KING JAMES Bible ....

When I first spoke to a close Christian friend of mine about the publishing of Tony Bushby's The Bible Fraud, her reaction was one that many Christians have expressed, and one that made me aghast. She didn't want the book available because it would "persuade them away from the Bible and the word of God." Further discussions with her and many other Christians around the world about The Bible Fraud all result in the Bible being quoted as the ultimate reference for the apparent "words of God," and therefore the basis for their arguments. The problem lies in that they believe the Bible is infallible.

If we examine the oldest known Bible to date, the "Sinai Bible" housed in the British Museum (I believe that, during his many years of research, Tony had a private viewing of this priceless book), we find a staggering 14,800 differences from today's Bible and yet it still remains the word of God?

As Tony points out, the history of our 'genuine' Bibles is a convoluted one. Firstly we cannot be sure that we have the full version as it was originally intended. In 1415 the Church of Rome took an extraordinary step to destroy all knowledge of two second century Jewish books that it said contained the true name of Jesus Christ. The Antipope Benedict XIII firstly singled out for condemnation a secret Latin treatise called "Mar Yesu" and then issued instructions to destroy all copies of the book of Elxai. The Rabbinic fraternity once held the destroyed manuscripts with great reverence for they were comprehensive original records reporting the life of Rabbi Jesus.

Later, Pope Alexander VI ordered all copies of the Talmud destroyed, with the Spanish Grand Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada (1420-98) responsible for the elimination of 6,000 volumes at Salamanca alone.

Solomon Romano (1554) also burnt many thousands of Hebrew scrolls and, in 1559, every Hebrew book in the city of Prague was confiscated. The mass destruction of Jewish books included hundreds of copies of the Old Testament and caused the irretrievable loss of many original handwritten documents.

The oldest text of the Old Testament that survived, before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls" was said to be the Bodleian Codex (Oxford), which was dated to circa 1100 AD. In an attempt by the church to remove damaging Rabbinic information about Jesus Christ from the face of the earth, the Inquisition burnt 12,000 volumes of the Talmud.

In 1607, forty-seven men (some records say fifty four) took two years and nine months to re-write the Bible and make it ready for press. It was, by the order of King James, issued with a set of personal 'rules' the translators were to follow. Upon its completion in 1609, it was handed over to the King James for his final approval. However, "It was self evident that James was not competent to check their work and edit it, so he passed the manuscripts onto the greatest genius of all time... Sir Francis Bacon"

The first English language manuscripts of the Bible remained in Bacon's possession for nearly a year. During that time ... "he hammered the various styles of the translators into the unity, rhythm, and music of Shakespearean prose, wrote the prefaces and created the whole scheme of the Authorized Version. At the completion of the editing, King James ordered a 'dedication to the King' to be drawn up and included in the opening pages. He also wanted the phrase 'Appointed to be read in the churches' to appear on the title page.

The King James Bible is considered by many today to be the 'original' Bible and therefore 'genuine' and all later revisions simply counterfeits forged by 'higher critics'. Others think the King James Bible is 'authentic' and 'authorized' and presents the original words of the authors as translated into English from the 'original' Greek texts. However, as Tony points out, the 'original' Greek text was not written until around the mid fourth century and was a revised edition of writings compiled decades earlier in Aramaic and Hebrew. Those earlier documents no longer exist and the Bibles we have today are five linguistic removes from the first bibles written. What was written in the 'original originals' is quite unknown. It is important to remember that the words 'authorized' and 'original', as applied to the Bible do not mean 'genuine', 'authentic' or 'true'.

By the early third century, it became well noted that a problem was occurring . politics! In 251AD, the number of Presbyter's (roving orator or priest) writings had increased dramatically and bitter arguments raged between opposing factions about their conflicting stories. According to Presbyter Albius Theodoret (circa 255), there were "more than two hundred" variant gospels in use in his time. In 313, groups of Presbyters and Biscops (Bishops) violently clashed over the variations in their writings and "altar was set against altar" in competing for an audience and territory.

When Emperor Constantine conquered the East in 324, he sent his Spanish religious advisor, Osius of Cordoba, to Alexandria with letters to several Biscops exhorting them to make peace among their own. But the mission failed and Constantine, probably at the suggestions of Osius, then issued a decree commanding all Presbyters and their subordinates "be mounted on asses, mules and horses belonging to the public and travel to the city of Nicaea" in the Roman province of Bithymia, the country of Asia. The Presbyters were instructed by the Emperor to bring with them the manuscripts from which they orated to the rabble (that's us!) "wrapped and bound in leather".

Constantine saw in this developing system of belief the opportunity to make a combined state religion and protect it by law. The first general church council was thus convened and the year was 325.

On 21 June, the day of the Summer Solstice, (and under those cult conditions) a total of 2048 "presbyters, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes and exorcists" gathered at Nicaea to decide what Christianity really was, what it would be, what writings were to be used and who was to be it's God.

Ancient church evidence established that a new 'god' was to be approved by the Roman Emperor and an earlier attempt (circa 210) to deify either Judas Khrestus or his twin brother Rabbi Jesus (or somebody else) had been 'declined'. Therefore, as late as 325, the Christian religion did not have an official god.

After a long and bitter debate, a vote was finally taken and it was with a majority show of hands that Judas Khrestus and Rabbi Jesus both became God (161votes for and 157 votes against). The Emperor effectively joined elements of the two individual life stories of the twin brothers into a singular creation. The doctrine of the Celtic / British church of the west was democratically attached to the Presbyters stories of the east.

A deification ceremony was then performed 'Apotheosis'. Thus the deified ones were then called 'saviours' and looked upon as gods. Temples, altars, and images with attributes of divinity were then erected and public holidays proclaimed on their birthdays.

Following the original example set by the deification of Caesar, their funerals were dramatized as the scene of their resurrection and immortality. All these godly attributes passed as a legal right to Emperor Constantine's new deity, Jesus Christ.

The Emperor then instructed Bishop Eusebius to compile a uniform collection of new writings "bound together as one" using the stories from the large collection of Presbyters as his reference source. Eusebius was to arrange for the production of "fifty sumptuous copies ... to be written on parchment in a legible manner, and in a convenient portable form, by professional scribes thoroughly accomplished in the art". This was the first mention of finished copies of a Christian 'New Testament' in the history of mankind.

As one can imagine, to condense the real life of the Jesus Christ, the Church and His teachings with supporting evidence into a short article is very difficult. It is therefore wise for those who wish to have supportable evidence to read and study Tony Bushby's epic work, The Bible Fraud, along with it's detailed blood lines (family trees) and over 869 references. (see www.thebiblefraud.com)

However, attempting to summarize what Tony has written..... in 325 AD, the first Christian council was called at Nicaea to bring the stories of twin brothers, Jesus 'the Rabbi' and Judas Khrestus into one deity that we now know as Jesus Christ. Tony says they were not born of virgin birth but to Nabatean Arab Mariamne Herod (now known as the Virgin Mary) and fathered by Tiberius ben Panthera, a Roman Centurion. The brothers were raised in the Essene community and became Khrists of their faith. Rabbi Jesus later was initiated in Egypt at the highest of levels similar to the 33rd degree of Freemasonry of which many Prime ministers and Presidents around the world today are members. He then later married three wives, one of whom we know as a Mary Magdalene, a Druidic Princess, stole the Torah from the temple and moved to Lud, now London.

