THE ORIGIN OF THE GODS

[Irish]

The biblical (and I believe correct) view of the origin of the pagan gods begins with Original Revelation. This means there was a perfect revelation from God to man at the time of creation. The first man Adam was at one with God and perceived divine knowledge from the mind of God. The human was "in tune" with the mental processes of God, and understood, therefore, what God knew about science, astronomy, cosmogony, geology, eschatology, and so on. After the fall, Adam was "detached" from the mind of God, but retained an imperfect memory of the divine revelation including a knowledge of God's plan of redemption. Two things began to occur in the decades after the Fall: 1) information from the original revelation became distant and distorted as it was dispersed among the nations and as it was passed from generation to generation; and 2) the realm of Satan seized upon this opportunity to receive worship, and to turn people away from Yahweh, by distorting and counterfeiting the original revelation with pagan ideas and "gods". This point of view seems reasonable when one considers that the earliest historical and archeological records from civilizations around the world have consistently pointed back to and repeated portions of the original story.

In their startling book, The Discovery of Genesis, the Rev. C.H. Kang and Dr. Ethel R. Nelson confirm that prehistoric Chinese ideographic pictures (used in very ancient Chinese writing) report the story of Genesis, including the creation of the Man and Woman, the garden, the temptation and Fall, Noah's flood, and the tower of Babel. In his book, The Real Meaning Of The Zodiac, Dr. James Kennedy claims that the ancient signs of the Zodiac also indicate a singular and original revelation—a kind of Gospel in the stars—and that the message of the stars, although demonized and converted into astrology after the fall of man, originally recorded the Gospel of God. He writes:

“There exists in the writings of virtually all civilized nations a description of the major stars in the heavens—something which might be called their ‘Constellations of the Zodiac’ or the ‘Signs of the Zodiac,’ of which there are twelve. If you go back in time to Rome, or beyond that to Greece, or before that to Egypt, Persia, Assyria, or Babylonia—regardless of how far back you go, there is a remarkable phenomenon: Nearly all nations had the same twelve signs, representing the same twelve things, placed in the same order....The book of Job, which is thought by many to be the oldest book of the Bible, goes back to approximately 2150 B.C., which is 650 years before Moses came upon the scene to write the Pentateuch; over 1,100 years before Homer wrote the Odyssey and the Illiad; and 1,500 years before Thales, the first of the philosophers, was born. In chapter 38, God finally breaks in and speaks to Job and to his false comforters. As He is questioning Job, showing him and his companions their ignorance, God says to them: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or

canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" (Job 38:31,32)

We see here reference to the constellations of Orion and Pleiades, and the star Arcturus. Also in the book of Job there is reference to Cetus, the Sea Monster, and to Draco, the Great Dragon. I would call your attention to Job 38:32a: "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?" Mazzaroth is a Hebrew word which means "The Constellations of the Zodiac." In what may be the oldest book in all of human history, we find that the constellations of the zodiac were already clearly known and understood....Having made it clear that the Bible expressly, explicitly, and repeatedly condemns what is now known as astrology, the fact remains that there was a God-given Gospel [universally acknowledged original revelation] in the stars which lays beyond and behind that which has now been corrupted. “

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[Bella-Angelique]

The ancient Chinese writing is virtually identical to ancient Sumerian.

Many biblical tales have been found in ancient Sumerian stories.

Abram came from Ur of Sumeria.

The zodiac also dates back to Sumeria.

Many greek myths can be found in Sumerian stories.

Looks like Sumeria was the cradle for most doesn't it?

[Bella-Angelique]

We see here reference to the constellations of Orion and Pleiades, and the star Arcturus. Also in the book of Job there is reference to Cetus, the Sea Monster, and to Draco, the Great Dragon. I would call your attention to Job 38:32a: "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?" Mazzaroth is a Hebrew word which means "The Constellations of the Zodiac." In what may be the oldest book in all of human history, we find that the constellations of the zodiac were already clearly known and understood....Having made it clear that the Bible expressly, explicitly, and repeatedly condemns what is now known as astrology, the fact remains that there was a God-given Gospel [universally acknowledged original revelation] in the stars which lays beyond and behind that which has now been corrupted. “

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This goes well with why the early Christian churches might have had mosaics of the zodiac on their floors.

