Corruption of the Faith…Islam, Judaism, Christianity-Dead Sea Scrolls-Monotheistic

Trinitarian/Unitarian…Lesser known churches-Semi-Arianism-Arians

Eucumenism…Mergers of denominations

Islam…Allah-Ramadan-Koran-Caliph-Imam

Judaism…Hillel Calendar

Protestants…Degrees of sin-Martin Luther-Drop out phenomenon

Paganism…Christians against

Jehovah’s Witnesses…Blood transfusions-Christ’s return-Resurrection-Put down of JWs

Soul Doctrine…Reincarnation-Immortal soul-Inverted cross-Jews of Holocaust-Apolostic tradition…Baptism of infants-Born Catholic/die Catholic

Mormons…Is it Christian-Baptising dead-Sacred undergarments

Monasticism…What is it

Gnosticism…Meaning of Bythus-Heaven & hell

Circumcision…New-born sons of Christians

Buddhism…Same goal as Christianity-Dalai Lama-Chakras-Healing aspect

Hinduism…Is it eucumenical-Rig Veda-Religious festivals

Shamanism…Define a Shaman- Souls released from Purgatory

Freemasonry…Religion or club Mithrasism…Cosmic mysteries

Seventh Day Adventists…False doctrines Assyro-Babylonian…Finger of Ashirat-Mother goose-Eponym List-Oreb & Zeeb-Mardi Gras-Pinata-Tantara

Zoroastrianism…Ahriman

Christian Mystical Doctrine…Preterist doctrines-Holy Blood & Holy Grail-Tomb of St James-DNA mapping-Hermes-Cults

Christianity Creed…R document

National Religious Systems…Holocaust and Vatican-Scots-Celts-Gaia theory-Tara-Chaos theory-Toronto Blessing-Sumerian text

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FAQ Comparative Religions

Corruption of the Faith

Can you assist with the core beliefs of Islam, Judaism and Christianity? I’m also looking to compare whether they are similar or different.

A: Islam started with Adam, and the faith is the same through Noah, Abraham, and the Patriarchs. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are allegedly all based on the Bible and the Law of God. Yet, they are all so hopelessly divided as to the meaning and authenticity of it. We are staring in the face of WWIII.

The Dead Sea Scrolls destroy the Islamic claim that the original Bible has been lost. The forgeries and mistranslations in the KJV do not help the argument though. Judaism is a post-Temple period misconstruction based on tradition, which makes the Bible into a farce and often says the opposite of what the Bible actually does say. The sun and mystery cults and Gnosticism have corrupted Christianity. The errors of modern Islam have destroyed the relationship of the Bible and the Koran. Islam was pure only in the prophet Muhammad and the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs. It was corrupted after that.

You will understand the way in which these matters have been changed from the following papers: Christ and the Koran (No. 163); The Sabbath in the Qur'an (No. 274); The Juma'ah: Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285); Genesis 22, Judaism, Islam and the Sacrifice of Isaac (No. 244). Look also at the papers in the series The Law of God (No. L1); God's Calendar (No. 156) and The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235). You will come to grips with the massive post-Temple period changes in all three religions and the total corruption of the three for political ends.

Now that some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have finally been released to the public, at least a part of Christianity has modified various doctrines or in some cases, solidified long-held teachings when evidence was revealed which documented certain beliefs. Do we see this happening within either Islam or Judaism?

A: No, strange as it may seem, they are all trying to studiously ignore the scrolls. Islam has claimed for centuries that they do not have to keep the Law, as explained in the Bible, because it was not the same text as in the time of the Prophets and the Temple.

Yet, now that we have the proof, they try to ignore the fact that the DSS show we have an exact version with a few minor corrections that have to be made because rabbinical Judaism altered the text after the fall of the Temple (e.g. Deut. 32:8 for one). Talmudic Judaism distorts the Bible as well, so they are blind and deliberately so.

I was told that the three great religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all of a monotheistic structure. Is this true, and could you explain?

A: The three religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all based on the same faith and as such are monotheist. Rational Theism, The Bible, and the three faiths that spring from them are essentially Monotheist.

The problem arises when we see the intrusion of the sun cults and the pagan structure of the Triune God enter the systems. Christianity, in its triune system, is not monotheist. Islam, when it forms triune systems, around say Ali, is also not Monotheist.

The structure of monotheism stems from the existence of one True God, who alone is immortal and within whose will all beings exist and operate. That is monotheism and that is the Bible Structure. This topic is covered in the work God Revealed Chapter 1 Ancient Monotheism (No. G1).

Trinitarian/Unitarian

What are some of the lesser known non-Trinitarian churches? What are their other beliefs? Where are they headquartered?

A: The Christian Church was divided into two groups, The Unitarians and the Trinitarians from the fourth century councils. In the first two centuries, everyone was a Unitarian believing Christ was the Great Angel of the OT. Trinitarians did not exist in Christianity. They were pagans in Rome worshipping Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva the Immaculate Virgin.

The Binitarian system of the worship of the god Attis entered Christianity from Rome and also of Adonis from the east. It was adopted as Modalism in the third century and became Binitarianism at Nicaea in 325 in the Fourth century. After the Trinity was adopted from Constantinople in 381, the faith split again. It split over the introduction of Easter in the Second century. Look at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277) and The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

The Unitarians were at war with the Trinitarians for some centuries. Look at the paper The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268). The Unitarians were also Sabbath-keepers. They were erroneously termed Arians. The family of Muhammad was of this Sabbatarian lineage.

In the fourth century, the Abyssinian Church sent their archbishop Mueses to China via India. He established the Christians in China, who were Unitarian Sabbath-keeping. Many of these people also formed among the trade alliances of the Arabs who became Muslims. These became known as the Hue Hue. The details are in the paper General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122). The Sabbatarians are still in China and there are about a million of them. Many have developed a heretical Sabellianism and now differ from the original doctrines. Some of them consider Jesus is God and Father.

At the Reformation, the Unitarian Church split into two branches. One was a radical Unitarian element, which came in from the Protestant groups and kept Sunday from their Catholic days. The other element came from the pre-Reformation Waldensian Church, and they were Sabbatarians. Their descendants are in Europe to this day. The problems can be seen in the papers: The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170) and Socinianism, Arianism and Unitarianism (No. 185).

This radical Unitarian system denies the pre-existence of Christ and, in historical terms, is a relatively recent innovation. Islam also developed this idea fairly early. It is not the original Unitarian, or even Islamic doctrines, nor is that of Biblical Judaism regarding the Messiah. The history of what happened to the Church in Transylvania is found in the work by Rabbi Samuel Kohn, The Sabbatarians in Transylvania, CCG Publishing, USA, 1998. Look also at the paper The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243) for other details and the creed of the Goths.

Up until the last few decades, all the Sabbath-keeping Churches were non-Trinitarians. The SDAs became Trinitarians, formally as late as 1978. The WCG in 1993/4 and the Church of God (SD) at Denver became Binitarian in 1995. The other US conference became ditheist.

The other Churches of God range from Trinitarian, to Binitarians, to Ditheists. One, the Christian Churches of God, is original Unitarian holding the first century beliefs. The Unitarians Universalists are what is termed radical Unitarians, as are the Churches of God General Conference in Georgia.

I have heard of Arianism, but whatever is Semi-Arianism, which I see mentioned only rarely?

A: The term Arianism is used to cover the Unitarian structure that acknowledges the pre-existence of Christ and attempts to confine it to the period of Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, and the conflicts that were centred around the Council of Nicaea in 325.

The faction that also came out of this dispute, called the Macedonian faction, was also called semi-Arianism. Most of the nomenclature and usage stems from Trinitarian propaganda. Look at Arianism and Semi-Arianism (No. 167); Socinianism, Arianism and Unitarianism (No. 185); Binitarianism and Trinitarianism (No. 76); The Holy Spirit (No. 117); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81) and The Development of the Neo-Platonist Model (No. 17).

Would you please clarify some confusion regarding the identity of the Arians that arises when studying the disputes between the factions of the Unitarians/Arians and the Athanasians/Trinitarians?

A: The confusion is deliberately introduced by Trinitarians to make it appear that the doctrine of Unitarianism was not that of the early Church, but that it originated with Arius who was a presbyter in Alexandria. Sometimes, it is referred to also as Eusebianism, as Eusebius was far senior to Arius. Arius was not actually at Nicaea, only being summoned when necessary, as its adviser on logic.

There were also a number of other bishops there who had all been trained by Lucian of Antioch, the great Church theologian of the end of the third and beginning of the fourth century. The fact of the matter is, that Arius was merely one of a long line of people, from Christ and the Apostles, who were all Unitarians. Trinitarianism was a product of the Fourth Century.

So they had to confuse the issue with propaganda and labelled it as Arianism. And they labelled it a heresy when, in fact, all the Ante-Nicene fathers were Unitarians for the first two hundred years of the faith.

Justin Martyr, in the profession of the Christian faith to the Emperor in Rome ca 150, clearly identified Christ as the Angel of Yahovah who gave the Law to Moses at Sinai. It is a little difficult to label Justin and the Church at Rome Arians, when Arius was not born for another century and a half. Look at the papers Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81) and Socinianism, Arianism and Unitarianism (No. 185).

Eucumenism

Was the consolidation of the amulets into a single calf in any way prophetic of a future consolidation of religions into one single unified religion? We have heard of mergers lately between several denominations such as the Lutherans with the Catholics. Will this continue as may have been prophesied with the Golden Calf?

A: You are probably right. The Bible says it is Mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots. Thus, the religious whore of the Mystery cults, of which the Golden Calf was symbolic, is all part of the same system. They all unite to fight against the Messiah but are themselves destroyed by the Beast in the last days. Israel was made to eat the gold of the calf by means of drinking the gold water in which it was mixed. That too was prophecy.

Islam

If I understand correctly, the Muslims worship Allah. Is this their only God and if so, how did they get this name for Him?

A: The Arabic name, “Allah' ” is derived from Eastern Aramaic or Chaldean, “Elahh.” It is singular and admits of no plurality. He is the One True God of the Bible, “Eloah.” The singular form “Eloah” and the Chaldean “Elahh” become the plural form “Elohim” in the Hebrew and “Elahhin” in the Chaldee.

“Elohim” can be singular in usage and then is used to refer to “one of the Elohim.” Where it is used in the case of “Eloah” it is usually “ha Elohim” or “The Elohim” or “The God.” In Greek, this practice continued in the Koine as “Ho Theos” and “Theos” or the accusative “ton Theon” and simply “theos” is reference to the elohim. In the plural for elohim it became “theoi.” Islam recognises the One True God of John 17:3 as “Allah' ” The meaning of this term from its ancient origins really refers to God as “The Power.” It refers to the particle el, which can be used for a mighty one or the Almighty and also for the particle referring to the plural as these or those amongst us. In this sense it is the same in Hebrew and Chaldean and hence Aramaic and the variants. In this sense it is only in the plural when used of “these or those.” In this sense it is strange that it is plural at SHD 429 when written as ‘elleh in Chaldean but is grouped with the absolute singular form Eloah. This word is the same as Eloahh or Elowahh in the Hebrew and refers to the singular one true God. The plural form elohim or elahhin in the Chaldean is plural except where the definite article is used making it Ha elohim meaning The God (cf. SHD 430 and notes). God is thus the power that extends to other beings of the heavenly host and exists as those among us. Thus the name elohim and yahovah are used of multiple beings as creations of the One True God, and all acting for Him.The concept is the same in Chaldean or Hebrew or the variants derived from those languages. The name Allah’ is merely a form that identifies this sense of the singular Power acting among us. It contains the idea of plurality only in so far as the agents of the power act for it and contain elements of its power.

Muslims keep a fast for a month (9th lunar month) so I was wondering if this fast has any biblical basis? If not then does the Bible require Christians to fast on any other occasions?

A: The Koran enjoins the faithful to keep the fasting month. This was the preparation month, which has turned, like all the festivals, into a pagan system.

Lent is a perversion of the preparation for the First month to take the Passover according to biblical Law. The pagan system took this over, as it seems to have done for Ramadan. The biblical provisions run contrary to this festival and the Koran simply says to keep the fasting month, which we understand as being from 1 Abib or Nisan to the end of the feast of Unleavened Bread on 21 Abib.

