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Christian Churches of God No. 60

FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

(Edition 1.1 20000730-20030914)

Frequently Asked Questions on Comparative Religions are listed herein.

Christian Churches of God PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA

E-mail: [email protected]

(Copyright ã 2000, 2001, 2003 Wade Cox)

This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright. This paper is available from the World Wide Web page: http://www.logon.org and http://www.ccg.org Page 2 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

Contents FAQ Comparative Religions Corruption of the Faith…Islam, Judaism, Christianity-Dead Sea Scrolls-Monotheistic Trinitarian/Unitarian…Lesser known Corruption of the Faith churches-Semi-Arianism-Arians Can you assist with the core beliefs of Eucumenism…Mergers of denominations Islam, Judaism and Christianity? I’m Islam…Allah-Ramadan-Koran-Caliph- also looking to compare whether they are Imam similar or different. Judaism…Hillel Calendar A: Islam started with Adam, and the faith is Protestants…Degrees of sin-Martin Luther- the same through Noah, Abraham, and the Drop out phenomenon Patriarchs. Christianity, Judaism and Islam Paganism…Christians against are allegedly all based on the Bible and the Jehovah’s Witnesses…Blood transfusions- Law of God. Yet, they are all so hopelessly Christ’s return-Resurrection-Put down of divided as to the meaning and authenticity JWs of it. We are staring in the face of WWIII. Soul Doctrine…Reincarnation-Immortal soul-Inverted cross-Jews of Holocaust- The Dead Sea Scrolls destroy the Islamic Apolostic tradition…Baptism of infants- claim that the original Bible has been lost. Born Catholic/die Catholic The forgeries and mistranslations in the Mormons…Is it Christian-Baptising dead- KJV do not help the argument though. Sacred undergarments Judaism is a post-Temple period Monasticism…What is it misconstruction based on tradition, which Gnosticism…Meaning of Bythus-Heaven & makes the Bible into a farce and often says hell the opposite of what the Bible actually does Circumcision…New-born sons of say. The sun and mystery cults and Christians Gnosticism have corrupted Christianity. The Buddhism…Same goal as Christianity- errors of modern Islam have destroyed the Dalai Lama-Chakras-Healing aspect relationship of the Bible and the Koran. Hinduism…Is it eucumenical-Rig Veda- Islam was pure only in the prophet Religious festivals Muhammad and the Four Rightly Guided Shamanism…Define a Shaman- Souls Caliphs. It was corrupted after that. released from Purgatory Freemasonry…Religion or club You will understand the way in which these Mithrasism…Cosmic mysteries matters have been changed from the Seventh Day Adventists…False doctrines following papers: Christ and the Koran (No. Assyro-Babylonian…Finger of Ashirat- 163); The Sabbath in the Qur'an (No. 274); Mother goose-Eponym List-Oreb & Zeeb- The Juma'ah: Preparing for the Sabbath Mardi Gras-Pinata-Tantara (No. 285); Genesis 22, Judaism, Islam and Zoroastrianism…Ahriman the Sacrifice of Isaac (No. 244). Look also Christian Mystical Doctrine…Preterist at the papers in the series The Law of God doctrines-Holy Blood & Holy Grail-Tomb (No. L1); God's Calendar (No. 156) and of St James-DNA mapping-Hermes-Cults The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. Christianity Creed…R document 235). You will come to grips with the National Religious Systems…Holocaust massive post-Temple period changes in all and Vatican-Scots-Celts-Gaia theory-Tara- three religions and the total corruption of Chaos theory-Toronto Blessing-Sumerian the three for political ends. text 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, FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 3 solidified long-held teachings when A: The Christian Church was divided into evidence was revealed which documented two groups, The Unitarians and the certain beliefs. Do we see this happening Trinitarians from the fourth century within either Islam or Judaism? councils. In the first two centuries, everyone A: No, strange as it may seem, they are all was a Unitarian believing Christ was the trying to studiously ignore the scrolls. Islam Great Angel of the OT. Trinitarians did not has claimed for centuries that they do not exist in Christianity. They were pagans in have to keep the Law, as explained in the Rome worshipping Jupiter, Juno, and Bible, because it was not the same text as in Minerva the Immaculate Virgin. the time of the Prophets and the Temple. The Binitarian system of the worship of the Yet, now that we have the proof, they try to god Attis entered Christianity from Rome ignore the fact that the DSS show we have and also of Adonis from the east. It was an exact version with a few minor adopted as Modalism in the third century corrections that have to be made because and became Binitarianism at Nicaea in 325 rabbinical Judaism altered the text after the in the Fourth century. After the Trinity was fall of the Temple (e.g. Deut. 32:8 for one). adopted from Constantinople in 381, the Talmudic Judaism distorts the Bible as well, faith split again. It split over the so they are blind and deliberately so. introduction of Easter in the Second century. Look at the paper The I was told that the three great religions of Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277) and The Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235). of a monotheistic structure. Is this true, and could you explain? The Unitarians were at war with the A: The three religions of Christianity, Islam Trinitarians for some centuries. Look at the and Judaism are all based on the same faith paper The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. and as such are monotheist. Rational 268). The Unitarians were also Sabbath- Theism, The Bible, and the three faiths that keepers. They were erroneously termed spring from them are essentially Arians. The family of Muhammad was of Monotheist. this Sabbatarian lineage.

The problem arises when we see the In the fourth century, the Abyssinian intrusion of the sun cults and the pagan Church sent their archbishop Mueses to structure of the Triune God enter the China via India. He established the systems. Christianity, in its triune system, is Christians in China, who were Unitarian not monotheist. Islam, when it forms triune Sabbath-keeping. Many of these people also systems, around say Ali, is also not formed among the trade alliances of the Monotheist. Arabs who became Muslims. These became known as the Hue Hue. The details are in The structure of monotheism stems from the the paper General Distribution of the existence of one True God, who alone is Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122). The immortal and within whose will all beings Sabbatarians are still in China and there are exist and operate. That is monotheism and about a million of them. Many have that is the Bible Structure. This topic is developed a heretical Sabellianism and now covered in the work God Revealed Chapter differ from the original doctrines. Some of 1 Ancient Monotheism (No. G1). them consider Jesus is God and Father.

Trinitarian/Unitarian At the Reformation, the Unitarian Church What are some of the lesser known non- split into two branches. One was a radical Trinitarian churches? What are their Unitarian element, which came in from the other beliefs? Where are they Protestant groups and kept Sunday from headquartered? their Catholic days. The other element came from the pre-Reformation Waldensian Page 4 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

Church, and they were Sabbatarians. Their also called semi-Arianism. Most of the descendants are in Europe to this day. The nomenclature and usage stems from problems can be seen in the papers: The Trinitarian propaganda. Look at Arianism Role of the Fourth Commandment in the and Semi-Arianism (No. 167); Socinianism, Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of Arianism and Unitarianism (No. 185); God (No. 170) and Socinianism, Arianism Binitarianism and Trinitarianism (No. 76); and Unitarianism (No. 185). The Holy Spirit (No. 117); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81) and The This radical Unitarian system denies the Development of the Neo-Platonist Model pre-existence of Christ and, in historical (No. 17). terms, is a relatively recent innovation. Islam also developed this idea fairly early. It Would you please clarify some confusion is not the original Unitarian, or even Islamic regarding the identity of the Arians that doctrines, nor is that of Biblical Judaism arises when studying the disputes regarding the Messiah. The history of what between the factions of the happened to the Church in Transylvania is Unitarians/Arians and the found in the work by Rabbi Samuel Kohn, Athanasians/Trinitarians? The Sabbatarians in Transylvania, CCG A: The confusion is deliberately introduced Publishing, USA, 1998. Look also at the by Trinitarians to make it appear that the paper The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ doctrine of Unitarianism was not that of the (No. 243) for other details and the creed of early Church, but that it originated with the Goths. Arius who was a presbyter in Alexandria. Sometimes, it is referred to also as Up until the last few decades, all the Eusebianism, as Eusebius was far senior to Sabbath-keeping Churches were non- Arius. Arius was not actually at Nicaea, Trinitarians. The SDAs became Trinitarians, only being summoned when necessary, as formally as late as 1978. The WCG in its adviser on logic. 1993/4 and the Church of God (SD) at Denver became Binitarian in 1995. The There were also a number of other bishops other US conference became ditheist. there who had all been trained by Lucian of Antioch, the great Church theologian of the The other Churches of God range from end of the third and beginning of the fourth Trinitarian, to Binitarians, to Ditheists. One, century. The fact of the matter is, that Arius the Christian Churches of God, is original was merely one of a long line of people, Unitarian holding the first century beliefs. from Christ and the Apostles, who were all The Unitarians Universalists are what is Unitarians. Trinitarianism was a product of termed radical Unitarians, as are the the Fourth Century. Churches of God General Conference in Georgia. So they had to confuse the issue with propaganda and labelled it as Arianism. And I have heard of Arianism, but whatever is they labelled it a heresy when, in fact, all Semi-Arianism, which I see mentioned the Ante-Nicene fathers were Unitarians for only rarely? the first two hundred years of the faith. A: The term Arianism is used to cover the Unitarian structure that acknowledges the Justin Martyr, in the profession of the pre-existence of Christ and attempts to Christian faith to the Emperor in Rome ca confine it to the period of Arius, presbyter 150, clearly identified Christ as the Angel of of Alexandria, and the conflicts that were Yahovah who gave the Law to Moses at centred around the Council of Nicaea in Sinai. It is a little difficult to label Justin and 325. the Church at Rome Arians, when Arius was not born for another century and a half. The faction that also came out of this Look at the papers Early Theology of the dispute, called the Macedonian faction, was Godhead (No. 127); Consubstantial with the FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 5