Tony believes the reason Jesus stole the Torah was that he said it contained "a very special secret", which he was going to reveal that secret to the world. He was stoned to death and the Torah taken from him before he could.

The elder brother, Judas Khrestus, with his "Khrestian" followers conspired to take the throne of Rome, his royal birthright, and was captured, tried, and was sentenced to be crucified. (The "Khrestians" and the Essenic army, the Nazarenes, would today be likened to terrorists.) At the trial, Judas exercised his royal birthright to have a replacement in Simon of Cyrene (Luke 23:41) and then was sold as a slave to live out his days as a carpenter in India.

Rabbi Jesus spent a considerable amount of time at the Palace of the British in Rome and sometime around 48 AD, he left for Egypt to pursue his greatest esoteric goal. The spiritual knowledge from his secret education in the Essene and Druid movements was soon to be elevated to the highest level possible - initiation into the innermost rite of the Egyptian temples.

It was probable that Rabbi Jesus' earlier initiation into both the Essene and Druid schools played a major part in his acceptance into the Egyptian school. The Druids could claim a very early origin and the essence of their wisdom was also that of the Essenes. In the case of the Essenes, it is possible to show that their movement was specifically established to preserve secret information, for they knew and used the sacred writing of the Initiates. The full meaning of the point being made by Bushby is that in the case of all Secret Schools, the inner and ultimate Mystery was revealed only to a High Initiate.

Those who were initiated into the Ancient mysteries took a solemn oath never to reveal what had passed within the sacred walls. Every year only a comparatively few Egyptian initiations were conducted, and the number of persons who knew their secrets was never at any time large. The initiations always took place with the onset of darkness and the candidate was entranced for periods of varying length, depending upon the level of the degree for which he had entered.

The first initiatory step involved a forty-day procedure that basically involved purification, not only in physical form, but dissolving all tendencies to evil thoughts, purifying the mind as well. It appears that he would have fasted, alternatively on vegetables, juices and very special herbal concoctions.

The New Testament recorded that this happened to Rabbi Jesus who "was led into the desert.... and he fasted forty days and forty nights" (Matt. 4:1-2).

This trial period involved more than just fasting. During the forty days and nights' ordeal, Tony says the candidate was required to study astronomical charts to supplement his skills in astronomy and memorize charts of the heavens. They were also given a particular ritual from which to memorize certain passwords, secret signs and handclasps, skills that are still practiced to this day in Freemasonry.

These initiations were not limited to Egypt. The ancient civilizations inherited these Mysteries from a remote antiquity and they constituted part of a primitive revelation from the gods to the human race. Almost every people of pre-Christian times possessed its institution and tradition of the mysteries. The Romans, the Druids of Britain, the Greeks, the Cretans, the Syrians, the Hindus, the Persians, the Maya and the American Indians, among others, had corresponding temples and rites with a system of graduated illuminations for the initiates.

The modern world knows little of these ancient rites yet they were conducted in a huge variety of buildings the world over.

The 'Towers' that are found throughout the East in Asia were directly connected with the Mystery-initiations. The candidates for initiation were placed in them for three days and three nights, whenever there was no temple with a subterranean crypt close at hand.

In this aspect of the initiatory procedure, Tony points out a direct Gospel parallel with Rabbi Jesus saying, "After three days I shall rise again", for he knew the finishing process he was to undertake would take three days being a symbol of the period of time required to complete a condition of development. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic texts speak of an initiate as 'twice-born', and he was permitted to add to his name the words 'he who has renewed his life', so that on some ancient tomb-inscriptions archaeologists still discover these phases descriptive of the spiritual status of the deceased person.

So little did the later Gospel writers understand the initiatory process that they never perceived they were developing a story that included a Rabbi's (and Arch Druid of Britain) experience in an Egyptian Mystery School.

St Austin (c. 380) asserted that it was generally known in church circles that Rabbi Jesus had been initiated in Egypt, and that "he wrote books concerning magic". In the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Jews brought the same accusation before Pontius Pilate, "Did we not tell you he was a magician?" Celsus (c. 178) spoke of the same charge. In the Clementine Recognitions, the accusation was brought against Rabbi Jesus that he did not perform any miracles but practiced magic and carried about with him the figure of a seated skeleton.

Jewish tradition invariably asserted that Rabbi Jesus learned 'magic' in Egypt. Bushby says the kernel of this persistent accusation may perhaps be reduced to the simple historical element that Rabbi Jesus went to Egypt and returned with far wider and more enlightened views than those of his former religious associates.

Now, I'm sure that many of you are having trouble grasping some of the ideas presented in this article and I congratulate you on taking the effort to read this far. We all need to demand our local Church, the Church scholars, theologians and media make an open examination of the evidence compiled in Tony Bushby's The Bible Fraud. It may rattle some core beliefs but what is more important to you . the truth or what sits comfortably because it's what you've known all you life?

I leave you with a quote from one of the conspirators

"How well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us." Pope Leo X (1513-1521)

Article first published in New Dawn Magazine No 71, March 2002

BERMUDA TRIANGLE (FACTS)

So looking for the facts behind the mystery of Bermuda Triangle? More than 1000 ships and planes have disappeared in the triangle area over the past five centuries and continue to do so. 

And all these happen when apparently there is no human errors, equipment failures or even natural disasters. Strangely, the ships and aircraft just vanish when everything seems to be okay.

Many believe that Devil is at play here and therefore call the area also as Devil's Triangle.

The facts however are quite far from what is generally known or believed to be true. There are many stories and myths created through sheer imagination of writers who have used them rampantly to draw publicity to their books. In many cases, the facts got blurred.

Well, I have been digging deep into the incidents, and analyzing the facts and evidences to bring out the truth. So where is Bermuda Triangle located and how large is the area? Is there a map? And do you get to know when exactly you cross the line and enter the area?

Bermuda Triangle

By the simplest of all definitions, Bermuda Triangle is located off the South-Eastern coast of the United States and in the Atlantic Ocean. The three corners of the triangle are: Miami (Florida); San Juan (Puerto Rico); and Bermuda (the north-Atlantic island). The accidents have mostly taken place near the southern boundary of the triangle between Florida and Puerto Rico. You can always argue that's obvious because that's where the area of the triangle is widest and therefore such possibilities should be more anyway!

But the area is not as simple as it appears in the picture above. If you want to know more about its location and the map, then check out Bermuda Triangle Location & Map.

So the next question is why the name "Bermuda Triangle"? At the time of coining the term, the first name that came up was "Miami Triangle". But Florida objected saying that they would lose visitors to Miami with such name as people would fear to come there. So the next name taken up was "Puerto Rico Triangle". Puerto Rico too raised objections. Then it was the turn for the 21 square mile tiny island Bermuda which forms the third corner of the triangle. And no one seems to have bothered. Bermuda was then also known as the "Isle of the Devils" which fitted to the triangle concept quite well and therefore the final name "Bermuda Triangle" was coined.