I am Muslim and have had reason to peruse what is written in the Old Testament - as it of course mirrors so closely many of the stories in the Qur’an. I don’t even know where to begin with the New Testament. Who were the men that wrote it? How many years did they live after Jesus? Basically do all Christians give the same weight to the Old and New Testaments? I’m asking because many converts ask to have this information cleared up after they become Muslim. I guess we want religion put into some kind of perspective of history.

A: The answers can also be found in the Koran. When the NT was written, Scripture was the OT. The NT is explanation of the prophetic purpose of the OT. Thus, it is commentary, as the Koran is also commentary, on the Law of God.

From the surah: Those who stand in ranks, we see that the Revelation of God was given from Adam to Noah, and to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and to Moses and Aaron, and to Christ and the Prophets. Muhammed and the Fourth Rightly guided Caliphs understood Al Islam. After that, it fell from the purity of its initial faith.

The same thing happened to the people of the Scriptures. Their history is told in the papers General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122) and The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

Muhammed said to keep the Sabbath and whoever did not do so was an ape. Like Christ and the Apostles, all of Al Islam from Adam to Christ kept the Sabbath. But those who believed a lie subverted it and changed the day of worship of the faith to Sunday. They also introduced Easter for the worship of the ancient Goddess, which caused both Israel and the Arabs and the Sons of Keturah to stumble. In the same way, the Juma’ah was confined to Friday prayer session and the Sabbath was forgotten in Islam. Look at the paper The Sabbath in the Qur'an (No. 274), and also The Juma'ah: Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285).

In the same way, the people of the lie invented the Trinity and introduced it in the Fourth century. This caused the great division of Christianity. The Koran refers to these two groups. The people of the Scripture are seen from Surahs II. 105, 111ff., 120, 144; III: 23, 64ff., 98f.,110ff., 186f., 199; IV. 44f., 123, 153ff., 171; V, 5, 15, 19ff., 59, 65, 68, 77, XXIX: 46; XXXIII: 26 f.; XCVIII 1 to end; LVII: 29.

The family of the prophet had the texts of the Bible. We know when they were written and we know that the texts are all correct. The Dead Sea Scrolls show us what texts the Prophet had, and that they were the same as at the time of Christ and that Eloah does not change. The fiction was introduced that the original texts had been lost under the later Caliphates to avoid keeping the law. As the prophet said, they could not wait for the prayer session to be over to get on with trading on the Sabbath. The people of the Book were given protection under the Rightly Guided caliphs, and they were recognised and lived within Islam unmolested until this century.

The NT was written by the people of the First century church. The apostles Matthew and John wrote their gospels, and the disciples Mark and Luke wrote theirs. The writings of Paul are genuine and the Book of Hebrews is alleged to have been initiated by Paul and finished by another disciple, perhaps Barnabus. John is accepted as writing the gospel, epistles and the Revelation was given to him when God gave it to the Messiah.

The History of the canon is detailed in the paper The Bible (No. 164). That will give you more details. The original people of the book are still around, but they are in the minority. It is written: “verily we gave unto Moses the Scriptures and we caused a train of messengers to follow after Him, and we gave unto Jesus the son of Mariam (Mary) clear proofs and We supported him within the Holy Spirit. Is it ever so that when there cometh unto you a messenger with that which ye yourselves desire not, ye grow arrogant and some ye disbelieve and some ye slay?”

Did Allah’ the Beneficent, the Merciful, the one True God, lose them as some Imams claim? Or is He not powerful enough to catch the words of his prophets for all time?

“And they say our hearts are hardened. Nay but Allah’ hath cursed them for their unbelief. Little is that which they believe.”

What is it from which man is made? He is saved by the mixture of blood and water, which gushed from the side of the Messiah who is Al Tarikh: the new Morning Star. Look at the paper dealing with the position of Christ and the Koran (No. 163). The papers at www.logon.org are also in Arabic and other languages.

The OT is explained by the NT, and the Koran cannot be understood without the Bible because it is corrective commentary on it. There is only one Al Islam and it was given from the very beginning and all men are obliged to keep the laws of the living God, Eloah or Allah’. You cannot be a true Muslim and not keep the Sabbath.

Can you please describe what a Caliph is? Also is this office or person (whichever it may be) in operation today?

A: The office of Caliph was a ruler in Islam.

It is derived from the Arabic Khalifah meaning successor. The form now in use is Khalif. The Oxford Universal Dictionary says the pronunciation with a long a is bad.

It is the Muslim title for the civil and religious ruler as successor to the prophet Muhammed. His dominion is a Caliphate.

The first four caliphs were called the Four Rightly guided Caliphs. After that Islam is considered to have deteriorated theologically under the Ummayids and Abbasids. There are a series of papers on Islam on the web at www.ccg.org and also on the fall of Jerusalem under Omar in the paper Golgotha: the Place of the Skull (No. 217). Look also at Mysticism Chapter 5 Islam (No. B7_5).

Could you please explain what is/was an Imam and how one becomes/became an Imam?

A: There are two meanings and uses for Imam. The title means to go before or precede. It is used of an officiating priest at a Muslim Mosque.

It was also used as a title given to various Muslim leaders and chiefs including the Caliphs or independent princes. The normal study and acceptance of a Muslim community are required.

Judaism

What are the postponements of the Hillel or Jewish calendar?

A. The Hillel calendar postpones the Feasts of the Seventh month by introduced postponements, which were originally formulated in the year 344 by two Babylonian rabbis and introduced under Rabbi Hillel II in 358 CE. They were not finalised until the eleventh century. Since the eleventh century the festival of Rosh Hashanah which was introduced in the third century CE from Babylon to Judaism has determined the dating of the month and has been used as the New Year. In the year 2000, for example, Rosh Hashanah postpones Atonement from its true Date coinciding with the Sabbath of 7 October by two days so that Atonement commences on the evening of 8 October and takes place over Sunday Night and Monday 9 October.

This is two days later than the ancient temple calendar which accords with the conjunction which determines the start of each month with the New Year in Abib which is the true New Year and First Month according to God's Law. This postponement happens often in that calendar system. Look at the papers God's Calendar (No. 156); The Moon and the New Year (No. 213) and The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195).

The original Christian view of Atonement is seen from the papers Atonement (No. 138); and Azazel and Atonement (No. 214). The key to Atonement is repentance and return to the Laws of God.

Protestants

Most Protestants say a sin is a sin. Do you believe in degrees of sin?

A: Protestants are in a very serious position regarding the nature of sin. The Bible says quite clearly that sin is the transgression of the law (1Jn. 3:4). However Protestants do not keep the law of God as a general rule and are dependent upon the councils of the Fourth Century for the variations to the Law that were introduced to the church. They depend on Augustine for the theology that flows from those changes and the concentration of the discussions regarding God at an intradivine level.

That is why the Protestant Reformation failed. It failed because Protestantism did not go back beyond Augustine and restore the original faith. Thus, they were unable to deal with sin in a coherent manner. The Protestant confessions of the Reformation all enshrine the Ten Commandments, yet they do not keep the Fourth and the First intact, and many breach the second also.

The doctrine is that if you breach one commandment, you breach the entire law. Also, whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). Respect of persons is also sin, and in that, the church has fallen short of the glory of God (Jas. 2:9). John says that there is sin that is not unto death. That means that the sins we pick up on our yearly travel, are washed free and we are allowed to remain within the body of Christ and the First Resurrection of Revelation 20. Those who commit sin wilfully are sent to the second resurrection and can face the second death. Whosoever is born of God does not sin (1Jn 3:9).

This distinction in sin is the basis for the views regarding mortal and venal sin. The mainstream church has made the distinction into a charade over the centuries; however, that was its original doctrine in the NT Church. The sin of the Corinthian fornicator was such that he was given to the adversary so that his life might be saved in the last days (1Cor. 5:5). Thus, he was removed from the Church and from under judgment until he repented. In other words, he was consigned to the second resurrection so that he could be saved. He was given the opportunity to repent and it appears he did so repent.

There are now branches of Antinomianism that are confused with Protestantism which say the law of God is done away entirely (i.e. nailed to the Stauros in Col. 2:14), and thus there can be no sin on those grounds. This view is increasing all over the world.

Look at the papers The Origin of the Wearing of Earrings and Jewellery in Ancient Times (No. 197); The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) and also The Golden Calf (No. 222).

What is the status of Martin Luther? I know that he was excommunicated but was he ever restored to the faith. If he was, why was he restored to the faith? Isn’t he a heretic?

A. The effect of Vatican II was to restore the Protestant Churches to communication with Rome and thus, the Protestants were now simply separated brethren and not heretics.

Vatican I under Pius IX had the effect of reinforcing the Bull Unam Sanctam. The purpose was stated from the margin. The margin heading and the translation and purpose is in the paper Theory of the Just War (No. 110).

In order to open up dialogue, Vatican II was commenced by John XXIII and continued by Paul VI. There is a serious rift in the church now and to appease the hard-liners the new doctrinal statement has now been issued by The Holy Office called the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

The grounds for the next Inquisition were established under John Paul II and fears of that were expressed by notable Roman Catholics, such as Morris West. The current moves to canonisation of John XXIII and Pius IX are to send conflicting messages to the church. One says we are returning to the old ways, and the other says we are continuing in modernisation. This is a significant psychological ploy. The ploy is to introduce the unacceptable change and then, at the same time, to deny any change is happening.

The ones who want no change will stay put, and the ones who want the change will stay put, each seizing on the aspect they want to see. Gradually, the opposition side will cook like frogs in hot water. So, in this sense, we have Luther the Heretic, Luther the Saint who strengthened the church, and Luther the heretic still. Will the real Martin Luther please stand up? So, also with Canterbury and the Anglicans/Episcopalians. Note the objections of Canterbury to the last pronouncement of Ratzinger from the Vatican Inquisition.

By late 20th century, the drop out phenomenon has emerged as a major though invisible force in American religious life. Mainline Protestant churches have not lost out to other churches, but to a kind of religion where individuals have no need of traditional institutional systems. Today people seem to be content to fashion their own highly personalized religious beliefs, detached from the old time sense of a faith community, which had heretofore characterized religious life. Do you agree or disagree with the above statement.

A: Our people have been constantly persecuted by traditional Christian Institutions. We have had to hang on to the Bible through constant persecution. The Holocaust was designed to wipe out us and Judah as well. Anyone who kept to the Bible only was persecuted by the so-called mainstream system.

Is it any wonder having perverted the entire Bible system that when faced with a more or less true and open era the system could not survive. In the work by Rabbi Kohn of 1894 you will see what the so-called Christian system did to us Christians. They murdered our women because they cooked with goose fat instead of pig fat and kept the Sabbath. When the Roman Catholics stopped killing them the Lutherans took over (Kohn, Sabbatarians in Transylvania, CCG Publishing, foreword by Cox, 1998).

The history of the Sabbath-keeping Church is outlined in General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122) and The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170). Look also at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277).

Paganism

Why are so many Christians against Pagans? We aren’t bad people that worship the devil. Besides, Paganism was here long before Christianity and in a way some of the different faiths of Christianity can be seen as Pagan. Take for instance the Catholics who worship the Virgin Mary right along side Jesus Christ. In the Wiccan religion, you will find that the goddess can be compared to the Virgin Mary and the god as Jesus Christ simply because the goddess gives birth to the god every year. He lives his life then dies in the Winter only to be born again in the Spring, just like Christ. I think this needs to be explained to more Christians before they go around passing judgement against Pagans.

A: You appear to misunderstand the position. What you do is against God’s Law. The origin of your religion is well understood and it is covered in some of the papers at www.ccg.org. Look at the papers The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246) and Doctrine of Original Sin Part 2 The Generations of Adam (No. 248).

What you say about the Catholic faith is correct. The worship of Mary, as mother Goddess, came into Christianity from the Baal-Easter system, which gave rise to paganism in the first place. It was the original faith of the Aryans. Paganism is a religion based on the cycles of the Days of Human Sacrifice.

God condemns the system and we, as Christians, are forbidden to use it. The Church of God has been persecuted for two thousand years because we will not accept the Easter system of the dying God, whether of Attis in Rome, or Adonis of the Greeks, or Osiris of the Egyptians. You will find the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) of interest, as will be the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222).

