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In light of Romans 9:18, WHO exactly has hijacked, tortured, and put to unholy purposes by heartening my heart and blinding me to the Truth with a capital T?

I’m just quick enough to appreciate Truth with a capital T. Seriously however, let’s pray and hope for the best you’re not in Pharaoh’s or Esau’s class and destined to be made an example of.

You choose not to answer the question. I’ll help. The answer is: Yahweh. Adonai. Kyrios. The LORD. “God”.

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Yeah, Christians who denied the gospels are like Grapenuts cereal, neither grapes nor nuts.

I’ve never heard that one, but I like it.

Why though, would “John” be writing letters about Christian heretics to other like-minded Christians in the second century? Ask yourself how there could have been devout Christians who denied Christ was ever a man on earth? There must’ve been some tradition… no? There is a gospel called the Ascension of Isaiah (complete copy in Coptic, dated to the second century, translated to English but there are fragments in Greek and Syriac)… I have a copy myself and it’s allowed me to understand Paul’s gospel message. In the Ascension of Isaiah, God chooses an angel to take on a body of flesh and descend through the seven layers of heaven (Paul himself claimed to be taken up to the third heaven in his visions) in order to trick the Rulers of this Age into killing him. His true identity would be hidden until he was killed by the rulers. Then God would resurrect him which would enable this great angel to defeat the Rulers and together he and God would inherit all the nations. God would also greatly exalt this angel, giving him more power and authority than the rest of the angels, and would bestow on him the name “Jesus”.

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When you refer to Paul’s gospel I’m assuming you’re referring to his epistles.

Of course, and like you mention in those letters he keeps reiterating his gospel message in the body of his letters.
What does Paul say?
- his struggle is not with humans but rather the Rulers in the heavenly places
- Jesus was a great archangel
- Jesus took on a body of flesh and was killed by the Rulers in Heaven because the Rulers did not know of or realize his plan.
- Jesus only earned his name “Jesus” after his death and resurrection
- Jesus was exalted to a level higher than the other angels

Paul’s gospel is a dead ringer for the Ascension of Isaiah. I believe it is the followers of that gospel and Paul’s earlier gospel that the later author of the epistles of John is complaining are the spirit of the antichrist.

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Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

He learned nothing of the gospel by any man. And he’s proud of it. He only knew about Jesus through visions and through the scripture. But what scripture??? According to Paul, the scripture he used - the Old Testament in Greek… the LXX or Septuagint - contained the revelation that Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected. What’s the timeframe for that Old Testament, hmm? 800 BCE to 150 BCE.

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he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

See what I bolded? Paul is the only person on record who claimed in the first person that he had a firsthand account of a vision of Jesus.

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These are physical, bodily appearances of Jesus, to flesh and blood men, on earth. We can’t ascribe Jesus’s appearance to Paul as some sort of ethereal manifestation or trance or vision because he is comparing his to the previously mentioned bodily appearances of Jesus.

See that part of your quote that I bolded? You dreamed that up. Fabricated it out of thin air. Paul doesn’t state what form Jesus was in. Your biases and presuppositions are causing you to read words that aren’t actually in Paul’s letters. It also doesn’t say where the visions took place. You might assume on earth but it doesn’t say that.

Here’s some facts about what Paul does actually write though.
- there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. Earthly bodies are made of flesh. Heavenly bodies aren’t. Earthly bodies are imperfect and corruptible while heavenly bodies are not.
-Paul claims he was caught up to the third heaven.
What’s Paul doing up there??? I believe this is his reference to his vision of Jesus. It’s in the same way Isaiah is brought up through the layers of heaven to see the “preview” of Jesus in the gospel the Ascension of Isaiah.

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Who is he comparing himself to and claiming his gospel and theirs are the same?

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That Paul’s gospel is different from the preaching and teaching of the other Apostles and differing in idea and substance from the gospels is very difficult to imagine much less find convincing support for the idea.

You got that all wrong. There was a tremendous completion between the likes of Paul, who rejected the Torah, and James and Peter, who commanded that Christians observe the Torah. Just look at Galatians 2:11 as but one example. It’s all over Paul’s letters though. They absolutely did not preach the same gospel message.

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Disciples and Apostles, some of whom wrote gospels ie Luke

Negative. The disciples were illiterate Aramaic-speaking fisherman. The apostles were likely also likely all the same (see Acts 4:13). The canonical gospels were written in very good Koine (coy-nay… meaning “universal”) and were written in the third person.