Lost Planes & Ships in Bermuda Triangle

Here are some of the most amazing stories of planes and ships that disappeared while crossing the triangle area. As you visit the links, you will also see my findings behind such great mysteries of all times.

Flight 19: The Avenger planes of Flight-19 took off from the U.S Naval Base of Florida for a routine training session, but never returned.

PBM Martin Mariner: When the hopes for Flight-19 was quickly fading, two Martin Mariner planes were sent by US Navy to search them out. One came back, but strangely the other didn't. Read the full story.

Tudor Star Tiger: Star Tiger, a Tudor Mark-IV aircraft disappeared in Bermuda Triangle shortly before it was about to land at the Bermuda airport.

Fight DC-3: The flight DC-3 NC16002 disappeared when it was only 50 miles south of Florida and about to land in Miami.

Flight 441: The flight 441, a Super Constellation Naval Airliner disappeared in October 1954.

C-54 Skymaster: Apparently it seemed to be a sudden thunderstorm that had disintegrated the plane. But there was much more to the story.

Mary Celeste - The Ghost Ship: Known as one of the ghost ships of Bermuda Triangle, Mary Celeste had many misadventures even before her mystery voyage in 1872. Find out the full story.

Marine Sulphur Queen: This 524-foot carrier of molten sulphur started sail on Feb 2, 1963 from Beaumont, Texas with 39 crew. It was reported lost in Florida Straits on February 4.

Ellen Austin: The Ellen Austin, an American schooner, met with another ship in Bermuda Triangle. The other ship that was moving in full speed, strangely had nobody on board.

USS Cyclops: Disappearance of the carrier ship U.S.S. Cyclops in Bermuda Triangle has been one of the greatest mysteries of the sea.

USS Scorpion: USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was a Nuclear powered submarine of United States Navy that disappeared in Bermuda Triangle area in May 1968.

Those were only few cases. Check out Bermuda Triangle Incidents for a list of all the major indents in the triangle area along with their complete stories.

Popular theories solving the mystery

So what caused the ships and aircraft to disappear mysteriously? There have been many research and explorations done to uncover the mystery. There is no single theory that can explain all the incidents. The ships and aircraft have been victims of different circumstances and situations. Things happened very quickly and unexpectedly. While many theories have come out, there are few that come close to solving the Bermuda Triangle Mystery. 

Methane Gas trapped under the sea floor can erupt, as a result can lower the water density and cause ships to sink. Even planes flying over it, can catch fire and get completely destroyed during such gas blowout.

Sargasso Sea is an area in the triangle that has no shores and bounded by water currents on all sides. The ships passing through it have been stranded and made motionless.

Electronic Fog, a strange thick cloud appears from nowhere and engulfs a ship or a plane. Instruments begin to malfunction, and finally the ship or the aircraft vanishes without a trace.

Check out the Theories of Bermuda Triangle that explains most of such strange factors that would have caused the disappearances.

And there are theories that took recourse to some supernatural events to solve the Bermuda Triangle mystery. Check out Supernatural Theories to know about them.

History of Bermuda Triangle

So how and when did it all start, and who first noted the abnormal incidents in the triangle area? Check out Bermuda Triangle History for a brief history of the Bermuda Triangle.

News articles on Bermuda Triangle

Over the years there have been dozens of articles, books, and television programs that promoted the mystery and history of the Bermuda Triangle. Here are some references to news articles published on Bermuda Triangle: News Articles on Bermuda Triangle

TURE NAME of JESUS (Yeshua)

 The fourth-century Roman Emperor Constantine believed that Jesus was the reincarnation of Apollo, the son of the Greek god Zeus.

Most scholars have assumed that Constantine was mistaken.

However, a newly revived ancient method of biblical exegesis suggests that Constantine
was closer to the truth than "traditional assumptions" when it comes to "The Real Name of Jesus."

This method of biblical interpretation comes from the teachings of Philo of Alexandria and are known as "Philo's Rules for Enigmas."
Philo's method is fully explained at: http://www.thenazareneway.com/Philo's%20Rules%20for%20Allegory.htm
This article contains recently discovered evidence that reveals "The Real Name of Jesus" was Yah-Zeus,
the merging of the Hebrew god, YHWH and the Greco-Roman god Zeus.

(The original article that offers the traditional explanation for the name "Yeshua" is presented at the end of this article in its entirety.)
No one can argue that The Story of Jesus found in the gospels fulfills several Old Testament prophecies. One of the most important was:

Micah 5:2: "But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days."

5:4: "And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of [YHWH] his God…"

5:5: "… and he shall be the one of peace."

Yah-Zeus from Bethlehem was also a dying-and-resurrected god, joining the ranks of Near Eastern and Greek deities: Baal, Melquart, Adonis, Eshmun, Attic, Tammuz, Asclepius, Orpheus, Krishna, Ra, Osiris, Dionysus, Odin, as well as goddesses, Inanna, Ishtar, Persephone, and the central figure of the Eleusian Mysteries, an unnamed goddess worshiped in Crete.

Scholar Franz Cumont classified Jesus as a syncretized example of this archetype. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn drew parallels between Jesus, Osiris, and other solar dying-and-resurrected gods to construct their system of mysticism and theosophy. New Testament scholar Robert M. Price points out the strong parallels between The Jesus Story and other Middle Eastern myths about life-death-rebirth deities.

But a question looms regarding Yah-Zeus: We know that YaHWeH was the Jewish masculine deity; therefore, Yah was his son, the Messiah. Was Zeus a dying-and resurrected god? The answer is no. However, Zeus played an important role in a Homeric Hymn (c. 650 BCE) about a dying-and-resurrected Goddess. According to Homer:

The goddess Persephone was gathering flowers when she was seized by Hades, the god of death and the Underworld. Her mother Demeter was in great distress, and in an effort to coerce Zeus into forcing Persephone's return, Demeter caused a terrible drought and the people of the land starved to death, depriving the gods of sacrifice and worship. As a result of Demeter's efforts, Zeus relented and allowed Persephone to return to her mother, and Demeter blessed the earth and cared for it once again.

However, there was a catch: It was a rule of the Fates that anyone who consumed food or drink while in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Hades had tricked Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds which forced her to return to the underworld for a portion of each year, returning to her mother on earth for the balance of the year. The months during which Persephone resided with Hades were the barren Mediterranean months when crops were threatened with drought. When seeds were planted, Persephone returned from Hades to be reunited with Demeter, initiating a new cycle of growth. Her rebirth was symbolic of the rebirth of all plant life and the symbol of eternal life that flows from the generations that spring from each other. Had it not been for Zeus, the Goddess would have remained in the Underworld and the Earth would have remained scorched, barren, and without abundant life. Therefore, we have Zeus to thank for the return of the Goddess - according to Homer.
How this Homeric Hymn is associated with The First Annual Passover Passion Pageant is explained by two other verses from Micah, and these come before the Bethlehem Prophecy:

Micah 4:8: "And you, O Magdalah of the flock, hill of daughter Zion, to you it shall come, the former dominion shall come, the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem."

