Section 3: Historical proof - The Twenty Eighth Proof

Section 3: Historical proof
This section contains historical proof to prove that the belief that Jesus is God is something that was fabricated by human beings; the same also applies to the Trinity doctrine.

The first proof has to do with the so-called apostle Paul; the second has to do with the ecumenical councils that were supported by the government of the Roman Empire.

The Twenty Eighth Proof
1. Historical proof of distortion: Paul’s role in distorting the message of Jesus:
•    Introduction
History shows that the belief that Jesus is the physical son of God was not known to his followers until after he was taken up to heaven. The one who introduced this idea was a Jewish man called Saul, who later became known as the Apostle Paul. He fabricated this doctrine and other doctrines, and introduced them all into the original religion of Jesus, claiming that he was an apostle sent by Christ to the people. He preached these doctrines and spread them among the people, and eventually the Christians were in fact no longer following the religion of the Messiah Jesus who had brought it from God; rather they were following a deviant religion that had been invented by Paul.

Paul was originally a Jewish man – as noted above – who emerged approximately three to five years after Jesus had been taken up to heaven. He turned suddenly, without any preamble, from being a criminal enemy whose enmity towards Jesus and his message and followers was extreme, to an apostle who (allegedly) received revelation from God and from Jesus.

He made five claims, as follows:
1.    That he was an apostle appointed by Jesus
2.    That Jesus had revealed a gospel to him
3.    That Jesus was the son of God
4.    That the sin of our forefather Adam and our foremother Eve – namely eating from the tree – had not been forgiven, and that human beings had inherited that sin down throughout the centuries. This is known as the “Original Sin”.
5.    That God sent Jesus, who came down to Earth to be crucified and tortured in order to redeem humanity from the sin of their parents Adam and Eve.

•    Paul’s ultimate goal was to achieve two aims:
Firstly: He aimed to destroy the religion of Jesus from within, by distorting it, twisting it and turning it into a completely different religion that was essentially different from the religion of Jesus.

Secondly: He aimed to soften the hearts of the pagan Romans towards the new religion that he designed for them, by making it in harmony with their pagan beliefs.

In order to easily achieve his aim, and avoid confrontation with the followers of Jesus, Paul first entered the religion of Jesus (outwardly), in order to deceive the true followers of Jesus. He pretended outwardly to follow and love Jesus, but inwardly he was concealing disbelief in him and his message. In other words, Paul used his hypocrisy as a cover and a starting point to begin his wide-ranging plan to destroy the message and religion of Jesus Christ.

After this brief introduction, we will move on to a detailed discussion in order to understand the role that Paul played in distorting the message of Jesus.

This will be made clear in six points, which we will list briefly and then discuss in detail:
1.    Paul showed great enmity towards Jesus and his followers before his conversion.
2.    Paul claimed that he was an apostle appointed by Jesus, and turned suddenly from being a vicious enemy of Christ and his message to being an “apostle” who received revelation from Christ himself!
3.    Paul claimed that Jesus was the son of God (exalted be God far above having a son).
4.    Paul claimed that Jesus was God (exalted be God far above that).
5.    Paul claimed that the sin of our father Adam remained, that people inherited it from one another, and that God sent His son Jesus as a redeemer to be crucified and to die to save them from the sin of their father Adam, thus pleasing God and bringing about reconciliation between Him and humanity.
6.    Paul was lying in his claim that Jesus had sent him, and in other claims that he made.
***
•    Detailed discussion
1.     Paul showed great enmity towards Jesus and his followers
Introduction:
Before Jesus, son of Mary, began preaching, the people in Palestine regarded him as being human like them.

After he began to preach to his people, the Jews, they split into two groups in response:
The first group were people who believed in him and in his message, and they followed him. They believed that he was a prophet who had been sent by God to them.

The second group were people who rejected him, did not believe in him, were hostile towards him and accused him of being a false prophet.

