Bartholomew's Notes

Back in June I noted Nigerian “Prophet” T.B. Joshua’s recent visit to Ecuador, where he received a Commendation of Honour from Quito government dignitaries. Joshua has now followed up with a trip to Paraguay, where was similarly honoured. Reports Afriques writes:

Nigerian televangelist, Prophet T.B Joshua has been awarded the National Order of the Communion Merit by the Paraguayan government.

The honour which is the country’s highest national honour was awarded to T.B Joshua earlier this week making him the first non-citizen to be awarded such a prestigious award by the Paraguayan government.

Joshua’s media handlers have produced a video, which starts with a short interview with Del Pilar Medina de Paredes, Secretary General of the Parliament:

I’m very excited and I can see a lot of expectation in the people from Paraguay because they are waiting for a spiritual transformation through the coming of this messenger from Chris. All of us are waiting for that spiritual transformation… We want to receive him very well; we want to be healed and as a member of parliament I appreciate his coming. We are a privileged nation to have him visit our country. His visit will also contribute to the National Police.

The video goes on to show Joshua being personally received by General Commissioner of Police William Gimenez and Commissioner of Police Jose Félix Vega, who were similarly effusive.

The parliamentary award was given by an MP named Bernardo Villalba, despite an objection from Avanza Pais MP that the honour should be reserved for citizens; there was also a note of scepticism from Asunción councillor Pepa Kostianovsky, who noted that “there are lots of prophets everywhere” and pointed out that Paraguay is a secular state.

Some background to the visit is provided by the newspaper HOY (TODAY), which explains that Joshua’s visit – which includes a “Crusade” – has been organised by the Iglesia Catedral Alabanza:

Un grupo de miembros de la denominada “Iglesia Catedral Alabanza”, cuyo líder es el pastor Bernardo Bobadilla, son los precursores de la venida del nigeriano Temitope Balogun Joshua, más conocido como T. B. Joshua, quien visita nuestro país. Serán dos funciones las que protagonizará el “profeta”, en el estadio de los Defensores del Chaco, mañana 11 y el sábado 12 de agosto.

El equipo incluye a otros miembros de la iglesia Jorge Checo, Carlos Miguel Alfaro Duarte, Floria Maricel Mena Cubilla, Santiago Ávalos además de Miriam de Bobadilla, quien según su perfil de Facebook, es “pastora” de Catedral Alabanza.

Sin embargo, los más activos en el comité de bienvenida de T. B. Joshua son el diputado Bernardo “Lalo” Villalba, quien promovió la distinción de la Orden del Mérito Comuneros para el “profeta”, además del autodenominado líder de la Asociación de Defensa al Consumidor (Asucop), Juan Vera, quien está vinculado a organizaciones conocidas por ser “pro familia”.

Another report published by Hoy describes Joshua as “el falso profeta que fascina a políticos” and overviews various controversies, while a third refers to Vera’s claims that Joshua can cure HIV and homosexuality. Vera also rejected claims that Joshua is a “witch”, presumably referring to allegations that he mixes Christianity with African traditional religion (some neo-Pentecostal pastors shun him for allegedly unorthodox teachings, although he was supported by the late Bill Subritzky and by C. S. Upthegrove, an elderly evangelist who was formerly associated with A. A. Allen).

Back in Nigeria, Joshua’s visit was heralded by Timi Frank, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress party. As quoted in Leadership:

Frank said Paraguay’s honour on TB Joshua was not just for the man of God but “will definitely strengthen bilateral relationship between Nigeria government and Paraguay.”

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The once-staid broadsheet newspaper the Daily Telegraph poses an alarming question:

Will the 2017 solar eclipse cause a secret planet called ‘Nibiru’ to destroy Earth next month?

…David Meade, author of ‘Planet X – The 2017 Arrival’, asserts the planet Nibiru (also known as Planet X) will crash into our own on 23 September 2017.

…33 days after the US’ total solar eclipse – on the 23 September – the stars will align just as the book of Revelation says they will before the world ends. This, Meade points out, “is indeed an amazing omen and a frightful sign.”

Revelation’s chapter 12 depicts a “great sign”: that a “woman clothed with the sun, with the Moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” will “give birth”.

On September 23, Meade says, the Moon will appear at the feet of the constellation Virgo (a virgin woman). At the head of Virgo there will be 12 stars, the nine stars of Leo and the planets Mercury, Venus and Mars.

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A detail from an Atlantic article about Trump’s National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster:

The provocative right-wing blogger and activist Mike Cernovich has launched a sustained attack on McMaster, including setting up a website called McMasterLeaks.com. When it launched, the main page displayed a large cartoon of the Rothschilds controlling a George Soros puppet, which in turn controlled puppets representing McMaster and former CIA director David Petraeus. (The hand labeled “Rothschilds” has since been relabeled “Saudis.” Cernovich told me he changed it because complaints about the cartoon’s anti-Semitism are “not a hill to die on,” and “if everybody wants to complain, then fine—I’ll just put the Saudis at the top.”)

