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Tag: Empire

The Demagogues of Democracy in an Idol-led Empire
Labor Day in 2023 of the Common Era

What is more common in this Common Era of a 2024 Presidential election than demagogues landing like locusts on our popular propaganda screens like ants at a Labor Day picnic?

Demagogue: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

Of course, ‘the medium spin of the message is better than two candidates in the district.’

US political HEADLINES IN THE HAND spun by paid pundits of unaccountable billionaires hiding behind action committees buying each vote AGAINST fellow demagogues of their political opposite extreme.

What better day than Labor Day in the Common Era for commonly corrupt men of money to launch another campaign tirade of fear-mongering urging working stiffs on a rare day off to VOTE AGAINST whatever they should ideologically HATE?

Party Platforms of an idolized past
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Or should I say: Political Party Platforms from an idealized ancient past?
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I’m not referring to historical parties from an idolized American past: Federalists, Whigs, Democrat-Republicans, Bull Moose or other independents. The ideals of foundational platforms of every party have always been somewhat overstated.

Political parties once debated a platform of principles upon which their candidates for office could stand.

Sometime in the 20th c. C.E. foundational Democratic and Republican party platforms and principles collapsed under the weight of PAC’s with polls of single issue influence destined to divide any great empire into the decay of its extreme excesses.

A Common Era conclusion
- WE THE PEOPLE of these UNITED STATES of AMERICA are no longer UNITED in the Common Era of our failed principles.
- Nor are WE governed by a majority as one might imagine.
Rather citizens of our once united states have been divided as spoil of partisan political victories as unwilling subjects of political kings appealing to the extremes of our discontent.
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Go ahead and do the math: 
TOTAL number of citizens 18 or older [think 2020 US Census], 
convert the % of 'registered' votes of the 'winner' into the actual total # of votes,
USE the WINNING NUMBER of VOTES and DIVIDE any CANDIDATE TOTAL by the NUMBER of CITIZENS! (Registered, including NO SHOWS & ABSTENTIONS in addition to a LARGE # of US citizens who DO NOT EVEN REGISTER TO VOTE.)
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- A TRUE WINNER of a MAJORITY could claim a NUMBER = to HALF the census 18+ population, plus 1.
- Does ANY national candidate for political office have such a majority mandate of US citizens? (Go ahead and name one!)
- Our VOTE is bought and paid for by the politically powerful minority WE THE PEOPLE rarely see lining the pockets of our Representatives, Senators and Presidents.
WE consequently conclude that NO principles of party will govern any newspeak fed to THE PEOPLE of our divided nation.

Certainly not on such common occasions as Labor Day 2023 of the Common Era with so many candidates full of HEADLINE DEMAGOGUERY leading up to divisive 2024 elections.

Historical Reminders
- DEMOCRACY
  - from ancient Greece
Alexander was considered ‘the Great’ after crushing democracy as the philosophers debated and ruled much of the world until his death just centuries Before Christ (BCE to you ‘Commoners).
- REPUBLIC
  - from the Rome Before Christ (or B.C.E. for you evolved pagans)
JULIUS CAESAR was an elected official of Rome’s idealistic Republic AND a general leading loyal Romans back from victory to claim Rome as its Caesar. (Most know of his demise on the Ides of March in 44 B.C.

ROME ruled the world through its Caesars worshiped as gods among the gods. The ruthlessness of Rome’s Legions prevailed over the ideals of its Republic.

7th century B.C.
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From Isaiah, a true Prophet of God after the fall of David & Solomon's Empire
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59:4 No one calls in righteousness, and no one seeks justice in truth.

They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness;

They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness.

7 Their feet run to evil,

And they are quick to shed innocent blood;

Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness;

Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
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Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands far away;

For truth has stumbled in the street,

And rightness cannot enter.

So it is that truth is missing;

And he who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder.

Then Yahweh saw,

And it was evil in His eyes that there was no justice.

“A Redeemer will come to Zion,

And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares Yahweh.
Isaiah 59:14-15,20 LSB

The Redeemer of Zion of those any who turn from sin — Before Christ and in these last days of our Lord dismissed as the Common Era — is JESUS a prophet, priest and king forever.

