by D.J. Love, Minister, TSN, SBC
(Upgraded 3-4-2002)
"The Roman Empire began their official recognition of sun worship during the time of Aurelian when he instituted the cult of "Sol Invictus". There is virtually no difference between the cult of Sol Invictus and that of Mithraism or for that matter catholicism.
In the year 307 A.D. Emperor Diocletian, a Sun Worshipper, was involved in the dedication of a temple to Mithra, and was responsible for the burning of Holy Scripture (which made it possible for later emperors to formulate Christianity, and thus began the Roman version of the "Universal Christo-pagan Mystery Religion.") After the rein of Diocletian, the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was an early Christo-pagan (Christian) maintained the title "Pontifus Maximus" the high priest of paganism, and remained a worshipper of Apollo. His coins were inscribed: "SOL INVICTO COMITI", which is interpreted as "Committed to the Invincible Sun". During his reign pagan Sun worship was blended with the worship of the True Creator (syncretism), and officially titled "Christianity" by the (less than holy) Roman Empire and its' official church the (less than holy) catholic (universal) church.
Cybele, the Phrygian goddess, known to her followers as "the mother of god", was closely related to the worship of Mithra. Just as Mithraism was a man's religion, the worship of Cybele was practiced by women. The priests of Mithra were known as "Fathers" and the Priestesses of Cybele as "Mothers". After baptism into the Mysteries of Mithra, the initiate was marked on the forehead. The sign of the cross formed by the elliptic and the celestial equator was one of the signs of Mithra. Sunday (Deis Solis), the day of the Sun, was considered by Mithraist a sacred day of rest. December 25th (the birthday of Mithra) was celebrated as the birth of the Sun, given birth by the "Queen of Heaven" - "Mother of god." The Mithraists celebrated a mithraic love feast. This feast consisted of loaves of bread decorated with crosses with wine, over which the priest pronounced a mystic formula. Mithra was considered mediator between god and man (does this sound like Jesus?).
Note: In 46 BC, when the Roman "Julian Calendar" was adopted, December 24th was the shortest day of the year. Therefore, December 25th was the first annual day that daylight began to increase. Thus, the origin of the REBIRTH or Annual Birthday of the Invincible SUN.
In accordance with the Roman "Julian calendar," the "Saturnalia" festival appears to have taken place on or about December 17th; it was preceded by the "Consualia" near December 15th, and followed by the "Opalia" on December 19th. These pagan celebrations typically lasted for at least a week, ending just before the late Roman Imperial Festival for "Sol Invictus" (Invincible Sun) on December 25th.
In 1582 AD. Roman Catholic Pope Gregory the XIII caused the current "Gregorian Calendar" to be adopted, in order to eliminate the solar time shift error introduced by the "Julian Calendar."
By December 1582 AD the shortest day of the year had shifted 12 days on the Roman "Julian Calendar" to Wednesday, December 12, 1582.
However, the Original December 25th 'Birth Date' was retained for all pagan Sun gods by the Roman "Saturnalia" and "Sol Invictus" traditions; which were now called the "Twelve Days Christ Mass."
On the new Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar the shortest annual day was numerically shifted back 10 days to the 22nd of December, where it remains to this day; while the original order of the days of the week remained unchanged.
Therefore, Wednesday, December 12th, 1582 AD, became Wednesday, December 22nd, 1582 AD, and the True Sabbath Day remained unchanged.
Mithraists, also, believed in eternal life in heaven, and in the torture of the wicked after death. Many of these beliefs and rituals were exclusive to Mithraism and up until the fourth century were not an official part of the Christo-pagan faith. In the 4th century, through confusion and deliberate manipulation by the Roman Empire and its' official universal (catholic) church, rituals of "Sun Worship" were legitimized, under the guise of the "Authority of the Church" (Yahweh Never Granted Any Such Authority) to be "Christian" in nature. There is no Biblical support for the inclusion of Mithraic rituals (pagan Worship) into the worship of the Yahweh of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of heaven and earth, and the Only Duty of the True Church is one of Obedience To The Authority of Yahweh. It is a Satanic scheme of deception to disguise the transgression of Yahweh's laws under the title of "Christianity" (Christo-pagan syncretism). This same system, characterized by the shrouding of truth in secrecy and the manipulation of the truth in order to achieve its ends, has been working for two millennia to perfect the Christo-pagan religion of Christianity. The mystery of iniquity is at work and it only takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. The next step is the actual forced taking of the "Mark of the Beast," however, millions have already taken the "Mark of the Beast" voluntarily."
