Matthew 28:11b...[B]ehold some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all things that had been done.
12 And they being assembled together with the ancients, taking counsel, gave a great sum of money to the soldiers,
13 Saying: Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole him away when we were asleep.
14 And if the governor shall hear this, we will persuade him, and secure you.
15 So they taking the money, did as they were taught: and this word was spread abroad among the Jews even unto this day.
At the end of the Gospel for today's Mass, Monday of the Easter Octave, we are told of a Jewish conspiracy to spread lies about Christ and about Christians.
If this is true (which it must be, for the Word of God does not lie!) it is astounding and puts history in a completely new light. There are powerful bodies of men who conspire and tell deliberate lies about Christ "...even unto this day!"
There is at least one very prominent and influential Jewish philosopher of modern times who espoused that myth and spread it far and wide, the devastating effects of which we are still feeling (with miserable Cuba right at our door step): Karl Marx. Recall his claim that religion is the opium of the people, a variation on that same theme that religious leaders are frauds and that religion is false and based on lies.
[Religion]...is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. --Marx
At least in the lies and false hopes of Communism we have an illustrious (if very unfortunate) proof that this scripture is still being fulfilled! The Communists think that destroying Christians is a service to humanity!
At least in the lies and false hopes of Communism we have an illustrious (if very unfortunate) proof that this scripture is still being fulfilled! The Communists think that destroying Christians is a service to humanity!
That Christianity is a lie is one of the foundational tenants of the Enlightenment, which continues to rule the day! The enemies of Christ lie to make us liars! The "Enlightened" think that smearing/destroying Christians is a service to humanity!
Another point in all of this is the astounding number of the Christians of the first century and beyond (before the legalization of Christianity) who were actually Roman soldiers. We have thousands of martyrs alone from that period who testified with their own blood to the historical truth of the resurrection! Many parts of Europe had Christians there centuries before the preaching of the missionaries because of the Christian soldiers in the Roman ranks.
"Roman soldiers doubtless brought Christianity into the region [of my home, Southern Germany] already in pre-Constantinian times, and, even if the faith was largely buried in the chaos of the migration of peoples, streamlets of it were nonetheless able to continue flowing through this dark epoch, to be revitalized by the missionaries who afterward arrived from Gaul, Ireland, and England,...even...Byzantine influences." Milestones, Joseph Ratzinger pp. 7-8.
N.B. There is at least one very fine Hollywood movie presenting this drama of faith among the Roman ranks: The Robe (1953).
The conversion of the masses of early believers is already testified by the conversion of the centurion and the other soldiers witnessing the crucifixion.
Matthew 27:54 Now the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake, and the things that were done, were sore afraid, saying: "Indeed this was the Son of God."
