Introduction

Chapter I: December 25 The Sun God Christmas Late Date Pagan Elements A Biblical Problem

Chapter II: Other Pagan Concepts and Practices

Cut & Paste Baptism Eucharist The Cross The Trinity Son of God Passion, Death, Crucifixion and Resurrection of God

Chapter III: The Churchs Propaganda

The Pagan Heritage Faith and Faith! Establishing the Church

Chapter IV: Purifying Jesus from Paganism

The Faith of Jesus

Reviews Picture Cridits Bibliography Chapter III: The Churchs Propaganda

The Pagan Heritage Faith and Faith! Establishing the Church

.The Last Supper and Mona Lisa were painted by Leonardo Da Vinci

THE FACTS OF

DA VINCI CODE
SECRETS WOULD SHAKE THE BASES OF THE CHRUCH

".You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free"
(Jesus Christ (John 8:32 -

A tribute to Pope John Paul the Second I gift this research to Pope Bendicts the Fourteen

Contents

Page Number
3 8

Introduction Chapter I: December 25 The Sun God Christmas Late Date Pagan Elements A Biblical Problem Chapter II: Other Pagan Concepts and Practices Cut & Paste Baptism Eucharist The Cross The Trinity Son of God Passion, Death, Crucifixion and Resurrection of God Chapter III: The Churchs Propaganda The Pagan Heritage

8 9 11 13 14 16 16 17 18 21 23 27 31

37 38 42 46 52 53 54 58 62

65 66 68

Faith and Faith! Establishing the Church

Chapter IV: The Historical Jesus Jesus & His Existence Jesus of the Israelites The Faith of Jesus The Different Faces of Jesus Reviews Picture Credits Bibliography

Introduction
!Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals. Open your eyes

- Leonardo Da Vinci
The duty of a philosopher is clear. He must take every pain to ascertain the truth; and, having arrived at a conclusion, he should noise it abroad far and wide, utterly regardless .of what opinions he shocks

- Henry Thomas Buckle

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or .daughter more than me is not worthy of me
(Our beloved master Jesus (Matthew 10:37

A Letter to Our Beloved Jesus

Oh our beloved Jesus! If you are here today, we would shout excitingly,

Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he who

comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Halleluiah! Oh Jesus! It is too hard for us, when you are far! Halleluiah! The love is our only fuel. Halleluiah! We know that our love for you is nothing compared with your love for us and you have said, He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophets 1 reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward. Oh Jesus! It is more than 17,280,000 hours left. It is more than 270,000 days. It is two thousands years. It is twenty centuries. It is two millenniums. Through this long period of time, people, like priests, tended to distort your actual picture according to their own philosophy. In the New Testament itself, why do we find contradictions in accounts that is supposed to be from the most authentic source? We love you as you are in reality, the real Jesus, not Jesus who is drawn by the Church. We do not want to believe in you blindly. We want to believe in you with the light of realizing and understanding. We do not want a distorted, smoky image but a true clear image. This effort is an inquiry about you. It is to construct a solid bridge rather than a shaky one. We try to find you as you are. We seek what you have asked us to seek. You have told us, He who finds 2 his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. People give gold, frankincense and myrrh and our gift to you is our .humble research, we hope to be worth its weight in gold

The Most Precious Work for Jesus

What is the most precious work one can do for our beloved Jesus? Given your wealth to your church? Forgive your enemies? Or not to lie? Indeed, these are honorable deeds, but it is not the most significant. The most significant is to know that, the truth, and the truth will set you free, said Jesus. (John 8:32). Indeed, there is nothing more important than the truth.
The Normal Result

We have been raised by parents, influenced by society. Whether things are true or false, it becomes more difficult to discern. We place our trust in the priest, who tells us, Dont think or ask how or why or try to
1 2

Matthew 10:41. Matthew 10:39.

understand. Just believe and have faith! Omit the work of your mind! Because you can not understand God. This is the key to their game. Mr. Ngwane (former Catholic Choir Master of St Alphonse Church) tells us when he visited a Roman Catholic priest, Reverend Father Doncabe: I found the priest seated behind a huge desk with three Bibles opened in different places. He stood up as I entered and came forward to shake my hand. As he held my hand he said: Mr. Ngwane, before we begin our talk we must agree on something. I asked, still holding his hand, and what is that? He said, that we as Christians believe in the Bible as the word of God and we also believe in the Doctrine of the Church. I was puzzled because I thought the Doctrine of the Church would be based on the Bible. I did not know that the doctrine of the Church was something apart from the Bible and asked: Is the doctrine of the Church different from what is the Bible? Yes, confessed the priest. There are matters which are not in the Bible which we believe in because the church tells us to believe in, which are the doctrine of the church. Like what for example? I prodded. Like the doctrine of the Trinity, said the priest. This doctrine you cannot find anywhere in the Bible but we believe in it because it is the doctrine of the church. I was actually shocked to hear this; I began to think of the millions of people, clever people all over the world, doctors in the various academic professions, professors, lawyers and academics who are clinging onto something that does not exist. The priest could see the shock on my face and he emphasized you can read your Bible from the first to the last page and you will not find that God is a Trinity. Then where do you get it from? I asked. As I told you, it is the Doctrine of the Church, responded the priest. Where does the Church get it from? I insisted. We do not ask where the Church gets its doctrine from; as Christians we believe in what the Church teaches without asking such questions. I actually said, but that is stupid. Father Docnabe was right. The Bible never mentioned the word Trinity and it was created three centuries after Jesus as the most wellknown Encyclopedias declare it. Rather, Jesus called his people to worship the one God not a triune God. And one of the scribes [the Jews] came, asked him, which is the first commandment
of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. (The Bible, Mark 12:28-29) And it came to pass in those days, that he [Jesus] went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. (The Bible, Luke 6:12) Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (The Bible, Matthew 4:10)

Faith cannot be man-made, but has to be absolutely Divine, without human alteration. Most Christians do not know that the belief which is inherited by parents had been formed through long periods of 8

struggle. Every generation has added its own innovations, which today is totally different from the early community. Many believers have experienced the same shock of Mr. Ngwane. Many people have discovered that there are some teachings and practices at church which can be baseless and others senseless. However, while the Roman Catholic Church fights with the Eastern Orthodox Church over the claim that it holds to the original teachings, many people in history have raised up and resisted these teachings. Men like Martin Luther (the founder of the Lutheran sect and of Protestants), who protested 95 points of the Churchs teachings. Others like John Calvin (founder of Calvinism), who made his own revisions. Or the Adventists who try to modify the teachings with a taste of Zionism. The Pentecostals, also known as Born Again, who believe they have taken on the Holy Spirit, follow a pastor who has formulated his own version of Christianity, which has led them to divide into thousands of sects. Change upon change a vicious cycle that never ends. With every follower thinking that they are the ones who hold to the original teachings of Christ. The Da Vinci Code, a book that has caught the attention of the Catholic Church and the whole Christian community. It is a worldwide bestseller written by Dan Brown and published in 2003, with 36 million copies in print (2005) and translated into 45 languages. This novel "has spawned its own cottage industry of publications, including guides on to how to read the book, rebuttals and counter claims," noted BBC. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code contains facts, fictions and unsolved debated historical data. One of the claims that is unproven within the novel is that Mary Magdalene married Jesus and begat a daughter that holds holy descendants for Jesus, and portrayed Mary Magdalene as the Holy Grail itself and guarded by an order called the Priory of Sion. The novel also contains many errors. The works of Leonardo Da Vinci are misrepresented. For instance, Dan Brown claimed the supposed female person of Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper is Mary Magdalene which proves that Da Vinci was involved in the community of Priory of Sion. While the fact is that the supposed person is not Mary Magdalene but actually John the disciple. Brown again created a false theory by supposing the famous art of Da Vinci, Mona Lisa a self-portrait as a woman, where he claimed that the name Mona Lisa is an anagram for "Amon L'Isa" referring to the relationship between the ancient Egyptian gods Amon and Isis. Here Dan Brown made three mistakes. First, Mona Lisa is not feminine picture of Da Vinci himself. She is Lisa Gherardini. Secondly, the goddess Isis was not the spouse of Amon but of Osiris. Lastly, Amon was not the god of masculine fertility as Dan Brown claimed.
The Da Vinci Code

An Encyclopedia listed many examples of Da Vinci Code errors. Here we quote two examples from the list:
The assertion that the original Olympics were held "as a

tribute to the magic of Venus" (Chapter 6), i.e. apparently Aphrodite: Although the origins of the Olympic festivals remain in obscurity, it has been well documented that they were religious festivals in honor of Zeus and Pelops, not Venus [Aphrodite]. One of the cryptex clues claims that the Knights Templar

worshipped a pre-Christian fertility god (a horned god) named Baphomet. However, this name is only known from records of the Templars' trial on charges of witchcraft, and is most probably a 3 corruption of the name Mohammed [the prophet of Islam].

What about the facts of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code? This is the reason behind this work. In this book we present the factual historical information of Da Vinci Code as quotations in red color at the begging of each chapter. In order to reveal the proofs mentioned in the novel, and to confirm its authenticity by recording the testimonies of historians and scholars.
The Invitation
We do not claim that this book found all the lost things about Jesus. We are only trying add to the current research., We respect the mind of our reader and we invite you to make up your own mind, come to your own decision and be responsible for yourself. This book has been based on serial logic, meaning each chapter is based and understood by the proceeding chapter. We .kindly recommend to read the book from beginning to end without jumping between the topics for proper understanding of the logic

Wikepedia Encyclopedia.

10

CHAPTER I

December 25th
In Constantine's day [4th century A.D.], Rome's official religion was sun worship the cult of Sol Invictus, or the Invincible Sun and Constantine was its head priest . . . Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras . . . was born on December 25 . . . December 25 is also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans . . . Originally, Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan's veneration day of the sun. To this day most churchgoers attend services on Sunday morning with no idea that .they are there on account of the pagan sun god's weekly tribute Sunday

- Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code, Chapter 55

The Sun God

The birth of Jesus took place over 20 centuries ago. Before this time, Europe was filled with many pagan religions. The
pagans worshipped many different types of gods. The moon was made a god; for the sea there was a god; river had a god; for the earth a goddess; for the sky a god; for the fire a god; for the water a god. In short, for all elements and emotions there were different gods. These were times were myths and storytelling were circulating among the different religions and .cultures around the world. The same gods and ideas were spread out and shared in all various nations with variations One of the most important deity among those gods was the sun god. He was shared in all nations but varied in his name and aspects of personality and attributes. He is known in Rome as Sol; in Greece as Helios; in Egypt as Ra; in .Babylonia as Shamash; in Persia as Mithra; in India as Surya; in Russia as Dabog and on and on The sun god was, in most nations, believed to ride a chariot of horses or to ride a horse. According to some traditions, the sun god was emerged from the right eye of a god while the moon god/goddess from the left eye, where some times he marries or loves the moon. In other nations as the Creator and as the ancestor of their nation or their royal .kings The Code of Hammurabi (1700 BC), the first known written law in history, was claimed to be given to Hammurabi, .the founder of the Babylonian Empire by Shamash the sun god Being the symbol of all light, the sun has three distinct phases: rising, midday, and setting. This inspired the worshippers of the sun to worship their major god in three persons as his aspects. Thus we find the concept of the Trinity every where in every ancient nation. As in ancient Egypt, Ra the Egyptian sun god was "venerated in the forms of Atum (the setting sun) and Khepri (the rising sun) and, in connection to the morning sun, as Re-Harachte."

The most common Egyptian trinity was Osiris (God the Father), Horus

(God the Son) and Isis (Goddess the Mother) who were aspects of Ra the sun god and manifested in the Pharaohs, the Egyptian kings (we explain pagan trinity deeper in the second chapter). Since the fourth dynasty, the Egyptian kings styled themselves .as 'sons of Ra'. Ra was also considered the Creator of mankind Concerning the importance of the sun worship for the ancient heathens, Albert Pike makes the following concise :'statement in his 'Morals and Dogma To them [aboriginal peoples] he [the sun] was the innate fire of bodies, the fire of Nature. Author of Life, heat, and ignition, he was to them the efficient cause of all generation, for without him there was no movement, no existence, no form. He
4

Re. Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/manuk_patiaraja.html

was to them immense, indivisible, imperishable, and everywhere present. It was their need of light, and of his creative energy, that was felt by all men; and nothing was .more fearful to them than his absence

Christmas
The Catholic Church of St. Clemente, near the Colosseum in Rome is built upon one of the largest pagan temple of
Fig. 1:2:2 - The Phryigian god ATTIS, who was born in 25th of December

the sun god, Mithra. This Persian god was worshipped thousands of years ago. His cult, Mithraism, spread to Rome. Thus in Rome, more than a hundred inscriptions dedicated to Mithra (Roman
Fig. 1:2:1 - The Persian god of the sun, MITHRA th who was born in 25 of December

Mithras) have been found, in addition to 75 sculpture fragments, and a series of .Mithraic temples situated in all parts of the city Mithra originally was a Persian god brought to Europe. Mithraists believed that Mithra was born in the midwinter. In other

5 6

.words, 25 December

.Mithras birth celebration was December 25 because each day after December 25, the day light period got longer

In fact, Mithra was not the only pagan god who was born on Dec 25th. It was a common festival in all pagan nations for their own deities and yet all have predated the Christian Christmas. In the book, Religions of the World: The Illustrated :Guide to Origins, Beliefs, Traditions & Festivals Elizabeth Breuilly, Joanne OBrien and Martin Palmer have said

Many of the traditional customs of Christmas pre-date Christianity. Christmas Day was chosen because it was the ancient feast-day of the Sun, in the depths of winter 7
8 9 th Thus the 25 of December was the birth day of the Chinese god Chang-ti., the Hindu god Krishna, the Chaledean
lord Chris,

10

the Phyrigian god Attis,

11

the Anglo-Saxonic god Jao Wapaul,

12

the Scandinavian deity Thor,

13

the Syrian

god Adonis

14

and the Greek god Dionysus, whose for celebrating his birth, the women joyfully sang in a loud voice on the

15

."25th of December, "Unto us a child is born this day

The Azetics in South America celebrated Panquetzaliztli (7 to 26 December) dedicated to the god of war and sun Huitzilopochtli. During that festival "a statue of the god was made with amaranth (huatli) seeds and honey," and at the 255

Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, The Jesus Mysteries: Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God?., p.33, (1999). 6 http://www.plim.org/1225Pagan.html 7 Elizabeth Breuilly, Joanne OBrien and Martin Palmer, Religions of the World: The Illustrated Guide to Origins, Beliefs, Traditions & Festivals, p. 21, (1997). 8 Kersey Graves, The Worlds Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Or Christianity before Christ., Ch. 8: The Twenty-Fifth of December the Birthday of the Gods. (1875) 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Pagan of the Origins Christ Myth, (http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/pagan_christs_attis.html). 12 Kersey Graves, op. ct., Ch. 8: The Twenty-Fifth of December the Birthday of the Gods. (1875) 13 http://www.geocities.com/christprise/pagan-origins.html [Accessed in September 6 2003]. 14 Kersey Graves, op. ct., Ch. 8: The Twenty-Fifth of December the Birthday of the Gods. (1875) (Adonis of Syria influenced in Greece). 15 Kersey Graves, op. ct., Ch. 8: The Twenty-Fifth of December the Birthday of the Gods. (1875)

12

th 26 of December, "it was cut into small pieces so everybody could eat a little piece of the god," as an early version of the

16
The ancient Pagan Russians also celebrated the 25 th of December called it KOLYADA.

.Christian Eucharist

17

The ancient pagan Germans

19

.called it YULE-FEAST.