The Ideological Enemy among US
- COMMUNIST and
- SOCIALIST
USSR abbreviation for the UNION of SOCIALIST Soviet REPUBLICS.

Stalin’s Communism will always cleanse the land of protagonist challengers who stand up to their walled-in autocracy.

Socialism better describes the governmentaiization of money rather than the internment of the communes controlling the lives of its people.

The cults of communism choose their own Caesars and the Republics of Religion will anoint their own gods.
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com
- Islamic Republics and Hindu Democracies fail in principle and in theory even as they proliferate and invade former strongholds of free but tolerant nations.
- Capitalist Communists will invest in peace as currency of control in wars of attrition undermining the freedoms of competition.
- The Atheist Tyrant embraces the religions of authoritarian rule.
Demagogues of Labor Days in the C.E.

Let US not deceive ourselves, even as Satan convinced man, ‘you will not die.’

The righteous will live by faith, but which Labor Day speech of the Common Era will not shout out the unrighteous likes of the unrepentant faithless?

A Proverb for Labor Day

A worker’s appetite works for him;

His mouth urges him on.

A worthless man plots evil,

and his speech is like a scorching fire.
Proverbs 16:26 & 27 CSB

And a closing consideration of Labor Day in the Common Era

The demagogues of democracy will dictate what all will be required to do
while the agendas of anarchy proclaim all of their gods.
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com + Serving no Caesar in place of Christ our resurrected and living Redeemer and King
September 4, 2023
Crucifixion! – The Spirit of Grace
Now Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written: “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
John 19:19 NASB

More Mockeries of the Son of Man on the Cross of Sacrifice

Even today mockery of Jesus Christ is as common as rejection of the Lord God.

In CRUCIFIXION! – The Pangs of Sin we saw the suffering Servant Jesus as punishment continued.

From John’s witness thus far…
- Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him – John 18:12 KJV
- ..one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? – John 18:22b KJV
- 24 Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.
- 28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment..
- 29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation..
- 33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
- 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
- 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
His scourging poured forth sinless Blood by 39 lashes upon Jesus’ back.

Pilate and the politically motivated religious leaders of Jerusalem made mockery of mercy (one less lash than Rome’s forty which should cause death) by condemning the Son of Man in whom they found no guilt.
- John 19:2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head..
- 3 and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again.
- Judas & a detachment of troops & officers from the chief priests & Pharisees,
- Hosanna to the Son of David:
- Behold the Man
- Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
- The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”
- Jesus, the King of the Jews
From Glorified King to Crucifixion on a Cross
About the sixth hour [noon]

14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Look, your King!” 15 So they shouted, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”

16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between…

21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; rather, write that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’”

A Temporary Victory

The powerful have won the political battle of the day!

Yet complete defeat is near for political rulers of the Empire and the powerful leaders of religion in Jerusalem. For by their own shouts the preordained Sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world is now to be fulfilled.

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

It was nearly noon, the Passover Lamb now prepared by scourging. “CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY!” shout the crowds. We will NOT follow Jesus.

Jesus the Christ will take back the power of sin from the enemy and defeat death from a Cross of Sacrifice.

.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23

And how is this the Spirit of Grace?

For this grace you must also wait until next time.
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To be continued...
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November 6, 2020
1st century Rome – an awkward embrace of RELIGION & politics
Then Pilate said to them,
“You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”
Therefore the Jews said to him,
“It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death”
John 18:31 NKJV

As a reminder from our study of John 18, the Messiah Jesus was seized by officials of the Temple in Jerusalem, who then brought their accused before the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.

Who’s in charge of justice?

A lengthy consideration of the history of Rome may seem to have little to do with 1st c. Jerusalem and the trial of Jesus Christ. In fact, Rome’s lessons of politics and religion not only add context to this pivotal event in history, but to our own struggle between empires and the rule of God.

As you breeze through it or dig into some of Rome’s culture through additional secure links, think about the dance of power between political and religious leaders.

We have thus far examined the impact of politics in religion and actions by officials of the Temple against Jesus.