The true Christian Church has never accepted these pagan festivals. The early church from Rome and Constantinople introduced their errors into the church to persuade the followers of Attis and Mithras and Sol Invictus Elagabal, the public form of the sun cults, to join Christianity. The ascetic aspects of the Gnostics were also incorporated. Look at the paper Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) for those aspects.

All of these aspects of the worship of the Triune God were in place from the rebellion of the Host under Satan. That spirit is the spirit you worship. The Triune system and the three-headed god in the tree are the basis of paganism. It was in place thousands of years ago. Look at the series on Mysticism (No. B7).

Soon the time frame of the God of this world will run out and his system will be put down once and for all. His followers worship this system as the goddess, or the Gaia or in other forms, but it stems from the same system and the Triune God.

The world will have until shortly before 2027 to repent. Then the nexus of the Law will be restored and the very religions they worship will be shown to be totally impotent. The world will keep God’s law from that time or they will simply starve to death before their powerless nature system. The so-called goddess, a demon, will be confined to the bottomless pit for a thousand years with the rest of the demons.

The world will be re-educated in the Second Resurrection that is all the rest of humanity deceived by Satan and this system. That is why the reincarnation system was set among the world. It was to deceive those in the resurrection.

They will be re-educated and given a chance to understand and repent. They should be very grateful that we have a merciful God. The witch at Endor was terrified when she saw elohim coming up from the earth as Samuel. Yet, even these demons know there is One True God and tremble.

Soon, the false Christian system of the mother goddess and sun cults will be gone. The black-cassocked Khemarim of the Baal-Easter system will be gone and the world will be free of false worship. The Mystery cults of the Babylonian Mystery system, which has been a whore on this planet, will be no more.

The cults are the same in effect because they come from the same place with the Rebellion of the Host and the Triune God. When the whore is destroyed in the not too distant future, the pagan faith will experience a resurgence for a while and then it will be destroyed and men will return to the true Tithe of God and His system.

Each needs to study his own system and its origins and repent. The elect do not hate anyone. They hate what is done. God is not dealing with the world yet. When the Witnesses take up their positions in Jerusalem, we will see the power of God in dealing with the system of this world. We are to love all men and pray for their redemption. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

It would seem that Jehovah’s Witnesses would rather die than accept a blood transfusion. Is this rational thinking? Also on what scripture (s) do they base this belief?

A: The doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses comes from the Bible texts against eating blood. The texts are the instructions given to Noah, as well as to Moses. For example, in Genesis 9:4: “But you shall not eat flesh in its life: the blood.” The idea comes from the fact that blood is the life and if you take blood into you it is the same as taking another life into you, by eating their blood. This is a silly and irrational reading of the text.

The bad handling of blood with the HIV virus, and the passage on of other STDs with badly screened blood has left the Jehovah’s Witnesses with more ammunition to argue their case, but it is still a misrepresentation of the texts of Scripture. The order not to eat blood is just that and it is placed there to ensure that animals are bled correctly. It is up to a person as to whether they will accept treatment or not. To choose to die over this silly rendering of Scripture is a personal choice.

To force another person to die over a silly interpretation of Scripture is another matter again. That is why some states intervene and take the decision away from parents in life threatening circumstances where the child will die without a transfusion. These sorts of arguments are an ethical minefield.

This sort of intrusion into the rights of the parents is a serious problem, as the circumcision of the male child is being prevented by even sillier arguments from anti-Bible Law advocates, not only among heathens but among Trinitarians as well. It is difficult to get a child circumcised in the UK now and increasingly so. Look at the papers The Food Laws (No. 15) and Purification and Circumcision (No. 251).

From discussion with some Jehovah’s Witnesses they seem to be saying that Jesus Christ returned to earth in 1914. However we cannot see him because he is a spirit being. They say the last ‘normal’ year in history was 1913, and 1914 was the end of the time of the gentiles. Does 1914 have any significance in the biblical way of calculating time sequences? Also how come we all don’t know that Christ has returned? I don’t imagine this event would go unnoticed.

A: Yes, we are familiar with their argument. It rests on a misunderstanding of a little known prophecy in Scripture. They decided that 1914 was the war of the end of the world. They decided that it was the fulfilment of the 2520 years, or seven times from Nebuchadnezzar and the Battle of Carchemish. This was the seven times of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel. Unfortunately, it was only 2518 years from the Battle of Carchemish, which was in 605 BCE, and so they relocated the event to 607 BCE.

Also, they did not understand the significance of the prophecy of Pharaoh’s Broken Arms in Ezekiel 28-30, and they assumed an incorrect 1914 instead of 1916, and ended it there instead of taking it to 1996. Nor did they understand the fundamentalist Islamic problems that led up to the reunion of the Egyptian Coptic Church with Rome and the establishment of Egypt as a quasi fundamentalist force. They misunderstood the whole prophecy in its relationship to the last days and thus they, like the SDAs of 1844, had to invent other explanations for the failed advent and consequences.

The sequence of what they did might be better understood from an analysis of a series of papers: The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95); The Fall of Egypt (No. 36) and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

I’ve seen several times where you say that after the resurrection we will be asexual. Will we know our children, grandparents? I was told we will still live as a family unit, no one will die, children will know great great-grandparents and build homes wherever we wished, et cetera. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. Are Jehovah’s Witnesses misinformed in that area?

A: The JWs are misinformed as to the functions of the millennial system and the Second Resurrection. The First Resurrection occurs at the beginning of the Millennium. The elect are all resurrected then and will become spirit beings. They take the place of the demons for the 1000 years. The rest of the planet continues on and it is restored. People will live and die as usual within families.

The world will be run from Jerusalem and the Calendar will be kept with all the original systems. Those who do not keep the laws of God and the Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feasts will get no rain in due season and suffer the plagues of Egypt (Zech 14:16-19).

The nexus of the Law of God will be restored from the Witnesses. Look at the paper The Witnesses (including the Two Witnesses) (No. 135). People will then directly come under the Blessings and the Curses of Deuteronomy 28 (see The Blessings and the Curses (No. 75). At the end of the millennial system the last Rebellion will occur. Those involved will die and the demons will be reduced to human form and die with them (see the paper The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80).

They will then all be resurrected. Every man who has ever lived, who was not part of the First Resurrection, will be resurrected to the Second Resurrection along with the demons. They will be asexual. There will be no further marriage from this point. Every life will be given this 100 year period to repent. They will all be corrected, converted and then translated. Those who choose to die will be allowed to die and they will simply be burnt.

Then death will cease to exist, as will false prophecy and the spirit of the Devil. Satan will be given a new opportunity to become a new being and a new spirit begotten son of God, as will Hitler, and the Borgia Pope, and every monster that has ever lived. Look at the papers Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272) and Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199).

God’s plan is perfect. We serve an Omniscient, Omnipotent, Perfectly Good and True God who is Father of all. He who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are of one origin (Heb. 2:11). We are not going to lose anybody.

As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I have read many negative comments on JWs. I would not put anyone’s religion down and I was wondering why so many people put others down without knowing what they truly believe. If we claim to serve God, why not have conduct that befits that claim? Many claim to follow the Bible, yet they have conduct that is false to their claims. I try to my best ability to love all people of all faiths, and races. If God is not partial and shows no partiality, who are we to show it?

A: We should love our neighbour as ourselves. No one hates themselves, then why hate others.

The Jehovah’s Witnesess church, (or more correctly the Watch Tower and Bible Tract Corporation) has a false view of a number of Scriptures. We agree with that system on one area and disagree with it regarding the Law of God and the Sabbaths. We understand their history and understand where they came from and how they got to where they are now.

We also know that they have set piece responses and that, as a church, they are discouraged from studying into any views other than their own and they draw people into those views contrary to Scripture.

Our desire is to restore the true first century Christian Faith to all mankind. To do that we have to expose a few false teachings in most of the sects. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are notorious for their condemnation of the mainstream system, even going door to door.

John the Baptist did not mince words and nor did Christ and nor will the witnesses when they get here. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, like every one else on the planet will start keeping the laws of God or they will die. There will be no negotiation.

They will start keeping the New Moons and Sabbaths (Isa 66:23) and the Feasts of God (Zech 14:16-19) and they will send the national representatives to Jerusalem each year or there will be no rain in due season and the plagues of Egypt will be brought down on them.

That is Scripture and Scripture cannot be broken. Look at the paper Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256).

Soul Doctrine

Do you believe in reincarnation? Why is it I have met people I instantly knew and been to places that were very familiar to me? I realize Scripture states to each man there has been an appointed time (one life time) but is there a possibility that mankind had more than one life.

A: Reincarnation is a product of the Soul doctrine and is contrary to the Bible. The familiarity we experience with people is often derived from our memory of people, expressions, words and association. The Celts also had this doctrine from the other Aryan systems. It is a particularly enslaving error. We have to deal with the problems it causes especially in India. Philosophy was originally a religion designed to liberate rational men from the wheel of rebirth taught by the Hyperborean Celts. The Bible teaches the Resurrection of the Dead and the life to come as spirit beings from the two resurrections. The biblical position is detailed in the papers The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) and The City of God (No. 180).

We all know that our soul which doesn’t have birth; doesn’t have death; i.e. the birth of a person is the creation of a person and his death means his body ceases to function. Why do they say Jesus came alive 3 days after being crucified? If the soul departs the body after death what is special in the case of Jesus? Either he didn’t die after being put on the cross or after his death his soul departed to heaven?

A: The doctrine of the immortal soul is not a true Christian doctrine. It entered Christianity from the Gnostic systems and as a refined position of the Socratic doctrines. In the first and second centuries, if you said to any true Christian that when you died you went to heaven, they would know that you were an impostor. In fact, the Church at Rome wrote to the emperor ca. 150-154 providing an understanding of the faith. They also wrote to the Senate. The writer for the Church was Justin Martyr. He also wrote to the Jews in his Dialaogue with Trypho the Jew (cf. Ch. 80). Justin told him that if he came across people who said they were Christians and that when they died they went to heaven, not to believe them because they were not Christians. Now we have millions of people claiming to be Christians but who believe in an immortal soul, and heaven and hell.

The fact of the matter is that the Bible (and also the Koran) teaches two Resurrections of the dead. The First Resurrection takes place at the return of Messiah, and the second takes place 1000 years later at the end of the Millennium. In this second or general resurrection of the dead, all men are resurrected and judged. You will get an idea by reading the papers: The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) and The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95).

Was Peter the apostle attributed to the inverted cross?

A: The myth runs that Peter was crucified upside down because he claimed he was not worthy to die like his Lord. The fact of the matter is that the symbols of inversion are all tied up with sacrifice and black magic, and that is why the cross is depicted as an X, which is the basic symbol of inversion in magic. This entire system of sacrifice and inversion stems from the logic of: “The more desperate the situation, the greater the sacrifice must be to stem the tragedy.” That is why we saw the terrible sacrifices in the rites of the Carthaginians, and also in the Pre-Columbian Americans. Cirlot covers this aspect in “The Dictionary of Symbols” (pp. 158ff.). The Greeks and Romans took the “stauros” and crucifixion itself from the Phoenicians. It was an upside down stake until the Romans refined it later by adding the cross bar to prolong death. The custom, in lesser-educated levels of Roman Catholicism, of inverting or turning the head of a saint downwards or towards the wall comes from the process of magical inversion. By inverting the effigy, the faithful hope to invert his attitude towards them (Cirlot, p. 159). It is a pagan rite based on the doctrine of the Immortal Soul and has no place in Christianity. Look at the papers The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) and The Soul (No. 92).

I came across an article that reflected Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's comments "the victims of the Holocaust, all the six million Jews, all those poor people who were lost at the hands of those evildoers the Nazis...were reincarnations of earlier souls who sinned time and again and did all sorts of things that shouldn't have been done, and were reincarnated in order so that things could be set right" Where does this kind of thinking come from? It seems so hurtful to all you lost loved ones in the Holocaust or lived through the ordeal. How will peace and happiness come to man and the planet?

A: The idea of reincarnation is a perversion of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The OT and the NT teaches the Resurrection of the Dead. The general resurrection is 100 years in duration. That period is at the end of the millennial reign of Messiah. The plan is given in the paper Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272) and also in the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143). Thus the world will be given a resurrection to flesh and that process is covered also in Ezekiel chapter 37.

