How One Outsider Changed History
A Case Study in Power: Controlling the Narrative
10 min read
A man is executed. His community is crushed. The messianic movement he started - one that promised the immediate arrival of God's Kingdom on Earth- is dead.
For a few desperate years, the Jewish Christians (Jesus's original followers and family) clung to the fragmented hope of their departed saviour. They were sharing their story, but they remained weakened, leaderless and limited in number.
Then, he enters the narrative.
He never knew the executed holy man, yet he was a former rival, an enemy and outsider. He didn't seem to ask permission; he saw the power revelation could bring—the Ressurected Christ elevated Apostles to respected church leaders and community figures, and then, the same grace was also mysteriously extended to him. With this came the freedom to rewrite the rules. His new church rose prominent with the marginalisation and decline of Jewish Christianity began.
This isn't a theory about theology; it's an analysis of power. We're picking apart how a first-century entrepreneur executed history's most effective corporate takeover comparible to a Shadow Magician archetype—a Jungian pattern describing machiavellian world builders, those who might manipulate with claims of secret knowledge, bypass authority with mysterious credentials, or even control you with words rather than force.
Such an archetype can make quite a compelling character study, the pattern is so recognizable once you see it. They begin by concealling their game. Starwars has Palpatine who fooled everyone; reduced and then disbanded the Jedi Order. Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort rejected the established ethical order and pursued immortality and dominance instead. Donald Trump was an outsider, a cuckoo born to republicanism. This Shadow Magician re-wrote their party's entire structure, while rejecting its soul: he replaced much of US conservatism with Trumpism.
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| Gentile vs Jewish Christianity is an academic field |
What I'm exploring in this blogpost isn't hot off the shelf. We all know the history of the long standing issues Paul and James started over their arguments about Jewish Law. It's the very core of the 'Parting of the Ways' and a legitimate scholarly subject still actively debated
But we can still play.
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Stage 1: Filling The Power Vacuum
I am not the only one to draw parallels between St. Paul and a Magus. The Jungian Shadow Magician is also ready to pounce whenever a golden opportunity to strike presents itself.
The movement led by Jesus of Nazareth provided just that. Historians and critical thinking scholars widely agree that Jesus was a nationalist apocalyptic Jewish preacher who professed the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of God on Earth (Ehrman, 2014; Sanders, 1993). This divine appearence became a political and concrete expectation of his followers: Rome would fall, Israel would be restored.
Within 20 years of Jesus's death, the eventual saint, Paul, was already writing letters. The original disciples? Silent. We see no letters, no real documents, no counter-narrative. Yet, they were the ones who had all the vital eyewitness testimony, but, I guess he had the power of using words?
The Problem: Spectacular Failure
As expected, the prediction didn't happen. Jesus was likely executed for blasphemy or sedition, we don't know, but still, it was the ultimate proof of a failed messiah (Deuteronomy 21:23).
The original followers—the eyewitnesses in Jerusalem—were left leaderless, their core belief shattered. This world crushing crisis of meaning was the ideal entry point for a change in direction.
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Stage 2: Unfalsifiable Authority
We don't know his intent, speculation is all we can do with matters of motive. However, if this is a Shadow Magician was his claim of the risen Christ appearing before his caravan genuine? It served well as a status springer despite the disappearance of his anonymous travelling colleagues who were also witnesses. Again all established Jewish Christians were eventually superseded.
This word-caster had once actively opposed the early Jewish Christians! His cultural and communication methods were mostly Greek and he was a Roman citizen. It's no wonder he became 'Apostle of the Gentiles'. He was clever, highly educated in theology, but strangely, before his religious honour reduced his tent making time, something miraculous happened.
The Powerful Vision
His mystical vision on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) is a report of a phenomenon that elevated him to an Apostle, despite the requirement of having to have known Jesus but exceptions were made and he surpassed the authority of Jesus's actual companions, like Peter and James! The vision strongly resembles a Greek narrative from the heavenly apparition that struck down Heliodorus in 2 Maccabees 3.
Why this works:
- The claim is unverifiable without witness testimony (only he was given the message)
- It's unchallengeable (what Christian would try to disprove anyone claiming to have witnessed their risen saviour?)