Astronomy was important then and is needed for calendars of all types.

I have sometimes wondered if the sign of the fish was the sign of pieces, since Jesus said he would be with us in spirit till the end of the age.

The age implying to me there are other ages, and that maybe the physical return would come after Pieces ends.

[Irish]

In his book Dr. Kennedy strongly condemns the practice of astrology, while asserting his view that the constellations of the zodiac were likely given by God to the first man as "record-keepers" of the original revelation of God.

If the primary assumption of the Biblical View is correct—that an original revelation was corrupted after the fall of man and subsequently degenerated into the mythologies of the pagan gods—one should be able to find numerous examples of such corruption from as far back as the beginning of history and within various civilizations around the world. Since the myths behind the gods would thus be "borrowed" ideas, the corrupted texts would be similar to the original truth, and, in that sense, evidence of a singular and original revelation. Furthermore, If the distortions of the original revelation were in fact energized by an evil supernaturalism, the goal of the alterations would be to draw people away from the worship of Yahweh. In certain ancient legends—such as the Enuma elish, the Adapa Epic, and the Epic of Gilgamesh—we discover early traces of the kaleidoscope of the original revelation plagiarized for the purpose of constructing the mythologies of the pagan gods.

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[Bella-Angelique]

So do you think it is some type of calendar perhaps?

[Irish]

So do you think it is some type of calendar perhaps?

That would make sense, Unfortunately deception was in the works and the original intent may never be known.

[Irish]

EARLY TRACES OF CORRUPTION

Evidence suggests that the earliest legends of mythology were preceded by a belief in "the God" (Yahweh to the Hebrews) as the creator of all things and the "ruler of heaven." Later, Satan was described as "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), and the prince of the "air" (Eph. 2:2). A fascinating struggle between the "ruler of the heavens" versus the "power of the air" occured in early Sumerian mythology after Enki, the god of wisdom and water, created the human race out of clay. It appears that Anu, who was at first the most powerful of the Sumerian gods and the "ruler of the heavens," was superseded in power and popularity by Enlil, the "god of the air." To the Christian mind this is perceived as nothing less than Satan, the god of the air, continuing his pretence to the throne of God, and his usurpation of Yahweh—"the Lord of the heavens." It also indicates a corruption of the original revelation and perhaps an effort on the part of Satan to trick the pagan Sumerians into perceiving him as the "supreme" god (above the God of heaven) and therefore worthy of adoration. Correspondingly, in the Enuma elish (a Babylonian epic), Marduk, the great god of the city of Babylon, was exalted above the benevolent gods and extolled as the creator of the world. Marduk was symbolized as a dragon (as is Satan in Revelation 12:9) called the Muscrussu, and his legend appears to contain several distortions of the important elements of the biblical account of creation. The Adapa Epic tells of another Babylonian legend that is also roughly equivalent to the Genisis account of creation. In it, Adapa, like Adam, underwent a test on food consumption, failed the test, and forfeited his opportunity for immortality. As a result of the failure, suffering and death were passed along to humanity. Finally, the Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian poem, which, like the Adapa Epic, is deeply rooted in ancient Assyrian and Babylonian mythology. In 1872 George Smith discovered the Gilgamesh tablets while doing research on the Assyrian library of Ashurbanipal at the British Museum. Because of the strong similarity to the biblical account of Noah and the great flood, Bible scholars have viewed the Gilgamesh epic with interest (and suspicion) since its discovery. As the legend goes, Gilgamesh, the king of the city of Uruk, was told about the flood from his immortal friend, Utnapishtim (the Sumerian equivalent of Noah). Utnapishtim described for Gilgamesh how the great god Enlil decided to destroy all of mankind because of its "noisy" sins. A plague was sent but failed to persuade mankind of better behavior, and, consequently, the gods determined a complete extermination of the human race. Enki, the lord of the waters, was not happy with the other gods for this decision and warned Utnapishtim of the coming deluge, instructing him to tear down his house and build a great boat. Utnapishtim obeyed Enki, built a great vessel, and sealed it with pitch and bitumen. The family of Utnapishtim loaded onto the boat together with various beasts and fowl. When the rains came, the doors were closed and the vessel rose up above the waters. Like Noah, Utnapishtim sent out a dove, and later a swallow, to search for dry land. They both returned. Later, a raven was released and it never came back. After several more days the boat came to rest on the top of a mountain where Utnapishtim built an altar and offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods. As the gods smelt the sweet offering, all but Enlil repented for sending the flood.

