I am currently reading the Naf Hammadi transcripts, and the Dead Sea scrolls, the original writtings translated directly into english.
By reading this e-mail i recieved from a friend, you'll see why.
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In the early 4th century AD, Rome was in turmoil. The empire was held together and forged into the Byzantine Empire by Constantine, who used Christianity as a tool for recruiting and urban pacification.
Christianity was one of two cults of the era that were competing with the Roman pantheon (derived from the Greek) for worshippers. The other cult was Mithraism, whose followers worshipped the god Mithra. There was more than one form of Mithraism, but for our purposes today were just going to look at Roman Mithraic tradition.
Today, its believed that Mithraism was an astrological religion, based on whats known as precission
the path through the sky which the constellations take, as observed from the earth through different eras. Every 2,160 years, we enter a new astrological Age, and the cycle is completed every 25,920 years as we pass through all 12 symbols of the Zodiac.
www.well.com/user/davidu/mithras.html David Ulansey, the author of The Origins of Mithraic Mysteries, has put together a logical theory on Mithraism thats supported by both modern astrophysics and the archeological record. Whats interesting about the Roman Mithra is his story, which parallels that of the modern story of Jesus in some remarkable ways
www.locksley.com/6696/CHRISTmas.htm Mithra, by the way, was born on December 25, of a virgin. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and magicians [magi]. Mithra raised the dead and healed the sick and cast out demons. He returned to heaven at the spring equinox and before doing so had a last supper with his 12 disciples (representing the 12 signs of the zodiac), eating mizd, a piece of bread marked with a cross (an almost universal symbol of the sun). Any of that sound familiar?
Constantine was faced with a serious dilemma. He needed to find a common ground through which to unite the fragmented Roman Empire. He chose Christianity as the unifying force, but as you can see from the passage above, concessions were made to appease Mithraism and those who worshipped the Roman Pantheon. The concessions to the Roman pagans will be discussed later.
The historical account says that Constantine claimed to see a vision in the sky of the Labarum, along with the words Conquer with this (in Latin of course).
The Labarum was depicted as either a burning cross, or a skull and crossbones very similar to the one used today by the Yale Skull and Bones, who use the pirate skull and crossbones with the number 322 beneath it. The skull and bones version can be found on ancient Byzantine coins, along with the words Spes Pvblic Const.
After this vision from the sky, which no one can be sure actually happened; Constantine officially adopted Christianity as the state religion, and made the paying of lip service respect for Christianity the law of the land. But there were some problems
Much of Christian doctrine was too hard for most decadent Romans to swallow. There were too many fundamental differences between Christian ideals and Roman ideals for Constantines bid to succeed, unless some compromises were made. Rome was an empire that lived off the exploitation of others. Slavery was prevalent. Fractional banking had been incorporated into society, through the mixing of coins with non-precious metal alloys. Temples, architecture and the cult priesthoods were all booming industries.
From the Nag Hammadi Transcripts and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are the only existing documents in the original Coptic and Aramaic that Jesus spoke, and which are also the only existing records from Jesus time of his actual words and deeds, we see a far different picture of Jesus than the one we have today.
The Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth and the Gospel of Philip is against the building of temples. Hes against organized religion, tithes, and a fat and happy clergy. Hes against charging interest on loans, and against any form of discrimination. Hes against the abuse of slaves, and sounds more like a Buddhist and a socialist revolutionary than the Jesus found in todays Bible.
www.webcom.com/~gnosis/naghamm/nhl.html For Constantine, this simply would not do. How was he to convince people to convert to Christianity, when it was so diametrically opposed to Roman ideals? Constantine needed a way to make Christianity jive with peoples worldview.
As a result, in 322AD Constantine ordered the scribe Eusebius to compile an official collection of Gospels, translated mostly from Greek (NOT from Coptic) to Latin and edited for a Roman audience. MUCH editing was done on the original texts that werent entirely thrown out.
This is important to understand, so let me make it clear: when you read the words in todays Bible, you are NOT reading the words of Jesus Christ. You are reading the words of Eusebius, scribe to Constantine, who was ordered to compile an official collection of gospels that would be acceptable to a Roman Audience, three hundred years after the death of Jesus.
The Bible as we know it is NOT the word of God, or of Jesus Christ. Its a translation of a translation of a translation, purged of inconvenient facts and so heavily edited that there is not one single gospel consistent with either the archeological or historical record of the age of Jesus Christ. So unless youre willing to accept that either Constantine or Eusebius were, in fact, a reincarnation of Jesus, which goes against Christian tradition, then what we know today as Christianity is a false Roman doctrine, and not the beliefs of Jesus himself.
Today, Eusebius edited version of the Gospels is the backbone of what we know as the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Eusebius made massive changes to the Gospels. Some were thrown out in their entirety, and all the remaining Gospels were edited for a Roman audience. We can observe the more obvious changes simply by observing Jewish and Essene traditions during Jesus era.
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And King James roughed it up even more.