In one sense this is a reincarnation and that has been taken by these people to support a doctrine of reincarnation. One of Satan's ploys is to perpetrate the doctrine of reincarnation and he did that from the beginning. He knew that when people woke up in the Second Resurrection, which covers most of the world's populace, if they thought it was just another time around it would be harder to deal with them. In a sense that is true. We will have to convince these people that they have this one chance and they are under judgment at that time and they will not get another chance. In a sense that will waste some of our time and education process rectifying that thinking.

The notion that the Holocaust was for sinners who were reincarnated is a bizarre Hindu/Buddhist idea based on the law of the Dharma and Kharma. It certainly has nothing to do with the Bible and is a gross insult to the survivors of the Holocaust. The notion behind it is this.

1. Jews are of Judah and Judah is part of the chosen people Israel.

2. God protects the righteous.

3. God did not protect Judah in the holocaust therefore the Jews who died were not righteous. They must have been sinning and to have so many who sinned they must all have been reincarnated at the same time to be made to suffer.

This view takes no account of the insane drive of the Europeans over the centuries to eradicate the Law of God and all who kept it. To concede that God was not protecting Judaism per se would involve these people in coming to grips with the fact that they were in a false system of worship and they would have to repent.

The reality is that the god of this world is attempting to destroy the chosen people and the true church with the resources of the false church and he knows that his time is short. Satan only has a maximum of twenty-five years left before he is confined to the bottomless pit. In that time he will attempt to destroy the church and the people of Israel and eradicate most of mankind.

Comments like that of the head of Shas simply inflame tensions and make war more inevitable. It also misleads people as to the intention of the Bible structure and plan.

Apolostic Tradition

Hippolytus speaks of the Apostolic Tradition 21:16 (AD 215). Do you know what he is talking about? His statement was on baptism of infants. What is Apostolic Tradition? Is it a book of the Bible? It has marking of the Bible 21:16.

A: The reference of Hyppolytus to baptism is in the ANF, Vol. V, p. 236 and does not have the reference to which you refer, nor does he mention infant baptism there. The introduction of infant baptism appears to have been in the third century, and we find a treatise on it by Cyprian in the second half of the third century. It was decided the eighth day circumcision rule was not to be followed, but a child could be baptised on the second or third day (ANF, ibid., pp. 353ff.).

There was no apostolic tradition of infant baptism in the records of which we know. Indeed the treatise by Cyprian is the early apology and makes no reference to such a tradition, and it certainly would have if such a tradition existed as he was writing a defence of infant baptism (cf. ibid., p. 354 Ep. LVIII, 3). The comment of Hippolytus is therefore of interest.

The comments by Tertullian also indicate that such was not the case, as he declared baptism should be delayed until the children had grown in the faith and had been able to know Christ. He refers to the argument regarding sponsors, and this indicates that the introduction of infant baptism and sponsors was in the first part of the third century and he was arguing against the novelty here in the treatise on baptism (ANF, Vol. III, p. 678). He also says that the time before Passover was the most suitable time for baptism. Then after that Pentecost and the feast days, but every day was a suitable time following that. The Churches of God, who practice adult baptism, have always baptised in this way either in preparation for Passover or at the feasts.

Irenaeus says in 2:22.4: “For He came to save all through means of Himself - as, I say, who through him are born again to God - Infants, and children, and boys, and youths and old men. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children thus sanctifying those who are of this age...”. Now, Wall and others held that this was the statement of a valuable fact as to infant baptism in the primitive church (ANF, Vol. 1, p. 391 fn. 9). However, the point here under discussion is sanctification, not baptism. A reading of the NT shows us that we are dealing with Sanctification, which for those who were infants, children and adolescents was through their parents. Irenaeus is not speaking of infant baptism. He is speaking of the comprehensive sanctification of all men through Christ. The terminology does not even mention women, so to argue that we are dealing with a literal and direct relationship would exclude females from baptism. The discussion is thus dependent upon known Scriptural facts regarding the sanctification of children

1Corinthians 7:12-14 shows you the true meaning of what Irenaeus is referring to and shows you that children are not baptised but are sanctified in the believing parent, in the same way the unbelieving spouse is sanctified while they agree to dwell with a believing mate. Repeating, there is no evidence of infant baptism in the early Church, nor is there any known tradition of such baptism. The NT, in fact, records many baptisms but never one instance of a child being baptised with the adults; the supposed reference in Hippolytus. Much of this type of material is based on misquotes, or misconstructions as we see here, to support later traditions which have no Scriptural basis.

A relative tried to convince me that one could not only believe the Bible but you must believe apostolic tradition based on 2Thessalonians 2:15; the basic argument “you were born a Catholic, you will die a Catholic, do not question!” What does God tell us to believe in His Word?

A: What does Christ say to the Pharisees? You have set at nought the word of God by your traditions. The so-called apostolic traditions are anything but apostolic. The Bible is clear: If they do not speak according to the Law and the Testimony, there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20). That goes for any priest or minister who speaks counter to the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. That is why the world is in such a complete mess, and why Christianity now finds itself beset by commonality with paganism and witchcraft. It is because it adopted their practices for political purposes and then termed them the traditions of the Church.

Easter is representative of a pagan goddess of the worship of Baal, which God condemned through His servants the prophets. This is now a tradition of many churches. If Yahovah is God, then worship Him, but if Baal is god then follow him. But do not call it the tradition of the Church. Look at the Statement of Beliefs (No. A1). These are the true traditions of the Apostles.

Mormons

Is Mormonism a Christian religion? I know that they claim that it is, but is it?

A: Your question demands the definition of a true Christian. What is the Christian religion? The Bible answers that question in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12. The dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war on her offspring. These are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith or testimony of Jesus Christ.

The commandments of God demand the worship of the one True God, whom Jesus worshipped and who is his Father and our Father, and his God and our God. Christ kept the Sabbath as the Seventh day of the week.

He kept the Passover and Unleavened Bread. He kept the Wave Sheaf, as is commanded in Leviticus 23. He and the early Church kept the New Moons, and the Feast of Pentecost also from Leviticus 23 (cf. Col. 2:16).

He and the early Church kept Trumpets and Atonement from Leviticus 23. He also kept Tabernacles and the Last Great Day from Leviticus 23. He and the apostles ate only clean meats from Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11. He instituted the Lord’s Supper on 14 Abib and died on that day as the Passover Lamb, and also told us to keep those days. He was resurrected from the dead and the Church believed that it would be resurrected from the dead at his return. They did not believe in the immortal soul, or heaven, or hell.

They also did not keep pagan festivals and would not even eat with those of the Baal-Easter system of the pagans (see the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235). If the Mormons do all these things, then they are true Christians. If they do not, they are not true Christians. All you have to do is make sure you do all these things, and live as Christ and the apostles lived, and you will be a true Christian. Anyone who does not do the things listed above is not a true Christian. If we love Him, we should keep His commandments.

I had some Mormons visit and I asked about their belief in baptising for the dead and collecting genealogies to find names to baptise for. They seemed to feel the unbaptised would not be saved. 'Mormo' is listed as King of the Ghouls or the living dead by Lavey in the satanic bible. Is this infernal name where the Mormons get their name?

A: The preoccupation with the dead is quite bizarre given the doctrines of the Bible. Yes LaVey does mention Mormo as the god of the dead and it is very likely that this sort of joke was involved in Mormonism from the start. It is now a fixation of the religion. The name Mormon does mean a follower of Mormo god of the Dead. That is why some of them resist the name. However they exhibit all the features of a cult of the dead. The only thing they may not do is disinter the dead for ritual feasts.

It is intriguing to note the strange parallels and quirks in the names and ritual of the Mormons. Their centres have symbolism of Freemasonry and particularly Scottish rite free masonry in all their old materials. Even their old temples and drawings are set out with reference to the Masonic temple. Their old newspaper was a direct reference to the occult.

You have to see it and have some understanding of free masonry and its symbolism to really appreciate it all but there is no doubt it was established by Scottish rite free masons and Mormonism adopted its cosmology. That was one of the reasons they were attacked and killed and had to flee from Missouri. The punishment for betraying the secrets of the cult is death. Their loyalties, like the RC orders also transcend national boundaries.

Many of the Mormon followers and especially the females do not seem to understand it. My questions could not be answered in some critical areas and perhaps some were to be kept from the public also.

The angel Moroni that gave the Book of Mormon is a play in the Hebrew suffix i effectively meaning "of the" e.g. "tribe or people of" for example Ashkenazi means of the sons of Ashkenaz (who was of the sons of Gomer). Angel Moroni is a play on the forms angel to the Morons using the accepted sense of the word.

The coincidences are too many to be accidental. Whoever drafted the religion had a great knowledge of masonry and the occult and a very subtle sense of humour.

I have heard that Mormons wear sacred undergarments and that these have symbols or markings on them. Is this true and if so what is the significance of this practice.

A: This is an interesting question. The following is the testimony of an ex Mormon on the subject.

Basic Information about Temple Garments

“It has been awhile (around ten years) since I have bought or worn garments, but excluding any changes that may have been made since then, here is what I know: Temple garments are first worn after a person has received his or her first Temple "endowment". During this endowment, the person is given a "new name", is taught the story of the creation of the world (from the LDS perspective), makes vows concerning his faith, learns the way he is to enter the Celestial Kingdom, and is given instruction in other things. Among the topics of instruction is the proper wearing of Temple garments. The garments are to be worn under one's clothing at all times, except during times, to be determined by the member's own prayerful discretion, where the garments would be exposed to non-members or would hinder a worthwhile activity. The examples I was given were that the garments could be removed for bathing, sexual relations, activities such as swimming (where they would not be concealed under even the most modest swimsuit and would get wet), and for visits to the doctor's office or hospital, where they could easily be seen by non-members. The temple workers explained that there were other situations where the garments could be temporarily removed, subject to the wearer's judgment, but that the garments were a source of both spiritual and physical protection, and should be worn continuously as much as possible. For instance, it was not considered advisable to remove them routinely at bedtime and sleep without them.

One time at a Fast and Testimony meeting, I remember hearing a man, who had been a youth group advisor when I was in my teens, give a speech about how his garments had protected him from physical injury. He had been at a gas station pumping gas. His car was one of those that had the opening to the gas tank in the rear of the car underneath the license plate holder. Suddenly, a car came up behind him and pinned him between its front bumper and his car's rear bumper at just above knee level. He testified that the area of his legs caught between the two bumpers had been covered by his garments, and had been "merely bruised instead of broken." He considered this evidence of the protective powers of his garments. Could it have been merely that the force of the collision was not sufficient to break his legs? While his was the only first-hand story about the protective power of garments I ever heard, I have run across several tales of the anecdotal, Mormon-urban-myth, "faith-promoting" variety. One story centers around a LDS man who had been struck by lightning. Two LDS sisters see the lightning strike him in the middle of a field and go running up to him. When they arrive at his side, they see that he is dead, horribly burned on his face, lower arms, and lower legs. "But, look," one sister says to the other, "every place his garments covered his body there are no burns!" And indeed, the garments, and the skin beneath them are untouched. I thought that was a weird story when I heard it. I mean, come on, he's dead! What difference does it make that his torso is in fine shape when his head's burned off? Maybe they need to make hooded garments...

As far as the physical appearance of the garments go they look somewhat like short versions of "long john" underwear. The men's garments have a top with short sleeves and a neckline that is a bit more "scooped" than a typical men's T-shirt. The bottoms reach to just above the knees. Women's garments are similar except there is a choice of different necklines (scooped, V, or square), and the sleeves are shorter than the men's, sort of like "cap sleeves." The bottoms also reach to just above the knees. Both men's and women's come in either one-piece or two-piece styles, and in a variety of fabric weights and blends, such as nylon, cotton, cotton/poly. All Temple garments are pure white, although I have heard that they also come in olive drab for LDS people in the military, but I have never seen these. All Temple garments are marked with symbols on the right breast, left breast, navel, and one knee. These markings are embroidered into the garment with white thread (although in the case of the military garments, it may well be olive drab thread.) The markings symbolize certain phrases from the Temple endowment ceremony. Members are informed that they are not to cut, sew, or alter the garments in any way. For example, they cannot be shortened, pinned up, or rolled up to allow for wearing a shorter dress or pair of shorts. Exceptions to the "no alterations" rule can be made for members who are physically handicapped.