Father (No. 81) and Socinianism, Arianism Almighty and also for the particle referring and Unitarianism (No. 185). to the plural as these or those amongst us. In this sense it is the same in Hebrew and Eucumenism Chaldean and hence Aramaic and the Was the consolidation of the amulets into variants. In this sense it is only in the plural a single calf in any way prophetic of a when used of “these or those.” In this sense future consolidation of religions into one it is strange that it is plural at SHD 429 single unified religion? We have heard of when written as ‘elleh in Chaldean but is mergers lately between several grouped with the absolute singular form denominations such as the Lutherans Eloah. This word is the same as Eloahh or with the Catholics. Will this continue as Elowahh in the Hebrew and refers to the may have been prophesied with the singular one true God. The plural form Golden Calf? elohim or elahhin in the Chaldean is plural A: You are probably right. The Bible says it except where the definite article is used is Mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of making it Ha elohim meaning The God (cf. Harlots. Thus, the religious whore of the SHD 430 and notes). God is thus the power Mystery cults, of which the Golden Calf that extends to other beings of the heavenly was symbolic, is all part of the same system. host and exists as those among us. Thus the They all unite to fight against the Messiah name elohim and yahovah are used of but are themselves destroyed by the Beast in multiple beings as creations of the One True the last days. Israel was made to eat the gold God, and all acting for Him.The concept is of the calf by means of drinking the gold the same in Chaldean or Hebrew or the water in which it was mixed. That too was variants derived from those languages. The prophecy. name Allah’ is merely a form that identifies this sense of the singular Power acting Islam among us. It contains the idea of plurality If I understand correctly, the Muslims only in so far as the agents of the power act worship Allah. Is this their only God and for it and contain elements of its power. if so, how did they get this name for Him? A: The Arabic name, “Allah' ” is derived Muslims keep a fast for a month (9th from Eastern Aramaic or Chaldean, lunar month) so I was wondering if this “Elahh.” It is singular and admits of no fast has any biblical basis? If not then plurality. He is the One True God of the does the Bible require Christians to fast Bible, “Eloah.” The singular form “Eloah” on any other occasions? and the Chaldean “Elahh” become the plural A: The Koran enjoins the faithful to keep form “Elohim” in the Hebrew and “Elahhin” the fasting month. This was the preparation in the Chaldee. month, which has turned, like all the festivals, into a pagan system. “Elohim” can be singular in usage and then is used to refer to “one of the Elohim.” Lent is a perversion of the preparation for Where it is used in the case of “Eloah” it is the First month to take the Passover usually “ha Elohim” or “The Elohim” or according to biblical Law. The pagan “The God.” In Greek, this practice system took this over, as it seems to have continued in the Koine as “Ho Theos” and done for Ramadan. The biblical provisions “Theos” or the accusative “ton Theon” and run contrary to this festival and the Koran simply “theos” is reference to the elohim. In simply says to keep the fasting month, the plural for elohim it became “theoi.” which we understand as being from 1 Abib Islam recognises the One True God of John or Nisan to the end of the feast of 17:3 as “Allah' ” The meaning of this term Unleavened Bread on 21 Abib. from its ancient origins really refers to God as “The Power.” It refers to the particle el, I am Muslim and have had reason to which can be used for a mighty one or the peruse what is written in the Old Testament - as it of course mirrors so Page 6 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions closely many of the stories in the Qur’an. Fourth century. This caused the great I don’t even know where to begin with division of Christianity. The Koran refers to the New Testament. Who were the men these two groups. The people of the that wrote it? How many years did they Scripture are seen from Surahs II. 105, live after Jesus? Basically do all 111ff., 120, 144; III: 23, 64ff., 98f.,110ff., Christians give the same weight to the 186f., 199; IV. 44f., 123, 153ff., 171; V, 5, Old and New Testaments? I’m asking 15, 19ff., 59, 65, 68, 77, XXIX: 46; because many converts ask to have this XXXIII: 26 f.; XCVIII 1 to end; LVII: 29. information cleared up after they become Muslim. I guess we want religion put into The family of the prophet had the texts of some kind of perspective of history. the Bible. We know when they were written A: The answers can also be found in the and we know that the texts are all correct. Koran. When the NT was written, Scripture The Dead Sea Scrolls show us what texts was the OT. The NT is explanation of the the Prophet had, and that they were the prophetic purpose of the OT. Thus, it is same as at the time of Christ and that Eloah commentary, as the Koran is also does not change. The fiction was introduced commentary, on the Law of God. that the original texts had been lost under the later Caliphates to avoid keeping the From the surah: Those who stand in ranks, law. As the prophet said, they could not wait we see that the Revelation of God was given for the prayer session to be over to get on from Adam to Noah, and to Abraham and with trading on the Sabbath. The people of Isaac and Jacob, and to Moses and Aaron, the Book were given protection under the and to Christ and the Prophets. Muhammed Rightly Guided caliphs, and they were and the Fourth Rightly guided Caliphs recognised and lived within Islam understood Al Islam. After that, it fell from unmolested until this century. the purity of its initial faith. The NT was written by the people of the The same thing happened to the people of First century church. The apostles Matthew the Scriptures. Their history is told in the and John wrote their gospels, and the papers General Distribution of the Sabbath- disciples Mark and Luke wrote theirs. The keeping Churches (No. 122) and The Role writings of Paul are genuine and the Book of the Fourth Commandment in the of Hebrews is alleged to have been initiated Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of by Paul and finished by another disciple, God (No. 170). perhaps Barnabus. John is accepted as writing the gospel, epistles and the Muhammed said to keep the Sabbath and Revelation was given to him when God whoever did not do so was an ape. Like gave it to the Messiah. Christ and the Apostles, all of Al Islam from Adam to Christ kept the Sabbath. But those The History of the canon is detailed in the who believed a lie subverted it and changed paper The Bible (No. 164). That will give the day of worship of the faith to Sunday. you more details. The original people of the They also introduced Easter for the worship book are still around, but they are in the of the ancient Goddess, which caused both minority. It is written: “verily we gave unto Israel and the Arabs and the Sons of Moses the Scriptures and we caused a train Keturah to stumble. In the same way, the of messengers to follow after Him, and we Juma’ah was confined to Friday prayer gave unto Jesus the son of Mariam (Mary) session and the Sabbath was forgotten in clear proofs and We supported him within Islam. Look at the paper The Sabbath in the the Holy Spirit. Is it ever so that when there Qur'an (No. 274), and also The Juma'ah: cometh unto you a messenger with that Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285). which ye yourselves desire not, ye grow arrogant and some ye disbelieve and some In the same way, the people of the lie ye slay?” invented the Trinity and introduced it in the FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 7

Did Allah’ the Beneficent, the Merciful, the Could you please explain what is/was an one True God, lose them as some Imams Imam and how one becomes/became an claim? Or is He not powerful enough to Imam? catch the words of his prophets for all time? A: There are two meanings and uses for “And they say our hearts are hardened. Nay Imam. The title means to go before or but Allah’ hath cursed them for their precede. It is used of an officiating priest at unbelief. Little is that which they believe.” a Muslim Mosque.

What is it from which man is made? He is It was also used as a title given to various saved by the mixture of blood and water, Muslim leaders and chiefs including the which gushed from the side of the Messiah Caliphs or independent princes. The normal who is Al Tarikh: the new Morning Star. study and acceptance of a Muslim Look at the paper dealing with the position community are required. of Christ and the Koran (No. 163). The papers at www.logon.org are also in Arabic Judaism and other languages. What are the postponements of the Hillel or Jewish calendar? The OT is explained by the NT, and the A. The Hillel calendar postpones the Feasts Koran cannot be understood without the of the Seventh month by introduced Bible because it is corrective commentary postponements, which were originally on it. There is only one Al Islam and it was formulated in the year 344 by two given from the very beginning and all men Babylonian rabbis and introduced under are obliged to keep the laws of the living Rabbi Hillel II in 358 CE. They were not God, Eloah or Allah’. You cannot be a true finalised until the eleventh century. Since Muslim and not keep the Sabbath. the eleventh century the festival of Rosh Hashanah which was introduced in the third Can you please describe what a Caliph century CE from Babylon to Judaism has is? Also is this office or person determined the dating of the month and has (whichever it may be) in operation today? been used as the New Year. In the year A: The office of Caliph was a ruler in Islam. 2000, for example, Rosh Hashanah It is derived from the Arabic Khalifah postpones Atonement from its true Date meaning successor. The form now in use is coinciding with the Sabbath of 7 October by Khalif. The Oxford Universal Dictionary two days so that Atonement commences on says the pronunciation with a long a is bad. the evening of 8 October and takes place over Sunday Night and Monday 9 October. It is the Muslim title for the civil and religious ruler as successor to the prophet This is two days later than the ancient Muhammed. His dominion is a Caliphate. temple calendar which accords with the conjunction which determines the start of The first four caliphs were called the Four each month with the New Year in Abib Rightly guided Caliphs. After that Islam is which is the true New Year and First Month considered to have deteriorated according to God's Law. This postponement theologically under the Ummayids and happens often in that calendar system. Look Abbasids. There are a series of papers on at the papers God's Calendar (No. 156); The Islam on the web at www.ccg.org and also Moon and the New Year (No. 213) and The on the fall of Jerusalem under Omar in the Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or paper Golgotha: the Place of the Skull (No. Festivals? (No. 195). 217). Look also at Mysticism Chapter 5 Islam (No. B7_5). 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. Page 8 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

until he repented. In other words, he was Protestants consigned to the second resurrection so that Most Protestants say a sin is a sin. Do you he could be saved. He was given the believe in degrees of sin? opportunity to repent and it appears he did A: Protestants are in a very serious position so repent. regarding the nature of sin. The Bible says quite clearly that sin is the transgression of There are now branches of Antinomianism the law (1Jn. 3:4). However Protestants do that are confused with Protestantism which not keep the law of God as a general rule say the law of God is done away entirely and are dependent upon the councils of the (i.e. nailed to the Stauros in Col. 2:14), and Fourth Century for the variations to the Law thus there can be no sin on those grounds. that were introduced to the church. They This view is increasing all over the world. depend on Augustine for the theology that flows from those changes and the Look at the papers The Origin of the concentration of the discussions regarding Wearing of Earrings and Jewellery in God at an intradivine level. Ancient Times (No. 197); The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) and also That is why the Protestant Reformation The Golden Calf (No. 222). failed. It failed because Protestantism did not go back beyond Augustine and restore What is the status of Martin Luther? I the original faith. Thus, they were unable to know that he was excommunicated but deal with sin in a coherent manner. The was he ever restored to the faith. If he Protestant confessions of the Reformation was, why was he restored to the faith? all enshrine the Ten Commandments, yet Isn’t he a heretic? they do not keep the Fourth and the First A. The effect of Vatican II was to restore intact, and many breach the second also. the Protestant Churches to communication with Rome and thus, the Protestants were The doctrine is that if you breach one now simply separated brethren and not commandment, you breach the entire law. heretics. Also, whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). Respect of persons is also sin, and in Vatican I under Pius IX had the effect of that, the church has fallen short of the glory reinforcing the Bull Unam Sanctam. The of God (Jas. 2:9). John says that there is sin purpose was stated from the margin. The that is not unto death. That means that the margin heading and the translation and sins we pick up on our yearly travel, are purpose is in the paper Theory of the Just washed free and we are allowed to remain War (No. 110). within the body of Christ and the First Resurrection of Revelation 20. Those who In order to open up dialogue, Vatican II was commit sin wilfully are sent to the second commenced by John XXIII and continued resurrection and can face the second death. by Paul VI. There is a serious rift in the Whosoever is born of God does not sin (1Jn church now and to appease the hard-liners 3:9). the new doctrinal statement has now been issued by The Holy Office called the Sacred This distinction in sin is the basis for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. views regarding mortal and venal sin. The mainstream church has made the distinction The grounds for the next Inquisition were into a charade over the centuries; however, established under John Paul II and fears of that was its original doctrine in the NT that were expressed by notable Roman Church. The sin of the Corinthian fornicator Catholics, such as Morris West. The current was such that he was given to the adversary moves to canonisation of John XXIII and so that his life might be saved in the last Pius IX are to send conflicting messages to days (1Cor. 5:5). Thus, he was removed the church. One says we are returning to the from the Church and from under judgment old ways, and the other says we are FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 9 continuing in modernisation. This is a Sabbatarians in Transylvania, CCG significant psychological ploy. The ploy is Publishing, foreword by Cox, 1998). to introduce the unacceptable change and then, at the same time, to deny any change The history of the Sabbath-keeping Church is happening. is outlined in General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122) and The ones who want no change will stay put, The Role of the Fourth Commandment in and the ones who want the change will stay the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of put, each seizing on the aspect they want to God (No. 170). Look also at the paper The see. Gradually, the opposition side will cook Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277). like frogs in hot water. So, in this sense, we . have Luther the Heretic, Luther the Saint who strengthened the church, and Luther the Paganism heretic still. Will the real Martin Luther Why are so many Christians against please stand up? So, also with Canterbury Pagans? We aren’t bad people that and the Anglicans/Episcopalians. Note the worship the devil. Besides, Paganism was objections of Canterbury to the last here long before Christianity and in a pronouncement of Ratzinger from the way some of the different faiths of Vatican Inquisition. Christianity can be seen as Pagan. Take for instance the Catholics who worship By late 20th century, the drop out the Virgin Mary right along side Jesus phenomenon has emerged as a major Christ. In the Wiccan religion, you will though invisible force in American find that the goddess can be compared to religious life. Mainline Protestant the Virgin Mary and the god as Jesus churches have not lost out to other Christ simply because the goddess gives churches, but to a kind of religion where birth to the god every year. He lives his individuals have no need of traditional life then dies in the Winter only to be institutional systems. Today people seem born again in the Spring, just like Christ. to be content to fashion their own highly I think this needs to be explained to more personalized religious beliefs, detached Christians before they go around passing from the old time sense of a faith judgement against Pagans. community, which had heretofore A: You appear to misunderstand the characterized religious life. Do you agree position. What you do is against God’s Law. or disagree with the above statement. The origin of your religion is well A: Our people have been constantly understood and it is covered in some of the persecuted by traditional Christian papers at www.ccg.org. Look at the papers Institutions. We have had to hang on to the The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Bible through constant persecution. The Garden of Eden (No. 246) and Doctrine of Holocaust was designed to wipe out us and Original Sin Part 2 The Generations of Judah as well. Anyone who kept to the Adam (No. 248). Bible only was persecuted by the so-called mainstream system. What you say about the Catholic faith is correct. The worship of Mary, as mother Is it any wonder having perverted the entire Goddess, came into Christianity from the Bible system that when faced with a more or Baal-Easter system, which gave rise to less true and open era the system could not paganism in the first place. It was the survive. In the work by Rabbi Kohn of 1894 original faith of the Aryans. Paganism is a you will see what the so-called Christian religion based on the cycles of the Days of system did to us Christians. They murdered Human Sacrifice. our women because they cooked with goose fat instead of pig fat and kept the Sabbath. God condemns the system and we, as When the Roman Catholics stopped killing Christians, are forbidden to use it. The them the Lutherans took over (Kohn, Page 10 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