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[Rykster]

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." -Voltaire

Back in the days when humans could only expect to live for 20 or so years, it would have been dissicult to rule or control him. Why not do or take whatever you wanted? Thus the emerging leaderships of society decided to use a ploy that is familiar to anyone who has taken a social history class. Give the masses an enemy or fear beyond their territory and they will bond together and stop internal struggles, thus "falling into line."

If I knew I had only 20 or so years to live, what would be there to stop me from raping, pillaging and thievery? It is only the promise offered of reward for good behaviour in this life. I shall be exhaulted and rewarded with everlasting life if only I kiss the ass of society here on Earth, in this life.

What a grand scheme. It has worked for thousands of years.

[Kismit]

This very interesting Irish,

thank you for posting it. I do find it curios though that the Author of the piece claims that most cultures had the same Zodiac signs and that most had 12 signs. This is as far as I am aware not quite true. The original Western star signs contained a 13th Star sign which somewhere along the track became null and void. I know there is an article on U.M. somewhere about the 13 Signs of the Zodiac. The Celts only had 10 star signs and Chinese astrology can hardly be compared to Western astrology. They are an exceptionally different kettle of fish.

The Real Meaning Of The Zodiac, Dr. James Kennedy claims that the ancient signs of the Zodiac also indicate a singular and original revelation—a kind of Gospel in the stars—and that the message of the stars, although demonized and converted into astrology after the fall of man, originally recorded the Gospel of God.

So these were originally recorded as a Gospel of God, like a code? Comparitvly one of the theories behind the Tarot is that it was used to pass on stories which had been outlawed during the take over of Britany by the Roman Catholic Church. Clearly the story of the search for the Holy Grail can be read in them by starting at the journey of the fool and Ending on the Ace of Cups or the World.

The people responsible for this set of cards clearly felt they had to hide there stories. Was this the same reason a Code like the zodiac may have been used?

I don't have any sources however I shall look for some, but I know that I have read that the search for the Holy Grail was not originaly a Catholic concept, as can be summised by the fact that the tarot cards are far older in origin than the Catholic religion to that area of Europe. However over the years it has developed several twists one which even includes a hidden version of Jesus, as Parsifal wich translates as Fish and in Celtic mythology Fish means wisdom which apparently represented Jesus. But I felt that was a bit of a stretch really.

Still great story, I think I rambled on a bit at the end there.

[+Sherapy]

Kismet very interesting and i thought I knew everything about astrology i look forward to your findings, I hadn't heard of the 13 sign??? Being an Tarot effciciando myself hats off to your understanding My grams taught me to read (imagine in those days the 1930"s she also told me of the history...... Namaste sheri

[Irish]

