Topic: What's The story of religion?

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―The Virgin Birth is astrotheological, referring to the hour of midnight, December 25th, when the constellation of Virgo rises on the Horizon. The Assumption of the virgin, celebrated in Catholicism on August 15th, symbolizes the summer sun‘s brightness blotting out Virgo. Mary‘s Nativity, observed on September 8th, occurs when the constellation is visible again.‖

—Acharya S/D.M. Murdock, Suns of God, 221

View from Egypt

212. Taylor, The Devil’s Pulpit. Dupuis (V, 96) recounts ―Albert le Grand‖ as saying: ―Nous savons...que le signe de la Vierge Céleste montoīt sur l'horison au moment où nous fixons la naissance de Notre Seigneur

Jésus-Christ...tous les mystères de son incarnation divine et tous les secrets de sa vie merveilleuse, depuis sa Conception jusqu'à son Ascension, se trouvent tracés dans les Constellations, et figurés dans les Etoiles, qui les ont annoncés.‖ On the previous page, Dupuis cites "Coesi Coel. Astron., p. 74."

212. Carpenter, 30-31.

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The identification of the Virgin Mary with goddesses and other divine feminine forms such as Virgo has been made since ancient times by Christians themselves, including the Egyptian Copts, who merged the Virgin Mary with Isis in significant ways. There are several aspects the Virgin Mary shares with these figures of myth and astrotheology. Indeed, the case has been made that Mary is but a mythical hybrid of Judeo-Pagan religious figures and concepts of the time, including and especially the ―Triple Goddess.‖²¹⁴

House of Bread (Virgo and Bethlehem): The Hebrew word ―Bethlehem‖ (לחם בית) means

―house of bread‖ (Strong‘s H1035), while Virgo the constellation is typically shown as a maiden holding a sheath of wheat, which, of course, is used to make bread.

Hazelrigg summarizes this symbolism in the Christian narrative:

According to the gospels: ―Joseph went up to Nazareth, which is in Galilee, and came into the City of David, called Bethlehem, because he was of that tribe, to be inscribed with Mary his wife, who was with child.‖ And here, in the City of David of the celestial expanse, called Bethlehem, the sixth constellation, Virgo, the harvest mansion, do we discover Joseph (the constellation of Bootes, Ioseppe) and his wife Mary with the child. Here is personified a constellation whose very name (Ioseppe, the manger of Io, or the Moon) typifies the humble place of accouchement of all the Virgin Mothers, and, as related to Virgo, the genesis of all Messianic tradition.²¹⁵

Another interesting issue is the historicity of Bethlehem itself, as there is a debate as to whether or not this town was occupied at the supposed time of Christ‘s alleged advent.²¹⁶ As stated by Marisa Larson of National Geographic:

Archaeological excavations have shown that Bethlehem in Judaea likely did not exist as a functioning town between 7 and 4 B.C., when Jesus is believed to have been born. Studies of the town have turned up a great deal of Iron Age material from 1200 to 550 B.C. as well as material from the sixth century A.D., but nothing from the first century B.C. or the first century A.D. Aviram Oshri, a senior archaeologist with the Israeli

Antiquities Authority, says, ―There is surprisingly no archaeological evidence that ties

Bethlehem in Judaea to the period in which Jesus would have been born.²¹⁷

It appears that the ―little town of Bethlehem‖ is an interpolation created to fulfill prophesy from the Old Testament. We can see the relationship clearly when comparing Genesis 49:10 and Micah 5:2 with Matthew 2:1-6:

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler‘s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen 49:10)

But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is the be ruler in Israel, whole origin is from old, from ancient days. (Micah 5:2)

Jesus is a descendant of Judah...After Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Herod asks the wise men where he is. They answer that he is in

Bethlehem, ―so it is written by the prophet: ‗And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.‘‖ (Mt 2:1-6)

Concerning this issue, Murdock concludes, ―Like so many other places in Israel, Bethlehem was first situated in the mythos and then given location on Earth.‖²¹⁸

214. See Murdock‘s Suns of God and Christ in Egypt for more on Mary and the Goddess.

214. Hazelrigg, 108.

214. See ―In what town was Jesus born?‖ by B.A. Robinson.

214. Larson, ―Bethlehem of Judaea—or of Galilee?‖

214. Acharya, CC, 190.

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28. There is another very interesting phenomenon that occurs around December 25^th, or the winter solstice. From the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the days become shorter and colder. And from the perspective of the northern hemisphere, the sun appears to move south and get smaller and more scarce. The shortening of the days and the expiration of the crops when approaching the winter solstice symbolized the process of death to the ancients. It was the death of the sun. And by December 22^nd, the sun’s demise was fully realized, for the sun, having moved south continually for six months, makes it to its lowest point in the sky. Here a curious thing occurs: the sun stops moving south, at least perceivably, for three days.

Regarding the motif of the three-day entombment and rebirth of the sun, Murdock summarizes:

...many of the world‘s crucified godmen have their traditional birthdays on December 25^th (―Christmas‖). This date is set because the ancients recognized that (from a geocentric perspective in the northern hemisphere) the sun makes an annual descent southward until after midnight of December 21^st, the winter solstice, when it stops moving southerly for three days and then starts to move northward again. During this time, the ancients declared that ―God‘s sun‖ had ―died‖ for three days and was ―born again‖ after midnight of December 24^th. Thus, these many different cultures celebrated with great joy the ―sun of God‘s‖ birthday on December 25^th.²¹⁹

The significance of this solar death/rebirth and its allegorical connection to various godman is confirmed by many scholars, including astronomer Dr. Krupp as concerns Osiris:

The myth of Osiris involves his own death and resurrection, a theme that echoes the daily cycle of the sun‘s death and its rebirth at dawn.²²⁰

Concerning the annual solar death and resurrection, Frazer relates:

In the Julian calendar the twenty-fifth of December was reckoned the winter solstice, and it was regarded as the Nativity of the Sun, because the day begins to lengthen and the power of the sun to increase from that turning-point of the year. The ritual of the nativity, as it appears to have been celebrated in Syria and Egypt, was remarkable. The celebrants retired into certain inner shrines, from which at midnight they issued with a loud cry, ―The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!‖ The Egyptians even represented the newborn sun by the image of an infant which on his birthday, the winter solstice, they brought forth and exhibited to his worshippers. No doubt the Virgin who thus conceived and bore a son on the twenty-fifth of December was the great Oriental goddess whom the Semites called the Heavenly Virgin or simply the Heavenly Goddess; in Semitic lands she was a form of Astarte...

Thus it appears that the Christian Church chose to celebrate the birthday of its Founder on the twenty-fifth of December in order to transfer the devotion of the heathen from the Sun to him who was called the Sun of Righteousness [Jesus]....²²¹

The solar and vegetative death and re-conception occur at the vernal equinox, with a birth at the winter solstice. Discussing the former motif vis-à-vis Attis, Dr. George R.H. Wright states:

The fertility cult of the dying god Attis and the Great Mother Cybele was introduced to Rome from its seat at Pessinus in Asia Minor in 204 BC... Attis the son of a virgin mother (Nana) sacrificed himself by a tree and the great festival of the cult centered around the raising up of a sacred (pine) tree swatched like a corpse in a winding sheet

219. Acharya, CC, 154.

219. Krupp, EAS, 16.

219. Frazer, GB (1922), 303-305.

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to which was fastened an effigy of the young dying god.... In Spring time, precisely at the vernal equinox, there was enacted a three day cycle of death (on the tree), burial and resurrection.... At the dead of night a light shone in darkness and the tomb stood open—the god had risen from the dead. And the following day, March 25th, the resurrection was made fit subject for general rejoicing...²²²

Because of the cycles of nature, there is a seemingly confused dichotomy with regard to the rituals signifying this three-day solar death and resurrection, as found in several religions and cults. In the case of Attis, for example, the ritual fell on or around the 25^th of March, the vernal/spring equinox, a day that marks the ―rebirth of the sun,‖ when the ―light of day overpowers the darkness‖ or when the day becomes longer than the night. So, in the solar death-resurrection motif we have combined allegories: The daily cycle, as well as the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

M.M. Mangasarian, an ex-Presbyterian minister, expands on this comparison and summarizes:

The selection of the twenty-fifth of December as [Jesus‘s] birthday...having been from time immemorial dedicated to the Sun, the inference is that the Son of God and the Sun of heaven enjoying the same birthday, were at one time identical beings. The fact that

Jesus‘ death was accompanied with the darkening of the Sun, and that the date of his resurrection is also associated with the position of the Sun at the time of the vernal equinox, is a further intimation that we have in the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, an ancient and nearly universal Sun-myth, instead of verifiable historical events.²²³

29. And during this three-day pause, the sun resides in the vicinity of the Southern Cross, or Crux [Australis], constellation.

In the solar mythology, the sun is said to be hung on a cross during the first part of the solar cycle, as it is also at the equinoxes. This period is likewise three days or a triduum. Gerald Massey explains this theme:

In the Ritual [Egyptian Book of the Dead] the reconstructed and rearisen mummy says,

―I am the great constellation of Orion (Sahu), dwelling in the solar birthplace in the midst of the spirits.‖ That is, he rises as Orion, the Star in the East that once showed the place where the babe lay, or where the reborn god arose on the horizon of the resurrection....

At that time the Southern Cross, on the opposite side, was a figure of the Autumn crossing, the sign of the sacrificial offering, the crucified of the solar allegory, so far as the suffering, descending, diminishing sun was ever represented as the crucified; and every time Orion the conqueror of darkness rose, the Cross of Autumn set...²²⁴

222. Wright, 92.

222. Mangasarian, 35-36.

222. Massey, NG, II, 437.

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The Southern Cross (Crux)

as seen after midnight on Dec. 25, 1 AD/CE rising in the south

It is important to point out that, just like that of Virgo, the relationship between the divine child and the cross is figurative and symbolic, and different scholars have varying hypothesizes regarding which equinox/solstice the Crux was most traditionally oriented to, mythologically speaking. Regardless, the association is clear in the astrotheological mythos.

The visibility of the stars and changing of the sky vis-à-vis the Southern Cross is described by astronomers David Ellyard and Wil Tirion:

...From 35 degrees south latitude, stars south of minus 55 degrees declination are always in view (if the sky is clear). So we can always see the Southern Cross and the Pointers, though you will find them in different parts of the sky depending on the time of the night and the year....

...the Southern Cross, which is high in the south-east in the early evening in May, will be high in the south-west three months later. In November it will be low in the south-west (and almost upside down), while an early February evening will find it low in the south-east but rising.²²⁵

It is claimed that the Southern Cross was not delineated as a separate constellation until centuries after it was purportedly incorporated into mythology in this manner, because it is not overtly described until that time.

