PAGAN CHRISTIANITY
Rev. Steve Marlowe
Part I
Pagan Influence, Witnesses of History
Scholars and historians find that Christianity has accepted a great deal of Paganism. The truth of Christ has been leavened with Paganism. If flatbread, which is unleavened, is symbolic of the truth, then leavened bread, which distorts the flatbread, is symbolic of distorted truth. Christianity could very well be the last stronghold of the Pagan gods. Christianity needs the truth of its Lord and Savior, whose true name is not Jesus, a name that has only historically existed in its present form since the 17th century, behold the God of truth the Christ YAHSHUA, to the glory of His God and Father. It will be the concentration upon the historic figure of our Lord YAHSHUA that will throw off the dross of Paganism distorting the truth of Christianity and bringing back the Gospel truth. YAHSHUA is truth, and “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
High Church, the Catholics, the Episcopalians, and the Orthodox, have emphasized the ritualistic and sacramental aspects of their worship, thereby introducing that general effect of mystery, which is purposely absent in the Protestant service. Due to pandering to the elemental Pagan hearts and minds of Europeans, the old gods, ousted by Christ, have crept back in lurking in the shadows of false doctrines and prerequisites to salvation. Despite their temples of Paganism being destroyed the old gods have crept back in, as venerated saints. Historians and scholars have sought to expose them causing some reforms, however, many false doctrines remain. The old pagan gods have come to church, and their presence has been detected, but much of their inspired doctrines remain.
This knowledge of adopting paganism has caused many to forsake their Christian faith, as it were, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Finding these gods, demons really, causing falsehood around the Christian altar has caused many to wonder about the reality of Christ. Was His life a myth invented during the 1st century CE? It is with this false association to Paganized doctrines that loyal Christians holding to the Gospel truth must do battle. The evangelists in truth have found that many have resisted talking about their former faith in Christ. The lines of communication stifled by too much media overload have caused a lack of communication. To those inspired in truth by Him, our Lord and Savior, the breakdown of communication is an encumbrance to overcome. YAHSHUA said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now, howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all truth” (John 16:12). So many have closed the door of communication. The apostle Paul asked, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’” (Romans 10:13-17).
Who's to say the world of the miraculous never really existed? Modernity seems to place Christian belief as outdated, with no place in the 21st century. Paganism flourished at a time when men believed in Mt. Olympus or Valhalla. When men believed in human sacrificial victims. The supernatural was alive and frightening. Then came enlightenment, as He, YAHSHUA, walked upon the waters, ascended into the air, is obeyed by tempests, and turned water into wine. His birth was heralded by signs and wonders. All these wonders showed that He was God incarnate, but today, in the Twenty-first century, all these wonders in the eyes focused on scientific wonders falsely place Christ as a conventional myth. Many see parallels in Paganism ancient mythologies are full of stories of incarnate gods. Judaism as well is a religion of the miraculous. Within Judaism is a Messianic account of Yeshua ben Pandira, who was hanged on a tree on the eve of Passover in the reign of Alexander Jannaeous, who lived 100 BCE (Josephus, Antiquities,12, v. 1).
What is written of YAHSHUA? His true revealed name is virtually unknown. The moniker of Jesus, a name of recent history, is attributed to Him. No one seems to understand the testimony of the apostle Peter, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”(Acts 4:12). No one seems to be asking the question, “What name did the apostle attest to?” Few historians in the first two centuries after His birth even mention Him. Roman Tacitus, who wrote around the year 115 CE, says that YAHSHUA was put to death by Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius, however, this is held in question (Annals, XV. 44). Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, finished in the year 93 CE, twice refers to Yeshua, but there is controversy about it (XVII, 3, xx. ix. 1). Pliny the Younger, in a letter to emperor Trajan (c. 112 CE) refers to early Christians, but there is skepticism. Suetonius, writing around 120 CE, writes about the Christians, and identifies Chrestus as their founder. The Gospels place before us with absolute unmistakable authenticity the historic man, the alleged son of a carpenter, who went about the country preaching and healing. He was regarded by a small group of disciples as the Messiah of Israel, indeed as the God of the Jews. He was crucified as an impostor and died upon a cross, or tree, He was placed in a tomb. But, He was alive again as seen by many witnesses. The character of YAHSHUA, falsely called by the names Jesus, Iesus, and Iesous, stands out as the most godlike in human history. His teachings given in the 1st century are such as to satisfy and inspire the demand of the highest intellects of the Twenty-first century.