Church of God has been persecuted for two the world. It was to deceive those in the thousand years because we will not accept resurrection. the Easter system of the dying God, whether of Attis in Rome, or Adonis of the Greeks, They will be re-educated and given a chance or Osiris of the Egyptians. You will find the to understand and repent. They should be paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter very grateful that we have a merciful God. (No. 235) of interest, as will be the paper The witch at Endor was terrified when she The Golden Calf (No. 222). saw elohim coming up from the earth as Samuel. Yet, even these demons know there The true Christian Church has never is One True God and tremble. accepted these pagan festivals. The early church from Rome and Constantinople Soon, the false Christian system of the introduced their errors into the church to mother goddess and sun cults will be gone. persuade the followers of Attis and Mithras The black-cassocked Khemarim of the Baal- and Sol Invictus Elagabal, the public form Easter system will be gone and the world of the sun cults, to join Christianity. The will be free of false worship. The Mystery ascetic aspects of the Gnostics were also cults of the Babylonian Mystery system, incorporated. Look at the paper which has been a whore on this planet, will Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) for be no more. those aspects. The cults are the same in effect because they All of these aspects of the worship of the come from the same place with the Triune God were in place from the rebellion Rebellion of the Host and the Triune God. of the Host under Satan. That spirit is the When the whore is destroyed in the not too spirit you worship. The Triune system and distant future, the pagan faith will the three-headed god in the tree are the basis experience a resurgence for a while and then of paganism. It was in place thousands of it will be destroyed and men will return to years ago. Look at the series on Mysticism the true Tithe of God and His system. (No. B7). Each needs to study his own system and its Soon the time frame of the God of this origins and repent. The elect do not hate world will run out and his system will be anyone. They hate what is done. God is not put down once and for all. His followers dealing with the world yet. When the worship this system as the goddess, or the Witnesses take up their positions in Gaia or in other forms, but it stems from the Jerusalem, we will see the power of God in same system and the Triune God. dealing with the system of this world. We are to love all men and pray for their The world will have until shortly before redemption. It is a fearful thing to fall into 2027 to repent. Then the nexus of the Law the hands of the living God. will be restored and the very religions they worship will be shown to be totally Jehovah’s Witnesses impotent. The world will keep God’s law It would seem that Jehovah’s Witnesses from that time or they will simply starve to would rather die than accept a blood death before their powerless nature system. transfusion. Is this rational thinking? The so-called goddess, a demon, will be Also on what scripture (s) do they base confined to the bottomless pit for a thousand this belief? years with the rest of the demons. A: The doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses comes from the Bible texts against eating The world will be re-educated in the Second blood. The texts are the instructions given to Resurrection that is all the rest of humanity Noah, as well as to Moses. For example, in deceived by Satan and this system. That is Genesis 9:4: “But you shall not eat flesh in why the reincarnation system was set among its life: the blood.” The idea comes from the fact that blood is the life and if you take FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 11 blood into you it is the same as taking world. They decided that it was the another life into you, by eating their blood. fulfilment of the 2520 years, or seven times This is a silly and irrational reading of the from Nebuchadnezzar and the Battle of text. Carchemish. This was the seven times of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel. Unfortunately, it The bad handling of blood with the HIV was only 2518 years from the Battle of virus, and the passage on of other STDs Carchemish, which was in 605 BCE, and so with badly screened blood has left the they relocated the event to 607 BCE. Jehovah’s Witnesses with more ammunition to argue their case, but it is still a Also, they did not understand the misrepresentation of the texts of Scripture. significance of the prophecy of Pharaoh’s The order not to eat blood is just that and it Broken Arms in Ezekiel 28-30, and they is placed there to ensure that animals are assumed an incorrect 1914 instead of 1916, bled correctly. It is up to a person as to and ended it there instead of taking it to whether they will accept treatment or not. 1996. Nor did they understand the To choose to die over this silly rendering of fundamentalist Islamic problems that led up Scripture is a personal choice. to the reunion of the Egyptian Coptic Church with Rome and the establishment of To force another person to die over a silly Egypt as a quasi fundamentalist force. They interpretation of Scripture is another matter misunderstood the whole prophecy in its again. That is why some states intervene and relationship to the last days and thus they, take the decision away from parents in life like the SDAs of 1844, had to invent other threatening circumstances where the child explanations for the failed advent and will die without a transfusion. These sorts of consequences. arguments are an ethical minefield. The sequence of what they did might be This sort of intrusion into the rights of the better understood from an analysis of a parents is a serious problem, as the series of papers: The Millennium and the circumcision of the male child is being Rapture (No. 95); The Fall of Egypt (No. prevented by even sillier arguments from 36) and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. anti-Bible Law advocates, not only among 272). heathens but among Trinitarians as well. It is difficult to get a child circumcised in the I’ve seen several times where you say that UK now and increasingly so. Look at the after the resurrection we will be asexual. papers The Food Laws (No. 15) and Will we know our children, Purification and Circumcision (No. 251). grandparents? I was told we will still live as a family unit, no one will die, children From discussion with some Jehovah’s will know great great-grandparents and Witnesses they seem to be saying that build homes wherever we wished, et Jesus Christ returned to earth in 1914. cetera. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. However we cannot see him because he is Are Jehovah’s Witnesses misinformed in a spirit being. They say the last ‘normal’ that area? year in history was 1913, and 1914 was A: The JWs are misinformed as to the the end of the time of the gentiles. Does functions of the millennial system and the 1914 have any significance in the biblical Second Resurrection. The First Resurrection way of calculating time sequences? Also occurs at the beginning of the Millennium. how come we all don’t know that Christ The elect are all resurrected then and will has returned? I don’t imagine this event become spirit beings. They take the place of would go unnoticed. the demons for the 1000 years. The rest of A: Yes, we are familiar with their argument. the planet continues on and it is restored. It rests on a misunderstanding of a little People will live and die as usual within known prophecy in Scripture. They decided families. that 1914 was the war of the end of the Page 12 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

The world will be run from Jerusalem and and I was wondering why so many people the Calendar will be kept with all the put others down without knowing what original systems. Those who do not keep the they truly believe. If we claim to serve laws of God and the Sabbaths, New Moons, God, why not have conduct that befits and Feasts will get no rain in due season and that claim? Many claim to follow the suffer the plagues of Egypt (Zech 14:16-19). Bible, yet they have conduct that is false to their claims. I try to my best ability to The nexus of the Law of God will be love all people of all faiths, and races. If restored from the Witnesses. Look at the God is not partial and shows no paper The Witnesses (including the Two partiality, who are we to show it? Witnesses) (No. 135). People will then A: We should love our neighbour as directly come under the Blessings and the ourselves. No one hates themselves, then Curses of Deuteronomy 28 (see The why hate others. Blessings and the Curses (No. 75). At the end of the millennial system the last The Jehovah’s Witnesess church, (or more Rebellion will occur. Those involved will correctly the Watch Tower and Bible Tract die and the demons will be reduced to Corporation) has a false view of a number human form and die with them (see the of Scriptures. We agree with that system on paper The Judgment of the Demons (No. one area and disagree with it regarding the 80). Law of God and the Sabbaths. We understand their history and understand They will then all be resurrected. Every man where they came from and how they got to who has ever lived, who was not part of the where they are now. First Resurrection, will be resurrected to the Second Resurrection along with the demons. We also know that they have set piece They will be asexual. There will be no responses and that, as a church, they are further marriage from this point. Every life discouraged from studying into any views will be given this 100 year period to repent. other than their own and they draw people They will all be corrected, converted and into those views contrary to Scripture. then translated. Those who choose to die will be allowed to die and they will simply Our desire is to restore the true first century be burnt. Christian Faith to all mankind. To do that we have to expose a few false teachings in Then death will cease to exist, as will false most of the sects. The Jehovah’s Witnesses prophecy and the spirit of the Devil. Satan are notorious for their condemnation of the will be given a new opportunity to become a mainstream system, even going door to new being and a new spirit begotten son of door. God, as will Hitler, and the Borgia Pope, and every monster that has ever lived. Look John the Baptist did not mince words and at the papers Outline Timetable of the Age nor did Christ and nor will the witnesses (No. 272) and Lost Sheep and the Prodigal when they get here. The Jehovah’s Son (No. 199). Witnesses, like every one else on the planet will start keeping the laws of God or they God’s plan is perfect. We serve an will die. There will be no negotiation. Omniscient, Omnipotent, Perfectly Good and True God who is Father of all. He who They will start keeping the New Moons and sanctifies and they who are sanctified are of Sabbaths (Isa 66:23) and the Feasts of God one origin (Heb. 2:11). We are not going to (Zech 14:16-19) and they will send the lose anybody. national representatives to Jerusalem each year or there will be no rain in due season As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I have and the plagues of Egypt will be brought read many negative comments on JWs. I down on them. would not put anyone’s religion down FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 13

That is Scripture and Scripture cannot be writer for the Church was Justin Martyr. He broken. Look at the paper Law and the also wrote to the Jews in his Dialaogue with Fourth Commandment (No. 256). Trypho the Jew (cf. Ch. 80). Justin told him that if he came across people who said they Soul Doctrine were Christians and that when they died Do you believe in reincarnation? Why is they went to heaven, not to believe them it I have met people I instantly knew and because they were not Christians. Now we been to places that were very familiar to have millions of people claiming to be me? I realize Scripture states to each man Christians but who believe in an immortal there has been an appointed time (one life soul, and heaven and hell. time) but is there a possibility that mankind had more than one life. The fact of the matter is that the Bible (and A: Reincarnation is a product of the Soul also the Koran) teaches two Resurrections doctrine and is contrary to the Bible. The of the dead. The First Resurrection takes familiarity we experience with people is place at the return of Messiah, and the often derived from our memory of people, second takes place 1000 years later at the expressions, words and association. The end of the Millennium. In this second or Celts also had this doctrine from the other general resurrection of the dead, all men are Aryan systems. It is a particularly enslaving resurrected and judged. You will get an idea error. We have to deal with the problems it by reading the papers: The Soul (No. 92); causes especially in India. Philosophy was The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) and originally a religion designed to liberate The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95). rational men from the wheel of rebirth taught by the Hyperborean Celts. The Bible Was Peter the apostle attributed to the teaches the Resurrection of the Dead and the inverted cross? life to come as spirit beings from the two A: The myth runs that Peter was crucified resurrections. The biblical position is upside down because he claimed he was not detailed in the papers The Soul (No. 92); worthy to die like his Lord. The fact of the The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) matter is that the symbols of inversion are and The City of God (No. 180). all tied up with sacrifice and black magic, and that is why the cross is depicted as an We all know that our soul which doesn’t X, which is the basic symbol of inversion in have birth; doesn’t have death; i.e. the magic. This entire system of sacrifice and birth of a person is the creation of a inversion stems from the logic of: “The person and his death means his body more desperate the situation, the greater the ceases to function. Why do they say Jesus sacrifice must be to stem the tragedy.” That came alive 3 days after being crucified? is why we saw the terrible sacrifices in the If the soul departs the body after death rites of the Carthaginians, and also in the what is special in the case of Jesus? Pre-Columbian Americans. Cirlot covers Either he didn’t die after being put on this aspect in “The Dictionary of Symbols” the cross or after his death his soul (pp. 158ff.). The Greeks and Romans took departed to heaven? the “stauros” and crucifixion itself from the A: The doctrine of the immortal soul is not Phoenicians. It was an upside down stake a true Christian doctrine. It entered until the Romans refined it later by adding Christianity from the Gnostic systems and the cross bar to prolong death. The custom, as a refined position of the Socratic in lesser-educated levels of Roman doctrines. In the first and second centuries, Catholicism, of inverting or turning the if you said to any true Christian that when head of a saint downwards or towards the you died you went to heaven, they would wall comes from the process of magical know that you were an impostor. In fact, the inversion. By inverting the effigy, the Church at Rome wrote to the emperor ca. faithful hope to invert his attitude towards 150-154 providing an understanding of the them (Cirlot, p. 159). It is a pagan rite based faith. They also wrote to the Senate. The on the doctrine of the Immortal Soul and Page 14 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions has no place in Christianity. Look at the Dharma and Kharma. It certainly has papers The Cross: Its Origin and nothing to do with the Bible and is a gross Significance (No. 39); The Resurrection of insult to the survivors of the Holocaust. The the Dead (No. 143) and The Soul (No. 92). notion behind it is this. 1. Jews are of Judah and Judah is part of the I came across an article that reflected chosen people Israel. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's comments "the 2. God protects the righteous. victims of the Holocaust, all the six 3. God did not protect Judah in the million Jews, all those poor people who holocaust therefore the Jews who died were were lost at the hands of those evildoers not righteous. They must have been sinning the Nazis...were reincarnations of earlier and to have so many who sinned they must souls who sinned time and again and did all have been reincarnated at the same time all sorts of things that shouldn't have to be made to suffer. been done, and were reincarnated in order so that things could be set right" This view takes no account of the insane Where does this kind of thinking come drive of the Europeans over the centuries to from? It seems so hurtful to all you lost eradicate the Law of God and all who kept loved ones in the Holocaust or lived it. To concede that God was not protecting through the ordeal. How will peace and Judaism per se would involve these people happiness come to man and the planet? in coming to grips with the fact that they A: The idea of reincarnation is a perversion were in a false system of worship and they of the doctrine of the resurrection of the would have to repent. dead. The OT and the NT teaches the Resurrection of the Dead. The general The reality is that the god of this world is resurrection is 100 years in duration. That attempting to destroy the chosen people and period is at the end of the millennial reign of the true church with the resources of the Messiah. The plan is given in the paper false church and he knows that his time is Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272) and short. Satan only has a maximum of twenty- also in the paper The Resurrection of the five years left before he is confined to the Dead (No. 143). Thus the world will be bottomless pit. In that time he will attempt given a resurrection to flesh and that process to destroy the church and the people of is covered also in Ezekiel chapter 37. Israel and eradicate most of mankind.