18

The Romans called it SATURNALIA, which was the day of the birth of the sun god SOL INVECTUS

Some Orthodox Eastern Churches (like the Armenian Church) celebrates Christmas on the 6th of January, borrowing from the birthdays of the early Eastern pagan gods; such as: The god Aion of Alexandria 20 and well-known Babylonian god Thammuz. 21

Figs. 1:2:3 & 1:2:4 - The Roman god of the sun Sol (the Greek Helios) who was celebrated .the Natalia of his birth at 25th of December

The last two festivals mentioned (Yule-feast and Saturnalia) are the direct roots of the Christian Christmas. The :Encyclopedia of Man, Myth and Religions noted under CHRISTMAS

22

.Christmas has its origin in two ancient pagan festivals, the great Yule-feast of the Norsemen and the Roman Saturnalia

Late Date

The Christmas of the Christian god, Jesus is a replacement of the Saturnalia of the pagan Roman god, Sol Invectus. 23 This replacement was made in the fourth century by the Roman emperor Constantine. In, The Bible as History the historian Werner Keller remarked:
December 25 is referred to in documents as

Christmas Day in A.D. 324 for the first time . . .

16 17

Wikipedia Encyclopedia, "Huitzilopochtli" Fig. 1:3:1 - The festival of NATALIA, the Roman Sun-god Sol World Congress of Ethnic Relegions, Orgnaizations, Russia. birthday (25th 18 Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religionof December), which Vol. adopted by Christians in and the Unknown, was 2, p. .the 4th century to be the birthday of Jesus 481, (1983). 19 Ibid. 20 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.34, (1999). 21 Hayyim ben Yehoshua, Refuting Missionaries, Ch. 2. 22 Ibid.

13

An old Roman festival played a major part in the choice of this particular day. December 25 in ancient Rome was the 'Dies Natali Invictus,' 'the birthday of the unconquered,' the day of the winter solstice and at the same time, in Rome, the last day of the Saturnalia, which had long since degenerated into a week of

24

. . . unbridled carnival

Since the fourth century, the pagan festival became part of the Christian body. The encyclopedia of Man, Myth & Magic :says Naturally it came under heavy censure from the early Church and despite the fact that Jesus Christ and the saints gradually replaced the pagan deities it was long considered completely out of character with the Christian ideal. However, the festival was far too strongly entrenched in popular favour to be abolished, and the Church finally granted the necessary recognition, believing that if Christmas could .not be suppressed it should be preserved in honour of the Christian God Once given a Christian basis the festival became fully established in Europe .with many of its pagan elements undisturbed It was only in the 4 th century that 25 December was officially decreed to be

the birthday of Christ, and it was another 500 years before the term Midwinter Feast was abandoned in favour of the word Christmas. Even then on the Continent the festival continued to show many features inherited from the .Saturnalia

If December 25th is not the date of Jesus birthday then what was his true birthday? Worldbook Encyclopedi a answers this question by saying: The exact date of Christ's birth is not known. The [very] early Christians did not celebrate His birth.
Pagan Elements
During the Christmas day, Christians decorate and erect trees. This practice originates from the pagans of Germany. It belongs to the Teutonic vegetation worship. The Encyclopedia of Man, :Myth and Magic explains how it came into Christianity; it says

the use of the tree has roots in the old . . . worship of trees by the tribesmen of northern Europe. Certainly the Germans first brought the tree into Christians before other peoples. And they took it to America: German
Fig. 1:4:1 - The Tree at Rockefeller Center in .New York

mercenaries, fighting on the British side in the War of Independence, raised Christmas

trees in their camps, and German settlers in Pennsylvania also set up their trees, It was a longer time coming to Britain, but its popularity there was ensured when Queen Caroline erected a tree at a royal Christmas celebration in 1821, and when in 1841 Prince Albert provided one for a childrens party at .Windsor :This custom of the tree is forbidden in the Bible
23 24

Jack Finegan, Myth & Mystery: An Introduction to the Pagan Religions of the Biblical World, (1997). Werner Keller, The Bible as History, (1983).

14

Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at
the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. (The Bible, Jeremiah 10:2-5)

Santa Claus, the jolly, fatwhite bearded representative of Christmas was originally the Nordic (German) Pagan god, Woden (Odin). 25 Worldbook Encyclopedia mentioned: Some of Santa Claus's characteristics date back many centuries. For example, the belief that Santa enters the house through the chimney developed from an old Norse legend.
According to the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-11), when Jesus was born, three wise men came from far to visit him and gifted him with gold, frankincense and myrrh. Again, this tradition originated from early pagan traditions. It is the same legend which was assigned to Krishna the ndu Savior

26

and Socrates

Hi th p w wi m Mi th Py
Figs. 1:4:3 & 1:4:4 - CONFUCIUS was visited by five .wise men after his birth

e great well-known Greek

Fig. 1:4:2 - SOCRATES who was presented gold, frankincense and .myrrh in his birth

hilosopher.

27

All of them

ere presented at their birth th gold, frankincense and yrrh. The Persian god

thras birth was visited by ree shepherds.

28

The birth of the Greek philosopher

thagoras (550 BCE) and of the Chinese philosopher

29

.onfucius (598 BCE) were visted by wise men

In conclusion, we find that many roots of Christmas .ased on pagan ideologies

A Biblical Problem
How can the actual date of Gods birth be forgotten and omitted? If the early Christians did not know the exact day of Jesus birth, then what about the month of his birth? What about the year? The historian Kersey Graves said in his book, :The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Or Christianity before Christ Think of an omnipotent God descending from heaven, performing astounding miracles, and presenting other proofs of being a God, and yet not one of the three hundred writers of that era take any notice of him, or make any note of his birth or any event of his life. This .circumstance is of itself sufficient to banish and dissipate all faith in his divinity

25

Renterghem, Tony Van, When Santa Was a Shaman: The Ancient Origins of Santa Claus & the Christmas Tree, (1995). 26 The Ramayana (a Hindu Bible). 27 Kersey Graves, Kersey, op. cit., Ch. 7: Angels, Shepherds and Magi Visit the Infant Saviors (1875). 28 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.33, (1999). 29 Kersey Graves, Kersey, op. cit., Ch. 7: Angels, Shepherds and Magi Visit the Infant Saviors (1875).

15

Many Christians today think that Jesus was born in the first year of the Christian calendar (e.g. 1 CE). In fact this is not correct. Many scholars today date Jesus birth between 6-4 :BCE. Religions of the World stated under THE CHRISTIAN CALENDER The system of numbering years that is most familiar in the Western world is based on the year when it was thought that Jesus was born . . . But more recent research shows

30

.that Jesus was probably born in 4 BCE, not 1 CE

What about the Bible? Did it set a date for the birth of the Christ? The birth of Jesus is mentioned in two gospels, Matthew and Luke. According to the gospel of Matthew (2:1), Jesus was born in the time of the King Herod who died in 4 BCE.

31

While the gospel of

Luke (2:1-2) mentions that Jesus was begotten in the time of the governorship of Cyrenius, who had just became the governor of Syria after 10 years of Herods death.

32

Fig.

1:5:1

HEROD

THE

GREAT,

whom,

according to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus was born during his reign, where the gospel of Luke records Jesus birth ten years after .the death of Herod

That makes the birth of Jesus to be around 6 CE. In other words, Matthew says that the birth of Jesus was in 4 BCE and Luke claims that it was ten years later, 6 CE. Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible which has been a standard reference work for over a century and has been widely used by all evangelical denominations, commented on :Luke 2:2

This taxing was first made when Cyrenius, etc. - The next difficulty in this text is found in this verse, which may be translated, Now this first enrolment was made when Quirinus was .governor of Syria It is easily proved, and has been proved often, that Caius Sulpicius Quirinus, the person mentioned in the text, was not governor of Syria, till ten or twelve years after the birth of .our Lord St. Matthew says that our Lord was born in the reign of Herod, Luk 2:1, at which time Quintilius Varus was president of Syria, (Joseph. Ant. book xvii. c. 5, sect. 2), who was preceded in that office by Sentius Saturninus . . . so that it is impossible that the census .mentioned by the evangelist could have been made in the presidency of Quirinus

Elizabeth Breuilly, Joanne OBrien and Martin Palmer, Religions of the World: The Illustrated Guide to Origins, Beliefs, Traditions & Festivals, Ch.

30

.(2: Christianity, p. 58, (1997 (Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. (Matthew 2:1
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was

31 32

(governor of Syria. (Luke 1-2:2

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CHAPTER II

Other Pagan Concepts & Practices

Transmogrification, . . . The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholics saints. Pictograms of Isis [the Egyptian goddess] nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of 'God-eating' were taken directly form earlier pagan mystery religions . . .

Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras called the Son of God and the Light of the World was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days . . . Jesus' establishment as `the Son of God` was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea . . . A relatively close vote at that, . . . Nonetheless, establishing Christ's divinity was critical to the further unification of the Roman empire and to the new Vatican power base. By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the .human world, an entity whose power was unchallengeable

- Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code, Chapter 55

Cut & Paste

centuries, no one would think that this day is of pagan origin. As the church is the one who is responsible for selecting the pagan festival, it is also responsible for many other rituals and teachings that were taken from the pagans. We will now explore the most important concepts and practices which are stolen from the ancient pagan nations. You may also notice that it is very similar to the action of cut and paste. We find that the Church created Christianity in a similar fashion in regards to the previous pagan cultures.
Baptism
In the gospel of Mark 1:5, John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan River because, as Mark notes, they were confessing their sins. The water of baptism symbolizes a washing away of sins. One of those who came to confess their :sins and to be baptized was Jesus. Mark writes
(And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. (Mark 1:9 .How and why would John baptize and purify his God? There is no answer for this question except when we seek its origin

December 25 surprises many. For the past three

The key to understanding why John baptized his God are found in the words of the mythologists (Scholars of mythologies) Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy who commented:

Examining the stories of John the Baptist and Jesus, we do seem to be clearly in mythological territory. 33 The reason why they said so is explained when they had said, Jesus is baptized, a ritual practiced for centuries in the Mysteries. Mysteries are the rituals and practices of worshipping the pagan gods. If the practice of baptism is originally a Christian rite, then we must ask ourselves why was this ritual performed many thousands of years before Christianity? One of the oldest civilizations to perform this ritual was the SUMERIANS, a people who lived in Iraq more than five thousands years ago. The Sumerians created hundreds of gods. Every aspect of material life was idolized. One of the elements they chose as a god was water. The god of water was EA, Eas priests and devoted worshippers performed the baptism. The Mythologist Joseph Campbell writes: The rite of baptism was an ancient rite coming down from old Sumerian temple city Eridu, of the water god Ea, God of the House of Water. 34 In fact, Christianity did not inherit baptism directly from the Sumerians but it was a long process until finally the Church inherited it from other cultures. Among those ancient nations who practiced Baptisms were the ancient Egyptians, 35 Mayans of South America, 36 Hindus, 37 Persians, 38 Greeks, 39 Norse (Ancient Germans and Scandinavians). 40 All of these nations practiced Baptism long before Christianity. The pagan heritage of the act of Baptism was passed to Christianity directly from the Romans. The ancient Roman Baptism was chosen on the eighth day for girls and the ninth for boys. 41 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy said: Baptism was a central rite in the [Pagan] Mysteries 42

33 34

Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. ct., p.35, (1999). Quoted in Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.34, (1999). 35 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. ct., p.35, (1999). 36 Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 26: Origin of Baptism by Water, Fire, Blood, and the Holy Ghost (1875). 37 Ibid. 38 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. ct., p.35, (1999). 39 Ibid. 40 Paul Carus, The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, p. 281, (1900). 41 Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 26: Origin of Baptism by Water, Fire, Blood, and the Holy Ghost (1875). 42 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. ct., p.35, (1999).

18

Fig. 2:2:1 - Egyptian Baptism

Fig. 2:2:2 - Greek Baptism

Fig. 2:2:3 TEXT OF THE NORDIC BAPTISM (formula in old low-German); The name of the Nordic Trinity (Odin, Thor and Fiery) was used during the Baptism long before the Christian Baptism and Trinity.

(Eucharist (Bread & Wine

Two days before the crucifixion, Jesus gathered with his disciples for a meal. This meal was called the Last Supper. The gospel of Mark mentions an important action made by :Jesus at the Supper
And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he [Jesus] took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed (for many. (Mark 14:22-24

Since eating bread and drinking wine became synonymous with the masses in the memory of the Lords Supper. This ritual is called EUCHARIST. The Catholics as well as Orthodoxies believe that the Eucharist literally becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus. Unlike the Protestants who believe that the bread and wine are only symbols. Whatever differences there ?are, we have to ask ourselves, Why would God ask people to eat him? Is this not cannibalism

Actually it is. It is a ritual taken from pagans. Most old nations and pagan religions have these same ideas within them and yet they predated the Christians for thousands years. The Persian god, Mithra was born from a rock on the 25th of

December. His worshippers believed that he is omniscient with 1000 ears and 10,000 eyes. He was served by 10,000 spies. Similar to Jesus words in Marks gospel, more than two thousand years prior Mithra said: He who will not eat of my body and drink of my blood, so that he will be made one with me and I with him, the same shall not know salvation. 43 Christians believe that Jesus offered his flesh to be eaten and his blood to be drunk. 4000 years ago, the Persians had their Holy Communion for their Savior, Mithra by eating the bread, drinking the mixture of water and wine. Part of the Mithraic communion liturgy included these words of Mithra (which are cited above).
43

Timothy Frake & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.49, (1999).

19

Fig. 2:3:2 - Eucharist of DIONYSUS

Fig. 2:3:3 - DIONYSUS, is raising a chalice of wine with his mother SEMELE.

The Holy Communion of Mithra (or Mithras) was passed on to the Romans and was adopted within Christianity for Jesus. The International Encyclopedia states: Mithras seems to have owed his prominence to the belief that he was the source of life, and could also redeem the souls of the dead into the better world ... The ceremonies included a sort of baptism to remove sins, anointing, and a sacred meal of bread and water, while a consecrated wine, believed to possess wonderful power, played a prominent part.
:Prof. Franz Cumont, of the University of Ghent, writes in his, The Mysteries of Mithras, pp. 190-191

The sectaries of the Persian god, like the Christians', purified themselves by baptism, received by a species of confirmation the power necessary to combat the spirit of evil; and expected from a Lord's supper salvation of body and soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of December.
Furthermore, there are other nations who also had Eucharist before Christianity. To name a few: The Hindus, Chinese Confucians,

44

Buddhists of Nepal and Tibet,

45

ancient Aztecs,

46

47

early Egyptians,

48

Greeks

49

and Romans;

50

all had the .Eucharist

The Romans called it LECTESTERNIA. There were different cults of gods like: Hercules, Jupiter, Vesta, Juno, Minerva, Isis, Apollo, Venus, Diana, Neptune, Mercury and Mars. Commonly, for every god they practiced Eucharist. Thus a Roman :philosopher, Cicero (106-43 BCE) mocked them by saying

Is anybody so mad as to believe that the food which he eats is actually a god?
44 45

Fig. 2:3:4 Eucharist Graves, Kersy, op. cit., Ch. 27: The Sacrament or Eucharist of Heathen Origin, (1875). (Lectisternia) of Carpenter, Edward, Pagan & Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning, Totem-Sacraments and

Eucharists, (2001). 46 Dr. Frazer, J., The Golden Bough, (1922). 47 Carpenter, Edward, op. cit., Totem-Sacraments and Eucharists, (2001). 48 Williamson, W., The Great Law, of Religious Origins. 49 Timothy Frake & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.50, (1999). 50 Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 27: The Sacrament or Eucharist of Heathen Origin, (1875).

