CHAPTER TWO
THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE
Jesus Christ revolutionised religion. He and John the Baptist came with a new vision and a new method to achieve it. There was something wrong with the old Jewish way, and most people at the time did not even recognise it. Jesus and John firstly had to show what was wrong with the old version of God worship before they could teach their new method.
Many people today might think that Jesus brought monotheism to Israel, but this is not true. The Jews already had monotheism for a good thousand years prior to Jesus and John. In fact the whole religion, of which Jesus was thoroughly taught, was based on one god. From Adam and Eve to the events leading up to Jesus’s birth, there is only mention of one God. However the Jews also had a nemesis and that was Idolatry. Idolatry is said to be the worship of idols, but in reality it refers to the worship of gods. One does not have to worship many gods, in order to commit idolatry, just worshipping anything at all or even one god is idolatry. So the Jews were condemned by this trap, that they worshipped god and by doing so, committed idolatry. Any search of the Old Testament will reveal that Idolatry was the one backsliding fault that Israel continually did to offend God. What could they do but worship God, and in worshipping God commit Idolatry?
This is the first sin that Jesus and John were keen to make manifest to the world, the second was like it in that all the surrounding religions were polytheistic, in other words they worshipped many gods. This was idolatry run rampant. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and pagans all worshipped a plethora of deities.
The next problem addressed by Jesus and John was the trap known as the oppression of worship. The masses who worshipped god were oppressed by the religious rulers of the time. Every aspect of their lives from what they ate to the tithes they were forced to pay was levelled at them by the hierarchy. Jesus saw this as a form of slavery or imprisonment or at least a loss of liberty. People needed to be set free from the bonds imposed on them through the strict laws of the religion.
Lu:13:15: The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
Lu:13:16: And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
After these things Jesus saw that the people were also oppressed by SIN. They were made to feel guilty by the claim that they were sinners and punishments were cruel indeed. Especially true was the inequality of women who were blamed for the fall of EVE. This was reinforced by the delusion that affected them under the hierarchical rule. Jesus wanted to set them free of sin also.
M't:9:6: But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
M'r:2:10: But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
Lu:5:24: But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
At the centre of all these problems was one major causative factor and that was religious delusion. People can be taught to believe things that are completely false. This is delusion and it affects every aspect of the affected person’s life. Jesus wanted to set people free from this as well.
The intention to establish a whole new religious method was purposeful but not entirely Jesus or John’s own invention. It came from a group known as the Levites who understood the secret core of the Israeli religion. A secret band was established in order to plan and execute it, which involved grooming Jesus and John, His cousin, especially for their roles.
The message of the Baptism wasn’t just a sudden but good idea, as you will see its ramifications run deep and the whole concept was carefully set up by a conspiracy of people; the Levites. Such dramatic changes to the religion required a committee to plan and organise the subtleties of execution of that plan.