Messiah - News, Updates, Images & Quotes

Those who expected a political messiah were disillusioned when Jesus refused the claim that he was such not a messiah and would have no part of the schemes to make him king. And finally, those who expected an eschatological apocalypse were told that they would see no signs from heaven and that they would hear from Jesus no guess as to when the last days would be fulfilled. In other words, Jesus rejected the titles, the categories, the theories, and the aspirations of all religious movements of his time. He did preach a kingdom, but it was a kingdom not of this world...Instead of insisting on the old law, he proclaimed a new one. Instead of extolling the uniqueness of the Jews, he preached Good News for all men.

— Andrew M. Greely; The Jesus Myth (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

The Sadducees of the Temple of Jerusalem knew how detrimental belief in a raging Messiah would be to their interests. They knew only too well that there was no way for a Pharisaic Messiah to be accepted or welcomed in Rome by Gentiles. They also knew that the Jewish people were not going to jubilantly accept Rome as the capital city of the new church. So, we insist that it was a coterie of Sadducees who, during the Roman occupation, commissioned "historians" in Egypt, Judea, and Rome, to concoct the Messiah story. We do not accept the theories of those scholars (Joseph Atwill and others) who strive to prove that the situation was the reverse, i.e., that Romans, for their own purposes, invented the Christ story. We do not feel that the Jesus story was created merely to dampen or offset the revolutionary spirit among lower class Jews in Judea. We do not believe that those who had smashed the Temple and removed the Jewish Torah to Rome, were particularly worried about Jewish uprising. The Roman Empire was large. If they were inclined to concoct new religions and new divine heroes to dupe the people of the lands they occupied they would have done so for every one of the places they overran and conquered. And this is not the case. Massacre, persecution, and oppressive legal prohibition, were the manner in which Rome dealt with open hostility and rivalry. Taking out the head men and dispensing fear were the methods used to maintain order in foreign parts. Making friends of the intellectual classes and employing "Quislings" from the conquered peoples also paid dividends. Demonstrating a relatively tolerant attitude toward the religious beliefs of compliant nations was also a clever ploy to win acceptance. It appears that the Romans permitted their conquered peoples to continue worshiping as they saw fit, as long as they also accepted the divinity of Caesar.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

For these reasons we do not agree with the writers and investigators who believe the Gospels to have been written at the behest of Rome for political reasons. The intellectual elite within the Sadducees and Romans were not in the least bit perturbed by the zealots of Judea. They considered the Messianic idea of ordinary Jews totally redundant. If pacifying Jews was their desire they could have groomed a real, living savant and let him loose, professing himself to be the Messiah. They could have promoted a man to impersonate the Messiah and no one would have been the wiser. This would have made better sense than to simply create the history of one in writing and hope that people would read it and react. No! The idea was to create a new religion based on the old Atonist model to appeal to a Western audience. Whether this religion and its Christ was accepted by the Jews or not was barely a concern. They could accept Christ or they could deny him. What did it matter to Rome and the Caesars? This is why Josephus barely mentions the Messiah in his vast works and why Christianity was established in Rome and not Judea. Christianity was the brain-child of one small elite group of Atonists resident in Rome, and of their intellectual colleagues, the Sadducees. Its central hero was a hybrid of several pagan deities and heroes, and partly based on the old Jewish Messiah. But the creators of the new religion, and of Christ, knew that the real Messiah was an Egyptian concept and not a Jewish one. The real Messiah was a descendant of the House of David, and that meant them. The claims made by the Jews meant nothing and would never come to pass - as they have not.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

...Bultmann argues that all of Jesus predictions of his future passion and resurrection are later fabrications, since “the idea of a suffering, dying and rising Messiah or son of Man was unknown to Judaism" (The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls, commenting on the biblical analyst Rudolf Bultmann's arguments against the existence of the Essene Messiah)

— Israel Knohl and David Maisel; quoted by Michael Tsarion view

Neither the suffering of the Messiah, nor his death and resurrection, appear to be part of the faith of first century Judaism.

— G. Vermes; Judaism (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

The strange predictions of a coming savior that misinformed Christians believe exist in the books of Daniel and Isaiah do not refer to Jesus. They refer to the one for whom the Gospel Jesus spoke, for whom the inventors of Jesus spoke. Whether these inventors were Roman emperors or Egyptian sun priests, their agenda was the re-creation and re-establishment of a solar religion that had failed to galvanize the world at the first attempt. The second attempt was to succeed. All human beings would leave aside their petty allegiances and would remove their blindfolds. They would bow before the new lords of light and their bright stainless king.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

The relationship between the Sadducee Party and Roman authorities requires further exploration and is, in our opinion, a key factor behind the re-casting of the Jewish Messianic figure into the Jesus Christ figure so beloved of the Christians and so soft on the Romans. It is our personal belief that a relationship existed between Roman and Sadducee elites and that these two forces conspired together, for reasons of financial gain and territorial power, to invent the Christ myth.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