In view of all the astrotheological information that clearly was passed along within religion and mythology, we could suggest that this motif itself is evidence of the constellation‘s significance in ancient times, even if it was not called the ―Southern Cross.‖ Certainly, when all things are weighed, and we discover mythology and astrotheology throughout the rest of the gospel story—as well as the knowledge that the cross itself is a solar symbol dating back thousands of years—we are wise to consider that this striking motif is yet another of the same type.

It is important to point out that interpretations vary in regard to the cross symbolism, as different religions supply different information and thus interpretation. Indeed, there are other reasons for the three days and the cross motif, such as the vernal equinox, so in fact we can scientifically place it in the realm of mythology.

²²⁵ Ellyard, 12-13.

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The fundamental element common among these mythical variations is that the cross is astronomical, astrological or astrotheological in nature. As we have seen abundantly, the cross is a solar symbol that predated Christianity by many centuries, as did the image of the human figure on a cross.

30. And after this time on December 25^th, the sun moves one degree, this time north, foreshadowing longer days, warmth, and Spring. And thus it was said: the sun died on the cross, was dead for three days, only to be resurrected or born again. This is why Jesus and numerous other sun gods share the crucifixion, three-day death, and resurrection concept.

With the circle of the zodiac being 360 degrees, and the year solar approximating 360 (+5) days, the ancients perceived the sun as moving one degree per day.

Concerning the winter solstice, Dr. S.B. Roy states:

Everyone looked to the day of the winter solstice when the sun would turn North. The astronomers would know the date even though the sun itself was not visible. This was the great day, for the spring would now come.²²⁶

Bonwick expands on the symbolism as it relates to the Egyptian mythos:

―Maspero, the Italian Egyptologist, inclines the same way. ―This daily birth and death of the sun,‖ says he, ―indefinitely repeated, had suggested to the Egyptians the myth of

Osiris. Likes all the gods, Osiris is the sun. Osiris-Khem-Ament, Infernal Osiris, sun of night, is re-born, as the sun in the morning, under the name of Horpechroud, Hor Child, the Harpocrates of the Greeks. Harpocrates [Horus], who is Osiris, struggles against Set, and the Bat, as the rising sun dissipates the shades of night. He avenges his father, but without annihilating his enemy. This struggle, which re-commences each day, and symbolizes the divine life, serves also as a symbol of human life.‖

But the sun appears to die and rise again at the solstice. For instance, on our shortest day, December 21^st, the sun descends its lowest on the southern side. It is our depth of winter, our death of the sun. For three days the sun appears to stand still; that is, rising each morning at the same place, without advancing. Then it exhibits sudden vitality, leaves its grave December 25^th, re-born, and progresses upward day by day towards us in the northern hemisphere. At the equinox—say the vernal—at Easter, the same phenomenon occurs. The sun has been below the equator, and suddenly rises above it, to our natural rejoicing. It has been, as it were, dead to us, but now it exhibits a resurrection.²²⁷

In this same regard, Rev. Dunbar T. Heath of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland remarks: ―...We find men taught everywhere, from Southern Arabia to Greece, by hundreds of symbolisms, the birth, death, and resurrection of deities, and a resurrection too, apparently 'after the second day,; i.e., on the third day (Lucian, De Dea Syria, 6.)‖²²⁸ Indeed, we do, because these stories are solar myths revolving around the sun and its movements through the heavens, which can be observed around the world.

31. It is the sun’s transition period before it shifts its direction back into the

Northern Hemisphere, bringing Spring, and thus salvation.

This mythical solar motif is summarized by Doane:

This festival of the Resurrection was generally held by the ancients on the 25^th of March, when the awakening of Spring may be said to be the result of the return of the Sun from the lower or far-off regions to which he had departed. At the equinox—say,

226. Roy, 117.

226. Bonwick, 174.

226. Heath, 4-5.

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the vernal—at Easter, the Sun has been below the equator, and suddenly rises above it. It has been, as it were, dead to us, but now it exhibits a resurrection. The Saviour rises triumphant over the powers of darkness, to life and immortality...²²⁹

Also encapsulating this theme of the salvational return of the sun after winter, William T. Olcott states:

At the feast of the winter solstice men testified their gladness at witnessing the return of the all-powerful sun. To the inhabitants of Greenland it meant the early return of the hunting season, and all nations regarded it as a sign that springtime and harvests were on the way, and the dormant life of the winter season was on the wane.

In many countries this festival season was known as ―Yole,‖ or ―Yuul,‖ from the word Hiaul, or Huul, which even to this day signifies ―the sun‖ in some languages. From this we get our word ―wheel,‖ and the wheel is one of the ancient symbols of the sun, the spokes representing the sun‘s rays. As we shall see later this symbol was a prominent feature in one of the great solar festivals....

Plutarch, referring to the solar festivals of Egypt, says, that ―about the winter solstice they lead the sacred cow seven times in procession around the temple, calling this the searching after Osiris, that season of the year standing most in need of the sun‘s warmth.‖

In China, the Great Temple of the Sun at Pekin is oriented to the winter solstice, and the most important of all the State observances of China takes place there December 21^st, the sacrifice of the winter solstice.

In our own time a number of Christian religious observances and festivals are of distinct solar origin. Notable among these feast days is Christmas. ―The Roman winter solstice,‖ says Tylor, ―as celebrated on December 25^th…in connection with the worship of the Sun-God Mithra appears to have been instituted in this special form by Aurelian about A. D. 273, and to this festival the day owes its apposite name of ‗Birthday of the Unconquered Sun.‘ With full symbolic appropriateness, though not with historical justification, the day was adopted in the western church where it appears to have been generally introduced by the fourth century, and whence in time it passed to the eastern church as the solemn anniversary of the Birth of Christ, Christmas Day. As a matter of history no valid or even consistent early Christian tradition vouches for it.‖²³⁰

(spectrum.mit.edu/category/issue/2009-spring)

229. Doane, 495-496.

229. Olcott, 228-229.

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32. However, they did not celebrate the resurrection of the sun until the spring equinox, or Easter. This is because at the spring equinox, the Sun officially overpowers the evil darkness, as daytime thereafter becomes longer in duration than the night, and the revitalizing conditions of spring emerge.

The winter-spring sun‘s transition is described mythologically thus:

For weeks after the winter solstice, the puny, newborn sun struggles against the powers of Darkness. Myths present the youngster as growing up in obscurity or concealment. But as the weeks pass, the young sun god gathers strength, rising higher and higher in the sky, his brightness increasing rapidly until finally on March 21st, he emerges victorious.

This is the day of the spring equinox, when the sun crosses the equator. It is the turning point, the day of his Passover or Crossification. Night and day are of equal length all over the world on this date... Now begins a period in which the hours of light exceed the hours of darkness, symbolized as the sun's resurrection from the Underworld...and with its regeneration, life and vegetation can continue; the young sun redeems the world from darkness.²³¹

To repeat M.M. Mangasarian:

The fact that Jesus' death was accompanied with the darkening of the Sun, and that the date of his resurrection is also associated with the position of the Sun at the time of the vernal equinox, is further intimation that we have in the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, an ancient and nearly universal Sun-myth, instead of verifiable historical events.²³²

Adding to this knowledge, Barbara Walker concludes:

Christians ever afterward kept Easter Sunday with the carnival processions derived from the mysteries of Attis. Like Christ, Attis arose when ―the sun makes the day for the first time longer than the night‖...²³³

As denoted before, there are multiple, astronomical meanings for the ―crucifixion.‖ The god hanging on a cross, as we find in the story of Jesus, is a pre-Christian motif that revolves around the sun on the cross of the equinoxes, when the day and night are equal in length. As Murdock elucidates:

… the cross has long been a symbol of the sun, representing significantly the crux of the equinoxes, upon which the sun is ―crossified.‖ Hence, it can truly be said that the sun of God was ―crucified‖ at the vernal equinox—and this motif, we contend, is at the basis of the gospel ―crucifixion‖ at ―Easter.‖²³⁴

That the date for "Easter" is in reality based on astronomy, rather than an actual crucifixion of the Lord of the universe, is demonstrated by the centuries-long battle within Christendom as to when precisely this spring holiday should be celebrated. As stated by professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. John L. Heilbron, in The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories:

The old theologians decreed that Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox - that spring day on which the hours of daylight and darkness are equal.²³⁵

231. Busenbark, 119.

231. Mangasarian, 35-36.

231. Walker, B., WEMS, 78.

231. Murdock, 363-364.

231. Heilbron, 3.

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33. Now, probably the most obvious of all the astrological symbolism around Jesus regards the 12 disciples. They are simply the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, which Jesus, being the Sun, travels about with. In fact, the number 12 is replete throughout the Bible.

The symbolism of ―The Twelve‖ has been discussed under the sections concerning Horus and

Mithra. Briefly, the 12 motif in the tales of pre-Christian and non-Christian saviors and others is equated with the hours of day and night, the months of the year, and the signs of the zodiac.

We have already seen that the 12 ―companions‖ of Mithra are the signs of the zodiac. When we understand that the Christian religion was born, in part, out of Mithraism, using virtually the exact same symbolism, then we have an obvious pattern that needs to be addressed. When it comes to the 12 of Jesus, given the ubiquitous historical precedent put forth by prior religions, the relationship becomes obvious, enough so that it has been cited by historians and other writers for centuries.

In the final analysis we can safely assume that the apostolic grouping of ―12‖ was indeed a literary device and not the actual count of a group of followers who lived around 30 AD/CE. The use of 12 in the Bible itself is so ubiquitous that it is logical to presume these groupings reflect not an actual count, but, rather, a common formulaic theme, based on the prevalence of this sacred number in the Pagan world as well.