What to do with this historic figure, YAHSHUA the true Messiah, the Christ, surrounded by a mass of Paganized influence, that has influenced the very theological structure of the church? Fortunately, much of it has been removed, so that we may get back to the credible YAHSHUA. Unfortunately, Christian congregations are dwindling because the dogmas of the Faith are borrowed from Paganism. However, the faithful need not be dismayed, for behind the fallen structures of Christianity stands the theology of the unassailable Person of the real YAHSHUA, and He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, to those who break through the fog of Paganized doctrines that have caused to be leavened the truth of our Lord and Savior YAHSHUA.
The New Testament is authentic. Those errors, though they are few, can be detected. Indeed, it is to be recognized, that those who expose the errors, the interpolations such as 1 John 5:7, are the real ones of true faith. These are not heretics, but they are truth seekers. In Matthew 7:7-11, we read, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” The intelligent Christian must search out all things. No faith would be worth having that could not stand the scrutiny of examination.
Both the Jews and the Romans wanted “the Way,” or the Nazareans (Acts 24:5), obliterated. Under great persecution and in the immediate hope of Christ’s return, the Second Coming, and having the apostles as living oracles, however, as the apostles were being martyred and those that died of old age, and the hope of Christ’s immediate return then begun to fade, and there was the need of a record. YAHSHUA called out apostles who were witnesses:
Apostle Andrew, the younger brother of Peter. He is believed to be buried at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, Patras, Greece.
Apostle Bartholomew, scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John 1:45–51.
James the Great, also known as the brother of YAHSHUA. James the Just, or a variation of Apostle James, brother of the Lord (James from Hebrew: יעקב, Ya'aqov, can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of YAHSHUA", according to the New Testament. He was an early leader of the Jerusalem Church of the Apostolic Age. Traditionally, it is believed he was martyred in AD 62 by being stoned to death by the Pharisees on the order of High Priest.
Apostle James, son of Alphaeus, was one of the Twelve Apostles of YAHSHUA, appearing under this name in all three of the Synoptic Gospels' lists of the apostles. He is generally identified with being called James the Less (Mark 15:40) and commonly known by that name in church tradition. He is distinct from James, son of Zebedee and also from James, brother of YAHSHUA. He appears only four times in the New Testament, each time in a list of the twelve apostles, and believed to be buried in the Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem.
Apostle John, he was never martyred. the opening of his tomb in the Basilica of St. John, Ephesus during Constantine the Great's reign yielded no bones. Wrote the Gospel of John, epistle, and the Book of Revelation, written between 69-93 CE.
Former disciple Judas Iscariot: Betrayed YAHSHUA and committed suicide. He was also know to be a Zealot. He would steal from the common purse of the Disciples. He is buried at Akeldama near Jerusalem (per the Gospel of Matthew and Acts of the Apostles).
Jude Thaddeus, (Syriac/Aramaic: Yehwada) was one of the Twelve Apostles of YAHSHUA according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus,and he is considered as the founding father and the first Bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Apostle Matthew: is named in the New Testament as one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. According to Christian traditions, he was also one of the four Evangelists as author of the Gospel of Matthew. The New Testament records that as a disciple, he followed Jesus. Church Fathers such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria claim that Matthew preached the gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, after the sack of Jerusalem, he may have went to other countries. Legend has it, he is buried in the Salerno Cathedral, Italy.
Apostle Matthias: (died c. AD 80) was, according to the Acts of the Apostles (written c. AD 63), chosen by God through the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's and his subsequent death. His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally by Christ, who had already ascended into heaven, and it was also made before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church. He is thought to be buried in the St. Matthias' Abbey in Trier, Germany.
