Watchman's Teaching Letter #129 January 2009
This is my one hundred twenty-ninth monthly teaching letter and continues my eleventh year of publication. This is another in a series on the apostle Paul. With this lesson, I’m going to demonstrate that Paul understood and taught the Two Seedline message. For documentation on this fact, I’ll cite Romans 16:20 where Paul wrote: “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Master Yahshua Christ be with you ...”
Whether Paul received this in one of his revelations from Yahshua or understood it from the book of Daniel is uncertain. Whatever the case, Paul didn’t live quite long enough to see this prophecy fulfilled. Actually Paul was not the first to make this prediction. If Paul understood this from the book of Daniel it would have been Dan. 9:25-26: “25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”
This passage is somewhat confusing inasmuch as most of it is speaking 400 plus years in Daniel’s future, while the remark “... the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times ...” is a short range prophecy. For our purpose here, we can overlook this remark for the time being. In these two verses we have mention of two different princes. Rightly so, the translators have capitalized the “Prince” in verse 25, while in verse 26 the “prince” is not capitalized. So we know that the Prince at verse 25 is no other than Yahshua the Messiah while the prince at verse 26 is someone else. Therefore it is speaking of two different princes rather than just one! Though the term “prince” has many variations of meaning, the princes spoken of in these passages are both non-reigning male members of a royal family. Not only that, but both of these princes represent princes in the royal family of the patriarch Judah!
Because Adam Clarke was a humble man and worked hard to master several languages, he has a better than average comment on Dan. 9:26, although he had many blind spots in other areas:
“Verse 26. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary] By the ‘prince’ Titus, the son of Vespasian, is plainly intended; and ‘the people of that prince’ are no other than the Romans, who, according to the prophecy, destroyed the sanctuary, חקדש hakkodesh, the holy place or temple, and, as a flood, swept away all, till the total destruction of that obstinate people finished the war.”
With this passage we now have a tie-in with Romans 16:20. As I have pointed out in my Scarlet-Thread series, the Romans were by-and-large of the tribe of Zerah-Judah. Also, while addressing Romans 16:20, my KJV center-reference takes me to Gen. 3:15 where it speaks of the “seed (children) of the serpent”. This KJV center reference system I am referring to was developed through the combined study of many contributing scholars and theologians. Most of the older Bibles have this same proper center reference system. I have a KJV published by The World Publishing Company during the mid-50’s which has this proper center reference system. I checked a World Bible recently at a Christian book store, and it had been changed from the one which I have. I also have a large Southwestern Bible which has the correct center reference system. I understand some of the Bibles printed by Dove Inc., Nashville, TN have the correct center reference also. Today you can purchase a KJV Zondervan Classic Reference Bible with the correct center reference system.
If you already have a KJV with a center-reference, you can check the following passages to see if you have the correct one: See (1) if Rev. 12:9 takes you to Gen. 3:1, 4; Rev. 20:2; Rev. 20:3; Rev. 9:1, (2) if Gen. 3:1 takes you to Rev. 12:9; 2 Cor. 11:3 or (3) if Jude 6 takes you to John 8:44; 2 Pet. 2:4; Rev. 20:10. If you find these center-references in your present KJV, chances are you have the correct center-reference system. Beware, though, of Nelson, Universal or Scofield. Some Bible center-references aren’t worth the powder to blow them up! It is interesting that the center-reference in the Scofield edition on Romans 16:20 will take you to Gen. 3:1 rather than Gen. 3:15. This is deceptive, as at Gen. 3:1 it speaks of the serpent (Satan) alone, but at Gen. 3:15 it speaks of the serpent (Satan) having children (descendants). In other words, devils walking around in shoeleather to bump elbows with.
If one wishes an even greater number of crossreferences, one can purchase the book The New Treasury Of Scripture Knowledge edited by Jerome H. Smith, and one will have a gold-mine of crossreferences at hand. I have found that about 90% of the crossreferences in this book are pertinent to the subject I have chosen when doing Biblical research. I have this book both in book form and in electronic data in the Libronix Digital Library on my computer. In the electronic data form, all one need do is place the cursor on a reference and the verse will automatically readout on the screen, saving a lot of time and effort looking up each one of the references up in a Bible. For instance, one will become amazed at how many times, Paul in his epistles, quotes passages from the Old Testament! It should be noted that The New Treasury Of Scripture Knowledge at Romans 16:20 also takes one to Gen. 3:15, so the “Satan” at Rom. 16:20 can be none other than the serpent’s seedline from Gen. 3:15! At this passage, Satan was to be “bruised”, therefore we need to know the definition of the Greek word #4937. From the electronic Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon we read:
“4937 συντρίβω [suntribo /soon·tree·bo/] verb. From 4862 and the base of 5147; ... Eight occurrences; AV translates as ‘bruise’ three times, ‘break’ twice, ‘broken to shivers’ once, ‘brokenhearted + 2588’ once, and ‘break in pieces’ once. 1 break, to break in pieces, shiver. 2 to tread down. 2a to put Satan under foot and (as a conqueror) trample on him. 2b to break down, crush. 2b1 to tear one’s body and shatter one’s strength.”