20

Why do Pagans and Christians eat their gods? Eating the flesh of a god and drinking his blood is originally taken from the primitive tribal Shamanic 51 rituals (10,000 years ago!). For early magical ideas, the Shamans were to eat the flesh and to drink the blood of their sacred and worshipped animal-gods (totems). This rite influenced to the ancient Americas and to central Asia, then came its final form, Eucharist in the most pagan religions. 52
The Cross
Christians use the sign of the cross, referring to the crucifixion of Jesus and his sacrifice. This sign began to be used only in the middle of the 3rd century.

53

In the early centuries of Christianity, the symbol used was a fish.

54

Why did Christians

:change the sign from the fish to the cross? The Catholic Encyclopedia answers this question by stating

The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization In later times the Egyptian Christians (Copts), attracted by its form, and perhaps by its symbolism, adopted it as the emblem of the cross. Another question is how did Christians get the cross from the pagans? This question is answered by Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; it says: In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system, pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan Fig. 2:4:1 - TIBETIAN CROSS signs and symbols. The Romans were one of those nations whom the Christians took the symbol of the cross from. Thus Bishop Alexander Hislop notes: The Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome wore it [e.g. the Cross] suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns do now. 55

51 52 53

SHAMANISM: ancient pagan religion of people of Siberia in North of Russia.

Edward Carpenter, op. cit., Totem-Sacraments and Eucharists, (2001). Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words 54 Timothy Frake & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p. 39, (1999). 55 Rev. Alexander Hislop, op. cit., p. 198, (1998).

21

Fig. 2:4:2 - CELTIC CROSSES

Again here, most of the pagan nations had already used the cross before the Christians. It seems that the first nation to use the cross would be the Babylonians, for their god Thammuz. Following them were various nations like the ancient Egyptians, 56 Romans, 57 Buddhists of Tibet, 58 Celts (fathers of the Irish) and the Scandinavians. 59 Encyclopedia Britannica stated: From its simplicity of form, the cross has been used both as a religious symbol and as an ornament, from the dawn of man's civilization. Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of Fig. 2:4:3 - PAGAN CROSSES different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples, while numerous instances, dating from the later Stone Age to Christian times, have been found in nearly every part of Europe. The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times, and among non-Christian peoples, may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship. 60

56 57

Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, vol. 14, p. 273. Johannes Geffcken, The Last Days of Greco-Roman Paganism, (1978). 58 M. A. AlKadhi, What Did Jesus Really Say? (1996). 59 Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, (2001). 60 Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, 1910, vol. 7, p. 506.

22

Although Jesus, in the new testament, stated that God is only one (Mark 12:28-29), Many Christians believe that God although He is one, He is also three. They say that God is one in three and three in one. They are three beings but one being. They are three identities but one identity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God. This is called TRINITY. It is interesting that we cannot find the word Trinity in the Bible. But this idea takes its concept from ancient pagan nations. One of these nations today has millions of followers, Hinduism. Knowing Hinduism is a worthy comparison to classify the roots of Christianities paganism. Hindus believe in One God but worship cows, rats, snakes, trees, men and idols, but as aspects of God. Columbia Encyclopedia stated about Hindu gods under HINDUISM: All the gods and goddesses, each of which has numerous aspects, are regarded as different forms of the one Supreme Being. This is the root of the Trinity concept. It is easy to compare and understand. The Hindus worship three hundred million beings (i.e. 300,000,000) but they still claim that they worship One God. Similarly, the Christians worship three beings (i.e. 3), with omitting eight zeros (i.e. 00,000,000) but they still claim that they worship One God. Hinduism also has a trinity, yet two thousand years older. Their trinity is called Tri-Murty, referring to the three forms (trinity), who were called Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu and Shiva. About this similarity, the encyclopedia Man, Myth & Magic states under VISHNU: In the so-called Hindu Trinity (the Trimurti or threeform of God, consisting Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) Brahma is associated with creation, Vishnu with sustaining, and Shiva destruction, just as in Christianity, the Father came to be associated with creation, the Son with redemption, and the Holy Spirit with 61 sanctification.

The Trinity

61

Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, Vol. 11, p. 2959, (1983).

23

Figs. 2:5:1, 2:5:2 & 2:5:3 - HINDU Trinity

The resemblances between Hinduism and Christianity did not end here. Look deeper into Hinduism and you find many similarities to Christianity. As Jesus is believed to be the incarnation of the second member of the Christian trinity (i.e. the Word), the god-man Krishna is also believed to be an incarnation of the second member of the Hindu trinity (i.e. Vishnu). Many aspects of Krishnas life are similar with that of Jesus. For example, Krishna died and resurrected after three days. Likewise he washed the feet of his disciples. In chapter 11 of his book 'The Christ,' John E. Remsberg said:
All that converting the Hindoos to Christianity does for them," says Robert Cheyne, "is to change the object of their worship from Krishna to Christ." Of Krishna's gospel, the "Bhagavad-Gita," Appletons Cyclopedia says, "Its correspondence with the New Testament is indeed striking." The parallels between Krishna and Christ to be found in the Hindoo scriptures and the Christian Gospels are too numerous and too exact to be accidental. The legends of the one were borrowed from the other. It is admitted by Christian scholars that Krishna lived many centuries before Christ. To admit the priority of the Krishna legends is to deny, to this extent, the originality of the .Gospels

Hinduism is not the only religion which holds the idea of the trinity. In fact trinity is a common philosophy to all civilized pagans before Christianity. Thus Christianity has nothing to do with this theology except it inherited it. It seems that the first nation that invented the philosophy of the trinity is the Sumerians who lived in Iraq some 6000 years ago. The Sumerian trinity was Anu, Enlil and Enki. 62 Various nations inherited the trinity from them. Those nations shared the same main idea of the trinity but with different deities. This concept spread all around the world. In Babylonia (the trinity was Anu, Ea, and Bel,
62

Dr. M. Al`oraibi, Encyclopedia of the Revealed & Human Religions, Vol. 2: Human Extinct Religions, The Sumerian Divine Trinity, p. 56, (1995).

24

who were combined in one God called Bel-Merodach.), 63 in Egypt (Osiris -the Father-, Isis -the Mother- and Horus -the Son-), 64 in China (Vajrapani, Manjusri, and Avalokitesvara), 65 in Scandinavia and Germany (Odin, Thor and Frey), 66 the Celts (Gobniu, Luchta and Credne), the ancient Mexicans (Ho, Huizilopochtli and Tlaloc), 67 in ancient Indonesia, 68 in Hawai, 69 in ancient Armenia, 70 in Latvia, 71 in Lithuania, 72 in ancient Russia, 73 in Ethiopia, 74 in ancient Greece, in ancient Peru, in ancient Palestine, in Siberia and many others. 75

63

Paul Carus, op. cit, p. 40, (1900). http://www.sacred-texts.com/evil/hod/hod06.htm#page_40 [Accessed in 28 September 2003]. 64 Samuel Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity., The Religion of Upper Egypt, p.14, (1863). 65 M. A. Alkadhi, What Did Jesus Really Say? (1996). 66 Arthur Cotterell & Rachel Storm, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, Fierey, (1999). 67 http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Pacific.htm [Accessed in 14/10/2003]. 68 The goddess Manuk Patiaraja laid three fabulous eggs from which three children hatched. Those children formed a divine trinity of gods. (Manuk Patiaraja. Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/manuk_patiaraja.html [Accessed August 30 2003].) 69 The Hawaiian trinity was Ku, Kane, and Longo. (Jan Knappert, Pacific Mythology (1992).) 70 The Armenian trinity was Astlik the goddess of love and fertility and the sun god Vahagn and the moon goddess Anahit. (Astlik. Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/astlik.html [Accessed August 30 2003].) 71 The Latvian trinity was Dievs (the supreme God), Mara (God the Mother) and Laima (the Deity of fate). (Aldis Putelis, Mara. Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mara2.html [Accessed August 30 2003].) 72 World Congress of Ethnic Relegions, Orgnaizations, Lithuania. (www.wcer.org) 73 The Slavic trinity was Svarog (the Supreme God), Perun (God of thunder) and Veles (God of wisdom). (World Congress of Ethnic Relegions, Orgnaizations, Russia. (www.wcer.org)) 74 The Ethiopian Trinity was Astar, Beher and Mahrem. (Astar. Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/astar.html) 75 M. A. Alkadhi, op. cit. (1996).

25

.Figs. 2:5:4 & 2:5:5 - EGYPTIAN Trinity The Father, the Mother and the Son

Fig. 2:5:6 - SCANDINIVIAN-GERMAN Trinity

Fig. 2:5:7 - CELTIC Trinity

26

Fig. 2:5:8 - LITHUANIAN Trinity

Fig. 2:5:9 - MAYAN Trinity

The Christian philosophy of the trinity originated from the Greeks. The Greek pagan philosopher Plato set forth the doctrine of the trinity in his Plaedon, written four hundred years BCE. His works are strikingly similar with the Christian doctrine. Plato's terms for the trinity were: Agathon (the supreme God or Father), Logos (the Greek translation for "the Word") and Psyche (which the Greek Lexicon defines as "soul, spirit or ghost"). Another Greek philosopher Aristotle explained its philosophy two hundreds years before Christianity; he wrote: The whole and everything in it is comprehended by the number three, for end, middle and beginning have the number of the whole, that is the trinity. 76 This is before and NOT AFTER Christianity! Share what Aristotle had said about their pagan philosophy with your priest or minister. Also share the Greek trinity, the Hindu trinity, the Egyptian trinity or even this book. Ask for answers. The average priests or minister would write off these facts as falsehood or nonsense. Followers are ask not to confuse themselves with such things. We are told faith is in the heart, and that faith is blind. Humans have intellect and must use the facilities of rational thought and understanding in order not to become blind followers. Irregardless of whatever faith one is involved in, it must make sense to the intellect as well as the heart. I have presented church leaders with these points and most were speechless or would simply say its about faith. So, we can see clearly that the creed of the trinity is a major form of polytheism and is contrary to the creed of worshipping one God. The Christian scholar Tom Harpur noticed a great majority of regular churchgoers that they profess to believe in one God, but in reality they worship three [Gods] 77
76 77

Quoted in W. Burkert, Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism, p. 265, (1972). Tom Harpur, For Christ's Sake, (1987).

27

For a man to be God Himself is not acceptable. Why? The priests of the pagan religions, beside the Christian priests, know that God is not a man! God is Superior, Supreme, Almighty, and there is nothing like Him. All of the pagan gods are described according to human imagination, which is a product of mans experience and environment. One of the strongest emotions in humans, and animals as well, is the bond between parent and child. All worshipped men are described as Sons of God because a son is always attributed to his father. But the son is held lower than his father. So to solve this problem, the priests devised a theological philosophy that the son-god personified his father-god and was a part, incarnation or aspect of his father, which made the son that supreme God Himself! But is the son actually his father? Several months ago, I entered a Lutheran parish. I met with a German Pastor whose name was Gilbert Filter. I asked him, Is Jesus God or Son of God? He replied, Both! I said, God is one. He agreeably said, Yes. I continued asking him, Then how could we say, Jesus is God and Son of God at the same time? He said, As I am here, in front of you, son of my father and father of my son. Pastor Filter hoped to make it sensible. He tried to explain that the problem is not a problem. But I opened his eyes to see that the problem is serious. I asked him as simple as that, Is your son yourself? Shockingly, he answered, No! I asked, Then how do you say, Jesus is son of God and he is God himself? Is God son of himself? Father Filter paused, his face puzzled. He realized that he was worshipping two Gods. He continued, recognizing his failure and lowering his head and said, We can not understand the Trinity. If we would accept that God begets a son then it would be not impossible to accept that He begets another son or daughter. Then that son or daughter to beget another child. Where we will find, God the Father, God the Son, Goddess the Daughter, God the Grandson and God the Grandfather. A family of Gods! Then we would appreciate the Hindus who worship 300,000,000 gods. What if the Jews did not betray Jesus when he was young? What if they betrayed him later after he had married Mary Magdalene and begat children? Would his children then be Gods, who are incarnation of God himself? We do not doubt that the millions of Christians would worship his offspring. According to Da Vinci Code (Chapter 60), the Merovingian kings of France were descendants of the Christ. What if this is true? Would we worship them?

Son of God

28

However, most pagan nations worshipped their rulers, kings and emperors (human beings) and regarded them as Gods incarnation and His descendants. We find this idea with the emperors of China, 78 emperors of Japan, 79 pharaohs of Egypt, 80 kings of Babylonia, emperors of Greece and Rome and so on. The title of Son of God was not confined only to kings and emperors, it was also given to every man worshipped as a god. History tells us that in almost every pagan nation there was a man amongst them entitled God, Son of God, Fig. 2:6:1 - Rameses II, Pharaoh of Egypt who Beloved Son of God, Begotten Son of God, .claimed divinity and was regarded as Son of God Savior, Mediator, Lord, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Redeemer, Light, Way, Life, and so on, long before Jesus. We find the same titles with Thammuz the Savior of Babylonia, Crite of Chaldea, the Ever Blessed Son of God and the Savior of the Race, Mithra of Persia, Krishna of India, Osiris of Egypt, Adonis of Syria, Dionysus of Greece, Bacchus of the Romans, Thor and Bulder of the Germans and Scandinavians, Hesus of the Celts, Attis of Asia Minor and Quetzalcoatl of Mexeco. Kersy Graves notes: The title "Son of God" was so common in nearly all religious countries as to excite but little awe or attention . . . The "Asiatic Research" says, "The Tamulese adored a divine Son of God," and Thor of the Scandinavians was denominated "the first-born Son of God;" and so was Chrishna of India, and other demigods . . . It requires, therefore, a wide stretch of faith to believe that Jesus Christ was in any peculiar sense "the Son of God," because so denominated, or "the only begotten Son of God," when so many others are reported in history bearing that title. [Was Jesus the Lord of lords and King of kings?] The Hindu God, Chrishna, more than two thousand years before Jesus, was prayerfully worshiped as "God the Most High." His disciple Amarca once addressed him thus: "Thou art the Lord of all things, the God of the
78 79

Arthur Cotterell & Rachel Storm, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, (1999). Ibid. 80 Samuel Sharpe, op. cit., The Religion of Upper Egypt, p. 3, (1863).

29

universe, the emblem of mercy, the bestower of salvation. Be propitious O most High God," etc. Here he is addressed both as Lord and God. He is also styled "God of Gods". Adonis of Syria was addressed as "God Supreme", and Osiris of Egypt as "the Lord of Life." In Phrygia, it was "Lord Atys [Attis]", as Christians say, "Lord Jesus Christ." Narayan of Bermuda was styled the " Holy Living God" . . . The title Savior is found in the legends of every Pagan religions country. So also God, Redeemer, and Mediator. When a Mogul or Thibetan is asked, who is Chrishna? says the Christian missionary Huc, "the reply is, instantly, 'the Savior of men.'" Buddha was known as "the Savior, Creator and Wisdom of God," and Mithra of Persians as both Mediator and Savior, also as "the Redeemer," and Chrishna as "the Divine Redeemer," also "the Redeemer of the World" . . . Was Christ "the True Light?" (John 1:9) So was the Indian God, Chrishna likewise called "the True Light," also "the Giver of Light," "the Inward Light," etc. The Egyptian God, Osiris was "the Redeemer of Light," and the Greek God, Pythagoras was both "Light and Truth." The Roman God, Apollonius was styled the "True Light of the World;" while Simon Magus was called "the Light of all Men. . . . Was Jesus Christ the "Lamb of God?" . . . So was Chrishna styled "the Holy Lamb." The Mexicans, preferring a full-grown sheep, had their "Ram of God." The Celts had their "Heifer of God," and the Egyptians their Bull of God." All these terms are ludicrous emblems of Deity, representing him as a quadruped, as the title "Lamb of God" does Jesus Christ, a term no less ludicrous than the titles of the Pagan Gods as cited above . . . Again, was Jesus Christ "the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End?" so, likewise, Chrishna proclaimed, "I am the Beginning, the Middle, and the End." Osiris and Chrishna were both proclaimed "Judge of the Dead," as Jesus was "Judge of quick and dead."

