Source: “Custodians of Truth : The Continuance of Rex Deus”, by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins, Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, 2005.
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This podcast explores the profound and lasting impact of the failed Jewish revolt against Rome in the first century CE on both Judaism and the nascent Christian movement. It argues that the destruction of the Temple forced a fundamental reshaping of Judaism toward rabbinical tradition, while the Roman victory enabled Pauline Christianity's shift away from its Jewish roots and a focus on Jesus as a divine savior. Crucially, the text highlights the persecution and dispersal of the descendants of Jesus' family, known as the Rex Deus or Ebionites, who held to a more Jewish understanding of Jesus and preserved esoteric teachings, often underground. In contrast to the repressive, centralized Church that emerged in Europe, the text points to the relative religious tolerance and flourishing intellectual life of Moorish Spain and Celtic Christianity as alternative examples influenced by these less dogmatic traditions.
Topic 1 The aftermath of the Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-73 C.E.) and the fall of Jerusalem had a devastating impact on the Jewish people. The holy city was left in ruins, the Temple destroyed, and the streets filled with corpses. Surviving inhabitants faced severe consequences, including crucifixion for those who attempted escape, parading in chains through Rome behind their conquerors, ritual execution of leaders, and being sold into slavery, sent to the arena, or forced into labor in galleys and mines across the empire. The sources state that this failed revolution changed international history, shaping the future of Europe, the Middle East, and ultimately the Americas. One immediate outcome described is that the defeat of "apocalyptic hope" and the physical destruction of the Judaeo-Christian sect cleared the path for Pauline Christians to strip Jesus of his national identity, soften his revolutionary message, and present him as a "saviour-god" offering comfort to the masses.
Topic 2 With the destruction of the Temple, mainstream Judaism underwent significant changes to ensure its survival under Roman rule. Religious and cultural activities had to be recast in complete subservience to Roman power. The Pharisees, who had advocated accommodation with the Romans and opposed the revolt, played a key role in this transformation. Rabbi Yohanen ben Zakkai, a Pharisee who was smuggled out of Jerusalem during the siege, was one of the few Jewish leaders to retain credibility after the city's fall due to his moderation. He approached Emperor Vespasian and received permission to establish a school at Jamnia. This school became a spiritual center for Jews to study, pray, and restructure their religion, explicitly avoiding any revolutionary fervor. This new form of Judaism was stripped of its messianic and intensely nationalistic zeal. Without the Temple for sacrifice, rabbis taught Jews to experience God through their neighbors, with some emphasizing "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" as the greatest principle of the Torah. The founding rabbis drew on established beliefs and scriptures but altered the emphasis and created new worship styles acceptable to the Romans, while continuing to speak of Jerusalem in the present tense to symbolize God's eternal mystical presence.
Topic 3 Following the Jewish revolt, the Roman authorities, including emperors Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Trajan, actively persecuted Jews who claimed descent from King David. The sources suggest this persecution was an intensification of an older threat. According to the Rex Deus sagas mentioned, Jesus' children were reportedly separated years earlier for safety. His son, James, was sent to King Abgar of Edessa, while his pregnant wife, Mary Magdalene, fled to Egypt, gave birth to a daughter named Sarah, and later sought refuge in southern France. After returning to Jerusalem following the revolt, the surviving members of the ma'madot (the twenty-four high-priestly families of biblical Judaism), including the Ebionites and those led by Jesus' cousin Simeon, realized this would not be a permanent stay due to the Roman persecution. To survive, these descendants of the Davidic line dispersed across Europe (France, England, Spain, Italy, Eastern Europe) and the Middle East. Before scattering, they reinforced their Cohenite marital practices to maintain their sacred bloodlines and began transforming their beliefs and practices. They had already rejected formal Temple worship, considering it polluted, and now discarded fervent nationalism and anti-Roman stances. They placed greater emphasis on behavior and formed an elite dedicated to sacred brotherhood based on gnostic principles of justice and truth, aiming to preserve the spiritual core of their initiatory message ("doing Torah") without fear of persecution. Later, after a rebuke from Pope Sylvester, the Desposyni and other Ebionites went underground, learning to dissemble and outwardly follow the prevailing religion while secretly preserving teachings and spreading gnostic insight. As hereditary high priests (Cohens), they adhered strictly to clan marriage laws, unlike Levites, tracing their origins back to ancient Egypt. They eventually called themselves Rex Deus or "the Families."
Topic 4 In the aftermath of the failed Jewish revolt, the followers of Jesus divided into two primary groups: the original apostles and their followers, known as the Nazoreans or Ebionites, led first by James and then by Simeon; and their theological opponents, the Christians, who adhered to the teachings of Paul. The Ebionites faced rapid dispersal or scattering due to Roman persecution, as mentioned previously. The Pauline Christians, in contrast, were relatively more settled, and the group centered in Rome eventually gained supremacy, shaping the future belief structure of this "new" religion. The Ebionites relied on the oral transmission of Jesus' teachings received directly from the apostles or Jesus' brothers—individuals who had personally known and interacted with Jesus during his life. Paul's followers, however, received instruction from Paul, who admitted he had never met the living Jesus. Paul's claim to apostleship was based on visionary instruction he attributed to "the risen Lord."