John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost that millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen. The Biblical View of the origin of the gods affirms the idea that "In the beginning" Yahweh created the heavens (celestial beings, planets, etc) and the earth. Lucifer, “the light bearer,” was a crowning achievement of God's heavenly creation and a chief servant of the creative Yahweh. But Lucifer became jealous of the worship Yahweh was receiving from his many creations, and proudly proclaimed, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God....I will be like the most high" (Is.14:13-14). Somehow Lucifer convinced one-third of the celestial creatures to join him in a great rebellion, with the uprising ultimately resulting in Lucifer and his followers being cast out of heaven. Lucifer (now Satan), driven by a quest for worship and thirsty for revenge with Yahweh, tempted Eve, and, after the fall with its resulting separation between man and God, moved to corrupt the divine truths contained within the Original Revelation by proclaiming himself (the god of the air) more worthy of worship than was the God of heaven.

If such an assumption of the Biblical View is correct—that a real and evil supernatural presence exists and has for centuries drawn men away from worshipping Yahweh through the dynamics of various mythologies—the following questions arise: Were the angels that joined Lucifer in the fall also driven by a lust for worship? Did the images and attributes ascribed to the gods of mythology somehow reflect the real and spiritual characteristics of certain unseen personalities operating behind them? More importantly, is the kingdom of Satan still at work in this manner? That is, do the living entities of the ancient gods continue to walk among us? If so, do such spirits embody themselves in trees, earth, and idols of stone, or should we assume that modern idolatry has acquired a more selective sophistication and social manifestation?

same source

[Bella-Angelique]

If I knew I had only 20 or so years to live, what would be there to stop me from raping, pillaging and thievery?

Almost all of the terminally ill just want to love and be loved.

Maybe love is your answer.

[AnuKabal]

This seems like something Yahweh would make his followers to believe,

[Lion of Judah]

A war broke out in Heaven Gods army of Angels won the war against Satans rebellion but their were many loses on both sides. Control of Earth was a big prize because where we are we can observe the whole Universe and its perfect for life.Some parts of the Bible are'nt all there Adam was created from the Blood of a Slain God to be Immortal but Satan and his fallen Angels transformed into living beings who also Shape Shift they are in the Looking glass. Trust I Had a vision of Hell they are in some dimension where I saw 3 priests they were chanting and 4 horses came out of a sulphur pool 1 of the horses passed me and I felt hot I woke up and my legs were tingling.There are other scriptures like Mary Magedeline who had a child named Sarah who Pilgrimed to Britain with Joseph.The famly were in Glastonbury Abbey where Joseph put his Staff under Mount Tor and the next day a Bush grew and a natural Spring came out of a Rock face near there Its also the sight where King Arthur was buried. My Webpage

[AnuKabal]

That is so not how it happened

[Lion of Judah]

The astrological signs can tell us alot we need to know In Egypt the Sphinx was lined with Pieces during the time Jesus was on Earth also the riddles of the signs relates to Revelations the bride who is prepared for the Prince and Satan who wages war against the lamb and church of God a time frame which we are in close to Judgement The Rapture is the period we are in and this is where Endurance to survive and overcome Adversity plays an Important part of our lives.My Webpage checkout my link the 1st church A.D.

[draconic chronicler]

Actually Irish, the Sumerian version of the Adam (Adapa) story was written down far earlier than anything written down by the Hebrews, so who is to say the Hebrew Version is more correct?. These are essentially the same stories that include a winged reptilian dragon who can speak and is a servant creature of the high God. But because the Hebrews repeated these stories as an oral tradition they became distorted. The Benificent dragon servant, the "Lord of the Good Tree" is turned into a trickster, but even here, he does not become Satan until the New Testament. The Satan of the Old Testament is nothing but a loyal servant to the high God and never described as an angel. The Seraphim and Cherubim of the Old Testament are the same dragon-servants that attend Marduk. The word seraphim means in hebrew a winged, fiery serpent/dragon. And the word is known in ancient Egyptian too, it means a winged monster and its hieroglyph looks like the same quadraped dragon of the Sumerians and Hebrews. The winged humanoid angels of Christain theology have no Biblical origin. The only winged heavenly creatures in the Old Testament are the Sumerian-Hebrew dragons. The angels of the bible look exactly like young men.

