We see the end of Peter with his hands tied and taken in a direction he would not have wished to go.
Jesus spoke truth.

Experts agree with earliest church fathers (eg Origen, Eusebius)) that Peter did not author the 2nd epistle with his name on it and the letter was never mentioned or quoted by ancient . It was only accepted into some canon after a great deal of debate and is recognised as pseudepigraphical.
Internal evidence agrees with experts, eg. Peter was an unlearned (G62 ILLITERATE!!!) and ignorant (G2399 IDIOT!!!) man ACTS 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were ****unlearned and ignorant men****, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

An unlearned/illiterate ‘idiot’ who understood directly from Jesus that the salvation message is so simple that a child could understand it, would not disdain other ***unlearned*** men in an incredibly ‘learned’ letter that Peter was incapable of writing (maybe Paul’s friend Sylvanus wrote again??? eg 1Pe 5:12) since Peter couldn’t even write!!!:
2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are ****unlearned**** and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

However. Paul often uses the term ***unlearned*** (G2399 IDIOT) and associates it with unbelievers, despite Peter being an ****unlearned**** believer,
1COR 14:16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the ***unlearned*** say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
1COR 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are ****unlearned****, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
1COR 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one *****unlearned****, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:

The non-Petrine 2nd epistle doesn’t call Paul an apostle.

Friendly terms reflect the term-user rather than the subject of the terminology eg Jesus called Judas ‘friend’ while evil Judas was betraying him!!! The writer of 2 Peter used kind terminology regarding Paul. Paul wasn’t so kind in his terminology of the true apostles. Paul referred to them rather disdainfully eg ‘the circumcision’ or ‘SEEMED to be pillars’ etc. Such disdainful terminology is a poor reflection on Paul.

The non-Petrine 2nd epistle also doesn’t say whether the wisdom given was beneficial or deadly, but does warn it’s hard to be understood and could lead to destruction. God allowed the deadly wisdom tree in paradise. Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to ***make one wise****, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

A tree is known by fruit. Jesus is the humble tree of life. Paul is the proud tree of knowledge. Pride goes before a fall. Choose wisely what you eat.

An example of differences between the 2 Jesus, is the casting out of demons

The Spirit of God/YHWH, whose name Jesus was given by God, (Jesus = YaShua = YHWH saves) enables casting out devils
JAS 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Devils could be cast out by sons of priests
MT 12:27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do ***your children*** cast [them] out? therefore they shall be your judges.
LK 11:19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do ***your sons*** cast [them] out? therefore shall they be your judges.

Devils could also be cast out in the name of flesh Jesus, whether the person was a disciple of flesh Jesus or not, because using the name of flesh Jesus is calling on the name of God/YHWH to save
Luk 9:49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils ***in thy name***; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
Luk 9:50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
Mar 9:38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils ***in thy name***, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
Mar 9:39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle ***in my name***, that can lightly speak evil of me.

Flesh Jesus affirmed that even lawless people could cast out devils in his name, even if such people were hell-bound
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and ****in thy name have cast out devils****? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Devils could NOT be cast out by sons of priests (disdainfully referred to as vagabonds), in the name of the Jesus ***whom Paul preached***
Act 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by ****JESUS WHOM PAUL PREACHETH****.
Act 19:14 And there were seven ***sons of *** one Sceva, a Jew, and ***chief of the priests***, which did so.
Act 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

These devils above knew Paul!
How is that?
We know why the devils recognise flesh Jesus for a specific reason
LK 4:41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, ***Thou art Christ the Son of God****. And he rebuking [them] suffered them not to speak: for ***they knew that he was Christ****.
Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, ****Jesus, thou Son of God***? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Why do the demons know Paul and the Jesus he preaches and refuse to be evicted in that name?

There are also 2 ‘Gods’ being preached in NT and 2 ‘gospels’ as well.
Jesus and eye-witnesses preached scriptural YHWH, while Paul preached the ‘unknown god’ Zeus and quoted pagan Cleanthes Hymn to Zeus without clarifying to non-pagans which god he was preaching. Paul didn’t have to clarify this to Zeus-worshippers, because they already knew.

The gospel preached by Jesus and eye-witnesses was that God’s Words and Law are eternal and that YHWH is willing to forgive our previous lawlessness if we repent and that we can be pleasing to God by following the example set by Jesus of living and loving rightly and mercifully.

The gospel preached by Paul is that instead of personal repentance being required for forgiveness, the death of Jesus paid for old sins and then the law was cancelled so lawlessness/sin can no longer be defined so nobody can be guilty of breaking any law that no longer exists

Acts 23: 1-11 is a very interesting portion of scripture.

Any intellectual person who knows their bible, reading these verses with an open inquisitive mind, not harboring any bias either for or against the integrity of Paul, is going to question the validity of the statements made within these verses.