The enemies of Jesus among the Jews tried hard to stir up trouble between Jesus and the Roman authorities who were ruling Palestine at that time, trying to incite the authorities to kill him. They spoke ill of him to one of the disbelieving kings who ruled at that time, and he issued orders that he be crucified and killed. So they surrounded the house in Jerusalem where he was, on a Friday afternoon, the eve of the Sabbath.

The cause of that enmity was that when God sent Jesus son of Mary with clear proofs and guidance, the Jews envied him for what God had bestowed on him of prophethood and dazzling miracles, for he used to heal those born blind and the lepers, and revive the dead by God’s leave; he would fashion the shape of a bird out of clay, then breathe into it so that it became a bird that could be seen flying, by God’s leave. And there were other miracles with which God honored him and caused them to happen at his hands, so that the people would know that he was a prophet. But they rejected him and opposed him, and they tried to harm him by all possible means, to the extent that Jesus could not live in the same city as them; rather he and his mother Mary travelled about and hid from them in different cities.

But they did not stop until they went to the imperial legate in Damascus at that time, who was a polytheist man who worshipped the stars. They told him: In Jerusalem there is a man who is causing confusion and misleading the people, turning the subjects against the governor. The legate got angry at that, and wrote to his deputy in Jerusalem – whose name was Pontius Pilate – instructing him to arrest this man, crucify him and put a crown of thorns on his head, and put a stop to his bothering the people. When the letter arrived, the governor of Jerusalem complied with these instructions. He and a group of Jews went to the house where Jesus was, with a number of his disciples, of whom it was said there were twelve or thirteen, or seventeen. That happened on a Friday in the late afternoon, on the eve of the Sabbath.

They surrounded him there, then when they were about to enter the house, God caused one of the disciples present to resemble Jesus, and Jesus was taken up to heaven through a gap in the roof, as the people in the house were looking on. The police came in and found that young man who had been made to look like Jesus, so they arrested him, thinking that he was Jesus. They crucified him and put a crown of thorns on his head to humiliate him; they bragged about that, and the majority of Christians believed the claim of the Jews that they had killed Christ, because they were not aware of the truth of the matter, and they had not seen what happened inside the house. Therefore, they thought the same as the Jews, that the one who had been killed and crucified was the Messiah, and thus they clearly went very far astray.

Here someone may ask: Why did the Jews hate Jesus?
The answer is: The message of Jesus and his peaceful teachings were contrary to the attitude of the Jews, and their hard and arrogant hearts. When he came to them, advised them and instructed them to follow him, they accused him of being a false prophet, and they rejected the signs and miracles that confirmed his prophethood, saying that they were done with the help of the devils.

A few years after the Messiah was taken up to heaven, along came Paul, who had all the traits of the Jews, and used to persecute the followers of Jesus. So he pretended to embrace the religion of Jesus in order to gain the trust of the people, after which he hatched a terrifying scheme to corrupt the religion of Jesus by making certain claims, chief among which was his claim that Jesus was God and the son of God. Some of the people followed him in this belief, and thus there emerged a third group to be added to the two groups mentioned above.

A list of texts which prove Paul’s enmity towards Jesus, his religion and his followers:
•    But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. [Acts 8:3]
•    For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. [Galatians 1:13]

•    Paul said to King Agrippa:
“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.” [Acts 26:9-11]

•    When Paul began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God, all those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” [Acts 9:20-21]

•    “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” [Acts 9:1-6]

These texts, which are the words of Paul himself, clearly show how he really was before he claimed to be an apostle; he was extremely hostile towards Jesus, his religion and his followers.

2.     Paul claimed that he was an apostle appointed by Christ, and he turned suddenly from being a vicious enemy of Christ and his message to being a “prophet” who received revelation from Christ himself!

•    Paul said to King Agrippa:
“ ‘On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

‘Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
‘“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the Lord replied. “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”’” [Acts 26:12-18]

•    Comment
What is written in this passage, “I am sending you to them,” is nothing but a claim that Paul made for himself, for which there is no proof. Anyone can make such a claim, and it will become clear that this claim was false from what he said later.