30

Isaiah represents the Father as proclaiming, "I am Jehovah [God]; besides me there is no Savior." (Isa. xliii. 11.) With what consistency, then, can Christ be called "the Savior," if there is but one Savior, and that is the Father? And other divine titles besides those above named -- in fact, all those applied to Christ -are found used also in reference to the older pagan gods, and hence prove nothing. 81

Fig. 2:6:2 - The Persian man-god Mithra, the .Mediator

Fig.

2:6:3

The

Indian

Son

of

God

Fig.

2:6:4

The

Egyptian

God-

KRISHNA, who is the Second Person of the .Hindu Trinity

.begotten Osiris

Fig. 2:6:5 - The Syrian Son of God ADONIS which . is derived from ADON means LORD Fig. 2:6:6 - The Phyrigian only begotten .Son of God ATTIS

Fig. 2:6:7 - DIONYSUS, the Greek Begotten-Son

81

Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 9: Titles of the Saviors, (1875).

31

.Fig. 2:6:8 - The Roman Son of God BACCHUS

Fig. 2:6:9 - The Celtic HESUS, the crucified .Savior

Fig. 2:6:10 - The Scandinavian FirstBorn Son of God THOR, who was the second person of the Scandinavian .Trinity

32

What is the holiest spot on earth? To the Faithful Christians, it is Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified according to the Christian belief. This spot is encompassed in the Church of Resurrection which was built by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century CE. Interestingly enough this location was the very same site of an earlier temple dedicated to the [Roman] goddess Venus, Templar History Magazine noted. 82 Christians believe that Christs life and death were for reconciliation between God and humanity after the disobedience of Adam (eating of the forbidden tree in Eden), which is considered THE ORIGINAL SIN. This sin is alleged to be an infinite one, which has been inherited by all mankind. In order to release humanity from "original sin", a divine sacrifice was required, wherein God submitted His will to this destiny. This is how THE CRUCIFIXION was presented and justified. For this concept we have an important question. Is it of justice to account the sin of Adam with his innocent children? How was it fair for them to inherit their father's sin? God is Just and Wise, He does not punish a person of a sin which he did not commit! Suppose someone robbed you, would the police imprison your son? What just court would rule like this? Preceiving God to be unjust degrads the glory and greatness of God; just as making God the Creator of the whole universe die!! Does God have death? Imagine what would happen if God died for three days or Fig. 2:7:2 - Millions of galaxies in our expanding one day or only an hour! As you know universe How could the Creator and the Organizer God is the Organizer and Moderator of of this magnificent system die? If He were to die the whole universe and there is no ?then who would controll this complicated creation
82

Passion, Death, Crucifixion and Resurrection of God

Templar History Magazine, The Templar Round Church (Issue No. 4).

33

movement, silence, gravity nor balance that can occur except by Him. What would happen if He died? What would happen if He slept? What would happen if he lost attention or became unconscious? What if the electricity goes out in your city! What would happen? Without any doubt, everything stops. What about the Source of this expanding universe? Once an old man met a Christian missionary who asked him to believe in the god who died for his sins. This old man perceived God as the highest, uppermost peak of greatness and perfection, so the old man was not convinced of what the Christian had to say. Then he asked to meet again. The next time they met, the old man was crying. The Christian asked: "What makes you cry?" The old man shocked him by saying: "One of my friends had just told me that the angel of the Lord has died." The Christian laughed and said: "Do angels have deaths?" The old man answered, "If the angels do not die, then how could God?" If man is responsible for his own sins, then why hold fault with the son of God? Why would God kill his own son for a sin which he did not commit? If someone broke into your home, stole your money, raped your wife and then killed your mother, would you slay your own son to forgive this criminal? Where is the logic! If God in his magnificence created this entire creation would He not then be able to forgive out of his Mercy, without killing his son or by committing suicide?! Unfortunately, these questions are not answered by a single Christian whether he is priest or layman. An early prominent Christian scholar at the end of second century CE, Tertullian said: It is true because it is absurd, I believe it because it is impossible. 83 The reason behind this nonsense concept is that it is again of pagan origin. The concept of the atonement and sacrificial God is not a new concept. It was borrowed from ancient traditions of many different pagan nations. In his book, "The Paganism in Our Christianity," (1928) Arthur Weigall says (page 106): The worship of suffering gods was to be found on all sides, and the belief in the torture of the victims in the rites of human sacrifice for the redemption from sin was very general. The gods Osiris [the Egyptian god], Attis [the god of Asia Minor], Adonis [the Syrian god], Dionysos [the Greek god], Herakles, Prometheus [the Roman gods], and others, had all suffered for mankind. In the time of the Napoleons reign over Egypt, the archeologists and scholars massively overwhelmed Egyptology. Pyramids and tombs were under study and research. They were astonished when they
83

Quoted in Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.213, (1999).

34

discovered the similarity between Egyptology and Christology. The man Osiris was believed, two thousands Fig. 2:7:3 - The crucifixion of the Caucasian God PROMETHEUS who died for his love to years before .mortals Jesus, as the begotten Son of the Highest God and part of the Egyptian divine trinity. He was slain and resurrected three days after his death, and he will return to judge the dead. These resemblances with Christianity bewildered the researchers. The resemblance is not accidental. This made the scholars to come to the conclusion that the early Christian priests borrowed their ideology from the ancient Egyptians. In the subject of Trinity, we clarified some similarities between Jesus and the Hindu Savior Krishna as Robert Cheyne said, All that converting the Hindoos to Christianity does for them, is to change the object of their worship from Krishna to Christ." Over a thousand years before Jesus, the Hindus had believed that Krishna died for three days and then resurrected. In the time of the eminent Roman general Pompey, a group of literary Greeks made a special march to view the spot in Caucasus where Prometheus had been transfixed. as the early historian Grote wrote. This incident reminds us of the Christian pilgrimage to Golgotha, the place claimed to be the location of Jesus crucifixion. If Jesus was crucified in the 1st century, and Prometheus was crucified in 547 BCE this would be five hundreds years before Christ. The Caucasian and the Greek, with equal devotion, chants daily praises to their slain "Divine Intercessor", Prometheus for voluntarily offering himself for the sins of a fallen race. 84 Dr. Westbrook writes in his Bible: Whence and What?: "The New Testament description of the crucifixion and the attending circumstances, even to the earthquake and darkness, was thus anticipated by five centuries." New American Cyclopedia (vol. 1, p. 157) stated:

84

Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 16: Sixteen Saviors Crucified, (1875).

35

It is doubtful whether there is to be found in the whole range of Greek letters deeper pathos than that of the divine woe of the beneficent demigod Prometheus, crucified on his Scythian crags for his love to mortals. There are many pagan gods who were made to die the cruel death of crucifixion. Among them: Thulis (Thule) of Egypt (crucified, 1700 BCE), 85 Attis of Phrygia (crucified by tying him to a pine tree, 1170 BCE), 86 Dionysus the Savior of the Greeks (crucified 1200 BCE), 87 Bacchus the Lord of the Romans, the Sumerian goddess Inanna (crucified 1500 BCE) 88, the Telingonesic god Wittoba (crucified 552 BCE), 89 Quirinus of Rome (crucified 506 BCE) 90 and others. Crucifixion was not the only means of death for pagan deities'. There were various gods who were Fig. 2:7:4 - The crucifixion of the Roman sacrificed in other ways, but shared with Jesus the Savior, BACCHUS who resurrected three destiny of DEATH and RESURRUCTION. All of them days after his death. (This image was preceded Jesus, and most of them resurrected after made two hundred years before Jesus .( existence THREE DAYS of death. In addition to the above list of crucified Saviors, there was Dmuzi of the Sumerians or Thammuz of Babylonia, Osiris of Egypt (who resurrected after three days), Bulder of the Scandinavians, Baal of the Phoenicians, Aray of Armenia, Adonis of the Syrians, Okuninushi of the Japanese, Krishna (who resurrected after three days) of India, Mithra of Persia (who resurrected after three days), Attis of Asia Minor (who resurrected after three days), Dyonisus of Greece (who resurrected after three days), Quexalcote of old Mexico (who resurrected after three days) . . . and so on.

85 86

Ibid. Timothy Frake & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p. 51, (1999). 87 Ibid. 88 Samuel Noah Kramer & Hiroshi Tanaka, History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine "Firsts" in Recorded History, pp. 154ff, (1981). 89 Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 16: Sixteen Saviors Crucified, (1875). 90 Ibid.

36

Figs. 2:7:5 & 2:7:6 - The Crucifixion of IXION.

As Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on EASTER DAY, those pagan nations also celebrated the resurrection of their gods. In Asia Minor, the pagans celebrated the resurrection of their god Attis. Their Easter was called MEGALENSIA. 91 One of the most important celebrations by the ancient Persians was the the new year, a celebration of the resurrection of the Savior Mithra, who like Jesus, resurrected after three days. 92 The Greeks would celebrate the three days of ANTHESTERIA (Easter) for their crucified Savior, Dionysus, who also resurrected on the third day of his death. Burkert comments: A certain similarity with the sequence of Good Friday and Easter cannot be overlooked.93

Fig. 2:7:7 - ADONIS dying and after three days he .resurrected Fig. 2:7:8 Like the egg of is Fig. 2:7:9 - The Resurrection of OSIRIS after .his Three Days of Death

Christian

Easter,

MITHRA

depicted as emerging from an egg for the Persian festival hundreds .of years before Christianity

91 92

Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.54, (1999). Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 19: Resurrection of the Saviors (1875). 93 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.55, (1999).

37

Fig. 2:7:12 - The Death of the Syrian godFig. 2:7:10 - The Death of the Scandinavian God, BULDER .who also resurrected after his death Fig. 2:7:11 The Dying and man ADONIS who, according to some tales, .resurrected after three days of his death

Resurrecting Phoenician god-man .BAAL

38

CHAPTER III

The Churchs Propaganda

The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven . . . The Bible is a product of man . . . not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds, man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book . . . More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them . . The Bible we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great . . . He was a lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to protest. In Constantine's day,

Rome's official religion was sun worship . . . Unfortunately for him, a growing religious turmoil was gripping Rome. Three centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Christ's followers had multiplied exponentially, Christians and pagans began warring, and the conflict grew to such proportions that it threatened to rend Rome in two. Constantine decided something had to be done. In 325 A.D., he decided to unify Rome under a single religion, Christianity. . . . Constantine was a very good businessman. He could see that Christianity was on the rise, and he simply backed the winning horse. Historians still marvel at the brilliance with which Constantine converted the sun-worshipping pagans to Christianity. By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a kind of hybrid religion that was acceptable to both parties . . . During this fusion of religions, Constantine needed to strengthen the new Christian tradition, and held a famous ecumenical gathering known as the Council of Nicaea . . . At this gathering, . . . many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, the administration of sacraments, and, of course, the divinity of Jesus . . . until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His [true] followers as a mortal prophet . . . a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal. Jesus' establishment as `the Son of God` was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea . . . A relatively close vote at that, . . . Nonetheless, establishing Christ's divinity was critical to the further unification of the Roman empire and to the new Vatican power base. By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the human world, an entity whose power was unchallengeable. This not only precluded further pagan challenges to Christianity, but now the followers of Christ were able to redeem themselves only via the established sacred .channel the Roman Catholic Church we worship the gods of our fathers . . . almost every thing our fathers taught us about . . . .Christ is false history is always written by winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, . . . and the winner writes the history books books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napolean once said, `What is history, but a fable agreed .upon?` . . . By its very nature, history is always a one-sided account

Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code, Chapters 55 and 60 -

The early Christian priests and theologians knew that their faith was

The Pagan Heritage

mixed with the pagans. In the second century CE, Justin Martyr, one of the most known early Christian Theologians, recognized the analogies between Christianity and Paganism. Addressing the Pagans, he writes: When we say that the Word, who is the first born of God, was produced without sexual union, and that he, Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter [the Roman God]. 94 In his Pagan & Christian Creeds (pp. 20, 21) Edward Carpenter wrote:
Figs. 3:1:1 & 3:1:2 - The image of Jesus as shepherd in the 4th century CE (left) borrowed from the image of Athens which was in 570 BCE .( (right

At the time of the life or recorded appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, and for some centuries before, the Mediterranean and neighboring world had been the scene of a vast number of pagan creeds and rituals. There were Temples without end dedicated to gods like Apollo or Dionysus among the Greeks, Hercules among the Romans, Mithra among the Persians, Adonis and Attis in Syria and Phrygia, Osiris and Isis and Horus in Egypt, Baal and Astarte among the Babylonians and Carthaginians, and so forth. Societies, large or small, united believers and the devout in the service or ceremonials connected with their respective deities, and in the creeds which they confessed concerning these deities. And an extraordinarily interesting fact, for us, is that notwithstanding great geographical distances and racial differences between the adherents of these various cults, as well as differences in the details of their services, the general outlines of their creeds and ceremonials were--if not identical--so markedly similar as we find them.
94

Justin Martyr, First Apology, ch. xxi.

40

How did Christianity inherit pagan teachings? The answer put simply: Christianity was not a new and unique revelation but actually a Jewish adaptation of the ancient Pagan Mystery religion. 95 say Mythologists Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. But how is this? Throughout history and since the early days of mankind, people lived in small communities forming a larger society in an environment which was suitable and vital to their continuity. An appropriate condition for the spread of cultures at that time was the riverbank settlement, such as that of the Mesopotamian (ancient Iraq) civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Mesopotamia was the father of succeeding cultures in the Old World, where it grew and flourished over 6500 years ago Figs. 3:1:3 & 3:1:4 - The Persian Mithra as carrying the universe (left) is copied .( to the Roman Atlas (right and spread to the surrounding nations, such as Persia, Canan (present day Palestine), Phoenicia (present day Lebanon) Asia Minor (present day Turkey), Egypt and Greece through philosophers and thinkers, through invasions by great conquerors like Alexander the Great, or through traders and merchants. Not only was merchandise transferred and exchanged by contact between these nations, but ideas and beliefs as well were moving. When the Roman culture and civilization was established, its faith and rituals developed from various surrounding nations such as Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, Germany, Scandinavia and Celtic Britain. The Roman culture was a mix of all those nations. It was primarily a transformation of the Greek civilization. Thus we find most of the Greek gods, such as the Olympic deities, were worshipped by the Romans. This worship was not exclusive to the Greek gods, the Romans also worshipped the gods of other nations as they conquered a people they would add their gods into the Roman culture. We find, for example, the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, the Persian god Mithra, the Phrygian god Attis and the Syrian Savior Adonis were worshipped in Rome. The name of Roman culture is HELLINISM. 96
95 96

Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.2, (1999). Hellenism (or Hellenismos), the religion and culture of the Greco-Roman people who worship many of natures gods like, (in Greek) Zeus (Roman Jupiter), Aphrodite (Roman Venus), Apollo, Ares (Roman Mars), Atlas, Dionysus (Roman Bacchus), Ceres (Roman Demeter), Artemis (Roman Diana), Hercules, Poseidon (Roman Neptune) . . . etc.