The cartoon was drawn by alt-right favourite Ben Garrison, and it looks like Garrison himself provided the amended version – a nice example of the cynical flexibility and insincerity of those for whom promoting conspiracy theories is primarily a means to public influence rather than an end in itself (also previously seen in Cernovich’s “Pizzagate” claims).

Cernovich’s conspiracy theory that “Rothschilds” improperly wield secret power has previously focused on Hilary Clinton’s association with Lynn Forester de Rothschild. The two women have been friends for a long time, and some old informal email exchanges were published by Wikileaks last year. Cernovich was among those who suggested (here and here) that these innocuous messages were a revelation that showed how Clinton is personally subservient to Lynn Forester de Rothschild, and by extension to the Rothschild banking family.

Of course, it could be argued that to say that the Rothschilds control American politics does not mean that Jews in general have improper influence. But this doesn’t wash. Unsurprisingly, Hilary Clinton has personal and professional links with many powerful establishment figures – why focus on the one whose surname is Rothschild, other than that the name is already associated with conspiracy theories that have an explicit anti-Semitic provenance?

Further, there zero evidence that “Rothschilds” have played any part in decisions made by either McMaster or Petraeus, and there is no explanatory value in proposing such a suggestion. The aim is purely to make us resent a particular Jewish banking family as an exemplar of hidden forces that supposedly explain unfairness in the world.

I made similar observations a few months ago, when I discussed the use of the phrase “Rothschild Zionism” on the conspiracy-theorist left.

(H/T @YAppelbaum)

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An HM Revenue and Customs press release from early last month:

An accountant, two film producers and an independent financial advisor, who were jailed with three others for more than 36 years for committing a £2.2 million tax fraud, have been ordered to pay back more than £2 million of their criminal profits.

…Film producers Christopher Walsh Atkins, 41, from London, and Christina Slater, 38, from Leamington Spa, have been ordered to pay back more than £201,000 or face another two years in prison…

…[Terence Sefton] Potter set up two partnerships that were sold to the wealthy investors. One produced a film called ‘Starsuckers’, the other was a project to develop a package to be made into a film by others called ‘Mercedes the Movie’. The partnership declared the losses in its tax return and so did the investors, which would have allowed them to recoup up to £40,000 in tax relief from HMRC, for every £20,000 they had invested. However, as the scheme was illegal their claim for tax relief was false. The claims were supported by false documents produced by Potter.

There was glee among tabloid journalists when the convictions were announced in July 2016 – the 2009 documentary Starsuckers had shown how easy it is to hoax the media with fake stories (a subject this blog has looked at a number of times), and revealed how the Press Complaints Commission was held in private contempt by journalists whose editors affected respect for the body in public. Atkins had subsequently given evidence about press ethics at the Leveson Inquiry. (1)

Atkins was sentenced to five years, while Slater received four. The judge found that Slater had been “drawn in” by Atkins, and he took account of the fact that she was a new mother. The child will leave her prison’s mother-and-baby unit in September, and a further court decision from just a few weeks ago has confirmed that there will be a period of separation from then until February 2018 at the earliest – an outcome that ought to weigh particularly heavily on Atkins’s conscience.

I have seen one defence of Atkins on social media, along the lines that he simply followed what he believed to have been legitimate financial advice by his accountants. Certainly, in recent years many wealthy individuals have followed bad financial advice about investing in film-financing schemes for tax purposes, which HMRC has successfully argued in civil court amount to tax avoidance rather than legitimate tax planning. (2)

However, Atkins’s case is not comparable. It is one thing to attempt to arrange one’s financial affairs to minimise tax liability, whether or not the attempt ultimately withstands legal scrutiny, and it is quite another to fabricate evidence. A business that produces “false documents” is engaging in dishonesty, and it is difficult to see how a sensible adult could be persuaded by an accountant that creating inflated and fake invoices does not cross the line. It should be as obvious a no-no as using false addresses or non-existent names on official documentation.

Despite the above, though, Atkins and Slater did some good work – and I hope to see more of it when they have paid their debts to society (quite literally, in this case).

Footnotes

(1) Atkins apparently referred to his appearing at Leveson as mitigating evidence of good character. The judge gave that short shift, noting that “I rather doubt had it been known what you had been up to in the previous 4 years you would have been asked to do so.” The judge also added “and I know that what you did say was at the time not accepted by some parties as accurate”, although he did not explain what he meant by this or who these “parties” were.