In one sense this is a reincarnation and that Comments like that of the head of Shas has been taken by these people to support a simply inflame tensions and make war more doctrine of reincarnation. One of Satan's inevitable. It also misleads people as to the ploys is to perpetrate the doctrine of intention of the Bible structure and plan. reincarnation and he did that from the beginning. He knew that when people woke Apolostic Tradition up in the Second Resurrection, which covers Hippolytus speaks of the Apostolic most of the world's populace, if they thought Tradition 21:16 (AD 215). Do you know it was just another time around it would be what he is talking about? His statement harder to deal with them. In a sense that is was on baptism of infants. What is true. We will have to convince these people Apostolic Tradition? Is it a book of the that they have this one chance and they are Bible? It has marking of the Bible 21:16. under judgment at that time and they will A: The reference of Hyppolytus to baptism not get another chance. In a sense that will is in the ANF, Vol. V, p. 236 and does not waste some of our time and education have the reference to which you refer, nor process rectifying that thinking. does he mention infant baptism there. The introduction of infant baptism appears to The notion that the Holocaust was for have been in the third century, and we find sinners who were reincarnated is a bizarre a treatise on it by Cyprian in the second half Hindu/Buddhist idea based on the law of the of the third century. It was decided the FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 15 eighth day circumcision rule was not to be sanctification of all men through Christ. followed, but a child could be baptised on The terminology does not even mention the second or third day (ANF, ibid., pp. women, so to argue that we are dealing with 353ff.). a literal and direct relationship would exclude females from baptism. The There was no apostolic tradition of infant discussion is thus dependent upon known baptism in the records of which we know. Scriptural facts regarding the sanctification Indeed the treatise by Cyprian is the early of children apology and makes no reference to such a tradition, and it certainly would have if such 1Corinthians 7:12-14 shows you the true a tradition existed as he was writing a meaning of what Irenaeus is referring to and defence of infant baptism (cf. ibid., p. 354 shows you that children are not baptised but Ep. LVIII, 3). The comment of Hippolytus are sanctified in the believing parent, in the is therefore of interest. same way the unbelieving spouse is sanctified while they agree to dwell with a The comments by Tertullian also indicate believing mate. Repeating, there is no that such was not the case, as he declared evidence of infant baptism in the early baptism should be delayed until the children Church, nor is there any known tradition of had grown in the faith and had been able to such baptism. The NT, in fact, records know Christ. He refers to the argument many baptisms but never one instance of a regarding sponsors, and this indicates that child being baptised with the adults; the the introduction of infant baptism and supposed reference in Hippolytus. Much of sponsors was in the first part of the third this type of material is based on misquotes, century and he was arguing against the or misconstructions as we see here, to novelty here in the treatise on baptism support later traditions which have no (ANF, Vol. III, p. 678). He also says that the Scriptural basis. time before Passover was the most suitable time for baptism. Then after that Pentecost A relative tried to convince me that one and the feast days, but every day was a could not only believe the Bible but you suitable time following that. The Churches must believe apostolic tradition based on of God, who practice adult baptism, have 2Thessalonians 2:15; the basic argument always baptised in this way either in “you were born a Catholic, you will die a preparation for Passover or at the feasts. Catholic, do not question!” What does God tell us to believe in His Word? Irenaeus says in 2:22.4: “For He came to A: What does Christ say to the Pharisees? save all through means of Himself - as, I You have set at nought the word of God by say, who through him are born again to God your traditions. The so-called apostolic - Infants, and children, and boys, and youths traditions are anything but apostolic. The and old men. He therefore passed through Bible is clear: If they do not speak every age, becoming an infant for infants, according to the Law and the Testimony, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20). That thus sanctifying those who are of this goes for any priest or minister who speaks age...”. Now, Wall and others held that this counter to the Commandments of God and was the statement of a valuable fact as to the Testimony of Jesus Christ. That is why infant baptism in the primitive church the world is in such a complete mess, and (ANF, Vol. 1, p. 391 fn. 9). However, the why Christianity now finds itself beset by point here under discussion is sanctification, commonality with paganism and witchcraft. not baptism. A reading of the NT shows us It is because it adopted their practices for that we are dealing with Sanctification, political purposes and then termed them the which for those who were infants, children traditions of the Church. and adolescents was through their parents. Irenaeus is not speaking of infant baptism. Easter is representative of a pagan goddess He is speaking of the comprehensive of the worship of Baal, which God Page 16 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions condemned through His servants the then they are true Christians. If they do not, prophets. This is now a tradition of many they are not true Christians. All you have to churches. If Yahovah is God, then worship do is make sure you do all these things, and Him, but if Baal is god then follow him. But live as Christ and the apostles lived, and you do not call it the tradition of the Church. will be a true Christian. Anyone who does Look at the Statement of Beliefs (No. A1). not do the things listed above is not a true These are the true traditions of the Apostles. Christian. If we love Him, we should keep His commandments. Mormons Is Mormonism a Christian religion? I I had some Mormons visit and I asked know that they claim that it is, but is it? about their belief in baptising for the A: Your question demands the definition of dead and collecting genealogies to find a true Christian. What is the Christian names to baptise for. They seemed to feel religion? The Bible answers that question in the unbaptised would not be saved. Revelation 12:17 and 14:12. The dragon 'Mormo' is listed as King of the Ghouls or was wroth with the woman and went to the living dead by Lavey in the satanic make war on her offspring. These are those bible. Is this infernal name where the who keep the commandments of God and Mormons get their name? the faith or testimony of Jesus Christ. A: The preoccupation with the dead is quite bizarre given the doctrines of the Bible. Yes The commandments of God demand the LaVey does mention Mormo as the god of worship of the one True God, whom Jesus the dead and it is very likely that this sort of worshipped and who is his Father and our joke was involved in Mormonism from the Father, and his God and our God. Christ start. It is now a fixation of the religion. The kept the Sabbath as the Seventh day of the name Mormon does mean a follower of week. Mormo god of the Dead. That is why some of them resist the name. However they He kept the Passover and Unleavened exhibit all the features of a cult of the dead. Bread. He kept the Wave Sheaf, as is The only thing they may not do is disinter commanded in Leviticus 23. He and the the dead for ritual feasts. early Church kept the New Moons, and the Feast of Pentecost also from Leviticus 23 It is intriguing to note the strange parallels (cf. Col. 2:16). and quirks in the names and ritual of the Mormons. Their centres have symbolism of He and the early Church kept Trumpets and Freemasonry and particularly Scottish rite Atonement from Leviticus 23. He also kept free masonry in all their old materials. Even Tabernacles and the Last Great Day from their old temples and drawings are set out Leviticus 23. He and the apostles ate only with reference to the Masonic temple. Their clean meats from Deuteronomy 14 and old newspaper was a direct reference to the Leviticus 11. He instituted the Lord’s occult. Supper on 14 Abib and died on that day as the Passover Lamb, and also told us to keep You have to see it and have some those days. He was resurrected from the understanding of free masonry and its dead and the Church believed that it would symbolism to really appreciate it all but be resurrected from the dead at his return. there is no doubt it was established by They did not believe in the immortal soul, Scottish rite free masons and Mormonism or heaven, or hell. adopted its cosmology. That was one of the reasons they were attacked and killed and They also did not keep pagan festivals and had to flee from Missouri. The punishment would not even eat with those of the Baal- for betraying the secrets of the cult is death. Easter system of the pagans (see the paper Their loyalties, like the RC orders also The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. transcend national boundaries. 235). If the Mormons do all these things, FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 17

Many of the Mormon followers and swimming (where they would not be especially the females do not seem to concealed under even the most modest understand it. My questions could not be swimsuit and would get wet), and for visits answered in some critical areas and perhaps to the doctor's office or hospital, where they some were to be kept from the public also. could easily be seen by non-members. The The angel Moroni that gave the Book of temple workers explained that there were Mormon is a play in the Hebrew suffix i other situations where the garments could be effectively meaning "of the" e.g. "tribe or temporarily removed, subject to the wearer's people of" for example Ashkenazi means of judgment, but that the garments were a the sons of Ashkenaz (who was of the sons source of both spiritual and physical of Gomer). Angel Moroni is a play on the protection, and should be worn continuously forms angel to the Morons using the as much as possible. For instance, it was not accepted sense of the word. considered advisable to remove them routinely at bedtime and sleep without them. The coincidences are too many to be accidental. Whoever drafted the religion had One time at a Fast and Testimony meeting, I a great knowledge of masonry and the remember hearing a man, who had been a occult and a very subtle sense of humour. youth group advisor when I was in my teens, give a speech about how his garments I have heard that Mormons wear sacred had protected him from physical injury. He undergarments and that these have had been at a gas station pumping gas. His symbols or markings on them. Is this true car was one of those that had the opening to and if so what is the significance of this the gas tank in the rear of the car underneath practice. the license plate holder. Suddenly, a car A: This is an interesting question. The came up behind him and pinned him following is the testimony of an ex Mormon between its front bumper and his car's rear on the subject. bumper at just above knee level. He testified that the area of his legs caught between the Basic Information about Temple two bumpers had been covered by his Garments garments, and had been "merely bruised “It has been awhile (around ten years) since instead of broken." He considered this I have bought or worn garments, but evidence of the protective powers of his excluding any changes that may have been garments. Could it have been merely that made since then, here is what I know: the force of the collision was not sufficient Temple garments are first worn after a to break his legs? While his was the only person has received his or her first Temple first-hand story about the protective power "endowment". During this endowment, the of garments I ever heard, I have run across person is given a "new name", is taught the several tales of the anecdotal, Mormon- story of the creation of the world (from the urban-myth, "faith-promoting" variety. One LDS perspective), makes vows concerning story centers around a LDS man who had his faith, learns the way he is to enter the been struck by lightning. Two LDS sisters Celestial Kingdom, and is given instruction see the lightning strike him in the middle of in other things. Among the topics of a field and go running up to him. When they instruction is the proper wearing of Temple arrive at his side, they see that he is dead, garments. The garments are to be worn horribly burned on his face, lower arms, and under one's clothing at all times, except lower legs. "But, look," one sister says to during times, to be determined by the the other, "every place his garments covered member's own prayerful discretion, where his body there are no burns!" And indeed, the garments would be exposed to non- the garments, and the skin beneath them are members or would hinder a worthwhile untouched. I thought that was a weird story activity. The examples I was given were that when I heard it. I mean, come on, he's dead! the garments could be removed for bathing, What difference does it make that his torso sexual relations, activities such as is in fine shape when his head's burned off? Page 18 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

Maybe they need to make hooded goddess known as Essene (not to be garments... confused with the Qumran community for whom Pliny used the term), lived a celibate As far as the physical appearance of the existence and some castrated themselves in garments go they look somewhat like short the service of the deity. versions of "long john" underwear. The men's garments have a top with short When the cults penetrated Christianity and sleeves and a neckline that is a bit more brought the Easter system with them, the "scooped" than a typical men's T-shirt. The same ascetic traditions also entered the bottoms reach to just above the knees. faith. The first Monastic, or the person who Women's garments are similar except there is credited with the foundation of Christian is a choice of different necklines (scooped, Monasticism, is Anthony. Athanasius is V, or square), and the sleeves are shorter credited with writing his life, and he became than the men's, sort of like "cap sleeves." famous perhaps from that fact in the fourth The bottoms also reach to just above the century. knees. Both men's and women's come in either one-piece or two-piece styles, and in a There has been some dispute as to the exact variety of fabric weights and blends, such as timing of his life, and some have even nylon, cotton, cotton/poly. All Temple disputed his existence. The fact of the garments are pure white, although I have matter is, that the early Monastics were heard that they also come in olive drab for ascetics who did not live communally, as it LDS people in the military, but I have never is now known. They lived in cells, as part of seen these. All Temple garments are marked the same complex. with symbols on the right breast, left breast, navel, and one knee. These markings are The life style slowly became more popular embroidered into the garment with white and, in medieval times, the monastic orders thread (although in the case of the military assumed real power and eventually, in the garments, it may well be olive drab thread.) twelfth century, removed the deaconesses The markings symbolize certain phrases and the married clergy from the monasteries from the Temple endowment ceremony. and the church clergy entirely. Members are informed that they are not to cut, sew, or alter the garments in any way. Gnosticism For example, they cannot be shortened, What is the meaning of Bythus? pinned up, or rolled up to allow for wearing A: Bythus is the name for the Gnostic abyss a shorter dress or pair of shorts. Exceptions but like all things they seems to have placed to the "no alterations" rule can be made for a twist on it such that it existed as the abyss members who are physically handicapped. of Deity proceeding from the invisible and nameless heights of the perfect pre-existing When the garments wear out, members are Aeon which they called the first principle advised to cut out the areas with the that is Progenitor and Bythus. embroidered markings with scissors and burn them. With the markings gone, the Hippolytus (vi, 37) speaks of the Gnostic garments are no longer considered sacred, Valentinus who he says: He whom Plato and can be used as dusting rags, as with any spoke of a king of all, this man postulated as worn-out garment.” father and Bythus and first principle of all --Serratia the aeons.