41

When the Romans accepted Christianity, they mixed it with the old Roman rites and philosophies and adopted it as another version of Hellenism. In his book The Story of Civilization the renowned historian, Will Durant said: . . . the god Christ was assimilated to the religious and

Fig. 3:1:5 - New Conversions from Pagans who modulated Christianity according to their .pagan background Fig. 3:1:6 - Christianity did not .destroy paganism; it adopted it

philosophical traditions of the Hellenistic mind. The doctrines of Trinity, the human god who was crucified (sacrificed for the sins of man like a sheep) and then resurrected, the Baptism, the Eucharist, the Cross symbol and so on, are all of the Hellenistic (pagan Roman) faith. The author of Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, W. E. Vine has noted: "Christianization" of Pagan Customs, Symbols, and Terminology Christianity had to undergo a transformation so that pagan Rome could "convert" without giving up its old beliefs and rituals. The actual effect was to paganize official Christianity. 'A compound religion had been manufactured, of which . . . Christianity furnished the nomenclature, and Paganism the doctrines and rights.' The idolatry of the Roman world, though deposed from its ancient pre-eminence, had by no means been demolished. Instead of this, its pagan nakedness had been covered with the garb of a deformed Christianity. 97 These were not the only adoptions. There were also subtle ones as can be observed in their portrayals of God the Creator as an old white man with a white beard in Roman attire. Almost all of the Christian rituals are of the pagan Roman origin including the way of building the Churches and its demonstration and the priestly dresses and, of course, the worship. The Roman religion of Hellenism, inherited its rituals and beliefs from different nations and in turn adopted into Christianity. The well-known historian Will Durant, The Story of Civilization. said:
97

Vine, W.E, Gospel Tract Publications, (The Collected Writings of W.E. Vine), Vol. 5, pp.436-439, (1986).

42

Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. The Greek mind, dying, came to a transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the Church . . . the Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan cultures contributed to the syncrestic result. From Egypt came the idea of a divine trinity . . . [as] the adoration of the Mother and Child . . . From Phrygia [old Turkey] came the worship of the Great Mother . . . The Mithraic ritual so closely resembled the eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass that Christian fathers charged the Devil with inventing these similarities to mislead frail minds. Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world.
!Faith and Faith

Christians believe what they have of faith and belief has been inspired by God. Amazingly pagan nations claim the same. There is no religion which calls itself false. All hold to a belief that they are on the truth. Some may say that Christianity is distinguished from other pagan religions because Christians worship one God, while the pagans worship many. The Christian Trinity is a simple example of the true nature of paganism flowing through Christianity. As shown previously the philosophy was and is the same as most pagan religions. Note that Hindus worship millions of gods and yet they claim that those deities are aspects of the one God. As well as the ancient Egyptians, the religion of Pharoahs, claim that their different gods are aspects of the one God. What we find in Christianity of worshipping three beings and yet claim worshipping one God is no different with the Hindus, ancient Egyptians and others. What we have in Christianity is a disguised paganism. Faith . . Faith . . Faith! If a poor follower in his sincerity is following his church or preacher and were to bring up such information in order to seek answers from the ones who he trusts and gives his money to, he is simply told Do not think about it, we must beleive! You also cannot discuss the paganism of the sacrificial god, pagan rituals and pagan concepts within Christianity. All the answers are the same: You must have Faith! Faith without thinking or even caring about what the truth may be. The Church claims that the Bible is the source of belief. To secure that their followers remain blinded by this word, faith, they claim that the Bible is the Word of God. But the Bible is not free of pagan ties. By looking at the similarities of pagan beliefs and practices, we find that the Bible (particularly, the New Testament) is no more than a version

43

of ancient pagan ideologies. Pagan myths had been rewritten as the gospel of Jesus Christ, said Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy. Examining the Churchs claim of infallibility of the Bible and its divine inspiration, we examine the following contradictions:
1) The contradictions of the genealogy of Jesus: Who was the father of Joseph the Carpenter?

Who was son of King David in the genealogy of Jesus? Whom did Arphaxad begot? And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age being (as was

(Matthew 1:16)

.is called Christ

.supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli

(Luke 3:23)

and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of . . . .Uriah

.Nathan, which was the son of David . . .

(Matthew 1:6)

(Luke 3:31) (Solomon and Nathan are not same one person but they are two brothers (2 Samuel 5 : 14)
Sala[h], which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of . . . . . . Arphaxad

.And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah

(Genesis 11:12)

(Luke 3:35-36)
And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him . . . And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their

2)

Did Jesus ride an ass and a colt or a colt only?

Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on

(Matthew 21:5-7)
3)

.them their clothes, and they set him thereon

(Mark 11:2,7)

.garments on him; and he sat upon him

How did Judas Iscariot die? What did he do with the money? Now this man [Judas] purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed

And he [Judas] cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed,

(Matthew 27:5)

.and went and hanged himself

(Acts 1:18)

.out

When I discussed with Father Brian, Catholic historian as well as priest of Emmanuel Cathedral, about the biblical contradictions, he admitted it. But he continued to cover it with the concealing veil of faith. Pastor Samuel, former minister of a Pentecostal Church, had once told me, If you open the gospels you will find many contradictions! Most of Jesus events are contradicted from one gospel to another. In fact, there is no single minister who does not realize these discrepancies! They know all that but they fear to be discriminated from
Fig. 3:2:1 - TOOLS OF WRITINGS IN THE FIRST CENTURY

44

CE - How much it was easy for the Church to attribute to !Jesus words, which he never said

the congregation. With salaries homes and cars they have too much to lose. But when they go to bed, they must be haunted by these issues, if they have any conscience. The Gospels were produced by human hands without Gods revelation. Written as a collection of information and stories from various people, which contain fact mixed with fiction. When we read the introduction to Lukes Gospel from the New International Version (NIV) we find that it is only made up of collected accounts and subsequent research: Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus (The Bible, Luke 1:1-3) If this Gospel had been inspired by the Holy Spirit then why did the author need to investigate its stories? Why research? Luke here is stating clearly that he carefully investigated meaning that he did the necessary research and took from other people their accounts of what transpired. This is a clear statement that his work was dependent upon fallible people and not from the Holy Spirit. However, the historians today are aware of the deception of pagan teachings and stories which are created around Jesus. They differentiate between the pagan Jesus of the Church and the true historical Jesus. In the preface of his book, Jesus A. N. Wilson said, The Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith are two separate beings, with very different stories. Twenty-four Scholars from some of the most prestigious universities in the world wrote a book called "The Five Gospels." They tried to collect the true teachings of Jesus out of the pagan mythologies. They noted: Biblical scholars and theologians alike have learned to distinguish the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith. It has been a painful lesson for both the church and scholarship. The distinction between the two figures is the difference between a historical person who lived in a particular time and place . . . and a figure who has been assigned a mythical role, in which he descends from heaven to rescue humankind and, of course, eventually returns there. After deep examination of the biblical gospels, they concluded that: "Eighty-two percent of the words ascribed to Jesus in the gospels were not actually spoken by him."

45

In his book, ' The Lost Gospel' The Biblical Scholar Burton L. Mack noted: The narrative gospels [e.g. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John] can no longer be viewed as the trustworthy accounts of unique and stupendous historical events as the foundation of the Christian faith. The gospels must now be seen as the result of early Christian mythmaking.98 Finally, we have a question regarding the selecting or deciding of which book is the word of God: Who has the authority or the right to tell us which is of God and which is not? The collection of the 27 New Testament books that are available to us were selected by Bishop Athanasius at the end of the 4th Century, long after Jesus. Before that time, there were numerous Gospels (some scholars say around 70 Gospels, others claim hundreds). Here are just a few that have been discovered: (1) The Gospel of Thomas, (2) the Gospel of Paul, (3) the Gospel of Peter, (4) the Gospel of Philip, (5) the Gospel of Egyptians, (6) the Gospel of the Hebrews, (7) the Gospel of Mary, (8) the Gospel of Ebionites, (9) the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, (10) the Gospel of Barnabas, (11) the Infancy Gospel of James, (12) the Gospel of the Saviour, (13) the Egerton Gospel, (14) An Arabic Infancy Gospel, (15) the Gospel of James, (16) the Gospel the Nativity of Mary, (17) the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, (18) the Gospel of Necodemus, (19) the Gospel of Bartholomew, (20) the Gospel of the Lord, (21) the Secret Gospel of Mark, (22) Oxyrhynchus 1224 Gospel, (23) the Gospel of Perfection, (24) the Gospel of Judas, (25) the Gospel of Marcion, (26) the Gospel of Andrew, (27) the Gospel of Infancy, (28) the Gospel of Thaddeus, (29) the Gospel of Truth, (30) the Gospel of Tatian, (31) the Gospel of Elkaisites, (32) the Gospel of Life, (33) the Gospel of Lucius (or Lucianus), (34) the Gospel of the Twelve [Apostles], (35) the Gospel of Mani (or Manes), (36) the Gospel of Nazarens, (37) the Gospel of Cerinthus, (38) the Gospel Harmony of Basilides, (39) the Gospel of Appelles, (40) the Gospel of Matthias, (41) the Gospel of Eve, (42) the Protevangelium (e.g. First Gospel) of James, (43) Gospel of Joseph the Carpenter, (44) the Passing of Mary (or Transitus Mariae) [Gospel], (45) Descent of Jesus into the Lower World [Gospel] . . . , and on and on. 99 The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, stated under APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS: . . . At the close of the 1st century, almost every church had its own gospel with which alone it was acquainted. Which one contains the truth? Who really knew? In the early ages, Christians were utterly confused. Where was the Holy Spirit at that
98 99

Burton L. Mack, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q & Christian Origins, p. 10, (1993). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS. See also, Joseph P. Macchio, The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity.

46

time to make things clear? As a result of killing and persecution in the 4th Century CE by Constantine, the Pagan emperor of Rome, who established his Orthodox church under the influence of Athanasius, only four Gospels [Matthew, Mark, Luke and John] were selected and all the other Gospels and early writings were banned and considered apocryphal, while for other Christian traditions those banned writings were not apocryphal but canonical. The biblical Scholar Burton Mack said: Scholars are well aware that the writings of the New Testament are a selection from a much larger body of early Christian literature. They also account for the differences among the writings of the New Testament by locating them in different streams of early Christian tradition, which are frequently defined by reference to a known leading figure or author. Thus we have the Pauline tradition, the Johannine tradition, the Petrine tradition, and so on. 100
Establishing the Church

Today, Protestants consider Catholicism to be a pagan religion. The reason is that the Catholics portray Jesus and Mary as idols and worship them like the pagans of old. The Protestants forget that this practice had been performed by Christians for 1300 years, long before Protestantism. Protestantism emerged only 400 years ago. In fact Protestants can not trace their faith to Jesus directly without passing back Fig. 3:3:1 - The similarities (in idolatry) between through Catholicism. the Egyptian statue of Isis with her son, Horus Many of the Protestant (left), and the Christian statue of Mary with her concepts have originated .( son, Jesus (right from the Catholic Church. The Trinity itself is a prime example. The Trinity was invented only in the fourth Fig. 3:3:2 - Protestant .Church, Berlin, Germany century. New Catholic Encyclopedia (Volume XIV, p. 295) admits:

100

Burton L. Mack, op. cit., pp. 7-8, (1993).

47

. . . It is difficult in the second half of the 20th century to offer a clear, objective and straightforward account of the revelation, doctrinal evolution, and theological elaboration of the Mystery of the trinity. Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as other, present a somewhat unsteady silhouette. Two things have happened. There is the recognition on the part of exegetes and Biblical theologians, including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification. There is also the closely parallel recognition on the part of historians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century. It was only then that what might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma 'One God in three Persons' became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought ... it was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinal development. The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (1995): . . . scholars generally agree that there is no doctrine of the trinity as such in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. Encyclopdia of Religion and Ethics: "At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian." Encyclopedia Americana, (1959) Vol. 27, p. 294 stated: Unitarianism [believing God as one being and not three] as a theological movement began much earlier in History; indeed it antedated Trinitarianism by many decades. Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching. We see the Trinity is a pagan idea and it was given to Christianity by the Catholic Church, and inherited by the Protestants. What about the very early Christians? Did they follow the pagan ideas of the today Christians? In fact the disciples of Jesus never practiced what we have today. They were following the Mosaic Law. The encyclopedia of Man, Myth and Religion, which was produced in consultation with 48

the worlds foremost authorities [on religion]: more than 200 experts and authors from all over the world, states: These Disciples did not regard their faith in Jesus as constituting a new religion apart from Judaism, and they continued to live as zealous orthodox Jews. Although they exalted Jesus as the Messiah, they regarded him as human; for Judaism was strictly monotheistic and the Messiah 101 was not held to be divine. 102 The biblical Scholar Burton L. Mack noted about Jesus disciples that: They did not regard his [e.g. Jesus] death as a divine, tragic, or saving event. And they did not imagine that he had been raised from the dead to rule over a transformed world. Instead, they thought of him as a teacher whose teachings made it possible to live with verve in troubled times. Thus they did not gather to worship in his name, honor him as a god, or cultivate his memory through hymns, prayers, and rituals. 103 So Jesus disciples did not believe in Trinity. They did not consider Jesus as God. They did not practice pagan rituals, nor any paradox of what we see today in the various Churches. Now how was this all changed? The followers of the disciples continued to flourish in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Many false teachers appeared in that time, who opposed the teachings of the disciples. Christianity became not one faith but many Christianities. Each one portraying Jesus differently and introducing the pagan cultures of the people. In the third and fourth centuries, the pagan background and philosophies spread out in almost all of the Christian sects. The most common stories of different pagan gods were intermingled with the character of Jesus. In her book, The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ, Acharya S. affirms this notation; she says:

The word CHRIST is derived from the Greek word CHRISTOS which is a translation of the Hebrew word MESSIAH, meaning ANOINTED BY OIL. This title means THE BLESSED ONE and does NOT hold any meaning of DIVINITY. This word was common among the Hebrews and was styled to any PROPHET, PRIEST and KING who was anointed by oil, like Aaron and his sons (The Bible, Exodus 30:30), Saul (The Bible, 1 Samuel 126:9), David (The Bible, 1 Chronicles 14:8), Solomon (The Bible, 1kings 1:39) and even the pagan Persian king, Cyrus (The Bible, Isaiah 45:1). 102 Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, Ed. Richard Cavendish, Vol. 8, p. 2151, (1983). 103 Burton L. Mack, op. cit., p. 4, (1993).
101

49

The Jesus story incorporated elements from the tales of other deities recorded in this widespread area, such as many of the following world saviors and "sons of God," Fig. 3:3:3 - From the Mediterranean, most or all of whom predate the ADONIS, an early well known god made to Christian myth, and a number of .suffer whom were crucified or executed. *Adad of Assyria. *Adonis, Apollo, Heracles ("Hercules") and Zeus of Greece. * Alcides of Thebes. * Attis of Phrygia. * Baal of Phoenicia. * Bali of Afghanistan. * Beddru of Japan. * Buddha of India. * Crite of Chaldea. * Deva Tat of Siam. * Hesus of the Druids. * Horus, Osiris, and Serapis of Egypt, whose long-haired, bearded appearance was adopted for the Christ character. * Indra of Tibet/India. * Jao of Nepal. * Krishna of India. * Mikado of the Sintoos. * Mithra of Persia. * Odin of the Scandinavians. * Prometheus of Caucasus/Greece. * Quetzalcoatl of Mexico. * Salivahana of Bermuda. * Tammuz of Syria * Thor of the Gauls * Universal Monarch of the Sibyls. * Wittoba of the Bilingonese. * Xamolxis of Thrace. * Zarathustra/Zoroaster of Persia. * Zoar of the Bonzes. Each Christian cult in that time claimed its origin to one of the apostles. For instance, an early sect called Valentinians, were heretics in the eyes of the Catholic Church. This sect claim its founder to be Valentinus, who claims that he received his teachings from Theudas, who was a disciple of St. Paul. Marconites, who were another early Christian sect, as Evans Earnest states that they established a church in Rome "which within half a generation expanded throughout the known world, vigorous enough to be in almost every place a serious rival to the Catholic church" (Evans 1972 p. ix). This sect was founded by Marcion who was son of Bishop of Sinope (a city in modern Turkey). He claims that his teachings are not founded by him but by St Paul. The Catholic Church, again, called them heretics. The monophysite church of Egypt which is called the Orthodox Coptic Church claims that its founder was St. Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark. This church is cursed by the Catholic Church and considered as heretic. In India, the orthodox church (the Jacobites) claims their founder was St. Thomas, who was one of Jesus' twelve disciples. Again, this sect is also viewed as heretic. The Catholic Church itself alleges that its founder was St. Peter and they consider him as first Pope, while Basilideans who were another early sect claims to trace themselves to St. Peter through his disciple Glaucus who taught Basilides of Alexandria, the 50

teacher of the Basilidean sect. This shows us how every sect claims its founder was one of the apostles and yet the teachings are different and each calls the other heretic and a follower of Satan. From the early days, the Roman philosopher Celsus (2nd cent. CE) had observations about Christianitys divisions; he said:

Fig. 3:3:4 - St. Peter Church, Vatican

Fig. 3:3:5 - La Parroquia Church, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Christians, it is needless to say, utterly detest each other. They slander each other constantly with the vilest forms of abuse, and cannot come to any sort of agreement in their teaching. 104 One could ask where are those early sects and what has happened to the early teachings and the true followers of Jesus without the pagan practices? They all have disappeared. The reason is persecution. In the fourth century when the emperor Constantine reigned, and established the Orthodox Church at Constantinople. Many of its teachers and priests were of pagan origin and background. Williston Walker said: "He [Constantine] accepted the pagan title of Pontifex Maximus, and his coins still showed the emblems of the SunGod." 105 So the Faith was established by the state for power. Christians who refused the pagan teachings were put to death. In his book Forgers of the Word, Victor Paul Wierwille says:
104

Quoted in R. J. Hoffmann, Celsus on the True Doctrine, p. 91, (1987). inscription honors the Pagan sun-god,
Apollo, yet he continued to produce them

Fig. 3:3:6 - Constantines coin its

51

.until his death

The doctrine that Jesus Christ the Son of God was God the son was decreed by worldly and ecclesiastical powers. Men were forced to accept it at the point of the sword or else, thus, the error of the trinity was propounded to the end that ultimately people believed it to be the truth. Thus Christianity became in essence like Babylonian heathenism, with only a veneer of Christian names.106
So the history of Christianity was written, shaped, designed and bequeathed by the Roman Church. Elaine Pagels, an :expert on the early Christians, wrote

It is the winners who write history their way. No wonder, then, that the traditional accounts of the origins of Christianity first defined the terms (themselves orthodox and their opponents heretics); Then they proceeded to demonstrate - at least to their own satisfaction - that their triumph was historically inevitable, or, in religious terms, guided by the Holy Spirit. But the discoveries [of the gospels of other Christian sects] at Nag Hammadi reopen fundamental questions.107 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy note: The Roman Church created a history of the triumph of Litralist Christianity [Modern Christianity] in much the same partisan way that, two millennia later, Hollywood created tales of cowboys and Indians to relate how the West was won not how the West was lost. 108

Fig. 3:3:7 - The history is written by victors The history of the faith
105

Walker, Williston, A History of the Christian Church, 2 Ed, (1985). (Quoted in Rath, Jeff, Historical Background of the Trinity, [http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm]). 106 Quoted in Jeff Rath, Historical Background of the Trinity, (http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm) 107 Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, p.147, (1979). 108 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.10, (1999).

.was designed by the Chruch

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CHAPTER IV

Purifying Jesus from Paganism

Because Constantine upgraded Jesus' status almost four centuries after Jesus' death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man. To rewrite the history books, Constantine knew he would need a bold stroke. From this sprang the most profound moment in Christian history . . . Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted to chose those gospels that spoke of Christ's human traits and embellished those that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned . . . Anyone who chose the forbidden gospels over Constantine's version was deemed a heretic. . . . Fortunately for historians, some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s . . . And of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi . . . these documents speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms. Of course, Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls. And why wouldn't they? The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power .base For academics, the [Knights] Templar's history was a precarious world where fact, lore, and misinformation had became so intertwined that extracting a pristine truth was almost impossible . . . Their goal in the Holy Land was to retrieve the documents form beneath the ruins of the temple . . . thousands of pages of unaltered, preConstantine documents, written by the early followers of Jesus, revering Him as a wholly human teacher and prophet. Also rumored to be part of the treasure is the legendry of "Q" Document a manuscript that even the Vatican admits they believe .exists. Allegedly, it is a book of Jesus' teachings, possibly written in His own hand
Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code, Chapters 37, 55 and 60 -

Before we start to reconstruct our understanding of Jesus we should firstly clarify that Jesus never formed a religion called Orthodoxism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Pentecostalism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Adventism, Baptism, Mormonism nor Jehovah Witness cult. We also should bare in mind that Jesus never created a faith called Christianity. This phenomena (Christianity) was not known or heard by Jesus himself. Christianity as a name was given to the generation after Jesus. Dr. H. M. Baagil noted: Jesus never claimed to establish Christianity and never called himself a Christian. The word "Christian" is mentioned only three times in the New Testament and first by pagans and Jews in Antioch about 43 A.D., long after Jesus had left this earth. Read in Acts 11:26: "... And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Later by King Agrippa II to Paul in Acts 26:28: "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuades me to be a Christian. 53

The Faith of Jesus

So the name Christian was first given by foes rather than friends. And finally by Peter in his letter to comfort the faithful in I Peter 4: 16: "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed...." Therefore, as much as I love Jesus, I do not consider myself a Christian. This name and other Fig. 4:1:1 - NAZARETH at Galilee in Palestine, the denominational or sectarian names city where Jesus lived. (Jesus during his lifetime are just man-made. Jesus declared never heard or formed any religion called .( Christianity that he was following Moses and he asked his followers to follow Moses. Think not that I am come to destroy the law [of Moses], or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to complete. (The Bible, Matthew 5:17) Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees [i.e. the Jews] sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. (The Bible, Matthew 23:1-3) Jesus was following the steps of Moses by renewing the original teachings of Moses, and carrying his message only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (The Bible, Matthew 15:24) Moses was never a Jew. A Jew is someone who descended from Judah son of Jacob, who was the father of one of the twelve tribes that formed the Children of Israel. Moses himself was not from the tribe of Judah but of Levi (The Bible, Exodus 6:16-20). The term Jew was developed 600 years after Moses. It is a tribal and ethnical title rather than a religious one. Jesus, Moses and the Prophets between them, were all of one Faith and Religion. They all taught a common teaching: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord (The Bible, Deuteronomy 6:4) And according to Jesus, this is the core of Faith: And one of the scribes came . . . asked him [Jesus], Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. (The Bible, Mark 12:28-29) Notice that Moses was following the same religion of Abraham the father of the Faith. Abraham was following the same religion of Noah. So it is one religion. Moses, Jesus and Abraham were characters who were appointed by God to reform that religion. This religion is not confined to the Israelites alone. God is not a tribal god. Indeed, God sent the Prophet Jonah, one of the Old Testament Prophets, to the people of Nineveh (which is located in

54

Mesopotamia and north of modern day Iraq). These people were not Israelites. God is the universal god and the Creator of all human beings. There is only one religion for all of mankind. The work of the Prophets was to reform that Faith and to bring the people back to it.

55

Jesus & His Existence

Viewing present day Christianity, adoption from pagan sources is evident throughout; most stories of Jesus were taken from pagans. Jesus for Christians is depicted as Mithra for Persians and Mithraists, Dionisius for Greeks, Bacchus for Romans, Krishna for Hindus, Osiris for early Egyptians, Adonis for early Syrians, Attis for early Phrygians in Asia Minor, and on and on. Thus, some atheists and few scholars today are insisting that Jesus is a myth and never was existent at all, anywhere in the world. The encyclopedia of Man, Myth & Magic stated: It was once fashionable in certain circles to deny that Jesus of Nazareth had ever existed. Although this view never became widely established and was rejected by most scholars, it was not wholly wrong . 109 What makes those few scholars to deny Jesus existence is the similarity of Jesus with the early pagan gods. But even those pagan gods, most of them, were historical true personalities like Osiris, Krishna, Pythagoras and Buddha and others. They were heroes, teachers, leaders or kings. But centuries after their death, they were worshipped. So why was not Jesus considered existentially true but theologically false? Archbishop Tillotson says: Another very common notion, and rife in the heathen world, and a great source of their idolatry, was their deification of great men fit to be worshiped as Gods. One of the British Historians who visited different countries and studied various religions, his name was Sir Higgins. About the ancient pagan nations, he remarks, Every person who possessed a striking superiority of mind, either for talent or goodness, was supposed anciently to have a portion of the divine mind or essence incorporated or incarnated in him. Looking to Krishna (1200 BCE) the Hindu "Savior", it is conceded by historians that he was human figure who was not held to be divine. With the passing of time myths were constructed and he became like other Savior Gods. The encyclopedia of Man, Myth & Magic stated: . . . Krishna was a shrewd politician, or the teacher of a religion which later deified him. 110 Pythagoras (550 BCE), the well-known mathematician and philosopher, who was also a historical Greek person, was similar to Krishna in that after his death people worshiped and deified him. Myths, also, circulated about him, like that he was the begotten Son of the Roman god Apollo. His worshipers created legends about his miracles; he could see events many ages in the future, bring down the eagle by his command, subdue wild animals, walk on water,
109

S. G. F. Brandon, Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, Vol. 6, pp. 1504, (1983) 110 Friedhelm Hardy, Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, Vol. 6, p. 1580, (1983)

56

travel in the air, cure all manner of diseases, that he raised several persons from the dead, . . . and so on.111 Buddha (600 BCE) was in the same rank even he was never claimed a divinity. Then, what about Jesus? An atheist confirms his claiming of Jesus inexistence. He gives names of most celebrated pagan historians and writers, who lived in the time when Jesus was living up to the end of the first century; but NO ONE OF THEM mentions Jesus in his writings at all. Take some examples of these names: Apollonius, Appian, Arrian, Aulus, Balerius Maximus, Columella, Favorinus, Flourus Lucius, Lucanus, Lysias, Martial, Petronius, Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Ptolemy, Silius Italicus, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, . . . and so on! Among the Jews were the great philosopher Philo of Alexandria (the author of 50 works) and the historian Justus of Tiberias who lived near Capernaum; but NO ONE OF THEM mentions Jesus in his writings at all. The only one, who was supposed to write about Jesus, is Josephus. Recent researches prove that Josephus himself never wrote such claim, but it was not more than a Christian INTERPOLATION after the third century. Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy say: Critical scholarship, however, has revealed them to be much later additions to Josephuss text. They are not of the same writing style as Josephus and if they are removed from the text, Josephuss original argument runs in proper sequence. Writing at the beginning of the third century, Origen, whom modern authorities regard him as one of the most conscientious scholars of the ancient Church, tells us that there is no mention of Jesus in Josephus and that Josephus did not believe that Jesus was the Christ since he did not believe in any Jewish Messiah figure . . . Yet early Christians do not mention Josephus. It is not until the beginning of the fourth century that Bishop Eusebius, the propagandist of the Roman Church, suddenly produced a version of Josephus which contained these passages. No one of non-Christian author lived in the first century had ever mentioned Jesus. This does not mean that Jesus was not there. It proves that Jesus never claimed divinity. If Jesus claimed divinity or his disciples worshipped him, the Jewish historians would take a note of him as a great imposter because in Judaism, to claim divinity is a horrible blasphemy. Another reason is that Jesus followers were very few. If this is so from the side of the Jews, then why did not the non-Jewish historians write about him in the first century? This proves that Jesus did not preach to non-Jewish people. This is evidently proven from the Christian gospels itself.
111

Kersey Graves, op. cit., Ch. 33: Apollonius, Osiris, Magus, Etc. Gods.

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Jesus of the Israelites

Although the gospels were written by propagandists who want to ensure that Jesus came for all the world, there are passages referred to Jesus, where he claims his coming is exclusive for his people, the Israelites, only. According to the gospel of Matthew (10:5), Jesus said, "These twelve [i.e. the disciples] Jesus sent forth, and
charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles [i.e. Non-Jews], and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Yet, Christians say that Jesus was sent for all mankind by quoting few unauthentic passages like, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation." (Mark 16:15) and "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations." (Matthew 28:19). These two well-known passages to the Christian preachers are facing serious critics by biblical scholars. The first passage of Mark is not found in the copies of the fourth century (i.e Vaticanus Codex and Senaiticus Codex) which are the earliest manuscripts of the Biblical New Testament are found. This is recognized, even, by the most today versions of the bible (Like NIV, RSV and GNB). This, of course, meant that it is no more than a Christian interpolation and textual corruption to support the arguable theology. The other passage, which is of Matthew (28:19), is added in the fourth century copies by the Church to assert their own mission. One of the Biblical scholars, author of several bestsellers and a former professor of New Testament, Tom Harpur writes in his book For Christ's Sake: All but the most conservative of scholars agree that at least the latter part of this command [e.g. Matthew 28:19] was inserted later. Conversely, there is a clear and more authentic passage that shows Jesus restrictedness to the Israelites and not to others. Jesus in Matthew 15:24 says: "I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." What a passage more clearer than this, that Jesus declares his all coming is for his people only. This is also what the disciples of Jesus believed. It was only decades after Jesus, Paul, who never saw Jesus, claimed that Jesus should be for all people. So, Paul opposed the teachings of Jesus and his disciples. Here comes the beginning of changing Jesus teachings. Paul was a Hellenized Jew. A Hellenized Jew is someone who belongs to the Jews but mixes the GrecoRoman traditions and believes with his faith. That is why we find Paul, in his letters, always talking about a god who died as a sacrifice for mankind, which is definitely a pagan idea. However, the book of Acts, which is one of the New Testament books, was written by Luke who was a disciple of Paul. Therefore, this book is a propaganda just written in trying to ensure Paul status among his opponent, the true disciples of Jesus. Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the

58

Unknown, which was produced in consultation with the worlds foremost authorities: more than 200 experts and authors from all over the world, stated under "ST Paul": During the past century St Paul has been transformed from the most important apostle to the most controversial figure of Primitive Christianity. There is a certain irony in this situation; for Paul, despite his high reputation in the Church, was originally a controversial figure and his authority as an apostle was seriously questioned by other Christians of the time. It is the paradox of this original uncertainty about Paul's status and his subsequent great renown that has caused scholars to look critically at the traditional view of the beginnings of the Christian religion. In his epistle to the Christians of Galatia, Paul gives a very different account of his conversion [from the book of Acts]. The context in which he gave it is highly significant. He was writing with great urgency and concern to those in Galatia whom he had converted to Christianity, because he had learned that they were being won over to a different form of Christianity Paul calls it 'a different gospel' which was contrary to the one that he had preached to them. Since this other 'gospel' constituted a challenge to the authenticity of his own 'gospel', Paul felt obliged to explain the source of his, in order to vindicate its authority. He asserts that his gospel or version of Christianity had no human source: 'For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ' (Galatians 1:12). A little further on in the same epistle (2:7-8), Paul makes a similar claim, but this time with reference to the teaching of another Christian leader. He asserts that he 'had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised', while 'Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised'. These two passages show that Paul recognized that his version of Christianity was different from that of Jesus's leading disciple Peter. This version was designed for non-Jews, whereas Peter's gospel was obviously the original version of the Christian faith, yet it was regarded by Paul as not being suitable for Gentiles. His own gospel, which he admits was later and wholly independent of 'those who were apostles before me'. He claims, in contrast, to be of divine origin and specifically intended for Gentiles. In other words, Paul reveals in this letter that already, within two decades of the Crucifixion, two interpretations of Jesus were current in the Church. The