Biblical examples:

The 12 Princes of Ishmael (Gen 17:20) The 12 Sons of Jacob (Gen 35:22) The 12 Tribes of Israel (Gen 49:28) The 12 Prophets and Kings of Israel The 12 Wells of Water (Exd 15:27) The 12 Pillars of the Lord (Exd 24:4)

The 12 Stones of the Breastplate (Exd 39:14) The 12 Cakes of the Tabernacle (Lev 24:5) The 12 Princes of Israel (Num 1:44)

The 12 Oxen of the Tabernacle (Num 7:3)

The 12 Chargers of Silver, Bowls of Silver and Spoons of Gold (Num 7:84) The 12 Bullocks, Rams, Lambs and Kids of the Offering (Num 7:87)

The 12 Rods of the Princes of Israel (Num 17:6) The 12 Stones of Joshua (Jos 4:8)

The 12 Cities (Jos 18:24, 19:25, 21:7, 21:40) The 12 Judges of Israel (Jdg 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, 13) The 12 Pieces of the Concubine (Jdg 19:29) The 12 Servants of David (2 Sa 2:15)

The 12 Officers of Solomon (1 Ki 4:7)

The 12 Lions of Solomon (1 Ki 10:20)

The 12 Pieces of Jeroboam‘s Garment (1 Ki 11:30)

The 12 Stones of Elijah (1 Ki 18:31)

The 12 Bronze Bulls of Solomon (Jer 52:20) The 12 Disciples/Apostles of Jesus (Mt 10:1-2) The 12 Baskets of Bread (Mt 14:20)

The 12 Thrones in Heaven (Mt 19:28)

The 12 Legions of Angels (Mt 26:53)

The 12 Patriarchs of Israel (Acts 7:8)

The 12 Stars of the Woman‘s Crown (Rev 12:1)

The 12 Gates, Angels and Pearls of Holy Jerusalem (Rev 21:12, 21)

The 12 Fruits of the Tree of Life (Rev 22:2)

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35. This is why Jesus in early occult art is always shown with his head on the cross, for Jesus is the sun, the “Sun of God,” the “Light of the World,” the “Risen Savior,” who will “come again,” as it does every morning, the Glory of

God who defends against the works of darkness, as he is “born again” every morning, and can be seen “coming in the clouds,” “up in Heaven,” with his “Crown of Thorns,” or, sun rays.

All of these characteristics can be found in the Bible (King James Version):

―Light of the World‖ (Jn 9:5)

―The Risen Savior‖ (Mt 28:6) ―come again‖ (Jn 14:3) ―Glory of God‖ (2 Cor 4:6)

defends against the works of darkness (Rom 13:12)

―born again‖ (Jn 3:3)

―coming in the clouds‖ (Mk 13:26) in Heaven (Jn 3:13)

―Crown of Thorns‖ (Jn 19:5)

The saintly halo originated with the sun-god Helios, as pointed out even by Christian writers, such as Wayne Blank of Daily Bible Study:

The heads of Saints didn‘t really glow as is so often portrayed in religious art. The use of the halo, or nimbus, originated with the pagan Greeks and Romans to represent their sun god, Helios. Later artists adopted it for use in Christian images.

The halo is actually just the sun behind the person‘s head... It‘s easy to recognize once one realizes what it is, although it‘s also often stylized to make it less obvious.

Originally a very devious way of mixing idolatrous sun worship with Christianity by converts who were not all that converted, the pagan halo became an unfortunate tradition in Christian art.²⁷⁰

As concerns Christ‘s solar nature, Dr. K.A. Heinrich Kellner, a professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn, states:

…The comparison of Christ with the sun, and of His work with the victory of light over darkness, frequently appears in the writings of the Fathers. St. Cyprian spoke of Christ

269. Maxwell, 41.

269. Blank, ―Sunday is Not the Sabbath.‖

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as the true sun (sol verus). St. Ambrose says precisely, ―He is our new sun (Hic sol novus noster).‖…²⁷¹

For more on the subject, see Murdock‘s Jesus as the Sun God throughout the Ages, as well as

―Jesus Christ, Sun of God‖ in Suns of God.

‗Cristo sole‘—Christ as the sun god with chariot and horses

c. 240 AD/CE

(St. Peter‘s Basilica, Vatican)

36. Now, of the many astrological-astronomical metaphors in the Bible, one of the most important has to do with the ages. Throughout the scriptures there are numerous references to the “Age.” In order to understand this, we need to be familiar with the phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes. The ancient Egyptians along with cultures long before them recognized that approximately every 2,150 years the sunrise on the morning of the spring equinox would occur at a different sign of the Zodiac.

First of all, it should be understood that the figure of 2,150 years is not an exact date for the precession of the equinoxes, which is around 25,800 years long, rounded up to 26,000. Secondly, although in the second century, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea became the first to formalize the precession in writing, around 130 BCE, this knowledge seems to date back several centuries to millennia before that time. As Murdock elaborates:

Another important factor in ancient astrotheology is the precession of the equinoxes, a phenomenon caused by the earth‘s off-axis tilt, whereby the sun at the vernal equinox (spring) is back-dropped by a different constellation every 2,150 or so years, a period called an ―age.‖ One cycle of the precession through the 12 signs of the zodiacal ages is called a ―Great Year,‖ and is approximately 26,000 years long. According to orthodox history, the precession was only ―discovered‖ in the second century BCE by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus; however, it is clear from ancient texts, traditions, artifacts and monuments that more ancient peoples knew about it and attempted to compensate for it from age to age. In Hamlet’s Mill, Santillana and Dechend demonstrate knowledge of the precession at much earlier times, stating: ―There is good reason to assume that he [Hipparchus] actually rediscovered this, that it had been known some thousand years previously, and that on it the Archaic Age based its long-range computation of time.‖²⁷²

271. Kellner, 151.

271. Acharya, SOG, 40.

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Astronomer Dr. Krupp agrees:

Circumstantial evidence implies that the awareness of the shifting equinoxes may be of considerable antiquity, for we find, in Egypt at least, a succession of cults whose iconography and interest focus on duality, the bull, and the ram at appropriate periods for Gemini, Taurus, and Aries in the precessional cycle of the equinoxes.²⁷³

This scenario is described further thus:

Each year the sun passes entirely around the zodiac and returns to the point from which it started—the vernal equinox—and each year it falls just a little short of making the complete circle of the heavens in the allotted period of time. As a result, it crosses the equator just a little behind the spot in the zodiacal sign where it crossed the previous year. Each sign of the zodiac consists of thirty degrees, and as the sun loses about one degree every seventy two years, it regresses through one entire constellation (or sign) in approximately 2,160 years, and through the entire zodiac in about 25,920 years. (Authorities disagree concerning these figures.) This retrograde motion is called the precession of the equinoxes. This means that in the course of about 25,920 years, which constitute one Great Solar or Platonic Year, each one of the twelve constellations occupies a position at the vernal equinox for nearly 2,160 years, then gives place to the previous sign.

Among the ancients the sun was always symbolized by the figure and nature of the constellation through which it passed at the vernal equinox. For nearly the past 2,000 years the sun has crossed the equator at the vernal equinox in the constellation of Pisces (the Two Fishes). For the 2,160 years before that it crossed through the constellation of Aries (the Ram). Prior to that the vernal equinox was in the sign of Taurus (the Bull). It is probable that the form of the bull and the bull‘s proclivities were assigned to this constellation because the bull was used by the ancients to plow the fields, and the season set aside for plowing and furrowing corresponded to the time at which the sun reached the segment of the heavens named Taurus.²⁷⁴

Please see A.L. Berger‘s Obliquity and precession for the last 5 million years,²⁷⁵ and Nicholas

Campion‘s The Great Year for more on the precession phenomenon.

273. Krupp, ISAA, 218.

273. Hall, 151.

273. Berger, 127.

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37. This has to do with a slow angular wobble that the Earth maintains as it rotates on its axis. It is called a precession because the constellations go backwards, rather than through the normal yearly cycle. The amount of time that it takes for the precession to go through all 12 signs is roughly 25,765 years. This is also called the “Great Year,” and ancient societies were very aware of this. They referred to each 2150 year period as an “age.”

In discussing this theme as it concerns Christianity, it is important to recall the highly astrological contents of the Bible, not only as metaphor, but also as explicitly signified in the stories themselves. For example, Job 38:31-33 (NKJV) says:

Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?...

According to Strong‘s Concordance (H4216), the Hebrew word מרזה or ―Mazzaroth‖ means ―the 12 signs of the Zodiac and their 36 associated constellations.‖ Furthermore, there are many references to an ―age‖ in the Bible as well, such as the following examples (NASB):

―I am with you always, even to the end of the age.‖ (Mt 28:20)

―…it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.‖ (Mt 12:32) ―…the harvest is the end of the age…‖ (Mt 13:39)

―…what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?‖ (Mt 24:3) ―…in the age to come, eternal life.‖ (Lk 18:30)

―Where is the debater of this age?‖ (1 Cr 1:20) ―…he is wise in this age…‖ (1 Cr 3:18)

―…upon whom the ends of the ages have come.‖ (1 Cr 10:11) ―…not only in this age but also in the one to come.‖ (Eph 1:21) ―…the powers of the age to come…‖ (Hbr 6:5)

―…he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.‖ (Hbr 9:26) (RSV)

The Greek word in question is αἰών or ―aion‖/‖aeon,‖ which Strong‘s (G165) defines as:

1. for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity

2. the worlds, universe

3. period of time, age

While this term is often rendered ―world,‖ a more appropriate word for ―world‖ in Greek is

κόσμος or ―kosmos.‖ In any case, the Greek word αἰών appears 128 times in 102 verses in the New Testament, demonstrating its importance.

When other factors are included in the analysis, such as the ubiquitous mythical motifs of the bull, ram and fish, it appears that some of these biblical quotes may refer to the precessional ages. Indeed, the ―aions‖ or ―aeons‖ become personified within Gnosticism, a development that Church father Hippolytus calls a ―Chaldean heresy,‖ ―Chaldean‖ referring to the famous astrologer sect. We also find references in the early Church fathers to ―new ages‖ or a ―new age,‖ using the word ―aion‖ or ―aeon,‖ such as in the Acts of the Disputation by Archelaus, or ὁ

νέος αἰὼν—―the new age‖—in the Commentary on Luke attributed to Eusebius.²⁷⁶

It is unclear if these ―new ages‖ refer to the astrological eras based on the precession of the equinoxes; however, the evidence indicates that members of the power structure and intelligentsia—also frequently initiates into brotherhoods and mystery schools—were not only aware of the precession but indeed attempted to align their ideas, scriptures and iconography to these various ―ages‖ or ―aeons.‖

²⁷⁶ Roberts, ANF, VI, 186. The original Greek is ἀυίησι τὸν βῶλον μετὰ τοῦ νέου αἰῶνος, which is translated by Roberts, et al., as: ―Then, again, he lets the soil go with the new æon.‖ See ΕΥΣΕΒΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΑΤΑ ΛΟΥΚΑΝ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ (―Eusebius of Caesarea on The Gospel According to Luke‖), line 00902.

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The fact that in the second century these aeons were unquestionably identified with the 12 apostles, who were likewise equated with the signs of the zodiac, lends credence to this concept of aeons at times also representing the zodiacal signs or ages, centuries before the so-called Christian era. The same can be said of the god ―Aion of the Aions,‖ who was clearly solar, apparently representing the archetypical sun surrounded by the 12.

