An alternate Messianic Tale – apostles, prostitutes, and donkey-beating magii
So many ways the tale of the Messiah could have gone, when told from the POV of the Middle East instead of Rome, or the 21C. But what if?…..
A magii who was not a Jew, Balaam was sent to curse the Jews but ended up blessing them. And Jesus a Jewish magii was sent to save the Jews but ended up cursing them and having another religion begun in his name that has overcome the Jews in many ways, which between the two created at least two more (the Muslems and Bahai).
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A woman of power and wealth, faith and long history in her community was cast as a demon-infested prostitute. She could have been an equal to any of the disciples in standing with Jesus, and more than a fisherman in social standing. And may have been his wife and mother of his child and a line of French royalty when she fled after he was crucified.
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A line of thought that began with the 10 commandments and the message of love and peace, acceptance of others. Went around the ancient world, Asia, Africa and Europe and was incorporated into their concept of the divine,
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A line of thought that never rose to take over the world. Because it didn’t meet with white supremacy. It was told to spread the message of love, not cram it down people’s throat.
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So what is Christianity? …… Depends which line you follow. Which ‘Bible’ you read. Is yours Coptic, Gnostic, from the church of the East, or Roman and Greek? Is it Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant? Like any faith or culture, there are many versions of the ‘truth’. Many roads up the mountain side.
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So why couldn’t Balaam be the name we see instead of Jesus? Why couldn’t there be a donkey as an angel infested being instead of a baby in the manger?
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suppose Mary Magdalene was a prostitute? In ancient times, this may not be the kind we know today, Couples would engage in sexual relations in the temple as fertility rites.
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The story of Balaam and the donkey in Bible and Torah :
Numbers 22-24
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the original apostles
Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
Saint Matthias, (flourished 1st century ad, Judaea; d. traditionally Colchis, Armenia; Western feast day February 24, Eastern feast day August 9), the disciple who, according to the biblical Acts of the Apostles 1:21–26, was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot after Judas betrayed Jesus.
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The Apostles spread Christianity from Jerusalem to Damascus, to Antioch, to Asia Minor, to Greece, and finally to Rome. Although there is little evidence to back up the assertion, some people believe that
James the Elder went to Spain,
St. Thomas went east, through what is now Syria and Iran and, historians believe, on down to Kerala southern India.
Saint Matthew went to Ethiopia and
Saint Bartholomew to Armenia. Bartholomew was tortured and crucified while on a missionary trip in India.
Paul journeys encompassed much of the Mediterranean.
After Jesus’s death
John was busy winning converts in Jerusalem.
For his missionary efforts in the Aegean Andrew was said to have been crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras Greece (the source of St. Andrew’s Cross).
There are stories that James the Younger was stoned to death, allegedly for proselytizing among Jews,
St. Stephen, a young Christian leader who enraged a Jewish community by suggesting that Christ would return and destroy the Temple of Jerusalem. He was stoned to death.
King Herod Agrippa I imprisoned and beheaded James the Greater,
“Tradition holds that 11 of the Twelve Apostles were martyred. Peter, Andrew, and Philip were crucified; James the Greater and Thaddaeus fell to the sword; James the Lesser was beaten to death while praying for his attackers; Bartholomew was flayed alive and then crucified; Thomas and Matthew were speared; Matthias was stoned to death; and Simon was either crucified or sawed in half. John—the last survivor of the Twelve—likely died peaceably, possibly in Ephesus, around the year 100.”
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Philip – In the years following Pentecost, Philip ministered to Greek-speaking communities. Little is known about his adventures, except that he was martyred around 80 AD
Judas Thaddeus – St. Jude preached the gospel in various places. He is revered by the Armenian Church as the “Apostle to the Armenians.”He suffered martyrdom around 65 AD in Beirut, Lebanon
Simon the Zealot – is often depicted with Judas Thaddeus and some believe they preached together as a team. This is due in part because a tradition states they were both martyred in Beirut in the same year
Matthias – After being chosen as the “replacement apostle,” one tradition states that Matthias founded a church in Cappadocia and ministered to Christians on the coasts of the Caspian Sea. It is believed that he died a martyr’s death, and was beheaded with an axe in Colchis at the hands of the many pagans there.
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St. Mark’s real labor lays in Africa. He left Rome to Pentapolis, where he was born. After planting the seeds of faith and performing many miracles he traveled to Egypt, through the Oasis, the desert of Libya, Upper Egypt and then entered Alexandria from its eastern gate in 61 A.D.
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St Luke was said to be Greek, a physician and mostly travelled with Paul (till his incarceration and death.)
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St Mark is linked to the African rising of Christianity (Coptic)
St Thomas is to the East rising all the way to India (Church of the East)