•    Paul wrote to the Galatians:
“Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead… I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” [Galatians 1:1, 11-12]

Paul said:
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” [Acts 22:21]

And:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. [1 Timothy 1:1]

•    The outcome
Some people believed Paul’s claim to be an apostle sent by Christ, and that Christ had revealed a gospel to him. Thus, he acquired all the authority that Christ had, and he took his place in their view. He also pulled the rug from under the true disciples of Christ who had learned directly from Christ, because he became higher in status than them due to his claim that he was an apostle. Naturally he took the place of Christ in their view, and he gained the right to complete legislative and executive authority, able to formulate whatever doctrines he wished and to erase whatever he wished, however he pleased, and the people believed his lies. Thus, he spread his myth-based religion among the people.

The seriousness of Paul’s claim that Christ had revealed a gospel to him becomes clear from the number of his epistles that are included in the New Testament, which the Christians took as part of their faith. The number of epistles in the New Testament is twenty-three, of which fourteen are attributed to him. In other words, 61% of the epistles were written by Paul. Exalted be God far above the fabrications of this man.

•    A comment on the texts quoted above, which affirm that Paul made a sudden shift from being an enemy of Christ and his religion and followers, to becoming an apostle who received revelation from Christ:

Shaykh Mutwalli Yoosuf Shalabi said of Paul:
Here the reader will notice a gap, because Paul shifted suddenly from being an enemy to being an apostle, from being a hater to being a preacher of that which he used to hate.

Would God choose His apostles from among evil people or those who are opposed to His religion?

Is it possible – from a psychological point of view – that a man could shift from showing enmity towards a thing to believing in it all at once, let alone becoming one of the pillars and founders of the teachings that he used to disbelieve in, and used to kill and terrorize those who believed in those teachings?
I will leave it to the reader to decide.
Shaykh Muhammad Abu Zahrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“That man who had plotted against Christianity and persecuted its followers to this great extent, suddenly embraced Christianity without any preamble or precursor.”

3.     Paul claimed that Jesus was the son of God (exalted be God far above having a son).
•    “At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’” [Acts 9:20-21]

4.     Paul claimed that Jesus was God (exalted be God far above that).
•    Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. [Romans 5:11]

•    If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [Romans 10:9]

What was the outcome of Paul’s affirmation of this creed (that Jesus is Lord and the son of God) among the Children of Israel (the Jews)?

The answer is:
Christians become believing in two Gods: God the Father, and God the son. Thus, they began to offer supplication to Jesus, in addition to the Father (God), and to worship Jesus, after they had been worshipping God the Father alone. Through this distortion, polytheism (association of others with God) crept into the worship of God, and became widespread among the followers of Jesus under cover of religion.

But we should point out that this association of someone else with God in worship was not something official or compulsory at this stage. The situation remained like that, with some supporting this notion and others opposing it, until the doctrine of Christ being divine and the son of God was confirmed and imposed by force three centuries later, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, three hundred years after Jesus was taken up to heaven.

5.     Paul claimed that the sin of their forefather Adam remained, that people inherited it from one another, and that God sent His son Jesus as a sacrifice to redeem them from Adam's sin by being crucified and dying, so that God would be pleased with humanity and reconciliation between Him and humanity would be attained.

•    Introduction
Paul did not stop at the distortions he introduced into the clear message of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, which are represented in his claim that the Messiah is the son of God, and that the Messiah revealed a gospel to him. Rather he added another distortion, which later developed until it became one of the most central tenets of the new [Pauline] Christian religion. From the story of Adam and Eve going against the command of their Lord and eating from the tree that He had forbidden them to eat from, Paul invented the new doctrine of original sin. Paul claimed that this sin that Adam committed was a very serious sin; God did not forgive Adam and Eve for it, and no number of animal sacrifices could possibly atone for that sin.

