At the time of the formation of Christianity there were about thirty Gospels, and over 200 other books which were considered. The writings chosen by the Catholics at the Council of Nicea were, according to Christian scholars, alledgedly written 40 to 70 years after the death of Jesus. Secular scholars say much later, around 200 years after the death of Jesus. All eye witnesses would have been dead by the time of any writings.
The first writing of the story surrounding the life of Jesus was the Book of Mark. Mark does not claim to be an eyewitness of the events nor a disciple of Jesus, Mark was allegedly a disciple of Peter.
Matthew copied about 90% of the Book of Mark (600 verses out of 660). If he was an eye witness he would not have copied the whole Book of Mark.
Luke also copied the Book of Mark, about 50% of the Book. Luke does not claim to be eye witnesses nor to be a disciple of Jesus. Luke was allegedly a disciple of Paul.
The Christian “Word of God” is mostly copied,
and then what is written is by people who were not disciples of Jesus,
and then these writings the very earliest possible according to the Christian scholars were written 40 to 70 years after the death of Jesus.
Altered
Many scholars believe that the Gospels were originally independent works written in Greek by unknown authors. And they were repeatedly altered over time.
Christians altered the original text three or four times, or even more, with the intention of thus being able to destroy the arguments of their critics.
Celsus, last half of 2nd century
It is an obvious fact today that there is much diversity among the [Gospel] manuscripts, due either to the carelessness of the scribes, or the perverse audacity of some people in correcting the text, or again to the fact that there are those who add or delete as they please, setting themselves up as correctors.
Christian Theologian Origen, 3rd century
Not long after [Jesus] ascension into heaven several histories of his life and doctrines, full of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were composed by persons whose intentions perhaps were not bad, but whose writings discovered the greatest superstition and ignorance. Nor was this all; productions appeared which were imposed upon the world by fraudulent men, as the writings of the holy apostles.
Ecclesiastical History, Von Mosheim 1810
It is certain that the New Testament was not written by [Jesus] himself, nor by his apostles, but a long while after them, by some unknown persons, who lest they should not be credited when they wrote of affairs they were little acquainted with, affixed to their works the name of the apostles, or of such as were supposed to have been their companions, asserting that what they had written themselves was written according to these persons to whom they ascribed it.
The Digenesis, Robert Taylor 1873
Although he was dealing with fewer manuscripts [New Testament] than we have today, Philip Shaff in Comparison to the Greek Testament and the English Version concluded that only 400 or the 150,000 variant readings [New Testament] caused doubt about the textual meaning, and only 50 of these were of great significance.
Josh McDowel, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, 1979
What? 50 variants with major doubts as to the material meanings of the verses?
How about the 400 manuscripts that caused doubt as to their meanings?
And didn’t he say 150,000 Variant readings of the New Testament?
And this is offered as evidence to the authenticity of these manuscripts being the “word of God?”
Make 50 Copies
Constantine controlled the copying and distribution of the New Testament Bible. He commissioned the writing of fifty Bibles (331 C.E. overseen by Eusebius of Caesarea). They all were the Catholic's chosen "New Testament" books. There were no Old Testament books copied and included. This was a large undertaking in those days. These copies were master copies from which all other New Testament Bibles were to be copied from.
As late as 450 CE, Theodore of Cyrrhus said that there were at least 200 different gospels circulating in his own diocese. Even the Catholic Encylopedia now admits that the “idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning … has no foundation in history.” The Roman philosopher Celsus, witness to the falsification of Christian writings already in the second century, said the same of the revisionists,
Some of them, as it were in a drunken state producing self-induced visions, remodel their Gospel from its first written form, and reform it so that they may be able to refute the objections brought against it. .... Celsus
The Catholic Encylcopedia concedes that;
“In all the departments forgery and interpolation as well as ignorance had wrought mischief on a grand scale.””
Multiple copying RE Matthew, Mark, Luke
Matthew copied about 90% of the Book of Mark (600 verses out of 660).
The “virgin” is revered more than Jesus by most Catholics all around the world. They will typically have a large statute of her in their house and no anything of Jesus. Many times they put a food offering at her feet. The most said prayer by the Catholics is the “Hail Mary”, (No..No, it’s not a football pass).
As far back as 200 CE it was said that Jesus was not born of a virgin. Ebionites agree (source=St Irenaeus, Heresies 1:26:1 2).