Monasticism The Valentinians held that to be a process of What is Monasticism and where did it self-limitation. The Bythus evolved a series come from? of pairs of aeons, male and female, any pair A: Originally, monasticism was associated of which may be called the pleroma. The with the cults of the god Attis and the Easter Aeon was a unity, which manifested itself as system of Asia Minor. The priests of the a plurality. FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 19

personified boundary (cf. ERE, Vol. 1, pp. Later Gnosticism exhibits them as a 54-55) and perhaps this reflects the confederacy of Divine existences Egyptian mysteries, as the socio-economic proceeding in pairs from the supreme origins of Gnosticism, according to Green, Father, each pair originating another, lay in the Alexandrian system. descending in dignity as it becomes more remote from the source (ERE, Aeons, Vol. Some also deposed the Bythus from the 1, p. 149). head of the series and made him follow the first ogdoad. Some thought of him as The doctrines of the Syzygies had its unwedded, others as androgynous or counterpart in Mithraism also and both are asexual. Others gave him Sige as his consort derived from the Babylonian system, which and others the two powers Thought and Gnosticism softened (cf. ERE, ibid). In this Will. sense they also have their counterparts in Japanese Shintoism, Mahayana Buddhism, The relation of Gnostic speculation on the Zoroastrianism, the Platonic Ideas, Philos Bythus is indicated in one sentence of Powers and the Stoic Logoi and so on. Irenaeus (ap. Epiphaneus xxxii, 7) "For some say that he is unwedded and is neither The Shinto system set forth in the Kojiki male nor female, nor in fact, anything at rests on pure pantheism. As Izanagi and all." Perhaps this is the reference in Izanami the male and female principles are question. personified and depicted as grossly lustful. These procreative Aeons are derived from In some ways he was portrayed in a quasi- abstract deities. Buddhist sense being exalted above all contrarieties: The Absolute identical with In the Northern School of Adibuddha, the Nothing; the Being of whom even existence five Buddhas of contemplation (Vairochana, might not be predicated. It is from this Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Gnostic concept that the Mystics developed Amoghasiddhi) emanate the five future the thought process: Buddhas of contemplation, the source of the five worlds, which successively make up the "I saw and knew the being of all things, the universe. They became the five elements of Byss and the Abyss, and the eternal earth, water, fire, air and ether or orthodox generation of the Holy Trinity, the descent Brahmanism. The Zoroastrian has a similar and original of the world and of all creatures but twofold system of aeons in the through the Divine Wisdom" (Jacob kingdoms of Light and of Darkness. Behmen, quoted by James, Varieties of Ahuramazda heads the kingdom of Light Religious Experience, p. 411 and also ERE, and Ahriman heads the kingdom of ibid, p. 55). Darkness. How do you equate your Christian beliefs The Gnostic Pleroma was also a name given with your study of ancient cultures and to the whole series taken together which the links between the ancient Middle East then stands to the Bythus in the feminine and South America? – What of Heaven relation as Tiamat did to Apsu. However, and Hell? Gnosticism never formed a homogenous A: There appears to be no conflict between body of opinions. what the Bible actually says and what the Scientists are finding on a daily basis. The Hippolytus warns us that there were many conflict lies in what most modern Christians varying opinions among them concerning say it says. the Bythus itself. Some thinkers held Bythus to be outside of the pleroma while others For example we do not and have never held him to be within it but separated from believed in the doctrine of Heaven and Hell. the rest by the Horus which was a That is not a Christian Doctrine. It came in Page 20 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions from the Gnostics in the second century. concept of the lie in original sin, namely, Justin Martyr said in his Dialogue with thou shalt not surely die. Trypho aimed at the Jews on behalf of the Church in Rome ca 150-155 that is he came It appears that by giving the ordinance of across people who said they were Christians circumcision to Abraham as a requirement and said that when they died they went to of the eighth day (when clotting begins to Heaven, do not imagine they are Christians. occur), God was actually intervening and giving direct and corrective meaning to an This was the test of a true Christian and a existing pagan practice. God was saying, “I false Christian then and it still is the test of a am your rock or totem and the object of true Christian. Any one who says that when your resurrection and continued life.” That they die they go to heaven is not a true it was to be done at the eighth day and not Christian. The doctrine of the soul and at puberty, removed it from the realm of the heaven and hell is a godless and self existence and manhood of the blasphemous doctrine and has always been individual and placed it on the level of the regarded as such by the true Christian free gift of God as a member of the nation Church, which Church we are. of Israel. God was striking at the lie of the soul and the reincarnation doctrines of the The matter is examined in the papers The pagan or satanic teachings of the Sin and Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead Ishtar systems (cf. the papers The Golden (No. 143); The Millennium and the Rapture Calf (No. 222) and The Origins of (No. 95) and The City of God (No. 180). Christmas and Easter (No. 235)). The Gnostic doctrines and history are also covered in the papers The Nicolaitans (No. In the early church the circumcision 202) and Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. controversy arose where the so-called 183). You will also enjoy reading the papers Hellenizing party rejected it and the The Nephilim (No. 154) and Outline Judaising party affirmed it (Acts 11:2; Timetable of the Age (No. 272). 15:1,5; 21:21). Paul had himself been circumcised and, under Jewish pressure, he Circumcision circumcised Timothy (Phil. 3:5; Acts 16:3). Should newborn sons of Christian He considered it a mark of divine favour of parents be circumcised or is it the nation (Rom. 3:1 ff.). However, in the unnecessary? case of Gentile converts, it was considered A: The practice of circumcision is perhaps unessential (Acts 15:19 ff.; cf. Gal. 5:2-4). one of the oldest rites of all civilisations. It Paul regarded the presence or absence of is found among all tribes and areas (cf. physical circumcision as equally immaterial Purification and Circumcision (No. 251)). to the covenant between the adult male and Circumcision has a beneficial effect in hot God (Rom. 3:30f.; 4:9ff.; 1Cor. 7:18f.; Gal. desert climates in the prevention of disease. 5:6; 6:12f.; Col. 3:11). By faith the Law is Aside from this effect, the original practice established and righteousness through faith. seemed to have a distinct relationship to the For they themselves that are circumcised do concept of rebirth and reincarnation. From not keep the law, but attempt to glory in the the most ancient times, the foreskin of the flesh of we who do keep the law (Gal. circumcised male was placed in a location 6:12ff.). For the only true circumcision is of some direct proximity to the totems of spiritual. In this teaching Paul reinforces the circumcised males, either in rocks or Jeremiah (Jer. 4:4; 6:10; 9:26; cf. Deut. trees or the like. From what we can now 10:16; 30:6). He allows for divergent tell, it appears that the practice of procedures under different circumstances circumcision is actually tied to the concept (Acts 16:3, Gal 2:1). of the rebirth of the individual in the bodies of the descendants. This appears to have Non-Trinitarians or so-called Arian sects been carried over as a concept among all the were in agreement with the Trinitarians on ancient tribes. It has specific bearing on the this matter. The Trinitarians or Catholics FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 21 took power shortly after this and in 590 children circumcised, as did everyone else. established the Holy Roman Empire. This practice was general and was not Eugene IV gave the official Roman pronounced against officially in the Catholic pronouncement in the Bull Catholic system until the fifteenth century. Cantate Domino (4 Feb. 1441). He held that We might deduce from the relationship of the requirements and ceremonies of the the seven days of purification and the Law, however proper for the time, were activities of the circumcision of the eighth abrogated by the coming of Christ and the day that we are dealing with the plan of sacraments of the NT. Thus, baptism was salvation. The seventh day of purification seen as replacing circumcision. relates to the final millennial system and the purification of the earth. The eighth day In the Coptic Church, baptism was not seen relates to the final resurrection and the as replacing circumcision. When infant restoration of all flesh on the earth, as part baptism was introduced, boys were baptised of the nation of Israel and hence part of the at 40 days old and girls at 80 days old. This City of God (cf. Rev. 21:1-3 and the paper procedure reflected exactly that of the The City of God (No. 180)). purification legislation and circumcision for males remains general (ERE, vol. 4, p. 119). Buddhism The Copts were part of the earliest Christian What do you think about Buddhism? Can Church of North Africa from Egypt. They Buddhism and Christianity have the separated from the so-called Orthodox same goal? church ca. 451 as a result of the doctrines A: Buddhism is a religion that is a negation. arising from Constantinople (381) and It denies the existence of God at the highest Chalcedon (451). It may be correctly argued levels. It was an invention of a kshatryan from the evidence of the Copts, that baptism knight Sidartha or Guatama in the sixth was not seen as replacing circumcision. century BCE to explain the wheel of birth of While the Copts adopted infant baptism the Aryan Hindus as was philosophy among based on the male/female purification the Greeks invented for the same purpose to distinctions, the males were still explain it among the Hyperborean Celts of circumcised, as was the practice in ancient Britain and Europe. Israel. Thus, the male and circumcision itself was seen as being the distinctive As Christianity is completely God centred factor in the purification distinctions, which they cannot have anything other than mirrored the biblical distinctions. transitory and superficial objectives in common. The origins of Buddhism are We can conclude from the early Coptic explained in the work Mysticism Chapter 7 church practices, which were also practiced Buddhism (No. B7_7). among Sabbatarian sects in Europe and Asia Minor, that circumcision for infants Do you have any information on the Dalai was considered essential as part of the Lama? nation of Israel and the Church. Only the The life and details of Tenzin Gyatso the adult Gentile males were not required to be 14th Dalai Lama can be found at circumcised, when they entered the Church www.dalailama.com. as adults. Since the act of physical circumcision was to give way to the Dalai is a Mongolian word meaning spiritual fulfillment of baptism and "Ocean" and Lama is a Tibetan word circumcision of the heart, and since infant meaning "Spiritual teacher" and hence they baptism was not practised in the early render that as Ocean of Wisdom. He is church (cf. Repentance and Baptism (No. viewed as the 14th reincarnation of the 52)), it followed that physical circumcision person who was the first Dalai Lama. 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 Page 22 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

