Man's Search For Spirituality - E Christopher Reyes (jenna bush book club .TXT) 📗

and divine, and speaking of their prohibition by the Roman Emperors, says: “By the contrivance of Demons it was made a capital crime to read them, in order to deter men from coming to a knowledge of what is good.” ~Apologia, I, ch. 77; Ante Nicene Fathers vol 1, 178.
‘Not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the Flesh and Blood of that incarnated Jesus.” ~Saint Justin Martyr, First Apology, 150 A.D.
But the Blood of the Gods is not a new concept, as in Greece the virtue of “The blood of God” had once been known, though that virtue, as exhibited in its poets, was utterly obscured and degraded. That word is ‘Ichor,’ and the bards of classic Greece know that Ichor is the term peculiarly appropriated to the blood of a divinity.
Homer refers to the blood of God, “From the clear vein the immortal Ichor flowed, such stream as issues from a wounded God, pure emanation, uncorrupted flood, unlike our gross, diseased terrestrial blood.” ~The Two Babylons By The Late Rev. Alexander Hislop. Compare with, The Blood of God. Acts 20:28.
In his First Apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, Father Justin Martyr makes a strong appeal for the use of reason in defiance of tradition and authority, a discriminating gesture to the Pagan Emperor, but a principle seldom applied by a Christian in point of his own imposed creeds, “Reason directs those who are truly pious and philosophical to honor and love only what is true, declining to follow the opinions of the ancients, if these be worthless.” ~Chap. ii, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. i, 63.
Dr. Middleton tells us that, “There was just reason to suspect that there was some fraud” in the actions of these Yesuans, or primitive Christians, who traveled about from city to city to convert the Pagans; and that “The strolling wonder- workers, by a dexterity of jugglery, which art, not Heaven, had taught them, imposed on the credulity of the pious Fathers, whose strong prejudices and ardent zeal for the interests of Christianity would dispose them to embrace, without examination, whatever seemed to promote so good a cause... Tthe pretended miracles of the primitive Church were all mere fictions, which the pious and zealous Fathers, partly from a weak credulity and partly from reasons of policy, were induced to espouse and propagate for the support of a righteous cause.”
The primitive Christians were perpetually reproached for their credulity; and Julian says that “The sum of all their wisdom was comprised in the single precept, 'believe.’”
According to the very books, which record the miracles of Jesus, he never claimed to perform such deeds, and Paul declares that the great reason why Israel did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah was that "The Jews required a sign.”
“John,” in the 2nd century, makes Jesus reproach his fellow-countrymen with “Unless you see signs and wonders you do not believe.” It is evident, therefore, that, had he performed the miracles that his followers said he did, the Jews would have accepted him as their Messiah; and that, since he was not accepted by them, we may justly conclude that he performed no miracles. His miracles were evidently concocted and recorded for him.
When told that, if he wanted people to believe in him, he must first prove his claim by a miracle, he said: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, and no sign shall be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” This answer not satisfying the questioners, they came to him again, and asked: “If the kingdom of God is, as you say, close at hand, show us at least some one of the signs in the heavens which are to precede the coming of the Messiah?”
It was generally understood then that the end of the present age was at hand, and was to be heralded by signs from heaven. ~ Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
BC 522-438 [?]-Pindar, one of the greatest lyric poets of ancient Greece from the city of Thebes. Held in acclaim even 100 years after his death, when Alexander the Great defeated the Thebans, killing and enslaving the citizenry, sacking the city, and razing the buildings, Alexander ordered that the house that had once belonged to Pindar be spared, and forty-four of his epic poems have been preserved.
Legend has it they were chosen for use as school texts in the 2nd Century AD. In Greek mythology version of the flood, first mentioned by the poet Pindar, legend has Zeus as destroying the Earth. Only the good King Deucalion and his family are saved who take refuge in an ark well stocked with provisions.
BC 520-518-Zechariah, Hebrew Priest and Prophet who stresses obedience to God, commitment towards one’s innermost spirituality, and a world where Jews and gentiles worship in the future as one. Zechariah believes that all this will come about via “Supernatural” or “Divine Intervention.”
BC 500-Greeks, practicing Astrology develop the modern “Twelve” sign zodiac around BC 450, which the Roman Church will use in their corruption of pagan beliefs as the twelve apostles.
84. The Greek god Dionysus is born of a virgin.
85. Born in a stable.
86. Turns water into wine.
Superstitions and folklore have the Scythians recorded as believing the Neuri to be werewolves.
BC 484-425-Herodotus, famous Greek historian, writer, poet: Herodotus, whose famous work, “History” which is from the Greek word meaning “Inquiry” traveled extensively and wrote abut the lands and peoples he encountered in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and the Mediterranean Area. Herodotus describes Egypt as the “Gift of the Nile.”
He believed that the Greeks assimilated many of the Egyptian gods and cultural practices and while his works are not entirely accurate about specific events, his descriptions of roads, cultures, and warring practices of various countries give insight into the lives of the people living two thousand five hundred years ago.