Apostle Paul: Saul of Tarsus; (Born c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD), commonly known as Paul the Apostle and he was a Christian apostle who spread the teachings of YAHSHUAin the first-century world. Generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, he founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD. The main source of information on Paul's life and works is the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s Early Life: “Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. “My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promiseour twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of YAHSHUA of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am YAHSHUA, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewishpeople, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance (Acts 26:1-20). What name did the apostle Paul hear on the road to Damascus? YAHSHUA means YAH [I AM], and shua [salvation]. YAH comes from God, who told Moses, He is YAH, that is “I AM.” YAH is the name which is above every name. Did the apostle Paul hear the name which is above every name? He writes to the Philippians, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Relics located in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome; the skull located in the Arch Basilica of Saint John Lateran, alongside the skull of St. Peter.
Apostle Peter: or Cephas (Imperial Aramaic: lit. 'Rock'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repeatedly and prominently in all four New Testament gospels as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Tradition accredits Peter as the first bishop of Rome, and also as the first bishop of Antioch. According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero. The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a major saint and as the founder of the Church of Antioch and the Church of Rome, but they differ in their attitudes regarding the authority of his successors. According to Catholic teaching, Jesus promised Peter a special position in the Church. In the New Testament, the name "Simon Peter" is found 19 times. He is the brother of Andrew, and both were fishermen. The Gospel of Mark in particular was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peter's preaching and eyewitness memories. He is also mentioned, under either the name Peter or Cephas, in Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Galatians.
buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Rome, Italy; the skull located in the Arch Basilica of Saint John Lateran, alongside the skull of St. Paul.
Apostle Philip: buried in Hierapolis, modern Turkey.
Simon the Zealot: buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome under the St. Joseph altar with St. Jude.
Apostle Thomas: Evangelist for India, and he is buried in the San Thomas Basilica in Chennai, India.
The New Testament provides us with a literature which is of first-rate historical importance.
Part II
Counterfeits, Times, Signs, and Seasons
Aware of Pagan gods born of virgins. The Christians were reluctant to witness to the true virgin birth of the Savior, and so it was kept in-house. In regards to the Virgin Birth, it is significant that there is no reference to it in the Epistles which form the earliest writings. Some sixty years later, the virgin birth began to be told, that YAHSHUA had been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and yes, despite the assumption of many, He had no earthly father. “Now it came to pass, when YAHSHUA had finished these parables, that He departed from there. When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him. But YAHSHUA said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:53-58). Joseph, husband of Mary, was an adoptive father. Matthew would use the genealogy of Joseph as Christ’s birthright by adoption. Luke would use Mary’s genealogy listing Joseph as the son of Heli, (that is son-in-law). It would be sixty years after the crucifixion that Christians would openly talk about the miraculous birth of Christ. The earliest Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, does not even mention the virgin birth. The apostle John did not give a witness to the Virgin Birth. The evangelist Luke and the apostle Matthew did give witness some 60 plus years later. Justin Martyr, said, “When I hear that Perseus was begotten of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent (Satan) has counterfeited this…” (Dialog with Trypho, c. 70).
Tertullian under the impression of the universality of virgin births, thought that more could be known by the examples of other virgin births, he writes “...that our Lord was conceived by a ray of light which thus struck upon the Virgin” (Tertullian, Apology xxi). The prophet Isaiah prophesied about this: “Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah” (Isaiah 7:10-17). The Child will be born and all these things will have happened long ago. This is a board sign indeed.
The apostle shows his reluctance to openly talk of the virgin birth, he writes, “Paul, a bond servant of YAHSHUA the Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son YAHSHUA the Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…” (Romans 1:1-6). Chrysostom put more emphases on YAHSHUA’S baptism, as Chrysostom writes, “It was not when He was born that He became manifest to all, but when He was baptized” (Chrysostom, John, In Evangelium, S. Matthaei, homily 50:3–4).
The time of Christ’s birth is not represented by today’s calendar. The time reference has to be Herod’s death in 4 BCE according to history. This would put the Savior’s birth as early as 7 BCE. Herod upon hearing of the Messiah being born from the Magi, inquired of the religious leaders, scholars, in that time period of between 7 to 5 BCE, and he ascertained a two year time frame to use as he ordered the infants from two and under to be murdered seeking to kill the infant born “King of the Jews.” “Now after theYAHSHUA was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’ Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way” (Matthew 2:1-12).The Jews hated their Roman conquerors. The Jews hated the census being forbidden under Jewish law, an initial open revolt was prevented by the high priest in Jerusalem, however, despite efforts to prevent a revolt, the census did finally trigger a revolt and the formation of the party of the Zealots, according to Josephus (H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, page 274).