The oldest story in the world is of a virgin mother and a special newborn baby.
What??? There were others that were also born of a virgin???
In asian minor Attis was born of a virgin, Cybele.
In Syria, Adonis’ virgin mother is Myrrha.
In Alexandria Aion was born of the virgin Kore.
Marianune the Semitic God-Mother and Queen of Heaven Aphrodite-Mari
the Syrian version of Ishtar Juno the Blessed virgin
The Moerae or trinity of Fates
In Greece, Dionysus was born of a mortal virgin Semele, she wishes to see Zeus then is mysteriously impregnated by one of his bolts of lightning.
In ancient Egypt the priests claimed that Queen Hatshepset was the offspring of the god Amon and a mortal mother.
Romulus founder of Rome was born of a virgin, a vestal Priestess and the god of Mars. (Ben Zion Bokser Judaisim and the Christian Predicament ; 1966, pg 254)
And that is just naming a few…
I guess Jesus wasn’t the first to be born of a virgin.
Diana Lucifera, the morning star goddess, was brought into the Catholic Church as the mother of Mary, named Anna or Dinah.
Mary Ascends to Heaven
Mary didn’t die!!!
Mary bodily ascended to heaven. In heaven she is honored as the “Mother of God.” In the exact same way Semele, the human mother of Dionysus ascended to heaven and is honored as an immortal just like her son God Dionysus.
The festival of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is held in August close the same time as the Goddess of the Mysteries and have completely taken over their Pagan festival. The pagan statues of Isis holding the divine child is exactly like the depictions of Mary and child typically referred to as Madonna and child. Certain French Cathedrals in the middle ages had statutes of the black virgin Isis and child displayed and the Christians thought it was Mary and baby Jesus and were praying to the statutes.
The Three Marys
The early Christian tradition is that there were the three women that were the first witnesses of the empty tomb and the resurrected Jesus. The three women were Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ companion, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. The known writer Celsus, a pagan critic, acknowledges this in his writings.
Later sources says there were three Marys, were Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ companion, Mary the mother of James, and Mary the sister of Jesus. The Gospel of John depicts these same three Marys at the foot of the cross at the crucifixion.
The three Marys seem to parallel the triple goddess of the pagan worlds. At Eleusis she appeared as Demeter, Persephone, and Hecate. This goddess appeared as the three fates, the three charities, and the three graces.
The three marys seem to parallel the three women priestess followers of the God Dionysus called the maenads.
There was also a group of three women disciples called the Oinotropio who had the ability to turn water into wine at the festivals of Dionysus.
The three Marys seem to parallel the three women led to a cave by Hermes the messenger of the Gods, just like the angel led the three Marys to the tomb of Jesus.
Super-Virgin
The First Act Pope Francis Does as Pope
Hey Pope, what do you think about the Virgin Mary Story????
It is said that every family in Latin America has a statute of the Virgin Mary in their homes. Most homes do not have a statute of Jesus. Jesus icons are not revered anywhere near that of the statute of the Virgin Mary among the Latin American people.
“The first act I’m going to do as Pope … is to pray to the Virgin Mary.”
Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis 1)
When the people of Latin America heard this……they were ecstatic. . …..they said……”Now this is a pope that is close to our hearts.”
Man’s desire for idol worship is so great.
Mary Appears to Her Faithful ….
CLEARWATER – Nearly every day for the last eight years, Sam and Jean Meo have sat beneath the image of the Virgin Mary that adorned the glass windows of a Clearwater office building.
The iridescent figure became an international religious icon that drew hundreds of thousands of people after it was first noticed in 1996. Some, like the Meos, find a miraculous healing power beneath it.
Jean, 80, was expected to die after lung cancer surgery. Sam, 81, has endured three open-heart surgeries.
“I pray for her, she prays for me,” said Sam. “Prayer has been keeping me alive.”
But on Monday morning, the Meos looked up at their sacred Virgin to see she had been beheaded. The three windows that once held her face and veil had been knocked out.
Inside the building, the windows had been reduced to a pile of glass pebbles that glistened like sequins of purple, green and yellow.
“My heart just sank when I saw it,” said Rosie Reed, site leader for Shepherds of Christ Ministries, which owns the building. “It’s irreplaceable.”
Clearwater police said someone shot three small ball bearings at the windows early Monday morning. Police do not think the objects were shot with a gun, but also find it unlikely the ball bearings were thrown with such power by hand.
