Scapegoating the Romans and Pontius Pilate for Killing Jesus

Almost every year near Good Friday, confusion is sown concerning the death of Jesus, usually put forth by a nationally syndicated liberal “Christian” columnist, or a sermon from an “evangelical” Protestant minister, or a priest of the modern Church of Rome.

They proceed to focus culpability for the crucifixion of Jesus almost exclusively on the Romans and Pontius Pilate. Some years ago we were present for a sermon by a Jesuit priest at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington who devoted his homily to sparing the Pharisees a single admonitory word while alluding to Pilate in no uncertain terms as "a thug!" 

According to the politically correct view now in vogue, the Pharisees of 33 A.D. were more sinned against than sinning.  

Among falsifiers on the Right, are two luminaries in the ersatz “Conservative” firmament. Former Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly promotes the manifestly ridiculous Romans-are-to-blame-for-the-Crucifixion imposture in his book, The Last Days of Jesus. 

He's not alone. Andrew P. Napolitano, better known as “Judge Napolitano,” a widely admired figure among “Conservatives," wrote a column on Holy Thursday in which he had the temerity to state: 

“On the first Good Friday, the Romans executed Jesus because they were persuaded that by claiming to be the Son of God, He might foment a revolution against them...they feared a revolution that would disrupt their worldly power, and so they condemned Him to death by crucifixion.” (LewRockwell.com, April 17, 2014). Pharisees are not mentioned anywhere in Mr. Napolitano’s column concerning who is culpable for the Crucifixion of Jesus.

To assert that the Romans bear the lion’s share of responsibility is an atrocious fabrication pleasing to the corporate media and the Cryptocracy.

The fact that Jesus praised a Roman officer above everyone in Israel (Matthew 8:5-13), and the Roman administrator Pilate urgently sought to save Christ’s life, calling him a just man, and being threatened by a mob as a result, is washed down the memory hole. 

Historic Christianity, faithful to the Gospel narrative, had a very different view of Pontius Pilate. For example, Francis Turretin (1623-1687), was a distinguished professor of theology and the author of the magisterial, three volume Institutio Theologiae Elencticae, (“Institutes of Elenctic Theology” reprinted as recently as 1994), first published In 1679–85. In vol. II, p. 489-490, Dr. Turretin wrote:

 “…the kingdom of Christ…is conducted in a spiritual manner, recognizes no other honors and resources than righteousness, holiness, peace of conscience, salvation and eternal life; no other arms than the Word and the Spirit; no other fortifications than the protection of God. Pilate had this understanding of it. He clearly perceived that no prejudice could be created from it (the kingdom of Christ) against the empire of Caesar; otherwise he would not only have agreed with the accusation of the Jews charging Christ with rebellion against Caesar, but he would have been the first to think of taking Him out of the way. 

"However, having dismissed this accusation of the Jews and (accepted) Christ’s own confession concerning His kingly office, Pilate pronounces Him just and innocent, and desires Him to be cleared from condemnation (for he knew that for envy they had delivered Him, Matthew 27:18)…" (End quote from theologian Francis Turretin).

The disinformation that renders the Romans the principal malefactors is also undercut by none other than the Babylonian Talmud itself, in Sanhedrin 43a, where it is stated that the Roman “ authorities” were favorable toward Jesus and did not want to execute him:

Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin 43a

“Rather it must be that the case against Jesus was different, because he had close connections with the non-Jewish authorities, and those authorities were interested in his acquittal.” — The Steinsaltz Talmud, volume 17, p. 159 (Random House, 1998).

What is there to debate? We have God’s Word in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15. This is an unambiguous statement. This Scripture was declared by St. Paul without qualifications of any kind. There is also the testimony of Acts 3-13-15.

Even in our time, one of most authoritative rabbis in the western world is the medieval halakhist Moses Maimonides, “the Rambam.” He is honored in Congress with a sculpture, and venerated in media and academia, though few of his enthusiasts have bothered to discover what he actually taught. We regret to report that Maimonides was an unabashed Jesus-despiser. In his magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, he declared: “The Christians are idol worshippers” (Avodah Zara 9:4). “Idol worshippers” are subject to severe penalties according to the "Noahide Laws" promoted by every American President from Ronald Reagan forward, under the rubric of “Education Day USA.”

Furthermore, Maimonides taught that Jesus was killed “by the court,” a reference to the Beth Din (rabbinic court): “Yeshu the Christian, who imagined himself the messiah and was killed by the court...” (Rabbi Moses Maimonides, Mishneh Torah: Laws of the King 11:4). 

Nowhere does the Talmud or Moses Maimonides, the supreme halachic authority for western Talmudists, blame the Romans, as do the modern popes, many Protestant "evangelists" and the corporate media. There are literally thousands of spineless academics and clerics on the Left as well as the Right who minimize the role of the Pharisees, the progenitors of the Talmud of Babylon, in the killing of the Son of God, putting the onus instead on the Romans and Pilate.

Talmudism is in higher repute in Christendom now than ever in history and it is to the Pharisaic theology founded upon it—and successive texts possessing halachic authority (such as the Mishneh Torah) —to which our apologetic and educational efforts are centered.

Nothing we teach is a negative reflection on Judaic people in general. We unconditionally repudiate the disgusting "Christ-killers" imprecation unjustly leveled at all or most Jews. Due to our own dreadful sins, every one of us is guilty of putting Jesus on that Cross of Calvary and being responsible for His death.

It was from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that our first parents cursed all humanity, and it was from the “tree” of wood upon which Jesus was crucified, that through him the Gospel invites all of humanity to salvation.

It is incumbent on us as Christians to lovingly correct errors, as did Jesus, John the Baptist and the apostles Peter and Paul. We pray for those who promote the falsehoods of Talmudism. We are not reluctant to proclaim the truth about the Jesus-denying snares and pits into which people fall as a result of the continuing influence of the Pharisaic nullification of Scripture, which was virulent in the first century and which has culminated in the 21st century distortion of the Good Friday narrative.

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For Further research: Rome’s Bar Kokhba War and the Creation of Palestine—1,800 Years Ago

Michael Hoffman is the author of the banned 2008 textbook Judaism Discovered(1,102 pages), and nine other volumes of history and literature, including Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare and its sequel, Twilight Language. Also: The Occult Renaissance Church of Rome, and Adolf Hitler: Enemy of the German People, as well as 122 issues of the periodical, Revisionist History®.

Michael is a former reporter for the New York bureau of the Associated Press and a former paid consultant to the news department of the New York Times. His books have been published in translation in Japan and France. Listen to his broadcasts on his Revisionist History® podcast, and find him on X (Twitter). He resides with his family in Idaho.

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