Now we will briefly leave Jerusalem for Rome and examine the culture Rome’s religions and impact on a Roman Governor like Pontius Pilate in this small and distant part of Roman Syria.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Roman general and statesman

b. 100 BC – until his assassination 15 March 44 BC

less than a century before the Roman crucifixion of Jesus Christ

The Julii Caesares traced their lineage back to the goddess Venus
Britannica.com

The Republic of Rome

..the late Roman Republic was surely the sole superpower of the western world..
realmofHistory.org
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Disclaimer: I am a theologian, not a historian and therefore make no claim to accuracy of the extensive knowledge of several researchers linked separately here for your additional understanding of the history of Rome and its culture as it affected the Empire of the 1st century AD.

continued quote below from Realm of History 
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[Rome] ..Then came the ascendancy of the great Julius Caesar, one of the greatest generals of his time, who was responsible for bringing Gaul (present-day France) into the Roman dominion by 50 BC. These signs of progress were matched by the conquering of eastern Anatolia and Armenia proper (in the preceding decade), thus bringing the Romans to the very edge of the Caspian Sea.

But then came the chaotic times, with the assassination of Caesar, the subsequent Triumvirate troubles, and civil wars, and ultimately the eclipse of the Roman Republic – thus making way for the rise of the Roman Empire in 27 BC, under the helm of Augustus.

Culture of the Republic
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Remember that this diminishing concept of the Republic had begun centuries before in a city-state on Italia then ends abruptly with the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Source below: National Geographic
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- The Roman Republic was founded in 509 B.C.
  - after the last Etruscan king that ruled Rome was overthrown.
- Rome’s next government served as a representative democracy
  - in the form of a republic.
- Rome’s wealthiest families .. held power
  - only they could hold political or religious offices.
  - lower classes later gained power within the government.
- At the heart of the Roman Republic was the Senate.
  - The Senate lasted as a sole governing body for the republic for only a brief time until 494 B.C.
.. in the 1st century B.C. the famous Roman orator Marcus Cicero uncovered a plot by a Roman senator .. to overthrow the Roman government.

Ultimately, factions emerged (loyal to either the patrician or plebeian classes or to a specific military general), hostilities erupted, and a series of civil wars plagued the republic.

During these civil wars, a prominent general and statesmen named Julius Caesar began gaining significant power. He commanded the loyalty of the soldiers in his army and enjoyed access to substantial wealth after conquering the province of Gaul.
- The Senate, fearful of Caesar’s power, demanded he give up command of his army and return to Rome as a citizen.
- Caesar refused, instead marching his army south directly into Rome.
- As a result, another civil war erupted between Caesar and his chief political rival, Pompey.
- a group of senators conspired and assassinated him.
Augustus Caesar – Rome’s First Emperor

In response to Caesar’s death, his nephew and heir Augustus defeated the conspirators. He then established himself as the first Roman emperor.

The Roman Empire dramatically shifted power away from representative democracy to centralized imperial authority, with the emperor holding the most power. Unlike Julius, Augustus Caesar (i.e. Octavian) used political prowess to appoint officials to government.

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius [Publius Sulpicius Quirinus] was governor of Syria.
the Gospel of Luke 2:1-2 NASB

Sent by the gods

Ara Pacis of Augustus

Rome’s political bickering between the classes ends abruptly on the ides of March, 44 B.C. with the assignation of Julius Caesar, effectively dissolving Rome’s flailing republic with its Senate and representatives of lower free classes of citizens.

Julius Caesar’s recognition as a god of the Roman state in ..42 BC enhanced Octavian’s prestige as son of a god.
Britannica
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Had I been living at the time of Christ's trial this would have taken place about the time of my own birth, i.e. seven decades ago
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Octavian also launched elaborate religious and patriotic publicity, centring on the classical god of order, Apollo..

In addition, Octavian had started to prefix his name with the designation “Imperator,” to suggest that he was the commander par excellence.. gradually concentrating on the plain, emotive name “Caesar Son of a God.”

… his name Caesar, acquired through adoption in Julius’s will, was supplemented by “Augustus,” an appellation with an antique religious ring… – Britannica

Might makes right and establishes its peace by the power of war.

Caesar Augustus, by his military might and political prowess, introduced a peace of Rome forcing a better world of prosperity and restoring ‘the religion of the Republic.’