There are many Lamas in Tibet of various My Teacher says the Old Testament dates ranks. They are chosen as children based on to 600 BC, but that it has ideas derived the doctrine of reincarnation and the notion from the Rig Veda which is older. that people are reincarnated according to the Conclusion, the authors of the Bible made law of the Dharma. It is like a great it up based on previous ‘myths’. If I knew credit/debit ledger that traps people into a when the Dead Sea Scrolls date back to mode of existence they allegedly deserve (he was mainly comparing Genesis) then I because of what they did in a past life. could tell him he was wrong. Do you know? I don´t see the chakras mentioned in the A: He is a closet Hindu. The Rig Veda was Bible, aren´t they important to know based on the Aryan Genesis Myths, which about? were taken into India ca. 1000 BCE. A: The concept of the chakras is a physical problem to Buddhism and the sects The Triune God was taken into India ca influenced by them. The Bible does not deal 1700 BCE from Assyria, at the same time with them because they are unimportant to Israel under the patriarchs was in Egypt. salvation. Look at Wolperts, “A New History of India.” The dating for the Bible at 600 BCE They can be measured by certain electro is absolute drivel. Look at the paper The magnetic fields but they have no Bible (No. 164). It will give you the datings consequence in dealing with the plan of and structure. The Hindu Gods are salvation and the body of Christ. characters from the Chaldean/Hebrew texts adopted from Ancestor worship. What about the aspect of healing? There are a lot of books on healing with the I am an Indian and at present studying in chakras involved. the Indian School, Bahrain. I have the A: The question of the healing is of faith. following questions: The healing of which you speak is of the 1) Explain the utility of celebrating Hindu and Buddhist systems. National religious festivals at home and in the schools? How long will ye be of two minds? If 2) Could you please tell me about a Hindu Yahovah is God then follow Him but if Baal festival by Raksha Bandhan and explain is God then follow him. why & how it is to be celebrated to make the children not only enjoy but Hinduism understand the significance also? In what way is Hinduism ecumenical? A: Millennia ago men stopped keeping the A: Hinduism is a polytheist structure, which festivals of God and developed systems of is ecumenical only in the sense that it has worship. The systems laid down by God incorporated deities into its pantheon as it were beneficial and men required these deemed relevant to its own system. It does periods for rest and spiritual regeneration. not tolerate other structures that conflict with its cosmology. When the Aryans invaded India ca 1000 BCE they brought with them a structure of That is why it is increasingly hostile to the explanation of creation based on the Christian missions. Buddhism originated in worship in the Middle East and established India as a reaction to the rigid class and there a Sanskrit system based on the ancient caste system of Hinduism. Islam came there Semitic or Chaldean languages. under conquerors and was established because of that fact. The partition of India The ancient figures in ancestral traditions and the hostility caused by religious conflict became God through ancestor worship. is progressing towards thermonuclear war. It Sheba or Shiva became the Hindu God. cannot be considered "ecumenical". Noah or Nu became Seri Nu the God of FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 23 money or wealth. The Nephilim became the Practitioners. What makes someone a Raksasas. bonafide fulltime real Shaman? A: The word Shaman is derived from the From this view, cults of the fallen host or Russian based on the Tungusian saman. demons, the female demons the Rakshanis Originally and predominantly they are were developed. Initially they were female priests or priest doctors among the northern demons and spirits of the wood. Then, and tribes of Asia. They were originally as batal, there were akin to the yoginis or animistic and derived from the mysteries in rock spirits in animism as were the banasats. the Middle East and Russian steppes. They Chungu is another tree demon from the formed the religious basis of the more primitive tribes in Indian animism. Uralic/Altaic peoples, which spread over northern Siberia and into Europe. The festivals founded around these animistic and substitutionary rites are used The linguistic groups that comprise the to replace the original festivals God had original structure encompass the Uralic given to Nabi Nu or Noah when the earth Altaic groups including Finno Ugric, was replenished. They are a secondary rite Hungarian/Magyar, Vogul and Manshi, used to maintain mankind in the absence of Manchu/ Tungus, Manchurian, Mongol, Old the original true festivals of God abandoned Korean and Japanese. The forms spread into by the Aryans before they invaded India and North America with the American Indians. established the Hindu cast and religious They formed the basis of the animistic system. influences on Mahayana Buddhism.

Now to the second part of your question. The structure of Shamanism is covered excellently in Mirceau Eliade's Shamanism. Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu custom marking The fundamental belief is that all the good the love and affection between brothers and and evil of life are brought about by spirits, sisters. Raksha means "Protection," (derived who can be influenced only by the Shamans. from the concept of protection from the This is applied to the North West American demons mentioned above) Bandhan means Indians and their medicine men who are "bond". It is celebrated on 'Shravan sud Shamans along the Asian lines. The word to Poornima' every year, according to the Shamanize means intransitively to perform Hindu calendar. On this day, sisters tie a the incantations of a shaman and tr. to colourful 'Rakhi' on the wrists of their imbue with Shamanistic beliefs (Oxford brothers and ask their brothers to protect Universal Dictionary). them from calamities. It is believed that when Indra was going into a particular The Chinese recognised them but battle, Indrani tied a thread on his hand for considered that to prophesy one needed to his protection and success and thus this be possessed by a Shen. They were custom started. Allegedly, Raksha Bandhan considered to lie. The Shen is related to the is an occasion that depicts the bond of Chaldean word and hence the Arabic Djinn affection between brothers and sisters. and hence a spirit or demon.

The origin of the Raksasas is explained in This was posted on the August the paper The Nephilim (No. 154). For the Celebrations flyer at work: Special original calendar of the Aryans look at the Chinese holiday in which legend says that paper God's Calendar (No. 156). during the 7th lunar month, souls are released from purgatory to roam the Shamanism Earth. Is there such a Chinese holiday? I How would you define a Shaman? I do realize that the month of August really not think we have that many left, but we falls basically in the 5th lunar month but are getting lots of Shamanic Cultural Diversity Committee posted in August for some reason. Page 24 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

A: This sounds very much like a Jesuit Is Freemasonry a religion or just a secret influenced tradition from the time of the (social) club for the boys? early Roman Catholic influences. It A: Freemasonry is a religion. There are two certainly could not have come from the branches of it: the York rite and the Scottish Islamic Hue Hue or Sabbatarians that rite. Some lodges in Europe are not in preceded them. fellowship with English speaking lodges. There are up to thirty-three levels with The Festival to which you refer stems from various other areas. the cult of ancestor worship. The sacrifices to the ancestors took place at the graves in There are two lodges the Red Lodge and the spring and autumn and performed at the Blue Lodge. The Blue lodge is the common "Tablet of the deceased" on the occasion of lodge of fellowship and many people do not the periodic festivals. enter the Red Lodge at all. The Red Lodge is a hierarchy of secrets and the higher one These were at the first, third and fifteenth of goes the more secrets you are told. It is a the First moon, The festival of "Clear- religion at the higher levels. There are many Bright" (approx. 6 April); the fifth of the books written on the subject. Fifth moon, the fifteenth of the Seventh moon; the fifteenth of the Eighth moon; the Mithrasism first of the Tenth moon; The last day of the I have been reading lately about the year; and on special occasions such as Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras and also weddings (ERE, vol. 3, p. 731). about a few other religious systems. I am finding that there seems to be a pattern in On the fifteenth day of the Seventh moon a religion which has some similarities. special festival is held for the "hungry Could you tell me why some of these ghosts" who have no descendants to things are so much alike in several sacrifice to them. The customary offerings religions? are made to them by the people generally A: They have their origin in the sun cults. and not altogether from benevolent motives. Mithraism was the private all male form of The offerings have the underlying theme of the sun cults as sol invictus Mithra. The appeasing these "orphan" spirits who might public form was sol invictus Elagabal. otherwise injure the living. Women took part in the cults in the forms of the Mysteries of Isis and also of Attis and The notion of purgatory is one that can only Adonis. Much of these were associated with have been post Roman Catholic influence the Assyro-Babylonian, which also spread under the Jesuits. As a general rule the via paganism as shamanism. enlightened Chinese under Confucian influence, denied the efficacy of such That is why the Mainstream Christian sacrifices and the great commentator system worships the triune God and their Chucius of the 12th century doubted the festivals were all borrowed and are similar existence of spirits at all. The Hue Hue and to paganism. They are all derived from the Sabbatarians believed in the resurrection of same Babylonian system. Look at the paper the dead and denied spirits. The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246) and The Origins The influence is probably from early of Christmas and Easter (No. 235). Shamanism as there is a view among Japanese shamans regarding the month of Seventh Day Adventists the dead. It was probably then reinforced I have heard that Ellen G. White made post arrival by some opportunistic Jesuits false prophecies and I was wondering if hence the purgatory view in the notice to this is this true and what they are? The which you refer. reason I ask is because I have some very dear friends in the Seventh Day Adventist Freemasonry FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 25 church. I have attended their services Easter system. It is a reference to the before and although I don't agree with all crescent moon, and the crescent was seen to their teachings I found nothing that be a symbol of the goddess, Ashirat or Istar. would lead me to believe they are a cult. It was like a finger, the crescent being the Also what is this about Michael the Arch nail of the finger, beckoning the servants of Angel being Jesus this is something I Easter or Ashirat to service. It was in affect heard in passing once in their service but used as a determining date for deadlines and not something which they dwelt on. Also I discipline, as we will see from the following am aware of the false prophecies coming concerning the finger of Ashirat. out of the Millerite movement of the mid 1800's this is not what I am talking about. It is fairly conclusive evidence also for the A: The doctrine of the Seventh Day crescent, as used in the Middle East and in Adventist Church until 1978 was that Christ the observation system of the Jews, being was the Great Angel of the OT identified as derived from the pagan system after the fall Michael. Look at the papers The Angel of of the Temple. Look now at the quote. From YHVH (No. 24) and The Pre-Existence of The Crescent and the Bull by Erich Zehren, Jesus Christ (No. 243). page 190. Tell Ta’annek was unearthed in 1901 under the direction of Ernst Sellin. Many of them still believe that Christ was Certain cuneiform inscriptions were Michael. They were undermined by the unearthed, including letters to the King of Trinitarians of the RC system with families Taanak, one Ishtarjashar. planted in the church. They lost the true faith and understanding of the nature of A passage from an Egyptian General reads: God. Now they have millions who think “ All that thou hearest write to me from they were always Trinitarians. Ellen G thence, that I may understand it. If the finger White was a false prophetess. She made of Ashirat show itself, I would wish to take serious errors in the millennial system heed of it and obey. And do thou report unto because she was trying to produce a me a sign and the matter thereof.” vegetarian end time cosmology and she had many serious Scriptures to overcome or “ How does Ashirat SHOW her finger? ignore. Ashirat is analogous to Ishtar and Inanna and her Finger could only be looked for in Her errors and false interpretations are the sky, where a ‘finger’ may be considered covered in the papers The Millennium and visible in the shape of the crescent moon the Rapture (No. 95) and also towards the end of the month. The Egyptian Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) and general’s letter, accordingly, indicated a also Wine in the Bible (No. 188). date. When the crescent moon approaches Venus he will expect a report.” “This Assyro-Babylonian communication, then, is a perfectly ordinary In an answer to a question regarding the request for action by a certain time.” calf you talked about the crescent moon and the ‘finger of Ashirat.’ Is this a “This letter is from the middle of the second beckoning finger for moon worshippers millennium BCE, about half way between at the waning moon as seen in the sky at Abraham and Moses”, page 191. From this the time of the crescent or what is the we see that most of the world is tied into the usage? The crescent is on flags and is a Babylonian mysteries in their religious very common symbol everywhere today. system even today. Why is that? A: The Finger of Ashirat is an ancient part Do you know where the concept of of the Assyro-Babylonian system of Mother Goose and the golden egg came worship and time sequences. That system from? Are they harmless children's entered Egypt in the Mysteries of Osiris, Isis stories or do they have other meanings. and Horus who are analogous to the Baal- Page 26 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