[/noae]

[Prometheus]

Helios in his chariot with Christian cross, with 12 apostles/signs of zodiac circling c. 813-820 AD/CE

(Ptolemy's Handy Tables, Vaticanus graecus 1291)

38. From 4300 B.C. to 2150 B.C., it was the Age of Taurus, the Bull. From 2150 B.C. to 1 A.D., it was the Age of Aries, the Ram, and from 1 A.D. to 2150 A.D. it is the Age of Pisces, the age we are still in to this day, and in and around 2150, we will enter the new age: the Age of Aquarius.

This information is readily available,²⁷⁷ although there remains a question as to when exactly these ages begin and end, as there is a sort of ―no man‘s land‖ of a couple hundred years when the sun is between constellations, so to speak. For example, estimates of when the Age of Pisces began range from 255 or 150 years BCE to 0 AD/CE.

39. Now, the Bible reflects, broadly speaking, a symbolic movement through three ages, while foreshadowing a fourth. In the Old Testament when Moses comes down Mount Sinai with the 10 Commandments, he is very upset to see his people worshipping a golden bull calf. In fact, he shattered the stone tablets and instructed his people to kill each other in order to purify them-selves. Most biblical scholars would attribute this anger to the fact that the Israelites were worshipping a false idol, or something to that effect. The reality is—the golden bull is Taurus the Bull, and Moses represents the new Age of Aries the Ram. This is why Jews even today still blow the Ram’s horn.

(Jos 6:4) Moses represents the new Age of Aries, and upon the new age, ev-eryone must shed the old age. Other deities mark these transitions as well, such as Mithra, a pre-Christian god who kills the bull, in the same symbology.

The stories of the golden bull calf (Exd 32:34) and the instruction to his people to kill each other in order to purify themselves (Exd 32:27) are found in the biblical Book of Exodus. With regard to the Bull/Calf symbolism as it relates to the Age of Taurus, along with the transition into the Age of Aries, the Ram, Carpenter explains:

²⁷⁷ See, e.g., ―Axial precession‖ and ―Age of Aquarius‖ on Wikipedia.

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...the Precession of the Equinoxes caused the Sun, at its moment of triumph over the powers of darkness, to stand at one period in the constellation of the Bull, and at a period some two thousand years later in the constellation of the Ram. It was perfectly natural therefore that a change in the sacred symbols should, in the course of time, take place; yet perfectly natural also that these symbols, having once been consecrated and adopted, should continue to be honored and clung to long after the time of their astronomical appropriateness had passed, and so to be found side by side in later centuries....

It is indeed easy to imagine that the change from the worship of the Bull to the worship of the Lamb which undoubtedly took place among various peoples as time went on, was only a ritual change initiated by the priests in order to put on record and harmonize with the astronomical alteration. Anyhow it is curious that while Mithra in the early times was specially associated with the bull, his association with the lamb belonged more to the Roman period. Somewhat the same happened in the case of Attis. In the Bible we read of the indignation of Moses at the setting up by the Israelites of a Golden Calf, after the sacrifice of the ram-lamb had been instituted—as if indeed the rebellious people were returning to the earlier cult of Apis which they ought to have left behind them in Egypt. In Egypt itself, too, we find the worship of Apis, as time went on, yielding place to that of the Ram-headed god Amun, or Jupiter Ammon. So that both from the Bible and from Egyptian history we may conclude that the worship of the Lamb or Ram succeeded to the worship of the Bull.²⁷⁸

The association of the bull-slaying god Mithra with the sign or Age of Taurus the Bull was made by Porphyry (c. 232/4-c. 305),²⁷⁹ and from the evidence it is clear he was repeating an older tradition. In addition to Porphyry, ―the third-century church father Origen also confirms the importance to Mithraism of the stars.‖²⁸⁰

Concerning Mithraism, philosophy professor Dr. David Ulansey says that ―recent work has raised the possibility that Mithraic sanctuaries were used as astronomical observatories and

278. Carpenter, 46-48.

278. Ulansey, 17.

278. Ulansey, 18.

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that holes piercing the walls and ceilings of the temples may have been placed for specific astronomical purposes.‖²⁸¹

Dr. Ulansey also concludes:

...the Mithraists came to know about and attribute importance of the position of the celestial equator as it was when the spring equinox was in Taurus... ²⁸²

As we have seen, the knowledge of the precession evidently dates back centuries before being formally described in writing by Hipparchus in the second century BCE and it appears that in Mithraism we possess a clear vestige of myths and traditions developed during the Age of Taurus as well as centuries afterward in order to reflect the supposedly proper mythology for that time period. This point about Mithra‘s relationship to Taurus is demonstrated quite well by Ulansey in his book The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries.

It is important to recall that these ―ages‖ are symbolic and do not represent exact periods.

Moreover, rather than being a chronicle of ―history‖ written by those who purportedly experienced it, the Old Testament is a collection of stories compiled over a period of centuries. Scholars who claim the event is historical put Exodus around the 15^th century BCE. In turn, this date is used as an argument against the above point under the supposition that the Exodus reflects true, literal history.

As we have seen, however, odds are there is relatively little real history in many of these biblical texts, and these largely constitute fictional/allegorical stories. So, the argument that 1400 BCE is later in time than the generalized beginning of the Age of Aries, which is around 2150 BCE (plus or minus a few centuries), is not viable, because the ―real‖ biblical events simply cannot be proved to be historical, and the texts concerning them were largely composed in the centuries after the Babylonian Exile (6^th cent. BCE), when Jewish priests evidently learned about Babylonian astrology. From earlier strata of these texts, such as the Book of Job, it appears the Hebrews also knew the more rudimentary Chaldean star-worship and astronomy as well.

40. Now Jesus is the figure who ushers in the age following Aries, the Age of Pisces or the Two Fish. Fish symbolism is very abundant in the New Testament. Jesus feeds 5,000 people with bread and “two fish.” When he begins his ministry walking along Galilee, he befriends two fisherman, who follow him.

The motifs of Jesus miraculously feeding the crowd with two fish (Mt 14:17; Jn 6:9) and the two fishermen (Mt 4:19) can be found in the New Testament. The gospel of John is loaded with fishy imagery, including Jesus essentially establishing the fish as the symbol of the Christian age, when he emphasizes it in the last chapter, after his Resurrection:

Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." (Jn 21:5)

The Greek word for fish is ΙΧΘΥΣ, which has been held since ancient times as a symbol of

Jesus Christ, thus further reinforcing the apparent astrological symbolism of Christianity, since we have been astrologically in the Age of Pisces during the ―Christian era.‖ The fish symbol is therefore found all over the place in Christian tradition: As another example, early

Christians were called ―Pisciculi‖ or ―little fishes.‖ As the Catholic Encyclopedia states: ―Among the symbols employed by the primitive Christians, that of the fish ranks probably first in importance.‖²⁸³ In this regard, French historian and archaeologist Dr. Adolphe Napoléon Didron says:

281. Ulansey, 17.

281. Ulansey, 62.

281. CE, VI, 83.

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The fish, in the opinion of antiquarians in general, is the symbol of Jesus Christ... A fish is sculptured upon a number of Christian monuments, and more particularly upon the ancient sarcophagi... It is seen also upon medals bearing the name of our Saviour, and upon engraved stones, cameos and intaglios, The fish is also to be remarked upon the amulets worn, suspended from the neck by children, and upon ancient glasses and sepulchral lamps....

...Tertullian adds, ―We are little fishes in Christ our great fish.‖²⁸⁴

41. And I think we’ve all seen the Jesus-fish on the backs of people’s cars.

Little do they know what it actually means. It is a Pagan astrological symbolism for the Sun’s Kingdom during the Age of Pisces. Also, Jesus’ assumed birth date is essentially the start of this age.

Concerning Jesus‘s connection to the astrological Age of Pisces, Carpenter comments:

Finally it has been pointed out...that in the quite early years of Christianity the Fish came in as an accepted symbol of Jesus Christ. Considering that after the domination of Taurus and Aries, the Fish (Pisces) comes next in succession as the Zodiacal sign for the Vernal Equinox, and is now the constellation in which the Sun stands at that period, it seems not impossible that the astronomical change has been the cause of the adoption of this new symbol.²⁸⁵

Indeed, it is likewise important to point out that the LAMB too was associated with Jesus early on. This fact represents a residual reference to the Age of Aries, while the Fish is the Age of Pisces, the next age in the precession of the equinoxes. Coupled with the astrological symbolism in other parts of the Bible, it would be logical to conclude that we are seeing more of the same here. Concerning this development, Murdock concludes:

As Moses was created to usher in the Age of Aries, so was Jesus to serve as the Avatar of the Age of Pisces, which is evident from the abundant fish imagery used throughout the gospel tale. This zodiacal connection has been so suppressed that people with the fish symbol on the back of their cars have no idea what it stands for, although they are fallaciously told it represents ―ICHTHYS,‖ as anagram for ―Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,‖ ichthys also being the Greek word for fish.²⁸⁶

[Prometheus]

[noae]

It is interesting to point out that the Egyptian god Horus was associated with the Fish as well, where ―Horus was portrayed as Ichthys with the fish sign of over his head.‖²⁸⁷

284. Didron, 346-347.

284. Carpenter, 48.

284. Acharya, CC, 146.

284. Massey, HJMC, 25.

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Ancient Egyptian engraving of the Gnostic Horus, termed ―Jesus Christ in the character of

Horus‖

(Massey, HJMC, 25)

Further clarification regarding the astrological poetry around Jesus may be found at John

14:2, which says: ―In my father‘s house are many mansions.‖ The original Greek word is μοναὶ or monai, the singular of which is defined by Strong‘s (G3438) as ―a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode,‖ while the Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary includes the word ―mansion‖ in its definition. This odd saying has been interpreted as a reference to the 12 signs or ―houses‖ of the zodiac.²⁸⁸

42. At Luke 22:10 when Jesus is asked by his disciples where the last Passover will be, Jesus replied: “Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water... follow him into the house where he entereth in.” This scripture is by far one of the most revealing of all the astrological references. The man bearing a pitcher of water is Aquarius, the water-bearer, who is always pictured as a man pouring out a pitcher of water. He represents the age after Pisces, and when the Sun, “God’s Sun,” leaves the Age of Pisces, “Jesus,” it will go into the House of Aquarius, as Aquarius follows Pisces in the precession of the equinoxes. All Jesus is saying is that after the Age of Pisces will come the Age of Aquarius.