When the garments wear out, members are advised to cut out the areas with the embroidered markings with scissors and burn them. With the markings gone, the garments are no longer considered sacred, and can be used as dusting rags, as with any worn-out garment.”

--Serratia

Monasticism

What is Monasticism and where did it come from?

A: Originally, monasticism was associated with the cults of the god Attis and the Easter system of Asia Minor. The priests of the goddess known as Essene (not to be confused with the Qumran community for whom Pliny used the term), lived a celibate existence and some castrated themselves in the service of the deity.

When the cults penetrated Christianity and brought the Easter system with them, the same ascetic traditions also entered the faith. The first Monastic, or the person who is credited with the foundation of Christian Monasticism, is Anthony. Athanasius is credited with writing his life, and he became famous perhaps from that fact in the fourth century.

There has been some dispute as to the exact timing of his life, and some have even disputed his existence. The fact of the matter is, that the early Monastics were ascetics who did not live communally, as it is now known. They lived in cells, as part of the same complex.

The life style slowly became more popular and, in medieval times, the monastic orders assumed real power and eventually, in the twelfth century, removed the deaconesses and the married clergy from the monasteries and the church clergy entirely.

Gnosticism

What is the meaning of Bythus?

A: Bythus is the name for the Gnostic abyss but like all things they seems to have placed a twist on it such that it existed as the abyss of Deity proceeding from the invisible and nameless heights of the perfect pre-existing Aeon which they called the first principle that is Progenitor and Bythus.

Hippolytus (vi, 37) speaks of the Gnostic Valentinus who he says: He whom Plato spoke of a king of all, this man postulated as father and Bythus and first principle of all the aeons.

The Valentinians held that to be a process of self-limitation. The Bythus evolved a series of pairs of aeons, male and female, any pair of which may be called the pleroma. The Aeon was a unity, which manifested itself as a plurality.

Later Gnosticism exhibits them as a confederacy of Divine existences proceeding in pairs from the supreme Father, each pair originating another, descending in dignity as it becomes more remote from the source (ERE, Aeons, Vol. 1, p. 149).

The doctrines of the Syzygies had its counterpart in Mithraism also and both are derived from the Babylonian system, which Gnosticism softened (cf. ERE, ibid). In this sense they also have their counterparts in Japanese Shintoism, Mahayana Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, the Platonic Ideas, Philos Powers and the Stoic Logoi and so on.

The Shinto system set forth in the Kojiki rests on pure pantheism. As Izanagi and Izanami the male and female principles are personified and depicted as grossly lustful. These procreative Aeons are derived from abstract deities.

In the Northern School of Adibuddha, the five Buddhas of contemplation (Vairochana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi) emanate the five future Buddhas of contemplation, the source of the five worlds, which successively make up the universe. They became the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether or orthodox Brahmanism. The Zoroastrian has a similar but twofold system of aeons in the kingdoms of Light and of Darkness. Ahuramazda heads the kingdom of Light and Ahriman heads the kingdom of Darkness.

The Gnostic Pleroma was also a name given to the whole series taken together which then stands to the Bythus in the feminine relation as Tiamat did to Apsu. However, Gnosticism never formed a homogenous body of opinions.

Hippolytus warns us that there were many varying opinions among them concerning the Bythus itself. Some thinkers held Bythus to be outside of the pleroma while others held him to be within it but separated from the rest by the Horus which was a personified boundary (cf. ERE, Vol. 1, pp. 54-55) and perhaps this reflects the Egyptian mysteries, as the socio-economic origins of Gnosticism, according to Green, lay in the Alexandrian system.

Some also deposed the Bythus from the head of the series and made him follow the first ogdoad. Some thought of him as unwedded, others as androgynous or asexual. Others gave him Sige as his consort and others the two powers Thought and Will.

The relation of Gnostic speculation on the Bythus is indicated in one sentence of Irenaeus (ap. Epiphaneus xxxii, 7) "For some say that he is unwedded and is neither male nor female, nor in fact, anything at all." Perhaps this is the reference in question.

In some ways he was portrayed in a quasi-Buddhist sense being exalted above all contrarieties: The Absolute identical with Nothing; the Being of whom even existence might not be predicated. It is from this Gnostic concept that the Mystics developed the thought process:

"I saw and knew the being of all things, the Byss and the Abyss, and the eternal generation of the Holy Trinity, the descent and original of the world and of all creatures through the Divine Wisdom" (Jacob Behmen, quoted by James, Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 411 and also ERE, ibid, p. 55).

How do you equate your Christian beliefs with your study of ancient cultures and the links between the ancient Middle East and South America? – What of Heaven and Hell?

A: There appears to be no conflict between what the Bible actually says and what the Scientists are finding on a daily basis. The conflict lies in what most modern Christians say it says.

For example we do not and have never believed in the doctrine of Heaven and Hell. That is not a Christian Doctrine. It came in from the Gnostics in the second century. Justin Martyr said in his Dialogue with Trypho aimed at the Jews on behalf of the Church in Rome ca 150-155 that is he came across people who said they were Christians and said that when they died they went to Heaven, do not imagine they are Christians.

This was the test of a true Christian and a false Christian then and it still is the test of a true Christian. Any one who says that when they die they go to heaven is not a true Christian. The doctrine of the soul and heaven and hell is a godless and blasphemous doctrine and has always been regarded as such by the true Christian Church, which Church we are.

The matter is examined in the papers The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95) and The City of God (No. 180). The Gnostic doctrines and history are also covered in the papers The Nicolaitans (No. 202) and Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183). You will also enjoy reading the papers The Nephilim (No. 154) and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

Circumcision

Should newborn sons of Christian parents be circumcised or is it unnecessary?

A: The practice of circumcision is perhaps one of the oldest rites of all civilisations. It is found among all tribes and areas (cf. Purification and Circumcision (No. 251)). Circumcision has a beneficial effect in hot desert climates in the prevention of disease. Aside from this effect, the original practice seemed to have a distinct relationship to the concept of rebirth and reincarnation. From the most ancient times, the foreskin of the circumcised male was placed in a location of some direct proximity to the totems of the circumcised males, either in rocks or trees or the like. From what we can now tell, it appears that the practice of circumcision is actually tied to the concept of the rebirth of the individual in the bodies of the descendants. This appears to have been carried over as a concept among all the ancient tribes. It has specific bearing on the concept of the lie in original sin, namely, thou shalt not surely die.

It appears that by giving the ordinance of circumcision to Abraham as a requirement of the eighth day (when clotting begins to occur), God was actually intervening and giving direct and corrective meaning to an existing pagan practice. God was saying, “I am your rock or totem and the object of your resurrection and continued life.” That it was to be done at the eighth day and not at puberty, removed it from the realm of the self existence and manhood of the individual and placed it on the level of the free gift of God as a member of the nation of Israel. God was striking at the lie of the soul and the reincarnation doctrines of the pagan or satanic teachings of the Sin and Ishtar systems (cf. the papers The Golden Calf (No. 222) and The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)).

In the early church the circumcision controversy arose where the so-called Hellenizing party rejected it and the Judaising party affirmed it (Acts 11:2; 15:1,5; 21:21). Paul had himself been circumcised and, under Jewish pressure, he circumcised Timothy (Phil. 3:5; Acts 16:3). He considered it a mark of divine favour of the nation (Rom. 3:1 ff.). However, in the case of Gentile converts, it was considered unessential (Acts 15:19 ff.; cf. Gal. 5:2-4). Paul regarded the presence or absence of physical circumcision as equally immaterial to the covenant between the adult male and God (Rom. 3:30f.; 4:9ff.; 1Cor. 7:18f.; Gal. 5:6; 6:12f.; Col. 3:11). By faith the Law is established and righteousness through faith. For they themselves that are circumcised do not keep the law, but attempt to glory in the flesh of we who do keep the law (Gal. 6:12ff.). For the only true circumcision is spiritual. In this teaching Paul reinforces Jeremiah (Jer. 4:4; 6:10; 9:26; cf. Deut. 10:16; 30:6). He allows for divergent procedures under different circumstances (Acts 16:3, Gal 2:1).

Non-Trinitarians or so-called Arian sects were in agreement with the Trinitarians on this matter. The Trinitarians or Catholics took power shortly after this and in 590 established the Holy Roman Empire. Eugene IV gave the official Roman Catholic pronouncement in the Bull Cantate Domino (4 Feb. 1441). He held that the requirements and ceremonies of the Law, however proper for the time, were abrogated by the coming of Christ and the sacraments of the NT. Thus, baptism was seen as replacing circumcision.

In the Coptic Church, baptism was not seen as replacing circumcision. When infant baptism was introduced, boys were baptised at 40 days old and girls at 80 days old. This procedure reflected exactly that of the purification legislation and circumcision for males remains general (ERE, vol. 4, p. 119). The Copts were part of the earliest Christian Church of North Africa from Egypt. They separated from the so-called Orthodox church ca. 451 as a result of the doctrines arising from Constantinople (381) and Chalcedon (451). It may be correctly argued from the evidence of the Copts, that baptism was not seen as replacing circumcision. While the Copts adopted infant baptism based on the male/female purification distinctions, the males were still circumcised, as was the practice in ancient Israel. Thus, the male and circumcision itself was seen as being the distinctive factor in the purification distinctions, which mirrored the biblical distinctions.

We can conclude from the early Coptic church practices, which were also practiced among Sabbatarian sects in Europe and Asia Minor, that circumcision for infants was considered essential as part of the nation of Israel and the Church. Only the adult Gentile males were not required to be circumcised, when they entered the Church as adults. Since the act of physical circumcision was to give way to the spiritual fulfillment of baptism and circumcision of the heart, and since infant baptism was not practised in the early church (cf. Repentance and Baptism (No. 52)), it followed that physical circumcision on the eighth day for newborn males was a sign of the nation of Israel as the Church. When in the Church, Gentiles had their children circumcised, as did everyone else. This practice was general and was not pronounced against officially in the Catholic system until the fifteenth century. We might deduce from the relationship of the seven days of purification and the activities of the circumcision of the eighth day that we are dealing with the plan of salvation. The seventh day of purification relates to the final millennial system and the purification of the earth. The eighth day relates to the final resurrection and the restoration of all flesh on the earth, as part of the nation of Israel and hence part of the City of God (cf. Rev. 21:1-3 and the paper The City of God (No. 180)).

Buddhism

What do you think about Buddhism? Can Buddhism and Christianity have the same goal?

A: Buddhism is a religion that is a negation. It denies the existence of God at the highest levels. It was an invention of a kshatryan knight Sidartha or Guatama in the sixth century BCE to explain the wheel of birth of the Aryan Hindus as was philosophy among the Greeks invented for the same purpose to explain it among the Hyperborean Celts of Britain and Europe.

As Christianity is completely God centred they cannot have anything other than transitory and superficial objectives in common. The origins of Buddhism are explained in the work Mysticism Chapter 7 Buddhism (No. B7_7).

Do you have any information on the Dalai Lama?

The life and details of Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama can be found at www.dalailama.com.

Dalai is a Mongolian word meaning "Ocean" and Lama is a Tibetan word meaning "Spiritual teacher" and hence they render that as Ocean of Wisdom. He is viewed as the 14th reincarnation of the person who was the first Dalai Lama.

There are many Lamas in Tibet of various ranks. They are chosen as children based on the doctrine of reincarnation and the notion that people are reincarnated according to the law of the Dharma. It is like a great credit/debit ledger that traps people into a mode of existence they allegedly deserve because of what they did in a past life.

I don´t see the chakras mentioned in the Bible, aren´t they important to know about?

A: The concept of the chakras is a physical problem to Buddhism and the sects influenced by them. The Bible does not deal with them because they are unimportant to salvation.

They can be measured by certain electro magnetic fields but they have no consequence in dealing with the plan of salvation and the body of Christ.

What about the aspect of healing? There are a lot of books on healing with the chakras involved.

A: The question of the healing is of faith. The healing of which you speak is of the Hindu and Buddhist systems.

How long will ye be of two minds? If Yahovah is God then follow Him but if Baal is God then follow him.

Hinduism

In what way is Hinduism ecumenical?

A: Hinduism is a polytheist structure, which is ecumenical only in the sense that it has incorporated deities into its pantheon as it deemed relevant to its own system. It does not tolerate other structures that conflict with its cosmology.