‘The strength of Rome lay in the iron discipline of its troops rather than fortified positions.
The Historical Atlas of the Bible

The Roman Prefect – Pontius Pilate
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Source: Wikipedia
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- Pilate was likely born to a middle-class family in southern Italy with some influence in Rome.
- He probably served in the Roman army before promotion.
- Pilate would have had a military command before becoming prefect of Judaea in 26 A.D.
  - ‘Prefect‘ was a title for a temporary appointment of the leader of a city-state, later used for a more permanent regional govenor.
  - The post of governor of Judaea was of relatively low prestige.
  - Technically the Prefect of Judea served under a governor of the Roman province of Syria, however Tiberius had not bothered to appoint one to replace Syria’s former governor.
Where does Pilate fit in to the religions of Rome?

Roman soldiers would have regularly paraded though the public streets of Rome during festivals (some religious, some civic), when returning victorious from war (which was with some frequency) and after ceremoniously worshiping in public and marching from Rome for their next military campaign.

Pilate no doubt would have been a participant in these public shows of the military many times in his early career. As a participant and possibly a leader of such public processions in Rome, Pilate would fully understand the implications of this man Jesus riding into Jerusalem just a few days prior to the cheers and adulations of the crowds.

Was Jesus entering Jerusalem a religious processional?

To Pilate it seemed more like a victorious popular leader praised by the multitudes of Jerusalem (like when conquering generals return to Rome.

No doubt the Sanhedrin sees this Jesus as a religious threat to them, but what is that to Rome?

Meaningless. The vanity of these Jews thinking that they still had anything to do with governing Judea.

Religion in Roman Culture and Military
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source: Wikipedia
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Roman religion was practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, “I give that you might give”. Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma..

This religion of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate is, of course, quite different from the worship of the Jews of Judea. Although some aspects or Roman and Jewish religion were similar.

For ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family’s domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances.

.. when Rome struggled to establish itself as a dominant power, many new temples were built by magistrates in fulfillment of a vow to a deity for assuring their military success.

Pilate and other Roman soldiers would have been part of festivals and honors paid to such victories at these shrines or temples in Rome.

Roman theology acknowledged that di immortales (immortal gods) ruled all realms of the heavens and earth. There were gods of the upper heavens, gods of the underworld and a myriad of lesser deities between. Some evidently favoured Rome because Rome honoured them, but none were intrinsically, irredeemably foreign or alien.

Public religious ceremonies of the official Roman religion took place outdoors, and not within the temple building.
Wikipedia

Religion and the military

Military success was the touchstone of a special relationship with the gods, and to Jupiter Capitolinus in particular; triumphal generals were dressed as Jupiter, and laid their victor’s laurels at his feet.

Roman commanders offered vows to be fulfilled after success in battle or siege; and further vows to expiate their failures…

Roman camps followed a standard pattern for defense and religious ritual; in effect they were Rome in miniature.

Caesarea, Roman capitol of Judea built with cooperation of Herod the Great, was home to the Prefect of Judea Pontius Pilate, his family and loyal troops for ten years.

Each camp had its own religious personnel; standard bearers, priestly officers and their assistants, including a haruspex, and housekeepers of shrines and images. A senior magistrate-commander (sometimes even a consul) headed it, his chain of subordinates ran it and a ferocious system of training and discipline ensured that every citizen-soldier knew his duty.

Judea (and other provinces) after Augustus

Under the rule of Augustus, there existed a deliberate campaign to reinstate previously held belief systems amongst the Roman population. These once held ideals had been eroded and met with cynicism by this time.

The imperial order emphasized commemoration of great men and events which led to the concept and practice of divine kingship.

Emperors postceding Augustus subsequently held the office of Chief Priest (pontifex maximus) combining both political and religious supremacy under one title.

Jews and Judaism were tolerated in Rome by diplomatic treaty with Judaea’s Hellenised elite. Diaspora Jews had much in common with the overwhelmingly Hellenic or Hellenised communities that surrounded them.

By the Augustan era, the city of Rome was home to several thousand Jews.
Wikipedia

Again, even prior to his later appointment as Prefect of Judea, Pilate would have been familiar with the Jews.
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We will return to Pilate's problem of the 'king of the Jews' as Prefect of Judea.

To be continued...
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Page TWO - Please click Page 2 below for the questions.
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October 14, 2020