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, “And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:1-7). Luke’s account links the birth of YAHSHUA to the time of the Census of Quirinius, although this seeminglycontradicts the time of YAHSHUA’S birth described in the Gospel of Matthew, which is ten years earlier, under the reign of Herod the Great, who died in the year 4 BCE (Brown, R.E.,The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke, p. 17, Doubleday & Company, 1977). The time of the census of Quirinius is also considered inconsistent with Luke chapter 1, in which Herod is described as still being alive, as he was a few more years after YAHSHUA’S birth, and this would place His birth in the year 7 BCE. The apparent inconsistency may not take into consideration of the beginning of the consensus order to its completion, and also to take into consideration the title of governor was also used for the general in charge of the largest army in a region or province, as Quirinius was temporarily the Governor when bringing the Zealot revolt to an end by the Roman Army of which Quirinius was General. Quirinius also served as governor of Syria with authority over Judea until 12 AD. The ordered consensus by Augustus may have been given three years before Herod’s death in the year 7 BCE, and completed long after the death of Herod in the year 6 CE. Luke’s account of the nativity is earlier than Matthews, as the Magi came to Bethlehem a year or two after the birth of YAHSHUA founding Him in a house as opposed to where the shepherds found Him as an infant lying in a manger two years earlier in 7 BCE. No king wants to be known as the murderer of infants. Soldiers, who carried out the order to kill the infants two years and younger, would have been sworn to silence. Historians who dared speak of it would be arrested and even executed. No one should marvel that king Herod’s dirty deed was not recorded, with the exception of the Gospel of Matthew. Herod ordered the killing of infants in the approximate years of 6 BCE to 5 BCE, and he died in 4 BCE. By the time Joseph and Mary left Egypt, around 4 BC, YAHSHUA would have been 3 to 4 years old.
History is uncertain of the time of YAHSHUA’S birth. The date of December 25th was adopted by the Church in the 4th century. Joseph and Mary moved back to Nazareth in the year of 4 BCE or 5 BCE, and in Nazareth Joseph and Mary had, besides YAHSHUA, 6 children, 4 boys and at least two girls (Matthew 13:54-56). If YAHSHUA started His ministry at age 30, that would make it the year of 23 CE. He is arrested in April, in the year of 30 CE. Perhaps alluding to the miraculous, which includes the Virgin Birth, Historian Ernest Renan stated, “If ever the worship of Jesus loses its hold upon mankind, it will be precisely on account of those acts which originally inspired belief in Him” (Ernest Renan, The Life of Jesus). In Matthew and Luke give an account of YAHSHUA fasting for forty days. How Satan took Him on to a mountain and on to a pinnacle of the Temple, how he tempted Him by offering to give Him all the kingdoms in the world.Likewise, the god Pan, a prototype of Satan, who takes Jupiter and leads him to the top of a mounting so he could see all the countries of the world (Lactantius, Divine Institutes, I. II).
The apostle Paul, in the years of 52 CE to 64 CE, witnessed that he had known Christ in the flesh, as in 1 Corinthians 9:1, he writes, “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen YAHSHUA Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” “Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:8). Suetonius Suetonius (c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. Suetonius states that, “In the reign of Claudius, which began in 41 CE., some Jews were expelled from Rome for causing a disturbance at the instigation of a certain Chrestos” (Suetonius, The Roman historian Suetonius (c. AD 69 – c. AD 122) mentions Iesous (YAHSHUA) the Christ in his workLives of the Twelve Caesars. The word Messiah, which is the Greek translation Christos, which we in English call becomes Christ means “The Anointed One.” Christ YAHSHUA is the true savior. The Babylonian Marduk was expected to come to earth as a Savior. The Zoroastrians expected Mazda to come and be their Savior. Egypt had a prophecy, dating from 2200 BCE, which foretold the Savior is coming of whom it was said, “He shall be the Shepherd of his people, and in him there shall be no sin; when his flocks are scattered he shall gather them together” (Weigall, History of Pharaoh, p. 284). Daniel, the prophet, who spent time in Persia, the land of the Magi, and he joined them after the fall of Babylon, spoke to the Magi about the Messiah, and told them the signs of His coming. “Now after YAHSHUA was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men {Magi} from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:1-2). The first century historian Josephus wrote of the major reason for the rupture of the Romans and Jews was due to the Jewish imminent expectation of the Messiah coming to deliver them from occupation (Josephus, Wars, vi, 5, sec. 4).