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THE ENTRENCHMENT OF SLAVERY
The other reason for the rewrite of the gospels was to appease the ruling class, and to assure them that just because Constantine was adopting Christianity, this in no way would infringe on them as slave owners and tyrants under their own roof.
Nowhere in the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Nag Hammadi transcripts does Jesus order slaves to obey their masters as is found in modern Bibles. According to the Gospel of Philip, Jesus didnt condone using slaves as sex toys, as was common practice in Rome
A bridal chamber is not for the animals, nor is it for the slaves
Compare this to the modern Bible
Colossians 3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
Note the chapter and verse
322. 322AD, the year Constantine editing the gospels. 322 BC, the year Demosthenes fought a revolt against Alexander the Great to entrench slavery in Macedonian culture and do away with Alexanders policy of racial integration and racial intermarriage. 322, the number of the Yale Skull and Bones.
Perhaps the truth is peeking through in mysterious ways
But why this change affecting Saturnalia and slavery?
Perhaps it was a carrot offered to fence-sitting Pagans. During the time of Constantine, the most popular holiday celebration was the Pagan festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated on what is now Christmas day, Mithras birthday. Constantine the Compromiser managed to give all three religions their cake, and eat it too. Literally.
Constantine officially ordered Saturnalia banned and replaced it with Christmas in 324AD, two years after the editing of the gospels began. This is a documented historical fact, and is not in dispute.
Saturnalia was a celebration with which were familiar, but with a twist. Great feasts were held. Presents were exchanged, and good cheer abounded. The twist was that during the day of the Festival of Saturnalia, the masters would become slaves, and the head slave would become master of the house. The Romans would serve their slaves, and exchange gifts with them. It was forbidden for the master to put the head slave to death afterwards.
This pagan festival had wisdom to it. It maintained some semblance of humility amongst slave owners who through the merits of Saturnalia understood, at least in part, the burden of slavery. It taught slave masters to treat others as theyd have others treat them.
And it was one of the first things Constantine did away with.
One other thing of note
Saturnalia was a ONE-DAY affair. But now we have the twelve days of Christmas
the hard partying Romans got to trade in their day of humility and celebration for a twelve-day party without the humility! Remember, it WAS the Romans who invented Bread and Circuses as a method of mind control. This type of compromise has many historical precedents in Roman history.
After the change from Saturnalia to Christmas and the editing of the gospels, slave owners no longer had to serve their slaves or pander to them during the Winter Solstice. Thanks to the changes in wording made by Eusebius (and others) in Colossians and everywhere else, slavery was now entrenched as the word of God (aka Constantine). Thanks to the complete and total purging of the Gospel of Philip, masters could now feel good about using their slaves as bed warmers. The slave owners now had license to continue having their parties and feasts, without having to bow to their slaves.
One can imagine how many instant converts such a self-serving interpretation of the gospels must have made amongst the selfish agnostic set of the time
Hey, forget me serving you slaves next winter. Im now a Christian, and according to Jesus I have a divine right to own you, use you, and rape you, and you have to obey in all things, even when Im not watching. See? It says so right here in Colossians Chapter 3 Verse 22,, and this religion is now the law of the land, according to the Emperor
Amen. And Jim Crow b*stards use the same word of God to justify their behavior to this very day. For them, its more convenient to accept a lie that backs up their racism than to accept the true words of Jesus. This is why there are so many Americans converting to Evangelical and Southern Baptist churches today. (*disclaimer - his words, not mine*)
America is a nation emerging these last 30 years from 191 years of segregation. There are MANY who cannot shake their prejudices, or cannot see their racism for what it is. Naturally, they gravitate toward someone telling them what they want to hear as the word of God. Its a lot easier to believe what Jerry Fartwell and Pat Robbed-You-Son say as being Gospel truth than it is to face the demons of ones conscience, when our conscience tries to tell us that theres something fundamentally wrong with our belief system. And there are plenty of b*stards out there ready to tell them exactly what they need to hear in order to feel good about themselves, and to stop wrestling with their conscience.
Any reasonable person can see that todays Holy Bible is more akin to Holy Bupkis than the words of Jesus Christ. The book was edited to entrench slavery into the Roman culture, disempower the Vestal Virgins and Pagan worship, and to demonize Jews. The latter was done for purposes of raising an army to conquer Jerusalem and commit genocide against Jews, which Constantine most certainly did by all accounts, including the accepted Christian histories.
Jesus - heir-in-exile to Jerusalem via Joseph of Arimathea. Led a revolution against Roman rule and the rome appointed monarchy. After failing to unseat the Romans, Christianity remained a religion of principle, THE ONLY ONE as far as I'm concerned for at least a few generations. But once Constantine got its hands on it he destroyed it utterly, twisting it into the most evil abomination ever forced down the throat of mankind. For proof of this, compare the words of Jesus from the Nag Hammadi transcripts to the so-called words of Jesus found in today's Bible. The Nag Hammadi transcripts and Dead Sea Scrolls are the ONLY contemporary source from Jesus' time, and they bear absolutely no resemblance to the Holy Bupkis.
Everyone has heard the saying, the meek shall inherit the earth.