Humans had inherited that sin from one another for millennia, generation after generation, from the time of Adam; no child is born but he bears that sin, and the only way to atone for that sin is for God to send His only son Jesus to earth in human form, to be killed on the cross and thus be the sacrifice – according to Paul’s claim – which would atone for humanity and cleanse them of that sin. Whoever believes that Christ is the son of God, and that God sent him to atone for humanity and cleanse them of that sin, and worships Christ, Christ will save him from that sin and its consequences; whoever does not believe in that will remain bound by his sin and his ultimate fate will be Hell.

Generations of Christians were deceived by this (flawed) notion, thinking that they had actually inherited that sin and that the only way to rid themselves of that sin was to believe that Jesus was the savior, and that Jesus would never save anyone unless he worshipped him, prayed to him, and believed that he was the son of God and the savior and redeemer from that (fabricated) sin.

The Christians actually believe in that, without giving the matter any thought, relying on the words of Paul, despite the fact that they never played any role in this supposedly inherited sin, and despite the fact that Adam repented from his sin and God forgave him. Thus, the matter of that sin ended there and then, many centuries ago, and that sin no longer existed at all!

The specialist researcher, Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya (may Allah preserve him) said:
Based on what was widely believed about the Jews having killed Christ on the cross, Paul turned that incident into one of the most important articles of faith in the new religion that he slowly began to develop and shape on the remains of the original message of Christ, focusing on the two doctrines mentioned above that he fabricated, namely the doctrine of original sin and the doctrine that Christ is divine and the son of God.

Paul claimed that since God’s attributes include justice and mercy, His justice dictated that He should punish all of humanity for that first sin, which was passed down from their parents, Adam and Eve. His mercy dictated that He should forgive humanity for that sin, but since it was so immense, no sacrifice of sheep, cattle or other animals, no matter how great in number, could atone for it. There was no other way for God (glorified and exalted be He far above what they say) to atone for that sin on behalf of humanity, reconcile His justice with His mercy, and bring about conciliation with humankind except by sending His only son Jesus.

Thus, Jesus was incarnated in human form and came down to Earth to be humiliated, made to suffer and killed on the cross. He was content to be a sacrifice, or the redeemer or savior who offered himself to save all those who believe that Jesus is the only son of God, and that he was killed on the cross to ransom them from that sin by offering himself, and to reconcile them with his Father, God (glorified and exalted be He far above what they say),Who was angry with them.

Paul also claimed that three days and nights after Jesus was buried, he rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples and others. Forty days later, he was taken up to heaven and seated at the right hand of God, and he will return to earth once more, to bring the living and the dead to account.

This is the explanation and argument on which Paul based his claim that Jesus, son of Mary, was divine. He presented Jesus to the European pagans and other peoples of the Roman Empire, not as a Prophet sent by God to the Children of Israel, but as the son of God, who came down to Earth to be humiliated and killed on the cross in order to redeem them by offering himself as a sacrifice, to save them from the wrath of his Father, God, so that God might forgive them for the sin of their forefather Adam and their foremother Eve, which they had inherited from them in what was known as the original sin.

With these pagan beliefs, the numbers of European pagans and others who entered this new religion increased, as it was close to their own concepts and beliefs, and what they were used to; this new religion later became known as Christianity.

A selection of quotes from Paul which prove that the doctrine of original sin and the doctrine of redemption came from him and were not part of the teachings of the Messiah:
•    And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. [Romans 3:24-25]

•    But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. [Romans 5:8-11]

•    If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [Romans 10:9]

•    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]

•    But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. [Galatians 4:4-5]

•    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written:“Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” [Galatians 3:13]

•    Comment:
From the quotations of Paul’s words given above, it is clear that he is the author of this doctrine, namely the doctrine of original sin and redemption, and that these doctrines do not come from God. If they had indeed come from God, then Jesus himself would have affirmed them, and that would have been narrated from him in the words that are attributed to him in the Gospels. But that is not the case.