Paul has previously been told by James; “many thousands among the Jews of those who have believed (in YAHU’SHUA), are all zealous for the Law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses Law, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs”.

James, knowing that the Jewish followers of the way of YAHU’SHUA are going to want to deal with Paul when they see him, gives Paul commandment saying; “We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law”.

Of course the Jews from Asia, when they see Paul in the Temple waiting until the sacrifice was offered for himself (even though Paul teaches that Christ’s death did away with the need for Temple sacrifices) and the other four men, they are not taken in by Pauls Token gesture of lawfulness and drag him off to kill him.

As you know, Paul in Acts 23: 1-11, is defending himself before the chief priests and all the Council of the elders of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Now… With an open mind… Let’s start with verse 1 of this story;

1Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”

Paul says, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”

Now… Paul saying something like this seems very strange to me… considering that he spent a good portion of his life breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. It seems Especially strange when one of Pauls most quoted sayings is, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. How you can sin and fall short of the glory of God with a clear conscience is beyond me.

You see… If I had lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day… I never would have seen the need for repentance.

The only person I know who can honestly say “I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God”, is YAHU’SHUA HA MASHIACH. According to scripture He is the only one who is blameless according to the Law.

Or is He… ? ?

If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin (a ravenous wolf-Genesis 49:27), a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;
as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6)

Woah… According to Paul… YAHU’SHUA wasn’t the only man to fulfil the Law… Paul was also blameless according to the Law.

So Paul… “lived life with a perfectly good conscience before God” and was “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless”

Far out Man…

“If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:”… (does that include Jesus?)

Wait a minute…

Didn’t Paul say “I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire”. (Romans 7:7-8) and; “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing”. (Romans 7:14-20)

It just doesn’t make sense. Paul is telling one group of people that he is “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless”, yet he is telling another group of people that he has no power within himself to stop from doing what is evil.

Paul has to make up his mind…

Is he a sinner that does not have enough self control to refrain from doing evil…?
Or is he blamelessly righteous in his flesh, according to the law…?

Having an open mind… If I was a lawyer in a court of law and brought Paul in to defend his own testimony… according to his own words… Paul would be thrown out of court as an unreliable witness before I even get past the first statement.

With a clear conscience, based on other statements made by Paul… I cannot accept the statement made in Acts 23:1 as being legitimate. Paul may believe his statement to be true, but if Paul can murder christians and commit other sins with a clear conscience… Then when Paul declares “Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2) he seems to be describing himself.

Let’s move on…

2The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.
3Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”

“God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall”

I can only assume that Paul the Pharisee was present when YAHU’SHUA spoke these words; “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” But Paul must have felt the need to add a threat (God is going to strike you) to the statement. It reminds me of the incident involving two brothers known as “Sons of Thunder” which evoked a rebuke from the master, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them”. Apparently Paul doesn’t know what Spirit he is of either.

4But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”
5And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’”

I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest…???

Now that IS ridiculous…!!!

Paul was a Pharisee…

According to the bible… Paul was with the High Priest when he questioned Stephen. Acts 7:58 states that they laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul while they stoned Stephen.

In Acts 9 Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

In Acts 22:5 Paul calls on the high priest and all the Council of the elders stating that “they can testify that From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished”.

Paul was very familiar with the Sanhedrin and the High Priest… Not to mention the fact that the robes and demeanor of the High Priest made him very recognizable.

Paul not recognizing the High Priest would be like me walking into the vatican and not recognizing the Pope.

6But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

What…???

Here we are… Almost at the end of the book of acts, and Paul cries out to the Sanhedrin council… “Brethren, I am a Pharisee”…

One minute Paul/Saul is a Pharisee… Then he is a follower of YAHU’SHUA… And the next minute he is one of the Pharisees again… Then he is a christian again…

YAHU’SHUA said, about the Pharisees;
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

A man of God can NOT possibly call these Pharisees ‘Brethren’…

Well Paul certainly Sounds like a Hypocrite to me…
(either that… or he really is a serpent pharisee testifying against himself)

hypocrisy:
The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
An act or instance of such falseness.

The word hypocrite used here according to Strongs concordance means: an actor, stage player, a dissembler, pretender, hypocrite

“I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

NO He’s Not!

“you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses Law, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs”. (Acts 21:21)

Paul is a liar.

Now…

On to your verse…

Acts 23:11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

Are there any witnesses…???

Luk 10:5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.
Luk 10:6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
Luk 10:7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
Luk 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

The message is not for those who don’t appreciate it:
MT 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

blessings Benjamin

Let those who are blind continue to be blind. Let those who seek light continue to find it.

I encourage those who are seeking to only read the RED text in your bibles. The texts in RED are the words of your Messiah. No one will dare to contradict it. Read it, study it, absorb it and then do it.

Become more then a Christian, become one like Him.
Your brother
Benjamin.