This is found NOWHERE in the old texts from Jesus time. Its a creation of the Roman editors 300 years later, or the Greeks who edited the gospels before the Romans. It was probably derived from these passages from the Gospel Of Philip
In this world, the slaves serve the free. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the free will minister to the slaves:
"He who is a slave against his will, will be able to become free. He who has become free by favor of his master, and has sold himself into slavery, will no longer be able to be free. "
A minor change, but one that served a domestic purpose: urban pacification. A domestic population who believes the meek shall inherit the earth is much easier to control than one who believes in their right to be free. So we give the angry war-ready alpha males a ready made enemy by demonizing Jews and march them off to war, while keeping the domestic population happy by entrenching slavery and making them into useless pacifists not prepared to rise up against tyranny for their own sakes.
In summation, the result of Constantines adoption of Christianity and his editing of the Gospels was the conquest of Persia and the Holy Land, a united Roman Empire, freedom for Roman slave owners to be b*stards, genocide against Jews and Nomads, and credit for all time to Constantine as the modern founder of Christianity.
All this from declaring that he had a vision, followed up by a simple editing job, and a few political compromises for good measure.
Quite a bargain, eh?
Jesus left us plenty of warnings that were edited out of todays Bible
Most things in the world, as long as their inner parts are hidden, stand upright and live. If they are revealed, they die, as is illustrated by the visible man: as long as the intestines of the man are hidden, the man is alive; when his intestines are exposed and come out of him, the man will die. So also with the tree: while its root is hidden, it sprouts and grows. If its root is exposed, the tree dries up. So it is with every birth that is in the world, not only with the revealed but with the hidden. For so long as the root of wickedness is hidden, it is strong. But when it is recognized, it is dissolved. When it is revealed, it perishes. That is why the Word says, "Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees" (Mt 3:10).
It will not merely cut - what is cut sprouts again - but the ax penetrates deeply, until it brings up the root. Jesus pulled out the root of the whole place, while others did it only partially. As for ourselves, let each one of us dig down after the root of evil which is within one, and let one pluck it out of one's heart from the root. It will be plucked out if we recognize it. But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and produces its fruit in our heart. It masters us. We are its slaves. It takes us captive, to make us do what we do not want; and what we do want, we do not do. It is powerful because we have not recognized it. While it exists it is active.
Ignorance is the mother of all evil. Ignorance will result in death, because those who come from ignorance neither were nor are nor shall be. [...] will be perfect when all the truth is revealed. For truth is like ignorance: while it is hidden, it rests in itself, but when it is revealed and is recognized, it is praised, inasmuch as it is stronger than ignorance and error. It gives freedom. The Word said, "If you know the truth, the truth will make you free" (Jn 8:32). Ignorance is a slave. Knowledge is freedom. If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within us. If we are joined to it, it will bring our fulfillment
Gospel of Philip
From the Gospel of Thomas
3. Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
16. Jesus said, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.
For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone."
Misguided Peacenik, or revolutionary?
34. Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall into a hole."
68. Jesus said, "Congratulations to you when you are hated and persecuted; and no place will be found, wherever you have been persecuted."
69. Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who have been persecuted in their hearts: they are the ones who have truly come to know the Father.
Congratulations to those who go hungry, so the stomach of the one in want may be filled."
Clearly a man who respected the seeking of knowledge, and had no time for ignorance or blind faith
73. Jesus said, "The crop is huge but the workers are few, so beg the harvest boss to dispatch workers to the fields."
74. He said, "Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the well."
A capitalist, or a socialist?
76. Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself.
So also with you, seek his treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no worm destroys."
77. Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained.
Split a piece of wood; I am there.
Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
78. Jesus said, "Why have you come out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a person dressed in soft clothes, [like your] rulers and your powerful ones? They are dressed in soft clothes, and they cannot understand truth."
Sounds like Buddhism to me. Is this a man who would approve of a rich clergy dressed in silk and gold, or who would approve of billions being spent on places of worship instead of being used to help the poor?
95. [Jesus said], "If you have money, don't lend it at interest. Rather, give [it] to someone from whom you won't get it back."
100. They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "The Roman emperor's people demand taxes from us."
He said to them, "Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."
Clearly a man who was against capitalism, banking and taxes.
109. Jesus said, "The (Father's) kingdom is like a person who had a treasure hidden in his field but did not know it. And [when] he died he left it to his [son]. The son [did] not know about it either. He took over the field and sold it. The buyer went plowing, [discovered] the treasure, and began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished."
110. Jesus said, "Let one who has found the world, and has become wealthy, renounce the world."
Clearly, hes speaking in plain words about fractional banking based on the exploitation of mineral rights, and evils of such a system, which was already existent in Jesus time. He sounds more like Siddhartha than the Jesus of the 700 Club.
This is why the Catholic Church has tried desperately to keep the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi transcripts from the public these last fifty years. Theyre shown to be charlatans, exploiters, and the diametrically opposed to the true words of Jesus of Nazareth. The same can be said for all forms of Christianity that reject the Gnostic Gospels as sacrilege