The Messiah was not the conqueror of popular belief, but was the Messiah who came to His people according to the prophecies of Isaiah, who was sacrificed for the sins of His people at the time of the Passover, and He was the Pascal Lamb of God come to take away the sins of all those who believed on Him.
Part III
Is There a Goddess Among Us?
Osirus and Isis, so the legend goes, were brother and sister, and husband and wife. Osiris was murdered, placed in a coffin, which happened the body within the coffin were thrown into the Nile river. Meanwhile, Isis, now a widow, was exiled from Egypt. The coffin flowed from the Nile out into the open sea of the Mediterranean, as a storm washed up the coffin onto a Syrian beach, and somehow due to the storm became lodged in a tree. So the description goes, that Osiris was slain and hanged from a tree. Isis heard that the body of Osiris was found, and she went to claim it. She thought to go back to Egypt in hopes of bringing life to Osiris there. Upon her arrival, and the present ruling Pharaoh aware of her intent sized the body, and cut it up into at least twelve parts to be scattered throughout the land. Isis managed to collect all the parts except the phallus. She performed an elaborate ceremony, where it was said Osiris went to the land of the dead and ruled as the king of the dead. Isis claimed that Osiris rose up to the sun, and sent a sunbeam to her and she became pregnant, and named the child Horus (Herodotus II, 62). Meanwhile, Horus became king. Within the theology of Egypt Osiris, Isis, and Horus became a Trinity. The Festival of Osiris since ancient times commemorating the dead. The Christians feast of All Souls Day, in honor of the dead, likewise falls on the beginning of November. The origins of the story of Osiris and Isis was Babylon. Osiris is Nimrod, and Isis is Semiramis. All Pagan religion flows from Babylon. This story of death and resurrection has an impact on Mary’s role in the death and resurrection of YAHSHUA. She became center stage as the Queen of Heaven, a title given the Nimrod’s wife Semiramis. Also, like Semiramis, Mary became known as the Mother of God. As Semiramis was worshiped as the Black Madonna, so was Mary seen as the white Madonna. Evidence of the Black Madonna can be found all over Europe and Asia.
The title “Mother of God” was first applied to Mary in Alexandria, Egypt, by the Fourth Century. This is the place central to the worship of Isis. In the year 400 CE, Epiphanius denounces the women of Thrace, Arabia, and else where for worshiping Mary as an actual goddess. In the year 430 CE, Christian theologian Proclus preached a sermon hailing Mary as a divine Person, calling her the Mother of God, and the Mediatrix, as she is officially to be known according to Vatican II: “The Second Vatican Council dedicated the eighth chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church to our Blessed Mother. Since our Lord continues His work and saving mission through His body, the Church, the council fathers, particularly under the guidance of Pope Paul VI, decided that it was most appropriate to address the role of our Blessed Mother in this document because “she is endowed with the high office and dignity of the Mother of the Son of God, and is …the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit” (#53)… Given this basis, the Vatican Council II here again repeated the titles of Mary as Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix (#62). In its basic definition, a mediator is one who serves as an intermediary between two other parties. Oftentimes, the mediator assists in reconciling differences and bringing the parties to an understanding” (Catholic Straight Answers).This is the veiled Trinity of Paganism, the Father, the Son, and the Mother of God.
Nestorius objected preferring to regard Mary as earlier Christians had done, that is, the chosen vessel, mortal that she was and blessed. In the year 431 CE, Cyril of Alexandria, Egypt, preached a popular impactful sermon at Ephesus, in Turkey, regarding Mary as having assumed the place in human affections left vacant by the fading away of Isis, as she was also known as Diana, or Artemis, who had been the great goddess of the Ephesians. Isis was also identified with Venus and the slain Adonis. As a result of this sermon Nestorius was deposed, and from thenceforth no one dared challenge Mary as the supreme Queen of Heaven. In Sardis, not to be upstaged, their bishop Melito claimed that Mary had been miraculously carried to Heaven by Iesous (also later in the 17th century known as Jesus and before that as Iesus) and his angels. This lead to the Festival of the Assumption, which celebrates this event, which started in the Sixth Century, was later acknowledged by the Church (Nicephorus Callistus, History Ecclesia, xvii. 28). The Mary of the Roman Catholic Church took on all the titles of Isis including Stella Maris, “The Star of the Sea.” Isis was also identified with the goddess Astarte, or Ashtoreth, as she is also known in the Bible.