Aquarius is Latin for ―water-bearer/carrier.‖ Its significance is summarized by Maxwell:

According to astrology, sometime after the year 2010, the Sun will enter His new Sign, or His new Kingdom, as it was called by the ancients. This new coming Sign/Kingdom, soon to be upon us, will be, according to the Zodiac, the House or Sign of Aquarius. So when we read in Luke 22:10, we now understand why God‘s Sun states that He and His followers, at the last Passover, are to go into ―the house of the man with the water pitcher.‖ So we see that in the coming millennium, God‘s Sun will bring us into His new

Kingdom or House of Aquarius (the man with the water pitcher).²⁸⁹ Murdock likewise suggests that this pericope refers to the Aquarian Age:

…Jesus [evidently] makes mention of the precession of the equinoxes of the change of the ages when he says to the disciples, who are asking about how to prepare for the

―Passover‖: ―Behold, when you have entered the city, a man a carrying a pitcher of water will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters…‖ (Lk 22:10) This famous yet enigmatic passage [ostensibly] refers to the ―house‖ or Age of Aquarius, the Water-Bearer, and Jesus is instructing his disciples to pass over into it.²⁹⁰

Combined with all the evidence we have seen regarding the astrology of the Bible and Christian tradition, along with the astrotheology of much Pagan religion and mythology that Judaism and Christianity are based on, these conclusions are logical and more scientific than believing fabulous biblical tales as either ―historical‖ or ―just made up.‖ In other words, the most

288. In strict astrological parlance, the ―houses‖ differ from the signs; yet, they have ―the same boundaries as the twelve signs in the chart.‖

289. Maxwell, 43.

288. Acharya, CC, 146.

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scientific conclusion is not that various supernatural motifs found in the New Testament tale are either ―factual‖ or simply fabricated on the spot by zealous followers of an otherwise ―historical‖ Jesus: In reality, they are mythical, as found in the myths of predecessors gods and goddesses, and possess astrotheological meaning as they did in those myths.

43. Now, we have all heard about the end times and the end of the world. The cartoonish depictions in the Book of Revelation aside, a main source of this idea comes from Matthew 28:20, where Jesus says “I will be with you even to the end of the world.” However, in the King James Version, “world” is a mistranslation, among many mistranslations. The actual word being used is

“aeon”, which means “age.” “I will be with you even to the end of the age.” Which is true, as Jesus’ Solar Piscean personification will end when the Sun enters the Age of Aquarius. The entire concept of end times and the end of the world is a misinterpreted astrological allegory. Let’s tell that to the approximately 100 million people in America who believe the end of the world is coming.

As we have seen, Matthew 28:20 states: ―I will be with you even to the end of the age.‖ The

Greek word ―aion‖ or ―aeon‖ means ―age.‖ If God meant to say ―end of the world,‖ He would have used the Greek word ―kosmos.‖ As it had been in previous editions such as the Bishop‘s

Bible (1568), the word was mistranslated as ―world‖ in the King James Bible but has been corrected to ―age‖ in the New King James Version as well as several other more modern English translations. Jerome‘s Latin Vulgate translation uses the word saeculum, which likewise means ―age,‖ among other meanings. The Latin word for ―world‖ is mundus.

Concerning this development, Massey remarks:

In the course of Precession, about 255 B.C., the vernal birthplace passed into the sign of the Fishes, and the Messiah who had been represented for 2155 years by the Ram or Lamb, and previously for other 2155 years by the Apis Bull, was now imaged as the Fish, or the ―Fish-man,‖ called Ichthys in Greek. The original Fish-man—the An of Egypt, and the Oan of Chaldea—probably dates from the previous cycle of precession, or 26,000 years earlier; and about 255 B.C., the Messiah, as the Fish-man, was to come up once more as the Manifestor from the celestial waters. The coming Messiah is called Dag, the Fish, in the Talmud; and the Jews at one time connected his coming with some conjunction, or occurrence, in the sign of the Fishes! This shows the Jews were not only in possession of the astronomical allegory, but also of the tradition by which it could be interpreted.²⁹¹

Regarding the strange imagery in the biblical book of Revelation, Dr. George A. Wells connects the figure seven to the sun, moon and five planets that make up the days of the week:

Revelation‘s figuring the heavenly Jesus as a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes ―which are the spirits of God sent forth into all the earth‖ (5:6) is a manifold reworking of old traditions. Horns are a sign of power (Deuteronomy 33:17) and in Daniel designated kingly power. The seven eyes which inform the lamb of is happening all over the earth seem to be residues from ancient astrological lore...according to which God‘s eyes are the sun, the moon, and the five planets...²⁹²

The Book of Revelation is a highly astrotheological text, apparently depicting the Great Year or

Precession of Equinoxes. For more on this subject, see the chapter ―The Meaning of Revelation‖ in Murdock‘s The Christ Conspiracy. Suffice it to say that the biblical Armageddon will only take place at all if humanity brings it to pass by its own hand, especially by believing in this purported biblical blueprint.

291. Massey, Lectures, 7-8.

291. Wells, WWJ, 179.

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44. Furthermore, the character of Jesus, being a literary and astrological hybrid, is most explicitly a plagiarization of the Egyptian sun god Horus. For example, inscribed about 3,500 years ago, on the walls at the Temple of Luxor in Egypt are images of the enunciation, the miracle conception, the birth, and the adoration of Horus. The images begin with Thoth announcing to the virgin Isis that she will conceive Horus, then Kneph the holy ghost impregnating the virgin, and then the virgin birth and the adoration.

Regarding the birth scene of Amenhotep III at Luxor, Egyptologist Dr. Sharpe states:

In this picture we have the Annunciation, the Conception, the Birth, and the Adoration, as described in the First and Second Chapters of Luke‘s Gospel; and as we have historical assurance that the chapters in Matthew‘s Gospel which contain the Miraculous Birth of Jesus are an after addition not in the earliest manuscripts, it seems probable that these two poetical chapters in Luke may also be unhistorical, and be borrowed from the Egyptian accounts of the miraculous birth of their kings.

Although his interpretations have been challenged, Murdock demonstrates several important aspects of Sharpe‘s contentions to have a factual basis, and concludes:

Regardless of the order of the scenes, or the terminology used to describe elements thereof, the fact remains that at the Temple of Luxor is depicted the conception upon a virgin by the highly important father god, Amun, to produce a divine son. As we have seen, Amun‘s divine child in this birth cycle is the ―bringer of salvation,‖ and this myth of the miraculous birth of the divine savior likely was ―recorded of every Egyptian king,‖ making it highly noticeable long before the Christ figure was ever conceived.

The Luxor nativity scene represents the birth sequence of an obviously very important god-king, as it was depicted in one of the most famous Egyptian sites that endured for some 2,000 years. Egypt, it should be kept in mind, was a mere stone‘s throw from the Israelite homeland, with a well-trodden ―Horus road,‖ called in the ancient texts the ―Ways of Horus‖ or ―Way of Horus,‖ linking the two nations and possessing numerous Egyptian artifacts, including a massive, long-lived fort and Horus temple at the site of Tharu, for instance. Moreover, at the time when Christianity was formulated, there were an estimated 1 million Jews, Hebrews, Samaritans and other Israelitish people in Egypt, making up approximately one-half of the important and influential city of Alexandria. The question is, with all the evident influence from the Egyptian religion upon Christianity that we have seen so far—and will continue to see abundantly—were the creators of the Christian myth aware of this highly significant birth scene from this significant temple site in Egypt? If not, these scenes were widespread enough right up to and into the common era—could the creators of Christianity really have been oblivious to these images and the stories of royal divine births they depict?²⁹³

An extensive discussion of this subject can be found in Murdock‘s article ―The Nativity Scene at Luxor‖ and in her book Christ in Egypt, pp. 167-194.

²⁹³ Murdock, CIE, 193-194.

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45. This is exactly the story of Jesus’ miracle conception. In fact, the literary similarities between the Egyptian religion and the Christian religion are staggering. And the plagiarism is continuous. The story of Noah and Noah’s

Ark is taken directly from tradition. The concept of a Great Flood is ubiquitous throughout the ancient world, with over 200 cited claims in differ-ent periods and times.

The existence of flood myths other than the biblical one is well known, as is the sensible suggestion that Noah‘s Ark is a mythical tale.²⁹⁴ Regarding the flood, Barbara Walker states:

The biblical flood story, the ―deluge,‖ was a late offshoot of a cycle of flood myths known everywhere in the ancient world. Thousands of years before the Bible was written, an ark was built by the Sumerian Ziusudra. In Akkad, the flood hero‘s name was Atrakhasis. In Babylon he was Uta-Napishtim, the only mortal to become immortal. In Greece he was Deucalion, who repopulated the earth after the waters subsided [and after the ark landed on Mt. Parnassos]. In Armenia, the hero was Xisuthros—a corruption of Sumerian Ziusudra—whose ark landed on Mount Ararat.

According to the original Chaldean account, the flood hero was told by his god, ―Build a vessel and finish it. By a deluge I will destroy substance and life. Cause thou to go up into the vessel the substance of all that has life….²⁹⁵

Putting an even greater number to the myths, Boston University professor Dr. Robert M. Schoch writes:

Noah is but one tale in a worldwide collection of at least 500 flood myths, which are the most widespread of all ancient myths and therefore can be considered among the oldest. Stories of a great deluge are found on every inhabited continent and among a great many different language and culture groups.²⁹⁶

46. However, one need look no further for a pre-Christian source than the Epic of Gilgamesh, written in 2600 B.C. This story talks of a Great Flood commanded by God, an Ark with saved animals upon it, and even the release and return of a dove, all held in common with the biblical story, among many other similarities.

Regarding the Epic of Gilgamesh, British archaeologist Dr. R. Campbell Thompson states:

The Epic of Gilgamish, written in cuneiform on Assyrian and Babylonian clay tablets, is one of the most interesting poems in the world. It is of great antiquity, and, inasmuch as a fragment of a Sumerian Deluge text is extant, it would appear to have had its origin with the Sumerians at a remote period, perhaps the fourth millennium, or even earlier. Three tablets of it exist written in Semitic (Akkadian), which cannot be much later than 2,000 B.C….²⁹⁷

Biblical scholar Dr. Howard M. Teeple further discusses the biblical flood tale and its apparent sources:

The famous Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis assigned letters to the four main sources [of the Noah‘s Ark story]... The two sources for the Flood story are J and P.... J has additional parallels with one of more of the Sumerian and Babylonian versions of the story. The exact day that the Flood will begin was predetermined; a special period of seven days preceded the Flood; one or more intervals of seven days occurred at the end of the flood; the hero opened a window or hatch at the end of the voyage; a covering for

294. For more information on Noah‘s Ark, see Murdock‘s Christ Conspiracy and Suns of God.

294. Walker, B., WEMS, 315.

294. Schoch, 249.

294. Thompson, 9.

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the Ark as the Flood neared its end, and the raven did not return... The Lord liked the smell of burnt offering, as did gods in general in the Gilgamesh Epic.

P, too, has parallels with the one of more of the Mesopotamian accounts. The size of the Ark is given; the deity specified its size, shape, and number of decks; pitch is used in its construction; the ark‘s door is mentioned; the ship lands on a mountain or mountains.