This also demonstrates that the doctrine of the crucifixion of Christ, which was taught by Paul, is also false, because he claimed that Christ came down to earth to be crucified, humiliated, killed and buried.

The truth that was affirmed in the Bible, and then in the Qur’an, is that God took the Messiah up to heaven without him being harmed.

•    Note
Think about Paul’s hatred for the Torah, and how he described the Law (that is, the Torah) as being a curse.

Think also about how he described Christ as a curse, as he spoke of him “becoming a curse for us.” [Galatians 3:13]!

Then after that, this man said, in order to deceive people, that Christ had revealed to him that he was an apostle whom Christ had sent to the people.

How strange it is that the Christians venerate him and believe in his claim that he was an apostle sent by God and by Christ!

•    Important summary of Paul’s role in distorting the religion of the Messiah
Paul turned the people’s beliefs about Jesus from the belief that he was a prophet, sent by God with a message connected to the law of Moses and addressed to his people, the Children of Israel, alone, to the belief that Jesus is the son of God who was incarnated in human form and came down to Earth.

Moreover, Paul presented this belief to the Roman pagans, the subjects of the Roman Empire, who originally believed in a number of gods who came down to Earth and lived among the people in human form. They had believed before in gods who had human children, so it was easy for them to accept the new belief and additional god (Jesus), who came down from heaven, lived among the people, and then was killed on the cross. The Romans had no reservations whatsoever about what Paul told them, because the belief that he presented was similar to their own beliefs and concepts, and it would not take much effort to convince them to add this idea to the beliefs that they already held.

At the end of this book you will find a section which discusses the beliefs of the Romans at that time, before they entered the religion presented to them by Paul, so that it will become clearer to the reader how Paul, with his subtle and devious scheme, was able to kill two birds with one stone: corrupting the religion of Jesus on the one hand, and bringing the Romans into this corrupt new religion that he invented, on the other hand.

What made it easy for Paul to bring about this distortion was the fact that there was no one to deter him. Jesus did not have a state to protect him and support his religion, for the pagan Romans were the ones who had power, whereas the disciples of Jesus were in a state of fear and panic, having scattered after the Jews, supported by the Roman police, had attacked the place where Jesus was.

Thus, Jesus' presence on earth ended suddenly, and this violence was an immense psychological shock to the disciples and followers of Jesus, who were weak in physical, psychological and academic terms; not one disciple among them had any power or status, such that the others could turn to him.

The main concern of each of them was to save his own skin, lest he be tortured and pursued by the authorities if he continued to spread the teachings of Jesus after he had been taken up to heaven. Thus, the disciples gave up the idea of preaching altogether, which led to the message faltering in its spread at the public level. This gave Paul the opportunity to begin to spread his corrupt and distorted teachings, which outwardly bore the name of Christ but in reality completely contradicted the teachings and religion of Jesus.

6. Paul was lying in his claim that Jesus had sent him, and in other claims that he made; this may be explained in nine points, as follows:
[1] Paul changed his name from Saul to Paul the Apostle. Why did he change his name?
[2] If Paul was really an apostle, he would have completed the preaching that Jesus had started, and he would have conveyed the teachings of Jesus without alteration; he would have taught the people the Torah and the revelation revealed to Jesus, and he would not have come up with something new. But in fact, he brought new laws and new beliefs that were contrary to the teachings of Jesus, namely: the divinity of Christ, the notion that Christ was the son of God, his claim that Christ had sent him, his denial that Jesus was a prophet, the doctrine of original sin, and the crucifixion.

This indicates that Paul was lying when he claimed to be an apostle sent by Christ, because he completely undid and demolished what Jesus had preached. How could Paul be an apostle sent by Christ, when he destroyed the message that Jesus had brought?

In fact, Jesus had not foretold the coming of Paul. The four Gospels, written by people who came after Jesus, bear witness to that. In the Gospel of Matthew, there are three texts in which Jesus warned against those who would claim to be prophets after he was gone. (See Matthew 7:15-16, 24:11, 24:4-5.)