The festival of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin is celebrated among many Christians on March 25th, a date fixed by the fact it was nine months before December 25th. December 25th, was really the birth date of the sun god, Mithra. Horus was identified with Ra, the sun god, and hence so was Mithra. Nimrod was the original sun god, which spread to other lands taking on local names. The so-called Christian celebration of the Annunciation commemorates Isis, not Mary.
Part IV
Who Do the Christians Really Worship, Mithra or Jesus?
Mithraism is the worship of the solar god Mithra. The Romans were introduce to this god by a Cilician seaman about the year 68 BCE. It spread throughout the Roman Empire, and it was only made extinct when suppressed by the Christians in the year 377 CE. Well almost, as much of it was absorbed into the character of Iesous the Christ, (or as known today, Jesus). Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods in ancient Persia, but he rose to take center stage as the god of the sun. Mithra has risen to be co-equal with the supreme being, though created by Ahura-Mazda. Mithra somehow lived an incarnate life on earth, and in some unknown manner, as the story varies, suffered death for all mankind, and rose from the dead. Mithra was believed to have been born in a cave, as was Nimrod son of Cush, which may explain the confusion in that people thought Jesus was born in a cave (Tertullian, Adversus Praxeam, ch. 40). Daniel spoke of the stone, or Rock, when he spoke to Nebuchadnezzar, according to his dream, as the prophet Daniel interpreted it for the king, and said, “You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces (Daniel 2:34). After the fall of Babylon, Babylon fell to the Persian general Gobyras without resistance on Oct. 12, 539, and probably before the Persian king Cyrus II entered the city 17 days later. Daniel was taken to Persia to serve the king there, and became the leader of the Magi (the wise men). The influence Daniel had on the Persian religion was no doubt major, as the Magi of Persia, the wise men, recognized the signs of the coming Messiah, the King of the Jews from him. Justin Martyr complains that the prophetic words in the Book of Daniel regarding the stone was also used in their religion.Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion and one of the world's oldest faiths, based on the teachings of the Persian prophet Zarathustra. It has a present cosmology of good and evil within the framework of monotheism in that Ahura Mazda will triumph over evil. It has an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by the good. The prophet Zarathustra exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom known as Ahura Mazda(literally 'Lord of Wisdom') as the supreme being. Historically, the unique features of the teachings of Zarathustra are monotheism, and teachings on the Messiah, belief in free willand the judgment after death, the conception of heaven, hell, angels, and demons, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including Judaism. Zoroastrian’s true name is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda, with the Avestan word, yasna, meaning "worship." The Zoroastrian religion enters recorded history around the middle of the 6th century BCE. It served as the state religion of the ancient Persian empires for more than a millennium (approximately from 600 BCE to 650 CE), but declined from the 7th century CE on wards as a direct result of the Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia (633–654 CE), which led to the large-scale persecution of the Zoroastrian people.
Manichaeism
Zoroastrianism is often compared with Manichaeism. Nominally an Iranian religion, Manichaeism was heavily inspired by Zoroastrianism because of Mani's Iranian origin, and it was also rooted in prior Middle-Eastern Gnostic beliefs.
Manichaeism adopted many of the Yazatas for its own pantheon. Gherardo Gnoli, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, says that "we can assert that Manichaeism has its roots in the Iranian religious tradition, and that its relationship to Zoroastrianism, is more or less like that of Christianity to Judaism".
The two religions have substantial differences. Manichaeism equated evil with matter and good with spirit, and was therefore particularly suitable as a doctrinal basis for every form of asceticism and many forms of mysticism. Zoroastrianism, on the other hand, rejects every form of asceticism, has no dualism of matter and spirit (only of good and evil), and sees the spiritual world as not very different from the natural one (in a word: "paradise").
