Two thousand years ago, Israel was an occupied nation, with a "foreign" king -- a descendant of Edomite converts -- and possessing a centuries old promise of freedom and a return to THE LAW of its founders. Then, as now, those who identified themselves as true Hebrews -- Jewish descendants of the original biblical tribes -- could be seen to apply THE LAW in varying degrees, or, styles, of observance. Those variations were not unlike the secular to orthodox variations we see in modern religious affiliations.
SAINT PAUL'S JOKE recounts the history of the period and then focuses upon premise underlying the words of a Hebrew merchant, a tent maker, called Saul of Tarsus and known to us as St. Paul -- the author of over forty percent of the defining Christian work known as The New Testament.
For the first two centuries of the Christian era which ended with the emergence of a king named Constantine, and a Roman-Egyptian apologist known as Augustine of Hippo, to be a Christian meant one was either a Hebrew who followed the teachings of a man called Peter, or a pagan convert defined by the teachings of Paul. Under either identity, to be a Christian meant that - in accordance with the centuries old promise of a Davidic king whose power and law would encompass the world - you identified with, and practiced, the teachings said to have originated with Moses.
Nearly four centuries ago, Sir Isaac Newton calculated the dates, the years, associated with the threatened apocalypse -- a period when all humanity would be judged by their faith in, and adherence to the decrees of, the biblical deity variously known as HaShem, Allah, or the father of Jesus. The time of that judgment, agreeing with, but derived through a different manner than the one utilized by Newton, could begin within your lifetime -- in theory it will span the period from 2034/5 to 2064/5.
SAINT PAUL'S JOKE looks at why and explains what those who truly believe in the teachings and prophecy will need to focus upon in order to survive that Judgment, or have their children survive it.
About the Author: Prof. W. Lawrence Lipton holds degrees from New York University and Pace University; he has held positions with Husson University and the University of Maine. He first came to international attention in the late 1970's, when his work was recognized throughout the British Commonwealth, and his biography was included in the British and Indian equivalents of the American "Who's Who in Writers, Editors, and Poets"; this was corrected in 1980, when Marques - the Who's Who publishers - introduced their American, and in the next year the American and Canadian, version. Lipton has remained a listee for the past thirty years.