Investigators suspect a slingshot may have been used. Detectives planned to review video from a surveillance camera aimed at the figure each night. The video is streamed onto an Internet site 24 hours a day and recorded inside the building at night, though the tape may have run out before the vandalism occurred.
With no arrests or suspects, police were unsure if the damage was caused by juvenile pranksters or by vandals who targeted the figure for religious or cultural reasons. If it’s the latter, the suspects could be prosecuted for a hate crime.
“We don’t know who did it or why they did it,” said police spokesman Wayne Shelor.
Religion experts said the vandalism could have been an attack on Catholics, who view the mother of Christ as their intercessor with God.
“It’d be like someone attacking the American flag,” said Darrell Fasching, a professor in the department of religious studies at the University of South Florida. “It’s something that means a great deal to people, in this case religious rather than political. The attack on the image of the Virgin is an attack on God’s mercy and an attack on the religion.”
Some who visited Monday think it was motivated by hate because of the precision of the shots.
“Somebody meant to do this – because of the head,” said Largo resident Mary Pardy. “How they did it is beyond me.”
Some wondered if the vandalism might have been stirred by the film The Passion of the Christ.
“For me, it’s the reason,” David Gaurin, 32, of Tampa, said of the Mel Gibson film. “Somebody doesn’t have any hope. Nothing. People need to respect her, the mother of God.”
By Monday night, more than 100 people, some in tears, had come to the site. They lit candles, sang songs and prayed.
For some, the image is a curiosity. For others, it is a religious icon. To most, it should be respected.
“I’m not a religious person. I just think it is terrible that someone would destroy something that gives others so much hope,” said Michelle Goossen, 36, of Clearwater, who was crying as she took photos of the busted image Monday evening. “People have come here from all over the world.”
Ministry leaders said they planned to board up the broken windows Monday night, then possibly install new ones. Though some visitors expressed hope that God would redraw the Virgin Mary image on the windows, ministry leaders said they don’t expect that to happen.
“I think people will still come and hopefully they’ll pray more,” Reed said. “Six panes of the glass are still here. As long as she’s here, we’re here.”
The image was discovered in December 1996 when a customer of Seminole Finance Corp. noticed the rainbow-hued shape on the two-story building at U.S. 19 and Drew Street. When a TV station ran a story, the parking lot filled with believers.
Within three weeks, police estimated almost a half-million people had come to see the Virgin.
Over the years, the number of visitors slowed to a couple hundred a day.
In the summer of 1998, Cincinnati-based Shepherds of Christ Ministries leased the 22,000-square-foot building, then bought it for more than $2-million and called it “Our Lady of Clearwater.”
The image also is meaningful to Florida’s Hispanic community because it evokes the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Latin America, and, according to locals, the protector of the 20,000 or so Mexicans living in Clearwater.
“The Mexican community is going to be devastated,” said Sonia Morales, a volunteer nurse at La Clinica Guadalupana, a clinic in Clearwater. “They are very spiritual and connected to the Virgin Mary.”
Every year on Dec. 12, several thousand Central and South Americans gather on the site to celebrate the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which last year drew 6,000 people.
“I feel a personal attack … symbols like that are very important for us,” said Jose Vidales, who helps organize the event. “This is a symbol we left behind in Mexico and we found something very similar in Clearwater.”
The damage was discovered about 6:30 a.m. by a woman who is usually one of the first to the building every morning. She didn’t immediately report the broken windows because she believed ministry leaders knew about it.
Word eventually reached Reed, who at first tried to call the ministry president in Cincinnati. No one called police until 9:31 a.m., and that call came from someone out of state who saw the broken windows on the streaming-video Web site.
Police believe the ball bearings didn’t immediately shatter the glass, but rather caused the windows to splinter and spider-web, then gradually collapse in pieces from their frames. Two ball bearings were found on the ground outside the building.
This wasn’t the first time the building has been the target of vandals. In May 1997, someone threw an unknown liquid onto the windows, defacing the glass panels. The next month, two days of heavy thunderstorms washed away the blemishes, and the image of Mary remained.
Some visitors said even the defacing of such a precious religious icon should prompt people to search their hearts for forgiveness.
“I hope God forgives them,” said Arlene Livingston, 69, of Largo.
Others weren’t so gracious.