59

first was associated with Peter, and was doubtless based upon that disciple's memories of Jesus and his teaching. The other derived from Paul's own spiritual experience. Which he believed constituted a personal revelation to him by God. The fact that Paul claims that his gospel was designed for the Gentiles must mean that it presented Jesus in such a way as would be appreciated by those educated in the ideas and modes of thought current in Graeco-Roman society [i.e the pagan traditions of the Romans]. An evaluation of the differences between these two versions of Jesus is essential to the understanding of the origins of Christianity. The original disciples recognized Jesus as the Messiah of Israel [only]. These disciples did not regard their faith in Jesus as constituting a new religion apart from Judaism, and they continued to live as zealous orthodox Jews. Although they exalted Jesus as the Messiah, they regarded him as human; for Judaism was strictly monotheistic and the Messiah was not held to be divine. Paul's version of Christianity was fundamentally different. Paul transformed the original belief in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel into an esoteric doctrine of a divine saviour, whose death has delivered mankind Such presentation of Jesus was intelligible to GraecoRoman society. And, in the same context, Paul taught a doctrine of baptism and holy communion that made Christianity akin structurally to the Mystery religions [of the pagans]. When, however, the original Jewish Christians at Jerusalem realized the nature of Paul's teaching, they were shocked and vigorously repudiated it. They refused to recognize Paul as an apostle (he had never been an original disciple of Jesus), and they sent out emissaries to Paul's converts to present their own 'gospel' as the authentic version of the faith. Paul's position in this conflict was basically weak because he had to acknowledge the Jerusalem leaders as 'those who were apostles before him', whereas they could reject him as a late-comer to the faith. The situation became so difficult for Paul that finally he went to Jerusalem to try to secure some measure of agreement. The disastrous outcome is related in Acts (chapter 21). James, the leader of the Jerusalem Church, imposed on Paul a test of his Jewish orthodoxy. While engaged in proving this, he was set upon by a Jewish crowd in the Temple and rescued by the Roman guard. A period trials and imprisonment was followed by Paul's

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being sent to Rome to be tried by the Emperor. The outcome of the trial is unrecorded. After his arrest, it seemed that Paul's version of Christianity was fated to disappear and that the Jerusalem Christians would keep the movement within the confines of Judaism. But the Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 AD, which finally resulted in the overthrow of the Jewish nation and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, eliminated the Jerusalem Church. After 70 AD the Gentile Christians reestablished the faith on the basis of Paul's teaching. His letters were carefully sought out and preserved it was Paul's presentation of Jesus as the Saviour God, who died and rose again, that became the foundation of orthodox Christianity. 112 So Paul was the first heretic who divided the followers of the Christ. Schonfield wrote: The Pauline heresy became the foundation of Christian orthodoxy and the legitimate Church was disowned as heretical. 113

Establishing the Church

Today, Protestants consider Catholicism to be a pagan religion. The reason is that the Catholics portray Jesus and Mary as idols and worship them like the pagans of old. The Protestants forget that this practice had been performed by Christians for 1300 years, long before Protestantism. Protestantism emerged only 400 years ago. In fact Protestants can not trace their faith to Jesus directly without passing back Fig. 3:3:1 - The similarities (in idolatry) between through Catholicism. the Egyptian statue of Isis with her son, Horus Many of the Protestant (left), and the Christian statue of Mary with her concepts have originated .( son, Jesus (right from the Catholic Church. The Trinity itself is a prime example. The Trinity was invented only in the fourth Fig. 3:3:2 - Protestant .Church, Berlin, Germany century. New Catholic Encyclopedia (Volume XIV, p. 295) admits:
Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, Ed. Richard Cavendish, Vol. 8, p. 2148-2152, (1983).
112 113

Johannes Lehman, The Jesus Report.

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. . . It is difficult in the second half of the 20th century to offer a clear, objective and straightforward account of the revelation, doctrinal evolution, and theological elaboration of the Mystery of the trinity. Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as other, present a somewhat unsteady silhouette. Two things have happened. There is the recognition on the part of exegetes and Biblical theologians, including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification. There is also the closely parallel recognition on the part of historians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century. It was only then that what might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma 'One God in three Persons' became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought ... it was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinal development. The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (1995): . . . scholars generally agree that there is no doctrine of the trinity as such in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. Encyclopdia of Religion and Ethics: "At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian." Encyclopedia Americana, (1959) Vol. 27, p. 294 stated: Unitarianism [believing God as one being and not three] as a theological movement began much earlier in History; indeed it antedated Trinitarianism by many decades. Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching. We see the Trinity is a pagan idea and it was given to Christianity by the Catholic Church, and inherited by the Protestants. What about the very early Christians? Did they follow the pagan ideas of the today Christians? In fact the disciples of Jesus never practiced what we have today. They were following the Mosaic Law. The encyclopedia of Man, Myth and Religion states:

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These Disciples did not regard their faith in Jesus as constituting a new religion apart from Judaism, and they continued to live as zealous orthodox Jews. Although they exalted Jesus as the Messiah, they regarded him as human; for Judaism was strictly monotheistic and the Messiah 114 was not held to be divine. 115

Fig. 3:3:3 - From the Mediterranean, ADONIS, an early well known god made to .suffer

The biblical Scholar Burton L. Mack noted about Jesus disciples that: They did not regard his [e.g. Jesus] death as a divine, tragic, or saving event. And they did not imagine that he had been raised from the dead to rule over a transformed world. Instead, they thought of him as a teacher whose teachings made it possible to live with verve in troubled times. Thus they did not gather to worship in his name, honor him as a god, or cultivate his memory through hymns, prayers, and rituals. 116 So Jesus disciples did not believe in Trinity. They did not consider Jesus as God. They did not practice pagan rituals, nor any paradox of what we see today in the various Churches. Now how was this all changed? The followers of the disciples continued to flourish in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Many false teachers appeared in that time, - like Paul, Simon Magus, Marcion, Cerinthus and Mani - who opposed the teachings of the disciples. Christianity became not one faith but many Christianities. Each one portraying Jesus differently and introducing the pagan cultures of the people. In the third and fourth centuries, the pagan background and philosophies spread out in almost all of the Christian sects. The most common stories of different pagan gods were intermingled with the character of Jesus. In her book, The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ, Acharya S. affirms this notation; she says:

The word CHRIST is derived from the Greek word CHRISTOS which is a translation of the Hebrew word MESSIAH, meaning ANOINTED BY OIL. This title means THE BLESSED ONE and does NOT hold any meaning of DIVINITY. This word was common among the Hebrews and was styled to any PROPHET, PRIEST and KING who was anointed by oil, like Aaron and his sons (The Bible, Exodus 30:30), Saul (The Bible, 1 Samuel 126:9), David (The Bible, 1 Chronicles 14:8), Solomon (The Bible, 1kings 1:39) and even the pagan Persian king, Cyrus (The Bible, Isaiah 45:1). 115 Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, Ed. Richard Cavendish, Vol. 8, p. 2151, (1983). 116 Burton L. Mack, op. cit., p. 4, (1993).
114

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The Jesus story incorporated elements from the tales of other deities recorded in this widespread area, such as many of the following world saviors and "sons of God," most or all of whom predate the Christian myth, and a number of whom were crucified or executed. *Adad of Assyria. *Adonis, Apollo, Heracles ("Hercules") and Zeus of Greece. * Alcides of Thebes. * Attis of Phrygia. * Baal of Phoenicia. * Bali of Afghanistan. * Beddru of Japan. * Buddha of India. * Crite of Chaldea. * Deva Tat of Siam. * Hesus of the Druids. * Horus, Osiris, and Serapis of Egypt, whose long-haired, bearded appearance was adopted for the Christ character. * Indra of Tibet/India. * Jao of Nepal. * Krishna of India. * Mikado of the Sintoos. * Mithra of Persia. * Odin of the Scandinavians. * Prometheus of Caucasus/Greece. * Quetzalcoatl of Mexico. * Salivahana of Bermuda. * Tammuz of Syria * Thor of the Gauls * Universal Monarch of the Sibyls. * Wittoba of the Bilingonese. * Xamolxis of Thrace. * Zarathustra/Zoroaster of Persia. * Zoar of the Bonzes. Each Christian cult in that time claimed its origin to one of the apostles. For instance, an early sect called Valentinians, were heretics in the eyes of the Catholic Church. This sect claim its founder to be Valentinus, who claims that he received his teachings from Theudas, who was a disciple of St. Paul. The monophysite church of Egypt which is called the Orthodox Coptic Church claims that its founder was St. Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark. This church is cursed by the Catholic Church and considered as heretic. In India, the orthodox church (the Jacobites) claims their founder was St. Thomas, who was one of Jesus' twelve disciples. Again, this sect is also viewed as heretic. The Catholic Church itself alleges that its founder was St. Peter and they consider him as first Pope. This shows us how every sect claims its founder was one of the apostles and yet the teachings are different and each calls the other heretic and a follower of Satan. From the early days, the Roman philosopher Celsus (2nd cent. CE) had observations about Christianitys divisions; he said: Christians, it is needless to say, utterly detest each other. They slander each other constantly with the vilest forms of abuse, and cannot come to any sort of agreement in their teaching. 117

117

Quoted in R. J. Hoffmann, Celsus on the True Doctrine, p. 91, (1987).

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One could ask where are those early sects and what has happened to the early teachings and the true followers of Jesus without the pagan practices? They all have disappeared. The reason is persecution. In the fourth century when the emperor Constantine

Fig. 3:3:4 - St. Peter Church, Vatican

Fig. 3:3:5 - La Parroquia Church, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

reigned, and established the Orthodox Church at Constantinople. Many of its teachers and priests were of pagan origin and background. Williston Walker said: "He [Constantine] accepted the pagan title of Pontifex Maximus, and his coins still showed the emblems of the SunGod." 118 So the Faith was established by the state for power. Christians who refused the pagan teachings were put to death. In his book Forgers of the Word, Victor Paul Wierwille says: The doctrine that Jesus Christ the Fig. 3:3:6 - Constantines coin its Son of God was God the son was inscription honors the Pagan sun-god, Apollo, yet he continued to produce them decreed by worldly and .until his death ecclesiastical powers. Men were forced to accept it at the point of the sword or else, thus, the error of the trinity was propounded to the end that ultimately people believed it to be the truth. Thus Christianity became in essence like Babylonian heathenism, with only a veneer of Christian names.119
118

Walker, Williston, A History of the Christian Church, 2 Ed, (1985). (Quoted in Rath, Jeff, Historical Background of the Trinity, [http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm]). 119 Quoted in Jeff Rath, Historical Background of the Trinity, (http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm)

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So the history of Christianity was written, shaped, designed and bequeathed by the Roman Church. Elaine Pagels, an expert on the early Christians, wrote: It is the winners who write history their way. No wonder, then, that the traditional accounts of the origins of Christianity first defined the terms (themselves orthodox and their opponents heretics); Then they proceeded to demonstrate - at least to their own satisfaction - that their triumph was historically inevitable, or, in religious terms, guided by the Holy Spirit. But the discoveries [of the gospels of other Christian sects] at Nag Hammadi reopen fundamental questions.120 Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy note: The Roman Church created a history of the triumph of Litralist Christianity [Modern Christianity] in much the same partisan way that, two millennia later, Hollywood created tales of cowboys and Indians to relate how the West was won not how the West was lost. 121

Fig. 3:3:7 - The history is written by victors The history of the faith .was designed by the Chruch

120 121

Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, p.147, (1979). Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.10, (1999).

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Chapter IV: The Historical Jesus

The Different Faces of Jesus

According to different believes, Jesus has many different faces or personalities. Who is actually he? He differs from a tradition to another tradition; from a record to another record; from people to another people. For example, Moses is believed by the majority of the Jews and Christians as a reformist prophet. While some early Jews in Alexandria believed him as a God incarnation. He is considered by Mandaeans as a false prophet. Some black people thinks he is black. Some atheists believe that he is a mythological person. His Torah, the Christians disagree on what to follow or what to leave. They also disagree on what was he commanded by God and what was of his own mind. Similarly, there are diverse traditions portray Jesus differently. The various innumerable gospels which were written in the early centuries depicts Jesus differently. Every Church did hold a certain gospel which means that every Church understood Jesus in a different way as a different person. Even the early fathers, whom the Catholic and Orthodox churches call them saints, have their own theology which is not familiar to the today Christianity. For example, one of the Church Fathers, Clement of Alexandria whose his letter was canonical as one of the New Testament books (during the third century), believed that Jesus was inferior to God the Father and was a creature in his pre-human existence. The same idea was held by other Church Fathers (who were called the ante-Nicene Fathers) as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen who were the representative of the Catholic Church during the second and third centuries. In another word, the Catholic Church in the second and third century did not believe that Jesus was co-equal with God, the Father. In his historical book, "The Church of the First Three Centuries," Alvan Lamson stated that "all the ante-Nicene Fathers" did NOT believe that Jesus and God are "co-equal, not as one numerical essence, not as Three in One, in any sense now admitted by Trinitarians. The very reverse is the fact." This proves to us that the pagan theology of the Christians on Jesus was under the process of time. Beside the small number of these Church Fathers, innumerous Christian bishops, priests and laymen believed in Jesus in different views. Some Christians who lived in the early centuries, like Theodotus of Byzantium, believed that Jesus was not God at first but after his resurrection he became God. While others, including Paul of Samosata the Patriarch of Antioch (from 260 to 268 CE) , believed that the man Jesus just became divine since he was baptized by John the Baptism.

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Many other early Christians were Gnostic Marcionites who tried to present Jesus in the actual form of Roman paganism and away from the Judaist face. They held that God of the Jews is racists and evil while there is another God who is the good one. In such doing, they rejected the Old Testament of the Bible. Actually they preached what Paul have taught to the non-Jews. Cerinthians were also there. They believed that Jesus was not God. At the time of his baptism, God sent to him the Holy Spirit who left him at the moment he was crucified, who will raise up again in the day of Judgment. 122 Some Christians (who were called Aphthardocites) believed the body of Jesus Christ was incorruptible and not capable of death. Another early sect who were called Basilideans believed that people redeemed by the Spirit of God and not by the crucified one and Jesus was actually a phantasm. 123 The Collyridians believed that if Jesus was God, so his mother Mary was a goddess because she was "Mother of God." As the Catholic Christians holds Jesus in a similar way of the Greek god Dionysus or the Egyptian god Osiris, the Collyridians holds Mary as the pagan Egyptians portray the goddess Isis. Therefore their trinity was the Father, the Son and the Mother, which has similarity to the Egyptian pagan trinity. Although the Catholic as well as the Orthodox Church opposed this teaching, they still call Mary as "Theotokos" (i.e. Mother of God). This led the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius to denounce this Catholic-Orthodox belief. Instead, Nestorius used in his sermons the title "Christocos" (i.e. Mother of the Christ). Nestorius believed that Jesus the one who was born by Mary was not God, because God was never a begotten child. In turn, he taught that Jesus was dwelled by God but he himself was not God. This teaching got much of followers including many bishops. However, the Catholic church cursed Nestorius and his teachings. This movement made the Catholic church to think seriously about the possibility of God as being begotten child. This theological argument led the church (in the council of Ephesus at the fifth century) to invent a belief that Jesus had two natures: the divine nature and the human nature. Thus, they persisted the title "Theotokos" (Mother of God) and claimed that Mary gave birth to Jesus as a man as well as God. Of course, this newly created philosophy was contradicted. Therefore, Christians got confused; does this mean that Jesus as a man was he also God? Was his manhood divine? Or was he two persons in one? Or two natures as one nature? What is the relationship between his divinity and humanity? These questions made many eastern Bishops who belongs to the Catholic-Orthodox Church to protest and to claim that Jesus had one nature which holds his divinity and humanity. These Bishops and their followers are called Monophysites. They opposed this theology because by such believing is to divide Jesus into two persons. This would make God, instead of dividing Him into three (Trinity), to be divided into
122 123

The Catholic Encyclopedia, "CERINTHUS,"Volume III, 1908. Encyclopedia Britannica, "BASILIDES." 1911.