4:13: "Arise and thresh, O daughter Zion, for I will make your horn iron and your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples, and shall devote their gain to YHWH, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth."
Few people today are aware that there was a time when the ancient Hebrews also honored YHWH's consort; Her name was Shabbat. One of the best articles about this goddess can be found at: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/shabbat_hamalka.html ("Shabbat Hamalka" by Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.)

Excerpts: "Her origin is extremely ancient, and as the centuries rolled by, Shabbat Hamalka acquired magical qualities, combining the character of Queen, Bride, and Goddess. In addition, she took on strong erotic/romantic and cosmic/spiritual significance. The usual Judaic connections to Akkadian myths exist in her image, because the word Shabbat resembles the name of the Akkadian feast of the full moon, Shabbatu. The romantic character of the two holidays also had much in common. For example, marital intercourse on Friday night was considered a sacred duty, exactly like the sacred sexual activity during Shabbatu. However, the Akkadians never had a weekly day of rest - the idea seems to start in the second chapter of Genesis."

"Among the goddesses representing either the female side of Yahweh or his consorts, such as Asherah, Shekhina, Anath, and Lilith, Shabbat Hamalka has a unique personality and origin. Her myth strongly influenced Jewish thought, and contributed to the strength of home and family that had improved the odds for physical and spiritual Jewish survival."

"The name means Queen of the Sabbath, and the entity is the personification of the Jewish day of rest, Saturday. She still possesses a prominent position in Judaic mythology. For example, Israeli children, even in completely nonreligious surroundings, still sing songs to her every Friday afternoon (in Hebrew 'Erev Shabatt' meaning the Sabbath Eve) before the Queen ‘descends’ from Heaven to grace the world for twenty-four hours." (Emphases added.)

The "Queen of Heaven" can be found in the Old Testament; she is referred to in Hebrew as Malkath haShamayim (מלכת השמים) in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, written c. 628 BCE.

Jeremiah 7:18:
"The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven."
Jeremiah 44:15-18:

"Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, 'We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." (Emphases added.)
There was a temple of Yahweh in Egypt at that time that was central to the Jewish community at Elephantine. There, Yahweh was worshipped along with the Goddess Ana-th, also named in the temple papyri as Anath-Bethel and Anath-Iahu (Beth-el means house of El; Iahu means exalted dove.)  Other Goddesses associated with The Queen of Heaven include Asherah and Astarte.

Exodus 3:14 - 15 offers an intriguing clue about the renaming of the Queen of Heaven:

"... Moses said to Elohim (Note: Elohim is plural for eloha (feminine) and means Deities), 'If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'Elohim (the Deities) of your ancestors sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is the name?' what shall I say to them?' Elohim (the Deities) said to Moses, 'EHYEH ASHER EHYEH.' 'Thus you shall say further to the children of Israel, 'Ehyeh has sent me to you.' Elohim (the Deities) also said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'YHWH, the Elohe of your ancestors, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations."

The Deities' new name given to Moses on Mount Sinai, replacing the names, El and Shabbat, was "YaH-Ahsher-YaH": Father/Mother/child; God/Goddess/Creation; Masculine Energies/Feminine Energies/Matter. Creation requires the interaction or marriage of Energy and Light, and the ancients seemed to have known this. Their way of stating Einstein's equation (E = mc2) was "Goddess/God gave birth to everything in the heavens and on Earth." The ancient and original version of The Trinity, Father/Mother/Child, provides the same formula and accomplishes the same purpose as E = mc2.
What happened to the Hebrews' Goddess?

2 Kings 18:4): "[Hezekiah] removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred Asher-ah."

2 Kings 23:4 - 6: "[Josiah] commanded the high priest Hilkiah...to bring out of the temple of YHWH all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who made offerings to Baal, to the Sun [Sol], the moon [Mon], the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. He brought out the Asher-ah from the house of YHWH, outside Jerusalem, to the Wadi Kidron, burned it at the Wadi Kidron, beat it to dust and threw the dust of it upon the graves of the common people."

2 Kings 23:13: "The king [Josiah] defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon [Sol-o-Mon] of Israel had built for Astarte..."

2 Kings: 23:14 - 15: "He broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asher-im, and covered the sites with human bones. Moreover, the altar at Beth-el, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Hebat... he pulled down that altar along with the high place. He burned the high place, crushing it to dust; he also burned the sacred Asher-ah."
The First Annual Passover-Passion Pageant introduced God and the nearly-forgotten Goddess and gave them new names. The Jews' YHVH and the Greco-Romans' Zeus became Yah-Zeus; Shabbat/Asherah was renamed Mari Magdalah IoAnna: Magdalah fulfilled Micah's prophecy; Io was the first goddess-queen of Egypt; Inanna was the dying-and-resurrected Sumerian goddess, daughter of the Mesopotamian god, Sin, of Mount Sin-ai and the Wilderness of Sin.

Luke 24:10: "Now it was Mary Magdalene, Io-anna..."

Revelation 22:16: "It is I, Yah-Zeus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star" [Greek: Astar].

Yah-Zeus and his Bride, Astarte/Asherah/Io-Anna/the Magdalah extended an invitation to the world:

Revelation 22:27: "The Spirit [Yah-Zeus] and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let everyone who hears say, 'Come.' And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.'"

Mark 16:1 is translated in the NRSV bible as: "When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James [Jesus' brother] and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint him."

In the Myth of Serapis and Isis, three days after his death, spices were taken to the tomb of Serapis by Isis and Serapis' mother to be used to revive him.

Following Philo's rules for decoding enigmas:

the Greek word translated as Sabbath was the goddess Shabbat;
the Greek word translated as "was over" is also used to report a successful "crossing to the other side," (i.e., from the heavenly realm to the earthly realm);
the name Mary is from the Hebrew merom, which means high place;
Magdalene is from Magdalah, Micah's prophecy: "And you, O Magdalah of the flock, hill of daughter Zion, to you it shall come, the former dominion shall come, the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem."    

Mark’s gospel is a reworking of the dying-and-resurrected god myths and the healing/reviving spices of his goddess. The myths of Osiris/Serapis and Isis have been worked into the story of the return of the Jewish Messiah who brought with him YHWH’s ancient bride, Shabbat, with a new name taken from Micah 4:8 “The Magdalah.”
The Romans who implemented this grand plan drew upon their knowledge of Egyptian history. The Egyptian god, Serapis, was the result of merging the dying-and-resurrected god, Osiris with the god, Apis. Osir-Apis became Serapis. He was an invented god, the brainchild of Ptolemy Soter I as a means of peacefully merging two perpetually warring religious factions. It was immensely successful. Merging the god of the Jews, YHVH, with the Greco-Roman god, Zeus, was an attempt to duplicate Ptolemy Soter's success. A dying and resurrected Jewish Messiah would satisfy the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans. Merging YH-Zeus with the Egyptian god Serapis would encompass the rest of the Roman Empire. "One Nation under One God and Goddess" was the goal.

This second century bust housed at the London Museum is Serapis, not Jesus.



The bust was probably produced during the reign of Hadrian, 117 to 138 ACE, perhaps about the time he wrote the following:

"From Hadrian Augustus to Servianus the consul, greeting. The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been recounting to me, my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and blown about by every breath of rumor. There, those who worship Serapis are, in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no Christian presbyter, who is not an astrologer, a soothsayer, or an anointer. Even the Patriarch himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ. They are a folk most seditious, most deceitful, most given to injury; but their city is prosperous, rich, and fruitful, and in it no one is idle."