That is why it is increasingly hostile to Christian missions. Buddhism originated in India as a reaction to the rigid class and caste system of Hinduism. Islam came there under conquerors and was established because of that fact. The partition of India and the hostility caused by religious conflict is progressing towards thermonuclear war. It cannot be considered "ecumenical".

My Teacher says the Old Testament dates to 600 BC, but that it has ideas derived from the Rig Veda which is older. Conclusion, the authors of the Bible made it up based on previous ‘myths’. If I knew when the Dead Sea Scrolls date back to (he was mainly comparing Genesis) then I could tell him he was wrong. Do you know?

A: He is a closet Hindu. The Rig Veda was based on the Aryan Genesis Myths, which were taken into India ca. 1000 BCE.

The Triune God was taken into India ca 1700 BCE from Assyria, at the same time Israel under the patriarchs was in Egypt. Look at Wolperts, “A New History of India.” The dating for the Bible at 600 BCE is absolute drivel. Look at the paper The Bible (No. 164). It will give you the datings and structure. The Hindu Gods are characters from the Chaldean/Hebrew texts adopted from Ancestor worship.

I am an Indian and at present studying in the Indian School, Bahrain. I have the following questions:

1) Explain the utility of celebrating National religious festivals at home and in the schools?

2) Could you please tell me about a Hindu festival by Raksha Bandhan and explain why & how it is to be celebrated to make the children not only enjoy but understand the significance also?

A: Millennia ago men stopped keeping the festivals of God and developed systems of worship. The systems laid down by God were beneficial and men required these periods for rest and spiritual regeneration.

When the Aryans invaded India ca 1000 BCE they brought with them a structure of the explanation of creation based on the worship in the Middle East and established there a Sanskrit system based on the ancient Semitic or Chaldean languages.

The ancient figures in ancestral traditions became God through ancestor worship. Sheba or Shiva became the Hindu God. Noah or Nu became Seri Nu the God of money or wealth. The Nephilim became the Raksasas.

From this view, cults of the fallen host or demons, the female demons the Rakshanis were developed. Initially they were female demons and spirits of the wood. Then, and as batal, there were akin to the yoginis or rock spirits in animism as were the banasats. Chungu is another tree demon from the more primitive tribes in Indian animism.

The festivals founded around these animistic and substitutionary rites are used to replace the original festivals God had given to Nabi Nu or Noah when the earth was replenished. They are a secondary rite used to maintain mankind in the absence of the original true festivals of God abandoned by the Aryans before they invaded India and established the Hindu cast and religious system.

Now to the second part of your question.

Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu custom marking the love and affection between brothers and sisters. Raksha means "Protection," (derived from the concept of protection from the demons mentioned above) Bandhan means "bond". It is celebrated on 'Shravan sud Poornima' every year, according to the Hindu calendar. On this day, sisters tie a colourful 'Rakhi' on the wrists of their brothers and ask their brothers to protect them from calamities. It is believed that when Indra was going into a particular battle, Indrani tied a thread on his hand for his protection and success and thus this custom started. Allegedly, Raksha Bandhan is an occasion that depicts the bond of affection between brothers and sisters.

The origin of the Raksasas is explained in the paper The Nephilim (No. 154). For the original calendar of the Aryans look at the paper God's Calendar (No. 156).

Shamanism

How would you define a Shaman? I do not think we have that many left, but we are getting lots of Shamanic Practitioners. What makes someone a bonafide fulltime real Shaman?

A: The word Shaman is derived from the Russian based on the Tungusian saman. Originally and predominantly they are priests or priest doctors among the northern tribes of Asia. They were originally animistic and derived from the mysteries in the Middle East and Russian steppes. They formed the religious basis of the Uralic/Altaic peoples, which spread over northern Siberia and into Europe.

The linguistic groups that comprise the original structure encompass the Uralic Altaic groups including Finno Ugric, Hungarian/Magyar, Vogul and Manshi, Manchu/ Tungus, Manchurian, Mongol, Old Korean and Japanese. The forms spread into North America with the American Indians. They formed the basis of the animistic influences on Mahayana Buddhism.

The structure of Shamanism is covered excellently in Mirceau Eliade's Shamanism. The fundamental belief is that all the good and evil of life are brought about by spirits, who can be influenced only by the Shamans. This is applied to the North West American Indians and their medicine men who are Shamans along the Asian lines. The word to Shamanize means intransitively to perform the incantations of a shaman and tr. to imbue with Shamanistic beliefs (Oxford Universal Dictionary).

The Chinese recognised them but considered that to prophesy one needed to be possessed by a Shen. They were considered to lie. The Shen is related to the Chaldean word and hence the Arabic Djinn and hence a spirit or demon.

This was posted on the August Celebrations flyer at work: Special Chinese holiday in which legend says that during the 7th lunar month, souls are released from purgatory to roam the Earth. Is there such a Chinese holiday? I realize that the month of August really falls basically in the 5th lunar month but Cultural Diversity Committee posted in August for some reason.

A: This sounds very much like a Jesuit influenced tradition from the time of the early Roman Catholic influences. It certainly could not have come from the Islamic Hue Hue or Sabbatarians that preceded them.

The Festival to which you refer stems from the cult of ancestor worship. The sacrifices to the ancestors took place at the graves in spring and autumn and performed at the "Tablet of the deceased" on the occasion of the periodic festivals.

These were at the first, third and fifteenth of the First moon, The festival of "Clear-Bright" (approx. 6 April); the fifth of the Fifth moon, the fifteenth of the Seventh moon; the fifteenth of the Eighth moon; the first of the Tenth moon; The last day of the year; and on special occasions such as weddings (ERE, vol. 3, p. 731).

On the fifteenth day of the Seventh moon a special festival is held for the "hungry ghosts" who have no descendants to sacrifice to them. The customary offerings are made to them by the people generally and not altogether from benevolent motives. The offerings have the underlying theme of appeasing these "orphan" spirits who might otherwise injure the living.

The notion of purgatory is one that can only have been post Roman Catholic influence under the Jesuits. As a general rule the enlightened Chinese under Confucian influence, denied the efficacy of such sacrifices and the great commentator Chucius of the 12th century doubted the existence of spirits at all. The Hue Hue and Sabbatarians believed in the resurrection of the dead and denied spirits.

The influence is probably from early Shamanism as there is a view among Japanese shamans regarding the month of the dead. It was probably then reinforced post arrival by some opportunistic Jesuits hence the purgatory view in the notice to which you refer.

Freemasonry

Is Freemasonry a religion or just a secret (social) club for the boys?

A: Freemasonry is a religion. There are two branches of it: the York rite and the Scottish rite. Some lodges in Europe are not in fellowship with English speaking lodges. There are up to thirty-three levels with various other areas.

There are two lodges the Red Lodge and the Blue Lodge. The Blue lodge is the common lodge of fellowship and many people do not enter the Red Lodge at all. The Red Lodge is a hierarchy of secrets and the higher one goes the more secrets you are told. It is a religion at the higher levels. There are many books written on the subject.

Mithrasism

I have been reading lately about the Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras and also about a few other religious systems. I am finding that there seems to be a pattern in religion which has some similarities. Could you tell me why some of these things are so much alike in several religions?

A: They have their origin in the sun cults. Mithraism was the private all male form of the sun cults as sol invictus Mithra. The public form was sol invictus Elagabal. Women took part in the cults in the forms of the Mysteries of Isis and also of Attis and Adonis. Much of these were associated with the Assyro-Babylonian, which also spread via paganism as shamanism.

That is why the Mainstream Christian system worships the triune God and their festivals were all borrowed and are similar to paganism. They are all derived from the same Babylonian system. Look at the paper The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246) and The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

Seventh Day Adventists

I have heard that Ellen G. White made false prophecies and I was wondering if this is this true and what they are? The reason I ask is because I have some very dear friends in the Seventh Day Adventist church. I have attended their services before and although I don't agree with all their teachings I found nothing that would lead me to believe they are a cult. Also what is this about Michael the Arch Angel being Jesus this is something I heard in passing once in their service but not something which they dwelt on. Also I am aware of the false prophecies coming out of the Millerite movement of the mid 1800's this is not what I am talking about.

A: The doctrine of the Seventh Day Adventist Church until 1978 was that Christ was the Great Angel of the OT identified as Michael. Look at the papers The Angel of YHVH (No. 24) and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

Many of them still believe that Christ was Michael. They were undermined by the Trinitarians of the RC system with families planted in the church. They lost the true faith and understanding of the nature of God. Now they have millions who think they were always Trinitarians. Ellen G White was a false prophetess. She made serious errors in the millennial system because she was trying to produce a vegetarian end time cosmology and she had many serious Scriptures to overcome or ignore.

Her errors and false interpretations are covered in the papers The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95) and also Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) and also Wine in the Bible (No. 188).

Assyro-Babylonian

In an answer to a question regarding the calf you talked about the crescent moon and the ‘finger of Ashirat.’ Is this a beckoning finger for moon worshippers at the waning moon as seen in the sky at the time of the crescent or what is the usage? The crescent is on flags and is a very common symbol everywhere today. Why is that?

A: The Finger of Ashirat is an ancient part of the Assyro-Babylonian system of worship and time sequences. That system entered Egypt in the Mysteries of Osiris, Isis and Horus who are analogous to the Baal-Easter system. It is a reference to the crescent moon, and the crescent was seen to be a symbol of the goddess, Ashirat or Istar. It was like a finger, the crescent being the nail of the finger, beckoning the servants of Easter or Ashirat to service. It was in affect used as a determining date for deadlines and discipline, as we will see from the following concerning the finger of Ashirat.

It is fairly conclusive evidence also for the crescent, as used in the Middle East and in the observation system of the Jews, being derived from the pagan system after the fall of the Temple. Look now at the quote. From The Crescent and the Bull by Erich Zehren, page 190. Tell Ta’annek was unearthed in 1901 under the direction of Ernst Sellin. Certain cuneiform inscriptions were unearthed, including letters to the King of Taanak, one Ishtarjashar.

A passage from an Egyptian General reads:

“All that thou hearest write to me from thence, that I may understand it. If the finger of Ashirat show itself, I would wish to take heed of it and obey. And do thou report unto me a sign and the matter thereof.”

“How does Ashirat SHOW her finger? Ashirat is analogous to Ishtar and Inanna and her Finger could only be looked for in the sky, where a ‘finger’ may be considered visible in the shape of the crescent moon towards the end of the month. The Egyptian general’s letter, accordingly, indicated a date. When the crescent moon approaches Venus he will expect a report.” “This communication, then, is a perfectly ordinary request for action by a certain time.”

“This letter is from the middle of the second millennium BCE, about half way between Abraham and Moses”, page 191. From this we see that most of the world is tied into the Babylonian mysteries in their religious system even today.

Do you know where the concept of Mother Goose and the golden egg came from? Are they harmless children's stories or do they have other meanings.

A: The association of Geese and Immortality and the Mother Goddess comes from ancient Egypt. The pharaoh or king was not free to do things as we might suppose with kings. Every aspect of their day was regulated even the hours they might have sex. In like manner they could only eat veal and goose (Frazer, The Golden Bough, iii, 13).

When a Pharaoh died geese were sacrificed. Each pharaoh was considered Osiris as were the normal people in the cult of the dead and the person who died was termed Osiris so and so. The Mother Goddess Nut was the mother of Osiris. Thus the association is made. The goddesses Isis and Nephthys were present as were Anubis and Horus and the gods of the Egyptian legends gathered around the corpse. The two female mourners were there to represent the goddesses.

Frazer states the geese were slaughtered at the funeral (his citation is misplaced at vi, 15). Osiris was the god of the resurrection in the same way Attis was also associated with this in the West and Adonis in the East. This dying god of vegetation was somehow associated from this practice with the Shrove at Shrovetide and the Shrovetide bear in Europe. The straw of the shrove was used to make the geese lay more eggs as a fertility symbol (ibid viii, 326).

Variations on this theme are then taken over the years to result in the Mother goddess and the goose symbol. The Swan was also sacred to Apollo and has a similar connotation in Europe being the same family as the goose.

Thus we are back at the fertility cults and the Easter system (see The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)). There is also an associated story of relevance and I suggest you look at the paper The Nicolaitans (No. 202)).