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four (The Father, the Divine Son, the Human Son and the Holy Spirit that is if the Human Son is adored, otherwise this person would be excluded). Twenty years after the council of Ephesus, a council took place at Chalcedon (451 CE). This council was to maintain the two natures which was devised in the previous council. Hence the Monophysite churches (As the Egyptian Coptic church) have been broken from the Catholic-Orthodox church. Whatever, a sect called Eutyches refused this decision and they held Jesus with the divine nature without humanity. St. Augustine, who was one of the greatest early Catholic theologians, was originally a Manichaest converted to Catholcism. Manichaesm was one of the most influential Christian sect in the east for more than seven centuries. Its founder was Mani who mixed the Persian and Buddhist traditions with the teachings of Jesus. The today Christian strengthen of the power of Satan is originally influenced by Manichaesm through St Augustine. St Augustine was not the only great Catholic theologian who influenced by other heretical teachings. Tertullian who was one of Church's fathers converted to a heretic monarchian 124 sect called Montanism. Encyclopedia Britannica noted under "MONTANISM" (1911): It was at this juncture that Tertullian, the most famous theologian of the West, left the Church whose cause he had so manfully upheld against pagans and heretics. He too had come to the conviction that the Church had forsaken the old paths and entered on a way that must lead to destruction. The writings of Tertullian afford the clearest demonstration that what is called Montanism was, at any rate in Africa, a reaction against secularism in the Church. However, one of the good early views which could be closed to the real teaching of Jesus is Pelagius's teaching. Pelagius, the founder of Pelagianism, did not believe in the pagan sacrifice of the Christ. Pelagius believed that Adam ate from the tree just to show us the bad example and not to inherit the sin for us. This is true when we exam it with the biblical Old Testament which never make the humans inherit Adam's sin. The first one who taught that the sin of Adam is inherited is Paul. Pelagius rejected the belief in Jesus coming to die for the sins. Instead, Jesus came to teach people as a prophet. Although Jehovah Witnesses (which is a new modern Christian sect) disbelieved the divinity of Jesus, they continued the faith of the pagan divine sacrifice of the Christ. It is worthy note to say here that the early followers of Jesus and his disciples were called Nazarenes, whether because this term simply means supporters or because they lived in Nazareth. They believed Jesus to be a prophet, not God and they
124

MONARCHISM: is a belief that opposed trinity by believing God as one person but three modes or to believe that Jesus is not equal with God but a divine of second level, and God the Creator is the eternal and perfect God.

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did not believe that he died to sacrifice himself for the Original Sin. In his book, Revolution in Judea: Jesus and the Jewish Resistance (p.231), the historian Hyam Maccoby, a Domus Exhibitioner in Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, says:
The earliest followers of Jesus were not even called Christians . . . They were called Nazarenes. They believed that Jesus was the Christ in the Jewish sense of that term . . . They did not believe that Jesus was a divine being.

The biblical Scholar Burton L. Mack noted about Jesus disciples that:
They did not regard his [e.g. Jesus] death as a divine, tragic, or saving event. And they did not imagine that he had been raised from the dead to rule over a transformed world. Instead, they thought of him as a teacher whose teachings made it possible to live with verve in troubled times. Thus they did not gather to worship in his name, honor him as a god, or cultivate his memory through 125 hymns, prayers, and rituals.

Those followers (Nazarenes) were monotheists who believed in God's oneness (unity). Encyclopedia Americana, (1959) Vol. 27, p. 294 stated:
Unitarianism [believing God as One and not three persons or aspects] as a theological movement began much earlier in History; indeed it antedated Trinitarianism by many decades. Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching.

The Nazarenes were centered in Jerusalem, but after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, they spread out to several other areas and were forced to leave their original land in Jerusalem. They became called Ebionites (derived from the Hebrew word Evonim which means "the poor men"). Encyclopedia Britannica (the 1911 edition) mentioned:
Both names [Ebionites and Nazarenes], however, refer to the same people the latter [Nazarenes] going back to the designation of apostolic times (Acts xxiv. 5), and the former [Ebionites] being the term usually applied to them in the ecclesiastical literature of the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

When the Orthodox Church adopted the doctrine of Trinity (Platonic philosophy) in the fourth century CE, the conflict started to grow bigger as one of the Ebionites, who was called Arius, rejected this Pagan belief. Arius was declaring that:
125

Burton L. Mack, op. cit., p. 4, (1993).

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Father alone was really God; Jesus was essentially different from his God. He did

not possess by nature or right any of the divine qualities of immortality, sovereignty, perfect wisdom, goodness, and purity . . . The father produced him as a creature 126 . . . If the Father begat Jesus, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence; hence it is clear that there was a time when Jesus was not 127 . . . Jesus had a beginning, while God was without beginning. 128 Arius struggled fiercely against that belief which was introduced by Alexander and Athanasius in Egypt, who admired and were influenced by the pagan EgyptianGreek philosophy. In his book The Story of Civilization, the historian Will Durant said:
Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it . . . From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity.

Siegfried Morenz notes:

The trinity was a major preoccupation of Egyptian theologians . . . Three gods are combined and treated as a single being, addressed in the singular. In this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link with 129 Christian theology.

As long ago as the Renaissance, mystics and scholars saw the origins of 130 Christianity in the ancient Egyptian religion.

Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy say:

The eminent historian Edward Gibbon says:

If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians . . . was changed, by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief. 131

Arius totally refused the idea of Jesus' divinity as true monotheistic follower of Jesus. As the Ebionites continued their struggle against the Trinitarians, they became known as ARIANS. The problem was that, the Christian Roman Emperors adopted the Trinity of the Pagan Greeks to be their doctrine. So, they persecuted the rest of the opposed Christians. It was started by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century when he persecuted all who are against his own doctrine, which was formulated in Necea Council, 325 CE. He forced people to believe in what he wanted, that which suited his Pagan belief. Kenneth Scott Latourette comments:
126 127

Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity, Councils and Creeds. Henery Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church, 2 Ed, (1963). (Quoted in Jeff Rath, Historical Background of the Trinity, (http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm) 128 John B. Noss, Mans Religions, (1968). (Quoted in Jeff Rath, Historical Background of the Trinity, (http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm). 129 Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian Religion, (1992). 130 Timothy Frake & Peter Gandy, op. cit., p.2, (1999). 131 Edward Gibbon, History of Christianity.

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To enforce the decisions of the Council of Nicea, Constantine commanded, with the death penalty for disobedience, the burning of all books composed by Arius, banished Arius and his closest supporters, and deposed from their sees Eusebius of Nicomedia and another bishop who had been active in the support of 132 Arius.

The other Emperors were not better than Constantine; they continued their tortures and persecutions against the Arians (who were Monotheists) until the 7th century CE, when the Arians finally disappeared.
WHEN DID THE ORIGINAL FOLLOWERS DISAPPEAR?

Fig. 2:3:5.This image was made in the 7th century CE, which was the time of Hellenism (Greek culture) increasing.

The Sixth Edition of Columbia Encyclopedia, stated under ARIANISM:

Among the Lombards the efforts of Pope St. Gregory I and the Lombard queen were successful, and Arianism finally disappeared (c.650) there. In Burgundy the Catholic Franks broke up Arianism by conquest in the 6th cent. In Spain, where the conquering Visigoths were Arians, Catholicism was not established until the mid-6th cent. (by Recared), and Arian ideas survived for at least another century.
133

By the 7th century Arianism had disappeared, and with it the true monotheistic teachings of Jesus; and it was the chance for the pagan culture of the Greeks (Hellenism) to revive again. The Sixth Edition of Columbia Encyclopedia stated under BYZANTINE EMPIRE:
The 7th cent. was marked by increasing Hellenization of the empire, outwardly symbolized by the adoption of the Greek title Basileus by the emperors. The church, under the patriarch of Constantinople, became increasingly important in public affairs. Theology, cultivated by emperors and monks alike, was pushed to extremes of subtlety. Literature and art became chiefly religious.

132

Latourette, Kenneth Scott, A History of Christianity, Vol. 1, (1997). (Quoted in Rath, Jeff, Historical Background of the Trinity, [http://www.aol40.com/trinityhistory.htm]) 133 The Lombards are ancient Germanic people . . . In 568, under the leadership of Alboin , they invaded N Italy and established a kingdom with Pavia as its capital. They soon penetrated deep into central and S Italy, but Ravenna , the Pentapolis (Rimini, Ancona, Fano, Pesaro, and Senigallia), and much of the coast remained under Byzantine rule while Rome and the Patrimony of St. Peter . . . were kept by the papacy ... The Lombard kingdom reached its height in the 7th and 8th cent. Paganism and Arianism, which were at first prevalent among the Lombards, gradually gave way to Catholicism. (Columbia Encyclopedia, Lombards)

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On the other hand, in that time the divinity of Jesus sparked a serious conflict where by they began to debate regarding the matter of the Trinity and God incarnation. Maurice Wiles said:
The seventh century saw the Monothelite 134 controversy a debate whether Christ had two wills or only one (divine) will. 135

This could not happen except after the vanishing of the Monotheistic belief, which was held by the extinct Arianism. After now seeing how the Trinitarians changed and distorted the scriptures and the true teachings of Jesus, and fabricated false faith based on Pagan Mysteries, we come to acknowledge that it is impossible to renew the original teachings of Jesus because of the difficulty to identify the authentic sources to be followed. In Forgery in Christianity, Joseph Wheless states:
"The gospels [Matthew, Mark, Luke and John] are all priestly forgeries over a century after their pretended dates."

Today, one of the good examples among the Christian sects that tries to reach the originality of Jesus's teachings is Unitarianism. Catholic Encyclopedia notes about the Unitarians as following: Jesus Christ is considered subordinate to the Father and, although the epithet Divine is in a loose sense not infrequently applied to Him, He is in the estimation of many an extraordinarily endowed and powerful but still a human religious leader. He is a teacher to be followed, not a God to be worshipped. His Passion and Death are an inspiration and an example to His disciples, not an effective and vicarious atonement for the sins of men. Out of Christianity, there are three religions existing today mention Jesus. They are Judaism, Mandeaenism and Islam. Judaism portrays Jesus as a sorcerer and false messiah who was hanged for his evil doings. The Mandeaens (aka Sabians) believe in John the Baptist as their greatest teacher but they do not believe in Jesus. They believe that Jesus was a false prophet and they call him "the Lying Messiah". Their holy scripture "Sidra d Yahia" (i.e. the book of John) in chapter 30 mentions a dialogue between John the Baptist and Jesus, where John the Baptist addressed Jesus as "Thou hast lied to the Jews and deceived the priests." They also believe that Abraham was a great magician, sorcerer and wicked priest, and Moses was a false prophet. In contrary, they believe in Noah and his son Shem (aka Sam), beside John the Baptist and others, as true prophets of God. By contrast, Muslims believe in Jesus as a true apostle of God and right man appointed by God. They also believe that Jesus was the true messiah, who did not come to die for sins but to reform the teachings of the early prophets like Abraham and Moses. Muslims do
134 135

Not to be confused between Monothlite (Will of Jesus) and Monotheism (e.g. Oneness of God). Ed. John Hick, The Myth of God Incarnate, (1977).

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not believe in the divinity of Jesus but in his apostleship. Muslims believe also that they are to renew the teachings of Jesus from what the church had corrupted. As Muslims reject idol worship, they reject the pagan teachings which familiarized with Jesus. In conclusion, the historians, today, are almost agreeing that Jesus never claimed divinity and his disciples did not adore him as a god but as a teacher, prophet and revolutionist. It seems that the Christian Unitarian as well as Islamic version of the belief may fit the early disciples of Jesus and their followers, the Nazarenes, the Ebionites and the Arians or it could be a continuation of what they have taught and preached.

Catholic Encyclopedia, "Justin Martyr":

"Christian apologist, born at Flavia Neapolis, about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130." "The names of the father and grandfather of Justin suggest a pagan origin, and he speaks of himself as uncircumcised. . . he placed himself first under a Stoic, but after some time found that he had learned nothing about God and that in fact his master had nothing to teach him on the subject. A Peripatetic whom he then found welcomed him at first but afterwards demanded a fee from him; this proved that he was not a philosopher. A Pythagorean refused to teach him anything until he should have learned music, astronomy, and geometry. Finally a Platonist arrived on the scene and for some time delighted Justin.. . The main facts, however, may be accepted; the works of Justin seem to show just such a philosophic development . . . but owing much to Stoicism and more to Platonism." "A true eclectic, he draws inspiration from different systems, especially from Stoicism and Platonism. Weizscker . . . thought he recognized a Peripatetic idea, or inspiration, in his conception of God as immovable above the heavens (Dial., cxxvii); it is much more likely an idea borrowed from Alexandrian Judaism, and one which furnished a very efficacious argument to Justin in his anti-Jewish polemic. In the Stoics Justin admires especially their ethics . . . His sympathies are above all with Platonism . . . he says that Plato borrowed from Moses his theory of formless matter; similarly he compares Plato and Christianity apropos of human responsibility (I Apol., xliv, 8) and the Word and the Spirit (I Apol., lx). However, his acquaintance with Plato was superficial; like his contemporaries (Philo, Plutarch, St. Hippolytus), he found his chief inspiration in the Timus. Some historians have pretended that pagan philosophy

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entirely dominated Justin's Christianity . . . To appreciate fairly this influence it is necessary to remember that in his "Apology" Justin is seeking above all the points of contact between Hellenism and Christianity."

In many passages, however, Justin tries to trace a real bond between philosophy and Christianity: according to him both the one and the other have a part in the Logos, partially disseminated among men and wholly manifest in Jesus Christ (I, v, 4; I, xlvi; II, viii; II, xiii, 5, 6). The idea developed in all these passages is given in the Stoic form, but this gives to its expression a greater worth. For the Stoics the seminal Word (logos spermatikos) is the form of every being; here it is the reason inasmuch as it partakes of God. This theory of the full participation in the Divine Word (Logos) by the sage has its full value only in Stoicism . . . In Justin thought and expression are antithetic, and this lends a certain incoherence to the theory; the relation established between the integral Word, i.e. Jesus Christ, and the partial Word disseminated in the world, is more specious than profound. Side by side with this theory, and quite different in its origin and scope, we find in Justin, as in most of his contemporaries, the conviction that Greek philosophy borrowed from the Bible: it was by stealing from Moses and the Prophets that Plato and the other philosophers developed their doctrines (I, xliv, lix, ls). Despite the obscurities and incoherences of this thought, he affirms clearly and positively the transcendent character of Christianity: "Our doctrine surpasses all human doctrine because the real Word became Christ who manifested himself for us, body, word and soul." (II, Apol., x, 1.) This Divine origin assures Christianity an absolute truth (II, xiii, 2) and gives to the Christians complete confidence; they die for Christ's doctrine; no one died for that of Socrates

Encyclopedia Britannica: "Justin is a most valuable authority for the life of the Christian Church in the middle of the 2nd century."

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