible. The most influential canon in the history of Christianity is the one ordered by Constantine during the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. The creeds established during this canonizing of scriptures eventually became the foundation of modern Christian beliefs even though this version of a Christian bible did not lead to the version we have today. With all of the various bibles being canonized and the multiple canonization of our current bible one must wonder what was the selection process of gospels and books based on? Why were Mark, Matthew, and Luke accepted into the cannon and not the writings of Peter, Marry, or Thomas? There were various deciding factors but all of them were based on personal motives. Below are a few examples.

Suffering is Needed In the 3rd and 4th centuries Christians throughout the Roman world including Egypt suffered persecution. Their refusal to worship other gods and their persistence to flaunt their own beliefs created tension and suspicion. Because of this the Romans slaughtered thousands of Christians in brutal and dehumanizing ways so any gospel that didn't speak directly to the suffering of the people wasn't going to catch on. A gospel like Thomas would bring no reinsurance for those facing martyrdom. Writings of a Jesus who simply was a teacher of wise words would not have appealed to the general public unless Jesus suffered like his followers.

Need for Antiquity The Marcionite scriptures would have done away with all the Old Testament scriptures since they believed Jesus came to do away with Yahweh, the god of the Old Testament. During this time however the people thought antiquity was very important. They thought that religious scriptures had to be ancient in order to be true. Without older scriptures in the Bible the general public would not believe in this new religion.

Non-Elitist The Gnostic scriptures stated that only a select few insiders could understand the true message of salvation. If any of the main Gnostic texts were selected to be in the Bible then Christianity would have become a closed elitist society and this would not appeal to the general public.

Sexism Throughout the Roman church the positions of power are filled with men. Women have a role but it is as a mother or wife. The four gospels record that Jesus chose 12 disciples and that they were all men. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John women are barely mentioned but in the suppressed gospels of Philip, Marry, and the acts of Thecla and Paul woman took center stage. Many of the excluded scriptures even suggested that a woman was Jesus' favorite disciple instead of Peter. In a political system where men claim superiority it is obvious why scriptures that place women as equals would not be accepted into a canon.

Not original to Christianity
The concept of a trinitarian godhead is found in both Egyptian and Hindu religions/mythology of ancient times. Both cultures had heavily influenced Roman thought by the time the Christian trinitarian disputes came about.

I John 5:7
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

The only Bible verse that explicitly claims a holy trinity is recognized as an interpolation, an added forgery, by reputable Bible scholars and apologists alike. 1 John 5:7 is not found in any ancient manuscripts prior to 500 CE.

Why Brutally Suppress Other's Religions?
Original versions of Christianity posed a threat because they pre-dated Pauline Christianity, challenging its legitimacy. Older Christian writings also showed Jesus in a far different manner than that of Paulinism and challenged Constantine's Jesus. The early Christian writings like those collected by or written by Marcion were burnt and destroyed by the violent and aggressive Pauline Christians who did not want competition.

The various polytheistic religions of the surrounding area also posed a threat because the stories of Christianity are not original and have clear origins in local pagan myths. Knowledge of this also would challenge the legitimacy of Pauline Christianity, thus they had to be suppressed too. Religion can only be used for political power if you can convince people it is true.