One can see from this that this was to be a literal physical bruising, not something merely “mental” or “spiritual” as some assert! Since the Canaanites claiming to be Judahites were responsible for Christ’s death by crucifixion, they too would receive death by crucifixion at the hand of the avenger of blood. To understand the Biblical principal behind the “avenger of blood”, I will quote from Insight On The Scriptures, vol. #1, pages 221-222:
“AVENGER OF BLOOD. In Hebrew this expression is go-’el´ had-dam´. The Hebrew word go-’el´ (which has been applied to a blood avenger) is a participle of ga-’al´, meaning ‘recover; reclaim; buy back; repurchase; redeem.’ (Exod. 15:13; Ps. 69:18; Lev. 25:25; Isa. 43:1; Jer. 31:11). In Hebrew law the term applied to the nearest male relative, who was under obligation to avenge the blood of one who had been killed (Num. 35:19). The term go-’el´ also designated a kinsman with the right to repurchase (or redeem). – Lev. 25:48, 49; Ruth 2:20 ...
“The avenging of blood is based on the mandate regarding the sanctity of blood and human life stated to Noah wherein Jehovah [sic Yahweh] said: ‘Your blood of your souls shall I ask back ... from the hand of each one who is his brother, shall I ask back the soul of man. Anyone shedding man’s blood, by man will his own blood be shed, for in God’s image he made man’ (Gen. 9:5, 6). A deliberate murderer was to be put to death by ‘the avenger of blood,’ and no ransom was to be accepted for such a murderer. – Num. 35:19-21, 31.
“Jehovah [sic Yahweh] will see to it that the innocent blood of all his faithful servants is avenged in due time. – Deut. 32:43; Rev. 6:9-11.
“Jehovah’s [sic Yahweh’s] just laws made a clear distinction between willful and accidental killing. For the latter, cities of refuge were lovingly provided for the protection of accidental manslayers from avengers of blood (Num. 35:6-29; Deut. 19:2-13; Jos. 20:2-9). Also, legal courts were established to hear cases involving questions of bloodguilt. – Deut. 17:8, 9; 2 Chron. 19:10.”
What one must not overlook is the fact that, upon the death of Yahshua Christ, there was of necessity a next-of-kin to become the avenger of blood for Him! Normally the avenger of blood would have fallen upon Pharez-Judah (Christ’s closest next-of-kin), but they were all scattered abroad after their captivity in Assyria. That left only Zerah-Judah to become the avenger-of-blood, and the Romans were by-and-large of Zerah-Judah. Although Zerah-Judah were not aware that it was their duty to do so, by the Providence of Yahweh it fell to them. Josephus, in his Wars V xi, describes the bruising of Satan:
“HOW THE JEWS WERE CRUCIFIED BEFORE THE WALLS OF THE CITY. CONCERNING ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES; AND HOW THE JEWS OVERTHREW THE BANKS THAT HAD BEEN RAISED BY THE ROMANS.
“1. So now Titus’s banks were advanced a great way, notwithstanding his soldiers had been very much distressed from the wall. He then sent a party of horsemen, and ordered they should lay ambushes for those that went out into the valleys to gather food. Some of these were indeed fighting men, who were not contented with what they got by rapine; but the greater part of them were poor people, who were deterred from deserting by the concern they were under for their own relations; for they could not hope to escape away, together with their wives and children, without the knowledge of the seditious; nor could they think of leaving relations to be slain by the robbers on their account: nay, the severity of the famine made them bold in thus going out; so nothing remained but that, when they were concealed from the robbers, they should be taken by the enemy; and when they were going to be taken, they were forced to defend themselves, for fear of being punished; as, after they had fought, they thought it too late to make any supplications for mercy; so they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews [sic Canaanite-jews]; nay, some days they caught more; yet did it not appear to be safe for him to let those that were taken by force go their way; and to set a guard over so many, he saw would be to make such as guarded them useless to him. The main reason why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.”
A footnote on this passage states: “Reland notices here justly this judgment came upon the Jews, since they had brought it on themselves by the crucifixion of ... Messiah.” And I wholeheartedly agree with Reland!