“I think whoever did this should be struck by lightning,” said Jim Sarelas, 78, a visitor from Illinois.
Whatever happens, the regulars said they would continue to visit. That includes Sam and Jean Meo.
Jean fell a few years back and fractured three bones in her back. She uses a walker these days and has to lie in bed for a while when she gets home.
During her lung cancer surgery three years ago, she grasped in her right hand a white rosary she received at the Virgin Mary.
“They can do what they want, they’re not going to make us weak,” Sam said of the vandals. “They’re not going to break my religion down.”
– Times staff writers Nora Koch, Adrienne Samuels and Megan Scott contributed to this report.
DEC. 17, 1996: A customer of Seminole Finance Corp. notices a rainbow-hued shape stretching the height of the business’ two-story building at U.S. 19 and Drew Street in Clearwater. The customer mentions the shape, which resembles an outline of the Virgin Mary, to employees, who call a local television station. Within two hours, the parking lot is filled with dozens of people.
DEC. 18, 1996: Clearwater police set up a command post for the 15 or so officers who spend the day directing traffic and trying to keep pedestrians from tangling with cars as they rush to see the image in glass.
JAN. 3, 1997: Clearwater police estimate more than 450,000 people – 41/2 times the population of Clearwater – have crossed the intersection of U.S. 19 and Drew Street to see the image.
MAY 1997: Someone throws an unidentified liquid onto the office building, defacing nearly all of the glass panels that form the figure. The image remains visible despite drip marks.
JUNE 25, 1997: After two days of heavy thunderstorms, the blemishes are no longer visible. The image looks as it did when it was first noticed.
JULY 7, 1998: Ohio-based Shepherds of Christ Ministries begins leasing the building and eventually purchases the 22,000-square-foot center for more than $2-million. The group, which calls itself a Catholic ministry, refers to the building as “Our Lady of Clearwater.” The Catholic diocese of St. Petersburg disavows any connection to Shepherds of Christ, calling the image a “naturally explained phenomenon.”
DEC. 17, 1998: The ministry unveils an 18-foot cedar crucifix to stand next to the image of Mary. The president of Shepherds of Christ says that Mary herself directed the crucifix to stand there.
FEB. 2000: Shepherds of Christ opens a rosary factory on the second floor in a room overlooking U.S. 19. The factory is a classroom with bowls of colorful baubles and white plastic crosses on small tables, and pictures of Jesus and Mary on the wall.
DEC. 2002: Interest in the site has ebbed. The crucifix is hidden from view because the wood couldn’t take the weather. The hundreds of plastic white chairs set up in front are empty most of the time. The rosary factory has closed because of lack of staff and money.
MARCH 1, 2004: The three panes of glass that contain the image of Virgin Mary’s head are found smashed. Police suspect vandals but no arrests are made.
Paul refered to himself as “The Steward of the Mysteries of God.” This is the very term used for a priest in the Pagan Mysteries of Serapis.
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 1 Cor 4:1
Paul was born in Tarsus, a major center of Pagan Worship. The city had surpassed Athens and Alexandria to become the major center of Pagan worship. Tarsus is the city where the Mysteries of Mithras had originated.
Paul wrote in Greek, his first language. He frequently used terms and phrases from the Pagan Mysteries — pneuma (spirit), gnosis (divine knowledge), doxa (glory), sophia (wisdom), teleioi (the initiated), etc. He would advice to earnestly seek the greater chrismata.
Charismata means “the blessed nature of one who has seen the Mysteries.” Charismata is the Greek word where Christrians derived their name.
He preached in Pagan cities that were mostly greek culture that were Pagan centers. Antioch was a center for the Mysteries of Adonis. Ephesus was a center for the Mysteries of Attis. Corinth was a center for the Mysteries of Dionysus.
He used terms from the Mysteries in his letters. He uses the same quotes that Pagan sages used. His teachings not what Jesus taught but are Pagan doctrines.
Paul didn’t teach that Jesus had literally come and walked the earth, worked miracles, died for your sins, and returned from the dead. Paul taught that a person dies spiritually and then is resurrected where the Christ now “lives in you.” This is the perennial mysticism of Gnosticism and the Pagan Mysteries. The Mysteries state that each one of us is from on Soul of the Universe, they termed the Logos, the universal Daemon, the mind of God. He states the Pagan Mystery, the secret is this: Christ in you.
25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness–
26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.