Manichaeism's basic doctrine was that the world and all corporeal bodies were constructed from the substance of Satan, an idea that is fundamentally at odds with the Zoroastrian notion of a world that was created by God and that is all good (Iain Gardner,The Founder of Manichaeism. Rethinking the Lives of Mani, Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Zarathustra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. Scholars date him to the 6th century BCE as a near-contemporary of Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great. By the age of 30, Zarathustra experienced a revelation during a spring festival; on the river bank he saw a shining being, who revealed himself as Vohu Manah (this name is translated to mean: “Good Purpose”) and taught him about Ahura Mazda (Translated: “Wise Lord”). He received further revelations and saw a visions, and his teachings were collected in the Gathas and the Avesta. King Vishtaspa was identified as Zarathustra's patron in late-6th century BCE and the father of Darius I. There is historical evidence of the identification of Vishtaspa as a grandfather of Artaxerxes, and this was once perceived to substantiate the "traditional date" of Zarathustra, which places the prophet in the 6th century BCE. The traditional descriptions of Vishtaspa's ancestors as having chariots, which indicates the Bronze Age. also contribute to the academic debate on the dating of Zoroaster; for a summary of the role of Vishtaspa's ancestors in this issue (Boyce,Mary,"On the Antiquity of Zoroastrian Apocalyptic" p. 62, 1984).
The prophet Daniel was evidently a contemporary with Zarathustra. The influence upon Zarathustra by Daniel, who was already will established serving the Babylonian Court and now the Persian Court, is likely considering it was the Zoroastrian Magi, or the wise men of Persia, who journeyed to see the Messiah of Israel, or “the King of the Jews,” for it was the prophet Daniel who taught the Magi, the wise men, about the Messiah (Matthew 2:1-12). According The Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible, Daniel was a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, serving the king and his successors with loyalty and ability until the time of the Persianconqueror Cyrus, and all the while remaining true to the God of Israel. While Cyrus was praised in the Tanakh (Isaiah 45:1–6 and Ezra 1:1–11), there was Jewish criticism of him after he was lied to by the Cuthites, who wanted to halt the building of the Second Temple. They accused the Jews of conspiring to rebel, so Cyrus in turn stopped the construction, which would not be completed until 515 BC, during the reign of Darius I (Goldwurm, Hersh, History of the Jewish People: The Second Temple Era, pp. 26-29, 1982). According to the Bible it was King Artaxerxes who also was convinced to stop the construction of the temple in Jerusalem by his advisor Haman, a descendant of the royal house of Edom (Ezra 4:7–24). Conservative scholars hold that Daniel wrote his prophetic book in the 6th century BCE (Paul L. Redditt, Introduction to the Prophets, Eerdmans. pp. 181–82, 2008). Rabbinic sources suppose that he was still alive during the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus, also known as Artaxerxes (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 15a, based on the Book of Esther 4, 5), but he was killed by order of Haman, the wicked prime minister of Ahasuerus (Targum Sheini on Esther, 4, 11). The 1st century Jewish writer Josephus reported that Daniel's body lay in a tower in Ecbatana in Parthia, alongside the bodies of the kings of the Medes and Persians, however, it is likely that his body was removed to an undisclosed place (Noegel, Scott B.; Wheeler, Brannon M. Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism, pp. 74-76, Scarecrow Press, 2002).
Part
The Stone is the Rock of Israel
The Rock is Messiah YAHSHUA
The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?”
Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: As for you, O king, thoughts came toyour mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sake who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the Stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (Daniel 2:26-45).
The Rock is YAHSHUA the Christ
Psalm 18:2
The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
1 Corinthians 10:4
And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
1 Samuel 2:2
“There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
Deuteronomy 32:4
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
1 Peter 2:6
For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a Stone, a Cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Matthew 7:24-27
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the Rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the Rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
1 Corinthians 3:11
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is YAHSHUA the Messiah.
Isaiah 26:4
Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock.
Psalm 118:22
The Stone that the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone.
Psalm 18:46
The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation—
Psalm 62:2
He alone is my Rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
1 Peter 2:8
And “A Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
Ephesians 2:20
Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ YAHSHUA himself being the Cornerstone,
Matthew 7:24
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the Rock.