Topic 5 The sources highlight the significant and disproportionate influence of Paul's activities and teachings in the New Testament accounts of Christian origins, stating they excessively predominate and virtually exclude the contributions and views of the original apostles and their understanding of Jesus' doctrine. Paul's prolific letter-writing is presented as the earliest reliable documentation of this period, circulating among his communities from about 47 C.E., more than thirty years before the first canonical Gospels appeared. These letters were the only documents circulating among Paul's converts before the Gospels. While other written sources, known as Q documents, are believed to have contained recorded teachings and descriptions of Jesus' ministry, they have since vanished or been suppressed. The sources argue that the Acts and Gospels are largely doctrinally dependent on Paul's work, leading to considerable confusion because their arrangement in the New Testament (Gospels first, then Acts, then Epistles) gives a false impression of chronological composition and theological importance. This arrangement, decided centuries later, obscures the fact that Paul's writings came first and heavily influenced the later narratives. The New Testament, dominated by Pauline material, provides only brief and misleading glimpses of the substantial Nazorean movement to which the original apostles belonged.
Topic 6 The sources discuss differing views on the nature of Jesus among early groups and the later development of Christian doctrine. The Q document, a lost source believed to underlie the Synoptic Gospels, reportedly did not depict Jesus as the Messiah or Christ, view his teachings as an indictment of Judaism, consider his crucifixion a divinely inspired event, or believe he was raised from the dead to rule the world. Instead, the authors of Q saw Jesus as a Jewish prophet whose teachings enabled a righteous life in troubled times, and they did not worship him as a god, which they, as devout Jews, would have considered ultimate blasphemy. The Ebionites and original apostles, some of whom had known Jesus since childhood, also regarded him as human, born of human seed, and created by God, not begotten by God the Father. They used the Gospel of Matthew (calling it the Gospel according to the Hebrews) to the exclusion of others. The sources argue that the concept of Jesus' deification, present in the canonical Gospels which are partly based on Q but portray Jesus as divine, is an improbable doctrine given Jesus' Jewish background and the Jewish concept of God at the time. Deifying a human being was agreeable to heathen notions but diametrically opposed to Jewish belief; any Jew claiming such would face death for blasphemy. This suggests the deification of Jesus was an intrusion from Gentile or heretical sources, not fundamental to Jesus' original message, and was staunchly resisted by the original apostles and Jewish believers. The sources note a scholarly consensus on the probable dating of the canonical Gospels: Mark (70-80 C.E.), Matthew (about 80-90 C.E.), Luke and Acts (first decade of 2nd century), and John (100-120 C.E.). The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) are extensively founded on the earlier Q source.
Topic 7 The sources describe the formation of a repressive church/state alliance following the Edict of Milan in 312 and the Council of Nicea. The Edict of Milan allowed the "mother church of Western Christianity" to inherit the Roman Empire. Soon after Nicea, Emperor Constantine restricted benefits granted to the Christian Church exclusively to "adherents of the Catholic Faith," defined as those who accepted the new creed's doctrine and the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome. Heretics and schismatics were excluded from these privileges and subjected to public services. Subsequent emperors continued this policy, leading to infamy and loss of civil rights for members of heretical sects. The first specific laws against heresy appeared in the 380s, and by the 5th century under Emperor Theodosius, there were over 100 statutes targeting heretics. St. Augustine (354-430), who became Bishop of Hippo, significantly contributed to the theological foundation of this repressive society. His doctrines included legitimizing the conscription of Christians into the military, "just wars" fought in Christ's name, coercion of minority groups, and portraying women negatively ("vessels of excrement"). His redefinition of heresy as "the distortion of a revealed truth by a believer or an unbeliever," where "revealed truth" was defined by the Church itself, helped the hierarchy establish a total monopoly on access to the sacred. The sources characterize this church/state marriage as an "abortion in the womb of the Church" that suppressed the "maternal" aspect and led to a persecuting society under papal direction.
Topic 8 The Roman Church, particularly after its alliance with the state, actively suppressed heresy and controlled access to knowledge. Theodosius I barred heretics from public office and conducted purges. A notable example is the exile of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who argued that debates about Jesus being God or Son of God were irrelevant as he had human parents. Nestorius was exiled along with a large group of Greek classical scholars, resulting in the loss of centuries of Greek intellectual heritage—philosophy, mathematics, and science—from European memory. The Church, despite claiming to be based on a redemptive sacrifice, showed no mercy to those who disagreed on faith matters. Heresy was defined as an opinion held by a minority deemed unacceptable by the majority (the Church) and powerful enough to punish. St. Augustine's definition of heresy as distorting "revealed truth"—defined by the Church itself—was used to establish a monopoly on accessing the sacred. The Church viewed the exercise of free will in faith as heresy. Even in 1990, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (modern Inquisition equivalent) claimed that "The freedom of the act of faith cannot justify the right to dissent," and the New Catholic Catechism stated that interpreting the Word of God is solely entrusted to the Church's teaching office. In its pursuit of absolute power, the Church feared any access to sacred or secular knowledge it did not control. It deliberately restricted education primarily to the clergy, making holy orders a prerequisite for literacy, stifling intellectual adventure, and keeping the populace in ignorance and fear. The Church campaigned for the destruction or closure of rival temples and worship centers, often taking over sacred sites.