27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1:25-27
Paul stated that God revealed his Son “inside of me.”
16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. Gal 1:16
And that he was just a part of the universal body of God.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Eph 4:25
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Cor 27
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body 1 Cor 12:12-13
Jesus Not in the Flesh
The only place where Paul referes to Jesus as historical was the Letter to Tinmothy. That letter has been universally declared a fake. Paul constantly preaches the Gnostic doctrine of Illusionism; Jesus didn’t come in the flesh but came in the likeness of human flesh.
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8:3
Paul’s Story Just Like the Apollonius Story
Like Jesus there is no historical record by historians like Josephus and Seneca who wrote about many minor events, didn’t write anything about events like the 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen that “went as far as Caesarea,” a beach city far from Jerusalem, to rescue Paul.
Coincidentally the travels of Paul match the travels of Apollonius the Nazarene virtually identical. Also their names are almost identical; a–pollonius, Paullus (latin).
Apollonius was from Tarsus, just like Paul. His journey also originated from Antioch, just like Paul. Historian Philostratus stated that Apollonius went east and acquired special knowledge from the Arabians such as learning the language of animals.
Paul claims in Galatians to have gone to Arabia for three years and gained mystical knowledge.
Apollonius returned then up the Euphrates to Babylon, then by way of Antioch, Cyprus, and Paphos exactly like Paul did.
Apollonius then went to Ephesus then to Athens, where people flocked to him and he performed miracles. Paul did exactly the same thing but visited the cities in the opposite order.
Then Apollonius went to Corinth where he had a disciple named Lycian. Paul had a disciple name Lukus.
Apollonius then traveled around Greece before going to Rome where he was accused of treason, just like Paul.
Apollonius was put in prison where he escaped, just like Paul.
Many miracles were attributed to Apollonius just like Paul.
Apollonius was not fond of Judea and preached mostly to the Gentiles. Paul preached 17 years to the Gentiles before preaching to the Jews.
Just like the Jesus story, Paul seems to be a rehash of a Greek hero character named Orpheus who had a companion/disciple named Timothy who traveled the same area as did Paul (who also had a disciple named Timothy) and preached in the name of Dionysus (HIS, IES, JES, Iasios, Iesious. Jason, Jesus).
Third heaven
One on the doctrines of the Pagan Mysteries is the seven Heavens.
Paul speaks in the third person;
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know–God knows. 2 Cor 12:2
Paul was that man, as verse 7 indicates.
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 2 Cor 12:7
Paul the Pagan Teacher
The Gnostics see Paul as a teacher of the Pagan Mysteries of the secret “Pneumatic” initiations. “Spiritual gift” is literally translated as “Pneumatic charisma.”
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; Romans 1:9-14
He doesn’t write out what is the “spiritual gift” because in the Pagan Mysteries it can only be transmitted in person and in secret. “Pneumatic charisma” is an initiation rite.
9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”[a]— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 1 Cor 2:9
These words are the Mystery formula pronounced at the time of the initiation into the Mysteries. These words are found in the vow of secrecy undertaken by the followers of the Gnostic Mystic sage Justinus. They are also found the the Gnostic’s Gospel of Thomas where Jesus states;
I will give you what eye has not seen, and what ear has not heard, what has not been touched, and what has not arisen in the heart of man. Saying 17 First Epistle of Clement
The Valentinians claim that Paul initiated Christians into the “Mystery of Sophia.” The translation of Paul’s writing “wisdom among the mature” doesn’t make sense. The correct translastion is “We speak of Sophia among the initiated.”
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 1 Cor 2:6-7
… in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3
“God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden” refers to Sophia and Gnosis and the Gnosis of God’s Mystery.
3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. Ephesians 3:3
Refering to theGnostic vow of secrecy of the Inner Mysteries he writes;
4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 2 Corinthians 12:4
Paul takes the Gnostic position that the scruptures in the Bible are alegorical and events are symbolic.
24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Galatians 4:24
Paul states that resurrection is a spiritual event;
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:50
Paul describes the Jesus event as a Gnostic perennial mystical reality;
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:11
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 220
When you change the word “baptized” to “initiated”, and “Christ” to “Sophia (means wisdom)”, it becomes a Gnostic dialogue.
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:3-7
Paul is clearly teaching the Pneumatic initiation and guiding his followers to the Pneumatic level of understanding.