The following is the original article that explains the long-standing claim that the real name of Jesus was Yeshua Ben Yosef. This assumption is based on the erroneous belief that "Jesus" was a historical figure who carried a traditional Jewish name, rather than a created god and the lead character in The First Annual Passover Passion Pageant. Historical people did play the roles of "Yah-Zeus" and "Mary Magdalah," and they can now be identified as members of a prominent Roman-Egyptian family. Articles supporting these discoveries can be found throughout this web site.

Please note that we at The Nazarene Way now consider the following article to be not only obsolete, but also misleading.
We retain it for those who might have utilized it as a resource.
Yeshua Ben Yosef

It is most proper to call Him Yeshua; only in Hebrew does this name have any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means both "Salvation," and the concatenated form of Yahoshua, is "Lord who is Salvation." The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.

There are many Yeshuas that we read about in Biblical text and many are confused with the Yeshua who would later become the "Christ". The name Yeshua appears 29 times in the Tanach. Yehoshua (Joshua) of Nun is called Yeshua in Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 8:17. Yeshua is the name of the Cohain HaGadol (the high priest) in the time of Zerubavel in Ezra 3:2. It is the name of a Levite under King Hizkiyah (Hezekiah) in 2 Chronicles 31:15. There is even a city called Yeshua in the negev of Yehudah in Nechemyah 11:26. Yeshua is also a shortened version of the word Yehoshua much like Bill is for William.

There are 7 other Yeshuas (Jesuses) in the Brit Chadashah. There is Elymas bar Yeshua in Acts 13:6. There is an ancestor of Yeshua HaMashiach: the son of Eliezar, the father of Er in Luke 3:29. In Rav Shaul's letter to the Colossians in chapter 4, verse 11, there is a Justus called Yeshua a fellow worker of Shaul. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian mentions 20 different Yeshuas (Jesuses), 10 of which are contemporary with Yeshua HaMashiach. All together, at least 50 Yeshuas from his time plus about 9 in the Tanach have been revealed from Biblical text and other literary sources.

Mis-Translating the Mis-Translation

Yeshua is a Hebrew name which has been transliterated into Greek as Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced ee-ay-SUS or ee-ah-ZOOS). The English "Jesus" comes from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin Iesus. Now Greek has no "y" sound, but the Latin "i" is both an "i" and a "j" (i.e., it can have a consonantal force in front of other vowels), the latter of which is properly pronounced like the English "y" (which explains the German Jesu, "YAY-su")That is why we spell Jesus as we do, taking it straight from Latin, but we pronounce the name with a soft "j" sound because that is what we do in English with the consonantal "j".

The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. All proper names in the Old Testament were transliterated into English according to their Hebrew pronunciation via the Latin, but when English pronunciation shifted to what we know today, these transliterations were not altered. Thus, such Hebrew place names as ye-ru-sha-LA-yim, ye-ri-HO, and yar-DEN have become known to us as Jerusalem, Jericho, and Jordan; and Hebrew personal names such as yo-NA, yi-SHAI, and ye-SHU-a have become known to us as Jonah, Jesse, and Jesus. To further complicate matters, there was no letter "J" in the old English alphabet and the letter "I" was often used in its place. Often in early texts of the time, Jesus or Jerusalem would be spelled Iesus or Ierusalem.

The second sound in Yeshua's name is called tse-RE, and is pronounced almost like the letter "e" in the word "net". Just as the "Y" sound of the first letter is mispronounced in today's English, so too the first vowel sound in "Jesus". Before the Hebrew name "Yeshua" was transliterated into English, it was first transliterated into Greek. There was no difficulty in transliterating the tse-RE sound since the ancient Greek language had an equivalent letter which represented this sound. And there was no real difficulty in transcribing this same first vowel into English. The translators of the earliest versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua with an "e". Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee" instead of "Yeh". It is this pronunciation which produced such euphemistic profanities as "Gee" and "Geez".

Since Yeshua is spelled "Jeshua" and not "Jesus" in most English versions of the Old Testament (for example in Ezra 2:2 and 2 Chronicles 31:15), one easily gets the impression that the name is never mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet 'Yeshua' appears there twenty-nine times, and is the name of at least five different persons and one village in the southern part of Yehudah ("Judah").

In contrast to the early biblical period, there were relatively few different names in use among the Jewish population of the Land of Israel at the time of the Second Temple. The name Yeshua was one of the most common male names in that period, tied with Eleazer for fifth place behind Simon, Joseph, Judah, and John. Nearly one out of ten persons known from the period was named Yeshua.

The first sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the "sh" sound. It is represented by the Hebrew letter shin. However Greek, like many other languages, has no "sh" sound. Instead, the closest approximation, the Greek sigma, was used when transcribing "Yeshua" as "Iesus". Translators of English versions of the New Testament transliterated the Greek transcription of a Hebrew name, instead of returning to the original Hebrew. This was doubly unfortunate, first because the "sh" sound exists in English, and second because in English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus".

The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "u" sound, as in the word "true". Like the first three sounds, this also has come to be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as in "cut," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."

The "a" sound, as in the word "father," is the fifth sound in Jesus' name. It is followed by a guttural produced by contracting the lower throat muscles and retracting the tongue root- an unfamiliar task for English speakers. In an exception to the rule, the vowel sound "a" associated with the last letter "ayin" (the guttural) is pronounced before it, not after. While there is no equivalent in English or any other Indo-European language, it is somewhat similar to the last sound in the name of the composer, "Bach." In this position it is almost inaudible to the western ear. Some Israelis pronounce this last sound and some don't, depending on what part of the dispersion their families returned from. The Hebrew Language Academy, guardian of the purity of the language, has ruled that it should be sounded, and Israeli radio and television announcers are required to pronounce it correctly. There was no letter to represent them, and so these fifth and sixth sounds were dropped from the Greek transcription of "Yeshua," -the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is derived.

So where did the final "s" of "Jesus" come from? Masculine names in Greek ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, and less frequently with an "n" or "r" sound. In the case of "Iesus," the Greeks added a sigma, the "s" sound, to close the word. The same is true for the names Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and others.

English speakers make one final change from the original pronunciation of Jesus' name. English places the accent on "Je," rather than on "sus." For this reason, the "u" has been shortened in its English pronunciation to "uh."

Portions borrowed from http://jesusisajew.org/YESHUA.php

In Jesus' Name

Today's tradition of pronouncing His completely Hellenized name as "Jesus" has indeed obscured His true name, "Yeshua," and has shifted its perceived meaning much like most of His original teachings.

As with all things Essene however, there is always the exoteric and the esoteric philosophies and functions. That is, those ideas and teachings suitable to be imparted to the public, and those designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone.

Even His name, it would seem, became a part of this understanding. The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas, and is even used as a profanity. The name Yeshua however, has remained pure and holy, known and used only by those who would uphold His name and teachings in the highest regard and thus reserving His holy name for use only in spiritual matters and the most humbled and sincere of prayer and obeisances.