Herodotus wrote of the cannibalistic practices of African cultures, mentioned here, for five hundred years later we will have the generation of a new religious group which claims, “Bread as the body of Christ, and wine as his blood.”
It is easy to see the assimilation of the new religion when one has already accepted the former as a religious practice. The only difference is the latter being now symbolic rather than practiced.
BC 480-411(?)-Protagoras, Greek teacher and philosopher. Protagoras was the first thinker to call himself a Sophist and to teach for pay, receiving large sums from his pupils. He gave instruction in grammar, rhetoric, and the interpretation of poetry. His chief works, of which only a few fragments have survived, were entitled Truth and On the Gods.
The basis of his speculation was the doctrine that nothing is absolutely good or bad, true or false, and that each individual is therefore his or her own final authority; this belief is summed up in his saying, “Man is the measure of all things.”~–From the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, 1998.
“As to the gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or do not exist, or what they are like.” ~Protagoras.
Protagoras was charged with impiety, as were other Greek thinkers of his time who denied the pagan gods, such as Socrates and Anaxagoras, who were sentenced to death, but Protagoras was merely banished from Athens, his books burned, and as he sailed into exile, he drowned.
BC 477-First Buddhist Council, The Dhammapada, poetic teachings from the Gautama is said to be from this era. Includes the “Four Noble Truths,” and the “Eightfold Path.”
BC 458-“The Book of Ezra,” originally written in Ancient Hebrew, is censored by the Christian Church in later centuries. The Book of Ezra details how God’s words are to be shared with the people, however there are interpretations, or ‘Secret Mysteries’ that are not to be given to public but only to the wise men, in secret. Ninety-four books are written of which only ten remain today. Secret teachings are not unknown amongst the Hebrew and Christian cleric. ~See: Daniel 7:25.
BC 436-338-‘The Golden Rule,’ Isocrates, "Do not do unto others what angers you if done to you by others."
BC 428-348-Plato contemplates epistemology and the nature of wisdom. Influenced by Pythagoras and Indian ideas, disciple of Socrates, founder of the Academy in Athens.
In Plato’s cosmology of the world, the universe is a spherical entity and the three Fates [Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos] direct human destiny, always allowing for freedom of choice, thus man is ultimately accountable for the good and evil in his life.
It is also alleged that Plato applied to the Mystery School of Isis, with a religious doctrine that borrows heavily from the Egyptians.
No one is admitted to the school that is a slave or previously convicted of a crime. In the initiation, the novitiate is blindfolded so that he may see with the eyes of the soul and not the eyes of the body. “As above, so below,” believed to have come from the Egyptian Mystery School, is adopted by the Greek Secret Cults [Isis Cult] that alludes to everything on earth having a double or counterpart in another world. A religious leader who will change the religious opinions of the world later adopts this two-world system.
The story of a “Lost Continent” and/or civilization is found in documents written by Plato who asserts there was an advanced civilization existing 12,000 years ago [the dialogues, Timaeus & Critas.] Was he speaking about the Lost Garden of Eden or another great culture that preceded the Greeks?
Where did he get his information? Plato, in “The Republic” asserts: “The just man, having suffered all manner of evils, will be crucified,” [written three hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ]. Crucifixes displaying the god Indra are to be seen at the corners of the roads in Tibet. In Some parts of India the worship of the crucified god Bulli, an incarnation of Vishnu, occurs. The “Incarnate God” Buddha and “Suffering Savior expired at the foot of the tree.” The expression is frequently used in the Roman Missal.
‘The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as I would they should do unto me.” ~Plato.
The Egyptian gods Osiris and Horus were also crucified as saviors and redeemers. The sufferings, death, and resurrection of Osiris formed the great mystery of the Egyptian religion. Attys was “The only begotten son and savior” of the Phrygians, represented as a man nailed or tied to a tree, at the foot of which was a lamb. Tammuz or Adonis, the Syrian and Jewish Adonai, is another virgin born god, who “Suffered for mankind” as a “Crucified Savior.” Prometheus, of Greece, was with chains nailed to the rocks on Mount Caucasus, “With arms extended,” ~Murray, Manual of Mythology, pg. 82.
BC 400- Damarchus, an Arcadian werewolf, is said to have won boxing medal at the Greek Olympics.
The Purim story takes place in Persia, 5th century B.C.E., where Esther is the Jewish wife of King Xerxes. She reveals herself as a Jew to the king in order to save her people. The people are threatened by the evil court adviser, Haman, who is offended that Mordecai, a Jew, will not bow before him.
BC 384-22-Aristotle; philosopher, teacher, monotheist, scientist and tutor to Alexander the Great. It is this Greek philosopher’s deductive reasoning that is later used by Church representatives to prove the subsistence of the Church Doctrines. In BC 350, Aristotle writes, “Palmistry is a judgment made