Josephus tells us, in the wars which ended in the taking of Jerusalem, by famine and the sword, there perished 1,100,000 “Jews”, and 97,000 were carried into captivity, Josephus’ Wars 6:9:3:
“3. Now the number of those that were carried captive during this whole war was collected to be ninety-seven thousand; as was the number of those that perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand, the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation [with the citizens of Jerusalem], but not belonging to the city itself; for they were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread, and were on a sudden shut up by an army, which, at the very first, occasioned so great a traitness among them that there came a pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly. And that this city could contain so many people in it is manifest by that number of them which was taken under Cestius, who being desirous of informing Nero of the power of the city, who otherwise was disposed to contemn that nation, entreated the high priests, if the thing were possible, to take the number of their whole multitude. So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice (for it is not lawful for them to feast singly by themselves), and many of us are twenty in a company, found the number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred; which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast together, amounts to two million seven hundred thousand and two hundred persons that were pure and holy; for as to those that have the leprosy, or the gonorrhea, or women that have their monthly courses, or such as are otherwise polluted, it is not lawful for them to be partakers of this sacrifice; nor indeed for any foreigners either, who come hither to worship.”
Now I know that this is not the present-day interpretation of Romans 16:20. It is generally thought today that the Romans were “Gentiles” in a heathen sense, and that the Canaanite-Edomite-jews are “God’s chosen people”, which cannot be farther from the truth! Neither Paul, Peter, nor any of the apostles ever used the word gentile. Gentile was never used in any of the books of the Bible until they were translated into the Latin, and the definition of the Latin word gentilis didn’t have the meaning of “non-jew” when ethnos or ethnê was translated from Greek to Latin. At that time gentilis simply meant “of the same clan or race”! It was translated from the Greek ethnos or ethnê, usually meaning nation or nations. Only in a few minor cases does the context of ethnos or ethnê mean heathen. Simply put, the Roman empire was an Israel nation of Zerah-Judah, made up of ten provinces. That doesn’t mean that everyone who lived within Rome’s boundaries were of Zerah-Judah, but they were the dominant part of its population. And like Pharez-Judah was famous for its ability to fight, so too were the Romans of Zerah-Judah! The important thing to understand is that when Paul ministered to the Romans, he was ministering to an Israel nation! Once one comes to understand all of this, one will have an entirely different perspective on Rom. 9:1-8!
Paul, at Rom. 16:20, was not the first to prophesy that Jerusalem would be destroyed, hence this is simply a renewal of Old Testament prophecies. The baseless doctrines which have been concocted with the 24th chapter of Matthew are simply amazing. These fanciful reasonings result from failure to establish doctrines based upon the whole Word! Our objective here, once we have exhaustively examined this subject, is to never again have any misgivings concerning these and related Scriptures. The premise for the 24th chapter of Matthew is laid in the passages as follows:
Jeremiah 26:18: “Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.” (Covered with trees instead of houses.)
Micah 3:12: “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.”
To show the significance of all of this, we need to do a thorough investigation on the subject. Before we get started though, we need to take under advisement three different views of prophecy: (1) Futurists, who project all prophecy into the future, (2) Praeterists, who claim all prophecy was fulfilled by 70 A.D., and, (3) Historicists, who see prophecy as a continuing unfolding historic panorama. Upon the first Bibles being circulated during the Reformation, the Roman Church was seen as anti-Christ. Upon the growing opposition, one Jesuit priest projected prophecy forward and another Jesuit priest projected it into the past. The “Futurists” hold that the last week of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy was never fulfilled; they chop it off from the other 69 weeks and propel the last week 2000 years into the future when they predict (1) a “rapture”, and then, (2) either a three and a half or seven year period of tribulation representing Daniel’s 70th week. We need to know all this because these various opinions affect the interpretations of Matthew 24 and other related passages.
For instance, Matthew 24:2 states: “And Yahshua said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
These are probably the last words spoken as He left the Temple. This part of Yahshua’s prediction was fulfilled in a most literal manner. Josephus says, Wars 7:1:1, “Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, except the three towers, Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a part of the western wall, and these were spared; but, for all the rest of the wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground, by those who dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited.”