MODERN SLAVERY

5 things to know about human trafficking

By Amanda Kloer, 

Editor's Note: Amanda Kloer is an editor with Change.org, where she organizes and promotes campaigns to end human trafficking. She has created numerous reports, documentaries and training materials on human trafficking in the United States and around the world.

Human trafficking might not be something we think about on a daily basis, but this crime affects the communities where we live, the products which we buy and the people who we care about. Want to learn more? Here are the five most important things to know about human trafficking:

1. Human trafficking is slavery.
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. It involves one person controlling another and exploiting him or her for work. Like historical slavery, human trafficking is a business that generates billions of dollars a year. But unlike historical slavery, human trafficking is not legal anywhere in the world. Instead of being held by law, victims are trapped physically, psychologically, financially or emotionally by their traffickers.

2. It's happening where you live.
Stories about human trafficking are often set in far-away places, like cities in Cambodia, small towns in Moldova, or rural parts of Brazil. But human trafficking happens in cities and towns all over the world, including in the United States. Enslaved farmworkers have been found harvesting tomatoes in Florida and picking strawberries in California. Young girls have been forced into prostitution in Toledo, Atlanta, Wichita, Los Angeles, and other cities and towns across America. Women have been enslaved as domestic workers in homes in Maryland and New York. And human trafficking victims have been found working in restaurants, hotels, nail salons, and shops in small towns and booming cities. Wherever you live, chances are some form of human trafficking has taken place there.

3. It's happening to people just like you.
Human trafficking doesn't discriminate on the basis of race, age, gender, or religion. Anyone can be a victim. Most of the human trafficking victims in the world are female and under 18, but men and older adults can be trafficking victims too. While poverty, lack of education, and belonging to a marginalized group are all factors that increase risk of trafficking, victims of modern-day slavery have included children from middle-class families, women with college degrees, and people from dominant religious or ethnic groups.

4. Products you eat, wear, and use every day may have been made by human trafficking victims.
Human trafficking isn't just in your town - it's in your home, since human trafficking victims are forced to make many of the products we use everyday, according to ProductsofSlavery.org. If your kitchen is stocked with rice, chocolate, fresh produce, fish, or coffee, those edibles might have been harvested by trafficking victims. If you're wearing gold jewelry, athletic shoes, or cotton underwear, you might be wearing something made by slaves. And if your home contains a rug, a soccer ball, fresh flowers, a cell phone, or Christmas decorations, then slavery is quite possibly in your house. Human trafficking in the production of consumer goods is so widespread, most people in America have worn, touched, or consumed a product of slavery at some point.

5. We can stop human trafficking in our lifetime.
The good news is not only that we can end human trafficking around the world, we can end it within a generation. But to achieve that goal, everyone needs to work together. Already, activists around the world are launching and winning campaigns to hold governments and companies accountable for human trafficking, create better laws, and prevent trafficking in their communities. You can start a campaign on Change.org to fight trafficking in your community. You can also fight trafficking by buying from companies that have transparent and slave-free supply chains, volunteering for or donating to organizations fighting trafficking, and talking to your friends and family about the issue. Together, we can fight human trafficking … and win.

According to a survey done by many news channel & social foundations many East European women  & third world countries are trafficked   for sexual pleasure & prostitution .

2012 TURE or FAke?

Revelation of Nostradamus Predictions for 2012

Michel de Nostredame or Nostradamus as he is popularly called, was born in France in 1503. He was a kind of pharmacist and a healer and around 1550 he developed an interest in the occult sciences and started writing almanacs. He became famous for these and many people used to come to him for horoscopes and asking psychic advice. Later he started summarizing his prophecies and writing them in quatrains which is a four lines poetic para in French. He compiled about a thousand of these undated quatrains into a book called “The Prophecies” for which he is very famous even today. Nostradamus wrote in a cryptic style and his quatrains need interpretation. Many have found that most of these predictions by Nostradamus have been accurate and his prophecies are highly regarded by astrologers and in many occult circles.

2012 Nostradamus predictions have gained a lot of popularity, firstly because the year is coming closer and secondly his predictions seem to match predictions from other sources like the bible, Mayan and Gnostic texts and so on. You must also keep in mind that Nostradamus predictions are never clear cut and he writes symbolically and hence different people interpret these symbols in various ways. Although this is the case, many of his predictions have been interpreted correctly regarding the second world war, Hitler and so on. This makes 2012 Nostradamus predictions even more interesting to read as most people feel that they can be highly accurate.

Nostradamus Theory

2012 Nostradamus predictions paint a bleak picture of massive destruction and havoc brought about by a comet. It is not clear whether this comet will strike the earth or will pass very close to our planet, causing massive earthquakes and other cataclysmic occurrences. But all interpreters of his quatrains are united on the opinion that it will be a comet which will come somewhere in December 2012. Nostradamus writes in one of his quatrains – “In the sky will be seen a great fire dragging a trail of sparks”. This line clearly suggest a comet and many are of the opinion that it will be very big in size. Certain interpreters put the size to be just a little less than the planet Jupiter, and if such a comet passes close to the earth the effect of its gravity will cause the oceans to rise and also give rise to earthquakes.

Another theory is that the even though the comet will pass close to the earth it might cause an asteroid to shift course and impact the earth. Such an impact will be the size of several atomic bombs and will cause massive destruction. Some predict that the superpowers of the world will send atomic missiles to break this asteroid in space, but still there will be a shower of hail and fire from its fragments.

For 2012 Nostradamus also suggest that because of the massive destruction caused by the comet there will be widespread anarchy and certain nations can take advantage and plunge the world into a third World War. One of the quatrains says – “King of terror shall come from the sky. He will bring to life the King of Mongols.” This line has been interpreted that after the coming of the comet China will gain prominence and might start attacking countries to gain supremacy.

2012 Nostradamus predictions also gives an indication of the fate of certain nations, and how long the comet will be seen in the skies. He mentions – “The Great Star will blaze for Seven days” meaning the comet will be very near the earth for seven days and nights. Further he says – “The Huge dog will howl at night, when the great pontiff will change lands”. The great dog is taken to be the United Kingdom by many interpreters, and the line suggests its destruction. The pontiff is taken to be the pope and hence Rome too will be destroyed.

Nostradamus Predictions that came true

Interpreters of the Nostradamus Centuries claim that he had correctly predicted a number of major historic events. Many people are skeptical about Nostradamus’ predictions but the Quatrain 51, Volume II, for example which is believed to refer to the Great Fire of London in 1666 is too accurate to be a coincidence: “The blood of the just will be demanded of London/ Burnt by the fire in the year 66/ The ancient Lady will fall from her high place/ And many of the same sect will be killed.”