•    Note
The Gospels foretold the coming of the true Prophet, namely Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. There are nearly thirty texts in the Gospels and other Biblical texts which foretell his coming.

[3] If what Paul said was true, that Christ was the son of God, Jesus would have spoken of that himself, for it would be more appropriate for him to do so than Paul, as it would be an honor for him, if it was true, and Jesus did not and would never conceal the truth from people and leave it for those who came after him to disclose it, especially since Jesus came to guide the people.

[4] Jesus was a prophet from God. Based on that, he did not have the authority or power to appoint anyone by himself, because the selection of prophets is something that is only for God, and not for the prophet. God chooses and selects prophets from among the people as He wills, otherwise what is the role of God then?

Based on that, Paul’s claim that he was an apostle sent by Christ is pure fabrication.

[5] The prophets are the elite and the best of mankind. Jesus was born of a pure and pious mother, namely Mary, the daughter of ‘Imran. ‘Imran was a good and righteous man who was devoted to worship; his lineage went back to Israel (Jacob), a prophet and righteous man.

As for Paul, he was a man who had the blood of the righteous on his hands, for he had imprisoned them and tortured them, so how could he be an apostle?

[6] Another indication that Paul was lying in his claim to be an apostle is his character. In his view, the ends justified the means, so in order to achieve his aims, he would do anything. This opportunistic character is not the character of a prophet – far be it from them to have such an attitude, for the prophets are the purest of people in heart. Rather Paul exposed his character when he said:
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.[1 Corinthians 9:19-23]

•    Comment
Are such words appropriate for an apostle who was sent from God?
Or are they more appropriate for an opportunist of the first degree?
Paul clearly stated that he would change his colors according to the interest he hoped to achieve.

Thus, with those who believed in the Torah, he would pretend that he was with them, in order to win them. With those who did not believe in the Torah, he would pretend that he was not one of those who believed in it, in order to win them.

[7] One of the proofs that Paul was lying is the fact that the message of Jesus was addressed to the Children of Israel only. As for Paul, he widened the circle on his own initiative, and called the Roman pagans to his religion that he invented, claiming that the religion of Jesus was universal and for all people, so that they would enter it.

Jesus said:
I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. [Matthew 15:24]
On the other hand, Paul claims that God said to him:
“Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” [Acts 22:21]
Look at the difference between the words of Jesus, the true Prophet, and the words of Paul, the false apostle.
From this, the lies and fabrications of Paul will become clear.

[8] Another proof that Paul deceived people and distorted the religion of Jesus is that he made many religious compromises, by gradually abolishing teachings mentioned in the Torah in order to encourage the new people to whom he was preaching – namely the Roman pagans – to enter his religion, so that it would not be difficult for them to do so. He began by abolishing the law of circumcision for male pagans in his Epistle to the Galatians (6:15). He made it permissible for Jews to eat meat slaughtered by pagans, and to eat pork, and he permitted mixed marriages between Jews and pagans.

He also abolished all painstaking methods of physical purification that are enjoined in the Torah. All of this was aimed at attracting the Romans to enter the new religion that he presented to them, because they did not have any inclination to follow the divinely-revealed laws and teachings, for they were pagans and idol-worshippers who did not have any understanding of what is permissible and what is prohibited, and they did not believe in the prophets. So Paul waived the law of the Torah for them, so as to encourage them to enter his religion.

By doing this, Paul was making himself a “lord”, prescribing whatever laws he wanted and waiving whatever he wanted, and was not acting only as a prophet, as he claimed, for prescription of what is prohibited and permitted comes from God, not from the prophet; the role of the prophet is only to convey the law from God, not to introduce a new system of laws or to change and alter an existing system of laws as Paul did.

Then came the second major step, when this man abolished what remained of the Torah in order to remove this huge obstacle that was preventing the pagans from entering his religion that he had invented for them, building it on the ruins of the religion of Jesus.