Hence, so utterly destroyed was the Temple, Titus, the Roman emperor, taking Jerusalem (about forty years after Christ’s words at Matt. 24:2), commanded his soldiers to spare the Temple when they entered the city, but they in their rage burnt of it what was of a combustible nature; and Turnus Rufus, left general of his army when away, drew a plough over it, as Yahweh had said, Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12, as quoted above, “Zion shall be ploughed like a field.” And when after this Alippius, by the command of Julian the apostate, attempted the rebuilding of it, with the help of the Canaanite-jews, it is reported by diverse sources, that balls or globes of fire rose up from the foundations, destroyed many of the workmen, and made the place inaccessible for any further such attempts. Titus tried unsuccessfully to save the Temple, but his soldiers put it to the torch, thus fulfilling Yahshua’s prophecy. When the fire melted the gold trim, the molten metal ran down between the stones. To get it, the soldiers had removed the stones one by one, just as our Messiah predicted. The judgment was executed in A.D. 70 when the Romans under Titus sacked Jerusalem. (To verify some of these gleaned comments from various sources, check The Treasury Of Scriptural Knowledge, edited by Jerome Smith on Jer. 26:18, p. 850, and Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Matt. 24:1-3, vol. 5, pp. 345-346.) According to John Lightfoot in his A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica on Matt. 24:2, vol. 2, p. 309 indicates that Turnus Rufus is identical to “Terentius Rufus” of Josephus’ at Wars 7:2:1.
According to Josephus’ Wars 6:9:3, 1,100,000 bad-fig-jews perished, while 97,000 were carried into captivity. This was prophesied also at Isa. 65:15 which states: “And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for Yahweh God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.” The center-reference in my KJV takes me to Acts 11:26 on this verse, which says: “... And it came to pass, that a whole year they gathered themselves with the assembly, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” Here the “chosen” are the Christians rather than Canaanite-jews! Yahshua Himself prophesied about the Canaanite-jews thusly at Luke 21:23-24, where it states in part: “... for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations ...” This passage is not speaking of any true Israelites, for James 1:1 tells us that all twelve tribes of Israel had already been scattered abroad. Christ is speaking here of the half-breed Canaanite-Edomite-jews pretending to be Israelites, just as they do today!
There were, though, a smattering of true-blooded Israelites left in Judaea and Galilee, as evidenced at Luke 21:21: “Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.” There is a note attached to Luke 21:21 by The New Treasury Of Scripture Knowledge, edited by Jerome H. Smith which states: “21 flee. Accordingly, when Cestius Gallus came against Jerusalem, and unexpectedly raised the siege, Josephus states, that many of the noble Jews [sic Judaeans] departed out of the city, as out of a sinking ship; and when Vespasian afterwards drew towards it, a great multitude fled to the mountains. And we learn from Eusebius, and Epiphanius, that at this juncture, all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem, and removed to Pella, and other places beyond Jordan; and so escaped the general shipwreck of their country, that we do not read of one who perished in Jerusalem.”
From this it is evident that by-and-large most all that were left in Jerusalem were the bad-fig-Canaanite-Edomite-jews to be crushed under the feet of the Romans. Thus was fulfilled Paul’s prediction at Romans 16:20! But a few witnesses like Josephus were spared in order to witness that what had been predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament, Christ and Paul, had been fulfilled to the letter!
For more documentation on this phase of the story, we will turn to Eusebius’ The Church History translated by Paul L. Maier, pages 95-97:
“After Nero’s rule of thirteen years, that of Galba and Otho occupied a year and a half, and then Vespasian, who had distinguished himself in the campaigns against the Jews, was proclaimed emperor while still in Judea, having been hailed as imperator by the armies there. He immediately set out forArial class= Rome, entrusting to his son Titus the war against the Jews.
“Now after our Savior’s ascension, the Jews followed their crime against him with numerous plots against the apostles. First they stoned Stephen to death. Next James, son of Zebedee and brother of John, was beheaded. And finally James, the first to be appointed Bishop of Jerusalem, died in the way described previously, while the other apostles were driven out of Judea by numerous deadly plots. But they traveled into every land, teaching their message in the power of Christ, who had told them, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations in my name’ [Matt. 28:19]. Meanwhile, before the war began, members of the Jerusalem church were ordered by an oracle given by revelation to those worthy of it to leave the city and settle in a city of Perea called Pella. Here they migrated from Jerusalem, as if, once holy men had deserted the royal capital of the Jews and the whole land of Judea, the judgment of God might finally fall on them for their crimes against Christ and his apostles, utterly blotting out all that wicked generation.
“Those who wish may trace precisely from Josephus’s history the disasters that overwhelmed the entire nation, especially how the residents of Judea were driven to the limits of suffering; how many thousands of men, women, and children died by the sword, famine, and countless other forms of death; how many famous Jewish cities endured horrors under siege; and in particular the terrors of those who fled for refuge to Jerusalem as an ‘impregnable fortress.’ They can study all the details of the entire war and how in the end the Abomination of Desolation, declared by the prophets, was set up in the very temple of God, celebrated of old, when it was utterly destroyed by fire. I must, however, point out how Josephus estimates that the people from all of Judea who at the time of the Passover thronged into Jerusalem, as if to a prison, numbered three million. It was indeed appropriate that in the very days on which they perpetrated the Savior’s passion they should be shut inside a prison, as it were, and receive the destruction meted out by divine justice ...”