After the Flood was over, the god Enlil blessed the hero and his wife in the Gilgamesh Epic, as God blessed Noah and his sons in P.

The large number of parallels demonstrates that the...Flood (Genesis) accounts are derived ultimately from the Mesopotamian versions that preceded them....This fact indicated that J‘s source was not identical with P‘s source, which is not surprising, considering that many forms of the story were in circulation, and that P was incorporated in genesis four or five centuries later...

When the Genesis Flood is traced back to its ultimate sources, which are the Sumerian story and the Babylonian versions of it, those sources very clearly are fictional. The sources are poetry, composed and transmitted for entertainment and to promote various ideas.²⁹⁸

47. And then there is the plagiarized story of Moses. Upon Moses’s birth, it is said that he was placed in a reed basket and set adrift in a river in order to avoid infanticide. He was later rescued by a daughter of royalty and raised by her as a Prince. This baby in a basket story was lifted directly from the myth of Sargon of Akkad of around 2250 B.C. Sargon was born, placed in a reed basket in order to avoid infanticide, and set adrift in a river. He was in turn rescued and raised by Akki, a royal mid-wife.

The Moses nativity story can be found at Exodus 2:1-10. Concerning Moses and Sargon, British Assyriologist Dr. George Smith says:

In the palace of Sennacherib at Kouyunjik I found another fragment of the curious history of Sargon... This text relates, that Sargon, an early Babylonian monarch, was born of royal parents, but concealed by his mother, who placed him on the Euphrates in an ark of rushes, coated with bitumen, like that in which the mother of Moses hid her child, see Exodus ii. Sargon was discovered by a man named Akki, a water-carrier, who adopted him as his son, and he afterwards became king of Babylonia.... The date of Sargon, who may be termed the Babylonian Moses, was in the sixteenth century B.C. or perhaps earlier.²⁹⁹

Regarding this theme, Murdock says:

Like Moses, [the Indian virgin-born hero Karna] was placed by his mother in a reed boat and set adrift in a river to be discovered by another woman. The Akkadian Sargon also was placed in a reed basket and set adrift to save his life. In fact, ―The name Moses is Egyptian and comes from mo, the Egyptian word for water, and uses, meaning saved from water...‖³⁰⁰

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298. Emphasis added.

298. Smith, G., 224-225.

298. Acharya, CC, 241. It has been reported (including in Christ Conspiracy) that the Indian figure was Krishna; however, the story in the Mahabharata involves the birth of Karna via the impregnation of the young virgin Kunti by the sun god Surya, after which she is promised her virginity remains intact. As

Chaitanya says, ―The Mahabharata here mentions clearly that Soorya did not have sex with her, but impregnated her through his yogic power so that her maidenhood remained undamaged… [T]he consummation of the invocation is through a yogic process, leaving Kunti‘s virginity intact, making Karna‘s birth an ‗immaculate‘ one and Kunti a virgin mother in the most inclusive meaning of the term.‖ The virgin mother Kunti gives birth immediately to a ―shining bright‖ child, whom she places in the river.

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Concerning the Moses myth, Barbara Walker likewise elaborates:

The Moses tale was originally that of an Egyptian hero, Ra-Harakhti, the reborn sun god of Canopus, whose life story was copied by biblical scholars. The same story was told of the sun hero fathered by Apollo on the virgin Creusa; of Sargon, king of Akkad in 2242 BC; and of the mythological twin founders of Rome, among many other baby heroes set adrift in rush baskets. It was a common theme…³⁰¹

48. Furthermore, Moses is known as the Law Giver, the giver of the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic Law. However, the idea of a Law being passed from God to a prophet up on a mountain is also a very old motif. Moses is just another lawgiver in a long line of lawgivers in mythological history. In India, Manou was the great lawgiver. In Crete, Minos ascended Mount Dicta, where Zeus gave him the sacred laws. While in Egypt there was Mises, who carried stone tablets and upon them the laws of god were written. Manou-Minos-Mises-Moses.

The story of Moses and the Ten Commandments is found at Exodus 20:2-17. Dutch theologian and professor of Hebrew Antiquities at the University of Leiden Dr. Henricus Oort summarizes the ubiquitous tradition of laws/texts being passed from ―God‖ to a prophet:

No one who has any knowledge of antiquity will be surprised at this...to one or more great men, all of whom, without exception, were supposed to have received their knowledge from some deity. Whence did Zarathustra (Zoroaster), the prophet of the Persians, derive his religion? According to the belief of his followers, and the doctrines of their sacred writings, it was from Ahuramazda (Ormuzd) the god of light. Why did the Egyptians represent the god Thoth with a writing tablet and a pencil in his hand, and honor him especially as the god of the priests? Because he was ―the lord of the divine word,‖ from whose inspiration the priests, who were the scholars, the lawgivers, and the religious teachers of the people, derived all their wisdom. Was not Minos, the law-giver of the Cretans, the friend of Zeus, the highest of the gods? Nay, was he not even his son, and did he not ascend to the sacred cave on Mount Dicte to bring down the laws which his god had placed there for him?³⁰²

Regarding the Cretan king Minos, famed archaeologist Dr. Arthur J. Evans, excavator of the site of Knossos on Crete, remarks:

...it is as the first lawgiver of Greece that [Minos] achieved his greatest renown, and the code of Minos became the source of all later legislation. As the wise ruler and inspired lawgiver there is something altogether biblical in his legendary character. He is the Cretan Moses, who every nine years repaired to the cave of Zeus, whether on the Cretan [Mount] Ida or on [Mount] Dicta, and received from the god of the mountain the laws for his people. Like Abraham, he is described as the ―friend of God.‖³⁰³

In a section entitled, ―Abraham is Brahma? Moses is Dionysus?‖ in The Gospel According to Acharya S, Murdock writes:

Famed Israelite prophet Moses too appears to be not a historical figure but a mythical character replicated in a number of cultures….

In the writings of French scholar Voltaire we find…:

The ancient poets have placed the birth of Bacchus in Egypt; he is exposed on the Nile and it is from that event that he is named Mises by the first Orpheus, which, in Egyptian, signifies ―saved from the waters‖… He is brought up near a

301. Walker, B., WDSSO, 441.

301. Oort, 301.

301. Evans, 426.

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mountain of Arabia called Nisa, which is believed to be Mount Sinai. It is pretended that a goddess ordered him to go and destroy a barbarous nation and that he passed through the Red Sea on foot, with a multitude of men, women, and children. Another time the river Orontes suspended its waters right and left to let him pass, and the Hydaspes did the same. He commanded the sun to stand still; two luminous rays proceeded from his head. He made a fountain of wine spout up by striking the ground with his thyrsus, and engraved his laws on two tables of marble. He wanted only to have afflicted Egypt with ten plagues, to be the perfect copy of Moses.

Voltaire likewise names others preceding him who had made this comparison between Moses and Dionysus/Bacchus, such as the Dutch theologian Gerhard Johann Voss/Vossius (1577–1649), whose massive study of mythology has never been translated from the Latin, and Pierre Daniel Huet (1630-1721), the Bishop of Avranches. Another commentator was French novelist Charles-Antoine-Guillaume Pigault-Lebrun or ―Le Brun‖ (1753-1835), who in his Doubts of Infidels remarked:

The history of Moses is copied from the history of Bacchus, who was called Mises by the Egyptians, instead of Moses. Bacchus was born in Egypt; so was Moses... Bacchus passed through the Red Sea on dry ground; so did Moses. Bacchus was a lawgiver; so was Moses. Bacchus was picked up in a box that floated on the water; so was Moses.... Bacchus by striking a rock made wine gush forth... Bacchus was worshipped...in Egypt, Phenicia, Syria, Arabia, Asia and Greece, before Abraham‘s day.³⁰⁴

For a discussion of the appellation ―Mises,‖ see The Gospel According to Acharya S, pp. 72-73.

In ―The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ,‖ Murdock summarizes:

The legend of Moses, rather than being that of a historical Hebrew character, is found in germ around the ancient Middle and Far East, with the character having different names and races, depending on the locale: ―Menu‖ is the Indian legislator; ―Mises‖ appears in Syria and Egypt, where also the first king, ―Menes, the lawgiver‖ takes the stage; ―Minos‖ is the Cretan reformer; ―Mannus‖ the German lawgiver; and the Ten Commandments are simply a repetition of the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi and the Egyptian Book of the Dead, among others. Like Moses, in the Mahabharata the Indian son of the Sun God named Karna was placed by his mother in a reed boat and set adrift in a river to be discovered by another woman. A century ago, Massey outlined that even the Exodus itself is not a historical event, an opinion now shared by many archaeologists and scholars. That the historicity of the Exodus has been questioned is echoed by the lack of any archaeological record, as is reported in Biblical Archaeology Review (―BAR‖), September/October 1994.³⁰⁵

See her article for the citations.

49. And as far as the Ten Commandments, they are taken outright from Spell 125 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. What the Book of the Dead phrased “I have not stolen” became “Thou shall not steal,” “I have not killed” became “Thou shall not kill,” “I have not told lies” became “Thou shall not bear false witness” and so forth. In fact, the Egyptian religion is likely the primary foundational basis for the Judeo-Christian theology.

The Ten Commandments allegedly given by God to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai are evidently related to Egyptian tradition and appear to have common roots with the Egyptian

304. Murdock, GAS, 72.

304. Murdock, OCQHJC, 22-23.

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Book of the Dead, especially chapter or spell 125.³⁰⁶ The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi is likewise considered a possible pre-Mosaic-law code that was essentially copied/adapted into the Ten Commandments. The fact that the Code of Hammurabi was known in Israel in the Middle Bronze Age seems to be proved by a recent find called the ―Hazor Law Code Tablet‖:

For the first time in Israel, a document has been uncovered containing a law code that parallels portions of the famous Code of Hammurabi. The code is written on fragments of a cuneiform tablet, dating from the 18^th-17^th centuries B.C.E in the Middle Bronze Age, that were found in Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeological excavations this summer at Hazor, south of Kiryat Shmonah, in northern Israel….