- It bypasses institutional authority (Peter, James, the Jerusalem church)
- It makes him accountable to no one but his own risen Jesus
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Stage 3: The Ultimate Rebranding Strategy
A Shadow Magician may be inclined to rewrite the core narrative in order to make the movement viable again, sacrificing authenticity for viability. The true genius of rebranding a catastrophe is supply on demand. In the bible, St Paul is, in essence selling the failed apocalyptic mission as a successful spiritual salvation theology instead (Dunn, 2005). People wanted easier access to heaven.
For centuries that passed the same church M.O continued to rewrite the pagan world view; appropriating old gods and transforming them into saints like St Brigin or St Nicholas. They even took ancient festivals as Christian tradition. It's not right to call it syncretism when it's plagiarism!
Narrative Control: Moving The Goalposts
To execute a takeover, any market strategist would need to discard the parts of whatever failed and was restrictive.
Original Goal (Jesus): The physical, imminent Kingdom of God on Earth.
New Goal (Paul): Personal Salvation from Sin - a spiritual and cosmic transaction.
This was the core power move: widen the goalposts, declare the failed political mission retroactively ‘successful’ by reinterpreting it as a spiritual win!
The Entrance Requirements: Simplifying the 'Difficult' Law
This strategic shift was primarily achieved by refuting the necessity of Jewish custom for new followers. The original movement required adherence to the Torah (circumcision, kosher laws). A Shadow Magician might strip these rules away but would an end-times Nazarene do the same? Especially if he claimed he would change nothing in the law, and follow the prophets? Essentially, this means the Torah.
Original admission: Strict adherence to the Jewish Law (Torah Observance).
New admission: Justification by Faith (The Law is irrelevant).
This was the real workable tweak (Koester, 1982). By eliminating the 'difficult' barrier of Jewish law, a shadow magician might instantly pull something different out the hat for the wealthy, mass Greco-Roman communites across the Empire.
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Stage 4: Monetizing Humility and Enforcing Obedience
The Shadow Magician operates on money and will use a hardship narrative or two, but the evidence of both St Paul's poverty and personal risk lacks any external proof but serves to downplay the financial support he had.
His Churches as a Personal Franchise and Power Base
The most damning evidence of power is that his churches were answerable to him and him alone. It was a personal franchise. Of course, it was enforced, and it was with his confrontational, argumentative, and demanding character.
Enforcing Obedience and Authority:
- To the Corinthians, he ordered specific punishment for immorality (1 Cor. 5:3-5), asserting his distant authority was as binding as his presence
- His writing style is notoriously argumentative and confrontational, dismissing rivals as 'false apostles' (2 Cor. 11:13)
- He used severe, aggressive language to correct perceived disloyalty (Galatians 1:6–9)
Asking for Money and Control:
- He commanded churches to participate in organized collections (1 Cor. 16:1-3)
- Explicitly defended his right to be financially supported by them
- Boasted he had 'robbed other churches' (2 Cor. 11:8–9) to serve others
- This power over the cash flow strengthened his dominance
The Tent-Maker Who Made Fewer Tents
Paul of Tarsus was a former Pharisee who said tent-making was his income. The substantial funds required to maintain his staff, constant travel, and living expenses did not come from his personal labour.
What he actually received:
- Multiple financial payments from the Philippian church (Phil 4:15-18)
- The money from 'robbing other churches' (2 Cor 11:8-9)
- Wealthy female patrons (Lydia, Phoebe) provided housing, meals, travel funds and goodness knows what else
- The Organised collections he controlled (1 Cor 16:1-3)
- He expected the Roman church to fund his Spanish mission (Rom 15:24)
The maths: Constant Mediterranean travel, urban living (Ephesus, Corinth, Rome), paid staff (Timothy, Titus), secretaries (Rom 16:22), writing materials: the operation cost serious money! You can't keep travelling continuously across the Roman Empire whilst working full-time making tents.
The Tell Tale Signs of a Shadow Magician?
He protests his poverty obsessively. Why? Well his churches were clearly accusing him of profiteering. 2 Corinthians is essentially one long defence of his financial arrangements - the kind you need when people are regularly asking where the money keeps going.
The economic reality: a subsidised lifestyle built on the donations of followers whilst claiming the moral high ground of self-sufficiency.
The Unverifiable Devotion and Noble Intent
Another legitimate proof for his authority comes from his elaborate lists of personal sufferings and arrests, which serve as great credentials.