He said in his Epistle to the Romans:
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. [Romans 7:6-7]

•    Comment
As you see, Paul did not stop at abolishing the Torah; rather he accused it of being the source of knowledge about right and wrong, as he says: “I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.”

[9] One of the greatest proofs of Paul’s deceiving the people is the fact that his abolishing of the Torah is contrary to the purpose for which Jesus came. Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the Torah; rather he came to fulfill it and complete it, as it is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew that he said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 

Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:17-19]

If Jesus warned against merely changing one letter or the least stroke of a pen in the Torah and the revelation revealed to him, and said that whoever did that would be called least in the kingdom of heaven and earth, then what can we say about Paul, who abolished the Torah in its entirety?

Paul’s abolishing of the Torah, in and of itself, is regarded as a great betrayal of the religion of Jesus, and it is indicative of Paul’s lies. Would that the Christian clergy were aware of that and taught it to the people, instead of following in the footsteps of the bishops and misleading the people who follow them (their flocks), for that only increases their sin and will incur punishment for all of them on the Day of Resurrection.

•    The painful consequences of Paul’s role
With these wicked lies and this great Jewish plot, Paul was able to turn the religion of Jesus upside down, and introduce into it that which was not part of it, changing the religion of Jesus from monotheism (affirming the oneness of God) to polytheism (associating others with Him). Unfortunately, the response of the majority of Christians was to believe Paul’s claims, and they began to follow him blindly; this has continued up to the present day. The followers of Christ gave up worship of the Creator, namely God, and instead turned to worship of created beings, namely the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, and his mother; they turned from veneration of God and describing Him as having no need of His creation, to describing Him as needing them, based on the claim that He had taken a son from among His creation.

Finally, we may sum up the role of Paul in distorting the religion of Jesus in the following five points:
1.    Paul claimed to be an apostle appointed by Jesus.
2.    Paul claimed that Jesus had revealed a gospel to him.
3.    Paul claimed that Jesus was the son of God.
4.    Paul claimed that the sin of our father Adam and our mother Eve was not forgiven, and that this sin was passed down from generation to generation; this is known as Original Sin.
5.    Paul claimed that God sent Jesus down to earth to be tortured and crucified as a ransom for humanity from the sin of their parents Adam and Eve.

Thus, Paul brought the Christian masses out of the true religion of Christ, which called people to worship God alone and not to worship anything or anyone except Him, to a religion that has nothing to do with the religion of Christ at all; rather it is idolatry, which is the worship of idols, (inanimate objects that are lifeless, such as rocks, images, graves and crosses) and the worship of humans (such as Jesus, his mother, the saints and the clergy).

In brief: the religion of Jesus was turned by Paul from worship of the Creator to worship of created beings, from following the true prophet – namely Jesus – to following a false prophet – namely Paul.

Paul continued his mission (the mission to distort the religion of Jesus) for more than thirty years after Jesus had been taken up into heaven. His mission began between three and five years after Jesus had been taken up into heaven; in other words, between 33-38 CE, approximately, and it lasted until 67 CE. Thus, his mission lasted for approximately thirty years, until he was executed in Rome by the Emperor Nero, who accused the Christians of burning the city of Rome. Nero executed Paul and, alongside him, Peter, the senior disciple of Christ, according to the description of him given in the Gospels; they were executed by crucifixion. Then Nero began to torture the Christians in various ways, such as feeding them to hungry dogs or pouring oil on them and turning them into torches to light the gates of his palace.

See how God punished Paul in this world, and how his enmity towards Jesus and his religion ultimately backfired on him, and imagine how his sin of distorting the religion of Jesus and misleading many people away from the true religion of Jesus resulted in painful punishment to himself in this world. In the beginning, he used to torture and imprison the followers of Jesus, then he entered the religion of Jesus hypocritically, in order to corrupt the religion from within and make it a religion suited to the pagans, so that they would embrace it. But in the end, God punished him at their hands, as the head of the pagans (Nero) utterly crushed him.

