LOVE the new avatar!

Yeah, about being a pharisee. Not seeing the fascism, technically speaking, because he was a citizen of Rome and the oppression/authoritarianism in the Holy Land was a result of Rome being an occupying force, rather than a home grown affair.

That said, no doubt he was an oppressor.

I always found it odd that nobody seemed ro much. notice the change in language in the New Testament, particularly in regards to metaphors.

Jesus spoke in metaphors of cultivators. Shepherds, fishermen, builders, farmers. People who grew and and made things.

Paul spoke in military metaphor predominantly. "Garb yourself in the Armour of the Lord", righteousness is a nice shiny uniform and a big sword, keep to the chain of command in all things, etc.

Maybe you meant fascist in the sense that he was a bombastic personality and fascism tends to coalesce around a cult of personality. If so, fair enough. That applies to Paul. For sure. Dude was both charismatic, knew how to work a crowd, and was a little cray cray. We can most certainly check off all those boxes.