A: The association of Geese and specific year of office. Thus, the list of Immortality and the Mother Goddess comes names is equivalent to the list of dates from ancient Egypt. The pharaoh or king calculated from them. was not free to do things as we might suppose with kings. Every aspect of their When reading through the account of day was regulated even the hours they might Gideon in Judges 7 and 8 might Oreb have sex. In like manner they could only eat and Zeeb be a representation of the 2 veal and goose (Frazer, The Golden Bough, fallen cherbuim? Is there something in iii, 13). the meaning of their names that gives us an indication of who or what they might When a Pharaoh died geese were sacrificed. represent? Each pharaoh was considered Osiris as were A: Oreb (SHD 6157) “'arob” is derived the normal people in the cult of the dead and from the root word for mosquito and hence the person who died was termed Osiris so “to swarm” and thus is applied to various and so. The Mother Goddess Nut was the flies or a swarm. Thus, a prince of Oreb can mother of Osiris. Thus the association is be deduced as a Lord of the Flies, which made. The goddesses Isis and Nephthys was also the God of Ekron. were present as were Anubis and Horus and the gods of the Egyptian legends gathered Is there any connection between religion around the corpse. The two female and the Mardi Gras? There seems to be a mourners were there to represent the connection when I hear of the observance goddesses. of days like, Fat Tuesday. Carnivals in general, seem to be associated with Frazer states the geese were slaughtered at religious observances. During January, the funeral (his citation is misplaced at vi, there is another celebration called Winter 15). Osiris was the god of the resurrection in Carnival, and then there is the ever- the same way Attis was also associated with popular Easter Parade. this in the West and Adonis in the East. This A: Yes, There is a connection between the dying god of vegetation was somehow Mardi Gras and religion. It is the ancient associated from this practice with the carnival associated with the Shrove. The Fat Shrove at Shrovetide and the Shrovetide Tuesday comes from the ancient Shrove bear in Europe. The straw of the shrove was Tuesday. Originally Ash Wednesday had used to make the geese lay more eggs as a nothing to do with the Lenten Festival. It fertility symbol (ibid viii, 326). was the mourning for the shrove, which was burnt and the ashes represent the burnt Variations on this theme are then taken over Shrove. the years to result in the Mother goddess and the goose symbol. The Swan was also The title of Ash Wednesday is the caput sacred to Apollo and has a similar jejunii. There is a liturgical difference connotation in Europe being the same between the caput jejunii and the "initium family as the goose. quadragesimae" the title of the first Sunday in Lent. Thus we are back at the fertility cults and the Easter system (see The Origins of Originally when the Easter system was Christmas and Easter (No. 235)). There is introduced, the festival of the dying god also an associated story of relevance and I began the 36 day fast on the Monday after suggest you look at the paper The the first Sunday in Lent (ERE, art ‘Shrove- Nicolaitans (No. 202)). Tide, Shrove Tuesday’, xi, 477). After the time of Gregory I called the Great, and the What is the importance of the Assyrian establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, Eponym List? Ash Wednesday became the first of the four A: In Assyriology, this is the list where the supplementary fast days with the title "caput Assyrian functionaries gave their name to a jejunii." The week of this period relates to FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 27 the Carnival or Mardi Gras. The shrove the cult of Dagon as well as the Baal-Easter system related to and still relates to the system. week of the Carnival and the term "Carniprivium" is given to Quinquagesima The fish was sacred to Atargtis or Derceto Sunday. as was the dove. The practice of collecting water for the Temple from her pools was The customs practiced in Scotland show the derived from this cult and hence holy water links with the "Bacchanalian customs of is derived from the Bal-Easter system. This Shrove tide with the Saturnalian licence of is also the origin of eating fish on Friday Christmas" (ERE, p.478). Originally Ash being the day of the death of the god either Wednesday was the mourning for the dying Attis or Adonis or Osiris depending upon God and the death of the shrove at carnival. area.

Frazer has extensive notation on the custom The mermaid was beaten with sticks to in The Golden Bough at iv. 220-221, and break the pinata or parcel of seeds, which 226ff. It is or was until this century carried she had in order that the seeds would fall to on throughout Europe. It was not an original the earth and so reproduce. That is why the Christian custom and takes its origins from pinata has sweets in them representing the the pagan customs that were taken on with seeds. the Easter system in the second century and which were not fully harmonised until the In ancient times they placed humans in beginning of the seventh with Gregory. skins and beat them. Often the rites were involved with human sacrifice. The Ash Wednesday has nothing to do with the Bacchanalian shrove is derived from this Bible system. It was originally the memorial practice as is Ash Wednesday being of the death of the Bacchanalian shrove. originally nothing to do with Lent but rather Thus the Carnival is the Last day of the the burning of the Shrove from the week Shrove and Fat Tuesday is the last day prior and which died on Shrove Tuesday. before the Shrove is burnt on Ash The Shrovetide bear was beaten also in Wednesday, which has no Christian Europe on this day. function or purpose. The stories concerning these practices can The festivals all have origin in the Mystery be seen in the papers The Origins of cults and lead into the Easter system of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); The Pinata Baal-Easter. You will see the origins in the (No. 276); David and Goliath (No. 126). paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) and also The Golden Calf (No. I recently met someone who told me 222). about this "religion". It is called Tantra. I went and looked at the website. What I At children's birthday parties and even gather from talking to this person and the some adult parties such as baby showers, website itself, this is the belief in finding a the pinata seems to be used more and spiritual connection in sexual relations more to add to the entertainment. This and desire. I believe they teach that one word does not appear in my dictionary. can find complete satisfaction in Do you know the origin of this game? this...meaning sexually and spiritually. A: Originally the Pinata was made of a But doesn't this go completely against figure of a mermaid although it is not what God tell us? always a mermaid now. Sometimes it is a A: Yes it does. Tantric Yoga follows this six-pointed star. This star of the god is line of reasoning. It is not new. Sexual derived from the same source as the relations have been the basis of the sun cults mermaid. The Mermaid is the symbol of the and mysteries for millennia. It underpins all goddess Deceto or Ceto or Kato who is of the Baal-Easter system as it is a Atargatis associated with the Philistines and Page 28 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions perversion of the fifth commandment and Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to have another the family structure. bizarre version of it as well from 1914.

Look at the papers Law and the Fifth The most disturbing of all is the notion that Commandment (No. 258) and Law and the Christ is ruling as the Roman Catholic Seventh Commandment (No. 260) and the Church, and has been since it was Law Series in general: see The Law of God established. This is held to be the (No. L1). millennium of Revelation 20, even though it is well over that. If the Holy Roman Empire Zoroastrianism of 590-1850 (or 1260 years) was the I am interested in know how and where I Kingdom of God on earth, it would be better can find a representation (image or to choose death. drawing) of the zoroastrian spirit Ahriman (if there is one anywhere). Christ says that if they tell you they are the A: Yes this is a not an easy problem. There Messiah, or tell you that He is here or there, is a reasonably early carving of Ahriman do not believe them (Mk. 13:21). We will being trampled under foot by Ahura Mazda all see him arriving on the clouds in great or Ohrmazd. It is in the "Iranian Valley of power and glory and we will be gathered the Kings" Naqsh-i Rustam. together (Mk. 13:26-27). When He gets here we will see this planet run for a thousand It is a presentation of the King Ardashir I years according to God’s Law, and people (224-241 CE) being presented with the ring are going to learn obedience by cause and of sovereignty by Ohrmazd. In the earlier effect under Deuteronomy 28 (see The Achaemenid seals God was never shown in Blessings and the Curses (No. 75) The human form and the presentation of the Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95)). powers of the universe were seen as forces and thus portrayed by symbols. There is a In books such as the Holy Blood and the photo of the Ardashir relief in the work Holy Grail and also Bloodline of the Holy Mythology An Illustrated Encyclopaedia, Grail some very important and Black Cat, on p. 43. interesting points are raised relating to the New Testament and religion as it The later portrayal has Ahriman in human exists in general. Can you explain to me form with a serpent headdress. There has why in general terms their ideas and been some recent archaeology concerning concepts are wrong and yet you believe Ardashir and his reliefs in Iran and thus that your version of religious history is Oxford and Cambridge should have some right? better up to date photos of the later A: Why should we believe any of it? What portrayals of Ahriman and Ahura Mazda. makes the Bible so important? What about the Gita and other texts? Let us start from Christian Mystical Doctrines the beginning. God created the heavens and What is your perspective on the Preterist the earth. He created mankind. His creation doctrines which seem to be coming in has purpose. If it has no purpose then God vogue of late? I do not wish to shape your acts from caprice. One could probably argue answer, but I would view these notions that we are simply an aesthetic decoration in that Christ returned at 70 AD as a the Milky Way galaxy. We do not believe revisionist heresy which has no basis in that and the ancients did not believe that Scripture. What is your view? either. A: Assuming you mean here the Preterist notion that Christ has returned, or is active God allegedly has a purpose for mankind. on the planet, the argument that he returned That purpose involves judgment and the life at 70 CE is an absurd version of this. The after death. If we are to be judged we must be judged against a rational standard. That must be consistent and unchanging in its FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 29 application and rule. God is immutable and what modern Islam claims for it, we would Christ is the same yesterday, today and be seriously in error. forever. Thus we are forced to evaluate all writings God has a moral and ethical obligation to by what is claimed for them by the oracles reveal His will and the standard against themselves and by the witnesses and scribes which we are to be judged. Otherwise he is and also by the interpretation and arbitrary and in respect of persons. Also the consistency of the works among the body of law must be based on some other criteria Scripture as revealed by God to the than the fact that he issued it from whim. If prophets. In the same way anything we He issued it from whim he is simply another write must also be according to the Law and tyrant. to the Testimony or there is no light in us.

Of all the records we have, the Bible is the That is why all items published by our most consistent and the one that has been people are scrutinised by the body of the backed by historical record and positive church and corrected if such inconsistency miraculous activity. God revealed His will is found to be evident. If you find a text of through His servants the prophets. We have our people that is at variance with the Law evidence of that intervention and divine of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ prophecy coming to fruition. and the prophets please draw that to our attention and we will correct it, or explain The rule of the Bible is that all prophecy why it is not incorrect. We will provide must be according to the Law and the explanation assuming of course the person Testimony (Isa. 8:20). All works of the is raising a rational objection. Bible have been claimed as prophecy and acknowledged as a divine works by the What is the evidence that the tomb found body of Israel and the priesthood. This has in the 9th century at Santiago de extended to all the churches even those who Compostela, in northwest Spain, (Galicia) reject the Law of God in its application was, as claimed, the tomb of St. James? today. A: James, bishop of Jerusalem and brother of Christ was martyred in 63 CE and was Books such as the Holy Blood and the Holy succeeded by his cousin Symeon the son of Grail do not claim to speak for God and do Maria and Clophas. The likelihood of the not follow the law and the Testimony. Thus Desposyni allowing his carcass to be they lack basic credentials to be considered removed to Galicia is zero. inspired or God breathed as the apostles of the NT explain the OT and Scripture James was patron saint of Galicia and it was generally. under his banner that the people of Spain began to drive back the Muslims. The order In reading works such as these one should of St James of Compostella dates from a weigh each one for consistency with the later date and it was not in fact even the Bible record and then be forced to reject original seat of the order. The order was in them because they are not only at variance two places originally in Leon of Leon and but on such matters that are critical to any Ucles of Castille. understanding of the plan of God. This standard can be applied to the Koran as well The knights of Santiago had possessions in as the other works. both of those kingdoms but Ferdinand II of Castile and Alphonse VIII of Castile in When the standard is applied to what the bestowing the order set the conditions that Koran or Qur'an actually says, as opposed to the seats of the order should be in their what Muslim clerics claim it says we find respective states. The long dispute ended in no variance with the text of the Bible that 1230 when Ferdinand III united both renders it false. However, were we to follow Page 30 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions crowns. Then Ucles of Cuenca was regarded He built the town of Hermopolis and is as the headquarters. worshipped at Phenae. He was a monotheist teaching in Egypt the unnameable god. He The shrine of St James was protected by is mentioned in the ANF at vols 1:289; VII: them. The necessity of developing shrines 15, 210, 215. The second Hermes was a of patron saints and the religious fervour in Messalian or Eustathian. Epiphanius says the wars in Spain developed their own the sect originated in the time of Constance momentum for having a relic or two and the but Theodoret says they started in the days body of what was the patron saint of Spain of Valentian. was a logical production. The Post Nicene Fathers Series II vol XIV I'm interested in what you have to say at pp. 240 ff has a note about the sect. There about DNA Mapping. I have read the was a catacomb of Hermes excavated a comments of scientists from many books, century ago on the Via Salaria Vetus too numerous to go into here. This sums beyond Porta Pinciana (CE vol. II, p. 419, up my impression of all that: And now 517). Little is known of him save that he WE know...... so watch out God! It looks appears to have been a martyr about 119 like man uses God only when it's useful to CE. The Fourth Century Liberian catalogue do so. mentions him as being buried in the A: There was only one race the human race Cemetery of S. Basilla. The fourth century and now we can demonstrate that fact subterranean basilica was raised above the perfectly. The monster of racism may be put tomb. Adrian I (772-95) removed the body to rest only to be replaced by a more horrific of Hermes to the city. The Christian origin threat to human freedom. The genetic of the catacombs of Hermes and the remains defects of families and tribes can be isolated of ss Peter and Hyacinth found there are and even normal human families destroyed attributed to Guiseppe Marchi 21 March as a concept. 1845 (CE, Vol. IX, p. 643).