Thus ended the first stage of the distortion of the religion of Jesus, which happened at the hands of Paul. Therefore, Paul and the clergy who came after him, who spread his religion will bear the responsibility and carry the burden of sin of those generations who embrace his religion because of them until the Day of Resurrection. So let the wise priest (or anyone who preaches this doctrine) think about where he is taking the people – to heaven or to hell?

•    Note
There is nothing strange about how fast Paul was able to spread his corruption, which he achieved within thirty years, because it was corruption from within. This man pretended to enter the religion of Jesus and claimed that he was an apostle sent by God, and the people believed him. He introduced his corrupt ideas, which the people accepted, and he corrupted the clear and pure religion of Jesus, who had called people to worship God alone, and mixed it with pagan beliefs in the name of Jesus. This audacious corruption is nothing strange on the part of the Jews, because they are the ones who had plotted to kill Jesus, and what audacity could be greater than that? If they were capable of that, how could they not have had the audacity to corrupt his religion?

•    The status of Paul in Christianity
Based on the above, Paul is the true founder of the Christian religion in its current form, and the Christians are his true followers in word and deed; they are not truly following the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, even though they are called Christians in reference to Christ (the Messiah).  Paul is the one who sowed the seeds which were watered by the ecumenical councils later on, with the support of the Romans, leading to further distortion and misguidance. Paul was the first calamity that befell the religion of Jesus, for he is the one who corrupted it and changed its framework to one that is entirely pagan, as is reflected in the worship of idols, rocks, statues, images, crosses, and individuals such as prophets and saints.

Gustave le Bon said:
St. Paul had a very vivid imagination, and his mind was filled with memories of Greek philosophy and Eastern religions. He established a religion in the name of Jesus, which Jesus himself would not have understood if he were alive.

And he said:
Paul founded in the name of Jesus a religion which Jesus would not have understood if he were alive, and if it were said to the twelve disciples that God was incarnated in Jesus, they would not have understood this scandalous notion, and they would have raised their voices in protest.

Michael Hart wrote, “St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament.”
Based on the above, the founder of the Christian religion in its present form is definitely Paul and not Jesus.

•    The Christians’ attitude towards Paul
The Christians venerate Paul and believe that he was indeed an apostle, as he himself said; they consider him an apostle to the Gentiles and a saint. Many churches are dedicated to him, such as the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome, which is the second largest church in the city, containing many carvings and much architectural embellishment. At the entrance to the church, there is a large statue of Paul. All of that has nothing whatsoever to do with the original religion of Jesus, because Jesus came to bring people forth from the worship of anything other than God to the worship of God alone, and to apply the teachings of his revelation. But his religion was changed to what you see now; it changed to the worship of images, statues and icons, and in some churches, cups of wine are passed around. All of that is contrary to the religion and teachings of Jesus.

•    The attitude of Jesus' earliest followers towards Paul
For a while, the early followers of Jesus lived in accordance with the sound belief that Jesus had taught them, but during that time they suffered a great deal of persecution from the Jews, especially from Paul, who went to extremes in his persecution of the Christians, the followers of Jesus. When he found that violence had not yielded any results, and would never do so, he resorted to the tactic of hypocrisy. Therefore, he claimed to believe in Jesus and strove to learn his teachings, until he became one of the most knowledgeable among them. After that, he lied to them and said that Christ had revealed a gospel to him, and some of them believed him. Then he began his wicked mission, the aim of which was to distort the religion of Jesus by introducing into it that which was not part of it. He invented a new doctrine, saying that Jesus was the son of God, then he introduced the doctrine of original sin, then the doctrine of redemption.

Many of the followers of Jesus opposed him, as is indicated by what Paul said of himself in the Second Epistle to Timothy:
You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me... [2 Timothy 1:15]

In the same Epistle, he said:
At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. [2 Timothy 4:16]
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