What is the importance of the Assyrian Eponym List?

A: In Assyriology, this is the list where the Assyrian functionaries gave their name to a specific year of office. Thus, the list of names is equivalent to the list of dates calculated from them.

When reading through the account of Gideon in Judges 7 and 8 might Oreb and Zeeb be a representation of the 2 fallen cherbuim? Is there something in the meaning of their names that gives us an indication of who or what they might represent?

A: Oreb (SHD 6157) “'arob” is derived from the root word for mosquito and hence “to swarm” and thus is applied to various flies or a swarm. Thus, a prince of Oreb can be deduced as a Lord of the Flies, which was also the God of Ekron.

Is there any connection between religion and the Mardi Gras? There seems to be a connection when I hear of the observance of days like, Fat Tuesday. Carnivals in general, seem to be associated with religious observances. During January, there is another celebration called Winter Carnival, and then there is the ever-popular Easter Parade.

A: Yes, There is a connection between the Mardi Gras and religion. It is the ancient carnival associated with the Shrove. The Fat Tuesday comes from the ancient Shrove Tuesday. Originally Ash Wednesday had nothing to do with the Lenten Festival. It was the mourning for the shrove, which was burnt and the ashes represent the burnt Shrove.

The title of Ash Wednesday is the caput jejunii. There is a liturgical difference between the caput jejunii and the "initium quadragesimae" the title of the first Sunday in Lent.

Originally when the Easter system was introduced, the festival of the dying god began the 36 day fast on the Monday after the first Sunday in Lent (ERE, art ‘Shrove-Tide, Shrove Tuesday’, xi, 477). After the time of Gregory I called the Great, and the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, Ash Wednesday became the first of the four supplementary fast days with the title "caput jejunii." The week of this period relates to the Carnival or Mardi Gras. The shrove system related to and still relates to the week of the Carnival and the term "Carniprivium" is given to Quinquagesima Sunday.

The customs practiced in Scotland show the links with the "Bacchanalian customs of Shrove tide with the Saturnalian licence of Christmas" (ERE, p.478). Originally Ash Wednesday was the mourning for the dying God and the death of the shrove at carnival.

Frazer has extensive notation on the custom in The Golden Bough at iv. 220-221, and 226ff. It is or was until this century carried on throughout Europe. It was not an original Christian custom and takes its origins from the pagan customs that were taken on with the Easter system in the second century and which were not fully harmonised until the beginning of the seventh with Gregory.

Ash Wednesday has nothing to do with the Bible system. It was originally the memorial of the death of the Bacchanalian shrove. Thus the Carnival is the Last day of the Shrove and Fat Tuesday is the last day before the Shrove is burnt on Ash Wednesday, which has no Christian function or purpose.

The festivals all have origin in the Mystery cults and lead into the Easter system of Baal-Easter. You will see the origins in the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) and also The Golden Calf (No. 222).

At children's birthday parties and even some adult parties such as baby showers, the pinata seems to be used more and more to add to the entertainment. This word does not appear in my dictionary. Do you know the origin of this game?

A: Originally the Pinata was made of a figure of a mermaid although it is not always a mermaid now. Sometimes it is a six-pointed star. This star of the god is derived from the same source as the mermaid. The Mermaid is the symbol of the goddess Deceto or Ceto or Kato who is Atargatis associated with the Philistines and the cult of Dagon as well as the Baal-Easter system.

The fish was sacred to Atargtis or Derceto as was the dove. The practice of collecting water for the Temple from her pools was derived from this cult and hence holy water is derived from the Bal-Easter system. This is also the origin of eating fish on Friday being the day of the death of the god either Attis or Adonis or Osiris depending upon area.

The mermaid was beaten with sticks to break the pinata or parcel of seeds, which she had in order that the seeds would fall to the earth and so reproduce. That is why the pinata has sweets in them representing the seeds.

In ancient times they placed humans in skins and beat them. Often the rites were involved with human sacrifice. The Bacchanalian shrove is derived from this practice as is Ash Wednesday being originally nothing to do with Lent but rather the burning of the Shrove from the week prior and which died on Shrove Tuesday. The Shrovetide bear was beaten also in Europe on this day.

The stories concerning these practices can be seen in the papers The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); The Pinata (No. 276); David and Goliath (No. 126).

I recently met someone who told me about this "religion". It is called Tantra. I went and looked at the website. What I gather from talking to this person and the website itself, this is the belief in finding a spiritual connection in sexual relations and desire. I believe they teach that one can find complete satisfaction in this...meaning sexually and spiritually. But doesn't this go completely against what God tell us?

A: Yes it does. Tantric Yoga follows this line of reasoning. It is not new. Sexual relations have been the basis of the sun cults and mysteries for millennia. It underpins all of the Baal-Easter system as it is a perversion of the fifth commandment and the family structure.

Look at the papers Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258) and Law and the Seventh Commandment (No. 260) and the Law Series in general: see The Law of God (No. L1).

Zoroastrianism

I am interested in know how and where I can find a representation (image or drawing) of the zoroastrian spirit Ahriman (if there is one anywhere).

A: Yes this is a not an easy problem. There is a reasonably early carving of Ahriman being trampled under foot by Ahura Mazda or Ohrmazd. It is in the "Iranian Valley of the Kings" Naqsh-i Rustam.

It is a presentation of the King Ardashir I (224-241 CE) being presented with the ring of sovereignty by Ohrmazd. In the earlier Achaemenid seals God was never shown in human form and the presentation of the powers of the universe were seen as forces and thus portrayed by symbols. There is a photo of the Ardashir relief in the work Mythology An Illustrated Encyclopaedia, Black Cat, on p. 43.

The later portrayal has Ahriman in human form with a serpent headdress. There has been some recent archaeology concerning Ardashir and his reliefs in Iran and thus Oxford and Cambridge should have some better up to date photos of the later portrayals of Ahriman and Ahura Mazda.

Christian Mystical Doctrines

What is your perspective on the Preterist doctrines which seem to be coming in vogue of late? I do not wish to shape your answer, but I would view these notions that Christ returned at 70 AD as a revisionist heresy which has no basis in Scripture. What is your view?

A: Assuming you mean here the Preterist notion that Christ has returned, or is active on the planet, the argument that he returned at 70 CE is an absurd version of this. The Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to have another bizarre version of it as well from 1914.

The most disturbing of all is the notion that Christ is ruling as the Roman Catholic Church, and has been since it was established. This is held to be the millennium of Revelation 20, even though it is well over that. If the Holy Roman Empire of 590-1850 (or 1260 years) was the Kingdom of God on earth, it would be better to choose death.

Christ says that if they tell you they are the Messiah, or tell you that He is here or there, do not believe them (Mk. 13:21). We will all see him arriving on the clouds in great power and glory and we will be gathered together (Mk. 13:26-27). When He gets here we will see this planet run for a thousand years according to God’s Law, and people are going to learn obedience by cause and effect under Deuteronomy 28 (see The Blessings and the Curses (No. 75) The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95)).

In books such as the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and also Bloodline of the Holy Grail some very important and interesting points are raised relating to the New Testament and religion as it exists in general. Can you explain to me why in general terms their ideas and concepts are wrong and yet you believe that your version of religious history is right?

A: Why should we believe any of it? What makes the Bible so important? What about the Gita and other texts? Let us start from the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. He created mankind. His creation has purpose. If it has no purpose then God acts from caprice. One could probably argue that we are simply an aesthetic decoration in the Milky Way galaxy. We do not believe that and the ancients did not believe that either.

God allegedly has a purpose for mankind. That purpose involves judgment and the life after death. If we are to be judged we must be judged against a rational standard. That must be consistent and unchanging in its application and rule. God is immutable and Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

God has a moral and ethical obligation to reveal His will and the standard against which we are to be judged. Otherwise he is arbitrary and in respect of persons. Also the law must be based on some other criteria than the fact that he issued it from whim. If He issued it from whim he is simply another tyrant.

Of all the records we have, the Bible is the most consistent and the one that has been backed by historical record and positive miraculous activity. God revealed His will through His servants the prophets. We have evidence of that intervention and divine prophecy coming to fruition.

The rule of the Bible is that all prophecy must be according to the Law and the Testimony (Isa. 8:20). All works of the Bible have been claimed as prophecy and acknowledged as a divine works by the body of Israel and the priesthood. This has extended to all the churches even those who reject the Law of God in its application today.

Books such as the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail do not claim to speak for God and do not follow the law and the Testimony. Thus they lack basic credentials to be considered inspired or God breathed as the apostles of the NT explain the OT and Scripture generally.

In reading works such as these one should weigh each one for consistency with the Bible record and then be forced to reject them because they are not only at variance but on such matters that are critical to any understanding of the plan of God. This standard can be applied to the Koran as well as the other works.

When the standard is applied to what the Koran or Qur'an actually says, as opposed to what Muslim clerics claim it says we find no variance with the text of the Bible that renders it false. However, were we to follow what modern Islam claims for it, we would be seriously in error.

Thus we are forced to evaluate all writings by what is claimed for them by the oracles themselves and by the witnesses and scribes and also by the interpretation and consistency of the works among the body of Scripture as revealed by God to the prophets. In the same way anything we write must also be according to the Law and to the Testimony or there is no light in us.

That is why all items published by our people are scrutinised by the body of the church and corrected if such inconsistency is found to be evident. If you find a text of our people that is at variance with the Law of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ and the prophets please draw that to our attention and we will correct it, or explain why it is not incorrect. We will provide explanation assuming of course the person is raising a rational objection.

What is the evidence that the tomb found in the 9th century at Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain, (Galicia) was, as claimed, the tomb of St. James?

A: James, bishop of Jerusalem and brother of Christ was martyred in 63 CE and was succeeded by his cousin Symeon the son of Maria and Clophas. The likelihood of the Desposyni allowing his carcass to be removed to Galicia is zero.

James was patron saint of Galicia and it was under his banner that the people of Spain began to drive back the Muslims. The order of St James of Compostella dates from a later date and it was not in fact even the original seat of the order. The order was in two places originally in Leon of Leon and Ucles of Castille.

The knights of Santiago had possessions in both of those kingdoms but Ferdinand II of Castile and Alphonse VIII of Castile in bestowing the order set the conditions that the seats of the order should be in their respective states. The long dispute ended in 1230 when Ferdinand III united both crowns. Then Ucles of Cuenca was regarded as the headquarters.

The shrine of St James was protected by them. The necessity of developing shrines of patron saints and the religious fervour in the wars in Spain developed their own momentum for having a relic or two and the body of what was the patron saint of Spain was a logical production.

I'm interested in what you have to say about DNA Mapping. I have read the comments of scientists from many books, too numerous to go into here. This sums up my impression of all that: And now WE know......so watch out God! It looks like man uses God only when it's useful to do so.

A: There was only one race the human race and now we can demonstrate that fact perfectly. The monster of racism may be put to rest only to be replaced by a more horrific threat to human freedom. The genetic defects of families and tribes can be isolated and even normal human families destroyed as a concept.

This is a later doctrine of demons, which makes the forbidding of marriage even more real. Look at the paper The Doctrines of Demons of the Last Days (No. 48) and also Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183).

The mapping of the human genome will bring Genesis to life. The statement they will be as elohim now is clear. That is why Babel was destroyed and the languages were confounded.

When looking at a list of Church Fathers I noticed Hermes, who is this individual and what did he believe and/or teach?

A: The primary Hermes is not a church father as such. He is mentioned by the Ante Nicene Fathers in passing because of his views. He is called Hermes Trismegistus. He was held to have been the fifth Hermes or Mercury that slew Argus and on that account he fled into Egypt. The Egyptians call him Thoth and name their first month after him, which equates to September.

He built the town of Hermopolis and is worshipped at Phenae. He was a monotheist teaching in Egypt the unnameable god. He is mentioned in the ANF at vols 1:289; VII: 15, 210, 215. The second Hermes was a Messalian or Eustathian. Epiphanius says the sect originated in the time of Constance but Theodoret says they started in the days of Valentian.