This is a later doctrine of demons, which Cults are often thought to have hidden makes the forbidding of marriage even more agendas and to use mind control to keep real. Look at the paper The Doctrines of their members faithful. What is a cult? Demons of the Last Days (No. 48) and also Are they all necessarily as described Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183). above? If not how come 'cult' has this tag? The mapping of the human genome will A: Cult is derived from Cultus and means to bring Genesis to life. The statement they worship. The largest Christian cult is the will be as elohim now is clear. That is why Roman Catholic Church. It has developed Babel was destroyed and the languages were its pejorative meaning by mainstream confounded. Christian systems applying it to smaller groups and denigrating them for believing When looking at a list of Church Fathers differently or refusing to follow the I noticed Hermes, who is this individual mainstream trend. and what did he believe and/or teach? A: The primary Hermes is not a church This is normal in history and the main father as such. He is mentioned by the Ante Christian system has repeatedly killed any Nicene Fathers in passing because of his in disagreement with them seeing religion as views. He is called Hermes Trismegistus. politics. The Cult function has been He was held to have been the fifth Hermes examined in the paper The Cult Mentality or Mercury that slew Argus and on that (No. 74). The persecution of the Sabbath- account he fled into Egypt. The Egyptians keeping church as a cult has been constant call him Thoth and name their first month since the Sunday cults took over as the after him, which equates to September. majority Christianity. Look at the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 31

Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of National Religious Systems God (No. 170). I read the comments on the Croatia concentration camps and the Vatican. I The Holocaust was to exterminate all law had great difficulty not thinking about keeping Bible believers from Europe this the events. Granted I am a German century. It almost succeeded. At present Catholic by birth but the gross breach of there are some stranger things happening to the Second Great Commandment is destroy small groups. Some small groups beyond belief. Besides fasting and are also committing suicide. praying for the world's repentance, and healing of the people, host and planet; A group in Uganda recently broke away and of course obeying the One True God from the Roman Catholic Church and what else can one do? allegedly said it wanted to restore the Law A: What is more horrifying is that there of God. Then its members were found seems to be no real acknowledgment from locked and nailed into the church building these people that they actually did anything and which was then set on fire by its wrong. We have evidence on oath in courts leaders. That was odd to say the least. of law under war crimes from these Franciscan priests. One admitted to Waco was labelled as a whacky cult but we personally killing 44,000 people himself. find now that some extra ordinary things Yet we have priests on world forums still happened there that have troubled a great denying that it actually happened. many Americans. Mainstream Christians have killed smaller groups who disagree There were almost 15000 concentration and with them by the most bizarre and terrible extermination camps in Europe. The Jews means over the centuries. Look at the book have done us no service with their portrayal Sabbatarians in Transylvania (CCG of the system as being simply a Jewish Publishing 1998.) Holocaust.

Christianity Creed The aim was to get rid of every non In previous questions you referred to the Trinitarian and especially Sabbath-keeper “R Document.” Could you please explain from Europe. It was a combined effort of a little more on what that is? Who wrote the Roman Catholic and Lutheran systems. it? About what the time frame? Is there a Up to 18 million people were murdered. It web page or something that has a took the combined effort of the Roman translated copy of it so we could read it? Catholic/Lutheran system in Europe to do it. A: The R document is the earliest known The first concentration camp was handed copy of the creed of the church, from which over by the SA to the Lutheran Church in the Apostles Creed was constructed, or December 1932. That is ten years before the rather forged because it has nothing to do alleged 1942-45 Holocaust period. with the apostles. This is like the Truth and Reconciliation Herbert Thurston reproduced the contents of commission in South Africa. Without truth it in his article in the Catholic there can be no reconciliation. Without Encyclopaedia article on the creed. It shows Roman Catholicism acknowledging what clearly the church in Rome, at least as late they did and where their system came from as the end of the second century, called there can be no repentance. itself the Holy Church and not the Catholic Church. It was Unitarian with a subordinate This is not simply the Holocaust over three Christ and believed in the Resurrection of years in Europe. As you can see the the Dead. From the reconstructions of extermination started in Africa at the Tertullian, the Holy Spirit was the power of beginning of the century. However the God and not a person. Inquisitions started centuries ago. Page 32 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

Look at the paper The Unitarian/Trinitarian A: The Scots have the same racial Wars (No. 268). Look also at the paper The background as the Irish. This of course Role of the Fourth Commandment in the means that the Scots were (are) Celts. Going Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of one step back from Spain there seems to be God (No. 170). a connection with Georgia in the Caucasus.

The Last Inquisition was in the Papal States The word Iberia (cf. the Latin Iberi) the between 1823 and 1946. 200,000 people country of the Iberi, comes from the Greek were sentenced to death or the galleys. 1.5 word Iberes, which was used for the two million people were placed under constant people. One was the people in Spain and the surveillance. There was a gallows at other Iberians, who were an Asiatic people virtually every corner. People were tried in near the Caucasus. Latin and they had no defence and did not know the substance of the charges against The Godelians were sons of Japheth but the them. The Jesuit historian the late Malachi name Iberi appears to be a Greek form of Martin gives the details in his work The the Semitic. The Bible calls the original Decline and Fall of the Roman Church, pp. inhabitants of Spain Godelians from the 250-254ff. When the people held the sons of Godel. These Iberians are plebiscite as to their remaining with the considered to be the ancestors of the papal system or becoming part of the Basque. republic, of the few left who were allowed the vote over 130, 000 voted to join the Ancient Iberia in Asia was the area that Republic and only 3000 odd wished to approximates what is now Georgia. Iberian remain. is also a Middle English name for the Basque language also (see Oxford Universal The Trinitarian bishops and clergy last Dictionary). attempted mass extermination in Rwanda in 1994 where they organised, identified, and The furthest point east we have found their paid to have over 900,000 people killed and remains is in the area of Urumqi in the Tien perhaps as many as double that figure. Shan in the Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu) of North Western We have to return to the Living God in China. prayer and fasting and repent of our sins and of our heresies and our idolatry. We have to Their mummies were found with their dress get the First Great Commandment of the and material intact. They were wearing the Law straight before we can proceed in the blue and brown hunting tartans even then Second Great Commandment in details but and the old plaid tartans with the black and before we can get the First Great the red and white cross-checked stripes were Commandment right we have to love the all present. The men were up to six foot six truth and develop a genuine desire to love inches in height and the women were up to all men. six feet in height. They were all blond haired (and blue eyed?). If we do not love our neighbour whom we have seen how can we love God whom we A textile expert has written a work titled the have not seen. You have taken the first step Mummies of Urumqi. It covers the aspects in the long path to the restoration. of the clothing and has photos of the mummies. The Chinese found them and sat The Scots did not come from Scotland on the discovery for a long time until a originally. Where is the oldest known visitor was allowed to stumble on them by excavated site of their origins and some Chinese academics who wanted the remains and how did they get to discoveries given some publicity. Scotland? FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions Page 33

Is there a difference between Celts and What does the word Tara mean in Hyperborean Celts? I've heard both connection to religion? terms used but don't understand if they A: The name Tara is Irish and refers to the are one and the same or two different Sacred Hill of Tara in Ireland where the groups. stone said to be Jacob's pillar stone from A: The term was used by the Greeks to refer Bethel was brought via Egypt and Spain to to the Celts who were in the north or "above Ireland ca 700 BCE and placed there. The the North (e.g. Wind)." They were said to word tara (SHD 8652) as a doorkeeper is live on an island in the north and thus we also derived from this sense. are dealing with Britain. The Kings were crowned on it from that These Celts were known to the Greeks who time. The stone was held to have been devised Philosophy as a way of liberating removed there and taken to Scone in themselves from this wheel of rebirth the Scotland by Fergus when he established the Celts had burdened the world with in the Scottish monarchy. The dates given are First Millennium BCE. fictitious. It was taken to Westminster Abbey by Edward I in 1297. The story of them has not fully been written and perhaps we can do that soon. Look at All the kings and Queens of England have the papers The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars been crowned on it since that time. It is held (No. 268); The Cross: Its Origin and to mark the true Kings of Israel. Recently it Significance (No. 39) and The Golden Calf was returned to Scotland. (No. 222). Look also at the web www.Abrahams-Legacy.org. Tara is the name of the ancient seat of the kings of Ireland. It comes from the What do you know about the Gaia Chaldean meaning a door and hence a theory? Is it true? What is your opinion? palace: hence gate or mouth. Thus it is the Are there any artworks or poems or site of the kings. Both words are used in anything from religions that foretold the these senses in the Bible occurrence of this concept? A: The Gaia hypothesis is developed Tara also refers to an eastern system of the philosophically from Parmenides and the goddess Tara, which is covered in the work structure of the one. Plato develops this and by Cox, Mysticism, CCG, 2001. the structure is examined in Proclus' Commentary on Plato's Parmenides. What is the philosophical significance of chaos theory to science and religion? The Mother Goddess or Earth Mother A: Chaos theory is based on the premise theory is a pantheist structure, which finds that there is no defined order in the its roots in animistic shamanism. It is now universe. The universe reacts rather than is being developed into Process Theology influenced by any order. Undefined order is along the Kyoto School as formed under not chaotic, it is simply undefined. This Hartsehorne and Whitehead. theory has profound implications for religion as it means there is no God to order The variants on New Age Theology seek to the structure. Thus there is not purpose to develop it as an opposing theory to the the structure. Creation under a Father figure as God. The aim is to make the divine pantheist and From this we get a relative morality. What immanent. It is a very old theory based on ever is expedient is ethical. There are no error both philosophical and theological. It moral absolutes. With Science we have a forms now in theories of the structure of the series of laws, which are based on order. universe from the Big Bang as expounded The Laws of Thermodynamics are prime in say by Hawking and perhaps Penrose. this regard. Page 34 FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religions

This aspect is examined in the work the faraway). The Greek form was Creation: From Anthropomorphic Theology “Xisouthros.” They are all versions of the to Theomorphic Anthropology (No. B5). story of Noah. Objections to Chaos theory are found in the work of Scientists like Hawking and In “The Epic of Gilgamesh” they have him Penrose. praying to Sin, the moon god. This is the origin of the Anglo Saxon word for sin. The Philosophy of Causation is also (Look at the paper The Golden Calf (No. concerned with these aspects. Causation is 222) .) This work has the most detail.) The Singularist as is shown from Creation ibid. dimensions of the ark are stylised. In “The Thus it is not supervenient and certainly not Epic of Gilgamesh” the families of the chaotic. The decay of K Mesons would workers are taken aboard as well. indicate that this is an incorrect theory. See also Creation (ibid.). Phase space volume In the Sumerian text, of which you speak, selection at 10 to 10 to 123 also opposes it Ziusudra is prostrating himself before Anu (ibid.). It is written: Only a fool says in his and Enlil, the Sumerian deities. This text heart there is no God. also gives the creation epic and the creation of the “blackheaded people” (a term for the What is the “Toronto Blessing” and Babylonians and also for the Chinese in where did it originate? their texts, and here meaning the world A: It originated in Toronto Canada. People populace as a whole) and preceded the are subjected to an hysterical mindset in creation of the animals. The flood was seven their services and they are touched on the days and swept over the five cult centres of head and fall down in ecstatic states or the earth, which had been placed under the variations on the theme. It is a charismatic gods by the council of the gods in heaven. Pentecostal doctrine associated with the other doctrines of uttering gibberish and all The accounts are more or less stylised that entails. versions of the flood written around their ancient deities. Nevertheless, they show a It has been examined in the papers: The detailed concept of the council of the elohim Tongues Question (No. 109); Tongues Were and the similarity of the flood story and to Cease When? (No. 182); The Toronto purpose. They are versions of the same story Blessing, Hysteria and Demon Possession of Noah. The Hebrew version is not YHWH (No. 149). but YHVH. There was no w in the Hebrew. Vav is pronounced as a quiescent w but is What do you think of the ancient written V. The early texts were without Sumerian text that talked about a flood vowels. Thus YHVH is the correct form of and “The tablet describes a huge boat the text. We have the “Lachish Ostracon,” commanded by a king named Ziusudra, which is from the time of Jeremiah. The who was preserving vegetation and the modern translations by Albright render it as seed of humankind”? Do you think that Yahweh. The Elephantine texts translated maybe God commanded someone else to by Ginsberg show the root form was not build a boat like Noah? Also is there any Yah (written Jah in English) but Yaho and ancient text in Hebrew that has been so the text is Yahovah and not Yahweh. It is found? If yes, is that true that the name written YHVH in classical Hebrew. The of God is written YHWH? documents are all in the texts by James B A: Yes, the text is very interesting. Ziusudra Pritchard The Ancient Near East..., is the Sumerian form of the name. “The Princeton, 1958. Epic of Gilgamesh” gives the Mesopotamian form: “Utnapishtim” (termed q

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