FROM YOU ARE MY WITNESSES
(Is. 43:10)
THE TRADITIONAL JEWISH RESPONSE
TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES by Yisroel C. Blumenthal
The authors of the Christian scriptures describe the
development of the early church in the following manner.
Jesus was a Jewish man, who lived in the land of Israel.
When
he was about thirty years old, he began to travel throughout
the
country. For about three years, Jesus traveled and taught.
By
the time Jesus died, he had created a small following. All
of
his followers were Jews. Prominent among Jesus’s followers
were his twelve disciples. These disciples formed a
community with its center in Jerusalem. The community of
Jesus’s followers was lead by James, a brother of Jesus.
This
community is referred to as the “Jerusalem Church”. In the
years following Jesus’s death, the Jerusalem Church grew in
size. At one point, the authors of Christian scriptures
claim
that they numbered several thousand. But the members of this
church were all Jews.
Christianity reached the non-Jewish world through the
person of Paul. Paul traveled the length and breadth of the
Mediterranean, teaching the gentile world about Jesus. Paul
founded many churches throughout the Roman Empire. The
churches which Paul established were predominantly gentile.
The Christian scriptures end their narrative at this point.
They leave the reader at the historical point where there
are
two churches; the Jewish church of James, and the gentile
church of Paul.
History tells us that the Jewish church of James did not
survive as a separate entity. By the time Christianity
became
the established religion of the Roman Empire, there were
almost no Jewish Christians left. The few Jewish Christians
which still existed, were persecuted as heretics by the
gentile
church. All of Christianity as it exists today, was
transmitted
through the body of the gentile church. The books of
Christian
scripture were products of the gentile church. They may have
included in these books, material which came from the Jewish
Christians. But the gentile church was the editor of this
material. It was the gentile church who determined the
contents of the Christian scriptures, and who transmitted
these
texts to the future generations.
In order to be convinced that the gentile church is truly
transmitting the original message of Jesus, one must
determine
that Paul’s teachings conformed with the teachings of Jesus.
The gentile church only learned of Jesus through the
teachings
of Paul. If Paul’s teachings were not synonymous with the
teachings of Jesus, then the gentile church does not possess
the
original message of Jesus.
To determine Paul’s connection to Jesus, we will turn to the
books of Christian scripture. It is clear that the editors
of these
books were strongly motivated to present Paul as one who is
faithfully transmitting the original message of Jesus. Yet
even
these biased writers, were not able to do so.
The Christian scriptures describe the basis of Paul’s
mission
in the following manner. Paul never saw Jesus in real life.
Neither did Paul learn of Jesus’s teachings through the
disciples of Jesus. Paul emphatically states (in the 1st and
2nd
chapters of Galatians) that no living person was involved in
transmitting Jesus’s message to him. Paul only learned of
the
teachings of Jesus through a series of visions. In these
visions,
Jesus appeared to him and imparted his teachings. Paul’s
entire message was the product of these visions.
The only way we can verify the truth of Paul’s claim, is by
determining the reaction of Jesus’s disciples to Paul’s
message. These men who lived with Jesus and heard him
teach, could compare the teachings that they heard, to the
prophecy of Paul. How did the Jewish following of James
react to Paul’s claim to prophecy?
Paul makes the claim (Galatians 2:9) that the leaders of the
Jerusalem Church acknowledged the fact that he was
appointed (by the dead Jesus) as a messenger to the
gentiles.
But Paul was lying. James and the Jerusalem Church never
acknowledged the validity of Paul’s visions. It is the
Christian
scriptures themselves who contradict Paul’s claim.