(2) It should be noted that civil cases around tax avoidance concern conflicting interpretations of evidence that both sides accept as truthful – unlike tax evasion, a crime in which someone lies to HMRC. The term “tax dodging” is sometimes preferred by tabloid newspapers, in order to elide this distinction. Some tabloids have in particular focused on Gary Lineker’s tax liability following an avoidance case; this appears to be revenge for Lineker expressing politically progressive views and criticising the press on social media.

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A bit of silly season Biblical fare from some British newspapers:

Bronze Age DNA disproves the Bible’s claim that the Canaanites were wiped out: Study says their genes live on in modern-day Lebanese people (Mail Online)

Study disproves the Bible’s suggestion that the ancient Canaanites were wiped out (Daily Telegraph)*

Bible says Canaanites were wiped out by Israelites but scientists just found their descendants living in Lebanon (The Independent)

The Bible was WRONG: Civilisation God ordered to be KILLED still live and kicking (Daily Express)

(*since amended)

Such stories are rarer than “X Proves the Bible” articles (such as recent coverage of the Schøyen Collection’s supposed “Tower of Babel” stele, as blogged here), but they are the flip-side of the same thing – the purpose is sensationalism rather than understanding, and a connection to the Hebrew Bible is allowed eclipse broader issues in the study of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Near East. The British newspapers appear to have picked up the story from reports in the US, although the American articles managed to avoid the crass “village atheist” tone adopted in the British headlines.

The reports all refer to an academic paper entitled “Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences“, recently published on open access by the The American Journal of Human Genetics. The article has 16 authors, led by Marc Haber (who has become “Marc Harber” in the Mail). The Bible is mentioned briefly twice:

…most of [the Canaanites’] history known today has been reconstructed from ancient Egyptian and Greek records, the Hebrew Bible, and archaeological excavations… Uncertainties also surround the fate of the Canaanites: the Bible reports the destruction of the Canaanite cities and the annihilation of its people; if true, the Canaanites could not have directly contributed genetically to present-day populations. However, no archaeological evidence has so far been found to support widespread destruction of Canaanite cities between the Bronze and Iron Ages: cities on the Levant coast such as Sidon and Tyre show continuity of occupation until the present day.

The findings suggest that

 …people from the highly differentiated urban culture on the Levant coast and inland people with different modes of subsistence were nevertheless genetically similar, supporting previous reports that the different cultural groups who inhabited the Levant during the Bronze Age, such as the Ammonites, Moabites, Israelites, and Phoenicians, each achieved their own cultural identities but all shared a common genetic and ethnic root with Canaanites.

The paper thus supports previous research about how ancient populations in the Near East – including the Israelites – were closely related, and it notes that archaeology has already identified a problem with the Biblical accounts of the destruction of Canaanite cities.

Where the authors erred was in their interpretation of “annihilation”. Presumably, this has come from Deuteronomy 20:

…in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.

However, this is presented as an ideal instruction rather than an account of what actually happened. The concept does not preclude Canaanites surviving in territory beyond the Israelites’ control, and despite the “do not leave alive anything that breathes” command, one can imagine women and children being taken as booty rather than killed, and conflicts ending with negotiated settlements rather than fights to the death.

But this is all beside the point anyway: Deuteronomy is a late work composed for ideological reasons in the seventh century BCE, whereas earlier parts of the Bible refer to Canaanites living among the Israelites, albeit in a subordinate position. Why refer to “annihilation” while ignoring these texts, which actually support the authors’ finding of genetic continuity? The problem for Biblical literalists is the continuing existence of the Canaanite cities – not Canaanite DNA in modern populations.

Religious websites have expressed irritation with the UK reports – here’s the Christian Institute:

Media challenged over “fake news” stories claiming Bible is untrue

… A spokesman for The Christian Institute said: “These reports prove nothing except the biblical illiteracy of UK journalists and American academics.

“The Bible does not claim that the Israelites wiped out the Canaanites entirely. In fact, the Canaanites lived among the Israelite people for generations after the initial conquest of the Promised Land.

“It is disappointing that media outlets as well established as The Telegraph, The Independent and the Mail Online would publish such blatant fake news.

“Instead of this, the media should be reporting how time and time again history and science demonstrate the reliability of God’s Word.”

The Bible is probably always going to be the hook by which journalists seek to interest readers in stories that shed new light on the ancient Near East, but making everything about whether the Bible has been “disproved” (as suggested by the newspaper headlines above) or proven reliable is to put things round the wrong way. There are archaeologists who are motivated by a wish to “prove” the Bible (mostly American evangelicals or Israeli nationalists), but this an outdated approach. (1) Instead, it is more sensible to see the Bible as one source among many that – if used critically – can help us to interpret and understand other evidence that comes to light.

Footnote

(1) There are also of course outright pseudo-archaeologists, such as the late Vendyl Jones.

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