The fragments that have now been discovered, written in Akkadian cuneiform script, refer to issues of personal injury law relating to slaves and masters, bring to mind similar laws in the famous Babylonian Hammurabi Code of the 18^th century B.C.E. that were found in what is now Iran over 100 years ago. The laws also reflect, to a certain extent, Biblical laws of the type of ―a tooth for a tooth,‖ say the researchers.³⁰⁷

With regard to the Egyptian religion being the foundation of the Judeo-Christian theology, Egyptologist Dr. E.A. Wallis Budge makes it clear:

...In Osiris the Christian Egyptians found the prototype of Christ, and in the pictures and statues of Isis suckling her son Horus, they perceived the prototype of the Virgin Mary and her Child. Never did Christianity find elsewhere in the world a people whose minds were so thoroughly well prepared to receive its doctrines as the Egyptians.³⁰⁸

Below is an appendix of comparisons between the Egyptian and Christian religion from Egyptologist Gerald Massey‘s monumental work, ancient Egypt The Light of The World. This list is derived from the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead, among other artifacts. Many of Massey‘s most germane parallels have been confirmed by Murdock in Christ in Egypt, through a detailed analysis of primary sources, as well as the works of credentialed authorities. Interested parties are therefore directed to Murdock‘s book.

306. See, e.g., Faulkner, pl. 31.

306. ―Tablet Discovered by Hebrew U Matches Code of Hammurabi.‖

306. Budge, EIFL, 81.

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Joseph and Jesus comparisons329	Old	New
	Testament	Testament
Both were the favorite sons of a wealthy father.	Gen 37:3	Mt 3:17
Both were shepherds of their father‘s sheep.	Gen 37:2	Jn 10:11-14
Both were taken into Egypt to avoid being killed.	Gen 37:28	Mt 2:13
Both became servants.	Gen 39:4	Phil 2:7
Both began their work at the age of 30 years old.	Gen 41:46	Lk 3:23
Both were filled with the Spirit of God.	Gen 41:38	Lk 4:1
Both returned good for evil.	Gen 50:20	Mt 5:44
Both were humble and unspoiled by wealth.	Gen 45:7-8	Jn 13:12
Both were taught by God.	Gen 41:16	Jn 5:19
Both loved people freely.	Gen 45:15	Jn 13:34
Both gained the confidence of others quickly.	Gen 39:3	Mt 8:8
Both gave bread to hungry people who came to them.	Gen 41:57	Mk 6:41
Both resisted the most difficult temptations.	Gen 39:8-9	Heb 4:15
Both were given visions of the future.	Gen 37:6	Mt 24:3
Both tested people to reveal their true nature.	Gen 42:25	Mk 11:30
Both were hated for their teachings.	Gen 37:8	Jn 7:7
Both were sold for the price of a slave.	Gen 37:28	Mt 26:15
Both were falsely accused.	Gen 39:14	Mk 14:56
Both were silent before their accusers.	Gen 39:20	Mk 15:4
Both were condemned between two prisoners.	Gen 40:2-3	Lk 23:32
Both arose into a new life.	Gen 41:41	Mk 16:6
Both were not recognized by their own brethren.	Gen 42.8	Lk 24:37
Both returned to their father.	Gen 46:29	Mk 16:19
Both became royalty.	Gen 45:8	Rev 19:16

54. Furthermore, is there any non-biblical historical evidence of any person, living with the name Jesus, the Son of Mary, who traveled about with 12 followers, healing people and the like? There are numerous historians who lived in and around the Mediterranean either during or soon after the assumed life of Jesus. How many of these historians document this figure? Not one.

As difficult as it is for some to believe, after nearly two millennia of searching there remains no valid, scientific evidence that the New Testament figure of Jesus Christ ever walked the earth. As Murdock says:

We have no primary sources proving that Jesus Christ actually existed, no legal documents, no ―glyphs,‖ no papyri, no statuary, coins—nothing. All we have to go on is hearsay, the bulk of which is secondary, tertiary and so on. …[O]nly two gospels are accepted as having come from alleged eyewitnesses, and these constitute but a few dozen pages with little biographical or historical material yet full of miracles,

328. Murdock, WWJ, 120fn.

328. The following list is taken and partially adapted from ―Jesus as a Reincarnation of Joseph,‖ [url=http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen043.html]www.near-death.com/experiences/origen043.html[/url]

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impossibilities and improbabilities. All the rest of Christian literature represents sources that are secondary and tertiary, etc.³³⁰

Murdock‘s book Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ is highly recommended for this specific investigation.

Also, it is worth pointing out a basic logic that coincides with this revelation: How many prior deity/saviors—of which the history of this subject is full—have proved to exist in third-dimensional form? How many people today think that Horus or Osiris existed? That Zeus or Apollo truly lived? How many today believe Mithra or Attis were real figures in history?

In this regard, concerning the theory of euhemerism or evemerism—which posits that various gods, godmen, kings, queens, heroes and legends of ancient times were in fact real people, to whose mundane biographers were added a series of supernatural and mythical motifs—French writer Dujardin remarks:

This doctrine is nowadays discredited except in the case of Jesus. No scholar believes that Osiris or Jupiter or Dionysus was an historical person promoted to the rank of god, but exception is made only in favour of Jesus...

It is impossible to rest the colossal work of Christianity if he was a man.³³¹

Furthermore, if any ―Jesus‖ had actually existed as a human, it becomes very clear that the

Jesus of the canonical gospels could not possibly have been him, because there is no evidence for any of the acts performed in the biblical Christ‘s life, and the evidence that does exist suggests him to be another mythical fabrication as had been made by numerous priesthoods for thousands of years previously.

As John E. Remsburg makes clear:

That a man named Jesus, an obscure religious teacher, the basis of the fabulous Christ, lived in Palestine about nineteen hundred years ago, may be true. But of this man we know nothing. His biography has not been written.³³²

In other words, when the mythological layers are peeled, there is no core to the onion. And, a composite of 20 people, real or mythical, is no one.

55. However, to be fair, that doesn’t mean defenders of the historical Jesus haven’t claimed the contrary. Four historians are typically referenced to justify Jesus’s existence: Pliny the younger, Suetonius, Tacitus are the first three. Each one of their entries consists of only a few sentences at best and only refer to “Christus” or the Christ, which in fact is not name but a title. It means the “Anointed one.” The fourth source is Josephus, and this source has been proven to be a forgery for hundreds of years. Sadly, it is still cited as truth.

Before this subject is addressed, it is often argued that possibly the reason the biblically

defined Jesus is not discussed outside of the gospels is because he was largely ―unknown.‖

However, this argument is contradicted by a wealth of evidence in the Bible itself. As Murdock comments in Who Was Jesus? regarding the silence of contemporary historians:

…This silence is singularly astounding, in consideration of the repeated assertions in the gospels that Christ was famed far and wide, drawing great crowds because of his miraculous healings, causing a fracas with the local and imperial authorities, and, upon his death, creating astonishing and awesome miracles and wonders the world had

330. Murdock, RZC, 20.

330. Dujardin, 3-4.

330. Remsburg, 24,

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never seen before, including not only an earthquake and the darkening of the sun and moon, but also dead people rising from their graves and visiting people in town….

These ―great crowds‖ and ―multitudes,‖ along with Jesus‘s fame, are repeatedly referred to in the gospels, including at the following: Mt 4:23-25, 5:1, 8:1, 8:18, 9:8, 9:31, 9:33, 9:36, 11:7, 12:15, 13:2, 14:1, 14:13, 14:22, 15:30, 19:2, 21:9, 26:55; Mk 1:28, 10:1; Lk 4:14, 4:37, 5:15, 14:25, etc.³³³

In this regard, Jim Walker says:

If, indeed, the Gospels portray a historical look at the life of Jesus, then the one feature that stands out prominently within the stories shows that people claimed to know Jesus far and wide, not only by a great multitude of followers but by the great priests, the Roman governor Pilate, and Herod who claims that he had heard ―of the fame of Jesus.‖ (Matt 14:1) One need only read Matt: 4:25 where it claims that ―there followed him [Jesus] great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.‖ The gospels mention, countless times, the great multitude that followed Jesus and crowds of people who congregated to hear him. So crowded had some of these gatherings grown, that Luke 12:1 alleges that an ―innumerable multitude of people... trode one upon another.‖ Luke 5:15 says that there grew ―a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear...‖ The persecution of Jesus in Jerusalem drew so much attention that all the chief priests and scribes, including the high priest Caiaphas, not only knew about him but helped in his alleged crucifixion. (see Matt 21:15-23, 26:3, Luke 19:47, 23:13). The multitude of people thought of Jesus, not only as a teacher and a miracle healer, but a prophet (see Matt:14:5). So, to say Jesus wasn‘t well known is obviously contradictory to the Gospel claims.³³⁴

As concerns the purported evidence of this widely famed, miraculous advent, the most disputed and defended of the four historians listed above are Josephus and Tacitus, so it is to them that we will turn in our analysis here. (For more information about the others, as well as Thallus, Phlegon and Mara Bar-Serapion, see Murdock‘s Who Was Jesus?)

Flavius Josephus: Concerning the famed passage in the works of Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote around 100 AD/CE, in ―The Jesus Forgery: Josephus Untangled,‖ Murdock writes:

Despite the best wishes of sincere believers and the erroneous claims of truculent apologists, the Testimonium Flavianum has been demonstrated continually over the centuries to be a forgery, likely interpolated by Catholic Church historian Eusebius in the fourth century. So thorough and universal has been this debunking that very few scholars of repute continued to cite the passage after the turn of the 19^th century. Indeed, the TF was rarely mentioned, except to note that it was a forgery, and numerous books by a variety of authorities over a period of 200 or so years basically took it for granted that the Testimonium Flavianum in its entirety was spurious, an interpolation and a forgery.

In this regard, Dr. Gordon Stein relates:

...the vast majority of scholars since the early 1800s have said that this quotation is not by Josephus, but rather is a later Christian insertion in his works. In other words, it is a forgery, rejected by scholars.

And Earl Doherty says, in ―Josephus Unbound‖:

Now, it is a curious fact that older generations of scholars had no trouble dismissing this entire passage as a Christian construction. Charles Guignebert, for example, in his

Jesus..., calls it ―a pure Christian forgery.‖ Before him, Lardner, Harnack and Schurer,

333. Murdock, WWJ, 84-85. See p. 85 for the list of historians as found in ―ZEITGEIST.‖

333. Walker, J., ―Did a historical Jesus exist?‖

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along with others, declared it entirely spurious. Today, most serious scholars have decided the passage is a mix: original parts rubbing shoulders with later Christian additions.

The second Josephan passage, regarding James (Antiquities, 20.9), reads:

Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.³³⁵

Critics contend that the phrase ―who was called Christ‖ is an obvious and awkward interpolation. Again, for more on the Testimonium Flavianum and James passage, see

Murdock‘s ―The Jesus Forgery: Josephus Untangled,‖ Suns of God and Who Was Jesus?