It was only when pagan Greco Roman ideas of the early Christains corrupted the Scriptures that the notion of winged angels came into being, the same kind of heavenly creatures of pagan Rome, but nowhere in the Bible of Abraham and Moses. The fallen angel "Lucifer" too, is an imaginary Chjristian invention that appears nowhere in the Bible endorsed by Jesus as the word of God.

You say Job is the earliest book of the Bible. This proves my point as well. In it Satan is a loyal servant of God who must receive Gods permission to harm Job. This is not the same ficticious Satan of the New Testament, invented as Gods enemy to make Christainity a pagan-like dualistic religion of good and evil spirit creatures. This is completely contrary to the theology Jesus knew, but rather a blatant imitation of Persian Zorastrianism, with a touch of Greco Roman mythology for "spice".

[tags]

You say Job is the earliest book of the Bible. This proves my point as well. In it Satan is a loyal servant of God who must receive Gods permission to harm Job. This is not the same ficticious Satan of the New Testament, invented as Gods enemy to make Christainity a pagan-like dualistic religion of good and evil spirit creatures. This is completely contrary to the theology Jesus knew, but rather a blatant imitation of Persian Zorastrianism, with a touch of Greco Roman mythology for "spice".

Jesus said he saw satan fall from heaven like lightning to earth. He talked repeatredly about the evil one, the wicked one, the father of all lies and deciet. Seems exactly inline with the theology of jesus!!

[draconic chronicler]

Tags,

How accurate is the New Testament when the gospels contradict one another and sections of revelations is stolen verbatim from Zorastrian mythology? On the other hand, Jesus acknowledged the Old Testament scriptures as the word of God. So when these two bodies of scripture contradict each other, isn't it better to go with what Jesus said was correct, than material allegedly written by his peasant followers after he left this world. And so much of this material is filled with Pagan Greco-Roman and Persian mythology that has nothing to do with the Hebrew Old Testament scriptures, and which Jesus the Jew, would have considered a pagan abomination.

In order to create a new religion palatable to the Pagan world of Rome, the early Christains needed to turn the Jewish Monotheism into a dualistic pagan religion of good and evil spiritual entities battling over the souls of men. To do so, they commited the utter blasphemy of taking a minor Biblical character called Satan, who in all old testament references is a loyal but fearsome servant creature of God, and concoted a ficticious "war in heaven" that is never mentioned in the Old Testament which Jesus acknowledged.

When making Satan the evil dualistic "god" of this religion wasn't convincing enough, the Christians then invented "Lucifer", an imaginary "fallen angel" who appears nowhere in the Hebrew scriptures.

How much of the new testament is really the words of Jesus? We know parts of these texts were copied verbatim from Persian mythology, particularly the parts about Satan being bound in chains and cast into the abyss. Would the Rabbi Jesus, intimately familiar with the Old Testament texts dare commit the blasphemy of elevating the minor, loyal servant creature of God named Satan to a formidible enemy who led a revolt that took away a third of the angels? This is highly unlikely. These words were put into the mouth of Jesus by the Christian writers who knew their new religion would only be a success if it had all the drama of pagan religions with all of their wars in heaven, demons, fiery hell, and other pagan elements that simply did not exist in the "boring" (to the pagan mind) monotheism of Judaism. If my memory serves, Jesus never intended to create a new religion filled with the mythologies of the most popular pagan religions of the Roman empire. But this is what his followers (or those who claimed to be his followers), succeeded in doing.

Edited February 17, 2006 by draconic chronicler

[Claudoca]

Easy answer. At some point, believed to in the late Paleolithic period, people started to wonder where they came from. Natural. By observing the world around them, they understood that their personal origin was their mother. Men, at that time, had no clue that they were responsible for getting women pregnant because 1) not every woman gets pregnant after sex 2) it takes some time after sex for a woman to "show" she´s pregnant. SO, they started to worship female for being responsible for life-giving.

