No, he didn't.
Brilliant guy - if you beat them, make them join you. Instead of trying to extirpate them, he realized it was far easier to simply hoodwick them into ditching Jesus's very own hand-selected Apostles - his own brother James, even - and turn a small Jewish sect into a major Roman Pagan one. He was quite literally an antichrist.
Don't know if he actually existed, but if he did, he sure was clever.
No, you can't.
Choice is irrelevant when it comes to reality. I don't choose to breathe air when I breathe. I don't choose to drink water when I drink water. I don't choose to pretend my elected officials are elected or not because I'm miffed at what other voters voted for.
If Jesus was a christ, he would have done something christly. And we all know he didn't. Not. one. single. thing.
And he would have chosen me. He would have chosen everybody. Well, if there was a Jesus and if you were Jewish like him. He would have been with them, or still be with them, here, right now, on Earth if he was really real and if he was really eternal. You don't choose if Jesus is real or a work of fiction.
Did you choose the first Messiah? Have you heard anybody have to prove that Cyrus the Great was real? No, because he was real, an actual historical figure. Nobody chooses Cyrus the Great to have been a Messiah, because he was. And there's no debating truth.