Nostradamus’ prediction of World War II and the rise of Hitler has attracted a lot of attention due to the word Hister in the original version. The word itself refers to the River Danube, however, the Quatrain 35, Volume III, without a doubt matches the description of Hitler: “From the depths of the West of Europe/ A young child will be born of poor people/ He who by his tongue will seduce a great troop/ His fame will increase towards the real of the East.“ The description of the atomic bomb, on the other hand, is even more accurate: “Near the gates and within two cities/ There will be scourges the like of which was never seen/ Famine within plague, people put out by steel/ Crying to the great immortal God for relief.“

The famous French seer is also credited with predictions of the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, JFK assassination and even the 9/11. The September 11 attacks can be found in Quatrain 87, Volume 1: “ Earthshaking fire from the center of the Earth/ Will cause tremors around the New City/ Two great rocks will war for a long time/ Then Arethusa will redden a new river.“ Nostradamus indeed seems to had foreseen some of the historic events but unfortunately, his predictions for the future are written in a language that makes them impossible to decipher until they have already happened.

CHRISTIANITY Origins

TRANSFORMATION OF PAGANISM INTO CHRISTIANITY 

 Hellenic philosophy and Christianity

Influence on Christian dogma in Late Antiquity, that is, the doctrine of the Christian Church Fathers in the 4th and 5th century, theNicene and Chalcedonian creeds, including the questions of theTrinity and Christology. A strong influence here was Roman imperial cult, Hellenistic philosophy, notably Neoplatonism, and Gnosticism.Christological disputes continued to dominate Christian theology well into the Early Middle Ages, down to the Third Council of Constantinople of AD 680;^{[citation needed]}With the spread of Christianity, it has been argued that Christianity was influenced by pagan rituals and mystery religions, in a number of ways.

1. Influences of Pagan religions Christianized in the Early Middle Ages. This includes Germanic paganism, Celtic paganism, Slavic paganism and Folk religion in general.^{[citation needed]}

In the course of the Christianisation of Europe in the Early Middle Ages, the Christian churches adopted many elements of national cult and folk religion, resulting in national churches like Latin, Germanic, Russian,Armenian, Greek and so on. Some Pagan ceremonies became modern holidays as pagans joined the early church.

The practices were allowed or supported by some such as Clement of Alexandria, (c. AD 150-215) who explains that "prayers are offered while looking toward sunrise in the East" because the Orient represents the birth of light that "dispels the darkness of the night" and because of the orientation of "the ancient temples."^[1] or Origen (c. AD 185-254), according to whom with the East symbolizes the soul that looks to the source of light.^[2]

One goal of the Reformation was to return the Christian churches to the state of early Christianity. Restorationists such as Jehovah's Witnesses continue to argue that mainstream Christianity has departed fromApostolic Christianity due, in part, to such Pagan influences.^{[citation needed]}See also Great Apostasy.

Influence on early Christian theology   

Christianity originated in the Roman province of Judaea, a predominantly Jewish society, with traditional philosophies distinct from the Greek thought which was dominant in the Roman Empire at the time. The conflict between the two modes of thought is recorded in the Christian scriptures, in Paul's encounters with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers mentioned in Acts,^[3] his diatribe against Greek philosophy in 1st Corinthians,^[4] and his warning against vain philosophy in Colossians 2:8.^[5]

Over time, as Christianity spread throughout the Hellenic world, and with a number of church leaders having been educated in Greek philosophy there was a fusion of the two modes of thought.^{[citation needed]}

One early Christian writer of the 2nd and early 3rd century, Clement of Alexandria, demonstrated the assimilation of Greek thought in writing: "Philosophy has been given to the Greeks as their own kind of Covenant, their foundation for the philosophy of Christ... the philosophy of the Greeks... contains the basic elements of that genuine and perfect knowledge which is higher than human... even upon those spiritual objects."^[6]

Augustine of Hippo, who ultimately systematized Christian philosophy, wrote in the late 4th and early 5th century: "But when I read those books of the Platonists I was taught by them to seek incorporeal truth, so I saw your 'invisible things, understood by the things that are made'.^[7]

St. Augustine was originally a Manichaean.

When Christians first encountered Manichaeism, it seemed to them to be a heresy, as it had originated in a heavily Gnostic area of thePersian empire. Augustine of Hippo(354–430) converted to Christianity from Manichaeism. Until the 20th century, most of the Western world's concept of Manichaeism came through Augustine's negative polemics against it. According to his Confessions, after eight or nine years of adhering to the Manichaean faith (as a member of the Manichaean group of Hearers), he became a Christian and a potent adversary of Manichaeism. It is speculated by some modern scholars (Alfred Adam, for example),^{[citation needed]} that Manichaean ways of thinking had an influence on the development of some of Augustine's Christian ideas, such as the nature of good and evil, the idea of Hell, the separation of groups into Elect, Hearers, and Sinners, the hostility to the flesh and sexual activity, and so on.

How much long term influence the Manichaeans actually had on Christianity is still being debated. It has been suggested that the Bogomils, Paulicians, and the Cathars were deeply influenced by Manichaeism. However, the Bogomils and Cathars, in particular, left few records of their rituals or doctrines, and the link between them and Manichaeans is unclear. Regardless of its historical veracity the charge of Manichaeism was leveled at them by contemporary orthodox opponents, who often tried to fit contemporary heresies with those combated by the church fathers. The Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars were certainlydualists and felt that the world was the work of a demiurge of Satanic origin. Whether this was due to influence from Manichaeism or another strand of Gnosticism is impossible to determine. Only a minority of Cathars held that The Evil God (or principle) was as powerful as The Good God (also called a principle) as Mani did, a belief also known as absolute dualism. In the case of the Cathars, it seems they adopted the Manichaean principles of church organization, but none of its religious cosmology. Priscillian and his followers apparently tried to absorb what they thought was the valuable part of Manichaeaism into Christianity.

Antiquity

Origins of Christianity

St. Clement I was an Apostolic Father.

Early Christianity arose as a movement within 1st century Judaism, following the teachings ofJesus of Nazareth. As such, Christianity developed within the matrix of Judaism, relatively independent from pagan religious beliefs and customs. With a missionary commitment to both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews), Christianity rapidly spread into the greater Roman empire and beyond. Here, Christianity came into contact with the dominant Pagan religions. By the 2nd century, many Christians were converts from Paganism. These conflicts are recorded in the works of the early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr as well as hostile reports by writers including Tacitus and Suetonius.

Persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire

Christianity was persecuted by Roman imperial authorities early on in its history within the greater empire, although persecution of Christians is often under exaggerated.

Persecution under Nero, 64–68 AD

The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero (37–68). In 64 AD, agreat fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Nero himself was suspected as the arsonist by Suetonius,^[8] claiming he played the lyre and sang the 'Sack of Ilium' during the fires. In his Annals, Tacitus (who claimed Nero was in Antium at the time of the fire's outbreak), stated that "to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or Chrestians^[9]] by the populace" (Tacit. Annals XV, seeTacitus on Jesus). Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, defined as men following a new and malefic superstition. Suetonius however does not specify the reasons for the punishment, he just listed the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero.^[10]

Persecution from the 2nd century to Constantine

By the mid-2nd century, mobs could be found willing to throw stones at Christians, and they might be mobilized by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1.7).

Further state persecutions were desultory until the 3rd century, thoughTertullian's Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors.^[11] The "edict ofSeptimius Severus" familiar in Christian history is doubted by some secular historians to have existed outside Christian martyrology.

