Flavius Titus (his circle) invented Jesus and penned the Gospels

[Madeleine Maudlin]

During the course of the Judean War, 66-73ce, a few things of interest
occurred.  The final Julio-Claudian emperor, Vitellius (I believe Nero's
son?), departed Rome.  Flavius Josephus had a rather poignant conversion to
Roman ways of thinking.  And the second Flavius, Titus, after his father
Vespasian, decided he'd had enough with roguish outbreaks of absurd
independence in Judea.

A couple things went toward this.  The Jews had this ridiculous thing in
their religious system that simply forbid them to pay any tribute in one
their God's temples to anybody but him.  Sorry Jackson, just can't do it.
 And the habit emperors of Rome had of coming to believe they actually *were
* divine.

The Jews were a warring people, militant and nationalistic, always had been
and up to that time.  They needed to be, because they were deeply
xenophobic as a people and were always being oppressed anyway.  They had to
fight.  And so they did.  Even amongst each other, which is what was
occurring in Judea during the 100 years prior to the Roman War, a 100 years
which was coincident with Rome's expansion around the area, and idiots like
the Herod's giving some welcome to the Romans.

Vespasian as a general sent by Nero momentarily silenced the Jews, then
went back to Rome later to assume emperorness, and his son Titus cleaned
Judean house, where he further united the Flavian House with the important
Jewish Houses of the Herods and Alexanders.  Titus then went back to Rome,
assumed emperorness himself, and got to talking with his new best friend
Flavius Josephus and a few other intellectuals about keeping the slave Jews
passive for once in their life.

A big clue was that around then things in Jewish society really reached a
fevered pitch about the coming of the Christ messiah who would kick ass and
set them free, preferably once and for all.  Somebody who linked to their
greatest warrior David.  What they got was a pro-Rome pacifist called Jesus.

In a single stroke of supreme literary genius, the Tituses decided to give
the Jews their Messiah, and to write him as having lived 40 years prior,
and who's actions would symbolize Titus's campaign in Judea, thereby making
Jesus, basically Titus.  And so the new Christians would actuality be
worshiping Titus as their Christ by their worship of a fictional Jesus.

All the biggie church scholars, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Cyprian etc.
were unanimous hailing Flavius Josephus' description of Judea's destruction
by Titus in his famous War of the Jews *proof* that Jesus's prophecies came
to pass.

 A few heartening and amusing quotes:

"If anyone compares the words of our Saviour with the other accounts of the
historian [Josephus] concerning the whole war, how can one fail to wonder,
and to admit that the foreknowledge and the prophecy of our Saviour were
truly divine and marvelously Strange."
Eusebius, 325ce, and then again:
"And when He was now getting near Jerusalem...He came into full view of the
city, He wept loud over it, and He exclaimed...
"For the time is coming upon thee when thy foes will throw up around thee
earthworks and a wall, investing thee and hemming thee in on every side,
"and level you and your children within you, and they will not leave one
stone upon another in you; because you did know the time of your
visitation."
Luke 19:37-44

Josephus says in War of Jews that Titus ordered his soldiers to "build a
wall around the whole city" and not merely burn and defile Jerusalem, but
with "not one stone upon another" as Jesus said, Josephus saying "[Titus]
gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple..."

"So you also, when you see all these signs, may be sure that He is near--at
your very door.
"I tell you the solemn truth that the present generation will certainly not
pass away without all these things having first taken place."
Matt. 24:33-34

And he was so right, with Titus entering Judea 35 years later.

After the Reformation scholars were finally allowed to write down their
opinions, and nothing had changed: the parallels between the New Testament
and Josephus's War of the Jews was proof of Christ's divinity.  A Dr. James
Newton himself agreed with Eusebius that Josephus recorded the absolute
truth, which was just what Jesus amazingly had *just said*.

"As a general in the wars [Josephus] must have had an exact knowledge of
all transactions...His history was approved by Vespasian and Titus [who
ordered it to be published].  He designed nothing less, and yet as if he
had designed nothing more, his hostory of the Wars of the Jews may serve as
a larger comment on our Saviour's prophesies of the destruction of
Jerusalem."

Way to go, Jesus!  What foresight.
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