Okay… I’ve got it all down now.
We just need to understand who the main players are.
Name to history: Nero
Name at birth: Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
Name in story: Jesus The Netzerite
Name to history: Vespasian
Name at birth: Titus Flavius Vespasianus
Name in story: John the Baptist
Name to history: Titus
Name at birth: Titus Flavius Vespasianus
Name in story: John son of ZEBEDION
Name to history: Domitian
Name at birth: Titus Flavius Domitianus
Name in story: Brother of John, son of ZEBEDION
Name to history: Trajan’s father
Name at birth: Marcus Ulpius Traianus (not to be confused with Trajan who was his son and was also Marcus Ulpius Traianus)
Name in story: Simon (later, in chapter 3, Simon Peter)
Name to history: Trajan’s uncle
Name at birth: Marcus Ulpius Marcellus
Name in story: Andrew
The real-world background story, to set the scene, runs like this: Nero sends Vespasian to fight the rebel uprising in Judea… Vespasian is planning a serious (and long) campaign so the first thing to do is to establish complete control of Egypt and the supply line necessary to feed an army. He spends some time between Egypt and the Holy Land in the wilderness. He plans a coup… with his army in position, holding the grain stocks of all Egypt at his mercy.
BUT… Nero cannot be defeated if he simply disappears! Nero’s clever tactic, as his reputation is not good whilst Vespasian’s is (a great legate in the British campaign back in 43), is to fake his own suicide…
According to the standard narrative of history… well, let me quote Wikipedia:
Vespasian was the first emperor from an equestrian family who rose only later in his lifetime into the senatorial rank as the first of his family to do so. Vespasian’s renown came from his military success;[6] he was legate of Legio II Augusta during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 and subjugated Judaea during the Jewish rebellion of 66.[7]
While Vespasian was fighting against a Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide and plunged Rome into a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. After Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became emperor in April 69. The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, the emperor on 1 July 69.
Only… that’s not how it went down… and I KNOW that that’s not how it went down because the Bible tells me so!
Nero Redivivus!
No WONDER people were expecting Nero to return any day soon for hundreds of years to come…
Let’s catch up with the action in the famous Gospel According to Mark (a name derived from Mars, Roman god of war)…
Without any further ado… are you sitting comfortably? Then if you’d turn to your Bibles, the reading today is from Mark Chapter 1:
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. (Nero sends Vespasian to Zion)
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3 The voice of Vespasian crying to his troops in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of Emperor Nero, make his paths straight”
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
4 Vespasian did wet people up [with blood] in the wilderness, and dealt death for rebellion.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and lo: the campaign is largely successful
6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
6 I told you to consider the prophets at the top (verse 2)… Vespasian was like Elijah (recall that before Elijah was spirited away, Elisha requested a double-dose of Elijah’s spirit, a request that Elijah granted on condition that Elisha watched his ascension, which he did)
7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
7 Well, unlikely that that’s how Vespasian saw Nero, actually, but the victors write the history, right?
8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
8 Also unlikely that Vespasian said this, this is Nero putting words in his mouth, but it gets the idea across.
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in[ed: in Greek it’s odd, more INTO] Jordan.
9 Big picture for this act: Nero found himself guiltless of sins by offing Vespasian
10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
10 As Nero disappeared Vespasian and rose from the dead (came out of a year-long game of hide-and-seek) to take his place… Elijah’s Spirit did not disappear but redoubled Elisha’s strength
11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
11 God Himself affirmed Nero as the Chosen One
12 And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
12 And immediately the spirit driveth Nero into the wilderness. (Let’s GO, boys, I’ve got my superpower now)
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
13 [going back in time] And he (Vespasian) was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
– that is… whilst Vespasian was performing the campaign Nero had ordered him to perform he plotted to become Emperor himself
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
14 Now after that Titus Flavius Vespasianus (father and son were both Titus Flavius Vespasianus, don’t forget) was put in the brig, Nero came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Pax Romana,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
16 Now as Nero marched to the sea of Galilee, he met up with the legions of the brothers Marcus Ulpius Traianus and Marcus Ulpius Marcellus fighting Judeans at sea
17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
17 Nero revealed his sneaky plan (not revealed in this first chapter, the big reveal is much later on)
18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
18 Traianus and Marcellus (and their two legions) recognised Nero as the true Emperor and the game was afoot!
19 And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
19 Nero met up also with Titus and Domitian (and their legions). Vespasian is cast as “ZEBEDION” (by sound, looking at the original Greek) because it’s a Hebrew Dingbat: EBED in ZION – it’s a title that indicates that Vespasian, a noble, lost his citizenship and became Nero’s captive in the Holy Land… when he was imprisoned, see above.
20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
20 And straightway Nero gained an oath of allegiance from Titus and Domitian who left their father Vespasian in the ship and left with Nero.
Anyhow… I haven’t fully decoded the whole book… heck, I’m not sure I’ve caught all the subtleties in just this first part of the first chapter…
But I think that that should be sufficient information for anybody with enough time on their hands and an internet connection to have the key they need to decode the New Testament PROPERLY.
Are you convinced?
By the way… scholars have often noted the strange “who is Jesus” theme of Mark… and Jesus’ desire to keep his identity secret…
Consider the final verse of the chapter:
45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
45 This fellow went to tell the World “Nero Lives!” so Nero could no more openly enter into the city, but commanded the armies of Rome from various places in the desert.
Oh… and don’t forget that Arimathea is code for “Arima, place of the Beast Typhon’s entombment” (and Typhon was a beast because his mother Gaia raised him so – whilst Nero was a beast because his mother Agrippina raised him so).
There are deep, rich allusions… it’s a sophisticated piece of well-considered writing steeped in Greek culture and dipping its toe into Hebrew scripture too… not the sort of thing some hick fishermen in the outback in the first century whispered among themselves for 35 years whilst the rumours spread to Rome whilst migrating languages… THAT hypothesis is utterly preposterous in the light of this revelation (and don’t forget that in Revelation the number of the beast is Nero).
P.S. Even the much-maligned Joseph Atwill doesn’t see the whole picture 😀
Enjoy the enlightenment
P.P.S If any of you know any scholars who might be able to review this and comment… I’d love to have somebody who knows what they’re talking about tell me what I’ve got wrong if I’ve got it wrong.
P.P.P.S The legions involved, if anybody was interested, were:
Legio V Macedonica
Legio X Fretensis
Legio XV Apollinaris