The Post Nicene Fathers Series II vol XIV at pp. 240 ff has a note about the sect. There was a catacomb of Hermes excavated a century ago on the Via Salaria Vetus beyond Porta Pinciana (CE vol. II, p. 419, 517). Little is known of him save that he appears to have been a martyr about 119 CE. The Fourth Century Liberian catalogue mentions him as being buried in the Cemetery of S. Basilla. The fourth century subterranean basilica was raised above the tomb. Adrian I (772-95) removed the body of Hermes to the city. The Christian origin of the catacombs of Hermes and the remains of ss Peter and Hyacinth found there are attributed to Guiseppe Marchi 21 March 1845 (CE, Vol. IX, p. 643).

Cults are often thought to have hidden agendas and to use mind control to keep their members faithful. What is a cult? Are they all necessarily as described above? If not how come 'cult' has this tag?

A: Cult is derived from Cultus and means to worship. The largest Christian cult is the Roman Catholic Church. It has developed its pejorative meaning by mainstream Christian systems applying it to smaller groups and denigrating them for believing differently or refusing to follow the mainstream trend.

This is normal in history and the main Christian system has repeatedly killed any in disagreement with them seeing religion as politics. The Cult function has been examined in the paper The Cult Mentality (No. 74). The persecution of the Sabbath-keeping church as a cult has been constant since the Sunday cults took over as the majority Christianity. Look at the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

The Holocaust was to exterminate all law keeping Bible believers from Europe this century. It almost succeeded. At present there are some stranger things happening to destroy small groups. Some small groups are also committing suicide.

A group in Uganda recently broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and allegedly said it wanted to restore the Law of God. Then its members were found locked and nailed into the church building and which was then set on fire by its leaders. That was odd to say the least.

Waco was labelled as a whacky cult but we find now that some extra ordinary things happened there that have troubled a great many Americans. Mainstream Christians have killed smaller groups who disagree with them by the most bizarre and terrible means over the centuries. Look at the book Sabbatarians in Transylvania (CCG Publishing 1998.)

Christianity Creed

In previous questions you referred to the “R Document.” Could you please explain a little more on what that is? Who wrote it? About what the time frame? Is there a web page or something that has a translated copy of it so we could read it?

A: The R document is the earliest known copy of the creed of the church, from which the Apostles Creed was constructed, or rather forged because it has nothing to do with the apostles.

Herbert Thurston reproduced the contents of it in his article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia article on the creed. It shows clearly the church in Rome, at least as late as the end of the second century, called itself the Holy Church and not the Catholic Church. It was Unitarian with a subordinate Christ and believed in the Resurrection of the Dead. From the reconstructions of Tertullian, the Holy Spirit was the power of God and not a person.

National Religious Systems

I read the comments on the Croatia concentration camps and the Vatican. I had great difficulty not thinking about the events. Granted I am a German Catholic by birth but the gross breach of the Second Great Commandment is beyond belief. Besides fasting and praying for the world's repentance, and healing of the people, host and planet; and of course obeying the One True God what else can one do?

A: What is more horrifying is that there seems to be no real acknowledgment from these people that they actually did anything wrong. We have evidence on oath in courts of law under war crimes from these Franciscan priests. One admitted to personally killing 44,000 people himself. Yet we have priests on world forums still denying that it actually happened.

There were almost 15000 concentration and extermination camps in Europe. The Jews have done us no service with their portrayal of the system as being simply a Jewish Holocaust.

The aim was to get rid of every non Trinitarian and especially Sabbath-keeper from Europe. It was a combined effort of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran systems. Up to 18 million people were murdered. It took the combined effort of the Roman Catholic/Lutheran system in Europe to do it. The first concentration camp was handed over by the SA to the Lutheran Church in December 1932. That is ten years before the alleged 1942-45 Holocaust period.

This is like the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa. Without truth there can be no reconciliation. Without Roman Catholicism acknowledging what they did and where their system came from there can be no repentance.

This is not simply the Holocaust over three years in Europe. As you can see the extermination started in Africa at the beginning of the century. However the Inquisitions started centuries ago.

Look at the paper The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268). Look also at the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

The Last Inquisition was in the Papal States between 1823 and 1946. 200,000 people were sentenced to death or the galleys. 1.5 million people were placed under constant surveillance. There was a gallows at virtually every corner. People were tried in Latin and they had no defence and did not know the substance of the charges against them. The Jesuit historian the late Malachi Martin gives the details in his work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church, pp. 250-254ff. When the people held the plebiscite as to their remaining with the papal system or becoming part of the republic, of the few left who were allowed the vote over 130, 000 voted to join the Republic and only 3000 odd wished to remain.

The Trinitarian bishops and clergy last attempted mass extermination in Rwanda in 1994 where they organised, identified, and paid to have over 900,000 people killed and perhaps as many as double that figure.

We have to return to the Living God in prayer and fasting and repent of our sins and of our heresies and our idolatry. We have to get the First Great Commandment of the Law straight before we can proceed in the Second Great Commandment in details but before we can get the First Great Commandment right we have to love the truth and develop a genuine desire to love all men.

If we do not love our neighbour whom we have seen how can we love God whom we have not seen. You have taken the first step in the long path to the restoration.

The Scots did not come from Scotland originally. Where is the oldest known excavated site of their origins and remains and how did they get to Scotland?

A: The Scots have the same racial background as the Irish. This of course means that the Scots were (are) Celts. Going one step back from Spain there seems to be a connection with Georgia in the Caucasus.

The word Iberia (cf. the Latin Iberi) the country of the Iberi, comes from the Greek word Iberes, which was used for the two people. One was the people in Spain and the other Iberians, who were an Asiatic people near the Caucasus.

The Godelians were sons of Japheth but the name Iberi appears to be a Greek form of the Semitic. The Bible calls the original inhabitants of Spain Godelians from the sons of Godel. These Iberians are considered to be the ancestors of the Basque.

Ancient Iberia in Asia was the area that approximates what is now Georgia. Iberian is also a Middle English name for the Basque language also (see Oxford Universal Dictionary).

The furthest point east we have found their remains is in the area of Urumqi in the Tien Shan in the Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu) of North Western China.

Their mummies were found with their dress and material intact. They were wearing the blue and brown hunting tartans even then and the old plaid tartans with the black and the red and white cross-checked stripes were all present. The men were up to six foot six inches in height and the women were up to six feet in height. They were all blond haired (and blue eyed?).

A textile expert has written a work titled the Mummies of Urumqi. It covers the aspects of the clothing and has photos of the mummies. The Chinese found them and sat on the discovery for a long time until a visitor was allowed to stumble on them by some Chinese academics who wanted the discoveries given some publicity.

Is there a difference between Celts and Hyperborean Celts? I've heard both terms used but don't understand if they are one and the same or two different groups.

A: The term was used by the Greeks to refer to the Celts who were in the north or "above the North (e.g. Wind)." They were said to live on an island in the north and thus we are dealing with Britain.

These Celts were known to the Greeks who devised Philosophy as a way of liberating themselves from this wheel of rebirth the Celts had burdened the world with in the First Millennium BCE.

The story of them has not fully been written and perhaps we can do that soon. Look at the papers The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268); The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39) and The Golden Calf (No. 222). Look also at the web www.Abrahams-Legacy.org.

What do you know about the Gaia theory? Is it true? What is your opinion? Are there any artworks or poems or anything from religions that foretold the occurrence of this concept?

A: The Gaia hypothesis is developed philosophically from Parmenides and the structure of the one. Plato develops this and the structure is examined in Proclus' Commentary on Plato's Parmenides.

The Mother Goddess or Earth Mother theory is a pantheist structure, which finds its roots in animistic shamanism. It is now being developed into Process Theology along the Kyoto School as formed under Hartsehorne and Whitehead.

The variants on New Age Theology seek to develop it as an opposing theory to the Creation under a Father figure as God. The aim is to make the divine pantheist and immanent. It is a very old theory based on error both philosophical and theological. It forms now in theories of the structure of the universe from the Big Bang as expounded say by Hawking and perhaps Penrose.

What does the word Tara mean in connection to religion?

A: The name Tara is Irish and refers to the Sacred Hill of Tara in Ireland where the stone said to be Jacob's pillar stone from Bethel was brought via Egypt and Spain to Ireland ca 700 BCE and placed there. The word tara (SHD 8652) as a doorkeeper is also derived from this sense.

The Kings were crowned on it from that time. The stone was held to have been removed there and taken to Scone in Scotland by Fergus when he established the Scottish monarchy. The dates given are fictitious. It was taken to Westminster Abbey by Edward I in 1297.

All the kings and Queens of England have been crowned on it since that time. It is held to mark the true Kings of Israel. Recently it was returned to Scotland.

Tara is the name of the ancient seat of the kings of Ireland. It comes from the Chaldean meaning a door and hence a palace: hence gate or mouth. Thus it is the site of the kings. Both words are used in these senses in the Bible

Tara also refers to an eastern system of the goddess Tara, which is covered in the work by Cox, Mysticism, CCG, 2001.

What is the philosophical significance of chaos theory to science and religion?

A: Chaos theory is based on the premise that there is no defined order in the universe. The universe reacts rather than is influenced by any order. Undefined order is not chaotic, it is simply undefined. This theory has profound implications for religion as it means there is no God to order the structure. Thus there is not purpose to the structure.

From this we get a relative morality. What ever is expedient is ethical. There are no moral absolutes. With Science we have a series of laws, which are based on order. The Laws of Thermodynamics are prime in this regard.

This aspect is examined in the work Creation: From Anthropomorphic Theology to Theomorphic Anthropology (No. B5). Objections to Chaos theory are found in the work of Scientists like Hawking and Penrose.

The Philosophy of Causation is also concerned with these aspects. Causation is Singularist as is shown from Creation ibid. Thus it is not supervenient and certainly not chaotic. The decay of K Mesons would indicate that this is an incorrect theory. See also Creation (ibid.). Phase space volume selection at 10 to 10 to 123 also opposes it (ibid.). It is written: Only a fool says in his heart there is no God.

What is the “Toronto Blessing” and where did it originate?

A: It originated in Toronto Canada. People are subjected to an hysterical mindset in their services and they are touched on the head and fall down in ecstatic states or variations on the theme. It is a charismatic Pentecostal doctrine associated with the other doctrines of uttering gibberish and all that entails.

It has been examined in the papers: The Tongues Question (No. 109); Tongues Were to Cease When? (No. 182); The Toronto Blessing, Hysteria and Demon Possession (No. 149).

What do you think of the ancient Sumerian text that talked about a flood and “The tablet describes a huge boat commanded by a king named Ziusudra, who was preserving vegetation and the seed of humankind”? Do you think that maybe God commanded someone else to build a boat like Noah? Also is there any ancient text in Hebrew that has been found? If yes, is that true that the name of God is written YHWH?

A: Yes, the text is very interesting. Ziusudra is the Sumerian form of the name. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” gives the Mesopotamian form: “Utnapishtim” (termed the faraway). The Greek form was “Xisouthros.” They are all versions of the story of Noah.

In “The Epic of Gilgamesh” they have him praying to Sin, the moon god. This is the origin of the Anglo Saxon word for sin. (Look at the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222).) This work has the most detail.) The dimensions of the ark are stylised. In “The Epic of Gilgamesh” the families of the workers are taken aboard as well.

In the Sumerian text, of which you speak, Ziusudra is prostrating himself before Anu and Enlil, the Sumerian deities. This text also gives the creation epic and the creation of the “blackheaded people” (a term for the Babylonians and also for the Chinese in their texts, and here meaning the world populace as a whole) and preceded the creation of the animals. The flood was seven days and swept over the five cult centres of the earth, which had been placed under the gods by the council of the gods in heaven.

The accounts are more or less stylised versions of the flood written around their ancient deities. Nevertheless, they show a detailed concept of the council of the elohim and the similarity of the flood story and purpose. They are versions of the same story of Noah. The Hebrew version is not YHWH but YHVH. There was no w in the Hebrew. Vav is pronounced as a quiescent w but is written V. The early texts were without vowels. Thus YHVH is the correct form of the text. We have the “Lachish Ostracon,” which is from the time of Jeremiah. The modern translations by Albright render it as Yahweh. The Elephantine texts translated by Ginsberg show the root form was not Yah (written Jah in English) but Yaho and so the text is Yahovah and not Yahweh. It is written YHVH in classical Hebrew. The documents are all in the texts by James B Pritchard The Ancient Near East..., Princeton, 1958.

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Contents

Circumcision