That way, people started to worship their ancestors. That´s how clans started being formed, and belongings were passed on from mother to daughter. The only way for a man to have material possessions was to marry, there is is the origin of the word "matrimony"_-"patrimony" is what you have, isn´t it? So, what you have, for men at that time, came from matrimony with a woman. That´s how the first God of men was a female god, the Mother goddess. The world was matriarchal for at least 35 thousand years. Then, male oriented religions dominated for political and economical reasons, but that´s another story.

[AnuKabal]

actually it's natural instinct for you to know sex is needed.

[Irish]

JUDGMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN GOD-KING

While conducting a recent tour of Egypt and the Holy Land, Donald C. Jones (Ph.D. in Biblical History and contributing author of this book), stood outside the Great Pyramid in Giza and pondered what it must have been like to be an Egyptian Pharaoh. As the divine son of Ra, Pharaoh was the earthly representative of the supreme god of cosmic deities; in short, Pharaoh was god on earth. Dr. Jones wondered what the children of Israel must have thought when Moses challenged the mighty arm of a ruler whose kingdom was so vast and powerful. Who would "take on" the leader of a people capable of building a single structure over thirty times larger than the Empire State Building? The Great Pyramid was built over 4,500 years ago and out of more than 2,000,000 blocks of stone weighing between 2 and 60 tons each, by builders whose knowledge of the earth and of the planetary systems was so advanced that the Great Pyramid faces true North, South, East, and West, while also standing at the exact center of the Earth's land mass and at a height exactly that of the earth's mean sea level. One would hypothecate that the leader of such a people would have easily been perceived by the ancients as a god on earth. Whereas most scholars believe that the Great Pyramid-the last standing monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World-was built around the year BC 2560, by Khufu (Cheops), the Pharaoh of the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty, and that Moses probably challenged the pharaoh known as Ramses II, many other testaments, temples, and pyramids, have survived to reveal that each of the Pharaohs were, in their respective times (at least in the mind of the average Egyptian), the undisputed god-kings of planet earth.

Nevertheless, God instructed Moses to go "unto Pharaoh...[and] bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt" (Ex. 3:10). One of the main reasons for the Exodus narrative was, I believe, the historical opportunity for the Hebrew God to reveal Himself as being more powerful than the Egyptian gods. In other words, the great "I AM" not only wanted to deliver His people from the Egyptian bondage, but He wanted to "execute judgment" against "all the gods of Egypt" (Ex. 12:12). Numbers 33:4 says, "For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments." Thus Yahweh manifested his superiority over Osiris, Isis, Pharaoh, and the various other gods assigned to protect the famous Egyptians. Dr. Jones says, "It would be a mistake to overlook the fact that, taken individually, each plague of the Exodus stands alone as a specific judgment of a particular Egyptian god; while, viewed collectively, the plagues of the Exodus illustrate God's supremacy over, and his attitude towards, the corporate sphere of the gods of mythology.

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[Claudoca]

actually it's natural instinct for you to know sex is needed.

who said it wasn´t?

[mklsgl]

2 Things:

1. Most Jewish Scholars place the Torah 200-400 years older than Job.

2. The Torah remained in the Oral Tradition for at least 500 years before it was ever written.

[Smasha]

Im not religious or anything man!

But you know a weird thing is that, the Qu'ran was written 1,500 years ago. And in it , it is written all the way back then how clouds are formed, the stages of pregnancy in detail, the way the universe was created and is described as the big bang and loads of other things as well which are accurately on point. All of the things in the Qu'ran have been scientifically proven and the scientists who researced it, cant explain how a book that was written 1,500 years ago can explain these things in detail with no advancement of equipment to hand in those periods.

check out these links

http://www.message-of-god.com/Proof%20of%20the%20Quran.htm

http://www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm

http://www.message-of-god.com/EnglishHomepage.htm