Topic 9 Celtic Christianity is presented as a distinct form of early Christianity, appearing in Britain long before the emergence of Pauline dogma regarding Jesus' deification. Evangelists accredited by James the Just, who taught the true teachings of Jesus, reportedly founded the Church in Britain shortly after the crucifixion. Historical accounts describe this effort as spawning a distinctive religion known as Celtic Christianity. This environment fostered religious tolerance, allowing older Celtic religions like Druidism to coexist for centuries. Many Druids reportedly found this initiatory form of Christianity compatible and even became priests while retaining their intellectual status. A notable Celtic saint, Columba, reportedly preached "Jesus is my Druid," seen as an accurate description of Jesus' initiatory teaching in the West. The Celtic Church developed a pure and simple form of monasticism. Unlike the Roman Church, Celtic priests were encouraged to marry, and the priesthood was hereditary, similar to the early Jerusalem Church. They used spiritual insight for community benefit, not personal gain. Their churches avoided images of the crucifixion, and infant baptism was forbidden. The Celtic Church rejected the trappings and benefits of temporal power, contrasting sharply with the Roman Church's ambition. Celtic monks were known for their simplicity, humility, vibrant cultural dynamism, exemplary artwork, scholarship, and scriptural learning. They treasured education, accumulating large and well-used libraries. These nomadic "wandering scholars" evangelized much of Western Europe, from Scandinavia to Switzerland, and were noted for their learning in both classics and Holy Writ, distinguishing them from their Roman Catholic counterparts. They were credited with being the source of Greek knowledge on the European continent during the time of Charles the Bald, leaving a "silver trail of knowledge." Although their efforts were eventually overshadowed by the Roman Church's influence, they represented a "glimmer of hope" against the pervasive darkness of the Dark Ages, preserving the true teachings of Jesus in the Ebionite/Rex Deus tradition.
Topic 10 Moorish Spain, under Islamic rule from 755 to 1492, is depicted as a stark contrast to the Christian Church's intolerance and distrust of education, shining as a "bright beacon" in Dark Age Europe. Learning was highly valued and respected, leading to flourishing art, architecture, and centers of secular and religious education. The religious tolerance of the Islamic rulers allowed Christians, Muslims, and Jews to live together in relative peace and harmony for centuries. Jews, who faced persecution and second-class status elsewhere in Europe, enjoyed a rich cultural renaissance in Spain. Christians were also granted full religious liberty throughout the Islamic Empire, including Spain. Many Spanish Christians were proud to belong to this advanced culture, which was considered far ahead of the rest of Europe. Moorish Spain made significant contributions to the medieval West, supplying scholars and texts that informed the developing culture. Cordova, by the 10th century, rivaled Constantinople as a sophisticated city and center of scholarship. Colleges in Andalusia provided a model for later institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. While European rulers were often barely literate, the Umayyad and later Abassid courts were splendid havens for philosophers, poets, artists, mathematicians, and astronomers. Economic prosperity was fostered by Moorish knowledge of irrigation, transforming land and introducing new crops and industries like silk. Cordovan libraries were among the greatest in Europe. The Arabic world, including Spain, became a repository for Greek learning (mathematics, philosophy, science, medicine) preserved by exiled Nestorian scholars. This knowledge, along with recent advances in medicine, art, and architecture, returned to Christian Europe primarily through translation from Arabic, often via Jewish scholars who could work across Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic. Translation schools, like the one in Toledo, were crucial in transmitting scientific and mathematical works, including those of Averröes. The contrast in attitudes was highlighted during the Crusades, where Christian knights were violent in Jerusalem while others sought knowledge from Muslim scholars in Spain, bringing back the classical and ancient wisdom suppressed in the Dark Ages. The sources attribute this cultural flourishing and tolerance to Islam, founded on revelations to Prophet Muhammad in Arabia, where he was influenced by Jewish and non-Pauline Christian (Monophysite) communities. Muhammad saw himself not as founding a new religion but restoring ancient monotheism, the last in a line of prophets including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, whose messages, he believed, had been distorted by Jews and Christians. The sources suggest Muhammad, reportedly a descendant of Jesus' brother Simon, was of the Rex Deus line, and that the Qur'an resembles an Arabic poetic version of Ebionite teachings. Sufi mystical streams within Islam, founded by men of spiritual vision, are also linked to Muhammad's lineage and reportedly had prolonged contact with the people of Israel, leading to the suggestion that Sufism is a great gift from the People of Israel to the world.