The first documentable Empire-wide persecution took place underMaximinus Thrax, though only the clergy were sought out. It was not untilDecius during the mid-century that a persecution of Christian laity across the Empire took place. Christian sources aver that a decree was issued requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a testimonial of allegiance to the Emperor and the established order. Decius authorizedroving commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense toRoman gods. Those who refused were charged with impiety and punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and/or executions. Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates, calledlibelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.

Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. Roman authorities tried hard to avoid Christians because they "goaded, chided, belittled and insulted the crowds until they demanded their death." According to Droge and Tabor, "in 185 the proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus, was approached by a group of Christians demanding to be executed. The proconsul obliged some of them and then sent the rest away, saying that if they wanted to kill themselves there was plenty of rope available or cliffs they could jump off."^[12] Such seeking after death is found in Tertullian's Scorpiace or in the letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch but was certainly not the only view of martyrdom in the Christian church. BothPolycarp and Cyprian, bishops in Smyrna and Carthage respectively, attempted to avoid martyrdom.

The Diocletianic Persecution

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883).

The persecutions culminated withDiocletian andGalerius at the end of the third and beginning of the 4th century. The Great Persecution is considered the largest. Beginning with a series of four edicts banning Christian practices and ordering the imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution intensified until all Christians in the empire were commanded to sacrifice to the gods or face immediate execution. Over 20,000 Christians are thought to have died during Diocletian's reign. However, as Diocletian zealously persecuted Christians in the Eastern part of the empire, his co-emperors in the West did not follow the edicts and so Christians in Gaul, Spain, and Britannia were virtually unmolested.

This persecution lasted, until Constantine I came to power in 313 and legalized Christianity. It was not until Theodosius I in the later 4th century that Christianity would become the official religion of the Empire. Between these two events Julian II temporarily restored the traditional Roman religion and established broad religious tolerance renewing Pagan and Christian hostilities.

The conditions under which martyrdom was an acceptable fate or under which it was suicidally embraced occupied writers of the early Christian Church. Broadly speaking, martyrs were considered uniquely exemplary of the Christian faith, and few early saints were not also martyrs.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Ancient, medieval and early modern hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate the number of martyrs. Since the title of martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency is natural". Estimates of Christians killed for religious reasons before the year 313 vary greatly, depending on the scholar quoted, from a high of almost 100,000 to a low of 10,000.

Prohibition and persecution of Paganism in the Roman Empire

The Edict of Milan of 313 finally legalized Christianity. In the period of 313 to 391, both Paganism and Christianity were legal religions, with their respective adherents vying for power in the Roman Empire. This period of transition is also known as the Constantinian shift. The Christian faction was eventually triumphant, as Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Paganism was tolerated for another 12 years, until 392, when Theodosius passed legislation prohibiting all pagan cultic worship. Pagan religion from this point was increasingly persecuted, a process which lasted throughout the 5th century. The closing of the Neoplatonic Academy by decree of by Justinian I in 529 marks a conventional end point of both classical paganism and Late Antiquity.

Lay Christians took advantage of these new anti-pagan laws by destroying and plundering the temples.^{[citation needed]} Theologians and prominentecclesiastics soon followed.^{[citation needed]} One such example is St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. When Gratian became Roman emperor in 375, Ambrose, who was one of his closest educators, persuaded him to further suppress Paganism. The emperor, on Ambrose's advice, confiscated the property of the Pagan temples; seized the properties of the Vestal Virgins and Pagan priests, and removed the statue of the Goddess of Victory from the Roman Senate.^{[citation needed]}

When Gratian delegated the government of the eastern half of the Roman Empire to Theodosius the Great in 379, the situation became worse for the Pagans. Theodosius prohibited all forms of Pagan worship and allowed the temples to be robbed, plundered, and ruthlessly destroyed by monks and other enterprising Christians.^{[citation needed]}

In the year 416, under Theodosius II, a law was passed to ban Pagans from public employment.^{[citation needed]} All this was done to coerce Pagans to convert to Christianity. Theodosius also persecuted Judaism, destroying a number of synagogues.^{[citation needed]}

Christianization during the European Middle Ages

Saxons

During the Saxon Wars, the Christian Frankish king Charlemagne waged war on the pagan Saxons for over 20 years, seeking to Christianize and rule the Saxons. During this period, the Saxons repeatedly refused Christianization and the rule of Charlemagne, and therefore rebelled frequently. In the year 782 of this period, Charlemagne is recorded as having massacred 4,500 rebel Saxon prisoners in Verden (the Massacre of Verden), and imposing legislation upon the subjected Saxons that including the penalty of death for refusing conversion to Christianity or for aiding pagans who did the same (such as the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae). While rebellions continued to take place even after his death (such as that of the Stellinga), Charlemagne succeeded in laying the groundwork for the Christianization of the Saxons, yet was unable to reach the Scandinavians, who remained pagan.

Anglo-Saxon

The Anglo-Saxon conversion was one of the most difficult for Christian missionaries because paganism was so entrenched into the culture. The Saxons were one of the last Barbarian groups to the converted by Christian missionaries and it was mainly under the threat of death by Charlemagne and with great some inclusions of pagan culture and concessions on the part of the Christian missionaries. The Saxon conversion was so difficult for a number of reasons including their distance from Rome and lack of centralized polity until much later than most other peoples; but also, their pagan beliefs were so strongly tied into the culture in every way it made the conversion much rocky transition. Their sophisticated theology was a bulwark against an immediate and complete conversion to Christianity.^[13]So the new theology was translated into terms of Northern life.

The conversion of Æthelberht, king of Kent is the first account of any Christian bretwalda conversion and is told by the Venerable Bede in his histories of the conversion of England. In 582 Pope Gregory sent Augustine and 40 companions from Rome to missionize among the Anglo-Saxons. “They had, by order of the blessed Pope Gregory, brought interpreters of the nation of the Franks, and sending to Æthelberht, signified that they were come from Rome, and brought a joyful message, which most undoubtedly assured to all that took advantage of it everlasting joys in heaven, and a kingdom that would never end with the living and true God.”^[14] Æthelberht was not unfamiliar with Christianity because he had a Christian wife, and Bede says that there was even a church dedicated to St. Martin nearby. Æthelberht was converted eventually and Augustine remained in Canterbury.^[15]

The Anglo-Saxon conversion in particular was a gradual process that necessarily included many compromises and syncretism. A famous letter from Pope Gregory to Mellitus in June 601, for example, is quoted encouraging the appropriation of pagan temples and festivals for Christian use.

The temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God .... And because they have been used to slaughter many oxen in the sacrifices to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account .... but kill cattle to the praise of God .... For there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface everything at once from their obdurate minds; because he who endeavours to ascend to the highest place, rises by degrees or steps, and not by leaps.

—Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (1.30)

Scandinavia

Olaf I of Norway, during his attempt to Christianize Norway during theViking Age, had those under his rule that practiced their indigenous Norse Paganism and refused to Christianize^{[citation needed]} tortured, maimed or executed, including seidmen, who were tied up and thrown to a skerry at low tide to slowly drown. After Olaf I's death, Norway returned to its native paganism. Olaf II of Norway had pagans who refused to convert tortured, blinded or executed, and despoiled pagan temples, eventually resulting in at least nominal Christianization of Norway.