The Problem of Proof: When this man details his beatings, shipwrecks, and near-death experiences (2 Cor. 11:23-28), the claims are entirely free from verification by any external sources. They function as emotional currency, disarming need for eyewitness accounts from Jesus's life.
The Intention vs. The Result: We can't ever know if his position was truly taken up with noble intent, we only have his own word! The Shadow Magician's rulebook would frame his noble actions as clever power play, but still, that doesn't prove anything. What's a salvager of a fading religion recognised for shaping believers thoughts while writing about his own piety?
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Stage 5: Elimination of Competition
The Shadow Magician's ultimate victory requires the removal of legitimate authority—sometimes through active effort, often through historical accident.
The Jerusalem church would oppose a Shadow Magician bitterly (Galatians 2). Remember, the Jewish Christian Community had the eyewitnesses, legitimate succession and the true story:
- Jesus's actual family members like James, his brother
- Eyewitness disciples such as Peter and John
- Institutional legitimacy
- Geographic authority of being the original location.
St Paul had:
- Private revelation of Christ's plan
- Gentile churches loyal to him
- Financial and domestic infrastructure
- Written letters establishing his theology
In reality, the eyewitnesses should have won. But life isn't always fair, is it?
Victory came by Historical Accident
70 CE: The Destruction of Jerusalem
The Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, which meant the cultural, physical base and leadership of the original Jewish Jesus movement was totally wiped out (Dunn, 2005). The Shadow Magician was a Diaspora Jew born in Tarsus (Acts 22:3) and a trained Pharisee (Philippians 3:5). He was rigorously educated in the Hebrew scriptures, trained well, but positioned outside the blast radius.
Meanwhile, his widely disperse Gentile churches survived intact. His letters, already circulating, became the new scripture for a new version of the religion. That is definitely taking control.
When the dust settled, his version was the only organised, written, and well-resourced movement left. If he is a Shadow Mage, he didn't defeat his rivals - history did it for him. Undeniably, he positioned himself to engage with the catastrophe. Of course, the winner writes history, and his theology was secured.
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How to Spot the Pattern
The true power of this analysis is in recognising the pattern elsewhere. This playbook isn't unique to Christian history; it's a blueprint for any charismatic leader seeking power through narrative control.
Shadow Magicians in History:
Joseph Smith: Formed a new religion based on private revelations and claims of secret knowledge (not unlike St Paul) that superseded all prior religious authority.
Rasputin: Claimed direct, mystical access to the divine to gain power over the Russian Imperial family, bypassing the state and the Church. Sound familiar?
Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos): Promoted a revolutionary blood-testing technology requiring extreme secrecy. She cultivated powerful patrons, bypassed scientific authority, and monetised her product that didn't work aggressively. It was fake. The Shadow Magician archetype is a recognisable theme.
The Checklist
The next time you encounter a leader who:
- Claims special, unverifiable knowledge or divine access
- Bypasses institutional accountability
- Demands financial support whilst preaching purity
- Aggressively eliminates critics and competition
- Controls through narrative rather than transparency
...you'll recognize the Shadow Magician in action.
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Why This Matters
This analysis isn't an attack on Christianity—it's a case study on how self-appointed charismatic authority operates, especially when institutional structures collapse. The pattern repeats because it works:
1. Crisis creates vulnerability
2. Outsider claims special knowledge
3. Legitimate authority is bypassed or eliminated
4. New narrative becomes reality
5. Financial/power structure consolidates
The Shadow Magician didn't invent this playbook. It's just an archetype, a character of the human race! It's also the will to power.
We aren't merely questioning whether or not this biblical person believed his own vision. The real question is: Can you spot the pattern when someone uses it today?
Why? Because somewhere, right now, another Shadow Magician is claiming unverifiable authority, rebranding someones misfortune while taking power.
Will you recognize them?
Conclusion
References
Dunn, J. D. G. (2005). The Partings of the Ways: Between Christianity and Judaism and their Significance for the Character of Christianity. SCM Press.
Ehrman, B. D. (2014). How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. HarperOne.
Koester, H. (1982). Introduction to the New Testament, Vol. 2: History and Literature of Early Christianity. De Gruyter.
Sanders, E. P. (1993). The Historical Figure of Jesus. Penguin Books.
