The Betrayal : Kathleen O' Neal and W Michael Gear - Review

I have just finished a religious thriller The Betrayal on the life and time of Jesus Christ. Though it was published in the year 2008, the premise of book is very much relevant today.It says religion is being used for political gain for a long time , the historical facts are suppressed in shrouded mystery to glorify certain myths, and for that hundred and thousand people are tortured, outcasted and killed.

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 The Betrayal is an alternate story of the life and time of Jesus. One the early Church fathers found so menacing they outlawed the books that documented it, ordered them burned, and threatened anyone found copying them with death. 

 International bestselling authors and award-winning archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear put more than thirty years of exhaustive research into this fascinating novel. In A.D. 325, Brother Barnabas is a student of the ancient holy texts. These books paint a portrait of Jesus that is radical, heretical, and irresistible. In the writings of Mary Magdalene, Phillip, and James, Barnabas finds clues to a secret he must protect at all costs. But the Ecumenical Council of Bishops has just declared his cherished books "a hotbed of manifold perversity." Emperor Constantine has decreed that the documents must be burned and that anyone found copying them will be executed as a heretic. Barnabas's monastery is attacked. 97 brothers out of 100 died of a silent attack . Brother Barnabas flees with his two trusted companions, with the help of pagan woman Kalay working in the monastery , but they are being followed, for the True Church cannot allow them to find the most sacred place on Earth. In fact, does anything to stop them. Gears wrote this most controversial book to date on the time and life of Jesus Christ without fearing backlash from the Church. Archaeologists by profession, Gears apply over thirty years of research with their backgrounds in biblical archaeology, religious studies, Greek, and Latin, to reveal a new and relatively unknown and historically unsupported biography of Jesus Christ, or Yeshua. The pace of story is engrossing, a fast pace thriller that binds reader from first page till last one. The Betrayal is told from two viewpoints; the first is that of Yeshua, as he travels in his time, changing the world in his way, and while one would consider this to be the important character of the book, this plot line serves more as an additional realization to the main viewpoint and main character of the book Monk Barnabas, living in the year 325 after Yeshua, is a student and copier of the ancient holy texts, the texts that tell the true story of Yeshua, some in his very own words. These books portray a Jesus different from the commonly known one: heretical and radical, contrary to the contemporary Church’s teachings for example he was not son of a virgin, in fact had many brothers and sisters and also probing the resurrection theory. The Ecumenical Council of Bishops has now decided that these holy texts are nothing more than “a hotbed of manifold perversity,” contrary to the Christian faith, and are therefore not to be read or copied by anyone. Emperor Constantine decrees that all copies of the sacred texts are to be destroyed and anyone found with them will be executed as a heretic. But Brother Barnabas knows that the texts tell the true story of Jesus, and he makes it his mission, as ordained by God, to save them for the world and the future, at no matter what cost. While The Betrayal seems well researched and given the Gears’ background, they clearly know what they are talking about, the reader is left wondering how much of this is really true, and could this really be a giant conspiracy hidden by the Church after all this time. The book is classed as fiction and shelved in that section in bookstores, as well as featuring a favorable quote from Lewis Purdue, author of Da Vinci Legacy. In fact, The Betrayal does bear some resemblances to the likes of Da Vinci Code, Rule of Four, and other books published in the last decade questioning the religious dogma, much to the outrage of the Church. It begs the question as to whether the Gears are looking more for the true story of Jesus, or perhaps a bestselling novel in this popular genre, or perhaps both? The book also tries to document the under-current conflict between Western Churches and Churches in Asia Minor. Ultimately the Roman Church's  version of Christianity prevailed with the help of Roman Empire, best suited in furthering their political interest.

But we should appreciate the Christian community worldwide, which has shown great maturity and did not act violently on the facts brought out in the book which are in fact quite contrary to that in the current  version of their most revered book Bible.