Regarding the Josephan evidence, Jewish writer ben Yehoshua asserts:

Neither of these passages is found in the original version of the Jewish Antiquities which was preserved by the Jews. The first passage (XVII, 3, 3) was quoted by Eusebius writing in c. 320 C.E., so we can conclude that it was added in some time between the time Christians got hold of the Jewish Antiquities and c. 320 C.E. It is not known when the other passage (XX, 9, 1) was added... Neither passage is based on any reliable sources. It is fraudulent to claim that these passages were written by Josephus and that they provide evidence for Jesus. They were written by Christian redactors and were based purely on Christian belief.³³⁶

Publius Cornelius Tacitus: In addition to the reference to ―Christus‖ (Christ), the Roman historian Tacitus (56-117) also makes mention of ―Christians‖ and ―Pilate.‖ Found is Tacitus‘s Annals, oddly noticed no earlier than the 15^th century, the passage reads:

... he had denomination from Christus, who, in the resign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate.

This seemingly supportive sentence with regard to the historical Jesus can also be suspected to be an interpolation—a forgery—for the following reasons, as noted by Doane (566):

335. Whiston, 406.

335. ben Yehoshua, ―The Myth of the Historical Jesus.‖

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56. You would think that a guy who rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven for all eyes to see and performed the wealth of miracles acclaimed to him would have made it into the historical record. He didn’t, because once the evidence is weighed, there are very high odds that the figure known as Jesus, did not even exist.

As stated by The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (VI, 83):

The only definite account of his life and teachings is contained in the four Gospels of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. All other historical records of the time are silent about him. The brief mentions of Jesus in the writings of Josephus, Tacitus and Suetonius have been generally regarded as not genuine and as Christian interpolations; in Jewish writings there is no report about Jesus that has historical value. Some scholars have even gone so far as to hold that the entire Jesus story is a myth…

To learn more about the historical/non-historical Christ known as ―Jesus,‖ the following books are recommended:

D.M. Murdock, Who was Jesus?, Stellar House Publishing, 2007.

Earl Doherty, Jesus Neither God Nor Man: The Case for a Mythical Jesus, Age of Reason Publications, 2009.

Robert M. Price, Deconstructing Jesus, Prometheus, 2000.

Freke and Gandy, The Jesus Mysteries, Three Rivers Press, 1999. Herbert Cutner, Jesus: God, Man or Myth?, Book Tree, 2000. John E. Remsburg, The Christ Myth, BiblioBazaar, 2009.

57. “...the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in place of the sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the sun...”

This quote is from famous Anglo-American philosopher and revolutionary statesman Thomas

Paine‘s ―Origin of Freemasonry‖ and can be found in The Theological Works of Thomas Paine, p. 283.

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58. The reality is, Jesus was the solar deity of the Gnostic Christian sect, and like all other Pagan gods, he was a mythical figure.

The mythical nature of Christ is concluded from a lack of evidence for his existence and the preponderance of his alleged characteristics and deeds clearly being part of Pagan mythology, and has been demonstrated throughout this Sourcebook.

In this regard, in Man Made God, Barbara Walker says:

During the past century or so, scholars have shown that all these ―known‖ details of Jesus‘s life story are mythic: That is, they were told for many centuries before his time about many previous savior-gods and legendary heroes in pre-Christian lore. Not a

single detail of Jesus‘s life story can be considered authentic. Some investigators have tried to peel away the layers of myth in search of a historical core, but this task is like peeling the layers of an onion. It seems that there is no core. The layers of myth go all the way to the center.³³⁷

For additional discussion of the who‘s and where‘s of this fascinating religious mystery, see the works cited here. As concerns the Gnostic and Essenic origins of Christianity, see also the works of John Allegro, one of the select few who were initially allowed to analyze the famed ―Dead Sea Scrolls‖ found in 1947, which appear to be dated from between the second century BCE to the 1^st century AD/CE.

In a work about these ancient texts called The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth, Allegro describes what was learned about the ―Essene/Gnostic Christians‖ and presents the idea that the biblical ―Jesus‖ of the gospels is a fictional interpolation of a prior Gnostic or other brotherhood figure, possibly an Essene teacher:

…What is new, thanks largely to the Dead Sea Scrolls, is our ability now to recognise in the so-called intertestamental period (that is, in the crucial centuries between the most recent books of the Old Testament canon, say Daniel in the second century BC, and the earliest writings of the New Testament, the letters of St. Paul) that the Essene movement provided just the right mix of early Canaanite folk-religion, prophetic Yahwism, Babylonian magic, and Iranian dualism to have produced gnostic Christianity. What it could not produce, and never did, was an historical Joshua/Jesus Messiah living in Palestine during the first century AD and bearing any real resemblance to the...prophet that popular imagination has largely created out of the Gospels.

Behind the Jesus of western religious tradition there did exist in history an Essene Teacher of Righteousness of a century before...³³⁸

But, of course, it is not him who is being recorded in the New Testament, and this ―Teacher of Righteousness‖ is only one of several figures who were drawn upon in order to create the fictional character called ―Jesus Christ.‖ For more information on who created Christianity, see Murdock‘s ―Essenes, Zealots and Zadokites,‖ ―Alexandria: Crucible of Christianity‖ and ―Enter Rome‖ in The Christ Conspiracy; ―The Mysterious Brotherhood‖ in Suns of God; and ―The Alexandrian Roots of Christianity‖ in Christ in Egypt.

As part of this precedent cultus upon which Christianity was evidently founded, Jewish tribes and later groups were likewise known to participate, like their neighbors, in sun worship, as overtly stated in the Bible itself, as at 2 Kings 23:11:

And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. (RSV)

337. Walker, B., MMG, 144.

337. Allegro, 190-191.

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Indeed, the sun worship and ―whoring after other gods‖ of the Hebrews, Israelites and Jews is notoriously recorded in biblical texts, while other instances of Hebrew astrotheology are covertly expressed, as we have seen here. This Jewish sun worship is examined in detail in

Yahweh and the Sun: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sun Worship in Ancient Israel by Rev. Dr. J. Glen Taylor, an associate professor of Old Testament at the University of Toronto, who demonstrates that even the tribal god Yahweh himself possessed many solar attributes and was taken to be a sun god as well. Says Dr. Taylor:

Probably the most provocative issue related to the nature of sun worship in ancient Israel...is the specific claim that Yahweh was identified with the sun.³³⁹

Concerning certain "prayers to the sun" reported by Josephus to have been said by the Essenes, dating to the period right before and into that of Christianity's germination, Dr. Morton Smith states:

...there is no reason to derive the prayers to the sun from Neopythagorean influence. sun worship was one of the most prominent elements in the neighboring religion of Egypt, in Syria it increased steadily during Greek and Roman times, and it was also important in Transjordan. Tacitus remarked that the Roman soldiers who hailed the rising sun at the battle of Cremona (AD 69) followed the Syrian custom...³⁴⁰

Dr. Smith also says:

In Palestine itself sun worship was well established before the Israelite invasion... One of the heroes of early Israelite legend was Samson (Shimshon, from Shemesh, approximately, 'Sunman')… The Israelites of course shared the common ancient belief that the sun, moon, and stars were living beings....³⁴¹

This Jewish sun worship continued into the common era, as is evidenced by the presence on the floors of ancient synagogues mosaic zodiacs with the sun god in the center, as at Hammat Tiberias, Sepphoris, and Beit Alpha in Israel.

Mosaic with zodiac and Helios 4th cent. AD/CE

synagogue, Hammat Tiberias (Kalmin, 99)

In consideration of all the facts presented in this present work and in its sources, it is logical to conclude that, like the solar superhuman Samson, Jesus is another rendition of sun god turned into a Jewish ―messiah.‖

339. Taylor, 20.

339. Smith, M., 248.

339. Morton, 248.

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59. It was the political establishment that sought to historicize the Jesus figure for social control. In 325 A.D. in Rome, Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea. It was during this meeting that the politically motivated Christian doctrines were established and thus began a long history of religious bloodshed and spiritual fraud. And for over the next 1,000 years, the Vatican maintained a political stranglehold on all of Europe, leading to such joyous periods as the Dark Ages, along with enlightening events such as the Crusades, and the Inquisition.

The influence of the Roman authorities in the creation of Christianity is vast, including not only during centuries subsequent to the composition of the canonical gospels, but also within the New Testament texts themselves. As just a couple of examples, at Matthew 22:21, Jesus is made to say: ―Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's,‖ in response to a question about tribute money—a very convenient reply for the Empire. Moreover, in the Pauline epistles, the writer continually exhorts slaves to obey their masters in everything—again, very convenient for the wealthy slave owners, whose possession are obviously under no threat from Christianity.

In the words of John Allegro referring to the transition into what we know as Christianity today:

When, in the early fourth century, the so-called Great Church attained its goal, its internal enemies lay torn and bleeding, or scattered into the heretical wilderness. Their books were burned, their doctrines forsworn, and often intentionally perverted. Its mythology was misinterpreted and mocked, but a single figure was wrested from its rich store of imagery and made paramount, even historical. The Joshua/Jesus Cycle of stories was pruned of some of the more improbable narratives, given an unrealistic pro-Roman slant, and combined with genuine Essene moral teachings suited more to the sheltered life of a closely knit desert commune that the rough-and-tumble of secular living...³⁴²

Again, for more information on who actually created Christianity, see the works of Acharya S/D.M. Murdock.

60. Christianity, along with all other related theologies, is an historical fraud. These religions now serve to detach the species from the natural world and likewise each other. They support blind submission to authority. They reduce human responsibility to the effect that “God” controls everything, and in turn awful crimes can be justified in the name of a Divine Pursuit. And most critically, it empowers the political establishment, who have been using the myth to manipulate and control societies. The religious myth is the most powerful device ever created, and serves as the psychological soil upon which other myths can flourish.

This conclusion has been demonstrated throughout this Sourcebook, as well as in various texts cited here and in other writings showing the cost to the human and natural worlds because of religious fanaticism and supremacism, such as Helen Ellerbe‘s The Dark Side of Christian History; James Haught‘s Holy Horrors; and Barbara Walker‘s Man Made God.

While the conclusion here can be considered an opinion, it doesn‘t take much reflection to see how the Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Islam and Judaism—and others have been used for political purposes since the very beginning. There is a reason why we hear politicians use the phrase ―God Bless America‖ or the like in other countries even today—it is usually a ploy for manipulation. During the Iraq war of 2003, there were numerous statements about God made by George W. Bush and even the media. We have also learned that the rifles used by American

³⁴² Allegro, 192.

[/noae]

[Prometheus]

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troops had notations for biblical scriptures in their scopes.³⁴³ The ploy was, in part, the idea of a religious war, between Christians and Muslims, rallying both sides to the conflict in the name of competing ideologies. Likewise, psychology has shown that, in certain cases, belief in a larger ―controlling power‖ can create numerous forms of neurosis, both limiting a sense of responsibility and promoting evangelism and prophetic delusions that breed fanaticism....

³⁴³ ―U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes,‖ abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794