The 15th chapter of the book of Acts, describes how the
leadership of the Jerusalem Church disregarded Paul’s claim
to prophecy. Paul had come to Jerusalem. He had been
preaching to the gentiles that they are not required to
practice
the law of Moses. Some members of the Jerusalem Church
disagreed with Paul. They felt that in order for a gentile
to join
their following, he should be required to observe the law of
Moses. This question was brought before the leadership of
the
Jerusalem Church. The elders of the church discussed the
question, and James handed down his decision. His judgment
was that the gentiles were not obligated to observe the
entirety
of the law of Moses as a prerequisite to joining the Christian
community. But he stipulated that the gentiles were
obligated
to observe certain dietary laws, and to avoid immorality.
If Paul was telling us the truth when he claimed that the
leadership of the Jerusalem Church acknowledged him as a
true prophet, then this story makes no sense. Here we have
Paul, who was personally appointed by the dead Jesus as his
emissary to the gentile world. Whatever Paul taught was
personally revealed to him in these prophetic visions. One
of
the central teachings of Paul was that the gentile world is
not
bound by the law of Moses. Yet when the leaders of the
Jerusalem Church are in doubt as to what Jesus would have
said concerning the gentiles, they discuss the question, and
look to James for guidance. If there was any truth to Paul’s
claim, that these leaders acknowledged the truth of his
prophecy, then they should have simply asked him “what did
Jesus tell you?” The fact that they considered the question,
and
the method that they used to resolve the question, clearly
tells
us that these men did not believe that Jesus had ever spoken
to
Paul. The author of the book of Acts, his bias
notwithstanding, could not hide this simple fact.
The difference between the gentile church founded by Paul,
and the Jerusalem Church founded by Jesus, was not limited
to
the question of the authenticity of Paul’s prophecy. These
two
institutions espoused two totally different philosophies.
The
central teaching of Pauline Christianity is, that faith in
the
redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, is the only valid method
through
which atonement for sin can be achieved. The entire
philosophy of Paul, revolves around this one teaching.
Evangelical Christianity is founded upon this basic teaching
of
Paul. If you were to ask an Evangelical Christian to sum up
his
belief system in one sentence, he would respond with this
point. That faith in Jesus is the only redemption from sin.
In
fact the entire concept of the messiah-ship of Jesus is
basically
limited to this one point. Jesus is the messiah of
Evangelical
Christians, only because they believe that his death
provided
atonement for sin.
But the Jerusalem Church which was established by Jesus,
and which was guided by his disciples, did not believe in
this
teaching of Paul. They did not believe that faith in Jesus
could
effectively atone for their sins. This is demonstrated by
the
testimony of the Christian scriptures. The 21st chapter in
the
book of Acts reports that the normal activities of the
members
of the Jerusalem Church included the offering of animals for
the explicit purpose of the expiation of sin. The book of
Acts
describes how four members of the Jerusalem Church had
taken a Nazirite vow. This means that they had voluntarily
brought themselves into a situation where they would be
required (by the law of Moses) to bring an animal as a sin
offering. It is clear that these people saw in the temple
offerings a valid method for the expiation of sin. If they
believed as Paul did, that Jesus died for their sins once
and for
all, then there would be no point in bringing a sin offering
in
the temple. The fact that the Jerusalem Church still
participated in the temple offerings after Jesus had died,
tells
us that they did not see in Jesus’s death an all atoning
sacrifice. These people were not Evangelical Christians.
The Christian scriptures provides both the theological and
the historical justification to the accusation that
Christianity
has failed in the transmission of its own message. The
Christian scriptures tell us that the disciples of
Jesus never
believed the fundamental teaching of Evangelical
Christianity.
These people who lived with Jesus and heard him preach did
not believe, that with the death of Jesus, the world is
redeemed
of its sins. The Christian scriptures also tell us, at which
historical point the break in the transmission occurred.
These
books tell us that Paul, the father of modern Christianity,
had
no connection to Jesus. Christianity is an edifice erected
upon
the testimony of one man. All of Christianity stands upon
Paul’s word that Jesus appeared to him. The only people that
were qualified to verify Paul’s claim, contradicted him to
his
face. This emerges from the pages of the very books which
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