It was by the ingenuity of Paul that this improbable Judaic "Messiah" was re-scripted and upgraded into an attractive and dynamic figure with a unique spiritual message openly contradicting the rabbinical tradition and offering a revolutionary path to salvation. A weak renegade who was an anathema to Jewish hardliners could quite easily be transmogrified into something suitable for a different audience. He could have traits of every god-man, sun king, and solar hero that had ever edified the human imagination. And he could be a representative of someone very special, someone who was not meant to be openly known, whose bloodline had continued to influence the world from the Mosaic age and who had ingratiated the highest echelons of imperial Rome, whose empire stretched across the known world. As an agent of this secret dynastic power, Paul was to artificially create a rift between the old tradition and his new one so that one could be played against the other for as long as need be. Through his artifice the divide would be drastic and long lasting. It was important, therefore, that his Messiah's message was seen to be rejected by recalcitrant and quarrelsome Jews. It was important that his savior of all mankind be put to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin of Pharisees and Sadducees and not by Rome. His tradition would acknowledge no direct connection to the Rabbinical tradition of ancient times. Ultimately, Paul's treatment would denigrate the Jews and cause men to accuse them of deicide. Moreover, such egregious tactics would compel the vast majority of Jews to reject the "Rome-friendly" solar hero of the New Testament. This rejection of the Pauline Christ was the perfect smokescreen obscuring the dark and remote origins of both religions.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

…the Messiah, in the pre-Pauline movement was the King of the Jews and therefore not directly relevant to Gentiles. The Messiah was the human descendant of King David, who would restore Jewish monarchy and Jewish national independence. He would not reign over the whole world.

— Hyam Maccoby; Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

...the title “Messiah” carried no connotation of deity or divinity. The word “Messiah” means “anointed one” and it is a title of kingship; every Jewish king of the Davidic line had this title.

— Hyam Maccoby; Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

Yes, this [Messiah] is clearly an entity in line with the Mosaic (Atonist) Jehovah. He's a far cry from the gentle forgiving Jesus presented by Paul. Paul was basing his Christ only slightly on such a rapacious character and much more on pagan deities familiar to Western Gentiles. His Christ was compassionate, tolerant, and loving of all men, someone who gave up his own life for the good of all. The Messiah of the hardliners was the "Lion King" of Judah returned to cast off oppression and bring retribution. It is our belief that this Jewish personage - part king, part adjudicator, part destroyer - is a composite figure based on the Akhenaton, his god Aton, and the volcano god Yahweh. He is a concoction of the Levites and Gaonim, a being who would have faded into oblivion if the Jews of later ages had not suffered invasion and oppression, and if their political aspirations had not been thwarted. Those who have happy homes in this world do not devote themselves to the veneration of aggressive Messianic kings. A part of Paul's job was to take this time hardened tradition and soften it up. It was vital the Messianic figure was seen to have spiritual powers only, and not be considered a political threat.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

How lovely is this king Messiah, who is to rise from the house of Judah. He girds his loins and goes out to wage war on those who hate him, killing kings and rulers...and reddening the mountains with the blood of their slain. With his garments dripping in blood, he is like one who treads grapes in the wine press.

The awaited Messiah was no longer the Redeemer of original sin, a spiritual victor who would lead the world, it was a temporal king, bloody with battle, who would make Israel master of the world, and "drag all peoples under the wheels of his chariot"

— Lady Queensborough; Occult Theocracy (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

Towards the end of the Babylonian exile the hope arose among the Jewish people that the man they had so callously murdered would return from the realm of the dead and lead his people - and perhaps not only his people - into the land of eternal bliss

— Sigmund Freud; quoted by Michael Tsarion view

In Moses and Monotheism, Freud discloses a theory for the belief in a Messiah, and in the second coming of such a being. He emphasized that it was a consequence of the violent demise of the Jewish Moses after the time of the exile. Most biblical researchers and commentators agree that Moses died soon after reaching Sinai and that the leadership of the exiled peoples fell to his brother Aaron.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

Jewish author and historian Hyam Maccoby states that the term Messiah referred to the seed and house of David.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

The very word Messiah comes from the Hebrew Mashiach (Egyptians Messeh) which means "anointed." It specifically referred to the oil that was processed from the fat of the Nile crocodiles that were sacred to the Egyptian god Sobek.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

...the "Star in the East" heralded the birth of the Egyptian Messiah thousands of years before the Christian era"

— Acharya S; Christ in Egypt (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

— Isaiah 53:5-7; The Bible view

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

— Matthew 24:34; The Bible view

Many of these, Christians believe, are easily answered by the so called "Second Coming". The Jewish understanding of the messiah however does not involve any suggestion of a "second coming" but the message of Jesus of Nazareth was one of return. Jesus of Nazareth preached that he would fulfil the things he did not do in his life time such as world peace, eternal joy and the "burying" of the enemy in his second coming. This does not satisfy the Jewish understanding of the Messiah.

— Liam M Cork; http://reliteen.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-do-jews-reject-jesus-as-their.html view

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

— Isaiah 2:4; The Bible view