Psalm 18:31
For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a Rock, except our God?—
Psalm 89:26
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
Psalm 61:2
From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I...”
Deuteronomy 32:18
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Psalm 62:7-8
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty Rock, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.
2 Samuel 22:2
He said, “The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer...”
Isaiah 28:16
Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a Stone, a tested Stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
1 Peter 2:4
“As you come to him, a living Stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious...”
Romans 9:33
As it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Deuteronomy 32:15
“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
Matthew 7:24-25
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the Rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the Rock.
Psalm 144:1
Of David. Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle...”
Psalm 95:1
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!
Matthew 21:42
YAHSHUA said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The Stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’?”
Isaiah 17:10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
This YAHSHUA is the Stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
Psalm 71:3
Be to me a Rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my Rock and my fortress.
Psalm 62:6
He only is my Rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
2 Samuel 22:32
“For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a Rock, except our God?
Ephesians 2:19-22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Isaiah 44:8
Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
Psalm 28:1
Of David. To you, O Lord, I call; my Rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Samuel 22:3
My God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.
Luke 6:47-49
Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the Rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Isaiah 8:14
And He will become a sanctuary and a Stone of offense and a Rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Psalm 18:1-2
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Deuteronomy 32:31
For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.
Luke 8:13
And the ones on the Rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
Psalm 94:22
But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the Rock of my refuge.
Psalm 62:7
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty Rock, my refuge is God.
2 Samuel 23:3
The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God…”
1 Peter 2:7-8
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and A Stone of stumbling And a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
Habakkuk 1:12
Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
Isaiah 30:29
You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Genesis 49:24
Yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the Rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Psalm 42:9
I say to God, my Rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
2 Samuel 22:47
“The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock, and exalted be my God, the Rock of my salvation,
Romans 9:32-33
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Romans 9:32
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Daniel 2:44-45
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
Matthew 21:44
And the one who falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Part VI
Our Passover becomes Pagan Easter
Early writers say that a lamb was consecrated, killed, and eaten as an Easter rite in the Church, but Easter was a Mithric festival, presumably of the resurrection of their god, and the parallel is thus complete, in which regard it is to be noted that in the 7th century endeavored without success to suppress the4 picturing of Christ as a lamb, owing to the Pagan involved in the idea (Bingham, Christian Antiquities, VIII, 8, sec. II).
Tertullian (155 CE – 220 CE), a Christian Theologian, states that “the worshipers of Mithra practice baptism by water, through which they were thought to be redeemed from sin, and that the priest made a sign upon the forehead of the person baptized, but the Devil must have effected the coincidence for his wicked ends. The Devil, he also imitates even the main parts of our divine mysteries, and has gone about to apply to the worship of idols those very things of which the administration of Christ’s sacraments consists” (Tertullian,Apologeticus pro Christianis, ch. 40). Mithraism had female nuns and male celibates for priests.
The modern English term Easter developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastre or Ēostre. Bede provides the only documentary source for the etymology of the word, in his eighth-century The Reckoning of Time. He wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English for 'Month of Ēostre', and yet translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month" (Wallis, Faith, Bede: The Reckoning of Time. Liverpool University Press, 1999, p. 54). Passover became Easter, which started the controversy called by The term "Quartodeciman" refers to the practice originally held on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew calendar, "the LORD's Passover.” According to the church historian Eusebius, the Polycarp the bishop of Smyrna, (a disciple of John the Apostle, who being an original disciple) debated the question with Pope Anicetus (bishop of Rome). The Roman province of Asia was Quartodeciman, while the Roman and Alexandrian churches changed the date until the Sunday following (the Sunday of Unleavened Bread), wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus persuaded the other, but they did not consider the matter schismatic either, parting in peace and leaving the question unsettled. (Schaff, Philip; Perrine, Tim, Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine).
In conclusion, it would be too much to ask, that all Paganism be removed from the Christian Church. People love their traditions even though these traditions are Pagan and make void the Traditions of Our LORD. But to those who perpetrate falsehood, those priests, pastors, and teachers, there is a warning: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:21-27). Build on the Rock! And that Rock is Christ our Lord YAHSHUA! Halleluyah, Praise YAH, Praise YAHSHUA!