Now Paul L. Maier doesn’t distinguish the difference between the good-fig-Judahites and the bad-fig-Canaanite-Edomite-jews. That very important detail is left to the reader to determine. The moral to the story is that the good-fig-Judahites fled to Pella and the Canaanite-jews stayed in Jerusalem, and as the apostle Paul stated it: “... the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly ...” Please take note here that Paul didn’t say that God would use His feet to bruise Satan, but use the feet of the Romans to bruise Satan. In other words the Roman soldier’s feet were God’s feet! The only way that the Roman soldier’s feet could be God’s feet is if the Roman people were under the covenants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
There are other prophecies in the Old Testament which also betoken this same incident. To show that, I will repeat a portion of my Watchman’s Teaching Letter #109 for May, 2007:
The futurists use Acts 1:9-12 and Zechariah 14:1-4 to claim that Christ will return to Mount Olivet when He returns at His Second Coming, and neither passage supports such a conclusion. My question is: What is there at that location today that would make it worth His while to return there? Our problem is, we have been mesmerized by all those promoting the futurist doctrine, quoting Zechariah 14:1-4 which says:
“1 Behold, the day of Yahweh cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
These four verses are prophecy already fulfilled, when the Romans under Titus destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Anyone who has an Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible, both the original six-volume edition or the abridged edition by Ralph Earle can check this out.
The part that confuses most people is: “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem ... Then shall Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” One must stop here and consider all the nations that fought against Jerusalem during its history. Psalm 83:5-12 names a few of them which include “The tabernacles of Edom...” which today we would consider as the bad-fig-jews. So get it straight here, whom Yahweh is going to fight against! It’s not talking about all the nations on the planet during a so-called future supposed seven year period of tribulation!
At verse 1, Clarke says: “This appears to be a prediction of that war in which Jerusalem was finally destroyed, and the Jews scattered all over the face of the earth, and effects produced by it.” At verse 2, he says: “many were preserved for slaves, and for exhibition in the provincial theaters.” At verse 4, “It was on the Mount of Olives that Titus posted his army to batter Jerusalem ... I really think that these words refer to the intrenchments, etc., which the Romans made while carrying on the siege of this city; and particularly the line or trenches which the army made on Mount Olivet itself.” Clarke’s comments may not be entirely perfect, but at least he correctly identifies to whom the prophecy refers.
Remember again that the Roman soldier’s feet were Christ’s feet. Christ had every right to use them to bruise the head of the serpent (His enemy), as they were of his brother’s tribe of Zerah. And the Romans, being near-of-kin, had every right – even an obligation – to be the avenger of blood for Christ, even if they were unaware that they were doing so. When I say “right” here, I mean Biblical right. So the action taken by the Romans against the Canaanite-jews at Jerusalem was administered right in line with Biblical law. I know that among the Roman hierarchy there was a lot left to be desired, but that is beside the point. A good example was Nero, who imagined himself as God.
Nero was born in Antium. His given and family names were Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and his father Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, a nobleman. Agrippina the Younger was Nero’s mother, and the great-grand-daughter of Augustus Caesar. After Nero’s father died, he as a child was adopted by Claudius, who had married Nero’s mother, Agrippina. Claudius adopted Nero as his eldest son, naming him Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. Nero married Octavia, Claudius’ daughter by a previous marriage. Later Claudius died, some believing he was poisoned by Agrippina, so her son Nero could become emperor. Later Nero’s insanity came to the fore when he had Agrippina murdered. Nero then divorced Octavia and then had her killed, and then married the jewess Poppaea Sabina, whom he also had killed a few years later. Nero then took two male lovers, and treated one as his husband and the other as his wife. [Gleaned from The First Apostles & The Founding of the Churches in the West-France, Britain & Rome by John David McElhaney, Jr., p. 12.].
It should also be pointed out that it was Nero who was responsible for the decapitation of the apostle Paul’s head and throwing all of the known Christians, at his time, to be torn limb by limb, by the lions. It is apparent here that through his father and his mother, Nero had the blood of Zerah-Judah flowing through his veins. So it is evident that Nero was a disgrace to his heritage (the Trojans). Thus, it is now clear just how badly the Romans needed the Gospel, and it was Paul who was the instrument that took it to them! That is why we need to crown Yahshua Christ as our King, which is yet in the future!
